The sermon discusses the book of Acts and its purpose as the Acts of Jesus Christ by the Apostles through the power of the Holy Spirit. It emphasizes the promise of the Father, which is the Holy Spirit, and the disciples' misunderstanding of the kingdom of God. The sermon encourages belief in God's promises, patient expectation, prayer, and recognition that God's ways are different from our own. It highlights the need for the power of the Holy Spirit to fulfill God's mission and redirects attention to the Great Commission.

Yes, turn to the book of Acts chapter 1 and we will be looking today at the first 11 verses as we consider this book of Acts, what I really like to term with a longer title if you would, but the Acts of Jesus Christ by the Apostles through the power of the Holy Spirit. That's really what the book of Acts is in a nutshell. It is the Acts of Jesus Christ by the Apostles through the power of the Holy Spirit. Let us read. Thus says the word of the Lord, the former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 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, to whom he also presented himself alive after his sufferings by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during 40 days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God 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 for John truly baptized with water but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.

Therefore when they had come together, they asked him saying, Lord will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And he said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in his own authority, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth." Now when he had spoken these things while they watched, he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight and while they looked steadfastly towards heaven as he went up behold two men stood by them in white apparel 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." Let's pray. Our gracious Heavenly Father, again we, Lord our hearts really just pray the words of that last song that we just sang. Our hearts desire is show us Christ.

Lord, no matter what our problems are today, no matter what situations are going on in this world, what the entirety of the world, what every tribe and tongue and nation need, they need to see Christ. We need to see Christ exalted this morning. And Lord, I pray that you would remove any hindrance of our hearts and our minds, Lord, anything that would be distracting to this one singular purpose of seeing Christ exalted. So Lord, today through the preaching of your word, would you show us Christ? And we ask it in his name, amen.

You may be seated. Well as we consider the Acts of Jesus Christ by the Apostles through the power of the Holy Spirit, I also want to bring to your attention that in the beginning of the book of Acts we see that Luke is writing this, he wrote to this man named Theophilus, and we see this name in another place in the Gospel of Luke. And so I actually want to begin by reading the first part of the Gospel of Luke and then also the closing part of the Gospel of Luke just so that we can grab context if you will. This is really a continuation of his writing through the Gospel of Luke so I believe that will help us to see exactly what is taking place here. So if you will turn to Luke chapter 1, Luke chapter 1, and I just want to read the first four verses there and then after that we'll turn to Luke 24 and I'm gonna read verses 44 through 53 and close out that gospel and then back to Acts.

So in Luke chapter 1 verses 1 through 4 he says this, inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers to the Word delivered them to us, it seems good to me also having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first to write to you an orderly account, oh excellent, or excuse me, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed." There's a real huge purpose statement for the Gospel of Luke which flows into the book of Acts as well that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed. And now please turn to Luke chapter 24 and verses 44 through 53 through the end 44 through the end he says in verse 44 then he said to them these are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms concerning me. And he opened their understanding that they might comprehend the Scriptures.

And then he said to them, thus it is written and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem and you are witnesses of these things. Behold I send the promise, " now focus here this is something I really want to bring out this morning. I send you the promise of my father upon you But Terry in the city of Jerusalem until you are in dude with power from on high And he led them out as far as Bethany and he lifted up his hands and he blessed them. Now it came to pass while he blessed them that he was parted from them and carried up into heaven and they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God amen. And so this is really this continuation of what Luke began in his gospel so that they would understand all they wanted he wanted them to understand the certainty of these things and then we see in the book of Acts again he said, the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom he had chosen to whom he also presented himself alive after his sufferings by many infallible proofs being seen by them during 40 days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

And so as we consider these introductory remarks what I want to do is just give you some preliminary comments regarding the book of Acts as we are entering into this study that will no doubt take us quite some time. But as we look at these things we understand that Luke is the writer of the book of Acts. It is my understanding and belief that the gospel, or excuse me, that the the book of Acts was written somewhere in the neighborhood of AD 62. And it is very interesting because the book of Acts has a very abrupt ending, almost as if there was something else to be said and there was and I believe that gives us a clue into when the book of Acts was written because Paul was still in his imprisonment and he had not yet been freed from that and then again be in prison later and ultimately be put to death. And so as we look at the book of Acts, don't consider that we're going to come to the conclusion.

We're going to come to the end of the book, but really the conclusion through that is the rest of the epistles. It's the rest of the New Testament where we get the fullness of all that Christ gave us through the Apostles through the power of the Holy Spirit because all of these books are God-breathed. They are the work of the Holy Spirit of God and holy men of God who didn't speak their own words. It wasn't of any private interpretation but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit and we see that here in the book of Acts when God gave through Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit this marvelous power to take the gospel to the world and that's what we see throughout the rest of the New Testament. And so it's very important that we understand the purpose of the book of Acts and this is just something that I came up with I'm sure there's some other other views about this but it is to to give an accurate account of the Acts of Jesus Christ, and I've said this, I want you to hear it, this is my point, it's the Acts of Jesus Christ by the apostles through the power of the Holy Spirit for the spread of the gospel and the establishment of the church.

