DR. DAVID MARTYN LLOYD-JONES
On March 1st, 1981, Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones was called to glory. His long and most useful life closed after a painful illness through which his faith remained strong and his hope clear, so that very near to the end he could testify that he was ready to go to be with his Master. Refusing medication one day he was asked what could be done to help him and, too weak to reply, he pointed to his Bible. This was symbolic of the whole of his Christian testimony, and he consistently pointed men back to the infallible scriptures as the only immovable rock in a world of confusion and turmoil.
His long pastorate in the centre of London, at Westminster Chapel, from 1939 to 1968 left an indelible mark in the souls of multitudes who thronged a ministry which was unashamedly Biblical and spiritual. Eternity alone will reveal how many were born again under his ministry, but present circumstances in this country and abroad testify to the fact that he was mightily used by God in calling preachers back to the Word alone as their source of authority, and in encouraging the establishment of a Biblical and expository ministry in churches throughout the world. Leaving his pastorate because of ill health and under the clear direction of God he spent his closing years in frequent preaching, and in preparing his sermons and writings for publication, a heritage which the church will learn to value even more than it already does.
He lived to see an amazing resurgence of interest in Puritan and serious Christian literature through the work of the Banner of Truth Trust and the Evangelical Library. The growth of Biblical, reformed, evangelical churches even with differing ecclesiastical structures rejoiced his heart and reflected his own broad-minded and charitable attitude to those who agreed on the great fundamentals of the faith. His loving interest in other pastors was clearly seen in his chairmanship of the Westminster Fellowship of Ministers, where many received the benefit of his affectionate advice and all profited from his warnings on contemporary movements in the religious world. He was unflinching in opposition to error and false ecumenism. He discerned the twin dangers of an arid intellectual orthodoxy on one hand, and a vapid emotional sentimentalism on the other. Whilst not all of his friends would share some of his views on the work of the Holy Spirit or his interpretation of Romans 7, they all united in the desire he so long cherished, to see a mighty work of the Spirit of the living God in these last days, reviving the churches and calling multitudes to the feet of Jesus Christ, the Lord and King of all.