Tonight, I invite you to turn with me to Acts chapter 3. Acts chapter 3, as we will begin reading at verse 11 through the end of the chapter. The first few verses, you will recall, deal with Peter and John healing the crippled beggar. When they say, silver and gold, I do not have, but what I have I give to you in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, walk. And then he gets up walking and jumping and praising God. Acts chapter 3, beginning at verse 11. But first, let's turn to page 24 in the back of the Psalter hymnal as we continue in our consideration of the Catechism's treatment, specifically of the Apostles' Creed, and now the exaltation of Christ, His ascension. Lord's Day 18, four questions and answers for us. Pages 24 and 25. Lord's Day 18, page 24. Question 46 asks, and we confess together, What do you mean by saying He ascended into heaven? That Christ, while His disciples watched, was lifted up from the earth into heaven and will be there for our good until He comes again to judge the living and the dead. But isn't Christ with us until the end of the world as he promised us? Christ is true man and true God. In his human nature, Christ is not now on earth. But in his divinity, majesty, grace, and spirit, he is not absent from us for a moment. If his humanity is not present wherever his divinity is, then aren't the two natures of Christ separated from each other? Certainly not. Since divinity is not limited and is present everywhere, it is evident that Christ's divinity is surely beyond the bounds of the humanity he has taken on. But at the same time, his divinity is in and remains personally united to his humanity. And how does Christ's ascension into heaven benefit us? First, he pleads our cause in heaven in the presence of his Father. Second, we have our own flesh in heaven, a guarantee that Christ, our head, will take us, his members, to himself in heaven. Third, he sends his Spirit to us on earth as a further guarantee. By the Spirit's power, we make the goal of our lives not earthly things, but the things above where Christ is sitting at God's right hand. Acts chapter 3, beginning at verse 11. While the beggar held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon's Colonnade. When Peter saw this, he said to them, Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see. Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer. Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ who has been appointed for you, even Jesus. He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. For Moses said, Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have foretold these days, and you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you, to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways. May God add his blessing to the reading and to the preaching of his word tonight. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, Acts 1 verse 9 says, he was taken up before their very eyes and a cloud hid him from their sight. And then he was gone. Or was He? You see, if we are amazed by the fact that Jesus just, as it were, went up, boys and girls, if we are amazed by the fact that somehow Jesus floated up from this earth until they could no longer see Him, then imagine His followers who were watching all of this. They must have been dumbfounded as His ascension defied the laws of gravity. But of course, we know that the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ is about much more than simply Him being lifted up in some miraculous sort of way from this earth and being hidden from their sight. It's about much more than that. You see, with the ascension of Jesus Christ, the Son of God went home. With the ascension, the Son of God went home to the presence of His Father. But even then, the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ is not His turning His back on us. Because even though He rejoices in, as someone has said, the love of the Father's fellowship and the fellowship of the Father's love, He is there for us. He is there for our benefit. And another thing is that His ascension was not just a nice gesture on the part of God the Father. indeed it was a statement of well done for god the son but beloved he is one whom heaven must receive verse 21 of acts chapter 3 says he must remain in heaven until the time comes for god to restore everything as he promised long ago through his holy prophets he must remain in heaven and indeed that is a true statement. He must remain in that place to where he had gone until the time set forth by God the Father when he will return. But we need to understand tonight for this sermon in particular that a better, more accurate translation than he must remain in heaven is speaking about that Jesus is the one whom heaven must receive. You see, all of the translations except for the NIV and a few contemporary paraphrases record it the way we have it in the NIV, that he must remain in heaven. But again, a better translation is whom heaven must receive. And the word receive, the word translated remain in the NIV and translated receive otherwise has the idea of a deliberate receiving, a ready receiving with open arms, as it were, not remain. Of the 48 times in the New Testament that the word that is translated here is used, even the NIV 47 times translates it as accept or welcome, to receive, to take. and only the one time for the enemy does it use remain here. Peter is clearly talking about the ascension of Jesus Christ, and he is doing so, interestingly enough, in the context of the healing of the crippled beggar. This beautiful episode, which is visible proof, another visible sermon, if you will, that Jesus is still with us, as we confess, by His power. He is still with us through His Holy Spirit. He is still with us in His Word. And this context gives Peter the occasion once again to preach a second powerful sermon here in the early chapters of Acts. And he preaches here of the truth of Jesus Christ. And maybe you