Acts chapter 1, verse 9, Acts
1, 9, down some more. There you go. Too much feedback
down here. Down just a little bit more.
Da-da-da-da-da. There it is. I'm going to start
at verse 9. I'm going to read verses 9 through
17, and then we will pick up from our outline. We are at that
place in our study where the disciples are the apostles. They
are now officially are beholding our Lord as he ascends up into
glory. And the text says, and when he
had spoken these things while they beheld him, he was taken
up and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they
looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men
stood by them in white apparel, which also said, ye men of Galilee,
why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken
up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you
have seen him go into heaven. Then returned they unto Jerusalem
from the Mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem, a Sabbath
day's journey. And when they were come in, they
went up into an upper room where abode both Peter, James, John,
Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James, Alpheus, Simon
and Judas the brother of James these all continued with one
accord in prayer and supplication With the women and Mary the mother
of Jesus and with his brethren and in those days Peter stood
up in the midst of the disciples and said The number of them being
together about a hundred and twenty men and brethren This
scripture must needs have been fulfilled which the Holy Ghost
by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide
to them that took Jesus, for he was numbered with us and had
obtained part in this ministry." We will stop right there. We
will, however, carry on through the rest of the chapter if our
outline and our time allows us. The outline that you have in
front of you starts off with this statement, an Elijah-Elisha
paradigm fulfillment. with implications. And what do
we mean by that? I think for anyone who knows
the Old Testament and the New Testament, which is the full
revelation of God's self-disclosure to himself in scripture, that
there are events in the Bible that take place in the Old Testament
that repeat themselves in the New Testament. You guys are aware
of that, right? That this is one of the things
that was curious to you as you began to be acquainted with Bible
truth, that events that took place in the Old Testament also
took place in the New Testament. Now, you would be quite wrong
to assume that what's happening where an event takes place in
the Old and an event takes place in the New is merely a repetition
of events. You would be wrong to conclude
that what God is doing is simply repeating events. No, where there's
an event in the Old Testament, and it's reduplicated in the
New Testament. What the New Testament is doing
is taking an Old Testament typology, an Old Testament model, and bringing
it to its fulfillment in the New Testament. It is a progression
from an Old Testament symbol or prophetic, pointing to something
that would take place in the future, so that once the event
transpired again in the future, you have your fulfillment. Give you an example. Those of
you who have been with us for years and we understand that
the Bible is a book about whom? Jesus Christ. Don't ever forget
that. From Genesis to Revelation, this book is about one person,
Jesus. And what that means is throughout
the narrative of scripture, the events that transpire teach us
something about the person and work of Jesus. So the Old Testament
serves as a prophetic book pointing to the coming of Christ, the
coming of Christ. And so the Bible says in Psalm
40, verse seven, lo, I come in the volume of the book. It is
written of whom of me to do thy will, O God. So when you read
from Genesis to Malachi, you read prophetically and in pictures,
in symbols and in types and in prophecies, the things concerning
Jesus Christ. So real peculiar events will
occur, and I'll give you one to model what I'm saying. In
the book of Jonah, chapter 1, Jonah is running from the will
of God, like you can run from the will of God. And as he runs,
he hides in the helm of the back of the ship. And back there he
is asleep. And we find a very similar event
occurring in the book of Matthew, Mark, and John, where the Lord
Jesus Christ is in the back of the boat as it's going across
the water. And that boat is being assaulted
by a storm. The very same similar event.
Is that true? Well, these are not merely similar
events. The old is pointing to the new. The old is prophesying concerning
Jesus Christ in its Old Testament context. Jonah is a picture of
Jesus. So you have to understand the
Old Testament is anticipatory. It's prophetic. It's pointing
to it never claims fulfillment. You will mess up your theology
will be. It will be it will suffer if
your hermeneutic is not sound. Even so, we know that this lifting
up of Jesus Christ in Acts chapter 1 verse 9 was foreshadowed by
Elijah being taken up in 2 Kings chapter 1. We know that. We know that the event of this
ascension into glory on the part of Christ had already taken place
with what was called the premier prophet of the Old Testament,
Elijah. Elijah and Moses met Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration,
Matthew 17, Luke chapter 9, right? And they talked about Christ's
decease or His exodus. And some think that His exodus
was merely His death, but I would beg to differ. Not only His death,
but His resurrection and His ascension. So that Elijah's ascension
points to Christ's ascension and there are lessons to be learned
in them both. This is why I have the Elijah-Elisha
paradigm fulfillment. And you notice in the brackets
of your outline, it says what? They saw him taken. Leave that up there if you don't
mind. So I want you to understand why I say that it's necessary
for your hermeneutic, your interpretation of scripture, to see the old
as pointing Forward to the new and the new becoming fulfillment
theology Versus simply a repetition of something that took place
in the past in your outline. Here's what we say. They saw
him taken in in 2nd Kings chapter 1 verse 1 through 15 if you go
there and you go with me to uh... second king chapter one verses
is actually chapter two verses one through fifteen second kings
wanna show you something in that account that's very important
second king chapter two second king chapter two now in acts
chapter one you are seeing the disciples fixated on the lord's
ascension into heaven in fact in the original language as we
were developing it last week what we stated very clearly was
Our Lord was taken into heaven and he was received by the clouds
into heaven. You guys remember that we spent
a, we spent a considerable amount of time talking about the fact
that when our Lord ascended up in the presence of the disciples
that day, it wasn't by accident that he left and he didn't leave
under his own steam and strength. Heaven actually took its King,
and set him on its throne. And the language in the context
tells us that Jesus was taken. He was taken. The verb there
for taken means to be taken actively by a force upon the object which
is passive and bringing that object into a state in a very
passive way. In other words, Christ yielded
himself to heaven's action because it was his turn to take his seat
on his throne in glory to run the universe. And while we did
not milk it fully, what I want you to understand is heaven had
to receive its king as we learned last week. He had finished his
work of redemption. He was ready to go. It was necessary
for him to leave in order for the third person to come. It
was time for him to go and heaven was ready for the king to occupy
its throne so that the last phase or the next phase of the kingdom
would manifest itself. So you and I are dealing with
a continuum of activity on the part of God when it comes to
his redemptive purposes. And Christ had already fulfilled
his work of atonement, his work of incarnation, his work of redemption. Now he has to go to his throne
and run this universe. And in your text, Acts chapter
one, you see the disciples with Christ. And as he's talking to
them, he's immediately taken up in a cloud and heaven received
him as the text says, out of their sight. Well, The difference
between the Old Testament and the new given in your outline
is under point a in the Old Testament. It was prophetic and conditional.
