This morning we conclude, in a sense, a journey that started a little over four years ago. As we look to our time of worship when we study God's Word, I want to invite you to take your Bibles and turn together with me to Matthew chapter 28. This morning we'll be looking at the very end of this great gospel. It was November of 2014 that we started in Matthew chapter 1, and now in February of 2019, we conclude our study of this great, great gospel. If you want a general overview of the gospel of Matthew, I think the best way to summarize it is this. Matthew writes his gospel to a biblically literate audience, that is, particularly to an Old Testament audience, an audience very familiar with the Old Testament Scriptures, an audience made up primarily of Jewish people and God-fearers who believe that the God of Israel is the one true God and who believe that the Old Testament is His Word and who believe that the promises of the Messiah that are given in the Old Testament are true and pending. And Matthew writes specifically to that audience deliberately and purposefully to demonstrate from the Old Testament and from the life and ministry of Jesus Christ that He is that Messiah. From Matthew chapter 1 and verse 1 all the way through Matthew 28 and verse 15, Matthew writes to primarily this kind of an audience in order to demonstrate that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, the promised Messiah who came and died to take away our sins. and to open up the way to God for us so that we could be reconciled to God and ultimately to help us to understand not only who Christ is, but how we can become Christians and thereby be reconciled to God. This is why he begins with the genealogy that goes from Abraham through David to Jesus's adopted father, recognizing or demonstrating rather that Jesus should be recognized as one with a rightful claim to the throne of Israel. This is why Matthew goes through and repeatedly for the first couple of chapters points back to the Old Testament fulfillments, identifying Jesus as Emmanuel, God with us, telling us about the virgin conception as a fulfillment of Old Testament promises, tells us about Bethlehem and about the Magi and about the execution of the children, et cetera, as fulfillments of Old Testament promises. This is why Matthew tells us about the ministry of John the Baptist and about the Holy Spirit coming upon Jesus and the voice that came from heaven from the Father Himself saying, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. A divine aspiration from the very beginning of Jesus' ministry from God Himself that Jesus had lived a perfect life up to that point. This is why Matthew records for us the Sermon on the Mount. whereby Jesus instructs with regard to the Old Testament and the Mosaic law says, here's what God expects. But that's an elementary expectation just meant to teach you that you're sinners. Let me really help you to understand what is behind God's expectation. It isn't just the letter of the law. It is even the heart of it. You have heard that it's been said you shall not commit murder. But I say to you, everyone, who is angry with his brother has committed murder already in his heart. You have heard that it's been said, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that every man that looks with a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery against her. Where? In his heart. That's the standard. It's not that the Old Testament is somehow wrong or to be ignored. Jesus says, I did not come to abolish the law or abolish the prophets, I came to what? Fulfill it. And to fulfill it, He did. He demonstrated that He was Messiah in Matthew 8 and Matthew 9, through all the miracles that He did, demonstrating He had authority over sickness and over disease and over disabilities, ultimately even over creation and over death. All the miracles that he did, he demonstrated he absolutely had the power of God. And then from Matthew 10 all the way through Matthew 20, in the ministry of Jesus Christ, it demonstrates he is absolutely the Messiah. And it also demonstrates that he knew full well what his mission was and the way things were going to play out in his ministry all the way up to and through the cross. And then from Matthew 21 through Matthew 28 and verse 15, we're told about the triumphal entry. We're told about the rejection by the nation of Israel and how they said, we want Barabbas and crucify him. We read about the mocking that they offered up to him at the cross. And we read about how he died and he was buried and how he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. And how not only did the angel roll away the stone to demonstrate the tomb should be investigated so you can see it's empty, but also how Jesus himself appeared And his people saw him that he was indeed risen from the dead. Listen, that is Matthew's gospel. The first century Christians believed in the resurrection, not just because they saw an empty tomb, not just because they saw the miracles that he did beforehand, not just because they heard his teaching and not just because they heard him predict that he was going to be crucified and rise again the third day. They believed in all of that also because they saw the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. And Matthew 1 1 to 28 15 is written to bring us to that kind of saving faith. Now, if you'll give your attention with me to the closing paragraph in Matthew's gospel, that is the subject of our attention this morning. You see that now, Matthew, having written to help us become Christians in this final paragraph, tells us what Jesus expects of us as Christians. having come to saving faith in Jesus Christ, having become one of his disciples. Here is what he expects of us as a church. And we're going to take a look at this text that is often referred to, and I think rightly, as the Great Commission. We're going to start by looking at the context of it, and then we'll look at the content of the Great Commission. In a sense, the opening here of the context is just kind of the set to stage. When we look at the content of the message in verses 19 and 20, you'll see that's our real sermon. But I've broken it into two pieces just to kind of set the stage or start for starters. Let's take a look at the context of the Great Commission. This is after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ and prior to his ascension recorded in Acts chapter one. This is Also going to take place in Galilee. So it's a about a week and a half to two weeks after The resurrection and after those appearances