Tonight we come to the concluding message in this series of messages from the book of Matthew. We will take for our text this evening the last paragraph of Matthew chapter 28. Let's read it together beginning at verse 11.

Matthew 28 verse 11. Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, that is, some of those Roman guards who were charged to watch and guard the tomb of the Lord Jesus, 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 soldiers, 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." That is, you don't have to worry about punishment. We've got Pilate in our hands. We know how to take care of that. So they took the money and did as they were taught. And this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day."

Now, Matthew was writing about 63 to 65 A.D. He said this saying is common to this day. Little did he know it's still common to this day, still common to this day.

Then the eleven disciples, Judas was dead, just eleven now, went away into Galilee, unto a mountain where Jesus had appointed And when they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power, authority, dominion, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, to underscore the word therefore. You have reason to go with confidence. You have reason to obey what I'm about to tell you with confidence. All power is mine. All power is mine. Go ye therefore, because all power resides in me. 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 this last paragraph of Matthew's Gospel, the Holy Spirit inspired his servant to record several important things, matters full of spiritual instruction for us. The paragraph begins with a picture of the blind absurdities unbelief will grasp when the truth of God is willfully rejected. These Jews received this common report, utterly ridiculous report, and yet it was commonly received by those who would not receive the truth of God.

And then Matthew shows us that there is in the hearts of true believers much weakness and much unbelief. When our Lord Jesus appears on the mount and the disciples, better than 500, all come together at one time to worship him, we read, some doubted. Some who were true believers, some who saw Christ standing right in front of them, some doubted.

And then the paragraph concludes Matthew concludes his gospel narrative of our Lord's life and ministry by recording for our learning that which is commonly called the Great Commission, the commission which our Savior here gives to his church just before he ascended back into heaven. And that will be our subject this evening.

In this Great Commission, our Lord Jesus Christ shows us that it is the responsibility of his church to preach the gospel to all men, to baptize those who profess faith in him, and to teach believers by the faithful instruction of the word of God, to teach believers to observe, obey, and keep all that he commanded and taught. Now, as we look at these verses of Scripture together this evening, I want to show you five things that are clearly set before us. You can hold your Bibles open on your lap and you'll follow along very easily.

First, in verses 11 through 15, Matthew shows us the conspiracy of the Jews. When they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city and showed the chief priests all the things that were done. And when they were assembled with the elders and had taken counsel, they gave large money to the soldiers. saying, Say ye his disciples came by night and stole him away while we slept.

And then this report was commonly received and commonly accepted among the Jews throughout their days until Matthew wrote his gospel, and it is commonly accepted today. Matthew makes no comment concerning this fact. He simply states it as a matter of fact.

When the chief priests and elders heard from the soldiers, that is, they heard from the Roman sentinels, the Roman guards who were charged strictly to watch the tomb, to make certain that no one came and disturbed that tomb. That was their job. And you must understand something concerning the discipline of soldiers in the Roman army. For those fellows to fall asleep on the job, and that be reported to their superiors, meant their death. That was a serious business. They didn't have soldiers like we do. The Roman soldiers were considered to be altogether expendable. And for a man who was given the responsibility to stand guard, to fall asleep on his guard, would mean that man would be put to death were it reported to his superiors. And all the Roman soldiers knew that.

So when this story is reported that the disciples came and stole the Lord's body while the guards slept, that's just a little incredible. That's just a little bit hard to believe. These fellows only had to stand watch for a number of hours, and they'd change shifts, just like you'd change shifts on a job. But these fellows are persuaded by bribery to say the disciples came and stole them away, and the Jewish priests and elders, they said, now if this word gets back to Pilate, don't worry, we'll let Pilate understand. That it's better for him to go along with this than it is for him to report anything concerning you, because then it would be commonly reported that Jesus is king and Pilate would be considered his friend.

And so they said, we got Pilate right in our pocket. Now these folks, when they heard this word from the soldiers, these Jewish leaders, these elders, these chief priests, gave no consideration to the matter. When the soldiers said the Lord Jesus has risen from the dead, on the third day, just like he said he would rise from the dead, the Jewish elders didn't even stop to think about it. They weren't concerned. They weren't interested in the facts. They weren't concerned with the details. They gave no consideration to the evidence whatsoever. They don't seem to even be disturbed by the report.

All these men were interested in was protecting themselves, protecting their positions, and keeping the people under their thumb. And therefore, they immediately began to do what we commonly call today, or what our politicians call today, spin control. They said, now we've got to get control of this thing. We've got to make sure this thing, the spin on this is given just the way we want it, lest the people be deceived.

