Jesus Christ (Part III)

Grace Fellowship Church

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But the topic tonight is, it's such a good topic, and the gravity of the topic is so weighty, it's so glorious, that I'm almost doomed to fail.

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So we'll go to the Lord, we'll ask for His help to apply our hearts, and ask that He would work through us and work through this teaching time.

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So let's pray. Father, we come to You through Your Son, our

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Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, He is our only righteousness.

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It is by His righteousness, it is by His merit, it is by His perfect obedience,

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His atoning death on the cross, by His glorious resurrection, it is by His person and His work that we come to You tonight, and we ask,

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Lord, that You would teach us, Lord, that You would speak to us through Your Word, that You would teach us about this doctrine of Christ's exaltation, and Lord, that we would not learn only facts about this, but Lord, that it would really be applied to our hearts, and that we would take it to heart, and that we would understand it, and Lord, that it would glorify

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You in our hearts and in our minds, it would embolden and encourage us, and Father, that all of Your desired ends would be accomplished as a result of this glorious work.

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And so, Lord, we ask for Your help, now speak through me. Give us ears to hear, hearts to obey, and Lord, help us, be glorified in us.

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You are our only hope in this respect, Lord, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.

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Amen. Alright. So, we had a week off, so I'll just start with a bit of a reminder of what we've looked at the past few weeks, so you guys will remember before our break that we looked at a few wonderful doctrines, we looked at the, we've been looking at the person and the work of the

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Lord Jesus Christ, and we started with Steve a few weeks ago, with Christ's identity, as Christ as the

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God -man, what theologians would call the hypostatic union, that Christ had two natures, that He was fully

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God and fully man, and yet it was in one person. We've heard about Christ's immaculate conception, of His miraculous conception in the

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Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit, we've heard about His incarnation, we've heard about the substitutionary atoning death of Christ on the cross, and the eternal redemption that He has purchased for us by His own blood.

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And when I was thinking about what we've looked at over the last couple of weeks, it would not be an exaggeration, it wouldn't be an embellishment to say that we've given our attention to some of the most important, some of the weightiest, some of the most awe -inspiring doctrines of the

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Christian faith, we really have. And yet, if when we think about Christ, when we think about Him, if this is all that we think about, if all we think about is

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His identity, His life, and His death, and then leave our study of Christology at that, we will allow a truncated understanding of Christ to permeate in our minds.

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We will not have a complete understanding of who Christ is, of what

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He has done, and of who He is, of where He is, even right now.

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And so, while I really want us to appreciate that everything that we've heard up until this point is true, and is of the utmost importance,

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I want us also to know that the Church has always, always, always, always maintained that Christianity's claims and the

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Bible's claims about Christ stand or collapse on the reality of His resurrection, and His ascension, and His exaltation, what theologians call

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His session at the right hand of the Father in Heaven. It is the resurrection, it is the ascension, it is the exaltation that really lends credibility to everything that Christ said, and everything that the

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Bible teaches. To put it another way, apart from these doctrines, the

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Gospel is not really good news, it's just mere sentimentality, and Christ doesn't have a true living

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Savior, sorry, the Church doesn't have a true living Savior, but what the Church has is a dead and decaying figurehead.

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And so, I don't think I'm overstating this, the Apostle Paul, and you guys would be familiar with these words, in 1

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Corinthians 15, if anyone remembers Paul saying this in verse 17, he said, if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins.

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Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished, Paul's using very strong language.

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If in Christ we have hope in this life only, he says, we are of all people most to be pitied.

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And so, Christ's resurrection matters, and it has tremendous bearing on us as Christians, both theologically and practically.

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So I really want to prime the pump, per se, in our minds to understand what it is that we're looking at when we look at the resurrection of Christ.

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It is not an appendix to the Gospel, it's not a happy afterthought to make

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Christians happy at the end of a sad story, but it is the victorious resurrection and ascension of the

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Lord Jesus Christ, and the culminating work, or the culmination of his justifying work, and a reality that we as Christians really ought to hold as precious.

