I've entitled this message, Witnesses
Unto Me. Now before I get into the exposition
of this passage of scripture and try to preach the gospel
from this passage of scripture, there has been a lot of error
that came out of a misunderstanding of what has been said. Actually,
dispensationalism, that belief that God had different dispensations
where In some dispensation, you'd say by works, and some by some
other way, and some by grace, just these different dispensations,
and a lot of that arose out of this text. Look in verse five. But John truly baptized with
water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. Not many
days hence, they had not yet been baptized with the Holy Ghost. Look in verse eight, but you
shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon
you and you shall be witnesses unto me. That's where I got the
title to this passage of scripture. Now, it's very important for
us to understand that Old Testament saints were saved the same way
New Testament saints were saved. Some have taken this and said,
well, they didn't have the Holy Spirit the way New Testament
saints have. There was something different.
No, there wasn't. Abel was saved, same way me and
you were saved, looking to Christ only. He didn't believe that
sacrifice he brought put away his sins. He knew that it was
representative of the one who would come and put away his sins. Enoch, when it says he pleased
God, but without faith it's impossible to please God. That doesn't mean
Enoch was some kind of super holy saint that just was better
than most people and he just brought up into heaven. The only
way he pleased God was through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Every Old Testament saint had the same faith me and you had.
They looked to him who was to come. We look to him who has
come. So understand that there are
not different ways of salvation, different experiences of the
Holy Spirit. To have faith, you have to have
spiritual life, and it's not found in the natural man. And
these men who had faith had been born of the Spirit. They were
born again, just like you and I are. They were saved by the
same way, saved by the same Spirit. It's not like they had some different
experience of salvation. They didn't have quite the amount
of the Holy Spirit that we have and they were saved some other
way, not at all. Every believer has been saved
the precise same way. Every believer is saved because
God elected them. because Christ died for them,
because God the Holy Spirit gave them life, and now they believe. It takes the Holy Spirit to believe.
So when he's saying that these men did not yet have the baptism
of the Holy Spirit, he is not talking about them being saved
in some different way, and not having the same experience of
the Holy Spirit that no Testament believers have. Every believer
is saved the same way. So our text does not contradict
this when it talks about them having the baptism of the Holy
Spirit. So let's see what this is saying. Verse four, this is after the Lord had risen
and he had been with them 40 days and being assembled. And my marginal reading says
eating together. eating together. You know, when
the Lord was raised from the dead, he had a human body, glorified,
but he was eating. He was eating with them. That
lets us know that there's not sin found in things because he
ate the same stuff the apostles did and didn't affect him. He
ate together with him. And you know, this takes away
that error of Gnosticism, where they said that Christ couldn't
have become flesh, because if he became flesh, that'd make
him sinful, because all matter is sin. And that was an error
in the early church. It couldn't be, because here
he is eating food. A real man with a real body,
the man Christ Jesus glorified, but they're assembled together
with them. And he commanded them that they should not depart from
Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the father, which saith he,
you've heard of me for John truly baptized with water, but you
should be baptized with the Holy ghost. Not many days hence. Now turn to John chapter 14. Verse 16, and I will pray the
Father, and he shall give you another comforter that may abide
with you forever, even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot
receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but
you know him, for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you.
Look in verse 26, but the comforter, I love this name of the Holy
Spirit. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father
will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring
all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said to you.
