[0:00] your Bibles and going to Matthew chapter 28. We will be finishing the Gospel of Matthew this morning, and I want to commend you. Many of you have been with me throughout the entirety of it. I believe it was in October of 2021 when we started the Gospel of Matthew.
[0:16] You have listened to, this will be the 65th sermon from the book of Matthew itself. If you put our introduction into Matthew, that would be we introduced it by going to the book of Isaiah.
[0:26] And we looked at Isaiah's introduction to Matthew, and you'd think that that may be an odd place to do, but we did, in which Isaiah introduced Matthew because of the coming king, the king of kings and lord of lords, which seems to be, or it doesn't seem to be, it actually is the supreme theme of the Gospel itself.
[0:44] So if you put that with it, you have already sat through 65 sermons as they apply to the Gospel of Matthew. And for that you are to be commended. I thank you for that, and I hope that we have taken time, the Lord has led us, and we've come to a greater understanding.
[0:57] It's not our ambition. It's never been my ambition or my desire just to be slow about things or to really split a lot of hairs and to get very technical, but it has been our ambition to dig into the Word of God with one another, to really understand it, to do so much more than hear it, knowing that it is that understanding and that truth, and it is that time of intentionality that would transform us and change us to become more like His image.
[1:22] I do not yet have it clear. I think I know where we will end up next week, now that we will be finishing up Matthew, but I'm not going to announce that because, needless to say, as soon as I announce it, the Lord will change it.
[1:35] So I'm not going to announce that. We'll wait until I have a very definite answer. But this morning, if He allows us to, we will finish the Gospel of Matthew. So we are in the 28th chapter, the final chapter.
[1:46] We will be looking at verses 16 through 20. Matthew 28, verses 16 through 20. As the book ends, and then we will see our last message from it. So if you are physically able and desire to do so, I'm asking you to join with me as we stand together and we read the Word of God.
[2:02] Again, a very familiar set of Scriptures, some that we have heard a multitude of times. Some of us may even have them memorized. But I pray that our familiarity does not remove the weight of it.
[2:13] We pray that even as we come to a familiar portion of Scripture, that we would catch it with new eyes, a new vision, and a new heart. The Word of God says, But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated.
[2:27] 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 commanded you.
[2:47] And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Let's pray. God, we thank you for your Word. We thank you for delivering it to us in a form in which we could read it together and we could hear it publicly.
[3:03] We thank you for the opportunity and the time you have appointed for our gathering together. Father, we pray now as we have seen your Word, heard your Word, and read your Word. Lord, now that you would speak to our hearts and minds.
[3:16] We pray that the truth of this passage would captivate us. That its captivation of us would motivate us. Lord, that it would dictate how we live our lives from this day forward.
[3:28] That we would not come in the same way, or we would not go out the same way we came in. But Lord, that our lives would look different because of the Word of God. Because it has a purpose for our hearts, our minds, our hands, and our feet.
[3:43] We pray that you would lead us as we look at it with one another and be glorified through all of it. And Lord Jesus, we thank you for your presence. And we ask it all in Christ's name. Amen.
[3:54] You may be seated. Throughout the Gospel of Matthew, we have been amazed at this King Jesus. We have seen from the very beginning that He is the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy.
[4:08] He is the one who would come to reign upon the throne of David. He is the one that the scepter shall never depart from His hand. He is the King that has come as the suffering servant, but He has raised the resurrected Savior.
[4:21] We have seen that He is of the right pedigree. His lineage is absolutely right. Matthew makes it clear from the very beginning when He gives us the genealogy of Christ, when we're introduced to the family of the King.
[4:34] We meet some unlikely people. We meet people that we did not think we would meet. There are four women in particular in the family of the King which we may not have introduced to others, but yet we are introduced to these people.
[4:48] We have seen that the King's family encompasses a wide variety and a wide array of individuals, that He is not ashamed of His family, that He puts it in print for all to see.
