Open up your Bibles the book of Acts chapter 1 Acts chapter 1 And we will begin reading with verse 6 again as we did last week and I did the week before And we're talking about the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ the ascension being when he ascended up into heaven after he'd been here on earth and for about 33 years, after he had been crucified and was raised again from the grave, after he had walked again on the earth 40 more days after that, at that point, he ascended into heaven. And over the past few weeks, we've talked about how that ascension meant that he went to a place, how he received glory and honor, then that he had not had here on earth as the God-man. And also last week we saw how he was given authority in heaven then that he did not have here as the God-man during his ministry on this earth. And so we've looked at those things. This morning we're gonna talk about what the ascension means for believers. Before we do that, let's read our text. Acts chapter one, verse six. 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 has come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part 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, 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 ye have seen him go into heaven. Let us go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, oh Lord, I thank you for this word that we have just read here, this account of the ascension of our Savior and the promise that it holds for us. And I just pray for your Holy Spirit to help us to understand these things better and to grow in our knowledge of Christ and what he has done for us. Oh, Lord, we thank you for this blessed privilege it is to gather together. And we have certainly missed that over the last few months. And it's a joy to get back together again, as we did last week and now continue this week. Lord, bless this gathering. We pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, so let's talk about what the Ascension means for believers. Turn in your Bibles now to the book of 1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians, there in the New Testament, we're going to read in chapter 4 starting at verse 13. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 13. So what does it mean for believers? For those of us who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, who have made a profession of faith, what does this mean for us? Well, because Christ rose up to heaven, we can be assured we will rise to heaven someday. Now this is very similar to what I talked about several weeks ago when we were talking about the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, because he was resurrected is a promise and a surety to us that we too can experience the resurrection, okay? So by the same token, the fact that he ascended into heaven is a surety, a promise to us that we someday will be in heaven with him. And we, as the scriptures tell us here, will rise up in the air to be with him if he returns before we die. We're going to make, we're going to distinguish all of that as we read along here. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 13. Paul wrote this letter to the church at Thessalonica and he says, but I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep. that you sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. What he means there in that phrase, them which are asleep, that's a euphemism. That's something that softens the blow, if you will, of the meaning of the word. And it's a way of saying those who have died. And it was common in Middle Eastern times, during these times, Middle Eastern custom to, to express death in this way, they're sleeping. And so he says, for those who have died, no sorrow for them is so they have no hope, meaning they may have died, but that doesn't mean it's over for them. You know, that's one of the great promises of believing on Christ is that we live for all eternity. Now we know that here on this earth, people die. That if the Lord doesn't come back first, each one of us will experience death. Okay? What death is, it is the expiring of this physical body that we live in. It will stop. Your brain will cease to function. Your heart will stop beating. Your lungs will stop moving air. Your blood will stop circulating. All those parts of our body that make us physically alive will cease. That will stop. And we call that death. And when someone dies, what we do is we take that body and we bury it usually. Some, more and more it seems, a lot of people are cremating. But there's something done with that body, and it is put away because it's not alive anymore. We can't keep them around because they have this tendency to rot, right? We don't want that around. And so that happens, and we have to deal with that, and that's a reality. But what happens to the believer when that body dies? Well, the scriptures tell us that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. When that body expires, our spirit goes up into heaven to be with the Lord Jesus Christ. And so that's where we are. That's who we are. That's really who we are, by the way. This body is just a shell. in which our spirit dwells, okay? This body, even though we give so much attention to the outward appearance of our bodies, okay, this body really is nothing but a shell or a home for our spirit while we live here on this earth, okay? As long as it's alive physically, great. But then it dies, and so we have to do something with it. But our spirit doesn't go into the grave to rest there until the Lord returns. Our spirit goes to be with Jesus in heaven, okay? So what he's telling these people here in this first verse we read is, you know, don't act like there's no hope. For those who have died like it's all over because they will and he's gonna explain a little bit more as we read along here they will That body will be resurrected that body will be raised up and changed into a glorified body and Spirit and body will reunite and that's that glorified body will become the home for our spirit for the rest of eternity So that's gonna happen and he's gonna get there in a moment. I But he's telling them, don't be overly concerned about those who have passed away. We miss them, of course, and we're sad and we grieve, but we should understand that that's just a temporary situation, really. All right, verse 14. This is very important, for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. So if you believe, and that person that has died believed that Jesus had died and rose again, and essentially believed that Jesus is their Savior, they are a believer, they have been born again by the power of God and come to that point where they believe on Christ, then know this, When Jesus returns, when he comes back the second time, they're going to be called up to be with him. They're going to be raised up, okay? And they're not going to be left behind. They're not going to be left out by any means. So know that. And God's gonna bring their spirits with him. When Jesus comes and he appears in the air, coming with him are gonna be the spirits of all the believers who have lived and died on this earth, and then their spirits have gone up to be with him. They're all gonna come back with Jesus. Verse 15. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. We're not gonna get in the way of them who are asleep, okay, who have died, those of us who are still alive. Verse 16, for the Lord himself Jesus himself is going to come back. He's not going to send somebody in his place. He's not going to send an angel to take on this responsibility. Jesus is coming back himself in all of his glory, in all of his power. We talked about both those things over the past few weeks. Jesus has risen. He's ascended into heaven. there he has a glory he didn't have before on earth there he has authority that he didn't have before on earth he's coming back with all that all that glory all that authority he is coming back and bringing those who have died bringing their spirits with him the Lord himself shall descend from heaven he is ascended into heaven that's what started all our discussion on all this the fact that he has ascended into heaven Now he's gonna descend back from heaven back to the earth with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. So he's coming back. It will be a visible thing that can be seen. There will be no doubting what it is when we see it. And those who are still alive at that point are gonna be caught up together with them in the clouds, with those who come back with him in their spirit, who will be reunited with their physical body, albeit a glorified body. We will join with them, rise up with them, and meet them in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. Then we will enter into the presence of the Lord for all of eternity. All right, second for this morning. Because Christ rose up to heaven, we have encouragement that we can run and finish our own race. Turn in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews, chapter 12, Hebrews chapter 12. We're gonna look at verses one and two there. So meanwhile, What we just spoke about's gonna happen sometime out in the future. By future, I mean it could happen in the next minute, or it could happen in the next year, or the next decade, or the next century. We don't know when it's gonna happen. What we can know is it is going to happen, okay? But not knowing when, what do we do? What do we do in the meantime? So until the Lord returns, and while we are still on this earth, we should understand that we have a race to run, meaning a life to live for the glory of God. Hebrews chapter 12, look at that verse one. Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses. You know, there's, we have witnesses watching us as we run our race. Usually that's what happens. Whenever there's a race, there are people there who are spectators who observe that race, okay? Who watch the runners run. So we have witnesses too. These witnesses are varied. They're the angels, but they're also those who have died and gone on to be with the Lord. Those who have been martyred, especially are witnesses to what we are doing. So we have a race. We have a crowd to watch us run this race. So how should we run this race? It says, let us lay aside every weight When runners run a race, they don't want any unnecessary weight on them, because that's just gonna slow them down, it's gonna tire them out faster, and it's not gonna be very conducive to running the race. So we are to lay aside every weight. Now what is this weight? Well, primarily, chiefly, it's sin because the verse continues and says, and the sin which does so easily beset us. The way that hampers how we run our race is sin. That's why we must deal with sin. We must understand that we are sinners. We must see and admit that we sin, we must confess that sin to the Lord, we must repent of that sin, we must lay it aside, we've got to put it aside. And that requires action on our part. If we don't take action to do this, then we're gonna carry the weight of that sin with us. The sad thing for the believer is, the penalty for that sin has already been paid. yet we still want to carry it around as if it hadn't been paid. There are some people who seemingly enjoy carrying around the weight of their sin, and they make sure you know about it, okay? But that's not how we should be. We should be very proactive and take action and lay aside that sin. Lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily beset us and let us run. Now almost all of us would be fine if it pretty well ended there, let us run the race. But know what it says, let us run with patience the race that is set before us. We've got to run with patience. The Lord lays that requirement there, and it's important. He wouldn't have put it in his word if it were not important. So what does he mean, lay aside this weight and run with patience, that race that's set before us? You know, there are obstacles in our race. There are things that get in our way, things that can trip us up, things that can slow us down. not just our sin, which we can carry on ourselves, but other things, circumstances, situations that happen that can derail us, sidetrack us, get us out of the race for a time. There are some people that are really good at And this is the way I'd probably literally run a long distance, right? I might sprint, well, not anymore, but one time I might sprint for a while and I'd have to stop and slow down and walk or something, you know, and then run some more. I admire these people that just can run and run and run and run. That's something I never seem to be able to do. So that's one approach, and we need to avoid that. We need to run with patience. We need to keep running and stay with it. with endurance, but we also need to understand that these obstacles will come our way. And we need to understand something about those obstacles. They are ordained, decreed by the Lord. Therefore, he put them there for a purpose, or he allowed them to be there for a purpose. And oftentimes that purpose is to teach us something, something about himself. Something about our relationship with the Lord. Something about running this race in the best way to