50 Days — The 7 Post-resurrection Sayings of Jesus: “I’m Going to Send You What the Father Promised ... Wait”

Theme: The coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Disciples will create the Body of Christ—the Church—and compel them to go preach the Gospel to all the world.

Date: 05/27/18 File name: Post_Resurrection_06.wpd ID Number

Seven weeks ago we celebrated the Festival of the Resurrection—better known to most as Easter. The Sunday after Easter I began preaching on the post-resurrection sayings of Jesus.

There is always much anticipation leading up to Good Friday, and Easter. It arrives and we celebrate with a renewed spiritual intensity. And rightly so. Then, like most churches, we quickly move on to other themes after the celebration of Easter Sunday. This year, as I re-read the story of Christ’s Passion, I came under the conviction that I needed to look at, and preach about, the post-resurrection sayings of Jesus.

In the first 40 days after the resurrection Jesus appeared to both individuals, and groups of individuals—large and small. He spoke words that we need to hear, and to think about. Then, those 40 days were followed by 10 days of waiting for the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples on Pentecost—an event which birthed the church.

It occurs to me, that as Christians, we spend lots of time looking at the week of our Lord’s Passion. We are particularly familiar with the events surrounding his Triumphal Entry and crucifixion. We know the seven sayings from the cross. How many Christians, however, know the seven post-resurrection sayings of Christ?

After the resurrection, Jesus had five major appearances and spoke seven times. We’ve looked at six of those statements, and this morning we will look at the last. Here it is: “I’m Going to Send You What the Father Promised ... Wait for it.”

The disciple have been in Galilee 40 days receiving some final instructions form Jesus. At the end of their time together, Jesus once again promises the coming of the Holy Spirit, commissions them to go into all the world with the Gospel, and then ascends into heaven before their eyes as they stand there slack jawed with amazement. What a forty days it must have been. According to Acts 1:12, the disciples make their way from Galilee back to Jerusalem. On the Day of Pentecost—fifty days after the resurrection—120 believers are gathered together in one place when “Suddenly, a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.” (Acts 2:2–3, NIV84). Here we witness the birth of the Church, and the empowering of the Church by the third person of the Godhead—the Holy Spirit. It is that same Holy Spirit that binds this local congregation together into Christ’s Church and empowers us for ministry.

I. THE SPIRIT ENABLES YOU WITH DIVINE ENERGY

“Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.” (Acts 2:2, NIV84)

ILLUS. Some of you may remember the run-a-way block-buster movie Twister from 1996. Bill and Jo Harding, are storm chasers on the brink of divorce, but they’ve put their difference aside to create an advanced weather alert system by putting themselves in the cross-hairs of extremely violent tornadoes. If you're like me, you really enjoyed the phenomenal special affects as combines were lifted into the air and then dropped, buildings disintegrat around people, and cows learned how to fly.

1. the wind is a powerful and often destructive force

a. tornadoes and hurricanes wreak havoc with trees, homes, property, and even lives

ILLUS. In 2011 an EF-5 tornado with 300 mph winds hit Joplin, MO. It was a mile wide, and stayed on the ground across the entire southern end of the city. 158 people died and another 1,500 were injured. It was the deadliest tornado to hit the U.S. in fifty years. It caused $3 billion in property damage—the most ever for a tornado.

2. God often used the destructive force of the wind to get his message through to His prophets

a. the prophet Elijah encountered God's power in the whirlwind that "rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord"

3. but wind can also be a constructive force as well

a. for 1,500 years wind drove great ships through the seas

b. in parts of the west you'll see acres of wind mills that generate electrical power for homes and businesses

4. at the same time, it’s not wind that blows upon them

a. Acts 2:1 says that it was the sound like the blowing of a violent wind

b. the supernatural activity of God is so utterly beyond the grasp of humans that the Bible writers have to employ similes to describe His manifestations among men

A. THE MIRACLE OF A MIGHTY WIND REPRESENTS A MIGHTY GOD WHO DOES MIGHTY THINGS THROUGH HIS SPIRIT

1. God does not give believers the Holy Spirit merely for the sake of spiritual euphoria, but to accomplish His divine purpose in our lives and His church

a. He gives us spiritual gifts with which to accomplish ministry

b. He gives us spiritual graces—the fruit of the Spirit—to create in us the character of Christ

2. the believer needs divine energy to live out his or her faith, and to carry out the Great Commission

a. as a body without breath is a corpse, so the believer—the Church— without the Spirit is dead

b. the coming of the Spirit means you have God living in you as your life-giving power

3. we do not have sufficient power for living the Christian life without the energizing of the Spirit

a. where does the power to beat back temptation come from?

