The sermon 'You Will Receive Power' by Jason Dohm delves into the opening passages of the book of Acts, emphasizing the pivotal role of the Holy Spirit in empowering believers to be witnesses for Christ. The sermon highlights the continuity of Jesus' ministry through the Holy Spirit, which is a key theme in Acts. Dohm explains that the early disciples were instructed to wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit to be poured out, indicating that their previous training with Jesus was insufficient without the Spirit's empowerment. This event marked a significant shift from a focus on an earthly kingdom to a broader mission encompassing all nations, breaking down ethnic barriers. The sermon underscores the importance of practical godliness, aligning one's life with one's testimony, and the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in believers today. Dohm concludes by encouraging believers to live as if Jesus' return is imminent, using the book of Acts as a model for faith and witness.

Acts of the Apostles, Acts 1, 1 through 11. The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up to heaven after he had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the Apostles whom he had chosen. To these he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of 40 days, and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. Gathering them together, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, which he said, You heard of from me, for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.' So when they had come together, they were asking him, saying, Lord, is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom of Israel?" He said to them, "'It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and even to the remotest part of the earth.' And after he had said these things, he was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received him out of their sight.

And as they were gazing intently into the sky while he was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, Men of Galilee, Why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven." It is a privilege to have the first text in Acts because Luke, the author, really does set the table for us very wonderfully in these first verses. He cuts to the chase. He tells us right up front what the book is about.

And the book is about the indwelling Holy Spirit causing normal, fallible, faulty believers like you and me being filled up with the Holy Spirit so they have power to be witnesses and turn the world upside down. This is what the book of Acts is about and this is our text today. Of course we're beginning our exposition of the book of Acts, which will go a number of weeks. As Scott mentioned last week, Luke is a very careful historian who gave us the gospel of Luke, that was his first book, and Now Luke picks up right where he left off, at the end of Luke, by recounting 4th Theophilus, the genesis of the New Testament church. And then we see from the birth of this church, which will happen in chapter 2, we see just explosive growth, both in terms of numbers and in terms of geographical spread.

That's what the book's about. This book was likely written in AD 60 or AD 62, somewhere in that range. And so I had to look up this morning just to make sure I had my facts right. The clock starts at the birth of Jesus. Jesus was crucified and resurrected at 33 years of age.

So AD 60 is just a mere 27 years, give or take a couple of years, because it could have been AD 62. So you're talking about only 27 years. A very short span of time between the resurrection and when all the things are going to be recounted and acts have happened. And all this is fresh in the mind of Luke and there are many eyewitnesses to the things that he's recounting to his friend Theophilus. How do we know it's AD 6062?

Well, there's no mention of Paul's second imprisonment in Rome. Just a note to you, if you have to name your imprisonments by the time it was, that's not a good thing. So if it's your first and second imprisonment here or there, that's bad. But that was the life of Paul. He had multiple imprisonments in Rome.

And nothing past his first imprisonment was mentioned. And so, of course, Luke was Paul's traveling companion and physician. So if the second imprisonment had happened at the time when Acts was written, then it would have been in there. His death isn't mentioned. Neither is the martyrdom of James, which the historian Josephus places in AD 62.

And certainly nothing about the persecution of Nero, which was in AD 64, or the fall of Jerusalem, which is in AD 70. Why all the dates? Well, Just to say that there's a very strong case that AD 60 was it. And that's so close to the resurrection. And so the eyewitnesses are alive at the time of this being written and the original distribution of it.

Acts is a book that should build up our faith. Acts is a book, this is my prayer, is that as we study intently the book of Acts, as we faithfully exposit the things that have been given to us by Luke here, that we'll find just by varying degree, by increasing degree that our faith is built up as we see the faithfulness of God to His people, as we see what the power of the Holy Spirit can do through normal Joes like Dan Horn and John Poli and Kevin Heron and Barry Daeming and Nadine Daeming and Kendra Horn and me and David Brown and the list goes on. The Holy Spirit, isn't it wonderful to know, we don't have to trust in our own strength, that God appointed a time for the Holy Spirit to be given to the church. And the impact on that of the world is legendary, but it's not just legendary. It's continuing in the life of the church today.

