Acts 1:6-11 - The Ascended King and the Global Mission

Just take our Bible and go to the book of Acts, the book of Acts in chapter one.

I read an excellent biography of uh Ernest Shackleton by Ralph Fiennes a few years ago.

It was an amazing book.

It was uh an absorbing read, one of the books, one of those books you don't want to put down.

And one of the most gripping moments uh in the book came when Ernest Shackleton and his crew, 27 others, uh saw their ship endurance broken up by ice.

And with only a small lifeboat, uh they made shelter on a small little outcropping called Elephant Island.

And realizing that they couldn't just stay there, Ernest Shackleton took uh five other men with him and left on a long journey to try to find rescue by going to the island to South Georgia.

And he left there 22 men on Elephant Island to wait for his return.

And so they did.

He told them that he'd be back as soon as he could.

And under a man by the name of Frank Wilde, those 22 men waited for 126 days.

For 126 days on this barren rock, they waited, waiting for Shackleton and that crew to come back.

It was a biting, cold, desperate place.

No place to hide from the wind, no place to shelter from the cold.

They had to shoot seals to feed themselves.

They rationed their food, they dealt with despair and frostbite and all sorts of difficulties.

And they clung to survival with that question raging in their mind.

Would Shackleton return?

And when would it be?

And will we be alive when he gets here?

That question when is a question we all face too in many different places of life.

Maybe not on a piece of barren rock like they were, but we face that wind question with the same sense of intensity sometimes.

We might be asking the wind question, when is the results of that test going to come back?

When is this season that I'm in going to turn?

When is the difficulty that my loved one is going through going to be better?

That wind question can really drive deep into our souls.

Sometimes the wind question is not quite so significant, but we check it a lot.

We check it like I do, the forecast.

What's the weather tomorrow?

What's the weather tomorrow?

What's the weather tomorrow?

We're always asking about the future, what is that going to be, and when am I going to see things different?

An obsession with the wind question often speaks of something underlying there.

That if we did know the answer to the wind question, then we might be able to rest our soul.

That having the answer before the thing happens is what will give me the rest and the freedom that I'm longing for.

But God doesn't always do that.

We would love for God's trials and difficulties to be on our app, our calendar app.

And we'd like to be able to open our phone up and go, hey, in 13 days, I'm gonna have a trial.

And it's going to last six months.

That's pretty difficult.

But it's six months.

I I think I can get through that with God's help.

God doesn't put our trials and troubles on an app and schedule them with us ahead of time to tell us when they're coming.

And so he leaves us often with just the question, when.

And the reason I bring that up is because the very first question that we find the risen Christ asked as we enter into the book of Acts here is that question.

When?

The disciples are standing with him, and they're, it's the last day they're going to see him here on earth.

And the question that's driving their mind at the moment is when?

When?

They want to know the timing of a question we'll look at in just a moment.

But I want us to see what the risen Christ does with that one question and what he does with these disciples after they ask it.

Because as we come into this passage today, we're coming into the moment of the ascension, in which Christ himself is risen into the heavenlies and received into his glorious throne.

And we're going to watch the king go up, and we're going to hear him speak to his disciples about their win question and see what he does with it.

And we're going to also see those disciples themselves asked a question by the angels who are there.

So let's look at these verses, verses six through eleven.

Let's read them together.

So when they had come together, they asked him, Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?

He said to them, It's not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set in his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

And after he said this, he was taken up as they were watching, and a cloud took him out of their sight.

While he was going, they were gazing into heaven, and suddenly two men in white clothes stood by them.

They said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven?

This same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will come in the same way you've seen him going up into heaven.

Jesus here is not leaving in order to be absent.

He's leaving in order to reign.

And the clouds are not going to carry him off into retirement, they're carrying him off into enthronement.

And I want you to hold on to that because that's going to spread through all of this message this morning.

And because the king is reigning, he gives three things to these men here and three things to us.

The first thing that he does is he takes the win question out of their hands.

And the second thing that he does is he puts something into them to do.

And the last thing that happens here is he shows us that this reigning king will return.

So let's look at these three points.

So the first is this that the king redirects their question.

The king redirects redirects their question.

In verse 6, the question shows up: Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?

That's not a foolish question.

The whole Old Testament has been promising a kingdom, and they've been looking forward to that.

The load-bearing words in this sentence, though, are Israel and at this time.

They want a national kingdom and they want it now.

That's really their emphasis.

