"With You" 12-27-20

Overview

God's Resolution: "I Am With You Always"

Among the resolutions God has made toward His people—to forget our sins, to lift the burden of the law, to give us a new heart and spirit—stands another sure promise: He is resolved never to leave us. As Jesus tells His disciples, "Remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age" Matthew 28:20.

The story of God dwelling with His people unfolds across Scripture, but always with a barrier. He walked with Adam and Eve in the garden until sin entered creation. He descended on Mount Sinai, filled the tabernacle, and inhabited Solomon's temple—yet in each case, sinful humanity could not freely draw near. That barrier was finally broken on Christmas morning, when Immanuel, "God with us," was born. As Philippians 2 declares, the eternal Son did not cling to equality with God but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, becoming obedient even to death on a cross. He did not merely dwell among us—He became one of us, and He died for us. Three days later He rose, fully man and fully divine, walking the earth in His true and full glory.

Before ascending, Jesus told His disciples, "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, and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you" Matthew 28:18-20. With all authority in His hands—a blank check, signed in His own blood—He entrusted His Church with the work of proclaiming forgiveness and making disciples. The mission was hard for the apostles, who were imprisoned, beaten, and killed for His name, and at times it remains hard, frightening, and seemingly impossible for us. But Jesus did not send His people out alone. His promise to be with us always carries forward to every disciple in every age.

So how is Christ with us now? He comes to us through His own appointed means. Where two or three gather in His name, He is present Matthew 18:20. He comes through His Word, for "faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ" Romans 10:17, and that Word is Christ Himself, who became flesh and dwelt among us John 1:1, 14. He comes in His body and blood, for whoever eats His flesh and drinks His blood abides in Him and He in them John 6:54-57. And He comes in baptism, washing the believer clean and sealing them with His Spirit. Take heart, then, beloved: the same Lord who resolved to forgive your sins, lift your burdens, and give you a new heart has also resolved to be with you—in Word, in sacrament, in the gathered body, and in eternity. Go and make disciples. When it is hard, when it is frightening, when it seems impossible—He is with you.

Transcript

In this sermon series, we are talking about resolutions, 1s

God's, that is God's resolutions, and how he acts towards us, 9s

how he is resolved to act toward us. 15s

We have talked about how God was resolved to forget our sin, 19s

how he has resolved to lift the burden of the law from us, 24s

how he has resolved to give his people a new heart and a new spirit. 30s

These resolutions that God made, these were resolutions that were made 38s

before he uttered the very first words of creation. 43s

And these were the resolutions that he had for you 49s

and for all his saints of all time. 54s

In today's text, we are going to read about another of God's resolutions, 60s

how he is resolved to never leave us. 66s

In Matthew, chapter 28, in verse 20, he says, 71s

Jesus says to his disciples, 76s

and remember, I am with you always. 78s

But what does that mean? 84s

I am with you always. 86s

We want to picture this in a very concrete matter, 90s

manner. 95s

We want to physically see and touch and hear and feel him. 95s

How do we know he is with us? 101s

In the Old Testament, we have several places where we see that God 107s

dwelled among the people. 112s

It begins with him walking in the garden of Eden, with Adam and Eve. 113s

He dwelled amongst them. 119s

He walked with those people until sin entered into creation. 120s

And he could no longer be in close proximity and close connection with mankind. 126s

And so we fast forward into when he led the people out of Egypt. 138s

And he descended upon Mount Sinai and he dwelled upon the mountain there. 144s

And then he instructed Moses to have a tabernacle built within which his presence. 151s

And then the Israelites would dwell. 156s

And the Israelites people could take him with them. 158s

And then Solomon erected a temple in which God would dwell. 162s

But with all of those dwelling places, whether it is the mountain, 169s

the tabernacle, the temple, all of those places had a barrier. 175s

A barrier that man could not cross to be close to God, to touch God, to feel God, 180s

to speak directly with God. 191s

There is a separation caused by sin that puts up that barrier and keeps man from nearness to the Holy God. 195s

Until Christmas morning. 208s

Christmas morning when Jesus Christ was born, 211s

in man you well, God with us. 215s

God became man not only to dwell with us, but he humbled himself to be one of us in Philippians chapter 2. 221s

It says that Jesus Christ, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited. 231s

