None of us would willingly invite persecution, would we? Our instinct towards self preservation is so ingrained in us that our natural tendency is to avoid anything that might cause us pain or discomfort. If you’re like me, you spend a lot of time praying that God would deliver you from whatever trial you might be encountering. But the fact is that God often uses persecution and trials for His plan.   What seems injurious to us, is often used by God to conform us in the image of Jesus Christ.

That is why James says in chapter 1 vs. 2, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance, and let endurance have its perfect result so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

It’s interesting to notice that at the very beginning of the church, when unparalleled growth was occurring, 10,000 to 20,000 people have possibly been saved and brought into the church, it’s ironic that this is also the time that God allowed persecution to come upon the church in order to complete what had been begun at Pentecost. Though God never tempts us with evil, He allowed evil men to bring persecution upon this fledgling body of believers and used it to produce maturity and a greater degree of usefulness and fruitfulness.

Peter in His address to the Sanhedrin makes it clear that persecution of Christ was used by God to work out His plan. Vs. 27, “For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur.”

In the same way, according to the sovereign plan of God, He uses trials and persecutions brought on by evil men to accomplish His purpose; to produce endurance, to prove our faith and to bring us to completeness in the image of Christ. So in this passage today we are going to look at 9 ways that persecution brings about God’s purposes. Nine ways that God uses persecution to perform His purposes. And as we look at these, it is my hope that it would cause us to look at persecution and trials differently, so that we might fulfill James command to endure these trials and consider it all joy, because we know that it will be used by God for His glory, and our good.

First, we should rejoice because persecution produces identification with Christ. Vs.13, “Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.” One of the benefits of persecution is that it draws the line doesn’t it? When Christianity is on easy street and it’s considered popular to be a “Christian”, then many times the lines get blurred between true Christianity that is modeled after Christ’s example and those who just give lip service. But when persecution comes, and suddenly it’s not popular to be a Christian, when professing Christ can get you fired from your job, or even fined or arrested for talking about Jesus, then the fair weather Christians fall away pretty quickly and those that are truly His disciples become evident.

To the Sanhedrin who had arrested Peter and John, it was apparent that these men had been with Jesus. They spoke with the boldness that He spoke. They acted in the power of the Holy Spirit even as Christ had. They showed discernment of the scriptures even as Christ had. And so it was apparent that they had been with Jesus. Hey, is that something that might be said about you, by people you are working with? Do your neighbors say that it’s apparent that you are someone who has Jesus? That should be our goal, to live lives that mirror the life of Jesus, so that people see the resemblance by the way we act, and the way we talk. And persecution has a way of drawing that out, or better yet, instilling Christ’s attributes in us. As Paul says in Phil. 3:10 “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.” That means that as we submit to suffering for the sake of Christ, and we die to ourselves, we come to know Him more fully, and we receive the power to live as He lived.

Secondly, persecution produces proof. Vs.14-16 “And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in reply. But when they had ordered them to leave the Council, they began to confer with one another, saying, “What shall we do with these men? For the fact that a noteworthy miracle has taken place through them is apparent to all who live in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.” What kind of proof does persecution produce? Persecution produces the proof of your faith.

Back in the reference we looked at in James 1:3, the word translated testing is from the Greek word “dokimion” which means proving. That is what testing through trials is referring to. God uses testing to prove your faith, so that you have a more sure faith that is able to endure even greater conflicts, do even greater deeds and win even greater battles in this spiritual warfare. A good illustration of that word is found in the story of David when he was about to go to battle with Goliath, and King Saul wanted David to wear the King’s personal armor. And remember, David tried it on and said, “I can’t wear this armor, for I haven’t proven it.” He meant that he had not tested it out in battle. He couldn’t rely on it. But God uses persecution to produce trials which produce a proven faith. Persecution provides evidence of our faith to an unbelieving world that is watching us and even more importantly, it produces a proven faith in us that enables us to live a more victorious life.

Thirdly, persecution produces allegiance to God not men. Vs.18-20 “And when they had summoned them, they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

There really is no such thing as popular Christianity. The gospel by it’s nature offensive to man’s desire for self determination. Peter, in 1 Peter 2:8 says that Jesus as the cornerstone is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. And Jesus said in Matt. 21:44 “And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.” The gospel is designed to divide the sheep from the goats, light from darkness, truth from error. It is designed to separate righteousness from sin. And God uses persecution to produce that separation.

Today in an age of seeker friendly churches, preachers have tried to take out anything from Christianity that might be offensive in their efforts to woo people into church. But in so doing, the have prostituted the gospel for the sake of gain. And the real danger is that hell is richer for it, as people are lulled into a false security that they are in Christ, when all they have done is align themselves with manmade religion.

But when persecution comes, it suddenly costs something to follow Christ. And then we often find ourselves having to choose between pleasing men or pleasing God. And there must be only one real choice for the child of God. We must give heed to God rather than men, no matter what it cost us.

And that segues nicely into the next principle, persecution produces preaching, not pandering. At the end of vs.20 we read that Peter says, “we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.” John would say later in his epistle, 1John 1:1 “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life– and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us– what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.”

Listen, there is no hope in preaching a half truth. There is no hope in preaching a social gospel. Jesus said in John 8:31, ““If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” The word of God is truth, and only in that truth are we made free. When we water it down, when we deduct things that are onerous for fear of offending someone, then we risk leaving them still dead in their sins. If they are to have true fellowship with the Father, then they must accept the Word of Christ as faithfully delivered by the apostles. We dare not offer a dying world a nice tasting placebo which has no power to save. They need to know the truth of the gospel in order to deliver them from death.

Fifth, persecution produces praise. Vs.23-24 “When they had been released, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, “O Lord, it is You who MADE THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH AND THE SEA, AND ALL THAT IS IN THEM…” It seems like an oxymoron to say that persecution produces praise, doesn’t it? How does persecution produce praise? Well, for one it reminds us that God is sovereign over all. He is the creator, and all things have their life and being in Him. And so there is nothing that happens that is outside of His provenance. God is sovereign.  He is able to cause all things to work together for good to those that love God and are called according to His purpose. (Rom. 8:28)

A good illustration of that was when Joseph praised God even when his brothers meant him harm. He said, “You meant it for evil, but God used it for good.” We can praise God that He counts us worthy to suffer for His name sake. And in Act 16, after Paul and Silas were thrown in the stocks in jail they began to sing songs of praise and God caused an earthquake. When we suffer for Christ, it produces praise to Christ that isn’t merely lip service. Praise in the midst of suffering pleases the heart of God.

Sixthly, persecution produces prayer. Peter’s prayer is continued in vs. 29-31, “And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence, while You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.”

In James 5:16, the KJV says, “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” Persecution produces fervent prayer and righteous men, which produces results. God hears and answers that kind of prayer.

Augustine said, “Pray as if everything depends upon God, and work as though everything depended on you.” Sometimes the work that is demanded is just laboring in prayer. Sometimes it is laborious to pray. And yet perhaps that is when it is most effective. R.A. Torrey said, “Pray for great things, expect great things, work for great things, but above all, pray.”   Nothing lies beyond the reach of prayer except that which lies outside the will of God. Pray when it hurts, and pray until it hurts. Pray until you see results.

Number seven, persecution produces power from God. Vs. 31, “And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.” I can’t help but wonder why the place started shaking when they prayed. But I have to imagine that it was shaken because the forces of darkness were shaken. Eph. 6:12 says, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” God has given us two weapons to use against these spiritual strongholds; the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and prayer. When these righteous, persecuted Christians fervently prayed, I believe that God caused the walls of those strongholds to fall down, just as the walls of Jericho fell down. And that produced a shaking that they could actually feel.

Oh, Christians! How I want us to pray like that. I want to see us pray so that God cracks the sky and rumbles forth in power and might to put the enemies of the church to flight, to deliver loved ones from sin, and to bring a spirit of revival upon the church. Notice that when they prayed, God answered with a shaking, but also with power. That is what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit, is it not? It is the power to be what God has called us to be. The Holy Spirit provides the power to do what God wants us to do. And what God wanted them to do, and what He wants us to do, is to speak the Word of God with boldness. Persecution produces power, the power to boldly proclaim Jesus Christ and His gospel in spite of opposition or what the culture considers politically correct.

Eighth, persecution produces unity. It produces unity in the church. Vs. 32 “And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them.” Unity is so important in the life of a Christian. But please understand that unity doesn’t overrule truth of doctrine, but it is the result of truth of doctrine. We never should sacrifice doctrinal purity for the sake of unity. But God often uses persecution to bring differing factions together in unity, because persecution has a way of making the plain things the main things. It has a way of making what is trivial, even more apparently so, to the extent that we forsake the trivial. In other words, some things are worth dying for, and some are not. Some things are worth dividing over, and some are not.

In Jesus’ great prayer in the upper room on the night He was betrayed, He prayed for unity. And He prayed that that unity was founded in the truth. Listen to part of that prayer from John 17:16-21. “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.”   Our unity is founded first and foremost on unity in the truth, with the teaching of Christ. As we are united in that, then we will be united together in the church.

That is the secret to unity in marriage as well. Marriage unity is not by finding points of compatibility with one another. Marriage unity starts by each person becoming reconciled to God first, and when that is accomplished, then that will automatically result in unity to one another.

Lastly, persecution produces charity. Vs.34 “For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales and lay them at the apostles’ feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need.” I deliberately use the old fashioned word King James word “charity” to describe Christian love. Christian love is not just an emotional response. It’s not just a feeling. Those things might or might not be present, depending on the circumstances. But true Christian charity is the hallmark of the true church and it is illustrated in sacrifice. Jesus said, they will know you are my disciples because of the love you have for one another.

And how did Jesus define that love? He said we are to love one another in the same way that He loved us. And how did Jesus express His love for us? He laid down His life for us. Christian love is sacrificial love. That is what Christian charity is; sacrificial love for one another. And that is what this first church exemplified. There was not a needy person among them. That is an amazing statement. There were upwards of 20,000 people in this church. And yet there was not a needy person among them because of the selfless, sacrificial giving nature of this church.

Persecution had caused many people to not have homes to go back to once they were saved. Many people did not have jobs anymore once they were saved. But what is amazing is that in this dynamic, Holy Spirit filled church, there was such a sacrificial spirit among them that they were even selling off their property, land and houses and bringing in the proceeds to the church. This isn’t tithing folks. This is cheerful, willing hearts that want to abundantly contribute to the kingdom of God and they understand that is to happen through the church. They aren’t trying to see how little they can give, but they are selling stuff to be able to give even beyond their means.

Listen, the Lord loves a cheerful giver. He doesn’t hold us under the Old Testament law of tithing in the New Covenant. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t give because we are under grace. We should give more because we have been given more. Your checkbook is a testament to your faith in Christ. Did you know that? I don’t care to know what your checkbook reveals. But believe me, God knows. God sees the heart, and He sees the secret things. And one day, the God who sees the secrets of men’s hearts will reward the secrets of men’s hearts.

Well, it’s amazing isn’t it, how God uses persecution to bring about His purposes in His people. I don’t know what kind of trials that you may be going through. But I can assure you of this – if you are living godly, then there will be some form of persecution, some form of trial in your life. Jesus said, In this world you will have tribulation. But remember the words of Peter, who was no stranger to persecution, and who would one day be martyred for his faith. 1Peter 4:12-19 “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler; but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name. For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? AND IF IT IS WITH DIFFICULTY THAT THE RIGHTEOUS IS SAVED, WHAT WILL BECOME OF THE GODLESS MAN AND THE SINNER? Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.”

I don’t know what kind of trials or persecution you may be going through, or what the future holds. But let me close by reminding you of the words of the ancient hymn, “How Firm a Foundation,” so when persecutions come, we may know that it is all in the plan and purposes of God. And He says to us;

“Fear not, I am with thee, oh, be not dismayed,

For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;

I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,

Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.

“When through the deep waters I call thee to go,

The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow;

For I will be with thee thy troubles to bless

And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

“When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,

My grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply.

The flames shall not hurt thee; I only design

Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

Today, all over the country, in fact, all over the world, religious people are attempting to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. There are all kinds of religious rituals and ceremonies being conducted by millions and millions of people in celebration of Easter. But the question I would raise today, is what is the significance of the resurrection for us today, besides the obvious historical nature of it? What is the effect of this day of remembrance? I’m afraid that the resurrection represents just a holiday to most people, a holiday that has no power beyond simply remembering an event that happened 2000 years ago in the life of Christ. To merely recount the familiar historical story of the empty tomb is to miss the significance of the power of the resurrection. It is to miss the present day application of the power of the resurrection. And if we are not careful to consider the present significance of the resurrection rather than just revisit the account of Jesus’ resurrection then we are in danger of possibly missing the whole point of the resurrection. To simply retell the same story year after year, Easter service after Easter service, without applying the truth of it, the purpose of it, is to only add condemnation to ourselves for hearing the truth, but in effect rejecting the purpose of the resurrection, which is to give new resurrection life to those who believe in Christ.

In other words, the power of the resurrection is not just limited to the fact that Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to heaven. The power of the resurrection is the promise of new life for all that believe in Christ and die to their sins. Jesus promised us abundant life. Eternal life. The resurrection is the power over the fear of death. It provides the certainty that the sting of death is taken away. It provides the certain hope that because He lives, we will live. That because He was raised from the dead, we will be raised from the dead. But the resurrection is not just hope for after we die, but it also produces hope for new life now. As we die to sin, we are raised to new life. Rom. 8:11 “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” And in “Rom. 6:4 we read, “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”

Now that is the message that Peter and John were preaching in chapter 3. They were proclaiming the startling news that Jesus Christ, whom the Jews had put to death just a few weeks earlier, was actually alive, and the power through His name was available to all who believed to save them from their sins. It was the power of that resurrected Savior that was present at that time to bring about the healing of the lame man who sat in his suffering at the gate Beautiful for 40 years. This is the message of Peter and John. Look at vs. 2, “they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.” That was their message. That the Jews had put Jesus to death, but God had raised Him from the dead. He was alive, and in His power this man was made well. And that same miracle power was available for new life for everyone that repented and believed in Him. And it was available for all who believed in a risen, living, saving Christ who was seated in heaven at the right hand of the Father.

