All right. Two minutes, Steve. Oh, you have to get half
that up? Let's take a look and see if
this is on me pretty good. I'll go get a pair if you want
to. Let's do the finish. All right. Good morning, everyone. I'd like to just begin thanking
the Lord. It's the first time now in many
months that we've been able to have two services on Sunday,
and I'm thankful. I'd just like to thank Him publicly,
thank our Lord publicly before we even begin, and just ask His
blessing upon our service. Our gracious Lord, Father, we
thank you and are humbled by your grace and mercy to us that
you so richly provide according to the riches you have given
to us in your Son, Jesus Christ. Lord, we ask that you would bless
our services here together this morning that Your Spirit would
be with us and upon us, and that You would teach us. Lord, that
You would cause my voice to speak in harmony with The Voice, the
Son of God, and that You would bless the hearts of Your people,
and that You would teach us this morning and reveal to us the
Gospel of Christ our Savior. It's in His name that we pray
in defense. Amen. All right, brethren, we're
gonna be in Mark 16. Mark 16, and I just wanna look
at verse 19 with you. Here in 16, we know it's the
end of the chapter, the end of the book, the gospel, which Mark
has been writing. He's drawing his gospel narrative
to a close here. And he says in verse 19, so then,
after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into
heaven and sat on the right hand of God. And so Mark here says,
so then, that is, this is the conclusion to the story of the
earthly life and ministry, the earthly life and ministry of
the Lord Jesus Christ, which he worked while he was here in
the flesh. I've titled this message, Received
into Heaven. Received into Heaven. And I want
to notice something first with you. There in the beginning,
in verse 19, So then after the Lord, after the Lord had spoken
unto them. Now, when Christ was here upon
the earth in his flesh, We refer to that as his humiliation. We call it the humiliation of
Christ. And that's because he was in
the flesh, he emptied himself of the glory which he had with
the Father, and he relied completely upon God his Father. He relied
completely upon God his Father for all things. Paul would say
of the Lord in Philippians 2 verse 7, He says, Christ made himself
of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and
was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. And so it was in that state of
His humiliation when the Lord by Himself accomplished the redemption,
the salvation of His people. providing all things necessary
for them to be delivered from their death and eternal destruction
in hell because of their own sin and rebellion against God. Wherefore, verse 9 of Philippians
2, wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name
which is above every name, so that now being justified of God,
as testified to by his resurrection from the dead, Mark calls him
Lord. Lord, right? We're to take notice
of that, that he calls him Lord. Now we'll see in the scriptures,
as you read the scriptures, you'll see that sometimes he's referred
to as Jesus. Sometimes he's called Jesus of
Nazareth by the writers of the gospel of the scriptures, of
the epistles that we have, but he's more often and most typically
referred to as Christ Jesus, Jesus Christ, the Lord Christ
Jesus, but Mark purposely calls him Lord here, all right? When Paul said in Romans 10,
13, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved, he means that whosoever shall call upon the Lord Himself,
they shall be saved. They shall be delivered from
the wrack of God for their own transgressions and sins against
God. And he's talking about the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's who Paul is speaking of.
Those of us who call upon the name of the Lord, the Lord Jesus
Christ, we shall be saved. And I know that because he says
in Romans 10, 9, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth
the Lord Jesus. you shall confess with your mouth
the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath
raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. And so, the resurrection
of Christ, it declares to us that He is Lord and Savior of
His people. All authority and power has been
given to Him by the Father for the salvation, to give life to
His people. As many as the Lord our God has
given to Him, He gives them eternal life in Himself. Alright, so
therefore, we can refer to our Lord Jesus in certain circumstances. Usually if the writers call him
Jesus of Nazareth, it's always when they are about to do a comparison
to how he was perceived in the hearts and minds of the people,
and then showing them how God has exalted him as both Lord
and Savior. He is the Christ, the Savior
of men, and there's no other Savior. There's no other salvation
but the Lord Jesus Christ himself. But when we speak of our Lord
and our Savior, we don't use His name lightly. We don't speak carelessly of
Him, even if we do speak of Him as Jesus. Sometimes I'll use
the name Jesus, very rarely to just show the intimacy and the
relation of our Savior, who gave His life and shed His own blood
to save us, to put away our sins, right? And to know our Husband,
our faithful Friend, our God, and our Savior. So sometimes
we'll use that name, Jesus, but more often, Lord and Savior,
because we never want to speak of Him in a careless or a light
manner, right? We don't want to forget who he
is and what he has done and accomplished for us. And so when we speak
of him, whenever, whatever, whatever words you use in defining him,
it, we should always be speaking of him with the intention of
bringing him honor and glory, right? That's, that's, otherwise
we're just taking his name in vain, right? We know what that
sounds like and it's, vanity, and so when you're speaking to
your children, and when you're teaching them, again, our intention
when we speak of our Lord is to bring him honor and glory
that is worthy of his name. And so therefore, We often do
use Lord and Savior because it reminds us of whom we're speaking
of and to speak carefully, to lift him up and to exalt him
before those that we're speaking, and even in our own hearts and
in our own minds. Because we are flesh as well,
and we can do things very foolishly. And we do this even with other
people. Some refer to the president as
Mr. President. If you bring your
children to a teacher, whether it's Bible class, or in school,
or a piano teacher, a lot of times you'll say, Miss Katie.
