We had known the tune to that,
we might have, might could have sung it with a little more zeal and enthusiasm, but the
words are just fabulous. Look at verses ten and eleven
with me, Acts chapter one. And while they looked steadfastly
toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men
stood by them in white apparel, two angels, which also said,
Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? Evidently
they were just gazing, just spellbound,
looking at the sky as it disappeared out of their sight, mouths gaping
open, eyes wide, speechless. And these angels 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." And no one in here doubts that
there was a historical figure named Jesus, who lived nearly
two thousand years ago upon this earth. History, which has been recorded
by pagan writers, substantiates the existence of such a one named
Jesus. The son of a carpenter who was
born and raised in the land of Israel, around whom many fantastic
stories are told. No figure has left such a mark
upon history as this man. In fact, it could be renamed
his story. because even time itself is measured
around this man's life. He never wrote a book, that is,
while he was on this earth. He never wrote a book, yet if
all the things that were said and done by him were written
down, the libraries could not contain the books. He never wrote
a song, yet he is the theme of more songs than any other, than
all other songs combined. Without force or bribery, without
arms or money, without an earthly kingdom or great possessions,
he left a mark on this world as no other person in all of
history. No part of history has been so well
documented as thirty-three short years in the life of this man,
this man named Jesus. Books written over a thousand
years prior to his appearance on the earth record exacting
details concerning his place of birth, the time of his birth,
his lineage, every member of his earthly family, his character
as he matured, his life, his deeds, his miracles, his very
words that he would utter. Many thousands of people were
firsthand witnesses of him. Thousands saw and spoke of signs
and miracles and wonders performed by him. They say he walked on
water. Some saw him still a raging ocean. Many saw him heal lepers with
a touch. Some saw him open the eyes of
those who had been born blind. Many saw him and actually partook
of the food that he fed to five thousand people with a few loaves
and fish. And some saw him raise the dead. A group of twelve men were chosen
by him, plain, everyday, ordinary men. Most of them were fishermen,
working-class individuals, hard-working fishermen, men that are known
for their bluff honesty. Have you ever met some of these
longshoremen or fishermen? They're about like Teamsters,
Brother Joe. They're men who are naturally
hard and skeptical and are not easily fooled or influenced. These men followed him, followed
this man named Jesus, and lived with him for three and a third
years. Four men wrote personal accounts
of all that they saw and heard of him, or all that they could
get written down, and all of them were in perfect agreement
about what they saw and heard. All of their accounts perfectly
agreed. These were men, men who had nothing to gain by telling
the story of this man. On the contrary. They lost their
lives for telling it. These were not men who had earthly
gain in mind or wealth or fame from his story. They lost everything
for telling it. Their names are famous now, these
apostles, but they were infamous then. and despised and mistreated,
and all but one of them were brutally and cruelly murdered
for refusing to recant their stories and their allegiance
to this man named Jesus, whom they said was the Son of God. One man named Peter, who was
a spokesman for the group, fisherman, a businessman who left all of
his earthly possessions and his business and his family to follow
this stranger, he said, We have not devised cunningly devised
fables. We have not followed cunningly
devised fables when we made known unto you the power and the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ. We were eyewitnesses of his majesty. Now all of these things, all
of these things, time measured around him, history as recorded
about him, people who were witnesses of him, events, all of these
things bear witness to this man named Jesus, that he was no ordinary man.
But rather, he was most extraordinary. He was no mere natural man, but
rather he was supernatural. He was no mere man at all, but
none other than God, God Almighty, in the body of a man. Do you
believe that? Do you believe all this? Do you,
Vicki? That was written. That was written
a long time ago. It's an old, old story. Surely,
it's all been conjured up over the years. Surely. You know how
things kind of get exaggerated over time? Do you believe that?
Do you believe all that? All of it? I do. with all my heart, every
word, every story, every event, every happening, and I stake
my life upon it, and I stake my home and my family upon it,
and I'm endeavoring to teach my child about it, rather, about
him. I stake my everything, my future,
my all upon this one who lived nearly two thousand years ago. I will be called a fool for this
mindset. Will you? I stake my eternal
destiny upon his glorious person, on his promises, on everything
he said and everything he did. I rest upon it, I trust in it,
I believe it, and I depend upon it. my eternal salvation. I believe every word he spoke
was absolutely true. Absolutely. I believe everything
he did was divinely ordained for eternal consequences concerning
me. I believe everything about him.
