Luke 24:49-53 The Promise of the Father

 

Intro: These were exciting days for the Disciples – JESUS WAS ALIVE / HE HAD RISEN

  1. These days were a stark contrast to what these Disciples were feeling 40 days Previously
  2. 40 days before they had their HOPES SHATTERED / their FAITH – DASHED as they watched Jesus Crucified
  1. Left them Depressed / Discouraged / confused
  1. But after 3 days – heard the report of the Resurrection. / then Jesus appeared to all the Disciples / was w/ them at least 12 times in the next 40 days
  2. After those 40 days where HE was seen by at least 500 people at once as well as many individually – HE leads them to the Mt. Of Olives
  1. There HE pronounces blessing upon them & ascends up into Heaven

 

Now it was very important that Jesus ascend up into Heaven –But why ?

  1. 1st Because Jesus declared in Jn. 14 – that He was going to Heaven to PREPARE A PLACE FOR US !!!
  2. Great truth – If you know the Lord – He has gone to heaven to Prepare a Place – Particularly for You !!!
  1. This world is as bad as it gets for You – all Up ward & on ward from

here

  1. 2nd – Not just to PREPARE a place – but to PLEAD – ON BEHALF OF YOU – While still here / Flesh we sin / fail/ Blow it

D) Satan Brings accusation / 1 Jn. He is our Advocate –Defense attorney

  1. And We are told in the book of Heb. that presently Jesus is in Heaven serving as Our High Priest – where – He lives to make intercession ….

So it was important that Jesus Ascend into Heaven so that He might Prepare a Place / & Plead on Behalf on but there is one more reason

  1. 3rd Reason – Provide Power for You –
  2. A Lumber Jack who could cut down & cut up 5 trees a day w/ one of those two handled – hand saw – saw an add in the paper
  1. The Hardware store was advertising a new saw that – Guaranteed that you could cut down 15 trees a day
  1. So He went down & bought it – and set out to use it – but after – 2 days he brought it back to the Store & was very Frustrated / only 2 trees a day
  1. Bought this – Guaranteed – 15 trees only 2 – something is wrong –
  1. Manager of the Hard ware store said – Lets take a look – walked over to that saw – Chain saw – Pulled the Cord – engine roared /
  1. Old guy jumped back – What is that ……..
  1. See that man was trying to use that Chain saw w/ out the Power supply

We as believers often make the same mistake

    1. We want to walk w/ the Lord & be used by the Lord but we do so w/ out the Power source provided to us by the Lord

That is the focus of our text this morning

49 "Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high."
  1. He needed to ASCEND so that the Promise of the Father might DESCEND from the Father & come upon them .
  2. What is the PROMISE OF THE FATHER? – It is the person & Power of the Holy Spirit in the Life of the Believer !!!!

 

In John Ch. 14 Jesus made mention of this same Event – Prior to the Cross – Look at Jn. 14: 16

16 "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever; 17 "the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and SHALL be in you.

 

 

Now there are 3 aspects to the Holy Spirits work in the Life of a Person

Jesus mentions 2 of them here in v.17 of John Ch.14

  1. He is w/ you & He shall be in You
  2. The Holy Spirit was WITH them because He was w/ Jesus ? What is the function of the H.S. WITH a person .

Ch.16:7-11 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, & of righteousness, & of judgment: 9 "of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 "of righteousness, because I go to My Father & you see Me no more; 11"of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
  1. According to this/ His first Job is to Convict the World of Sin- mainly their rejection of or not believing in J.C.
  2. If you are not a Christian today – H.S. is working on your Heart –

    3. Conviction – You are a sinner / need a Savior / Only way Escape Judgement

  3. Also in Jn.15:26 - "But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.
  4. H.S. role is to Testify of Jesus – confirm the word – that these things are true
  1. So that is the work of the H.S. w/ a Person – Convict / testify / Draw ..

