“THE PROMISE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT”
ACTS 1:1-5

I. Introduction
Many of you know that Ginny and I have lived in our home in Elkhorn for twenty-six years. As every homeowner knows there are things that break or wear out and need to be repaired or replaced. The door to our deck has never broken or worn out. But for twenty-six years it has given me fits. I’ve never been able to adjust it so that it doesn’t either stick at the top or bottom, or leak cold air in the winter.

One part of the problem is that the door has six different interconnected adjustments. Each one is at least somewhat dependent on the other five. The door’s vertical position is deter-mined by three hinge adjustments, and the door’s horizontal position is determined by three other adjustments that have to be made within the framework of the door itself.

The other part of the problem is that the adjustments can only be made with hex keys. I have the hex keys, but they’re difficult to use in a confined space because I can’t get much more than a quarter of a turn before I have to remove and reset the things.

The bottom line is that no matter how much time I’ve spent with my hex keys I’ve never gotten it right. A few weeks ago the door was once again sticking badly. So I went online to see if I could find some clue I had been missing. I was convinced that it just couldn’t be that hard to adjust this door. Well, it turns out that the instructions online are for newer doors, not twenty-six year old doors. I couldn’t make it work!

Most of you know that a man is only a man if he can make things work – if he can fix stuff.
“I’m a man. I can do it!” By the way, I once spoke with a plumber who said that the “I’m a man. I can do it” syndrome has kept him in business fixing all the stuff that the “I’m a man…” crowd only succeeded in making worse.

So here’s my confession. I cried “Uncle!” I threw in the towel. I gave up. I caved. I called Andersen Windows. I said, “Send me a service man.” They said, “$50.00 for a service call.” I said, “I don’t care. Send him!” Now comes the humiliation. The guy from Ander-sen Windows walks in, looks at the door, and produces the niftiest set of flexible ratcheting hex keys I’ve ever seen. Within five minutes the door works better than it has since 1989.

There is a two-part lesson for Christians in all of this. First, we must know what we are doing. Second, we must have the right tools. We have a job to do, and it is infinitely more important than fixing the door to our deck. Jesus told us what it was.
*Luke 24:46-49
46 and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day;
47 and that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
48 You are witnesses of these things.
49 “And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Jesus is about to give His disciples both the knowledge and the tools they will need to do the job. Both the job description and the knowledge to do the job are found in the Scriptures. But the power, the wisdom, and the ability to use the tools that God supplies are given to us by the Holy Spirit. The right knowledge and the right tools will not merely fix a door to a deck. They will open the door to eternal life.

Just as Luke’s gospel ends with the promise of the Holy Spirit’s coming to God’s people, Luke’s history of the early church – the Acts of the Apostles – opens with it.
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II. Review
Brock began the service this morning by reading from John’s gospel. Turn back there with me. In John 14:16 Jesus said, “I will ask the Father and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever.” The word “Helper” is translated from the Greek word, “paraklētŏs.” The English word “paraclete” is taken directly from it. It means “one who comes alongside to help.” Think of a paraclete as one who advocates for someone, pleads for them, counsels, guides, advises, and provides comfort. In fact, many of our modern translations use the word “Comforter” to describe the Holy Spirit in John’s gospel.

One chapter later Jesus said…
*John 15:26
26 “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 bear witness of Me.”

By the way, if you know someone who denies the Trinity, or doesn’t think the Bible teaches the doc-
trine of the Trinity, John 15:26 is one of many verses that speaks of all three Persons of the Godhead.

Then in John 16 Jesus gives us the definitive statement about what the Spirit of God will do.
*John 16:7-15 (speaking to the twelve before His crucifixion)
7 “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper (the Comforter) shall not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.
8 “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin, and right-eousness, and judgment;
9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me;
10 and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you no longer behold Me;
11 and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.
12 “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
13 “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. (prophecy)
14 “He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you.
15 “All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said, that He takes of Mine, and will disclose it to you.” (vv. 14-15 – another illustration of the Trinity)

In v. 13 that “disclosure” speaks of the inspired Scriptures that Jesus’ disciples will soon begin to write. This is true of all Scripture in general, but here it is specifically referring to the NT that will soon be written. And when it is written, it will say of itself…
2 Timothy 3:16
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, (and) for training in righteousness.

