What Does the Goodness of God Lead To? A Lloyd-Jones Sermon Analysis

What is the purpose of God's goodness according to Lloyd-Jones' sermon?

According to Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the goodness, forbearance, and long-suffering of God is meant specifically to lead people to repentance. In his sermon on Romans 2:4-5, he states: "The teaching is that it is the function and the purpose of God's goodness and forbearance and long suffering to bring us to lead us to repentance." Lloyd-Jones emphasizes that many people, like the Jews Paul was addressing, completely misunderstand this divine purpose, viewing God's goodness as something to take advantage of rather than as a call to repentance.

How does Lloyd-Jones define true repentance?

Lloyd-Jones defines repentance through several key elements:

1. "Thinking again" - Like the Latin root of the word suggests, it means reconsidering your views
2. "Changing your mind" - As the Greek term implies, coming to different conclusions
3. "Action" - Real repentance results in changed behavior

He illustrates this with Jesus' parable of the two sons: "When his father told him to go and work in the vineyard, he answered and said, 'I won't.' But then you see him going to the vineyard... he must have thought about the question the second time... changed his mind... and went."

What aspects of thinking does repentance change according to Lloyd-Jones?

Lloyd-Jones teaches that repentance changes our thinking about:

1. God Himself - "The first thing that happens when a man repents is that he begins to think differently about God"
2. Ourselves - "By nature, we all think that we are very good... But the moment we begin really to know ourselves... we begin to say, 'Vile and full of sin I am'"
3. Life itself - "His whole view of life in this world becomes a different one... he sees Life as a journey, as a pilgrimage"
4. Death, judgment, eternity
5. Right and wrong behavior

What does Lloyd-Jones say about the human heart in relation to sin?

Lloyd-Jones emphasizes that the fundamental problem is in the human heart: "The trouble with men therefore, in sin, according to the apostle here, as indeed everywhere in the scripture, is this. The trouble with men is in his heart." He explains that by "heart" the Bible means "the very seat and center and throne of personality."

He notes this is completely contrary to modern views of human nature: "The modern view of sin, which is this, that a man rarely in his heart is all right, but he goes wrong in this respect... it's exactly the other way around. It's the heart that's wrong, and men are only right in patches on the surface."

What happens when people reject God's goodness, according to the sermon?

Lloyd-Jones warns that when people reject God's goodness, they are "treasuring up" wrath for the day of judgment: "This is the most terrible thing to contemplate... Every time he misunderstands [God's goodness], he's adding to this... He's treasuring up. He's storing up. That's exactly what the unbeliever is doing."

He emphasizes the horrific reality that "it's the man himself who's doing this... He's treasuring up for himself." Like someone collecting items and storing them in a cabinet, the unbeliever is accumulating divine wrath through their continued rejection of God's goodness.

What does Lloyd-Jones teach about the "day of wrath"?

Lloyd-Jones teaches that there is a specific appointed "day of wrath" coming:

1. It is "a definite day of judgment, a particular day"
2. It is already "determined by God" though only God knows when it will be
3. It will reveal "the righteous judgment of God" completely
4. It is when "the books will be open" - all the accumulated evidence of sin
5. Everyone will see the justice of God's judgment: "Nobody will have any complaint"

He describes this as "the most tremendous thing, in a sense, in the whole of scripture" and points to Revelation 20:11-15 as a key description of this final day of judgment.