From the MLJ Archive

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: The following sermon, which was recorded on Sunday morning, January the 30th, 1955, is the 16th in a series of sermons preached by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones on Saint Paul's letter to the Ephesians.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: The doctor has arrived at Ephesians chapter 1, verses 8 and 9, and we join him now during his opening introductory remarks.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: That each thought, as it were, leads on to the next. Each one has something very fresh. Each and every one of them is related to earlier, so that they all go together and, in a sense, must always be considered and remembered together. If we really are to have a good and a thorough grasp of the truth.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: The Apostle, you remember, has been extolling the glory and the riches of the grace of God by which the things which he has already mentioned have come to us.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: It is because of this wonderful grace of God that God has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world and has predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ and all that that involved. And all that he has reminded us has come to us in experience and experimentally, by means of the great redemption.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Through the blood of Christ.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: We could experience none of these things apart from that because we are sold under sin by nature. We are all the children of wrath. So that before this great purpose can come to us, something had to happen, and it has happened. God sent his own Son and he has delivered us. He has purchased us. He has redeemed us. He has ransomed us.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: From the grip of the law and from the devil and from hell, and we have been set free. And in particular, we enjoy the priceless blessing of the forgiveness of sins.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Now the Apostle has been saying all that and he couldn't say it without praising the riches of God's grace. But even there, he can't stop. He goes on because, as he tells us, grace does not exhaust itself at that point.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: The tragedy is that so many think that that is the end of grace, that the one and only message of Christianity is the forgiveness of sins. But it isn't. That's the mere beginning. Paul puts that first, as we saw, because it is the first thing. But the riches of grace don't end at that point.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: That's, I say, but the introduction, the essential first step. And then there are other great and mighty things that follow. You know, obviously, the Apostle, having used this superlative, feels that even that wasn't enough, he must add to it. Let us take it together: in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath abounded.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: The riches have abounded. You see, that wasn't enough to call it riches and to define its endlessness in terms of riches. He's got to add that it's abounded towards us. And it is to that further aspect of the working of God's grace that we now turn, and to which we must give our careful and our serious attention.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Now, in order to understand these two verses, we must first of all deal with what we may describe as the mechanics. We must get clearly in our minds exactly what the Apostle does say here, and that leads to a consideration of the very phraseology of the two statements.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Now, in this authorized version we have wherein he hath abounded towards us. But it is generally agreed, and there can indeed be no question about this, that that is not a very good translation. It is better to take it like this: which he has caused to abound towards us.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: That's a better way of taking it for this reason. This wherein he has abounded towards us rather directs our attention to God himself, whereas it's perfectly clear that at this point the Apostle really wants us to concentrate upon the grace. The riches of his grace.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: And then he goes on to say the riches of his grace, which, which the grace, he has caused to abound towards us. Of course, it's God who's done it. But what the Apostle is here emphasizing is the way in which God's grace, in its riches, has abounded towards us. So, rather than wherein he has abounded, let us take it as which he has caused to abound toward us.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: And then there is a further problem. And that is to decide the relationship of the statement in all wisdom and prudence.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Now there has been a good deal of disagreement about this. Here in this authorized version and in the revised version which you have before you, you find that these words in all wisdom and prudence are in the eighth verse and linked to God causing his grace to abound towards us.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: But you will find in this revised standard version, which is so popular at the present time, that there there is a difference. They put those words in the ninth verse. And so the eighth verse there is a very short verse, just this which he has caused to abound towards us.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Then it goes on to say having in all wisdom and prudence made known unto us the mystery of his will, et cetera.