Turn with me in your Bibles, please, to the second epistle of Peter, Peter's second epistle, chapter three. Second, Peter, chapter three, verse three, know this, first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking. following after their own lusts and saying, where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation. Peter is telling us what we can expect to happen from people throughout generations and in, as he puts it, the last times or the last days. But remember, he wrote this while apostles were still alive. I mean, he was alive. And he wrote this, so it's apparent that this was probably already happening. Even though just years after Jesus had died, been buried, raised and ascended back, people were going, well, what now? And certainly, this has been intensified over the years and extremely common and powerful in our day. As we have all kinds of people who say, where's the evidence of this Jesus you Christians believe in? He said He was coming back. We don't see anything happen. People for centuries have been saying He'll be coming back in our lifetime, and He doesn't. Where is He? And they call him the Jesus myth because he doesn't seem to be doing anything anymore. So, it's a long-ago, far-away deal. Jesus is dead, buried, and that's the end of it. Nothing's happened ever since. You Christians are fools for believing a myth. That's the kind of thing Peter warned us would happen. And that is certainly the kind of thing that we see today. We have a nation that doesn't seem to care how much it sins against God and the wickedness that it does, the things that it does that are unholy and ungodly. And we're just crashing, as it were, and burning in sin. And they don't care. It never even crosses their minds that these things are an affront to God. So, for almost 2,000 years, though, the Christian church has remained steadfast in our belief that there really is Jesus. That Jesus really did come from heaven. and really did dwell among men. He left glory. He was born of a virgin. He came and He dwelled among men. He was there. He was real. Absolutely and completely real. And that this Jesus, who was the God-man, gave His life on a Roman cross. And as He gave His life on that cross, He was bearing the sins of His people. that God was pouring out His wrath upon His Son, and His Son was atoning for the sins of His people. Every single one. And that on the third day after He had died and was buried, He rose again. He really did. And so we have, to this day, the celebration of the Lord's Supper reminding us that He was real, reminding us that He really gave His body, that He really shed His blood. We are reminded, as we look into the Scriptures, that these things are true. This is what we believe. This is what we hold to. And that 40 days after His resurrection, He then ascended back into glory, to be with the Father. ascended back to heaven, as even that text I read to you said. But, that one day, He really will return. He came, He dwelled among men, He gave His life, and after the resurrection, after showing Himself to be alive to the disciples and to many people in many ways, He ascended back to the Father, but promised to come again. So, what we've been doing over the last several Lord's Days is seeking to answer the question, why? Why did God do all this? Why did God do any of this for sinful man? Man who, throughout the centuries of the existence of earth, have turned their backs on God and have sinned and have done all kinds of wicked things, even though he has blessed them and blessed them and blessed them. So why would God do any of this? Why would God go out of his way, if I could say it reverently, to save men? And we looked at the first question, why redemption? Why anything? And we saw from Psalm 103 that it was out of His love. And we saw from the New Testament that it was unto His glory. Then why the incarnation? And we saw that it was to deal with the sin of man and because of obedience to the Father. Why the crucifixion? To pay for our sin debt and also for the joy of having us with Him in heaven. And then why the resurrection? To prove His divinity, to prove His ministry, to prove Christianity and to prove eternality, that eternity is real and that we'll go there. All those things proved by the resurrection. And then now for the past several Lord's Days, we've been seeking to consider the answer to the question, why the ascension? I'm going to ask you to turn back to Acts chapter 1, but you may want to put a marker there in Peter. But Acts chapter 1, why the ascension? Why did Jesus leave? This is what we saw in the text, that He was lifted up. while they were looking on. That's Acts chapter one and verse nine. And the angel tells them that he went back to heaven. He was gone. He was taken up into heaven. And you saw him go up into heaven. This is the ascension. This is what we call the ascension of Jesus. And we ask the question, why? Why did he have to go? Why couldn't he have just stayed? And we have so far answered this question with two answers. First one was for the bestowment of the Holy Spirit. It was what Jesus promised them in John chapter 16. when he said, it is to your advantage that I go away, because I'm going to send the Holy Spirit. We saw that promise and we saw him poured out here in Acts chapter 2, where we read in verse 2, And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues of fire distributing themselves and rested upon each one of them. And they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit was giving them utterance." What an amazing event! Just as amazing and profound as when the