Martyn Lloyd-jones Sermon Podcast

Romans 10:9-10 — What is at the center of history? In this sermon on Romans 10:9–10 titled “Results of the Resurrection,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones proclaims that it is Jesus Christ, the crucified Messiah. His sacrificial death on the cross of Calvary is the means by which God conquered sin, Satan, and the power of death. All the blessings that Christ gives are procured by His suffering and rising from the grave. He then ascended into heaven, where He lives and intercedes for His people. After ascending into heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit just as He promised, to empower and comfort believers and the church. Jesus will return to bring His Kingdom to completion by finally destroying death and evil once and for all. These glorious truths should lead all believers to trust and hope in God that He is faithful to bring the work of redemption to completion. Christians ought to live in light of this hope and never look to themselves for wisdom and strength, but rely wholly on Him who has conquered the grave and defeate

Romans 10:9-10 — What is the content of saving faith? Why is the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ significant? In this sermon on Romans 10:9–10 titled “Why Christ Died,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones addresses these vital questions. The belief in the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is central to the Christian faith. It is these beliefs that form the heart of the Christian faith because only through Jesus becoming a man and dying for the sins of fallen people can God forgive sinners. Jesus came to this earth in the form of a servant in order to die and the resurrection declared not only that Christ had died for sinners, but it declared His victory over death, sin, and Satan. Christians have a living Savior who, after atoning for sin, ascended into heaven where He now rules over the whole earth and from where He will come to judge the living and the dead. The resurrection, explains Dr. Lloyd-Jones, is God’s public proclamation to the whole universe that he is satisfied with His

Romans 10:9-10 — In this sermon on Romans 10:9–10 titled “Jesus is Lord (2),” the question is asked: who is Jesus? The answer in Scripture is that Jesus is Lord. The writers of holy Scripture tell that Jesus is far more than a human teacher; He is God’s anointed and the long-awaited Messiah that has been promised in the Old Testament. What does it mean that Jesus is Lord? As Lord, Jesus is worthy of all praise and trust. Jesus has come to fulfill all that God promised and He is God’s Son. The Christian must believe that Jesus is who He says He is, not simply who they want Him to be. This is important today because many say that Jesus is nothing more than a mere man who teaches people how to live and others say that Jesus is simply a man of faith. But Scripture is clear that Jesus was a real man, God in the flesh, who had come to die for the sins of the world. What does it matter if one says that Jesus is Lord or not? According to God’s Word, everything depends on who one says that Jesus is. If one confesses t

Romans 10:9-10 — Paul has finally laid to rest the theory of salvation through the law. Salvation is through faith alone and Paul tells the church in Rome that they must first declare “Jesus is Lord” in order to be saved. This is one of the great statements of the Christian gospel. The only way to be righteous before God is to believe God and his word by faith. In this sermon on Romans 10:9–10 titled “Jesus is Lord (1),” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says that the Christian must first consider the content of this saving faith. Salvation is all about Jesus and the fact that He is Lord. Christ is the firstborn of all creation and it is through Him that all was created. It is also through God that all of the cosmos will be restored once again. The second point is that God raised Christ from the dead. Without being completely clear of those two points, there is no salvation.

Romans 10:5-8 — How far away is the truth? What quest or journey must be traversed in order to find God? Is there some kind of special act one must perform in order to make their way to God? Many people teach that God is so far away that the gap is unspeakably difficult to cross. Others teach that one must cross the gap to God by their own efforts. Whether it is Roman Catholicism, the mystical way, or Protestant intellectualism, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones finds the answer to such false systems in the apostle Paul’s words in Romans 10:5–8. The apostle invokes the great preacher of the law – Moses – in order to show that God has revealed Himself perfectly clearly. There is no need to ascend to heaven or descend into the deep. God, through Christ, has revealed Himself fully in the gospel and the gospel way is not about human efforts. It is not about their assent or justification by works. Salvation is about justification by faith alone in Christ Jesus alone. In this sermon on Romans 10:5–8 titled “Righteousness by F