Prophetic and conditional. Do you remember the conversation
that Elijah had with Elijah? Elijah said to Elijah, can I
have your mantle? Because Elijah, just like Elisha,
understood that they were operating in the, what we call the prophetic
and typical age, where God used material things as symbols. Like
he used for Aaron and Moses, a rod. A rod. Now that rod had no power in
itself, but it was symbolic of the authority of God. And so
for them, the rod was important because it became the instrument
by which God expressed and manifested his glory. Elijah Elijah was
known by everyone the man with the leather mantle Elisha was
his predecessor and Elisha wanted the same power same authority
That Elijah had and Elijah said watch what he says in 2nd Kings
Chapter 2 will start at verse 9 and it came to pass when they
were going over that Elijah said to Elijah What is it? that you would have me to do
for you before I'd be taken away from thee." And notice the language,
he was taken away too. You guys see that? And Elisha
said, I pray thee, let a double portion of your spirit be upon
me. I want you to mark that when
we go back to our text. And he said, you have asked a
very difficult thing. Nevertheless, if, you see the
conditionality there? Under the Old Testament, because
it was typical, we have what is called a conditional clause,
and that is the conditions were if Elijah saw Elijah taken up,
he would be able to have his request granted to him. So revelation
is critical to the passing on of the mantle to the next prophet. Revelation is critical. It was
on Elisha's part that he would make sure that he was in a position
to be able to testify to the fact that Elijah was not dead,
but taken. You see the parallels? See the
book of Acts is about what? Witnessing. And the apostles
are called to be witnesses. And the apostles had to have
seen Christ taken. They had had to see him risen
from the dead. They had had to see him living
bodily, physically for 40 days, and they had to have seen him
taken. We'll talk about the implications of that here in a moment. But
here's what goes on, what it goes on to say in 2 Kings 2,
verse 10 and 11, or rather verse 10, the latter part. And it shall
be so unto thee, but if not, it shall not be so. See how conditional
it is? If you don't see me, you don't
get the mantle. If you don't see me, you don't get the double
portion. If you somehow in providence fall asleep or misstep or get
distracted You don't get the privilege of being my predecessor. You don't get that. So this is
conditional And it's conditional because elijah the old testament
prophet only points to the quintessential prophet jesus christ And it's
conditional ladies and gentlemen because the old covenant system
was conditional The old covenant system was filled with conditions
and conditions that were to be met by the Lord Jesus Christ. Once those conditions were met
by the Lord Jesus Christ on the other side of the new Testament,
the new covenant, you and I are not dealing with conditional
promises, but necessary promises, promises that are consequent
of our mediator and our head accomplishing for us what we
couldn't do for ourselves. Are you hearing me? You will
see the implications here shortly. Listen to what verse 11 says.
And it came to pass as they still went on and what? Remember, we're
dealing with Old Testament paradigms, New Testament reality. One of
the big pictures we're learning in the book of Acts is that the
Lord Jesus Christ enjoys what? Fellowship. Fellowship is critical
to the gospel, is critical to the character of the body of
Christ. It's essential to authentic relationship, right? The church
is not just a business. The church is not just into doing
ministry. The church is about men and women
who authentically relate to one another on a deep and a profound
face-to-face level. How good and pleasant it is for
brethren to dwell together in what? profound unity rooted in
the same objectives, the same goal, because we have the same
basis in view and because we love one another. You know, you
like to be around people when you love them. And I don't have
to say anything about the other part, do I? The assumption predicated
then on this account of Elijah and Elisha is that they talked
because they loved each other. They talked because they enjoyed
fellowship with each other. They talked because there was
a mutual edification that takes place. Upline with downline.
Downline with upline. Is that true? You younger guys
love to dwell with those of us who are older because you learn
so much. We love to dwell with you when you are younger because
you are like sponges and you absorb. And we are seeking to
pour into your life what we have learned and experienced that
you might advance the same gospel to others. And the principle
of kind begets kind is also critical here too. As the proverb says,
he that dwells with the wise, he himself shall also be what? So Elisha has asked a very crucial
question. Now notice what it says. It came
to pass as they were walking and talking, behold, there appeared
a chariot of what? And horses of fire imparted them
asunder and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. Elijah did not die. He was translated
as the Hebrew writer puts it in Hebrews 11 Elijah represents
for those of us who are part of God's elect in the body of
Christ that anticipatory day when Christ will return and those
of us who are alive will be taken and without dying, that we will
be able to escape death, not that it's a big deal, but immediately
enter into the inheritance of a transformation into our glorified
state. As Jesus said in the Gospels,
there are some of you standing here who will not taste death
till you see the Lord coming, right? And so that is always
a promise for the believer that we would be able to, by virtue
now, not of who we are, but who He is, and the fact that he's
already conquered death, we have the right to skip over death
and enter into eternity right now. Every believer has the right
not to die. Let me put that in your heart
a little bit. I've taught this for a long time.
When you see the miracles in the Bible that take place, I'm
talking Old Testament miracles, New Testament miracles. All miracles
in the Bible are based upon God's confidence in his son, Jesus
Christ, doing what he said he would do even before he got here.
You know, there's a covenant that God made with his son before
the world began, that he would have a people for himself, right?
