Matthew 28:20

“Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age.” The Lord Jesus Christ made that statement. It’s recorded in Matthew 28:20. “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age.” Please notice this is not a promise. There are no conditions involved. He did not say “Now if you read your Bible every day, I am with you.” “If you pray every day I am with you.” We certainly ought to read our Bibles. We certainly ought to pray. This is not a promise with conditions attached to it. This is a statement of fact. He is with us and He always will be with us.

You see that is His name. In Matthew 1:23 we’re told that His name is Immanuel, God with us. That is His nature. You see there is no place where God cannot be. Not when He says “I am with you.” He means I am with you as your companion, as your friend, as your guide, as your Lord. God’s very nature is to fill all things. He is certainly with us in our lives. As I read the book of Acts, I notice that whenever Paul got into a corner, the Lord showed up and said, “Paul, I’m with you.” Acts chapter 18 when Paul was having a tough time in Corinth, the Lord came and said, “Paul, don’t be afraid. Keep on preaching. I am with you. We’re going to win many people in this city.”

When Paul was onboard ship and that ship went into a storm, the angel of God showed up and said, “Paul, don’t be afraid, I’m with you.” When Paul was in prison, the Lord showed up and said, “I am with you.” He’s with us in life; He’s with us in death.” “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil. Thou art with me” (Psalm 23:4). That’s His nature. He’s God. He’s with you today. That is His declaration. “I am with you.” “I will never thee nor forsake thee,” Hebrews 13:5. Therefore we don’t have to be afraid. We can walk by faith. We can trust Him to lead us in the right way at the right time. We know that He is going to guide us not only in life but in death and throughout all eternity. Take this marvelous assurance with you today. Jesus Christ is with you.

Most of us are familiar with what we call the Great Commission. “Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all nations,” Matthew 28:19. But did you know that the word “go” in that great commission is not an imperative? It’s not a commandment? Actually in the Greek it’s a participle! The literal translation is “while you are going.” What does that mean? Well, He says “while you are going, you make disciples. While you are going, you win other people to the Savior.”

Now let’s think about that. That means that witnessing is not a special job for special people. It’s for everybody. While you are going to the store and you’re sitting on the bus, you can make disciples. While you are waiting in line to be checked out, you can be witnessing for the Lord. While you are driving on your vacation, while you are at lunch with a business associate, while you are in the cafeteria at school. Wherever, whenever, whoever, while you are going! Witnessing is not a special job for special people, people we call missionaries. It’s for all of us! Witnessing is a daily opportunity, while you’re going everywhere, anywhere. Oh, we’re so prone to compartmentalize our Christianity. Certain days we do certain things. He is saying now men while you’re going, as you’re going to Jerusalem, as you’re going to Damascus, while you are going. You have a daily opportunity as God’s witnesses to share the Gospel. God moves us where we are needed. When you read the book of Acts, you find God moved people to different places to accomplish certain jobs and while we are going we have the beautiful opportunity of witnessing for the Lord.

You see you and I need to ask for wisdom today. If we’re walking in the will of God, there are no accidents, only appointments. And He says now “While you’re going.” I’m not saying “You go here, you go there,” “While you are going I’m going to guide you. You obey My will and together we’re going to bear witness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” No, witnessing is not for a select few; preachers and missionaries and special workers, no. Witnessing belongs to all Christians in all places at all times. You say, “Well God’s never told me to go!” That’s right. He’s saying, “While you are going.”

“All authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” The Lord Jesus Christ spoke those words after His resurrection and we need to lay hold of those words today. Our Savior is the Savior who has all authority. Listen to what He says now, “And Jesus came and spoke unto them saying, ‘All authority is given unto Me in heaven and in earth.'” All authority. He has authority to teach. In Matthew 7:29 when our Lord finished what we call the Sermon on the Mount, the people were amazed at His authority.

You see the teachers they were accustomed to hearing spoke from authorities. “Now Rabbi so and so says this” and “Rabbi so and so says that.” Our Lord didn’t do that. Our Lord spoke with authority. He has the authority to teach. He has the authority to forgive. He said to a man one day, “I forgive you of your sins.” The Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins, Matthew 9:6, and the people were shocked! Who gave Him authority to forgive? Today He can forgive you. He has that authority. He has the authority to overcome Satan. In Matthew 10:1 He gave authority to His disciples and sent them out and He said, “I give you authority over Satan. You can cast out demons.” Authority to overcome.

