The Ministry of Jesus Christ Today

Transcript

GRM 936
4/3/2005
The Ministry of Jesus Christ Today
Selected Verses
Gil Rugh


Sometimes we find a strong emphasis on the work of Christ and His coming to earth and His suffering and death and on His return to earth in the future and the establishing of His kingdom. But often there is much less attention given to the present work of Christ, what is happening today as a result of the death, resurrection and ascension to heaven. I just want to remind you of a few of these areas where Christ’s present ministry is going on.

Why don’t you turn to the book of Acts first, in chapter 1. Following Jesus’ resurrection from the dead He carried on a ministry among His disciples in His resurrected body up until Acts chapter 1, 40 days of ministry. Not continually with them, but coming and spending time with them, instructing them out of the scripture, then disappearing and then appearing on another occasion and so on. Paul unfolds some of those appearances in I Corinthians chapter 15. And there he notes that last of all Christ appeared to me as one born out of time. That earthly ministry of Christ was brought to a conclusion with the events of Acts chapter 1, what we call the ascension of Christ where He bodily was transported from earth to heaven and would remain there until His coming to earth the second time. And He encourages the disciples in verses 7-8 by telling them that they would receive power after they received the Holy Spirit. That is consistent, remember, with the promises He gave on that last night with His disciples, recorded particularly in John 14-16, where when I go I will send the Comforter to you, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth. Now in Acts chapter 1 they are on the verge of that occurring. So He says in verse 8, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses.

Verse 9, after He had said these things He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven. And Jesus spoke of that in His great discourse we know as the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24-25. And in Matthew 24 He reminded His followers that He would return in clouds of glory. It would be a glorious time because every eye will behold Him and He will come to establish His kingdom. But it’s important that we remember that Jesus Christ did not come to earth, suffer and die and then ascend to heaven and now He is just waiting, somewhat inactive until the events associated with the Second Coming, the first phase being the rapture—coming for the church—and then some 7 years later His return to earth to establish the kingdom. But there is a present work of Christ going on that is absolutely essential for each and every one of us as God’s people.

Christ as God is omnipresent, meaning He is present everywhere. However, in His physical body, even as a glorified physical body, He is located in heaven. When He took to Himself humanity, that humanness of Christ carried with it what is involved in humanity. And so the physical body of Christ is only at one place at one time, even though as God now obviously He is everywhere. And we are going to talk about that in a moment. But don't get confused. We talk about the present work of Christ, ?????? a dimension that is focused in heaven and is present there. But we will see that His presence is not limited to heaven. And some of this gets beyond what we can completely grasp because as we get into the realm of deity our minds have a hard time containing that within our finite minds. And that’s to be expected. But there are both dimensions that will be going on in the present work of Christ. Some of that is focused in heaven where His glorified body is focused and located. There will also be a dimension of His present work that goes on throughout the world and He will be present there.

Turn over in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 1. First thing we note about the present work of Christ is He’s been exalted to the right hand of the Father. Hebrews chapter 1, all the way toward the back of your New Testament. When He ascended to heaven He ascended to the right hand of His Father, and there you see heaven being the place where God the Father manifests His presence for His creation. And in heaven angelic beings as well as the spirits of those who have died, believers, are able to function in the presence of God, even though God is omnipresent. He chooses to manifest His presence in a certain place, and that place is heaven. But God is not limited to that place, God the Father now we’re talking about. It’s true of all 3 persons of the triune God. Note in Hebrews 1:3, talking about the coming to earth of the Son. In these last days God has spoken to us in one who is a Son. That He’s the one who is appointed, verse 2, heir of all things. He’s the one through whom God the Father made the worlds. And He is the radiance of His glory, the exact representation of His nature, and He upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. So the one who created all things, this is the way John begins His gospel--all things were made by Him. And the one who made all things became flesh and dwelt among us, and that creator of all things, the author of life you crucified, nailed Him to a cross. But that was God’s plan to make purification for sins. Following His resurrection, then, He ascended to heaven. And what did He do? The end of verse 3, He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, referring to His Father—the right hand of God the Father. Shows that He shares the glories, the authority, the power of the Father, the right hand being the position of honor, of power, one who is given the glory of the Father.

