In Ephesians 4.8, Paul says, quoting David, who
wrote this 1,000 years before, wherefore he saith, when he ascended
up on high, he led captivity captive. I've entitled this message, Captivity
Led Captive. Now, would you turn back to Psalm
68, verse 18. Now, David is speaking 1,000
years before this took place. I love the way the scripture
speaks like this. He doesn't say, you will ascend
on high. He says in verse 18 of Psalm
68, thou hast ascended on high. It's something that's already
taken place. Well, it won't take place for another thousand years.
Well, one day is what the Lord is a thousand years and a thousand
years is a day and everything he does is eternal. It's already
taken place. You know, we just read that scripture.
The lot is cast in the and the whole disposing thereof is of
the Lord. Lissy just, I don't know how many few minutes ago
or half an hour ago, was trying to turn in and somebody hit her
in the back. She's fine, she's there. The
lot was cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is
of the Lord. It was Lord's purpose and will
for this to take place. Do I understand everything I'm
saying? Of course not. Do I believe it? Yes, I do. God
is God. Thou hast Hast, not will, hast
ascended on high. He's the lamb slain from the
foundation of the world, and his ascent is from the foundation
of the world. Thou hast ascended on high. Thou hast led Kiviti captive. Thou has received gifts for men,
yea, for the rebellious also. that the Lord God might dwell
among them. There is a particular person
who will find this message to be gospel, a captive. One who feels enslaved, locked
up, held captive by sin, and cannot get out of the cell. That is the person who will find
this message to be gospel. Someone in captivity. More on that in a moment. I look back in Ephesians four, wherefore, verse eight, when
he saith, When he ascended up on high, that's talking about
the ascent of the Lord. And I love thinking about the
disciples watching him just start rising, going up through the
clouds. And the angel saying, ye men
of Jerusalem, why gaze ye upon this? This one who ascends now
will likewise come again in like manner as you see. but they're
watching him ascend on high. But text says, when he ascended,
he was leading somebody with him. He led captivity captive
and gave gifts unto men. Now that he ascended, verse nine,
what is it but that he also descended first? He can't descend back
to heaven if he doesn't descend down first. And I think of the
descent of the Lord Jesus Christ. I can't understand it or imagine
it. He who fills all things descended
into a womb and took a body and had those limitations at this
time. What a descent. He left the praises
of angels and descended to become a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. What a descent. What a descent
when the Holy One of God was made sin. And that's what happened
on Calvary's tree when he drank that cup. He was drinking the
cup of the sin of His people. They became His sins. How much
do you and I understand about that? Very little, if any. We believe, but I can't understand
what it means for the Holy One of God to be made sin, but I
know He was. What a descent. What a descent
when He died. You think of how He was. before
time began, the creator. And when he created angels, he
was the subject of praise and adoration. And now he lays in
the grave dead, being made sin, suffering the wrath of God. What a descent. But he achieved something by
that death. He achieved the complete salvation
of all of his people. And he didn't stay dead. As a
matter of fact, he never went through the process of decay.
He said, thou will not suffer thy holy one to see corruption.
I don't understand how that works, but he laid dead in the grave
for three days. And I know that, I don't know
what he looked like, but for some reason, I love to imagine
all of a sudden his eyes opened. No one witnessed this resurrection
but his father. The tomb was closed off. He opens
his eyes. Perhaps there's a flash of light.
I don't know. But he gets up. He achieved something
by that death. He achieved the complete salvation
of everybody. that he died for. Now, think
of this. Child of God, your salvation
has already been accomplished. And it was accomplished without
reference to anything you've done. It's wholly what He has
done. Aren't you glad it's that way?
Would you want it to be any other way? I sure wouldn't. After his
descent and resurrection, he remains on earth for 40 days
in his glorified body, giving instructions to his disciples
as to what they were to do. to go and preach the gospel to
every creature, and that's your and my mandate as well, to go
and preach the gospel to every creature. That's your purpose
for being here, to go and preach the gospel to every creature. And then he ascends back to glory,
the scripture says, leaving captivity captive. When he ascended, somebody
else came with him. He was leaving captivity captive. Now, I love the imagery here. You got people who are captive,
people who are locked up and can't get out, people who are
in bondage, people who can't deliver themselves. They're in
captivity and he captures them and leads them captive. Now that's the picture we're
given and there's so much of this in the Bible. As a matter
of fact, you could almost say that this is what the Bible is
about. Captivity being led captive. I think of Lot when he's dwelling
in Sodom, the five kings come and take him captive, him and
his family and all of Sodom. They go off and remember how
Abraham is a great type of Christ, goes with those 318 armed servants
and captures him and brings him back. That's a gospel type. What about the children of Israel?
