I want to bring a message out
of Acts chapter 1, titled the message, This Same Jesus Shall
Come Again. Let me read the first 11 verses
in this first chapter. The former treaties have I made,
O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach. until
the day in which he was taken up. After that he, through the
Holy Ghost, had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had
chosen, to whom also he showed himself alive after his passion
by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and
speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. and being
assembled together with them, commanded them that they should
not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father,
which saith he, You have heard of me. For John truly baptized
with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many
days hence. When they therefore were come
together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this
time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them,
it is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the
father hath put in his own power, but you shall receive power after
that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. You shall be witnesses
unto me, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and
unto the uttermost part of the earth. And when he had spoken
these things, while they beheld, he was taken up and a cloud received
him out of their sight. While they looked steadfastly
toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them
in white apparel, which also said, ye men of Galilee, why
stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken
up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you
have seen him go into heaven." The book of Acts was written
by Luke. he writes to his friend Theophilus.
This is the same person that he wrote to in the gospel of
Luke. And he picks up where he left
off in his former treatise concerning all that Christ taught and the
miracles that he did until the day he was taken up into heaven. And in verse three, it says that
he showed himself alive. We know that he showed himself
alive for around 40 days, and he gave many infallible proofs
of his person, that it's really him. He ate with them. He taught them things concerning
the kingdom of God. They handled him. As it says
in 1 John, we have seen, we have handled, we have touched the
word of life. And their witness of the Lord Jesus Christ is true.
He is alive. Jesus Christ was crucified. He
was put to death. He was buried and he truly rose
again. He is alive and well and seated
at God's right hand. They are told here, the apostles
here are told to wait for the promise of the father. That is,
they are to wait to be endued with power from on high. They
are waiting until the Holy Spirit gives them the power to go out
and to preach the gospel. Without the power of the Holy
Spirit, our preaching is useless as it is in vain. It takes the
power of God to save dead sinners. It is not the power of philosophy
or the use of words Power does not lie in my speaking abilities. The power lies in the Spirit
of God. I know that many have been persuaded
into making a profession by persuasive words and speaking and smooth
talking, but none have ever been saved that way. When God saves
a sinner, they are saved by the power of God. God's people are
made willing in the day of His power to bow to the feet of the
Lord Jesus Christ, to bow to the authority of Jesus Christ. Now, in verse 6 and 7, it is
evident by these verses why we need the Holy Spirit to teach
us, to instruct us. They were more interested in
the kingdom of God being set up than they were the glory of
the King in that kingdom. They wanted to know, will thou
at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? They were
more concerned about Israel's prominence at that time than
God's kingdom. We are still You know, saved
men are still men at best. They're sinners, they're still
sinners. We lack so much. There's so much we don't know.
There's so much we lack spiritually in love toward God, in faith
toward God. But they were men and I'm glad
to see that because I see that in myself. But let me say this,
what the father has not revealed, we must leave to him. But what
He has revealed about Himself, about the Lord Jesus Christ,
about our salvation in Christ, we need to know. That's what
we need to seek. That's what we need to give our
time and interest to. And He says here in verse 8,
"...and you shall be witnesses unto Me." This is our life's
work, isn't it? To be His witness? It's not our
life's work to have a great career, to have a good retirement laid
up. Our life's work, the believer's now, the believer's life's work
is to be a witness of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are to tell
of the things which we have seen and heard of Him out of His Word,
being taught by His Spirit. We are to be witnesses of His
salvation. We are to be true and faithful
witnesses. That's what we are to be. You
shall be witnesses unto Me. The Scripture teaches us we are
not our own. We've been bought with a price.
We are not the servants of men, and we are not the servants of
ourselves. We are His servants. We are His witnesses. The Greek
word for witnesses means martyr. That means to lay down one's
life for Christ's sake. I don't live, and believers are
not to live for their sake, for their own benefits. here for
Christ's sake. All things were made by him and
for him. We were made for Christ's sake.
We were made for his glory. We are made to be his witnesses. Now, it says in verses nine through
11, when he has spoken these things, while they beheld, he
was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight. While
they looked steadfastly toward heaven, as he went up, behold,
two men stood by them in white apparel. which also said, ye
men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same
Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come
in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven. They actually
watched him ascend up into heaven. They were witnesses of his resurrection
and of his ascension. Now let's notice some important
truths in these verses. First of all, Christ ascended
back to the Father as He said He would. I go to the Father. He is seated at the right hand
of God as our substitute, as our mediator, as our advocate,
as our high priest, and as our high priest He intercedes for
us. All of this shows that He accomplished our salvation. That
He finished the work that the Father gave Him to do on this
earth for His elect. And now He has entered into the
Holy of Holies on our behalf. There is a man in glory on our
behalf. Our representative is there.
