Miscellaneous Illuminations

'Now take those words of the apostle Paul in Philippians 3. What a perfect expression he gives there to this very thing. He says, ‘Brethren I count not myself to have apprehended’ - he says ‘I haven't got full knowledge, I haven't arrived at perfection, what am I doing?’, well, he says, ‘what I'm doing is this: I am trying to apprehend that by which I have been apprehended’ - let me give you other words for it. He says, ‘I’m trying to lay hold on that which has laid hold on me’ - that's the thing. The Christian is a man who knows he's been laid hold of. In other words, he doesn't have to remind himself, he isn't spasmodic, it isn't occasional, it isn't something he picks up and puts down, it isn't like putting on a suit and taking it off again, no no, The thing has taken hold of him. He's not in control, he is being controlled by this and he's aware of this and he knows it. It isn't something up in the skies any longer, it isn't something that overshadows him, it's inside him. It’s in his heart, it's controlling him. You see the whole analogy proves that. What makes anybody a child is, well, he's got the blood in him, the blood of the parents, the nature of the parents, he belongs to the family, and this is true of the Christian, and he's got it inside him and he knows it and he feels it. It's not external in any sense, it's not a loose relationship, it's not a vague attachment, he's aware that this thing has got hold of him.’ 2nd half a quote from a sermon by Welsh minister Martyn Lloyd Jones (1899-1981) from about 19 minutes into ‘Has God's Life Come Into You?’ Sermon #1016 preached on April 7, 1963 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvYVDXsxZYo 1st half of this quote: https://t.me/Miscellaneous_Illuminations/7953

‘The difference between the Christian and the religious person is that the Christian is controlled by this thing, and HE doesn't control IT. Now there is another very valuable broad distinction. The man to whose relationship to it is this external one, is a man who has to remind himself of it constantly. He reminds himself it's Sunday, that's the day he is religious - perhaps the morning only - but he has to remind himself of it, or something else will remind him of it. He normally lives his life without thinking about it but there are certain set times or special occasions when he reminds himself of it, or is reminded of it by something that takes place. In other words, his religion is right outside of him. It’s almost something that he has in a bag and he takes up his bag on Sunday morning, puts it down again lunchtime Sunday, ‘that's all right for the week!’, that's his relationship to religion. You see, the point about him is that HE is controlling IT. He can take it up when he wants it, he lays it down when he doesn't want it. If he's in trouble, of course he prays and may read his Bible. If he's not in trouble he doesn't dream of doing so. Now there is the typical religious man. Because it's outside him, he is in control of it. It's something occasional, it is a kind of addition to his life, or it may be even worse than that, he may do it simply as a duty, he may do it as a task. You see that was the trouble with those Victorians. It was there. Now, many of them wished it wasn't there, that's why they jumped with such avidity at the famous book of Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species. You see, they really didn't like it, but they felt it was still there, it was like that cloud in the heavens, so they felt, as long as they were not sure that it wasn't true, well, you'd got to keep in with it. So they did it. They did it as a task, they did it as a duty, they did it because it was the right thing to do. It was very much the thing to do in the Victorian era, to go to a place of worship and to call yourself a Christian. But now, the whole time, they were controlling it and of course they did the minimum - just enough to make them feel that they were safe and they were all right and no more. Now there's the religious man. And I cannot see that from the scripture there is any reason whatsoever why such a man has any right to regard himself as a child of God. One of the greatest and the best tests is this: that you've been taken hold of by the thing.’ 1st half of a quote from a sermon by Welsh minister Martyn Lloyd Jones (1899-1981) from about 16 minutes into ‘Has God's Life Come Into You?’ Sermon #1016 preached on April 7, 1963