That's really what we see the book of Acts laying down for us and it is a glorious picture that we receive here in this book. And in Acts we get to see what motivated the Apostle Peter in writing 1st and 2nd Peter. As we finished that book and it was such a blessed time of study for myself and I pray that it was a blessed time for the church to go through 1st and 2nd Peter, that's not the end. We're going to actually come back around and look at the first parts of what Peter did and what it was it that made Peter bold as a lion to say what he said. And I want to say this, it was not what was what naturally was in Peter, but it was what was supernaturally in Peter through the giving of the Holy Spirit.

So in understanding the book of Acts we see really a book that transitions us from the Gospels into the Epistles. Can you imagine if we did not have the book of Acts and then our brother Scott started preaching Romans that begins with Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ. Who? Who is Paul? Without the book of Acts we do not understand the conversion of Saul of Tarshish who then became called Paul and think of it.

Think of what we would be without the epistles of Paul through the working of the Holy Spirit. So the book of Acts is a marvelous transitional book for us to understand some of these glorious things and some of the people that we're going to see throughout the rest of the New Testament. It really gives us the introduction into the Apostle Paul. It helps us to see the power and the spread of the gospel and the establishment of local churches through Paul's missionary journeys and it's a marvelous journey. So one of the major themes of the book of Acts is revealed when the disciples asked Jesus if he would in verse 5 at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?

This question, it really revealed the narrowness of their understanding of what Christ came to do and also the understanding of what they were to do once Christ was resurrected and ascended. You see, their understanding of the kingdom of God was narrow, they understand that they thought that the kingdom of God was specifically and only for the Jews and for the Jewish nation. But what they did not understand was that Jesus' answer here, he leads them and he leads us to this greater scope of what the kingdom of God really meant. He says in Acts 1, seven and eight, he said to them, it is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has put into his own authority, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in Judea." Now they understood that. They understood that that was a scope in their mind, but then Jesus really blew the walls out on their understanding.

And he says this, and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. And brothers and sisters, we must have that view and that understanding of the gospel as well. It's not only Jerusalem, it's not only Judea, but it is also Samaria and the end of the earth. It is for all peoples, it is for all nations, and we see in Revelation chapter five where Brother Scott preached a couple years ago, I guess it was, in chapter five, but he was preaching there and it speaks about those who are before the throne of God out of every tribe and tongue and nation and peoples, before the throne of God worshiping Him. And brothers and sisters, we see that right here this morning.

God has blessed us with multiple tribes and tongues and nations right here in this local church. And that is part of the fulfillment of what Jesus said that they would do. You're part of that fulfillment. You are part of the recipients of the promise, the great and precious promise of our Lord Jesus Christ that came from the Father and said that He would do. You are proof of it.

It is an infallible proof your life has been radically changed through the gospel and we are testifying of that this morning. There are three major divisions that I see in the book of Acts. The first division is chapter 1 through 8 which is really the witness to Jerusalem. We see the division of chapter 9 through 12 which the gospel is going to Judea and to Samaria and then we see chapter 13 through 28 to the end of the book which really shows us to the ends of the earth and that's going to be kind of an overarching division that we will see through this book. Another vitally important point before we get into the nitty-gritty of the text is this, as we consider the book of Acts and how we interpret the miraculous signs that we see.

It's one of the challenges as you're interpreting the scripture and as we as we try to understand what the book of Acts is teaching us because we know that that all scripture is given by inspiration of God is profitable. It's profitable for us, so we need to see this and understand it. But at this point, suffice it to say that everything that we see in Acts is not necessarily prescriptive, because this is a narrative. It's not necessarily prescriptive for us today, but it is descriptive of what took place during this transformational time from the Gospels and really Old Testament into the New Testament church of what Christ wants us to be. And so it's this transitional place here between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.

However, and hear me on this, we must do our work in understanding the differences between some of what we see, which is vastly different than what we see today. There are things that took place in the Book of Acts that are miraculous and they're glorious and they're true, but they do seem different than what we see today. And understanding the normative principle or the normative of what we see today in our church and in our culture and in our life where we are in church history, we must understand that the book of Acts is not just a historical reading for entertainment, it's not just wow, look at this narrative that we're gonna read, what a great storyline. No, Paul tells us in 2 Timothy as I just quoted a moment ago that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. And we will do the work of proper biblical interpretation and allow scripture to interpret scripture.

