The Book of the Acts, Chapter One. I seem to have a one-track mind, and my mind has been running this way, and I said this morning that I would like very much to see young men soaking their souls in the Book of the Acts. Let's get back to first century Christianity. What we've just been hearing is exactly that. Let's get away from this thing of trying to turn a crank and produce something that's a drama. Let's get into the presence of God and get our eyes on the man and the glory. And when you love him, you'll have a hard time not telling him so. I want to talk about the Lord and the glory from the book of the Acts. Or it's easy to find the man in the glory in Ephesians, Colossians, Hebrews, Revelations. I think there's something wrong with our vision if we don't see the man in the glory anywhere since he went to the glory, because all of the Word of God is to lead us to thoughts of himself. And Acts chapter one begins, The former treatise have I made, O Theopolis. Luke, you know, was the writer, and the former treatise was the book of Luke, the Gospel according to Luke, of how that Jesus began both to do and teach. Now, if you mark your Bible, you ought to have a line under that word began, because, you see, the Acts of the Apostle is what he continued to do and to teach. There have been a lot of discussion about the name of this book. Some have said we ought not to call it the Acts of the Apostles. We ought to call it the Acts of the Holy Spirit. It would seem from this that it's the Acts of the Lord Jesus himself, through the Holy Spirit, and through the Apostles, and through the disciples, and through others, but it's really what the Lord Jesus continued to do after he went home to glory. At least that's what I get from this. I wrote to you about all that Jesus began both to do and teach until the day in which he was taken up. After that he, through the Holy Ghost, had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen, to whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen to them forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, and being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which said he, you have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with or in the Holy Ghost, not many days hence. When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, we'll proud at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel. And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has put in his own power, but ye shall receive power. And I like the revised version. But ye shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you. And ye shall be witnesses unto me. Not unto the Holy Ghost. You shall be witnesses unto me. both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and under the uttermost part of the earth. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven, and he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, which also said, ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven. The Lord Jesus went into heaven. He's going to come back from heaven, and he hasn't come back from heaven yet, so therefore he's in heaven. The Lord Jesus is in the glory. And the first sight we have of him is the ascending glorified Christ. Now, why did the Lord Jesus go into heaven? I couldn't do that. You couldn't do it. He could. How could he do it? What did it signify? What did it mean that this one with whom they had lived and talked and spent three and a half years at least, what did it mean that that suddenly this man rises off the earth. Bodily, he just lifts off and goes until a cloud receives him out of sight. And they stand gazing in the heaven, not knowing what to think. And then the angels tell him, no use to stand gazing, he'll be back, but it won't be right away. Don't stand gazing, don't expect him immediately, but he's coming back. How could he do that? The book of Hebrews tells us how he could do it. We're told that the Lord Jesus ascended into the heavens, and the word for into there is the word through. He passed through the heavens. Now three heavens. I don't know how many Christians have asked me where it says in the Bible there are seven heavens. It doesn't say it in the Bible. It says it in the Koran. And I'm not a Muhammad. But in the Bible it does say three heavens. The first heaven is the atmospheric heaven. That's called heaven because we look up into the blue sky. Then the second heaven is the summary heaven, the heavens of space. But the third heaven into which Paul said he was caught up is the very present, the throne of God itself. And so that's what it means when it says, he passed through the heaven. He went straight to the throne of God. When this ungodly communist astronaut, Gagarin, was over here from Russia, he met with our astronauts and they discussed a number of things, and he couldn't miss his chance to start off a little bit about his atheism, and so he said to our... astronauts, he said, well, you know, I've been out into space and I've gone all around and I didn't see God. And John Glenn said, if you had just stepped outside your capsule a few moments, you would have. I'm glad somebody had the courage to tell a rotten communist that and all the rest of it. The idea of... getting out there a little ways off the surface and saying, I didn't see God. Do you know how far he got off the surface? I was amazed when I found this out. If you had a globe that's as high as I can reach, eight feet high. If you had a globe, eight feet high, how far off of that do you think the route of the astronauts would be? A little less than one inch. Space? We haven't even got outside of the house yet. Nobody's been out into space, but our blessed Lord himself, and he didn't just pass out into the starry heavens. He went straight through the throne of God itself, and the ascension of the Lord Jesus means that his work