glory of God filled the tabernacle or the temple. He fills the church! The Holy Spirit comes and fills the church. So that was the the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, and then we saw the power given by the Holy Spirit, as from there the disciples went forth and boldly preached. So, for the bestowment of the Holy Spirit, Jesus ascended. Second answer to the question, why the ascension? We looked last week at the reason for the advancement of the Kingdom. And again, we saw the promise of Jesus made regarding the kingdom of God, that it had come when He came. It was initiated with Him. Jesus said, the kingdom is upon you. And so then we see the advancement of that kingdom as seeing the propagation of the gospel in Acts. And we looked at several passages where, right here in chapter 2, if you look down at 37, the people cry out, what shall we do? And Peter tells them, repent, let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. And you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. pleaded with them and talked to them and preached to them. And in verse 41, about 3000 souls were saved. And then from there, in verse 47, their number was added to day by day. And right on through the book of Acts, more and more people saved through the preaching or the propagation of the gospel. So, it was the power from the Holy Spirit that caused the kingdom of Jesus to advance. Men are saved because the Spirit was poured out. Can't get saved without the Spirit. That's what Jesus said. He'll come, He'll convict men and this is what He does. He draws men to Jesus and they are saved because of the work of the Holy Spirit. So, The third answer is not only the bestowment of the Holy Spirit, not only the advancement of the kingdom, but for the establishment of the church. Now, I realize we touched on this two weeks ago, and I decided to come back to it today after looking at the advancement of the kingdom. But I want to make sure that we understand Just touch on again what we saw and go on from there regarding the advancement or establishment, rather, for the establishment of the church. I want you to look back to John chapter 14. That's not many pages back. Shouldn't be too hard for you to find. John chapter 14. As we see here that he ascended for the establishment of the church in the sense of their understanding. so that they would understand what Christ had done and understand doctrine. For we read in John 14 and in verse 26 that Jesus said to them, that the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. And then in John chapter 16 and in verse 13, but when He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For he will not speak of his own initiative, but whatever he hears, he will speak and he will disclose to you what is to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall take of mine and shall disclose it to you. So, Because Jesus ascended back into heaven. And remember, he couldn't pour the Holy Spirit out, he said himself. He can't pour the Holy Spirit out unless he ascends back into heaven. So it's to your advantage that I go so that I can pour the Holy Spirit out. So because he went back to heaven and was able to pour out the Holy Spirit upon the church, the church now remembers and understands the things that Jesus taught, the things that Jesus said, the things that Jesus did. And we, because of His ascension and the Holy Spirit, have a record of it. We have doctrine. We have the Scriptures. We have the understanding of what Christ did because He ascended and poured out the Holy Spirit upon the disciples, upon the apostles. upon the men who would write these things down for you and me to have." What is a church? What is a church supposed to be? How is a church supposed to be run? We would not know if Jesus had not ascended and poured out the Holy Spirit upon these men to write these things for us to have today. Even the Apostle Paul, met with Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit, wrote so much of the New Testament. And we have that today because Jesus ascended and the Holy Spirit was poured out. Now, another thing I would add to that, the Holy Spirit supernaturally and providentially cares for the Scriptures. What you have on your laps, the Bibles that you carry, are no accident. They were supernaturally preserved by the power of God. When they made copies, they checked. If you know anything about how the Bible came about, you might know that as they wrote these things down, they would have men who would come and check. And every copy, when it was handwritten, was checked to make sure that it was the same as the guy next to them, the same as the guy next to him, the same as the guy next to him. And that if one was wrong, they'd take it and rip it up because they knew how important it was. They would memorize scripture to music. So that they would sing the songs, just like if you sing a song today, if you have a song in your head and you know how the song goes and you know if somebody gets a word wrong, you know it's wrong. That's what they did with the Scripture. It was supernaturally preserved by God. So that today, today, there are thousands and thousands of mistakes. Between all of the copies of Scripture that we have, all of the copies of Scripture that we have, there are thousands and thousands of mistakes. But do you know what the mistakes are? Punctuation, grammar and spelling. In terms of content, there are no mistakes. Every single portion of Scripture that is found that may be older than the one before it, All match. All match. Your Bibles are reliable because they were supernaturally