The Gospel That Jesus Preached!

Text to Read: Matt 4:12-25

Sermon Subject: Matt 4:17, 23-25

(Matthew 4:17) "17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”"

(Matthew 4:23–25) "23 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. 24 So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them. 25 And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan."

The twentieth century was characterized by various world Kingdoms. We don’t use the word “kingdom” today, but that is what they are, kingdoms. Each of these “kingdoms” has promised social salvation for all the people dwelling within its realm. In other words it preaches a saving gospel message.

The twentieth century opened with the British Empire ruling 25% of the world’s land mass. It was a kingdom of benevolent justice. However, it collapsed under the weight of its prosperity.

WWI crushed many European kingdoms. Out of its ashes arose the Russian Kingdom promising a social utopia through the brotherhood of communism.

Then the 1930s brought us the ascending kingdom of Germanic Nazism—the third Reich.[1] It also promised a universal utopia through the ethnic cleansing of inferior races.

WWII ended with the hope of democracy, i.e. republicanism, or capitalism. At last a political/economic system that would bring universal peace and justice. It also has failed. Sin, idolatry, and unbelief have corrupted even the American experiment. As I speak the “government of the peoples, by the peoples, and for the peoples”[2] is unraveling. It has seen its best day. It may be on terminal life support.

Although some of these kingdoms/nations with their attendant gospels are better than others, none ultimately delivers what it promises.

By contrast in today’s text Jesus offers Jew and Gentile an immutable, infallible gospel about a spiritual kingdom, one permanent, one guaranteed to work, one that ultimately deliver all that it promises. That gospel is the subject of today’s text.

Thesis: The gospel is the good news that God’s Kingdom is at hand. It is a message for all people, and it comes with God’s power.

A. The Kingdom of God was Christ’s Gospel

The gospel is the good news that the kingdom of God has come. This is the message that Jesus preached in Galilee.

(Matthew 4:17) "From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”"

“Kingdom of Heaven” is synonymous to “kingdom of God.”

John the Baptist proclaimed it before Jesus began it.

(Matthew 3:2) "“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”"

It was the message that Jesus repeatedly proclaimed.

(Matthew 9:35) "And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction."

It is the message that Paul preached everywhere he went.

(Acts 28:31) Paul “welcomed those who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance."

The Kingdom of God was Christ’s gospel.

It is important to note what Jesus gospel was not. It was not a short term fix for our personal problems, i.e. “Your best life now.” Or, “Come to Jesus. He loves you. He will make all of your problems vanish.” Jesus message was not “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” He does love you, and he has a plan for your life. It is wonderful, but if by “wonderful” we mean painless we are deceived. It may be very painful. It may involve ostracism, rejection, and alienation. It may include poverty and loneliness, but God does have a plan and ultimately we will confess that it was wonderful.

Most importantly, it is not a message about you or me at all. It is not centered in human need. It is not a byproduct of human works. It is a message about God. It is a message about how to fix your relationship with him. It is a proclamation of “Good News,” and the “news” is “good” because it is about something that God has done, and how to get into his family. The Kingdom of God has an important history. It began in Genesis. Let’s review it quickly.

God created Adam and Eve for his Kingdom. They were its first citizens.

The fall severed them from the king and the blessings of his authority or the rule of his realm. It alienated the King from his subjects.

It also alienated the subjects from their King.

However, the prophets predicted that God’s King would someday return to re-establish his Kingdom. God the Father, speaking in Psalm 2, says—

(Psalm 2:6–9) "6 “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” 7 I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. 8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”"

(Daniel 2:44) "44 And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever,"

The point of today’s text is that Jesus is God’s King. He is the Son promised in Psalm 2. He is the stone that struck the statue and became a huge mountain that filled the earth.

He came to establish God’s reign on earth. But, first reconciliation between God and man had to occur. The sin problem had to be dealt with. How did this happen? 1st Jesus, the King, became a citizen of his own Kingdom. He obeyed the rules for us. 2nd To make us eligible for his kingdom he paid the price for our sins and failings. In other words, he came to be our righteousness and our wrath-bearer. He came to reconcile sinners to their King and make them citizens of God’s kingdom.

Gilbert: “The gospel of the cross is the gateway, the fountainhead, even the seed, so to speak, of the gospel of the kingdom. Read the whole NT, and you quickly realize that its univocal message is that a person cannot get to those broad blessings of the Kingdom except by being forgiven of sin through the death of Christ. That is the fountain from which all the rest springs.”[3]

We have discussed the history of the Kingdom of God, but we need to know 6 additional facts…

1st The Kingdom of God is more than personal. It is global and social.

2nd The Kingdom is a present reality that also awaits a future consummation. In the famous words of Dr. Ladd, the Kingdom of God is “already but not yet.”[4]

The future kingdom will be a new creation populated with billions of redeemed citizens, living in immortal resurrection bodies, incapable of sin or evil.

