So our text is this. In Acts
chapter 1, 1 through 5, let us read. The former treatise 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 them 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, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with
water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many
days hence." And the second chapter and the thirty-third verse, part
of Peter's Pentecostal sermon. Therefore, being by the right
hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise
of the Holy Ghost, he has shed forth this which ye now see and
hear." Back to chapter 1, verse 4. Wait for the promise of the
Father which ye have heard of me." Now, one of the great things
among the many that stand out in the blessed and holy Scripture
is the number of times that we read of the promises of God in
the inspired Word. There are dozens and dozens of
times in which we meet with that Word in the Scripture. In text
after text, person after person, we meet with a promise of God,
a promise concerning a person or a thing or an event to convince
us that God is a promising God, that God promises, that He has
promised, and what He has promised, He is fully able to perform as
we saw in the case of Abraham, the great patriarch of old. Now
the subject is vast. It is too high. It is too wide. It is too deep for us to ever
hope to cover it. in a single study. It would take
multitude of studies for us to do justice under the subject
and to consider the many promises of God which, for the most part,
were both made and fulfilled in and through Jesus Christ. And they're made sure and they're
made inviolable for 2 Corinthians 1 and verse 20. for all the promises
of God in him are yea, and in him, amen. Thus we will handle
the subject in this manner or order this morning. Number one,
a kind of a general overview of the promises of God. Because,
after all, most of the blessings that God bestows upon His people
and upon His children are in accordance with a promise that
He has made. either to Christ or unto them. Secondly, we will then turn our
attention and our focus on the special promise of the Holy Spirit
of God to be given in the way that He was given at Pentecost. We read in the Scripture that
the Spirit, and see it fulfilled. We read in the Gospel the promises
of the Spirit from our blessed Lord. Then we see in the book
of Acts the promises fulfilled when the Spirit came in a way
and in a degree that he never had before or had been seen. Now, first of all, concerning
the first, the promises of God which are laid out before us
in the Holy Scripture. I read something very edifying
in one of the volumes by an old-time Puritan preacher, Thomas Goodwin,
on the subject, The Objects of Justifying Faith, is the name
of the volume. And I've gleaned a few thoughts
from that, which I want to share with you this morning. And that
is, the old-timer said, that the promises of salvation are
but the transcripts of God's everlasting decrees concerning
man's salvation. His counsels are deep within
himself as the original. The promises are the type, said
Goodwin. that the matter out of which
the promises flow is the decree of divine election which God
decreed before the foundation of the world. Goodwin wrote,
and here's a word for word quote, Quote, promises are but God's
inward counsel put into words and put into writing. Unquote. Promises are what God has determined
to do from the foundation of the world. There's that example
that we might use to illustrate it of a person who makes out
their will, their last will and testament. What do they do? First
of all, they contrive within their own self and out of their
own will. They first, in their mind, choose
out their errors. They determine then what it is
that they shall leave or bequeath, what gifts, what property, what
treasures will be dispensed out to the chosen heir. Then that
person sets down and puts it in writing, signed, sealed, notarized,
put on legal record, in order that it might be valid in the
day of its execution. That's a good illustration, I
think. One makes out a will, they do
it in their own mind and their inward part. And of course we
realize that man is a mutable being. He might change his mind. He might change his will. He
might cut one out, put another in. I had a lady member here
one time, found out when she was passing away, her son found
out, she'd made five wheels, five wheels to five different
people. So man is a mutable creature,
but God is not. Now concerning the subject of
