The 12 “Almost Christians” (Acts 19:1–10)
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
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Recap
Recap
Good morning, church.
This morning, to no surprise to you—we are continuing in the book of Acts, so if you would go ahead and turn with me to Acts 19:1-10.
(Pause)
Last time that I preached, a few chapters ago in Acts 16, I threw up a couple maps to show two of Paul’s three missionary journeys as he was on his second journey during from the end of Acts 15 all the way until the middle of our sermon text last week at the end of Acts 18.
Just to see it visually, I’ll throw the second journey back up on the screen.
PUT SECOND MAP UP
This journey was about 3 years in length and his last stop before returning to Israel was in Ephesus where he would, as he usually does, reason with the Jews in the synagogue.
Instead of being ran out of town as he had in the past, though, the Jews there as it says in Acts 18:20-21. . .
Acts 18:20–21 (ESV)
. . .asked him to stay for a longer period, [but] he declined. But on taking leave of them he said, “I will return to you if God wills,” and he set sail from Ephesus.
Then in Acts 18:22–23, it says. . .
When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church, and then went down to Antioch. After spending some time there, he departed and went from one place to the next through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.
The rest of the chapter then is side story about Apollos coming to Ephesus,
which is purposeful from Luke in setting up our text today, but we’ll get to that later on.
It’s easy to miss because there’s so many names mentioned,
but verse 22 marks the end of his second missionary journey and
verse 23 is the beginning of his third and last missionary journey recorded in the book of Acts.
I’ll throw that last map on the screen.
This third journey goes about halfway through Acts 21 and
covers about 5 years with the narrative primarily around his time spent in Ephesus,
which was about 3 years, making it the longest he has stayed in any one city.
As one commentator would point out, ‘Ephesus is not just another stop in a series. It is Paul’s last major place of new mission work; indeed, it is the sole center of mission noted in the last stage of Paul’s work as a free man.”
Paul thus fulfilled his promise to return to the curious Jews in Ephesus who asked him to stay the previous year and
the Lord would work through Paul’s ministry here so extensively that our passage today would conclude saying that
Acts 19:10 (ESV)
. . .all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.
Pretty amazing impact.
(Pause)
If you would now look with me and what the beginning of his time there looked like in Acts 19:1–10
Read Acts 19:1-10
And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism.” And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. There were about twelve men in all. And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus. This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.
Pray for clarity and understanding.
Intro
Intro
Have you ever been so close to achieving something, some goal you may be striving for, and yet you just fell short at the end?
Or so close to reaching a destination and just didn’t make it in time?
Maybe you missed a flight by only a matter of minutes.
Maybe you made it to the last level of job interviews, narrowed down to be among the last few candidates, but weren’t selected.
Maybe you just missed that grade by half a point.
— Admittedly, being a high school math teacher, I was among those awful teachers who had little mercy on my students in this regard.
Inevitably, I’d have several students who thought they could coast through the term with little effort, just to start being conscientious about their grade the last week—no, really, the last few DAYS—before report card cut off day and
ask me for some way to bump up their grade half a point to get that next letter.
I’m sorry, you’ve had 9 weeks for this bro. . .
(Pause)
I also admit that I was totally that student in High School!
Acadia
On another note, and this may be of no surprise to you, but Elizabeth and I have a unconscious tendency to calculate how many minutes it takes to get somewhere and leave exactly that many minutes before we have to be somewhere such that if a kid loses his shoe or we don’t know exactly where the keys are, we are doomed to be late.
This is really my way of apologizing. . .we are trying to work on it, I promise.
This came to really affect us when we went on a family road trip with Zeke up to Maine to see Acadia National Park.
We booked a nice sunset cruise to finish the day traveling around the national park.
For some reason, we thought we had enough time to go back to our airbnb to let our dog out and get back in time for the cruise, having a super tight window of time.
But, just like you see in a movie, we are running down the dock with baby Zeke in our hands as we watch the ship throw the ropes and set off into the water.
Missed it by seconds.
As my college mentor would say, “Close, but no cigar.”
What about when it comes to truth?
Have you ever believed something to be true only to find out you were almost right. . .but not quite?
Thankfully I was not right about truly believing Tennessee was going to lose against Texas in their second round March Madness game last night despite being up a large margin at one point.
Just knew it. . .this is classic Tennessee.
We just started watching the new season of The Amazing Race—a reality competition show in which teams of two race around the world completing various puzzles/tasks based on clues that they get along the way. Progressively they get eliminated and the team to make it to the very end first gets $1 million.
