Matthew 4:12-25, The Gospel of the Kingdom, Dr. John B. Carpenter

Matthew chapter 4, beginning from verses 12 to 25, hear the word of the

Lord. Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. And leaving

Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea in the territory of Zebalun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet

Isaiah might be fulfilled. The land of Zebalun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea beyond the

Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region in the shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.

From that time, Jesus began to preach, saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

While walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter, and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.

And he said to them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Immediately they left their nets and followed him.

And going on from there, he saw two brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, in the boat with Zebedee, his father, mending their nets.

And he called them. Immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him. And he went throughout all

Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.

So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics and paralytics, and he healed them.

And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis and from Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the

Jordan. May the Lord add his blessings to the reading of his holy word. Well, let's talk about the election.

I mean, the election of 1860, of course. A few months ago, I read a sermon by Benjamin Morgan Palmer, a notable

Presbyterian minister in New Orleans, Louisiana. The sermon was given on November 29th, 1860.

The results of the election were in, and like many Southerners, he was reeling from the news that a moderately anti -slavery candidate had won.

He dismissed the results as, quote, sectional and defended slavery on the grounds of racism.

I won't repeat what he said, as it was just crudely racist.

He said that he and his hearers had the duty to, quote, conserve and to perpetuate the institution of domestic slavery as now existing.

Even though Lincoln had only campaigned on restricting the growth of slavery, not opposing it where it was already legal,

Palmer, like many Southerners, saw news of the election as a threat to their way of life. That an invasion was coming, maybe just a legal invasion, a change of law, but that was bad enough.

That this invasion would change them and they didn't want to change. Palmer and Southerners like him saw news of a legal change as so bad that they chose to rebel, resulting soon in a literal invasion.

I'd imagine his slaves considered the election results as good news.

There's news of a coming invasion and you will have to surrender.

The invader will insist on controlling every area of your life, things you used to justify, that you thought were good, that should be conserved and perpetuated.

You will be called to forsake. You'll have to change. Parts of your life, like your use of money, your own body, your property, your time that were for your convenience won't be allowed anymore.

Now, do you think that's good news? Well, the world's answer is clear and loud.

No. I believe in me, the individual. I believe in my convenience, my money, my property, not having to listen to anyone, including some so -called

God. That is the hallmark of our age, the self -determining individual, accountable to no one, free to choose what is right and wrong for himself, for his own convenience.

I get to choose to serve mammon. I get to use my time, my property however I want and I get to consider some people property if that's for my convenience or I get to choose whether marriage for me is to a person of the same sex or maybe to several people.

I get to choose to behave in a way that I know may create another person and I get to destroy that other person if I feel like it.

I get what I want. I am the self -determining individual and there's nothing scarier for such individuals than the news of a

God who isn't like Burger King and who won't let us have it our way.

Instead, he is a God who is a real king and who makes demands on us and who, and this is the worst news of all, who is coming.

That news is a threat to many people's way of life and so what is called here gospel, which means good news, most people think is the worst news of all.

So we have people in our day, people who even some of them claim to be Christians, who say they believe the gospel. They say the gospel is a promise of an escape from hell.

It's a promise of all kinds of benefits, free grace they call it, with no submission necessary, no call to repentance.

You can repent if you like, but you don't really have to. No need to really follow Jesus. Oh, you can if you choose, follow

Jesus. If you're into that kind of thing, you know, that's for you, but you don't have to to believe the gospel, they say.

It's like flying first class. You can pay the extra price and get the first class, but you don't have to.

You can still get to heaven flying coach, they say. The gospel, they say, is the good news that you don't have to have a king, but that's not the gospel that Jesus taught.

Jesus came preaching the gospel of the kingdom and here in this passage we see three vital truths about the gospel of the kingdom.

First, the context of the kingdom. Second, the content of the kingdom. And finally, the converts of the kingdom.

The context, the setting, that is where the preaching of the kingdom is happening is surprising, especially to them, but even to many people in our day.

In verse 12, we see that the Lord Jesus withdrew from Judea. Now, Judea is almost all

Jewish. It's the heartland of Judaism, of the Jewish people. He withdrew from there and he came to Galilee, where there was a much more mixed population.

The scripture quoted from Isaiah, it's called Galilee of the Gentiles. So, there's all kinds of different people. There's Jews and there's

Gentiles. It's on the border with neighboring lands, what we now call Lebanon and Syria, and some of them came in.

In verse 24, it says his fame spread through Syria so that even Gentiles were flocking to him.

And so, the context of the gospel of the kingdom is the world.

It's not just a Jewish kingdom. The context of the kingdom is in a hostile world.

Here, Jesus begins preaching the gospel of the kingdom in Galilee after John had been arrested.

John was arrested, eventually executed because he preached the same gospel. After all, we didn't continue from chapter 3, but there,

John the Baptist came preaching, repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. So, the very same gospel, the very same words.

The world is so hostile to God's kingdom, it murders those who declare it. It's also, the world is also dark, and in particular, where Jesus now is.

In verse 15 quotes from Isaiah, that this fulfills what Jesus is doing, fulfills the prophecy about the context of the king.

Where would the good news come first? You're thinking, come to Jerusalem, you know, in the temple, maybe, where he could teach all the people who have come to worship there.

Wouldn't they be the most receptive? Wouldn't they be the most interested? In the heartland of Judea, where nearly all the people were Jews, where so many of them had gone out to hear

John the Baptist, you would think you would want to target them. No, the context of Jesus' ministry is in Galilee, where there are many, in verse 16, who are not

God's people, who are Gentiles and other kinds of people. And there are people, verse 16 says, are dwelling in darkness and the shadow of death.

Up until now, they've had little light from God. This is not the Bible Belt where Jesus is. But now, in that context, the light has dawned.

Now, probably the last place in Israel where you would expect the great king to show up would be

Galilee of the Gentiles, a land of darkness. But here he is, living and teaching in Capernaum on the

Sea of Galilee. It's the same way today, the kingdom of God, called the kingdom of heaven here, but it's the same thing, there are synonyms, is here.

It's in a world of darkness and death. Now, in their day, they expected that there was first darkness and death, and then would come the kingdom of God, and there would be no more darkness and death.

It's an invasion of God's rule and in His light, and it would wipe all those other things away.

That the kingdom of God would instantly drive out all the opposition that we could not have, a rebellious world with Satan and sin, and, at the same time,

God's rule on earth. They're mutually exclusive, that it had to be one or the other. That's what they assumed.

So, when they hear the kingdom of God is at hand, they're thinking that He's going to come soon, and then everything will be radically different.

We have the same doctrines today in different forms, but some teach today that the promises about the kingdom of God, like here, must refer to some future coming of the kingdom.

Some even say, well, Jesus here is offering the kingdom. God's kingdom would come, and then, well, they rejected the offer, and so Jesus withdrew the offer.

But that's not what He says here. That's not what the Bible says anywhere. And later in the New Testament, Jesus will say,

I casting out demons by the figure of God, the kingdom of God is now in the midst of you.

That's what some people think today, that when Jesus comes again, that's what we're waiting on. It's a future kingdom, then the kingdom of God, then at that time, then it will finally come into this world, and then it will drive out darkness and death.

So, we still have to wait, it still hasn't come. But Jesus says here, the kingdom of God is at hand.

In other words, it's so close you can reach out and grab it. It's right here. But the context of the kingdom is that it's here as an invading force, but here in the midst of the present evil age overlapping.

So, we have both now this present evil age with sin and Satan and death and darkness, and also at the same time, the kingdom of God with its light.

They're both here. Both things are here at the same time, the darkness, death, and the kingdom.

That's the same context we find ourselves in now. We have citizens of the kingdom living in the midst of darkness and death with all kinds of people all around us.

And so, we are as a church, it's what a church is, is an outpost of the kingdom surrounded in enemy territory.

A church like this one should be an enclave of God's rule. God rules here in our midst, not so much outside, a fort in enemy territory.

The enemy territory that's in rebellion against God's rule. When Alabama seceded from the

United States in 1861, a county in northeastern Alabama, Winston County, seceded from the state of Alabama.

The county wanted to remain part of the United States. They were rebels against the rebels.

And so, the church, too, should be in rebellion against the rebellion. This world is in rebellion against God.

We are in rebellion against the rebellion against God.

Now, the world doesn't mind a bit of religion, but it's utterly hostile to the rule of the Lord Jesus.

That's our context, a world that is resisting the rule of the

Lord Jesus, the anointed one, the son of David. And we're saying, we don't resist his rule.

We're seeking his rule. And so, we're different from the world. Now, into this context, the world in rebellion,

Jesus comes proclaiming in verses 17 and 23, the gospel of the kingdom. That's not a phrase we hear a lot today.

You usually hear a lot about the gospel of the kingdom. You hear the gospel, maybe. Christians today don't usually talk about that.

They don't use that phrase. We usually hear the gospel described as the good news, that there's forgiveness to Christ, and that's true.

But that's not exactly what the Lord Jesus was preaching here. He was preaching the gospel, that's the good news, that the rule of God is come on earth.

It's here. You can reach out and grab it. It's in your midst, that God is invading and is going to bring everything back to be in order.

The world rebelled against God's order in the Garden of Eden when we chose our will be done rather than submission to God's will.

Now, God is announcing that he's coming back, and he's coming to take over.

He's coming to set things right. And that's good news. It's gospel.

But good news to who? Now, to the hostile world in rebellion against God, to the one who's bent on everything being his or her own way, that's horrible news.

That's the worst news of all. You mean I have to give up my slaves? I have to give up my greed or my adultery or sexual immorality, my pornography?

I have to give up lies about killing babies being pro -choice? No, I'm not going to do that.

No. But to the one whose heart has been changed, who is sick of his sins, who is tired of the rebellion, the news that the kingdom, the sovereign government of the

Lord Jesus is here to rule us now is good news indeed.

So the context is this dark world that hates the news, that sees it as bad news, but it is still in actual fact good news because along with conquering sin,

God is going to conquer sinful hearts and is going to change them. God is going to answer that prayer from David in Psalm 51, created me a clean heart,

O God, and renew a right spirit within me. And then with a changed heart, the sin we used to love, we will now hate.

And the God we used to hate, we will now love. So we will seek

His kingdom. That is, we will seek Him ruling over us instead of rebelling against that.

Second, the content of the gospel of the kingdom, the content of Jesus's preaching is described in verse 17.

Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

That's the summary of all Jesus's teaching right there. Now people today imagine that Jesus told sweet story.

A lot of people think they like Jesus. They say they like Jesus. They don't, a lot of them don't really know him that well. They say they do. Their image of him is that he told sweet stories of love and world peace and ask us above all to be more sensitive, but in between him petting lambs and plucking wildflowers, they think the content of his message was all sugar and spice and everything nice.

But Jesus took up the exact same message as John the Baptist in chapter three. Repent, that is turn around for the way you were going.

Change your whole mindset and therefore your whole life because God is coming to rule on earth.

He's invading and his invasion will change your life. If you knew there was an invasion coming, it could not be stopped.

And the invader hates you. You're going to want to do whatever you can to get on the good side of that invader.

And that's what Jesus is saying here. What do you have to do? Well, you have to repent because the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

And the content of the gospel of the kingdom is that God is coming. Even now he is bringing his sovereign rule on earth.

So we better prepare ourselves by turning our lives around. Stop going the way we were going, living for money, living for success, and go in the exactly opposite direction.

We were heading away from God. Now, that's true whether we were religious or not. We can keep all the rules.

We cannot drink the wrong things. We can go to church. We could give a tithe. But if in our hearts we're still stuck on our own ways, if we're not submissive to the rule of God, then we're still heading in the wrong direction.

We need to turn around. We need to repent. Repentance is not so much about where you're at, but where you're going.

To repent is to do a U -turn and go God's way. Now, think about how forceful, how bold.

Some would say even how offensive this message is. What Jesus says here, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Today, most of us know that if you want to change someone, you're going to have to approach the subject with so much sensitivity, and this is actually just a fact with modern people, often because of the way they're raised, flattered so much.

You have to butter them up first. You have to tell them all the good things they're doing, all the things you appreciate about them, and then gently suggest that it might possibly be to your advantage.

If you consider doing things a bit differently, it might be better for you if you stop killing people or whatever your sin is.

Might be better, and yet here comes Jesus wheeling the same sledgehammer that John the Baptist had been pounding people with.

Now, repent. Turn your life around, because God's rule is at the door.

His invasion is right here. This is D -Day. Here he comes. Now, what happens in our day when we, with all our emphasis now on my rights, my convenience, when you try to tell someone you need to repent, that what you're doing is wrong and God is demanding that you change?

We all know, right? You know the answer to that. So often they pick up their ball and go play elsewhere.

They go to another church. When Benjamin Morgan Palmer saw that he might possibly have to change, eventually maybe, by freeing his slaves, he said, we're out of here.

We'll secede. They don't want to be ruled. They don't want to have to submit, to subject their lives to anyone, not even to God.

Just this past week, I ran into someone around here who, 17 years ago, I told her

I wouldn't perform her wedding if she was living with her fiancé, which she was. She didn't know I knew that. Came into my office, her fiancé asked me to do the wedding, and I knew, somebody told me that they were living together, and I try to be gentle and try to be nice.

I said, you know, I'm not going to perform a wedding if your couple is living together. And she started to cry.

You know, my conviction was, I'm not going along with your sexual immorality. Just pretending it's not happening.

And she's still resentful. I ran into her just this past week. She's still resentful. 17 years later, instead of repentance, she thought, and still does, she has the right to be endorsed as she is.

Without God's grace, people are, like her, are self -willed. They're demanding their own way.

Accept me as I am. I don't have to repent. And it doesn't matter what it is.

Could be living together before marriage, or how to handle your money, could be making money -making more important than worship, the color of the carpet, how to take up tiles.

It doesn't matter what the issue is, because the real issue is the rebellion in their hearts, their own lack of repentance, the fact that they haven't yet been humbled by the gospel, that they want to rule themselves and refuse to submit to God's rule.

They need a new heart that loves what they used to hate and now hates the sin they used to love, that hears about the kingdom, the rule of God, and instead of cringing at that, they love it and seek it.

But first, their heart has to change. The content of the message contains the reason that we should repent, because the kingdom of God is at hand.

That's the reason. It's on the verge. It's like the Allies announcing, I don't think they did this, but it would be like them announcing on the early morning of June 6, 1944, to the

German soldiers on the shores of Normandy, you know, surrender because our rule is here.

We're taking over whether you like it or not, and if you don't surrender, the consequences for you are dire.

Do you hear what Jesus is saying to a hostile, rebellious world? Surrender, repent, because God is invading, and He's been invading ever since.

And if you don't repent, the consequences for you are dire.

The content of the message is a statement of a fact that God is coming as a ruler, and then a demand consequent of that fact, the imperative issuing out of that fact.

The imperative is repent, and the fact is that the kingdom of God is at hand.

And this together, the content, the Bible calls here in this passage, in verse 23, the gospel of the kingdom.

And this is very different than the way the gospel is often presented today. Today, we described often the benefits of believing, the benefits of the gospel.

You get forgiveness, you get a new life, you get a new start, you get freedom, joy, peace, love, blessings, escape from future punishment, get all the stuff like in Psalm 128 we read, blessings on you, peace, and all that's true, and all that's great.

But we describe all the blessings, and then we suggest that we can attain them often, kind of just repeat after me this prayer, and that we call the gospel.

But we've left out vital parts of it, parts of its content. And so, it's no wonder that we so often find that our converts are lacking.

Third is the converts of the kingdom. In verses 18 to 22, we see two brief stories about converts of the kingdom.

First, with Peter and his brother Andrew, and then with James and John. Jesus calls them while they're at their jobs.

Now, Luke gives us a lot more details about that call, especially about how Peter had been fishing all night and had caught anything, but Jesus shows up, shows him where to fish, they catch a whole net full, the net breaks, he falls down before Jesus, he's aware of his own sinfulness, and Jesus' holiness, away from me,

I'm a sinful man, all of that. Matthew was only interested here in three facts about converts of the kingdom.

First, that they're called by Jesus, he takes the initiative. Second, that they are called to make more converts.

And third, Jesus' call changes their life.

Now, religious teachers in Jesus' day did not typically go out and find disciples, they had to go out recruiting for followers.

The disciples were supposed to come to them. The followers took the initiative, but here Jesus takes the initiative.

He goes out and finds his own followers. He is selecting his own disciples instead of passively just kind of letting them choose him.

Jesus himself later comments on this in John chapter 15, verse 16, you did not choose me, but I chose you.

The call of Jesus is preeminent. He makes the gracious choice to convert some.

When he calls them effectively, they are converted. Now, he doesn't have to do this. Now, if we want to argue, as some people do, that it doesn't seem fair, that he doesn't effectively call everyone.

We've forgotten that if God were fair, he could save none of us. That would be perfectly fair.

Damneth all to hell, that would be fair. It is purely of grace that he converts any of us.

Now, first Jesus comes by and calls them to be converts, follow me. And he says in verse 19, to be a convert is to follow

Jesus, is to be a Jesus follower. Okay, there's no such thing. You're saved by grace and you opt out of following Jesus.

I know that's taught frequently in our culture at a time, it does not exist. To turn around, if you're really called by Jesus, you're converted, you have to turn around from going your own way and then go his.

As Jesus said, I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit.

He chooses Peter and Andrew, so they would catch other disciples, just like he's called them. They have been casting their nets into the water, they've been doing their jobs, they've been going about their business, providing for their families.

And then Jesus comes and calls them to change their jobs, to take up another business.

In verse 19, to be fishers of men. And immediately in verse 20, that is without hesitation, they did it.

They were converts. And Jesus went to the lake and caught Peter and Andrew, and as soon as he caught them as converts, he tells them that he wants them to catch other converts.

And he calls us to the same job today. Jesus may not call most of us now to leave our jobs, like Peter and Andrew here, and go into full -time ministry.

Now to do that, if we all were called to do that, that might be even a barrier to our catching other people, to being fishers of men.

It's better for the church if most of our members are actually out in the world, out there working side by side with people who need to hear the gospel, bringing the gospel of the kingdom into our context of darkness and death, and being a witness to our neighbors, to our friends, to our family, at our jobs.

Now like these new converts, Peter and Andrew, he calls us to be occupied with the business of making more converts.

Now not everyone has the gift of evangelism, I'm not saying that, not everyone is comfortable with going up to strangers and trying to go within just a few seconds to talking about very personal matters of sin and eternal life, one's religious beliefs, that kind of thing.

But if we've been caught by Jesus, all of us need to in some way be involved in this occupation, going out and catching other people for him.

And this is one of the greatest ministries the church can offer, the opportunity to be part of a team, a fishing expedition, seeking to catch new converts.

And that's what our Jim and Jim Jr. ministries exist for, not just to entertain kids, but to make converts.

We always make the sharing of the gospel a prominent part of them. That's why we're meeting in a gym instead of a traditional church building.

There's nothing wrong with a traditional church building, but in this context, this culture, a gym is more useful for fishing for people.

And that's what you are called to be part of. Somehow, somehow, according to your own gifts, at least by prayer, at least by giving, sharing with your own family and people you meet, you're called to be fishers of people.

Now, next in verse 21, Jesus goes on further down the lakeside and sees two brothers at work, James and John. They were in a boat, let's say where the boat is beached or just barely offshore, but whatever.

