Successful Evangelism is God-Centered (Legacy 2, Lloyd-Jones)

In his marvelous biography on D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Iain Murray presents the church with invaluable and corrective insight. He writes, not to repeat his previous and massive two-volume biography but to focus on several vital legacies which ML-J (as he calls him) left to the evangelical church. Lloyd-Jones, Messenger Of Grace, was published in 2008 and cannot help but becoming a vital help to the church, especially to those whose life is bound up in ministry. How we need to hear this man's insight and wisdom today! I quote just a portion from Legacy #2, "Christianity is God-Centered Religion." Murray writes:

God-centered Christianity does not mark churches in decline and it was rare in twentieth-century Britain. In the Welsh chapel life of ML-J's own background, the pulpit ethos was mainly sentimental, moralistic, and anecdotal. It was worse in the many churches where liberal theology held sway; the message was akin to saying that a God of love exists for man's comfort and happiness. Even in evangelical circles the message of the gospel was too often reduced to the forgiveness to be gained by responding to Jesus Christ.

For Lloyd-Jones the whole approach was different. Preaching needs to start from where the Bible starts: "In the beginning God"--God the Almighty, the Eternal, the Ruler and Judge of all.

The Bible is the record of the activity of God. God is the actor. God is the centre. Everything is of God and comes from God, and turns to God. It is God who speaks. It is God who acts. It is God who intervenes. It is God who originates, who plans everything everywhere.

He goes on to explain major implications of failing to preach this, implications which are most vital to reiterate as we move toward the celebration of the resurrection . . . 

Without the Bible's revelation of the majesty and holiness of God, man has no conception of the glory from which he has fallen, or of his present predicament. His need is for reconciliation that will change both his statue and nature as a sinner. It is a need that cannot be met without divine action. When Christianity ceases to be God-centred, a superficial understanding of sin will always follow; sin is treated as mere unhappiness or dissatisfaction instead of rebellion against God. Consequently the wrath of God passes out of sight, and with it, the necessity of the substitutionary death of Christ. Men reject the penal sufferings of Christ "because they do not see the problem."

Indeed, it is light views (unbiblical, therefore, false) of man's depravity that has led to the substandard preaching of the gospel around the world today. Every minister would benefit greatly from reading this well-written account of several significant themes in ML-J's ministry, themes which today cannot be overstated! Salvation hangs in the balance as God's greater glory is being ignored!