Epic Sermon on the Ascension of Jesus

The Ascended High Priest Who Sat Down at God’s Right Hand

Whom he has appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

After making purification for sins, here it is, 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.

Notice that a Jewish believer in the first century, he wants to emphasize, to give you the jugular strike, right? He wants to give you the death punch, right? For those who are saying go back to temple, abandon Jesus, go back to the rudimentary things, the temple, the buildings, the priesthood, the sacrifice, sinful priests, dying priests, he wants to give you the jugular strike.

And what's he say? He says when he made purification for sins, my Jesus, he sat down. He's done. Your priests are going to offer this constantly and renewing these sacrifices and making brand new ones.

They can't touch my savior. They can't outdo him. My Jesus isn't up again wandering around the holy of holies. He is seated and it's over. It's done. That's the death blow. He sat down. Hebrews chapter 7.

All I want to say is this, later on in Celebration of Ascension, just go read Hebrews chapter 7 through 10. I can't outdo it, but just to read it to you. In Hebrews chapter 7 verse 15, this becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, that's the high priest in scripture, who has become a priest not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life, that's Jesus.

For it is witnessed of him, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness, for the law made nothing perfect.

But on the other hand, a better hope is introduced through which we draw near to God. And it was not without an oath, for those who formerly became priests were made such without an oath. But this one was made a priest with an oath by the one who said it to him, the Lord has sworn and will not change his mind.

You are a priest forever. This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. The former priests were many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently because he continues forever.

Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him since, watch, because he's ascended, because he's seated, because he lives forever, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

The Better Covenant and Perfect Intercession

You see, you can reject Christ, but when you lose Jesus, you lose a perfect high priest. When you lose Jesus, you lose the one who makes intercession for God's people. And did you notice that he is able to save you to the uttermost?

Take that daily struggle with sin. Take that, those of us who have paths of brokenness and disharmonious behavior and unrighteousness and sexual immorality and lies and theft and adulteries, take that.

Jesus lives forever to make intercession for me. So on those days where the devil reminds me of my past, reminds me of my failures, my past sins, my falling short, I remember that I have a high priest who lives forever, who's sitting down with the once-for-all sacrifice done, and he is pleading his work before the Father forever.

And he always lives to make intercession, and he saves me to the uttermost. So when someone says to me, Pastor Jeff, I've turned to Christ, I trust in him with all my heart. I just don't know that he loves me.

I don't know that he has saved me. I want to say it's on the basis of Christ and his intercessory work, not your emotions, not your inner monologue. He saves to the uttermost, not halfway. He doesn't get you close and you work the rest of the way.

He's your high priest who always saves perfectly, forever. And it's because he's not just perfect and died and rose. It is because he is seated and living to make intercession. It's because he ascended, y 'all.

That's the truth. Another one. Just go one page over or so. This is chapter 10. So much more could be said, but I just wanted you to see a couple places. In Hebrews chapter 10, verse 11, and every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which he can never be taken away, can never take away sins.

But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Notice the constant inclusion of the ascension and the seating of the Messiah. He sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time, and oh look, here it is, until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.

For by a single offering, he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. Did you catch that? Did you catch that? He died. He ascended. He sat down. He's seated and he's done. And guess what he's done for you and I?

He has perfected you forever. Forever. Those who are being, oh there it is, sanctified. You see, if you're a believer and you're in Jesus, you trust in him and his once-for-all sacrifice. If he's your mediator and intercessor through faith, do you know that he, it is already done?

Do you know that you're already in God's eyes, seated in the heavenly places with Christ, where he is at the right hand of the Father? Did you know that his perfect righteousness has been charged to your account apart from works?

Do you know in Romans 4, God will never count your sins against you? Do you know it's a better covenant? Because God never remembers your sins ever again and the Spirit of God poured out at Pentecost now indwells God's people.

Do you know that it's better than the old covenant? Do you know that it's all done? Here's what I'm going to say. Praise God the temple's gone. Every Christian who's working to get that third temple rebuilt needs to break down and sackcloth and ashes, throw dust on your head and put your face in the dirt.

How dare you try to resurrect the training wheels? Every time the Jewish people work to build another temple, it is a direct affront to the Messiah himself. When the Jewish people say today we need a third temple, we need to raise that temple up again, they are saying we need to reject Christ and rebuild what Christ has already done away with.

You see, we have a better priest, a better temple, a heavenly city, a new Jerusalem, a high priest, intercession forever, and the power of an undying life. And I want to say finally, Romans 8, this is Paul, for sure this is Paul, for sure.

The Golden Chain of Salvation in Romans 8

Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 8, when he considers the glory that's ahead of us and what we have in Jesus because of his life and death and resurrection and ascension, this is what he says. Romans 8, 28, we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good.

For those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, in order that he might be the first born among many brothers.

And those whom he predestined, he also called. And those whom he called, he also justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified. That's that golden chain. Foreknows, predestines, calls, justifies, glorifies.

You know why that chain is never broken? It is made on the basis of the work of the Trinitarian God. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father choosing a people in Jesus, Jesus dying and making intercession, and the Holy Spirit of God applying that work to the believers.

This is the work in unity of the Triune God. And then it says, here's where Paul, by the way, this is it. This is where he freaks out. You know that. This is Paul freaking out. Wherever he's at writing this, it's him freaking out.

He just, through inspiration, talks about the work of God, and this is Paul freaking out. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 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?

Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

Did you catch that? He connected it again. The death, the resurrection of Jesus, and the ascension to the right hand of the Father. He says this, who indeed is interceding for us, who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Who? You can't condemn me. Jesus has already died for me. You can't bring a charge against me. God is the ultimate judge, and he's already given the verdict. I'm not guilty because of his son. You can't separate me from the love of God because my Savior is at the right hand of the Father, and he's always living to make intercession for me.

You know always means in the Greek? Always. Always. Yes, even on your bad day. Yes, even on your sinful day. Yes, even in your weakest moments. Yes, even when you feel like God is the absentee landlord, like he's the Father who is awful, like he is not there.

All of that lies about God. It's all idolatry. It's all false. But Jesus is interceding for you constantly, able to save you to the uttermost. A guarantor of a better covenant. Always living to make intercession for you.

Repentance, Joy, and Living in Light of the Ascension

Did you catch that? And here's where we get tripped up. I cannot manage that many things. Can't do it. So you and I hear about a constant intercession of Jesus on your behalf. A perfect work that's done once for all, a sitting down, and then an intercession that always happens.

Saving to the uttermost. Always interceding. You think to yourself, that's a lot of responsibility, and I can barely balance my checkbook, right? I have a hard enough time managing all the members of my household, right?

I have a hard enough time praying for my wife, praying for my son, praying for my daughter, praying for my friend. I have a hard enough time, in a sense, making intercession for the people I love the most in my life, and so I can't comprehend a Savior, someone who intercedes always for me.

I can't comprehend it, and I want to say if you feel like that, that you can't comprehend that kind of love, first of all, and that kind of power and majesty, I want to say this. I think you're getting close, because if it was a comprehensible God that you created in your mind, that God needs to die.

It needs to be melted down, because that's just not how this works. Jesus' ascension is being seated. What we celebrate is the basis of our hope, because that work is being applied to us always. So what?

So what? Christian history, Ascension Day, Jesus died, rose, ascended, apostles preach that. So Thelma promises, so what? You have to ask yourself a question at the end of a message like this, so what?

How does this change me? Well, I would say, first of all, what do you need to repent of? What fictitious idea of God do you have to put down in your own mind? What's the false God you've been worshiping, right?

Christians are, it's possible for Christians to have idols. You could be weaving in and out of idolatry as a Christian, as a saved person, Jesus interceding for you little idolaters, right? You could be weaving in and out of an idolater's view of God, where you think that Christ, his work wasn't enough, or you think that your sins have outgrown God's grace, or you think that Jesus isn't thinking about you.

He's not interceding for you. He's not actually mediating on your behalf. I would say, melt that idol down and repent. But the question is, is how does this change you as a Christian? If Jesus is the Davidic King, if he's the Messiah, the ruler of the world, if he's interceding for you perfectly and saving you to the uttermost, how does that change you when you walk with God and you walk out that door?

Are you going to continue to walk with a joyless life as a Christian? How is it possible for us to be joyless as Christians? We all have to repent of that, but how is it possible for us to be joyless as Christians?

How? You're saved forever. You have a priest who loves you, who intercedes forever for you. How are you and I joyless? There's a way out of it, honestly. There's a way out of it, and it starts with repentance.

I'm repenting for all my griping, my moaning, my complaining. I'm repenting for all of the trivial things that I've put before the joy that I have in Jesus, right? All my moaning and my bickering, my wandering and complaining like Israel.

Repent. Confess that as sin. How can we who have a high priest forever who saves us to the uttermost, how can we live lives that most of the time look like the world in terms of our joy, our happiness, our pleasure, our delight?

You see, here's how you know, watch, here's how we know that this message hasn't taken root in us, is if we live the same lives of joyless Christianity. We live the same lives of depression and loneliness and sadness.

We approach all the obstacles in our lives the same way. We approach all the trials in our lives in exactly the same way. You'll know that the message of the ascension and the intercession of Jesus, the right hand of God being seated, you'll know that it's changed you when you approach your housework in a completely different way.

You'll know that it's changed you and it's taken root when you face the next trial in a different way. Oh, no money? I've got a high priest who loves me and always makes intercession. I got a perfect sacrifice.

I got a God who loves me and will never leave me and never forsake me and nothing separates me from his love. You see, I don't want a faith that's all abstract concepts in the head that have literally nothing to do with my daily praxis.

It doesn't change me at all. The truth is, I don't want that. I'm done with this. If this is all about abstract concepts and theology and all these heady conversations, the truth is, I'm out. Because if it's not real, if I don't have an actual relationship with my Savior who walks with me and loves me, if it doesn't change me on an ongoing basis in my life, then I'm out.

I'm done. But that's not true faith. That's not the Savior that we worship. That's not what his intercession is like. And so here's how we approach the table. You hear about the perfect life and death and resurrection and ascension and seating of the Messiah, and now you're coming to a table that testifies to you into your body, the broken body and blood of our Savior.

So here's the question. What do you have to melt down? What do you have to repent of? What do you have now to rejoice in? Let's pray. Father, please bless what went out. Lord, I do pray that we would see the ascension of the Messiah in a whole new light.

We would see the work of your Son in a more profound and transforming way. Lord Jesus, thank you for your perfect life and death and resurrection. Thank you that you are ascended, that you were lifted up in Acts 1, that you disappeared out of their sight, that you're going to prepare a place for us, that you gave us your Spirit.

Lord, we don't deserve any of it, and you know that. I don't know why you love us, God. I can't explain it, but you say that you do. And so, Lord, we trust in your word above ours and your word above our feelings.

And we pray, God, that you would please bless us as we come to the table. Help us, Lord, to experience this in a new way. In Jesus' name, amen.