SERMON OUTLINE:
(1). A New Book (vs 1-2).
(2). A New Experience (vs 3-8).
(3). A New Assurance (vs 9-11).
SERMON BODY:
ill:
• Christopher Columbus died in 1506, In Valladolid, Spain, where he passed away,
• If you go, there today you will see a monument commemorating the great discoverer.
• Perhaps the most interesting feature of the memorial,
• Is a statue of a lion destroying one of the Latin words on the memorial.
• The words had been part of Spain’s motto for centuries.
• The words are "Ne Plus Ultra," which means "No More Beyond."
• Before Columbus made his voyages,
• The Spaniards thought they had reached the outer limits of earth.
• Thus, their motto was "Ne Plus Ultra," which means "No More Beyond."
• The word being torn away by the lion is "Ne" or "no,"
• And so, today it reads "Plus Ultra."
• Columbus had proven that there was indeed "more beyond."
• The world could never be understood the same way ever again.
• TRASNSITION: The book of Acts continues the story of Jesus,
• It is a reminder that although Jesus has ascended back to the Father,
• When it comes to Jesus you can never write "Ne Plus Ultra," - "No More Beyond."
• With Jesus there is always, "Plus Ultra."
• The message of the book of Acts is very clear there is “more.”
• And so, the story of Jesus and his Church continue.
• The book of Acts records for us, the first 30–35 years of church history.
(1). A New Book (vs 1-2).
“In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.”
• The book of Acts was written by Luke who also wrote the gospel names after him.
• Three things concerning Luke:
FIRST: He was a Gentile (according to most Biblical scholars).
• The word simply means one who is not Jewish:
• The term Gentile, is a translation of the Hebrew ‘goyim’, ‘the nations’,
• Refers to those who are not of the house of Israel.
• Question: Any Israelis (Jewish people) here tonight?
• Answer: Then the term ‘Gentile’ refers to you lot!
Ill:
• When I first moved down to Hampshire, I had a weekly market stall in Fareham.
• I sold second-hand books, mainly Christian books and Bibles.
• On one occasion I set the market stall up ready for business,
• I also had a mid-morning assembly booked in at Park Gate Junior School.
• Around, about 9.00am John & Christine King come down to the stall,
• They would ‘man it’ look after the stall when I zoomed away to do the assembly.
• When I returned, they said to me?
• “The trader on the next market stall had purchased a Bible”.
• The trader was a man called Harold and he was Jewish.
• Later that day, John & Christine had left, and I was back on the stall,
• Harold looked over at me and said, “I bought one of your books!”
• So, I replied, “good”.
• He then said (tongue-in-cheek), “But I have torn your half out.”
• Meaning the New Testament.
• I can still remember the look on his face when I said,
“What do you mean my half?
The New Testament is a Jewish book written by Jewish men!
There are only two books in the Bible written by a Gentile the rest is Jewish.”
Luke was not Jewish, he was a Gentile (non-Jew, like most of us):
• He is the only Gentile who wrote any part of the Bible.
• The word ‘Bible’ just means ‘books’ & there are 66 in this library.
• 39 in the O.T. & 27 in the N.T.
• Luke wrote two of those books (his Gospel and the book of Acts)
• In fact, Luke penned 28% of the New Testament.
• That means he wrote more material than any other New Testament writer.
SECOND: He was a doctor
• Luke was not one of the twelve disciples.
• He travelled alongside the Apostle Paul on his second missionary journey.
• This meant he would have encountered all the key people of the early Church.
Ill:
• Luke was a doctor:
• Which probably meant that at one time he had been a slave.
• Most physicians in Roman times, were educated slaves.
• The 4th Century historians Jerome & Eusebius.
• Refer to Luke as being a citizen of and also trained and educated in Antioch. Syria.
• This is where he acquired his excellent writing skills & medical training.
• And at some time Theophilus who may well have been his master,
• Granted Luke his freedom.
Luke became a Christian, we are not told the details of how and when etc.
