If you have ever read the book of Ecclesiastes… in its entirety… diligently pondering all the virtues and truths presented, carefully considering all that its writer Solomon has to say regarding every aspect of life, you then come to what he describes as the “end of the matter.” It’s the culmination of what he was building up to point out after (as he says), “all has been heard…”
Solomon concludes his book with the following…
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14
“The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.”
The whole book of Ecclesiastes was meant to bring the reader to “the end of the matter.” In other words, it was meant to bring the reader to the most important point. It was meant to lay the ground work for what Solomon had intended to reveal.
Now, we move to approximately 1,000 years later…
Matthew 28:16-20 (ESV)
“Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.
And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted.
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 Son 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.””
After describing the genealogy, the angelic announcement of the conception, the incarnation, the fulfillment of prophecy, the ministry, the betrayal, the arrest, the trial, the crucifixion, the death, and then the resurrection of the Messiah, Matthew culminates his Gospel with what I just cited above, building up to the “end of the matter,” which he had intended to emphasize for his book. He does this by now quoting the same God described by Solomon in Ecclesiastes, who would later speak directly to His disciples in the flesh on a mountain in Galilee, soon after He had risen from the dead.
Then Jesus tells 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 Son 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.”
Matthew ends his Gospel by quoting Jesus Christ, the God whom according to Solomon is the One we are to fear. The God whose commandments we are to keep. For keeping such statutes is, as Solomon had said,
“…the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.”
Matthew’s Gospel
If you go back to the beginning of the chapter, chapter 28 of Matthew’s Gospel, and read the verses leading up to verse 16, we see that Jesus has now risen from the dead.
As Matthew describes, Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary” (who we know from Matthew 27:61 had both been sitting opposite Jesus’ tomb when the stone was rolled in front of it by Joseph of Arimathea after Christ’s crucifixion and death), would now both return to see the tomb three days later on the morning after the Sabbath had ended (v. 1).
Upon their arrival, Matthew describes that…
“…there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.” (v. 2)
The angel tells the women to not be afraid, for “He is not here, for He has risen.” (vs. 5-6)
After inviting the women to look into the tomb to see for themselves, the angel then says to them…
“…go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead, and behold, He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see Him. See I have told you.” (v. 7)
Matthew then describes them as leaving quickly with “fear and great joy” as they then ran off to tell the disciples. But, then they are met by Jesus Himself…
“Greetings!”
(I could only imagine the shock.)
“Do not be afraid,” Jesus says to them. “Go and tell My brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me.” (vs. 8-10)
Then, in the next few verses (vs. 11-15), Matthew explains…
“While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.”
(I guess political corruption is not a new phenomenon.)
Verse 16
“Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.”
So, why eleven disciples? Why not twelve?
There are now eleven disciples because Judas (who was one of the original twelve), who betrayed Jesus which then led to Christ’s crucifixion and death, had earlier committed suicide. Matthew writes, back in chapter 27 that Judas had hung himself after he had “changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver.” Such is what Judas was paid by the chief priests and the elders of the temple for revealing where Jesus was so that they could then put Jesus on trial and have Him executed. This is why there were now 11 disciples.
Back to verse 16…
“Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.”
Before we go on, and as we get closer to the “end of the matter,” the last three verses of chapter 28, 18-20, where Matthew concludes his Gospel by quoting Jesus, I want you to keep two things in mind regarding that quote and this scene…
1) Chronology (the order of events) vs. Thematic Intent (the main point of what is being told)
2) Geography (the regional location of this scene)
In other words, in light of what I’m about to explain, I do not think it’s appropriate to assume that what Matthew quotes from Jesus in ending his Gospel, is necessarily the last words that Jesus had ever said (simply because the quote from Jesus is how Matthew concluded). This concluding quote was most likely a summary of the final teaching of Jesus to some degree, which is what I’m referring to as the “end of the matter.”
