In his sermon 'Seven Gifts for Your Work in the Vineyard,' Scott Brown explores the Great Commission as presented in the Gospel of Matthew. He emphasizes the supreme authority of Jesus, highlighting that all authority in heaven and earth has been entrusted to Him. Brown articulates seven gifts given to believers for their work in God's vineyard: supreme authority, an exciting journey, a wonderful calling to make disciples, baptism as a physical sign of new life, transformative teaching, an abiding presence, and a happy ending. He underscores that the Great Commission is broader than evangelism, encompassing teaching all that Christ commanded. The sermon stresses the importance of understanding the all-encompassing authority of Christ, which ensures the success of the mission, encourages believers, and serves as a catalyst for global evangelization. Brown also discusses the role of baptism as an outward sign of an inward transformation, symbolizing new life and entry into the community of believers. Throughout, he reassures that Jesus' presence accompanies believers, providing comfort and security, and concludes with the promise of a happy, eschatological ending where Christ reigns supreme.

How often do you get a text that tells you who God is and what you're supposed to do? Reading from Matthew chapter 28 verse 16. Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

Go therefore, 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 the things that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen. Thank you, Heavenly Father, that you have spoken to us so clearly in these matters. Thank you for the comfort that you give us in saying that you are with us. And please spur us on to do the things that you have commanded as we go out to teach the things you have commanded.

In Jesus' name, Amen. Here in the closing scene in the Gospel of Matthew, we find a picture of the wisdom and the goodness and the glory of God. Of God. We see how clear, how dense, how beautiful, how practical the Word of God is, and how good our Lord Jesus Christ is as a shepherd to give us such a wonderful calling and to explain it so beautifully for us. It shows us that the story of the Bible is the story of redemption, that God is a missionary God, that God's people are on a mission.

It's the mission of the Great Commission. And my prayer today is that we would make more progress in this area of missions, and specifically that it would work for the recruiting of laborers among the nations, that we would be dragging the river for a bigger net of senders here today, that there would be a greater movement of goers who will do what is consistent with the words that are here. We know that this work is not a work of man. It never could be. And this is why the beginning of the Great Commission is always prayer.

Pray the Lord of the harvest that He might send forth laborers. It is our first priority. We find here that His last command is our first priority. We also recognize the great neglect that we have had at different seasons in our lives, and perhaps even today, and that this Great Commission is often our greatest omission. We see the breadth of this commission is broader than most people think.

Most people have thought that the Great Commission is isolated to the sharing of the message of the atonement. And it's far, far broader than that. It is far greater than that. Matthew Henry stated it this way. Christ, the mediator, is setting up a kingdom in the world.

Bring the nations to be his subjects. Set up a school. Bring the nations to be his scholars. Raising up an army for the carrying on of the war against the powers of darkness. Enlist the nations of the earth under His banner.

Now, in this Great Commission, also our Lord Jesus Christ, He shows His hand And he makes his strategy of love to be known to us. In Matthew 20, the Lord Jesus Christ has already told his disciples that he saved them in order to work in his vineyard, to put them to work, that they might devote their lives to bringing forth fruit for their master, and to become his servants, and to be employed in his very well-appointed vineyard. And now at the end of Matthew's Gospel, at the end of his days, he delivers his last command. He is such a good Master. He is such a faithful owner, and he's called us to such beneficial work.

And so this Great Commission, we find as we read it carefully and meditate on it over and over again, is far, far more even than a commission. But there are things running over and around and through this commission. And so this morning I want to look at this Great Commission from the perspective of just the beautiful and beneficial nature of it. I'm so taken with it and have been as I've been considering it. And I want to just say that here this morning we want to consider seven gifts that God has given you for the work in his vineyard.

And as you'll see, they're marvelous gifts. And I'll give them to you now. They're listed in your outline. First of all, he gives us the gift of a supreme authority in verse 18, all authority in heaven and earth. This is a supreme, unimpeded, unquenchable, unstoppable, omnipotent authority given to His people.

This is a blessing. Secondly, an exciting journey. Go, verse 19. An exciting, diverse, changing, taxing, dangerous, hazardous journey is given to His people. Number three, a wonderful calling, verse 19, to make disciples.

This is a wonderful, multi-faceted, focused, fruitful, and fulfilling calling that God has given His people. Number four, a physical sign of new life, baptism, verse 20. A physical representative of a symbolic, instructive, vivid ordinance called baptism. It's a sign of resurrection and friendship with God and sonship. It's a defining moment where you know that God is your friend.

