Matthew 4v12to25 The King Has Arrived

I) “The King Has Arrived!”

A) File: matthew 4v12to25 the king has arrived.doc

B) Audio: The King Has Arrived

C) Series: Matthew

D) Preached: November 4, 2007

II) Introduction: Matthew:

A) Jesus as King: Titles – anointed, savior, king; visit of Magi; his herald; his coronation; his testing;

III) READ 4:12-25

IV) The Place: 4:12-17

A) John, the herald of the king, is taken into custody. Taking his place: The King himself – declaring the same message.

B) Jesus goes to Galilee – not a retreat

1) John 4 – learned that Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making more disciples than John. (avoiding confrontation)

2) Passes through Samaria.

3) Goes to Nazareth where He was first accepted, then rejected.

4) Then makes His home in Capernaum – a very significant event – Why Matthew picks this point to quote Isaiah.

C) Zebulun and Naphtali – Isaiah 9:1-2 (Contains 9:6)

1) Land settled but never cleansed-intermarriage- pagan religions

2) Conquered early by Assyrians – some taken, brought.

(a) further diluting true Judaism

3) Cross-roads (unlike Jerusalem) Damascus to coast

(a) Unlike Judea “on the way to nowhere”

4) Extremely fertile – heavily populated (2 million)

5) Fish and farms – the ‘bread-basket’ of the area

6) Many gentiles – “Galilee of the Gentiles”, cosmopolitan – Syrians to north, Phoenicians to west. So much so that the Jewish leaders scoffed at the idea that Messiah would be from Galilee (John 7:41)

7) Less sophisticated Jews

(a) Even had accents (Matt. 26:73) UNLIKELY PLACE

8) “Josephus observed that Galileans “were fond of innovations and by nature disposed to change, and they delighted in seditions.”” MacArthur commentary

9) Perhaps a good place to get disciples – devout Jews but more open-minded, not locked in their own world like Jerusalem Jews.

10) A clear indicator that Jesus was here for more than Jews.

(a) Does not ignore the Jews – V23 teaching in synagogues

11) Not an accident: (Luke 2:32; cf. Isa. 42:6; 49:6; 52:10). It was no coincidence of history that “the light of the world” (John 8:12) would first be shone here.

12) Isaiah 49:6, “He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

D) Here comes Jesus – the perfect place to begin this phase. He always fulfills prophecy but He usually breaks tradition.

E) He did not come for those who thought they knew it all – but for everyoone who can be shown that they do not.

F) He has come for YOU!

V) The Proclamation

A) “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

B) Why John and Jesus were so offensive to Jewish leadership

1) They were expecting Messiah to come and accept them

2) But the message is this:

3) Repent – a change of direction is required

(a) Rebellion

(b) Allegiance

4) Kingdom of Heaven

(a) = Kingdom of God

(b) Not a particular place – but the rule of a king

5) at hand

(a) Here it is – not some other place, not coming, here am I – the king. The message is – ‘here it is, it has come to you and you must repent’

(b) versus the self-exalting attitude: ‘here I am, I brought it here, now appoint me a leader.

C) His proclamation – “Repentance”

D) “Fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement; he is a rebel who must lay down his arms . . . This process of surrender—this movement full speed astern—is what Christians call repentance. Now repentance is no fun at all. It is something much harder than merely eating humble pie. It means unlearning all the self-conceit and self-will that we have been training ourselves into for thousands of years. It means killing part of yourself, undergoing a kind of death.”

1) – C. S. Lewis

VI) The People

A) First, the two brothers, Peter and Andrew (John – knew earlier)

B) Then, two brothers, James and John.

C) Manner – in the middle of their business

1) Casting a net into the sea

2) with their father

3) mending their nets – More on this later. (8:18-22)

D) The type of people they are:

1) Fishermen, Galileans, Jews.

2) Hard-working

3) Laborers

4) Humble – Matt. 9:12, the sick need the physician.

5) Submissive

E) The People –

1) Repentant

(a) Their current loyalties are to making a living, family, good things but not God’s things.

(b) If they are to follow the King they must do it on His terms.

2) Regular

(a) 1 Cor. 1:25-29, “25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.”

VII) The Power

A) Jesus might convince you of your need, He might convince you that you must repent, but when it comes down to it, how do you know that He is the one whom you should follow?

B) Jesus came doing many signs – also the fulfillment of scripture.

C) That God’s Messiah would be endorsed by the power of God – not to let you guess if He is really from God, even is God Himself. He proved it with miracles.

D) His miracles and His power are how God testified of Him: John 10:37-38, “If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; 38 but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”

E) All kinds of healing – disease, sickness, pain, demons, epileptics, paralytics – He healed them!

F) All kinds of people – Jew and Gentile

1) Syria, Galilee, Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, beyond the Jordan

G) He proved Himself by his miracles – and continues today

1) By the lasting impression they made

2) By continued miracles in lives today – people turning from darkness to light – the work of the Spirit, John 3, in explicable happenings by an invisible force.

VIII) The King has come

A) He has declared His message to you today through one of His ‘fishers of men.’

B) The message is clear – ‘repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.’

C) The message is for you – no matter the darkness, it cannot stand up to light.

1) No matter the healing you need

2) No matter the road you have traveled.

D) Some might say He did not have to come – I say He had to – because of His love for you.

E) Perhaps today, He is calling you to repent.

F) Perhaps today, you stand there with your nets.

November 4, 2007,

“The King Has Arrived!”

Matthew 4:12-25:

1) The ______________. (Isa. 9, 42:6, 49:6, 52:10; John 7:41, 8:12; Matt. 26:73;)

2) The ________________________. (Matt. 3:2;)

3) The _________________. (Matt. 8:18-22, 9:12; 1 Cor. 1:25-29;)

4) The _________________. (John 10:37-38;)[1]

Notes: __________________________________________________

________________________________________________________

November 4, 2007,

“The King Has Arrived!”

Matthew 4:12-25:

1) The ______________. (Isa. 9, 42:6, 49:6, 52:10; John 7:41, 8:12; Matt. 26:73;)

2) The ________________________. (Matt. 3:2;)

3) The _________________. (Matt. 8:18-22, 9:12; 1 Cor. 1:25-29;)

4) The _________________. (John 10:37-38;)[2]

Notes: __________________________________________________

________________________________________________________

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[1] 1) place; 2) proclamation; 3) people; 4) power.

[2] 1) place; 2) proclamation; 3) people; 4) power.