You will turn back with me now
to Matthew chapter 28. Matthew has, before we come to
this chapter, by divine inspiration set before us the gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ. This is the gospel according
to Matthew. He plainly set before us the
birth of Jesus by the Virgin Mary and of the
prophecies being fulfilled by Him. He's shown us in detail
how Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, not only by His birth
and His fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies, but also
by the testimony of John the Baptist. This is the Lamb of God. Behold, the Lamb of God that
taketh away the sin of the world. And then God testified of His
Son as the heavenly dove descended upon Him, and He received the
Spirit of God without measure. God said, This is My beloved
Son in whom I am well pleased. And God confirmed him over and
over as Christ through the miracles, wonders, and signs which God
did by him in our midst, which Peter said we can't deny it.
We saw it. We were standing there. We were
eyewitnesses of it. And then Matthew sets before
us the death of our Savior, not as a martyr or an example or
last desperate attempt by God to draw people to him, but as the eternal surety of
his people. And as the great substitute and
high priest of the Israel of God. This is that one of whom
Isaiah cried, surely he hath borne our griefs. carried our sorrows. We looked
upon Him, looked upon that agony of death, that shameful death, and we did esteem Him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. This was God's hand which put
Him to death. So that he was wounded for our
transgressions and bruised for our iniquities and the chastisement
of our peace was upon him. For the Lord hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all. And Matthew gives us a detailed
account of the life and death of our great Savior and substitute,
Jesus Christ. And now in the last few verses
of his gospel testimony, Matthew sets before us the glory of the
resurrected Christ. This is that one of whom there
could be no doubt. This was the promised Messiah. This was the promised Christ.
This is salvation incarnate. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. There can be
no doubt about who he was. There can be no doubt about what
he did. And there can be no doubt now
about the success of it because God raised him from the dead.
In these last few verses of his
gospel, he sets before us the glory of the resurrected Christ. And I thought as I prepared this
message how the Jews must have celebrated his death in those
few days that he lay in the tomb. They had finally silenced this
one whose questions they couldn't answer, whose power they couldn't
resist. They couldn't stop him, they
couldn't thwart him, they couldn't do anything about him. He went
about doing the will of God. And no man could resist him.
But oh, how they must have celebrated his death as he lay in that tomb
silent for these few days. But then early on the day of
his foretold resurrection, the angel of the Lord descended from
heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat down on it. And he did it. while this watch
that was given charge to guard that sepulcher, not to let anybody
touch anything. It was sealed by the government
itself. And these men, no doubt, charged
with their life over the watch of this town. But they couldn't
do anything about the angel of God. His presence must have been something.
An earthquake, the lady said. The ground shook all around.
His countenance was like lightning. And all of his raiment white
as snow. And it said, for fear of him the keepers did shake
and become as dead men. So when the angel had left some
of those who were set to guard the tomb, they came and told
all this story to the the jewish high council and to the priest
and of course they had a business meeting right away they all got
together and took council now what are we going to do what
are we going to do the body's gone he's not there what are
we going to do so they said here's what we're
going to do we're going to give large money to these officers
we're going to take care of them we're going to see to it that
they're not put in prison or put to death, we'll make excuses
for them, we'll cover it all up and we'll give them large
money and they can tell these lies. The natural man knows no boundaries
for his hatred and enmity against God. There's no distance that
he won't go in his rebellion against God. But there's nothing knew really displayed here about
fallen man, he has for thousands of years manifested his rebellion
against God. He manifested his rebellion the
whole time the Lord walked on the earth. And yet none of these things
have ever hindered God from his work, nor will they hinder him
now. The Son of God has come and accomplished
the redemption He was ordained to accomplish. And to a wandering
world, He raised up our Savior from the dead. He was raised
up on the third day, Paul said, according to the Scriptures.
Just exactly as the Scriptures had foretold, God raised Him
from the dead. And after that, he was seen of
Cephas, and then of the 12, and then he was seen of above 500
brethren all at once. Jesus Christ walked this earth
nearly a month after his resurrection, appearing to his disciples, appearing
to believers and people who knew him. His resurrection was established
beyond any question. And certainly all of this is
thrilling to entertain our minds and emotions. Just the thought
of a dead man rising from the dead is enough to excite the
emotions, isn't it? Excite the mind, cause the mind
to wander. But especially one who still
bore the nail holes in his hands. and in his feet, and a spear
in his side. This man rose from the dead. You remember, he came to Thomas.
