The Ascended Christ (Acts 1)

[00:00:00] Foreign church. [00:00:07] It's good to see you all this morning. For those of you that may not know who I am, my name is Craig and I am one of the elders here at Emanuel Fellowship. I have the great privilege to to be one, and it is a blessing to be here to share God's word with you this morning. I get an opportunity to do this from time to time, and we are doing that this morning. Turn in your Bibles to Acts, Chapter one. [00:00:34] Today's message is, as you notice, not in the Gospel of Matthew. Today's a standalone sermon. [00:00:40] We just completed a series in the Gospel of Matthew called Be Ready. And next Sunday, we will begin another series as we close out Matthew. The last three chapters of Matthew will begin next week, and that is the Passion narrative. It covers literally the last week of Jesus's life that begins next week. So we're kind of in between here on this holiday weekend in Acts Chapter one. And today, we're going to consider something that Matthew does not mention in his Gospel at the end, something that is only mentioned in the Gospel of Luke and here in the Book of Acts, and that is Jesus's ascension into heaven. [00:01:18] So let me just say this right off the bat. This is a topical sermon, right? [00:01:22] The topic being the Ascension of Jesus, which means a couple of things. [00:01:27] One, we won't be going verse by verse or even section through section through this text in Acts like we would normally do here at Emmanuel Fellowship. That would be expositional preaching. This is topical. That's the first thing. The second thing is that we cannot possibly exhaust the topic of the Ascension, even though it is not mentioned in, or it is not in very great detail in the Book of Acts or in Luke, and is not mentioned otherwise in the New Testament. [00:01:56] We cannot exhaust the topic of the Ascension. [00:02:00] We're going to approach it in a very common way that scholars emphasize, and that is Jesus's threefold office as prophet, priest and king. But even with that approach, even with that in mind, we cannot possibly exhaust the riches that is Jesus as prophet, priest, and Cain. [00:02:23] So, as I said, there's only two texts in the New Testament that speak of the ascension of Jesus. [00:02:29] Here in Acts 1 and in the Gospel of Luke at the very end of Luke. In fact, it is the very last scene that you read about in the Gospel of Luke, both written by Luke, and there's very, very little mentioned about the Ascension. [00:02:47] But when we think of the Ascension, honestly, if we think of the Ascension at all, we typically lump it in with the Resurrection, right? It's as If Jesus just resurrected and just kept on going up to heaven, but of course he didn't do that, right? He rose from the dead and he remained on earth in his resurrected human body for an additional 40 days after that. [00:03:16] And when we do consider the ascension of Jesus, I think that we tend to think of it more as a Jesus thing rather than. And consider that his ascension has anything to do with us today, the believer, the one that he has saved. [00:03:34] I think we believe, and rightfully so, that his ascension into heaven, Jesus's ascension into heaven is his final kingship. [00:03:44] And that would not be wrong, that would be accurate, that would be sound biblical thinking. But there's more to it than just that. [00:03:51] And we're going to consider that today. [00:03:54] I so appreciate, and I say this every time I preach because I think it is just heightened when you're preparing a sermon and you're going in the preaching dock and you're making notes that Sam makes available and you share that with the other pastors as well as with whoever is leading worship. [00:04:10] I'm always struck with the care and the detail that is taken to select songs that are appropriate to our sermon. And if you go back after listening to the sermon today and you read just through the titles of the songs, if you grab a. [00:04:25] A bulletin on your way out and just read through what the titles of the song are, even better, go and listen to those songs. You will see how they dovetail perfectly into what we're talking about this morning. And I am so appreciative of that and so blessed by that, by our worship team specific today. Abby, thank you very much. So let me pray and then we're going to read our text in Acts, Chapter 1, 111 and we'll talk about the ascended Jesus. Lord, we need you today, Father. [00:04:57] We need your spirit to awaken us, to inform us, to convict us, to comfort us, Lord, to show us Christ. [00:05:06] Father, may I get out of the way. I stand here, as has been said, as a lump of clay, explaining to other lumps of clay what the potter is like. [00:05:16] We are in this together, Father, just trying to. To understand fuller, fuller and deeper who you are and what you have done in Jesus Christ. Father. Continue to awaken our spirits, Spirit. [00:05:30] Pray that the gospel is boldly declared today and received in our hearts, Lord, including mine. [00:05:39] We thank you for the good news of the gospel, Father. [00:05:43] We pray this in Jesus. [00:05:45] Amen. [00:05:47] Acts, chapter one, verse one. [00:05:50] Luke says this. I wrote the first narrative Theophilus about all that Jesus began to do and teach until the Day he was taken up after he had given instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. [00:06:05] After he had