They started off this season in a city in Mexico and one of the tasks they had to do was to paint the other person’s face according to this photo
When they thought they got it right, they’d ask for a person to check it who would silently GESTURE no, yes, or almost.
The only thing is, the person wouldn’t tell them what they messed up or what was missing from the picture to make it the correct face painting.
Which could’ve been an off shade of color or a missing flower pedal.
They had to figure out on their own what they messed up or what they missed.
In our text today, we have what Scottish Pastor Alistair Begg would call the “12 Almost Christians”.
Almost Christian in the sense that they looked and sounded like they were true Christians, but they weren’t fully there. . . . they were “almost there”
By God’s grace, they didn’t have to figure out on their own what they missed like those teams on the Amazing Race
God graciously crossed their path with Paul’s who would tell them of Christ.
But it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that there are many people today in our churches and around the world who
go through the motions, sing the songs, attend the services, speak the right language, do the right things, thinking these things are what make them Christians while they are not actually born again.
They are “almost” Christians, expecting to hear the Master declare at the end “Well done, good and faithful servant,” when actually He will say “I never knew you; depart from me.”
For this reason, lest we ourselves be fooled to think we have everything right along with these 12 Almost Christians, we need to heed Paul’s warning in his letter to the Corinthians when he says, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith.”
And this will serve as our main idea from our text this morning:
MPS: Examine yourselves, to see whether you truly know Christ.
MPS: Examine yourselves, to see whether you truly know Christ.
If you’re here as a visitor and you don’t know Christ,
We are glad you’re here.
What I hope you see from this text and our time here together this morning is that our God, the God of the Bible, has not hidden Himself from us, leaving us to figure things out on our own.
All the creation around us proclaims His glory—and He has revealed Himself even more through His Word, the Bible, where we can know who He is and what He has done.
Yet, the fullest revelation of Himself is found in His Son, Jesus, the Living Word who became flesh and dwelt among us.
Look to Him with us this morning.
With this main point in mind—to Examine yourselves, to see whether you truly know Christ—there are two takeaways I want us to embrace from this text.
1. Examine Yourselves (Acts 19:1–4)
2. Respond in Faith (Acts 19:5–7)
Examine Yourselves (Acts 19:1-14)
Examine Yourselves (Acts 19:1-14)
Let’s look back at Acts 19:1
And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples.
Notice the text says, “some disciples.”
This is the only time in Acts that the word “disciples” occurs without a definite article like our word “the”.
Luke instead uses the word “some”, perhaps because they gave the appearance of being Christians when Paul met them.
Paul took them to be disciples, but as we’d some find out, they were not true disciples, rather they were “twelve almost Christians”
You had to wonder what made Paul think they were Christian?
Maybe they were involved in Christian things
Maybe they just got back from meeting in a house reading the Old Testament Scriptures
Maybe they were kind to one another
Maybe they just gave to the poor
Maybe they were using the same language that Christians used.
like baptism, repentance, grace, eternal life.
And, yet, something was off.
Paul seemed to have seen something in their behavior or demeanor or maybe they said something that made him go, “uhh? Not sure about that one.”. . .leading him to ask them a couple questions.
Something in his spirit told him during his short time with them that though these people had the right lingo, perhaps they weren’t true disciples of Jesus at all.
Application:
Thankfully, there are markers for genuine faith given to us in the Scripture for how we can know whether we or someone else is a true believer.
As mentioned earlier, Paul would write to the Corinthians, urging them:
English Standard Version Chapter 13
Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!
What are those markers? What is the test?
Thankfully, we have the book of 1 John which was written to believers so that they can know they have eternal life.
John, the apostle not the Baptist, writes in ch. 5:13
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
One commentator would point out three “tests” that every true believer will pass shown in 1 John.
Doctrinal Test
Ethical Test
Experiential Test
Doctrinally, they will believe in the real Jesus and what he did (1 John 1:1–4; 2:2, 22–23; 4:2–3, 10, 15; 5:1, 5) . . .
Jesus is fully God and fully man
This same author John would write in Jn. 1:1-2
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
The Word became flesh Jn. 1:14
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
He would reiterate this in 1 Jn. 4:2
By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,
Jesus is the Christ
“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God” (1 John 5:1 ESV)
He died for our sins
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
That He rose from the dead
the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—
He is Lord
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
We trust not in our works for our salvation, but on the finished work of Christ alone.
He was lifted up to die; "It is finished" was his cry; now in heaven exalted high: Hallelujah, what a Savior!
Ethically, they will walk in light and love (1 John 1:6; 2:6, 9–11, 29; 3:6–10, 14; 4:8). . . .
