Last time we were together in the afternoon, we looked at this same psalm and we looked at its use apologetically and textually by Christ himself and by the apostles. And we want to look at this psalm again today from a little different angle and consider its significance for us as believers in this time and place. and how we might better pray for and minister to our brothers and sisters in this time, but in other places. There have been thoughts of some, I've heard the question posed throughout the years in ministry, why didn't Jesus just stay on earth? He was raised from the dead, why didn't he just stay? Wouldn't that have been evidentiary, to the hilt, wouldn't that have been an ongoing neat thing, I guess, for him to just stay on earth? Why did he have to go back to heaven? Why did he have to ascend? I guess that's usually a corollary question to, why after I'm saved does Jesus leave me here? Why doesn't he just take me? But that question comes. Why didn't Jesus just stay? on the earth. Well, after Christ's ascension, the Holy Spirit's presence came in a powerful and particular way upon the church. And through that, he made Christ's presence a constant companion to all believers. After the incarnation, Christ was in one place. It's physically bound. The Spirit, having not been incarnated, isn't and is able to be in all places with all believers. And so, Psalm 110 sheds a bit of light on the significance of Christ's kingship for the believers and how the Christian life is impacted here and now by his mediatorial kingship in the heavenly places. We want to start by looking at a number of promises that Christ gave. It's not uncommon for people to have a life verse, a verse of significance. Perhaps it was one that came early on in their discipleship that really helped shape them and craft them. You might be thinking of your verse or verses right now. It might have been during a time of great trial and strain and God's Word comforted you in a particular way and so sometimes those verses become significant. This first promise that we want to look at is one that has been obviously significant for the entirety of Christ's church. That's what's come to be known as the Great Commission in Matthew 28 verses 18 through 20. Then Jesus came and spoke to them saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen. Here we find Christ's promise to be with us always. He is with us individually. He is with us corporately. Christ's presence is with us. In the King James, you might remember that verse says, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Met a man one time who was afraid of flying. And he said, I don't like to fly. And he took great comfort in this verse, that lo, I am with you always. It's the afternoon. I feel we needed something. The soup is kicking in. The cornbread is kicking in. But Christ's promise is very clear, very clear to us. He is with us always. There are those who claim to walk in the Christian faith who live in great fear all the time, that they have lost Christ's presence, that He has taken the Spirit away from them, that they have fallen away, that they have committed the unpardonable sin. And now, you know, can I be saved? Is Christ still with me? As a pastor, I handle questions like that very simply. I say, are you worried that you may have committed the unpardonable sin? Yes, I'm very concerned. Then you probably haven't. You most likely haven't because had you, you wouldn't care. You would not care. But Christ's promise is clear to us. He is with us always. even to the end of the age. And as we've been reading through the book of the revelation of Jesus Christ, and I hope you appreciate, as I do, Elder Handerman's worship leading. I get a lot out of it. And just a reminder of all the different things that are going on in this age. And we have the promise of Christ's presence with us. John 16 verses six through 11, Jesus says, rather sorrow has filled your hearts because I have told you these things. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is expedient for you that I go away. For if I do not go away, the counselor will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. When He comes, He will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment, of sin because they do not believe in Me, of righteousness because I am going to My Father and you will see Me no more, and of judgment because the ruler of this world stands condemned." This sounds very similar to another promise that Jesus gave just a couple chapters previously. And you hear it in your mind when we start with the words, and if I go, I will prepare a place for you and I will come again. Again, there are many believers who take great comfort in, as we should, in the return of Jesus Christ. But that is not the only promise Christ gave in connection to his ascension, to his going away. The other promise was another presence, another comforter, another person of the Godhead who would come. And quite contrary to our natural thought and inclination, it wouldn't be better if Jesus was just on earth with us. Physically, we could go visit him. Wouldn't that be better? No. Jesus himself says it's expedient that I go because if I don't go, I can't send. the comforter, the counselor to you. A great promise from the Lord. Luke 12, verses 11 and 12. When they bring you to the synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not be anxious how you will answer or what you will say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say. And so we were reminded this morning that Christ is our