Jesus Christ is the head of His church and through the Holy Spirit He is empowering believers to send His kingdom forward into the world to be a blessing to the nations. That's what we see the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit is about in the book of Acts, and we have the assurance of the scriptures that that is what Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit is about today in us as well. If Paul is to be believed, in Romans 10-17 where it says, So faith comes from hearing. So faith comes from hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ, if that's to be believed, then this Word of Christ, where we do see the Holy Spirit coming forward, empower to give believers this witness and testimony that would carry them from the ends of the earth, this group of shell-shocked believers who have just participated in the most devastating moments of their lives in the crucifixion of their Lord Jesus Christ. Now we see them totally revitalized and empowered by the Holy Spirit to go out and to change the world.

So as we begin our study of Acts, we must plead with God. We must plead with God that He would fill us up to overflowing with the Spirit so that we would have the power to be the type of passionate witnesses willing even to lay down our lives for the witness of the Lord Jesus Christ because of His goodness to us. And we're in the middle, like the early disciples, we're in the middle of a perverse and wicked generation. Will God leave a wicked and perverse generation only to destroy itself? Will He leave us just to devour ourselves?

No. He sends forth His people into the world to be a blessing among the nations. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, as we begin our study of Acts, it births hope in our hearts that You might be pleased to work on us in this way that the Holy Spirit would well up in us and cause the thankfulness that we have in our hearts for all your goodness and kindnesses to us, to flow out, to be spoken of, to our neighbors, to our co-workers, to our children, that a people might know that you're a great God, that You're a good God, You're a faithful God who keeps His people, who loves and cares for and tends His own flock. We ask these things in Jesus' name.

Amen. So going to the text, And we're going to group the first five verses together. Let's read that together. I'll read and you follow along. The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen.

To these, he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, which, He said, you heard of from Me. For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. Luke begins by reminding Theophilus of his first account, his Gospel, which was about all that Jesus began to do and teach. We learn a lot about this account, this Gospel account of Luke, from his prologue.

I think it would be helpful to us while we're in the prologue of Acts to look back to the prologue of Luke, because Luke tells us a lot about what he was intending to accomplish with his first account. Luke 1, 1 through 4 reads like this, Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the Word. It seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught." Luke is building a foundation in his gospel, and he's crafting it out of careful investigation from accounts of eyewitnesses of the earthly ministry of Jesus, so that we would have an assurance of the things that we've been taught. And he says that His account was about all that Jesus began to do and teach. Isn't that curious?

It's about what Jesus began to do and to teach. And you can just hear His voice ringing in Acts 1. And He's saying, he's setting up the chapter and he's saying, my last account, which ends at the ascension as we're going to see, my last account was just the beginning point. My last account was just the start of what Jesus Christ is doing and teaching. You won't believe what Jesus has been doing and teaching since my last account.

And he's saying everything through the ascension is just the beginning of the story of Jesus Christ, of what He intends to do and to teach. And in this saying, Luke is laying out for us What is to come in the book of Acts? He's telling us what the rest of the book of Acts is going to be about. It's going to be a fantastic account of the work of Jesus Christ in the church through the Holy Spirit using normal people like you and me. He talks about his last account being about what Jesus did and taught.

It reminds me so much of Acts 20 where the Apostle Paul is speaking to the elders of the Church of Ephesus and he makes his appeal based on his manner of life and his doctrine. He talks about how he lived among them and what he taught among them and he rests one on the other and then he rests the other on the one. And that is the consistent teaching of Scripture that there can be no separation between our testimony and our life. If there is, then all the credibility is lost. This is what we see in the ministry of Jesus.

You'll remember the story where Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night. Nicodemus comes to Jesus under cover of darkness for fear of what an association with Jesus Christ might do for him. But he does come. And this is recounted for us in John 3. It says, This man, speaking of Nicodemus, this man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher.

Why? Because of what He said? No. For no one can do these things that you do unless God is with him. For Jesus Christ, this was the thing that validated His ministry.

Not that He had wonderful teaching, which He did, but because of the life that He lived on the earth. The miracles that He performed, the way that He spoke to people, treated people, this was the combination that was so powerful in the ministry of Jesus. And of course, this is what Paul is teaching the leaders in the church of Ephesus to model, is to have a life, a doing that's consistent with the teaching and the doctrine. Having set the stage then, Luke knits together his first account, his Gospel account, with this account that's going to tell us the history of the early church. And the overlap is just, the overlap is staggeringly consistent and staggeringly beautiful.

And again, he gives us right here at the beginning of Acts the assurance of the things that we've been taught. That's what we saw in the prologue of Luke. I'm telling you these things that are verified by eyewitness accounts so that you can have assurance. It picks right back up in the prologue of Acts. I'm giving you the assurance through eyewitness accounts of the things that you're being taught.

