Martyn Lloyd-Jones - Great Doctrines of the Bible (Three Volumes in One): God the Father, God the Son; God the Holy Spirit; The Church and the Last Things)

D. MARTYN LLOYD-JONES

These books were originally published as separate volumes, and the pagination has been preserved throughout. Thus Volumes 2 and 3 each begin again with page 1. In addition, each volume's index includes the appropriate page numbers for that volume.

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On Friday evenings after the war, Dr Lloyd-Jones held discussion meetings in one of the halls in Westminster Chapel in London. The subjects of these discussions were practical issues in the Christian life and the meetings were attended by many people. The questions which arose demanded a knowledge of biblical teaching of all kinds; often, too, a matter of doctrine would arise which the Doctor would deal with, usually in his summing up at the end of the discussion. It was partly as a result of this, partly, too, because the numbers were becoming too large for the hall, and, perhaps even more, because so many people were asking him about the biblical doctrines, that he felt it right to move the `Friday night meeting' into the Chapel itself and to give a series of lectures on those great subjects. He did this from 1952 to 1955 and after that he began his magisterial series on the epistle to the Romans which continued until his retirement in 1968. The doctrine lectures were very much appreciated by the large congregations who heard them and, over the years, many have borne testimony to the way in which their Christian lives have been strengthened by them.

Later, the Doctor himself felt happier about preaching doctrines as a part of regular exposition - `If people want to know about a particular doctrine, they can find it in the doctrine text books,' he once said. But the great strength of his doctrinal studies is that they are not arid text-book lectures. He was, above all, a preacher and this shines through in all of them. He was also a pastor and wanted men and women to share his sense of wonder and his gratitude to God for the mighty facts of the gospel; so his language is clear and not encumbered by complex academic phraseology. Like Tyndale, he wanted the truth to be in words `understanded of the people'. Also he did not want the teaching to remain in the head only, so there is an application in each lecture to make sure that the heart and will are touched also. The glory of God was his greatest motive in giving these lectures.

Those who know the preaching and the books of Dr Lloyd-Jones will realise, on reading the lectures, that his views on a few subjects developed over the years and that his emphases may not always have been the same. But this is all part of the richness of his ministry as it has been of the ministry of many of the great preachers of the past. However on the essential, fundamental truths of the Word of God, there is no change and his trumpet does not give an uncertain sound.

We have had one difficulty in preparing these lectures for publication. They were delivered in the early days of tape recording so that in a few places the words have been difficult to decipher and a few tapes are missing. Also, only a very few of the lectures were taken down in shorthand so in one or two cases we have neither a tape nor a manuscript. Fortunately, however, the Doctor kept his very full notes on all the lectures so we have used them, though, of course, it means that these chapters are not as full as the others.

The Doctor's tapes are distributed by the Martyn Lloyd-Jones Recordings Trust and, of all his tapes, by far the largest number of requests is for these doctrine lectures. The lack of knowledge of the vital truths of the Christian faith is greater now than ever before - certainly greater than it was in the 1950s - so it is our prayer that God would use and bless these lectures again to our strengthening and to His glory.

The Editors

It is always good for us to start with a text. Not that I am going to preach, but I do want us to begin with some words which will give the background of all I propose to say now, and which will explain what I am proposing to do in this series of studies on biblical doctrines. I refer to Deuteronomy 29:29: `The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.'

Now, inevitably, we shall have to begin with introductions; that is necessary, I think, for several reasons. One is that some people may question the rightness of what we propose to do. We live in an age in which we do not hear very much about doctrines, and there are some people who are even foolish enough to say that they do not like them, which seems to me to be a very pathetic and regrettable attitude. Lectures or sermons on biblical doctrines were once very common but they have become comparatively uncommon, especially during this century. However, though we shall not deal with that criticism directly, it makes a good starting point, and it leads me to say that there are certain things which we must have quite clear in our minds. We shall consider three things: what we are going to do in these studies; how we are going to do it, and why we are going to do it.