Look over in Hebrews 8:1, now the main point of what has been said is this. He’s talking about the high priestly ministry of Jesus Christ, having offered a sacrifice for sin. That sacrifice for sin being the sacrifice of His own body. Then He ascended to heaven. Chapter 8 verse 1, now the main point of what has been said is this, we have such a high priest who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens. So we have a high priest. We’ll talk about this a little bit later. He is seated at the right hand of the majesty on high in the heavens. Note that that humiliation, that humbling of Himself, becoming obedient even to death, even the death of the cross as Philippians 2 says, has culminated with His exaltation to the highest position, and that is seated at the right hand of the majesty in the heavens, the throne of God.

Look over in Hebrews 10:12, but He having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time sat down at the right hand of God. And he gets into what we talk about in the high priestly ministry of Christ in a moment, but you’ll note He sat down at the right hand. And here in the context of His being high priest indicates His finished work as high priest. Because remember in the temple, in the tabernacle and later the temple, there were no seats provided for the high priest because of the fact his work was never done. It was ongoing sacrifice, and that’s what the preceding verse in Hebrews 10:11 said. Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices because they can never take away sins. But He offered one sacrifice for all time and then He sat down, and He sat down at the right hand, at the most exalted place in the most exalted position—at the right hand of the Father. As such He has been given all sovereignty and all authority. Now again Christ had this before His becoming a man, His humiliation. Isaiah chapter 6, Isaiah wrote of His glory where the seraphim cried, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. John chapter 12 tells us they spoke of Jesus Christ. But now He is exalted as the God/Man, as the one who has secured redemption. He is seated at the right hand as our representative, having made purification for sin, and as the one appointed to rule and reign, the one who has the right. Remember the book of Revelation? He will come and take the scroll because He is worthy, because He has redeemed us. And so there is …. accomplishing of the kingdom of God and the rule of God over redeemed creation made possible by the work of the Son. So He has been exalted to the highest position, the position of greatest honor.

Just after the book of Hebrews, James, and then I Peter, I Peter chapter 3. And just pick up the end of verse 21 where it refers to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And then verse 22, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him. By His finished work on the cross He has brought victory. He defeated the devil, conquered sin. Authorities, angels, powers had been subjected to Him. He is the one at the right hand of God, having accomplished the work that would bring redemption to the creation that had been cursed by sin. And because of sin had been brought into subjection to the devil. Remember the whole world lies in the evil one, I John 5 says. But as Jesus anticipated His imminent crucifixion He said now the prince of this world is cast out. So He is brought to the right hand of the Father and He has full authority and power, having defeated the hosts of satan.

Back up to Ephesians chapter 1. If you want to stop at Philippians, I was just going to read it to you, but you can stop there if you want, it’s just after Ephesians. Philippians 2:8, and he talks about the humiliation of Christ. Some call this the kenosis passage for the Greek word translated He emptied Himself. Verse 7, He emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name. So that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven, on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. You see the position that He has as a result of His work of redemption in His death on the cross. He became obedient to the point of death, verse 8, even death on a cross. For this reason God has highly exalted Him. And every knee will bow before Him and acknowledge that He is Lord, He is absolute sovereignty.

Back up to Ephesians chapter1. Our English Bibles break into this one long Greek sentence and make a new sentence in the middle of verse 19. We’ll pick it up there because we want the last part of this chapter. 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 heavenlies. This is a repeated emphasis, He’s at the right hand, He’s at the right hand. He’s been given the glory and the honor and the position of power and authority far above all rule and authority and power and dominion. And every name that is named, not only in this age but in the one to come. And He puts all things in subjection under His feet. You see that strong absolute emphasis that Jesus Christ, the God/Man, the redeemer, the one who paid the penalty for sin is sovereign over all. He’s been exalted to the right hand. And ??? He’s far above all rule, authority, power, dominion, every name that is named not only in this age, but in the one to come. The Spirit of God directs Paul, and you get the idea, stretching as Paul writes to show how absolute and complete the authority of Christ is. Now don’t get confused and say therefore we must be in the kingdom. We are not in the Davidic kingdom. That requires Jesus to be on the throne of David on earth. So this is not the Davidic throne. He has all authority and power. We need to understand we don’t need to wait for the kingdom for Christ to have all authority and power. He has all authority and power now. And that enables us to appreciate more fully what God is doing in the world today. We serve a resurrected Christ who has all authority, but that authority in the rule of the Father will be carried out, mediated, through the rule of the Son on earth in the coming Davidic kingdom. That will be established at His Second Coming to earth.