And in order to have a people for himself he had to secure
the responsibility of the covenant by giving it to his son. The
son said yes to daddy, right? When the son said yes to daddy,
daddy was good to go to bless everybody who would come to know
him on the basis of his son making it good. Right? Now because God
can't lie, God can't change, and God can't fail, God can speak
those things that are not as if they were because with God
they are. So every miracle you saw in the
scriptures were not simply acts of God by which he would have
you go, wow. They were acts of God by which
he would have you to understand that Christ is the Amen of God. He is the affirmation of God's
purpose. He is the first and the last,
the beginning and the end. And so he is the confirmation
of God's purposes. So miracles were done because
they had affirmed the fact that Christ was already the lamb slain
from before the foundation of the world. Are y'all hearing
me? So in the mind of an omniscient God who sees all things at once,
he doesn't operate in linear time like you and I do. Time
unfolds in front of us because we are finite three-dimensional
creatures. God's omniscient. He sees the end from the beginning.
He can act in time based upon what he knows being in the realm
of the eternal. So he can allow miracles to occur
on credit, using human terminology, knowing that Jesus has already
come, has already died, already risen, already has been glorified,
already ascended, and thus is blessing on the basis of his
son's work. So miracles in the Old Testament
have more to do with showing us the power of God in terms
of his eternal purpose than it did with causing us to just be
wowed by God. the miracles. And it's true therefore
then also because of the accomplished work of Christ that God would
have from time to time taking persons into heaven who didn't
physically die because Christ was their surety. You guys got
that? The wages of sin is death. Yes!
And it would seem to imply that every man must die and face the
judgment. But if Christ was your substitute,
you have the right in the person of Christ to skip death and go
straight into heaven if God wanted to use you that way. Are y'all
following me? Because Christ has died for you. And so Elijah
gets to go into heaven, not on the basis of him being some special
super profit. He was a man and a sinner just
like you. James affirms that, right? James says he's a sinner
just like you and I. Ran from an old chick, remember?
After killing 400 properties, he ran from an old chick. That
means he's weak just like you and I, right? But God took him
into glory because he used him as a pattern. Old Testament patterns
point to New Testament realities. I drove that home because I said,
Herman Nunick, you got to have. Don't come to any decisive conclusions
about any passage of scripture in the Old Testament until you
actually advise it with New Testament passages. So here's what it says. And Elisha verse 12 saw it. And he cried, my father, my father,
the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof. And he saw
him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes,
ripped them in twain. And he took up also the mantle
of Elijah that fell from him, went back, stood on the bank
of Jordan. He took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him,
smote the waters and said, where's the Lord God of Elijah? And he
went also after smiting the waters, they parted thither and Elisha
went over. and entered into the second phase of God's prophetic
ministry. Now Elijah represents Christ. Elisha represents the church. See the parallels? Elijah points
to Jesus. Elisha points to the church. Elijah's ministry was prophetic
and conditional. The promise was prophetic and
conditional. For Christ in the church, it's fulfillment and
indicative. Do you see point B in your outline?
Fulfillment and indicative. Meaning Christ fulfilled the
law of the prophets in the Old Testament and the disciples now
are ordained. They are ordained. They are ordained
to see it. This was not conditioned. There
was no promise made by Jesus. If you see me go up, I'll give
you the Holy Ghost. This was necessary. It was ordained. They were in the right place
at the right time in order to see him go up because it was
a necessary consequence of Christ's death at Calvary. Meaning, Christ's
death at Calvary was for them. His resurrection was for them. His ascension was for them. They
would carry the banner next. It was necessary that they were
there. Nothing conditional about this. This was a transfer of
authority based upon a covenant, right? They were privileged.
They were ordained. They were in the right place.
Are you guys hearing what I'm saying? They were privileged.
They were ordained and they were in the right place. And in fact,
I think it's also in Mark's gospel as well as in Luke's go with
me in your Bible to Luke. I think Luke Uh, gives us the
picture as well of this event, Luke chapter 24. I just want
you to see just a touch of it before we go on to unpack the
rest of these verses for tonight in Luke's gospel chapter 24. I'll, I'll start at, um, verse
46 and read through the rest of the chapter and you'll see
it in verse 51 and two. Verse 46, and he said unto them,
thus it is written, thus it behoove Christ to suffer, to rise from
the dead on the third day, and that repentance and remission
of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning
at Jerusalem. That's the gospel they preach.
Repent, believe the gospel, trust Jesus Christ for the remission
of sins, correct? That's what they preach. And
you are witnesses of these things. And behold, I send the promise
of my Father upon you, but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until
you be in due repower from on high. So Luke again is recording
in the Gospel of Luke what he recorded in Acts 1, correct?
Only you get a larger topological or what we call situational setting. The setting is told here in verse
50. And he led them out as far as to Bethany. Now Bethany was
just a stone's throw away from Jerusalem. And he lifted up his
hands and he blessed them. Now we have more given here than
in the book of Acts, because Luke has already repeated the
language. And it came to pass that while he blessed them, he
was parted from them and carried up into heaven. Do you see that? While he was blessing them, the
heavens carried him up. In the minds, therefore, of the
apostles, they are extremely ecstatic, because our Lord is
yielding a benediction, a blessing upon them, while He is being
taken up. They are the predecessors of
the gospel now. They will be the ones who will
move this gospel forward, having forged in their conscience the
last thing they remember seeing of the Lord. On this earth in
his incarnation is him with his hands raised in benediction The
lord blessed you the lord keep you the lord calls his face to
shine upon you The lord calls you to lift up his confidence
upon you and give you his and the lord starts to descend out
Of their presence and the language here is that the cloud carried
him up See that In Acts chapter 1, it's the Greek word hoopalambano,
and it means the cloud came up under his feet. This is the same
cloud that enshrouded him and Moses and Elijah on the Mount
of Transfiguration. The cloud came up under his feet
and the cloud lifted him. The cloud lifted him up. So this
was a special cloud ordained by God. Literally, the cloud
lifted him up. It took him up. This is what
I meant. He didn't leave on his own prerogative. He was still
operating out of perfect obedience to his father so that his father
brought him back to glory. Remember, he requested to go
back. Father, I will, that I would be with you, that I might be
restored to the glory which I had with you before the world began.
