 Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to our Lamb. The value of an object increases in direct proportion to the significance of the person to whom it belongs. The value of an object increases in direct proportion to the significance of the person to whom it belongs. Suppose, for example, if I were to offer to sell you a white basketball jersey with the red number imprinted on the back of it. If you're really into basketball and really into sports type of clothing, you might say, well, brother, I gotta give you $50. That's a nice jersey. But if I were to say to you, did you happen to notice the number 23 printed in the back of that jersey? By the way, it's not just any shirt or any jersey would be the jersey of a one known Michael Jordan, when in the 1998, the Chicago's Bulls beat the Utah Jazz for the NBA championship. Well, suffice it to say, I could expect to make more than $50. And did you know that estimated that man called Tom Brady, I'm not a sports guy, so forgive me here as I did my research, but a guy called Tom Brady had his jersey stolen from the Super Bowl in Jersey and had it not been recovered, it said that it would have been sold in the black market for about half a million dollars because the value of an object increases in direct proportion to the significance of the person to whom it belongs. Now, suppose I were to offer you to sell you an antique quill. If you happen to have a taste for old things and writing implements in particular, which I'm not one of those people, but if you were, you might offer me $100 for it. But if I were to tell you that this very quill was the one that was used by William Shakespeare to write Romeo and Juliet, someone undoubtedly would offer me a lot more. It's the reason, friends, brothers and sisters, that you gawk at a plain stove pipette when you discover that Abraham Lincoln wore it the night that he was shot at Ford's Theater. It's the reason you gawk at an ordinary baseball bat when you discover that it was used by Babe Ruth to hit his 714th home run. It is why you gawk at a simple pair of women's shoes when you discover that they were the ruby, sparkly slippers worn by Judy Garlin in The Wizard of Oz because the value of an object increases in direct proportion to the significance of the person to whom it belongs. I wonder how much Christ, the King Reformed Baptist Church, is worth to the state of New York or how much is Iglesia Biblica Antorcha worth to, In the cultural mandate, God calls all humans, as those made in His image, to fill the earth with His glory through creating what we commonly call culture. Another thing to note is that the cultural mandate was given to all people as we know, and we know this because when God is speaking to Adam and Eve, they are representatives of all of humanity. And therefore the cultural mandate was not just given to the people of God but giving to all man. And if you notice as we're looking at this text, look at verse 26 again, right? The idea that it says, then God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. Let them have dominion. So God calls man to have dominion over creation, to have a very, not just a light stewardship, but to be involved, to be able to exert that authority that God has given man. Verse 27, so He created man in His own image and the image of God, He created Him, male and female, He created them. So not only does God give man this work, but God gives man also His own image and likeness. Man already, at His very creation, understands what it is that God is expecting from Him. And then what's interesting is, I wanna make a side point, work is not the result of sin. Work was something that God gave man to do when he first created him. That's why the idea today that people do not like work. Well, that's something the result of sin. No, my friend, that's the result of your sin because you don't wanna work. And it's a very common thing because so I hear they're giving out free checks for people in unemployment. Apparently it's a hot thing. But let's look at verse 20, thank God blessed them and He said to them, be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. God calls them to be fruitful and to multiply, to fill the earth, to subdue it. It's almost repeating the same idea as we saw in verse 26, except He's now calling them to also procreate to the degree of filling the earth with image bearers of God while subduing the earth. God is essentially calling Adam and Eve to be caretakers of God's creation and to ensure that that which God has placed in Him would be able to multiply so that everywhere you look on this earth, you would see an image bearer and therefore see the glory of God. But let me ask you a question then. So why is a cultural mandate so important to the mission of the church then? You might think, well, brother, hang on here for a second. I know you started in Revelation but I think you missed on the point because then we went back to Genesis. It will allow me to work my way through but let's do it in sections. So the importance of understanding the cultural mandate as we look at the mission of the church, the cultural mandate was essentially the first great commission, if you will, because even before families existed, before cities existed, nations and countries existed, God commissioned Adam to work with Eve to make sure that the world would be a land that would be where God would have His kingdom established. So now in order to have a kingdom, you need a king and we know who that is. It's God, you need a people. You have Adam and Eve and you need a land and God has set Adam and Eve so that this kingdom would easily come about in a world where there was at that particular moment no sin, no pain, no sorrow. It was definitely achievable. God had willed that all of the habitants of this kingdom would live by the will of God which was given to Adam in order to subdue the world and the creation and this was for all people to do. But as we well know, God had decreed that this kingdom would come about whether man performed what he was told to do or not. God already had established a plan by which we know that he would, he saw how everything took place, he decreed all things and God wanted to make a point that even when he gives us and commissions us to do a thing and whether or not we depend on him to do it, God does and achieves all his