A few days ago I watched the video released by the terrorist
group ISIS, in which they set afire a captured Jordanian pilot. It was a gruesome video, and I don’t
recommend that you watch it. It’s
one of those things that you won’t be able to get out of your mind.
But I had my reasons for watching it. Not the least of which was that many
Christians have been burned at the stake over the centuries. For instance,
William Tyndale who was the first to translate the Bible into English was
burned at the stake in 1536. And
while it is one thing to know that from a historical perspective, it is another
thing entirely to witness something like that in our lifetime, and to imagine
what we might do if faced with such a fate.
As I was talking to someone about this tragic event later,
they asked what seems to me to be a very pertinent question. They said, “What is it that causes
people to do such horrible things? What is the root of this kind of evil?” My answer was that the Bible says that
sin is the root of all evil. Sin
is the root cause of all the problems of the world.
And true Christianity is the only religion in the world to
really effectively deal with sin. Most religions of the world try to tell people how they are
supposed to live, to establish some sort of ideal life style. They purport to tell people how they
might aspire to be a better person.
Some may even offer hope of a future after death. But most religions at
best only offer a type of ascetic, monastic or meditative state whereby one
through sheer willpower may hope to isolate himself somewhat from sin. But all these false religions fail to
really deal effectively with sin.
But God’s plan to deal with sin meant that He would not just
tell us what we must do, but He Himself would deal with the problem of sin. Theologians tell us that there are
three characteristics of sin. The
first characteristic of sin as delineated in the Bible is sin’s penalty. God told Adam and Eve in the garden of
Eden at creation that if they sinned by eating of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil they would die. Likewise,
Romans 6:23 says that the wages of sin is death. So the penalty of sin is death, eternal death, as defined by
God. Death is not just God’s
punishment for sin, but death is the inevitable outcome of sin. All sin leads to death. Inherent in sin is the penalty of
death.
The second characteristic of sin is the power of sin. Romans
5:12 tells us, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world,
and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all
sinned.” So the power of sin is
found in the nature of sin. It is
like a genetically transmitted cancer that spread to all men from one
generation to the next, traceable back to their father Adam. It is man’s sinful nature that causes
him to sin. In John 8:34 Jesus says that “everyone who commits sin is the slave
of sin.” And as such they are held
captive by Satan to do his will. This is the power of sin that all men are held
captive under. Sin is relentless,
overpowering, corrupting, and spread from generation to generation. Sin has power and dominion over it’s
victims.
And then the third characteristic of sin is the presence of
sin. Eastern religions tell their
adherents that the only hope to escape this present state of sin is to withdraw
oneself from society. Perhaps join
a monastery where there is little temptation to sin. Or perhaps attempt to achieve nirvana through meditation
whereby they can escape the presence of temptations. But that does not eradicate the presence of sin, that just
gives one some temporary escape and even then only in a limited fashion. Even if it were possible by some
strength of will for a person to limit sin in his body to some degree he still
cannot escape the presence of sin in the world and the suffering that must be
experienced due to it’s presence. The Bible tells us that the presence of sin
entered the human race in the Garden of Eden, and it only grows worse with each
succeeding generation.
In spite of all kinds of technological, scientific,
educational, cultural and social advancements in society, things are not
getting better and better, things are going from bad to worse. Wars and rumors of wars are increasing. People are killing and being killed in
greater numbers than at any other
time in history. Sex crimes and
even sexual trafficking are reaching epidemic proportions. Abortions in the United States average
one million babies killed a year. Divorce
rates are at 50%. Drug abuse has
reached pandemic status. Hundreds
of thousands of people die of drug, alcohol and suicide related causes each
year in the United States alone.
Sixteen thousand murders are committed a year in the United States. All of this is the effect of sin. This is the presence of sin. It invades all of our lives. Even if you manage to live in a monastery
in Tibet sin will still invade your life.
Sin’s presence is inescapable.
From man’s perspective the situation is hopeless. But man’s extremity is God’s
opportunity. In the midst of man’s hopelessness is where God intervenes. God’s strategy for dealing with sin doesn’t
rely on the strength of man, or on the efforts of man or the will of man. God knew that man being inherently
sinful could not escape sin’s penalty, nor overcome sin’s power, nor be
delivered from sin’s presence. And
so God stretched forth His own arm to save man by sending His Son, Jesus Christ
to deal with sin. As Isaiah 59:1 tells us, “Behold, the LORD’S hand is not so
short that it cannot save.” God Himself provided the antidote to sin. Continuing in vs. 15, “Now the LORD
saw, and it was displeasing in His sight that there was no justice. And He saw that there was no man, and
was astonished that there was no one to intercede;
then His own arm brought salvation to Him, and His
righteousness upheld Him.”
This is the gospel.
