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Good morning to everyone. You 
can turn in your Bibles with me to Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2, beginning at 
verse 22. We're going to look this morning at the blessings 
of the ascended Christ. In our confession of the Lord 
Jesus Christ, we confess a number of things. We confess his person 
and his works. We confess that he is very God. 
We confess that he is very man. We confess that though he is 
very God and very man, yet he is one Christ, the only mediator 
between God and men. We confess his life of obedience 
unto the whole law rendered in our stead, the stead of all those 
who believe. We confess his death upon Calvary's 
cross as a substitutionary sacrifice for all those who believe. We 
confess his glorious resurrection. We confess his ascension. And 
perhaps some things that we don't so often, or that the Christian 
Church doesn't so often reflect upon, are the blessings of the 
ascended Christ, His benefactions. We confess the good things that 
He does to and for His Church. So, from Acts chapter 2, we'll 
look at the blessings of the ascended Christ. So this is the 
word of the triune God, Acts 2, beginning at verse 22. Men 
of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested 
by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs, which God did through 
him in your midst, as you yourselves also know, him being delivered 
by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have 
taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death, whom 
God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it 
was not possible that he should be held by it. For David says 
concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for 
he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken. Therefore, my 
heart rejoiced and my tongue was glad. Moreover, my flesh 
also will rest in hope, for you will not leave my soul in Hades, 
nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption. You have 
made known to me the ways of life. You will make me full of 
joy in your presence. Men and brethren, let me speak 
freely to you of the patriarch David. that he is both dead and 
buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being 
a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him 
that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would 
raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, he foreseeing this 
spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that his soul 
was not left in Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This 
Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore, 
being exalted to the right hand of God and having received from 
the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he poured out this 
which you now see and hear. For David did not ascend into 
the heavens, but he says himself, the Lord said to my Lord, sit 
at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. 
Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that 
God has made this Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and 
Christ. Now, when they heard this, they 
were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the 
apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said 
to them, repent and let every one of you be baptized in the 
name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. And you shall 
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for the promise is to 
you and to your children and to all who are far off as many 
as the Lord our God will call. With many other words he testified 
and exhorted them saying be saved from this perverse generation 
Then those who gladly received his word were baptized and that 
day about 3,000 souls were added to them and they continued steadfastly 
in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship in the breaking of 
bread and in prayers Then fear came upon every soul and many 
wonders and signs were done through the Apostles. Amen Well, let's 
go to our God in prayer. Let's pray Heavenly Father, we 
thank you now for this time in worship, this exercise of worship, 
the preaching of your holy word. We do pray that you would bless 
our time as we engage with your revelation to the sons of men. 
We pray that we would avail much of the power of the Holy Spirit, 
enlightening us, illumining our minds that we might behold with 
great joy, Jesus Christ, the one who came into this world, 
who lived, who died, who rose again, who ascended and who now 
gifts his people with many good things from above. We do pray 
that you'd help us now and that you would be honored and praised 
in this gathered assembly. We pray in the name of Jesus 
Christ our Savior. Amen. Well, just a brief introduction. 
Some of the things that we should consider in the background as 
we're going about an exploration of this particular passage on 
the point of the blessings of the ascended Christ. And those 
things to think about in the background first are the promise 
of Christ regarding the building of his church. Remember, in Christ's 
earthly ministry, he promises to his disciples that he will 
build his church. He says, I will build my church 
and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. Well, 
when we come to the book of Acts, the ascended Christ is following 
through with his promise. He is building his church, that 
church which will not come to defeat against the gates of Hades. And so Christ True to his promise 
and that should be in the background of our minds or perhaps Operating 
in the foreground of our minds as we're going through this protect 
particular passage as well Another promise in the background or 
in the foreground should be the sending of his spirit the promise 
that Christ Would send his spirit to his apostles remember in his 
earthly ministry. He said to his disciples He said 
it is to your advantage that I go away. Remember they were 
sad and Because of his upcoming departure he had announced on 
a number of occasions that he must be taken up by lawless hands 
to to be crucified and to rise again and They were sad because 
of his his forthcoming absence according to the flesh Well, 
he says it is to your advantage that I go away because if I when 
I go away I'm going to send to you my spirit I'm gonna send 
to you the Holy Spirit another comforter who will guide you 
in all things and who will teach you and who will bring you the 
words to proclaim to sinners near and far. As well, and lastly 
in the background, we should be thinking about the messengers, 
the promise of the sending of messengers. In fact, this promise 
is delivered by Christ to unbelieving Israel, when he says that he 
will send prophets, wise men, and scribes, some of them you 
will kill and crucify, others you will persecute from city 
to city, that on you may come all of the righteous blood shed 
on the earth, from Abel to Zechariah, from A to Z. And this passage 
that we have before us has in the background those three things. 