Thomas said, I won't believe it, except I take my finger and
stick him in the nail hole. He said, put your finger in there,
Thomas. Take your hand and run it into my side. Well, here's my question. What
does all this have to do with the salvation of sinners? What
does this have to do with those who are being saved? I know this was the God-man.
I know that Jesus Christ is God our Savior. He's God. He's ever
with God. He created the world. Without
Him was nothing created that was created. And it was not only
created by Him, but over in Colossians it tells us it was created for
Him. He's before all things, and by
Him all things consist. So I know He's God, and I know
He was raised from the dead, but that, among the other things
that God has done, doesn't seem to be that great. He rose Lazarus
from the dead. He rose many people from the
dead. So what's all this got to do
with the salvation of sin? Well, let me give you a few things
which our Lord said to His disciples before He ascended into glory
concerning His resurrection. In Matthew 28, 18, it says, And
Jesus came and spake unto them, And he said, all power is given
unto me in heaven and in earth. All power. Now let's just begin with this declaration of Christ
to have all power. What's that mean? Now I've read
writers and writers are so Sometimes they overdo it. They try to pinpoint every little
thing together and you miss the whole thing about what's being
said. And in this particular place,
they said, well, no, this is not divine power that he's talking
about. Well, sure it is. Sure it is. But that divine power, as it
affects the calling out of God's elect, the salvation of sinners
in Christ, it cannot be exercised fully until Christ died and paid
the price. Now I know in the purpose of
God, God justified us from the foundation of the world. He justified
us when He put us in Christ the justifier. But that justification
still had to be accomplished. He made us righteous in His Son. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness unto everybody that believes. He doesn't have
any righteousness. His righteousness is Christ. And that was given to us when
he put us in Christ before the foundation of the world. But he still had to come and
wrought out that righteousness. He still had to come and accomplish
that righteousness. You see what I'm saying? And
so when he says, all power is given unto me in heaven and earth,
He's talking about all power given unto him now without reservation
because the full price has been paid. Everything is above board. God is satisfied. The law's been
honored and exalted. Turn with me to John 17. Let
me show you something. Why would our Lord, why would
his first words to his disciples be, all power is given unto me
in heaven and earth? Why would that be the first thing
he'd tell? Well, just before our Lord went
up to be crucified, he prayed this great high priestly prayer
and he told his disciples, he said, now you stay awake and
listen. But they didn't, they went to sleep. And he went and
woke them up even, but they couldn't stay awake. But he prayed this
great high priestly prayer because he was indeed the great high
priest of God's Israel, and he was about to take the blood of
the covenant beyond the veil into heaven itself. And here
he makes intercession for those for whom he was about to die.
Now listen to this, John 17 verse one. These words spake Jesus
and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has
come. Glorify thy son that thy son
also may glorify thee. Now watch it. As thou hast given
him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal,
that they might know thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ,
whom thou sent. All power is given unto him.
Why? He tells you right here. That he should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given him. And what's he tell them,
what's his first words to them after the resurrection? All power
is given unto me, it's mine. That which I spoke before has
been fulfilled. This power is not Just the omnipotent
power which He as God had from the beginning and by which He
created the world, but power given to Him as the mediator
and surety of the everlasting covenant. Power over all the
affairs of the church and power over all flesh, saved and lost. He's Lord. He's Lord of the dead
and He's Lord of the living. Power over kings and kingdoms
and principalities and powers, and in his time he shall show
who is the blessed and only potentate King of kings and Lord of lords.
He has power, he said, all power in heaven. Boy, that's a statement. Power
in heaven. Power to justify you, not just
here, but in heaven. Power to cause you to be accepted
in the beloved, not just here, but in heaven. Power in heaven to send the eternal
spirit of God, the very spirit of God to those given to him by the Father. Power
in heaven to order his angels to minister to those who shall
be heirs of salvation. Power over all the affairs of
the church to appoint offices and officers to bestow great
gifts upon men and then qualify them for the office that he called
them to. You have power in heaven and
power in earth, having met every condition and paid all that was
owed. He honored the law and exalted
it and satisfied divine justice. And so now, as our representative,
he has all power to give eternal life to as many as the Father
hath given him. I'm going to tell you something.
