Jesus Ministry for You in Heaven

Why You Will Make It to Heaven

(Romans 8:34)

I. Introduction.
A. Orientation.
This morning,
We saw Jesus telling the Jewish leaders
That He would be with them
Only for a little while longer,
Then would go to the Father (John 7:33).

This Feast of Booths was the last

He would celebrate on earth,
And it was only six months away
From the Passover when He would lay down His life.

We also saw Him tell them

That they wouldnt be able to come
Because they didnt believe in Him
They hated Him,
And wanted to kill Him,
So much so
That they had crossed the line
God was giving them up.

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B. Preview.
But just because they couldnt go,
Doesnt mean no one could.
The reason Jesus was going to the Father
Was to secure a place in heaven
For everyone who would trust and receive Him
He was going to prepare a place for you
If you are trusting Him.

What Id like for us to think about

For a few minutes this evening,
Is what Jesus has done
Especially what He continues to do in heaven
So that He can eventually bring you there
To be with Him forever.

Well look at five things:

1. He had to complete His work here to bring you to heaven.
2. He had to ascend.
3. He had to be crowned/glorified.
4. He has to intercede.
5. And He has to continue to reveal His will.
II. Sermon.
A. First, He had to complete His work here to bring you to heaven.

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Thats what He had yet to do during that little while
To finish what His Father had given Him to do.
There were more signs to perform.
There was more instruction to give
He had to finish preparing His disciples to take over the work,
So that they might be able to begin the process
Of reaching all whom the Father has given to His Son.

Then there was the matter of the atonement.

If God was to show mercy to you
If you were to escape punishment for your sins
There was a payment that had to be made:
His justice had to be satisfied.
Jesus willingly took your sins on Himself,
And suffered and died in your place.

He had to rise again from the dead.

The Father not only made the payment
He wanted you to know that payment was accepted.
And so He made sure not only that Jesus rose again,
But that you knew He did,
So you would know your sins had been removed.

There were also things Jesus needed to teach His disciples

That He either hadnt taught them before,

Or they didnt understand,

Or couldnt understand,
Until He had died and rose again,
And so He stayed another forty days.
The things they learned were undoubtedly incorporated into their writings,
So that you would know what you needed to be saved.

B. Second, Jesus had to ascend to bring you to heaven.

He said to His disciples, Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe
also in Me. In My Fathers house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I
would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a
place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am,
there you may be also (John 14:1-3).

Everything Jesus did, He did for us

We talk about the vicarious atonement of Christ
How He took our place in Gods judgment on the cross.
The cross wasnt the only time He took our place
He took our place in everything.

The pope is arrogant enough

To call himself the vicar of Christ
The one who takes His place
As the head of His church on earth.
Jesus is actually our Vicar
He obeyed in our place,

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He died in our place,
He rose again in our place,
And He ascended into heaven in our place.
He did all these things
So that one day we could be with Him.

And one day we will

Either at death, when He comes for us,
Or at His Second Coming.
Personally, I believe it will be the former,
Because the Second Coming is still many years off.

Our arrival in heaven is so certain,

Through the work Jesus did,
That Paul speaks about it as though
Its already a done deal:
He writes in Ephesians 2:4-7, But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great
love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions,
made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised
us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in
kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

C. Third, Jesus had to be crowned with authority to bring you to heaven.

This was part of the glory the Father promised Jesus
For His work of redeeming us:
David writes, The LORD says to my Lord: Sit at My right hand until I make
Your enemies a footstool for Your feet. The LORD will stretch forth Your

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strong scepter from Zion, saying, Rule in the midst of Your enemies. Your
people will volunteer freely in the day of Your power; in holy array, from the
womb of the dawn, Your youth are to You as the dew (Ps. 110:1-3).

But it was also part of His work to save us.

All authority has been given to Him
In heaven and in earth.
He has the reigns of this world.
He has absolute control,
And He uses it
Not only to ensure our safety,
But to make sure that His kingdom advances.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism asks the question:

How does Christ execute/carry out/perform the office of a king?
And it answers,
Christ performs the office of a king, in subduing us to himself, in ruling and
defending us, and in restraining and conquering all his and our enemies (SC
26).

As our King,
Jesus first had to subdue us.

We were His enemies.

