Scripture Reading
Please turn in your Bibles to Acts chapter 1. Acts chapter 1. This morning we're going to focus on the doctrine of the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ into heaven. The Bible teaches us very clearly that Jesus died and that he rose from the dead and then he ascended on high and sits now at the right hand of his father where he rules and reigns over all things, where he must reign until all of his enemies are made his footstool.
So the doctrine of the ascension of Jesus Christ is associated with his current session, with his reign and rule over all things for the good of the Church. And specifically Acts chapter 1 verses 9 to 11 unfold or give us some of the particulars of the ascension. We'll make several observations on that particular passage and then we'll make some application. But I'll just read beginning in Acts chapter 1 at verse 1.
The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which he was taken up after he, through the Holy Spirit, had given commandments to the apostles whom he had chosen, to whom he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. And being assembled together with them, he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, you have heard from me. For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. Therefore, when they had come together, they asked him, saying, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?
And he said to them, It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in his own authority, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. Now when he had spoken these things while they watched, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw him go into heaven.
Amen. Let us pray.
Opening Prayer
Our God and our Father, we thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for his victory over death, his victory over the grave. And we thank you for his ascension on high and his current session from your right hand. Our God, we pray that you would just encourage our hearts and build us up in our most holy faith as we continue to observe this glorious truth that Jesus Christ is at your right hand.
God, we look forward to the second coming of Jesus when he will come. the glory of His Father with all of His holy angels, when He will take vengeance on those who do not know Him, and when He will be marveled at by all those who have believed in Him. God, how we thank You for Your grace and how we thank You for Your Gospel, how we thank You for the Holy Scriptures, and we pray even now that Your Spirit would guide us and instruct us and lead us into all truth and into a fresh appreciation of this glorious truth concerning Christ's ascension on high. We pray now that you would forgive us for all of our sins, that you would cleanse us afresh in the blood of Jesus Christ. And now we thank you, God, that if we confess our sins, you are faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
And we pray in Jesus' most glorious name. Amen.
Introduction
It's important that you understand in Acts 1, verse 1, the former account I made, O Theophilus. Now Luke is the one who wrote the book of Acts. Luke, of course, wrote the gospel that bears his name, the gospel according to Luke. Notice in verse 1, he says, the former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach.
So in the Gospel according to Luke, he wrote all that Jesus began both to do and teach. The book of Acts records what Jesus continues to do and teach. As he said in Matthew 28, he said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. And it is on that basis for which the Great Commission is then given.
And the same pattern is demonstrated here in Acts chapter 1. He commissions his church. Notice in verse 8. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.
He's speaking about the day of Pentecost, that prophesied event when the Spirit would come in an unmatched or unparalleled way to the church to baptize it with fresh authority and power from on high. so that they would be equipped to go and do the task that Jesus had given them. He says, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. Now, on what basis can we do this? Well, precisely because of the truth of verses 9 to 11.
Because Jesus was taken up. Because Jesus ascended on high. Because Jesus sat down at the right hand of his father. It is upon that basis, or upon that foundation, that the church can therefore go into Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.
Because her Lord has ascended, her Lord is enthroned, her Lord is governor over the nations, and the Lord has instructed his people to go and to testify, to call men to repentance, to call men to faith.
Five Observations on the Ascension
Now there are five observations with reference to the ascension that I want to make this morning. And the first is quite simple.
The Ascension Was Visible
The ascension was visible. The ascension was visible. Remember at the incarnation. A lot of doctrine this morning.
The incarnation is when God the second person, the Lord Jesus, came into this world and he took on the flesh of man. That is the incarnation. Will that self-same Jesus, having risen from the dead, being glorified, then ascended visibly into heaven? The text is conspicuous.
There are a lot of people who deny the historicity of this event. That's why we need to get it in our minds that it was a historical incident, that it actually took place, that it wasn't just some religious fable or myth. or story that was designed to instruct us in summa theorial truth, but it was grounded in history. It is actually, or it has actually occurred. The text is conspicuous.
Now when he had spoken these things while they watched, Luke wants us to understand they saw this. They observed this. This is tangible. This isn't the stuff of myth or fables.
This is the stuff of historically verified history. He was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight. They're watching him rise up. They're watching him being taken up. to the point where he is enveloped in a cloud and they no longer can see him.
