It's a great privilege to be with you all again. It's been, I believe, six years. We had planned to take a furlough about two years ago, and the Lord through the Chinese stopped us. But this past fall, finally, Japan opened up again. Cal and E.D. Cummings have been able to come and stand in for us at the work in Japan, which I'm looking forward to sharing directly with you about that in the Sunday school hour. Cal and E.D. are there, so we're able now to take that furlough. Let's begin by reading our scripture text, and we will be reading from Matthew chapter 28. And I will start, let's see, verse nine, verse nine. Matthew 28, verses nine to the end of the chapter. Behold, Jesus, this is from the New American Standard Version. Behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and they took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, do not be afraid. Go take word to my brethren to leave for Galilee. There they will see me. Now, while they were on their way, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened. When they had assembled the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers and said, you are to say his disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep. And if this should come into the governor's ears, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble. And they took the money and they did as they had been instructed. And this story was widely spread among the Jews and is to this day. But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. When they saw him, they worshipped him, but some were doubtful. And Jesus came up 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 the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. An army's mission is decreed by the army's king. Or in the case of the United States and many other countries today, the president, the commander-in-chief, be he a king or be he the president. Likewise, for us today, our commander-in-chief decrees our mission. Our commander-in-chief is Jesus, and our mission is defined by that commander in verses 18 through 20. However, to really understand what Matthew is teaching us about what Jesus said to his apostles here in these verses, we must begin with our Old Testament reading with Daniel. Why? That provides us with the background in prophecy form, the background for this mission which Jesus is giving to us. Throughout the Gospel of Matthew, there is a very pervasive theme. That theme is the Son of Man. Jesus refers to himself over and over again as the Son of Man. Now, when we first hear that term, we would think that Jesus is referring to his humanity. After all, Son of Man elsewhere in the Old Testament is used that way. But that's not the case in Matthew. To be sure, Jesus is portrayed as a man, but far more. Let's look at several examples to see that this term son of man, as it appears throughout Matthew, is not speaking to us about his humanity, first of all, but rather his divine authority as the heavenly Messiah. Matthew 9.6. The Son of Man has authority to forgive sins. Matthew 9, 6, but so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. Then he said to the paralytic, get up, pick up your bed and go home. Matthew 12, 8, he is the Lord of the Sabbath. Matthew 12, 8, for the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. 1341, the son of man will send forth his angels. They will gather out of his kingdom all the stumbling blocks, those who commit lawlessness, and he will throw them into the furnace of fire in that place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So the son of man is the one with authority to send forth the angels in judgment. 1627, for the son of man is going to come in glory, in the glory of his father with his angels, and they will repay every man according to his deeds. 1628, truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the son of man coming in his kingdom. 179, Jesus commanded them saying, tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man has risen from the dead. 1811, for the Son of Man came to save that which was lost. 1928, very clear. Jesus said to them, truly I say to you, that you who have followed me in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you also shall sit upon 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. 2427, for just as lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 2430, the sign of the son of man will appear in the sky and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the son of man coming on the clouds of the sky with great power and glory. 2531, but when the son of man shall come and all the angels with him, then shall he sit on the throne of his glory. 