Welcome to the Valley Baptist Church Sermon Podcast.
We're so glad you're here, and we hope this message inspires you,
builds your faith, and moves you toward a deep relationship with God.
Today, you'll find great insight into the Bible
and learn how you can apply it straight to your life.
So welcome and enjoy the message.
We are in between sermon series this morning,
which means that I get to preach this morning
on whatever I want to preach on. And so for this morning, I've decided to preach on one of the most
important events in Jesus's life. But even though it's one of the most important events in Jesus's
life, it's an event that often gets overlooked and therefore an event that Christians often know
little about. Let me ask you, if you had to name the top four events in Jesus's life,
which top four events would you include in that list? If I had to list the top four events in
Jesus's life, I think I would list Jesus's incarnation, his crucifixion, his resurrection,
and his ascension. Let me ask you about that fourth one, the ascension. Would that event
have even made your list at all? But in the Bible, the ascension is a big deal, but a big deal that we often neglect in our modern American Christianity.
Think about it. How many sermons have you heard about the ascension?
How many Bible studies have you been in that were about the ascension?
If you were in school right now and you had to write a paper on the ascension,
how many sentences could you write before you ran out of things to say?
And so this morning, we're going to dive deep into what is probably, for most of us,
unexplored territory.
Now, I'm going to do my best this morning to make this as understandable as possible,
but I want to encourage you to make sure you're wide awake so that you can stick with me this morning.
Now, what exactly is the ascension? I know it's possible
that for a lot of us in the room, this might be the first time we've ever even heard the word
ascension before. The ascension is an event that happened in Jesus's life after the crucifixion,
after the resurrection, when Jesus went back up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.
The word ascend is not a word that we use that often anymore,
but the word ascend means to go up.
And so that's why it's called Jesus' ascension,
because it's when Jesus went up into heaven.
And I have two goals this morning. My first goal is to help open our eyes to how many
passages there are in the Bible that talk about the ascension. My hope is that from now on, we can
start spotting these ascension passages all over the Bible. How do we spot them? By looking for
passages that talk about Jesus going up or sitting down.
Passages that talk about Jesus going back into heaven or passages that talk about Jesus sitting
down at the right hand of God. By looking for directional words like went up or higher or above or sat down. My second goal this morning is to help us to start thinking about the
rich variety of meaning that we can learn about Jesus from the ascension so that we will not just
be able to spot the ascension in the Bible, but also to begin to actually understand the ascension in the Bible, what it tells us about Jesus,
and how that should impact our daily lives. And really this morning, we're going to just barely
scratch the surface of what we could learn about the ascension. Honestly, this could be an entire
series of sermons, but I'm going to try to restrain myself this morning. So what we're going to do
is we're going to first look at the actual event of the ascension, So what we're going to do is we're going to first look at the
actual event of the ascension, and then we're going to spend most of our time this morning
looking at why the ascension is such a big deal, looking at why the ascension even matters at all.
So turn with me to Luke chapter 24, and we're going to take a look at a verse that describes the end of Jesus's time
here on the earth. By this point in Jesus's life, Jesus had already been crucified, he had already
been resurrected, and now we're going to see him as he gets ascended back up into heaven. Luke chapter 24, one verse, verse 51. Now it came to pass while he blessed them,
while Jesus blessed his disciples, that he was parted for them and carried up into heaven.
There it is. One tiny little verse, but one tiny little verse that is absolutely exploding with meaning.
And as we're going to see, the lessons we can learn from the ascension about who Jesus is
have huge ramifications for our daily Christian lives. Because the fact that Jesus is ascended
has gigantic implications for our understanding of who Jesus is. And those implications, those understandings,
are flushed out by looking at other passages in the Bible
that explain the meaning of this one tiny little verse.
And so that's what we're going to spend the rest of the sermon doing.
