The Blindness of Modern man
A Sermon on Luke 12:54-57
Originally preached March 13, 1955
Scripture
54¶ And he said also to the people, When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is. 55And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass. …
Sermon Description
Is Christianity based on nothing more than myths? In this sermon on Luke 12:54–57 titled “The Blindness of Modern Man,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones confronts this false claim, showing that the message of Christianity is based on the historical facts of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity. The Holy Scriptures attest to this as the inspired revelation of God the Creator Himself. God testified to His existence and attributes in the very creation of the world and providence. Despite all this, humanity rejects Christianity. They claim that it is intellectually shallow, lacks evidence, and that only those who sacrifice their mind can assent to it. However, Dr. Lloyd-Jones teaches that those who reject Christianity do not do so because of intellectual objections, but because of the effects of sin. For while people may be capable of extraordinary feats of science, technology, art, and medicine, they are unable to comprehend spiritual truths unless God opens their hearts and minds to understand the gospel. They are not dumb but blinded by sin. They know that if they come to Christ, they must leave behind their sinful ways and give all to Christ. No one is capable of leaving behind a life of sin and rebellion unless God in His grace enlightens their hearts and minds so that they can see the truth of the gospel.
Sermon Breakdown
- Life as a result of sin is characterized by contradictoriness. There is a curious contradictory element in life and in men as a result of sin and the fall. Man seems to be at war with himself and living a double life.
- Life as a result of sin is futile. All of our success eventually leads to nothing because we have failed in the most important thing of all. Our wisdom and understanding are directed to the wrong ends, only towards the temporal and ignore the eternal.
- Life as a result of sin is hypocrisy. Men give excuses for not believing in Christ like insufficient light or intellectual difficulties but these are not the real reasons. The real reason is moral, men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. They do not want to face the moral and ethical demands of Christ.
- The tragedy is that men do not discern the signs of the times. They did not see the meaning and significance of Christ and the events happening. They went headlong into disaster not realizing it. The same is happening today, mankind is not sobered by the terrible things happening in the world. They do not see it is because of sin and separation from God.
- The message is that the one thing that matters is our relationship with God and our eternal destiny. We must stop and ask where we will spend eternity. We must see the eternal significance of Christ.
Sermons on Unbelief
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.