All right, let's open our Bibles
to Job chapter 19. I know I've been referring to
this passage frequently in some messages, and it definitely goes
with our message this morning. While you're turning, let me
tell you that I know some of you will be interested in this.
Brother Don Fortner has a new book out that Shelby took his
notes and messages and put together. It's Discovering Christ in Ephesians,
and I've already read it. I can highly recommend it to
you. It's excellent. If you want to get a copy, they're
available at Barnes & Noble, Books A Million, and Amazon.
But if you will contact Shelby directly, she can get you one
for about $10 less than those places, so if you're interested
in that. You can contact her, get with me and I'll get you
her contact information so that if you want that book, you can
get it. All right, Job chapter 19, I'm gonna begin reading in
verse 23. Oh, that my words were now written.
Oh, that they were printed in a book, that they were graven
with an iron pen and led in the rock forever. For I know that
my Redeemer liveth. And he shall stand at the latter
day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms
destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I
shall see for myself. And mine eyes shall behold, and
not another. That word is a stranger. When
I see him, he won't be a stranger to me. I'm gonna know him, though
my reins be consumed within me. They say that the book of Job
is the oldest writings, that Job lived before Moses lived. And if this was the oldest believer
we have writing from, his hope was in the resurrection, wasn't
it? That he'd see Christ. All right. Let's stand together
as Shawn leads us in singing our call to worship. Ascribe to God, ye sons of men,
ascribe with one accord all praise and honor, might and strength
to Him, the living Lord. Give glory to His holy name,
and honor Him alone. Give worship to His majesty,
and bow before His throne. The Lord, thou said, upon the
floods there, fury to restrain. He reigns above both Lord and
King, and evermore shall reign. ? The Lord shall give his people
strength ? ? And bid their sorrows cease ? ? The Lord shall bless
his chosen race ? ? With everlasting peace ? Okay, if you would, turn in your
hymnals to song number 256, It Is Well With My Soul. ? When peace like a river ? ? At
the end of my way ? ? When sorrows like sea billows roll ? ? Whatever
my love Thou hast taught me ? It is well, it is well with my
soul. It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. Though Satan should buffet, Though
trials should come, Let this best assurance control That Christ
hath regarded my helpless estate And hath shed his own blood for
my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. My sin, O the bliss of this glorious
thought! My sin, not in part, but the
whole! is nailed to the cross, and I
bear it no more. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! O my soul, it is well with my
soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. And, Lord, haste the day when
my faith shall be sighed. The clouds be rolled back as
a scroll, the trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend. Even so, it is well with my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. Turn to Acts, Acts chapter one. Gonna read this
morning, Acts chapter one, verses one through 12. The former trustee have I made,
O Theopolis, of all that Jesus began both to do and to teach,
until the day in which he was taken up, ere to that he After
that, he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto his
apostles whom he had chosen, to whom also he showed himself
alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen
of them 40 days and speaking of things pertaining to the kingdom
of God. And being assembled together with them, commanded them that
they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise. Wait
for the promise of the Father, which, he saith, ye have heard
of me. For John truly baptized with
water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many
days hence. When they therefore were come
together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this
time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them,
it is not for you to know the times, or the seasons, which
the Father hath put in his own power, that ye shall receive
power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall
be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, in all Judea, and
in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. And when
he had spoken these things, while they yet beheld, 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, which also said, ye
men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same
Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come
in the like manner as you have seen go into heaven. Then returned
they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is
from Jerusalem a Sabbath day journey. May the Lord bless his
word. Our Heavenly Father, we come
before you this morning, thankful people, thankful that our need