[4:59] And then He goes as the King and as the great Messiah and as the great rabbi, and He chooses a most unlikely of people, and He puts them together and He calls them His apostles. We have seen that the King validated His personhood based upon His miraculous powers, that His powers were put on public display, that none could argue with them.
[5:19] The religious leaders had to scratch their heads because they could not explain or determine or even define how He did the number of things that He did. We have seen that the multitudes wanted to make Him king by force because of the work which He did before them in person.
[5:35] When He fed the 5,000, He had to send them away while He went up into the mountaintop alone to pray because they wanted to make Him king, but His time had not yet come. We have seen that this King can do things which no other King can.
[5:47] We have seen that this King has great truths which He teaches us that no one else ever has. We have also seen that this King has done the most unlikely of things, that is, He has given up His life.
[5:59] He'd taken His life, and He laid it on the altar before the Father. He said, Not my will, but Your will be done. We have seen that no one took His life, but that He gave it up.
[6:10] And we know that when He gave up His life, He also took back His life because He raised on the third day. We have come together and we have seen that the King who was put in a tomb is no longer there.
[6:22] The tomb is empty. He cannot be found. The angels have declared His resurrection. The world is trying to define His absence.
[6:33] We have seen how the guards and the soldiers that were put in front of the tomb ran to the religious leaders and the Pharisees and said, We have a problem. He's not there. And we have also seen how they began to spread lies that someone has come and taken away His body.
[6:49] All these things we have seen. We have seen Matthew lift up the King of kings and Lord of lords. And he's done it for this purpose, to show us what the King has for us to do.
[7:02] We come to what is referred to as the Great Commission. It is, in actuality, the commissioning of the King. What it is that the King is commissioning and commanding us to do.
[7:17] And we will see it in its simplicity, but we will also see it in its reality. We have come now to understand who He is. Now may we understand what He's asked us to do in light of who He is.
[7:30] Because if He is who He says He is, and let's go ahead and settle it, and He is, then we must do what He tells us to do. And that settles it.
[7:43] If He does have the authority which He claims to possess, and He does, then we cannot argue with the reality of what He tells us to do.
[7:53] And we shouldn't. Because He has a very clear commissioning for His people. The first thing that we see this morning in the commission of the King is that it is authoritative.
[8:07] It comes with authority. Matthew tells us, but the eleven disciples proceeded to go to Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had determined for them.
[8:18] Matthew sets the eleven disciples in contrast with the soldiers and the religious leaders. The soldiers went to the Pharisees and the political leaders. The disciples went to the Savior.
[8:30] The soldiers went to the world and the world told a lie. The disciples went to the Savior and they heard a truth. See, there's a deliberate contrast set between these two people.
[8:41] I don't care what the world's doing. I don't care where the world's going. All I want to know is where should I be. And Jesus had already determined a place for them to be, so that's where they went.
[8:51] When it was uncertain, when it was unclear and he was unfounded, they knew what he had told them to do. Friend, listen to me. We'll just stop right here with a little application. When you don't know what to do and you maybe don't even really know where he is, just try to be where he told you to meet him.
[9:08] And for us today, that mountaintop is the word of God. When he tells you to meet him in the word and let the word speak to your heart and to your mind, I don't care where the world is going and I don't care what the world is saying.
[9:21] All I want to know is where he's told me to meet him. And I want to meet him in the word of God. I want to meet him at the throne of God and I want to meet him with the people of God. Too many times the disciples are following the world when the world can be running one way and we ought to be running another way.
[9:36] They went to Jerusalem. They went to Galilee. And they went to go meet with the Lord. And they were coming to understand that he had something to tell them. And when he tells them this, he's going to tell them this with authority.
[9:48] Look at what the word of God says. It says, and when they gathered, he came. Now you need to understand. I want to set the scene here. We do not have the full resurrection account story recorded for us in Matthew.
[10:03] This is not the first appearance to the 11. You need to understand that. You need to read all four gospels. And you even need to read the writings of Paul.
[10:15] You need to have a little understanding of what happened in those days. You know, the Bible tells us in the book of Acts that Jesus showed himself over a span of 40 days.
