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Matthew 28, as we continue to 
look at the Great Commission, we're slowing down just a little 
bit because we ought to appreciate that what Christ says in these 
few verses by way of the Great Commission is descriptive of 
the church's place or the church's conduct in this world. I think there's a lot of confusion 
concerning what the church is supposed to do. Well, if we heed 
the Word of the Lord Jesus Christ, that will hopefully cause us 
to reflect accurately what we are in the world as the church 
of the Lord Jesus. Well, I want to begin reading 
in Matthew 28, beginning in verse 1. Now after the Sabbath, as 
the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the 
other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great 
earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and 
came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat on it. 
His countenance was like lightning and his clothing as white as 
snow. And the guards shook for fear 
of him and became like dead men. The angel answered and said to 
the women, do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus 
who was crucified. He is not here, for he is risen, 
as he said. Come, see the place where the 
Lord lay, and go quickly and tell his disciples that he has 
risen from the dead, and indeed he is going before you into Galilee. 
There you will see him. Behold, I have told you. So they 
went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran 
to bring his disciples word. And as they went to tell his 
disciples, behold, Jesus met them saying, rejoice. So they 
came and held him by the feet and worshiped him. And Jesus 
said to them, do not be afraid. Go and tell my brethren to go 
to Galilee and there they will see me. Now while they were going, 
behold, some of the guard came into the city and reported to 
the chief priests all 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 we 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 11 disciples went away 
into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for 
them. When they saw him, they worshiped 
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. Well, let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank 
you for the written word. We thank you for the life and 
the death and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus that Matthew 
so wonderfully teaches to us in this gospel record. We thank 
you as well for this commission that Christ gives to the church. I pray that we, as your church, 
would heed these things and that you would cause us to do those 
things that you call us to into this world. And our Father, we 
pray for the preaching of the gospel throughout the nations 
of the earth, that you would bless that word as it goes forth, 
that you would send forth your Holy Spirit, that you would open 
eyes and hearts to receive the truth, and may men, women, boys 
and girls from every tribe and tongue and people and nation 
come to the Lord Jesus Christ. We ask this for our own meeting 
here this morning, for any and all who have come here this morning 
that are strangers to Your mercy and grace. We pray that today 
would be the day of salvation. We pray the Holy Spirit would 
attend the preaching of the Word, that You would bring conviction 
for sin and set forth the glory of Christ and His power and ability 
to save sinners before hearers today. Do forgive us now for 
our sins and our transgressions. Wash us and cleanse us and purify 
us in that precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Fill us 
now with your Holy Spirit. Be glorified as we look to Scripture 
and we ask these things through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Well, as I said, I think that 
if we get a proper understanding of Matthew 28, verses 18 to 20, 
it does define or describe for us how the church is to function. Notice what Jesus does not say. He does not say to the church, 
go, therefore, and entertain the nations. He does not say, 
go, therefore, and politicize the nations. He doesn't say, 
go, therefore, and have focus or encounter groups among the 
nations. No, he says, go therefore and 
make disciples of all the nations. We need to understand the importance 
of the ministry of the church. There are two legs that Christ 
sets forth here. I don't mean physical appendages, 
but that act or part of a process. The first is disciple-making, 
which is attended by baptism and teaching. Well, this morning 
we're going to just look at the disciple-making and the baptizing, 
and we'll take up the second leg of the commission, which 
is teaching. In other words, the church exists to evangelize 
sinners and to make them disciples. The church then goes on to instruct 
them or teach them. You see this extreme or imbalance 
in churches today. Some neglect the gospel, and 
they only teach the word. Now, I hate to even say that 
in that way. But they neglect the gospel, 
teach the word, because they don't see it as their particular 
calling to make disciples or to preach the gospel or to engage 
in evangelism. But on the other side of the 
spectrum, you have those churches that exist that are all about 
making disciples, that want to see people saved, but they don't 
teach those disciples. They don't ground them in the 
truth of the Christian faith. They don't educate them concerning 
the doctrines of the Trinity and the hypostatic union of Jesus 
Christ and justification by faith alone and all the particulars 
and the ins and outs of Christian teaching. So on the one hand, 
we need to both evangelize, make disciples, and on the other hand, 
we need to teach them to make them strong, to grow, to mature, 
to be faithful people in the world that God has called them. 
So, I want to look at this particular section concerning the Great 
Commission under these two headings this morning. First, we'll look 
at the delegated authority in verse 19, and then secondly, 
the commanded activities with reference to the commission in 
verses 19 and 20. As I said, we'll take up the 
teaching activity, God willing, next Sunday. But note first this 
delegated authority, we spent some time last week considering 
Christ's absolute authority based on verse 18. He says, all authority 
has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Christ has universal 
sovereignty. Christ is the ruler over the 
kings of the earth. Christ sits enthroned at the 
right hand of the majesty on high where he wields absolute 
power and authority. There's not one shred of power, 
there's not one shred of authority that exists apart from him. All 
authority in heaven and on earth has been given unto me." In his 
role specifically as the mediator, he's always possessed it as the 
second person of the Trinity. But in terms of his life, his 
death, his resurrection, fulfilling his role as mediator, which is 
prophet, priest, and king, the Father has conferred upon him 
this authority. this power, this regal or royal 
sway that we just sang of in that particular hymn. So he has 
this authority, but notice that he delegates it in verse 19, 
go therefore. He spoke of or declares his absolute 
authority and universal sovereignty, and now he designates or delegates 
rather that authority to his disciples in the Great Commission. The therefore in verse 19 highlights 
the connection. All authority has been given 
to me in both heaven and in earth, now therefore or go therefore. Based on the fact that Christ 
possesses absolute authority, based on the fact that he has 
this power, he now commissions his church to go. Matthew Poole 
says having declared his power, he delegated it. And I think 
this serves in a couple of ways for the benefit of the disciples. In the first place, it does define 
for them their role in the world. Remember that Christ called these 
men to himself. He specifically calls them apostles 
in Matthew's gospel. He confers upon them authority, 
delegates to them specific functions and roles. He has died, he has 
risen, now he is getting ready to go back into heaven, so he 
defines for them what they're supposed to do. In other words, 
if they were to say, what do we do now, Lord? Do we go back 
to our fishing boats? Do we go back to our commerce? 