has been met through our Lord Jesus Christ. That because of your love and
mercy, Christ became man. the God-man, perfectly sinless,
yet man, that he might die as a willing substitute for our
sin, that we might come unto your throne of mercy, crying,
Abba, Father. What an amazing, blessed privilege
to come into your presence, accepted in our Lord Jesus Christ. Father,
we pray this morning that you would bless our gathering. Lord, leave us not alone, but
give us hearts of worship. Lord, give us hearing ears and receiving hearts. Lord, apply
your word to our hearts. Speak to the new man. Give us
rejuvenation. Lord, we pray that you would be with our pastor this morning
as he stands to proclaim salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Leave him not alone. Give him recall of his notes,
Lord, but more than that, Lord, speak through him. Father, feed
your sheep. And what we pray for us, Lord,
we pray wherever men stand this morning, make your word effectual, speak
to the hearts of your people that we might rejoice in the
salvation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we feel our sin, but cause us to look to thee Give us the ability, Lord, to
go through this world, not looking at our surroundings, not looking for kingdoms on earth,
Lord, but looking for Christ, looking to Christ to meet all
our needs. Cause us to be witnesses throughout
this world. that when people see us, they
see sinners saved by thy grace, rejoicing, not in our filthy
righteousness, but in the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ, knowing
that it's in him that we're accepted. Father, we ask these things as we ask all things in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ. for our good and for his sake,
to bring glory unto his name. Amen. If you would keep your Bibles
open there to the book of Acts, the Lord willing, we're going
to begin this morning of study in the book of Acts. This book
was written by Luke, the beloved physician. Luke was not an apostle,
he was not one of the 12, but he was with the Lord all during
his earthly ministry. And he writes to us, the book
of Acts, to show us how it is that God is working together
to bring salvation to his people through the preaching of Christ,
through the preaching of the gospel. God's gonna send his
preachers and his gospel into the whole world. And he's gonna
do that because God has a people of every nation and tribe and
kindred and tongue, and the gospel's gonna reach those people, and
they're gonna believe it when they hear it, when God is pleased
to give them faith in Christ. That's the whole purpose of this
book of Acts, is to show us the gospel going forth and revealing
Christ to his people. Now Luke begins in verse one
where he says, the former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of
all that Jesus began, both to do and teach, until the day in
which he was taken up after that he through the Holy Ghost had
given commandment under the apostles to whom he had chosen. Now, nobody's
real sure who this Theophilus is. He's apparently some sort
of a wealthy man and must have had some interest in Jesus of
Nazareth. And he asked Luke to give him
a full account of everything that Jesus did during his life. And Luke did that. That's his
gospel of Luke. If you, read the four gospels,
you'll see in the gospel of Luke that Luke gave many more details
of the life of Christ than the other evangelists. And now he's
going to write the book of Acts and he's going to tell this same
man Theophilus and tell us that after the death, the burial,
the resurrection, the ascension of Christ, what it is that the
apostles went through all the world preaching. And what they
did is they went through all the world preaching Christ, telling
sinners who Christ is and what it is that he has done to save
his people from their sins. And I think that this was a pretty
good question of old Theophilus. Can you give me an accounting
of everything that the Lord Jesus did during his earthly ministry? And I think that's important
because everything Absolutely everything that the Lord did
during his earthly ministry was necessary to the salvation of
sinners. He didn't do one unnecessary
thing during the course of his life. His birth had to happen
just the way it happened. It had to happen that he was
born of a virgin, that he was conceived in the womb of a virgin
of the Holy Ghost, and that he was born in Bethlehem to fulfill
the scriptures. All of his life as a man, every
day of it was necessary. Every day of the Lord's earthly
ministry as he was a man made under the law, he was obeying
God's law perfectly. Establishing a perfect righteousness
that he would freely give to his people. All that was necessary. As he was preparing to go to
the cross, it was even necessary that Judas betray him. He had
to be betrayed. to fulfill the scriptures. David
wrote of it, how he would be betrayed. He had to be betrayed. The Jews and the Romans couldn't
come take him by force. They can't overpower the Lord.
