Sermon for Lord's Day July September 10, 2023 The Ascension of Christ

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Sermon for Lord's Day July September 10, 2023 The Ascension of Christ

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We love you, Shirley. Praise the Lord. Shirley, when she got here this morning,
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Shirley's one of the first people to get here in the mornings. She just walked up in the sanctuary and she said,
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I love this church. I was in the booth in there and said, we love you too,
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Shirley. What a blessing. What a blessing it is that we get to spend this time together today.
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If you want to go ahead and find your place in the text, Luke chapter 24, before we stand to honor the reading of God's word, let's pray together.
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We're going to be in Luke chapter 24. We're going to be reading verse, actually from 44 just down to verse 50.
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I'm sorry, 51 today, but let's go to the Lord in prayer. Our great
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God, we come before you this morning as a body, as a congregation, bowing for you because you are, as we sang in that song, holy.
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The angels declared holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty.
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So Lord, as we come before your throne this morning, we come recognizing that we in and of ourselves are not fit, nor do we have the qualifications in and of ourselves to be before you.
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But we come before your throne based upon the finished work of Christ on the cross today.
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Because you told us in your word that we, based upon what you have accomplished, based upon what you have done,
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Lord, that we can come boldly unto the throne of grace to find mercy and grace to help us in time of need.
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Lord, today we are in great need. God, I stand in need as a preacher today.
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I need, I would ask you, Lord, please, God, give me clarity in my mind.
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Give me liberty with my mouth. And I'm not speaking forth the words of life as we have studied and prepared.
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God, I pray for those who hear the word of God today, Lord, that you,
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I trust God that you have already been at work in their hearts and their minds. For you know the needs of your people,
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Lord, for we don't know their needs, but you know their needs. And I pray, God, that through the preaching of your word that you would meet the needs in the hearts and in the minds and the lives of your people.
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God, today, for those who stand in need of assurance, who stand in need of light, who stand in need of liberty,
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God, that you would provide that to them today. Dear Lord, so that every heart and every soul in this place, when they go out, will know that they have heard from the
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Lord. I pray, God, that you would save the lost, that you encourage the disheartened saint.
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Dear God, that you excite, that you fend the flame of fire that you have given within us as your people.
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Dear God, give us a burden, a desire, a passion, a hunger, a thirst for righteousness,
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God, which we find in your word. And God, cause us to go out emboldened in the power of the
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Holy Spirit of God to proclaim the good news of the gospel to those who are doomed and damned and dying in this world.
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Thank you again for this great privilege and this great honor. I pray, Lord, you bless in this time of the preaching and teaching of your word.
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Show us Christ in the scriptures today. For it's in Jesus' name
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I pray. Amen. Stand with us, if you would, to honor the reading of God's word.
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Luke chapter 24, verses 44 through 51. These are the words of the living
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God. 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.
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And he said to them, thus, it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead.
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And that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from 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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Stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. And 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, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.
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As far as the reading of God's holy word today, if you are taking notes today and would like to put a title or a header on the notes, the title is the ascension of Christ and why it was necessary.
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And I will preface this. It was my my thinking, my thought process that likely we would be wrapping up Luke's gospel with this sermon.
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But as we studied, as we prepared for today's message, I see that we might be just at least a couple of more weeks.
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I know there's just a couple of more verses, but there is so much in this and we do not want to leave. We want to leave as little as little on the table as we can, as much on the table as we can.
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So as we consider this passage today, notice in verse 44, verse 44, he said to them, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you.
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That everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.
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You recall last week and the week before us, as we looked at this conversation that Jesus had with the disciples, the two disciples,
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Cleopas and an unnamed disciple on the road to Emmaus. And we see how that Christ himself proclaimed himself to them from the scriptures of the
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Old Testament, both the law and the prophets and the writings, as we have it in the in the scriptures, and how
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Christ continually points to the fact that it was absolutely necessary that he should suffer these things and enter into his glory.
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There are some folks in some in some circles of the church today who would deny the doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement, who would boldly and dogmatically say that, no, that is not what the scriptures teach.
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Nevertheless, that is what the scriptures teach. Christ died an atoning death for my sin and for your sin.
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Christ in our place. This is the heart of the doctrine of justification by faith.
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Our faith is not in a movement. Our faith is not in the denomination.