Do we go back to our families? Do we go back to life, which 
was life like it was three years ago before we met you? No, he 
says, go, therefore, and do these particular activities. But as 
well, it comforts them and encourages them. because he's not only calling 
them to do something most difficult, he's telling them to make disciples 
of all the nations. I mean, I don't know that we 
ever reflect on what a massive calling the church has going 
for it. You know, those churches that 
have ministry, ministry, ministry, if we just do what we're supposed 
to do, it'll occupy us until Jesus comes back. I never get 
with people that worry about everybody else. They want to 
police everybody else in the church. It's a full-time job 
looking after yourself. I don't know how you have the 
energy to try and figure out everybody else's issues. Keep 
your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues 
of life. Who's got time to police everybody else in light of their 
own hearts? The same sort of thing with reference 
to the church. If we do what Jesus calls us to do, we'll be 
too busy to have puppets, ponies, and programs. If we do what Christ 
actually calls us to do, we'll be too busy to be caught up in 
half the stuff the churches of today are caught up in. We don't 
have time to entertain people, nor will we want to, because 
we'll notice that Christ's command is not to entertain them. So 
the fact that he gives them this great commission, that's why 
it's great. It's all about all, all authority, 
all the nations, all... all the days and all the commands 
that He has taught. It is a great commission. And 
so they have the power of Christ behind them as they go about 
this particular task. We have seen Jesus commission 
them to go to Israel in chapter 10, especially verses 1 to 7. As well, you'll notice that this 
reflects a common theme from the Old Testament. Think about 
Abraham. Think about Moses. Think about Joshua. Think about 
Gideon. Think about Isaiah the prophet. 
Think about Jeremiah the prophet. They were commissioned by God 
to do specific things with reference to His will. And it's always 
an inadequate servant given a particular function to engage in with the 
promise of God's presence with them. And that is precisely what 
we find here. Christ calls inadequate servants. I mean, look at these disciples, 
the 11, the apostles, godly men to be sure, but certainly not 
perfect men. Peter had denied his Lord. All 
of the disciples abandoned him in his hour of greatest need. 
Nevertheless, he forgives them. He acknowledges and recognizes 
and knows even better than them their inadequacy, but he tells 
them to go about this particular task, and he promises his presence 
with them. It repeats that common motif 
where God the Lord calls a people to Himself, gives them a particular 
instruction or marching order, and then says that He will be 
with them as they carry out this particular task. Now let's look 
at the commanded activities in verses 19b to 20a. The first thing we ought to see 
is that disciples must go. You know, I've often thought, 
what part of go don't we get? What part of Go have we not parsed 
out or figured out yet? Now, there's some question as 
to how we interpret Go. There's a lot of questions actually 
on how to interpret every single word in verses 18 to 20. I won't 
bore you with all of that, but at certain points it is important 
for us to make notice of some competitive thinking or some 
contrary thinking that is out there. But notice, go therefore, 
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. I want to give you just the structure 
of the passage in terms of its grammar. There is one command 
that is in the passage, and the command is this, make disciples. That is an imperative, that is 
a grammatical form called the imperative, which is a command. 
The other three words are what are called participles. Parents, 
if you don't understand what a participle is, ask your kids 
over lunch today and they'll be able to explain that for you. 
So this idea of going, baptizing, and teaching, those are participles. You'll notice the ING, end of 
the word. That's typically how participles, 
not always, but how participles end in English. They're ING words. Now, the issue is, however, that 
when these participles are really close to a verb, they can, a 
command rather, they can take on imperatival force. In other 
words, they're participles going, baptizing, teaching, but they're 
imperatives as well. In other words, Jesus isn't just 
giving them a recommendation or a suggestion. He's not just 
saying, well, if you happen to be out there and you happen to 
make a disciple, and you happen to want to baptize them and happen 
to want to teach them. No, there is imperatival force 
in the participles that we see here. So make disciples is the 
issue, but in your making of disciples, you need to go so 
you can do that. You need to baptize them when 
they are made, and you certainly need to teach them so that they 
grow in the grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
Now, some suggest that we take this idea of going in verse 19 
more casually. It's a participle, it's not a 
command. Therefore, when you happen to 
be going, do such and such. No, I think this is a particular 
instance. where it is a command, it is 
an imperative, and I think there are reasons for that. In the 
first place, the idea is used elsewhere, where we see these 
participles near an imperative, and they take on imperatival 
force. But if we look at the target 
of verse 19, go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, 
that demands or necessitates a command. This isn't, if you 
happen to be going and you happen to find yourself in Japan and 
you happen to be amongst the people that have never heard 
of Jesus, then go ahead and try to make the site. No, you have 
to actually go to Japan. You have to go to China. Christ 
came to save his people from every tribe, tongue, people, 
and nation. What we find here is Christ speaking authoritatively 
to the institutional church. There are those who want to take 
this and make it super casual, because we all like casual today, 
dude. We don't like the institutional 
church. We don't like the idea of organization. In fact, we like to say such 
things. Relationship with Christ, it's all that. It's not religion. 