2 Peter 1:21
21 …no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

We saw the Son of God work in Luke. Now we will see the Spirit of God work in Acts.
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III. Text
As we come to the text itself I believe that it will be helpful for us to think of Jesus’ work on earth as both finished and unfinished. It is finished in the sense that He has done everything necessary to provide for the redemption and salvation of those He came to save. When, in John 19:30, Jesus said, “It is finished,” He meant that He had accomplished everything that God the Father had sent Him to do. Here are some of them…

• Jesus fulfilled all the OT prophecies of the Messiah’s first coming.
Matthew 5:17
17 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come
to abolish, but to fulfill (them).”

• Jesus accomplished God’s purpose for the incarnation. God’s plan for our salvation had to be carried out and Jesus was the only One to do it. Only He could glorify His Father here on earth.
John 17:4 (speaking to His Father)
4 “I (have) glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.”

• Jesus reconciled us to God by making atonement for our sins.
Luke 19:10
10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
• Jesus completed God’s requirement of obeying the Law. He did for us what we could not do for ourselves because…
Romans 3:23
23 “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

• Jesus took all our sin upon Himself. In doing so, He became our substitute.
1 Peter 2:24
24 …He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, (so) that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.

Jesus did all of that and more. He finished it all, completely and perfectly. Our redemption is forever sealed in heaven. And in that Jesus’ work is most certainly finished.

But The Book of Acts is about a different work, a work that is as yet unfinished. The work of proclaiming Jesus’ finished work will go on until the Second Coming. You might think of it this way: The work of redemption is over, but the work of evangelization starts. And so Luke begins Acts by reminding his readers of what has already been done. And he sets the stage for what will be done. Jesus did His work. Soon the Holy Spirit will begin His.
*Acts 1:1-5 (Please stand with me in honor of reading God’s Word.)
1 The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach,
2 until the day when He was taken up, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen.
3 To these He also presented Himself alive, after His suffering, by many con-vincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days, and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.
4 And 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;
5 for John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

When Jesus walked this earth He spent the last three years of His life preaching and teaching His disciples. He was preparing them for the greatest task ever given to anyone. With His ascension to heaven the job of proclaiming repentance, preaching the gospel and teaching God’s Word would fall upon the men Jesus had been training.

Were they ready? No, they were not! By every human standard they were anything but ready. Think of it. Their faith was weak. They had (for the most part) acted as cowards when Jesus was arrested, tried, and crucified. Considering the time they had already spent with Jesus, their knowledge and understanding of Him and His Word was meager at best. And even though Jesus had told them that He would rise from the dead, they refused to believe even the first eyewitness reports of His resurrection.
The bottom line is that they are not “up to the job” they are about to be given. But they will be! Jesus is about to send His Spirit to them. When He does they will be changed. God’s Spirit (Jesus’ Spirit) will empower them. And just as He does with every true believer, the Spirit of God will give them all they need to finish the work that Jesus has left us here to do.

Listen Christian, if the Lord Jesus Christ has not yet taken you to be with Him – and it looks like every one of you is still here – then you still have both the ability and the power to do what He tells you to do. The question is… “Are you doing it?”
*Acts 1:1-2
1 The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach,
2 until the day when He was taken up, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen.

“The first account I composed…” was, of course, Luke’s gospel, but who was Theophilus? The fact is that no one knows. However, a few things can at least be surmised. Theophilus was probably one of Luke’s Greek friends. He may well have been a high-ranking Roman official since he is described as “most excellent” in Luke 1:3. (“Your excellency”) The name “Theophilus” is Greek and literally means “God’s friend.”

The rest of vv. 1-2 are a kind of summary of not only Luke’s gospel, but Matthew’s, Mark’s, and John’s as well. The three years that Jesus spent with His disciples were marked by near-ly continuous instruction. His miracles built and strengthened their faith in Him. His para-bles laid the groundwork for their learning and the application of spiritual truths. The Lord’s teachings set down the elementary principles of sound doctrine.