So the word of God will be our standard and be our guide. I want to give one example of what I'm talking about very briefly. And in the book of Acts, we begin to see that God brought apostles to the church. And these men were sent ones, very specifically, and I'll call them big A apostles, if you will. They were the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ and they took the gospel they had unusual workings of miracles they had unusual authority within the church the early church We do not see apostles today and nor should we.

They were specifically for this time in the church. So that is one of the things I'm talking about. We're gonna see things in the book of Acts that would not be normative for us to see today. It would not be something, oh we need to obey that and we need to ordain some apostles. No, that's not what we're gonna do.

We are gonna follow the totality of Scripture and let Scripture interpret Scripture. So that's what I mean by that. I don't want to throw anybody off in what I'm trying to say but I hope that is clear is that we're going to look at this and we're going to use God's word to interpret God's word in the fullness and not cherry pick a passage out and create a new doctrine. Okay, that is my goal. So what is the purpose of the book of Acts?

Here we have the introductory words of Luke and really what I would call his second letter to Theophilus in which he seeks to make known his purpose in writing which I have already alluded to. It is the continuing eyewitness testimony of all that Jesus began to do and to teach. Now as we consider the book of Acts, we know that here right in this first part of the book of Acts, Jesus Christ ascends to the Father. But I do not want you to think for one moment that that is the end of the work of all that Christ began to do and to teach. You see what he has done, Jesus Christ ascended and we'll look at all of this in the Gospels, Jesus Christ ascended so that the Spirit of God would come and not only be with us but be in us.

And so he is continuing the work of and we need to understand all that Jesus is doing. He is continuing to work. He is continuing to press the gospel to the ends of the earth. And remember, we are worshiping a triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And so the work of the Spirit of God and the Church of God is the work of Jesus Christ and the Church of God.

So don't separate those things and think that Jesus' work ended when he ascended. It did not. It continues. So as we consider these things I believe it's helpful. One of the commentators named McLaren he says, so begins and so ends this book and I connect the commencement and the close.

So he's connecting the beginning and the end of this book because I think that the juxtaposition throws great light upon the purpose of the writer and it suggests some very important lessons for us. The reference to this former treatise which of course is the Gospel of Luke implies that this book is to be regarded as its sequel and the terms of the reference show the writers own conceptions of what he was going to do in this second volume. So this former treatise I have made, he says, of all that Jesus began both to do and to teach until the day in which he was taken up is not the natural inference that the latter treatise will tell us what Jesus continued to do in a teach after he was taken up. I think so. And thus the writer sets forth at once for those that have eyes to see what he means to do and what he thinks his book is going to be about.

He says, but I think that the reason for the abruptness of the record's close is to be found in the continuity of the work in which it tells a part. It is the unfinished record of the incomplete work. The theme is the work of Christ through the ages of which each successive depository of his energies can do but a small portion and must leave that portion unfinished. The book does not so much as end as stop. It is a fragment because the work of which it tells us is not yet complete.

Now that's a big statement for the purpose of this saying. He is telling all that he began to do and teach but he's not completed all that he is going to do and teach. We are still part of that today. It is still the work of Jesus Christ. He is still pressing the gospel to all nations.

The Holy Spirit of God is still calling men to preach the gospel. He is still pressing you to preach the gospel to every creature and not only here locally but as we maybe go but definitely as we support the work of the ministry of the gospel to the ends of the earth Jesus Christ is still writing the story from our perspective. Now of course from his the story is completed. We heard that in the book of Revelation. We saw the end.

It's glorious. We are still seeing the fulfillment of all of that and it is glorious as well. So don't think that we're just reading some history that we're not gonna take part in, you are part of it today. Today could be actually the point at which you enter into the history of the Church of Jesus Christ. Are you believing on the Lord Jesus Christ?

If you are not, today is the day of salvation. Today is the day that you can enter into the glorious history of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you will be a part of that story. That would be my great desire. So as we see this glorious picture that he has given us, you see in the book of Acts in verse 28, listen to how it closes because remember he's comparing the beginnings and the ends.

Listen to how it closes. He says this in verse 30 and 31 of chapter 28, Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house and received all who came to him preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concerned the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence no one forbidding him. That's how it ends. He's doing what? He is teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence and that is what we are to be doing.

We are to continue that great work, that is what we are to do. So as we see this, we need to understand that in the gospel of Luke, he also shows us that this great picture here is the kingdom of God. So the overall theme of the entire Bible is the kingdom of God and the theme of the entirety of our lives is and should be seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. If your focus has strayed from this overarching theme of the entirety of the Bible, you're straying from the path of life and I exhort each one of you turn from the air of your way and seek first the kingdom of God. Luke 9 25 says, what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and is himself destroyed or lost?

