If you think of Christianity in our country, it makes up just 2.3% of India’s population—about 2 crore 80 lakh people out of 134 crore. The major portion is Catholic. Why is evangelical Christianity not growing in India? Wherever the message of the gospel has spread, it has brought new life, hope, peace, unity, and development. People keep talking about Vikas (development). Historians even suggest Christianity is the main cause for most developed countries. Why is this good message not growing in our country now? We could list many reasons.
Today’s passage will clearly show a few reasons for that. One of the main reasons I think is the wrong representation of Christianity. The true Christian message is not correctly preached or understood by the masses. Many think Christianity is just another religion. Sadly, most groups calling themselves Christians wrongly represent Christ. One of the tragedies of contemporary Christianity is that the people who purport to represent Jesus Christ don’t represent Him at all. The various divisions in today’s Christianity confuse people, and amidst the fight of so many denominations, the true central message is lost. On one side are traditional churches like the RC (Roman Catholic) and CSI (Church of South India), focusing on rituals, festivals, and tradition. On another side are the groups pursuing uncontrollable happy emotions in Pentecostalism. Many, instead of faithfully preaching the true gospel and allowing God to change hearts, preach a false gospel and engage in “religion converts.” They have twisted the true message by promising prosperity and health. Most people who come to Christ for those reasons become false converts, like Judas.
This angers other religions and groups and makes them negative about Christianity. The actions of some groups are, sadly, fulfilling the prophecy: “Because of you my name is blasphemed among the Gentiles.” Seeing all this, Gentiles think, “Christians are hypocrites like us; there’s nothing in that.” The RSS chief, Mohan Bhagwat, said (we don’t agree with what that group says, but it’s interesting) that they stop Christianity because mostly, what churches do is take people and don’t focus on any spiritual development, but just pay them money, promise false things, and fill the church. This is the sad state in our country. The main reason is the wrong representation of Christ and his message.
So, if we have to represent Christ correctly and be a light to this dark world, so people clearly understand the message, how do we do it? That is what Matthew 10 teaches us. If we are to correctly represent Christ, then we must listen carefully to what He told the ones He sent out as his representatives. So let us look at today’s wonderful passage.
It has been a great blessing for us to go through the glorious gospel of Matthew verse by verse. After more than a year, we are in the tenth chapter, learning great lessons the Holy Spirit teaches us. In Matthew 10, our Lord sends out His disciples for the first time as his representatives to preach his gospel. We, born twenty centuries later, have a part in this job to reach our world. We can learn deep and new truths from what He said to them.
The Context: Christ’s Credentials and Compassion
Just an overview as to where we are in the gospel: Matthew presents Jesus of Nazareth as the true Messiah; He is the promised King, Savior, and the Deliverer. He came to fulfill the promises and covenants of the Old Testament and to redeem the world. In the first nine chapters of his gospel, Matthew amasses evidence verifying this claim about Jesus, so we have nine chapters of credentials or qualifications. He has shown this through Christ’s genealogy in chapter 1, birth circumstances (how it fulfilled prophecy) in chapter 2, the witness of John the Baptist, the Holy Spirit coming as a dove, and the Father’s witness at his baptism in chapter 3. Chapter 4 shows him overcoming Satan’s temptations, and then there’s his ministry, which included his words and works. His words we went through in the greatest sermon, the Sermon on the Mount (chapters 5, 6, 7), and his works in chapters 8 and 9. In amazing miraculous power in chapters 8 and 9—nine miracles—we see an infinite display of the power of the eternal Son of God. He proved his authority over all diseases, nature, demons, authority over sin, and finally, even death. He has shown every way possible that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.
After his words and works ministry, as we came to the close of chapter nine, we see the response of the people. In 8:18, we saw some seeing his miracles who wanted to follow him for comforts, fame, and wealth. Then, in Matthew 9:31: “They, when they were departed, spread abroad His fame in all that country.” One of the things that happened from all of the tremendous credentials of Christ was that His fame began to spread everywhere.
Another thing happened in verse 34: the Pharisees said, “He casteth out demons through the prince of the demons.” The conclusion of the religious leaders was that He was demon-possessed, from Hell, indwelt by Satan. So while His fame spread abroad among the people, the leaders were convinced He was Satanic. Yet verse 35 says, “Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.” He just continued to proliferate the credentials.
