The Ascension Of Jesus Christ

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Our Father, we do thank you for the gift of life. Even today, you have renewed unto us your mercies, and great is your faithfulness.
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We thank you for preserving and keeping us this past week. And this is a new week, the first day of that week, and we give you praise and glory and honor and blessing.
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In and through the name of the Lord Jesus, we come to you asking for you to please bless us.
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Remember us today as we come to the house of the Lord with a desire to worship and adore and exalt the
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Lord our God. Teach us, we pray, from your word this morning in this class, and may
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Jesus Christ be praised. We ask it in his name, amen. Alright, in 1
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Timothy chapter 3 will be one of the first verses that we look at, but I want to start the class this morning by asking you a question.
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Now, I'm not asking you to enter into any type of idolatrous practice when I ask you this question, but what is it that you picture in your mind when you think of where Jesus Christ is right now?
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Where is the Lord Jesus right now? What do you picture? What do you think? James? Ascended?
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Okay. You read the bulletin, didn't you? We're good, brother. Bruce? The right hand of the
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Father. The right hand of the Father. You looked at the bulletin also, didn't you? You know what the class is going to be about. All these good doobies in the class.
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No, I'm kidding. It's correct. Any other thoughts? I mean, some people think, you know, they concentrate on Jesus in the manger, little baby, true.
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Some people think of his earthly ministry, him walking about on the earth and doing good, as it says in Acts, and that's right also.
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Some think of him crucified and on the cross, and sadly, some religions keep him there, but there's more to it, right?
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Some think of him being raised again, resurrected from the grave, and that is correct, too.
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But as James and as Bruce said, there's more to it. Some think, you know, earthly ministry, death, burial, resurrection, when you think of what's the gospel?
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The death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus, and then you don't hear too much more after that. I mean, really think about it.
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How often, and the subject, of course, this morning is the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. How often do we hear about the ascension?
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Look in 1 Timothy 3, the very last verse, I believe it is, "'Great indeed,' we confess, "'is the mystery of godliness.
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He,' this is speaking of Jesus, "'was manifested in the flesh.'" What doctrine is that?
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Jesus came in the flesh, the incarnation. Jesus was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the
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Spirit, seen of angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, and here it is, taken up to glory.
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There it is, the ascension, taken up to glory. There's more beyond the grave, there's more beyond the resurrection.
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When Jesus was raised by the Father, was raised by the Spirit, was when he raised himself from the grave, there's more after it.
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That's what I hope that we'll look at this morning, and it'll be an encouragement to us. Let me give you a definition.
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I got this out of a very small paperback book called Theological Isms, a layman's reference guide to theological terms by Randy Smith, and he put it this way.
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The ascension is the act of the resurrected Lord Jesus. See, he's already resurrected, there's more.
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The act of the resurrected Lord Jesus, where he ended his post -resurrection appearances to his disciples and departed to heaven, where he will remain seated at the right hand of God until he returns in the clouds for the church at the rapture.
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So it's Jesus' work after his earthly ministry, after his death, after his burial, after his resurrection, raised up into heaven, and is that it?
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Is he not doing anything? It's all over, he's just watching, and everything is unfolding before him, and he's inactive, he's uninterested in the church, he's uninterested in Christian lives.
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No. There's a work that's ongoing, and that's what we're going to look at this morning. We're going to see some of the practical implications for us.
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Let's see. If you would then now turn to Colossians, go back just a few books to the left, and look in Colossians, maybe it's just a couple of books to the left,
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Colossians chapter 3. When Jesus was taken up to glory, where did he go?
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Well, Colossians 3, beginning in verse 1, I'll read there.
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It says, If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
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And then he says, Set your minds on the things above, not on the things of the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
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So it says that Jesus Christ is above, so he's in heaven, but the place where he is, is that, as Brother Bruce, I believe, said, he is seated at the right hand of God.
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This imagery comes from the ancient practice where if a person became highly favored of a king, that person would be allowed to sit next to the king and actually sit to the king's right.
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And it was a place of honor, it was a place of exaltation, and it was a place of honor for that person in the kingdom of that king.