the promises of God, I think we might spend all of our morning
simply just reading one passage of Scripture after another to
speak to the promises of God. We could just draw those texts
out and spend all of our time reading about the promises of
God. For example, 2 Peter chapter
1 and verse 4. We read of exceeding great and
precious promises. And the Apostle adds something
precious. Have you ever really grasped
it? That by these, that is, these exceeding great promises, that
by these or through these, we might be partakers, we might
participate, we might get to fellowship the divine nature. by having escaped the corruption
that is in the world, which is the result of lust or of evil
desire. We read, he is faithful that
promise, Hebrews chapter 10, 23. We read that the promising
one cannot lie. Titus 1 and verse 2. We read that it is impossible
for him to lie, Hebrews chapter 6 and verse 18. Many such like
scripture there are, and some of them shall come before us
in the course of our study today. That whatsoever God gives is
by promise. and whatsoever God promises cannot
and will not fail. Now, it may not come to pass
in our generation, but in another, or it may not come to pass as
we had willed it or desired, but what God gives is by promise,
and what He promises cannot fail, for He cannot lie. Reading some
from John Owen, in his great treatise that the final perseverance
of the saints of God is anchored in the sureness of the promises
of God, as seen there in Hebrews 10, verse 23, the exhortation. Let us hold fast our profession
of faith without wavering, for He is faithful, that promise. Yea, in 1 Thessalonians, 5 and
verse 24, faithful is he that has called you and will do it. Owen, much like Goodwin, considered
all the gospel promises of God as, quote, all streaming from
the fountain of the covenant of grace, unquote. All of God's
promises stream out of that fountain of the covenant of grace. And
furthermore, Jesus Christ is the essence of all of the Gospel
and all of the saving promises of God. He is the original of
the promise. He's the matter. He's the subject
of all those gospel and saving promises of God. For example,
God promised eternal life when? God promised eternal life before
the world ever began. You want to read it? It's Titus
chapter 1 and verse 2. In hope of eternal life, which
God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began. To whom then could it be made,
if it was made before the world ever began? Who then was the
promise made but in and to and by Jesus Christ. For God elected
a people. He gave them unto his blessed
Son, both by way of charge to redeem and by way of reward for
his suffering and His death upon the cross. God promised early
one that would bruise the serpent's head soon after the fall. You'll find that in Genesis chapter
3. And all following world history
prepared the way for the appearance of that one in the world. That
great promise was typified and foreshadowed in the Mosaic economy. So many of those things that
were typical of our Lord and Savior and salvation And as one
put it, the gospel promises are both the essence and the manifestation
of God's good will, and God's good will to save sinners, promised
by His Son to do and to provide all those things necessary to
make the elect acceptable with Him that is with God. Not only
that, but also to make them worshippers of Him who is all in all. And so the promises run all the
way from election to final glorification. God's promises stand engaged. We dare not forget that the greatest
object of the gospel promises of God is the only begotten Son
of God. That all the saving promises
of God have an inseparable connection unto Him. that in Him, Jesus
Christ, the promises of God are yea and amen. So that Christ
is that which gives substance to the promises of God and brings
them to be a reality. Thus one of the earliest promises
of God was eternal life. We saw that in Titus 1, 1 and
2. Promise before the world ever
began. By the way, one of the first
promises of God ever published upon the earth is found in Genesis
chapter 3 and verse 15. Of one seed of the woman, He
would be that would bruise the head of the serpent. In other
words, of one who would overcome Satan, destroy the works of the
devil, and gather all things together in one again. We also see that God made promise
unto Abraham in Hebrews chapter 6 and verse 13. And that included
a renewal of the promise seed. In thy seed shall all the nations
of the earth be blessed. That's Genesis 22 and verse 18.
