Jack Jurgens's Ministry Library

Sent to spread the gospel.

[0:01] Book of Acts, Acts chapter 1, and we’ll break into the passage of verse 4. This is thrilling reading, isn’t it, in the book of Acts and the great history of the spread of the gospel, as the Lord begins to call out of the nations a people for His name. And in this opening section of the book of Acts we learn some very pertinent things in relation to that.
And the Lord of course has showed himself alive by many infallible proofs.
Verse 4 says this, and being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father which saith he, you’ve, heard of me, for John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the, Holy Ghost not many days hence.’ When they therefore were come together, they asked of him saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

[1:14] And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which, the Father hath put in his own power, 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 Judea, and in Samaria, and unto 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, as 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, ye have seen him go into heaven.
The Lord will bless to us.
His Word.
We’re often reminded by our preaching brothers that verse 8 contains a division of the book of Acts.

[2:35] And when you’re reading in the book, you learn in the first seven chapters of the way in which the gospel spread in Jerusalem and in all Judea.

[2:47] And at that time the gospel was preached in those environs and not beyond and indeed in an amazing way, the kingdom was offered again to the nation of Israel, but that nation that refused our Saviour while he was here, the king in their midst, refused him when he had gone back to heaven.
The nobleman’s son returning to the far country and they sent a message after him in the stoning of Stephen when they said, we will not have this man to reign over us and the Messiah who was rejected on earth is the Messiah who was yet rejected in heaven. Then from chapter 8 onwards, you begin to read of the gospel going to Samaria and as we read from our brother earlier, from, Samaria upon the persecution that arose from Stephen’s martyrdom, they went up and they went to Antioch, all the way speaking the gospel and telling others about the great news of the Savior.
And when you come to chapter 13, which we also read from earlier, separate me now Saul and Barnabas, and there they were separated and the gospel was going, to go out to the uttermost parts of the earth. Do you know one day the gospel reached Albania, which, by the way, is not as far out into the uttermost parts of the earth as America.

[4:14] I know you all think that America is the sort of center of the universe. I have news to tell you, it’s in the far reaches of this verse in Acts chapter 1 and verse 8. I’m glad for the fact the gospel went to Albania earlier on, Illyricum, and I’m glad of the time the gospel came to the shores of my country and to England and how it was spread and through a lot of British history, into the far corners of the world, the Lord taking up that in His providence.
And ultimately right out to the far corners of the world. How wonderful, exciting, invigorating, stimulating to read of the fact that the gospel was intended to go to the uttermost hearts of the earth as the gospel was preached to all and sundry in order that so many multitudes might come to know the Saviour. And of course these disciples were recognising, they were cognisant of the fact, that the Lord Jesus had said to them after his resurrection, but before this that we read of in Acts chapter 1. He said, as my father hath sent me, even so send I you. As my father hath sent me, even so send I you. And as they listened to our Lord in that room with the doors locked.

[5:42] And they having fear of the Jews, he’s telling them that he’s sending them and, he’s sending them on the same mission that the Father had sent him on, and as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And it may be that the voice of Christ, risen and powerful, might resonate in the heart and soul and conscience and and spiritual experience of somebody in our meeting today.
As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And the you might not be the person next to you, but Christ in his risen power addresses you. And in the conference this afternoon you hear his word, you recognize his voice, you’re stirred in your soul as my father hath sent me even so send i you may i remind you, that Christ has no tongue except yours.

[6:48] Christ has no feet to go except yours. Christ has no hand to work save yours.
And what a happy thing if today in our meeting, maybe in the life of some young believer or some older believer, you come to the recognition that Christ is speaking to you and that from this moment onwards instead of living a life for your career and for your advantage and for your benefit.

[7:20] You are willing to say to the Lord who saved you that in actual fact I am willing to lay down my life for thee that wherever thou descend me round the corner or round the world Lord I am ready, I am willing, I am prepared, to do as thou wouldst have me do, as Saul of Tarsus when he was saved.
Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And in love for Christ, and in love for a world that’s perishing and lost and breaking and devastated by the increasing impact of sin, as the mystery of iniquity goes into turbo charge, still there comes a call that gospel light might shine.

[8:09] And it will only shine as his people stand and count the cost and out of love for Christ, are prepared at whatever cost to make him known. And so thrilling when we come to the beginning of the book of Acts and what the Savior is saying is this, that the great mission of the Father on which he had been sent and the continuing mission that these men were given now would go not just to the limited regions of Jerusalem and Judea but to go to Samaria, what a read that is, about Philip in Samaria and ultimately to the uttermost part of the earth.

