Let me take you to another scripture
regarding this ascension of our Lord, Acts chapter 1. We'll get over to Ephesians in
a moment, but Acts chapter 1, beginning with verse 4. with his disciples, Acts 1.4. He commanded them that they should
not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father,
the Holy Spirit, which saith he, You have heard of me. For
John truly baptized with water, you 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. But you shall receive power,
after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and you shall
be witnesses. unto me, both in Jerusalem, in
all Judea, in Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.
And when he had spoken these things, while they 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, this evidently was two
angels, which said, also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand
ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, and I'll show
you some more scripture on that later, this same Jesus, not another,
same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven. shall so
come in like manner as you've seen him go into heaven. All right, let's go to Ephesians
4 now. Ephesians 4. Now Paul in his letter to the
Ephesians takes us more fully into this ascension. While you're
turning to Ephesians 4, let me read where David talked about
it, too, in Psalm 68. Listen to this. In Psalm 68,
David wrote, Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity
captive, Thou hast received gifts for men, Yea, for the rebellious
also, that the Lord might dwell among them. All right. Now Ephesians
4 and verse 8. Wherefore he saith,
when he ascendeth up on high, this is what David said over
there in Psalm 68, he led captivity captive and gave gifts to men.
Who is this who has ascended on high? Well, our Lord came
to the earth as a man, Jesus of Nazareth. He was made in the
flesh. born of a woman, born under the
law. And he came to do battle. He's the captain of our salvation.
He came to do battle with his enemies and our enemies. And
he conquered our enemies. He conquered our enemies with
their own weapons. He used their own weapons to
defeat them. He conquered sin. How? By being
made sin. He was made sin for us. took
upon himself our sins in his body on the tree. And he defeated
sin by perfect obedience and by death, righteousness and blood.
He conquered death. How? By his own death. Our Lord
conquered death by his own death. We who had lived all our lives
in fear of death don't fear death now because he died. He conquered
death by dying. He conquered the grave. We don't
fear the grave. We're all going to the grave
eventually, but we don't fear the grave. Because the Lord Jesus
went to the grave and came out of the grave. And because he
lives, we'll live. And he that liveth and believeth
on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. That's right. He conquered all of our enemies
with their own weapons. And it says here, and he led
captivity captive. He led captivity captive and
gave gifts to men. What is this captivity? It was
twofold. Number one, he conquered those
who captured us. He led in captivity those who
had captured us. Turn to Colossians 2. Let me
show you that. Colossians 2, verse 15. Talked about our Lord's triumphal.
victory over our enemies in Colossians 2, I believe it's verse 15. It says in verse 14 that he blotted
out the handwriting of ordinances that were against us, that were
contrary to us, took it out of the way and nailed it to his
cross, and having spoiled principalities and powers, having defeated them,
having conquered them, he made a show of them openly. triumphant
thing over them. He said, now is the judgment
of this world. Now shall the prince of this
world be cast out, their vanquished foes. And when our Lord ascended
to glory, he led captivity captive. Those who had captured us, sin,
Satan, death, the grave, all our enemies are put away. We
have peace. Mike sings about that. It's finished.
The battle's over. Victory's won. But there's another
aspect to this, he led captivity captive, is this. He led also, as his bond servants,
those who had been servants of sin, those who had been in captivity
to sin, bondage to the law. He set them free, and he took
them to glory with him. They risen with Christ, ascended
with Christ, and seated with Christ. He conquered our foes,
made a show of them openly, defeated them, put them away, led captivity
captive, but he took with him all for whom he suffered and
died in himself, and they're seated with him. Now, he says
he gave gifts to men. He gave gifts to men. Now, Paul
is quoting David. Paul is quoting David. And it's
quoted a little differently, but I'll show you it doesn't
change the meaning. Turn to Psalm 68. Let me read
that again that I read a moment ago. Psalm 68, verse 18. The best commentary on the Bible
is the Bible. When you're reading the New Testament,
Go back and read where it's first written in the Old. And here
we're reading, For the rebellious also, that's
us, sinners, that the Lord God might dwell among them. Now listen
to me. When he ascended, he led captivity
captive, defeated all our foes, took us with him. And in his
coming to the earth and suffering and dying and obeying, he received
gifts for us. What gifts? righteousness, sanctification,
justification, redemption, eternal life. Those gifts he received
from the Father for us. He purchased them. He merited
them. He earned them. He paid for them. He received gifts for men. Everything he does, he does for
us, for us. And so that which is bestowed
upon Christ is bestowed upon us. He received gifts for a man.