attended over by the Holy Spirit so that the church would have the guide to go by, the revelation of God to you and me contained in the Scriptures. That's why we say the Scriptures are the inspired, God-breathed and infallible, absolutely true, with no contradictions and no errors, the inspired, infallible and complete Word of God. This, because of the power of the Holy Spirit. This is how we have the Scriptures, because Jesus ascended and the Holy Spirit was poured out. But also, not only in the sense of our understanding, but in the sense of our gathering. We mentioned two weeks ago, back from Matthew chapter 18, where Jesus spoke to the disciples about church discipline and mentioned that if somebody sins, go to that one by yourself. And if he comes to understand you've won your brother, and if he doesn't, go to him with several of the elders. And if he doesn't still repent, bring him before the church. And then where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in your midst. This was Jesus saying that he knew that the church would be there. And those who say that the church was God's plan B do not seem to understand the Scriptures or the fact that Jesus told the nation of Israel all along that the nation is going to be taken away from you and given to one that will bear fruit. He took it away and gave it to the church, which was always His plan, always what His design was. And His church is the one who took the Word of God forth and saw fruit born by the church. Even as we saw the advancement of the kingdom came about through the preaching of the Word of God. And that's what we saw in Acts chapter 2 in the passages that we read that the church began to go forth. They heeded the instruction of the apostles and they went forth. But now, what did they do? What did the church do? They weren't always preaching. Look back again to Acts chapter 2. And now we're going to take up the whole matter of their gathering together. Acts chapter 2. Look down to verse 42, following the great addition of these thousands. It says, and they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship and to the breaking of bread into prayer. These are the essential elements of what a church is supposed to do. You have the proclamation of the gospel, the teaching of the apostles. You do have the fellowship of the believers as they gather together and are fellowshipping with one another. The breaking of bread is usually referring to taking the Lord's Supper and prayer. Churches do these things. You can add to that in other places where we find them praising and worshipping. But this is what they did. They gathered. It says in the text, they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship. Can't you see them doing that? Think about it. Think about what it was like. This is a great new thing that has happened. We hear about Jesus who's preaching that there's life after death. People are saved by the power of the Holy Spirit as Peter preaches to them of who Christ was and what Christ did. So as they're saved now, what do they do? Well, they're not content to just go back to their cursing and storytelling and vulgar friends. They meet together with fellow believers, continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching, continually being involved in fellowship. Isn't this the best part of your week? The best part of my week is when I gather with the people of God. Some of you know what that means. Some of you work in places where people curse, tell dirty jokes, say bad things. Some of you know people that don't love God and perhaps give you a hard time for your faith. But when you come here, you get to be hearing about Jesus and the apostles' teaching, and you get to fellowship with the believers. This is heaven on earth. This is God's blessing to us that the church gathers together and we get to hear about Christ in the fellowship of the believers, in the power of the Holy Spirit, because it was the Holy Spirit poured out upon the church in this very chapter. So we gather together, as it were, in the midst of the glory of God to hear from His Word and to fellowship with like people of like mind. What a great blessing as the church gathers together week by week to heed the instructions of the gospel of Christ. Look over to chapter four. Chapter four. Here in chapter four, again, we have the disciples had been speaking boldly. They had been preaching and teaching. They were sent back to the other disciples. They were released from prison. They went to their own companions. That's verse 23 of Acts chapter 4. They went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they had heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord. What this means is that they were together with like mind. They were together in one accord with like mind. They were there gathering together with the others. And they lifted their voices in one accord. They praised God. They praised God. And they prayed and they said, O Lord, it is Thou who didst make the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them creation, right from the beginning. Remember, tomorrow, is God created Earth Day. It's not Earth Day. It's God created the Earth Day. So, they were talking about God being the Creator. And then it says in verse 25, "...who by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of our father David thy servant said..." And He speaks of the things that were happening. And then in the city, there were those gathered together. But it was all because of the predestined hand of God in verse 28. Verse 29, Now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Thy