Now that's amazing, amazing in itself, but it's even more amazing when you consider the fact that it worked. It worked. The fellows said, now, now Jesus' disciples, they say he rose from the dead, but now fellows, you know, that's not possible. You know that's not possible. What happened? These Roman soldiers, they fell asleep on the job, and they came and told us about it, and his disciples came while they were asleep and stole him away. And the fellow says, oh, well, okay. And they just believed him. They just followed him, hook, line, and sinker, for one reason. Because when God blinds men's hearts, they're blind. When God sends darkness, darkness engulfs a man's soul. When God sends delusion, delusion destroys. And God had sent blindness to these Jews and they could not believe even the most self-evident truth when it was clearly established beyond any reasonable doubt.

These things really shouldn't surprise us at all. The prejudice of blind unbelief is so great that it will grasp, believe, and defend the most ridiculous absurdities, rather than bow to and receive the truth of God, no matter how evident that truth may be.

Now let me show you from the Scriptures. Turn to John chapter 12 for a moment. Hold your hands here in Matthew 28, and turn to John 12. Listen to what our Lord says as to why these Jews could not believe. John 12 and verse 37. Though he had done so many miracles before them. Now remember, Lazarus has just been raised from the dead. By the way, that's something to say. These fellas saw Lazarus buried, and they talked with Lazarus the next day. They saw Lazarus in the tomb. Four days later, Lazarus is sitting out at a public meal, and they were talking with him. He had done miracles among them. And yet the scripture says, They believe not on him. Verse 38, and this is why, that the saying of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? And to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again, he hath blinded their eyes and harden their heart, that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them."

Look in Romans chapter 8, Romans the 8th chapter, or the 11th chapter rather, and verse Romans chapter 11 and verse 8, the Apostle Paul picks up on this very same thing as to why the Jews were so easily befuddled with the most ridiculous rumors and the most ridiculous tales. He says in verse 8, Romans 11, according as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear unto this day. And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling block, and a recompense unto them. Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back always."

God sends strong delusions on those who will not receive the love of the truth, and causes them, in their folly and unbelief, to receive a lie. Let me give you some examples. You'll see what I'm talking about. This is not just for the Jews. This is not just talking about those Jewish fan-heathen. Oh, no. It's not just talking about the Jewish nation. But men and women, in their unbelief, will grasp anything rather than bow to reveal truth. There is no end to the folly of otherwise smart, brilliant, educated men and women who willfully reject the truth of God, rather than believe that God created all things, as is evident from any basis of rational judgment. I mean, from any basis of rational judgment. You just look at these bodies. Forget everything else, just look at these bodies. Even the worst of them. Even the most unfit of them. Even the most maimed of them. Look at these bodies. And consider the intricate necessity of detail that goes on in the function of our brains, of our bodies, of our hearts, of our lungs. And for some idiot to say that just kind of popped into being. Would you consider the possibility that one of those cars out there just kind of popped up from a pile of metal? That's utter nonsense. Utter nonsense. And yet, rather than believe that, God Almighty created this world which any rational judgment demands.

Men believe that this world sort of evolved from something or another, though they have no idea what. And that the evolutionary process began so long ago that no one has any idea when, just somewhere millions or billions and billions of years ago, maybe beyond that, we really don't know. And they base their assumption upon mere theory without one shred of evidence. I mean, not a shred of evidence. There is plenty of evidence to demonstrate that men devolve. There is plenty of evidence to demonstrate mutation in animal species so that animals devolve from that which they once were to something less. But there is not a shred of evidence in any scientific notebook anywhere in the world that men or any other creature have evolved from something less to something greater. Not a shred of evidence. And yet the whole world believes it. The whole world believes it. And they look at you like a kook, because you say God created the world. They look at you and say, you don't know. Nobody believes that. That's old fashioned. That's out of date.

Rather than believe that salvation is by grace alone, in Christ alone, through faith alone, most people believe that salvation can be obtained in any way a person chooses, so long as he seeks it with sincerity. And they believe that we who insist upon the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ are divisive, sectarian, bigoted people who are just out to cause trouble, rather than bowing to the word of God, rather than bowing to the law of God as the standard of right and wrong. of righteousness and of sin. Most people are willing to tolerate and even to promote abortion. That's the murder of unborn babies. Euthanasia, that's the murder of weak folks. Homosexuality, fornication, adultery, and pornography. And all these things are to be tolerated and promoted in the name of moral tolerance. freedom. Doesn't that sound sweet? We don't want to be bigoted. We don't want to be hard toward men. And if men choose that which is perverse and debasing and destructive, we want to be sure we love a real God. That's utter nonsense.