I believe every word he spoke. I believe him. And I'm enamored
with and taken up with and idolize him. And I attempt, a very poor
attempt it is, but I attempt to pattern my life by this one
who lived nearly 2,000 years ago. I'm a follower of his. Yes, I am a follower, a disciple
of his. He says jump, I'll jump. He says
go, I go. He says come, I come. He says
believe, I believe. And all my heart, mind, soul,
and affection belongs unto this one." How about you? All my heart, mind, soul, and
affection belongs to this man named Jesus, but I don't call
him Jesus. He's too great. That was his
earthly name. He's no longer a mere man. I call him as he is now. I call
him Lord. My Lord and my God. Thomas said
that, didn't he, when he came back, when he finally saw him
as he was? And the thing I look forward
to more than anything else, with the greatest of anticipation—really,
I'm not just preaching, I'm telling you from my heart. The thing
I look forward to with the greatest of anticipation more than anything
else is not seeing my daughter grow up, not having grandchildren. Not this, not that, the other.
But I look forward to the day when this same Jesus is going
to come back to this earth. And if I'm alive, if I'm around
at that time, my, my. My, my. He's coming again. He said he would. I believe it.
I know in the last days scoffers and mockers will come walking
up to their own love saying, where is the promise of his coming?
And all things continue as they have from the beginning. I know
they're willingly ignorant of the creation of God and the flood
and the judgment of God, and they refuse to believe the rest
of the word of God, and they refuse to believe that Christ
is coming again. But I believe it. I believe him. And he's coming
back, and with all my heart, I want to watch and wait on him
daily. Daily. I want to look for him. All right. And that's what it
means. That's what faith is. Do you
know that? Look it up sometime when the Lord said, when the
Lord mentioned how many times he talked about those who watch
and wait for him. Look it up. How many times he
talked about that? When the Son of Man comes, will
he find faith on the earth? Will he find you watching, waiting,
looking for him? That's what it means to be a
disciple. All right, let's look briefly at this account of his
ascension from the earth. That is, when he ascended up
into heaven. And like his birth, death, and
resurrection, his ascension was a miracle. This was a miracle. And we cannot enter into it.
We cannot rejoice in it because we were not there. We're sitting
here reading a book about it. But had we been there, we would
have been googly-eyed like these disciples. We would have been
absolutely awestruck. If the Holy Spirit would give
us eyes now, we'd be awestruck now as well. The book of Acts
was recorded by Luke, the physician, as I said. Look at verses 1 and
2 with me. He said, The former treatise
of our made old Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to
do and to teach, until the day And what a day! He must have
had chills up and down his spine as he even thought about it that
day. I'll never forget it, Luke. I'll
never forget it. The day in which he was taken
up. Taken up. And after that, through
the Holy Ghost, he had given commandments unto the apostles
whom he had chosen. Now notice there he says that
he, through the Holy Ghost, through the Holy Ghost. The Lord Jesus
Christ confined himself to a body while he was here. He confined
himself. He limited himself. He did not
perform any miracles for himself. You'll never find it where the
Lord fed himself or did anything for the relief of his own pain
and suffering with a miracle. significant people. He was touched
for the feeling of our infirmities. We have not a high priest who
cannot be touched for the feeling of our infirmities, but was tempted
in all points like as we are. He had to know what it was like
to be hungry. He had to know, Brother Terry, what it was like
to live by faith, depending upon God to provide for him. Aren't
you glad? He knows. He knows how you feel.
He knows your frame. Why? He had one. He had a frame
like that. Grew hungry. grew tired, grew
weary from labor. He confined himself to a body.
And as a man, he had to live by faith, touched with our infirmity.
And everything he did, he did through the instrument of or
dependent upon God's Holy Spirit, through the Holy Spirit. Now,
this is significant. The Holy Spirit is called the
Spirit of Christ, is He not? the Spirit of Christ. It is Christ's
Holy Spirit. That's significant, because the
Son of Man came to bear witness of the Father, and the Holy Spirit
came to bear witness of the Son, to reveal the Son. We're going
to see that a little more clearly in a moment, but it says, After
through the Holy Spirit he had given commandments unto the apostles
whom he had chosen. The Holy Spirit had to make real
to the hearts of these disciples his commands and everything,
because he was in a body and they were looking at a man just
like you are looking at a man right now. Right? That's why,
in spite of all the miracles that he did right in front of
their eyes, they still were unbelieving. Right? So they needed the same
Holy Spirit even though Christ was right in their midst. God
was right there. He had a body, Barton. So through
the Holy Spirit, they had to have the Holy Spirit to teach
and instruct them, even though Christ was right there with them. And through the Holy Spirit,
he commanded his apostles, verse 3, to whom also he showed himself
alive. I like that. When I first read
that, I thought, he showed himself alive. Brother John and I were talking
about how these disciples now, every one of them saw him beaten
to a bloody pulp. They saw his face disfigured
beyond recognition, his visage marred more than any man. They
saw blow after blow, albeit they saw it from a distance. Cowards
as they were, we'd have been cowards too. If we hadn't have
been beating him ourselves, we'd have been hiding in the bushes
like they were. But they saw him beaten to a bloody pulp.