'I remember reading some 3 years or so ago a phrase about the Victorians which I felt was very illuminating and which certainly helped me to understand this particular point. The man was writing about the Victorians and writing in particular about Matthew Arnold who was such a typical Victorian, and he used this phrase, he said, the trouble with the victorians was that their religion overshadowed them instead of penetrating them. I think that's a very profound remark. I think it is the key to the understanding of the so-called Victorian era, it really does tell us a great deal about them. He said their religion overshadowed them, instead of penetrating them. Now there is a very good statement of what I mean by this general relationship. You see, to those people, their religion, their Christianity, was something as if it were a kind of cloud in the heavens. It was always there, it was overshadowing them, but it was 'there', it wasn't 'here', it didn't penetrate them. It was something apart from them, it was something outside them, external to them. Now, they were very conscious that it was there but it was this loose relationship. I think this man's expression puts it as perfectly perhaps as one can ever put it. And some of us know from experience perhaps exactly what he meant. You can be aware of these things, but you're only aware of them in that manner that it is outside you, as you're aware of the atmosphere, as I said that you may be aware of clouds in the sky keeping the sun away from you, you can't do anything about it but it's there, you are walking along the road down here and here is this thing hanging over you, as it were. Now, to the man to whom religion is merely something that overshadows him, I would say that there is no question at all that he's not a Christian. That is not the relationship of the true Christian, the one who is indeed a child of God to these matters about which we are concerned. Well, let me take that further by putting it secondly in this form, and it'll help to show what I mean. A very good proof of the fact that we are indeed children of God and not merely religious people - because that is the distinction that I have in my mind - it's one thing to be religious, it's another thing to be Christian. Surely this is something which doesn't need any proof or argument or demonstration, this is something quite basic: you can be religious, it doesn't mean that you're Christian there are many religious people in the world today who would tell you that they're not Christian.' Quoting Welsh minister Martyn Lloyd Jones (1899-1981) from about 12 minutes into ‘Has God's Life Come Into You?’ Sermon #1016 preached on April 7, 1963 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvYVDXsxZYo https://t.me/Miscellaneous_Illuminations/7949

‘If we were to relate our experiences, every one of us in this congregation this morning, we would find a great variety in the mere details. There's only one way to become a Christian, that is to be born again, but looked at from the human worldly earthly standpoint there is a great deal of variation in the actual details of our history. I mean, something like this, in particular: there are many here this morning who have always been brought up in what we call a religious manner. They were always taken to a place of worship. They may have gone to Sunday school as children. They've been taught the scriptures from the very beginning and they've always been in this particular atmosphere. Now that's one big, type of experience, but nevertheless they need to be born again like everybody else, and they have been, if they're Christians. You can't be a child of God without being born - not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. The fact that your parents were Christian doesn't make you Christian - it’s not of blood, it's of God - it's a spiritual rebirth that every one of us has to undergo, but that has been the background out of which they've come. But there are others who now are Christians in exactly the same way, but their background was very different. They were not brought up like this. They didn't know what it was to be in a place of worship at all. They were completely ignorant of the scriptures. They had lived a life right out in the world without any knowledge of these things or any connection with them, but now they members of the church side by side with the others.' Quoting Welsh minister Martyn Lloyd Jones (1899-1981) from about 7 minutes into ‘Has God's Life Come Into You?’ Sermon #1016 preached on April 7, 1963 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvYVDXsxZYo https://t.me/Miscellaneous_Illuminations/7949

‘Never, perhaps, has the whole position of the Christian faith been so uncertain, blatantly openly, it's being attacked even in the church, and that makes it doubly important for all of us to know exactly what we believe, above all, in whom we believe, doubly certain I say, of the fact that we know that we are the children of God, so that all these raucous voices will leave us quite unaffected, because we know what we believe and we are certain of it and we are rejoicing in it. Well now then, we've been looking at various tests and they're applied here in the scriptures and provided for us in great profusion and abundance: our relationship to the Son. It is by believing in Him we become the children of God, it's those who believe on His name alone are the children of God, nobody else. Let them call themselves Christians if they will - if they don't believe in Him as the unique Son of God, if they don't believe in His Godhead in the literal fact and miracle of the Incarnation, in these miracles of His, in His atoning death and resurrection, they're just not Christians. I don't hesitate to assert that. We have to believe this. It's only by believing on His name we become Christians at all and become sons of God, and these other people, though they arrogate to themselves the name Christian, are liars, they are deniers of the truth and they are not Christian. Now there must be no uncertainty about this. We mustn't fall into this modern error of imagining that the Christian is a nice flabby man who agrees with everybody and everything and who never criticises. According to the New Testament these antichrists are not only to be avoided, they are to be denounced, and we are to say, as John says of them in his first epistle, they were not of us. They were amongst us but they were not of us. And for myself, I have no fellowship with and I don't belong to the same church, as men who deny the very cardinal elements of the Christian faith and the plain teaching of the word of God. Very well my friends, we must be certain. We must be sure of our position. And above all, we must be certain and sure that we are the children of God.’ Quoting Welsh minister Martyn Lloyd Jones (1899-1981) from about 2 minutes into ‘Has God's Life Come Into You?’ Sermon #1016 preached on April 7, 1963 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvYVDXsxZYo https://t.me/Miscellaneous_Illuminations/7949

