Is Jesus Christ in forefront? Is He in the centre? - Martyn Lloyd-Jones

“A very good way in which we can test our own profession of the Christian faith is just to apply this test to ourselves. Is Jesus Christ in forefront? Is He in the centre? You will find that in this introduction the Apostle mentions Him at least five times (Romans 1:1-7). I had occasion to note recently that in the first fourteen verses of the Epistle to the Ephesians he mentions Him fifteen times. He cannot get away from Him, as it were; he must keep on mentioning the Name. He uses the terms ‘Jesus Christ’, ‘the Lord Jesus Christ’, ‘Christ Jesus our Lord’, and so on. Watch him in his epistles, he is always using the Name, and it evidently gives him great pleasure to do so, And the question, I repeat, is, ‘Is this true of us? Is Jesus Christ in the forefront of our minds, and our hearts, and our conversations? I mean - and here I am talking to Christian people, to believers – when we talk to one another, are we always talking about some experience or some blessing we have had, or are we talking about the Lord Jesus Christ? I have no hesitation in asserting that as we grow in grace, we talk much less about ourselves and our experiences, and much more about Him.”

- Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans (Volume 1): Exposition of Chapter 1 - The Gospel of God