Please turn in your Bibles to the first chapter of the book of Acts. As you do so, please remember to pray for the men as they do preach in the book of Acts this quarter. I'm sure they'd appreciate that. We all would. Acts chapter 1, verses 1-11 is our text. Hear God's Word. The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach. Until the day he was taken up to heaven after he had, by the Holy Spirit, given orders to the apostles whom he had chosen. To these he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many convincing proofs appearing to them over a period of forty days, and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, which He said, You heard from Me. For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. So when they had come together, they were asking him, saying, Lord, is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel? He said to them, it is not for you to know the times or the epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, even to the remotest parts. of the earth. After he had said these things, he was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while he was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come in just the same way as you have watched him go into heaven." Let's pray together. Father, thank you for your Word. Thank you that you are gracious in giving it to us. Thank you that you also are pleased to give us your Spirit. to enlighten our hearts that we might apprehend your truth properly. As we are together this morning for this short chapel service, we pray together that you might dwell in our midst by the power of your Spirit to enlighten our hearts and to teach us the good lesson from this text, that you advance your kingdom through our Spirit-empowered witness. May we understand this is the case, and may we understand that this is, in the end, Father, why you have placed us in this place at this time. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen. As most of you know, our seminary logo has these words as a part of it. Study under pastors. A brother in a seminary in California asked a question about this statement. Why would you want pastors to teach at seminary? As I thought about this question, I thought, well, for the same reason you'd want doctors to teach in medical school. or perhaps that you'd like lawyers to teach in law school. They know something about the profession and the work into which you are going to go. And so it is with pastors. Pastors have had the experience of working in the church where the rubber meets the road. And they know in the end that the great overarching purpose of the church is to advance Christ's kingdom. And there's only one way, in the end, that Christ's kingdom can be advanced. It's through the witness of people like you and me. And this is exactly what happens in our text today. It's not an academic matter. It's a very practical matter. Christ's kingdom advances through your witness. And the disciples, the apostles, learn that this is the case in a very personal way. And part of the reason you're here at seminary, those of you who are studying here, is that you're here to learn in a very practical way that this is the case. Let's see how our text unfolds this wonderful truth. The Bible, our text, tells us up front presents Jesus Christ as alive and reigning. Look, if you would, at verses 3 and 4 in our text. To these also he presented himself alive after his suffering by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. Here Jesus Christ after his suffering, after his time on the cross, after his resurrection, appeared to many over a period of 40 days. He appeared in the upper room almost immediately after his resurrection. The evening of the first day, Thomas wasn't present. And the very next week, Jesus appeared again and he said to Thomas, put your finger in my hands, in the holes in my hands. Put your hand in my side and believe. Thomas wouldn't dare to go there. He said, my Lord and my God. He confessed Christ immediately. And so it was that Jesus Christ appeared on many occasions. Paul says that He appeared to more than 500 at one time. And Paul adds this little caveat. Some of them are now asleep and indicating. The rest of them you could go and talk to. You could speak to them about what they saw and what they heard. And the great proof was the ascension. Look at our text again at verses 9 and 10. And after he had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them." There they saw Jesus bodily ascend into heaven. This was not a theoretical thing. This was experimental. This was experiential. They knew that Jesus Christ ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God the Father. And Peter proceeded to preach on this, affirming that God had made him both Lord and Christ. And so this Jesus, about whom Luke teaches here, Luke affirms continues his ministry from heaven. Look at the very first verse of Acts 1. The first account I composed, Theopolis, about all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when he was taken up to heaven after he had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom he had chosen. Luke, in his Gospel, says, I've recorded for you all that Jesus began to do and to teach. And now, I'm recording for you all that Jesus continues to do and to teach from heaven, from His position on the throne of the Majesty on high. And as verse 11 indicates to us, It is from heaven that Jesus continues His ministry. They also said, the angels, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven. And so this continuing ministry of Jesus laid out for us in a very careful way in the book of Acts. And how does this ministry from heaven begin or proceed, we might say? It proceeds through the work of the Holy Spirit. Look at the command Jesus gives before He ascends into heaven. Verse 4 and verse 5. Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, which He said, You heard from Me, for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." Stay in Jerusalem, disciples, and wait. Wait for the promise of the Father. I've talked to you about this promise. Very interesting and significant, isn't it? That Jesus taught the disciples about the promise of the coming Holy Spirit. And how they would experience the Holy Spirit. And so, this promise, or this command I should say, is given to the disciples. And a connection is made by Jesus with the baptism of John. For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. John baptized with a baptism of repentance. And that baptism of repentance called men and women to turn from their wicked ways. But now Jesus says, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. In other words, the Holy Spirit is going to come and work in your hearts to produce that kind of repentance of which John so forcefully spoke. To change you and to turn you so that you will carry out the purposes of God and the purposes of the Savior who is in heaven. And what does Jesus go on to say then? Verse 6, So when they had come together, well, it's not Jesus here that's speaking, is it? It's the disciples. who are a little