Light
If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
Love
Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Experientially, they will know the abiding presence of the Spirit (1 John 3:24; 4:6, 13). . . .
More on this in just a minute, but drawing one more text from 1 Jn.
By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
What about you?
When you examine your own life as Paul encourages, do you find these markers in your life?
If so, rejoice.
Doubt no more and rest in Him with full assurance of faith!
If not, I encourage you to not sit content with that.
As we will see, these 12 “Almost Christians” didn’t.
They acted. They responded in faith.
Talk with someone. Seek His face.
Transition
We don’t know what it was that led Paul to wonder about the genuineness of their faith, but he goes on to ask in verse 2
Acts 19:2 (ESV)
And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
He assumes the two go hand-in-hand.
That is, true belief in Christ and the indwelling Holy Spirit of Christ.
Paul would write in Eph. 1:13–14
In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
He would write also in Romans 8:9
Romans 8:9 (ESV)
Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
This is not just Paul, either, as the NT does not does not recognize the possibility of being a Christian apart from the possession of the Spirit
The most obvious examples apart from Paul’s writings we have seen all over the book of Acts in that people believe and are given the gift of the Holy Spirit who then dwells within them.
Even more, Jesus would say in Jn. 3:5
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
and again, 1 Jn.
Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.
True belief in Christ, being found in Him, comes with the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit of God.
(Pause)
So Paul asks them if they’ve received Him.
Their answer:
Acts 19:2 (ESV)
“No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
Well, that tells me what I need to know!
But really, it is probable that these disciples had at some level heard of the Spirit since they were familiar with John the Baptist, who spoke of the Holy Spirit
“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
What is probably meant is that they didn’t know of the Spirit in the fullest Christian sense.
That is, they hadn’t heard of the fulfillment of John’s ministry—
that the Holy Spirit had come at Pentecost in fulfillment of Jesus’ words in Acts 1:5 to His disciples before He ascended into Heaven. Jesus said. . .
Acts 1:5 (ESV)
. . .John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
He then told them to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the Father, saying. . .
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 that’s what happened in Acts 2 as the believers were all filled with the promised Holy Spirit for the first time.
They hadn’t heard about any of that. They were stuck with what they heard from John’s ministry.
Like Marty McFly in Back to the Future stuck 30 years in the past, these 12 “Almost Christians” were stuck in a time-warp,
still living in the Old Testament, not having recognised the coming of either the Messiah or the promised outpouring of the Holy Spirit through Jesus.
Illustration: Visiting the Amish
I definitely felt like I was in a time warp when I visited our Amish friends in Lancaster, PA.
I was friends with a few families there and one year decided to stay with them for a few days.
This community lived and still lives, unashamedly, like it is the 18th century.
No electricity
no cars—everything by horse and carriage
no telephones or television
We went to bed soon after sunset since we couldn’t see except by candlelight
No central heating so it’s super cold
Woke up with Jethro, Jebediah, and the other kids at 4am to milk the cows by hand.
Had the whole experience.
Really nice community, super good food.
but needless to say, I was more than happy to get back to the 21st century and play my Xbox again.
Connection:
That being said, the Amish know that electricity and cars exist, they just respectfully choose to not partake in modern conveniences.
Whereas these 12 disciples didn’t even know up to this point that the Messiah had come and the Spirit poured out.
This leads Paul to ask the follow up question in v. 3:
And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism.”
Their reply. . . only confirms the impression that their understanding had not progressed beyond John’s ministry. The only baptism they were aware of was John’s baptism. They knew nothing of baptism in the name of Jesus.
And so Paul reminds them that John was only preparing the way for the Messiah to come.
He says in v. 4
And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.”
As recorded in John 1—when the Jews sent people to go ask John the Baptist “Who are you?”
He rightly confessed, “I am not the Christ.” rather “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”
In other words, John said I’m not the bridegroom, I’m the best man.
He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.
John and his ministry was intended to point people to Jesus.
Baptism:
It worth noting here that baptism wasn’t a uniquely Christian act.
It didn’t have it’s origin there.
Although not explicitly described in the OT, Jews practiced baptism as a traditional act of purification (or cleansing) and the initiation of converts to Judaism long before the coming of the Messiah.
So, John’s baptism, as Paul describes, is a baptism of repentance as a form of cleansing preparation for the Messiah who was soon to come.
Yet, the real deficiency of these twelve or so was not their baptism. It was much more serious.
They failed to recognize Jesus as the one whom John had proclaimed, as the promised Messiah.
This might be a reason that Luke makes the narrative side note last week, introducing Apollos who also knew only John’s baptism as 18:26 points out.
