Please turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 28. Matthew chapter 28, a familiar portion of scripture, often referred to as the Great Commission, where our Lord Jesus, prior to his ascension on high, told his church to go and to preach and to make disciples of all the nations. I thought it would be fitting for us to consider this passage this morning on this happy occasion of baptism. I'll just pick up reading in Matthew 28 at verse 11.
Scripture Reading: Matthew 28:11–20
Now while they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened. When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, saying, Tell them, his disciples came at night and stole him away while he slept. And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will appease him and make you secure. So they took the money and did as they were instructed.
And this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day. Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee. to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. When they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came 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, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen. Let us pray.
Opening Prayer
Our Father in heaven, we give you thanks and praise and glory for the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for his perfect life, that he lived in obedience to your law. We thank you for his death at Calvary, wherein he was our substitute, a sacrifice foresaid. And we thank you that he rose again on the third day. that he gave this commission to his church and that he ascended on high, where he led captivity captive and he gave gifts to men.
We pray, Almighty God, that you would give your Spirit to each and every one of us, even now, as we gather here, to look at your Word and to see your work in the salvation of sinners. We pray, God Most High, that we would never forget the glory of the gospel of free and sovereign grace, that You chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that You sent Your Son to die for us and to rise again, and that You fill each one of us with Your Spirit. God, certainly salvation is, from first to last, a work of our triune God who saves sinners to the uttermost. May we rejoice in these truths.
May we celebrate today And may we truly give you glory and praise and worship and adoration, for you alone are worthy, Most High God. And we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Introduction
Well, I want to notice three things about the Great Commission this morning as we consider this particular passage. First of all, the authority behind the Commission. Secondly, the activity involved in the Commission. And thirdly, the active agent in the fulfillment of the commission.
The Authority Behind the Commission
Notice, first of all, the authority behind the commission. Jesus asserts this very clearly in verse 18. All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Christ has every bit of authority that there possibly is.
Christ's Universal Rule and Reign
Kuyper well said that if we do not press the crown rites of Jesus in every sphere, we cannot press them in any sphere. Understanding the totality of Christ's rule, authority, and power over man. He says he possesses it. The New Testament demonstrates this in many, many places. because it serves as an encouragement to the church to take up this commission and to be about it.
When we see where Christ is, and we see what makes Him tick, and when we see how He longs to see this world conquered for His namesake, it ought to move us to get about the task at hand. In Acts 2, you remember that Peter is preaching on the day of Pentecost. And he brings his sermon to bear upon his hearers. And he says in verse 30 of Acts 2, Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, he foreseeing this spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that his soul was not left in Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.
This Jesus, God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore, being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear." Now it seems obvious from the pages of the New Testament that the church never forgot the priestly office of our Lord Jesus Christ. but they never forgot his crown either. They never sacrificed the truth that he now is enthroned at the right hand of God Most High, where he is clothed with all authority. Not just in heaven, where he rules over the spirits of just men made perfect.
Not just in heaven, where he is ruler over the angels, but here on earth as well. In fact, in the book of Revelation, when John is writing to the seven churches of Asia Minor, he greets them in the name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And he says three things about Jesus in that greeting. He calls him the firstborn from the dead, which I take as a reference to the priestly office of Christ.
He died as the one who offered the sacrifice and as the sacrifice himself. He calls Jesus faithful witness. The prophetic mantle is upon our Lord. And then he says in Revelation, and to the one who is ruler over the kings of the earth.
This is good news for us as a church when we read this great commission. We don't go out in our own ingenuity. We don't go out in our own name. We don't go out in our own strength or in our own power.
We don't go out in our own cleverness or ability. We go in the name of the authoritative Jesus Christ. who has been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Paul in Ephesians 1 and in Philippians chapter 2 celebrates the fact that Christ is at the right hand of the Father, where he has been given a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus Christ every knee should bow and every tongue confess that he is Lord to the glory of the Father.
