Acts 1:6-12

Verse Nine and when he had said these things as they were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold two men stood behind them and white robes and said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way you saw him go into heaven.

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called all of it , which was near Jerusalem, a Sabbath state journey away.

You would have us leave this room today knowing at greater depths how good you are and how much you love us and just what it is that you have called us to do. Father, we pray all of these things in the name of your son.

So we thought, well, you know , we want them to see our ministry and to see everything that we're doing in the city, but we also want them to be able to see other parts of the country. And we did not live in a very pretty city and there are plenty of pretty parts of Ecuador. So we thought, well , we'll take them to our favorite city and the mountains. And so we did that. But this little city that's situated in the Andes mountains is also really close to the Amazon.

So we thought, wow, it would be really cool if we could go on a tour of the Amazon. So that is what we did.

We hired a guide to take us and we went and we even had to take a canoe and one pot at one part of our journey, but we spent, I don't know how long, hiking through the rainforest , and we came to a tree one during one part of the journey, came to tree and the guide pulls out a knife, takes the back end of it, and begins scraping the bark off of this tree and he's crumbling it up in his hand and mixing it up with some water that he borrowed from somebody.

And then he begins to ask us to hold out our hands like this in a cup. And so we do, and he begins to pour a little bit into each of our hands. Then he says, okay, on the count of three, I want you to sniff it. Okay. For me, my Calu as to whether or not I was actually gonna follow through with it was what he did. If he got to three and he sniffed it, I was going to go for it. So he counts one, two, three, he doesn't sniff it. So I don't mind out.

And our friend dumped hers out, but my wife and mother-in-law, they both at the same time, they sniffed it and almost immediately begin weeping. And this is gross, but snot just coming out of my wife's face and I'm thinking, oh my gosh, what is this? And as they're just, you know, crying and snots coming out everywhere, the guy says it's free sinus medicine. And then she describes this as one of the greatest pains that she has experienced in her life.

And so I think she realized in that moment was that that sinus medicine might have been free, but it was not cheap. Story number two, as I was a senior in high school, I was returning to Costa Rica. We had begin begun working with a group in Chi Blancos , Costa Rica with the student ministries and I'd been my junior year. And so I'm going back for my senior year and I'll walk into this new building that they set up kind of as a center to reach the street kids in the area.

And we walked into this new building and we see painted on the back wall, this giant mural. Any Spanish speakers in here? Let me see hands, I'll see quite a few painted on this back wall. We see the words written, hey, Seuss s grantees [inaudible] meaning Jesus is free, but he is not cheap. I think for us this morning, especially coming out of pastor Dan's sermon last week where he spoke on what it means to submit to the Lordship of Christ.

When we get to acts, what we see is a perfect example of what it looks like in the lives of at this point 11 people to submit to the Lordship of Christ knowing that he is free, but he is not cheap, but he's worth it. So read with me again if you will. Acts One six through 12 says so when they'd come together, they asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?

And he said to them, it is not for you to know the times or seasons that the father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive the power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Sumeria and to the end of the earth.

And when he had said these things as they were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight, and while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold two men stood by them in white robes and said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivette, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath days journey away.

As we get into this passage, one of the things that I want to do as we begin as to give you an idea of what the background was here, and so if you read in acts one beginning in verse one you see the introduction to the book, so let's read it. It says in the first book, Oh , Theopolis, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when he was taken up after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.

I think we see a couple of things here in this introduction. First we discover who it is that wrote acts and the very beginning, he addresses this letter to a person named Theopolis, which if you remember the introduction to the gospel of Luke, you'll recall that he also introduces this Gospel to the most excellent Theopolis. You see this bridge between the two signifies that Luke is the one who is writing acts , so he's the one who's writing.

Furthermore, we see that Luke is writing to this person named Theopolis. Some suppose that this guy was a Roman official. Other suppose that Luke is just riding to a a, a not one particular person, but everybody underneath the banner Theopolis which meant a couple of different things in Greek and meant dear to God or friend of God could have also meant lover of God.

So as they say that he's writing to all believers enacts, but regardless of whether or not he had a specific person in mind as he was writing these words, what we know is that these words as the word of God, have life and power for us. So when we read these words, acts one six through 12 particularly for us today, we know that this is the word of God and intended for us to apply to our lives. We also learned that Luke was writing with purpose.

