The Coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8-11)

Living the Christian life is not only hard, it’s impossible. We are to live good and righteous lives and to be ambassadors of Christ to those around us. It is too much for me to do.

I find myself in dry periods of my life at times. I have time periods where I am less effective as a leader in my home, teacher of my children, youth pastor, and worship leader. Do you know what’s different about those times?

The Holy Spirit is not working in my life in the same way as He is at other times. Usually it’s in time periods where I’ve basically abandoned living a life that is dependent upon the Holy Spirit. I’m doing everything in my own power, I’m not praying, I’m just doing everything on my own. It is at these times that I notice great lows in my life.

And this makes sense. I can’t do it on my own.

I remember being a student in youth ministry and being told that I was likely living in what would be the greatest missionary endeavor of my life. The argument was made that I would never again live in a time where I rubbed shoulders with so many lost people. Logically, I thought about it and agreed.

Yet, there was something missing in this message. Either it was not said or it did not compute. There is no way that I can go through this endeavor on my own. There is no way for me to work on my own and bring people to faith in Christ. In my own power nothing will be accomplished.

What I did not know was that God the Holy Spirit makes me an empowered witness to the victory that Christ had already accomplished.

 

Christ The Victor

 

We have seen throughout our time in “God’s Big Story” that in the middle of the curses being given at the Fall that God promised redemption.

“15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.””—Genesis 3:15 ESV

And we have seen that God was working out a plan throughout the entirety of Scripture that was fulfilled in Christ. And when Christ died on the cross and then rose from the grave He rose victorious over Satan. He had at this point, once and for all risen victorious over Satan. He is now the victor and is about to rise to be seated in Glory with His Father. Erwin Lutzer put it this way in his book “The Serpent of Paradise”

“There was a scuffle as the serpent thrashed about, his fangs upright, hissing at his opponent. As the loathsome beast lay gasping, it attempted to strike but could only nip the heel of the foot that stepped on its head. When the frenzy was over, the head of the serpent lay crushed, pounded into the hard dirt, its body throbbing with pain. While drops of its poison lay spent on the ground, the victor returned to Heaven in triumph.”—Erwin Lutzer, Moody Press, Chicago, 1996, p. 83

Satan is defeated, though not dead. Christ is victorious, Satan’s defeat is now sure. There are no questions. Christ has won the war. The strife is over. Yet, there is work for us to do. The story ends with a great multitude that no one could count (Revelation 7:9-10). How do we get from Christ’s victory to that great ending.

Two Important Events Often Overlooked

 

There are two events that we oftentimes overlook the importance of in Scripture. They are the ascension of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit. In fact, Jesus 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 go, I will send him to you.”—John 16:7 ESV

I can’t imagine what it would have been like to have been there as Jesus taught and did miracles, but He said to His disciples that it will be to their advantage for Him to leave. When Jesus leaves the Helper, the Holy Spirit, would come and it would be to their advantage.

Read Acts 1:1-11 ESV. This is where the message will come from. We will here see that Jesus leaves and gives to His people the promised Holy Spirit. And when He does so they receive power for the mission at hand.

Jesus has already resurrected from the dead. And now, in this time he is with the disciples, He has told them to go to Jerusalem and wait for the time in which they will be “clothed with power from on high” (Luke  24:49).

The disciples still suffer from a lack of understanding Jesus’ mission completely. They think that Jesus is now going to set up His Kingdom (vv. 6-7). Jesus tells them that this is not something they are to know, but He goes on to again describe the mission they are supposed to be on and the work of the Holy Spirit in that mission.

The Holy Spirit makes us empowered witnesses of Christ’s victory. 

We Are Jesus’ Witnesses (Acts 1:8)

 

The first thing that we need to discuss here is that we are Jesus’ witnesses. He has left us with a mission. This mission is to be witnesses of His victory over Satan, sin, and death. And we receive power to accomplish the mission.

“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.” (Acts 1:8 ESV)

We are Christ’s witnesses, both local and worldwide. This we should not forget. The Book of Luke is like part I and the Book of Acts is like part II. Luke wrote both and the two combined tell the story. Last week in Luke 24:45-47 we saw the message that we have to deliver,

“ 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” (Luke 24:45-47 ESV)

We saw last week that the message we deliver contains a number of facts.

1. Jesus died according to the Scriptures.
2. Jesus rose from the dead according to the Scriptures.
3. Repentance is the proper response to this message. We hear the story of Christ’s victory and turn from ruling our own lives and writing our own script. We turn to Christ and get into the story that He is writing for us. He is now our Savior and Lord.
4. Forgiveness of sins comes to all who repent and believe.

As ambassadors we do not change the message. We dare not water it down or apologize for this message. We lovingly and graciously deliver the message of what Christ has done to the world that surrounds us.

Christ has come and lived a perfect life. He lived the life that we should have lived then He died the death that we owed on the cross. He stood in our place as our substitute. He died on the cross paying the punishment for my sin and then rose from the dead three days later. He has conquered death. He has conquered sin. He has conquered Satan. And the response to that is surrender. We turn from ruling our own lives and trust in Him.

