As the Lord enables you, pray
for His blessing on Vacation Bible School next week. I pray
the Lord will reveal Himself to our young people. I've entitled this message, The
Gospel of the Kingdom. And I like what Young's literal
translation, their manner in translating this, called the
gospel of the kingdom, the good news of the rain. I like that,
don't you? The good news of the rain. Now this is what is described
just before the Lord delivers his most famous sermon, the Sermon
on the Mount. I'm so excited about getting
into that. And when I read that passage
of scripture, you can feel an excitement and an anticipation
surrounding this. Can you imagine if you would
have been there at that time and the Lord was without the
use of means healing people. A paralytic, He healed them. Somebody blind, He gave them
sight. He was not at a loss. He didn't have to wait for someone's
faith. He spake their healing into existence. Now if that was going on today,
can you imagine what a crowd would be in here tonight? if
you could come in here and be healed. Well, the Lord had a
following at this time. It didn't end up being a following
of people who believed the gospel, but it sure enough was a following
of people who wanted to be healed. And I can imagine what that must
have been like at this time. Can you imagine being in one
of these towns he entered where these healings were taking place?
These healings without the use of means, simply because he willed
it. And what if you had a child that
was sick? Deathly sick. Wouldn't you be excited about
him coming into town? What if your spouse had a great
illness? Wouldn't you be excited? What
if you had a great illness and he was coming in healing everyone
he decreed to heal? You'd be excited. I'd be excited. He healed people who were taken
with diverse diseases and torments, the scripture says. The pain
and the anguish that comes with that sickness. Demon possessed
people, lunatics, people who had lost their mind, paralytics. He healed them, all who came
to him for healing, He healed. Luke 9, 11 says, he spake unto
them of the kingdom. Same thing going on here. And
he healed them that had need of healing. He said, the whole
need not a physician, but they that are sick. I came not to
call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And that is what created this
following of these great multitudes. And I can't help but think about
how exciting that must have been to be there at that time, knowing
what the Lord could do and would do, what anticipation. I bet people said, he's coming
here. Everybody heard of him. I mean, something like that doesn't
stay down. Everybody knew about him. And can you imagine in your
town. He's coming here. And I'm sure
they would gather up all the sick people and bring them to
Him. Look in verse 23. And Jesus went
about all Galilee. Now, Galilee was a region of
Israel on the northern part It was about six times larger than
Fayette County. That gives you some idea of the
size of this. It was 1,800 square miles, about
six times the size of our county. And it had over 200 cities and
villages. And he would come into all of
these cities and villages with this healing that was taking
place. And notice it mentions two things
specifically in verse 23. And Jesus went about all Galilee
teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the
kingdom, the good news of the rain. The King reigns. I love to think of the reign
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's in control. He never worries
about anything. He's undisturbed by any kind
of opposition that may come his way. He reigns. He controls everyone and everything. He even is sovereign of the thoughts
that are going through the minds of men and women at all times.
That's who he is. The good news of the reign of
Jesus Christ. Now, look what it says he did. And healing all manner of sickness
and all manner of disease among the people. Now he mentions sickness
and disease. You say, aren't they the same
thing? No, they're not. Sickness, cancer, heart disease, lung disease,
liver disease, lupus, whatever disease someone might have that
is a physical affliction, he healed them. Without the use
of means, he healed them. And then we read of all manner
of disease. And that word means literally
softness. What happens to fruit before
it rots? It's soft. And what this is actually
a reference to is weakness, exhaustion. disability. He healed all manner
of weakness, exhaustion, and disability, both physically,
mentally, and morally exhausted. He healed them. Now, why did
the Lord do this? Let me give you two reasons,
and they're both very good reasons. First, to give us evidence that
He is who He said He is, the Son of God. Only God can do this. Only God can do what He did. But I like this next reason.
He did it because He wanted to. He's tender. He's compassionate. He's full of mercy and grace. And this is what He wanted to
do. This is who He is. Gracious. Compassionate. I think of how
when the leper came to Him, the scripture says He was moved with
compassion. That is the Son of God. I think
it's interesting. When Moses was being used by
God to perform these miracles, they were miracles of judgment,
weren't they? He'd kill all the fish in the sea, turn the sea
into blood. bring hell down and kill people, all these awesome
judgments of, as people say, Old Testament biblical proportion,
the plagues, the lice, the frogs, the Lord, mercy, healing, touched with
compassion by these people. The Lord's miracles were mercy.
Now look in verse 24. And his fame went throughout
all Syria. Now you can imagine, everybody
heard about this. I'm just gonna keep this down.