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In Jesus Christ, of course, if you look in Hebrews chapter 1, turn to the right now, to the book of Hebrews, we're going to be looking at a lot of scripture, because I want you to see, there are some people who believe that because you only see and hear about the ascension in the book of Luke, at the end of Luke, and you hear it at the beginning of Acts, and Luke wrote both
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Luke and Acts, that Luke is the only writer that spoke of this. But we just, we read out of Colossians, there's the apostle
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Paul, we're reading out of Hebrews now, in Hebrews chapter 1, notice what it says in verse 3,
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Hebrews 1 .3, and this is speaking of the Lord Jesus, of course, from verses 1 and 2, we see that there, speaking of his son,
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God speaking of his son. Hebrews 1 .3, he is the radiance of the glory of God, and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.
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Notice this in verse 4, I mean, verse, yeah, at the end of verse 3. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
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Charles Hodge said of this verse that Christ was exalted for two reasons, and he said that Christ was exalted, one, because he possessed, as it says in here, all divine attributes.
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It says he is the radiance of God's glory, the exact imprint of his nature. So he possesses divine attributes, which has entitled him to divine honor.
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He's been exalted after he was taken up and he's seated at the right hand of God, it qualified him then to exercise absolute universal dominion.
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And then he's also exalted here because you notice it says, after he made purification for sins, or after his sacrifice on our behalf, it says here, and he paid for our sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.
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And I'm going to deal with that a little bit later, but God accepted Christ's work on the cross and raised him from the dead.
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Now, there's another New Testament passage that speaks of Jesus' exaltation after it speaks of him where it says that he did not think at robbery to be equal with God.
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If you remember that passage, you remember the passage says that he emptied himself and then it says he became obedient unto death.
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It's in Philippians chapter 2, right? And then at the end, after all of that about his work, it says, and then
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God gave him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, everything in heaven and on the earth and under the earth should bow and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
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Lord of the glory of God the Father. Now in that text, it doesn't say that he was ascended on high, but it's implied there that this exaltation is after the finished work of the
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Lord Jesus when he became obedient unto death. So we see that the Bible has many different passages that speak of the ascension of Christ.
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But let's go back to one of the familiar ones in Luke chapter 24. If you turn with me to the end of the gospel of Luke, Luke chapter 24.
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And before we begin reading in this passage around verse 44, I want to ask the question, how many have ever heard a sermon or you have attended a
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Sunday school or heard a radio broadcast on the ascension? Let me see, raise your hand if you've heard one.
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One, two, three, I only see three, maybe four, maybe four or five, six at the most hands here.
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Interesting, isn't it? It's not a subject that we hear too much about. And I said I want us to change our thinking a bit because what happens is when someone says encapsulate the gospel for me, would you?
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And you say Christ died for our sins. According to the scriptures, he was buried and raised again the third day.
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According to the scriptures. And we kind of just stop there, right? But it's almost like a
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Paul Harvey moment, isn't it? There's the rest of the story. There's more to it. There's the Bible records.
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And we have one here in Luke chapter 24, which speaks of this great doctrine.
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I have heard messages before on this, but I was particularly stirred.
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And the seed for this Sunday school class came in February of this year when we were in Israel and we were on the
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Mount of Olives. And Pastor Pat Abendroth, Mike Abendroth's brother, taught at the
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Mount of Olives. And he brought up this subject of the ascension. And ever since then, I've been thinking that would be a great, great subject to teach about.
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And here we are in July, and the Lord has allowed us to be able to hear about this great truth.
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I hope to bring some practical examples of how this truth of Christ's ascension can affect the believer's walk.
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It has a significance in our lives. It speaks of the ongoing work of the
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Lord Jesus Christ. And again, sometimes we limit that work, and we don't have the full picture.
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And there's more. He has ascended on high. He has seated at the right hand of God, as we saw in Colossians 3 .1.
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And he is actively engaged in work on behalf of believers. If anything, that should encourage us.
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There's something the Lord Jesus is doing, but it's great to find out what he's doing. It's one thing to know that Jesus ascended on high and in heaven, but it's even better to know what is the
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Lord Jesus doing on our behalf right now, and what's the significance of his ascension.
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Let's learn more of that. In Luke 24, let's see one of these great first gospel examples of where this truth is portrayed.