We're going to spend the rest of our sermon
looking at six other passages
that help us understand the meaning
behind this one verse. And so what we're going to do for the rest of our time this morning
is we're going to look at six reasons why the ascension matters. Six reasons, six truths that
the ascension teaches us about who Jesus is and what Jesus has done. And the key this morning
is to keep in mind the two important motions that are a part of the Ascension. Jesus went up
and Jesus sat down because both of those motions are jam-packed with theological meaning. So why is the ascension important? Why does the ascension
even matter at all? First of all, when Jesus went back up to heaven, he was returning home
as a victorious king after winning a war. Look with me at Psalm 68, beginning in verse 17. This psalm says, the chariots of God, chariots were kind of the tanks
of the ancient armies. The chariots of God are 20,000, even thousands of thousands. The Lord is
among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place. You have ascended on high. There it is. You have led Here, we have a picture of a king returning home from war victorious.
And as this king is returning home to his capital city,
there's a huge victory celebration,
whereas people are lining the streets cheering.
Now, in my mind, when I read this passage,
I think about this picture of a parade
that happened in New York City
celebrating the end of World War II
as the American soldiers came home
and marched through the city victorious.
Well, I think what Psalm 68 is telling us is that's basically what happened when Jesus returned
home when he was ascended. That he returned home after successfully completing his own military mission. You see, Jesus had been to Calvary, and on the cross of
Calvary, he had fought the battle of the ages against sin and against Satan and against death.
And when Jesus said on the cross, it is finished, that meant that the victory was won. And so when Jesus Christ went back to heaven,
he ascended back to heaven as our victorious liberator.
Jesus returned to his father as the victorious champion of heaven.
Now, what does any of this mean?
What difference does any of this make for our daily lives?
Here's the difference.
Here's what it means.
Because of this reality,
this reality can help us
when we go through battles in this life.
You see, the Bible says that we are in the middle
of a spiritual battle.
And so as we continue to fight the daily battles
of everyday Christian life,
this ascended reality helps us to
remember that the outcome of the war has already been decided long ago. Our three greatest enemies,
sin, death, and Satan, have already been defeated. And if we have surrendered our lives to King Jesus,
then we have joined Jesus on the winning side of the war. In other words, if we have surrendered our lives to King Jesus, then we have joined Jesus on the winning side of the
war. In other words, if we have defected to King Jesus and crossed over to Jesus' side, then we
have already won, even when it might appear like we're losing some temporary skirmishes
in the meantime. A second truth that we can learn about Jesus from
the ascension is this. The fact that Jesus has sat down means that his priestly work is done.
Look with me in the New Testament in the book of Hebrews. Look with me in Hebrews chapter 10, beginning in verse 11. Here we see a powerful passage that
helps us understand more about what happened when Jesus was ascended. In verse 11, it says,
and every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this man,
Jesus, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.
That's the ascension. Did you know that you're not supposed to sit down while you're on the job. You sit down once the
work is done. And so the fact, like Hebrews points out, that Jesus has sat down means that his priestly
work of offering a final sacrifice for our sins is finished. Now this is very different from the
priest of the Old Testament. In fact, that's why this passage in Hebrews makes this comparison
between the priest who had to continually stand
and Jesus who was able to sit down.
You see, the priest of the Old Testament had an endless job.
Like butchers, they had to slaughter thousands and thousands of animals every day,
day after day, day after day, the same sacrifices over and over and over and over again. They had a
job they could never finish. They never reached the day when their job was done. Why? Because their sacrifices were never able to pay for sin
once and for all. But in Jesus's one sacrifice, he did what all the other priests had never been
able to do in their hundreds of thousands or millions of sacrifices. He was able to pay for sin once and for all.
That's why the Bible says that Jesus died for sins once for all.
Now, in the Old Testament temple, there were a lot of pieces of furniture in the temple.
And those pieces of furniture were not there on accident.
