The Dawning of The Kingdom | Matt 4:12-25

Good morning.

We're back in Matthew chapter 4. We just

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

had our celebration of the resurrection

last week and

um remembering the Passover. And I was I

was just thinking the text that we're in

was about this time of year

approximately

2,000 years ago, not even two millennia

ago. Uh, I'm persuaded that Jesus's

ministry began around Passover time in

the year 26 AD. We're told when it

started, 16th year, I believe, 15th year

of the reign of Tiberius. John the

Baptist was preaching and Jesus was

baptized.

Immediately afterwards, he was driven by

the spirit in the wilderness where he

was tested of the devil. And so two

weeks ago, we talked about that text and

how Satan took him up into a high

mountain and showed him the kingdoms of

the world and and basically was saying,

"I can give you this." And I'll add

without a cross.

But we saw how the world and the people

that live therein actually belongs to

God. The earth is the Lord's and the

fullness thereof, and they that dwell

therein. God the Father owned it all.

But God has delegated

the nations to be under different

spiritual entities. And we really went

into that last time. And Satan is

saying, "Hey, I can give you the keys of

this world through my network."

And the inference is without a cross,

but the world itself is not his to give

because the earth is the Lord's and the

fullness thereof, and they that dwell

therein end. Well, this week takes place

uh shortly after that. He's tested of

the devil and he's going to begin his

ministry in 26 AD. I've titled the

sermon the dawning of the kingdom. And

the point of this morning's sermon is

Christ is king. His kingdom expands

progressively as the gospel is

proclaimed, disciples are made, and

supernatural lifech changing power is

displayed. If you stand with me now for

the reading of God's word, we're going

to read in Matthew 4, starting in verse

12.

Now when he had heard that John had been

arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. And

leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in

Capernaam by the sea and the territory

of Zebulun and Nasseri. So that what was

spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be

fulfilled. The land of Zebulun and the

land of Nasseri, 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 and

shadow of death, on them a light has

dawned.

For 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 is 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."

And immediately they left their nets and

followed him. And going on from there,

he saw two other brothers, James, the

son of Zebedee, and John, his brother.

In the boat was Zebedee, their father,

mending their nets, and he called them.

Immediately they left the 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, those

having seizures and paralytics. And he

healed them. And great crowds followed

him from Galilee and the decapit and

from Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond

the Jordan. Let's pray. Oh Lord God, we

thank you that indeed the kingdom of

Christ has come into the hearts of us.

We trust and believe in you that your

reign has already been extended into our

hearts. God, we also rejoice that right

now Jesus, the son of man, the son of

God, is ascended to the throne at the

right hand of the father and you rule by

the word of your power. That all

authority in heaven and earth has been

given to you. And you've commissioned us

to go and do what you do in this passage

to make disciples to freely offer

the forgiveness of sins through

repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

Lord, if there's anyone here this

morning who is yet to come to the

knowledge of you, Lord, I pray that you

would draw them to yourself. Father, I

pray that you would extend your kingdom

into our hearts this morning. That you

would help us, Lord, to submit to you

greater and greater as we see your truth

revealed. We would trust in you and be

bold in our faith for the glory of God

in the Lord Jesus Christ. In Jesus name

I pray. Amen. You may be seated.

So we see here uh the language of dawn

is used. Dawn dawning is when the sun

first begins to show itself and it gets

brighter and brighter and brighter until

the fullness of day. Uh we made

comparisons

made comparisons that originally Adam

was given the world. He was given the

world. He was given dominion over the

world. We hear dominion. We think

politics. But actually, Adam and Eve

were to co-raign over the earth, over

stuff

to be fruitful, multiply, fill the

earth, and subdue it. Subdue it, rule

over it. They were the first king and

queen over the earth. They were going to

have children who were going to fill the

earth and rule over the earth. not to

doineer people but to glorify God and

Godhonoring work and labor. Well, Satan

comes and entices Adam to be autonomous

and independent from God. He says, "Eat

of the tree and you can be as God."

Declaring for yourself what is good and

what is evil. You can make your own

rules.

And this is what is in human nature,

fallen human nature to this day. What we

struggle with is we want to rule

ourselves and our destiny. We want to be

the predestinator. We want to be the

source of law and authority. Humankind

wants to be God.

That's that is the ultimate thing, the

first thing that we need to repent of.

Our desire for self-ruule. When we

repent, we turn from our sins. We are

submitting ourselves to God. And the

other thing that we have to repent of

and turn from is trusting in ourselves

to trusting in Christ and what he has

done for us. Well, Jesus's ministry

begins with the call to repent and

believe the good news, to believe the

gospel. And that call will go out this

morning. But when Adam rebels,

let's say for the metaphor's sake, Adam

is created at high noon and he rebelss.

What happens to the world after Adam's

rebellion?

It grows darker and darker and darker

and darker

until Christ comes. What does the world

look like at the time of Christ? It's a

brutal place. There are no charitable

hospitals.

There there is human sacrifice all over

the globe. Most people are slaves. Short

life expect

people living in the darkness and the

fear of of pagan gods that were actually

real demonic entities and powers that

ruled over territory. The world lived

under this kind of demonic oppression.

They lived in fear. There are still

people to this day living in the

jungles, living in places never heard

the gospel who who fear the word of the

witch doctor who might curse them and

they would die.

real demonic entities, real uh spiritual

intelligences that oppress people and

afflict people.

That's the whole world. The whole world

is practicing human sacrifice. The whole

world is enslaving one another. Slavery

is all over the whole earth.

