All women, including pre-born baby girls, are created in the image of God. Discover the true war on women, www.godloveswomen.com. That is www.godloveswomen.com. Oh Holy Father, Father, you are so good. You are so kind. Your loving kindness endures forever. Lord, our God, teach us to seek your face to entreat your face with our whole hearts. We would bind our hearts to your holy commands. Lord, we are so small and weak, and the world is cruel and dangerous, and we pray that you would surround us as the mountains surround Jerusalem. Surround and protect us, O Lord. Let your favor rest upon us, not because we are worthy. Oh Lord, we have broken your commands. Our hearts still are so prone to waywardness. We pray that you'd forgive our sins. Lord, not because of our worthiness, but because we trust in the worthiness of your son, And we plead that His blood poured over us and sprinkled upon our consciences would bring us into your holy favor. Lord, as we have prayed for unbelieving friends and family members this morning, we do ask that you would bring them under the terror of their sins. but you would not allow them to press on in their sins and think that everything is at peace. But instead, Lord, reveal to them the terror of what they are doing and the great terror of the coming judgment so that they might be broken before you with broken hearts and tears of repentance. hear your word and turn and be saved by the power of your Holy Spirit. Lord, we are unable to fulfill the Great Commission by ourselves. We have no power to do any of it. And so we pray that your presence in us would do the work and would accomplish all the works that you have prepared in advance for us to do. In Jesus' name, amen. The gospel according to Matthew chapter 28, verses 16 through 20. One more time, this is part three. This is the word of the Lord. 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. Thus far the reading of God's holy word. God has commanded us to go and make disciples of all the nations. It is a God-centered commission, to be sure, since God's glory must have the preeminence. And it is also a God-ordained commission to go and baptize, since discipleship is inseparable from baptism. Yet the Great Commission in Matthew 28 must be read as the missionary commission, the command to make disciples of all the nations, or else we shall never, if we don't read it that way, we shall never demonstrate before the world the world, the full authority that our Lord Jesus Christ received from the Father upon his victorious rising from the dead. The commission is not for Jews only. As if the gospel were only meant to reach the Jews and not the Gentiles. In the same manner, it's not for close acquaintances only. As if acquaintance evangelism is the only kind of evangelism in the Bible. Likewise, it's not for non-Arab nations only. as if the power of the gospel is not meant to penetrate the dark spiritual realms of Arab nations and to save many souls out of those dark realms of satanic authority. Instead, the command of our Lord is that we go and make disciples of all. The nations. So just as all nations have their have the first Adam. As their ancestral father. So, too, must an elect group of believers from all the nations be brought under the headship of the second Adam, Jesus Christ, in full obedience to him through the eternal gospel. This is God's mysterious, wonderful purpose for human history, which history shall not be brought to an end until this purpose is accomplished. Matthew 24, 14, and this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come. It is impossible to understand the plot of biblical history without knowing God's purpose in redeeming an elect remnant of people from all of the nations of the earth. For God's election of Abraham was not arbitrary, because of course it was Abraham who believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and it was not an act of partiality. Instead, God chose Abraham as the faithful man, the man to whom he could entrust the gospel promises, through whom, this is why he chose him, through whom he would bless all the nations. For what is it that God said to Abraham? Once Abraham had proved his fear of God by not withholding his only begotten son from him. Well, this is what God said to Abraham in Genesis 22, 18. In your seed. All the nations. Of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed my voice. The missionary commission, then, is a command that comes directly from the heart of God. For it is the will of God. That his church be composed of peoples of all the nations, such that a saved group and elect remnant from every nation might praise him and bring glory to his name. Psalm 67, five. Let the peoples praise you, O God. Let all the peoples praise you. This is the will of God and Zechariah to eleven many nations. shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and they shall become my people, and I will dwell in your midst. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you." So again, God has both purposed and spoken that the nations be brought to worship Him as the only God of heaven and earth. That's His will. He has declared in advance that all of His providential work in human history for this very purpose namely that his remnant might be gathered from all of the nations of the earth and that they in turn might declare his glory and exalt his holy name Isaiah 66 19 I Will set a sign among them and those among them who escape I will send to the nations of to Tarshish, and Pool, and Lod, who draw the bow, and Tuval, and Yavon, to the coastlands afar off, who have not heard my fame, nor seen my glory, and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles." And also Malachi chapter one, verse 11. For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, my name shall be great among the Gentiles in every