that you read that we read not only in Matthew 28 But that you can see in the parallel accounts in Luke chapter 24 and John 20, etc This takes place in Galilee notice in verse 16. I We're told that the 11 disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. If you were here with us last week, you remember that if you turn back to Matthew chapter 26 and verse 32, when they were up in the upper room and they had celebrated that last supper together and Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper at that point, they closed off in verse 30 by singing a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives. In this context, Jesus then said to them, you will all fall away because of me this night. Because it is written, I will strike down the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. He's quoting from the Old Testament, saying the Old Testament is going to be fulfilled tonight. I will be struck down and you will all scatter. And what happens? He is struck down and they are all scattered. But notice in verse 32, he also said, but after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you. Where? To Galilee. Even before he went to the cross, he told them he was going to meet them in Galilee. And that's where we are, which, incidentally, last week we saw is also in Matthew 28, verses 7 and 10, what both the angel and Jesus said. When the women went to the tomb, the angel appeared and said to the women, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead and behold, he is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him. Behold, I have told you. And then in verse 10, Jesus also told them personally, do not be afraid. Go take word to my brethren to leave for Galilee. And there they will what? See me. I'm going to appear to them in Galilee. Now, this is then the only additional post-resurrection experience that Matthew makes reference to, because from his perspective, it's the most important one. It's the one where Jesus gives instructions to all of his disciples in exactly what he expects of them. It doesn't make the other Gospels wrong. It doesn't make Matthew wrong for leaving them out. It simply means that Matthew has gone from the resurrection Sunday straight to the Great Commission, which took place in Galilee. If you're following along in a parallel Bible, you'll also notice that 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 6 will be slipped into the side column here, and that's because that's where the Apostle Paul refers to the fact that Jesus at one point occurred to as many as 500 people at one time. And I do think it is best to understand that event in Galilee is that occasion where there were 500 people at once that were there and heard it. If Jesus says to His disciples, The angel and Jesus says to the women and they tell the women to tell it to the disciples, which disciples you think they tell it to? All of them. So who goes to Galilee? Everybody does. All the disciples do. And now you've got about 500 people. That's essentially the cumulative effect of Jesus's life and preaching ministry. And they all gather together in Galilee. And, you know, I've been there now and there are There are several places that this could be. It's like the places with regard to the Sermon on the Mount. It's really amazing. There's no definitive location for this, but there are several places that I have that I've been to now there in Galilee, where they're like almost like bowl shaped or coliseum, not coliseum is wrong, but they're They're like, if you didn't know better, you would think that there was a sovereign God who sculpted the land of Israel to be the perfect locations for some of these historical events to take place. Because, and of course there is, but in any case, there are several places that could be the mount where the Sermon on the Mount took place, where it's just a beautiful grassy hillside and you can sit down up high or stand up up high And everybody that's all the way down, you're above them. And as you talk with the hillsides, I mean, it's it's like an amphitheater. It's just amazing. Most likely it was one of those places now that I've seen. Otherwise, it's been ruined by a church being built there. In any case, this is the place which Jesus had designated, it says there in verse 16, that means they all knew where to go. And it may well have been the place where the Mount, the Sermon on the Mount took place or one of the other places like that. And they all knew where it was and they all went. Somebody says, well, why would it be in Galilee? Why wouldn't Jesus give the Great Commission in Jerusalem? And a lot of people want to make something out of, well, Israel rejected their Messiah. So Jesus went to Galilee as a demonstration of rejection of Israel. OK, maybe. I think if you consider it from this perspective, the majority of Jesus's ministry took place where? In Galilee. And what was Galilee known as? Galilee of the Gentiles. And what is the mission of the church? It is a mission to all nations. I think this fits right in line with even the Old Testament promises that consistently, all the way back to the Abrahamic Covenant, the Abrahamic Covenant included blessings for all nations. And so Jesus takes his disciples back to where the ministry began and he gives them the great commission from there. And he brings all of his disciples, takes them all out of Jerusalem and takes them all back up to Galilee in order to commission them to go into all the world and share the gospel. And you notice in verse 17, again, just kind of setting the context for us for a moment, we're told that when they saw him, that is when these disciples saw Jesus, they worshiped him. They worshiped him. Now, what does that mean? They acknowledged him as whom? As God. Now, I need to stop you right here. We hit this last week. I want to hit it again really strongly and clearly. Some people wonder if it's if Jesus really did claim to be God, if if Jesus really did assert that he was fully equal to God. I mean, there's there isn't one place where you say as to the question of whether or not I'm God, the answer is yes. Right. I mean, we could wish it said something like that. Now that we've gone through a number of places where it's clear that's exactly what he's saying. Right. But here is yet another one of those clear indications. Jesus is worshiped by his disciples and there is not one word of rebuke, instruction or correction. When they saw him, they worshipped him. For him to receive worship and not rebuke them means either he is God and deserves to be worshipped