Consider the possibility that you may be wrong as to what the Christian message really is —Martyn Lloyd-Jones

“So that raises for us the question of what exactly repentance is. How do I know whether I have repented? The details given to us here about what happened in this city of Samaria tell us exactly what repentance means (Acts 8:1-25)…

So let us look at this passage. First, the people "gave heed" (Acts 8:6). This means they gave earnest heed. They not only heard, they listened. Now this must be examined because it is a vital term. What does it imply? Obviously it implies in the first place a readiness to hear. It is an astounding fact that many people are not Christians because they have refused to hear, and this is because they have been blinded by their prejudices…

It is possible for you to refuse to hear. You can stop yourself from hearing, from listening. God knows, many people have done that, and a large number of people are still refusing to hear the Gospel. They sometimes take this stance because they feel they know all about it and think it is a lot of nonsense…

Take the man who says, "I'm not a Christian." So you say, "Why not?" And he pours out a whole lot of cliches: "There's nothing in it. Tommyrot. Science has disproved it." Then you begin to ask him about the contents of the Bible, and you find out at once that he does not know anything about it. He has never read the Bible, and he has not the slightest idea as to what the Christian message really is. He may think it is a lot of sob stuff and that Christian people just spend their time singing hymns and choruses and complimenting one another…

My dear friend, do you have an open mind? Are you really ready to listen to this message? Have you ever given it a fair hearing? Is it not wrong from every standpoint to dismiss a message, a teaching, before you have ever listened to it, when you know nothing about it? But that is the tragedy of the times.

Oh, people may attack the church or a preacher or Christian people whom they happen to know, but that is not attacking Christianity; that is attacking the failure of particular Christians, which is very different. It is quite impossible for anybody to become a Christian without listening to the message. Of necessity the first thing we must do is listen to it, and listen to it fairly, listen to it honestly.

Now let us be frank: you do not like a prejudiced person, do you? What do you think of a man who will not listen to what you happen to believe, your hobby or your pet theory? Perhaps you are a politician, and you hold particular political views. What would you think if, when you went to address a meeting, the people just began singing the moment you began speaking and did not allow you to utter a single word? But perhaps you have been behaving just like that with regard to the Gospel.”

—Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Compelling Christianity (Studies in the Book of Acts)

To make no decision is always to make a decision against God — Martyn Lloyd-Jones

"There are only two ultimate possibilities in life. We are, all of us, either for God or else we are against Him, and nothing else matters. The color of your skin does not matter at all; you may be very clever, you may be very learned, or you may be ignorant and illiterate—it does not matter. The one question is: Are you one of God’s people, or are you one of the people who are against Him?

There is no other possibility. There is no such thing as neutrality in the realm of the spirit.

To make no decision is always to make a decision against God, for we are all by nature against Him.

“The carnal [natural] mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Rom. 8:7). We are all born God-haters; we are all against God. Some people, I know, say, “I’ve always believed in God.” But that means that they have never believed in Him. What they have believed in is some figment of their own imagination. If you confront such people with the God of the Bible, they will soon begin to show their hatred of Him. They have a God whom they can manipulate and handle, a God made after their own image and likeness, and they hate the living God who is revealed in the Bible.

So there is no such thing as neutrality. I repeat that we are either for God or we are against Him. There is no no-man’s-land in this matter. We all of us are inevitably in one of two camps. Our Lord Himself said it: “He that is not with me is against me” (Matt. 12:30)."

— Martyn Lloyd-Jones (2004). Vol. 4: Glorious Christianity (1st U.S. ed.). Studies in the Book of Acts (252–253). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.