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We should hold this as precious in our hearts. So if you have your booklets with the statement on it, we're looking at our third part on the statement of Jesus Christ, and this is how it reads.

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It reads, He was raised bodily on the third day, and ascended to the right hand of the

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Father with all of heaven and earth under his authority, where he intercedes for his people as high priest until the consummation of his kingdom.

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So we're going to break this up as we have often throughout, and we're going to look at this first clause,

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He was raised bodily on the third day. And so as we unpack this, it might be helpful to recount a little bit of the sequence of events following the biblical timeline.

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So we'll look first at day one. So what we would celebrate as Good Friday, day one according to the biblical timeline, we will remember, and think about this, this is historical reality.

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Sometimes we think about this as, I'm afraid to think that some people might think of this as a fictitious story, or as a fairy tale, or just some type of spiritual event, but this is a historical reality that on that first day, the

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Lord Jesus Christ was scourged, that he was mocked, that he was abused, that he was spit upon, and that he was nailed to a cross of wood by lawless men, and on the cross, if you can think about this, not only did he endure the physical torments of crucifixion, the excruciating pain of being crucified, but outside, beyond the sight of man, he was enduring the wrath of God on that cross.

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He was forsaken by the Father. The day became as night, as the dark sky of God's judgment hung over him, and we're told by the prophet

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Isaiah that on that tree, it was the will of the Lord to crush him.

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He was accursed, not for his own crimes, but for the sins of lawless men.

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For those of us who are in Christ, he was accursed for our sins, personally, our sins.

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And as he hung there, pouring out his soul to death, he bore the sins of many, the

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Scriptures say, and satisfied the wrath, the justice, and the righteousness of God.

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And when we think about Christ, we often think about this scene, and we should. We can't take this scene for granted.

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We cannot take the cross, Christ's work on the cross, for granted. However, as I've already pointed out, if this is all we think about, we have an incomplete picture of who

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Christ is, of what he's done, and of who he is even now. So we know the story continues.

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If anyone remembers, Joseph of Arimathea appealed, after Christ had died, he appealed to Pilate for the body of Christ.

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He purchased linens, wrapped Christ's body in those linens, and placed the body of Christ in his own new, unused tomb.

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And by all appearances, when you think about what the scene looked like,

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Christ is buried in the tomb, Judas is a traitor, Peter is a failure, it would appear that all hope was lost at that point.

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On the second day, on the Sabbath day, the Saturday, the chief priests and the

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Pharisees appealed to Caesar, or excuse me, to Pilate, and they asked that a guard secure the tomb so that there wouldn't be any more,

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I don't know what I want to call it, any more tampering,

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I'll say, with the tomb. And so what they did was they had the tomb secured with a guard, and a

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Roman seal was placed on the stone that blocked the tomb. And if anyone knows what that Roman seal did, it essentially served two purposes.

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The Roman seal, for one, would demonstrate very clearly if the tomb had been tampered with, it would be very clear if the rock had been moved, the stone had been moved, but it also served the purpose of being a dire warning to anybody who would tamper with that stone, that they would be met with execution, they would be met with death at the hands of the

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Romans. And so the seal was placed on the tomb, and the guard was in place, and then on the third day, on day three, the day after the

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Sabbath, Mary, Magdalene, and some of the other women went to the tomb, and were told to anoint the

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Lord's body, and as they went to the tomb expecting to find the dead body of our

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Lord Jesus, instead what they were met by is an angel of the Lord.

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And there was an earthquake, and the angel of the Lord pushed back the rock, and just like we heard about John in the beginning of Revelation a few weeks ago,

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Matthew recounts the story, and he says that the guards fell down as though dead.

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And the angel of the Lord said to the women in Matthew 28, he said, do not be afraid, for I know you seek

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Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said, just as Christ had said, as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the

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Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, just as the Lord Jesus said, destroy this temple, and in three days

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I will raise it up again on the third day. Think about this. Historical fact.

