## The Great Commission In Particular

## John 20:21-23

The average Christian does not feel any sense of responsibility in carrying out the Great Commission. Many members give some type of mission offering because of the Great Commission, but there seems to be very few believers who comprehend the magnitude of their personal responsibility to the lost world.

Matthew presented the Procedure for the us to follow in making and developing disciples for world evangelization. Mark tells us the Method which must be followed. The individual believer is to witness to those in his individual world. Luke stresses the Message which must be presented in order to make genuine believers.

John presents Jesus as the Son of God. As the Son of God, Jesus felt the tremendous need of the lost, their hopeless plight and the consuming consequences if they die lost. He labored under heavy responsibility to the lost. When John presented his view of the Great Commission given by Jesus, he passed this individual responsibility on to the believer.

Years ago when D. L. Moody was first saved, he was presented to a Church board as a candidate for church membership. He was asked the question, "What has Jesus done for you in particular?" Young Dwight who was nervous and untaught in the Scriptures replied, "I know He has done a lot for us all in general, but I can not think of anything He has done for me in PARTICULAR." He was not accepted for membership, but later became the greatest evangelist of his day. The apostle John's account of the Great Commission attempts to take the responsibility of the believer out of the general category and make the individual believer feel his responsibility to a lost world in PARTICULAR.

I. A Vivid Presentation of the Commission.

A. Summed up in the question, what would Jesus do?

John tells us that our job on the earth is the same job God the Father gave His Son to do while He was on the earth.

B. "AS MY FATHER SENT ME".

1. Why did God the Father send Jesus into the world?

(LUKE 19:10) "FOR THE SON OF MAN IS COME TO SEEK AND TO SAVE THAT WHICH WAS LOST."

2. The daily life of Jesus demonstrates why He came into the world.

a. He won Nicodemus, the woman at the well, Zacchaeus, the thief on the Cross and hundreds of others in personal work.

b. He was teaching, developing, encouraging others daily.

3. Jesus sacrificed His life.

a. The whole life of Jesus was lived for the benefit of others.

b. He finally gave His life on the cross for others.

C. "EVEN SO SEND I YOU."

1. This is very clearly stated.

2. I, Jesus, am sending you to do the same things and for the same reason that my Father sent Me.

3. "EVEN SO" means in the same manner or in the manner previously described or illustrated.

4. The Great Commission according to John simply by-passes laws, procedures, technicalities and speaks directly to the believer's heart.

5. "What ever Jesus would do in a given situation is the thing you should do."

6. Jesus was totally committed to the SAVING of lost souls and to the development of believers.

7. We need to die to self and present our body a living sacrifice.

(ROM 12:1) "I BESEECH YOU THEREFORE, BRETHREN, BY THE MERCIES OF GOD, THAT YE PRESENT YOUR BODIES A LIVING SACRIFICE, HOLY, ACCEPTABLE UNTO GOD, WHICH IS YOUR REASONABLE SERVICE."

II. A Vivid Postscript to the Commission.

A. The Average Reaction to the Commission.

1. Well, Jesus was divine, I am human.

a. He was perfect and I am so imperfect.

b. I know that verse said that, but you really can't expect me to GIVE UP everything and become a religious fanatic, can you?

2. I will give some to missions.

a. I believe if I do that then God will understand.

b. I will go to church myself, but that's about all I can answer for .... myself.

3. If I get a chance I will witness to some of my friends or even to some of the people I meet.

a. I will pass out some tracts.

b. I do pray for the missionaries ... when I remember.

B. The postscript to John's commission.

1. From the lips of Jesus.

a. It seemed as if Jesus anticipated all of our human reasoning and excuses because he added a postscript to the Great Commission.

2. Stated in verse twenty-three...

"WHOSOEVER SINS YOU REMIT, THEY ARE REMITTED UNTO THEM; AND WHOSOEVER SINS YE RETAIN, THEY ARE RETAINED."

