The Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 4:12-25)

Introduction

Believe it or not, growing up I was a wrestler. My earliest years of school, during the winter months, on a Friday night and all day Saturday, I would find myself in a gymnasium competing at various local wrestling tournaments. On the walls of those gymnasiums either in the main gym or the foyer brackets were hung up and updated. The brackets showed you your next match and your next opponent. To keep advancing in those brackets, you had to win though. Or at least not lose twice with most being double elimination tournaments. You win, you keep advancing until the finals round. You lose, you are either in the loser’s bracket looking at the best finish being 3rd place or worse, you are done.

But it is not just wrestling that has this kind of mentality of what it looks like to advance. It is often this kind of advancement and conquering that we see in the advancement of geopolitical nations. Even as the founding of the United States, there was the 13 original colonies, but as time went on, explorers would move west, seeking to advance the territories. This happening of claiming unclaimed land or purchasing that land from others, such as the Louisiana Purchase from France in 1803.

Still, at times in our own nations history, as well of that of other nations, the idea of advancement has come through conquering, through political advancement. And while this is true of the world, this is not the manner in which the kingdom of heaven advances. It advances in a vastly different manner, a manner that we often miss. And that is what we want to consider this morning.

So, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to open it to Matthew 4:12-25 this morning. If you do not have your own copy, you can find our passage this morning on page #962 in the Red Pew Bible in the back of the seat in front of you. While you are turning there, let’s recap what we have covered so far in our study of the gospel according to Matthew.

In the first three chapters we were introduced to Jesus, his lineage, his protection, his baptism, his temptation, and even his mission, Matthew 1:21 “21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.””

But to this point, the ministry of Jesus has not began and the ministry of John the Baptist has been prominent in preparing the way (Matthew 3:1-12).

But that all changes this morning as we turn our attention to the 2nd half of Matthew 4. Please stand for the reading of God’s word.

If I have wrestled through Matthew 4:12-25 rightly and understood it, then the main idea of it and this sermon is this: The kingdom of heaven advances as sinners repent from sin and follow King Jesus. We are going to unfold this in three points: (1) the proclamation of the kingdom, (2) the mission of the kingdom, and (3) the signs of the kingdom.

Point #1: The Proclamation of the Kingdom (Matthew 4:12-17)

Verse 12…

As the frontrunner’s ministry comes to a close with his arrest, Jesus withdraws from the region around the Jordan River. This withdrawal was not out of fear, for Jesus had already chosen the path of suffering, the path of the cross in rejecting Satan’s final temptation in his wilderness experience.

Jesus withdraws for a two fold purpose. One, it was not the appropriate time for Jesus’ arrest. So he withdrew to the region of Galilee in the northern part of Judea. A place of strategy where many Jews were there, but the threat was not on high alert at that point. It was also a place which gave way to the nations hearing of Jesus and his ministry.

That was part of it, but the main reason that Jesus withdraws into Galilee is because it was to fulfill prophecy, that is it was preordained by God the Father for Jesus to be there. Verses 13-16…

This prophecy coming from Isaiah 9:1-2;

Isaiah 9:1–2 ESV

1 But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. 2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.

The territory of Zebulun and Naphtali in the Northern part of Israel had previously been thrust into the darkness during Israel’s exile as God’s judgment came upon the northern kingdoms of Israel. And yet, even in this exile, a promise of deliverance was made.

The promise of a great light shining for those who were previously in darkness. That where there was gloom and contempt, glory would come.

This is the same passage that brings the promise of a son to be born. A son whose government would increase, whose rule would extend and be established. One who would rule with justice and righteousness forevermore.

Therefore Jesus departs to Galilee, to the land of Zebulun and Naphtali to fulfill this prophecy. He comes to bring glory and pierce through the darkness.

Those in Galilee, in Capernaum and Zebulun and Naphtali were living in hopelessness as outsiders, those on the fringes of Jewish society. They were outcasts. Not to mention that it was a place that was mixed with many Gentiles, hence it being called Galilee of the Gentiles.

