Welcome everyone. It's good to be here with you
today. We have a wonderful crowd, as
has been mentioned, and we have visitors that are among us and
we're grateful for that too. We have some faces in the
audience we haven't seen in a little while and it's good to
see you back with us today. I have personally enjoyed very
much worshipping with you so far, and it is my honor to speak
concerning the Word of God, and I'm very pleased and excited to
talk about the subject that we want to talk about this morning.
As you can see on the screen, we've been building up to it.
We've been getting to it in this series, but this morning, as
we've entitled our remarks, it is simply Jesus Ascends to
Heaven. As an introductory text, we go
to the Acts chapter 1 and verse 9 where the Bible says now when
he had spoken these things while they watched, he was taken up in
a cloud, received him out of their sight.
Now we've come to the end of the 40 days.
Remember, this series was the 40 days from the time that the Lord
was risen from the dead on that Sunday morning on that
resurrection Sunday to the time that he ascended to his Father.
And that is in Acts chapter 1. And we're going to get to that.
And I'm just going to say right now, there's a whole lot we got
to talk about before we get to the ascension.
The ascension will be the climax and the conclusion of this
sermon today and this series. OK, Jesus ascends to heaven.
Just briefly though, about the 40 days, interesting.
In the book of Acts chapter 1, and just prior to the verses
we're going to talk about today, it is the only place in all the
New Testament that records the actual duration of time that
Jesus spent with his disciples after the resurrection.
It's the only place that we say 40 days or find 40 days.
I'm going to say this briefly because we discussed this in
detail in several lessons ago. I'm going to be brief about the
significance of 40 in the Bible, significance of 40 days,
significance of 40 years. Notice 40 days or years in the
Bible signify the period of testing, trial, purification,
and preparation leading to a new beginning, transformation, or
significant divine action. We could sum it up like this.
In general, 40 days marked a time period of change.
A time period of change and we noticed some examples.
How about the flood? God caused it to rain for 40
days on the earth. How about when God gave the law
Moses on Mount Sinai? How about Jonah that preached to
Nineveh and said yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
How about after Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist to
fulfill all righteousness. Then he was in the wilderness
and he fasted and for 40 days the Bible says he was tempted by
the devil. And we know about the three
temptations and maybe there were others not recorded, but 40 days
and finally the post resurrection 40 days that we
have discussed in our series. And in those forty days Jesus
appeared to his disciples during those days after his
resurrection and before his ascension.
It was a time of confirming his victory and equipping them for
their mission. From a theological standpoint,
we might say that these time periods marked a significant
transition of change from one state or task to another, and a
preparation for a new life or for a new purpose.
How about God's divine action and all that?
40 day periods are often associated with direct divine
action, obviously by God, or a major divine event such as the
giving of the law or the confirmation of the
resurrection. OK.
As I said before a few lessons ago though, OK, sometimes a
number is just a number. And remember this, we spend too
much time sometimes on numerology or the significance
of numbers. I'm not even going to get into
any of that. That is beyond my level of
whatever I wanted to say expertise, but that makes me
sound like I'm an expert in anything else.
I'm not doing that, OK? It's beyond.
I don't understand all that. Maybe others do, but I do know
this. Sometimes a number in the Bible
is just a number, just like the number 40.
I think 40 is just a #2. What makes 40 significant in
Bible history is it was a time that God just chose to
accomplish a specific purpose. That is undeniable.
All right, we know and I've said over and over again in this
series, there were 10 post resurrection appearances by
Jesus. 5 actually happened on Resurrection Sunday, one week
later in the upper room with the 11.
Thomas is then present too. Jesus met them there.
Another post resurrection appearance happened at some
point of unspecified time later on the Sea of Galilee where
there were 7 disciples fishing and Jesus has breakfast with
them and then Jesus restores Peter.
Then at some unspecified time later, Jesus meets in Galilee
again, and he meets with the 11 on a mountain somewhere, and he
gave the Great Commission, and that was the last lesson that we
gave in our series. Now, according to First
Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 6, which we'll not get into, we
find that in a place that is unknown, Jesus appeared before
more than 500. That's also an appearance of
Jesus in this 40 days. What else?
First Corinthians 15 and seven, at some point in time, at some
place, He appeared before James as well.
Now, beyond the 40 days, there was one other time, and it's
several years later, and it's in Acts Chapter 9 when Paul was on
the Damascus road and Jesus appeared before him too.
