#200 Lu. 24:49 THE PROMISE OF POWER FROM ON HIGH Introduction: In our previous text Jesus gave His church an assignment. He assigned them the task of going into all the world and preaching the gospel. In our text today Jesus promised His church the power they would need to carry out the assignment which He had given them. I. A review of the assignment given in the Great Commission Let me review with you this assignment. Jesus gave them an extremely difficult assignment. It was difficult because of the great territory to which they were go and preach. They were to preach the gospel to all nations of the world. This was an extremely large task for so few people. The church had grown to a sizable number in Galilee compared to our own small congregation, but it was still very small when compared to the great territory which they were to cover. It was difficult because of the indifferent and sometimes hostile attitude of the people to whom they were to witness. They were to begin their preaching there at Jerusalem and were to go throughout all Judea preaching the gospel to the Jews. There were very few people among the Jews who were anxious to hear that the man whom they had crucified was the Christ of God and that God had raised Him from the dead. Most of them would very bitterly resent the Lord's disciples coming among them and telling them that Jesus is actually the Christ and is the Savior whom the prophets had promised. They were to carry the gospel to Samaria. The Samaritans and the Jews did not get along very well together. As Jews, these disciples were called upon to carry the gospel message to a people whom they had never liked. They had resented the Samaritans and the Samaritans had resented them. When they would go among the Samaritan people, they would be going among a people who strongly resented them. They not only had to overcome their prejudice toward the Samaritans, but they had to overcome the prejudice of the Samaritans toward them. They were also to carry the gospel among all the Gentile nations of the world. These were people whom they disliked even more than they did the Samaritans. They would have to overcome their extreme dislike for Gentile people if they were going to carry the gospel to the Gentiles. Furthermore, the Gentiles were worshipers of idol gods. They worshipped not just one god, but they worshipped many gods. Each in which they worshipped had statues of several different gods. They would strongly resent them for coming in their midst and telling them that they were wrong by worshipping many gods. They would resent the disciples coming in among them and telling them that the gods which they worship are all false and that there is really only one God. The real God, they were not worshipping at all. It was a difficult task because they were to tell the people to repent of their sins and trust in Jesus Christ. In the first place, most people resented being told that they are sinners and that they are lost and headed for the fires of hell. Most folks looked upon themselves as being pretty good Joes and if anybody else would make it to heaven they felt sure they would, too. But the chief reason that it would be such a difficult task is because Satan would do all he could to interfere with their effort to reach the unsaved with the gospel. In II Corinthians 4:4 Satan is said to have lifted himself up as the god of this world and that he has blinded the minds of those who are unsaved in an effort to keep them from believing the gospel and being saved. Let me tall you that the Devil is a master at interfering with the preaching of the gospel. He seeks to persuade people that they are wasting valuable time by listening to the gospel message. He tells them that they can have a lot more fun doing other things. Another thing he is a master at is focusing their attention on the riches of the world. Once he gets someone hooked on making money, it is hard to get that person interested in getting prepared for eternity. So it was for those Christians and still is today, a difficult task to get people to even listen to the gospel message. Then when they do hear the gospel, he is right there to interfere by telling them that there is nothing to the gospel message. He will tell them that it all a bunch of superstitious tommyrot. Another thing those early Christians faced in their effort to spread the gospel message is persecution. As soon as they would start spreading the gospel message and somebody started believing it, somebody would rise up against them and try kill them for preaching the gospel message. Some of them were killed because they told people that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of men. I think that would be hard to take. It would be hard to be faithful in preaching the gospel when somebody is going to try to kill you if you do. Literally thousands of Christians lost their lives because they insisted that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the Savior of the world. It is still a difficult task today. It is hard to compete with sports and with other pleasures of the world on Sundays. The Devil keeps people so anxious to use their week-ends for pleasure that not many who are unsaved will come to the house of God to listen to a message that they are not really interested in the first place. Then when you start talking about the need of being saved so that they will go to heaven when they die, death seems so far away to them that they feel no need of worrying about that just yet. Furthermore, the Devil gives the message of truth a lot of competition with the preaching of false gospels. There are large so-called "Christian" denominations who preach that you can get to heaven by doing certain good works. Repentance and faith in Jesus is not really all that necessary according to them. By your good works you can earn the right to go to heaven. In addition to all this, the Devil wages war against Christians. He wages war against true Christianity on the television. He wages war against true Christianity in the press. He wages war against true Christianity in politics. He wages war against true Christianity in the local community. He will bring rumors and gossip and false charges against the best of Christians. His real motive is to discredit their testimony of Jesus Christ. The Devil promotes the liquor industry. He promotes gambling. He promotes prostitution, drugs and everything else that will lure people away from the preaching of God's word and to the affairs of the world. He hates God's true churches and tries to work against them in every way he