I'd like you to get your Bibles tonight and turn with me to the gospel of Luke. To the 24th chapter, so the very end of the gospel of Luke tonight. As we consider the last verses of Luke's gospel, verses 44 through 53. As we take just a very brief look tonight at the Ascension. of Jesus Christ. Let's again give our careful hearing to his word this evening. Luke chapter 24 verses 44 through 53 final verses of Luke's gospel. Then he said to them, These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you. That everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and said to them, thus, it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things and behold, I am sending the promise of my father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. Then he led them out as far as Bethany and lifting up his hands He blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven, and they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple blessing God. Please bow with me briefly in prayer. Our Father, We pray that you would add your blessing to the reading of your word tonight and that you would grant us your spirit so that we can understand the importance of the words here and particularly the importance of the ascension of our Savior Jesus and begin to understand and appreciate the work he's doing even now for us, his church. We ask these things now in his name. Amen. Two Lord's Day evenings ago, we looked briefly at the fact that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the actual foundation of our faith. In other words, that without the resurrection, our faith would be in vain because no resurrection would mean that Jesus was not who he said he was. that he did not accomplish what he said he would accomplish, and it would mean that he had failed in securing salvation for sinners. But in fact, he did rise from the dead, and therefore there is salvation for sinners, and indeed the great aim of God from the beginning of creation The overall plan that God had from the very beginning of creation is beginning now since the resurrection to be realized. We say that because when God created the world, when he created the world, it forever determined the scope of his plan. That is to say, God has always had a worldwide aim. In all of his ways and in all of his actions, even when he was dealing with a single family, the family of Abraham, or even when he was dealing with a single nation, the nation of Israel, each of those epochs of time were a step towards. The singular one. Worldwide goal of gathering a people to himself from every tribe tongue and nation. And therefore, upon his resurrection from the dead, Jesus declared and it was a very significant declaration of the Great Commission. He declared that now all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him. And he then sends forth the church to make disciples of all nations so that the kingdom and the authority of God will be recognized throughout the whole earth. Indeed, just as with the first Adam. Through the first Adam. There came a worldwide population of people after his broken image. So it is to be with the last Adam. Through Jesus, there is coming about a worldwide population of people after his glorious and holy image. But this worldwide spread of the kingdom of God, this worldwide conquest had its official kickoff really when Jesus rose from the dead and then secondly ascended up on high to take his place at the right hand of God in heaven. In fact, we find ourselves today as a church within the overall universal plan of God in the year 2014 between the first coming and the second coming of Jesus Christ. That is, we live now between his ascension and his reign and his second coming. We live between his ascension and his return in glory. And therefore, it's vitally important as Christians who live today, that we learn to live with a very conscious awareness of what Jesus is actually doing now in this exalted state at the right hand of the Father. What is Jesus doing right now? Why is he there? And what's going on? We can't see him right now, but he is at the right hand of God in heaven. And again, it's vital that we know what he is actually doing for us right now. In fact, too often we focus so much on the past work of Christ. That we often neglect the present work of Christ. Another way of saying this is that we we major we major upon, and this is a particularly true characteristic within our circles. We major upon the doctrinal truths of the historic work of Christ, but we minor on the dynamic present work of Christ and his relationship with us as a living Savior, active today, still active for our salvation. And that is what I want us to focus on over the next few weeks in our evening worship. Tonight, we're going to focus primarily on the glorious truth of the ascension of Jesus to the right hand of God, and then the plan over the next few weeks is that we will look at each individual office of Christ and how he is currently serving us right now as our prophet, as our priest and as our king in his state of exaltation. I think we're fairly well versed in how he has served us in the office of prophet, priest and king in his state of humiliation, his dying, his earthly teaching ministry. But how is he serving us in these offices in his state of exaltation? Again, tonight, we're going to just take a very brief look and we'll probably touch it again briefly next Lord's Day, but a very short look tonight. One point. Of the necessity. Of the ascension. The necessity of the ascension of Jesus Christ, as we begin. To talk about the ascension of Christ, we need to pause briefly and consider why it is absolutely necessary. Jesus going to heaven and being seated at the right hand of God was absolutely necessary for your salvation. For the gathering of the church, for the expanse of the kingdom. And certain truths about Jesus make the ascension absolutely necessary And therefore, this discussion of the ascension of Jesus Christ actually begins with his incarnation. The ascension, the necessity of the ascension of Jesus Christ actually begins with his incarnation. I might say it a different way. I could say that in this way, it is absolutely no coincidence. that Luke begins the gospel that he wrote with a very long treatment of the birth of Christ. And then he ends it, he culminates his book with Christ's bodily ascension back up into heaven. And what is his point? What is Luke's point in this overall scope of Christ's earthly ministry in his gospel. His point is to emphasize the fact that the Son of God really and truly took on our flesh and indeed has taken on our flesh permanently. And forever. Jesus did not just assume a body for his earthly ministry, to get some things done while here, but then went back to his non corporeal existence. But he took a body to himself, which was a commitment he made from now on throughout all eternity. Let me expound on this a little more by saying that it is the case that the son of God is now constrained. In his location, because he now has a body. In fact, one of the essential matters about the resurrection is that Jesus rose again in the same body as he died with. It wasn't just some kind of nonphysical spiritual