1) Chronology vs. Thematic Intent
It is commonly known that ancient writers were not always as concerned with chronology, as we are today. They were usually more concerned with the major point or the thematic intent of what they were attempting to get across to their audience, and not the order of events.
Below is an excerpt from an essay entitled, The Problem of Apparent Chronological Contradictions in the Synoptics, by Joe Botti, Tom Dixon, and Alex Steinman…
(Just a side note: “Synoptics” is a general term which refers to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke due to their similarities.)
“While most Evangelical scholars still believe the accounts to be historically accurate and, in their general outline, chronologically accurate, the events and teaching of Jesus’ life are not necessarily arranged chronologically but along topical or thematic lines. Today, this has become the accepted definition of a Gospel – that it is more than a sequential arrangement of data, more than a biography. Consider the following statements from noted evangelicals such as D.A. Carson, Robert Stein and Darrell Bock:
Darrell Bock – “Though these texts present a general outline to Jesus’ ministry, the choices involving arrangement of material reveal how difficult it is in some cases to determine an exact sequence. At some point, each evangelist covered Jesus’ teaching on a topical, not a chronological basis.”
Robert Stein – “We can avoid some of the difficulties created by the slightly differing ordering of events from one gospel to another by recognizing that chronology was not the only criterion for the arrangement of the gospel materials.”
D.A. Carson – “Some of the material is organized along thematic lines, some according to a loose chronology, still other periscopes are linked by some combination of catchwords, themes, OT attestation, genre, and logical coherence. The result is not exactly a history, biography, theology, confession, catechism, tract, homage, or letter – though it is in some respects all these. It is a ‘Gospel,’ a presentation of the ‘good news’ of Jesus the Messiah.”
The point is, Matthew’s intent was most likely more thematic than chronological. So, the closing of his Gospel with a quote by Jesus was more likely “the end of the matter” rather than the end of a strictly laid out sequence of events.
2) Geography
Another thing that we must recognize, in order to not assume that what we are looking at today is most likely not the last words that Jesus had ever said, is the regional location of this scene.
Again, verse 16…
“Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.”
So, here’s a question…
If we were going to take a look at what the last words of Jesus were, then where should those words have been spoken geographically? On a mountain in Galilee, or someplace else?
The last words that Jesus spoke to His disciples collectively, was at His ascension. We know this because Luke records those words at the beginning of his 2nd letter to Theophilus, the book of Acts.
But, where did the ascension take place?
Luke records this as well, but not in his second letter to Theophilus. Luke recorded it at the end of his first letter to him, in what we all know as the Gospel of Luke…
Luke 24:50-53
“Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God.”
Bethany is approximately 70 miles south of Galilee. That means that what we are looking at today was not the last thing that Jesus said. However, what Jesus saidwas so obviously important that Matthew concluded all that he wrote about our Lord with this quote. In other words, as far as Matthew is concerned, what Jesus said is “the end of the matter.”
Verse 17…
“And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted.”
Now, you might be saying, “Wait, some doubted? You mean the disciples witnessed first-hand Jesus’ arrest and execution, and now He has risen from the grave, is now standing with them in the flesh where He had directed them to meet Him in Galilee, and yet some still doubted? This is the group that God has chosen to build His church? Are you kidding me?”
Nope…
That’s exactly who God would call to make disciples, and I find it quite encouraging.
Why do I say this?
Because, I know my own doubtful heart, yet God still converted me. We must keep this in mind, always, that God converts doubtful hearts.
Do you know what else we must keep in mind?
Jesus did not rebuke that doubt here. He didn’t even address it. That’s how merciful Christ is.
Jude, the brother of James, who is also Jesus’ half-brother, would later write the following encouraging words in his epistle “To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus…”
Look at what he wrote in his epistle regarding those who doubt…
Jude 20-22
“But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt…”
Jesus showed mercy to those who doubted here by not addressing it on the mountain in Galilee.
Why?
Because, He had already addressed it on the cross.
We (Christians) are to emulate Christ when doubt is in our midst. We are to have mercy, because Christ has shown us mercy.