or. He should be rejected as a blasphemer. There is no alternative. It's one or the other. When they saw him, they worshipped him and some were doubtful. I love this. Some were doubtful. I so appreciate the honesty of the Bible, don't you? Some were doubtful. You know what that means? You know what the word doubtful means? I did an extensive study of this. You know what the word doubtful literally means? They were doubtful. They were hesitating. Hesitating to what? It's so interesting that so many people go and come up with, well, they were wondering about all that, whether he had really died or you know what they were doubtful about? Worshiping him. How do you know? Because that's the context here. Is this really Jesus? Is he really God? Should we? Is this is this really true? What does that tell us about the honesty of the Bible? The people that became believers in Jesus Christ and saw the resurrected Christ and believed in him, listen, they didn't just go, oh, look, it's just like he said, bang, and they believed it. And it was such a simple and obvious faith. And they didn't have any questions and they didn't have any challenges. You ever had a you ever had a question of faith? Remember, when you came to saving faith in Jesus Christ, did you have trouble believing at all? Did you have trouble accepting it all? Did you have problems taking God at His word? You know something? You're not alone. You're not defective. You're not inadequate to ever be a Christian. The Bible says even the people who visibly, physically saw the resurrected Jesus in front of them, some of these had been eyewitnesses of the crucifixion. Remember last week when we talked about the disciples? Well, there's a believing lot. Jesus tells them the night in which he's betrayed, how that night's going to play out. He even tells Peter, tonight you're going to deny me three times. And Peter goes, no, no, no, no, it ain't going to happen. And it happens. That same night, he says, the third day I'll rise again and I'll meet you in Galilee. When he rises again, the women come and tell the disciples he's risen, we've seen him. They go and they see the empty tomb and they still doubt. He shows up in a room that night and he has to eat fish in front of them for to convince them. You want to know you want to know the thing that the Bible makes very clear for us, the disciples were not easy to convince. So when they believed it. And to a man, they were willing to die for that truth and that faith. That's a pretty sound faith. Wouldn't you agree? And even when Jesus appears to 500 of them at one time here in Galilee on the mountain as he's about to give the Great Commission, there's still people there seeing him in the flesh resurrected before them. They were hesitating. They were doubting. Is this is this really all true? Is the whole of the gospel message and is the totality of you? Are you really Lord? Are you really risen? Is this really real? So when you find that these are truly convinced. And willing to die for this truth, you can be sure. That in time, they truly did become convinced Jesus has risen from the dead. And it's at this point we're told in verse 18 that Jesus came up and he spoke to them. And he said, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. All authority. If you have a King James in front of you, it says all power. The word for power in Greek is dunamis. We get the word dynamite from this word. It's the word for power. It's the word for energy, ability. That's not the word that is used in the Greek here. That word is used in Greek regularly to speak of power and ability. Here, it is actually the word exousia. It's a word that means authority. Jesus demonstrated divine power to raise the dead, to heal the sick, to give strength, to withered arms, withered limbs and the ability to walk and hear and see. That's power that's on display. The term he uses here is authority. It's not just that I have the power to act, I also have the authority to act. You know the difference? If I give you a gun, you now have the power to compel me to leave the premises. Does that mean you have the authority? Well, if you're an authorized representative of the government, you now do, because you have the authority. Now, you may not have a gun, but showing up with the badge, you now have the authority to ask me to leave. Now, having the power and the authority means you have the gun and the badge. Now, Jesus has already proven He has, in a sense, the gun. You know what He's saying now? He also has the authority in himself. And notice it says Jesus came up and spoke to them saying all authority. That's another one of those key words in the Greek. I spent a lot of time on this word. You know, it all literally means all. All authority. You know what that means? He is sovereign over everyone and everything except the father. He is sovereign over everyone and everything. So what has changed? Well, what did we read in the last couple of chapters? Jesus submitted to what? The earthly authorities of the religious leaders, and even of Pilate, and submitted all the way unto death. And now He has been elevated to being Lord. The One who has absolute, full, and total authority over all of His creation. You know what that means? It means when you die, you know who's going to be sitting on the great white throne and determining your eternal destiny. You want to know who's ultimately going to judge the actions of Caiaphas and Annas and the high priests and the Sadducees. and the Pharisees, and the nation of Israel, and every Gentile, and Pilate, and the Roman soldiers, and all the people in the crowd, and you and me. You want to know who it is that's ultimately going to sit in authority over determination of your eternal destiny? It's Jesus. You want to know who's going to determine the eternal destiny of Satan host of angels that rebelled against God together with Him? It's Jesus. You want to know who it is that has absolute and total authority over the whole of God's creation? It's Jesus. All authority has been given to Me, where? In heaven and on earth. I have total authority. I have been elevated to the place of total authority now over all of creation. You say, well, he was God before. Didn't he have that? Yes, as creator. Now he has it. As the as the last Adam. Now he has it as man, the God man. He has taken upon himself the fullness of the limitations of humanity. He has lived a perfect, sinless life. He has died in our place, which made it possible for us to be forgiven of our sins because the penalty has been paid. He has risen from the dead and has been elevated to the place of sovereign authority over the totality of God's creation. So He now has the authority to forgive us and apply His death in our place as sufficient to satisfy the justice or the righteousness of God. And he has the authority to say, you have rejected me. And so you will answer for your sins. That's what's happened. He has now completed God's plan for redemptive history in providing salvation for his people. Jesus talked about this in John, chapter five. You don't have to turn there if you if you listen to me in John, chapter five, I'll tell you what Jesus himself said. Jesus in John 5, starting in verse 24, speaking with regard to his equality with the father, he says, truly, truly, I say to you that he who hears my words and believes him who sent me has eternal life and does not come into judgment, but is passed out of death into life. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself, and He gave Him authority to execute judgment because He is the Son of Man. Did you hear that last part? Because He is the Son of Man. We as human beings will be judged by a human being. but that human being will be the God-man. Do not marvel at this, Jesus says, for an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice and they will come forth. Those who did good, to a resurrection of life. Those who committed evil, to a resurrection of judgment. Having accomplished the Father's work that He gave me to do on the cross and providing the means by which my people might be forgiven, I have now been elevated to the place of authority. That's the whole point of Philippians 2. Do you remember when Paul says that we need to have this attitude on ourselves, which is also in Christ, who, though he existed in the form of God, didn't regard that something to be held on to, but he took upon himself humanity and submitted and went all the way to the cross. And after that, he was elevated so that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, is sovereign, is master, is kurios, is supreme. OK, Jesus has been elevated to that position now that he has accomplished his work of redemption on the cross. All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. And now starting in verse 19, we have the content of the Great Commission. Notice it says, 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 that I have commanded you. And lo again, behold, take special note of this. I am with you always, even to the end of the age. And this is the content of the Great Commission. And I want you to notice that it is introduced by the word therefore. Verse 18, go therefore and make disciples. You've probably heard this many times, but when you come across a word like so or therefore, you need to ask what is the therefore therefore? Because it's inferential. It's drawing a conclusion or giving a result or a set of instructions that are founded upon a point or principle that has just been established. What did he just say? All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Therefore, since all authority has now been given to me, what am I doing? I'm instructing you. I'm instructing you. I have all authority in all of creation. So, as God, then, this is what I'm telling you I expect of you as My people. This great commission, then, to start with, is a commission that is predicated on divine authority and giving a divine imperative, a divine instruction to us as His people. From Matthew 1-1 to Matthew 28, verse 15, We've been told how we can become Christians in verses 16 to 20. Now, in this last chapter, he's telling us what he expects of us as Christians. And what he expects us to do is to obey the Great Commission. Now, for the rest of our time this morning, I would like to help you to understand the Great Commission. And we're going to do this by looking at four key points that help us to really understand the content of the Great Commission itself. This is what the Great Commission is really all about. And we're going to bring it right out of the text, because most people think the Great Commission boils down to one thing. You know what that is? What do most people, maybe even some of you, think the Great Commission is all about? It's all about what? Evangelism? It's all about winning people to Christ? I want you to see very clearly that that is just a small part of what the Great Commission is. Understanding the Great Commission is key to understanding what we're supposed to be as a church and what our lives are supposed to be focused on as even as individual Christians and as members of the church. The Great Commission is just not a call. It's not just a call to go evangelize people. That's not it. The Great Commission is the heart. It is the substance. It is a summarization of everything that Jesus expects of us as Christians. That's why it's the last thing that Matthew records. This one paragraph summarizes the Christian life and Christ's expectation of us as his people. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations. The first key point I want you to see here is the Great Commission is a call not to evangelize. It is a call to make disciples. The Great Commission, you can write this down if you're taking notes. The Great Commission is a call to make disciples. It is it is not a call to evangelize the nations. It is a call to make disciples of the nations. Say, well, how do you know that? Well, because in the Greek, there's only one imperative. It's not go, and that's an imperative make, and that's an imperative or make disciples, that's an imperative. Baptizing and that's an imperative. There is one command here. There's one command. The other verbal forms are participles. That means that they define what that one command really is and how it works. Make disciples. If you wanted to translate this a little bit more literally, you could translate it this way. Having gone, make disciples, be baptizing them and be teaching them to keep all that I have commanded you. You see the kind of the threefold development of what it means to make disciples. Having gone, so the going aspect of it, going to share the gospel, going where lost people are, that's part of it, that's part of what it means to make disciples. You can't make disciples out of if you don't have people right and you can't lead people to Christ that are already led to Christ. So part of what is expected is that we are going out into the world. We are going people are going places where lost people are and we're sharing the good news about Jesus Christ with them. Baptizing is part of it. Because when they recognize the