You've declared that to the world, that I am His and He is mine. And then, number five, a transforming influence, the teaching to obey Christ. A transforming, deep, mind-changing, life-altering, sweetening influence, the teaching of Jesus Christ. And then number six, an abiding presence. Verse 20, he is with us always.

This is an abiding, protective, comforting, emboldening, pleasurable presence of Almighty God with His people. And then finally a happy ending, verse 20. He's ruling at the end. A happy and thrilling and confirming and soul satisfying and eschatologically clear and simple ending. That He is there at the end on His throne, ruling and reigning.

Those are the treasures of the Great Commission. There's much more we can say about the Great Commission, but I want to focus on these. First of all, let's speak about the setting here, the context in verses 16, 17. Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted.

Now, I want to move fairly quickly through this, but you see the who. They're the 11 disciples. There once were 12. One hung himself in despair, and his insurals were spilled on the ground, and he is in hell. And this is representative of those who begin the association with Christianity.

And they participate in everything. They might even handle the money, they might even preach and heal and act like deacons, but they deny the Lord. But the only the eleven were there, not the twelve. Where was it? In the mountain, in Galilee, not the Mount of Olives, where He descended into heaven.

Why Galilee? This is where Jesus had His largest following, and He's appearing on a mountain, like Moses, like that prophet. And Significant things happen on mountains. When? After the resurrection.

This is one of the post-resurrection appearances that are recorded in the Gospel of Matthew. Both of them in Matthew occur here in this chapter. And Matthew's method here in this chapter is to speak of the resurrection at the beginning of the chapter, the account of the empty tomb, the power of the resurrection. And Matthew follows a very similar method that he uses over and over again in his gospel. He will report an event, and in this case he reports the resurrection, and then he gives the significance of that event, and that's exactly what he does in Matthew.

The significance of the resurrected Christ is that his children would go into the world and do these things. And how? How did they meet with him? Matthew says three things about these eleven disciples. First, they saw him, and he had appointed this mountain to go to.

He told them what mountain to go to, and they went there and they saw him. Here's a beautiful principle here. When He tells you to go, He'll meet you there. When He tells you to go, He'll meet you there. He will not leave you alone.

He will not send you out on the mission field and leave you there to rot. He will be with you. He will not ask you to do anything in which His presence does not go with you. Whether you're single or married, whether you're in prison, no matter where it is, wherever He's put you, called you, made you to be, you have to know that He is there with you. When He says, meet me there, He will be there.

He's reliable. Secondly, they worshiped Him. The terminology used is the language of worship. And this is His kindness. Think of this for a moment.

Think of the magnitude of this. He's receiving their worship. They had just denied Him. They just abandoned Him. And now they're worshiping Him.

This is the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ toward weak and frail sinners. And then some doubted Him. They were struggling between, some of them, between two perspectives. It was an act of resistance to the truth Which is why the Lord said that Thomas stopped doubting and believed and then then he says oh Lord and my God We know that Thomas doubted His doubt should give us more confidence. These should be words of assurance to us.

Yes, there are true disciples who have doubts. If you have a doubt, it doesn't mean that you're not a disciple, as these disciples did. So These three wonderful marks, the obedience, the availability, and the worship of these is seen so clearly. There's such a shocking moment here. Think about how shocking this would be.

Verse 18. Maybe it doesn't appear shocking on the surface, and He came and spoke to them. How many people who have died have ever spoke to you? What would happen in your soul if someone was dead in the grave and then He came and spoke to you? This is a very dramatic moment.

Our Lord Jesus Christ here is meeting with them and He is teaching them the way in which they should go. Now these seven wonderful promises, blessings, and treasures of the Great Commission. The first blessing he pronounces is his supreme authority. His supreme authority. And Jesus came and spoke to them saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

This is a disclosure of the place of the Lord Jesus Christ in the universe. Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, has a vanquishing, unquenchable authority over all things. At the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew, at his baptism, we read that a voice came out of heaven and said, this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. This is a voice of authority. The word that Matthew uses is exousia, to do whatever you wish.

It is a rightful and willful, absolute, unstoppable, supreme, unimpeded, unquenchable, Omnipotent authority. This is what he is saying about himself. So here we find that the Great Commission doesn't even actually begin with a commission. It begins with a declaration of the authority of Jesus Christ that accompanies his disciples as they go out with their work in the world. For some reason he wants us to know his authority, that we are under his authority, that there is something greater here.