[8:54] There’s a very interesting thing in the book of Acts at the beginning here which will help us to understand what was going on and help us in our day.
The disciples, those that were with the Lord, probably not just the 12 here but others as well, they had heard what the Lord said to them and when they would come together, they had a question for the Lord and the question that they had for the Lord really showed where their understanding was in relation to the things I want to talk to you about, because they’re saying to the Lord, Lord wilt thou restore the kingdom again to Israel? No, they didn’t ask that. So what they asked was this, they asked Lord wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

[9:45] You remember that they had great difficulty in realizing that their Lord whom they were following in the Gospels was actually going to suffer and to bleed and die, because here was the king in their midst and the idea would have been this that they would were thinking that he had come to establish the kingdom and to rid them certainly of the Roman yoke and to set up that messianic kingdom of which the bible is full in the old testament in his predictions that a king shall reign in zion and of course that was the hope of israel, that’s contained in the abrahamic covenant it’s contained in the palestinian covenant, it’s contained in the davidic covenant that is to say in promises unconditional given to abraham, and given to David about the land and about a king who would reign.

[10:42] Isn’t it wonderful, by the way, to read through some of those Old Testament prophets? I mean, it’s a bit hard going sometimes. I know you all prefer the New Testament section of Isaiah to the Old Testament section. Well, I guess everybody does, but it’s far easier to read about comfort ye my people than woe unto Jerusalem in chapter 29 or wherever. And you plow through some, but you come to those wonderful sections in the prophets that speak of the fact that a king shall reign in righteousness and a king shall reign and prosper and you read in chapters like Isaiah 11 and elsewhere and then in Romans 8 how that the whole creation is going to be delivered from the bondage of corruption and it won’t be that wolves and lambs and sheep and asps and lions and all and children are all going to be at odds with each other. The wonderful fact is this that the bondage of corruption into which creation was placed at the beginning will be, they’ll be delivered from it and a king shall reign and Edenic conditions more or less will return in the millennial kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ and if you were a Jew in the Old Testament this was your hope, this was your hope, it still is the hope of orthodox Jews.

[12:06] In North Manchester, near where Stephen and Carol used to live. I remember sitting at traffic lights, in North Manchester one day and it was on a corner and right the way around the corner on a wall, there was painted, beautiful inscription as I remember and what it was saying is this, that the Messiah is coming. It’s a very Jewish area of North Manchester in England.

[12:32] Messiah is coming, Moshiach is coming, and that was their hope in the Old Testament, and the disciples, this was their hope. So now Christ has died and is risen, and they’re asking this question, will thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
Now I want you to understand something, the fact that Christ has died, and the fact that we are now living in a dispensation where God is calling out of the the nations of people for his name and in which the church is being formed, I want to talk to you about in just a moment, the fact that we are living in this era, this distinct dispensation, has not for one minute meant that the, promises given to Israel have been annulled or abrogated. In other words, those promises are still good. At the moment, that program, God’s kingdom program, in which his great purpose and design is that there will be a manifested, mediatorial kingdom for a thousand years on earth, that program is, at the moment, as it were, don’t make me an offender for a word, as it were, it is is on hold.

[13:57] God is not now dealing in that way. God now is dealing in another way and it is this, that he’s calling out of all of the nations, a people for his name. Isn’t that wonderful?
When you get to the Old Testament, it was to do with Israel my son, my firstborn.
The only have I known of all the nations of the earth.
God is dealing in particular with the nation, you know the story, but aren’t you glad, I’m glad, aren’t you glad that now it’s not like that?

[14:35] And here God the Lord is forming that body which is the church, but the fact that God is doing that, does not mean that God will not fulfill His promise to the nation of Israel. Now follow this carefully. They say, wilt thou restore again the kingdom to Israel? No, they had no doubt that God would keep his promises. Now I’m amazed that people take an amillennial position, where they say that actually that whole program of the establishment of the manifested kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ will not be fulfilled. It’s being spiritually fulfilled now in the church.
I just say to you, don’t believe a word of it. When you’re reading in Romans 11 at the end, there are multiple reasons for believing that God is going to take up again his dealings with Israel as a nation and in connection with that and them being the head of the nations and not the tail, He’s going to establish that kingdom of which our Bible speaks.
So the disciples had no doubt about that. They did not say, wilt thou restore again the kingdom to Israel?
But what they did say was, wilt thou at this time?
Will you do it now, Lord? Do you see that?

[15:58] And the Lord didn’t say to them no, but the Lord did say something different was going to happen.

[16:07] So instead now of a king coming in glory and a king coming in power and in might, to Jerusalem, instead of that from Jerusalem they would go out.