3rd we enter God’s kingdom by believing not working. Faith, not works, reconciles us to the “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.” Faith not works is the passport into God’s Kingdom.

4th But saving faith always motivates “repentance,” i.e. a desire to surrender to the Lordship of Christ, a turning away from all known sin. That is why Jesus proclaimed the kingdom with these words—"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

So, although the Kingdom is about faith not works, it is about faith that motivates and accomplishes submission to King Jesus’ authority. In the words of Scott Hafemann, professor at Gordon Conwell.

“God’s mission is to glorify himself by creating a people who obey the commands of God their King and thereby exercise a dominion characterized by dependence on God himself.”[5]

5th God’s kingdom is a kingdom within the kingdoms of this world.

(Anecdote: Embassy in a foreign country). This is what Paul had in mind when he wrote—

(2 Corinthians 5:20) "20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God."

6th The Kingdom of God is about the exclusivity of Christ. Throughout history there have been thousands of earthly Kingdoms. But from God’s perspective, when it is all said and done, there are only two Kingdoms that matter—the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Satan.

In summary, the gospel is the Good News that God’s kingdom is at hand. In other words, the “reign of God” has begun. The Jews were waiting for the Kingdom of God. Most of Jesus parables were about the Kingdom of God. The Gospel is the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

Wells, Tom: “Every preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ is thus a preacher of the kingdom of God. The gospel is the gospel of the kingdom. It is the exercise of God’s kingship through Jesus Christ.” [6]

B. The Kingdom of God comes with Power

Jesus didn’t just talk about the Kingdom of God. He demonstrated it. His miracles were a demonstration of the power of God’s future Kingdom breaking into the present. They were a taste of the future. The preaching of the Kingdom of God was the main thing, and the miracles pointed everyone to the authenticity of the message.

23b “Healing every disease and affliction”… 24b “and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them.”

First, power to free people from unclean spirits is a sign of God’s kingdom authority. It was a sign that God’s Kingdom had begun.

(Matthew 12:28) "28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you."

Why were the expulsion of demons a sign of God’s Kingdom? Because Adam’s sin gave Satan authority over Adam and his descendants. That is why Jesus called Satan the “Prince of this World.” When you deliberately sin, the same thing happens to you, although not absolutely. Until you repent the demonic oppression will increase.

Anecdote: a handle on your back.

Jesus authority over evil spirits said that the ultimate King is present, the one with all power and authority, the One who will someday strip the Devil of his power and transform the “kingdoms of this world into the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ.” (Rev 11:15), he is present.

Nothing has changed. We are not philosophical materialists. We believe in the spiritual world. Demons still oppress people. God’s power still invades this world. When it does it gives us a taste of what Hebrews 6:5 calls the “powers of the age to come.”

Anecdote: Mahesh Chavda and Stevie, a developmentally delayed 14 year old. A “Banger.” Arms in splints. [7]

Nothing has changed in terms of healing either. God still heals people. It doesn’t happen regularly, but when it does we are again reminded that the Kingdom of God is “already but not yet.” It has begun, but its consummation is still a ways off. It says, “the day is coming when all sickness, death, pain, and mourning will be wiped away forever.” Supernatural healing is a taste of the age to come. The powers of the future kingdom have invaded the present.

Anecdote: Back healing. Praying for Tim Card. Virginia Mason Hospital. Hepatologist.

In addition, supernatural power for healings, exorcisms, etc. tend to come at specific periods of time in history then recede. This is the biblical and historical pattern. i.e. the Exodus, Days of Elijah, New Testament period, early 20th century, etc.

The most important supernatural power is that which brings conviction of sin and the truth of the gospel. It is the sure proof of God’s presence.

John Frame “God’s word and his personal presence are inseparable. His word, indeed, is his personal presence. Whenever God’s Word is spoken, read, or heard, God himself is there.”[8]… “God is the word, and the word is God. So we conclude that wherever God is, the word is, and wherever the word is, God is. Whenever God speaks, he himself is there with us.”[9]… “Not only do his words accompany what he does; they empower everything he does. Whatever God does, he does by his word; whatever God does, the word does.”[10]

We can sum it up this way. The energy of God is in the Word of God which always precedes the work of God.

In summary, the gospel of the Kingdom comes with God’s power.

C. The Kingdom is a message for all People

1. A message for Jews

Over 200 villages and towns in Galilee.

Jesus preached in the Synagogues of Galilee

Jews from Jerusalem, and Judea heard about the miracles and came to hear also.

2. A message for Gentiles

Syria, beyond the Jordan, the Decapolis

D. So What?

1. Get the gospel right.

A gospel that doesn’t require repentance as a fruit is a false gospel. It is a rejection of the King and his Kingdom.

Frame: “The lordship of Jesus is absolutely fundamental to the preaching of the gospel in the New Testament.”[11]

On the other hand, a gospel that says “earn your entrance into God’s kingdom by works/repentance” is also a false gospel. We enter by faith, but repentance is always the first fruit of saving faith.