Our first scripture reading this evening will come from Acts chapter 1. I'll begin with the first verse of the first chapter of the book of Acts. That's on page 909 in your pew Bibles. Acts chapter 1 beginning with the first verse. Hear now the word of our God. In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when He was taken up after He had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom He had chosen. To them He presented Himself alive after a suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking out about the kingdom of God. And while staying with them, He ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which He said, You heard from Me, for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." So when they had come together, they asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And he said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria to the end of the earth. And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven." Thus we've read Acts chapter 1 verses 1 through 11. Our next scripture reading will come from Hebrews Chapter 10. We'll begin with verse 11 which is found on page 1006 and go through verse 25. Hebrews chapter 10 beginning with the 11th verse. Hear now the word of God. And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ has offered for all time a single sacrifice for his sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us, for after saying, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days declares the Lord, I will put my laws on their hearts and write them on their minds. Then he adds, I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more. Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh. And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. and let us consider how to stir one another up to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near." Thus we've read God's Word from Hebrews 10, verses 11-25. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father in Heaven, we've read Your Word this evening. We thank You for it. We thank You for giving it to us. And we ask that you would now plant it in our hearts and that you would water it with your grace, that it would grow and bear fruit in our lives. Fill our hearts. Let the word of Christ dwell richly in us and be with the proclamation of his word this evening. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. It used to be in the ancient world, in ancient Rome, when armies went out to battle and they had their great fights and their great wars and the generals came back, if the success was grand enough, if the success was big enough, they held giant triumphs, parades where the army would march into the city and the people would line the streets and celebrate and throw flowers And they would bring before them the captured enemies. They would bring their shields and their swords and all the captured gold and things of that. And they would walk through the city. And the great general would be in the chariot. And the people would cheer his name and chant his name. He was given a great crown of laurel wreaths and showered with other gifts and things of that nature. The victory was proclaimed and shown as he marched through. He returned home in triumph and the victory over his enemies was demonstrable to all. There was no doubt who the winner was and who the loser was. Ascension Day is one of those days where we remember Christ's great return to His heavenly home. His triumph and His victory as He marches off into heaven. Clear to all who the winner is and who the loser is. Christ's victory is proclaimed over death. The most obvious defeat is that of death itself. Because Jesus suffered death. He hung on the cross. A most cruel way to die. He was most certainly dead. They even pierced His side to make sure. They buried Him and for three days He was in the grave. But He rose again. And death never reclaims Jesus. There have been a few other resurrections in the Bible. Elisha's bones resurrect a man. Lazarus has been resurrected. There were others who came out of the grave in Jesus' death. But all of those who had been resurrected before tasted death again. Not so for Jesus. He ascended into heaven. He returned to His home the victor over death so that we can say, death has been swallowed up in victory, as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15, quoting from Isaiah. And we can say, O death, where is thy victory? O grave, where is thy sting? Jesus has won. The power of the grave has been removed. His ascension shows us His great victory over Satan. who desperately wanted to stop Christ. The ascension of Jesus Christ is a declaration of Satan's ultimate defeat as well. He tried to tempt Jesus away from the path. He tried to give Him the whole world without going to the cross. He tried to tell Jesus, you don't have to suffer, you don't have to die, you can do all of these other things, and I'll give you these great gifts. But Christ continued on to the cross. He remains steadfast and obedient, fulfilling the law for you and for me, even to the point of death. Satan is lost as Christ comes out of the grave. Christ's ascension into heaven then as He leads captivity captive, captivity to Satan itself, captivity to His power, You see the victory over Satan declared more clearly in other places like in Revelation 20 where we see that Satan is bound for a thousand years. His power has been restrained. Christ is the victor. And then you see his final and ultimate defeat. The promise that he will be cast into the lake of fire. That his ultimate place is assured. Satan is defeated. Jesus is won. And he's won a victory over sin. Sin whose ultimate end is death. Sin, that deviation from God's will. Anything that falls short of His glory. Christ was born of the Virgin Mary and lived His entire life without once failing. He was that perfect lamb without spot or blemish. Despite being tempted by Satan, despite being tempted by the crowd, despite being tempted as all the crowd mocked Him and as even the thieves on each side said, why don't you get off the cross? Everybody tempting Him. Turn from your path. He died. winning his victory over sin. And now his ascension into heaven and his being seated at the right hand of God shows that the sacrifice for sin was made once and for all. We see that in verse 12 of Hebrews 10. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God. To show that it was over, to show that His work on earth was done, He ascended back into heaven and sat at the right hand of the Father. There is no more work to be done on earth, which is why He can ascend to heaven. He has fulfilled the law. He has made the sacrifice for sins. As we just sang a moment ago, His work is finished here on earth. The victory is His. His ascension reminds us that He offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins. And sin is defeated. Forgiveness of sins has been purchased. And where there is forgiveness of these, as it says in verse 18, there is no longer an offering for sin. Christ has secured the, I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more for you and for me. And He's taken His rightful place back in Heaven, the place from which He came. He has gone back. He returns now as the conquering Son. He came down to earth to be the suffering servant, to be the Lamb of God, to be the One who would be slain for you and for me. He showed His great humility in coming and living under the law that He wrote. Living as one of us. Suffering our frailties, our needs. But now He has redeemed His people. He has brought in the lost sheep. He has purchased them once and for all. And He goes back to His place in heaven now. To sit at the right hand of God. This is figurative, of course. God the Father doesn't have a body like you and me. He doesn't have a right side and a left side. But it's a figure that shows us not a literal position, but his position of power. He's at the right hand of God. The right hand which is to be through which the ruler rules. Joseph is described as Pharaoh's right hand in the Old Testament. Christ is the right hand of God. The Catechism that we read a moment ago says that He sat down at the right hand of God, and now all things are governed through Jesus Christ. He's the King of kings and the Lord of lords. His work on earth is finished, but now He governs the universe from heaven above. His sitting down at the right hand is an end to His sacrifice for sins, but it's not Christ disappearing from the scene. He's now just returned to His spot of ruling all things. Jesus now runs the sea. And as the author of Hebrews wants us to see, specifically, He sat down, He seated, to remind us that His place is now in heaven and that His work of being the Lamb of God, of purchasing our salvation, has been completed. He's unlike all the priests that went before Him who had to continually get up every day and continually go to the temple every day to continually offer sacrifices of bulls and goats and turtle doves. Their work was never done. In fact, they retired when they were 50 and they passed it on to someone else. who then got up every day and did the same thing. But Christ on the cross has offered Himself and now in His ascension goes and sits down. The work is finished. Which is what He proclaimed on the cross. It is finished. Now He'll remember their lawless deeds no more. Now He's been exalted and His name is exalted to be the name above all names, which is ultimately what Paul tells us in Philippians chapter 2. That beautiful chapter that reminds us of His humility as He descends to earth, but it also ends with His exaltation in verse 9. It ends with His ascension back into heaven. Yes, He came and He showed us humility and His obedience. even to the point of death. Not only death, but also the humiliating death of a cross that was accursed by God. And He did it for you and for me, not for Himself. But then, Paul reminds us, then the Father exalted the Son. And now every knee shall bow at the name above all names, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every knee shall bow at the truth proclaimed at His ascension. Jesus is Lord. That exaltation that Paul speaks of in Philippians chapter 2 verse 9 happens visibly right here as we read in Acts chapter 1. It happens when he ascends into heaven. He is the name above all names. And there he continues in heaven. To be an advocate on our half, to be our mediator. Because the one who's at the right hand of God knows our frame. He knows our weakness. He has opened the way up to the Father in heaven. He is the curtain that's torn in two that's through His flesh so that we can draw near to God and hold fast. He's the one who triumphs and marches into heaven so that we might follow. He is the new and living way, as the author of Hebrews tells us here. Now we can have fellowship with God. Or if you want to take the picture from Zechariah 3, where He's standing in the throne room of God. We're not told specifically He's at the right hand there, but I like to picture it that way. Where Satan is there accusing, and Jesus is there saying, no, this is the brand that I plucked from the fire. This is the one that I rescued. stopping the mouth of Satan with breath of proclamation, I died for this one. And then saying, now clothe him. Take the filthy garments away. Put on the clean garments. Give him the new turban and the new clothes. Clothe him in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. We can have hearts full of the assurance of faith. draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, because we've been washed