His Rightful Place
Catching Fire • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Transcript
Doxology:
This is my Bible. It is God’s Holy Word. It is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path, and I will hide its words within my heart, that I might not sin against God. Amen!
Scripture Reference: Acts 1:9-11
We are going to be preaching from Acts 1 today, if you want to be finding that in your Bibles. We will begin in verse 9 and read a few verses here in a moment.
As you turn there, I want to ask you a question: “Where is Jesus right now? What is His role in our lives right now?”
That is going to be our focus for today.
9 Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel,
11 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 into heaven.”
Let’s Pray!
Context
Context
Jesus has finished His teachings. He has taught them all that He has intended to teach them. He has passed on all that He felt led to, and now His time on earth in the flesh has come to an end. It is time for Him to take His rightful place on the throne most high.
And that is exactly what the Word says that He does. He sits at the right hand of the Father on the throne of God Almighty.
This should not be a surprise to us, since during the Great Commission, He plainly stated that the Father had given Him all authority in Heaven and on earth. If He truly has all authority, then He is truly king. And Kings sit on the throne. So it is time for Jesus to do just that, to go set on His throne.
But look at what it says the disciples do:
10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel,
It says they looked steadfastly toward heaven as Jesus was taken up. The Greek word used here means “to gaze intently; behold earnestly; to fasten one’s eyes upon something”.
They didn’t just watch until there was no longer anything to watch, they watched even after Jesus was long gone. Even after Jesus was out of sight, they still had their eyes fastened toward the heavens.
One could possibly assume that these mere men were simply in awe of the Godly things unfolding right before their very eyes, but I do not believe that was what was happening here. We are told that as they continued to look toward the heavens, that two angels appeared in the midst and said:
11 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 into heaven.”
The angels make it pretty clear that the reason the disciples did not want to take their eyes off of the heavens, is because deep down, they wanted what they had just seen to not be true. They had already witnessed Jesus go away once, but three days He came back. This time, Jesus wasn’t coming back. They knew He had promised another comforter would come, but they didn’t fully know what that meant or what that would look like. They knew what it was like to be with Jesus, and they didn’t want it to end.
In their minds, Jesus was gone.
And that gets us to the heart of the message today. Is Jesus gone?
I know that we say “No” to that doctrinally. I know we say “No” to that theologically. But if we were forced to answer this question based purely upon our actions, how would we be forced to answer?
As we all know, actions speak louder than words, right?
Like the disciples at this moment, do our actions say that Jesus is gone? Or do our actions say that Jesus is still very much alive and active within the church today?
Content
Content
Let’s look again at verse 9:
9 Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
There is a couple of things for us to see here.
Jesus Is Alive
Jesus Is Alive
9 Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
If Jesus is speaking, then He must be alive, right? I mean everything that we have seen Him do since His resurrection was to prove this very fact. All of His appearances… All of His miracles… Everything. All of it was done with a single purpose in mind… to cast out all doubt that His disciples might have had that it was over. He has come into their presence, shown them the scars in His hands, His feet, and His side. He has eaten food in front of them and even invited them to come and examine His body their selves.
So we can all agree that Jesus is alive. We can all agree at this moment, when Jesus ascended, He was very much alive.
“But He’s gone,” someone might say. “And if He’s gone, then He must be dead… right?”
“Worng!!!”
See, if something were to happen to me right now, while I spoke to you from this stage… let’s say it was a massive heart-attack, or some other life-ending medical issue. I would hope, that one of our emergency response team members would be up here quickly to examine me. If they came to check me out and I had no pulse, no heartbeat, no blood pumping, and I’m unresponsive, then they would say that I was dead.
They might try to do CPR, use an IED, or many different things to get me back, but in a physical sense, they would say, that I was gone… no longer here… dead.
But can I tell you this morning, that that diagnosis could not be farther from the truth.
26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
See, my flesh may lay down… one day it will. But I hope that when it does, that noone will say of me that I am dead. According to the words of Jesus Christ, I will not be dead… I will be more alive than anyone left on this earth. I will be fully alive, without sin or the temptation of it, without physical pain and suffering. I will no longer be limited in my understanding of who God is or His love for me. In fact, I will be so alive that I’m not sure we even have a word in the English language to describe how alive I will be.