• But as a result of his conversion, Luke wanted to share this good news,
• With the man who had been so kind to him.
• So, he wrote these two books that we have in New Testament.
THIRD: He was a historian.
Ill:
• Agatha Christie was the world's most popular mystery author,
• She has sold more than one billion books worldwide.
• She once said about archaeologist (maybe it’s true also for historians):
• "I married an archaeologist because the older I grow, the more he appreciates me."
Luke as we have noted wrote his gospel and this book for a man called Theophilus.
• Luke chapter 1 verse 3.
• Acts chapter 1 verse 1.
“I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.”
“In my former book, Theophilus,”
• The title Luke uses in his gospel; ‘Most excellent’.
• Was a title that is normally given to a high Roman official.
• (e.g., Acts chapter 233 verse 26 & chapter 24 verse 3 & chapter 26 verse 25)
• So Theophilus was probably in the Roman government.
• Scholars believe he was a wealthy citizen of Antioch.
• Luke knew his master was an intelligent man.
• And so, he writes an intelligent and professionally researched account of Jesus Christ.
• He carefully researched his material, interviewed eyewitnesses.
• And listened to those who had ministered the word.
• And as Christians we believe he was also guided by the Holy Spirit
• (ill: ‘inspired’ wind in ships sails guide it along).
Note:
• There is no ‘once upon a time’ in Luke’s gospel.
• The very opposite.
• Luke is a man who is writing with care & precision.
• And who will be as accurate as it is possible for a historian to be!
• Luke was not satisfied with anyone else’s story of Christ.
• He had to have his own!
• Real religion is never a secondhand thing,
• It is a personal discovery!
• And real Christianity is more than an understanding or agreement with key truths.
• It is a life-changing encounter with the living Christ!
Note: verse 1b-2:
“I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach.
until the day he was taken up to heaven”
• Acts chapter 1 is like a bridge that links the two books,
• It is also a bridge that links the four gospels to the New Testament letters.
• It is the history book of the early Church,
• And shows us how these early disciples changed the world.
Note one important difference in Acts to the gospel.
• In the gospel we read about what Jesus did in his physical body.
• In the Acts we read about what Jesus did in his spiritual body (the Church).
Quote: St. Teresa of Ávila
“Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”
(2). A New Experience (vs 3-8).
Note:
• These verses remind us that Christianity is a taught religion.
• Luke tells us in verse 3-5 that Jesus taught three important lessons.
“After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.”
FIRST: The reality of the resurrection (vs 3a).
“he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive.”
• We are not told what these ‘convincing proofs’ were,
• Most likely the ‘convincing proofs or ‘evidence’ Jesus gave,
• Was scriptural proof drawn from the Hebrew Bible, our Old Testament.
• The risen Christ and these studies so impacted these apostles,
• That history later records that 10 of the 11 disciples would be martyred for this belief,
• And John the apostle would be exiled to the Island of Patmos.
• The message of the resurrection was also central to their message,
• It is the one common theme that is found in every sermon preached in the book of Acts.
• And of course, without the resurrection their preaching and faith would have been in vain.
SECOND: The coming of the kingdom (vs 3b).
“…over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.”
Ill:
• If you witness to a Jehovah Witness, they will always point out to you,
• That the apostles did not preach what we call, ‘the gospel’,
• But rather they preached about, “the kingdom of God.”
• Now don’t ever let that fool you, because they are one and the same,
• When you examine the sermons found in the book of Acts, it comprises of the gospel.
• The term ‘kingdom of God’ and ‘The Gospel’ are Siamese twins!
• The word, ‘Kingdom’ can equally be translated as ‘reign.’
Ill:
• The expression the ‘kingdom/reign of God’ (vs 3),
• Is referring to the reign of Christ in a believer’s heart.
• We use the expression, ‘Lordship of Christ’ – he is both saviour and boss!
• e.g., Matthew chapter 6 verse 33: “Seek first the kingdom of God.”
• e.g., Luke chapter 17 verse 21: “…God’s kingdom is within you.”
