Divine Knowledge
A Sermon on Luke 4:18-19
Originally preached Feb. 5, 1956
Scripture
18The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, …
Sermon Description
The glorious truth of the message of Christ is that people can know God and come into a relationship with Him. God has not created humanity and left them to themselves, but has revealed Himself. This revelation does not come through human reason, for Paul tells that the message of the gospel came to those that were not considered wise by the world. God has revealed Himself through Christ in grace. In this sermon on Luke 4:18–19 titled “Divine Knowledge,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones preaches on this truth that God can be known not because of human wisdom, but because God is gracious. It is because God so loved this sinful and evil world that He has sent His Son so that all who repent of their sins and believe in Jesus might be saved. This is not merely theoretical knowledge, but it is a knowledge of God and what He has done. How is one to respond to this revelation? The answer of this sermon from Scripture is that they must believe God. They must believe that Jesus Christ is God’s son who has come to die and take away the sin of the world.
Sermon Breakdown
- The passage from Luke 4:18-19 is a perfect summary of the Christian gospel.
- Jesus read these verses in the synagogue at Nazareth, claiming they were fulfilled in him.
- These verses show why Jesus came to earth and the purpose of his ministry.
- The verses depict sin through a series of pictures: poverty, brokenheartedness, captivity, and blindness.
- Sin makes us spiritually poor, leaving us bankrupt before God.
- Sin breaks our hearts, causing misery, trouble, and despair.
- Sin leads to captivity, making us slaves to fears, habits, and sinful desires.
- Sin results in spiritual blindness, ignorance of essential spiritual truths.
- Spiritual blindness is a major biblical theme, depicted throughout the Old and New Testaments.
- Spiritual blindness is humanity's greatest tragedy, the root cause of our troubles.
- The world thinks religion is for the ignorant, but Jesus said he came to give sight to the blind.
- There are two types of knowledge: human knowledge and divine knowledge from God.
- Human knowledge is intellectual, acquired through effort, and depends on human ability.
- Divine knowledge is revealed by God, open to all, and not dependent on human ability.
- Human knowledge pertains to material things, but is ignorant of spiritual essentials like purpose, meaning, and eternity.
- Jesus came to give us knowledge of these spiritual essentials, enlightening our souls.
- Jesus' life, teaching, death and resurrection reveal knowledge of God, sin, life, and eternity.
- For us to receive this knowledge, Jesus must open our blind eyes through the Holy Spirit.
- We must confess our blindness, stop trusting in human knowledge, and ask Jesus for spiritual sight.
Sermon Q&A
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones on Spiritual Blindness and True Knowledge
What does Dr. Lloyd-Jones identify as the central problem that Christ came to address?
According to Dr. Lloyd-Jones, Christ came to address the problem of sin and its consequences in the lives of men. Specifically in this sermon, he focuses on how sin leads to spiritual blindness and ignorance. Lloyd-Jones states: "Sin is that which leads to blindness. Sin leads to ignorance, to darkness." He emphasizes that this spiritual blindness is one of the primary symptoms of sin, making us unable to see and understand the most essential truths about life, God, and ourselves.
How does Dr. Lloyd-Jones contrast the two types of knowledge available to mankind?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones contrasts two types of knowledge:
- Human knowledge:
- Purely intellectual and doesn't take in the whole person
- Acquired through personal effort and study
- Requires ability and capacity in the person
- Focused on material things and temporal matters
-
Deals with "non-essentials" but remains ignorant about "essentials"
-
Divine knowledge:
- Takes in the whole person
- Is given, not earned - "It's a knowledge that comes to a man"
- Open to all regardless of intellectual ability
- Addresses spiritual realities and eternal matters
- Deals with the essential questions of existence
He says: "The tragedy of men is that he does not and will not realize that there are two types and two kinds of knowledge."
What biblical evidence does Dr. Lloyd-Jones provide to show that spiritual blindness is a major theme in Scripture?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones shows that spiritual blindness is a consistent theme throughout Scripture by citing numerous examples:
- Isaiah 35 speaks of the day when "sight shall be given to the blind"
- Isaiah's diagnosis that "my people knoweth not, understandeth not"
- Jesus declaring "The people that sat in darkness have seen a great light"
- Jesus saying "Can the blind lead the blind?" regarding the Pharisees
- Jesus stating "For judgment am I come into the world that they that see not may see"
- Jesus' declaration "I am the light of the world"
- Paul writing in 1 Corinthians about the world not knowing God through wisdom
- Paul describing how "the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not"
- Peter describing believers as those called "out of darkness into his most marvelous light"
How does Dr. Lloyd-Jones explain Christ's role in restoring spiritual sight?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones explains that Christ restores spiritual sight in multiple ways:
- Through His life and example - "He himself is knowledge. He is light."
- Through His teaching - "If only everybody in the world tonight practiced and lived the Sermon on the Mount."
- Through His death on the cross - revealing both "sin and evil" and "God's love and mercy"
- Through His resurrection - "which brings life and immortality to light"
Most importantly, Christ does not merely provide the revelation, but He gives the ability to see it through regeneration: "He can work a miracle on that atrophy, dead optic nerve. He can put life into it... That's regeneration. That is rebirth." This happens through the Holy Spirit, who enables us to spiritually discern truth that would otherwise remain foolishness to us.
According to Dr. Lloyd-Jones, why is human knowledge insufficient for solving mankind's deepest problems?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones argues that human knowledge is insufficient because:
- It addresses only the material realm but cannot answer spiritual questions
- It is limited to temporal matters and has nothing to say about eternity
- It cannot solve the problem of death - "What lies beyond it? Is this the only life?"
- It fails to address the essential questions about identity, purpose, and meaning
- It deals with the superficial issues but not the core problem of the human condition
- The "optic nerve of man's soul is dead" - our spiritual capacity to see truth is damaged by sin
- It cannot bring us to true knowledge of God - "Can a man, by searching, find out God?"
He concludes: "The knowledge that man has in and of himself is a knowledge concerning nonessentials... And the result is that men, as the Bible says of him, is completely ignorant about the essentials."
Sermons on Knowledge
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.