We're going to look at verses
9 through 11 in this first chapter of Acts today, but we're going
to connect the previous verses before we get to the two or three
points that I have for you this morning, because like I said,
it seems like it's been a little while, and I don't want to come
in right in the middle of in the middle of context. In
verse 5 of chapter 1, Luke says, 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, that is, after Christ had departed from them and was
seen of them, by many infallible proofs. When they were gathered
together, the early New Testament church, they asked of Christ,
saying, Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom
of Israel? And Christ said unto them, It is not for you to know
the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in His own
power. And in the week before last,
we spent quite a bit of time in verse 8. Christ says, But
you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come
upon you, And you shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, in
all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the
earth." And we looked... for a long time on what it was
to be a witness unto Christ. Now we are called to glorify
Him and honor Him in this generation and in this town, in this community
where God has called us to and raised up this church. We are
not called to be politicians. We're not called to do different
things. The Lord has called you to a place of work. You work,
you live, you pay taxes, you do these things, but the most
important purpose You don't need to go over to Jerusalem
to find out your purpose. You don't need to go build a
teepee somewhere in the middle of the Grand Canyon and be alone
and all these different things. The purpose that God has for
His people is to be witnesses unto Him. As we noted in previous
weeks, to be a witness is to tell what you know about someone
or something, personal knowledge of that person, of that gospel,
of the gospel, of the Christ, personal experience, and personal
grace. It's not second-hand, it's not
speculation, it's but a real heartfelt mind-opening vital
truth about the Son of God, witnesses of Him. Not what you heard this
person say, but if Christ has redeemed you in His personal
salvation, personal grace, you tell somebody what you know.
about Him, who He is, where He is at, why He suffered, bled,
and died. You tell the good news, which
is the gospel, of full and free pardon in the blood of the sovereign
Lamb of God. We do not tell of human works,
free will, decisionalism, denominational ties, doctrine or even orthodox
religion. We tell of Him, His mercy, His
sovereign choice among the fallen sons and daughters of Adam's
race. You are to be a witness, He says
in verse 8, unto Me. A witness unto Me. And that really simplifies the
issue. That is a singular purpose. And
Bruce made a comment in Bible class, in James, that whether
it's finances, whether it's decisions about jobs, whether it's, you
know, really all these things, it's simplified when you consider
the spiritual aspect of this book, the spiritual aspect of
your purpose and my purpose is to speak and glorify Him. How do you do that? Singularly,
yes. Collectively, through the church. by the preaching of the
gospel, the support of the gospel, by the means of all these different
things, it all has to do with the spiritual aspect, location,
or however you want to phrase it, everything centers around
Him. So, as I said, while you work
your jobs, you're working for the glory of God. While you pay
your bills, you pay your bills to the glory of God. You do all
these things with the focus and the intent of telling about Him. Walking through this life with
a loose hand, you know, don't get too attached. The difficult
things about death and family deaths is that our mind, all
the memories, the good memories, all those things, remember those
things. There's nothing wrong with any
of that. You weep with those that weep. There's nothing wrong
with all those things. But yet the believer doesn't
Sorrow this book says the believer doesn't sorrow like the world
sorrows There's people who are unbelievers. All they have is
what you see all they have is what they can remember but we
have a better country we have a Better redemption we have Christ
and him crucified and that is why it now remember the historical
context of this book of Acts Christ is was suffered, bled,
and died for their sins, was buried, he rose again, and he's
seen them, and he's getting ready to ascend. Verse 9, And when
Christ had spoken these things while they beheld, he was taken
up In 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 like manner as you
have seen him go into heaven. And then they returned unto Jerusalem
from the mountain called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem, a Sabbath
day's journey." So, you know, historically he's telling them,
you know, you're not going to see me anymore. I'm sure that
was hard. That would, you know, that would
have to be hard. And given the situation that I just went through, that
my family went through, it's difficult. But he assures them
and promises them in verses we've already looked at, he says, send
the comforter. And that comforter, what's a
comforter do? That comforter takes the things of Scriptures
and reveals Christ unto them. It's all about our sovereign
Christ. And then he says, as he's getting
ready to leave, The purpose of the church on this earth, the
purpose of every child of God on this earth is to witness of
Christ. I think it was Joe. I don't get
so many bulletins anymore, but somebody, and I haven't used
it, I'm going to print it out in the next week's bulletin,
but he's talking about God and politics. And it's a political
year again, it's this year of the election. And people, and
