If you would, please open your Bibles with me to the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 28. Matthew's Gospel, Chapter 28. In our portion tonight, we'll be concluding our study of the Gospel of Matthew. And in this portion, in the last verses of this last chapter of Matthew, we read here both words of instruction and words of comfort. that our Savior gave us before he ascended to the Father, to the majesty on high. And in his last words to his people, our risen Lord, just before he ascends on high, he tells his church, his glorious spotless bride, and remember, his church is not just comprised of his people in this building, for his redeemed people are a people out of every kindred and tongue and people a redeemed people purchased with his own precious blood. You see, there's one church beloved, a chosen people delivered from this present evil world. And we learn here that the Lord's people upon the earth have just one glorious purpose until he returns. Just one mandate. One job, if you will. And that's to preach the gospel. Indeed, to preach him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. Now, I'd like to spend our time this evening together looking at four things that we see in our portion. And the first one is this. The one main purpose, the one main job that our Lord's church has upon the earth is to preach the gospel of God concerning his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. We read in Matthew chapter 28 beginning in verse 19, And beloved, this is our Lord's command to his people. He says in verse 19, go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. Now, what our Lord says here is unmistakable. And he says it with all power and all authority. The one mandate, beloved, the one endeavor, the one mission our Lord's given us until he returns is to go into all the world and preach the gospel. Teach everyone everywhere who the Lord Jesus Christ is. And, beloved, I'll tell you how we'll do that. We do that by preaching Christ and Him crucified. That's the only way. Remember that vision that Paul had in the night I'll read to you this portion from Acts 16, beginning in verse nine. It says there, a vision appeared to Paul in the night, and there stood a man in Macedonia and prayed him, saying, come over into Macedonia and help us, help us. And what did Paul do? Did he go there to start a social program? Did he go there to build a hospital or raise up a food bank? Well, we see in verse 10, After Paul had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them. You see, beloved, our mission is not social programs. And yes, I trust we're all for social programs and social helps, but here's the thing. Our Lord did not command us to be about social programs or any other so-called ministries, but rather our singular ministry is to preach Christ. You see, our job is to preach the gospel. Listen to what the Apostle writes in 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, beginning there in verse 1, the Apostle writes, therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not. but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, and whom the God of this world had blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine under them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus, the Lord, and ourselves, your servants, for Jesus' sake. Beloved, our Lord commands us to go and teach nations, all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And this gospel charge wasn't just given to the apostles. Beloved, this ministry, this mission is given to his church, to everyone who believes on his name. Beloved, whatever your gifts, whatever your opportunities, whatever doors he's opened for you, in his good providence, use them, use them. And yes, you may not be called to preach, but God's given you some abilities. And so too, he's given you some opportunities to help the gospel to be preached to our generation. Remember what Philip said to Nathanael? Philip went and found Nathanael, and he said unto him, we have found him, of whom Moses and the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathanael said unto him, can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? and Philip saith unto him, come and see. Philip didn't debate with Nathaniel. Rather, he simply said, come and see. You see, we're to invite people to come to the service, that they might come and see Christ. Perhaps you say, well, I'm not good at talking to people about the Lord. I'm not good about talking about the scriptures or about the gospel. Well, I can tell you what you can do. You can say, come and see. That's pretty simple, right? That's easy to say. It's not an argument, it's not a debate. Just come and see. Come and see, come and hear the gospel. My pastor won't lie to you. He says the truth in Christ and he lies not. And so too we can pray. We can pray and ask the Lord to bless his word where it's preached. Beloved, throughout the week, whenever I come to mind, pray for me. And that was Paul's prayer, was it not? Beloved, pray for me that utterance may be given unto me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds, that therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. Pray for me as I'm studying and preparing." And we give our money and we can give our time. If we see something that needs to be done, we can just do it without being asked to do it, to do whatever we can so that Christ is preached so that he has the preeminence. You see, beloved, that's our job, and what a blessing it is when we labor together. And not with eye service as