This is the third week in a row that we have met together, have not met together as a church. I believe we're still under an order not to meet in groups of more than 10. here in Tennessee until there's further clarity on the coronavirus. And so we will continue to post our sermons on our website and on Sermon Audio. And we're also now practicing to try to get up on Facebook. I think most of our members have been staying connected by visiting with each other on the telephone. and by checking with one another and by encouraging one another in various ways. I know many of you have called me from time to time during the week. Brother Dan, by the way, has been at my house all week helping me put up a fence in my backyard. I guess I should say I'm helping him. When he tells me to go get the hammer, I go get the hammer. So we've been together this week. Many of you are spending more time at home now, and I'm sure that you've found much to do during this time. We'll be looking forward to that time when we can get out of our homes again and meet together as a church. Ms. Cheryl, by the way, has continued her card ministry. I've gotten some text messages from those, some of our visitors that have recently visited and thanking us for sending them a card and telling us that they'll be back to visit with us. So we appreciate that. Brother Dana continues to keep his eye on the church grounds, make sure that all is well. By the way, I pulled up today and the notice the yard was cut, looks good. I'm happy about that. By the way, several of you have asked about how to make your contributions to the church while we're not meeting together. You know, our bills go right on, don't they? And Brother Dana has suggested that you simply make out your checks to Grace Baptist Church and mail it to his address. His address is 20, that's two zero, Blueberry Road, Eads, that's E-A-D-S, Tennessee, 38028. As you know, we're a small church, And to everyone's faithfulness and giving is what it takes to meet our monthly obligations, doesn't it? We have a wonderful church in that regard. And I'm sure the Lord will continue to bless us as we move forward. This is Saturday morning. Seems funny to be here on Saturday morning. There are one, two, three, four, five, six, seven of us here this morning. Brother Dan comes all the time to help me with the recording and several of you came to help me now trying to get live on Facebook. And then Brother Dana and Kim and Cheryl have come this morning just to share as we record this sermon. Last week, we began to talk about the glorious exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you remember last week was Easter Sunday, Resurrection Day? And we had a sermon concerning the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And we're talking about his exaltation in his human body. Of course, Jesus didn't always have a human body. Before the foundation of the world, Jesus didn't have a human body. God is spirit, the Bible says. And Jesus lived in that heavenly realm. He was with the Father. He was God in every sense. He was very God. He was almighty God. He and the Father were one in essence. There was no limit to his knowledge and wisdom. There was no limit to his great power. There was explosive power in the Son of God. And this was proven, of course, beyond doubt when the second person of the Godhead opened his mouth and spoke the word and created the heavens and the earth. Now, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. That's the first, what, seven or 10 words of the Bible. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and Paul tells us that that was Jesus that did it. That was Jesus sitting in the heavens that did such a thing. My, isn't he great? My, isn't Jesus full of power? He sits in the heavens and he does whatsoever he pleases. Now, not only was the universe made by Jesus, but it was made for him. There was a man who had a piece of land and he bought him some lumber and other materials and he built a house. And when he was finished building, people came by and they said, my, what a beautiful house. And they were astonished at this magnificent house. It was huge and it was gorgeous and it was wondrously constructed. And they were amazed that this man could build such a house. And they published the news around the city how this man could build such a house. And this man got great glory for building such a house. But then someone asked him, who did you build the house for? Did you build it for the governor? Did you build it for the mayor? And the man said, no, I built it for me. And you see, this is what Jesus did. He made a universe full of all kinds of things and all kinds of creatures. It is a very great universe. And if you ask Jesus who he built it for, he would tell you that he built it for himself. You see, this great universe was made by the creator and for the creator. It was to glorify him and to please him and rightfully so, you see. And if we enjoy a little bit of it too, then aren't we blessed? But we're not the center of the universe. He is. He is the builder of the house and it is for him and it is for his glory. Oh, by the way, Paul tells us in Colossians 1.17 that Jesus does one other little thing for the universe that he created. One other little bitty thing, it says. He sustains it by his mighty power. If you're a thinking person, I'm sure you are, you probably have wondered how it is that this massive universe holds together day after day without flying off into confusion. Science tells us that things tend to fall apart over time, but amazingly this universe holds together and functions as it was designed day after day. Jesus Christ keeps His hands on it and sustains it every day. So in one sense, Jesus Christ has always been exalted, wouldn't you agree? He is the Alpha and Omega. He is the beginning and the end. And He is and always has been high and lifted up in His divine nature. But here's the thing. One day, Jesus did the unthinkable. He submitted to becoming a