Each one of them had important spiritual and theological
significance, symbolism. Well, there was one piece of furniture that you could not find in the Old
Testament temple, and that was a chair for the priest to sit down in. Why was there no chair
for the priest to sit in? Because their job was never done. That's why Hebrews pointed out they had to stay on their feet continually because their work was never done. to sit down in it because he finished the job. His sacrifice was the ultimate sacrifice that paid for
all of our sins once and for all. Now, why does this matter to us? What difference does any of
this make in our daily lives? What this means is that because of what Jesus has done, because of
the ascended reality of Jesus,
there are no more sacrifices that need to be offered.
There's no more incense that needs to be burned.
There are no more candles that need to be lit.
There's no more showbread that needs to be put out.
The only thing needed now is for us to believe and receive
what Jesus has already accomplished for us in his finished work
on the cross. The third truth that we can learn about Jesus from the ascension is this.
The fact that Jesus's seat is positioned so far above everyone else shows us that he has authority over everyone else. Look with me in the book of
Ephesians, Ephesians chapter 1, beginning in verse 19. And what is the exceeding greatness of his
power toward us who believe, according to the mighty working of his mighty power, which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead,
that's the resurrection,
and seated him at the right hand in the heavenly places,
that's the ascension,
far above all principality and power and might and dominion
and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in
that age which is to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him to be head over all
things. This passage reminds me of a skyscraper office building. Let's say there's a company that owns an entire
skyscraper office building. Let me ask you, which floor is the boss's office on? Is the boss's
office on the ground floor or on the top floor? The top floor, that's right. When the office that
you're sitting in is on the top floor above everyone else,
that means you are the boss over everyone else who is seated below you. Well, what does it mean then
when the office you are sitting in is so far up, it's all the way up in heaven? What that means
is that you are the boss of everyone and everything because everyone else
in existence is seated below you. Or as this passage says, everything else is under your feet.
You see, the ascension shows us that Jesus is the boss. Jesus is the one who has been given
the ultimate authority over every other kind of authority there is. And that's why Jesus' office is higher than everyone else's office.
You see, the result of the ascension is that Jesus' office is higher than the Oval Office.
Jesus' house is higher than the House of representatives. Jesus's chambers are higher
than the Supreme Court chambers. Jesus's office is higher than your boss's office,
where you lost your job. Jesus's office is higher than the psychologist's office,
where you found out that you have depression or anxiety. Jesus' office is higher than the doctor's office
where you were told that you had six months left to live.
Jesus' office is higher than the office at the mortuary
where you picked out the casket
that your loved one would be buried in.
Jesus' office is not only higher than all other offices,
but his headquarters are higher than all
the other headquarters of all the other religions of the world. You see, Jesus's headquarters are
higher than the religious headquarters in the Vatican. Jesus's headquarters are higher than
the religious headquarters in Mecca. Jesus' headquarters are higher than the religious headquarters in Salt
Lake City. You see, the ascension reminds us that Jesus is seated in a position of power so high
that he is high above all other kinds of authority in existence. Jesus' power is above all the other
powers. Now, this idea of Jesus being higher than everyone else also includes being
higher than his enemies. And that's why this passage also reminds me of the medal award ceremony
at the end of the Olympics. Let me ask you, at the end of the Olympics, when the medals are being handed out, where is the champion positioned
in relation to all the other competitors? Is the champion on the bottom of the podium below
everyone else, or is the champion on the top of the podium above everyone else? The top, right?
The top of the podium above everyone else. Far above all the
other competitors. And that's symbolic. The fact that they stand in the highest spot is a symbol
that they are superior to everyone else. Well, guess what? Jesus is the ultimate Olympic champion.
He is superior to everyone else. He has blown away all of the competition.
And that's why Jesus gets to be positioned
at the top of the tallest award podium in all of existence,
high above all his enemies,
an award podium so tall
that the top of it is up in heaven itself.
And how did Jesus get there?
How did Jesus get to be positioned on the top
of the tallest award podium in all of reality?