Now He tells us at the end of Matthew’s Gospel He has all authority. Now if He has all authority, this means He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He has delegated a certain amount of authority to people. Parents have authority over their children. Employers have authority over their employees. The government has a certain amount of delegated authority over citizens but here we have the Lord Jesus saying, “I have all authority.” That means He deserves from us all obedience, all reverence, all trust. If He has all authority, there’s nothing to be afraid of! He is controlling everything. If He has all authority, we should not question Him or doubt Him. He knows what He is doing. If He has all authority, then His Word is with power and when we trust His Word and obey it, He gives to us the victory. Let’s live today for the One who says, “I have all authority.”

I would like to have been present when the 11 disciples met the Lord Jesus in Galilee after His resurrection. Now here’s the record in Matthew 28:16-17, “Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.” Now what do we learn from this scene?

Well, we learn first of all that Jesus keeps His word. He said, “I will arise from the dead” and He did. He said to them before ever He went to the cross, “Now I’m going to meet you in Galilee,” and He appointed a place for their rendezvous. He keeps His word. Sometimes you and I have a difficult time keeping our word, not because we’re liars but because we’re so weak. We can’t always keep our word. We make promises and then our schedule gets upset or we get sick or we run out of money and we just can’t do all that we’ve promised. Our Lord keeps His word. He’s the resurrected Savior who cannot lie. I noticed here that He’s worthy of our worship. As they worshiped Him, they realized that He had done so much for them. As they knelt at His feet, they noticed that those feet had been pierced for them. As they looked at His hands and His side, they saw that He had been a sacrifice for them.

He’s worthy of our worship. He’s worthy of our trust. I’m amazed to read that some doubted. Isn’t that interesting? Some doubted! Of course Thomas doubted. He wasn’t quite sure that this thing was for real but He is worthy of our trust. Oh we’ve never seen the grave clothes in the empty tomb. We’ve never seen the body of the Lord Jesus alive on the mountain. No, we’ve never seen those things. We’ve seen Him by faith through His word by His Spirit. He is worthy of our trust and He is worthy of our obedience. He was about to commission them, to send them out to reach a lost world.

By the way I would not be talking to you today if the Lord Jesus had not commissioned them and if they had not been obedient. You and I are the result of the witness of other generations who faithfully have obeyed the Lord. He keeps His word. Therefore, He is worthy of our worship. He is worthy of our trust and He is worthy of our obedience. Let’s not doubt today. Let’s walk in the dynamic of His resurrection.

If the enemy cannot stop something from happening, he will simply start telling a lie about it. That’s what happened with the message of the resurrection. You see the great message of the Gospel is not just that Christ died and that Christ was buried. That has happened to other people, but the great message of the Gospel is that Christ arose from the dead and He is a living Savior today.

Now the enemy didn’t want that message to get out. And so in Matthew chapter 28:11-15 we read that He called a committee meeting and they assembled together and they said, “Now you soldiers tell this story. His disciples came by night and stole him away while we slept.” Ah, but Roman soldiers are not supposed to go to sleep! They’re supposed to be alert. Well, “If this comes to the governor’s ears, we’ll persuade him, we’ll take care of you!” And so they bribed the soldiers, they paid them money and that lie goes on today. Jesus Christ they said did not really come out of the tomb. His disciples stole His body. How they did that of course nobody can explain. Of course nobody has to explain. It never happened.

Our Lord is Victor. God’s Son came forth from the tomb alive having conquered sin and death and hell. Christ is Victor. Now the enemy doesn’t want us to believe that. The enemy wants us to live as though Jesus is still dead and in the tomb. Well, we have a living Savior, a victorious Savior. It means that the Word of God is true. He arose from the dead just as He said. We can trust the Word of God. It means that salvation is available and freedom and deliverance from the bondage from sin can be offered to the whole world. It means joy. It means that we have a joyful relationship with our Lord.

Ah, but the Church does not live as though these things are true! Are we living victoriously? Are we living believing the Word of God? Are we living making salvation available to a whole world? Are we living a life of joy? Jesus is alive! Can people look at us and know that Jesus is alive? The message of the resurrection is not only one of rejoicing, it’s one of rebuke. Are we really living as though Jesus Christ is alive, the conqueror, the Savior of the world?

