Jesus gave us the Great Commission nearly two thousand years ago, and it is as crucial now as it was the day he commanded it.
All authority in heaven and earth has been granted to Christ by God, so He is the unquestioned ruler of the universe. Those who reject his Gospel are mutineers who have chosen their own way while disdaining the one in authority.
Those who disobey Christ’s commands are insubordinate and will receive a ‘dishonorable’ discharge from the Kingdom of Heaven if they do not repent. They will also receive ‘extended confinement’ in hell until they are dispatched to the Lake of Fire.
So, it is a very good idea for every person to follow his instructions.
The Great Commission contains three parts:
- Make disciples of all nations.
- Baptize all nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
- Teach the new disciples to obey everything that Christ has commanded.
It is the third part of this directive that will be our focus.
The definition of a command is an authoritative direction or instruction to do something. Even though the person who issues a command expects his subordinate to obey it or suffer severe consequences, everyone who receives a command retains the free will to disobey it.
That is why commands are issued in the first place. Otherwise, people would run wild and act according to their own dictates. Those who obey these commands enjoy order and blessings in their lives; those who disobey are plagued by moral anarchy.
Among the commands that Christ issued are:
- To believe
- To repent
- To refrain from hardening our hearts
- To remain in the faith
- To Proclaim repentance for the forgiveness of sins in the name of Jesus
To begin, there is no question that the Bible presupposes free will from start to finish.
From the Garden of Eden to the Angels’ blowing of the sixth horn (Revelation 9:20-21) and the refusal on the part of mankind to repent, all our decisions are based on our love and trust in God or our hatred of Him.
And, despite the protestations of the atheists, we all know God exists.
As Paul points out, men suppress the truth in their wickedness, of their own free will, even though the truth about God has been made plain to them. Since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities and divine nature have been clearly seen by every human ever created.
Life does not come from lifelessness, and order does not arise out of chaos. These facts leave all men who deny the existence of God, by their own free will, with no excuse when they reach their eternal destination.
We know there is a God, and we know he expects us to obey his instructions.
First, we are commanded to believe in Christ, of our own free will, that he is the sinless Son of God who came to die for our sins. The very ‘work’ of God is to believe in the One He has sent. According to Jesus, that is what “we must do” to do the work that God requires of us (John 6:29).
When we believe in Christ, we do not boast in ourselves but in Christ. No one in his right mind, after believing that Christ died for his sins, runs around telling everyone how great he is.
No sane person says, “Look at me! I am a miserable sinner that God saved by shedding the blood of his Son!” Aren’t I great!?!”
We believe the Gospel of our own free will. Those who call themselves Christians heard the truth, we understood our human condition, and we were delighted about the Good News that we heard and eagerly embraced it.
And God knew who would embrace his faith before he laid the foundation of the universe.
Once we believed, God gave us the gift of faith. It is this faith that saves us from our sins, not our decision to believe the Gospel.
R.C. Sproul once stated that, regarding salvation, there is no interaction between God and man. However, the fact that God issued these commands to us reveals that there is a necessary interaction between God and man for one to achieve salvation.
When God sent his only Son to die for our sins, He set off an ‘interactional’ chain reaction that was necessary for salvation. First we believe, then we receive the gift of faith.
Second, we are commanded to repent of our sins. Once again, we do this of our own free will. Adam and Eve could have repented in the Garden of Eden and the rebels of Revelation Chapter Nine could repent as well if they had the desire to do so.
Once we repent, God must grant us repentance for it to be valid. However, that does not change the fact that there is, in fact, an interaction between God and man regarding repentance and salvation.
If we refuse to repent, God will not grant us repentance. Elementary, my dear Watson (err… R.C.).
Third, we must refrain from hardening our hearts against the Lord.
When Pharoah heard the words of God, he hardened his heart five times before God took over. When God took over, Pharoah’s fate was sealed.
Once again, we see the obvious interaction between God and man regarding salvation.
The writer of Hebrews admonishes us that when we hear the voice of God, to refrain from hardening our hearts against him.
Those Israelites who heard the word of God in the wilderness still chose, of their own free will, to harden their hearts against the Lord.
And God passed judgment on them due to their stubbornness.
