[0:00] I do not claim myself, but I claim God's grace through the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, it's good to see you tonight.
[0:11] You doing well? We're glad you're in church, glad for our visitors that are here. Hope you'll want to come back and see us again. It's my job to preach, so I better get with you.
[0:23] Alright, open your Bibles, if you will, to the book of Matthew, chapter 28. The Gospel of St. Matthew, chapter 28. Thank you, sir.
[0:45] Matthew, chapter 28. Let's begin reading, if you will, at verse number 16. Matthew 28, 16. Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.
[1:05] And when they saw Him, they worshipped Him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, Amen.
[1:16] All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.
[1:35] And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. I want to preach for a little while tonight. The Lord, being our helper on the subject, Is the Great Commission valid?
[1:50] Is the Great Commission valid? Do you have the Lord's interest at your heart? Why are you here? Why is the church here?
[2:02] Why do we assemble? Are we doing what God wants us to do? Is the Great Commission still valid in 2000 and whatever this is?
[2:14] As you get so old, as you get so old, it just seems like it doesn't matter whether it's 7, 8, or 9. Amen. As far as I know, it ought to be 1965.
[2:26] But here we are in 2008. Is the Great Commission, is it valid today? Many people do not even know what the Great Commission is.
[2:39] John 14, 15. Jesus said, If you love me, keep my commandments. 1 John 3, 23. If you believe on the Son and love one another.
[2:52] 1 John 5, verse 12. We know we love God because we love the children of God. 1 John 5, verse 3.
[3:03] To love God is to keep His commandment. This scripture, the Great Commission, was not given by somebody that was defeated. But it was given by the triumphant Lord Jesus who had just arisen from the grave and was ascending back into glory land.
[3:22] He tells His church her assigned purpose. He tells His church her assigned purpose. The church's purpose is not to be a soup kitchen.
[3:33] The church's purpose is not a social club. The church's purpose is not a political institution where the Democrats and the Republicans can come together and try to decide who needs to be president of the United States.
[3:50] The church of God tonight is a lifeboat. It's not a showboat. It's a rescue mission. And we're here in the world for that one purpose that the Lord gave us and committed to us right here in Matthew chapter 28.
[4:07] So let's pray before we go any further in this. Heavenly Father, today we thank You for the privilege to pray. Lord, we thank You for Your love and Your grace.
[4:19] And our Father, we thank You that before You left for glory, Lord, You gave us a reason for existence. You gave us, Lord, this purpose. And our Father, I pray that we might reconsider and we might think over the things tonight, Lord, that we need to be doing as the church of God.
[4:39] God, help us not to become self-satisfied. Help us, our Father, not to become cold and dead and indifferent. But help us, Lord, that we might be on the firing line.
[4:51] Our Father, we might continue in the fight. We might war a good warfare as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. I pray that in Jesus' name. Amen.
[5:02] Now, before He ever went to the cross, before crucifixion ever occurred, Jesus had instructed His disciples that He wanted them to leave Jerusalem and go probably 50 miles away.
[5:19] He wanted them to go to a mountain in Galilee. And He said, I'll meet you there. And so the disciples, we'd think, tonight were moved with faith. But in actuality, they weren't really as moved of faith as you would think they were.
[5:34] Jesus had told them Himself, I want to go before you into Galilee. And then the angels of God had to come and tell them He's going into Galilee. And then worse than that, the women had to come and tell them He's gone into Galilee.
[5:49] And finally, they got enough faith to say, well, we need to go into Galilee. And there, 500 brethren, 500 assembled at one time on a mountain in Galilee and got this great commission that we call.
[6:05] And I want to ask you tonight, when you come to church, whose best interest do you have at heart? Do you have your best interest at heart? Or do you have the interest of God at heart?
[6:16] Do you have reason for serving God? And what would that reason be? I believe this. Tonight is the most important event between the resurrection and the ascension.
[6:28] And I believe Jesus had the authority to call this, if you will, business meeting. What kind of authority did He have? Preacher, I'm glad you asked.
[6:40] Look at verse 18. And it'll tell you what kind of authority He had. The Bible said He had all authority. Amen. And nobody can turn a wheel without His recognition.