Look in chapter 15. Verse 25, but this cometh to
pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in
their law, they hated me without a cause, but when the Comforter
has come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the
Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify
of me, and you shall bear witness of me, because you've been with
me from the beginning. Now the only way I can really bear witness
of Christ is if God the Holy Spirit enables me to. This is
what he's talking about. Look in John chapter 16. Verse seven. Nevertheless, I tell you the
truth. It's expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not
away, the comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart,
I will send him unto you. Now what he's talking about,
look in Acts chapter two. Acts chapter two. Now this is
the promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit. Verse one. This is what he's telling them
to wait in Jerusalem for, for this to take place. Verse one. 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, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And
there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as a fire, and it
set upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy
Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit
gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem
Jews, devout men out of every nation under heaven. Now when
this was noised abroad, the multitude came together and were confounded,
because they heard every man speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and
marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which
speak Galileans? And how hear we every man in
our own tongue wherein we were born? And then he speaks of 17
different languages that were spoken during that time. All
these people gathered together and they started speaking in
tongues and they started speaking in other languages. Now, Anytime
you hear someone talking about speaking in tongues of some kind
of heavy, heavenly language, I pray in tongues, I don't know
what I'm saying, but God the Spirit's on me, I've got this
gift of tongues, and I have this heavenly language that edifies
my spirit, but doesn't edify my mind, but God knows what I'm
saying. And it's looked upon as the evidence of the baptism
of the Holy Spirit. That's foolishness. All the gift
of tongues is, is the ability to speak in other languages. If I had the gift of tongues,
I could go into Russia right now and speak fluent Russian. If I had the gift of tongues,
I could go into any nation, wherever it is, and be able to speak that
language. Now remember, this is when the
gospel was to be spread, and these fellows didn't know how
to speak in other languages, but they were given this gift. This
is the baptism of the Holy Spirit, where they're enabled to speak
in tongues in order to preach the gospel. And look at this
statement they made. Verse 11, Creeps and Arabians,
that's the last two of the 17 different languages that they
heard spoke, we do hear them speak in our tongues, what? The wonderful works of God. That's the gospel, isn't it?
The wonderful works of God. So this baptism of the Holy Spirit
is this baptism of being able to preach the gospel in other
languages. And there are other things they
could do in this baptism of the Holy Spirit. They could raise
the dead. They did it. They could heal
the sick. They could give sight to the
blind. If a deadly venomous snake bit them, they'd just shake it
off. Wouldn't hurt them. Now, these were the supernatural
gifts of God the Holy Spirit to the early church. And the
only ones who could transfer these gifts were the apostles,
just the 12. And the big example is Philip,
when he came into Samaria in Acts chapter 8 and preached the
gospel, there was a great revival that took place. And they had
to wait for Peter and John to get there before the Apostles
could lay their hands on them. And it says when they saw that
by the laying on of the apostles hands, the Holy Ghost was given. So this is something that came
only through the laying on of the apostles hands. And there
were perhaps thousands of people who had these gifts. But when
the apostles died, there wasn't anybody to transfer gifts to.
That means that everybody who makes this claim of having this
gift, somebody calls himself an apostle, or somebody says,
I have the gift of tongues, or somebody says, I can heal, they're
liars. That's all you can call them,
liars. They're not telling the truth. If somebody had the gift
to heal, they'd be in hospitals healing people. But no, they
don't do that. But somebody had a shoulder out
of joint, oh, my shoulder's better. Oh, you've been healed. That's
foolishness. That's all that is. It's not
even real. But the apostles did have this gift. So this giving
of the Holy Spirit, which he's telling them to wait on until
you have this. And we just read about when it
came. Can you imagine that rushing mighty wind? And all of a sudden,
you're hearing people speak in other languages, the gospel,
and people were hearing. How must that have been? But
you know, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, this was a one-time
event, but it kept happening. People kept being able to speak
in tongues. And you know, anytime you hear
the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit, that's the baptism
of the Holy Spirit. You couldn't hear if it wasn't
for God's Spirit. You know that, don't you? There's times when
you can hear the gospel and it's just nothing. You don't hear. What's wrong with the preacher?
Well, you know, maybe something's wrong with the preacher. Maybe you're
just not hearing the power of the Holy Spirit. There are other
times that you hear the gospel and you know the Lord speaking
to you. That's the baptism of the Holy Spirit. When I'm enabled
to preach the gospel and the power of the Spirit, that's God,
the Holy Spirit. It's not me. This is something that happens
all the time. But the chief thing he's talking
about is this Pentecost, the day of Pentecost, when this would
come. He says, you're going to be baptized
in the Holy Spirit so you can be witnesses of me. Now, the
scripture I thought about was there in Matthew chapter 16,
where the Lord said, whom say men that I am? Some say Elias,
others Elijah, one of the prophets, Jeremiah. Whom say ye that I
am? Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Blessed
art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood didn't reveal
that to you. But my Father, which is in heaven, And I say unto
you, thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church. Now when he's saying upon this
rock, he wasn't on about Peter. He was talking about Peter's
confession of Christ. Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. Blessed art thou, Peter. Flesh
and blood didn't reveal this to thee, but my Father which
is in heaven. Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build
my church. Aren't you glad it's the Lord
that builds the church? And he said, the gates of hell shall
not prevail against it. You know what that means? Through
the preaching of the gospel, God is gonna bust down the gates
of hell and snatch his elect out, and there's nothing the
devil can do about it. That's what that means. It's
called by some of the old writers, the church militant. In preaching
the gospel, storming the very gates of hell, And they can't
hold back God's people from hearing the gospel, believing and bowing
the knee to Christ and being saved by His grace. Now, the
only way that can take place is through the power of the Holy
Spirit. There's no power in me in preaching the gospel. There's
no power in you in preaching the gospel. It must be the power
of God, the Holy Spirit. Turn with me to 1 Thessalonians
chapter 2. Verse 13. For this cause also thank we
God without ceasing. 1 Thessalonians 2 verse 13. For this cause also thank we
God without ceasing, because when you received the word of
God which you heard of us, you received it not as the word of
men, but as it is in truth the word of God. You're not looking at it as the
doctrine of the Todd's Road Grace Church or that preacher's opinion.
