Dr Lloyd-Jones The fight of faith

The second volume of the Doctor’s biography takes us from 1939 and the beginnings of his ministry at Westminster Chapel to his death in 1981.

Preaching

The final sermon of his Westminster ministry was given on March 1, in 1968. It was his 372nd Friday night exposition from the Book of Romans, which he began October 7, 1955. Before that he had been doing a series on biblical doctrine. Systematic exposition of Scripture was almost unknown in England in this period but it became a feature of his ministry and was taken up by many, many others. His first sortie seems to have been a series on 2 Peter in 1946 and 1947 and on Philippians shortly after. One on 1 John, began in the Autumn of 1948. In 1950 he began a series on The Sermon on the Mount and in 1954 that on Ephesians. By no means all of his sermons were expositions of books. He would take sometimes just a chapter (eg Psalm 73, John 17). In 1959, he marked the anniversary of the 1859 Revival with a series on Revival. Other themes dealt with were Baptism with the Spirit (1964-65) and a series entitled Spiritual Depression on assurance, preached in 1954.

The Doctor preached with three different emphases. On Friday nights the approach was more doctrinal, a Bible study. On Sunday mornings he endeavoured to help believers in their Christian living. On Sunday nights he was invariably evangelistic. In all the meetings the aim was to make everything simple with everything focussed on the 40 or 50 minute sermon exposition of Scripture. The trends in evangelicalism were all away from this ‘old fashioned’ approach but Dr Lloyd-Jones was used of God to bring people back to it.
 

Wider ministry

The early years at Westminster were war years and partly still alongside Campbell Morgan, who did not retire until 1943. Once that period was over Lloyd-Jones was able to blossom not just in his own pulpit but also in wider ministry. There was his continuing influence, especially in IVF (now UCCF), IFES and China Inland Mission (now OMF) circles; his close involvement and influence in the growing Evangelical Movement of Wales (he was a regular speaker at their Bala ministers’ conference) and various gatherings to mark significant events such as the 350th anniversary of the AV (1961) and the 300th anniversary of the Great Ejection (1962). Projects such as London Bible College and the Banner of Truth Trust (founded 1957) relied, at least initially, on his support. Declining to be first Principal of the college it was he who suggested the Strict Baptist Ernest Kevan and so secured a happy start for that institution. By 1958, however, college and preacher were heading in different directions. The magazine and publishing house began through Iain Murray, who became the Doctor’s assistant in 1956 and a wealthy member of the Chapel, Jack Cullum.

 

Important agencies

Other projects relied even more so on his energy and vision. The roots of The Evangelical Library lie in the conversion in 1903 of another Strict Baptist, Geoffrey Williams. Through his pastor, J K Popham, he discovered the riches of our Puritan heritage and began an evangelical library 12 miles south of London in Beddington. It was when he was introduced to Lloyd-Jones that the library was finally removed to central London to become the ‘Living force’ that it was to be and continues to be to this day. Its influence on the rediscovery of Calvinistic doctrine in this century is very great indeed. Then there was the Westminster Fellowship for ministers. This seems to have started as early as 1941 on a very small scale and meeting quarterly but grew and grew, meeting for longer and more regularly. While the Doctor remained in the chair it was chiefly an opportunity to discuss issues rather than to hear addresses. The Puritan Conference which later became the Westminster Conference was commenced in 1950 under the leadership of the Doctor and Jim Packer. It was originally a part of the IVF’s Tyndale Fellowship and was another tool used by God to draw people back to the Calvinistic and Puritan teaching that had been neglected for so long. In 1977 he gave the inaugural address of the London Theological Seminary which was founded very much on the lines of his own ideas concerning training for the ministry.

 

Conflict

Inevitably, as Lloyd-Jones and his views became more and more widely known, not everyone was enthusiastic and his life was marked by many struggles not only with those who were not evangelical but also with many who, though evangelical, were not convinced of his view of the way forward. The two major points of departure for most were the inter-related matters of rejecting Billy Graham’s decisionistic evangelism and the Doctor’s call to evangelicals to leave the ecumenical movement and unite together. Both are dealt with extensively in Volume 2 of the biography.