Now that message should have been welcome news to the world, especially to the Jews. And it was good news to some. That is what the word “gospel” means, the good news. On the day of Pentecost 3000 repented and were saved by faith in Christ, by believing that He was risen and living and seated at the right hand of the Father, making intercession for us.   But not everyone believed. And as we begin this chapter, we see the first stirrings of animosity towards the new church by the established religious leaders of the day, the priests, and the Sadducees; the religious ruling party of the Jews.

So in this chapter we are going to look at five proofs of the resurrection. Five ways in which the power of the resurrection is illustrated. First, we see that the power of the resurrection provoked animosity towards the church. Jesus said don’t be surprised if they hate you, because they hated Me first. So that is the first point presented in this chapter; the power of the resurrection provokes animosity. It is amazing that the gospel is frowned upon by modern society, isn’t it? It’s amazing that something that delivers people from death, delivers people from addictions, from strife, from sin, that teaches it’s converts to do good instead of evil, is considered by many people in our society today to be something to be suppressed and shut down. And the first church experienced this to an even greater degree than we see happening today, though we are fast approaching the time when Christians will be considered public enemy number one. Already in many other parts of the world, Christians are losing their lives because of their faith in Christ. And we see this reported almost every day in the news.

Peter and John were arrested by the temple guard, directly after healing this lame man. A crowd had gathered when they witnessed this man that was once lame now jump and leap around the temple praising God for being healed. And Peter used that opportunity to tell the multitude that it was not due to some power that he or John had that made him well, but it was the power of the resurrected, living Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, who had made him well.

And as they were speaking, the temple officials arrested them and put them in jail. I sometimes wonder how long I will have the freedom to preach the gospel from the beach as we have done for 8 years now. The cultural climate towards the gospel is getting more and more antagonistic all the time. One day, I fully expect the town officials to come out there and shut me down, perhaps even put me in jail. Though I hope it won’t come to that. More than likely they will tell me I have to cease and desist and threaten to fine me if I do not stop.

The world doesn’t care if you worship a dead prophet. The world doesn’t care if you worship a good man, a good teacher. But the world hates a person who proclaims Jesus was raised from the dead, because that speaks of a living God, a powerful God, a God that reigns and demands out obeisance. And man doesn’t want to be ruled, but to maintain the right of self determination over his destiny, over his will, and rebels at bowing his knee. So therefore there is animosity towards the power of the resurrection. Ironically though, the church is refined and strengthened by persecution. We grow more under duress than we do in times of ease. Pruning, whether in the church body or in our individual lives, produces more fruit, not less.

Secondly, the power of the resurrection produces boldness. The power of the resurrection emboldened Peter and John to preach the gospel, to confront the Sanhedrin and condemn them, even though just a few weeks before Peter had denied and abandoned Christ at His trial. How did it embolden them? It wasn’t because they had found some sort of comfort in performing elaborate rituals signifying the resurrection. It wasn’t because they had established a holiday commemorating the resurrection. It was because of the confidence of having seen Christ’s once crucified, dead body raised up in newness of life, in a glorified body that was not subject to death, and they had seen the same body of Christ ascend into heaven. That reality had changed their lives. It had changed their perception of what harm could come to them. Whereas once they had run away at the thought of persecution, now they had boldness to proclaim Christ because they knew that same resurrection power of Christ was in them.

Ironically, it was the same court, the same high priests that had tried Jesus and condemned Him to death that was now the very court that they stood in front of. The same court that caused Peter to deny Jesus three times in order to avoid being caught up in His crucifixion, the same court that John had ran from, was now the very same court they found themselves examined in. But now they are filled with boldness where they once were filled with fear. They knew that as Christ had overcome suffering and death, so that same promise was for them as well. They need not fear what man can do.   As Jesus said in Luke 12:4-5 “I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!”

So even as the resurrection gave boldness to the apostles, so those of us that have faith in the risen Savior can also claim that same boldness, knowing that we need not fear those that can kill the body, because God has given us eternal life.

Thirdly, the power of the resurrection provides the filling of the Holy Spirit. Peter and John were now bold where once they were timid, because now they were filled with the Holy Spirit. And they were filled with the Holy Spirit because of the resurrection. Jesus rose from the dead, and ascended to heaven, that He might send to us the Comforter, the Helper, which is the Spirit of God indwelling human flesh. Jesus said in John 16:7 “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.”

And that is exactly what we see happening here. Peter and John are filled with the Holy Spirit as the text says in vs. 8, so that they are able to answer the high priests and the Sanhedrin, which was the Jewish equivalent of the Supreme Court. This is the direct fulfillment of the promise Jesus made to His apostles in Luke 12:11-12 “When they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”

This begs the question, by the way, “what is the filling of the Holy Spirit?” The answer to that question is demonstrated right here in this passage. It is the power to proclaim the gospel, it is the word of God which is given to you to minister the gospel, it is the boldness to act as God directs you to act, it is the power to do what God wants you to do. That is what it means to be filled. It is illustrated by the wind which fills the sails of a ship, empowering it to move under the direction of the captain.

Please understand something. The Holy Spirit is a person. He is the Spirit of Christ. He dwells in the hearts of those who have been saved. At salvation, you receive all of Him. He cannot be divided, He is a person. He indwells the saints with His presence. So there is no way to get more of the Holy Spirit. So how are we then filled with the Holy Spirit? There is only one way, and that is for there to be less of the flesh. The flesh is in competition with the Spirit. So we put to death the flesh to be filled with the Spirit. You abandon all trust in yourself. You humble yourself, let go of the steering wheel, and call upon God to direct you and help you. It’s about letting go of your wisdom, of your desires, of your passions, of your ambitions, and leaning full on the wisdom and guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit to sustain you and empower you. The Spirit will give you the power to do what God commands you to do. That is what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Peter being filled with the Holy Spirit takes this examination, this trial, and considers it an opportunity to preach the gospel to the very tribunal that put to death His Savior just weeks before. And He presents the gospel without equivocation. In answer to their question of in what power or name have they done this miracle of healing the lame man, Peter answers them in such a way as to delegitimize their interrogation by reminding them that what they had done was a benefit to a sick man. The Council might not have liked the message, but they could not deny the good result of the miracle. A lame man had been made well. Now that was a statement of genius. Peter’s asking, are we on trial for making a sick man well? In other words, is it a crime to do good? Peter is establishing that they have no guilt in this matter. They have done good to a sick man, which is what the law required, by the way.

So then Peter, in the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, turns the tables on the Council. Though we are on trial for doing good to a sick man, you on the other hand, put on trial a good man and committed a terrible crime. He said, you crucified Jesus Christ the Nazarene an innocent man. Pilate said three times during the trial of Jesus that he found no fault in this man. The charges they brought against Jesus had been trumped up. But this righteous man, this good man, they had crucified because they did not want Him to rule over them. They were the rulers of the religion of the Jews and they were willing to commit murder in order to preserve their power. All the family of the high priest were there that day. All of the governing council known as the Sanhedrin was there at this trial just as they had been at Jesus’ trial. And Peter accuses them of murdering an innocent man. But Peter proclaims Him even more than a man, he declares Him the Messiah, the Christ. Christ is the Greek word for Messiah. So when Peter calls Him Jesus Christ of Nazareth, he is nailing down the fact that Jesus was the Messiah, and that it was confirmed by God through the resurrection.   See, that is another proof of the resurrection, that God would not allow His Holy One to see decay in the grave, because He was holy. He was righteous, and He had no guilt.

The Council though Peter rightly condemns as guilty. This is a pattern of Peter and the Apostle’s preaching. They preach guilt first, then grace. And the unbelievable thing is that Peter offers grace to these guilty murderers of Christ. I think if I were Peter that day I would have seen if the power of the Holy Spirit was present for me to call down fire from heaven. But as Peter would eventually write in his second epistle, chapter 3:9 “The Lord…. is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” Even towards these hard hearted, self righteous murderers of the Son of God Himself, there is the opportunity for repentance. God offers grace even to the most vile sinner, even to these murderers of Christ.

And that leads us to the fourth power of the resurrection, which is it provides salvation. Peter says in vs. 12, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven, given among men, by which we must be saved.” Salvation is only possible by faith in the living Christ whom God raised from the dead, as a testament to the efficacy of His atonement. Only Jesus satisfied God’s requirement. Listen, the offer of salvation is as wide as whosoever will may come. (Rev. 22:17) But also the offer of salvation is so narrow that entrance is only by one name. Only by Jesus Christ is salvation possible.

That is what Jesus died on the cross for, to save sinners. To seek and to save those that are lost. The problem was that the Council and the High Priest did not consider themselves sinners. They considered themselves as belonging to the kingdom of God by right of their birth. They considered themselves as righteous by virtue of their good deeds, by keeping the law. They considered themselves worthy of the kingdom by their positions as priests. And as such they were truly lost, because they failed to see the need of their salvation.

I wonder how many here today are outside of the kingdom of heaven because they have never confessed that they were sinners, that they were lost? The Bible says that all have sinned and fallen short of the kingdom of God. That there is none righteous, no not one. That all of our righteousness is as filthy rags before God. Coming to church can’t save you. Being born into a so called Christian home cannot save you. Being sprinkled or baptized will not save you. Trying to turn over a new leaf will not save you. There is only one way that you can be saved. And that is realizing you are a sinner, repenting of it, and trusting in the salvation offered through Jesus Christ, the Holy and Righteous Son of God who gave His life as a substitute on the cross for our sins. There is salvation in nothing else, in no one else.

And listen, don’t miss that emphasis there in Peter’s statement. “By which you must be saved…” You must be saved. Or you will die in your sins and face eternal death. The wages of sin is death. You cannot escape hell but by one means, that is through Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, there is a great illustration of salvation that is presented in the plague of poisonous vipers that came upon the children of Israel who had rebelled against God so they were bitten and about to die. And God instructed Moses to raise a brass serpent upon a pole and said that if any would look upon that serpent they would be saved from death. All of the people that were bitten were under the penalty of death, they were in the process of dying. But for those that looked up at the serpent on the pole, God forgave them and healed them so that they lived.

That’s a picture of salvation. Jesus was lifted up on a pole, a cross, and everyone that has been bitten with the sting of death need only to look upon that cross and be saved. We all are under the condemnation of death, because we all are sinners. But Jesus has died for us, so that we might be made alive in Him, if we will just turn from our sins and have faith in Christ.

Those hard hearted high priests and council members as far as we know never accepted Jesus as the cornerstone of their salvation. They rejected Him. And so we can only imagine that the prophecy of Jesus was fulfilled to them, for rejecting the Son of God. Jesus had prophesied in Matt. 21:42-44 “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone; THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES’ Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it. And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”

But there was one man there that day who was changed by the power of the resurrection. And that was the lame man. He was leaping, jumping, praising God for the miracle He had done in his life. And this man illustrates the final power of the resurrection, that the resurrection produces transformation. Because Jesus is alive, we can have life and have it more abundantly. That was the point of this lame man’s healing, to illustrate the living power of Christ to transform the lame to one that could walk. To give life to the dead. To transfer righteousness to those that were sinners. That lame man welcomed the news that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, that we might have life in His name. That we that were sick unto death might be made well.

The Sanhedrin did not want to recognize that they were sick. That they were dying in their sins just as surely as their forefathers had died from the snake bites in the wilderness. But this poor lame man knew well his dreadful condition, which he had from his mother’s womb. We too are sick from our mother’s womb. David said in Psalm 51:5 “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.” But as the power of the risen Christ was able to make the lame man whole, to transform him from lame to walking, from dead in his sins, to new life in Christ, so that same resurrection power is available for anyone today, that recognizes that they are lame, unable to walk in righteousness. If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

And then transformed, we are able to be a testimony to others. This man that was lame and made whole was the catalyst that caused 5000 men to be saved at the preaching of Peter which followed his healing.  A whole multitude saw the transformation of this lame man and gave God the glory, and turned to Him by faith in Christ. Folks, that is the power of a transformed life. I don’t want to take anything away from witnessing in foreign mission fields or outreaches, there is a place for that. But I would submit to you that there is no testimony like the testimony that you can have to your own neighbors, your own family, those that see you every day on the street or at work. That was the nature of this man’s effectiveness. He had been begging by that gate for 40 years. Thousands of people had seen him sitting there day after day with misshapen, shriveled legs, having to be carried to the gate and picked up in the evenings. He was an object of pity, perhaps even loathing by some. And now by the power of Christ he was well, he was leaping, running, walking, praising God.

Listen, the power of the resurrection is not just about celebrating the resurrection of Jesus at Easter, the power of the resurrection is lived out as a testimony every day by those that have been saved. I would ask you today, have you been saved? Has your life been transformed by the saving power of Jesus Christ to give you new life? Have you died to your sins, to be raised in the newness of life in Christ? Is that your testimony? Can your neighbors, your family, your coworkers attest to the miracle of your transformation? Does that witness cause others to want what you have? If not, then I would suggest you consider your salvation. As Paul said in 2Cor. 13:5 “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you–unless indeed you fail the test?”