26, 64, Jesus said to them, thou hast said, nevertheless I say unto you, henceforth you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of glory. Clearly, throughout the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus uses this term Son of Man to emphasize his authority. His authority as the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Where does it come from? It comes from Daniel chapter seven, the passage that our pastor here just read to us. Daniel seven, again, verses 13 and 14. I kept looking in the night visions and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man was coming. And he came up to the ancient of days and was presented before him. and to him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away. His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed." As the very first verse of that chapter, Daniel 7, verse 1, reveals, Daniel saw this vision while Israel was far from ruling. Israel was in exile in Babylon, essentially enslaved to the Babylonian king. Daniel saw in that vision four beasts representing four kingdoms, Babylon through Rome. The Lord showed Israel that before that Son of Man would begin to rule, first Babylon and then these three other kingdoms, these three other empires, we might say, must arise. Babylon, Persia, Greece, and then finally Rome. But God himself, whom Daniel calls the Ancient of Days, will appoint his ruler, Verse 13 reads, he came up to the ancient of days and he was presented before him. This is the picture, this in verse 13 and 14 is the picture of the coronation of a king. According to verse 14, to him was given dominion. That's a coronation. He's made king. Glory. and a kingdom are given to him so that all the peoples and nations and men of every language might serve him." In other words, his authority will be not only over Israel, but over all the nations of the world, according to Daniel. Verse 14 says that his rule will be eternal. His dominion is an everlasting dominion. which will not pass away. Unlike human kings, he will not die and bequeath his throne to his son. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away in his kingdom. His rule will be eternal. Furthermore, that coronation is to take place not on earth but in heaven. He will appear in the presence of God for his coronation. So, although he is going to rule over all the nations of the earth, that rule will be exercised not directly on earth, but from heaven. Nevertheless, it is the nations, all the nations of the earth, that he is to rule. Now, at this point, some Jewish and liberal Bible students have tried to argue that this Son of Man in Daniel 7 actually is a reference to the saints of God, to the Jews, to God's people. But that doesn't really fit the context. In the prior context, which we didn't read, there are four beasts which are described. Those four beasts represent four kings and their kingdoms. They are four beasts whose dominion God will take away, according to verse 12. They are clearly identified in verse 17 as four kings. Verse 17. These great beasts, which are four in number, are four kings who will arise from the earth. Thus, although the saints are to join the Son of Man in rule, The Son of Man is given dominion and glory and a kingdom so that all the peoples and nations and languages should serve him. The Son of Man is best understood not as a corporate him, referring to all the people of God, but rather as one more king who is divinely appointed as king and promised to the saints on earth and who shall rule alongside of God in heaven. However, the coronation of the Son of Man does not bring an end to the opposition which God and his people suffer. According to Daniel 7.21, reading a little further on from where our lesson ended, Daniel 7.21, not all are going to serve the Lord. Some rather will attack the saints of God. Daniel 7.21, I kept looking, and that horn was waging war with the saints and was overpowering them. However, eventually God and His King and our King and in Him we too will gain victory. Then the sovereignty, the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the highest one. And his kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey him." Verse 27. Jesus' declaration in Matthew 28, verses 18 through 20, must be understood as a declaration of the fulfillment of the promise given in Daniel 7 and in that vision. At his resurrection, Jesus has already appeared before the heavenly throne, and he has been granted that authority by the Ancient of Days. And thus, Matthew records, quote, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Jesus is announcing that the final phase of the plan of God has begun. That final phase is our mission as the church, as the saints of God. The son of man, the king of heaven and earth, has taken his throne, and he has begun to rule. Previously, Satan had ruled over mankind and over the nations since the time of Adam's fall, but in particular, since the time of Babel. The nations had remained under the thumb of Satan. Primarily, Satan, since the flood, has used idolatry and polytheism, which arose in the wake of Babel. That authority over the nations is directly asserted by the devil himself, and no one challenges the reality of it prior to the cross. We read in Luke 4, verses 5 through 7, the devil led him up, showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment, and the devil said to him, I will give you all this domain and its glory, for it has been handed over to me. I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if you worship before me, it shall be yours. You don't have to go to the cross. Just bow for a second here, and it's yours. By dying on the cross in place of his people, the Son of Man destroyed the rule of Satan. As the Apostle John says later, the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which is lost. The Son of Man came to destroy the works of the devil. The Son of Man has destroyed the rule of Satan. He has paid the ransom for the sins of his people. He purchased for himself a people, saints from every tribe, tongue, and nation. Thus, just as Jesus has begun to reveal to his disciples, had begun to reveal to his disciples several months before the Passover, before the coming in glory as