I tell you, the Lord blesses
us with sweet services, doesn't he? I'm so thankful for the special
music that we have, those that practice and sing, I believe, for God's glory. I appreciate you, and I appreciate
our God giving us such precious meetings. You know, it's a blessed
thing when we have peaceful times. I like peaceful times, don't
you? I've been in a few battles through the years, and I tell
you, I sure do like the restful times. And I'm thankful for them. Pray that God will keep us loving
the Savior, loving each other, loving to come together to worship. So thankful for his goodness
to us. Look at Acts the second chapter. Acts the second chapter. Look at the first four verses. Acts, the second chapter, and
when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with
one accord in one place. And suddenly, there came a sound
from heaven as of a rushing, mighty wind. It filled all the
house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them
cloven tongues, like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. They were all filled with the
Holy Ghost, began to speak with other tongues, that is, they
began to preach the gospel in languages that They had never
studied. They never had any knowledge
of these languages before, but you see there were lots of folks
that came to Jerusalem. They had come for Passover and
stayed on to Pentecost, and they came from everywhere. Many of
them had been gone from Jerusalem for so many years, their children
and their grandchildren, they didn't know the Hebrew language.
They learned other languages in whatever nations that they
lived in. And that which amazed them was that when these preachers
of the gospel, when they spoke of the mighty works of God, they
heard the gospel in their own language. That's the gift of
tongues. These men were able to preach
the truth in languages that they had no prior knowledge of. Now, the verses that I have read
and then the verses that certainly follow in this second chapter
of Acts give us an inspired record of the giving of the Holy Spirit
in the fullness of His grace and in His power. Our Lord had
spoken often of the giving of the Spirit. And I want us to
back up. We'll back up and then we'll
make our way forward from John. But I want to go back to John,
first of all, chapter 16. And we'll make our way eventually
back to Acts the second chapter. But in John chapter 16 and the seventh verse, the Savior is speaking to his
disciples. Now he's speaking to those men
who love him. Judas is not with them anymore. He's gone out to finish his contract and his agreement with
the enemies of our Lord. So he's not with them anymore. The Savior speaks to these 11
men that love Him and believe Him. They rest in Him. They don't have a fullness of
understanding of all things, but they believe He's the Son
of God. And they look forward to the
work of redemption, though there was a lot of darkness about their
understanding. They didn't understand things
as fully as we do. But then again, they didn't have
the New Testament like we do. We have the scriptures that we
can go to. So these men, they knew much,
but there was much that they didn't know. But the Savior says
to them in John chapter 16 and verse 17, He says, nevertheless,
I tell you the truth. I tell you the truth. Now, of
course, our Lord Jesus, He could speak nothing but the truth.
He could speak nothing but the truth, for He is the truth. He
said to them back in chapter 14, I am the way, I am the truth,
and I am the life. So He could speak nothing but
the truth. Back in John chapter 1 we read,
And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld
His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth. There was no error in Him, and
He could never say anything that was incorrect. They say, then,
what's the meaning of this? Nevertheless, I tell you the
truth. Well, this is what he's saying.
Even though the words that I'm speaking to you, they bring grief
to your heart, and they cause you to be troubled in your spirit,
I'm going to tell you these things anyway. You need to know them. You need to know them. It is
necessary. Watch this next statement. It
is necessary. It is expedient. It is absolutely
required for you. It's necessary for you that I
go away. It's necessary for you. You see,
it was necessary for them because he was going away to die. He was going away to establish
righteousness. He was going away in order to
shed His blood for the remission of sin. And this greatly troubled
them that He often spoke of going away. And they got heavy hearts
in this passage. In fact, go back to verse 1 of
chapter 16. These things have I spoken unto
you, that ye should not be offended. They shall put you out of the
synagogue, yea, yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth
you will think that he doeth God's service. And these things
will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father
nor me. But these things have I told
you that when the time shall come ye may remember that I told
you of them. And these things I said not unto
you at the beginning, because I was with you. But now I go
my way. I go my way to Him that sent
me. I'm going back to the Father.