You're hearing it as God's very word. Which effectually worketh
also in you that believe. Now that is the baptism of the
Holy Ghost demonstrated in Acts chapter two. Now let's go back
to our text in Acts chapter one. He said, wait for this baptism
where you're going to be able to be witnesses of me by being
baptized by the Holy Ghost not many days hence. Verse six, then
they ask a stupid question. It's a stupid question. You ever
ask stupid questions? Sure you do. Do I ever ask stupid
questions? Sure I do. They were still looking
even at this time They were looking for some kind of fleshly, visible
kingdom, where they would be the top dogs. And they would
be, Israel would be restored to prominence, national prominence.
Rome would be under our foot. We'd be controlling everything.
That's what they were looking for, a government of Israel being
in control. And look what they say. When
they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord,
wilt thou not at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
the way it was back in David's days and Solomon's days when
we were the most powerful nation on earth. Here we are under Roman
rule and we don't like this. We would like to be rulers once
again and be the most powerful nation in the earth and we would
represent you and all kinds of good could be done. Are you gonna
restore the kingdom again to us to where everything is the
way it used to be and everything's great? Verse seven, and he said unto
them, It's not for you to know the times or the seasons which
the father has put in his own power. Now, like I said, that
means it's none of your business what I do. Are you okay with
that? It's none of your business what
I do. The things the father has put in his own power. You know,
I'm glad those things are in the Father's power, aren't you?
I might not know what he's doing, but he does. And I can rest in
that. I don't need to know this stuff.
I love the way the Lord says, it's none of your business. Same
thing he said to Peter when he told Peter what kind of death
he was going to glorify God. And Peter looked over at John
and said, what about him? He said, what's it to you? If
I will thee, Terry, till I come. What's it to you? It's none of
your business. There's some, there's a lot of
stuff that's just not any of our business. And that's one
of them. And that's what the Lord says to him. But verse eight,
but you shall receive power. After that, the Holy ghost has
come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem
and in all Judea. and in Samaria, and into the
uttermost parts of the earth." Now this is that power that comes
from the Holy Spirit, the power to be his witness. He says, into
the uttermost parts of the earth. They went everywhere preaching
the gospel. And after not too long, the whole
world had heard the gospel. And this was before the internet.
This was before TV, this was before radio. This was men and
women going out and spreading the gospel. You know, that's
a whole lot better than the internet or TV, isn't it? To hear somebody
who really believes the gospel preaching the gospel to them.
And this was done through the power of the Holy Spirit. Now turn with me for a moment
to John chapter 16. I love this passage of scripture. John chapter 16. I've already
read the seventh verse. And you see, we need the Holy
Spirit to help us in bringing this message. It can't be brought without him.
I shouldn't say we just need his help. He needs to do it because
we can't do it. Verse seven. Nevertheless, I
tell you the truth. It's expedient for you that I
go away. For if I go not away, the comforter
will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send
him unto you. And when he has come, you'll
be speaking, understand this, that's understood, but he will
reprove the world, convict the world, convince the world of
these three things, sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Now that is what the Holy Spirit
convicts of. And these are three things that
a natural man is completely ignorant of. Sin, righteousness, and judgment. The natural man doesn't know
what sin is. He looks at it as behavioral problems. He doesn't
realize that it's in nature. He has no idea what sin really
is. No unsaved person really has
any idea of what sin is. No unsaved person has any understanding
of what righteousness is. They think they're righteous.