Along these same lines, back in chapter six, Matthew had quoted Jesus when He was teaching the disciples how to pray. Jesus encouraged them to say to the Father…
Matthew 6:12
“…and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”
This same theme was demonstrated here on a mountain in Galilee by Christ once again.
The Apostle Paul would later be quoted by Luke, in chapter 17 of the book of Acts, proclaiming to the people of Athens that repentance was required of them because God had set a future day in which God was going to judge the world in righteousness by the Man He has appointed. Paul then said that God had provided the assurance of this by raising Him from the dead. That Man who was appointed as the standard by which we are all to be judged is Jesus Christ. He is the same Man whom the disciples and also five hundred others (according to 1 Corinthians 15:6) He had appeared to during the 40 day period between Christ’s resurrection and ascension. This scene which concludes Matthew’s Gospel is one of those appearances.
Now, what we are about to look at, these last three verses in Matthew’s Gospel, is of the most important things that Jesus has ever said. It’s what Matthew “ends the matter” with…
Verse 18…
“And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
Now, just stop there a moment… and pause…
“ALL authority in heaven AND on earth has been given to Me.”
Everything hinges on this…
Christ’s universal sovereignty.
Unfortunately, there are some in Christian circles who mistakenly think that Satan is now in control; that Satan is ruling this world. However, in John 12:31, Jesus is quoted as saying…
“Now is the judgement of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.”
(Remember, Jesus said this 2,000 years ago.)
John would then record a few verses later in his Gospel, verses 35-36, how Jesus warned those same hearers…
“The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.”
Jesus is in control, not Satan.
Look at what John later recorded in Revelation 1:17-18…
“When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”
Even the Old Testament describes the sovereignty of the Son of Man…
Daniel 7:13-14…
“I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed.”
See?
“The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” – This is from John’s Gospel, chapter 3:35-36.
I could cite scriptures all day long which point to Christ’s sovereignty. To question such, according to the Bible, is utter foolishness. Jesus has all the authority . . . in heaven and on earth.
Here is an additional brief list of Biblical references to several aspects of what Christ has authority over. It’s from…
https://carm.org/christianity/sermons/matt-2816-20-great-commission
1. Authority to forgive sins (Luke 5:20, 7:48).
2. Authority to mediate to the Father (1 Tim. 2:5).
3. Authority to send the Holy Spirit (John 14:26, 15:26).
4. Authority to open the hearts and minds of His people (Luke 24:45).
5. Authority to reveal the Father (Matt. 11:27, Luke 10:22).
6. Authority to give eternal life to whom He chooses (John 10:27-28).
7. Authority to raise us up on the last day (John 6:40).
The Great Commission
Jesus’ announcement of His authority in verse 18, prefaces what is commonly known as “The Great Commission.” Now, the “Great Commission” is not a Biblical term. It’s a title which was later given to this portion of scripture.
According to a paper written by Robbie Castleman entitled, The Last Word: The Great Commission: Ecclesiology, he writes…
“It turns out that this passage may have got its label from a Dutch missionary Justinian von Welz (1621-88), but it was Hudson Taylor, nearly 200 years later, who popularized the use of ‘The Great Commission’. So, it seems like Welz or some other Post-Reformation missionary probably coined the term ‘The Great Commission’.”
“The Great Commission” rests upon Christ’s authority. It’s why the next verse, verse 19, which we will get to in a moment, uses the word ‘therefore’. When such a word as ‘therefore’ is used it means that what is now being said depends on the previous proposition, which is the verse we are looking at now, verse 18. In other words, without Christ’s authority, without what Christ has accomplished on the cross and His rising from the dead, the ‘therefore’ is rendered meaningless.
Look at how Paul describes to the Corinthian church as to how things would be, regarding their faith, if Christ had not risen from the dead…
1 Corinthians 15:12-27
“…if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.””
Everything rests upon Christ and His rising from the dead. Without Christ, nothing matters. When Solomon opened the book of Ecclesiastes, which I referenced earlier, he intended to get to the final point or the “end of the matter”:
To, “fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.”