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Our faith has an object. And his name is Jesus Christ. For Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures.
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And so we see this as we move through kind of picking getting a little bit of context for where we're picking up today.
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So we remember last week they drew near to the village. Christ had opened to them all the scriptures.
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They begged him to stay with him. And as Christ himself broke bread with them, their eyes were open and they recognized him and saw him for who he was.
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And so there are five times, I believe it's five times on this first Easter Sunday, if you would have it, this day of Christ's resurrection, that he appears to his disciples five times.
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And so where we're picking up here, we see this last instance of where Christ shows up in the midst of his disciples.
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Remember Cleopas and that other disciple had walked seven miles to Emmaus. At the very next morning, they hopped up.
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They ran back to Jerusalem to meet with the disciples. And it is here where we pick up in the text.
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Christ shows up there within their midst, showing them that he is flesh and blood.
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We talked a little bit about the doctrine of glorification, glorified bodies. We touched on that just a little bit last week.
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And here is where we pick up today in verse 44. He reminds them, these are my words.
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If there's everything ever, any word that you can count on, you can count on the word of God.
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It is led in the rock. It is firm. It is fixed.
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It is steadfast. It is sure. It is true. Through and through.
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So Christ said, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was with you. That everything, not some of, but everything that was written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the
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Psalms must be fulfilled. So we see the necessity of Christ's death.
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We see the necessity of Christ's resurrection. And so he goes on.
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Then the scripture says, then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures.
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If you're saved today, you know what it is to be once in the dark. You know what it is if you're saved to not understand the word of God, to have the word of God be disaffecting or unaffectual in and upon your heart and upon your mind.
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But if you are saved, the word of God has effect on your mind. It has effect on your heart.
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By the way, a lot of times I think, I think it's wrongly, it's wrongly inverted. The focus is on the heart.
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But my friend, the word of God comes through the ear canal. It comes by hearing.
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You're saved by the hearing of the word of God. And you're saved by placing your faith and your trust and your confidence in the very word of God.
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So God opened their minds to understand. If you are to be saved today, if you are saved or if you are to be saved today, it will be because God has opened your heart.
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And God has opened your mind that you can now once for all see the simplicity of the gospel.
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The gospel is not do this and do that. The gospel is not if you go through this ritual or you go through this routine, you will be saved.
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The gospel is this, believe and be saved. What must you believe today?
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That Christ died for your sins. What must you believe?
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That Christ was buried and that on the third day Christ arose from the grave. What must you do?
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What must you believe to be saved? That after Christ was raised, what we're going to look at today is to believe that Christ ascended to the
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Father. This is a great hope for the believer. This is a great confidence to your weary and your worn down, broken soul.
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The ascension of Christ is of the utmost importance. And so that is why today we take time to focus on this doctrine.
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So he said he goes on in verse 46 and he said to them, thus it is written that Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead.
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So he's speaking to his disciples and he says, this is the reality.
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And this reality is what is to be proclaimed. It is written, he said,
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Christ should suffer and rise from the dead. And that repentance, that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations.
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Now, repentance and forgiveness of sins, they go hand in hand.
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How can you know that you are saved? Because you are repenting. Repentance doesn't come, is it turning over a new leaf?
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Repentance is not just deciding you're going to try to do better. Repentance is an everyday process in the life of the believer.
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Repentance is not once and done, but it's once and do it again. And then do it again.
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And then do it again. Somebody may be thinking, preacher, you're talking about somebody else because I don't need it. Well, maybe you need to be saved then.
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Because you are not sinless. We struggle with sin in the flesh, but thanks be unto
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God. The price has once for all been paid. So going on, moving forward here in the text.
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And that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
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Now we see this, the literal text, Jesus is telling them it's going to start in Jerusalem.
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And so this is where we see in the latter portion, what we're not going to get into today.
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But where Christ commanded them, go to Jerusalem, stay in Jerusalem, hang out here.
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Because this is about the 40th or so, 40 to 43rd day after his resurrection.
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And in just a few days, Pentecost is coming. This is where the Lord promised the sin, the
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Holy Spirit, the comforter unto his church. And by the sending of the Holy Spirit, the comforter to his church.
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That the church would have power to proclaim the gospel message to all the world.
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It's amazing and it is beautiful. And so in verse 48, Christ says, you are witnesses of these things.
