8 So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by
giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, 9 and
made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
Last week we talked about "stuff in the
basement"; junk inside of us that keeps us from experiencing the abundant
life Jesus offers to us; junk that weighs us down and hinders us from running
the race of life successfully. We talked
about how there is stuff in our lives, junk, that trips us up, drags us
down, gets in the way of us experiencing the abundant life Jesus promised (John
10:10).
This abundant life is a powerful life. We say
that on the basis of how we see Jesus' promise fulfilled after the resurrection
in Acts. We say this as we see the Promise of the Father fulfilled in Acts.
The fulfillment of these promises was
connected by Jesus with "power." Jesus said:
Acts 1:4–5 (NKJV)
4 And being assembled
together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but
to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He
said, “you have heard
from Me; 5 for John truly
baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many
days from now.”
Acts 1:8 (NKJV)
8 But you shall receive power
when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in
Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
This power was real. It is real today and it
is as available today as it was when it was first given. These empowered
Apostles and disciples literally changed the world - turned it upside down -
had an impact - made an incredible eternally significant powerful impact on
their world. It was like a charge of dynamite. We need this dynamic today. We need to
have the top blown off and the church unleashed to infiltrate and influence the world today.
We need
to pray:
Lord, in Jesus name, make us what we need to
be, to do what You call us to do, for Your glory, until Jesus returns.
And the key to this empowerment was the
message of the resurrection.
When we look at Acts we see the resurrection
of Jesus at the center of all these empowered people did and proclaimed.
The incidences of the mention of resurrection of Jesus in Acts are numerous:
21 “Therefore, of these men
who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among
us, 22 beginning from the baptism of John to that day when He
was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of His
resurrection.”
Acts 2:22–24, 30-32
(NKJV)
22 “Men of Israel, hear
these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles,
wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves
also know—23 Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and
foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put
to death; 24 whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of
death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it. . . . 30 Therefore, being a
prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit
of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his
throne, 31 he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the
resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His
flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God has raised up, of which
we are all witnesses.
Acts 3:14–16, 26
(NKJV)
14 But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked
for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and killed the Prince
of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. 16 And
His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and
know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect
soundness in the presence of you all. . . . 26 To you first,
God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away
every one of you from your iniquities.”
Acts 4:1–2, 8-10, 33
(NKJV)
4 Now as they spoke to the people, the
priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, 2 being
greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the
resurrection from the dead. . . . 8 Then Peter, filled with the
Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: 9 If
we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what
means he has been made well, 10 let it be known to you all, and
to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom
you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here
before you whole. . . . 33 And with great power the apostles
gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon
them all.
Acts 5:29–32 (NKJV)
29 But Peter and the other apostles answered and
said: “We ought to obey God rather than men. 30 The God of our
fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. 31 Him
God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give
repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 And we are His
witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom
God has given to those who obey Him.”
Acts 10:34–43 (NKJV)
34 Then Peter opened his
mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. 35 But
in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him. 36 The
word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through
Jesus Christ—He is Lord of all—37 that word you know, which was
proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which
John preached: 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the
Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were
oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. 39 And we are
witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in
Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree. 40 Him God
raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, 41 not to
all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate
and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. 42 And He
commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was
ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead. 43 To
Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him
will receive remission of sins.”
Acts 13:23, 26-41
(NKJV)
23 From
this man’s seed, according to the promise, God raised up for Israel a
Savior—Jesus— . . . . 26 “Men and brethren, sons of the
family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to you the word of this
salvation has been sent. 27 For those who dwell in Jerusalem,
and their rulers, because they did not know Him, nor even the voices of the
Prophets which are read every Sabbath, have fulfilled them in condemning
Him. 28 And though they found no cause for death in
Him, they asked Pilate that He should be put to death. 29 Now
when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning Him, they took Him
down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb. 30 But God
raised Him from the dead. 31 He was seen for many days by those
who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are His witnesses to the
people. 32 And we declare to you glad tidings—that promise
which was made to the fathers. 33 God has fulfilled this for us
their children, in that He has raised up Jesus. As it is also written in the
second Psalm:
‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.’