That is the message we deliver. It is the message of Christ’s victory and the Holy Spirit makes us empowered witnesses of Christ’s victory.

 

We Receive Power to Be Witnesses (Acts 1:8)

 

The second thing that we should note from the passage is that we receive power to be Christ’s witnesses. It is not as if Christ has dropped us off in the middle of nowhere without the ability to accomplish the mission that He has given. He has given us the Holy Spirit.

“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.”

I cannot begin to recount for you all of the times that I have agreed to do something or been asked to do something that I am completely and totally unequipped to accomplish. That is not what is happening here. Well, it kind of is. We are not able, but we are empowered to be able by the Holy Spirit.

We find here a message that is both comforting and empowering. You receive power to accomplish the mission. You are not striving under your own power to tell the story of Jesus’ victory and inviting others to become a part of His people. You have been given power to do so. This power is ability and strength to deliver this message. It is through this message that the Holy Spirit works to create new believers.

How many times have you left this church building feeling as if you did not have the ability or power that was needed to share this message with friends and family? How many times have you heard messages about sharing the gospel with others delivered and felt it was near impossible? I’m telling you that it is not. But it is not because of your talent. It is because of the Holy Spirit.

God works and makes our work effective through the Holy Spirit’s work. Christ has come and accomplished our salvation for us. We share that message with others. God, the Holy Spirit, works in the person we are talking to and causes some of them to believe. The Holy Spirit empowers us and works in the people we are talking to. The Holy Spirit makes us empowered witnesses of Christ’s victory.

 

Christ Has Ascended and Is Coming Again (Acts 1:9-11)

 

Christ has ascended. And we would think that this would be a bad thing for those close to Him, but we have already seen otherwise. He actually said that it would be better for them when He left than when He was here (John 16:7). This is absolutely amazing.

Put yourself in this situation. You have walked with Jesus, eaten with Jesus, talked with Jesus repeatedly, and witnessed the many miracles of Jesus as well as heard Him preach to the crowds of people that followed Him. This has been an amazing time for you. Now, Jesus says that it will be better when He leaves. What could possibly make it better for Him to be gone.

The answer is that when He leaves, the Holy Spirit would come and make them empowered witnesses of Christ’s victory.

“9 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. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 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.” (Acts 1:9-11 ESV)

Christ is no longer on Earth but is seated at the right hand of God. He has completely accomplished our salvation for us. And now, if we are believers, we have the Holy Spirit because Christ has ascended.

As odd as it seems for us to say out loud, it is better this way. Christ has ascended into Glory and the Holy Spirit has come to us and gives us power to do the work of spreading the gospel.

We also find a time limitation placed upon us in this passage. There are two things that can limit the amount of time we are working on this mission that has been given to us. The first, and most obvious as we observe the world around us, is death. When we die our work as individual believers is finished. But even at death the mission will continue. When I die the work keeps going. The mission is not finished at my death. The mission is bigger than me or the part I play in it.

The second time limitation is the one mentioned here. The mission will end when Christ returns. No one knows when this will happen, but when it happens the spreading of the gospel in the way we know it today will be over. At that point there is no time left.

We have work to do, but we are not doing this work alone. When Christ ascended He left us with the Helper. The Holy Spirit is working in us and alongside us in this short time period to help us complete the mission that we have been given. And in this time period the Holy Spirit makes us empowered witnesses of Christ’s victory.

Further Reading

 

The Holy Spirit makes us empowered witnesses of Christ’s victory. If you will, read Acts 2 and see what this means. Notice what happens when the Holy Spirit rests upon believers. That is what I mean when I say that the Holy Spirit empowers us to be witnesses of Christ’s victory.

 

Consider What This Would Look Like For Us

 

Catch an understanding of what it means to be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and things change. Your friends come to faith in Christ because you are spreading the gospel and God is working in them. And then, the Lord will add to our number day by day “those who are being saved.” This would be an ever growing, ever multiplying group of believers if we were going in the power of the Holy Spirit. What a glorious thought!

Application

 

Here’s how we need to apply this to our lives. Here are the challenges handed down today.

Begin praying for one person that you desperately want to see come to faith in Christ. If you don’t know who, just look around your school. I’m sure you’ll figure it out. Pray for two things 1) God to work in them and cause them to believe. 2) For an opportunity for you to be able to talk with them about Jesus.

You are not powerless to spread the fame of God’s great name in Alma, Arkansas. It is actually quite the opposite. Christ has come. He has delivered you from the power of sin and death. He has made you His Ambassadors in this world dominated by sin and death. He has brought you to this place where you are actually His representatives to a world that is not dying but already dead. In the midst of this present darkness you are “the light of the world”. You have a message to declare of life and light and have been given power to deliver this message.

If you are not a believer here today, and you are feeling pulled toward coming to faith in Christ. Come and talk with me today and we’ll talk about what it means to be a child of God. We will talk about what it means to be on the side of the victor in this great struggle against Satan, sin, and death.

R. Dwain Minor