king to judge, he must first die. Matthew 16, 21, from that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must first go to Jerusalem, suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed and raised up on the third day. He showed that to them. How? From Scripture. Although Jesus told Pilate that his kingdom is not of this world, He tells us to pray that God's kingdom would come to and in this world. Its otherworldly nature is not unreal. It's not nebulous. It's real. It is something which comes. It is something into which one must enter by the narrow gate. It is something for which the apostles were granted keys, authority to open and to shut the door in. It is something from which they were commanded to put out unrepentant sinners. Thus the kingdom, the reign of the Son of Man, though heavenly, is very real. It is visible on earth. It is distinguishable from the world, from those who have not entered in or those who have been put out. Jesus has, in fact, begun to reign from heaven. Both on earth and in heaven, all authority is his. His resurrection and his ascension mark the beginning of this reign, just as predicted in Daniel 7. His authority is absolute. There is nothing outside of it. Yet all do not submit. Many remain a part of the nations of this world, which remain in rebellion. They remain outside of that kingdom of Christ, even though he has authority over them as well. But Christ is making disciples. i.e., he is making subjects for his kingship, for his kingdom. He is delivering those who along with their forefathers had been deceived by the devil for millennia. Our passage in Matthew 28, verses 18 through 20, is the commissioning of the first evangelists, the apostles, with the power and the authority to call men, both Jews and pagans, out of the kingdom of darkness and into discipleship, into obedience to King Jesus. Those who receive baptism and submit in obedience are the saints of God. They are the saints that were prophesied in Daniel 7, not the unbelieving Jews who look forward to that day when the Messiah would come and put the Gentiles in their place and punish those Romans. Of course, the main thing about being a subject of the Son of Man is to obey him, verse 20. But that obedience begins by receiving baptism. Baptism is the right of naturalization into the kingdom of heaven. There's no coincidence that in Japan, many want salvation without baptism. They wish to have the benefits of citizenship, of being subject of Jesus without the persecution that sometimes comes, often comes, with submitting to baptism. Forgiveness and sonship and eternal life without the dangers of openly displaying their heavenly citizenship by publicly allying themselves with Christ in baptism. But for those who have that fear, there really is nothing to fear. The real danger is not inside the kingdom of Christ. The real danger is outside of the kingdom of Christ. Those who do not serve Christ are already serving a far more onerous master, the devil. There is no middle ground. There's no third alternative. In Daniel's vision, the saints were overpowered for a time. Verse 27, they were overpowered for a time, but eventually what happens? The sovereignty, the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole of heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the highest one. And his kingdom, that is the kingdom of the highest one, will be an everlasting kingdom. and all the dominions will serve and obey him. People of God, if you have not yet done so, take your stand with Christ. Submit to him, receive his baptism, and if you have not done so, learn from his ministers how to continue in obedience to him. Jesus decreed this mission to the disciples, to the nations, to disciple the nations. He gave this decree to the 11 remaining apostles. But this commission, this duty, this mission did not come to an end with the death of those apostles to whom Christ directly gave the command. And so the Apostle Paul reminds Timothy of this duty, this duty which he received at his ordination to keep the commandment. 1 Timothy 6, 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 13, I charge you in the presence of God who gives life to all things and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will bring about at the proper time. He who is the blessed and only sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. At his ordination, the commandment from Christ to his apostles became Timothy's duty as well. The vision of Daniel 7 of Christ and his saints doing battle, suffering, but ultimately overcoming the demonic opposition is fulfilled by those who likewise are charged to keep what the Apostle Peter calls the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles. 2 Peter 3 verse 2. A few verses earlier in 2 Peter 2, the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles becomes the personal duty of the teachers of the word, of the ministers of the word, if you will, upon their ordination. This is true even of those teachers who later apostatize. 