They saw him spit on and whipped within an inch of his life. They
saw him hung on that coarse piece of wood, nails driven in his
hand as blood gushed from his wrist. That's where the nails
were driven. And the blood gushed from his body, and his body turned
pale after six hours, and he dropped his head, and his body
went limp. And they saw a soldier come by
with a big, ugly, crudely forged spear and rip his guts open. He was dead. I mean, he looked
like a cow that had been processed. He was dead. There was no doubt
in their minds whatsoever he was dead. The reason they were
so sad, that's the reason just a day later they all said, We're
leaving. He's dead. Nobody can survive
that. He's dead. And they saw him put
in a tomb and a big stone rolled over it, no passageway for air
at all. Three days went by. He was dead. And they were one day, they were
somewhere together out fishing. That's where it was. And he showed
himself alive. They were out fishing, and finally,
when they all recognized who it was, they didn't believe it.
You know, one woman came running up to them and said, He's alive!
He's alive! He's dead! We saw him. He's dead, woman.
What's wrong with you, foolish woman? It's old wives' favor. It's nothing. It's just like
you women telling these tales like that. He's dead! Don't get
our hopes up like that. And he came walking through the
walls where they were. He said, I'm alive, and he upbraided
them for their unbelief. I bet you Peter put his hand
over his mouth then, didn't he? He showed himself alive after his passion. That's what
the old Puritans referred to when they referred to the death
of our Lord Jesus Christ, passion, because a great deal of it went
into that work. by many infallible proofs, being
seen of them forty days, the Lord would have them know for
a certainty it was him. Forty days. And it's like I was
telling you, I was telling, I bet you they all became like the
beloved John from that day forward. You remember John was always
found leaning up against his breast. I bet you Christ couldn't
move for them just hanging on him. They may have been unbelieving
before. They may have been tossed to and fro before, but now he
showed himself alive. And Spurgeon said that during
these forty days, the Lord himself, as he opened up the mysteries
of God to these disciples in preparation for their writings
of the epistles and so forth, and walked with them for forty
days, showing himself alive by infallible proofs. It says, speaking
of things pertaining to the kingdom of God, preaching, teaching,
being with them daily. The Virgin said that God Almighty
silenced all the enemies on earth for forty days. Don't you come
near. No words, nothing. Peace for
forty precious days. as the Lord prepares his disciples.
In other words, there was peace, there was tranquility on the
earth while the Lord Jesus Christ did this. And it says that he,
look at that again, it says that he, speaking of the things pertaining
to the kingdom of God, he spoke to them for forty days, and they
were in sheer ecstasy and joy. Sheer ecstasy. They stayed up
late, and they got up early. Guarantee you. They stayed up
till 2 or 3 in the morning, drinking espresso, and they didn't want
to go to bed. Why? He was speaking. He was
talking. He just kept bringing truth after
truth. He kept opening the Old Testament
Scriptures to understand it. He preached Ruth. He preached
Boab. He preached Mephibosheth. He'd
preach the ark. He'd preach Noah's ark. He'd
preach the scapegoat. He'd preach the Levitical atonement. He'd preach. He'd preach. He'd
preach. And they just couldn't get him. Now their hearts burned.
Preach it again. For 40 days. And you'd like to
be in on that? We're going to be. And it ain't
going to be 40 days. It's going to be eternity. going
to be eternity. And you know, he revealed to
them things that we read now. The things that we read in their
epistles are what they learned in the space of those forty days. It says that here in verse four,
he said, being assembled together, that he commanded them, they
should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the
Father, which saith he, ye have heard of me. So one day after
he came and appeared to them. They
were assembled together, it said. Do you have a marginal reference?
What does it say? Being assembled. It says they were eating together,
doesn't it? Now that's amazing in itself, people. You remember
when Christ showed himself, that he was, it was him, he said,
I'm not a spirit. Remember they were frightened
when they first saw him. They were frightened, afraid
they'd seen a ghost. And he said, it's me, touch me, handle me,
behold my hand. in my feet. It's me. He got in
him meat. Let me have a piece of that fish.