In our society, in our society, so perverse are things That those literally, I mean literally, those who promote the murder of babies will stand on the streets and crusade for the protection of rattlesnakes. Does that make any sense to anybody? I mean to anybody. Those very same people in government and in society who forbid the teaching of God's word, of God's law in our schools. demand the teaching of homosexuality, lesbianism, fornication, adultery, various methods of sexual perversion, and demand that you start teaching it real early while your kid's early enough to learn. Utter nonsense. But there is absolutely no fallacy which blind unbelief is not prejudiced to receive when the Word of God is in competition with it. None whatever. I repeat myself deliberately. There is no end to the foolishness of otherwise smart, brilliant, educated men and women who willfully reject the truth of God.

This is what the prophet Isaiah says. Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil. To them that put darkness for light and light for darkness. to them that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.

Second, look at verses 16 and 17. Here Matthew describes the congregation of worshipers who gathered in the mountain in Galilee to meet with the risen Lord. Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted.

Judas was now dead, as I said earlier. The apostle Paul had not yet been converted, so there were only eleven of the apostles called the disciples here. It was at this time that they went into Galilee, as the Lord had commanded them, both before his death and after his resurrection. In verse 10, the Lord appeared to the women and said unto them, be not afraid, go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee and there shall they see me.

And it was at this time that there were over 500 brethren gathered in the mouth, as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15, 6. And these 500 brethren saw the Lord Jesus all at one time. And yet when they saw the Lord and worshiped him, some doubted, even while the risen Christ stood right in front of them.

Now, Matthew doesn't tell us what they doubted, and so I'm not going to speculate. I read a good many speculations today, and I figured those fellows didn't know any more about it than I do. But we are given this statement, some doubted, to tell us plainly that some of those 500 Some of those who truly were the Lord's disciples, some of those who truly believed God, had faith that was mixed with unbelief.

And we're given this statement, we're given this revelation, so that we may be constantly aware of the fact that God's saints, so long as we are in this world, are sinners still. We are forgiven, but not faultless. We are pardoned but not protected. We are ourselves right now by the grace of God sanctified in Jesus Christ, but we're by no means sinless in our own lives.

Faith and doubt do exist in the same person. We should never have any doubts about matters of revelation. We should never have any doubts at all concerning our Savior's dominion. concerning God's goodness, concerning God's wisdom. We should have no doubts at all concerning God's righteousness and grace in Christ. We should have no doubts at all concerning any word of promise given by our God.

But what we should have and what we do have, Oscar, is two different things altogether. The fact is, wherever faith is, you can bank on it, there's a good bit of doubt. There's a good bit of doubt. In fact, I would hold in great suspicion the honesty of any man who stood before you and said he has no doubts, never has, doesn't now, and never will.

I recognize for myself there were some here on this mount beholding the risen Christ, and while they worshiped him, some doubted. And I know from my own experience, I've had doubts enough at times to drive a man into utter despair and utter madness. And I know that the very best of God's people, the very best of the best of God's people, had experienced the same thing. Turn to Matthew chapter 11, I'll show you. John the Baptist, our Lord said concerning him, there's never been a man greater than John the Baptist. That's a pretty good testimony. That's a pretty good testimony. Never been another one like him. Not even Moses, the meekest man who ever lived, never been a man like John the Baptist.

And when John the Baptist was in prison, awaiting execution, in prison because of his testimony concerning Jesus Christ the Lord, in prison because of his faithful declaration of God's truth as God's messenger. When he was in prison, we read in Matthew 11 in verse 2, when John heard in prison the works of Christ, He sent two of his disciples, and said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?

But John, didn't you baptize him? John, did you not say, this is the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world? Did you not see the Holy Ghost descend upon him in the form of a dove and abide on him? John, did you not hear God speak from heaven and say, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased? Yes, sir, but now I'm in prison, and now my circumstances would certainly indicate to me that if indeed this is the Christ, he'd do something about my circumstances. I want to know, are you the Christ or do we look for another?

But why on earth are these things revealed? Certainly not to excuse, certainly not to gloss over the horrible evil of doubt and unbelief and sin. But they are revealed plainly to us, stated plainly to us, to let us know and to remind us and to reinforce in our hearts these great basic truths of the gospel.