By being ascended to the right hand of God.
The next truth that we can learn
from the ascension about who Jesus is, is this.
Because Jesus is sitting down at the right hand of God, he can serve as our great
lawyer who is sitting up in the judge's bench right next to the judge. Look with me at Romans
chapter 8. Romans chapter 8 verse 34. This verse begins by asking a very important question. Here's the question. Who is he who condemns?
What that means is this. Is there anyone who's going to be able to successfully bring a charge
against us in God's heavenly court? That's the question. And the answer is no. Why not? It is Christ who died and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of
God, that's the ascension, who also makes intercession for us. Let me ask you guys,
in a courtroom, where is the judge seated in comparison to everyone else in a courtroom?
Is a judge seated lower than everyone else in the courtroom or higher than everyone else in a courtroom. Is a judge seated lower than everyone else in the courtroom
or higher than everyone else in the courtroom?
Higher, that's right.
The judge's seat is usually the highest seat in the courtroom.
Well, guess what?
That's where Jesus is seated.
Jesus is seated in the highest seat of all
in the highest courtroom of all courtrooms. In this verse,
the curtains get pulled back and we get a glimpse into the courtroom of heaven. And what do we see
in this glimpse of the courtroom of heaven? We see Jesus sitting up there in the judge's bench
right next to the judge. He is our lawyer sitting next to the judge giving a defense for us.
You see, sitting next to the judge gives Jesus the perfect position to make intercession for us,
as this passage says. Now, what does that mean? What does it mean that Jesus is making intercession for us? Well, to intercede means to plead someone's case
in their defense. And so I think what this verse is saying is that Jesus is like our heavenly
defense attorney who is constantly arguing our case on our behalf to God his Father.
Let me ask you, how would you like to have Jesus Christ as your defense
attorney? I mean, imagine you broke some horrible crime. You did some horrible thing. Imagine it
comes the day for your trial, and you're walking into the trial, and you think, I am dead meat. What
I did was so bad. There's no way out of this. I am in big trouble. But then as you walk into the courtroom, you look up and you're
shocked to see your defense attorney sitting up in the bench with the judge. And it gets
even better. You look closely and you realize that your defense attorney is the judge's son.
And then it gets even better. You realize your defense attorney is Jesus Christ himself. Now at
that point, you'd start feeling
pretty good about your odds, wouldn't you? I mean, every time the prosecuting attorney brings a charge
against us, Jesus gets that charge thrown out of court. Every time an accusation is brought against
us, Jesus, our defense attorney, leans over and speaks to his father, the judge, on our behalf.
Jesus says, oh, oh, don't worry about that crime.
I've already served the time for that one.
Oh, yeah, yeah, we don't need to listen to these guys
because we know that that evidence
has already been ruled as inadmissible.
And so the prosecuting attorney gets frustrated
and tries harder.
Judge, you gotta listen to me.
That Brian, he's done a lot of sin.
He does not deserve to go to heaven. And Jesus leans over to the father and says, you know, the prosecutor is right.
Brian has done a lot of sin. Brian does not deserve to go to heaven, but his sin has already
been taken care of when I died for him. You see, Jesus, our defense attorney, amen. Jesus, our defense attorney, is sitting
up there with the judge, constantly whispering in the judge's ear. In other words, Jesus has the
judge's ear. Did you know it doesn't matter who the prosecuting attorney is if your defense attorney has an in with the judge. And you know what? Jesus has the
biggest in of all time with the highest judge of all. And so if Jesus is our defense attorney in
God's court, then we can rest easy because we already know what the final verdict is going to
be. We already know which way our case is going to end up
in the end. Because of the ascension, Jesus is seated on the judge's bench right next to the
judge at his right hand, constantly making intercession for us, constantly pleading our case
for us. The fifth truth that we can learn about Jesus from the ascension is this. By going up
into heaven, Jesus has paved the way so that we can follow him. Look with me again in the New
Testament at the book of Hebrews. This time, let's look at Hebrews chapter 6, beginning in verse 19. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul,
both sure and steadfast,
and which enters the presence behind the veil
where the forerunner, that's Jesus,
has entered for us, even Jesus.