Watch. It's me. It is I. Spirit hath not flesh and bones. Spirit doesn't eat as you see
me eat. Now they were assembled together one day and they were
eating dinner. The disciples were eating together. The Lord
was eating with them. They were in and around their
old stomping grounds, too. They were in and around Jerusalem,
their old stomping ground, around Bethany. That's where the home
of Martha and Mary and Lazarus was. They might have been back
at some of the places He loved the most. You know what the Lord
loved? That was the Lord's happiest times on the face of this earth
when He was with His people. That's my happiest times, too.
And you know it's most often those times when God's people
are gathered together were often around the dinner table. He was
often eating with the disciples around the dinner table. Heaven
is spoken of as a supper, a big supper. It's supper time. Come,
all things are ready, all things have been prepared. Come to the
table, come and dine. Time to eat. Gather all the little
children. all around the table. What are
your happiest memories, fondest memories back through the years?
Aren't they the times when you spent feasting around the table
with your loved ones? Isn't every so-called holiday
that we spend gathered around the table eating with our friends
and our loved ones, huh? And our Lord here was gathered
with his disciples here, and there was much feasting and food
and fellowship. and joy and laughter. Now, this
religious world would have us to believe that Christians don't
laugh, that the Lord never laughed. But in heaven, you know, there's
going to be great laughter in heaven. Huh? Laughter! The Scriptures talk about there's
going to be joy unspeakable. You know why there's not going
to be speaking? There's going to be laughing too hard. I don't mean
at anything, I mean holy laughter. You ever had that? You hear me
every now and then while I'm preaching, because it rejoices my heart. Nobody told a joke. Why are you
laughing about it, Henry? That's what happens when you're
caught. And the Scripture says, I'm not going to understand this,
it says, No, not going to be any more tears. I can't help
crying when I laugh. Barbara, you're the same. I look
back there, and Barbara's got a smile on her face, and she's
wiping her eyes. Well, there'll be no more tears. We'll be laughing,
but no tears in heaven. Constant laughter. Prove me wrong. Oh, yes. Joy unspeakable. Full
of joy and rejoicing. Laughter. Laughter. Eating around
the table with our Lord. assembled and it says here that
he was assembled together with them and it was a joyous occasion.
And they were laughing and enjoying themselves and listening to him
speak and talk. It was a good time to be had
by all. A good time. If there's no joy
in your religion, you need to dump it. You need to rejoice in the Lord.
Rejoice, I say! I remember, I told you plenty
of times about old brother Henry Breedlove laughing when he was
hearing the preaching. I was a boy, a young boy about,
oh, Andrew's age. I'd hear this man laugh behind
me, preaching going on. And he just, I'd laugh out loud.
Do you remember, Henry? He'd go, I mean, he wouldn't
let, he wouldn't hold it back. He'd go, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. I didn't understand, but I do
now. So sometimes I feel like doing
that. Turn over to John fourteen with
John chapter fourteen it says that Christ assembled together
with them and they were eating around the table and having a
good time and he says now you go you stay here in Jerusalem
until I send the promise of the father he began talking with
him about what would happen I'll send the promise of the father
now here's the promise of the father he was talking about it's
written in Luke twenty four and here it is in more detail in
John 14. There's a lot of controversy
about this giving of the Holy Spirit, isn't there? There's
nothing more controversial in our day than the so-called baptism
of the Holy Spirit. Now, I'm going to clear this
thing up for you once and for all, if there's any doubt in
your mind. There's a lot of controversy about this, and there's probably
nothing more controversial. Now, you remember that Christ
Here in John fourteen I'll give you the chronology of what he's
saying here. He had told them in the first
part of John fourteen he said I'm leaving. He said I'm leaving. Now remember he had been their
father, their mother, their brother, their provider, their protector,
their nurse. And they were troubled. Where
are you going, Lord? We don't know where you're going.
This is the reason they kept saying things. Thomas said, Lord,
we don't know where you're going. Thomas, you do know where I'm
going. I've been telling you ever since I've been with you
for three years. You do know the way that I'm going. I'm the
way, the truth, and the lie. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. And I've got to go to the prayer place. Where are
you going? We don't leave us now. And Philip said, Lord, if
you leave us, Show us the Father, show us the sign. How many signs
does that show you?" he said. How many miracles does that perform?
Huh? I've been so long time with you,
and shown you so much, and yet you don't believe? Philip! Oh,
God! And he's saying here to them,
after he said, and they were all troubled and upset, he said, And he said, But I'm not going
to leave you alone. Let not your heart be dauntless.
Just settle down. I'm not going to leave you alone.
All alone. Look at verses 16 through 20. He said, Now I'm going to pray
the Father. I'm going to go to ever live and intercede for you
as your mediator. And you can call upon me any
time. I'll hear you every time. Charles, I'll hear you every
time. I'm alive. No figment of men's
imagination. He's real. You call his name,
he hears you. You're getting kind of hard of
hearing. When I call your name sometimes, you don't hear me.
