Sermon Tone Analysis

Last time we left off focusing on verse 8 which is the key verse to understanding the entire book of Acts.

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Being Christ's witnesses is the mission of all who profess faith.

We are called to witness to the Word and to Inner Reality that Christ lives in us through how we live.

This is no side job for Christians but our main task until Christ comes again.

But we can't be the kind of witnesses we're called to be, and neither can the any of the disciples, without the Holy Spirit — thankfully, it's God's good purpose to give His Spirit to His people so they can fulfill their calling.

But before God pours out His Spirit on the Apostles, and the other disciples, we see a dramatic change in their attitude.

We see formerly headstrong, stubborn disciples now being submissive.

This is an amazing change that can only be explained by they presence of God’s Holy Spirit already at work in them.

So in this section we see three ways the disciples (or apostles) demonstrate their newly God-given submissive attitudes.

They submit: to waiting, to Scripture, and to God's choice.

The Apostles Submit to Waiting

OK, so if your remember, the Apostles had just witnessed the ascension of Christ on the Mount of Olives which was Jesus' way of putting an exclamation point on his command to get busy witnessing to the world until He returns.

We don’t know how long he’ll be gone.

That’s not our business, being witnesses is.

So you would think, filled with excitement, they’d go get busy sharing the good news, but they don’t.

Instead of witnessing, they walk the half mile or so back to Jerusalem which probably takes less than 15 minutes.

Why didn't they just immediately go out witnessing to Christ?

Because they had been specifically told not to.

Jesus had told them to wait.

Remember in verse 4…

4 While [Jesus] was with them, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father’s promise.

Now, this must have been very hard for impulsive disciples because Jesus had just given the greatest motivational speech of all time punctuated with his ascension.

But He had also told them very clearly not to leave Jerusalem.

So their immediate, primary task was to be submissive to waiting, to God's timing.

Scripture calls this the room so maybe it's the very same upper room where they met for the Passover.

Who is there?

Eleven of the twelve disciples.

Judas the son of James isn’t the same Judas that betrayed Christ.

What were they doing and who else was there?

Apparently, these women are so well known most of them don't even need to be named.

Likely, these women are Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and the one the Bible calls “the other Mary.”

Perhaps some of the Apostles wives are present, too.

Mary, Jesu’s mother, is mentioned but notice she isn't being worshiped.

She needs a Savior just like all other Christians.

Jesus’ mother isn't being prayed to, she's praying along with the others.

And Jesus' brothers are present.

Remember John 7:5 says "not even his brothers believed in him" so this is a big change for them as well.

Jesus had four brothers.

James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas (Matthew 13:55) and they probably came to faith as a result of James seeing the resurrected Jesus.

And now all of these people, together, are submissively waiting for God’s timing.

Now, notice what they’re doing while they wait.

They are continually united in prayer.

We can make some educated guesses what they were praying for.

Certainly they prayed for the coming of the Holy Spirit because Jesus had told them to before his death.

Remember, right after telling them a parable about a man who needed some bread from a neighbor in the middle of the night, Jesus said in Luke 11:13...

"If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?"

So they were likely asking for the Holy Spirit but it's good to remember that the coming of the Holy Spirit wasn't dependent upon prayer.

The purpose of their prayers, and ours, is to align our will with God's.

We don't control God when we pray.

God’s not our genie in a bottle.

We should ask for the Holy Spirit, but just like every time we pray, we primarily seek to submit ourselves to God's will.

Notice also in the verse that the emphasis is on continual prayer.

They didn't just make a hobby of prayer, it was their primary task while they waited.

It's interesting that just before Jesus said God loves to give His Spirit to those that ask, He said these words in Luke 11:8-9.

Turn there.

A man went to his neighbor in the middle of the night to borrow food for an unexpected guest and his neighbor wasn't too happy about being woken up.

Luke 11...

8 I tell you, even though he won’t get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his friend’s shameless boldness, he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you.

Seek, and you will find.

Knock, and the door will be opened to you

Persistent, continual prayer is what they do while they submissively wait for God to act, and lastly notice also that this submissive waiting and praying is done together.

They aren't waiting for the Holy Spirit in isolation.

They are now united in prayer.

This unity is amazing especially considering it hadn’t been long since these same disciples were all arguing about who would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Now there is a change in them.

Now they are submissive to God's will and willing to wait for His timing.

The Apostles Submit to Scripture

Not only do they submit to waiting, they submit to Scripture.

See, Peter, and the other disciples, now know more clearly than ever that the Scriptures are all about Jesus because for the last 40 days, Christ had been teaching them.

Jesus started on the road to Emmaus teaching a few disciples that the Old Testament Scriptures pointed to Him.

Then he appeared to all the disciples and told them…

...that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:44-45).

So we now come to verse 15...

Peter’s got something to say, which isn’t unusually for him.

But he doesn't start out with His vision for the church or his agenda.

He has something to say about the Scriptures...

Peter doesn’t wants to emphasize what the Holy Spirit wants to say through Scripture.

What matters is what “the Holy Spirit through the mouth of David foretold about Judas.”

This is a big change in attitude for Peter and the other disciples.

The disciples knew the content of Psalms but not its real importance.

They knew Psalm 41, which verse 16 refers to, but they thought it only applied to King David.

Psalm 41 says...

6 When one of them comes to visit, he speaks deceitfully; he stores up evil in his heart; he goes out and talks.

9 Even my friend in whom I trusted, one who ate my bread, has raised his heel against me.

They would’ve known the verse but now they are submissive to its meaning.

Now they understand what Jesus meant when prayed in John 17:12...

...I guarded them and not one of them is lost, except the son of destruction, so that the Scripture may be fulfilled.

Now Peter is becoming submissive to Scripture and the inspiration of Holy Spirit.

Since the Holy Spirit has spoken through the mouth of David, he doesn't have to guess at God’s agenda.

Peter continues in verse 17...

See, as upset as Peter probably is with Judas, he now understands that God has a purpose, a sharing in ministry even, for Judas.

God didn't make Judas betray Him but Judas was a part of God's plan.

Judas did exactly what he wanted to do but he also fulfilled prophecy.

Here's how it was fullfilled...

Judas’ betrayal is disgusting, as is all sin, but in this case it served God's good purposes and fulfilled prophecy as Peter goes on to say...

Peter has read this Psalm before, Psalm 109:8 before but never in the context of Jesus Christ.

Now he understands it's fulfilment and he knows what they must do next.