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And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. Let's pause there for just a moment.
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What is this promise of the Father? The promise of the Father is the comforter.
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Now as Jesus in John's gospel is talking to the disciples. He reminds them and he tells them these words.
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It is absolutely necessary. It is expedient for you that I go away.
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For if I do not go away, the comforter will not come. But if I go away, he will come.
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And when he comes, he will reprove the world of righteousness, sin and judgment.
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He will lead the believer, the saints of God into all truth and into all righteousness.
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It is by the person and the work of the Holy Spirit. This is why in the doxology that we don't just praise the name of Jesus.
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We praise the Father, we praise the Son, and we praise the Holy Spirit. Because they are three in one.
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They all three deserve equal worship. One God manifests in three persons.
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That is the doctrine of the Trinity. Going on. You are witnesses of these things. Behold, I am sending the promise of my
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Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. And then the scripture says in verse 50.
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As he led them out as far as Bethany and lifting up his hands, he blessed them.
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Now this was the custom and this was the practice of a blessing to lift up your hands unto.
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Who was Jesus lifting his hands unto? Unto the Father. And who was he blessing?
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He was blessing the disciples here. While he blessed them, the scripture says, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.
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Stop there. That is where we are going to focus our time and our energy this morning.
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J .C. Ryle said this. Let us always glory in the cross of Christ. Let us view it as the source of all of our hopes and the foundation of all of our peace.
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Ignorance and unbelief may see nothing in the sufferings of Calvary but the cruel martyrdom of an innocent person.
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But faith will look deeper. Faith will see the death of Jesus as the payment of our enormous debt to God and the complete salvation of all who believe.
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By the way, Jesus said in John 6, all that the Father has given to me will come to me. All that the
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Father has given to me, I have lost none. You can be confident of this today in Christ.
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Matthew Henry said concerning Christ's command for them to preach. He said, what must they preach?
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They must preach the gospel. They must preach the New Testament as the full accomplishment of the old.
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As the continuation and the conclusion of divine revelation. What a word that Matthew Henry gave there.
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So today, as we draw near to a close to the end of this book of Luke, we will examine the ascension of Christ.
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The ascension. So let us define our terms here. Very important. So when we use this term, ascension, in the
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Greek, in the text here, notice what the scripture says. Verse 51, while he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.
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This is where we draw the doctrine of the ascension. The Greek words, there's actually two
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Greek words used for this that mean the same thing. Anaphiro and Prospero.
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I may or may not be pronouncing those correctly due to a hillbilly accent. Nevertheless, the terms used for what is referred to the ascension are these two words.
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And these words are used, I believe, ten times.
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Ten times in nine verses in the New Testament. And so literally what this word means to be carried up, it literally means to carry or to bring up.
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To carry or to bring up or to offer unto. And another usage means to bear up.
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To bear up means carrying the load. So we see this term used.
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Particularly, one example outside of this passage, we see it used in Hebrews chapter 9.
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Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 23. This is what the word of God says.
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Hebrews chapter 9, beginning in verse 23 through 28, the scripture says this.
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Thank you.
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And after this comes the judgment. Point one.
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Why is the ascension an important doctrine for us to know and to understand? Because we understand that in the ascension, just as Christ promised his disciples, just as they saw him go away, they will see him come again in, or we will see him come again in like manner one day.
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No man knows the day. No man knows the hour of that time. So as we consider today in detail this doctrine, the ascension of Christ, let's keep in mind that the doctrine of the ascension, the doctrine of the ascension is just as important as any other biblical doctrine.
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It is as important as the doctrine of the sufficiency of scripture. It is on the same level as the doctrine of the virgin birth, the sinless life and the substitutionary atoning death of our
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Lord. It is as important and equally connected with the doctrine of the physical bodily resurrection, the physical bodily resurrection and the literal, visible, physical bodily return of Jesus Christ one day.
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Okay? For if our Lord had not ascended into heaven, we would have no intercessor.
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Number two. Why the doctrine of the ascension is so important? Because it assures us that we have one who intercedes for us.
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We have one who intercedes for us. Again, back in Hebrews chapter seven, if you just back up two chapters there in Hebrews chapter seven, beginning in verse 22 through 28, notice what the word of God teaches us.
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This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant, a better covenant than that of the old covenant.