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On the third day, Christ's body was not to be found in the tomb. And why was that?

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Because we're told, oh, I'm getting ahead of myself, excuse me, we're told in Acts 2,

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Peter on the day of Pentecost, when he was preaching, he said, God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it, it was impossible for death to restrain the source of all life.

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And so the Lord Jesus rose from the grave victorious. He had conquered death, he had defeated death.

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You might be familiar with the famous hymn, up from the grave he arose.

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Think about those words. Up from the grave he arose with a mighty triumph over his foes.

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He arose a victor from the dark domain, and he lives forever with his saints to reign.

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He arose, he arose. Brothers and sisters, this ought to make our hearts sing, hallelujah, the

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Lord Jesus Christ arose. I remember Nicole and I, we went to, when we first became believers, we went to a church, it was actually a fairly liberal church, but as there are, as I learned there, often there are solid brothers and sisters that go to what

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I would classify as not great churches, and I remember one particular brother, he didn't get an opportunity to speak at the front very often, but when he did get called up to read scripture or to pray or to do something like that at the front of the church, one of the things that he almost always did, he was a brother probably in his late seventies, and it's possible that he's even gone to be with the

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Lord now, but one of the things that he would always do, he would get behind the pulpit, you could bet on it, and he would turn around,

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I don't know if you remember this Nicole, he'd turn around and he'd point at the empty cross, and he'd say, we are not like the

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Catholics who keep Jesus on the cross, he is not on the cross, he is not in the tomb, he has risen, he is alive, he is victorious, scripture tells us,

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Romans 4 .25, that he was delivered up for our transgressions and raised for our justification, it was part of his work, his justifying work, not only his death, not only his burial, but his resurrection, he is risen, it is finished, and so we hear what happened next in Acts chapter 1 and verse 3, it says that Jesus presented himself alive to them after his suffering, by many proofs appearing to them during forty days, and speaking about the kingdom of God, and so if you go and look at some of those accounts, you see that after Jesus Christ laid down his life, and then took it up again, he didn't appear to his disciples, we take this for granted sometimes, we think that maybe

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Christ could have risen and just disappeared out of sight, or risen and appeared for a day and then ascended, but for forty days, it says that he appeared to Mary and some of the other women, that he appeared to Simon Peter, that he appeared to Cleopas and his companion on the road to Emmaus, that he appeared to the eleven disciples without Thomas, to the eleven disciples with Thomas, to the seven disciples at the

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Sea of Tiberias during the disciples' fishing trip, he appeared to the disciples on the mountain at Galilee when he gave the great commission, he appeared to the disciples again at Bethany, just outside Jerusalem when he ascended into heaven.

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For forty days, Christ appeared to his disciples. And then

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Paul drives this home, the importance of the resurrection, and the importance of the resurrection to the gospel word, he says in 1

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Corinthians 15, for I delivered to you as of first importance what

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I also received, so what did he deliver that was of first importance? Does anyone remember the first point?

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That Christ, anyone know?

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That Christ died for our sins, he says, in accordance with the scriptures, that he was, starts with a

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B, he was buried, very close, he was buried, and then he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures.

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This was the gospel that Paul preached, this was the gospel that Paul said, if anyone else preaches a different gospel, let him be accursed.

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And then Paul says this, he says, and then he appeared to Cephas, and then to the twelve, and then he appeared to five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.

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Then he appeared to James, and then all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

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So in the face of people denying the resurrection of Christ, like the Jews who made up a story about his body being stolen, and then false teachers creeping into the church, denying the resurrection of the believers,

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Paul puts this forward. And it's interesting, there's no such thing as a new heresy, there is no new heresy under the sun, and it's amazing that you still see today,

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I wasn't going to include it, but maybe I will, just for interest's sake, all of the different heretical theories that have come out of the woodworks, mostly by professing

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Christians, to deny the resurrection of Christ. And so there are people who rely on theories like the hallucination theory.

