Would you please stand now for the reading of God's word will
be in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 28.
The last few verses that Matthew records to set the scene.
Jesus had been killed dying the death that we all deserve to
die. Gory murder of the King of
Kings. He's been in the tomb.
His disciples have scattered. Now they've gathered together
again. Can only imagine the grief.
And Matthew tells us that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary are
on their way to see the tomb, to tend to his body.
But on their way, they see an Angel.
The Angel gives them instructions to go back and tell
the 11 disciples. So Mary and Mary turn and go
back to where the disciples are. These are the words that Jesus
said to them in verse 9. Jesus met them and said
greetings, and they came up and took hold of his feet and
worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, do not
be afraid, go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee and
there they will see me. So this morning we're going to
that mountain in Galilee. We're going to see the Lord
Jesus. We're going to see and hear what
he says to his 11 as they meet him there.
We pick this up in verse 16. Now the 11 disciples went to
Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them,
and when they saw him, they worshipped him.
But some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them,
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all 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 behold, I am with you always
to the end of the age. This is the word of the Lord.
Let's be to God. You may be seated.
Father, thank you that we believe this is Your word, for
it's the gift of the Spirit in our life, illuminating these
truths, enabling us to see, enabling us to hear, enabling us
to affirm that all Scripture is God breathed.
Father, we pray that the Holy Spirit would do a work now and
giving us eyes to see again the glory of Christ, to listen to
his words, to be transformed even this day for your glory and
our good. We pray this in Jesus name,
Amen. Starting last Sunday is Paul
beautifully preached. We have been focusing on seeing
the passion of Christ through others eyes.
We saw last Sunday through the eyes of the prophet about the
triumphal entry of Christ. We saw Monday through the eyes
of sleepy disciples who couldn't stay awake as Jesus suffered in
the garden crying to the Father. Father, if you're willing, take
this cup from me, yet not my will be done, but yours.
We saw through the eyes of a violent, murderous criminal
Barabbas, who was set free by pilot as they shouted free
Barabbas and then crucify Christ.
We saw through the eyes of soldiers who mocked and beat
Jesus beyond recognition. We saw through the eyes of
Malchus at night in the garden as Peter sought with his sword,
probably to take off his head, but instead got his ear.
We saw on Friday, Good Friday, through the eyes of Joseph of
Arimathea, what it was like to care for the body of Jesus, our
Lord, who is dead. And today we come to this
mountain to see the Kingdom, His Kingdom, through the eyes of the
Messiah. And what we're asking and
inviting you to is to come and see.
To come and see and hear what it is that Christ says.
I want you to know as you look at verse 16, that the 11
disciples were distraught. This is not what they expected
to happen. They did not expect their Savior
to die even though He had told them.
Now that he's been dead, they know that they denied even
knowing Him. You can imagine the grief that
they're experiencing. It's deep and profound.
But now these two ladies return. He's alive.
He wants to meet you and see you as planning to do so in Galilee
on the mountain. And so they go as they arrive.
This is what we're told happened verse 17.
When they saw him. This is the 11.
Judas is dead. He hung himself.
And when they saw him, they worshipped him.
But some doubted how gracious of Matthew to include this.
That's just like what's happening here today.
Not just in this sanctuary, not just in this hour, but at 8:00
and 9:30. This sanctuary has been full all
morning in churches all over the globe.
There are people who come who truly are followers of Jesus,
who've been born again, who love him and want to worship him.
Alongside, though, are others who doubt.
They're skeptical. They're not sure that day on
that mountain. Speaking of the 11, Matthew
tells us some worshipped him, but some doubted.
Maybe that's you today. No matter where you are, if you
know you're in Christ and you're a worshipper, whether you know
you're in Christ but you you have doubts, whether you are
here just to make a relative happy or a friend, we are so
grateful and we want you to come and see what God's Word says
from the Word himself, Jesus. What's interesting is the word
doubt here is not the normal word for doubt.
Dan Doriani, our dear friend, professor at Covenant Seminary,
points this out. He says this is not the ordinary
term for doubt. It does not mean they were
unsure whether they believed or not.
