Martyn Lloyd-Jones on Gospel Preaching

This is an excerpt from Martyn Lloyd-Jones' brilliant work,
"Studies in the Sermon on the Mount":

"The preaching and teaching of a false prophet does not emphasize repentance in any real sense. It has a very wide gate leading to salvation and a very broad way leading to heaven. You need not feel much of your own sinfulness; you need not be aware of the blackness of your own heart. You just "decide for Christ" and you rush in with the crowd, and your name is put down, and is one of the large number of 'decisions' reported by the press. It is entirely unlike the evangelism of the Puritans and of John Wesley, George Whitefield and others, which led men to be terrified of the judgment of God, and to have an agony of soul sometimes for days and weeks and months. John Bunyan tells us in his book Grace Abounding that he endured an agony of repentance for eighteen months. There does not seem to be much room for that today.

Repentance means that you realize that you are a guilty, vile sinner in the presence of God, that you deserve the wrath and punishment of God, that you are hell-bound. It means that you begin to realize that this thing called sin is in you, that you long to get rid of it, and that you turn your back on it in every shape and form. You renounce the world whatever the cost, the world in its mind and outlook as well as its practice, and you deny yourself, and take up the cross and go after Christ. Your nearest and dearest, and the whole world, may call you a fool, or say you have religious mania. You may have to suffer financially, but it makes no difference. That is repentance.

The false prophet does not put it like that.
He "heals the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly", simply saying that it is all right, and that you have but to "come to Christ", "follow Jesus", or "become a Christian". "

If there's one thing which strikes me as being a dramatic change between our understanding of salvation, and how that relates to our evangelism, and the understanding held by men like Martyn Lloyd-Jones, it's this: people nowadays emphasize, and use as proof and assurance of salvation, one's "decision" for Christ. The Holy Spirit gives us assurance that we are children of God, through many means. It's not so much that we must emphasize they "decide" for Christ, but that they truly be taught, and know, the holiness and wrath of God, their condition as fallen creatures (in light of the character of God), their need for a Savior, the lone means of salvation provided through the Sacrificial Lamb, and their need to forsake all else to follow Him. When we have labored to preach the Gospel, then we must trust in the sovereignty of God to teach and draw His own: "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws Him... All who have been taught and learned of the Father come to Me" (John 6:44-45). "For the Gospel is THE POWER OF GOD unto salvation" (Romans 1:16). Our part, after preaching the Gospel, is never to attempt to corner people into making their "decision". Again, we don't have the authority of the Pope here (which is absolutely heretical, and yet do we do no less?), and we cannot suppose it our duty to pronounce someone saved, possibly giving them false assurance, on the basis of their "decision". You will know them by their fruits, not their decision. When God saves them, He saves them. If they need further guidance, then we make that available to them; and we spend all night with them if necessary. Physical birth can take many hours, and the spiritual birth is no different (by that I refer to the time leading up to the actual moment God regenerates a person). God is sovereign in salvation, and He wants us to TREAT IT as though it were the most glorious and amazing work He does in the earth, not just give lip service to that fact.

By Grace Alone,
Thomas Karrer