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if you came to hear him preach I apologize you're stuck with me this morning but we can pray for for pastor Butler as he takes vacation it's a pastoral ministry and the preaching of the word can be can be a difficult thing a straining thing in a taxing thing so it's good to give preachers of the gospel their rest in their vacations when when we can and so he's enjoying a three-week vacation so keep him in your prayers and keep me in your prayers if you can as well because the the preaching task comes to me as his substitute for lack of a better term well let's turn in our Bibles then as we begin our worship this morning you can turn with me to Psalm 16 Psalm 16 our call to worship a reading of the entirety of this Psalm Psalm 16 beginning in verse 1 this is the word of the living and true God a mikta move David preserve me O God for in you I put my trust oh my soul you have said to the Lord you are my lord my goodness is nothing apart from you as for the Saints who are on the earth they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight their sorrows shall be multiplied who hast and after another God their drink offerings of blood I will not offer nor take upon or take up their names on my lips o Lord you are the portion of my inheritance and my cup you maintain my lot the lines have fallen to me in Pleasant places yes I have a good inheritance I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel my heart also instructs me in the night seasons I have set the Lord always before me before excuse me because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices my flesh also will rest in hope for you will not leave my soul in Sheol nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption you will show me the path of life in your presence is full of joy at your right hand are pleasures forevermore amen well let's stand and sing our first hymn if you'll turn with me in your larger Trinity hymnal that's the larger book in front of you will stand and sing 393 together that's 393 [Music] please be seated we'll now go to our God in prayer let us pray Heavenly Father we come to you now in prayer on this year Lord's Day Sabbath rejoicing as we gather together in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior rejoicing that we can so gather in freedom and in liberty as we have acknowledged before many throughout the world cannot gather together freely in churches of the Lord Jesus Christ - - together as a gathered body sing your praises - rejoice in your truth and to give you honor and praise and we pray that you'd help each and every one of us to count it a blessing and a and a high honor to be able to gather in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ to worship you our great triune God we confess your glory we confess your Majesty we confess Lord God that you are creator of the heavens and the earth and all that is in them whether visible or invisible that you brought all things into existence in the space of six days and all very good and we rejoice that you sustain and uphold all things that you have made by the word of your power we rejoice Lord God and the fact that you have called forth sinners from deadness to life through Jesus Christ we rejoice in you our Creator our sustainer and our Redeemer and we do pray that you would be hallowed by the lips of your Saints in this place and that throughout the world Lord God that you're gathered Saints would give you honor and that they would give you praise for truly honor and praise you are worthy of these things and we do pray that you would give that measure of your spirit to all of your saints throughout the earth today to return to you praise and honor we thank you for the gospel of Jesus Christ our Savior as we rehearse each and every Lord's Day we thank you Lord God that you did send Christ in the fullness of the times born of a woman and born under the law to redeem those who are under the law we thank you that we have adoption as sons through Jesus Christ we thank you Lord God for that precious truth that he came into this world sinners to save and we do pray that you'd help us each and every time we gather to reflect with great joy upon the doing and the dying and the rising again of the Son of God that we would these things as those glorious and sensual things of our Christian religion we do pray that you we would return to you praise and honor and Thanksgiving and and all of those things that you are worthy of for so great a salvation and for so great a gospel we know that we were dead in trespasses and in sins that we had the darkness and the deadness that is marked by sin and iniquity and depravity and all those things but according to your purpose according to your will and counsel and in your good and appointed an acceptable time you brought us forth from darkness to light not because we had done anything good not because of the deeds that we have done in holiness of heart but solely and alone by virtue of the perfect finished work of Jesus Christ the Lord and in that we rejoice we pray Lord God for many who need prayer for physical things we know that the list is long and we remember them this morning in the prayer hour we pray for Linda D Armani we pray that you'd strengthen her in her battle with cancer we do pray that you'd give her much daily strength and as she endures the effects of chemotherapy and all these things Lord we do just pray that you'd tend to our dear sister strengthen her in body and strengthen her in the inner man and cause her in the midst of affliction to rejoice in you we pray for Dawn Neufeld Lord we pray that you'd strengthen him is he indoors these migraines in addition to everything associated with his disease we just pray that you bless our brother that caused him to no strength to no help and again in the midst of affliction to glory in his God we pray for John Proctor that you just bless our dear brother help him heal him give him a return strength so that he might be able to rejoin us here but in the meantime God just tend to him and strengthen him in body and that cause him though away from us to be in a sense with us rejoicing along with us and the glories of Christ we pray for all struggling with illness that you tend to them that you would help them as the Great Physician grant much healing to your ailing Saints we pray Lord for any and all who are struggling spiritually that you would lift them up upon the high places that you'd caused them to come up from out of the hole as it were that you'd caused them to return to have returned to them the joy of their salvation and that you would just tend to their hearts and cause them to know their God to rejoice in their Christ and to bless your most high name we do pray God for those who rule over us as recalled in the Holy Scriptures to pray for Kings and those who are in authority we do that now we ask that you'd be with the rulers of this country those of the United States and throughout the world that those who rule over us would do so injustice and inequity that you would cause them to cast down abominations that they would no longer uphold wickedness perverting the nation's but rather those who rule over us would uphold a proper righteousness and a proper justice throughout the lands we long to see this and we do pray that you'd keep your people prayerful for these things that we may throughout the earth live a peaceable lives and that the proclamation