In this passage, we have a very vivid word picture of what happened when Jesus
ascended into heaven. This passage says that Jesus was our forerunner who planted an anchor in heaven
so that we could follow. This word picture reminds me of what happens when you go mountain climbing. When you go mountain climbing, the best climber goes first.
And when they reach the top, they plant an anchor so that the rest of the climbers can follow.
I think that's kind of what this passage means when it calls Jesus our forerunner.
What is a forerunner. What is a forerunner? A forerunner is someone who runs up ahead before everyone else
to make a path for others to follow. In World War II, D-Day was the day that the Allies invaded
Normandy Beach. And there was an elite group of special forces who were called Pathfinders,
who parachuted into enemy territory hours ahead of everyone else.
And once these pathfinders made it to the right location, then they would shine a light straight
up into the air so that the rest of the parachuters would know where to follow. Jesus is our pathfinder
who's gone ahead of us to light up the way. Jesus is our forerunner who went on ahead of
us so that we could also one day follow, so that we could go where Jesus has went, so that we could
join Jesus where he is. The ascension shows us that those of us who believe in Jesus, that when we die, we will go to be where our forerunner already is, way up high
in heaven. Remember what Jesus promised to his followers before he ascended. He promised,
I go to prepare a place for you that where I am, you may be also. Now this morning, we have barely scratched the surface
of what the ascension tells us about Jesus and what it means for our daily lives. But even though
we've just barely scratched the surface, what we've already seen is that when Jesus went up and sat down, it was as a triumphant warrior king
returning victorious from battle. It was as a priest who had finished his work. It was as an
authority who is above all other authorities. It was as an attorney who has the judge's ear. It was
as a forerunner who paved the way for us. And so my hope this morning is that
from this message, we have gained one more important way to think about Jesus. Let me ask you,
what do you envision in your mind's eye when you think about Jesus? What scene do you imagine when you're thinking about Jesus?
Do you envision the scene of the baby lying in the manger? Do you envision the scene of the bloody
corpse hanging on the cross? Do you envision the scene of the resurrected king coming out of the
tomb? And of course, all of those are true and important images of who Jesus is. But let's not forget the image of Jesus
that we have learned about today. The image of where Jesus is right now. The ascended Lord
sitting at the right hand of God in heaven. Now in conclusion this morning, I want us to look at one more, a sixth truth that we can learn about Jesus
from the ascension. And here it is. The fact that Jesus went up into heaven is a reminder that one
day Jesus will come back down from heaven. In other words, Jesus' ascension anticipates his second coming.
Look with me in the New Testament at the book of Acts.
Look with me at Acts chapter 1, verse 9.
This is another passage that describes what happened during Jesus' ascension.
In verse 9, it said,
Now while he had spoken these things, while Jesus had spoken these things,
while they watched, while his disciples watched,
he was taken up, that's the ascension,
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,
who also said, men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven?
This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven,
will so come in like manner as you saw him go up into heaven.
As Jesus ascends back up into heaven,
his followers are staring up in amazement,
dumbfounded, looking into the sky.
But then these two angels appear and they let the disciples know
that one day Jesus would come back down
in the same way that they had just seen him go up.
You see, on the day of ascension,
Jesus went up and sat down.
But on the day of ascension, Jesus went up and sat down. But on the day of the second coming,
Jesus will stand up and come down. And when he does, he will rescue his people. He will defeat his enemies, and he will judge the earth in righteousness. And so here's the big question. What will you do to get ready for that day today?
Jesus went up and sat down.
And one day, he will stand up and come down.
This morning, will you step out and come forward?