[10:26] Over 40 days before he ascended to the Father for eternity. 40 days, he manifested his resurrection self coming in and going.
[10:38] Coming and leaving. Not continuously 40 days, but over a period of 40 days, he manifested his resurrection glory to his people. And then he was ascended on the clouds and the angel said, he's coming back the same way.
[10:52] And then on the 50th day, that would be Pentecost, the spirit fell and tongues of fire divided. So you need to understand the chronological events so that you can understand what's going on. The 11 have already seen him because we're told in the other gospels when Martha and Mary and the other Mary go to the tomb and then they come back and there's some uncertainty and they're running.
[11:11] You remember they came back and told the disciples and Martha encountered Jesus and Jesus says, go tell them to meet me in Galilee. Go tell my brethren. Well, that's the case. But you remember when they got back, John says that two of them ran to the tomb.
[11:23] That was Peter and John. It was Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved, who is John. And they ran and John beat Peter to the tomb. That shouldn't surprise us because John's younger. Right? So John outruns Peter and then Peter goes into the tomb and Peter looks into the tomb and he sees the grave cloth lying there and the head cloth folded up and it says, and seeing they believed.
[11:41] And then John went in and then it tells us in the gospel of John, then they went back. So we believe he's not here. We believe he's resurrected. We believe he's not in his grave cloth anymore, but we don't know where he's at.
[11:52] And then they go back and the other gospels tell us that on that same day, that Sunday, resurrection day, that same day, Jesus appeared to ten of them in the upper room. Because you remember, Thomas wasn't there.
[12:05] You remember that, right? Because he appeared to the ten of them and then Thomas shows up a day late, maybe a dollar short. We don't know. He shows up a little late and they say, you missed it. He was here.
[12:16] And he says, unless I see, unless I put my hand in his side and put my fingers in his nails, I will not believe. We give Thomas such a hard time, but I'm thankful for Thomas.
[12:26] Thomas asked questions that if he had not asked them or stated them, we would not have truths. If Thomas did not say, Lord, show us the way. We don't know where you're going. How can we go where you go? Show us the way.
[12:37] And he hadn't doubted the way, then we would not have had, I am the truth, the way, and the life. We would not have known that Jesus is the way. But anyway, Thomas wasn't there, so eight days later, Jesus comes again. So now he's appeared to the eleven and he's done it twice to the ten.
[12:50] And then he appears to two on the road to Emmaus. Remember that? And it is sometime after this that they end up in Galilee.
[13:01] Now this would define for us why when they see him, they worshipped him, but some doubted. Because the eleven wouldn't doubt. The eleven had already seen him.
[13:16] And we need to define this because how we understand this directly impacts how we apply this. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul gives us, but I delivered unto you what was of first importance.
[13:31] You need to understand that. 1 Corinthians 15, we love the 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians. And the reason we love 1 Corinthians 15 because it speaks down there around the 50th verses, right then when you start getting into the big verses about the sounding of a trumpet and the dead in Christ rising and spending all of eternity in his presence.
[13:45] And that's good. I love that stuff. And it's great and it's comforting. But you need to go back to the first verses of 1 Corinthians 15 where he says what is of first importance is the resurrection of Jesus, that Jesus lived a perfect life, that he died a substitutionary death, that he was laid in a borrowed tomb and three days later he was raised to walk in fullness of life and he appeared to Peter and then he appeared to the eleven and then he appeared to this one and then he appeared to this one and Paul says and then he appeared to more than 500 at one time, many of whom are still alive.
[14:15] And I say all this because many Bible scholars and I tend to believe this think that that appearance to 500 was here. This is the only definition we have for why some could doubt.
[14:32] The eleven would not have doubted. They had already seen him. But there was gathered such a multitude that some were unsure if that's really him until he began to speak and to talk and all these wonderful things.
[14:47] And the first thing that Jesus says to them, this great crowd, this multitude is gathered. This thing that Paul says is one of the greatest apologetics of all times.