Please tell me what profit that is. If you gain the world and lose your soul, What profit is that? You see the overarching theme of all things is to glorify God in everything and that is first and foremost seeking the kingdom of God in His righteousness. So in everything we do, when we go to work and when we lie down at night and when we take maybe a vacation or whatever it is we do, the kingdom of God should be at the forefront of our minds in everything. That we're seeking to glorify God in all of this.

You see, we also see that Christ continued care for the church. Would you look with me in this? He says in verse four, he says, and being assembled together with them, he commanded them, did you see it? I passed it. And being assembled with them.

You know one of the interesting things that I found as I've been studying this is that after Christ's resurrection he didn't just ascend, he spent 40 days. He spent 40 days of coming and going with his disciples. And you think what's the significance of that? I believe part of the significance of that is because he had just spent three full years with them. Can you imagine what their hearts were feeling?

Can you imagine the stress that they had and the turmoil and the sadness and the struggles of emotions and of the love that they had for their Lord? They see him crucified and dead and buried and they were beginning to lose hope. They all had denied him and fled, now they're hiding in the upper room and then they hear. Mary tells them that he is risen. His body's not there.

Peter and John run to the tomb, they see the empty tomb, and then all of a sudden Jesus appears to them in the room. Can you imagine the feeling that they must have had? Can you imagine their hope was renewed? And then he leaves them again. And it's as if he is in his great compassion for his disciples and for his people, he is beginning to wing them from his physical presence.

But he's also preparing them for the presence of the Holy Spirit to be in them. Not only is He with us but brothers and sisters in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit He is in us. It is much greater, it is much more glorious because when he was in earth in his physical form, he was in one place at one time. But now he is with all of us here, he is with our brothers and sisters around the globe who are worshiping him this morning. This is our great savior, this is our great God.

But think about this, we need to take great comfort in this and in agreement with the Apostle Peter's words in 2 Peter, knowing this first that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation for prophecy never came by the will of men but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God in that gave many infallible proofs. And part of that infallible proof was the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ after his resurrection. And He would come to them, he would eat with them, he would say touch my hands and my side. And he spent time with his beloved disciples but it was by these many infallible proofs that he did that. Secondly, I want us to understand in this work of Jesus Christ through the apostles, through the power of the Holy Spirit that we see the promise of power to fulfill the Great Commission.

Look with me in verses 4 through 8. It says, "...and being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the Father. I just want to stop right there just for a moment. I want you to consider the promise of the Father. This has really been the one thing in which has captured my attention and captured my mind and most of my thinking.

I'm not going to spend all the time here but this promise of the Father. Scott mentioned this during prayer meeting this past Wednesday about the promises of God. There are many promises of God. In fact Peter had promises that he spoke of and in 2 Peter he spoke about God is not slack concerning his promises, as some men count slackness, but is long suffering to us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. That's a promise of God, he's not slack.

He's not slack concerning his promise. So this promise of God is something that's not distinct and unique to the New Testament, but the promise of God, it really goes way back into the Old Testament as well. This specific promise, and we know this because we've read all of this this morning, we know that this promise is the promise of the Holy Spirit of God. Really, oftentimes, the neglected person of the Trinity, especially in Baptist circles, sometimes we can get a little bit uneasy when we talk about the Spirit too much, but brothers and sisters, the Spirit of God is just as real and true in our lives as the Son of God and the Father. And we need to understand that and we need to have a proper doctrine of the Holy Spirit and need to understand the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

The Holy Spirit of God is the one who convicts you of sin. He is near you, he is in you if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is the Spirit of Christ in you. And so we need to understand this ministry of the Holy Spirit, but it's based upon this promise of the Father. As I said, this really has been what has encompassed most of my meditations upon this passage of Scripture.

When I think about God's promises, There's one thing about it when God makes a promise, He is not only able to make the promise, and He makes big promises. You know, sometimes I can make a promise to my children, And it may seem big to me, it may seem big to them, but there's one thing about it, I don't always have the power to fulfill that promise. Things come up, things happen. I may say I'll be home at 6.30 and I have a flat tire, I can't control those things. I may say I'll do this and I forget.

I'm limited by my own knowledge and my own wisdom and my own memory. But it's not so with God. He's not only able to make the promise, but he is able to keep the promise. He not only has the wisdom to ordain and the sovereignty over all things, to ordain all things that whatsoever come to pass, but he's able to make them come to pass. He is able to keep his promises.

So I want you to consider that as we consider just this idea of the promises of God. Take time during your week, look up the promises of God. You want to be blessed? Look up the promises of God and know for certainty this, He is able to keep every one of them. He is able to keep and he's proven it This promise right here that we're looking at this morning.