34 And that He raised Him from the dead, no more to
return to corruption, He has spoken thus:
‘I will give you the sure mercies of David.’
35 Therefore He also says in another Psalm:
‘You will not allow Your Holy One to see corruption.’
36 “For David, after he had
served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, was buried with his
fathers, and saw corruption; 37 but He whom God raised up saw
no corruption. 38 Therefore let it be known to you, brethren,
that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; 39 and
by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could
not be justified by the law of Moses. 40 Beware therefore, lest
what has been spoken in the prophets come upon you:
41 ‘Behold, you despisers,
Marvel and perish!
For I work a work in your days,
A work which you will by no means believe,
Though one were to declare it to
you.’ ”
Acts 17:18 and 32
(NKJV)
18 Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers
encountered him. And some said, “What does this babbler want to say?”
Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he
preached to them Jesus and the resurrection. . . . 32 And when
they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We
will hear you again on this matter.”
Acts 23:6–8, 15-21
(NKJV)
6 But when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees
and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Men and brethren,
I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee; concerning the hope and resurrection of
the dead I am being judged!”
7 And when he had said this, a dissension arose between
the Pharisees and the Sadducees; and the assembly was divided. 8 For
Sadducees say that there is no resurrection—and no angel or spirit; but the
Pharisees confess both. . . . 15 I have hope in God, which they
themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead,
both of the just and the unjust. 16 This being
so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and
men.
17 “Now after many years I came to bring alms and
offerings to my nation, 18 in the midst of which some Jews from
Asia found me purified in the temple, neither with a mob nor with tumult. 19 They
ought to have been here before you to object if they had anything against me. 20 Or
else let those who are here themselves say if they found any wrongdoing
in me while I stood before the council, 21 unless it is
for this one statement which I cried out, standing among them, ‘Concerning the
resurrection of the dead I am being judged by you this day.’ ”
To answer those questions, we have to go to
an "Upper Room," the same room, some believe, where Jesus and His
disciples had their last supper before the crucifixion.
Ten days alone with the Lord. Jesus went to the cross and rose from the
dead on the Feast of Passover. Acts begins 40 days after the resurrection of
Jesus (Acts 1:1-3). 10 days before the next Feast which was Pentecost (the
Feast if Harvest). It was on the day of Pentecost that the Holy Spirit fell
upon the Apostles and disciples. Pentecost occurs 50 ("Penta") days
after Passover. This tells us the Apostles and disciples, 120 people (Acts
1:14), waited, in the upper room, 10 days before they were empowered.
10 days is not an exceptionally long time,
but it is not a short time either. Jesus always works with perfect timing (e.g.
Gal. 4:4). He knew they needed some time. They needed some time to work things
out. It took would take them ten days to deal with their junk.
For ten days the Holy Spirit would bring to
their minds the stuff/junk that needed to be removed: their pride, their guilt,
their fears, their doubts, their junk. For ten days they would join together
"of one accord" to consider, confess to the Lord, and receive
cleansing - from
their junk.
In Acts 15:8-9 it states, "So God,
who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as
He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their
hearts by faith."
Why did Peter describe the empowering of the
Gentiles by the Holy Spirit in this way?
Because the empowerment of the Holy Spirit is not the
believer getting more of the Holy Spirit, it's the Holy Spirit getting more,
no, getting ALL of you.
The Holy Spirit indwells the person who accepts Jesus as
Savior and is born again; this is the second birth. Jesus said to enter heaven "you must
be born again"
(John 3). The Holy Spirit is "with" a person leading them, showing them,
convicting them of their sin, and drawing them to receive Jesus as Savior who
makes a way for them to be forgiven their sin. If and when they do receive Jesus as Savior, then the
Holy Spirit comes "in" them, indwelling them to give them spiritual life;
a second birth (John 14:17; 16:8-11).