They're in bondage. in Egypt. They can't get away.
There's nothing. They can't just walk out. They're
in captivity. And the Lord comes and delivers
them from that captivity. He leads captive, captive. You have so many stories about
this and the judges. What about Gideon? Israel would
go into captivity. He'd send a judge who would deliver
them. from captivity. Samson, how many
times did he deliver the children of Israel from captivity? These
are all given as types of the Lord Jesus Christ in the gospel. I think of David. While he's gone, Ziklag is raided
and his wives and his family are taken away captive. And what
does he do? He goes and rescues them and
brings them back and recovers all the spoils. What about the
children of Israel in Babylonian captivity? They're delivered. The captives are taken captive. Now, this could be said to be
the story of the Bible. The Lord Jesus, the captain of
our salvation, takes captive those who are held captive by
sin. Now, it's only the believer that
knows anything about captivity to sin. An unbeliever cannot
understand this concept. I repeat, it is only the believer
that knows anything about this thing of captivity. Now, before we were saved, we
thought somehow we could get out of this mess. Before we were
saved, we thought we could, whenever we got around to it, decide to
believe on Jesus. And that would get us out of
this mess that we're in. We may be in trouble, but no
matter how bad things may be, we could turn things around,
if given the right circumstances. Now I've said this before, I
want to say it again. I want everybody to listen to this statement
real carefully. There's only two kinds of people
in this world. the righteous and the wicked. There are no other categories.
And all of the righteous, without exception, believe themselves
to be wicked. And all of the wicked, without
exception, believe themselves to be righteous, or at least
have the potential to be righteous. You've known people who almost
glory in how evil they are and think it's enjoyable and they're
just so wicked you don't even want to be around them. But even
those people think, I can turn this around if I want to. I can
turn this around. I don't have to go this direction. I'm going this direction, but
I can turn this around. Now this can actually be summarized
by the notion of free will. I can, whenever I want to, change
things. I can accept Jesus Christ as
my personal Savior. I can change things, turn them
around, and I will be okay. I'm not enslaved to sin. I can,
of my own free will, choose to be saved and accept Jesus as
my personal Savior. Now, let me remind you of this.
There's no such thing as free will. God doesn't even have a free
will. God's will is controlled by his nature. He can't lie,
can he? He can't change. God can do anything. He can't change. He can't sin. He's got a holy nature. And his will is controlled by
his nature. And my will and your will is
controlled by the nature that we were born with. A man is never saved by an act
of his will, only by an act of God's will. Romans 9, 16, so then, it's not
of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth. It's not because
of what a man wills or what a man does, but of God that showeth
mercy. So the scripture says. The Lord
looked to his disciples and said, you did not choose me, but I
chose you. Now, how many different ways
are there to take that? I heard someone once say, well, we choose
him because he chose us. Well, the Lord didn't say that.
He said, you didn't choose me. I chose you and ordained you
that you should go forth and bring fruit. In John 1, 12 and
13, we read as many as received him. And there is no salvation
apart from receiving the Lord Jesus Christ. There, there, there,
you gotta do something. You gotta receive him. If you
receive him, it's because he gave himself to you. That's why
he received him. He never gives himself to anyone
where they don't receive him. You will receive him. Every believer
will. But as many as received him,
every one of them, to them gave he power to become the sons of
God, even to them which believe on his name, which were born,
not of blood, not because your mommy and daddy are, not of the
will of the flesh, not as an act of your free will, not of
the will of man, not because a bunch of men got together and
said, we're gonna pray for this person until they're saved. but
of God. I want you to turn to Romans
chapter 7 for just a moment. Romans chapter 7, Paul says in verse 14, now remember
we're talking about captivity. Paul says in verse 14, for we
know, this is not something we're debating
over. This is something we know. For
we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. Now, what that means is sold
as a slave into sin, under the slavery of sin. Now, so many
people have tried to say, well, Paul wasn't a believer then.
He's talking about what it was before he was saved. He couldn't
have been a believer if he's a slave to sin. A believer couldn't
be that way, could he? When Paul was not saved, He said,
touching the righteousness which is in the law, I'm blameless.