All of this was necessary because without a rich and growing faith, a clear understanding of spiritual truth, and a solid knowledge of sound doctrine, neither the disciples in the first cen-tury nor you and I in the twenty-first century can possibly carry God’s message of salvation in Christ to a lost and dying world. This is why it is so important for us to know and under-stand the truth we claim to believe. We are called to “get the gospel right.” If we do not we can cause more harm than good. People who believe a misleading or false gospel are as lost as those who have never even heard the “good news.”

You and I not only have to know the truth, we have to be continually growing in it. Far too many in the modern church are very big on “love,” but very light on truth. The problem is that love without truth doesn’t save souls. Such love may be filled with puppies and rain-bows, strawberries and cream, and baskets full of “warm fuzzies,” but salvation is not found in those things. Listen to Paul and his concern for the love of the truth in the church.
*Philippians 1:9-10
9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real know-ledge and all discernment,
10 so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ.

*Colossians 1:9b-10
9b …we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
10 so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God…

Knowledge! Discernment! Wisdom! Understanding! Those are the things to which we in the church are called. Why? So that we can know Him! But we cannot know Him if we do not know His Word. And we cannot know God’s Word unless it is preached and taught and the Spirit reveals His truth to us. Thus the Holy Spirit had to come. That’s why Jesus said, “…when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth (John 16:13).”

Our task today is to preach and teach the same faith, the same gospel, and the same doctrine that Jesus taught His disciples two thousand years ago. But without the presence and power of the Holy Spirit that can’t happen today any more than it could have happened then. And that, I believe, is the reason why much of the modern church is such dire straits.

The reason so many professing Christians know so little about God’s Word and the Lord Jesus Christ is because they’ve given the spirit of this world more prominence in their lives than they’ve given the Spirit of God. (repeat)

There are so many who claim to be Christians, but know so little truth. The gospel they believe, preach, and teach is often a false gospel. But there is another problem that may be worse than the first. Far too many who do know the truth fail to live by the truth. Rather, they choose to live by the standards of the world. But if you are to be effective for Christ and His church, you must not only know the truth, you must live it. And living it is impos-sible without the power of indwelling Holy Spirit of God. That is why Jesus sent His Spirit to the early church. And it is why He has sent His Spirit to us.

Now look once more at Acts 1:2. The “orders” that Jesus gave His disciples are the same orders He gives us today. Just as He chose them, He chose us. When He chose them they were not ready for the task at hand. Jesus had to make them ready for it. Likewise, when you and I were chosen we were not ready for the task at hand either. In fact, the only quali-fication any of us have is that He chose us. In John 15:16 Jesus said, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit…” And so, He sent His Spirit.

How effective are you for God’s service? It depends on your knowledge of God’s Word and your willingness (and submissiveness) to the Holy Spirit of God who indwells you, and who guides you into all truth.
You and I can preach and teach all day, but without the empowerment of the Spirit of God our very best efforts will be utterly worthless. Listen to Charles Spurgeon.
“We might preach ’til out tongue rotted, ’til we exhaust our lungs and die – but never a soul would be converted unless the Holy Spirit uses the Word (of God) to convert a soul…”

Thus the effectiveness of your ministry (whatever it is) is dependent upon your knowledge of the Bible. And your knowledge of the Bible is dependent upon the Spirit’s work in you. If you will give Him free reign in your life, He will use you to glorify God.
*Acts 1:3
3 To these (the disciples) 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.

If Jesus’ disciples were going to take the gospel to a hostile world and willingly face the martyrdom that would come to them, they would have to be convinced that He was alive. They had to be convinced that no matter what might happen to them, they would live forever with Him. So v. 3 tells us that there were “many convincing proofs” of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. Do you remember what some of them were? The disciples touched Him, they ate food with Him, and Jesus entered locked and barred rooms where they were hiding.
Luke 24:39, 42-43
39 (He said) “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.”
42 And they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish;
43 and He took it and ate it before them.

John 20:19b
19 …and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst…

And beyond that, during the forty days between His resurrection and ascension, the Lord Jesus appeared to hundreds of others as well.
*1 Corinthians 15:5-8
5 …He appeared to Cephas (Peter), then to the twelve.
6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now (“just in case you’d like to ask them”), but some have fallen asleep;
7 then He appeared to James (Jesus’ half-brother), then to all the apostles;
8 and last of all, as it were to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.