notice as we read this that he talks about the death of Jesus. He talks about the resurrection of Jesus. In verse 21, he talks about the ascension of Jesus, I believe. And in that same verse, he talks about the return of Jesus. the very same things that we confess in the Apostles' Creed. He preaches the truth of Jesus Christ. He preaches the truth of salvation only in Him and of the promise still to come because of this One whom heaven must receive. And again with that word must, there is an amazing emphasis here. There is an amazing necessity. He must be received. Why? Why? Because in the first place, Christ's reception into heaven was a right earned by Him. You see, in a nutshell, it was necessary for God the Father, for heaven, for the heavenly host, to receive Him because He accomplished the work that He came to do. And He earned that right to be received as one who was sent by the Father. That's the testimony of Scripture. That's the testimony of God Himself by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said in Matthew 10, verse 40, He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me. In Luke 4, verse 18, Jesus applies Isaiah 61 to Himself, which says, The Spirit of the Lord is on me because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoner and recovery of sight for the blind. The Apostle John says in 1 John 4.19, this is how God showed His love among us. He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. And one more. Paul, of course, in Galatians 4.4 says, But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a one, born under law. God sent His Son, just as He sent Hosea to Gomer for a particular purpose. He sent His Son, and He sent Him from heaven. There's no doubt about the home of the Son of God. In John 1, verse 1, we read, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. And the Word was God. And at His baptism, we know that the Father spoke from heaven. On the one hand, the ascension of Jesus is simply the home going of the Son of God, of this One who was not only sent by the Father, but who came to do the Father's will. That will foretold by the prophets. Verse 18, but this is how God fulfilled what He had foretold through all the prophets. Verse 21, as He promised long ago through His holy prophets. Isaiah was one of those holy prophets we know. And in Isaiah 53, verse 10, we read, it was the Lord's will to crush Him and to cause Him to suffer. He came to do the Father's will. He came to be crushed. He came to suffer. and doing the Father's will is the testimony of Christ. In John 4.34, he says, My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work. And the Word of God is not silent about that will. It is not silent about that work specifically. In John 3.17, it says, to save the world. In Galatians 4.4, to redeem those under the law. In 1 John 1, verse 10, to be an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Again, Christ came to do the will of His Father to be crushed, to suffer. Why? Because paradise was lost. You see, the Garden of Eden was not heaven. But the Garden of Eden was paradise because of the presence of God. God is the heaven of paradise. And He is the paradise of heaven. In sin, Adam and Eve and we along with them were driven from the glorious and the loving presence of God and the way back into His presence was closed, locked up tight, guarded, that you and I could not return on our own. That way was closed. But Jesus Christ was sent by the Father to do the Father's will, to open up that way. Yet before he could do that, he must be faced with the sword of God's justice. He must be faced with the penalty for our sin, the wages of which is death. Christ must be received by heaven because he was sent by the Father. He came to do the Father's will and because he is the one who satisfied the Father's justice. And we know that that was performed on Calvary, Whereas Isaiah 53 says He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all. See, Jesus Christ did not die during those three hours of darkness and that hellish agony, the agony of hell on the cross. But He came through that agony of hell to preach that simple sermon of salvation. It is finished. I have accomplished it. I have been crushed. I have suffered for the sin of the people. I have satisfied God's justice. And that satisfied justice was proven in His resurrection. As we said last week, the resurrection was the Father's amen. His stamp of approval, as it were, upon the work of His Son. And Paul was so confident of that. That he says in Ephesians 1, verse 7, And in Him, we have redemption through His blood. We have the forgiveness of sins. And that satisfied justice, beloved, I believe is demonstrated by Peter here in this passage through the healed beggar. Verse 16 says, By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through Him that has given this complete healing to Him as you can all see. The healing of this crippled beggar is evidence of the victorious power of Jesus Christ and because of that, Peter boldly preaches that the way has been opened. He says again in verse 19, Repent then and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord. Peter preaches confidently that the way has been opened and we can be confident of this because Jesus Christ is the one who also entered the Father's presence. He is the one whom heaven must receive and indeed heaven has received him. He has entered the Father's presence. He could not do that if he had not accomplished the Father's will but he has entered because he has satisfied the Father's justice and he has entered with the sacrifice of himself. The writer of Hebrews says that he who is our hope entered the inner sanctuary behind the curtain on our behalf and he entered as the great high priest who entered the most holy place once for all by his own blood having obtained eternal redemption. We are reminded there of the high priest in the Old Testament. Once a year going into the temple behind the