Ascension of Christ. Transference of the resurrected body of Jesus from this world to heaven. Of the NT writers only Luke described Jesus’ ascension. Acts 1:9–11 pictures a scene in which Jesus was “taken up” and disappeared into a cloud. Luke 24:50, 51 and Acts 1:12 locate that final event near Bethany, east of Jerusalem on the Mt of Olives.

Matthew concluded his history before Pentecost, but John suggested the ascension in Jesus’ own comments: Jesus has departed, but he will return (21:22); he cannot be touched, for he must ascend (20:17); many will believe without having seen him (20:29). Thus, the Gospels V 1, p 210 p 210 assume that (1) after the resurrection Jesus appeared to his disciples; (2) at some point in time those appearances ceased; and (3) although physically absent, Jesus is still spiritually present in his church. Other NT writings agree. The apostle Paul wrote that God raised Christ from the dead “and made him sit at his right hand in the heavenly places” (Eph 1:20) or, as the writer of Hebrews put it, “at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Heb 1:3).

The ascension, however, is more than merely a past event. It has further significance in the NT which can be summarized under two headings: (1) its meaning for Christ and (2) its meaning for the Christian.

For Christ, the ascension is the necessary entrance into his heavenly “glorification” in which he sits on the right hand of the Father until his enemies become his footstool (Ps 110:1—the OT text most quoted in the NT). The ascension is proof of his glorification and his superiority over such OT heroes as David (Acts 2:33–36). By his ascension he rises over all and fills all (Eph 4:10), receiving “the name which is above every name” (Phil 2:9–11). For the author of the Book of Hebrews the ascension is also proof of Christ’s superiority to angels; he sits enthroned while they are constantly being sent out to serve (Heb 1:13). Angels, authorities, and powers are all subject to the ascended Christ (1 Tm 3:16; 1 Pt 3:22).

For the Christian, the ascension of Christ is meaningful in four ways. First, without it there would be no gift of the Holy Spirit, who could not come until Jesus had ascended and sent him (Jn 16:7). Without the ascension the church would have Jesus locally in one place, not spiritually present “wherever two or three are gathered” (Mt 18:20; cf. 28:20).

Second, since a truly human Jesus has ascended to heaven, human beings can also ascend there. Jesus went “to prepare a place” for his followers (Jn 14:2). The hope of those who are “in Christ” is that they will eventually ascend to be with him (2 Cor 5:1–10).

Third, the ascension proves that the sacrifice of Christ is finished and accepted by God. Jesus has passed through the heavens (Heb 4:14) and entered the presence of God (Heb 6:20), which is described as the inner sanctuary of the heavenly temple, the real temple of which the one on earth was a copy (Heb 9:24). Having brought a single, once-for-all sacrifice to God (Heb 9:12), Christ sat down (Heb 1:3; 10:12; 12:2), showing that no repetition of his sacrifice is necessary.

Fourth, the ascension means that there is a human being in heaven who sympathizes with humanity and can therefore intercede on humanity’s behalf (1 Jn 2:1). Jesus has experienced everything humans experience—birth, growth, temptation, suffering, and death—and therefore he can serve effectively as an intermediary before God in heaven (Heb 2:17; 5:7–10). Christ’s ascension assures the church that God understands the human situation and that Christians can therefore approach him boldly in their prayers (Heb 4:14–16).

Thus Christ’s ascension is an indispensable aspect of NT teaching. It is the basis for recognition of Christ’s exalted status and for the Christian’s confidence and hope.

PETER H. DAVIDS

Acts 1:8

ἔσεσθέ μου μάρτυρες

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 farthest part of the earth.”

Most manuscripts have “you shall be my witnesses,” but a few instead have “you shall be witnesses to me.” In both instances the speaker is the Lord. The first instance is more concerned with the testimony of the person; the second is more concerned with what is testified.

2) Luke’s following of the rhetorical conventions about variation in style when one is retelling something. (3) The recapitulative character of Acts 1:1–11 is important to bear in mind if the reader is not to be distracted unnecessarily by questions concerning multiple and conflicting accounts of the ascension. Lucian advises the historian: “the first and second topics must not merely be neighbors but have common matter and overlap” (How to Write History 55).

In Luke 24 the account serves as a means of closing the first volume, but in Acts 1 the story of the ascension and final instructions serves to initiate what follows. In Luke 24 Luke has telescoped his accounts, so that the impression implicitly given is that all took place on one day (cf. 24:1, 13, 28, 36, 50),14 whereas in Acts Luke speaks of a “forty”-day period when Jesus appeared to the disciples and thus “presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs.”15 Forty is of course conventional biblical number, but the point is that it refers to considerable period of time, not just one day. This latter impression of an extended period of appearances is also what the close of Matthew, John, and 1 Corinthians 15 suggest.

The reference to many convincing τεκμηριοις in v. 3 is important, for this is a technical term for a “necessary proof” (see Aristotle, Rhetor. 1.2.16f.). Quintilian (Inst. Or. 5.9.3) puts it more strongly: τεκμηρια are things which involve conclusion, “those which cannot be otherwise are called τεκμηρια by the Greeks, because they are indications from which there is no getting away.” In other words, Luke believes the resurrection appearances of Jesus are strong, irrefutable proofs that Jesus is alive, providing basis for all that follows, including the sending of the Spirit, the creation of the church, the success of the Christian mission. That Luke stresses that Jesus gave such proofs that he was alive indicates already that he is engaged in volume two, as he was in volume one, in the art of persuasion, in apologetics, in order to strengthen or confirm Theophilus in his faith.16 Equally important is the evidence D. L. Mealand has generated using the TLG, showing that the phrase “many proofs” is very rare in Greek literature except in Greek historiographical works (cf. Josephus, Ant. 3.317–18; Diodorus Siculus 3.66.4.4; Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Ant. Rom. 1.90.2.2).17 Here is probably another small hint that Luke is indebted to and writing in a Hellenistic historiographical mode.

It may be worthwhile to consider what function the ascension has in Luke’s narrative, since he is the only Evangelist who really mentions such an idea, and does so in both of his volumes. It may not be accidental that his audience is Gentile, for Gentiles were well familiar with the idea of gods or semidivine figures materializing on earth in disguise and then being transported back into the heavens,18 but were much less familiar with the idea of resurrection, unless they had had some contact with Judaism. Thus it is resurrection that Luke must be convincing about, and it must be distinguished from pagan notions of various sorts. Nevertheless, the christological implications of this narrative for a Gentile audience familiar with the deification accounts of figures like Herakles should not be overlooked. Jesus is being portrayed here as a human yet divine figure worthy of a place in heaven alongside the Creator of the universe.

Luke stresses that the resurrected Jesus was no mere spirit but was tangible and could eat and drink with the disciples (cf. Luke 24:30, 37–39, 41–43). That is, in Luke’s view the resurrection appearances were not merely visions from heaven, but happenings on earth. Thus, the ascension serves the function of making clear to the disciples (and in this case to Theophilus) that Jesus’ life on earth had a definite closure, after the resurrection appearances. The disciples will not be called upon to be witnesses to any transcendent events, but only to things they saw and heard while Jesus was on earth—in particular, the resurrection appearances.19

The subject of Jesus’ messages after the resurrection is stated in v. 3 to be the dominion of God, which binds the content of Jesus’ earthly teaching to that about which the disciples will instruct others to the very end of Acts (cf. 8:12; 14:22; 19:8; 20:25; 28:23, 31). Luke is concerned with various continuities throughout Acts. The continuity between the ministry of Jesus and that of his followers (including both the message and the empowering presence of the Spirit), the continuity between Judaism and Christianity, the continuity between OT prophecy and the events that transpired among Jesus’ followers both before and after Easter (and Pentecost). This concern is understandable in the first century, because the one thing bound to offend many pagans in the Empire was a religion that was too new, a religion which could not claim a lengthy pedigree going back into hoary antiquity.20

Jesus identifies the Holy Spirit as “the promise of the Father,” thus connecting it with OT prophecy, which prepares us for what follows in Acts 2:16–22. In view of the parallelism of vv. 3–4 it seems likely that in Luke’s mind the coming of the kingdom or dominion of God is synonymous with, or at least closely associated with, the coming of the Holy Spirit in power (cf. Luke 11:13, 20).21 This last conclusion is confirmed by what follows in vv. 4b–5, where we are told that what Jesus taught during his ministry was about being baptized by or with the Holy Spirit in contradistinction to John’s baptism, which was merely by or with water.

The promise of baptism with the Holy Spirit in v. 5 also carries with it a time limit—“not many days” from now. It is possible that Luke arrived at the forty-day-appearance period by calculating back from the date of Pentecost, which of course was fifty days after Passover,22 and then allowing for a few extra days after the ascension. The issue of timing here is brought up in more than one connection.

The promise of the Spirit in “not many days” prompts the question, “Is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” (v. 6).23 It is a natural question not only in view of the connection in Luke’s thought between the pouring out of the Spirit and the coming of the kingdom, but also because of the speculations in early Judaism about the restoration of the land (cf. Sir. 48:10, the LXX of Mal. 3:23). In terms of Lukan theology, what this verse shows is that while Luke does believe that the coming of the Spirit inaugurates the kingdom, he does not believe that that is all there is to be said about the kingdom. This verse suggests that God will one day fulfill his promises to Israel, in fact that God has already set that time and determined the interval before it by his own authority, but that human speculation about the timing of such an event is unfruitful, since only God knows that timing and he is not revealing it to mortals.24 What this also shows is that Luke believes, not surprisingly, that many early followers of Jesus believed in the restoration of the control of the land to Israel (cf. Luke 24:21).

