Matthew | The Authority of The King

Well, good morning. It's good to see you today.

If you have your Bible, you can open some Matthew chapter 4 in

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

the last few verses of chapter 4 today.

Then we'll get into the sermon on the mounts beginning next

week. So Matthew chapter 4 will be in

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

23 through 25. We are standing, I guess, at

what you might call a or an important turning point in this

gospel. All right, Jesus has in recent

weeks, we've seen Jesus baptized.

We've seen Jesus in the wilderness overcoming Satan.

We saw last week from Brother Dustin Meadows that Jesus began

calling his disciples. And So what we've been observing

is that the king has arrived. And now Matthew offers what what

we might call a summary of what his ministry looks like.

Now it's not to say there isn't real things happening that we're

going to look at today, but it's kind of a summary that's going

to show us really the what the rest of the gospel is showing

us. So these 3 verses are might be

kind of like a wide angle lens or a 30,000 foot view, if you

will, before we get into really specific teaching in the Sermon

on the Mount in chapter 5, before we see specific miracles

in chapters 8 and 9 and, and, and beyond.

Matthew is going to offer the sweeping picture of the

authority of Jesus, you might say the authority of the king.

And so we're about to see what kind of king he is.

All right, We, we've heard for a while now as we walk through

this and he's the king and he's the king has arrived.

The king is being prepared for his ministry.

What we're seeing, though, I hope so far, and I just want to

reiterate to you now, is that this is not a distant king,

right? This is the king who has come

near. This is not a weak king.

Rather he is mighty in power. This is not a harsh king, right?

He extends mercy and compassion and kindness.

We'll see a lot of that this morning.

This is a king who teaches with truth.

This is a king who proclaims good news.

This is a king who heals the broken, confronts darkness,

draws people to himself, right? This is the all powerful king of

heaven. This is the Son of God, Jesus

Christ. And so this passage shows us

both the power and the compassion of Christ.

So it shows the power and the compassion of Christ, and it

prepares us to listen carefully to everything we see or

everything that he's going to say next in the Sermon on the

Mount. So as we read, I don't want you

to just hear about activity that's going on.

All right, it's easy. This, this is one of those

paragraphs in the Scriptures that you might just quickly read

over in your Bible reading. All right, I don't want you to

just hear about activity. I want you today to see the

authority of the king. I want you to see the heart of

the king on display. And we should ask ourselves as

we go through this, what kind of response does this king deserve?

Right. What kind of response does this

king deserve? So if you're able to stand,

would you please stand as we read Matthew 423 through 25?

And he went all 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 Decapolis

and from Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan.

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we humbly

approach your word this morning. My God, we acknowledge that you

have spoken, that the words that we read are the inspired Word of

God, written through your servant Matthew.

And Father, we ask that You would help us through this, that

You would help us by Your spirits to submit ourselves to

Your Word. Father, that You would open our

hearts, and that You would make them fertile soil for Your word

to be planted within, that it might bear fruit in the coming

days and years and decades and seasons.

Lord, that Your goodness might be seen for generations.

Because You have called Your people to yourself and they have

committed themselves to You, submitted themselves to Your

rule of their life. And so they know Your Word, that

they know Your presence, they know your help in time of need,

they know your grace and your mercy, they know your wisdom and

knowledge. And Father, they're equipped and

all these things and more for every good work.

Oh, Lord, would you help us to be faithful men and women today,

faithful boys and girls, as we hear your word, help us to

believe it. First of all, help us to stake

our lives on it, to be committed to it, to be transformed by it.

Help us to believe in in such a way that we walk in it.

Our God that we are we, we are like the one at the end of the

Sermon on the Mount who builds his house on the rock, builds

his house on your word. So the when the wind and the

rains come, when the storms beat against our house, they remain

solid. Father, would you build within

us lives that are solid, lives that are faithful?

Father, we trust you for this work, through this message,

through your Word today. It's in the name of Christ, I

pray. Amen.

Amen. You may be seated.

I think that it's true that if we're not careful, we'll read

these verses like a summary paragraph.

And like I said a moment ago, we'll move on too quickly.

We have to understand that Matthew's not writing filler

words here, all right? None of none of none of this.

There's nothing in here that's meant to be filler words, all

right? This is the inspired word of

God. God has spoken.

And so we know that there's nothing in here that's filler

there. Everything in here is meant to

impact our lives in one way or another, all right?

It's it's meant to transform us. And so we must pay attention to

God's word when we come to it, even even if it's something

difficult like a genealogy, all right, even if it's something

like this that feels like, well, that's really cool, but let's

move on to the Sermon on the Mount.

That's where things get interesting.

But we want to understand that this is revelation from God on

high, all right? This is him speaking through

Matthew to us, through those in the in the 1st century.

And in just three verses, we are shown something pretty

significant. We're shown who Jesus really is.

Now you and I live in a world that's full of weak authority,

All right. It, it will propagate itself as

strong authority, it'll posture as strong authority.

But we live in a world that's full of weak authority.

We live in a world with authority that disappoints us.

We live in a world with authority that abuses we we live

in a world with authority that collapses under pressure, right?

We live in a world that has political authority that fails

often there's cultural authority that just shifts with every wind

that comes. Personal authority we find is

actually very fragile, All right?

It's it's fragile because it's led by fragile hearts, fragile

desires. And so if we're honest, many

people today are suspicious of authority altogether.