Has God's Life Come Into You? - SERMON #1016 A sermon on John 1:12-13 preached by Welsh minister Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) on April 7, 1963 https://www.mljtrust.org/sermon/has-gods-life-come-into-you/

'Practice is needed to be good at sports, work, and family. Likewise, if to succeed against the flesh and pursue righteousness, one must put walking in the Spirit into practice. In John 1:12–13, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones shows that the Christian must not sit passively by and “let go and let God.” Instead, the Christian has a distinct responsibility to work out their faith and Dr. Lloyd-Jones entreats Christians to break free from the flesh. He warns that a Christian can be lulled into leading a barren life, bearing no fruit for the kingdom of God. Therefore, the Christian must train themselves to walk according to the Spirit. Children of God must not merely sit passively, but instead actively pursue a life marked by the Spirit. God has forgiven, justified, and adopted the Christian, and yet they are often tempted to make little use of this newfound state of being. Dr. Lloyd-Jones teaches that the Spirit and the flesh are not merely opposed, but that they war against each other. Dr. Lloyd-Jones offers hope to the Christian who has not gained success in fighting the flesh: walk by the Spirit and they will not gratify the desires of the flesh.' Description of sermon #1015 - Walk in the Spirit - preached by Welsh minister Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) on March 31, 1963 https://www.mljtrust.org/sermon/walk-in-the-spirit/

Renewal of the Mind - Sermon #1013 A sermon on John 1:12-13 preached Welsh preacher, Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) on March 17, 1963 https://www.mljtrust.org/sermon/renewal-of-the-mind/ Mortification of Sin - Sermon #1014 A sermon on John 1:12-13 preached by Welsh minister Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) on March 24, 1963 https://www.mljtrust.org/sermon/mortification-of-sin/ Sermons by MLJ on the gospel according to John https://www.mljtrust.org/topic/book-of-john/

…’others, you see, who are not guilty of that can be equally in a state of lust and equally in the flesh, because they are controlled by their earthbound minds, by their own thoughts, by the philosophies of men, and not by God's revelation and not by God's Spirit.’ Quoting from a sermon preached by Welsh preacher, Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) on the 19th April, 1953. https://t.me/Miscellaneous_Illuminations/7827

'Some men are controlled entirely by their bodies, eating and drinking and various other things, yes, but others, you see, who are not guilty of that can be equally in a state of lust and equally in the flesh, because they are controlled by their earthbound minds, by their own thoughts, by the philosophies of men, and not by God's revelation and not by God's Spirit. And that is why you will find that the Bible seems to teach everywhere that in a sense, the last and the ultimate sin is intellectual pride.' Quoting from a sermon preached by Welsh preacher, Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) on the 19th April, 1953. https://t.me/Miscellaneous_Illuminations/7827

MY DEAR WORMWOOD, I had noticed, of course, that the humans were having a lull in their European war — what they naively call “The War”! — and am not surprised that there is a corresponding lull in the patient's anxieties. Do we want to encourage this, or to keep him worried? Tortured fear and stupid confidence are both desirable states of mind. Our choice between them raises important questions. The humans live in time but our Enemy destines them to eternity. He therefore, I believe, wants them to attend chiefly to two things, to eternity itself, and to that point of time which they call the Present. For the Present is the point at which time touches eternity. Of the present moment, and of it only, humans have an experience analogous to the experience which our Enemy has of reality as a whole; in it alone freedom and actuality are offered them. He would therefore have them continually concerned either with eternity (which means being concerned with Him) or with the Present — either meditating on their eternal union with, or separation from, Himself, or else obeying the present voice of conscience, bearing the present cross, receiving the present grace, giving thanks for the present pleasure. Our business is to get them away from the eternal, and from the Present. With this in view, we sometimes tempt a human (say a widow or a scholar) to live in the Past. But this is of limited value, for they have some real knowledge of the past and it has a determinate nature and, to that extent, resembles eternity. . .It is far better to make them live in the Future. Biological necessity makes all their passions point in that direction already, so that thought about the Future inflames hope and fear. Also, it is unknown to them, so that in making them think about it we make them think of unrealities. In a word, the Future is, of all things, the thing least like eternity. It is the most completely temporal part of time — for the Past is frozen and no longer flows, and the Present is all lit up with eternal rays. Hence the encouragement we have given to all those schemes of thought such as Creative Evolution, Scientific Humanism, or Communism, which fix men's affections on the Future, on the very core of temporality. Hence nearly all vices are rooted in the future. Gratitude looks to the past and love to the present; fear, avarice, lust, and ambition look ahead. Do not think lust an exception. Quoting from 'The Screwtape Letters' by C S Lewis (1942) Book in PDF format http://www.preachershelp.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/lewis-screwtape-letters.pdf