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They would say that the disciples were so saddened, that they were so dismayed by the death of Christ, that they hallucinated, and they saw him alive.

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Well, that might make sense for one person, or for two people, a bit of a stretch. It becomes very strange when it's several people at different places at different times of the course of 40 days, and in one case, over 500 people at one time.

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It's ridiculous. There are other people that have come up with theories like what they call the conspiracy theory, that Christ conspired with Joseph of Arimathea, and that he was drugged on the cross with the sponge and the hyssop branch, so that he lost consciousness, and then

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Joseph of Arimathea quickly had his body removed, bandaged his wounds with the linens, without the disciples knowing, lest their devotion be swayed at all, and then

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Christ could foil his disciples and maintain devotion. All of these theories deny

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Christ, they deny the gospel, they deny the Word of God, they paint Christ as a fool and as a fraud, but Paul here is adamant.

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Christ's resurrection is settled fact, and it's part and parcel with the gospel.

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Paul knows that it's an undeniable historical event, and Paul could say, if you don't believe me, ask

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John, ask Peter, ask Mary, ask Cleopas, ask 500 of the people that saw him at one time, or maybe the 400 and some that are still alive.

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Ask them. And all of this happened, like it says in 1st Corinthians 15, in accordance with the

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Scriptures. This was foretold long before Christ came. We see that in the

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Psalms. In Psalm 16, Peter actually references this in one of his sermons and acts.

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In Psalm 16, David said, for you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your

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Holy One see corruption. Who is this Holy One? It is not

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David, who died and was buried and did see corruption. This Holy One is the Lord Jesus.

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In Isaiah 53, verse 10, we're told, after his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days.

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The physical, bodily resurrection of Christ was foretold in the

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Old Testament, and then it's recounted over and over and over again. Of the 19 times that the gospel is preached in the book of Acts, as one example, the resurrection is referenced 14 of those times.

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We see the resurrection accounted throughout the Gospels, throughout the book of Acts.

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It's the basis of the epistles, and we see Christ reigning in the book of Revelation. Wayne Grudem has written, the entire

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New Testament bears witness to the resurrection of Christ.

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So, I'm not sure if this does or if this doesn't stir your heart, but I pray that it would, that we would recognize, first and foremost, that while the gospel is a historical event, that it's true that Christ saved us on the day that we were saved, but he also saved us 2 ,000 years ago, but it's also true that Christ is alive now.

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And I don't have the time, unfortunately, tonight to go through all the details about how that works out in terms of our baptism and our own spiritual and physical resurrection, but what

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I do want us to appreciate is that we serve a living Christ, a living

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Christ. Jesus Christ is not dead. He is not like Buddha or Allah or, was it,

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Joseph Smith, who the Mormons follow. We do not follow a dead man. We follow a living man.

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His name is Jesus Christ, and because he was raised, the firstborn of the dead, the firstfruits of the resurrection, we too will be raised with him.

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We'll look at the next clause in our statement. So, he was raised, our statement reads, and then it says, and he ascended to the right hand of the

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Father with all of heaven and earth under his authority. So, not only did

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Christ raise from the dead, but he also ascended into heaven where he reigns as sovereign king over all of the affairs of creation.

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The ascension is a public declaration of the acceptance of Christ's redemptive work and his transition from a state of humiliation.

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Theologians usually divide Christ's life into two states, the state of humiliation, his incarnation, his life, and his death, and then his state of exaltation, his resurrection, his ascension, his session.

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A theological maxim that I've heard is this, that Christ has risen to live, and that forever, and Christ has ascended to reign, and that forever.

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I mean, this is an important element of Christ's work, and yet it's something that very few

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Christians think about when they think about the Lord Jesus Christ. I was reading a book about the ascension recently, and the author said perhaps it's because it seems strange to us that Jesus would ascend into the clouds and disappear.