Paul believed he was not a slave to sin before he was saved. He
believed he could keep the law. He believed he could keep from
sinning. He looked down in judgment over so many people, you know,
they hadn't reached his state of righteousness. He thought
he had a claim on God. Look how obedient I am. I'm touching
the righteousness of the law as a Pharisee. Before he was
saved, he would have said that man in verse 14 was lost as he
could be. Saved from what, if that's the
way he is. But when Paul is saved, he says,
for we know that the law is spiritual, above anything the flesh can
do. But I am, not I was, not I was
before God saved me, I am carnal, sold under sin. Now somebody says, something
must have been wrong with Paul. Well, you just, if that's your
response to this, it's because you've not yet learned what sin
is or who you are. If the Lord ever teaches you
who you are, you'll know exactly what Paul is saying. Look what
he goes on to say in this same chapter, beginning in verse 22. For I, verse 22, for I delight
in the law of God after the inward man. Only a believer can say
that. After the inward man, the new man, that's talking about
what we have as new creatures in Christ Jesus, that's the man
who's been born of God. Every believer has two separate
natures, the old man and the new man. And those two separate
natures come through one consciousness. So it's so difficult to try to
figure, it comes out of one consciousness, so it never seems holy. But he
says, I delight in the law of God after the inward man. But, verse 23, I see another
law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and bringing
me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. Oh, wretched man that I was before
I was saved. No. Oh, wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death that I'm carrying around with me? I thank God through
Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with my mind, I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. Now, Paul is saying, I am captive
to being a sinner. I'm captive to sin. I cannot
not sin. I cannot keep the law, I'm captive. I can't look at anybody, no matter
how bad they are, and think I'm better than that person. I'm
captive. I have no claims on God, and
I realize that all my sin is all my fault. I take full responsibility
for what I am. There was a time when he didn't
believe that all he did was sin. There was a time when he believed
he could keep the law, And he thought he had a claim on God,
but when God saved him, no more. Now, what is this thing about
being captive? Well, first of all, I think of
the notion of what Paul said in Ephesians 2. Turn with me
there. Ephesians 2. Verse 1, and you hath he quickened. who were dead in trespasses and
sins, wherein in times past you walked according to the course
of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
the devil, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. among whom also we all had our
conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
the children of wrath, even as others, just like everybody else. But we turn things around. Doesn't say that at all, does
it? but God. I remember hearing a preacher
once say, there's the definition of grace, but God, but God intervened. We're captive to the law. As
many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. We're
captive to the law and we can't change that. We can't say, well,
I'm not going to be under that law. You can't do that. Everybody
is by nature. You're captive. Well, I don't
agree with that. Doesn't matter whether you agree with it or
not. Everyone is under the capture and curse of the law, and we're
enslaved by nature to an evil nature. Turn with me to Romans
chapter eight. I want you to see this in the
Bible for yourself. Romans chapter eight, verse six. For to be carnally minded is
death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because
the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it's not subject to
the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then, they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. Now, before you're saved, you
don't know anything about this. You just don't really know anything
about this. Somebody says, well, what about
people who have addiction problems? And they know they can't free
themselves of that. And they know they need to have
help. Well, I realize things. But it's
one thing to be addicted to something. It's another thing to be addicted
to sin. And you cannot free yourself from sin. That's what he's talking
about. We know that the law of spiritual
but I am carnal, sold under sin. But here is the good news. When he ascended, he led captivity
captive. That's the picture we're given.