If you were to go outside today, there's only so far that your human eye can penetrate. And the same thing was true on that particular day. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, This was not just a bunch of men who got together and conjured up a religious myth. This is historically reliable, accurate narrative that Luke has given to us.
Albert Barnes says it was of importance to state that circumstance, the fact that they watched, the fact that he went from their sight, and to state it distinctly. It is not affirmed in the New Testament that they saw him rise from the dead, because the evidence of that fact could be better established by their seeing him after he was risen. But the truth of his ascension to heaven could not be confirmed in that matter. Hence, it was so arranged that he should ascend in open day and in the presence of his apostles, and that not when they were asleep or were inattentive to what was occurring, but when they were engaged in a conversation that would fix the attention, and even when they were looking upon him.
Again, if you've done any reading in New Testament theology, you'll realize that there are certain key events in the life of Christ that are under constant attack. The virgin birth of Christ, the very incarnation of Christ. his substitutionary and atoning death, his resurrection and his ascension. It is absolutely crucial that as God's people we have a handle on what New Testament theology teaches with reference to this truth.
The Ascension Was Bodily
Notice secondly, the ascension was bodily. The ascension was bodily. Christ rose from the dead in his body. He wasn't a phantom.
He wasn't a spirit. He wasn't simply an apparition. He wasn't a religious thought. He wasn't a fabled creature.
He was the risen Jesus Christ. In Luke, another, the same book, or the same author, writing in Luke 24, you can turn there. Luke 24, beginning in verse 36. Again, there are those who say, well, you know, the history of it, or the fact of it, that's really not that important.
It's the idea. It's the religious connotation. The religious connotation and the idea mean nothing apart from the historically accurate truth. Peter says in his epistle, we did not devise or we have not followed cunningly devised fables.
If you're here simply because Christianity produces some decent life truths or some good consequences or it provides a context for a religious point of view, you're in the wrong place. We take this Bible seriously. And it doesn't matter what the neo-orthodox have said. It doesn't matter what the God-haters have said.
It doesn't matter what those who try to strip away the Bible's authority by saying, well, it's not so much the narrative or the history, but it's the idea behind it. Hogwash. It's garbage. The Scripture is trustworthy in all that it affirms.
The Bible is accurate. The Bible is that means by which we have everlasting life, because it reveals to us the Lord Jesus. And the facts associated with Jesus' redemptive work cannot be thrown out. They cannot be discarded.
We don't come and pick and choose what we'll have in the Bible. Oh, we like this, but we don't like this. We like the idea, we like the consequences, but the truth behind it, yeah, not so much. It's not our right, it's not our prerogative.
Notice in Luke chapter 24, beginning in verse 36. Now as they said these things, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and said to them, peace to you. But they were terrified and frightened and supposed they had seen a spirit. Luke's a good historian here.
Remember in Matthew's gospel, after the resurrection of Christ, it tells us the disciples were gathered and some doubted? Why did the New Testament authors do this? Because they're telling us the truth. Lying men would not present doubting men.
Lying men would not present questioning or frightened or fearful men. Liars usually take great pains to smooth out the text so that there is no hint of the sorts of things that we find here. I suggest that as you read your Bible, as you see the doubts and you see the fright, this is not an indicator that there's a problem with the text or the truth of it, but rather it simply is an illustration of the truth of it. Perfect example, the fall of King David of Israel.
How many of us, if we were writing the life history of our hero, would include his fall into adultery and murder? Doesn't do much for our hero when we report all those sordid details, does it? You see, the book of the Bible is very clear. David, as great a man as he was, isn't the one to whom we are looking.
Solomon raised up in eminence and in glory and had a wonderful reign and was led astray at the end of his life by a thousand wives. Why? Because we're looking for someone greater than Solomon. Jesus, in verse 37, they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit, and he said to them, Why are you in trouble, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?
Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have. When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. But while they still did not believe for joy and marvel, he said to them, have you any food here?
So they gave him a piece of broiled fish and some honeycomb, and he took it and ate in their presence. A phantom, a spirit, a ghost doesn't eat fish and honeycomb. Not that I've ever asked them, but I just know that that's the case. Spirit beings don't eat physical food, but the risen Christ, to confirm or highlight that the body that went into the tomb is the body that came out of the tomb, albeit glorified, albeit empowered, albeit wondrous, is nevertheless continuous with the same Christ.