Romans 10:5 — The Jews have continued to believe that their actions, mainly their dedication to keeping the law, is what justifies them. The Jews have misunderstood the law and its purpose. Because of this, Paul is laying to rest this foolish thinking once again. In this sermon on Romans 10:5 titled “Righteousness by Law,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones shares how Paul is essentially saying that even Moses said that those who attempt to live by their actions will also be judged by their actions. He points out that the Jews were ignorant of God’s righteousness, ignorant of their own abilities, and thus have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. Paul continues to emphasize the doctrine of justification by faith only. There is not one thing in the process of salvation that has to do with a person; it is entirely a matter of God’s free sovereign choice. If the Jews want to live by their actions to the law, then Paul says they must keep the whole law. One is not able to only keep certain laws. If even one

Romans 10:4 — In this sermon on Romans 10:4 titled “Christ, the End of the Law,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says that this Scripture is the charter for all Christians and it sets them free. In this verse, Paul proclaims that Christ is the fulfillment of the law for righteousness. He means that the law was not temporary but it is eternal. God is not doing away with the law but rather upholding the law. It is an expression of God’s holy character and what He expects of the human race. So how is Christ the end of the law? Christ has fulfilled the law and done this for all who believe in Him. He came into the world as a God-man born under the law, lived a life of perfect obedience to the law, and died to satisfy the punishment of the law. The fulfillment is true because God raised Him from the dead. No one else was able to do this. Christ is the end of the law for all who believe. The moment a Christian believes in Christ, all that Christ has done for them becomes true of them since they have been united with Christ.

Romans 10:1-3 — Since the inception of the church, Christianity has battled the false belief of justification by works. In its modern Western form, many wrongly understand the gospel to mean going to church, doing good, or being a “nice” person. In this sermon on Romans 10:1–3 titled “Submit to God’s Righteousness,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones proclaims that the current Christian culture continues to preach self-righteousness, self-reliance, and self-dependence. In its primitive form, the apostle Paul holds up the Pharisees as the prime example of those who are zealous for doing good works and yet are ignorant of what God’s righteousness requires in the gospel. Their lack of knowledge has set them against the God they claim to serve. They would rather construct their own righteousness than submit to the righteousness of God found in the gospel of Christ. The Pharisees, and many today as well, are trapped in believing they can save themselves. The problem, says Dr. Lloyd-Jones, is that the last people to believe th

Romans 10:3 — What was the main trouble with the Jews that Paul is speaking about in Romans 10:3? It is that they did not have a complete and full knowledge of the truth of God. In this sermon on Romans 10:3 titled “Knowledge of the Truth,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says that a precise knowledge of the truth is essential to salvation and Paul is praying and longing for the salvation of the Jews because they lack this knowledge. The Jews may have been nice people and very zealous, but this cannot be mistaken for true Christian faith. Truth cannot be based in subjective terms because the gospel is truly objective. The Pharisees had misinterpreted the Old Testament teaching about the righteousness of God and the righteousness that He demands. This was ignorance on their part. Ignorance means that there is not full knowledge and the Jews were ignorant of the full knowledge of God. This stood in between them and their salvation. Dr. Lloyd-Jones urges the listener to have a precise knowledge because ignorant knowledge

Romans 10:1-2 — Is the Christian zealous for God? If so, is it a true or false sense of zeal? Paul points out that the church does have a zeal for God, but that it is not based on knowledge. In a sermon on Romans 10:1–2 titled “Trust and Zeal,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones outlines the differences between true and false zeal in the Christian life. First, he outlines several tests that can apply to a person’s zeal to determine if it is a false sense of zeal. A few of these arguments include a zeal that has been imposed rather than genuine; a focus on actions rather than just being oneself; a likeness to frivolity and the flesh; and a focus on self and one’s own power rather than the Lord’s. On the other hand, a few arguments for true zeal include a zeal that is put on by the Lord; a result of true knowledge; zeal that is not showy but deep; and a result of genuine behavior. At the end, Dr. Lloyd-Jones charges believers to ensure they have true zeal for the sake of those who are lost. He challenges those who have he