We're talking about the 40 days. And now we come to the end of
the 40 days. That brings us to Acts chapter
1, and the place is Jerusalem. I'm going to notice with you the
significance, please, of Jerusalem.
Remember this, the Bible, the whole Bible, the Old Testament,
and the New Testament is about Jesus, and the things that were
foretold in the Old Testament pointed not only to Jesus, but
it also pointed to the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.
It pointed to the time when Jesus would establish his
Kingdom, the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, going all the way back
to the Old Testament. So with regards to that, how
about Jerusalem? What is the significance?
Isaiah the prophet a long time ago In Isaiah chapter 2 and
verse 3, the Bible says this. Many people shall come and say,
come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the
House of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways, and
He shall walk in His paths. For out of Zion shall go forth
the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
All right. By the way, Zion, which is Zion,
Zoe put it like this. Zion was the chief spot in
Jerusalem after the Babylonians had taken away all of its chief
men and dismantled the city of Jerusalem.
What is the point here? Look on the screen, please.
Prophesied by Isaiah that the law, and that's the law of
Christ and the Word, that's the word of the Lord, would come out
of Jerusalem. That is another way of saying
this. It is the gospel.
The gospel of Jesus Christ would come forth out of Jerusalem or
from Jerusalem. OK, saying all of that, that
brings us to Acts chapter 1 and verse #4 please.
And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not
to depart from Jerusalem again, prophesied in Isaiah.
It's going to be in Jerusalem. But there's so much more.
What about what Jesus had already said to them?
Remember that Jesus said in Luke chapter 24 and verse 47.
This was before this. He said that repentance and
remission of sins should be preached in His name to all
nations, beginning at Jerusalem. In other words, Christianity is
to have its beginning at Jerusalem.
Now, we're going to talk about a few things here, OK?
And I'm going to ask you really closely.
I'm going to ask you to tune in, OK?
We're going to talk about some things now that don't apply to
us today, and we're going to talk about some things that do
apply to us today. Why is that significant?
Because sometimes people misunderstand and they think
what is not applicable today is applicable today.
We want to just notice what that is and have a better
understanding. So I just asked you, please stay
with me. Remember, who is Jesus speaking
to when he said he commanded them not to depart from
Jerusalem? He's talking to the apostles,
He's talking to the 11. Why is there 11?
Because Judas Iscariot had already hanged himself.
And guess what, Matthias, which is our next lesson.
Matthias wasn't added to the 11 yet.
OK, so there's 11. Jesus is speaking to the 11.
So then in the in verses four and five, notice, and being
assembled together with them the apostles, he commanded them, the
apostles not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the
promise of the Father, which he said, You have heard from me.
For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized
with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.
Notice these two phrases #1 he said to them, The apostles wait
for the promise of the Father. That's number one.
Then he clarifies what the promise of the Father is.
He said you will be baptized the apostles with the Holy Spirit
not many days from now. Notice please.
This baptism of the Holy Spirit was promised in Luke chapter 3
and verse 16. John the Baptist said this.
John answered saying to all, I indeed baptize you with water.
Little side note here. He was not saying that water
baptism in the future is not significant.
What he was saying is I have baptized you with water and that
was the baptism of repentance before Jesus died on the cross.
But then he says that one mightier than I am is coming,
whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.
In other words, the one that's following me is so much greater
than I am, I can't even latch His own sandal.
That's how great Jesus is. Then he says he will baptize you
with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
I got to tell you first of all #1 and I'm going to prove this
number one baptism of the Holy Spirit that we are speaking
about only occurred 2 times in all of history.
It happened in Acts chapter 2, and it happened in Acts chapter
10, the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
It happened in Acts chapter 2 in Jerusalem.
It happened in Acts chapter 10 with the household of Cornelius.
But in each one of those two cases, notice, please.
The baptism with the Holy Spirit served as a sign of the imminent
availability of the Kingdom of heaven to the Jews in Acts 2 and
to the Gentiles in Acts 10. And I don't know about you.
I'm so thankful for that because guess what?
I'm a Gentile. So are you.
I am so thankful that that sign was given when Peter was there
to preach to the household of Cornelius, to let the Jews know
the faithful Jews that were converted to Christ, Christians
to know that God had accepted the Gentiles too.
And it came in the form of the baptism of the Holy Spirit only
happened twice. And by the way, baptism of the
Holy Spirit, miraculous baptism of the Holy Spirit only happened
twice for sign for those reasons.