‘Now here [https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Colossians-3-5] I say, is a very vital and essential part of the work of the leading of the Spirit. The leading of the Spirit, as we saw at the end last Sunday morning, obviously and of necessity must lead to an increasing hatred of sin. The Spirit is the Holy Spirit. He is the exact opposite of sin in every respect. And therefore I say that it follows, it needs no demonstration that a man who is under the control and the leading of the Spirit is one who will develop an increasing hatred of sin, and that in turn will lead to is doing something about it. You can't hate sin theoretically, you begin to do something about it if you really hate it. Ye that love the Lord, says the psalmist, hate evil. Hate it. Now then, this is something which is of course emphasised everywhere right through the whole of the New Testament. Now what we must emphasise as we approach this subject this morning is this, it is something you notice which you and I are called upon to do. It is not something that is done for us. Now I put it like that because there is a well-known and popular teaching which tells us that the way of sanctification is to do nothing, it's all to be done for us - ‘look to the Lord he'll do it for you, he'll fight your battles for you’. But here is a definite instruction. If you, through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body you shall live. But you've got to do it. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth - it doesn't say ‘hand yourself and all over and it'll be done for you’ - it says no, you've got to do it, and this is of course absolutely vital and essential. This whole doctrine of the mortification of the body and the mortification of sin and of the flesh is a doctrine that one very rarely hears these days, it almost has gone right out, and yet there were days and times when it was one of the most prominent doctrines in Christian preaching and in the life of the church, and here it is before us in the scripture and in various shapes and forms, I say, it's everywhere in these New Testament epistles. There is no passivity taught in the New Testament, it's a command. It is something that you and I have to do. Indeed we can put it like this: the Spirit lead us to do it, and at the same time He gives us the power to do it. If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body - now, there's the perfect balance. I've got to do it, yes, but the Spirit enables me to do it. I can't do it myself, that is where the whole notion of monasticism broke down.’ Quoting from 8 minutes into The Way of Sanctification - sermon #1012 on John 1:12-13 preached by Welsh minister Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) on March 10, 1963 https://www.mljtrust.org/sermon/the-way-of-sanctification/ https://t.me/Miscellaneous_Illuminations/7942

'Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.' From Paul's letter to the Colossians, chapter 3 verses 2-8 (KJV) Translation details for verse 5 are provided towards the end of the web page https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Colossians-3-5/

The Leading of the Spirit - Sermon #1011 A sermon preached by Welsh minister Martyn Lloyd-Jones on John 1:12-13 preached on March 3, 1963 https://www.mljtrust.org/sermon/the-leading-of-the-spirit/

The Spirit: Leading and Love - Sermon #1010 A sermon on John 1:12-13 preached by Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) on Feb. 24, 1963 https://www.mljtrust.org/sermon/the-spirit-leading-and-love

SERMON #1009 The Spirit in Christians A Sermon on John 1:12-13 preached by Welsh minister Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) on Feb. 17, 1963 https://www.mljtrust.org/sermon/the-spirit-in-christians/

‘In addition to the spiritual impact the Protestant Reformation had on the societies where it developed, it also ushered in significant freedoms that had been prohibited by the Catholic Church. César Vidal, a scholar of Protestantism, documents the trajectory of the religious movement initiated by Martin Luther, the clergyman who challenged papal power to restore the original structures of Christianity. The Reformation movement brought about many changes, both individual and collective, because as it spread throughout Europe, schools were established to combat ignorance, universities were founded, and their members were no longer limited to theology, the elite, or the clergy, but rather opened their doors to talented individuals from all walks of life. But it wasn't only in the field of education that ignorance was eradicated, where knowledge based on Aristotelian philosophy was still being imparted. Science also played a significant role, and authors like Francis Bacon and Isaac Newton, who were considered heretics, along with other reformers, contributed enormously to expanding the field of knowledge. Other areas addressed by the Protestant Reformation included limiting power and restoring the economic and financial stability that had been lost in Catholic Europe, where lending at interest was considered a sin. "The Reformation meant freedom from tyranny, freedom from ignorance, and it was so because it established the rule of law and the separation of powers…" A series of values ​​written in the Bible, which the Catholic Church had discarded when Christianity ceased to be persecuted and became the religion of the empire, were embraced by the Protestant Reformation. To understand the present, it's necessary to know the past. That's why we invite you to analyze in this video the causes and consequences of the Protestant Reformation, the religious revolution in world history that greatly influenced the ideas of the Founding Fathers of the United States.’ ‘Protestant Reformation and its relationship to liberty’ - César Vidal (video published 25.4.2018) https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4iY-Oo3gaw8