man. It was a very great condescension because man is a lower creature than God. In fact, man is in some ways a lower creature than the angels. And Jesus, the creator of all things, can you believe it? He became a man. This is a very great mystery. It is impossible for us to conceive of it. It is beyond our comprehension how this could be. And yet in the divine councils, it was possible. And the divine took on a human nature. It's called a humiliation. It was a lowering of himself. If I agreed to become a bug and crawl in the dirt for the rest of my life, it would not be such a lowering as Jesus did. It is an unthinkable act that Jesus performed in becoming a man and he became a poor man. He became a despised man. He became a suffering man. And he became a dying man. He was lowered down from glory to shame. He was lowered down from being the Lord of all things to being the servant of all. And so he stooped down, he stooped all the way down, and he did it to save his people from their sins. One day, Jesus' disciples asked him, who would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? This is found in Matthew chapter 18, verses one through five. And Jesus said, unless you become like a little child, you will not see the kingdom of heaven. The idea seems to be that greatness in his kingdom is measured by humbleness and humility in this life. John and James asked if they could sit with Jesus in his kingdom. Jesus then asked them, are you able to suffer? It appears that true greatness in his kingdom is measured by one's willingness to be lowly in this life. At the last supper, the disciples asked Jesus who would be the greatest in his kingdom. And Jesus said, the servant shall be the greatest. And then Jesus washed their feet. The story of Jesus' life is a story of great humiliation and servanthood. Jesus was the absolute servant of all humanity. Jesus healed the sick, he raised the dead, and he saved them from their sins. And because he was the greatest servant of all, it must be that Jesus would be highly exalted. This is the principle of his kingdom. And exaltation must be the ultimate destination for Jesus. It just must be so. We saw last week that after his death, after three days, Jesus was resurrected. And this was the first stage of his exaltation. And what a glorious beginning it was. His spirit reentered his body and he opened his eyes and he simply got up and he folded his grave clothes and he walked out of the tomb. Now, no man had ever raised himself from the dead, but Jesus did. And what a glorious day it was. We celebrate that day by meeting together for worship on the first day of every week It's why we now come on the first day, because Jesus came out of the tomb and was exalted on the first day of the week. This morning, we wanna move on to the next stage of his exaltation, and that is the ascension of Jesus. By his ascension, we mean that glorious day when Jesus Christ in his resurrected human body ascended from the earth into heaven. What a day that must have been and what a day of honor it was for Jesus. We wanna see, first of all, that the ascension of Jesus was foretold in the Old Testament. Now, many of the prophecies are actually found in the Psalms, you probably understand, and in Psalm 47.5, I believe this Psalm is directly talking about the ark that was returned into Israel, and in a sense, God returning to Israel. But many commentators believe that it is a foreshadowing of the ascension of Christ. It says in Psalm 47.5, God is gone up with a shout. That sounds like the ascension, doesn't it? The Lord with the sound of a trumpet. As I said, this Psalm literally applies to the Ark of the Covenant, which was captured and then returned to Israel. The Ark was a representation of the presence of God. And when the Ark was returned, it was as though God returned. And the people shouted for joy when God returned to Israel. And they sounded the trumpets for joy when the Ark came up into the city, but many commentators believe that it alludes also to the great ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. It says God is gone up with a shout and with the sound of a trumpet. This must have been how it was at the ascension of Jesus. Now, if you read through the New Testament, the New Testament doesn't give us much detail about the ascension of Jesus. In Acts chapter one, you might remember, it appears that the apostles and maybe others were standing there when Jesus ascended into heaven. They watched him until he disappeared in the clouds. And then two angels told them that Jesus would come in like manner. We know that when Jesus comes again, that the heavens will be opened and he will appear coming in the clouds. There will be a great shout by the archangel and there will be a great trumpet blast. Now remember that he will descend the same way that he ascended. So it seems that when he ascended, there must have been a shout for joy. Perhaps the angels shouted. Perhaps the archangel gave a loud shout when Jesus began to ascend from the earth. And perhaps there was a loud trumpet blast to signal the great event which was taking place. And so Psalm 47.5 says, the Lord is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. But then in Psalm 110.1, in Psalm 110.1, it says, the Lord said unto my Lord, this is David speaking. The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. Here, David is forecasting what the father would ultimately say to his son, Jesus. The father would look down at his son and say, come here and sit down at my right hand. This verse is evidently an allusion to the ascension of Jesus, when Jesus would be brought to his proper place at the right hand of the father. There are other places that allude to the ascension of Jesus. Daniel chapter 7. Daniel chapter 7 and verses 13 and 14 read like this. I saw in the night visions and behold one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven. and came to the ancient of days and they brought him near before him and