You and I don't have any power. These churches and these loudmouth
preachers can talk about it from now to the end of the world,
but you don't have any power. A-double-L, all power over all
flesh, power in heaven and power in earth is given unto me. Isn't
that what he said? Now if that's so, why would I
want to preach me, huh? Why would I want to call folks
to me? No, I want to call you to him. He's the only one can do you
any good. The only one can do you any good. And here's the
good news. No matter what your problem is,
he has power over you. No matter how far you've sunken,
no matter how far you've drifted, It doesn't matter. All power
in heaven and earth given unto him. There was a man I read after
occasionally. He lived back in the late 1700s
and died in 1852. His name was William Jay. And old William Jay knew a man. His name was Cornelius Winter. Evidently, this man was a, and
every church has one. They've just got that one person
in there, it seems like, who will go the extra mile. He just,
he is so devoted, so committed. He is an example to all the flock,
and he just, he gives without reservation. He loves without
condition, he's just a man that god has saved and and granted
such a life as he just shined shined out in a congregation
and that was all cornelius went and evidently he was a very modest
and generous man and jay mentioned him saying this in his message
now i'm just guessing back in the day that the average income
would have been fifty pounds sterling in that country. That was the average income.
I may be exaggerating, but let's just use that as an average.
Well, O.J. said if Mr. Winter's income had
bounced to 10,000 pounds a year, he wouldn't add one article to
his clothing. You wouldn't see one new article
to his clothing. You wouldn't see one new object
on his table. You wouldn't see one new ornament
in his house. He lived on what it took to live
and all the rest he gave to the church. He gave to those in need. All around him. If there was
a need and he had it, he'd give it to them. If he got a raise,
he'd just take that raise and now he could give a little more.
So that all that was given to him was put in the right place. Put in the right place. Can you
imagine the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom God has vested all, all,
all his power and all his love and all of his justice and all
of his mercy and all of his grace, he put it all into this one man. Why? That he should give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given him. He put it all in the
right place, didn't he? We find in Christ a treasure
of power and glory put just where it needed to be put. Let these words sink in. All
power is given unto me in heaven and earth. Power to turn the
hearts of kings as the rivers of water. All these big kings that's doing
this and doing that and all the, we hear him talk about them today.
He turn news on, they're talking about this one or that one and
all the power that he has and if he does this, this is gonna
happen. The heart of every king is in the hand of the Lord. He
turneth it whithersoever he will. just like the rivers and waters.
He can change the course in a moment's notice. Power to both process and prepare
men's hearts and then to put the answer on his tongue. Power
over providence, power over Satan, power over all principalities
and powers. We're completing him who is the
head of all principalities and powers. And all this power to
one end to give eternal life to those given to him by the
Father. And then here's the second thing he tells us about this
resurrection. You get a good understanding
of what I'm telling you about my power, now you go teach. You go teach. Go ye therefore
and teach all nations. Now that word teach, as best
as I can understand it, I looked it up and read all the definitions
and got the concordance down and read the Greek on it and
so on, but that word teach, as best as I can understand it,
means to consider as a student, as a student. Old Luke here's
a teacher. He goes down to where he's being
employed to teach, and he's introduced every year to a new group, which, because they're sitting
in his classroom, are to be considered and treated as legitimate students. Now, if I understand this right,
you didn't have anything to do with who shows up in that class.