They think, you know, if I can be put in the right place and under
the right circumstances, if I'm not tempted and I'm not placed
in a position where I can fall, I can be righteous. If all my
cards are in the right place. He demonstrates by that he doesn't
even know what righteousness is. And he has no understanding
of judgment. None at all. Look what the Lord
goes on to say, verse 9, of sin. Because they believe not on me. Now you're never convicted of
sin until you find out you're an unbeliever. and that faith
is out of your reach. It's out of your grasp. You've
never had any conviction of sin until you've seen that you don't
believe and you can't believe and you're completely dependent
upon God to do something for you. You can't come up with the
faith. Now as long as you believe that you can Believe whenever
you want to. Once somewhere down the road,
I'm going to turn things around. I'm going to believe. I'm going
to do this. I'm going to do that. You're still under the dominion
of sin. You're dead in trespasses and sins. You're blind. If you
think faith is within your grasp, you've never been convicted of
sin. Of sin, because they believe
not on me. Have you ever found that faith
is beyond you? You can't come up with it. It's
not something you can just up and decide to do. Well, I'm going
to try to believe. You don't try to believe. You
either believe or you don't. And when you have faith. You find
yourself believing. It's not a decision you made.
I'm going to believe God. I remember this song this guy
wrote. He said, I have decided to live
like a believer, turn my back on the deceiver. I'm going to
live what I believe. And I thought, oh, hope you do. But that's just
that kind of attitude is contrary to the gospel. No true understanding
of sin. Because when you understand sin,
you understand this. I'm so evil that I don't even
know what it is to believe. I can't come up with faith and
the only way I'll ever have it is if God gives it to me because
I can't come up with the goods. And then he says in verse 10
of righteousness, because I go to my father and you see me no
more. Now, what he's saying is I'm
going to the father and I'm bringing my righteousness to the father.
And the only righteousness there is, is the righteousness of Jesus
Christ. And until I see that, I have
no understanding of righteousness. He goes and brings His righteousness
before the Father. That's how He saves His people,
by presenting His righteousness to the Father as their personal
righteousness. That's why David said in Psalm 71 16, I've made
mention of thy righteousness, even thine only. Now why did
David say, even thine only? Because his righteousness is
the only righteousness. Now I appeal to every believer.
Do you have any other righteousness other than Christ's? I know whatever a believer says.
No. His righteousness is the only
righteousness I know. And until you're convinced of
that, you don't even know what righteousness is. If you think
that you can be righteous, I'm gonna be good today. I'm gonna
be righteous. You don't even know what it is. And then he
says in verse 11 of judgment, because the prince of this world
is judged. Now you understand judgment only
when you understand that judgment has already taken place. Judgment took place on the cross. The prince of this world was
judged, defeated. Every believer, their sins were
judged. Every unbeliever was condemned. Now, the passing out of the sentences
won't take place until judgment day. I realize that there is
a day coming when God will judge the world in righteousness by
that man whom he hath ordained. But judgment has already taken
place. Now, let me tell you, I hope
I can say this honestly. I hope I'm not just saying this. I can't tell you whether, you
know, I mean, every time I say I'm not Here's what I'm trying
to say. I'm not afraid of judgment. I'm not afraid of standing before
God in his utter holiness and judgment. And there's only one
reason for that. Judgment's already taken place.
That's why. I don't have anything to fear.
Oh, I'm afraid some sins are gonna be brought up on judgment
day where I, not me, Jesus paid it all. All the debt I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. And there's nothing to fear.
Now, the only time I feel that way is when I'm looking at Christ. There's a lot of times I think,
how could you be saved if you do this or if you think that?
Who doesn't go through that all the time? I mean, there's not
a day that goes by when at some point I think, you couldn't possibly
be saved. You couldn't possibly be. Who
are you trying to kid? But you know when I feel that way? When
I'm looking here. When I'm enabled to look away
from myself and look only to Christ as everything in my salvation. Judgment is already accomplished.
I'm not afraid of judgment. Isn't that a wonderful, oh, I
wish I could put that in a bottle and just keep it. Looking to
Christ only at all times. I was going reading, he's speaking
of the Holy Spirit. He says, I have yet many things
to say unto you, but you can't bear them now. How about when
he, the Spirit of truth has come, he will guide you into all truth. Don't you love this name of the
Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth? And he will guide you into all
truth. You know, that's, I preach the
gospel, but I can't, he's the one who guides into all truth.