suffered. He also presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs appearing to them over a period of 40 days. [00:06:15] Speaking about the Kingdom of God while he was with them, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father's promise, which he said, you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit in a few days. [00:06:34] So when they had come together, they asked him, lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time? [00:06:40] He said to them, it is not for you to know the times or the periods that the Father has set by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you. And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. [00:06:59] And after he said this, he was taken up as they were watching, and a cloud took him out of their sight while he was going. They stood there gazing into heaven. And suddenly two men in white clothes stood by them. [00:07:14] And they said, men of Galilee, why are you standing looking up into heaven? [00:07:20] This same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will come in the same way that you have seen him going into heaven. [00:07:30] This is the word of the Lord. [00:07:33] Even though we won't be going in detailed exegesis of this verse, I do want to provide you with a simple context. As we read Jesus has resurrected from the dead. We're at the conclusion of this 40 day period on earth where he continues to teach about the Kingdom of God. [00:07:52] And he commands his disciples not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait specifically for the Holy Spirit, for the promise, the Father's promise. [00:08:03] And at that time they would receive power. [00:08:07] Power to be Jesus's witnesses all over the earth. [00:08:11] And then he was taken up. [00:08:14] And as we would all do if we were to be witnesses to that occasion, is we would stand there gawking, just like they were, looking up in wonder at what was happened. [00:08:25] The text doesn't say what they were thinking. I can imagine that they were amazed and astounded, full of wonder, probably still full of sadness, maybe even wanting to go with him, to follow him up there. Whatever the feelings in the moment were, they stood transfixed on Jesus's very human body being sent up beyond the clouds, obscured by the clouds. [00:08:53] And then two men in white clothes. They were angels, just like the angels at the tomb. If you recall, when the women went to find the the empty tomb, there Were two angels there in dazzling clothes. [00:09:04] These two angels said to the gawking apostles, why do you stand there looking up into heaven? He's coming back. [00:09:12] Just like he's left you. [00:09:14] He will come back. [00:09:16] And then they left and they went back to Jerusalem. [00:09:21] Now, as we get started here, I want to say something that might seem really basic in our understanding, very elementary, but I think. And the intent is that this will fuel our time today, and it is this. To understand the ascension of Jesus is to understand who Jesus is. [00:09:40] You're like, duh. [00:09:42] But to understand the ascension is to understand who Jesus is. It's a lot of what we just sang. [00:09:51] And what I mean by this is if. If we believe as a church that Jesus pours into us and he will pour out of us, then we need to be on a constant quest to know Jesus. [00:10:03] Not just know about Jesus, but to know him. [00:10:08] Why is that? Because Scripture says that we are to be conformed. [00:10:13] In fact, we are being conformed. If we are a believer and a disciple of Jesus, we are being conformed and transformed into what? Into the very image of Jesus Christ. [00:10:24] And that does not happen if we do not know Christ. [00:10:28] It does not happen if we know about Him. It only happens if we know Him. [00:10:34] And that's why, as believers, I think we should consider this ascension as a singular event that it is in human history and not just lump it in with the resurrection. [00:10:45] Which brings me to my main point this morning. That is this, that Jesus's ascension is a reminder, or a marker, if you will, for how Jesus both pours into us and how Jesus pours out of us. And now you're thinking, Craig, really, we hear this every week. [00:11:01] Jesus pours in. Jesus pours out. [00:11:04] I'm with you on that. And I think that we do an amazing job, particularly Sam, because he preaches the bulk of the time, but Jesse and Jim as well, of explaining what that looks like. But we can always go deeper. And I just. The more I read about and read this passage and did some study, I think this image, this scene of Jesus ascending helps us unpack a little bit more specifically how Jesus pours out of us. [00:11:29] Based on. Specifically how he pours into this. Now, let me elaborate for just a second. In his book, the Ascension of Christ, written by a man, a scholar, a doctor at Midwestern seminary named Patrick Schreiner, his book, the Ascension of Christ, in his introduction, he says this. He says the ascension is a key moment in the Good News story and a crucial hinge for Christ's threefold Work as prophet, priest and king. [00:11:58] The ascension is a key moment in the good news story, the gospel story. And the ascension is a crucial hinge for Christ's threefold work as prophet, priest and king. Now I submit that if the work of Jesus Christ is as prophet, priest and king, and we believe in overflow ministry here at ifc, then I think