This is what the ascension is all about. When he ascended back
on high, he led captivity captive. Remember when the Lord said,
when a strong man armed keeps his palace, his goods are at
peace. But when it's stronger than he has come, that's the
Lord Jesus Christ. I don't care how captured you
are, both to your own sin and to the devil, he leaves captivity
captive. He breaks down the walls of hell,
those held captive, and brings them out. I love the scripture,
sin shall not have dominion over you. How come? For you're not under law, you're
under grace. You know, he came to preach deliverance
to the captives. That's what Luke 4.18 says. He
came to preach deliverance to the captives, release from bondage
and imprisonment. And I think the most powerful
illustration of this is Barnabas, laying there in a prison cell,
locked up, bound, waiting for his execution. Can you imagine
the dread he felt? Can you imagine how much dread
you would feel if you knew you were soon going to be nailed
to a stake? And he hears the guards opening
the door and he's filled with dread. And the guards say, Barnabas,
I'm gonna give you a choice. If you want to, you can walk
out of here scot-free if you decide to do it, but if you decide
to stay here, you're gonna have to stay here. Somebody says,
that's stupid. Yeah, it is. It is. He came to
Barnabas and said, You are free. Somebody took your place. That's why Barabbas was set free. Someone took his place. It's
called the gospel of substitution. Now, every aspect of salvation
is captives being captured by the glorious Emmanuel. I think
of election. God's choice of his people before
time began. I love that song. Hail sovereign
love that first began the scheme to rescue fallen man. Hail matchless,
free, eternal grace that gave my soul a hiding place. Against the God who ruled the
sky, I fought with hand uplifted high, despised the mention of
his grace. Too proud to seek a hiding place. But thus the eternal counsel
ran. Almighty love, arrest that man. That's seen in God's choice of
his people. Before time began, arrest that man. I felt the arrows
of distress and found I had no hiding place. This is true in
redemption. When we, Romans 5, 6, when we,
or Romans 5, 8, when we were yet without strength, in due
time, Christ died for the ungodly. We were without strength, we
were ungodly, and there's nothing we could do to deliver ourselves
from that. But in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. What about
when God the Holy Spirit comes through the preaching of the
gospel and gives life? Lazarus, come forth. He didn't
ask Lazarus whether or not he wanted to come forth. It's up
to you, Lazarus. I'll let you come forth. I'll help you if
you'll give me the opportunity to do it. No, Lazarus come forth. He that was dead came forth. This is regeneration. I love
what the Lord said. No man can come to me except
the Father which has sent me, draw him. And when he draws,
we're drawn. He draws with invincible and
irresistible grace. And we say, draw us and we'll
run after thee. Now, would you turn with me to
the 24th Psalm? This is what is known as the
Ascension Psalm. Psalm 24. Now before you, let me, hold
up, get to Psalm 24 and hold your finger there and let me
show you how much understanding David had when he was writing
these Psalms. So hold your finger in Psalm
24. I'm going to look at a passage in Acts chapter 2 first. Acts
chapter 2. This is Peter And he says, beginning
in verse 23, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, him being
delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain
whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death because
it was not possible that he should be hold of it. For David speaketh
concerning him. I foresaw the Lord always before
my face. This is from the 16th Psalm.
For he is on my right hand that I should not move. Therefore
did my heart rejoice and my tongue was glad. Moreover, also my flesh
shall rest in hope, because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell,
neither will I suffer thy holy one to see corruption. That's
Christ speaking. Thou hast made me to know the ways of life,
thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. Now, men
and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David,
that he's dead, buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this
day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn
with an oath to him that it would be fruit of his loins, according
to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne,
he seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ,
that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see
corruption." David knew exactly what he was saying. Sometimes
people think of the Old Testament writers, they think they just
had, they didn't even know what was being said. They were just
dictating God making it come through them, but they didn't
know what they're saying. David knew. David knew exactly what he was saying
and he knew exactly what he's saying in Psalm 24. Now turn
back to Psalm 24. This is what is known as the
Ascension Psalm. Verse one. The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof. The world and they that dwell
therein. I need to make a comment. People
are always worried about us ruining the earth, you know, through
our mismanagement, and we should be responsible in however we
live. I realize that, but he talks
about the fullness of the earth. It ain't gonna run out. Lord's
in control of that. The earth belongs to the Lord.
Men can't mess that up. Now, I'm not saying that we ought
to live irresponsibly, but when I hear people talk about, oh,
this is gonna happen, we're gonna destroy the atmosphere, we're
gonna destroy, The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. Don't worry about stuff like
that. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. The
world and they that dwell therein. Everybody belongs to the Lord.
He's Lord both of the dead and the living. That person who is
an unbeliever that has no love for Christ, he's their Lord.
They don't know it, but he's their Lord. He's the Lord. He's
everybody's Lord. The person who is a believer
that really bows to him as their Lord, well, it's because he's
their Lord. He's Lord both of the dead and the living. Romans
14, nine. Four, verse two, David says,
he hath founded it upon the seas and established it upon the floods. Now he talks about the ascension. Who shall ascend into the hill
of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy
place? He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart. who hath not lifted up his soul
into vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing
from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. Now, who is the one who's gonna
send to the Lord? The one who has clean hands. The one who has a pure heart. The one who has never lifted
up his soul unto vanity. The one who has not sworn deceitfully. That's the only person that's
going to ascend up to the hill of the Lord. Nobody else is permitted. Now, where do you fit in there? As far as these clean hands go. and this pure heart. Where do
you fit in there? Have you ever lifted up your
soul to vanity? Have you ever sworn deceitfully? The only way this can be understood
is union with the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, when he ascended,
he led captivity captive at this time. And I'm united to him. Every believer is united to him.