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The old covenant was kept by the sacrifice of the blood of bulls and of goats, which were not sufficient to satisfy the wrath of God.
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Because once every year sacrifices had to be made again. And guess what?
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The next year sacrifices had to be made again and again and again. But notice what the word of God says here.
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The former priests were many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing in their office.
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The earthly natural priesthood was limited in that the one who made the sacrifices did not live forever.
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There always had to be somebody to stand in their place. But notice again the word of God.
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But he holds his priesthood permanently. Christ is not a temporary priest.
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Christ is an eternal priest. Because he continues forever.
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How do we know this? Because he lives. And because he ascended. And because he ever makes intercession for the saints of God as our great high priest.
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Verse 25 there. Consequently, he is able to save. Boy, this is good news right here.
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He is able to save to the uttermost. He is able to save anybody.
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He is able to save everybody. He is able to save whoever he chooses to save.
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And you can be sure of this, brothers and sisters in Christ. That if you are saved, you are forever and eternally kept by the power of almighty
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God. Going on. From the text here. Going on in the text.
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Still in Hebrews 7. We draw near to God through him since he always lives to make intercession for them.
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For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest. Holy, innocent, unstained, separate from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.
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He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily. First for his own sins.
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And then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.
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For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests. But the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a son who has been made perfect forever.
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Amen. The great confidence that we can have in the doctrine of the ascension is that he ever lives and that he intercedes for us.
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Consider. Consider the deacon Stephen in the book of Acts. If you go over back into the book of Acts, I believe it's chapter 7, maybe chapter 6.
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Let's look. Acts. Acts chapter 7, actually.
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In Acts chapter 7, we notice, if you're familiar with this,
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I encourage you to reread it. If you're not familiar with this text, I encourage you to read it for the first time. Familiarize yourself with this passage.
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This is beautiful and this is amazing what we see in this text. So Stephen gives his sermon to those who would hear or, turns out, those who refused to hear.
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But nevertheless, he preaches Jesus to them. He proclaims from the Old Testament scriptures that Jesus is the promised
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Messiah. And, as we skim through this little text here, notice how
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Jesus is shown to advocate. Notice how Jesus is shown to stand up.
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Notice how Jesus is there giving assurance unto
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Stephen, even as Stephen dies for his faith. You say, you mean there's not a happy ending?
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What happier ending could there be for a believer than to go home to be with her Lord? And this is what we see in the text.
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But notice, Stephen preaches. He preaches the truth, beginning with how God gave the promise to Abraham.
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Then he preaches how God gave it to Moses, then to Solomon. And then, in defiance of the idolatrous system of worship which he was standing there against, by the idolatrous system of the practicing
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Jews of his day, he calls them stiff -necked and uncircumcised.
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Now that's the way to get people to love you right there, ain't it? And that's exactly what the scripture says.
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He said to them, you stiff -necked people, you're uncircumcised in heart and ears.
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Now this was particularly of great importance because the Jewish culture held great pride and held great,
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I guess, they gave a lot of, they put a lot of weight in on the circumcision of the flesh.
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But Christ repeatedly taught, in the Old Testament, people miss this, and in the
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New Testament, that it's not the circumcision of the flesh that makes you right in the sight of God, but it's the circumcision of the heart.
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The work that God does inside the heart and in the mind of men. So Stephen says, you stiff -necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears.
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You always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. And then he goes on, laying it on heavy here, which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?
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And they killed the ones who announced beforehand the coming of the righteous one, speaking of the
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Messiah, whom you have now betrayed and murdered. That wasn't the first time they've heard this.
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That wasn't the first time that the truth had been communicated that Christ died at their hands.
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He said, you received the law as delivered by angels, but you did not keep it. Now, the scripture says, when they heard these things, when they heard the preaching of Stephen, they were enraged and they growled, they grinded their teeth and gnashed their teeth at him.
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But, the text says, but he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed up into heaven and he saw the glory of God.
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And not only did he see the glory of God, but he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of the throne of God.
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Now, if Jesus had not ascended, then he would not have seen Jesus there.
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But, brothers and sisters, Christ ascended. Matter of fact, the scripture says in another place, he ascended on high.
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He led captivity captive and he gave gifts to men. Notice what's going on here, though, in that particular
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Acts text. He said, behold, I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.