So Luke, he puts forth as a, as an orderly account for everything that Jesus said and did in his earthly ministry is birth all the way up to his death and crucifixion and ends with his ascension. Acts on the other hand is put forth as this orderly account of the formation of the early church and everything that the Holy Spirit did through the apostles as they branched out, dispersed throughout the nations to reach them with the Gospel. And so that's where we leave.

Up until this point in acts one six what we've seen as we've just seen Jesus died. We've seen him resurrect, and then we begin to see him appear over a period of 40 days to his disciples, to the other people that had been following him. First Corinthians even says that there were over 500 brothers that he appeared to at one time. And all the while what he is doing is preaching to them the gospel of the Kingdom of God. But more than that, he's telling his disciples, I want you to be prepared.

I want you to stay in Jerusalem because the holy spirit is going to come and fill you. And so that's where we get to x six where these disciples gather together. Read it with me, if you will. So when they had come together, they asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? I think immediately at the mention of the Holy Spirit, these guys begin to wonder if Jesus is now going to restore the kingdom to Israel.

Maybe you remember from Luke 19 where these disciples believed that the Kingdom of God is going to appear immediately after Jesus has worked on the Cross and after his resurrection. Or you know , even you can put yourself in the shoes of these disciples who are looking to all of the different old testament prophecies for some sort of picture of what it's going to look like for the restoration of God's kingdom.

I'm sure they had in mind, Joel, who begged the Lord to intervene and the Israelites affairs even begged them saying, Lord, what are People gonna think of you as our God if you do not intervene for us? And Joel Two says that the Lord became jealous for his people and intervened. He said, I will take the northerner from you, meaning the one who has held you captive. I will remove them from you. I will be your God, you will be my people.

But verse 28 I think gives us this clue of what the timeline looks like, where the Lord proclaims that in that day it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Then the third chapter of Joel, what Joel does is put forward this idea of what it's gonna look like, what the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel is going to look like, and so these disciples clung to this promise.

That was what they knew was their vision for what the Returning Kingdom of God was going to look like. So they've got all of these things in mind as they ask this question, Lord, at this time, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel?

I think sometimes we read this passage and maybe we read into it with a judgmental heart that says, man, these disciples like they, they got it wrong again, this lack of faith, again, the focusing on the wrong things, but I want you to see this morning is that this was a good question to ask. I think for all of us as we come here, we come with a variety of questions that we have been asking the Lord.

Maybe they deal with things at the corporate level here at church, maybe they deal with things at the individual level at home. Regardless, what I want you to see is that it is okay to ask your questions. God is not afraid of them, but I think more than anything what we must do is listen for his response.

So even as we move forward, what I want you to do is think of some of these questions that you have been asking of the Lord recently and as we get into Jesus's response to these disciples, I want you to begin to ask yourself, how am I listening to your response? Jesus, verse seven Jesus Responds says , he said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons that the father has fixed by his own authority and this will be our learning point. Number one, God is sovereign.

Do you live within that reality this morning? God is sovereign. It's important for us to note from the very beginning that in Jesus or spa response, he mentioned that it wasn't for the disciples to know . He didn't say that no one knew about the times or seasons. In fact, he said that the father had fixed these times and seasons by his own authority. He is in control of it all.

I think we can rest in the promise of Romans eight 28 as Paul is writing to the church in Rome, telling them that for those who love God, all things work together for good. For those who are called according to his purpose, I think in Jesus , his response to these disciples, we don't see judgment . I think what we see is tenderness and compassion, but along with a challenge to trust in God's Jesus also doesn't say that this question is unimportant, right?

It was for this very purpose that Jesus came in the first place to do the work that was going to ensure that the kingdom was going to be restored to Israel. If you're anything like me, you have asked many questions over the years, over the months, even maybe over the week, maybe questions about, you know, Lord, when is this difficult season of my life going to end winter ? All these hard things I'm dealing with going to end. When is this turmoil going to cease ? I feel as if I have no peace.