And the Lord takes that question and doesn't answer it the way that they would like it answered.

He doesn't even correct their hope or even enter into the discussion of the clock that they want.

Look at what he does in verse 7.

It's not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.

He takes that one word that they're reaching for, when, and he takes that when question and he puts it into the Father's hands, not theirs.

It's a very interesting way to answer that question.

And what he's telling them is that it is God's determinations of this question.

It's not for you to hold on to them.

It's the Father's business.

And it's always been that way.

In Deuteronomy 29, 29, it says, The hidden things belong to the Lord, and the revealed things belong to us.

There are matters that only God Himself knows, and God Himself will accomplish, that He hasn't given to us.

And in Daniel chapter 2 and verse 21, it says, It is God who changes the times and the seasons.

Daniel 2 · chapter mention

Listen to those two verses again.

The secret things belong to the Lord, and it is God who changes the times and the seasons.

The revealed things belong to us.

And so he's driving a wedge between that win question and who they are and who God is.

Because when we are obsessed with the win question, underlying that is this thing, I want to know things the way God knows them.

It's almost as if there's a hunger for us to sit in the Father's chair.

Not just to know so that we might be quieted, but know so that we might feel in control.

And for a lot of folks, that is a real challenge of the heart to let go of the wind question, to let go of the times and the seasons, to be obsessed with what might happen.

And people are often driven to anxiety because of that, who live their lives fearful of what might happen because they don't know what will happen or when things will transpire.

Afraid of releasing themselves to God in trust.

Now notice what the Lord does with these men.

He reassures them that the God who watches over them is the God who holds those things in his own hand.

And he makes the determinations of how everything will unfold.

I like a story from Corey Tenboom with her father.

She and her father were on a trip, on a journey, on a train journey, and she had asked her father a rather heavy question.

And her father didn't answer the question.

He simply took the baggage that he had had that were next to them as he asked the question.

And he he asked her if she could pick up the piece of luggage.

And she was a little girl and it was a heavy bag, and she grabbed it and she pulled with all of her might and she couldn't lift it.

And he said, The question that you're asking is like this heavy bag.

It's too heavy for you right now to pick up.

But there'll be a day later in your life when you'll be able to handle this luggage and you'll be able to pick up that luggage.

That question is an answer only for another day.

And so the Lord, when we have our wind questions, is acting like a good father.

He's saying, for you to know these things is too much for you at this moment.

I'm holding on to you, and I will carry the burden of the wind until the day comes when you enter into my moments.

That's how God works with us.

And this is what the Father is doing here with them.

He's helping these men to understand that he's not hiding things from them, but he's redirecting them away from their question.

And I want to think about that for a moment, just how obsessed they might have been with that when question.

Because it's a question they had asked Jesus before.

They had longed for themselves to be on that throne, in that place of authority, ruling over the nations.

They had looked for that for a long, long time, and yes, there were many in the land at the same time who were looking for the same kind of rule and reign of the Messiah.

They were pouring energies into a question that wasn't going to be answered at the time and in the way they thought it would.

How often do we spend time and energy and strength asking and worrying over when questions?

How much energy we spend sitting at the window wondering when things will happen when there's actually something else in the room for us to do.

Turn around and look at the room.

There's something for you to do inside the room.

Now, the Cain might king the timetable, but he doesn't keep himself from these men.

The Lord of glory is with us, even if he's not answering all of our questions.

And so let me encourage you: if you're wrapped up with a when question and worrying over it day and night, take your when question and yourself and put yourself and that question into the Father's hands.

He holds the times and the seasons, and as one of his children, he holds you as well.

Let's move through this because he's not only going to redirect the wind to the father's hand, he's also going to put something into their hands.

In verse 8, he talks about this.

And it begins with that adversive word, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit is come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

They were asking a when question, and he answers with a task.

And he tells them that they're going to receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on them.

The power and the spirit are joined together.

And what they are about to do is not going to be done in the power of human capacity.

What they're about to step into could only be done by the power of the Spirit who's going to be working in them and through them in a very short time period.

And what he gives them is not a program, but a purpose.

A witness.

Now, what is a witness?

A witness is a person who testifies about what they've seen.

That's what a witness is.

And so here he is giving them that task, but he also gives them a roadmap.

Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth.

And in one sentence, Christ has laid out the outline of the whole book of Acts.

In Acts 1 through 7, Jerusalem, Acts 8 through 12, Judea and Samaria, Acts 13, all the way to 28, the uttermost parts of the earth.