‘…I am moving more in the direction of the failure of politics and the inevitability of any attempt of politics - by which we understand the classic sense of any and all attempts by man to organise and better his lot, to be a good citizen and to impose his will upon others - why these are inevitably doomed to failure and why they end in dissension, rivalry, conspiracy and failure to improve. And I won't leave you in the dark for the whole talk as to what the greatest confusion on earth is. The greatest confusion on earth is just that which I've mentioned. It is the darkening of man's mind.’ From just before 6 minutes into ‘2026, Day 1, Session 2 - Alex Thomson - 'The Greatest Confusion on Earth’, description: 'Alex showed us from Genesis 11, that the greatest confusion is man attempting to fix things politically, which will always end in failure.' https://t.me/Miscellaneous_Illuminations/7934

'V, 7. Christ is both head and body. The head is the only begotten son of God and the body is his Church, bridegroom and bride, two in one flesh. Whoever dissents from Holy Scripture concerning the head is not in the Church, even if he is found in all places in which the Church is designated. And, in return, whoever is in agreement with Holy Scripture concerning the head and is not in communion with the unity of the Church is not in the Church, since he separates himself from the witnessing of Christ himself concerning Christ’s body, which is the Church. For example, whoever does not believe that Christ came in the flesh from the Virgin Mary out of the seed of David, of which the Scripture of God speaks very openly, or that he was raised in the very body in which he was crucified and buried, is not in the Church, even if he is found in all of the countries in which the Church is, since he does not adhere to the head itself of the Church, which is Christ Jesus. Nor is he deceived in some obscurity of divine Scripture, but he contradicts its most open and known evidence. Likewise, whoever indeed believes that Christ Jesus came in the flesh, as has been said, and that he rose in the same flesh in which he was born and suffered and that he is the son of God, God from God, one with the Father, the unchangeable Word of the Father, through whom all things were made, but nevertheless so separates himself from the body, which is the Church, that his communion is not with the entirety wherever it is extended but is found in some separate part; it is clear that he is not in the Catholic Church. For this reason, since our question with the Donatists is not concerning the head, but concerning the body, that is, not concerning the savior Jesus Christ himself, but concerning his Church; the head over which we agree shows to us the body over which we disagree so that through his words we might now cease from disagreeing. He is the only begotten son and Word of God and for this reason the holy prophets were not able to speak the truth unless it was shown them by truth itself, which is the Word of God, and it was commanded that they speak. In the same manner, in earlier times the Word of God resounded through the prophets, then through itself when the Word became flesh and lived among us (John I,14); then through the apostles whom he sent to preach about him so that salvation might be spread continually to the ends of the earth. In all these things the Church is to be sought.' An extract from Augustine's De Unitate Ecclesiae: On the Unity of the Church: in English translation https://christiantruth.com/articles/deunitate Augustine's De Unitate Ecclesiae: On the Unity of the Church: in Latin https://artflsrv04.uchicago.edu/philologic4.7/PLD/navigate/2812/2?byte=1646&byte=1649&byte=1657

‘It is an astonishing fact that this treatise by Augustine has never, before now been fully translated into English. One can find portions of the letter translated in various scholarly works, but the full text has never been translated. It is an important historical work dealing with the nature of the true Church and is therefore an important aspect of his overall work. It is a privilege to be able to present this work to English readers for the first time. The following gives a brief overview of the historical context in which Augustine wrote his letter and the nature of the Donatist controversy, the overall principles that governed Augustine’s perspective on the church and what he considered constituted true unity and the implications his views have for the Reformation controversy with Roman Catholicism.’ Quoting from ‘De Unitate Ecclesiae: On the Unity of the Church: Introduction’ (an article that refers to the full English translation from the original Latin text) [in 2018?] https://christiantruth.com/articles/deunitateintroduction Original latin text online https://artflsrv04.uchicago.edu/philologic4.7/PLD/navigate/2812/2?byte=1646&byte=1649&byte=1657