Romans 10:1-21 — Doctrine and practice must not be separated. This seemingly simple truth has a great impact on how Christians live and seek to obey Christ. In this sermon on Romans 10:1–21 titled “Doctrine and Practice,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones expounds on the apostle Paul’s doctrine of the Christian life in all its glory and weightiness. Out of the great truths of justification by faith, predestination, and perseverance comes a view of the life that is grounded in the person and work of Christ. Christians must seek to trust God and His providence. They must be faithful to the command to evangelize and seek to love their neighbors as themselves. They must also be aware of the danger to intellectualize Christianity at the expense of practice. Some say things such as, “If God is sovereign, why pray?” or “If God elects, why evangelize?” However, Dr. Lloyd-Jones warns not to try to use vain logic to understand God, but rather read Scripture faithfully and submit to all of God’s teaching. How then does doctrine re

Romans 9:1-33 — In this sermon on Romans 9:1–33 titled “Learning the Lesson,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones gives a bird’s eye view of the entire chapter to show what can be learned. He says that contrary to what many believe, the Old Testament is not done away with or made obsolete for Christians. This can be known because the apostle Paul uses many Old Testament references and examples to explain the nature of the church, the Christian life, and salvation in Christ. Just as God chose the people in Israel in the Old Testament and passed by others, so also in the New Testament God calls out a people, the church, for His own purposes. Paul explains that being a Jew does not mean that one is a Christian, for not all who are born of Israel are true Israel. It is only those that God calls that are truly the children of God. This sermon presents many of the hard truths of Scripture, but it also shows how these hard truths are some of the most comforting. All of God’s truth is good news for those that love Him and who hav

Romans 9:30-33 — Why is Jesus Christ a stumbling stone? In this sermon on Romans 9:30-33 titled “A Rock of Offence,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones explains what this statement means and how it impacts one’s life. The apostle Paul says that Jesus is a stumbling block to His fellow and beloved Jewish brethren. This is because many of them still seek to justify themselves by the law. Because they seek to justify themselves, they stumble at the teachings of Jesus when He says that He has fulfilled the law and that He is the only way to know God. One’s relationship to God is entirely dependent on whether they know God or not. What does all this mean for today? This teaches that it is only Jesus that saves and all other attempts to make one’s self right, whether it is through the works of the law or any other way, is hopeless. How then can humanity be saved? The answer is found in trusting Jesus Christ and believing that He has been sent from God and died for humanity’s sin. It is to believe that Jesus is the Son of God t

Romans 9:30-33 — The sovereignty of God in salvation pushes towards humility in a couple of ways. The most obvious is the pride-bursting truth that salvation is completely and totally the work of God’s grace for which no one can take any credit. Second is the reality that people will never understand why God ordains some and not others. It is a profound mystery and all must humble themselves to accept that they will not understand the inscrutable mind of God on the topic. In this sermon on Romans 9:30–33 titled “Choice, not Belief,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones pushes back against those who want to hold onto some level of credit for their own salvation and he presses his own imagined interlocutors in order to show them the futility of their position. He maintains that it is not belief or faith that causes salvation but God’s choice. Listen as he tackles an important but difficult topic in a manner worthy of imitation.

Romans 9:30-33 — Paul is grieving over the standing of the Jews because in the church there are more believing Gentiles than Jews. This fact probably rattled most Jews to the core. The Gentiles, who had not sought after righteousness and lived immoral lives, had received a righteousness by faith. However, the Jews, who were actively pursuing the law and its commands, had not received righteousness. So why is it that God’s chosen people were outside of the church? In this sermon on Romans 9:30–33 titled “Faith, not Works,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says that the law demands absolute perfection and if any one statute were broken then there would be no account of righteousness. Paul points out that the gospel of the Lord is for all people and salvation is purely the work of Christ alone. Each person is responsible for their rejection of the gospel but they are not responsible for their acceptance of the gospel. The Bible teaches that election alone accounts for the saved, but non-election does not count for those w

