Turn with me, if you would, to
Matthew chapter 28. Matthew chapter 28. Let's look
at the last three verses of this chapter, 18 through 20. And Jesus came and spake unto
them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in 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. In light of this, this new opportunity
I just told you about, I've been thinking about it all week long.
And I think this is an amazing opportunity that Lord has opened
up for us. this new avenue to spread the
gospel. I thought about these three verses
of scripture as I was thinking about the fact that the Lord
has, it appears, has provided this for us. These three verses
crossed my mind and he's saying right here the same thing that
Mark 16 is saying. Mark 16 worded it like this,
go unto all the world and preach the gospel. Go into all the world
and preach the gospel. Use every means, every avenue
that you possibly can to go tell men and women the good news of
forgiveness from sin in the blood of Jesus Christ. You go tell
men and women this wonderful, wonderful news. Now I've heard
men say, I physically, with my own two ears, heard a man say
one time, if I believed what you believe, I wouldn't even
witness. You ever heard anybody say that?
If I believed what you believed, I wouldn't even witness. And
the only response I can have to that, and I don't say this
arrogantly, I don't say this I just, this is the only thing
I know to respond to that is, apparently you don't know what
I believe. Really, why would you not witness? Apparently you have no idea what
I believe. Men have actually made the statement,
I believe it was my dad, somebody made the statement to my dad,
if I believed what you believe, I wouldn't even pray. Again, apparently you don't know
what I believe. People say to me all the time,
well, I know what you believe. Are you sure? I don't believe
you do. Why on this earth would you not
pray? What do believers believe? What do we believe? People say,
I know what you believe. What do we believe? Here is the
answer. Okay. Here is the answer. Are
you ready? All the verses. That's the answer. All the verses. Because, you
know, you say, you quote a verse of scripture to somebody and
then somebody else will say, well, but this verse says, you
know what my response to that is? It's not, well, no, you see
the verse I chose, uh-uh. My response to that person say,
well, this verse says is, amen. Amen. Well, yeah, but this verse
says, amen. Keep preaching. You and I don't
agree. Go ahead and keep on preaching.
You just keep quoting scripture to me. You know what we believe?
All the verses. Isn't that right? People get a pet verse and they
hold to that pet verse and they will stop believing these other
verses in order to hold to their pet verse. We believe all the
verses. We believe God. We believe God's
word. God said pray without ceasing. Why on this earth would we not
pray? God is sovereign. He is. All of his elect are already
kept. Do we believe that? Is it left
up to chance? Alright, we're going to go out
and preach the gospel. Is it going to be left up to chance
on whether or not somebody is saved and goes to heaven? All
of God's elect are not going to be kept. They already are
kept. They already are. None are lost. None of them are
lost. None of them. But he said, I
want you to go tell how great things the Lord has done for
you. Isn't that what he said? Verse 18, Jesus came and spake
unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and
in earth, all power. He is going to work, and who
shall let it? Who is going to hinder Him? Who is going to help Him? God
does not need my help in saving anybody. He does not need my
help. All power is given to Him. God has a particular people. Christ has already saved those
particular people. It is finished. Alright, now
watch what he said. Verse 18, Jesus came and spake
unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and
earth. Go ye therefore. Now why would he say that? I
don't know. But he said it. I don't know. But He said it. He said, I am
absolutely sovereign. I'm going to do it all. Salvation
is totally of the Lord. Salvation is totally of Me. Because of that, verse 19, Go
ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. That's what
He commanded us. And by His grace, man, everything
is by His grace, it's by His will, it's by Him opening that
door of opportunity, but that's exactly what we'll do. Now, our
object, okay, our object in this wonderful endeavor, spreading
this gospel to as many people as we can, our object is not
trying to get people baptized. That's not the objective. He
is not saying go out and you try and baptize as many people
as you can. He's not saying that. Look with
me if you would at 1 Corinthians chapter 1. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 14. He said, this is the Apostle
Paul speaking, he said, I thank God that I baptized none of you
but Crispus and Gaius, lest any should say that I had baptized
in mine own And I baptized also the household of Stephanus. Besides,
I know not whether I baptized any other." Now if baptism was
salvation, why would the Apostle Paul say, I thank God that none
of you were saved under my ministry? Why would he say that? I thank
the God of heaven that none of you were saved under my ministry.