I trust that you do not fail the test. I hope that no one leaves here today rejecting the Savior who gave His life so that you might know the power of His resurrection. So that you might have life and have it more abundantly. So that you might walk in newness of life. So that you might have the power over sin. So that you might be made well. So that we might be bold to proclaim the gospel. So that we might be filled with the Holy Spirit. So that we might overcome adversity. So that we might live transformed lives in our homes and communities in order to spread the good news of the gospel.

Last week I spoke of the Great Awakening which transformed thousands of lives across this country when America was in it’s infancy, around the mid 1700’s. And a man came up to me after the service last week and told me of a poem that was written by one of the men who was touched by that great revival – a contemporary of the great preacher George Whitfield. This man named Lawrence Trimble wrote a poem called Awaken which describes the power of a transformed life.

One man awake, Awakens another. The second awakens His next-door brother.  The three awake can rouse a town By turning The whole place Upside down.

The many awake Can make such a fuss  It finally awakens  The rest of us.  One man up, With dawn in his eyes, Surely then Multiplies.

Because of the power of the resurrection, Peter and John were accused of turning the world upside down. Let us go and do the same.

Today I want to talk to you in a different manner than in the way I normally preach. As you know, I usually exegete a passage, going verse by verse. But today I want to share some things that have been on my mind lately, ideas which are promoted by this passage, but not necessarily found through the exposition of each verse.

This week I have found my soul distressed by several different circumstances that I have heard about, that I might term “failures of the faith.” Not that the true faith of God can fail. God cannot fail, and the purposes of God cannot fail. He is Sovereign, He is over all, and all things exist through and for Him. He existed before the world began, and will endure forever. His truth endures forever. God cannot fail.

But human beings do fail. Just this week I have been reminded or in some cases confronted with several people who were once part of our fellowship who have fallen, or are in the process of falling away. It is disheartening, even heartbreaking to see these people fall away. I heard lately that one mainstream denomination which has about 11,000 churches recently published a report that claimed over 294,000 professions of faith in one year. But in another report some time later, they could only account for 14,000 of them in fellowship. According to research done by an evangelist named Ray Comfort who reported on the previous statistics of that denomination, 80 to 90 percent of new conversions end up falling away from Christ.

As a pastor, I am particularly broken hearted over people who once professed a living faith in God, who we invested so much in, and who now have turned away from the Lord. Some of them may not see themselves that way, but their lifestyle reveals that they are no longer following Christ. Whether they are truly saved or not is not my purview to know for certain, but it is a dangerous thing to turn away from God and follow after the lusts of your heart, and trust in your own wisdom, contrary to the Word of God.

I feel I am constantly in this battle for the hearts and minds of the people who come under my preaching. I rightly feel a certain degree of responsibility for the outcome of their souls. So I preach my heart out in an effort to win them to the Lord. But for the most part, it seems that far too many people are either unmoved by the preaching of the Word, or at least once they leave the church service there seems to be little thought as to the application of the doctrines which they have been taught.

And so as I struggle to understand this inclination to fall away from the truth, and eventually from the faith, I have searched the scriptures to try to find the answer to the callousness and hardness of people’s hearts. Additionally I have researched and studied pastors and preachers from past generations to see if there is something missing from church doctrine today which is accelerating this decline into apostasy.

And what I have found is that the need of the current church culture today is highlighted in this message we are looking at by Peter in Acts 3. It is revealed in studying the messages of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ Himself. And research shows that it is the hallmark of every notable Bible preacher of history, as well as the keynote of all true revivals in history. That is, in order to make their salvation sure, there is a fundamental need to bring people face to face with a Holy God, convicted of the vileness of their sin, and condemned by the judgment that The Righteous Judge will justly bring upon all unrighteousness. They need to understand that God hates sin, and that the wrath of God will be poured out on all sin. Then based on that reality, to preach repentance of their sins that they might be saved.

Unfortunately, that is rarely the message of the church today. The problem with modern Christianity is that there is an effort on the part of the church to make the gospel appealing by removing things from the message which people might find offensive, like God’s law, His righteousness and the judgment to come. And in it’s place another message is substituted; that God loves you, and if you choose Christianity it will produce joy, happiness, peace, contentment, and blessing in your life. The only thing you have to do to receive those things, according to the new gospel message, is believe in God. If you believe, then you receive grace – the gift of God which produces joy, happiness, peace, contentment and blessings. Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?

The problem is that is not the gospel. That’s not the gospel message that Peter preached in either his first message in chapter 2, nor his second message in chapter 3. But the result of Peter’s first message was that 3000 people were saved. That’s the Holy Spirit’s count, by the way. Those are real conversions. Then at the conclusion of Peter’s message in chapter 3 there is an additional 5000 people that are saved. Again by the Holy Spirit’s count 5000 real conversions, not just professions of faith that seem to fade away after a year or so.

So what is the difference between Peter’s messages in Acts 2&3 and the message being preached in many churches today? The difference is Peter preached guilt before he preached grace. Peter preached that the judgment of God was coming. He impressed upon them their guilt for crucifying the Son of God. He impressed upon them the vileness of their sin, their hopeless condition, and the judgment that they rightly deserved.   Peter preached virtually the same message twice in chap. 2 and 3.

And then Peter preached repentance. Once their sinful condition was well established, once they knew that such sinfulness rightly demanded the punishment of death, then he preached the need for repentance. And after they had repented they received grace which brought about transformed lives. In Acts 2:38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” And in the next sermon, in Acts 3:19 Peter says, “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.”

So I suggest to you that true repentance is the ingredient that is missing in many of today’s professions of faith. Far too often today the supplicant is attracted to the message of “life enhancement” on the basis of merely believing in God, and when they afterwards in due time experience some of the hardships and trials that Jesus said is part of this life and to be expected in this life, then they fall away because their reality does not match what they were led to expect.

But although repentance is necessary for salvation, true repentance is contingent on a couple of essential things. For one, true repentance is contingent upon a true theology of God. These people that were saved under the preaching of Peter had more than just a superficial belief in God. We use the word “believers” today to describe converts and yet unfortunately, many don’t really believe in the God of the Bible. They believe in a god of their own imaginations. They believe in a god that is only slightly bigger than they are. And so consequently they have a faulty theology.

By the way, speaking of believing in God. I understand that this Wednesday is National Atheist’s Day. Wednesday is April 1^st, April Fools Day. Psalm 14:1 says, “The fool has said in his heart there is no God.” So be sure to wish all your atheist’s friends happy April Fool’s Day this Wednesday.

But as we examine our text, we see that these men that heard Peter speak were devout men and women. In other words, they believed in the true God. They worshipped the God of the Bible. And yet they were unsaved. Everyone (with the exception of the aforementioned fools) believes in God to some extent or another. The Bible says that even the devils believe in God and tremble. So merely believing in God doesn’t save you. Worship does not save you. The Muslim’s believe in God, yet they are not saved. Because saving faith in God means that we believe that Jesus is the very representation of God in human flesh. Hebrews. 1:3 says, “[Jesus] is the radiance of [God’s] glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

John 1 says “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made which was made.” Jesus Himself told Philip in John 14, “that if you have seen Me you have seen the Father.” And Col. 1:15 says “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”

The fact of who is Jesus is the cornerstone of salvation. The Jews Peter was preaching to believed in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as Peter proclaimed in 3:13. This crowd even believed in the historical Jesus. They knew He had lived in Palestine until His crucifixion just a couple of months earlier. They had no doubt He was a real human being. Yet they were not saved because they failed to recognize that He was the Son of God. They did not recognize Him as the Messiah, and so they crucified the very God of Heaven.

Listen, it is critical to your salvation that you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, otherwise you cannot be saved. You cannot merely believe in a historical Jesus. You cannot simply believe in some sort of greater force in the universe. You must believe that Jesus was a man who lived 2000 years ago, who was born of the Spirit of God, who was fully God and fully man in one being.

Look at the degree to which Peter describes Jesus in order to teach this essential principle. First of all Peter calls Him the Servant in vs. 13. That is a direct reference to Isaiah 53, the famous prophetic chapter concerning the Messiah that would have been well known to any God fearing Jew. It is the quintessential teaching of the Messiah that foretells His suffering and atonement for the sake of the world. Then in vs. 14 he calls Jesus the Holy and Righteous One. They knew only God was holy. And Jesus Himself said that no one is good except God alone. So therefore, Jesus is God. And then in vs. 15 Peter calls Him the Prince of Life. It could also be translated the Author of life. John 1: 3-4 again, “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.” So Peter essentially calls Jesus the Creator. Then in vs. 16 Peter states His name as Jesus, which means Jehovah is salvation. Peter says it is by faith in that name that this man was healed and is in perfect health.

So the first contingency is the proper theology that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. The second contingency is a proper recognition of man’s sinfulness. You cannot have true repentance unless you first have a proper understanding of your standing in the eyes of God as a sinner. This is born out by the Scriptures starting in Genesis. In response to Adam and Eve’s sin, God said they would surely die, and He cast them out of the Garden of Eden, and furthermore, He removed them from His presence. God cannot tolerate sin. He cannot have fellowship with sin. God’s judgment against sin was revealed again in the flood when He destroyed all flesh, men and animals except those on the ark, by a world wide flood. He revealed His judgment against sin again in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah because of their extreme sinfulness by raining down fire and brimstone from heaven, destroying every living thing in those cities. All of these examples illustrate God’s wrath against sin.

Then in Exodus God gave the Law to establish His standard of righteousness, and detail what constitutes sin and it’s punishment. In Rom. 3:19 Paul says, “Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.” In other words, under the Law every one is guilty, and the penalty for that sin is death. Gal. 3:24 says, “Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.” The Law teaches us that we are sinners, guilty before God, without hope. We cannot keep it, we cannot achieve righteousness through it because we fail to keep it all perfectly.

“But wait a minute Roy! We are not under the Old Covenant! We’re under grace.” I would just ask you a question, are we under Christ? Is not the gospel the gospel of Christ? I would suggest that the gospel of Christ is founded upon the Law of Moses, even as Peter says that Moses is a type of Christ in vs. 22. “Moses said, ‘THE LORD GOD WILL RAISE UP FOR YOU A PROPHET LIKE ME FROM YOUR BRETHREN; TO HIM YOU SHALL GIVE HEED to everything He says to you. And it will be that every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.”

To illustrate that principle, look if you will to Matthew 5. Jesus said, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees (who prided themselves on keeping the law) you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Then in vs. 21 Jesus begins to explain the Law. But He doesn’t explain it away, He expands it. He starts with “you shall not murder.” And Jesus says in vs. 22 “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.” So Jesus is saying that for just calling someone a fool you deserve to be thrown into hell.

Then Jesus expounds the law regarding the sin of adultery. In vs. 28 he says, “but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Therefore Jesus said in vs. 29, ““If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.” So Jesus says, just looking at a woman in lust is deserving of hell fire.

Then Jesus deals with the law concerning divorce. And He says in vs. 32, “that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the reason of chastity, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.” Now Jesus is really upsetting everyone; He says that divorce is equal to adultery, which is worthy of hell. Jesus pretty much sentences 99.9% of the church to hell and He has only covered 3 laws. There are still 610 more to go.

Then Jesus talks about swearing falsely and making false statements. And He says in vs. 37, “let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil.” By extension, that which is evil deserves hell. And in vs. 38 Jesus explains the law of an eye for an eye, so He says in vs. 39, “But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.”

Then starting in vs. 43 Jesus wraps up His discourse on our obligation to the Law: “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Turns out Jesus’ interpretation of the Law condemns us even more than the Law of Moses does.

Listen, the purpose of the Law is to show us God’s standard of righteousness, and our level of sinfulness. That there is a great chasm between the righteousness of God and us that no one can leap over. That we are hopeless before the law, condemned by our sin, and under the penalty of death. That as Romans 3:10 says, “there is none righteous, no not one.” That every mouth may be stopped. That it would render us all without a defense. That we might see our helpless, hopeless situation without the grace of Christ. That we might know that we need a Savior, and be willing to give everything to gain Christ.

The great evangelist D. L. Moody said, “Ask Paul why [the Law] was given. Here is his answer, ‘That every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God’ The Law stops every man’s mouth. I can always tell a man who is near the kingdom of God; his mouth is stopped. This, then, is why God gives us the Law—to show us ourselves in our true colors.”

The Prince of Preachers Charles Spurgeon said, “Lower the Law and you dim the light by which man perceives his guilt; this is a very serious loss to the sinner rather than a gain; for it lessens the likelihood of his conviction and conversion. I say you have deprived the gospel of its ablest auxiliary [its most powerful weapon] when you have set aside the Law. You have taken away from it the schoolmaster that is to bring men to Christ . . . They will never accept grace till they tremble before a just and holy Law. Therefore the Law serves a most necessary purpose, and it must not be removed from its place.”

And the late theologian Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones is quoted as saying; “A gospel which merely says, ‘Come to Jesus,’ and offers Him as a friend, and offers a marvelous new life, without convincing of sin, is not New Testament evangelism. (The essence of evangelism is to start by preaching the Law; and it is because the Law has not been preached that we have had so much superficial evangelism.) True evangelism… must always start by preaching the law.” He goes on to say, “The trouble with people who are not seeking for a Savior, and for salvation, is that they do not understand the nature of sin. It is the peculiar function of the Law to bring such an understanding to a man’s mind and conscience. That is why great evangelical preachers 300 years ago in the time of the puritans, and 200 years ago in the time of Whitefield and others, always engaged in what they called a preliminary law work.”

