God's Goodness and Severity

Sermons of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.8 • 602 Ratings

🗓️ 1 March 2026

⏱️ 51 minutes

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Summary

In previous passages, Paul has explained that because of the Jews’ unbelief, the Gentiles were granted belief through Christ. In Romans 11:18–22, Paul now warns the Gentiles against any boasting because of their new standing and salvation. There is no place for pride in a Christian’s life and Paul warns that any such feelings would cause one to suffer. In this sermon on Romans 11:18–22 titled “God’s Goodness and Severity,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones explains that the best corrective against pride is to know God, and the truth and character of God. The greatest lack would be a lack of the knowledge of God. This lack would show in one’s doctrine and view of sin, and would lead to a lack of fear of the Lord. In his closing, Dr. Lloyd-Jones also pauses to reflect on the goodness and severity of God in Romans 11:22. God is true in all of His characteristics and He is fully known in each of those character traits. One cannot say that God is good without acknowledging His severity. One cannot dwell only on the wrath of God without showing the love of God. The truest example of this is Christ on the cross. May the Christian never boast in themselves, but instead boast in Christ and all that He has done for them.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Most of you will remember that we are dealing at the moment with the words found in Paul's
0:05.3	Epistle to the Romans in Chapter 11, from verse 18 to the end of the 22 verse, verses 18 to
0:12.8	22 in the 11th chapter of Paul's Epistle to the Romans.
0:19.1	Boast not against the branches, but if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root
0:25.2	thee.
0:26.5	Thou wilt say, then, the branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.
0:32.2	Well, because of unbelief, they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear,
0:42.1	for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
0:49.2	Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God, on them which fell severity, but toward the goodness,
0:58.9	if thou continue in his goodness, otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
1:06.2	Now, this is the most important statement, one of these great crucial statements that are to be found scattered about in the pages of Holy Rep.
1:17.6	And this is an unusually important one for many, many reasons.
1:21.6	We've spent some time in expounding it, I mean by that, in showing the exact meaning of the words and what the statement
1:29.0	is in general. And then we have started a consideration of the teaching of this passage.
1:36.4	I suggested you could divide it into four sections, exposition, teaching, the problem raised,
1:43.2	and general application, especially at this present time.
1:47.0	Now, we are at the moment looking at the teaching.
1:52.0	And last Friday night we saw that the teaching here in the first instance is this,
1:59.0	that our greatest danger always, as long as we are in this world,
2:04.9	even as Christian people, is our pride, our false conceit of ourselves, leading to pride.
2:15.2	And we saw how the apostle deals with it and teaches us how to deal with it and how to
2:20.8	ends of it. The second thing we saw in the teaching was that the apostle emphasizes
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