even sometimes believers, get caught up in the trap of thinking
that if they can vote certain people in, that God's, you know,
that things are going to be, God's going to use the politics
and do this and that and whatever to make everything alright. God uses His gospel. And whoever's in office, it's
according to God's purpose. We know that. But let us not
get caught up in all these things that distract and think we're
going to get our way if we have our person in that position. God uses His means, not false
means, to promote His gospel and His glory. So He's telling
this New Testament church, He's telling the believers now and
throughout all time, stay focused. Good times, so-called, bad times,
so-called. Witness of me, I'm not going
to leave you comfortless. And so as he reminds them that
as he ascends. So we're going to look at basically
two or three points. His ascension, and he says he's
going to come back. And the person that says this
is that same Jesus, not somebody else, that same Jesus. Verse
9 and 10, we see His ascension. And when He had spoken these
things, while they beheld, He was taken up in a cloud and received
them out of their sight. To further elaborate upon this
soul-cheering truth that He ascended, turn with me to Hebrews chapter
4. His ascension. What does it mean? Why is this
such a time of rejoice instead of sorrow? His ascension. Hebrews 4. Look at verses 14-16. The Apostle
says, "...seeing then that we have a great High Priest, which
is passed into the heavens..." He's ascended. "...Jesus, the
Son of God, Let us hold fast our profession. For we have not
a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities, because he rose, the same Jesus, he rose in his
humanity, in his human form, and yet he was still God. So
he understands what we are going through, though he left us here. He understands what we are going
through, even flesh and blood. Because he partook of the same
for we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with
the feeling of our infirmities But was in all points tempted
like what as we are yet without sin Let us therefore come boldly
to the throne of grace That we may obtain mercy and find grace
to help in time of need turn to Hebrews chapter 9 Hebrews chapter 9 Verses 24,
25, and 26. For Christ is not entered into
the holy place, as He ascended, made with hands, which are the
figures of the true, but He entered into heaven itself, now to appear
in the presence of God for us. Nor yet that he should offer
himself often as the high priest entered into the holy place every
year with the blood of others For then must he off have offered
Often have suffered since the foundation of the world, but
now once at the end of the world has Christ appeared to put away
sin by the sacrifice of himself and And as it is appointed unto
men once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ was once
offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him
shall he appear the second time, his advent, his return, without
sin unto salvation. So when he ascended before our
brethren into heaven, there were at least six things that took
place. He did so to take His rightful position as the Ruler,
the King and our Sovereign. He earned it. So He ascended up into heaven
because He is King. Not some weak-kneed little baby
in a manger that's trying to do anything. Secondly, He ascended
into heaven to stamp the final seal of our eternal salvation
before God. He must ascend back and be seated
at the right hand of the Father to guarantee that what He came
to do, He actually did. Now, we know this. He said it's
finished. The work of salvation and redemption for His people
is finished. And it was. But he must be buried. He must
raise from the dead and he must ascend It's all part of the scope
of the gospel Thirdly he ascended to heaven to continue to intercede
on our behalf That's what we read in Hebrews to consent to
continue to intercede because we're still sinners even though
we have the Spirit of God of Christ imparted in us imputed
to us and We still struggle, but He is up there interceding
on our behalf. Basically, without Him, we're
nothing. Without His death, there's no
salvation. Without His resurrection, there's
no salvation. Without His ascension in the
intercessory workforce right now, we'll never make it. So
He continues, He ascended because He continues to intercede, as
we read in Hebrews 4. Fourthly, He ascended to show
that He has conquered all things necessary for us. Death and hell
and the law and God's holiness, God's requirements, He conquered
it all. He ascended back to the Father and the Father received
Him. Fifthly, He ascended to show that all grace is bestowed
upon us through His work. All grace is bestowed upon us
through His work, not by what we do, not by our righteousness.
not by our prayers, or not by our tears, or not by any of these
things. When we stand before God, that
was what was mentioned down in Branson area, is when the man
is appointed a man to die once, and then the judgment. And when
we stand before God, we're going to stand before Him on our own,
or in Christ. There's no One side of the fence
to the other. You can't straddle the fence.
It's not by your works. It's not by my work. It's not
by my church membership. It's not by this or that. It's
by Christ. In Christ. And because of Christ. And so Christ must ascend first. He's the forerunner. He goes
to prepare a place for us. So He must ascend back to the
throne of God. He prepares a place and He prepares
us. He prepares a place for us and
He prepares us for the place. You know, you get some people,
religious people, you hear them talking and say, well, I'm not sure what
we're going to be doing, this and that. They haven't been prepared.