The first of these was a rather private. As far back as 1954 the Doctor had strong reservations about the Billy Graham Organisation. In 1963 he and Graham met. The latter was eager for the Doctor to chair the planned Congress on World Evangelism which eventually met in Berlin in 1966. Lloyd-Jones was far from unwilling to work with an Arminian but he was totally unconvinced by Graham’s evangelistic methods and strongly opposed to his ecumenism. The increasing unwillingness of evangelicals to clearly differentiate themselves from liberals in the mixed denominations led, eventually to a very public call from Lloyd-Jones to leave the denominations at a famous Evangelical Alliance rally in 1966, chaired by an unconvinced John Stott. It is from this time that we see the increase in churches leaving the mixed denominations and the rise of FIEC and the British Evangelical Council. Things were never quite the same after that. Today, some hanker for those days of co-operation with Anglican evangelicals and others in the compromised denominations and various rapprochements have been attempted. However, the case for separatism is perhaps stronger than ever and many lessons painfully learned over many years by Lloyd-Jones need to be re-learned by succeeding generations. It is important to note that Lloyd-Jones break with a man like Jim Packer did not come in 1966 with Packer’s decision to remain in the Anglican church but in 1970 when he refused to oppose non-evangelicals within his denomination.

Final years

Packer himself spoke of Lloyd-Jones as ‘the greatest man I have ever known’. The more you discover about this unique servant of God, the more you will see why he could say that. Above and beyond anything that can be said about his gifts or his success he was, quite simply, a man of God. He was not perfect. Iain Murray draws attention to his occasional abuse of his gifts of eloquence and incisive argument. On the other hand he draws attention to his humility. ‘Anything suggestive of self importance or dignity’ he says ‘was alien to his whole spirit.’ He also makes use of a quotation to say he was ‘A terrible judge in regard to ideas, he was full of charity in regard to persons ….’

The final years, from about 1975, were quiet ones. The Doctor preached his last sermon in June 1980 and after some weakness died in his sleep at home on March 1, 1981. Five days later he was buried in Newcastle Emlyn, West Wales. On April 6 there was a memorial service in Westminster Chapel.

 

This summery article first appeared in an edition of Grace Magazine called Dr Who?

Dr Lloyd-Jones The first forty years

Iain Murray is the author of the definitive two volume biography of Dr Lloyd-Jones. Volume 1 covers the period from his birth to his coming to be minister of Westminster Chapel.

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones was born in Cardiff, December 20, 1899, the second of three boys. In 1906, the family moved nearer its roots in rural Cardiganshire, to Llangeitho, scene of the labours of Daniel Rowland, the eighteenth century’s greatest preacher. In that relatively remote Welsh speaking community, he grew up, a bright boy, though not particularly studious until his teenage years.

It was in many ways idyllic but in January, 1910, the family home burned down. Increasing financial difficulty necessitated moving to a very different scene - London. Without losing the advantages of a Welsh speaking culture, which thrived in London at the time, other vibrant worlds opened to the teenager. Immersed in the religious and cultural life of Charing Cross Calvinistic Methodist Chapel he also enjoyed following political debates at the House of Commons.

 

A startling discovery

In 1916 he began his medical career at Bart’s. Qualifying in a remarkable three years he went to work for leading physician, Lord Thomas Horder. By 1923 he was chief clinical assistant and began research into endocarditis. The world appeared to be at his feet and many no doubt envied this talented young man. However, it was at this period that he made a startling and discomfiting discovery – he was not a Christian! It is hard today to grasp how, in the 1920s, there could be so much religion, especially among the Welsh, still affected by the 1904 Revival, yet so little evangelical Christianity. But modernism had ravaged the churches and seeing the hollowness of Liberal religion some ran from it, while others continued with a form of religion, denying its power. Others, like Lloyd-Jones, came under deep conviction and, by God’s grace, were converted. The Doctor’s conversion came over a period of time and was attended with strong conviction that he should abandon his glittering medical career and become a minister.

He preached his first sermon in 1925, at a Mission Hall for down and outs in Poplar, East London. Calvinistic Methodism was the leading Welsh sect. As the name implies, its roots are in the eighteenth century revival associated with names such as Whitefield, Hywel Harris, William Williams. Having grown up in the denomination and having great sympathy with its evangelical doctrines Lloyd-Jones proceeded to seek to minister in it. He went for interview at their Aberystwyth Theological College but was not drawn there. He was accepted as a ministerial candidate, however, and preached his first sermon for them in Newport. That church was keen to have him but he was drawn rather to a tougher situation further west: Bethlehem, Sandfields, in Aberavon, a Forward Movement church.