And in fact, I say it again, in the foreground, because this 
is the fulfillment of the promise that Christ would build his church, 
that he would send his spirit, and that he would send his spirit-wrought 
messengers. So in navigating this passage, 
or in looking at the blessings of the ascended Christ, we're 
going to do simply three things. We're going to look at his proclamational 
benefactions. That's kind of a mouthful, isn't 
it? That simply means we could say his gift concerning preaching. So his proclamational benefactions 
to proclaim something is to declare or announce publicly with due 
emphasis the importance of a thing. And again, benefaction is a gift. So his gift with respect to preaching. Secondly, his salvific benefactions, 
his saving gifts. And then thirdly, his ecclesiastical. That means according to or with 
respect to the church of Jesus Christ, his ecclesiastical benefactions, 
or his gifts concerning the church of Jesus Christ. So first off, 
then, let's look at his proclamational benefactions. The Lord Jesus, 
very God and very man, yet one Christ, once crucified, now resurrected 
and ascended, gives to his creation and church the gift of the proclamation 
of the gospel. So the first blessing of the 
ascended Christ is the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ 
So notice first under this then the gift of preachers Now that 
might sound interesting because you have a preacher up here saying 
that he's a gift and that's actually not what I'm saying I'll qualify 
that in a moment whenever preachers talk about the gift of preachers 
there's something that they that they should that shouldn't be 
in the background of that and there's something that should 
be and we'll elaborate on but first off the gift of preachers 
on this day a preacher stood up to preach and he is prototypical 
for all who follow we see the preacher at verse 22 where we 
start started reading men of Israel hear these words So this 
first gift of the ascended Christ that we're seeing here is the 
gift of the preacher. Remember, the promise of Christ 
prior to his crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension was that he would 
send forth prophets, wise men, and scribes. He would send forth 
men of God to proclaim and make known the gospel of God. And we see here the first gift 
of the ascended Christ is the gift of preachers. Peter stands 
up. and he engages in boldness by 
grace. And think of this for a moment. 
Only 50 days prior to this, Peter was denying the Savior three 
times before the servant girl. He denied his master three times. Christ had already promised that 
he would deny him three times, but Peter, as Peter often did, 
said, Lord, may it never be. I will die for you. Christ promises that you know 
that he would deny him three times, but that he would be restored 
Paraphrasing and Peter having been restored by the resurrected 
Christ Peter feed my sheep He says three times He says, Peter, 
I love you. Feed my sheep. Restores him to 
the preaching ministry, if you will. And then on this day, before 
those, like the servant girl, before those he beforehand denied 
the Savior, he now, with great boldness and courage by grace, 
proclaims his Savior. It's ought to warm our Christian 
hearts that God gives grace to his people in times of difficulty, 
he restores them, he lifts them up, and he puts them to work 
for God and kingdom. It's a wonderful example, not 
of the greatness of Peter, but of the greatness of the God of 
Peter, who gives his grace to those ministers of his. The ascended 
Christ gives the gift of preachers. He gives gifts to men. In fact, 
just turn with me briefly to Ephesians 4, Because here we 
see this same reality brought forth more explicitly by the 
Apostle Paul in his letter to the church at 
Ephesus. Notice that verse 11, well actually 
I'm going to back up because it's important that we do. Verse 
7 of Ephesians 4, but to each one of us grace was given according 
to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore, he says, when he ascended 
on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts to men. Now this, 
he ascended, what does it mean but that he also first descended 
into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the 
one who ascended far above all the heavens that he might fill 
all things. And he himself gave some to be 
apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors 
and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work Ministry 
for the edifying of the body of Christ Till we all come to 
the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God 
to a perfect man So you see in the context here this language 
of gift and this language of gift ascended Connected to the 
ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ verse 8 when he ascended on high 
he led captivity captive and gave gifts to men this is the 
language of the spoils of war and This is the language of a 
conqueror, victorious in battle, who distributes the spoils of 
war to his country folk and to his subjects, if you will. Gil notes it was customary at 
triumphs to give gifts to the soldiers. In fact, this is the 
language of Isaiah 53. You don't have to turn there. 
I can read it for you. Isaiah 53. which speaks of the 
crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that which would 
accrue to believers by virtue of His perfect work, Isaiah 53.12, 
therefore I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall 
divide the spoil with the strong. And so the ascended Christ being 
victorious, being the warrior of redemption, his victory over 
death, the grave, hell, and the devil, he now shares the spoils 
of victory with his people. And one of those spoils of victory 
is the gift of preachers. Secondly, the gift of preaching. If we have the gift of preachers, 
we have the gift of preaching, and the qualification here perhaps 
must be given. There may be some celebrity preachers 
out there, and there may be some even non-celebrity preachers, 
preachers generally speaking, who perhaps have the arrogance 
to think themselves as God's gifts to the churches. But that's 
not what's in view when we say preachers are God's gift to the 
church. You don't come here you know, 
to hear Cam Porter by virtue of him being Cam Porter, or Jim 
Butler. You come by virtue of the fact 
that the preacher in the pulpit is faithfully, by the Spirit, 
opening up the Word of God and proclaiming to you, preaching 
to you, the Jesus of Gospel confession. And that is the gift of the preacher, 
and that is the gift of the preaching. Not the man, but the God-man 
being proclaimed. Not the man, but the God of grace 
being set forth. And so, secondly then, the gift 
of preaching, both the reality and the content of it. On this 
day, it was preaching that was needful, and this is the enduring 
pattern for the history of Christianity. It pleased God through the foolishness 
of the message preached to save those who believe. It's the statement 
of the Apostle Paul in his first epistle to the Corinthian church. 
