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D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (selected by Frank Cumbers)
Christ changes everything
Men who have been the hopeless slaves and victims of sin, and who have reduced their families and homes to conditions of abject poverty, once they have been converted and brought to Christ have proceeded to transform their whole surroundings and conditions. In regenerating a man, the gospel changes even his personal appearance. He begins to pay new attention to his clothing and that of his wife and children; the very furniture of his home is altered, and the aspect of his premises improved. Once the man himself is put right, he proceeds to put everything else right. The great movement for popular education in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries came as a direct result of the awakening of men, under the influence of the gospel, to the realization of the fact that they had minds and brains. They showed a desire to read the Bible, to familiarize themselves with culture, and to understand life. The number of changes that followed the great spiritual awakening is almost endless. We can illustrate again in terms of a picture. If the source is made pure, the stream is likely to be pure. If the disease itself is treated and cured, the symptoms are likely to disappear.... nothing else ... ever can produce truly improved social conditions except the gospel... to educate men and give them better houses, does not necessarily guarantee new men or better living.... All the problems start at the centre, in the eye, in the soul of man that has become beclouded.
Truth Unchanged, Unchanging, pp. 93–4
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