truth and they want to come to Christ and they want to identify themselves with them and they want to be saved and they want to become disciples, what's the first act of obedience that's required? What is Jesus given as instruction that we step forward? We are publicly identified with him in baptism and we become a member of his church. But it also includes teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you, and guess what is included in whatsoever I've commanded you? Everything. Listen, that's that's what we're supposed to be about as a church. That's what we're supposed to be about as Christians. The Great Commission. That's that's it. The Great Commission isn't just go evangelize people. The Great Commission isn't just teach people to observe whatsoever I've commanded you. The Great Commission isn't just baptized. The Great Commission is disciple make disciples. That's the Great Commission. And all of those other aspects, those further developments, the going and the baptizing and the teaching. That is that is the definition of what is the aspects or the actions that are involved in the process of making disciples. I encountered a quote this week as I was reading. One writer observed that Jesus does not say evangelize the nations, but make disciples of the nations." And he goes on to say, and I quote, many denominations and missions groups misunderstand this and so they spend all of their effort winning new converts rather than anchoring them in the Christian faith in spite of the many studies that show that too few are truly converted in that initial decision. Isn't that somewhat characteristic of a lot of missions work over the last hundred or so years in the United States. Now, I'm not going to bother with it. I don't mean to be needlessly offensive here, but God didn't say, Christ didn't tell us to go out and do crusades that are focused on just sharing the gospel of people that are lost and getting some kind of a positive response to that gospel message and then moving on somewhere else. The Apostle Paul's ministry is not characterized by that kind of behavior either. When the Apostle Paul, when you read Acts 13 and 14, and you see how Paul, even in his very first missionary journey, he went into a city, he shared the gospel, He established a church. He went to the next city. He shared the gospel. He established a church. When he got done, he went back through all of those churches and he established elders, plural, in each church, singular, to carry on the work of equipping the saints for the work of ministry. And then he went back later and visited them to strengthen them and build them up and get them to the place where, as a church, they were able to function as mature churches. In fact, when you read 1 Thessalonians and even 2 Thessalonians, he commends that young church, they're only a year old, because they're doing what he told them to do, even though they still have some holes in their understandings in the areas of eschatology and even some practical theology. He commends them for their reputation, for godliness, and for commitment to Christ, and commitment not only to share the gospel with people that are lost, but to live a Christian life themselves. The Great Commission, first and foremost, is a commission not to evangelize the nations. It is a commission to make disciples. That includes evangelism. And it also includes equipping. Number two, the Great Commission is not only a call to make disciples, it includes the act of evangelism. Notice he says, go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Yes, this is a Trinitarian formula. Yes, this identifies as God, the Father and God, the Son and God, the Holy Spirit, as all three distinct persons and yet one Godhead. And yes, when you go through the New Testament, you will find that there are other formulas predominantly focused on the person of Jesus Christ. At the end of the day, why is it so clearly indicated the Trinitarian formula here in Matthew's Gospel? I think the easiest way to explain this is who's the primary audience of Matthew's Gospel? Jews. In order for a Jew to truly be saved, what do they have to acknowledge? That there is God, the Father, and that there is God, the Holy Spirit, but there is God, the Son, and they are co-equal. Now that's why the Trinitarian formula is so clearly expressed in Matthew's Gospel by Matthew's own pen. Recognizing Jesus as equal with the Father is what it means to identify yourself with Him as one of His disciples. To become a disciple means you recognize Jesus as God incarnate in human flesh. As the one with all authority in heaven and on earth. You recognize him truly as being co-equal with the father, which you'll remember from a couple of chapters ago. We found this is the very grounds upon which the religious leaders condemned him because he claimed to be equal with God. Discipleship begins with recognizing, yes, he is equal with God. And here, when he receives worship, even in the context of giving this great commission, he's demonstrating that he acknowledges himself as equal with God. What is baptism? This is actually interesting. This is not even a translation. This is the Greek word baptizo. It's a word that literally means to dip, to dunk, to immerse or to submerge. I always like the joke. It's like baptism donuts. Do you like baptism donuts? Dunkin Donuts? That's what we're taught. That's the word. That's the word. That's the it is. That's what it literally means. You want you want to know why we don't believe in sprinkling? You want to know why? Because what's the word actually mean? You say, well, then why don't they translate it that way? Well, because then you would get into denominational issues. Part of this has to do with the history that comes from the Catholic Church and even the early church before the Catholic Church. From the second century, the whole concern of infants who die without having been baptized, without having made a profession of faith, What happens to them? I love my kids. I want them to go to heaven. And you know something? Some of the early church fathers, not the apostles, not the first generation Christians, but the second and third and fourth generation Christians, you know what they did? They catered. OK, your kid's really sick and the infant mortality is very high, so we'll go ahead and baptize them. You know, it's really hard to baptize a baby, especially if it's sick. What would that require? Dunking them. So what do they do? That's when they begin to pour. And then before long it turns into sprinkling. You just fill your hand