C. How does man have power to remit sins?

1. This postscript to the Great Commission teaches that man has power to remit sins.

2. But, the question arises, "How does man have power to remit sins?"

a. As the believer goes, presents the Plan of Salvation, prays for the sinner and persuades him to call upon the name of Jesus, then his sins are remitted.

b. If the believer fails to go - if he fails to pray - if the believer fails to persuade the sinner to call upon the Savior's name then the sinner's sins are retained and HE GOES TO HELL!

c. This postscript shows the believer what his responsibility toward the lost really is.

d. It also shows him that both God and the sinner need the believer to turn away from his nominal religious life, dedicate himself and imitate the life of Jesus.

III. A Vivid Interpretation of the Commission.

A. Paul was pure from the blood of all men.

(ACTS 20:26-27) "WHEREFORE I TAKE YOU TO RECORD THIS DAY, THAT I AM PURE FROM THE BLOOD OF ALL MEN. {27} FOR I HAVE NOT SHUNNED TO DECLARE UNTO YOU ALL THE COUNSEL OF GOD."

1. What does it mean, "Pure from the blood of all men?"

(EZEK 3:18) "WHEN I SAY UNTO THE WICKED, THOU SHALT SURELY DIE; AND THOU GIVEST HIM NOT WARNING, NOR SPEAKEST TO WARN THE WICKED FROM HIS WICKED WAY, TO SAVE HIS LIFE; THE SAME WICKED MAN SHALL DIE IN HIS INIQUITY; BUT HIS BLOOD WILL I REQUIRE AT THINE HAND."

God told Ezekiel that if he didn't wam the sinners and they died in their sins then Ezekiel would have their blood on his hands. If he tried to win them and they would not listen, then they were responsible for their own condition and Ezekiel WAS PURE FROM THEIR BLOOD.

2. Paul said he was pure from their blood because he had declared unto them the whole counsel of God.

(ACTS 20:31) "THEREFORE WATCH, AND REMEMBER, THAT BY THE SPACE OF THREE YEARS I CEASED NOT TO WARN EVERY ONE NIGHT AND DAY WITH TEARS."

C. David pleaded with God to deliver him from bloodguiltiness.

(PSA 51:14) "DELIVER ME FROM BLOODGUILTINESS, O GOD, THOU GOD OF MY SALVATION: AND MY TONGUE SHALL SING ALOUD OF THY RIGHTEOUSNESS."

1. He promised that he would go back to witnessing if God would honor his request.

(PSA 51:13) "THEN WILL I TEACH TRANSGRESSORS THY WAYS; AND SINNERS SHALL BE CONVERTED UNTO THEE."

D. Their lives proved they felt their responsibility to the lost

1 . Paul perusaded men - "Knowing the terror of the Lord we persuade men." (I Cor. 5:11). "He became all things to all men that he might by all means SAVE SOME." (I Cor. 9:22).

2. Jude pulled (snatched) them out of the fire (Hell). (Jude 23).

3. Jesus said, "Compel them to come in.' (Luke 14:23).

4. The early disciples fasted, prayed, went night and day, because they wanted to fulfill their responsibility to the Commission and to the lost.

5. We are commanded to go!

(a) If you go ... you will be rewarded.

(b) If you ignore the command and do not go ... then you will have blood on your hands.

WHAT IF?

1. What if Jesus had not died on the cross?

2. The answer, "We would be hopelessly lost in sin, condemned to Hell."

3. What if we will not die to self and accept our personal responsibility to the lost?

The Bible stresses method as much as it teaches doctrine. Christianity is not a philosophy; Christianity is a way of life. The Great Commission according to John speaks not in general, but to the individual in particular.

Do we accept personal responsibility for reaching the lost? Are we personally involved in reaching them today? The harves is hear and around the world. Will we be able to say, along with Paul, that we are pure from the blood of all men? Only if we have done all that we could to reach them!