In Acts 1:4, the scriptures tell us, “And being assembled together with them, He commanded them.” Now, this is the first and last time Jesus issues a commandment since His Father highly exalted Him, making Him King of Kings and Lord of the Lords, the blessed only Potentate, and only wise God. This commandment is therefore, very significant. I will remind you, in John 15:10, Jesus has said, “I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in my Father’s love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.”
This statement, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love,” when juxtaposed with the statement, “I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in my Father’s love,” indicates two separate lists of commandments. Jesus is not telling us we need to keep His Father’s commandments to abide in His love. He is saying His commandments will be unique from His Father’s.
Acts 1:4 continues, “Do not depart from Jerusalem.” Now we would be fools indeed to think the first and last Commandment of the Lord of Lords and King of Kings would begin and end with not departing a geographical place. Jesus continues with the word, but. The word, but is a conjunctive word that ties two thoughts together in tension. So Jesus ties a command not to depart Jerusalem together with a command to wait for the promise of the Father. The promise of the Father is everlasting life.
Notice John 3:16. “For God (that’s the Father) so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” God gave His Son that we might have eternal life. Eternal life was not possible before Jesus died on a cross. Jesus said, “I have kept my Father’s commandments.” It is Jesus’ righteousness that is bestowed on the whole human race because Jesus fulfilled the old covenant law. This is what the disciples were commanded to wait in Jerusalem to receive.
Now, you might think eternal life would be automatic once Jesus had fulfilled the law but it did not work that way. Jesus had to ascend to heaven, and sprinkle His blood over the new covenant tabernacle, in order to ratify the new covenant. It is the new covenant that makes eternal life possible and it is faith in the new covenant that carries eternal life forward. The new covenant tabernacle had existed for eons past but it was not ratified; it had no surety. Jesus’ blood was not sprinkled on the mercy seat of the old covenant; Jesus’ blood ratified the new covenant. It took 50 days, the time between Jesus’ death on the cross and Pentecost, for all things to be made ready. When everything was ready, the Holy Spirit came back to earth to convey the eternal life on all mankind.
However, every covenant has requirements to stay in good standing with the covenant and the new covenant is no different. When God created the earth and placed mankind in it, He told Adam to guard and keep the garden. Mankind had freewill and God will never do anything to rob mankind of its freewill. God does not want robots. Our Father God sent His Son to fulfill the law that all mankind could receive everlasting life but gave each and every man a choice to keep it. Jesus said, “In order to abide in my love, you must keep my commandments.” Mankind has the ability to opt out.
The word, abide, means to remain. Though all mankind receives eternal life because of Jesus’ perfect keeping of the old covenant law, only by obedience can mankind remain righteous. Thus, only by obedience can mankind remain in God’s love.
This is the reason Jesus told Nicodemus, “You must be born again.” Nicodemus was born into the kingdom of God, a kingdom Jesus fulfilled. In order for Nicodemus to continue to live in the good grace of God, he would have to be reborn in a new kingdom, the kingdom of heaven. In order to live in the kingdom of heaven, Nicodemus would have to stop keeping the commandments of God, the Father, and start keeping the commandments of the God, Jesus.
The Father gave to Jesus the all power in heaven and earth to perform a hard restart. All mankind receives eternal life because of this hard restart. Those who believe in Jesus retain it.
So, what are Jesus’ commandments? Going back to Acts 1, Jesus continues, “Which He said, you have heard of me.” Jesus had not taught on the promise of the Father; He had not instructed His followers in it; He had talked about it. Eternal life could not be offered to mankind until the old covenant was fulfilled. The old covenant was the law that was in force during Jesus’ ministry. Jesus could not fulfill it while transgressing it. The old covenant never offered eternal life so Jesus couldn’t offer it without transgressing it. By saying, “you have heard of me,” Jesus differentiates His perfect keeping of the old covenant in order to fulfill it from His introduction of the new covenant.
Jesus continues with the word, for. Now the word, for, is another conjunctive word but this word indicates purpose. The purpose of this commandment is revealed in the following words. Jesus says, “For John truly baptized with water; but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Now, again, the word, but, holds two statements together in tension. Jesus ties the call on John’s life together with a call He is placing on the lives of those who choose to follow Him.
The thing about John is that John was totally devoted to the task given to Him by God. It should be evident Jesus is not tasking His followers, those who believe in Him, with keeping John’s task. Jesus is giving these believers a totally different task but is expecting the same level of devotion. It is commanded.
When John arrived on the scene, the Jews were not keeping the old covenant, as evidenced by the fact they had lost autonomy of their land. They were occupied by Roman soldiers. The old covenant promised protection from enemies as long as they kept it. John was tasked with resetting the Jews on their covenant. Jesus said, “I came to fulfill the old covenant.” In order for that fulfillment to have any effect, the Jews would have to be keeping the old covenant. John was very successful in his ministry. The scriptures state, “All Jewry came out to the Jordan to be baptized of John.” John completed his ministry. When Jesus came, John said, He must increase but I must decrease. So why would anyone think to revive John’s ministry?