He has proven that he's able to keep this promise This promise was made back in the Old Testament centuries before this came about So this promise here that that we read about, Jesus is telling them, he says, to wait for the promise of the Father which he said, you have heard from me, Jesus said this, for John truly baptized with water but You shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. In John 14 in verse 16 and 17, this is one of the passages that Jesus is quoting from here in the book of Acts and it says this, Jesus said, I will pray the Father and he will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever. The Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him but you know him for he dwells with you and will be in you." Think about what he just said about the Holy Spirit of God. He is the Spirit of truth. He also said that the world cannot receive Him.

You want to know what the difference is when we consider and we look at the things in this world and we think how in the world can they be doing what they're doing? What did the book of Romans tell us? They suppress the truth in unrighteousness. The Spirit is the Spirit of truth. They cannot receive the Spirit of truth.

They don't have the ability to receive the Spirit of truth. You don't wonder when you see the world doing foolish and wicked things. They cannot receive the Spirit of Truth. But brothers and sisters, you have the Spirit of Truth. Really that's what makes me wonder more than seeing the world do worldly things is when I see believers doing worldly things.

You have the Spirit of truth and you also have the Spirit of conviction. The Spirit of God convicts us of our sin. But notice what else He says, The world cannot receive Him because it neither sees Him nor knows Him, but you know Him. For he dwells with you and will be in you." These are some of the greatest words regarding the Holy Spirit. You see in the Old Testament we would see the working of the Spirit of God.

He would come upon men and come off of men. We think of people like Samson, they gave him such great strength the Spirit of God would come upon him, he would defeat his enemies and then it would go away after a time. They cut his hair and he had nothing. We see it in other men, even King Saul at some points he prophesied the Spirit of God would come upon him and soon later he had not the Spirit of God and so the Spirit of God worked in a different way than he does in the New Testament the Spirit of God He says he says very specifically for he dwells with you There were times that Jesus spoke about the Spirit of God being with them, but the great truth of this promise is the difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, and this Spirit of God, the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit of God, is not only with us this morning, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ according to what Jesus says not only is He with you but He is in you. He is in you.

You want to know what made the difference in the Apostle Peter before Acts chapter 2 and after Acts chapter 2? The Spirit of God in him. You want to know what made the difference between me before my conversion and after my conversion? It's the Spirit of God within me. And that is what the difference is with you.

The Spirit of God in you. He is the one who gives you the power to proclaim the gospel, to share Christ, to even understand truth. It is only because of the Spirit of God. Apart from that you would have no understanding at all concerning spiritual things. This is the promise of the Father.

This statement is so wonderful. He dwells with you and will be in you. Second Corinthians 6 15 says, and what accord has Christ with Belal or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God.

As God has said, I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God and they shall be my people. Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean and I will receive you. I will be a father to you and you shall be my sons and daughters says the Lord Almighty He is in us He will dwell in us you know there was a little girl one time and I've mentioned this I think before but there was this little girl and she was trying to understand this doctrine of the Holy Spirit being in us and she asked her mom or dad, I forget which it was, asked her mom or dad and said, God is bigger than we are, right?

Oh, oh yes honey, God is much bigger than we are. He is vastly big. And she thought, but God is in us. That's right, he is in believers, he dwells in believers. And our little mind was turning.

She said then you would think we would see more of him oozing out of us. You know that's really one of the great questions. The infinite spirit of the living God lives in his people. How much more we should see as what our brother read this morning regarding the fruit of the spirit. How much more love and joy and peace and patience and goodness.

All of the fruit of the Spirit we should see coming out of us. But you know, the Bible teaches us that we can grieve the Spirit of God. The Bible teaches us that we can walk not according to the Spirit. We can actually walk according to our flesh at times. But that's where the Spirit of God also comes in.

And He came to convict the world of sin. And I pray that he does that in your heart. You know, we have been interviewing many young people to be baptized in this church. It's been very encouraging. It is really amazing.

These little children, many of them have better theology than most pastors I've met. One little boy said, I said, what is the problem with sin? He thought for just a moment and he said, God hates it. And he's right. God hates sin.

And I said, so how should we respond to sin? We should hate it too. That is so true. God hates sin and we should too. So we need to understand this is the work of the Spirit of God.

That was truth. The Spirit of truth gave that boy that understanding. He understood that God hates sin. You see these are glorious truths and the glorious work of the Spirit of God. So this promise was not a new promise, in fact this promise was really an old promise and I'm going to get to that in just a moment.

There's a few other passages I want to read. John 15 we read about the work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus says, but when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will testify of me, and you also will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning. This is the work of the Spirit of God. Luke 24 49 which we read earlier 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.