It is a religion. It is highly structured. Our 
Lord Jesus, who has absolute authority, mobilizes his troops 
in a particular way. More often than not, this casual 
reading, if you happen to be going, make disciples, is built 
upon or helped by a faulty interpretation of Ephesians 4, which teaches 
what I'll call every member ministry. Now don't get me wrong, every 
member ought to engage in some form of ministry. But there is 
that class of ministry within the constituted church by Christ 
of elders, and in this particular instance, apostles. This is formal. This is absolutely crucial. This isn't a if-you-happen-to-be-going 
sort of a thing. This is the eleven that Christ 
had selected to himself in Matthew 10, to send them out among the 
lost sheep of the house of Israel. He now takes those eleven, and 
he sends them forth. It is not a suggestion, it is 
not a recommendation, it's not a, if you find yourself in this 
situation, it is rather imperatival. Go! In other words, those tribes, 
tongues, people, and nations aren't going to make disciples 
of themselves. They need the apostolic ministry. These disciples need to go forth 
and preach the gospel. Now you say, well, the Eleven 
died, and the mission continues in the Church of Christ. Again, 
don't interpret this as me saying, don't ever witness unless you're 
actually called by the Church. by all means witness, by all 
means speak the truth, by all means do what God calls you to 
do. But when we take this passage 
and we rip it out of its context, away from the authority of the 
Lord Jesus, and we universalize it, then it won't get done. It 
simply won't get done. We need to take the onus of the 
text very specifically. The Great Commission, rather, 
is not a casual every-believer activity in this context. Rather, it is instituted by Christ 
for the 11 first and then for the church, as church, to go 
and preach the gospel. May I just say one other thing 
in terms of why we need to get this right? So I think there's 
a lot of confusion among people about the church's function and 
role. I've already said that three times now. Something very 
near and dear to my heart because at times I think we misunderstand 
what the church as church is called to do and what individual 
believers are called to do. They're not always the same. 
They're not always the same. Is the church, as church, primarily 
tasked with passing out hot dogs to homeless people? Not according 
to what Jesus says in this section of scripture, and not according 
to the emphasis that we find throughout the book of Acts and 
the New Testament epistles. Are individual believers supposed 
to hand out hot dogs to the homeless? Absolutely! Go hand out hot dogs 
until Jesus comes back. But if a church isn't handing 
out hot dogs to the homeless, and I'm just giving an illustration. 
I'm not saying if somebody comes to our door, we say no hot dog 
for you. We certainly try to do those 
sorts of things and be kind and loving and compassionate. But 
believers as believers, more often than not, have more liberties 
to do stuff than the church as church. I got this zany idea 
that people come, they're taught the word, they grow in the grace 
and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, then they go out 
to their various spheres and they press the crown rites of 
Jesus in those spheres. It's a beautiful thing. You're 
going to meet people and be around people and go amongst groups. 
I will never meet. You need to be taught what the 
scripture teaches concerning God, man, Christ, salvation, 
so that you can go out and multiply this knowledge to others around. 
If you want to engage in certain sorts of ministry, by all means, 
but the church as church, when she leaves off this to do that, 
she's compromised. This was the problem with the 
social gospel movement in the early part of the 20th century. 
This idea that ameliorating the downtrodden and the poor was 
the primary emphasis of the church. Again, to suggest that that's 
not something we ought to be about sounds akin to heresy, 
and I would never say that. We need to try and ameliorate. 
That means make better the condition of the downtrodden and the poor. 
But when the church left her primary responsibility of preaching 
the gospel and making disciples and goes out to ameliorate, guess 
what got neglected? the thing that makes her distinct, 
the thing that makes her Christ's disciples in church. Brethren, 
anybody can go out and ameliorate without affecting the hearts 
of sinners. We need to remember the order, 
the pecking order, and that there is things or are things that 
individual Christians ought to do, can do, should do, go about 
doing it, but don't blame the church if she isn't doing everything 
under the sun. She ought to do what Christ called 
her to do, and she ought to try and do it well. That's my argument. We ought to try to do what Christ 
calls us to do and do it well. Make disciples, baptize disciples, 
teach disciples. And again, I'm not suggesting 
this is all that the New Testament says with reference to the church, 
but I am suggesting this is the core, this is the essence, this 
is the substance, this is what we must get right. We don't have 
the right to compromise or get this wrong. So the disciples 
must go. Secondly, the disciples must 
make disciples. We must duplicate. We must replicate. We must love our fellow sinners 
so much that we set before them the glorious truth of Christ 
and Him crucified. We must love our Master such 
that we will obey His word, we will obey His command, and we'll 
go to every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. We must love the 
master and we must love sinners and we must therefore go and 
make disciples. That's the primary calling. I 
saw some really good political speeches last week that really 
resonated with my heart and I thought, wow, those guys and those gals 
and what they're saying is a great message for America, for Canada, 
or for the nations of the earth. Then I thought about our message. 