He was betrayed. This is the way he chose to do
it. All his suffering. at the hands of the Jews and
those Roman soldiers, the way they beat him, the way they whipped
his back and tore the flesh off of his body, off of his back,
the mocking, how they mocked him as king, how they put that
purple, probably just a carpet or something over his shoulders,
his robe, the crown of thorns that he wore. All of that was
necessary. That suffering was necessary
in order to save sinners like you and me. and then his death
on the cross. How he suffered in agony, this
beyond comprehension when he made his soul an offering for
sin. And how that he died. He was
taken down and buried in a rich man's tomb that was borrowed
for three days from this rich man, Joseph of Arimathea, and
that he would rise again the third day. All of that is necessary
for the salvation of God's elect. But you know, the ascension of
Christ back to glory is also necessary for our salvation. In order for redemption to be
complete, Christ had to ascend back to glory and sit on the
right hand of the father on the throne of heaven. And that's
what Luke begins telling us about in verse three. To him also he
showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs
being seen of them 40 days and speaking of the things pertaining
to the kingdom of God. And being assembled together
with him, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem,
but wait for the promise of the Father, which saith he, you have
heard of me. For John truly baptized with
water, but ye shall be baptized, you'll be immersed with the Holy
Ghost, not many days hence. When they therefore were come
together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this
time restore again the kingdom to Israel. And he said unto them,
it's not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the
father hath put in his own power, but you shall receive power.
After that, the Holy ghost has come upon you and you should
be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and
in Samaria and under the uttermost parts of the earth. Now here's
what the Lord told them before he ascended back to glory. And
this is the same thing he tells all of his people. You do what
I've commanded you to do. You give, you do what it is I've
given you to do. And you wait on the Lord. You wait on the Lord to send
you. You wait on the Lord to come and direct you. You know,
he's telling his disciples how they're gonna go into the uttermost
parts of the earth, and they may wonder, well, what part of
the earth am I gonna go to? You know, when am I gonna go?
What am I gonna do? What people am I gonna see? And the Lord
didn't tell them. just like he doesn't tell you
and me everything. You know why? We don't have to know everything.
I mean, we want to, but we don't have to know everything that
there is, everything that we're going to be doing, the reason
that we're going through the things that we're going through
in order to believe Christ. This is God's commandment to
you and me. Believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
not to understand everything that's gonna happen, it's to
believe on Christ and you trust Him, and you keep following Him,
and the Lord will continue to teach us. The Lord will continue
to reveal things to us as it pleases Him when it's time. Until
then, you just wait on the Lord. You just follow the Lord. You
don't have to understand everything to keep going forward. You just
keep going forward in the light God's given you, and eventually
He'll give you more. Now verse nine. And when they
had spoken these things, For when he had spoken these things,
while they beheld him, 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, which also said, you men of Galilee, why
stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which was taken
up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you've
seen him go into heaven. Then returned they unto Jerusalem
from the Mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem, a Sabbath
day's journey. They went back to Jerusalem and
waited just like the Lord told them to do. Now they went out
there to Mount Olivet, and can you imagine what it looked like,
what they saw? This man in the flesh, now they
know he's the Lord, they know he's the son of God, but he's
a man in the flesh, with no visible means of him doing it, rose up
in the air and just kept rising and kept rising until he went
through the clouds. And I thought of, especially
in the early days of our space travel, remember they'd send
a rocket up and people stand there, look at that rocket go
up, you know, out of sight. That's what the apostles were
doing. They're just standing. He arose into the clouds. He
arose right before their eyes and they're just standing there
with their mouths wide open and you can't blame them, can you?
I mean, who's ever seen such a thing? Oh my. Well, there's several things
that I'd like for us to consider about the ascension of Christ. Not just that how he bodily ascended
up into glory. That's just, that's a fact. But
what, What does that mean? What does that mean to you? How
does this event that is recorded by Luke in the book of Acts,
how does this increase our faith in Christ? How does this give
us comfort and assurance in trusting our salvation, trusting our souls
to Christ? Well, number one, why? Why did the Lord ascend back
to heaven? Well, I thought of several reasons.