[6:53] It was an earned authority. He had the authority because He was God. But He also had the authority because He had gone to the cross and suffered and bled and died.
[7:04] And He had the authority because He arose from the dead. And because He's alive, you and I can be alive tonight. What kind of authority does He have? All power in heaven and earth.
[7:16] And then I want you to notice that He told them where to go. If you'll look in verse 19, He didn't just say, Stay on Witcher Creek or stay on Jerusalem.
[7:27] He said, Go ye therefore and teach everybody. Teach all nations of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Where to teach is all nations.
[7:38] What to teach, verse 20, is all things. How long to teach? Verse 20, He said, All the way to the end of the world. Amen. Are you obeying that commission tonight?
[7:51] That's what we need to think about. I wish I was a young man. Amen. I'd preach to you. The time's kind of taking its toll on me. And I'm not able to preach like I used to.
[8:03] But boy, down inside, there's a preaching machine going on there. If I could just get it out like I feel it in my soul. Jesus had the authority.
[8:14] And He gave them a three-fold commission there. Number one, He said, I want you to go and teach all nations. Number two, He said, I want you to baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.
[8:27] And then number three, He said, I want you to teach them all things whatsoever I have commanded you. Disciples, watch this, disciples are made and then baptized.
[8:39] That's what the Bible said in John chapter 4 and verse 1. There was a dispute come because the book said that Jesus had made and baptized more disciples than John.
[8:51] Listen, they had to be a disciple before they could get baptized. If you were baptized to be a disciple, then it's like getting buried to be dead. Amen.
[9:02] You don't bury people to kill them. Bless God, you bury them because they're dead. And I'm saying tonight that I died to sin. And when I was buried in that watery grave, I rose to walk in the newness of life.
[9:16] And that's our purpose as the church of God. Our purpose as the church. And the church expanded by her obedience to the commission.
[9:27] But then you see the Laodicean church, the age in which we live, we don't need the commission anymore. We've got better things. Amen. We're a purpose-driven outfit.
[9:39] Hello. Amen. And we've got better purposes than Jesus ever had. They tell me the unsaved, if you'd line them up together, that they would circle the world.
[9:51] And the line is growing 26 miles every day. And we've got some kind of purpose about building some kind of a kingdom down here when we need to be at the purpose of snatching souls from the fiery pits of hell.
[10:07] That's what we need to be doing. Unsaved are still unsaved. And the untold millions are still untold.
[10:18] Is the commission's value for today? I say it is. I say you and I are commissioned to do what Jesus told us to do. Now look at verse 17.
[10:29] The Bible said there that first the disciples saw Him and then they worshiped Him. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him. Scholars tell us that they worshiped Him because they perceived who it was.
[10:49] Amen. Have you ever saw Him? Amen. I have never saw Him with these eyes. I mean, there are preachers that tell us they did.
[11:00] But I haven't saw Him with these eyes. But I tell you what, I saw Him whenever I perceived who He was. That He was the only begotten Son of the living God that came to this old world to suffer and bleed and die in my place.
[11:22] Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture and was buried and the third day rose again and I saw that.
[11:32] I saw that at that altar that night many years ago and that vision is still good tonight. Amen. Amen. They saw Him and they worshipped Him.
[11:46] But then it said some doubted. You see that? Now, this is after the experience that Thomas had. We know about that doubt in the upper room when Thomas had laid out a church.
[12:01] Do you ever notice that whenever you lay out a church that's the night God shows up? Do you ever notice that? We'll be praying, Lord, I want you to do something. Lord, I want you to do something. Then we'll get discouraged and say, you're not going to do nothing.
[12:14] And we'll lay out a church and we come back and say, you ought to be here. Whenever God moved in. Thomas, if you'd have been here, you'd have believed it. Amen. Some doubted.
[12:27] Now, I think I can illustrate this another way. It was too good to be true. Amen. Some of them looked at Him and they would love to come, but they just couldn't comprehend.
[12:41] They just couldn't perceive who it was. I believe a good example would be recently we had an evangelist, Cody Zorn.
[12:54] He had a little girl, Esther. Y'all remember little Esther? I don't know how old she was. It wasn't very old. Just a little girl. But Molly wanted to be good too.
