Why the great comission?

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That's cornerstonerbc.com. Today I want us to consider the Great Commission. That is the name of that is the label that Christians had given to these passage of scriptures throughout church history. The Great Commission.

We are going to be reading from verse 16 all the way to verse 20 that we're going to be paying more careful attention, of course, to verse 18. 19 and 20 where the Great Commission is given to us. The Lord Jesus Christ gave us that commission by giving it first to the apostles. The apostles were the pillar, the foundation of the church. And in giving that great commission to the apostles, the Lord gave that great commission to the church.

Let us read. This is the word of the Lord. Matthew chapter 28 verse 16. Let us pay careful attention. to each one of the words.

This is the word of God. Matthew chapter 28 verse 16. Now the 11 disciples went to Galilee to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him, that is the resurrected Jesus Christ, and when they saw him, the resurrected price, they worshipped him. But some of the disciples doubted.

And Jesus, this is the response of Jesus to their doubt. And Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the sun and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. Amen.

This is God's word. Certainly the Book of Matthew, brethren, is a beautiful book, not only because in the end of the book we have what we call the Great Commission, but also, very importantly, because when you carefully read the Book of Matthew, you realize that the Book of Matthew is filled with promises that God has given to the church through the Lord Jesus Christ. The promises of God given to us the church through the Lord Jesus Christ. And certainly, perhaps one of the most beautiful and powerful promises that God has given to the church through the Lord Jesus Christ is found in Matthew chapter 16. There in Matthew chapter 16, we're going to hear two things about the church from the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The first one is about who is responsible for the building up of the church. And the second thing is about the future of the church. Of course, I'm referring to verse 18 on the 16th chapter of the book of Matthew, where the Lord Jesus Christ says, I will build up my church. You can hear me, right? Verse 18, where the Lord Jesus Christ says, I will build up my church.

And second, he says, and the gates of hell or the gates of Hades shall not prevail against the church. Two questions are answered there by the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who is responsible for the building up of the church? The Lord Jesus Christ says, I will build up my church. And what is the future of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ?

The Lord says the gates of hell or the gates of Hades shall not prevail against the church. Now, when we hear promises of God, they are beautiful and powerful because one of the things that the promises of God do for the soul of people and Christians is that they give us comfort. When we do not know what is going to happen in the future, when we are uncertain about what is to come, and when we come to the Scriptures, and by God's grace, we open the Scriptures and we read the Scriptures, and we hear and we read the promises of God, we have an insight into that which is going to happen in the future. The God who controls absolutely all things, He tells us of what is going to happen in the future. And the promises of God become really sweet to the heart of the Christian.

But independently of our doubts, independently of the fact that we don't know what is going to happen when we come to the scripture and by God's grace, we hear his promises. We know that he has the control of all things. And certainly, brethren, when we comes to that promise given in Matthew chapter 16 verse 18 that I will build up my church and the gates of Hades shall not prevailed against the church. Certainly, brethren, The heart of the Christian is filled with comfort and with peace. Because in that promise, my dear brother and sister, the Lord Jesus Christ does many things.

You know, the first thing that he does is that he takes ownership of his church. He says, I will build my church. He does not say, I will build your church. Or he does not say, I will build someone else's church. But rather, the Lord Jesus Christ takes ownership of the church.

He says, you are my church. And of course, the Lord Jesus Christ is not referring to the building. But he's referring to every single person that is part of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Christ takes ownership of those who belong to the church. You are mine, he says.

I came to this world to leave and to die upon the cross and to be resurrected so that the church, my people will be mine. And what a great news that is, my dear brother and sister, that the ownership of my soul is not mine, but belongs to the Savior. the one who created heavens and earth, and the one that is powerful to know that the genuine believer belongs to not to themselves, but that belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. And if that was not sufficient in that glorious promise given to us in Matthew chapter 16 verse 18, The Lord Jesus Christ also takes responsibility for the building up of his church. He says not only that the church is mine, but he also says, I will build my church.

He does not say the task is for you to build up the church. What I'm going to give, I'm going to delegate this task to someone else to build the church, but rather The Lord Jesus Christ says, you are my people. Once you were not a people, now you are my people. And the task of building you up and finish the work in you is not yours, but it's mine. I will build up my church.