place. Incense shall be offered to my name and a pure offering for my name shall be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts. The Missionary Commission, then, is alone what solves the great problem of the Jews in relation to the Gentiles. Why was it that the Jews under Moses learned to fear God while the Gentiles hated the Jews and persecuted them? Why was it that once Christ Jesus had come in the flesh, had been crucified in the flesh according to the Jewish scriptures, and had been raised on the third day in the flesh according to the Jewish scriptures, Why was it that it was the Gentiles instead of the Jews who gladly received and glorified the word of the Lord when the gospel was preached to them? Why in the day of the apostle Paul did the Judaizers despise the thought of the Gentiles being saved by God, whereas Paul the Jew gave his life, poured out as a drink offering, as a missionary to the Gentiles? Well, is this not all in God's mysterious purpose for both the Jews and the Gentiles? Isn't this how God has purposed history to go? Romans 11, 25. For I, I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion that blindness in part has happened to Israel until. The fullness of the Gentiles has come in. in the unsearchable riches of the hidden counsel of God. All Israel that is believing Israel shall be saved. Yet when the prophecy is fulfilled, the bride of Christ shall still wear a multicolored gown, for she shall still be composed of the glory of the peoples of all the nations. Isaiah chapter 60 verse 3, the Gentiles shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising. Therefore, since this missionary commission is what pleases God. That is the offering of the Gentiles sanctified by the Holy Spirit through the gospel, offering them as an acceptable sacrifice of praise before his holy throne. Then, therefore, it is, this missionary commission, therefore, is worthy of the whole of one's lifelong labors. It's that important because it pleases God so much. For example, I once knew a man who, when I knew him when he was much older, but when he was a young man, was trained for the ministry and was a preacher of excellent things from the word of God. He had a better grasp of historic Christian doctrine than did most of the systematic theologians of his own generation. He had a brilliant mind, yet he took his great gospel talents, and along with his very God-fearing wife, boldly hiked down into the bottom of the Grand Canyon. He gave himself as a missionary to the Havasupai people who lived at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. So he spent his strength preaching the gospel to the Havasupai people through flannel graphs and children's stories and sacrificial living amongst the people whom he was seeking to win. And so, therefore, many successful businessmen might have said of him that he threw away his great intellectual endowments, making himself a poor inhabitant at the bottom of the Grand Canyon when he could have become a rich man in the business world. And likewise, many successful pastors might have said of him that he squandered his unusual gifts in the realm of theological study. because he could have been teaching at some prestigious school and writing tomes on Christian doctrine, but instead he settled at the bottom of the world, determined to win a people created in God's image for the praise of the glory of Jesus Christ. And yet he, and his name, by the way, was David Chambers, which name I think ought to be known, but to this day remains quite unknown in the recent history of modern missions. He knew well the difference between earthly treasures and heavenly ones. And so he and his beloved wife gave up all earthly rewards in order to present before the emerald encircled throne of Jesus Christ, a remnant of worshipers from a small Native American tribe. This tiny, it's actually the smallest Native American tribe in America. And he went there to win them for Jesus Christ and all for the everlasting praise of the worthiness of their God. Oh, beloved church. Precious to our Lord Jesus. Ever since the days of the apostles. The missionary commission. Has not been changed. It has neither been revoked. Nor amended. To be sure, the world has changed even in the short span of time since June of 1956, which was when David and Muriel Chambers first descended into Supai village at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. The world has undergone change at lightning speed. The world has changed even since then. Global missions now requires a traveler's working knowledge of wireless internet and GPS and maglev trains. But nevertheless, the gospel is, was, and always shall be the gospel. And so Christians alive today in this age of supersonic travel speeds are not allowed by our Lord Jesus Christ simply to be tourists in the world. Rather, whenever we travel into the cities and the towns of the world, we go there as mourners. We mourn. and grieve over all of the cities and towns that we encounter, including our own cities and townships right here in America, to be sure. Since this is why we mourn, since Christ Jesus is not glorified and worshiped by the indigenous cultures in those places. And then as we mourn and grieve, we also fast and pray that the Lord will send out missionaries, bold, God fearing missionaries who teach the sound doctrine of truly historic Christianity to send them into those darkened cities and villages so that a remnant of those peoples might be won over to the worship of him who sits upon the throne of heaven and of the lamb who was slain for their sins. And so we continue to grieve and mourn and pray and boldly evangelize in houses, churches, marketplaces and streets until a representative from every tribe, tongue and people on earth is brought into heaven. such that the seemingly countless throng of saints