The place is a dark place where the

spirit of the Lord is. There is liberty.

But the nations have been handed over to

nonholy spirits and people live in fear

and dread.

They torture one another. They do

horrible things. This is the world that

Christ is born into.

And we read in the language of this

passage the language of dawn.

And Adam we see the coming of darkness.

The world by by Genesis 6. God saw the

hearts of men that it was only

continually evil and he sent out a flood

to destroy mankind. The prophets speak

of another, I'll say flood that's to

come yet in the future when the

knowledge of the Lord will cover the

earth like the waters that cover the

sea. There will be a day when the

knowledge of the Lord covers the

continent. Where everywhere you go,

they've heard about Jesus. where

everywhere you go there there's

believers on the Lord Jesus and the

knowledge of the Lord will cover the

earth just like the waters covered the

earth in Noah's day. There's a time in

the future where the knowledge of the

Lord is going to cover the whole earth

like the waters cover the sea. I ask you

again, how much of the sea is covered in

water?

All of it.

A day is yet to come. Has not come yet,

but it will come. It will come people

living in the oppression of Islam in

places like Iran or people living under

the the the frightful doctrines of

Hinduism or Buddhism or communism,

atheistic communism.

There there will be people that fear the

Lord and know his name. The dawn begins

in this chapter. The beginning of the

kingdom spread begins in this chapter.

This chapter thrills me. I love it.

Let's look at it. Hebrews chap Matthew

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4 starting in verse 12. We'll

look at it verse by verse. Now when he

heard that John had been arrested, he

withdrew in the Galilee. And I probably

could have done a whole slide on that.

John was used to prepare the people for

the coming of Yahweh in flesh. That that

phrase prepare the way of the Lord. It's

you know uppercase L lowercase OD in the

New Testament English. In the Old

Testament, it's all cap LD because it's

Yahweh coming in flesh.

Yahweh has shown up. John the Baptist

has prepared them through a message of

repentance, through a message of turn to

the Lord. Prepare your hearts because

Yahweh is coming. He's coming. The king

is coming. The Messiah is coming. When

when he was done after the baptism, God

is now done with John the Baptist. And

uh shortly thereafter he would be

beheaded. In verse 13 it says, "And

leaving Nazareth, he went and lived

Capernium by the sea and the territory

of Zebulun and Napali, so that what was

spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be

fulfilled. The land of Zebuli and the

land of Neli, the way of the sea beyond

the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the

people dwelling in darkness have seen a

great light." And so those dwelling in

the region and shadow of death, on them

a light has dawned. There's where my

title comes from. The dawning of the

kingdom. The light has dawned. It's the

beginning. It's always darkest before

the dawn, they say. And the world had

come to a very dark point when Christ

comes into it. The light of the world

has now entered in onto the scene and

the light has dawned. Now, uh, so

because John was was persecuted and

people were persecuting, Jesus didn't

stay right there. He goes up north,

close to his hometown, a little way away

from there in the village of Kethan, the

village of Nahum or uh, village of

Pumper is another way of reading it. And

he goes there and he begins to preach.

And this was what in ancient times had

been uh, the territory of Zebulun and

Napali. You remember that Jacob has 12

sons. When Joshua comes into the

promised land, they divide up the the

land of Israel actually into 11 or

actually more than 11 in a sense because

uh Levi didn't get territory, but like

Manasseh gets two. And so the the land

was divided up into 12 sections. And

Nasali and Zedwin received an

inheritance way up north.

Later on, Saul would rule over all of

Israel, the first king. And then David

ru rule all over all Israel. Then

Solomon would rule over all Israel. And

then Riaboam would ascend the throne.

And he had a united kingdom. All 12

tribes were under Riaboam. But because

Riaboam was an oppressor, the people

said, "We're done with you. Too high

taxes." And they broke away and formed

their own kingdom. There was civil war

in Israel. And in the south where

Jerusalem was, there was Jerusalem and

Benjamin uh uh uh sorry, Judah and

Benjamin were down in the south. And way

up north there was Napali and Zebulun.

And this man named Jeroboam became king

over the upper tribes. And he was scared

that the people would return to the king

of Judah, the house of David. And so he

set up two idols in Israel. And he says,

"It's too far for you to go to

Jerusalem." So he set one way up north

and he set one down close to the border

close to Jerusalem so that it was easier

to go worship a golden calf or a calf

than it was to go all the way to

Jerusalem. Well, Judah would have some

good kings and some bad kings, but

Israel had nothing but bad kings. They

were all evil. They were all corrupt.

And they worshiped idols and they fell

into Baal worship. And and so the the

the northern tribes became more

apostate. They fall away from the faith

so badly that in the 700s about 7:21 BC

the Assyrians come in and they conquer

them and take them away captive. Then

Smackareb the Assyrian king tries to

conquer Judah but is unable because God

protects Hezekiah and later they also

would fall to the Babylonians. But there

was this big vision of the kingdom and

the northern tribes fell into darkness,

very bad darkness and idolatry. So at

the time of Christ, the northern area is

has Gentiles, that's why it's called

Galilee of the Gentiles and Israelites.

It's a mixture. Some Gentiles who are

pagans. So if you go away from Jerusalem

up north, there were pagan idols. There

was gymnasiums. By the way, the word

gymnasium in Greek means in the nude.

