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Cross to Commission
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Good morning, family. We are in our series "Cross to Commission," walking through Matthew 28. My name is Milton James, and I am one of the elders here at 2819 Church. We welcome our guests, our digital disciples, those in overflow, and especially the unbeliever who is still wrestling with the claims of Christ. My prayer for you today is that the spirit of the living God will arrest your heart and present you to the feet of Jesus. Your part is to believe and accept that preaching.
Before we begin, let me pray the scriptures over you from Ephesians 3:14-21:
For this reason I bow my knee before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. That being rooted and grounded in love, you may have strength to know the breadth and length and height and depth of the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
While studying this message, I was struck by the importance of beholding—of gazing upon and observing something with intention. The Lord convicted my heart about this through the account of Simeon in Luke 2:25-32:
There was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. The Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. He came in the spirit into the temple. When the parents brought in the child Jesus, Simeon took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, "Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word. For my eyes have seen your salvation, that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for the glory to your people in Israel."
My heart was so attached to the beauty of creation that it did not move past that to the Creator. When we behold something beautiful, that awe should move us to Christ. My desire for you today is that you be in awe and wonder of Christ—that you would behold his entire life.
We come to church week after week, but when we leave these doors, do we think about Jesus? Do we behold him? His life was perfect. The magi worshiped him as a baby. At twelve years old, he was in the temple teaching the scribes and Pharisees, challenging them with questions. Do we marvel at that? Do we really think about a twelve-year-old challenging the religious leaders? This is the Christ, perfect in all his ways.
We tend to forget that Christ was a son—the oldest of six, with parents and siblings. He navigated that whole time perfectly. He obeyed his parents perfectly. When he was baptized by John the Baptist, the spirit of God rested upon him in its fullness. We only have a little piece of the Spirit; he had the full. The Father spoke: "This is my son with whom I am well pleased." Do we behold that?
Outside these four walls, do we go home and meditate on this perfect life—the one who redeemed and saved us? Is that in our hearts like it was in Simeon's?
Jesus went into the desert forty days and forty nights and was tempted. He had a sword fight with the devil:
It is written. It is written. It is written.
Word of the Spirit. Sword of the Spirit. He said, "Get behind me, Satan. You do not tempt the Lord your God."
He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, fulfilling prophecy. The people cried, "Hosanna! Hosanna!" They laid palm leaves on the ground. Next week they were crying, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" He picked twelve men to walk with him—just twelve men—and they turned the world upside down.
Jesus was arrested and tried, betrayed by Judas in the Garden of Gethsemane, tried before Jewish leaders and Pontius Pilate, crucified, buried. That brings us to his death and his resurrection—that is where we land today.
Now, after the Sabbath, towards the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.
The day after the Sabbath is Sunday, the first day of the week. The women came to the tomb to finish the burial process. They did not have in mind that Jesus was going to be resurrected. On Friday they had put the Lord Jesus in the ground, but the burial process was not finished. So they were going to anoint his body. Their mindset was not, "We are about to see a risen Savior."
Mark's gospel tells us that Salome bought spices to anoint the Lord's body. I found this interesting: there were two Salomes in Scripture. One was the daughter of Herodias who danced for Herod and requested the head of John the Baptist—one Salome got a righteous man executed. This Salome took care of a righteous man's body. That was powerful.
And behold, 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.
I want to talk about two great earthquakes. On Friday, when the Lord Jesus was on the cross, he bowed his head and the earth shook. The centurion witnessed this great earthquake and the torn veil and bodies being raised. He said, "This must be the son of the living God."
On Sunday, we have another earthquake. These two earthquakes sealed your redemption, my redemption. The first earthquake was for our sins, for the bloodshed on Friday, for the wrath of the Father taken care of. The second earthquake was when the Lord Jesus rose—when resurrection power raised him from the dead. That earthquake was for death, hell, and the grave. Hallelujah.
Without the resurrection, we are lost. He is just another dead man in a tomb. Without the resurrection, we are lost in our sins. But not our Savior! Hallelujah! The scripture says he snatched the keys from Satan and took all authority and all power.
You might think the angel rolled away the stone for Jesus to come out. No, no, no, family. Jesus was not in the tomb when they rolled the stone back. The stone was rolled back so you and I could look in the tomb and see he is risen. He is not here. He is not here, but he is a risen Savior now.
John 20:7 gives us vital information:
The facecloth which had been on Jesus' head was not lying with the linen cloths, but folded up in a place by itself.
In our Western eyes, we think, "Okay, it was folded up." But in the first century, when the master came home and reclined at the table and the servant fed him and fed him and fed him, it wasn't until the master took the napkin and folded it up that the servant knew the master was finished.
Two times Jesus has proclaimed "It is finished." It was on the cross. The Jewish people who walked in the tomb and saw this snapped and folded napkin should have known that the Savior was finished with death, hell, and the grave. It is finished.