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Perhaps it's because we don't understand the value of Christ's ascension, that it isn't mentioned, but we sometimes make a big deal about Christ's death, sometimes about his resurrection, but how many of us celebrate his ascension 40 days after Easter or the

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Resurrection Sunday? So, and Scripture speaks at length about it, so we'll look at a few different passages.

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So Acts chapter 1 in verse 6. Maybe we'll go there so we can open our

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Bibles and see this for ourselves. Acts chapter 1 in verse 6. Luke gives us a couple accounts of the ascension at the end of his gospel and at the beginning of Acts.

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We'll just look at the 1, but Acts chapter 1. It says,

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So when they had come together, they asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel?

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Even the disciples weren't expecting the ascension. He said to them,

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It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father is fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the

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Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all

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Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. 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,

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Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.

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So here we get the disciples perspective. Scripture gives us perspective from what happens behind that cloud.

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Hebrews 1 is an example. Hebrews 1 in verse 3, it says, 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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Ephesians 1 in verse 20, He, that's the Father, he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but in the age to come.

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A thousand years, even a thousand years before Jesus ever lived. This event was foretold by David in Psalm 110.

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In verse 1, he says, The Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until what?

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Until I make your enemies your footstool. So when

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Jesus ascended into heaven, he entered into his coronation celebration.

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Just if you can picture Christ coming into Jerusalem with all of the fanfare on Palm Sunday and people singing

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Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Just as Christ entered into Jerusalem with much fanfare, when

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Christ ascended behind the cloud, outside of the view of the disciples, he entered into his coronation celebration where he was received as the

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King of Glory and his kingdom was inaugurated and he was enthroned the

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King of Kings, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And here, having accomplished his work, he's seated at the right hand of the

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Father until the Father makes all of his enemies a footstool under his feet, until that kingdom is consummated.

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So the kingdom is inaugurated at his ascension and it will be consummated in the future.

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If they say if a picture is worth a thousand words, if this picture is worth a thousand words, it's worth a thousand words about the

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Lordship of Christ, that Jesus Christ is not only Savior, but he is

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Lord. He is Lord. And this whole scene with Christ ascending, sitting at the right hand of the

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Father, is bursting with meaning. And so what I want to do is unpack that a little bit.

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So Christ is the faithful High Priest, offered himself for sin once.

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Scripture tells us once for all time. And then we see Christ seated.

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He's at a place of rest. If you know anything about the Levitical priesthood, the Levitical priests were always moving.

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There was always something to be done, a sacrifice to be made. There was always a duty to fulfill.

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And here we see Christ at rest because there is no longer any offering needed for sin.

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By a single offering, Christ is perfected for all time, those who are being sanctified, the scripture said.

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And then next we see that Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father. I don't know if you know what this means, but in this historical and political context, for Christ to be seated at the right hand of the

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Father, this is a place of dominion and of power.

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So if a high -ranking officer, if I were to take Noah and bring him in and place him as I'm issuing a command or as I'm appointing authority, if I were to bring

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Noah and place him at my right hand, I would be saying to all of you that he is to be recognized as having equal dignity, having equal authority, of having equal honor with me.

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And so at this very moment, think about this now, at this very moment, the

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Lord has complete authority over the heavens and the earth. He has complete dominion.

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We're in the middle of a pandemic, right, where the world is terrified of this virus.

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We're in the middle of a pandemic that's wreaking havoc on the economy and a million other worries and cares that are in the hearts of people.

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And the Lord is sovereign. The Lord Jesus is Lord over all of these circumstances.

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As R .C. Sproul has said, and what I like to repeat, there is no maverick molecule in all of creation.

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The Lord is sovereign over the biggest force of nature in the cosmos, and he is sovereign over the tiniest virus in all of creation.

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And that's why in Matthew 28, if you guys know what happens in Matthew 28, verses 18 to 20, the

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Lord Jesus gave the great commission. And how did he start? He said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

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In light of that, go, go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing in the name of the

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Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And behold, I am with you to the end of the age.