curtain into the Holy of Holies to bring the blood of the atoning sacrifice to satisfy for the sins of God's people. But that blood had to be brought again and again and again year by year because it wasn't sufficient. But Christ's blood is sufficient. And because that blood was sufficient, He has entered into the Father's presence. And as the Catechism says in answer 49, He pleads our cause in heaven in the presence of His Father. He has entered with the sacrifice of Himself and He has entered in His humanity. You see, beloved, He stands before His Father. He stands there with His nail-scarred hands, as it were, held out. He stands there before His Father with you and I on His mind. And He says, I have done it for them. I have suffered for them. Do not hold their sin against them. Because you have already held it against me in their place. And therefore now that very same justice of God that demanded that the way to Him be closed because of our sin, that very same justice demanded that the way be opened for the Christ, but also for the objects of His love. You see, heaven must receive him because he earned the right to be received. But praise God that when Jesus Christ entered, he did so as the mediator and as the deliverer of those who are washed in his blood. In John 17, verse 24, in that high priestly prayer, we read, Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory. And we can be with Him where He is, because He is victorious. And the wonderful thing about that prayer is that every time a believer dies to this life, Christ's prayer is being answered as the soul of that one is taken where He is to see His glory. And this means, beloved, that as heaven received Him with open arms, He has the authority to command the gates of heaven to stay wide open for those who believe in him. As answer 49 also says, Second, we have our own flesh in heaven, a guarantee that Christ, our head, will take us, his members, to himself in heaven. And therefore, this heavenly reception in the second place is a right earned for us. Not only did Jesus Christ earn the right to be received into heaven for himself, but he earned the right for you and I to also be received into heaven. And again, I believe that that's visibly demonstrated here in this episode. We cannot see the soul of a believer enter heaven at death, but the healed beggar again is a visible picture, a visible sermon of not only the power of God to accomplish physical healing, but also the beggars walking and jumping and praising God. His evidence of new life in Jesus Christ. That new life accomplished in the child of God because of the work of Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit, applied to that one by the Holy Spirit. This physical healing of this beggar is evidence of the fulfillment of prophecy. Isaiah 35 says, Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped? Then will the lame leap like a deer and the mute tongue shout for joy? And when the followers of John the Baptist came to Jesus and said, Are you the one? Are you the one that we are to be looking for? Or should we look for another one? He said, Go back to John and tell him what you see. The blind see. The deaf hear. The lame walk. This healed beggar points to spiritual healing. He is evidence of what Jesus Christ has earned. He has earned the right to save. And by the faith that he enjoyed, he is evidence of what Jesus Christ will do. He actually saves. He restores his people to favor with God. He refreshes our soul with the gift of faith. And notice too, beloved, that that right that has been earned for you and me is audibly declared. In other words, Peter preaches. He preaches. Verse 19 again, Repent then and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord. That right that Jesus Christ has earned for you and me is to be audibly declared. It is to be preached powerfully. And Peter does so here, first of all, with a call to repent. He makes it clear that we are all guilty of sin. He makes it clear here that we are all guilty of killing the author of life. And the Word of God must be preached with a call to repent, to turn from running away from God and instead fleeing to Him for refuge. Repenting so that we no longer hate what God loves and love what God hates, but instead we hate what God hates and we love what God loves. And for those who respond in faith, beloved, that is proof of Christ's resurrection promise to send the Holy Spirit who makes alive those who were dead in trespasses and sins. And He is a guarantee, as answer 49 says. He sends His Spirit to us on earth as a further guarantee. By the Spirit's power, we make the goal of our lives not earthly things, but the things above where Christ is sitting at God's right hand. We make the goal of our earthly lives, our goal, not the things that interest us most, but the things that interest and please God most. That word of God is to be audibly declared with a call to repentance, and for those who respond in faith, Peter also gives a promise of pardon that your sins may be wiped out. Now, boys and girls, the idea there is a little bit like a chalkboard with chalk, or maybe you know better, a dry erase board. But it's as if on that chalkboard our sins are recorded nice and bold, each and every one on that chalkboard, filling it up, easy to read, no mistake. But it's wiped completely clean. And I think back to the days when I was in grade school, not only did the chalkboard get erased every day, but on Friday it got erased, and the teacher or maybe some fortunate student got to wash that chalkboard. So every last bit of chalk residue was completely wiped away. That's what Jesus Christ has done for us. Every bit of the residue of sin has been completely paid for. It's completely wiped away. That's what He has earned for us. And therefore, we are those whom heaven must receive. You see, Peter's sermon here also comes with a guarantee of paradise. He must remain in heaven, or whom heaven must receive