The Christian and the World

1 John 5:19
“And we know that we are of God and the whole world lies in wickedness.”

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, pastor of Westminster Chapel in London from 1938 to 1968, once preached chronologically through the book of 1st John to his congregation. The sermons were later compiled in a collection entitled Life in Christ: Studies in 1st John. Dr. Lloyd-Jones started with 1st John 5:19 in his first sermon of the series in order to present the basis of the book as a whole: to show the distinction between those Christ redeemed from the imprisonment of sin and wickedness in the world, and those who are not saved and are still dead in their trespasses and sins and bound to the darkness of this world.

If we are saved from this world, if we are “of God,” one of our key distinctions from the world is our love for the light of our souls, the Word of God. Dr. Lloyd-Jones writes:

“The effect of the New Testament teaching is always to steady us. And it steadies us by presenting us with the Truth. It never makes a general statement. It is never out just to soothe and comfort us for the time being. No, its message always is that there are certain great principles, and that if we lay a firm hold upon them and grasp them, if we base our life upon them and plan the whole of our existence in terms of them, then we can never really go wrong.

The New Testament does not immediately say “let us pray.” It always says first, “let us think, let us understand the Truth, let us take firm hold of the Doctrine. The Bible has a great deal to say about prayer and as to how it should be made. Prayer is not a simple thing in one sense. It may be very difficult. Prayer is sometimes an excuse for not thinking, and excuse for avoiding a problem or a situation.

We have often been in difficulty and have prayed to God to deliver us. But in the meantime, we have not put something right in our lives as we should have done. Instead of facing the trouble and doing what we knew we should be doing, we have prayed. I suggest that at a point like that, our duty is not to pray but to face the truth, to face the doctrine and apply it. Then, we are entitled to pray, not until then. The New Testament method says, ‘you must become certain people before you can pray. There are certain preliminaries to apply. And you must know what you are doing when you pray.’”