men pleasers, not as service unto a minister sent of God, but in singleness of heart under the Lord that sent him to preach the gospel, and not fearing man, but fearing God. You see, our glorious mission is to preach the gospel, beloved, to make known Christ and Him crucified. What a blessing that God's given us this commission to go and preach the gospel of his well-pleasing son. What a blessing, beloved, that the Lord would reveal himself to us, that he would give us faith to believe on him and save us. Beloved, he came and shed his blood to put away our many sins, and he causes us to believe on him and to love him. And all that is owing to that new nature that God gives us, and then he tells us, go, glorify me. Go and brag on me, giving me all the attribution, all the credit, all the applause, all the praise, all the glory, every opportunity you get. Isn't that a blessing, beloved? To be able to tell anybody who will listen about our sovereign, successful Savior. And we read here the Lord commanding us to go everywhere in all the world and preach the gospel to all men. no matter their nationality, no matter their background, their color, no matter their religion or creed. For all men everywhere, they have just one need. And the one thing they need is to believe on Christ. So go preach him. Go tell everyone who he is and what he's done for sinners and where he is now. And I'll tell you why we're to do that. It's simply this. He said so. He said so. Beloved, what a Savior we have to declare. What a Savior we have to brag on. That every sinner that looks to Him for salvation will and shall be saved. And He has a people from all over the world, a saved people out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. A people out of all languages, all places, and all times. And every nation under heaven has somebody in it that's one of God's elect. Therefore go and preach to all nations, tell them who Christ is. You see, beloved, preaching is the means that the Lord uses to call out his elect people out of the world. And preaching is simply one sinner telling another sinner who the Savior is. And that's the means that God is pleased to use in the salvation of his people, where one mercy beggar like you and me goes and tells another mercy beggar that they found the bread of life, the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, this is the blessing that God's given to us. And what a blessing. What an undeserved privilege. What a Savior we have with us to go without fear of contradiction and tell all people everywhere that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. No matter who you are, no matter what you've done, sinner, if you believe on God's Son, you will be saved. What a blessing. what a privilege, what a responsibility that we've been given. And our Lord tells us in our portion tonight, go ye therefore, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. Teach all nations, all men everywhere, what I've commanded you. And I'll notice the gospel, beloved, is a commandment. We're not going into all nations to beg people to do something, where you see this is a commandment from God. And this gospel commandment, contrary to popular opinion, is not to obey the Ten Commandments. And yes, the law is holy, just, and good, but here's the problem with the law. It's weak because of this sinful flesh of ours. And all it does, it shows us that we're guilty of breaking all. You remember what James wrote, right? James writes, whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. You see, when our Lord says, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, he's speaking here about the commandment of the gospel. And that commandment is to believe on Christ, the Christ that God sent, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, for he's obeyed God's covenant law, and he did so, beloved, perfectly. So now, sinner, believe on Him. Trust Him and quit your working to try and make God happy with you. Instead, trust Christ, for He's already pleased the Father for His people. And beloved, that's our message. And that message is a message of rest and peace and hope and comfort in Christ alone. To preach to sinful men and women that Christ is all. I'm so thankful the law is not the gospel, aren't you? I'm so thankful that I get to preach Christ. You see, it's not my call to point people to the law and tell people to act better, obey better, or do better. For we know, beloved, the only hope there is, the only peace there is, indeed the only insurance we have, is believing on Christ. And when by God's grace somebody believes what we're saying, and we know few believe, but when By God's grace, somebody believes on Christ Jesus, our Lord, he tells us we're to baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Again, verse 19, we read there, go ye therefore and teach all nations. You see, when somebody believes on the Christ we preach, the Christ we teach, we're to baptize them in his name because now they're his disciples. And remember, beloved, we don't make disciples. Rather, the Lord makes his disciples. All we do is preach Christ to sinners. You see, it's the Lord that makes them his disciples, for they're his workmanship. You see, somebody doesn't become a disciple after they're baptized. Rather, they're baptized after the Lord himself has made them his disciple. You see, my friend, baptism doesn't save anybody. Rather, baptism is a confession whereby we confess the Lord has already saved us. This is why the Lord commands us that we're to baptize believers, his