What about Christ and Him crucified? Christ resurrected? Christ drawing 
sinners to Himself? Christ bringing healing? Christ 
bringing salvation? Christ bringing the forgiveness 
of sins? All the political legislation 
in the world that went according to my fancy will never get at 
the root of man's problems. His estrangement from God, His 
enmity with God, His defiance against God. It is our message. It is disciple-making. It is 
proclaiming the truth of Christ and Him crucified. This is our 
blessed honor and our privilege. We get to teach sinners the way 
of the cross. This is what Jesus says, make 
disciples. I think Broadus still has one 
of the best definitions out there or explanations of disciple making. He says, 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. That's a great sort of definitional 
explanation of what disciple making is all about. The means. How do we make disciples? We 
make disciples by preaching the gospel to them. It's intriguing 
because in Mark 16, a parallel passage to our commission here, 
Christ refers to them not as disciples but as believers. No discrepancy, no contradiction. Don't go home and whine because 
Mark said this and Matthew said this. They're looking at it from 
different angles, the same truth. But Mark says, or in Mark, we 
see Jesus called them believers. So disciples are believers in 
Mark 16, 16, who have believed the gospel. Mark 16, 15. In other 
words, how do we make disciples? We preach the gospel to sinners. We can't coerce them. I mean, 
wouldn't it be easy if we were Muslims and we could coerce conversions? If we could advance the cause 
with the sword, Christ has not given us the physical sword to 
advance the cause. Christ has promised His presence. Christ has said the weapons of 
our warfare are not carnal, but they are mighty for the pulling 
down of strongholds. Christ has called us to preach 
the gospel. God the Lord has the ability, 
the power, to save sinners. Our task is to preach Christ 
and Him crucified. Paul says in Romans 1, I am not 
ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation 
for everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the 
Greek. For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith 
to faith, that, as it is written, the just shall live by faith." 
It's through gospel preaching. Look at the book of Acts. How 
did they make disciples? They stood up in the midst of 
sinners, they proclaimed the reality that God is holy, you're 
not, and Christ is the way of salvation. We see that God works 
through that, He pricks their hearts, He convicts them of their 
sins, and He shows them the glory, the majesty, and the excellency 
of Jesus Christ the Lord. This is the calling that the 
church primarily has, is to go, therefore, and to make disciples. We make them by preaching the 
gospel. We can't make it with the sword. 
We can't even make it with our good deeds. You know, there's 
that idea. Well, you know, let your light 
so shine before men that they may see your good works and give 
glory to God. Absolutely biblical, thoroughly, 
absolutely wonderful. But brother, nobody's going to 
learn of blood atonement when I do a good work. You know that old maxim, I don't 
know who developed it, I've heard it ascribed to St. Francis of 
Assisi, you know, always preach the gospel and if necessary, 
if you can, use words. If our lives without our words 
are the gospel, that's bad, bad news. Imagine somebody following 
you around from 6 a.m. or 5 a.m. whenever you raise 
your head off your bed till 10 p.m., and they need to learn 
the gospel by watching you. That's not accurate. We must 
use words. We must preach truth. We must 
tell of blood atonement. We must speak of Christ hanged 
on the cross. We must speak of him risen from 
the dead. We must point sinners to believe 
on him or they will die and perish in their sins. It is through 
gospel preaching that disciples are made. As we continue to look 
at this point, the disciples must make disciples, look at 
the scope involved. Go therefore and make disciples 
of all the nations. I've already said that Jesus 
commissioned his disciples, the 11, at that time 12, to go to 
the house of Israel in Matthew 10. Some suggest that what we 
find here supersedes that, and no longer is Israel recipient 
to these gospel preaching. That cannot be the case, because 
in Acts 1, Jesus says that you start your ministry in Jerusalem, 
then Judea and Samaria, and then to the uttermost parts of the 
earth. So Israel is included. I think the whole idea behind 
the Puritan hope was that Israel is included, that we ought to 
preach the gospel so that the Gentiles are converted and then 
all Israel be saved. Again, that's an open discussion 
interpretation, but that's what drove the Puritan hope movement, 
a post-millennialism that saw a radical conversion of a whole 
host of Gentiles and then inclusion of ethnic Jews. The Westminster 
Larger tells us when we pray that God's will be done, to pray 
for the conversion of the Jews. So some suggest that Israel is 
excluded from the Ta Panta Ethne, all nations here. A little shout 
out to James White using the Greek there. He always does that. 
I don't think I always do that. But this idea that Israel is 
excluded is not the case. The scope hasn't been limited, 
it has been increased. It has been strengthened. One 
commentator, Keener, says, the Gentile mission ends the Jewish 
mission, extends the Jewish mission, not replaces it. Jesus nowhere 
revokes the mission to Israel, chapter 10, verse 6, but merely 
adds a new mission revoking a previous prohibition. Now, I want us to 
just explore for a moment this blessed phrase, to all or all 
the nations. Go back for just a moment to 
Matthew 1. Matthew chapter 1. We've seen in the first place, 
in terms of commanded activities, the disciples must go. We're 
looking now, secondly, at the disciples must make disciples. We have seen, specifically, that 
means through gospel preaching, calling men, women, boys, and 
girls to believe the gospel, to lay hold of Christ, to close 
with Him by or by grace through faith and repentance and to know 
the joy of being found in Him. But let's look at this scope, 
this all nations reality. Notice in Matthew 1.1, the book 
of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of 
Abraham. Now go back to Genesis chapter 
12. Genesis chapter 12, be prepared, we're going to run through some 
text before we end up back in Matthew 28. In fact, we're going 
to go from Dan to Beersheba. Genesis is our Dan, Matthew 28 
is our Beersheba, and we're going to go the circuit. Notice in 
Genesis 12 at verse Now, the Lord had said to Abram, get out 
of your country from your family and from your father's house 
to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation. 