Let's look at Luke 24, where Luke left off. Turn to Luke 24. So we've read the first words of the second book. Now we're going to read the last words of the first book. And you just see how these fit together hand and glove.

In Acts, he talks about these convincing proofs that were Jesus' appearance after His resurrection. And we get these in much greater detail in Luke 24. But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. When they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing. I Want to put a place mark right there? We're going to see the same thing happen in Acts 1 at the Ascension. They're standing there, they're looking into heaven, and then all of a sudden, who's that? It's two guys in white clothing.

It's angels attending. Verse 5, And as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he is risen. Remember how he spoke to you while he was in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and the third day rise again. And they remembered His words and returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.

Now they were Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James. Also the other women with them were telling these things to the apostles. But these words appeared to them as nonsense and they would not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb. Stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings only, and he went away to his home, marveling at what had happened.

And behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem. And they were talking with each other about all the things which had taken place. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus Himself approached and began traveling with them. But their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him. And he said to them, What are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking?

And they stood still, looking sad. One of them named Cleopas answered and said to him, Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware of these things which has happened here in these days. And He said to them, What things? And they said to Him, The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who is a prophet, mighty in deed and word, and in the sight of God and all the people. Another footnote, as His disciples are recounting, are describing Jesus to this person that they don't recognize, what do they call Him?

They say He's mighty in deed and word, which is exactly what we see in Acts 1 again. Verse 20, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to the sentence of death and crucified him. But we were hoping that it was he who was going to redeem Israel. Okay? Bookmark?

This is, We're going to see this in Acts 1. The ascension is about to happen, and the disciples want to know, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel? Obviously not isolated to His disciples, because here are these two, and they've got the same thought in their mind. Verse 21, But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened.

But also, some women among us amazed us. When they were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body, they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the women also had said, but Him they did not see. And He said to them, O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken, Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory? Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.

Wouldn't you want to be there for that sermon? Wouldn't you opt out of this sermon to hear that sermon any day of the week? I would. I would. And we're going to see this same thought again that Jesus, during this period of time, told them.

He showed them exactly where He shows up in all the Scriptures. So when we say Jesus is in Genesis, the Christ is in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, we're not making it up. Jesus taught this and Jesus showed people exactly where He was all throughout the Old Testament. Verse 28, And they approached the village where they were going, and He acted as though He were going farther. But they urged Him, saying, Stay with us, for it is getting toward evening and the day is now nearly over." So he went in to stay with them.

When he had reclined at the table with them, he took the bread and blessed it and breaking it, he began giving it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him, and He vanished from their sight. They said to one another, We're not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us. And they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, again seven miles back, and found gathered together the eleven and those who were with Him, saying, The Lord has really risen and has appeared to Simon. They began to relate their experiences on the road and how he was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread.

While they were telling these things, he himself stood in their midst and said to them, Peace be to you. But they were startled and frightened and thought they were seeing a spirit. And He said to them, Why are you troubled? And why did doubts arise in your hearts? See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself.

Touch me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have. And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While they could still not believe it because of their joy and amazement, he said to them, Have you anything here to eat? They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it before them. Now he said to them, These are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.

Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures and He said to them, thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things, and behold, I am sending forth the promise of my Father upon you. But you are to stay in the city until you are closed with power from on high. And he led them out as far as Bethany, and he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven.

And they, after worshiping Him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple praising God." It just makes me think when I put these passages side by side, it just makes me think he finished the chapter of Luke, he stretched, he got rid of his writer's cramp, He picked up the pen and he started the book of Acts. Doesn't it sound like that? They're knit so closely together. And isn't it so wonderful to have these convincing proofs of the resurrection for our own joy so that we can be sure of the things that we've been taught, even as it was Luke's intention that we would be sure of these things. Not only do we have these accounts, we have corroboration from the Apostle Paul who talks about some of these same sightings of Jesus after the resurrection, but he piles a couple other on.

He talks about one where Jesus showed up to 500 people and not only that, he's bold enough to say, and most of them are alive today. In other words, if you don't believe me, There's 500 people out there, find one of them and ask them in person. It's also confirmed by Peter in Acts 10 where he talks about himself personally seeing Jesus after the resurrection on many occasions. These in the NASB, Luke calls as convincing proofs here in Acts 1. It's interesting, the King James version and the New King James version renders it infallible proofs.

You can't argue with these proofs. We saw them. We knew them. He had the marks. It was Jesus.

It wasn't just me. It was Him too. And Him. And Him. And there's 500 people.