[13:06] But Esther doubted whether Molly wanted to be good to her or not. Now, understand what I'm saying? It was up there at Shoney's and somebody come up with the idea of, I don't know why that she wanted a penguin.
[13:22] Amen. There was a, they tell me and I'm not an authority on these adult shows, but they tell me that there's a certain penguin named Cody on there and this little girl looks at that penguin and thinks of her dad.
[13:38] so she's in love with penguins. Can I get a witness there? Does anybody know them big adult rated shows there that features Cody the penguin? I know about Diego and I know about, what's that other little, little, help me, help me.
[13:55] Dora. Yeah, I know about Dora. But I didn't know about Cody the penguin. I guess I was watching some kind of a police drama. But anyway, little Esther wanted that penguin and so Shirley and Molly gets together and you know, you mean I can have that penguin?
[14:15] You mean that you, you understand what I'm talking about? I'm saying that it just seemed like it was too good to be true before they left here. Molly Gale was carrying that little girl around in her arms and she was convinced, amen, that Molly was on her side and let me say tonight, before they left that mountain, they were convinced that Jesus was on their side and that they had His authority to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
[14:50] They perceived that Jesus had came to church. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Christ in you, He's our prophet and a prophet in us.
[15:03] He's our teacher and we do not need for men to teach us. Christ in us, He's our priest. He's our intercessor and we don't need to go to some knothead in a knot hole and tell Him our sins.
[15:16] We've got one that we can go to. He's our King and because He's our King, He's our governor and we need to obey what He tells us to do. Obedience to the commission is not a flash in the fire.
[15:31] It takes time. It takes patience. It takes knowledge. You have to know what you're doing. 1 John chapter 5 and verse 8 says, there's three that bear record in heaven or in earth.
[15:45] Let me skip verse 7. There's three that bear record in heaven. Can I preach like a Baptist for just a minute? Whenever you're looking around the earth for three to bear witness, let me tell you something.
[15:57] You need something to bear witness with your spirit. And I want to say tonight that the Holy Spirit of God will bear witness with your spirit that you're a child of God.
[16:10] You need something to bear witness to your flesh. That's what baptism's all about. It's a washing of the outside, not a washing of the inside. You need something to bear witness to your soul.
[16:23] And I submit that the communion supper is a witness to your soul that when you take him in your body, amen, he becomes part of you. And the commission was given that we might go and tell everybody those three things.
[16:38] Amen. The commission was given to the church corporate. Baptism is a corporate function of the church. The church corporate was authenticated on Pentecost.
[16:51] Individual Christians are authenticated and sealed at the day of their new birth. Amen. I like that. Well, I'll quit preaching like a Baptist and I'll get back where you can understand me.
[17:04] Look at verse 20. He said, I am with you. I will be with you. You will not have to go alone. I will go with you all the way even unto the end of the world.
[17:19] Tonight, I submit that there are many examples that we could use. But I'll just set one fellow before you. We'll call him the Apostle Paul.
[17:29] And we'll have to say that God did not forsake the Apostle Paul. That he had a friend. Amen. I don't believe that Paul drove a BMW or a Lexus or a Cadillac or a Mercedes.
[17:46] But he did have a friend that was with him all the way. He did have a friend when he was thrown in the jail at Philippi.
[17:57] He had a friend that went to jail with him. He did have a friend when he was assaulted at Thessalonica. He did have a friend when he was ridiculed at Athens.
[18:09] He came up with Christmas and Gaius emerging as baptized disciples and blasphemous Corinth because he had a friend in Jerusalem.
[18:21] He was a victim of a riot and a sea voyage. He was shipwrecked on the island. He was snake bit. Everybody say did his friend forsake him?
[18:32] 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 16. No man stood by me but the Lord stood by me. Amen. Amen.
[18:43] I say tonight we've got a friend with this commission. We are promised. We are promised he will never leave us and never forsake us.
