I want to be nearer to my God. Turn with me now to Matthew 28. Matthew 28. This will be our
final message from our study in Matthew. And what a wonderful, wonderful
word to end our study on. The last line of verse 20 says, I am with you always, always,
even unto the end of the world. Amen. Man, what a word. What a final
word. Verse 18 says, Jesus came and
spake unto them saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and
earth, Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all
things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always,
even unto the end of the world. Amen. There are moments when everyone
enjoys their quiet time. That's for sure. That's for sure. There are moments when everyone
enjoys privacy, thinking time. But I don't believe anyone wants
to be alone. I don't believe anyone. wants
to be alone, truly alone. Well, with Christ, we're not. We're not. With Christ, we are never alone,
never alone. Now, without Christ, if a soul
is without Christ, That soul is alone. If a soul is without
Christ, that soul truly is alone. That soul could be in a room
full of people. But without Christ, that soul
is alone. There are people in this world
who are without Christ. That is just an amazing statement
to me. But it because it's so scary.
It's so fearful in the scariest part about it is. The fact that
they don't know it. They don't know it. They presume on it like that
story of Joseph and Mary when they were leaving the temple,
our Lord was 12 years old and they were headed on back to Nazareth
and they presumed the Lord was with him, but he wasn't. And
that's what men and women do. They presume that they're with
Christ, but they're not. They're not. And those people
who are without Christ, they're going to have to endure some
things alone. Alone. Turn over to Numbers 14 with
me. Numbers 14. When the children of Israel were
in the wilderness with Moses and Aaron, there were some who
started murmuring and complaining about the fact that it was taking
so long. You know, they were there for
40 years, and if you look at their travel, they just kept
going in circles. They would be very close to the
promised land, and then they would leave it. Some finally said to Moses, it
would have been better had we just stayed in Egypt. And Moses told them, he said,
where the pillar, the cloud, the fire, where the pillar leads
us and where the ark of the covenant of the Lord goes, that's where
we'll be. And some of them said, We're
tired of waiting. We're going anyway. We're going
on in anyway. And Moses said, you're sinning
against God. And they said, we don't care. Verse 40, Numbers 14, verse 40. And they rose up early in the
morning and get them up into the top of the mountain saying,
lo, we be here. and will go up unto the place
which the Lord hath promised, for we have sinned. We're gonna sin against him,
we don't care. And Moses said, wherefore now
do you transgress the commandment of the Lord? But it shall not
prosper. It's not what you're about to
do, it's not gonna prosper. Go not up, for the Lord is not
among you. that you be not smitten before
your enemies. For the Amalekites and the Canaanites
are there before you and you shall fall by the sword because
you are turned away from the Lord. Therefore, the Lord will
not be with you. But they presumed to go up onto
the hilltop Nevertheless, the ark of the covenant of the Lord
and Moses departed not out of the camp. God was not with them. Christ was not with them. God's
covenant, God's mercy seat, the strength and the fulfillment
of God's law, the fullness of God's life, it didn't go with
them. Christ didn't go with them, verse
45. Then the Amalekites came down and the Canaanites which
dwelt in that hill and smote them and discomfited them even
unto Hormah. That is going to be the end of
false religion. That's gonna be the end of false
religion. Those who think they can attain
the promises of God without Christ. Those who think they can attain
it on their own. We can do this on our own. Those
who are not begging for Christ. They are begging for the judgment
of God. Those who are not begging and pleading for Christ are begging
for the judgment of God. That right there was a physical
judgment, but it represents a spiritual judgment. We do not want to enter
into the judgment of God without Christ. We do not want to enter
into the judgment of God without Christ. I, you know, I stand
up here and by God's grace, I believe most everyone here knows that.
But oh, I wish I could tell everybody this. I wish I could go out there
and tell everybody this. I'm so thankful the Lord provided
a TV broadcast and provided sermon audio and provided ways to get
this message out of these four walls because men and women need
to know this. We do not want to go into the
judgment of God Almighty without Christ. We have sinned. I mean, we have
sinned. We will never survive that judgment
without Christ. Never. Turn with me to Ephesians
2. Ephesians 2 verse 11, Wherefore
remember that you being in time past Gentiles in the flesh who
were called uncircumcised by that which is called the circumcision
in the flesh made by hands, that at that time you were without
Christ being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers
from the covenants of promise having no hope and without God
in the world. but now in Christ Jesus. You who sometimes were far off
are made nigh by the blood of Christ, for he is our peace,
who hath made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of
partition between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity,
even the law of commandments contained in ordinances. for
to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace. Paul said in Galatians 2.20,
he said, thank God, I was crucified with Christ. I was crucified
with Christ. I endured the judgment of God
with Christ. That is the hope of salvation. That is the glory of the gospel,
that he was with us. And he is with us. David said
in Psalm 23, I don't have to fear any evil. My evil. You know, you think
of all that evil that's out there that, you know, I don't want
any of that coming near me. I got enough evil right here to last
me for an eternity. But he said, you know what? I
can walk through the valley of this shadow of death right here,
not fearing this evil. You're with me. Salvation is in Christ being
with us. The hope of glory is in Christ
being with us. All of our comfort, all of our
assurance, all of our peace is in Christ being with us. Back here, look at verse 13 again,
Ephesians 2, 13. But now in Christ Jesus, ye who
sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken
down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished
in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained
in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one new man,
so making peace. And that he might reconcile both
unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby,
and came and preached peace to you which were far off and to
them that were nigh. For through him we both have
access by one spirit unto the Father. Now therefore you are
no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the
saints and of the household of God. and are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the
chief cornerstone, in whom all the building, fitly framed together,
groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are
builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit." Together. Builded together. That's the
peace that he speaks to us. He says, you're with me. and
I'm with you, we're together. We're together. I love that story
of a man named Hubert Davis. I don't know anything about that
man other than the story being told. But apparently he was a
brother in the Lord who had a lot of health problems. His body
was bent in half. He couldn't stand up straight.