And we ought to make a note here with regards to the medium of 
preaching. It is primary in Christianity. As you've heard Pastor Butler 
say on a number of occasions, there were a number of different 
means of communication, a number of different media that were 
available to the Christian church at the time of Christ and in 
the apostolic era. Drama, music, a number of things 
related to the entertaining arts, Miam-Marie, juggling, Lots of 
different things, lots of different media. But what is the media 
that God has employed in the history of Christianity as the 
pattern of communicating truth? It is the proclamation, the preaching 
of the Word of God. It pleased God in the foolishness 
or by the foolishness of the message preached to save those 
who believe. And here we have Peter on this 
day, the preacher, preaching Jesus Christ. because that was 
needful and it endures as the pattern for us. And it is so 
needful, it is such an important thing that is to be delivered 
with such emphasis that the Apostle Paul can even speak of preaching 
as setting forth Christ as crucified before the eyes of Christians. Notice in Galatians 3, in Galatians 
3 in verse 1. O foolish Galatians, who has 
bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose 
eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified. It's very interesting language 
because Jesus Christ wasn't crucified in Galatia. Remember, Jesus Christ 
was crucified just outside Just outside Jerusalem on on Calvary's 
Mount on Golgotha And so what does he mean here when he says 
Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified he means 
that it is such that by the preaching of the Word of God by the faithful 
preaching of the Word of God that the preaching of Jesus Christ, 
it is as if he was crucified before our eyes. Of course, it 
is the eyes of faith. And this is something that came 
up in the Protestant Reformation, when there was a glorious return 
to the primacy of preaching as central in and for the gathered 
church, because people were and had been stolen away by idols, 
stolen away by the skulls of saints to go on marches to look 
at dead men's bones. They'd been stolen away by crosses 
of wood and gold and silver. They had been stolen away by 
art and all manner of things set before them, which were truly 
idols. And in the Reformation, against 
those such things, Calvin writes, for example, connecting to preaching 
or exalting preaching and casting away those idols. He says, at 
the point of Galatians 3.1, Paul declares that by the true preaching 
of the gospel, Christ is portrayed and in a manner crucified before 
our eyes. Of what use then were the erection 
and churches of so many crosses of wooden stone, silver and gold? if this doctrine were faithfully 
and honestly preached. Christ died that he might bear 
our curse upon the tree, that he might expiate our sins by 
the sacrifice of his body, wash them in his blood, and in short, 
reconcile us to the Father. From this one doctrine, the people 
would learn more than from a thousand crosses of wooden stone. As for 
crosses of gold and silver, it may be true that the avaricious 
give their eyes and minds to them, more eagerly than to any 
heavenly instructor. You see, it's the nature of man 
to be carried away with their eyes to these shiny things. But it is the grace-wrought Christian, 
the grace-born Christian, who gives their ears to preaching. 
You see, you know, there's a saying, what is it? A photo is worth 
a thousand words, something like that. I think we can turn that 
around and say, you know, a word fitly spoken is worth a thousand 
pictures. In other words, it is the Word 
of God, it is the proclamation of the Word of God that is primary, 
and that casts away, that dashes away any idols of wood and silver 
and stone and gold. And so the gift of preaching, 
the gift of preachers, and the gift of preaching. And then thirdly, 
the gift of the Spirit for preaching. You'll remember that finding 
our way back to Acts chapter 2, we didn't read the entirety 
of Acts chapter 2. It would have been a long reading, 
which would have been fine, but we chose to parcel it out a little 
bit. But back in Acts 2 verse 1, notice, 
when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with 
one accord in one place, and suddenly there came a sound from 
heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole 
house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided 
tongues as of fire and one sat upon each of them and they were 
all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other 
tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance." So in the background, what's going on with regards 
to this gift of the ascended Christ connected to preaching 
is the giving of the Spirit for preaching because if we don't 
have the Holy Spirit, empowering preachers, empowering the preaching, 
then we are engaging in a vain exercise. It is by the Spirit 
that we have the power and the authenticity and the glory, if 
I may say, in the preaching of Jesus Christ. We need the Spirit. We pray for the Spirit. And so 
the Spirit comes in a powerful way. And we'll note tonight, 
because we're going to look tonight at the cessation of tongues and 
prophecy and knowledge, But one thing that we have here is that 
the, they were all with one accord in one place and they were filled 
is connected to the 11 apostles gathered. But to our point here, 
the spirit is given not so that they might speak in, uh, in, 
you know, some sort of ecstatic fashion to themselves or to believers, 
but that they might proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to 
those in need, unbelievers. And that is the purpose of the 
giving of tongues here. The purpose, though, for our 
sermon is that the spirit is given for the act of preaching. 