And secondly, he received gifts in the man, in himself. These gifts are not just something
exchanged on the outside, they are in him, through him. And
I was baptized in him. Of God are you in Christ, who
has made unto us wisdom. righteousness, sanctification
and redemption. So he received gifts for men,
he gave gifts in himself to men, and then he gave gifts unto men. And what were those gifts? The
Son of God had come and given us understanding. He opened their
eyes that they might see. He gave them understanding of
the Scriptures. He illuminated them. He gave
us understanding of the Word. The Son of God had come and given
us an understanding. It's a gift to all of you. The
gift of the Holy Spirit. He said, if I go not away, the
Holy Spirit won't come. But if I don't go to the cross
and ascend to the Father, there's no need for the Holy Spirit to
come. There's no gospel to preach. There's no message of life to
teach. There's no redemption to bestow. The Holy Spirit says,
I'll give you the Spirit. Give my Spirit to you. He gave
us all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.
These are gifts He gives to men. He made us meet qualified fit
for heaven in Himself. He gave those gifts to us. And
then He gives gifts to men to minister to others. Turn to Romans
12. He gave gifts. So David is saying exactly as
it ought to be said. He received gifts for men. He
gave gifts to men. He gave gifts unto men. And then
he gives special gifts in Romans chapter 4, chapter 12, verse
4. As we have many members in one
body and all members have not the same office, so we being
many are one body in Christ. And every one member is one of
another. Having then gifts differing. Having then gifts differing according
to the grace given us. Now, wait a minute. I've been
talking about gifts that don't differ. He received gifts for
men. Righteousness, eternal life,
sanctification, justification. He received gifts for men. We
have gifts in him. And then there's the gift of
understanding. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he's
none of this. There's the Spirit of understanding, there's the
Holy Spirit, there's all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies.
But there's special gifts. Now watch this. Having then gifts
differing according to the grace that's given us, whether prophecy,
let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith, or ministry,
let us wait on our ministry, or he that teacheth on teaching,
Or he that exhorteth on exhortation, he that giveth, let him do it
with simplicity, with liberality. He that ruleth with diligence,
he that showeth mercy with cheerfulness, that love is a gift without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil, cleave
to that which is good, be kindly affectioned one to another, and
brotherly love and honor prefer one another. given as severally as he will. All right, back to my text. Verse
8, Ephesians 4, wherefore he saith, when he ascended up on
high, he led captivity captive, he
gave gifts unto men. Now verse 9 and 10, and these
verses identify the one of whom these things are written. the
one of whom these things are written." Now, that he ascended,
what is it? But that he also descended first
into the lower parts of the earth. He that descended is the same,
the same Jesus, also that ascended up far above all heavens that
he might fulfill all things. Listen to what he said over here
in John. Now verily I say unto you, that's
our Lord speaking, I speak that which I know, and testify that
which I've seen, and you receive not my witness. He's speaking
the Nicodemus here. Now if I've told you earthly
things, and you believe not, how should you believe if I tell
you heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to
heaven, but he that came down from heaven. Even the Son of
man which is in heaven. This is who we're talking about.
Now in this scripture here, no man ascended to heaven except
he had descended, the son of man which is in heaven. And that's
who we're talking about here. The one who has ascended is the
same one who came down to earth. Where did he come to, verse 9?
He came to the lowest parts of the earth. Now you'll see a reference
there in your Bible to 1 Peter 3, 19, but that's not what that's
talking about. I'm sorry. I'll show you that
in 1 Peter 3, verse 19. 1 Peter, he descended into the
lowest parts of the earth. And the people who put these
notes in the center here refer us over here to verse 19 of 1
Peter 3, by which, well, let's read verse 18. For also Christ
has suffered once for sin, suffered for sin, the just for the unjust,
that he might bring us to God. being put to death in the flesh,
but quickened by the Spirit, by which also he went and preached
to the spirits in prison." This is what the Catholics teach.