Now he's being subject to his father while he's requesting
of his father to return again to that equal status of authority
over the universe, but it's done in a submissive and a passive
way. Because as God himself, he could have done it. But he
had to submit as the God-man, the ruler of the universe, to
be taken up by heaven itself. And literally the clouds took
him out of the presence of the disciples. Now watch this. And
they worshipped him. They worshipped him. And returned
to Jerusalem with great joy. And they were continually in
the temple praising and blessing God. Amen. That's what Luke says.
Now go back to Luke chapter X chapter one. So we can begin to extend
our thoughts on this. I want to just make a couple
of points in our PowerPoint under Elijah, Elijah, the paradigm
fulfillment. First, the old Testament is prophetic
and conditional. The new Testament is fulfillment
and indicative. They saw him go up. This is where
you and I were dealing with the language last week. Recognizing
that our Lord was received into heaven They saw it They told
what they saw and it became a confession for the church. I want to make
sure you Are aware of this before we go on to our next point Acts
chapter 1 verse 9 says and when he was taken up And when he would
have spoken these things while they beheld, while they beheld,
he was taken up in a cloud, received him out of their sight. Acts
chapter three, Acts chapter three, verse 21 says, as Peter is preaching
and explaining the grace of God in the life of this lame man,
we read over in Acts chapter three, verse 19, 20 and 21. He
says, repent therefore, and be converted. that your sins may
be blotted out when the time of refreshings shall come from
the presence of the Lord. Looking forward to explaining
that in a few weeks. And he shall send Jesus Christ,
which before was preached unto you. Now I want you to hear verse
21. Are you there? Whom the heavens
must receive. They are under authority to receive
him. Christ is the God-man that runs
the universe. He earned the crown rights over
the universe by his death on Calvary, for which we learned
last week. We saw in Revelation 5 how that
the Lamb went to the throne of him that sat on it and took the
scroll and opened all seven scrolls. It was the title deed to the
universe. It was control over all the affairs
of the human race from the time from which our Lord ascended
into heaven to this very hour, which means this heaven runs
this world and That the events that are taking place in our
world are taking place by the authority of Jesus Christ Every
seal was opened And those seals describe for us the events that
would transpire throughout human history, even to the present
time. Which means all the trouble that's going on all around the
world, all the mayhem. The wars, the chaos, the fighting,
the death, the destruction, the famines. Our master already graciously
told the apostles in Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 19 and 21. All these things would become
in parlance until he returned. You guys hear me talk about this
all the time. Don't get caught up in how soon the Lord is coming
just because bombs are dropping. In fact, he plainly said the
end is not yet. When you see wars and rumors
of wars and people betraying one another and taking folks
up and throwing them into prison and killing them, don't say,
oh, it's almost over with. It's just starting. For 2000
years, humanity has been proving that it is depraved by nature
and that apart from the grace of God and the restraining hand
of God, all we know how to do well is kill each other. It is
however, in the context of that type of melee, that type of pandemonium,
that type of chaos, that God calls us to be part of the riding
of the white horse. Not the red, not the speckled
bay, not the black, the white. Our job in the midst of the chaos
is to preach the gospel. Am I making some sense? He said,
I could see if you got all discombobulated and troubled if you didn't know
who I was and where I am. If you didn't know that I sit
at the right hand of God and I govern the whole universe and
I run the affairs of humanity and if you didn't know as I had
told you that these things would occur I could see how you would
hide your candle under a bushel. that you would go running to
the caves that you would retreat and cover the wagons and cry
out there's no reason to preach the gospel but since you know
Jesus is Lord remember we learned that you don't make him Lord
don't tell folks will you make Jesus your Lord Just give up
your ambassador card if you're going to do that. Give it back
to me. I'll find somebody that will simply tell people God has
made him both Lord and Christ, bow and believe or perish. Got it? Bow, believe or perish. perish and so in verse 19 we
are told I'm sorry verse 21 that the heavens must receive him
until the times of restitution of all things if you are wondering
about that phraseology What that means is, since the days of our
Lord Jesus Christ, along with his cousin John, the restoration
process was already taking place. Remember what the disciples asked
in Acts chapter 1? When are you going to restore
the kingdom? And I told you that the restoration of the kingdom
was already taking place by virtue of the ministry of John. and
the Lord Jesus. For when John came, as Malachi
said, he would begin to restore the relationship of the children
to the fathers and the disobedient to the just. So restoration was
already taking place. Jesus took the, uh, uh, he took
the, um, the helm from John and he ran with it. The baton from
John, he ran with it for three and a half years. And then he
passes that baton to the disciples or the church. And we have been
in restoration process for 2000 years. You do not believe that. So let me just make a point on
that so we can move on to our next point in our outline. Every
time a person is authentically born again, the most radical
act of restoration that could take place short of perfection
has occurred. Every time a person is authentically
born again, the most radical act of restoration that could
take place short of glory, short of God just burning this whole
thing up and visibly renewing it, has occurred. Nothing greater
could occur than for the soul to be made new in the image of
God. There's no greater restoration.
Now, if I have persuaded you slightly on that point, Then
you begin to understand how important preaching and witnessing and
sharing the gospel becomes for those of us who say we've been
born again. You begin to see how important
it is for us to align ourselves up with the will of God so that
our children might be objects of the new birth. That our friends
and relatives and that people all over. Because this is exactly
the design of the gospel for the last 2,000 years. What that
also means is you and I are not looking for a restoration of
an Edenic state down here. So long as God has purpose to
simply be saving his people from every nation, kindred, tribe,
and town, there's going to be a dichotomy between the world
and the world of God's elect. Who didn't understand that? Raise
your hand. There's going to be always two worlds coexisting
at the same time until Jesus comes. Did you did you understand that
see so you will hear some people say our job is to transform the
culture Our job is to preach the gospel
so that God by his spirit through the gospel will transform souls
individually and Will you hear me now? Watch this and take them
out of the kingdom of darkness and place them into the kingdom
of light so that they can become an army for God to go back into
the kingdom of darkness and continue to bring folks out of darkness
into his marvelous light. There will always be two kingdoms.