of the gospel may go forth unhindered we do pray Lord God that you'd be with us then in worship we long to worship you in spirit and in truth and we need the Holy Spirit unto this end so we pray for the Ministry of the Holy Spirit to lift our hearts to lift our souls to a high and an honorable worship we pray Lord God that you would be with us as we read the scriptures as we sing as we pray as we engage in that central act of worship the preaching of the word we do pray that all would be done in good order and for your glory sake that you keep us attentive that you keep us focused that we would take in the worship of the triune God and that we would return to you once again the honor in the praise that is do your most high name so do be with us now we pray might all that is done this morning and this evening be done unto the praise of Father Son and Holy Spirit and we pray in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior amen let's stand again in sing this time we're gonna sing five oh five if you'll stand with me hymn number five zero five will stand and sing together as a church [Music] Oh please be seated you can turn in your Bibles with me to the Gospel of John the Gospel of John so we continue to read through the New Testament having finished Luke last Lord's Day we now move on to the Gospel according to John so John chapter 1 beginning in verse 1 once again the word of God John 1:1 in the beginning was the word and the Word was with God and the Word was God he was in the beginning with God all things were made through him and without him nothing was made that was made in him was life and the life was the light of men and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it there was a man sent from God whose name was John this man came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all through him might believe he was not that light but was sent to bear witness of that light that was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world he was in the world and the world was made through him and the world did not know him he came to his own in his own did not receive him but as many as received him to them he gave the right to become children of God to those who believe in his name who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth John bore witness of him and cried out saying this was he of whom I said he who comes after me is preferred before me for he was before me and of his fullness we have all received and grace for grace for the law was given through Moses but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ no one has seen God at any time the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father he has declared him amen well there's a particular saying at the end of the Gospel of John that sums up the perp for the Gospel of John and that is that these things were written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and believing you may have life in his name John 1:1 218 that we just read serves as the theological foundation for that particular statement for the the theological foundation for the entire gospel this one who came in the fullness of the times born of a woman and born under the law is God Most High with regards to the first verse of this passage that we just read an old father of the church Ambrose he was a fourth century theologian in Spain he said by these words the fisherman has barred the way of all heresy what that means is that he dashes to pieces any notion that Christ is not eternal when he says in the beginning was the word he would say the the words and the blasphemies of fattiness are dashed to the sea because with these simple words he declares the eternality of Christ the heresy and the abomination of sibelius is likewise obliterated by the next statement and the Word was with God there is distinction between the word or son and the father and so the madness of those who would say that the father became the son and then became the spirit the madness of such things are dashed to pieces upon the clarity of biblical truth because clearly we read here and the Word was with God and then Arius is cast as well into the dark abyss with these blessed words and the Word was God this one who was in the beginning this one who is yet distinct from the father is nevertheless one with the father one in substance one in essence with him who begat him even God of God light of light true God from True God it's a beautiful statement here by these words the fisherman has most certainly barred the way of all heresy and then notice the the height of condescension which is I guess an oxymoron but the the height of condescension in verse 14 and the word became flesh and dwelt among us what a what a glorious what glorious words of condescension that we have in in those simple words the word became flesh and dwelt among us this one who was in the beginning with God this one who is God Most High nevertheless became flesh and dwelt among us and it's not that he and you've heard this before it's not that he became flesh as if he lost his deity mutated into humanity and now his man alone no this means or this carries the weight of he took upon our nature he took our nature upon himself not casting off that which he was he nevertheless became that which he was not the word became flesh and dwelt among us that glorious promise of Emmanuel God with us that the maker of angels would condescend and would for a time be lesser than angels as he took on our humanity to affect our Redemption and we see this language following after it which is amazing considering that he is if you consider something of a birth narrative in this language though we wouldn't confine it to simply a birth narrative but considering a baby lying in a manger wrapped in swaddling cloths the word became flesh and dwelt among us this language that follows and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth there's a passage in the Hebrews that says out when he when God brings the firstborn that is Christ into the world he said let all the angels of God worship Him when the angels look down upon that babe wrapped in swaddling cloths lying in a manger they knew that this was the one who was in the beginning with God the one who is God most high and they beheld his glory and they worshiped him hark the herald angels sing glory to the newborn King we marvel at such a glorious Christ who was in the beginning with God who was with God who is God Most High who nevertheless took upon himself our nature for our redemption glorious gospel glorious Christ let us pray Heavenly Father we thank you for your truth we thank you for your word we rejoice in what it discloses to us concerning the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ might we always revel in the truth as we find it in holy scripture that the one who is in the beginning with God that one who was with God that one who is God this one came down took upon himself man's nature for our recovery and redemption what a glorious story what a glorious narrative what a glorious truth we have in your holy scriptures and we do pray that we would always be cast down to a proper humility as we consider that so great a salvation we pray Lord God that you'd be with Pastor Butler as he's on vacation strengthen him nourish him to give him refreshment as he takes time off and do just restore him as he returns back to us in a in three weeks we do pray that he would come back invigorated restored and