disciples, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, because salvation is the work of the true and living God to save his people from all their sins. The Father chose them, the Son redeemed them by his precious blood, and the Spirit calls them to Christ and gives them faith to believe on God's Son. And when a person believes on Christ, they confess that faith that the Holy Spirit's given them by identifying with Christ in believer's baptism. And when a person is baptized, they're confessing, I believe that all it takes to save me is the Lord Jesus Christ, that God's Son is all it takes, and I don't need anything for Christ has already put away all my sins. And when he died, this is my only hope of salvation, he died for me, and I died in him. And when he died, I was buried in him. That's why the believers plunge beneath the watery grave that we see pictured in baptism as a picture of Christ's burial. But so too, we're also confessing that when Christ arose, The believer arose because his blood put away all my sins. So when he arose, I rose in him. And I rose to walk in newness of life in him. And that's why we bring people up out of the water. And so when one of our brothers or sisters confesses Christ as their Savior, it lifts up our heart in worship and adoration to our Lord and God, does it not? I mean, we're just so thankful for God's mercy to see our brother or sister pictured in baptism of their union with Christ, united to his life, death, burial, and then when we bring them up out of the water, we're testifying that Christ arose and that his sacrifice justified us from all our sins and that he's given us eternal life. And this is what our Lord's speaking to when he says, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And beloved, everything our God has commanded us, it's also wonderful, is it not? You see, his gospel commandment, it's not grievous. Oh no, it's wonderful. And what a wonderful opportunity it is for a new believer to publicly confess, God saved me, and this is how he saved me, through the sacrifice of Christ. And if the Lord saved us, If He's revealed Christ to us, it's such a blessing to confess Him in baptism. What a blessing to testify in the ordinance of baptism, this is how God's Son saved me. You see, this is why our Lord commands us, beloved. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Go ye therefore, and take this gospel that I've revealed to you, that I've taught you, and teach it, teach it and preach it to all men everywhere. And beloved, the results, the prosperity of that preaching lies with our sovereign, successful Savior. I'm so glad the Lord didn't tell us to go get results, aren't you? I mean, he didn't go and tell us to go build so many churches or to get so many disciples. He didn't tell us to go get results. Rather, he said, you go and preach. Teach all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and you leave the results to me. And I'll call up my people with this means, for it pleased my heavenly Father, our heavenly Father, beloved. It pleased the Father by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. And so beloved, that's our job as a church body, to preach Christ to our generation. The Lord tells us to go into all the world, and we'll do that as the Lord enables us, to preach the gospel into all the world, and beloved, that starts with our community. And that's a good place to start, is it not? And we're only to preach Christ, for that's what our Lord and God has commanded. Look with me in verse 11. Matthew 28, verse 11. Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city and showed unto the chief priests all the things that were done. And when they were assembled with the elders and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, saying, Say ye, his disciples came by night and stole him away while we slept. And if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him and secure you. So they took the money and did as they were taught. And this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day. Now, we've looked at this previously of how our Lord Jesus Christ arose from the dead. And when he walked out of the tomb, there was this great earthquake and there was this angel and the guards saw all that happened of that angel speaking with the two Marys And those guards were scared to death, but they saw it all. They heard it all. Indeed, they were eyewitnesses to the Lord's resurrection. And as soon as everybody cleared out of there, those soldiers quit playing possum. They quit playing dead. And they went and told the chief priest what had happened. Now, from the perspective of the chief priest, this was bad news. Because if Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead, then that means he is who he says he is, that he's the son of God, that he's the promised Messiah that God sent to save us from our sins. And what did we do with him? We tortured and killed him instead of believing on him. And now this is bad news for them. And rather than repent and bow and beg God for mercy, they made up a story and they told these soldiers, this is what you tell them. Tell them that the disciples of Jesus came in the middle of the night, and they rolled that great stone away from the opening of the tomb, and that they stole the dead body of Jesus, and they took it somewhere else and secretly buried it away, so that nobody could find Jesus, and that his disciples did that to trick people into thinking that Christ arose from the dead, and so this is what you tell them. Now these Roman soldiers, they were They were