When the Lord Jesus Christ met the women on resurrection morning, He made two statements. The first was a greeting, “All hail,” which literally means “oh joy.” Think of the joy of the Lord Jesus Christ; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross despising the shame and now He is set at the right hand of the Father in glory. But His second statement was, “Be not afraid: go tell My brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see Me.” No wonder there was such joy when these women found the assurances that they needed that morning.

First of all, they were sure that He was alive. There He was! They could feel Him. They could touch Him. They could hear Him. They could see Him. This was not a vision, it was not some delusion. No. Jesus is alive. That’s a great assurance for today. Some years ago a great British preacher, R. W. Dale was preparing an Easter Sunday service message and as he studied the resurrection, it dawned upon him that indeed Jesus Christ is alive! And he jumped up from his desk, he began to pace back and forth in his study saying aloud, “He is alive, He is alive!” What a wonderful assurance.

Secondly, not only is Jesus alive but He speaks to us. He speaks words of joy. Oh joy! He speaks words of commandment and direction. God speaks to us. The Lord Jesus alive speaks to us today through His Word. Thirdly, the Lord Jesus makes us a part of His family because we’ve trusted Him. He said, “You go tell My brethren [My brethren!] I’m going to meet them in Galilee.” They had forsaken Him. They’d fled. Peter had denied Him. He says, “You go tell my brothers I want to see them.” You see He has plans for our lives. He had a wonderful plan for them in carrying the message of the Gospel to the ends of the earth. He didn’t rebuke them. He didn’t argue with them. He just said, “You’re My brethren and I love you.”

There’s a wonderful assurance here that one day we’re going to meet Him just as He planned. One day that’s going to happen, it could be today! We’re going to meet Him just as He has planned. Oh, it’s a wonderful thing to walk on resurrection ground. Every day is resurrection day for the people of God as we walk in newness of life because Jesus is alive.

Do you want to meet the Lord Jesus Christ today? I trust you do. Well, I can tell you where you will meet Him. You will meet Him in the place of obedience. That’s what happened to the women on resurrection morning. They obeyed the Word and they met the Lord. Matthew chapter 28:8-9, “And they departed quickly from the sepulcher with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, ‘All hail.’ And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.”

There are some good lessons here for us to remind us about the obedience of our Christian life. Let’s obey in spite of our feelings. Notice how their feelings change here. They were fearful. Here they were at the tomb and they saw the angels and the angels said, “Don’t be afraid. Fear not!” But Matthew 28:8 says they ran quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy. Here are mixed emotions in their hearts, and yet they were obeying the Lord. If you wait until you feel like obeying the Lord, you’ll never do it. They obeyed not only in spite of their feelings but they obeyed immediately and quickly. They didn’t call a committee meeting. They didn’t even pause to say let’s pray about it. They said, “The angel told us to go, and we are going to go!” And as they turned to obey, they met the Lord.

You see if you obey, the Lord will meet you. They didn’t stand around and say well if we see the Lord, we’ll know we have a message. No, we’re going to wait until He shows up. They did what they were told to do. You may have some big decision to make and you’re wondering what does God want me to do? He wants you to do the next thing. Do the next thing God wants you to do. It may not be a big thing. It may be a little thing but if we obey Him, He opens the way for the next step of faith. We should obey because obedience leads to meeting the Lord and when you meet the Lord, you worship Him. I like verse 9 of Matthew 28, “And they came and held Him by the feet and they worshipped Him.” Well, they were runners and they were fearful and they were obeying and they met the Lord and they ended up having a worship service there in the garden. Do you want to meet the Lord today? You will meet Him in the place of obedience.

When Jesus was born at Bethlehem the angel said to the shepherds, “Fear not.” And when Jesus arose from the dead, the angel said to the women, “Fear not.” That’s a wonderful word to hear from the Lord. Matthew 28:5-7, “And the angel answered and said unto the women, ‘Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.'”