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Luke 24 .44. This is, of course, the account of the two disciples who were on their way to Emmaus.
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After that Jesus had been crucified, they do not understand the whole record of what took place.
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They're discouraged. They thought Jesus was going to be the
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Messiah. He was maybe going to deliver them from the Roman oppression. And Jesus meets up with them, and we have a piece of this account here, verse 44.
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Jesus speaking to them. Then he said to them, These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the
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Psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. And he said to them, and notice this here,
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Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sin should be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem.
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You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my father upon you.
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But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. Then he led them out as far as Bethany.
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And lifting up his hands, he blessed them. And while he blessed them, notice this phrase, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.
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And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. Now out of this text here, what
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I wanted to look at is, where did it say that he was carried up to? Heaven.
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What verse is that? Verse 51, right? That's the Bible, right?
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We're looking at the Bible, right? This is the word of God. The Bible tells us that Jesus, after he was resurrected, crucifixion, resurrection, he was taken up into heaven, carried up into heaven.
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And the implication for us here is that this confirms to us that heaven is a real place.
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And that Jesus is in heaven. And what other confirmation or affirmation or joy or comfort would you think that a believer could get in those words?
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There's a room, a place prepared for us, right? Jesus said in John 14, around verses 2 or 3, he says,
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I go and prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am,
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Jesus said, there you may be also. Heaven's a real place. Jesus is there.
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And the implication to us is that our ascended Lord has gone into heaven, and heaven is not a myth, heaven is not a fable.
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And again, according to John 14, 2 and 3, Jesus is now performing a work on our behalf.
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And one of the works that he's performing as our ascended Lord is that he's preparing us a dwelling place, a place for us to abide eternally.
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And if you are a person in this room here who's called upon the name of the Lord, you've turned from your sins, repented, and called upon Christ, and God has saved you by his mercy, by the work of Jesus Christ, then the promise of Jesus is that we'll be in heaven with him, and he's there.
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This comforts my heart, this brings me some peace, this brings me some great joy when
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I know that this is one of the truths of the word of God. Also, you noticed here that when
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Jesus said these words, he says, thus it is written, that Christ should suffer.
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Well, there are a lot of Old Testament prophecies and scriptures which speak of the suffering
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Messiah. Just right off Isaiah 53, you could read that chapter and see how that he would be bruised for our iniquities, he would be chastened for our sins, and the chastisement of our punishment would fall upon him, and that took place.
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But it says it's written that Christ should suffer, and on the third day rise again. And as he's speaking of this, there are also
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Old Testament scriptures, and you don't have to turn there, but I'll read it for you just as one example, and I'm not going to really,
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I have to, there's a limited amount of time, I'm only going to be able to deal with the New Testament, but in Psalm 110, here's an example,
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Psalm 110, verse 1, it says, The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.
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There is a reference in the Old Testament that the Messiah would sit at the right hand of God, and of course, we see that in other places, 1
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Corinthians chapter 15, where it speaks of the end times and what's going to take place, and Jesus' enemies being put underneath him, but there's a reference there that this is a fulfillment of the
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Old Testament messianic prophecy that Jesus would sit at the right hand of God.
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But even better yet, there are New Testament verses that we have, because we have the
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New Testament scriptures, there are New Testament verses, the promises of Jesus, and if you're in Luke, just turn to the very next book, just a few chapters to the right in John chapter 6, and look what
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Jesus said, these are the words of Jesus himself. In John 6, there's some very strong teaching that's going on here, and by around verse 66, there are some that say, hey, this is just too much, we're out of here.
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But in John 6, in verse 60, it says, When many of his disciples heard it, they said, this is a hard saying, who can listen to it?
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But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, do you take offense at this?
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Notice what it says in verse 62, Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?
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Jesus even says here that he came down from heaven, of course he was incarnated,
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God took on flesh, Jesus came down, but he said, what would it be if he was ascended up into heaven?
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We see the same writing when he's talking to Nicodemus in John chapter 3, talking about that no man has ascended to heaven but the
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Son of Man who has come down from heaven. Notice in John chapter 16, here's another example, we see this from the words of our
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Lord Jesus himself, In John 16, look with me in verse 4,
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John 16, 4, But I have said these things to you, Jesus speaking, that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told them to you.