With the juxtaposition of that story with this one, one can see that
while Apollos had already been instructed in “the way” and was able to accurately teach about Jesus,
this group was totally unacquainted with the gospel.
So, Paul explained to them that John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance that looked forward to the coming of the promised Messiah, while we know that Christian baptism is a baptism that looks back to the finished work of Christ on the cross and His victorious resurrection.
Transition:
All this to say, that Paul forces John the Baptist’s disciples to examine themselves, and doing so leads to their conversion.
Which leads us to our second takeaway, “Respond in Faith”
Respond in Faith. (Acts 19:5–7)
Respond in Faith. (Acts 19:5–7)
Look at how they respond in verse 5. . .
On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Notice also how they didn’t respond:
They did not tell Paul they didn’t want to hear it
No, they were humble and open to correction.
They didn’t insist that they had it all right
No, they considered the evidence and were ultimately persuaded by the truth
They said okay—we didn’t know that, but it makes sense. That’s the missing piece.
They responded in faith in the Christ to whom John pointed.
Having a fuller understanding of Christ’s work on their behalf, they then were baptized in Jesus’ name, publicly declaring their faith in Christ the Lord.
At this point, Paul lays hands on them and they receive the Holy Spirit whom they were missing.
Not worth getting hung up on the act of laying on of hands at this point as
we covered a similar situation back in Acts 8:15–17 when the gospel had just gone out of Jerusalem and into Samaria leading many Samaritans to come to faith.
In that passage, the Jerusalem church had sent Peter and John to go pray and lay hands on them, after which they received the Holy Spirit.
But important to remember was the previous hostility between Jews and Samaritans and how the laying on of hands by the apostles was “primarily a token of fellowship and solidarity” with the Jewish background Christians in Jerusalem.
They were now united through the gospel in the Spirit.
We can understand this in a similar way with those among John’s disciples who had not known of the coming of Christ and the outpouring of the Spirit until now.
As was the case for the Samaritans in Acts 8, they demonstrated visible and public indicators that they now possessed the Spirit as the texts says they “began speaking in tongues and prophesying”.
This is certainly not the universal experience in Acts as not every person who comes to faith experiences these visible manifestations of the Spirit
It has been evident up to now, walking through the book of Acts, that the Spirit during this time came at various times and various ways. There was no set pattern.
We saw, at other times, He came to dwell in those who professed faith without the laying on of hands
We saw Him come after someone was baptized
We saw Him come before someone was baptized
We saw some speak in tongues and prophesy when He came to dwell in them
Other cases, we see no mention of these when He came.
What we know to be a part of the process EVERY TIME however is:
Repentance
Faith
Baptism
Holy Spirit
Quickly, as we come to a close—We already mentioned how Paul fulfilled his promise to come back to the Ephesian Jews.
We see him fulfill this in verse 8 and following where he continued to preach publicly about Christ.
The Jews still seemed to be receptive to his message preached in their synagogue for 3 months before opposition arose
And he’d continue preaching publicly for 2 years, “so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.”
Most likely, his message was carried throughout the province through folks who heard it and were convinced.
——————————CLOSE
But I want to close with what seems like an obvious warning and application from this text:
An exhortation to all of us, myself included, and all those watching online to “Examine ourselves, to see whether we truly know Christ.”
These 12 disciples initially looked to Paul like Christians. He was probably ecstatic to meet other believers he hadn’t met.
Yet, they did or said something that made him wonder about the genuineness of their faith which led them to have a conversation that revealed they weren’t actually believers after all.
And Paul pointed them to Christ, leading them to examine themselves after which they responded in faith in the Christ to whom John and Paul both pointed.
These 12 “Almost” Christians became full participants with Christ and His body and, by God’s grace, we will rejoice with them for eternity in Heaven.
Yet, the Bible shows many instances of those who were “almost” Christians and yet they did not end up in the same place. They did not respond in faith, they will not be with Christ forevermore. They were “almost” saved.
1. Think about The Rich Young Ruler
In Mk. 10 who asked Jesus “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” to which Jesus replied
You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’ ” 20 And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” 21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
As one 17th century commentator would say:
“Alas, how few go thus far! And yet, as far as he went, he went not far enough. He was almost, and yet but almost a Christian” (10).
While obedience to Christ is essential evidence of saving faith (James 2:17), external conformity alone is no sure sign.
This man, invited to follow Eternal Life himself, turned from Christ and his promises of heavenly treasure out of love for this present world and his stuff (Mark 10:21–22).
How many more do we read of who were so close to having eternal life, but fell short.