But Jesus also said that He shall be IN YOU !!! / Now When did that take place for the Disciples –

  1. Jn. 20 after the Resurrection. – Jesus appears – turn

    2. 21 So Jesus said to them again, "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.
  2. It was at this moment – that the Disciples were born again - they were born of the Spirit . ( No one was saved until after the Cross & Resurrection.)
  1. Paul in Romans 10 describes the Criteria for being saved
  1. that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
  1. They believed that He was dead – but here they saw Him alive – they Believed – but then Jesus Breathed on them & said Receive ye the…..
  2. Now When Jesus says something like this – it Happens – at that moment they were indwelt w/ the H.S.
  1. Their Spirits came to Life – And at that moment the H.S. took up Residence in their Hearts
  1. Listen to how Paul Describes this in – Romans 8:11

11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Now sometimes you will here me pray – on Sunday – invitation – Jesus I want you to be at home in my heart .

  1. Now I didn’t make this up/ In fact Paul prays that very same thing in praying for the Eph. Believers in Eph.3:17

    2. that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith;

  2. That can literally be Translated – BE AT HOME IN YOUR HEARTS
  3. Jesus spoke a similar thing to the Church of Laodecia in Rev. 3:20
  1. "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.
  1. Now Understand the word Heart used this way in the Bible isn’t speaking about that thing in you that Pumps your Blood
  1. But it speaks of the very core & center of your Being

Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks -

  1. Idea is that the very Core & center of who you are as a Person is revealed by what comes out of Your Mouth
  2. It speaks of who you really are as a person – What you think / how you feel & what you do – all proceed from this idea of the heart

1) It is the core You / root of your being -

 

Jesus at home in the Heart – speaks of a Person who has trusted Christ for their Salvation Exercised faith in His finished work

  1. When that Truly happens it results in a life that is surrendered to the leading the direction of Christ

B) So the moment a person is born again the H.S. indwells their life / takes

up Residence in their life

    1. & begins to seek to make it a place that He can be at Home in .

C)This is what Jesus meant when He said – He ( the H.S.) shall be in You !!!!

 

Now if His function w/ me was to convict me of the Sin of Unbelief / warn me of Judgement – what is His Purpose IN Me ?

Jn.14: 16 "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever; 17 "the Spirit of truth,

  1. He is called the Helper – Paracletes – ONE CALLED ALONG SIDE TO HELP "called alongside to assist."
    2.
  2. He is the one called along side to Help us walk w/ the Lord & be used by the Lord .
  3. It means The Holy Spirit does not work instead of us, or in spite of us, but in us and through us.
  4. John gives us some further insights into How the Holy Spirit is our – Helper : He helps us as our COMFORTER –

The Word Helper is also the Comforter - Comforts us when discouraged

  1. Our English word comfort comes from two Latin words meaning "with strength."
  2. We usually think of "comfort" as soothing someone, consoling him or her; and to some extent this is true.
  3. But true comfort strengthens us to face life bravely and keep on going.
  1. It does not rob us of responsibility or make it easy for us to give up.
  1. Some translations call the Holy Spirit "the Encourager," and this is a good choice of words.

Good example - Acts 9:31 Persecution & Paul’s Conversion

  1. Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.

 

We are told in Gal. Ch. 5 that the H.S. produces in us Christ like Character called the Fruit of the Spirit – Love Joy ……

  1. when we choose to Walk in the Spirit

JN.14: 26 He is our TEACHER – who will teach us all things, and bring to our remembrance all things that Jesus said

  1. He Teaches us – He Brings scriptures to our Remembrance

B) JN.16:13 He is also called the Spirit of Truth - Who guides us into all truth

C)In 1 COR.2:9-14 - We are told that AS OUR TEACHER We receive

insight & understanding to the word of God-

  1. THE H.S. reveals to us the deeps things of God which are hidden & foolish from the natural man

D)The H.S. imparts Discernment to Understand & Apply things being taught

 

To put it simply His Job in Indwelling us is to Help us walk in the truth – to fulfill that work of Sanctification in our Lives

  1. Pruning Process that comes through the Conviction of the Spirit – not of Unbelief in Jesus / but of a lack of Trust / areas need to Change
  2. This area of your life needs to Change – turn this area over – repent of this or that
  3. All the while – He is making our hearts or our lives a place where He can be at home in .