bondservants may speak Thy word with confidence or boldness, and wow, thus does extend Thy hand to heal in signs and wonders take place throughout Thy name of Thy holy servants, Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken. I'm still believing. that that can happen. That the power of God can come in such magnitude when the people of God gather together for prayer that the place can be shaken. But what I want you to note is that they were gathered in one place. This is the church gathered. The church gathered together in one place. Notice in verse 32, "...and the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul." The congregation. And then look just a little bit further, as we see not only the congregation, but in verse 33, "...and with great power the apostles were giving witness to the resurrection of the Lord, and abundant grace was upon them all." them all gathering in one place and upon them all. So what we have here is the picture of the church and what the church, the pattern of the church began to be immediately from the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was that they would gather together to hear God's word, to fellowship, to pray, to praise God. Now look at Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. Think about what the writer to the Hebrews is saying, as he says in verse 19, Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he inaugurated for us through the veil that is his flesh. And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with sincere hearts and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." You hear what he's saying? Look, we're saved! All that God did for us is true, and so we have confidence that we can draw near to God with boldness, and we should do so. We should draw near to God boldly, because when Christ died on the cross, remember, one of the things that happened was that veil in the temple was rent from top to bottom. Indicating that we now have direct access to the Holy of Holies, direct access to the throne of God. We don't need to go through a priest. We don't need to go through a temple. We just go directly to the very throne of God. because of what Christ has done for us. So be bold in doing that. Have confidence in doing that. Now, isn't that what you want? Isn't that what it's like when you are really on fire for Christ, not lukewarm, but really on fire for Christ? You're someone who has confidence, and you want to boldly go before the throne of grace, and you want to do the things that the people of God have been doing in the pattern set down by the people of God, mentioned by John in Revelation chapter 1, On the Lord's day, be with the people because we have confidence. And yet, what do so many Christians do? Stay home. Go to the golf course, or the Gulf of Mexico in our case, or Walmart, or Target. But they ignore God, and even those who claim to be saved, even those who have, quote, unquote, made a decision. The average Baptist church has less than half of its membership showing up for a Sunday morning service. And much, much less than that for a Sunday evening service and hardly anybody for a Wednesday service. Why would that be? I mean, if you've got what this writer says, and I believe it is the Apostle Paul, if you have this confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Christ, and you just are so excited about Christ, why would you then not be with His people? And that's what he says. Consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds. That's verse 24. Verse 25, not forsaking our own assembling together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near. The people of God ought to feel excited about going to worship God with the people of God. That ought to be the highlight of our week. We ought to want to come to church, hoppin' at the bit to come to church, because we have this confidence. We know what Christ has done, gaining us access to God, and I want to go! I want to have that access to God. I want to be in that place of worship and praise to the living God. You know, people, what we have seen here in these brief passages is that the church gathered is a powerful place. The church genuinely gathered together to worship God is a powerful place. First of all, because it's the place where Christ is in the midst of His people. It's the place where the Holy Spirit is as He has filled the believers, as He has filled the place where they gathered in Acts chapter 2. The Holy Spirit comes and fills that place and fills them. And in chapter 4, it shook the place. Powerful place. When genuine people of God are saved and gathered together, that's a powerful meeting. You know what the problem today is in so many churches? They've added so many unsaved people on the rolls, and that's why they don't come. They don't really care about God. They just made a decision, think they've got hellfire insurance, and now they don't care. But real saved people will want to be with real saved people to meet with the one who saved them. And when they do, and when God pours out His Holy Spirit upon that place, that's a powerful place. That's where people get saved. When the Word of God is preached, when sin is proclaimed as a detriment, and that there's a judgment and a hell that awaits, and that Christ is the remedy, that Christ is the beautiful one who has paid the debt, and where people are pleaded with and drawn to come to Christ, and the Holy Spirit is in that place and takes the Word of God and breaks hearts, pierces hearts. That happens where the people of God are gathered for worship. Don't forsake yourself. Don't forsake the meeting