decrees, everything he wishes to do will come about because this says more about the nature of God and his faithfulness than ours. Now in order again to understand is we have to then start from the beginning which is why I went to Genesis. Now if you notice though, the results of the fall are something that we have to deal with today. The results of the fall is something that if you were to go to Genesis chapter three verse 16 and 17, I'm going to read it. It says to the woman he said, I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception and pain shall bring forth children. Your desires shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you. Verse 17, to Adam he said, because you have heeded the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you saying you shall not eat of it, cursed as a ground for your sake until you shall eat of all the days of your life. So it is here where I want to point out that Adam would not be the first nor the last to not complete the commission that God was given to get this kingdom going. We know obviously of that because we see it in the scripture. We later see Noah who was promised that God would never flood again the earth and wipe out mankind in Genesis chapters verses six through eight. Noah and his family were delivered from the flood through the ark which we know was a type of Christ who would come in a distant future. But even Noah was commissioned to start the human race with his family and to glorify God and he was not able to complete the mission just like Adam because he too was impotent and sinful. And then it continues. Later we see Abraham who was promised to have a great name and that he would have a numerous lineage and that through him all nations would be blessed as we see in Genesis 22 verses 15 through 19. We also see though Abraham was a friend of God the he too greatly sin and was not able to bring about the commission God had given in this cultural mandate. And then later in the future we have Israel whom God chose and promised them a literal land, a future seed, great blessings. And God gave Israel the commission to also bring about this cultural mandate but over and over in the Old Testament we see how Israel behaved like a whore due to her insolent idolatry. Her desire to be like other nations. And not submit to her husband and king. And even when God gave her kings and judges, prophets Israel would not repent. And this is the reason why the cultural mandate was not exercised as God wanted it to be through Israel. So we've seen at least to some degree here that the original great commission or this original commission was given in what we call the cultural mandate and how that was tried to be executed by men yet failed to perform it the way God wanted it to be performed. But we know that this was all part of God's plan to work towards bringing his kingdom to this earth so that his people would worship him forever and ever. So we start in Revelation, we're in Genesis, we look at this original commission and let's move a little bit forward and consider our second point which is now the great commission. We know that God from the beginning wanted for his kingdom to be built and expanded to the degree that a back of chapter two verse 14 says, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. This is a desire of God. Now notice that the goal is that the earth would be filled with the understanding of the glory of God and this knowledge would originally come from the means from the physical reproduction in the commission to be fruitful and multiply and to have dominion over all creation in order to subdue the earth. People would know about the God because as they continue to have children and they disciple them and they teach them they would know about the God of creation. But now in the New Testament, God is not going to rely on a physical reproduction to bring those who are his elect into his kingdom as it was in what I call the original commission. The way that God would bring about his children will be by the fulfillment of the new covenant that Ezekiel had alluded to when he said in chapter 36 verses 26 and 27, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statues and you will keep my judgments and do them. So we know that the new covenant was a huge move towards building this kingdom because I guess we'll call it the benefit package. There's certain things that are in here that were not there before in the old covenant and of this new covenant, some of those benefits in this package, if you will, you're talking about a new heart, you're talking about a new spirit, the Holy Spirit, which would help us to live true and holy. Remember that in the old covenant, which is better known as the Mosaic Law rebuilt on that, that could not provide any of these things. The law could not save anyone. Side point, it's interesting how many people still want to try to obey the law and somehow think they will find grace with God. The very concept is not logical. And if it's by grace, he can't be earned. And if it's earned, then it's not of grace. So we know that the new covenant was moving towards that. Now, I do wanna point out that, remember that Romans chapter three, verses 20 says, therefore by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. So brothers and sisters, under the new covenant, we're giving the opportunity to receive salvation as a free gift, as we see in Ephesians chapter two, verses eight and nine. And our responsibility is to exercise faith in Christ. The one who fulfilled the law on our behalf and brought an end to the law's sacrifices through his own sacrificial death, through the life-giving Holy Spirit who lives in all believers. And Paul speaks about this in Romans chapter eight, verses nine through 11. And he says, but you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. If indeed the spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he is not his. By the way, I wanna make a note here. How do we know who are those who are going to be a part of the kingdom of God? We see some qualifications to this kingdom. And those who are going to be a part of this kingdom, it says here are the ones who what it says that you have the spirit of God. Verse 10, and if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. So the greatest news we currently have today, friends, beloved, is that we are who we