OK, but have you ever heard somebody say, I'll tell you
what, you can be baptized in water all you want to.
I want to be baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
Man, I've heard that my whole life when a person says I want
to be baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire, their
meaning and they and they mean well.
But what they mean is they want something that is of some great
experience, almost like a recharging inside of them from
the Holy Spirit in a miraculous way of some special way.
My question is, what does it actually mean to be baptized
with fire that John the Baptist said in the previous slide?
Let's talk about that baptism with fire.
There's a numbering a number of interpretations by scholars as
to what baptism with fire actually is.
Some say that baptism with fire speaks of the cloven tongues as
of as of fire in Acts chapter 2 and verse 3, when the Kingdom
was born and the disposed apostles received the baptism of
the Holy Spirit. And some people believe that the
cloven tongues was the fire that John the Baptist was talking
about. Here's the problem.
Baptism, the word baptized or baptism means to immerse or
submerge. It means to totally envelope.
It means to overtake. But in Acts chapter 2, when the
Kingdom came, it says that cloven tongues get this, They
weren't immersed in it. It says it sat on each of them.
What were the tongues? The tongues were languages.
They were normative languages, a language they never studied, but
they were able to speak, so it can't be that.
What else? Here's another interpretation.
Some people believe that fire represents the purifying power
of the Spirit. And the reason for that, by the
way, is that fire purifies. It does fire purifies.
OK, here's the problem. Nowhere in the New Testament
does it say is the word fire connected to the Holy Spirit in
no place for the purpose of the purifying of a Sinner?
Nowhere. So that can't be.
How about #3 This is one of the most popular ones today, that we
get a common idea from this today, and that is that fire
represents the fiery trials of a Christian.
Have you ever heard somebody say, man, it's like a
quarterback that's a rookie and he gets thrown in there because
the veteran's hurt and he's got no experience?
What does people say? It's baptism by fire.
In other words, throw him in there and he's going to have to
undergo and go through this difficult challenge unprepared.
What about this concept about fire representing the fiery
trials of the Christian? What does the Bible say about
the trials of a Christian? It says the trying of your faith
works. Patience.
Let patience have it's perfect work, right?
In other words, it's a good thing.
And then it says when the trial of your faith happens to you and
you persevere, get to the outside and the other side of
that, what happens that is better than gold?
Sounds like a good thing, right? See what we do in our life is we
try to avoid the trial, remove the trial, get the trial out of
my way instead of praying to God and asking for strength to get
through it, not realizing how good we can be on the other
side. Why am I saying all that?
What I'm saying is trials in the Bible, in the New Testament, are
described as good and of our benefit.
But context, context, context. Luke chapter 3, John the Baptist
in a prior verse and verse 16 and in the ones following it
verse 9 and verse 17, fire is represented as a destructive
force, a bad thing. So what John the Baptist was
saying when he says baptism with fire, he wasn't talking about a
good thing at all. He was talking about a very bad
thing. He was talking about something
that was destructive. So I must conclude what he's
talking about is fire refers to the coming judgement upon the
wicked and disobedient. That's what he was talking
about. So when somebody says that they
want to be baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire, do
not realize what they're saying. You can't be baptized with the
miraculous Holy Spirit. Only happened twice.
Acts 2, Acts 10 as a sign to show that God accepts the Jews
and the Gentiles and one body in that beautiful a sign, and you
don't want to be baptized by fire.
It's a form of judgement. But let me give you some more
proof about that. It's referring to condemnation.
Thayer said it this way. Baptism with fire means to
overwhelm with fire those who are disobedient and do not
repent and to subject them to the terrible penalty of hell.
That sounds horrible. My question is then then why did
John the Baptist make this prediction when he had an
audience of people in Luke 3 and he said some of you will be
baptized with the Holy Spirit and some of you will be baptized
with fire. Why did he do it simply?
Zora said it this way when John predicted the baptism of the
Holy Spirit and fire. He was talking to a mixed
multitude, which included some people that were going to
inevitably reject Jesus and they would die in their sin and
finally be cast into the lake of fire.
Why is that, Friends? I'm saying from the bottom of my
heart, you can't go to heaven without Jesus.
You just can't. And John the Baptist knew that
some of the people that were there in the audience, Jewish
people, would reject Jesus and be lost baptism by fire.