Peter presented the law to those Jews that day. They were guilty of failing to honor the Lord their God. They had crucified the Lord of Creation. They were guilty of murder. They were guilty of false witness. So Peter’s sermon condemns them even as the Holy Spirit was convicting them of their sin. And yet in the grace of God Peter offers to them the gospel. It is called the gospel because it is good news. Just as it is good news to a condemned man waiting for the morning gas chamber to hear the officer of the prison say that the Governor has commuted his sentence. He has been pardoned. He has been freed not only from the condemnation of death but given a new life. That is the gospel. We that are vile sinners, without hope, lost, rightly condemned to hell have been offered pardon, our penalty paid by the death of Jesus Christ.

What is Peter’s remedy that he offers these poor hopeless sinners that crucified the King of Kings? Vs.19-21 “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.”

What does it mean to repent? Well, it doesn’t just mean you are sorry for the mess you find yourself in. It doesn’t just mean that you are sorry that you got caught. It means looking at the perfect law of God and mourning over your sinful condition. It means understanding that you are without hope, and without excuse. It is seeing yourself in the light of God’s righteousness and holiness and knowing that you are a sinner and only by the grace of God are you given a chance to repent. It means to forsake your sins, to turn from your sins, to mourn over your sin, and to turn instead to righteousness.

Oh, folks, the reason that men and women fall away from the gospel with such ease and peace of mind today is that they have no idea of the Biblical standard of God’s righteousness. They have no idea of how heinous their sin is in the sight of God. One of the greatest revivals that this country has ever seen was in the early 1700’s, in a time called the Great Awakening. Jonathan Edwards was a preacher of a small church in Massachusetts who was one of the principle participants in this revival along with George Whitfield. And perhaps Edward’s best known sermon was one that he titled, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Just the title alone is enough to send the modern church congregation running for the doors with their hands covering their ears. They want to hear nothing of an angry God. To hear nothing of the fear of the Lord. To hear nothing of the judgment to come. And yet this is the message, not unlike that of Peter’s message, which God used to bring about a great awakening, a great number of true conversions.

I’m afraid one of the lost arts of modern society is the ability of critical listening. To listen to the sermons of old is a test of one’s ability to listen attentively and critically, which seems to be lost to the church as well in our modern era of sound byte sermons. But nevertheless, I would like to read a small portion of Edward’s sermon so that you can get a glimpse of what type of preaching against sin prompted true repentance and spawned one of the greatest revivals in this country. He read his sermons also by the way. If you think that you have trouble with my sermons, then perhaps hearing some of his will make me seem so much more kindly and considerate. We’ll pick up somewhere in the middle on his second point.

2.[All sinners] deserve to be cast into Hell; so that divine Justice never stands in the Way, it makes no Objection against God’s using his Power at any Moment to destroy them. Yea, on the contrary, Justice calls aloud for an infinite Punishment of their Sins. Divine Justice says of the Tree that brings forth such Grapes of Sodom, Cut it down, why cumbreth it the Ground, Luke. 13. 7. The Sword of divine Justice is every Moment brandished over their Heads, and ’tis nothing but the Hand of arbitrary Mercy, and God’s meer Will, that holds it back.

3.They are already under a Sentence of Condemnation to Hell. They don’t only justly deserve to be cast down thither; but the Sentence of the Law of God, that eternal and immutable Rule of Righteousness that God has fixed between him and Mankind, is gone out against them, and stands against them; so that they are bound over already to Hell. John. 3. 18. He that believeth not is condemned already. So that every unconverted Man properly belongs to Hell; that is his Place; from thence he is. John. 8. 23. Ye are from beneath. And thither he is bound; ’tis the Place that Justice, and God’s Word, and the Sentence of his unchangeable Law assigns to him.

4.They are now the Objects of that very same Anger & Wrath of God that is expressed in the Torments of Hell: and the Reason why they don’t go down to Hell at each Moment, is not because God, in whose Power they are, is not then very angry with them; as angry as he is with many of those miserable Creatures that he is now tormenting in Hell, and do there feel and bear the fierceness of his Wrath. Yea God is a great deal more angry with great Numbers that are now on Earth, yea doubtless with many that are now in this Congregation, that it may be are at Ease and Quiet, than he is with many of those that are now in the Flames of Hell.

So that it is not because God is unmindful of their Wickedness, and don’t resent it, that he don’t let loose his Hand and cut them off. God is not altogether such an one as themselves, tho’ they may imagine him to be so. The Wrath of God burns against them, their Damnation don’t slumber, the Pit is prepared, the Fire is made ready, the Furnace is now hot, ready to receive them, the Flames do now rage and glow. The glittering Sword is whet, and held over them, and the Pit hath opened her Mouth under them.

5.The Devil stands ready to fall upon them and seize them as his own, at what Moment God shall permit him. They belong to him; he has their Souls in his Possession, and under his Dominion. The Scripture represents them as his Goods, Luke. 11. 21. The Devils watch them; they are ever by them, at their right Hand; they stand waiting for them, like greedy hungry Lions that see their Prey, and expect to have it, but are for the present kept back; if God should withdraw his Hand, by which they are restrained, they would in one Moment fly upon their poor Souls. The old Serpent is gaping for them; Hell opens his Mouth wide to receive them; and if God should permit it, they would be hastily swallowed up and lost.

6. There are in the Souls of wicked Men those hellish Principles reigning, that would presently kindle and flame out into Hell Fire, if it were not for God’s Restraints.” (Jonathan Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God)

Like the congregation of Edward’s church, these men and women that heard Peter preach his message in chapter 3 knew that they deserved the punishment of Hell. They were well familiar with the condemnation and penalty of the Law. The now saw the true nature of their predicament, and the punishment that was due them. And so they eagerly took the offer of grace that was procured through Jesus blood, that they might be saved from the wrath to come.

Well, you might say, that sounds very dramatic Roy. But you don’t really scare me, for I believe we are under grace and not the law, and I believe God loves me unconditionally, and if God loves me, He could never send me to hell. And for that person I would point out Hebrews 10:26-31 which says “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY.” And again, “THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

I will just close this morning by urging you to examine yourselves in the light of today’s message and see if you are of the faith. As Paul said in 2Cor. 13:5 “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you–unless indeed you fail the test?” Are you merely believing in a God of your own design? Have you understood the true nature of your condemnation as a sinner before a Holy and Just God? Have you ever repented of the sins that you have committed? Do you know beyond a shadow of a doubt where you will be at the moment you pass from this life? Today is the day of salvation. God is graciously extending time for you to repent. 2Pet. 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”

I will close with one last statement from Edward’s sermon. “And let every one that is yet out of Christ, and hanging over the Pit of Hell, whether they be old Men and Women, or middle Aged, or young People, or little Children, now hearken to the loud Calls of God’s Word and Providence. This acceptable Year of the Lord, that is a Day of such great Favor to some, will doubtless be a Day of as remarkable Vengeance to others….Therefore let every one that is out of Christ, now awake and fly from the Wrath to come.” (Jonathan Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God)

“Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling, naked come to thee for dress, helpless look to thee for grace, foul I to the fountain fly, wash me, Savior, or I die.” (Rock of Ages)

Someone once said that every miracle in the New Testament is a parable, designed to illustrate physically what God can do spiritually. Today we are looking at such a miracle in this passage in Acts. It certainly wasn’t the only miracle that was done in those days. And yet Luke singles out this particular miracle to illustrate an important spiritual principle.

We know that it wasn’t the only miracle because in the previous chapter, Acts 2:43 it says that “many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.” And looking ahead, we see in chapter 5 vs. 12 it says again that “At the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the people;” to the extent, according to vs. 15, “that they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and pallets, so that when Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on any one of them.”

So many miracles were being done at that time by the apostles. The question is why is this one highlighted and described by Luke and not the others. And we will attempt to answer that question today. But as I have said before, to use a fishing analogy, it is a lot easier to put a fresh hook on a new line than to unsnarl an old one. And unfortunately, the subject of healing and miracles have become so snarled in bad doctrine that we need to spend some time unraveling this whole subject of healings and miracles before we can make the correct spiritual application of it from this passage. We need to first understand the nature of the miracles that were occurring at the hands of the apostles. How are we to understand these miracles? Are they something that we should be expecting to see today? Do we also have the power to perform miracles? Certainly there are a number of people around, especially on television, that are claiming to be performing miracles.

Well, first of all, let’s consider the purpose of miracles. As I said at the beginning, when miracles are presented in scripture, they usually are given to illustrate a spiritual principle. That is the extended benefit of historic miracles to us today. But what was the immediate benefit of the miracles that happened then, besides the obvious alleviation of suffering? The answer is that miracles, the ability to do signs and wonders, was the means by which God authenticated the message of the apostles. Lots of people over the ages have professed to be speaking from God. But the apostles were specifically commissioned to speak the words of Christ, to declare His gospel to the world. And to do that, Jesus gave them the power to perform miracles to confirm that that were speaking from God.

Jesus commissioned the apostles after His resurrection in Mark 16:15 “And [Jesus] said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Now this passage has caused a lot of people to think that signs and wonders are the prerogative of every believer. But what needs to be understood is that this statement is a highly condensed summary of Jesus’ last message given specifically to the eleven apostles. Notice that there is a change from the singular pronoun in “he who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved,” to the plural pronoun in “these signs will accompany those who have believed; (Jesus is now speaking of the apostles) in my name they will cast out demons, etc. The plural pronoun sets this statement apart from the preceding one concerning all believers. In the first statement Christ is declaring a principle of salvation. In the second statement He is declaring the authority given to the apostles.

So then a few verses later in Mark 16:20 we see that commission by Christ fulfilled: “And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word by the signs that followed.” That is the key to understanding the purpose that the apostles did these signs, to “confirm the word by the signs that followed.” They were given the power of signs to authenticate their message as being from God.

Unfortunately, as I have stated for the last couple of weeks, there is so much misunderstanding of the ministry of the Holy Spirit today, and a lot of it originates in these first few chapters of Acts. Because Jesus said “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit is come upon you…” And immediately after that we see the apostles speaking in other languages and performing miracles. And there are a lot of preachers and teachers out there that want to make the assumption that the power that Jesus is speaking of is the power to speak in tongues and heal.

That’s not it at all. That is not the power that the Holy Spirit is promised to give to all believers. The reason that the apostles did these signs was to authenticate that their message was from God. But the real purpose of the Holy Spirit was to give them the words to speak, the word of God, and then as it says in Mark 16:20 to confirm that word by the signs which followed.

This is so important to understand, especially in our day. Because false teachers and false prophets are going around today and especially on television speaking lies and using false signs to confirm their word. See the devil knows how to authenticate his false prophets as well. We see something similar when Moses went to Pharaoh. Moses did signs to confirm that his word was the word of the Lord. And what did the Pharaoh’s magicians do? They did similar signs as well. Satan is using many of these so called charismatic signs and wonders that we hear about today to confirm the word of his false prophets. He uses false signs and wonders to get people to accept a false teaching. So the church’s focus always needs to be on the word of God. That is why we have written down for us a more sure word, that today we can use to validate everything and examine everything by the word of the Lord. Today we don’t follow signs and wonders, but the word of God.

But nonetheless, the fact that it is counterfeited by the devil does not invalidate the legitimate use of signs by God to confirm His word. However we need to recognize that God gave this ability for a limited time to a limited number of persons. Namely, the apostles and one or two disciples that were closely associated with them. The New Testament doesn’t mention miracles by anyone other than an apostle or one or two people closely associated with them, namely Philip and Stephen who both were deacons appointed by the apostles in the church in Jerusalem. No one else is identified as doing miracles in the church. It was an apostolic gift, given to authenticate their message as being from God.

These are then what Paul calls “the signs of an apostle”. In 2Corinthians 12:12 he refers to himself as having done the “signs of a true apostle” which, he says, are “signs and wonders and mighty works…” This is confirmed by Hebrews 2:3 , where the writer says that the Lord first preached the gospel, “and it was confirmed unto us by them that heard him, God also bearing them witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.”

Now I say all of that in order to establish the context for the miracle that we are looking at today. To unravel the snarled fishing line, if you will. So that we will realize that the apostles weren’t just going around healing everyone that they saw sick or infirmed. Jesus, by the way, did not heal everyone that was sick either. There were many dead people in the cemetery on the day that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, but He only raised Lazarus. And there were so many sick people gathered around the Pool of Bethesda that the sick man could not get into the pool before someone else, and yet Jesus healed only him. In fact, there is a very good likelihood that Jesus had passed by this very lame man outside of the Beautiful Gate mentioned here in Acts 3 many times in the course of His ministry at the temple, and yet He had not healed him. This man was healed by Peter to validate his message as having been from God and afterwards when he preached his message to the crowd gathered around, it says 5000 people were saved.

Now there are a number of things that are noteworthy in the telling of this story that we should consider. First of all, vs. 1 says that Peter and John were going to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer. Prayers were said in the temple at 9 in the morning, at noon, and at 3pm, or the 9^th hour. Whether or not the disciples were going there to pray at that time is a matter of debate. Some think that there was a slow transition on the part of the Christians out of Judaism. But I happen to think that they went there because they knew that a lot of people would be gathered there at that time, and they wanted to preach the gospel to them. I think if they learned any thing from Jesus, it was to find little merit in the traditions of Judaism. But as Jesus practiced, the apostles would use synagogues and the temple to preach the gospel. And once the gospel is carried to the Gentiles, there is still going to be this pattern of going to the Jewish synagogue to preach and present the gospel, even in Gentile territories. And also, according to chapter 2, there was a great number of their church that were staying in the temple in Solomon’s portico. They didn’t have a home to go to. They had been on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the feasts, and when they were saved on the day of Pentecost they stayed there in the temple daily receiving the apostle’s teaching. So Peter and John had multiple reasons to go there at that time.