was accepted. Why, he's called in the book of Hebrews also our forerunner. When our forerunner is for us entered within the veil. The Lord Jesus entered within the veil. That's the guarantee that you and I are going to enter. Fact of matters, that's the invitation for us to enter now. What bothers me is that so many people want to go to heaven sometimes. But not now. At a Chicago conference many years ago, there was a man who got up and gave a very, very wonderful address. on entering into the presence of God. And he plainly said, there's only one part of you that cannot, at the present, get into the presence of God, and that's your body. The only hindrance that you have is your carcass. Otherwise, you're able to enter into the presence of God. It's possible to enter into his presence and enjoy his company in exactly the same way you're going to in a future day. And he spent forty-five minutes telling us this. How wonderful it is to get into the presence of the Lord. And then he came down out of the auditorium, and as you're going out the door, some young fellow has more brass than brains, shook hands with him, and said, Well, Brother, this would be a fine day to go to heaven. The old man said, Why don't you go there? And he thought he was hard to hear. He said, I say, I said, Fine day to go to heaven, because I heard you the first time. Why don't you go there? If you've been listening to what I've been telling you for the last forty-five minutes, you'd know that you and I can go to heaven in every way except for our bodies. And we can do it just because our forerunner is for us entered within the veil. The Lord Jesus is at the right hand of God, and that makes us welcome. I often tell the folks that my wife's family has made me welcome. though they didn't want me to marry men at all. They were terribly disappointed and told me so. But they have never once, never once, have they failed to extend to me every welcome that they extend to men. And I appreciate this. I think this is wonderful. I am accepted in the beloved, their beloved. I'm permitted to come into their home. I'm permitted to be a part of a family. And this is just what he tells us in the first chapter of Ephesians. You and I are accepted in the beloved. Because the Lord Jesus has ascended to the right hand of the Father. You and I don't have to stand afar off. What does he say in the fifth chapter of Hebrews? Having a high priest. Having a high priest. Let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith. Let us don't hang back and think that maybe we wouldn't be very welcome. That's one of the reasons why the very thing happens that our brothers have been telling us about. One of the reasons we don't get up to offer our thanks to the Lord is that we think that we're not worthy. We think we're not good enough. We think we can't do it well enough. Well, my dear brother and sister, we're dependent on any of us ever getting to the place where we can do it well enough. There wouldn't be a word said. And that word worthy in First Corinthians, eleven, don't let it ever worry you again. It simply means don't do it in an unworthy manner. If you come in blasphemy and disinterested in what's going on and flop down in the seat and start chewing your gum. That's coming into the presence of the Lord in an unworthy manner. That's what he's criticizing in First Corinthians eleven. But as far as you're ever being worthy is concerned, you don't have a nickel's worth of worthiness in yourself. But you've got all the worthiness that you can ever need in the Lord Jesus Christ. Because he has gone straight to the throne of God. And he's there for you and for me. Isn't that wonderful? Somebody say amen, or I'm going to say it myself. Good. The guarantee of our acceptance, and not only that, but he's the source of everything that we need. Isn't it nice to have our Joseph in charge of all the storehouses? I've often thought about those poor Egyptians. The first year they brought all their money. And the second year they came back and said, we don't have any money, but we've got some cattle. So Joseph said, all right, we'll take your cattle. Then the third year they came back and they said, now our cattle's all gone, but we've got some land. So he said, all right, I'll take your land. And the fourth year they came back and they said, now you've got everything that we own, but here we are ourselves. So he said, all right, I'll take you. Then what did they do after that? Well, after that they belonged to Pharaoh, so it's up to Pharaoh to feed them. They had no worries after that. It's been nice that it started out that way the first year. Wouldn't be a fine thing if you and I as Christians would start out right from the first when we first trust Christ and say, I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, spirit, soul, and body. I'm here. And so we just come into his presence and we say, well, here I am again, Lord. I don't have anything. I haven't any resources. You can't store this up. This is something you have to come back for day by day. Every day you live, you'll have to come to the Lord and bring your weakness and take back his strength. Every day you'll have to come to him and bring your ignorance and take back his wisdom. Every day you live, you'll have to come to the Lord and say, Lord, because you are at the right hand of God and everything is in your hands. And in your power, this is what he said, all power, all authority is given to me in heaven and in earth. Because you said that, Lord, now today I want to go out and win some souls. For the very next verse says, go ye therefore into all the world and preach the gospel. You can do it. You can do it. I haven't anything against training. I wouldn't mind if I had a little education myself. And I have nothing at trial against any schools like the Emanuel Bible School. Bill