it's necessary for us to consider how that works itself out in the life of the church. That's where I'm going this morning. [00:12:28] So let me set this idea up for you. [00:12:31] In the Gospel of Luke, chapter 24, Luke and Luke records two encounters with Jesus and his disciples. [00:12:39] And these two appearances, these two encounters provide for us, I think, a framework that helps flesh out this familiar mission statement of ours. Jesus pouring in. Jesus pouring out from Luke chapter 24. And I'll just recap them. You don't need to turn there. But they are in the last chapter of the Gospel of Luke. This is. These are two scenes that happen just before Luke records Jesus ascending to heaven. Two encounters. They'll be familiar to you, I would think. Encounter number one is the road to Emmaus. You familiar with the road to Emmaus? Two disciples walking along the road to a Mayas. Jesus sidles up alongside two of these disciples and they're having a dispute with one another. [00:13:21] And Jesus says, what's the dispute about? [00:13:25] And they don't recognize him as Jesus. [00:13:27] He is raised from the dead, but they don't recognize him. So they commence to describe to him, based on his question, that there's this man, Jesus, who was a powerful prophet in action and in speech and how their chief priests and leaders, their chief priests and leaders put him to death. [00:13:48] They handed him over. They handed this hoped for redeemer of ours to death to be crucified. [00:13:55] And they said, it's been three days since his death. [00:13:59] And some women went to the tomb and it was empty. And there were angels at the tomb. And they said that Jesus was alive. [00:14:06] They're explaining to this man who they don't recognize as Jesus. This is what happens. And what Jesus tells them next is a little unexpected. [00:14:15] He calls them fools. [00:14:17] He said how foolish and slow you are to believe. All the prophets have spoken. Referring to their scripture. [00:14:27] He proceeds to disciple these two on the road to Emmaus by interpreting how their scriptures, how we would know today as the Old Testament. But they were their scriptures. At the time, their only scriptures was the Old Testament. New Testament hadn't been written yet. New Testament was about to start. [00:14:42] But he was telling them how Their scriptures point to him, to Jesus. This man they still don't recognize. [00:14:49] And they go a little further, and then they go somewhere and they eat together. And during the breaking of bread with them, his identity as Messiah, as Jesus Christ is made known to them. [00:15:03] And then he disappears. [00:15:06] That's encounter number one. Encounter number two is the upper room. Remember the upper room. The disciples are all up in the upper room. Later on that same day, those same two disciples on the road to Emmaus, they go to Jerusalem. They return there to be with the other 11 apostles, along with others in the upper room, other disciples. And while they were telling of these other disciples about the encounter they had just had with this man, they didn't initially understand who he was, but who they came to understand was the risen Jesus. As they were communicating this to the other 11, there's this. This account. And they stopped. [00:15:43] And they said, how our hearts burned while he was explaining Scripture to us. [00:15:51] Their hearts burned. [00:15:54] They were consumed. [00:15:56] Their hearts were lit aflame like a wick of a candle. Their hearts were lit aflame. And what. What were their hearts lit aflame by? [00:16:06] By the Word of God. [00:16:08] Their heart was a flood of flame by the Word of God, specifically Jesus. [00:16:13] The very word made flesh, pouring himself into them by opening up to them his word. [00:16:22] Their hearts were consumed and lit aflame. And as the two Emmaus road disciples were explaining this encounter to the upper room, disciples in the upper room, out of nowhere, who shows up? [00:16:35] Jesus. [00:16:36] He appears. [00:16:38] And he says, why are you troubled? [00:16:42] Why are you doubtful? Peace be with you. He says, I'm not a ghost. Touch me. See my marks. Put your hand in my side. It's me. [00:16:51] And then they eat again. [00:16:54] And he reminds him of once how he discipled them, not on the road, but the other disciples, as they were with him, the apostles and the others. And he reminds them that everything that he taught them written in the Old Testament scriptures, that they would have been steeped in everything written in scriptures, must be fulfilled. All of that was about him. [00:17:16] He's reminding them of how he discipled them. And specifically that the Messiah would suffer and rise on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name. Do you see the theme of these two encounters? [00:17:32] They were troubled. They were skeptical. They didn't understand. Jesus was opening up their hearts in this moment of doubt, in this moment of unrest. Jesus is providing them a roadmap for what he has done and what he is going to do before he ascends. [00:17:53] He's telling them as my witnesses, I'm sending you all out to proclaim my message, but only after I send you my Holy Spirit to reside in you. In other words, he's saying, as witnesses into whom I have poured myself while I've been on earth, I will pour out my spirit. When I'm gone, I will empower you to pour out to others. [00:18:17] And then Luke