So as Peter and John are going to the temple, they pass through the gate called Beautiful. This gate was so called because it was 75 feet tall and made of pure bronze and overlaid with plates of gold. It would have gleamed in the sunlight. And when the crowds would come to pray at the temple they would pass through this gate which they probably preferred above others because it seemed to promise prosperity. So it was an opportune place to be if you were a beggar. The Jews were taught that the way to achieve righteousness was to give alms to the poor or to the temple. And so as these people are streaming in, this lame man positions himself there at the gate to take advantage of the possibly stricken consciences of the people who are coming in for prayers and the evening sacrifices.

When Peter and John pass by, the man began to ask them to give him alms. Alms are an offering, a gift. And Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him and said, “Look at us!” That reminds me of how my mother used to speak to me when she was trying to tell me something important. She would say, “Look at me while I’m talking to you!” She knew that if I wasn’t looking at her, I probably wasn’t really listening to her. I may have heard her, but I wasn’t paying attention.

I think people do that in church a lot of the time. I know, I used to be really good at it. I’ve probably attended thousands of church services in my time, most of them as a preacher’s kid growing up in the church. So especially when I was a kid, I was adept at flipping some sort of mental switch that tuned out the preacher while I went into some kind of dream mode. The only time I would come back to reality was when the preacher would start to tell a joke or a story. Then I would listen. Maybe some of you have that ability as well. I think it’s pretty common, actually. I think it is important to listen attentively. It’s something that takes some discipline, perhaps, but it is important to pay attention.

So Peter gets the man’s attention. He thinks that Peter wants to give him some money. But Peter says, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—walk!” This is really the key to understanding the point of this miracle. If we take this to be illustrative, like a parable, then we can see a key principle here in this miracle. And that principle that Luke is presenting here is that the power of the Holy Spirit that was promised to the church is the power to walk in the Spirit and not according to the flesh. That is what this miracle is teaching. The power of the Holy Spirit was not given to enable everyone to be able to speak in a unknown tongue. It was not given so that we can all have perfect health and be healed of every disease. It was not given so that we might be able to move mountains or walk on water or call fire down from heaven. The power of the Holy Spirit is given that we might be able to be the children of God, and then act like children of God. He indwells us, giving us the power to live the life of Christ through these carnal bodies. To be able to walk by the Spirit and not by the flesh. That is what this miracle is illustrating. That is why Luke picks this miracle above all others that are done around this same time. That is why Luke places this event immediately after the filling of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost; to illustrate the purpose of the Holy Spirit.

Now let’s look more in detail so that we might show how this miracle illustrates that purpose. First of all, Luke says the man is lame from his mother’s womb. Lameness could have been caused by a lot of things, but it basically means the guy couldn’t walk due to some sort of illness. His legs might have been crippled or deformed. And that is a perfect picture of our plight before salvation. God set forth His laws, His requirements, His standards of righteousness, and yet no one is able to keep them. It is like telling a lame man that he has to walk. He may know that he needs to walk, but he is unable to do so. That is the case with the law. We know that the this is the standard for righteousness, but we cannot do it, anymore than a lame man can walk. In our natural state we cannot please God because we cannot keep His commandments. Rom. 3:10-12 says “as it is written, ‘THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.’”

This is the plight of every person born on the earth. And furthermore, we were born that way. We’ve been this way from our mother’s womb. Romans 5:12 says that we received the sin nature from our father, who received it from his father, and so forth all the way back to Adam. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. So this poor lame man, who was lame from his mother’s womb is a picture of sinful mankind.

And there is a second picture that is illustrated in this miracle. This lame man has positioned himself outside the temple. He sits by the Beautiful Gate, the gate that seems to promise financial blessing. And so he sits there his whole life, seeking silver and gold, seeking the financial benefit that he thinks that the temple promises. How many people today are attracted to the external blessings of the church and yet in reality are outside of the kingdom of God? How many people look to some form of the prosperity gospel as an inducement to claim Christianity? I used to think that way. I once was a very successful antiques dealer. And I remember telling people that my success was due to my Christianity. I thought that my health and my beautiful family, my financial success, my Mercedes, and my nice house were testimony to the blessing of God upon my life. I measured my relationship with God based on how “blessed” I was. I thought that I could be a witness to others, that I could tell them they too could have a life like mine if they would just come to Christ. You can only imagine how my faith was shattered when I one day I lost all those material things. Then I had to decide if I would still serve a Lord who allowed me to lose all that I had thought were His blessings.

You have heard the song, “Looking for love in all the wrong places…” Well, this man is looking for the wrong things in the right place. He is looking for material rewards. Really, he is looking for carnal things in a spiritual place. The temple is an illustration of the kingdom of God which is the church. As the church, we are the temple of Christ, the physical manifestation of the invisible Christ. The church is the kingdom of God, the spiritual reign of Christ on the earth. And so if it is spiritual, it means things not seen. No one can see a spirit. The spiritual reign of Christ in our hearts is what it means to be in the kingdom of God. That’s what it means to be the temple of God. The body of Christ. It means that Christ is using my body to live out spiritually the purpose and will of Christ.

Yet today many Christians are being taught that Christianity means that you can live your best life now. They think Christianity means that God is going to love you whatever you do – however you want to live, you can live. We are taught that because God loves you, He wants to fulfill your dreams and ambitions. He wants to give you all that you desire, all the desires of your heart. And so we find ourselves like this lame man, seeking the benefits of the flesh, in the place of the spiritual. Seeking the carnal instead of the spiritual.

But Peter and John get the man’s attention and then they say, “Silver and gold have I none, but what I do have I give to you.” Peter and John say that they don’t have silver or gold. I guess they wouldn’t make good role models for Joel Olsteen or Joyce Meyers, would they? The apostles aren’t going to try to win the world with a soup kitchen mentality. Listen, I don’t mean to say that we are to neglect doing good and sharing with those that are in need. That is a godly principle that we see illustrated by the early church in the last chapter as they sold houses and possessions in order to feed those that were in need in the church. But the point that needs to be emphasized is the church is not tasked with a social gospel, but with the gospel of salvation. The purpose of the miracle was to authenticate the message, the preaching of the gospel, so that 5000 people are saved. Far too often today the church finds that the social gospel is culturally acceptable. So the church finds it easier to practice a social gospel than it does to preach a gospel that requires repentance from your sins. But that is not the purpose of the church.

So Peter grabs this man’s hand and pulls him up, saying, “In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—walk!” Now that is an illustration of salvation. In the name of Jesus Christ we that were lame can now walk. In the name of Jesus Christ, we that were sinners have now been made righteous. In the name of Jesus Christ, we that were cut off have now been drawn close. In the name of Jesus Christ, we that were helpless have now received help. In the name of Jesus Christ, we that were born in our sins, have now been born again. In the name of Jesus Christ, we that were hopeless have now received hope.

What does it mean, “in the name of Jesus Christ?” Is the name of Jesus some sort of incantation that we can say that magically produces miracles on command? Is it some sort of mystical ending to our prayers which guarantees that God will grant us our wishes? What does it mean? Well, imagine the early explorers of a country traveling to a foreign land, and when they come ashore they might say something like, “We have come in the name of King George.” It means that they are acting on the authority of their king. In the same way the apostles were the ambassadors, the representatives of King Jesus. They spoke with the delegated authority of His commission. And they have authority because of the power of the King’s position. They had power in the name of Jesus because of who Jesus is. He is the Creator, according to Hebrews 1. He is the Mighty God, according to Isaiah 9. He is the Savior of the World, according to 1 John 4. He is the Word which was in the beginning with God and was God, according to John 1. It was this very God that became flesh and dwelt among us, that He might offer Himself as a substitute for sinners, that we might be saved from death and transferred into the kingdom of light.

Listen, so often we think of salvation as being saved from something; saved from death, saved from condemnation, saved from a bad situation. And to some extent that is true. But did you ever think that you are also saved for something? Eph. 2:10 says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” So we are saved for good works, that we should walk in them.

Now that is exactly what this miracle illustrates. Peter says, in the name or in other words, by the power of Christ, walk! Walk in newness of life. Walk in faith. Walk in the Spirit. I cannot count how many times it says in the Bible that we are commanded to walk in the ways of God. That is what the law required, and what we could not do. Over and over again in the Old Testament scriptures it says to keep His commandments and walk in His ways. That was the intent of the law, and yet we were lame from our mother’s womb and could not do it.

But something wonderful happens in the New Testament. In the power of the name of Jesus Christ, who bore our sins on the cross, we received by faith and repentance the transference of His righteousness, so that we might walk in righteousness by the indwelling power of the Spirit. In Ezekiel God declares that He will make a new covenant in the last days. And in that new covenant according to Ezekiel 36: 25 He says, “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 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. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”

Do you hear that folks? “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statues, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.” That is the miracle of salvation and the power of the Holy Spirit. God takes this sinful body, and these weak, lame legs that cannot walk, and puts new life in them, puts His Spirit in me, that I might be able to walk in His statues and keep His ordinances. This is why God sent the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. This is what Jesus was talking about when He said you will receive power. The power to walk in His statues by faith in Jesus Christ.

The writer of the Hebrews quotes a similar statement from Jeremiah, in Heb 10:14-17 “For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying, “THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THEM AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS UPON THEIR HEART, AND ON THEIR MIND I WILL WRITE THEM,” He then says, “AND THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE.” What that passage is saying is that salvation and sanctification go hand in hand. Jesus has perfected those who are being sanctified and He does so in this new covenant through the testimony of the Holy Spirit writing His laws upon our hearts and upon our minds, so that our desire is to walk in His ways.

Oh, ladies and gentlemen. This is such an important message for the carnal church today that claims salvation and yet scorns righteous living. That cannot be. We are saved and we receive the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit that we might walk in the same way Christ walked. Romans 6:4 says that we are to walk in newness of life. Romans 8:4 says that we are not to walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 1 Cor. 7:17 says we are to walk in our calling in the church. 2 Cor. 5:7 says we are to walk by faith and not by sight. Gal 5:16 says, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. Gal 5:25 says, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” In Eph. 4:1 Paul begs us to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called. Eph. 5:8 says walk as children of the light. Col. 1:10 says, 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; Col. 2:6 says, “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 1Jo 2:6 says the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.” I could go on and on. But I hope you understand what the Spirit is saying through this miracle. We were given the power through the Holy Spirit to walk as Jesus walked, holy and righteous and pleasing and glorifying God in all that we do. We have the power indwelling us, if we have been saved, to do all that God has designed us to do, if we will just be obedient to His leading.

So folks, in closing, let me say that is how God has designed the church to be His witnesses to the world. By the power of our walk. When the crowds had gathered around Peter and John because they saw this formerly lame man leaping and jumping for joy on his new legs, they then received the word of the apostles and 5000 of them were saved in one day. The success of our church is not going to be the result of some program or some outreach, or even by our soul winning efforts, but it will be the result of people witnessing the power of God to change sinful men to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. When your coworkers, when your families and neighbors witness the transformation in your life, when they witness your new walk in righteousness, then they will be compelled to follow your walk and accept your Christ. That’s what it means to make disciples. Let us walk out of here today in the power of the Holy Spirit, walking in the ways of God as a testimony to the world. We then can fulfill Christ’s commission to the church, to make disciples. We can tell people, walk like I walk, because I walk like Christ walked. That’s what it means to make disciples. To walk like we walk, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

There is much misinformation in Christian circles today as to the nature and purpose of the church. Many books and articles have been written on the subject of church growth. Many different strategies have been proposed for the building up of the church. And as a result I think that in the last generation the church has changed more than at any other time in history. However, I’m afraid that it has not always been for the better. I’m sure that many of the great ecclesiastical leaders of history would not approve or even recognize what is happening in many churches today. In fact, I think that when we lose sight of God’s blueprint for the church and try to figure out according to our own wisdom how we might improve upon His plan, we often do great harm to the church and to the name of Christ.

Our passage today sets forth the first example of the church that we find in the New Testament. We have spent the last couple of weeks or so describing how the Holy Spirit coronated this church with a great display of His power in order to validate and authenticate it as being from God. Peter said in his message that it was obviously a mighty work of the Holy Spirit which had come from God to establish His spiritual kingdom on earth in the last days. And so as this church is set forth in scripture as the premiere illustration of God’s church on earth, it would behoove us to faithfully follow it’s pattern in our practice as well. Because I believe that this scripture definitely reveals that this is God’s church. And since God is the designer, then we should seek to follow the pattern of His design as we see it laid out for us here in this passage.

Now there are a five fundamental marks of a true church as set forth in this passage that I would like to point out for our instruction here today. It is not a comprehensive list, perhaps, but it is an essential list. There are things that can be added, but we cannot take any of these away and still have a faithful and true church according to the pattern set before us.