Now, He would go back to the Father by way of Calvary. He's going to the crown, but
not until He goes to the cross. He's going to be exalted, but
not until he is humbled himself and become obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. He says, but now I go my way
to him that sent me, and none of you asketh me, whither goest
thou? These men were like you and me
by nature. They were mostly concerned about
themselves. And when the Savior spoke about
leaving them, when He talked about going, I go to the Father,
I must go, and we'll look at several verses. The only thing
that occupied their attention was, well, what does this mean
for us? How does this affect us? They
weren't thinking about the Savior. They weren't thinking, what is
this going to mean for the Master? Where is he going? Well, he had
often spoke to them about the necessity of his death. He said
on several occasions that the son of man must be lifted up. He said he must suffer many things
at the hands of the high priest. And He must give His life and
then take His life again. He had spoken to them of going
away many times, but now as He speaks to them of this subject
again, and He's right on the verge of going away, that which
occupied their minds was not the Savior and not His glory,
and not the work that He was going to accomplish. The only
thing that occupied their minds and their concern was, He's leaving
us? He's leaving us? The Savior had
spoken several times about going away. Go back to John chapter
7. Let's back up a little bit further.
Look at John chapter 7. Look at verse 31. John 7. The Pharisees, they heard that
the people murmured such things concerning him, that many people
believed on him. And the Pharisees and the chief
priests, they sent officers to take him. Then said Jesus unto
them, yet a little while, and I am with you. Then I go. I go. I go unto him that sent me. Ye shall seek me and shall not
find me, and where I am, thither ye cannot come. I go. Look at chapter 8 and verse 14. Chapter 8 and verse 14. Jesus answered the Pharisees.
He said unto them, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record
is true. For I know whence I came and
whither I go." I know where I'm going. He knew He was going to
the cross. You know how He knew? You say,
well, He knew everything. He knew it because He appointed
it. He knew it because He ordained
it. He knew it because He's the Lamb slain from before the foundation
of the world. He knew it because He Himself
marked out the path that He would take. Every step that He would
make in this life's journey, our Lord Himself purposed it
and He knew that it would lead right to the cross. right to
suffering, right to agony, right to substitution on the behalf
of His people, and right to satisfying the justice of God in order that
all of our sins would be washed away and we'd be robed in His
righteousness. He knew it. He knew it because
He ordained it. He said, I go. I go. I know where I came from and
I know where I'm going. But watch it, but you, you cannot
tell whence I come and whither I go. You can't tell that. Look down at verse 21. Then said
Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and
ye shall die in your sins, whither I go, ye cannot come. Then said the Jews, will he kill
himself? Because he saith, Whither I go,
ye cannot come. Look at chapter 13 of John and
verse 33. Chapter 13 and verse 33. Little children. I love the way the Lord speaks
so tenderly to us, don't you? Little children. That's what
we are, we're little children. You speak tenderly and lovingly
to little children. Oh, what compassion our Savior
has for His people. Oh, what love and what great
kindness the Shepherd has for His sheep, for His little lambs. Little children. Here's our Father. You say, well, He's not the Father.
Oh, yes, He is. He's the everlasting Father.
That's one of His names, Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6. Little children. Yet a little while I'm with you.
Ye shall seek me, and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go ye
cannot come, so now I say to you." Drop down to verse 36. 36, Simon Peter said unto him,
Lord, whither goest thou? He should have known. Peter should
have known. The Savior had told him so often. Jesus answered him, Whither I
go, thou canst not follow me now. I'm going to die, and then
I'm going to paradise. But thou shalt follow me afterwards.
You'll die, and then you'll come to paradise. You'll come to paradise. And then in chapter 14. Chapter
14, verse 1. Let not your heart be troubled.