strengthened and and we do just pray for him now in Christ's precious name Amen well let's stand and sing together another hymn this time it's going to be six six seven in that same Trinity hymnal that's six six seven let's stand and sing together [Music] please be seated can turn in your Bibles to the book of Acts Acts chapter 2 no I won't be continuing pastor Butler's preaching through the the the book of Acts he is able and fit for doing that we're going to backtrack though and consider a passage that he's already preached on from a bit of a different vantage point this morning which I'll explain after we read it but just a note of backdrop here remember that Christ in his earthly ministry prior to his crucifixion resurrection and ascension had promised that he would build his church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it when we come to the book of Acts the ascendant now ascended Christ Jesus is empowering and invigorating his church and his messengers to go about the task of the Christ blast process of building that church it is Christ who builds it through the ministrations of his earthly ambassadors and his earthly heralds and so the backdrop that we have here is that promise of Christ we have the promise of the sending of the Spirit you'll remember as well in Christ's earthly ministry he promised that he would send his spirit so that the disciples so that the Apostles would have the means and the spiritual wherewithal to go about proclaiming the good tidings of Jesus Christ and as well he's then sends those ministers themselves he promised behold I sent you prophets wise men and scribes he sends after empowering his ministers and promising to build his church he sends them out into the world to go about proclaiming the riches and the excellencies of Christ and here in Acts chapter 2 the portion of the text were going to be concerned with his verses 22 to 43 and just a brief introduction here we have in verses 22 to 24 a sermonic prologue that simply means something of an introduction to the to the sermon at large that the apostle peter beginning here men of Israel hear these words Jesus of Nazareth and then capsule aiding the death and resurrection message that is at the core of Christianity in verses 25 to 35 then we have the sermonic expansion and explanation it's an opening up of verses 22 to 24 what follows in 25 to 35 an expansion and an explanation of this crucified one of this resurrected one what that means and what is the scriptural undergirding for the completion and the perfection of that promise in verse 36 we have the cutting application the Apostle Peter bringing to bear the sins of the people include upon the message of this Christ we have the audience response in verse 37 we have the summons and the promise in verses 38 to 39 and then the summary of divine building in 40 to 43 and when we get to that particular point we'll notice here that isn't it a wonderful thing that the building of the church doesn't occur by the sweat of men mind you the sweat of men is engaged in the building of the church but it is a divine building Christ had promised that he would build his church and when we come to the narrative account in the book of Acts of the building of that church we find that it is God who adds to the church daily those who are being saved we can rest upon the divine promise that he will build his church well let's begin reading then in verse 22 we'll read to verse 43 and then we'll have a look at a number of things verse 22 beginning our acts 2 beginning in verse 22 once again the Word of God 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 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 for seeing 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 in here 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 afar off as many as the Lord our God will call and 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 three thousand 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 us pray God we thank you for this time now in the preaching of your word we do pray that you would help us in this act of worship be with the preacher we pray that you would help Lord God to preach accurately and to preach with precision your word we do pray for those who hear that you would instruct them that you would equip them we pray Lord by your spirit your Saints would leave this place equipped and strengthened for a week to live for your glory sake and we pray Lord God that by preaching and by spirit you would bring forth dead sinners to life this morning knowing that with you all things are possible we pray that you would bring dead sinners to life in Christ Jesus the Lord that many more tongues might confess that Jesus is Christ to the to the glory of God the Father and we do pray that in this act and in the rest of this worship this morning you would help us to worship you in spirit and in truth that you would once again receive all honor and praise we pray in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord amen well I mentioned that we take a little bit of a different angle with regards to this passage what I want to do is look at the benefactions of the Ascended Christ we confess a number of things regarding Christ we confess him as very God we confess him as very man we confess him as one Christ we confess him as the only mediator between God and men we confess him as the one who has alone affected salvation for all his elect there are a number of things regarding his person and regarding his work that we do confess but we also want to not forget to confess his benefactions that simply means the gifts that he gives to us you've perhaps heard the language before benefactor beneficiary a benefactor kids if I was to give you candy if I had a bunch of candy that I was willing to give I would be a benefactor one who is giving good things you would be the beneficiaries I would give you I don't have any candy by the way so if anybody is coming up to me afterwards I'm sorry I don't have any candy you receiving the candy you're the beneficiary of these good things and these good things we can call them benefactions it's not a very common word but that's simply the word I used the benefactions of the Ascended Christ gifts that he gives to his people now having been crucified having been resurrected having now been ascended what does he pour out upon what does he give to his church what good things of the bounty of the exalted Redeemer that do come forth to the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ we're going to notice three things and I'll explain these terms as as we move along but the three things we're going to look at are these first his charismatic benefactions secondly his soteriological benefactions and thirdly his ecclesiastical benefactions a lot of syllables there but we'll define them as we move along first off then his charismatic benefactions this simply means kids and this simply means adults his gifts relating to the preaching of the gospel if you ever hear the word charisma sometimes you might read it if you're reading a commentary you're reading a book on theology or something you might read the the term charisma that simply means a pattern of apostolic preaching here in the book of Acts the charisma or the pattern of apostolic preaching is that the preachers bring to bear that the promised Christ of the Old Testament is this Jesus Christ whom you crucified and they they hinge to that message certain