records Jesus blessed him and he ascended. [00:18:23] That's how the Gospel of Luke ends. That's the other encounter of the Ascension. [00:18:29] Why are these two stories placed just before Jesus leaves? [00:18:33] Just before Jesus is ascended, these two stories in Luke are recorded clearly. They're skeptical that he's Jesus. They're wanting to know what in the world is going on. Their their life, from the minute they started following Jesus, was turned upside down. [00:18:49] And it didn't get any better. It continued just to tumble, trying to understand, understanding a little and then not understanding. [00:19:00] They're skeptical. The norm wasn't for dead men to resurrect. [00:19:04] And I think it's telling that the way Jesus chooses to reinforce to them who he is is by affirming what Paul would later write in 1 Corinthians, chapter 1. All of God's promises are yes, in Jesus Christ. [00:19:22] All of God's promises. [00:19:24] They had a lot of discussion about the Old Testament as he went along with his disciples. And they listened and he taught them. [00:19:32] All steeped in the Old Testament, all steeped in God's promises that are, yes, in him. Are you skeptical, Church? [00:19:41] As you sit here right now, are you skeptical? Are you doubting? Are you not believing? Are you confused? Are you doubtful to an extent? We all are. [00:19:51] It doesn't matter if you've been a Christian for 50 years or two days or still trying to figure it all out. [00:19:59] We all have doubt. We all have skepticism, good skepticism. [00:20:05] And we're here today to unpack. [00:20:09] Who is God? God is a promise maker. We learn of his promises in the pages of the Old Testament. He explains to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus that all these promises of God all point to him. [00:20:24] The Old Testament is steeped in God's promises. [00:20:29] God is a promise keeper. And we know that those fulfilled promises are not only fulfilled in Jesus, but the New Testament unfolds. How Jesus pours out into the world. And how is that, church? It's through his followers who are possessed by the Holy Spirit. [00:20:49] So I think it's helpful for us to understand how the Messiah is described and foreshadowed in the Old Testament, because again, my main point, Jesus's ascension is a marker or a reminder for how Jesus pours into us and how Jesus pours out of us. And the Messiah's work foreshadowed in the Old Testament is done in three primary ways. Something we don't often, I think, think about. But it is that as prophetic as priest and as king, we think of the Messiah, we think of king, we think of the Anointed One. And that's correct. But there's prophet and there's priest as well. So let's, let's talk about this first. We'll talk about the prophet. [00:21:26] What was the prophet's role in the Old Testament? A prophet was simply someone that was called and empowered by God to speak on behalf of God to the people of God. Prophets or truth tellers. [00:21:40] And they spoke of the blessings of God, and they spoke of the coming judgments of God because of disobedience. And they often performed signs and wonders. There were prophets like Isaiah, I won't go through all of them. There were prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, prophets like Jonah, Micah, Malachi. Moses was a prophet, Deborah was a prophet. Nathan, Elijah, Elisha were prophets. You have your major and minor prophets, major only in the length of writings, not in the importance of their work. The minor prophets, known only as minor because of the. The brevity of their writing, not in the importance of what they wrote. [00:22:17] But as important as the prophets were, they all lacked something, didn't they? [00:22:23] They leave us wanting more. There was a sense of incompleteness in the prophets. There were, after all, false prophets, weren't there? [00:22:33] There were people that failed to listen even to the anointed prophets. [00:22:39] And the task of prophecy was limited to certain people, certain individuals that God had anointed as prophets. Prophets. And so Moses, in foreshadowing a massive sea change, a massive cataclysmic shift in redemptive history, says this in numbers. If only all the Lord's people were prophets and the Lord would place his spirit on them. Isn't that beautiful? [00:23:08] Moses was peeking into today. [00:23:12] If only all of the Lord's people were prophets and the Lord would place his spirit upon them. And in Deuteronomy, Moses says, the Lord your God, will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. [00:23:26] You must listen to him. [00:23:30] What about the priests? What was the role of the Old Testament priests? Hebrew 5 says it succinctly, for every high priest taken from among men is appointed in matters pertaining to God's people to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. [00:23:48] So like the prophets, priests were Chosen. They were chosen among humanity. [00:23:53] Priesthood was not claimed or demanded. It was bestowed and anointed by God. Priests would intercede between God and man. Priests entered into God's presence, representing and mediating and interceding on behalf of God's people. Specifically, the high priest annually enters into the holy of Holies with with rope tied around him, leading out with bells on that rope to to into the whole of Holies with blood spattered garments to offer a blood sacrifice for not just the people, but for himself