It is here among this people that the light of the gospel first dawns, where Jesus begins his ministry.

To quote Charles Spurgeon here,

The Gospel of the Kingdom: A Commentary on the Book of Matthew Chapter 4:12–25: The King Setting up His Kingdom Openly

Our Lord courts not those who glory in their light, but those who pine in their darkness: he comes with heavenly life, not to those who boast of their own life and energy, but to those who are under condemnation, and who feel the shades of death shutting them out from light and hope.

We should never forget to whom Jesus regularly goes to, those in darkness. He goes to pierce through the darkness by preaching the message of the kingdom. Verse 17…

This same message that Jesus begins his ministry proclaiming is the same message that John the Baptist had been preaching by the Jordan River.

John came to prepare the way, but now Jesus comes to bring about that kingdom, to bring it near and to begin advancing the kingdom as he preaches about the kingdom of heaven being near. And it starts by calling people to repentance.

And there is a great need for this repentance because we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And our sin has brought about every wrong doing we see in the world, every sorrow, every sort of trouble. But Jesus has come to proclaim the message that God’s kingdom is drawing near, that the rule of God is about to begin to overturn all this wrong and sadness and sorrow. But to prepare for it, people must repent.

In case any have forgotten or you are joining us for the first time this morning, repentance is a call, a warning for the people to return to God, to come once more under his rule as loyal and obedient children. To turn away from their rejection of his rule. This is true and biblical repentance. Repentance is not simply feeling sorry for getting caught in sinful rebellion, it is not simply feeling guilty, it is a turning from that rebellion back to the King and coming under his gracious care.

It is this message of the kingdom, the call to repentance that brings about the dawning light. For it is through the proclamation of the kingdom of heaven that the kingdom of darkness is pressed back.

For as the kingdom of heaven is proclaimed, people’s hearts and minds are penetrated through the word and the Spirit of God.

Hebrews 4:12 “12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

As God’s word goes forward through the preaching, the heralding of the Word of God, souls are won to the message of the kingdom, they are edified, and built up.

The preaching of the message of the kingdom of heaven is God’s ordinary means for advancing his kingdom and pushing back the kingdom of darkness, the kingdom of sin and death. For the proclaimed word cuts our hearts, exposes our sin, and shows us our need and provision of a redeemer in Christ!

The 17th Century Anglican J.C. Ryle previously wrote (1),

The brightest days of the church have been those when preaching has been honored; the darkest days of the church have been those when it has been treated as something unimportant.

We here at Land O’ Lakes Bible Church want to be a people who honors the preaching of God’s word. Recognizing that it is what pushes back against the kingdom of darkness. This is why we regularly encourage you to pray for the preaching of the word in preparation for our corporate gatherings. The preaching of the word is for the benefit of our souls.

This is also why we seek to equip the church to know the message of the kingdom in order so that they too can proclaim that message as they go.

For how else will the kingdom of darkness be pushed back?

It is the temptation of many to think if we change laws, if we have certain politicians in office, that the kingdom of darkness will be pushed back.

My friends, that will not push back the kingdom of darkness. God’s means for doing this, for piercing through the darkness is always the proclamation of the kingdom of heaven.

The kingdom of heaven advances as people hear the message of God’s coming kingdom and its drawing near and now here in the coming of Jesus and their turning from sin to him.

This is how Jesus started his ministry, and we are called to follow him and imitate his mission.

Point #2: The Mission of the Kingdom (Matthew 4:18-22)

Verses 18-19…

Here we see the calling of Jesus’ first disciples. Brothers, Simon who is given the name Peter and Andrew. They are fishermen, that is they are common men and uneducated. This will be pointed out of them as they begin their own preaching of the kingdom in Acts (Acts 4:13).

It is these two fishermen brothers that Jesus first calls to come and follow him as his disciples. And as he calls them, he tells them that he will make them fishers of men.