And this comes just as Christ promised. Imagine all the disciples 
who received this promise by Christ prior to his crucifixion, 
resurrection, and ascension. They're scattered at the crucifixion 
for fear. In in in doubt even after the 
resurrection it takes them a while to even believe that it is the 
resurrected Christ Remember he has to say look at me and see 
that doesn't work. He has to say handle me and see 
that doesn't work He he has to then eat broiled fish and honeycomb 
and they finally come to the realization that okay This really 
is the Christ and so going through these stages whereby they're 
coming They're coming to a point where they can hopefully finally 
overcome the fear, the doubt, the fear of persecution, the 
fear of opposition from their own countrymen. Now, as promised, 
the Holy Spirit comes and he empowers these men, fear overcome 
by the empowering grace of God so that they might proclaim the 
riches and the excellencies of Jesus Christ. the gift of preachers, 
the gift of preaching, and the gift of the Spirit for preaching. On this day, the preacher and 
the preaching relied upon the Spirit of Christ, and today preachers 
with the same preaching stand in the same reliance. This is 
why it should be the common Christian exercise to pray for preaching. 
As prayer enters into your heart, as you engage in prayer, Never forget to pray for the 
preacher on the Lord's Day, that he might be filled with the Spirit 
to proclaim accurately and joyfully and with great conviction the 
things of God, the truth of God, the gospel of Jesus Christ. The 
preachers need our prayers. Do you? Just bringing some application 
and some conclusion at this point, do you give for the preaching, 
not only of your own good things, but your time-focused and attention. This is another thing. Preaching 
can sometimes be only as good as its reception on the part 
of the hearers. It is not only the preacher's 
responsibility in the act of worship to come up here and to 
proclaim the word of God, but it is the receiver's responsibility 
to, as the old boys would say, attend I and treat you and rouse 
yourselves so that you will be focused upon the preaching of 
God's word. Not for the preacher's sake, 
though, I mean, that can be a good ancillary or tertiary thing in 
your mind, but primarily and exaltedly above that for God 
and truth, for Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and for the one 
who came into this lower shame to redeem you from your sins. And so preaching requires not 
only our giving of good things, but also our time, our focus, 
our attention, and our prayer. Moving on then from his proclamational 
benefactions, his gifts concerning preaching, we want to notice, 
secondly, his salvific benefactions, those saving gifts that he dispenses 
from the right hand of the majesty on high. The Lord Jesus, very 
God and very man, yet one Christ, once crucified, now resurrected 
and ascended, gives to his people those redemptive benefits won 
by his obedience unto cross-death mission. So he's ascended to 
the right hand of the majesty on high, and now he dispenses 
those redemptive benefits that were won victoriously by the 
perfection of his work. And we see this in the text first 
by virtue of effectual calling. That is, these unbelievers being 
born again by the grace of God. On this day, souls were brought 
from darkness to light, from deadness to life, through the 
gift of preaching and by the power of the Holy Spirit. This 
continues to our own day. While we are reading history, 
while we are reading a true, inspired, inerrant, infallible 
account of the early days of the church, these things are 
not foreign to our own day. While the gift of tongues may 
have ceased, the gift of the Holy Spirit has not ceased in 
bringing forth dead sinners to life by amazing and victorious 
grace. What a blessed thing that we 
have that this is still going on today. We ought to pray for 
it, not only in our own midst, but also in other churches. Notice 
where we see that in the text. If we back up to verse 36, this 
is a connection between The gift of preaching and that which God 
brings forth by virtue of the activity of spirit-empowered 
preaching. Notice in Acts 2 at verse 36. 
with this effectual calling in view. Therefore, let all the 
house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus 
whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now notice this. 
Now, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said 
to Peter and the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what 
shall we do? Now just stop there for a moment. 
In the narrative of the book of Acts, there are there are 
two ways in which recipients of preaching are cut to the heart. This language is used throughout 
the book of Acts in choice places. Here we see, notice, they were 
cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 
men and brethren, what shall we do? Now just turn with me 
to the book of Acts, or to Acts chapter 7. Acts 7, this is the preaching 
of Stephen. Stephen's sermon at least according 
to Luke's expansion here is larger than Peter's Though there might 
be much summed up in the words of Acts 240 and with many other 
words He testified and exhorted them But we have a long record 
of the the preaching of Stephen and he comes to this point remember 
what Stephen is doing Stephen is showing that Jesus Christ 
is the fulfillment of tabernacle temple and Old Covenant religion 
just like just like Paul does in the book of Hebrews. In fact, 
the Apostle Paul probably heard Stephen and much of Stephen's 
sermonic content is in the background of Paul's writing. the book of 
Hebrews, but back to our point here, Acts chapter seven, and 
this cutting to the heart notice at verse 51, you stiff necked 
and uncircumcised in heart and ears. This is act seven 51. You always resist the Holy spirit 
as your fathers did. So do you, which of the prophets 
did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold 
the coming of the just one of whom you now have become the 
betrayers and murderers. who have received the law by 
the direction of angels and have not kept it. Now notice this 
similar language. When they heard these things, 
they were cut to the heart. But notice the different response. 
And they gnashed at him with their teeth. So getting back 
to effectual calling that comes by virtue of the mechanism of 
preaching back in Acts chapter two, these who asked the question, 
men and brethren, what shall we do? They're cut to the heart 
in a different way. The cutting of the heart cuts 
along that blessed edge of the sword and not the cursed one. 