Jesus said, "I'm going to leave you a sign." The Jews would have known immediately what it meant. All the other clothes were ragged on the floor, but that napkin was folded. Jesus showed them that it's finished for them. Death, hell, grave. It is done. It is finished. That should be in our hearts. We should know that we're free.
Where is the freedom? We as his sons and daughters shouldn't be walking around so crippled and maimed all the time. I understand we have life experiences, hurts, pains. We don't have money. We don't have jobs. I've been there. We have relational problems. We have all kinds of issues.
But what are you beholding in this? Are you beholding the oneness? Our freedom is in Christ. Lord, I know they fired me. I don't know how I'm going to pay these bills. But the risen Savior, the one who has all provision, the one who has a thousand cattle on a thousand hills—he will provide for me. Even though I can't see it, he has risen and I'm going to behold him in that.
That's how you get through suffering. That's how Christ got through suffering. He beheld the Father. "Nevertheless, nevertheless, nevertheless, let your will be done."
His appearance was like lightning, his clothes white as snow.
The angel was so bright. Imagine a hundred-watt light bulb producing about 1,600 lumens. The scripture says the angel was like a lightning bolt. A lightning bolt emits 100 billion lumens. The sun emits 127,000 lumens. This angel was in the presence of unapproachable light. This angel was in the presence of the Almighty and came down looking like a bolt of lightning.
For fear of the guards trembled and became like dead men.
We try to front, but if an angel came down right now illuminating like a lightning bolt, we'd be running out of here. It would be a stampede. But these men were soldiers—men of war and bloodshed—and when they saw that unapproachable light, they froze like dead men.
But the angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen as he said. Come and see the place where he lay."
I think it was supernatural resurrection power that kept these women up. The angel speaks to them about "as he said." Four times in the Gospel of Matthew, the Lord talked about this day:
I know we wouldn't have heeded all of that. I would probably have rebuked Jesus like Peter did. "Where are you going? You're right here. I can talk to you, sit with you, eat with you. You're raising people from the dead. You're not going anywhere." We can't front—we wouldn't have heeded all of Jesus's predictions and prophecies. Even right now, we still don't heed all of his prophecies, the things in his holy word that we neglect to behold.
Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him.
Jesus empowered women to spread the gospel. Your Lord has empowered you to spread the gospel. Throughout the Gospel, women played crucial roles. Women had no credibility in the first century. A woman could not say anything that was to be believed. But the Lord Jesus put the gospel message in the mouths of women. "Y'all go and spread this gospel to my brothers who weren't there, who were hiding somewhere." He said, "I'm going to get my women. Since these men aren't here, I'm going to get these women to stand up for the Lord Jesus Christ and spread the gospel." We are all commissioned to spread the gospel.
So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, "Greetings."
He's walking through the park like it's normal. And they came up to him and took hold of his feet and worshiped him—full of awe, full of wonder. They had seen angels, seen the stone roll away, full of fear and great joy, encountering the divine.
How do you fathom that in your mind? "I saw you on Friday. I saw your body beaten. I saw the blood shed. I saw the whipping post. The women were at the cross. I saw this on Friday. How in God's name, on Sunday, is there a resurrected Jesus?" The women held his feet with reverent fear and great joy. They were overwhelmed. I would have been done.
I have a big old cross in my room, and sometimes I just hold that cross and it hurts and I say, "God, because of that, my heart's cry one day is like, when I get to heaven and there are billions and billions of people, I'm going to see Christ off in the distance and I'm just going to be like, 'Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me.' And I just get to say thank you and place that crown at his feet." He saved us from so much. And we get the opportunity like, saying thank you down here just doesn't seem like enough. How many thank yous? How many hallelujahs? It just never seems like enough. That's why we serve the way we serve. What else can we do in this life to bring something to our soul? But we have to wait for the day that he returns and comes to get us—that day of redemption. When I see him in that crowd, I'm going to say, "Excuse me, y'all. Get out of my way."
Jesus never stopped anyone from worshiping him. Under Jewish law, you would be stoned to death for worshiping a man. This is what the Pharisees and the scribes missed—all the overwhelming evidence that Jesus was not just a man but the Messiah, the Son of God, the one they had been waiting for. He is divine.
I don't want you to miss glory because you have head knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. You need to be born again. You need transformation. Repent. Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.
Who are you beholding? What is your affection on? The parables, his teaching, healing, walking on water, raising the dead, his divine wisdom. He could read minds. Divine provision—two fish, five loaves, feeding five thousand people. And you're worried about your job.
But all of that is to push us and prod us to question in our heart: something is different about this man. Something is totally different. This man walks on water. This man raises the dead. This man heals blind eyes. Just like Nicodemus saw all of this stuff. He was a Pharisee of Pharisees, and he couldn't see it. It was past his knowledge.