Encouragement from Christ's Exaltation
The church is on no fool's errand. The church is on the errand that has been given to her by her exalted, glorified, and authoritative head, even Jesus Christ. We need to take seriously this mandate. We need to realize that it is comprehensive.
Christ says that we are to go and make disciples and not just lead the task. But having made disciples, we're to baptize those disciples and then we're to teach those disciples what? All things that I have commanded, Jesus said. Jesus envisions the Great Commission with a comprehensive scope.
He doesn't see us as fulfilling the task when we go to our neighbor and say, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and never have anything to do with him or her ever again. We tell them, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And when they are made disciples, we baptize them and teach them how to live. Teach them how to obey the commandments of our holy God.
Teach them what it is to be a disciple. And this is why church exists. For disciple making and for disciple teaching.
The Activity Involved in the Commission
Now obviously the primary reason why we exist is to worship God. Never forget that. You're here today Yes, to witness a baptism. Yes, to possibly be baptized.
But your primary reference in this place on a Lord's Day is God word. There is too much man-centeredness in the church today. Let us leave it in the parking lot and let us give ourselves wholly to the worship of our great God, who is worthy. Jesus declares that all authority has been given to him.
It is on the basis of that declaration that the Great Commission now comes. Matthew Poole, the Puritan commentator, said, having declared his power, he delegates it. He's declared his power in verse 18. In verse 19, he now delegates it.
He gives this commission to the church. Not simply to the pastors of the church. Not simply to super-spiritual men within the church. But he gives this commission to each and every one of us.
We are all to go. We are all to engage in disciple-making. And you know, just as I've been reflecting on this, because there's a lot of thought right now on this issue of missions and of evangelism and of how do we reach the lost. And if you think back with me throughout life, there's been all these different formula given on how to do this.
I remember when I was a kid, the bumper stickers that said, I found it. And then, of course, you had the bumper stickers that said, I lost it. You know, theological debate on the bumper was even going on when I was a kid. When I was a kid, I didn't know what I found it meant.
It was only after becoming a Christian I realized that was associated, I think, with Campus Crusade and a desire to reach people for the gospel. And then I remember, just as being a Christian, we've seen the four spiritual laws. We've seen friendship evangelism. We've seen all these formulas applied on how to win sinners to the gospel.
You know what the Bible says? It's very simple. The two-fold strategy for winning sinners. Shine His lights in a crooked and perverse generation and hold forth the Word of Truth.
We spend a lot of time trying to figure out the who's, the what's, the why's, the where's, the when's, and all that. The Bible says be holy, love people, and sing 370 to that. That doesn't mean you're going to stand there with 370 in your handbook. We have heard the joyful sound.
Jesus saves. Jesus saves. Now, if you're so inclined, by all means, do that. But the idea simply is love people and tell them about Jesus.
There's no formula. There's no magic potion. There's no ritual or hocus pocus involved. You take the word of the Lord and you tell sinners Jesus saves.
In this activity, notice what Christ says. He says, go make disciples, baptize those disciples and teach those disciples.
Going: An Assumption, Not a Command
Going is not a command here. It's a present participle. And it could be translated this way, going therefore. He's not commanding you to go.
He is commanding what you are to do when you are going. See, he assumes you're going to go. He assumes that you're going to be like King David of Israel in Psalm 51, when the psalmist was found out in his sin by Nathan the prophet. We read Psalm 51 is the penning forth of his heartfelt expression of repentance to God.
He says, wash me. He says, cleanse me. He says, purge me. And then he makes this incredible declaration.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways. What's the assumption? The assumption is quite clear. When we find the pearl of great price, we generally go and tell people about it.
We don't find that pearl of great price, shove it in our pocket, and let it have no impact on our lives. No. We rejoice. When we, like a woman, lose a coin, and we look for that coin, and we find that coin, we rejoice when we find it.
We tell others. When Jesus says, Go therefore, He is not giving a command. He is giving an assumption. He assumes that the people of God, having met with the living God, are going to be affected by that transaction, and as a result, are going to go tell others.