And Paul says, in Galatians 3 and verse 16,
that that seed was Christ. That seed was the Lord Jesus
Christ. So we see that God's promise
to Abraham and of God's dealing with the patriarch Abraham runs
a type of covenant salvation in and through the Lord Jesus
Christ. For God made promise to Abraham,
and he sealed it with an oath. Hebrews 6, verse 13. For when
God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no
greater, he swore by himself. Now concerning Abraham, Jesus
Christ the Lord said in John chapter 8 and verse 56, your
father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was
glad. We read in Hebrews 11 and verse
10, that he looked for a city that had foundations, whose builder
and maker is God. Abraham therefore, by the eye
of faith, saw beyond the earthly Canaan, he saw beyond that earthly
land, and he saw beyond his own promised son Isaac, he saw the
day of Jesus Christ. Therefore, the Abrahamic covenant
was a close type and shadow of the everlasting covenant in Jesus
Christ, such as the promised land, one earthly, one heavenly. They look for an earthly promised
land. but the children of God look
for a heavenly, a promised inheritance, one earthly and one spiritual,
a promised rest, one from the pilgrimage in the wilderness,
the other the rest of Christ twofold in the soul and one coming
and eternal. The promise to Abraham turned
upon a promise seed. A son of promise was promised
unto Abraham. If you read Romans chapter 4,
you will discover that the promise was not fulfilled until both
Abraham and Sarah's bodies were procreatively dead. But what
God had promised He indeed did perform. The promise of eternal
life turns upon the promise unto Jesus Christ and through Him
in whom the seed were chosen. They are redeemed by Him and
are called so that, Paul says in Galatians 4 and verse 28,
we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise." Isn't
that wonderful? You thought about that? We, like
Isaac, are children of promise. He said again in Galatians 3
and verse 29, if you be Christ, then are you Abraham's seed and
heirs according to the promise. Thus there are two great promises
fulfilled as being the heart and the soul of the gospel or
salvation promises and written up in the New Testament for our
comfort and edification. And those two great promises
fulfilled are, number one, the incarnation and appearing of
the Anointed One of the Messiah, the very Son of God, whom God,
through the prophets, promised of old, having promised eternal
life for the elect ones for whom he would suffer and die the death
upon the cross. And then secondly, the promise
made by that Christ and others of the pouring out of the Spirit
of God in a special way. to fill, to guide, to empower,
to make them witnesses of Christ as the guidance of the church
is now in the hands of the Holy Spirit. And that spirit leads,
directs, and guides the church. The spirit is in dwelling the
saints. It dwells within them and carrying
on the work of sanctification and perseverance in them toward
that great and final day. Now, concerning the first, the
promise of a Messiah, of a Savior, of a Redeemer. This promise was
fulfilled in its completeness and entirety in the appearing
of the Son of God among men in the world who put on the likeness
of sinful flesh. Now mind you, not sinful flesh,
but the likeness of sinful flesh. Romans 8 and verse 3, And died
not a martyr's death, but a redemptive death. And after rising again
from the dead on the third day, exactly as He declared and the
Scripture declared that He would do, He ascended to the right
hand of the throne of God, the right hand of the Father. Now coming to the second and
focusing on the promise of the Holy Spirit to be given in a
way not seen before or after. Early on in the book of Acts
we read, we read them just a while ago, of two mentions of the promise
of the Holy Spirit. They are, again, Acts 1 and verse
4, where the Lord Jesus tells His Apostle to wait for the promise
of the Father which you have heard of me or heard from or
by me. And again, in chapter 2 and 33,
after the outpouring of the Spirit had occurred at Pentecost, Peter
tells the many Jews who were gathered there on that occasion
that what they had witnessed was the promise of the Holy Spirit
of God. It is true. Acts 1, verse 4 does
not mention the Holy Spirit by name as being what was the heart
of the promise. Simply speaking, of the promise
of the Father, the promise that the Father had made or given. But then in chapter 1 of Acts,
it is clear from the following verses that the promise is the
Holy Spirit. It refers not to a promise made
by the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit Himself is the promised
one. It is not a promise of which
the Spirit is the author, but the Spirit Himself is promised
and it is the gift. But what was mentioned by John
as we see in Acts chapter 1 and verse 5 that we read a short
while ago, John truly baptized with water but you shall be baptized
with the Holy Spirit not many days in." This is a reference,
I think, to Matthew chapter 3 and verse 11. When John told his
hearers, in essence, I baptize you with water. But when one mightier than I is come, whose
shoe latchet I'm not worthy to stoop down and unloose, He will
baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." And in verse
8, You shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit is come
upon you. You shall be witnesses unto me
both in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost part of
the earth. Now these are, for all practicality,
the very last words that our Lord spoke to his apostle before
his ascension, before he went up, before he was taken away. And that verse 11, Acts 1 in
the heaven, which Peter described in Acts 2 and verse 33 as being
exalted to the right hand of God, which
in verse 36 is His being made Lord and Christ. You can tell immediately that