In this case, they respond saying, men and brethren, what shall 
we do? Peter says, repent and let every one of you be baptized 
in the name of Jesus for the remission of sins. And then we 
read, and then we read, then those who gladly received his 
word were baptized in that day, about 3000 souls were added to 
them. So you see that the benefaction, 
the gift, the well-doing, the good doing of the ascended Christ 
here is seen in effectual calling, the gift of salvation comprehended 
in effectual calling. And this is something that we 
ought to, as Christians, reflect upon often, because the truth 
is not that we were maimed in sin, not that we were simply 
crippled in sin, Not that we were simply sick or ill in sin, 
but as the Bible says, we were dead in our trespasses and in 
our sins. In fact, isn't that the glorious 
reflection of the apostle Paul, setting the before picture in 
contrast to the after picture in Ephesians chapter two, verses 
one to four? You being dead in your trespasses 
and in your sins according to the prince of this world, the 
prince of the power of the air, the devil, the flesh, and the 
world, you navigated your whole life, dead in trespasses and 
sins, and then comes that glorious word, but God, that glorious 
phrase, but God, rich in mercy, rich in grace, rich in loving 
kindness, brought you forth from deadness to life and light in 
Christ. This is the blessed reflection 
of the people of God to reflect upon the fact that we were dead 
in trespasses, loving sin, enemies of God, but then victorious and 
amazing grace came, bringing us forth from deadness in sin 
to life in Christ, and this came by virtue of the preaching of 
the word of God. At least that's how it's ordinarily 
wrought. Perhaps you were saved reading 
your Bible in your home. Perhaps you were saved by someone 
outside of the gathered church who brought to you the word of 
Christ, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and by grace you believed, but 
all of that to come back to the fact that the proclamation in 
some way of the gospel of Jesus Christ came to you and you believed 
by amazing and victorious grace. You know, this is something that 
however the preacher fails adequately to communicate it to the gathered 
church, that we should be perhaps not externally, but internally, 
as Jim says, doing backflips in our hearts and minds because 
of amazing grace. that being dead in our trespasses 
and sins, nevertheless, God in his grace brought us forth for 
his glory. Also with respect to his salvific, 
well, let me just read this because this brings together the importance 
of preaching. Remember his proclamational gift 
of preaching? This brings together that and 
salvation by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is our confession 
at chapter 20, and paragraph 4, although the gospel be the 
only outward means of revealing Christ and saving grace, and 
is, as such, abundantly sufficient thereunto, yet that men who are 
dead in trespasses may be born again, quickened or regenerated, 
there is moreover necessary an effectual insuperable work of 
the Holy Spirit upon the whole soul. for the producing in them 
a new spiritual life without which no other means will affect 
their conversion unto God. So what do we do in prayer then? 
We have already noted that we pray for the preaching, but we 
also pray for the power of the Holy Spirit that he might bring 
victorious and amazing grace, making dead sinners alive in 
Jesus Christ. The gift of salvation, secondly, 
under his salvific benefactions is also seen in the forgiveness 
of sins. It's also seen in the forgiveness 
of sins because on this day, a multitude of sinners were forgiven 
by virtue of the perfect work of the Savior, Jesus Christ, 
and this same forgiveness is available today. You know, is 
there anything greater than the forgiveness of sins? Reflect 
upon as as believers not because as some God haters might say 
oh you guys what you get off the hook You know, you can you 
can you can sin that grace may abound. No, we rejoice in the 
forgiveness of sins and because we know where we were and we 
know where we are now in Christ. And by that same grace that brought 
us forth from deadness to life, we seek to conduct ourselves 
in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. But when we sin, and 
we do as believers, we have that advocate with the Father, Jesus 
Christ the righteous, and his propitiation, his expiation, 
his perfect work avails for the forgiveness of sins. And that's 
the language of the Apostle Peter here. Repent and let every one 
of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission 
of sins. A blessed thing for the Christian 
not only to reflect upon being brought from deadness to life, 
but to reflect upon the fact that God has cast our sins into 
the abyss of the sea. That as far as the East is from 
the West, and it is infinitely, our sins have been taken away 
from us. Because, you know, I don't think 
we can ever adequately know what the weight of sin, and we can 
never adequately wrap our heads around what the wrath is that 
our sin truly deserves. We ought to reflect upon the 
gravity of sin. We'll never be able to exhaust 
its weight. But we ought to reflect upon 
the reality of sin as believers, as unbelievers most certainly, 
but as believers as well. And we ought to reflect upon 
the fact that every sin deserves God's divine justice and wrath, 
not only in this life, but that which is to come everlastingly. And so what a blessed thing it 
is then to turn our attention from sin as believers to the 
savior for sinners, Jesus Christ, who bore in his own body our 
sins upon the tree that we having died to sin might live for righteousness. What a blessed thing we have 
in the forgiveness of sins, an unbeliever know that you have 
sinned against a holy God. You're here this morning and 
you're outside of Christ, you're here for whatever reason you're 
here for, and it is good that you're here. because preaching 
is a gift from God. And God speaks to you now of 
the reality that he is a holy God. He cannot look upon sin 
approvingly. All have sinned and have fallen 
short of the glory of God. And yet God, in his condescending 
mercy, God, in his condescending grace, has promised that all 
who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved, shall 
be born again, and shall have the forgiveness of sins. There's 
no better place to be than safe in Christ. There's no better 
place to be than believing in Christ, not because of your goodness, 
but because of the goodness of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, 
and because of the perfection alone of the doing and dying 
and rising again of Jesus Christ, the Son of God incarnate. Reflect 
upon him blessedly as the one who has gifted salvation. And 
lastly, we want to note his ecclesiastical Again, that simply means his 
gifts concerning the church of Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus, 
very God and very man, yet one Christ, once crucified, now resurrected 
and ascended, gives life and sustaining vigor to his church. And five things to close us off. That might scare you, five things, 
but we won't keep you beyond the time that you should be kept. 