in encircling the throne of God in heaven is made complete with the full number of martyrs brought in and the full number of worshippers from all of the nations made complete. We mourn and pray in this way because we see by faith the worthiness of the Lamb of God. Who poured out his own blood for us on the cross, And so we simply cannot rest from our evangelistic labors until that worthiness is proclaimed. And thus the detestable idols that seek to usurp that worthiness are thrown down in every city and village in every corner of the world. Oh, listener, do you grieve? When you step into the city, do you grieve? If not, If you go into the nations of the world and you think they're just OK, that it's all big, it's one big world, it's a small world after all, and everybody's OK. Then you are not leading them, but they are leading you into hell. The true Christians are those who grieve. Until the worthiness of the lamb is is honored amongst all of the nations. However, the Missionary Commission does not stop with evangelization alone. Instead, it is a discipleship task. For where there are no true disciples of Jesus Christ, there we can be sure that no true evangelism has taken place. And therefore, the Missionary Commission given to us as a command from our commanding officer, requires not only that we proclaim to the nations certain historical facts about the gospel, but also that we be zealous in teaching them all things that the Lord Jesus Christ has commanded us. It's not just evangelization, it's also teaching and discipleship. Matthew 28, 19 through 20 again, 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 obey all things that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen. Disciples cannot be made without gospel teaching, and gospel teaching requires gospel teachers. To make disciples is to teach them, and this is in fact how Jesus made disciples. He taught them. Matthew 4, 23, and Jesus went about all Galilee teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. Missionaries, prophets and evangelists are needed to be sure that's Ephesians four. But we oftentimes miss the truth in the New Testament that pastoral teaching performed by pastor teachers is also near to the heart of the Great Commission. First Timothy three to a bishop, then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach. And first Timothy four, 13, till I come, give attention to reading. to exhortation, to teaching. And 1 Timothy 4, 16, take heed yourself and to the teaching. Continue in them for in this you will save both yourself and those who hear you. So the missionary commission requires much teaching. Yet what then are we to teach? What should be the content of our teaching in fulfillment of the missionary commission? Well, in general, the content of our teaching should focus on two things. If we follow the Apostle Paul, at least, in general, we should focus on at least two things. Firstly, our teaching should expound the glory of the kingdom of God by orienting all of life in a heavenly-minded direction. And secondly, it should clarify and demonstrate the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ by way of His cross and also by way of His resurrection and his ascension to the right hand of the Father, and also his coming return in glory. We have to clarify all of those things. This is what, this is how Paul taught. Acts 28, 30 through 31, then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house and received all who came to him. And here are the two things, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ. with all confidence, no one forbidding him. So teaching is very central to the missionary commission because the gospel itself, this is why, because the gospel itself is very God centered. It is about God. The thrice holy nature of God's glory is the gospel, even as that glory extends itself in sacrifice and mercy for the salvation of lost sinners. And therefore, in order to make disciples of the gospel in all of the nations, we must be ready to teach them all of the eternally precious doctrines about God. Above all else, we must teach them who God is in all of his pristine and inevitable glory and in all of the brightness of his unapproachable light. since he himself is the very center of the gospel. How can you make disciples of the gospel if God is the gospel and you don't teach them about God? Colossians 1, 28. This is one place I'm getting this from. Colossians 1, 28. Him we preach. warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. So teaching, as it's exercised in the Missionary Commission, serves both this worshipful function, in that it teaches us how to worship God rightly, and a protective function, in that it identifies false teachings that seek to mar and supplant the biblical truths about God. So we then must exercise both of those functions in the missionary commission. We have to exercise the worshipful function and the protective function. That is to say, we should not only teach disciples of all the nations the things concerning God's immortality and God's matchless glory, but we should also warn them to avoid all false teachers who seek to twist and usurp God's glory. 