What is the Significance of Pentecost in Christian Theology According to Lloyd-Jones?

Based on Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones' sermon, what is the theological significance of Pentecost and the Holy Spirit's work in relation to Scripture and salvation?

According to Dr. Lloyd-Jones, Pentecost has profound theological significance in several ways:

1. It validates Jesus Christ's claims and identity - "The day of Pentecost came. What's its meaning? What's its significance? It is this. It attests our Lord's person. It shows us that he is what he claims to be. The son of God."

2. It fulfills Old Testament prophecy - "Moses had prophesied it. He could only do so through the operation of the spirit of God upon him. All the other prophets the same."

3. It proves the divine inspiration of Scripture - "Here is an absolute proof to us of the reality of the spiritual realm. There is no greater proof than this. It proves the reality of God, the reality of the unseen realm, the truth, the reliability of the Bible."

4. It enables conviction of sin - "The spirit alone can bring conviction concerning these things and show us the consequent danger in which we are."

5. It reveals salvation to believers - "Thank God the spirit doesn't stop his work at that negative action of conviction of sin. It is he who brings us the revelation of this great and glorious salvation."

6. It applies Christ's redemptive work - "The Father planned it. The Son came to do the work that was absolutely essential to its being carried out, and the Holy Spirit applies it to us. He brings it to us, he mediates it to us."

7. It empowers Christian witness - "From that moment, they'd become transfigured... they were able to speak with power and authority and understanding."

Lloyd-Jones emphasizes that Pentecost was not just a historical event but the culmination of God's saving actions, making the gospel effective in the lives of believers and continuing to work in the same way today.

How Does Lloyd-Jones Explain the Holy Spirit's Role in Understanding Scripture?

According to Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones' sermon, how does the Holy Spirit enable people to understand divine truth, and why can't people understand Scripture without the Spirit's help?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones explains that the Holy Spirit plays a crucial role in enabling people to understand Scripture because:

1. The Spirit originally inspired Scripture - "Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, as they were influenced, controlled, carried along, born along by the Holy Spirit of God."

2. Natural human inability to comprehend spiritual truth - "The natural men receiveth not the things of the spirit of God for their foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned."

3. The Spirit illuminates truth to believers - "But God hath revealed them unto us by his spirit. For the spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God."

4. The Spirit makes prophetic elements clear - "It was the Holy Spirit alone, the third person in the blessed holy Trinity who could make known this truth to men so many centuries ahead of the time."

5. The Spirit brings conviction about truth - "The spirit opens our eyes to the realization of the fact that we've lived in utter unawareness of the fact that we possess a soul."

Lloyd-Jones emphasizes that without the Spirit's help, people are spiritually blind and unable to recognize divine truth - even when confronted directly with it: "Man, by searching, not only cannot find God, man is as fallen as this, that when God stands before him, he doesn't recognize him."

He points to the example in the sermon of how the religious leaders couldn't recognize Jesus despite all the evidence, concluding: "You're spiritually dead. You're blind. You can't see." Only the Holy Spirit can overcome this blindness.

What Does Lloyd-Jones Teach About Conviction of Sin Through the Holy Spirit?

According to Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones' sermon, what is the process by which the Holy Spirit brings conviction of sin, and what are the elements of this conviction?

In his sermon, Lloyd-Jones describes a clear process of how the Holy Spirit brings conviction of sin:

1. Awakens awareness of spiritual reality - "What the Holy Spirit does is to bring this word to us, and it always comes as light and as teaching. And it enables a man to see for the first time that he's got a soul within him."

2. Reveals human ignorance - "The first thing he does, of course, is to convince us all of our ignorance." This includes ignorance about:

3. The existence and nature of the soul
4. The reality of God
5. The purpose of life
6. God's plan for the world

7. The true identity of Jesus Christ

8. Exposes human inability - "The Holy Spirit doesn't stop at convicting us of our ignorance. He convicts us also of our utter inability." This inability includes:

9. "Man, with all his supposed genius and ability can never find out the things that really matter."

10. "Even when we are confronted by truth incarnate, we cannot recognize it."

