There is one further
feature of Dr. Lloyd-Jones' preaching which needs to be added. It was customary among evangelical Christians
at this date to encourage the practice of giving 'testimonies' as a form of
evangelistic witness…For one thing, he noticed that the giving testimonies
tended to reduce all conversions to a similar pattern to standardize experience
in away which went beyond Scripture.
And yet, at the same time, testimony-givers were prone to emphasize what
made their story noteworthy. No doubt
the motives were often well intentioned, but the effect could easily be carnal
and man-centered. Hearers readily became
impressed with the dramatic and unique features of a story, instead of with the
grace of God which is identical in every conversion…….
He knew that the
argument from experience could be matched by the claims and apparent results of
other 'gospels'. Do Christians claim to
have obtained happiness and deliverance from fears? So do the converts to Christian science and
to other cults. 'Our case,' he was never
to tire of saying, 'is not based upon experience, it is based upon great
external facts.' The business of
preaching is the proclamation of the revealed truths of gospel history - truths
indeed confirmed by experience, but independent of experience in their
objective reality.
- From Iain Murray's two volume biography of Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1st Volume)
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