Baptism is not salvation. Look at verse 17 right here.
For Christ sent me not to baptize. I was not sent by God to Kingsport,
Tennessee to baptize people. That's not the end goal. That's not the objective. He said, Christ sent me not to
baptize, but to preach the gospel. Not with wisdom of words, lest
the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the
preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness,
but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. Verse 21,
for after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew
not God, It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save
them that believe. It pleased God to use the means
of spreading this gospel, preaching this gospel to call out the souls
that the Father chose and the Son paid for. The word baptism
means immersion, immersing. Immersion into water is not salvation. It is not salvation. It is a
confession of salvation which God told us to confess. I don't deny that. Paul doesn't
deny that. He said, I baptized Gaius. I
baptized Crispus. I baptized the household of Stephanus.
He didn't deny baptism. And I don't either. If somebody
came up to me and said, And nobody's ever said this to me, but if
somebody did come up to me and say, well, if I believed what
you believe, I wouldn't even be baptized. The only response I would know
to have to that is, well, apparently you don't know what I believe.
How would you not be baptized? It's a confession of salvation. It's a confession of salvation.
It's not salvation. It's not salvation. Immersion
into water is not salvation. Life-giving, eye-opening, converting
salvation is immersion into the name of God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Spirit. Our Lord said in John 17 3, this
is life eternal that they might know the not what. The only true God in Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent. You know, immersion into the
blood of Christ, immersion into Christ, that union into Christ
is a living, knowing union. Sinners who are immersed into
Christ, they come to know who God the Father really is. and
who God the Son really is. No man can know either one of
them except the Son reveal Him, the Spirit reveal them. Go with me if you would back
over to Matthew 28. Verse 19 says, Go ye therefore and teach all nations immersing them, absolutely immersing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Ghost. You cause them to just be immersed
in that name. Preach that name. Cause them
to absolutely know who God is and what He has done. Immerse
them in it. Immerse them in it. That's why
we have one message. We just keep pouring that one
message, that one name. Who is he? What has he done? The answer is in his name. The
answer is in His name. There are several names that
the Lord has given throughout His Word to describe who He is
and what He has done. And I'm going to very, very quickly
just show you a couple of them, alright? Go with me to Genesis
22. Genesis 22, you know this story. This is where Abraham took Isaac
up on the mountain. God told Abraham to sacrifice
his own son. And while they were walking up,
Isaac said, Father, I see the fire and I see the wood, but
where is the lamb? And Abraham took his own son
and tied him up. Had his knife lifted up just
before he stabbed that knife down in his own son's heart,
God said, Abraham. And Abraham turned and looked
and there was a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. And
Abraham laid hold of that ram and slung that ram down on top
of his son and stabbed the knife into his heart and God was satisfied. Verse 14, Genesis 22, 14. And
Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-Jireh. As it is said to this day, in
the mount of the Lord it shall be seen. If you have that center
reference for Jehovah-Jireh, it means the Lord will provide. The Lord will provide. That's the gospel we spread. My heart's desire is to get on
this means and if the Lord is willing to bring us into its
311,000 households they reach. I want to get on there and I
want to say the Lord will provide. the Lord will provide. That's
the gospel we spread. That's who Christ is and that's
what Christ has done. Abraham preached the gospel to
Isaac while they were on their way up to the top of the mountain. Isaac was a poor sinner. He represents
the chosen son, right? The promised son. But Isaac was a sinner who's
about to have his heart stabbed by a knife. And while they were
on their way up, Abraham preached the gospel of deliverance to
him. Look at verse 7 right here. Isaac spake unto Abraham his
father and said, My father. He said, Here am I, my son. He
said, Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for
a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son. God
will provide himself a lamb. He didn't say, Isaac, you have
to be the lamb. He said, God will provide Himself
a lamb. God has required it, God will
provide it. And He'll do it by providing
Himself, Jehovah-Jireh. Our Lord said, you immerse all
nations in that. Immerse them in it. You get on
the television and you tell them, God is not looking to you to
provide a sacrifice. The Lord will provide. All right,
go to Exodus 17. I'll show you another one. Exodus 17, this is the account
when Amalek went to war with Israel. And Moses and Aaron and
Hur, they went up on top of a hill to wash it. And as long as Moses
had his hands up, Israel prevailed in the war. But when Moses let
his hands down, Amalek prevailed in the war. In verse 12, Moses'
hands were heavy. They got tired. And they took
a stone and they put it under him and he sat there on and Aaron
and Hur stayed up his hands. The high priest, Aaron, and Hur,
his name ultimately means the grave. The high priest and the
grave upheld the law. And Aaron and her stayed up his
hands on the one side, on the other side his hands were steady
until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek
and his people with the edge of the sword. And the Lord said
unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in
the ears of Joshua. For I will utterly put out the
remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar,
and called the name of it Jehovah-nesi. For he said, because the Lord
has sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation
to generation. We didn't go to war with Amalek.