together of the people. That's what the writer is saying here in Hebrews. Why would you want to be absent from that, where the excitement of meeting with God is, where the excitement of seeing people saved is, where the power of God is poured out, where you get to sing praises to God? That's what we should want. That's what Christians should want. And that is what is used by the Holy Spirit. You read that in Corinthians. It is by the foolishness of the word preached that God saves people. Now, where is the word preached? The word is preached in the gathering of His saints. I heard one guy say, a very famous preacher one time say that the only reason that the church gathers is to evangelize. He's a very, very famous preacher today, that the only reason the church gathers together is to evangelize the lost. That guy's totally missed it. Totally missed it. That's why we have today these things called seeker services. Seeker-friendly churches with seeker services. Well, my Bible says there is none that seeks after God. So who's running that? The church gathers not to evangelize to the lost to have them. Oh, man, if we put on a good enough show, we can get lost people to come in and we'll grow. Wouldn't that be great? We're doing a lot for God. That's not what the church gathers for. You know what the church gathers for? To worship the living God. That's what the church gathers for. To worship the God who saved us. To exalt Him. To glorify Him. To give to Him the worship that He is worthy of as the true and the living God. Lost people can't do that. You can. Saved people can. We come to worship because of that way that has been made for us to the very throne of God by our Savior, Jesus Christ. We come to take advantage of that, to be a part of that, to worship Him that way. The church gathered is a powerful place. The church today, I am afraid, has lost that concept of the power of God in its midst, and they're trying to do it all themselves instead. We need the power of God and the power of His Word and the power of the Holy Spirit. Not invitation systems to get people saved, but the Holy Spirit to save people by His power and strength. Now, if you would please turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 22. You might want to keep a marker there in Hebrews, but go to Luke 22. Luke 22. So it is in the sense of understanding what Jesus had done in the sense of our gathering. I want us to see that it is also in the sense of our remembering, because this is what Jesus commanded the church to do. We have here one of the accounts of what we commonly call the Lord's Supper. sometimes the last supper. Look at verse 19 of Luke 22. And when he had taken some of the bread and given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Do this in remembrance of me. It is a command to the church. Again, don't you see that Jesus knew there was going to be a church? And why would he say, do this in remembrance of me? Because he knew he was ascending back to heaven. That's the whole purpose. Do this in remembrance of me. And what he's saying is, remind yourselves of me, of all that I have done, of all that I am and all that I have done. Remember my death on the cross. my broken body and my shed blood. Why would He be telling them to remember if He was just going to stay there? He went back to heaven, and so part of His ascension was telling the church that I'm going to go, but don't forget what I've done. That's why we put that on the front of communion tables. Do this in remembrance of Me. There are only two ordinances given in the New Testament to the church. Some churches have lots of them. But biblically, scripturally, there are only two. One is here, the Lord's Supper. The other is baptism. That's it. That's all we are told to do. We're never told to remember Easter. We're never told to remember Christmas. We're never told any of those things. But we are told to remember His death. And this is what he's saying to us. Part of taking that bread and holding it in your hand is to see that that bread is real. And let me take something here just as real as that bread is or as real as this is real. Jesus had a real body. Don't ever forget that. Don't ever forget. Remember. And as real as that cup is that you hold in your hand is as real as his shed blood was for the covenant. It's real. It really happened. And so Jesus is saying, I am ascending. I'm going back. But part of what you as a church are to do is to remember. Doesn't tell us how often to do it. Doesn't say every time you get together, doesn't say every month, doesn't say every week, doesn't say when. But when you gather, part of being a church is to remember the death of our Lord Jesus Christ and all that that meant, all that his death means, all that he accomplished for us. The only reason that you can go to heaven is because Jesus gave His life on the cross and shed His blood to redeem you and to cover you in His blood, to make you as righteous as He is, if you can comprehend that. Because that's what it takes to go to heaven. And that's what He did. So that's what we remember. It is our privilege in this church to celebrate the Lord's Supper as a special occasion. To remember what he did for us on the cross, look at a little further on this in First Corinthians. What the Apostle Paul says about this in First Corinthians, chapter 11. In verse 23, he says, For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, in the night in which He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, broke it and said, This is my body, which is poured, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, He