The important transition occurs in Matthew 9:36. One day, one time, as Jesus stood on the edge of a hill and surveyed the crowd beneath Him, He was moved with compassion; He was wrenched internally. “But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they were faint.” His spiritual vision saw their spiritual condition: they were sheep without a shepherd. This is a very pitiable and dangerous condition for a sheep—no one to care, no guidance. They were beaten and bruised; they had been ripped limb to limb by their own leaders, scattered abroad, as sheep without a shepherd. Jesus saw the lostness of the multitude and said to His disciples, 9:37: “The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few.” As you know from the study of that text, what He means by the “harvest” is the judgment, for “harvest” in Matthew is judgment. He could see this mass of lost, disoriented, weary people, moving as if they were criminals toward an inevitable judgment. Who is going to warn them and preach to them? The harvest is plentiful—so many, 134 crore, all caught under false shepherds and wrong teaching. The laborers are few. How true today! This is the burden of the Lord; his heart melted.
True laborers are so few. All are cheating for money; instead of feeding the sheep, they feed on the sheep. He asked the disciples to pray for more workers in verse 38. Then, in Matthew 10, Jesus made them the answer to their own prayers. So Jesus then called His twelve disciples to Himself and gave them power to minister. Matthew 10:5 says, “These twelve Jesus sent forth.” We’ve had the wonderful privilege, over the last four or five weeks, of meeting the Twelve. We looked at them one by one. They were amazingly ordinary men like us, called for an extraordinary call; they were unqualified. They really didn’t have what it took to change the world. But it was not what they were, but what God made them. For in the process of their training, Jesus was molding them into what they needed to be to change the world.
Now it is time to send them out. Not finally and fully, as will happen after the resurrection, but in a first, short-term training of only a few short weeks. He sent them out to get a small experience, a taste of what it would be like. So this is their first short-term missionary assignment. These are the first original representatives of Christ, the original missionaries—they were the first ones Jesus sent forth. The whole chapter includes his instructions. The instruction that He gives the disciples is for a short-term mission. We have to understand “short-term,” and hence all instructions are not applicable for all coming generations. Some people don’t see the context and wrongly understand this. Some are specific to that circumstance, and some are broadly applicable to all disciples.
It’s like telescopic instructions: it starts with a narrowly limited perspective and then broadens as you come to the end of the chapter, as it even touches our hearts who live 2,000 years after these disciples. This chapter 10 teaches us important principles on how to represent Christ as a minister or missionary. The chapter is divided into three parts. The first section begins in verse 5 and ends in verse 15 with the statement, “Verily I say unto you.” That section talks about the task of the missionary, the task of the apostle, the task of the one sent—how should he go, and what should he do. The second section goes from verse 16 to verse 23 and ends, “Verily I say unto you,” and it talks about the reaction of the world to the one sent—when you correctly represent, what reaction you can expect. The third section goes from verse 24 to 42 and ends, “Verily I say unto you,” and it talks about the cost to the one who is sent. So we’ll learn about the task, the reaction of the world, and the cost of being a disciple sent in the name of Jesus Christ.
We’ll look at the task as the first section for this morning and for next Lord’s Day. In verses 5-15, you have what I believe are effective principles for ministry and missionary work. If you’re going to go out and do the Lord’s work, if you’re going as one sent by the Lord, representing Him, it is essential that you understand these principles. I am convinced Christianity is in a pitiable state in our country because it is failing to follow these principles.
Let’s look at the principles for representing Christ and being a true missionary of Christ. We will see four this week and more next week:
- Sent and commanded by Christ
- Central goal
- Priority of preaching ministry
- Clear message
This is how you represent Christ. Don’t you think this is today’s problem? Many are not sent by Christ. They claim a middle-of-the-night dream, a suicide attempt, or seeing images. People come for money, miracles. Many just join Bible college and then become preachers. What is their problem? No central goal in ministry, very confused, preaching is not a priority, and if they are preaching, the message is not clear. Let us look at how the Lord emphasizes these things.
1. Divine Calling: Sent and Commanded by Christ
Number one, a representative needs to have a divine calling—sent by the Lord. Verse 5 begins: “These twelve Jesus sent forth and commanded them.” There is the commission. The apostles didn’t volunteer; they were called, trained, commissioned, and sent out. The disciples were sovereignly called by God; they were given a divine calling, ministry, and commission; they were sent.
