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Sermon #2034

The Work of The Holy Spirit

A Sermon on Acts 4:29-33

Originally preached Dec. 12, 1965

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Scripture

Acts 4:29-33 ESV KJV
And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place …

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Sermon Description

How does the message of the gospel come to men and women? How do they move from hearing the words to believing them? In this sermon on Acts 4:29-33 titled “The Work of the Holy Spirit,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones preaches about the wonderful work of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the preaching of the gospel. In his sermon, he focuses specifically on the work of the Holy Spirit as the one enabling and empowering the preachers who proclaim and the listeners who respond. This is a special work of the Spirit to accomplish this and it helps the believer understand why there are those who hear the gospel but are merely convicted as opposed to those who are convicted and convinced of the gospel. It is a peculiar function of the Holy Spirit to utilize the Word of truth to convince the listener of righteousness and judgment. Dr. Lloyd-Jones urges the believer to proclaim the gospel with great boldness to convict while also praying for the Spirit to convince the listener.

Sermon Breakdown

  1. The sermon begins by explaining that the passage being discussed is Acts 4:29-33 which describes the early church praying together after Peter and John were arrested.
  2. Dr. Lloyd-Jones says the goal of analyzing this passage is to understand what Christianity really is by looking at the early church. The only way to know what Christianity is, is by looking at the New Testament.
  3. Dr. Lloyd-Jones says there are certain absolutes and essentials in Christianity: the truth about God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and their role in salvation.
  4. Dr. Lloyd-Jones says the question is how the wonderful works of God related to individuals which is shown through the Holy Spirit enabling people to believe.
  5. Dr. Lloyd-Jones says the Holy Spirit enables preachers to preach the message and also acts on listeners to enable them to believe. This is a dual action.
  6. Dr. Lloyd-Jones says the Holy Spirit gives preachers unction, clarity, freedom and authority to preach. Dr. Lloyd-Jones quotes 1 Thessalonians 1:5 and 1 Peter 1:10-12 to illustrate this.
  7. Dr. Lloyd-Jones says the Holy Spirit also gives signs like healing to accompany the preaching of the gospel and give it authority, though preaching has authority in itself. Dr. Lloyd-Jones quotes Hebrews 2:3-4 to illustrate this.
  8. Dr. Lloyd-Jones says the Holy Spirit acts on listeners by convicting and convincing them. Convicting is establishing a charge while convincing is getting someone to agree and believe. Dr. Lloyd-Jones illustrates this with Acts 7:51-54 and Acts 24:24-25.
  9. Dr. Lloyd-Jones says the Holy Spirit uses the truth, the word of God, to convince people. Dr. Lloyd-Jones quotes John 16:8-11 to show how the Holy Spirit convinces people of sin, righteousness and judgment.
  10. Dr. Lloyd-Jones says the Holy Spirit convinces people of sin by showing them their blindness in not believing in Jesus. Dr. Lloyd-Jones says sin is failing to recognize our need for Jesus.
  11. Dr. Lloyd-Jones says the Holy Spirit convinces people of righteousness by showing that Jesus is the righteous one, proven by his resurrection and sending of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit also shows that only Jesus can make us righteous.
  12. Dr. Lloyd-Jones says the Holy Spirit convinces people of judgment by showing that Satan, the prince of this world, has already been judged and defeated through the cross, resurrection and people believing the gospel.
  13. Dr. Lloyd-Jones concludes by saying the Holy Spirit has convicted the whole world as a fact and will do so at the final judgment. Dr. Lloyd-Jones asks if we have been convinced that Jesus is the Son of God who died for our sins.

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.