[15:00] That some were still alive when Paul wrote the letter to the church at Corinth. That you could go get a first hand eyewitness account. The first thing that he says to them, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.
[15:16] All authority. All authority. In heaven and on earth. Which means that everything that follows this statement is coming in the authority and under the authority of the one who declares it.
[15:38] Jesus first declares his authoritative right. He has the authority in heaven and on earth to declare what he is about to declare.
[15:51] And what he is about to declare should be done because of the authority that he possesses. This is not a suggestion. This is a commission. And it comes with the authoritative power of the resurrected Savior who possesses not just some authority but all authority.
[16:12] In that 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians as Paul begins to reference the resurrection before he gets to the hope of the believer and the dead and Christ rising.
[16:24] He begins to speak of this authority. And he speaks of this authority as being made subject to Christ. That all power, all authorities, all principalities, all works have been made subject to Christ.
[16:40] And then he says that the Father has put all things under his feet. You know, when he's walking on the waves, we like to say that Jesus is walking on what bothers us because what was troubling the disciples and what they thought was going to kill them, Jesus was walking on.
[16:57] He walks on what bothers us. Friend, listen to me. Everything that encounters us is already under his feet because he has all authority, which implies that whatever takes place as a result of obedience to what he's commanding us to do.
[17:15] Now just stop. Let's say that again. Whatever takes place as a result of obedience to what he's commanding us to do falls within the realm of his authority.
[17:31] There have been people who have died proclaiming the gospel. There are people who have suffered immeasurably for the proclamation of the gospel.
[17:43] There have been people who have been, and still today, tortured for proclamation of the gospel. The eleven that are here before him save John, so ten of the eleven will die a martyr's death because of their proclamation of the gospel.
[18:00] The world does any number of things to stop the spreading of the gospel, but the reality is they don't have the authority to stop it because the world isn't the one that told us to do it.
[18:16] Everything that happens, every difficult season, every grand season, every trial and every victory, every cause for stumbling and every cause for rejoicing, every good opportunity, every hard opportunity.
[18:29] You know, Paul also wrote that there was many hindrances and many adversaries but a great door of effective witness had been opened for him. Pray for him because there are many adversaries. He said, these adversaries that are opposing me, these people that are hindering me, they're under the authority of the one who sent me.
[18:47] The reason I believe we see so little application of the commission is because we forget the authority that issued it. I really believe, I really believe that if we get a full grasp of exactly who it is and the authority he possesses who's telling us to do something that our worlds would be different.
[19:12] And the reason I believe it is because we see it displayed each and every day. If I get behind you and I'm driving around, I see you past me and I start flashing my lights at you and doing all kinds of crazy things and you're probably going to speed up and get out of my way.
[19:28] You're probably not going to pull over and let me pull in behind you but now say I had a badge and a gun and some blue lights on my car. You may still not want to pull over when I flash my lights at you but you also know that there's some other people because there's authority behind what I represent.
[19:46] And you will eventually stop one way or another or the authority will come after you. And then there's a greater authority when we bring you before the judge and the judge sits on the throne and then the judge gets to determine what happens based upon his authority and see our differences in response based upon the authority of the one saying it or proclaiming it dictates our actions.
[20:14] And what we need to understand is the commission given here by the king is an authoritative commission. It's a simple way of saying is we can't argue with it. We have no right disobeying it.
[20:26] no legitimate right. And we should not fear the results that come from it. Fear is a great lie of Satan.
[20:40] Oh but pastor what if we got serious and we did this? Don't you know it's a dangerous world out there? Well yes I do. Don't you know we could get in trouble?
[20:50] Yes I do. Don't you know someone could get hurt? Yes I do. Don't you know I say yes I do but I also know the one who rules over anyone who would want to hurt us. I don't want to be foolish but I also don't want to let fear dictate my life.
[21:08] Authority. This is an authoritative commission. The second thing we see is not just the authority that it comes we see that it is applicable that is it has application to us.
[21:23] This is applicable. It comes with authority and I think some people would love to discard and say well that's what he told them to do. I'm not in Galilee. I'm not on the mountain he designated.