prophet, that he is the one that reveals to us God's will for our salvation. But here, the Holy Spirit, also known in scripture as the Spirit of Christ, in times of great persecution and great terror and great pains coming upon the church, the Holy Spirit will also teach us what we should say in those moments. We saw this fulfilled in the lives of the apostles as they were beaten and dragged before the authorities and crucified and all sorts of things happening to them. And we're not to live in anxiety, but we are to trust in the presence of Christ through the Holy Spirit to teach us what we should say in those moments. Ephesians 3, 14-19 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would give you, according to the riches of his glory, power to be strengthened by his Spirit in the inner man, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and the length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." The part I wanted to touch on was right there in the middle, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. But you can't just read that part without reading the whole sentence there. What a great Pauline sentence that is. But that Christ dwells in our hearts through faith. That is the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit as He applies to us, the person and work of Christ. So as we consider these promises of Christ, these are promises that could not function, could not be fulfilled with Christ remaining on earth as He was. It is indeed true what He said. It is expedient for us that he went away and sent the counselor, sent the Holy Spirit to us. That was only made possible by ascension. This Psalm, Psalm 110 is set post ascension. Christ has ascended on high. He had been crucified dead and buried three days later, raised again, then ascended on high and been coronated. He is seated in power. He is now waiting for all enemies to be made his Ottoman, his footstool to be under his feet, to be clearly displayed as under his authority. he is seated in power. And as he is seated there, we know that then at Pentecost, the spirit came. It's not that the spirit had never been on earth before. It's not that the spirit had not had a ministry before, but in that next stage of God's revelation of Himself to us, the Spirit's ministry became more obvious and apparent. As Christ now had left, the Holy Spirit comes, and the mission of the Church booms. But that would not and could not have happened unless the Ascension had happened. And because the Ascension happened, and because the Holy Spirit has been sent, then this is something that is permanent in the lives of believers. Once the Holy Spirit has indwelled us, has begun applying the person and work of Jesus Christ to us, that becomes our permanent reality. That cannot be rescinded. It cannot be undone. Once that really is real for us, it really is permanent for us. Consequently, all the promises of Christ regarding the presence and ministry and teaching, et cetera, et cetera, of the Holy Spirit are also then a continual reality for the believer. And this is where I want to intersect Psalm 110 with our contemporary setting and what we see around us. We have been praying for some time for the Chinese church, not just our denominational brothers and sisters there, but the entirety of the evangelical and reformed church in China. You know, there was a day of great sadness when Chairman Mao came in and took over. And there was a sense in the Western, primarily white mind, that the gospel was dead in China. I have somewhere in my piling system in my office the letter from the Chinese mission team to our foreign mission board. And it is sad. As they left, some of them retreated to Japan. J.G. Voss came all the way back to North America. We hope we did something. We hope we accomplished something. We translated some books. We translated the standards. We did some teaching. We did some training. We hope that something is accomplished in time here. Little did those folks know what would crack open over the next 50, 60, 70 years. It's a little bit of an aside, but I think by removing Western missionaries from China, particularly for our denomination, he was saving the gospel in China. And for our denomination, he was saving the gospel in the RPCNA as well. And those of you who grew up with the presence of J.G. Voss's ministry know what I'm saying. That our church was not where it needed to be, theologically in a number of places. The Lord used him in just the regular Bible studies coming out into people's homes, running them off on the mimeograph machine and showing up in people's mailboxes where he walked people book by book, step by step through the scriptures, very profitable. many of our older saints who were deeply impacted by his ministry of the word that went way beyond the local pulpit or Geneva College. And so, this thought that the gospel is dead in China could not have ultimately been further from the truth. I mentioned this morning, those of you with smartphones may have checked, In Sri Lanka, the death toll is around 215 from earlier today. Around 500 injured from various explosions in various church buildings targeting Christians. What is the backdrop to this persecution? It is Christ's kingship where He is defeating all of our foes. We can see the terror, we can see the power, we can see the uncertainty, we can see the numbers of dead and injured and think, what is going on? What is happening? We can hear of brothers and sisters in Nigeria being beheaded. We can hear of the beatings. I grew up with a working knowledge