During that forty days Jesus taught His disciples as He had taught them the previous three years. Here in Acts 1:3 Luke tells us that His teaching emphasized the kingdom of God.
Before His crucifixion the disciples had hoped that Jesus had come to bring in the kingdom. The masses thought the same thing. That was made clear the week before Jesus died on what we now call “Palm Sunday” when so many people in Jerusalem hailed Him with palm branches and shouts of “Hosanna!”

But with Jesus’ death the disciples were afraid that God’s kingdom on earth was forever lost. So the Lord wanted them to know that the promise of His kingdom on earth was not nulli-fied – it was only “delayed.” Something else – the Church Age – would have to come first. The good news of salvation in the Messiah would have to go out to the whole world because the good news of the Messiah was not only for God’s chosen people, the Jews, it was for every man, woman, and child on the face of the earth. And that good news would begin with the twelve. They would be God’s instruments to establish the Church of Jesus Christ.

The church would be built, and when it would be completed, Jesus would return (the Second Coming), and establish His Millennial Kingdom, the thousand year reign of Christ on this earth from the throne of David in Jerusalem. So Israel waits for her Messiah and the church waits for her Christ. And Israel will mourn when she realizes that Jesus is both.
Zechariah 12:10
10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jeru-salem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look upon Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him, like the bitter weeping over a first-born.

Romans 11:26-27
26 …and thus all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob (Israel).”
27 “And this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.”

This sure knowledge of a living and returning Christ, fueled by the power of the Holy Spirit who would soon be given to them, was everything the disciples needed to become powerful witnesses to the truth of salvation in Jesus. Thus they began to turn the world upside down.

And that is what we will see in The Book of Acts. We’ll see how the church began, what it did, and what God expects us to do. Listen, Lighthouse Bible Church began in the Spring of 2004 A.D., but its roots go back to the Spring of 30 A.D. (give or take a few years.)
*Acts 1:4-5
4 And 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;
5 for John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not
many days from now.”
Now, just as Jesus is about to ascend to heaven, He takes His disciples to a place where they had spent much time together. They go to the Mount of Olives just east of Jerusalem and Jesus gives them one final command and one final word of encouragement.

The command is essentially, “Stay here (in Jerusalem)! You’re not yet ready for the task at hand.” This is actually a repeat of what Jesus told the disciples at the end of Luke’s gospel. In Luke 24:49 He said, “…you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” This is the encouragement. After spending the last forty days with the risen Lord you can just imagine how enthusiastic these guys are. But enthusiasm without the know-ledge of the truth and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit can do more harm than good.

If you think I’m overstating the case just listen to all the “happy talk” that comes from the health, wealth, and prosperity preachers out there today. You’ll soon see that what they are selling is not the gospel of the Bible. But they sure are enthusiastic about it!

In Acts 1:5 Jesus is talking about a baptism that is different than John’s. It is, for lack of a better term, real baptism, not water (or ritual) baptism. Real baptism is “dry” – there’s no water involved. Ritual baptism is immersion in water. It only symbolizes the baptism Jesus is talking about. These disciples aren’t going to be immersed in water. They’re going to be “immersed” in the Holy Spirit. All the way back at the beginning of John’s gospel John the Baptist prophesied this very thing.
John 1:33b
33b “He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.”
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IV. Conclusion
Jesus promised His disciples the Holy Spirit. And the third Person of the Trinity came and took up residence in each one of them. And if you are truly saved, a true Christian, then you have the assurance that the Holy Spirit has come and taken up residence in you as well. In Paul’s doctrinal treatise, The Book of Romans, he says this in Romans 8:9 – “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.”

Earlier I spoke about the fact that you and I and every true Christian have been given a job to do. Your job isn’t finished. I say that because I’m convinced that if it were finished, God would already have taken you home. But, as I also said earlier, you’re still here. You have a purpose. You have a role to play in God’s plan for eternity. You have your Bible and you have the indwelling Holy Spirit. Are you doing your job? The Lord who loved you and died for you is ready, willing, and able to give you everything you need to accomplish it. Ask Him…

~ Pray ~