Rather, they believed but hesitated.
Their hesitation reminds us that the journey towards mature faith
is difficult. Even believers hesitated time.
No one understands everything all at once.
No one obeys perfectly, not even the 11 here today as Jesus is on
this mountain. Some are worshipping, some are
doubting, they're hesitating. This word for doubt that Matthew
uses is only used one other time in the book of Matthew, and it's
interesting where it occurs. The disciples are in a boat and
as they're floating on the water, suddenly there is an
image moving towards them. And then they discover that it's
Jesus and he's walking on water. Peter the bold disciple calls
out in verse 28 of chapter 14. Lord, if it is you, command me
to come to you on the water. And many of you know what
happened. Jesus says come.
So Peter got out of the boat. He did not get out on the boat
where the water was shallow. He did not get out of the boat
onto another boat or onto a dock.
He got out of the boat and stepped on the same water that
Jesus was walking on. And like Jesus, he walked.
He walked on water. Only two people in the history
of the world have walked on water, Jesus.
And then Peter for a moment. But as Peter is walking towards
Jesus on the water, Matthew tells us he saw the wind, he was
afraid, and he began to sink. And as he sank, he cried out.
Lord, save me. That's what some of us need to
cry out today. It's actually what all of us
need to cry out today. Lord, save me.
And Jesus immediately reaches out his hand.
He takes hold of Peter, saying to him, O you of little faith,
why did you doubt the same word, the same word he's now using to
describe the 11? They had faith.
They believed Peter had faith. He was the only one that got out
of the boat. There's no record of other
saying I want to go, I want to turn.
But then the wind, the circumstances, the world around
him caused him to take his eyes off a Christ and he began to
sink. And when he sinks, what does he
cry out? Lord save me.
Maybe today you're here and you've never cried out that to
Jesus. Maybe you have cried out that
and you have walked with Jesus. But in the circumstances of your
life now, the wind, you see it, it's great.
And you have doubt. You're hesitant, you're not
willing to trust Him fully. Well, I pray you will listen to
these words because they're powerful.
While some worshipped and some doubted, we then move into what
Jesus says. There's three things Jesus is
going to say that we're going to pay attention to this morning.
The first one is significant. They're all significant, but
it's significant because it's first what will be the first
words. Matthew records that Jesus says
to the 11. Listen to this verse 18 And
Jesus came and he said to them, all authority in heaven and on
earth has been given to me. I want you to hear this again.
The first thing Jesus says to the disciples according to
Matthew's Gospel is when he sees the 11 on this mountain where he
told Mary and Mary to tell them to come is all authority in
heaven and on the earth has been given to me.
He doesn't say some authority, a portion of the earth, this
region, this much power. He says all authority has been
given to me in heaven and on earth.
What does that mean? It means that Christ is
revealing to them His full and eternal authority.
All spiritual, metaphysical, philosophical and religious
power in heaven is under him. All social, physical, political
and economic power on earth is under him.
Not some of it. What Jesus is saying is that
every person, Everything, Everywhere and always is under
me. Every person.
Look around, every person, everything, everywhere, not just
what you can see, but beyond what we can see is under me.
It's full rain. It's full power.
It's full authority overall, it's one inch equals 1 inch full
scale. Why did Jesus say this?
He's the Son of God. Didn't he always have power?
Didn't he always have authority? Yes.
In fact, he had authority when he taught.
Those listening to him said He teaches US1 Who has authority?
Because he, the word of God, was speaking the very word of God.
He had authority over illness and disease.
The disciples watched him heal people.
He watched him raise people from the dead, like Lazarus.
He had authority over nature. He's walking on water, but on
that same body of water, when the sailors were scared to death
that they might drown while Jesus was sleeping, he woke up
and said be calm and be still. And it was.
He had authority, but in His earthly life, His earthly
ministry, He only practiced a fraction of it.
Remember this conversation on another mountain recorded
earlier in the book of Matthew. The Holy Spirit in Matthew 4 has
LED Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan.
Satan brings 2 temptations, and in each case Christ uses the
word of God to refute what Satan has said.