With this, we see immediately that part of being a follower of Jesus is to imitate him and his ministry in going after others, just as he has done.

But it is more, for note how these two fishermen respond. Verse 20…

They leave behind their livelihood as fishermen, they drop their nets and follow Jesus, not knowing where they go. They leave it all to follow Jesus. Furthermore, we see this on repeat as Jesus continues and comes to another pair of brothers who are fishermen, verse 21…

And their response, verse 22…

Four disciples are called, the first two abandon their nets, the second two abandon their father and boat, but they all immediately leave it all to follow Jesus.

The call to follow Jesus is not a call to simply follow him as roadies, as fans. The call to follow Jesus is a call to take up our cross daily and follow him.

Luke 9:23 ESV

23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

That is, the call of biblical discipleship is a call to die to self. For some, this will mean they will literally die for their faith in mission to King Jesus.

For the majority of Christians, this will mean a forsaking of the things of this world and dying daily to our self in various ways.

For Peter, Andrew, James, and John, they would leave behind their nets and boats which they depend on for living. James and John left their father. And later, 3 of the 4 would lay down their lives in following Jesus. And John would be imprisoned on Patmos.

This is the biblical call to follow Jesus. To love Jesus more than everything in this world. For Jesus himself will go on and say:

Luke 14:26 ESV

26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

My guess, this is not the call most of us heard as we were called to follow Jesus. And yet, this is constantly what Jesus teaches when people seek to follow him.

To quote one dear brother,

"WE NEED TO SHARE THE GOSPEL THE WAY JESUS DID, BY MAKING THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP CLEAR."

We cannot miss the call to follow Jesus. The biblical call of discipleship is not a call to enter religious formality or to have nice comfortable lives with the assurance of heaven while living easily in this life. The call of discipleship is to follow Jesus, to be willing to risk it all and abandon it all as we follow him.

We see this abandonment by these first four disciples, we will see it later by the twelve who it is said that they have left everything to follow Jesus. The rich man who sought to follow Jesus is told that if he is to follow Jesus, he must first go and sale all that he owns and give it to the poor, then come and follow Jesus. Of course he couldn’t, for he loved his possessions to much.

Friends, this is the biblical call to come follow Jesus as his disciples. Yet I fear we have missed this understanding of biblical discipleship. For too often I have heard from professing Christians regarding missionaries, “I do not get how they could leave behind their homes, their families, and go to a foreign place.”

The reason for this lack of understanding is because of missing the biblical call of discipleship, to come and follow Jesus.

In being called to follow Jesus, he may call us to leave home and family. He may call us as disciples to go to unique places to serve him.

He may call a Tennessee boy first to Illinois and then to the Northwoods of Wisconsin. Or he may call us to the Middle East or India or the mountains of Nepal for global missions. To be a follower of Jesus is to follow Jesus wherever he leads. To hold the things of this world and life loosely as we follow him. Entrusting that he calls us, he too will equip us and strengthen us to the task he has called us.

Beloved, is this your understanding of discipleship? For this is the call of Jesus for us as his disciples, to come and follow him.

To follow is also a call to sit at the feet of the teacher and to learn from him in his teaching and from observing him. We will see this teaching through 5 teaching discourses to come in the gospel according to Matthew, beginning with the most famous starting next week in the Sermon on the Mount.

But we will also see the disciples learn what it means to be sent out by the teacher to make other disciples to live out what it means to be made fishers of men. For this is what Jesus has told Simon Peter and Andrew that he would make them.

To follow Jesus is to become like him in fishing for others to come and follow him. And this means we are to imitate his methods and means of advancing his kingdom rule in the hearts of men, not through force, not through political measures, but through the preaching the message of the kingdom.

By taking the message of the kingdom and casting it out like a fishing net so that people may hear and be drawn in by its compelling grace and truth.

The compelling message that a Holy God would make way for rebellious rebels to be brought back to him in Jesus. This is the message of the kingdom that Jesus has been proclaiming, for this is why he has called for repentance to take place, and this is the same message that we are to go and proclaim so that others may hear and come and follow Jesus as we seek to follow him.

Therefore, beloved, let us continually seek to follow Jesus. Following him where he may lead, sitting at his feet and learning, and imitating him, especially in seeking to make disciples the way he did.

But maybe you are here this morning. And you have proclaimed to be a Christian, but not yet understood what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Maybe to this point you have merely been a fan of Jesus but not yet died to self in taking up your cross.

Friend, here me this morning, stop being a fan and become a follower of Jesus. Come and embrace your cross daily in dying to self to give your life over to Jesus, let him be your king and the one you follow in allegiance. Make today the day you begin to live as a true disciple of King Jesus, following him wherever he leads.

Others, maybe you are here this morning and you have yet to hear this call of the kingdom and the call to follow.

Friend, this morning let the voice of Jesus be heard, come and follow me. Turn away from your allegiance to sin in repentance and come and follow Jesus as your King! Leave behind that which you have known; come and follow the one who laid down his life in order to rescue you from the curse of sin and death! Come and follow King Jesus!

Point #3: The Signs of the Kingdom (Matthew 4:23-25)

Verse 23…

As Jesus went throughout Galilee, he taught and proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom. That is he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom. For the word gospel means good news. Therefore the gospel of the kingdom means the good news of the kingdom is being proclaimed, that God’s rule is drawing near and advancing as people repent and follow Jesus.

This is the message time and time again that Jesus proclaims, starting in the gatherings of the Jews. It is this message though that begins to spread as the fame of Jesus goes out. Fame that grows because of the signs Jesus gives with his preaching, the signs of healing every disease and affliction.

These signs affirm that Jesus is who he says he is, that he is the one who is bringing the kingdom of heaven near. For these signs show God’s rule overturning the curse of sin and death brought about by the fall of man back in Genesis 3.

But as Jesus performs these signs, his fame spreads. Verses 24-25…

In saying that Jesus healed every disease and every affliction among the people, it is not considering the quantity of healings he performed. For there were certainly still sick and diseased in Galilee, and yet Jesus healed every type of disease and affliction, showing that nothing was outside his authority as the kingdom of God advances.

Jesus proclaims the message of the kingdom, he advances the mission of the kingdom by calling disciples to follow him, and he gives signs of the kingdom and its advancement by overturning sickness, disease, and affliction, even that of casting out demons.

Jesus is who he says he is, these signs are evidence that the kingdom of darkness will be pushed back through Jesus.

Christian, this should give us great confidence and hope in the message of the kingdom that we continue to proclaim. This should give us encouragement to keep pressing on in the laboring for this message in hoping in it and sharing it.

For all authority has been given to Jesus, we see these in these first signs, and we see it in knowing that he died and rose again, defeating the grave. Therefore let us go and declare this same message of the kingdom, let us go and teach others to come and follow Jesus!

And as we do, let us like Jesus give proof that we are who we say we are, let our light shine brightly though both the message of the gospel and the power of the gospel at work in us.

Let our actions match the message we proclaim. In other words, let us not go and proclaim the message of light while living in darkness. Let us not go and tell others about Jesus loving us while being a jerk. Let us not declare Jesus is King while not submitting to him ourselves.

The message of the kingdom is to be seen visible in our lives as we declare it. This is what we see from Jesus and what we are to imitate as his followers.

Conclusion

Beloved, may we be a people who then seek to advance God’s rule on earth by proclaiming the message of the kingdom so that people may hear, repent, and follow King Jesus! May we seek to push back the darkness through the message of light and hope, the message of the kingdom of heaven.

Let’s pray…

Footnotes

Ryle, J.C. Matthew, The Crossway Classic Commentaries Series. (Crossway, Wheaton, IL, 1993.) 21.