2 Peter 2, verses 1 and 21. speak as follows about those false teachers, even those false teachers at their ordination have received that duty. 2 Peter 2, 1 and 21. There will also be false teachers among you who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the master who bought them and bringing swift destruction upon themselves. It would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness, than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. The heinous of their sin is not only their personal apostasy but also in their using their commission which they have received through their ordination to seek to destroy the saints of Christ by gross deception. The great commission, making the nations into disciples for Jesus, was to the apostles and must be to us as well the heart of our calling and our purpose as the church militant while on earth. Looking to the end of Luke's gospel, which we read also this morning, our Lord places the commission to disciple the nations right alongside of his death and his resurrection. As the summary of the teaching of the Old Testament, according to Jesus speaking to his apostles, all things which are written about me in the law of Moses, The prophets and the Psalms, in other words, all things that are written about me in the Old Testament, must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. He said to them, thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead on the third day. And that repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all the nations. In other words, according to Jesus, the Old Testament teaches three things about him, his death, his resurrection, and the proclamation of the gospel, the preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of sins to all the nations throughout the earth. That's the message of the Old Testament, prophesying what Jesus would do, not only in his death and resurrection, but through his apostles and then later those ordained by them to the ends of the earth. Now, while it is the ordained minister's duty directly, as it became Timothy's, Paul tells Timothy to keep the commandment. The Apostle, however, the Apostle Peter goes on to command the entire church, and he is speaking to one church, despite this being called a Catholic epistle. The Apostle Peter says that you, that is you people of God, should remember the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles. 2 Peter 3 verse 2, ESV. While personally keeping the commandment is the duty of those duly ordained by laying on of hands, as one can see from 2 Peter 2 and 3, it is their duty, it is the duty of theirs to carry out that commandment to the end of the age. It must also be on the hearts of every Christian. When he says that you should remember the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, he's not just talking about, well, memorize the words and then you're fine. It's to be what we're about. It's to be on our heart. Why? because it is the last remaining task that our Lord and Savior Jesus has, and he's doing it from heaven, from his throne in heaven through us here. We must pray for it. We must seek it. We must give to it. Give generously to that work at home and abroad. Above all, consider serving yourselves. Perhaps the Lord can send you to the mission field here or abroad. There is a great need that we have in Japan. As we age, I'm the youngest Japanese-speaking OPC missionary in the mission. At age 68, we need young families to come and replace the aging missionaries. Furthermore, as the Apostle Paul prepared to go on first to Rome and then to Spain, leaving behind Asia Minor and the Grecian Peninsula where he had been serving, he could say this in all honesty to the Roman Church about his mission to that broad area from Greece to Asia Minor. I no longer have any room for work in these regions. And since I have longed for many years to come to you, I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain and to be helped on my journey there by you once I have enjoyed your company for a while. Romans 15. The same goes for your duty here in this community. As long as there are some here, in this area of Raleigh who have not yet heard the gospel, this congregation has its work cut out for us. Remembering the command of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, and in the case of your preachers and those whom the Lord would send as preachers, directly, personally keeping the commandment to make disciples of the people in your community for Jesus. You bring the gospel to them, and the Lord is the one who does the converting. But if we don't bring the gospel to them, they can't believe. How will they hear? How will they believe without a preacher? And how will the preachers be there unless they are sent? Please, I urge you. join with us in praying that the Lord will send forth many to Japan. Do you know that the percentage of Christians in China is estimated at 10%? In Uganda, it's estimated close to 50%. In Japan, it's estimated somewhere in the neighborhood of one to 2%. And that would include all the liberals, the Roman Catholics, et cetera. We desperately need more missionaries for Japan. Send us your sons. Send us your families. And do pray without ceasing for the work in Japan. Let's pray. Our Father and our God, we give thanks that you have not forever left the nations in darkness the darkness of idolatry and the darkness of polytheism which has overwhelmed the Gentiles ever since the days of Abraham. We pray, Father, that you would bring them out of that darkness by the gospel of Jesus. Make us faithful to bring that gospel to the nations beginning here in this community and going to the ends of the earth. May this truly be what's on our hearts, since we know that it's on the hearts of our King, and we are His soldiers, we are His people. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.