We rebel against authority. But Matthew 4 shows us something

radically different about this particular authority, the

authority of Christ. Here we see authority with

power. Here we see authority that

carries compassion with it. Here we see authority that

restores instead of crushes. Here we see authority that

belongs to the King of heaven and earth.

And every one of us must decide what to do with Christ right

there. Every one of us has to decide

what are we going to do with the man who walks with such

authority? How are we going to respond to

him? Are we going to trust him?

Are we going to doubt him? Are we going to believe in him?

We're going to disbelieve. Are we going to think that some

things are worth taking but other things we could throw out?

Because, you know, a lot of time has passed and surely there's a

better way to do things now. But you have to understand Jesus

is not presented here as an option.

Jesus has presented to us in this passage as the reigning

king. His authority touches sickness

and heals it. It meets suffering and delivers.

It casts Satan out. It rescues souls, right?

So we, we need this passage today.

We need it because we need to know whether Jesus truly has

authority over what is broken in our own lives.

We we need it because we need to see whether his Kingdom is worth

our full allegiance. We need it because we need to

examine our own hearts, our own lives, and to see whether we are

just simply a member of a crowd or we're a true follower of

Christ. So the main point of the passage

this morning, I think, is this. We we must see the King's

authority, trust his power, and follow him wholeheartedly.

We must see the King's authority, trust his power, and

follow him wholeheartedly. If you have a worship guide, you

can fill in the blanks as we go. Those will be there.

And so Matthew's going to show us 3 realities about this king.

One, we're going to see that the king proclaims his Kingdom,

right? His, his sorry, his authority is

declared in truth. Second, we're going to see that

the king displays his authority through compassion on the

masses, right? His power restores what sin has

broken. There's a new Kingdom reigning.

And then finally, we'll see that the king draws a following.

He does, in fact, draw a following.

His authority demands a response.

Now, these verses prepare us for everything that follows in

Matthew's Gospel. Before Jesus ever commands us to

live differently, which we're going to see a lot of over the

next few chapters, Matthew shows us here why he has authority to

command us at all and why he can be trusted.

So we're going to look closely at this king because how you see

his authority today will determine how you respond to his

rule tomorrow. So the first thing that Matthew

reveals about his authority is the king proclaims the Kingdom,

the king proclaims the Kingdom, verse 23, part A.

And he went throughout all Galilee, Matthew writes,

teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the

Kingdom. Now, these words are not some

throwaway detail, right? They're, they're a window into

the authority of Jesus and into the nature of his Kingdom.

And there's so there's a few things here that I want you to

note. 1 I want you to note the King's movement.

It says that he went all throughout Galilee.

Jesus is not stationary. Now we're going to see in the

next passage that he does sit down and begin to teach.

But what we're seeing here is that he's not stationary.

He's he's not waiting on the crowds to find him.

And so Matthew emphasizes the scope of the king here.

He's going all throughout Galilee.

The king is advancing. You might say he's on the

offensive right now. This matters because it tells us

something about God. It tells us something about the

heart of God. Our God is a seeking God, right?

Jesus will tell us elsewhere that he has come to seek and to

save the lost. Now from the Garden of Eden,

right? Post creation, Adam and Eve are

existing in the garden. They fall into the temptation of

the serpent. They sin.

Everything is broken, everything's in decay.

There's destruction, there's death, right?

Ultimately, namely, I should say, there's this, there's this

severing of a beautiful relationship with the Father in

which they recognize now that they are naked and they are

sorry, they are ashamed. They recognize that they've

sinned against God and they're ashamed of this.

And so they hide themselves from God.

They sow fig leaves over themselves.

They hide. And what does God do in Genesis

3? He comes and he seeks them out.

And so from Eden forward all the way throughout your Old

Testament now into the New Testament, sinners do not

naturally move toward God, right?

We don't naturally move towards God.

We naturally move away from God. If you're unsure of that, just

right in the margin of your notes, Romans 3, read Romans 3.

You can see who we are naturally.

What we find there is that we are incapable.

What we find in Romans 1 is that we actually suppress the truth.

We don't acknowledge it, we don't entertain it, we don't

worship it. We suppress the truth.

We exchange Creator worship for creation worship.

We hide, we excuse, we shift blame.

But here, here in Matthew 4, the king moves outward into dark

places to bring light. This is what we saw a couple of

weeks ago. And so right away Matthew

confronts our doctrine of ourselves, our doctrine of man,

but he's confronting this thing in us.

If we are left to ourselves, we will not come to Christ.

We, we will not seek the Lord. We, we, we do not pursue God.

We do not even stumble into the Kingdom by some reason of effort

or goodwill in US. No, Christ must come to us.

And what we see here is that He does.

God so loved the world that he sent his Son.

He does come. And so some of us assume at

times that if I ever really need God, I'll reach for him, right?

But this text says the opposite. This text tells us that your

only hope is that Christ first reaches for you.

The apostle John and his gospel sorry and his first letter will

say that we love because he first loved us, right?

Our love for him exists because God has first shown love to us,

and he does so through the ordinary means of his Word, His

Word being proclaimed, His Word being taught, His Word being

pressed into the conscience, the call of the Spirit that comes

with that. The second thing I want you to

notice is the King's method. What was he up to?

He's going all throughout Galilee, but what is he doing?

He's teaching and proclaiming. Matthew says uses 2 terms here

on purpose. The first, teaching.