But emptied himself, taking on the form of a slave, being born in human likeness, 241s

and being found in human form, he humbled himself. 248s

Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, humbled himself not only to dwell amongst man, 254s

but to become man himself. 263s

And what did Jesus do as he dwelled amongst the man? What did he do? 267s

We continue in Philippians chapter 2. 275s

He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 278s

So here we have, in Manuel, born the angels, announced his birth, 289s

the wise men traveled from far to see this new king, 295s

and the shepherd traveled to see this babe, and the celebration of God with us happens. 299s

And then he takes this dwelling, and he teaches people, and he leads people, 307s

and he heals people, and then what does he do? 314s

God with us, he dies on a cross. 318s

Beaton, dead, buried. 326s

It's very anti-climactic for God with us, and when God in Jesus, when God died, 334s

it was fear-filled. 350s

There was commotion, confusion, disappointment, and then three days later, Jesus returned. 355s

He was back, and he was in a glorified state. 368s

He was immortal, he had cloned himself with the glory of his divinity. 371s

So he was back, fully man, fully divine, and in the presence of his disciples, 379s

and what was there? There was commotion, and confusion, and fear, and elation. 387s

After he spent some days on earth, after the resurrection, 398s

with his disciples, fully man, fully divine, no longer in the humbled state of his servant, 405s

but walking the earth in his true and full glory, his eternal immortality, 412s

he spoke again with the disciples. 418s

And what did he say? 423s

We turn again to our gospel text, Matthew, chapter 28, in verse 18, 426s

Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 433s

Jesus Christ had every single bit of authority handed to him. 442s

That is like a blank check. Have you ever been handed a blank check, 449s

and you sit there and you stare at it and you say, what to do? 456s

What to do? The possibilities are endless. 460s

Jesus Christ, God, man, had the blank check. He had the complete and total authority of all of heaven, 463s

of all of earth, and what does he do with it? 473s

He turns it to the church. He turns it over to his disciples, 477s

and he says, go out, go out and make more of yourselves, 484s

make more disciples, share faith, share my word. 493s

In verse 19, he says, go there for and make disciples of all nations, 501s

baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, 507s

and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. 511s

Share my faith, share my word, how do you make disciples, 520s

how do you make more of you, more people who follow me, more people who receive the full forgiveness of their sins. 527s

You do that by baptizing in the name of the triune God, 539s

the name of the Father's Son, and Holy Spirit. 545s

You do that by teaching all that I have commanded you. 549s

That is the first step in making more disciples in making more of you. 556s

But the thing is that that wasn't going to be easy. 568s

Jesus revealed to his apostles, two his disciples, that they would suffer a lot for his name. 574s

And you can read of the various sufferings that they underwent in the book of Acts. 583s

They were thrown in prison. They were flogged. They were beaten. 589s

They were shouted down. They were killed. 594s

And all for baptizing in the name. 599s

And for teaching what Jesus had commanded them. 605s

The scary. 612s

It was difficult. 615s

And on their own, this was a mission that would be absolutely impossible to accomplish. 617s

But Jesus didn't say you have to do this on your own. 629s

Instead, he promised, in verse 20, 635s

Remember, I am with you always to the end of the age. 640s

The disciples had a promise, a promise that carries forward for you and for I. 648s

We too are disciples of Jesus Christ. 656s

We too receive that same mission from him to go and make disciples go and make more of you. 659s

More followers of Jesus Christ. 668s

How do you do that? 671s

You baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 672s

How do you do that? 676s

You teach them everything Jesus has commanded us. 677s

And is it scary? 685s

It can be. 688s

Is it difficult? 690s

Oftentimes, yes. 693s

Is it impossible? 695s

No. 698s

Because just like the promise he made to his disciples, 699s

to be with them always. 703s

Jesus gives you that same promise to be with you always. 706s

When he promises this, it's right before he ascended to the Father. 714s

And so that brings us back to that original question. 723s

How is God with us? 728s

How can He be resolved to never leave us? 731s

We know when God makes a resolution. 739s

When He is resolved to act toward us in a very specific way. 743s

If it's forgiving our sins, He makes it happen. 749s

If it's carrying our burden, He makes it happen. 752s

If it's giving us a new heart, a new spirit, a new ability to be obedient to Him, 756s