God's saints in this world are just sinners saved by grace. Oh, God teach us to understand that. I know we know it. We got it fixed. Theoretically, theologically, doctrinally, we understand that God's people are sinners. We're not perfect. We're weak. We're frail. We have two natures. We have flesh and spirit. We know all those things. God teaches to understand it, both with regard to ourselves and with regard to our brethren.

Secondly, these things are revealed to teach us that salvation is by grace alone. Our goodness, our works, our merit, our feelings, not even our faith is the basis of our acceptance with God. You understand that? I did not say a person can be saved without faith. But I am saying that our acceptance with God is not determined by our faith. Our faith accepts and receives what God has done for us in Christ.

Our acceptance with God, and this is the third thing, is on the grounds of Christ's merit, and only on the grounds of Christ's merit. His blood and His righteousness is all our acceptance with the Holy God. Nothing else. Nothing else.

Now if we truly understand and believe these things, they will both teach us and compel us to be patient, long-suffering, and forbearing with one another in times of weakness, inconsistency, and unbelief. Don't be harsh in your judgment of one another's actions. Don't be harsh in your estimate of one another's inconsistencies. Don't. Don't do it. And I'm talking to myself as your pastor, and I'm talking to you.

Recognize that the congregation of the Lord in this world is a congregation of saved sinners. Rex, that's all we are. That's all we are. And saved sinners need help and instruction and encouragement and guidance and direction. They need somebody to pick them up when they fall. They need somebody to lean on when they're weak. They need somebody to care for them when they're inconsistent. They need love and kindness forbearing, gentleness, and patience. Preachers disturb me. myself more than any others, but I get disturbed listening to preachers talk about people, people they minister to, people they preach to, and they talk about them severely, hard, very harsh judgment concerning them because they see inconsistencies in them. And the inconsistencies ought not be there, not in Lindsay Campbell, not in Don Fortner. They oughtn't to be there. But they are. That's just reality.

Sometimes, my soul, not sometimes. It seems incessant there. I do things and think things and say things that are totally inconsistent with everything I know to be right, good, and true. Don't you? Is that not true of you? Everything I know, everything I say, do and think things that are totally inconsistent with the grace I've experienced in my soul. And those inconsistencies, sinful inconsistencies, horribly evil inconsistencies, I don't gloss over them in the least. And yet those things are not going to cause me, God help me, buddy, they're not going to cause me to deny what God has plainly said in his word concerning my relationship with him. And they ought never to cause me to question what God said concerning your relationship with him.

Let us understand that we are all in the same boat. Sinners saved by grace. Let's therefore love one another, care for one another, and help one another. If God's people weren't sheep, they wouldn't need shepherds, and I'd be out of business. And so would all of the preachers. Now, some of you folks are familiar with raising cattle. Maybe a few of you are familiar with raising sheep. But sheep are the dumbest, dirtiest, most helpless, sickly, ignorant animals you can possibly think of taking care of. If they roam, they know how to roam, but they don't know how to come home. If they're sick and fall down, you've got to go pick them up. They can't even bear their own young by themselves. They've got to have constant care. They constantly need care. That's the reason he's given shepherds to serve under the shepherd to care for his sheep.

Well, enough concerning that. Thirdly, I want us to consider the claim of our Savior to sovereignty, power, dominion, and authority over all things. I'll just gloss over this very quickly. Our Savior says in verse 18, Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power, all power, all authority, all dominion, all government, all rule is given unto me in heaven and in earth. This is what the Apostle Paul declares. He says, Because Christ was obedient unto death, God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name. that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in the earth and things under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Our Lord Jesus Christ was given by virtue of his obedience unto death as our substitute absolute dominion over everything. Absolute dominion. He has all authority over all the angels so that they are dispatched from heaven according to His Word to be ministering spirits, to minister to His redeemed people. He has all authority over all the gifts of the Spirit so that all the gifts of grace given to me are dispatched from heaven's glory by the power of God's Spirit according to His will to His redeemed people. He has all authority over all things in the earth as well. So that all men, all flesh are ruled by Him. All the events of time, all the events of nature, all the events of providence, all events good, all events evil, everything in the universe is ruled by Him who is Christ our Redeemer and our Lord. Even Satan and the demons of hell are under His dominion, and He rules them exactly. They can do nothing without His permission, except according to His decree.

