The Great Conflict
A Sermon on Acts 4:31
Originally preached Jan. 30, 1966
Scripture
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.
Sermon Description
There are two powers that exist in the world: God and the devil. In this sermon on Acts 4:31 titled “The Great Conflict,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones explains the devil is the great deceiver who seeks to destroy God and His people. This enemy of righteousness is described as the god of this world who blinds the nations and is responsible for the persecutions against God’s church. He is wholly opposed to all that is of God. God is the Creator and Judge of the whole world. He is the source of all good and righteousness. He has sent His only Son into the world to break the hold of Satan and save all sinners who repent and believe in His name. One either serves God or Satan. One either submits to the lordship of God the Creator and Sustainer, or they are slaves of Satan, the father of lies. It is in the midst of this cosmic struggle that the Christian lives and serves God. Those who oppose God do so because they serve Satan and are blinded by his lies, while those who love and serve God trust and believe in Christ and his gospel. The church must understand the great antithesis of these two powers, and they must see that Christ has conquered Satan, sin, and the world by His great work on the cross.
Sermon Breakdown
- There are two great forces operating in the world: Satan and the Holy Spirit.
- Satan is the father of lies and fills people's hearts with lies.
- The lies Satan tells include: there is no God, no devil, no evil, man is essentially good, the world is improving, and Jesus is just a man.
- Believing Satan's lies leads to bondage, selfishness, short-sightedness, and judgment.
- The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. He reveals the truth about God, man, sin, and Jesus.
- The truth the Holy Spirit reveals includes: God is loving but also just, man has a soul and is responsible to God, man is fallen, and Jesus is the Son of God and savior.
- Believing the Holy Spirit's truth leads to knowing sins are forgiven, peace with God, a new nature, deliverance from sin, satisfaction, joy, peace, and eternal life.
- This conflict between Satan and the Holy Spirit will end in Satan's defeat and judgment. Jesus has already defeated Satan, and Jesus will come again to destroy Satan once and for all.
- We must choose whether to believe Satan's lies or the Holy Spirit's truth. Choosing to believe the Holy Spirit leads to eternal life while choosing Satan leads to eternal death.
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.