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Now, ultimately, of course, it comes very much to the same thing, and yet it does seem to me that it is rather vital that we should be clear about this matter. Because, as I understand it, if this is a description of how the grace of God abounds towards us, it is rather important that we should take these words wisdom and prudence in the eighth verse and not in the ninth, and take them in connection with the grace of God.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Now there are three possible ways in which you might interpret it, let me just note them. You might say that God in the exercise of his wisdom and prudence has abounded towards us in grace. That's one possible way of taking it.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Another way of taking it is this: that he has made known to us in all wisdom and prudence the mystery of his will. That's how the revised standard version takes it. But it seems to me that a much better way, and the one that is really suggested by the authorized and revised versions, if we just change that first part of verse 8 is to take it like this: which, referring to the grace, in connection with this or together with it, he has caused to abound towards us his grace in wisdom and prudence.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Now, I argue that it should be taken like that for this reason. I don't think that it is right to attribute the all wisdom and prudence to God. And for this reason: that God being himself absolute wisdom, we have no right to say, and it is indeed not right that we should say, that God does anything in all wisdom.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: We can speak of men doing things in all wisdom, but God is essential wisdom. And therefore, you can't apply a term like all wisdom, doing something in all wisdom to God. It's lacking in reverence.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: And that is still more applicable to the use of the word prudence. Nowhere in the whole range of the Bible and the realm of Scripture is the term prudence ascribed to God. You can use it about men again, but it's inappropriate to use it with respect to God, all whose ways are perfect, and who is, as I say, absolute and eternal wisdom.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Very well then, surely, I say that we must regard the wisdom and the prudence as something that are applicable to us and which have come to us as the result of the working of God's grace. Very well then.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: We can translate our statement, our passage in this way: What the Apostle is saying is that the riches of God's grace towards us have not stopped in the matter of forgiveness, but that God's grace towards us has so abounded that it has brought to us something further. And what is that something further? Well, it is this very wisdom and prudence whereby we may know and which are absolutely necessary to a knowledge of the mystery of God's will and of his eternal purpose in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Very well. If that is so, this is the third great statement which the Apostle makes here, and in which he tells us the things that God has done with respect to us. First, he has chosen us. Secondly, he has predestinated us. Thirdly, he has made known unto us the mystery of his will.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: In other words, you see, there is a definite sequence here. The Apostle is concerned to tell us what God has done, and those are the three great things. Here it is, he puts it again in this ninth verse.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: God in his own eternal purpose, you see, having made known unto us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he has purposed in himself. God has purposed in himself before the foundation of the world this great plan, this great scheme of redemption and of salvation.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: It's something that originated entirely in the mind and in the heart of God. He purposed it in himself. It isn't a response to anything that man has asked for. It isn't God's reply to anything that man has initiated. No, no, he purposed it in himself before the foundation of the world.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: And what he has purposed is, of course, this good pleasure of his towards men, this goodwill towards men that the angels talked about, you remember. Peace on earth, goodwill towards men, the good pleasure of his will. There it is, according to his good pleasure.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Now, says the Apostle, God has not only purposed and planned all that. He has revealed it. It was a mystery, but he's made it known. Yes, and still more wonderful, and this is the particular message of these two verses. God has also done this something, which makes it possible for you and for me to know that, and to apprehend it, and to receive it.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Now, that's the way in which the riches of God's grace has abounded towards us. It has abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence in order that we might have this insight and understanding into the mystery of God's will and his gracious purpose.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Very well, that's our theme. And I think you see at once what a fundamental and vitally important theme it is. It is particularly important at this present time because here the Apostle is handling and dealing with the whole question of our approach to Christian salvation.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: And as you know, it is not only a matter of great discussion at the present time, as it always has been in a sense in the history of the church, but it is a particular cause of stumbling to the modern man.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: We are here face to face with the whole problem, if you like, of revelation and reason. Or if you prefer it, faith and reason. The problem that is raised here by this statement of the Apostle – it's we who make the problem, not the Apostle – but the problem is, how does man enter into all this?