What vv. 6–8, which should be read closely together, indicate is not merely the delay in the restoration of Israel but also that in the interim there are important things to be accomplished. V. 8 should be seen as briefly announcing the tasks that need to be completed before “the restoration,” namely, witnessing in Jerusalem, in all of Judea and Samaria, “and to the ends of the earth.” This last phrase has often been thought to refer to Rome (Pss. Sol. 8:15). In other words, as H. Conzelmann pointed out, v. 8 is seen as to a certain extent programmatic for Acts.25 Yet it is possible to see this verse as programmatic without identifying Rome with the ends of the earth, since Acts 28 is an intentionally open-ended conclusion.26 It is programmatic in the sense that it alludes to a worldwide mission, and probably also to a mission to both Jew and Gentile in the Diaspora, not that it alludes to Rome.27

This verse also announces one of, if not the major, theme(s) of Acts. Witnesses, empowered by the Holy Spirit, are sent out from Jerusalem in various directions. This statement is in some ways as significant for what it does not say as for what it mentions. Notice that no clear mention is made of witnessing to Gentiles. Luke also does not mention witnessing in Galilee here, even though of course he knows that both Jesus and the first disciples were Galileans (cf. Luke 24:6; Acts 2:7), and he knows that in due course there were Christian disciples in Galilee (Acts 9:31). I would suggest this is because Luke does not know the details about the evangelization of Galilee.28

In general we may look for Luke to be the same sort of careful editor of his source material in the second volume as he was in his Gospel. He is limited by the sources he has, and he continues to edit them according to various formal and material agendas he has; for example: (1) rhetorical concerns about variation when using the same phrase or material more than once; (2) concerns to make the narrative more “Hellenized” so that a Gentile could grasp it, which affects the editing in regard to both form and content; (3) concerns about salvation history and the present, which lead him to deemphasize, though not dismiss, future eschatological material in favor of focusing on the present work of the Spirit, the present task of witnessing, and the like; (4) concerns about the more universal and inclusive potential of the gospel which comports with his emphasis on Gentile inclusion among the people of God, and his rejection of too-sectarian an approach to Christianity.

“You Shall Be My Witnesses”

ACTS 1:1–11

One reason I love to study the book of Acts is its uniqueness. It is the sourcebook for the spread of early Christianity. Without it we would know little about the apostolic church except what could be gleaned from Paul’s epistles. It is the chronicle of the spreading flame of the Holy Spirit.

It is also a book with a splendid theme, tracing the work of the Holy Spirit through the birth, infancy, and adolescence of the Church. Its title could well be “The Acts of the Holy Spirit” or “The Acts of the Risen Christ Through the Holy Spirit Working Through the Church.” Acts forms the perfect counterpart and contrast to the Gospels. In the Gospels the Son of Man offered his life; in Acts the Son of God offered his power. In the Gospels we see the original seeds of Christianity; in Acts we see the continual growth of the Church. The Gospels tell us of Christ crucified and risen; Acts speaks of Christ ascended and exalted. The Gospels model the Christian life as lived by the perfect Man; Acts models it as lived out by imperfect men.

The study of Acts is particularly important to us because it teaches us how to experience a stimulating, exciting life—how to make our lives count. One man said, “I have been a deacon in my church for years; built a church building, raised money, served on committees. But one thing my church never gave me was a relationship with Christ that would make my life exciting.” 1 Rather than having an effervescent, relevant faith, this man found his life about as stimulating as a stale glass of ginger ale. He did not know the secret of Acts.

In our day one of the nicer things said about the institutional church is that it is “irrelevant.” The book of Acts carries the remedy. Whether you are young and virile with Superman-like energy, or restless with what you have seen of a dull, ho-hum, business-as-usual Christianity, or at the age where you are receiving birthday cards that say things like “When it’s time for a dental checkup, do you send out your teeth?” the message of Acts is for you!

The author of Acts was Luke the physician, and he begins with a reference to his already completed work on the life of Christ, which we know as the Gospel of Luke:

In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. (vv. 1–2)

Naturally Theophilus remembered, and his thoughts turned to Luke’s great scroll and its remarkable account of Christ’s life. He was thereby primed for what was to follow.

Then in verses 3–5 Luke continues with some new information as he tells Theophilus something more of the time after Christ’s resurrection:

After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. (v. 3)

Luke is the only scriptural writer who tells us that Christ’s post-resurrection ministry covered forty days. Evidently Jesus appeared at intervals, coming and going from Heaven at will, showing miraculous signs and instructing his disciples “about the kingdom of God.”

Luke’s record of the stunning encounter on the road to Emmaus is a typical example. Christ met the two followers in an altered physical form and “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself” (24:27), so that they later said (v. 32), “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” The picture of those forty days is one of enraptured excitement, unfolding mystery, suspense, and anticipation.

Luke goes on in verses 4 and 5:

On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

Christ’s conversation with the apostles must have been awesome! It may have even led to all-night rap sessions. What was this baptism “with the Holy Spirit”? Would Jesus take them to the Jordan and rebaptize them? Would they hear a voice from Heaven like Jesus did? Rabbis had said the restoration of Israel’s political fortunes would be marked by the revived activity of God’s Spirit. So now some of the disciples burned with the hope of a political theocracy. Would they themselves be given supernatural powers? Peter probably wanted to go through walls just like the Master had done. What would be their duties? Certainly each one would have a special mission marked with incredible power and great success. They were forbidden to leave Jerusalem for now, but then…How long before this would happen? Jesus said, “In a few days.” They could not wait!

In the midst of this ongoing, frenzied speculation, Jesus called the eleven together at the crest of the Mount of Olives. The apostolic band was aflame with expectancy.

So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (vv. 6–8)

These were Jesus’ final earthly words. It has been 2,000 years, and Jesus has not during that time planted his feet on terra firma and audibly addressed his followers. Perhaps that silence is intended to prevent anything from obscuring Jesus’ last words, so they will continue to reverberate in the Church’s ears.

Our Lord has laid down in the clearest terms the mission for those who are to follow him. This is the mission of the church that would dare to call itself New Testament—the mandate of apostolic Christianity.

Verse 8 is the key verse of the entire book of Acts. Chapters 1–7 tell of the witness “in Jerusalem,” chapters 8–11 the witness “in all Judea and Samaria,” and chapters 12–28 the witness “to the ends of the earth.” This is the foundation on which to build an effervescent, exciting faith.

THE MISSION ITSELF

The core commission is seen in the heart of verse 8: “… and you will be my witnesses.” We are to be “witnesses” for Christ! This is the recurring message of Acts. The word occurs no less than thirty-nine times. For example:

“God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact.” (2:32)

“You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.” (3:15)

“We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.” (10:39)

“ ‘You will be his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard.’ ” (22:15)

This witness about Christ is often counterfeited but never duplicated. Perhaps you have had the experience of having some neatly dressed young men come to your door and, after some friendly conversation, invited them in, only to have them set up a flannelgraph while saying something like, “Wouldn’t it be nice if we had prophets today?” They then present an incredible religious maze: the Aaronic priesthood, the priesthood of Melehizedek, a modern prophet from upstate New York (who was heralded by an angel with an Italian name), the Urim and Thummim (i.e., a pair of giant spectacles through which their prophet translated their sacred book), a “plan” that can promote you to the Terrestrial, Celestial, and finally Telestial Heavens, etc. An amazingly complex religious system given under the guise of being a witness for Christ’s latter-day church, their gospel is in reality a complete reversal of the good news of Christ’s grace.

The true witness to which Christ referred is not like that. To be a witness for Christ is to bring a message that is a marvel of simplicity: Jesus Christ is God come in the flesh; he died to pay for our sins; he was resurrected; now he is exalted in Heaven; he calls us to believe in him and so receive forgiveness of sins. This is good news. There is nothing to join, no system to climb—just a person to receive and, in him, eternal life.

Though this witness is simple, it requires costly commitment from its carriers. It radically touches our inner complexities—who we are deep inside. Not only must we have the message, the logos, the Word, but we must also attract the magnificent compliment that Sir Henry Stanley gave David Livingstone after discovering and spending time with him in Central Africa: “If I had been with him any longer, I would have been compelled to be a Christian, and he never spoke to me about it at all.” 2 Livingstone’s witness went far beyond mere words.

If we are to be effective witnesses for our Savior, we cannot be water boys in the game of life. We have to roll up our sleeves and pitch in. Our lives must display the inner reality of what we externally proclaim. That is why gospel flames raced across Asia. The apostles walked their talk. That is why Paul was able to reach the Praetorian guards while under arrest in Philippi (see Philippians 1:13). Are we witnesses like that?

This matter of ethos —who we are—demands absolute, soul-searching honesty because it is so easy to deceive ourselves. Those of us with a Bible-believing heritage who constantly hear and talk about spiritual things can by the sheer weight of discussion come to believe that we live up to what we talk about, even if we do not. Being an authentic witness demands an open, tender heart that is always growing in the experience it proclaims.

To be a witness we must have logos —the Word of Christ, ethos —the inner reality of what we proclaim, and pathos —passion. The apostles were passionate for Christ. Observe Peter at Pentecost, Stephen at his stoning, Paul before Felix. They fervently promoted their faith. They were a band of zealous believers who turned their world upside-down.

When George Whitefield was getting the people of Edinburgh out of their beds at 5 o’clock in the morning to hear his preaching, a man on his way to the church met David Hume, the Scottish philosopher and skeptic. Surprised at seeing him on his way to hear Whitefield, the man said, “I thought you did not believe in the gospel.” Hume replied, “I do not, but he does.”3

The message is simple, but the demand on the messengers is serious. For effective witness, there must the Word, the inner reality, the passion.

The command to be Christ’s witnesses is for all true believers in him. There are no loopholes. No one can say, “This does not apply to me.” Our honor exceeds that of any worldly ambassador, whether it to be Mainland China, France, or the private offices of the Prime Minister of England. Christ’s last word to us is, “You will be my witnesses.”

THE MISSION’S EXTENT

How far is this witness to spread? “In Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (v. 8). We have heard these words so many times that it is difficult to feel their impact. But what a shock these geographical designations must have been to the disciples. Jerusalem? The Lord was crucified there. Judea? They had been rejected there. Samaria? Minster to those half-breeds? The ends of the earth? Gentiles too? The words were not only spiritually revolutionary, but socially and ethnically unheard of.

We all know the story. The Lord’s outline was carried out to the letter. Jerusalem was filled with the preaching of the gospel, and 3,000 were saved in one day. Later Philip broke the taboos of Judea and crossed over into Samaria. Social revolution!

Barbarian, Scythian, bond and free, male and female, Jew and Greek, learned and ignorant, clasped hands and sat down at one table, and felt themselves all one in Christ Jesus. They were ready to break all other bonds, and to yield to the uniting forces that streamed out from His Cross. There never had been anything like it. No wonder that the world began to babble about sorcery, and conspiracies, and complicity in unnameable vices.4

The good news of Jesus was even being whispered in Caesar’s own kitchen (see, for example, Philippians 4:22).

How impressive is the scope of the missionary heart. Followers of Christ yearn for the gospel to go to the ends of the earth and into their own community. There can be no burden for distant unreached peoples without a burden for unreached neighbors. Christian believers see that it is their duty to cross over ethnic divisions. Christ demands a world heart! A heart that prays for those at home just as much as for those being touched by overseas missionaries. Jesus’ final words to his Church demand expansive hearts.