[21:35] No but you're reading the word he proclaimed. As we've already seen more than likely gathered together here simply because some are stated as doubting this is more than just the eleven.
[21:47] And so he's not just commissioning the eleven he's commissioning every one of them. This is why Paul said go ask the five hundred that were gathered together. Go ask those that are still alive because they heard it as well.
[21:59] Go see what it is they have to say. See it had application to all who heard it and it has application today to all who reads it. the problem with Christianity today is we have professionalized it.
[22:13] That's just an honest assessment. We're going to leave some things up to the professionals. We have people we have paid and hired to do that.
[22:24] We have people we sent to go do that. We have people we support to go do that and we professionalize it. We live in a society in our world where things are getting narrower and narrower.
[22:36] That's a hard word for this southern tongue to say. But that is people are becoming more concentrated in their professional efforts and they begin to be subcontracted out just to do this one thing and to do this one thing well.
[22:49] Now Paul said we need to be focused. He said to do focus on one thing but he was talking about one purpose and we tend to narrow in and say well I'm going to do this and I'm only going to do that. Friend listen to me when it comes to the commission there is no isolation.
[23:03] It doesn't just belong to a few. This was given to all. This means every one of us have something to do in it. Look at what it says. Go therefore and make disciples.
[23:14] We'll come to that in just a moment. Of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all things I commanded you. First thing you see is the application is if he has taught you and commanded you anything then you have something to tell someone else.
[23:32] Do you know that the only emphatic command in these entire verses, the only command is make disciples. Going is not a command.
[23:45] It is describing how you do the command. It's a little reading is as you are going on your way. Teaching is not a command. It is how you are going to fulfill the command.
[23:57] command. The only words in the original language that are emphatically commanded are make disciples. Make disciples.
[24:11] Which leads us to this application. That each one of us should be a disciple and a discipler. That is someone should be pouring into us and we should be pouring into someone else.
[24:27] Friend, listen to me. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, there is absolutely someone further along the road who knows more about the person and work of Jesus Christ than each and every one of us.
[24:41] Someone that we could sit under their teaching. Be it through media means or book means or face to face means. There is someone we can learn from. And just as equally, no matter how new you are in the faith, there is someone who doesn't know as much as you do.
[25:01] If you know anything at all about Jesus Christ, then you have something to teach someone. You say, well, I don't know much, but I can tell you what I know. Then we're going to be like Peter as he walked into the temple.
[25:13] It's a beautiful gate where there was a man begging for alms. And Peter says, I don't have money, but what I do have, I'll give you. Friend, if you give people what you have in Jesus, then you'll see the work that Peter saw. Not that you'll see a lame man walking, but you'll see dead men rising.
[25:29] The command is to make disciples. And Jesus says the application is to any who know. Whatever we've learned, whatever he's commanded us, whatever by his spirit he's taught us, this is our responsibility to teach others.
[25:45] My means is pastoral ministry. This is how I go. As I'm going, do you know, I've thought about just getting a big bumper sticker.
[25:56] I've never put one of those bumper stickers on my car. I see them. For one, people wouldn't believe it. I've been questioned at times based upon the vehicles I drive on a daily basis. Hospitals have pastor parking.
[26:08] I love that. There's more pastors in this world than I've ever met. Or there's more people who like parking and pastors parking than I can know. But I remember there was one hospital. I went to go visit and I had to park in pastor's parking.
[26:22] I got to parking and it was open. I wasn't in the truck I have now. I was in the truck I had before. It was even a little less pastorally looking. And I whipped it in there and I got out and was going in. And the security guard stopped me when I got in.
[26:35] He told me I didn't belong parking. And he said, you can't park there. That's pastor only parking. And I said, well, I'd like to meet you. My name is Pastor Billy Joe Calvert. I'm here to visit so and so. He didn't believe I was a pastor because I was driving the wrong type of vehicle.
[26:48] So I thought about maybe getting one of them bumper stickers to put it on my vehicle. But it didn't matter because people would think I was just lying. So I thought maybe I could just put it on my forehead because no matter where I go, I'm a pastor. I am.