This promise is a powerful promise and I want you to understand what precious promises are these that we have from the Father and He fulfilled them. He fulfills all of His promises. He gave the disciples the power from on high so that they would be able to fulfill all that God had designed for them to do. God, in giving you the Holy Spirit, he empowers you to fulfill all that God has called you to do. He doesn't leave you powerless.

You don't need more of the Spirit. You need to live and walk in the Spirit of God, which you have. You see, it's important to note that what God commands, He empowers us to fulfill. It's not within our own strength. Remember what Peter said in 2 Peter chapter 1, he says, according as His divine power has given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him that has called us to glory and virtue whereby are given unto us exceedingly great and precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

He's given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness. This is what he has promised. This is a promise of God. This promise was not a promise though as I said of only the New Testament. But the Father made this promise in the Old Testament.

Actually in John chapter seven, Jesus, he quotes back in quoting Isaiah, he says, on the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out saying, if anyone thirsts let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me as the scripture has said out of his heart will flow rivers of living water but this he spoke concerning the spirit whom those believing in him would receive for the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. Part of this is quoted from Isaiah 44 which says, "'For I will pour water on him who is thirsty and floods on the dry ground. I will pour my spirit on your descendants and my blessing on your offspring. They will spring up among the grass like willows by the watercourses.'" Have you ever seen a willow tree grow by the watercourses?

It is amazing how fast those trees grow and how green they are. They spring up and that's what he's saying. When I pour my spirit out upon you, you're gonna flourish like willows by the watercourses. You're gonna have all the supply that you need. It's gonna be a constant supply.

You will never thirst again He will constantly be refreshing you and watering you Paul says in Galatians chapter 3 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law having become a curse for us for it is written cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Abraham? He was promising these things from Abraham. This is not a new promise, this is an old promise. We also know from the book of Joel, that's what Peter will quote here in the next chapter, chapter 2, and we'll see that then.

But this is an old promise that God has given to us. Paul calls this the blessing of Abraham, that this promise of the Holy Spirit is received through faith which we know is connected to the blessing of Abraham for he is the father of faith. Isaiah 32 also in verse 15 says, until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field and the fruitful field is counted as a forest. That's how it grows. It started out small and as the Spirit of God began to pour out upon these disciples and it went into the ends of the earth it became like a fruitful field and then like a forest.

We are proof of that this morning, we are proof of that. These promises are found all over the Bible both Old and New Testaments, It is a glorious thing. You see, there's a few things that we need to understand. What should be our response to these promises of God? Just a couple of things very quickly before we move on.

One, we should believe the promises of God. Do not doubt the promises of God no matter how big they are no matter how you think in your mind how could this possibly come about? You know that's exactly what the disciples were thinking. You know they're in their mind remember they ask in that question shall you restore the kingdom of Israel at this time? Their thoughts towards His promise was very small and limited and God said no I'm getting ready to pour out my spirit on you and it's gonna go to the ends of the earth.

My kingdom is not limited to the Jews. My kingdom is of the whole. It is of the ends of the earth. That is the extent of the kingdom of God. Number two, when we see a promise in the Bible, we should have patient expectation and what often we fail to do is to pray regarding the promises of God.

Why do I say this? Well if you'll note in verse 14 what the disciples did, let us learn from them. He says this, these all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication. They had been given this promise of the Holy Spirit, it will come not many days from now. And what do you find them doing?

You find them together, it says that they continued with one accord, they were unified, they prayed and had supplication. They were longing for this promise, Lord give us this promise, Lord we are ready for this promise. Pour out upon us or give us the Spirit of God. Think about how you respond to the promises of God. These early disciples were unified in their prayers and we learned a very important lesson.

One commonator says no wonder that with such hoax flowing over the top of their sorrows like oil on troubled waters, the little group went back to the upper room, hallowed by the memories of the Last Supper and there waited in prayer and supplication during the ten days which elapsed until Pentecost. So should we use the interval between any promise and its fulfillment. Patient expectation, believing prayer, harmonious association with our brethren, will prepare us for receiving the promises of God. Isn't that good? That is so encouraging to me.

That's how we view the promises of God. Harmonious association with our brethren until we receive it. Let that be true of us. Thirdly, if there is a delay, recognize that the delay is not slackness on God's part, but he's preparing his people to receive the promise. He's preparing the people to receive it.

He may be, you know, there may be a promise that God has in the Scriptures that is for you. And you're like, I still don't have it yet. He's preparing you for receiving it. You may not be ready for it yet. And fourthly, realize that God rarely works in the way that we think He will.