Fourth, when we receive the gift of faith, we are required to remain in the faith. The gift of faith is our ‘pearl of great price.’ We sell everything we have to possess it. It is the most valuable thing that we will ever acquire.
This faith must be polished, treasured, and utilized until we pass since there is nothing in this world that is more important.
Every false teacher, from the Pope on down, engages in the same bait-and-switch strategy to draw us away from the faith. They proclaim Jesus, then relegate him to the back of the bus as they move on to ‘more important things.’
Let’s have prayers to Mary and the Saints, call that joker in Rome ‘Holy Father,’ have our best life now, find out purpose, or dispose of God’s moral law, which is integral to the Gospel, and replace it with ‘social justice.’
These false teachers suffocate the gift of faith that we received and were supposed to treasure.
Due to these false gospels, many are led to “abandon the faith.”
The Holy Spirit was clear that some (who were once in the faith) will one day abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons. They will, of their own free will, abandon their pearl and pursue the freshly laid, steaming pile of horse manure that the world offers.
When Jesus revealed that He was the true vine that is pruned by God, He stated that he cuts off every branch that is not fruitful. Using the exegetical technique of ‘allowing God’s word to speak for itself,’ Jesus said,
“Remain in me [of your own free will], and I will remain in you [interaction]…If [conditional] a man remains in me [of his own free will] and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
If anyone does not remain in me [of his own free will], he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned [in hell]” (Matthew 15:1-8).
There is no agenda in this exegesis, just basic reading and grammar.
There is no question that when we receive the gift of faith and are baptized, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, and no ‘outside force’ can snatch us from his hands, but these gifts are ‘conditional’ on our remaining in the faith.
If anyone thinks that they cannot abandon the faith once they are sealed, the Holy Spirit, speaking through Paul to Timothy, voices his disagreement.
“The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith…”
Since we are saved by Grace through faith, abandoning God’s most precious gift is a really bad idea.
In fact, it is impossible for those who have once been enlightened (believed the Gospel), who have tasted the heavenly gift (of the Lord’s supper), who have shared in the Holy Spirit (through baptism), who have tasted the goodness of the word of God (the Bible) and the powers of the coming age (Christ’s Millennial Kingdom), if they fall away (abandon the faith), to be brought back to repentance, because they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.
If you testify that Christ died for your sins and then later abandon your testimony because you come to like what the world offers better, you become a land that produces thistles and thorns. You will abandon your confession of faith and grow to disdain it.
As Christ said in the quote above from the Book of John, in the end, you will be burned.
To help ensure our secure place, Christ instituted Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which aids us in remaining in the faith.
Peter claimed that we were saved through baptism as it is our plea for a good conscience toward God (I Peter 3:21). We demonstrate a good conscience toward God when we watch our life and our doctrine closely and ‘persevere’ in them. If we do, we will save both ourselves and our hearers (I Timothy 4:16).
Perseverance in the faith is crucial to salvation.
Regarding the Lord’s supper, Jesus stated that those who eat his flesh and drink his blood remain in him, and he in us (John 6:56). He said these words are spirit, and they are life. Jesus implemented this ceremony to help ensure that we persevere in the faith.
There is nothing more important than remembering and honoring Christ’s wonderful sacrifice on the cross for our sins.
Finally, the command that produces disciples for Christ is the one that opens our minds so that we can understand the Scripture. The primary duty of the church is to follow the command to preach:
“The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations.”
The proclamation of the Gospel requires a free will response by its very nature. To claim otherwise is silly.
If the church had been able to keep this one command, the LGBT would have no power, and our youth would not be sexually mutilated for profit. Those who bare false witness against their neighbor would have been humiliated when they called people ‘racist.’
And the pagan cult of ‘climate change’ would never have gotten off the ground.
The number of churches that disobey this command are legion. This is the reason that we find the kingdom of Satan engulfing the world.
The church now has little strength, and the Holy Spirit of God is preparing to withdraw. The mystery of the rapture is soon to be revealed.
When the full number of Gentiles has come in, the Day of the Lord will begin.
In the meantime, we are to keep our heads in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, and discharge the duties of our ministries.
And obey the commands of the Lord.