Christ’s words taken seriously are nothing less than the declaration of a benevolent war. They are a call for every believer—every forgiven sinner now following Christ—to spend and be spent. Nechayev, a nineteenth-century disciple of Karl Marx, was thrown into prison for his role in the assassination of Czar Alexander II. Prior to his death he wrote:

The revolutionary man is a consecrated man. He has neither his own interests nor concerns nor feelings, no attachment nor property, not even a name. All for him is absorbed in the single exclusive interest in the one thought, in one passion—REVOLUTION.5

Although his motives and goals were wrong, Nechayev stated well the heartbeat of true commitment—the kind needed to accomplish the objectives of the Church, God’s missile of salt and light hurled into the world to proclaim the triumphant message of sins forgiven and lives transformed. Too often we are overly concerned about personal comfort. If the Christian faith is worth believing at all, it is worth believing heroically!

Jesus’ words are a call to zeal, and zeal—fervor, passion, urgent and loving service—is the medium by which the spiritual war is waged. Whether we are at home or bridging society’s barriers or making our way to the ends of the earth, we are to be people of one thing—seeing one thing, caring for one thing, living for one thing—to please God. Whether we live, whether we have health, whether we have sickness, whether we are rich, whether we are poor, whether we get honor, whether we get slain, our deepest desire is to please him. And what does he want? “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” The apostles did this, and we are to do likewise. What a call—to be personal witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ! That is too much—it is too hard! And to demand that it be to the ends of the earth—impossible! That is why our Lord prefaced the statement with a promised provision of power.

THE MISSION’S POWER

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.” There was a brief interlude of about ten days, and then the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles, there were tongues of fire, they spoke in other languages, and spiritual power rolled through them. It was thus no surprise when Peter later walked by the Beautiful Gate, saw a lame man, and said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” And suddenly there was a high-jumping cripple in front of the temple. And again, John and Peter stood before the entire Sanhedrin and said, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” Consider also the first gospel concert—in Philippi after Paul and Silas were beat up and tossed into the slammer. Power!

When the Holy Spirit comes upon followers of Christ, the most unlikely people become fountains of power. This spiritual power is always available, and he displays it according to his sovereign plans. God imparts his power when and how he wants to. Years ago when I was a youth pastor I noticed that a lot of young people would show up on Sunday morning, but when it came to Wednesday night Bible study I could hardly get a baker’s dozen. I would have eight, then fifteen, then eight… I almost quit. I was so discouraged that I had to depend on the Lord. I remember finally just giving it all to the Lord, and one night when there were only eight a young man came to know Christ. He brought another young man to the group, and he came to know Christ. In two months my group went from fifteen to ninety, and then to 120! I only remember four Wednesday nights out of a year and a half that someone did not trust Christ!

This was a most unlikely occurrence, and it had nothing to do with me. The kids were praying and bringing their friends, and their friends were weeping, repenting, and trusting the Lord. There was life-changing power at work!

The power of the Holy Spirit is the supreme qualification and assurance of Christ’s witnesses. The mission? To be “my witnesses.” The mission’s extent? “In Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” The mission’s power? “When the Holy Spirit comes on you.”

This is a dramatic text—Christ’s final statement on earth and the key to the book of Acts. But then things became even more dramatic: “After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight” (v. 9). Some other versions suggest that the cloud came right down onto the mountain. That cloud may have been the Shekinah glory—a visible representation of the pleasure and presence of God. This was the same symbol that Moses had encountered on Sinai when God covered him with his hand so that Moses only saw the afterglow. It was the same cloud that traveled before Israel by day (a pillar of fire by night). It was the cloud that lay over the tabernacle and filled the temple. It was the cloud that Ezekiel saw depart over the east gate. It was the same presence that surrounded Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration when his face shone forth like the sun (Matthew 17).

The apostles’ hearts were pounding, and their eyes were wide as saucers as God powerfully underscored his Son’s final words to his Church! The truth conveyed through these events should resound in the inner chambers of every believer’s heart.

The ascended Christ was to be the confidence—the flame—of the apostolic movement. Having ascended, he now intercedes for the Church and has sent the Holy Spirit, “another Comforter” just like Himself. And so we can be his witnesses.

Verses 10 and 11 give us the stunning epilogue:

They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

The teaching here is clearly meant for a missionary church. “Jesus is returning again—so get going!” How does your life stack up? How does mine? Like a day-old glass of ginger ale? The life of a Christian can and should be exciting, effervescent. The key is genuine commitment to God’s plan. Some of us are moved with such thoughts, but give us an hour watching our favorite sports team and it all vanishes— “the worries of this life.” Or a young husband and wife who are struggling financially may feel unable to think about anything except their limited funds or an uncertain future, though in actuality that does not exempt them from being witnesses for Christ and following him. Regardless of the particular difficulties confronting us, we are called to be his witnesses.

Commitment is the key to a sparkling, meaningful life. Logos , ethos , pathos —what a life!

PRAYER

Our gracious Lord, the call is too high for any of us. But we thank you that the other Comforter who is just like Jesus is not only with us but in us. God, help us to be giving, praying, sacrificing, honest, true, passionate believers, just like the apostles were. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Watching and Waiting (Acts 1:1–14)

This introductory section of Acts consists of two components: vv. 1–2 and vv. 3–14. The first component, 1:1–2, is a secondary preface (see Luke 1:1–4 for the primary preface). Prefaces for sequential books in the writings of Mediterranean antiquity are of three types: (1) a retrospective summary of the preceding volume(s) and a prospective summary of the current book (e.g., Philo, Life of Moses 2.1; Polybius 4.1.1–4; Josephus, Against Apion 2.1 §§ 1–2); (2) a retrospective summary only (e.g., Xenophon, Anabasis 2.1.1; 3.1.1; 4.1.1–4; 5.1.1; 7.1.1; Diodorus Siculus 2.1; 3.1; Josephus, Antiquities 8.1 § 1; 13.1 § 1; Herodian, History of the Empire 3.1.1; 4.1.1; 5.1.1; 6.1.1; 7.1.1; 8.1.1); and (3) a prospective summary only (e.g., Polybius 1.3.1–2). Acts 1:1–2 is a secondary preface of type 2, where books in sequence begin with summaries of what has happened before but not of what lies ahead. That it is so brief reflects its author’s conformity to the aesthetic judgment, reflected by people like Lucian of Samosata, that prefaces should be short and not pretentious (On How to Write History 55).

Verse 1 summarizes the contents of the first book (= the Third Gospel). It dealt with what Jesus began to do and teach. Verse 2 has two functions: (1) it designates the ascension as the marker of the end of what Jesus began to do and teach (Luke 24:51), and (2) it says the ascension happened only after Jesus had given commandment to the apostles whom he had chosen (Luke 24:46–49). Acts 1:3–8 may be read as a development of (2), Jesus’ postresurrection, pre-ascension instruction of the disciples; Acts 1:9–11 as an explication of (1), Jesus’ ascension. As such, Acts 1:3–11 is a recapitulation, with variation, of the events of Luke 24 referred to in the secondary preface of Acts 1:1–2. In Luke 24, the instruction and the ascension function to close the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry; in Acts 1, they function to lay the foundation for the ministry of the church that is about to begin. These differing functions account for the different slants of Luke 24 and Acts 1.

Acts 1:3–14 may be read with either of two foci: Christology or discipleship. How? Theology done via narrative is by its nature unable to make its multiple points simultaneously by means of systematic theology’s “on the one hand, on the other.” Instead, narrative subtleties are communicated by rhetorical techniques that serve as catalysts for the same narrative’s being read first one way and then another. With each reading, a different slant is seen. Such techniques are found in both Greco-Roman and Jewish materials. For example, Vergil in his Aeneid, as well as in his Georgics, uses double and triple structure (e.g., Duckworth, 1–19). The same is true for Horace (e.g., Carrubba, 68–75). The same type of phenomena have also been seen in certain Israelite and Jewish practices, biblical (e.g., Porten, 93–128) and postbiblical (e.g., Thiering, 189–209). To read a text in terms of multiple patterns yields multiple points. In 1:3–14 the reader meets a first example of this practice in Acts.

One way Acts 1:3–14 can be read is from the angle of vision derived from its Gattung (= its conventional form of communication). When this is done, the narrative focuses on something said about Jesus (Christology). The same text can also be read from the angle of vision derived from its surface structure (= how it is organized). When this is done, the narrative focus is on what is said to Jesus’ disciples (discipleship). Seen in this light, Acts 1:3–14 has both Christological and discipleship foci. The reading that follows will take account of first the one and then the other.

When the narrative of Acts 1:3–14 is read from the point of view of its Gattung, the focus is Christological. The central event in Acts 1:3–14 is Jesus’ ascension. The ascension is narrated here not as the soul’s ascent in this life either in ecstasy (e.g., the so-called Mithras liturgy) or in a vision (e.g., 1 Enoch 14—a dream vision; 1 Enoch 39:3–44:1—a vision due to being carried off by whirlwinds; 1 Enoch 71—a vision when his spirit ascended into the heavens; T Levi 2:5–5:7—a dream vision; 2 Baruch 52:7–53:12—a dream vision; Testament of Abraham 9:6–15:2—a vision when carried off by an angelic chariot). Nor is it narrated as the soul’s ascent at death (e.g., Testament of Job 52:10—Job; Testament of Abraham. 7:4, 8; 20:10, 12–15 [Recension A]—Abraham; Clement of Alexandria, Gattung 6.132—Moses). Nor is it told as the ascension of God’s messenger at the end of an appearance (e.g., Gen 17:22; 35:13; Tob 12:20–22; Testament of Abraham 4:4; Jubilees 32:20).

Rather the ascension in Acts 1:9–11 is told in a way most like the Mediterranean stories of a whole person’s being carried off/transported at the end of his earthly existence from the human world to that of God/the gods. Such stories are found in both the Greco-Roman and the Jewish worlds. In the Greco-Roman world one hears about such assumptions in the traditions about Romulus (Dionysius of Halicarnassus 2.56.2; Ovid, Metamorphoses 14.806–50); Hercules (Diodorus Siculus 4.38.4–5; Apollororus of Athens, Bibliotheca 2.7.7); Aeneas (Dionysius of Halicarnassus 1.64.4–5); and Apollonius of Tyana (Philostratus, Life of Apollonius 8.30). In the Jewish world one hears about such assumptions in the traditions about Enoch (Gen 5:24; Sir 44:16; 49:14; Wis 4:10–11; 1 Enoch 70; 2 Enoch 67; Jubilees 4:23); Elijah (2 Kgs 2:1–8; Sir 48:9, 12; 1 Macc 2:58; 1 Enoch 93:8); Ezra (2 Esdras 14:9); Baruch (2 Baruch 76:2–5); and Moses (Josephus, Antiquities 4.8.47–48 §§ 325–26; Assumption of Moses 45–50; Acts of Pilate 16:7; Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies 1.23) (Lohfink).