there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people, nations and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. In this prophecy, Notice that Jesus is coming in the clouds. Now, when we read that, sometimes we think he's coming down. But if you read it more closely, he's not coming down, but he's going up. He is coming to whom? The Ancient of Days. And notice that he's going for the purpose of exaltation. He's not coming down in humiliation, but he's going up in glory. It says in Psalm 68, 18, and this is also quoted in Ephesians chapter four, as relating to the ascension of Christ. It says in Psalm 68, 18, thou hast ascended on high. Thou hast led captivity captive. This passage is quoted by Paul in Ephesians chapter four and is clearly a reference to the ascension of Jesus Christ into the heavens. So the Old Testament looked forward to the ascension of Jesus as a very important and glorious event. But then we see that the ascension of Jesus Christ in fact did occur. in due course. Just as all biblical prophecies are fulfilled in due time and in exact and complete detail, so the ascension of Jesus Christ into the heavens was brilliantly and literally fulfilled in the presence of witnesses. First of all, angels witnessed the ascension of Jesus. While the apostles and others stood there gazing into the heavens at the amazing sight of the body of Jesus disappearing into the clouds, two angels appeared to them and explained that he would return in like manner. In Daniel 7.13, it appears that angels escorted Jesus into the very presence of the Father. It says they brought him to the ancient of days. Angels have always had the great privilege of witnessing the mighty works of God. And on this day, they witnessed the extraordinary ascension of Jesus and his return to his place of glory. But not only the angels witnessed the ascension, but the 11 apostles and others witnessed the ascension from Acts 1 verses 9 and 10. This was a very select group. It was a very privileged group, and it must have been a very astonished group of believers who stood there agape, their mouths open, and they watched the body of Jesus lift off from the earth and ascend into the clouds. It says that they looked steadfastly. In other words, they did not take their eyes off of this site at all until Jesus disappeared. I guess so. If you're ever standing there and someone ascends into the clouds, I suspect you'll look steadfastly too. Of course, there were other witnesses to the ascended Christ. Stephen, you might remember, witnessed the ascended Christ. As they were stoning Stephen to death, he looked up and he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of the father. Paul witnessed the ascended Christ. Of course, he witnessed Jesus at his conversion on the road to Damascus. But it also appears that Paul was caught up to heaven and saw and heard things that he says are not to be uttered. 2 Corinthians 12, one through four. But next let's consider that place from which Jesus ascended. Mount Olivet was about a mile from Jerusalem. It was right outside of the city. In fact, the Garden of Gethsemane was located here or there. In fact, Jesus may have ascended from the very spot or very near the spot where he suffered great drops of blood and where he fell on his face in agony. But now look how all things work together for good to them that love God. Now he's not suffering at all. Now he is not lying on his face in the dirt. But now he is ascending into the heavens to be in the presence of the Father. Now he's going to enjoy the pleasures of heaven and to partake of the glory that was promised him from all eternity. By the way, this is a great example for us, for we also must go through many tribulations. We also must suffer in our garden of Gethsemane that we too might be raised up to be with our God in eternal joy. Be patient, be patient in your troubles. Eternal pleasures will be your great reward too. But then we see the place to which Jesus ascended. The disciples were standing there looking up as Jesus ascended, but they could only see as far as the clouds would allow them to see. It says they were looking up toward heaven, but they could not see farther than the clouds. Jesus had a higher destination, you see. It seems that his destination was beyond the clouds, and in fact, beyond the bounds of the universe. Heaven is another realm. It is where the Father is, and that is the place to where Jesus ascended. I think some people imagine heaven to be merely an ethereal place, a place with no particular boundaries, no limitations, and perhaps no substance. And they imagine that we will be a wisp of wind floating on a cloud of nothingness. They imagine that it is not so much a place but a state of existence. But the ascension of Jesus should teach us that it is a very real place of substance. Jesus, in his resurrected body, was not merely a wisp of wind, but he was a real body. And he must have been going to a real place. He must have been going to a circumspect place. We have a difficult time thinking of Jesus as being finite, because we know that in his divine nature, he is eternal, omniscient, omnipresent and unbounded by time and space. That's the way he is in his divine nature. But this was part of his great condescension, you see. He was made a man somehow In the eternal counsels, it was possible for the eternal and infinite God to become a man bounded and constrained by time and space. When Jesus became a man, he had a very real body which could only be one place at a time. And the same seems to be true of his glorified body. Just as his human body on the earth was finite, so his glorified human body would seem to be finite. This is a very great mystery, isn't it? Jesus made himself human and he ascended in his human nature and you and I will follow him in our human bodies to this very real place called heaven. But then we wanna take a look at the effects of his ascension. And we see first of all that Jesus received glory. That's really what it's