2 Timothy 4.3, for the time will come when they will not endure sound teaching. But according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers, that is, false teachers. And then Titus 1.9, a pastor must be found holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught so that he may be able by sound teaching both to exhort and convict those who contradict. That's the protective function. Dear brother or sister, have you become discouraged about the missionary commission? Is it the case that you have labored hard to evangelize and make disciples of peoples from all kinds of nationalities, and yet you have found that many of them are unwilling to hear anything except what their own itching ears want to hear? Do not grow weary in doing good, dear brother or sister. Remember that ours is a commission to make disciples and thus to teach, and therefore in your zeal to win the peoples of the nations to Christ, do not commit the folly of overlooking your own children. For pastors teach in the church, but parents teach in the home. God has set little ones at your feet, and they are easy to neglect. Even if you're not married, you do have spiritual children and physical children right in front of you, your niece or your granddaughter. These are the ones whom you are to teach. Oh, evangelists, stop coveting missionary accolades. Oh, parents, stop sending your kids to mega church Sunday schools thinking it's OK to farm out their discipleship to strangers so that you can do what you foolishly perceive to be the more important works of the gospel. Instead, bend down to the level. Of little children. Look right into their eyes. and beg God that he will allow you to win their hearts to the truth of his eternal word. Teach them. The little ones. About God. Teach them about the greatness of his glory. For in doing so. You will do one of the most important works in all of the Great Commission. The great commission is the missionary commission. In this grand commission, we are obligated to evangelize all nations and also to teach. Yet what is breathtaking about the towering summit of the Great Commission. For remember, Jesus, when he gave the commission, he took his disciples atop a mountain in Galilee. What's breathtaking about the summit of this commission is the scope. It's not just that it goes to all nations, but it's the scope of the things that we are to teach. That is. All things, so it's not just all nations, but we are to teach all things. that our Lord Jesus has commanded us. So one more time, Matthew 28, 19 through 20. 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 obey all things that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen. The missionary commission is not accomplished by making disciples who exercise a partial, half-hearted obedience to Jesus Christ. It is rather only completed by making disciples who, as the necessary fruit of their saving faith, exhibit ongoing growth towards a wholehearted, full obedience to all of the commands of their most worthy master. Deuteronomy 6, 1 through 2. The language here is a lot like the language Jesus uses in the Great Commission. Deuteronomy 6, 1 through 2. Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you. Command, teach. That you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, that you may fear the Lord your God to obey all his statutes and his commands, his commandments, which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life and that your days may be prolonged. Salvation in Christ is not freedom from his commandments. We are not set free from the law of sin and death in order to be at liberty to sin. Instead, we are freed from slavery to sin so that we might become happy slaves to righteousness. We who formerly obeyed the commandments of Satan, our former father, now have been freed from Satan and made children of God by faith alone in the blood, the saving blood, so that we might happily obey the commandments of our heavenly father. Since we have been saved by Christ. We love Christ. And if we love Christ by the presence of His Spirit, bringing the love of Christ into our hearts, then by the power of that Spirit working in us, we shall obey His commandments. John 14, 15, if you love me, obey. Obey my commandments. And again, John 14, 24, he who does not love me, does not obey my words. And the word which you hear is not mine, but the father's who sent me. And yet again, first John two, three through five. Now by this we know that we know him. If, if we obey his commandments, he who says I know him and does not obey his commandments is a liar. And the truth is not in him. But whoever obeys his word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in him. Yes, but someone out there will be sure to object and say But the New Testament commandment is simply to love to love your neighbor. That's all love plus nothing That's the new commandment love and to that we reply, but what does it mean to love one's neighbor? 1st John 5 2 this is what it means By this we know that we love the children of God. This is love when we love God and and obey His commandments. And Revelation 12, 17, and the dragon was enraged with the woman and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring. Who are they? Who are the real Christians? Those who obey the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. But then which commandments are we to obey? How much of the law of Christ, the royal law of love, must we obey? Well, the missionary commission of Christ demands obedience, not to some, but to all of the commandments of Christ. Acts 20, 26 through 27, therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. And Matthew 28, 20, teaching them to obey all things. that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen. Now, we are not speaking here of sinless perfection in this life, in these mortal bodies. The seventh chapter of Romans rules out the possibility of sinless perfection in this life here and now, as does our own experiential grief, right? If we look inside of ourselves over the multitudinous ways that we sin against God in the inner recesses of our selfish and wayward hearts every single day. Nevertheless, the Missionary Commission does demand the proof of justification by faith alone. which is the evidence of the indwelling of the Spirit of Christ, which is an ever-increasing holiness and ever-increasing obedience in this life to the gospel commandments of God. And without which, without that, no one, however adamant they might be in their personal