First, he ascended back into heaven because there's nothing
left for him to do. The sin of his people had already been put
away. That's what he came to do. Didn't
know what the angel said, he shall save his people from their
sins. Well, he's done it. He's put their sin away. He's
brought in everlasting righteousness and the salvation of his people
was complete. So he ascended back to glory.
Now you think what that means to those of us who believe. That
means that if you trust Christ, you're complete. Your salvation
is complete. It's perfect, it's accomplished,
and it can never get any better than it is right now. The Lord
Jesus didn't have to stay on earth to make his people more
complete. I mean, you can't be more complete,
can you? You're complete. If you're perfect,
you're perfect. You can't be made more perfect. Christ went
back to heaven because he did the job that he came to do. It
was finished. Number two, look at Psalm 68. Our Lord ascended back to heaven
because there were no more enemies left who could harm his people. Psalm 68. Verse 18, thou hast ascended
on high. Thou has led captivity captive.
Thou has received gifts for men. Yea, for the rebellious also,
that the Lord God might dwell among them. Now in David here,
prophesying of the Savior says that he has led captivity captive.
What he means is he's defeated every enemy. And the picture
is like one of those old kings in those days who had right out
with his army off to battle and nobody in the city knew. Did
we win? Did we lose? Is the enemy going
to come and destroy us? And for long, here comes the
king and his army. They're returning back to the
city and the people know that their army, that their king had
been victorious because the opposing generals and the opposing king
and all the leaders of the enemy were being led in chains. behind
the king, he led captivity captive. All those enemies who would hold
God's people captive had been put in chains by Christ our Savior. And you think if we got a lot
of enemies, don't we? Our own sin. Our own sin demands
our condemnation. Our sin demands there must be
punishment. But Christ took the sin of his
people out of the way. He took it into his own body
on the tree and he put it away so it doesn't exist anymore. Now I know we still see a lot
of our sin, don't we? But here is our comfort. It can't
condemn us. It shames us. It can harm our
brothers and our sisters. It's shameful. But our Savior's
already paid for it. He's taken it out of the way.
So as much as we hate our sin, it can't condemn you. if Christ
died for you. How about this world? You know,
this world is the enemy of the believer. Our Lord said, don't
be surprised when the world hates you. It hated me for it hated
you. You know, the servant's not greater than his master.
But don't you worry about this world. Don't you worry about
what goes on in this world. Our Savior said, I've overcome
it. I've overcome this world. How
about Satan? I mean, he's the accuser of the
brethren. He's been attacking since the garden, hadn't he?
And he's still gonna accuse. Now there's no question about
that. He's still gonna accuse. But if Christ died for you, and
Satan takes your name to accuse you before God Almighty, you
know what God's gonna say to him? What sin? They're innocent. No accusation can stick. That
enemy has been put in chains. And then our greatest enemy,
our old man. When David says here that you
receive gifts for men, yay. It's like David says, yay even
for the rebellious also. Who's the rebellious he's talking
about there? It's us. It's that old man. That old man
that's born in us has got the nature of Adam, is a rebel. He'll
never bow to Christ. He will never believe Christ. He will never love Christ. He
will never ask God for mercy. He will always try to establish
his own righteousness to get glory for himself instead of
getting glory to Christ. He's a rebel. And even after
we're born again, that old man is just as strong as he ever
was. Hadn't that been your experience? And we think, well, that old
man's not in chains. He's still causing me all kinds of trouble.
That's true. But here's how he's in chains.
He doesn't rule. There was a day that old man
kept you, stopped you from believing Christ. Now you believe Christ
and you can't not believe him. There was a day you're so selfish
you never would have thought about serving God's people. You
never would have thought about sacrificing to help and serve
God's people. Now you want to. It's because
that old man is not on the throne anymore. Those enemies are defeated. Then look at John chapter 16.