confounded by the command of Jesus. Verses 6 and 7, "...So when they had come together, they were asking him, saying, Lord, is it at this time you are going to restore the kingdom to Israel? And he said to them, It is not for you to know the times or epochs which the Father has fixed by his own authority." Jesus said, you're going to be baptized by the Spirit, the disciples then say, is it at this time you're going to restore the kingdom to Israel? After all, what we're looking for is a renewal of the Davidic kingdom. What we're looking for is a restoration of Israel as we see it portrayed in the Old Testament under Solomon. We want to go back. We want to go back to those days of glory. And if we can go back to those days of glory, we will have prominent positions in that kingdom. We can be assured that that's the case because we've been your followers for this past three years. And Jesus retorts in verse 7, It is not for you to know the epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority." In other words, Jesus says to them, hold it! Time out! You're asking the wrong question! Now I know those of us who teach in the seminary have never experienced that sort of thing. The wrong question being asked. because the information given has been misinterpreted. A couple of smiles. Jesus says, look, you need to concentrate on the revelation which has been given to you plainly and to understand that revelation which has been given to you plainly. I have spoken to you about the coming of the Spirit, and you are to let alone the things that are under the purview of God alone, and not probe areas which do not belong to you. Interesting, isn't it? How we desire to probe into areas that really don't belong to us and speculate about the future when we need to be concentrating on the revelation that has already been given to us. And so Jesus exhorts the disciples in this fashion. And he brings them back to his main point, that of the Holy Spirit. Verse 8. But, he says, but, and in the original language, this is the strong adversative, but, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses. back to this theme of the Spirit. The Spirit will come upon you and you shall receive power. There will be a transformation within you by the power of the Spirit. And there will be a new power which will emerge in your life. A new desire, a new disposition, a new inclination. You will turn in a different direction and be my witnesses. It's very striking, isn't it? Have any of you ever been in a car accident? Well, there are more hands than I thought there might be. Some are a little reluctant. If you're in a car accident, what happens? The police come, they talk to you, and they talk to the other parties involved in the accident and then you sign off on what you said. You are a witness to what has taken place because you are there and you understand, at least from your perspective, what has taken place. You see, when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you are changed by the work of the Holy Spirit, you are at the scene of the accident. And you, by virtue of the fact that you are at the scene of the accident, you are a witness as to what has taken place. You don't somehow become a witness later, By virtue of what has taken place, you are a witness. And I submit to you, friends, that you can communicate to others more accurately, more fully, more forcefully, what Christ has done in your life than anyone else. You are, therefore, a witness. And what Jesus is saying to the disciples here is that as a witness, as a Spirit-empowered witness, you will be about the business of advancing My Kingdom. Look at verse 8 again. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, even to the remotest parts of the earth." That witness, that kingdom building, will take place, Jesus says to His disciples, by your Spirit-empowered witness. And you will witness in Jerusalem And Peter did so. He preached powerfully at Pentecost. And he preached powerfully after the healing of the crippled man at the gate of the temple. And then Stephen preached powerfully after the first deacons were elected. He was an evangelist as a deacon. And when he was stoned by the Sanhedrin, there was a man by the name of Paul who was present, who had no doubt heard the witness and the testimony of Stephen. And Paul consented to the murder of Stephen. And then Paul was subsequently converted. And you and I are the beneficiaries of his work and of his writing, which spread to the remotest parts of the earth. And so, by this Spirit-empowered witness, Christ advanced his kingdom. And he continues to do so today in the same manner. Is that not the case? By your Spirit-empowered witness, Christ is pleased to advance His kingdom. And so there's the point. Advance the kingdom, friends, by your Spirit-empowered witness. I submit to you, that's why we're here in the end at Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Why study under pastors? Because pastors generally have had some experience in advancing Christ's kingdom through their Spirit-empowered witness. And you are to learn, as you are here together at RPTS, studying under pastors, to advance Christ's kingdom by your Spirit-empowered witness. This is not where We are just simply learning theory. I don't think President O'Neill is particularly interested in simply the theories of evangelism when he sends you out into the community to do door-to-door calling to talk to people about Christ. He wants you to advance Christ's kingdom by your Spirit-empowered witness. When I first began teaching here at Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary. I remember very well. We were over in that main classroom with a preaching practicum. And the group of fellows said to me in that preaching practicum, preaching in chapel stinks. It does? Yes, we don't like it at all because it's entirely artificial. I said, time out. This is not an artificial circumstance in which we engage each day. This is a time of worship in which we each day sing aloud to the Lord, pray together, and sit under the preaching of the Word of God. And in this chapel, part of what we are doing is learning to advance Christ's kingdom by our Spirit-empowered witness. And so I had to crank that class around a little bit. And they did come around, thankfully. Why are you here? To learn, not just intellectually, but practically, to advance Christ's kingdom through your Spirit-empowered witness. Let's pray together. Father, thank You. Thank You that this is the case. Thank You that we are privileged to be here, study together, to worship together, to learn together, to minister together. And I pray that you would use us. Use the staff and faculty. Use the student body. Use us all in your kingdom work. Use us, Father, to advance your kingdom, the kingdom of Jesus Christ. by our Spirit-empowered witness. Be pleased to do that, Lord. This is your plan. This is your purpose. And so, we look to you to continue your good work from heaven, Lord Jesus Christ. For we pray these things and we come to you in your good and gracious name. Amen.