What a great blessing that is, my dear brother and sister, to know that the task of building yourself up or building the church is not given or granted to a person, but rather that the Son of God is the one that is entrusted to build the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. that the work that He has started in each one of us will come to completion, not because you're very powerful, not because you're very strong, not because you're very wise, or not because you have the answers to the questions, but rather that if by grace through faith you are His, the promise is for you. He will build you up. You are the works of his hands. And then someone might say, well, but I'm just so weak and I'm so sinner and I'm tend to deviate from the path of the Lord.

He says, I will build up my church. He takes ownership of those who have come by grace through faith to his feet. And he also takes responsibility and brethren. He does not say, I may build up the church, or it is likely that I will build up the church, but rather he says, I will build up the church. This is the great comfort that we Christians have, that independently when we see to ourselves and we see what is inside of our minds and of our hearts, and when we see how weak we are and how sinful we are, and how we live many times life deviating from the calling of the Lord.

And when we see our performance and what is inside of us so separated of what the Lord requires of us, that we hear the sweet voice of the Savior that says, I will build up my church. I will bring to completion the work that I have started in each one of my sons and daughters because I came to die for them and they are mine. And I'm the one who takes responsibility for that task. And if that was not sufficient comfort given to the church, he also tells us that the greatest enemy of the church, Satan, his demons and his kingdom shall not prevail against the church. Do you know that Satan and his demons are much more powerful than you are?

That if you were going to live on your own to face the foes and the dangers of Satan and his demons, very likely, very likely, very, very likely you will be destroyed. But the Lord Jesus Christ says the gates of Hades or hell shall not prevail against the church. And this is because our Lord Jesus Christ is the one that keeps us in his hands. He's the one that protects us. He's the one that loves us.

And my dear brother and sister, even if you don't feel that you're going to make it until the end, it doesn't matter. If you are one of his, you're going to make it until the end because the work is not ours. The work is the work of the Lord. And it's not about how we feel in the present. It is about what he did in the past and what he's currently doing.

He says, I will build up my church. When nations have disappeared and when kingdoms have been destroyed, the only one that will remain standing is the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. When all the enterprises of men have come to an end, and we look back in history and we see that great men and women were lifted up throughout history, but all of their endeavors and enterprises came to an end. The only one that will remain until the end is the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And not because that church was comprised of powerful and important people, but despised of the weakness and despised of the errors and sins of those people, they had a Savior.

And that Savior is Jesus Christ, Lord of lords and King of kings. And he would have taken that church until the end. And he would have said, I have fulfilled my promise. I built up this church. I completed the work in each one of my sons and daughters.

I am the one who came to die for them. I am the one who lived for them. I am the one who came and returned to the world for them. And now I'm presenting them to you, Father. Here is my bride.

Here is the fulfillment of your kingdom. That is a glorious thing, brethren. Because when we look and pay attention to the things of this world that are passing away, this is the most important thing that a person can have. To have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ and to have certainty that we are a child of God, that we're united to him by Christ Jesus, and that we can say we are part of the Church. that the Lord is building up.

We are a part of this promise that the Lord has given that the gates of hate, haters shall not prevail against the church. And you know what the glorious thing is? It is about this whole thing that even though the Lord Jesus Christ says, I will build up my church throughout history, He uses you and me and Christians to fulfill the promise of the building up of his church. Because the building up of his church is not to have a nice building or a better building. It is not to meet in the Western world or the Eastern world or to have many churches or a few churches.

The building up of his church is the people who are outside. that are lost and dead in their sins and their trespasses. They are added to the body of the Lord Jesus Christ by the power of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it has pleased the Lord that even though he's powerful enough just to create the church into existence by his word, as he did heavens and earth, that he could certainly do that and then just speak the church into existence and to have it completed and finished. He has decided that the way that he's going to build up his church, it is by the feeble work and the feeble endeavors and the feeble ministry of broken hands of His people that throughout history being persecuted, being mocked, being despised will be used by the one who is glorious and mighty to bring to salvation the one who the world despise and considers to be unforgivable so that God in the end will take all the glory because He is the one that would have completed the work in all of those people that the world would have despised and considered to be the rubbish of this world.