Then in this mixed multitude, in this audience, there were also
others who were destined to become apostles chosen by Jesus
and should therefore receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Again, some people say because Jesus says John truly baptized
you with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit
not many days hence and or many days from now.
The O King James says not many days hence, and because John the
Baptist said that and so on, that water baptism is not
significant. That's not true.
Case after case after case after case in every conversion story
in the New Testament was all about being baptized in water
for the remission of sins. OK, now I'm done with that part.
Now I'm going to really ask you to TuneIn, and I'm going to ask
you to do something for me. I'm going to ask you to lay
aside any preconceived idea that you may already have regarding
the Holy Spirit and regarding the connection between baptism
and the Holy Spirit. I'm going to ask you just to set
it aside and let's look at the Scriptures just for a moment.
And the reason that I do that is I want to tell you something.
I have studied this in great detail and I think when you
study a subject that may be controversial or a subject that
may have differing opinions, it's very important to do so
with an open mind. And when I say open mind, I
don't mean so open your brain falls out.
I don't mean that. That's not what I mean because
the Bible appeals to our intellect.
That's not what I'm talking about.
What I'm talking about is this. As JW Mcgarvey one time said, he
said when wish is father to the thought.
In other words, when you want something to be a certain way in
advance before you study it, then it makes exegesis big word
for understanding the Bible. It makes understanding the Bible
like water off a duck's back. You're not going to get it.
So let's just look to the Scriptures, please.
What about this? What about the gift of the Holy
Spirit? What about the gift of the Holy
Spirit in Acts chapter 2 and verse 38?
Acts 238 Then Peter said to them, repent and let everyone of
you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission
of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
What a beautiful passage. In this passage we have two
commands and we have two blessings.
Here's the commands #1 repent #2 be baptized. 2 commands, Repent
and be baptized. Guess what?
Then there's two blessings. You get remission of sins, and
you get the gift of the Holy Spirit.
My question is this, who's going to receive remission of sins and
who's going to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit?
Simply put, those that repent and are baptized.
Now, I think everybody agrees with that.
I don't think anybody has a problem with that, regardless of
what a person's position is regarding the Holy Spirit.
My question is this though, what's the gift?
What is it? That's a pretty good gift, The
gift of the Holy Spirit. What's the gift?
Some people say, well it's salvation.
But it also more than that, it is all spiritual blessings in
Christ. In other words, it's the gift
that comes from the Holy Spirit. That's position #1 and my
brothers and sisters in Christ and my friends, I have held that
position most of my life. But in study of it, I'm going to
ask. I'm going to ask the question,
is the gift of the Holy Spirit? Is it salvation?
My answer and please stay with me.
No Why? Because when a person repents
and is baptized, he is not automatically assured of eternal
life or salvation. Obedience to the Gospel, which
is being baptized for their business sins, simply allows one
to run the Christian race. You start on the path, it does
not guarantee the reward. In other words, you don't just
get baptized. And Mr. says they could do
whatever you want. There's more included.
The outcome of salvation depends on the faithfulness of the
individual. Give you Bible, I don't have
time to give you all of it. I'm going to give you 1 passage.
James 5/19/20 Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from
the truth, what does that say? It says it's possible to wander
from the truth. So you start your path as a
Christian. But, and there might have been
people in our life and all of our life, we have a period of
time in our life where maybe we wandered.
Maybe by the way, you know what we wandered even though we
didn't stop assembling. Oh, we kept coming to church,
but our heart was far from God. Guess what we did?
We wandered from the truth. Just because a person is sitting
in the audience doesn't mean they're good with God, right?
Notice if anyone wanders from the truth and somebody turns him
back, let him know that he who turns a Sinner from the error of
his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of
sins. OK, somebody might say, wait a
minute. Isn't salvation by grace?
And isn't salvation a gift? Because that's what grace is,
it's unmerited favor, a gift that you didn't deserve?
Yes, But Galatians 5 and four says it's possible to fall from
grace. OK, we can fall from grace.
So I don't believe this is gift of the Holy Spirit is salvation.
Let's go further. Fair says it this way.
As we look at the question here, what is the gift?
A gift? It is a a pexigenical.
That's a terrible, terribly, terribly big word.
Let me explain what it is. It is a a pexigenical expression
of the things given. What does that fancy phrase
mean? It means this.
That's what I like too, by the way.
I don't like big words. I just tell you what they mean.