But, how did Solomon set the table, in order to bring the reader to what was most important?
At the beginning of the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon says, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 1:2)
Why does he say that?
He’s making the point that in a godless context… everything is meaningless. In other words, without God… nothing matters. In other words, in a “Christ-less” context, “all is vanity.”
It parallels with what I referenced above in 1 Corinthians when Paul told the church in Corinth that their “faith was in vain” if “Christ has not been raised.”
“No resurrection,” says Paul, “then no eternal life!”
And now, here, Matthew records the Messiah Himself, telling the disciples directly that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him. It’s the foundation for the “therefore,” the “end of the matter” in this Gospel, which comes directly from the One upon whom all authority sits… Christ Jesus.
Verses 19 and the first half of verse 20…
“Go therefore and make 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.”
Go… make… baptize… teach.
Let me ask you a question…
Does this sound like a voluntary option, or perhaps, does it sound more like a marching order?
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go… make… baptize… teach.”
It’s a marching order.
Please understand. These are not four different commands. There is only one command… MAKE DISCIPLES. Go, baptize, and teach are just the components of the command MAKE DISCIPLES.
In other words, what Jesus is commanding is…
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore… make disciples.”
For us (Christians), this is the “end of the matter.” Our main task until we either die, or Christ returns. Our main concern is to make disciples.
So (you ask), how do we make disciples?
Well, again, what does the text say?
1) We go… We evangelize all nations. We leave no one out regardless of race, color, ethnic background, origin, social status, economic status, you name it. We proactively proclaim to everyone who Christ is and what He did. We then also seek to get a response from those we evangelize. In other words, we provide them with an opportunity to embrace the Gospel.
2) We baptize… We baptize those who embrace the Gospel, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit… Not in just the name of Jesus, but in the name of the triune God.
3) We teach… We teach them to observe all that Christ commanded… That’s the Old and New Testaments; the whole council of God. Just as Paul reminded Timothy as to how he was taught…
“…as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:14-17)
That’s what making a disciple looks like.
Notice that Timothy was exposed to the Christian life and scripture his entire life…
“…as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”
The first phase of making disciples: Go…
When Jesus told the disciples to “go,” the literal understanding is “as you go.” “Go” is not the main directive here, as I said earlier.
It’s kind of like when my wife sometimes texts me after I leave work:
“On your way home, can you pick up (blank)?”
What Jesus is basically saying is, “As you go through life, make disciples.”
This is similar to what Moses was getting at in Deuteronomy 6:4-9, when he addressed proper parenting…
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
The point is we are to be making disciples as a regular part of simply living our everyday life.
In other words, making disciples should be part of the very fabric of our daily experience. It should become what we just naturally do. It should be automatic as we “go.”
The second phase of making disciples: Baptize…
When those who have heard the Gospel, now, as a result, 1) have changed their mind about God, 2) recognize that they have sinned against God, 3) are remorseful regarding their sin, and 4) have professed trust in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, it is then time for them to be baptized.
Now, the global church is not 100 percent in agreement on just how baptism should be done or even what happens at the moment of baptism. However, we do agree on one thing: when someone is baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, they are then publicly identified with God, through Christ. In other words, they are then viewed by the church as being part of the church. They are then viewed as being a disciple of Christ, a Christian.
Since baptism is about identity, it then makes sense that baptism is a part of making disciples. A public declaration of faith and devotion to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is a pretty good sign that someone has now become a disciple of Christ.
Luke records a beautiful account of a baptism in the 8thchapter of Acts…
Acts 8:26-38…
“Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:
“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter
and like a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he opens not his mouth.
In his humiliation justice was denied him.
Who can describe his generation?
For his life is taken away from the earth.”
And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.”
The last phase of making disciples: Teach…
In order to do this, we need to be familiar with what?