This is New Covenant Christianity : Jer.31:31-34

31 "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah;

32 "not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD.

33 "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

  1. "No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."

Ezk.36:26-28

26 "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. "Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God.

 

So God says that a day is coming when He is going to do something New –Replace the Old covenant. W/ a New One

  1. The Old said – Do this –follow these commands & you will Live

B) The New Covenant. Says – DONE – Live Believing in Christ – Trusting in Christ - & You will find yourself doing these things

Now in both of these passages the Lord is speaking to the nation of Israel about this Covenant. That He was going to make w/ them

  1. This is the Promise of the Father / Promise to Israel
  2. We know from our study of Bible Prophecy that for Israel this takes place when Christ Returns – during the Millennium
  1. When their eyes are opened & the Realize that Jesus is the Messiah
  1. But that which Israel will enjoy in the FUTURE – according to Heb. 8 the Church gets to enjoy right now .
  1. Through the Work of the H.S. in our lives – Teaching us as Well as Empowering us .

Notice Ezk. Said – He will Cause you to walk in my Statues . & You will Keeps my Judgements

  1. This is the 3rd aspect of the H.S. that – Jesus told His disciples about – this is what they needed before – fulfill – great Commission
  2. Go into all the World preaching the Gospel – Make Disciples of all Nations

C) Now these guys – spent 31/2 yrs w/ the Lord Himself – w/ the Best

teacher & Instructor money can buy –

  1. w/ the Greatest mentor & Example yet it wasn’t enough
  1. That is why He told them to go to Jerusalem & wait until they were ENDUED W/ Power from on HIGH !!!

E) Jesus knew this would be the key to their effectiveness, to their ability to witness to the world and to serve the body of Christ!

1.) They needed the empowering that comes from being baptized with the spirit!

F) Now if they needed this power in their lives how much more do we

 

Now Jesus described this 3rd aspect of the H.S. work / in Lives in

Acts 1:4,5,8

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."
  1. "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 3rd aspect of the H.S. work is revealed in the word – Upon –

  1. Not just w/ / not just in – but He will come upon you/V.5 Baptize you
  2. Think of Baptism – think of full immersion – water envelops you –
  1. Water & the Pitcher – over flowing -

A. J. Gordon, one of the founders of Gordon Conwell Divinity School, told of being out on a walk looking across a field -at a house

  1. Beside house He saw what looked like a man at a well furiously

pumping a hand pump to get water

  1. Gordon watch in amazement at the Speed & the tireless pumping as the man just went on and on- Up and down without ever slowing or stopping

C) This was truly a Remarkable sight - Gordon decided to head over there

for a closer look -

    1. But as He moved closer – He saw not a man / But a wooden figure that looked like a man

D)And that Arm that was pumping so rapidly – was hinged at the elbow –

and ATTACHED TO THE hand pump / it was an artesian well

1) And the Water that was flowing forth wasn’t because the figure was pumping it/ but the water was pumping the Man !!!

That is the way it is with the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It is not - a man working hard - vigorously

A) It is the Holy spirit working through the person - empowering the person!

B) When saved - you get all of the spirit - He is dwelling in you.

    1. Baptism of Spirit - Empowering of the spirit –Is not You getting

more of Him / but it is HIM getting all of you!

