Hodge and Lloyd-Jones on the Importance of Sound Instruction

It matters where you attend church. It matters very much who your pastor and teachers are and what they believe and teach. Sound religious instruction is invaluable. It is essential to one's Christian walk. Here are two quotations, the first from Charles Hodge, the second from Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, which set this idea in its proper light. The Charles Hodge quote was furnished by the Banner of Truth.

Charles Hodge

"The most natural method of appeasing conscience is the promise of reformation. Particular sins are therefore forsaken, and a struggle, it may be, is maintained against all others. This conflict is often long and painful, but it is always unsuccessful. It is soon found, that sin, in one form or another, is constantly getting the mastery, and the soul feels that something more must be done if it is ever to make itself fit for heaven. It is, therefore, ready to do or to submit to anything which appears necessary for this purpose. What particular form of works it may be which it endeavors to weave into a robe of righteousness, depends on the degree of knowledge which it possesses, or the kind of religious instruction which it receives." (Emphasis mine).

The Lloyd-Jones quotation comes from his series, preached during the 1960s at Westminster Chapel in London, on Paul's Epistle to the Romans.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

"The cardinal error into which many tend to fall is to think of ourselves as Christians in terms of our believing and our holding on, instead of looking at ourselves in the way in which Scripture always presents the position to us... There has been so much emphasis upon decision, receiving, yielding, being willing, and giving ourselves that salvation is regarded almost exclusively in terms of our activity... Many are in trouble simply because they do not realize the truth concerning the new birth... Nothing is more glorious than the doctrine of the rebirth; and this is obviously the work of God in us through the Spirit. We do not give birth to ourselves, we are not reborn because we believe. We believe because we are reborn." Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Romans - The Perseverance Of The Saints) (Emphasis mine).

"And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love." (Ephesians 4:11-16). (Emphasis mine).

Real Christianity

Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

By D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

"The cardinal error into which many tend to fall is to think of ourselves as Christians in terms of our believing and our holding on, instead of looking at ourselves in the way in which Scripture always presents the position to us... There has been so much emphasis upon decision, receiving, yielding, being willing, and giving ourselves that salvation is regarded almost exclusively in terms of our activity... Many are in trouble simply because they do not realize the truth concerning the new birth... Nothing is more glorious than the doctrine of the rebirth; and this is obviously the work of God in us through the Spirit. We do not give birth to ourselves, we are not reborn because we believe. We believe because we are reborn."

This runs contrary to all I learned growing up. Even as I young man, it was all I was acquainted with. It seems to be something that's not taught much anymore. But I believe it is the truth.

Real Faith

Dr. Lloyd-Jones

"Nobody can have faith unless the Lord opens the heart. It is impossible." 

 --Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Romans - Saving Faith)

"The first movement is from God to us, not from us to God."

 Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Dr. Lloyd-Jones' expositions of the Apostle Paul's Epistle to the Romans are available singly or as part of his 14-part series published by the Banner of Truth Trust.You can listen to all 366 of the doctor's sermons in the Romans series at the MLJ Trust website.

"And of the joints and marrow"

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

- King James Bible "Authorized Version", Cambridge Edition

A New Lesson on Prayer from C. H. Spurgeon

Spurgeon in his study

From Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, on Facebook.

For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer. - Psalm 109:4

[Those parts what really ate my lunch I've highlighted in bold text.]

"Lying tongues were busy against the reputation of David, but he did not defend himself; he moved the case into a higher court, and pleaded before the great King himself. Prayer is the safest method of replying to words of hatred. The Psalmist prayed in no cold-hearted manner, he gave himself to the exercise--threw his whole soul and heart into it--straining every sinew and muscle, as Jacob did when wrestling with the angel. Thus, and thus only, shall any of us speed at the throne of grace. As a shadow has no power because there is no substance in it, even so that supplication, in which a man's proper self is not thoroughly present in agonizing earnestness and vehement desire, is utterly ineffectual, for it lacks that which would give it force. "Fervent prayer," says an old divine, "like a cannon planted at the gates of heaven, makes them fly open." The common fault with the most of us is our readiness to yield to distractions. Our thoughts go roving hither and thither, and we make little progress towards our desired end. Like quicksilver our mind will not hold together, but rolls off this way and that. How great an evil this is! It injures us, and what is worse, it insults our God. What should we think of a petitioner, if, while having an audience with a prince, he should be playing with a feather or catching a fly?

"Continuance and perseverance are intended in the expression of our text. David did not cry once, and then relapse into silence; his holy clamour was continued till it brought down the blessing. Prayer must not be our chance work, but our daily business, our habit and vocation. As artists give themselves to their models, and poets to their classical pursuits, so must we addict ourselves to prayer. We must be immersed in prayer as in our element, and so pray without ceasing. Lord, teach us so to pray that we may be more and more prevalent in supplication."

A Window on the Religious Left

Fox News' Todd Starnes reported on another glittering example of the religious left's intolerance. Of course, the incident had to occur in California, at Helen Hunt-Jackson Elementary School in Temecula. The offender was a first-grade girl completing her homework assignment by explaining to the class one way in which her family celebrated Christmas. The bearer of the sword, in this case, was the child's teacher, who will never rank right up there with the nation's founders or with those who have fought and died for American freedoms on foreign soil. Predictably, the local school board is mouthing patriotic slogans while circling the wagons around this epitome of what a teacher is not.

The principle, too, Mrs. Ami Paradise, is part of the problem; for, according to Starnes' article, in later allowing the little girl to finish reciting her story in her office, said that the teacher had done the right thing, confirming "there was no way [the young girl] could finish that presentation."

Why?

Well because the little girl was about to quote John 3:16, and "there are specific education codes that protect the school."

Protect the school from what, the love of God?

Educators, as the term is normally understood, they are not.

The Sands of Time

One of my favorites ...

Anne Ross Cousin wrote many more verses than just these four; one place to go to for these is this site. 

For the tune, listen below.