In just a moment, we're going to have what we call a time of
invitation. Both here and on the All Drive campus, we're going to stand and we're going to sing,
and I'm going to invite you to give your life to Jesus today. Perhaps this morning, as you've been
sitting here, God has laid some decision on your heart. There's something that he's tugging on you
about. Whatever
the decision is, we're going to have people here at the front who would love to help you with whatever
God's doing in your heart. Maybe this morning you've realized that you've never really given
your life to Jesus in the first place, and you know that you need to give your life to Jesus today.
Jesus lived the perfect life for you. He died for your sins.
He came back from the dead for you. He ascended to the right hand of the Father, and one day he's
coming back. And the only way to be saved, the only way to be forgiven of our sins, is to believe in
him. And so if you've never done that before, please believe in him today. As soon as we start
singing, step out, come forward, let someone know
about that decision. Maybe today you want to get baptized. Baptism is the way that we let everybody
know that we've already believed in Jesus. When somebody gets baptized, they get dunked under the
water and they get pulled out. And what they're doing is they're putting on a little play. They are symbolically letting everybody know
that they believe that Jesus was alive,
that he got dunked into death,
and then he got pulled out on the third day.
And so if you'd like to find out more about getting baptized,
as soon as we stand and start singing, come forward.
We'd love to talk to you more about baptism.
Maybe you're interested in officially joining this church. Maybe you've been coming for a while, or maybe this is your first
Sunday with us, but you've come to the point where you go, you know what? I've seen everything I need
to see. I want to make this church my official spiritual home and my official faith family.
If that's you, as soon as we start singing, come forward. We'd love to talk to you about joining
the church. Maybe you need to rededicate your life. Maybe you gave your life to Jesus a
long time ago, but something has happened, and at some point along the way, you've drifted, and now
you're far away from God. If that's you, don't wait to come back to him. He's waiting for you right now.
Rededicate your life. Come forward. Let someone know about
that so we can help you with that. Perhaps today you need to come forward and publicly surrender
your life to ministry. Maybe God's been working in your heart and you feel like God is calling
you into ministry in some way to be a pastor or a missionary or a church planner or a church replanner.
God has been doing something big in our church. Within the last year, 18 people have come forward in the worship services at this invitation time to let their church family publicly know
that they feel like God is calling them into ministry. And so if that's you, let us know. We
need to help you take the next steps. Come forward as soon as we start singing. Maybe it's not a decision you need to make today,
but maybe you just need prayer for something that's weighing on your heart.
Maybe something's happening in your life or in the life of someone you care about, and you just need
some prayer. We are a praying church, and we would love to pray with you this morning. And so if you
need prayer, as soon as we stand and sing,
come forward so that someone can pray for you.
Whatever it is, set aside all the objections
that have been holding you back.
Lay down everything that has made you hesitant
and just follow whatever it is
that Jesus wants you to do right now.
Let's pray together.
Our Father in heaven, we thank you that you love us so much.
And that you love us so much that you sent Jesus to do so much for us.
To be born of a virgin for us.
To live a perfect sinless life for us.
To die on the cross for us.
To come back from the dead for us, to die on the cross for us, to come back from the dead for us, to ascend to the right hand
of the Father, where we know that one day he will come back. God, I pray, Lord, if there is any
decision that you want us to make, I pray, God, that you'll give us the grace and the strength
to make that decision today, to stop delaying, to stop procrastinating,
to stop hesitating, but to give in this morning. God, if there's anyone here who needs prayer,
please give them the courage to come forward and get the prayer that they need. Whatever it is,
Lord, help us to follow you in this holy moment. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Thanks for listening today. We hope you enjoyed this message, and if you did, we would be so In Jesus' name we pray, amen. through salvation, service, or giving. Don't wait. Reach out to us by texting podcast to 88988.
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No matter where you are in your journey,
know that we love you.
We're praying for you
and we can't wait to see what God will do in your life.