But notice he's also answered their question in a way they didn't expect.

And Jesus is lifting their eyes to the prophets who spoke centuries before about how God was actually going to rule over the nations.

And it wasn't by setting Israel over the people, but by sending the servant into the nations.

We went through the book of Isaiah and we saw that together very, very clearly.

That term servant is used several different times about several different people in the book of Isaiah.

The people of Israel were called the servant.

Isaiah himself was a servant.

Cyrus was a servant, but there was also another servant, a coming servant.

And he was given the task of bringing salvation to the ends of the earth.

And the people Israel in Isaiah chapter 43 were called, You are my witness.

Isaiah 43 · chapter mention

But at the same time they were blind and they were deaf.

In Isaiah 42, 19, they were unable to speak, unable to hear, unable to see.

And so Isaiah spoke of another promised servant who would come, one who would not fail like the people were doing in Isaiah's day, one who would be able to represent the truth of God to the nations, like the people of Israel were not doing in that day.

A servant who would be the light to the nations, a servant who would carry God's salvation to the ends of the earth, as it says in Isaiah 49, 6.

That servant that Isaiah speaks about is this servant who's about to be brought up into the clouds.

And this servant, the true servant, the true witness, is now saying to his disciples, You will be my witnesses.

Do you see what's happening here?

Jesus, the true servant, has come and has fulfilled all of the Father's commands and is completing all of the Father's purposes, extended through those who are believing on him.

And he's saying, You now will be my witnesses.

And so he joins his people to the true witness, the true servant, Jesus, who did always the things that pleased the Father.

The one who said, I can say nothing but from what I've received from heaven.

And the things that he saw, as John said in John chapter 3, that he witnessed in heaven, he brings to us here.

John 3 · chapter mention

And now that servant is saying to his servants, here, you are my witnesses.

You are extending the work of the servant of Isaiah as you go forth.

So I want us to travel a little bit through the book of Acts together.

Let's just take a journey very quickly through this book.

Take a look at verse 8 again and pick up that word, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem.

And now move your eyes over to verse 22.

Beginning from the baptism of John until this day, he was taken up from us.

From among these it is necessary that one become a witness with us of the resurrection.

So there is this idea that witness of the resurrection of this Christ has to be accomplished.

Let's go over to chapter 3 in verse 15.

Here Peter is preaching.

He said, You denied the holy and righteous one and asked to have a murderer released to you.

You killed the source of life in verse 15, whom God raised from the dead.

We are witnesses of this.

By faith in his name, his name has made this man strong, whom you now see and know.

So faith that comes through Jesus has given him this perfect health in front of you all.

Now turn over to chapter 5 in verse 32.

Peter and the apostles replied in verse 29, We must obey God rather than people.

And the God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had murdered by hanging him on a tree.

God exalted this man to his right hand as ruler and savior to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.

We are witnesses of this thing, of these things.

And so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.

Now flip a few pages over to chapter 10.

In verse 30.

Well, I'll start in verse 37.

Let me start in verse 36.

He sent the message to the Israelites, proclaiming the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, He is Lord of all.

You know the events that took place throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth, the Holy Spirit, and with power, and how he went about doing good and healing all who were under the tyranny of the devil, because God was with them.

We ourselves are witnesses of everything he did in both Judean country and in Jerusalem.

And yet they killed him by bringing him, hanging him on a tree.

And God raised up this man on the third day and caused him to be seen.

Not by all the people, but by us whom God has appointed as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.

Now turn to chapter 22.

This word gets pushed deeper and deeper into the whole book.

And here the Apostle Paul takes it up in verse 15 of Acts 22.

In verse 14, he said, The God of our ancestors has appointed you to know his will, to see the righteous one, and to hear the words from his mouth, since you will be a witness for him to all people of what you've seen and heard.

And then take a look at verse 20 of that same chapter.

There it says, And when the blood of your witness, Stephen, was being shed, I stood there giving approval and guarded the clothes of those who were killed.

Now turn to chapter 26, in verse 16.

Paul here is recounting his testimony in verse 20, verse 15.

He begins by talking about it.

Who are you, Lord?

But then in verse 26, or no, chapter 26, verse 16, he said, The Lord replied, I am Jesus, the one you're persecuting, but get up and stand on your feet, for I've appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you've seen and what you will see of me.

Now let's go back to Acts 13 for just a second before we head back to Acts 1.