You got that? There will always be somebody
that don't like you for Jesus sake. We're not, we're not going
to convert whole cities and whole states and whole nations. The
Bible doesn't even teach that. There will always be a remnant
who believe the gospel and then there will be a plethora of false
churches called tares standing in between our work and the work
of the devil. We just have to jump over them
and keep doing what God has called us to do. Are y'all understanding
what I'm saying? This vision is critical. And
as we continue to work our way through the book of acts, you
will see this because the book of acts is really called the
what of the church, the practice of the church. That's what the
book of acts is. And you, we must, as the church
of the living God, get it. The word is proxies. And it simply
means to practice what you see taking place as a repetitive
act. on the part of the church in
the book of Acts is how you and I are to live our life every
day. And they continue together in fellowship, breaking bread
at that time from house to house, continuing in the doctrine of
the apostles and in prayer. What are they doing in the fellowship?
They're being strengthened by the spirit through the word in
mutual communion and fellowship so that they can go out and tell
men and women about the gospel. That's what we are called to
do. That is our job. And where it doesn't have that
final application, we have missed the whole point of fellowship.
Y'all hearing what I'm saying? Where it doesn't have the final
application, that after you and I have enjoyed deep and profound,
heart-moving, mind-illuminating Bible study, and sharing with
one another the mutual love that we have because of the love of
God, should have broadened our heart. If it doesn't have as
its final application, us being compelled to go out to our jobs,
and our work, and our school, and our families, and everywhere,
and share the gospel, we have missed the point. We can start
backing up and looking at every step of the process and find
out where in the steps of the process have I missed the point
for me not to ultimately become what God has called me and saved
me to be, and that is a witness for His glory. Got it? A witness
for His glory. And so Acts chapter 3 verse 21
they are telling it the heavens have received him bow to him
and then we read over in 1st Timothy chapter 3 16 one more
time 1st Timothy 3 16 3 6 this is what is called the confession
of the church it has been for thousands of years now but you've
heard it and I want to quote it once again and then we'll
move on to our next point in our outline Here's what it says,
and Paul speaking to Timothy says in verse 15, but if I tarry
long, that you might know how you ought to behave yourself
in the church of God, which is the ground and pillar of the
truth, verse 16, and without controversy, great is the mystery
of godliness. What is he talking about? The
incarnation. Here it is. God was manifest
in the flesh. Got it? Watch this. Justified
in the spirit. Watch this scene of the angels
Watch this preached unto the Gentiles watch this believed
on in the world Watch received up in the glory see these became
an anthem and Doxology of the whole scope of the work of the
God-man Jesus Christ You and I are supposed to be a part of
this. Why do I say that we believe Christ rose again from the dead?
Don't you see the phrase justified in the spirit? speaks to his
resurrection. We believe he was seen of the angels, don't we?
There were two at his tomb, one at his head and one at his foot.
Those are the same two brothers in Luke chapter 24 that say,
hey, hey, hey, he ain't here. In fact, he told us to tell you
to head on back to Galilee. He'll catch up with you there.
These are the same two brothers that's in Acts chapter one. He
said, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Listen, don't start no theology
with your head in the sky. You got work to do. Go back with
me to Acts chapter 1. Now, see, because they were stuck. Now, we got these folk in the
church. All they stuck on is the Lord's return, like my boy
called two weeks ago, if you guys listened to the program.
Now, he's a Mr. Campion protege, so pray for
him. But he told us that the Lord's
coming this year on November 10. All right, because he knows
he's the next person of whom after about a hundred people
since the days of the mountainous a hundred years after Christ
He's the next person that's come on the scene to say the Lord
gave him this revelation and him only Now I like mark. I like
him a lot. He cleans our carpet does a good
job. Does it fairly cheap? I'm gonna get him to clean our
carpets for three years free Because this is the promise that
he made me if the Lord don't come Right. So now watch this. I said, you
know, the Lord can come, but I really wish he would come on
November 12th because that would be a day after my birthday. He's
supposed to come a day before my birthday. So I won't even
make 53 years old. But the point is, is that there
are all kinds of people for some reason that gets stuck in what
we call, and this is a psychological term, an escapist mentality. This is the psychological infirmity,
the psychological disposition of being afraid to do what you're
called to do right now, being paralyzed by the hope of something
of which you have no predetermined date. This will paralyze you. This will destroy you. It will
destroy your homes. It will destroy your family.
It will destroy churches. It will cause you to have crooks
in your neck looking up all the time. Hey, fellas, you're going
to get crooks in your neck. This is what the angels are saying
in the present. It was called the present infinite
verb form in which our Lord was going up and they were looking
at him and they were gazing at him. The infinitive is the verb
form that's open and it means it has no ending. That means
they were stuck looking even while our Lord disappeared. They
were still stuck looking. So the angels stood back and
they were watching their watch and they sent each other. He
don't, they still got the head in the clouds. He gone. And he
had to tap them on the shape. Hey Peter, Hey, this is enough. And here's what the text says.
So we can get into our next point. While they look steadfastly toward
heaven, as he went up, behold, two men, the word there, men
is an anthropomorphism. It means angels. You can affirm
this in the book of Luke chapter 24, the latter part, they described
them as angels for angels. They were, they stood by them
in white apparel, which also said, you men of Galilee, why
stand you gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken
up, same verb form taken up from you into heaven, shall so come
in like manner as you have seen him go. Then return they unto
Jerusalem after they received word from the angels. But see,
that was part of the clause in the anthem of first Timothy three,
right? Seeing of the angels and authoritative declaration that
the angels observed the resurrected Christ, the ascended Christ,
they are witnesses to this was necessary for apostolic apostolic
authority as well. So we're going to move into the
last part of this. And this is just a brief statement,
uh, firstborn principles, double portion, Needed I'm just going
to state it. I'll quote one verse. I want
to begin to jump into the obedience of weight of a waiting church
I think this is very practical. We won't get done. Obviously
seems like time just flies when I get to talking But what Elijah
was asking for from Elijah? Was a double portion of the spirit
and the double portion was always the portion given to the firstborn
The firstborn always received twice as much as everybody else
in the family. So what Elijah and Elijah were
doing was demonstrating the transfer of firstborn principles. The
Bible is very clear that Jesus is the firstborn of all creation. He is the firstborn from the
dead. He is the firstborn of God, higher
than the kings of the earth. Firstborn in the sense that he
is the creator of everything that is made God his father created
all things by Jesus Christ. So firstborn means preeminent
in position Preeminent in position. It does not mean to be ontologically
connected to the thing made Are y'all following what I'm saying?
