Tom Ascol - Session 1 | Christ Above All Earthly Powers

beginning of the new year i started reading through the book of acts again and i was struck quickly with just how the gospel of jesus christ advanced in the first century to see how the church of christ in the new testament era got its footing got its marching orders and continued to go throughout the whole roman empire and the way that it happened is that regular men and women met jesus and they never got over it they came to experience life with jesus christ by turning from sin trusting him and being reconciled to god of course jesus is the center and the foundation of the christian faith he is the chief cornerstone of the church which he himself is building and has promised to build the church's responsibility is to proclaim christ and we're to do that humbly boldly unapologetically joyfully and obediently and we're to do it in every area that we have influence there is no sphere in this world which is off limits to the gospel of the lord jesus we see how in the book of acts the church spread through these everyday normal means just as it has continued to spread throughout the last 2000 years christ must be known he must be proclaimed he must be trusted he must be loved no matter what the cost or consequences and i say that because where christ is proclaimed where he is known and loved and where his people seek to call others to come to know him and trust him and love him there will be opposition and sometimes that opposition can be fierce at times it can even be violent and it's not all that unusual for it to be deadly just read the book of acts or read the history of the church of christ after the book of acts the lord jesus said to his disciples in john 16 33 in this world you will have tribulations peter or paul said in ii timothy 3 all who desire to live a godly life in christ jesus will be persecuted those are promises just as sure as any other promise given to us in scripture god has been so good to us in this land for so long that those promises of persecution and opposition sound a little bit strange and foreign to us because we have lived under the blessings of god and we've had so much religious freedom here in this nation in fact he has been so good to us on this front for so long that i fear many believers when faced with persecution in our context or even just opposition might actually fold and walk away i believe we have been given a little glimpse of this a foretaste of what that might look like in this last year when too many evangelical leaders and churches were so easily brought to heal by governing authorities medical authorities and ideological bullies who tried to dictate what we must do what we must say and even what we must think if we're going to be loving according to their definition of love so what are christians to do when we face opposition what are we to do when we are threatened with severe consequences if we do not comply with the new moralities of the ideological agendas that are gaining ascendancy in our culture but we need to do what christians have been doing for two millennia we need to be strong and courageous we need to love christ trust christ follow christ and proclaim christ our marching orders have not changed jesus told his disciples before he ascended into heaven all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me go therefore make disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the father the son and the holy spirit teaching them to observe all that i have commanded you and behold i am with you always even to the end of the age in acts chapter 1 verse 8 luke's account of this commission is worded a little differently there jesus said you will receive power when the holy spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in jerusalem and all judea and samaria to the ends of the earth and then luke adds this footnote 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 that final scene of jesus ascending into heaven was a very important reminder that will help god's people stay at our post when things get difficult this is why we need to remember jesus christ risen from the dead as paul writes to timothy of the seed of david according to my gospel more specifically we need to remember jesus christ crucified risen from the dead and ascended to the right hand of god the father almighty we need to become reacquainted in our day with what the older writers of the christian faith refer to as the heavenly session of christ and recognize that right now our crucified risen savior sits enthroned in heaven he is ruling he is reigning psalm 110 declares this and jesus quoted this to his detractors in mark chapter 12 it says the lord says to my lord sit at my right hand until i make your enemies your footstool the father says to the son here's your seat rule until all of your enemies are subdued the book of acts is a record of normal christians living like they really believe that a dead man came back from the dead never to die again and has ascended into heaven in other words the christians in the book of acts had a two-world view of reality they recognized that there are unseen realities and at the very heart of those unseen realities is the lord jesus who walked among them who laid down his life on a cross in order to redeem them from their sins and then was raised from the dead on the third day and ascended into heaven where he lives as the god-man now and one day we'll return to bring everything to its proper conclusion you read through the book of acts and you see immediately after pentecost as the gospel continued to be preached that there was opposition first from religious authorities and then from more formal governmental