And they're still alive. And if you don't believe it, ask them yourselves. Infallible proofs according to the New King James rendering. My Nelson Study Bible says this, and it's so true, Christian belief is not built on speculation or myth, but on the sovereign acts and words of God incarnate in the time-space universe. In other words, real time, real space, real person.

You think I'm a spirit? Touch the wounds. Give me something to eat. It happened in time and space. The birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ are solidly rooted in history.

Amen. So Jesus has the eleven together and He commands them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the promised Holy Spirit, which He reminds them that He's spoken of before. And at this time I want you to see how well established it really was. Jesus is quoted as saying, Yeah, I told you this time was coming, so wait in Jerusalem for it. Because it's not many days from now, Wait in Jerusalem, and I'm commanding you to wait.

This was not a new thought to the disciples. I'm going to show you the places in the New Testament where He's spoken of it. And it's crystal clear. The linkage is so clear that even these students like me and you can get it. But I also want you to notice that the genesis of the new church doesn't come out of the disciples regrouping, coming up with a strategic plan, networking, and hoping that God blesses their efforts.

It is the work of God explicitly here where Jesus Christ is commanding them and the Holy Spirit... He's actually even commanding them through the Holy Spirit. If you look at how it says it in Acts 1, even Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are working together on this to direct the church. And that has not changed. We are not free to make up our best plans and pray that the Lord would put His blessing upon them.

Our calling is as best we can is to discern the Lord's will, to wait upon the Lord for instruction. So we're going to look at the places in the New Testament where Jesus has said, a time and a place is coming where the Spirit is going to be outpoured. Does that mean the Spirit was never poured out? Well, again, these are eleven men who have seen miracles, done miracles, cast out demons, So these are not men who have had no contact with the Holy Spirit. But we're talking here about a different kind of outpouring of the Spirit that inaugurates in the new people of God.

This is a different thing. There had been contact with the Holy Spirit where the Holy Spirit had done miraculous things, but this outpouring of the Spirit is something that comes with the Genesis of the New Church. And it was pointed specifically to as a time that was forward in time by Jesus Christ. Here they are. Matthew 3.

This is the testimony of John the Baptist. As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire." Do you see that? There is a time coming in the future. I baptize you with water, but He is going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

John 7. Now on the last day, the day of the, The great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out saying, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the Scripture said, from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. Now listen to this, but this He spoke of the Spirit whom those who believed in Him were to receive for the Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. This one is just crystal clear.

The Spirit hasn't been given, not in this way yet, because Jesus hadn't been glorified. But here we are in Acts 1, and Jesus has been raised from the dead, and He's getting ready to be glorified. He's getting ready to ascend into heaven where He'll be seated at the right hand of God, the Father, to intercede for us as mediator. And these are the days in which the Holy Spirit will be poured out on the church. More.

John 14, If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever. How can Christ make good His promise never, never, never, never, never to leave us or forsake us. This is it. He'll send us another Helper who will be with us forever.

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you." More. John 15, separate incidents. "'When the Helper comes whom I will send to you from the Father, That is, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father. He will testify about me, and you will testify also, because you have been with me from the beginning." More. John 16, separate incident.

But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away." Did you hear that? Jesus, the incarnate God is with them and He says, it is to your advantage that I go away. Want to know what the benefit of the Holy Spirit is to the church? Wow! The incarnate Christ says, it's to your advantage that I go away, because unless I go away, the Father won't send the Holy Spirit until I'm glorified.

The Father's not going to send forth the Spirit. So it would be worse for me to stay here with you than it would be for me to be glorified and for the Father to send forth the Spirit to empower the church to be my witnesses to the end of the earth." Where am I? Help me. John 16. Okay.

Sorry. I'll start at the beginning. Not of the sermon, but of this verse. But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you.

But if I go, I will send Him to you. And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment." Do you see, Jesus talked a lot about this event. He pointed at it very specifically during multiple times in his ministry. And so when he says in Acts 1, that you heard this from me, he means it in spades. He had been very clear, very explicit, and very repeated in His teaching that there was a time coming in the future when He would send the Holy Spirit to be the strength of the church.

Finally, it's critically significant that the disciples were commanded to wait for the Holy Spirit. Doesn't that seem to be a little strange to you? Jesus is saying those three years of intensive personal one-to-one training were not enough. You must wait in the Holy Spirit until the Holy Spirit goes forward to empower you to be My witnesses. Those three years where I discipled you, I let you be under My teaching, I watched as you taught and sent you out, not adequate for the mission that I'm giving to you.