But now comes the third temptation recorded in Matthew
48. Again the devil took Jesus to a
very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the
world and their glory. And he said to Jesus, All these
I will give to you, if you will fall down and worship me.
The devil had authority, but he didn't have ultimate authority
or eternal authority. Jesus responds again as he did
the prior 2 times with the word of God.
And he says, be gone Satan. For it is written, you shall
worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve now
after his death, Right after his resurrection, he tells the
disciples to meet him on another mountain, high on this mountain
between heaven and earth, so to speak.
Jesus says all authority has been given to me in heaven and
on earth. Why does that matter?
If you are a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, that means
that you are one with Jesus. It means that you have union
with Christ, you're married to Christ.
It's that kind of picture, that kind of intimacy.
And what that means is the one to whom you have been saved by,
the one who is risen, the one who now saying be gone, Satan
has defeated Satan. He lives in you and you live in
him. The one who has all authority.
Not some authority, All authority, all reign.
Let's think about this. Do you know anybody that's a
name dropper? Some of you are doing this.
Are you a name dropper? Do you know what I mean by that?
A name dropper? Somebody who kind of delights in
letting people know that they have a connection to someone who
has got power or prestige, could be an athlete, could be a
president, could be a theologian, could be an artist.
And then the conversation, something comes up and this
individual says, oh, well, if you would like me to connect
you. And they let you know that they
somehow have a connection to this person.
It's really kind of a fulfillment of the six degrees
of separation, the idea that was born in 1929 when an individual
said any two people are connected by a chain of
acquaintances with no more than six intermediaries necessary.
And So what that means is Tom knows Scott and Scott knows
Sheila and Sheila knows. Fill in the blank and fill in
the blank knows. And somehow what happens is we
begin to over exaggerate lots of times the relationships that we
have. Remember just a couple weeks ago
I told you how close I am to Bob Costas.
If you didn't hear that, you can listen to that sermon later.
We over exaggerate because it does something to our identity.
It affects our identity. It affects how we see ourselves
and how we want other people to see us.
In this church, there are some pretty significant people who
know some even more significant people.
Sometimes somebody might ask me a General Assembly does so and
so go to your church. I can run that race and make it
sound like me and whoever you're thinking I'm talking about are
really close friends, when the truth is we're like this.
I'm out here. But if you're in Christ Jesus,
if you're in Christ Jesus who has all authority over everyone,
everything, everywhere, all the time, if you've been saved by
him, you belong to him. You can never over exaggerate
what it means to be in Him. You cannot over exaggerate His
Holiness. You cannot over exaggerate His
power. You cannot over exaggerate His
Grace. You cannot over exaggerate His
mercy. His mercy is made new each day.
You can't over exaggerate how much mercy He offers.
You cannot over exaggerate if you're in Christ Jesus, His love
for you. We'll see it in Ephesians soon.
It's so wide, so long, so deep, so high.
We can't for us who are in Christ over exaggerate who we
are in Him. The 6th degree of separation
doesn't apply. There are no intermediaries that
are necessary. You do not need a priest.
You do not need a pastor. You do not need a Bible study
leader to take you to Jesus. He is the intermediary.
He is the high priest and the final priest.
He's the 1:00 and we have access to Him by His grace.
We cannot over exaggerate, but we can have false assurance and
presumption. We can assume that we're in
relationship with Jesus because we don't really understand what
the Bible means by being a follower of Christ.
This is important especially in the Bible Belt, where we might
think we're in Christ because a relative is, or we might think
we're in Christ because we're conservative politically.
We might think we're in Christ because we admire Jesus.
We might think we're in Christ because we attend church.
It's not how it works. Jesus tells us why as he moves
on from his statement about authority.
Here's what Jesus says. All authority has been given to
me. All authority in heaven and on
earth has been given to me. Now verse 19 Go therefore, based
on that authority, based on that power, Go therefore and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching
them to observe all that I've commanded you.
Notice what Jesus says. All authorities been given to me
in heaven and on earth. Now my followers go therefore
and make. He doesn't say converts.
