Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to Matthew 28. Matthew 28. While you're turning
there, I was thinking to myself when Brother Jeff was reading
that Scripture, you know, in that day when the
four and twenty elders, the entire congregation of God's elect,
everyone that has been chosen, from before the foundation of
the world, who equally shall receive their crown of glory,
the Lord Jesus Christ, their crown of righteousness, Him and
Him alone. Nothing that they earned, nothing
that they in themselves merited, but every one of God's elect
who will equally, just like these laborers, One of them was hired
at the beginning of the day, and then some more, and some
more, and then at the eleventh hour, one of them's son was hired,
you know, right there before the end of the day. Well, it
was over. When Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Paul, and the thief
on the cross will equally share in the wondrous glory of God's
grace. Lord, help us today. Teach us
for thy name's sake. Matthew 28, I'd like to read
Matthew 28, the chapter, and then look at the last three verses. Matthew 28, one in the end of
the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week,
came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher. And behold, there was a great
earthquake, for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven,
and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon
it. And his countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white
as snow. And for fear of him, the keepers
did shake and became as dead men. And the angel answered and
said unto the women, Fear not ye. Well, I know that you seek
Jesus, which is crucified. He is not here. For he is risen,
as he said, come see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly,
tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead, and behold,
he goeth before you into Galilee. There shall you see him, lo,
I have told you. And they departed quickly from
the sepulchre with fear and great joy, and did run to bring his
disciples word. And as they went to tell his
disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by
the feet and worshiped him. Then said Jesus unto them, Be
not afraid. Go tell my brethren that they
go into Galilee, and there shall they see me. Now when they were
going, behold, some of the watch came into the city and showed
unto the chief priest all the things that were done. And when
they were assembled with the elders and had taken counsel,
they gave large money unto the soldier saying, Say ye, his disciples
came by night and stole him away while we slept. And if this come
to the governor's ears, we will persuade him and secure you.
So they took the money. and did as they were taught,
and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day. Then the eleven disciples went
away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.
When they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted. And 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. Let's pray. Our Father, would you bless your
word. Bless it to our hearts. Keep our hearts. Keep our attention. Help us, Lord, to worship for
Christ's sake. Amen. The only way that a heart can
truly be settled is to rest assured that my eternal soul is secure
in the hands of Him that changes not. For me to be able to settle down,
as I've told you so many times, I am so frustrated with myself
when I see inconsistencies in me. Oh, how many times has that
Scripture been a comfort for me Lord, if you should mark iniquity,
who could stand? Lord, if you counted the inconsistencies
in me, and oh, how I see them. I don't see them all. And what
I see grieves me. But he who changes not, For him
that says, I've loved you with an everlasting love. Lord, can
I find place in that? Lord, can I find a standing in
that? Lord, I believe you. I trust
you. Lord, my hope is in you. My hope
is not in my confidence, my ability, my will. Lord, it's not. Thank you for teaching me that. I am the Lord, I change not,
therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. James 1.17 says,
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, cometh down
from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, in the
shadow of turning. Now, according to the word of
the Amen, the Lord himself The faithful and true witness. The
beginning, the scripture says, of the creation of God. We can
settle down. And we can rest in His security. In what He says and what He does. Aren't you glad that this life
and the life to come is not in our hands. I'm so thankful. If things were left up to me,
and I were to have to look at myself and say, well, because
I did this, as I've said before, friend, if you're resting in
something that you think you've done, you better remember this,
it better be perfect. You better have never deviated. You say, well, I've trusted the
Lord. You better have trusted Him perfectly. It better not
be one deviation in your thought, in your attitude. I'm telling
you, salvation is all of grace. Faith. Living from above believes
God. And we don't trust in our faith.
We do not trust in faith. Faith is God's gift. It is the grace of God given
to behold. the object of our salvation,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith believes that God Almighty
saves apart from anything I can do. Today, for the comfort of our
hearts, that new heart, regenerated heart, for the honor of our blessed
Savior, for the salvation of His sheep, The Scripture says,
let us draw near with a true heart. With a heart that loves
the truth. That's what that means. Let us
draw near with a heart that loves the truth. In full assurance
of faith. Having our hearts sprinkled. Sprinkled by the blood of Christ.
