When God Turns Away
A Sermon on Acts 7:42-43
Scripture
42But God turned away and gave them over to serve the heavenly lights; as it is written in the book of the prophets: ‘You did not offer Me victims and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness, did you, house of Israel? 43 …
42Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness? 43Yea, ye …
Sermon Description
Just when one thinks the world couldn’t get worse, something terrible happens. There will always be those who blindly think trouble will evaporate and the world will become a better place. Through human thought and ethical reflection, they believe the world is slowly but surely becoming more and more civil and peaceful. This progressive view is founded upon faith in human nature and human goodness. But as Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones proclaims from Acts 7:42–43, this is fatally flawed because it does not have an accurate and biblical view of human nature. While humanists see human nature as good or indifferent to evil, the Bible says all are sinners by nature and under the wrath of God. In fact, the whole world is under the righteous judgment of God. For God has warned that there is coming a great day of wrath when He will judge all for their sin and rebellion. God will finally and ultimately reject sinful people who do not submit to His law. He will turn away from those who do not believe. But He has also provided a means of salvation from this great judgment. He sent his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die upon the cross so that sinners would not have to suffer the eternal damnation of God. All who repent and believe will be saved and made children of God.
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.