The Church: Fighting for Her Life
A Sermon on Acts 5:32
Scripture
32And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.
Sermon Description
Today’s cultural environment is difficult for the church. How are Christians supposed to act in the midst of increasing hostility towards the faith? In this sermon on Acts 5:32, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones draws from Scripture and church history to encourage believers in how to walk with the Lord in difficult times. The church has had to fight for her life many times over the centuries, and the essence of wisdom is to look at the past and see how she has survived. How did the church flourish in the midst of trials and persecution? The church flourished through the emphasis on personal witness and the witness of the Holy Spirit. So often believers focus solely on their abilities and witness when instead they are also called to recognize the need for the Holy Spirit. Though the Spirit is often thought of in terms of the spiritual gifts He bestows, perhaps more important is the role He plays in everyday lives and how He lives out His testimony in and through His people. This correct view shows that people are desperately dependent on the Holy Spirit for their lives to be lived out in a godly manner. Listen as Dr. Lloyd-Jones encourages Christians about how they can keep the faith in the midst of a hostile environment by relying on the Holy Spirit.
Sermon Breakdown
- The church is fighting for her life in the present day, just as in the early church. We must look to scripture to see how the early church succeeded.
- There are two essential elements to the church's success: the apostolic witness (orthodox truth) and the witness of the Holy Spirit. We must have both.
- The witness of the Holy Spirit is not to himself or to us, but to Jesus Christ. The Spirit glorifies Christ.
- Even Jesus needed the Holy Spirit to empower his ministry. The disciples could not be witnesses until they received the Spirit at Pentecost.
- The apostles preached Christ, not the Spirit, after Pentecost. Their witness and the Spirit's witness was to the person and work of Christ.
- The Holy Spirit bears witness through external, phenomenal means, not just through our experiences. Examples: the events of Pentecost, the shaking of the building where the disciples prayed, the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira.
- Revival is when the Spirit falls in power, as in Pentecost. It is not organized or manufactured but a sovereign work of God. Examples: the Welsh revival, the Great Awakening.
- We must continue to bear witness to Christ, pray for revival, and proclaim the gospel when the Spirit moves. The Spirit's witness will draw people to hear the message of Christ.
Sermon Q&A
What Does the Holy Spirit Bear Witness To According to Martyn Lloyd-Jones?
How does the Holy Spirit glorify Jesus rather than Himself according to Lloyd-Jones?
According to Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the Holy Spirit never bears witness to Himself but always to Jesus Christ. He quotes Jesus's own words from John 16:12-14: "When he, the spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak...He shall glorify me." Lloyd-Jones emphasizes that the Spirit's primary role is to exalt and glorify Christ, not to call attention to Himself or to spiritual experiences. As evidence, Lloyd-Jones points to how the apostles, when filled with the Spirit at Pentecost, didn't preach about their spiritual experiences but consistently preached about "Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs."
What are the two essential elements needed for the church to effectively face opposition according to Lloyd-Jones?
Lloyd-Jones identifies two essential elements that must work together for the church to effectively face opposition: (1) the apostolic witness of truth (orthodoxy) and (2) the witness of the Holy Spirit. He warns against the danger of emphasizing one while neglecting the other. Some focus exclusively on reformation and orthodox doctrine, believing that "all we need is to declare the truth." Others focus only on the experience of the Holy Spirit, claiming "it doesn't matter what you believe" as long as you've had a spiritual experience. Lloyd-Jones insists both elements are essential: "We must have orthodox truth. We must come back to the apostolic message. But that alone is not enough. There is another witness...the witness of the Holy Ghost."
How does Lloyd-Jones distinguish between renewal and revival?
Lloyd-Jones makes an important distinction between renewal and revival. He acknowledges that many contemporary Christians are experiencing what they call "renewal," which he describes as individuals realizing they have the Holy Spirit and yielding to Him for personal blessing. While he doesn't dismiss this, he clarifies: "They're quite right. It is renewal. It's not revival." Revival, by contrast, is "the falling down of the Spirit" in a more external, phenomenal, community-wide manner - similar to what happened at Pentecost. Revival is not organized or manufactured but comes sovereignly when "the Spirit comes down." He gives the example from John Wesley's journal where "the power of God came mightily upon us" at 3:00 AM during a prayer meeting, resulting in many crying out and falling to the ground. Lloyd-Jones says this external, phenomenal witness of the Spirit is "the only thing which is going to attract people back to our churches."
What does Lloyd-Jones identify as evidence that someone is truly filled with the Holy Spirit?
According to Lloyd-Jones, the test of whether someone is truly filled with the Holy Spirit is not how much they talk about the Spirit or spiritual gifts, but how much they glorify Jesus Christ. He states: "The test of having received a great experience of the Holy Ghost is not that you talk the whole time about the Holy Ghost, but that you glorify the Lord Jesus Christ." He provides evidence from church history, noting that Charles Wesley, after receiving the baptism of the Spirit, wrote numerous hymns about Jesus but very few about the Spirit. Similarly, during the Welsh revival, the favorite hymns were not about the Spirit but about "the Lord Jesus Christ and his death, his atonement, his blood, his glorious resurrection and the way of salvation." For Lloyd-Jones, the Spirit-filled person consistently exalts Christ rather than focusing on spiritual experiences or gifts.
Why does Lloyd-Jones believe organized evangelistic campaigns are insufficient for church renewal?
Lloyd-Jones expresses skepticism about the effectiveness of organized evangelistic campaigns for genuine church renewal. He states, "Have an evangelistic campaign. All right, you can have them, but you'll find it'll make no difference. We've tried all this." He similarly dismisses entertainment, pop music, and bands as ineffective strategies that "don't work." Lloyd-Jones believes these human-organized efforts cannot produce the spiritual awakening the church needs. Instead, he emphasizes that "there is only one other factor which is absolutely essential. It is the witness of the Holy Spirit" - specifically, the external, phenomenal witness that comes through revival. He describes this as "the Spirit coming upon people as He did on the day of Pentecost," resulting in manifestations that attract attention and lead to genuine conversions. For Lloyd-Jones, only this sovereign work of God, not human organization, can truly revitalize the church.
Itinerant Preaching
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.