You get it? This isn't just for a few in the church. It's for all those who have come into contact, savingly, with our Lord Jesus Christ. Now he says, as you are going, you are to make disciples, or in the text, disciple the nations.
Broadus defines discipleship this way, to disciple a person to Christ is to bring him into the relation of pupil to teacher. taking his yoke of authoritative instruction, accepting what he says as true because he says it, and submitting to his requirements as right because he makes them. Discipleship. Christ says that in our going, we are to call man to believe the gospel. For you see, this is the way that disciples are made.
Disciples are not made because they pay money. Disciples are not made because they reform their lives. Disciples are not made because they have found the secret. Disciples are made by hearing the gospel and believing the truth.
That's discipleship. That's the entry point. So if you are here this morning and you have not believed this gospel, you're not a disciple. You may be playing church.
You may be engaged in religious obligation. You may be engaged in some sort of formal externalism. But unless you believe the truth as it is in Jesus, you're not a disciple. But good news, you believe that truth as it is in Jesus, and you receive you.
Isn't that beautiful? Jesus' call to us is not go out and fix everything. It's just refreshed in this, in Jeremiah chapter 3. God, through the prophet, deals with Israel in a way that hopefully blows our minds.
God says to the nation of Israel in Jeremiah 3, after Jeremiah 2, where he highlights their sin, their rebellion, their spiritual harlotry, their wickedness and idolatry. Five times in Jeremiah 3, he says, yet return to me, says the Lord. And in one instance, in Jeremiah 3, he says, return ye backsliding Israel, and I will heal your backslidings. Isn't that a beautiful picture?
Not, I'll fix up your act and then come to me. The gospel has come to me, and I will fix up your act. That's where the gospel is different from every other religious system, from every works-oriented method of trying to achieve salvation. Every other system teaches you must first do something before God.
The gospel says you can't. The gospel says you've made a mess of everything. But lo and behold, in the gospel, Christ comes and saves to the uttermost those who have no ability to save themselves. How blessed, blessed truth this is.
Could you imagine if every time you witnessed to somebody, you had to think that they had the ability or that they had the desire? You'd never go out. Why go talk to people on the street apart from authoritative sovereignty that is to be found in Christ? Why go ever and tell people about Jesus if it's up to those people?
It's up to a sovereign God who works by His Spirit and by His Word. We are to make disciples, disciple the nations. Do this in the spirit of God Most High, preaching and proclaiming His truth. Tell sinners that Jesus saves.
Baptizing the Disciples Made
After disciples are made, you baptize them. Not all the nations, but the disciples that are made in those nations. Roman Catholicism thought that if we just sprinkle the poles, we can baptize this whole nation. That's not what Jesus is saying.
If that's the truth, we ought to get a blimp, a plane, and whatever other manner of dropping water on people we can foster. And just sprinkle the entirety of Chilliwack and say, welcome to the Three Grace Baptist Church. That is not what the text is specifying. It is clear that when you make disciples, you baptize those disciples.
Baptism is an ordinance for the believer. You have no business going into that water if you're not a disciple. You have no business receiving the sign of the New Covenant if you're not a participant in the New Covenant. I mean, it's obvious, isn't it?
Going, make disciples. When you make disciples, you baptize these disciples. Baptism notice is in the name of the triune God. What a beautiful declaration.
Baptizing them in the name singular of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Baptism is in the name singular of the triune God, in His blessed glory, in His blessed distinction, in all of His beauty. The triunity of God is established here, or set forth rather, by the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the second person of that blessed Trinity.
What Baptism Signifies
Now, what is baptism? Baptism, obviously, is a visible sign. It is an emblem. It is a picture.
It is an illustration done in the flesh of what God has done in the heart. You don't go into the water in order to become a disciple. Isn't the process clear? We don't baptize to make disciples.
We make disciples through preaching the gospel, and we baptize them. There have been churches that have taught what's called baptismal regeneration. The L.A. Church of Christ comes to mind.