He's not hard of hearing. He said, every time you call
me, I hear it. Not answer it immediately, but
he hears you. That's good news, isn't it? And Christ said, now
I'm going to pray, I'm going to be there, and I'm going to
pray to the Father himself, God himself, and he'll give you another
comforter. I've been your comforter for
three and a third years, and now he's going to give you another
comforter, that he may abide with you forever, never leave
you. And here's what he's called,
verse seventeen, Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive
because it doesn't see him. He's a spirit in their flesh,
but you're not, you don't walk in the flesh. You walk in the
Spirit. You go into it. And they neither
know him, but you know him. Why? Because he dwelleth with
you. You catching this? Who is the
Spirit? It's the Spirit of Christ. It's
one and the same person. And he shall be in you. I won't
leave you comfortless. I'll come to you. I'll send my Holy Spirit. Now,
a little while, he says, A little while and the world seeth me
no more, but you see me." Why? How? With these eyes? No, they couldn't believe those
eyes, could they? When he'd arisen, they still didn't believe it.
They're going to see with eyes that they hadn't had to rely
on up to that point. Right? They're going to see it
with one eye! One eye! In the middle of their chest.
An eye of faith. And they're going to see more
clearly than ever seen before. Ever seen before. He said, You'll
see me. Why? Because I live. And you shall
live also. And at that day you shall know.
You shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in
you. You'll know. You'll know. I'm
in the Father. I'm with the Father. And this
Holy Ghost This Holy Spirit, this Spirit of mine, this Spirit
of Christ is going to be your teacher, your leader, your guide
all the rest of your days upon earth. Now listen to me. Listen to me now. Christ said,
I've done all things necessary for your life, your eternal life.
I came down here with a job to do. My job is not, it's expedient
for me to go. My work is finished. Christ came
down here as a man, substitute. to pour out his soul unto death.
He died and he rose again and he's got another job that he
does for eternity. Intercessor, mediator of the
covenant, seated at the right hand of the Father. His job's
over on this earth. It's expedient, he says, that
I should go. Got to. If I don't go, the Holy Spirit
won't come. And he's got a job to do. And his sole purpose,
listen to me now, The sole purpose of the Holy Spirit is not to
make you talk like an idiot. It's to make you talk with some
good sense. It's to not make you wild. It's
not to fill you with contortions. The devil does that. Don't you
remember when Christ came to that Gadarene, the demoniac,
and he was tossing him, and he was in fits and wallowing on
the ground? That just sounds just like some Pentecostal meeting
today, doesn't it? He had a spirit, all right. And
he needed it exorcised or taken out of by the Holy Spirit. When
the Holy Spirit came to that man, what happened? He was suited,
like you are right now, clothed in his right mind. What's the
right mind? What's the only right mind? The mind of Christ. Seated
at the feet of Christ, listening to Him, studying Him, believing
Him, learning about Him. truth after truth becoming solidified
in his mind and his heart. That's what the Holy Spirit is
and does, and that's the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Now listen
to me. Look at verse 26. It says that,
"...comforter which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send
in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things
to your remembrance whatsoever I have said." The Holy Ghost
doesn't teach new revelations. Oh, no! If you learn something
new that was not taught by Christ, you'd cast it away really, real
quick. The Holy Spirit doesn't give you anything new or different
or separate from what Christ has already said. But it says
here, He said, He'll bring to remembrance. You see, we've got
a very short memory, don't we? If I were to ask somebody in
here what my text was this morning, if you have a hard time remembering,
just this morning. Well, they'd lived with Christ
for three and a third years, had they not? He'd said many
things. Luke said if the books, if everything
was written down that he said and did, the world could not
contain the books. They couldn't remember everything
he said, but as time went by, Brother Henry, the Holy Spirit
began every day, day in, day out, bringing one little tidbit
to remember. One more truth back to their
remembrance. What was that? A new revelation? No, an old
one, something that he had already said. You see, Christ was a preacher,
wasn't he? First and foremost was a preacher.
What is the responsibility of every true preacher? To preach
the whole counsel of God, to keep back nothing profitable.