Let’s consider then these five fundamental characteristics of the church. Number one is almost too obvious to mention, but unfortunately it’s importance is often overlooked. It is essential that the church is saved. I think that principle’s importance is reflected in the fact that under divine inspiration Luke bookends the passage with a reference to the fact that the church was saved. The first reference is in vs. 40 “And with many other words [Peter] solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!” So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.” And then at the close of the passage is the other bookend: vs. 47, “And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

The church is the congregation of the saved. “Ekklesia” is the Greek word from which the word church is translated, and it means the called out ones. Called out to an assembly, a congregation. And I think it’s important to understand that church membership is only possible when the Lord adds them to the church that are saved. (vs.47) It isn’t something conferred by vote, or applied to, or that baptism procures. It is something you are born into, and you must be born again by the Holy Spirit. The word saved indicates that you are delivered from something. We are saved from wrath, from the judgment to come against sin, and from the wages of sin which is death. That’s what it means to be saved. To be changed from death to life, from darkness to light, from sons of the devil to sons of God. It is a supernatural conversion that is accomplished by repentance from your sins and faith in the work of Jesus Christ, resulting in new life and indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

So the church is made up of called out, saved, converted men and women. That is fundamental to understanding then the purpose of the church, especially today when we are witnessing a church movement that is deliberately trying to appeal to what they call the “unchurched.” Basically what that means is that they are trying to redesign church to accommodate the unsaved. But that is not what the church is designed by God to be. The church is designed as the body of Christ. And as Paul said what communion can light have with darkness? When we understand that the church is the calling out to assembly of those that are saved, and that Christ has placed them into His body, then it should change our perception of what the church is supposed to be. It doesn’t need, nor should it desire to become relevant or acceptable or attractive to the world. It needs to be attractive to Christ. It needs to be acceptable to God, holy and blameless as the virgin bride of Christ.

So that’s of first priority in the church; it is the body of the redeemed. Secondly, the church’s next essential characteristic is that they are devoting themselves to the word. Vs. 42, “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching…” Some versions may say the apostle’s doctrine. They both mean the same thing. What is the apostle’s doctrine? It is simply the gospel of Jesus Christ. Peter’s message is a great example of it. He starts with scripture and explains the gospel of salvation based on the Old Testament text in Joel. Then he expounds upon that doctrine with other supportive biblical texts. It’s expositional teaching. It’s exhortation. It’s admonition. Paul broke it down for us in 2Tim. 4:2 “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.”

The apostle’s doctrine is simply this; the congregation of the saved is strengthened, exhorted, equipped, taught and led by the teaching and preaching of the word of God through the ministers of God. Nothing less will do. John Calvin said, “Those who think that the authority of the doctrine is impaired by the insignificance of the men who are called to teach, betray their ingratitude; for among the many noble endowments with which God has adorned the human race, one of the most remarkable is, that he deigns to consecrate the mouths and tongues of men to his service, making his own voice to be heard in them.”

In the great commission that was given to the apostles, the Lord told them to “go and make disciples of all nations, and teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” Sound doctrine is the heart of the life of the church. Not ritualistically observing the sacraments, not children’s programs, not music, not so called modern worship. If the church is not teaching the doctrines of the word, then they are failing in their primary responsibility. And a Christian should not stay in a church that doesn’t make that a priority. The church is not designed to be a Christian country club. But it’s designed to teach the truth and apply it to our lives so that we might be obedient to what Christ has commanded us to do.

Thirdly, the church is not only to be devoted to the apostle’s doctrine, but to fellowship. (vs.42) We are the Beach Fellowship. Sometimes I’ve had someone say, “why don’t you add the word church to your name?” Well, my answer is that would be somewhat redundant. Fellowship is church. Now to be accurate, they are two different words. But you cannot have one without another. The Greek word for fellowship is “koinōnia”, which means fellowship, communion, participation and intimacy. It is really a unique word as used in the New Testament. It sometimes is used to describe fellowship, other times it is used to describe sharing as in taking up an offering, other times it is used to talk about participating in the Lord’s Supper, that is why we refer to the Lord’s Supper as Communion.

Paul said that of first importance we are called into fellowship with the triune God. 1Cor. 1:9 “God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” And 2Cor. 13:14 “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.” As the church, as the body of Christ, we have fellowship with Christ who is the Head of the church, with the Holy Spirit who is the life of the church, and with God who is the creator of the church.

And then fellowship is communion of the Lord’s Supper, which is a picture of the fellowship we have with one another in the body of Christ. Paul said in 1Cor. 10:16 “Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ?” We become one with Christ and one with the body of Christ, each other, symbolized in the eating of the bread and drinking of the cup.

And last but not least, fellowship is participation in the unity of the apostle’s doctrine. 1John 1:6-7 “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

So fellowship then is not determined by finding a congregation that is similar to our economic standing. It is not finding a church where there are a lot of young people because we happen to be young, or finding a church with a lot of older people because we are older people. But church is the body of Christ which is made up of various members, different kinds of parts, but all of them unified by a common doctrine, and working together for a common purpose, to be the visible manifestation of Christ to the world individually and corporately.

The fourth characteristic of the true church is the breaking of bread. This is my wife’s favorite. If we were making up committees, this is the one she would want to be on. She loves baking. Her hobby is to bake something everyday. No wonder I have such a hard time keeping my weight down. My wife thinks that the meal that she cooks on Wednesday nights for our Bible study is a major part of our ministry. And in a way she is be right. It certainly seems like this was a characteristic of the first church.

Now most commentators are going to say that this breaking of bread refers to the taking of the Lord’s Supper. They say that there was a love feast that was like a communal meal, and then at the end of it there was an observance of the Lord’s Supper. Maybe they are right. I don’t know. I can’t seem to prove it one way or another by scripture. However, I do know that both Jude and Paul speak rebuke to those in the churches that were abusing the Lord’s Supper. But what I will argue is that there are familiar expressions that the apostles used in referencing the Lord’s Supper or the Lord’s Table, but this phrase “breaking of bread” is not one of them. It is used in scripture only once before, and that is the meal that Jesus took with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. So while I wouldn’t discount that it could include the Lord’s Supper, I do not think that is necessarily what it’s talking about. I think it is merely talking about good old fashioned hospitality. Sharing a meal together is a hallmark of hospitality.

Let me try to explain the context here for a moment. On the day of Pentecost, you had thousands of pilgrims that had come to Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost. And that day, 3000 of these men and women were saved. And so the first church comprised a large number of people who did not live in Jerusalem, but stayed there after they were saved and lived in the portico of the temple where they were having services. And so there was this unique situation that occurred there. There were a large number of people that were essentially homeless. How long they lived there we don’t know. But every indication is that for quite a while at least, they did not go back to their homes in foreign countries, but stayed to receive the apostle’s instruction and lived in fellowship with the rest of the church.

Now that should give us a better understanding of what was going on. Because vs.43-47 are not a continuation of the list of essential characteristics of the church, they are an explanation of the original five. Look at vs. 44, 45, “And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.” See what I mean? I’m not going to read into vs. 44 and 45 and say that the scripture says that the church needs to have a communist life style. That we all have to sell everything and give it to the church to parcel out. That is not what is going on. If that were the case, then vs.46 wouldn’t make sense, which says they were breaking bread from house to house. They wouldn’t have had any houses to break bread in if they all had sold their houses.

No, like I said, I think the verses 43-47a are an explanation of the 5 primary characteristics listed prior to these. For instance, vs. 43 says “Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.” This is obviously an explanation or addendum to the statement that they were devoting themselves to the apostle’s doctrine. There was a sense of awe, a sense of reverence, a sense of godly fear at the authority that the apostle’s spoke with. Peter’s message was one having authority. He had the authority of the power of the Holy Spirit. And that was accompanied with signs and wonders. The apostles were given the power of signs and wonders so as to authenticate their message as specifically appointed spokesmen from the Lord. Paul declares that fact in 2Cor. 12:12 “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by signs and wonders and miracles.” Signs and wonders was the means by which God authenticated the apostles as speaking for Him, speaking His words. He gave them authority and power and the words to speak, which became the words that were written down for us, which make up the Holy Scriptures. It was specifically for that time and place as a sign gift to the apostles.

So in like manner, vs. 44 and 45 illustrate for us what was the nature of that fellowship which was so essential to the foundation of the church. The key word there is sharing. That is communion, fellowship. They shared what they had with one another. Those people that were living there, unwilling or unable to go home, were supplied in their needs by the surplus of those who had the means. They sold things that were considered surplus in order to give it to the church for the provision of the needs of the others. This was true sacrificial giving as Jesus described in Luke 3:11 by commanding “The man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise.”

This church illustrated what Paul would later describe in 1 Cor. 12:24, “But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.”

Then in vs. 46 we read they were “Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart.” Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple refers to the unity of doctrine that was being taught to them by the apostles. This is so important in the church, to have unity of doctrine. The Bible says, “how can two walk together unless they be agreed?” You may never have a church where there is absolute agreement over every interpretation of scripture, but there needs to be a unity of major doctrine, and most importantly a submission to the authority of the leaders as they speak the word of God.

Peter said in 2Pet. 1:20-21”But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” Now that verse has a lot of implications, but one is that there isn’t really any room for private interpretations of scripture. “Well, I think it means..” or “what does this mean to you?” It is important that we have men in the pulpit who are committed to preaching the truth of God’s word and nothing but the truth, and then we need to check the scriptures to see if those things are so, as the Bereans did to Paul’s teaching, but then they need to submit to the authority of faithful preaching. As I said a couple of weeks ago, the problem in a lot of churches is that the congregation picked a pastor, not God, and they chose a pastor like they were judging a talent contest; based on his looks and his personality and his entertainment factor. They did not pick a man that was known to be a student and a preacher of the word.

And then back to our fourth point of breaking bread, vs. 46 is an extrapolation or explanation of that principle. It says, “Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart.” So they were together being taught in the temple, and then they invited those home with them to have a meal who didn’t have the means to a meal. This then is not speaking of the Lord’s Supper necessarily, but good old fashioned hospitality. It’s taking koininea to the next logical level, sharing a meal. Sharing your home. Sharing your resources with those who have a need.

One of the most telling examples that I see in our church that we are experiencing church as God would have us do, is when I see our people enjoy fellowshipping together after service, or at a restaurant, or at a get together like we did at the Valentine’s Dinner. This is how we get to know one another. This is how we get to the point of sharing one another’s burdens. It doesn’t do true fellowship any good whatsoever when we ask each other politely, “how are you this morning?” And the automatic response is “Fine thanks. How are you doing?” “Oh, I’m doing great, thanks!” And that’s it. That’s as far as we get in getting to know one another. No, our goal is to be able to say as I quoted from 1Cor.12:24 while ago, when one person suffers, we all suffer, when one person is honored, we all rejoice.” And one of the best ways to incorporate all the various members together into one body is to eat together, to share together, to help one another in the day to day trials of life.

The fifth element in vs. 42 of a true church was they were devoting themselves to prayer. Prayer is one of the two offensive weapons that we have been given in the spiritual warfare described in Ephesians 6. All the other armor listed there is defensive. But prayer is not only defensive, it’s offensive. You’ve heard it said that the best defense is a good offense. Eph 6:18-19 “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel.” I suppose that most of you are a lot like me – we just don’t pray like we should. We don’t pray nearly as much as we would like to. Jesus was a man of prayer. He prayed many times all night on a mountaintop. And when He came down from the mountain He was refreshed and empowered and filled with the Holy Spirit.

I believe that much of our success on the beach is due to the Jericho March we do each year before the season starts. It’s a time of sustained, strategic prayer for six nights and culminates on Sunday morning with the walls of opposition to the gospel coming down in this community. But folks, we need to pray that way a lot more often than once a year. I think it is the key to everything. I don’t understand it, but I know it works. The problem is that we don’t work at it.

Hey, I got suggestion for those of you that don’t like my preaching all that much. Did you ever think that by praying you could make me a better preacher? Isn’t that what Paul is asking them to do for him in Ephesians 6? “And pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel.” I would really appreciate it if you guys would pray for me. It doesn’t get any easier to preach the gospel. And believe it or not, I have difficulty with speaking with boldness. I may be loud, but that doesn’t necessarily make me bold. Pray for boldness, but more importantly, pray that God would give me utterance, that He would give me the message that He would have me preach.

Well, those are the five marks of the true church, the indispensables, if you will of an effective church of God. There is just one more point that is made here that needs to be pointed out. We looked at 5 characteristics, and they all result in one consequence. That is found in vs. 47, “And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.” The consequence of a congregation of saved, born again, transformed men and women, who were taught the doctrine of the apostles, and who lived out their lives in fellowship, unselfishly sharing wealth and food and resources with each other, and devoted to prayer, and were sincere and joyful in their faith, the consequence of that kind of transformed lives resulted in God using their public testimony to be a means to bring others to the Lord. That’s the kind of church that is attractive to the lost. It’s not a place that looks like a nightclub or tries to look attractive to sinners. The gospel’s attractiveness is that it offers hope from the despair of sin. The power of a transformed life is the testimony that God can use to attract sinners to the gospel. They come to church not because they can relate to it, but because they are attracted to the hope and peace and joy that we have in Christ because He has overcome the captivity of our sin. That’s why Peter’s first response to those that heard his message and that asked what they needed to do was that they needed to repent. And the need for repentance will be the apostle’s message on through the book of Acts.

Listen, all of us that are saved have been placed in the body of Christ, to perform an essential function for the health and purpose of that body. Christ has given to each of us a part in His body and placed us in the church as He sees fit. Let us then be faithful and diligent to be about the business of the church, because that is what Jesus tasked us with in the great commission; “to go and make disciples, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.”

Paul breaks down that commission for us in Ephesians 4:11-16 “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.” Amen.

To misunderstand this passage we are looking at today is to put in jeopardy the entire purpose of the Holy Spirit and His ministry to the church. Understanding this text correctly is crucial to understanding not only the purpose of the church, and the function of the church, but the empowerment of the church.

One of the main reasons that the church is not functioning effectively in our society today is that many people are completely clueless about the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Lack of understanding the doctrine of the Holy Spirit is one of the main reasons why the average Christian feels powerless to live a godly life. The church has never in it’s history been as superficial and anemic in regards to true spirituality and godliness than it is today and that is largely due to an incorrect, unbiblical understanding of the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

And that is ironic, isn’t it? It’s ironic because there is more emphasis today on what is claimed to be the power of the Holy Spirit than at almost any other time in church history. There is more emphasis on the gifts of the Holy Spirit today than at any other time in recent history and yet this age is characterized by superficial, worldly, carnal churches that are more consumed with prosperity and physical “blessings” than they are with godliness.