and pour whatever. Now, what does the Bible call for? Immersing. Immersing whom? Kids, babies, infants? Immersing those who are ready to identify themselves with Jesus as one of His disciples. This is a subset. This is this participle going and this participle baptizing. They both have imperative force. In other words, there they are commands, but they're not independent of the one command. You must make disciples. Well, how do I make disciples having gone? You're baptizing them and you're teaching them to observe all I've commanded you. And what is the baptizing aspect of it? When they come forward and say, yes, I believe and yes, I want to be saved. And yes, I want to be a follower. I want to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. OK, are you ready to be publicly identified with him as one of his? Because if you're not, then if you deny him before men, then he will deny you where before his heavenly father. That's why is that the first requirement? Because you have to come out publicly and identify with him as one of his. If you're not willing to do that, you should have every good reason to question whether you're one of his. You should. If you're not willing to become a part of his church, everybody that got baptized in Acts wound up part of that church. If you're not a member of one of Jesus's churches, you have every good reason to question whether or not you really are one of his disciples. You do, because what you see in the New Testament is what does it take to be a disciple? You step forward, you identify yourself as a sinner in need of a savior, and you recognize Jesus as God incarnate who died to pay for your sins. And you want to follow him and you're willing to be publicly identified with him and by extension, then with his people. You become part of the church. I honestly have no idea how somebody can justify in their own heart any thought of having a right relationship with God, even if they're if they truly are a Christian and things have happened and they've wound up leaving a church because it fell apart or they moved or whatever. I really have a great difficulty with people being comfortable in believing they're Christians when they will not become a part, identified part of one of his local churches. That's foreign to the New Testament. It's foreign to what Jesus has instructed. It's just it's just it boggles the mind that someone could find a measure of of assurance or confidence in their own Christianity when they're living independent of what the clear instruction and pattern and scriptures is. What Jesus expects of us as Christians is because he has full authority in heaven and on earth is that we are to make disciples. Making disciples involves first going. That means it's up to us to pursue people who are lost and share the gospel with them and then baptizing, which means when they make a positive response, we in we bring them into the household of faith. We facilitate their public identification with Jesus as one of his disciples. This is the Great Commission. Notice that the extent of this call to make disciples and this call to go and to baptize is not limited just to Israel. It's not limited just to Galilee or to the immediate context. This is a call to make disciples of whom? All the nations. There's our word all again. Guess what it means here? Just like it did does everywhere. All literally means all. This means it doesn't matter our race. It doesn't matter the color of our skin. It doesn't matter our culture. It doesn't matter our nationality. It doesn't matter our past religious experiences or beliefs. It doesn't matter What language we speak. Does it matter if we're young or old, male or female? All that matters is that we are descendants of Adam. All the nations, that's what Christ expects of us to go to everywhere, to everyone with the single goal of not just evangelizing, but the single goal of making what? Disciples. The disciple is not just one who makes a positive or gives a positive response to the gospel, but one who actually becomes a disciple. The Great Commission is a call to make disciples, the Great Commission includes that initial act of evangelism that is consummated or culminates basically in baptism. But then it includes the ongoing act of equipping. This is number three. The Great Commission is a call to make disciples. The Great Commission includes the individual act of evangelism, but it also includes the ongoing act of equipping. Notice in verse 20, Jesus goes on to say, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. teaching them to observe. Do you know what that includes? That includes what we're doing right now. That includes the exposition of scripture even presently. That includes Sunday school classes and Bible studies and and counseling that includes elder training and an investment in training up the next generation of pastors and teachers. That includes all of the aspects of the instructing and the equipping ministry of the church. And if the members of the church teaching them and not just notice, it's not just teaching them content. It's not just teaching information. It's teaching information as well as the understanding and how to obey it, how to put it into practice, how to conform to it. It isn't just to tickle your ears. It isn't just to give you some pious platitudes or make you feel good about yourself. It isn't to suggest to you that you can have your best life now as a Christian. I was reading earlier, so this past weekend, Grace Community Church celebrated John MacArthur's 50th anniversary. And I was invited and I wanted to go, but I would rather be here with you. So I was here and preached last week. And I don't regret it for a minute. And when I got into seminary on Tuesday, One of the other faculty members had a little gift for me. Now they didn't save me any In-N-Out from Sunday because what they did for their party was they gave In-N-Out to everybody that came to church and it did turn it into a huge bash and a whole bit. But when I got in, I had a little black bag with a 50th anniversary sticker and I got the commemorative coin and a book about the biography by Ian Murray on John MacArthur and some other little gifts and stuff and they gave it to me and said, I knew you would really have wanted to be here, Brian, so I just snagged you one. I hope that's okay. Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's okay. And I already had a copy of the biography, so I gave it away, but it provoked me to just start reading it. And in that book, there's a chapter on the life of MacArthur from the time he graduated from seminary. That's about a 10-year window from the, well, it's about eight years, I think it is, from the time that he graduated from seminary to the time that he started pastoring at Grace Community Church. And in there, it talks about all the different types of ministry jobs that he had. And one of the things that he was involved in was Campus Crusade and a couple of the other places around here. What's the camp? Hume Lake, yes. So he was up there at Hume Lake. Anyways, it was partly him preaching regularly at camp at Hume Lake that the kids, the high schoolers from Grace Community Church went to Hume Lake and heard him preaching and they said, would you be willing to come become our pastor? And then they went home and told their parents. And next thing you know, the elders are calling and saying, hey, you want to interview? So anyways. in the in the mid in between that I mean he was preaching say it says sometimes as many as thirty thirty five times a month in different places and he said he had ten suits and ten sermons and but everywhere he went went he pretty much found the same thing that most churches were focused on evangelism But the more he experienced this and the more time he spent in this kind of itinerant ministry, he saw the first need of the church isn't evangelism, it's exposition. He says, and I quote, the overwhelming thing that I saw was spiritual ignorance. Everywhere I went, I saw insipid preaching devoid of biblical content. That really disturbed me. I constantly reflected on the Hosea passage, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. I've told you this before when when I I Went to but when I got saved I went to Bible college just because I wanted to know my Bible better and I thought maybe someday I'd like to be an elder. That was it. That was that was I just really wanted to know my Bible better and I finished the Bible degree At night in three years at night. I finished a four-year degree in three years at night I mean that that was my life. I just loved scripture And I volunteered to preach or teach as many times as I could. I said, I mean, the Bible is my life. And it became apparent that I needed more training than what that little Bible college was able to give me. And when I came home and told Kath, she received it very well. She was mad and wouldn't speak to me for about a week. And it was the following weekend we went to a little church in Ohio. It was my parents' church at the time. And I still to this day, I remember going into that church and listening to their pastor preach a little sermon at for Christian it's and the best part about it was it was only about seven or eight minutes long because everything he said was an offense to God he started off I I still remember the introduction to his message God tried the Garden of Eden and he tried no one the flood and he tried Moses in the Ten Commandments and finally tried his son and I thought in my heart I thought God should I tell him sit down and shut up and and I start to answer to some of the things that he said. I mean, it was a George Blaurock moment. For those of you who are familiar with church history, George Blaurock was an Anabaptist who came to church, sat in the front row. You remember the story, right? He sat in the front row. When the pastor was getting ready to get up to speak heresy, he said, now George Blaurock was like 6'8", so I think he was even bigger than Liam. And he was filled out. And he said, not you, but I will preach. And then he got up and preached. If I remember, he was martyred not long afterwards. But but in any case, I mean, I felt like that. And I didn't even know who George Blauerock was because because what was being proclaimed was so wrong. And I remember getting in the car and riding home. And the rule in our marriage at the time was that, Brian, when I'm at this is Catherine's rule. When I'm in the car with you, we do not listen to John MacArthur. Now, it sounds really unspiritual, right? Let me tell you where it comes from. Because every time I would pick her up, she'd hop in the car and we'd be going to dinner and we'd be going home from dinner, whatever. And I'm listening to MacArthur and she wants to talk to me. And I said, shh, John's preaching, shh, John's preaching. She put up with that for a while. And then pretty soon she hit the eject button on my tape and said, we're not listening to MacArthur when we're writing together. And so that was the absolute rule. So we get into the car, and we're driving home. It's about, I don't remember, an hour and 15 minute drive or something like that. And so we're about two minutes out of the driveway, and Kath goes, you have any MacArthur tapes? And I thought, is the Pope Catholic? That's the first thing I thought. And the second thing I thought was, she's actually asking, oh, this is cool. Oh, I've got to pick a good one. But I didn't have time because I'm driving. So I reached down. I had a bag. I always had a bag of 12 tapes. So I reached down and grabbed one. It was 1 Timothy 2, a very non-controversial text on the role of women in the church. I popped it in there and MacArthur starts going through, you know, it doesn't matter what society says. It doesn't matter what our culture says. It doesn't matter what people say. It doesn't even matter what we think or say. All that matters is what the Bible says. And that's what we're going to look at today. And I'll tell you, it was like being lifted up to heaven. It was it was one of those moments. You just start to realize how empty is your soul when it starts to get filled and That's the way I mean preaching biblical preaching has always done that to me When I spend my week studying it always does that to me? I I just I live to know what God says so I can bend my life to be in accordance with it I don't do it perfectly, but that's my passion. That's my purpose. That's my life and And when I listen to him preaching, it doesn't matter what anybody thinks or says. All we care about is what the Bible says. I was like, yes. We get to the end of that. And, you know, when MacArthur starts his prayer and I'm trying to all I'm thinking is, how do I convince my wife we need to listen to the next one? So he finishes his prayer and I pop out the tape before I can say anything. She she looks at me and she says, we need to go to seminary, don't we? And I said, well, yes, dear, I think we do. Because if if I don't go to seminary and learn how to preach God's word, people like that guy we heard today are going to do it and they're going to lead people like my parents astray. Yeah, I