Firstborn does not mean that Jesus was a created being in
His essence, in His nature. He is God, a very God, from eternity,
with the Father. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with the Father, right? So they are two eternal
beings, equal in essence. And through the son, God created
all things, which means Jesus can never be viewed as a created
being, but because he was the agency of creation, God views
him as the firstborn. Here's the other blessing that
comes out of that. Here's the other blessing. And we learn
this in biblical theology. It was the blessed purpose of
God, the father to create mankind in his image. In the image of
God created he man male and female created he them in the image
of God created he him And when we thought about that and worked
it through What God did was to make men and women to be in the
image of Jesus Christ Who is the revelation of the invisible
God? He is God's image bearer He is
the image of the invisible God Colossians chapter 1 verse 15
and thus you and I are Privileged to be heirs and joint heirs with
the firstborn. Am I making some sense? Privileged
to be heirs and joint heirs with the firstborn and thus as you
see taking place in Acts chapter 1 Transition from earth to heaven
on the part of the Savior because he had to go the Apostles now
will be the nucleus of the new creation They will be the nucleus
of the new creation the head in heaven the body on earth right
The bridegroom in heaven the church on earth So our Savior's
in glory ruling over all things, but he is impacting this world
through his church. I He is actually creating men
and women in His image by His Spirit through the gospel everywhere.
That is what the Spirit of God came to do. Make us born again. And to be born again is to be
a partaker of the divine nature, possessing the DNA of Jesus Christ,
so that you are destined to be created in the image of His dear
Son. He is the firstborn of many brethren. Romans chapter 8 verses 28 through
30. He's the firstborn higher than
all the kings of the earth. He's the firstborn of creation.
He's the firstborn from the dead. He's the firstborn of many brethren. He is God's quintessential key
to eternity. That's why God calls him the
first and the last, the beginning and the end. The Alpha and the
Omega. The Amen of God. Christ possesses all of those
attributes, characteristics, and predicates because of his
work that he did on Calvary Street. What you and I are seeing in
Acts chapter 1 now is the passing of the baton. One text, Hebrews
chapter 12. Hebrews 12. Hebrews 12 verses
22 through 24. What are we doing as we are opening
up the book of Acts? We are trying to explain to you
that the events that take place historically in the Book of Acts
are not mere historical events. They are rich in theology and
their implications are significant to you and I today. You and I
can probably look back throughout church history and get a real
good handle on where we have made our mistake in terms of
veering off the path, being distracted, and altering our course because
we have failed to understand the practice that God entrusted
in the hands of the apostles who demonstrated it in the book
of Acts and was to be passed on to us. We return to the book
of Acts and we can learn how far or how close we are from
that original design and original obedience to which God has called
us. But here's the language in Acts in Hebrews 12, 22 through
24. Listen to it. He says, But you
are come unto Mount Zion and unto the city of the living God,
the heavenly what? The reason why I have you here
is because it is in Jerusalem that it starts. Remember the
promise? Wait in Jerusalem. But what the writer to the Hebrews
is talking about is not the physically physical Jerusalem. He's not
talking about earthly Palestine over in the Middle East. He's
talking about God's ideal kingdom, God's ideal people, which he
had before the world began, called the New Jerusalem. Jerusalem
is the foundation of peace, the foundation of righteousness.
It's where God dwells. It's where Christ reigns. It's
where God's people exist. We are the New Jerusalem. You
believe that? That's right and everyone that
will be brought into the kingdom through the new birth listen
to it It goes on to say verse 20 22 But you're coming to mount
Zion to the city of the Living God the heavenly Jerusalem and
to an innumerable company of angels to the General Assembly
and Church of the what? Got it That's the name of the
church the church of the firstborn which are written in heaven,
and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men
made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant,
and the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that
of Abel. The writer to the Hebrews has given us our identity as
citizens of Jerusalem, who has a king in Jerusalem, who happens
to also be the high priest in Jerusalem, who has happened to
already open up the new covenant based upon his blood, which has
justified us in the spirit and is preparing us for glory. We
are citizens of that kingdom. Y'all got that? Powerful. Even though it doesn't appear
that way today. Go back with me to our text.
I got 15 more minutes. And we want to turn the corner
and start just thinking through the principle of the obedience
of a waiting church. The principle of the obedience
of a waiting church. I want this to resonate with
us too. You and I know that by nature, one of the hardest things
for us to do is to wait. It is so difficult. I don't know what it is. We got
ADHD. I don't know what it is. We just,
we just soon as the, the soon as the instructions are given
way, we start having fits. We start shaking. We start having
the Joneses. We start having withdrawals.
We can't wait. And all through the Bible, you
have examples of people who didn't wait and everyone who didn't wait
suffered the consequences. I'll give you one brother who
didn't wait. He's in our text. It's Judas Iscariot. He just
didn't wait. Didn't wait. That's why I'm writing
articles and putting them in your outline about the pilgrim's
progress. Because I know in the generation
in which I live, this generation, this generation knows nothing
about the Christian journey. We are so inept when it comes
to the nature of the journey the trials that accompany us
on the journey, the blessed providences of God to assist us to this very
point. I mean, we are here today. I
was rejoicing with my elder Angelo, who had been with us since the
beginning of our ministry, and one of my other brothers that
was here. We've been in ministry here at Grace for 19 years, going
on 20 years. And we were talking about how
it was when we first started with the little handful of people
that we had. And how God watched over us all these 19 years. And
how men and women have come and how the battles were ensued and
engaged and people got distracted and people got knocked off the
course and people lost their way. We saw all this. Are y'all
hearing me? And what we said unanimously
was this. By the grace of God are we here
this day with our eyes on Christ and our minds fixed on the gospel
and still doing ministry as God called us to do. Because we understand
that it is a warfare to stay on point. If you've been in the
Christian way any time long, you can think about how many
people who have come and gone from the holy place. Am I making
some sense? Come and gone. come and gone. And so the apostles had three
and a half years where they were with an individual in a very
intimate way, close way. His name was Judas Iscariot.
