Studies in the Sermon on the Mount Quotes

“When a man truly sees himself, he knows nobody can say anything about him that is too bad.”
― D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

“The terrible, tragic fallacy of the last hundred years has been to think that all man's troubles are due to his environment, and that to change the man you have nothing to do but change his environment. That is a tragic fallacy. It overlooks the fact that it was in Paradise that man fell.”
― David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

“If we believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the only begotten Son of God and that He came into this world and went to the cross of Calvary and died for our sins and rose again in order to justify us and to give us life anew and prepare us for heaven-if you really believe that, there is only one inevitable deduction, namely that He is entitled to the whole of our lives, without any limit whatsoever.”
― David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

“I am profoundly grateful to God that He did not grant me certain things for which I asked, and that He shut certain doors in my face.”
― D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

“Be still, and know that I am God'. We must not interpret that 'Be still' in a sentimental manner. Some regard it as a kind of exhortation to us to be silent; but it is nothing of the sort. It means, 'Give up (or 'Give in') and admit I am God. God is addressing people who are opposed to Him”
― David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

“Why are there wars in the world? Why is there this constant international tension? What is the matter with the world? Why war and all the unhappiness and turmoil and discord amongst men? According to this Beatitude, there is only one answer to these questions-sin. Nothing else; just sin.”
― David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

“The heretics were never dishonest men; they were mistaken men. They should not be thought of as men who were deliberately setting out to go wrong and to teach something that is wrong; they have been some of the most sincere men that the Church has ever known. What was the matter with them? Their trouble was this: they evolved a theory and they were rather pleased with it; then they went back with this theory to the Bible, and they seemed to find it everywhere.”
― David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

“What is meant by this term, 'the heart'? According to the general scriptural usage of the term, the heart means the centre of the personality. It does not merely mean the seat of the affections and the emotions.”
― David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

“The Christian is not superficial in any sense, but is fundamentally serious and fundamentally happy. You see, the joy of the Christian is a holy joy, the happiness of the Christian is a serious happiness. ... it is a solemn joy, it is a holy joy, it is a serious happiness; so that, though he is grave and sober-minded and serious, he is never cold and prohibitive.”
― David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

“That is the only way to understand rightly this picture of the false prophets. The false prophet is a man who has no `strait gate' or `narrow way' in his gospel. He has nothing which is offensive to the natural man; he pleases all.”
― D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

“We tend to have a wrong view of law and to think of it as something that is opposed to grace. But it is not. Law is only opposed to grace in the sense that there was once a covenant of law, and we are now under the covenant of grace.”
― David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

“It does not say, 'Blessed are those who are persecuted because they are objectionable.' It does not say, 'Blessed are those who are having a hard time in their Christian life because they are being difficult.' It does not say, 'Blessed are those who are being persecuted as Christians because they are seriously lacking in wisdom and are really foolish and unwise in what they regard as being their testimony.”
― David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

“[Jesus] must have control not only in the big things, but in the little things also; not only over what we do, but how we do it. We must submit to Him and His way as He has been pleased to reveal it in the Bible; and if what we do does not conform to this pattern, it is an assertion of our will, it is disobedience, and as repellent as the sin of witchcraft.”
― David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

“At the very time when we have been boasting of our enlightenment and knowledge and understanding, there is this tragic breakdown in personal relationships. ... For instance, we now have to have Marriage Guidance classes. Up to this century men and women were married without this expert advice which now seems to be so essential.”
― David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

“In a sense the most approachable Person this world has ever seen was the Lord Jesus Christ.”
― D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

“Our Lord does not promise to change life for us; He does not promise to remove difficulties and trials and problems and tribulations; He does not say that He is going to cut out all the thorns and leave the roses with their wonderful perfume. No; He faces life realistically, and tells us that these are things to which the flesh is heir, and which are bound to come. But He assures us that we can so know Him that, whatever happens, we need never be frightened, we need never be alarmed.”
― D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

“Why do you read all the details of divorce cases in the newspapers? ... you are enjoying it. You would not dream of doing these things yourself, but you are doing them by proxy.”
― David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

“Religion is that which a man does with his own solitude.”
― D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

“Some people, even in worship, seem to think that they must say their 'Amen' in a particular way, or must say it often. Thinking that this is a sign of spirituality, they make themselves a nuisance at times to others and so get into trouble about that. That is not commended in Scripture; it is a false notion of worship.”
― David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

“But observe that [Peter] never ceases to be a bold man; he does not become nervous and diffident. No, he does not change in that way. The essential personality remains; and yet he is 'poor in spirit' at the same time.”
― David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

“The Christian is confronted by two ways only, and if we are not on the strait and narrow way, we are on the wide and broad way.”
― D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

“We accept what Scripture teaches as far as our doctrine is concerned; but when it comes to practice, we very often fail to take the Scriptures as our only guide. ... Dare I give an obvious illustration? The question of women preaching, and being ordained to the full ministry.”
― David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

“Monasticism is really based on the idea that if you leave people, you leave the spirit of the world. But you do not. You can leave the world in a physical sense, you can leave the crowd and the people; but there in your lonely cell the spirit of the world may still be with you.”
― David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

“We have to be poor in spirit before we can be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
― D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

“Anyone who thinks that he can live the Christian life himself is proclaiming that he is not a Christian.”
― D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

“this life is a kind of preparatory school for the great life that is awaiting us beyond death and time.”
― D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

“Meekness does not mean indolence.”
― David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

“from the Beatitudes. First, all Christians are to be like this. Read the Beatitudes, and there you have a description of what every Christian is meant to be. It is not merely the description of some exceptional Christians. Our Lord does not say here that He is going to paint a picture of what certain outstanding characters are going to be and can be in this world. It is His”
― D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

“is wrong to ask anybody who is not first a Christian to try to live or practise the Sermon on the Mount.”
― D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

“If only we knew something of the glory and the wonder of this new life of righteousness, we should desire nothing else.”
― D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount