How Do You Know If You’re Actually Saved (EP 218)

What's going on, guys? Welcome back to another episode of the Bryce Crawford podcast. I'm Bryce and today by the title of the episode, we're going to actually be talking about what Jesus meant in Matthew chapter 28, specifically in the Great Commission versus 18 through 20. Now, I think this is so important. I remember last year, my wife's mom actually gave me a book, really thin, really small. And for some reason, the really thin Christian books have so much oil in them, like I got so much good stuff in there. And it was specifically about the Great Commission. And man, it rocked my world. And so I was so pumped and excited to get to talk about this one. Now, we have to understand what's going on leading up to these versus, again, we understand versus chapter markers, subtitles, not in the original text. We're looking at one letter, right? So we got Jesus who's resurrected. You have the report of the guard. So you have the guard that's like the tomb was empty. They K, they, you know, some people thought that they came by night or whatever. Now, we get to verse 16 and it says, now the 11 disciples, we have to remember Judas, not here anymore. All right. Now the 11 disciples went to Galilee to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted, let's pause right there. Some of that we just need to understand practically when people say, Jesus isn't God. Time and time again, one of the reasons why the Pharisees tried to kill Jesus was because he received worship. He allowed people to worship him. So he's receiving worship. And in verse 18, we're going to read it together. And then we're going to kind of break it down. And Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go there for 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 that I have commanded you and behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. What a commission. If there's any sort of halftime speech is beautiful, it's this one. Now some people would be like halftime speech. What are you talking about? Jesus just died and is resurrected. Well, that is the halftime speech because that's like the first major moment. You know what the second one is? He's going to return. And by then, there ain't nothing we can do. So this is a great halftime speech right here, halftime speech commissioning us as believers. Now what is going on? Jesus says, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Why is this so important? That phrase is so important for a couple of reasons. Number one, we get a theological understanding that Jesus Christ is God. Number two, the temptation that Satan offered Jesus in Matthew chapter four is thwarted right here in this moment. Matthew chapter four. What happens? Jesus is led by the spirit into the wilderness to fast for 40 days. And Satan comes to tempt him and first he tempts him with food. And every single time Jesus quotes scripture to defend it. But at one point, Satan tempts him to say, hey, look, I will give you all the kingdoms that you see right here. I will give them all to you. You can receive their worship. You can have authority over them. Satan tempts him with that. And you know what? Jesus, Jesus stayed so solid as such a gangster. Jesus is really the OG gangster because he is like, no, that don't matter to me right now. Actually, I already have all authority on heaven and earth. So I'm not going to fall for your temptation. I'm not going to succumb myself to the temptations of the devil. So he, like, immediately thwarts everything that the devil tried to tempt him. Jesus defeating sin and death. Revelation chapter one would tell us that Jesus has the keys to death and Hades in his hand. So he's defeated it. All authority on heaven and on earth has been given him. And now Jesus is talking to disciples, but he's really talking to us as believers. Go there for and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all that I've commanded you. Behold, I'm with you to the end of the age. A couple of things that we need to understand about this great commission. Number one, making disciples is a lifelong process. I will forever be a disciple of Jesus. I will forever be growing and learning. Why? Well, sanctification is a process that takes a lifetime. We are always constantly being sanctified. There's three terms that we see throughout scripture, justification, sanctification, and glorification. All right. Justification. We are justified. Made right in God's eyes. The standard for heaven is perfection. All right. You and I ain't perfect. I've made a ton of mistakes. You've made a ton of mistakes. We are justified by the blood of Jesus, meaning on judgment day, through the blood of Jesus Christ, washing our sins. We have been justified. Sanctification is the process of being made holy every day and more and more by seeking Jesus first, seeking him and his righteousness, his kingdom. By growing in relationship with him, we are being sanctified and purified and being made more like him. A goldsmith knows that gold is pure when he can see his reflection in the gold and our job is believers. It's that Christ can look down and see his reflection in us. And then glorification. Have you ever heard the term like, I saw grandma Jean and all of her glory? You know what I mean? That means that you saw the fullness thereof of grandma Jean, right? That would mean that you'd seen someone but naked. All right. So it's like, if you see your grandma and God, you see them but naked. And so we will see and experience the fullness thereof of the Lord in heaven. So glorification will happen once all the weeping and gnashing of teeth goes away and we are with him for an eternity. So when we're looking here, being a disciple is a lifelong process. That's why like when you know, when you hear people say, oh, hey, are you a Christian? Yeah. I grew up in church. Okay. Does that mean that you're really following Jesus? You know, I was so convicted a few weeks ago because my pastor was teaching out of Matthew 25, the parable of the 10 versions. And five had oil in their lamps. They had this intimacy with the Holy Spirit and the other five didn't. And they tried to, you know, take some of the oil from the other five versions that were prepared, right? Cultivating this relationship with Jesus. And so they had to leave to go get some. They weren't ready for the return. I was so convicted because so many people are like, oh, yeah, I grew up in church. It's like, yeah, that, okay, but what's your oil? Like that's what you're banking on. You're banking on a, oh, like I grew up in church. I went to vacation Bible school. I went to church camp. Let me tell you something. There was nothing impressive about that whatsoever. All right. I went to church camp, growing up in middle school. I got saved 39 times in two summers. All right. I'm not banking my salvation on the fact that I was malnourished. I was crying on the last night and I responded multiple times that we got church camp. Like that's not where I get my satisfaction. Like my security satisfaction and significance comes from the cross. Looking to Jesus, he is the author and perfector of my faith according to Hebrews chapter 12. Like that's where I get my significance. So being in a disciple looks like letting Jesus be the shepherd of my life. Looks like letting me follow him even though I walked through the value of the shadow of death. I fear no evil for he is with me and the highs of life I'm there and the mundane of life he is there with me. Being a disciple is following him and listening to him and trusting him and being disciple is life long constantly learning to trust God. Do I have trusting God down to of tea? No. I'm always learning to trust God, but being a disciple is lifelong for formation. Therefore make disciples of all nations, not some, not few, everyone. This gospel, Jesus Christ, the love of God, it is profound. The love of God has no language barrier, no border, no sort of barrier or altercation whatsoever, no policy attached to it in the fine print. This gospel is for everyone. Jesus Christ is for everyone. Love is a language that everyone can speak and when you really find out what true love is and that true love is a person, true love was displayed on the cross and true love wants a relationship with you. It doesn't matter where you are, what nation you're from, what ethnic background you have. It doesn't matter. He is for everyone. All nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and arguably in my opinion, this next phrase is the most important in the Great Commission, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. We take the first part of the Great Commission. Go therefore, make disciples of all nations. And this is, you know, 21st century modern day Christianity has taken the Great Commission like this. If you want to give your life to Jesus, raise your hand, pray this prayer with me and you'll be saved. Once you're done, fill out the connect card and you're good to go. And like, that's what following Jesus in the 21st century has become. What's that look? Like, there's no magic spell. Show me the passage of scripture that says, pray this prayer and you'll be saved. Now, look, I'm right here with you. I like the idea of a verbal structure for someone to understand what's going on in their heart. Like, I'm not completely bashing it, but we can't to see if people to think that like praying a magic spells was what gets them into heaven. And leaving people hanging. Actually, Jesus says, yeah, not only will people surrender their hearts, surrender their life to me, will their life become a living sacrifice? They'll give it to me. And you know, if people get there, like I remember in my own life, like growing up, seeing people know Jesus because what was going on in their heart, they were able to say, hey, look, pray this prayer with me, this prayer isn't something that can save you, but it may help a structure on what's going on in your heart, put some words to what's going on in your heart, proclaiming that Jesus Christ is Lord, the forgiveness of sins, things like that. Yeah, yes, I understand that, but we can't deceive people to thinking that that's the only thing that does it, like pray this magic spell and then you're good. Then you're good. It's like, no, like this thing is lifelong. It says teach them everything that you know in the 21st century says, yeah, pray this prayer and you're good. And then let me get these numbers and then that's it. It's like, no, actually, it says, yeah, come alongside them, walk with them in relationship, teach them everything that you know, fellowship with them. You know what Peter did in the book of Acts? After the 3000 converts get saved. You know what Peter did? Peter didn't look at the 3000 converts and say, hey, go check out the connect booth. We have a free gift for you out there. Peter didn't do that. You know what he said? He actually says that he spent days with them, breaking bread with them, performing miracles amongst them and teaching them everything that he knew. He walked with them. When Paul is writing letters to the church of Ephesus, the church of Galatia, the church of Corinth, all of these, the church of Philippi, he's writing to them in relationship, I long to be with you guys. I miss you guys. I can't wait to see you guys. Thank you for your support. You guys are screwing up. You guys need some help. Like there's a relational aspect to discipleship. We can't just consolidate the great commission into this thing where it's like, oh, pray this prayer and you're good. Go get the free gift we have for you at the connect booth and like you're chilling. And it's like, you've got this punch card in your wallet that you hold so when you get to heaven, you're like, yep, I said this prayer. Jesus says, on that day, many people will come to me and say, Lord, Lord, didn't I say that prayer? Or looking at many devotional I read? Or look at all the mighty works I've done in your name and they put all their poker chips on the things that they've done. It's not about what they've done, it's about what he's done and what he's done motivates us to be a disciple, to follow in relationship with him and all of these things. So I don't want you to miss the point, okay? Like if someone leads you to the Lord through a prayer, like prays God, but understand that that's not a magic spell for your salvation. You know, they might be leading you through a structure to understand, like to put words to what's going on in your heart, okay? We need to understand that. Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. People aren't statistics. They're human beings made in the image of God. Treat them like one. And if you really care about people and you really care about their soul, you're not just going to preach the gospel and then pray a prayer with them and then leave. You're going to invite them into community. But you have to understand too. Whether someone's a Muslim, Buddhist, atheist, Hindu, agnostic or you're just an American that grew up in Christianity, you have to substitute the thing that they're losing. They're losing sin, which is a good thing. But in their eyes, I can't live without sin. So you have to bring community, fellowship, doctrine, discipleship in there. Said these people can sustain the faith. Quick pause, picture this. You or a loved one gets an email that looks exactly like it's from your bank, right logo, right name, and it wants you to confirm your login really quick. Would you catch it? Because scams are tricky now and they're only going to get trickier. One wrong click and to stranger your accounts. That's actually why this part of the video is sponsored by Surfshark. Surfshark is not just a VPN. It's way more than that. It's basically a whole security toolkit for your digital life. There's an email scam checker. So you drop in any sketchy email and it tells you if it's a phishing attempt before you click. There's alternative ID and alternative number. So when some random site demands your info, you hand over generated details instead of your real name and number and you cut off the data leaks at the source. It's got a webcam blocker that locks your camera down so nothing turns it on without your say so. And it works to keep your financial info encrypted and monitored. One subscription covers unlimited devices. So your whole family's phones and laptops are protected. And if anything ever comes up, there's 24/7 support. They've also reached 100 countries of coverage. The only VPN to pull that off. Here's the deal. Go to surfshark.com/bricecropper and use code Bricecropper. Check that out and you'll get four extra months free. That surfshark.com/bricecropper code Bricecropper link in code or in the description. All right, back to the episode. I think it's profound when the Bible says those who endure till the end will be saved. I think it's a very profound scripture. Like I've been a Christian for five years, which really really isn't that long at all. And I remember the first couple years, I would hear leaders tell me 40-year-old, 50-year-old, six-year-old leaders. Like I've been around for a while. I've seen a lot, which they have. But in the five years of just me following Jesus, I've seen people that I knew personally leave the faith, denounce the faith, people that used to talk about Jesus online, people that you would have thought are so bold, the last thing they would do is denounce Jesus. Was it a prayer? They got them there? Would the prayer they prayed? Did they miss a couple words in their centers prayer? That would have kept them going? Or dang, man, they didn't get. There was a free gift at the connect booth and that would have helped them out. No, no, no, discipleship, fellowship. That's why the church is so important. Like the local church, like you have the universal church, which is like we're united by the Spirit of God with the believers in China, in Africa, South America, North America, the universal church. But the local church is very important. A body of Christ to be fellowship plugged in. Bear each other's burdens. Celebrate the highs with each other. Weep in the lows with each other. Learn under a pastor. We shepherd it under a pastor. Submit to the authority there. It's important. Church is important. We can't neglect it. And there was a part of my life. First few years of being in Christian where I was like, all I need to do is just need to be me and Jesus. And I'm good. And you know what that leads to? A whole lot of emotional highs and a high risk of deconstruction. It's like, no, we need Jesus. And then this is what he says to close it out and behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. As Christians going out into a world where the morality and the character of God is a minority in a sinful, suffering world. You will face tasks, people, and mountains that feel impossible. And Jesus says you aren't conquered and alone. And we know in the book of Acts that Jesus is like, oftentimes we think, if Jesus was here with me in person, then my life would be good. Jesus does one better by allowing the Holy Spirit to live inside of us. He's closer than our own skin. God is. We don't face these things alone. We are agents for God. We are soldiers for God. And He is with us always to the end of the age. There's no amount of verbal, slander, physical persecution or impossible tasks that makes God back out on what He's called you to do. He's a man of His word. He's with us always. Don't be afraid in a world where the morality of Christianity is in the minority of people that want to live for themselves. Live for their sin and live for their struggles. No, seek Him first and know that He is with you. And I'm going to pray for us before we close out that you feel the boldness of God to go out into a world to not just preach the gospel, but disciple people. Make disciples and see people want to the Lord Jesus. We love you. We thank you. We thank you that you have first saved us. If you're someone watching to listen to this and you have been gripped by the Lord and saved by the Lord, we thank you for our salvation. Lord Jesus, we just ask for the boldness of the Holy Spirit to go out into the world and not just merely preach the gospel, but see people know you. And we know we can't win people. We sow seeds. We plant seeds. We water seeds. We're the one who brings the increased God. And we just want to see people know you and experience the same love that we have. God, would you give us that boldness of you to go see people know you and disciple? We love you, Jesus. It's in your name. We pray. Amen.