If you've lived very long as a Christian and you've asked God through prayers for different things, things that are in accordance with His will, things that are not selfish, that you may consume upon your own lust, you have found it to be true that God does not always answer your prayers in the way you think he would or should. When we look throughout Scripture we'll see God fulfilling the promises that he makes But when we see the fulfillment Those promises were almost always brought about in a different way than the people believed The disciples are proving that right here in this passage. Are you going to at this time restore the kingdom? And he said no, I'm getting ready to pour the Spirit upon you and you're gonna be witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, and Samaria, and the ends of the earth. You see, he answered their prayer.

He answered the promise that he had for them, but it was so much broader than they thought. So often our problem in praying is we're so narrowly focused and we're so small in our understanding of all that God can do and our prayers are small prayers instead of praying large prayers, pray prayers that equal the power and the omniscience and the omnipresence of God. And you will see God do miraculous things. He can do all things. There is nothing that hinders Him.

You see God's ways are not our ways and his thoughts are higher than our thoughts. He knows the best way to fulfill his promises and we see this as I said in this very passage. So in verse 5 Jesus points them back to the words that he spoke before. He said, For John truly baptized with water but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. Just to briefly go over this in a cursory point is that the baptism of John was really a picture of what was coming.

John baptized you with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Jesus will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. It was vastly different, but it was a picture of what was to come, like many things are. What is marriage? Marriage is the same way.

You can imagine marriage is kind of a talk around our house right now, but marriage is a picture of something much greater. Marriage is not the end all be all. Marriage is a picture that points to Christ and his church. That's what marriage is. And can I just say, when our marriages don't do that, we are misrepresenting the gospel?

We need to be focused on living our marriages, and hey, I just feel like I need to stand and preach at me right now. Our marriages should reflect the glory of Christ in this church, and we are sinners, but guess what? We have a marvelous Savior. When we humble ourselves and when we repent of our sins and let us be praying people asking God to help our marriages reflect the greater because that's the purpose of it is to reflect the greater. You see in this I want us to understand learning from this next question that the disciples asked.

They really asked the wrong question and I've alluded to this already. So often the fulfillment of God's promises look different than what we expect. With the expectation of the promise that he gave to the disciples not many days from now, in the disciples' minds, it immediately went to their understanding of the promise and what it would look like. But they were thinking, and specifically there's one here in Daniel 7 27 and here's what it says, then the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people the saints of the Most High his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and all dominions shall serve and obey him." In their minds they were thinking God was going to re-establish the nation of Israel and they were going to rule the world. But actually what happened was that Jesus said, no it's not for you to know the times or the seasons.

They asked the wrong question and we need to understand that unfortunately in their minds they're still thinking of this physical kingdom but what Christ wanted them to understand is that their understanding of the Old Testament prophecies was skewed. Here's the deal though, they were getting ready to make great progress in their understanding because the Spirit of Truth was getting ready to fall upon them. It's understandable why they didn't fully grasp all of this. They were getting ready to receive the spirit of God dwelling in them, the spirit of truth, and he would open their understanding to all these things. But you know in asking this question he gives them somewhat of a slight rebuke and he redirects this question.

He says it's not for you to know the times of the seasons of the Father that which the Father is putting his own authority. You know so often we get so off course when we are seeking after the things that God has reserved for His own authority. There are great things, deep things of God. And so sometimes, and this typically, well I'm going to refrain from what I was going to say, typically this happens with young men who really want to know great things about God and it's good that they have a desire. But I want you to understand sometimes we can get so focused on trying to know things that are not for us to know that we miss doing the things that are very clear for us to do.

That's where the disciples were. The disciples were here and they're wanting to know when you're going to restore the kingdom because hey, I have a feeling since you're the Messiah I may be pretty high up on the ladder here. They really wanted to know. You remember the disciples says hey, can one of us sit at your right hand and the other left hand when you come into your kingdom? But look at what Jesus says, it's not for you to know.

And where does he point them? He points them to the Great Commission. He points them to verse eight and he says this, but you shall receive power. They're wanting to know about the kingdom and the kingdom of Israel being restored, but he points them and somewhat rebukes them he says, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth." You see this is the point that they needed to understand. So often when we come to Scripture there's things that we want to understand but Christ through the Spirit helps us to understand the things we need to understand.

And that's really my desire for you today in this point is that don't get too carried away in the things that you want to understand as much as you are in seeking after the things that you need to understand. There's a difference. They were about to receive power from God to the Holy Spirit. Power for what? For restoring the physical kingdom of Israel?

No. They were about to receive power to be witnesses of Christ for the purpose of the greater kingdom of God. Why did they need this power? They needed it for many different reasons and we could probably sit here and list probably a dozen different reasons why they needed this power. But some of the reasons of this need was because Christ understood what was coming.

