MLJ Trust Logo Image
Search
Sermon #2051

The Witness of the Spirit

A Sermon on Acts 5:29-32

Originally preached April 24, 1966

Share Share on Twitter Share on Facebook
Play Sermon
btn-play
Download Sermon Add to Queue Add to Playlist

Scripture

Acts 5:29-32 ESV KJV
But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And …

Read more

Sermon Description

What empowered the early church in their proclamation of the gospel? In this sermon on Acts 5:29-32 titled “The Witness of the Spirit,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones credits it to the power of God’s Holy Spirit poured out at Pentecost upon all who believed in the gospel of Christ. This Holy Spirit made cowardly men bold in the face of death and persecution. It emboldened them and gave them the words to speak before the same Jewish leaders who had put Christ to death only a matter of days before. It is God’s Spirit that has worked in the church throughout the centuries to bring reformations and revivals. It is this Spirit that enables blind and fallen sinners to see and believe in the gospel of Christ, and this Spirit empowers Christians to live a life of holiness and love. While many today want to reject all supernatural aspects of Christianity and the Bible, the church has always believed in the God who works in the world to bring about His purposes. He does this through his Spirit and to reject the supernatural aspects of Christianity is to reject the very heart of the truth.

Sermon Breakdown

  1. The apostles were arrested for preaching the gospel and performing miracles. They were told by the Sanhedrin to stop preaching in the name of Jesus.
  2. The apostles refused to stop preaching the gospel. They said they must obey God rather than men.
  3. The gospel is God's message, not man's. Anything claiming to be the gospel that comes from man alone is a lie.
  4. The gospel is about Jesus - who he is and what he has done. He is the Son of God, the savior of the world. He died for our sins and rose again.
  5. The Holy Spirit bears witness to the truth of the gospel, just as the apostles do.
  6. The Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, fulfilling Old Testament prophecy. This shows Jesus is the Christ.
  7. The changed lives of the apostles show the power of the Holy Spirit. They went from cowardly to bold.
  8. Christianity cannot be explained psychologically. People of all types have become Christians.
  9. Revivals in church history show the power of the Holy Spirit. He continues to bear witness to the gospel.
  10. We must obey God and believe the gospel, not reject it like the Sanhedrin. The Holy Spirit calls us to repent and believe.

Sermon Q&A

What Are the Key Witnesses to the Christian Faith According to Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones?

According to Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones' sermon, there are two primary witnesses to the truth of Christianity:

  1. The apostles who physically witnessed Christ's ministry, death, and resurrection
  2. The Holy Spirit who continues to bear witness throughout history

How do the apostles serve as witnesses to Christianity?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones explains that the apostles were eyewitnesses to:

  • The life and teaching of Jesus
  • His miracles and ministry
  • His death on the cross
  • His resurrection from the dead
  • His appearances after the resurrection

"They bore witness to facts. We are witnesses of these things. There is no greater denial of the gospel than to represent it merely as a philosophy, as a collection of ideas, as one view amongst others."

How does the Holy Spirit bear witness to Christianity?

According to Lloyd-Jones, the Holy Spirit witnesses in several ways:

  1. Through the historic event of Pentecost: "His very coming on the day of Pentecost is the witness to these things. You see, once more, we are in the realm of fact and of history. Something happened on that day of Pentecost."

  2. As the fulfillment of prophecy: "This of course becomes still more significant as we realize that it was the fulfillment of prophecies that had gone before."

  3. By transforming the apostles: "The descent of the Holy Ghost is the only explanation of these people. You can't explain them in any other terms."

  4. Through continued revival throughout church history: "There's only one thing that explains the continuance and the persistence of the Christian Church tonight—it is the Holy Ghost, the revivals of history, the repetition, if you like, of what happened on the day of Pentecost."

Why does Lloyd-Jones emphasize the Holy Spirit's witness?

Lloyd-Jones emphasizes the Holy Spirit's witness because:

  1. It authenticates Jesus as the Messiah: "The baptism with the Holy Ghost is the final, the ultimate proof."

  2. It explains the inexplicable growth of the church: "It isn't what men can do. It's what God can enable him to do."

  3. It transforms ordinary people: "Christianity is that which changes a man completely, gives him a new birth, makes him a new man, transforms him entirely."

  4. It persists through history despite human failures: "Were it not for that, the church would long since have ceased to be at all."

How should people respond to these witnesses according to Lloyd-Jones?

The proper response according to Lloyd-Jones is:

"If you but see tonight that that is your condition, that you have nothing to expect but the punishment that you so richly deserve, if you but repent and acknowledge and confess that and believe this witness and this testimony that Jesus is the Son of God who has come out of the eternal glory into this world in order to save us and redeem us... Repent. Believe the gospel, and you'll be more amazed than you've ever been in your life."

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.