John has been increasing since that first Pentecost. The whole Church preaches the message of John every week and multiple times a week. One could say John’s message of repentance and baptism is the central theme of the worldwide Church. John’s message is now preached by thousands and John is more famous today than ever, as equally famous as Jesus. So much for Jesus increasing and John decreasing.
Now, what does it mean to believe in Jesus? It should be evident from Philippians 2; Jesus went through a major transformation. Isaiah 53:6 states, “And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all,” but Philippians 2 reveals Jesus laid aside that which made Him God to come to earth as a man and God highly exalted Jesus, making Him ruler over all. To believe in Jesus is to believe in this transformation. If we fail to understand and believe Jesus was transformed from the one “who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made Himself of no reputation and took on Himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of man; and being in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God has highly exalted Him, and given Him a name above every other name,” we may fail to recognize the authority with which He issues these commandments. If we fail to recognize the power and authority of God has passed from the Father to the Son, we may fail to recognize the importance of keeping Jesus’ commandments. According to Jesus, we cannot abide in God’s love without it. Jesus is now Lord.
Now, what are the commandments of Jesus? Jesus said, “For John truly baptized with water; but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” The followers of Jesus were commanded to wait for a baptism with the Spirit; that much should be clear. Jesus never commanded them to preach or disciple in John’s gospel. In fact, John’s gospel was destined to go away; John’s gospel was destined to decrease while Jesus’ gospel was destined to increase. When Peter went out on the first Pentecost and told those people to repent and be baptized, that was a huge mistake and set a false precedent for believers for 2,000 years. The Church has failed to recognize the meaning of the word, but, for 2,000 years.
Moreover, John’s devotion to baptism with water should have been mirrored by the followers of Jesus’ devotion to baptism with the Spirit. Jesus’ gospel is baptism with the Holy Spirit. They should have waited daily for this baptism personally, taught baptism with the Spirit, and discipled new believers in this gospel. When Peter went out preaching baptism in water, the Church got off into error, and has been ever since. God will not bless this behavior.
Remember, Jesus said, “In order to abide in my love, you must keep my commandments.” Words have meanings and the word, keep, means to maintain a prescribed condition. The prescribed condition of Jesus’ commandment is baptized with the Holy Spirit. The word, baptize, means to saturate. It means to be completely filled. The gift of God is righteousness and righteousness allows the Holy Spirit to dwell within us. The commandment of Jesus is to allow the Holy Spirit to flow out enough that your whole being maintains a state of saturation.
Paul said, “Pray without ceasing,” and while that may not be practical or possible, it is a goal to reach for. When the apostle John said, “If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive our sin and restore us to righteousness,” he was not talking about sins against the Ten Commandments or the old covenant law; he was talking about failing to keep the commandments of Jesus. The church he addressed did not believe Jesus’ commandments applied. Like most Christians today, they did not believe they should strive to keep them and believed there was no sin in failing to. John was trying to help them regain eternal life.
All mankind is born with eternal life because of Jesus’ death on the cross; that is the incredible grace of God. However, in order to keep that eternal life, mankind must keep Jesus’ commandments. Now, the new covenant is very simple and simply stated. Any misunderstanding is due to the improper interpretation of the words, but, and for. All that is required is very basic language skills. There is no other name under heaven whereby men might be saved. We either honor that name and maintain righteousness or we dishonor that name and lose it.
Now, earlier I said, ‘When Peter went out preaching baptism in water, the Church got off into error, and has been ever since. God will not bless this behavior.’ And we have two thousand years of history that proves this point. Jesus said, “He that believes on me will do the works I have done and greater works than these shall he do because I go to the Father.” He said, “Whatsoever you ask in my name, that will I do,” and then said, “I will do whatever you ask,” but God will not bless us as long as we halt between two ways. Today, the Church preaches the gospel of John.
The world wide Church tells us not to bother with obedience of Acts 1:4-5, but Jesus commands us to keep His commandments. Who should we believe? If we cannot abide in His love without keeping His commandments, there is no way to abide in heaven. I don’t know what commandments we think we are keeping, but they are not the Lord’s commandments as evidenced by John 14:12-14. If we keep the covenant, we will walk in the blessings, but if we do not keep the covenant, we will fail to receive the blessings.
Leviticus 19:19 says, “Keep my decrees. Do not mate different kinds of animals. Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed. Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material.” And Deuteronomy 22:9–11 commands, “Do not plant two kinds of seed in your vineyard; if you do, not only the crops you plant but also the fruit of the vineyard will be defiled. Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together. Do not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together.”
We are talking about types and shadows. What Peter attempted to do was to take the ministry of John, which was a viable and important ministry before Jesus came in ministry, and add that to the ministry Jesus called His followers to. Peter hitched the old covenant and the new covenant together. It is the equivalent of plowing with a donkey and an ox yoked together and it is strictly forbidden by God. Peter confused both covenants thereby and the fruit was defiled. We cannot keep eternal life while disobeying Jesus’ commandments.