Many of you know teaching right, carries the idea of instruction.

But we should go a little further than that.

What are we doing when we're instructing?

What are we doing when we're teaching?

Well, we ought to be explaining. We ought to be forming someone.

We ought to be shaping the mind and the heart.

And so when we think about Jesus teaching, we ought to think

about how he's explaining the Gospel.

He's sharing the good news. He's teaching, right?

He's forming people's hearts and minds.

He's shaping them. This is discipleship language.

But the next word he uses is proclaiming.

Now that's Herald language, right?

Teaching his discipleship language, proclaiming his herald

language. When we think of a herald, we're

thinking of announce an announcement from the King,

right? This is not a suggestion.

This is not a discussion. The King speaks.

This is a proclamation. It's a declaration that demands

a response, or we can't hear the King speak and not respond.

Now that distinction, I think, is helpful to us because

Christianity is not only information, but it is also an

invitation. It's both, right?

Christ teaches the truth and He heralds the good news.

He instructs the church and he confronts the world.

I notice where he does it. It's all throughout Galilee,

yes, but where specifically in the synagogues?

That matters too, right? The synagogue was where

Scripture was read and where it was explained.

And so Jesus steps into the public worship life of the

people, and he brings his authority to bear through the

Word. I think this is one reason, kind

of side note here, that we must always emphasize the centrality

of preaching, right? Not because the preacher is

impressive. Lord knows I am not impressive.

We emphasize it because God has appointed the heralding of his

Word as the primary means by which Christ rules and gathers

his people. We say that in Romans 10.

We see it in Second Timothy 4. We also have this helpful

reminder from Spurgeon in which he says the gospel is not an

essay, it is a proclamation. So if Christ is king, then his

word is not optional and you're weak is it?

Shouldn't be. Many of us make it an option.

Many of us think, well, things are good right now, so I'll just

go on about my life. When things get real bad, well,

then I'll reach for help. I'll look for counselors, I'll

look for his word. I'll pray more, all right, but

but if Christ is King, then His word is not optional.

Wait. We should not be looking for

ways to fit God's Word into our week.

We should order our life around God's Word.

It becomes the very fiber of our being.

You might think about this as a husband and a father, right?

Part of your calling is to see that your home is placed under

the sound of the Word, right? Through Lord's Day, worship,

through family worship, through Scripture, just in rhythms of

life. All right?

In doing so, we're obeying Deuteronomy 6, We're obeying

Ephesians 6, our wives and our mother and the mothers around

us, they, they come along and they support us in this.

And you might think also is just general believers, right?

We should not treat God's word as merely religious content,

right? That this, this is just

religious content. No, we, we should receive it as

though a king has addressed us as one of his subjects.

He comforts us, he warns us, He commands us, He promises, he

instructs, teaches, he rebukes, He trains us for all godliness

through his word. We should notice also hear the

King's message, the gospel of the Kingdom.

Matthew says. So Matthew does not merely say

he's wandering throughout all of Galilee, he's teaching and

proclaiming in the synagogue's good advice, three steps to a

better life under Rome's rule. Five steps to a happy marriage,

10 steps to freedom. No, it's not merely spiritual

principles. It's not a how to live your best

life type message. Matthew says he proclaims the

gospel of the Kingdom. That means at least three

things. One, the Kingdom is God's reign

breaking into enemy territory. Jesus is announcing that God's

promise rule has arrived in him, and we see that more explicitly

in Mark One. This is why Matthew will

immediately move into the Sermon on the Mount Right.

Kingdom ethics flow from Kingdom authority.

Secondly, it shows us that the Kingdom is good news because it

addresses our deepest problem. What's our deepest problem?

You can answer. Sin, sickness and suffering are

real. We see that here.

We also see it in our lives. We see it in our church.

But sickness and suffering are not ultimate, are they?

That the ultimate disaster that we face is rebellion against a

perfectly holy God, Ongoing rebellion, right?

And so the gospel of the Kingdom is the announcement that God

reconciles sinners to himself through the King by repentance

and faith. Another thing this means for us

is that the Kingdom creates a crisis for us.

The crisis is that you cannot remain neutral it if a herald

walked into our town and announced a new king has taken

the throne, no one should say, well, that's interesting.

You, you would immediately know something must change,

allegiance, law, loyalty, right? There's going to be a change

now. That's the point of

proclamation. Christ is not merely offering

help to us. He's announcing a new rule.

And as Thomas Watson put it, till sin be bitter, Christ will

not be sweet. Till sin be bitter, Christ will

not be sweet. So the Kingdom gospel humbles us

before it can heal us. We must be humbled by the

gospel. We must be humbled in

understanding that we have broken the law of God, that we

are rebellious sinners, and that the gospel of Christ, the gospel

of a Kingdom coming is the remedy to that, that the gospel

names are true disease. You see, Christ, the second

member of the Trinity, puts on flesh, dwells on the earth,

lives a perfect life because you and I cannot live a perfect life

perfectly atones for sin because you and I could never atone for

our own sins. He's the spotless lamb.

He's the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

He's the ultimate sacrifice. He's the propitiation for our

sins. He's the mediator between US and

the Father. We do have a true disease.

It's sin, and sin keeps us from God.

And Christ is the one who brings redemption through his own body

and blood. Here's the issue.

You can admire Jesus and still refuse his reign.