Judas could not wait because waiting requires grace and humility. Waiting requires grace and humility. People move out too soon on God
out of pride. And that pride is rooted in unbelief.
Am I making some sense? Pride and unbelief. So the obedience of a waiting
church gives us five things to consider, seven
things actually to consider. The first is the unity of purpose. The second is the patience of
the process. The third is a combined gender
paradigm. This is a new thing. The fourth
is a tenfold nucleus. The fifth is lessons of the apostate. See, when you are patient, when
God teaches you patience, you learn lessons from people who
are not. And one of the things you'll
learn if you're patient is, you'll learn that it is much wiser not
to judge anything before the time, but to let God make manifest
the counsels of the heart in his own time. Because God is
a good judge. In fact, he's a better judge
than you and I. And where he tells you and I to make sure
we wait until the jury is all together out, if we jump the
gun before the jury is out, we will be wrong most of the time.
The very people that you thought would hold up are the people
that fall off. The very people that you thought
would fall off are the people that hold up. And that's because
you don't see things the way God does. Your thoughts are not
God's thoughts. His ways are not your ways. And
we don't see the heart. God does. And for people to stay
or to stand or to persevere is a product of God's grace. And
it has nothing to do with character on that person's part. When they
default, they default because they lack something that they
only seem to have had. And so it was with Judas Iscariot.
As I've said so many times with Judas Iscariot, he is a profound
enigma for us because there was nothing about Judas Iscariot
apart from what the narrative gives us, by which you would
have been suspicious of him being a crook. He was the quietest. He was the most docile. He was
the most conformed apostle among them. You don't hear him boasting
like Peter and James and John. You don't hear them clamoring
to be on the right hand and on the left. You don't hear all
that mess those other fellows was doing. Sometimes the disciples
are kind of embarrassing, aren't they? I mean, they were super,
super slow. They really were. You're laughing,
but you're just like them. I mean, precisely like them.
But Judas Iscariot kept his cards close to his chest. He really
did not have fellowship with those men. And I'm talking from experience
now. I'm talking from experience with people who pretend they
are your friends. Pretend that they are in agreement
with you. Pretend that they have the same
cause that you do, the same purpose that you do, the same drive that
you do. Only there's something lacking.
And that is real honesty. Are y'all hearing what I'm saying?
See, when you, when you have a friend, a real friend, I'm
talking to a real friend, that person's honest with you. He
has your best interest in view. Everybody else is coming along
for a ride and they're going to get off at the exit that most
benefits them. And on their way off the exit,
they're going to blame you for getting off. See, I could actually give you
the whole list of indictments that Judas Iscariot would have
had against the other 11 and Jesus, which forged in his mind
a legitimate reason for him to sell out. I can tell you that
he would be sitting up there complaining about Peter. I don't
like Peter. I don't like Peter. Peter talks
too much. Peter ought to shut up. He doesn't
know a thing. He's nothing but a dumb, stupid, foul-mouthed
fisherman. I don't even know why the Lord
let the brother hang out with him. Now see, Judas ain't saying none
of this out loud. This is all in his heart. Judas
is the quiet one, the one that's conforming to everything. But
in his heart, I don't like James and John, because they always
hang together. Those two brothers, you can't
separate them apart. And they think they're bad. Sons
of thunder, I'll kick their tail. See, you know he's talking all
kinds of... Inside, he's talking all kinds...
Okay. I'm telling you how it goes.
Judas Iscariot had problems with all those cats. Because when
you are about When you're about to sell the gospel, you have
to make everything about the gospel wrong so you can justify
selling it. Are y'all hearing what I'm saying?
You gotta make everybody on the team bad, worse than you, useless,
morons, so that your move is viewed as an act of integrity
rather than a traitor's act of treason. This is why our master
said, Not no Q and a five minutes. This is why our master said this
is why our master said It would be better for that man if he
had never been born Are y'all hear me it had been better if
that man Had not been born. I'll take five more minutes and
I'll take a few questions and we'll shut it down I just want
to get I want to get the framework of this for you. It's a beautiful
thing When the people of God have enough humility to wait
on God That's a beautiful thing. Look at verse 14 chapter 1 these
all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with
the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brother
see verse 14 That goes back to verse 4 and being assembled together
with them The Lord commanded them that they what should not
depart from Jerusalem But wait That's what they're doing over
in verse 14. And the beauty of his command for them to wait
is this. He did not tell them when the
promise would come. They could have been waiting
there for months. They could have been waiting there for years,
but I want you to understand the posture with which they waited.
There were two primary things that they were doing. A third
one will emerge as Peter rises up. We won't get to it tonight.
They had great fellowship as we have been learning for several
weeks. They love to sit and eat and talk, but the primary posture
that they are engaged in now is prayer. So stay with me for
a moment. See, and I've already told you,
St. Cynthia said, grace for years now, give me a person that doesn't
take prayer seriously. That individual is a walking
disaster. Give me a person that does not
take prayer seriously. That individual is a walking
disaster. That man or that woman, that
group or that church that does not take prayer seriously is
a walking disaster. A walking disaster. Remember
what I told you? The Book of Acts is merely the
transition of Christ's practices to the church. that all the church is called
upon to do is what Christ did. Right? What did Christ do in
his three and a half years ministry? What was he known for? Prayer.