First off, with regards to his ecclesiastical benefactions, 
we want to note the creed for the Church. When we talk about 
the fact that Christ, in his ascended glory, gives life and 
sustaining vigor to the Church, we want to note the creed given 
to the church. On this day, the content of Christian 
confession was courageously announced, and this has been the abiding 
content of Christian confession through millennia. And what are 
we talking about here in the text then? We're talking about 
Acts 2, 22 to 24. This is the creedal content of 
Christianity throughout the ages men of Israel 
hear these words Jesus of Nazareth a man attested by God to you 
by miracles wonders and signs which God did through him in 
your midst as you yourselves also know him being delivered 
by the determined purpose and for knowledge of God and You 
have taken by lawless hands have crucified and put to death whom 
God raised up Having loose the pains of death because it was 
not possible that he should be held by it We have wonderful 
portions in holy writ that set forth in a it with great packed 
brevity the content of Christian confession This is one the doing 
the dying the rising again of Jesus Christ the the incarnation 
the taking upon himself of humanity without sin by the Son of God, 
his life, death, and his resurrection. Some other passages of note, 
and this doesn't exhaust, where we see creedal content or even 
the appropriation of early Christian creeds included by the apostles, 
1 Corinthians 15, 3b to 4, and perhaps even as far as 7, 1 Timothy 
1.15 and 3.16, and Philippians 2, 6 to 11. Simply the most concise one of 
the bunch, 1 Timothy 1, 15, this is a faithful saying worthy of 
all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world sinners to 
save. In fact, the Apostle Peter, though that would come after 
this particular event, but it is as if the Apostle Peter is 
of course expanding upon that blessed creedal phrase. that 
blessed creedal clause, Christ Jesus came into the world, sinners 
to save. What did that look like? And 
what was behind that? The Old Testament fulfillment, 
the promises of the old covenant, the development of redemptive 
history coming to that terminus where Christ would come onto 
the scenes, the promised one of Genesis three to crush the 
head of the serpent. And so the creed of the church 
is given by the ascended Christ through the spirit rock proclamation 
of the gospel of Christ. Secondly, we have the building 
of the church. On this day, the promised builder 
of the church began the promised building and he presently continues 
this sovereign work. And this comes by virtue of the 
proclamational benefactions, as well as those salvific gifts. Notice where we see this in the 
text, the building of the church. Verse 41, then those who gladly 
received his word were baptized, and that day about 3,000 souls 
were added to them. In the narrative of the book 
of Acts, if we were to keep reading through the book, we would notice 
these progress reports. these updates from Luke concerning 
the progress of the proclamation of the gospel. And those progress 
updates, progress reports are very often given in the language 
of, and the Lord added to the church daily, those who were 
being saved. That is God building his church. That is the ascended Christ building 
his church. We don't build his church. We 
are the undeserved and blessed participants in the providential 
building of the church. We are the recipients, if you 
will, the blessed and undeserved recipients of the building of 
the church of Jesus Christ. But it is the exalted and ascended 
Christ who builds the church. And that day, about 3,000 souls 
were added to them. Thirdly, we see the unity of 
the church. On this day, a pattern of church 
character was established, and this is to be continually fought 
for. Notice the language of verse 
42, and they continued steadfastly. It's a wonderful report of the 
church's activity in the infant church, and they continued steadfastly. I would argue that those three 
words are a three-word summary of the book of Hebrews. In a 
sense, they're commanded to continue steadfastly. Hebrews 4.14, seeing 
then that we have such a great high priest, Jesus Christ, who 
has gone into the heavens before us, let us hold fast our confession. of faith. And so they, the early 
church, they are continuing steadfastly. In fact, turn with me to the 
book of Philippians for a moment, because this is something that 
churches are exhorted to engage in. Church unity. And we'll see 
what church unity is built around, because as wonderful as church 
potlucks can be, where there's, you know, casseroles and good 
food and all that sort of thing, as much as we ought to do that 
Man, as often as we can, I apologize that I missed the last one. I'll 
be at the next one, I promise. But we don't rally around casserole. Casserole is a nice ancillary 
or tertiary benefit of our church unity that we occasionally get 
to enjoy. Our unity, as we'll see, of course, 
is in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship. And while we 
talk about good theology, we can eat casserole. But in Philippians 
chapter 2, Notice what we excuse me Philippians chapter 1 verse 
27 notice the admonition on the part of the Apostle Paul here 
with respect to church unity and Continuing steadfastly verse 
27 of Philippians 1 only let your conduct be worthy of the 
gospel of Christ So that whether I come and see you or am absent 
I may hear of your affairs that you stand fast in one spirit 
with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel So 
there's a threefold exhortation unto church unity. It's founded 
upon conduct worthy of the gospel. And in fact, it's founded upon 
the stuff of verses one to four, humility. But the threefold exhortation 
to church unity is seen here, standing fast in one spirit, 
with one mind, and striving together for the faith of the gospel. 