1) God's mighty Spirit

b. where does the power that takes a man and his family half-way around the world as missionaries come from?

1) God's mighty Spirit

c. what power is it that moves a lost person out of his or her spiritual complacency to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior?

1) God's mighty Spirit

d. where does the power come from that enables a believer to faithfully endure the hardship of a terminal disease with grace and even joy?

1) God's mighty Spirit

e. what supernatural force enables us to read the Scriptures and be quickened in our mind to understand and then apply them to our lives?

1) God's mighty Spirit

4. The Spirit Enables You with Divine Energy

II. THE SPIRIT PURIFIES YOU WITH A FIERY BAPTISM

“They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.” (Acts 2:3, NIV84)

1. the people not only heard a strange sound, but they also saw a strange sight

2. tongues of fire came and rested on each of the 120 believers gathered in that upper room

a. again, not real fire, but what seemed to be tongues of fire

b. years before the disciple’s Pentecost experience, John the Baptist had proclaimed,

“ ... “I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” (Luke 3:16, NIV84)

3. if you've been born again, you too, have been "baptized with fire"

a. every believer is now a burning bush

1) the glory and presence of God has now come into every single believer

b. that presence that was once fatal comes on every one and rests upon them, without consuming them in judgment

c. and, according to Eph. 5:19, one of the clearest manifestations of the Spirit among believers is not speaking in tongues, but speaking to each other in psalms, and hymns and spiritual songs from the Spirit

A. THE MIRACLE OF FIRE REPRESENTS THE PURIFYING ABILITY OF GOD TO MAKE US HOLY AND RIGHTEOUS IN HIS SIGHT

1. God does not give believers the Holy Spirit merely for the sake of spiritual euphoria, but to accomplish His divine purpose in our lives and His church

a. His divine purpose is that our character and our conduct be distinguished by holiness

1) yes, Christians are to act differently than lost people

a) we act differently because we are different ... we are a new creation in Christ

2) we are to have a fixation on spiritual pursuits, and not worldly pursuits

2. what God wants for us in the way of spiritual cleansing and maturity, we cannot accomplish outside of the energizing power of the Holy Spirit

a. the fire of the Holy Spirit is his sanctifying work

b. how does he do this?

3. 1st, fire cleanses

a. fire is the ultimate purifying agent

1) in fact, the Greek word for fire is pur, from which we get our English word purity

ILLUS. Gold ore, when first mined from deep within the earth, is difficult to distinguish from any other kind of rock. It is mixed with other earthly ingredients and impurities from which the gold must be extracted. A chisel and pickax will not do. But when the ore is crushed and put into the intense heat of the furnace, the golden metal runs out in a pure molten stream.

b. our lives are like that ore ... full of impurities and earthly ingredients

1) the Bible calls these impurities sin “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23, NIV84)

c. it is the cleansing ability of the Holy Spirit to burn away the dross of our sin that believers need to avail themselves to

1) our God is a holy God and wants a righteous people

“Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” (James 4:8, NIV84)

d. how does the Holy Spirit cleanse us? Through his ability to convict us of sin that then leads us to confession and repentance, and our restoration of fellowship

4. 2nd, fire illuminates

ILLUS. When I was growing up in north St. Louis county, you could always tell when Alton Steel Co. was producing a large order of steel. For days on end the skyline to the east would be aglow all night long as they would pour red-hot slag down the hill into their dump.

a. the Holy Spirit illuminates our minds in order that we can perceive and receive the Truth of God's Word and apply it to our daily living

5. 3rd, fire is contagious

ILLUS. Smokey the Bear is always warning us to be careful with fire because Smokey knows that a single match may light a fire that can consume a forest!

a. the same is true of the believer's life

b. when you begin to allow the Holy Spirit to control your thoughts, your attitudes and your behaviors it creates a holy glow in your life that can be contagious

c. when the desire for holy living consumes a congregation, we call that revival

6. The Spirit Purifies You with a Fiery Baptism

III. THE SPIRIT EMBOLDENS YOU WITH A WORD OF PROCLAMATION

“All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” (Acts 2:4, NIV84)

1. the last supernatural phenomenon associated with the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the church was speaking in tongues

a. it is also the most controversial

b. let me say right off, that this miracle was not some unknown tongue or angelic prayer language that the Charismatics claim as the gift of tongues

2. these Spirit-filled disciples were supernaturally enabled to speak in known languages and dialects that they had never learned

a. in Acts 2 we find 14 different nations mentioned—all hearing the Gospel in their own language