[18:54] There are a lot of things will you admit with the preacher tonight there are a lot of things that happen to us that seem to be whispering in our ear that God doesn't care about us but I want you to know that God cares more about you than you care about yourself regardless what evil betides you he'll never leave you he'll never forsake you he saw him through the apostle Paul he saw him through the Mamertine prison I gotta have a drink amen that sounds like a wine hoe don't it but let me try this right here thank you Lord Mamertine prison the apostle Paul was thrown in there while he was awaiting his trial they tell me that was the worst place in the world I'm telling you that they would chain prisoners to the wall and the rats in that prison would realize that the prisoners were defenseless and so they would begin to eat on their toes while they were alive those rats would eat their feet off they would eat their hands off gross isn't it
[20:14] Paul was there amen and while he was there Jesus was there too he had a friend that stuck with him he will stick with you what a promise I'll never leave you I'll never forsake you I'll be a friend to you all the way number one we're not saving poor misguided sinners from a mean old God that there seems to me what the soul winners seem to think that we've got a poor bunch of misguided sinners!
[20:50] and a mean old God up there that's wanting to drop the hammer on them but I want to get you straight tonight we're a bunch of hell deserving reprobates but God in heaven Romans 5 and 8 commended his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us Jesus died for our sins he loved us enough when we were unlovely he loved us when we were unworthy and he paid the debt that he did not owe so that we can go free hallelujah when I was a boy they used to sing a song and you know me growing up in a bluegrass group I know songs that the church don't know most of them I won't sing but there's one of them that I remember that was called y'all couldn't remember this morning maybe you can remember tonight it was called Mary of the Wild Moor does anybody remember that song
[21:50] I'll tell you this story the moors were the Scottish highlands I assume that's where the song came from but it was a barren wasteland that would get down sub-zero temperatures and freeze people to death the story of that song and let me just recollect one version of it there's several but Mary is coming home with her child she has a little baby and she makes it almost home and she begins to freeze and as she's freezing to death the story of the song goes she begins to take her own clothing off and wrap that little baby in her clothing and eventually she gets to where there in that sub-zero temperature she has no clothes at all everything she's got is wrapped around that little baby and the one thought of her life is to spare that little baby from dying that's just an old Scottish folk song but let me tell you the Lord Jesus took off everything he had he stripped himself of every righteous garment that heaven had and he wrapped it around me and brother I find that in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ that hallelujah is what saved me from my wicked sin that Jesus took my sin and my sorrow and made them his very own and he bore the burden and I'm allowed to go free well glory
[23:26] I feel like taking off up here I'm saying thank God for Jesus no it's not a bunch of innocent sinners it's a bunch of hell deserving sinners but the God of glory loved us and gave himself for us we obey Jesus because he's worthy amen of being obeyed God requests that we shine as lights in a dark place soul winning requires a soul winner amen we were created in Christ Jesus for such work number one Jesus is worthy that's why we should obey the commission number two sinners are found warning and that's why we should obey the commission when they reach the age of accountability spiritually they spit in God's face they turn their back and they walk out on God they do need somebody to care about them and tell them they have done despite and in the spirit of grace and tried and underfoot the son of God the shaker has blinded their eyes to the fact there is a heavy price
[24:47] I told you this morning a heavy price for rejecting the son of God and sinners are weighed in the balance and found warning they refused to give God glory they became unthankful they became vain in their imagination their foolish heart was dark and their professed wisdom made them fools and they refused to believe the truth and they sent strong delusion and they will believe a lie we need to be lights because they are in the dark left alone listen to me left alone the people on Witcher Creek the people on Campbell's Creek they will stumble right over the precipice and they will fall into the pits of hell eternal damnation in the lake of fire if we are content and satisfied to let them go but there is something down in my soul that said Jesus loved them enough to die for them that we ought to be able to love them enough to at least tell them the gospel story should we obey the commission today
[25:56] I think number one we need to obey the commission because the savior is worthy I think number two we need to obey the commission because the sinner is wanting then I think number three we need to obey the commission because the church is the only thing warranted to carry out that commission we need to obey for the church's sake Someday Esther Church will be called to answer Like the seven churches of Asia You understand we've downplayed the local church today But I'm telling you that God looks at us as individual churches And we will give account to God for what we do Not what the church down the road does Not what the church up the holler does But what we do in obeying the commission You see Ephesus still had much of which God could approve
[26:58] But they had failed in this one thing They had left their first love And they were on the road to not being a church at all If you love me keep my commandments Laodicea is much like the mega churches you see on TV today Not interested in obedience Only interested in wealth They get on there and all they preach is if you'll be a Christian God will make you rich You'll drive a Cadillac or a Mercedes or a Lincoln or a Lexus And you'll be the talk of the town That's a hollow ring to somebody that knows the story of the Apostle Paul And his bout there in that Mamertine prison I'm not telling you that if you get to be a Christian You'll be rich down here But I am telling you that if you'll give your heart to God Regardless of how poor you are down here A tent or a cottage Why should I care?