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Oftentimes people think that, oh, wouldn't it be great to live when Christ lived?

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Well, the Lord Jesus has taught it is actually better that he should go, because when he goes, he will send the

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Holy Spirit. The physical incarnated Christ could only be at one place at one time.

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He was limited by his physical body, but now that he has ascended into heaven, he can be everywhere all at once, including in this room.

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Pray that we would understand that the Lord is with us now. He is alive, and he's given us this proclamation.

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Christ is king, and we are to declare this kingship to all of creation.

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John Calvin said, it is the church's mission to make the invisible kingdom of Christ visible in our midst.

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So I'll put that, what are you doing? What are we doing as individuals, as a church, to proclaim the kingship of Christ, to be heralds of the king in the world around us?

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And then, so we've seen Christ, that he is seated, that he's seated at the right hand, and where is he seated?

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We see that Christ is seated at the right hand of the majesty. What does that even mean? It means that Christ is on the throne, the throne of almighty

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God. Probably most of us here know in Revelation 3, verses 20 and 21, well, in that section,

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Christ is speaking to the Laodicean church. He's addressing the Laodicean church. And what do we often remember about that whole scene?

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If you could think of one word, what's the one word that comes to mind? What's that?

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Disgust. Yeah, I was going to say lukewarm. I will spit you out of my mouth, right? We often focus on the church at Laodicea and their lukewarm.

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But listen to what Christ also says in verse 20 and 21. He says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

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If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him and he with me.

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To the one who overcomes, I will grant the right to sit with me on my throne.

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Where is his throne? He says it here. Just as I overcame and sat down with my father on his throne.

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So Christ is king. He is at rest. He is seated. He's in a place of authority and he's seated on his throne, the throne of God.

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He's not only died, he's not only resurrected, he is not only ascended, but he is reigning victorious.

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Christ the king. This truth brought

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Charles Spurgeon tremendous comfort. It was really interesting.

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I have a book or a series of books on Spurgeon's sermons and so I hadn't been very diligent.

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It's funny you should share that meme this week about having all these books and needing more, but I hadn't been very diligent in reading

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Spurgeon's sermons and so I started leafing through sermons and I came upon one sermon and it had this little note at the bottom.

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It says, the first sermon after recovering from the illness produced by the accident at Surrey Gardens.

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So if you know anything about this event, in October, late October 1856,

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Charles Spurgeon was preaching at the Surrey Gardens Music Hall in London.

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It was a building that was designed for 10 ,000 and they had 14 ,000 people packed in to hear

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Charles Spurgeon speak without amplification in the Surrey Gardens Hall. And as he was preaching, and this is a relevant detail,

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I'm thinking about Augustine, Charles Spurgeon had been married for 10 months to his wife

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Susanna. They had one -month -old twin boys at home, so they're waiting knee -deep in diapers.

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Charles Spurgeon is preaching at Surrey Gardens and some person who, for whatever foolish reason, whether it was ill will or who knows what, shouted, fire!

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And at the shout of fire, there was panic that filled the building and these 14 ,000 people tried to escape from Surrey Gardens.

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And in the process, eight people died from being trampled and 28 people were seriously injured in a hospital.

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And this almost drove Charles Spurgeon mad. His wife said that it seemed as if reason had left her throne, is the way she said it, and they feared that he would never preach again.

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Even when Charles Spurgeon saw the sight of a Bible, it would make him cry. Just thinking about, and the media was just ruthless at blaming him and attacking him and his character for this event.

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But two weeks later, he got back behind the pulpit and what passage did he preach on?

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What gave him comfort in that time? He said, I'll read his words verbatim here, he says,

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I better find it. He said, I shall not attempt to preach upon this text.

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I shall only make a few remarks that have occurred to my own mind, for I could not preach today.

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I have been utterly unable to study, but I thought that even a few words might be acceptable to you this morning.