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I did not say these things to you from the beginning because I was with you, but now I am going to him who sent me.
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He's foretelling of his death and he's saying that he's going to be leaving them. And they said, where are you going?
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Because I have said these things unto you, sorrow has filled your heart. Notice in verse 7,
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Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you.
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But if I go away, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict and so on.
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The ministry of the Holy Spirit. Jesus here is speaking the fact that he is going away.
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And in order for him, what's the implication here then? Where is the
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Lord Jesus Christ right now? We've already answered the question, but just kind of think it through again in your mind.
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Is Jesus walking upon the earth? No, he's not. Does Jesus know what's going on on the earth?
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Yes, he's God. He knows that, but his ministry is not on the earth. And sometimes we get in our mind that Jesus is walking on the earth.
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But he did walk upon the earth, but now he's ascended into heaven. Now, there is truth.
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Jesus is with us, as it says in Matthew chapter 18, For where two or three are gathered together in my name.
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And when it comes to church discipline, the Lord Jesus is with us, but he's with us by his spirit. The Spirit of God was sent by Jesus to be here upon the earth and to minister amongst the church and to teach us and to lead us and to guide us and to strengthen us and to help us.
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But the implication then is that we would not have had the Spirit of God if Jesus had not first ascended.
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So that had to take place. And it all kind of fits together, if we think about it. It's good for us to think biblically when it comes to what is
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God doing right now? What is going on in the world? How is it that God is dealing with us?
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Well, Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father. He is there in dominion and rule and power and authority.
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But the Spirit of God is since the beginning of the church, Acts chapter 2, that's where we see that it is the
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Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, moving upon the world, working, convicting of sin, saving sinners, and he's bringing people to Jesus Christ.
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Let me get it this way. Let me think of it this way. Was the
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Father crucified for us? God the Father. Was God the Father crucified for us?
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No, right? It was Jesus. That was Jesus' work. Was it the Spirit of God who gave us believers to Jesus?
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No, it was the Father who did that, right? So you see that though there is one God, three persons, one
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God, one in essence, one in nature, yet they all have a role, they all have their work that they're doing on our behalf.
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And it's wonderful, if you think about it. It's wonderful to know that God is concerned with us and he cares for us.
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But it's good for us to think that it's the Spirit of God that's working. Jesus is seated at the right hand of the
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Father, and there's another part of his work. Well, the part of his work that he did there when he ascended on high was that he sent the
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Holy Spirit. Let's see. Well, I kind of did that one out of order, so I messed up my notes.
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Maybe I'll get to it later. That's all right. But the Spirit of God was sent by Jesus Christ. So one of the first implications is that this is a fulfillment of the promise of Jesus and every word that he speaks comes to pass.
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It is part of the Bible. It is a biblical truth. And you ask somebody, do you believe in the ascension? Well, if you're a believer, you need to because it's in the
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Scripture. Another practical implication about the ascension is that the ascension means, and this might seem so basic, but the ascension means that Jesus was raised from the dead, right?
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He couldn't have ascended if he hadn't been raised from the dead. And so this proves to us, or this bolsters the truth, that unlike false religions where you have the
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Mary, Baker, Edison, Patterson, Edison, you have the leaders of these false religions, they're dead.
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They've died and they're in their grave. Actually, they're not even in their grave because there's more to the story, right?
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They're suffering in hell until the day when hell will be cast into the lake of fire forever and ever because they rejected
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Christ. They were sinners who are responsible for their sin before God.
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But we serve a risen Savior. They're saviors, they're leaders, dead and no more.
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But ours, the Lord Jesus has been raised, and we know that he's been raised because he's ascended, as the
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Bible says, sitting at the right hand of the Father. And if Jesus was raised from the dead and has ascended on high, what does that say about us?
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Well, in Hebrews chapter 6, you can write this down if you like, Hebrews chapter 6 and verse 20, it says that he was the forerunner for us.
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We have a hope, we have an anchor for the soul. Jesus who suffered for us and he died, it says in that verse that he was the forerunner.