There's a lot of paganism in the north,

a lot of idolatry. They worship pan. The

they call it the the worship pan up at

Cesaria Philippi. The the area was given

over to idolatry. Where did Jesus go in

his ministry? He goes right into the

most idolatrous part of Israel in the

land of Zebulun and Napali where it was

at its worst. Its land is a little less

holy

because of the idolatry in the history.

But it had originally been given to the

12 tribes of Israel. Jesus' ministry

will begin in in Zebulun and Nathali.

And that's why it says in verse 15 he

quotes Isaiah the land of Zenon land of

Nazi the way of the sea beyond the

Jordan Galilee of the Gentiles. The

people dwelling in darkness have seen a

great light. They're described as a

people living in darkness. It's been a

long time since Yahweh has been truly

honored there. Yeah. There's there's a

synagogue that's been uncovered right

there in Capernaum. Uh and it's believed

that Peter's house was right across the

street. I think there's really good

evidence that that Peter's house has

been found and and and there's there's

lots of evidence there that you can look

up and find out about and there's an

ancient synagogue there. But a lot of

this area was there with paganism and

that's where Jesus begins his ministry

and the worst part of Israel. It's the

most idolatrous part of Israel and it's

described as a light dawning. Like if

you've ever been out driving, I remember

driving on the highway to go we drove

all night long and we're we're going to

Colorado and uh about the time we're

somewhere in Kansas and and you could

and you see watching um watching the the

world become light or coming home and

watching the world become light,

watching the sunrise and uh the the

world grow brighter. This is the

imagery. the kingdom is dawning. Okay.

Now, for for context, when when the New

Testament quotes a verse,

uh, a lot of times God wants you to go

look up the context and see what it

says. So, I want to read from Isaiah 9.

And I want to show you why I call this

the dawning of the kingdom. In Isaiah 9

1-3, we have the text that was just

quoted by Matthew.

Says, "But there will be no gloom for

her who was in anguish. In the former

time, he brought into content the land

of Zebulun and the land of Napali. But

in the latter time, he has made glorious

the way of the sea, the land beyond the

Jordan, Galilee of the nations, or

Gentiles. The people who walked in

darkness have seen a great light. Those

who dwelt in the land of deep darkness,

on them a light has shone. You have

multiplied the nation. You have

increased its joy. They rejoice before

you as with joy at the harvest, and they

are glad when they divide the soil. Now,

at the time this is written, this is not

a description of Isaiah's day. It's a

look into the future at the time of

Jesus's day because in Isaiah's day,

they're about to be taken captive by the

Assyrians. So, when it talks about here,

the rejoicing in the joy of harvest and

dividing the spoil, this is talking

about a future time way off in the

distance when Christ will come. Now, if

I skip down to verse six, you're going

to recognize, most of you are going to

recognize this scripture because we read

it at Christmas time. What does it say?

For un for to us a child is born. To us

a son is given. Listen to this. And the

government shall be upon his shoulder.

And his name shall be called wonderful

counselor, mighty God, everlasting

father, prince of peace, of the increase

of his government and of peace. There

will be no end. on the throne of David

and over his kingdom to establish it and

to uphold it with justice and with

righteousness with this from this time

forth and forever more. The zeal of the

Lord of armies, Lord of hosts will do

this. This is very important by quoting

Isaiah nine and looking at the context,

the uses of the word dawn. Dawning of

what? the kingdom and the rule and the

government and the authority of Messiah

who is to come. Now, some say, "Well,

yeah, he came, he demonstrated a little

authority, then he left and he said,

"Well, I'll just let the world go to

hell for a couple thousand years, and

he's going to come back and then he's

going to set up his kingdom." But look

at what it says. It says, "Of the

increase of his government and kingdom,

there will be no end.

It will increase.

It will start in Nazi and Zebulun, but

like a dawn increases. The world under

Adam got darker and darker and darker.

But Christ begins his ministry and it's

like the dawn. It grows brighter and

brighter until the fullness of day. Of

the increase of his government peace,

there will be no end. He said, "Well,

wait a minute. Maybe they hadn't started

yet." He says, um, from this time forth

and forever more.

And who's going to get this done?

the zeal of Yahweh Sabah, the Lord of

the hosts, will do this.

He doesn't say, "Well, I'm I'm hoping

that I have some really smart churchmen

come along and can figure all this out."

No, God is going to do this.

Because when God wants to regenerate the

daddy or regenerate them, when God wants

to call people to himself, he calls them

to himself. It is his pleasure to use us

to preach the gospel, to live out our

faith, to teach the nations, to baptize.

But it's the work of God ultimately.

Yes, he cooperates with the church, but

the zeal of Yahweh Savote is going to

get this done.

That's the good news.

He didn't leave it to us, nor did he

postpone it. It began 2,000 years ago.

quite literally 2,000 years ago in 26 AD

the kingdom began to dawn

and God is going to get it done.

Let me give you another scripture that

teaches this rather than a cataclysmic

coming a progressive growing and

infiltrating. You see it in 1

1 Corinthians 15:22

Corinthians 15:22. I quote it a lot

because it's one of my favorite

scriptures. 1 Corinthians 15:22. For as

1 Corinthians 15:22

in Adam all die,

so also in Christ shall all be made

alive, but each in his own own order.

Christ, the first fruits, which we

celebrated last Sunday, resurrection

Sunday, was first fruits, the holiday.

Then at his coming belong to Christ,

then comes the end. Not then is the

beginning. Then comes the end.

When comes the end, when he delivers the

kingdom to God the Father. After, not

before, after destroying every rule and

every authority and power. For he must

reign. How long? Until he has put all

his enemies under his feet.