I want you to bring your eyes on Acts 13 and verse 47.

Paul in verse 46, and Barnabas boldly reply, It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first.

Since you reject it and judge yourself unworthy of eternal life, we are turning to the Gentiles.

For this is what the Lord has commanded us.

I have made you a light for the Gentiles to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.

What is Paul doing here?

He is taking that very word about the servant of Isaiah, in which the suffering servant of Isaiah would be the light to the Gentiles to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.

And he's saying that in the gospel proclamation, he has been given the mandate of bringing that same salvation message to the ends of the earth through the missionary effort that's going to the ends of the earth.

And he brings that very word given to the suffering servant to himself.

This is what the Lord has commanded us.

And he takes up the very words given to the servant.

Do you see what is happening in the book of Acts here?

The people are given the command in Acts chapter 1 and verse 8, but the rest of the book are all of those men being obedient to the very charge given them as they go in Jerusalem, as they go into Judea and Samaria, as they reach out into the ends of the earth, as they end up at in the book of Acts in 28 in Rome itself.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

And this tells us something, that this is the drumbeat of the whole book of Acts.

When we get to Acts 1 and verse 8, this is the drumbeat of the whole book.

Everything is beating to the march of this score right here.

Everything.

And he is ruling the nations not in power like those men expected, but with the power of grace and the power of forgiveness, and the power of the gospel.

He's not conquering these people with a rod of iron.

He is conquering their hearts by making them his own through the forgiveness of sins.

And this is how he is ruling the nations.

One day, as the angels say, this very same Jesus will return.

But until he returns, this is how he's ruling the nations.

He's ruling them through the gospel, he's ruling them through the work of grace.

He's ruling them through the messengers who are witnessing and testifying about the Lord Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth.

This is the kingdom of grace that comes before the kingdom of glory.

First the witnesses, and then that visible throne.

Now feel this mission.

And what it's going to cost these men.

Jerusalem, the very city that crucified Christ, they're going to return to.

Judea, the country that had rejected Christ, they're going to enter into.

Samaria, the country they would avoid even going into, they will now enter.

And the ends of the earth, well, the outsiders, those other people, the ones who are not belonging to the covenant, they will now give a message of hope and life to in the same Messiah.

You see, the king means to walk as Lord in Christ over all people.

And he's now beginning to commission his servants to do just that.

But it's going to cost them.

It's going to cost them.

Because hidden in that word witness is another English word.

The Greek word martus.

We transliterate it martyr.

Some of these men and women are going to be martyred.

But they're all going to be witnesses.

Many of them are going to suffer for the name of Christ.

And God is going to extend his gracious rule of the gospel through the martyrdom and the witness of these people.

As one church historian said, the blood of the saints is the seed of the church.

And they were going to go forth in the name of Christ.

And it wasn't going to be an easy journey for them.

But it was going to be the means by which God would extend his kingdom.

Now think of these men, what they're told here.

They're told that they are to wait, they're going to receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon them.

And when that occurs, they would begin to become the kind of witnesses that God has for them to be in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth.

He's not telling them that the things that are going to happen are going to come because of their collective abilities or their ingenuity or their creativity.

It's going to happen when the power of God rests upon them.

And so he's not going to send them off into a journey without also providing them the means by which that task is going to be fulfilled.

Just think about it for a second.

When you see a sailboat in the harbor and you see it moving out of the harbor, you don't see a bunch of people underneath rowing away.

A sailboat lifts up the sail and catches the wind and it moves.

And what moves that sailboat is the wind itself.

And what the Lord is telling these men is raise the sail, let it be filled with the wind, and watch yourself move as you're carried by God into the places He wants you to go.

Their job was not to generate the power, their job was to wait until the power came.

And then they would go.

This is what it means for them to be a witness, to go the direction that the Lord wants them to move.

And he wants them to be in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and the outermost parts of the earth.

And they don't have to convince everybody of every single question that they might have.

A witness is a witness that testifies of things that they've seen.

And one of the best examples of a witness is that man in John chapter 9 who was born blind, that God heals and Christ heals him, and he can see.

John 9 · chapter mention

And he's surrounded by a bunch of religious people who are demanding an answer from him.

And they're saying, We know that the man who healed you was born a sinner.

And I love the I love his response.

He said, Well, whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know.

But one thing I can tell you was I was blind, but now I see.

Explain why I can see now.

Explain why I'm completely transformed.

