The Sending of the Spirit
A Sermon on Acts 7:37-38
Originally preached May 14, 1967
Scripture
37¶ This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear. 38This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which …
Sermon Description
What gives power to the gospel message? Or even better, who gives power to the gospel message? The world looks for those with eloquence and bravado, but God looks for holiness and faithfulness. In the sermon “The Sending of the Spirit” that focuses on Acts 7:37–38, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones proclaims that the power with which the apostles preached was not of human strength, but it was a direct result of what God had done in them. On the day of Pentecost, God sent his Holy Spirit to indwell and empower the ministry and life of those Christians gathered in the upper room. This accounts for the apostles’ boldness before the very Jewish leaders who had put Jesus Christ to death only a matter of days before. This new Spirit-empowered boldness surprised the Jewish leaders who thought the apostles to be nothing more than uneducated fishermen. But it was the Spirit that filled these rural uneducated men to speak with clarity and power of the risen Messiah, Jesus Christ. This Spirit that indwelled the believers of the early church is the same Holy Spirit that spoke in the prophets of Israel in the Old Testament. The Holy Spirit also inspired the Scriptures and the same Spirit that has been active in the church through the centuries. It is the power of God in the life of individual believers and in the church universal.
Sermon Breakdown
- Stephen was on trial for his life before the Sanhedrin for preaching about Jesus.
- The charges against Stephen were blasphemy against Moses, God, the Temple and the Law.
- Stephen reviews the history of Israel to show that his message is the fulfillment of the Old Testament.
- Stephen says Moses prophesied the coming of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. This proves Stephen's message is not against Moses.
- The ability of Moses and the prophets to prophesy about future events shows the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
- The Holy Spirit enabled Moses and the prophets to prophesy about events hundreds of years in the future that they could not have known about otherwise.
- The Holy Spirit proves the truth of Scripture and the reality of the spiritual realm.
- The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment as Jesus promised.
- On the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit convicted the crowd of their sin, ignorance and inability.
- The natural man cannot understand spiritual truth. Only the Holy Spirit can enable people to understand.
- The Holy Spirit reveals the truth about Jesus - that He died to save us from our sins.
- The Holy Spirit applies the work of Jesus to our lives.
- The Holy Spirit proves that Jesus is the Son of God by fulfilling His promises.
- We must not resist the Holy Spirit like the Sanhedrin did.
- We must accept the truth and believe in Jesus to be saved.
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.