McDonald and I are good friends. But Bill agrees with me on this. We would never need Emanuel Bible School if each assembly was doing what it ought to be doing, training its own young people in the ways of God. You and I are getting into His presence. and learning by doing. We could all be winning souls. Every one of us here could be winning souls, and we could be doing it because we're drawing on the divine strength of a man at the right hand of God. But because I spent some time with Brother Gibbs, I have seven points for my message, and so I must hurry and give to the others. Look at chapter two. Chapter two. Verse thirty-two. He's been preaching to them, and he told them that the Lord Jesus was put to death, and his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus, have God raised up, where we all are witnesses, therefore being by the right hand of God, exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He has shed forth this, which you now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heaven, but he said himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God have made that same Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ. Isn't that Christ in the glory? Lord in Christ. Oh, they fit in these things. They call him up faster. That's what they did in the eighth chapter of John. They said we weren't born in fornication. We knew who our father was. That's what that was the implication. They mistreated our Lord in every despicable way you can think of. And he's Lord in Christ. the right hand of God. He suffered for us what ought to break our hearts to think about, the sufferings of the Lord Jesus. But his love in Christ, never again shall cruel sinners set at naught our glorious Lord. God wouldn't even allow them to touch him with their dirty hands after he was crucified. He brought in two men, Joseph and Nicodemus to take down that blessed body and to wrap it and to lay it in a tomb where no dead body had ever laid. Once he had suffered, God never allowed this single bit of desecration from that moment on. In fact, he never even allowed unsaved eyes to see. Five hundred brethren saw him at once, and there isn't a record of one unsaved person ever getting to lay eyes on him after he rose again from the dead. And then God took him to his presence, exalted him to be Lord in Christ. Ephesians chapter two says, seven successive downward steps of the sufferings of our blessed Lord brought him to the death of the cross. The most shameful death imaginable, the death of a criminal. The next verse says, Wherefore God also has highly exalted him. and given him a name, literally the name, which is above every name, that is the name of Jesus. Every knee should bow. Sings in heaven, things in earth, things under the earth. Every tongue should confess that he is Lord. Our blessed Lord Jesus Christ is exalted at the right hand of God. He's Lord and Christ. Seems ashamed. brother and sisters that know these things and not put them to use. I don't want to give you anything to stuff your head. I want to get some handles on this. Is He Lord in your life? Some of you are students. Is He Lord when you go to school on Monday morning? Some of you work in factories and offices. Is He Lord where you work? Some of you have got some habits you're ashamed of. How does it happen he isn't Lord there? There's a little chorus we teach the children. Romans ten and nine is a favorite verse of mine. You can't find anybody that knows the second verse. I don't know why. Romans twelve and one is a verse we should not shun. And he goes on to say, if he is not Lord of all, then he is not Lord at all. Romans twelve and one. Is he Lord? If he isn't Lord, don't you think we ought to get down on our knees and on our faces and confess it as a sin? If there is one single area in our lives, however small it may seem to you, well, the Lord Jesus Christ is not truly Lord. That ought to be confessed as a sin. If you're willing for the Lord to guide you as to where you work, but you're not willing for him to guide you as to who you shall marry, then you ought to confess that as a sin. If you're willing for the Lord to guide you six days, I mean one day a week, on the first day of the week, but you're not willing for him to guide you the other six days of the week, that's a sin. He's Lord as well as Christ. Christ means the one who came anointed of the Father to do a job. The world questioned this. The Jews crucified him because he said he was the Christ. But God has given him his high place as the one who finished the work as Christ. That's why he's Lord. Did he finish the work for you? Well, then that's why he ought to be your Lord. If he's your Christ, he ought to be your Lord. He that believes that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God. First John five and one. I believe he's a Christ. Therefore I believe he has the right to be the Lord. But then in chapter three, it has something very wonderful. Verse nineteen, repent you therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord and he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you. whom the heavens must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. All of the Old Testament tells us of a coming day when the more Jesus Christ is going to restore everything. Don't you ever believe any of this kind of thing that God's all done with the Jews, they're finished, and now all the promises to the Israel have been transferred over to the church, and you'll never take the Jews up again. Why, if you've got half an eye, you can see it happening already. I don't mean answers. I don't mean fulfillment of prophecy. But I mean the stage being set. I mean, look how it's happened in our day. In nineteen forty-eight, Israel became a nation. Look how fast God has been moving things from that day to this. God's getting ready to