I will bless you and make your name great. And you shall be 
a blessing. I will bless those who bless 
you and I will curse him who curses you. Notice, and in you, 
all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Turn over to 
1818. In the Greek translation of the 
Hebrew Old Testament, 1818, uses that same Greek phrase, this 
whole idea of all the nations, panta ta ethne. Notice in Genesis 
1818, since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation 
and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him. Again, 
2218, same idea. Same idea, same language used 
in the Greek translation. Genesis 22.18, in your seed all 
the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed 
my voice. Now, Paul certainly explains 
for us the significance here. It is the seed of Abraham, specifically 
Jesus Christ. Christ is Abraham's seed according 
to Galatians chapter 3. Christ is the one in whom all 
the covenant promises of God are yea and amen. We need to 
see how this all nations reference functions in Matthew 28 as a 
fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham. In fact, Davies and 
Allison make this observation. The prophecy that in Abraham 
all the families of the earth will be blessed comes to fulfillment 
in the mission of the church. Not in some future millennial 
period. It's through the mission of the 
church that this promise to Abraham comes to fulfillment. But we 
don't have just this, and there are others with reference to 
Abraham. We ought to consider the servant of the Lord in the 
prophet Isaiah. You can turn to Isaiah, Isaiah 
chapter 42 specifically. Isaiah 42. You read this? Or Pastor Cameron, Isaiah 49, 
which we'll look at in just a moment. But notice in Isaiah 42, this 
is a servant song of the servant of the Lord. This is a servant 
song concerning the servant, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. 
Notice in 42.1, behold my servant whom I uphold, my elect one in 
whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him. 
He will bring forth justice to who? To the Gentiles. Notice 
in verse 4. He will not fail nor be discouraged 
till He has established justice in the earth, and the coastlands 
shall wait for His law." Notice in verse 6, I, the Lord, have 
called you in righteousness and will hold your hand. I will keep 
you and give you as a covenant to the people, as a light to 
the Gentiles. Notice in 49, what Pastor Porter 
read, the beginning of worship. Isaiah 49, verse 6, indeed he 
says, it is too small a thing that you should be my servant 
to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved 
ones of Israel. I will also give you as a light to the Gentiles 
that you should be my salvation to the ends of the earth. Isn't 
that a beautiful statement, the way that God relates this? It 
is too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise 
up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of 
Israel. In other words, that doesn't show. Showcase the glory 
of the Lord Jesus. It's too small. Dare I say it, 
it's kind of like chump change. It's the dude who wants to impress 
his wife with his ability to bench press, and he puts 80 pounds 
on there. She is not going to be wowed 
by that. Put at least 225 on there and rep out 10, and she'll 
be like, wow, that's the language used. It's too small to go after 
these ones in Israel. I'm going to give you as a light 
unto the Gentiles. Brethren, it's this text that 
Paul and Barnabas apply to themselves in Pisidian Antioch in Acts 13, 
or on the heels they're preaching in Pisidian Antioch. When the 
Jews reject them, when the Jewish leadership refuse them, they 
see their place in God's redemptive plan in terms of the mission 
of the servant of Yahweh, to go to the Gentiles, to take the 
gospel to the nations in accordance with the Abrahamic promise, in 
accordance with what was ratified or confirmed in the Isaiah servant 
songs of Yahweh. There are others to be sure in 
Isaiah, but let's look at the Psalms, the mission of the Messiah 
in the Psalter so that By so doing, when we hear Jesus say, 
go, make disciples of all the nations, we know that he's not 
just being original here. He's not just having this new 
dimension to his already filled ministry. He is bringing together 
in himself all of the strains of biblical prophecy. He is highlighting 
what the Apostle Paul tells us. In him, all the promises of God 
are yea and amen. If the nations are to be discipled 
by the church, it is in accordance with what God the Lord has programmed, 
with what God the Lord promised to Abraham, what he tells us 
through the servant songs in Isaiah the prophet, and what 
we find throughout the Psalms. Again, many more passages than 
we're going to look at, but look specifically at Psalm 2. Psalm 
2, verse 7, I will declare the decree. The Lord has said to 
me, you are my son. Today I have begotten you. Ask 
of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance 
and the ends of the earth for your possession. You see, when 
Jesus says, go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, 
it's because he's already received that blessing from his father. 
Father's given it to him. He has all authority in heaven 
and on earth. It's not a nation that exists 
in this world that is outside of the authority of our Lord 
Jesus. That's why he tells us to go. You know, there's this hesitancy 
from time to time to witness or to testify. Just bring it 
to the individual level. You know, we're afraid to open 
our mouths and say, you know, God made the world and Jesus 
is the Savior and you need to repent and you need to believe. 
And we get a little hesitant, we get a little fearful. Put 
it in this construct. This is God's world. They're eating his food, they're 
drinking his water, they're breathing his air, and all the while blaspheming 
and raising their fists at him? He owns them. He owns every molecule 
of them. He owns everything that goes 
into their mouths to sustain them. It is our privilege and 
our blessed responsibility to say, who do you think you are? 
You're living in defiance of the living and true God? We're 
embarrassed to take a stand for Jesus in this world? If we understand 
what the scripture says, it is the unbeliever that ought to 
be embarrassed that they're occupying this world, sucking off of God's 
goodness and not giving him the glory that he deserves. They've 
got the problem, not us. Ask of me, I will give you the 
nations for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for 
your possession. Notice Psalm 22. Psalm 22, again, 
just a few of the passages that litter the Psalter in terms of 
the role or the function or the mission of Messiah. 27, 27, all the ends of the world 
shall remember and turn to the Lord and all the families of 
the nation shall worship before you. For the kingdom is the Lord's 
and he rules over the nations. And of course, Psalm 72. Psalm 
72, verse 8. All nations shall serve Him. Verse 17, His name shall endure 
forever. His name shall continue as long 
as the sun, and men shall be blessed in Him. All nations shall 
call Him blessed. So going back to Matthew 28, 
when the Lord Jesus declares His absolute authority and universal 
sovereignty, He then delegates that to His disciple-making church. 