[27:59] They're building a palace for me over there The outcast from home That still I may sing Oh glory to God I'm a child of the King Laodicea was interested in the wealth that they had Not interested in the souls of men And the Bible said that God would spew them out of his mouth I have no drink Thank you That's the first time I got everybody in here to nod If churches are busy Watch this If churches are busy Keeping the commission of God They'll not be busy bodies Devouring one another If churches are busy with the commission They'll be happy But if we sit down
[29:00] And we say Not me Let brother so and so do it Then the next thing you know Brother so and so gets puffed up Because he's the only one Doing anything And he takes a bite Out of brother so and so Over here A coldness A deadness A bad spirit A devicey spirit A self centered spirit A clique Or a clan It comes about Because we forget The commission that God gave us Don't let it happen Now I'm alive I'm aware That we're just a Small church A parlor Off the beaten path But we've still got the commission If every church in the world Shuts her doors tonight This church has still got the commission We answer to nobody But the Lord Jesus Christ But we do answer to him
[30:01] Amen And so I'm thinking We need to be about Our father's business Amen If you're a Sunday school teacher What you need to do Is look at the size of your class The age group of your class And go into this community And tell the children That would belong in that class We want you to come to Sunday school Amen Squirm Turkey Squirm We need to visit The shut in The sick The hospitalized Well it's what we pay the preacher for You sorry dog Amen If a visitor does come To our church We need to make them welcome Amen Hey I've went in churches Have you went in churches Where man You thought you was in a refrigerator Yeah And if somebody Would have shook your hand That would have broke their hand off Right at your arm Yeah They look at you like What are you doing here Yeah I mean We've got our little clique And we don't need you Yeah Amen Don't you do it
[31:02] Don't you do it I catch you doing it At Esther's sign I'll bad mouth you Right up to the front seat I'll set you down here With Philip and Sarah And I'll preach to you Amen Amen Amen Amen Remember Luke chapter 11 We need his assistance Amen We cannot do it If he doesn't help us We are ambassadors for Christ But it is our job To be what we ought to be Do not be intimidated Do not be intimidated You are a co-laborer Co-laborer With Jesus Christ Obey the commission Amen I'm about finished But let me say this Have you got plans On obeying the commission At least sometime In your life I mean if the fall revival's coming up We will have revival Spring revival Homecoming Would you have plans About at least sometime I'd like to obey the commission
[32:03] Don't lift up your hand But lift up your hand Amen Don't lift up your hand But lift up your hand How many of you Have thoughts About obeying the commission At least sometime Before you die All right You know I preach you into a corner Turn with me To the book of John Chapter 4 I'm going to read One verse of scripture And I'll be finished John chapter 4 I want to read this To those who are interested I want to read this To those who have plans On at least sometime Someday Some way In their life Obeying the commission John chapter 4 Verse 35 You beat me didn't you
[33:06] Say not ye There are yet four months And then come a party Behold I say unto you Lift up your eyes And look on the feet For they are white Already To harvest If you're going to do it Someday You need to do it today Amen Don't wait For the harvest To come in The field's already white All you need Is a sinner Amen And you can witness to it Can you not find him I think I can show you Some They live across the road They live up the road They live down the road They live next door To you They live next door To me They're all over the place They're like that soldier That got trapped there Behind the German lines And he was shooting Every German he could find
[34:06] And somebody said Hey Don't you realize That they Oh he said You ought to go out there Your son said You can't miss them They're everywhere Problem is We're in the foxhub And we're not A band of commission I pray tonight That it would stir Somebody To say I want To be part Of a good commission Let's bow for prayer Heads are bowed Eyes are closed No one looking around For just a minute To be part of the