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He actually, in the book of Hebrews, it has this great picture of Christ going into the holy holies in heaven, like the
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Old Testament priest did in the past, and they went in before the holy place and they sprinkled the blood.
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Jesus did that before God as an acceptable sacrifice for us. And when he did that, he was doing that in heaven, and he did it for us on our behalf, and he was the forerunner, and if he has gone to heaven, what is the implication there for us, church?
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Are we staying here? No, we're going to, right? Smiles on the faces,
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I see a few smiles, even though it's early in the morning, on a Sunday morning, first day of the week, but that is great truth, isn't it?
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That we too will be raised, and we too will go to heaven, and we too will be with Jesus and see him face to face, and he's gone there first for us.
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But I also mentioned, turn with me, this is one of my favorite chapters in Hebrews. You've got to turn way to the right now,
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Hebrews chapter 10. So it's a fulfillment of scripture, it's a fulfillment of the promises of Jesus, because he was ascended means he was raised, it just bolsters that truth and proves to us that he was raised from the dead, as the
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Bible says. In Hebrews chapter 10, look with me in verse 12. Hebrews 10 and in verse 12, yes.
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It says, but when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, what did he do?
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He kept working, right? He had more to do. Or he kind of stepped to the side and he said, okay now sinners, you need to do the rest, you need to do the rest of the work, right?
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No. It says there that after he had offered that for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.
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And what this means here is that the ascension of Jesus Christ speaks of Jesus' finished work of redemption.
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If there was more to do, he wouldn't have sat down. You think about the
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Old Testament priests when they were working there. If you've ever studied this furniture in the tabernacle and in the temple, and you see there's an altar where they sacrifice the animals, there's a laver where they washed, there's the golden candlesticks, there's a table that has the showbread on it, there's an altar of incense where the incense was burned up, there's the
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Ark of the Covenant inside, right? Where's the couches? Where are the chairs?
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Where's the easy seat? There isn't any. Why? Because for decades and hundreds of years, it's sacrifice, it's work on behalf of the priest.
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Every day, sacrificing as a reminder of sin. On the Day of Atonement, once a year, going into the holy place and sprinkling the blood.
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Animals, gallons, millions of gallons of blood, and it's work. I sometimes thought how just the smell and just the blood and cutting up the animals and all of that and the work, and they don't get to sit down and they take their turn, right?
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Each priest would take their turn from the tribe of Levite to do their work, but they didn't get to sit down because it was work all the time to do these sacrifices as God had commanded them to, to remind them that they needed mercy from God, they could not save themselves, and it was all a picture of the
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Lord Jesus. It was a picture of a perfect sacrifice that was to come. But when
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Jesus comes on the scene, and I love that phrase here in verse 12, it says, He offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins.
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You know what, that just totally blows out of the water right now. When we were kids, and I don't recommend this for anybody,
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I don't even know if it was legal in Massachusetts. I think just about anything was legal fireworks -wise when we were kids.
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Now it's like off -limits. We used to put cherry bombs that, no, not cherry bombs, they were called
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M -80s, and they had a waterproof wick on them, and you could tie them to a rock and throw them out in the water, and they'd sink and go up.
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I mean, blow things out of the water. Fortunately, well, not fortunately, I don't like that word, but look back, and I can't remember any animals coming to the surface.
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We used to just love to see, we even did it in our swimming pool when the swimming pool was being decommissioned after 30 -something years, and I digress, but we blew water sky -high out of that thing.
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And I was thinking, this truth right here blows the Roman Catholic Church out of the water.
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It just demolishes, because what is the priest doing every time in the what?
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The sacrifice of the Mass, right? Every time when they get together, there is a sacrifice of the
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Mass, and that priest is offering a sacrifice, hopefully so that people's sins will be taken care of.
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It's done. There's a song that we used to sing, and one of the parts of the chorus goes, cast your deadly doing down, down at Jesus' feet.
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Find in Him and Him alone that the work is gloriously complete. It's not a religion of doing, it is done.
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And that's what he's saying here. And when it was done, Jesus had no more work to do, no more work as necessary, and because of that, he sat down.
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So, when we think of the Ascension, when we think of the Ascension, brother and sister in Christ, what we're saying is, is that Jesus died for our sins,
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He was buried, He was raised from the dead, and He's ascended to heaven, and He sat down because the work is done.