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But they cried out with a loud voice and they stopped their ears and they rushed together at him.
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Literally, literally, they put their fingers in their ears. Now, is that very mature?
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I would love to get video of some of you husbands when your wife is trying to tell you something.
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Just put your fingers in your ears and shake your head at her and grind your teeth.
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What a sweet spirit of fellowship that produces in the home or in the public square.
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But this is what these imbecilic, hard -hearted, stiff -necked, rebellious men and women did.
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They refused to hear the word and they cast him out of the city and they stoned him.
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And as they were stoning Stephen, the Bible says they laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named
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Saul. And so falling to his knees, Stephen cried out with a loud voice.
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And he said, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
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But his consolation, his comfort, his peace was not found in getting out of this.
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But his comfort, his consolation and his peace came from Christ.
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Who ascended and who sits at the right hand of the throne of God.
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Concerning the statement made back there in Luke again. Concerning the statement made in Luke as he lifted his hands and he blessed him.
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G. Campbell Morgan said this. While we see those uplifted hands, there can be no room for doubt or fear.
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For when other menacing hands are stretched out to harm us or to vex us, whether in life or death, whether in adversity or prosperity, in sorrow or in joy, we know that by that token, by the lifting of his hands, that we are safe.
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The earthly tabernacle, as we read to you concerning there in Hebrews, the earthly tabernacle was only a tithe and a shadow.
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It was only a blurry image of the heavenly tabernacle. And let's not forget that the veil of the tabernacle, when
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Christ died on the cross, cried out, it is finished, hung his head, bowed the ghost, the veil of that tabernacle and the
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Holy of Holies in the temple was ripped and twanged, tore in two, not from the bottom to the top, but from the top to the bottom.
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And the scripture even tells us this signified the way into the Holy of Holies was made for us.
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The door, if you would have it, was open. Jesus Christ is the door.
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This door, by the way, this door that had been closed, had been closed for maybe some 4 ,000 years from the time of Adam and Eve's sin in the garden till this time when
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Christ died, was buried and raised and ascended until this time the door had been closed.
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But now Christ, the door of the sheep come and the door is open to whosoever will believe in him and have eternal life.
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Consider this, the words of the psalmist. Lift up your heads, O you gates.
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This is Psalm 24, verses 7 through 10. Lift up your heads, O you gates, and be lifted up,
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O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this
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King of glory? He is the Lord, the Yahweh. He is Yahweh, strong and mighty.
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Yahweh, mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O gates, and lift them up, O ancient doors, that the
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King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory, the psalmist asks.
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And he answers again, it is the Lord of hosts. He is the King of glory.
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So considering that, and considering again the importance, the significance of the ascension, the fact that the way has been made open, who, let me ask it this way, what doors can keep out the
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King of glory according to this text? None. They open at his command.
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They open at his behest. I would ask you this, can the door of your flesh keep out this
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King of glory? No. Can the door of the law keep out the
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King of glory? No. Shall the door of your heart keep the King of glory at bay?
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My answer to you is no. I'll provide you another answer, another word of testimony, if you would have it, by Abraham Copper.
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In 1888, Abraham Copper writes these words. He said, what then are those ancient doors?
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They represent everything that separates Jerusalem from the ark. They are symbolic of everything that constitutes a wall between the languishing heart of the wretched and of the holy glory of their
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God. He goes on to state, a door invites you to enter, but it is bolted and prevents you from entering.
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It is an ancient door that prevents you from entering. No matter how hard you knock and no matter how hard you kick, it remains seemingly impenetrable so that you conclude that it will never open.
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Why? Because they seem like eternal doors that will keep you outside forever. But now,
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Copper says, but now comes the Messiah. God has compassion for the wretched and he sends you a savior.
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But what will happen? Will those doors, those ancient doors also resist him?
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That's a hypothetical question, right? That's a question that really doesn't need an answer because the answer is no.
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No, well, he said, time and time again, it is a door. There is a barrier. First, there is the ancient door of the flesh that holds you in bondage and won't allow you to enter.
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That flesh that suffocates you. But Christ burst through all of this and he comes to you in the flesh himself.
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He came in the flesh, the scriptures teach us. Born of a woman, born under the law, in the likeness of sinful flesh.
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He suffered in sinful flesh. He kept the law of God perfectly. He bore the wrath of God on the cross in the flesh.