If I'm united to him, you know what that means? That means I
have clean hands and a pure heart. That means I've never lifted
up my soul to vanity and I've never sworn deceitfully. That's
the person who ascends to the hill of the Lord. Christ ascended,
but he didn't ascend by himself. He was leading captivity captive. this time. Let's go on reading. Verse six, this, this is the generation of them
that seek him, that seek thy face, Oh, Jacob. I love the way
it's the Lord. This union is so real. We saw
this, I think, last week. This union is so real that the
Lord calls himself by the name Jacob. He took my name to himself. Then we read, lift up your heads,
O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the
King of glory shall come in. Talking about the ascension of
Christ. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty. The
Lord mighty in battle. And I love to think of the battle
that took place on the cross. Satan thought he had destroyed
Christ. And he didn't know it. but that's
when his head was crushed completely. He's strong and mighty in battle. He can't lose. He cannot lose
because of who he is. Verse nine, lift up your heads,
O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the
King of glory shall come in. Who is the King of glory? the
Lord of hosts. You see, he has hosts with him,
many people with him as he ascends back into glory. And somebody
says, didn't he ascend by himself? No, he did not. Every believer is represented
right now as seated in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus in Ephesians
chapter two. That's every believer. I'm already
there. I love saying this. You know, when people say, I'm
as sure from heaven as if I already, I'm already there. That ain't
no good. It's better than that. I am already there in the person
of my Redeemer. I'm already there. That's how
sure I am for heaven. I'm already there. Who is the King of glory? The
Lord of hosts. He is the King of glory. Now
go back to Psalm 68. Psalm 68, verse 18. This is David speaking
into the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And he says, thou hast
ascended on high. Thou hast led captivity captive
Thou hast received gifts for men. Now this is not talking
about him receiving gifts from us. This is talking about the
gifts he accomplished by his life, death, and resurrection
that he gives to us. Gifts like righteousness, gifts
like perfect acceptance, gifts like the forgiveness of sins.
Gifts like a new heart, everything, the gift of the Holy Spirit,
this new man created in Christ Jesus. Every aspect of salvation
is a gift. Thou hast received gifts for
men. But look at this next phrase,
and Paul doesn't quote this, but David does. Yea, for the rebellious also. Now that word is found 17 times
in the Old Testament. It's translated stubborn, revolting,
backsliding, and rebellious. Strong defines this as morally
refractory. And I didn't know what that meant,
so I looked it up in the dictionary. It means resistant, stubborn,
unmanageable. You know what that means? That means these people are really
bad people. They're rebellious. Where do you fit into that description?
I'm glad David added this. Thou hast received gifts for
men, yea, for they're rebellious also. And that's the word of
God, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell
among them. I'll be to them a God, and they
shall be to me a people. And all these gifts come because
of the life, the death, the resurrection, and the ascension of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And when he ascended on high,
he led captivity captive. Now, what I love so much about
this is really, this is a part from my personal subjective experience. He led captivity captive. In
my experience, I wasn't even born yet. He led captivity captive. If it's not a part of your experience,
why are you even talking about it? Because in my experience,
I like it this way. I love it this way. He led captivity
captive, and gave gifts to men, yea, the rebellious also, that
he might dwell among them. Now all this is sure. He said,
I'll be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. All
this is sure, because he ascended on high, and he led captivity
captive. Aren't you glad he took captive
captives as the mighty God of Jacob? Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you that you've
led captivity captive and gave the gifts of thy grace to men,
yea, even to the rebellious also. Lord, how gracious and glorious
you are. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you would order our steps in your word and let not any
iniquity have dominion over us. Lord, give us the grace to deny
ourselves to take up our cross and follow thy dear son. But
Lord, how we thank you that we read in your word that when you
ascended back into the very presence of your father, you led captivity
captive as a mighty, almighty savior and gave gifts to men. Bless this for your glory and
for our good. In Christ's name we pray.