I show you that, because we have to understand that Jesus is alive. He is not here physically with us anymore, but that does not mean that He is dead. He is still very much alive.
When we take that truth and couple it with another truth that we learned a few weeks, which is that Jesus has been given all authority in heaven and on earth, we see a new truth.
If Jesus is alive… and Jesus is in charge of every single detail of every single thing that goes on, then we can easily come to the conclusion that He is not only alive, He is still very much active in our lives today. Nothing is allowed without His blessing. Nothing can take place without His approval.
Remember… Jesus is King, and Kings sit on the throne. And that is exactly where Jesus is today:
19 So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.
Jesus is not gone, He simply changed venues. Instead of being Lord of all in the flesh, He is now serving as Lord of all from the throne on high, but Jesus is still Jesus.
I need you to get this, because some of you have been struggling… You struggle to understand the significance of Jesus in your life if He is gone; You struggle to understand how you are supposed to maintain a relationship with someone who isn’t physically here anymore; You struggle to see how Jesus still plays a vital role in your life today, though He lived, died, and rose again over 2,000 years ago.
And listen to me… I get it! I understand, I do. But if you can come to a place of understanding this, you will see a massive difference in your life with God. Jesus will no longer be some distant figure in your mind, but will become the most important relationship to you in all of the world. You will lean in close and put every effort into knowing Him fully, and you will experience spiritual growth like never before.
And that’s exactly where some of you are today. You need that in your lives, because if we’re being honest, it is so easy to slip into this non-personal, non-important, go through the motions type of Christianity that gives little importance or effort to knowing God fully. We’ve all been there, and some of you may very well be there today.
But listen to me. God loves you! He wants you to experience fully who He is. He wants you to see all the opportunities in front of you to open up and allow Him to work in your life. He wants to reveal Himself to you on a deeper level than you have ever experienced before.
10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
Jesus does not want you to simply exist, He wants you to thrive. And I’m not talking about financially, physically, or some other worldly means, I’m talking spiritually. He wants you to have mountain-moving faith. He wants you to experience His power in and through you, accomplishing His will through your obedience. He wants you to know what it is like to see His mighty hand at work in your own life, as well as in the lives of others through your faith and obedience. He is a miracle working God, but He has chosen to perform those miracles through faithful brothers and sisters in Christ, who are living in obedience to His will, and who believe that He is able to do the unthinkable, and the impossible.
26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Do you believe that? Do you believe that Jesus is alive and well? Do you believe that He sits at the right hand of the Father? Do you believe that He did all that He did so that you could be saved, born again, and given a new life… not an average life, an above average life. The kind of life that others could only dream of. The kind of life that sees the power of Almighty God on display on a regular basis. Do you believe that?
Well I’ll say this… whether you believe it or not… it’s true! It’s all true.
God did send Jesus to die in your place so that you could have life more abundantly!
God does love you that much!
God did raise Jesus from the dead on the third day!
Jesus is alive! He did ascend! He is at the right hand of God! And He is there, still moving and operating on our behalf!
Let’s look at it:
34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
Mark 16:19 told us that when Jesus ascended, He went to sit at the right hand of God. Paul tells us here in Romans what Jesus is doing while at the right hand of God. He is making intercession for you and I.
This word intercession means “to petition; to request formally and earnestly (as from someone higher in authority)”.
So what is Jesus’ role now, that He has ascended and is in heaven? He is there to make intercession for us. He pleads with the Father on our behalf.
See, often times when we pray, though we have every intention of good, we really don’t know what to pray. We try to be mindful of the will of God. We try to pray in accordance with His will. We try to be fair in our prayers, but we simply do not know all that God knows. So when we pray, we may pray for one thing, when God is attempting to do exactly the opposite in someone’s life. We pray for healing, but God is allowing that suffering in their life for a very good reason.