His authority goes with us, protecting us, comforting us, telling us that we are not in charge and recognizing, as the Apostle Paul said, it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God, Almighty God, who has all authority and He extends His mercy as He wishes. We know that Satan came to give Him authority and he already came to give Him authority and he refused it. We notice that the authority as a source, It was given to him. All authority has been given to me. It came from his father.

It came from the Ancient of Days. It was delivered from the throne of God. It makes us remember the language in Daniel chapter 7, verse 13. When he was watching in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man, coming out of the clouds of heaven, and He came to the ancient of days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and the kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages would serve Him.

His Dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed. Jesus Christ is fulfilling these words by saying, all authority in heaven and on earth is given to me. It is given by my Father, by the Ancient of Days." Notice also this is one of the four alls of the Great Commission. All power, all nations, all things, and all ways. Those are the four alls of the great commission.

This is also nothing new. The Lord Jesus has been declaring his authority throughout the Gospel of Matthew. If you go back to the very first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, you will see that this is the same way that Matthew begins. He begins with the authority of Jesus Christ. He says this is the beginning of the generation of Jesus Christ.

He is Emmanuel, God with us. He is visiting his people. Now in Matthew's gospel we've seen it so many times. You know how often is the Lord Jesus exercising his authority over how about all things? This is perhaps the central message of Matthew.

This is why Matthew is called the gospel of the kingdom of God. It's about the rulership of God, of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so He's demonstrating his authority over demons and winds and waves and disease. You know, this is such a striking contrast to the authority-free zone that we seem to be living with on this planet. Somehow everyone wants the life on earth to be an authority free zone.

There's no authority in heaven, there's no authority in the government, there's no authority in the church, there's no authority in the home. This is the age that we live in. But this is not the kingdom of your Father that He's established in the world. You know, church leaders are afraid of losing people so they don't speak with a voice of moral authority. And the truth is, all awakenings are always characterized by a voice of authority from God.

And if you would expect to see an awakening, you would have to see men who lose their fear of man. You would have to see men who lose their fear of the authority of God. You'd have to see men and women who are not afraid to say, Thus saith the Lord. Here's what it says. These are the words of Almighty God.

If we would ever expect to see an awakening, we are not going to get it by offering candy and balloons. We offer, Thus saith the Lord, He has all authority in heaven and on earth. And when men are emboldened by, Thus saith the Lord, the foundations of human traditions are broken up, chains are broken, bondage is unraveled. And so what we need today is a clear and a thundering voice coming out of the house of Almighty God that replaces the voice of the Waffle House that is so common in our day today. And so here our Lord Jesus Christ is explaining that He possesses authority.

He identifies two areas over which He has authority, and it's very clear in the text. In heaven and on earth. In heaven the celestial bodies, the galaxies, the speed of light, the angels in heaven, the demons in heaven, all the powers of heaven, the debris flying through space, everything, absolutely everything in heaven is under authority on earth. All molecules, all DNA, all rocks, all rivers, oceans, lakes, winds, tornadoes, hurricanes, fires, downpours, all animals, all humans, all synapses of all brains in the world, All crime, all kings, all armies, all industry, all economy, all stock exchanges, all media, all education, all science, all fathers, all mothers and brothers and sisters and in-laws, pastors, police, politicians, everything, absolutely everything, every nanosecond, every minute, every hour, every month, every decade, Jesus Christ is proclaiming His authority over all things in heaven and on the earth. This is the blessing of this commission, that our Lord Jesus Christ has promised His own authority to rule and reign as we fulfill the Great Commission.

This is why even the demons said, have you come to destroy us before the time? Because they understand the authority of Jesus. Why is it that the demons seem to understand the authority of Jesus better than a lot of people in our day? He has defeated the devil, the powers and the principalities have been disarmed, Christ's foot is on the neck of his enemies as we read just recently in this Gospel. Here's some implications of this for us.

Christ's authority is a wedge for world evangelization. There's no place we cannot preach the gospel. It's doors open, it softens hearts, it changes minds, his authority breaks hearts, It breaks wills. When we are preaching the gospel of the kingdom, we have an authority that's far beyond any human authority. When we speak the Word of God to people in the world, it is the Word of God.

It is the voice of God. It has authority. It will do what it was ordained to do. Christ's authority is also a declaration of freedom. And that's because The knowledge of His absolute authority should be the most freeing thing that you can ever know in your heart, that He is in control.

You're just a servant. You're just a messenger. You deliver the Word of God. He has ordained all of the results for it. His authority is also a bit of an encouragement.

It stimulates you a little bit like a cattle prod. You know what a cattle prod is? Oh yes. A cattle prod is a stimulator. It causes one to move from one place to another.