as well. [00:24:33] And at the end of the day there was an insufficiency in the Old Testament priestly role, wasn't there? [00:24:39] All of the actions of the high priest had an incompleteness and an inadequacy of them. Many of the priests were corrupt. [00:24:47] Even on a good day, perfection could not come through the priesthood, through the Levitical priesthood. They were still stained by their own sins and had to repeatedly offer sacrifices over and over and over. [00:25:03] And we read in Hebrews 10 that it's impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin. [00:25:10] So the entire process that we read about in the Old Testament, blood, goats, bulls, priests, all of it pointed to something greater. [00:25:21] A greater coming priest, a greater coming high priest, prophets and priests. What about, what about kings? [00:25:30] God chose to exercise his kingship through human agency. And it was through these agent kings that God communicated his kingdom promises. [00:25:42] Human beings, human kings were chose by God to rule a justice and righteousness to defeat Israel's enemies and to promote the word of God. [00:25:56] They were meant to bless the world. God blessed kings so they could bless the world. [00:26:04] Who were the kings? [00:26:05] Too many to mention. Over 40. [00:26:08] Some were good, as you recall. Many were bad. [00:26:13] None lived up to the holy requirements of God. [00:26:16] And yet it was through a king, through the very lineage of one of those kings, King David, that the Messiah, the true king, would come. [00:26:28] And at the end of the day, all human kings, even the good ones, were lacking and pointed to a greater king. [00:26:36] The Old Testament sets the stage for the new coming king who would fulfill not just the role of king, but all of these roles, including prophet and priest, and would do so perfectly. [00:26:52] Turn in your Bibles to Hebrews Chapter one. [00:26:57] As we read the pages of the New Testament today, we come to know this shocking truth. [00:27:06] And that would be that the very God who the people of God, the Israelites worshiped as king of the universe, that very God that they worshiped as king of the universe, who would come to save them, that many, especially the very ones he came to save, would not recognize or accept Him. [00:27:27] Instead, they would despise and reject him. [00:27:31] All in spite of the fact that these chosen people of God who were given the word of God, their own scriptures, foretold and foreshadowed his coming. And they still rejected him. They still despised him. [00:27:49] And so we read in the pages of the New Testament in Hebrews this amazing truth about who Jesus is as well as the pathway to know him and not just know about him. [00:28:02] Hebrews 1 says, long ago, God spoke to our ancestors by the prophets. At different times and in different ways. [00:28:10] In these last days, he has spoken to us by His Son. [00:28:15] God has appointed him heir of all things and made the universe through him. [00:28:21] The sun is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word. [00:28:32] And after making purifications for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. [00:28:41] So he became superior to the angels, just as the name he inherited is more excellent than theirs. [00:28:52] Let that verse sink in for a minute. [00:28:55] That up here, let that verse sink in. [00:28:59] Maybe this week. Read over that a couple more times. Let the truth of what that verse is saying sink in. Because this passage, passage is how Jesus is to be known as the perfect prophet, priest and king. [00:29:16] So let's, let's know Jesus in these roles as we look at these verses in Hebrews. [00:29:21] Jesus's prophet verse 1. Long ago, God spoke to our ancestors by the prophets at many different times and in many different ways. But in these last days, he's spoken to us by His Son. [00:29:38] Through the prophets of the Old Testament, God spoke of the coming Messiah, who was the greater prophet. [00:29:45] You recall the scene when Jesus began his ministry. After 40 days in the desert, 40 days of fasting, 40 days of temptation, and he returns to Galilee. It says, in the power of the Spirit, Scripture says, and one day he goes to the synagogue. [00:30:04] This is as he's starting his ministry. He goes into the synagogue. He walks up front. They hand him the scroll. He opens up the scroll from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah. And Jesus reads these words. The Spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. And then he rolls at the scroll. He gave it back to the attendant. He sat down and all of the eyes were upon him in the synagogue. They were fixed on Jesus. [00:30:41] Probably Jaws dropped. [00:30:44] And he said to them, today as you listen to this scripture, it has been fulfilled. [00:30:53] Things were about to change. [00:30:56] Things were about to be turned upside down. [00:31:00] The greater prophet had arrived to preach the good news about himself. [00:31:07] Jesus is Priest. Verse 3. The sun is the radiance of the glory of God. We sang about some of these. The Son is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word. [00:31:23] After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. We said that priests what interceded before God on behalf of humanity for the forgiveness of sins, but that this was woefully inadequate. But Jesus makes us pure and holy