Stay in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit comes forward from the Father." Here's what Charles Spurgeon says. For this power the disciples were to wait. The world was dying, hell was raging, yet they must tarry at Jerusalem till they had that power. Impetuous Peter must hold his tongue, and loving John must be quiet and must commune in secret with his master. None of them must go out into the street or stand in the temple to proclaim the words of this life.

They must stop till God should see fit to pour out His Spirit upon them. And I would to God that sometimes we could be quiet too. It would be better to be dumb than to speak only in the power of our own Spirit. And all God's people said, Amen. Moving on to verse 6 through 8.

Let's read that together. 6 through 8. So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, Lord, is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel. He said to them, It is not for you to know times or epics which the Father has fixed by His own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest parts of the earth." After the resurrection, the risen Lord has been appearing to the disciples and teaching them about what? About the kingdom of God.

So this is what Acts 1 identifies that he was speaking to them as he's appearing to them. He's talking to them about the kingdom of God. Well, this raises an old curiosity among the disciples and we saw it on the Emmaus Road. We sure were hoping that this would be the guy who would do what? Who would restore the kingdom to Israel.

We're ready for an earthly kingdom. And now, now maybe that He has been resurrected, we have our earthly king. Is this the time Jesus, when you are going to establish your earthly kingdom in Israel? Well why would they think that? There is actually a very good scriptural reason why they would think that.

There are a wealth of Old Testament prophecies that link the outpouring of the Spirit with the restoration of Israel. Joel 2, Ezekiel 36, but there's also a host of other, but Joel 2 and Ezekiel 36 are really clear where it talks about this outpouring of the Spirit and it talks about restoring Israel. So when the disciples start hearing outpouring of the Spirit, we got our King back, thought he was gone, but we got our King back. Now we're hearing about outpouring of the Holy Spirit. They're thinking restoration of the kingdom to Israel.

When they think restoration of the kingdom to Israel, they're thinking earthly kingdom. So this is what they've been hoping for. This is really what they've been expecting. In fact, this is what they've been jockeying positions for right? Since the early days of His ministry.

This table's already set. Right? Jesus is sitting here. I get to sit right to His right. You get to sit right to His left.

Thomas is down there in the kids' table because he doubted. But we know exactly where we fit into this kingdom. Right? I get to be on the right, you get to be on the left, you're here. But Jesus tells them now what He told them then, which was this in Matthew 24, But of that day and hour no one knows, Not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, But the Father alone.

For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand till the flood came and took them all away, So will the coming of the Son of Man be." Jesus says, It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority. Matthew Henry comments on it this way, Christ had given His disciples instructions sufficient for the discharge of their duty, both before His death and since His resurrection. And in this knowledge, He will have them to be satisfied. For it is enough for a Christian in whom vain curiosity is a corrupt humor to be mortified and not gratified.

If Christ make us serviceable to His honor in our own day and generation, let this be enough for us, and let us not perplex ourselves about times and seasons to come." It's interesting, Charles Spurgeon delivered a sermon in August 29, 1889, and it was on this text, And the title of it was, Witnessing Better Than Knowing the Future. Witnessing better than knowing the future. Disciples wanted to know the future. Jesus was calling them to be his witnesses to the remotest part of the earth. So when Spurgeon writes his sermon he titles it, Witnessing Better Than Knowing the Future, and he says this, and it's a long, laborious quote.

You're really going to have to stick with me. If my wife had known I was doing this, she would have counseled me against it, because no one can ever keep attention for this. But I'm asking you to hang in there if you can. It's very convicting. I see myself in this Spurgeon quote all over the place.

Are you ready? Some Christians are very curious, but not obedient. Plain precepts are neglected, but difficult problems they seek to solve. I remember one who used always to be dwelling upon the vials and seals and trumpets. He was great at apocalyptic symbols, but he had seven children and he had no family prayer.

If he had left the vials and trumpets and minded his boys and girls, it would have been a deal better. I have known men marvelously great upon Daniel, and specially instructed in Ezekiel, but singularly forgetful of the twentieth of Exodus and not very clear upon Romans the eighth. I do not speak with any blame of such folks for studying Daniel and Ezekiel, but quite the reverse. Yet I wish they had been more zealous for the conversion of the sinners in their neighborhoods, and more careful to assist the poor saints. I admit the value of the study of the feet of the image of Nebuchadnezzar's vision and the importance of knowing the kingdoms which make up the ten toes, But I do not see the propriety of allowing such studies to overlay the common places of practical godliness.