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: What is the place of man's mind and reason and understanding in connection with faith? You see how contemporary and up-to-date a problem it is. There are so many today who reject the Christian faith because they don't understand it. They say it's unreasonable, it doesn't fit into the usual categories of thought, and so on and so forth.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: And that seems to them to be good and sufficient ground for finishing with it and rejecting it and saying that it's got nothing to say today. Now that's the very thing which the Apostle lays down here. It is, I say, one of these crucial matters.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: It's absolutely vital for the preaching of the gospel and evangelism. It determines our whole approach towards these questions, and particularly with respect to the methods. The question is, I say, how does a man come to a knowledge of the great salvation which is in Christ and the mighty and eternal purpose of God?

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Now then, we can do nothing better than just take the terms that the Apostle uses. His first term is the term mystery. Wherein he has abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Now this word, this term mystery, is, as you know, a very important one in the whole teaching of the Epistles of the Apostle Paul. But it isn't confined to him by any means. It is, I would suggest, a very vital term in the entire teaching of the whole of the New Testament.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Our Lord himself, you remember, used this term. You remember how you're told in the 13th chapter of the Gospel according to Saint Matthew and the parallel passages, such as Mark 8, et cetera, how our Lord had to explain to the disciples this method of his of teaching the mystery of the truth concerning the kingdom in parables.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: They couldn't quite understand this, so our Lord took them into the house, and he said unto them, "Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given." The teaching concerning the kingdom of heaven is a mystery. And to the disciples he's making it known, but not to the others. So that though the Pharisees and others were standing by and hearing the same words, as he spoke and uttered his parables, they didn't understand them. They went away with a wrong impression.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: "It's the mystery of the kingdom," says our Lord. Very well, there's our term. But it isn't the only place in which it's used. Listen, for instance, to the Apostle Paul using it in the 16th chapter, the last chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, in verses 25 and 26.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: "Now unto him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest and by the Scriptures of the prophets according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith." There it is, very clearly.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: But then you remember we had it in that chapter which we read at the beginning, it's in the first Epistle to the Corinthians, the second chapter and verses 6 and 7. "Howbeit," says the Apostle, "we speak wisdom among them that are perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world that come to nought, but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery. Even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory."

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Now there is a further example of it. And again, the Apostle uses it in the third chapter of this Epistle to the Ephesians in the third verse. He says, "You have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which is given me to you-ward, how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery, as I wrote afore in few words, whereby, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known."

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Doesn't the Apostle Paul repeat himself? You know, every good teacher repeats himself. And of course, a teacher of the gospel has got something worth repeating. In these different Epistles, you find the Apostle saying exactly the same thing. And again, he says it finally, in writing to Timothy, in 1 Timothy 3:16, "Great is the mystery of godliness."

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Now then, it is patently a key term. And if we don't understand its meaning, we shall certainly go astray in this matter of how a man becomes a Christian, and the relationship of reason to faith, and of mind to salvation. What then does this term mean?

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Well, let us have a few negatives. It does not mean, after the manner of the cults and the mystery religions which were common in Paul's day, a kind of mystic secret which is only revealed to a few initiates and which is deliberately kept from and guarded from everybody else.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Now that was the characteristic of the mystery religions. You went into the temples and you went through certain procedures. It was a secret that really was confined to certain philosophers and exceptional people. It was never given to the common ordinary people.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Oh no, it was closely guarded and kept and there was a great ceremony and ritual and then you were initiated. There are certain cults, as you are familiar with at the present time, which are clearly based upon such practices and are the very antithesis of the Christian faith.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Behind closed doors and the secret is kept, it must never be divulged and nobody knows. It's the opposite of Christianity which proclaims, preaches, expounds, heralds, wants everybody to know it. It isn't that, you see. It isn't some closely guarded mystic secret into which the initiates alone are admitted.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: But still more important perhaps is it that we should say this: that when this truth is described as a mystery, it doesn't mean that it is something which is incomprehensible to the human mind in and of itself, and therefore vague and nebulous and indefinite.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Now that perhaps is the more important point to emphasize today, because there is a popular school of thought which says something like this. It says, you know, the Christian faith can never be stated in propositions. Those of you who are interested in theology and the contemporary debate, and are following the journals, will know that that is the essential position of the so-called Barthian movement, the followers of Karl Barth of Switzerland.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: They say that truth, salvation, cannot and must not be stated in propositions. Well, what is it then? Well, it's essentially an encounter. It is this existential moment when God speaks to men and addresses them and something happens.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: And all men's attempts and endeavors to put it into print are of necessity wrong and false and misleading. That is why they say that ultimately all you have in the Bible is very fallible, of course. It's only men's attempts to state this vital thing that happened at the moment of encounter.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: But that you mustn't tell men that they've got to believe certain propositions. They say truth can never be stated propositionally. It's a mystery. In other words, their definition of a mystery is something that is incomprehensible. Something that men cannot state and men cannot express. And that any attempt to do so abrogates from it and detracts from it.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Now, I say that it is vitally important that we should realize that that is not the meaning of mystery. That view of mystery is not confined to the Barthian movement and to its various adherents. There are others who believe the same thing. There was once a slogan which put it like this. It said, "Religion is caught, not taught."