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Now, that should cause some more smiles in the room this morning, right? What a joy.
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What a great truth that we have from the Lord. Okay, next point. The Ascension practically means to us, and this is going to seem pretty clear, and I've already dealt with this, and I'm just going to say it to kind of wrap up what
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I said earlier, but that Jesus is not here now. Now, He's here in that He knows everything.
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These are kind of the mystery of God. These are things that we can't fully get our mind around sometimes because sometimes we're thinking that Jesus, that He is here.
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But He is as far as He knows all things, and He's aware of what's going on, but I'm saying here
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He's not here now, it's that it is the Spirit of God that is working amongst us, and it is the
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Spirit of Christ, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are well aware of what's going on, and they are caring for us and working on the behalf of the church, but it's the
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Spirit's ministry right now. Okay, for time's sake, I'm going to move on to the next point, which let me talk about this.
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Remember when I said the imagery of sitting at the right hand of the Father? What does that mean?
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Well, at the right hand speaks of Jesus' present authority over the world.
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Do you remember in the Great Commission in Matthew 28, Jesus said, all what?
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All power, all authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth. When I think of the
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Lord Jesus, one of the things that I think of when I think of the Lord Jesus being ascended to heaven and sitting at the right hand of God the
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Father, I think of power. I think of might. I think of dominion and rule over the world, knowing every single thing that's going on, orchestrating every single minute detail of every government, of every person, every nation, language, tribe, and tongue.
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He's Lord of every plant, of every insect, of every human, whether they're lost or whether they're saved.
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We don't have time to go there, but if you look in Ephesians 1, it says that Jesus was sitting at the right hand of the
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Father and now exercising dominion over the world. And overall, it says there, authorities and powers.
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And when it talks about that, it talks about how we do not, as it says in Ephesians 6, wrestle against flesh and blood, but there's invisible forces, there's demons, there are fallen angels that are actively working under the dominion of Satan, and yet Jesus is greater than them.
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They are on his chain. I take our little dog for a walk on the end of the leash.
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Satan is at the end of God's leash. He can go no further than God will allow him to go. He exercises rule there.
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And then it says something neat at the end of Ephesians 1. It says that Jesus is the head of the church.
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And he's at the right hand of the Father, seated there, but he's the head of the church. He's watching over the church.
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He's caring for the church, empowering the church. Jesus is building his church, is he not? And he's doing it from a seat of authority at the right hand of the
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Father. Jesus is no milquetoast. Jesus is not some savior that is disconnected with his people or disconnected with his church.
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Actively engaged in the church, loving the church, watching over us, sending his
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Spirit to work among us. What a great and glorious truth that is. Okay, I've only got six more points to get to.
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We'll get there. The next one. Let's see, where did
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I put that one? Well, I can just touch on this one.
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You're in Hebrews, right? You still in Hebrews? Look in Hebrews 12, just quickly in verse 2.
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It says, Now, the writer here is talking about this in terms of the believer's walk or the believer's life.
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And what he is saying here, I believe the author wants us to learn how to run the race of life with the knowledge that we are following in Jesus' steps and with the knowledge that we are following in his steps.
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We will eventually arrive at the blessings of life in heaven that Jesus is now enjoying.
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Jesus promised one day to take us to be there with him. And because of that promise, because he's ascended on high, because he's seated at the right hand of the
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Father, all is well. And one day, if we run the race with patience, let's look to Jesus.
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We don't look to Jesus as some would look to him without power or without authority, without care, disconnected from us, but we look at our ascended
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Jesus who is sitting at the right hand of the Father. Let's see.
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Okay, one of my favorite ones to get to. Wow, it's tough to put all this into one
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Sunday School. Look in Acts 1. This is one of my favorite, favorite texts when it comes to the ascension of the
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Lord Jesus. Acts 1. In this text, this text records the event of the ascension of Jesus as a historic narrative.
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And it mentions it right up front, and it gives us many, many details. Acts 1 .1,
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written by Luke. In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach.
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So that's his earthly ministry, right? Then it says, Until the day when he was taken up, right out of the gate, it speaks of his ascension.