There's been no heart change. Because what we will desire to
do is what we're doing right now. Worshipping Him. Will we need to be a witness
for Him? I don't really know, but I know it will all be about
Him. I was listening to a message
coming home from Little Rock, listening to a couple of messages,
and everybody talks about the streets of gold. Well, apparently,
gold isn't worth much. Because what do they pave the
streets here? Common asphalt or concrete. And if the streets
are paved up there with gold, it means gold is, compared to
the blood of Christ, it's a common thing. It just ain't much. People talk about this and that
and rewards. He is our exceeding great reward. And lastly, as
I alluded to, He is the forerunner of what we shall one day completely
and totally enjoy. I was talking to Pastor Rupert
Reibenbach on the phone last night and of course Rupert's
getting up there in age as well, but we were talking about it
and we do, you know, we like things in this world. There's
things that we enjoy. You know, when spring comes and the weather
starts getting warmer, the clubs are coming out, they're getting
clean, I'll be over there, Lord willing.
The Lord will. I'll be over there. There is things in this world
that you enjoy, we enjoy. Children, babies, family, friends,
the different things. But if that's all we got, it
doesn't need much. You know what I mean? Compared
to the joy that we will behold, and that we will see, and that
we will know. It's beyond anything that our
mind can imagine. You know, one day we enjoy certain
things here, and the next day, if you're sick or whatever, you
could care less. But there will be no sickness,
there'll be no hurt, it'll be light, the light of His righteousness
and the light of His person continually. So enjoy life. We should. As old brother Tommy Robbins
said, if anybody can enjoy the creation and life, it's the believer.
Because we see Him in everything. But there's more than this life.
And we're so thankful that it is so. Now verse 11, he talks
in verse 9 and 10, he talks about his ascension. Verse 11, this
our Christ, Christ is going to return. He said, these men that
were standing, these angels, they said, you men of Galilee,
why stand you gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which
is taken up from you and into heaven, shall so come in like
manner as you have seen him go into heaven. Because He has promised
that Christ shall return, we should, firstly, rejoice and
be a good cheer because He's coming again. He's coming again. And as I told you, I struggled
with some things over the last week or so, but when I got my
eyes back on this book, and this book is my food and my sustenance
and my everything, And as I read these things, and then Lynn and
I were able to get just away a little bit and talk and then
share these things, so encouraged. And we had good cheer, even in
a difficult situation. Why? Because He's promised. He's
promised that He left, but He's coming back. So because He's
promised it, and the person who promised cannot lie. God who
cannot lie. We should rejoice and be of good
cheer. Secondly, this should give us comfort. And if you know
anything about comfort, that means peace that passes all understanding. Thirdly, this should give us
hope because there's more to life than what we just can see
with our eyes. faith in what's in our heart. And fourthly, we should, because
he's promised it, we should expect it to be so. That means we can
count on it. We can rest on it. We can rest
in him. It's an anchor for your soul. I'm leaving, but I'm coming back. He says He will not leave us
nor forsake us. And when He left, when He ascended, He left the
Holy Spirit, Comforter, to comfort us concerning the things of Him
in the Scripture. But if He says it, that He's
coming back, we can expect it to be so, count on it, rest in
it, it's an anchor for the soul. Now I close with this phrase
in verse 11. This same Jesus. This same Jesus. Why is that
so important? Because we don't want another. Not one that we never heard about.
Not one that we've never seen. Not one that we've never touched
and handled and the Word of God speaks about. But this same Jesus.
Sovereign, majestic, sweet, lovely, gracious, the one who rules and
reigns over all things. What a surprise to those who
think they know Him as a weak, effeminate, spineless Savior,
and when He returns, they won't know who He is. Because it's
the same Jesus that He is in this book, that He is through
the preaching of the gospel. So if you're hearing a false
gospel, this is what the seriousness of what you're talking about,
Bruce. When you were saying that, I was thinking, boy, it is. Because
if your whole life you've heard a false gospel, a false God,
a false Jesus, And he says it's the same one in this book that's
risen and is coming back. And this book says he's not those
things which are being spoken of by many. When Christ comes
back, who's that? And by then, it's too late. Actually, they never knew him
at all because he'll be different or not the same. which is contrary
to what we have in our text. So those who know Him and love
Him expect to see Him as He is, this same Jesus. Do you, do I, know the Jesus
of this book? If you do, He is altogether lovely,
and He will not ever disappoint you in times of trial, difficulty,
loss of life, sickness. He will not disappoint you. It's
the same Jesus. If we're not comforted, if we
struggle with certain things, you know what it is, and I came
to the conclusion, it's us. It's me, such a sinner. We've tempted Him by a thousand
falls. That's what that song that we
sang. Tempted Him by a thousand falls. Yet He remains faithful.
I'm so thankful that He remains faithful. He's the same Jesus. This book says that the same
today, yesterday and forever. There's very few things in this
life you can count on. I was looking forward to future
times with John. They didn't get to happen. But
I can count on Christ and His Word and the things which He
tells me in this book. Bless Him and may we worship
Him now and forever. Bruce, would you close us please?