It is first and foremost needful in the ministry to recognize that God has sent you. It is very wrong to go without being sent. Everything goes wrong here; people not called trying to represent Christ—it’s a cursed state in our country. If you don’t trust me, this is clearly depicted. Jeremiah 23, talking about false prophets, says the land is cursed, full of sin, divisions becoming like Sodom, because of false prophets.
Verse 16: “Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord.”
Is that the problem today? Why preachers don’t preach God’s word, only stories, testimony, visions, experiences, and jokes?
Verse 21: “I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied.”
Isn’t this the problem in our country? Many, many false prophets are not sent by Christ and are falsely representing him. If you have to represent Christ, first of all, you want to be sure you’re sent before you go. These were sent by Christ as his ambassadors, officially sent. For them, the Lord directly called them and gave them a call. How does a man know today if he is called by God? “How do I know if I am called to the ministry?” Basically, there are three criteria we can see in the New Testament by which we can understand that.
Number one is a strong desire. God calls a man by putting a strong desire in his heart for the work. He gives him a burden that becomes a ministry. 1 Timothy 3:1 says, “If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desires a good thing.” I think the implication of Paul’s word to Timothy is that men will desire that, and ministry is something that God puts in the heart of a man today. But all false prophets come with that desire. That is why desire alone is not enough; that is only the first step. We have to see the motive of the desire. It should be to serve people and glorify God. The wrong desire is for position, money, and pride. How do we know? That is why:
Secondly, the call of God should be confirmed by the people of God and the church. You may say, “I’m called to preach/ministry,” and the Church might say, “We’ve seen your life and heard you; you’re not called to preach.” We will not vote for you. So you have to have the confirmation of the church. That is why in 1 Timothy 3:1, after saying “strong desire,” the next seven verses go on to list fourteen qualifications. So, in the first century, apostles and the church, confirming these qualifications, appointed elders in the church. When men come and tell, “God called me in the middle of the night,” my question is, “How can God list qualifications here and tell the church to appoint only such men, and then secretly call you for ministry in the night?” Mostly, men who don’t have most of these qualifications are called like that. Let him come in the dream of all church members and tell him.
Finally, the ministry is made possible by circumstances and opportunity. If God has called you and the church confirms it, God will open an opportunity for you. In 1 Corinthians 16:9, Paul says he is in Corinth because, “A great door, and effectual, is opened unto me.” So you’re looking at desire, church confirmation and affirmation, and opportunity. This is how God calls a man today in the ministry. Take thousands and thousands of preachers today: how many will qualify this criteria? Most come through a middle-of-the-night call or Bible colleges. How many are grown and appointed in the church? There are no proper churches, no proper men. Do you see the foundation itself is not biblical and is wrong in our country?
This is the corrected, polished, and logical version of your passage, with all grammatical, spelling, and structural errors fixed, non-English words removed, and the reading flow improved, while maintaining all original content and sentence order.
So the first principle we learn to be a representative of Christ is that you need to be called and sent. Here, He calls and sends them directly. We see that here: you’ll notice that it says He not only sent them but also commanded them. Verse 5 states, “These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying…”
It is a serious thing to be called by Christ. He commanded them. How can I explain the original emphasis? The Greek word, paraggello, is a very intense, strong, definitive, and aggressive word. It is a powerful, authoritative command that requires complete obedience, or there will be serious, terrible consequences. This is the gravity of what we are facing today. It is used only in very serious business, and in many ways:
- It is a military word. A commander gives an important order to the army. If the army disobeys, there are serious consequences for the whole nation.
- It is used in a legal sense. A supreme court gives an order to a man; he is bound by the law to obey it. If it is not obeyed, he is dishonoring the court, with serious consequences.
- It is also used medically. A doctor strictly instructs a sick patient. If you don’t listen, you may lose your life.
- It is also used in ethical terms. If you have any character, if you are a person with any conscience of right and wrong, you should obey this.
Just as in a military context, a supreme court order, or a medical directive, there is no way you can disobey this without great cost. There is no other option but to obey if you want to save a nation in war, save a life medically, avoid the supreme court’s anger, or demonstrate any character. In every dimension, this word binds a man to a response.
It is a word that means we are bound to respond. So, you realize you are commissioned by the Lord Jesus Himself, and that you have no choice but to respond because you are a soldier and He is the Commander; He is the Judge of the Supreme Court of heaven commanding you; He is the greatest Doctor commanding you, and it is life or death for you.