Well, I don’t want to build a church like that. And I’m confident that if you’re here today you do not want a church like that either. There are a lot of other churches out there you could be a part of that would fill the bill if you were looking for superficial Christianity. But I believe, and I hope you believe, that God has a blueprint for His true church. I don’t believe that God has given us the church so that we might have 52 different flavors and you get to pick the one you like the most.   I believe that He gave us the blueprint of His church that we are to pattern ours after right here in the first few chapters of Acts. So I want to carefully examine this text so that we can be sure that we follow that example faithfully. And also so that we might have the kind of fruitfulness that God expects us to have – the kind of fruitfulness that we see characterized in this first church which is given for our example and encouragement.

The key to understanding the context of this momentous event in church history is found in the eighth verse of the chapter one. In Jesus’ last instructions to the disciples before His ascension He told them to wait for the promise of what He called the baptism of the Holy Spirit in just a few days. Then Jesus said in Acts 1:8 “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.”

So what were they to wait for? The power of the Holy Spirit. The power to do what? Be His witnesses. To be His witnesses in word and deed. And right there we should understand the nature of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit provides the power to carry out the ministry of Jesus Christ. It’s not necessarily the power to speak in tongues. To limit it to that would be to shortchange the ministry of the Holy Spirit. It is the power to be the ministers of Jesus Christ to the world, by empowering His body, the believers in Christ, to be able to reveal Jesus Christ to the world in word and deed.

The first church we have as the premier example before us today had none of the usual things that we think are so essential for church success today. They didn’t have a building, they didn’t have any youth or children’s programs, they didn’t have a worship team, they didn’t have social status in the community, and yet this church won thousands to Christ and sent out people who would start other churches throughout the world. Why? Because the church had the power of the Holy Spirit empowering it’s ministry. Their people were empowered by the Holy Spirit to become shining witnesses, testimonies to the transforming power of salvation.

So it behooves us to examine this passage carefully so that we might faithfully follow their example and fulfill Christ’s purpose for our church. First of all, note that the Apostles and the rest of the church were waiting for the empowerment of the Holy Spirit as Jesus had told them. And on the tenth day after the ascension came the day of Pentecost, the day that Christ had promised. It is important to understand what that day signified for the Jew. Now please bear with me, this is important.

Pentecost means 50^th, which means this feast happened 50 days after the feast of the First Fruits as indicated in Leviticus 23. There are three feasts there which illustrate the work of Jesus Christ. The Passover pictured the death of Jesus as the Passover Lamb. Then came the feast of the First Fruits which pictured Christ’s resurrection from the dead. And then 50 days later was the feast of Pentecost which pictured the formation of His church.

The feast of First Fruits was observed the day after the Sabbath following Passover, which meant that it was Sunday, the first day of the week. Christ was crucified on the Passover, was resurrected on the day of First Fruits, Sunday, and then Fifty days after that would fall on a Sunday as well. So the day of Pentecost, the day the church was inaugurated by the Holy Spirit was on a Sunday.

During the feast of First Fruits, the priest would offer a wave offering of a sheaf of grain. But during the feast of Pentecost they would offer two loaves of bread. And contrary to the feast of Passover, the bread loaves of Pentecost had yeast in them, so they would rise. Now what this signifies is that grains which are the fruits are baptized by the Holy Spirit into one body, represented by the loaves of bread. And there are two loaves which represent the Jews and the Gentiles. The Jewish believers received the baptism of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and the Gentile believers are baptized in the Spirit at the house of Cornelius which is found in Acts 10.   And the fact that the loaves are baked with leaven indicates that the presence of sin will be in the church. The church will not be perfect until it is one day glorified in the presence of God.

So the believers and apostles are all together on the day of Pentecost. We don’t know if they were in the upper room or not at that time. It would have to be a very large room if they were, because there were 120 people gathered together. Some think that they would have been in the temple worshipping God together when this happened. The word house there can also be translated as temple. So that would explain the reaction from the multitude to what would have been a very public phenomenon.

As they were gathered together, a sound like a violent rushing wind fills the place where they were. It doesn’t say it was a rushing wind, but a sound like a violent rushing wind. I imagine it might have sounded like a siren. If you’ve ever been in a hurricane you know that sometimes the wind blows so hard it starts to whine like some sort of siren. So there is this loud, wailing kind of sound that fills the place and alerts everyone that something is happening.

Then it says that tongues like fire, or as of fire, appeared and were distributed over the heads of each one of those in the church. And then the third part of the phenomena, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages of the mighty works of God as the Spirit was giving them utterance. Now all three of these things make up what Jesus described as the baptism of the Holy Spirit in chapter 1 vs. 5.

I find it interesting that those people that claim a baptism of the Holy Spirit today only seem concerned with the third aspect of the phenomenon, that of speaking in tongues. I haven’t heard any sound like a siren coming from those churches, or seen any tongues of fire distributing themselves on anyone’s head. Furthermore, in the first experience everyone could understand what was being said in their own language, which is in direct contrast with what happens today when no one can understand anything that is being said. Quite a different experience, I would say between what happened in Acts 2 and what is happening today.

So what exactly happened there in this baptism of the Holy Spirit? What did it signify and what purpose did it achieve? Well the Greek word for baptize is “baptizo” which has two meanings, one literal and one figurative. Literally, it means to be immersed, but the figurative meaning is to identified with. So first of all the baptism of the Spirit means to be identified with Christ, the head of the church, and secondly to be formed as the spiritual body of Christ on earth, that is the church.

1Cor. 12:12-13 says, “For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.”

Now try to understand how this works with me for a moment. If we are to become Christ’s body on earth, then how is that possible? How does my physical body become the spiritual body of Christ? Well, it becomes the spiritual body of Christ when Christ’s Spirit indwells my body. When does that happen? It happens at salvation. We are born again by the Spirit of God, made holy and righteous through the transference of the righteousness of Christ to us, and then indwelled by the Spirit of Christ, that we might have the mind of Christ controlling our body.

And that indwelling produces the third aspect of that baptism, we are filled with the Spirit. That means we are controlled by the Spirit. The energy, the power to energize this body the way Christ would have it operate is by being filled with the Spirit. That power of the Spirit which fills us is like the wind that fills the sails of a ship. It fills the sails and the ship is mobilized, it is under power.

Now let’s break all that down a little more in hopes of getting this settled in our minds. Because it’s difficult enough to understand on it’s own, but when you add all the disinformation that has accumulated in many of us from years of bad teaching, or lack of teaching on this subject, then it becomes even more difficult.

The three aspects of the baptism of the Holy Spirit are first of all, identification. We are identified with Christ. We are born again by the Spirit of Christ and are now in the family of God. Secondly, we are baptized into one body. All believers are joined together and related because we all are one in Christ, and we all are indwelled with the Spirit of Christ.   And then thirdly we are all filled with the Spirit, that means given the power of the Spirit who enables us to do the works of Christ.

It’s important to note that historically the baptism of the Holy Spirit took place in two stages. The Jewish believers were baptized at Pentecost and the Gentiles were baptized later at the home of Cornelius. Today the baptism of the Spirit happens when a sinner is converted and born again by the Spirit of Christ. You are instantly spiritually reborn into the family of God, you are instantly baptized into the body of Christ, the church, joined to every believer, and you are instantly filled with the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit. All of that happened by the way with the 3000 souls that were saved as Peter preached. There was not a subsequent baptism for those 3000. They were saved, baptized in water and immediately added to the church.

Let me point out another reference which I think pictures this very well. As you know, the children of Israel are an OT picture of the church. And Paul relates the baptism of the Israelites to the church in 1Cor. 10:1-4 “For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.” Moses is a type of Christ. In Acts 3:22 it says, “Moses said, ‘THE LORD GOD WILL RAISE UP FOR YOU A PROPHET LIKE ME FROM YOUR BRETHREN; TO HIM YOU SHALL GIVE HEED to everything He says to you.” So the Israelites which are a type of the church are baptized into Moses in two ways: in the cloud, that is the Shekinah glory of God which went before them to guide them by day and dwelt in the temple in the middle of their camp, a constant presence with them, and they were also baptized into the sea, that is the Red Sea. That represented identification with Moses, separation from the world, Egypt, and salvation from death. And then you see the unity in the same spiritual food, the same spiritual drink, all coming from the rock who is Christ.

So in like manner, as the church of Christ, we are identified with Him, become one with His body, and are filled with His Spirit who leads us and guides us as He indwells us. He is constantly with us because He is within us. We are not told to seek a baptism of the Holy Spirit, because that is done once for all when we are born again, but we are told to be continually filled with the power of the Holy Spirit because we need His power if we are going to serve God effectively. On the day of Pentecost, they were baptized with the Holy Spirit and filled with the Spirit simultaneously. But afterwards, though there were more fillings of the Spirit to do a particular work, they did not experience any more baptisms. There is a distinction between baptism and filling.

For instance, baptism means I belong to His body, being filled means that my body belongs to Him. Baptism is non-repeatable, but the filling is repeated over and over again as we trust God for the power to do what He asks us to do. Baptism involves all believers being united into one body, but filling is individually done as we yield to Him.

Now let’s consider the languages and the purpose and meaning of that part of this phenomenon. Luke tells us that there were God fearing, devout Jews from 15 different nations present, and they each heard the gospel proclaimed in their own language. Verse 4 the word used for language or tongues is glossa, which refers to language, but in vs.6 the word used is dialektos and means dialect. There is no question that means that each person understood what the disciples were saying in their own native language or dialect.

The question is why did this happen? What is the significance of this sign? Well, I gave away the answer in my question. The speaking of various foreign languages happened as a sign to the unbelieving Jews. We are going to examine Peter’s message in more detail next time, but note for now that Peter says this baptism of the Holy Spirit happened according to the prophecy of Joel 2:28-32.   First and foremost then, tongues were for a sign. They happened as a sign to the Jews that a particular prophecy was being fulfilled. And Paul confirms this by quoting Isaiah in 1Cor. 14:21, “In the Law it is written, ‘BY MEN OF STRANGE TONGUES AND BY THE LIPS OF STRANGERS I WILL SPEAK TO THIS PEOPLE, AND EVEN SO THEY WILL NOT LISTEN TO ME,’ says the Lord. So then tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers.”

Now that is exactly what Peter is talking about when he stands up and rebukes those in the crowd who had suggested that they might have been drunk with wine. Peter says no, it’s only 9 o’clock in the morning, no one here has been drinking at 9 in the morning. But he says in vs. 17 “’AND IT SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS,’ God says, ‘THAT I WILL POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL MANKIND; AND YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY, AND YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS, AND YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS; EVEN ON MY BONDSLAVES, BOTH MEN AND WOMEN, I WILL IN THOSE DAYS POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT And they shall prophesy.”

This phenomenon was a sign of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to those unbelieving Jews, the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon the disciples to be a witness to them, that the last days had come upon Israel, just as Joel and the prophets had warned it would. And a sign of these last days would be that by the languages of foreigners they would hear of the gospel of Christ and yet still they would not believe. Israel as a nation would reject Christ. Thankfully, 3000 of them did repent that day in response to that sign, and they were saved and God added them to the church. But the nation of Israel as a whole did not repent, they continued to persecute and put to death the witnesses of the gospel (that’s what the Greek word witness came to mean, martyrs). And so it would not be only about 35 more years ( this generation) before the judgment of God would fall upon Israel and the temple was destroyed and hundreds of thousands of them were killed and the rest dispersed. This phenomenon was a sign that the end of the age of the nation of Israel had come.

The phenomenon also correlated with the Tower of Babel which we read about in Genesis 11. At that time the men of the world spoke the same language and thought that they would build a temple reaching to heaven as a testament to their great civilization. But God came down from heaven and confused their language and dispersed them throughout the world. So God’s judgment at Babel dispersed one people into many nations, but the Spirit at Pentecost united many nations into God’s people, bringing both the Jews and the Gentiles into one body, the church. At the Tower of Babel one language was confused into many, but at Pentecost people of many languages understood the gospel in their own dialect.

The bottom line is this; the baptism of the Holy Spirit is given so that we might be saved, identified with Christ, so that we might be unified with all other believers into the body of Christ, and so that we might have the power to be witnesses for Christ. But though baptism of the Spirit happens once at salvation, there is a daily need to be filled with the Spirit.

Did you know that Plato and the ancient Greek philosophers, long before the time of Christ, taught that the highest religious expression was found in a phenomenon of speaking in strange syllables which was induced by drunkenness? This was practiced by the Greeks in their drunken, religious orgies. So it’s interesting that some people observing what was happening would automatically assume the disciples were drunk. But Peter is quick to show that they were not drunk. And furthermore, this wasn’t some nonsensical gibberish, but it was men speaking of the mighty works of God.

So in reference to what Peter said in rebuttal to the charge of drunkenness, let’s look at how Paul contrasts drunkenness and being filled with the Spirit in Ephesians 5:18. “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.” Paul goes on to talk about wives being subject to husbands, husbands sacrificing themselves for their wives, parents, children, slaves, workers, etc, being subject to one another as unto the Lord.