assurance of their own salvation, will see the Lord. Dear Christian, the Missionary Commission summons you to make disciples by teaching them to obey all things that Christ has commanded us. Yet you simply cannot teach. What you yourself do not practice. Do you then submit yourself? To all. Of the commandments of Christ. Are you afraid out of fear of persecution to teach others to obey all things that he has commanded us as his disciples? Are you ashamed of the commandments of Christ that say, quote, neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites and quote, Woe to you who are rich. Woe to you when all men speak well of you." And quote, we should remember the poor. And quote, admonish the young women to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, submissive to their own husbands. And quote, let her be covered. And quote, bear children. and quote, little children, keep yourselves from idols and quote, expel from yourselves the evil person, end quote. Either we teach them to obey all things that our Lord and God has commanded us or else we are not fulfilling the missionary commission. And yet how many foreign missionaries today, overseas missionaries, how many overseas missionaries today, many of whom take large salaries, claim that they are evangelizing the nations. That's what they write in their monthly prayer letters. And yet do not teach these same commandments of Christ to those whom they are seeking to make disciples of the Lord. However, at least for me, all of this feels so impossible in today's world. Satan has such a chokehold on all of the cultures of all of the nations of the world today that this feels completely unattainable. Can we then still make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all things that Christ has commanded us, even in such a world wherein Satan seems to have so much authority over all of the nations? Revelation 13, six through seven. We feel this, this rings true, that we feel it. Revelation 13, six through seven, then he, which is the beast, the beast who's governed by Satan and empowered by Satan, then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name, his tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. We feel that. authority Was given him that's the beast over every tribe tongue and nation Here is our confession and our hope That Christ Jesus our Lord Still has all authority in heaven and on earth, even when Satan has been given spiritual and political authority over every tribe, tongue, and nation. Those two truths are not contradictory, for whereas Satan's authority is a delegated one, Christ's authority is a transcendent and completely sovereign one. For who has authority over the Spirit to retain the Spirit, and who has authority in the day of death? Yet Christ Jesus, who by his own authority laid down his life on the cross for wicked sinners, having first obeyed all of the commandments of the law, he obeyed every single commandment of the law for us with a perfect sinless obedience. He is the same one who by his own authority, having died, took up his life again. He did it with his own authority. He laid it down. He took it up with his own authority. He conquered sin and death for us, becoming our righteousness for us, a righteousness that is by faith in his name. And thus his authority over sin and death has crowned him with many crowns and proved him to be none other than the divine son of man. When he was raised from the dead, His authority was proved to be the divine son of man. Daniel 7, 13 through 14. I was watching in the night visions and behold, one like the son of man. That's a divine figure in the prophecy of Daniel. This is God somehow coming with the clouds of heaven. He came to the ancient of days and they brought him near before him and then to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations and languages should serve him. His authority is an everlasting authority, which shall not pass away in His kingdom, the one which shall not be destroyed. It is by this heavenly authority of our Lord Jesus Christ that we march forward, pressing on towards the finish in order to fulfill the Great Commission. even despite having to walk straight against the roaring winds of many persecutions and tribulations and having to face the scornful threats and intimidations of a great global beast who himself blasphemous blasphemously claims full authority over all the nations. We. Will not. Shrink back. For our Christ is the eternal king and his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. And by his sovereign authority, we, his church, shall fulfill the great commission. He is the one who began the work, and it is he who shall see it to its completion. His blood poured over our hearts and sprinkled upon every page of the Bible shall have its atoning, saving effect. The lamb shall be glorified. the elect peoples of the earth shall be gathered to worship him and then he shall deliver the kingdom to God the father when he has put an end to all rule and all power and authority so that Christ himself shall reign as subject to the father and God may be all in all amen So as we close and come to the table, the Lord's table this morning, we come praying, we come grieving and praying and asking that the blood of the Lamb would have its effect in bringing the Great Commission to its complete and final end. Before we come, here's the doxology. Praise be to God, our Father, who has given all authority in heaven and on earth to his beloved and only begotten son, the son of man. Praise be to our Lord Jesus Christ, who commands us to go and make disciples of all the nations. And praise be to the Holy Spirit, who is our teacher and who teaches us how to teach others all of the commandments of Christ. and all for the glory of our only God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.