resurrection, if we use the word spiritual somewhat loosely. He didn't just leave his flesh behind. But Jesus resurrection was a bodily resurrection. That means he is physically located somewhere right now. And therein. Is the necessity for the ascension. Jesus has a physical body, he is physically located somewhere right now. And that is why there has to have been There must be an ascension. I have a passage on your outline this evening from John 16, verses 7 and 8, where Jesus tells the disciples these words, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, The helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you, and when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. There are three very important things to note at this point. As our own text is actually clarified by this passage in John 16, And again, short message tonight, but I want to just nail or articulate quickly the three things, three important things to note that help clarify our passage as well. First of all, notice that Jesus says here in John 16 that it is to our advantage. It's actually good for you that I go away. This is this is for your sake. This is for you, it's to your advantage that I go away. And I want you to notice in our own passage, if you have Luke still open, just how beautiful it is to see the emphasis, and this is the point, this sub point here, the emphasis on blessing. In our own text, verses 50 and 51 show us that the ascension is bathed in blessing. Though we might long to see Jesus and and though we might think that it would be better for us if he were here with us physically right now. So that we could see him. He tells us that his going away will be actually a blessing to us. It will be to our advantage. And so he blesses one of the final acts in person with his People is he blesses them. As he ascends. Secondly, I want you to notice that the advantage Jesus clearly ties the advantage to the coming of the Holy Spirit. The coming of the Holy Spirit, the advantage is tied to the coming of the Holy Spirit, Jesus calls him the helper. In John 16, but in our text, notice in verse 49, he says, And behold, I am sending the promise of my father upon you, but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. You see, because Jesus has a body. He is limited in his ability to be physically everywhere. But the Holy Spirit is not. The Holy Spirit is not limited by a body. And thus, the ongoing work of Jesus, what Jesus is telling us here, is that his ongoing work will be carried out by the person of the Holy Spirit through his people. He is continuing to minister, he is continuing to work, but he is going to now do it by way of the agency of the Holy Spirit working through his people, a group that is growing, that is empowered by the spirit spreading all over the globe. This then brings up the final important matter to see tonight, and that is thirdly. Salvation will come then to the whole world. Thirdly, is Salvation will come to the whole world. Salvation will come to the whole world by the work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus says there in John 16 that when the Holy Spirit comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. And in our text, this then helps explain verses 45 through 48, where we read, then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and he said to them, Thus, it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and that repentance and forgiveness of sin should be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. In other words, it was absolutely necessary that Jesus ascend back up into heaven so that he might receive this gift of his father, the gift of the Holy Spirit, who he would pour out upon his people for the purpose of gathering and empowering his church to take the good news to all nations. He has Jesus has a real physical human body. Which is why he could suffer in our place. Which is why he could pay the price for our sin. And thus, why the spirit must come now that Christ has risen from the dead so that so that's the very salvation that Jesus purchased can now be preached and applied and taken to the whole world. The ascension, then, is actually another crucial part of the gospel. It's part of the work of Christ as he redeems a people to God from every tribe, tongue and nation. It's a part of the overall worldwide plan of God's salvation. This had to happen for God's worldwide plan of salvation to be realized. Jesus had to go back, receive the spirit from the father and pour him out without measure. It is accurate and it is right to talk in terms of Jesus being present with us. Jesus is present with us. And he is currently ministering to us in the person of the Holy Spirit. The spirit is the spirit of Christ. And he sends him to us as he continues his ministry in us. Jesus confined himself to a body forever so that he might accomplish our salvation in time and history. In other words, he lived that perfect life of obedience that we did not, and he died that substitutionary death as an atonement for our sins. And Jesus now continues his faithful ministry to us by sending forth the Holy Spirit to apply his own work to his people. And it is Christ's ongoing work as prophet, priest and king, applying the work of his spirit that we're going to be investigating over the next few weeks together. In other words, how the spirit goes forth from Christ, bringing his kingship, his priesthood and his prophetic ministry to bear on our daily lives in the life of the church in this age. But tonight and as we end here now and throughout this week, I want us to notice at the very end, and may this be our response as well as his people. May we have the same response to the blessing of Christ going away from us in his ascending back up into heaven. May we have the same response as these original disciples did here in verse 52 and 53. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple blessing God. May we worship him, may we be filled with great joy and may we continually bless God for his blessings to us. Jesus is building his church by the power of his spirit as he reigns from the right hand of the father. That's what we're going to be looking at over the next couple weeks. Let's go ahead and end there and let me lead us briefly in prayer. Father, thank you for Your great plan of salvation, which has included even us. And we thank you for our Lord Jesus, who is even now at your right hand with unbounded power, able to accomplish every purpose and every blessing for us, his people. Father, we thank you for the fact that you are working out your plan to draw people to yourself and convert this world into Your kingdom. Fill it with image bearers who reflect back your glorious holiness. Father, we thank you for the ascended Christ. We thank you that he is even now interceding for us at your right hand. We thank you that he protects us and he subdues our enemies. And we thank you that he continues to minister his word to us. Father, we pray that you might bring us into a greater appreciation and a tighter and closer relationship with our living Savior, Jesus. Bless our times in your word over the next few weeks. To that end, we pray. For we do ask it in his name. Amen.