Compared with these stories of transport, Acts 1:9–11 is like that of Elijah in 2 Kings in that (a) Elijah’s departure was witnessed by a disciple (2:10; cf. Acts 1:9); (b) the disciple received a double portion of his Spirit afterward (2 Kgs 2:9, 15; cf. Acts 2); (c) the terminology for the assumption in 2 Kgs 2:9–11 is analambanein (cf. Acts 1:11). Acts 1:9–11 is like the account of Moses in Josephus in that Moses disappeared in a cloud (Antiquities 4.8.48 § 326; cf. Acts 1:9). Acts’ assumption story is like that of Baruch in 2 Baruch in that Baruch was taken up after forty days of instructing the people (2 Baruch 76:2–5; cf. Acts 1:3). The story of Jesus’ ascension in Acts 1:9–11 is like that of Enoch’s assumption in 2 Enoch in that (a) it happens as Enoch talks with the people (2 Enoch 67:1; cf. Acts 1:9a); (b) it is associated with angels (2 Enoch 67:2; cf. Acts 1:10); (c) it tells of the people’s return to their homes after the event (2 Enoch 67:3; cf. Acts 1:12); (d) it tells of worship that follows (2 Enoch 68; cf. Acts 1:12–14). When Acts 1:3–14 is compared with ancient assumption stories, it is seen to possess most of their characteristics. The following chart is illustrative.

The Setting

(1) People are present with whom a conversation has been going on (2 Enoch 67:1; cf. Acts 1:3, 4, 6, 9a).

(2) Sometimes such people are disciples (2 Kgs 2:9–11; cf. Acts 1:2).

(3) The assumption occurs after forty days of instruction of the people (2 Baruch 76:2–5; cf. Acts 1:3).

The Assumption

(4) It is witnessed/seen (2 Kgs 2:9–11; Dio Cassius 56.46; cf. Acts 1:9).

(5) It is described as an analambanein (2 Kgs 2:9–11; cf. Acts 1:11).

(6) It involves a cloud (Josephus, Antiquities 4.8.48 § 326; Plutarch, Romulus 27; cf. Acts 1:9).

(7) It is on a mountain (Josephus, Antiquities 4.8.48 §§ 325–26; cf. Acts 1:12).

(8) It is associated with the presence of heavenly beings (2 Enoch 67:2; Ps.-Callisthenes, Alexander Romance; cf. Acts 1:10).

The Sequel

(9) Afterward the people return home (2 Enoch 69; cf. Acts 1:12).

(10) It is followed by the people’s worship (2 Enoch 68; cf. Acts 1:12–14).

(11) It is followed by the choice of a successor (2 Enoch 69; cf. Acts 1:15–26).

(12) It is followed by the reception of the Spirit by witnesses of the assumption (2 Kgs 2:9, 15; cf. Deut 34:9; Acts 2).

From these correspondences it seems obvious that the ascension of Jesus in Acts 1 is described by means of the Gattung of a bodily assumption into heaven at the end of the hero’s life. Acts 1:3–14 corresponds closely to this Gattung. When Acts 1:3–14 is read in terms of the Gattung of an assumption, its focus is obviously on Christology. The section says something about Jesus. What exactly does it say?

ACTS 1:6–8

When, What and How?

6 So when the apostles came together, they put this question to Jesus.

‘Master,’ they said, ‘is this the time when you are going to restore the kingdom to Israel?’

7 ‘It’s not your business to know about times and dates,’ he replied. ‘The Father has placed all that under his own direct authority. 8 What will happen, though, is that you will receive power when the holy spirit comes upon you. Then you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judaea and Samaria, and to the very ends of the earth.’

‘Are we nearly there yet?’

Any parent who has been on a car journey with small children will know the question—and the tone of voice in which it’s usually asked. Sometimes the child is so eager (or so bored), so quickly, that the question gets asked before you have even left your own street.

And of course it all depends what you mean by ‘nearly’. If I drive from my home in the north of England all the way to London, I could reasonably say that I was ‘nearly’ there when we had got to within an hour of the capital. But if I am driving from my home to the town where my parents live, which takes about an hour, I would only say I was ‘nearly’ there when I was a few minutes away. It’s all relative.

Jesus must have had similar reflections when faced with the question the apostles were eager to ask him. ‘Apostle’, by the way, is one of the words Luke regularly uses to describe the Twelve—or, as they now were, the Eleven, following Judas’ death—whom Jesus had chosen as special witnesses. The reason why there were twelve of them is obvious to anyone who understands Jewish culture and history. There had been twelve tribes of Israel, and Jesus was signalling, in his choice of twelve close followers to be around him, that God had called him to renew and restore the people of Israel. So it isn’t surprising that they of all people were keen to ask the question, ‘Are we nearly there yet? Is this the time? Is it going to happen at last?’

Acts 1:6–8

They must, after all, have been very puzzled. Nothing that had happened in the previous few weeks had corresponded at all to their game plan. As far as they were concerned, when Jesus called them and taught them in Galilee during the previous three years or so, they were signing on for some kind of Jewish renewal movement. They believed that God had appointed Jesus to be the true King of Israel, even though most of their contemporaries were still (to say the least) suspicious of him. They had seen Jesus rather like King David in the Old Testament, who for several years was a kind of king-in-waiting, standing in the wings with a ragtag group of followers wondering when their turn would come. Jesus’ motley band of followers had imagined that he would be king in some quite ordinary sense, which was why some of them had asked if they could have the top jobs in his government. Jesus, with his extraordinary healing power and visionary teaching, would rule in Jerusalem, and would restore God’s people Israel.

The result of this, as many Jews of the time believed, was that, when God restored Israel, the whole world would be turned around at last. Israel would be the top nation, ruling over the rest of the world. That’s what had been promised, more or less, in the Psalms (look at Psalm 72, or Psalm 89) and the prophets (read Isaiah 40–55). Of course, the nations of the world would then be judged for their wickedness. But there might also be the possibility that the blessing God gave to Israel would come at last upon the whole creation.

All of this could be summed up in the phrase: ‘restore the kingdom to Israel’. That’s what they were hoping for, and the question was natural: ‘Are we nearly there yet?’ They hadn’t been expecting that Jesus would die a violent death. His crucifixion made it look as though they were wrong: he wasn’t the Messiah, they weren’t heading for the top jobs, Israel wasn’t being renewed, and the world was carrying on in its wicked way, with the rich and powerful oppressing the poor and needy. Business as usual. And then he had risen from the dead, again confounding their own and everyone else’s expectations. What did it mean? Did it mean that their dreams of ‘restoring the kingdom to Israel’ were now back on track?

Well, it did and it didn’t. Like everything else, the dream of the kingdom had been transformed through Jesus’ death and resurrection. Just as Jesus had told them they would have to lose their lives to save them, so now he had to explain that they had to lose their kingdom-dreams—of an earthly kingdom with ordinary administrative and governmental power, in charge of subject states—in order to gain them. But at this point many people, reading Acts, have gone badly wrong.

It would be easy to imagine that what Jesus (and Luke) meant at this point was something like this: ‘No, no, you’re dreaming of an earthly kingdom, but I’m telling you about a heavenly one. You think what matters is reorganizing this world, but I’m preparing you for the next one. What counts is not what happens in this world of space and time, but where you’re going to spend eternity. I’m going off to heaven, and you must tell people how they can follow me there.’ From that point of view, the answer to ‘Are we nearly there yet?’ is ‘No, we’re not going there at all, actually.’

That certainly isn’t what Luke means. But, like the children in the car, we ourselves are going to have to wait, as his book unfolds, to see just what he does mean. We know enough from his first volume, though, to see where it’s all going. God’s kingdom is coming in and through the work of Jesus, not by taking people away from this world but by transforming things within this world, bringing the sphere of earth into the presence, and under the rule, of heaven itself. So when is this all happening? Again, many people, reading this passage, have assumed that Jesus’ basic answer is ‘No’: No, this isn’t the time, all of those things will happen a long way off in the future. No, we’re not nearly there yet; you have a lot of things to do, tasks to perform, and only when you’re finished all of them will I ‘restore the kingdom to Israel’. And, actually, there is a sense in which all that is indeed true. There is a ‘still-future’ dimension to everything that happens in this book, as we shall see. But wait a minute. Is that really what Jesus’ answer means?

I don’t think it is. Jesus does indeed warn them that they won’t be given a timetable. In terms of the children in the car, he is telling them that they simply aren’t going to have a sense of where they are on the calendar of God’s unfolding purposes. But what he goes on to say hints at something different. ‘You will receive power … and you will be my witnesses, from here in Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.’

‘My witnesses’? What does that mean? Quite simply this: in the resurrection (and the ascension, which is about to happen), Jesus is indeed being enthroned as Israel’s Messiah and therefore king of the whole world. He is the one at whose name every knee shall bow, as Paul puts it in Philippians 2:10. In the world of the first century, when someone was enthroned as king, that new authority would take effect through heralds going off throughout the territory in question with the news, ‘We have a king!’ That was always proclaimed as good news, because everyone in the ancient world (unlike many in the modern world) knew that anarchy is always worse than authorized government. Governments may be bad, but chaos is worse. So the heralds, the messengers, would go off to the far reaches of the kingdom (imagine, for instance, a new Roman emperor coming to the throne, and heralds going off as far as Spain to the west, Britain to the north, and Egypt to the southeast), to announce that Claudius, or Nero, or whoever, was now the rightful king, and to demand glad allegiance from supposedly grateful subjects.

And that is what Jesus is telling them they must now do. You’re asking about the kingdom? You’re asking when it will come about, when Israel will be exalted as the top nation, with the nations of the world being subject to God through his vindicated people? Well, in one sense it has already happened, Jesus is saying, because in my own death and resurrection I have already been exalted as Israel’s representative. In another sense it is yet to happen, because we still await the time when the whole world is visibly and clearly living under God’s just and healing rule. But we are now living in between those two points, and you must be my witnesses from here to the ends of the world. The apostles are to go out as heralds, not of someone who may become king at some point in the future, but of the one who has already been appointed and enthroned.

Notice the subtle difference, in verses 7 and 8, between the words ‘authority’ and ‘power’. God has all authority, and it is through him and from him that all ‘authorized’ rule in the world must flow. We don’t have that ultimate authority; no human, in whatever task or role, ever does. It all comes from God. But what God’s people are promised is power; the word used here is dynamis, from which we get ‘dynamite’. We need that power, just as Jesus’ first followers did, if we or they are to be his witnesses, to find ways of announcing to the world that he is already its rightful king and lord. And in the next chapters of Acts we see what that witness, and that power, are going to mean.

