Gtcotr/ws050819
This
evening we will continue our walk through the New Testament Book of Acts. So
far, we have discussed who wrote the book of Acts and to whom it was addressed;
the approximate date this second letter from Luke was penned; the importance of
God’s plan for the Church; the Kingdom of God; the unfinished business at hand,
and the next step.
For
the sake of continuity and context, this evening we are going to re-read the
first three verses and pick up with our study beginning with verse 4. Remember,
our theme for tonight is “The Promise”.
Acts 1 NKJV
1 ¶
The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to
do and teach,
2
until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit
had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen,
3
to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many
infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the
things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
4 And being assembled together with them,
He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of
the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me;
5
“for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the
Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
When Luke
began to write his second letter to Theophilus, he connected it with the first
letter by re-telling one of the last things Jesus said to the Disciples before
He ascended up into heaven … Wait for the
Promise. Acts 1:4 & 5, restate Luke 24:49 and it is from that
connection the Book of Acts begins.
Luke 24:49 “Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon
you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on
high.”
The Promise
to which Jesus was referring is the Holy Spirit which would come to live in the
hearts of every Born-Again Believer in Christ. When Peter preached his first
sermon, he plainly declared that this Promise was still in affect and was to be
given to every individual in every future generation for as long God continues
to save people from their sins. We read the record of the end of Peter’s
Pentecostal sermon in:
Acts 2
38
Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one 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.
39
“For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar
off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”
Peter was
encouraging those Jews listening to him preach in the streets of Jerusalem,
perhaps only less than an hour after he had received the Holy Spirit himself on
the day of Pentecost. He stressed the importance of being saved, water baptized
and filled with the Holy Spirit. Peter was not establishing the doctrine of
repentance, or water baptism, or remission of sins. He was giving an answer to
those who had questions about the 120 people who had just received the Holy
Spirit and were speaking in tongues in the streets of Jerusalem. Those
listening were perplexed but yet they understood what was being said. This was
an undeniable sign from heaven.
Peter told
the 3000 listeners that day that they too could be saved and subsequently water
baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, which would signify that:
1. They believed in Jesus as Messiah
2. They were making a public profession
of their faith in Christ
3. They were turning their lives over to
Jesus
4. They could be water baptized in the
name of Jesus in recognition that their sins had been forgiven.
o Remember, John the Baptist did not
baptize Jesus so that He would become the Son of God but rather, Jesus was
water baptized because He was the Son of God.
§ Water Baptism is recognition of the
covenant a person has with God through faith in Jesus Christ – in His Name.
o We don’t get water baptized to become
saved … we get water baptized because we are saved.
o We don’t get water baptized so that
our sins will be forgiven … we get water baptized because our sins have been
forgiven.
§ Water Baptism is the point of public
identification … it is a “coming out” party if you will.
§ Water Baptism in the name of Jesus is
saying, “Look at me … I have submitted and committed my life to Jesus!”
§ The name of Jesus is not magic. When
we do anything in the name of Jesus, we are doing it for and because of Him.
§ Simply put, we are doing what He did
and what He showed us He wants us to do also.
Many times
people do something in someone else’s name that was never approved and does not
reflect the name, nature or intent of that individual. I can’t just do whatever
I want and do it in your name or the name of your company. If I do anything
that is actually in your name, it is because I have that authority and because
it is what you want me to do for you.
People
throughout history have done all kinds of things in the name of Jesus that has
not been authorized by Him. However, water baptism because of repentance and
forgiveness of sins is approved by Jesus to be done in His name and fully
authorized by the Father and Holy Spirit as well.
Faith in
Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, Son of God and Messiah, coupled with a sincere
repentance and turning your life over to Him is sufficient to cause a person to
be forgiven of sins and they are therefore Born-Again. These Born-Again Believers
in Jesus are authorized to publicly follow Jesus in water baptism symbolizing
the covenant that has been made and they are also candidates to also be
baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire.
Peter told those
listening to him on the day of Pentecost that they too could have this same
power which they saw in the 120 if they would only follow Jesus. This, Peter
said, is a fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel.
Joel 2
28 ¶
“And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on
all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall
dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions.
29 And also on My menservants and on My
maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.
30 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in
the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke.
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, And
the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the
LORD.
32
And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the
LORD Shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be
deliverance, As the LORD has said, Among the remnant whom the LORD calls.
Acts 2:39 “For the promise is to you and to your
children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”
The Holy
Spirit is the Promise of God. Emmanuel … God with us. Christ, Messiah, in you,
the hope of glory! This is both the mystery hidden from the ages and the power
of God. God was in Christ and Christ, the Messiah of God, will live in you. He
Who is the Light of the world will come and be an eternal light shining in the
midst of this crooked and perverse generation through you. Jesus said, “Let
your light so shine before men they may see your good works and glorify your Father
in heaven.” This encompasses the Promise
of God. Luke records Jesus as saying:
Acts 1:5 “for John truly baptized with water, but you
shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
By the way:
When a person gets saved, they get the Holy Spirit. When a person receives what
we call the “gift of the Holy Spirit”, or the “baptism of the Holy Spirit”,
they don’t get more of the Holy Spirit, rather, the Holy Spirit gets more of
them.
It was one
week after Jesus had ascended to heaven, on a Sunday, 50 days after Passover,
early in the morning, God sent His Promise of the Holy Spirit to live in the
life of Believers and fill them with the power to be a witness. That same
Spirit that raised Christ from the dead came to live in mortal man. And this
Promise is still available to every Born-Again Believer today.
Acts 2:39 “For the promise is to you and to your
children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”
If God is
still calling people to come unto Him to be saved, then the Promise of being baptized with the Holy Spirit is still in
force and effect today.
Next week …
Acts 1
6 ¶
Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord,
will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
·
Once
again, even after His resurrection, those closest to Him continued to question
Jesus about restoring the kingdom to Israel.
·
They
were still expecting a physical kingdom to be established on the earth at that
time which would bring down their enemies, specifically the Romans at this
point in history.
7
And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which
the Father has put in His own authority.
8
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and
you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to
the end of the earth.”
9
Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken
up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
10
And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold,
two men stood by them in white apparel,
11
who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven?
This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in
like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”
12 ¶
Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is
near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey.
13
And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they
were staying: Peter, James, John, and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew
and Matthew; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot; and Judas the
son of James.
14
These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the
women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.
It is evident when Jesus sat down
on His throne that He had finished His work on the earth through His own hands
and had to take the position of Commander and Chief of the Church. The work
Jesus continues to do today is done by the Church through the power of the Holy
Spirit. The greatest work of the Church is to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus
Christ to each generation. This is done today in just the same way as it was done
2000 years ago by those who were first filled with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost
as recorded in Acts chapter 2.
In only 40 years, one generation,
this one home group spread the Gospel and established Churches in Jerusalem,
Judea, Samaria, Antioch, Laodicea, Pergamos, Corinth, Ephesus, Philippi,
Colosse, Thyatira, all throughout Asia Minor, Caesarea, Damascus, Crete,
Thessalonica, and Rome just to name a few places. These 12 boys led the Church
to evangelize virtually their whole known world in only 40 years and not one of
them even owned a bicycle.
This picture given us by the New
Testament is the incumbent call on every generation and each individual until
the Lord shall return. It is our calling and it is our turn. As yet, it is
still unfinished business …