That when you are baptized, you are regenerate. The text does not bear that out. The text is clear. You make disciples and then you baptize those disciples that are made.
It is a visible representation of what God the Spirit has done inwardly to the heart. It is a sign of fellowship with Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection according to Romans 6. Paul's whole theology in Romans 6 is an outworking of what baptism is all about. Baptism is a sign of being engrafted in him.
Not a word we use a lot, engrafted. I grant that. But we certainly understand the concept. Especially when we look at John 15.
When we see that Jesus is the true vine. And that we as believers are the branches. We have been engrafted by the grace of God to be a participant in all the blessings that Jesus has purchased for us. This is why when you read in the New Testament and it speaks of saints reigning, and it speaks of saints exercising judgment, you go, how in the world could that ever be?
By virtue of our union with Jesus Christ. His victories are our victories. His triumph is our triumph. His blessings are our blessings.
So much so that Paul the Apostle can even speak of believers in Romans 8 as co-heirs with Christ. What a beautiful statement! That I should be a co-heir with Christ? That you should be a co-heir with Christ?
That in the language of Hebrews 2 he is not ashamed to call them Brethren, this Jesus calls us brothers and he calls us sisters. That is signified by our baptism. We have been engrafted. We are part of Christ's body.
And it is a sign of the remission of sins. Water doesn't cleanse you from your sins. Blood does. and not just any blood. In fact, in the book of Hebrews we read, the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin.
All those were signposts pointing forward to the one whom the Baptist identified in John 1.29 as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. If you want the forgiveness of sins, which I encourage you to want, nothing worse than the guilt of sin. And I suspect a lot of the problems that mankind has is all related to that fundamental issue, sin. Oh, we like to put a lot of different labels on it, we like to call it a lot of different things, we like to say it's a syndrome, or a complex, or a whatever.
We like to do all sorts of things to try and take that guilt away. There's only one place for the removal of that guilt. We sing about it sometimes, well, just about every time we celebrate the Lord's Supper. There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins.
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains. That water won't cleanse you from your sin. Your attempts at self-reformation won't cleanse you from your sin. Your feeling bad about your sin won't cleanse you from your sin.
Your seeking out various philosophical or religious systems won't deal with your sin. There's one way. It's in the blood. There is power in the blood.
Hebrews 9.22 says, without the shedding of blood there is no remission. You can look for forgiveness. You can look far and wide. You can search until you die.
But if you are not searching it out in Emmanuel's blood, you're going to be in vain. You see what baptism pictures? You see why we say you shouldn't sprinkle a baby and call it baptism? Have they experienced these blessings?
Have they entered into the new covenant by the grace of God? Are they active participants in the knowledge of God? Are they those who have received the forgiveness of sin? This is an ordinance for disciples.
And it's not an 18-year-old disciple. See, some people call it adult baptism. No, children can be saved. Children can believe the gospel.
Children can own the Lord Christ by the grace of God through faith in the Savior. They're disciples. They should be baptized. But an infant, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
The confession tells us that baptism is a sign of his giving up unto God through Jesus Christ to live and walk in newness of life. Isn't that a beautiful declaration? Oh yes, it means all these things. It means I'm engrafted.
It means I'm forgiven. It means I'm publicly identifying with the triune God. But it also means something of responsibility. For you see, when I go into that water and I arise, I have said that I will follow the Lamb wherever He goes.
I have said I will take his word, not as a collection of inspiring principles, but as the body of truth that commands my obedience. You see, the scriptures do not come to you just to make you feel good in your otherwise dreary life. The scriptures come to command you, to dictate to you, to call you to self-denial, to call you to cross-bearing. This is why Jesus, in the Gospel accounts, told people to count the costs.
You don't go get baptized and join a church because that's the thing to do. You do it because Jesus has saved you. You want to own that. You want to publicly declare that.
You want to identify with that triune God. And you want to, through this baptismal service, communicate to all of these witnesses before a holy God, I will follow the Lamb wherever He calls me. I'm not going to play the religious games. I'm not going to say I'm in and then I'm out.