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: You see, it's something that you catch. It's a spirit, something indefinable, something that you can't state in terms. You must never have a confession of faith, you must never have a credal statement. No, no, they say that's wrong, that's to be rationalistic, that's bringing the mind in.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: No, no, they say religion is something of the spirit and it's something that you catch. You meet people who have got it. You can't tell exactly what it is, but you know they've got it and you'd like to have it, and you can have it, and you catch it and it spreads like this from one to another. Religion is caught, not taught. Not a matter of ideas and statements and propositions.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Now, I am contending that that is an utter violation of what the New Testament means by the term mystery. And that there is nothing, finally, which is more dangerous than that teaching. Of course, as I'm suggesting, it's very popular today.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: You really, you know, cannot have a successful ecumenical movement unless you believe something like that. The only hope of having a successful ecumenical movement is to say, "Now, you mustn't come down to particularities. You mustn't insist upon anything." As long as we all believe in Christ and are somehow in Christ, well, we're all one.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Roman Catholics as well, of course, and ultimate great world church, inclusive of everybody. People call themselves Unitarians. Well, of course, that's their attempt to explain things. They're all one, they believe in Christ. Let's all get together who are in Christ.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Evangelism, they say, yes, but if you're going to evangelize, you must have a theological truce. We've been hearing a lot about that during this last year. Let's have a theological truce during the campaign. Evangelism means bringing people to Christ. You afterwards begin to decide what they are to believe about Christ.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: But it doesn't matter about that, let them come to Christ and afterwards they can decide what they're going to believe. Now all that, in a sense, is based upon this idea that the Christian truth is essentially mysterious in the sense that it is incomprehensible to the human intellect, and that it never can be understood.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: And that therefore we must never try to do so and to state it, but must all vaguely believe in Christ. I suggest that those definitions of mystery are utterly erroneous. What does mystery then mean? Well, this. It is not something that is incomprehensible to the human mind, but it is rather something that is undiscoverable to the unaided human mind.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: You see the difference? The first definition says that it is always incomprehensible. The second definition says no. The human mind by its own efforts and endeavors can never arrive at it. But if it is enabled to do so, it does begin to comprehend it.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: It is a mystery in the sense that men with his unaided human fallen mind and intellect can never discover it and arrive at it. But when it is revealed, he is able to do so. Notice how Paul puts it. He calls it God's wisdom. He says it is a hidden wisdom.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: And he says the princes of this world didn't know it. Why? Well, because they were seeking to understand it with their own minds, but, says the Apostle, God has revealed it unto us by the spirit. For the spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: We have received, he goes on to say, not the spirit that is of the world, but the spirit that is of God, that we may know the things that are freely given to us of God. We may know them. They become comprehensible because of the result of the operation of the spirit.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: And of course, in saying all that, the Apostle is simply repeating what our blessed Lord had said before him. Go to the 11th chapter of the Gospel according to Saint Matthew and there you will find our Lord turning to his Father and saying, "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: "Even so, Father, for so it hath seemed good in thy sight." God hides them from the wise and prudent, it remains a mystery to the wise and prudent, but not to the babes. God reveals them unto the babes in order that they may enjoy them.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: In other words, the term mystery means this: that this great truth of God's will and purpose and salvation can only be received when God makes it known and reveals it, and what the Apostle says that he has done so. Wherein he has abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Very well then, mystery means this: not something inherently and essentially incomprehensible to the human mind, but rather something which is a secret to the natural human mind which God, nevertheless, has revealed and unfolded.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: The whole case of the New Testament turns upon this: that the believers in Christ, the Christians, have entered into the secret. Have had the mystery revealed to them. It doesn't remain a mystery to the Christian. It's a mystery to the non-Christian. To the Christian, it is an open secret, because God, in his grace and kindness, has been pleased to unfold it and to reveal it.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Very well. That's the first step. But let us go on to the second step. Is it therefore true to say that because God has made this revelation of the mystery of his will in Christ, that anybody who chooses to do so can receive it and understand it?