But He has all rule and authority and everything has been subjected to Him, that He has defeated them, provided victory. But the outworking of that is not yet fully accomplished. The devil continues to rule and roam as the god of this world, but he is the defeated foe and his defeat will be finally evident when he is cast into hell.

What I want you to note here, He has put all things in subjection under His feet. That’s a reality. The outworking of that and the final evidence of that will be when Christ comes and destroys His enemies, sets up His kingdom. Then it will be visibly evident for all. He is the sovereign Lord and ruler even today in that sense. So He’s been exalted at the right hand of the Father, He’s at the position of authority and power as our Redeemer, the one who has accomplished redemption.

He is the head of the church and Ephesians chapter 2 goes on. He is not only the head over all things, verse 22, but God gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. In that sense the presence of Christ on earth today is manifest in the church. That’s what it says, doesn’t it? He gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. So the manifestation of the presence of Christ in His work today is where? In the church. That’s why in I Corinthians chapter 3 in a reference to the church he says the church is the temple of the Spirit of God, the dwelling place of God on earth, the manifestation of the body of Christ on earth, the presence of God as we’ll see--Father, Son and Holy Spirit on earth. It’s the church, it’s the fullness of Him. Remarkable truth. As Christ is the head over His body, the church.

Ephesians 2:14 talks about He’s brought Jew and Gentile together into one. Verse 15, He abolished in His flesh the enmity, the law of commandments, so that He might make the two into one new man, talking about Jews and Gentiles separated by the Mosaic Law and the distinctions made between Jews and Gentiles. And the Jews were the people of the covenant, not the Gentiles. But the work of Christ has been to accomplish reconciliation so that He might establish peace and reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross. By it having put to death the enmity. So we have one body, the head over the body is Christ. He is the head of the church.

Over in Ephesians 4:15, but speaking the truth in love we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. Here is the picture and how Christ works. This is His body, the church, gathered together, the people of God. And it is the universal church, but the manifestation of the universal church in the world is the local church. These letters are written to various local churches, like the church at Colossae, the church at Ephesus, the church at Corinth and so on. And that church is to be growing and maturing and developing with Christ as the head so that we become more like Him. And that takes place in the context of the ministry of His truth. Verse 15, speaking the truth in love we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ. This process of growth and development going on so that Christ is more fully manifest, as every part of the body functions as it’s nourished and nurtured in the truth, the work of the body more fully manifested. The person of Christ in the world is the phenomena. Remarkable picture. You know I fear that sometimes we, Bible-believing Protestants have too low a view of the church, that the reaction to the Roman Catholic view of the church, which is not a biblical view. We are not to think that we should have a more casual view of the church because there are those who have distorted the biblical view of the church.

The church is absolutely essential in the purpose and plan of God and you must understand the present work of Christ as a result of His work of redemption is building His body, the church. That includes carrying the gospel to the lost so that by God’s grace men, women and young people might believe the gospel and be saved and be added to the church. But much of the emphasis in the New Testament is on the growth of that body. Now we’ve become so individualized in our thinking. We think well look I grow, it doesn’t matter whether I’m together with believers. You know the church, it’s an individual thing, it’s a personal thing. There’s an element of truth to that, but you see the emphasis the scripture gives. And it’s a repeated emphasis.
Verse 16, it’s from Christ, the head, from whom the whole body being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part. That’s God’s plan. I always have serious, serious, serious, serious, serious doubt when I meet someone who claims to be a believer and I ask them, where do you go to church? Oh we don’t go anywhere. Can you people believe in Jesus Christ and not be part of the body? Well part of the physical body and I don’t think……… What’s he talking about here? The whole body being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part. And in the context he’s talking about the gifts that were bestowed following His resurrection and ascension. We’ll talk more about that in a moment. We must have a high view of the church in the proper biblical sense, absolutely essential. It’s a good thing to do and you ought to try to get in at least an hour a week, but other than that…… It’s the proper working of all the individual parts and my being part of that. That’s what I am now. It’s not just at a meeting like this. The body functions in a variety of ways and all the parts are functioning in different ways and different….. But you understand it’s together, there are no lone rangers. When God saved me He placed me into the body, when He saved you He placed you into the body. He intends you to function as part of that body. Paul wrote to the Corinthian church in chapter 1 and he said that they had all the gifts necessary to grow to maturity, the local church. So the importance of the functioning of the body. There’s a failure to appreciate the present work of Christ which results in people thinking now it doesn’t matter that much. You know I’m saved, I have my Bible, I can pray. You understand you cannot grow apart from the fellowship of believers in the functioning of the body. Jesus Christ does not work in your life to produce maturity apart from the functioning of His body. Isn’t that what He says here? We grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body—from Christ, from whom, Christ, the whole body being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies. You see how Christ is working? Through the proper working of each individual part. We get the idea that Christ works in me and that’s just between Him and me. I’m not denying the fact that Christ works in us individually and personally. You cannot grow to maturity as a lone ranger on your own—all I need is the Lord and my Bible. That’s a denial of the Bible you claim to hold so highly. Because He says the head, Christ, works through the proper working of each individual part to cause the growth of the body, for the building up of itself in love. So it’s built into the body and this is the work of the head so that the body will grow to maturity as each individual part functions in the context of being nourished in the truth in love. So the present work of Christ is the head of the church, and that work of Christ in the church is to develop us to maturity.