Let not your heart be agitated. You believe in God. You rest
in God. You trust in God. Believe also
in me because I'm God. Trust me. Rest in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions, many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go. I go, why do you go Lord? I go to prepare a place for you. Where are you going? I'm going
to the cross of suffering and shame. And then I'm going back
to glory. I'm going to prepare a place
for you. Don't misunderstand the language
of the passage. Our Lord Jesus is not up in heaven
building mansions for us now. Oh, I've heard preachers not
preachers of the gospel, but false preachers. I've heard them
say blasphemous things about Jesus, the carpenter's gone to
heaven to build more mansions in heaven, and if you'll receive
him, he'll build a mansion for you. Well, that's just a bunch
of hogwash. That's just so dishonoring to
the blessed Savior. When he says, I go to prepare
a place for you, listen, we don't by nature have a place of acceptance
with God. We're sinful and we're wretched. We're worms of the dust. We have
no place with God. It is said of Judas, he went
to his own place. That's where we deserve to go.
We deserve death and judgment and everlasting condemnation.
The Savior has gone to die. He's gone to suffer the wrath
of God in the stead of undeserving sinners like you, and in that
way, He prepared the place for us. And ever since he gave his
life a ransom for his elect, ever since he died, that God
might be just and the justifier of all who believe in Jesus.
By the grace of God, we've got a place in glory. We've got a
place at the Father's table. By the grace of God. And we have
it honestly, and we have it judicially. That is, our Lord Jesus Christ
has answered every demand of justice. And when we die, welcome
to the Father's house. Sit and dine, sit and dine. Feed on the Master the rest of
eternity. The Savior said, I go to prepare
a place for you. Look at verse 3. And if I go
and prepare a place for you, literally, and since I go, I will come again and receive you
unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And whether
I go, you know in the way you know." And Thomas, oh, I tell
you forever, at least throughout this lifetime, he's always going
to be tagged as Doubting Thomas. He's never going to get over
that. You know, because preachers like me, we remind everybody
this is Doubting Thomas. But you know what, in all the
record books of God, he's not doubting Thomas. No, sir. He's perfect in Christ. He's
perfect in Christ. But old Thomas, he said, Lord,
we know not whether thou goest. And how can we know the way?
We don't know where you're going. We don't know the way. Is there
anybody like that here tonight? Is there anybody watching on
the internet tonight? Is there somebody listening to
this CD or watching this DVD on down the line somewhere? You
say, where is he? Where is he and how can I get
to him? Christ Jesus said, I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way to God. I'm the way
to salvation. I'm the way to life. I'm the
way to forgiveness. I'm the way. He didn't say I'm
going to show you the way. He didn't say I'm going to direct
you to the way. He said I am the way. I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. You mean you're the only way
to the Father? That's exactly what he said. Christ Jesus is
the only way to the Father. Now listen to me. Mary is not
the way. Mary, the mother of our Lord,
human nature is not the way. Some dead saint of God is not
the way. Don't you be so foolish as to
think that one of these dead saints, you can buy a little
relic of them and then rub them or put that little relic around
your neck and somehow or another it will bring you some kind of
religious good love. That's a bunch of hogwash as
well. I guess that's the word I'm hung
up on tonight. That's a bunch of hogwash. That's
foolishness. The Savior, if words mean anything,
He said, no man cometh unto the Father but by Me. That's going to stand forever. I mean, when heaven and earth
no longer exist in the forms in which they exist now, this
will still be on record because Christ said, heaven and earth
will pass away, but not My Word. Not My Word. He's going. He said, I'm going. I'm going. Look down at verse
12. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me,
the works that I do, he shall do also in greater works than
these shall he do, because I go. I go unto the Father. Look at
verse 28. He heard how I said unto you,
I go away and come again unto you. You know what registered
about when the Savior said, I go and come again unto you? The
only thing that registered with them was, I go. That's all it
registered. I'll tell you what it puts me
in mind of. Hold your place. Go to Acts chapter 20. It reminds
me of these people over here in Acts chapter 20. When the
Apostle Paul, he met with these Ephesian elders to give them
some vital final instructions. And in Acts chapter 20, look
at verse 22. He says, And now, behold, I go
bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall
befall me there, save or except that the Holy Ghost witnesseth
in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But
none of those things move me, neither count I my life dear
unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy in
the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify
the gospel of the grace of God. Now watch this. And now, behold,
I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom
of God, shall see my face no more. Here's what Paul is saying,
I'm going and I'm not coming back. That's what he said. I'm going and I'm not coming
back. Look at verse 36. Same chapter. After he had finished these words
of instruction and admonition to them, verse 36, and when he
had thus spoken, he kneeled down and he prayed with them all.