And our Lord Jesus rules this universe for the salvation of His people. He's given this authority, this power, this dominion, that He should give eternal life unto as many as the Father has given Him. In the light of that fact, with that as the preface, our Lord having declared His authority, His sovereign dominion, in verses 19 and 20, we are given the commission from our Master to preach the gospel. A commission that is set before us, telling us plainly what our responsibility is. 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."

Now, there's absolutely no question, there's absolutely no question what the ministry of God's church in this world is. There's no question, there's no room for debate, there's no room for for, well, let's think about doing this, let's think about doing that. I get religious papers, church periodicals, come across my desk literally every day. And if you read the newspaper, if you keep up with it to any degree, what's going on in religion, regrettably, even among some who profess to believe the gospel of God's free grace, you'll find that the church today is altogether engulfed in everything imaginable except what God said for us to do. Everything imaginable except what God said for us to do.

But what are we to do? Would you read the text again? Our Lord said, go ye therefore. That is literally as you are going. He's not giving us a command to go out as missionaries. or to go out as pastors or evangelists to Africa or to Brazil or to some other part of the world. He's saying, as you make your pilgrimage through this world, as you are going, make disciples of all nations. Teach all nations. The word teach simply means to make disciples. And the way you make disciples is by teaching, by teaching them the gospel, by preaching the gospel to them. So that as J.C. Riles puts it, It is the bounden duty of every disciple of Christ to do all that he can in person and by prayer to make others acquainted with Jesus.

The church here is given a threefold responsibility. This is the ministry of God's church from beginning to end. This is the ministry of every true local church. This is the ministry of every believer. This is what God has put us in this world to do.

Number one, our Lord commands us to teach or to make disciples. God has an elect multitude in every nation, in every kindred, in every tribe, in every tongue. Christ has his sheep everywhere. It is our responsibility by the grace of God to do what we can through the preaching of the gospel to seek them out. The only means we have of doing so is teaching them the things of Christ. The Persian version, John Gill says, I couldn't read Persian if I had, but he did. He said the Persian version explains our Lord's commission most accurately. This is what they say. Bring them to my religion. and to my faith. That's exactly what he's talking about. Bring them out of Judaism. Bring them out of paganism. Bring them from worshipping their totem pole gods. Bring them out of works religion. Bring them out of idolatry. Bring them out of darkness to my religion, my gospel, and my faith. That's our responsibility.

Now, we don't want to make proselytes. You better want to. You better want to. We are responsible under God to bring men and women to faith in Jesus Christ by the preaching of the gospel.

Well, I don't want to force my religion on anybody. You can't. You can't do it, but you better not hide it. You better not hide it. In the generation in which we live, you and I are responsible to make the gospel of God's grace known to all men. That's our responsibility.

So that we're bound under God for the glory of God to bear witness of what he has done for us by his grace in Christ. We are bound under God for the glory of God to dispense the literature that by which men and women may hear or read the gospel of God's grace. We are bound under God to encourage folks by whatever means we can to hear the Word of God preached in plainness with clarity under the power of God's Spirit. We're bound under God to support the ministry of men who faithfully preach the Word and to call on God to bless His Word. It's our responsibility.

to make known to men who Jesus Christ is, what He did, why He did it, where He is now, what He's doing, to make known to men their utter ruin, make known to men redemption by Christ, make known to men salvation by free grace alone.

And then secondly, we are commanded to baptize all those who become Christ's disciples. Now the order is given in exact order according to divine inspiration. Our text does not say, the word of God does not say, our Lord Jesus does not say, go ye therefore into all nations baptizing them and making disciples. That's not what it says. He does not send us to baptize and then to teach, but rather he sends us to teach and then to baptize those who are taught of God, who actually become his disciples. That's very important.

Turn to Acts chapter 8 for a moment. Acts 8. Philip has just preached the gospel to the Ethiopian eunuch. is traveling across the desert. And in verse 35, after Philip preached Jesus to them out of Isaiah 53, verse 36, they went on their way and came to a certain water. And the eunuch said, see, here is water. What doth hinder me to be baptized?