The last enemy, not the first, the last

enemy to be destroyed is death.

Now, there's some that believe that

there that everything's going to get

worse and worse and worse and then

Christ will come and then it'll get

better. But but here it says, where is

Jesus right now? Where is a physical

body born and where does that body

reside?

I want you to think about it at the very

least. Somebody say it if you got it.

The right hand of the father. How long

is it going to be there?

Well, yeah. until all enemies are put

under his feet and then he's going to

come again.

And the last enemy, not the first, the

last enemy to be destroyed is death. The

Bible is this is called a kayazm.

Adam is dominion in Genesis. Jesus has

complete dominion in Revelation.

Adam brings sin into the world and death

by sin. The last thing to be destroyed

will be death. The world people long

periods of time and there's blessedness

and the world gets darker and darker and

lifes and things get worse and the world

comes into the darkness of paganism and

then Christ's kingdom comes and the

gospel is going to the nations and as it

does we teach the nations repent believe

be baptized observe everything he's

taught us in his word

and and and Jesus says in Matthew 13

it's like the new heaven is like what

like leaven

like leaven that you put in in dough and

it infiltrates the whole lump of dough

and so it expands in the hole with

leaven. He says also before that he says

the kingdom of heaven is like the

mustard seed. It's the tiniest of seeds

in terms of the garden. It's not that

there's not tinier scores than mustard

seeds but for illustration purposes it's

the tiniest of seeds but it grows in the

largest of gardeners. So it is the

kingdom of heaven was small. The dawning

was The beginning was small, like a

little lemon, like a little seed. And

and the barn is just beginning. And it

begins here with Jesus preaching a

message. Verse 17, back to Matthew 4.

From that time, Jesus began to preach

saying, "Repent for the kingdom of

heaven is at hand."

Not far away, not postponed, not wait

till later, but the kingdom of heaven is

at hand. It's here. Not there. is here.

Repent. God's kingdom is here.

It's at hand.

That's the message.

I was going to a museum one time at a

museum. I think it was in Fort Worth,

Texas. And uh the whole the whole museum

was about the battles. Uh it was about

war. Everywhere you go, you look at war.

And there's this Asian man who was

there. And I started talking to him and

he was he was kind of disgusted by it.

and and we had a conversation about it

and you're looking at the exhibit and

showing the concrete doors and the

different things that have interacted

with the state of Texas and he's like

these museums act like the only thing

that there was was was war and all they

cover is war. They don't the the museum

wasn't talking about um the buildings

they built or their art or their

architecture or what they ate or

culture. It was very much focused on

battles that had been won and maybe

reflects the values of the people that

funded the museum. I don't know. But

anthropology feel studies more than just

war archaeology. We archaeologists are

interested in well what do they eat? How

do they live? How do they survive? What

inventions do they have? And and people

look at uh they look at the the

different aspects of the culture. Here's

kind of like a list of things that that

anthropologists or archaeologists will

look into. They they do want to study

their warfare and their battles. That's

a major part of history. Their religion,

their beliefs, the foundations of their

social order, their politics, how they

ruled, how they governed. Education, who

got educated, who didn't and why. Uh

art, what was their art? Expression of

their values and what what they found

valuable. Their music, uh their science,

their philosophy, their technology, food

production and distribution. These are

the kinds of things that that

archaeologists and anthropologists are

interested in. We want to learn about

these people. We want to learn about

these things and people people look look

into, you know, I remember when they

found a guy in a bog over there in

Ireland or Scotland or England or

something like that and looked in his

stomach. What were these people eating?

These are the kinds of things they're

interested in. And it just occurred to

me that that all of these aspects of

culture are things that God's word

speaks to. God's word speaks to

What's just war? What's unjust war?

Christians need to know how to think

about war.

Right? When someone's trying to sell us

a new war, there's a time for war. Bible

says so. That the civil magistrate has

given a sword to punish evildoers and to

defend people from aggression. God's

people need to know how to think

biblically about war.

We need to know how to think biblically

about justice

because there are just wars and there

are unjust wars. If it's just, then

something that sadly must be engaged in.

If it's unjust, it's just more murder

and bloodshed.

God's word should be able to think

biblically about these things.

Obviously, God's word speaks to

religion, but politics, God's word says

a whole lot about justice, punishment of

ter of criminals, what just governance

is. It speaks to it. Uh education,

the book has the book of Proverbs is a

whole book on education. Education isn't

neutral.

Education is designed people a certain

worldview to become a certain kind of

citizen to act certain ways to vote

certain ways to live certain ways. It is

religious in nature. All education is

religious. All of it

because it's all based upon your faith

presuppositions and how you interpret

the world. Education is religious. Art

art has what what you value comes out in

your art. Well, the Bible has a lot to

say about what we value. We're to value

eternal things and good things and holy

things. Art just because it's art isn't

neutral. Art can be wicked. Art can

glorify God. Music, the words of the

music, they teach things. They embody

values. They tell you what you should

pursue after. Dirt music says you need

to go chase the hose, right?

That's more their language. And some

some music points us to Christ, points

us to God. It's not neutral science.

There there wouldn't be a scientific

method without the reformation.

It didn't grow out of a pantheistic

worldview. The scientific method science

can't give an explanation for itself.

It's science itself. It methodology

isn't even testable by I mean something

has to assume by faith. Now why am I

going into all this? Because when how

did Jesus start to advance the kingdom?

Not by raising an army but telling

people to repent. to have a change of

heart and mind. Change your thinking.