So that the children remember this person has authority, and
give them respect. If they ask you to stop doing
something, stop it. If they ask you to do something,
do it, because they have some authority. I know even Pastor
Fortner, I almost at least 99.9% of the time, always called him
Pastor Fortner. Even though I could have called
him Don, many people did, I just chose to call him Pastor Fortner
because I know how rape, when I was growing up, I was very
rebellious and cocky and arrogant and I rebelled against authority.
And so it was a reminder to me that this man gets hit with all
kinds of accusations all the time. I mean, people are always
challenging him and questioning him and doing all kinds of things.
And I just wanted to remind myself Don't give this guy a hard time.
I mean, if you're going to ask a question, ask the question.
You can ask the question, but I want it to be more willing
to hear than to speak and show what I know when I was speaking
to him. So that's why I personally did
that with him. But remember, when speaking of
Christ, of our Lord and Savior, when we speak of him, it's to
bring honor and glory to his name. Now turn over to John chapter
1 and we see this. John chapter 1. And we'll begin in verse 1 and
these are very familiar passages to us. We know them. From my own experience, when
we read familiar passages, there's a very easy way for us to fall
into just reading through them pretty rapidly and just reading
over them and not really drinking in and thinking about what it
is that we're reading. But when you read familiar passages,
it's good to think of how you'd want your own children or a friend
to hear and to rejoice in what you rejoice in concerning Christ. So when you read these, think
of how you would want your own children to hear them when you're
teaching them and reading the Bible to them and spending that
time with them. And then that's how we read these
passages, with that same enthusiasm. So in John 1, 1, concerning our
Lord and Savior, We see that in the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. And all things were made by Him. So that anything that was made,
was not made without Him. It was all made by Christ Himself. Alright, verse 14. And the Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory,
the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. Verse 16, and of His fullness
have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given
by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man
hath seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. And so what we're seeing is that
this one, who came and humbled himself as a servant to work
salvation for sinners. For us who are unworthy sinners,
He who did that for us, He's the one by whom we know God and
by whom we worship. We only have the revelation of
God because of Jesus Christ and through Jesus Christ. Otherwise,
we're just filthy idolaters steeped in dead letter religion. It's
only by Christ and by His power and His glory that we are given
life whereby His Spirit and by His birth, His creation, are
we brought to know Him and to call upon His name and to cry
out to Him for help and mercy and grace. to deliver us from
sin and condemnation. Alright, so Christ is God and
He is the God-man mediator. He is the one by whom God reveals
Himself to us and by whom we know our God and Savior. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. And
we see this in Hebrews 1. Hebrews 1 verse 1 and 2. God, who at sundry times and
in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,
whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made
the worlds." And so, in our text, this is what Our Lord is doing. He's speaking to His disciples. He's speaking to the disciples,
teaching them. Look back in our text at Mark
16, 19. So then after the Lord had spoken
unto them. After the Lord had spoken unto
them. Alright, well what was Christ
speaking of to His disciples? Let's just look at verse 15 and
16. This is what we call the Great Commission. the commission
which he's given to his church. He said, go ye into all the world
and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and
is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be
damned. And we know from John, earlier
in John, we know that They that believe not are condemned already. They're already condemned. They
have no part in the Lord Jesus Christ. All right, now we'll
look more, I believe, next time. at what he went on to say, right,
when he would confirm that, or rather, when he said that he
would confirm them as his servants, that he would be with them and
that he would provide for them so that they would have success
in the ministry, in the preaching of the gospel. They would have
success in that and that Christ would be with them and that his
fellowship and his communion with them would remain with them. And so he promises them his presence
promises his protection and his power forever. All right? Now, after he spoke these words
to the disciples, and after he had accomplished everything that
he came to do, it all being accomplished, his bride being redeemed and
adorned with the gospel, adorned with his salvation, adorned with
his spirit who works and brings forth the fruits of the spirit
in her, him having satisfied the Father who raised him up
from the dead, and he has secured the blessing of the Holy Spirit
for his church, which will come upon the disciples." Next we
read that in verse 19, he was received up into heaven and sat
on the right hand of God. Now, just think about this glorious
thought of Him who is our Lord and the Savior of His people.