I'm not going to pick and choose. I'm not going to say I like seven of the Ten Commandments. But I like all of them. I want to obey all of them.
I'm not going to pick and choose when it comes to the Apostle Paul. You know, I love it when Paul speaks about grace. I love it when Paul speaks about free forgiveness. I love it when Paul tells me that I'm cleansed in the blood of Jesus.
What about when Paul tells you as a woman you need to submit to your own husband? What about when Paul tells you as a husband to love your wife as Jesus loved the church and gave himself for her? What about a young disciple who says, yes, I love the grace of God? What about honor your father and your mother?
And children, obey your parents and the Lord, for this is right. You see, not many of us would raise our hand and say, yeah, I like to pick and choose what I'll follow in the Bible. I grant that. I realize that.
We don't generally have Bible studies where we all say, you know, I like this, but I don't like that. But we live that way. We function that way, especially in Reformed churches, or not especially, incorrect, even in Reformed churches. You see, the baptism that is engaged in here is not engaged in to earn something.
It is engaged in because Christ has earned something. Through his death, by his resurrection, in the language of Romans 4.25, he was delivered up because of our offenses, and he was raised up because of our justification. Christ is earned, Christ is purchased, Christ is secured, Christ is bought and paid for every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Those who have embraced Christ by the grace of God through faith in Him ought to be baptized as a symbol, as an emblem, as a sign of fellowship, of being engrafted, of remission of sins, and of telling everybody in this room, I'm going to walk the way my Savior has commanded me. 505 isn't going to be a hypocritic exercise for me.
When I sing, all the way my Savior leads me, I really mean it. I've thought about this before. How many times do we sing the hymns and we're lying every step of the way? How many times have we stood here and we've sung, all the way my Savior leads me, knowing good and well that ain't the case?
It ain't for real you shouldn't get baptized. It ain't for real you shouldn't say you are.
Teaching Disciples All Things
And then notice what Jesus says. Going, make disciples, baptize those disciples, teach those disciples. I love what Davis says. Churches today count sheep.
They don't always feed sheep. We have 5,000 conversions. Great. Can they tell us what justification is?
Well, no. But I'm not asking for a Turretin-ish definition. Something akin to the blind man in John 9. I don't know, but I was blind, but now I see.
That'll work for me. I wonder at times if the church can even do that. Teaching them. We have new baptismal robes for the service this morning.
Just kidding. They're not baptismal robes. They're t-shirts that say theology matters. Is that something we believe in this church?
Theology matters. Doctrine matters. When people are saying, let us just love Jesus, we're going to say, which Jesus? When people are saying with Reginald Denny, can't we all just get along?
Or Rodney King, can't we all just get along? Yes, certainly we can with a common bond of Jesus. You see, the same 1 Corinthians 13 that highlights that love is patient, that love is kind, that love believes all things and love hopes all things, defines love in this manner. It rejoices in truth.
You see, for Paul, theology mattered. It mattered so much that he gave his life in the propagation of it. Theology mattered to the early church, so much so that many of them were human torches to light the way for Nero's garden parties when he would engage in all manner of revelry and wickedness. The next time you're on the internet and you get an image of the Colosseum, instead of standing there or sitting there going, wow, what a beautiful testimony to the ingenuity of man in his architectural ability, look at it as a testimony for what it was.
An arena where Christ's people were fed to lions. A place where Christ's people were brutalized, where they were mocked, where they were tortured and abused. Why? Because for them, theology mattered.
There was a thing that went around recently, a quartet, I think, of men singing Amazing Grace. Beautiful singing. James Wyatt made the comment, they're in the Coliseum singing this. Don't just gawk at the singing and hear the beauty of that song.
Think of what occurred in the backdrop. Our brothers and our sisters, for whom theology mattered, gave their lifeblood at that place. Jesus has teached that. Let me just tell you something.
If you're a disciple of Jesus Christ and you don't like to read, you need to change. God has given us a book. It's a challenge. It can be difficult.