Here's another reason that our Lord ascended back to glory. It's so he could send the comforter
to his people with a message of comfort. So the comforter
could come with blood to apply to comfort the hearts of God's
people. In John 16, verse seven. Nevertheless, I tell you the
truth. It's expedient for you. It's necessary for you that I
go away, for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come to
you. But if I depart, I will send
him unto you. The Savior departed so that he
could send the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to come comfort
our hearts. And you know, when Christ defeated
every enemy, he went back to glory, David also said he received
gifts for men. Now, who are those men, these
gifts that Christ received? Well, it's God's elect. Well,
what are the gifts that he's been given to give to his people?
It's everything that he purchased by his bloody, suffering death
on Calvary's tree. By his death, his burial, and
his resurrection. All those things he purchased.
Christ purchased grace. and mercy for his people. He
purchased it by his blood. Mercy is God not giving you what
you deserve. Now you think, what is it that
we deserve? I mean, you know, my conscience is always telling
me because of my sin, oh, I deserve for God to cast me off. I deserve
for God to cast me into hell. I deserve for God to cut me off.
Why doesn't God give me what I deserve? Because he gave Christ
what I deserved. See, Christ purchased mercy for
his people and he gives it to them freely. Christ purchased
life for his eternal life. Now, surely you don't think that
you're so good and so special you deserve for God to give you
eternal life, do you? I hope not. But Christ purchased
life for his people to give it to them freely. He purchased
it when he died in our place and he gives it freely to his
people. How about peace with God? I mean, we're the ones that
have declared war on God. In Adam, we declared war on God. We shake our fist daily in the
face of God Almighty and said, I'll not have this man to reign
over me. Now, how can we have peace with
God? Only if Christ gives it to us and he earned it. He purchased
it by the blood of his cross and made peace. between God and
his people. And he gives it to them freely.
So you're at peace with God. You don't have to worry about
dying and meeting God in judgment if Christ died for you. You're
at peace with God. And one day, when you arrive
in glory and you see God, you know what? You're gonna be accepted. Not because of what you've done
or what you haven't done. It's in Christ. Christ earned,
he purchased acceptance for his people with God when he was cut
off for us. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? He knew the answer to that question.
He asked that question so you and I would know he was cut off
from God for our sin, for our sake, so that we would be accepted
in him and never cut off. Those are the things that Christ
received from his father to give to his people when he ascended
back to glory. And that makes us glad he ascended
back to glory, doesn't it? But you know, if we're honest,
I think you'd say that this is true. If we answer this question
honestly, I would still like for the Lord to be here on earth
in bodily form. I would just like, do you ever
think this? I'd just like for the Lord to
come and sit down with me in my living room and tell me, Frank,
now this is what you're supposed to do. This is where I'm sending
you. And just tell me point blank, you know, But he doesn't do that. He doesn't do that. And he ascended
back to glory so that until the Lord returns, we'll not see him
in bodily form. And you know why he's done it?
At least partially, this is why he's done it. So that our salvation
would be by faith and not by sight. Not by sight. So that's
why he ascended back into glory. Well, here's my second question. What happened? when the Lord
returned back to heaven. I can just imagine the great
homecoming when the Savior, the Son of God in human flesh ascended
back to glory. Can't you imagine the homecoming
that that was? Here is the conquering victorious
king, the mighty conqueror, returning back home after the victory to
sit down on the throne and enjoy his victory. He's won the war.
He's defeated every enemy and heaven rejoiced because the glory
of heaven is back. The glory of heaven is here.
I'm sure that when our savior appeared in heaven again, the
angels rejoiced. Don't you think they rejoiced?
Now they understood. For 33 and a half years, longer
than that I guess, because you have to include the time that
our Lord was in Mary's womb, You know the angels wondered,
what is the son doing? What's he doing? Appearing as
one of his creatures? Limiting himself to their body? What's he doing? He's appeared
for a while even lower than us. He's made like one of his creatures. And when the Lord returned to
glory, they said, now I understand. I see what he was doing. Now
the angels understood why the Lord never called those 12 legions
of angels to come and destroy the world. You know when he was
being mistreated by those, the Jews were hitting him, balling
up their fists and hitting him in the face and blindfolding
him. It's okay prophet, tell us who hit you. When they're
lacerating his back and tearing the skin from his back His internal
organs could have been showing through. Sometimes when they
scourge somebody, they died because their internal organs fell out,
their back, and they died. And then they nail him to a tree
and stick that tree in the ground and hold him up between heaven
and earth and mock him while he died. You know those angels
were on their tiptoes, ready to fly down here and destroy
this place and defend their master, defend their Lord. And the call
never came. And you know they wondered why.