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Christ came and he accomplished this. And as Copper said, he is near you right now.
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One with you, become like your brother. But he said, you have still not yet arrived.
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The word, which is another name in the Bible for the Messiah. In John chapter 1 particularly, you'll see this.
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Becomes flesh with you. But in such a way that the Messiah and you are both in a position of wretchedness.
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Again, that goes to the suffering of Christ. Christ is here and came in weakness.
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But once he has reached that place. Once he has ascended back to the throne of God. He is mighty.
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He is great in majesty. And he is empowered to rescue you and bring you salvation.
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Why is the ascension important? Because Christ has entered into the holy places.
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Not make with hands. He has accomplished the work of salvation. Copper goes on to say this.
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To heaven. That is the place where weakness is glorified. That is where their strength and power.
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That is where your flesh goes. Your Messiah in the flesh. In the same flesh and blood that hung on the cross of disgrace on Golgotha.
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He said this. It is now finally that those ancient doors widen themselves and rise high.
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Now the king of glory enters in. And this is your king, oh church of God.
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Who alone has the wherewithal to bring you salvation. To justify you and to sanctify you for full salvation.
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And in closing his statement he said this. Now finally. By having entered those ancient doors into the better tabernacle not made with hands.
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He said your king dispenses salvation and blessing. His power exudes from him.
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And Satan slinks away because the godless are being justified. What a picture he paints there.
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But even now we have not yet reached the end of the road. There is still one more ancient door.
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And that is the door to your own heart. It is the door to your soul that Satan bolted shut and Satan sealed.
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Oh how many thousands of times have you banged your head against that ancient door of your heart.
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It was too stuffy in your anxious heart. You could no longer stand it. You had to get out and you banged against the door and you shouted.
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Open up! Open up! Have mercy and don't let me suffocate in this stuffy place.
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But it didn't help as he writes here. No one heard you. That door to your heart seemed to be permanently sealed as well.
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Until he came. He is the king of glory.
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And when he sent his word from his majestic throne. It became clear to you that where the word of the king is present that there is power.
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For at that moment the locks snapped and the bolts cracked. The doors opened and rose up and he entered.
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Because he is the Lord strong and he is the Lord that is mighty. Hallelujah!
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So we see this. That in the physical ascension of Christ to the right hand of the throne of God.
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That this was essential to demonstrate the fact that our great high priest lives. That he lives not only in an ethereal sense.
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Some spiritual miasma that just kind of floats around.
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But in a real literal physical sense. We see this not just the ethereal but in the real and the tangible.
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That Jesus in his glorified state. Not only eternally lives but physically and eternally lives.
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We cannot comprehend this. We cannot comprehend this. But it is the biblical truth.
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So it is very important concerning this. It's important for us to understand that the ascension means that Christ took humanity into heaven.
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It means that with it will be taken the humanity which he has redeemed.
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The saved. Those who are Christ's and when will this take place? At his coming.
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It is a powerful, a powerful expression of the redemption of this world.
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In contrast to a mere escape from it. We don't live here just to escape.
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It's important for us to understand this concerning the reality of the new heavens and the new earth.
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So in the ascension we see, last and thirdly, in the ascension we see prophecy fulfilled.
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Prophecy fulfilled. Now there are several and numerous prophecies running over the space of at least a thousand years that require
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Christ to ascend to God. One of which we'll read in your hearing. Daniel chapter 7 verse 13 and 14.
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That's all we're going to read in your hearing today but I encourage you to read the whole of the book of Daniel.
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And Daniel writes this. I saw in the night visions and behold with the clouds of heaven there came one like the son of man.
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Now keep in your mind what we read here, what you can read in Acts.
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Because Acts 1 is just basically picking up right here. It's the same scene as you begin in Acts 1.
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The same scene is being described by Luke. And we see that Christ departed from them, the scripture says, on a cloud.
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And this is what we read some maybe, probably a thousand years, maybe a little less beforehand.
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But Daniel said, I saw in the night visions and behold with the clouds of heaven there came one like the son of man.
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And where did he come? He came to the Ancient of Days. He came to the
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Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him, the son of man, and to him was given dominion.
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To him was given glory. To him was given a kingdom that all people, all nations, all languages should serve him.
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And I'm so appreciated and encouraged by the wording of this next statement.