He was bringing it about according to his purpose. They needed the Spirit of Truth because they didn't have good understanding of what the kingdom of God was. They needed to have it because they needed to be able to preach in the face of persecution. They needed the power of the Holy Spirit because they didn't have the physical means by which to accomplish this. It was gonna be not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord.

That's what they needed. And there's many more things that, like I said, we could list them. But this is not what they expected that they needed but this is what they needed and so consider perhaps what we don't need are a lot of the things that we think we need. Perhaps what we need is to be led by the Spirit of God to accomplish the work of God in the mission of God. You see, they understood, I believe, at least part of this when they heard that you're gonna receive power because they had experienced their own physical weaknesses firsthand in the garden.

In Mark 14, 50 it says, then they all forsook him and fled. We give Peter a bad rap sometimes. Mark says they all forsook him and fled. They were understanding the weakness, they understand that they needed to receive the power of the Holy Spirit, then they could be witnesses. Not before, but he said stay and remain in Jerusalem until you receive the power from God.

Not only in Jerusalem and in Judea, but even to where they did not think to the ends of the earth. And I want you to understand And I want you to turn to Isaiah 49 6 one of my favorite passages in the scriptures You see it expands beyond the borders of their Jewish mindset The kingdom of God expanded beyond that and look in Isaiah 49 6 and listen to what he says. This is glorious. He says indeed he says it is too small a thing for you Excuse me that you should be my servant to raise up the tribe of Jacob Think about that. It's too small a thing for you to raise up the tribe of Jacob and to restore and preserve the preserved ones of Israel and listen I will also give you as a light to the Gentiles that you should be my salvation to the ends of the earth.

You see Christ is so worthy of glory and honor and dominion and power and might. It's too small that he should only be the God of the Jews. It's too small that he should only be the Savior in Jerusalem and in Judea. But he was here because he is so glorious and so worthy. He's worthy to receive honor and glory and to give his salvation to the ends of the earth.

And brothers and sisters, we need to be saying with a loud amen, amen. That is the truth of the gospel, and we are proof of that promise. Look around, quite a few Gentiles here. And praise God, we are seeing the fulfillment of the promise of God. We are the testimony of Christ's salvation which has gone to the ends of the earth.

You see, it's because Christ is too great to only receive the tribes of Jacob. He is worthy of all peoples. And may our prayer and our mission be that Christ may receive all that he is worthy of. Should we, can we start praying that? Christ, receive all that you're worthy of.

Receive all that you're worthy of, Lord. That should be our prayer, Let's pray the promise of God. These are promises that His salvation, my salvation to the ends of the earth. Let us pray the promises of God. Let us wait expectantly upon the fulfillment of those promises.

Let us not lose heart when we get discouraged and we see maybe the gospel waning in one area but expanding in another knowing that Christ will have his bride. He will have it. Listen to what we should say. Psalm 117. Praise the Lord all you Gentiles.

Lord Him all you peoples for His merciful kindness is great towards us and the truth of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord. Psalm 67 1 through 7 says, God be merciful to us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us. Selah that your way may be known on the earth your salvation among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God.

Let the peoples praise you. All let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you shall judge the people righteously and govern the nations on earth, say law. Let the peoples praise you, O God. Let all the peoples praise you, and then the earth shall yield her increase God our own God shall bless us God shall bless us all and all the ends of the earth shall fear him this is David praying and singing the promises of God that all the peoples will praise Him and that should be our prayer and desire as well. That all peoples everywhere would praise Him.

And brothers and sisters unfortunately I am eating up all my time and I don't want to keep us too long So there is more to talk about in verses 9 through 11 and I will reserve that for next time. Next week we will jump into this passage but I want you to understand a few things in closing. I want you to understand that God has given unto us great and precious promises. I want you to know that you can believe the promises of God. I want you to understand that when Christ has endowed his church with the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit, It's not for the purpose of building a physical kingdom, it is for the purpose of building the kingdom of God.

It's not limited to your own little world, it expands to the ends of the earth and Jesus Christ will have his bride. Let's pray for it. Our Heavenly Father, Lord, you are more wonderful than words can express. Your gospel is more glorious than we can even fathom. Lord we so thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ and his death burial resurrection and as we will see next week his ascension.

We are so thankful that you did not leave us as orphans but You have sent to us the Holy Spirit. We are recipients of the promises of God. You have given us your Spirit to live in us and to empower us to be witnesses of yours throughout the ends of the earth. And I pray, O God, that you would equip us in such a way, not that we need more of the Spirit, but that we would understand the power, the same power in which you raised Christ from the dead is in us to accomplish this great work. So, Lord, please help us.

Please deliver us from small-mindedness and narrow views of the kingdom and may our understanding be as broad and as wide as the love of God. Help us, oh Father, to accomplish these things for your glory and honor and we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.