You you can look at him from a distance and say, that's really

lovely. But man, he said a lot of really

great things. Or he showed a lot of compassion

and mercy. You can say all sorts of nice

things about Christ and never acknowledge his reign over your

life. You you can attend church your

whole life and still resist the King, but but the gospel of the

Kingdom calls you to repent it. It calls you to lay down self

rule and to bow to Christ. I want you to understand

something and then we see it clearly here.

And so I don't want to, I don't want to be misinterpreted as

trying to add something to this, right?

We see here that the King teaches and proclaims, and that

in teaching and proclaiming, he's not trying to crush you.

He's after your redemption. He wants to establish you in

himself. So when your conscience is

troubled, you've fallen into temptation and sinned yet again,

your conscience is troubled, you need to go back to what Christ

proclaims, good news for sinners.

It's not your performance, it's His promise.

Romans 81 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who

are in Christ Jesus. And so Matthew begins the text

where true Kingdom life always begins, under the King's word,

under his authority of speech, teaching, and proclamation.

But Jesus does not only announce the Kingdom, does he?

He demonstrates the Kingdom. And that leads us to the second

mark of his authority. The king displays his authority

through compassion. Look at the latter part of verse

23 and 24, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the

gospel of the Kingdom, and healing every disease and every

affliction among the people. So as 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.

You see, Matthew wants you to understand that Jesus authority

is not theoretical. Jesus authority is not merely

rhetorical. It's active, it's visible, it's

merciful. The Kingdom is not just

announced. He is demonstrating the Kingdom.

It's a demonstration of power and authority.

I want you to notice the scope of his power.

He heals every disease and every affliction.

Now that little bitty word every is doing some heavy lifting,

isn't it? Every disease, every affliction?

Matthew is painting a portrait of comprehensive authority.

It's not some. It's not some disease, it's not

some affliction. It's not most disease, most

affliction. It's not the easy cases of

disease and the easy cases of affliction.

No, it's every disease, every affliction.

And what we see is that Jesus meets the full range of human

misery with full sufficiency. He is able, He is capable.

He is all powerful. This is not Matthew claiming

that Jesus healed every sick person in the world during his

earthly ministry. I want you to understand that.

However, it is Matthew showing us that no category of sickness,

no category of weakness or suffering is beyond the King's

reach. And so we should look at this

with great confidence and see that His authority has no rival.

There's no one as powerful as the King, there's no one as

mighty as Christ, there's no one as capable as our Lord.

There's no one with more authority than this King.

Amen. But notice the setting also.

He does this among the people, every disease, every affliction

among the people. I think this is pretty cool

because Jesus hasn't shown up at some amphitheater, walked onto

the stage and said, you know, send me all of your afflicted

and diseased and watch this. He's not doing this as a stage

performance for elite audiences. If you buy tickets, you can see

this guy speak and he's going to do some healing miracles for us

tonight. No, he's moving among ordinary

people. These are common burdens, common

pain, common brokenness among the people.

The King's power is married, married brothers and sisters to

his compassion. He's going to the people.

Now this is a foretaste of Isaiah's promised servant king,

right? God himself coming to bind up

what sin has broken. And Matthew will later

explicitly connect Jesus's healing ministry to Isaiah 53,

for he'll do that in Matthew 8. So we'll see that a long time

from now, but we'll get there. But what are we supposed to

think about this? Like, why?

Why should we think through this?

Well, because some of you and me are all of us, right, are living

with chronic weaknesses. What do you mean by chronic

weaknesses? I mean physical weaknesses,

spiritual weaknesses, emotional weaknesses, relational

weaknesses, chronic inability to do all that God's called us to

do because we're bound to this flesh and its evil desires.

It's war against God. And so this text says, do not

measure Christ's authority by your ability.

All right? Do not measure Christ authority

by your ability. His authority extends far and

above whatever you can name and whatever you cannot name.

Another thing this text shows us is the depth of His authority.

Bodies and souls, nature and the demonic, you might say, the

natural and the supernatural. There Matthew gives this catalog

in verse 24. Various diseases and pains,

those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, paralytics.

You see, Matthew's not only describing physical elements,

he's showing this, that Christ's authority reaches into realms

that no human authority could ever master.

All right, we see, we see the authority here over physical

suffering, diseases, pain, paralysis.

These are reminders that we live what you might say, east of

Eden, right? We, we live east of Eden.

Sickness is one of sins, grapefruits in a fallen world.

Sometimes that's traceable to a specific sin.

You might think something like STD's, but not every time is it

traceable to a specific sin. However, it's always connected

to the larger reality that death and decay entered the world

through the fall of Adam. You see that in Romans 5, four

or 512. Sorry.

So when Jesus heals I I want you to understand He's not merely

giving relief when he's announcing the gospel of the

Kingdom. And he follows that up with

miracles. It's a sign, brothers and

sisters. It's a sign that the Kingdom has

come to wage war against the curse.

The one who created all things out of nothing, simply by

speaking, has the ultimate power over all things.

By his word, he can command the diseases and they will leave.

He can command the demons and they will leave.

He can command the paralytic and he will get up and walk.

He can command the blind man and he will see.

See what I'm saying? These are signs.

But the Kingdom of Christ, the Kingdom of God, has come to wage

war against the curse. It won't be this way forever.

He has authority over spiritual oppression.

Matthew includes demon oppression because he wants you

to see that the king has authority not only over biology

or nature, but also over spiritual darkness.