His ascension was bodily. Luke takes pains to tell us that he appeared to them many times over forty days, according to Acts 1 and verse 3, to whom he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. was visible. His ascension was bodily, and thirdly,
The Ascension Was Glorious
his ascension was glorious. The cloud enveloped him. F. F.
Bruce comments on the cloud. The cloud in each case, talking about this cloud that we see conspicuously in the Old Testament as well. He says, the cloud in each case is to be understood as the cloud which envelops the glory of God, called the Shekinah glory. That cloud which, resting above the Mosaic tabernacle and filling Solomon's temple, was the visible token to Israel that the divine glory had taken up residence there.
It's no accident. In terms of redemptive history, that as they are looking upon Jesus Christ being taken up into heaven, He is enveloped in a cloud. He is surrounded by this glorious demonstration of God's presence. God's power, God's excellence, God's magnificence.
Remember Matthew 17 in verse 5. Matthew 17, the account of Jesus in the Mount of Transfiguration. In Matthew 17, we read in verse 5, while He was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. And suddenly a voice came out of the cloud saying, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear him.
So in his life, this glory cloud enveloped him. At his ascension, this glory cloud enveloped him. Talking about his reign and his kingdom and his power, he says to the high priest that you will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, demonstrating the power and the magnificence of his kingdom. Christ's ascension was glorious.
The Ascension and the Second Coming
A fourth observation is that the Ascension set the pattern for the Second Coming. Now, believe it or not, there are those who deny there is a future coming of Christ. They say that the Bible does not specify, or does not teach, that Jesus will physically come in glory to judge the living and the dead. Well, that's simply not accurate.
The Bible tells us that he is coming again. The Bible tells us that he will come and he will divide the sheep and the goats and he will render judgment upon those who have rejected him and he will take his beloved and he will bring them into his eternal presence and they will be with him forever and ever and ever. It's amazing, isn't it? So love that psalm that was read at the outset of worship.
Seventy or eighty years, we count a long, prosperous, happy life. Seventy or eighty years are a drop in the bucket. I love that statement. I love that stanza.
When we've been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing God's praise than when we first begun. I was just talking to someone recently, and when I was a kid, six million dollars was a lot of money. There's an old show called The Bionic Man, the six million dollar man. This guy got in a crash, he wrecked his spaceship, he was an astronaut, and they put him back together.
They made him bigger and better and stronger. All these things, and it was six million bucks. I remember back then thinking six million dollars, I mean a million dollars, right? And the ones who are older than me would probably say, I remember when half a million dollars was a lot of dough.
Nowadays, when kids start thinking about money, and they start thinking about taxes, and they start thinking about IRAs, and RRSPs, and all those things, and calculating inflation and all that, they say, a million bucks? That wouldn't make it! I sometimes think that with that fourth stanza. When we've been there ten thousand years, In some ways, I think we need to inflate that language.
When we've been there 10 million years, shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing God's praise than when we first begun. The Bible tells us very clearly that Christ will come again. That Christ will take his people to be with him where he is. The Bible pictures a new Jerusalem where all of his people have his name emblazoned on their foreheads and there is no more curse And rivers come from the throne for the healing of the nations.
And the people of God praise and worship Him. Why anybody in their right mind would want to deny a second coming of Jesus Christ? I mean, one, it's completely contrary to the scripture. And two, you've got to be crazy.
Hopefully there are those days, brethren, when that thought alone gets you out of your bed. We have trials and we have difficulties and we have heartache and pain in this world. But what is Christ's word to us? Be of good cheer.
I've overcome the world. And that second coming will be a visible and glorious display of that. I submit the ascension sets the pattern for the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Notice in verse 11 in Acts 1, who also said, men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven?
I think the implication is, go get about your work. You've seen him go, now you go. You've seen him ascend, now get about the task that he has committed to you. Oh yeah, we can look up in our daily activities.
We can keep an eye on earth and an eye on heaven for certain. But here the angels say, he is going to come back. This same Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will so come in like manner as you saw him go into heaven. He will so come in like manner.