can. He stirs up confusion among the Christians. He tries to close the door of every true New Testament church. Let me tell you that if the Lord's cause had been dependant upon the power, the wisdom and the wealth of the members of His church, it would have been doomed to failure to start with. But the Lord promised that His church would be endued with power from above. II. The promise of power from on high V. 49, "And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high." The power which God the Father had promised was the Holy Spirit of God. Acts 1:5, "For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence." Jesus had told His church that John had baptized with water. John baptized in the waters of the Jordan River. But Jesus said that His church would be baptized with the Holy Spirit and that this would take place not many days from that time. This is the promise that God the Father had made and that Jesus had related to them. Jesus said, "You go back to Jerusalem and you tarry there at Jerusalem until this promise of fulfilled." It was fulfilled forty days after His resurrection. While they were gathered together in an upper room there at Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit of God came down upon the church and endued them with power from on high, Acts 2:1-3. There are a few very important things that I would like to call to your attention about this event. The first thing I would call to your attention is that the Holy Spirit did not come into the world at this time. He was already in the world. The Old Testament Scriptures had been inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Old Testament prophets had spoken by the Holy Spirit. The Old Testament miracles had been done by the Holy Spirit. Jesus had been conceived by the Holy Spirit. The miracles which had already been done by Jesus and the apostles had been done by the Holy Spirit. Everybody who had ever been saved had been born again by the Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit did not make His entrance into the world at this time. Another thing I would like you to notice about this event is that the Holy Spirit was sent upon the group as a whole and not upon individuals at this time. This was a promise that was made to the church as a whole and it was a promise that was fulfilled upon the church as a whole. The baptism by the Holy Spirit was upon the church and not upon individual people. The whole group was in the house and the whole group was immersed in the Holy Spirit. I would also have you to note that the purpose for this event was not in order that God's people would be able to speak some kind of jibberish that nobody could understand. They were empowered to speak in other tongues, but the tongues in which they spoke were understood by those who heard them. Acts 2:6 says that everybody who heard them speak understood. Each man understood them in his own language. The purpose of this event was not in order that Christians would have the power to heal the sick. Special miraculous spiritual gifts were given on that occasion which included miraculous healing, but according to I Corinthians chapter thirteen they would all be done away when the Bible was completed. The purpose of enduing His church with the power of the Holy Spirit of God was to enable them to carry out the assignment which He gave them. From the human point of view, the Lord's churches are fighting a loosing battle in trying to carry the gospel message to the whole world. It would be a loosing battle if God's people had to carry out the commission by their own strength, their own wisdom and their own power. But the reason that they have never yet suffered defeat and they are still in business for the Lord is that God's Holy Spirit is the one who empowers them for their mission. It is the Holy Spirit of God who inspired the Bible which we preach and teach. It is the Holy Spirit of God who convicts the lost sinner that he is a sinner in the sight of God and needs to be saved. It is the Holy Spirit of God who touches the heart of the lost person and appeals to him to place his faith in Jesus and be saved. It is the Holy Spirit of God who produces the new birth in every person who trusts in Jesus for salvation. III. The need of the power of the Holy Spirit today We do not need the miraculous gifts to do the work of God. Those special gifts filled a special need before the Bible was completed. But they are not needed today. Each New Testament church still has the same Holy Spirit of God empowering her even though we no longer have the miraculous gifts. Acts 1:8, "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." The fruit of the Spirit was never limited to tongues and miraculous gifts. That was only a small part of the fruit which the Holy Spirit bore. Galatians 5:22-23, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." Ephesians 5:9, "(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)" Some folks think that the Holy Spirit of God is not in a service unless there is a lot of emotional excitement, but that is not what the fruit of the Spirit is. When the people of God have love for one another, that is the fruit of the Spirit. When the people of the church have peace with one another and with their neighbors, that is the fruit of the Spirit. When God's people have joy, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance in their lives that is the fruit of the Spirit. When goodness and righteousness is the predominant factor in the lives of God's people, that is the fruit of the Spirit. When Bible truth is proclaimed and upheld by the people that is the fruit of the Spirit of God. And God uses the fruit of the Spirit in the lives of God's people to carry the gospel to a lost and dieing world. It is not our responsibility to get people saved. It is our responsibility to live right before them and it our responsibility to witness to them God's plan of salvation. Then it is their responsibility to repent of their sin and trust in Jesus and if they do, they will be saved. Conclusion: If you are unsaved, I am going to appeal to you to come today and trust Jesus as your Savior. If you are already saved I am going to ask you to let the Holy Spirit of God have His way in your life. I am going to ask you to yield your life to God and let the fruit of the Spirit work in your life to reach out to others and witness to them for Jesus. If it is your desire to unite with this church on your profession of faith or on the promise of a letter, then I am going to ask that you come forward while our people sing this invitation hymn.