Physician-turned-preacher D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones was arguably one of the greatest biblical expository preachers of the twentieth century. For thirty years he preached three sermons per week at the Westiminster Chapel in London. In this passage from his commentary on Romans 1, Lloyd-Jones asks a critical question that is at the foundation of Christian belief: Is the gospel good news?
“In Luke’s Gospel, chapter two, verses 1-20 ... an angel appears to some shepherds in the field at night, and says, Look, I have ‘good tidings of great joy’ for you. That is the note–good tidings–gospel! And you remember that after the shepherds had gone to Bethlehem, and had verified these things, we are told that they went back ‘...glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen’. That is the introduction to the gospel; how the heavenly choir sang praises unto God–’Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men’. This, therefore, is obviously something that is vital, and an essential part of the gospel.
Well now, my friends, there is no point in our going further until I ask a question, and the question again is this: Has the gospel come to us like that? Can we say honestly at this moment that this is the greatest and the best good news that we have ever heard? I am getting to the position in which I feel that if we cannot say that, then, to put it mildest, we ought to be very doubtful as to whether we are Christians at all. This is either the greatest good news we have ever heard, or else it is not: and if it is not such to us, well, there are reasons for that.”
“If you are not aware of the fact that this is the greatest good news that has ever come into this world, or has ever been received by man, it may be due to the fact that you have an inadequate sense of sin, and an inadequate realization of your own sinfulness. Of course, there are people who think they are all right as they are, because they are such good people, and because they are living such good lives. The gospel is not good news to them. They have never seen any need of help and therefore they do not thrill at it and they do not see how wonderful it is. They who think they can put themselves right are in the same position. There is no doubt about this at all. An inadequate understanding of our sinfulness is probably the greatest single cause of our failure to rejoice in the Lord always, and to realize that this message is the greatest good news that the world has ever received. Let us therefore examine ourselves. If you are lacking in joy, the thing to do is not to try to work up some joy within yourselves; it is to go to the Bible, to the law, and to see your sinfulness. The positive road to joy is always via the depth of sin.” -D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Gospel of God, Exposition of Romans 1
Many of us who grew up in Adventism believed we were part of God’s remnant church, complacently “going with the flow” of God’s chosen denomination. Compounding this complacency was the belief that our church kept God’s laws better than any other, giving us a sense of security by association. As accurately described by Lloyd-Jones, this belief is fundamentally at odds with the gospel because it leads to an inadequate sense of sin. Without realizing the full weight of our sinfulness and our inability to stand before a holy God, we probably don’t see the gospel as good news because we don’t see our true need for salvation or a Savior. The gospel will never be good news to someone who is trusting in their own ability to keep the law or in their own works of righteousness. Such a belief can lead to a lifetime of faithful church attendance apart from salvation or its fruit, effectively inoculated from the righteousness that comes only through faith in Jesus Christ.