The Lord uses people in his hands and as instruments to fulfill the great purpose that he has ordained from eternity past. And if we only have a glimpse of who God is, and if only have a glimpse into who Jesus Christ is, brethren, we would know that this is the greatest task and the greatest mission that a person can have. When we look back and we see all the money that we have accumulated, when we look back and we see all the houses that we have, when we look back and see the cars that we have and the land that we have bought and the things that we have done and the kids that we have raised and the education that we have given them, all of those will pass away, brethren. All of them will pass away, and the only thing that will remain is what we have done in and for Christ Jesus. And in the end of the day, we will look back and then we will see Lord.

had I been more on my knees, or preaching the gospel, or studying the scriptures, or in your presence. My goal and my desire as I was studying these brethren is that we will all be encouraged to take this message that we have, which is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and to understand how powerful of a message it is. And by having this message in us, it is the message that saved us, to be compelled and encouraged to open our mouth and to proclaim that someone came to this world to die for our sins, whose name is Jesus Christ, and that apart from forgiveness in Christ Jesus, life means nothing. And that if we died in our sins, what comes ahead, it is not only a bad trip or a difficult situation, but what comes ahead is something so serious that I don't even have the sufficient words or verbs or adjectives or adverbs or nouns to describe the depth of how horrible it is for a person to die outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. So let us remember the day in which we were saved, brother.

And let us remember the grace that was bestowed and given to that person, whoever that was, or to that group of people, whoever that was, that brought the gospel of Jesus Christ to you. Because certainly we do believe that is the grace of the Lord that saved you. That is the Lord Jesus Christ who chose us before the foundation of the world that saved you. Praise God for that person that brought the gospel to your ears, brethren, because that person was an instrument in the hands of the Lord to transform your life. or better, to give you life.

And if that person did not open their mouth, and if that person decided not to speak, and if that person decided to remain silent, yes, we know that the Lord would have saved you. But the grace of God was upon the person to speak of Christ to you. Now, you know that there are many people outside of this building that they have not heard. There are many people within our families that they have not heard. Do you know that there are many people within our friends and co-workers that they have not heard?

Do you know that there are many instances and times in which we have been so embarrassed or ashamed that we don't want them to know that we are Christians and we have remained silent as I have? Brethren, we have the light of the gospel in us to bring the light of Christ to the one that is lost. This is why Christians have called this passage the Great Commission, because it is the commission that has been given to us. And what a glorious thing, brethren, is to see the Lord working in the life of sinners. What a glorious thing it is to see a person who was a liar, a person that was a sexually immoral, to see a person that was a slave to sin, that the grace of the Lord came to that person.

And now you see the transformation that only can happen in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know what the scripture says? That the gospel is the power of God, and to salvation for everyone who believes. A power that has been given to us to proclaim and to communicate. I want us from this verse now, I've taken very long just to say those things.

But if you come please to verse 18, verse 19 and verse 20, forgive me for taking that long just to say that. I want us to come to verse 18, 19 and 20. It is a passage of scriptures that we know very well. We've heard these, perhaps you have even memorized, and perhaps, I'm pretty sure, that you have heard many sermons about this great commission. The structure of the passage is very simple.

The Lord Jesus Christ is going to tell the apostles what they are supposed to do in verse 19. What they are supposed to do is that great commission, and that is go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, and to make disciples of all nations, you baptize them. Baptize them in the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, and in the name of the Spirit. And once you have baptized them, then you teach them. You teach them all things that I have commanded you.

All the things that I have given you, my apostles, those are the things that you are to teach those people that as you go, and then you make them disciples, and then you baptize them, you teach them all those things. And then he says that the reason why you are supposed to do that, the reason why you are supposed to go to the nations and communicate this message is verse 18. It's because all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. All authority has been given to me. So you therefore go and complete this mission.

And if the authority that I have received is not enough, Let me just give you this promise. I'm going to be with you always, until the end of the age. You may think that you are alone. You may think that you don't have words. You may think that you don't have the strength.

But I'll tell you, I, Christ Jesus, who is now resurrected and victorious, and is going to be in heaven while you do these things, I am going to be with you always. Who can be against you if I'm with you? That is the structure of the passage. So I want us simply, by the power of the scriptures, to be able to see biblically, not from tradition and from the things that we've heard about this passage, but I want us to come from the scriptures and then to see this great commission. I want us to do three things, okay?