But you know what? To learn more about the Savior, you need to read. I mean, God's so good, now we've got DVDs and CDs and we can listen to it in our cars. There is no reason why a disciple of Christ is not learning more of Christ.
Not today. I just don't buy that we're too busy. I guarantee you, brethren, none of you here, nor myself, are as busy as was Joshua. What was Joshua's task?
Oh, just the mere entering into the land of Canaan and dispossessing all the Canaanites from the land. He didn't have B-2 stealth bombers. He didn't have F-117 stealth fighters. He didn't have Abrams tanks, he didn't have modern warfare.
He had himself, he had a bunch of troops, and he had swords and axes. It's a tough job. And yet, we meditate on the law of the Lord day and night, and then your way will be prosperous. What about the disciples of our Lord Jesus?
How did they get places? Not in nice cars. Remember just in our studies on Wednesday night in the book of Acts, Paul got stoned outside of Lystra? The next day he goes to Derbe, 60 miles away.
I'm sorry, but we really should watch our complaining about inconvenience. I've never had to walk 60 miles in my life, let alone having been stoned the day before. And not just a few pebbles to mess up my whatever looks, but having been stoned to the point where I was left for dead. Paul goes to Derby to preach and teach the gospel.
Jesus says, teach.
The Early Church as a Pattern
For the sake of time, I'll just refer you to an illustration of this going on in the book of Acts, Acts 2, 40 to 43. Actually, I'll read it without much comment. Acts 2, 40 to 43. This is what the church looked like.
People often say we need to get back to the early church. I don't think this is what we want. Personally, Because if we wanted it, we could have it. It's not real difficult.
And with many other words, Acts 2.40, he testified and exhorted them, saying, Be safe from this perverse generation. Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. You see the progress of the process? They received the word and then were baptized.
They had been made disciples and then were baptized. Notice in verse 41, in that day about 3,000 souls were added to them, a statement, a testimony concerning the sovereignty of God. Who adds to the church? God adds to the church.
We may try, we may manipulate, we may rally, we may do whatever, but in the final analysis, when there is addition to the church of Jesus Christ, it is by sovereign grace. That is what our text is telling us. Now notice what the church did. They had received, they had been baptized, they were added to the church, verse 42, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship in the breaking of bread and in prayers.
The breaking of bread there probably refers to the Lord's Supper. So they had received the initiatory rites or the initiatory sign in baptism. Now that they are a part of the church, this is what they do. They continued steadfastly, not haphazardly, not hit and miss, not when I feel like it, not if I want to.
They did it. They continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine. They wanted to hear the word of truth. You see, theology mattered to them. and in fellowship.
And fellowship here simply is not being in the same room together. Fellowship doesn't mean we go golfing together. Fellowship does not even necessarily mean having a meal after Sunday service together. Because quite frankly, we could sit up there and talk about everything else than Christ.
Christian fellowship focuses on a person, not us and our perceived needs, but upon Jesus and his glory, his majesty, his excellence and his beauty, his power, his grace, his mercy. You know, today at lunch, instead of talking about, you know, I did this at work or I did that at work, I read this in my Bible. I just used it to encourage my heart. We need to do more of that.
I need to do more of that. Fellowship, breaking of bread, and in prayers. Prayer. I've said this so many times over the 12 years that I've been here.
A church that does not regard prayer as a church that God probably isn't willing to give us. If prayer is on the low end of our priority structure, then all the different things we can conceive of, what's the matter? To use the analogy of Paul in a different context, I agree. But if I have all the programs, and I have all the internet, and I have all the sermon audio, and I have all the whatever, but I have not prayer, how can I with a clear conscience say, Lord, bless our church?
Jesus said, do these things, and lo and behold, not even far in, the very day of Pentecost in the book of Acts, that's what's going on. Notice the response in verse 43. Then fear came upon every soul. Isn't that beautiful?