• e.g., Throughout the book of Acts, “They preached the kingdom of God.”
• e.g., Philip preached "the good news concerning the kingdom of God."
• Those Siamese twins together! (Acts chapter 8 verse 12)
• e.g., The apostle Paul also, “…proclaiming the kingdom of God..."
• (Acts chapter 19 verse 8; chapter 20 verse 25, chapter 28 verses 23&31).
THIRD: The need of the Holy Spirit (vs 4-5).
“On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: ‘Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptised with water, but in a few days, you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.’”
• John the Baptist baptised people with water,
• (Matthew chapter 3 verse 11, Mark chapter 1 verse 8, Luke chapter 3 verse 16 & John chapter 1 verse 33)
• John’s baptism was by immersion,
• That is for a few seconds he plunged, he dipped people under thew water.
• John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance,
• Physically all John did was make a person’s body wet on the outside,
• It was a picture of how water washes clean the body on the outside,
• So, God can clean us up on the inside.
In contrast to John, the baptism of the Holy Spirit will be inward.
• When a person receives Jesus Christ as their Lord and saviour,
• God enters their life via the Holy Spirit who seals them and marks them out.
• Quote: Ephesians chapter 1 verse 13.
“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,”
• At our conversion every believer is not only sealed with the Holy Spirit,
• But also united into the one body, the Church of Jesus Christ.
• Quote: 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 13.
“For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body--whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free--and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.”
Note: The Holy Spirit would also give Christian’s power to witness.
• In fact, whenever you read of people being ‘filled with the Spirit’ in the book of Acts,
• I can almost always guarantee it will be in the context of evangelizing.
• Luke in his Gospel and here in the book of Acts,
• Records the words of Jesus to go to Jerusalem and to wait for the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Ill:
• Without the Holy Spirit all our witnessing will be in vain,
• Just as a car without fuel is going nowhere fast,
• So, a Christian living and witnessing for Christ in their own strength,
• Is not going to be successful.
Note:
• Verse 8 is actually a summary of the book of Acts.
• The verse reminds us of the SCOPE of our mission as a Church.
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’”
Jesus tells us where you are to be witnesses for him: Everywhere.
• The verse speaks of their present location: Jerusalem.
• For you and me we start witnessing where we live.
• Then it speaks of the local area: Judea.
• For you and me, it might be the county and the country we live in.
• Then it speaks of a difficult and challenging area: Samaria (i.e., Good Samaritan story)
• For you and me, it is witnessing where we do not really want to witness!
• Then it speaks of the world: “ends of the earth.”
• The Christian must always have a world mentality because God has a world concern.
• Quote: Jürgen Moltmann
• 'It is not the Church of God that has mission but the missionary God who has a Church.'
To be a witness in any of those areas requires outside (or rather inside) help.
• We need the Holy Spirit to override our feelings, fears, and faults,
• To strengthen and enable and empower us to share the gospel with those we encounter.
(3). A New Assurance (vs 9-11).
“After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. ‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.’”
The disciples in these verses witness Jesus physically ascend back to heaven.
• We believe that everything about Jesus Christ was unique and unparalleled,
• The eternal Son of God entered our world 2,000 years ago, he descended and,
• We celebrate that fact every Christmas.
• His descent is usually referred to as his 'incarnation' (literally: 'in-flesh-ing').
• Now this was not just a move from heaven to earth.
• It was also a change of existence from the divine to the human.
• Jesus always had the divine nature, but it was fused together with a human nature,
• So, Jesus was and is fully divine, but also fully human, he is the Godman.
• The Son of God was now the Son of man.
• For the first time he had a physical body.
• He was a human being, flesh and bone, flesh and blood just like us.
Then thirty-three years later he returned to where he had come from.
• He went back up from earth to heaven.
• Christians call this his 'ascension'.
• Note: there is not a corresponding, a contrasting word to 'incarnation'
• Like 'excarnation', for example, literally: 'out-flesh-ing'),
• And we do not have that word for an especially important, a vital reason:
• When Jesus went back to heaven, he did not cease to be a man!