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: God has revealed it in Christ. Very well. Can any man come to the New Testament and read it, and apply his mind and his intellect to it, and therefore receive the message? The answer is no. And this is the very thing that the Apostle is here emphasizing. It brings us to the words wisdom and prudence.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: What does it mean exactly? Well, it means this: the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God. Not many wise, not many noble are called. Yes, there was the truth staring them in the face, as it were, standing in front of them, they couldn't see it.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Men come to the New Testament with all their ability and understanding and training, they don't see the truth. And they never can without the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit and his operation upon us is absolutely essential before we can receive the truth and begin to understand it.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Wisdom is necessary. And wisdom means, of course, knowledge and understanding. The best exposition of these two verses, in other words, is to be found in the first two chapters of that first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians. The great quest of the Greeks was for wisdom. The great quest of all philosophers is for knowledge and for understanding.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: They tried to find God and to understand him and the world, but the world by wisdom knew not God. The world's wisdom is not enough. Yet not the wisdom of this world, says God. We speak the wisdom of God. It's entirely different. God must give the understanding also.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: So that the Apostle says in writing to the Corinthians again in that first Epistle and in the third chapter, one of the most vital things he ever said, "If any man would become wise in this world, let him become a fool that he may be made wise." In other words, if you want to understand and enter into this wisdom of God, what have you got to do? You've got to become a little child.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: You've got to renounce the earthly human wisdom and the human powers and faculties. You've got to become a fool. You've got to say, "I know nothing. My abilities are of no value. I become as a little child." "Verily, verily, I say unto you, except you be born again, you shall not enter into the kingdom of God."

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: That's it. But the glory of it is this, says the Apostle, that God, in his grace, has revealed it unto us. He's given us, his grace has abounded towards us, so that we can say, "We have the mind of Christ." Did you notice that peroration at the end of that second chapter of first Corinthians?

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: He that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. He understands, but nobody can understand him. Well, who has known the mind of the Lord? Who has been his instructor? How can we understand these things? Here's the answer. We have the mind of Christ. How have we got it?

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: It's because of the riches of God's grace, which have abounded towards us in all wisdom. He's given us the power to understand and to comprehend. But he doesn't stop it at that. It's not only all wisdom, but also prudence, you notice. Now, what's the meaning of this?

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Well, the term prudence, as used in the New Testament, at least the word that is translated prudence here, doesn't carry generally the meaning that we normally attach to the word prudence. Our familiar customary use of it is a further refinement.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Let me give you some other examples of the use of the same essential word in the New Testament. Do you remember Simon Peter, after having made his great confession at Caesarea Philippi, when our Lord told him that he'd got to go to the death of the cross, Peter said, "Far be it from thee, Lord, this shall not happen unto thee."

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Our Lord turned to him and said, "Get thee behind me, Satan, for thou savorest not the things which be of God." You don't savor them. You're not appreciating them, you're not understanding them. But let me give you another illustration. In Romans 8:5, you read this: "They that are in the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, and they that are in the spirit, or after the spirit, the things of the spirit." That's the same term.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: The minding of the things of the flesh, that's their interest, that's the realm that attracts them. That's where they live. Those are the things that they savor and enjoy. Or take again in Colossians 3:2: "Set your affections on things above." The same word as this. Set your affections.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Now then, that helps us to understand the meaning of this prudence, doesn't it? It means, you see, a state of mind which includes the affections as well as the understanding. Wisdom is a matter of the intellect and of the understanding. Prudence includes the affections as well as the mind.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: So you can translate it, if you write, insight. In all wisdom and insight. Or if you prefer it, you can translate it as spiritual discernment. The ability to discern, spiritual apprehension of the excellence of the things of God, and a corresponding affection towards them. That's the thing.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: So that the riches of God's grace have abounded toward us, not only in this wisdom that gives me understanding. Not only that it takes up the whole of my soul, the whole man. It includes my affections, my interest, my love. My whole being is called out unto it, and I want it, and with my whole being I take it up and take it in.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: All wisdom and prudence. The riches of God's grace have abounded towards us, truly, in this way then, that not only do I understand it with my mind, my whole being goes out to it in a glad and a willing and a ready response. That is the doctrine.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Well, if that is the doctrine, I'd drawling conclusions, and I'm just going to give you them boldly, asking and pleading of you to consider them at your leisure. If this is true, then advances in knowledge and in science and the advance of the centuries make not the slightest difference in this connection, and are completely irrelevant.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Now, I came across a statement only yesterday, which shows you how necessary it is to say something like that today. I was reading a review of a book by a man. And he went on to deal with those who are very fond of praising the theology of the 15th, the 16th, and the 17th centuries, and also certain Roman Catholic writers.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: And he put it like this. He said, "I am less sure than I was, however, that the categories of those great days are adequate for a discussion of the problems raised for our thought by our new physicists." Do you see what he means?

