SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/18/2017 7:18 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
2nd Introduction to Acts
In today’s SD I have
decided to begin to quote a sermon from John MacArthur given in 2014 as he
began to teach and preach the book of Acts in his church. I will break up this sermon in different
parts until it is all complete and by then I am hopeful that my commentaries
will come in and we can began to look at the first chapter of the book of Acts. I remind you of a couple of things, and that
when I quote a sermon from John MacArthur the grammar may not be correct as the
words that he speaks are the words that are written down and put on his
website. Next I want to say that this is
the second time that he has preached through the book of Acts, similar to the
gospel of John. At this time he was
preaching through the gospel of John in the morning and then the book of Acts
in the evening. So the following is the
first installment of his first sermon on the book of Acts from 2014.
“Well, we’re going to open to the book of Acts, finally, and
I’m going to at least read Verse 1.
I do confess to you that I am a firm believer that if you
understand the overall significance of a book, you can navigate it. I
don’t know how you are if you ever use a Google map, but when pop up a Google
map on your iPad or whatever it is and you want directions, if you’re like me,
you want to see the whole picture first. I want to know A to Z, and then
I can get down into the details and kind of track along with that if I have
some kind of sense of where I’m going.
I think that works really well in studying the Bible,
especially when you approach a new book, to get some kind of an overview of the
whole thing, to pull back and get the full picture. Now in reading Verse
1, you’re going to get enough for us to get started. The first account I
composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach. Luke is
referring – Luke is the writer, the historian. He’s referring to his
gospel, the Gospel of Luke.
That was the first account that he composed and sent to
this gentleman named Theophilus, which means “Lover of God.” And first
volume of history was about all that Jesus began to do and teach. That’s
a very important verb. Luke wrote Volume 1, the Gospel of Luke, about all
that Jesus began to do and teach. The Book of Acts is Volume 2 about the
continued doing, if you will, and teaching of Jesus.
The gospels, you might say in one sense, tell the story of
the finished work of Christ. You do remember that he said in his high
priestly prayer in anticipation of the cross in John 17:4,
“I have finished the work you gave me to do.” And then on the cross,
according to John
19:30, just before he gave up his life, he said, “It
is finished.” So it is true that the first volume, the Gospel of Luke,
and for that matter, all the other gospel writers, tell us of the finished work
of Christ. The long awaited sacrifice for sin that satisfied God fully,
he offered.
By the sacrifice and offering of himself, he saved forever
those who believed, and of course, he secured their redemption by his
resurrection from the dead. Now nothing can be added to the finished work
of Christ. Nothing. It was satisfactory to God, and so God raised
him from the dead to validate his satisfaction, and then God gave him a name
above every name, exalted him to his right hand, gave him the name Lord,
restored him to complete exalted heavenly glory, and even added a new dimension
now as the savior because he had offered personally the sacrifice.
And so he would then purchase with that work a vast array
of redeemed people throughout all of human history who would forever praise and
honor and glorify him. This is the work that Jesus finished, but there
also was the work that Jesus only began. The work of redemption he
finished. The work of doing and teaching he just began. The work of
proclaiming the gospel, teaching the kingdom, and living the kingdom he only
began.
You might say he began in his ministry to collect the
elect. He began to collect them, small group they were as we reminded in
our study on Sunday morning in John 6. He began to collect the elect, but
he only began that. By the time he ascended into heaven, there are just a
few. They’re all in one tiny little country in the midst of this
globe. A hundred and twenty gather in the upper room in Jerusalem, and
several hundred more in Galilee, and that’s the beginning. That’s what
Jesus began.
So Acts, as Luke continues to write, is the story of what
Jesus continues to do and teach. This is Volume 2, although it’s the
first book of church history, it’s Volume 2 of the New Testament history of
redemption. And if you will, it could be said that it’s actually Volume 3
because the first volume of redemptive history is the Old Testament
itself. Acts continues the story, the story and the long process
completing God’s redemptive work through Christ.