Now, he was a preacher unlike any other. There's never been
one before or since like this preacher, this messenger of God. And he came and told all the
counsel of God, everything necessary, everything a man or a woman or
a young person needed to know, everything. But they couldn't
contain it. He said, I have many things to say unto you, but you
can't receive them. Now, you hadn't been walking
with me but three years now or a year, however long it was when
he said that, right? You're a fisherman, and you own
a gas station. How are we going to know the
things of God? The Holy Spirit is going to have to take us day
in and day out, isn't He? And teach us one thing. If we
could learn one thing a day, we'd learn something, wouldn't
we? That's how slow and dim-witted
we are, and dull of hearing, and how fine our understanding
is, and how fleshly we are, and so forth. The Holy Spirit takes
one thing that Christ already said. and brings it to remember. And don't you know, with each
new day, they had some recall of what Christ said and did,
and each new day that the Holy Spirit, they got the Scriptures
out and began to look, and they were writing their epistles and
so forth, and they saw something and said, I remember when he
said that! Oh, I remember that! That's true! Don't you know that? When they were reading over there
in Isaiah 53, oh, that's him! I remember everything they read
throughout the Scripture. And the Holy Spirit began to
open under there. I remember him saying, Peter,
refresh my memory. Didn't Christ say something about
this over here? See this verse right here? Didn't
he say something? Yes, I remember that. And they
just rejoiced together, called one another up. Daily rejoiced. Now you don't tell me that I'm
going to spell this thing about the baptism of the Holy Spirit
once and for all in your own minds. I'm going to silence these
game sayers. Their mouths must be stopped.
Don't tell me that the disciples did not have the Holy Spirit
before now. Don't you dare. Don't anybody dare tell me that.
I'll stand nose to nose with anybody that says that. They
had him. They had the Holy Spirit in a
body. Didn't he call the Spirit of
Christ? Doesn't the Scripture say, in him dwelleth all the
fulness of what? The Godhead in a body. They had the Father, they had
the Son, they had the Holy Spirit. They touched the Holy Spirit.
They handled him. Don't tell me they didn't have
the Holy Spirit. They had God with them. Don't tell me he wasn't
given up until his time. Don't tell me they didn't have
spiritual knowledge. And illumination. I've heard
grace preachers preach on this along these lines that they didn't
the disciples weren't saved until later on when this when this
happened. That's not so you remember when the Lord said to Peter when
he asked his disciples around the circle said whom do you say
that I am you remember Peter's acknowledged he said you're the
Christ. Now if that isn't salvation I don't know what is and what
did Christ answer then. Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah!
You didn't figure that out on your own. How did he find it
out? My Father revealed that unto you. How? Through the Holy
Spirit. They had spiritual knowledge.
Don't tell me they didn't have the joy of the Holy Spirit, or
His power, or His presence. They touched Him. They handled
Him. They had the Spirit, and they had the body. They had Christ. Like I said, we need to keep
it in context. Christ was leaving and he says, I'm leaving a part
of me with you. Part of me with you. And for
us, we've never seen Christ face to face. And we need the Holy
Spirit more, more than the disciples even. We've never seen him. But we've been given his spirit
and people I can really and Peter said it. He said we have a more
sure word of prophecy. We saw him. We saw his miracles
in this and that. He said you have a more sure
word of prophecy where until you do well to take heed. If
you just look into these verses, you would come away believing
just as assuredly that Christ is that he's alive. He will show
you. He will show you himself alive. How? through the reading of this
book. I sat down there in my study,
and he showed himself to me. Not a body, not a 900-foot Jesus
like Oral says, but a 9,000,000-foot Jesus, seated on a throne. I didn't see any vision, but
I seen him so clearly in the page of this book, I say, He
is alive! And we need that Holy Spirit,
and He's just as real to us as He was to the disciples when
He was walking with them. just as real. Oh, yes. I defy
anyone to say differently. Well, what about this baptism?
Turn back to the text, and I'll hurry. What about this baptism?
He said in verse 5, John truly baptized with water, but you
shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. What
about this baptism? This is a second baptism. You've
heard that, haven't you? You need the second baptism.
Why? I thought, Henry, didn't you
read somewhere, I think it's Ephesians 4, doesn't it say something
about one baptism? Am I correct in reading that?
I think it's Ephesians 4. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. Does that mean anything? Oh, there's a second. There's a second. It says right
here in Acts 1, 5, doesn't it? Well, they're ignorant of the
Scriptures and the power of God. in the scripture. He says here
in verse five, you're going to be immersed into me and I in
you. You're going to be wholly taken
up with me. Now remember, the Spirit is the
Spirit of Christ. This is important, people. This
is all important. The Holy Spirit is called the
Spirit of Christ and Christ himself said he shall not, the Holy Spirit
when he comes shall not what? Speak of himself. That's significant, but he shall
take the things of mine and show them unto you. And anybody who's taken up with
signs and miracles and so forth, they are not being led by the
Holy Spirit. A spirit-filled Christian. I walked into work one day at
the railroad and I know this guy must have seen me coming. He must have known who I was,
too, or whatever. I don't know. I must have known
I did a little preaching at the time, whatever. But I walked
in and stepped in the door of the secretary's office, and he
was sitting there counting off railroad cars as they went by.