When you read repent, it's change your

thinking and values. That's what repent

is telling you to do. I want you to

change your thinking about these things.

If if we study the kingdom of Rome and

Greece and we're interested in their war

and religion and politics or or or the

Aztec or the Maya, these are things

we're interested in. Well, God has a

kingdom and God's kingdom speaks to all

of these things. Christians need to

think biblically about every area of

life.

We're to have a change of heart and mind

about child education,

about music,

about what goes on in the bedroom, about

what goes on in the in the uh the White

House, about what goes on in the Senate,

in the Congress. We're to think like

Christians

because the kingdom of God is an inside

out kingdom, not an outside in kingdom.

Minds change and hearts change. People

come to fear the Lord more than they

fear a man. And wherever there's fear

is, they're to bring the law of God to

bear in that fear. We're to observe all

things he has commanded us.

teach them to observe all things. God's

word speaks to these things. God's

kingdom expands by changing heart and

mind.

Change the thinking. You know, if we

loved our neighbor as oursel and we love

God with our heart, soul, mind, and

strength, we wouldn't even need civil

government. Hardly.

You don't need many cops. And you say,

"Well, yeah, but that's awful extreme."

Well, yeah, but look, it's it's a sli

it's like a a sliding scale. It's a

spectrum, right? There was a time not

long ago where many people, some of you

still do, by the way. I I just had it

happen the other day, like I was with

somebody didn't didn't lock the door in

the car. It's like, it's okay. We're in

Franklin County

yesterday actually. We went for a walk

and and I was like, "Oh, did you lock

the door?" I don't know. Somebody said,

"Oh, it doesn't matter. We're in

Franklin County. It'll be fine." Right?

Which I don't know if that's true or

not. There's a lot of garbage goes on in

Franklin County. But there have been

times if you have a god-fearing

community, locks are less needed. I

remember when I was a child, I was very

impressed by that in a negative way.

When I come to St. Louis, because for

Laura lived in Jeff City, remember at

Christmas going to my grandmother's

house and knocking on the door and she

comes to the door and it takes like a

few minutes to unlock all the locks. She

has like there's a whole series of locks

on the door. Like one lock. I'm like,

why all these locks? because he lived in

fear, right? Stink little.

Well,

when the when the as as the nations

learn, love your neighbor as yourself,

serve one another, seek one another's

wealth.

When what what happens when when the

when when the love of Christ comes into

a heart, comes into a family, comes into

community, well, charitable hospitals

start getting built,

people start serving one another. We we

we you may happen on a steel. Yeah, but

it can happen as a local church, right?

It already is.

I The people I know in this church, the

people I'll say people come here

regularly, there's not one of there's

not one of you that if I had somebody

sitting out on the table that I'd worry

about you coming to my house and

stealing it. Now, that's not necessarily

you want a church that's evangelizing

and bringing new people of the faith and

people are different stages of

development in their walk with Christ. I

get that. But the point is on a small

scale, you can see in the church how the

gospel changes indiv and families and

communities. It's the leaven of the

gospel. It changes hearts and minds. It

changes the way we live. It changes the

way we train our children. It changes

the way we handle our finances. It

changes our entertainment. It changes

our our view of family disciplehip. It

changes education. The kingdom of Christ

changes everything because we're

commanded to take every thought captive

to the obedience of Christ. We do that

by learning what his word says about

every area of life. And God's word

speaks to every area of life. How the

kingdom spread. Verse 18.

He says, "While walking by the Sea of

Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who

is called Peter, and Andrew, his

brother, casting an 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 other

brothers, James, the son of Zebedee and

John his brother, in the boat with

Zebedee, their father, mending their

nets. And he called them. And

immediately they left the boat and their

father and followed him. All right. So,

here's four men with fathers and they're

doing a good thing. He's not asking them

to quit doing a bad thing. They have a

family business. They're trying to

better their life with what God has

given them. They're fishermen. Good,

honest trade. There's nothing wrong with

it. There's a lot of things. There's

nothing wrong with it in and of itself.

But when Christ beckons, we are tonged.

The kingdom spreads by disciplehip, by

making disciples. Jesus will pour

himself into these men for three years.

They will learn his teachings. They will

have them memorized.

They will have the sermon on the mount

memorized. These are preachers at

multiple times. They they will watch how

he lives. They will watch how he walks.

They will watch how he interacts with

others like a father walks with his son

doing that Deuteronomy 6 thing. Jesus

will walk with his disciples. And when

they are fully taught, they will be as

his master. They will be transformed by

learning how to live, how to think, how

to talk. They will be changed. And the

things that they learn, as Paul told

Timothy, the things that you have heard

of me in the presence of many witness

teach

that they can teach others also. This is

the pattern.

We learn God's word. We teach it to our

children. They grow up. They have

children. We evangelize. We teach people

to fight. We teach them, "Observe all

things that I have commanded you. Let

him stole steal no more.

You were sexually immoral in the past.

From here on out, you're to live pure

and shame.

Before you engaged in filthy talk and

filthy jokes. Now you're to speak with

purity." And as you learn, you model it.

It spreads like leaven spreads. The

kingdom spreads through disciplehip. The

book of Matthew ends with all authority

is given to me in heaven and in earth.

In consequence, therefore, go and make

disciples.

Baptize them in the father and of the

son and of the holy spirit. Teaching

them to observe all things I have

commanded you. And who's going to

perform this? The lord of I am with you

always to the end of the age.

Disciplehip.