And that faith of the gospel is the objective content of Christianity, 
not our subjective belief in Jesus Christ, though obviously 
that's important, but the faith of the gospel there means the 
objective content of our Christian confession. So back to Acts chapter 
2 then, continually throughout the Bible, continually throughout 
apostolic exhortation, continually throughout the writing of the 
epistles, this is sought after and this is communicated to be 
fought for in the form of admonition. And that is the simple language 
of they continued steadfastly. This is something again that 
we ought to pray for. If we pray for preaching, and 
we should, If we pray for the power of the Holy Spirit, and 
we should, if we pray for the power of the Holy Spirit in bringing 
forth dead sinners to life, and we should, then we should pray 
that the end of that activity, the end of that building of the 
church of the Lord Jesus Christ would be seen in and characterized 
by unity among the people of Christ. And that unity comes 
with our next point here, the interest of and the gathering 
of the church. What is it? What is the interest 
of the gathered church? What is the interest of those 
who have come together in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ 
to gather together as the church? It is on this day or that on 
this day, the rallying point for church unity was established 
and this abides for today's church. Notice the language again, verse 
42, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and 
fellowship. So this steadfastness is connected 
to apostolic doctrine and fellowship in the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is unity upon the ground or 
rallying point of the very truth of God. And that is why we so 
often emphasize the importance of truth. Not just we, that's 
why so often the Bible. always and everywhere emphasizes 
the importance and the value of truth, the truth of God, the 
truth concerning the triune God, the truth concerning Jesus Christ, 
the truth concerning salvation by Jesus Christ. And so the church 
is gathered and they're rallying around apostolic doctrine and 
fellowship. And this is the stuff of Hebrews 
2.23, excuse me, 10.23, In bringing all of this together, in bringing 
all of this together, the establishment of the church, the unity of the 
church, and the interest of the church, we read the Apostle Paul 
writing in Hebrews chapter 10 at verse 23, let us hold fast 
the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised 
is faithful. In fact, if you reflect upon 
just that one single verse, there is much of what we're talking 
about that is captured in this one verse. The confession of 
our hope. Remember, the creed of the church 
and the proclamation of the word of God. The confession of our 
hope is simply the excellence of the person of Christ and the 
surpassing merit of his work. So we see let us hold fast the 
confession of our hope without wavering continuing steadfastly 
They continued steadfast steadfastly for he who promised is faithful 
the one who promised to build his church the gates of Hades 
not having any progress against it and so Blessed is the reality 
that the church gets together, not around sideline things, not 
around hobby horses, not around unimportant things, but we gather 
around, or our unity is chiefly and primarily seen in the glory 
and the gospel of Jesus Christ our Savior. And lastly, notice 
what we see here. Under his ecclesiastical gifts 
or benefactions, we see the sacraments of the church. On this day, the 
pattern for new covenant ordinances was demonstrated, and these are 
to be continued in Christ's Church to the end of the world. Pardon me for a moment. We can edit that out of the video. On this day, the pattern for 
new covenant ordinances was demonstrated, and these are to be continued 
in Christ's church to the end of the world. Notice the text 
as it speaks, getting back to Acts chapter 2. Notice what we 
read here, beginning at, well, actually going back to verse 
38. Then Peter said to them, repent and let every one of you 
be baptized. in the name of Jesus Christ for 
the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the 
Holy Spirit. And as we track down, verse 41, 
then those who gladly received his word were baptized. And then 
as we track down even further, verse 42, and they continued 
steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship in the 
breaking of bread and in prayers. And so we have baptism and the 
Lord's Supper being inaugurated and observed and participated 
in very early in the advent of the Christian church. In fact, 
if we read this correctly, though there is present and then summary 
of future activity, we have this practice starting immediately 
after that 50th day on the day of Pentecost, that is 50 days 
after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. when this 
proclaiming of Jesus Christ took place. We have these new covenant 
activities beginning very shortly after that. And it is conspicuous 
the order that we have here with regards to baptism, verse 38, 
repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus 
Christ. the remission of sins so the 
proclamation of the word of christ comes to unbelievers they by 
the grace of god believe and then they are baptized by immersion 
in water we also see here the same order in verse 41 then those 
who gladly received his word were baptized the only subjects 
of baptism are those who gladly receive the word of god and then 
we have the lord's supper here they continued in the Apostles' 
Doctrine fellowship, the breaking of bread, and in prayers. We 
are to, a simple conclusion and application, we are to, as Christians, 
attend to the means of grace that God has gifted us with. 
One of those means is the preaching of the word within the context 
of the gathered church. That is the primary central act 
of worship, the preaching of the word of God. We are to attend 
to that because it is through and by the preaching that God 
will not only save sinners, but he'll also endow believers with 
enlightenment and enrichment and illumination with regards 
to the word of God. We see that in Luke chapter 24. 