C) Like sail on a sail boat

Results is Power : Power to be Witnesses – be used –

  1. Also Power to walk in the ways of the Lord –
  2. Note Ezk. – He will CAUSE you to walk in my…. & YOU WILL …..
  3. Power to live out what the H.S. is declaring / teaching & testifying to our Hearts through the Word

Eph.3: 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man,

 

Note before being sent out –Jesus said Go & Wait to be endued w/ Power

A) They were transformed into men who Changed the World for Christ

  1. Think about this : The most Radical group of Christians that History has ever scene
  1. was this INTIAL group that received the Promise of the Father on the day of Pentecost
  1. They Literally turned the World up side down ( Lit. Right side up)
  1. Here is what is really interesting to me / they this for 40 yrs or so – w/out having one single book of the N.T. scriptures to study
  1. They didn’t have Rev. to argue about / or Romans to study /
  1. they didn’t have any of the N.T. scriptures that we hold so dearly & study so carefully until about 40 yrs later

 

But what they did have & the Reason why they were so Powerful & Radical was they Understood that Jesus was truly alive

  1. And that He was wanting to Live His life through them –by His Spirit that was Placed inside of them .
  2. He was writing His will not upon tables of Stone – but on the Tables of their Hearts
  1. They were going to be led by the Spirit speaking to their hearts & teaching them / bringing to Remembrance things He said
  1. That the H.S. was going to be EMPOWERING THEM to walk in His ways & keep His commands & do Radical things in His Name
  1. For His Glory !!!!!
  1. And when they came to Church & heard one of the Apostles sharing – how they need to Love one another & flee Youthful Lust – pursue …
  1. They could say – Amen / Because they were hearing Just what the Spirit was teaching them & speaking to them in their hearts already
  1. Or they would receive correction- We were sensing wrong on that one but now we Know

So They w/ out N.T. had a radical impact on the World –By Learning to be LED by & EMPOWERED by the H.S.

  1. Now they received this Initial Empowering of the H.S. on the day of Pentecost – Resulted in Power – Purpose in their lives

B) But Paul would shed further insight into this in Eph.5:18 - And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,

Lit . Be continually being filled – not a one time experience

C)Interesting that this verse precedes a whole section on Marriage & family /

Parents & Children / Employers & Employees

D) But Note that Before saying one word about marriage & family / Husbands & wives parents & Kids / Employers & Employees

  1. Paul says be filled w/ the Spirit – Synonymous w/ the Baptism & the empowering of the H.S. Why say this ?

Because the only way that we can be the Husband or Wife or Parent or Employee or Employer that God has called us to be

  1. Is through the power of the H.S. working in & through our Lives /
  2. Only through our DAILY being dependent upon Him & looking to Him .

    3. 1) So Important that we realize that this is a Continual thing –

  3. Because You know what our tendency is our tendency is & the thing that we struggle w/ most is trying to walk & do what Lord wants in own Strength
  4. And we have this tendency to want to develop formulas & techniques / and find Principles –
  1. And in many ways – we try to make the N.T. a new set of Laws / if I only can do this – then I will be Ok –
  1. We do all that instead of relying upon the Spirit’s Power that is Available to us . – Result discouraged & Defeated Lives

Two men on Vacation Niagara falls - Show you the Greatest source of untapped power in the World

No- greatest source of untapped power is the Power of the H.S. in the Life of the Church

Jesus wants to supply us w/ a Power that is beyond ourselves

A) how do we receive this Power –( No more waiting – no other place)

B) So How ? Simple – Ask -Luke 11:11-13

11 "If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?

12 "Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"

  1. Jesus is contrasting – how we as Human parents seek to give our Children what they need to succeed w/ Himself
  2. You guys Know How to take care of your Kids – even though your giving is flawed – Give them something get out of your hair
  1. So too – if you give what is right – How much more will I give the H.S. to them that ask !!!
  1. But You have to ask – See The simple act of ASKING – of making the REQUEST – REVEALS A CONFESSION THAT THERE IS A NEED!!

Now what makes us daily come before the Lord & Say fill me today w/ Your Spirit – Empower me for this day – YOU SEE THE NEED

  1. Lord I confess today I can’t make it w/ out you – Can’t Love my wife..
  2. You know what we do though – we only pray like this when we know something big is Happening – Lord Help – meeting / Help
  1. The Lord wants us to have that mindset all the Time !!!

This is the Condition – Matt. 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

C) Realize your utter Dependency upon Him for everything !!!!!

John 15: 5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

So You come to this place – Lord I need you today your Power / I realize that I can’t make it w/ out You .