And I walked in the door to get something, to get orders or whatever. I walked in the door, and he
turned to me and said, And I'm a tongue-talking, born-again,
spirit-filled Christian. I said, well, excuse me, I'm
in the wrong place. I came just to get some orders.
I didn't know I'd come to the throne of God himself. And I
didn't say that. I didn't mean to be facetious. And he was reading, had the Bible
open, you know, like they like to do. They like to read on the
street corners and pray on the street corners and let everybody
see that they're out there talking, talking, Spirit-filled morning
in Christian. I said, well. And he had his Bible open to
a certain part in Isaiah. I said, what are you reading
there? And he pointed to it. I said, do you know what you're
reading? I sure do. I said, well, that's
talking about Christ there. And I began talking about it.
He got mad at me. He got mad at me. The veins popped
out on his neck. And he said it again. I was walking
out the door. I'll have you know, I'm a tongue-talking born-again
spirit filled Christian. He didn't have the slightest
foggiest notion who Christ was, the person who worked for Christ,
anything about the gospel. He wasn't no spirit-filled Christian.
I'll tell you what a spirit-filled Christian is. It's a man or a
woman who's taken up with Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's
the spirit-filled Christian, because that's the office of
the Holy Spirit. And you know, even after all
of this, look at verses 6 and 7. I've got to hurry. I said
that before, didn't I? Verses 6 and 7, they were still,
after all of this, they were still concerned about an earthly
kingdom for Israel. Oh, we're so ignorant. What would it matter? Huh? After
all, what does it matter? Well, they said, Lord, will you
at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said,
it's not for you to know. Get that out of your head. Don't
be taken up with, when's this generation going to learn these
things, huh? Well, they're having a seminar over here on Saturday
night. A guest speaker is going to speak on, he's going to open
up the mysteries of the times and the seasons, tell you what
the seven heads and the five horns and the six, this and that
and the other. It's not for you to know, right? The secret things belong to the
Lord. And that's what the Lord says, not for you to know. But
this is what you're going to receive. Verse 8. Come on now,
look at it. Power. Tell me what power is. Somebody quote Romans 1, 16 to
me. Huh? The gospel is the power
of God. They're going to receive power,
John, to preach the gospel. They were fishermen. They were
going out to preach before, and they hadn't gone to seminary. They hadn't They hadn't had any
formal training. They couldn't even say shibboleth
rites. They needed power, didn't they? They needed some supernatural
power to go out into a world of doctors and lawyers and an
evil, gainsaying, intellectual, scholarly world, you know, skeptics,
agnostics, fishermen. They needed some supernatural
power, right? And he said, the Holy Ghost is
going to come upon you. And what's he going to do? He's
going to make you say, and people are going to go away amazed.
You're going to blow on people and they're going to fall down.
That's what you'll do. And you're going to wear your
hair strangely, and people will come to see you. You're going
to get rich. It's what the Holy Spirit's going
to do through you. Honey, is that what he said here? Look
at it. You shall be witnesses unto me. Me. You're going to bear witness
to me. You're going to need to recall. You're going to need
to recall. Everybody, Terry, everybody didn't have a Bible.
Nobody had a Bible. Nobody had a Bible. Every person
or woman, nobody had even an Old Testament, a copy of the
Old Testament. They didn't have the New. They needed extraordinary
power, did they not? Yes, they did. They needed signs. They needed things to substantiate
that they had come from God. They needed scriptural recall
of the Old Testament that they had not hitherto forelearned
and understood. You see that, Barbara? They needed
recall like Nobody else before them had, or since. They needed
to be taught the scriptures overnight, almost, so they could go preach
the gospel. And that's what the Lord gave
them. That's what he gave them, this power. And they were immersed
in. They were immersed in baptism. They were immersed in to the
person and work of Christ, filled with his Holy Spirit, filled
up with the things of Christ, bearing witness of him. Verse
9 says, And while he was speaking, or after he had spoken, while
they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out
of their sight. He was taken up. And while they
looked steadfastly toward heaven, as he went up, This was some
time, wasn't it? Forty days he'd been with them,
teaching them, and they were just enamored with and taken
up with everything, hanging on his every word. And finally they
walked out up to Mount Olivet, and he was talking to them, and
he said, Now somebody's coming when I leave here, and you're
going to be immersed in and filled with, and by my Spirit, the Spirit
of Christ, he's going to take the things of mine and show them
unto you, and you're going to have recalled and remembrance
of everything that I had said and done while I was with you
on this earth. And you're going to be amazed,
and you're going to be filled with power, endued with power from
on high. You're going to be able to speak other languages. Yes,
not gibberish, but other languages, because you're going to go into
all the world and preach this gospel. And men must understand
what you say. They must understand the truth
in order to be saved, not just be taken up with your miracles
and say, no, no. But these things will substantiate
and prove that you have come from me. But it's the message
that they need to hear. And I'm going to give this Holy
Spirit who will fill you with this message. And I now pour
into my Holy Spirit such as you haven't needed up until now.