Maybe you want to leave church once in a while, not singing zippity-doo-dah, but being afraid. A holy fear, a reverence, an awe. That's why, and kids, I'm not picking on you, but after the service, to go running around like screaming banshees is not a good way to carry out Lord's Day worship. Perhaps the fear of God has infested itself in a man's soul, and he's giving thought to holy things.
But that's gone because the environment is not conducive to such fear. Oh, you legalist, you, oh, whatever. Go ahead, if that's what you think I'm being, a legalist. I am saying we want a place where the fear of God is manifest.
And there are certain things that help that, and there are certain things that counteract that.
The Active Agent in the Commission
And then thirdly and finally, by way of the Great Commission, Jesus says, and lo, I am with you, even to the end of the age. Not only is he the authority behind the commission, he is the active agent in the commission. at verse 20, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Isn't this what God said to Moses? Remember Moses had that scene of the Lord at the burning bush, and God said, take off your sandals. The place upon which you stand is holy ground.
God commissions Moses, the man, to go and to do his bidding. What does the Lord say? I'll be with you. I'm not sending you on an errand that I am not equipping you to fulfill.
I'll be with you. Isn't that what Jesus is saying? Isn't that what Jesus is promising? The same book of Acts testifies He makes good on His promise.
Paul's in Corinth in Acts 18 and he's afraid. Jesus comes to him in a vision and He says, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid, Paul, for I have many people in this city. Remember when John in Revelation 1 sees that view of the glorified Christ.
John says, and I fell as a dead man at his feet. What does Jesus do? He lays his hand on his shoulder and says, do not fear. Christ is with his church.
Christ is with his people. Christ is the active agent in all of this. He's not just up in heaven saying, Y'all work it out. He is found in the midst of his lampstands, encouraging, strengthening, building up, equipping for service, sending people out, opening doors, closing doors, guiding his people in the accomplishment of the commission that he entrusted to them.
We cannot miss that. Christ is with us even to the end. of the age, and in that we can rejoice. In that we can delight. In that we can step out in faith, trusting, trusting that he will make good on his promise that he will have dominion from sea to sea.
Application
Well, brethren, as the church, I want to encourage and exhort all of us that we need to be about missions and evangelism. There are ways that we can go about this, obviously. There are ways that we ought to go about this. The primary take-home right now, here's what I can do, is just be like Jesus wherever you are and love people.
And when you have opportunity, tell them about Jesus. There's your course for today. Just had your evangelism course. Be like Jesus and tell people about Jesus.
And you know if you're like Jesus, you won't necessarily walk up to people and say, I'm Jesus, you're a sinner, you need to believe and repent. Right? Show me an instance where Jesus came up to someone and said, I'm Jesus, you're a sinner, you need to believe and repent. Jesus loved them, Jesus cared for them, Jesus ate with them, Jesus was a friend of them, and then Jesus told them, they need to believe the gospel.
And then for the brother and the sisters who are being baptized, you are passive in baptism. Now I realize you're going to walk up here and change your clothes and actually get in and all of that sort of thing. Passive in that, but active, especially in what it represents in terms of giving up yourself in newness of life. There are too many professions with very little evidence of possession.
Y'all are playing games. Don't do it. If you're serious about following Jesus, be baptized and follow him. If you're not baptized, If you're not a follower, if you are not a believer, I invite you today to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And lo and behold, He will save you. That's His promise. All that the Father gives to me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will certainly not cast out. You will never come to Jesus and find Him like you might find us.
I don't have time for you right now. Jesus always has time for sinners. Let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Father, we thank you for the Holy Scriptures and we pray that you would be with each one of us now, that you would cause us to reflect upon this great commission, cause us, Lord God, to act upon these truths as a church and as individuals within this church. And Lord God, I pray for this brother and these sisters that are going to publicly identify with Christ the Lord today. May this be a day that they look back on with great joy and with great fondness, and as our brother Spurgeon would later confess, blessed pool that he was baptized in. May the same be the case today, and may what this represents always be powerful in each of their lives.
And we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.