• The old timers used to use the expression: “There is a man in the glory”.
• He did not leave his humanity behind he took it with him!
• Just as he had not left his divinity behind when he came into the world,
• Likewise, he did not leave his humanity behind when he left this world.
Ill:
• His departure was also unparalleled.
• Others leave this world on the day they die.
• He stayed around for two more months.
• Others leave this world because they are dead.
• He left very much alive.
• Others leave their bodies behind.
• He took his with him.
Now the Ascension is a truth hard to grasp.
• Because it is beyond the scope of human experience.
• It takes us into the realm of the supernatural.
• It happened very simply and quickly.
• Jesus and his followers were gathered on the slopes the Mount of Olives.
• Which is a mountain ridge east of and adjacent to the Jerusalem's Old City
• When Jesus had delivered his farewell message to the disciples.
• He lifted up his nail-scarred hands in blessing.
• Then his body commenced to rise supernaturally,
• And a cloud bore him out of their sight.
• Note: By visibly going up into the air,
• Jesus made it clear that he wasn't just disappearing,
• He was going somewhere specific; he was going to heaven!
Question: Why a cloud?
Answer:
• At certain times during Bible History, the presence of almighty God.
• Appeared to humans with, or within, a cloud, or clouds.
• i.e., The "pillar of cloud" that accompanied The Tabernacle in The Wilderness,
• (Exodus chapter 40 verse 38)
• i.e., God came to Moses in a ‘thick cloud’ on top Mount Sinai.
• When the Ten Commandments were given.
• (Exodus chapter 19 verse 9&16)
• i.e., God appeared in a cloud at the Transfiguration event.
• Where He announced to Peter, James and John that Jesus Christ was His Son:
• (Matthew chapter 17 verse 1-9
• There are many other examples where a cloud signifies the presence of God.
• (Make an interesting little study)
Here in the ascension account.
• I believe the cloud is telling us (signifying to us) that Jesus did not go into space.
• From one atmosphere into another.
• But rather from one dimension into another.
• From physical earth to the dimension of heaven where God the Father dwells!
• So, the ascension showed the disciples.
• Jesus going from one dimension to another.
Note:
• A few weeks ago, Ian Carr preached on the ascension.
• You can hear his talk online via the website: www.drchurch.info
• So, I am not going to attempt to cover the ground he covered.
• Just to remind you that there are many spiritual reasons Jesus ascended into heaven.
Ill:
• Jesus continues to work though his body of people the Church after the ascension.
• (e.g., The Book of Acts & Church history).
• The ascended Lord Jesus will send the Holy Spirit to his people.
• (e.g., The day of Pentecost. Acts chapter 2).
• Jesus’s ascension is his heavenly enthronement as King.
• (Quote: Apostles’ Creed: “he ascended into heaven,”
• He “ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.”
• (e.g., Stephen’s words in Acts chapter 7 verse 56).
• Jesus’s ascension is his return to his Father,
• (e.g., “I came from the Father….and going to the Father” John chapter 16 verse 28)
• e.g., The ascended Lord Jesus is our heavenly Advocate and high priest.
• (Hebrews chapter 4 verses 14-16 & 1 John chapter 2 verse 1)
• e.g., The ascended Lord Jesus will return one day to earth as King and Judge.
• (Acts chapter 1 verse 11 & Revelation chapter 11 verse 15 & chapter 19 verses 10–16 & chapter 22 verse 3)
Ill:
• Had Jesus stayed on earth, he would be forever limited by his physical body.
• He could only ever be in one place at a time.
• e.g., in Bethlehem, or Galilee but not at the same time.
• Because he returned to heaven and has sent the Holy Spirit,
• He can now be with believers wherever they are!
• e.g., In Israel, in South America, In Asia, even in the UK!
SERMON AUDIO:
https://surf.pxwave.com/wl/?id=ogcIJzCrOKHlAs273W4i97sUH3CliZco
SERMON VIDEO:
https://youtu.be/rKpq6d4JV3k