He says, go therefore, make disciples of all the nations. Nobody ought 
to be surprised by that. Nobody ought to be taken aback 
by that. Nobody ought to say, what audacity. Christ is the 
one in whom all the promises of God are yea and amen. He is 
Abraham's seed. He brings redemption. He affects 
it through his life, his death, and his resurrection. He now 
tells his church to get about the business of proclaiming that 
gospel, making disciples, and then notice. Thirdly, baptize 
them. Baptize them, is what Christ 
says. Go therefore, make disciples 
of all the nations, baptizing them. Now, some have suggested 
that baptizing them means the nations. So we should just indiscriminately 
start sprinkling water on a group of people. That's not what's 
in view here. The grammar is against that interpretation 
and certainly the theology is against that interpretation. 
It is obvious, baptize them, them from out of the nations 
that have been made disciples. You baptize them. Jesus is highlighting 
disciple baptism. Jesus is saying believers baptism. Jesus is saying baptize those 
who have been made disciples. John Gill says, Nor can it be 
thought that it should be the mind of Christ that all the individuals 
of all nations should be baptized as heathens, Turks, and Jews, 
but disciples, supposed and contained in the Word, make disciples, 
such as are taught and made disciples by teaching or under the ministry 
of the Word by the Spirit of God." Now, there's some question 
concerning the order. Some have suggested we make disciples 
by the means of baptizing and teaching. That's not correct. We make disciples by the means 
of preaching the gospel. The Holy Spirit works in the 
heart and convicts and converts them. Baptism and teaching attend 
it, accompany disciple-making, but disciple-making comes from 
the power of God, the Holy Spirit specifically, through the preaching 
of Christ and Him crucified. So this idea of making disciples 
by the means of baptizing and teaching. Again, some have taken 
that position. We baptize people, we teach them, 
and then they become disciples. That, interestingly, is the scheme 
of paedo-baptism. The whole order's inversed. I 
don't want to be rude. I don't want to launch into a 
whole lot of polemics here, but you have to consider the paedo-baptist 
scheme is to baptize, to teach, and then to make them disciples. 
That just turns the whole apple cart upside down. The order is 
conspicuous. You make these disciples through 
the preaching of the gospel. You take those disciples that 
have been made through the preaching of the gospel, and you baptize 
them. Yes, you dip them or immerse 
them in the water. You pick them up out of the water. 
You allow them a few minutes to dry off, and then they come 
to Bible study, and they are taught the Christian faith. That's 
the pattern. It's conspicuous. And lo and 
behold, we get to the book of Acts, and that is precisely what 
happens. Now, some will argue, well, you don't understand covenant 
theology. We don't have time to deal with the argument from 
covenant. We're going to confine ourselves specifically to what 
the commission says here and what is fleshed out in the history 
of the apostolic church. They believed and were baptized. 
They believed and were baptized. They believed and were baptized 
over and over and over again. The order is conspicuous. So 
the idea that we make disciples by the means of baptizing and 
teaching. No. Baptism does not confer salvation. Baptism is not magic. When our 
dear young sister goes into that water this morning, that water 
remains water. I've shared with you before, 
we had a neighbor visit one time when we had a baptismal service, 
and this neighbor happened to be a little Roman Catholic, a 
younger Roman Catholic boy. After we finished with the baptism, 
just to show you that the water really isn't some significant 
thing in terms of it's got magical properties, we just turn the 
handle and the water pours out into the parking lot. Well, this 
young Roman Catholic fellow said, you're doing that with holy water? 
For those of you who weren't brought up Roman Catholic, the 
holy water wasn't just dispensed with in such a manner. That water 
is water. What it does is it represents, 
it signifies. When she goes into that water, 
she shows by her going under, being baptized, the word immerse, 
going under and up. It's death with Christ, burial 
with Christ, resurrection with Christ. It's what the tank preaches 
by way of visuals. It's not the water that somehow 
conveys the blessing or the benefit. It's like the supper. We don't 
get bread and wine that has actually become the body and blood of 
Jesus. These are symbols. These are representatives. They 
are tangible elements that point us to the reality of our beloved 
Savior. Brethren, we don't make disciples 
by baptizing them. Certainly when disciples are 
made, we baptize them, first and foremost, because Jesus commands 
it. This isn't optional. It's not, 
well, if you're a higher life Christian, you've had the second 
work of blessing, you're raised, well then go ahead and get, no, 
you get baptized. What'd they do in the early church? 
When they heard the gospel and they believed, they got baptized. There was no altar call, there 
was no hand raised and a head bowed and mutter in your heart 
or sign this card or whatever it is. You believe, you get baptized. That's the pattern, and that's 
what Jesus says we are supposed to do. Baptism is an ordinance 
of the New Testament ordained by Jesus Christ to be unto the 
party baptized, a sign of fellowship with him in his death and resurrection, 
of his being engrafted unto him, of remission of sins, and of 
his giving up unto God through Jesus Christ to live and walk 
in newness of life. Baptism is a blessed thing, but 
baptism does not save. We don't make disciples by means 
of baptizing and teaching. We make disciples by means certainly 
of teaching and preaching the gospel. The Holy Spirit saves 
them, and then what accompanies that is baptism and then entrance 
into the life and ministry of the church so they can be taught 
the Word of God. It's so conspicuous. I don't 
know how we mess it up. You know, it's so simple, really. 