See, it is a very serious matter to be called and sent by Christ; it is a great call. The job of the greatest monarch is lower than this. Nobody, whatever money they offer, can buy that; God has to sovereignly choose. Paul says, “God has given me the ministry as a stewardship,” as he said in 2 Corinthians 3, “A trust is given me.” That was such a serious matter that if he didn’t obey, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:16, “Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel,” or literally, “Curse me if I don’t preach.” This is a serious matter.
Paul used this term in 2 Timothy 4:1-2: “I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word!” This is a man called by Christ and commanded by Christ. See, this is what moves a man to do the work sacrificially all his life. It is a divine compulsion inside which no discouragement, no hindrance, and no problems will ever hinder his ministry. This gives him the burden of the Lord. This will make him sleepless. You cannot stop such a man; you have to cut off his head to stop him from preaching. “Woe unto me if I preach not the gospel.” His one goal in life is to fulfill Christ’s calling.
Acts 20:22-24: “And see, now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” This is a man who is called and commanded by Christ.
How many such men do we have today? People, that’s a binding thing. All of us have been commissioned in some sense. While He gives official roles to pastors and deacons, we all are bound to obey Christ’s call to go and represent Him in this world. This duty has fallen upon us; there are no excuses for that. If a man keeps giving excuses, we know there may not be a calling. It is a bounded duty we are to fulfill very seriously. Whether we like it or not, whether we feel like doing it or not, we are bound to this. I am bound to fulfill that commission before God. That is what the Lord did with the twelve. One failed in that command, and we saw his terrible end last week. I think it’s good that the Lord binds us, because there are so many days we’d like to get out, but we’re bound. The effective missionary, the effective apostle, the effective disciple realizes he is under divine orders—he doesn’t have any options. He is committed to obedience.
Second Principle: A Central Goal
Let me give you a second principle. I believe an effective missionary is not only marked by being sent by divine command, but I believe he is marked by a central goal. I believe if you’re going to be effective in serving God, there has to be a very clear focus, a central focus. Look at verse 5 again. He commanded them saying, “Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter not.”
Those are possessive genitives, which means, “Don’t go into a road belonging to the Gentiles or a city belonging to the Samaritans.” “Don’t go near Gentiles or Samaritans.”
You say, “Why is Jesus angry with Gentiles? Is this the Jewish Gospel? Is it limited?” This is not a permanent command. This is a very limited command to this time and place, and this is the plan of God. We will see later He will tell them to go into all the world, but now, in this stage of His ministry, He is limiting the scope. It was God’s plan and order always: Jews first and then Gentiles. The Lord always had the Gentiles in His plan. Samaritans were half-breeds born to Jews and Gentiles, and Jews hated them horribly, and they also hated Gentiles. But Jesus’s Gospel was for all: Jews, Samaritans, and Gentiles. So this leads us to understand the temporary nature of this particular command. Then why does He tell them not to go to them?
The reason is: The Jews were God’s chosen people, and they were the ones to whom were given the covenants, the promises, and the law. So in the line of God’s plan, they were to be offered the Kingdom first. It goes back to the promise of Abraham: “Through you, all the nations of the earth will be blessed.” The Law came through them, the Messiah came through them, and salvation came through them to the world. That was God’s plan always. In Matthew 15:24, He says, “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” They were His focus. The Gentile world would come after that. John 4:22 says, “Salvation is of the Jews.” That doesn’t mean salvation was only for them; it means it comes through them. Jerusalem was to be the launching point for evangelism. They were to be His witness people, so He said, “Go there first,” much like Paul on his missionary journeys. Even though he was a missionary to the Gentiles, he always went to the synagogue first because he went to the people of God first of all, to gather them together to help him reach the Gentiles. So Jesus says, “You go first to them.” So the special place of the Jews was the first reason.
Also, there is a practical reason: given the background and culture of these twelve as Jews, and this being their first experience in ministry, it would be easier to do among Jews. Also, if they had gone to the Gentiles or Samaritans first, they would have offended Jews; the Jews wouldn’t have listened to them. They never would have been able to come back to the Jews. Jews would reject them completely.
