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.
Introduction
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.
Proclamational Benefactions
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
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.
The Spirit's Gift for 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.
Salvific Benefactions
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
Effectual Calling
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.
Forgiveness of Sins
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.
Ecclesiastical Benefactions
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.
The Creed of the Church
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.
The Building of the Church
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.
The Unity of the Church
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.
The Interest 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.
The Sacraments of the Church
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.
Closing Prayer
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.
Scripture References
- Genesis 3
- Isaiah 53:12
- Luke 24
- Acts 2:1; 2:22-47; 7:51
- 1 Corinthians 15:3-4
- Galatians 3:1
- Ephesians 2:1-4; 4:7-11; 5
- Philippians 1:27; 2:6-11
- Hebrews 4:14; 10:23
- 1 Timothy 1:15; 3:16