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After he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen, he presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them for 40 days and speaking of the kingdom of God.
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So after he raised from the dead, he was on the earth for 40 days. And if you read 1 Corinthians 15, you'll see that he appeared to the apostles, and then
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Paul says, And then he appeared to me last. But he was there for 40 days. And while, verse 4,
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And while staying with them, he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the
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Father, which he said, You heard from me. For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the
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Holy Spirit not many days hence, from now, days from now. Verse 6, So when they had come together, they asked him,
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Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel to Israel? He said to them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons that the
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Father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all
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Judea and Samaria and the ends of the earth. And he's just teaching them. He's just speaking to them. And look what happens in verse 9.
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And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.
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And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?
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This Jesus who was taken up from you, taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.
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Why did I read that text? What's the significance there? What's the implication for the church? What is it?
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He's coming back, right? The ascension, the scripture that we have here in this text, saying while he was speaking to the disciples and he was taken up into the heaven, the record of God is that there were these two angels, these two men in white robes.
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It says here, this same Jesus who was taken up, we see the details, right? The facts, they're all here before us.
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But this also points to Jesus' second coming. He will return, and it says here in verse 11, that he will return in the same manner.
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He will come in the same way as you saw him going into heaven. And if we read other biblical accounts about the second coming of Christ, we see that that is true, right?
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Somebody give me some details that show that the same way that Jesus went up, he's coming back.
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Give me one. Somebody give me one. You want me to prime the pump? Clouds, right?
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There's clouds. He was taken up. It says he was taken up into the clouds. And if you read in 1 Thessalonians 4, it says that we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together in the clouds to meet the
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Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. And here's the punch for us. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words.
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This is comfort for God's people. This is assuring to God. This is assurance.
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This is food to feed and bolster assurance and confidence in the Lord. So clouds is true.
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What else is true about how did he go up then? Think about that. Pradeep, I saw that hand. Okay, he'll come down with a shout, but we don't have the shout in here, right?
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So what do we have in here about his ascension? What does it say here? It was bodily, right?
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Was it bodily? Did Jesus go up in the spirit? Was this just a spiritual kind of oozy type thing that went on?
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No. As he was talking to them, his body went up. Is this unusual in the
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Bible? Has this ever happened before in the Bible? Somebody going up into heaven, right?
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Old Testament, powerful prophet Elijah, right? Caught up.
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So this is not something that's impossible. This is something that the Bible is talking about. Jesus went up bodily.
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He went up bodily. He's going to come down bodily. That's why every other false religion, like Mr.
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Campion, who says that Jesus is going to come, or the Jehovah Witnesses, where Jesus is going to come in spirit.
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It's wrong. It's a false prophecy. Jesus went up bodily. He's going to come down bodily.
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Well, for the sake of time, this happened how fast?
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Jesus is speaking to them. Boop! He's gone. It wasn't like Jesus is teaching right there and he's saying, in a few minutes
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I'm going to be taken up into heaven. No, he just went. He went up suddenly. He's going to return.
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What? As a thief in the night, he's going to come suddenly. Another one. Did he ascend up and the disciples didn't see him?
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They saw him, right? It was visible. People saw him go up and people will see him.
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And it speaks in many places, when Jesus comes and the clouds are ripped open like a parchment, all eyes are going to see him.
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We talked about the clouds. He went up to where? Heaven.
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He's coming down from where? Heaven. Right? He's going to come down from heaven. He went up.
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Was this kind of like some gimmick, some scheme? No, this was power.
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He went up by the power of God and he's going to come down in power. And then lastly, how about the location?
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Is there any significance in the location? Yeah. He went up. Bethany, Mount of Olives, right?
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He's right there. He went up from there. He's going to come in like manner. He's coming back there. The prophecy says that he's coming back to the
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Mount of Olives. Jesus is awaiting the day in which he's going to come forth in power to judge the living and the dead.
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The sinner will be judged. He's rebelled and their sins have never been washed away by the blood of Jesus Christ and they will be judged.
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That's going to take place. The saint will not be judged for their sins but for their service for the
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Lord one day when he comes again. He's going to come in power to put down his enemies and to judge and then there will be an eternity in heaven with Jesus Christ.
