Resurrection Series: “Redeemed”
Until The Day
Luke 24:50-53
Luke 24:50 ¶And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. 51 And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.52 And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: 53 And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.
I like what the song says “I didn’t see Him go up, but I will see Him when He comes down!”
"When Jesus was here"
"He gave us the words of eternal life"
"He gave us His peace and He said I’ll not leave you alone."
"And though I wasn’t there when the multitude watched Him ascend"
"Two angels in white announced he would come back again."
"What a blessing it was to be gathered there that day"
"To see him go up and in clouds, to see Him taken away."
"But I know in my heart that a greater blessing waits now for me"
"Cause I’m part of the crowd that is watching the sky’s faithfully"
"My eyes shall see King Jesus"
"When He comes in clouds of glory"
"If I am sleeping I’ll be awakened from the grave"
"And if I remain I’ll hear the trumpets joyful sound"
"I didn’t see him go up but I’ll see Him when He comes down".
I am glad that one day I will see Him, and we should be looking and anticipating His arrival. But we are not to spend all our time gazing into the Heavens, UNTIL HE RETURNS, THERE IS WORK TO DO! - The angels at the ascension of Christ addressed this very fact in Acts 1:11 {they aid} Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
I want to take some time today and see what we should be doing “Until The Day” that He returns.
The Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts were both written by “Luke, the beloved physician”. These two books over lap one another, as a result we will look to both accounts of the ascension for this message. In Acts 1:8 Jesus gives a command to His disciples. “ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
At this point Jesus has:
Came and given His life to redeem mankind.
He has risen from the grave.
He has revealed Himself to the disciples.
He has spoken to them concerning the Kingdom
v3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
Now Jesus gives them the promise that they will soon be baptized in the Holy Ghost.This will be the fulfillment of a promise that He had made in John chapter 16:7-14. At this point all things were accomplished. Jesus is about to return to His Father, But before He goes He shares some final instructions with His disciples. The words that Jesus shared were the most important words that the disciples could hear. They were the words that would describe what they were to do with the rest of their life.In verse 6 they asked Him “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” This was a logical question. As we mentioned earlier Jesus had been talking to them about the Kingdom of God. Jesus answered them by saying - “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.”
There are many today who would try to predict the timeline of Christ’s return. Many have tried and all have failed. The Word says that “of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father” Mark 13:32 - We are to be prepared for Christ’s return. We are to be looking for His appearing.But we can’t lose sight of what He has commanded us to do “Until The Day” In verse 9 Jesus ascends to heaven and the disciples are there gazing into the clouds. Two men in white apparel say to them “why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” - Simply put, there is work to do and we must work “Until The Day” He returns!
You have heard it said that “some people are so earthly minded that they are no heavenly good.” That is true but I submit to you that there “some people that are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good.” - We have no excuse for inactivity or doing the wrong activities. Jesus has made it clear what we should do “Until The Day”
And we see through His Word that “Until The Day”:
i. There Is Work To Do
ii. There Is A Promise To Remember
iii. There Is A Savior To Worship
There is an old saying that “Idle hands are the Devil’s workshop”. From what we find in Jesus final Words to His followers, there is no excuse for us to have idle hands. Let’s begin with the fact that:
I. Until The Day There Is Work To Do - v8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
This is one of the most important verses in the Christian life. These are the last Words our Savior spoke while on earth. These words can be summed up this way, “be witnesses of me…EVERYWHERE YOU GO!”
Jesus didn’t say for us to have:
The most eloquent preaching
The most beautiful sanctuaries
The biggest buildings
The most active youth and children’s programs
The most dynamic worship
The most programs to draw people into the church
He said “BE WITNESSES UNTO ME!!”
Jesus didn’t just leave us with a “to do list” to accomplish. He also left us with the power to accomplish His will. Consider:
A. The Power We Possess - v8a But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you:
Jesus says that His followers would receive “Power” after the “Holy Ghost” is come upon them. Some people talk about getting “baptized in the Holy Spirit” over and over again.Friend, we are baptized or filled with the Spirit at the point of salvation. The reason that the disciples did not already have the Holy Spirit at this point is because Jesus was with them. Now Jesus is to depart and He promises to send them the gift of the Holy Spirit. (and HE DID JUST THAT) Just look to the book of Acts to see the power these men possessed.
1) Peter preached at Pentecost and thousands were saved.
2) Peter & John healed a man who had been lame from birth.
3) Peter and John were arrested and then released.
4) Peter raised a girl from the dead in Acts 9
5) In Acts 12 Peter is miraculously released from prison.
6) All the Apostles worked miracles - Acts 5:12 ¶And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people;
We could go on for the rest of the day with event after event and miracle after miracle that the Lord empowered these men to accomplish. Jesus says that “when they receive the Holy Ghost” they “will receive power”. He did not say they might receive power, He said they WOULD RECEIVE POWER! If you possess the Holy Spirit, you POSSESS POWER!!! You say, I just can’t witness…I can’t lead anyone to the Lord. You are right; you can’t …BUT HE CAN WORK THORUGH YOU TO ACCOMPLISH HIS WILL!!