How did he go? Visibly. There will be a day when our eyes will see him. I love the way John says this in 1 John 3.
When we see him, we will be like him. Not that we'll be deity, but I think we'll be like him in terms of no more sin. When we see him, we will be like him. partakers of the spirit in completion. And John says everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself as he is pure.
He will come in like manner. He went visibly, he will return visibly. He went bodily, he will return bodily. You know, when we read these statements in the New Testament, when it says that all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth, people say, well, what's new?
Jesus was always God. Didn't he always possess authority as God? The unique thing is the incarnation. The unique thing is the messianic reign.
The unique thing is that God or the Lord Jesus is both God and man dwelling at the right hand of his Father on high. His coming will be visible, it will be bodily, and it will be glorious. It will be glorious. The New Testament celebrates this fact repeatedly.
Titus 2. We referred to this the other night on our Wednesday night Bible study. We're in the book of Titus. We noted how the Apostle Paul, in just verses 1-4 of Titus 1, basically sets forth the themes that he will deal with in the entirety of the epistle.
Notice in chapter 1, verse 2, he says, "...in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began." He speaks of eternal life. He speaks of the hope of eternal life. He speaks of that blessing that Christ's people enjoy. And then a few times in the epistle, he talks about Jesus' return.
Notice in chapter 2, verse 11. He says, for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in the present age. Now notice, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Isn't that beautiful?
Isn't that wonderful, the way he expresses it? The blessed hope and glorious appearing. That's what the angels told those disciples, isn't it? He will come in like manner.
He went visibly. He went bodily. He went gloriously. The Bible says He will come back in like manner.
Notice in verse 14, ascribing praise to this God and Savior. who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people, zealous for good works." In Hebrews chapter 9, these are just a few specimen passages to show us the glory of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in the future. Hebrews 9, 27. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him, He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.
Don't you love that statement here? Who eagerly wait for Him. Do you eagerly wait for Jesus? Your life marked by an eagerness?
I fear at times, brethren, eagerness is not even in our vocabulary. We look at eagerness in the New Testament. There's several wonderful illustrations. Paul writes to the Roman church, to the church in Rome, and he says, I am eager to come and preach the gospel to you who are in Rome.
And here we are told that there are those who have benefited from the first coming of Jesus Christ, from His cross work, from His atonement, from His sacrifice on our behalf. He was offered once to bear the sins of many, verse 28. To those who eagerly wait for Him, He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation. As those who understand the visible, bodily, glorious ascension and coming of our Lord Jesus, let us be eager.
Let us be eager.
The Ascension Resulted in Enthronement
And fifthly, and finally, in terms of the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. His ascension resulted in enthronement. His ascension resulted in enthronement. Enthronement, kids, means he was enthroned.
He sat down on the throne. And the Bible gives us the time as to when he did that. Notice in Acts 2. In Acts 2.
Verse 29. The whole context here in Acts 2 is Peter's preaching concerning the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. You can see that all the way back in verse 16 of chapter 2. But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel.
The Holy Spirit had come upon the church on the day of Pentecost. People began to speak in tongues. It was an amazing time of the glory of God manifest. Some people misinterpreted.
They said, oh, they're speaking in tongues because they're drunk. Peter says, we're not drunk. This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel. Joel said in the latter days, in the last days, God would send his spirit a powerful way and this would be the demonstration.
It's almost as if the reversal of Babel. At Babel, God confounded their tongue. At Pentecost, He brings them back together through the redemptive work of Jesus. And then he begins to open up the doctrine concerning Christ.
In verse 22, men of Israel hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs which God did through him in your midst as you yourselves also know. He goes on to declare that Jesus died. He died, yes, because godless men nailed him to a cross, but the ultimate reason was the predetermined plan of his father. His father had ordained this.
His father had orchestrated it. His father had decreed it in order to save his people from their sins. Your salvation is not happenstance. Your salvation isn't sort of a corollary.
God decreed the very purpose for the redemption of sinners to be the Lord Jesus Christ in his death. He goes on to highlight that Jesus was risen, or Jesus rose from the dead. And he quotes the scripture. And then in verse 29 he says, men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David.