This is what a lot of people teach. Christ died on the cross,
and then he went down to a place called Hades, called by some
people Paradise, where all the Old Testament people were gathered. and all the people who were there
in this place, and Limbo, they called it, Limbo, so Limbo, and
he preached to them. That's not what Peter's saying
at all. Peter's saying that our Lord Jesus Christ preached to
those people when they were here on the earth, through Noah, in
the days of Noah. That's what that's talking about.
In the days of Noah, the same Spirit that filled our Lord Jesus
Christ and by whom he preached was the Spirit that Noah preached.
These people have heard the gospel. Our Lord didn't descend into
any place. When our Lord died on the cross,
he said to the thief, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise.
Paradise is glory. Paradise is not some compartment
or prison or Hades or Limbus or Limbo where people go before
the resurrection and spend their time there. That's not so. Our
Lord went to paradise. That's what Paul said. that he
went into the third heaven. He called it paradise. And our
Lord Jesus Christ said today, you'll be with me in paradise. And Christ didn't go into any
kind of prison to preach the gospel. Those people had heard
the gospel through God's preachers. But what is this lowest parts
of the earth then? It's his mother's womb. That's
what it is. Our Lord came from the highest
the throne of glory, the Son of Man, the Son of God, came
down to this earth to the lowest part, to the beginning, to the
seed part, and was conceived in the womb of a virgin. That's
the lowest parts of the earth, and that's what David called
it. Turn to Psalm 139. Psalm 139. This is, I tell you,
the Scripture interprets the Scripture. When I read this,
he descended into the lower parts of the earth, I look over at
David and find out what David said about it in Psalm 139. And here Christ is talking about
himself through David and talking about us. Listen, Psalm 139,
verse 13. For thou hast possessed me, my
reins, that's my spirit, my soul, my inner being, thou hast covered
me in my mother's womb, I will praise thee, for I am fearfully
and wonderfully made." This is conception. This is the formation.
When that seed is conceived and germinated,
that's a child. Every personality, hair color,
eye color, size, weight, everything, intelligence, gifts, music, mechanical,
is already there. That's right, it's already there.
It's already there. I'm fearfully, wonderfully made,
marvelous at our works, and that my soul knoweth right well. My
substance, my strength, my body was not hid from thee when I
was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of
the earth. That's why our Lord came. What
is more helpless than a baby? What's more helpless than a baby
in a womb? What's more helpless than a seed being formed and
developed, conceived and developed and made? That's the Lord of
Glory. From the highest ruled the world,
all things had their beginning in Him and were kept by Him and
controlled by Him. He comes down here, and then
he's born. And then he lies helplessly,
nurses on the ground. He was made a woman that he made
himself. He made her. He died on a tree
that he planted. He's the only man to ever live
that picked his mother and picked the day of his birth and picked
the day of his death and how he would die and for whom he
would die. That's our Lord. Lowest parts. That's what that's
saying. This same Jesus. And Peter said
that three times. This same Jesus. God has made
Lord and Christ. This same Jesus whom you crucify. This same Jesus shall come again. All right, let's look here at
that scripture again. Verse 9. He that ascended, what is it?
But he descended first into the lower parts of the earth. And
he that descended is the same that ascended far above the heavens. Where is he now? God hath given
him a name far above every name, that the name of Jesus every
knee should bow, far above all heavens. He's been exalted far
above all names, far above, within the veil as our forerunner. And he said, I go to prepare
a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I'll come again and receive you unto myself, that while I am
there you may be also." Oh, my, just breathtaking, just breathtaking,
that he might fulfill all things, that he might fulfill all things
that were written, that he might fulfill all things that are required,
that he might fulfill all things that we need. And he gave some apostles, some
prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. Now Paul
is talking about, in verse 7, look back at verse 7, unto every
one of you is given grace, according to the measure of the gift of
Christ. And in verse 8, when he ascended, he led captivity
captive and gave gifts unto men. Those are gifts given to all
men. All believers. That's gifts in
general. Now, he comes to gifts specifically. Specifically. Now listen. And
he gave some apostles. These are special offices now,
and these gifts go with the office. Those who are given the stewardship
and the office are given the gifts they need for those offices.