bring glory to his name. But those obstacles will be there and we must not become discouraged and impatient with these obstacles, but remain patient and deal with these obstacles and continue running the race. in this race that is set before us. Verse two, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. So here's how we can really run this race well. We look to Jesus. Jesus has already run the race and he ran it perfectly. No obstacle stopped him. Nothing made him impatient. He faithfully ran the race in the greatest possible way you could run this race. And so we need to look to him as our example. How did he do that? How did he handle the obstacles that came his way? How did he handle the rejection? How did he handle the people trying to knock him down and take him out? How did he deal with all that? We need to look at that, we need to study that, and we need to apply those same principles to how we run our race. It ought to be our goal to do everything we do the way that Jesus did it. the way that he would do it. There was a phrase that got real common here in the last several years that I thought was probably overdone and everything, but WWJD, what would Jesus do? There is something to that. We really ought to ask that question. And we ought to live our lives in a way that answers that question well. But we look to Jesus. He is the author and the finisher of our faith. Oh my goodness. Faith comes from Jesus. He's the author of it. He is the completer of it. Due to his work on the cross, due to the fact that he rose again, due to the fact that he has ascended into heaven and has all authority now. He is the finisher of our faith. I don't have to finish it. I just have to believe. I just have to use it, faith that is, and put it to use. Looking into him, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame? Jesus looked at the cross with joy. Can you believe that? He endured that cross with joy because he could look ahead and could see what his work was going to accomplish. And that work accomplished the salvation of a people for himself. And he looked forward to the fellowship that he would have with his people. He looked forward to the time of worship that his people would direct to him. He looked forward to that, and he endured all of that, and he despised the shame of it, and now is set down at the right hand of the throne of God, as we've talked about. Thirdly, turn now to John chapter 14. John chapter 14, the first three verses there. Third, because Christ rose up to heaven, We can believe that he is coming back to get us now This obviously ties very closely into our first point this morning that he is coming back, but we can believe he's coming back And he told us he would come back. He told us disciples that he would verse uh, john chapter 14 verse 1 Let not your heart be troubled You believe in god believe also in me In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." He's telling them something very important. He's preparing a place for them in heaven, for them to spend eternity with him. There are many mansions there. Verse three, and if I go, prepare a place for you. I will come again. Now when Jesus says that he will come again, we can count on that with every fiber of our being. We can know that and have confidence in that because when Jesus says he's going to do something, he does it. He said that he was gonna come to this earth and live a perfect life. Did he do that? Yes, he did. He said that he was gonna die on the cross for the sins of his people. Did he accomplish that? Absolutely he accomplished that. In the greatest possible way it could be accomplished, Jesus accomplished that. He said he was gonna rise again on the third day. Did he rise again on the third day? Absolutely, he did he said he was going to go to heaven and Receive authority and that he was going to send the Holy Spirit to his people. Did he do that? Yes, he did that So when he says that he's coming again to take us to be with him for eternity We can know that he will accomplish that There is nothing no power No person No thing that can stop Jesus from coming back and accomplishing that too. And that should give us great hope. We can believe that he is coming to get us. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. What a great promise. He's gonna receive us unto himself so that we can be with him. Where he is, we will be. Where we will be, he is. Oh, what a great, great promise for us. And then fourthly, because Christ rose up to heaven and reigns there as King of kings and Lord of lords, We will be allowed to share in that reign. We will share in that power and that authority. Turn to Ephesians 2, verse 6. Ephesians 2, verse 6. When Christ rose again, and then when Christ ascended into heaven, and when Christ was seated at the right hand of the Father, and when Christ was given authority to make the nations His footstool until He comes again, when that happened, you and I were given authority. Look at Ephesians 2, verse 6. And hath raised us up together, Made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus So we've connected all of this when we talked about the resurrection and When when Jesus was raised up, that's the promise that we can be raised up for us that first resurrection occurs when Jesus when God Quickens us and gives us spiritual life. We are we experience a resurrection then we are spiritually raised from the dead We go from being dead spiritually to being alive spiritually. Okay at that time he also makes us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus and Now this has a partial fulfillment even now. I know that you and I aren't sitting in heaven right now, okay? But we are seated, spiritually speaking, in heavenly places, and we are given a certain amount of authority. Look, stay there in Ephesians, go to chapter six, verse 10. We reign in part with him now, We will reign more fully with him at a later time. We reign now in the sense of contending with the powers of evil in our present time. Ephesians chapter six, verse 10. Finally, my brother, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. See, there we are, sharing in his power. Now, we don't do that because we've earned it. We are given that authority because we are children of God. We are the people of Christ, and he shares with us his authority. Now, the way things work in this world, people who gain authority aren't very prone to sharing that authority. In fact, what we see happening, and I fear is happening on a grand scale right now in our current circumstances is, those who have authority want more authority. And