are in Christ. Now share the inheritance of Christ. So if we have any values because of who we are in Christ. And so we glorify God and we thank him for all of the things that he's given us, particularly our relationship because of the work of Christ. And this is a relation that's permanent. This is a relationship that will not be broken. This is a relationship that we thank the Lord that he upholds it and it's not dependent on your performance. But why is it so important for you and I to understand, to understand this idea of the Great Commission? Why is it also important for us to understand the mission of the church? Well, brother and sisters, we will not have a fervent passion until we have a focused purpose. We will not have a fervent passion until we have a focused purpose. And, but what do I say this? Well, allow me to put it to you this way. Let me ask you a question. Have you ever felt at times like you're falling back into a comfortable and cozy bed of laziness and what pertains to the work of ministry? Has that happened to you? It happens to me. Have you been battling with your flesh to obey the commission God has given us to be fruitful and multiply? And I'm not talking about having more babies, which by the way, those who will continue, amen. And although we loved all these babies, I'm talking about going to lost people and presenting them the gospel with fervent passion and to disciple those that God has even in our midst because that's what we're called to do. It is why now I see appropriate for us to then consider that text, which we call the Great Commission in Matthew chapter 28 verses 18 through 20. And it reads, And Jesus came and spoke to them saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 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 things that I have commanded you and lo I am with you always even to the end of the age. Amen. So let me make a few quick points from the text that will be helpful to remind us of why we need to have focused purpose in order to maintain a fervent passion. If you see verse 18, our commission is completely based on the fact that Christ the God man has been given all authority in heaven and on earth, which means we have to joyfully submit to his rule as king and sovereign. This is Christ making a commission. Christ is commanding you. You might say, well, brother, I am not gifted. I just want to be faithful to my Bible reading. I just want to be faithful with prayer. I can't talk to people, but yet the commission still stands. And maybe you're not gonna be rate comfort or all these people that we love and hear and even the man who preached and teach from this pulpit but there are gifts and abilities that God has given you. And if all you did was did like the woman at the well where all you said is come and see, come and see. When's the last time you told someone to come and see? Many times we make these ideas that, well, when I get really good at my, you know, apologetics, I mean, then I'm gonna knock it out the park. Well, what if you don't? Does that mean we don't obey the commission? Does that mean that we're not gonna submit to the sovereign lordship of King Christ? Look at verse 19 as we move on. Notice here in verse 19 that Jesus, he's not asking us if we want to go. He is assuming that because we have been saved by grace, we have a new heart and we are already going to talk to people intentionally. As a habitual part of our life, you might say, well, brother, I'm not doing too well on that point. We're not talking about perfection, beloved. We're talking about direction and tension. We're talking about that if even as we open the word of God and we encourage you as the spirit of God points out those issues, those sins, those areas where you lack, that you would repent even as we preach and say, Lord, help me to submit to your lordship. Lord, help me to do the things by which, for the reason why you saved me. That's why we're here. That this isn't a time where we gather and we start gloating about our accomplishments. No, this is a time where we hear the word of God and the spirit of God through the text speaks to us and reveals to us those areas that we need to continue to grow in. In verse 19, also notice that Christ wants the same thing that his father wanted in the Old Testament. We were just reading it. That we would disciple all nations and bring them into the fold of the kingdom of Christ, the begotten son of the father. And that's what the text is saying. It says, go therefore and make disciples of all nations. But then let's move here to verse 20. Christ is giving us clearly the subject matter of what we are to teach. It's not what you want to teach. It's not the latest great book from LifeWay or whatever your favorite Christian bookstore is. The subject matter says teaching them verse 20 with your Bible open, teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you. Do you know what Christ has commanded? Because if you don't, you're probably not obeying it. If I don't know what it is that Christ is commanding me to do, then I'm probably not gonna know if I am or definitely if I'm even doing it. I don't know what the expectation is. I don't know what it is that I'm called to do. I don't know what it is that God wants me to say. So he didn't tell them, by the way, if you notice here the text, notice Jesus is not telling them, telling them to observe all that I've commanded. Look at the text, he didn't say that. He didn't say tell them, they're telling them. No, no, that's not what he says. He says teaching them. There's a difference here. It's very subtle, but it's a very important one. It's not an issue of just telling people something. The issue is to teach them that something. He said teaching them, this implies we have to model those actions that Christ has modeled for us. So it is evident to see, beloved, that the will of the Father, which was perfectly communicated and modeled by the Christ, is the very essence of that which Adam couldn't do. Noah could not do, Abraham could not do, and ultimately Israel also could not do. The praise be to God, that Christ, being the second Adam, the true Israel, the seed of Abraham and who all the promises are fulfilled when he came by his life, death, and resurrection, he ensured that now in a spiritual sense, the glory of God would cover the earth as the waters cover the