So what Paul is showing in verse 18 is the contrast between drunkenness and being filled with the Holy Spirit. When a person is filled with alcohol, he loses control of himself and dishonors himself and God. But when a man is filled with the Spirit, he exhibits self control and honors God. That is the contrast and it is given to illustrate what being filled with the Spirit is and is not. Being filled with the Spirit then is to exhibit self control, self discipline. Unfortunately, that is not what we see most often when we witness the charismatic outbursts on CBN. They revel in spiritual drunkenness which they claim is of the Holy Spirit. They babble incoherently. They exhibit a lack of control, a lack of discipline, and dishonor God. Paul makes it clear that they know not what sort of spirit they are of.

If you are being filled with the Spirit, that is under the control of the Spirit, then you will walk in the Spirit and bring honor to God by the way that you live. We have the power of the Holy Spirit available to us, indwelling in us, if we are saved. The dilemma is whether or not we will trust in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit and be obedient to the Spirit. When we do, we will be filled with the power to do so, and in so doing, we will be witnesses to the transforming power of Christ.

Let me close by reading Galatians 5:19 which shows us that contrast between the life lived as evidence of the flesh and the life evidenced as of the Spirit. “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” Amen.

A few days ago I watched the video released by the terrorist group ISIS, in which they set afire a captured Jordanian pilot. It was a gruesome video, and I don’t recommend that you watch it. It’s one of those things that you won’t be able to get out of your mind.

But I had my reasons for watching it. Not the least of which was that many Christians have been burned at the stake over the centuries. For instance, William Tyndale who was the first to translate the Bible into English was burned at the stake in 1536. And while it is one thing to know that from a historical perspective, it is another thing entirely to witness something like that in our lifetime, and to imagine what we might do if faced with such a fate.

As I was talking to someone about this tragic event later, they asked what seems to me to be a very pertinent question. They said, “What is it that causes people to do such horrible things? What is the root of this kind of evil?” My answer was that the Bible says that sin is the root of all evil. Sin is the root cause of all the problems of the world.

And true Christianity is the only religion in the world to really effectively deal with sin. Most religions of the world try to tell people how they are supposed to live, to establish some sort of ideal life style. They purport to tell people how they might aspire to be a better person. Some may even offer hope of a future after death. But most religions at best only offer a type of ascetic, monastic or meditative state whereby one through sheer willpower may hope to isolate himself somewhat from sin. But all these false religions fail to really deal effectively with sin.

But God’s plan to deal with sin meant that He would not just tell us what we must do, but He Himself would deal with the problem of sin. Theologians tell us that there are three characteristics of sin. The first characteristic of sin as delineated in the Bible is sin’s penalty. God told Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden at creation that if they sinned by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they would die. Likewise, Romans 6:23 says that the wages of sin is death. So the penalty of sin is death, eternal death, as defined by God. Death is not just God’s punishment for sin, but death is the inevitable outcome of sin. All sin leads to death. Inherent in sin is the penalty of death.

The second characteristic of sin is the power of sin. Romans 5:12 tells us, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.” So the power of sin is found in the nature of sin. It is like a genetically transmitted cancer that spread to all men from one generation to the next, traceable back to their father Adam. It is man’s sinful nature that causes him to sin. In John 8:34 Jesus says that “everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.” And as such they are held captive by Satan to do his will. This is the power of sin that all men are held captive under. Sin is relentless, overpowering, corrupting, and spread from generation to generation. Sin has power and dominion over it’s victims.

And then the third characteristic of sin is the presence of sin. Eastern religions tell their adherents that the only hope to escape this present state of sin is to withdraw oneself from society. Perhaps join a monastery where there is little temptation to sin. Or perhaps attempt to achieve nirvana through meditation whereby they can escape the presence of temptations. But that does not eradicate the presence of sin, that just gives one some temporary escape and even then only in a limited fashion. Even if it were possible by some strength of will for a person to limit sin in his body to some degree he still cannot escape the presence of sin in the world and the suffering that must be experienced due to it’s presence. The Bible tells us that the presence of sin entered the human race in the Garden of Eden, and it only grows worse with each succeeding generation.

In spite of all kinds of technological, scientific, educational, cultural and social advancements in society, things are not getting better and better, things are going from bad to worse. Wars and rumors of wars are increasing. People are killing and being killed in greater numbers than at any other time in history. Sex crimes and even sexual trafficking are reaching epidemic proportions. Abortions in the United States average one million babies killed a year. Divorce rates are at 50%. Drug abuse has reached pandemic status. Hundreds of thousands of people die of drug, alcohol and suicide related causes each year in the United States alone. Sixteen thousand murders are committed a year in the United States. All of this is the effect of sin. This is the presence of sin. It invades all of our lives. Even if you manage to live in a monastery in Tibet sin will still invade your life. Sin’s presence is inescapable.

From man’s perspective the situation is hopeless. But man’s extremity is God’s opportunity. In the midst of man’s hopelessness is where God intervenes. God’s strategy for dealing with sin doesn’t rely on the strength of man, or on the efforts of man or the will of man. God knew that man being inherently sinful could not escape sin’s penalty, nor overcome sin’s power, nor be delivered from sin’s presence. And so God stretched forth His own arm to save man by sending His Son, Jesus Christ to deal with sin. As Isaiah 59:1 tells us, “Behold, the LORD’S hand is not so short that it cannot save.” God Himself provided the antidote to sin. Continuing in vs. 15, “Now the LORD saw, and it was displeasing in His sight that there was no justice. And He saw that there was no man, and was astonished that there was no one to intercede;then His own arm brought salvation to Him, and His righteousness upheld Him.”

This is the gospel. This is what Christianity is all about. Christianity is not another religion that only tells you how you are supposed to live but it provides life by dealing with sin. Not only did Jesus illustrate by example how we are to live, but by His death He paid the penalty for our sin. Only God could pay the penalty for another’s sin, and Jesus did that on the cross for those that will accept Him as their Lord and Savior.

And then God raised Jesus bodily from the tomb to prove that Jesus had been able to pay the penalty for sin. If Jesus had not been holy, if He had not be deity, if He had not been utterly sinless, then God would have left Him in Hades. But because Christ was sinless, He was raised from the dead and over 500 people witnessed His resurrected body over the course of 40 days.

So God dealt with our penalty of sin by applying the punishment to Jesus at the cross. And because Christ was raised from the dead we can know that His sacrifice was acceptable to God. But that still leaves the power of sin and the presence of sin. What does the gospel of Christ offer to deal with that?

Well the answer is found in our passage today. After His resurrection, Jesus said to the disciples in vs. 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.” What is He talking about? Well, John provides a little more detail in his gospel. Look at John 16:7 “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.” Who is the Helper? This is none other than the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit.

And the Holy Spirit comes, Jesus said, to give you power. He said you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit is come upon you. Now some people have mistakenly taken this to mean that some sort of mystical force emanates from God to us at some point after our conversion so that we might experience God. They attribute weird feelings, or unknown tongues or some other ecstatic experiences to this power of the Holy Spirit.

But folks, that is not the ministry of the Holy Spirit. We are going to go into this in detail in a couple of weeks or so when we get into the book of Acts. But for now, just understand this; the Holy Spirit is not given to give you the goose bumps so you can feel saved. The Holy Spirit is given first so that you can be saved and secondly so you can act saved. So you can have power over sin. Listen again to John 16, starting in vs. 8-11, 13-15, “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. … 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. “He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. “All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.”

So then, the Holy Spirit’s ministry is to convict the world of sin, to lead us into righteousness, and to convict the world of the coming judgment. And John adds, the Holy Spirit will lead us into the truth through the Word of God. Furthermore, the Holy Spirit doesn’t speak of His own initiative, but speaks the Word of Christ. So as God is, so is Christ, and as Christ is, so is the Spirit of Christ. The Holy Spirit will not do anything that Christ did not do. But He is not limited to a physical body as Jesus was on earth. He is able to indwell the entire church and give them power over sin by leading them into the truth, and the truth will set them free.

God, in describing the new covenant that He would bring about in Christ said in Ezekiel 36:27 “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.” Hebrews 10:16 says the same thing, “THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THEM AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS UPON THEIR HEART, AND ON THEIR MIND I WILL WRITE THEM.” The power we have over sin is because God has given us the Holy Spirit to dwell in our hearts so that we are no longer controlled by sin as we once were. We are no longer captive to sin. But now we have a new heart and new desires because we are born of the Spirit, so we walk according to the Spirit.

Listen, if you are here today and you are convicted of sin, don’t quench the Holy Spirit. Don’t harden your hearts against the conviction of the Holy Spirit. His job is to use the Word of God to convict you, to lead you to recognize your need for righteousness. 1John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” As I said last week, repentance is the key to the gospel. It is the key to salvation. It is the key to justification and the key to sanctification. James 5:16 says “confess your sins one to another so that you may be healed.” He is not talking about physical healing, ladies and gentlemen, he’s talking about spiritual healing.

See, just as there are three categories or characterizations of sin, so are there three categories or stages of salvation. Salvation is justification, producing sanctification, resulting in glorification. Justification delivers us from the penalty of sin. Jesus was our substitute, paying our penalty by dying for us on the cross. Sanctification delivers us from the power of sin by yielding to the leading and conviction of the Holy Spirit on a day to day basis. And glorification is the last stage; the removal from the presence of sin.

That brings us back to our text. Jesus was received up into glory in the sight of His disciples. As He was talking to them, He led them out to the area near Bethany which was on the other side of the Mount of Olives, and He was taken up into heaven in their sight.

Why is that important? He was received into heaven. It is important because it foreshadows our glorification, when we will be delivered from the presence of sin. Christ’s ascension was witnessed by the apostles and the disciples gathered there. If Jesus had just suddenly stopped appearing during the 40 days without a bodily ascension with witnesses, then how would we know that He lives and is seated at the right hand of God as the gospel writers tell us? We know He lives and is seated in the heavenlies because He was seen taken up into heaven in bodily form. So His ascension validates the gospel and validates the promise of final deliverance from sin and all it’s effects.

Paul tells us He was received up into glory far above all rule and authority. Ephesians 1: 18-23 Paul says “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”

This is speaking of the glorification of Christ. That is what the ascension reveals. Christ is above all things. Above the power of sin. Above the power of angels, above the power of Satan, above the power of kings and rulers. Above all things. Above every name that is named, not only in this age, but the age to come. Now that is Christ’s glorification. And we know that it is so because of the ascension of Christ.

But wait, it doesn’t stop there. Christ is the forerunner of the church. Because He is there, we will one day be there with Him. One day Jesus will return for us. And He will take us to be with Him forever. We who are saved are destined to be heirs with Christ. And when He comes again to receive us, we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is. That means that this body of sin will be done away with. This mortal will put on immortality. That means that this world and all it’s evil will be burned up and a new heaven and a new earth will come down out of Heaven and we will be forever with the Lord in a sinless, perfect environment. Sin’s presence will be dealt with forever. The devil and his angels will be dealt with forever. Evil men will be dealt with. Despots and megalomaniac rulers will be dealt with. All will be cast into the Lake of Fire which burns forever and ever. And righteousness will reign in this new heaven and new earth for eternity.

Oh folks, listen up! Christ’s ascension was the exclamation point on the gospel. It is the source of hope for the saints, the source of joy for the saints. Because we know that as He is, so are we to be. As the grave could not hold Him, neither can the grave hold us. As death had no power over Him, neither do we need to fear death. As He had power over sin, so can we have power over sin. As He was raised to glory, so we are going to be raised in glory. As sin cannot be in His presence, so we shall be delivered from sin’s presence. Jesus promised in John 14:3 “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”

No wonder Luke tells us that the disciples “after worshiping Him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising God.” So should we be praising God and worshipping Him for all that He has accomplished for us that we so undeserving.

I want to close by continuing to read from Ephesians which we read while ago. We stopped at the end of chapter one. But let’s continue with chapter 2 which serves as a complete summary of the gospel: Eph. 2:1-10 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

And let me just point out a couple of things there which I want to leave you with today. The first one is that Paul says that God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly places… I want you to see that is not speaking of a future event, but a present event. Those of us that have been made alive in Christ have already been made alive, and have already been seated with Christ in heaven. That simply means that we have been delivered from the penalty of sin. As far as God is concerned, we are secure in Christ. We have already been seated in heaven with Christ spiritually speaking.

And then he says, all this has happened so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness towards us. We have been positioned with Christ in heaven so that in eternity to come, God might shower us with the riches of His grace. This is our inheritance that is reserved for us. God has already set a table there for us with our name plaque on our chair next to Christ. And God does not change His mind. God will keep us and bring us into glory with Christ.

And then lastly, note that by grace we have been saved through faith, not as a result of works. It’s nothing we do to earn salvation. But then notice the last verse, for we are His workmanship, we are crafted and created and designed by God, for what? For good works. Not saved by good works, but saved for good works… which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

If you are here today and you are still in your sins, then I hope you understood the message of the gospel. Jesus has paid the penalty and suffered the punishment for your sins. If you will confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. And if you are here today and are saved, born again by the Spirit of God, then I hope you realize that He has given you the Spirit so that you might have the power over sin. You were born of the blood of Jesus not so you can continue in sin so that grace may abound, but you were created in Christ Jesus for good works, to walk in them and according to the leading of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God. And then for all of us that are dying daily to the sinful nature in order to walk in the Spirit, know that there is going to come a day when we will be delivered forever from the presence of sin. Rom. 8:18 says, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Let us continue without wavering to look forward to His appearing.

Jesus’ death dealt with the penalty of sin; our justification. His resurrection provided the power over sin; our sanctification. And His ascension promises deliverance from the presence of sin; our future glorification. The only question left is what will you do with Jesus? Will you accept Him as your Savior, or deny Him as your Lord? I trust that you will accept His free offer of salvation and find freedom from sin.