all about. It's for Jesus to go and finally receive the glory that is due to him. The ascension of Jesus was a very glorious event. It was attended by angels and men. And from the earthly perspective, it was astonishing. and dumbfounding and breathtaking, but from the divine perspective, it was a magnificent parade. It appears that angels brought Jesus to heaven. There must have been much shouting and trumpets blaring when Jesus was escorted in. This was a great victory party. There must have been a great celebration in heaven on that day. And much praise must have been heaped on the head of the conquering hero when they brought him in. But then we see that Jesus was reunited with the Father. That's one reason why he ascended to heaven. Jesus was with the Father before the foundation of the world and now in human form. He was with him again. But then we also see that Jesus received the kingdom. In Daniel 7 and verses 13 and 14, it seems here that there was a formal declaration of dominion given to Jesus after his ascension. Jesus is given dominion over all things, over all men and over all kingdoms. Jesus is declared to be the King of Kings. All things are handed over to the human Jesus. The man, Jesus, is now the ruler over all things. But then we also see that upon his ascension, Jesus received gifts to be given to the church. You might take a look again at Psalm 68, 18. Psalm 68, 18 that we looked at just a moment ago says, thou hast ascended on high, thou hast left or led captivity captive, thou hast received gifts for men. Jesus has dominion over all things and in a loving and caring way, he has dominion over his people, you see. Christ is the head of the church and he has sovereign authority to bestow gifts for the benefit of the church. Jesus hands out these gifts sovereignly. He made some to be apostles He made some to be prophets and evangelists, and he made some to be pastors and teachers, and he delivers these men to his churches and says, here is a wonderful gift for you. But then we see that upon his ascension that Jesus assumed his position as mediator for his people. Jesus sat down at the right hand of the Father. He has continual access to the Father, you see. He sat down right beside him. And when you and I fall short, and we surely will, he that saith he hath no sin is a what? A liar. And we need a mediator. When you and I fall short, he looks over to the father and says, I paid the penalty for him. I paid the penalty for her and the father is propitiated and he accepts the mediation of the son on our behalf. I want to conclude this morning by taking you out for a moment to the Mount of Olives. We've walked out of the city of Jerusalem. We've walked just a little way up and around the mountain toward Bethany, it says. We pause as we pass the Garden of Gethsemane and we remember the great suffering of the Savior. But he's risen. He still has the nail prints in his hands and feet. And as we're standing there, finally, Jesus, stops and looks down at the city of Jerusalem and we're wondering what Jesus will do next. And suddenly we notice that his feet are not touching the ground. They are a foot above the ground and then they are 10 feet above the ground and we cannot take our eyes off of him. There have been many times that we could not take our eyes off of Jesus. He has done many mighty miracles and we couldn't take our eyes off of him. He preached beautiful sermons and we couldn't turn our ears away. But mostly when we looked at him, we have found him to be a very beautiful person. Jesus is the most beautiful person that has ever lived. He is full of mercy. He will help you when you need help. He is full of grace. He will forgive you when you need forgiveness. He's full of love and he will love you when you need to be loved. He is the kindest man that ever lived. He showers kindnesses on everyone he meets. Jesus is the most unforgettable man that we have ever known and we cannot take our eyes off of him. We stand with our mouths open in amazement. He is the wisest man that we've ever heard. Wisdom flows from his lips and we cannot stop listening to him speak. Jesus is the greatest man that we've ever known. Surely he has had the greatest impact on the world of any man who ever lived and we can't stop looking at him. He is the most charismatic man on the face of the earth. There's something about him and we can't stop watching him. Jesus is the greatest preacher, the greatest teacher, the greatest prophet that we've ever known. And we can't take our eyes off of him. And now as we stand on the Mount of Olives, our mouths are opened again with amazement and we can't stop looking. He's now 50 feet above the earth. He's a hundred feet in the air. And suddenly he disappears from sight into the clouds. And we say to ourselves, surely this was the son of God. I've been preaching to you this morning about how Jesus ascended into heaven. And I want to ask you, do you believe it? That's really the crucial issue, isn't it? Do you believe it? Do you believe what the scriptures say about Jesus? Do you believe that he died for sinners? Do you believe that he rose from the dead? And do you believe he ascended into heaven to be crowned with glory? and to serve as an effective mediator between you and a holy God, and here's what the Bible says, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Let's bow, please. Our heavenly Father, thank you for the word that you give to us. We thank you for this great and momentous event that took place, and that is the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. He humbled himself for a moment, but then he ascended back into the heavens where he's exalted and glorified, and where he remains there in his glorified human body as our representative. Lord, how we believe it, how we lay it to heart, and how we count on him for our salvation. Lord, help us to believe. Help us to turn our lives over to Him. Help us to count His righteousness as our own. And we pray this in Christ's name.