This is what Christianity is all about. Christianity is not another religion that only tells you how
you are supposed to live but it provides life by dealing with sin. Not only did Jesus illustrate by
example how we are to live, but by His death He paid the penalty for our
sin. Only God could pay the
penalty for another’s sin, and Jesus did that on the cross for those that will accept
Him as their Lord and Savior.
And then God raised Jesus bodily from the tomb to prove that
Jesus had been able to pay the penalty for sin. If Jesus had not been holy, if He had not be deity, if He
had not been utterly sinless, then God would have left Him in Hades. But because Christ was sinless, He was
raised from the dead and over 500 people witnessed His resurrected body over
the course of 40 days.
So God dealt with our penalty of sin by applying the
punishment to Jesus at the cross.
And because Christ was raised from the dead we can know that His
sacrifice was acceptable to God.
But that still leaves the power of sin and the presence of sin. What does the gospel of Christ offer to
deal with that?
Well the answer is found in our passage today. After His resurrection, Jesus said to
the disciples in vs. 49 "And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My
Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with
power from on high." What is
He talking about? Well, John
provides a little more detail in his gospel. Look at John 16:7
"But 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.” Who is the
Helper? This is none other than
the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit.
And the Holy Spirit comes, Jesus said, to give you
power. He said you shall receive
power when the Holy Spirit is come upon you. Now some people have mistakenly taken this to mean that some
sort of mystical force emanates from God to us at some point after our
conversion so that we might experience God. They attribute weird feelings, or unknown tongues or some
other ecstatic experiences to this power of the Holy Spirit.
But folks, that is not the ministry of the Holy Spirit. We are going to go into this in detail
in a couple of weeks or so when we get into the book of Acts. But for now, just understand this; the Holy Spirit is not given to give
you the goose bumps so you can feel saved. The Holy Spirit is given first so that you can be saved and
secondly so you can act saved. So
you can have power over sin. Listen again to John 16, starting in
vs. 8-11, 13-15, "And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning
sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and
concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me;
and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. ...
13 "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all
the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears,
He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. "He will glorify Me, for He will
take of Mine and will disclose it to you. "All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I
said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.”
So then, the Holy Spirit’s ministry is to convict the world
of sin, to lead us into righteousness, and to convict the world of the coming
judgment. And John adds, the Holy
Spirit will lead us into the truth through the Word of God. Furthermore, the Holy Spirit doesn’t
speak of His own initiative, but speaks the Word of Christ. So as God is, so is Christ, and as
Christ is, so is the Spirit of Christ.
The Holy Spirit will not do anything that Christ did not do. But He is not limited to a physical
body as Jesus was on earth. He is
able to indwell the entire church and give them power over sin by leading them
into the truth, and the truth will set them free.
God, in describing the new covenant that He would bring
about in Christ said in Ezekiel
36:27 "I will put My
Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful
to observe My ordinances.” Hebrews 10:16 says the same thing, “THIS IS THE
COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THEM AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT
MY LAWS UPON THEIR HEART, AND ON THEIR MIND I WILL WRITE THEM.” The power we
have over sin is because God has given us the Holy Spirit to dwell in our
hearts so that we are no longer controlled by sin as we once were. We are no longer captive to sin. But now we have a new heart and new
desires because we are born of the Spirit, so we walk according to the
Spirit.
Listen, if you are here today and you are convicted of sin,
don’t quench the Holy Spirit.
Don’t harden your hearts against the conviction of the Holy Spirit. His job is to use the Word of God to
convict you, to lead you to recognize your need for righteousness. 1John 1:9
says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our
sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” As I said last week, repentance is the key to the
gospel. It is the key to
salvation. It is the key to
justification and the key to sanctification. James 5:16 says “confess your sins one to another so that
you may be healed.” He is not talking about physical healing, ladies and
gentlemen, he’s talking about spiritual healing.
See, just as there are three categories or characterizations
of sin, so are there three categories or stages of salvation. Salvation is justification, producing
sanctification, resulting in glorification. Justification delivers us from the penalty of sin. Jesus was our substitute, paying our
penalty by dying for us on the cross.
Sanctification delivers us from the power of sin by yielding to the
leading and conviction of the Holy Spirit on a day to day basis. And glorification is the last stage;
the removal from the presence of sin.
That brings us back to our text. Jesus was received up into glory in the sight of His
disciples. As He was talking to
them, He led them out to the area near Bethany which was on the other side of
the Mount of Olives, and He was taken up into heaven in their sight.
Why is that important? He was received into heaven. It is
important because it foreshadows our glorification, when we will be delivered
from the presence of sin. Christ’s
ascension was witnessed by the apostles and the disciples gathered there. If Jesus had just suddenly stopped
appearing during the 40 days without a bodily ascension with witnesses, then
how would we know that He lives and is seated at the right hand of God as the
gospel writers tell us? We know He
lives and is seated in the heavenlies because He was seen taken up into heaven
in bodily form. So His ascension
validates the gospel and validates the promise of final deliverance from sin
and all it’s effects.