of the church in Romania, under Ceausescu, behind the Iron Curtain, and the Christians who would disappear in the middle of the day, never to be heard from again. What is going on? How is this expedient for the church? But brothers and sisters, remember Christ's promise. When they bring you to the synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not be anxious how you will answer or what you will say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say. And so if we can think in two tracks here, we think of what is going on from the heavenly perspective that Christ is seated in power. All authority has been given to him. That's the beginning. of the Great Commission. You want to listen to someone who says, I already have all the power. The great political movements is about people trying to get power. And here Christ, the greatest political leader shows up and says, Hey, I already have all the power. I have all the authority. And here's what we're going to do. We're going to go into every nation and we're going to make disciples. That's what we're going to do. We don't have to get power. We don't have to steal power. We don't have to, I have it all. If somebody has any kind of power on earth, it's because it's on loan from me. So in the heavenly realm, Christ is seated in power. All things are being brought under his feet. And we see that then spill out in the rest of this psalm. The mighty scepter that's coming out of Zion is being sent out of Zion. Where Christ is ruling in the midst of his enemies. In the heavenly realm, we see that as Christ on the throne. We see that as Christ in power. But what do we see from the earthly perspective, Christ ruling in the midst of his enemies? It looks like an apostle chained to soldiers and he is constantly preaching the gospel to them. It looks like an apostle being hauled before the civil leaders, demanding his rights as a Roman citizen and preaching the gospel to that civic leader. We do not always see things as we expect to see them. Christ being seated in power does not mean that Christians have great political clout in the United States. We get excited when a believer holds office and they use that power and authority to seek to enact good, gospel good for our nation. But as the presence of the Holy Spirit is permanent in the lives of believers, these horrific, terrorizing things still happen. And does that mean then that Christ is not seated on the throne? No. He is still a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. The Lord who is at the right hand of the Father will still strike down kings. He will still fill the nations with dead bodies. He will scatter heads all over the land. He will drink of the brook and He will lift up His head. Brothers and sisters, I want to intersect Psalm 110 and the power and the authority and the awesomeness of Christ seated in glory with the humble, broken, weak presence that we often feel we have. What hope do we have to encourage our brothers and sisters in Sri Lanka, in Pakistan, in South Sudan, in China, in Japan, where the gospel, humanly speaking, is so weak. It's so small. It's such a tiny slice of a slice of a slice of the culture there. What, what encouragement do we have as we tell them, no, the Holy Spirit is in you and with you, and he brings the presence of Christ to you. Well, the hope that we have is, is proclaimed to us week in and week out, month in and month out, year in and year out by the simple means of grace. which declares Christ is King. Jesus is Lord. It declares it over and over and over again, that these things are true, that the heavenly perspective is true, that Jesus is seated in power. Even if the earthly perspective seems like this is going nowhere. And if it's going anywhere, it's not somewhere good. as our brothers and sisters are beaten and murdered and martyred. And we know that the time could come when we face such persecutions here. How are we praying for them? How are we encouraging them? How are we helping to provide for the ministry of the broader church to see these folks built up? comes through this proclamation, through the means of grace, declaring the truth of the doctrine, being reminded again of the Holy Spirit coming and washing us free of our sins as we see baptisms. It comes through the humble meal that is on display before you here today, in which we proclaim the Lord's death. And in so doing, that is a snapshot of the entire incarnational ministry that Christ performed. Being born, suffering. Dying, buried, resurrected, ascended on high. We declare that each time we gather around the table and who is with us here at the table as we gather. Someone who couldn't be had he not ascended because he has sent his spirit here. And so spiritually, Christ is present with us at the table. He's present administering justice among us as he convicts us by his Holy Spirit of sin. As he brings us in conformity to his word. As he changes our character to reflect that of Jesus Christ. As he works out points of conflict and contention, perhaps between two members of the body. As he redeems marriages. As he saves our children. Christ is here. By the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit. He ascended on high. He is seated on power. doing all the things that Psalm 110 says he is doing. And in our midst, he is doing those things through his Holy Spirit. It's a permanent reality for us. It never ends. And it's proclaimed by the means of grace to us through the preaching of the word and through the sacraments. Amen and amen. Stand with me as we pray.