Covered. The atonement. The covering.
Sprinkle from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure
water. That is God's Word. And let us
hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering. That
is, without wavering, trusting Him. I know I'm going to waver
myself. But without wavering from trusting
the Lord, you say, but I don't trust Him as I ought. My friend,
if you trust Him at all, it's by the grace of God. without wavering, for he is faithful,
it promised. In the last three verses of this
blessed chapter, our Lord has been crucified, buried, has been
raised from the dead, and now, soon, he's going to ascend back
into heaven. And the Lord's talking to his
disciples. And in these last verses, These
last verses that even today we can find great comfort in. Three great truths are set forth
by our precious Savior concerning the salvation and the final preservation
of God's sheep. To remove our doubts, our fears,
I need some help today. I need some help. I need some
help. I look around. I'm telling you,
the older I get, the more I'm realizing how short this life
really is. I need some comfort this morning.
Here's the first thing I know that gives me some comfort. The
Lord has all power. That's what he said in verse
18. Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given
unto me in heaven and in earth. All power. Supreme. Universal. He is the monarch. He is the king. He is all-powerful. And all power, He said, has been
given unto Me. And we've said this before, and
it's worthy to be borne out again. Not as the Son of God Himself. No power is given unto Him. He's God. as being the God-man mediator. The man. Christ Jesus. God Himself. United with human
flesh. The mediator between God and
man. Able to touch God Almighty as
being God. Able to touch man as being man. He is the advocate. He is the hope of glory. Almighty God and man. All power was given by Jehovah. Father, Son, Spirit. As the Son Himself was united
with human flesh. How many times have we considered
this? How many times will we admit?
Lord, these things are too high for us. Things that are just,
you know, mysterious things. Great is the mystery of godliness,
Pat. God was manifest in the flesh. Somebody says, well, I can understand
that. No, you don't. No, you don't. We believe it. But we don't understand that
God united with humanity, God united with flesh, and all power
given by the one God in three Persons, Father, Son, Spirit,
given to the Christ. God-Man. The Christ. The Messiah. John 17, 1 and 2, these words
beg Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the
hour has come. Glorify thy son, that is, as
the substitute. Father, glorify thy son as the
representative, as the federal head, as your lamb. Glorify me
now that thy son may glorify thee as the electing God. as the God of all grace, as the
God that would not allow mankind to perish from this earth because
of man's rebellion. Father, glorify me as the substitute
of your people, that I might glorify you as the satisfied
God of all grace. as thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him." The assurance that we have in
every event, in every decision, in everything that goes on in
this world, the assurance that we have as to the absolute running
of this universe is this. Herein I need to remember this. I get so outdone, I look around
and I say, you've got to be kidding me. What in the world is going
on around here? All power. is given unto me in heaven and
earth. All things, all things work together. All things work together. I watched a little moth yesterday
morning. I was standing outside. I was
standing there and I was watching this little moth. and kind of
flit around. It was just right over the ground.
And I kept looking at that, and this question entered my mind. Scripture says all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to His purpose. And this question entered my
mind. Now, I wonder what good Does
that little butterfly right there have? What good? And you know what I thought about?
I thought about Romans 8.28. When I saw the butterfly, it
came back to my mind. That little butterfly, Almighty
God sent that little old bitty moth looking thing. And it caused
me, by God's grace, by God's Spirit, to think upon God's power. Here I was wondering, wondering
what that thing's good for. And it reminded me, by the Spirit
of God teaching me, God sent that to remind you, you frail
creature, that God's in control. That God moves. God Almighty
rules and reigns in this earth. Here's the second thing I know
when it comes to salvation. The Lord has a people. Chosen people. I know that. I know the Lord prayed for it
in John 17. I know the Apostle Paul said it in Ephesians 1.
I know He spoke that God chose us in Him. I know in 2 Thessalonians,
we're bound to give thanks God has chosen you. I know God's
got a chosen people. I know He does. God says He does. And God Almighty has ordained
preaching as the means of calling out His sheep. I know He has. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
it, but look at this, verse 19. Go ye therefore, therefore, because
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. Now, I want you to notice
something. He set forth that he's all-powerful.
