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Sermon #1089

The Gifts of the Spirit (1)

A Sermon on John 1:26-33

Originally preached Jan. 31, 1965

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Scripture

John 1:26-33 ESV KJV
John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing. The next day he …

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Sermon Description

The Holy Spirit makes God’s children into profound witnesses for the gospel. Imagine Peter’s ministry after Pentecost. Think of Paul in Cyprus. These men were characterized by ability in speech, authority in performing miracles, and a boldness unmatched in proclaiming the truth about Jesus Christ. Even the Lord Jesus himself commenced His ministry by being baptized by the Holy Spirit. In short, without the Holy Spirit, the church is unable to perform its unique calling of representing Christ to the world. In his sermon on John 1:26–33 titled “The Gifts of the Spirit (1),” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones not only teaches on this necessity of the Holy Spirit, but enters into a topic of grave controversy: are signs, wonders, and miracles only for the early church? Do signs, wonders, and miracles authenticate the gospel message the same way they did before the completion of the New Testament canon? Dr. Lloyd-Jones models a charitable engagement with alternative views and fairly surveys key arguments and the biblical passages they put forth. With a firm posture, Dr. Lloyd-Jones provides answers to several cessationist arguments. Whether the listener is unfamiliar with the debate on the gifts of the Spirit or well-initiated into it, listen as Dr. Lloyd-Jones deals openly and reasonably in this controversial topic.

Sermon Breakdown

  1. The baptism of the Holy Spirit enables Christians to represent Christ in the world.
  2. The world is full of trouble, confusion, sin and shame. It has been trying to solve its problems for centuries but is no closer to solving them.
  3. The world's only hope is the gospel. Christians are called to represent Christ and share this hope with the world.
  4. The question is how can Christians represent Christ? The baptism of the Holy Spirit gives them power to be witnesses for Christ.
  5. There are internal and external signs of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The external signs include a transfigured face, power in speech, authority, boldness and fearlessness.
  6. The baptism of the Holy Spirit also results in spiritual gifts. These gifts provide supernatural authentication of the Christian message which the world needs. However, these gifts can also be counterfeited by the enemy.
  7. Spiritual gifts were evident in the early church and throughout the New Testament. Some argue these gifts were only meant for the early church but the Bible never says this.
  8. Some argue the gifts were only to convince Jews or only for the beginning of the church. However, the Bible never limits the gifts this way.
  9. Others argue the gifts ceased once the New Testament was completed. However, 1 Corinthians 13 refers to the contrast between our limited knowledge now and our perfect knowledge in heaven, not between a time before and after the New Testament.
  10. There is no biblical evidence the gifts were only temporary. Attempts to make the Bible say this lead to contradictions.
  11. The church today urgently needs the power of God through the Holy Spirit to testify to Christ.

The Book of John

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.