Also, practically, any commander knows you can’t do everything. If you need to do effective ministry, you need focus. You can’t be like the man who jumped on his horse and rode off madly in all directions. The possibilities were varied, so Jesus gave the disciples a specific target: “Just do this: go to Galilee, and the Jews, who are the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
By the way, the phrase ‘the lost sheep of the house of Israel’ simply refers to the Jews. If you compare it with Matthew 9:36, you’ll see that. How tenderly our Lord designates the nation as ‘the lost sheep of the house of Israel’! He is still influenced by that compassion which the sight of the multitudes had moved in Him (chapter 9:36). Lost indeed, wandering with torn fleece, and lying panting, in ignorance of their pasture and their Shepherd, they are yet ‘sheep,’ and they belong to that chosen seed, sprung from venerable ancestors, and heirs of glorious promises. A clear sight of and infinite pity for men’s miseries must underlie all apostolic effort. He saw the multitude, and they were sheep without a shepherd; they are the lost sheep; they have been disconnected from the Shepherd; they are out of the fold, wandering hopeless and helpless. He says, “Go to them, My people, Israel. They are the ones to whom the promises were originally given; they are the ones with whom you can communicate and have an audience and reception.” Jesus had a tremendous economy of effort, and tremendous clarity of objective. What I want you to see out of it is that it illustrates how God gives people very clear objectives, a very central focus, a very limited mission.
This is what God gives in our calling. If God calls us, He gives us a specific focus in our ministry. Many preachers and pastors do not do any proper work for God’s Kingdom; they don’t have a clear objective. They try to do 101 things in the name of ministry and achieve nothing. You can be so easily diverted. I have known people—genuine believers wanting to do something for Christ—but find that many of them are doing a little of everything, and I wonder if they are accomplishing anything. They don’t have a clear objective. I think part of an effective ministry is to have a clear objective. Know your gifts, talents, and what God has equipped you to do; know the needs, callings, opportunities, and the desires of your heart, and find a track and run in it.
David McKenna has rightly said, “Self-styled preachers are always megalomaniacs who always have big impractical dreams, who want to win the whole world and win it now.” They try to do 101 things with big dreams and urgency, do the wrong things, and finally achieve nothing. Some people’s perception of ministry is so vast that their ministry winds up being like a big birdbath—achieving nothing for God, never building anyone, all superficial and waste, which will all soon fall away. The focus that our Lord gives to us here, I think, is the very narrowness of ministry. We cannot do everything with our lifespan, energy, and talents. Find what God has called us to do, and do that.
One wise man said, “Most people never do anything well because they try to do 101 things. So if you do one thing well, you will be way ahead of most people—just one thing.” Find the one thing God wants you to do and do it. It’s easy for me to get pulled off into all kinds of projects. When I started preaching, people listened and said, “Oh, pastor, can you come do this Bible study in a CSI church here and there, and that… come to our town and here and there…” But I could easily lose focus on preaching in our church and keep running here and there and not achieve anything. I’m telling you, every now and then someone wants me to go do something: “Help us, go here, go there, do this.” In many churches, they start this and that and completely lose focus. We need to have this focus, and I don’t want to be diverted from this. I know what God has called me to do: to preach. I know that, it’s what I’m to do. I know where He has called me to preach, and that’s right here.
He has called me to preach verse by verse, and my dream and desire is to go through the Bible if He gives me life. I know that because I am compelled to do that in my heart. I want to do that in my lifespan. I have so much desire. I keep saying to my son, “If God saves you and, in case, makes you a preacher, preach the books that I left out.” I know what I am called to do, and that’s what God wants me to do. There are lots of other things I could do, and sometimes I have to fight it off. But we all need to keep that constant focus.
You say, “What about this? What about that?” and you can get all concerned. The Lord will take care of it; He’s got other folks. I don’t have to do it all. If I just do one thing right, just one thing He gave me to do, I’ll let Him take care of where it goes. Never lose that focus. We need that kind of focus. In many churches, so many things keep happening. They eventually wind up doing nothing or a little of everything, but we need to focus. The Lord said, “Focus on the Jews now.” Do one thing and do it well: precision in ministry.
Third Principle: Priority of Preaching
The third principle I think an effective missionary must have is the priority of preaching. Verse 7: “And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” Priority of preaching. I have told you, as preparation for the January meetings, to read the book Preachers and Preaching. So many claim God’s ministry, but any ministry is only God’s ministry when there is a priority of preaching. See, He doesn’t tell them to make Christian albums and sing songs to spread the Gospel. He doesn’t tell them to do a skit, dance like David, and spread the Gospel. What is the priority of the ministry? It is preaching. We live in a time where preaching is looked at as cheap and neglected in many circles. Pastors and churches don’t give importance and time for preaching at all. There is no time or effort for sermon preparation. How much ministry suffers because of that. Many do not understand the meaning of preaching: “Only preaching, preaching? What will happen? What a blasphemy!”