But for the moment we notice one thing in particular, which will help us as we read into the rest of the book. Jesus gives the apostles an agenda: Jerusalem first, then Judaea (the surrounding countryside), then Samaria (the hated semi-foreigners living right next door) and to the ends of the earth. Sit back and watch, Luke says. That’s exactly the journey we’re about to take. And, like the child who stops asking the question because suddenly the journey itself has become so interesting, we find there’s so much to see that we won’t worry so much about the ‘when’. Jesus is already appointed and enthroned as the world’s true king. One day that kingdom will come, fully and finally. In the meantime, we have a job to do.

The Pathway to Power

By Adrian Rogers

Sermon Date: January 4, 1987

Main Scripture Text: Acts 1:1–9

Sponsored by: Sponsor

Outline

Introduction

I. Recognize the Presence of Jesus in Your Life

II. Receive Jesus’ Promise to You

A. I Need His Power to Enlighten Me

B. I Need His Power to Enable Me

C. I Need His Power to Encourage Me

III. Respond to Jesus’ Program Through You

Conclusion

Introduction

The book of Acts is a wonderful, wonderful book, and we’re going to be looking at the book of Acts for quite a bit of time in the future. As a matter of fact, we’re beginning in this New Year a brand new series, and the title of the series is “That Old-Time Religion.” Now the reason that I want to call it “That Old-Time Religion” is that we need to take a look back, that we might really face the future. And it’s very important that we do this today, because it is the Old-Time Religion that needs to be the New-Time Religion.

I heard that Billy Graham had come to a particular city some time ago—he was supposed to come for a revival crusade, and there was a preacher who didn’t want him to come. The preacher was kind of liberal, and he said, “We don’t want that man here in our city. Why, he will set evangelism back fifty years.” When Billy Graham heard that, he said, “Well, I didn’t want to set evangelism back fifty years; I wanted to set it back two thousand years.” Amen? That’s what we need to do—get back to the basics.

I am told that Vince Lombardi (the legendary coach of the Green Bay Packers) didn’t like to lose a football game. And on a particular occasion, they had lost a game, and it was a game that he didn’t want to lose, didn’t think they should have lost, and lost because of some foolish mistakes. He said very little on the bus headed away from the stadium, and very little on the airplane coming back. But the next day at practice, when they assembled on the field, he reached into a canvas bag, held up a football and said, “Gentlemen, this is a football,” and he started with the basics. And. that’s what I want us to do this coming year: I want us just to get back to the basics.

I’m impressed as I read the book of Acts. The book of Acts is the story of success. It is the story of a church triumphant. Really, it is the story of a small group of unlettered, uncultured people with meager resources, very little money, no prestige, no colleges, no seminaries, no radio or television, no printing presses, and no magnificent buildings—a small little group of people who went out to tell the story of a publicly executed Jew. They went out against great obstacles—the imperial might of Rome, the intellectual sophistication of Greece, the religious bigotry of that day—and they turned that world inside out and upside down for Jesus Christ. They did so much with so little. We do so little with so much. Now I believe we need to go back and see what they did and how they did it. And for that reason, we’re going to be studying the Book of Acts, which is the story of a church on fire with evangelism and growth, and I believe it can become our pattern for today. And I want God to burn the message into your heart.

Now today, for this particular message, I’m going to be speaking to you, as I’ve already told the television and radio audiences, about “The Pathway to Power.” And we’re going to be looking at Acts chapter 1, the first nine verses. Are you ready? “The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which he was taken up, after he, through the Holy Spirit, had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen; to whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen by them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God; and, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard from me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. When they, therefore, were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after the Holy Spirit is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight” (Acts 1:1–9).

Now look again in verse 1: “The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach” (Acts 1:1). Now what was the former treatise? It was the Gospel of Luke, because, you see, the author of the book of Acts is the author of the Gospel of Luke. Doctor Luke, who was a medical doctor, wrote the Gospel of Luke, and then he wrote the book of Acts. And you know, that’s a blessing to me—to see a medical doctor who was not ashamed of Jesus. We have a great host of medical doctors in our church who are not ashamed of Jesus, who believe the Word of God. That tells me that you don’t have to check your brains at the door when you give your heart to Jesus Christ. I thank God for Doctor Luke, who was a great physician.

And also he was a noted historian, and he had written the former treatise, which was the Gospel of Luke; and now, he has written this wonderful book of Acts to tell us what happened there in those primitive years of the Church, and also, what ought to be the pattern for us who live here in this day and in this age. And I pray that God, the Holy Spirit, will help me to indelibly impress upon your hearts and minds three vital truths, which come out of the verses that I’ve read to you today—three things that I want to impregnate your conscience with; three things that I want to cause to reverberate through your soul and to be etched upon your very being, that you will never get them out of your heart and life all the year long; three things that will help you to live victoriously, and to have power with God and power with men—three wonderful, wonderful truths.

I. Recognize the Presence of Jesus in Your Life

Truth number one: I want you—now, I’m talking to Christians—I want you to recognize the presence of Jesus in your life. “Well,” you say, “that’s so simple. What’s so earth-shaking about that?” Oh friend, listen. Pay attention. That is more than just a phrase—that is one of the most vital, dynamic, electrifying, earth-shaking thoughts that I can ever give to you. Now notice how this starts. “The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began to do and teach” (Acts 1:1).

Now notice: The idea is not that Jesus is finished. He is still doing, and He is still teaching. “Well,” you say, “but the Bible says that He was taken up into Heaven.” That’s right, but He’s still acting, He is still working, and He is still teaching. You see, in the gospels, He was here in His physical body. In the book of Acts, He is here in His mystical Body. Now in the Bible that I have, it says across the top: “The Acts of the Apostles.” Well, that was put in there by the publisher—that’s not a part of the inspired text. This is not really the acts of the apostles. It’s not really even specifically the acts of the Holy Spirit. What you have, in the book of Acts, are the acts of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now in the Gospel of Luke I showed you all that Jesus started to do. In the book of Acts, I’m showing you all that Jesus continues to do. Now folks Jesus is still alive and active. He just has a different body. You say, “Where is the body of Jesus?” Sitting in this auditorium. “Where is the presence of Jesus?” In us. You see, He doesn’t want us to do anything for Him today. When will we ever learn this—that He wants to do something through us? The Bible says, “Christ in you [is] the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). Jesus Christ is alive, and He lives in us.

Now you know, when I was a young Christian, I started out to do something for the Lord, and it was a great day in my life when I discovered that God didn’t want me to do anything for Him. As a matter of fact, I couldn’t do anything for Him. Well, you say, “That’s confusing. I thought you were supposed to serve the Lord?” Well, I’m using technical language, but pay attention: The Christian life is not difficult—the Christian life is totally impossible. Impossible. There’s not anybody here who can live the Christian life: nobody on this platform, nobody in this choir, nobody in this orchestra, and nobody in our television audience—not one can live the Christian life. There’s only one person who ever lived the Christian life—His name is Jesus. And there’s only one person who can live the Christian life, and His name is Jesus. And if the Christian life is lived where you live, it will be Jesus, in you, living that Christian life.

Do you understand what I’m talking about? It is Christ in you—the hope of glory. He’s the only one who can live the Christian life. Somehow, we get the idea that we can live it. Now we all know that we’re not saved by our own works. We all know that salvation is a miracle—that new birth is a miracle. We know that our Christian life commences with a miracle, and we know that it’s going to conclude with a miracle—our translation when we’re caught up to meet our Lord in the air, at least our earthly Christian life. But I want to tell you, dear friend, not only does it commence with a miracle, and not only does it conclude with a miracle, but it is to continue with a miracle.

You see, there are to be three miracles. The very life that I live is to be a miracle life. It is to be Christ in me. The Apostle Paul said, in Galatians chapter 2, verse 20: “I am crucified with Christ …” Well, what can a dead man do? Nothing. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Christ in us.

There was a preacher in Kentucky who used to keep on his desk an old tattered leather glove; and each Sunday, before he’d go out to preach, he took that old glove off of the desk, and he would slip his hand into the glove and flex it several times. Then he would take the glove off, put it on his desk, and go back out and preach. Someone said, “Why do you do that?” He said, “To remind myself of this vital lesson that that glove is absolutely impotent and powerless until my hand is slipped into it, and then I say, ‘O God, as my hand has activated this glove, I want you, Lord Jesus, to activate my life, and I want you, Lord, to enter into me and inhabit my humanity and live Your life through me.’ ” And by the way, that’s not a bad illustration, because in the Old Testament—in the Book of Judges—the Bible says that the Spirit of the Lord wore Gideon like a suit of clothes. The Bible says the Lord clothed himself with Gideon.

How would you like for God to wear you like a suit of clothes, and just as you carry around your suit of clothes, for the Lord just to carry your humanity, and for Him to just inhabit your humanity? You see, the reason that this early church did what they did with such power, is that it really wasn’t them doing it. It was Jesus doing it. You say, “Well, I’m not adequate.” Well, I’m glad that you’ve learned it. But He is adequate. Somebody has coined these words: “Lord, I can’t. You never said that I could, but You can, and You always said that You would.” You see, the great ability that you need is availability. Bringing the world to Christ is not your responsibility—it is your response to His ability. You see, we have a mission impossible. How are we going to fulfill that mission?

I heard of some cows that were out grazing, and a milk truck went past, and they looked up. And there was advertisement on the side of that big milk tanker. It gave the name of the dairy, and then it said, “Our milk is Grade ‘A’: sanitized, pasteurized, homogenized, vitamin-enriched from contented cows.” One cow said to the other one, “It makes you feel inadequate, doesn’t it?” Well friend, when I look at the Great Commission—what our Lord has told us to do—how inadequate do I feel? But listen. Jesus said, “Upon this rock I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18). Jesus didn’t say that we would build His Church. He said that He would build His Church.

Now notice what Doctor Luke is saying. He said, “I wrote the Gospel of Luke—that’s what Jesus began to do. I’m writing the book of Acts—that’s what Jesus is going to continue to do.” The first time He did it in His physical body; and now He’s going to do it in His mystical Body. Oh friend, if you could just understand that Christ is in you and that He wants to do this in you—what a difference it’s going to make!

Turn, if you will, to Acts chapter 5 for a moment, and begin in about verse 12, and let me show you something here. “And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people (and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch. And of the rest dared no man join himself to them; but the people magnified them.” Now watch in verse 14: “And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women)” (Acts 5:12–14)—a landslide of souls being saved.

