Authority

I just finished the book Authority by Martyn Lloyd-Jones. It is broken up into three sections:

1. The Authority of Jesus Christ
2. The Authority of the Scriptures
3. The Authority of the Holy Spirit

The question of authority is one of the most important problems facing us today. People contend, "Is there such a thing as objective truth? Can truth be known? Can it be defined?"

"Truth is so great and marvelous that it cannot be defined and therefore you cannot say definitely that this view is right and that view is wrong," one may argue. One man wrote a book in which he set out to question the Christian faith and its authority. In the end, he suggests that truth cannot be defined in creeds and confessions and that the situation is something like this:

A man has been told that if only he climbs to the top of a certain mountain he will obtain a magnificent view. Very well, the man is excited to see this. He begins to climb and goes on and on. The sun beats down on him and the ascent becomes so steep that he has to get down on his hands and knees. Despite his struggles, he keeps going and at last he arrives at the summit, and there, behold, is the grand panorama. What does he do about it? Does he try to reduce that view to prepositions and state it in theorems? Impossible! The view is too grand and too magnificent and he just stands there with his eyes and mouth wide open in wonder and amazement. He cannot write out all he has seen and felt, nor define it. It's something that can only be experienced and felt.

It's with this backdrop that Martyn Lloyd-Jones approaches the topic of this book. Yes, there are different ways of getting to the summit and the experience differs from person to person, but the view itself and the magnificence of it is unmistakeably true. In the book Authority, the truth and authority of Jesus Christ, the Scriptures, and the Holy Spirit is asserted as the evidence is broken down in this outline:

1. The Authority of Christ

• God can be known -- He has revealed Himself
  
• The Central Fact of Christ - The whole Bible is about Him. History revolves around Him.
• The Witness of the Gospels and other Writers
  
• The Lord's own claims, actions, and direct assertions
• The Lord's death, resurrection, and ascension

2. The Authority of the Scriptures

• The context of the New Testament message - understood by expounding the Old Testament Scriptures
• Liberalism - man decides what is true
• The Right Approach
  
• Scripture must be viewed as a whole, matter of faith (Word of God is inspired through the Spirit of God)
• Truth is to be asserted not defended (There is no need for you to defend a lion when is is being attacked. All you need to do is to open the gate and let him out. --C.H. Spurgeon)
• The whole Bible is the Word of God
• The Uniqueness of Scripture - the manner of speech in the Bible is profound, simple, clear and brief. It is the power of God unto salvation.
• Scripture's own claims of authority - "The Word of the Lord came... God revealed... The Lord said..."
• The Lord Jesus Christ's Teaching - "It is written!"
• The New Testament view of the Old - "All scripture is given by inspiration of God..."
• The authority of the apostles recognized by the early church

3. The Authority of the Holy Spirit

• Test the spirits
• The Holy Spirit takes His own Word, illumines it, and takes our minds and enlightens them.
• The Church's attempts to recapture authority by rational arguments and worldly wisdom have by in large failed.
• The authority of the Spirit in the life of the Lord - "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has anointed me."
• The authority of the Spirit in the life of the believer
• The work of the Spirit in conversion
• The work of the Spirit in assurance
  
• The work of the Spirit in giving understanding
• The work of the Spirit in defense of the truth
• The work of the Spirit in evangelism
• The authority of the Spirit in the church

I'll conclude with excerpts from the last few paragraphs of Authority:

"I very rarely hear any Christians today praying for revival. What do they pray for? They pray for their own organized efforts, either at home or in various other lands. We should do that but the trouble is that we start with ourselves and our efforts and ask God to bless them. We are guilty of forgetting the authority of the Holy Spirit. We are so interested in ourselves and in our own activities that we have forgotten the one thing that can make us effective. When God sends revival He can do more in a single day than in fifty years of all our organization. That is the sheer history which emerges clearly from the long story of the Church. This is the greatest need today, indeed it is the only hope. Let us decide to spend our time before God pleading for revival. But foolish as we are, we will never do so until we come to the end of ourselves. We will do so only when everything else has failed and we have come to see what our Lord spoke in simple truth when He said, 'Without me you can do nothing' (John 15:5). Let us wait upon Him, let us plead with Him, let us learn to agonize in prayer and let our one prayer be:

Revive Thy work, O Lord, Thy mighty arm make bare; Speak with the voice that wakes the dead, And make Thy people hear. 'O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy' (Habakkuk 3:2)."

I'm currently reading The Surprising Work of God by Jonathan Edwards. In this book, Pastor Edwards recounts and outlines the miraculous events of the Great Awakening in which thousands of hearts from his town and far reaching regions were transformed, experiencing the insuppressible joy of Christ, trembling before the justice, holiness, and righteousness of God, and receiving the grace and mercy with deep humility and inexpressible ecstasy. This is the great revival that Martyn Lloyd-Jones pleaded for. This is the revival that we need today.