We're all called to be disciples.

The disciple call goes beyond the 12.

Later on in Luke 12:25,

Luke 12:25

it's another passage that kind of

mirrors this. The great crowds part.

Now, great crowds accompanied him. And

he turned and said to them, "If anyone

comes to me and does not hate his father

or mother or wife and children and

brothers and sisters, yes, and even his

own life, he cannot be my disciple.

Whoever does not bear his own cross and

come after me cannot be my disciple."

Lots of people will follow at a

distance. But he says, "If you're going

to be my disciple, pick up your cross

and follow me." Later on, many of these

crowds would would not follow him. And

when he says you got to love mother and

father and wife and children hate hate

them is one of the language this is an

idiom it's saying that from I think of

two things one is your love for others

including yourself needs to be secondary

to your love for God before self before

family. God before country

God before all. Uh but second of all um

uh sometimes it feels like change to

people you know for the for the for the

the young for the not necessarily young

for the Christian man and woman over in

Iran right now who's just come to faith

in Christ there's multitudes of them has

been for years

that if if they go to their Muslim

father their Muslim brother their Muslim

uncle the Muslim mother there many of

many Christians have been beaten death

were tortured to death by their own

family members

and it's like why why do you hate us son

what have we done to you why would you

do this why would you become a Christian

there's a famous martyr a lady named

Perpeta who was of a upper class her her

father was a prominent man and uh and

she was thrown in prison for the for

naming the name of Christ and her father

comes to him to her yells at abuses her.

Like, what have I done? Have I not been

a good father? Why can't you just say

Why can't you just say that Caesar is

Lord and reject him? You can believe

whatever you want in your heart. Just

say the words. It's insane. Why won't

you just say it and then later you can

repent the Father? Can I How? What is

this? Is it What is this? It's a It's a

base. It's a bond. But can I call it

anything but what it is? Well, no, you

can't. It's what it is. I cannot call

myself anything but Christian.

And

and her friends would go to their death

in the arena refusing to deny Christ.

Now, why do they want to kill them in

the first place?

Because Caesar found Christians to be a

threat because Christians proclaimed

that there was a Lord who was over

Caesar. In fact, Romans 13, Caesar is

his deacon, his minister.

And that was a threat to the power of

Rome.

They recognized Rome cannot continue as

it is. And Christianity, it's one or the

other. They were right. It's the one,

not the other.

If you're going to be a disciple, we

have to be ready to suffer.

But what makes us oftenimes suffer is

when our life brings us the contrast,

brings us into conflict with the status

quo that is anti.

Now, just sitting in your church and

singing songs and saying, "Oh, well, we

don't have anything to do with the

world." doesn't isn't a threat to the

powers that be. When you start

proclaiming that Jesus Christ is Lord

over everything,

then it's a threat. It's a threat to the

idol makers, for the silver smiths. It's

a threat to the powers that be and it

and it and it invites persecution. All

right. Matthew 4:23. Back to the

Matthew 4:23

passage. And he went throughout all

Galilee teaching in their synagogue and

proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom

and healing every disease and every

affliction among the people. So, spread

throughout all Syria and they brought

him all the sick, those afflicted with

various diseases and pains, those

oppressed by demons, those having

seizures and paralytics and he healed

them.

The kingdom spread supernaturally. It's

not just left to our intelligence.

It's not remember the zeal of the Lord

of those shall perform this.

Jesus heals.

He delivers the oppressed of demons.

Demons are real.

For a long time, the the the atheists,

the agnostics have laughed at at at the

supernatural. Pagans aren't laughing.

All the world, the whole world knows

that demons are real. It's just in the

West, uh, the Enlightenment has

convinced a lot of people that there are

no demons. I remember some years ago,

there was a a Drudge Report article. I

think it was back in 2012, a judge

report article about a case in Gary,

Indiana

where uh this kid was there was there

was police I looked it up to confirm it.

You can you can look this up. You look

up Gary, Indiana, demonic possession,

wild stuff. This kid was seen by

doctors, by police officers, by social

workers. A kid was seen walking up the

wall backwards,

including psychologist. It was like

recorded. It was a big deal. was in

public news and and it's like, oh, that

can't happen. It has to be a lie. When

you got multiple witnesses saying they

thought, police officers, doctors,

nurses, psychologists,

that sounds farfetched to you, but can't

walk up the wall. It can't happen. Uh

there is a supernatural world. Demons

are real.

They're real. There's a reason why all

the nations believe in their gods. It's

because they're deceived by demonic

powers.

And when Christ his kingdom expands, he

deals with those demonic entities.

That's the way the kingdom is spread.

Matthew 12:26 going on a little later in

Matthew 12:26

the book, uh they they they say Jesus

casting out devils by the prince of

devils. In verse 26 says, "If Satan cast

out Satan, he is divided against

himself. How then will his kingdom

stand? And if I cast out demon by demons

by beelible, by whom do your sons cast

them out? Therefore, they will be your

judges. But if it is by the spirit of

God that I cast out demons, then the

kingdom of God has come upon you has

come past tense.

He's telling I'm casting out demons.

What you're witnessing is the

advancement of the kingdom of God. The

kingdom of God is advancing as Jesus is

delivering people from the oppression of

the of the enemy of the of the devil.

And so it still is. One of the practical

calls of the gospel is submit yourselves

to God. Resist the devil. and he will

flee from you. We don't need holy water.