again through his perfect sacrifice on the cross. He is our perfect one, Mediator between God and man. Again, let me just read this from later on in Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 9. Christ has appeared as yet to come. Or excuse me, that the good things that have come in the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is not of creation. He entered the most holy place, the place the high priest would enter. He entered the most holy place once and for all. Not by the blood of goats and calves because they can't save you, but by his blood having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow sprinkled, those who are defiled sanctify for the purification of the flesh. How much more will the blood of Christ through the eternal spirit offer himself without blemish to God? Cleanse our consciences from dead works so that we can serve the living God? Are you kidding me? [00:32:46] Read that again. Church when you go home. These passages in Hebrews about who Jesus is and how we know him are rich. We don't need a high priest. We don't need a priest to intercede for us anymore. Jesus has done it. [00:33:01] He was the one. He was the only. He was the perfect lamb of God. The spotless sacrifice that satisfies what? The holy wrath of God. [00:33:13] He didn't deflect God's wrath. He absorbed God's wrath as this perfect atoning sacrifice on our behalf. And at the end of it all, he said what? It is finished. [00:33:25] No more need for priests. [00:33:31] What about Jesus as king? [00:33:33] As we began this morning, I said that typically we think of the ascension as a Jesus only thing that it marks his final kingship. And how that would be true. That is a valid and true belief. Because you see his office as prophet and priest flow from his Kingship, his office as prophet and priest flows from his kingship. And his kingship encompasses the other two. So his kingship is very important. [00:34:03] Again, Hebrews 1, verse 2. God has anointed him heir of all things and made the universe church. [00:34:11] He made the universe through him. The Son of God, the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings was there in chapter one of Genesis, Jesus was there creating all things. [00:34:24] John 1 affirms this. In the beginning, one of my favorite in the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. And the Word was God. He was with God from the beginning. All things, all things were created through him. And apart from him, not one thing was created that has been created. Created. [00:34:43] Jesus was there. In Genesis 1 we see the Son of God. We see the Messiah all throughout the Old Testament and they promise his coming. [00:34:54] Verse 3 of Hebrews 1 the sun is the radiance of God's glory, the exact expression of his nature. When they saw Jesus, when they encountered Jesus in his human body, they were encountering the exact expression of the nature of God sustaining all things by his powerful Word. Jesus himself confirms this in John 14 saying, the one who has seen me has seen the Father. [00:35:20] Mic Drop Moment the one who has seen me has seen the Father. Verse 3 Later on, after making purifications for sin, he sits down at the right hand, the majesty on high. And he became superior to the angels. Just as as the name he inherited is more excellent than theirs. It does not get any clearer than that that Jesus is God and that he is the one true King. In those psalms. [00:35:50] The psalms that the the Jewish people would sing and write and recite and use if they were replete in their worship ceremonies that proclaimed God as King of the Universe. That they would gladfully and joyfully and rightfully and truthfully rejoice and proclaim God as King of the Universe. They singing about Jesus, the very King who would come. [00:36:15] But here's the thing about kings. They don't abdicate their thrones. [00:36:20] Those kings in the Old Testament did not abdicate their throne to slum it with their subjects, but Jesus did. And he did it to be a friend of sinners. He did it to be our Messiah. [00:36:34] And Jesus did not just proclaim the good news of salvation as a prophet. He accomplished our salvation as priest. [00:36:43] And he did this church because he loves you. [00:36:48] He did this because he loves you. The King of the universe loves you. King Jesus, the great High Priest, the greater prophet. Indeed the very word of God, the exact imprint and the radiance of the Father through whom all things were created, made, and all made in all things are sustained. Through that word became flesh dwelt among us, arriving as a human baby, yet as a king. What the wise men say, they said, where is he who has been born, King of the Jews? This Jesus church loves you. [00:37:22] That's why he came, because he loves you and he continues to love you. [00:37:29] Right now, as we, as we wind down, there's a common analogy that you've probably heard. If you wouldn't, if you didn't, if you haven't, maybe this would be the first time. But it's. It's a mountain analogy. A mountain analogy. It's a common metaphor that tries to make sense of world religions and how they relate to each other. [00:37:54] It's this idea that God lives on top of a huge mountain. [00:37:58] In all of the world religions, equal invalidity is each one taking a different path up the mountain to God. Have you heard of this analogy before? [00:38:07] All of the different religions exist today, simply