He did not come into this world to stay here. He came into this
world to live and die and rise again for a people given to him
by the father. He came to accomplish a work
and gather his people and take them home and to present them
without fault and without blemish before God the father. He said
in one place, I must be about my father's business and you
saving you is his father's business. Now, just as this was not his
home, neither is it our home. We look for our Lord to return
in like manner to come and get us. Right now, he sits as king
over all. God the Father has put all things
into the hands of this man, Jesus Christ. There is a man who sits
on the throne of God, As King of kings and Lord of lords, He
rules all things for the good of His people and His glory.
Now, God sent two angels to be witness to this, to declare this
truth to them and to us. Just as sure as He came the first
time, He came into this world. God became a man. He took upon
Him flesh. Jesus Christ is God manifest
in the flesh. He came into this world the first
time. Just as sure as He did, He is coming again. And this hope of Him coming again
ought to brighten our day. It ought to put a snap in our
step. We don't know what day it will be, but it will happen. It will happen because the word
of God says it will. In John 14 3, Christ said, and
if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive
you unto myself, that where I am there you may be also. We will see him someday for ourselves. Someday faith will give way to
sight. Job said, I will behold him with
my eyes and not another's. I will not sit and listen to
someone tell me about him. I will be standing there looking
at him. I won't have to read about him
again. I will see him to myself. I will literally hear Jesus Christ
speaking to me while I'm looking at him with my own eyes. And
when he comes, we will see him in his full glory. The first
time that he came, there was no beauty that we should desire
him, is what it says in Isaiah 53. But this time, he will be
altogether lovely when we see him to his people. Now, it won't be this way. to
everyone because all men have not faith. Not all men believe,
not all men and women believe, but some do. And those who do
believe when they see him, he will be altogether lovely. It
is written in Luke 21, 27. And then shall they see the son
of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory His glory
will not be veiled this time, but we will see Him as He is,
and we will see Him for who He is, and we will admire Him. And to us who believe, He is
altogether lovely. Then we shall receive the goal
of our salvation. And what is that? What is the
goal of salvation? Well, it's to be like Him, it's
to be conformed to His image completely, it's to be with Him. The goal of salvation is to be
like Him, is to be with Him, and it is to be rid of sin once
and for all. And once this happens, all things
will be made new. There'll be a new heaven, a new
earth, when He comes back, He will put an end to all of this,
this earth and all sin and all the corruption and all the darkness,
it'll all be gone. And there'll be a new heaven
and a new earth. All the old things will pass away and all
things will be made new. All the bodies of the saints
will be raised from the graves and they shall have a new body.
They shall have a glorified body. Our hope becomes a reality. Right now, we have the gospel
in hope. We have this in hope, and Scripture
says we are saved by hope. That is, we have an expectation
of being saved. But when He comes and He gathers
us together, our hope becomes reality. And this will be a glorious
day for His saints. This is not a terrible day. We
look forward to this day. It'll be a terrible day for those
who believe not on Him. Listen to Revelation 1.7, Behold,
He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him. And they also
which pierced Him. And all kindreds of the earth
shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen. Not all, not all
would be glad to see Jesus Christ. Not all, there'll be many who
will cry for the rocks and the mountains to cover them, to fall
on them. They will stand before God and
receive the deeds done while in the body, no more, no less. They will stand before the judge
of heaven and earth and be judged. No one knows what fear really
is until they stand before God Almighty naked and with no hope
and no Savior. I can't even begin to even imagine
that kind of fear. But I want you to notice something
here. Christ himself will be the judge. Christ will be the
judge of the quick and the dead. He will be the one that all men
and women will give answer to. They will all stand before Jesus
Christ. But for the believer, this is
not terrifying. For the believer, this is like
Joseph's brothers standing before him. Remember how he had compassion
on them and wept over them and he just loved them. Joseph loved
them. This is what it's like for the
believer. It'll be a day of rest. It'll be the rest that you and
I are waiting for. We'll have it completely. Right
now, we do enjoy a spiritual rest in that we are not trying
to keep a law in order to be saved, but at that time, the
rest will be perfect and undisturbed. undisturbed. We will not be molested
by sin no more. We will not be tempted no more.
It'll be perfect rest, perfect love, perfect worship. Now in verses 12 through 26,
we find the apostles being obedient to their Lord's command. They
went back to Jerusalem. He told them to. Even though
their enemies were there, they went back. You know, sometimes
duty takes us in harm's way, yet we must go. We must go, knowing
that all is under the power of our Lord. Scripture says, He
that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. And they were to go back to Jerusalem
and they were to wait on the promise of the Father. The Scriptures
are always telling us to wait on the Lord. Always telling us
to wait on the Lord. What do we wait on the Lord for?
Well, first of all, we wait on Him as the God of our salvation.