He's all powerful, right? This is Genesis 315 yet again

being advanced in real time. What do I mean by that?

I mean that the serpent's work is being confronted by the

promised seed. Christ is going to crush Satan

because he has all authority to do so.

That matters for us because we are often tempted to flatten

reality. Sometimes we will ignore the

spiritual realm altogether. Everything's just physical.

Other times we blame everything on the spiritual realm.

But Matthew avoids both of those errors here, and he

distinguishes conditions, but he shows us that Christ rules over

every one of them. So when you see evil in darkness

in the world, or where you feel the weight of temptation in your

own heart, remember this. The king is not negotiating with

darkness. He is conquering darkness.

He's conquering it, right? You see in Ephesians 6, as

you're equipped with the armor of God that you can put to

death, you can put to death spiritual darkness by walking

with the king. You see in Romans 8, after six

and seven, which are all about sanctification and your ability

now to walk by the Spirit of God instead of by the flesh, to

present your members to God for righteousness instead of

continuing to present your members to God for

unrighteousness. And yes, there's this war within

us in Romans 7, right? All those things I want to do, I

cannot do. The things that I don't want to

do I continue to do. Lord, who will save me from this

body of death? Thanks be to God for our Lord

Jesus Christ. There is therefore now no

condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

And then you get to verse 13 of chapter 8 and we see that we are

able to mortify the deeds of the flesh by the Spirit of God which

has made us alive in Christ Jesus.

You see, you've been equipped and are being equipped presently

for every good work. Sin does not reign in your

mortal flesh anymore. Christ does if you are in Him.

And so the darkness is being conquered by the Spirit of God

dwelling in you. Another thing we see in this

passage is the King's compassion.

They brought them to him and he healed them.

It's pretty stunning and it's simplicity.

They brought him all the sick and he healed them.

Now Matthew emphasizes the bringing.

People come carrying pain. People come with their

weaknesses, fear, confusion, desperation, their sicknesses,

their oppressions, all these things.

And what does Jesus do? He doesn't stiff arm them and

say not right now. Now his arms are open to them

and he says come and he heals them.

This is a picture of what sinners do in faith.

It's a picture of what Saints ought to be doing in repentance

and faith as well. We, we come to Christ not with a

resume. Lord, look at all these things

that I am doing well. Would you hire me for service?

Or how about justifications? Lord, look at all these things

that I'm doing well. Can you believe the way she

continues to act or the way he continues to act in my life?

Why can't they notice how great I am right now?

No, we, we don't come to Christ with a resume.

We don't come to Christ saying look how holy I've been.

We don't come to Christ beating our own chest, proclaiming our

own accolades. Now we, we come to Christ with a

need. Lord, help me a Sinner.

Lord, I'm trying to follow you and I'm seeking to make good,

wise decisions, but I continue to fail at this.

I'm tempted to sin, and I sin over and again.

I lose control of my tongue. I lose control of my anger.

I lose control of my flesh and act in ways that are unholy and

unbecoming. They're unworthy of the gospel

that I say I've received. Father, forgive me and empower

me by your Spirit. Fill me with your Spirit to walk

by the Spirit today. Do you see the difference?

Brothers and sisters, we ought never, never to go to the Lord

in prayer and say, look how awesome I've been and yet the

world around me has fallen apart.

We come with humility. We come pleading for the help of

Christ and his Spirit. We come begging for another

morsel of bread today. We come asking your Kingdom

come. Your will be done on earth in my

life as it is in heaven this day.

Let me glorify you. Let me honor you and my home.

Let me glorify you. Let me honor you in my

workplace. Let me glorify you.

Let me honor you in the public square, in our church.

We ought to know nothing of pride within us.

So we come with a need. We don't come with our own

strength. We come with our sickness.

We don't come with bargaining chips.

Lord, I'll, I'll give you these if, if, if you in turn will

respond to this. No, we come with empty hands and

we say, Father, fill us again. This teaches us something about

ourselves, brothers and sisters. It teaches us that we are needy

and, and however dependent you think you are on God, you're far

more dependent than that. You are desperately, utterly

dependent on the Father for all of life.

We're needy. We also understand, if we're at

all, just in a moment, honest with ourselves, we understand

how fragile we are not, not just in lifespan that's fragile, but

in commitment and faithfulness. How fragile are you?

We're fragile before the Lord, We're often unfaithful, not

often faithful, we're often undisciplined, not often

disciplined. We're often unself controlled,

not often self controlled, Right.

We also see here that we're unable to heal ourselves

physically or spiritually. They were brought, all the sick,

all the oppressed, all the broken.

They were brought to Christ and He healed them.

If they were capable of healing themselves, they wouldn't have

shown up. We must be brought to Christ.

We must carry ourselves daily to the Lord.

And again, I just want to emphasize here the heart of

Christ because the text opens up the heart of Christ for us.

He, we, we see here that Christ is not repulsed by a needy

people. You can be a needy bunch,

brothers and sisters before the Lord and he welcomes you.

He encourages you to come. Never more explicitly.

I don't think then, well maybe 2 spots.

Matthew 11 Come to me, all of you who are heavy, labored and

burdened, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, for my my yoke is light and easy to bear.

And then in Hebrews 4, we have a sympathetic high priest, one who

is torn the veil of the temple, and one who is ascended the

throne himself. He's a high priest who didn't

use something else to make sacrifices.

