All Christ Began to Do

Brady Bassett

Acts • Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago

Acts 1:1–11

Evangelism

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The work of Christ is not over. We are called to go until Christ returns.

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If you have a Bible, go ahead and grab it. We are going to be in Acts 1:1-11 today and let me just say how excited I am to be going through this book with you over the next few months. The book of Acts is very near and dear to my heart because I have seen the Lord do incredible things through the preaching of the book of Acts. When I first became a pastor, the first long series that I did with my old youth group was in the book of Acts and let me just say, the Holy Spirit fell down on that group. We saw our ministry practically double in size within a few months of that series and that was predominantly because students were caught up with a high view of God, Scripture, and the need to reach others with the Gospel and I have no doubt that God is able to do that very thing again. The entire purpose of this series is that we would be intentional in our outreach. I want us to be a group that is serious about reaching the lost so what I want you all to do right now is take out your phones and I want each and every one of you to text one friend in your phone and ask them to come to YC next week. Nothing too tricky, it can be any friend, it can even be someone you can’t stand and it can be someone who has already been here, just text someone and I bet you a quarter that if you do this enough, someone will come. We as Christians are a people of action. We aren’t called to stay the same, we aren’t called to be totally unengaged with the world, we are a people of the Kingdom of God and we have all been commissioned to make that Kingdom known to others. We as Christians have been commissioned by the God of the Universe, the God of our salvation, to make Him known to the world. To be commissioned by God means that we as Christians have been chosen specifically for the task of spreading the Gospel and we are going to see this as we study the book of Acts together. I want you all to be excited about what we are going to be doing here because what we see in the book of Acts is Heaven meeting Earth. We see that absolutely nothing can stop the Church and Gospel of Jesus Christ. The book of Acts shows the church on fire with evangelism and growth, that is what I believe we are capable of seeing in our own day here with YC. Understand, you are the Church and as you leave this room you are entering the mission field. You are not insignificant in the Kingdom of God, you are someone that can be used to change the world with the Gospel, each and every one of you and we know that God is able to use people that seem the most unqualified, the most insignificant to change the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and we know this because of what we are going to see as we read these first 11 verses of Acts, so let’s go to the Lord in prayer and then we will read Acts 1:1-11

Acts 1:1–11 ESV

In the first book, O Theophilus, 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. He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know 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 Samaria, 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.”

Background of Acts

Before we dive too deeply into these verses, I think it’s important to give you all a little background as to what the book of Acts is. It is actually the second volume of a 2 volume work written by a man named Luke likely before the year A.D. 70. The very Luke that wrote the Gospel of Luke has almost universally been accepted as the man who wrote the book of Acts. The Gospel of Luke is the first book that is mentioned in verse 1 and Luke is writing to a man named Theophilus. As for who this Theophilus was, it really is insignificant for our study but he was someone who had at least a small understanding of the Gospel and Luke was writing this account to encourage and strengthen his and ultimately the Church’s understanding of what God was doing in the world through the Lord Jesus Christ. The full name of the book of Acts is actually known as the Acts of the Apostles but even this may not be the best name for it, I think there are 2 names that may be more fitting and I’ll give you one of those names now and save the second one towards the end of our time together. The book could very easily be called the Preaching of the Apostles. Out of 1,007 verses in the book of Acts, approximately 25% of those verses are part of a sermon. It is the most evangelistic book in the entire Bible. You cannot read the book of Acts without coming face to face with evangelical preaching. That very quickly is the background of the book of Acts so let’s dive into what Luke records for us and I want to work backwards from verses 4-11 and then hit the first 3 verses after that.