Lord, when are you going to give me some peace? Again, hear me that it is okay for you to ask these questions this morning, but what we can do even in the middle of asking these questions is arrest and God's sovereignty. Trusting that he is in control and not only that he is in control, but TD is working out everything for us who love him and who are called according to his purpose for our good church. Trust in that this morning rest in God's sovereignty, but Jesus continues in his response.

Verse eight he says, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and for us this morning, our learning point number two is that God empowers you through the Holy Spirit. Now. I think for us, what we do need to do this morning is get some clarification as to who the holy spirit is and what exactly he was sent for. I think there's a whole lot of confusion surrounding him and his purpose in our lives. So let's get an idea of that now.

So we know that for these disciples, they had already believed in Jesus, and we know for us from Ephesians one 13 through 14 that we received the Holy Spirit when we believe in him. Ephesians one 13 through 14 Paul exclaims in him. You also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation and believed in him were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it.

So we know that we receive the Holy Spirit at the moment of believing in the Lord, but we also know that these disciples had already received the Holy Spirit from Jesus. If you remember at the very end of John, after Jesus was resurrected and then appeared to the disciples in the upper room, there was this sweet moment that we witnessed between them where we can read in John 20 Verses 21 through 22 where the writer records Jesus said to them, again, peace be with you as the father has sent me.

Even so I sending you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit. So then our question this morning is what exactly is Jesus promising here in the beginning of acts, we know that the Holy Spirit was sent really with the two fold purpose in mind. First to sink defy believers and to present us blameless before the Lord on the day that he returns. We see that all throughout the scriptures.

In John 1416 through 17 we see the holy spirit described as indwelling and illuminating believers as the spirit of truth.

Then Romans eight 26 through 27 described the Holy Spirit as our intercessor. We know that for us as believers, having been cleansed by the blood of Christ, we no longer have to plead our case before the father. The spirit is doing that on our behalf. Paul writes, for we do not know what to pray as we ought let me back up.

The spirit himself helps us in our weakness for we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the spirit himself intercedes for us through groanings too deep for words and he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the spirit because the spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

And Romans eight 10 through 11 we see the Holy Spirit described as working for our sanctification, where again, Paul writes, if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness. If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you.

These are things that the holy spirit is working within every believer at every moment, but that is not what is in view. Here in acts one eight here we see something different. This is the second of the two fold purpose of the spirit, which is to empower believers for Christ exalting ministry. John Piper explains it this way.

He says that the events of Pentecost, he thinks the essence of being baptized with the Holy Spirit is when a person who is already a believer receives extraordinary spiritual power for Christ exalting ministry. Now the manner in which this power manifest itself may differ, but the aim is always the same.

Regardless, the father is always present with the child's hand and his, but there are moments when that father desires to scoop up his child, wrap him in his arms, pull him tight, kiss his cheek, kiss his forehead, and tell him, I love you. You are my child and I love you. I am not letting you go. That is how he envisions this sort of moment when the Holy Spirit empowers us for the things that he has called us to.

It is the Lord of wrapping his arms around us, reminding us that we are his, that we are loved, and that he is present this morning. Do you live within that reality? As you read the calls of Jesus, as you think about the things that he has called you to do, do you live within the reality that the Holy Spirit is working within Youtube , illuminates you, convict you, teach you, intercede for you, sanctify you, and empower you to speak the truth and hope of Jesus into a lost and dying world.

We must live with that reality, recognizing it every moment that the spirit is working within us. But Jesus continues the latter half of verse eight. He explains the purpose for this power. He says, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Sumeria and to the end of the earth, and this is our learning point number three, that God has called you to be a witness in the Greek. In this passage.

That witness is the word martyr race , which I'm sure you can recognize the , uh , the English word martyr that we get from that passage that was used later on to describe those who were witnesses that went out but then were killed for their work and bringing the good news of the Gospel to the ends of the earth. But it is for purpose that the Holy

As Jesus was telling this parable in order to prepare them for the day that he was going to leave them, but also leave them with a duty.

Leave them with a job to do as this nobleman who is going into a far away country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return calls these servants to them, gives them a job, engage in business until I come, and this is the parable mirror the mirrored parable for Matthew 25 maybe you remember the parable of the talents where beginning in Matthew 25 14 Jesus again tells this parable, it will be like a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted to them his property to one, he

gave five talents to another, two to another one to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them and he made five talents more so also he who had the two talents, made two talents more, but he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. Now, after a long time, the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them.