[16:22] So what he’s going to say to them is, look, actually the Father has put in his own power the times and seasons and it’s not for you to know that. This expression times and seasons has always to do with the nation of Israel and it always has to do with that which is on earth.
So he says, look, it’s not for you to know the times and the seasons, the Father’s put that in in his own power, but the thing I want you to know is this, you shall receive power, and what he says is this, that you receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and then you’ll be witnesses unto me. So what he’s saying is this, that the age that was being ushered in was marked at its beginning by this that he says about the Holy Spirit.
In verse 8, the Holy Spirit will come upon you but look back the way and in verse number 5 we read that John truly baptized with water but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence. So the Lord Jesus is marking out the beginning of the church age, that it would actually be begun by the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

[17:47] I want to talk to you about that just for a moment because we’re living in an age when there’s whole heaps of confusion about the baptism in the Holy Spirit and I want to put this to you, that the baptism in the Holy Spirit was a one-off historic never-to-be-repeated event, that happened on one day in history and that one day in history was on the day of Pentecost, And whenever anybody is saved, they come into the benefit and into the good of that which happened on that one day in history.
Now I don’t have time this afternoon to expand very much on that, but you might remember that the Apostle Paul is writing to the Corinthians in chapter 12, and he’s speaking to them about that.
And in that chapter, he’s going to speak to them about the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
The late Mr. Hunter used to tell us that it was the only apostolic exegesis of what happened on the day of Pentecost.

[18:57] So on the day of Pentecost, Paul’s speaking about it in 1 Corinthians 12, 12, and he says that in one spirit are we all baptized into one body whether we be Jews or Gentiles whether we be bond or free. I remember well Mr Jack Hunter speaking to us on this the baptism in the Holy Spirit he used to put it like this that in any baptism there are four elements, At the first is the person who’s going to do the baptizing.

[19:37] So in any baptism this is the case. If someone’s getting baptized in connection with your assembly, someone has got to do the baptizing. Somebody who hopes the immersion heater for the water is working, especially in winter baptisms. But someone’s got to do the baptizing. Secondly, there has to be the candidate for baptism.

[19:59] Thirdly, there has to be the element in which the baptism took place.
And fourthly, it’s unto something. So in water baptism, somebody does the baptizing, the new believer, we trust the new believer. By the way, if you’re a believer but not baptized, you really should be. Don’t wait for a flash of lightning or a word from the brethren, just get exercise, because it’s an anomaly to be an unbaptized believer. Anyway, here’s the person doing the baptizing, here’s the candidate for baptism, here’s the water, and it’s unto Christ. In my baptism what I’ve said is this, that I’ve died to sin, I’m laid in the same grave as my Savior in that, but I’m also now in union with a risen Christ, and in association with Him, I’m living now to a new principle, and that principle is the glory of the Father. I’m living in newness of life. So that’s water baptism.
In the baptism of the Holy Spirit, Christ was the baptizer. John the Baptist said, he shall baptize you. Christ is the baptizer, the risen and descended Christ.
The candidates for baptism, well, these were they who were gathered on the day of Pentecost.

[21:26] But the thing is, they were actually a representative company.
So there they were in that room on the day of Pentecost.
These were they who were to be baptized in the element of the Holy Spirit who came and filled the room.
So the element was the Holy Spirit. They weren’t baptized by the Holy Spirit.
They were baptized in the Holy Spirit by the risen Christ.

[21:51] And what that was unto was this. It was unto one body.

[21:55] Jews and Gentiles, we read in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. So the idea is this, that on the day of Pentecost the body of Christ was formed. When you were saved in practical experience you of course were added to it, you came into the good of what happened on the day of Pentecost. Now don’t be sidetracked by charismatic teaching, it’s all over the place. The idea is not that when you get saved, you need to pray and wait in order to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
That’s not the idea. The idea is this, at the moment that you believed, you came into the good of what happened on the day of Pentecost and what happened on the day of Pentecost marked the beginning of the church age. It was then that the body of Christ was formed. So what that means is this, the church is not a continuation of Israel. The church has not, as it were, come into the spiritual benefit of all of the promises that were given to Israel, which lo and would then need to be all allegorical. So it’s not like that. On the day of Pentecost a new thing began in God’s dealings with men and he’s calling out.

[23:23] From the nations a people for himself, by the way, a people for his son. Isn’t that.

[23:30] Wonderful? Don’t you love to think about divine purpose, the design of God in all he’s doing. Brothers and sisters, one day there will be a people surrounding his son.
They will be sons, that’s Romans 8, all conformed to his image, but this church will be his bride, the fullness of him that filleth all in all, his complement. Isn’t that brilliant?
See I think of Adam and Eve. I mean that was an event wasn’t it when Adam Adam went to sleep by whatever means God used to put him to sleep and here’s the surgical procedure that was taking place.