Allow me to digress for a little bit. I can't resist. Can you imagine walking across the desert or riding across the desert without a canteen or even a barrel full of water? Would any of you even today think about driving across the desert in one of Rex's fast cars, drive all the way across the desert with no water around? Well, of course, you know what's your point. If this Ethiopian eunuch, as most reasonable judgment would suspect, had a keg of water on the side of his wagon. He didn't have to wait until he got to a pond of water to be baptized if baptism could be done by sprinkling a little water on your face. He had come now to a place where there was much water where he could be baptized, and the word baptized means where he could be dipped or immersed in the name of the Lord Jesus. What does hinder me from being baptized? And Philip said, if thou believest with all thine heart thou mayest. That's the condition. That's the condition. Why didn't we baptize Cody and Casey when they were born? Mama and Daddy both believers. They both been baptized. Surely we ought to take them into the church. Oh no. We're absolutely forbidden to add to the Word of God. We're absolutely forbidden to alter God's ordinance. We don't baptize babies. We don't immerse them. And we sure don't sprinkle water on their face and call it baptizing them. Because that is strictly forbidden in the Scriptures.

The only way I baptize you is if you believe. If you believe with all your heart. Then you'll be baptized. And you ought to be baptized. You're commanded to be baptized. You must be baptized. But the condition of baptism is faith.

Baptism is our confession of faith in Jesus Christ, therefore it must be by burial. You cannot be saved by simply being sick and having a little water sprinkled on you to heal you. You can't be saved simply by having a little water poured over you to wash you. No, the only way you can be saved is by dying. There's got to be a substitutionary sacrifice. Blood must be shed to the pouring out of life. And so we were buried with Christ when he died. And we're buried with him in the waters of baptism. You understand that? Burial implies death. I was crucified with Christ.

More than that, this baptism is a mark of distinction between believers and all the rest of the religious world. We are not the only ones who practice baptism. Most religions practice baptism. And in this day when the Jews were converted and when the Gentiles were converted, when they were baptized, that baptism was a testimony to family and friends, all their past religion was works idolatry and God was not in it. And so when they were baptized, you know what they did? They rode them out of their will. They kicked them out of the family. They put them out of the unions. They said, all right, you won't have anything to do with our God. We won't have anything to do with you. And the folks said, OK, we've got to identify with Christ.

Baptism is an oath, an oath of our allegiance to Jesus Christ. By our baptism, we testify to the world and to God's church and to God that Jesus Christ is our Lord. And we will walk with him and we will follow him. Baptism is our confessed hope of resurrection glory. So that as Jesus Christ, though he was dead and was buried, yet on the third day he arose. So we have been crucified with Christ and now symbolically buried with Christ. And we arise with him to walk in the newness of life with confidence that one day we shall indeed rise with him and walk in the newness of life in resurrection glory.

Baptism is to be performed in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, the one true and living God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the blessed Trinity of their persons. And then thirdly, It is the responsibility of God's church to teach believing sinners all that Christ has commanded us. We have no right to invent doctrines. We have no right to dismiss doctrines. We have no right to hold back doctrines. We have no right to distribute doctrines this to this group and this to that group and hide things from other folks. We are responsible under God to teach exactly what Christ has commanded us to teach, the whole of his word, just exactly as it is. We're commanded to teach all the doctrines of the gospel. All of them. If men like it, great. If they don't like it, too bad, but we're commanded to teach it. If it causes the church to grow, wonderful. If it causes the church to diminish, it's too bad, but we're commanded to teach it. If it causes us to become before men objects of amazement and wonder, that's fine. If it causes us to become before men objects of ridicule and laughter, that's too bad, but we're commanded to teach it. Exactly as it's set forth in Scripture. We're commanded to teach all the duties of faith and worship. We're commanded to teach all the responsibilities of life in this world exactly as they're presented in this book.

And fifth, I want you to notice just briefly the comfort of the church. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. Amen.

Now I want you to understand me. Understand me now. I'm thankful for your company. I'm thankful for your companionship. I'm thankful for your communion and fellowship in the gospel. But his is more important. His is more important.

And if I'm faithful to him, I have assurance as I proclaim his word. He's with me. Bob, we have assurance as we, as a congregation, faithfully give ourselves to the fulfilling of this commission. I'm with you. I'm with you. Always. Good times and bad. I'm with you to pardon, forgive, and sanctify you. I'm with you to lead you, guide you, and protect you. I'm with you to provide all your needs, strengthen you in your way, and preserve you. I'm with you in sorrow, and in joy, in trial, and in triumph. I'm with you while you live, and I'll be with you when you die, and I'll be with you forever.

He's promised it, and He'll stand to His promise. That's encouragement enough. That's good enough. It doesn't matter who is not with us, and it doesn't matter who is with us, as long as He's with us.

Oh, I'm with you always, even to the end of the world. Amen.