[27:02] It doesn't matter where we go. I'm going to run into somebody who knows I'm a pastor. As I'm going, that's what I am. It dictates how I live. It dictates how I operate because I reflect you. I'm your pastor.
[27:16] And I understand that. That when people see me, they see War Trace Baptist Church. Hopefully they see the Savior. They can encounter the Savior. They can encounter you guys. But as you're going, you're something else.
[27:29] No matter where you go, you're that. And in that, you have the responsibility to apply the things of Christ to that. When it was climbing telephone poles, you know the greatest, there were two places that I found that it was the easiest to share the gospel.
[27:48] Two places. Number one, when I climbed telephone poles with another guy. For one, because when you're doing telephone work and you're standing toe to toe, literally your feet are on top of each other and you're both on a set of hooks, he's not going anywhere.
[28:01] And I would do him one better. I always belt it off on the bottom. I told it was for them that way if their feet cut out, I would catch them. No, I did that so they couldn't get down because I was belted below them. So they, until I came down, they couldn't come down.
[28:13] And the second place was when I worked in the factory lines at Nissan. Because they're right on the other side of the car. They can't go anywhere. Right? They're right there. Even if they disagree, even if they get mad at you, even if they didn't like what you were saying.
[28:25] I wasn't saying I was being rude about it. I'm just saying that they had to listen because they were right on the other side of the vehicle from you. Where are they going to go? You're literally standing shoulder to shoulder with people.
[28:35] Now I have to look for someone to share. There it was there. You have a greater opportunity. You know, Jesus says in his final discourse, greater works than I've done, you will do.
[28:46] The question is, well, how can we do greater works than Jesus? It doesn't mean greater in capacity. It means greater in extent. Jesus limited his public ministry to a very small geographical region known as the nation of Israel.
[28:59] Something about the size of the state of New Jersey. Real small area. He confined his physical presence to a real small area, but his spirit has empowered his people to reach not greater works, powerful wise, but greater in reach wise.
[29:14] You go places that Jesus never went physically, but he goes in you spiritually. And you have the opportunity and the responsibility to apply it there.
[29:26] You do. I don't read in the Bible that Jesus ever climbed a telephone pole. They didn't have them. But he did in me. He had to. I would have been scared to death and fell off of them.
[29:37] He did in me. Not once do I read that Jesus ever put a door on an ultimate going 85 miles an hour, it felt like, down in line at Nissan assembly plant. Never once. But he did in me.
[29:51] Because I was there. It's applicable, friend. He's put you somewhere. Number three. It is attainable. This commission is authoritative.
[30:04] It is applicable. And it is attainable. That is, we can do it. If I'm not mistaken, my wife shared with me that this week is actually church planning missions emphasis Sunday.
[30:21] That's great. What better sermon to listen to then? Church planning emphasis Sunday. I really believe God could call up anyone in the congregation to be a pastor, planner. I believe that we're going to have opportunities to partner with planners.
[30:35] Have a trip coming up in May to a city we've decided on. Try to talk with church planners and pastors there. And this is why I believe we can do it. Because it's attainable. And so I can't do this.
[30:48] Oh, you're forgetting about the one who has the authority that says you can. You're like Moses at the burning bush who says, Lord, I've never been eloquent in speech. I can't talk. And God said, I made your mouth. Boy, I know how you can talk. Right? I know you're stuttering and I know you're stumbling.
[31:01] I created you and I knit you together in your mother's womb before you were ever born. I was there when you were laid in the river Nile. I was there when Pharaoh's daughter took you out. I was there. I know everything about you. It's amazing. He had the greatest education, the greatest application.
[31:13] He had been in the universities of Egypt, had more training than any other man in the nation of Israel. And yet when he stood before holy God, he said, I can't. That's just a lie. He really meant to say, I won't.
[31:26] And God said, oh, but you will. And what did God tell Moses at the burning bush? You're going to because I'm going with you. Right? What does Jesus tell us at the Mount of Galilee?