authorities chapter 4 verse 2 we read that the priests and the sadducees were greatly annoyed by the apostles because they were teaching the people and proclaiming that in jesus the resurrection from the dead really exists so they arrested them and then the whole council questioned them and asked them by what power by what name did you do this did you heal this lame man peter seizing the opportunity begins to seek to evangelize them to do what jesus told him to do he said let it be known to all of you and all the people of israel that by the name of jesus christ of nazareth whom you crucified whom god raised from the dead by him this man is standing before you well he preached a crucified risen christ a christ who lives now in chapter 4 verse 13 when the pharisees the sadducees the religious leaders saw the boldness of peter and john luke says they perceived that these were uneducated men common men and they were astonished and they recognized that they had been with jesus well if you've been with a man who died and came back from the dead and is alive now it'd probably be noticeable in your life too later in that chapter they are admonished by the religious authorities not to preach not to teach to quit preaching in the name of christ and peter responds whether it's right in the sight of god to listen to you or rather rather than to god you must judge but we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard and so they continued and they get arrested and god miraculously lets them out of jail and they go back to preaching and then they call them the religious leaders call them to account in chapter 5 and ask them how this has happened and admonish them saying we strictly charged you not to teach in this name yet you have filled jerusalem with your teaching and again they responded we must obey god rather than men and peter continues on that occasion the god of our fathers raised jesus whom you killed by hanging him on a tree god exalted him at his right hand as the leader and savior to give repentance to israel and forgiveness as sins and we are witnesses of these things they knew the risen ascended christ they knew that he was in heaven right now ruling and reigning at the right hand of god the father the persecution spreads as the gospel spreads we see stephen stone to death in chapter 7 saul breathing out threats and curses as one of those persecutors in acts chapter 8 and saul himself being converted and then himself becoming the object of persecution in chapter nine the gospel continues to spread to the gentiles in chapters 10 and 11 and chapter 12 is the martyrdom of james the brother of the lord jesus the antioch church in chapter 13 sends paul and barnabas to galatia chapter 15 is the jerusalem council to receive the report of what happened in galatia and to settle the question do you have to become a jew in order to become a follower of jesus christ and then antioch sends paul and silas to macedonia and they go to philippi in chapter 16. and from there in chapter 17 to thessalonica and berea and it's fascinating when you read in acts chapter 17 paul and silas going to thessalonica having been in philippi it's about a hundred miles or so so it would have taken them a few days to get there and when they get to thessalonica this is what's written in acts 17 6. these men who have turned the world upside down have come here also i mean they just got to town and their reputation preceded them they were men who turned the world upside down where can such accusations like this be found in the borders of our own nation how did they do it the resurrection of jesus was an ever-present reality in their thinking and that truth is essential to living courageously for christ in the face of hardship and opposition we see this as paul lays it out for us theologically in first corinthians chapter 15. because there he argues for the literal bodily resurrection of jesus and he says if this is not true then we're all fools we're on a fool's errand our faith is in vain and in verse 20 of that chapter he says in fact christ has been raised from the dead he's the first fruits of all who have fallen asleep and then listen to his theological reasoning that puts steel in the backbone of all those who know christ whereas by a man came death by a man has also come the resurrection of the dead for as an adam all die so in christ shall all be made alive but each in his own order christ the firstfruits then it is coming those who belong to christ then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom of god to the father after destroying every rule and every authority and power for he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet paul was confident there's going to be victory there's going to be success because his crucified risen savior is exalted in heaven and ruling and overruling for that very purpose he goes on in that chapter and he says if the dead are not raised at all why are we in danger every hour he says what do i gain humanly speaking if i fought with beasts at ephesus if the dead are not raised let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die the beasts at ephesus were not four-footed creatures they were two-footed creatures they were people and paul says why do i put up with this why do i let people abuse me why do i get back up and go back into the towns and preach christ when they don't want me there if there's no resurrection from the dead well it's a foolish errand isn't it it makes no sense better to pull the blinds and pull the covers up over your heads unless jesus christ has been raised from the dead and is exalted in heaven right now but if that's true then dying daily if that's true then gambling your life for