most folks have a far inferior opinion of the Lord Jesus Christ. They see Him as some little nambly-pambly
weakling some little pitiful thing who has attempted to do
something and has failed. But this Lord is Lord and Christ. He has a sovereign exaltation. He has sat down on the right
hand of God. He is given a sovereign lordship. He has a name above every name,
and every knee should bow under this blessed one. Now, in Acts
1-4, the Lord bids them, no, He commands them, He charges
them from Jerusalem, do not be parted. Or we might say, do not
be departing from Jerusalem. Alexander said that the word
commanded here is a military word or sort of term that they
should not, on any account, depart from the city. Not even to avoid
persecution or prosecution for the sake of the gospel. On the
contrary, he bids them to abide there, waiting for the promise
of the Father. And he adds this, which ye have
heard of me, that is, from me, which I told you, referring,
of course, as we know, to that good lesson Brother Baker brought
us a few weeks ago on the Holy Spirit in the Gospel of John. The upper room discourses that
our Lord gave unto them the upper room as He instituted and ate
the supper with them. Some say that there are five
such passages in John's Gospel, chapter 14 through chapter 16. The Lord said in John 14, 16,
I will pray the Father, He shall give you another comforter that
He may abide with you forever. John 15, verse 26, When the Comforter
is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, the Spirit
of truth which proceeds from the Father, he shall testify
of me. John 16, verse 7, It is expedient,
the Lord said, that is, it is to your advantage. that I go
away. It was expedient that Jesus leave
them, for unless he leave them and go away, the Comforter will
not come. But he said, If I depart, I will
send him unto you." Again, John 16 and verse 3, the Lord speaks
of the Spirit of truth and says, when He has come, He will guide
you into all truth. Thus, the Lord Jesus Christ multiple
times promised to send them the Spirit after His departure, to
be sent down from the Father in the name of Jesus, and this
he calls in Acts 1 and verse 4 and 2 and 33, the promise which
the Father hath made, and you have heard That is, the promised
gift from the Father is the Holy Spirit, and it is from above,
and I told you, if you remember, that it would be. And now the
question, they have heard the words of our Lord, wait here,
abide here for the promise of the Father. Shortly after that,
we read that our Lord was caught up in the heaven, a cloud received
him out of their sight. So the question now shifts to
them, the apostle and the early disciple. What must they do? And when would this come to pass? When would this occur? How long
before this would happen? If you read Acts 1, you find
them, as the Lord is speaking, more interested in the time of
Israel's restoration than when the Spirit would be fulfilled. Notice they did not ask, when
shall this be? When shall this promise occur? They asked, when shall Israel
be elevated again? And the Lord gives no specific
time, only saying, not many days hence. In not many days, hence, this
will occur. Now, let's go back to the question,
what must they do? Here are the Lord's disciples.
He has died, risen, appeared unto them multiple times, conversed
with them and taught them during the days after His resurrection. But what must they do? Meaning, in regard to the coming
of the Spirit upon them. Now, sharpen your focus just
a bit. Must they, quote, seek, unquote,
the baptism of the Holy Spirit? Should they go around seeking,
desiring, and so forth? Must they meet or must they fulfill
certain conditions in order for the promise to come to pass and
the Holy Spirit be poured out? in order to receive the baptism? Are there conditions that are
laid down that they must meet in order to receive it? Must
they declare among the city and the inhabitants thereof this
imminent event and exhort all that they come across to join
them in seeking out the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Must they
search their heart, must they confess, must they confess and
forsake every known sin and cleanse themselves and sanctify themselves
as a condition of being baptized with the Holy Ghost as some are
claiming today. We repeat, Jesus set no conditions
for the coming of the Spirit. And those who set conditions,
I think, would probably imagine that they find them in verse
14, when it said they continued in one accord and in prayer. And yet, there is no hint that
some condition met procured this baptism. Nor does it say anywhere
that they prayed for the specific baptism of the Holy Spirit. And that brings us back to this
fact. The Holy Spirit came by promise. The Holy Spirit was promised
unto them as God gave the inheritance to Abraham by promise, not by
law, as Paul said in Galatians chapter 3. So also the Spirit
was given by promise. Now, not conditions that they
must meet. His promise stands on the side
of grace, and contrary to law, human works effort or condition. The Spirit is the promise of
the Father, which means this baptism is not achieved and is
not obtained, nor is it the result of any activity on the part of
the recipient. This week I reread some of Frederick
Dale Bruner and his book, A Theology of the Holy Spirit. He said this,
quote, in Luke's gospel, the promise of the Spirit is not
understood as a human or even a spiritual achievement, but
as a divine gift, unquote. He refers to Luke 24 and verse
49. Quote, and behold, I send the
promise of my Father upon you, but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem
until you be endued with power from on high. Let it further
be noted for the record that there is no hint anywhere in
the Acts account of any coming of the Spirit based upon advanced
spirituality in an individual. Now listen to that carefully.