Go back to verse 12: “And by the hands of the apostles …” Look at that little word by. It may be accurately translated “through the hands of the apostles.” In other words, it is not what the apostles were doing—it is what the Lord was doing through their hands. How would you like for Jesus to work through your hands, to speak through your lips, to think through your mind, and to love with your heart? Jesus Christ now has your body as His body, and He lives in you. Oh, if we could only understand this. You see, when we try to live the Christian life without Christ in us living that Christian life, no wonder we fail. How many Baptists are failing—and Methodists and Presbyterians, for that matter—because they are trying? God doesn’t want you to try. It’s time, this new year, that you stop trying and start trusting. Say: “Lord, I can’t so I’ll quit trying. But now, Lord, You can, and I’m going to let you.”

Now I’m not a golfer. Brother Bob thinks that he’s a golfer, but I’m not a golfer. I don’t golf. But suppose now I decided that I’m going to be a golfer—that I’ve been converted to golf and am now going to be a golfer. And since I’ve been converted to golf, I’ve got to get a model. So I say, “Well, let’s see. Who will I pick? Jack Nicklaus? All right. He’s about my age, I guess. I’ll take Jack Nicklaus. I’ll let him be my model. Oh, I’m going to read books about Jack Nicklaus, and I’m going to see how he plays. So I’m just going to go out there and play like Jack Nicklaus.” Do you think I could? Of course not! I would be ludicrous to think as much. I tried to play the game one time. It looked like I was killing snakes. Now listen. If there’s some way, Brother Jeff, that I could get Jack Nicklaus into me—some Jack Nicklaus pill that I could swallow and his life would be reproduced in me, and then I’d get out there and tee up, and that thing would take off for hundreds of yards, straight down the fairway—that wouldn’t be me. That would be Jack in me doing that, you see. Now friend, if you do anything that is spiritual, lasting, and worthwhile, then it’s not you. It’s Jesus in you, and Jesus needs to get the praise and the glory.

“The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach” (Acts 1:1). But the idea is that He has not quit doing it now. Then, He was in the gospels, in His physical body; and now, He has a mystical Body. Won’t it be wonderful to see what Jesus does in our church this year as we begin to let Him work—and, more specifically, what Jesus does in your life? All right. Number one: If you want to be radically, dramatically transformed, then recognize, recognize, recognize His presence in you.

II. Receive Jesus’ Promise to You

Number two: Receive His promise to you. Now He’s made a promise. Begin now, in verse 4, and look at it. “And being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. When they, therefore, were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power …”—now, remember the keynote of our message today is how to have power: “The Pathway to Power”—“But ye shall receive power, after the Holy Spirit is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:4–8).

Now Jesus had made a promise. In the Gospel of Luke chapter 24, verse 49, He said, “And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you; but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). Now Jesus said, “Don’t go out and try to do anything until you’re endued with power.” Now friend not only is it foolish, but it is wicked—it is wicked to try to do God’s work without God’s power. Now you can receive the promise of the Father, and the promise of the Father is spiritual power through the Holy Spirit to get that work done.

Now we don’t have to tarry any more because the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Day of Pentecost, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit is an accomplished fact. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that a Christian today is commanded to be baptized with the Holy Spirit, but we’re all commanded to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And Ephesians 5, verse 18, says, “… Be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). And when we’re filled with the Spirit of God, we’re filled with the Spirit of power. And the Holy Spirit of God is Christ in the Christian.

You say, “Well, Brother Rogers, you said that Christ is in me, and now you say that I need the Holy Spirit. Do I need Jesus or the Holy Spirit?” The answer is yes. You need Christ the Holy Spirit. Let me give you a good definition of the Holy Spirit: “Christ in the Christian.” Jesus said, “I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you” (John 14:18), when He was talking about the Holy Spirit.

You see, we don’t worship three gods—we worship one God: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit in my heart, and in my bosom, is Jesus in me—that’s the promise of the Father. “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you …” (Acts 1:8).

A. I Need His Power to Enlighten Me

And why do I need that power? I need that power in this coming year to enlighten me. I don’t know where to go. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to say, but He does. Jesus said that He’ll guide you.

B. I Need His Power to Enable Me

But not only do I need Him to enlighten me, dear friend, I need Him to enable me, because, as I’ve said before, I can’t. He never said I could. But not only will He enlighten me. It’s not enough to know the will of God. Do you think that, if you knew the will of God, then your problems would be over? You’ve got to do it. Well, how are you going to do it? Well, it’s going to be Him doing it in you. You can’t do it. He has to enlighten you, and then He has to enable you.

C. I Need His Power to Encourage Me

And then dear friend, He has to encourage you. You see, as a matter of fact, the word Comforter—the name for the Holy Spirit—also means encourager: one who is called alongside of me—a paraclete, which means somebody who just gives us strength and encouragement in order to get the job done.

These Christians were going to face persecution—that’s not an easy road. There were going to be heartaches and tears. Some of them were going to be physically threatened, and some of them were going to be killed; but they had the power to live for Christ and to die for Christ, because the Holy Spirit of God had come upon them.

Now we’re going to be talking more and more, in these studies, about who the Holy Spirit of God is and how the Holy Spirit of God empowered the apostles. The Bible says, “And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus; and great grace was upon them all” (Acts 4:33).

Now one great preacher, Dr. A. C. Dixon, said, “When we rely upon organization, we get what organization can do. When we rely upon education, we get what education can do. When we rely upon eloquence, we get what eloquence can do. But when we rely upon the Holy Spirit, we get what God can do.”

III. Respond to Jesus’ Program Through You

Now there’s a third thing you need to do. Listen. Do you want to be victorious this year? You want power? Recognize His presence in you. Receive His promise of power to you. And then—and here’s the bottom line—respond to His program through you. Respond to His program through you.

Now look again at Acts chapter 1, verse 8: “But ye shall receive power, after the Holy Spirit is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me” (Acts 1:8). What is His program through you? To witness—to share the love of Jesus. You say, “Well, I thought He was going to do it.” Yes, He’s going to do it, but He’s going to do it through you; and if you don’t allow Him to do it, then it will not be done. We are to be witnesses.

Now Jesus didn’t call us to be lawyers. A lot of you say, “Well, you know, I just can’t witness.” Of course you can. Suppose you saw an accident, and they brought you into the courtroom, and they said, “Tell us what you saw.” You say, “Well, you know, I just can’t do that. I’m not a lawyer. I’m not trained. I’ve never been in a courtroom before.” “Look: just the facts, ma’am—just tell us what you saw and what you heard.” A witness is not a lawyer. A lawyer argues a case; a witness tells what he has seen and heard.

Now if Jesus Christ has done anything for you, then you’re to witness to it. You’re to tell about it. You are to share the love of Jesus. Anybody who is saved can witness. Don’t tell me that you can’t witness. If you can’t witness, then I doubt that you’ve been saved. Can’t you tell how you got saved? Can’t you tell what happened to you? Perhaps you haven’t seen anything. Perhaps you haven’t heard anything, and that’s the reason why you can’t be a witness. But listen. When you make yourself available to His program through you—and remember again, I want to tell you that the greatest ability is availability, just simply saying, “Lord Jesus, You inhabit my humanity; Lord Jesus, in the Holy Spirit of God, You have given me power”—then you can be a witness for Him and share the saving love of Jesus.

Did you know that the word witness and the word martyr are the same word in the Greek language? Did you know that? Same word. And what is a martyr? A martyr is somebody who has been killed for the name of Christ—because of Christ. “Well,” you say, “we don’t have any more martyrs today, do we, preacher? That was all back in Bible times?” Stephen Olford has said that more people have died for the cause of Christ in the last 30 years than from Pentecost up until the last 30 years. More people have died for Jesus Christ in the last 30 years, than in all the history of the Christian Church prior to that time. I don’t know whether you’ll be so honored or not, but I know this friend, that the word martyr and the word witness are linked together, and you don’t have to die physically in order to die to your pride. You don’t have to die physically to die to your ambition. You don’t have to die physically to die to your ego, and to say, “Lord Jesus, I want to be obedient to You. I want to be a witness. And I want to start in my Jerusalem.” It doesn’t end in Jerusalem, but it starts in Jerusalem—no leapfrog here.

A man came to a foreign mission board and said, “I want to be a missionary.” They interviewed him. They said, “What are you doing for Jesus here?” He said, “Not much of anything.” They said, “Well, please, for God’s sake, don’t go overseas and do it.” Amen. Don’t export it.

No, we begin in Jerusalem, and go to Judaea, and then, we go to the uttermost parts—the outer regions—for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. But dear friend, listen. When I am available to His program in me—and that is sharing Jesus Christ—I tell somebody about Jesus. Oh, there’s somebody. There’s somebody that you can bring to Jesus Christ.

Now the disciples wanted to talk about Bible prophecy. They said, “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” Jesus said, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after the Holy Spirit is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me” (Acts 1:6–8). They wanted to talk about prophecy—He wanted to talk about proclamation. It’s time that some of us got our heads out of the clouds of prophecy and got our feet on the sidewalks of soul winning—amen—and began telling others. Now listen, friend. You don’t know—you do not know, you cannot dream—what potentiality there may be in your witness.

Conclusion

I shared some time ago one of the most amazing stories, which I want to share again with you. There was a man named Mr. Kimball who went to a shoe clerk in order to witness to that shoe clerk. The shoe clerk was back there in the boxes—in the stacks. This man, Mr. Kimball, was a Sunday School teacher. This nineteen-year old boy was in his class. Mr. Kimball laid a trembling hand on the shoulder of that shoe clerk and told him about Jesus. The shoe clerk received Christ into his heart. He was saved. Do you know that shoe clerk’s name? Dwight L. Moody.

Now the young people may not know about Dwight L. Moody, and some of you older people may not, but he was one of the greatest evangelists that God ever, ever put on this green earth. He started out in Chicago just teaching boys and girls in Sunday School. And winning a lot of them to Christ, he became a speaker. He was a layman, really, never ordained, but he was so powerful when he preached the gospel that he was invited over to England to preach. And there in England he preached in the church of F. B. Meyer, a very erudite and cultured Englishman. Moody murdered the King’s English, and F. B. Meyer was ashamed that he had invited this uncouth, uncultured American. But yet the fire of God fell on that service. And F. B. Meyer said later—he was having tea with one of the ladies in the church—“Ah, and how is it with you today, madam?” She said, “Wonderful, Dr. Meyer.” She said, “Since Moody has been here, I’ve won every girl in my class to Jesus Christ.” Meyer said, “I learned something that day about the language of the human soul. It transformed my life.” Dwight L. Moody touched his life.