Right? They had cried. They had the
Holy Spirit. But they had Christ. They had
the body. But now he was leaving them, and they needed somebody
to hold their hand the rest of the way and guide them, lead
them and guide them to all truth. They were the pioneers of the
early church. They had to go in uncharted territory,
go in the lands they'd never been before, the people had never
spoken their language before, hadn't learned it. They needed
special power, did they not? Didn't that make sense? And Christ
said, I'm going to immerse you in. You're not going to have
time for other pursuits. You're not going to be taken
up, Peter. You're not going back to fishing. You're going to be
a fisher of men. You're going to be wholly immersed
into the ministry and the work through the ministry of the Holy
Spirit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. You're going to be filled
and taken up with me, with me. Thoughts and new things are going
to be constantly coming to your mind, and you're going to go
and everybody will hear you. Everywhere you go, you're going
to open your mouth and freely speak to them. of me, of this
thing. They couldn't have done that
in strength of the flesh, could they? Any more than I can, or you can. And then while they looked steadfastly
after he finished this discourse, two men appeared, and he went
up into the clouds. Two men, two angels appeared,
stood by them in white apparel, which also said, You men of Galilee,
You men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven?
He just told you everything that you've got to do. You're going
to have to go into all the world and preach the gospel in the
uttermost parts of the earth. And He told you, don't you remember
back in Matthew 24, don't you remember how He said all of these
things must come to pass, but the end is not yet? Don't stand
there stargazing. Don't get up on Easter morning.
and have a sunrise service. Get up every morning and have
a Bible reading. Don't stand 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.
And he's come to me and to you just like he did to them then. The person of his soul and spirit,
taking the things of his and showed them unto you. Has your
heart ever burned within you while he opened up the scriptures
to you, just as really as if he'd been here himself? Huh?
He's come to you, the same Jesus, same one. And this same Jesus
shall so come in like manner as those disciples. They're not
going to see him. They're going to be with him.
They're with him now. But if we're alive on this earth,
we're going to see him come the same way, and we're going to
stand gazing. No, in a moment, in the cleavage
of an eye, we're going to be transported and meet the Lord
in the air. Then they returned unto Jerusalem
from Mount Olivet, which is from Jerusalem, a Sabbath day journey.
And then when they were come in, they went up into an upper
room, and all of them were together there. And look at verse 14.
And like Ruth, do you remember? Or not like Ruth, but like Rahab.
and room. Remember that those spies said
that you were coming back we're coming back and if you're in
the house. We'll save you and as I say it I bet you Ray had
didn't venture far from the house she was always about the house.
You reckon he did and it says here these disciples continued
with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women they
were always about the father's business And Mary and the women
certainly weren't excluded. They were right in the midst
of him with his brethren. And this same Jesus, people,
do you believe? I tell you, there's not a doubt
in my mind. Not a doubt in my mind, thank
God. There may be one tomorrow, but right now, after looking
into all of this, he's more real than I am. And
this same Jesus, so come, he cometh with clouds, the scripture
says. And you know what I say? I say
the final words of John and all of his disciples, I say, Even
so, come quickly. Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Amen. What a Savior! When He comes,
our glorious King, all His ransomed home to bring, then anew this
song we'll sing, and you'll sing it like you've never sung it
before. You've never even said, Hallelujah, right yet. It means
praise the Lord. Well, stand with me. Sing all
five verses. Man of sorrows, what a name for
the Son of God who came to ruin sinners, to reclaim. Hallelujah, what a Savior. Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
In my place condemned He stood, Sealed my pardon with His blood. Hallelujah! What a Savior! Guilty, violent, helpless, free,
spotless Lamb of God was He. Full atonement can it be, hallelujah,
for the Savior. Lifted up was He to die, it is
finished was His pride. Now in heaven exalted have you
come, born a Savior. When He comes, our glorious King,
All His ransomed home to bring, Then I knew this song will sing,
Alleluia! What a Savior! I hear this man, what a Savior.