He makes it happen. 764s

So if Jesus says that He has resolved to never leave you, 767s

He will make it happen. 775s

And it's not just a future. 778s

I'll come back, I'll come back. 780s

We do have that promise. 782s

But He said He will never leave His disciples. 784s

So how do we know that He won't leave us? 790s

If you turn to Matthew chapter 18 in verse 20, 793s

He tells His disciples where two or three are gathered in His name. 800s

He is there. 805s

As a church, we gather in His name every single week to worship Him, 807s

to glorify Him, and to receive from Him. 815s

We are promised He is with us when we are gathered in His name. 819s

In Romans, chapter 10, on verse 17, 826s

It says that faith comes from what is heard and what is heard comes through the Word of Christ. 832s

We receive faith through the Word and the Word comes through Christ. 839s

But as we find out in the gospel of John, the Word is Christ. 846s

In John the first chapter, it says in the beginning was the Word, 852s

and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 856s

And the Word became flesh and lived among us. 860s

And we have seen His glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth. 864s

So Jesus Christ will never leave us as long as His Word is proclaimed, 873s

as long as His Word is delivered to the people. 879s

We deliver that as the church. 886s

He gave us the authority and the power to deliver His Word of forgiveness of sins, 889s

His Word of salvation by His cross. 897s

And then He comes to us again today through His own body and blood. 901s

If you read in the gospel of John the sixth chapter, 911s

He said those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, 915s

and I will raise them up on the last day. 920s

For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 923s

Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them, 927s

just as the living father sent me and I live because of the father. 935s

So whoever eats me will live because of me. 939s

So you see when two or three are gathered, he is with us. 945s

When two or three are gathered to hear His Word proclaimed, 950s

He is with us. 956s

And when two or three are gathered to receive His body and blood to eat of the bread and wine, 958s

the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ, he is with us. 967s

And when we as two or three are gathered in His name, 974s

baptize a new believer in faith, whether young or old, 979s

Jesus is with us in the promise that He is forgiving the baptized sins, 987s

that He is washing them clean and that He is sealing them and sending His Holy Spirit to be with them. 996s

Jesus promises to be with us always. 1007s

So with the blank check of all authority and all power on heaven or in heaven and on earth, 1016s

Jesus hands forgiveness of sins to the church. 1025s

And He said, I, the eternal son of the eternal father, 1029s

the very mention of my name, makes the devil tremble. 1036s

I am with you when you proclaim my Word. 1042s

I am with you when you gather together. 1046s

I am with you when you eat my bread, my blood, my body, my wine. 1050s

I am with you when we wash the baptized clean of His or her sin. 1058s

I am there and I will never leave you. 1068s

You, the church, the called believers and disciples of Jesus Christ, 1075s

you have been given a blank check in the Lord. 1084s

The blank check that you have has been written by the blood of Jesus Christ. 1090s

He gave you a blank check wiping your sins clean, 1099s

and you are paying for your sins with His own blood. 1105s

Giving you full redemption of your sins, full salvation. 1111s

And maybe you are like someone who receives a blank check and looks at it and says, 1121s

what to do, what to do? 1126s

Jesus tells you exactly what to do with that blank check. 1129s

He says, with this redemption, with this salvation that I have given to you. 1138s

Go, go, make disciples baptize them. 1147s

In the name of the triune God, go, make disciples teach them everything I have commanded. 1153s

And when it gets hard, it's okay, I am with you. 1162s

And if it's scary, it's okay. 1167s

I am with you. 1170s

And if it seems impossible, it's okay. 1174s

I am with you. 1180s

God was resolved to forgive our sins. 1186s

We see that on the cross, in the burial, and in the resurrection, the empty tomb. 1190s

He was resolved to forgive our sins and he did it. 1198s

He was resolved to lift our burdens. 1203s

And so he lived under the law perfectly, and he did it. 1208s

He lifted the burden of the law from our backs. 1214s

And he was resolved to give us a new heart and a new spirit. 1220s

And he did it. 1226s

We are transformed by his own spirit so that we can obey him. 1228s

And we can love him and we can be drawn to him. 1235s

And he changes how we think how we act. 1239s

Jesus is resolved to be with you always. 1246s

And he is with you in Word. 1253s

He is with you in sacrament. 1258s

And he will be with you eternally as he dwells with us forever and ever. 1261s

Amen. 1270s