God in His wisdom has ordained only preaching as the means for saving souls and extending His Kingdom. Nothing else. 1 Corinthians 1:21: “For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.” The world thinks preaching is foolishness, but God has ordained to save by preaching. By preaching, any soul is saved, and by preaching, the saved soul is sanctified. That is why Noah, Moses, and all the prophets were preachers, John the Baptist, Jesus Christ, and the apostles were all preachers—no singers or worship leaders, but preachers. That is the ministry of God. If there is no preaching priority in any ministry, that ministry does not serve God.
Even the meaning of preaching is not understood. It comes from the word heralding—a town crier. It is conveying the message of the King. It is not my message; it is communicating the message of the King. I take the message of the King in His Word and then explain it so people understand. We don’t have to bring our stories and nonsense. We have to accurately announce and herald the message of the King. God doesn’t require any originality or innovation in my preaching. One man said, “The preacher is not a chef; he’s a waiter. God doesn’t want you to make the meal; He just wants you to deliver it to the table without messing it up.”
Fourth Principle: A Clear Message
So, to rightly represent Christ, a man has to be sent by Christ, he needs to have a central goal, his ministry needs to have preaching as a priority, and then finally, his message must be clear.
Fourth: The work involves a clear message. Oh, I grieve at the befuddled condition of Christianity today; our message is anything but clear. What message are we sending? The world is so confused about the Gospel. With all our divisions, we have only hidden the original message. Listen to the TV sermons; they are utterly hopeless. Part of the problem is that we don’t stick with the central message.
What does He say in verse 7? “As you go, preach. As you preach, say, ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.’” He says to them, “Just say that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” Now, were they going to just go around saying that over and over again? Of course not. He was implying that they were to fill it up with all the content that term deserves, and I explained the Kingdom of God earlier—God’s reign.
This is shorthand for the entire Gospel message. In Mark, it says ‘Kingdom of God.’ The Kingdom of Heaven is a big enough subject to cover everything that God is interested in. It is so upsetting. So if you want to open your mouth and represent Christ, wash your mouth with soap or even a cleaning solution and stop talking about man, man’s glory, what man can do for God, or man’s needs. Talk about the Kingdom of God—who God is, His Kingdom, His King, and what He has done, and how we have sinned against heaven and how we need to repent. Talk about how to enter the Kingdom. It is all about God’s work, God’s salvation, and God’s grace—nothing of man.
Dave Merch preached an entire conference on the Kingdom of God; it covers everything. It is God’s reign. He, as King, created the world; He has all authority over us as Creator King. The devil attacked that Kingdom. God promised to restore that Kingdom through a promised King. He prepared that Kingdom in the Old Testament, and finally, the Kingdom came when Christ came. All the Old Testament promises in God’s Kingdom have come. Mankind is in sin and misery under the kingdom of Satan. The Kingdom of God has come to deliver and redeem us. People need to repent and enter the Kingdom by believing in the Son and what the Son has done on the cross. So, it is shorthand for the entire Gospel message. Preach the Kingdom, the rule and reign of God, that Heaven has come to Earth.
Today’s Christian message is so confusing. Is that the problem today, why preachers don’t preach God’s word, only stories, testimonies, visions, experiences, and jokes? The average unbeliever who turns on the television finds such a disparity that it’s virtually impossible for him to know the real message. Satan is not stupid. The best way to render the Gospel of no effect is to make sure no one knows what it is. The message is that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand; that imminently and available to every person is the rule and reign of God in their lives. All your miseries are because you are living in the kingdom of Satan. Repent and believe the King and His sacrifice for you. You can enter the Kingdom. That is our message. There is a sense of urgency in that statement.
So to rightly represent Christ, a man has to be sent by Christ, he needs to have a central goal, his ministry needs to have preaching as a priority, and then finally his message must be clear. We will continue to see other principles next week. But I think we see how we need to represent Christ.
In conclusion, have you believed in the King that Matthew is presenting, repented, and entered the Kingdom of God? Are you living under the reign of God? If not, why?
Do you realize you are disobeying a command of heaven? There are serious consequences in your life now because you have not listened to this command. Repent today and believe in Lord Jesus Christ. If you reject the message, you have terrible punishment and judgment waiting for you. Verse 15 gives a glimpse of it: “Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!“
Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Bangalore 