Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20021013.htm

JESUS CHRIST IN OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY
Part XI: Taking Courage In Jesus, Our Ascended, Sovereign Lord God
(Psalm 68:18 with Daniel 7:13-14; Acts 1:9; Ephesians 4:8-12 and 1:22-23)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

Many today feel "vulnerable" to harm they cannot control:

(1) Two-and-a-half years ago, practically anyone who had spare cash laying around felt dumping it into some technology stocks was a "sure bet" of making a fairly quick profit. Today, we are in the longest bear market in stock market history apart from the Great Depression of the 1920s and 1930s. Many people feel VULNERABLE to FINANCIAL harm because of the market!

(2) This past week in the Washington, D. C. area, a gunman with a high-powered rifle drove around, shooting and killing people at random. The police are avidly seeking to find and apprehend the party, but, meanwhile, the news reports how a school here in Connecticut has canceled its field trip to Washington D. C. because of the situation!

(3) We are coming up to Halloween, an event that used to be seen as a rather mild, community one in which children could wander around going from house to house expecting nothing but goodies to await them at doors. Now, everywhere I look on Halloween night, parents are standing back at the street as their children go to various doors for goodies, for they must watch out for child-abductors and people who hide razor blades in candy apples!

(4) The President of the United States revealed Monday night on television that Saddam Hussein of Iraq has hundreds of liters of anthrax in store! Since Hussein is deeply at odds with the United States and Israel, he is a threat to the welfare not only of the Middle East, but to the effects his unleashing his store of weapons could do to create a worldwide crisis!

(5) A number of Christians we know either struggle with decisively serious physical illnesses or debilitating conditions, or know a beloved parent or friend who has such a condition that makes them feel "vulnerable" and helpless to resolve the needs they face!



Is there an ANSWER to the way people feel so VULNERABLE in today's world to so many things that could upset their peace and safety?



(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )



Need: "One of the big NEEDS my friends or I sense in TODAY'S world is our VULNERABILITY to BAD events, things or people! Does GOD have a SOLUTION to this sense of VULNERABILITY?"
  1. The RISEN Jesus told the disciples on the road to Emmaus how He fulfilled Old Testament Messianic prophecies, Luke 24:25-27.
  2. As these men were edified by Christ's teaching of those passages (Luke 24:32), we also view them, following the list of prophecies named in the Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, s. v. "Messianic Prophecies."
  3. Psalm 68:18 with Daniel 7:13-14 predicts Messiah would ascend to heaven to rule with an eternal, indestructible reign over the world.
    1. Leading a procession of defeated foes, Messiah was predicted to ascend "on high" (KJV, NIV), having received gifts from captured foes to give to His own people, Psalm 68:18; Ibid., ftn. to Eph. 4:8.
    2. Daniel 7:13-14 further details this event, revealing Messiah would be brought with heaven's clouds up to God the Father and be enthroned over all authorities to rule with an everlasting, indestructible reign!
  4. This event was fulfilled in the ascension of Jesus Christ in Acts 1:9:
    1. The Lord Jesus began to ascend gradually from the Mount of Olives in view of his disciples until a cloud took Him out of sight, Acts 1:9.
    2. Two angels told these disciples Jesus had gone into heaven, and would return (at the Second Coming) as He had left, Acts 1:10-11. (This means He will return to the Mount of Olives with the clouds in His risen body, an event foretold in Zech. 14:3-4 and Mtt. 27:30 et al.)
  5. Focusing on what was ACCOMPLISHED in this ASCENSION addresses ALL that CONCERNS us in our VULNERABILITIES!
    1. Being enthroned as the risen Lord, the God Incarnate Jesus has been given authority over the death and destiny of every human soul at death of every human so that all who die do so only under His direction, and their souls end up only where He decides, Rev. 1:17!
    2. Being enthroned over all things, Jesus rules all ANGELIC beings, whether they be evil demons, Satan or godly angels, Eph. 1:20-21a.
    3. Being enthroned over all things, Jesus rules all HUMAN beings, whether they be evil or good people, Ephesians 1:21b.
    4. Being enthroned over all things by the eternal FATHER, Jesus rules all beings both now AND forever, Ephesians 1:21c-22a.
    5. Due to the cross prior to the ascension where Jesus spoiled Satan's reign over believers (Col. 2:13-15), Christ distributed spiritual GIFTS to believers for effective spiritual MINISTRIES against demonic or human foes or obstacles to the contrary, Ephesians 4:8-16:
      1. When Christ defeated Satan at the cross (Col. 2:13-15), He spread the spoils of victory around, giving spiritual enablings to believers for service, Eph. 4:8-11. [The phrase "into the lower parts of the earth" does not mean Jesus went to hell at His death (as some say); the genitive is possessive, i.e., "the parts that belong to the earth," so it pictures His death and burial, cf. the similarity in description in Eph. 1:19-23 with Eph. 4:8-10; Bib. Know. Com., N.T., p. 634.]
      2. As a result, believers who depend on the Holy Spirit to use these spiritual gifts are used of God to equip the Church for its growth and loving unity against all efforts to the contrary, Eph. 4:12-16.
      3. Thus, no force can obstruct the advance of God's work among His own through the Biblical use of these enablings, cf. Matt. 16:18.
    6. Due to the distribution proper use of these gifts, the ascended Lord Jesus meets every need of every believer in every way for life and service until it is Christ's time for him either to pass into eternity by death or the rapture, Ephesians 1:23; Revelation 1:17!
Application: If we feel VULNERABLE to harm in our world of BAD things, people or events, (1) we must trust in Jesus Christ as our Savior from sin to be born into the family and kingdom of Almighty God, John 1:12-13. (2) As a BELIEVER, (a) we can REST in the INFINITE Sovereignty of our Great God, Jesus Christ, a SOVEREIGNTY over death and the eternal destiny of everyone's soul, a sovereignty over all good and evil angels and people, a sovereignty over all present or future angelic or human beings, and a sovereignty over all things that would obstruct our doing His will in his power and leading, and (b) yield to HIS will as expressed in HIS Word and its application to our lives by God the Holy Spirit. (c) In so DOING, we need NOT feel vulnerable to ANYTHING except our ASCENDED Lord Jesus HIMSELF, (d) and we WILL then HEED Him to be an effective BLESSING to others in even our troubled world, and be pleasing to Him!

Lesson: So INFINITE is the DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY of our GREAT, ASCENDED Lord Jesus Who sits enthroned above all things at the Father's right hand, NO believer NEED FEEL the slight bit VULNERABLE to ANYTHING but the Lord Jesus HIMSELF! >

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 Hudson T. Armerding, the late President of Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois wrote in his book, Leadership of an event that revealed to him the sovereignty of God in his life.

During World War II, he served as an officer responsible for decoding and relaying information supplied him in combat code from the fleet admiral to give to the bridge for the ship's maneuvers.

One night while sailing with a fleet of ships that had all their lights off to avoid detection by the enemy, the entire formation was instructed to change directions by way of radio coded information. Officer Armerding received the message, and relayed his interpretation of the admiral's code to the bridge.

However, the officer in charge of the deck replied that Officer Armerding was mistaken, and so kept the ship on its original course.

Armerding could do nothing about his boat's direction as he had been countered by a superior officer, so he warned the men with him to prepare for a collision where an aircraft carrier he could see on his radar in about a minute was going to slice their boat in two!

At the last instant, the officer in charge on the deck, using his binoculars, spotted the aircraft carrier's huge silhouette, and ordered his ship to close its watertight doors and put its engines in full reverse. Since it takes a while for huge ships like an aircraft carrier to change direction, the two boats came within a few yards of colliding before they were able to correct their directions and avoid a disaster!

Dr. Armerding's commentary on this event fits our sermon's theme well! He wrote: "From this and other experiences I believe that the circumstances of life are not matters of fate but the providence of God. Only he can keep us alive. When the time comes that we are to die, he will permit this to happen . . . Let us ask ourselves whether we serve the Lord merely because he blesses us or because he is Lord," Ibid., Armerding, p. 150-151, 153.