I think these two parables were working themselves together perfectly toward Matthew 28 where Jesus stands not on a mountain in Judea, but on a mountain in Galilee calling his disciples to himself, giving them these words, all authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and the son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

And behold, I am with you always to the very end of the age. That is this perfect glimpse of the nobleman leaving, going to a far away country, to the right hand of the father to receive for himself a kingdom. But we know that he is coming back, that he is going to return. In the meantime, we were left with the call to be his witnesses. Not Out of simple rote obedience, but out of the father's desire to display his love to everyone, to bring everyone back into right standing with him.

That is the motivation for this call to be a witness. The directive was clear, filled with the power of the spirit. You these disciples, me , our , to reach this world with the message of the Gospel. Don't worry about anything else.

I imagine that even as these disciples were hearing these words on the Mount of , uh , Mount Olivette as they were hearing these words, I imagine even they were beginning to think back to all those different moments where the Lord was constantly trying to pull their eyes off of themselves.

Think back to Matthew six where Jesus is telling his disciples not to worry about their own lives, not to worry about what they're gonna eat, what they're gonna drink, what they're gonna wear, any points to the birds of the air and the lilies of the field saying, if your heavenly father watches over these and you are of not more value than day, do you not think that he will watch after you two he ends up going on to say, therefore, don't worry about your life.

Don't be anxious about anything, but instead seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all of these things will be added to you. Well , I think these disciples were hearing in that day is the same thing that I think we need to hear today, that there is a great call on each and every single one of us and it is hard, but it is worth it if we seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, everything that we need will be added onto us.

But more than that, we will have the great privilege and privilege and pleasure of participating in this Gospel Ministry, this Ministry of Reconciliation, Christ reconciling himself to the world. As Paul talked about in Second Corinthians, that is for us our goal this morning as f f Bruce writes, the disciples present question appears to have been the flicker of their former expectation of an imminent theocracy with themselves as it's chief executives from now on.

They devoted themselves to the proclamation and service of God's spiritual kingdom made the same thing be said of us this morning. Maybe you are like me. I'm going to get back to these questions and especially now at the corporate level as central church. Maybe you're asking like I ask, Lord, when are you going to bring a pastor back to central church and what I want to say to you this morning? That is , I have asked that question. The Lord has more than simply stepped on my toes.

It's almost as if he has like pulled up his heel to slam down on them really with two responses that have served to convict me, to challenge me, to encourage me, but also to refocus me and I hope that today they can do the same thing for you. The first response that I keep hearing from the Lord when I asked this question is I am your pastor. You are not sheep without a shepherd.

Do we realize that this morning even think of these disciples as they were standing just before Jesus is ascension losing the pastor of pastors, he is our pastor this morning. Let us not forget that. Let us not feel lost, not cared for, not watched over the Lord is our pastor.

The second response that I keep hearing is it is not for you to know the times or seasons that the father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Sumeria and to the end of the earth here that this morning.

Be challenged with that this morning, meaning them that as we move forward, continuing to abreast and the Lord's sovereignty continuing to rest and the fact that he has given us power for this present work. Rest in that conviction too , that he is watching over us as our pastor still empowering us, even though I'm just as he wasn't present in body with the disciples anymore, he was still watching over them.

Verse Nine and when he had said these things as they were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight . I want you to get the picture for what this must have been like for these disciples. Remember that moment that he was carried off to his death. As they grieved the loss of their master grieved , the loss of their rabbi grieved the loss of their friend. He goes to his grave, but then three days later, what does he do? He appears to them again.

Can you imagine the joy that filled their hearts at having received him again?

I imagine they stood in disbelief as he was carried out of their sight on a cloud, but I want you to see this too because I imagine that they also saw this, the cloud and all of its imagery throughout the Old Testament, which was used as a sign of God's presence among his people as they watched this cloud take Jesus out of their sight . I'm sure they knew that this is God's presence, the father's presence, taking the son to his right hand.