Sometimes cows don't move where you want them to move. And so a cattle prod has been invented to get them to go. So this authority is also a cattle prod. His authority is also wonderful in that it really has a wonderful implication And that is this, that Jesus Christ, the supreme authority in all the universe, is the evangelist. He is the disciple maker.

And so the fact that Jesus Christ is on His throne with all authority, It tells us that His power is over all those that we preach to. And when people hear the message of Jesus to the world, it is the authority of Jesus Christ. Let me give you an example out of Ephesians chapter 2. The Apostle Paul, preaching, writing to the Ephesians in verse 17 he says of Jesus, He came, He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.

Now remember this is Ephesus. Paul is talking to people in Ephesus. Jesus Christ never visited Ephesus. He is, though, the preacher and the evangelist who came and preached peace to those who were in Ephesus. Jesus is preaching.

Jesus is evangelizing. Jesus is the chief evangelist. When you're sitting next to an unbeliever and you're speaking to them, you just have to recognize who is the evangelist here. Jesus Christ is preaching peace to those to whom he would open their ears. How encouraging is that to know that the Lord Jesus Christ is the evangelist and the preacher?

Here's what this authority means. It means that by His authority He will guarantee the success of the Great Commission. He will open doors that no one can open by His authority. He will soften hearts that no one can soften by His authority. He'll enlighten when there's nothing but darkness, and he'll do it by his authority.

He'll cleanse when there's only filthiness by his own authority. He'll change the direction of a person's life when it's only headlong for destruction by his authority. And he will make alive what is dead, dead by his own authority. And it's an act of authority that does something. And anyone who defies his authority will be executed for treason.

Your disloyalty to your Maker and your lack of care for His commands and your dispassionate love for His Kingdom, your non-stolence toward his renown will bring down the fury of his wrath and the punishment you receive from it will be reasonable because you did not love his authority from the heart." What should we say about this? I think we should say we should turn away from all other authorities, that there is salvation in no other name, that there is no life-giving authority except Christ, and that your soul is in danger under any other authority. And by His authority, He says, the Spirit and the Bride say, Come, this is a voice of authority. And not only is there this supreme authority, which is such a wonderful treasure of the Great Commission, but there is an exciting journey. And that journey is explained with one word, go, verse 19.

This is an exciting and a diverse, changing and taxing and dangerous journey. Go therefore. Now, you have to recognize that there's the term therefore here. So you always have to, whenever therefore is there, you have to always ask, what's the therefore, therefore? So Why?

And we obey His command because of His authority. We go because of His authority. That's why. We go. In other words, we have to move.

That's why Jesus says the sower went out to sow. The sower wasn't just hanging around. He had to get off of where he was to go somewhere else. And so we need a new kind of people. We need to be a commissioned people who go.

We need the passion of John Knox who said, give me Scotland ere I die. We need the desperation of Spurgeon who said, give me souls or take my soul. We need the clarity of the Lord Jesus who said, look at the fields for they're already wide unto harvest. The harvest is plentiful, but the labors are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out labors into his harvest." So we go.

We must go. It may mean that we go across the hall. It may mean that we pick up the phone. It may mean that we go to your living room and preach the gospel there. It may mean that you get on a ship.

It may mean that you board a plane. It may mean that you send a letter. It may mean that you launch attacks. But go, therefore, and make disciples of the one who has all authority. Now, do we simply do this in our families?

No. It's beyond the family. Do we simply do this in our neighborhoods? No. It's beyond our neighborhoods.

It's much larger than these things. These two should be prioritized and not neglected, but they're not the cause of the neglect of the greater call to go. Because it's a call to all the nations, all the nations, those who speak the same language. These are ethno-linguistic people groups. These are large groups of people who are distinct from one another.

Now Jesus was sent to one nation. Now he says, go to all the nations. So the limitation is taken off. Again, Daniel 2 has spoken of this, the stone that struck the image and it filled the whole earth. So Christ is desiring to take dominion over all the nations.

He's subduing all things under his feet meaning every Every every society and every part of society that's been polluted by sin is Is under this command every mark says every creature acts 1a says to the end of the earth. That's why the psalmist says, let the nations be glad. That's why Psalm 33 says, blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he has chosen as his inheritance. And then he gives these three simple methods. Go is one of them.

Second, to baptize. And then third, to teach. Now, The structure of verses 19 and 20 are really important to understand. And they're often misunderstood in this sense. We've probably heard sermons which translate go as a participle, which means having gone, then do all these things.