Now they understood. Now I say they understood how
that the Lord had become a man. He'd suffered and died to redeem
his people from their sin. I say they understood, but they
didn't really understand, did they? Not really. They couldn't
enter, they could see the technicalities of it, but they couldn't enter
into the joy of it because there was no redeemer for the fallen
angels. That's why the writer says the angels desire to look
into these things. They desire to look into these
things that you believe that thrill your soul because God
sent a redeemer for you and he didn't for those fallen angels,
but they still rejoiced. And then I would just imagine
that the saints in heaven rejoiced. Wouldn't you? Wouldn't you think
they did? Now I know their salvation was sure. It was complete. They
were already in heaven. And as I tell you so many times,
the purpose of God and the promise of God is just as sure as a past
act of God. But now their salvation had been
purchased in time. Now the blood, had been shed.
Now the debt had been paid. It had, the promise had been
accomplished in time and they rejoiced. Don't you know they
rejoiced to see the Savior come back to the throne. I bet Moses
and Elijah were just waiting on him. Remember how they'd appeared
at the Mount of Transfiguration and talked with him about the
death that he should accomplish at Jerusalem? Oh, How do they
talk about it when he ascended back to glory? They were rejoicing,
weren't they? Oh, they were rejoicing. And
then I'm sure the father rejoiced. The father rejoiced because his
son had accomplished, he had fulfilled every promise he made
to the father. And the father rejoiced in that,
that the son had done everything he promised to do, that everything
his son did as a man glorified his father. magnified every attribute,
glorified every attribute of the father. He had paid the price
and accomplished the will of the father in redeeming his people
from their sin. And the father was so pleased.
He said, you sit here at my right hand. You sit here on this throne
till I make your enemies your footstool. Oh, he rejoiced because
he was fully satisfied. And then as much as we can, His
people on earth rejoice. We rejoice that our Savior has
ascended back into heaven because when He was accepted, we were
accepted in Him. When He sat down on the throne
of God, when He sat down in heavenly places, you know who else sat
down? Everybody in Him. When our Savior
ascended back into heaven, every believer went to heaven too.
Even though we're still here on this earth, we're also seated
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That's one of those things,
like I told you in Sunday school class, the scripture just declares
and makes no effort to explain it. It's just so, it's just so. We rejoice that our Savior ascended
back into glory, because I tell you what that means. It means
he rules. It means he rules, he's sitting
on the throne, and that guarantees our salvation, because nobody
can thwart his will. He's king, he's king. And it is his will, it's the
king's will, that one day all of his people be with him where
he is, that we might behold his glory. Dan, you reckon it's gonna
happen? Of course it is, because he's
king. I'll tell you another reason
to rejoice. Our mediator, whoever lives to make intercession for
us, is also the king. Now, everyone that the king makes
intercession for, I promise you this, they will be forgiven of
their sin because of the power, the power of the king. You know,
the power of our mediator is his blood. The power and his
sacrifice to put away the sin of his people but he's also got
the power of the king. He will save his people from
their sin and bring all of them to be with him where he is to
worship him around his throne. Oh, I'm glad he ascended back
on high. Well, here's my third question. The Lord's ascended
back into heaven. Well, what's he doing there?