This is the context back in verse 7. First part, the first 6 verses he talked about the oneness we have in Christ and then verse 7 he starts to talk about that diversity. Same kind of emphasis he expands in I Corinthians 12-14. Verse 7, but to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. So you see that work of Christ bestowed upon us in giving gifts. That’s tied to the ascension of Christ. When He ascended on high, verse 8, He gave gifts to men. And then part of the present ongoing work of Christ is working through those gifts that He has given to men so that each part in His body functions as it should and we mature to love. What a grief it must be to Christ, the head of the church, to have people running around acting like the church is their playground and they can take it or leave it. And their involvement is their own personal matter. One person who left the church some time ago said they left because they felt pressured to be involved. Good. I want you to know this little finger here has pressure in this body to be involved. It can’t just park and say to the head, look I don’t think I’m doing anything today, I’m tired. I mean that’s not the way it works. The Spirit of God takes these simple analogies of our physical body to portray this glorious, fearful truth. Somehow it just goes right on by us and we paddle around in our own little world. The present work of Christ is to function as the head of His body, bestowing gifts on the church, which are individual, each one having a part. We don’t have time to go to I Corinthians 12, but to each one, but to each one, but to each one is given the Spirit, the measure of the Spirit, referring to the gifts. Every single believer given a gift, so that you can be a part. Each individual part functioning as it should causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. So we are the manifestation of Christ in the world. Christ is present in the world today in His church.

Begins to sound somewhat like Roman Catholicism, but they have a distorted view. The biblical view is correct that believers are the body of Christ and the local church is the manifestation of that body. And Christ is the head, working through each one. Turn over to chapter 5, we’ve kept ourselves in Ephesians, Ephesians 5:29. In the instruction to husbands to love their wives as Christ also loved the church. Verse 29, no one ever hated his own flesh but nourishes and cherishes it just as Christ also does the church. And that’s the ministry of Christ today, nourishing and cherishing the church. Of course I should love the church, should love the body of Christ. It’s the love of Christ. Present ministry is nourishing and cherishing His body, the church and I should be indifferent to it and yet expect God’s blessing in my life? I mean what is precious to Him must be precious to me. That’s why He nourishes and cherished the church.

All right, much more could be said on that, but that’s the present work of Christ. He’s been exalted to the right hand of the Father, has absolute authority and power, He has been made head of the church. And that’s just not an honorary position. That represents His authority over the church and His work in and through the church today. And He’s developing that church, He’s maturing that church, He’s nourishing and cherishing it. It must become more mature, more mature, manifest more fully the beauty of His person and evidence His work.

He is also in His present work an eternal high priest, an eternal high priest. Look at the book of Romans chapter 8, Romans 8:34. Verse 33, who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. I mean if God declares me righteous who is going to declare me otherwise? Is there anyone or anything greater than God? No. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes rather who was raised, who is……..Where is He? He is at the right hand of God. What is He doing there? Who also intercedes for us. So in the position of greatest honor, greatest authority and greatest intimacy with the Father is the one who is representing me as high priest. He is interceding on my behalf, He is serving as my high priest. We’ll go to the book of Hebrews in a moment. That’s the ministry He has as high priest on my behalf today. He has offered the sacrifice of Himself and now on the basis of that sacrifice He continues as my representative. And anyone who would bring, verse 33, a charge against me as one of God’s elect, as one that God has justified, anyone who would condemn me, the one who intercedes for me. He says I’m the one who died, I’m the one who was raised, I have paid in full His penalty. He intercedes on my behalf.