[24:23] And eventually Adam came round from it. That was a busy day, day six. Adam came round from it.
Imagine, before Adam went to sleep, all he had was a bunch of animals and birds.
And he couldn’t really speak to the parrot. You might think parrots are wonderful in speaking, but Adam really couldn’t speak to the parrot. And if he did speak to the parrot, all he might get is something back in whatever language Adam spoke, which I think was probably Hebrew.
But and really Adam couldn’t speak to the cows because there was nothing in the cows that that he could commune with there’d be no understanding in the cows of what he said they couldn’t understand his heart he might say to a cow oh you are lovely Daisy and all Daisy might do is moo might do a lot worse but all, Daisy might do is moo there was absolutely nothing the pigs would only he oink and grunt at Adam and he went to sleep and he woke up and there she was.

[25:25] Do you ever wonder what Adam said to Eve when he opened his eyes? I often wonder what what a moment that must have been. Did he say good morning or good afternoon or will you marry me or perhaps perhaps in the divine mind they already were. I’m not not too sure these are these are amazing things but in any the event term. The thing is that Eve was everything that Adam wasn’t and she was everything that Adam needed. So he could speak to her and she would understand him and she would speak to him and he might understand her. And they could love each other. So everything that Adam needed intellectually and for purposes of communion and companionship and of course reproduction for the race, the woman was made for the man, we know this, she was the complement of Adam, she was the fullness of Adam, so that’s taken over into Ephesians 1 and the church is the complement of him that filleth all in all. This is an amazing thing, Christ in glory is incomplete without his church.

[26:39] I know you got a blink about that one but it’s true, Christ in glory is incomplete without His church. So what God is doing is this, He’s bringing her to His Son.
He is really, He’s not just leaving that to the whim of fallen man either. God has purpose and design, and it will happen. Praise God it will. There will be a people.

[27:06] So you see, it’s marked at the beginning by the baptism in the Holy Spirit, but then he’s also going to mark out in this chapter that this era in which we’re living is going to have an end.

[27:20] So later on in the verses that we read, they’re looking steadfastly up to heaven.

[27:28] And as they’re looking steadfastly up toward heaven, he’s taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight. Isn’t that just the most wonderful thing?
Paul writing to Timothy says he was received up in glory. Glory was the accompaniment of his ascension. What a moment when the risen Christ ascended to glory. Listen to what’s happening. He’s leaving his witness, his testimony, the spread of his gospel in the hands of people like Peter, Thomas, those who hadn’t been able to stand by the cross and had fled? He’s leaving the spread of the gospel to Jerusalem and Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the world in the hands of failing, frail, weak, unable men, whose failure wasn’t all over yet.
Don’t you love that? And he himself is received up in glory, and as they’re looking up, here’s the question, why stand you gazing up into heaven? He says, you men of Galilee, why stand you gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, he says, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you’ve seen him go into heaven. Now here’s a talking point for tea time, dinner time, and whenever the next meal’s coming.

[28:52] I think the normal line is this, that when they speak about him coming in like manner as you’ve seen him going to heaven, that because it was from the Mount of Olives, people say, well he’s coming back to the Mount of Olives, which he is, and that this is actually speaking about Christ coming in glory.
I have to say I doubt that.
So you see, look what it says, This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come here’s the words in like manner as you’ve seen him Go, what was the manner of his going?
Well, if you’re reading in Luke 24 you discover this that as he was going he was blessing them, Like when he comes back to the Mount of Olives, it’s as a warrior King and he’s coming in judgment.

[29:40] But when he ascends up here, it’s in the act of blessing them. And not only that, but when he ascended up into heaven here, he was unseen by the world. Of course, when he comes in power and glory, every eye shall see him. They also which pierced him. I have a notion, it’s only a notion, I have a notion that the eyes of every living person who has ever lived from wherever they are, will see him on that great day. Every eye shall see him when the heir of all things comes to claim his inheritance.
But he comes as a warrior king. He’s going up now unseen by the world. He’s coming visibly, at that time. And not only that, you see, there’s a very personal element about this.
He says, this same Jesus.