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His dominion is an everlasting dominion. It's not a kingdom like the kingdoms of this world who pass away.
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But it is an eternal kingdom which shall not pass away. And his kingdom is one that shall not be destroyed.
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So we see the ascension was fulfillment of prophecy. And last of all, it is in the ascension that we find great solace.
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That we find great comfort. That we find great consolation.
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It is in the ascension that we as believers in Jesus Christ find assurance.
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Because our salvation is not dependent upon us. Our salvation is dependent upon the
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Christ of God. Who fulfilled to the jot and to the tittle everything that he came to do.
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Again in Hebrews chapter 4, we read these words. Since then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens.
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Jesus, the son of God. Let us hold fast our confession. The book of Hebrews is a book of encouragement.
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It is a book of consolation. Hold fast to our confession of faith. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses.
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But we have one who is in every respect has been tempted as we are.
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Every respect tempted as we are. And yet, the scripture says, without sin.
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So let us then with confidence. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace.
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That we may receive mercy. And that we may find grace to help in our time of need.
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And I can just imagine as we draw to the close here.
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I can just imagine as these disciples are standing there.
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And in the book of Acts, it says they stood there gazing as if just awestruck.
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And they saw their Lord and their Savior ascending. And they heard and the words of the angels spoke to them.
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And they said, why do you stand here gazing up into heaven for this same
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Jesus? Just as he has gone away from you, we'll come again in like manner.
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They were encouraged. And there's one of the old songs that I like.
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And I know it's always a song. But listen, we're taught to encourage one another in songs and hymns and spiritual songs.
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Are we not? That's what the scriptures teach us. One of the old songs,
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I think it's called Heavenly Sunlight. It says, walking in sunlight all of my journey.
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Over the mountains, through the deep vale. Jesus has said I'll never forsake thee.
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Promise divine that never can fail. Shadows around me, shadows above me.
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Never conceal my Savior and guide. He is the light, in him is no darkness.
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Ever I'm walking close to his side. In the bright sunlight, ever rejoicing.
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Pressing my way to mansions above. Singing his praises, gladly
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I'm walking. Walking in sunlight, sunlight of love.
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Heavenly sunlight, heavenly sunlight. Flooding my soul with glory divine.
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Hallelujah, I am rejoicing. Praising my
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Savior, Jesus is mine. Oh today, my hope, there is not a
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Sunday that we enter the pulpit. That our hope is not this.
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That sinners would be saved. And we preach to that end. Our hope is always that saints would be encouraged and edified.
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That you would grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our hope today is that when you leave this church house.
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That you can leave with hope. That you leave with joy.
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That you leave with the peace of God that passes understanding. That you today understand that once and for all.
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That you've got matters settled with Christ. It is so complicated, overly complicated by so many.
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Consider in the book of John, the pool of Bethesda. Folks lined up there, they waited for the stirring of the waters.
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For whenever the waters were stirred, whoever made their way first into the waters. Were made whole of whatever infirmity that they had, the scripture tells us.
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There was a man who laid there years and years.
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Right beside the fountain. Right beside the water.
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And one day the water of life walked up to him. And he asked him this question.
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And it's a question that I want to echo to you today. He asked this man, will you be made whole?
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It's not a difficult question, yes or no. That's for you to answer in your mind and in your heart.
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Will you be made whole? Will you be saved today? Do you want to be saved today? Yes or no.
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This man began to make excuse. Well Lord, every time the water gets stirred, somebody else jumps up on the head of me.
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You know what Jesus said to him? Rise up. Salvation is not that difficult.
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Certainly this is the work of God. But do not let the devil deceive you into thinking that you cannot be saved because you have done it like this or had the experience that somebody else had.
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Only believe today and be saved. Will you be made whole? Do you want to be saved today?
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If the answer is yes, then believe. Believe what? Believe this.
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That Jesus died for your sin. That He was buried and that on the third day
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He rose. And believe this. He ascended. And now
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He ever lives. And sits at the right hand of the throne of God where He ever lives to make intercession for you.
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Be saved today. Thomas Brooks said this. A Christian's motto is always, or should always be,
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I hope for better things. I hope for better things than any the world can give to me, or that any that Satan can take from me.
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A Christian is always rich in hope, though he doesn't always have a penny in his hand.