different pathways up to the same God. [00:38:13] And ultimately they all arrive there. [00:38:15] That's the metaphor. [00:38:20] As we know, all metaphors fall short. [00:38:25] This particular metaphor is this. What fails in this metaphor is this. The mountain is unclimbable. [00:38:35] You cannot climb that mountain. [00:38:37] You cannot climb the mountain up to God. [00:38:40] What sets Christianity apart, what makes Christianity unique and true, is that as the only belief system, the only world religion that claims and validates that God has come down off the mountain to rescue mankind. [00:38:59] And King Jesus says, I am the way, the truth and the life. [00:39:04] No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you also know the Father. This baby came down to show us. Not just show us, but to be the way back to the Father. [00:39:23] This is the testimony church that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. [00:39:30] The one who has the Son has life, and the one that does not have the Son does not have life. [00:39:36] This is the assurance of our salvation. Does it sound familiar? It should. [00:39:40] Yeah. I hope you were saying that along with me first. John 5, 11 and 12. The Prophet, the priest and the King. Jesus invaded our reality to teach and to heal. And just like he did with those disciples, he turns our present reality on its head and he ascended back to heaven. But he didn't take us with him, did he? Sam mentioned this a couple weeks ago. He. He didn't take us with us, nor did he leave us as orphans. [00:40:12] He left us here. [00:40:13] And you know what he did? [00:40:15] He poured out his grace on us. [00:40:18] Ephesians 4, chapter 7. Chapter 4, verse 7 says this. Now, grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. For it says when he ascended on high, he took captives and he gave gifts to people. [00:40:37] The conduit of grace that he gave us that gift of grace. There were many other gifts, but that primary conduit, the gift of grace. That conduit was the promised Holy Spirit. And Jesus said it's to our benefit that he would go back, that he wouldn't stay here, but that he would go back so that, so that he could send the counselor, the Holy Spirit. Because if he didn't, if he didn't go back to the Father, the Holy Spirit would not come. [00:41:04] It may be great to still have Jesus here, but that would be just one person in a particular time and space and he would not be here among us now had he not ascended on high. [00:41:17] And that grace, it was through that grace poured into those first century disciples at Pentecost that Jesus began a new age. [00:41:27] He began the age of the church. And today that's you and that's me in part, isn't it, Church Jesus has poured into you, church into me. He has poured his grace into us. And those grace gifts are not to be kept hidden, right? They're to be shared, they're to be poured out. [00:41:45] The thing about grace is it freely, continuously flows from God. And it should continuously, freely flow from us as well. [00:41:59] Abby, you can come back up. [00:42:01] I submit today, Church, that just as Jesus fulfilled the roles of prophet, priest and king that the Old Testament foreshadows, just, just as that has happened, he continues those offices to this very day. As Jesus sits at the right hand of God, he is not just king. He continues as priest, he continues as prophet. [00:42:30] And he continues that in a very specific way. And that is through the church. It's through believers he has poured into us as prophet, priest and king. [00:42:40] And he desires to pour out of you as a prophet, a priest, and kingly people as prophets. We are chosen by God, filled with God's spirit to proclaim the good news. We have the word of God to continue Christ's prophetic work by acting as his ambassadors, by being his ambassadors, ambassadors represent another kingdom in the real world. We represent as ambassadors of Christ, the kingdom of God. [00:43:12] But we do not declare the truth of God simply by word alone. [00:43:17] Salvation changes our worldview. It changes our hearts. It turns our world upside down so that we act and fight the fight of faith with the full armor of God. [00:43:28] That is not just intended to protect Us, the word of God does not just protect us so that we take a defensive posture. The pouring out of Christ is a decisively forward moving posture. [00:43:43] It was the way, it was a pathway, it was a movement. It did not stay stagnant. The pouring out of Christ is moving forward in how we carry the mantle as priests. [00:43:55] We are a kingdom of priests. We are living stones being cobbled together, built on the cornerstone of Jesus Christ. We are a royal priesthood. We are possessed by God, by the Spirit, so that what we would proclaim the gospel. We are God's holy temple, fulfilling the priestly role by how self sacrifice, offering ourselves. Romans 12:1. Therefore, in view of God's mercies, offer what your bodies as how living sacrifices, how holy and pleasing to God. As a result of what Paul writes about in chapters one through 11 of Romans, that's our reasonable, he says our reasonable worship. [00:44:36] Some translations say spiritual. I love reasonable. Based on what God has done in your heart as a believer, it's reasonable for you to live a sacrificial life, pouring it out on behalf of Christ into others. We carry that mantle by how we intercede for people praying for