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: "Ah," he says, "it's no use reading and considering the great theologians of the past, in a sense. They can't help us now. We've got the problems raised and posed for us by this new physics, atomic physics, the new physicists."

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: And of course, there are new problems confronting us because of the advances in knowledge and in thought, and this understanding that we have of the cosmos and the working of the universe. And he says, "It's no use going back, we obviously must have something new before we can understand spiritual truth, and the way of God with respect to men, and the way of salvation at the present time, because of these new problems, because of the advances of men's minds."

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: But that's simply a complete denial of what the Apostle teaches in these two verses we're considering this morning, and, I suggest, the whole of the New Testament. The mind of man at its best was never adequate. To the natural man, this remains a mystery.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: It was a mystery nearly 2,000 years ago, it is equally a mystery today. And new physics doesn't make the slightest difference. We are concerned about God, man, sin, and what has the atomic discovery to do with that? It's quite irrelevant. It's right outside.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: And to say therefore that the age of new physicists needs some new kind of truth and understanding is a denial of the very basis of the Christian faith. The mind of man at its best in any age or generation will never arrive at it.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Secondly, therefore, I say this: the Scriptures and the Scriptures alone must always be our sole and final authority with regard to all these matters. The modern man, the modern mind, make no difference at all.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: The revelation is here, and it remains here, and there is nothing additional, there never will be. It is all here. The revelation has been made. God has revealed the mystery. And therefore to talk about the modern mind and the modern man is to deny the Scriptures.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: There will be, there never can be, any advance on what has already been revealed. We live upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, and cannot go beyond them.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Thirdly, I say that the work of the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential to an understanding of the Scriptures. I don't care who you are, or what you are. If you're not enlightened by the Holy Spirit, you will not understand the Scriptures. You cannot. It's impossible.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: But lastly, I delight to say this: because of God's way, there is hope for all to understand. Being that it is something that is revealed by God and which he enables us to understand by giving us wisdom and prudence, intellect or the absence of intellect does not make a vital difference.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: The understanding which is given by God through the Holy Spirit is open to all. Again, I remind you what Paul says to the Corinthians, "Not many wise, not many noble are called. God has taken the foolish things, the ignorant, the hopeless, the vile, the things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence."

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: It isn't intellect that makes a man a Christian. There is no advantage in having a great brain. In this realm, it is all spiritual. It is all given by God. He gives the wisdom and the prudence as well as the truth. We are all on the same level. And we must therefore glory in nothing and in no one, save in the Lord himself.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: And this is the whole basis of the missionary activity. You can go this morning to the heart of Central Africa, and you can visit a tribe that can't read nor write and has never had any learning. And you can take this great Epistle to the Ephesians and present it to them, and they can believe it. Why?

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Because God enlightens them through the Holy Spirit. Most of the early Christians were slaves. The gospel is preached to the poor. Throughout the centuries it's been the same. Thank God for this. If it were otherwise, men of intellect would have a greater advantage over others.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: But here we are all one. There is none righteous, no, not one. No man can arrive at it. The world by wisdom knew not God. But it hath pleased God by the foolishness of the thing preached to save them that believe. What a marvelous, what a glorious thing it is.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Which he has therefore caused to abound towards us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself. I cannot end without uttering these great words of the same Apostle: "O, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom, and to whom alone, be glory for ever and ever. Amen."