Month: January 2022

Acts 2:38, 39 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you , and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

The people are moved by the gospel in Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost. They were ”pricked in the heart” for they felt guilty of crucifying the Christ, so they asked, ”what shall we do?” His answer contains the promise: ”Repent and be baptized and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” The promise of the Spirit is meant for them, their descendants, and for those afar off. That includes us.

We who repent and are baptized daily will every day receive the Spirit anew to revive our spirits to walk in newness of life. The indwelling Spirit that we received at baptism promises to be there every time we repent and receive forgiveness by remembering our baptism. The ”gift” of the Holy Spirit is the promise. Cherish, nurture, appreciate, and activate the Spirit within.

Acts 2:28 Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.

Peter, in His Pentecost Day sermon, quotes a Psalm of David prophesying the bodily resurrection of the Christ. Because of His resurrection, he is able to give us this promise: the Lord will make you full of joy in His presence.

The living and resurrected Lord Jesus Christ is by us, near us, with us, even in us. he lives to be with us always. His ”countenance” is the expression of His face. In the Benediction, “His countenance being lifted up” means His face is smiling on us. The face of God is the presence of God. Jesus is present with always for blessing, for our good. We don’t think about it most of the time, but when we remember His smiling presence with us it makes us full of joy. The very thought and reminder of the loving presence of God brings a smile to our face. And He will make us full of joy any time, especially in difficult times when we need Him most. Rejoice in the Lord, for He makes you joyful.

Acts 2:21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

This conditional promise of Salvation comes to us from Peter’s sermon on the Day of Pentecost: if you call, then you will be saved. But it is not the ”calling” that is the cause of your salvation, for it is actually the now poured-out Holy Spirit who is calling us by the Gospel. The Spirit creates the faith that calls out and receives the gift of the Spirit and the gift of Salvation.

It has been described as looking sort of like this: the Holy Spirit hovers over the person and convicts him through the preached and heard Gospel, and then He drops into the heart when the convinced sinner opens the heart. This ”conversion process” happens at baptism, or whenever the sinner comes to faith.

The promise is twofold: the first is the indwelling Spirit coming to live in our spirit; the second is that we shall be saved. We are saved from Sin: all sins are forgiven and we receive the righteousness of God through faith. We are saved from Death: we are given eternal life now and that life continues through and beyond physical death. We are saved from the power of the Devil: although he lies and claims to have power over us he does not. We are saved for good works that we shall walk in them: the indwelling Spirit is sanctifying us to slowly mold us into becoming the holy, righteous people we have been already declared to be. We trust His promise that we are becoming more Christlike, shaped into the image of God. This promise is a result of being saved and of the indwelling Spirit.

Acts 2:17-18 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall visions, And your old men shall dream dreams: and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.

On the Day of Pentecost, after Jesus’ Resurrection and Ascension, Jesus poured out the Holy Spirit on the 120 disciples gathered in Jerusalem. Peter proclaims that this event fulfills the prophecy of Joel. The promise of a poured out Spirit of God includes us as well, for he says ”all flesh.” Since Jesus finished His Salvation Work and sat at the Father’s right hand, He did, and He continues to, pour out the Spirit. He died for all; now He sends the Holy Spirit upon all.

To make the point that the Holy Spirit is available for all kinds of people, he includes male and female, old and young, rich and poor, slave and free as examples that no human person is excluded from this promise. And this will happen ”in the last days,” which includes all the time of history from the Ascension of Christ to the Second Coming.

The What is the promised indwelling of the Spirit; the Who is all people; the When is all the days in which we are living since then; the Where is everywhere to the ends of the earth; the Why is Jesus’ finished work: the How will manifest in various ways with Salvation as the result. The promise is for you and your children.

John 20:31 But these things are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, and that believing ye might have life through his name.

The Gospel of John (and all Scripture) was written with the purpose that the reader and hearer might might be brought to faith in Jesus as the Christ. And then when we believe we will have life through His name. There is a two-fold promise in John’s purpose statement: 1) The Gospel in the Word will bring us to believe in Jesus, and 2) Believing in Jesus will give us eternal life.

Throughout his Writings John connects faith and life: ”whosoever believeth in me hath everlasting life.” This promise is worked out within us by the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit who creates faith in Jesus by the hearing of the gospel, and then it is the Spirit who comes to live in our spirit as eternal life.

This promise is really very remarkable, and it is very helpful for us when we remember it: we have the Life of God living within us. We may call upon This Life in every need, in any trouble, and during any crisis. Trust Him to bring about the needed change and answer our prayer. And furthermore, ”remembering our baptism” prevents more evils from coming into our lives daily. Yes, we have life. That life is God. That life is good. That life is eternal.

John 11:52 And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that we’re scattered abroad.

After Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, it was settled and determined among the Jewish leaders: Jesus must be put to death. Caiaphas, the high priest, said, “It is expedient for us, that one nan should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.” He did not know the double meaning of his prophecy.

