Spiritual Disciplines – sheeplywolves

Prayer – Drawing Near to God – Martyn Lloyd-Jones

22 Mar 2025 Michael A

The preacher begins by addressing the context of the epistle to the Hebrews, written to Jewish Christians who were becoming discouraged in their faith. He emphasizes the importance of prayer in the Christian life and highlights the difficulties that can arise when attempting to pray. Dr. Lloyd-Jones outlines three main obstacles to prayer: entering into God’s holy presence, dealing with an evil conscience, and overcoming a sense of unworthiness due to sin’s pollution. He argues that these difficulties make prayer one of the most challenging aspects of the Christian life….

But God… Martyn Lloyd-Jones

19 Mar 2025 Michael A

Dr. Lloyd-Jones contrasts the hopeless state of mankind apart from God, dead in sin and under the influence of Satan, with the miraculous intervention of God’s grace. He emphasizes that the gospel is inherently supernatural and divine, beyond human comprehension or ability. Using examples like Mary and Nicodemus, he shows how even devout people can stumble over the miraculous nature of God’s work.

C H Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening Thoughts for March 16

16 Mar 2025 Michael A

Spurgeon’s words in today’s devotional are very encouraging, as usual. But not all his devotionals are equally inspiring, encouraging…, this one is among the best I have read. Furthermore, it overlaps with the last post by MLJ, that is why I’m posting it too.

Girded with Truth – Martyn Lloyd-Jones

5 Mar 2025 Michael A

MLJ explained what it means to put on the truth of scripture. In the process, he clarified in a variety of ways what that truth is and how many in the church have erred via Liberalism and other ideas of men. A video reading of 1 Corinthians 15 and the complete text was added to this post because those ideas were an important part of his sermon.

The Purest Form of Worship – John MacArthur

6 Feb 2025 Michael A

This post contains a short excerpt from an unpublished interview with John MacArthur; therein, he provides readers with the essence of worship. There is also a one-minute TMS student testimony.

Man’s Greatest Problem – Self – Martyn Lloyd-Jones

19 Jan 2025 Michael A

…Dr. Lloyd-Jones points out that the devil primarily uses pride to refocus people off the things of the Lord. One of his main methods in this is to take a person’s gift— whether it is singing, speech, knowledge, intellect or even conversion experience — and use it to make its possessor feel self-reliant and that they are above the spiritual state of other believers. …We should see ourselves as members of the body of Christ where every part is important. …We should care about what God thinks of us, not what people think. …Self in all its manifestations dishonors God, his grace and the gospel.

Quenching the Spirit Part 1 – Martyn Lloyd-Jones

17 Jan 2025 Michael A

What is quenching the Spirit? In a desire to avoid making Christianity reliant on subjective religious experiences, many Christians leave no room for the work and the ministry of the Holy Spirit in their lives. This is quenching the Holy Spirit. The Bible tells that the Holy Spirit is a person who indwells all who believe. The church of today ought to look at the early church found in Acts to see what it looks like to rely on the Holy Spirit for power and guidance. What are the practical applications of this message on Ephesians 6:10–13?

Worry and Anxiety – Martyn Lloyd-Jones

16 Jan 2025 Michael A

The MLJ sermon of this post is another in his series on the wiles of the Devil. In the process of his teaching herein, he said quite a lot that applies to the word-of-faith, prosperity gospels and the Charismatic church. His words clarified their great claims via biblical passages. The thrust of his message was to show believers yet another way in which the Devil undermines a believer’s walk with the Lord, rendering them ineffective, discouraged…. [A song is attached to the post because in that song, one can hear the kind of process that MLJ discussed, in terms of laying down one’s self-striving and surrendering to Christ; quitting on self-guidance and receiving His.]

Attacks on Assurance Part 2 – Martyn Lloyd-Jones

15 Jan 2025 Michael A

Christians can feel as though the Lord has withdrawn His smile from them and are concerned that their current or difficult state may mean that they are not truly a Christian. …This ought to be a great comfort in hardship. Adversity encourages the Christian not to rely on their good works, but to be encouraged that they are being matured and prepared for future glory with Christ. They should not question their justification when they experience trials and suffering. Instead they should remember that when they confess their sins, God is faithful and just to forgive and cleanse His people from all unrighteousness. [I added more detailed points for the initial 19 minutes of the sermon and a brief video about how God purifies the saint via tribulation.]

True and False Assurance – Martyn Lloyd-Jones

10 Jan 2025 Michael A

The following are a few points from the MLJ sermon of this post: Christians are meant to have assurance of salvation and know the joy of their salvation. The devil tries to rob Christians of the joy of their salvation through his wiles and subtle attacks. The devil first tries to give Christians a false assurance and peace through a hurried and forced conversion without a true change of heart. This results in an artificial and superficial faith. Characteristics of a false assurance include:
No radical change or new life, just a modification of the old life.

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