From the MLJ Archive

Romans 1:11-17 — How do you know that you are a Christian? What is a Christian and what does it mean to be a Christian? In this sermon on Romans 1:11-17, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones answers these questions which are perhaps the most important questions ever. He begins by confronting the fact that we are living in an age of utter confusion, especially in the Church. People claim to be Christians while completely contradicting Scripture in everything they do. That is why it is so important to be certain what a Christian really is. Dr. Lloyd-Jones explains that Christianity can be defined in verse 14 of Romans 1; A Christian is a debtor to both the Greeks and the Barbarians, the wise and the unwise. A Christian is someone who has something that others do not have, and feels the need to give it to everyone. They are not someone who hopes and is looking to find the meaning of life and the purpose of life, they are someone who has already found truth, has joy in it, and feels the need to share it with others. Dr. Lloyd-Jones then goes on to tell an analogy about a man who has the cure for a deadly disease in their pocket, and sees a man who has this disease. This man feels the need and urge to give this cure to the other man in need. A Christian is the same because they have the answers in their pocket and feel the need to share it with everyone around them. A Christian does not just feel this need to share it with the intellectual, but also the uneducated, because they all are in desperate situations without Christ. They do not only share it with people who are interested in having this truth, but also with people who have no interest in it at all. Dr. Lloyd-Jones concludes by explaining that the Christian not only has hope, but can give a reason for the hope within him.