Spiritual Ignorance: The Root of Unbelief
A Sermon on Acts 3:17
Originally preached May 23, 1965
Scripture
17And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers.
Sermon Description
Why is it that so many are not interested in Christ? Ignorance. Here in Acts 3:17, Peter confronts the crowd with the truth of their dire condition. They are ignorant of Christ and of His resurrection. In this sermon titled “Ignorance,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones calls the world to see its ignorance today. He identifies that the world is ignorant of their need for Christ, who Christ is, and the coming judgment. Humanity is ignorant because of the blindness of their hearts and minds. The crowd in Peter’s day rejected and hated Christ and refused to believe that He was the Messiah. The world today continues to reject Christ in this same way and are ignorant of who He is and what He has done. Peter called the crowd in Acts 3:17 to repent and be converted so that their sins may be blotted out. Dr. Lloyd-Jones does the same by calling all to repent. He calls all to see that they don’t have to live in ignorance.
Sermon Breakdown
- Peter is preaching this sermon as a result of the healing of a lame man. The miracle gathered a crowd and Peter took the opportunity to preach the gospel.
- Peter tells the crowd not to focus on the miracle or on himself and John. The focus should be on God - the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
- Peter says they crucified Jesus in ignorance. Both the common people and the rulers were ignorant.
- The ignorance Peter refers to is not a lack of intellect or brain power. Many intelligent people remain ignorant of the gospel.
- The real cause of ignorance is the state of the heart, not the head. There is an element of perversion and pride in the human heart that leads to ignorance.
- Sin also contributes to ignorance. Sin dulls our faculties and blinds us. The more we sin, the less clearly we can think.
- There is also a spiritual blindness from Satan that prevents people from understanding and believing the gospel.
- The ignorance Peter refers to is ignorance of God, ourselves, judgement, the need for a savior, the Scriptures and Jesus Christ.
- The world is ignorant of the blessings of salvation like forgiveness of sins, new birth and new life.
- Peter pleads with the crowd to repent and turn to Christ.
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.