the sake of the gospel it makes perfect sense i love paul's prayer in ephesians chapter one and again i think he prays for the very things that we need today at this moment of our history in this nation we ought to pray this for ourselves and for one another he speaks of his prayer that we might have an understanding and knowledge of the hope to which god has called us that we might experience the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints and that we might know what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe and then he elaborates that power this power which is according to the working of his great might that he worked in christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places far above all rule and authority and power and dominion above every name that is named not only in this age but also in the age to come and he has put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church which is his body the fullness of him who fills all in all paul says i want you to get that i want you to know this power that raised jesus from the dead and has exalted him into heaven where he rules and reigns over everyone and everything oh brothers and sisters if we could get that if we could know that if we could see that and remember that we wouldn't be so quick to be silent when we should speak we wouldn't be so easily intimidated whenever someone comes and tells us what we must or must not do that is contrary to what christ has called us to be and do our lord jesus christ is enthroned in heaven right now what's he doing what's the lord doing in heaven well one thing he's doing is he is interceding for his people hebrews tells us he ever lives to make intercession for us romans 8 34 says who is the one who condemns christ as he who died yes rather who was raised who is at the right hand of god who also intercedes for us if you're trusting christ he is in heaven for you interceding for you right now the scottish pastor robert murray machine said if i could hear christ praying for me in the next room i would not fear a million enemies wouldn't that be true of you if you could hear jesus praying for you machine says yet distance makes no difference he is praying for me what's he praying well we read in john 17 the burdens of jesus's high priestly prayer there listen to what the systematic theologian louis berkoff says about what jesus is praying he said he's presenting to the father those spiritual needs which were not present to our minds and which we often neglect to include in our prayers and that he prays for our protection against the dangers of which we are not even conscious and against the enemies which threaten us though we do not notice it he is praying that our faith may not cease and that we may come out victoriously in the end brothers and sisters we have a risen savior who prays for us he intercedes for us why do we need to be fearful why do we need to back away from any duty that he lays upon us in addition to praying for us he is ruling and overruling in the affairs of the world again that first corinthians 15 passage the prayer in ephesians 1 christ is enthroned in heaven he's at the right hand of god the father that is a place of authority he said all authority in heaven and on earth belongs to him so there's not any empire that is raised up or that is cast down apart from his authority there's not any advance of ideologies or refutation of ideologies that doesn't occur out from under his sovereign authority he's ruling and overruling in heaven you know another thing he's doing in heaven he's laughing he's laughing psalm 2. why do the nations rage and the people's plot in vain the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the lord and against his anointed saying let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us he who sits in the heavens laughs the lord holds them in derision every godless proposal of the new president biden will cause god to laugh just as every godless proposal of president trump calls god to laugh he laughs at klaus schwab of the world economic forum with all of his great plans for the great reset that are godless he laughs at xi jinping in china who masterminds his strategies for his country thinking himself able to overthrow the cords and the bonds of his creator he laughs at any other king a ruler who plots against christ thinking they will reject his authority and deny his prescriptions brothers and sisters how can we who believe these things about christ not be bold and courageous as we live in this world that opposes christ how can we quickly crumble and fade when we're remembering and believing these truths i understand that in one sense the world has changed over the last several years and in some dramatic ways here in our country it's happened rapidly we well may be living in one of those evil days paul speaks of in ephesians 6 or in those perilous seasons that he speaks of in ii timothy 3 1. but no matter how much things have changed that we can measure the most important things have not changed our mission hasn't changed god doesn't say go make disciples unless it's hard or unless your person is not in charge politically the gospel hasn't changed it's still the power of god to salvation to all who believe human nature hasn't changed it's still depraved it's still enslaved to sin it is still in need of being liberated by the gospel and jesus christ has not changed he lives to make intercession for his people and to save all who trust in him so rather than being intimidated by the growing darkness around us we should see the dimming of the light of the gospel in our culture as an increased opportunity for us to shine brightly in what paul calls this crooked and