Constant prayer. Prayer, prayer, prayer. So much
so the disciples said, Lord, teach us how to pray. Lord, increase
our faith. Lord, show us how to pray. Because
they observed that this man took God so serious and the will of
God so serious and the advancement of God's work so serious that
he was constantly in prayer. In fact, our master's habit of
prayer was such that Judas Iscariot knew where to find him when it
was time to kill him. Our master took prayer serious
because he understood that the posture before the father to
get what the father means for us to have in order for us to
do what the father wants us to do, we've got to ask for it. And when a man or woman is not
sincere in prayer, you can be sure that you will not receive
what is essential for you to be able to execute what you call
you have not because you ask not. Am I telling the truth? I'm telling the God honest truth.
And so what I love about what's taking place in Acts 1 is that
he didn't tell them to go back to Jerusalem and pray. But one
of the last penetrating visions that they had of the master was
him praying. And they took up from his prayer.
Because remember, after he prayed, he was betrayed. So they went
right back to where he was on his knees calling on the father
and they waited right there So the Hebrew writer says he
that comes to God must believe that he is and Is a rewarder
of them that diligently seek him Pastor I diligently seek
him. Well, let's see. How serious
are you in prayer? Well, I'm not that serious. You
don't seek him diligently I'm just telling you, listen, you
say, but you don't seek him diligently where you and I know that we
fail to commune with God significantly. We are not being diligent and
thus it is with a church. People frequently ask me about
our church here at grace, particularly because our church comes out
of a legacy and history of churches that are of a very unique Protestant
legacy. And most of the churches that
are part of the kind of churches that Grace is are small little
churches with 20, 30, 40, 50 people around the nation and
around the world. These are called Protestant churches,
Reformed churches. That's our history. That's our
legacy. Our theology is richly rooted in the doctrines of grace.
This is why you guys are being taught the gospel week in and
week out at this point. So you can be, be clear on the
foundation. When you go around the world
and you look at our, our Protestant churches, you see small groups
of Protestant churches got their theology, right? But they also
got it wrong because they are presuming that theology is all
you need. When theology does no good without
the endorsement of God's Spirit in it. Do you hear what I'm saying? And people love that. What's
going on with y'all, Pastor at Grace? I'll tell you what's going
on. We're begging God. We're begging God to save us
and then use us. That's what we're doing. Listen,
it's just that simple. I tell people all the time, if
God shut down all our ministries in the church and leave the prayer
service, I'll be happy. It's not by power. It's not by
might. It's by my spirit, saith the
Lord. And if every believer would understand that he cannot accomplish
one thing for God, apart from prayer, he would be more successful
in his life, his influence in his family, his influence on
his job. See, and this is where the disciples
are. They are in one accord. Let's
stop right there. I saw some hands popping up.
Maybe I stirred some thoughts. Just a few questions, and we'll
close in prayer. We want to remind you of tomorrow's fellowship.
Now, make sure y'all come out. If y'all cook something good,
give me the first dabs. I want my double portion. My
brother right there. My brother, you can speak up. Christianity is definitely based
on study, fellowship, and prayer. That's Acts chapter 2, verse
41 and 42. It's based on that as the motive
by which we come to know the Lord better. The substratum,
our foundation to those three, uh, study fellowship and prayer
is an actual authentic relationship with the savior. In other words,
you are not a Christian just because you study fellowship
and pray. You are a Christian because you
have a vital relationship with the true and the living God in
the person of Christ, which motivates you to study because eternal
life is a knowledge of him. And when you are born of God,
1st John chapter 5 verse 1, you love the beginner, which is the
father. You love the begotten, which is the son. And you love
those that are begotten of the father, which is me. Us. I'm just telling you, you ain't
got to like me, but you got to love me. Are y'all hearing what
I'm saying? But it has to be connected to
a living root. It is not authentic Christianity
if it's not connected to a living root. And that living root is
Christ. He is the revelation of the invisible
God who loved the Father and loved men. Didn't he? He is the
epitome of God's love. He is God's commendation to the
world. Here is my love to the human race in the person of Jesus
Christ. And that's what you and I are
called to. That's what we are learning about and desiring to
be. lovers of God. This is who the
book to whom the book is written, right? Theophilus is the lover
of God. God's writing to Theophilus.
I'm a Theophilus. Are you a Theophilus? Then this
book is to you. This is a love letter to you.
Next question. Oh, my brother back there. Uh huh. Yeah. The principle that I gave was
Old Testament is prophetic. New Testament is fulfillment.
Old Testament is a, uh, a book of promises. New Testament is
reality. Old Testament is symbolism. New
Testament is substance. Old Testament is pattern. New
Testament is picture. Old Testament points to Christ.
New Testament reveals Christ. Got that? And that principle
is essential as a hermeneutic. You can get the CD and listen
to it 10 times free. And we're glad to have you, my
brother. Glad to have you. Somebody else? Y'all better get
these questions while we're here. My sister. Oh, another hand.
Was there another hand? No other hands. Okay, good. Let's
stand for prayer. Where we're at. You know, I'm blind Dante.
What? Right. The Ascension. Right. No, the
son of man stood before the ancient of days, Daniel chapter seven,
but it doesn't, it doesn't say escort. It doesn't say escorted,
escorted where. Okay. Before him. All right.
That's, that would be the clouds of glory that took him into the,
into his presence. Same thing. Daniel seven is being fulfilled
in Acts chapter one. That's Christ. Somebody else.
Okay, good. Let's stand in prayer. My sister.
Amen. So, so we will say this too. Um, we have a prayer box back
there. Can I just give you this testimony
about prayer? Just y'all, y'all may be tired of prayer testimonies.
I mean, I can make this very short two words. Are you ready? Prayer, word. All right, so I say that to say
this. We started our weekly prayer
service, I think, four years ago, maybe five now. Small little
group of us back in our old building. Actually, it started off with
two, me and Sister Renee. Is that Renee up there? Renee,
remember? I put it. I put first prayer
service, Grace Bible Church, 2010, 2011. The first prayer service, nobody
showed up but me and Renee. I said, all right, Renee, it's
going to be you and me. Turn the world upside down.