26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
So when we pray, the Spirit of God helps us to do so. Sometimes, when we have no idea what to say, or how to pray, the Spirit sends the feelings, emotions, and motives of our heart up for us to Christ. The Spirit intercedes on our behalf. Other times, we may pray something that is actually counterproductive to what God is doing, not because we want to be out of the will of God, but simply because we aren’t sure what to pray for. In those moments, Jesus takes those prayers and makes intercession for us to the Father. He interprets the motives of our hearts, and then passes along the information.
27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
So Jesus and the Spirit work in unison to help us in our prayer life.
And here’s the best part. Since Jesus is able to see the motives of your heart, He knows when you are genuine. He sees your brokenness. He knows what your heart is trying to say, even when you don’t.
And those of you who are lost here today, Listen to me. You might believe that you can’t pray, or that you don’t know how to pray… it’s ok. Jesus does.
25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
Jesus hears that prayer, even if you have no clue what you are doing, or what to say. Jesus searches your heart, and He knows exactly what you are trying to say. So the Spirit takes what you are trying to say and sends it up to Jesus. Then Jesus takes it before the Father and pleads with Him on your behalf.
Praise God… Jesus is alive, and He is active in our lives today!
Jesus Was Taken
Jesus Was Taken
9 Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
Let me show why this matters.
1 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand,
2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
44 Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.”
In other words, Jesus stayed here until all that the Scriptures prophesied concerning His first coming was fulfilled. All of them. Every single one.
That means that Jesus fulfilled hundreds of OT prophecies during His short time on earth. That is unfathomable.
But why is that so important. Because everything that Christ accomplished was so that you and I could come into fellowship with God.
10 for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
That was His purpose. He was here to secure a way for mankind to come back into true fellowship with God.
1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Everything that needed to happen to turn the tide of humanity was accomplished in Christ, and once it was complete, He was taken up to sit at His rightful place on the throne on high.
This means that everything needed for you to be forgiven, saved, and transformed was accomplished in Christ.
Jesus Is Coming Back
Jesus Is Coming Back
11 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 into heaven.”
As the disciples stand here and gaze up into the heavens, two angels appear and tell them that Jesus is coming back, just as He left.
13 “I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven…
64 Jesus said to him, “It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Jesus is coming back, and when He does, He’s coming back with all of that power and authority that He has.
14 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud sat One like the Son of Man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle.
The first time, He came to bring justification, but when He returns, He will bring judgment.
I don’t show you that to scare you, or to try to manipulate you into making some hasty decision. It’s not that at all. I tell you that because it is the truth.
No one knows when Jesus is coming back. It could be today… it could also be another 1,000 years. But here is what we do know.
Right now, we live an age of grace. We are blessed to be able to ponder the things of God with freedom, with time to seek out truth and make an educated decision based upon the conviction of the Holy Spirit and the evidence of Scripture.
But there is coming a day when Jesus is coming back for His church. When He does, all of us who are in Christ will be taken from this sin filled world and translated into the presence of Almighty God. Those who are left will have to deal with the absolute righteousness of Jesus Christ against sin. That wrath of God which will be poured out during that day will be completely justified, and friend trust me when I tell you this… you do not want to be there.
The Bible makes this as clear as anything else it teaches. You do not want to be present during those days. There will be natural disasters like this world has never seen. There will be worldwide plagues that wipe out billions of people. There will be demons loosed from the pits of hell to wreak havoc upon this earth and mankind will have no answer. There will be nothing that anyone can do to stop them.
Death will run rampant. Peace will become a word long forgotten, and suffering will become the norm.
Well what if He tarries? What if He doesn’t come back for another 1,000 years?
It changes nothing. Regardless of when the Day of the Lord comes, every single person must stand before God and be judged.
27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,
There is no escaping judgment. It is like death… it’s something we all have to face at some point in our future.
But here is the good news of Jesus Christ!
He is alive! His love for you has never changed! He wants you to know Him fully! He wants you to know yourself fully! He wants to save you so that you might experience this new life that He came to give you!
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
Commitment
Commitment