professional soldiers. I mean, they knew their heads would be on the chopping block if they permitted something like that to go wrong. And now these chief priests, they're telling them to tell the people, say that you fell asleep while all this commotion was going on, and that you never woke up, and people believe that made up story. Rather than believing the obvious, that the Lord Jesus is risen indeed. And rather than believe that, they believed that professional soldiers slept through this whole thing. And you know why they believe that story rather than the truth? Well, simply this, because by nature, man would rather believe a lie than believe the truth. You see, by nature, we love a lie and we hate the truth. And we have so many examples of that. By nature, man would rather believe the theory of evolution rather than God the creator. By nature, man would rather believe we can earn a righteousness by what we do. You see, by nature, man vainly thinks, if my good works outweigh my bad works, then God will accept me. And so rather than believing in Christ for righteousness, rather than believing on him who completely satisfied God's law for sinners, the natural man would rather believe made-up lies about who God is and how God saves sinners rather than believe the plainly revealed Word of God. My friend, the Bible is so simple, a child can understand what the Word of God is saying. You see, your problem and my problem is this. We can't believe God's Word apart from being born from above. You see, by nature, we'd rather believe the made-up lies of men rather than just believe the book that God's given us that tells us who he is and how it is that he saves sinners. And those chief priests are just like the false prophets of our day. Even though they knew the truth, they preached a lie, and they bribed the people to do it. You see, they'd rather lie and protect their place of power in society because the lie makes them more money. Because people love a lie, so if you tell them lies, they'll support it, and they'll give you money to tell them what their itching ears want to hear. And so rather than preach the truth, Rather than teach Christ and Him crucified everything that He has commanded us, they told this lie. But our Lord says, teach all nations. Not the lies of men, but what I have commanded you. Verse 19, again. Our Lord tells us here in Matthew 28, verse 19. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And rather than do that, verse 15, they took the money and did as they were taught by the chief priests. And they taught them to lie and go and tell it. And many people believe their lie rather than the truth. And this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day. It is reported among the Jews to this day, beloved, that Jesus didn't rise from the dead, that his body was just stolen from the tomb and was reburied somewhere else. And that's believing the lie of false prophets. And that's the nature every son of Adam has. And so this mission, beloved, the job of the church is to preach Christ to the unbelieving world, to preach Christ to sinners who don't know Christ. Sinners by nature, they don't know God's son. nor do they know who God is or how God saves sinners. You see, by nature, people don't know about the holy character and holy nature of God. They don't know about the righteousness of God, nor do they know about the grace of God. And so what do we do? Beloved, we preach Christ to them and tell them who Christ is so that they'll believe on him and be saved. I mean, how can you believe on somebody you don't know? If you don't know the Christ of this book, how can you believe on him? Well, somebody's got to tell us who he is and what he's done, so we'll believe on him. How can we love somebody that we don't know? How can we love the truth of the gospel if we don't know it? Well, somebody's got to go and tell us. And beloved, that's our job. You see, our job is not to go and get people to make a decision. Rather, our job is to glorify the Savior And we do that, beloved, by preaching Christ so clearly and so plainly that the blind and the ignorant may see his redemptive glory and the salvation of his people, so that they'll believe on Christ and their souls will be saved. You see, we're to preach this gospel and glorify Christ so that unbelievers will believe and will come to our Lord and God, to come to know him as he is, our all in all, our Savior, our just God, and Lord. And beloved, the Lord has told us to go do that in all the world, and that starts right where we are in the world. We're to preach Christ to our communities, we're to preach Christ to our families, we're to preach Christ to our children. You see, our children are born into this world with the same fallen nature we have. And so our job is to teach them who the Christ of God is. Our job is to teach Christ to our community so people will know who Christ is. That's the one great commission of our Lord to his church, the gospel commandment that God's given to us, to go and tell all men everywhere the message about the Savior who had mercy on us and saved us from all our sins. Beloved, that's our job. That's our purpose and nothing else. Now thirdly, our job is to preach Christ for both the sake of unbelievers, but especially so for the sake of believers. Look at verse 16. And when the 11 disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them, and when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. Now we all know about Thomas and how he doubted. Remember the Lord appeared to the other 10 and they