There's no hint in any of the accounts in the book of Acts
that the baptism of the Holy Spirit was a result of advanced
spirituality in any individual. In each case, and there are several,
in Acts 2, in Acts 8, 15 through 17, down in Samaria, in Acts
10.44, the Gentiles at the house of Cornelius, and in Acts 19.1-7,
a dozen disciples that Paul came across. Not in one place is it
even hinted that the spirit baptism was a result of super-spirituality
in any individual. We've noted before that at the
Pentecost, Jewish Pentecost, in Acts 2, or the Gentile Pentecost
in Acts chapter 10, the Holy Spirit came not only suddenly,
but he came unexpectedly on Aspar, and unprayed for. And beside,
in Acts 2 and verse 1, we learn that there was a fullness of
time for the coming of the Holy Spirit, just as there was a fullness
of time for the coming of Christ, Galatians 4 and verse 4, when
Pentecost was fully come. Therefore, let me say it clearly,
Pentecost is a one-time, unrepeatable event. As Christ will never become
incarnate again. He will never die again or be
buried again or raised again. Even so, Pentecost will not be
repeated, notwithstanding the claim of some that Christians
ought to seek and pray for a repeat of Pentecost, including, say
they, speaking in unknown tongues and what they call a second blessing,
a baptism of worthy individuals in the Holy Spirit is really
what they are proclaiming. Now before our time is gone,
let's take a look at the opening three verses of the book of Acts,
if you will. He refers in verse one to a farmer
treatise, or if you will, a farmer account. The subject being a
record of all that Jesus began both to do and to teach up until
the day that he was taken up. The former treatise, of course,
is the Gospel of Luke. For both books, Luke and Acts,
have the same author and they are addressed, furthermore, to
the same person. The point being this, the book
of Acts is the sequel in Luke's writing to the gospel of Luke. It picks up, if you will, where
Luke leaves off. It covers the passing of the
torch from Christ unto the apostles to preach the gospel, who carry
on the work and the teaching begun by the Lord and delivered
unto them while he was yet alive and in the world with them. Now
under the power and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the other
paraclete, if you will, I will send you another comforter or
paraclete whom the Lord promised to send and saying, He will abide
with you forever. He would teach them. He would
lead them. He would empower them. He would
guide them into all truth and enable them to do many great
things like their Lord. And these signs, miracles, wonders,
and such like were peculiar to the Apostle. They were their
apostolic credentials, if I may call it that, that they were
indeed witnesses of the risen Christ. So, rather than having
the Lord personally, literally, bodily with them, Rather than
Him being on the earth, He is at the right hand of God. He
has personally received from the Father the promised Spirit. In Acts 2.33, He has shed forth
this which ye now hear and see. They have been baptized in the
Holy Spirit. They have received power. They
are made witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let's close
by reminding ourselves, great manifestations attended The birth,
the incarnation of the Son, great manifestation attended His death
and His dying upon the cross. Even so, the Spirit came with
a testing manifestation not to be denied. The attending manifestation
marked these events. The Lord's birth is death, the
coming of the Spirit. Mark these events as great works
of God. No man else was ever born as
Christ was born. No man ever died like Christ
died upon the cross. And the giving of the Spirit
at Pentecost in that fashion was never seen before. The Spirit, therefore, is guiding
the churches, guiding the minister, dwelling in the heart of the
children of God, giving a witness of Christ. The Spirit is regenerating
and calling the elect of God, forming them, adding them to
the churches, and preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ in the
world. The Holy Spirit has come and
has taken that upon Himself, performing that great work, according
to the will of God. So this is another promise of
God that literally came true and the promise that was made
was fulfilled. The promise of the Holy Spirit
came and did exactly as the Lord promised and God had decreed
and willed.