by the blood of our conquering Savior. He's returned to heaven as a promise of our ultimate destination. That we can know that we too will go to heaven when we die. When we walk through the valley of the shadow of death and emerge on the other side, there Christ will be waiting. Because He's gone ahead of us to prepare a place for you. As He says in John 14, if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to Myself, that where I am, you may be awesome. This is how we can be sure. Because Jesus has promised And Jesus has ascended visibly and bodily so that we might know bodily we will be there. He will make it so. He promises to be with us even until the end of the age, even until the end of the world, and even take us to Himself after death. And Christ is in heaven now in His flesh, in His human nature. His body is not in the grave. His body with the marks of the cross still in His flesh has ascended into heaven, so that you might know, there you will be also. And that He will come again. As we read, the angels tell the disciples, just as you saw Him go, so He will come again. As we read here in Hebrews chapter 10. encouraging one another, all the more as you see the day drawing near, as the day of Christ's return draws closer and closer. He's promised that He will come again, that there will be a day of judgment, there will be a day where He comes to judge the quick and the dead, as the old version of the Apostle's Creed used to say, the living and the dead. He's coming to judge. On that Day of Judgment, we know who Jesus is. And when He comes to exercise His authority as Judge, He will take His sheep to Himself, those who believe in Him, and He'll throw the unbelieving and the unrepentant into everlasting damnation. Because Christ is the victor. He's already won. His ascension into heaven was the proclamation of such victory. And now that victory can be yours by faith. If you believe in Him, you can share in His victory. You can have this forgiveness of sins. You can say, I know that Christ will remember my sins and my lawless deeds no more. He has promised, if we have faith in Him, that victory is yours, so that you can know your ultimate destination after death. That you can know that you have victory over sin, and that you're no longer a slave to its power. That even Satan himself cannot separate you from the love of Jesus Christ. Satan has been defeated. So that Peter even tells us we can resist the devil. Because Christ's victory is yours. And you can have these hearts of true heart and full assurance of faith. That we can draw near to the Holy God with a full assurance that we've been made clean. Not by our hands, not by our works. Not by our inherent goodness or greatness. but because we've been sprinkled clean. We've been washed with the blood of the Lamb who's ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand. Next time doubts creep into your mind or Satan tries to get you to think, did God really say this? Did this really happen? Remember His triumph day. Read about His ascension into heaven. Go to this section in Hebrews, this beautiful chapter 10, read the whole thing, and realize that He has sat down at the right hand of God because He has won. And that all His enemies are being made His footstools right now. That He has offered the single offering by which He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. That He is in the midst of putting His law in your hearts and writing it on your minds now. And that you can always go before the Lord God, because the way has been made clear by Christ. And also when you think of His ascension, you ought to think of His return. He bodily left, He'll bodily return. There is an end. Christ is coming again. This world will not continue this way forever. Fallen and distraught. Christ is coming. Don't put off until tomorrow. what ought to be done today, because you're not promised tomorrow. Christ may come. And as Paul says, until then, let's consider how to stir one another up to love and good works, encouraging one another as that day draws near. Let the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ encourage you to gather together as the church and to pray for one another and to encourage one another and to look for those who are struggling and say, how can I help you, brother or sister? To give them a word of good cheer, a word of greeting. to stir each other up, to stir each other up as we sing praises to the Lord, and we hear each other's voices sing, to be able to say, yes, my brothers and sisters in Christ are with me, to draw near and to hold fast to the confession of hope, because our Christ who won is faithful. And He will come again. Until then, We've been called to make disciples of those who don't know, to tell them the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, of His victory, of His cross, of His death, of His ascension into heaven, of the Holy Spirit come down to help us. And making disciples is not just evangelism, but also then sitting together as students under the learning of Jesus Christ and gathering together and stirring one another up to love and good works. Let us continue to do that until that day comes where Christ brings us to Himself. Let's go to the Lord now in prayer. Gracious God in Heaven, we thank You and we praise You that the Lord Jesus is One, defeated all our deadly enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil. has defeated sin and death. Lord, help us now, remembering your great victory, go forth to live in it and to encourage one another, to pray for one another, to bear one another's burdens, to comfort one another, to restore one another, to do all of those one another's in Scripture. Give us the strength of the Spirit to do just that. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.