Even think back to the the mount of transfiguration where three of these disciples would have gotten to participate in this intimate scene with Jesus as he takes them up on top of this mountain and all of a sudden the cloud overshadows them and a voice from within the cloud calls out confirming the sun ship of Jesus to these three disciples. They fall on their face in fear and terror, and when they lift up their eyes, the cloud had dissipated and Jesus was left alone with them.

They're seeing this cloud take Jesus away and it dissipates. He is no longer there with them, but they had something that they did not have before, which was the Holy Spirit, which was empowering them for every single thing that they were being called to do. I think what they witnessed was God's presence with Jesus. I think that is what we have got to witness today as well.

Verse 10 while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold two men stood by them in white robes and said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come again in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. As these disciples stood with their eyes fixed on this celestial path whereby this clouded taken Jesus back to the father.

These two men come and appear next to them and I think Luke intends for us to understand these men as angels elsewhere. In Luke 24 Luke recorded the presence of two men in dazzling apparel who testify to the resurrection of Jesus to the women. Here we see two men appearing in white robes. Now testifying not to the resurrection, but the ascension and to Jesus's nearing Perusha, which is his second coming. The fact that he will come again, but then we get to what is for us today.

I think the key in verse 12 where records, what happened after all of this took place, verse 12 it says, then they bring the disciples returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivette , which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath days journey away, remembering that Jesus had instructed them to wait in Jerusalem for the coming of the Holy Spirit. These disciples return to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet or as it is also known the Mount of Olives. Why is this so significant?

Because I think what this does is in their lives, mark the greatest step of faith that they could have taken in Zechariah 14 a prophesy with which they would have been all too familiar. It really was the hinge upon which the rest of all Jewish eschatology swung where it was recorded that the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. On that day, his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives.

They'd lies before Jerusalem on the east and the Mount of Olives shall be split into from east to west and the Lord will be king over all the earth on that day. The Lord will be one and his name. One thing about the difficulty with which these disciples would have descended from the Mount of Olives, knowing that this was the location to which he was going to return.

How hard would it have been for these guys to leave the very place where they knew their master was going to return to, I'm sure in their flesh, all they wanted to do was to sit on a rock and wait right there for him to come again, but they had been given a command to be witnesses, not here on the Mount of olives, but in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Sumeria and to the end of the earth for people who had been chastised for their great lack of faith on countless occasions.

I am sure that it pleased the father and the son to witness such great faith to come down from that Mount of Olives at Jesus's word, and I'm sure they descended consoling themselves with the words that Jesus had given them in Luke 21 where he told them about what it would be like on the day that he was going to come. Again, we read in Luke 2127 through 28 where Jesus says, and then they will see the son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

Now when these things begin to place, straighten up and raise your heads because your redemption is drawing near. I think for us this morning as central church as a whole, but also as individuals, this moment for us is much like this moment of ascension was for these disciples. We are faced with a decision in response to Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection and Ascension in response to God's sovereignty, the spirit's power and the call that the sun has placed on our lives.

We can either choose to obey him and clean to Christ or disobey him and turn from him. There is no in between.

So my prayer for myself and for each of you this morning is the , as you think about the love that God has given to you, displayed to you, that you would allow that to over flow from you, that that would result in such a great gratitude and heart for people that you do the very same thing that these disciples do, which is against all logic, against all flesh to walk down from the Mount of Olives and to listen to Jesus's call this morning. Will you trust in God's sovereignty?

Will you trust in the fact that the holy spirit is empowering you for this? And will you hear the call to be a witness for Christ? That is why we are here. Father, we thank you for this morning and father, we pray that as we read your words, as we think about your words as we pray

would you cause us to see everything that you have done for us as individuals and respond to your grace by falling at your knees and submitting to your lordship regardless of what it is that we are called to do, what we walk in obedience out of thankfulness for what it is that you have done for us, and a deep love for every single person around us in this room, in this community and around the world.

I pray for every single person in this room, father, that you would fill them in this moment with a great sense of your love for them as individuals and when they sent you, wrapping your arms around them right now and follow , would we each leave this room today with a greater understanding of who you are, how much you love us, and what it is that you have called us to do.

Father, we thank you and we love you and we pray all of these things in the name of your son, the name that is above every single other name, the name of Jesus. Amen.