From verse 18, I want us to see this great authority. You see that in verse 18, the Lord Jesus Christ speaks about authority that has been given to him? This is a great authority. Verse 18, a great authority. Then inverse 19, of course, is going to give us the commission.

I want us to see the great commission. And then finally, In the second clause of verse 20, he's going to give us a great promise. He says, behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. I think that is clear the passenger, a great authority of Christ Jesus that leads us and is the foundation for a great commission given to the church. And once this commission has been given to the church, then we have a great promise.

Let us start with the first one. Verse 18. A great authority. What is that authority that the Lord Jesus Christ is referring about in verse 18? He claims and he tells us that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to the Lord.

And I suppose that this is actually a fair question to ask because we know that the Lord Jesus Christ is not only men, but he's also God, and if he's God and he has always been God, he has always have had authority right before he was incarnate. He was king in heaven and he was king on earth. Certainly the Bible tells us that all things were created for him and through Him and in Him and that He is King and that He is Lord. And here the apostle is going, or the Lord Jesus Christ is going to tell us about a authority, a type of authority that has been given to Him. A different type of authority that was not in Christ, but now that has been granted or given to Him.

It is a very fair question, because Christians have tried to answer this throughout history, and they have given perhaps two sides to this question, or two answers to this question. There will be a group of Christians that say that this authority that the Lord Jesus Christ has is an authority that is only His authority. That this authority is not given to the Church, but that this authority is only the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. And because now the Lord Jesus Christ is in heaven, he is exercising this authority in heaven. And the timing or the time in which the Lord is going to exercise that authority on earth is not now, but rather when he comes, he's going to establish his kingdom upon the earth.

And when he establishes his kingdom upon his upon the earth, Then is when the Lord Jesus Christ will exercise that authority upon the earth. Why? Because this authority, they say, it is only the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ is not given to the church. And that is fair, because that's what it takes us in verse 18 that this authority has been given to Jesus Christ, right? So they say if he's in heaven, he exercised that authority in heaven.

Only when he comes back and he establishes his kingdom is that he will exercise the authority on earth. Then there's another side, and that gives a different answer to the question. And they say, well, this is the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, but he gives this authority to the church. And we know that because verse 19, they will say, go therefore. The reason why he gave the commission, they say, it is because of the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So the authority of Christ Jesus is given to the church. And now, because Christ Jesus is in heaven and is not on the earth, the church is the representative of the authority of Jesus Christ and is the mission of the church, not only to proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, but to express or to communicate or to convey that authority of the Lord Jesus Christ and to overtake the authority of men. So you may have heard perhaps that when it comes to the political environment, it is the mission of the church not only to proclaim the gospel, but because the church has the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is also the mission of the church to take over the political structures of authority so that the kingdom of Christ is established upon the earth. Or when it comes to the economic environment of the world, these people would say that it's not only the mission of the church to proclaim the gospel, but it's also the mission of the church to take over these economic structures of power upon the earth and through taking over these structures of power to establish the kingdom of the Lord.

Same thing for legal environment, political environment, environmental aspects, that the Church has the authority not only to proclaim the Gospel, but also to take the authority of men, they have the authority of Christ, and to establish the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. What is it? Is it that is just the authority of Christ Jesus in heaven, and he will establish it when he comes back? What is it? The authority of Jesus Christ that he has given to the church.

And because Jesus Christ is not on the earth, but the church is now the church has the duty to not only proclaim the gospel, but to establish the authority of Christ Jesus over the authority of men. And some will say even to the point to Christianize the world so that when Christ Jesus comes, the world will be already established with the kingdom of Christ. Let me submit to you that with every single extremes or with all extremes that come in theology, usually the biblical answer is found in the middle. There will be something that is good from one side, and there will be something that is good on the other side. Let me just simply tell you two words that will help us understand biblically what is the nature of this authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Okay, two words. The first one is redemption, and the second one is, I always forget this word, commission. Redemption and commission. Let me set me to you, and I'm going to demonstrate this from the scriptures, that the nature of the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ that he claims to have in verse 18, it is a redemptive authority that is commissioned and given to the church while he remains in heaven and the churches on the earth. This redemptive authority, it is the result of the victory of the Lord Jesus Christ who came to earth to defeat sin, death, and Satan, not only with his death, but more importantly, with his resurrection.