Listen to Psalm 25, 5, Lead me in thy truth, and teach me, for
thou art the God of my salvation. On thee do I wait all the day. We wait on Him as the Giver of
all temporal blessings. In Psalm 104, verses 27 and 28,
These wait all upon thee, that thou mayest give them their
meat in due season, that thou givest them they gather. Thou
openest thine hand, they are filled with good. And then in
Psalm 145, the eyes of all wait upon thee and thou givest them
their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand and you
satisfy, thou and satisfies the desire of every living thing. And we wait upon the Lord for
mercy. Psalm 123, 2. Behold, behold, as the eyes of
servants look into the hand of their masters and as the eyes
of a maiden into the hand of her mistress. So our eyes wait
upon the Lord, our God, until that he have mercy upon us. We wait upon him for mercy. We
don't deserve it. We never deserve what we ask
for. That's why we wait upon him in mercy. And then we wait
upon him for pardon. Psalm 39, seven and eight. And now, Lord, what wait I for?
My hope is in thee. Deliver me from all my transgressions.
Make me not the reproach of the foolish. We wait upon him for
pardon. Lord, pardon all my transgressions. Put away all my sins. Forgive
me of my sins. Wash me in the blood. And we
wait for him. We wait for him. We wait for
him for complete salvation. It says in Genesis 49, I have
waited for thy salvation, O Lord. In Psalm 62, truly my soul waiteth
upon God. From him cometh my salvation.
You know, from him cometh my salvation from the curse of the
law, from Satan, from sin, but from him comes my salvation every
day. God saves me from trouble every
day. Every day there is something, someone, there are unseen spirits
that would take my life, that would harm me and my family.
I wait upon the Lord and you wait upon the Lord for our daily
salvation to keep us safe every day. For he only is my rock and
my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not
be greatly moved. You know, sometimes we are moved.
Sometimes we are moved with some fear of something happening. We're right now, this coronavirus
going through. There's some reserve there. I don't know if I'm saying a
slavery's fear or fear of dying, but there is some reserve there. But God's our defense. God's
our defense. We'll not be greatly moved. We
may hear some trouble and it may move us for a little bit,
but then we settle down. We settle down and we rest. And
then we wait on the Lord for guidance and teaching. Psalm
25, 5, lead me in that truth. Lead me in that truth. Lord,
take me, make me a disciple. Lead me in that truth and teach
me. First of all, give me a teachable heart, a teachable spirit, and
then, Lord, teach me. For Thou art the God of my salvation.
On Thee do I wait all the day. I wait on You. I look to You.
And then we wait on Him for protection, in which I've already mentioned
this, In Psalm 33 20, it says, our soul waited for the Lord.
He is our help and our shield. In this life right now, as we
go through it, God is our help and our shield. Psalm 59 nine, because of his
strength, while I wait upon thee for God is my defense. And then
we wait for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Never lose
sight of this, never get so busy in this life. Never get so caught
up into it. Never get so caught up into your
personal family and your personal job and your career. Never get
so caught up that you quit looking for the coming of Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 1.7, Paul says
this, So that you come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 1.10, "...and
to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead,
even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come." Our
position is to watch and wait. We are watching and waiting for
a person to come back. And it's the same person, this
same Jesus, the one that was crucified, the one that the gospel
is about, the one that the whole Word of God is written about,
this same Jesus is coming again. He's coming again. But as in
everything, we all fall short. Even so, Peter, he did not wait
for the Lord to reveal who would take Judas's place. Instead,
they chose two men and asked God to decide which one he wanted.
He said, show whether of these two thou hast chosen. Well, neither
won. God's man was Saul of Tarsus.
No one would have picked Saul of Tarsus. He hated Jesus Christ
with a passion. He hated Jesus Christ as much
as the devil hated Jesus Christ. It's usually the one we would
not pick is the one God chooses. Remember when Samuel went to
anoint David king, when he went down to Jesse's house, he took
the tallest, the eldest, the tallest, the darkest, handsome,
the tall, dark and handsome scenario. And he was gonna make him king.
He looked at him and he said, oh, this has to be the one. He's
a good looking man. You know, when he walks in a
room, he commands attention. That's not God's man. That is
not God's man. When we walk in the room, Jesus
Christ is to have our attention. Not us. So it's usually the man that
no one would pick. And we must learn to wait on
the Lord to open and reveal His will in any matter. And not just
get impatient and try to fill fill an office or a spot. I think
this is where the church has fallen into trouble over the
years, is putting men in positions that are not qualified, are not
called of God, not gifted of God to preach or to teach. But
they think, well, this young man, he'd be good with young
people. The only people that would be good for young people
is the man whom God has chosen and given the gift to preach
the gospel. not just someone that has good
talents. Now let me summarize this and
close. The Lord Jesus Christ is risen
from the dead. He's not dead, but alive forevermore. We serve, we worship a risen
Savior. Our Savior is not hanging on
a cross. Our Savior is seated at God's
right hand. He's gone back to the Father, waiting there till
His enemies be made His footstool. And this same Jesus shall come
again, the same one who lived for us, the same one who died
for us and rose for us, is the same one coming to get us. And
we ought to be the most optimistic, excited people on this earth. Wait on the Lord. be His obedient
servant, be about our Father's business, looking for this same
Jesus to come again. All right, may the Lord bless
His word.