What's he doing? Well, as I said a minute ago,
and I said this Wednesday night, I believe too, I'll tell you
what our Savior is doing. He's ruling every single event
that's going on in His creation. From the movement of stars and
planets and galaxies that we can't see, to minute germs going
through the air that we can't see, to the movement of oceans
and things that we can see, to the actions of kings and presidents
and rulers that have implications worldwide. Our Savior is ruling
every single one of those, all those actions, what all those
people are doing, what all those things are doing, they're doing
at His command, at His command. There's not one thing that's
happening that He hadn't commanded to happen. And He's working it
all together for good. He's working it all together
so that his people shall be saved. Somehow, all those things are
happening that his people will be saved. I can't explain that,
it's just so. That's one of the things that
scripture declares. And can you think of anything gooder than
the Lord saving you and bringing you to glory? That's why he's
doing everything that he's doing. I'll tell you another thing the
Savior's doing. He's making intercession for his people. And it's not
hard work. As he sits there with the scars
of his crucifixion and his suffering in his body, sitting beside the
father, the father sees those scars and he's always happy. He's never angry with his people
because those scars show their sins been paid for. Justice has
been satisfied. Our Savior right now, all he's
doing is saving to the uttermost all that come to God by him.
That's what he's doing. Look back with me, John chapter
six. Our Savior is there in glory
to do his Father's will. John chapter six, verse 38. For
I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the
will of him that sent me. He came to do the father's will.
And like I told you earlier, he did it. That's why he sent
it back to glory. And in case you're wondering
what the father's will is, he tells us in verse 39. And this
is the father's will, which has sent me, that of all which he
hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it
up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that everyone would seeeth the son, and believeth
on him that sees him by faith, believes on him by faith may
have everlasting life. And I'll raise him up at the
last day. When Christ returns, this is the father's will. He
just waiting to this thing is complete and it's time to come.
He's gonna raise all of his people from the dead. They're gonna
be in glorified flesh, just like his glorified flesh when he was
raised from the dead and he's gonna take them all to glory.
Look at 1 John chapter three. I could quote this, but maybe if we see it, we're more
prone to rejoice in it. Talking about what's gonna happen
to God's people, like right now, all Christ is doing is waiting
till the time for him to return. This is what's gonna happen when
he does. 1 John 3, verse one. Behold, what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we, us, we, sinful men and
women, we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world
knoweth us not because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we
the sons of God. I'm looking at a bunch of sons
and daughters of God. Now are we the sons of God. Now
it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when
he shall appear, Now get a hold of your seat here. We shall be
like him, for we shall see him as he is. Our savior is just
waiting for that time to return. And when he returns, we're gonna
see him and be made just like him, body and soul. Now our savior is active in all
those ways in heaven, but you know, he's also resting. He's
resting on the throne of glory. There's no more work left for
him to do to accomplish the salvation of his people. I've heard people
say how the Savior's wringing his hands and he's worried, you
know, what's gonna happen? Are these people gonna believe
me? Are they gonna accept me? No, sir. He's accomplishing his
will. He knows what's gonna happen
because he's willed it to happen. And all he's doing is just waiting
until the time appointed of his father to return. And I promise
you this, it'll be the exact right time. It won't be one second
late, one second early, not one. He's going to wait until all
of his elect have been brought to faith in Christ. And then
he's going to come get them. Then he's going to come get them. I told, I've used this illustration
before. I got gray hair, so hopefully
you'll allow me to repeat myself like old men do. When our daughter,
Holly, went to kindergarten, she was very, very anxious to
go to school. She couldn't wait to get to school. Jan and I went, you know. Just
it was a little school right there just in our neighbor We
could walk there you know and we dropped her off at school
and Jan and I are brokenhearted. Here's our baby You know oh,
she's gonna miss us, and she saw her teacher. She turned her
back on us. She forgot all about mama and daddy But before she
left the house mom her mama told her I'm coming to get you and
I won't be late Holly she was so thrilled to be in school.
She loved it. She all she couldn't wait to
learn more and do more and But at some point in the day, a little
boy started crying, just boo-hoo and sobbing, and he was so sad,
and another little kid started crying, and I thought, maybe
I should cry too. You know what comforted her heart?