The Significance of the Ascension

The Question of the Disciples

Verses 4 and 5 begin with Jesus speaking to His disciples about staying in Jerusalem to wait for that which was promised by God the Father, and this is the sending of the Holy Spirit and understand the rest of the book of Acts cannot happen without the Holy Spirit. The spread of the Gospel in the lives of the Apostles and our lives is totally impossible without the Holy Spirit. In many ways, Jesus is telling His Apostles to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit to come because they physically will not be able to do what they are tasked to do until the Holy Spirit comes. What you all need to understand is just how significant the Holy Spirit is in our lives. The Holy Spirit does not just apply a new coat of paint onto the Christian, He changes the Christian entirely. It is through the Holy Spirit that we are born again. It is through the Holy Spirit that all evangelism and missions are empowered. When you look at the lives of the Apostles and you compare who they are prior to the coming of the Holy Spirit and who they are after the coming of the Holy Spirit, it’s like looking at totally different people! These men are cowards, cheaters, worriers, you name it prior to the coming of the Holy Spirit! In fact if you wanted to start a movement or a new religion, you would not use the Apostles. Jesus very strategically chooses the people that many would say were the worst choices but what we are going to see as we go through this series is that when the Holy Spirit is working in the lives of people, amazing things happen! One great example of this is the life of Peter. Peter in the Gospels is totally changed by the time we get to the book of Acts and that is because he has seen the risen Christ and he has been empowered by the Holy Spirit. Remember, in the Gospels it is Peter that denies Christ 3 times, it is Peter that resorts to violence and ultimately flees when Christ is arrested, it is Peter that gets identified with Satan because he tries to steer Christ away from the cross. Yet it is also this same Peter that delivers the first sermon to thousands in Acts 2, it is Peter that boldly stands for the Gospel throughout the book of Acts, it is the the same Peter that will be imprisoned on behalf of the Gospel in chapter 12, guys the Holy Spirit changes and it changes entirely! We would be foolish to think that the same Holy Spirit that we are going to find in the book of Acts is no longer active and working today. Plain and simple, we all need the Holy Spirit and praise God that He has sent Him because we are utterly powerless without Him! The disciples ask Jesus in verse 6 a very important question. They ask, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” What makes this question so important? It shows that even post resurrection, they still have their minds focused on other things. These men are earthly minded. What they are asking Jesus is, “Lord, are you going to rescue us from the Romans now? Are you going to physically reign on Earth?” Basically, is this all their is? It’s like they have seen the resurrection but they still aren’t totally impressed. They want physical change to their physical circumstances but that is not the Kingdom that Christ is building. What Jesus says to their question in verse 7 is this: “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority.” What does Jesus mean by this? R.C. Sproul answers in this way, “He told His disciples, in effect, that it was none of their business when the kingdom will be consummated. That is in the Father’s hands and under the Father’s authority. Rather, they were to concern themselves with being the Lord’s witnesses in His absence.” This brings us to the mission of the Church in Acts 1:8 “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 Samaria, and to the end of the earth.””

The Mission of the Church

This is the mission of not just the Apostles, this is the mission of the entire Church, past, present, and future. This is the mission of every Christian from the time the message of the Gospel began to the moment Christ returns. Look up here, if you are a Christian, you are Christ’s witness and you have a job to do. You are a herald of the Gospel and I am sure you have heard me talk about the role of heralds throughout history. Centuries ago, heralds would come into the chamber of the king, be given a message, and these men were expected to give the message to the people exactly as the king said. They would go to where they were sent, they wouldn’t change a word, they wouldn’t add any extra thoughts, they simply spoke out what the king had commanded for them to say. The king even sent extra people to make sure that the herald said the exact words that he said to spoke and as soon as he had finished the message, he reported back to the king. You have been created to be a herald for Jesus Christ. You don’t make the message, you don’t add to the message, you simply live out and speak forth that which your King has given you. What we need to remember is that to be a herald, to be a witness of Jesus Christ, we never go alone. We never have to rely on our own abilities to do so because the power of the Holy Spirit has come upon us. Have you been empowered by the Holy Spirit? Do you know what it means to be a messenger of Jesus Christ? I would plead with you that if you don’t know what it means or you feel that you have never experienced the Holy Spirit that you please talk to me. The Lord gives to the apostles an inward and outward moving mission. He says that they will be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. Our witness extends from our immediate location outwards. We all have our own Jerusalem. You have your household, your school, that is your Jerusalem. We all have a Judea and Samaria, that’s our South Hill, our Bracey, our La Crosse, our Clarksville and Chase City. Where is God sending you to be His witness because I promise you, if you are a Christian, He has sent you somewhere. I want you guys to give an answer, where or what is your Jerusalem? The will of God for your life is believe it or not, not difficult to understand. The will of God for your life is that you would glorify Him in your witness to the Gospel and that you would grow to look more and more like His Son. I’m sure you may be hearing this and you might be thinking, “That sounds like a lot. I don’t know if I can do that.” But let me assure you that you can because I think the Apostles thought the same thing by the end of verse 8. Look with me again at Acts 1:9-11

Acts 1:9–11 ESV

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.”