restore everything, and He's going to do it through this man, whom the heavens have received until the times of restitution of all things. One of the wonderful ways in which we ought to think of our blessed Lord is as the restorer of everything. It's in a mess now, isn't it? I heard a couple of fellows discussing... Latin and one of them said, what do they mean by status quo? Well, he said, that's just Latin for the mess we're in. And that's exactly what it is. That's the status quo. Our Blessed Lord is going to restore all things. Develop that at your own leisure. I'm glad that all the accounts aren't settled in October. I'm glad that the Lord's going to straighten things out one of these days. I'm glad that the Lord is going to overturn, overturn, overturn until he comes whose right it is to reign. Well, then look at chapter seven. This is really what started my chain of thought. Chapter seven and... The whole chapter has to do with the wonderful apology of Stephen, and by the word apology here doesn't mean he's apologizing for anything. This is the use of the word that means he was proving something. He was proving, and I tell you, he gave them all the proof they could want, and that's what made them furious. Verse fifty-four, when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the mansion just over the hilltop. If there is a song on this earth that irks me, it's that singing thing that's going all over. They've even put it in one of our young people's hymn books now. All I want is a little silver and a little gold. There isn't a bit of difference between the person who sings that song and the man of the world. It's the most materialistically geared thing that I know of in present day. I want a mansion just over the hilltop. Brother and sister, excuse me for disappointing, but you will never have a mansion in heaven. And you can't find one place that ever says so. The Lord said, in my father's house are many mansions or dwelling places. It's the same word that's used for nest in other places. And then he says, I go to prepare any place singular for you, plural. What's he saying? There are lots of places in heaven. Places for the archangels, places for the seraphim, places for the cherubim, and places for the other kinds of angels. But I am going to prepare a place especially for you, my bride. And he's not in the contracting business. And you cannot send material on the head, so you're going to have a better house than some of the rest of the folks that think they're so big. The whole thing is so materialistic. Makes me think of a woman who was a little overweight. She said she hoped she got to heaven. The Lord would let her have all the mashed potatoes she wanted. That's the kind of the heaven that the Mohammedans offer you. A mansion over the hilltop. Oh, brother and sister, let's get past this kind of thing. What's the Lord telling us here? He opened these eyes and he looked into heaven and he saw a man in the glory. In the fourth chapter of the Revelations, and I just learned this last week, at a conference that we had just recently, I never thought of this before in my life. When the Lord wanted John to see into heaven, he just opened a door in heaven. Big enough for John to look in and see the Lord on his throne. Why, if he'd ever taken the whole wall off of the side, I don't suppose John would ever got around to tell us all of it. What did he? But he just opened a door in heaven. And a percher. That's the word. Just that. He just opened the little place. Now, John, look in. What do you see? I see the man on the throne. That's what he did here. What do you see when you look into heaven? I knew a man who loved the Lord. I know he loved the Lord. He often used to speak of the return of the Lord. He often used to say how wonderful it would be to see my Lord, and then his wife died. I'm not critical of him. I almost lost my wife a few years back, and I know how hard it was for me to walk the streets that night and finally say, Lord, it's all right if you want to take it. He didn't. But I'm not critical of the man, but I'll just tell you this. But after his wife died, he never said anything more than we ever heard about seeing the Lord. From then on, he's talking about going to heaven to see his wife. Now let's get our sights up a little bit. I've got some loved ones in heaven. I've got the most wonderful mother that ever lived. I feel sorry if you folks, that you couldn't have her for your mother. I suppose you couldn't. We couldn't. Oh, you had to take what she could get. But I'm sorry you couldn't have had a mother like mine. And I mean that with all my heart and soul. She was the most comfortable mother I ever could imagine. I want to see my mother. Of course I did. But I remember my father saying to a man who had led to the Lord. They were talking about recognizing each other in heaven, and this fellow said, Now, Bill, if you really recognize me, when you get to heaven, you say, hello there, El, so I'll know you know that I'm El. Did you do that? Yes, he said, I'll do that, but don't expect me to pay any attention to you for the first thousand years, because I want that long just to look at the Lord Jesus. That's what my father told him. Wouldn't you sign that? Huh? Wouldn't you agree to that? Heaven opened. What did he see? Oh, he sees a crown awaiting him as the first martyr. He doesn't do anything of the kind. He doesn't do anything of the kind. I think we ought to love the thoughts of the judgment feet of Christ and of the reward. We ought to have respect under the rewards, at least. But I think the thing that ought to hold our heart is that there is a man. The glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. I don't know whether he was just standing to receive his faithful martyr, or whether he was standing because he was waiting for Israel or what, but