How does Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones describe the transformative power of salvation in Ezekiel 36?

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones describes salvation as a powerful transformation that turns a desolate land into the Garden of Eden, based on Ezekiel 36:34-35. This transformation includes:

1. Completely undoing the effects of sin, which he calls "the business of the gospel"
2. Changing what was unproductive and barren into something fruitful and beautiful
3. Clearing away the "weeds, thorns and thistles" of sin through Christ's work on Calvary, which "drains the poison of sin out of us"
4. Breaking up and harrowing the soil of our souls through the Holy Spirit's conviction
5. Planting the "seed of God's own life" within the soul
6. Enabling proper use of our faculties that were damaged by sin
7. Producing the fruit of the Spirit: "love, joy, peace, long suffering, goodness, gentleness, faith, meekness, temperance"
8. Creating ongoing growth that increases with time, even into old age
9. Resulting in a life of productivity and satisfaction instead of emptiness

Lloyd-Jones emphasizes that this isn't mere theory but "God acting in the soul" with practical, visible results in the transformed life of the believer.

What are the devastating effects of sin according to Lloyd-Jones' sermon?

According to Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, sin has devastating effects that touch every aspect of human existence:

1. Sin ruins everything it touches - it "ruins life, it ruins men, it ruins the soul, it defaces God's image in men"
2. Sin renders life completely unproductive and barren - like an untilled, desolate land
3. Sin affects every part of human nature - "the mind, emotions, will... the intellectual part, the moral part, the volitional part"
4. Sin creates an "ugly and untidy appearance" in life
5. Sin produces nothing that "ennobles the soul" or develops faculties
6. Sin offers nothing to sustain a person in times of crisis or at the end of life
7. Sin actively produces negative "crops" - misery, shame, remorse, suffering, confusion, lying, dishonesty, and bitterness
8. Sin poisons the soil of the soul, making it "sour" and "bitter"
9. Sin isolates natural human faculties from their proper use and context (like sex or the desire for happiness)
10. Sin paralyzes higher faculties rather than stimulating them (as with alcohol and drugs)
11. Sin makes life selfish and nonproductive for the wider community (as with gambling)

Lloyd-Jones describes sin as "the most terrible and devastating thing" and "the greatest calamity that could possibly have happened to man and to this world."

How does Lloyd-Jones explain the relationship between faith and cultural productivity?

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones draws a fascinating connection between faith and cultural productivity in his sermon:

1. He observes that "ages of faith have always been most productive in every respect all along the line"
2. These productive periods feature "great buildings, great architecture, great sculpture, great music, great poetry, great drama, great everything"
3. He cites specific examples: the Elizabethan period, the Puritan era, and the period following the Great Evangelical Awakening
4. He contrasts these with "ages of unbelief" which are "barren and sterile" like the Restoration period (1660-1740)
5. He notes this pattern is "acknowledged by many secular historians who are not actually Christians themselves"
6. He points to modern times as another "barren age" in music, art, and poetry, creating works that lack enduring value
7. He extends this principle globally, noting that "the most backward countries in the world" are where "the Christian faith in its purity has been least preached"
8. He explains that Christianity provides "a kind of civilization" that brings education, hospitals, and "everything that is uplifting and ennobling"

Lloyd-Jones sees this pattern as "a wonderful proof of the fact that man was made for God, and when he is not functioning in relationship to God... he fails all along the line."

What does Lloyd-Jones teach about the fruits of a Christian life?

According to Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the Christian life produces abundant and visible fruits that contrast sharply with the barrenness of sin:

1. The primary fruits are those of the Spirit: "love, joy, peace, long suffering, goodness, gentleness, faith, meekness, temperance"
2. The Christian life produces beauty and order - like a garden that has been cleared of weeds and thorns
3. It enables the proper and productive use of all human faculties that God designed
4. It brings forth "everything that is enabling and uplifting"
5. It produces righteousness and satisfaction in living
6. It provides comfort and consolation in times of trouble and need
7. It gives sustenance to the soul - "food, something to rest upon"
8. It reveals talents and abilities that weren't previously evident (like Thomas Oliver who went from being a tramp to a great hymn writer)
9. These fruits increase with time - "The more you till the land, the more you get out of it"
10. Even in old age, the righteous "still bear fruit" and are "fat and flourishing"
11. The ultimate fruit is hearing God's "Well done, thou good and faithful servant"

Lloyd-Jones emphasizes that this fruitfulness is not theoretical but practical and visible: "I am not just giving rain to my imagination. This is what Christ does. This is the whole story of the Church and of Christian salvation."

How does sin affect human sexuality according to Lloyd-Jones?

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones offers a thoughtful analysis of how sin distorts human sexuality:

1. He observes that we live in "a sex-ridden generation" and "a sex-mad generation"
2. He affirms that sex is "an instinct in men, placed there by God" - it is not inherently sinful
3. Sin's distortion of sexuality comes when it "isolates it" and "makes it an end in itself"
4. This isolation of sex from its proper context is what Lloyd-Jones calls "lust"
5. Sin takes sex "right out of its context and stimulates it artificially"
6. The proper purpose of sexuality, according to Genesis, was that "men might replenish the earth"
7. Modern interest in sex, he says, is not in reproduction but in "sex as an experience" and "a form of enjoyment"
8. This distortion leads to "barrenness and sterility, physically, literally, as well as spiritually"
9. He warns this may affect "the whole future of this country and of the whole world" through population imbalance

Lloyd-Jones applies the same principle to other human desires like happiness, arguing that sin turns what should be byproducts of right living into isolated objectives that ultimately lead to unproductivity.