God did. And for Jehovah Nissi, the margin
says, the Lord is my banner. That means victory. The Lord
is my victory. Christ fought the battle and
won. Christ has gotten the victory.
Christ has given that victory to us. The Lord is my victory. He defeated sin, death, hell
for us and then he made us to be conquerors through him that
loved us. He said immerse people in that.
The battle is not yours, it's the Lord's. One more, one more,
go to Joshua 6. I'm sorry, Judges, just after
Joshua. Judges 6. Judges 6 verse 24 says, then
Gideon, built an altar there unto the Lord, and called it
Jehovah Shalom." The margin for Jehovah Shalom
means the Lord is our peace. The Lord will provide. The Lord
is our victory. The Lord is our peace. That's
Father, Son, and Spirit. You know that? The Lord will
provide. The Lord is our victory. The
Lord is our peace. Father, Son, and Spirit. These
three are one. All the fullness dwells in one,
Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. Don't
turn, but Jeremiah 23 immerses us in the name Jehovah Sidkenu. The Lord is our righteousness. That's what we're going to try
to tell people. The Lord is our righteousness.
We are not trying to earn our own perfect record for God to
be well pleased with us. The Lord is our righteousness. We plead His record. He gave us that record. The Lord
is our righteousness. Jehovah Rapha means the Lord
is my healer. Jehovah Raya means the Lord is
my shepherd. Jehovah Shama means the Lord
is near. The Lord is near. He said go
tell everybody that. Go with me back to the text.
Matthew 28. Matthew 28 verse 18, And Jesus
came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in
heaven and in 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. What has He commanded us based
on these names? All because of these names. What
has He commanded us to do? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, what should we do? Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, stop trying to earn
a salvation and look to Christ. Well, what should we do? Stop
trying to earn a salvation and look to Christ? He said, come
unto Me. What should we do? Go to him. Go to him. He said, for Christ's
sake, I want you to be gracious. I want you to be merciful, forgiving,
long-suffering, patient, kind, loving. Well, what should we
do? Be gracious, merciful, forgiving, long-suffering, patient, kind,
loving. Verse 19, Go ye therefore teach
all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the
Son, 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. How wonderful is that? You know,
we're by God's grace. We're going to try to spread
this gospel. And he said, you're not going
to go alone. You're not going out there alone. I'm with you always. You go tell
every soul that has been immersed in these things that I'm with
him or her always, always, even unto the end of the world. How
far should we take it? If he'll let us take it to the
end of the world, we'll take it to the end of the world, won't
we? Go immerse my people from every
nation, every tribe, every kindred, every tongue in the comfort of
knowing that I'm right there with them to the end of the world."
And then he said, Amen. Amen. What a gospel to spread.
What a gospel to spread. That is good news. That is good
news. I pray the Lord by His Spirit
will bless the opportunity He's given us. All right, you're dismissed.