And he set forth that he's going to call his people out. How do
you know? Because he told them, his disciples,
I want you to go, and I want you to teach, and I want you
to baptize. They said, but what if they don't
come? Oh, they're coming. They're coming. They're coming.
My sheep hear my voice. They follow me. They come to
me. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. I find myself often, as often
as it crosses my path, crosses my mind, praying for and asking
for, specifically asking for those that I know of Here and
other places that have exhibited no obvious manifestation of regenerating
grace and asking them, Lord, would you have mercy? I don't
know who they are. I don't know who got sheep. But
He does. He does. And He has commissioned preaching. You go and you teach. You preach
the gospel. and baptize those. Baptism. That is the expression of the
work of regeneration. Baptism does not save anybody.
You know that. Water doesn't save anybody. Water
doesn't save anybody. The baptism is the expression
of the grace of God's regeneration in our heart. It's obedience
to His command. The Lord sends preachers. That's
what He did. Go ye therefore. God sent these
men. The Scripture sets forth in Jeremiah
3.15, And I will give you pastors according to my heart, which
shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. God commissions men to go and
preach His gospel according to His power. He's going to bless
it in due time. I know that. I know that. I know that if God Almighty is
going to call one out of darkness, some out of darkness, this is
the way He's going to do it. I know He's going to do it this
way. This is the means. This is it. God kept us from
deviating. Only by God's grace would we
not deviate, I'll tell you that. Baptizing them in the name of
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Ghost,
the name, the name of the Father that chose. In the name of the
Son who is redeemed by His blood. In the name of the Holy Ghost
that quickens us by grace and power, seals us to the day of
redemption. And those that are converted, baptized, teach them. Teach them. What's God doing
today? Well, some by His grace, some
according to His purpose, He'll take this message Call him out
of darkness. Son, he teaches. What is he doing? Whatever he
is pleased. He has all power. We don't set
forth the traditions of men and creatures leading things. We preach the commands of Christ
according to his scriptures. Precept. Command. Precept upon
precept. Line upon line, here a little,
there a little. Three things I know about salvation.
Number one, God is all-powerful. Number two, God's got a people. He's going to call them out by
the gospel. And then thirdly, I know this, and this is the
great comfort that we have in closing. God's not going to leave
us to ourselves. Verse 20, 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. We must remember that our Lord
is soon to return. We know that. We know that. He had been walking with His
disciples. They had been with Him for three, three and a half
years. a few minutes, he's not going
to be with them as to their vision. They're not going to see him.
Can you just imagine how lonely they felt? Lord, you're all we've
got. Lord, you're all we've got. We don't have anything else.
Lord, the religious world hates us, hates you. Lord, with You
we're secure. Lord, we're at peace when You're
there. Lord, that boat that we were
in, when that wave and that water was coming in, we thought we
was going to sink. Lord, we saw You one time. You
were in the back of the boat one time and You spoke to the
water and it stopped. You were out there walking on
the water one time, and we were scared at first, and you spoke
to us and told us, fear not, it's I. Be not afraid. Lord,
there was no food one day. Five loaves and two fish fed
5,000 men plus the women and children. Lord, all these times,
time after time after time. When you were there, when you
were there, everything was okay. He says, Lo, I'm with you always. Always. Even to the end of the
world. Here's a great comfort. We don't
see Him right now. Not long after this, these disciples
watched Him ascend into heaven. But can you imagine how they
hung on to that word? He said, I'm not going to leave
you. I'm going to send the Comforter.
His Spirit lives in us. Keeps us. Teaches us. Reminds
us. Reminds us continually of His
presence. Oh Lord, help me. Lord, I know
this. I know that you're all-powerful.
Lord, I know that you have a people. Lord, I know that it's the preaching
of the gospel. That's the means that you use,
Lord, to call out your sheep. Lord, as we preach, Lord, would
you bless it. Lord, would you bless this to
the salvation of your elect, call-out sinners, those made
so by the grace of God. And Lord, remind us that you
don't leave, that you're with us. We're not orphans. He said, I won't leave you comfortless.
That's what it means, orphans. I'm not going to leave you alone.
I'm with you. Lord, bless my heart today through
these words. Cause me to muse upon these things
for your namesake.