Remember, after God saves us by his grace and for his glory, 
we don't just stop with learning. Okay, I've heard of this gospel 
thing, you know, Jesus, God and man, one Christ who redeemed 
his elect. I'm good now. Our Christian lives 
are marked by continual learning and growing the taking in of 
the truth of God for God's glory and for our good as we walk in 
this lower world of shame and sin. And following the resurrection 
of Jesus Christ, remember, he comes to his disciples and he 
gives them a post this post resurrection Bible study, opening up to them 
the fact that he is the one to whom the law, the prophets and 
the Psalms pointed that he is the subject matter, the sum and 
substance of biblical revelation. And then we read that the Holy 
Spirit, or He, Christ, by virtue of the Holy Spirit, opened up 
their minds that they might understand the Scriptures. Well, that wasn't 
the moment of their salvation. They had already believed on 
the Lord Jesus Christ. So what does that mean then? 
It means that one of the gifts of the ascended Christ is to 
enlighten, to open the eyes of those whose eyes had already 
been opened salvifically and being brought from darkness to 
light. but are now growing in the grace and in the knowledge 
of Jesus Christ. And so we ought to pray that 
we would attend unto preaching, but coming back to the sacraments 
of the church, that we would attend the Lord's Supper as well. 
Because it is in the Lord's Supper, it is through and by the Lord's 
Supper that we also grow in the grace of faith. Our confession 
Reads this way, the grace of faith whereby the elect are enabled 
to believe to the saving of their souls is the work of the Spirit 
of Christ in their hearts and is ordinarily wrought by the 
ministry of the word by which also and by the administration 
of baptism and the Lord's Supper, prayer and other means appointed 
of God. Note, it is increased and strengthened. If we want to grow in our faith, 
if we want the grace of faith to be increased and strengthened, 
we need to attend unto those means of grace, the preaching 
of the word of God, baptism and the Lord's supper, prayer, and 
other means appointed by God. And that other means, he's probably, 
he, the confessionalists are probably pointing to chapter 
22 and various fastings on occasion. But back to this point, the sacraments 
of the church, here inaugurated by the Lord Jesus Christ, or 
here inaugurated in the context of the gathered church, they 
are inaugurated, observed, and to this day and to the end of 
the world, the church is to observe these things. And so some applications 
and some things just in a very quick closing. We would want 
to ask, do you confess the Christ of the Creed? And a very simple 
application Believers we know you do do you grow in the grace 
and in the knowledge of that Christ of the Creed that? Man 
attested by God to us by miracles wonders and signs that very God 
and very man yet one Christ the only mediator between God and 
man who lived a life of obedience in the stead of all his people 
who died upon Calvary's cross in the place of all his people 
who rose again and was ascended an unbeliever Know that there 
is only one way of to heaven. There's a saying of the spiritually 
ambiguous that goes something like all roads lead to heaven, 
some sort of universalistic approach. In fact, we heard about it in 
the prayer meeting this morning that there are some that believe 
that everybody goes to heaven in the end because everybody 
really, especially at their funeral, was the greatest guy on earth. 
We're going to miss him. He's just the best, always did 
good. That's sort of the common report 
at funerals. You know, you see relatives in 
the back kind of rolling their eyes. But there's this idea, 
you know, this universalistic idea that all roads lead to heaven. If you're here this morning, 
there is one way to heaven, and that is through Jesus Christ, 
the Savior. We're not, you're not going to get there by your 
goodness, by your virtue, by your works, not by deeds of righteousness, 
which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us by 
the washing of regeneration and renewing of the spirit by virtue 
of the perfect work of this one, the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you 
prize the deposit of doctrine the church has been entrusted 
with? And do you attend the means that Christ has given for your 
good? Hopefully we can all see and 
we all glory in the reality that Christ died for his elect But 
remember, that's also comprehended in the language of Ephesians 
5, he died for the church. Yes, it is the case that the 
apostle Paul could say, he loved me and gave himself for me. But we don't have an individualistic 
Christianity, because Paul would also write, husbands love your 
wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. We are to love the church. We 
are to love the church because it is Christ, the king who builds 
it. We are to find or to seek after, 
to fight for unity, to gather around the interest of the church, 
which is apostolic doctrine and fellowship. We are to glory in 
the blessings of our ascended Christ. And the message goes 
out to all, believe on him and you will have everlasting life. 
Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we rejoice in 
your goodness to us. We thank you that we can reflect 
upon Holy Scripture, rejoice in you, our God, Father, Son, 
and Holy Spirit, that we can rejoice in the blessings of the 
ascended Christ. And we pray that we would reflect 
often upon these blessings, that we would avail of them by your 
grace and for your glory. and that we would seek to grow 
in the knowledge of Jesus Christ and seek to grow in the grace 
of Christ. Do help us by your spirit. And we pray that we would go 
into the rest of this day bringing on honor to your name. We pray 
in Jesus Christ, our redeeming King. Amen. Please stand for the doxology, 
correct? 568 in the hymn books. Let's 
stand and sing together. Praise him, all creatures, dearly 
loved. Praise him among ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. able to keep you from stumbling 
and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory 
with exceeding joy to God, our Savior, who alone is wise, be 
glory and majesty, dominion and power both now and forever. Amen. Please be seated. We'll 
have a brief time of prayer when the piano is finished. You're 
dismissed.