That's why I don't quote. I, I try to try to sound out
Greek words because I'm probably going to say them wrong unless I
go on the app. I didn't study Greek, but I
might. I got those apps that tell you
how to pronounce. I can do a little of that, but
for the most part, you know, people, they don't want to know
how to pronounce the Greek word. They want to know what it means.
So I'm going to give you what it means.
A pexigenical, the word actually means.
It's used to further clarify or explain the subject under
consideration. May I ask your question?
The gift of the Holy Spirit, What's the subject?
The Holy Spirit, that's the subject.
So the word gift is a word that's used to clarify the
subject that's under consideration.
So therefore in Acts 238, according to WE vine the gift of
the Holy Spirit, that clause is apexigentical with the gift
being the Holy Spirit himself. So the word gift is added to
clarify what the Holy Spirit is. It is a gift.
JW Mcgarvey said it this way. This expression means the Holy
Spirit's a gift and the reference is to the Holy Spirit
who indwells the Christian in a non miraculous way and without
which we are not of Christ. You know, if somebody says the
phrase indwelling, a non miraculous indwelling, that's
not a new phrase. That's not a new concept.
That's not a really good new catch phrase.
Everybody believes, regardless of how you believe the Holy
Spirit indwells, everybody believes that he does so in a
non miraculous way. But JW Magwami actually said
that. I don't know, ancient times ago
nothing. That phrase is not new.
He said the Holy Spirit is the gift and the reference is to the
Holy Spirit who indwells the Christian in a non miraculous
way and without which we are not of Christ.
Bruce said it this way, the gift of the Spirit is the Spirit
himself bestowed by the Father through the Messiah.
One more Reese. So the thing received therefore
by baptized believers is the indwelling presence of the Holy
Spirit. And again, I'm saying this
obviously non miraculous, obviously not in a way that is
by the direct operation of the Holy Spirit.
We don't get new revelation from the Holy Spirit.
And may I just say also, we don't get new revelation from
the Holy Spirit directly. That's not in the Word of God.
I'll just say that that's true. We've been given all things that
pertain to life and godliness. That's true.
But the gift of the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit himself given
to baptized believers. OK, with regards to how the
Spirit indwells, I know there's a number of different positions
and I'm not here to argue that point.
I'm going to tell you what I used to believe.
I used to believe that the Holy Spirit only indwell to the word
because the Bible says the Holy Spirit indwells and it also says
the word indwells. That's true, it does.
It also shows that the Holy Spirit reveals himself through
the Word and because of all the passages that are connected to
the Holy Spirit and also the passages that are similar
connected to the Word. So because of that, my position
as the position of a lot of people was that the Holy Spirit
only only indwelled through the Word.
I'm not going to debate that. I will say this though.
May I suggest the following about the Word and about this
gift. Remember this in Acts 238 they
were told to repent and be baptized, every one of them in
the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and they
would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Notice in Acts 241 on the day of Pentecost, those that repented
and were baptized had already received gladly the Word before
they were ever baptized. Romans 116 For I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God and
salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew 1st, and
also to the Gentile. The Word of God is quick and
powerful and sharper than any sword.
It is absolutely that which leads us to Jesus Christ.
Absolutely. But it seems to me that the gift
of the Holy Spirit is something separate.
How about this in verse 40? Then we're encouraged to be
saved with what many other words before they were saved.
So the conclusion that I have to draw is that one may have the
word of God and not have the gift of the Holy Spirit.
So again, I'll just sum it up. And the gift I believe is the
Holy Spirit Himself who comes to dwell in the heart of every
Christian. And regardless of how a person
believes, he indwells. It is undeniable that the Holy
Spirit does indwell. Romans 8 and verse 9.
But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the
Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the
Spirit of Christ, he is not his. Here's another one, Acts 5 and
32. And we are his witnesses to
these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit.
Notice, please, whom God has given doesn't give, and sound
like a gift has given to those who obey Him.
Sounds like a gift to me. One more passage.
First Corinthians 619 Or do you not know that your body is the
temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God,
and you are not your own? OK, Now remember this please,
when I talk about that and we're moving on now, I'm not talking
about any kind of miraculous anything.
I'm not talking about anything like that whatsoever.
I'm talking about the indwelling of the Spirit of God that's
given as a gift to Christians, baptized believers.
Remember there were two specific commands, repent and be
baptized, and two blessings, remission of sins and the gift
of the Holy Spirit. Let's move on.