one another. Yes, for one another, for those in the church. But what marks us as distinct is we pray for our enemies, we love our enemies and those who would persecute us or slight us. Even in the little many of us, most of us are not persecuted. [00:45:08] But we get slighted and we get wounded, don't we? [00:45:12] We feel sorry for ourselves rather than loving our enemies as we should, who do us wrong. As priests, we instruct and we declare and we live out how the unsaved may what Draw near to a living God. [00:45:28] That's what we do. [00:45:31] The Church as kings finally, we are kings. Sorry, we're not. [00:45:36] We're not kings. [00:45:37] But we are kingly people. We live in a royal family, don't we? If Christ is our king, then it has implications for those who are members of his kingdom. First of all, it has to do with how we see ourselves. [00:45:50] What is our identity in? [00:45:53] Is it in your work? Is it in your family? Is it in your fortune, your money? Or your lack of or your want of? Where is your identity as our lives? We sung this. [00:46:03] Our lives are hidden with Christ in God. [00:46:06] That's Colossians 3. Do you see yourself as a child of the king church? Do you see yourself hidden with Christ or is it all about you? [00:46:18] One of the convicting things when you preach in front of a church is that it's easy to see this is about you. And it's not. [00:46:25] That's why the prayer is to get rid of me and show through the spirit of the living God. Jesus and his work is how we see ourselves as a child of God Church. Do you see yourself as a. As a. As a kingly, as. As a child of the king? You have great value as an individual created in the image of God and redeemed. [00:46:51] Second, we are to be peacemakers. Harmony and unity with one another is to be our consistent reality. Now that Jesus has assumed the throne, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head into Christ. In Ephesians 4 that says our way is the way of peace. [00:47:12] Much more could be said about that. [00:47:14] But are you a peacemaker? [00:47:18] Finally, Christ's rule is made real and palpable in and through our lives by how we as individuals, as the church. Listen to this church. How we suffered and how we wait. [00:47:30] How we suffer and how we wait as the people of God because we live in the already and the not yet. [00:47:37] This is not our home. [00:47:40] Being uncomfortable should be comfortable for us. [00:47:45] I'm gonna say that again because I hate it because I don't do this well. And you ask any member of my family and they'll tell you being uncomfortable should be comfortable for the Christian. [00:47:56] We should be okay with that. [00:47:59] I'd love to unpack that. Or I'm afraid to because of conviction. [00:48:07] There's a story in 1st Samuel, the prophet of Samuel, the prophet Samuel. [00:48:14] They're fighting the Philistines and they've won and they've lost and they're about to fight another battle. [00:48:20] And. And Samuel sets up a stone. [00:48:23] They don't say how big the stone is. I'm picturing a big stone. He sets up a stone and he calls it an Ebenezer. [00:48:31] And Ebenezer means stone of help because he was marking that God had helped them this far. [00:48:38] And he was banking and, and, and. And believing the promises of God that he is going to help them farther. So he erects this. This Ebenezer. We sing songs about this. Come thou fount of every blessing. Right, right. Here I raise my Ebenezer. Ebenezer, hither by thy help I've come. You ever wonder what that means in that song? That's what it means. It's this stone of help, this Ebenezer that Samuel erects. I like that. The ascension of Jesus Christ should be our Ebenezer Church. That's my point. [00:49:09] It should be a marker for us, a stone of help. It should be a trigger for us when we think of the Ascension and we should think of the Ascension often, it should be a trigger for us, reminding us afresh that we possess the Holy Spirit. Now that we have been empowered, that empowerment primarily and continues to transform and conform us to Jesus to live as a prophet and a priest and those whose life has been wrapped in our King Jesus in the overflow ministry of the Church of you and me. [00:49:51] Let's pray. [00:49:55] Father, these. These truths are. We must scratch the surface. [00:50:01] Even men and women who have given their lives over to seeking, searching, studying, understanding original languages, parsing these, these things, Lord, even they have only scratched the surface. [00:50:19] We are promised one day in eternity that we will. We will see as a more clearly. [00:50:25] We will see the glass full, we will see a clear picture, but we will still spend eternity coming to know you, to understand you. And we will praise you. Through it all things will be made clearer to us. We long for that day, Lord. [00:50:42] But you have us here for a reason. [00:50:46] You have us here for a specific purpose. If you have redeemed us, it is to allow the Spirit to flow out of us, to pour Christ out to others. If you have not yet redeemed us and you are in this room, there is a purpose in that. We know that, Lord, because there's no accidents with you. [00:51:06] Every moment is scripted by you. [00:51:11] You are sovereign over all creation. [00:51:15] So Father, show us. [00:51:19] Show us how to take these truths and to live them out. [00:51:24] We thank you in the name of Jesus.