anyway he was there. Stand. Wonderful. A man and the glory. Chapter nine. Acts chapter nine. Saul. breathing out threatenings and slaughters against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest. He got letters, and on his way to Damascus, suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven, and he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him, Why persecute us thou the Christian? Oh, no, he didn't. He heard him say, Why persecute us thou me? This is like Zechariah two and eight. He said, He's in touch with you. touches the apple of my eye. This is the Lord in the glory of the head of the church. Paul didn't know this yet. It remained for Paul to spend a lot of time in the Arabian desert to learn the lovely things that he gives us in the letters to the Ephesians and to the Colossians. But here he is, anyway, the head of the church in the glory. and anything that was done that touched one of his own touched the head in heaven. Aren't you glad you joined the one like this? I'm saying amen again. Wonderful to know that you and I are joined to one who thinks of us as part of himself. A part of himself. Of course this gives us responsibility. I mean, my hands have to obey my head. That isn't the most important thing about my hands being attached to my head that they have to obey. The nicest thing about it is that my head looks after those hands. Why, every time it gets cold, my head says, buy a pair of rouse and put on those hands and take care of them. And every time one of the fingers get hurt, or my head says the rest of you now do his work till he gets well. That's the wonderful thing about being part of the body of Christ. is that Christ the head loves and cares for the members of his body. Wouldn't I like to talk about that for a couple of hours? Now look at chapter seventeen. I got seven. So you'll have to be patient with me. There might be more than that. I don't know. When I find seven, I'm happy. And I don't look. Maybe you'll find nine. Acts chapter seventeen... And he's preaching at Athens. He didn't have much success at Athens. The people were too smart or thought they were. He says in verse thirty in the times of this ignorance God winked at. Now the word wink there simply means he closed his eyes to. In the ignorance of the past when the people had no light, God closed his eyes to some of these things. But now... commandeth all men everywhere to repent because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained. Do you know who the Lord Jesus is? He is the ordained judge. I've seen several signs up as we've been traveling around across the country. Vote for so-and-so for probate judge or some other kind of judge. And these people are trying to get to be judged. The Lord Jesus isn't trying to get to be judged. He's already ordained a judge. Oh, I'm thankful I'll never stand before him as a judge, aren't you? But I'm thankful he is a judge. I wouldn't be happy in the universe where there was no judge. I wouldn't be happy in the universe where one like the devil... could do all that he has done in the past against the Lord and against his own and against all of God's principles and get by with that? Why, I'm glad there's a lake of fire. And I'm glad there's a judge who is going to send that devil into the lake of fire. Would I be happy in a universe where men can do as they're doing today mistreat the Lord and blaspheme his holy name and never be brought into judgment for it? Well, I'm glad that he has ordained not only appointed a day, but ordained a man to be the judge. And the Lord Jesus is that judge. Thank God that judgment has been delayed by grace. And I've got some loved ones that I hope get inside before that judge falls. And I think you have too. But it's coming. I think we see the day approaching. as he says in the tenth chapter of Hebrews, I think we see it. Judgment here has not only to do with the great white throne judgment, it has to do with the great tribulation judgment. And because that is a judgment, the church will never go through it, because the church will not be involved in any kind of judgment. There is no judgment to them who are in Christ Jesus. You and I are going home before that judgment. There are going to be a lot of judgments. And the Lord is going to be the judge. And now the last one, chapter twenty three. Chapter twenty three. Paul's been arrested, taken into the castle to save his life. Verse eleven, and the night following, the Lord stood by. said, Be of good cheer, Paul, for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome. The Lord stood by, for four, to strengthen him, to encourage him, to help him. He's still doing that. Well, this was the work of the high priest. When you read through the book of Hebrews, you see so many things there about what the high priest is doing to help us, strengthen us, encourage us, stand by. Now, Abraham met Melchizedek before he met the King of Sodom. The King of Sodom, of course, is a picture of Satan and all of his temptations. Melchizedek is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ as our high priest. Brother and sister, don't you dare start a day without meeting with your high priest first. If you do, you're asking for trouble. Get into the presence of the Lord and say, Lord, stand by me. Strengthen me. Give me a revelation of God that will help me today. Boy, that's what Melchizedek said or did. He gave Abraham a new name for God that he'd never known before. It was just the name he needed that day. And then he strengthened him with bread and wine. Get into the presence of your high priest. Remember, he's on the throne. He's a priest on the throne. That's what Zechariah said he would be. He's a priest on the throne. He's not yet reigning. But our blessed Lord is there. exhaled to the right hand of God. He's there for us. Aren't you glad he's there?