O God. Thou Art My God (1)
A Sermon on John 3:8
Scripture
8The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it is coming from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.”
8The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
Sermon Description
In this sermon on John 3:8 titled “O God. Thou Art My God (1),” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones preaches about the difference between Christianity and religion. He communicates that though religion might look good outwardly, the true Christian will have an inward transformation as well. This inward transformation takes place through the power of the Spirit who goes where He wishes. There is no point, preaches Dr. Lloyd-Jones, in hyper-analyzing where the Spirit comes and goes. Rather, Christians must simply have faith that God will do what He wishes, and what He wishes is best. Dr. Lloyd-Jones preaches about the importance of the inward transformation of a person who is truly a believer in Christ. A believer recognizes that faith is not religion, but founded rather in the truth and character of God. In this sermon, Dr. Lloyd-Jones argues that the greatest enemies of the church are religion and philosophy. These infrastructures contain many people and convince them that their participation and activity is what merits them eternal life. Rather, it is repentance and faith in Christ that brings life. He preaches also that when a person truly longs for God, books do not satisfy them. Books may show them how to further revel in God’s glory, but the true person of God must live a life of submission to Him.
The Book of John
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.