Separated Unto Him
A Sermon on Acts 2:37-47
Scripture
37¶ Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? 38Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of …
Sermon Description
In his exposition of Acts 2:37–47 titled “Separated Unto Him,” Dr. Lloyd-Jones tells of true repentance and salvation found with Christ. To believe in Christ is to reject outward religious tradition and put faith in the truth of Jesus Christ. Humanity is born in a terribly dangerous position before God, a position of darkness and rejection of His gospel. The evil that fills the heart remains until, as Paul said in Ephesians, “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved.” When a person repents, it is only then that true happiness begins. This inward happiness comes from being forgiven and knowing the great relief of being loved by our King. From that moment on, as Dr. Lloyd-Jones describes, the believer’s life is separated from this evil world and separated into and unto the kingdom of God and His Son, Jesus Christ.
Sermon Breakdown
- The sermon begins by emphasizing the importance of studying the book of Acts to understand what the Christian church is and what it means to be a Christian.
- The sermon then outlines some false views of Christianity, including:
- Christianity as merely an intellectual exercise
- Christianity as purely emotional
- Christianity as primarily about good works and service
- The sermon argues that these views are contradicted by Acts 2, which shows that Christianity is something that happens to us through the call of God and the work of the Holy Spirit.
- Those who respond to God's call have their position and status before God changed - they go from being lost to being saved. This is an ongoing process with past, present and future aspects.
- Christianity becomes central to the lives of Christians, rather than just being added on. It involves and transforms a person's whole being - mind, heart and will.
- The characteristics of the Christians in Acts 2 show what true Christianity is like: belief in the truth, joy, fellowship, devotion to the apostles' teaching, meeting together, praising God, favor with others.
- The sermon concludes by asking whether we are truly Christians like those described in Acts 2. Becoming a Christian involves realizing we are not Christians; confessing our sin; believing in Jesus, his death and resurrection; and being baptized in his name.
The Book of Acts
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.