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Let me conclude by asking a couple of questions. After Jesus' ascension, is there any reason other than his second coming that would cause our
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Lord Jesus to no longer be seated on the throne to the right hand of the Father? Is there any reason?
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You were thinking all along, right? Yeah. Jesus is seated at the right hand of the
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Father but in Acts 7, verse 56, we see that when Stephen is being stoned, he looks up into heaven and he sees
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Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father. That's pretty amazing, right? Jesus is welcoming him back into heaven.
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Alright. Ascension. Is this new to anybody? Some of these things. I mean, as far as some of these details.
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What aspects of this is new to you? What has been a help to you this morning?
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What's encouraging about this to you? Or maybe I didn't even mention it. Any hand? Yes. Yeah.
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And there's a whole lot more that I didn't get to cover. But to me, it tells me too there's more to it than death, burial, and resurrection, right?
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It doesn't end there, although that's glorious truth. There's more. Jesus is... Oh, you know,
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I totally missed it. I knew I was out of that. You need to write this verse down.
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In Romans 8 .34, it says that Jesus sits at the right hand of the
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Father. And you know what he's doing there? One of his greatest works? He's interceding on our behalf.
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He's praying for us. He's concerned about us. Wow, I missed that one. That was a big nugget.
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Our heavenly High Priest exercises his role as intercessor on our behalf. And if you believe you are benefited by the prayers of the saints, do
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Jesus' prayers get answered? Yes. And if you write it down,
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John 17, verse 24 is Jesus' prayer to the disciples when He really prays.
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And it says there that He wants those who have believed upon Him to be able to see
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Him and be with Him where He is now. As a resurrected Lord, as ascended
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Lord, and that prayer is going to get answered. But more than that, Jesus is daily interceding because Hebrews 7 .25
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says that He ever lives to intercede for us. He's praying for you.
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Wow, what a comfort that is too. So when you think of Jesus being in heaven, does this cause you to focus more attention on things that will have an eternal significance?
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I hope it does. That it does. Another verse which would really kind of blow your mind is
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Ephesians 2 .6 where it says there that we are now in part seated with Christ in heavenly places.
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That's a pretty strange verse, isn't it? But in some measure, we are sharing in the authority and the dominion that Jesus has as His church.
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He's the head and we're the body as His people. We're seated right now in heavenly places with Christ.
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And in part, in measure, we're getting a little bit of that. We can exercise authority when we preach the gospel and exercise authority in the church.
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But one day, we're going to exercise and share in that complete glory and authority with Jesus in heaven for all eternity.
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Wonder of wonders. Does this increase your assurance? I sure hope so this morning.
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Does this cause you to think about adoring and exalting the Lord our God even more?
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Does it give you a better picture of where Jesus is and what He's doing on our behalf? I trust that it does.
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And now, when you think or picture Jesus, in your sanctified imagination,
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I'm not trying to have you do anything to where you've got this picture now and you're going to idolatrously look at this picture.
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But when you think of Jesus, He's not in the manger, although that was great that He came.
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He's not on the earth, although He went about doing good and that was great. He fulfilled all righteousness on our behalf.
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He's not on the cross. He's not in the grave. He's not just resurrected. He's seated at the right hand of the
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Father and interceding on our behalf, ruling the world and the church on our behalf.
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And He's coming again one day. Oh, glory of glories, blessed truth for us this morning.
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Any questions? Let's pray. Father, how wonderful to be able to have just these few moments to think of this glorious truth.
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Help us in our minds and in our hearts to never forget the fact of Your Word, the multiple scriptures from multiple different authors concerning how
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Jesus was taken up into heaven. Your Son to sit at Your right hand, to pray for us, to be concerned with us, to rule and have dominion over the world and every creature on it and to the church being the head.
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And for us to remember, as He said, and as it was told us there in the book of Acts, that as He was lifted up, so shall
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He come. And how we look forward to the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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And, oh, Father, may we be ready for that. May we be living lives that are pleasing in Your sight and that when
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You come, we will not be ashamed. And help us to be more assured, more confident, reveling in this great truth of our ascended
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Lord whom we serve. May Jesus Christ be exalted and praised this morning. We thank