God and History
A Sermon on Acts 7:7-20
Scripture
7And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place. 8And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and …
Sermon Description
Acts 7:7–20 is the account of Stephen who made it his goal to preach Jesus as the Messiah. He wanted the Pharisees to see that Jesus was the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises. The points that Stephen makes are important to hear today as many react to these teachings the same way the Sanhedrin did. Listen to “God and History” as Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones points out these similarities. First, people are unaware of God’s purposes in history. Too often, they ignore the past and lose sight of God’s plans. History is viewed as the activity of humanity rather than the activity of God. Not only has humanity failed to detect God’s plans, but they have also tried to reject them. Dr. Lloyd-Jones points out how nothing can stop the plans of God. This is seen in the Bible as God’s plans unfold according to His words. Dr. Lloyd-Jones closes by reminding the listener to trust God, knowing that He has established His plans for the future. Christians can live in hope knowing that they will one day spend eternity in heaven with God. He encourages to simply give the time on earth to God and trust in His plans.
Sermon Breakdown
- Man's ultimate trouble is that he's not aware of God's purpose in history.
- Modern man completely misreads and misunderstands history, and that is why he fails to learn from it.
- The first error is that he looks at and is interested only in his own little sector of history. He's interested in his own immediate history.
- The second error is that they don't look forward to the future either. They don't look to the end of history.
- The third error is seeing history only as the scene or the sphere, if you like, of man's activity and missing and failing to see the activity of God.
- The first trouble with mankind is that it is not aware of God's purpose in history.
- Man not only fails to detect God's plan and purpose in history, man in his folly resists it, stands up against it.
- It is due to their ignorance of God. They don't know him. They don't understand him.
- It's equally ignorant of what God has done.
- There's something worse even than ignorance. And that is ingratitude.
- The real trouble with mankind is that it doesn't know the end and the object of God's purpose in history. It doesn't understand the character of God's purpose in history.
- God's plan is absolutely certain, inevitable, irresistible.
- It is a purpose of deliverance and blessing for his people.
- Judgment to and for his enemies
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.