told Thomas, the Lord is risen. And Thomas said, except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. And some doubted, even perhaps after they saw the Lord and they saw him, and perhaps they thought maybe their eyes were playing tricks on them. Maybe they thought, well, this is too good to be true. We really don't know. The word doesn't say what they doubted or particularly why they doubted. But it reminds us, beloved, We need to remember that believers on earth are still sinners. I mean, the best we can ever hope to be on God's green earth is to be a sinner saved by grace. That's the best we can ever hope for, to be a sinner saved by God's grace. And now we can say that God caused me to come to Christ and he caused me to be born again with a new nature, a nature that loves God and believes Christ. But at the end of the day, I'm still just a sinner. and I still have a sinful nature. And God has given us a new nature, beloved, that 100% believes Christ. We can say with our brother, Paul, and this is speaking about the new nature. You see, the new nature can't not believe the gospel. It says in Romans chapter eight, Verse 38, this is what the apostle says, Romans 8 verse 38, for I am persuaded, I don't have any doubt about this, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And that new man, Christ formed in you the hope of glory. He never doubts that. He never doubts that. Every believer has that new nature, and it's a new nature that 100% believes Christ, and that new nature can't believe anything but Christ. But we still have an old nature, beloved, that cannot believe and will not believe, a nature that'll believe anything but Christ. You see, we still have those two natures, And that will always leave us just a sinner saved by grace. Beloved, we're forgiven, but we're not faultless. We're pardoned, but we're not perfect. And that's every believer. And at times, our faith is stronger than others. And at other times, our faith wavers. So what can we do for a doubting, discouraged, weak and hurting creature? I'll tell you what we'll do for him. We preach Christ to him. You see, our message is the same for both the believer and the believer. You see, beloved, we've got one glorious message for everybody, for both the believer and the unbeliever alike. And the message is Christ and him crucified. You see, when you preach Christ to those that know him, they're going to look to him. And they know by God's grace that Christ is all it takes for them to be saved. that Christ is their all and in all. And when we preach Christ, his people keep looking to him for everything they need. I mean, when we preach that Christ is all, the believer is going to leave this place rejoicing and glad. What did Paul say? Rejoice in the Lord always, and again, I say rejoice. Isn't that the testimony that we read about with respect to those Gentile believers in Acts chapter 13, verse 48? It says, when the Gentiles heard the gospel, they were glad, they were rejoicing, and glorified the word of the Lord, and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed the gospel of God's Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, beloved, the message of Christ is the only message that we both need and love to hear, and that's the gospel that God's commanded us to preach, the gospel that I preach, the gospel that I love to declare to both believer and unbeliever alike. I want you to know the Christ and comfort I have in believing on him, the Christ of God, not just any old Christ, the Christ of God revealed in this book, to know him and know the comfort we have in him. And yes, sometimes you doubt, and sometimes you worry, sometimes you hurt. Beloved, just keep looking to Christ. Keep coming to him. Keep coming to him that loved you and washed you of all your sins with his precious blood. Now here's the fourth thing. Our one great commission, our mandate, our job is to preach the gospel. And that's our purpose, beloved. And what an encouragement we read in verse 18, to forge ahead in this ministry confidently, never fainting. Look what it says there in verse 18. It says in verse 18, and the Lord Jesus came and spake unto them saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Not some power, beloved, all power. Our God reigneth. You see, he's the reason for our confidence. And we know preaching him will get the job done. Preaching Christ will save the lost and will comfort the hearts of God's people. because all power has been given to our Almighty Savior. And so all we've got to do, beloved, is to preach as clearly and as plainly as we can. You see, beloved, we don't have to produce any results. Rather, we just preach Christ, for he has all power, and he's the one who makes his word accomplish the purpose with which it was sent. And that's comforting, is it not? Beloved, we can't lose We can't be defeated, we cannot fail as long as we preach Christ. For our Lord is with us, for us, and at that, always and forever. Before we look at that last verse there, I had Tyler read this Psalm for us on Sunday. There's a verse in Psalm 56, look at verse nine. It's so precious, the last part of verse nine. It says there, when I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back. This I know, for God is for me. And look at that promise in the last part of verse 40, or verse 20 of Matthew 28. Matthew 28, the latter part of verse 20, our Lord tells us that he's with us now and forever. Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." And our brother Matthew, and we all say together with Matthew, Amen. Amen.