sea because all humanity is bound up in Adam. So as every human being has an earthly body just like Adam's, and earthly bodies are fitted for a life on this earth, yet they are limited by death, disease, and weakness because of sin, which we've seen was first brought into the world by Adam. Now however, the good news is that believers can know with certainty that their heavenly bodies will be just like the resurrected Christ's imperishable, eternal, glorious, and filled with power. And currently we are all like Adam, but one day, beloved, I will assure you, we will all be like Christ. The apostle John understood this also, and that's why he said in 1 John chapter three, verse two, beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. But now we have to ask ourselves, how is it that we're gonna go and apply these concepts and ideas of the mission of the church? Is the mission of the church just limited to do an evangelism? Is the mission of the church then just limited to preaching the gospel, or perhaps just handing out tracks? Well, let's move to our next point and consider in. So our last point, again, from the beginning, we looked at the original commission. We then moved on to the great commission, and let's consider this last point, the application of our commission. First and foremost, let's consider a very important text that will help us in the application, but we are learning in regards to our mission as the church of Christ. And in Acts chapter one, verse eight, we have that very beautiful, interesting promise that was given, but you shall receive power and the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. This is what the Lord said he would do. This is a part of, remember, those package benefits we talked about. But then you move on a little bit forward to Acts chapter two, verse four, and it says here on Pentecost, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other languages, is what it says in the Greek, you wanna make sure nobody gets confused, have to make that clarity, because some people think is ecstatic, gobbledygook, and that's not what it is. People spoke in languages empowered by God for gospel ministry. And it says as the Spirit gave them utterance. Allow me to start making some application about maybe saying that if brother and sister fear in Christ, you have been given the third person of the Trinity to abide in you so that you would be able to be a potential martyr for the gospel in this age. Did you know that? That's exactly what we're called to do. We're called to be witnesses. A witness is someone who in court sits before a judge, they swear on the Bible and they say, I will say the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I don't even know if they do that today, but so help me God. And then they tell about and answering questions through a cross examination to be able to stand on behalf in this case of who's being supposedly put in trial, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. Because that's what the world is doing. Do you not see that? Do you not see that in the current events that we've seen? We all watch the news or social media. We've seen what's happening with Pastor Cotes in Canada. It's coming to a city near you. But the question is, are we in Christ and do we really have the Spirit so that if it comes knocking at our door, will you act the way you should? Or is that the day we're gonna find out the true colors of who you are? Because that's the reality. So again, we see in Acts chapter one, verse eight, the promise. We see in Acts chapter two, verse four, the fulfillment of this promise. And so we have to consider as we look at the application of our commission. So though we have been given the Spirit of God, we are to do more than just give gospel tracks and preach the gospel to the Lord. Remember that the original commission was to create a culture where Christ is the King. We are His people and we live by His laws for His glory in the midst of all the world that currently continues to deny Him. This means that we must be wise and vocal about those things in our communities and culture that are not according to Christ, the King, and His word. Our Lord is worthy to be honored. It desires, He desires for us to honor Him and to celebrate Him in every aspect of our lives. Remember what I just said earlier at the beginning with my introduction. The value of an object increases in direct proportion to the significance of the person to whom it belongs to. So the question then still stands, how much is Christ's worth to you? Because that's where the rubber hits the road. So we're not called to call out the world and its sin, but this also includes your own life. Yes, it's easy to just say, oh, look at Governor Cuomo and over there in California and President Biden, I'm sorry, President Biden. It's not, it's much more than that. It's looking at your life. It's me looking at my life. Are you making time to love Him? We love it. Are you taking the time like when you first came to faith when you heard the preaching of the gospel? Or has Christ and His kingdom become second to your social media life and your Hulu and Netflix playlist? Dad, mom, are you honoring Christ in the way you sacrificially love each other as you've been commanded to? Dad, mom, are you honoring Christ in the way that you are raising your children as you have been commanded to? Because I wanna make the point, we could look at the world and understand what it is that we're called to do, but sometimes that could get a little fuzzy and we forget that Christ has called us first to something else, and it's to a life of holiness. A word that's not talked about as often, if I were to talk to your children, mom and dad, and I said, little Johnny, little Sally, are your parents in love with Jesus? Would they hesitate to answer that? Or they quickly say yes, with a glowing smile and a shimmering little blink in their eye. Dad, are you causing your children to anger violating what Ephesians 6.4 says not to do? Or are you loving them like Christ loves you, who by the way has been extremely patient with you? Mom, are you modeling joyful submission to your daughter or daughters, as it says in Ephesians 5.22? Let's shift it here, young man, young woman. Are you guarding your heart, as it says in Proverbs 4.23, because it says, keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it