they will take more authority, even to the taking away of the rights of individuals. This country was founded on the idea that we have certain inalienable rights. In other words, these rights are given to us by God. They're not given to us by our government. Don't fall for that. The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States do not give to us any rights whatsoever. They recognize that we have those rights already given to us by God. And they recognize or they put into place a system whereby those rights can be protected. History lesson aside, authority in the flesh And where men are concerned, mankind is concerned, authority is something people tend to grab and hang on to and want more of. In the case of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the greatest authority of all, there is no authority that can stand with him, okay? Jesus has all authority. What does he do? He wants to share that authority with us. Just another way that Jesus and his kingdom and spiritual things are just so different from this world and worldly things. But he is, so let's go back to Ephesians 6, verse 10. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. We're given this power, use it. Be strong in the Lord. Put on the whole armor of God. that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Those things are going on now. How do I know they're not gonna be happening in the future? Surely this must, we're gonna do this in the future, right? Like when we get to heaven. Well, we know that's not true because these wicked, this spiritual wickedness and all these authorities and powers and the darkness of this world, that's gonna be gone. That's gonna be done away with. So he's talking about right here, right now. So in that sense, we reign with Christ now. We can stand up against the devil. We can stand up against the world. because Christ has given us authority and power to do so. Too often, we approach this world in the weakness of our flesh when we should be approaching this world in the strength of our spirit. There is a vast difference. The flesh is gonna wanna go along with the world. The flesh is gonna wanna give in. and become part of the world. But what we have been given in the spirit, in our spiritual life, will always desire to stand in opposition to the world and the things of this world, and in favor of Christ and his kingdom. And Christ doesn't leave us to try to manage this somehow on our own. He gives to us some of his authority. He gives to us some of his power so that we can stand against evil. There is nothing wrong with taking a stand against evil. There's nothing wrong with believing the Lord and trusting his word over that of this world. But somehow, sometimes, we tend to act that way, or we allow ourselves to be fooled into thinking that way by the world that's in opposition to Jesus. We do these things now, we should put on this armor of God now, we should stand against the wiles of the devil now, and be faithful soldiers in God's army. So in part, we reign with him now. We will reign more fully with him in heaven after he returns. Turn now to Revelation chapter three. This is our last passage for this morning. Revelation chapter three, verse 21. Revelation three, 21. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and am sat down with my father in his throne. We come full circle back around. When Jesus ascended into heaven, it was because he had overcome everything that had been put in his way. He came to this earth to be the savior of his people. He did not let anything stop him from accomplishing that. He is that. And because he overcame everything that lined up in opposition to him, the Father sat him down at his right hand with authority. And Jesus is telling us in this verse, for those on this earth who overcome, You're going to sit down with me on my throne in heaven. Now I can't even begin to imagine what that must be like. The angels are not given that. The angels can gather around the throne, but nowhere does it say in God's word that they sit on the throne with God. But we are told here that that's what we're going to do. And that's gonna be a part of the glory and the majesty and the wonder of heaven. And there's so many other things that come into this. And it's spending eternity with Christ. But we will reign with him, sharing with him that authority that he has. He shares it with us. The fact that Jesus died and was resurrected and ascended to heaven makes Him worthy of our glory and all the praise and thanks that we can give to Him. The fact that He died and was resurrected and ascended into heaven changes everything for the believer. We're given such a profound hope and assurance and promise for heaven and for glory because Jesus did these things. We serve a risen Savior. We serve a glorified Savior. We serve a Savior who reigns omnipotently. Glory to his name. We serve a strong Savior. And I urge you to believe on this savior to eternal life. Believe that he died on the cross for your sins. Believe that he rose again as a promise that you too can rise again spiritually and live forever. Believe that he is ascended with all authority and power and glory and know that we will share in that. But you must believe. Do you believe? If you believe, then you should make a profession of faith of that belief to others. And if you make that profession of faith to others, you should be baptized to show the world that you are now a follower of Christ. And then if you're baptized, you should follow Christ. That's your first step in following Christ. You should follow Christ all your life. and serve him faithfully. We do that. And we get to do that together. Virus or not, pandemic or not, we still serve Christ together. Let us ever remember that. Let's bow our heads for prayer. Then we'll have a song of invitation. Dearly Father, oh Lord, we glorify your name. We praise you. We give thanks to you. We bow before you in recognition of your great omnipotence and your authority and your power. And Lord, we marvel that you share that with us and that we can make use of that power and that authority here on this earth even now while we live. I pray, Lord, that we would be faithful in that. I pray, Lord, that we would persevere and endure in that, and that all that we would do and say would bring honor and glory to your name, would show others that yes, there is a God in heaven, and yes, he is in charge and in command, and yes, he is coming again for his people someday. Oh Lord, we thank you for all of this. Stir our hearts. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Let's come in this.