He doesn't say go and make moral people who can then think they
can save themselves. He doesn't say go and make
people who will embrace Christianity as the most
conservative worldview. He doesn't say go and make
people attend meetings. He says therefore go and make
disciples. Now, you cannot be a disciple if
you're not born again, if you're not converted to Christ.
You can't. But you can think you're in
Christ when you really aren't because you are not a follower
of him. You see, Jesus tells us what a
disciple is. It is someone who follows him.
That's what the word disciple means.
We need to define it in its shortest definition.
A disciple is a follower of someone.
Therefore, you could be a disciple of many things and many
people. But Christian discipleship is
different because it's centered on following the Lord Jesus
Christ and by his grace and for his glory, and by the power of
the Spirit seeking to obey all that He has commanded.
We live in a time where we really like things to be short.
We like definitions to be pithy and crisp.
We like them to have things attached to them that we can
check. Therefore, our definition of
discipleship can sometimes be very short sighted.
So I'm going to give you 1 and I'm going to tell you right now,
it's long. It is not hard to understand,
but I want you to hear it because sometimes we think being
a disciple, a disciple of Jesus is just simply saying, OK, sign
me up, I'll begin to obey. Much more has to be at play and
much more is. Listen to this.
A disciple of the Lord Jesus is by faith a follower of the Lord
Jesus and all of his teaching. Not some of his teaching, not
the parts we like only, but all of his teaching.
A disciple of the Lord Jesus by faith is a follower of the Lord
Jesus, and all of his teaching who is a result of God's
sovereign grace has been called by God.
In the book of Matthew, Jesus the 11 at some point he said,
come follow me, I'll make you fishers of men.
They've been called by Christ. Disciples have been called by
Christ. We've been called by Christ even
more and made alive in Christ. Why does that matter?
Because Paul tells us in Ephesians 2, all of us were dead
spiritually. We weren't just morally sick, we
were spiritually dead. And in order for us to be a
disciple of Jesus, in order for us to become a follower of
Christ, we had to be made alive. And the very words Jesus uses in
John 3 to Nicodemus is that we had to be born again and all
true followers of Jesus are born again.
Paul says therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he's a new
creation, the oldest gone, the newest come.
You're a new person, you have a new identity.
So disciples of the Lord Jesus are made alive in Christ, given
a new identity, and its identity is permanent and its primary.
They're given a new purpose as they are adopted into God's
family. And from their true union with
Jesus, not like this, but like this true union with Christ and
the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit that lives in them.
They're learning to obey, desiring to obey, fighting to
obey, in the strength of God's grace all that Christ has
commanded. And in doing so, we are bringing
glory to the Father as we abide in Christ and bear much fruit.
You're probably going to have to listen to that later, but that's
what it means to be a disciple. Sometimes it helps to define
what a disciple is not a disciple of the Lord Jesus is
not just being an admirer of Jesus.
Many people admired him and many people hated him and still do.
But a disciple is not someone that just admires Jesus.
It is not someone who is just familiar with his teaching and
even admires his ethic. A disciple of Jesus does not
want someone who thinks of Jesus as a motivational coach or a
cultural mascot. A disciple of Jesus is one who
has said, Lord who he is, save me.
And because he does, they want to spend the rest of their life
learning and obeying all that Christ gives, all that Christ
calls us to. Well, one of the things that
Christ calls the disciples to is very clear here.
Did you see it? Therefore, go.
Disciples of Jesus are to go to go into your families, into your
neighborhood, into your schools, into your places of work, into
your places of recreation, go and make disciples.
And he says of all nations, and he says teaching them to be all
I have commanded. Have you seen the word all three
times? All authority and power, all
nations, all of my words. For many, this is where our
faith has pretty significant hesitation.
Though we know Christ, the zeal to go isn't what it should be.
Bishop JC Rile, Speaking of this passage, said these words.
It is still the duty of every disciple of Jesus Christ to do
all he can in person and by prayer to make others acquainted
with Jesus. He doesn't mean admires of
Jesus. He doesn't mean people just know
about Jesus. He means those who are walking
in Jesus. He says, where is our faith if
we neglect this duty? Where is our love?