springs the issues of life. Are you being diligent, young man, young woman? Are you being pure before the Lord, or are you holding your virginity as the badge of honor, though your mind is frequently traveling to the red district of your passions and desires and the secrecy of your heart? What am I getting to here? That this commission of the church will be useless if we don't live being conformed to the holiness of the God that has given this commission to the church. Why am I seeing these questions? What do they have to do with the mission of the church? Well, beloved, the scripture clearly shows us that the only way we can become useless in the mission is when we are abiding, playing, facilitating sin in our lives. We need to remember that God is just and he will not tolerate sin in our lives. If we persist in our sin, if we persist in unbroken patterns of sin, then the Lord, because we're His children, will have to discipline us. You consider the Old Testament when God told Israel in Deuteronomy 28, 16, you will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country. God tells Israel, Deuteronomy 28, 17, your basket and your kneading through will be cursed. Verse 18, the fruit of your womb will be cursed in the crops of your land and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flock. Verse 19, you will be cursed when you come in and when you come out. But why? When Israel was not walking according to the commands of God, they would inevitably have to suffer the correction and discipline from God as a result in penalty for their sin. So brothers and sisters, I bring these things to bear on your conscience because we must remember that the scripture tells us that without holiness, no one will see the Lord. So if we're gonna understand the commission of the church, it's not just understanding what the Bible says, but it's believing what the God, the God who has given us this word is commanding us to do. And not just to do, but to do with a renewed heart with the right attitude. Allow me to bring up one more scripture and I will come to a close. Go with me back to Revelation chapter seven, let's look at verses nine and 10. It says, after these things I looked and behold a great multitude which no one could number of all nations, tribes, peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the lamb clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands and crying out with the loud voice saying, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb. And so the mission of the church is that we gather as many nations as possible through the faithful preaching of the gospel and that we disciple them to love and obey all things Christ has commanded. The goal is that one day we will stand in that multitude that we see here in this Revelation chapter seven verses nine and 10 and that we would be in that multitude standing with them with these palm branches in our hands crying with them. Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb. Beloved, I hope, I pray that the spirit of God would not only help you understand these things but that he would help us to do them more faithfully. To not just sit here and really take shots at the chest theologically of how much we know and how we have such a beautiful, reformed historical faith. I'm not saying that I'm not thankful for it. I'm not saying that I'm not appreciative of it. But what I am gonna say that might sound prespitentially offensive and that's okay is that many times we can have great theology and very horrible practice and I see that quite a bit even in our own circles. We will have 10,000 conferences on the five solas and the doctrines of grace but we rarely take the time to talk about that which is the mission of the church which is to go and preach the gospel and call the nations to repentance and faith and to teach them the things that Christ has commanded us. So let me review one more time and consider what we've looked at. So we looked at the original commission and the original commission, it reminds us that God wanted to fill the earth with this glory from the beginning and that men were not sufficient enough to help this to come to pass. And we looked at the great commission which reminds us that because of the work of Christ on the cross, that work is enough. The earth will be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the seas as Christ builds his church. Then as we look at some application and we have, it reminds us that we have been given the spirit of God to be empowered to obey and work, to work diligently in our commission but more importantly, beloved, we have been given the spirit of God so we can live holy lives so that our words won't be contradicted by our walk. And as I said in the beginning, and I'll say it one more time, the value of an object increases in direct proportion to the significance of the person to whom it belongs. I pray sisters and brothers that the mission of the church becomes the greatest thing that you value so that God would be glorified and that our lives would be the biggest evidence of that. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you so much because at the end of the day, a collection of sinners that you have Lord brought together, the work of Christ at the cross has Lord paid for our sins and guarantees, our ongoing sanctification. We thank you because Lord, we understand that we are not sufficient to do this work. We understand that Lord, we need you every day. We need you to help us to continue to obey, to love, to serve, but not just to serve, but do it with the right heart. So Lord, help us here at Cornerstone Baptist Church, that when we think of the mission of the church, we remember that there's still many people in different places that we need to reach with your truth. We need to call them, Lord, so that you would transfer them from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of your beloved son. Lord, help us to be faithful, help us to be fruitful, guard us to not be fearful and help us Lord to continue to persevere. Even though we see Lord that the clouds are showing up in the atmosphere and things are gonna get a little difficult as we live, but help us to live trusting in you, knowing that Lord that we have our lives are in your hands. We pray these things, trusting Christ completely for the glory of his name. Amen.