When the Lord Jesus Christ was resurrected, this is the victory of the Lord Jesus Christ. He defeated sin, death, and Satan. And this is the authority that he did not have before he had accomplished that. He had divine authority because he's God. But when he defeated sin, death, and Satan with his resurrection, the Father granted him redemptive authority that dealt with spiritual matters, namely forgiveness of sins or repentance of sins, and forgiveness of sins.

This spiritual authority of Jesus Christ that is redemptive in nature is the one that is given to the church. So that just as Jesus Christ came to defeat sin, death, and Satan, now that he is in heaven, he has granted this authority to the church so that through the proclamation of the gospel, we continue to defeat sin, death and Satan until he comes. And when he comes, he fulfills all the destruction, namely death being his last enemy. This is a redemptive spiritual authority that Christ Jesus grants and gives to the church. And because it is spiritual, these authorities contained only in the message of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The authority that Christ has given us is called the gospel of Jesus Christ. With the message of the gospel, we have divine power to push back the kingdom of darkness. With the message of the gospel, Christians have the authority and the power to push back sin, death and Satan. Not because we're strong in and of ourselves, but because this is the message of God himself and the Son, Jesus Christ. This is the power of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

How do I know that? I simply know that because when you read the parallel passages of the Great Commission, you will realize that the authority of Jesus Christ is a spiritual authority in nature, given and granted to the Church. Come with me to Mark chapter 16. We'll read a couple of passages. I will prove that and move on to the next point.

Luke chapter 16. The nature of the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ is a spiritual in nature given to you and me in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ by presence of the spirit of God in us. It says in Mark chapter 16, this is the great commission again. Mark chapter 16, it says in verse 14. Afterwards, afterward, he appeared to the 11 themselves as they were reclining at table or at the table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and the hardness of their heart because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen.

And brethren, the incredible thing here is that they doubted, the disciples doubted, right? That they had heard so many times that Jesus Christ was going to be raised from the dead. And when it actually happened, they doubted. And we cannot blame them. A person has been resurrected from the dead.

And the Lord Jesus Christ does not only come to them and say, hey, look, I'm alive. He does actually that. He says, look, touch me. We can eat together. I'm alive.

But instead of saying, I have resurrected from the dead, he says, all authority has been given to me. fact that I'm resurrected it means it's equal to all authority has been given to me you see me I'm alive and that means that I have defeated sin that means that I have defeated death that means that I have defeated Satan and because of that I have authority redemptive authority I was victorious I was dead and now I'm alive Yes, I was resurrected and that is a glorious thing to see. But now hear this. I have authority and that authority and given it to you. So he says in verse 15 and he said to them, go into all the world and proclaim the gospel.

to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. I have authority that I have defeated sin, death, and Satan. This authority now is given to you as a redemptive authority that is contained in the gospel, in the proclamation of the gospel. So you will carry on this work that I have started of defeating death, sin, and Satan through the proclamation of the gospel.

He makes that more clear in Luke chapter 24. If you come with me there in Luke chapter 24 and I will conclude this point with this passage. Luke chapter 24 if you come to Luke chapter 24 verse 36 Once again, the apostles doubted that He was resurrected. And of course, nobody will blame them. A person that was dead, now they see it with their eyes.

It's not easy to believe even if you've told that this is going to happen. Plus, the flesh does not allow us to believe and to understand the spiritual things. So it says in Luke chapter 24, verse 36, as they were talking, I said Luke 24, verse 36, as they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, peace to you but they were startled and frightened and though they saw us and they thought they saw a spirit and he said to them why are you troubled and and why do you and why do doubts arise in your hearts see my hands and my feet that it is i myself touch me For a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see that I have. And when he has said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved, for joy they were marveling.

He said to them, have you anything here to eat? He's going to try to prove it. They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them. Then he said to them, These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the son must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and said to them, Thus it is written.

that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead. In other words, it was written that the Messiah will come and suffer and die, and on the third day He will be victorious, He will be resurrected, that the Messiah will defeat sin, death and Satan. The victory of Christ was prophesied before, verse 47, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things, and behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you, but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high." In other words, I am victorious.