[30:36] You know when the Lord’s speaking about coming in power and glory, it’s always third person.
The Son of Man shall come. The Son of Man this, the Son of Man that, in relation to His coming again.
But when it’s to do with a rapture, not a Bible word, but praise God it’s a Bible truth.
The early believers used to say to one another, Maranatha. What a great word, Maranatha, our Lord, cometh.’ When it’s to do with the rapture, it’s all very personal. Don’t you love the words of the Lord Jesus in John 14? If I go away, I will come again. Or the language of Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4, the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout. This is personal, this is that which is close to him and here in this passage, this same Jesus. So I want to put this to you, that actually because he’s speaking about the manner of his going and coming that this actually refers to rapture. I’m putting that to you. You might have to think about it, you might take a long time to come around and agree with me, but ultimately if you think about it hard enough you just might in any event, what I’m putting to you is this, that in Acts chapter 1 he’s marking the beginning of the church age and he’s also marking the end of it.

[31:57] Because once the Lord comes to the air and receives his people to be with himself in that personal unseen moment of great blessing no longer will the gospel of the grace of God be preached on earth and no longer will there be opportunity for people to be saved as we have been saved the Bible teaches no second chance for those who reject the gospel in this particular era. And in the meanwhile, people are still being sent. There came a day when our brother Enris and Sylvia, they heard the call of God for Albania and they obeyed.

[32:43] You will know people who in their lives in a very definite, real and powerful way heard the call of God and they went.
I love the old missionary stories. My favorite missionary story for those of you connected to this part, that part of the world, is a book. I’ve got an old edition thick red book called It Can Be Done.
William Williams and the work in Venezuela. Great missionary story. If you haven’t got the book, buy it, borrow it, beg it, don’t steal it.
That’s when you borrow a book and don’t return it. If all the books came back to me that I’ve lent out, we’d need to move all the stealing Christians in fellowship with us.
I love the stories of people like Fred Stanley Arnott. Went over to Africa in the year 1884, landed in probably somewhere around what is now Namibia.
For three years, went through the bush with two African helpers, unbelievers.
Made his way ultimately right into Central Africa, taking the gospel, blazing a trail for Christ.

[33:57] The Lord meeting his every need along the way. I love the story of Arnott’s boots.
His boots went through and he prayed at night with the two helpers that the Lord would provide him a new pair of boots and they just laughed at him that in the bush in Africa in those days that the Lord could possibly give him a new pair of boots out the next morning there’s a lad coming the other way with a pair of boots strung around his neck with the laces which they were able to trade some cloth for. Arnott said they were the best-fitting boots he’d ever had. He heard the call and he went.

[34:40] When you come later into Acts, Philip heard the call and went to the desert. There was one man that he had to go to.
You know why the Lord sent him to that man?
So that that man on his return to Africa could tell of the wonderful Saviour who bled and died for sinners on Calvary.
Do you know if we were thinking about taking the gospel to Africa, people would form committees and they’d set up trusts and they’d do this and that. Do you know what God’s way is?
He’ll raise a man and send him.
He’ll meet his every need.
He’ll give him wisdom, he’ll give him understanding, he’ll take him to where he wants him to be, and the work of God will be accomplished when done in God’s way and in response to his command.
Acts chapter 9, not to Philip now, arise and go and he went, but to Ananias, arise and go and he went.
I picture Ananias sitting in his house in Damascus. and go. What Lord? To him? But ultimately he went, and he went, do you know where he went?
Round the corner. We can have romantic notions about where the Lord is sending us.
I’m going to Africa. I’m going here. I’m going there. Maybe the Lord just wants you to go around the corner. It’s a bigger thing to obey the call of God to go around the corner as it is to obey the call of God to go to Africa or somewhere.

[36:05] And Acts chapter 10 to Peter, arise and go. And he arose and went and what Peter was doing was this. He was speaking to Cornelius, the first fully fledged Gentile in the book of Acts to get saved. They arose and went.
This is God at work. This is God calling, God raising, God equipping, God sending, God providing for, God Blessing!

[36:26] What a day it will be when the story’s told in glory, of all that God has done through His servants whom He’s raised up and sent, of the gospel going to the darkest places on earth, and gospel light shining, and in places where Satan reigns supreme, it would seem.
Souls and souls and more souls were saved, and gospel light shone out. Thrilling, isn’t it?
So I say to you again as I sit down, as my Father has sent me, so send I you.
Maybe this afternoon in this meeting a young man will hear the call of God or have it confirmed, But instead of pursuing everything that people pursue in this world, you say, I have heard the call.
All of that I lay aside.
Christ must be everything to me in what he wants me to do. Maybe some young sister in the meeting tonight, maybe older, but maybe some young sister in the meeting this afternoon, and you hear the call of God resonating in your life.

[37:48] Will it be that you will rise up and say, Lord, all I am and all I have and all I ever hope to be is thine and thine alone. Let me have grace that thou mightest use me in all my weakness and need, to further the interests of the Christ of God and His wonderful gospel.
May the Lord bless his word.

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