Apostles. Who were the apostles? Now listen
to me. These were extraordinary men. Our Lord chose twelve. One, Judas, perished, hanged
himself. He chose Paul to take Judas'
place, because Paul said, I am an apostle. I am an apostle. He says, oh, an apostle of Jesus
Christ. Extraordinary men, infallible
in their teachings. They wrote the scriptures, the
New Testament, infallible in their teachings. infallible in
their writings. That's right. The apostles, before
the New Testament was written, they ruled the church with their
words. Paul said to one church, am I
going to have to come down there? Now you straighten that out.
I don't want to have to come down there. Because they ruled. There
were no apostles today. He chose first apostles. Then
prophets. Who are these prophets? I know
there's Old Testament prophets, but these were some New Testament
prophets. And I'll show you an example. Turn to Acts 11. You
need to look at this now. Acts chapter 11. There were some
New Testament prophets. And these prophets are men who
by immediate revelation interpreted scripture and foretold things
to come. I'm not a prophet. I can't foretell
anything to come. And I can't infallibly, immediately
interpret scripture. I have to say to you, let me
study. You ask me a question. I always worry about these preachers
that take questions all the time, everybody without thinking. Give
it to me, and I'll go see what the Lord will teach me about
it, and I'll come back later. I'm not a prophet. But these
men were. Listen. Acts 11, verse 27. Acts 11, verse 27. You have it? I have it now. And in those days came prophets
from Jerusalem unto Antioch. And there stood up one of them
named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should
be great dearth throughout all the world, which came to pass. That's how you know a prophet,
if what he says comes to pass. Isn't that right, Jim? That's
how you know a prophet. It came to pass in the days of Claudius
Caesar. Then the disciples, every man
according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren
which dwelt in Jerusalem, which also they did, and sent it to
the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul. In other words, these
men said it was going to be a great famine. And all these fellows
believed him, and they gathered things together, and when it
came, they sent it to help the prophets. All right, let me show
you another case. Acts 20. Paul had called the elders of
Ephesus here to talk with him before he went to Rome. in Acts
20, verse 22. And now, Acts 20, verse 22. Behold, I go bound in the Spirit
to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there,
save that the Holy Ghost witnesses in every city, saying that bonds
and afflictions await me. The Holy Spirit told men who
told Paul, if you go to Jerusalem, prison awaits you. And he knew
that. And they believed these men.
Go across the page to Acts 21, verse 4. And finding disciples,
we tarried there seven days, who said to Paul through the
Spirit that he should not go to Jerusalem. Verse 11. What's this? And when he's come
to us, this man Agabus, same man, when he was come to us,
he took Paul's girdle and bound it with his own hands and feet,
and bound his own hands and feet, and he said, Thus saith the Holy
Ghost, So shall the Jews in Jerusalem bind the man that owns this girdle,
and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. That's prophecy.
So these names, our Lord descended and he gave apostles, extraordinary
men, infallible in their teaching and writing. He gave prophets
in these days while the scriptures were being written. These men
foretold. And he gave evangelists. Who
are these evangelists? Well, some say traveling missionaries,
but listen. These were not apostles. They
were not writers of the scripture. They were not prophets. But they
were above pastors and teachers. They were not apostles, they
were not prophets, but they were above pastors and teachers. Who
were they? I'll tell you who they were.
They were the companions and the assistants of the apostles. Who were they? Luke, Titus, Timothy,
Philip, these special men. Paul said to the church at Philippi,
I'm going to send Timothy to you. And he's going to deal with
things and he's going to teach you. I have no man like-minded
with me like Timothy. All men seek their own. This
man is special. I really believe that those evangelists
were these men, not apostles, not prophets, not pastors and
teachers, but they were evangelists, special assistants to the apostles
during these days. Now comes pastors. and teachers. And some say this is the same
office, but I tell you this, I'm sure there are teachers in
the church who are not pastors. They're pastors and they're teachers. They're pastors and they're teachers.
And our Lord equips these men to serve as pastors and teachers. Now look at verse 12. And here
are the reasons that these offices are given and these gifts are
given. For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the
ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. For the perfecting of the saints.
What's that? Maturity, the growth of the saints. These pastors
and these elders and teachers in the church are for our growth,
our maturity. For the work of the ministry.
by the edifying of the body of Christ. Look at verse 13. Till
we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of
the Son of God unto a mature man, unto the measure of the
stature of Christ Jesus, the fullness of Christ. And when
we're born, we're born into the kingdom of God as babies. We're
babes in Christ. That's what John calls us, babes
in Christ. And we're babes in understanding.