I mean, if you ask, what's the church supposed to do in the 
world? It's right here. Is the church supposed to have 
this, that, and the other? Again, I'm not saying that the church 
can't do things, can't hand out hot dogs, can't ameliorate the 
downtrodden and the poor, but she must not do so if it means 
she's not doing this. This is crucial, absolutely, 
positively imperative for the life of the church. We don't 
have the option here. We can't say, well, you know, 
it's just not our thing. We really don't have the guts to go out 
and make disciples. We don't have the money or the 
resources. One has well said, either go or send, pray always. There's something all of us can 
do with reference to participation in the Great Commission. It may 
mean on a Sunday morning that you get up an extra few minutes 
early and say, dear Lord God, please pray for the preaching 
of the gospel that's probably going to happen in our church 
today. And may it be the case that the spirit would attend, 
open the ears and hearts of sinners, so they may believe the gospel, 
that they may be baptized, that they may be taught, that they 
may grow into maturity, that they may indeed affect change 
in their own sphere. Why can't we do that? Or why 
don't we do that? There's probably this desire 
for everybody to do, you know, the biggest things. Well, if 
I can't go to China and be a pioneer missionary, I'm not going to 
pray for the Great Commission. There are precious few people 
in the history of the world that God really uses powerfully. I 
mean, for every one John Calvin, I don't know what the ratios 
are. My son Josh might be able to 
figure out. There's a billion that weren't John Calvin. Most of us are regular, ordinary, 
normal, And we think, well, you know, 
if I can't do this, then I'm going to do nothing. See, I think 
the beauty and the glory of the Christian faith is this. God 
doesn't call any one man to go do everything. He calls us all 
to be faithful and consistent where we're at. And just by way of a shout out 
to our studies on Hezekiah from Wednesday night. Brethren, the 
longer I live, the longer I move, the longer I breathe and have 
my being, the more I am convinced that one of the primary things 
God's people struggle with is consistency. Consistency. You'll hear a sermon like this 
this morning, you'll go home tomorrow and you'll pray, God 
bless the gospel as it goes to the nations. Hopefully you'll 
be doing that next week. Hopefully you'll be doing it 
in 30 years. Hopefully you'll be doing it 
in 60 or 70 years. Consistency. Faithfulness. Be faithful where God has planted 
you. You're not John Calvin. I'm not 
either. If you're a woman, you're not 
Amy Carmichael. You're not. You probably will 
never be. Be faithful where God has placed 
you. Why is that so unacceptable? 
If I can't do everything, then I'm going to do nothing. Do what 
you're supposed to do. We rarely try that, do we? We rarely just do what we're 
supposed to do every single day, every single day. Consistency. I think Hezekiah is a case study 
in what dogs all of us, a lack of consistency. Hezekiah is described 
in 2 Kings 18, 1-8 in glowing terms. This guy was a David-like 
man. After we get that glowing report, 
he comes to the Assyrians and is throwing money at them so 
that they won't invade his fair city. Hezekiah, no! Don't do that! Then we see Hezekiah 
trusting Yahweh. Yahweh delivers him from Sennacherib. You think it was out of his system? No. He entertains the Babylonians 
because he wants some help to combat the Assyrians. You want 
to grab second kings and you want to say, Hezekiah, don't 
do that. God's already delivered you once from Assyria. He's going 
to deliver you again. You don't need these Babylonian 
heathens to help you to fight against Assyrians. You've got 
Yahweh of Israel. But isn't that us? Don't we try 
and prove our God as being faithful and good, and then we stop? We freak out at the next big 
event in our life. We just come apart. But didn't 
God help you and deliver you back then? Why are you freaking 
out? Function as one who has tried and proven as God. Be consistent. Do what you're supposed to do 
every step of the way for the rest of your lives. Well, brethren, I'm going to 
conclude there. I actually have another observation on the significance 
of the name into which believers are baptized, but I don't want 
to tack on a point concerning the triunity of God. I mean, 
this is such a glorious, sublimely beautiful statement, be baptized 
in the name singular of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy 
Spirit. So God willing, we'll pick up 
on that particular point along with the teaching element of 
the church in our study next week, but I want to conclude 
with a few observations. In the first place, we see the 
foundation of the Great Commission is in the authority of Christ. 
It's not in the wisdom of men. It's not in the ingenuity of 
men. It's not in planning committees. It's not in, you know, the internet 
research, data, whatever. It's in the authority of Jesus 
Christ. And I sometimes get weary or wearied by that whole idea. 
Well, you know, we're so much smarter in the 21st century. 
I think that if we use videos and we use this, we use that, 
we can reach a whole lot more people. Do you know that in the 
first century, there's a whole lot of media available to them? 
Not Facebook or Twitter or Instagram or, you know, the sorts of things 
that we use, but there were all sorts of things. that would have, 
could have been successfully employed if we listen to the 
modern gurus back then. Oh no, Paul, you'll reach a lot 
more people if you mime out the gospel. We're a visual people. We like drama. We like comedy. We like entertainment. So Paul, 
if you stop just standing before people and telling them that 
they're sinners and they're going to go to hell, you'll probably 
get a lot more of them to come to this Jesus. Drama, comedy, 
mime, skit. How does Paul combat that position? He says, Jews seek after signs, 
Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ and Him crucified. He's saying 121 in 1 Corinthians, 
for since in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did 
not know God, it pleased God through what? Through pantomime? 
