Sermon Tone Analysis

Pastor Mark Hardy

May 21, 2017

The Great Commission

Introduction:

John G. Paton, a missionary to the South Sea Islands, often lived in danger as he worked among the hostile aborigines who had never heard the gospel.

At one time three witch doctors, claiming to have the power to cause death, publicly declared their intentions to kill Paton with their sorcery before the next Sunday.

To carry out their threat, they said they needed some food he had partially eaten.

Unafraid, Paton took a bite out of three plums and gave them to the men who were plotting his death.

On Sunday, the missionary entered the village with a smile on his face and a spring in his step.

The people looked at each other in amazement, thinking it couldn’t possibly be Paton.

Their “sacred men” admitted that they had tried by all their incantations to kill him.

When asked why they had failed, they replied that the missionary was a sacred man like themselves, but that his God was stronger than theirs.

From then on Paton’s influence grew, and soon he had the joy of leading some of the villagers to the Lord.

John Paton, along with thousands of other missionaries throughout church history, left the comforts of their home to travel to foreign lands and often risked or gave their lives for one reason—to obey the Great Commission.

This is what we will be looking at this morning.

Turn in your Bible to .

In we see three aspects of the Great Commission that Jesus has given to every Christian.

The first aspect is:

I. Jesus’ Lofty Claim

A. Look at v. 18: Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”

1.

This specific occasion took place on a mountain in Galilee where Jesus spoke to more than just His eleven disciples.

It is believed that this gathering is described in when the risen Christ “…appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time.”

2.

Here we see that before Jesus actually calls believers to the mission He wants us to do, He tells us on whose authority we are to do it.

It is on His authority that we are to go to people, whether in our culture and other cultures, and tell them the only correct view of who God is.

3.

This authority was “given” to Jesus by the Father (; ; ; ; ) and is clear proof of His deity.

Since Jesus triumphed gloriously in His death and resurrection over sin, Satan, death and hell, says, “For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

4. This is another way of saying that Jesus had “All authority. . . in heaven and on earth.”

He sovereignly rules and reigns over everything!

5. Absolutely nothing is outside His sovereign will or can thwart His sovereign purposes ().

John Piper said it well, “The authority and supremacy of Jesus over every other religion and culture and society and over all gods is the basis of world missions.”

B. Mankind’s greatest need is for forgiveness and restored relationship with the Creator God through faith in Jesus Christ.

1.

The whole world lies in the hopeless state of sin and guilt before a perfectly holy God (), but motivated by love God provided a remedy in the Person of His Son, Jesus Christ—God Himself in human flesh.

2. As our Substitute on the cross, the sinless Christ took upon Himself the holy wrath of God the Father against sin and paid in full the penalty for sin that we deserved ().

Jesus is the only way of salvation.

3. Jesus said in , “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

And Peter declared in , “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

4.

This is why Paul proclaimed in , “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

5.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is the greatest news in the world!

But it is because Jesus has “all authority” as the sovereign Lord of all that we can be hopeful that God will do what only He can do, whether it is to send workers into the harvest field or to save any sinners at all.

6.

It is because Jesus has “all authority” that we can be hopeful that His great mission of world evangelization is unstoppable and cannot fail, and no human heart is beyond His power to break, for nothing is too difficult for the Lord (; ).

7. This is why Jesus proclaimed in , “…I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”

8.

This brings us to the second aspect of the Great Commission, which is:

II.

Jesus’ Last Command

A. Look at vv. 19-20, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you…” (Stop there)

1.

These verses describe what is known as the “Great Commission.”

This is so important to God that He repeated it 5 different times, in 5 different ways, in 5 different books of the New Testament.

2.

Not only here in , but Jesus said in:

· , “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”

· , “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”

· , “…as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

· And , “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall by My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

3.

Although there are four imperatives or commands in : “go,” “make disciples,” “baptizing,” and “teaching,” the central command is to “make disciples.”

This means both to lead people to saving faith in Jesus Christ and to help them spiritually grow toward maturity in Christ.

4. This is why our mission statement here at FBC is “To make and mature Christlike disciples.”

5.

And notice that the scope of Jesus’ command is to “…make disciples of all the nations.”

The word “nations” means ethnic groupings.

6.

The great task of every Christian is to participate in the spread the good news of Jesus Christ to all the people groups of the world.

Christianity is for the entire world.

7. Jesus said in , “The field is the world…” And in He states, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

8.

And in we see where Jesus “…purchased for God with [His] blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.”

9. Throughout Scripture from Genesis to Revelation, from creation to consummation, God has revealed Himself as a missionary God, who does everything for His glory.

And nothing glorifies Himself more than the salvation and transformation of sinful men into God-worshiping children of God ().

10.

As Sandy sang earlier, “People need the Lord.”

But do we truly believe that those without Christ will one day “perish” in a literal and eternal lake of fire (; )?

11. George Whitfield, the famous English evangelist, used to speak with tears in his eyes of “the torment of burning like a livid coal, not for an instant or for a day, but for millions and millions of ages, at the end of which souls will realize that they are no closer to the end than when they first began, and they will never, ever be delivered from that place.”

B. If we truly do, then participating with Jesus in His great mission of world evangelization will be seen as not only a privilege, but also a responsibility.

1. God could have written the gospel in the sky for all to see or chosen His holy angels to spread it.

But instead, He chose to use us!

2. Jesus prayed to His Father in , “As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.”

And Peter declared in , “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

()

3.

As Christians, God left us here on earth to be “ambassadors for Christ” ().

The living, all-authoritative Lord of the universe has commanded us to go to every nation, every people, and every religion and call them to repent and believe in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins and the inheritance of eternal life with the one true God.

4. But is Jesus’ last command our first concern?

Is His priority our priority?

It should be!

C. Now if we are commanded to “make disciples of all the nations,” the other three commands—“go,” “baptizing,” and “teaching,” are the essential elements of this disciple-making process.

1.

The first essential element is to “Go,” which literally means “as you are going.”

The Great Commission begins with evangelism—sharing the life-saving, life-transforming gospel of Jesus Christ with unbelievers.

2. We are to take the initiative to share our faith with unbelievers where we live, work or play as we are going through life.

Peter says in to “…always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear” (NKJV).

3.

Only the Holy Spirit can save people (), but our responsibility is to faithfully share the gospel with others and leave the results to God.

D. But evangelism here does not end with the conversion of the unbeliever.

The second essential element is “…baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”

1.

The word “baptizing” here means to be immersed in water, and refers to water baptism, which is known as “believer’s baptism.”

2. Baptism is the outward expression that I belong to Jesus Christ.

It is the outward symbol of the inward reality of our saving faith in Him; the publicly declaration of our identification with Jesus in His death, burial and resurrection.

3. Notice that believers are baptized in the “…name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”

One name, three Persons—this is the fullest and richest statement possible of the comprehensive union that we have with the Triune God.

4. Water baptism for a new believer in the early church was the first step of obedience to God.

This is why an “unbaptized believer” was virtually non-existent; as soon as someone received Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord they were baptized.

E. The third essential element is seen in v. 20, “…teaching them to observe all that I commanded you…”

1.

The phrase “all that I commanded you” is a clear reference to the Word of God.

In our Christian lives we all start off as “new believers” or “baby Christians,” but we are not to stay there.

2. God intends that we be continually growing toward maturity in the lifelong sanctification process of becoming more and more like Jesus Christ (; ; ).

But the only way this happens is as the Spirit of God uses the Word of God in our lives.

3. The Word of God is to be taught because it is essential to spiritual growth.

Jesus said in , “…man shall not live by bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”

4. says, “Like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.”

states, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”