So we need to be fed with milk. We need to be taught, pastors
and teachers. We're babes in strength. We have
to be watched over. You mothers with little infants,
you can't leave them for a minute. Lay them on the couch and they'll
roll off on the floor. You've got to watch them all the time.
You've got to watch them. You've got to gently protect
them and help them. And when they fret, change their
diapers. And when they cry, feed them. Babies in strength. And that's the way believers
are. They've got to be watched over, protected, cared for. We're babies
in faith. We've got to be tried. We've
got to be tested. We have to be corrected. We have
to be rebuked. We have to be taught. We're babies.
I know of churches that a man would profess to be saved this
Sunday and teach Sunday school the next Sunday. That's ridiculous. If he's teaching Sunday school
in five years, it'll be a wonder. That's right. Don't lay hands
suddenly on anybody, the Scripture says. Don't ordain a novice. Let's be lifted up with pride.
He destroyed the whole church. Don't put a 10-year-old out here
at Paul Blazer High School to teach math. Well, don't put a
2-year-old up here to teach Christ. It's a lot deeper subject than
math. He can say 1 and 1, 2. He's 4 years old, he can say
that. We're babies in fruit. We have the bud, but not the
bloom. And I'll tell you, we're children in danger from false
teachers. You can't let your children go
down to the park by themselves. What's the false people? Fear. Isn't that right? You've got
to stay with them. There are people that will endanger them
all around. There are people who are a danger,
deceive the elect if at all possible. They're in danger from cunning
men, false teachers, deceivers. So God gives us pastors and teachers. And let me tell you this. They're
all serving the Lord God together. Turn to 1 Corinthians 3. I want
you to look at this. I say this to myself and to our
elders and to any preacher who might hear this message. This message. I tell you this,
there are no mavericks in the ministry of Christ. There are
no mavericks. Well, what is a maverick? You
know, I was sitting there yesterday, or Friday, working on this message,
Friday, Sunday morning message, and I thought, there are no mavericks
in the ministry, and I thought, what is a maverick? I think I
know, but where did that originate? I took down Webster, and this
is what I read. A maverick. This was named for Samuel Maverick,
born in 1803. He was a Texan, a Texas rancher,
who didn't brand his cattle. You wouldn't put a brand on his
cattle, and they called a Maverick an unbranded animal. It belongs
to nobody. He's a Maverick. He's a person
who refuses to conform to a party, or a group, or a church, or a
cause. He's a man. God doesn't use men
like that. No, He doesn't. Unbranded animals,
doesn't belong to anybody. We belong to Him. We're His servants.
And we're all the same. Listen to this, 1 Corinthians
3. One fellow says, I'm a Paul. Verse 4, 1 Corinthians 3, 4.
One fellow says, I'm a Papalus. That's carnal. Who is Paul? Paul's no maverick. Who is Apollos? Well, they're but ministers,
by whom you believe, even as our Lord gave to every man. Now,
plant, Apollos wasn't even an apostle, did you know that? Paul
is saying, this man who wasn't even an apostle is just one with
me in the kingdom of God, ministering to the saints. He didn't say
Peter, James, he said Apollos. I plant Apollos waters, God gives
the increase, so then neither is he that planteth anything.
I'm nothing. Neither he that watereth Apollos
is nothing. God gives the increase. He that
planteth and he that watereth are one. Every true preacher, every true
pastor, every true elder, every true teacher is one. What? Listen, let me read a little
further. 1. And every man shall receive
his own reward according to his labor. We're laborers together
with God. We're all laborers in the kingdom
of God. There's no foreman, superintendent. God's a superintendent. The Holy
Ghost is the foreman. We're what? You're God's husbandry. You're God's garden. You're God's
vineyard. You're God's field. You're God's
cultivation, under cultivation, under His guidance. You're the
planting of the Lord. You're God's building. We're
just a bunch of servants who are ministering during our time,
in our place, to our generation, serving our day and our churchship,
and we're gone. Out of here! But it's the same
message. You're still God's figure. It's
the sooner we can get a hold of that, all of us. Better off we'll be in regard
to this thing of the ministry. That's right.