took the cup also after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are proclaiming the Lord's death until he comes. You're proclaiming it. And that's not just saying that Jesus died. That's not what he means. You're not just saying Jesus died. You're proclaiming his death. You're saying what his death was. You're remembering what His death was for you, and you're proclaiming and preaching to others what His death meant. Remember the things that we saw under why the crucifixion, what His death meant. He took the penalty for our sins. He fulfilled the Mosaic ceremonial law. that for centuries the Jewish people have been seeing in the slaying of bulls and goats, and this blood sacrifice that they saw week by week by week, is fulfilled in Christ. And your sins are really actually paid for. That's what He's saying when He says, proclaim His death. what his death accomplished, the truth that was involved in what Jesus did. And the church has been doing this for 2,000 years now, celebrating the Lord's Supper, reminding us of what Jesus did. And the question is, why do we do that? Because he ascended. If he were still here, We wouldn't have to do that. We wouldn't have to remember what he did. We could just talk to him about it face to face because he would still be here. But he ascended back into heaven. He knew he was going. So he said to the disciples, do this in remembrance of me. Remember me. Don't forget. Now, there's another aspect of the establishment of the church. For the sense of understanding, in the sense of gathering, in the sense of remembering. How about in the sense of celebrating? Celebrating. This is why the church gathers. I said before, the church gathers for worship. But why do we gather on Sunday? Seventh-day Adventists say that we're apostates. We're wrong. We're heretics. They even have billboards out. saying that anybody who worships on Sunday is a liar and is tricked by Satan, something like that. Well, why do we worship on Sunday? By the way, they're wrong. They're absolutely wrong. Why do we worship on Sunday? We worship on Sunday to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. What day did Jesus rise from the dead? Sunday, the first day of the week. What day did Jesus appear to his apostles? Sunday, the first day of the week. What day did Jesus appear to his apostles the next time? Sunday, the first day of the week. Jesus rose on the first day of the week. And what God did was to show, you know, he could have raised on Saturday. God could have worked that all out. But I mean, it's the first day of the week to show that the day of rest promised in creation, because one day and seven did not come from Israel. One day and seven came from creation, when God worked the six days and rested on the seventh. That was long before Abraham, long before Moses. But it was there from creation, the working six days and the resting one day. I've often told our people in various settings, such as Sunday school and prayer meetings, that you can explain the year, the 365 days of the year, or the leap year that has another one. You can explain that from science. Do you know why we have 365 days in the year? Because it takes the earth 365 days to go around the sun. That's why we have a year. 365 days to go around the sun. Now, why do we have 30 days or approximately 30 days in a month? You can explain that from science. because it takes the moon approximately 30 days to go around the earth one month. That's why our calendars are set up that way. 365 days is a year. 30 days is a month. But why 7 days? There is no scientific reason for 7-day weeks. It would have worked perfectly with 10. Ten, ten, ten. Thirty days. There you go. But we got seven. That doesn't always work out right. Why are there seven days? Because God created the earth in six days and on the seventh day rested. And He had His Son raised from the dead on the first day of the week, which is why the church has always celebrated on the first day of the week. Celebrated. The resurrection of Jesus Christ. We didn't change it. God changed it. The same God that did it in creation is the same God that changed it from the last day to the first day, because He raised His Son from the dead on the first day of the week, indicating again that the Kingdom had been taken away from the nation of Israel and given to the world through the church. as the church worships, gathers together and celebrates the resurrection of Christ on the Christian Sabbath, the Christian Lord's Day Sunday. That's why, as I mentioned before, John called it the Lord's Day in Revelation. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day. That's a long time ago. I mean, that's germ. And he's already saying that it had been established as a pattern of the Lord's Day. The church gathers together and celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the first day of the week, Sunday. Now, what if he were here? What if he never ascended? Well, we wouldn't have to gather together to celebrate his resurrection. We just go down and celebrate it in front of him every day, all the days. But he ascended back into heaven. So since he has ascended back into heaven, his establishment of the church was to have them worship him on the first day. He knew he was going back. He knew he was going to go back to heaven. So he, God knew this too. So God had him raised from the dead on the first day. And the establishment of the church went along with the first day of the week as the day to gather to worship. Now, finally, one more thing that I'll add here. regarding the establishment of the church. He's ascended