Romans 9:25-29 — In order to help the Jews truly understand the peril they were in, Paul uses the Jewish people’s own Scripture to argue against their pride. The Jews were very prideful about the fact that they had the Scriptures, but they were also blinded to the message that was in the Scripture. In Romans 9:25–29, Paul is speaking directly to the Jews about their standing as God’s chosen people. In this sermon on Romans 9:25–29 titled “Rejection of the Jews,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones notes that the Jews received promises, but they also received threats. They did not realize that the promises they received from God were conditional and His warnings against them were true, because God’s words are always true. The words of the prophets that Paul quotes have both an immediate implication and a remote application. God would indeed carry out destruction on the Jewish people and Paul cries out for them on their behalf. Some Jews thought God would not seek destruction on them because it had been so long, but God doe

Romans 9:25-26 — The Old Testament Scriptures testify that salvation is for Jews as well as the Gentiles. Surprisingly, many Jews needed to be convinced of this in the first century. In this sermon on Romans 9:25–26 titled “Jew and Gentile,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones calls attention to the apostle Paul’s method. He builds his case using reason, logic, and Scripture. It is clear, says Dr. Lloyd-Jones, that Paul is trying to be winsome and persuasive towards his fellow Jews. Nevertheless, the great apostle refutes the idea that it is by physical birth or lineage that one can be called a child of the living God. Paul turns to the Scriptures to show how no one should be surprised at this. Dr. Lloyd-Jones engages the issue of Paul’s citation of Hosea. He combats skeptics of the doctrine of inspiration who question the legitimacy of Paul’s application of Hosea to the Gentiles. As Paul is led by the Holy Spirit to write Scripture himself, he states the same essential truth in a slightly different form than Hosea does.

Romans 9:19-24 — Romans 9:19–24 can sometimes be troubling to Christians. Paul’s talk of predestination, election, and God’s wrath against sinners can plunge them into discussions that challenge their intellect and instincts of the justice of God. Perhaps lost in the rigors of grappling with such important matters is the doxology which deep theology elicits in the apostle Paul –– “the riches of His glory.” In this sermon on Romans 9:19–24 titled “God’s Glory Revealed (2),” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones teaches that the glory of God is on display and shares how the Bible reveals its many aspects. While God’s glory is primarily revealed in the person of Christ and the sending of the Holy Spirit, it is often forgotten how according to Paul, the riches of God’s glory is also seen in His children. The Christian should ask themselves if they are captivated by the wonder of God’s preparing beforehand vessels of His mercy and if they find satisfaction that results in praise when reflecting upon God’s sovereign choosing and

Romans 9:19-24 — God has every right to immediately and eternally punish sin. Humanity has been warned for centuries to turn from sin and submit to Christ. While God restrains His wrath, He will not allow His voice to be ignored forever. In this sermon on Roman 9:19–24 titled “God’s Glory Revealed (1),” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones lays out a four-fold case to explain God’s patience with sinful people. That case includes (1) the compassion of God that does not take pleasure in punishment; (2) the fact that humanity is utterly inexcusable because of the opportunities God has given; (3) the reality that when God’s wrath is revealed, it will be all the more striking; and (4) the patience and wrath of God reveal His character in ways nothing else can. The wrath of God protects His holiness, but it was His wrath that was poured out on Jesus Christ when He took humanity’s punishment for sin. That gift of salvation makes known the riches of His glory and is the most magnificent thing God does. Even the miracle of creation

Romans 9:19-24 — Why does God allow evil to exist? Many see the presence and reality of evil as something God should extinguish. In this sermon on Roman 9:19–24 titled “God’s Wrath,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says that what fails to be seen is that evil is not an external force acting upon humanity, but an internal reality within people. To extinguish evil would be to extinguish humanity. The holiness of God will not tolerate anything sinful in His presence and His wrath is completely justified to protect His glory. That protection should immediately send every sinner to hell; however, it is God’s grace and mercy that restrains His wrath. As seen in the example of Pharaoh, God endures sinners for a time so that His kindness may be on display and people brought to salvation (Romans 2:4). However, His kindness is not to be abused and His patience and longsuffering are not to be ignored. Though for a time He may endure sinners as Christ did with Judas, that patience did not save him and it only prolonged the time u