Scripture…
Every single day we need to be in the Word, reading it, pondering it, praying it, and living it. Only when scripture has become familiar can we then do what Philip did with the Ethiopian eunuch and what Paul did with Timothy. Once we have gained a familiarity with scripture, we can then teach it. We can then help guide each other through all aspects of life. We disciples can then make disciples. We can then teach each other to observe all that Christ commanded.
Now, what makes the last of the three components of making disciples unique is that it describes something which never stops. “Go” or evangelism ends when the Gospel has been embraced. “Baptism” ends when one comes up out of the water. However, “teaching each other to observe all that Christ commanded” never ends.
Look at it this way…
The “end of the matter” for John’s Gospel reads as follows…
“Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” – John 21:25
Do you see the point?
“Teaching them to observe” all that Jesus has commanded is based upon that which not even the entire world could contain if it was written down. In other words, making disciples never ends, and it is to be part of every major and minor facet of our lives. It is to permeate our very being.
Verse 20…
“And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
One thing that I have not touched upon is the corporate nature of what Jesus says to His disciples at the end of Matthew’s Gospel. When Jesus says “you,” it is not singular… It’s plural.
The closest equivalent in English would be, as they say in the south, “y’all.” Such as in the expression, “Y’all come back now you hear?”
The Christian endeavor is a CHURCH endeavor. It’s not an individual endeavor. Jesus does not call us to lead a singular life. He calls us to lead a corporate life.
WE are to go. WE are to baptize. WE are to teach. WE are to make disciples.
Why should WE have confidence in this endeavor?
Well, because of what Jesus says:
“And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
When Jesus says, “I am with you always,” the literal translation is “I am with you all the days, or I am with you the whole of everyday.” Not just, “I am hovering around, watching,” but, as Art Azurdia puts it…
“I am with you on the good days. I am with you on the bad days. I am with you on those days of exaltation. I am with you on those days of persecution. I am with you on those days when there is wild fruitfulness. I am with you on those days when there is slim pick’ns. I am with you on the days of joy, and I am with you on those days of sorrow. This period of time between the commission and the ultimate consummation, I am with you… the whole… of every… day.”
So, why does Jesus make this point in such a personal manner?
Because (as this same person put it)…
“He knows that we need to be reminded of His personal presence with us, while we are about this business.”
This is Christ’s assurance to His disciples of His eternal omnipresence… and we (Christians) should be encouraged by it.
So, I have a question for you…
Are you a disciple of Jesus Christ?
If you are, then I have another question for you…
Are you proactively heeding the command of Christ Jesus to make disciples?
If not, then you need to repent of it and get on board.
Now, if you are not a disciple of Jesus Christ, then you should be asking a question of me…
What is a disciple of Jesus Christ?
Again, here’s Art Azurdia…
“A Christian is person who has forsaken all self-generated attempts at making peace with God, whether they be of a religious, or social, or of a moral nature. And, in turn, has staked his eternal existence on the saving accomplishments of Jesus Christ. And by that, I mean His death of reconciliation on the cross and His life giving resurrection from the dead.”
He goes on…
“In fact to be even more precise, a Christian is not a person who merely believes those events occurred. AChristian is a person who trusts in them exclusively as the only basis for the experience of eternal salvation. A person is not a Christian, then, simply because he is not something else, or because he was raised in a certain kind of family, or because he espouses a particular moral code. A person is a Christian when he has Jesus Christ as his Savior.”
If you are not a disciple of Jesus Christ, if you are not a Christian, then you too must also repent. You must 1) change your mind about God, 2) recognize who you are in comparison to Him, 3) acknowledge your sins against Him, and 4) trust in His Son Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
Consider the words of the psalmist:
Psalm 34-4:8
“I sought the Lord, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.
Those who look to him are radiant,
and their faces shall never be ashamed.
This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him
and saved him out of all his troubles.
The angel of the Lord encamps
around those who fear him, and delivers them.
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!
Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!”
I urge you to examine your heart, whether you are a disciple of Jesus Christ or not.
Again, what is the end of the matter?
“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 Son 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.”
Godspeed, to the brethren!
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