And they all wept sore. They fell on Paul's neck and
kissed him. sorrowing most of all for the
words which he spake, that they should see his face no more.
And they accompanied him under the ship. And that's the way the disciples
were over here. They were weeping, brokenhearted,
because they just caught the first end of what he said. But He didn't say, I'm going
and you'll never see me again. He didn't say, I'm going and
I'm never coming back. He said, I'm going, but I'm coming
back. I'm coming back. I'm coming back
from the grave. And then I'm going to the Father.
And then I'm coming back from the Father. And I'm coming back
for you. I'm coming back for you so that
where I am, you may be also. And you'll be with me forever
and ever." And one of these days, the Lord Jesus, His prayer of
John chapter 17 for each of His people is going to be answered.
He said, Father, I will that those whom Thou hast given me
be with me. where I am, that they may behold
my glory." And I'll tell you what, when he prays that for
me, it's going to be absent from the body and present with the
Lord. Because when he says, I will, see nobody, we can't pray like
that. We can't say, Father, I will. We say, Thy will be done. Here's
our Lord Jesus in His high priestly prayer, in His intercessory prayer,
in speaking to the Father on our behalf. I will that those
whom you've given me. When were we given to Him? Before
the world was made in the covenant of grace and that election in
old eternity. We were given to Christ Jesus
by the Father. And when He prays, Father, I
will that they be with me. That's when we'll be with him.
He said, I'm going away. I'm going away. Go back to John 16 and verse five again. He says,
but now I go my way to him that sent me. I go. Where is He going? He's going to the Father by way
of death. He's going to the crown by way
of the cross. He's going to be exalted by way
of being humbled at the cross. He's going to suffer. He's going
to bleed. He's going to die. He's going
to lay down His life, the ransom price for our salvation. I'm
going. He kept saying, I'm going. I
go back to verse 7. of John 16. Nevertheless, I tell
you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go. Why is it
necessary? Why is it necessary? He said,
for if I go not away, if I don't go, if I don't go to the cross, if I don't go to the place of
sacrifice, If I don't go to the hill of Golgotha and suffer and
bleed and die under the wrath of God, then the Comforter won't
come to you. Because you see, if He doesn't
die, there'd be no need for the Comforter to come. There'd be
no work for the Spirit of God to do. There'd be no righteousness
to reveal. There'd be no substitution to
make known to us. If I don't go, If I don't go,
the Spirit of God is not going to come because it won't be any
use for Him to come. I've got to go. I must go. If I go not away, the Comforter
won't come to you. But if I depart, I'll send Him
to you. I'll send Him to you. I go. I go. Now we know this. Let me
give this to you quickly. John chapter 12, our Lord finished
His public ministry. We know that. There's no question
about that. John chapter 12, He wrapped up His public ministry.
And then we see Him as prophet, priest, and king. John chapters
13, 14, 15, 16, there's Christ our prophet. You know what He
does? He teaches, He preaches to His
disciples in those chapters. He's teaching his disciples in
John 13 through 16. Those are his final words to
his apostles, to his people. In John chapter 17, we see him,
John 17, 18, and 19, by the way, we see him as our high priest.
In John 17, we see the priest making intercession for his people.
And in chapters 18 and 19, we see our priest offering the sacrifice
to God that put away our sin. And then in John chapters 20
and 21, there's Christ our king, prophet, priest, and king. In
chapter 20, he's king over death. He was raised again. He's king over death. He's king
over the grave. He's king over Satan. He is the
king. And then we get to Acts chapter
1. Our brother read from Acts chapter
1 for us. And I want you to notice, and
this is what Luke does when he writes to Theophilus. Luke goes
back and he speaks of our Lord's ascension. Of the last few days
of our Lord's ministry on this earth. This is after after his
work of substitution and sacrifice. And we read in Acts chapter 1
and verse 4, and being assembled together with them, with these
believers, he commanded them that they should
not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for what he called the promise
of the Father. It seems to be pretty deep into
the message, but this is the title of the message, the promise
of the Father. which saith he, you have heard
of me." You've already heard from me of the promise of the
Father. Go back to Luke chapter 23. Look
at Luke chapter 23. Or 24, sorry. Luke chapter 24.