applications and certain things and so his charismatic benefactions that simply means the gifts of the Ascended Christ that pertain to preaching we would introduce this section by these words the Lord Jesus very God and very man yet one Christ once crucified now resurrected and ascended gives to his creation in church the gift of the proclamation of the gospel that is the benefaction one of the benefactions that Christ gives to his creation and church the proclamation of his gospel first off under this head the gift of preachers now this isn't to be a self-serving sub-point you know this isn't the point where the preacher puffs out his chest and says aren't we a gift to creation in the church but in a sense a preacher is a gift to creation in the church by Christ not in some sort of puffed upper stuff II sort of way but in the manner by which God was pleased to ordained the proclamation of his message concerning his dear son the preacher is the means of the tool the instrument given by God for such Proclamation on this day a preacher stood up to preach and he is prototypical for all who follow the Peter stands up on this day and he begins to preach in verse 22 in fact he has began to preach prior to in his explanation with regards to the pouring out of the Holy Spirit but the sermon the pointed sermon in a sense begins now in verse 22 men of Israel hear these words preacher stood up on this day and he's prototypical for all who follow boldness by grace here in the Apostle Peter we see that Peter stands up as a preacher to a multitude here and he is empowered by God to proclaim the message that God would have for these people on this day and remember this has been we have had cause to recognize this and reflect on this before but isn't it it isn't it an amazing thing here that we have Peter standing up and preaching and speaking these words men of Israel hear these words recall what what Peter was or who Peter was fifty days ago from the vantage point of this day of preaching fifty days ago Peter was thrice denying his Lord before the patio interrogations of of wicked persons before one patio interrogation of a servant girl he was denying his Lord but we see here fifty days later what's going on Peter is standing up with vigor and he's standing up with courage proclaiming the Christ of glorious truth it's an amazing thing do you know do you remember why how it is that Peter is standing up on this day with what with what strength he is he is now standing before this multitude and preaching remember that before his denial Christ had said Satan has sought to sift you like wheat but I have prayed for you that faith would not fail and when you have returned to me strengthen your brethren it's another glorious thing we have a Christ that prays for us brothers and sisters we have a Christ that intercedes for us and prays for us you have perhaps stumbled in your walk with Christ you've perhaps stumbled in your walk as a Christian and the guilt pours in the guilt starts to pour in because you've sinned you had a good season where things were going well but sin has common you've stumbled know that there is a Christ who prays for you there is a Christ who sits at the right hand of the Father on high and he prays for you he said to Peter I pray I have prayed for you that your faith would not fail when you've returned to me strengthen your brethren and the preacher stands up on this day and he does strengthen his brethren what an amazing turn it is from I do not know this Jesus of Nazareth to men of Israel hear these words Jesus of Nazareth and he goes on to proclaim his glorious Christ it's an amazing thing that the Christ who are that the Peter rather who cowered before the patio interrogations of a servant girl can stand up and say therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ whenever we read this passage in acts we ought to marvel at the amazing grace of God that's a that's an application that's easy for the preacher but it's an application that so often comes across us at them in the pages of Holy Scripture having turned Peter from that denier to a great and vigorous proclaimer of the riches and the excellencies of Jesus Christ but notice that the risen Christ the risen and exalted Christ has gifted his creation and church in this case with preachers can turn with me to keep our minds active and to keep our fingers moving to the book of Ephesians for a moment just to see that this Ascension or the the gift of good things the gift of preachers seemed connected to the Ascension of Jesus Christ Christ has been Cruz if I'd Christ has been resurrected he's now being ascended so what does he do notice in Ephesians chapter 4 beginning in verse 7 this marks by the way the transition from the theological to the practical in Paul's letter to the Ephesians he has preached rich theology and now he gets to the implications of it but in the midst of this he remarks concerning Christ his ascension in the giving of gifts notice in verse 7 of Ephesians 4 but to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift his benefactions therefore he says when he ascended on high he led captivity cat he led captivity captive and gave gifts to men now skip past the parenthetical for a moment to notice verse 11 and he gave himself some to be apostles some prophets some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the Saints for the work of ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ and so we have here this gifting this giving these benefactions linked to the Ascension of Jesus Christ isn't it a wonderful thing Christ Jesus upon the heels of his ascension does not just stop and his mediatorial work and say okay I've done my thing now now I leave you I leave the church to do your own thing without my beneficence and without my ongoing activity as the one station at the right hand of God no he continues to work he continues to do he continues to engage in his mediatorial activity for the good of his church and here we see that preachers are given as gifts to men I there are many applications that come from this but one of the things that we ought to see in this is do you pray for your preacher in the morning before Jim Butler comes into the pulpit to to preach at some point maybe the night before but certainly in the morning leading to it do you pray for the preacher because preachers don't come into this pulpit and good preachers preachers of Christ true preachers of the gospel don't enter into a pulpit with a chest puffed and and with with an arrogance there are always knees knocking and nerves rambling in a preacher of the gospel it's a very difficult thing I think I've used this illustration before if I was just coming up here if the preacher was just coming up here and just or excuse me not a preacher but if I just came up here and this was a different context and you know perhaps it was a perhaps we all worked for skittles and I was giving a lecture on the why they changed the green skittle to a different flavor I still don't know why they did that but if I was just giving you a lecture on skittles the subject matter wouldn't be it wouldn't be all that important it wouldn't be of an eternal significance it would simply be a lecture on why I switched flavors from the the whatever it was to whatever it is now it's not as nice it as it is now but you get the point if I was just a marketing representative for skittles giving you a lecture on the new green flavor probably wouldn't be