Assurance and the Ascension

What was the assurance that the Apostles would be able to be Christ witness around the world? In comes from the reality of His ascension. The next question then is what does Christ ascending into heaven mean? You see Christ doesn’t just ascend into Heaven and that’s the end. Christ has a position of absolute authority in Heaven. As Christ ascended into Heaven, it says that a cloud took Him out of their sight and this is likely a reference to how God displayed Himself in the Old Testament. It is a pillar of cloud that represents God’s glory in the book of Exodus, there is a cloud that fills the temple, the shekinah glory of God. Here we see Heaven kissing Earth. Here we see Luke saying, “Just as God came down so He has gone up and the Angels testify to this when they say, “Christ will return in the very same way!” And we aren’t to keep looking up at the sky waiting for Christ to return even though we know that He will. We are to be a people on the move. To go back to Christ’s authority, we read in Hebrews 10:12-13 “But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.” For Christ to sit at the right hand of the Father means that He has all the authority of God Himself, which is appropriate because He is God! Not only does He have absolute authority, to sit at the right hand of God means that Christ’s atoning sacrifice has been accepted. It means that the sacrifice He made for your sin and my sin has been sufficient. This is huge for us. It means that for all whom Christ has saved, not one shall ever be cast out. Not one will ever be rejected because Christ has done all things perfectly. For Him to be standing at the right hand of God means that He is standing there as the constant reminder, not that God needs one, that we belong totally to Him! So bring all your sin, bring all your shame, Christ is at the right hand of God the Father, having destroyed death and put Satan and sin to open shame, so that you and I would live and make His glory known! Christ has died and Christ has risen is the overarching truth of the book of Acts, of the entire New Testament, of the entire Bible!

The Acts of the Risen Lord Jesus

The Historicity of the book of Acts

This brings us to our last point and I promise I will run through this as quickly as possible, what we read in the book of Acts is not a fairy tale. We as Christians are not buying into a cleverly made tale that is designed to make us feel better about the things going on around us. Luke has gone down in history as one of the most reliable historians to have ever lived. In fact, Sir William Ramsay, one of the greatest archeologists to have ever lived has said that Luke should be rated as one of the greatest historians to ever live and it was predominantly through Luke’s witness that Ramsay himself would become a Christian. In the book of Acts, Luke mentions 32 countries, 54 cities and 9 Mediterranean islands. He also lists 95 people by name, 62 of which are not named elsewhere in the New Testament. Luke is intimately familiar with the constantly-changing political conditions of the Roman world. References to Augustus, Tiberius, Claudius, Quirinius, the Herods, Felix, and Festus are recorded. In not one of these citations is there a mistake. Luke is not presenting something that didn’t happen. As we go back to the first 3 verses we see that Luke testifies to the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ and Christ proves this to His followers. What this means for us then is that if Christ is risen from the dead and is at the right hand of God the Father, we must live according to that reality and we must run the race before us with all the blood, sweat, and tears of an olympic runner.

The second name of the book of Acts

This brings us to the second name of the book of Acts. What should the book of Acts be called? Look again at verse 1. Acts 1:1 “In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach.” The book of Acts is really only the beginning. The work of Christ is not over. Christ’s mission did not end at Calvary’s hill. What should we call this book? The Acts of the Risen Lord Jesus. Because it is the risen Christ that acts in us. It is the Spirit of the Living God that changes lives. It is the acts of the Lord through His people that changes the world. There is still a world out there that needs the Gospel. So, here’s the thing: Christ has not yet returned so what does that mean for us? It means there is still work to be done. You are here right now out of pure grace and pure mercy. God has allowed you to see today because He loves you and is rich in mercy and you are here because there is something for you to do within the will of God. I pray that you realize that what you are here to do is to continue the ongoing work of the risen Lord Jesus and as we go through this book, you will see how God does amazing things through His people and I believe that there are people in this room who God is going to do amazing things through in this school year. Let’s pray that He will and then we will worship together.

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