And the sermon goes like this, as you are going, make disciples wherever you go, make disciples. And while it could be translated, it should be translated as an imperative that's dependent on the main verb. The main verb is to make disciples. That is the main verb. And then there are three participles, there are three heiress participles, go and baptize and teach, that's the structure.

Main verb, three heiress participles that follow that main verb. Now when a participle is connected to a main verb, then they take on the force of a command. So they actually become commands. So the making disciples is the main command, but the going and the baptizing, the teaching, also assume the force of a command in the sentence. So, it's like they are all imperatives because they take on the character of the main verb.

And then it's a wonderful calling to make disciples. Disciple is someone who is following Christ. It means literally a learner. It's not the same as making a convert. Well, in order to be a disciple, a person has to be a convert first.

So conversion is implied here, but the whole idea is that this is a person who is continuing in my word. It's the task. It is a task to believing learners. And this is why we say the Great Commission is bigger than evangelistic campaigns. It's bigger than personal evangelism.

It's bigger than street preaching. It's bigger than preaching in a church. It has to do with teaching learners. A disciple maker tells what Jesus commanded. That's what a disciple maker does.

And then, not only is there this wonderful command to make disciples, but there's a physical sign of new life, and that is baptism. This is, baptism is an outward sign of an inward reality, of faith, of true conversion. Baptism means to immerse in water, and it's designed to bear witness to salvation. And baptism, baptism is synonymous to salvation in Scripture, but baptism does not save. But the truth is, in the New Testament, an unbaptized believer is unheard of.

The baptism is a fruit, and the discipleship bears fruit. And It's a picture of resurrection. It's a sign of entrance into the community. And the pattern in the New Testament is repent and be baptized. And it's a sign of ownership.

It's a sign of kingdom change. It's a sign of new life. It's a sign of friendship with God. It's a sign of a resurrected life. It's a sign of sonship.

And it's a defining moment that tells the story of another defining moment, the moment of salvation. The moment when your heart was hard and it turned to flesh. The moment when you were actually born again. All of us were converted in a moment. We were born again.

We were saved. But all of us don't know exactly what that time was. Some people have really long labor pains, and then they recognize that they have been born again. Some know. Some know absolutely the moment of their conversion.

But this is a sign that you have been buried with Christ and raised up to new life. It's a sign that you've repented and believed in the gospel. It's a sign that you realize you have no righteousness, that none of your morality has any weight. It carries nothing. It means nothing concerning your salvation.

It's a sign that you died, and you were buried, and you were raised up with Christ to new life. And then there is this way that we are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. This is the Trinity. This is a reference to the Trinity. You know, G.I.

Packer said, this is the most difficult thought presented to the human mind, the Trinity. It absolutely is. Try to explain it. We can only explain it with the language of Scripture. You know, is it required to use this formula for all baptisms?

Is there a ceremonial power in these magically repeated words? No, there's not. There are baptisms in the New Testament that don't include these words. But it's interesting here that we are baptized into something. Baptized in, That's the term that Jesus Christ used.

Is, is, into, into, into one name, three persons in one nature, one being, the only true God. It's interesting here, the Father and the Son takes its place in the middle, and then the Holy Spirit. And it's a baptism into something. It's a baptism into a name. It's a baptism into a family, into a relationship, into a community, into a community of love.

It's a baptism into really the definition of love. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. We baptize people into His family of love. Why do we, why do we long, Why do we long for love? Why do we long for relationships?

I believe it's because the universe, the whole structure of the universe began in a family of love in the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And when you are baptized in the name, into the very essence of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, you have been inserted into a family, a family like you never had before. Everybody has some kind of dysfunction in their family, but this family is not dysfunctional. It's a perfect family. It's the family of God in heaven.

It's the prototypical, It's the foundational family. And it's the family that all true believers belong to. And as they enter into that family, and they learn about the family life of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, they learn how to be a family. Because those relationships, the love of a father toward his son, the submission of the son toward his father, the work of the Holy Spirit in promoting the message of the father and of the son, These are all prototypes for all relationships. There's authority and submission.

There's love. There's power. There's service. There's humility. There's mercy.

There's genuine heart love. I delight to do thy will, says the Son. This is the foundation of all relationships And you're when you're baptized you're baptized in the name The most wonderful name the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and how wonderful it is to be baptized in that name. Have you been baptized in the name of religion? Have you been baptized in the name of morality?

Have you been baptized in the name of being part of a church? Or have you been baptized into the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And are you are partaking of His nature? And is His life, His love, His mercy, His wisdom, is it in you? Is it working in you?