For he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear,
that shall he speak. He will show you things to come
He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine and shall show
it unto you. Now there we have God the Holy
Spirit. He will not speak of himself. Somebody that's always talking
about the Holy Spirit doesn't have the Holy Spirit. The Spirit
said this, no he didn't, don't say that. He never spoke to you
at all. The Spirit told me, no he didn't,
no he didn't. God the Holy Spirit has one thing
to say. Christ Jesus the Lord. Look to
Him only. He doesn't speak of Himself.
He speaks of Christ. God the Father loves to glorify
His Son. God the Holy Spirit loves to
glorify the Son. That is His work. Back to our text in Acts chapter
1. But you shall receive power after
that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. And here is all this
power is for. You shall be witnesses unto me. I want to hear witness, don't
you? I don't want to hear someone with secondhand information.
I want to hear somebody who's seen something. And they're witnesses. They're preaching not what somebody
told them about, but something they've seen themselves. You
know, there's all kinds of classes churches give on how to witness.
Train people to witness. Can't you see how corrupt that
is? You know, if you train somebody to witness, that means you're
trying to train them to lie about something, or try to soup it up, or do something
to make it more appealing to the flesh and get more results.
That's evil. You don't train a witness. You
witness if you've seen something. And what the Lord is speaking,
he says, this is the reason for the power of the Holy Spirit,
this baptism of the Holy Spirit. You shall be witnesses unto me. Now let's go back to Acts chapter
two. I'm gonna be preaching on this before long, but let's see
what all this means. Verse 12, And they were all amazed,
and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this,
seeing these men speak in other languages? And others, mocking,
said, These men are full of new wine. They're drunk. That's why
they're acting this way. They're just drunk. But Peter,
standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and said
unto them, You men of Judea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem,
be this known unto you, and hearken to my words, for these are not
drunken, as ye suppose. Sagan's put the third hour of
the day, it's nine o'clock in the morning. But this is what
that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. And it shall come
to pass in the last day, saith God, I'll pour out my spirit
upon all flesh. And your sons and your daughters
shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your
old men shall dream dreams. And on my servants and on my
handmaidens I'll pour out in these days of my spirit, and
they shall prophesy, and I will show wonders in heaven above
and signs in the earth beneath. blood and fire and vapor smoke
the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood
before that great notable day of the Lord come and he's talking
about this day and it shall come to pass that whosoever shall
call on the name of the Lord shall be saved now if you go
on reading in this chapter we have what some people have called
the greatest sermon ever preached and in this sermon three thousand
people were saved. Now I'm going to read this without
making much comment on it, but this is what happens when someone
is baptized with the Holy Spirit and they preach the gospel. This
is not talking about what the charismatic movement talks about. This is the evidence of the baptism
of the Holy Spirit, the preaching of the gospel. Now let's read
what Peter says. Ye men of Israel, hear these
words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God among you. You may not have approved of
him, but God did. And he did what only God could
do, approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs,
which God did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also
know. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and with
wicked hands have crucified and slain. Now, this is so important.
Where does Peter begin this message? With God's purpose, with God's
counsel. There's one reason you've crucified
him. because God determined before
for it to be done. He's in control of this. And
then he says, you hit with wicked hands of crucified and slain.
He preached man's responsibility. You're responsible for doing
this. You can't say, well, God determined for me to do this.
He did determine for you to do this, but you did what you wanted
to do. You see, men are held responsible for everything they
do. But thank God he is completely sovereign over all the free actions
of men. And that's one of the glorious
things about God. Don't you love that? He controls everything. And he was delivered by the determined
counsel and foreknowledge of God. Look over in chapter four
for just a moment. The early church said in verse 27, for
of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed
both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people
of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand
and thy counsel determined before to be done. When you were crucifying
him, you were performing God's will. He determined before for
this to be done. Now there's no gospel preaching
without this. Somebody says, well, I preach the gospel. Do
you preach this? If you don't, you do not preach the gospel,
period. This is a message anointed by
the Spirit of God. Now, turn back to Acts chapter
2, verse 24. Whom God hath raised up, having
loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should
be holden of it. Now, there are some things that
just aren't possible. It's impossible for God to lie. Scripture says that. It's impossible
for God to lie. I love it when the rich young
ruler came up and he ended up leaving and the disciples looked
at the Lord and they said, if he can't be saved, who then can
be saved? And the Lord said with me, and
it's impossible. Salvation with men is impossible. But you know something else?