We don't need crucifixes. We don't need

sage. We don't need a bunch of hocus

pocus. We need the authority of the Lord

Jesus Christ. In the name of the Lord

Jesus Christ, come out. Depart. Be gone.

But we begin with the gospel.

We begin with the gospel. Have you

submitted yourself to God? If you're out

here playing with Ouija boards and

playing with tarot cards, you've invited

them in. You need to repent and believe

the gospel. If you will submit yourself

to the shepherd, the wolves will flee.

You don't need a priest, not an earthly

one. You need the high priest, the Lord

Jesus, to come and deliver them. This

this is a reality after the resurrection

of Christ. I want you to look at Acts 19

Acts 19:8–12

verse 8-12. This is Paul here. I want

you to notice that Paul proclaims the

kingdom of God. This is after the

resurrection that part of the message of

some say, "Oh, well, yeah, Jesus

preached the kingdom of God, but not

Paul." No, here Paul is preaching the

kingdom of God. Verse eight, "And he

entered the synagogue and for three

months spoke boldly, reasoning and

persuading him about the kingdom of

God." There's a place for reason. It's a

place for logic. That has its place

about what? The kingdom of God. But when

some became stubborn and continued in

unbelief, speaking evil way before the

congregation, he withdrew from them and

took the disciples with them, reasoning

daily in the hall of tyrannic.

This continued for two years so that all

the residents of Asia heard the word of

the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. And God

was doing extraordinary miracles by the

hands of Paul. Even handkerchiefs or

aprons that had touched his skin were

carried away to the sick and his

diseases left them and the evil spirits

came out of them. So Paul was

proclaiming the kingdom and God was

working supernaturally and people were

being transformed. But the message he

was reasoning about was the kingdom of

God. Part of that message is your

personal salvation.

Are you ready to meet the Lord? And you

know what? Honestly, it's going to be

the one issue I'm going to go to if

someone's dying on their deathbed. If

I'm going to somebody's be bedside, I'm

probably not going to talk a lot about

how God's word is applicable to politics

and science. What am I going to What

must I do to be saved?

Repent of your sins and put your faith

in the Lord Jesus.

Put your faith in the Lord Jesus. Call

out to him.

That's a message of personal salvation.

It's a glorious message. In our last

hours, it'll be the most comforting of

messages. Absolutely.

But we have to preach the whole council

of God to the church. We have to teach

the church to observe all things he has

commanded us. It is a a message that

touches every area of life. And some

have reduced the gospel to merely a how

do I get to heaven? That's an important

message. Absolutely. But the gospel of

the kingdom is how do I live as a

citizen of King Jesus

because his word applies to all areas.

All areas.

Verse 25. And great crowds. Back to

Matthew 4:25. And great crowds followed

Matthew 4:25

him from Galilee and the decathlas and

from Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond

the Jordan. Great crowds followed.

Some of those great crowds would later

cry out crucify him. And many of them

would later come back having heard of

Jesus resurrection and would believe

because multitudes of his generation did

come to saving faith before they left

the world. If some of them would fall

away saying, "Well, I was expecting

Jesus to overthrow Rome." When he says,

"My kingdom is not of this world. My

kingdom is not from this world." And it

doesn't advance the way that Satan

offered in the kingdom through political

entry. It advances through the changing

of hearts and minds and the preaching of

the gospel. That's not to say that if

there's a civil magistrate, we shouldn't

teach him what God's word says about

justice.

And somebody say, "Well, Christians

shouldn't be involved in politics."

Okay, so Christians shouldn't get

involved in stopping the slave trade,

just to be clear. And Christians

shouldn't be concerned about human

trafficking. We should leave them alone.

And Christians shouldn't be shouldn't be

worried about their neighbors being

molested, we should leave that politics

stuff alone, right? And when when those

houses are devoured, we should keep our

mouth shut, right? And when babies are

torn apart in a mother's womb, we we

should keep silent because God doesn't

want Christians involved in anything

political. No. If you love your

neighbor, you want to deliver them from

oppression and theft and slaughter.

Christians should be concerned.

So there is a place for teaching the

magistrate from God's word what justice

is, what the what his limited scope of

authority is.

This concept of limited government and

his concept of servant leadership taught

in scripture. Taught in scripture.

limited government because the king

doesn't have authority over my family

and things that God directly told my

family to do. Nor does the king have

authority over the church. The church is

directly under the Lord Jesus Christ.

That is why the church is taxexempt.

That is why Congress dare not pass a law

including a tax law against it because

it's not under their jurisdiction.

There's a limit to the jurisdiction of

Congress. There's a limit to the

jurisdiction of the civil magistrate.

There's a limit to the jurisdiction of

the church. Pastors have no b no no

business telling you which car to buy or

not to to buy. Right? It's your family

business.

Lots of things that the church has no

business in. But but Christ word speaks

to all of these things.

All right. Great multitudes followed

him. Not all believed. I want to look at

one more scripture.

and then read my conclusion. Ephesians 5

5-12. This is something practical here

for us. Been talking about dawning in

light and light increasing etc.

Ephesians 5 it says for you may be sure

of this that everyone who is sexually

immoral or impure or is covetous that is

an idoltor has no inheritance in the

kingdom of Christ of God. There we're

talking about the kingdom again. Let no

one deceive you with empty words. For

because of these things, the wrath of

God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

Therefore, do not become partners with

them. For at one time you were darkness,

but now you are light in the Lord. Walk

as children of light. For the fruit of

light is found in all that is good and

right and true. And try to discern what

is pleasing to the Lord. take no part in

the unfruitful works of darkness, but

instead expose them for is shameful,

evil, even to speak of the things that

they do in secret. So, as children of

light, we're not to partner with

darkness.