And verse 49. Luke 24 and 49. This is our Savior. And he says in verse 49, Luke
24, 49, And behold, I send you the promise of my Father. I send
the promise of my Father unto you, but you tarry in the city
of Jerusalem, unto you be endued with power from on high. And
then one other reference, go back to Acts the second chapter
in verse 33. Acts chapter 2 in verse 33. Therefore, being by the right
hand of God exalted, this is Peter's sermon, and having received
of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed
forth this which ye now see and hear." What is the promise of
the Father? It's the giving of the Holy Spirit.
And as I read to you at the beginning of Acts chapter 2, there we have
the giving of the Spirit of God. And it happened on the day of
Pentecost. And we know among the Jewish
people they had three great feasts, which all males over 12 years
of age had to attend, these three annual feasts. The Passover,
the Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast of
Passover, that began back in Exodus. And you're well familiar
with that, the Passover lamb. Fifty days after that, There
was Pentecost and of course, Pente means 50. So this is 50
days after Passover. This is 50 days after God's Lamb
has died. Understand that. He's the Passover
Lamb. This is 50 days after God's Passover
Lamb has died. Now, before that 50th day, before
Pentecost was fully come, 40 days after Passover, our Lord
Jesus ascended. And He said to His disciples,
now I know you are anxious to get out there and preach me,
but you just stay right where you are. Don't you do anything
until the promise of the Father comes. Now, I would have you
remember who these people were. These are 11 apostles, great
preachers of the Gospel in their own right. and 70 evangelists,
great preachers in their own right, and other believers. These
men had credentials, they had abilities, they had gifts, but
our Lord Jesus said, don't you do a thing unto the promise of
the Father. I'm going to tell you something,
I don't care who you are, I don't care who the preacher is, I don't
care how gifted he is, how wonderful he is, how great a speaker he
is, without the Spirit of God, we better not attempt to do anything. That's what we can take away
from this. Wait for the Spirit of God. Don't
try to tackle anything. Because if you try to do something
without the spirit of grace, without the spirit of power,
you just fall on your face, you just make a fool out of yourself.
And nothing ever of any lasting value can ever be accomplished
without the power of the Spirit. So the Lord Jesus says to these
men who are well qualified to preach the gospel, He said, just
wait! And I tell you, if there's one
thing we have a hard time doing, it's waiting. We just, we have
a hard time being patient. Just be patient! Be patient. The Lord said, I'll send the
promise of the Father. You see, the promise of the Father
was given only after Jesus Christ had laid down His life for His
people. And then the Spirit of God, you know what he comes to
do? He comes to reveal the risen Christ. He comes to reveal the
resurrected Christ. What is the theme of the book
of Acts? The theme of the book of Acts
is that these men went forth preaching the resurrected Christ. Why was he resurrected? Why did he rise from the dead?
What is that the evidence of? That he finished the work that
the Father gave him to do. And he finished to the Father's
full satisfaction. God raised him from the dead.
And then, 40 days went by, then the Savior ascended. Our brother
read to us of the Savior's ascension. But before he left, he said,
now, just be patient. Just be patient and wait. You know what the feast of Pentecost
was? It was a feast of ingathering. It was a feast of a harvest. It's most significant that the
Spirit of God was given on the day of Pentecost because there's
going to be a great harvest. Not a harvest of beans and potatoes
and tomatoes and things like that, but a harvest of souls. The Lord Jesus had laid down
his life for his people. Passover lamb, the Passover lamb
had died and raised again and 50 days later, you're going to
see the results of his death. 3,000 people brought into the kingdom
of God by free and sovereign grace. Let me tell you something,
nothing's impossible with God. And I know that we're not into
numbers except the book and the Bible. We don't count heads. But I'll tell you this, It sure
would be wonderful to see a whole house full of people worshiping
God in spirit and truth, wouldn't it? It'd be wonderful. It'd be wonderful. And I don't
ask God for another Pentecost. That's a one-time thing. And
we need to remember that too. Just like Calvary was one time,
Pentecost is one time. Somebody says, well, I think
what we need is another Pentecost. That was a one-time thing when
God gave His Spirit. in the fullness of His power.