perverse generation we have the gospel and we are charged by our master to go make disciples so brothers and sisters in that sense as we look around and we see godlessness rising up all around us as right thinking christians we should say you know what this is this is a target-rich environment i love the story of lieutenant general chesty puller world war ii veteran korean war veteran the most decorated u.s marine in history in december of 1950 at the battle of chosun reservoir when 10 chinese divisions surrounded him and his marines on that occasion puller reportedly said those poor souls he didn't call him souls those poor soldiers they've got us right where we want them we can fire in any direction now a target rich environment where is the gospel not needed in our community where's the gospel not needed in your own spheres of opportunity and influence at work in your home in your neighborhood in your extended relations anywhere everywhere is becoming increasingly evident that people need to know about jesus christ they need to be taught the gospel of christ they need to be called to turn from their sin and entrust themselves to christ that they might be reconciled to their creator the need is great the mission is clear and the captain of our salvation has placed us exactly where he wants us to be right now he has put us behind enemy lines and he shed his blood and has been raised from the dead to guarantee our success so that with clarity and with confidence we can firmly hopefully joyfully ride to the sound of the guns this is not a day for christians to become timid it's not a day for us to sit back and to lament what used to be or to think that all is hopeless in the future as the darkness increases let us take the light of the gospel and do our best to shine it forth all the more energetically i love what charles spurgeon said acknowledging these same battles in his day in the 19th century in england he said we admire man who was firm in faith say 400 years ago but such a man today is a nuisance and must be put down call him a narrow-minded bigot or give him a worse name if you can think of one yet imagine that in those ages past luther zwingli calvin and their compiers imagine if they had said the world is out of order but if we try to set it right we shall only make a great row and get ourselves into disgrace let us go to our chambers put on our nightcaps and sleep over the bad times or perhaps when we wake up things will have grown better such conduct on their part would have entailed upon us a heritage of error age after age would have gone down into the infernal deeps and the pistiferous boggs of error would have swallowed us all these men loved the faith and the name of jesus too well to see them trampled on it is today as it was in the reformers day decision is needed here's the day for the man where is the man for the day we who have had the gospel passed to us by martyr hands dare not trifle with it nor sit by and hear it denied by traitors who pretend to love it traitors who pretend to love it but inwardly abhor every line of it look you sirs there are ages yet to come if the lord does not speedily appear there will come another generation and another and all these generations will be tainted and injured if we are not faithful to god and to his truth today we've come to a turning point in the road if we turn to the right mayhap our children and our children's children will go that way but if we turn to the left generations yet unborn will curse our names for having been unfaithful to god and to his word here's the day for the man where's the man for the day brothers and sisters before god let us repent of every fearful imagination and impulse that we have had in the face of this rising darkness may god expose to us where we have given in to the temptation to be afraid of people because we've not been fearful of him and may he teach us that what we have in christ is a crucified risen ascended heavenly ruling and reigning lord and savior and that our lives are in his hands and that he has commissioned us to go into the world and to make disciples may he empower us by his spirit to give ourselves to that for the sake of this generation and the generations yet to come let's pray our father we thank you for giving us your word we thank you for faithfulness of those who have gone before us on whose shoulders we stand who served their generation well and who have handed down to us understanding of your word that we would not have had had they failed and been derelict in their duty we ask that you would make us faithful in our day god give us a sense of wonder and joy that you would call us into your very family that you would forgive us our sins for christ's sake that you would commission us and empower us by your word and spirit to go into this world for the sake of your kingdom to be a part of what jesus christ is doing now and for eternity strengthen our faith increase our joy give us boldness and determination to live for christ for we pray in his name amen you

Channel: Founders Ministries

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Keywords: Founders Ministries, Tom Ascol, Jared Longshore, Founders, Reformed Theology, Theology, Reformed Baptist, Calvinism, Church, Christian Ministry, Reformed, IOPT, Institute of Public Theology, Voddie Baucham, By What Standard, Wield The Sword, Courage in the Public Square, Militant Church, Gospel Church, Christian courage, Pastoral Courage, Theological training, biblical justice, christian life, social justice, NFC22, Founders Con, founders conference 2021, Founders Conference

Id: O4UqiPN6JGg

Length: 29min 41sec (1781 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 02 2021