He became the sacrifice himself. And he's a sympathetic high

priest because he was tempted and tried in every way that you

and I are, yet without sin. Sometimes we think Christ can't

fully know me because he never sinned.

How can he know the pain that I feel in my sin?

I used to think this way. I used to think, how could he be

sympathetic with me when he has not been in my place?

That was foolish of me. It was ignorant.

Christ had laid on him the depravity of the wicked and

experienced the wrath of God in a way that I'll never have to

experience it. How could I sympathize with Him?

Christ endured temptation all the way down to its depths and

did not sin. I often can't withstand it for

10 minutes without sinning. He's sympathetic, and he tells

us to come boldly before his throne in our time of need.

A throne of grace. It says that we'll find mercy

and grace to help you see He welcomes us.

He's not repulsed by your need. He says come to me, all of you

who are needy, that will give you rest.

We also see here he's not inconvenienced by the weaknesses

that are around him. He takes the time with each one.

Even limited by physical flesh, he takes the time with each one.

We also see he's not stingy with mercy.

He didn't cut the line off at some point.

So that's, that's all I've got today.

I'm out of mercy or I'm out of breath.

I'm tired. No, he wasn't stingy with mercy.

He extended mercy to all who came.

I want you to know that that's the character of God.

He extends mercy to all who humble themselves before him and

seek His face. You understand that the Lord

says, if you seek me, you will find Me.

If you knock, the door will be opened.

If you ask, you will receive. He's not stingy with His mercy.

Christ never turns away the one who comes to Him for mercy.

In John chapter 6 verse 37, Jesus says whoever comes to me,

John 6:37

I will never cast him out. Now let's be honest with

ourselves for a moment. Some of us live like Jesus is

powerful but not approachable. I've sinned yet again.

I can't go to Him. I've got to get myself cleaned

up. I have to get this figured out.

I have to stop sinning. Then I can go to Christ.

Oh, brothers and sisters, He's approachable.

Some of us think that his authority makes him distant.

He's perfectly holy. He's just, He's righteous, he's

loving, He's all good. He's never wrong.

He's never evil. And because we're marked by all

the opposite of those things, we think he's unapproachable.

He's distant from us. No, he's near.

He's near. That's what Matthew's saying.

Matthew is letting us know the opposite of him.

He's letting us know that his authority actually makes him

able. It actually makes him available.

His compassion makes him willing to help in our time of need.

Others of you in here may be waiting till you get your life

together before you come to Christ.

Let me just get some things sorted out.

But the text says they brought all the sick, that that's who

Christ receives. He if if you wait until your

well, you'll never come. So I urge you, come sick, come

needy. Come now.

We also see here the purpose of his healings, the signs of the

Kingdom. They're not substitutes for the

Gospel. Matthew calls these works part

of the King's ministry. But we must read them as Matthew

intends. These miracles are signs.

They're not mere displays of raw power.

They are Kingdom credentials. This is who I am.

Let me show you this they they confirm that his proclamation is

true, that they are, they are mercy in the moment, but they

point to a deeper mercy available, which is forgiveness

and new life. We see this later when Jesus

heals A paralytic and explicitly ties it to his authority to

forgive sins in Matthew Chapter 9, that the deeper healing that

Matthew 9 · chapter mention

we're all in need of is reconciliation with God.

So yes, God still heals we. We should pray for healing.

We should ask boldly for God to heal the sick.

But we must not confuse temporally relief with eternal

rescue, Right? Even the people who were healed

here in Matthew 4 at some point passed away.

How do we know? Well, they're not living with us

today. The greater miracle is being

raised from spiritual death through the gospel.

Now, this protects us from 2 errors. 1.

It protects us from despair. We might think, we're tempted to

think that if God doesn't heal me now, he must not love me.

No, Brothers and sisters, there's an ultimate healing that

awaits you on the other side of death.

It also to protects us from presumption where we think if I

have enough faith, I can force God's healing hand.

No, brothers and sisters, maybe God means for you to learn

something different about him through your illness, through

your suffering, through your pain.

So the Kingdom is the the Kingdom promises not you will

never suffer. If you've lived more more than

two minutes on earth, you know that they're suffering and pain.

The the Kingdom promises this. The king has authority over

suffering and one day he will end it for his people.

Revelation 21 makes this abundantly clear.

This shows us where this road goes.

You recognize you're a sojourner on your way to a heavenly

homeland, right? This place is not your home.

It's a temporary home place, but it's not your eternal resting

spot. You will enter into eternal rest

one day. Eternal reward, eternal presence

with the King. In Revelation 21, Jesus gives

John a picture of this and I heard a loud voice from the

throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with

man. He will dwell with them, and

they will be his people, and God himself will be with them, as

their God just can never get through it.

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall

be no more. Neither shall there be mourning,

nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have

passed away. Amen.

So the king proclaims the Kingdom, yes, and he does it

with authority. And the king demonstrates the

Kingdom with compassionate power.

And when that kind of authority is seen, when it's put on

display, when truth is preached and mercy is displayed, the

people cannot remain indifferent any longer.

And so we see finally that the king draws a following, verse

25, And great crowds followed him from Galilee and that the

capitalists and from Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the

Jordan. Matthew's not just reporting

attendance numbers, all right? He's not being a good usher.

So here's who we had No, he, he's showing us the effect of

the King's authority. When Jesus teaches with

authority, when he heals with compassionate power, people are

moved. All right, The question is, what

kind of following is this? Who are these people?