John does not miss the meaning, for he writes: “he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation.” And then he goes on to write, “and not for that nation only.” The death of Jesus would be for all nations everywhere with the promise: He will gather together in one the children of God. The Gospel, the death of Jesus on the cross, is for all people everywhere. The promise is sure: Jesus died for me, and He will gather me as a child of God into His family. The words “for all” includes “for me.” And now we await the Ingathering.

John 7:39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet given: because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

John parenthetically explains the saying of Jesus that rivers of living water shall flow out of the belly of the believer. The explanation contains the promise: those who believe on Jesus will receive the Holy Spirit. This promise is, of course, for believers in Jesus. Believing is not the cause of the receiving; rather, the receiving is the cause of believing, for the Spirit creates faith through the Gospel.

The focus here is on the promise: we will receive the Spirit. That promise is worth taking some time to ponder and meditate on. God lives in us! God’s life dwells in my life! The Almighty God, Creator of the universe, has chosen to live in the hearts of believers and to influence their lives from within.

After Jesus was glorified, risen, ascended, and seated, He poured out the Spirit on all flesh, so that people can believe the gospel and be filled with God. In our daily interactions with people God is touching lives through us. Believing this promise makes us more careful about how we treat others.

John 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son of God shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

In the Gospel of John, everything is black or white. There is no gray. There is no middle ground. There is room for in-between. This is from God’s point of view. From our point of view, lots of things are gray because our vision is blurred; we don’t see things sharply and clearly. But with God, it is either eternal life or eternal death, no limbo, no purgatory, no halfway to heaven, no “trying to get there,” no “we’ll see what happens,” no “sometimes I feel like one or the other.” One is either in life or in death. Either one has everlasting life now or he will not see life.

So it is also with faith and unbelief. It is black or white. No gray. One either believes in Jesus or he does not. It is simply: “he that believeth” or “he that believeth not.” For the “having or not having life” depends on the presence of faith, period. It is not a matter of having strong or weak faith, great or a little faith, pure or mixed faith, mountain-moving or mustard seed faith, some doubts or no doubts. Just “he who believes on the Son” has life. This is the promise. We believe it.

So it is also with light and darkness. We have come out of darkness into light. We do not live in a twilight, although it may feel dusky to us. We have limited vision; we see through a glass dimly; it all looks gray. But with faith in Jesus we walk in the light of life. Faith receives the promise.

John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

John points out Jesus and calls Him the Lamb of God with a promise: this person will take away all your sin. But is this really true? We wonder, because we still sin every day. It is not really “taken away.” And the Old Adam, original sin remains alive and kicking, and sinning.

So how is all sin taken away? The penalty of Sin was taken away completely when Jesus died for all our sins on the cross. The inescapable penalty for sin is death, Jesus died for our sins, suffering Sin’s temporal and eternal punishment in our place, thereby taking away sin.

The power of sin in our present life remains with us to tempt us daily. Power can mean either authority or ability. Sin did not lose the ability to lead the sinful flesh that remains into actual sins. But Sin did lose the authority to rule our behavior and act as a slave master telling us what to do. Jesus “took away” the authority of Sin, but it lies to us, saying it still has the right to rule. The truth is that Jesus is now the Master with the right to rule (by our willing surrender, not by force). This new life, Jesus in us, sits beside the old life, the Self in us, fighting each other with truth and lies. At any given moment the question confronts us: to which one will we surrender? Believe the promise: Jesus took away the sin.

This promise will finally come true when Jesus takes away the presence of Sin when we die and go to be with the Lord in righteousness, holiness, purity, and blessedness. Yes, Jesus will take away the sin of the world at the Final Judgment and cast it into the lake of fire, banished from our presence forever. The promise is true and real, and it is for us.

John 1:16 And of his fullness have all we received,, and grace for grace.

When we received Jesus we received His fullness, and the promise of that we will receive grace after grace after grace again and again. Believers in Jesus receive all of Him, all of His Life, all of His Love, all of His righteousness, all of His Goodness and Mercy, all the time and forever.

The good news of this promise is that grace never stops. Jesus earned grace for us and now He freely gives it to us. Grace forgives and covers every sin we have ever or will ever commit, past, present, or future, in thought, desire, word, or deed. Nothing escapes God’s notice and every sin He notices must be judged. And Jesus took the judgment on all our sins upon Himself at the cross. The infinite God died for infinite Sin. Now grace, forgiveness, mercy, and peace is available for all.

We need to remember and personally believe this promise of “grace for grace” when we repent of a besetting sin 100 times. Human unbelief says, “How many times will God forgive me for the same thing? I repent and say, ‘I won’t do it again,’ and then I do it again.” We are tempted to give up on self and give up on God. But then we remember: it is grace upon grace.

So we repent again, and again. Then we must be careful of the ditch on the other side, the ditch of grace being license. “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid.” We know better. Never-ending grace becomes the power to stop sinning, not to continue.