They were with their father Zebedee, they're mending their nets, they're at their jobs, and he calls them too. And they also immediately, notice that immediately, no delays, not well, maybe after this fishing expedition, not even, well, let us finish mending our nets.

No, they just left the nets with dad and they're off. James would be the first apostle to be martyred and John would be the longest lived apostle, exiled instead of killed, writing a gospel, three inspired letters, and the book of Revelation, not bad.

Converts are chosen, converts are disciples who change. They leave behind all their past, sometimes their occupations, always their preoccupations, unhesitatingly and unconditionally respond by following.

They don't just accept the modern idea of many people have, they kind of accept the truth about Jesus, say, okay, pray the prayer, and then go about their lives as if nothing has changed.

No, here they make a complete break with their own loyalties. There's a radical difference in their lives.

And it's the same today. True conversion will make a radical difference.

There will be a break in the past life of darkness and death. And that break might look very differently for different people, but that there must be a fundamental, radical change of a person's heart or priorities is part of what it means to be a convert.

Before we were going our own way, willful, I'm gonna have my will be done for my convenience.

I don't care what it means for others, if I enslave them, if I abort them, whatever it's for me, that's all gone.

Now, we're going God's way. They were converts and then there were crowds.

As the kingdom of God invaded the world, the signs were healings and miracles, diseases and demons are not what

God intended for this earth. And so he comes, as he comes to extend his rule, where God is ruling, those things are driven back.

These are the benefits of the kingdom, is this freedom from the world of darkness and death, and then all the consequences of that darkness of death, that rebellion against God, diseases, sicknesses, paralysis, demons.

People love those benefits. They love being healthy, they love being in the right minds, they love being free of sickness and Satan.

And for this time, Jesus freely gives the benefits of the kingdom, like a foretaste when the kingdom comes in its fullness.

And so the crowds flocked to him from all over the region, not just Israel, it was all over that area.

Great crowds, it says in verse 25, they followed him, followed in the sense they literally went where he went, not in the sense that they changed to be like him.

Healings and miracles draw people. Great advertising, those would do the same today.

If God would be pleased to do miracles like these among us, man, we'd see thousands of people here.

We would pack out this building, we'd have to build a bigger building. People would be driving from all over the country, they'd be flying in from overseas.

We would be a huge success. But whether we'd make more converts, that's another question.

The reality is that we could have great crowds, we could have them here for miracles, but we could still only have a handful of people here for Jesus, for discipleship, opening their

Bibles, learning what God says, surrendering their lives, truly following him.

Crowds would pour in for the benefits of the kingdom, but only a handful would come to live in the kingdom.

The crowds followed Jesus around, watching the miracles, hearing the teaching, enjoying the show, but only a very few turned out to be converts, loving the gospel of the kingdom.

So, for you, are you one of the converts? Are one of the crowds?

You come for the stories, for the assembly, for the songs, for the friends, for the parents, but the idea that there's a

Lord to whom you must submit, that you can't have it all your way, that you can be kingless, that you have to change your life, you have to go another way, that leaves you cold, that you don't like so much.

That if you thought about it, the idea that God is coming to impose his way on you, not just on everyone else, you don't mind that, but on you, that he's invading and you will have to change, that in Jesus's kingdom, there will be no more self -determining individuals doing as they please, that you're not even sure when you think about it, you're not even sure that's good news.

If that's what you discovered this morning, that's a good first step because you've discovered that you need to be converted.

You found out that you're part of the rebellion, and so your heart needs to be changed.

You need to be born again, so that what you used to love, your own self -will, your own convenience, what the

Bible calls sin, you will now hate. And what you used to hate, the news of God's kingdom, his rule, is coming.

Now, you will love and seek it first.

For that, you need a new heart. And then, you'll no longer be one of the crowds, you'll be one of the converts.

The gospel of the kingdom is the good news, that as God comes to set the whole world in order, even driving out diseases and demons before him, he can set your heart in order to creating in you a new heart.