All those waiting in the upper room had been
forgiven their sins by confessing them to God and trusting Jesus as Savior.
They had all been born again; indwelled by the Holy Spirit. Jesus had said, “Peace to
you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.’ And when He had said this, He
breathed on them, and said to them,’ Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:21-22).
Something more. But there was still some stuff/junk in the way. There was
still some stuff to deal with until they could experience the power of the
Spirit to be Jesus' world impacting, world changing, world saving Apostles and
disciples.
Jesus gave them 10 days to deal with their
junk. It took ten days for their hearts to be purified by faith. It took ten
days for their faith to be matured, perfected, for them to move on from their
junk-laden lives and be emptied and fully open for the Holy Spirit to fill
them. FOR TRULY THE PENTECOSTAL EMPOWERMENT WITH THE HOLY
SPIRIT IS NOT US GETTING MORE OF HIM, BUT HIM GETTING ALL OF US. It's letting go of our proud-junk,
guilt-junk, fear-junk, doubt-junk, junk-junk, and fully surrendering to the
Lord (Rom. 12:1-2; Acts 15:8-8).
You don’t have to wait ten days! And since this is a work received by faith,
we should mention that we don’t have to wait ten days. Because this is a work
of the Spirit received by faith we only need to surrender fully to Him and ask
Him for this empowerment. Then by faith we receive it and walk in the power.
The Role of the Resurrection
Now we have one last thing to consider. HOW,
how did they deal with their junk? What role did the resurrection play in
purifying their hearts by faith; of getting rid if their junk?
Gone again. It must have been an excruciating loss to the Apostles
and disciples to see and experience the death of Jesus. For all they knew that
was it, He was gone. But gory to God the Bible also continues the account that
Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to all the Apostles and to over 500
disciples (1 Cor. 15:1ff.) He was back! Jesus met with them, ate with them,
even fished with them! (John 20-21). Wonderful!
But then He ascended from them (Acts 1:9-11).
He was gone again.
Another Helper; One just like Me. But here's the key. Jesus said He came to go
to the cross to atone for sins and that three days later He would rise from the
dead (e.g. Mat. 16:21). He gave them that promise and He delivered on that
promise. He was faithful and He was able to fulfill His promise. They saw Him
before AND AFTER the cross and resurrection.
Now He was gone again. It was a lot to
process. But there was a difference. Now, in that Upper Room, waiting together,
for ten days, the Holy Spirit must have helped them remember Jesus’ teaching
about the Holy Spirit. Maybe the Holy Spirit would help them remember such
words from Jesus as:
John 16:7–11, 13
(NKJV) - 7 Nevertheless I tell you the
truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the
Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and
of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no
more; 11 of judgment, because
the ruler of this world is judged. . . .
13 However, when He, the Spirit
of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on
His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell
you things to come.
One just like Him. The Holy Spirit was referred to by Jesus as “another
Helper” which in
the original language meant literally One just like Me (John 14:17). The Holy Spirit who would testify of Jesus, make Him known,
make His presence known, lead them into all truth and enable them to do things
like Jesus did. “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes
in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he
will do, because I go to My Father” (John 14:12) - incredible!
Now picture this, imagine this, AS THE
APOSTLES AND DISCIPLES IN THE UPPER ROOM PONDERED THEIR “STUFF IN THE BASEMENT”
THE JUNK IN THEIR HEART, their pride, their guilt, their fears, their doubts,
THE HOLY SPIRIT WAS DEALING WITH THEM. IT WAS AS THOUGH EACH TIME THEY THOUGHT:
·
Yeah but, what about this pride I acted in?
·
Yeah but, what about how guilty I feel?
·
Yeah but, what about this fear I have?
·
Yeah but, what about the doubts I have?
EACH TIME, THE HOLY SPIRIT, WHO KNOWS THE
HEART, WOULD TURN THEM AROUND AND CAUSE THEM TO REMEMBER, TO SEE THE RISEN LORD
JESUS AS MUCH AS TO SAY –
·
"PRIDE?