and gave this to the church in the sense of our understanding, in the sense of our gathering, in the sense of our remembering, in the sense of our celebrating. And I had to add this in the sense of His interceding. Look at Hebrews chapter 7. Hebrews chapter 7. Jesus has given His church a lot to do. He's given us a lot of work to do. Even some of the things that we've mentioned just here. Do you realize how few churches even understand why they gather together on Sunday or what they're supposed to do? I told you that famous preacher says we gather together to evangelize. The church is woefully ignorant of what they're supposed to do in so many ways. We want to know these things. We want to know the truth. How can we possibly know all that we need to know? How can we possibly do all that he's called on us to do? Because he has told us to evangelize, to take the gospel and to go forth. We are supposed to do those things. How can we do it? I don't know how I can do it week by week. It's amazing to me that we can gather together week by week and proclaim Christ and celebrate and do these things week by week. And yet we always seem to be able to do it. And how can we do it? How can I get through? How can you get through every week just kind of clinging, waiting for the Lord's day, for a day of rest and to gather with the people of God? How can you do it? Well, look right here. Verse 25 of Hebrews 7. Hence also, He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. He always lives to make intercession for them. Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father. But what's He doing? Some churches would have you think that He's up there wringing His hands. Oh, I hope somebody gets saved. I hope somebody does the right thing. Oh, oh, I hope. That's not what Jesus is doing. He is the powerful God of heaven and earth, and it says He is able to save forever those who draw near to God. And He's up there in heaven interceding for you. Interceding for me, interceding for his church. What does that mean? Going to the Father, pleading our case. You want to see what intercession means? Look at John chapter 17. Those of us who were here Wednesday looked at this passage. John chapter 17. Here's intercession. Here is what Jesus is doing. And I don't have the time to go through this entire chapter. But you go home and read John chapter 17 and listen to what's going on. Jesus begins by saying, The Father, the hour has come. Glorify the Son, that the Son may glorify Thee, even as Thou gavest Him authority over all mankind. So He says this. He's speaking to the Father. And He says in verse 4, I glorify Thee on earth. And then he says in verse 5, And now glorify thou me together with thyself, Father, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. I manifested thy name to the men whom thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were, and Thou gavest them to me, and they have kept Thy word. Now they have come to know that everything Thou hast given me is from Thee, for the words which Thou gavest me I have given to them. And they receive them and truly understand them that I came forth from Thee, and they believed that thou didst send me, I ask on their behalf. I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom thou hast given me, for they are thine, and all things that are mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I have been glorified in them. And I am no more in the world, and yet they themselves are in the world. And I come to Thee, Holy Father. Keep them in Thy name, the name which Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, even as we are." And he goes on and he pleads for the saints. He pleads for you. He pleads for me. He says in verse 15, I do not ask thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. He's pleading for you and for me to be kept from the snares of the devil, from the evil one himself. He says in verse 17, sanctify them in truth. Thy word is truth." Here's Jesus interceding on behalf of His church. God sanctified them in truth. Do you realize how frustrating it is to me to know what Jesus says here and then to visit churches where the Bible isn't even read? I mean, literally read. I went to one of the largest churches in our area a few years ago. In fact, maybe the largest, certainly one of the largest churches in the entire Tampa Bay area. They never even read from the Bible. The preacher did quote a verse, but that was it. Sanctify them in truth, thy word is truth. Where is it? But yet we have the confidence. We have the confidence, we have the assurance that Christ is interceding for us, for His people, for His church in all these ways. Please read through that chapter as you can this afternoon. This is what Jesus has done. Because He has ascended to the Father, He is seated at the right hand of God and even now intercedes on behalf of His people. What a great Savior! And so, why did He ascend? For the bestowment of the Holy Spirit, for the advancement of the kingdom, for the establishment of the church. And the church is established in the sense of understanding, in the sense of gathering, in the sense of remembering, in the sense of celebrating, and in the sense that Jesus is interceding. All of these things from the Scriptures as to why Jesus ascended. And I've got two more. But these are good, good truths from God's Word to encourage you. Jesus' ascension was no accident. Jesus' establishment of the church was no accident, no plan B, no second thought. It was always what God intended. And it's for our good. for our good. I'm going to show you that next week. All right. Let's pray.