[31:40] Look at what it says. Teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. That's what we are supposed to do. As we're making disciples, we're just teaching them. He's always supposed to baptize them as well. Right? Because people who come to the salvific knowledge of Jesus Christ need to follow him in believers baptism.
[31:56] You're teaching them what you know. And Lord, I'm with you always. I am with you always. Even to the end of the age.
[32:08] You know why I know it's with you? Because Moses could do what he was commanded to do because God said, I'm going with you. You can do what you've been commissioned to do because Christ says, I'm going with you.
[32:19] And when he says, until the end of the age, it literally means until this time period of the world is over. That is, as long as earth is still standing, as long as we are still able to walk across the surface of this creation, as long as when Peter says it will be consumed by fire, as long as it ain't burned up yet, he's still walking with us while we're here.
[32:39] And if he is with us, then we can do it. It is attainable. Now, I got one more.
[32:51] I would love to tell you, we've finished the Gospel of Matthew. I'd love to tell you that. But you know, some of you are so good about keeping up with my sermons.
[33:05] Some of you are so good about fun along with me. Taking notes. You take better notes than I give. Right? You have better notes than I have. I'd like to read some of your sermon notes because they probably preach better than what I say.
[33:20] And a while back, someone came up to me and said, Pastor, I'm missing one. I said, Pastor, I don't have this one. There's only one who gets sermon notes on Sunday mornings.
[33:32] And she said, I'm missing one. And so I said, well, I'll get it for you. And I went back and I said, I don't have it. I skipped a part. But the reason I had missed it is because I had written it down in my spiral where I keep my notes and I have my outline written there.
[33:47] But then the Lord changed my message that Sunday and I never went back and preached it because being the great organizer that I am, I just went back and saw what last sermon I had wrote and then I went and started on the next passage.
[33:58] I missed a part. But I thank God for his divine leading because that part actually has application to the message this morning. Because you see, we see from our text that he commissions us with authority.
[34:12] That commission has application and it is attainable. But here's the fourth thing. And to see the fourth thing, you've got to turn back to the 25th chapter in Matthew 25 verses 14 through 30.
[34:25] And here's the last thing I want you to see. This commission is authoritative. It is applicable. It is attainable. Friend, and listen to me. Here it is. We are accountable.
[34:38] We are accountable. Jesus in the 25th chapter, you may remember we preached the first parts and the latter part is the middle part we missed.
[34:51] I'm not going to take time to break it all down for you, but I will read it to you. He says in the 25th chapter in verse one, then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to.
[35:02] And he gives illustrations. There's the ten virgins. There's the sheep and the goats at the end. There's the one in the middle we missed. So this is what the kingdom of heaven is like. Now we're talking about a commission of a king who is the king of the kingdom of heaven in which we are the subjects of the kingdom of heaven.
[35:18] We belong to the kingdom of heaven and we have been commissioned as subjects of the kingdom of heaven to operate in that kingdom rule. And to do things on this earth based upon what the king of the kingdom of heaven has commanded us to do.
[35:30] And look at what it says in verse 14 reading through 30. I'll just read the text. For it is just like a man about to go on a journey. Wait a minute. Jesus is on mountaintop in Galilee.
[35:42] He's about to go on a journey. For it is just like a man about to go on a journey who called his own slaves and entrusted his possession to them. So wait just a minute. They met him on the mountain in Galilee before he went on a journey.
[35:55] They are his slaves, his servants, his people, right? He has bought them with the blood and he entrusts them with his goods. Because in case you missed it, it is the gospel of Jesus Christ, not the gospel of man.
[36:09] It's the good news of Jesus, not the good news of Billy Joe. There ain't that much good you can say about Billy Joe. It is just like a man about to go on a journey who called his own slaves in and entrusted his possessions to them.
[36:23] To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one each according to his own ability. And he went on his journey. Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them and gained five more talents.
[36:34] And in the same manner the one who had received the two talents gained two more. But he who had received the one talent went away and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money. Now after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them.