That was already taken care of. And he doesn't go through the
class and do all his questions and all this and say, well, you
know, now I've got 30 people in here. About 10 of them are
students. No. They're students because they're
in his class. Everything that went beforehand
that brought them into that class is what made them pupils. And
now simply because they're there, you consider them pupils. And
this is what our Lord's telling his disciples. All power in heaven
and earth is given unto me. Now you go and you consider everybody
in all these nations, these idolatrous nations, these immoral nations,
these religious nations. You go out there and everybody
that I gather and sit down before you, you consider him a pupil. You don't worry about who he
is, you just consider him a pupil. And the power that brought him
there is from him who has all power. This resurrection power our Lord
now declares to his chosen apostles is an open door to teach whoever
God is pleased to sit before him. And I know a lot of people
talk to folks ahead of time, and they write them off. Well,
he said this, or he did that, or what so did you before the
Lord called you? You same way. We're never told to do anything
like that. Rather, if and when they're set
before me in this place, I'm to consider them in the light
of his resurrection glory as pupils. These are potential sons of God. And I'm to hold nothing back
but to engage whatever gifts and abilities I have to teach
them about the Christ of God. And I don't sit up here and think
to myself, well, they don't have any abilities, they don't have
any understanding, they don't have any will. They'd be willing
in day of His power. And they'll understand when the
Spirit of the Living God gives them understanding the same way
we did. I'm not to worry about it, I'm just to teach. That's
it. To teach. And then having done my best,
I'm to leave the rest of it up to Him who has the power to make
it effectual. on the basis of his resurrection
and ascension into glory and power, I can go and teach all
nations. And then thirdly, he tells me
to baptize them. Baptizing them is how it's written
here in the scriptures. Who's them? Those who were taught. Those who were taught. And they shall all be taught
of God. Every man therefore who hath learned of the Father, he
cometh unto me. Those who've been taught. Those who have been revealed
as true pupils Those to whom the gospel came not in word only,
but in power and in the Holy Ghost. Those to whom this eternal
life has been communicated. Those who see the name of the
triune God manifested in the Son and manifested in the work
He accomplished. Those brought into subjection
both to Christ and His servants. These are God's elect and true
heirs of His grace. He doesn't give any situations
here, does he? I want you to think about these
things. He doesn't give any situations
here. There's no gray areas here. There's no off to this side and
off to this side. He said baptizing them, period. Period. No exceptions. All those who are taught, all
those who know, all those who profess that faith in Christ
do so through baptism. This baptism is the confession
of your profession. It's the confession of your hope
before God. all your hopes wrapped up in
the death, burial, and resurrection of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And I'll just tell you something,
don't talk to me about being a believer and ignoring the commandment
of your God, whose power gave you life. It's a contradiction
of terms. Well, I know him, do you? Do you? Then why won't you obey
him? You see what I'm saying? It's
a contradiction of terms. You don't ignore the commandments
of our Lord and then say, well, I'm a disciple. No, you're a
rebel. You're a rebel. And then fourthly,
Matthew 28 through 20. He said, teaching them to observe
all things not just baptism, 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. Now, how to say this. We do not dictate
such things as if we were lords over God's heritage. But as examples
to the flock. So what are you saying? I'm saying
I can show you in the scriptures where baptism is the commandment
of Christ. But I'm not to force it upon
you. You see what I'm saying? Mine
is to teach. Mine is to teach you to observe
these things which He has commanded. But that's as far as I can go.
Then He who has all power, He'll take care of the rest. He'll
take care of the rest. I can show you where the Lord's
table is in ordinance. We're commanded of our Lord to
observe it. But I have no authority to make
you partake of it. I can't make you eat the bread
or drink the wine. And again, the one with all power
will take care of that. But we're commanded to do a whole
lot more. We're commanded to love one another.
Anybody here feels like they don't fall short of that? I don't
know of anything we fall more short of than that. Love one
another. I'll tell you what we've done.
We've surrounded ourselves with excuses and restraints. That's what we've done. True
love does not hold back in fear of being taken advantage of.
It just loves. It just loves. It doesn't say,
well, I love, but no, it just loves. It just loves. Well, what if it's taken advantage
of? So what? So what? Love is without condition. There
is no conditions. Well, if they do that, I could
love them. No. No. You love them when they don't
do anything. He said the world loves those
that love them. Here's love, love your enemies. Oh, why? Because you were an
enemy and God loved you. Is that right? While we were
yet enemies, he reconciled us. True love is without condition,
it's without reservations, and it's without excuses. What if
God put such excuses and conditions and reservations on us? Wouldn't one of us be loved of
God? God commended His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And I can and do teach you to
observe these things and a whole lot more, but I've got no power
to make it happen. I'm just to teach you. I'm to
consider you as a pupil and teach you. And he that has all power,
he'll make it effectual. He'll make it effectual. And
he will do that in all his elect. Thank you.