Nope, no need to cry. Mama said, she'll be back to
get me, and she won't be late. That's exactly what our savior has told his
people. I'm coming back to get you. And I won't be late. So don't get bent out of shape
by this world. Don't get bent out of shape by the goings on
of it. Our Savior is coming again. This same Jesus. He's coming
personally. With the same personality of
love and sympathy for His people. He's coming back with the same
power. This Jesus who loved His people so much He took their
sins into his own body on the tree and suffered and died to
put them away. This same Jesus who loved you
like that is coming to get you. Now, you reckon he's going to
be late? You reckon he's going to miss you? No. He's coming
to get you. He's coming in power to take
possession of what he purchased. And he's going to have it. He's
going to have it. And he's coming in power, in
power, every eye in all of creation is gonna see him. His enemies
are gonna see him and they're gonna tremble. They're gonna
call on the rocks and the mountains to fall upon them, to hide them
from the wrath of the land. And his people are gonna see
him. And it's gonna be just exactly like our brother Job prophesied.
In this flesh, we're gonna see him. And he won't be a stranger,
we're gonna know him. And he's gonna know us, he's
come to get us. And just like Philippians 2 said, every knee's
gonna bow. How much do you desire to be
able to bow before the Lord Jesus Christ and worship Him perfectly? When He returns, that's what
we're gonna do. That's what we're gonna do. Well, that's good doctrine,
ain't it? Christ is returning. Now, how
does that affect my everyday life? How does that affect the
everyday life of a believer? Well, I can tell you. Live in
great anticipation of the Lord's return. And until he returns,
you do what the Lord has given you to do, just like he told
the disciples, and you go back there to Jerusalem and you'll
be baptized with the Holy Spirit, and I'm gonna send you out. You
do what the Lord's given you to do. Every person here has
got a lot of responsibilities, don't you? Boy, you, Sean and
Julie, you're just loaded with responsibility. Raising this
family, and just, I mean, working, and just, I mean, my goodness. Jay and I remember how that is.
And we think, well, I'm glad we're not doing that now. I don't
have the energy now, you know? But you've got to take care of
those responsibilities. I mean, with everything, you've
got to take care of them. Take care of your jobs. Be the
best employee there. you're retired, Rick, be the
best grandfather you can be. Just be the best husband, just
all your responsibility, do them with all of your might, with
one eye out, because he's coming back. He's coming back. He said, behold, I come quickly. He's coming, keep an eye out
for him. And it's my prayer, and I bet it is yours too, even
so, Lord, come. Even so, Lord, come. All right,
let's bow together. Our Father, we pray that you
would bless your word to each heart here, that you cause us
to rejoice at the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ and cause
us to look forward to and rejoice and have our hearts be comforted
that this same Jesus is returning in like manner to come get His
people and take them home with Him to be with Him forever. Father, cause this to comfort
our hearts. Cause this to encourage us to
keep pressing forward, to keep pressing toward the mark. And give us the grace and the
faith to wait on Thee. Father, it's in Christ's name,
for His glory we pray. Amen. All right. Okay, if you would turn in your
hymnals to song number 242 and stand as we sing Jesus I Come. Out of my bondage Jesus, I come, Jesus, I come
into Thy freedom, gladness, and light. Jesus, I come to Thee out of my sickness, Out of my want and into thy wealth,
Out of my sin and into thyself, Jesus, I come to thee. Out of my shameful failure and
loss, Jesus I come, Jesus I come, into the glorious gain of thy
cross. Jesus I come, Out of earth's sorrows into thy
palm, Out of life's storms and into thy calm, Out of distress
to jubilant song, proud of unrest and arrogant
pride. Jesus, I come, Jesus, I come
into thy blessed will to abide. Out of myself to dwell in thy
love. Out of despair into raptures
above. Onward for a young wings like
a dove. Jesus I come. of the fear and dread of the
tomb. Jesus, I come. Jesus, I come into the joy and
life of thy home. Jesus, I come to thee. ? Out of the depths of ruin untold
? ? Into the peace of thy sheltering fold ? ? Ever thy glorious face
to behold ? ? Jesus, I come to thee ?