And so first we see the magnitude, right?

Great crowds followed him. Matthew wants you to feel the

weight of it like great crowds, right?

That's not a trickle. It's not some small group of

eclectic people off to the side. It's a swelling mass of people.

It's a great crowd. Now this is a theme in Matthew.

Crowds gather around Jesus repeatedly.

You'll see it in Matthew 581213, right?

So on the King's presence creates unavoidable attention.

People notice, and so neutrality becomes more difficult.

It's harder, right? Christ's Kingdom here, we see,

is expansive in its nature, all right?

It's expansive. When the king arrives, the

effects do not remain private. The light spreads, the darkness

diminishes, word travels, people gather.

Right? This previews the promise that

the Gospel will go beyond Israel to the nations, which Matthew

explicitly will show us in Matthew chapter 28.

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

But Matthew also shows that crowds are not the same as the

cycles. Crowds can be amazed and still

be unconverted. Crowds can follow for benefits

rather than bow for worship. And that's exactly why Matthew

will soon show that Jesus sits down to teach.

He sits down to teach because he intends to sift the crowd into

true disciples through the Sermon on the Mount.

The Sermon on the Mount is not a sermon about how to join a

crowd. It's what it means to belong to

the Kingdom. This is a distinction between

crowds and followers. That distinction is a

distinction that we need to know how to make.

We live in an age where people confuse attendance with

obedience, interest with repentance, spiritual enthusiasm

with saving faith. But Matthew won't let us do

that. Secondly, we see the reach,

right? The geography that he mentions

here tells a story. If you look at the regions,

Galilee, that's the immediate area.

There's familiar crowds there. Then he mentions the Decapolis.

This is a largely Gentile tin city region east and southeast

of the of the Sea of Galilee. Then you see Jerusalem and

Judea. Well, that's the religious like

epicenter. It's the heartland right of

Israel. And then he mentions beyond the

Jordan, this is wider surrounding territories.

So Matthew's painting this map for us of spreading influence,

the Gospels going forward, People are hearing about it.

The news is being broadcast. It's moving outward like ripples

in the water when you throw the rock in, right.

And it's not accidental that Matthew has already quoted

Isaiah about Galilee and how they saw a great light, because

now you're seeing the first fruits.

People from varied regions are being drawn in to Christ.

The King is already gathering a Kingdom, people that will not be

confirmed to one city or are confined to one city, one class

or one ethnicity. You remember the promise to

Abraham in Genesis chapter 12 that he would be a blessing to

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

the nation's? That's beginning to show itself

here, right? This should reshape how we think

about mission and outreach. The Kingdom is not a private

club. Dustin did a really great job of

explaining this last week that the king draws people from

beyond. He draws people in.

Then what that means is that our church must think beyond.

We must think beyond comfort, beyond routine, beyond our kind

of people. If Christ draws widely, we

should proclaim the gospel widely and expect a harvest of

sinners. There's also some ambiguity

here. And they followed him.

It's a bit ambiguous. It can mean different things,

right? The verb followed is important,

but it's also dangerous. People can follow Jesus in

different ways. Some follow Jesus as spectators,

right? They're curious.

I mean, if a man shows up and he's healing people with

diseases and casting out demons and the lame or walking, you're

going to be tempted, whether you're believe it or not, you're

going to be tempted to follow that around for a little bit,

right? Am I the only one?

So they're spectators. There's possibly consumers

present, right? Those who want to follow because

of the benefits that fellowship come with.

There's going to be critics who are in the crowd, those who are

there to test Christ, to trap him.

And then there's also going to be disciples, people who are

willing to submit themselves to Christ and his rule and to obey

him. Matthew's going to show us all

of these. The crowds that follow in

chapter 4 are not automatically the disciples who obey in

chapter 28, though. That's what I want you to

understand. So here's the pressure point for

you and me today. Do we follow Jesus as the King?

Do we submit to him as the Lord, or do we trail behind him, just

close enough, as long as he's useful to us in our lives?

And so Matthew helps us to test this in John's gospel.

When the crowds wanted bread more than Christ, Jesus exposes

them in John chapter 6. And Matthew, Jesus will do the

John 6 · chapter mention

same thing through the Sermon on the Mount.

He presses past surface level attraction and demands heart

level allegiance. Friends, I want you to hear me

closely today. Many want Christ's benefits, but

few want Christ's yoke upon them.

And that's essentially what Jesus later teaches in Matthew

11. As I mentioned earlier, take my

yoke upon you. Real following is about

submission to the Lord. It's about humbling ourselves

before the Lord, submitting to His rule.

Yet real following is also about rest, because His yoke is good.

So if you only follow when life improves, you're following

circumstances, not Christ. If you only follow when everyone

approves, you're following crowds, not Christ.

If you only follow, as long as Jesus never contradicts you,

you're following yourself, not Christ.

But true discipleship says even when he rebukes me, I trust Him.

Even when obedience cost me something, I follow Him.

Even when I don't understand what he's doing, I submit to Him

because he is King. The final thing we see here is

the call. It's the call to move from the

crowds to becoming a disciple. Matthew setting up a question

for us within his report. What does the king deserve from

me? I want you to know it's not

simply admiration. It's not occasional attention.

It's not religious dabbling, no. He, he deserves repentance.