F. B. Meyer came to the United States, and he was preaching in a college. The students were out there, and F. B. Meyer was talking about surrender, and this is what he said: He said to those students, “If you’re not willing to give everything to Jesus Christ, then will you at least tell Him that you’re willing to be made willing?” And a student out there was named Wilbur Chapman. Wilbur Chapman said, “O God, that’s me. I haven’t been willing.” Chapman was ready to quit. He was about to get out of school. But he said, “God, I’m willing to be made willing.” And God took him at that starting place, made him willing, and Wilbur Chapman became a great evangelist. But wait a minute. Wilbur Chapman, in his later years of evangelism, needed a helper, so he found a young YMCA clerk—an ex-professional baseball player, whose name was Billy Sunday. And Chapman said to Billy Sunday, “Would you come help me do the counseling, set up the tent, and do these other things?” Billy Sunday said, “I will.” And many of you have heard of Billy Sunday—world-famous like Dwight L. Moody—Billy Sunday began to help Wilbur Chapman. When Chapman finally retired from evangelism, or was too feeble to carry on, Billy Sunday took over and had a worldwide ministry; and millions of people were impacted by Billy Sunday.

Billy Sunday went to Charlotte, North Carolina in 1924 and held a revival crusade in Charlotte, North Carolina. And there was such a mighty moving of God’s power in Charlotte, North Carolina, that a prayer meeting got started and continued right on through when the Depression came. And those men were praying and said, “Oh, God, send another revival to Charlotte that will shake Charlotte and shake the world.” As a result, Mordecai Ham cam to Charlotte, North Carolina for another crusade. And in that crusade, when Mordecai Ham was preaching, a young, tall, lanky, sixteen-year old farm lad came forward and gave his heart to Jesus Christ. His name was Billy Graham, who has preached to kings and princes around the world, has been on national television by satellite, and so forth. The impact! But how did all of that start? Trace it on back to a Sunday School teacher who got serious about soul winning and told a shoe clerk about Jesus.

You don’t know. You don’t know what you may do when you bring a soul to Jesus Christ. Do you want this year to be a great year? Recognize His presence in you, receive His promise to you, and respond to His program through you.

Let’s pray. Father, I pray, in the name of Jesus, that You would make me a greater soul winner this year. And Lord, help me to recognize that, in the truest sense, You are the one who draws those people to Yourself as You inhabit my humanity and display Your deity. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Missions

By Adrian Rogers

Date Preached: February 23, 1997

Time: 1800

Main Scripture Text: Acts 1:8

“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

ACTS 1:8

Outline

Introduction

I. A World of Darkness

II. A World of Desire

III. A World of Difference

Conclusion

Introduction

Turn if you will, please, to Acts chapter 1, and here is a great missionary text. In Acts 1:8, the Lord Jesus said to all of us, and to each of us, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

Now our world is rapidly growing. One thousand, two thousand, three thousand: that’s three seconds—another child was just born. One thousand, two thousand, three thousand—another child was born. One thousand, two thousand, three thousand—another child was born. Did you know that over ten thousand are born into this world every hour? Two hundred and forty thousand people are born every day. Ninety million are born every year.

If you were to go back from the time of creation to 1850, there were one billion people on this planet. From 1850 to 1930, there were two billion. From 1930 to 1960, there were three billion. From 1960 to 1975, there were four billion. From 1975 to 1980, five billion. And now we’re rapidly approaching six billion people on Planet Earth. Did you know that more than fifty percent of all of the people who have ever lived since creation are alive today? Now, you think about that. Over fifty percent of all of the people who have ever lived from creation are alive today. And what an incredible opportunity we have to tell them about the Lord Jesus Christ!

I think of Love Worth Finding. I think of our message going up and coming down from a satellite. Most of us, many of us, can remember when there were no satellites. And then, after we heard about it, we had to learn how to spell it, and we still didn’t understand what all was happening. And now the kind of a message that I’m speaking to you right now can go out, up to the air, up into space, and come back down in strange-sounding places to tell people about the Lord Jesus Christ. And think about the ability that we have on the Internet and other things like that to get out the gospel of Jesus Christ. That technology is not there to sell smut and to spread lies, but to tell the message of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen? And our mandate is to take the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ to the very end of the world. I appreciate what Dr. Jimmy Draper said today: “You must not ask what place missions will have in your life; that is the wrong question. The question is, what place will your life have in world missions?”

Now the book of Acts is a missionary book. And God has put a trinity of chapters together in the book of Acts that we’re going to look at very briefly today, Acts chapter 8; 9, and 10; so, turn to those chapters there, because in Acts chapter 8; 9, and 10 we have the conversion of three notable people.

For example, look, if you will, in Acts chapter 8 and verse 27. And the Bible says there, “Behold, a man of Ethiopia.” (Acts 8:27) And we’re going to find out how a man from Ethiopia got saved. And then, look, if you will, in Acts chapter 9 and verse 1, and we read there, “And Saul …” (Acts 9:1) We’ll just stop right there, because we’re going to see how a man named Saul got saved. And then turn over, if you will, to Acts chapter 10, verse 1: “There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius.” (Acts 10:1)

Now God has put missions in a microcosm in these three chapters as you see these three individuals who have been saved. Now one of them was a son of Ham—that was the man from Ethiopia. The other of them was a son of Shem—that was the man from the Middle East whose name was Saul, who later became Paul. And one was a son of Japheth—and that was the man, the centurion, the man who was from Italy. You see, there were three who came out of the ark, three sons of Noah—Ham, Shem, and Japheth—and in these three chapters you have their descendants. And what they do, they represent all of the world.

Now, three basic, simple things we’re going to see. And I know that time is very short tonight, but I want you to see a world of darkness. I want you to see a world of desire. And I want you to see a world of difference.

I. A World of Darkness

A world of darkness. Here are these three: one a son of Ham from Ethiopia; one a son of Shem from the Middle East—he was a Shemite or Semite; and one a son of Japheth from Europe. That represents all of the great racial strands of all of the earth. But while one was a son of Ham, one was a son of Shem, and one was a son of Japheth, they were all sons of Adam, right? And what does the Bible say? Romans chapter 5, verse 12: “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” (Romans 5:12) These three came from Africa, from Asia, and from Europe, and yet they were all sinners. So the first thing we need to understand is that this world lies in darkness. All of the people, regardless of the color of their skin, regardless of their geographical origin, regardless of their language, regardless of their culture, they are lost without the Lord Jesus Christ.

II. A World of Desire

Now, here’s the second thing, and I’m moving on very quickly tonight. Not only do you see a world of darkness, but you see in these three chapters a world of desire. These three men came from vastly different backgrounds. For example, the man from Ethiopia was in the world of government and the world of finance. Look in chapter 8 and verse 27, if you will, for just a moment: “And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship.” (Acts 8:27) Here was the secretary of the treasury from a notable country. Here was a man who had great authority. He was a man with power, prestige, intelligence, and wealth. He was a man that knew about finance.

And then, what about the other man? Well, Saul you’re going to read about in the next chapter, in chapter 9. Saul was from the realm of religion, education, and philosophy. Saul was a scholar. He was an educator. He was a teacher. He was a rabbi. He was a religionist. And he was full of religious zeal. Look in chapter 9, verses 1 and 2: “And Saul, yet, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way …”—that’s what they called the Christians “people of the way”—“if they found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.” (Acts 9:1–2) What he did was to go out and arrest, incarcerate, and bring to Jerusalem Christians, so-called enemies of Judaism, and bring them there to be put in jail or to be killed.

All right, so here’s a man, the first man, he’s in the realm of government and finance. Here’s another man. He’s in the realm of philosophy and religion. Now, here’s the third man I want you to see that gets saved here, and that’s a man named Cornelius. Look again in chapter 10, verse 1: “There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band.” (Acts 10:1) Now this man was in the world of the military. His world was not in esoteric things like philosophy and religion, like Saul; nor was his world in the military and the governmental affairs, like the Ethiopian. This man was a military man. He was a macho man. He was a man’s man. He was a leader of men. He was a fighting man.

Now you could hardly get three people from more varied backgrounds; but, dear friend, if you look very carefully, all three of these men—the man in the world of government and finance, the man in the world of philosophy and religion, and the man in the realm of militarism and warfare—all three of these had a hidden hunger. All three of them were on a quest. And as you look at this chapter, you can find out that they were all on a quest.

For example, the Ethiopian, this Ethiopian, this man who was the treasurer, the Bible has said he had been to Jerusalem in order to worship. He had made a journey all the way from Ethiopia to Jerusalem. And why? He was hoping to find some answer to the puzzling questions of life. He went seeking God. When he went there and he bought a copy of the Scriptures. He is coming back in his chariot. He is reading the prophet Isaiah. He is trying to find the answer, the longing of his heart. Look, if you will, in chapter 8 and verse 27. The Bible says that, “And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all of her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet.” (Acts 8:27–28) Here is a man with all of his authority and all of his inside activity with the government, next to the queen; here is a man who has all of this at this fingertips; and yet he has a God-shaped vacuum in his heart.

Now, the next man, Saul—if you had seen Saul as he was on the road to Damascus, as he was out there persecuting Christians—he has letters in his hand from the high priest; he has everything he needs—and had you seen him, you would have said, “There he is—educated; there he is—with authority; there he is—a man of means, a man of background, a man of letters.” You wouldn’t want to get in an argument with him. You would not ever want to match wits with this man. He had the equivalency of a triple Ph.D. He was one of the most brilliant and most arrogant men who ever lived. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees, the highest of the high. He was a high muckety-muck in the world of religion. And had you seen him, he would have reminded you perhaps of your pagan professor that you had in college who seemed so smug and so sure and so smart and so arrogant that you dared not open your mouth in class—if you had a professor like that. I had one or two like that. But listen. If you could peel him back like an onion and look down deep enough on the inside, there was a churning turmoil and a hunger.