And he and his wife had a daughter who had a lot of health problems.
And when he and his wife became older, this man knew that his
wife wouldn't be able to take care of both him and their daughter. So he voluntarily checked himself
into an assisted living home. And brother Henry Mahan and brother
Paul went to visit him, uh, one day in his assisted living home.
And when they walked into his room, one of them said to him,
uh, he had his back to him. He's looking out the window,
you know, bent in half and they walked in and one of them said
to him, brother Hubert, are you all alone? And he said, no, brother, the
Lord is with me. I wish I could remember that. That blesses me so much. I wish
I could remember that. The Lord is with me. Every trial, every trouble, every
decision, every... The Lord is with me. Y'all alone? Gabe, are y'all alone? No. The Lord is with me. Turn over to Isaiah 43. Isaiah
43 verse one, it says, But now thus saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear
not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name,
thou art mine. When thou passest through the
waters, I will be with thee. And through the rivers, they
shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the
Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave Egypt for thy ransom,
Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou was precious in my
sight, thou hast been honorable and I've loved thee. Therefore
will I give men for thee and people for thy life. Fear not. For I am with thee. I will bring
thy seed from the east and gather thee from the west. I will say
to the north, give up, and to the south, keep not back. Bring
my sons from far and my daughters from the ends of the earth, even
every one that is called by my name. For I have created him
for my glory. I have formed him. Yea, I have
made him. He said, whatever you go through,
wherever you go, wherever you are, I'll be with you. I'm with you. Look at Isaiah
46. Verse three. Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob
and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are born by
me from the belly, which are carried from the womb. Even to
your old age, from the moment you're born, from your mother's
womb, to the moment you leave this world. I am he, even to
gray hair, even to all of your hair is gray. Poor hairs, will I carry you? I have made and I will bear,
even I will carry, And we'll deliver you. He said, I won't
just deliver you. I will carry you while I'm delivering
you. In Isaiah 41, he said, I'll hold
your hand as I carry you while I deliver
you. In Proverbs 18, 24, Solomon said,
we have a friend that'll stick closer to us than a brother. Who is it? Who is this friend? It's Emmanuel. God is with us. God is with us. God is holding
our hand. God is the one carrying us while
he delivers us. He delivered us spiritually and
eternally on the cross of Calvary. He is delivering us physically
as he carries us through this life that we have to live on
earth. But in both cases, he was and
he is with us. Amos 5 14 says it is the Lord,
the God of host. That's with us. The sovereign
over everyone, the sovereign over everything, the God of hosts. That's who's with us. Romans 15 33 says the God of
peace. is the one who's with us. First Peter 5.10 says the God
of all grace is the one who's with us. The God of all grace
be with you. Mercy and grace through his own
blood that he shed for his own people. That's the God who's
with us. And because of that, this is what the apostle James
has to say. Turn with me to James 4. James 4 verse 8, he said, draw nigh to God and he will
draw nigh to you. The Lord is with his people at
all times and therefore there is always opportunity to get
closer to him. Always opportunity to get closer
to him. I am with you right now. I'm
with you right now. But I could come down from this
pulpit and take a few steps and I could get closer to you. And that's what James is telling
us to do with our Lord. He is with us at all times. He's
with us at all times. Therefore, we always have the
opportunity to draw nearer to him. nearer in heart, nearer
in mind, nearer in desire, nearer in need. The child of God cries,
draw me nearer. If I am going to come nearer,
you're going to have to draw me. No man can come except the
Father draw. Draw me nearer. James said, get
close to him and he'll get close to you. We've got this little
dog, Ellie Mae, and especially in the winter, that little dog
gets so cold. She wants to draw near to us. She wants to snuggle. And that dog can't get close
enough. And that dog is about as close as that dog can get.
And that dog is still trying to get closer. And that's what we can do to
our Lord. He is the one who is with us. You know, there may have been
a time that we were not with him and he was always with us. He
is the one that's with us. He is the one who is keeping
us in his company. He's the one who gets all the
credit and the glory. And because he's doing that for
us, we have the privilege of drawing nearer to him anytime
we want to. He said, I'll never leave you,
I'll never forsake you. He didn't leave us in life, He
didn't leave us in death. He said, I'll never leave you,
I'll never forsake you. He was with us on the cross,
therefore we'll be with Him in glory. He was with us, therefore
we will be with Him. He said, I am with you always,
even unto the end of the world. The end of the world. Is he talking
about this world or the world to come? Well, there is no end in the
world to come. But yes, the rest of our days
on this earth and then. forevermore, now and forevermore. And that is such a glorious promise. I'm so thankful that that's how
he closed the book of Matthew. I'm, you know, and I said it
before, it's not that we're never coming back to Matthew, but I'm
going to miss Matthew. I've really, really enjoyed this.
And what a precious way for the Lord to leave us. I am with you
always, even until the end of the world. That's a word of It's
a word of hope. What a word of promise and hope
to end a glorious book on. I pray the Lord will bless it.
Amen. All right, let's all stand together.