Is it like leaven growing in you? Is it bearing fruit in you? You're baptized into this fivefold relationship of the Trinity, of humility, and love, and service and communication and presence. And so in being baptized into His name, what happens to us is that our name has changed. Our whole nature has changed because we've been actually grafted in.

We are in Christ. One of the most fascinating, wonderful, encouraging studies you can ever do is to study the whole matter of being in Christ, being in Him. Ephesians is a great place to go. It occurs everywhere in Ephesians. And so the question is, have you been baptized into that name?

Have you been baptized as a believer? There are many thousands of people who have been baptized in these mass youth group baptisms, and there's no faith, and there's no fruit, there's no desire for God, and there's no saving faith. And Jesus Christ will say, I never knew you, because you were baptized not in His name. It's so easy to be baptized into moralism, to think that it's Christian values that's the essence of Christianity. Christian values aren't the essence of Christianity.

They're the fruit of it. They're the fruit of being baptized into His name and receiving His name, Receiving His power, receiving His heart, receiving His Word. We should never pray for Christian morality to disappear, or for these things to go away, unless we become like Sodom and like Gomorrah. But we have to recognize that Christian values is not the same thing as Christian life. They're two different things.

Some take baptism frivolously. They don't believe it's important at all. But here it is important. It's part of the Great Commission. It's something we should be doing as Christians.

We should be baptizing. You think about this for a minute. This whole ministry of baptizing, of bringing to faith, making disciples, and then baptizing. Imagine the power of this in a community. And right now, we live in a town, Wake Forest, that has about 32, 000 people living in it.

And if one person leads someone to Christ every year, and they do that for a few years. Here's what happens. In the first year, you have one person who comes to Christ and then another, and you have now two In year one. In the second year, you each lead another to Christ and there are four. After four years, there are 16.

After eight years, there are 256. After 12 years, there are 4, 086. After 14 years, there are 16, 000. After 15 years, there are 32, 000. You've just overtaken Wake Forest.

In 16 years, there's 64, 000. You've just overtaken Youngsville, Franklin, Zebulon, and Wake Forest, and more. And so we've been sent out to baptize. We've been sent out to do this thing. This is our role in the world.

And then there's a transforming influence. Number five, the teaching of Christ. In verse 20, we learn that we are to teach them to obey Christ. The fulfillment of the Great Commission, as we said, is far broader than the sharing of the Gospel. It includes the Gospel.

It's actually just implied in the Great Commission, and really not mentioned. But it is implied that the gospel has been embraced, that a disciple has been made, that a person has been baptized into the name, the real name of Jesus Christ. And then, in verse 20, we are involved in teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. There are three things I want to point out from this sentence. First, the activity, it's teaching.

Second, the requirement to observe. Third, the content, All things commanded. So let's begin with the teaching. This is the activity, didosco. It occurs some 95 times in the New Testament and roughly two-thirds of them are in the Gospels and in the first part of the book of Acts.

And this is a teaching for a purpose. This is the instruction. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ's ministry was all about teaching. This is what he did and this is what we should do as well. This is the central activity of Jesus Christ and that's why people were astonished at his teaching in Matthew 7 28.

That's why in Matthew 7 29 we learned that he taught them as one having authority, not as the scribes. This is the teaching function of the disciple making process. And then the requirement is to observe, to observe. And you can't understand the Great Commission until you understand all of its component parts. And this component part is perhaps one of the more neglected component parts in people's just consciousness of understanding exactly what the detailed language is in the Great Commission.

And it involves to teach people to observe. Tereo is the word. It means to watch over, to guard. In one case, like prisoners or felons in Matthew 27. In James we see this same word, if you keep the royal law according to the scriptures, keep and observe are the exact same term, tereo.

And so Jesus is calling for an obedient church. Jesus says that an aspect of his Great Commission is that you teach the church to obey. You teach them to observe. Jesus Christ desires an obedient church. Is it legalism to ask a church to obey?

Absolutely not. It's a part and parcel of the Great Commission. It's indispensable. In the modern church there are many people who believe that when you call for obedience, you're a legalist. Jesus here commands us to teach the church to obey, and Jesus is not a legalist.

You're a legalist if you say that your obedience can add to your salvation. But it's not legalism to teach obedience and to call the Church of Jesus Christ to obey. There are people who ask from time to time, what's your vision for the church? And it's multifaceted really, but it does include this, to teach the church to obey. We are intentionally, proactively desiring to fulfill this commandment in the church, and we cannot shrink from it.