If the time spent over obscure theological propositions were given to a mission in the dim alley near the good man's house, more benefit would come to man and more glory to God. I would have you understand all mysteries brethren if you could, but do not forget that our chief business here below is to cry, Behold the Lamb. By all manner of means, read and search till you know all that the Lord has revealed concerning things to come. But first of all, see to it that your children are brought to the Savior's feet and that you are workers together with God in the upbuilding of His church." Spurgeon can just cut you like a knife. He can cut you like a knife.

Our Lord will return. He is coming. He's coming in glory. But no man knows the day or the hour. And this should cause us to walk circumspectly in the world.

He's coming in glory. How will He find us? Will He find us trying to understand the ten toes on Nebuchadnezzar statue? Or will He find us laboring for the salvation of sinners in our neighborhood? This matters.

The answer to that question matters a lot. God is calling us to tend to the duties He has given to us and leaving His own business to Himself. And that's what he's saying to the disciples here. Jesus then shifts the focus of what the disciples wanted to know about the Father's business, namely the times and events that He's fixed by His own authority. And He changes that focus to the mission that He's given to them.

The mission that He's subsequently given to His people of the church. And He starts by speaking of this event that He's commanded them to tarry in Jerusalem for, starting in verse 8, But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth. I want to start a comment on this section just by reviewing what we gleaned out of all those verses from the Gospels that pointed forward to this time when the Holy Spirit would be pointed out. Here's the summary of that promise of the Holy Spirit.

One is that when the outpouring of the Spirit happens, the people who benefit from the outpouring of the Spirit, that meant the disciples then, but it means us now, from His innermost being will flow what? Rivers of living water. From His innermost being will flow what? Rivers of living water. From His innermost being will flow rivers of living water.

In John 14 we see that The outpouring of the Holy Spirit means that He'll be our Teacher. He's going to teach us all things. John 14 also says, not only will He teach us, but then He's going to bring it to our remembrance. All the things that Jesus has said. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit means that we're going to have recall, not just natural brain synapse, connection of the synapse recall of the things that Jesus has taught us, but that the Holy Spirit is going to actively bring those sayings to the forefront of our thoughts.

Next, when the Spirit is poured out, He, the Holy Spirit, will testify about Christ, and you will testify also. The Holy Spirit will testify about Christ to us so that we can testify. And lastly, The Holy Spirit will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. So Mr. Bregge, Mr.

Sandals, does what the Holy Spirit is going to do, does that fit in with what Ray Comfort is going to talk about tonight in evangelism? This is just perfect timing. It's just perfect timing to talk about the value of what the outpouring of the Holy Spirit means in terms of evangelism. And then tonight we're going to talk about how this gets applied on street corners near you. Does that match up with what we see in Acts?

When the Holy Spirit comes, you will have power and you'll be My witnesses. Does this match up? Yes, it's a perfect match. This is exactly what's coming to the early church. Is it any wonder that we see the world being turned upside down at the hands of these normal people if this is what the Holy Spirit promises to do in the lives of believers?

You shall be my witnesses. You shall be my witnesses. The Greek word literally means one who dies for his faith. Most translations render it differently than that, but the literal meaning of the Greek word means one who dies for his faith. Matthew Henry in his commentary actually cites a translation that renders it, You shall be my martyrs.

And to this audience, to the audience in Acts 1, to the 11, In 10 out of the 11 instances, that's what church tradition tells us, that 10 out of the 11 of these men who heard those words were martyred. That isn't always the cost of being a witness for Jesus Christ, But it is a possibility. We should contemplate it. It might one day cost us our lives, maybe not in Rollsville, North Carolina. But you know what?

God puts different people at different times. You might not always live in Rollsville, North Carolina. You might go somewhere at some time where being a witness to Jesus Christ will be a health risk. Insurance companies will not want to insure you any longer because of the implications of identifying with the Lord Jesus Christ. The King James version actually renders it a little bit differently.

Okay, NASB, you shall be my witnesses. You shall be my witnesses. King James says, witnesses unto me. Same thing, little different slant, but I like that. I like the shift of emphasis, witnesses unto me.

My witnesses places the emphasis on the fact that we are indeed His. Nothing could be truer. We are His witnesses. We're not here for our own sake, our own glory. We are His witnesses.

But the other rendering, witnesses unto me, emphasizes that Christ is the message. We are witnesses unto Him. He is the message. Both are true. The Lord Jesus Christ is both the source and the content of our witness.

He's the source of our witness. He's the content of our witness. So who can witness? Who can witness unto Christ? Who can be His witness?

