From the preface to the new book on Lloyd-Jones mentioned recently. It is by Iain Murray.
LLOYD-JONES: MESSENGER OF GRACE
My chief reason for writing this book has been to restate some of the main lessons of the ministry of Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones, beginning with the preaching of the Word of God. Preaching is a gift from heaven. Revelation is necessary to understand the vital importance of preaching, and why its absence is a disaster worse than the lack of bread and water. The advance of the church is ever preceded by a recovery of preaching, and in that recovery the memory of those who have spoken ‘with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven’ (1 Pet. 1:12) has often played an important part. Eminent examples give light to later centuries ... Of first importance to Lloyd-Jones were not church issues but the recovery of true spiritual power amid the decline of Christianity in Britain. The current weakness was directly connected, he believed, to the lack of a stronger assurance of salvation among Christians. That need lay at the heart of his concern for the churches. On the way such assurance is received he disagreed in one respect with the Puritan school to which he belonged, and differed still more with the burgeoning charismatic movement. He feared adherents to the former gave too little place to the experimental, while the latter too readily confused experience of the Holy Spirit with emotionalism. Further serious thought on this subject is surely a contemporary need. The reader will see that I do not agree with my friend in all he says on this subject; but I do repudiate the idea, falsely attributed to him, of disengagement from present endeavour in order to wait for a future revival. It is true he believed the decline in the churches was so serious that nothing but a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit would arrest it; but he also believed that Christians have warrant to rejoice in Christ every day they live, for God is never thwarted in his great redemptive purposes. He saw no conflict between expectancy and a believing thankfulness for present victory. Whatever the times, he exemplified the Pauline call to be ‘always abounding in the work of the Lord’ ...
My chief reason for writing this book has been to restate some of the main lessons of the ministry of Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones, beginning with the preaching of the Word of God. Preaching is a gift from heaven. Revelation is necessary to understand the vital importance of preaching, and why its absence is a disaster worse than the lack of bread and water. The advance of the church is ever preceded by a recovery of preaching, and in that recovery the memory of those who have spoken ‘with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven’ (1 Pet. 1:12) has often played an important part. Eminent examples give light to later centuries ... Of first importance to Lloyd-Jones were not church issues but the recovery of true spiritual power amid the decline of Christianity in Britain. The current weakness was directly connected, he believed, to the lack of a stronger assurance of salvation among Christians. That need lay at the heart of his concern for the churches. On the way such assurance is received he disagreed in one respect with the Puritan school to which he belonged, and differed still more with the burgeoning charismatic movement. He feared adherents to the former gave too little place to the experimental, while the latter too readily confused experience of the Holy Spirit with emotionalism. Further serious thought on this subject is surely a contemporary need. The reader will see that I do not agree with my friend in all he says on this subject; but I do repudiate the idea, falsely attributed to him, of disengagement from present endeavour in order to wait for a future revival. It is true he believed the decline in the churches was so serious that nothing but a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit would arrest it; but he also believed that Christians have warrant to rejoice in Christ every day they live, for God is never thwarted in his great redemptive purposes. He saw no conflict between expectancy and a believing thankfulness for present victory. Whatever the times, he exemplified the Pauline call to be ‘always abounding in the work of the Lord’ ...
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