So Luke says the first account I composed, the Gospel of
Luke. The Gospel, which like the other three Gospels, tells the story of,
listen, of the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. The Old Testament
gives the prophecies of the coming of Messiah, and the Gospels give the record
of the realization of those prophecy. The plan of God promised in the Old
Testament is fulfilled in the New Testament.
God brings the chosen redeemer to save Israel and the
nations that was promised throughout the Old Testament. So Luke’s Volume
1 is very, very important. Let’s go back to Luke 1 for a moment, and let
me read the first four verses so you understand something about Luke’s
writing. By the way, if you ever have the opportunity to listen to the messages
that were preached from this section when we went through Luke, you’ll find
them very instructive.
So Luke writes, “In as much as many have undertaken to
compile account of the things accomplished among us, just as they were handed
down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses of servants of the
word, it seemed fitting for me as well having investigated everything carefully
from the beginning to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent
Theophilus, so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been
taught.”
Now I just want to grab one phrase, the exact truth.
Luke is a fastidious historian to start with from the human view. He’s a
meticulous historian. And you add to that, of course, that he’s inspired
by the Holy Spirit, and he sets off to write, and in Luke’s mind, he doesn’t
know this will be called Luke, and he doesn’t know Volume 2 will be called
Acts. He writes one great, long history, and the goal was exact
truth. To provide absolute certainty of the facts of redemptive history,
to provide full assurance to believers, like Theophilus and others, that God’s
promise of salvation was being fulfilled.
The prophecies in the Old Testament that came through the
prophets to whom he refers as eyewitnesses and servants of the word, those
prophecies were precise and exact and identified places like where he’d be born
in Bethlehem and details about his life and details about his death. So
Luke wants to write a history to show that all the precision of the Old Testament
that pointed toward Christ was fulfilled with the same kind of precision.
So Acts then continues the story of the exact truth of God
fulfilling Old Testament prophecy with the coming of Messiah, and then after
Messiah’s resurrection and ascension, God continues to fulfill the story, and
Luke writes with the same precision. Why? To provide
certainty. To provide certainty so that you may know the exact truth
about the things you’ve been taught so that you may know.
You’ll remember that at the end of this book of Luke, as
Luke signs off, Jesus opened their minds to understand the scripture, and he
said to them, “Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise again
from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would
be proclaimed in his name to all the nations beginning from Jerusalem.
You’re witnesses of these things, and behold, I’m sending forth the promise of
my father upon you, namely the Holy Spirit. Stay in the city until you’re
clothed with power from on high.”
And that is how Volume 1 ends, and Volume 2 essentially
begins with the arrival of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is promised
in the book of Luke and comes in the book of Acts the way the Messiah was
promised in the Old Testament and came in the book of Luke. This is an
exact and precise history. The early readers were being taught then
essentially that the apostles and the prophets spoke the truth.
Luke writes to give them assurance. The Holy Spirit
would come and the work would continue. Luke writes with certainty about
Christ from his birth to his ascension in Volume 1, and he writes with
certainty from the ascension to the coming of the Holy Spirit to the gospel
being proclaimed to the world for the establishment of the church.
That’s just kind of a broad overview. As in the Old
Testament, all that is going on in Luke and Acts is being done by God. I
told you God is the sovereign power behind all of redemptive history, and the
spirit works the will of the father, and the son does the will of the
father. God is at work redeeming his people in the Old Testament and in
the New. An interesting little note. Luke loves to use a particular
word in its death in the Greek language, and it means it is necessary.
Luke uses that word 40 times in his writings to affirm to us that it is
necessary that this happen.
It is necessary that this happened. It is necessary
Luke records in his Gospel because the Old Testament profit said it. It
is necessary, Luke says in the book of Acts, because Jesus predicted it and
promised it. So Acts is Volume 2 of Luke’s history, and the first volume
of the history of the church written to give believers an exact account so they
could have confidence that God is still fulfilling his redemptive promise.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “Moses caught it and it became a rod” (Exodus
4:4).
Today’s Bible question:
“Why did Saul of Tarsus go to Damascus?”
Answer in our next SD.
6/18/2017 7:25 AM
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