There are many responsibilities that form the vision of the biblical vision of a church. The Great Commission absolutely ought to be right at the top of that list and here this vision is explained. This principle is all over the New Testament. In Hebrews 5 verse 9, the only ones whom Christ transformed are those who obey Him. Verse 9 in Hebrews 5, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.

It shows that your love for Him, this obedience, this keeping of the commandments in John 14-15, the Lord Jesus says, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. He uses the exact same word, tereo, observe. It's the exact same word in the Great Commission. It shows that you love Him and are loved by your Father in John 14 verse 21. He who has My commandments and keeps them or observes them, terraos them.

It is He who loves me, and He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love Him and manifest myself to Him. It is also a condition of abiding in His love in John 15, verses 19 through 14. As The Father loved me, I also love you. Abide in my love. If you tereo, if you keep my commandments, if you observe my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.

You are my friends, verse 14, if you do whatever, I command you. The disciples also kept his word. John 17, 6 says, I have manifested your name to the men you have given me out of the world. They were yours. You gave them to me.

And they have kept. They have tereoed. They have observed your word. In John 8, we learn that those who keep the word will never see death. If anyone keeps my word, he shall never see death.

John 8, 51. We know that the devil is enraged against those who observe or keep the commandments. In Revelation chapter 12, verse 17, the dragon was enraged with the woman and he went and made war with the rest of her offspring. Well who was that? Those who keep, those who tarot, those who observe the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

The church in Philadelphia that was held in the balance on the principle of keeping His word in Revelation 3, he says, For you have a little strength and have kept my word and have not denied my name." And the Bible actually ends with this principle in Revelation 22, Behold I am coming quickly, blessed is he who keeps, tereo, observes his words, the words of this prophecy. And it's also related to repentance in Revelation 3 verses 3 and 4. Remember therefore how you have received and heard, hold fast, terrao, hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you." So there is the requirement is to observe. The requirement of the Great Commission is to observe.

This is what we are to teach the Church to do. And then there is the content, all things that I have commanded you. The content is all things that I have commanded you. And what this means is that in order to fulfill the Great Commission, God's people are designed to teach all things that Christ commanded. That's the scope of the Great Commission.

And this refutes the limited reductionist understanding of evangelism and the Great Commission that says that you're fulfilling the Great Commission only if you deliver the Gospel message and wait for the rapture. That you deliver it and you go. Everything is, no, that's not discipleship. That is not the fulfillment of the Great Commission. It's broader, it's greater than the sharing of the Gospel.

It actually assumes the Gospel in a sense. You know, how comprehensive is the Great Commission? All of His commands, all of His principles, all of His counsels to all of His people, His whole Word. And so what He has said about sin and salvation and judgment, what He has said about everything, everything. What He has said about the family, what He said about marriage, what He has said about work, what He has said about integrity.

Whatever Christ has said, it's our responsibility as fulfillers of the Great Commission to speak of all those things. And this is his program for making his enemies his footstools to preach the word of God. And so you know the question is you know how how is your church participating in the Great Commission? I think one of the ways you answer that question is how is your church participating in the Great Commission? I think one of the ways you answer that question is, how is your church participating in teaching all things that Christ commanded?

Because we're responsible to teach all things that Christ commanded. This is a church that has, for many years, supported my work nationally. And I believe that it's a great commission investment that I do my work that way. When I do that part of my work, I'm doing a part of fulfilling the Great Commission. And I'm trying to teach all things that Christ commanded about two really fundamentally important institutions, the church and the family and how they relate together.

I believe that's a great commission ministry. There are all kinds of people who have different great commission ministries. Ken Ham would probably be another example. But there are many examples of men who have particular callings that teach particular things out of the Word of God and they concentrate on them and they help the church at large by doing so. So take any subject and ask this, what is God's design for it?

How has it been warped? What can I do to heal and save and transform it by what Jesus Christ has said? Now what does that mean? Is he just talking about Matthew? It takes about three hours to read Matthew.

Read Matthew and you know all things that Christ commanded. No? Every word of the Bible is a word of Christ. Christ was constantly quoting the Old Testament and so should you. And so it includes the whole purview of Scripture.

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was made flesh. Christ was in the beginning, He is the Word, and everything that is said in Scripture is His Word. So it includes everything from Genesis to Revelation. This should be our subject matter. It's all part of the fulfillment of the Great Commission.

And so you can see that the Great Commission is broader than the Gospel message, while it's dependent upon the Gospel message. Because the teaching to obey someone who does not have a new heart is fruitless. But it is fruitful for those who have been converted and have the Spirit of God. Here's what John Calvin said, the meaning amounts to this, that by proclaiming the gospel everywhere, they should bring all nations to the obedience of the faith, and next, that they should seal and ratify their doctrine by the sign of the gospel. That's baptism.

