Promised power and Instructions
Book of Acts: Deer Creek • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 5 viewsAim: To look at the promised power and instructions on what they are to do with it when they receive it.
Notes
Transcript
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Introduction
Introduction
Luke in writing to Theophilus continues to convey about Jesus all he learned.
Learned of orders given (v.2)
Learning of command given (v.3)
Speaking of things about the kingdom of God.
(Transition) that is where we ended last a couple of weeks ago.
This afternoon we will look at an important passage regarding the promised power and what they are to do with it.
The passage
The passage
4 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 will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
6 So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority;
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.”
Any general thoughts, comments on this passage?
Before ascending (1:9) Jesus instructed them (1:4) stay here!
To wait here for the promise of the Father (we will come back and talk about that in little bit).
Think about wait, means it will be worth waiting for
To wait, means they had a promise yet to be fulfilled
To wait, means they must receive it, they cannot create it or do it, but must receive it.
To wait means they would have to wait, to practice patience, to be tested a little longer.
The promise
The promise
Jesus told them to wait for the promise. The promise he had told them of before, the one from the Father
16 “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; 17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.
also see
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.
This Holy Spirit which would baptized them (v.5) - that is which John Baptist Spoke of
15 Now while the people were in a state of expectation and all were wondering in their hearts about John, as to whether he was the Christ, 16 John answered and said to them all, “As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
The promise that is fulfillment of prophesy of Joel
28 “It will come about after this That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and daughters will prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, Your young men will see visions. 29 “Even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.
The promise that is the fulfillment of prophesy of Isaiah
3 ‘For I will pour out water on the thirsty land And streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring And My blessing on your descendants;
The promise that also is the fulfillment of Ezekiel
26 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.
The promise that was to be eagerly awaited for in great anticipation that the Father would fulfill in not too many days from then.
The promise that would belong to all His children
The promise of the Father that became the promise of the Son.
Q: Now with all the information we just covered, what more can you tell me about the promise (v.5)?
it is the Holy Spirit, and baptism of the Holy Spirit it is at Guzik says “it is a spiritual condition more than an experience.”
The promised Spirit was preached on by John the Baptist (Mt3:11; Jn1:33)
The promised Spirit was taught on by Jesus (Jn7:37-39)
That would be given to be a helper as we read (Jn14:16-17) just a few minutes ago.
The promised spirit preached on by Peter (Act2:14-16, 33, 39)
And yes the teaching of Paul that it is by the Spirit we are saved
4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, 5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
That we are all baptised by the same spirit (1Cor12:13) making us the home of the Holy Spirit (Rom8:9-13; Ep3:16); for those who believe (Gal3:14; Eph1:13-14) who then can walk by the Spirit (Gal5:16-25).
(Transition) As if that is not enough we have a ways to go today, lets look at the remaining verses again as a reminder.
Lord, when?
Lord, when?
6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Lord, is now the time you will restore Israel? This is not a new question, but a renewed question with new urgency for things had changed now.
Christ has inaugurated the new covenant
20 And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.
John Stott in his commentary about this restoration says: “The verb restore shows that they were expecting a political and territorial kingdom; the noun Israel that they were expecting a national kingdom; and the adverbial clause at this time that they were expecting its immediate establishment.”
While there are many prophesies that speak of the restoration of Israel (Jer23:1-8; Eze36:16-30) this restoration is a spiritual restoration that comes through Jesus Christ for all people who believe.
It is also good for Jesus not to get into the specifics either for if they knew it would be some 2,000 years until the second coming they may have not be as urgent to fulfill the commission, or easily gotten discouraged.
Jesus response and instructions (vv.7-8)
Do not worry about it, it is not for you to know when, just to know the outcome
You shall receive power when Holy Spirit comes upon you.
The results of the power would be that they would become witnesses of Jesus. The term “shall be” is in indicative not the imperative. Jesus did not recommend they become witnesses, He said they would be witnesses.
He told them where they would be witnesses
Jerusalem, All Judea, Samaria and to the end of the earth.
The results of this power we will see all throughout the early history of the church as we continue this study, starting with
Jerusalem (Act1-7)
Judea and Samaria (Act8-12)
The end of the earth (Act13-28)
God’s eternal purpose fulfilled in the Son of Man, Christ the Son who was fully submitted to the Fathers will to accomplish His will even to those in
Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified by an angry mob
In Judea where the people rejected His ministry
In Samaria where the Jews thought this was a wasteland and a wasted half-breed people to avoid.
And in end of the world, the Gentiles that they thought were of no good except to fuel the fires of hell.
The promised power, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was vital, was needed, was proof of God’s love, God’s promise, God’s seal on the believers. The power they needed was to write the New Testament so we can hold it in our hands today 2,000 years after given to the apostles and prophets.
(Prayer) (Close)