[36:47] The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more talents. His master said to him, Well done, good and faithful slave.
[36:58] You are faithful in a few things. I will put you in charge of many things, enter into the joy of your master. Also, the one who had received the two talents came up and said, Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more talents.
[37:09] His master said to him, Well done, good and faithful slave. You are faithful in a few things. I will put you in charge of many things, enter into the joy of your master. And the one who had received the one talent came up and said, Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gather and where you scattered no seed.
[37:25] And I was afraid, and I went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours. But his master answered and said to him, You wicked and lazy slave. You knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather, where I did not sow and gather, where I scattered no seed.
[37:40] Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. Therefore, take away the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance.
[37:52] But from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Friend, listen to me. When it comes to the commission of the king, we are accountable.
[38:09] It is authoritative. It is applicable. It is attainable. And therefore, we are accountable. There will be a day of reckoning. Where each one of us, as his servants, will stand before the man who went on a journey.
[38:24] That is our master. And we will stand before him. And we will give a reckoning and an account of what we have done with what he has entrusted to us. We notice from the text.
[38:36] And again, I'm not going to take time to give you two messages today. But you see the application of this portion of scripture with what is at the end. He does not give you more than what you can do.
[38:47] They were entrusted, each one according to his ability. Your master, who has all authority, is not asking you to do what you are not able to do.
[39:01] He is just asking you to do all you can do. And on that great day, when he comes back, and he will, when we stand before him, we will give an account of what we have done with all he has entrusted to us.
[39:18] All that I have commanded you. What do you know of Jesus Christ? What great truths do you know? What things of Christ do you know that the world desperately needs to know?
[39:31] You say, well, all I know is he's my savior. Then that's enough. Go preach that message. Teach it to someone. All I know is he did this and this and this for me.
[39:42] Then good, tell someone about it. Because he doesn't give you the great truths of the gospel just so you can feel better. He gives it to you so you can go out into the field and do business with it.
[39:55] He funds your ministry, so to say. He funds your endeavors. You're using his goods to do his work. You're not self-funded.
[40:06] You're not raising your own money. You're just using what he entrusted to you. You don't have to go out and borrow and beg and plead to get more. You just have to use what he gave you.
[40:17] And friend, listen to me. Then he'll give you more. And when he gives you more, you can do more. But there will be a day where you have to give an account of what you've done with whatever you've already been given. And so will I. And there are no excuses.
[40:28] There are only pitiful lies in that day. That lazy, wicked slave said, well, what he tried to do. He blamed his master.
[40:40] That's pitiful. I'm going to say this and it's going to sound harsh, but I think we need to say it. Don't blame Jesus for our inactivity.
[40:56] It ain't his fault. It's ours. And someday each and every one of us will give an account for what he's commissioned us to do.
[41:12] Here is the commission of the king. Let's pray. God, we come before you in humility and in honesty.
[41:32] I said, oh, God, the task before seems to be greater than us. There's a world that needs to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. There are people in our neighborhood.
[41:45] There are people in our schools and our communities that need to hear it. And, Lord, while it seems impossible, we know that this is absolutely attainable because you've put each and every one of us here.
[41:59] You're working through us. So, Lord Jesus, as we come before you, we ask, soften our hearts. Open our eyes.
[42:12] Move our feet. Lord, we know that the first cry would be if there is any here today who does not know you as Lord and Savior. Lord, you'd call them to yourself.
[42:24] That they would not be called to a church or to a man, but they'd be called to a resurrected Savior. Set them free from that which binds them or holds them captive and has sway over them.
[42:37] For those of us that are redeemed, forever your children. Lord, set us free from our lame excuses of inactivity. Give us lives of preparedness.
[42:52] Lives of gospel application. Lord, I know the temptation is going to be to leave this place and leave these words, but we pray that by the power of your spirit that these words would not leave us.
[43:08] Because we know that this is what we will give a reckoning to on that great day when we stand before you. Oh God, have your way.
[43:19] Holy Spirit, move as you see fit. And it's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Amen.
[43:47] Thank you.