That he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. What he's saying is, David wrote Psalm 16, but he wasn't writing about himself. David, under the inspiration of the Spirit, wrote Psalm 16, but he was writing about his son. He was writing about his king.
He was writing about his Lord. Notice in verse 30. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne. This is a reference to 2 Samuel 7.
Second Samuel 7, David wants to build a house for God because David's hands are bloody from battle, God says, no, David, you're not going to build a house for me. I'm going to build a house for you. I'm going to establish a Davidic dynasty, and there is one who will come from your line that will be king of kings, that will be lord of lords, that will sit upon your throne, and that will exercise sovereignty in control over all things. Notice when David spoke, or notice when Peter applies this.
He, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that his soul was not left in Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore, being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he poured out this which you now see and hear. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.
The resurrection led to the ascension. The ascension led obviously to his exaltation to the right hand of God the Father. Peter's implication, or Peter's application, according to verse 36. Therefore, he says, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.
John Calvin, commenting on Acts 1.9, says, Carried up into heaven, therefore, he withdrew his bodily presence from our sight, not to cease to be present with believers still on their earthly pilgrimage, but to rule heaven and earth with a more immediate power. By his ascension he fulfilled what he had promised, that he would be with us even to the end of the world. Praise God. The angel said, why do you gaze up in the sky?
He isn't gone. He hasn't departed. He hasn't deserted you. He hasn't left you.
He has taken his rightful place at his Father's right hand. It is from that place he governs the nations. It is from that place he governs church. You see in the book of Acts, Christ is right there with them.
The book of Revelation, what do we find? Christ in the midst of his lampstands. Christ from that vantage point at the right hand of God Most High rules in the midst of his friends and in the midst of his enemies.
Application
Well, we learn first with reference to the ascension and the individual Christian, those of you who have trusted in the Lord, those of you who have believed the gospel, do you realize that the ascension has practical implications for your life? You say, well, what is it? Holiness, godliness, righteousness, and a biblical-mindedness. Colossians 3.1, it says, If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you die, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Paul will issue several commands to the Colossians on how they are to live godly in this lower world.
Chapter 3, verse 12. Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering, bearing with one another and forgiving one another. If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you are called in one body, and be thankful. you realize that our interpersonal relationships right here, right now, whether in the church or at home, are vitally connected to Christ at the right hand of his Father.
That's where our minds need to be. So that if someone sins against us, and we actually need to bear with them, we receive the power, the grace, the strength, and the aid, not because we're good, but because Jesus is at the right hand of his Father. When it comes to that command that for whatever reason is so difficult for each of us. Verse 14.
But above all these things put on love. Why is this so hard? Why is it so difficult to esteem others as better than ourselves? I actually think I know the answer.
We're proud, we're arrogant, we're selfish, and we're wicked. Put that in your pipe of self-esteem and smoke it. How do we gain strength to kill the pride? To kill the selfishness? to actually look at someone and say, I'm going to care more about them today than me.
You're going to do it because you're setting your mind at the right hand of God where Jesus is. There's no magic. There's no potion. There's no incantation.
If you just say this, then you'll go, I love everybody. Now, you've got to employ your mind. And I like to call it a biblical-mindedness, because quite frankly, spiritual-mindedness could be just about anything today. Christos evidence a spiritual-mindedness.
Wake up! Evidences of spiritual mindedness. Let's take our minds and immerse them, dare I say baptize them, in the scriptures. That's where strength and power and ability comes from.
You struggling with loving your wife? Put your mind on Christ. You wives struggling with submitting to your own husbands as unto the Lord, get your mind on Christ. Isn't that the apostles' whole emphasis here?
That's how verses 1-4 start, if then you are raised with Christ. Starting with believers, you've been saved, you've believed on the Lord Jesus, so there's been a transaction that's happened. You have been raised with Him. Seek those things which are above where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
Set your mind on things above. So that means when you're supposed to love your brother, or you're supposed to love your wife, or you're supposed to love your kid, or kid, you're supposed to love your parent, you say, how would they do it in heaven? You'd kill your pride, you'd kill your selfishness, and you'd kill your desire to be first. You'd put them first.
This is what would Jesus do with a vengeance. This is what does Jesus command.