And it wasn't that the Spirit of God was not present before
this. In the Old Testament, people
had to be regenerated then, and the Spirit of God was the one
who regenerated them then. But in the New Testament, in
the giving of the Spirit of God in the fullness of His power,
He came like He had never come before. And He came to reveal
a crucified, buried, resurrected Savior. That message could never
have been proclaimed before, But it started to be proclaimed
then, and that's exactly the same message we're still proclaiming
today. And as long as this old earth
shall stand, God will have His voices spread throughout the
world preaching the death, the burial, and the resurrection
of Jesus Christ. And by that death, He brought
in righteousness for all of His people. And the Spirit of God
takes that same message, the same message Simon Peter preached
on that day. Not another message, not a different
message, not an edited message, the same message. This Jesus
whom you crucified, God has made Him both Lord and Christ. God
is still using that exact same message today. And the Spirit
of God takes that and He just drives it into the heart. And
when He does, no power on earth or hell or anywhere else can
ever take that away from you. The giving of the Spirit. This
is the fulfillment of the promise of the Spirit of God. What a
harvest. I'd be thankful to see one harvested. Wouldn't you? And that's thrilling
when it happens. I know this. Every ministry is
effectual. Don't you believe that, Brother
Allen? Every ministry is effectual. It always accomplishes God's
purpose. Every message that the Spirit
of God blesses Every message that the Spirit of God enables
His servant, whether me or whatever preacher it is, whatever message
is preached by the power of the Spirit of God, it always gets
the job done that God has ordained. And I don't know what that job
is. Like today. The Lord blessed us this morning. He has blessed us again tonight.
And I don't know what God's purpose is in you hearing the gospel. But I know this, whatever his
purpose is, it's successful. It's successful. I hope it's a savor of life and
a life for you. It may be a saver of death unto
death. I don't know. Not my business. I'm not in the saving business.
I'm in the proclaiming business. Somebody asked Scott Richardson
one time, said, would you explain that? He said, I'm not in the
explaining business. I'm in the proclaiming business. I know this, the promise of the
Father is the sending of the Holy Spirit. And without Him,
we can't do anything. What's the job of the Spirit
of God? The job of the Spirit of God has always been to reveal
Christ Jesus. That's His job. I've had a little
criticism of my ministry, and that's okay. I can take it. Sometimes
it's constructive criticism that I need. But I have had those that have
criticized me, and they've criticized some of my preacher brethren.
They've said that we're weak on preaching about the ministry
of the Holy Ghost. I think that's false charge.
I'm sure I haven't preached as using all the right words all
the time. I'm just trying to give it my
best shot. But I think it's a false charge
in that I believe I have been accurate and true in preaching
the work of the Spirit of God. Because the work of the Spirit
of God is to take the gospel to take the things of Jesus Christ
and show them unto us. That's what the Savior said.
How can you get any more out of it than that? It seems to
me like that's the ministry of the Spirit of God. It's to show
us Christ Jesus. And you know what? He showed
us Christ Jesus in His regenerating grace. Well, yeah, but what's
He doing today? He's still showing us Christ
Jesus. He is still showing us the blood.
He is still showing us the righteousness. He is still showing us salvation
by grace alone. He is still teaching me. I just
get another little glimpse of the glory of Christ Jesus. Thank
you Spirit of God for that. Thank you. That is the promise
of the Father. The Savior said He is not going
to speak of Himself. He's not going to speak for himself,
and you hear people talking about, oh, we're having a Holy Ghost
revival over at our church. Well, I hope that the Spirit
of God is working over at your church, but it's not because
you're preaching on the Holy Ghost. It's because you're preaching
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's the message that He will
use. And that's right. I know that. I'm not the smartest one. I'm
not the sharpest knife in the drawer. But I got a little edge
to me. And I know that's so. I know
that's so. Let's sing the closing song. What is the number here? I'm
going to thank you.