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with me in your Bibles to the 
book of Acts, Acts chapter 1. Acts chapter 1, last week we 
did some introduction. This morning we're going to take 
up the first eight verses, and what we'll find there is the 
prologue in verses 1 to 3, and then the commission, the apostolic 
commission in verses 4 to 8. So I'll read the section, we'll 
pray, and then we'll look in detail at God's holy word. The 
former account 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 to the 
apostles whom he had chosen, to whom he also presented himself 
alive after his suffering by many infallible proofs, being 
seen by them during forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining 
to the kingdom of God. and being assembled together 
with them, he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, 
but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, you 
have heard from me. For John truly baptized with 
water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many 
days from now. Therefore, when they had come 
together, they asked him, saying, Lord, will you at this time restore 
the kingdom to Israel? And he said to them, it is not 
for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in his 
own authority, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit 
has come upon you. And you shall be witnesses to 
me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of 
the earth. Amen. Well, let us pray. Father, 
we thank you for the written word, we thank you for this book 
of the Acts of the Apostles, and for what we find here concerning 
our Lord Jesus Christ, enthroned at the right hand of the majesty 
of God on high, the one who gives the Holy Spirit to the Church 
in a powerful way to equip and enable them for the task of world 
missions. How we thank you that you have 
saved a great multitude thus far, and we look forward to the 
reality that there will be that number that no man can number, 
persons from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation assembled 
before the throne of God Almighty, singing, Salvation belongs to 
the Lord our God and to the Lamb who sits upon the throne. Thank 
you for your mercy toward us. Thank you for the grace of the 
gospel toward us, that you have had dealings with us, that you 
have shown us our sins and shown us the glory of the Savior. We 
know it's not because of our goodness or our righteousness, 
but because of your grace. You have affectionately called 
us out of darkness into marvelous light. You have given us a glimpse 
of the Savior. You have given us the graces 
of faith and repentance, and in this we greatly rejoice. And 
we are reminded and we are mindful that if you are able to save 
us, certainly there is hope for sinners. We pray for any and 
all who have come here this morning outside of Christ, we pray that 
today would be the day of salvation. That as the gospel goes forth, 
you would be pleased to open eyes, open hearts to the truth 
of God's holy word. Do this by the spirit, do this 
for your glory and for your praise and for your exaltation. Do forgive 
us now for your sins and fill each and every one of us with 
the Spirit of God. And we pray through Jesus Christ, 
our Lord. Amen. Just by way of reminder 
from the introduction last week, I had mentioned that the book 
of Acts is in fact a history book, but it's theological history. It's not only an account of what 
has happened, but Luke gives us the theology behind that. It's the history of the first 
30 years of the Christian church, the first three decades after 
the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, and as one popular introduction 
to the Bible notes, The book covers events occurring in Jerusalem, 
Judea, Samaria, Syria, Cyprus, many cities in Asia Minor, Macedonia, 
Greece, and Rome. The reader witnesses everything 
from preaching and miracles to jailbreaks and shipwrecks. And 
remember that this sort of literature was prevalent in this time frame. The book of Acts is aptly titled 
that as Acts was applied to written works which described the exploits 
of great men in the ancient world. So, as I said, we're going to 
look first at the prologue in verses 1 to 3, and then secondly 
at the commission given to the apostles in verses 4 to 8. But 
note in the first place, we see that it should, in fact, be understood 
as the acts of Jesus Christ. Notice in verse 1, the former 
account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began, both 
to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up. So, 
he establishes a link with the gospel that bears his name. Remember, 
Luke wrote Acts. Luke also wrote the gospel according 
to Luke, and here he refers to that work as the former account. In both places, in Luke 1 and 
here in Acts chapter 1, he sends this greeting to Theophilus, 
a Christian man, to instruct him concerning the Christian 
faith. And then notice what he says concerning Jesus with reference 
to the gospel of Luke. Of all that Jesus began both 
to do and teach until the day in which he was taken up. So 
what we find in the book of Luke is what Jesus began both to do 
and teach. And what we find in the book 
of Acts is what Jesus continues both to do and teach. So in many 
respects, it is right to call it the Acts of the risen Lord 
Jesus. the acts of the enthroned one 
on high, the acts of Christ. So Luke records what he begins 
and Acts records what he continues to do. Now we say, well, he went 
back up into heaven. How does he do that? He does 
it enthroned at the right hand of the majesty of God on high. 
He does it by the Spirit, He does it by the Word, and He does 
it through the agency or the means of the holy apostles that 
He Himself had chosen. In fact, J.A. Alexander says, 
that what He thus began in person upon earth was afterwards continued 
by His apostles under the influence and guidance of His Spirit. John 
Calvin makes an observation concerning these two aspects set forth here 
concerning Christ. Notice, of all that Jesus began 
both to do and teach. So Luke indicates for us it's 
the doings of our Lord Jesus and it's the doctrine of our 
Lord Jesus. And we do well to imitate that. 
Far too often you see this sort of emphasis in some churches 
on only engaging in good works or acts of mercy. I'm not suggesting 
we don't do that, but they oftentimes do that to the neglect of doctrine. 