Look to Jesus and let your pride go.
·
GUILT?
Look to Jesus who paid the penalty for your sins and let your guilt go.
·
FEARS?
Look to Jesus, He rose from the dead, HE's ALIVE; HE WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU OR
FORSAKE YOU, let your fears go.
·
DOUBTS!
Look to Jesus, He is risen. If He can defeat death what can't He do? What claim
isn't true? Let go of your doubts."
Each time
a hindrance came to their mind or heart the Holy Spirit would point them to
Jesus and remind them that He died to atone for their sins; Jesus shed His
blood to pay the death penalty for sin. And the blood of the risen Lord Jesus
is the basis for the forgiveness for sins (1 Peter 1:18-19; 1 John 1:7. 9).
But just
as important to their heart cleansing was the FACT that because of the
resurrection, JESUS WAS/IS ALIVE AND HIS PRESENCE IS REAL AND EXPERIENCED
THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT. WITH JESUS NOTHING CAN HINDER US FROM ACCOMPLISHING
GREAT THINGS FOR GOD; NOTHING CAN KEEP US FROM FULFILLING GOD’S CALL.
Power of the Resurrection
The power of the resurrection is found in the
words, "and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age"
(Mat. 28:20).
The apostles and disciples had experienced 3
years with Jesus. Three years of His teaching. Three years learning true love
from Him. Three years of His standing up to opposition. Three years of His
walking on water. Three years of making something from nothing (feeding 4000
and 5000 people), providing money from a fishes mouth to pay taxes. Three years
healing people of their acquired illnesses as well as their birth defects; the
lame walking, the lepers cleaned, and the blind seeing. Three years that
included raising people from the dead. Three years of courage and righteous
living. Three years of His sinless life. Three years of holy living. Three
years experiencing the faithfulness and capability of Jesus in all
circumstances. Three years of doing God's will with Jesus. With Jesus they were
able to do anything the Father called them to do.
But the resurrection changed all that. The resurrection brought Jesus back to them and
they were relieved as much as rejoicing that Jesus had conquered death.
But then the ascension. Jesus once again left
them. Oh He went to heaven, yes, but He still left them. Now in that upper room
for about ten days they had to work on the pollutants of the heart: guilt,
pride, fear, and doubt. They had to decide whether Jesus' words were
true and worth their all.
Jesus had said , "Nevertheless I tell
you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away,
the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you"
(John 16:7).
Pentecost and the empowering Jesus promised
is bound up in the resurrection presence of Jesus, the empowering presence of
Jesus, the "and lo, I am with you always" of Jesus, the reality and
truth of Jesus conveyed by the Holy Spirit.
Pentecost is the Holy Spirit testifying to
Jesus and His presence. It is the reality of Jesus presence purifying the heart
from all guilt, proud self-reliance, fear and doubt. With Jesus NOTHING IS
IMPOSSIBLE. Jesus' presence in the Spirit assures us our sin is forgiven and
there's no reason to doubt. Jesus' presence in the Spirit humbles us removing
all pride. Jesus' presence in the Spirit encourages us not to fear. Jesus'
presence in the Spirit explains all doubts away. Jesus' presence in the Spirit
proves Jesus true. Jesus' presence in the Spirit is empowering.
Whatever your "stuff in the
basement," junk or heart pollutant is that hinders you from the fullness
and abundant life Jesus promised, I know that the presence of Jesus in the
Spirit will help you deal with it and destroy it.
Apart from Jesus we can do nothing. With the
risen Jesus we can do all things God calls us to do. That’s dynamic. That’s powerful. That’s
empowering.
Jesus is not dead. Jesus is ALIVE. He is with
us. The Holy Spirit makes that so. "And lo, I am with you always, even to
the end of the age," EVEN NOW!