Today, Peter is viewed as the first Pope, the first leader of the Lord’s Church, and the example he set is the example followed by the Church. The pattern is repentance for sin and baptism with water first. Today, most churches leave a baptism with the Spirit off entirely, so the Church of today is attempting to go back under the old covenant with Jesus’ blood substituted for the blood of animals. What was once a commingling of covenants has reverted back to old covenant theology.
Notice again, however, the words of Jesus. “John truly baptized with water but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” To say that Jesus calls us to baptism with water is a lie. Jesus plainly called us to baptism with the Spirit. The word, but, clearly indicates we are not called to John’s ministry.
Peter was head of the Lord’s Church a short period of time. In Acts 10, Jesus calls Peter to go down to Cornelius’ house. As Peter begins his sermon, the Holy Spirit baptizes these believers and Peter says, “Who here can forbid water that these men may be baptized?” Our God is extremely gracious and loving but His grace has an end. One chapter earlier, Jesus had called Paul.
Peter had been warned three times before going down to Cornelius’ house but Peter was hard hearted. He had an inability to hear. In Acts 1, Jesus says “John truly baptized with water but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit,” but Peter didn’t hear Jesus. He went out preaching baptism with water and continued doing so. Look at Isaiah 53:5: “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him: and with His stripes we are healed.” Now, the old covenant law plainly states sin is the author of sickness and disease. If we are healed because of Jesus, then surely our sins are forgiven. The only sins we need to repent of is sins against the Lord of the new covenant. If we fail to keep Jesus’ commandments of waiting for a daily baptism with the Spirit, preaching baptism with the Spirit, and discipling believers, we need to repent as we are walking in unrighteousness.
The 3,000 pricked in their hearts on the day of Pentecost did not need to repent of anything. The Holy Spirit had just come to convey eternal life on them. All they had to do to abide in that eternal life was to keep Jesus’ commandments. All they needed was to speak with tongues, understand what a baptism with the Spirit was, and go out preaching that message. This is what Jesus had said: John truly baptized with water, but the truth was, John did much more than simply baptize with water; He was devoted to baptism with water. John desperately wanted to fulfill the call on his life.
Peter illustrates for us how not to follow God. Peter took two covenants and combined them. He mated two different kinds of animals, planted two different kinds of seeds in the same field, and wore a garment woven from two different kinds of material. Peter plowed the Lord’s field with an ox and a donkey yoked together. Peter went out preaching baptism with water and baptism with Spirit and though he had fruit, the fruit was spoiled. Jesus said, He who believes on me will do the works I have done and greater works than these shall he do because I go to the Father. He said, Whatever you ask in my name that will I do and I will do whatever you ask, John 14:12-14. So why are there so few miracles recorded in the book of Acts?
What should have spread like wildfire, hit roadblock after roadblock after roadblock. Can you imagine what would have happened if Jesus had been able to perform as He promised? Jesus was limited by the mixing of two gospels, two covenants, and the fruit, though there was some, was spoiled. We can look at the book of Acts and say, well this is what was recorded, so it must be right, or we can say, well, Jesus said, if you do not keep my commandments, you cannot abide in my love, and it is obvious the early Church did not abide in God’s love.
Look, we know Jesus said, “Truly John baptized with water, but you, drawing a parallel, a comparison between John’s gospel and the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter went out preaching a combination of the two.
It is not baptism in water that cleanses us; it is obedience. Notice 1John 1:9 again, “If we confess our sin,” that is if we acknowledge we need to keep the commandments of Jesus and it is sin to fail to do so, “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and restore us to righteousness.” Now according to John, failing to keep Jesus’ commandments is sin; sin that establishes unrighteousness. Unrighteousness is the creator of sickness and disease and want and all manner of evil. Keeping Jesus’ commandments is righteousness so obedience undoes disobedience. “If we say we have no sin” in failing to keep Jesus’ commandments, “we lie and the truth is not in us,” 1John 1:8. John repeats this sentiment in 1John 2:4, “He that says I know Him and keeps not His commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him.”
Those who cannot speak with tongues, those who have never received the gift, only need to repent. They can still preach Holy Spirit baptism, talk about it, and seek it. Disobedience is unrighteousness and obedience is righteousness so obedience washes the unrighteousness of disobedience away. Acknowledging that disobedience is sin and repenting is counted the same as obedience. Isn’t the new covenant wonderful?
Most Christians know the Christ and can honestly say I know the Christ but Jesus is no longer Christ. Jesus has been transformed from the one who laid everything down to come to earth as a man, to Lord of Lords and King of Kings, an altogether different person. To know the Lord is to know a need to keep His commandments. Thus, “He that says I know Jesus and keeps not His commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him.”