11. Creates awareness of danger - "The spirit alone can bring conviction concerning these things and show us the consequent danger in which we are."

12. Produces a crisis of conviction - "When he does, we are pricked in the heart. We say, where are we? What have we been doing?"

13. Prompts the crucial question - "What can I do? Men and brethren, what shall we do?"

Lloyd-Jones emphasizes that this conviction is not merely emotional but a profound spiritual awakening: "He pricks the heart. He reveals to us our ignorance. He reveals our sinfulness to us." This conviction leads naturally to the revelation of Christ as the solution, as seen when Peter preached at Pentecost and "they that gladly received his word were baptized. And the same day there were added unto them about 3000 souls."

How Does Lloyd-Jones Connect the Old Testament to Pentecost?

Based on Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones' sermon, how does he demonstrate that Pentecost was prophesied and prefigured in the Old Testament?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones demonstrates that Pentecost was extensively prophesied and prefigured in the Old Testament through several means:

1. Direct prophecies from Moses - "This is that Moses which said unto the children of Israel, a prophet, shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me, him shall he hear." Lloyd-Jones highlights that this prophecy included Christ's sending of the Holy Spirit.

2. Prophecies from other prophets - "Not only Moses, but these other prophets, whose works are recorded in the Old Testament in various ways. They prophesied not only the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, but also that he would be the one who was going to send and baptize with the Holy Ghost."

3. The Old Testament feast system - "All this had been anticipated also in the very teaching of the law... the feast which was called the feast of Pentecost." Lloyd-Jones points out that the timing was precise: "On the 7th Sabbath, after the rising of the Messiah, the Holy Ghost was going to come down, and that very thing happened."

4. The use of symbolic elements - "Oil in the Old Testament generally represents the Holy Spirit."

5. The Jewish anticipation - "The whole of the jewish nation was not only looking forward to the coming of the Messiah, it was looking forward to what it called the promise of the Father."

6. John the Baptist's teaching - "I indeed baptize you with water. But one might hear the night cometh... He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire."

Lloyd-Jones emphasizes that the Holy Spirit enabled these prophecies: "What had enabled Moses to do that? Here's the question. And there is only one answer to the question. It was the result of the operation of the Holy Spirit upon Moses." This demonstrates the divine inspiration of Scripture and the remarkable continuity between the Old Testament and the New Testament fulfillment at Pentecost.

What Warning Does Lloyd-Jones Give About Resisting the Holy Spirit?

In his sermon, what warning does Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones give regarding resisting the Holy Spirit, and what examples does he use to illustrate this danger?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones gives a powerful warning about resisting the Holy Spirit, which he presents as a grave spiritual danger:

1. The warning from Stephen's speech - Lloyd-Jones quotes Acts 7:51: "You, stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and years, you do always resist the Holy Ghost, even as your fathers did. So do ye." This was Stephen's final accusation against the Sanhedrin before his martyrdom.

2. The danger of spiritual blindness - "What's the matter with them? Blinded by tradition, proud of their position?" Lloyd-Jones warns his listeners that similar forms of blindness persist today.

3. Modern forms of resistance - "Are you battling for all your worth with your mind and everything else you've got against it? Oh, my dear friend, learn the lesson of these foolish members of the Sanhedrin."

4. Contemporary prejudice - "Beware, lest you be blinded by the same kind of prejudice of this 20th century, the foolish prejudice based upon supposed knowledge and discovery and ability and advance."

5. Examples of resistance in the sermon:

6. The Sanhedrin who rejected Christ despite the evidence
7. The crowd that shouted "crucify him" after previously following him
8. The religious leaders who called the apostles' message blasphemy
9. The persistent pattern in Israel's history: "even as the children of Israel had so frequently done in their long story"

Lloyd-Jones concludes with a solemn warning: "O, may God forbid that anyone should resist the Holy Spirit of God and go to perdition."

The central danger he identifies is that resisting the Spirit leads to missing salvation entirely - treating the gospel as "foolishness" or "some fairy tale" when it is actually God's revealed truth and only hope for mankind. His warning emphasizes that this resistance is not merely intellectual disagreement but a spiritual rejection with eternal consequences.