Paul tells us He was received up into glory far above all
rule and authority. Ephesians 1: 18-23 Paul says “I pray that the eyes of your
heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His
calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of
His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the
strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from
the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all
rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not
only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave
Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of
Him who fills all in all.”
This is speaking of the glorification of Christ. That is what the ascension
reveals. Christ is above all
things. Above the power of
sin. Above the power of angels,
above the power of Satan, above the power of kings and rulers. Above all things. Above every name that is named, not
only in this age, but the age to come.
Now that is Christ’s glorification. And we know that it is so because of the ascension of
Christ.
But wait, it doesn’t stop there. Christ is the forerunner of
the church. Because He is there, we will one day be there with Him. One day Jesus will return for us. And He will take us to be with Him
forever. We who are saved are
destined to be heirs with Christ.
And when He comes again to receive us, we shall be like Him for we shall
see Him as He is. That means that
this body of sin will be done away with. This mortal will put on
immortality. That means that this
world and all it’s evil will be burned up and a new heaven and a new earth will
come down out of Heaven and we will be forever with the Lord in a sinless,
perfect environment. Sin’s
presence will be dealt with forever.
The devil and his angels will be dealt with forever. Evil men will be dealt with. Despots and megalomaniac rulers will be
dealt with. All will be cast into
the Lake of Fire which burns forever and ever. And righteousness will reign in this new heaven and new
earth for eternity.
Oh folks, listen up!
Christ’s ascension was the exclamation point on the gospel. It is the source of hope for the
saints, the source of joy for the saints.
Because we know that as He is, so are we to be. As the grave could not hold Him,
neither can the grave hold us. As
death had no power over Him, neither do we need to fear death. As He had power over sin, so can we
have power over sin. As He was
raised to glory, so we are going to be raised in glory. As sin cannot be in His presence, so we
shall be delivered from sin’s presence. Jesus promised in John 14:3 "If I
go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself,
that where I am, there you may be also.”
No wonder Luke tells us that the disciples “after worshiping
Him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple
praising God.” So should we be
praising God and worshipping Him for all that He has accomplished for us that
we so undeserving.
I want to close by continuing to read from Ephesians which
we read while ago. We stopped at
the end of chapter one. But let’s
continue with chapter 2 which serves as a complete summary of the gospel: Eph.
2:1-10 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according
to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we
too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the
flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of
His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our
transgressions, 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, so that in
the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness
toward us in Christ Jesus. For by
grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the
gift of God; not as a result of
works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good
works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
And let me just point out a couple of things there which I
want to leave you with today. The
first one is that Paul says that God raised us up with Christ and seated us
with Him in the heavenly places… I
want you to see that is not speaking of a future event, but a present
event. Those of us that have been
made alive in Christ have already been made alive, and have already been seated
with Christ in heaven. That simply
means that we have been delivered from the penalty of sin. As far as God is concerned, we are
secure in Christ. We have already
been seated in heaven with Christ spiritually speaking.
And then he says, all this has happened so that in the ages
to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness towards
us. We have been positioned with
Christ in heaven so that in eternity to come, God might shower us with the
riches of His grace. This is our
inheritance that is reserved for us.
God has already set a table there for us with our name plaque on our
chair next to Christ. And God does
not change His mind. God will keep
us and bring us into glory with Christ.
And then lastly, note that by grace we have been saved
through faith, not as a result of works.
It’s nothing we do to earn salvation. But then notice the last verse, for we are His workmanship, we
are crafted and created and designed by God, for what? For good works. Not saved by good works, but saved for
good works… which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
If you are here today and you are still in your sins, then I
hope you understood the message of the gospel. Jesus has paid the penalty and suffered the punishment for
your sins. If you will confess
your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and cleanse you
from all unrighteousness. And if
you are here today and are saved, born again by the Spirit of God, then I hope
you realize that He has given you the Spirit so that you might have the power
over sin. You were born of the
blood of Jesus not so you can continue in sin so that grace may abound, but you
were created in Christ Jesus for good works, to walk in them and according to
the leading of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God. And then for all of us that are dying
daily to the sinful nature in order to walk in the Spirit, know that there is going
to come a day when we will be delivered forever from the presence of sin. Rom.
8:18 says, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not
worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Let us continue without wavering to
look forward to His appearing.
Jesus’ death dealt with the penalty of sin; our
justification. His resurrection
provided the power over sin; our sanctification. And His ascension promises deliverance from the presence of
sin; our future glorification. The
only question left is what will you do with Jesus? Will you accept Him as your Savior, or deny Him as your
Lord? I trust that you will accept
His free offer of salvation and find freedom from sin.
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