This whole period was one of great turmoil as Lloyd-Jones struggled with this decision but an increasing sense of the emptiness of this world and a growing compassion for people in their sins compelled him to preach. God was gracious and helped him in various ways. He had already begun to discover his Calvinistic Methodist heritage. Powicke’s biography of Baxter, republished 1926, led to a discovery of the riches of Puritanism. There were times too when he felt an overwhelming sense of God’s love filling his soul.

Then there was Bethan Phillips, a chapel friend since his arrival in London and a fellow doctor. She became Mrs Lloyd-Jones at the beginning of 1927. What a boon companion she was to be. They were later blessed with two daughters, Elizabeth and Ann.

 

Sandfields

Aberavon was a working class area. The church, founded as a sort of mission hall, had 146 members but the lack of clear ministry meant many were unconverted. Social activity and politics dominated the thoughts of most. There were to be radical changes in the earlier years as Lloyd-Jones sought to steer the church back on to firm ground. The drama society was closed along with all activities not directly related to God’s Word and prayer. As he opened up individual texts, Christians blossomed again and many, within the church and from outside, were converted. By 1927 there were 165 members; by 1928 – 196; by 1929 – 248. In 1930, 88 were added. Seventy of these were directly ‘From the world’. Such growth was remarkable and Murray’s chapter on it is headed ‘Revival’, a word Lloyd-Jones was reluctant to use. Some of the individuals converted at this time are described in Mrs Lloyd-Jones’s Memories of Sandfields.

From the beginning there was great interest in Lloyd-Jones. His undoubted clinical skills and extraordinary career change guaranteed that. His remarkable success now brought him further attention and he was often asked to preach at weekday and weeknight meetings, which still went on around the country. In 1932 he made his first trip across the Atlantic to preach in Toronto. In 1935, 7,000 heard him on Acts 2:38 in a marquee in Llangeitho and he preached to a packed Albert Hall on behalf of the Bible Testimony Fellowship. On this occasion G Campbell Morgan, minister of the Congregational Church at Westminster Chapel, heard him and invited him to preach.

Eventually Morgan invited him to assist in the work and in 1938 he resigned his Aberavon pastorate and returned to London. His position at Westminster was not formalised for a year owing to the expectation that his own denomination would call him as principal of one of their theological colleges, Aberystwyth or Bala. When this did not materialise, Lloyd-Jones accepted it was God’s will for him to minister at Westminster Chapel – which he did for the next 29 years.

 

Westminster

Even while still in Wales ministers were coming to him for advice and guidance. Students were also very much helped by a man who had both the intellect and the fervour they so needed. In 1930 he was elected President of Inter-Varsity Fellowship (now UCCF). His wisdom and conservatism gave IVF and IFES a backbone and vigour that they benefit from to this day. It is his ministry in Westminster that stands out for then he became a great leader and then he preached the sermons later published and still being published today. However, it is in the first 40 years that the foundation was laid. His acute and well trained mind (watchword – ‘Back to first principles’) was a great asset to God’s people in what were very dark and difficult days, when evangelicalism had been decimated by wave after wave of modernism. He found great help too in neglected authors such as Denney, Forsyth, Jonathan Edwards and Warfield, who died in 1921. He discovered Warfield’s works in Toronto. Lloyd-Jones’ clear theological convictions enabled him to successfully resist subtle foes such as ‘Moral rearmament’ and the ‘Neo-orthodoxy’ of Barth and Brunner. By God’s grace he was able to forge a truly Calvinistic, Bible expounding yet experiential, expression of evangelicalism to which we are all indebted to this day.

This summary article originally appeared in an edition of Grace Magazine called Dr Who?

Weakness - The way to perfection

Scripture often celebrates Israel’s victory over Midian. Before the battle, God tells Gideon he has too many men. So that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her, changes are needed. Judges 7:2 highlights important principles.

Universal tendency

God speaks and acts as he does because of our tendency to boast. For unbelievers, pride is their necklace. Boastfulness is typical of these last days. How readily we boast. A sure sign of worldliness is boasting of what we have and do (Psalm 73, 2 Timothy 3, James 3, 1 John 2). It is somehow instinctive with us. Gresham Machen describes tourists boasting of conquering summits when they have simply followed guides equally able to get sacks of corn to the top! Children brag about themselves. Adults blow their own trumpets. Even octogenarians crow about how young they look.

Do you tell stories lionising yourself? We are subtle sometimes but the propensity is continual. Denying it is only another brag - ‘others boast, I don’t’! Are you aware of this proclivity?