I am victorious, I have defeated sin and death and Satan. And even though you see me now, what you actually see is the victory of Amen. Never ever before Amen had died and come back to life because he was sinless. This is the first time ever that Amen comes back to life, not only because he's sinless, but because he's got himself victorious, Christ Jesus. And because he's victorious now, God the Father gives to him all redemptive authority.

Satan is no longer able to keep hold of those who are the people of God, because now Jesus Christ has defeated sin, death and Satan. And these redemptive history or this redemptive authority now is given to you. Go on, proclaim this message. Go and proclaim this victory. Go and proclaim this message of forgiveness of sins, repentance of sins.

You may think that is a feeble message and you may be embarrassed about it. And you may think that is a simple thing, but I'm telling you that that message is powerful. That that message is that which saves. That that message is that which gives eternal life. And when they mock you and when they say things about you, remember, This is the victory, this is my victory.

And in the proclamation of this message, you are proclaiming the victory of God. This is the authority of Jesus, brethren, that has been given to us, not because we're powerful, not because we're strong, not because we have answers to questions, but even the most feeble of the saints, Even the most humble of the Christians, even the most immature of the genuine Christians, by virtue of the presence of the Spirit of God and the truth of the gospel in them, they have the authority and the victory of Christ to be proclaimed. Because if you understood the gospel to be saved, you understand enough to proclaim it. Because if you heard Jesus Christ and you understood enough, you don't need to be a theologian to come and explain and break things down. You need to know that His name is Christ and that He died upon the cross.

And this is the power that set people free, brethren. If we rejoice when a poor person, we feel with gladness when someone that is in need and we give them something that they need because we have provided for their physical needs. If we feel gladness or satisfaction when there's someone that is in problems or difficulties and we try to find solutions for those people that are in problems or difficulties or trials or whatever it is. How much more knowing? that we have the message that is the key to open the sufferings of the soul?

How much more to know that we have the message that is the key to open the door of bondage of the one that is lost and dead and blind and does not even know that they are brethren? How much more not to proclaim this glorious message? Hence, it's upon that authority that the Great Commission stands. So we return, and certainly we're not going to be able to say all things because it's 38 minutes. I apologize for that.

If we return to verse 19, let me just briefly, I hope, in 10 or 15 minutes, speak about this Great Commission. So what is it? If I understand the authority of Jesus Christ, this redemptive authority of Christ, what is the Great Commission? Is it just simply that I make converts? Is it just simply that I become an evangelist?

And as they would do in the old days that I will hire a tent and then I will bring hundreds of people and then I will just preach the gospel and then just get their names written on a piece of paper. of those who came to the altar and then prayed a prayer? Is that the Great Commission? Is to make converts in that way? Well, brethren, it's not.

Of course, we know that it's not. Let me just simply say this. The Great Commission is equal to making disciples. The Great Commission is equal to make disciples. The main point that we have in verse 19 is not the going, but it's actually the making of disciples.

We have in verse 19, go therefore and make disciples. disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. The Great Commission, it is not about only proclaiming the gospel. The Great Commission is not only about making converts. The Great Commission is about making disciples.

All the other things going baptizing them and teaching them are things that are going to inform me of how am I supposed to disciple a person? Great commission is equal about is equal to discipleship. So in a sense, the extension of the kingdom of God or the establishment of the kingdom of the Lord, it is by the establishment of biblical churches. Because you cannot disciple a person if it's not within the context of a biblical church. The Great Commission, once again, and I'm sorry that I repeat, but this is very important, the Great Commission is equal to discipleship.

And what is discipleship? Is it that you come to church on a Sunday and you hear a sermon, or perhaps you come to the Bible study? Is it that perhaps that I give you a book, as people sometimes have books of discipleship, and then you follow chapter number 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, and then once I finish the book, I have been discipled? Was it perhaps that I write a catechism with questions, and I get you just to read those questions and memorize the answers, and I have now discipled you? What is discipleship, my dear brother?