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And I trust your loving hearts to excuse them. Oh spirit of God, magnify thy servant's weakness and enable him to honour his

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Lord, even when his soul is cast down with him. So as the sermon, or as Spurgeon preached, this is the text he went to.

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Philippians 2, verse 9 to 11. Therefore, this is an ascension verse, therefore

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God has highly exalted him, that's Christ, and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is

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Lord to the glory of God. And I just bookmarked a couple little sections here that I thought were very helpful.

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Spurgeon said this, he said, surely when we feel we are related to Christ, his exaltation is the source of the greatest joy to our spirits, the greatest joy.

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We take delight in seeing it. Seeing it is one of, sorry, seeing it is one of our family that is exalted.

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It is the elder brother of the great one family of God in heaven and earth.

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It is the brother to whom all of us is related. And he finished his words to his flock this way, he said, look at him.

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Can your imagination picture him? Behold his transcendent glory.

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The majesty of kings is swallowed up. The pomp of empires dissolves like the white mist of the morning before the sun.

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The brightness of assembled armies is eclipsed. He in himself is brighter than the sun, more terrible than armies with banners.

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See him. See him. Oh, hide your heads, ye monarchs. Put away your gaudy pageantry, ye lords of this poor narrow earth.

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His kingdom knows no bounds. Without a limit, his vast empire stretches out itself.

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Above him, all is his. Beneath him, many a step are angels, and they are his.

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And they cast their crowns before his feet. This is our Lord Jesus Christ.

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And it should be just like it was to Spurgeon, a source of tremendous comfort to us to see

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Christ exalted and lifted up. Now, because he's seated, it begs the question, is he passive now?

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For the last 2 ,000 years, has Christ been sitting on his throne, passive, his work is finished?

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As the high priest, he's offered a sacrifice, and he's hung up his hat. What's the answer to that?

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The answer is no. No. The next section in our statement says, he ascended, and it reads, where he intercedes for his people as high priest.

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Christ continues to carry out his glorious ministry in heaven seated at the right hand of the

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Father. This ministry is so glorious, in fact, that the entire Levitical priesthood, you think about all of the priesthood, looked forward.

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It prepared his people for Christ's great high priesthood.

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The book of Hebrews gives us a number of examples. We get a glimpse at this reality.

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We'll look at just a few. Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 24, it says, for Christ has entered not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, unlike the priests who entered into the tabernacle and the temple made by human hands.

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Christ has entered, it says, not into these copies, but into heaven itself.

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And why is Christ entered into heaven itself? It says, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.

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And what's he doing as he appears in heaven on our behalf?

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Hebrews 7 tells us, verse 23, Hebrews 7, 23, the former priests were many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing in office.

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But he, again, that's Christ, holds his priesthood permanently because he continues forever.

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Think about these words. Just think about these words. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

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For indeed, it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.

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Christ ever lives to make intercession for us.

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Bear with me. I just have a few more verses here. Hebrews 4, verse 14, it says, 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, for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, and yet without sin.

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It continues, but I want us to pause there for a second. Christ is in heaven.

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He is fulfilling his ministry, his office as prophet and priest and king, and he is appearing before God at this very moment, seated at the right hand of the throne of God, appearing before God on whose behalf?

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On our behalf. On our behalf. If you are in Christ, he is appearing before God at this very moment on our behalf, and what is he doing?

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It says he always lives. Another glorious reality of his resurrection, that he lives in what he always lives.

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You think that, I'm going to interrupt my own thought, you think about Paul, who wrote to the churches.

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I'm always impressed with Paul's words. I never cease to make mention of you in my prayers.

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You think Paul prayed for his churches. Christ always lives to make intercession for the saints.

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Talk about praying without ceasing, and not only that, but he's able to sympathize with our weaknesses.

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He was tempted in all things, and yet without sin. Why does this matter?

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So Hebrews 4, I read verses 14 and 15. The very next verse says this, let us then, in light of this, let us then with confidence, with confidence, with boldness, draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

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This is an invitation, brethren, to draw near to God, to draw near to him with confidence, with boldness.