It's impossible for somebody that Christ died for to be damned.
It's absolutely impossible. And it was impossible for Christ
to stay dead. He rendered complete satisfaction. It was not possible that he'd
stay dead. He must be raised from the dead.
You know, when you preach the gospel, you talk about what must
be. There's no gospel preaching without
that. Verse 25, for David speaketh concerning him. I foresaw the
Lord always before my face, and he is on my right hand, that
I should not be moved. Therefore did my heart rejoice,
and my tongue was glad. Moreover, also my flesh shall
rest in hope, because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither
wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption. This was Christ
speaking through David. Thou hast made me to know the
ways of life. Thou shalt make me full of joy
with thy countenance. Now, men and brethren, let me
freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he's both
dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day. Therefore,
being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath
to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh,
he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne, he, seeing this
before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was
not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. You
know what that says? That says David knew exactly what he was
saying. Somebody said, do these Old Testament prophets know what
they were saying when they were making these predictions and
prophecies about what would take place? Sure, they knew what they
were saying. David did. He knew exactly what he was saying.
Verse 33, Therefore, being by the right hand of God, exalted,
and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost,
he hath shed forth this which you now see and hear. This is
what he's talking about. For David is not ascended into
the heavens, but saith himself, But he saith himself, The Lord
said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy
foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of
Israel know assuredly that God hath made this same Jesus, whom
you have crucified, both Lord and Christ. I suppose one of the most disgusting
statements you ever hear from a preacher is, won't you make
Jesus the Lord of your life? He is the Lord of your life. Whether you know it or not, whether
you like it or not, He's your Lord. He died that He might be
Lord, both of the dead and the living. Verse 37, now when they
heard this, they were pricked in their heart and said unto
Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what
shall we do? We're in trouble. We've killed
the Lord. What shall we do? Then Peter
said unto them, repent and be baptized every one of you in
the name of Jesus Christ for the remission or because of the
remission of sins. And you shall receive the gift
of the Holy Ghost for the promises unto you and to your children
and to all that are far off, even as many as the Lord our
God shall call. And with many other words that
he testified, exhort saying, save yourselves from this untoward
generation. Then they that gladly received
his word were baptized. And the same day there were added
unto them about 3,000 souls from that one sermon. And this is
a result of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit
took the words and made Peter a witness of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was speaking as a witness. And they were pricked in their
hearts. Who did the pricking? God, the Holy Spirit did. They
were pricked in their hearts. What are we going to do? How
can we get out of this mess? We know we can't. We're in trouble.
Tell us! What shall we do? Repent. Quit believing all the silly
stuff you believe. Change your mind. See it's all
wrong. Repent. and be baptized every
one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for or because of the
remission of sins. That's not saying be baptized
and your sins will be remitted. Be baptized because of the remission
of sins. You repent of all your silly
beliefs and salvation by works and the things you're gonna do
and the intentions you have. Repent of that and look to Christ
only. And you shall receive the gift
of the Holy Ghost for the promises unto you and to your children
and to all that are far off, even as many as the Lord our
God shall call." It's a broad statement. The ends of the earth,
but then he limits it. Only the ones the Lord our God
shall call. So we see the baptism of the
Holy Spirit has to do with being witnesses of Christ. It's not
regeneration. These people were already regenerated.
But it's this baptism that took place in the early church where
they could preach the gospel and 3,000 souls were saved from
that message. And if you want to know what
gospel preaching is, study the sermons of the book of Acts. I said this to somebody this
morning, it's interesting. In the book of Acts, not one
time is love mentioned. Not once. It certainly implied
the love of God in Christ Jesus. It's always implied in the gospel.
But when they preached, they didn't have a message, God loves
you and I do too. No, nothing like that. They preached
the gospel. May God enable me and you to
preach the gospel, be consumed with preaching the gospel, just
like they were. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that by your spirit we would be enabled to be witnesses of
thee. Lord, we ask that even this coming
week, according to your will, you would open up doors for us
to preach your gospel in this town, in this generation. Bless this message for Christ's
sake. In his name we pray, amen.