Through drama? Through comedy? Through the foolishness 
of the message preached to save those who believe. Brethren, 
if Christ is the authority behind the commission, he is the authority 
in the commission. And if Christ not only promises 
us his presence while we engage, he also demands that we engage 
in a particular way. We don't have the right to refashion 
the Great Communion. We've seen that this works better. Who wants to say that to God 
someday? Well, we found that social media 
worked a whole lot better than that stuffy old approach, throwing 
up a big wooden pulpit and having some guy rant and rave for an 
hour. People in our day just don't 
relate that way. I'm sorry, brethren, I don't 
want to take that one up with the Lord God most high. If he 
says put up a big wooden pulpit and get some guy to rant and 
rave, as long as he's ranting and raving, the truth of my word, 
that's what I'm well pleased to bless. It's an amazing thing. Secondly, we ought to recognize 
the importance of Christian baptism. I found this beautiful quote 
by George Beasley Murray. He has sort of a definitive study 
on this issue of baptism. I have not read the book. Somebody 
I was reading referenced him in this particular instance. 
with reference to the importance of baptism. He said, we should 
observe that the authority of Christian baptism is of the weightiest 
order. It rests on the command of the 
risen Lord after his achieving redemption and receiving authority 
over the entire cosmos. It is integrated with the commission 
to preach the good news to the world, and it is enforced by 
his own example at the beginning of his messianic ministry. Such 
a charge is too urgent to be ignored or modified. It behooves 
us to adhere to it and conform to it as God gives grace. It is important. I think I've 
been careful to distinguish, we're not saved by baptism. But 
don't conclude from that that baptism's optional. Go therefore, 
make disciples of all the nations, baptize the disciples that are 
made in the nations, and then teach them. This is identification. This is a badge. Sometimes we 
approach baptism in such a polemical way, we miss the blessing. It's glorious. It's wonderful. Who here doesn't remember that 
day when they went, not even in that tank, but a tank, you 
come up out of the water and what's happened? I'm Jesuses. I'm saved, not because of the 
water, not because of the act, but because of the grace of God 
most high. But that demonstrates, that shows, 
that describes, that testifies. It's a beautiful and a wonderful 
thing, brethren, that we ought not to disregard. We are Baptists. Let's embrace it. Let's practice 
it. Let's rejoice in it. Let's fight 
for the truth of believers' baptism, not physically, we're not Muslims, 
but let's fight for the truth of believers' baptism. There 
is a conspicuous order. We have a covenant theology that's 
robust and produces a context in which this practice flourishes 
and which is indeed the fulfillment of God's redemptive plan. Not 
to shrink back or be embarrassed or somehow, you know, we're less 
than anybody else because we don't believe in the sprinkling 
of our babies. We love our babies. We just don't 
see that baptism is commanded for them. If it was, I'd like 
to think we'd do it. Why would we be predisposed against 
sprinkling our babies? If that's actually commanded, 
I would happily do it. But if it's not commanded, we 
are not to add to the worship of the living God. We don't take 
away from his word, but we're not supposed to add to his word 
either. And for Chloe in particular, 
you need to remember this day. I get the benefit of baptizing 
my daughter-in-law today. I don't know how much she's going 
to share, but it was her contact with Micah. He first started 
calling her and sharing the gospel with her. I don't want to steal 
your thunder. And then she started to come and see me. And we sat 
in that office, and I got the blessed privilege of explaining 
the gospel to her. She came to the church. She passed 
from death unto life. It's a beautiful thing. It's 
a beautiful thing. Remember that it's a sign of 
your fellowship with Christ. That's what the tank preaches 
to everybody else. It's a sign of your fellowship 
with Christ. It's a sign of being, says an older word, engrafted. The idea means to participate 
in or to be in union with Christ. Death, burial, resurrection. You are in union with Him. Another 
thing that tank preaches when a sinner saved by grace goes 
into the water, probably one of my favorite things it preaches, 
the forgiveness of sins. What distinguishes a Christian 
from a non? My sin, oh the bliss of this 
glorious thought, my sin not in part but the whole, is nailed 
to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise 
the Lord. That's a boon of our religion. Whatever you may say about a 
believer, you can always say this, his sins are forgiven. No matter how miserable your 
life may be and become, nevertheless, rejoice, because your sins are 
forgiven. If that doesn't make a smile 
pop on our faces, I really don't know what will. As well, it is 
a sign, not only of the remission of sins, but of your giving up 
unto God through Jesus Christ to walk in newness of life. It's not only a demonstration 
of the fact that your sins have been forgiven, but you're giving 
up unto God to walk in Christ Jesus in newness of life. In 
other words, this is a sign of obedience, and every step from 
here on out not just for Chloe, but for all of us who are baptized 
believers in Christ, is obedience. It's intriguing. That next leg 
of the Great Commission, what does Jesus say? Teaching them 
to observe some of the things that I have commanded, teaching 
them to observe those things that are appropriate for Sunday 
worship, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded. 
Obedience on the part of the people of God is not optional. At what point along our history 
did we say, well, you know, it's okay for me as a Christian to 
not do this or to do this? You know, this movement today 
where you could just be about anything and be a Christian. 
I mean, back in the day, if you were a homosexual, you repented, 
you stopped being one. Now, apparently, you can be homosexual 
and Christian according to the prevailing wisdom. You know, 
what's next? I'm an adulterer, but it's okay 
because I'm forgiven? We're not to reason thus, not 
suggesting that no Christian ever stumbles or that no Christian 
ever sins, but he doesn't boast in it, he doesn't glory in it, 
and he doesn't demand his rights for it. He humbles himself under 
God. He confesses his iniquity to 
the Lord. He goes to the blood of the Lord 
Jesus Christ for cleansing and remission and that blessed forgiveness. And then by grace, he doesn't 
go out and continue in sin. So, Chloe, those are some things 
that are going to be signified as you go into the water this 
morning. Well, brethren, it's a glad day. It's a joyful day 
for us to consider the baptism of a new believer. It's a joyful 
day for us to rehearse Christ's mission for His church. And it's 
a joyful day when others come to know Christ Jesus as Lord 
and Savior. I ask all of you to consider 
this question before we leave. Am I forgiven? Do I have peace 
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ? Are my sins blotted out? Are my sins dealt with? Has there 
been atonement affecting me? Well, brethren, friends, I say, 
go to the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe on Him. Again, disciple-making 
is that. Christ crucified, Christ risen. 
Believe on Christ and you will be saved. Let us close in a word 
of prayer.