God hates boasting

Judges 7 proves that God hates boasting. Recall his response when Nebuchadnezzar bragged that he had built Babylon by his mighty power and for the glory of his majesty. That arrogant man was soon eating grass like a cow! 1 Peter 5:5 urges us to clothe ourselves with humility ... because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. God esteems the humble and contrite in spirit and pronounces the meek blessed. He warns the wise not to boast of their wisdom, the strong of their strength, the rich of their wealth. Rather, if he must boast, let him boast that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight. (Isaiah 66:2; Matthew 5:5; Jeremiah 9:23, 24).

Undeniably, God hates all boastfulness and pride. Reject it and humble yourself. Ephesians 5:17 says find out what pleases the Lord. God abhors boasting and demands all the glory for himself. The only glory we can know is reflected glory. He must have the praise. To covet it for ourselves brings wrath. Certain famous primadonnas want everything to revolve around them, taking credit for everything. How mean-spirited and arrogant. God takes the credit because it is due. He is responsible for everything. Do you see that? Then honour him.

Avoid boasting

Clearly, we must do all we can to avoid self-promotion. Jesus says, when giving to the needy, not to let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Give but avoid drawing attention to yourself. Similarly, avoid praying standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. … go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen …. Pray, even in public, as if it is just the Lord and you. And when fasting avoid looking sombre as the hypocrites do. They disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. … rather put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men ... but only to your Father, who is unseen …. (Matthew 6:3, 5, 6, 16-18). Philippians 2:3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

We have a bent for boasting but God loathes it. Do all you can to eliminate it. Self-flagellation and prolonged fasts will only to tempt us to boast. Deliverance comes from doing what God requires.

God’s work

One of the wonderful truths of the Bible is that God himself helps us avoid boasting. The very way he saves us shows this. It is not a matter of intelligence or beauty, nationality or family nor how good we are in men’s eyes. Rather, it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no-one can boast (Ephesians 2:8, 9). As we look from ourselves to Christ, he saves. Who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? (1 Corinthians 4:7). Are you cleverer, better looking, abler than others? If you fail to see it is God’s gift, you are a boaster.

Prayer is something else God uses to teach humility. How incongruous to brag about answered prayer. All the glory is God’s. Think of Paul’s thorn in the flesh. Whatever it was, this Messenger of Satan was highly unpleasant. Paul wanted it gone but instead God enabled Paul to cope. Suffering can help us. It can promote maturity in Christ if we are teachable.

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God whittles down Gideon’s army in stages. First, he removes the fearful, as Deuteronomy 20 demands. Over two thirds depart. The rule was to counteract low morale but it must have been hard to see 22,000 depart! Nevertheless, God was determined to prevent boasting. Cut backs were essential.

What is it about numbers? Numbers spell prestige and power. There is safety in numbers. We sometimes think they are the key to everything. Smaller churches envy larger ones; low numbers dishearten us. However, God sometimes wants a decrease. He has his chosen few. Many are on the broad road, few on the narrow road to heaven. We must give up worldly thinking and see that (as E F Schumacher put it in another context) ‘small is beautiful’ or, to use another slogan, ‘less is more’. If God is to use us, we must ‘think small’.

Even then there were still too many. Gideon must take them down to the water for further sifting. Perhaps you learned in Sunday School that God chose the final 300 for their superiority but it does not say that. Rather, if God said this one shall go with you, he went. And if he said this one shall not ... he stayed. The division, however we understand it, is arbitrary. And, so it seems, is the kingdom. God appears to bless a preacher, a church, an individual. We seek explanations. Sometimes we think we know why. Often we are baffled. It seems capricious, nonsensical. Eloquent preachers with small churches, ordinary preachers with large ones; the godly forgotten, the worldly acclaimed. The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favour to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all (Ecclesiastes 9:11). Accept the way it is and recognise how God thus subverts boasting and glorifies himself, doing as he chooses. We must learn humility.

Success through weakness

Gideon’s experience shows how mysterious success is. We dare not excuse laziness or neglect but we must learn to give God glory. We must somehow learn with Paul not to boast about ourselves except, as it were, of our weaknesses (2 Corinthians 12). To know what Gideon and Paul knew, we must ponder God’s words, my power is made perfect in weakness. We must gladly boast of our weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on us. For his sake, delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties convinced that when I am weak, then I am strong.

 

This article first appeared in Grace Magazine.