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How often do we sit with our heads down, put ourselves in the penalty box, sulk around as if we do not have an ear with God, as if we cannot approach

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God. In Christ, we can enter boldly and confidently, and he's praying for us.

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He is interceding for us. Paul compliments this. In Romans 8, he says, if God is for us, who can be against us?

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He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

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Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is

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God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died.

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Listen to what Paul says, Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised,

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I'll put in brackets, even more, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us?

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Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Tell me, who will separate us now from the love of Christ?

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Will the devil? Will death? Will COVID -19? Will spiritual oppression?

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Will the world? Will political leaders? No, no one will separate us from the love of Christ, and that's why this doctrine matters.

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That's why we teach through these statements in our statement of faith, not so that you can go to your next gathering and boast about all of your nuanced understandings about Christ's exaltation, and so that we as Christ's people can see him for who he really is.

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Who he really is. He is Lord. He is

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Savior. He is King. He is the only sovereign.

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He is the King of Glory, the Great High Priest. He is the lover of our souls.

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That is who the Lord Jesus Christ is. What we've looked at over the last three weeks, who came into the world, who humbled himself and came into the world, who was born, came in the form of a human being, not only a human being, but a child who lived without sin, who died in our place, who defeated death.

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Death could not hold him. Who ascends and now intercedes for us.

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So if you're sitting here right now and you're in Jesus Christ, all is well.

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I love that song. It is well with my soul. Some people might think it's self -centered, but I just remember why it's well with my soul.

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It is Christ, and we should draw near to him with confidence. We should trust in him.

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All of heaven and earth is under his authority, and yet, even in this place of power, in this place of honor, in this place of dignity, he is able to sympathize with our weaknesses.

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And if you're not in Christ, the instruction is the same. Draw near to him, you sinner.

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He will by no means turn you away. Repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and it too will be well with your soul, because one day he will come back.

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This time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are waiting for him and to execute judgment on the unrighteous and the ungodly.

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The last clause in our statement says that he intercedes for us.

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So he was raised, he ascended, he reigns, he intercedes until the consummation of his kingdom.

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We're going to study this at length, and when we look at our eschatology at the end of the studies,

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Lord willing, in April. But Christ is reigning on his throne.

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He is in authority. His kingdom has been inaugurated.

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It is all ready and not yet, and it will one day be consummated.

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And when that day comes, his enemies will be made a footstool under his feet.

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He will do away with sin. He will cast Satan and his angels and everyone who does not believe in the

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Lord Jesus, who has not has not come to Christ as Savior and Lord. He will cast them into the lake of fire.

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He will defeat the last enemy, which is death, and he will appear that second time to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

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There's so much more that could be said, but I'll leave it at that. This ought to be a tremendous comfort to us, who our

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Lord Jesus, not only who he was and what he has done, but who he is and what he is doing even now.

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Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, Lord, I pray that we would see

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Christ right, that we would understand him for who he is, for what he has done.

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Lord, that that he is Lord, that he is King, that he is God, and Lord, that he is that he is for us now.

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Lord, I pray that Christ would be exalted in our hearts. Lord, as he was exalted in heaven at your right hand,

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Lord, I pray that he would be exalted in our hearts and that Christ would be Savior and Lord and Master, and that we would say like so many other brothers and sisters before us, that Christ is

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Lord and that we are his slave. Lord, make us slaves of Christ. Lord, who are not our own, who love you and who seek your will and speak your words.

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Lord, who do away with selfish ambition and make it our aim to please you.

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To please Christ, to make his name great. Lord, that the glory of the

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Lord would cover the world as the water covers the sea. Lord, the glory of the

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Lord would be known here in our city and around the world. Lord, and that people would come to Christ, that his kingship would be proclaimed.

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Lord, but we pray that it would start first in our hearts. We pray all this in Jesus' name.