Turn over to the book of Hebrews chapter 4, Hebrews 4:14, therefore since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God. You see His death, His resurrection, His ascension, He has passed through the heavens to the very presence of God, the third heaven. Let us hold fast our confession, for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. He is our high priest, He is there to sustain us, to respond to us, to meet our needs. We come before a throne of grace when we come before God’s throne now. Why? Because we have a high priest who was made the sacrifice that has provided the cleansing that makes us acceptable before the throne of God. It is not a throne of judgment for us in that sense because sin has been atoned. Redemption has occurred. We have a high priest. I don’t come on my own merits, I don’t come with my best efforts, my best sacrifices. I come on the basis of the sacrifice my high priest has offered for me. So I come before a throne of grace. I can come with confidence, not cockiness, but the confidence that I will be accepted, I will receive mercy, I will receive what I need. This is foundational.

I was in a conversation this week with a man who has a Christian ministry, talking about joining different people together in prayer. And I was talking about some of the people on the committee, I said there is just something drastically wrong here. People on this committee, I mean you know they can’t be believers. Oh yes I know them, they’re believers. Then they can’t be a part of that church and that religious system. Oh they are, they’re believing Roman Catholic. I said no, they may be believers, they may be Roman Catholics but they’re not believing Roman Catholics because if they are truly Roman Catholics they are not believers in a biblical sense. And if they are true believers they can’t be true to Roman Catholic theology. So which is it? You see we come on the basis of the throne of grace. That’s why I can’t join together with other people. I received a letter, come and join in the national day of prayer. I’m for praying for our country, praying for leaders, we are told to pray for leaders. But I can’t kneel down with a person who doesn’t know the living God and imply that we’re both going to a throne of grace. Understand that the book of Proverbs tells us that the one who despises the law of God, it says the word of God, as they have it, even his prayers are an abomination to God. We say at least they pray. I see an unbeliever, I say don’t pray. I mean that’s an abomination to God for you to pray. You’ve rejected His Word, it’s an offense to Him, an added offense that you would come to pray. I mean these are serious matters. We come before a throne of grace, because we’re better? No, it wouldn’t be a throne of grace if it were based on my being better than someone else. It’s a throne of grace because I come, I’m undeserving, I’m unworthy, I come because I have a high priest. You can have that high priest too, but you can’t come without Him as your high priest. That’s a present ministry of Jesus Christ, that’s exceedingly precious to us, is it not? In the present work of Christ that He’s my high priest. Praise the Lord He is there for me, at the right hand of the throne of the majesty on high. So you can come with confidence, believer, come with confidence. You will receive what you need from my merciful God.

Look over in Hebrews 7:24, we are told that Christ holds His priesthood permanently. He is a priest after the order of Melchizedek, the book of Hebrews develops. It is a permanent, eternal priesthood, verse 25, therefore He is able also to save forever, save completely those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. His high priestly ministry. He intercedes on my behalf. I am eternally secure, saved for all time, saved for all eternity because of the one who is my high priest. He represents me and He will always represent me. There will never be a charge to be brought against me that could affect my position before God.

We won’t take time to turn there, but I John 2:1-2 talk about if anyone sins we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. So as believers, if we sin we have an advocate, one who represents us before the throne of God. And He is the propitiation, the satisfaction for our sin, and nor for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world. That’s why we invite men and women to come to Christ. If you believe in Him you will be cleansed. So we have one who represents us, we’re back to what we read in Hebrews. You know there is no one who can bring a charge against us, so what’s Christ there. I died for him, I paid the penalty for that sin, he belongs to me by redemption. That’s an ongoing work, I need it every day, an ongoing cleansing that I experience by virtue of His representation of me in the presence of God. And that’s why I haven’t lost my salvation, because His sacrificial work has provided eternal cleansing and He represents me permanently in the presence of God.