In Matthew, they are first taught simply to teach, but Mark expresses the kind of doctrine that they should preach the gospel. And shortly afterwards, Matthew adds this limitation to them, teach them to observe all things whatsoever the Lord has commanded. So it's very broad and it includes the message of the atonement to the message of the second coming of Christ and everything in heaven and whatever Christ has said and whatever Christ has said for heaven or earth. Now here's a question. We are charged to teach all things that Christ commanded.

Here's a question. Have you equipped yourself to do this? Have you read your Bible from Genesis to Revelation? Do you know what the Bible says? When a question comes up, do you find your answer here?

Or does it come out of, well, I think this, or, you know, I come out of the tradition that feels that. But are we equipped as a church to teach all things that Christ commanded? It's really important that we are. So it means that we ought to immerse ourselves in Holy Scripture that we would know. It's so important.

And of course, the Bible tells us how that's done. It really begins in the home. That you teach all things that Christ commanded when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, when you rise up. And one day at a time, you saturate a little bit more of your soul with the Holy Word of God. And it springs forth into life in the world.

And it has meaning for when you go, because then you go prepared to teach all things that Christ commanded. And then, number six, there's an abiding presence. This is another wonderful gift. He's always with us. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

Here we encounter something that is too wonderful to probably really understand in our sinful flesh, and it's the abiding presence, the protective love, the comforting love, the comforting presence, his pleasurable presence, that really results in a Safe existence. That's what His presence does for you. It means so much. He begins with it, and lo, lo. The term means behold, it means to look.

He's attracting their attention. He's saying, look. Look at me. Look at this. Behold." And Jesus uses this term.

And he is committing his identification with you by saying that He is with you. He is committing His presence. And that means that you're not alone. Now there are two ways that this works. First, It works individually.

The most obvious thing that comes to our minds is that he's with me right now. I am not alone. I as an individual, no matter where I walk, I'm not alone. You're not lost. God knows exactly where you are.

Both your global position and your internal disposition, He knows that. But we tend to read everything individualistically, how it applies to me, myself and I. And it is true that he does go with his saints personally. And he has said, I will never leave you or forsake you. Here though, he uses the plural.

And he's talking about his church. And so we also have to see this corporately that Jesus is speaking to the church in the plural and he's as if he's saying, I am with my people, I am with my church. And this secures so many things for us. And that is that we know, we know that we are secure in this world. You are safe.

You are safe in this world because He has said, Lo, I am with you always, Always. The last all in the Great Commission. Always. And then finally, another treasure, another beautiful thing about this commission that is so great is that it prophesies what we all need to know now, and that is that there's a happy ending, verse 20. He is ruling to the end, even to the end of the age.

Not only am I with you always, but when it comes to the end, I, Lord of glory, who has all authority over heaven and earth, I'm there. I'm ruling. I'm reigning. I'm in control. My kingdom of love, my kingdom of mercy.

My family is ruling and reigning, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. The King James says, the end of the world, and the end of the age, the end of the world is the second coming of Christ. And what he's saying is, when it ends, I will be there. And he is the end of the story. So here's what you need to know.

I pray that you can know this in your heart so well, and that is this. The history of the world and the history of my life is like this. There is a happy ending. And the world does not end in a grave, But it ends inside of that presence of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the most loving family you have ever known. The most gracious, the happiest, the sweetest place for the heart of man and woman.

That's the story of your life. You know, why is it that we love stories that have happy endings? We all do, right? We all love them. And we cry, how many times have you cried at a happy ending?

It's because we were made for them. We were made for a happy ending like this ending of being enfolded into the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. We longed because we were made in His image and there's something in us that knows that there's something better that's coming. That's why the Apostle Paul said, Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask or think. Because this is His kingdom, this is His way.

So these seven gifts for your work in the vineyard, a supreme authority, an exciting journey, a wonderful calling to make disciples, a physical sign of new life baptism, a transforming influence teaching them to obey Christ in abiding presence. He's with us always. And a happy, soul-satisfying ending for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. What a blessing. Jesus Christ is so good.

Would you pray with me? Oh Lord, we thank you for sending your Son, your dear Son, to suffer and die, to atone for our sins, to be seated at your right hand, putting all of your enemies under His feet, grafting us into your wonderful family. Oh Lord, that you would give us such energy to speak of it in the world, that we would go make disciples, baptize and teach all things, recognizing the presence and the ending of it all. Amen.