We were born just like the rest of the world
Hating God and His Son.
If He was to rule us

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And if we were to be His subjects
He first had to overcome our hearts,
Which is what He did as King.
He sent His Spirit
Sovereignly to change our hearts
To put His laws in our minds,
And to write them on our hearts,
So that by the power of His Spirit,
We would willingly bow our knee to Him and obey.

To keep us as His subjects,

He had to make sure
That no one would take us from Him
He had to have the ability
To restrain and conquer our enemies,
So that they could not destroy us.
And so He has been given the promise by His Father
That all His enemies will be conquered.
Paul writes, For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet (1
Cor. 15:25).

He not only has power

Over all His enemies
Which are also ours, by the way
He has power over everything.

And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to Me
in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations
(Matt. 28:18-19).
He is in control of everything
That has happened,
That is happening,
And that ever will happen
Which is why He can promise us
That everything will turn out right.
Paul writes, And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to
those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose (Rom.
8:28).

Whatever you may be going through now,

You can know Jesus your King
Will make it turn out for your good.

D. Fourth, He has to intercede to bring you to heaven.

This is Jesus continuing priestly work.
Again, the Westminster Shorter Catechism asks,
How does Christ perform the office of a priest?
And answers, Christ performs the office of a priest, in His once offering up of
Himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice, and reconcile us to God, and in
making continual intercession for us (25).
He did what needed to be done on earth to save us
He prayed for us
As we saw this morning in John 17

And He gave Himself up as an offering for our sin, once for all time.
The author to the Hebrews writes, For it was fitting for us to have such a high
priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the
heavens; who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices,
first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did
once for all when He offered up Himself (Heb. 7:26-27).

And, now that He is in heaven,

He continues to do what needs to be done
To keep us in the grace of God.

God gave priests

That they might stand between Him and His people
To reconcile them to Him.
When His people sinned,
They would bring a sacrifice to the priest,
The priest would offer it,
And would pray on their behalf,
And they would be forgiven.

Because we still sin, we still need a priest

Jesus is our priest.
Hes already offered the perfect once for all sacrifice,
So He doesnt need to do that again.
But He does still need to pray,
And thats what He does

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So that our sins will not separate us from God
But that we will remain reconciled.
Again, the author to the Hebrews writes, Therefore He is able also to save forever
those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make
intercession for them (Heb. 7:25).

E. Finally, He has to continue to guide you by His Word and Spirit to bring you to
heaven.
This is His work as prophet.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism finally asks,
How does Christ perform the office of a prophet?
And answers, Christ performs the office of a prophet, in revealing to us, by his
Word and Spirit, the will of God for our salvation? (24).

Jesus was doing this before He came into the world:

Peter writes, As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that
would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what
person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted
the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow (1 Pet. 1:10-11).

Jesus did this while He was on earth:

No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is
doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My
Father I have made known to you (John 15:15).

He continued to do this through His apostles

After He was taken up into heaven
By giving the NT Scripture through them.

And He continues to do this now from heaven,

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By sending His Spirit
To illumine His Word,
So that when you read it,
You see it for what it is:
The Word He gave
So that you will love it as you should,
And so you will obey it.

He also appointed
Pastors and teachers
To explain it
And apply it,
From the pulpit,
In small groups,
And in private counseling.

Jesus has done everything you need

To get you to heaven:
He obeyed,
He died,
He rose,
He ascended,
He was crowned with authority,
He intercedes,

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And He continues to show you the way.

Do you want to know

That you are safe
From ever committing
The sin we saw this morning
The sin that has no forgiveness?
The unpardonable sin?

Do you want to know

That you will make it to heaven,
That what Jesus did and is doing,
He did and is doing for you?

Then you must stop doing

Everything Jesus tells you not to do.
You must trust Jesus with all your heart
His obedience,
And His death,
Alone to save you.
And you must obey Him
In everything He tells you in His Word to do.

If you can do these things

Because you want to,

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Because the Spirit of God in you

Is moving you to do these things
Then you can know Jesus did
These things for you,
And that you will arrive safely in heaven.

If you cant do them:

If you dont have this love for His Law,
If youre not following Him,
If you arent troubled when you fail to obey Him,
Then you need to question whether
You really are the Lords.

If you dont belong to Jesus,

Then come to Him.
He stands ready to give you all you need
He did all these things
For everyone who is willing to come.
He will do these things for you
If you will come to Him now.
Look to Jesus.
Come to Him and be saved. Amen.
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