The Witness of the Spirit
A Sermon on Acts 5:29-32
Originally preached April 24, 1966
Scripture
29¶ Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. 30The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. 31Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and …
Sermon Description
What empowered the early church in their proclamation of the gospel? In this sermon on Acts 5:29-32 titled “The Witness of the Spirit,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones credits it to the power of God’s Holy Spirit poured out at Pentecost upon all who believed in the gospel of Christ. This Holy Spirit made cowardly men bold in the face of death and persecution. It emboldened them and gave them the words to speak before the same Jewish leaders who had put Christ to death only a matter of days before. It is God’s Spirit that has worked in the church throughout the centuries to bring reformations and revivals. It is this Spirit that enables blind and fallen sinners to see and believe in the gospel of Christ, and this Spirit empowers Christians to live a life of holiness and love. While many today want to reject all supernatural aspects of Christianity and the Bible, the church has always believed in the God who works in the world to bring about His purposes. He does this through his Spirit and to reject the supernatural aspects of Christianity is to reject the very heart of the truth.
Sermon Breakdown
- The apostles were arrested for preaching the gospel and performing miracles. They were told by the Sanhedrin to stop preaching in the name of Jesus.
- The apostles refused to stop preaching the gospel. They said they must obey God rather than men.
- The gospel is God's message, not man's. Anything claiming to be the gospel that comes from man alone is a lie.
- The gospel is about Jesus - who he is and what he has done. He is the Son of God, the savior of the world. He died for our sins and rose again.
- The Holy Spirit bears witness to the truth of the gospel, just as the apostles do.
- The Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, fulfilling Old Testament prophecy. This shows Jesus is the Christ.
- The changed lives of the apostles show the power of the Holy Spirit. They went from cowardly to bold.
- Christianity cannot be explained psychologically. People of all types have become Christians.
- Revivals in church history show the power of the Holy Spirit. He continues to bear witness to the gospel.
- We must obey God and believe the gospel, not reject it like the Sanhedrin. The Holy Spirit calls us to repent and believe.
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.