That's what I'm asking you to do: go past your knowledge. It has to be spiritual. I cannot figure everything out. I don't know everything. I'm just a flawed man and my mind is this big, but you are the living God and I will put my faith in that.
Even as you hear the proclamation of the word, put your faith in what you're hearing. Not me, but the Spirit that's moving in this room, over these airwaves. Don't suppress that. He said, "In the day that you hear the gospel, do not harden your heart." You feel something in there. Listen. We cannot explain salvation and the mystery that happens when a soul is regenerated. That's the power of God. I can't explain that. I'm not trying to explain the Trinity anymore. I'm not trying to explain heavenly things. I am flesh. He is divine. He knows all things, created all things.
Let me show you his divinity and his claims. Do not harden your heart when you hear these:
The high priest stood up and said, "Have you no answer to make?" They were accusing him. Jesus remained silent. The high priest said to him, "I adjure you by the living God. Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God."
This is a direct question. Jesus said to him, "You have said so. But I tell you, from now on, you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven."
No man can make this statement. Seated at the right hand of power—I sit with the Father. Whatever the Father does, I do. Whatever the Father says, I say. I sit at the right hand of power.
Then the high priest tore his robes and said, "He has uttered blasphemy!" Why? Because a man is claiming to be God. What further witness do we need? You have heard his blasphemy. What is your judgment? They answered, "He deserves death."
Listen to another claim in John 8:
The Jews answered him, "Are we not right to say that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?"
Because he was a man claiming to be God, they thought he must be possessed. Jesus answered:
"I do not have a demon. I honor my Father and you dishonor me. You dishonor me, you dishonor the Father. Truly, truly I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death."
Who makes claims like this? The Jews said to him, "Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets died. Yet you say, 'If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.' Are you greater than our father Abraham who died and the prophets died?"
Jesus answered:
"If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me. Of whom you say he is our God. But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say I don't know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him and I keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see the day of the Lord. He saw it and was glad."
So the Jews said to him, "You are not yet fifty years old. Have you seen Abraham?"
Jesus said to them:
"Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! No man, no man, no man can claim "I AM." When Moses was at the burning bush, he asked, "Who do I say that you are?" And God said, "I AM." Is that clear enough for you? Is that claim clear enough for you?
So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and left.
One more claim from John 10:
"I and the Father are one."
The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them:
"I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of them are you going to stone me for?"
The Jews answered him:
"It is not for good works that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God."
People say, "Jesus never said he was God." I just walked you through three claims. Now I'm saying, trust him. Behold him. Be in awe of him.
Then the resurrected Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee. And there they will see me."
Notice that he calls the disciples "brothers." This is a shift that indicates redemption for his sons and daughters. The resurrected Jesus now says, "They are my brothers." Now they are co-heirs in Christ, part of his family, not just followers anymore, but brothers and sisters in the faith.
Why? Because of resurrection power that has brought all of us together.
Behold the Christ. Behold his life. Outside these four walls, behold his life—his death, his burial, and the resurrection. We can't just glory in one part. We have to glory in it all because he had to get from there to get there, and he did all of it perfectly.
To behold means to gaze upon, observe, or see something with attention. Like it's got to be bigger than Sunday. If this is just a Sunday thing, you are missing it. If you come here because it just feels good, that is not what God is calling you to. He's calling you to behold him. He's calling you and me to behold him.
Often implying all his entire life—not just the resurrection, not just his birth, not just the cross, his entire life. We behold it, Lord Jesus, and we have to be fascinated by it. Lord Jesus, it's got to be held in the most highest esteem of our hearts—above your marriage, above your relationships, above your job, above your health, above your finances, above everything.
Christ's return is mentioned over 300 times in the New Testament. Are you beholding that? Like Simeon, are you waiting and watching?
Bow your heads. Let me pray.
God, I just thank you for your Spirit because it is by the Spirit of the living God who pricks the heart when the gospel is being presented. Prick the heart, oh gentle Savior, the resurrected one, the one that is returning. Prick the heart right now, God. Resurrect their soul and their hearts. Let us all get to a place where we behold you, honor you, are in awe of you, worship you. Let the gospel be enough. It is powerful and by the Holy Spirit, and it is alive and active, sharpened—a two-edged sword cutting through bone and marrow to the spirit of a person, that they will cry out: "I'm a sinner. I need this resurrected Jesus. I may not understand everything, but I understand what he did for me."
Be filled with the Holy Spirit and be baptized. Then you will walk out this glorious life with God right with you.
I cannot make it happen. I'm just a man. I have no power. It's by the power of the Holy Spirit. I just prayed this: no more head knowledge, but true transformation in the Spirit. Lord, I'm begging you. Real change in their spirit. When they leave here, they're going to know something different has happened in them. I can't explain what happens. I'm not God. But we have to participate. Our participation is to repent of our sins and put our trust in this resurrected Jesus who is returning for us.
I pray this over my brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters and the unbeliever. It's in Jesus' name. Amen.