They might suggest that all we're about is helping to ameliorate 
the downtrodden and the poor. Brethren, we cannot neglect doctrine. On the other hand, we need to 
have doctrine, but we ought not to neglect good deeds. This is 
the emphasis that we have seen recurringly through the book 
of James as we've been going through it on Sunday nights. 
We need both doing and doctrine. We can't divorce this. We can't 
cut it asunder. We have to have both the soup 
and the salad. It's not an either or with reference 
to the Christian church. We need the truth of God's holy 
word driving us to engage in good deeds. John Calvin, as I 
mentioned, speaks concerning these two things, doing and teaching. He says, for this is a holy knot 
which no man may dissolve. So let's not sacrifice doctrine 
so that we can indeed engage in good works. But at the same 
time, let's not disregard the place of good works. I would 
submit, in light of reform doctrine, in light of what I think is a 
most excellent confession of faith in the Second London Confession, 
we ought to be the most fervent in good works. In other words, 
if we understand who God is, we understand who we are, we 
understand what Jesus Christ has wrought in terms of redemptive 
benefit, we of all people ought to be the boldest and most earnest 
to go there for and do nice things. Later in the apostolic preaching, 
the apostle Peter is able to describe Jesus as a man who went 
about doing good. Again, I'm all over this condemnation 
of the social justice warrior mindset that is growing increasingly 
more prevalent among evangelicals. I don't like it. It smacks of 
or reeks of the social gospel movement in the early 20th century. 
So while I would condemn that, I would nevertheless say that 
our doctrine ought to drive us to effectiveness in society, 
to good deeds. We don't have to be social justice 
warriors. We don't have to be progressives. 
We don't have to be liberals. We simply have to be God-fearers 
who understand the truth of God's word and seek by the grace of 
God to shine His light in a crooked and perverse generation and hold 
forth the word of truth. We're to let our light so shine 
that men may see our good works and give glory to God. So you 
see, we're not supposed to rent asunder the doing and the doctrine, 
but rather we are, like our master, to try and combine such things. The doctrine ought to drive the 
doing, and we ought to be a people that Paul tells Titus, with reference 
to those believers in Crete, they're to be zealous for good 
works. Jesus managed to combine both, 
and certainly the church of Jesus Christ ought to be able as well 
without either sacrificing doctrine or embracing in a social justice 
progressive mindset that is more akin to cultural Marxism than 
it is to biblical Christianity. We need to be aware of this. 
Secondly, notice what? Luke tells us concerning the 
post-resurrection ministry of Christ. Notice in verse 1, the 
former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both 
to do and teach until the day in which He was taken up. That's 
a reference to the Ascension. We'll see that in more detail 
when we get to verses 9 to 11, so we won't spend a whole lot 
of time here on that. But notice what he goes on to 
say, after he, through the Holy Spirit, had given commandments 
to the apostles whom he had chosen. So what Luke is highlighting 
is that after the resurrection, and probably even prior to the 
resurrection, Jesus had given commandments by the Spirit to 
his apostles. Now, there's some question. Is 
the agency of the Holy Spirit here seen as the means by which 
Christ chose the apostles? Or is the agency of the Holy 
Spirit the means by which Christ commanded the apostles? I take 
it as the way that Christ commanded the apostles. But he gave them 
commands. And this is very important for 
us to understand as we start in this book of Acts. And it 
was very important for the early church to understand. Notice 
verse two, after he through the Holy Spirit had given commandments 
to the apostles whom he had chosen. Now, the gospel records indicate 
that Christ did, in fact, choose these 12 men. At this time, it's 
11, but it will eventually be 12 again. But it is true that 
Jesus chose these men. There's no mention of the agency 
of the Spirit in the choosing, so again, I think agency of Spirit 
goes better with his commands to them. But notice, the ascended 
Lord, the authoritative head, gave these commands to the apostles. In other words, everything that 
follows in the book of Acts isn't according to the apostles. They 
didn't develop this, they weren't innovators, they weren't creators 
of the Christian religion, but rather they were the means by 
which the Ascendant Lord sent them out to traffic in the grace 
of God, to preach the truth of the gospel. They were not self-appointed, 
they were not self-authorized, they were men given a command 
by God to go and to engage in this particular task. And probably 
the commands that are specifically in view is the commandment to 
go and make disciples of all the nations, to baptize them 
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, 
and to teach them to observe all things that I have commanded 
you. And lo, Jesus promises, I am with you to the end of the 
age. Now, we spent a great deal of time going over the Great 
Commission when we finished Matthew's Gospel. We won't duplicate that 
here, but that's Probably what's in view after he, through the 
Holy Spirit, had given commandments to the apostles whom he had chosen. In other words, he gave them 
marching orders. This is what you're supposed 
to do as my servants. This is what is to occupy you. Not go in and ameliorate the 
downtrodden and poor. Certainly, if you're faithful 
in gospel ministry, there will be that spillover effect, but 
the primary emphasis given to these apostles was to make disciples.