think I need to. And she said, OK, and from that point on, here we are. And if you look at the greatest impact, and we're going to do this as elders on Tuesday night at the elders meeting, there's a little series called The Swans Are Not Silent by John Piper. He's got a little book where he writes about the life of Augustine and Calvin and Luther. And we're going to go through that together. I've already read it, I think a couple of times. done studies on it but if you look at guys like John MacArthur guys like Alex Montoya guy guys guys that historically have had the biggest lasting impact in in making a dent for for Christ and for his glory it's the guys that spent their life studying the Bible bending their lives to be lives to be in accordance with it and teaching that to God's people typically in one place for their life okay that's the model I'm trying to follow Why? I think that's the best way to fulfill the Great Commission. I think that's the best way to fulfill the Great Commission. There aren't apostles anymore. There aren't supposed to be apostles anymore. There are pastors and teachers. There are individual churches that are called to fulfill the Great Commission, which is to make disciples. Making disciples includes, in essence, going where lost people are sharing the gospel with them, baptizing them, and publicly identifying them with Christ and with His body, and from that point on, teaching them to observe whatsoever He has commanded us, and doing it for Him and for His glory, leveraging Him and His strength. You say, well, where do you get that last part? Well, look at verse 20, the end of it. Notice it says, "...and lo, I am with you..." What? "...always." Literally all the days. Even to the end of the age. This is what we do by his power and his strength for his glory. Because this is what he's called us to do. So what the church is supposed to be about. People look at the church and go, I'm looking for one that, you know, has good youth programs or good kids groups or has good music or has, you know, all those things are great. That's all fine. That's a good seniors program. A good singles ministry. That's my good niche. Most people have a consumer mentality when it comes to church. Do you know what Christ has? Christ has a Great Commission mentality about church. Do you know what He expects of us as individual Christians? To be participating in the fulfillment of the Great Commission. Do you know what He expects of us as a church? To be fulfilling the Great Commission. Going. baptizing and teaching to observe all that He's commanded us, leveraging Him and His strength for His glory. And that is the process of making disciples. That's what we're supposed to be all about. That is the totality of what we're to be all about. Number four, making disciples comes with the promise of Jesus doing it with us. The Great Commission is a call to make disciples. The Great Commission includes evangelizing the lost. The Great Commission includes equipping the saints. And the Great Commission comes with the promise of Jesus doing it with us and through us. Lo, I am with you always. That's again our word, behold, that is so prevalent in this chapter. Acts 28 and verse 2, behold, a severe earthquake occurred and an angel descended and rolled away the stone. Verse 7, the angel says, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead and behold, he is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him and behold, I have told you. Verse 9, behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. Verse 11, Behold, some of the guard came to the city and reported to the chief priests, and they came up with a fanciful story to try to explain it away. But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. And 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 have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. That's what church is supposed to be all about. That's the Great Commission. Matthew, one one to twenty eight, fifteen. Tells us. Not only that we should become Christians, but how to become Christians and what it means to be Christians. Matthew 28, verses 16 to 20 is, now that you're a Christian, here's what Christ expects of you. That's the Gospel of Matthew. I hope that this study through Matthew's Gospel has been an encouragement to you. I hope you have a higher view of Christ today than you ever have. I hope you have more sense of assurance of his resurrection, more appreciation of the significance of his death in your behalf. I hope that the events that are recorded in Matthew's gospel, especially the ones we've looked at recently, for example, that when he died, God ripped the curtain, the veil in the temple that separated us from God from top to bottom to make it very clear when Christ died he paid once and for all for all of our sins and the way to God is now open through Jesus Christ. I hope you are convinced of the resurrection and see the significance of it. I hope you see that in his person the resurrected Jesus is still man but the God-man now in full glory and with full authority the one who is going to judge the living and the dead and the one who died in your place and will give you a place in his kingdom if you are willing to turn from your sin and commit your life to him. And if that's you, then there's one clear instruction. You want a right relationship with God. Repent of your sins. Place your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Take him at his word. that he says he'll forgive you, step forward and be publicly identified with him in baptism and become a part of his church. And from that point on, commit yourself to joining in the labor of making disciples and to continually work to be a better disciple yourself, learning all that he has taught us, not just by way of knowledge, but by way of how to put it into practice. And over time, start helping others do exactly the same thing. That's what it means to be a Christian. Father, thank you so much for sending your son to die for us. Lord Jesus, praise, honor and glory be to you. You do have the name that is above every name before you, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father. And until then we bow before you in worship and acknowledge your person. We rejoice in the salvation you have secured for us in your death at the cross. We believe in your resurrection and we ask you to help us each day to fully and consistently commit ourselves to living for you and to pointing others to you until you return for us or call us home. In Jesus name I pray and all God's people said.