The Work of Christ - Part 2
Notes
Transcript
PRAYER
Introduction and Review
The entire NT teaches the humiliated and exalted Christ as the core of the gospel.
His Humiliation includes his incarnation, sinless life, and atoning death.
His Exaltation includes his resurrection, ascension, session, intercession, and second coming.
Last week we spent our time looking at The State of Jesus’ Humiliation.
So, this week I want us to look at his Exaltation.
The State of Exaltation
The works of the exalted Christ begin with his resurrection.
The Resurrection of Christ
In addition to the coming and continued work of the Holy Spirit, the Book of Acts is the story of the Apostles’ proclaiming the resurrection of Christ and their continued prayers to Christ as the one who’s living and reigning in heaven.
“Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne,
he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.
This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.
Much like Acts, the epistles also depend entirely on the truth of Jesus’ resurrection.
The book of Revelation also repeatedly shows the risen Christ reigning in heaven preparing for his Return to conquer his enemies and reign in everlasting glory.
So, why is the resurrection of Jesus so important for us?
Christ’s Resurrection Ensures Our Regeneration
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
Here Peter explicitly connects Jesus’ resurrection with our regeneration, our new birth.
even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
In his resurrection, Jesus earned for us a new life just like his.
Of course, we don’t receive all the new ‘resurrection life’ here and now when we become Christians because our bodies remain as they were, still subject to weakness, aging, and death.
But in our spirits, we’re made alive with new resurrection power.
Christ’s Resurrection Ensures Our Justification
who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
By raising Jesus from the dead, God the Father was in effect saying that he approved of Christ’s work of suffering and dying for our sins, and that Christ’s work of redemption was completed.
Listen closely… there is no longer a penalty left to pay for sin, no more wrath of God to bear, no more guilt or liability to punishment—and no guilt remains for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Christ’s Resurrection Ensures That We Will Receive Perfect Resurrection Bodies
And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.
knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.
Because of Christs’ resurrection, we’ll be forever be healed, glorified, whole, and not susceptible to the curse of sin ever again.
Now let’s look at…
The Ascension of Christ
Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.
For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.” ’
Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
The Ascension is the Prerequisite of Christ’s Subsequent Saving Works
The Ascension Was Necessary for Christ to Send the Gift of the Holy Spirit
Christ makes this claim explicitly in…
Nevertheless, 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.
Upon Christ’s ascension, he received the Spirit from the Father, and then as the great prophet, priest, and King he poured out the Spirit upon his church as a blessing.
The Ascension Was Necessary for Christ’s Work of Intercession
In Hebrews 8, Christ’s intercession is his current priestly ministry to us his people.
This heavenly ministry is possible only as Christ takes his position as a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.
That position is achieved only by his ascension.
The Ascension Was Necessary for the Second Coming of Christ
Peter declared this truth before the Sanhedrin...
whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.
Although we can’t fully grasp the mystery of God’s plan, it does require that Jesus ascend into heaven and rule and empower his church so that the kingdom of God continues to grow.
Christ’s ascension saves in that every benefit that the church receives from Jesus from heaven would be impossible unless he first ascended to take his position there.
Let’s move on to…
The Session of Christ
The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree.
God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.
Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
The Session of Christ Indicates the Completion of Christ’s Work of Redemption
Just like we sit down at the end of a hard day’s work, satisfied with what we’ve accomplished, Christ also sat down visibly demonstrating that his work of redemption is complete.
The Session of Christ Indicates That He Received Authority Over the Entire Universe
This is what Paul refers to in Ephesians 1 when he says that God “raised him from the dead and seated at his right hand far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named.
The Intercession of Christ
The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
After making the final sacrifice for sins, Jesus rose from the grave, ascended into heaven, sat down at God’s right hand, poured out the Holy Spirit on the church, and began his role of intercessor on our behalf.
Christ Appears in God’s Presence on Our Behalf
The testimony of Scripture is that Christ has risen and that he has ascended to heaven and appeared in the presence of God on our behalf.
And even now, the exalted Christ, seated in heaven, is making continual and effective intercession for us his people, thus guaranteeing our final salvation.
This leads to the second way that the intercession saves.
Christ’s Intersession is One Means By Which God Enable His People to Continue in Faith and Obedience.
God plans that his elect perseveres in faith and obedience, and one means by which God accomplishes his plan is the continual intercession of Christ on our behalf.
Christ’s priestly intercession is not only continual…
Christ’s Intersession is Effective
God the Father listens to his Son, and the Father always answers his Son’s requests.
I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”
This means that Christ’s intercessory prayers are always successful.
He prays that the elect will continue in the faith and persevere until final salvation, and God always answers his prayers.
He’s always successful…
Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
The Second Coming of Christ
“I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.
Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.
Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
Jesus’s Return Means Our Being with Him and the Father
Jesus himself proclaims this in John’s Gospel…
In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
Therefore encourage one another with these words.
Jesus’s Return Brings Glory
Paul declares that Jesus’s Return will mean glory for Christians.
But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
His second coming will mean great glory for all the redeemed.
Jesus’s Return Brings Eternal Life
Near the end of Revelation, Jesus says…
“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.
Next, John utters a beatitude…
Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.
Jesus’s Return Brings Joy
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,
waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
Jesus’s Return Brings Deliverance
This deliverance takes two forms.
First, he will deliver his people from any persecution they’re enduring.
Paul makes this plain at the beginning of…
since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you,
and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels
in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
Secondly, as God’s elect we’ll be spared from all of God’s wrath yet to come.
For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,
and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
Jesus’s Return Brings the Kingdom and Our Inheritance
(Not in LG)
Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
We learn from other Scriptures that God’s kingdom’s final dimension, our inheritance, is nothing less than the new heaven and new earth!
Jesus’s Return Brings Cosmic Restoration
that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus,
whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.
Jesus’s Return will bring many, many blessings for his people, as we have seen and it’ll certainly result in God’s “restoring all things” according to OT prophetic prediction.
“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.
“For as the new heavens and the new earth that I make shall remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your offspring and your name remain.
From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the Lord.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
Application – Worship Jesus Christ, the risen, ascended, reigning, and returning Lord of glory!
He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
Are you ready to me Jesus face to face?
Let’s Pray...