And nobody, we've nowhere in history have we ever read of a man being made sightful like this.

Who do you think this guy is?

Do you also want to be his disciples?

I love that account.

The man couldn't enter into some deep, convoluted theological discussion, but he could certainly testify about what had happened to him.

Just like the woman at the well said, Look, just just come see a man.

Just come see him.

Now you may be here saying, I, you know, I just don't know the scriptures well enough.

I can't argue with people well enough.

They've got questions that go beyond my ability to answer.

One thing you absolutely do have as a believer in Christ is you can say, I was once blind, but now I see.

Right?

I can you can say that.

And there's nobody can disrepute that at all.

Because the transformation that the gospel does in your heart is such where they're looking at you going, what happened?

What happened?

Just tell them what happened.

Just tell them.

And so here he is, filling them, as we'll see soon, and sending them.

And he's put us into this same equation because the uttermost parts of the earth, the ends of the earth, we're still reaching those places.

We're still partnering together with people in places around this world where there are those who have never ever heard the name of Christ.

And we're bringing that message to them.

We're partnering together.

We're sacrificing our very own, who would be sitting in this pew otherwise, and sending them around the world so that they might do exactly what these people are doing here.

Testifying to the grace of God found in Jesus Christ our Lord.

To think this week, perhaps, of one person that maybe you can't argue with, that you can't answer all their questions for, but one person this week you could say, Can I share how I was once blind, but now I see?

And tell you just who did that for me.

And be a witness.

And be a witness.

So he takes their win question out of their hands, and he puts it into the Father's hands, because that's where it belongs.

And then he takes from the throne room of heaven a promise that the day would come very shortly in which heaven itself would come to earth and send them off to places to be a testimony of Christ.

Let's wrap up this section of scripture by looking at the third part of the king ascending.

In verse 9, after he had said this, he was taken up as they were watching, and a cloud took him up out of their sight.

Now, notice the wording here.

And uh, you know, it was a fair, fair spring day and you know, in this area, and a little bit of cloud there floated in, and Jesus just disappeared into that partly cloudy day.

That's not what it's doing here.

The cloud in Scripture is always associated with the presence of God.

The cloud on Mount Sinon, the cloud that filled the temple that the priests couldn't stand in.

The nation of Israel who were, as Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 10, who were under the cloud.

They were encompassed by the very presence of God.

That's what it's saying.

These are the men who went up into the Mount of Transfiguration into a cloud.

And in the cloud they heard, This is my beloved Son, in whom I'm well pleased.

The cloud.

The cloud that's receiving Christ is the cloud of glory.

The cloud that's receiving him is to signify that he's being brought welcomingly into the presence of God, the Father.

And these men, like we would do, are just staring up into the sky, amazed at the whole thing.

And the Peter of the Mount Transfiguration is not far from the Peter of this mountain.

Just staring.

And his Peter said there to Jesus, Jesus, it was really good for us to be here.

And uh, we should set up three booths here, and we should just memorialize this moment.

And Jesus doesn't answer their question this time, the angels do.

With a question.

They ask a question and then they give a promise.

Men of Galilee, why are you standing here looking up into heaven?

Uh, because a guy just went up into heaven, that's why.

It's not a cruel question.

It's meant to turn to something better.

This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, there's that word again, taken, right?

Will come in the same way that you've seen him going into heaven.

They might have thought about Christ leaving as a departure, but Christ was being received.

It was a coronation, not a departure.

He was brought into the place of rule and authority.

Daniel in Daniel 7 said that one like the Son of Man, coming with clouds of heaven, was brought before the ancient of days and given dominion and glory in a kingdom that will never pass away.

Jesus wasn't going up and disappearing, he was going up and receiving a kingdom.

And this is why in Acts chapter 2, when Peter preaches to the people in Jerusalem, he says, This same Jesus has accomplished what you see and hear today.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Because he's acting from the throne room of heaven on earth as they proclaimed the gospel, and as the Spirit is manifested to all of those people who had come for the feast of Pentecost.

And so they're asking the question Are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel at this time?

And the answer, in a way, is yes.

It's just about to happen.

Because the true Israel just sat on the throne, the true servant just sat on the throne.

The true one, the righteous one, who is now sending the edict of the gospel of grace and forgiveness of sins to the nations, is issuing his command.

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.

There.

And he told his servant Elisha that if Elisha stayed with him and continued with him until the day of departure, a twofold spirit would fall upon him.