It may well be questioned whether people know the value of
the gospel themselves if they do not desire to make it known to
all the world. And if that's true of you, and
if it's true of me, we must cry out.
Lord, save me. Give me eyes to see again the
glory of this mission. Why would I not want to tell the
world about the One who is all powerful, has all authority, and
has done everything necessary to save his people?
Something's missing. You can't fix it.
Ask God to fix that. But how Jesus ends this section,
the last thing recorded by Matthew that he says on this
mountain is so amazing and it's so encouraging.
I want you to think about this. What the disciples have been
through for three years following Jesus.
It did not end how they expected.
And then when he died on the cross, they didn't expect to see
him again on another mountain. But here on this mountain, he
says, first all authority and heaven and on earth has been
given to me. Therefore go and make disciples
of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all I've commanded
you. But then comes this last
statement in Matthew's Gospel, and it's not a command, it's a
comfort. Following the Great Commission
comes the great comfort, Jesus says in the second part of verse
20. And behold, I am with you always
to the end of the age. If you're in Christ Jesus, that
means He is with you and He is going to be with you every day,
all day, to the end of the age. What a comfort it is that Jesus
gives to know that not a single day will pass in which the
presence of Christ is missing from his people.
Not a single day. Your darkest day, your brightest
day, your hardest day, your easiest day.
Christ, if you're in him and He is in you, is with you.
And who is he? He's the one with all authority
and power, the one who tells them this after just dying on
the cross but being raised from the dead.
That's who he is today. If you're here, first of all,
I'm glad everyone is here. Those who are in overflow, those
who are watching this online now or even later, I'm so glad
you're here because the invitation has been for you to
come and see the real Jesus. And this is who he says he is.
In seeing who he is, He tells us what he wants the disciples do
in order to make the other disciples.
And you've heard what a disciple is.
So the question is, are you a disciple of Jesus?
If you know today you're not a disciple of Jesus, then all
that's been said is what you don't yet have.
And if this is something in your heart, now you're saying I want
that, I want that assurance, I want to know him.
Then just cry out as Peter did. Lord save me.
I'm a Sinner. I need you.
You're the only one who can give me salvation.
Save me. Pray that prayer now.
Pray it as we close. Not the day you were here and
you know you've been saved by his grace.
You've been born again. You're a follower of Jesus, but
more than being a worshiper, maybe the doubters describes
you. There's hesitation, hesitation
that maybe wasn't there before. Cry out to Jesus, Lord, save me.
It's not a prayer of salvation. You've already been saved, but
it's a prayer that comes to Christ who reaches out and will
give you what you need. And today, if you are a follower
of Jesus, then when you leave this place and by his power take
his name and drop it. Drop it everywhere you go.
Let me tell you about Jesus. I know Him.
Let me tell you how I know Him and how I know I know Him.
Now that can be scary. Certainly it was for the
disciples. So that's why Jesus sandwiched
the Great Commission for all statements with the first one.
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me and
the bottom of the sandwich. And behold, I am with you all
the days of your life, living in that reality.
Fellow follower of Jesus, go and tell the world who you know and
who knows you. He's the one who has risen.
He's the one who is all powerful.
He is the one who is all present.
He is the one who reached out to save his people.
He is the one who lives. He's the one who lives in US,
the Lord Jesus. That mountain was a real
mountain, as you were a real man who had just been raised from
the dead. And you spoke real words of real
authority, not the idea of authority, not the metaphor or
hyperbole of authority, real authority.
And then you spoke of a comfort, which is your presence, not the
idea of a comfort, not a statement of comfort, but the
person. So Lord, in this sanctuary now,
if there are any who want to know, they know you speak to
them through your spirit and friend.
Just cry out. Lord, save me.
For those who know they're in Christ this day, rejoice.
And what that means. You can never over exaggerate
what Jesus tells you about who you are in him.
Thank you for this Christ, for this day, for this time, this
space. Thank you for your presence and
thank you for your power. In your name we pray.
Amen. Please stand.