Well, I don't know. Have you been saved? Did you ever know a life apart from God? Has He changed you? Has it meant something to you being redeemed?

Have you ever had a trial where He was faithful to you, where He sustained you and kept you? Have you ever had a temptation? Have you ever been tempted where maybe just by the skin of your teeth, but at least by the skin of your teeth, you escaped because of the empowering of the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you been sanctified? Are you being brought from glory to glory?

Successively? Are you finding that the things that used to weigh you down don't weigh you down like they did. And you just have to acknowledge it wasn't you. You didn't get smarter. You didn't start waking up earlier or going to bed later.

It wasn't your own efforts, but it was the work of the Lord Jesus Christ in you. If that's true, if you've been saved, if you've been sustained in trial, if you've been rescued from temptation, if you've been sanctified where God is conforming you more to the image of His Son, then you can be a witness unto Christ because He is the center of that story. You didn't save yourself. You didn't sustain yourself through trial. You can't keep yourself from temptation.

Heaven knows how we would have fallen if not for Christ. We can't make ourselves better. It's Him. He's that story. This is our story.

This is how we witness unto Christ. I have to ask myself, why doesn't my neighbor know that story? My neighbors, by and large, they do not know that story. Why not? How about your children?

Why don't they know those stories? How God has saved you, sustained you, He's bringing you along to maturity. This, people who have those stories, First of all, if you don't, then you're not a believer. You're not a believer. If you don't have those stories, you're not redeemed.

Talk to us after the service. If you are redeemed, then you do have these stories. And this is our witness for Christ. And then Jesus finishes by saying, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest parts of the earth. So Jerusalem is where they are today.

Judea is the surrounding area. Samaria is just the neighboring area adjacent to Judea and to the remotest parts of the earth, known to be Roxborough. It's the remotest part I know of. Do you get the picture that Jesus is giving here? Start here and go till you run out of territory.

Start here and go till you're out of places to go. Start with the people here and go till you run out of people, church. This is interesting. Consider Matthew 10 verses 5 and 6. This is where Jesus is sending out the twelve for the first time.

They've been under His tutelage and now He's sending them out to say the things He's been saying to do the things He's been doing. And he says this, These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them, do not go into the way of Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans, but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. This is early in Jesus' ministry, and He's forbidding them to go to the Samaritans. He's forbidding them to go to the places that He's telling them to go to now. Well, what's the change?

The inclusion of Samaria all the way to the remotest parts of the earth clearly signals that the wall of separation between Jew and Gentile has been broken down. And that Christ has created a new people of God. It used to be centered around ethnicity. Of course, Jesus could always raise up sons of Abraham from stones. So salvation was never ethnic at all.

But the people of God visibly were ethnic. And now it's changing. It's not going to be that way anymore. Jesus is breaking down the wall between Jew and Gentile, and this is the clear signal that that wall has been broken down. And that it's no longer based on ethnicity, but based solely on circumcision of what?

The heart. It's not circumcision of the body anymore. It's circumcision of the heart by grace alone through faith alone. And all us Gentiles said, Amen. I'm one happy Gentile.

That's true. It's interesting. This also serves as a table of contents for the rest of Acts. Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, the remotest part of the earth. Acts begins, the church is born right there, right?

Right there in Jerusalem. And we're in Jerusalem from Acts 2.42 all the way through Acts 8.3. And then the account shifts. Where does it shift to? It shifts to Judea and Samaria.

That's Acts 8.4 through Acts 12 through 24. So we're in those chapters. That's what we're going to be hearing. The Gospel going out from Jerusalem into Judea and Samaria, just as Jesus said here, and then to the remotest parts of the earth. That starts where the gospel begins to penetrate beyond Judea and Samaria in Acts 12-25 and then goes through the rest of the chapter.

Alright, we're landing. Verses 9 through 11. And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while he was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, Men of Galilee, Why do you stand looking into the sky?

This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come in just the same way as you have watched him go into heaven." Jesus finishes with his instructions to them and he's taken up into the cloud. And I guess by the text you could just say, well the text doesn't say, is there anything special about the cloud or was there just a vapor there that happened to obscure them from sight? I think a view of Providence would tell us there's something more specific about the cloud than that. And I would suggest that here we see the Shekinah glory. The Shekinah glory, the glory and the presence of Almighty God, which went before the Israelites in the wilderness, the cloud going before the people, which filled the tabernacle and which enveloped Jesus, Peter, James, and John on the Mount of Transfiguration.

