The World that Wants Peace
A Sermon on Acts 4:31-35
Scripture
31And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.
Sharing among Believers
32And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and …
31¶ And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. 32And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: …
Sermon Description
All the turmoil and strife in the world has its root in humanity’s sinful rebellion against God the creator. When humanity rejects God as ruler and rebel, they lose any hope of true peace and happiness. As Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones explains in this sermon on Acts 4:31–35, all hope is lost because the world rejects the Creator who is the source of all blessings. When people reject God as ruler, they set themselves up as their own rulers. This leads to anger, bitterness, jealousy, strife, and hatred. Because sin is the root of all the troubles, all plans to bring peace and harmony to the world that reject God and His view of the world are doomed to fail. This is the current state of the world. There is suffering and pain on a massive scale across the globe that people seek to fix. But Dr. Lloyd-Jones says that it is the fallen nature that produces these ills. And it is only the gospel of Jesus Christ that brings renewal and true change. It is only by the transformation of hearts and minds that the world will come to know peace and experience joy. This is the great promise of the gospel: the renewal and transformation of the whole world under the reign of 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.