A rich outtake from Dr Martyn Lloyd Jones

"Here are you and I, miserable worms in this world, miserable worms with our arrogance and our pride and our appalling ignorance. We deserve nothing but to be blotted off the face of this earth. But what has happened is that before the foundation of the world this blessed God, these three blessed Persons, considered us, considered our condition, considered what would happen to us, and the consequence was that these three Persons, God, whom man hath never seen, stooped to consider us and planned a way whereby we might be forgiven and redeemed. The son said, I will leave this glory for a while, I will dwell in the womb of a woman, I will be born as a babe, I will become a pauper, I will suffer insult in the world, I will even allow them to nail Me to a Cross and spit in My face. He volunteered to do all that for us, and at this very moment this blessed Second Person in the Trinity is seated at the right hand of God to represent you and me. He came down to earth and did all that, and rose again and ascended to heaven; and it was planned 'before the world' for you and for me.

Do you still say you are not interested in theology? Do you still say you have no time to be interested in doctrine? You will never begin to praise God or worship or adore Him until you begin to realize something of what He has done for you."

(God's Ultimate Purpose, Ephesians 1:1-23, Chapter 4, page 55)

After preaching on Sunday about having a fresh passion for Christ, I read this and want to burst. Jesus is amazing, I know I've said it before and I know I am going to say it again, but when you read this and start to let it sink in it can only change your life. Praise the Lord!!!

HE IS EVERYTHING!

Chapter three of Dr Martyn Lloyd Jones' first commentary on the Ephesians is about chapter 1 verse 2 of this great Epistle. In it he speaks of the grace and peace that is ours in Christ. He says that 'grace is the beginning of our faith; peace is the end of our faith'. In other words, we are saved by grace and this should always lead to peace; peace should always be the end result if we get the full sense of the grace by which we receive reconciliation, redemption, atonement, justification and victory. This is all fantastic news and then I got to this as he continues to unpack the verse and gets to Jesus:

"This is the differential of Christianity, this is the element that changes everything. It is the Lord Jesus Christ. Lest there be any uncertainty or confusion let us note what Paul says in this very salutation: 'Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.' The grace and peace come equally from the Lord Jesus Christ and the Father. This is vital doctrine. There is no such thing as Christianity apart from the Lord Jesus Christ; there is no blessing from God to man in a Christian sense except in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Anything which claims to be Christianity without having Christ at the beginning and the centre and the end is a denial of Christianity, call it what you will. There is no Christianity apart from Him; He is everything.'

(God's Ultimate Purpose, Ephesians 1:1-23, Chapter 3, page 43)

You have got to love this and be challenged by it. HE IS EVERYTHING. Can I hand on heart say this is true of me? Can I stand and say with Asaph in Psalm 73 that I desire nothing on this earth besides Him? My wife, my unborn child, my family, RFC? These are all so dear to me and at times they can feel like everything to me. My desire is to get to that point where I can say that in all circumstances, HE IS EVERYTHING.

More from the Dr!

It takes me a week to process and chew over each installment from the Dr. Here's my highlight from this week:

'In the sixth chapter of Romans Paul works it out and says that when Christ was crucified we were crucified with Him; when He died, we died with Him; when He was buried, we were buried with Him; when He rose again we rose with Him. He is seated in the heavenly places. Paul says in the second chapter of this Ephesian Epistle, 'God hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ'. We are seated in the heavenly places with Christ at this moment because we are 'in Christ'. What a tremendous, staggering, overwhelming truth - I am part of Christ, ~I belong to Him, I am a member of the body of Christ! I AM NOT MY OWN (emphasis mine), I have been 'bought (purchased) with a price'. I am in Christ. He is the Head, I am one of the members. There is a vital, organic, mystical union between us. All the blessings we enjoy as Christians come to us because we are 'in Christ'. It is 'of his fullness we have received, and grace upon grace'. 'I am the true vine', says the Lord Himself, 'and ye are the branches.'

All that is for you if you are a Christian. Do not talk about weakness or helplessness; He is the Life and you are joined to the Life, you are part of the Life, you are a branch in the the Vine, 'in Christ.' (God's Ultimate Purpose, Ephesians 1:1-23, Chapter 2, page 32)

I so often talk about weakness and helplessness - what wonderful truth to chew on this week - we are IN CHRIST, I am not my own but now am His, Jesus is my everything and my identity is found in Him; not being a husband, not being a prospective father, not being a church leader, but in Him!

Just what the doctor ordered!

How about this from the great preacher, Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones:

"There is only one way whereby God forgives us; it is because He sent His only begotten Son from heaven to earth, and to agony and the shame and the death on the Cross: 'In whom we have redemption through his blood.' There is no Christianity without 'the blood of Christ'. It is central, it is absolutely essential. There is nothing without it. Not only the Person of Christ but in particular, His death, His shed blood, His atoning substitutionary sacrifice! It is in that way, and that way alone, that we are redeemed. In this Epistle (Ephesians) Christ is shown to be absolutely essential. We shall find it to be so as we come to the details. He is everywhere, He must be. We are chosen in Him, called by Him, saved by His blood. He is the Head of the Church as this first chapter reminds us. He is 'far above all principality and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come'. He is 'the Head of the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all'; and He is at the right hand of God with all authority and power in Heaven and on earth. Jesus, our Lord, is supreme; He is the Son of God, the Saviour of the World. That is going to be our theme. Are you beginning to look forward to it- to look at Him, to gaze upon His Person, in His offices, in His work, in all that He is and can be to us?'

(God's Ultimate Purpose, Ephesians 1:1-23, page 18)

I certainly am looking forward to looking and gazing upon Jesus, what greater thing is there to do. The doctor paints a picture here that causes my heart to once again race at the thought of my King, my Saviour, my Lord, my Redeemer, my Brother, my Friend, my Rock, my everything. Oh to one day be able to be as eloquent as this great man of God, but for today I will immerse myself in his words and reflect on the greatness of Jesus.