Professing Themselves Wise
A Sermon on Acts 7:20-29
Originally preached Feb. 19, 1967
Scripture
20In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father’s house three months: 21And when he was cast out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son. 22And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the …
Sermon Description
Sin impacts everyone. No one can escape the devastating reality of the fallen world. What began in the garden with Adam and Eve, continues to corrupt everyone today. This corruption and depravity applies to all of human faculties, especially the mind. As Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones describes in this sermon titled “Professing Themselves Wise,” this accounts for the fundamentally wrong perceptions of God that fallen humans have. They are unable to understand God and His attributes. They are unable to receive His revelation that is clearly seen in nature and uniquely revealed in Scripture. But there is a unique danger when the church loses sight of the gospel it is to proclaim. Even the church can be drawn aside all too quickly from proclaiming the pure milk of the word and begin delivering only a message of moral conformity or comfort and ease. When the church does not understand the root of all unbelief in the corrupted mind and nature, it will fail to see the great the need for the gospel. The antidote, as Dr. Lloyd-Jones proclaims, is to diligently study the word and boldly preach the gospel. For this alone is the power that can restore and renew hearts and minds. This is the message that must be proclaimed.
Sermon Breakdown
- Stephen is addressing the Sanhedrin, the Jewish religious leaders who put him on trial for preaching about Jesus.
- Stephen reviews the history of Israel to show how the Sanhedrin's rejection of Jesus was consistent with how their ancestors rejected God's messengers.
- Stephen talks about Moses, who was rejected by his own people when he first tried to deliver them from Egypt. The people did not understand that God sent Moses to save them.
- Sin darkens our understanding and makes us spiritually blind. We cannot perceive spiritual and divine things. The Sanhedrin could not see that Jesus was the Messiah.
- Sin also makes us blind to our own condition and need for salvation. The Israelites were too busy fighting each other to realize they were all slaves in Egypt. Likewise, the world today is divided while enslaved to sin.
- Sin blinds us to the identity of the Savior, Jesus Christ. Though Jesus did many miracles, the world did not recognize him.
- Sin makes us unable to understand how Jesus' death on the cross provides salvation. The cross seems foolish without spiritual understanding.
- Sin makes us unable to understand the consequences of rejecting the gospel. Rejecting Jesus leads to spiritual blindness, purposelessness, fear of death, and eternal judgment.
Sermon Q&A
What Did Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones Teach About Spiritual Blindness in Acts 7?
Why did the Israelites reject Moses when he first appeared as their deliverer?
According to Dr. Lloyd-Jones, the Israelites rejected Moses because they "understood not" (Acts 7:25). They were spiritually blind and incapable of recognizing God's intervention through Moses. This spiritual blindness prevented them from seeing that God was working through Moses to deliver them from bondage. Their rejection delayed their deliverance by 40 years and demonstrates the tragic power of sin to blind human understanding.
How does Dr. Lloyd-Jones connect the Israelites' rejection of Moses to the world's rejection of Christ?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones shows that the Israelites rejecting Moses parallels how the Jewish leaders rejected Jesus. Stephen used this historical example to show the Sanhedrin they were repeating their ancestors' mistake. Just as the Israelites failed to recognize Moses as their God-sent deliverer, the religious leaders failed to recognize Jesus as the Messiah. The preacher states: "He came unto his own, and his own received him not" - the same pattern of spiritual blindness that affected both generations.
What does Dr. Lloyd-Jones identify as the root cause of mankind's rejection of salvation?
The root cause is sin, which Dr. Lloyd-Jones describes as "not a mere lack" but "a positive power" that grips humanity. Sin paralyzes our highest faculties, particularly our understanding. He explains that "evil is a great power" that holds mankind "under the dominion of the devil." This corruption of human understanding makes people incapable of appreciating spiritual truth or recognizing God's intervention in human affairs.
How does spiritual blindness manifest itself according to this sermon?
According to the sermon, spiritual blindness manifests in several ways: 1. Blindness to the supernatural realm - inability to see beyond the material world 2. Blindness to our common need and predicament - fighting each other while all are slaves to sin 3. Blindness to the identity of the Savior - failing to recognize Christ 4. Blindness to God's way of salvation - not understanding the cross 5. Blindness to the consequences of rejecting God's offer of salvation
What solution does Dr. Lloyd-Jones offer for spiritual blindness?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones concludes by urging listeners to turn to God and pray for divine illumination: "Holy Spirit, truth divine, dawn upon this soul of mine, word of God and inward light, wake my spirit, clear my sight." He teaches that only God can give the spiritual understanding needed to recognize Christ as Savior. The solution comes not through human wisdom but through divine revelation that opens spiritually blind eyes to see Christ and embrace the cross that was previously "meaningless."
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.