until the time comes for God to restore everything as He promised long ago through His holy prophets. Restoration. And the idea there with that word means to put everything back in its place, to put it back as it's supposed to be. Boys and girls, if your room is messy and your mom says, go clean your room. She knows that everything has its place and it's not to shove it under the bed. Everything must be put back in its place. Restore your room to the way it's supposed to be. When God created the heavens and the earth, He said it was very good. And sin messed it up. But God will restore. He will put everything back in its place as it is supposed to be. And by faith we know that until that day, by faith we are already restored to favor with God and we already enjoy times of refreshing that Peter talks about. And we enjoy those times of refreshing beginning already when we are given new life by the Holy Spirit and we sense that burden and the guilt of sin lifted and that enmity gone and love restored when the Holy Spirit works love for God in our hearts. We sense those times refreshing when indeed we recognize that by the grace of God and the work in the Spirit, we do set our minds on things above where Christ is seated. And that is the goal of our life on this earth, the things that please God. We enjoy those times of refreshing in the midst of the troubles of life as we are refreshed with the knowledge and the assurance of the sovereignty of God and that all things, even the difficult and the hard-to-take things, work for our good. And in death, the believer especially enjoys time of refreshing. As the believer is facing death and enjoys the comfort and the assurance of heaven's arms open wide. But we look forward to that full restoration. We look forward to the full redemption still to come. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, Then the end will come when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority, and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. Peter talks about the new heavens and the new earth in another place. We look forward to that. We look forward to that, as Revelation 21 says, when there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. No more separation from God. Because the way has been opened. Wide open. Jesus Christ has earned the right for his believers to enter heaven. And heaven must and heaven will receive them. He says in John 6, verse 40, For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. Now, dear friends, the ascension of Jesus Christ is to be a comforting truth to those who believe. And that is because it is proof of His perfect and His complete work. It is a guarantee of our victory in him and with him as his work is applied to you and me by the Holy Spirit. It is a promise of our eternal home and we will not be rejected. We do not have to worry about getting to the gates of heaven, as we sometimes say. We do not have to worry about being rejected. We do not have to worry about being turned back because Jesus Christ has done it for us. And until that day, our worship, our worship, blessed by the Holy Spirit, is a small foretaste of the glory of that heavenly and eternal occupation for which we are being prepared to praise God for all eternity. And until that day, our obedience, even though it is stained with sin, our obedience is to excite us for the day when heaven receives us and our sin will be gone forever. And never again will we sin against the Holy God and He will be fully pleased with us. And until that day, our lives can be lived with unconquerable joy because we know that we belong to our faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, who earned forgiveness, who earned a new life, who earned an eternal home for us. And beloved, because we know, because we know by faith that this world and this earth is not our home, the Holy Spirit will not let all that Christ will destroy one day. He will not let that destroy us. Instead, in His grace, He will keep our eyes focused on Him so that we turn our eyes upon Jesus, as the song says, so that we look full in His wonderful face and the things of earth then will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. Until the day that we will be ushered into the heavenly courts, may our prayer be that the Holy Spirit would cause us to set our minds on things above where Christ our Savior is seated so that the goal of our lives would be the things of God. May our prayer be that the Holy Spirit would cause us to live out our heavenly citizenship here on earth, giving evidence of that citizenship by walking and jumping and praising God, pointing others to Jesus Christ who is the only way to heaven. May that be our desire that others find that way by the grace of God. Because apart from Him, there is only outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, the torment of hell forever. But for those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ alone for salvation to them, the Father will say one day, Welcome home, my child. Welcome home. The ascension of Jesus Christ. A right He earned for Himself. A right He earned for. And a blessing that He has given to you and me. Praise God. Amen. Let's pray together. Dear Heavenly Father, we continue to be amazed at Your work on our behalf. The work of your Son, done completely, sufficiently, accomplished perfectly. We praise your name that he did not stay on this earth, but that he ascended into heaven and sits at your right hand, reigning forevermore. That he has sent the Holy Spirit to be with your church throughout this life. And Father, continue to lead us and guide us. And may it be that our minds would be set on high where Christ is. So often we seem to be stuck here with the things of this earth grabbing all of our attention. But may it be that our lives would not be seen by us in any way other than through that which pleases you and your holy will. Father, hear our prayer. For Jesus' sake, amen. Yeah.