Then we come to verse 6 of Acts chapter 1.
Therefore, when they had come together, they asked him saying
Lord notice will you at this time restore the Kingdom to
Israel. That's the new King James.
In the old King James it says restore again.
You have the language there is they missed it.
And I got to tell you, I don't want to be disrespectful to the
Lord, but if there was any, if there was ever a time for an eye
roll, it might have been. Now you want to talk about they
didn't get it, all the preaching of Jesus and they said, are you
going to restore meaning this, the Kingdom of Israel exists.
Are you going to restore it? Restore the Kingdom of Israel?
No wonder they needed the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the
miraculous measure of the Holy Spirit to guide them to preach
the gospel of Christ because they didn't have a clue.
Oh, they needed that. They were expecting Israel to
return to its former state. And I'm going to tell you
something right now. It doesn't matter if you're a
Jewish person today, you are not the people of God.
It doesn't matter if you're a Gentile.
By the way, a Jewish person is not the people of God outside of
Christ. A Gentile is not the people of
God outside of Christ, but a Jew and a Gentile is the people of
God in Christ can't go to him without Jesus, right?
OK, so any kind of refurbishing of Israel is not going to
happen. The Kingdom did not exist when
this question was asked by the apostles in Acts One.
JW Mcgarvey said it this way. This Kingdom could not be
inaugurated until the king was crowned in heaven.
This occurred after the ascension and his first
administrative act on the earth was that of sending the Holy
Spirit upon the apostles on Pentecost in Acts chapter 2.
OK, here's the Lord's response. He said it's not for you to know
the times of the seasons that the Father has put in his own
power. But then he said this.
But you, the apostles, shall receive power when the Holy
Spirit has come upon you, the apostles.
That's the miraculous part. You're going to get it.
Not Frank Broncado, not Chris Osborne, not Terry, not anybody.
Today, the apostles and the apostles only we do not receive
the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We do not receive miraculous
gifts of the Holy Spirit today. We simply have the indwelling
presence of the Holy Spirit when the when we receive the gift at
baptism. Now miracles have ceased.
I'll be very brief about this. Got to give you a couple
passages. Miracles today have ceased.
First Corinthians 13, beginning in verse 8.
Love never fails, but whether there are prophecies, they will
fail. Where there are tongues, this is
miraculous tongues, this is miraculous prophecy.
In other words, something revealed by God directly going
to cease. Whether there's miraculous
knowledge that came directly from God going to stop, it's
going to banish away. For we know in part and we
prophecy in part. But when that which is perfect
is come, then that which is in part would be done away.
Some people say this. Well, that which is perfect is
come as Jesus. So in other words, miracles
going to exist all the way to the end of time till Jesus comes
back doesn't say that. It doesn't say when that who is
perfect has come. It says when that which is
perfect has come. If I can figure out what that
is, and I know exactly when miracles stopped.
James 125 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and
continues in it. And is not a forgetful hearer,
but a doer of the work. This one will be blessed in his
deed. So the perfect law of liberty is
what? It's the Word of God.
When the Word of God was completed, there was no more
need for miracles. Now I'm not saying God does not
providentially care for us, take care of us.
I didn't say that talking about miracles and the direct
operation miraculously of the Holy Spirit that is done away
with. OK, now Jesus says you, the
apostles, would receive power when the Holy Spirit's come upon
you, and what else? You're going to be witnesses to
me in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the end of the
earth. Interesting about this.
This is a small map, I'm sorry about that.
But if you look at this, Jubea is the southern part of
Palestine, which also included the capital city of Jerusalem.
The northern portion of Palestine was where Samaria was.
What Jesus says is when you receive power, which is the
baptism of the Holy Spirit, it's going to guide you into all
truth and you're going to be witnesses to me Where it's going
to be in all Judea, not just Jerusalem, Jerusalem first day
of Pentecost, but also in Judea, all of Judea.
And we find historically it travelled N to Palestine, north
of Palestine, all the way to Samaria when great persecution
fell upon the church in Jerusalem.
Acts chapter 8 in verse one. Now Saul was consenting to his
death. At that time a great persecution
arose from the against the church which was at Jerusalem,
and they were all scattered throughout all the regions of
Judea and Samaria except the apostles.
Do you know something from that beginning?