As a matter of fact, this Saul was on the road to Damascus, and the Lord Jesus appeared to him in a blinding light, and the Lord Jesus said to him, “Saul, Saul, it’s hard for you to kick against the pricks, isn’t it?” (Acts 9:5) What was the prick? It was the goad that an ox would be goaded with. And sometimes the old ox would kick back, because the driver of the oxcart would be goading that ox. And that’s what the Lord Jesus had been doing to Saul. Saul was there when Stephen was stoned. Saul saw Stephen with a face shining like an angel, who said, “Lord Jesus, lay not this sin to their charge.” He saw Stephen, God’s wonderful deacon martyr, die for his faith, and Saul could never forget it. (Acts 7:58–60)

Now what I’m trying to say is this: You might not have seen it, but that man from Ethiopia had a hidden hunger. You may not have seen it, but Saul had a hidden hunger. He was in turmoil. And what about Cornelius, the military man, the strong man, the square jaw, the broad shoulders, the Marlboro man—Cornelius, this guy? You would have said, “Well, there is a man who’s not afraid of anything, and there is a man who doesn’t have a tender bone in his body.” But if you would read—look, if you will, in chapter 10 about this man Cornelius: “There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, a devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway.” (Acts 10:1–2) He was very religious, but he was lost. He didn’t know the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Savior and Lord. It will be a great day in America when people turn from religion to Jesus Christ, will it not?

Here was a man who had a desire to know God. I don’t know where it came from. Maybe when he was a young soldier out on a lonely sentry duty, he looked up into the starry heavens, as I did last night when I saw those beautiful stars, and just stood there in awe for a while and thought, “Oh, that didn’t just happen. How, where, who, what? O God, whoever you are, whatever you are, I want to know you!” And he prayed, and he gave, but he wasn’t saved.

Now, what am I saying? There is a world of darkness, and there is a world of desire. Now, listen to me, precious, sweet friend. Whether it is in Memphis, or whether it is in Romania, or whether it is in South Africa, or whether it is in former Soviet Russia, wherever it is—in Red China—every man, every woman, every boy, every girl that you meet is lost in a world of darkness and has in his heart a deep, deep desire to know God. He may not know that it is God that he’s searching for, but there is a vacuum, a God-shaped vacuum, in every man’s heart, and he can never be satisfied until he has that vacuum filled with the only thing that can fill it—and that is the Lord Jesus.

III. A World of Difference

Now, here’s the third and final thing I want you to see—and I’m moving along very quickly. There is a world of darkness. Friend, there is a world of desire. And there is a world of difference that only Jesus can make. Notice, if you will now, in chapter 8 and verse 35, what happened to this man from Ethiopia. Look, if you will, in verse 35. And the Bible says, “Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him”—say that next word—“Jesus”—“preached unto him Jesus.” (Acts 8:35) Now, look, if you will, in chapter 9 and verse 5. You remember Saul had this vision, and Saul asked the Lord, “Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am”—say the next word—“Jesus …”—“I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.” (Acts 9:5) All right now, turn to chapter 10 and look, if you will, please, in verses 38 and 39 with me for just a moment how Simon Peter went to this soldier, and here’s what he told this soldier, Cornelius: “How God anointed”—say the word—“Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem,” and so forth. (Acts 10:38–39) Who is it that he preached? Who is it that he presented this man? His name was Jesus—Jesus!

Now, who makes a world of difference? Not the missionary, not even the message, but the Master. These people who are in darkness, these people who have a desire, the only way that that desire can be fulfilled is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that may seem like simplistic to you; but, folks, our world is quickly moving away from that.

Did you know that you and I are going to be thought of as narrow-minded bigots if we say that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven? Paul Negrut, who has spoken from this pulpit, told me, “Brother Rogers, when the Communists took over in Romania, they did not try to exterminate religion.” He said, “It was all right to be religious, but they said you may not, you must not, you will not say that Jesus is the only Savior and He has absolute authority. Why? Because Ceausescu said, ‘I have the absolute authority.’ It was all right to say we worship Jesus as long as we said that Ceausescu has the ultimate authority.” But, friend, Jesus is the only answer to this world. I don’t know whether you believe that or not, but my whole life is built upon that—that Jesus is the only answer.

Now one man from Africa, one man from Asia, one man from Europe; but I want to see the need of Africa, the need of Asia, the need of Europe is not better education, not better finance, not more food, not better roads: it is Jesus! He is what this world needs today.

Now I want you to notice what God is saying to you in these three chapters. Turn to chapter 8 and look, if you will, in verse 29—chapter 8 and verse 29: “Then the Spirit said unto Philip,”—everybody say the next word—“Go.” (Acts 8:29) All right now, look, if you will, in chapter 9, verse 11: “And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go.” (Acts 9:11) Hey, you’re getting it real good. Turn to chapter 10 and look with me in verse 20: “Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go.” (Acts 10:20) Are you learning something?

What is the message? All right now, if there is a world of darkness, and there is a world of desire, and Jesus can make a world of difference, what is God saying to Adrian? What is God saying to Bob? What is God saying to you? What is God saying to each? What is God saying to all? It’s a two-letter word: “Go!”

Spell God for me. First letter: G. Second letter: o. Let’s just stop there. All right now, spell gospel for me. First letter: g. Second letter: o. Got it? Now what I’m trying to say is this, folks: Jesus said we are to go into all of the world. Now we all may not go literally, physically, but we go with our prayers. We go with the Word of God. We go with our children. We go with our money. We go with our influence. We are to be missionary in person, missionary in purpose, missionary in purse, missionary in parentage, and missionary in praying. We are to go into all the world and take the gospel of Jesus Christ. And if you are not interested in that, God has sent me here to tell you that you need to re-examine and see if you have ever been saved. I’m telling you, folks, a Christian who is not interested in world evangelism, whether it be across the street or around the world, is guilty of high treason against heaven’s King. He is the One who said, “Go into all the world and make disciples.” (Matthew 28:19)

I read some time ago about a wealthy couple who were traveling across the desert. They were out sightseeing. And as they were out there in the desert, their automobile broke down, and they stayed out there in the desert around Nevada hoping to get the automobile fixed. They were driven by a chauffeur. Finally, when help came, they found that the elderly couple were dead but the chauffeur was still alive. And what they found out was this: the chauffeur had spent a great deal of time underneath the automobile under the pretext of trying to fix the engine, but what he was doing was drinking the radiator water out of that old radiator that had no antifreeze in it. And a little bit at a time, he had kept himself alive while those others perished.

I wonder if you and I are not sometimes just a little bit like that chauffeur. We’re so blessed. We spend our time saying, “Pastor Rogers, feed me. Oh, I hope you’ll say something interesting today, some little tidbit that I haven’t yet understood, some little new nuance in the Word of God.” I’m telling you, there are people in the world today who have never even once heard the name Jesus. We’re so blessed here at Bellevue Baptist Church. And sometimes we have to even ask our people, “Won’t you please come back on Sunday night? Won’t you please come to prayer meeting? Won’t you please just give a dime out of your pocket to World Missions? Oh, friend, it’s time we got serious about this command—and that is to go into all of the world.

I’m finished—but I want to tell you three character qualities that it will take if you go, and I want the Holy Spirit of God to burn these into your heart. The first characteristic it will take is availability. Do you know who it was that told that Ethiopian about Jesus? It was a man named Philip. Who was Philip? He was a deacon. And what was he doing? He had been down in Samaria and he was holding a revival meeting. And the Holy Spirit of God said to Philip, “Arise, and go to a place in Gaza, in the desert,” and he got up and went. God spoke to him, and he obeyed. (Acts 8:26–27) And I’m glad he did, because that Ethiopian got saved, and he opened up all North Africa to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now I’m not saying that God is calling you to be a foreign missionary, but I am asking, are you available? Now, answer that down in the deepest part of your heart. You say, “Well, not me. I’m already seventy-five.” That won’t get it done. God might want you to be a seventy-five-year-old missionary somewhere somehow. It doesn’t make any difference. You say, “I’m only thirteen.” It doesn’t make any difference. Our boy David, who is a missionary in Spain, came to us as a mere child and said, “God is calling me to be a missionary.” He’s now in Spain. The only thing I’m asking tonight is, are you available?

Now, the second characteristic that it will take is not only availability, but expendability. Do you know who it was that really wrapped up the thing with Saul? The Lord Jesus appeared to Saul and said, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.” And he said, “What wilt thou have me to do?” He said, “You go a certain place, and it will be told you what to do.” And then the Lord found a layman named Ananias, and said, “Ananias, I want you to go speak to this man about Christ.” Now, you think about it. What had Saul been doing? He had been arresting Christians, right? What were they doing with the Christians? They were stoning them. Do you remember how Stephen got stoned? God says to Ananias, “Ananias, go down there and speak to him.” “Who is going with me?” “Nobody! Go down there and speak to him.” “What do you want me to speak to him about?” “Speak to him, this proud, arrogant Pharisee. Tell him about Jesus.” Every word that Ananias spoke was from his heart, because his heart was in his throat. He went down there and spoke to Saul and witnessed to Saul. Do you know what that is? That’s expendability.

I think of Darla Richardson in Albania. I think of the Yorks’ children. Where are they? In the turmoil of South Africa. I think of Betty’s son. Where is he? In Yemen. These are not places you go to have a picnic. It costs to serve Jesus. It costs every day. It costs every step of the way. Are you afraid that if God called you, you might have to give up your position as a lawyer, as a doctor, as an entrepreneur; that you might have to leave your fine house? Well, you might. It may cost your life.

Availability. Expendability. There’s one last thing—and that’s adaptability. Do you know who went and witnessed to Cornelius? It was a man named Peter. And do you know what Peter’s problem was? He was a Jew, and Cornelius was a Gentile, and the Jews didn’t have any dealing with Gentiles, especially in religious things. And God had to speak to Peter and get Peter to go down there and witness to Cornelius. Remember that vision when He let down that sheet out of heaven with all those unclean animals and said, “Peter, rise, slay, and eat.” He said, “Not me! I don’t touch unclean things.” And the Lord here is not teaching you that you ought to eat unclean things. What the Lord is teaching you in this passage of Scripture is that you don’t call any human being an unclean thing, regardless of the color of their skin, regardless of their culture. And He said, “What I call clean, Peter, don’t you call unclean.” (Acts 10)

Conclusion

Now here it is, and I’m finished. But, folks, there’s a world of darkness. There is a world of desire. And Jesus will make a world of difference. And He wants to do it through Adrian and through you. And He says you are to have availability, expendability, and adaptability. Now, don’t ask if I have it. Ask if you have it. Don’t ask if I’m willing. Ask if you’re willing. Ask what the world’s greatest missionary who got saved in that ninth chapter said to the Lord: “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” Not, “Lord, what will others have me to do?” and not, “Lord, what will you have others to do?” “Lord, what will you have me to do?”

Would you bow your heads in prayer, and I want you to think for just a moment about that. I want you to think about that availability, about that expendability, and about that adaptability. Just pray, “Lord, what do you want to do with my life?” Think about your world mission offering. Think about your children. Are you willing and even wanting for them to go? Think about your own life. Think about your next-door neighbor. For Jesus said, “Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) Father, speak to our hearts, I pray, in the name of Jesus. Amen.