Discipleship is this. making a person conformed to Jesus Christ. It is to serve as an instrument to take a person and to conform that person, not to myself, but to be conformed to the Lord Jesus Christ, to make a person to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, to make a person not a follower of me, not a follower of the church, but ultimately to be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. Discipleship is the impartation by the Spirit of Christ Jesus. It is to take a person and to make them by the power of the Spirit and the truth of the Scriptures like Jesus Christ.

Is discipleship informational? It is informational. Because you need to teach the Scriptures, you need to teach the doctrine, you need to point them to what is written. Discipleship cannot happen apart from the information that is found in the Scriptures. But more than informational, discipleship is relational.

Because the way that we are conformed to Jesus Christ is by being together. It is by learning from each other. It is by forgiving one another. It is by loving one another. Discipleship is relational.

It does not happen here in the pulpit only, brethren. It happens when you and I cry together because of whatever thing. It happens when you and I, or you together, you pray together for whatever thing. It happens when you together go out for dinner or go out for lunch and spend time together. It's relational, where Christ Jesus is imparted to each other through the relationships of brothers and sisters.

It happens when information is communicated, and when that information in your hearts produces fruit of love, one for the other. And only then discipleship accomplishes its goal. that is transformation. Discipleship is informational, it is relational, but more than that is transformational. And that has to be with Christ Jesus, not only the mind, but as we come together and we teach and we impart Christ Jesus one unto the other.

That's why the fulfillment of the Great Commission is by the establishment of biblical churches, brethren. No, no concerts with thousands of people when people come to be pleasing their senses and in their music like and then depart and they have been emotionally pleased and they have walked away. It happens only in the context of the local church as brothers and sisters together look to Christ Jesus minister to one another through the word of the Lord and they become more like Christ Jesus. 43. Let me now, my dear brother and sister, please tell you what are the requirements or the ingredients for biblical discipleship that we have there in the text.

Let me point you to three or four, depending on the time, three or four biblical ingredients or requirements for biblical discipleship in fulfillment of the Great Commission to take place. The first one is going to be contained implicitly in that word, go. Biblical discipleship requires the proclamation of the gospel, right? The going there and making disciples implicitly requires that as we go, we're not going to speak about, join my church, or look how good I am, but rather that we speak about Christ Jesus, and that is the message of the gospel. The first thing that we require for biblical discipleship is the proclamation of the gospel.

And the proclamation of the gospel points people to Jesus, not people to the church, brethren. There are many churches that point people to themselves and offer people community and gathering rather than Christ Jesus. And we humans are in pursuit of community. We're in pursuit of being loved and being accepted. And many times people are confused with this.

The church is not to point people to herself. The church is to point people to Christ Jesus. That's why the proclamation of the biblical gospel is essential for discipleship. If a church is proclaiming events and programs and gatherings and music and community, then that church is not proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. They are not making disciples for the Lord.

They perhaps are making club members or community members. They should call them that way because they are not disciples of Christ, brethren. Because for biblical discipleship to take place, we need the proclamation of the gospel. And what is contained in that word, go, is intentionality, brethren. In order for me to go and preach and proclaim, I require intentionality.

I require that I move myself from my comfort zone. That is that there are people outside of my comfort zone that they need to hear the gospel. So then I need to go. I need to move. I don't need to be as love fool or just simply passive.

I'm just simply going to wait in the providence of the Lord. And I'm going to see who walks my way. That is truth. That is truth. And we should do that, brethren.

But in the proclamation of the gospel, we need intentionality. If someone is dying across the road, you're going to say, well, it's not my business. It's not in front of me. No, brethren. If someone is dying, we run and try to go and help the person that is in need.

The proclamation of the gospel requires intentionality, and that requires that I go out of my comfort zone, that I actually go and share and that I preach. First, the ingredient of discipleship is gospel proclamation. Second, if you return to the passage, it is not only gospel proclamation that we need, we also need a genuine conversion. When the apostle says, when the Lord Jesus Christ says, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Summary of that is a biblical conversion.