1) this is just a foretaste of the nations that will be represented in God’s Kingdom at the end of days

“And they sang a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. 10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”” (Revelation 5:9–10, NIV84)

b. vs. 11 declares that they proclaimed "the wonderful works of God"

A. THE MIRACLE OF TONGUES REPRESENTS THE NECESSITY OF THE GOSPEL BEING PROPAGATED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE WORLD

1. God does not give believers the Holy Spirit merely for the sake of spiritual euphoria, but to accomplish His divine purpose in our lives and His church

2. some people are so impressed by the miraculous signs that accompanied the Spirit's embodiment of the church, that they lose sight of the greater truth behind those signs

a. the important question is not, "Is the church today miraculously speaking in unknown tongues?" but . . .

b. "Is it propagating the gospel across cultural, linguistic, and geographical barriers?"

3. the Holy Spirit was given to the church to enable us to be witnesses

a. in fact, if you look back at Acts 1, you'll see that Jesus told his followers: "but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."

4. each believer here this morning needs to unashamedly tell others about Jesus

a. you say, "Pastor, I just can't do that. I get tongue-tied and I don't know what to say."

b. well, look at what the Bible says . . .

1) these disciples spoke, "as the Spirit enabled them" vs. 4

5. and let me fill you in on a secret when you tell someone about Jesus, the Holy Spirit goes to work in their life

a. the Spirit exerts an influence upon the mind and soul of the lost person your sharing with

1) God doesn't tell us to witness and then say, "Oh, by the way. You're on your own with this."

b. the lost person is out there thinking he or she is in control while the whole time the Holy Spirit is pushing and prodding, trying to turn them to God

ILLUS. During the Saul's conversion experience on the road to Damascus, Saul heard the voice of Jesus saying, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for thee to kick against the goads." I never understood that verse until I saw a farmer using a cattle prod one day. The "goads" refers to the stabbing of one's conscience by the convicting presence of the Holy Spirit, and the preaching of the Word.

c. the Spirit's job is to convict the lost person about the sinfulness of sin, the inevitability of judgment, and the wonderful possibility of true righteousness

6. if you will do your part in unashamedly telling, the Spirit will do His job

a. that job is not done until all the world has an opportunity to hear

b. the Spirit was given at Pentecost so that the church might fulfill the Great Commission

7. The Spirit Emboldens You with a Word of Proclamation

IV. APPLICATION

1. if you’ve been born from above, you’ve been baptized by the Holy Spirit

a. this is not some “extra” spiritual experience, some “2nd blessing” you need to seek out when you want to get serious about living for God

2. the Bible never tells us to seek out the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but it does command us to seek out the filling of the Holy Spirit

a. your Baptism in the Spirit is something that took place at your salvation—in fact, it is the regenerating power of the Spirit that comes into your life upon conversion that saves you and confirms that your saved

“The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” (Romans 8:16, NIV84)

1) that experience can never-ever be repeated

3. however, Eph. 5:18 is clear ... we are, “ ... Instead, [to] be filled with the Spirit.”

a. it’s a command that implies repetition

1) it involves emptying ourselves, and we do that by confessing our sins, and dying to selfishness, and taking up the cross daily

2) it involves submitting ourselves to the presence of the Spirit, and the authority of God’s Word

b. only by emptying ourselves and submitting ourselves do we experience the filling of the Spirit

c. why do we need to regularly seek the filling of the Holy Spirit?

1) because we leak

2) the world, the flesh, and the devil seek to fill our lives with the secular, the profane, and subversive

ILLUS. It’s like dropping rocks and debris into a glass of water ... the water is displaced and forced out. Only by removing the debris and refilling the glass with water do we have a full glass again.

4. the Holy Spirit waits to be depended on

ILLUS. Warren Wiersby writes, “The baptism of the Spirit means that I belong to His body; the fullness of the Spirit means that my body belongs to Him.”

A healthy Church is a Church filled with the Spirit. But that only happens when individual believers are filled with and walking with the Spirit. Because of the Spirit in us, we now have life-giving power within us.

ILLUS. In 1978, the lat Keith Green wrote a song entitled, My Eye are Dry. Listen to the words, My eyes are dry, my faith is old

My heart is hard, my prayers are cold.

And I know how I ought to be—

Alive to You and dead to me.

Oh, what can be done with an old heart like mine?

Soften it up, with oil and wine!

The oil is You, Your Spirit of love,

Please wash me anew in the wine of Your blood.

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