We're to expose darkness.

And we're to basically through teaching

the nations, we're to expose the

darkness through the light of God's

word. Many times God's word is called

light.

The light of the law. The law. The law

of the Lord is a lamp into my feet,

light into my path.

The law brings light. God's word brings

life. And as Christians, you are all

called in your sphere. Whatever you are,

whatever your occupation is, if you're a

domestic engineer, aka mom, you're to

bring God's light to bear in the

teaching of your children and the

discipline of your children and the

running of your household and the

athletics of your household.

You're you're to do it to the glory of

Christ with contentment and joy.

If you're if you're working in IT, if

you're working in the trade, if you're

working in civic, whatever your area is,

working in law, working working as a

merchant, working in sales, you're to do

it to the glory of God. Whether you eat

or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to

the glory of God. And we learn what

God's word says. We apply it. We do it.

And we are light. You become a light in

a dark place to people who are yet to

see the light of the gospel. We're to

live it out as children of light. Christ

is the light of the world. As children

of light, we're to bring the light of

Christ to bear in our spirit, in our

neighborhoods, in the workplace, in the

and the in the place of commerce. You're

to bring the light of Christ to bear.

And through this gradually like leaven

works its way through the whole lump of

dough. The kingdom of God expands.

She said you are the light of the world.

You are the light of the world. A city

on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men

light a candle and put it under a

basket. They put it on a candlestick and

give light to all the house. Let your

light so shine before men that they may

see your good works and glorify your

father which is in heaven. This is how

the gospel expands and spreads.

It's not in a threatening way. Put a

sword to someone's throat and say,

"Repent, I'm going to burn you at the

stake." That's some panic.

It's by being right and pointing people

to the savior. And that's what God's

people do. All right. I preached on this

years ago and I wrote a poem as a

summary. And uh I want to read it for

you this morning. It's a summary of the

points of the poem and I'll conclude

with that. in a few minutes. The dawning

of the kingdom.

Without Adam's transgression began a

decline. The world became wicked and

violent with crying. Adultery, rape,

murder, lying, and theft, oppressing the

poor, so nothing was left. They

sacrificed to idols, their sons and

their daughters. They did not honor

their mothers and fathers. Having

forgotten the promise to Adam and Eve,

they followed those gods and did as they

choose. Then came the day ministry had

begun in the land of Napali and Zebulun.

Those that sat in darkness saw a great

light bringing a new day while

dispelling the night. If they would turn

from their sin and do right, they must

turn from their sin to the son who gives

light. This Jesus proclaiming throughout

all the land, repent for the kingdom of

God is at hand. By at hand, he imag the

kingdom is near. Not far in the future,

but already here. A new kingdom was

dawning. Time to quit yawning. There's

work to be done in the light of his son.

The call to repent is more than quitting

sin. It's really a call to come and

follow him, to be a disciple and learn

his way, to walk by faith, trust, and

obey. In Matthew 4:17, Jesus commands to

Matthew 4:17

repent and get ready for the kingdom of

heaven. Soon, he will tell them how to

repent in Matthew 5:6 and 7. Next, we

Matthew 5:6

see Peter and Andrew and James and John

working hard, catching fish for

something to live on, still building a

family business. They were yearning for

more when suddenly the master spoke from

the shore. Come and follow me, came the

beckoning call. They immediately their

neck boats and all. Repent, believe,

forsake and follow. For some, this car

call is hard to swallow. Like the rich

young ruler who possessed so much, or

the Pharisees who were too holy to

touch, or the Sadducees with political

power, or multitudes who waited for a

convenient hour. Excuses, excuses. What

can excuse us? If we gain, the whole

world will finally lose us. Our souls

are more precious than silver or gold.

When Jesus calls, don't ask questions as

he is told. Next, Jesus continued in

Galilee, teaching multitudes by land and

sea, casting out devils and healing

diseases. The demons were learning Jesus

does as he pleases because he's the king

and this is his dominion. What Satan is

selling isn't his or his minion. He's an

impostor without title or deed. This

isn't his will. He cannot succeed. The

son has now crushed the serpent's head.

Having died for our sins and rose from

the dead. He ascended to heaven and at

the right hand of power. He waits for

the father to tell him the hour to come

for the church and end his m this mass

that began the day when Adam

transgressed. Multitudes followed him as

in our generation.

But how many fell into spiritual

stagnation? The sunlight should grow

brighter the longer we live because

truth isn't exhaustable. He has more

light to give. So if you would live well

a li life well worth living, there is

only one lifetime you have for the

giving. So pick up your sword and join

in the fighting the darkness as soldiers

of the light.

Let's pray.

Lord God, we do thank you, Father, for

the joyful, optimistic, glorious

message, not just the forgiveness of

sins,

but for the fact that Christ, you are a

king. You rule. You are the most

benevolent of kings. You love your

people so much that you were willing to

go to the cross to die for our sins. We

thank you, Lord, for this forgiveness.

It's our pleasure. It's our honor to get

to work with you. for you to glorify you

by good works that we were created to

walk in. Lord, I pray that you would

change our hearts and minds, that you

would renew our thinking, that you would

teach us each how to honor you and the

sphere of authority that you have given

to us. You are worthy, Lord, of lives

laid down for your glory and for your

honor. Teach us to seek you early, to

love you with all of our hearts, to

cherish your pleasure, and to honor you.