From an article titled “Almost Saved: Four Reasons to Examine Yourself”:
“We read of Cain’s offering rejected, Esau’s birthright refused, and Israel’s passing through the Red Sea, surviving behind the red door, yet dying in unbelief. We read of disciples forsaking Christ by the thousands after a single meal, brothers forsaking Paul for the pleasures of the world. We hear of some that were enlightened, participated in the heavenly gift, shared in the Holy Spirit, tasted the goodness of the word and the powers of the age to come, and yet voyaged below in the end (Hebrews 6:4–6).
We read of an elder brother left outside the party, of soils that grow a plant for a time, guests inside the banquet hall without wedding garments, houses built upon sand. . .
And we hear an army of Almost Christians on the final Day when “many,” assured of their heavenly claim, are left to stammer, “Lord, Lord, did we not we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7:22–23)
Not all who profess faith in Christ actually follow Him.
That was my story, tell testimony
But someone asked “if you were to die today. . . “
But I was confusing the fruit with the root.
Perhaps it sounds like a cliché to you, but the classic evangelistic question can help us gauge where we really are with God:
If you died today and stood before the bar of God’s judgment, would you be acceptable to God?
How do you respond? Is your first instinct to think of yourself and whether you might be worthy of God?
Or do you point away from yourself to Christ?
If we’re honest with ourselves, we know that even the sum of our very best works is completely unacceptable to God on its own. But because of all that Jesus is, because of all that He has done, and because we find rest in Him as our Savior, we can approach this gateway boldly.
“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith” (2 Cor. 13:5). The test may prove difficult to administer, but it all comes down to one key question:
Are you relying on yourself, or are you depending on Jesus Christ? In other words, is Christ the source of all your hope and strength?
Have you admitted that only He is good enough and you never could be?
Have you confessed that though your own sinfulness brings you to despair, Christ can make you clean?
This is the beauty of the Gospel. . .
If you’re a Christian today, the application is the same for you: Respond in faith.
Faith is a continual thing, not just when we first believed.
We may go through periods of doubt, but we can rest assured in the finished work of Christ on our behalf. Our debt is paid. There is no more we can do to receive the full love and acceptance of our God.
———————————
As we come to a close, and as we do every week, we are going to transition into a time taking the Lord’s Supper.
Just a reminder that the Lord's Supper is for Christians—those who have put their faith in Jesus alone for salvation and have turned away from their sin and toward Him as their Savior as the ______ did by the grace of God.
Considering what this Supper represents, the broken body and shed blood of Jesus, let us heed Paul’s warning in 1 Corinthians 11:28-29
Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.
In just a moment, we are going to take a couple minutes of silence for prayerful self-examination before God. I encourage you to consider this: Are you living in unconfessed, unrepentant sin? Do you have anything against your brother/sister or do they have anything against you? I encourage you to confess these to the Lord and repent of them; go seek reconciliation with your brother before taking the Supper.
Some of you may need to answer the question: Are you right with God?
If that is not you, or if you are here and you have questions or have doubts, we want to tell you that we are glad you are here and we would love to talk to you about who Jesus is and what He has done, why we can trust in Him alone for our salvation, and what it means to follow Him.
But, we ask that you not take the bread and the cup with us—they are only symbols—instead we hold out to you the real thing, Christ Himself. TELL THE GOSPEL.
If you'd like to know more, grab the person next to you or come find me after the service and we'd love to share more.
As I mentioned before, let's take a few moments to prayerfully examine our hearts before God and I'll come back up and lead us in taking the elements together.
————
About 4 years later, and as the end of Acts seems to suggest, Paul would find himself imprisoned in Rome and it would be from this Roman prison that he’d write the letter Ephesians to the church of Ephesus.
I’m going to walk through the first part of chapter two as we take the elements together, so if you want to go ahead and get ready the bread and I’ll direct us to take it together.
As we listen to the words Paul wrote to the Ephesians, including probably these 12 “Almost” Christians who are now 12 Christians, rejoice that these words are also for you.
English Standard Version (Chapter 1)
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
Christ’s body graciously given so that we may be saved. . . . The body of Christ, broken for you.
If you would go ahead and peel back the next layer as I walk us through this.
and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Immeasurable riches of his grace secured for us through the shed bled of Jesus. . . .The blood of Christ, poured out for you.
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As I mentioned before, let's take a few moments to prayerfully examine our hearts before God and I'll come back up and lead us in taking the elements together.
Read 1 Cor.:
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
The body of Christ, broken for you.
In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
The blood of Christ, poured out for you.
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