Out of that flows our position as priests of God, and we don’t have time to look into that. One more thing, let me just mention, in the present work of Christ. Not only has He been exalted to the right hand of God and made head of the church, an eternal high priest, but He also indwells the believer. We emphasize the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the believer today, and we rightly do that. But we also ought to understand that the Bible says not only does the Holy Spirit indwell me as a believer, but God the Father indwells me and Jesus Christ Himself dwells in me as His child.

Turn over to John’s gospel chapter 14. You understand there is one God and He exists eternally in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I do not understand it. There are no illustrations of it, all illustrations collapse. We have to be careful we don’t end up trying to defend our illustrations which are all fallible because there is nothing like God. So there is no true comparison. So we look in creation and try to find something that we could compare the trinity to, but they all fail in some area because only God is God and there is nothing like Him. So there is one God who eternally exists in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They are distinct as persons. It’s not one God who manifests Himself in three forms or three ways, that’s modalistic monarchianism, sebelianism………for the heresy. That means there is one God, one person, He manifests Himself in three ways. Sometimes they’ll say you can be a father, a husband and a boss. No, there is only one person manifesting himself in three different ways, that’s modalistic monarchianism. That’s God as one person, three modes. No, He is three distinct persons. So we talk about the Holy Spirit we’re not talking about Jesus Christ, when we talk about Jesus Christ we’re not talking about the Father. Now each of those are God, but each of those are distinct persons. John 14:18, I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. He says I will come to you, I won’t abandon you, I will come to you. Look down in verse 20, in that day you will know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you. Look at verse 23, Jesus answered and said to him, if anyone loves me he will keep my word and my Father will love him, now watch this, my Father will love him and we will come to him and make our abode with him. My Father will come and I will come. You also can talk about the Holy Spirit coming, but keep in mind they’re distinct persons. You know if we understand they are distinct persons it ought to be clear. If I say I’m coming to your house tomorrow night and my son Greg shows up, you say oh I thought Gil was coming. Oh well he’s my dad, my dad and me same person, what’s the difference. Well there’s a difference, right? If Greg tells you he’s coming to do something, when Greg said he was taking the kids skiing, don’t look for me. I’m not going, he’s going. We’re distinct persons. So He says my Father, we will come. My Father and I, He’s talking about His Father and He’s talking about Himself, distinct persons. We’ll come make our abode with Him.

Look in chapter 15 verses 4-5, you abide in Me and I in you. And you’ll note that mutual abiding, happens for every person who is a believer. We abide in Him, He abides in us. Should translate this, you abide in Me and I in you. That goes together, we abide in Christ, we live in Him, He lives in us. Chapter 17 verse 23, and then we’re going to have to stop, Jesus Christ’s high priestly prayer. I in them and you in Me, that they may be perfected in unity. I in them and you in Me. Jesus Christ dwells in us. Galatians 2:20, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. We say well that means the Holy Spirit. We need to be careful that we begin to blend the persons of the triune God. It is indeed true, the Holy Spirit is God, Jesus Christ is God and the Father is God, but they are distinct persons. I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. The Holy Spirit lives in me, I Corinthians 6 talks about the individual body of the believer is the temple of the Holy Spirit. He dwells there, God the Father dwells here, Jesus Christ dwells here. So part of the present ministry of Jesus Christ is indwelling the body of the believer. That’s why we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. This is the omnipresent part where Christ dwells in the body of every believer, even though in His physical presence He is located in heaven at the right hand of the Father. But personally as God He dwells within me, present ministry of Christ as a result of His finished work.

Colossians 1:27, Christ in you, the hope of glory. We as God’s people are privileged to appreciate the present ministry of Christ. And this is just a taste of what Christ is doing in His ministry today. He’s not just sitting in heaven waiting for the time for the kingdom. The Davidic kingdom is yet future, it will come, but He is actively carrying on His work and ministry today, and in particular in the true church.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord, for our wonderful Savior, the one who loved us and died for us, the one, Father who has been exalted to your right hand in glory. Awesome, overwhelming truth. He is there to represent us, to act on our behalf, make it possible for us to come without fear before the throne of the living, to know that we are accepted. Thank you for His present ministry in our lives. Lord, may this church be a testimony to the presence of the Savior, whose body we are, and we grow to the fullness of Him who is the head of the body. In whose name we pray. Amen.