The gospel went to the whole world in about 30 years before
the destruction of Jerusalem, by the way, which was predicted by
Jesus, the gospel would go forth to the world.
Those apostles, the Bible says, literally turned the world
upside down. And they didn't have airplanes.
They didn't have ships like we have today, not like we have.
They didn't have cars. They had samples, Chariots,
horses, and I got to tell you, if the Lord will, as I leave on
Tuesday morning to go to Cincinnati, OH, across the
country and hold a meeting, I start preaching on Wednesday
night. You know me, I love horses, I
ride horses. I'm all about horses.
I don't want to ride my horse to Cincinnati.
I'm going to tell you something. If in primitive measures, they
took the gospel to the world in less than 30 years, think about
what we can do. But the fire of the gospels got
to burn deep inside. You got to have something to say
and the burning desire to say it.
And I'm not just talking about out in the world.
I'm talking about your neighbors.
I'm talking about your friends. I'm talking about people who
come in contact with. I'm talking about taking the
gospel of Jesus Christ to the world.
Our podcast is now in 110 countries.
Can you imagine in the digital age that we have in the form of
communication that we have, how we can take the gospel and
stretch it out so far? Wow.
Here's the climax now in verse 9, all this stuff is said.
All these promises are given. And then when he had spoken
these things while they watched, notice he was taken up.
I've tried to picture this so many times.
Remember how many times Jesus would come and appear and then
he would vanish out of their sight?
Is that what happened? Alexander Campbell wrote this.
I thought it was interesting. The phrase was taken up
indicates the commencement, not the completion of his ascent.
In other words, he, it appears from the terminology here
employed gradually and with great dignity, ascended not as a
flash of lightning nor as a meteor passes away, but slowly
and with majesty that they might clearly perceive and be assured
of his return to his native heaven.
Wow, you imagine all of a sudden he's talking.
He gives them the last answer, He gives them the last command,
and then all of a sudden majestically just starts going
up and they're standing there just looking amazing.
In fact, the next verse, while they look steadfastly toward
heaven as he went up, behold, 2 men stood by them in white.
A paraphraseology there of messengers or angels.
Then they said, who also said, Man of Galilee, why do you stand
gazing up into heaven? The same Jesus who was taken up
from you into heaven will so come in life manner as you see
him go into heaven. I'm going to tell you something.
What a great assurance. He's coming back.
Our brother prayed for the Lord to come back.
We want the Lord to come back. In fact, the only reason why we
should ever want the Lord to delay, you know it's coming.
There's only one reason is to give people time, to give people
time that have good honest hearts to come to Jesus or
people that have drifted away from the Lord to come back to
Jesus. Otherwise, we all look for this
great day. It's coming.
So you know, here's the point and I want you to ask yourself
the question, not out loud, just to yourself, and I'm finished.
Our lesson is over. Just ask yourself this question.
Jesus ascended to his Father in the clouds.
The angels of those messengers of God said he's coming back in
the same way that he left with the clouds.
Just privately to yourself. Ask this question, MI ready.
That's all. Am I ready?
If you're not ready, this is how you get ready.
We never close the time. We don't extend invitation
because it's important to get ready.
The steps to become a Christian are very simple.
You got to hear the word of God in Romans 10/17.
We've done that today. So faith comes by hearing and
hearing by the word of God. But then there's more, you got
to believe with all your heart. Hebrews 11 and 6.
Without faith it's impossible to please Him, for he who comes to
God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those
who diligently seek Him. Then there's more, you got to
repent of your sins. All that means I got to make a
change. I've been going in One
Direction. I need to stop doing that and
going in another direction. Acts 17 and 30 Truly, these
times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all
men everywhere to repent. Then what person has to be
willing to confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God?
Acts 837 that Philip said, if you believe with all your heart,
you may. And he answered and said, I
believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
These are steps that point toward salvation.
But the plan of salvation is to be baptized as we read in Acts
238 for the remission of sins. Jesus said in Mark 1616, he who
believes in his baptized will be saved, but he who does not
believe will be condemned. One final passage about the act
of baptism saving US. First Peter 321 The like figure
where the even baptism does also now save us.
Not the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the answer of
a good conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ. If you've never taken those
steps of obedience, we would love to assist you in that
today. Maybe you have, maybe there's
just something in your life you need to correct.
They just do it. Repent of it, confess it.
We'll pray with you and for you and God will forgive and
restore. If you want to be the class,
come forward while we stand while we stand.