He deserves faith. He he deserves whole life

obedience. A church.

You and I were prone to drift into crowd Christianity because

it feels safe. Near enough to feel religious,

yet far enough to avoid surrender.

Far enough that I can keep my pet sins, but the Kingdom does

not actually allow that sort of middle ground.

Jesus is soon going to declare that the gate is narrow and the

way is hard that leads to life. I want you to know that the

crowd always prefers the wide Rd.

You can compare it to a parade versus enlistment.

In a parade, crowds line the streets, they cheer, they watch,

they enjoy. But a soldier enlist.

He submits, He follows orders, He belongs, and many will parade

follow Jesus. Few will actually enlist follow

Jesus. And Matthew is calling us to

enlist under the king. So here is what Matthew has

shown us in these verses. The king proclaims the Kingdom

with authority, the king demonstrates the Kingdom with

compassionate power, and the king draws a following that must

be tested. Are they a crowd or are they a

disciple? And that brings us to the

question that you and I cannot avoid.

How will you respond to the authority of the king?

I've read 3 verses today with no commands.

There's no commands in these 3 verses.

But Matthew does give us a king. And once you see the king

clearly, the commands become inevitable.

This is not a soft portrait of Jesus.

This is authority from on high. This is authority over truth,

authority over sickness, authority over demons, authority

over geography, authority that moves people right.

This is not a soft Christ. And here is the weight of that.

You cannot see this king and remain neutral.

You will either trust his authority or you will resist it.

You will either walk after him, you will either follow him, or

you will remain in the crowd. But remember, we must see the

King's authority. We must trust his power.

We must follow him wholeheartedly.

And so to the unbeliever in here today, if you're not in Christ,

Matthew 4 confronts you. Jesus is not merely offering

spiritual improvement for you. He is announcing his reign.

The gospel of the Kingdom means this.

You are not your own king. Your sin is not as small as you

think it is. Your rebellion is not harmless,

and your need is not superficial.

It's supernatural, but the king who proclaims we saw also heals.

The king who has authority also has compassion.

The same authority that casts out demons is the authority that

can forgive your sin. The same power that heals

paralysis is the power that can raise your dead heart to life.

So do not admire him from a distance.

Do not linger in the crowd. Repent, repent of your sin.

Lay down yourself, rule, trust Christ alone.

Come to him sick, come to him needy, Come to him now.

He receives those who come to the believer in here.

All of my brothers and sisters in Christ, I say to you, do not

shrink your king. He has all authority.

He's sovereign in power. He's never not in control.

He's never not in Rule. He doesn't take a day off.

Don't shrink him. Do not treat him like a

consultant in your life. Do not domesticate his

authority. Let him run wild.

Do not live as though his rule is negotiable in your life.

If he proclaims the Kingdom, submit to his word.

If he displays compassion, trust him in your weakness.

If he draws a following, follow him fully.

Believer, your King is not weak. Your king is not uncertain.

He's not overwhelmed, but overwhelms you.

Whatever sickness, whatever sorrow, whatever oppression,

whatever suffering, whatever darkness you face, those things

will never outrank Christ. He's above it all.

So follow. Follow him when it's costly.

Follow him when it's unpopular. Follow him when obedience feels

heavy. Because this king is good.

And one day the authority that healed in Galilee will fully and

finally restore all things. No more disease, no more

affliction, no more demonic oppression, no more crowds

divided between curiosity and commitment.

No more death, no more sin. Only a redeemed people under a

reigning king. That's what we have to look

forward to. So I'm going to leave all of you

with this question. Are you in the crowd or are you

under the king? See his authority, trust his

power, follow him wholeheartedly because the Kingdom has come and

the King is worthy of your allegiance.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you

for your word today. God, we thank you for what it

shows us of Christ and his authority over our lives and

over all the darkness that surrounds us and that we even

find within us. God, it's my prayer that you

would help us as believers to submit to Christ wholeheartedly,

to love him with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, to love

our neighbor as ourself, to live a life devoted, faithful to

Christ. God, would you help us to do

that? Would you reveal our sin?

Would you reveal our transgression?

Would you draw us to yourself more deeply, more fully by your

Spirit, that we might know you and be known by you, that we

might walk with you, that we might live a life that's worthy

of the gospel we have? Lord, for the unbelievers today,

I ask that you withdraw them to yourself.

Let nothing hinder them from coming when they come.

I thank you that you are a merciful Savior, your mighty

God. You heal sickness and disease,

especially sin within us. You grant us your spirit that we

might have a new heart, become new creations in Christ, putting

to death the old man, taking on the new man God, would you save

them from their sins, give them new lives today?

I'm going to give you a moment now to respond.

They're in your seat through prayer, through seeking the

Lord. Reflect on the sermon, reflect

on God's Word, reflect on your own heart and your actions this

week. Repent today.

Seek the Lord. You will find him.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for a sympathetic High priest.

We thank you that He resides on the throne of grace and bids us

to come boldly in our time of need that we find might find

mercy and grace to help. I thank you that He declares

that He is able to save to the uttermost all of those who draw

near to the Father through Him. So, Father, would you hear our

prayers this morning? Would you hear our cries for

help? Would you meet us and our needs?

Would you minister to our hearts and minds in Christ through your

Spirit? Reconcile us to yourselves.

Reconcile us to one another. May we glorify you, honor you in

the lives that we live. It's in the name of Christ to

pray. Amen.