Understanding Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones' Teaching on Revival Hindrances

What are the major hindrances to revival according to Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones?

According to Dr. Lloyd-Jones, the major hindrances to revival include:

1. Failure with respect to doctrine - especially regarding the sovereignty of God, authority of Scripture, the nature of sin, the person and work of Christ, and the work of the Holy Spirit
2. Defective orthodoxy - being right in doctrine but wrong in application or spirit
3. Putting doctrines about persons above the persons themselves - focusing on theological correctness rather than relationship with God
4. Lack of balance in doctrinal emphasis - becoming obsessed with singular doctrinal issues like prophecy or baptism
5. Defective doctrine of the church - emphasizing meetings and gatherings rather than the local church
6. Entertainment and excessive singing replacing preaching and prayer
7. Focusing on evangelism before addressing the spiritual condition of the church
8. Pride - both of life (status) and knowledge (theological understanding)
9. Censoriousness and contentiousness - a critical, argumentative spirit
10. Sin and disobedience in the lives of believers

What is Dr. Lloyd-Jones' view on the relationship between doctrine and revival?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones teaches that sound doctrine is absolutely essential for revival, but doctrine alone is insufficient. He states: "Dead orthodoxy in practice is as bad as heterodoxy because it's quite useless." He emphasizes that true doctrine must lead to a living relationship with God.

The preacher identifies certain "vital doctrines" that are non-negotiable for revival: the sovereignty of God, the authority of Scripture, the sinfulness of humanity, the person and work of Christ, justification by faith alone, regeneration, and the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Without these foundational truths, Lloyd-Jones believes we "have no right at all to pray for or to expect the influence and the demonstration of the Holy Spirit of God."

However, he warns that doctrine must never become an end in itself but must lead us to the persons of the Godhead: "The whole purpose of doctrine is not to be an end in itself but to lead us to a knowledge of the person and to an understanding of the person and to a fellowship with the person."

How does Dr. Lloyd-Jones view the role of entertainment and singing in church services?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones is deeply concerned about the growing emphasis on entertainment and singing in church services, especially during times that call for serious spiritual engagement. He states: "This is no time for singing. It's a time for thinking, for preaching, for conviction."

He observes a troubling trend where church gatherings have increasingly adopted the terminology and format of entertainment: "Have you observed it, how they now talk about the program? Not order of service... And have you noticed the items in the program? I'm not saying this to cause amusement but I must confess that increasingly as I look at and read about the programs of certain meetings I am reminded more of a variety performance than of anything else."

While not opposed to singing in principle, he believes there should be proper proportion, especially in times of spiritual drought and moral decline. He argues that during such periods, the focus should be on prayer, repentance, and preaching rather than entertainment: "Isn't it a time rather for fasting for sackcloth and ashes, for waiting upon God in an agony of soul? You can't mix singing with that."

What does Dr. Lloyd-Jones teach about the church's role in revival?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones teaches that revival always begins within the church, not through evangelistic efforts directed outward. He states: "Revival always starts by something being done in the church. It starts in the church. You can't revive something that isn't there. You can only revive life, which is drooping and languishing."

He criticizes the modern tendency to focus on evangelism while neglecting the spiritual condition of the church: "It seems to me today that we are ignoring the church altogether and that all the energy and the money and the enthusiasm is entirely in evangelism. And the church remains where she was, unless she's even getting worse because her life isn't being fed."

Lloyd-Jones emphasizes that the local church is God's primary unit for working in revival: "The unit through which God has always worked has been the church." He points to historical revivals that began with small gatherings of believers: "You read the history and the story of revivals. Take this story of 1859 in Ulster... you'll find it's in a little gathering, the saints coming together."

He maintains that only after the church itself is revived can effective evangelism take place: "It is only as you have a truly revived church that mighty evangelism can take place. That's the story at inner of revivals."

What spirit does Dr. Lloyd-Jones say is necessary for revival?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones teaches that a spirit of humility, love, unity, and seriousness is necessary for revival. He warns that even with correct doctrine, the wrong spirit will hinder God's work.

He particularly condemns pride in all its forms - pride of status, knowledge, and understanding: "Pride of knowledge. Oh, yes. I'm the man, the Christian that reads a lot. I am the man who knows the doctrines... Pride of knowledge. What an ugly thing this is also. Knowledge puffeth up. Of course it does. May God preserve us from it."

Lloyd-Jones also warns against censoriousness (being overly critical), contentiousness (being argumentative), pettiness, and lightness in spiritual matters. Instead, he calls for a "great and a profound seriousness" that characterized past revivals: "There is nothing that is so characteristic of every period of revival than a great and a profound seriousness. Seriousness."

He recalls how Robert Murray M'Cheyne's mere presence in the pulpit brought conviction: "When the saintly Robert Murray M'Cheyne would simply walk into his pulpit at Dundee before he'd opened his mouth, people began to weep and were broken down. Why? Well, the solemnity about the men he'd come from the presence of God."