He that came to save His people, lay down His life for His people,
shed His blood to redeem her and give her His Spirit whereby
she is brought out of darkness and brought to know this God
and Savior, brought to know Him, not in ignorance, to no longer
worship God in ignorance, but to worship him in spirit and
in truth, this one has been received up into heaven." So if you think
about it, first a man went into the grave who rose again, who
was given life, resurrected from the dead, never to die again,
and this same man was raised up into heaven, he was received
up into glory, so that he who is the God-man now sits upon
the throne, ruling and reigning, and implementing the will of
God here upon the earth, from the throne of God. Revelation
22.1 says, and he showed me a pure river of water, clear as crystal,
proceeding out of the throne of God and of the land. Now, just think, what does that
mean for us? If this has been done, what does
this mean for us? It tells us that man is now welcomed
into glory. By the power of Christ, through
the blood of Christ, men and women shall be raised from the
dead and be received up into glory. Because if one man rose
from the grave, then so can another by that same power. And if one
man was raised up and received into heaven's glory with the
Father, then so shall another be raised up and received into
heaven. all by the power, all by the
blood, all by the work and the spirit of Christ and Christ alone,
apart from any righteousness and any works of us. It's all laid upon Christ and
He has accomplished salvation and redemption. Alright, so the
God-man and our mediator as the Lord our righteousness, our sin-atoning
sacrifice and substitute as our great high priest, an advocate,
the one who intercedes for us, the one who hears our prayers
and his blood makes them effectual so that it's not us praying,
it's that we pray according to the will and the spirit. Even when we don't know what
we're praying and speak foolishly, we know that the will of God
shall be done upon the earth. inability or ability to try and
knock it off. The Lord's will will be done
in Europe. And so he's gone before us. to receive us to Himself, to
work all things necessary to bring us to Himself. Now, when
He was received up into heaven, we know that the men, they saw
Him, angels were there, and we all witnessed and watched the
Savior being brought up and received up into heaven. And when He was
raised up into heaven, His enemies, all our enemies, were taken captive
by Him. They were taken captive by him
and the Father crowned him with all authority and power. And Mark tells us there that
Christ sits on the right hand of God. So that Jesus is the
King of Glory. And the psalmist says in Psalm
24 9, lift up your head to Ogi Gates, even lift them up, the
everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in. That's
a beautiful picture. Heaven has been opened up to
sinners in Christ, through Christ, through what He has done and
accomplished for them. Now here's a few descriptions
of our Lord. A few descriptions of our Lord
in John 17, 2. John 17, 2 says, as thou hast
given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given him. All right, Romans 8, Romans
8, 31. What shall we say to these things? What shall we then say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who
is he that condemned him? It is Christ that died, yea rather,
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. And then we're told in Hebrews
10, verse 12 and 14, but this man, after he had offered himself,
or offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the
right hand of God. But by one offering He hath sanctified
forever, or He hath perfected forever then that are sanctified. And so our Lord and our Savior,
by His one sacrifice, and everything necessary, everything needed,
Christ obtained that eternal redemption for His people. So you that believe, lean upon
your Savior. Lean upon your King. call out
to Him, cry out to Him for help and for mercy. It's not your
strength that He seeks. He provides the strength. You
that call upon Him, it's because He gives you that cry and gives
you that strength and forms that need in the heart so that you
have no other choice, no other option, no other will or desire
but to call upon Him. He helps and does this in His
people so that even your prayer to Him is His work. It's His
work in you and for you. So fall into His omnipotent arms. Trust Him. Believe Him. Cry out to Him for He alone is
salvation. Now, though you find yourself
to be weary and weak, press, press toward Him. Cry out, don't
let anything prevent you. And when you see it, cry out
to Him for mercy and beg Him for grace and mercy. He says
to us, why will you perish in your sins? When He's brought
salvation near to His people in the Lord Jesus Christ. and
He gives it to us to cry out to Him and to beg Him for mercy. He provides that salvation. He
really does. Trust Him. All who believe Christ
for all their salvation, they too shall be received up into
heaven. They shall hear the Father say,
well done thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into thy
rest. Because Christ has accomplished
their perfection, their salvation in Himself. So I pray that the
Lord would cause your heart to rejoice in Christ, cause you
to rejoice in what Christ has done, that He is now just and
the justifier of them which believe on Him. So I pray the Lord to
bless that word to your heart. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord, Father, take
these words of prayer. Take, Lord, even that which I've
stumbled over. Lord, that You would exalt and
glorify Your Son in the hearts and minds of Your people. That You would reveal in them
the faith which You have accomplished for Your people, for their redemption,
for their comfort, for their peace with God and the Lord Jesus
Christ. Father, if You leave us to ourselves,
we shall remain in darkness, and in our sin and in death.
Lord, show us mercy, we ask. In Christ, help us, Lord. Have
mercy. Cover us with His blood and cleanse
us of our sin. For we have no hope in ourselves.
We have no righteousness of our own. But it's in the name of
Christ that we ask. It's in the hope of Him and His
righteousness that we come before You. We pray this in the name
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. All right, so we'll do about
15, 20 minutes, and then we'll come back together at 11 o'clock. So if you need a nursery for
anyone under four, the living room will be open. And then I
believe it's marked in the bulletin who has the the hour. So I don't remember who that
was, but we'll work it out. All right, feel free to use the
bathroom in the house to through the front door down the hallway.