The Ascension and Joy in the Church
Secondly, the ascension and the church ought to promote joy. I don't feel too happy. Past Jesus, let me have it. The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.
Be happy. Church ought to be happy. Church ought to be joyful. The church is the place we get to come and meet with Jesus.
Oh yes, we meet with Him in our closets. We meet with Him at the family altar. But there is something Not something. God has sanctioned the church as the place where his presence dwells especially.
I realize we live in an anti-church age. I realize there's a lot of mavericks out there. I realize that there's a lot of bad talk about the church. It ain't biblical.
You want something instructive, read John Calvin on the church. You think he's hardcore on predestination? Read him on the church. The church could use a great big dose of that type of ecclesiology today.
The church is God's place. The church is the apple of his eye. Pastors are instructed, take heed to yourselves and all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. Yes, individuals were purchased, and yes, we can rejoice in that.
But speaking collectively, that place that Jesus died for, not that place in terms of 45592 Wellington Avenue, but the people of God, He died for them. They are the apple of his eye. The church is his prized possession. When we as husbands are told how to deal with our wives, not deal with them, which sounds pretty brutal, doesn't it?
One man preached a series of sermons on husband and wife relationships, how to get along with each other. That just doesn't sound good, man. There certainly ought to be more of an aspiration in our Christian marriages than just getting along. But when we are pointed, or when we as men are instructed on how to love our wives, what's the grand illustration?
Look at Jesus and His church. Look at Jesus and His church. She sins against Him all the time. But He doesn't cut her off.
She sins against him all the time. But he loves her. He washes her. He cares for her.
He tends to her. He has sacrificed himself for her. I've got to tell you, any time that it starts to well up in you to have an anti-church mentality, go read Paul in Ephesians 5 and ask yourself, am I being like Jesus? Jesus loves his church.
The Ascension and the Church ought to promote joy.
The Ascension and Evangelistic Zeal
The Ascension and the Church ought to promote evangelism and missionary zeal. That's the whole point in Matthew 28, 18 to 20. That's the whole point here. He tells them, go do this.
Be my witnesses. First in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the uttermost parts of the earth. What are you going to do, Lord? I'm going to ascend on high.
I'm going to sit at my Father's right hand. And from that vantage point, I am going to rule and reign and orchestrate. I'm going to, according to Ephesians 4, give gifts to men. I'm going to raise up pastors.
I'm going to raise up evangelists. I'm going to give them as gifts to the church so that they may preach They may teach, they may call sinners to repentance and faith, and they may be a means for the edification of the church. Jesus says, I'm going to sit at my Father's right hand, and from that place I'm going to rule, reign, govern, and orchestrate the entirety of evangelistic and missionary enterprise. A third observation, the third application, is
The Ascension and Our Posterity
the ascension and our posterity. The ascension and our posterity. The end of Psalm 22 speaks of this. Psalm 22, you'll know, is a psalm of the cross.
The first half is the death of Jesus. The psalm begins with that cry of dereliction that Jesus took up on the cross. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? There is a defining, or there is a definitive turning point in the psalm.
And I would liken this or I would parallel this with the resurrection and the ascension of Jesus Christ. And one of the things that the psalm ends with is a reference to a posterity. Verse 30. A posterity shall serve him.
It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation. They will come and declare his righteousness to a people who will be born that he has done this. Now, I submit it takes great faith to believe this. It takes faith when we look at giants in the land.
It takes faith when we see many assaults against our beloved churches. But the Bible says it, and our job, our role, our task is to be faithful. We are to instruct our children. We are to point them to the cross.
We are to show them the empty tomb. We are to point them to that throne on high where Christ is. A posterity shall serve Him. It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation.
They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be bored that He has done this. That's what we need to be doing. How many times do we talk about Christ? I'm not asking you.
I did five times on Tuesday. Check off my calendar. Listen to what I'm saying. What do our kids hear more from us?
Our grumbling and our complaining or our love for Jesus? What do our co-workers hear more? Our grumbling and our complaining or our love for Jesus? What do our wives and our husbands know more?
Our grumbling and our complaining or our love for Jesus? What do the brethren know more of? Have you ever met someone and you found out they were a Christian, you've known them for a long time, and you go, wow, I never knew you were a Christian. How many times could that have been said of us?