all that engaging you as employees of skittles might need to know these things but it there wouldn't be a whole weight upon the shoulders of the person speaking about a green skittle there wouldn't it wouldn't be a laborious thing it wouldn't be a heavy thing but when it comes as we now land back upon sacred things when it comes to sacred things when it comes to the stuff of the Bible when it comes to eternal things the things of the written word concerning God and His redemption for men it's a it's a heavy topic it's a heavy task you have the devil the assailing devil a seeking to steal away confidence you have the world and it's allurements seeking to distract you have the the flesh that remains the the flesh that lusts after the spirit seeking to battle you away from preaching the Word of God do you pray for your preachers preachers go into the pulpit and they rest upon God they rest upon the triune God who gives mightily for the act of preaching but they also rely upon a praying congregation that is the providential means where you enter in with the ordainment of God in the instrumentation of preachers given by Christ as a gift to proclaim the riches and the excellencies of Christ and so do you pray for your preachers secondly under his charismatic benefactions which simply means again the gifts relating to the preaching of the gospel we have the gift of preaching you might say okay well what's different there well there is a difference God has given us preachers for the proclamation of his gospel but he's also given us the act of preaching wherein the preacher engages in that heavy task of proclamation and here Peter on this day it was preaching that was needful and this is the enduring pattern for the history of Christianity on this day Peter stands up and he preaches he preaches a message concerning Christ his riches and his Excellency's for the growth of the church and for the good of the church God or rather Christ in his ascended reality has been affected preaching to the church for her good it's been said before by Jim more than myself that there were many other media available to the church there were many other media there were I think that's the proper word there were multiple mediums available for the church to engage in for the communication of a message but it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe you see here Peter standing up he doesn't engage in a jungle a juggling act he doesn't engage in song he doesn't engage in theater he doesn't engage in anything save for the preaching of the word and this is a gift given by the Ascended Christ here and it's not simply preaching merely but it is the reality of it and the content of it you see it's not just speaking words it's not just Peter standing up and speaking words to this gathered assembly but rather there is a content to his preaching and isn't the content rich 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 you see it's not just the speaking of words that is the gift of preaching it is the reality of preaching to be sure but it's the content as well and here Peter stands up and he preaches his Christ he proclaims the glories and the riches of Jesus Christ on this day it was preaching that was needful and this is the enduring pattern in the history of Christianity today it is preaching that is needful today it is preaching that is needful for the salvation of sinners you know I think it is the case the case in many corners of the professing church that if preaching isn't working then we need to try something else a pragmatic approach to Christianity if preaching isn't working then you know we need to try some other medium we need to introduce perhaps we shrink the preaching down to 10 minutes and we introduce other things because the church just isn't growing it has been preaching that God has always been pleased to use for the growth of the church the church may go through many seasons of a being and flowing throughout the years but it has always been and it will always be preaching that God uses for that enduring pattern to grow his church throughout the ages I could turn with me for a moment to Galatians chapter 3 to see something with respect to media that is mediums used for communication and the preaching of the word it's an interesting passage here in Galatians 3 if we understand the she way ssin in Galatia where it is geographically relative to where Christ ministered and consider the preaching of the word notice that the great at the beginning of Galatians chapter 3 beginning 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 and let me just read that one more time because Galatia is hundreds of miles away from Jerusalem they never saw the Lord Jesus Christ 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 you see it when the preaching of the word is delivered as it ought to be delivered when a minister of the gospel stands up in a pulpit and proclaims the Word of God in this case when a minister of the gospel stands up before a congregation and preaches Jesus Christ it is as if Christ is clearly portrayed before our eyes as crucified you see we don't we don't need visual media we don't need theater through the preaching of the word the gospel of Jesus Christ is as if it is unfolding before our own eyes Calvin preached these words on this particular notion and he's talking about the the the vanity of symbols and emblems and pictures in a church he says Paul declares speaking 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 used then were the erection in churches of so many crosses of wood and 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 washed them in his blood and in short reconcile us to God the Father from this one doctrine the people would learn more from a thousand crosses of wood and stone as four crosses of gold and silver it may be true that the vicious give their eyes and minds to them more eagerly than to attend to any heavenly instructor what are you saying there is that you know the eyes of the avaricious the eyes of those eager for visual things give their eyes in their minds more to crosses to pictures to crosses of gold and silver wood and stone then to heavenly instruct the instructors than to preachers and the preaching of the word from this one doctrine the preaching of the gospel the people would learn more than from a thousand crosses of wood and stone and so the gift of preachers and the gift of preaching and one of the things we ought to consider here one of the things we ought to bring in to mind is do you give for the preaching and I don't mean of your own good things I mean your time and your focus and your attention as we said before it's not an easy task it is a task that the preacher ought to be able to engage in you know any dumb preacher ought to be able to get up into a pulpit and stand up and proclaim the Word of God to a particular measure of precision and accuracy that so that the people get something out of it but do you give to the preaching that is your time and your focus and your attention I I'm not sure what they saying exactly is but the preacher is to preach but the people are reciprocally supposed to hear in other words you can get a preacher that's eager to come into the pulpit and to preach but if you don't have people eager to come into the pews to hear the word of God preached then the preaching exercise can be a vanity oh sure if there are zero eager people out there and the preacher is preaching he's done his job he's been empowered by God to proclaim and that ordained means of proclamation but if no one is out there eager to receive the Word of God preached then it can be in a sense vanity and as we come in each and every Lord's Day as we do come in each and every Lord's Day we ought to be eager to hear we ought to be ready to hear and we ought to give ear as the preaching is carried out by the preacher there is the gift of preachers there is the gift of preaching and we ought to recognize in this there ought to be a particular recognition I've already said that the preacher doesn't enter the pulpit puffed-up he certainly ought not to do so but there is a certain recognition with respect to preaching that we ought to recognize and that we ought to it ought to help us as we prepare ourselves to come in to hear preaching on the Lord's Day some things that we ought to consider are the stuff of 2nd Corinthians 4 you don't need to turn there but if you have quick fingers you can do so notice in 2nd Corinthians 4 beginning at verse 4 excuse me beginning at verse 5 for we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves your bond servants for Jesus sake for it is the God who commanded light to shine out of Darkness who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ he doesn't stop there though but just for a moment notice the power that is behind your salvation the power that is behind salvation generally speaking you catch that in verse 6 where it is the God who commanded light to shine out of Darkness who is sean in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ you get the connection there that the same power the very power that called creation into existence the very power that commanded light to shine out of the darkness and to shine into the darkness the very power that created the heavens and the earth and all things that are in them in the space of six days and all very good is the same power that calls dead sinners to life in Jesus Christ it's an amazing power that pictures man's need his desperate need his deadness in trespasses and sins and it pictures the glorious God of heaven and earth who with creative power makes a sinner his own by immense and glorious almighty power but notice as we move on or as we read on with respect to preachers seven but we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us so to inform your prayer and to inform your preparation for preaching and to qualify the fact that preachers are a gift to the Cree to creation and to the church we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us pray for your preachers and pray for the preaching and thirdly under his charismatic benefactions again the gifts relating to the preaching of the gospel we simply have the fact that of the gift of the Spirit for preaching this is something that also ought to populate your prayers as your even in the midst if you're if you're if you're called to in the middle of preaching the preacher relies upon the Spirit of God for the proclamation of the word yeah I've mentioned before it is a heavy task coming into a pulpit to try to preach the Word of God and the preacher relies upon the Spirit of God for power and for much assurance and even as the preacher is going about the act of preaching as the preacher is up here hopefully not rambling but bringing to bear the Word of God upon your souls you pray for the Ministry of the Holy Spirit Lord give him the spirit that he may continue in the act of preaching the gift of spirit of the Spirit for preaching finding our way back to acts 2 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 I want you to notice something back in Acts chapter 2 the passage that we're considering is as something of a point of departure for looking at his benefactions though they all come from this particular passage but notice on this day in at verse 33 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 in here the gift of the Spirit for preaching we ought not to presume upon the spirit is something that Steve prayed at the at the closing of our prayer meeting we don't presume upon the spirit we pray for the spirit that the spirit might come with power and much assurance helping the preacher in helping along the task of preaching and here we read that he that is Christ the giver of benefactions he poured out this which you now see in here I want to I I want us to appreciate this scene for a moment remember that only fifty days ago this Christ was crucified upon Calvary's cross fifty days ago this same audience called out let him be crucified crucify this Christ crucify him give us Barabbas they cried out for blood they called out for blood they saw this Christ that Peter is now preaching crucified upon Calvary's cross fifty days later Peter is saying that that Christ whom you crucified is now pouring out this which you now see in here what an amazing thing and what a victorious Christ they thought they silenced him they thought that they brought him to a point of darkness and silence by crucifying him and putting him to death we don't need to hear any longer this Jesus Christ preaching to us but little did they know that according to the promise of the Holy Scriptures he would be raised the third day he would ascend to the right hand of the Majesty on high and he would send forth he would pour out the spirit for the proclamation of the gospel a gospel that concerns him a gospel that would go forth victorious to the uttermost parts of the earth it's an amazing scene this preacher is saying that the one we crucified has poured out this power and by this power the proclamation of this message is going forth absolutely the one you crucified has been ascended God raised him up set him at his right hand and he now proclaims the riches and the excellencies of so glorious a message the gift of the spirit for the preaching well secondly then and moving along a little bit quicker now let's look at his soteriological benefactions again many syllables there but what that simply means kids is his gift of salvation soteriology simply means the study of salvation and we already know what benefactions are those are gifts his saving gifts his gifts of salvation the Lord Jesus very God and very man yet one christ once crucified now resurrected and ascended gives to his people those redemptive benefits one by his obedience unto cross death vocation he gives his people salvation we see that here in this passage notice what we find first of all well first under this point the gift of salvation comprehended in effectual calling notice what we have in verse 37 now when they heard this that is therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly the G 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 make no mistake that that is an evidence of one of two cuttings to the heart that occur in Holy Scripture this is evidence of the motion and the moving of God in effectual calling where God by His Spirit brings forth his people from the deadness and darkness of sin to life and light in Christ Jesus the Lord this is an instance of that just for a comparison turn with me for a moment to acts 7 there are two ways in which a message cuts to the heart in the Holy Scriptures one of the ways we find in Acts chapter 7 notice notice here in the in the preaching of Stephen at acts 7 verse 51 you stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears you always resist the Holy Spirit as your father's did so do you which of the prophets did your father's not persecute and they killed those who foretold the coming of the just one of whom you have now have become the betrayers and murderers who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it now notice when they heard these things they were cut to the heart stop for a moment so we have in both instances this cutting to the heart a message is preached the message of Jesus Christ is preached and there is this cutting to the heart but notice here as we read on and they gnashed at him with their teeth that is a cutting to the heart which in the unregenerate heart leads to the gnashing of teeth they were angry they were mad they were venomous they were about to bring murderous anger upon Stephen now coming back to Acts chapter 2 notice again at verse 37 now when they heard this they were cut to the heart but in this case it's not a gnashing of teeth in this case it's not a murderous and an angry response but much rather and said to Peter and the rest of the Apostles men and brethren what shall we do here we have an evidence of that soteriological benefaction simply the gift of salvation that the Ascended Christ gives to his people these were cut to the heart and they cry out men and brethren what shall we do notice as we move down to verse 41 then those who gladly received his word were baptized and that day about three thousand souls were added to them the gift of salvation comprehended in effectual calling 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 and this continue in our own day you see we may be cessationists when it comes to the revelatory gifts of the spirit but we confess with great vigor the fact that God continually by his power by His amazing grace brings forth dead sinners to life in Jesus Christ in that we are continuationists we confess the mighty power of God that mighty power which is the same as his creative power in calling forth all things that exist that power that brings forth a dead sinner to life and brethren I think we ought to look back upon our our own our own Christianity our own our own salvation as often as we can you reflect upon the the fact that there was a time where you were dead in your trespasses and sins that's what the scripture says of us we were dead in our trespasses and in our sins it is a good thing to reflect back on the fact that you were once dead in your trespasses and sins in fact turn with me to Ephesians for a moment because this gives us a good picture of what we once were it calls upon the sinner to reflect calls upon the Christian to reflect upon that previous state of affairs notice in Ephesians 2 at verse 1 and you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins in which he once walked according to the course of this world according to the Prince of the power of the air the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience among whom also we all once conducted ourselves and the lusts of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and we're by nature children of Wrath just as the others you see the weight of the state that the severity and the gravity of the state of affairs outside of Christ there's a there's a three-fold reality here that we find we find that we find the the the devil the world and the flesh all reference to here the Prince of the power of the air the lusts of the flesh and of the mind and we all once conducted ourselves fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and we're by nature children of Wrath just as the others there's a trifold opposition a trifold reality rather with regards to the sinner that is dead in trespasses and sins there might be a three-fold enemy that we rail against now but we have the power and the grace of God on our side prior to that there was a three-fold friend was a three-fold friend we are of our Father the devil the desires of the Father we wanted to do we enjoyed engaging in the lusts of our flesh and we enjoyed the allurements of the world this was the threefold reality prior to being brought forth by Amazing Grace I think if we reflect as often as we can in a wholesome exercise upon the the whole of the pit from which we were digged to use the language of Spurgeon and the rock whence we were hewn we will all the more appreciate the amazing and victorious grace of Almighty God on that day moving back to acts 2 on that day a multitude of sinners were brought from darkness to light from deadness to life through the gift of preaching and by the power of the Holy Spirit and this continues to our day that we ought to pray for that we ought to pray daily for it but certainly on the Lord's Day this is something we ought to pray for that that continuing activity of Almighty God might be witness to during the course of the worship service is there are some who enter in these two doors outside of Christ in unbelief in the darkness of sin dead in their trespasses and in their sins and we ought to pray that the god of powerful creation who is also the god of powerful Redemption would bring forth dead sinners to life in Christ is that your prayer on a Lord's Day morning is that your prayer on the on the eve prior to the Lord's Day but is that your prayer that God would save it ought to be our prayer these are the things that ought to populate our prayers that God by His amazing grace would bring forth dead sinners to life on the day we see it by this preacher and by this preaching and by the spirit sinners brought forth asking men and brethren what shall we do and then the Lord adding them to the church three thousand souls were added to them secondly we also see the gifts the gift of salvation seen in the forgiveness of sins Peter preaches in 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 the gift of salvation comprehended in the forgiveness of sins is there this is always a statement that a preacher uses guardedly but is there anything greater than the forgiveness of sins to reflect upon that glorious truth brethren this is something that's repeated often from the pulpit this isn't revolutionary stuff if you are in Christ you have the forgiveness of sins what a glorious thing if you peruse the Diary of your memory to again use the language of Spurgeon you peruse the Diary of your memory there you will see the witnesses of your guilt faithfully recording their names but we have the reality that Christ has dealt the deathblow to that guilt Christ has dealt the deathblow to that weight upon us and we no longer have that handwriting which is against us but rather Christ has nailed it to the cross in fact that's the glorious language of the forgiveness of sins in the book of Colossians in Colossians chapter 2 we have that wonderful language that was the reality of this day when Peter was proclaiming richly the things of Christ notice in Colossians 2 at verse 13 and you being dead here's that language again and you being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh he has made alive together with him having forgiven you all trespasses having wiped out the handwriting which was excuse me having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us which was contrary to us and he has taken it out of the way having nailed it to the cross you reflect upon the cross often hopefully it's not us Sunday only thing where our minds are drawn to a reflection upon the cross that every day you reflect upon this reality that we have the forgiveness of sins by virtue of so glorious across death we have the handwriting of requirements that was against us cast away from us because it's been nailed to the cross Christ having dealt the deathblow to the condemnation to the guilt and to the the power of sin what a glorious reality this is you know rightly pastor Butler remarks that him very frequently from the pulpit have you ever noticed how that him my sin oh the Bliss of this glorious thought it have you ever thought about how the Hemnes interrupts himself and that him I I've always had this idea that he's writing he's writing the lyrics to this him and he was going to write something I don't know if this happened but he was going to write something else but he stops to consider the the weight and the glory of the forgiveness of sins my sin oh the Bliss of this glorious thought he interrupts himself my sin oh the Bliss of this glorious thought my sin not in part but the whole is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more praise the Lord praise the Lord O my soul he calls upon his own soul to praise the Lord that's what we ought to do each and every day call upon our souls to praise the Lord for so great a thought that my sins have been nailed to the cross what a glorious thing and here 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 have you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ if you're here this morning and you have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ praise God you can you can sing along with the hymn writer my sin oh the Bliss of this glorious thought if you're here today and you have not believed on the Lord Jesus Christ you need to know that you are dead in your trespasses and in your sins there's a there's a terrifying statement that will briefly look at tonight in the sermon tonight in John 8:24 where Christ says if you do not believe that I am you will die in your sins need to understand the weight of that statement if you do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ you will die in your sins that doesn't simply mean that you'll die in the act of sinning but you'll die with the condemnation the weighty and the horrible condemnation of sin resting upon you the wrath the the holiness the righteousness the Justice of God in condemning sinners will rest upon you if you do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and so forgiveness the forgiveness that these enjoyed is available today have you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ know that the weight is so great that nothing not yourself not anyone else not any doing not your own dying can take it away the weight of the guilt and condemnation and power of sin but there is only one who can take that away and it is this Christ whom Peter proclaimed it is this Jesus Christ who Peter proclaimed you in it just in closing because we we can't make it to his ecclesiastical benefactions because the preacher would break the unwritten Covenant made with his people but a couple things in closing do you thank God for your salvation on this day Christ poured out soteriological benefactions Christ poured out saving gifts upon people on this day of Pentecost Peter preached Peter was the preacher he preached a message by the power of the Spirit and the Lord God Almighty the risen Christ even gave the gift of salvation you by virtue though you're removed however many hundreds of years from that glorious day of Proclamation you have been likewise the Blessed undeserved beneficiaries of salvation by so glorious of Christ and do you thank God for your salvation that's something that as well populates your prayers do you go to God in prayer thank you Lord God Almighty for bringing me forth from the deadness of sin to life in Christ I was lost but now I'm found I was blind but now I see is that your prayer you go about your days not thanking for for your salvation what a glorious place that we're in to be found in Christ not having our own righteousness which is from the law but that which is through faith in Christ that righteousness which comes from God through faith in Christ do you thank God for so glorious a gift and do you pray for the dispensation of this gift we've already noted that a wholesome use of the word dispensation here do you pray for the giving of the gift do you pray that God would pour out that benefaction upon his people do you pray for your young ones for the old in our midst for every man and woman boy and girl who comes within the context of this church who is outside of Christ do you pray Lord bring them forth from the darkness of sin to life in Christ that is another thing that is yes to populate our prayers that God and his gloriously appointed and accepted time would bring forth dead sinners to life in Christ might that always be our prayer and brethren a hopefully one thing that we confess in addition to all those glorious things about Christ himself are the benefactions that He pours out upon his people those things that He pours out upon his church would have been the Creed for the church the building of the church the unity of the church the interest the church has in her Savior and the gathering of the church and the sacraments of the Church Christ gives us so many benefactions so many gifts we are to avail of them we are to enjoy them we are to pray them in we are to pray that God that the Ascended Christ even would give to his church strength and vigor as she goes forth in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation and we ought to pray daily that for our young for our old for her middle-aged that the Ascended Christ would pour forth the blessing and benefaction of the Spirit to raise dead sinners to life that we would populate these pews with more lips that would raise up to God singing hallelujah what a savior might that always be our prayer and might that be our prayer now as we close Heavenly Father we do pray for your word we pray for your word to go forth we pray Lord God that the Ascended Christ would pour forth his benefactions upon this creation in his church we would ask Lord God that you would do that mighty act of salvation even in our place this morning by the proclamation of the word and by the power of the Holy Spirit you would bring forth dead sinners to life we long to hear of this throughout the world Lord God that many more sinners are brought forth as redeemed ones who confess with newly redeemed lips the glories of Jesus Christ might you do that mighty act of salvation on those who are caught up dead in their trespasses and sins might you do that mighty act of salvation bringing them forth to much praise by the spirit by the power of the Spirit with much assurance might you go with us now as we go about doing our various things we pray that you would help us to live in light of so glorious a gospel we pray that you would help us to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ and we would ask God that you would help us as we go into this upcoming week as well might we do those things that are wholesome in your sight might we adorn the gospel of Jesus Christ in our workplaces and where in our homes and wherever you may find us and we pray that we would bring honor and that we would bring glory to you go with us now we pray in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior amen well you can stand with me we're gonna sing the doxology will stand and sing the doxology before we close with the benediction and go our way [Music] now to him who is 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