Release your heart impurities by faith to
Jesus. Listen to the truth of the Holy Spirit. Be purified in heart and
empowered in life.
When the Holy Spirit Came Upon Them
And as “These all continued
with one accord in prayer and supplication” (Acts 1:14a), their heart searching reached a critical
mass (as the Spirit was working in them) and they reached their point of
letting go, their hearts were purified by faith; by faith they let go of all
the “stuff in the basement” all the junk - AND THE HOLY SPIRIT FELL ON THEM!!
The Holy Spirit came “upon” them. The preposition “upon” (Greek epi) means to overflow, come upon,
saturate and overflow the vessel. The Holy Spirit came upon them displacing all the “Stuff
in the basement” and “junk” and freed them to live empowered lives for Jesus.
That's what is there for us. That's what we
need to do. That's what the resurrected risen Lord Jesus means to us.
Alan Redpath once said: "If
you look up into His face and say, "Yes, Lord, whatever it costs," at
that moment He'll flood your life with His presence and power."
Are you ready to rid yourself of the “stuff
in the basement”? Are you ready to get rid of your junk? Are you ready to clean
house? Are you ready to have your heart purified by faith?
Andrew Murray in
his book The Spirit of Christ gives
the following comment on seeking the power of the Spirit:
In seeking for this power of the Spirit, let
us note the manner of His working.
There is one mistake we must especially be aware of. It is that of expecting
always to feel the power when it
works. Scripture links power and weakness in a wonderful way, not as succeeding
each other, but as existing together. ‘I was with you in weakness . . . and my preaching was . . . in power,’ ‘When I am weak,
then am I strong.’(See 1 Cor. 2:3-5;
2 Cor. 4:7, 16; 6:10; 12:10; 13:3, 4.).
The power is the power of God, given to
faith, and faith grows strong in the dark. The Holy Spirit hides himself in the
weak things that God has chosen, so that flesh may not glory in His presence.
Spiritual power can only be known by the Spirit of faith. The more we
acknowledge our weakness, the more confidently we can expect the Spirit’s
power, even when nothing is felt. [1]
We should not run
from our weakness but embrace it! We should not try to hide our weakness but
proclaim it! If we think we aren’t weak, we are fooling ourselves,
self-deceived, and not ready for the empowerment of the Spirit. God opposes the
proud but gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourself before God and
He will exalt you in due time; He will baptize you in the Spirit (cf. 1 Peter
5:5-6).
Andrew Murray also
makes a close connection between humility that is proved in obedience. We have
to be humble and surrendered enough to obey
the Lord. We need to truly surrender to the Lord and His will. The Spirit
will only empower the person who is willing to obey and follow His marching
orders. His power is not given for us to indulge. His power is given that we
might glorify Christ! To this end Murray states:
Christians lose much not only by not waiting
for the power, but by waiting in the wrong way. Combine ready obedience to
every call of duty, no matter how weak you feel, with a dependent waiting
expectation of power from on high. Let intervals of rest and communion be the
exercise of prayer and faith in the power of God dwelling in you and waiting to
work through you. Then your time of exertion and effort will bring the proof
that by faith, out of weakness, we are made strong. . . .
Many pray earnestly for power in their work,
and do not receive it, because they do not accept the only attitude in which
the power can work. . . . We want to get possession of the power and use it.
God wants the power to get possession of us and use us. If we give up ourselves
to the power to rule in us, the power will give itself to us, to rule though
us. Unconditional submission and obedience to the power in our inner life is
the one condition of our being clothed with it. . . .
God gives the Spirit to the obedient. Power
belongs to God and remains His forever. If you want His power to work in you,
surrender to His guidance even in the least things.
Let us be clear regarding the purpose of this power and the work
it is to do. Men are very careful to economize power and to store it where it
can do its work most effectively. God does not give power for our own
enjoyment. He gives it for one purpose – to glorify His Son. Those who are
faithful to this one purpose and prove they are ready at any cost to glorify
God will receive the power from on high.[2]
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