Wow, I didn't know you were a Christian. I'm not saying we need to be obnoxious for Jesus. I'm not saying that when your workmate has his arm in, you know, farm machinery, you tell him the gospel. Because he might lose his arm.
And that's not godly, to promote the loss of an arm. That's not what I'm talking about. But somewhere in our daily conversation, in our daily conduct, in our daily walk, we must lose something of Jesus. The text that we were going to look at this morning, that God willing we'll take up next week, is Colossians 2, 6 and 7.
If that means anything, it certainly means Christ is special to us.
The Ascension and the Gospel
And then finally, the Ascension and the Gospel. Gospel simply means good news. The Gospel is a historical message according to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. The gospel isn't simply a good feeling.
The gospel isn't a myth. It isn't a fable. It is a historical message with Jesus Christ at its center. The gospel is Christ came into this world, sinners to save.
He did this through his perfect life and his obedience to the law of God at every step of the way. He did this through his sacrifice at Calvary. He died so that others may live. I was in the United States Air Force, and I trained in the military police, and there was an accompanying squadron, and they were called para-rescue.
You may have heard of these people. They're the guys that when a pilot or something, someone goes down behind enemy lines, para-rescue goes there and gives them medical aid and then brings them out of there. They're the guys with the knives, they're the guys with the guns, and they're the guys with the MDs, medical doctor degree. These dudes are hardcore.
Their motto is, that others may live. I used to think that was nuts. Why would you guys do 2,000 push-ups a day, learn how to jump out of helicopters, learn how to do medical science, that others may live? Now, I'm not saying everybody in that organization or the organization itself was modeled after Jesus, but certainly that is his model.
He came that others may live. He came and lived perfectly and died as a sacrifice and rose again so that sinners like you and me. And if you don't know what a sinner is, just look in the mirror. And then take God's mirror, his Ten Commandments, to point it on you or shine it on you.
Look at yourself, look at the law. Okay, have I had other gods before me? Yes, I have. Have I been an idolater?
Yes, I have. You know, when Christians come out and they say you're a sinner, it's not because they're not. Hopefully, they know better than you that they are. Have you taken his name in vain?
Have you broken his day? Have you not honored a parent or father, mother, an authority? Have you murdered? Have you committed adultery?
Have you stolen? Have you lied? Have you coveted? You look in that mirror with the law of God, and you are guilty, vile, and helpless.
Sinners. It doesn't do any good to try to argue against it, any more than if you were holding a smoking gun, and the guy was dead, and the cops came, what is good? No, you're done. You're holding the smoking gun.
You are guilty. Everybody knows it. God especially. For you to try to say, well, I really didn't mean it, or I really didn't do it, or I really...
Come on. Let's be honest. Christ came that sinners may. You're a sinner.
The ascension is great news for you. Jesus is in a position of authority to deceive you. We talk a lot today about receiving Jesus into my heart. The good news is that He's at the right hand of His Father, willing and able to receive you.
Not based on words. Don't leave here saying, well, I was just going to clean up my act. I'm going to go walk in Jesus. No, you're not.
There's only one way of salvation, and it's by faith in Christ. You look to Him. You believe on Him. When the Bible says, you will be saved by Him.
Well, that's so easy. Yeah, it's so easy, but it's so hard. Because that means we can't be selfish, or proud, or arrogant anymore. Those are hard things to die in the center.
But you look, and you will live. And He will give you help. He will give you aid. He will give you power.
He will give you His Spirit. so that you may daily, by his grace, seek to put those things to death, not in order to be saved, but because you have been saved and you want to walk in him.
Closing Prayer
Well, let us pray. Father, we thank you for the Holy Scriptures. We thank you for this doctrine, the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we pray that you'd help us to set our mind to your right hand where Christ is.
And I pray, Father in heaven, that you would just help us to receive grace and power and strength and help in order to walk in Christ and able to do what the Bible calls us to do, not because we need to be saved, but because by your grace you have saved us. And we pray, Father, that you would forgive us for our sins, forgive us that we don't always think about or talk about or love Jesus the way we should. God, certainly when one has shown us such mercy and such kindness, we ought to respond with great love and great worship and great adoration. Make us to be like that woman who was forgiven much, so she loved much.
And we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen.