A few days ago I watched the video released by the terrorist group ISIS, in which they set afire a captured Jordanian pilot. It was a gruesome video, and I don’t recommend that you watch it. It’s one of those things that you won’t be able to get out of your mind.

But I had my reasons for watching it. Not the least of which was that many Christians have been burned at the stake over the centuries. For instance, William Tyndale who was the first to translate the Bible into English was burned at the stake in 1536. And while it is one thing to know that from a historical perspective, it is another thing entirely to witness something like that in our lifetime, and to imagine what we might do if faced with such a fate.

As I was talking to someone about this tragic event later, they asked what seems to me to be a very pertinent question. They said, “What is it that causes people to do such horrible things? What is the root of this kind of evil?” My answer was that the Bible says that sin is the root of all evil. Sin is the root cause of all the problems of the world.

And true Christianity is the only religion in the world to really effectively deal with sin. Most religions of the world try to tell people how they are supposed to live, to establish some sort of ideal life style. They purport to tell people how they might aspire to be a better person. Some may even offer hope of a future after death. But most religions at best only offer a type of ascetic, monastic or meditative state whereby one through sheer willpower may hope to isolate himself somewhat from sin. But all these false religions fail to really deal effectively with sin.

But God’s plan to deal with sin meant that He would not just tell us what we must do, but He Himself would deal with the problem of sin. Theologians tell us that there are three characteristics of sin. The first characteristic of sin as delineated in the Bible is sin’s penalty. God told Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden at creation that if they sinned by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they would die. Likewise, Romans 6:23 says that the wages of sin is death. So the penalty of sin is death, eternal death, as defined by God. Death is not just God’s punishment for sin, but death is the inevitable outcome of sin. All sin leads to death. Inherent in sin is the penalty of death.

The second characteristic of sin is the power of sin. Romans 5:12 tells us, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.” So the power of sin is found in the nature of sin. It is like a genetically transmitted cancer that spread to all men from one generation to the next, traceable back to their father Adam. It is man’s sinful nature that causes him to sin. In John 8:34 Jesus says that “everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.” And as such they are held captive by Satan to do his will. This is the power of sin that all men are held captive under. Sin is relentless, overpowering, corrupting, and spread from generation to generation. Sin has power and dominion over it’s victims.

And then the third characteristic of sin is the presence of sin. Eastern religions tell their adherents that the only hope to escape this present state of sin is to withdraw oneself from society. Perhaps join a monastery where there is little temptation to sin. Or perhaps attempt to achieve nirvana through meditation whereby they can escape the presence of temptations. But that does not eradicate the presence of sin, that just gives one some temporary escape and even then only in a limited fashion. Even if it were possible by some strength of will for a person to limit sin in his body to some degree he still cannot escape the presence of sin in the world and the suffering that must be experienced due to it’s presence. The Bible tells us that the presence of sin entered the human race in the Garden of Eden, and it only grows worse with each succeeding generation.

In spite of all kinds of technological, scientific, educational, cultural and social advancements in society, things are not getting better and better, things are going from bad to worse. Wars and rumors of wars are increasing. People are killing and being killed in greater numbers than at any other time in history. Sex crimes and even sexual trafficking are reaching epidemic proportions. Abortions in the United States average one million babies killed a year. Divorce rates are at 50%. Drug abuse has reached pandemic status. Hundreds of thousands of people die of drug, alcohol and suicide related causes each year in the United States alone. Sixteen thousand murders are committed a year in the United States. All of this is the effect of sin. This is the presence of sin. It invades all of our lives. Even if you manage to live in a monastery in Tibet sin will still invade your life. Sin’s presence is inescapable.

From man’s perspective the situation is hopeless. But man’s extremity is God’s opportunity. In the midst of man’s hopelessness is where God intervenes. God’s strategy for dealing with sin doesn’t rely on the strength of man, or on the efforts of man or the will of man. God knew that man being inherently sinful could not escape sin’s penalty, nor overcome sin’s power, nor be delivered from sin’s presence. And so God stretched forth His own arm to save man by sending His Son, Jesus Christ to deal with sin. As Isaiah 59:1 tells us, “Behold, the LORD’S hand is not so short that it cannot save.” God Himself provided the antidote to sin. Continuing in vs. 15, “Now the LORD saw, and it was displeasing in His sight that there was no justice. And He saw that there was no man, and was astonished that there was no one to intercede;then His own arm brought salvation to Him, and His righteousness upheld Him.”

This is the gospel. This is what Christianity is all about. Christianity is not another religion that only tells you how you are supposed to live but it provides life by dealing with sin. Not only did Jesus illustrate by example how we are to live, but by His death He paid the penalty for our sin. Only God could pay the penalty for another’s sin, and Jesus did that on the cross for those that will accept Him as their Lord and Savior.

And then God raised Jesus bodily from the tomb to prove that Jesus had been able to pay the penalty for sin. If Jesus had not been holy, if He had not be deity, if He had not been utterly sinless, then God would have left Him in Hades. But because Christ was sinless, He was raised from the dead and over 500 people witnessed His resurrected body over the course of 40 days.

So God dealt with our penalty of sin by applying the punishment to Jesus at the cross. And because Christ was raised from the dead we can know that His sacrifice was acceptable to God. But that still leaves the power of sin and the presence of sin. What does the gospel of Christ offer to deal with that?

Well the answer is found in our passage today. After His resurrection, Jesus said to the disciples in vs. 49 “And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” What is He talking about? Well, John provides a little more detail in his gospel. Look at John 16:7 “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.” Who is the Helper? This is none other than the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit.

And the Holy Spirit comes, Jesus said, to give you power. He said you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit is come upon you. Now some people have mistakenly taken this to mean that some sort of mystical force emanates from God to us at some point after our conversion so that we might experience God. They attribute weird feelings, or unknown tongues or some other ecstatic experiences to this power of the Holy Spirit.

But folks, that is not the ministry of the Holy Spirit. We are going to go into this in detail in a couple of weeks or so when we get into the book of Acts. But for now, just understand this; the Holy Spirit is not given to give you the goose bumps so you can feel saved. The Holy Spirit is given first so that you can be saved and secondly so you can act saved. So you can have power over sin. Listen again to John 16, starting in vs. 8-11, 13-15, “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. … 13 “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. “He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. “All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.”

So then, the Holy Spirit’s ministry is to convict the world of sin, to lead us into righteousness, and to convict the world of the coming judgment. And John adds, the Holy Spirit will lead us into the truth through the Word of God. Furthermore, the Holy Spirit doesn’t speak of His own initiative, but speaks the Word of Christ. So as God is, so is Christ, and as Christ is, so is the Spirit of Christ. The Holy Spirit will not do anything that Christ did not do. But He is not limited to a physical body as Jesus was on earth. He is able to indwell the entire church and give them power over sin by leading them into the truth, and the truth will set them free.

God, in describing the new covenant that He would bring about in Christ said in Ezekiel 36:27 “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.” Hebrews 10:16 says the same thing, “THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THEM AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS UPON THEIR HEART, AND ON THEIR MIND I WILL WRITE THEM.” The power we have over sin is because God has given us the Holy Spirit to dwell in our hearts so that we are no longer controlled by sin as we once were. We are no longer captive to sin. But now we have a new heart and new desires because we are born of the Spirit, so we walk according to the Spirit.

Listen, if you are here today and you are convicted of sin, don’t quench the Holy Spirit. Don’t harden your hearts against the conviction of the Holy Spirit. His job is to use the Word of God to convict you, to lead you to recognize your need for righteousness. 1John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” As I said last week, repentance is the key to the gospel. It is the key to salvation. It is the key to justification and the key to sanctification. James 5:16 says “confess your sins one to another so that you may be healed.” He is not talking about physical healing, ladies and gentlemen, he’s talking about spiritual healing.

See, just as there are three categories or characterizations of sin, so are there three categories or stages of salvation. Salvation is justification, producing sanctification, resulting in glorification. Justification delivers us from the penalty of sin. Jesus was our substitute, paying our penalty by dying for us on the cross. Sanctification delivers us from the power of sin by yielding to the leading and conviction of the Holy Spirit on a day to day basis. And glorification is the last stage; the removal from the presence of sin.

That brings us back to our text. Jesus was received up into glory in the sight of His disciples. As He was talking to them, He led them out to the area near Bethany which was on the other side of the Mount of Olives, and He was taken up into heaven in their sight.

Why is that important? He was received into heaven. It is important because it foreshadows our glorification, when we will be delivered from the presence of sin. Christ’s ascension was witnessed by the apostles and the disciples gathered there. If Jesus had just suddenly stopped appearing during the 40 days without a bodily ascension with witnesses, then how would we know that He lives and is seated at the right hand of God as the gospel writers tell us? We know He lives and is seated in the heavenlies because He was seen taken up into heaven in bodily form. So His ascension validates the gospel and validates the promise of final deliverance from sin and all it’s effects.

Paul tells us He was received up into glory far above all rule and authority. Ephesians 1: 18-23 Paul says “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about 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, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection 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.”

This is speaking of the glorification of Christ. That is what the ascension reveals. Christ is above all things. Above the power of sin. Above the power of angels, above the power of Satan, above the power of kings and rulers. Above all things. Above every name that is named, not only in this age, but the age to come. Now that is Christ’s glorification. And we know that it is so because of the ascension of Christ.

But wait, it doesn’t stop there. Christ is the forerunner of the church. Because He is there, we will one day be there with Him. One day Jesus will return for us. And He will take us to be with Him forever. We who are saved are destined to be heirs with Christ. And when He comes again to receive us, we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is. That means that this body of sin will be done away with. This mortal will put on immortality. That means that this world and all it’s evil will be burned up and a new heaven and a new earth will come down out of Heaven and we will be forever with the Lord in a sinless, perfect environment. Sin’s presence will be dealt with forever. The devil and his angels will be dealt with forever. Evil men will be dealt with. Despots and megalomaniac rulers will be dealt with. All will be cast into the Lake of Fire which burns forever and ever. And righteousness will reign in this new heaven and new earth for eternity.

Oh folks, listen up! Christ’s ascension was the exclamation point on the gospel. It is the source of hope for the saints, the source of joy for the saints. Because we know that as He is, so are we to be. As the grave could not hold Him, neither can the grave hold us. As death had no power over Him, neither do we need to fear death. As He had power over sin, so can we have power over sin. As He was raised to glory, so we are going to be raised in glory. As sin cannot be in His presence, so we shall be delivered from sin’s presence. Jesus promised in John 14:3 “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.”

No wonder Luke tells us that the disciples “after worshiping Him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising God.” So should we be praising God and worshipping Him for all that He has accomplished for us that we so undeserving.

I want to close by continuing to read from Ephesians which we read while ago. We stopped at the end of chapter one. But let’s continue with chapter 2 which serves as a complete summary of the gospel: Eph. 2:1-10 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. 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. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

And let me just point out a couple of things there which I want to leave you with today. The first one is that Paul says that God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly places… I want you to see that is not speaking of a future event, but a present event. Those of us that have been made alive in Christ have already been made alive, and have already been seated with Christ in heaven. That simply means that we have been delivered from the penalty of sin. As far as God is concerned, we are secure in Christ. We have already been seated in heaven with Christ spiritually speaking.

And then he says, all this has happened so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness towards us. We have been positioned with Christ in heaven so that in eternity to come, God might shower us with the riches of His grace. This is our inheritance that is reserved for us. God has already set a table there for us with our name plaque on our chair next to Christ. And God does not change His mind. God will keep us and bring us into glory with Christ.

And then lastly, note that by grace we have been saved through faith, not as a result of works. It’s nothing we do to earn salvation. But then notice the last verse, for we are His workmanship, we are crafted and created and designed by God, for what? For good works. Not saved by good works, but saved for good works… which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

If you are here today and you are still in your sins, then I hope you understood the message of the gospel. Jesus has paid the penalty and suffered the punishment for your sins. If you will confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. And if you are here today and are saved, born again by the Spirit of God, then I hope you realize that He has given you the Spirit so that you might have the power over sin. You were born of the blood of Jesus not so you can continue in sin so that grace may abound, but you were created in Christ Jesus for good works, to walk in them and according to the leading of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God. And then for all of us that are dying daily to the sinful nature in order to walk in the Spirit, know that there is going to come a day when we will be delivered forever from the presence of sin. Rom. 8:18 says, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Let us continue without wavering to look forward to His appearing.

Jesus’ death dealt with the penalty of sin; our justification. His resurrection provided the power over sin; our sanctification. And His ascension promises deliverance from the presence of sin; our future glorification. The only question left is what will you do with Jesus? Will you accept Him as your Savior, or deny Him as your Lord? I trust that you will accept His free offer of salvation and find freedom from sin.