The person that is baptized in the name of the Father and in the name of the Son, you know, in the name of the Holy Ghost of the Holy Spirit is a person that has been genuinely saved. When the church who has the redemptive authority of Jesus Christ takes a person, man or woman, and that person goes inside of the water. And when the pastor says, I baptize you in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit. When that happens, we are saying that we join with heaven to give this verdict that this person who was a sinner now has been made alive, that the spirit of God has come and revived this person and rescued them from darkness. And that we join the verdict of heaven.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and this person is saved. This person has been genuinely converted. Not through the systems and programs of men to convince them to join a movement so that we are all together happy, but rather by and through the gospel of Jesus Christ. A genuine conversion. That's why a genuine conversion is what actually builds the church.

Brethren, numbers do not build the church. Because you can have 95% of the church being goats seated in the chairs. Brethren, what builds the church is genuine conversions. And for that we need the gospel of Jesus Christ and a real conversion. The baptism, that is what it actually means.

Union with Christ. When you go into the water, you have been united with Christ. Right? Romans chapter six. When you go into the water that it represents, you have been washed from your sins.

Colossians chapter two and first Peter chapter three. Right? When you go inside of the water, you have been united to the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. First Corinthians chapter 12 verse 12. When the person goes inside of the water and out of the water, united with God.

His sins had been washed and had been united to the spiritual body of Jesus Christ, the Church. A genuine conversion has taken place. First, in order to have biblical discipleship, we need the proclamation of the Gospel, Second, we need a genuine conversion. And third, we need doctrinal impartation. I was trying to keep all of them with Shun.

So doctrinal impartation. Come with to Matthew chapter 18. It says, all of these people that receive the gospel as we go, all of these people that are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, all of these people are also going to be taught. We are to teach them. We are to disciple them, brethren, and teach them.

The Christian, brethren, is a student. There's actually the meaning of the word disciple. The Christian is a student. You may say, but I don't read books or I don't study. No, no, brethren.

The Lord has opened your eyes and your mind to see Christ Jesus that is the lover of your soul. He has given you this book so that you know him better and well. The Christian is one who learns more about the Savior, is one that is taught. And it's taught, not the traditions of men, but what does verse 20 says? Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

Who is the I there? Jesus Christ. It is teaching a person the words of Christ. Now the traditions of men, because the traditions of men do not lift up the soul of a person, but is teaching them the doctrines of Christ. All of them, verse 20 in Matthew 28.

It says, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. The disciple, brethren, is the one who learns the doctrine of Christ. Not only learns them here, but he says, teaching them to observe, not only to be a hearer of the words of Christ, but to be a doer of the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is biblical discipleship, my dear brother and sister. That is the great commission, gospel proclamation.

Then baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit and teaching them the words of Jesus Christ. That is a disciple, a person that becomes like Jesus, a person that we are glad, not because they are part of my club or not because they are part of my community, that we are glad because we see this brother, this sister, they were in bondage to see now look at them, free. And the only one who could free them is Christ Jesus through his word. I disciple Christ Jesus. This is the glorious message of the gospel, brethren, that we have and the promise that I said in the beginning.

I said to you, the promises of God are really good because they give us comfort. When we do not know what is going to happen in the future, we come to the scriptures, we open the scriptures, and the promises of God gives us peace and comfort. And the promise that we have here about the gospel, brethren, is that Christ Jesus will be with us. always. It does not matter if we go out to the streets and nobody believes.

It does not matter, brethren, that people reject the proclamation of the gospel. It does not matter that that happens. When we do so, we're not only fulfilling what the Lord has called us to do, but we're also fulfilling the decree of the Lord. He's the one that is in charge in the end of building up his church. He's the one that is going to complete the work in each one of us and in the context of the church.

Our mission is to open our mouth and to speak about this man whose name is Christ Jesus, who loved us so much that he died upon the cross, that he gave his life for us. And now we have this authority of the resurrected Christ to proclaim to the world that the only way to be forgiven and to be alive is by repenting of your sins and placing your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Because when you do so, You are made anew, anew creation, united to God by purely the grace of heaven. When all things are done, and when the Lord looks back, and then he will see that he has built up his church through the hands of men and women that took the commandment of the Lord by what is worth great promise and power, and were obedient to this great commission that the Lord has given us. Brethren, if we are going to obey our Lord, we are to proclaim this gospel and only to proclaim gospel, but to be these makers of disciples for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and for the name of our Savior who loved us and gave himself for us.

Amen. Amen. Let us pray.