And I think that Daniel got to see more of this scene than the 11 disciples ever did. Look at Daniel. Daniel saw this. I kept looking in the night visions and behold, with the clouds of heaven one like a son of man was coming. And He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him.

And to Him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom that all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. Jesus had told them, I can't send the Holy Spirit yet, I haven't been glorified. And now we see Jesus is ascending up, He's on the cloud, and Daniel saw it. Daniel got to see Him being received by the Father, being glorified, and His kingdom being given to Him.

And now the Holy Spirit can be given in only just a few days out. And as the disciples are gazing after Jesus, just like what we saw in Luke 24 with the women at the tomb, they're joined by two angels in white clothing who say this, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky, you gawkers? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven. Jesus spoke of this moment. He spoke of this moment.

And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. And then, I'm sorry, let me preface this. I forgot where I was. That happens from time to time. Jesus spoke of this moment of His return.

Not when He would ascend, but when He would come again a second time. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. And Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory." And so the angels come alongside the disciples And they say, the same way you just saw Him go, He's coming again one day. He's coming on the clouds. This just confirms what Jesus had said.

In fact, this is what really started the ball rolling at His crucifixion. Jesus is being examined by the high priest Caiaphas. And Jesus says this, and this is the last straw. When Jesus says this, Caiaphas tears open his robe, and he says, what more do we need to hear? Get this blasphemer out of here.

What is it that Jesus says? This is it. Jesus said to him, You have said it yourself. Nevertheless, I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. What are our applications?

What are our applications? One, we see this here. It's always, anytime you take something that applies to Jesus, you always have to tone it down about a hundred levels right for us. Because what would Jesus do isn't always the right question, unless You can lay any claim to deity. But this is what we see with Jesus.

We see such a harmony between the things that He taught and the things that He did between the testimony of His life and the testimony of His lips that one gave credence to the other. One built credibility for the other. And we are called to the same thing. We should support the testimony of our lips with our lives. Otherwise, we'll never be listened to by anyone.

And we should support our life with the testimony of our lips. The world is not going to be evangelized by lifestyle evangelism. It's not enough. It must be present. It must be present.

People must be able to see Christ in us. But it's not enough. It must be the fruit of our lips as well. Number two. Don't let, as Spurgeon so brilliantly said, don't let practical godliness suffer neglect at the hands of the doctrine.

That's what the disciples, they wanted insight. Is now, is this the day and the time where the kingdom will be set up? Meanwhile Jesus wants to give them a mission. This is a division of labor issue. There are some things that are left to God and the times and the seasons are left to God.

There are some things that are left to us. God forbid that we should neglect the duties that God has clearly given to us in search of things that God says are His. Number three, be a witness unto Christ. Have you been saved? Have you been helped, kept, preserved?

Are you being sanctified? If the answer is yes, then you have a story to tell. Our neighbors should know the faithfulness of God in our lives. That's what the League of Grateful Sons was all about. Not that there were brave guys on Iwo Jima.

That's not what the movie is about. It's that God was faithful to men in the previous generation. God was good to them. And so it gives us hope that He would be faithful and good to us as well. It gives us a story to tell.

Lastly, let His coming mold your conduct. I was really pricked in my conscience. I was really pricked in my conscience. Just thinking about some of the really undisciplined areas of my life, where I would just be mortified if the Lord Jesus Christ would appear on a cloud after church today. I would just be mortified because there are just big chunks of areas of my life where I'm not living as if it might be tomorrow.

You know, that's the bad thing about not knowing the day or the hour is you have to be prepared at all times. Or maybe that's the good thing about not knowing the day or the time. Maybe that's why He won't tell us the day or the time, because He wants us to walk circumspectly, walk in wisdom in the world as if He might come tomorrow. You know what? It doesn't matter if He doesn't come tomorrow.

He's here today. We're in His presence and we have to live like Him. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, what a rich treasure You gave us through Your Word. What a rich blessing in the book of Acts.

Having prepared for this week, I just can't wait to get to the next passage to hear. Lord, we know it's going to be a blessing, as Your Word always is. Thank You for giving us something that can rescue us from our own thoughts. Sanctify our minds, Lord, through Your Word. Use the book of Acts, God.

Use our study, these feeble attempts. Use the study to build faith in us. Fill us up with the Holy Spirit. God, we know that Your Spirit was given then and it's available for us now. We desire to have an outpouring of it or it among us.

Not so that we would experience the tingling God, but so that we could be your witnesses and bring you glory on the earth. Give us a heart like that. It desires your glory above our own comforts. We ask it in Jesus' name, amen.