And he watched Elijah go off into the heavenlies, and he received the mantle of Elijah and walked in the spirit in a two-fold manner of Elijah.

And Jesus said to these disciples before he went into the passion of his suffering, his death, his burial, and his resurrection, he said, Greater things than I you shall do.

And here they are, these men are now about to receive the Spirit in such a way that they would not just be witnesses like Jesus was in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, but they would be witnesses of Jesus in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth.

They would see the dead nations come to life.

All because of the enthroned Jesus Christ.

The angels have been asking them questions.

At the empty tomb, why are you looking for the living among the dead?

He's not here.

To these men, why are you gazing up into heaven?

You have somewhere to be.

And they're sitting at the window with the wind question wasn't where God wanted them.

He wanted them to realize that there was a place for them to go, and that there was an empowerment for them to enter into that, and that there was a task that was ahead of them, and that was to be their focus, energized by this reigning, risen, ascended king, until the time came when he, in his own times and determinations, comes back.

That is the commission to the church, and that is the commission to us, to be the extension of the message of the true servant, the true Israel, as recipients of that message and as witnesses of it in our generation, continuing to bring it to the very ends of the earth.

And suddenly two men in white clothes stand by them and they say, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven?

This same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will come into the same way in which you've seen him going into heaven.

This same Jesus.

This same Jesus.

And the hands that were still scarred by the nails, and the side that was still marked by the spear, that same Jesus.

You see, he's not ascended into the throne room as a distant emperor who never knows our trouble.

He is the same Jesus who lived this earthly life and knows in every place in which we ourselves are put into testings and trials and troubles.

And he now sits on the throne and issues from there not just a command to go, but a work that he continues to do of interceding on behalf of his own.

This same Jesus.

And this same Jesus who brought himself and laid down his life on the cross, brothers and sisters, is the same Jesus who is working now and going to welcome you into his presence.

This same Jesus.

And if you're here this morning and you don't know Christ as your Savior, I want to say something here.

This same Jesus came for undeserving people, gave his life up so that by believing on him you might have eternal life.

This same Jesus, he stepped into your guilt, he stepped into your failure, he stepped into the consequences of your sin that you could never pay for.

And he says, by the blood of Christ alone you are forgiven.

And the scriptures issue in this message of the king that we are to declare around this world.

Believe on him.

It is a cry and a command to all, believe the gospel and live.

It is a call to everyone.

This is your only hope.

And if you're here this morning and you don't know Christ as your Savior, while we still breathe this air in this room, there is hope for you.

Believe on Jesus Christ.

Because I want to tell you a little bit more of what the story is.

This same Jesus is going to return.

And the time and the seasons in which that will happen are only in his hands.

And it could be today.

And it could be soon.

And if you're sitting there saying, I'll decide on Christ at some other time, you may never have that other time.

And this same Jesus will return.

And he will not return with the gracious edict that he's offering today.

He will return in might and power and judgment, in which all will have a given answer to him.

And he will separate sheep from goats.

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Today is the day of salvation.

Now is the accepted time.

Because that time and that day and that season will end.

And this life as we know it will be over.

And the opportunities will be gone.

Gone.

If you're here and you're testifying to the Lord Jesus Christ, and I know many, many of you are.

Keep doing that.

May I encourage you, not only in what we're looking at now, but in what we'll learn next week, do so only in the might and power and direction of the Spirit of God.

Lift up your sail.

He'll fill it with the wind.

Just be a witness.

If you're here this morning and you haven't spoken about Christ to an unbelieving soul in some time, you don't need a seminary education.

You just need to speak about our Savior.

I was once blind, but now I see.

That will do.

And again, if you're here this morning, you don't know Christ.

Come to Him.

Come to Him.

He's coming back.

Are you ready?

Let's pray.

Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for these verses that enrich our understanding of our Savior, who give us a recognition, though not the timing, of your good purposes and plan in Him and through us.

And Father, for the glorious knowledge that a message of life and forgiveness, that we call the gospel the very good news, the best news, the eternally only good news, those who believe on him will not be condemned.

And Father, we thank you that we not only receive this commission, but we also receive the empowerment by the Spirit to accomplish it.

And Lord, as we continue in our witness daily here, as we continue in our gospel partnerships to ensure that those who have not heard of Christ do hear of him.

We pray that you might continue to guide and direct and empower all of us as your people.

May the risen Christ flow through in his saving work, in his people.

And we pray this in Christ's name.

Amen.