There are three very interesting commands here. The first of course is “fear not.” That’s a commandment. He says, “Don’t be afraid.” Why? Because Jesus Christ is alive. The Lord Jesus Christ by His death and resurrection has conquered the fear of death, He’s conquered the fear of life and He’s conquered the fear of the future. We are born again to a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and because He lives, we too shall live. And so His first commandment to us today is “Fear not.” “Don’t be afraid, I’m alive. I have conquered all of your enemies. I am reigning from the throne of glory.” His second command, “Come and see.” His third command, “Go and tell.” Come and see. Here look into the tomb. Now there are the empty grave clothes. They aren’t torn apart. They are there just as they were wrapped around His body but they’re empty like the empty cocoon. He came right through those grave clothes. He came right through these rocks. He is alive today. Come and see.

Now you and I cannot go and see that evidence today. We have it in the Word of God. Come and see in the Word of God the proof that Jesus is alive. Then go and tell. Go quickly and tell. That’s the message of the resurrection. We have something to talk about. Death closes your mouth. Resurrection opens your mouth. The cross of Jesus Christ and the empty tomb give us something to talk about. Christ died for our sins. He was buried, He arose again and now you and I can share with the world newness of life.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the greatest demonstration of the power of God recorded anywhere in Scripture. This miracle is greater than the miracle of the creation, because it brings into this universe God’s new creation. Everything about life can be new because Jesus Christ arose from the dead. Paul tells us in Romans chapter 6 that we should walk in newness of life. Matthew 28:1 reads this way, “In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men” (vv. 1-4, KJV).

Well, we have here the dawning of a new day. It’s the first day of the week. And the first day of the week is the Lord’s Day. It’s the day of resurrection. For centuries the Jewish people had been working and then resting on the 7th day, but now we begin the week with newness of life. This is grace. Not work and then rest but you come and find resurrection power in the Lord and then you go out to work for Him. A new day, a new power. Once again there’s an earthquake. There was an earthquake when our Lord died on the cross and now there’s an earthquake to let us know He has been raised from the dead. A new power. “Christ liveth in me,” said the Apostle Paul.

I hope that today you’re going to depend upon the resurrection power of the Lord Jesus. There’s a new hope! There was an empty tomb! Death could not hold her prey, Jesus my Savior. He tore the bars away, Jesus my Lord. And while the enemy was trembling with fear, we have new hope because Jesus has conquered death which leads us to a new victory. We are able to walk in resurrection power. Christ liveth in me. He has conquered sin and death and hell and now because of the empty tomb we can have a full life. Hallelujah! What a Savior!

The message of the Gospel is that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures and that He was buried and that He arose again the third day according to the Scriptures. We often forget about the burial of our Lord Jesus Christ. You find the record of it in Matthew 27:57-61.

Joseph of Arimathea, a wealthy man, begs the body of Jesus from Pilate. And Joseph and Nicodemus go, and they wrap the body of Jesus; and they put that body in Joseph’s own new tomb which he had hewn out in the rock. This tomb was near to Calvary. An interesting thing. Why would a wealthy man like Joseph of Arimathea cut himself a tomb in a garden near a place of execution? Can you imagine his loved ones coming to pay their respects to Joseph after he’s dead and off in the near neighborhood somebody is screaming from a cross? That’s no place to put the tomb of a rich man, but Joseph never intended to use that tomb for Himself. He prepared that tomb for the Lord Jesus. He knew that Jesus would die. He knew where He would die, outside the city. He knew how He would die, on a cross. He knew when He would die, on Passover. All of this he discovered from the Old Testament Scriptures and he had that tomb ready for the Lord Jesus Christ.

That tomb is important because the empty tomb is really the testimony of the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ. Not only the cross; the empty tomb. Our Lord Jesus came forth and He left the grave clothes behind. When Joseph buried the Lord Jesus with the help of Nicodemus, he was fulfilling Old Testament prophesy. Isaiah 53:9, He was assigned a “Grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death.” It protected the body of the Lord Jesus Christ so that He could be raised from the dead and leave those grave clothes behind.

I think of the courage of Joseph and Nicodemus publicly taking their stand with the Lord Jesus Christ. They had everything all ready. Perhaps they were even hiding in the tomb waiting for our Lord to die. They were ready and they performed a very important task. I’m thankful for these men. I’m thankful that the Lord Jesus Christ was buried because then we have the proof of His resurrection.