Perhaps the most common hindrance to witnessing is fear. But the Bible says in 2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. We have the power to reach the lost for Jesus and it is high time that we start using it!! Not only is there “The Power We Possess”, we also see:
B. The People We Should Reach – v8b and ye shall be witnesses unto me
The disciples weren’t to build up or glorify themselves; they were to be witnesses of Christ. You may not consider yourself to be an important person. You may not think that you can have an impact on people’s lives. But you will never know how many people you have an impact on throughout your life. God has set things in order so that we are a tool that He uses to reach lost people for Him. It is an honor and a privilege to share the Gospel with some one. More importantly it is our duty!
A young salesman was disappointed about losing a big sale, and as he talked with his sales manager he lamented, "I guess it just proves you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink." The manager replied, "Son, take my advice: your job is not to make him drink. Your job is to make him thirsty." - That is the case with evangelism. Our lives should be so filled with Christ that they create a thirst for the Gospel. Let us do our part to make people thirsty.
We possess the power to reach the people, but where do we find them? Notice:
C. The Places We Should Go - v8c both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. - Jesus direction for evangelism started locally and spread throughout the world.
Where should we be witnesses of Christ?
1) In the Stockdale community
2) In Munford, Talladega, Oxford, Anniston, Lincoln, Pell City Etc.
3) In Talladega, Calhoun & St. Clair Counties
4) In The State of Alabama
5) Throughout the southeast
6) In The United States Of America
7) In the entire world
As a part of the Southern Baptist Convention we give to missions locally, statewide, in this country and globally. That is a great thing. The SBC is second only to the American Red Cross in charitable contributions. I am very proud to be a part of such a great organization. But it does not end with writing a check. We are told to be WITNESSES! - Evangelism is not just some program that happens on Tuesday nights. We should take the Gospel with us “EVERYWHERE WE GO” .........We can evangelize at work, at school, at little league practice, in the grocery store at the restaurant…. everywhere we go, TAKE JESUS!!
Until The Day There Is Work To Do. As we move a little deeper in the text we see that:
II. Until The Day There Is A Promise To Remember v9 and when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. 10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; 11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
Before His death, Jesus had told these men that He was going away and that He would come again. John 14:1-6. Here at His ascension these men are reminded of that promise. No man knows the hour but Jesus made the promise and that is enough. We too can hold to the promise of His return. But we must be about the Father’s business. We must be witnesses of Christ, “Until The Day”. We may look at the condition of this world and say “It can’t long before He returns!” - He may return today, but it may be another 1,000 years. We don’t know the hour… we don’t know the day.But each day that He tarries, we have one more day to the work He has called us to do. Each day is one more day to reach our lost loved ones.
And when things are devastating and the condition of the world looks dim, we have the promise that He will return! This promise that we are to remember is encouraging because we know what His return means for His Bride. But this promise ought to be sobering as well. Time is short and the work is great! Let us hold to the promise of His return and work until He comes.
Until The Day There Is Work To Do …Until The Day There Is A Promise To Remember and finally we see:
III. Until The Day There Is A Savior To Worship - Luke 24:50 ¶And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. 51 And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.52 And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: 53 And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.
Throughout this sermon series (Redeemed), we have each and every step of the way that Jesus is worthy of worship. His Apostles grasped this fact and they did just that. We should look to their example and do the same thing.
Notice 3 was that we should worship:
A. We Should Worship Him Joyfully - v52 And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy:
Just a few weeks earlier, these men were huddled together for fear. They had abandoned Jesus. He had been crucified. He was in the tomb. They were devastated. Now He has left them and they are FILLED WITH GREAT JOY! How is this possible? It is possible because of the promises that Jesus left them with. He left them with the promise of:
1) His Return
2) The arrival of The Holy Spirit. - These promises belong to us as well and as a result we can worship Him joyfully! We also see that:
B. We Should Worship Him Corporately - v53 And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.
Throughout the book of Acts we read that the early church was “in one accord” (Acts 1:14, Acts 2:1, Acts 2:46, Acts 4:24, Acts 5:12 ) - It is apparent as we survey the book of acts that the early church worshipped together. They had “all things in common” They were not focused on themselves, they were worshiping God! There is something special about joining together wit hour brothers and sisters in Christ and praising our Savior!
We should be consistent in our worship; this fact is seen in verse 53 as well.
C. We Should Worship Him Continuously - v53a And were continually in the temple
The days of their grief and mourning were over.They joyfully, corporately praised Him continuously! Even after the Holy Spirit fell upon them at Pentecost they still grasped the importance of worship.
We have the blessed opportunity to offer our Savior the worship that He:
a. Jesus Delights In Our Worship
b. Jesus Desires Our Worship
c. Jesus Deserves Our Worship
d. Jesus Demands Our Worship
And we should offer Him that worship continuously!
Jesus left with a promise to come again?
1) Are you ready for His return?
2) Are you saved
3) If you are saved, are you serving Him “Until The Day?