He is healing people without the use of means. Is there anybody
sick? Let's get them to him because that's what he is doing. His
fame was all over the place. I guess he was the most popular
man in that region at that time. They still didn't understand
who he is. All they knew was his healings.
found out his claims, they weren't so happy about that. They said,
we'll not have this man reign over us. But right now they're
very happy about these healings. Verse 24, his fame went throughout
all Syria and they brought unto him all sick people that were
taken. Look at the language. They brought unto him all sick
people. Now this word sick comes out
of the word evil, evilly sick. Do you know anything
about that? Evilly sick. They brought unto him all these
people who were evilly sick. And what did he do? They were taken with diverse
diseases and torments. They were taken. They couldn't
deliver themselves. They were taken captive. They
were captured. They were in prison and they
knew it and they weren't blaming anybody but themselves. It's
not like they had some kind of victim mentality. It's not like
they had some kind of sense of entitlement, but still they knew
they were taken and it was all their fault. It's an evil disease
that had something to do with sin. Taken with the disease of
sin, tormented with the disease of sin, taken with evil. And look what it says about these
people, possessed. with demons. Those that were lunatic had lost
their mind. Sin makes one crazy. They had
palsy so that they couldn't move, they couldn't get to Christ,
but He healed them. He healed them. I love the way
it says they brought unto Him all sick people. They brought
unto Him all sick people, wouldn't Wouldn't you and I be blessed
if we brought Him sick people? First person you need to bring
is yourself, by the grace of God. But when we can bring people
to Him in prayer, asking Him to have mercy on them, save them,
we can bring people to hear the gospel, that's bringing people
to Him. And you'll do that when you know that their only hope
is that He might do something for them. That's, that's the
point they brought him. I want us to be these people
that bring people to the Lord. And I just love the excitement
and anticipation that was going on. You know, really that ought
to be our attitude at beginning here. Every time we meet together. this excitement, Lord's here. He's going to do something. Oh,
may we be delivered from a indifferent attitude about this or just going
through the motions of a religious service, but the Lord's here
and he heals lunatics. He heals people taken with disease,
people in torments. That is what he does. I'm thankful for that. Now, do you have this evil sickness? It's called sin. That brings with it inability
and torment. You feel demon possessed, sin
possessed, taken with it. and it makes you a lunatic and
a paralytic, you can't even move toward the Lord. He must come
to you. Now, there are so many examples
of this in the scriptures where the Lord healed people. We have,
I suppose, hundreds of examples in the gospels, but the one that
came to my mind, if you'll turn with me to Mark chapter 10, Mark chapter 10, verse 46. And they came to Jericho. He was on his way to Jerusalem.
He was on his way to the cross. And they came to Jericho, and
as he went out of Jericho, do you remember what happened in
Jericho? Lazarus was up in that tree. Lazarus, make haste, come
down. Today I must abide at thy house. He made haste, he came down,
and he received him joyfully. And as he's leaving Jericho,
like I said, on the way to the cross, Verse 46, And they came
to Jericho. And as he went out of Jericho
with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus,
the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side, begging. And this man was blind. He couldn't see. He couldn't
give you one reason why God would ever look his way in mercy. He couldn't see. And he was a
beggar. He could not work for a living.
That's out of the question. He could not please God by his
words. He was a beggar. And he was the
son of a man by the name of Timaeus. And that word Timaeus comes from
a Hebrew word which means defiled, evil, polluted. Blind Bartimaeus, the
son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side, begging. Verse 47, this man in this desperate
condition, And when he heard that it was
Jesus of Nazareth, now, I don't have any question that he had
already heard of Jesus of Nazareth. He heard a commotion. He heard
a lot of noise. And sometime before this, I don't
know when, he'd heard about one who healed men who were born
blind. He heard this. And at that time,
I had no doubt that somebody at one time or the other brought
him into the temple. He heard the scripture read and
he heard the promise that the Messiah would give sight to the
blind. And he thought, he's the Messiah. He's the son of God. If he ever
comes by this way, I'm gonna cry to him. And one day as he
was sitting there by the highway side begging, he heard this commotion. Who is this? What is this? Jesus
of Nazareth passeth by. And there's no way that I can
imitate how this must have sounded when he began to cry out, Jesus,
thou son of David, have mercy on me. Now, the first thing I would
notice about his cry And this is the most important thing we
could say of Bartimaeus. He knew who Jesus was. He knew
he was the son of David. He knew he was David's Lord and
David's son. He knew he was God's Christ.
He knew he was the Messiah. He knew that. I believe he knew
that before Jesus Christ passed by. He believed he was the Messiah,
but when he passed by, he began to cry what he knew. Jesus, thou
Son of David, have mercy on me. Now, what is he asked for? Mercy. He's not asking for God to give
him what he's got coming. You see, he really believed that
he didn't deserve anything from God's hand, and all of his problems
were his own fault. You know, you only ask for mercy
when all your sin and all your problems are your fault. If they're not your fault, you
don't need mercy, do you? You need justice. You need God to
give you what you deserve. But if all your sin is your fault,
you need mercy. And that's what he cried for.
Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. Have me and you
ever done that? Number one, do we know who he
is? Do we believe the same thing that Bartimaeus believed? That
he's God's Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, the Son of David.
We really believe that. And here's what we need from
him, mercy. Verse 48, and many charged him that he
should hold his peace. I love what the scripture says,
he cried the more, a great deal. If you need mercy, you're not
gonna stop asking until you have it. He cried the more a great
deal because anyone who cries for mercy needs mercy. I need his mercy. And many charged him that he
should hold his peace, but he cried the more a great deal.
Thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still. Now he had set his face like
a flint to Jerusalem. And all kinds of people were
calling out his name and he kept going. But here's something that
stopped him dead in his tracks. Jesus stood still. And let me tell you why. He always
hears the cry for mercy. Always. You cry for mercy. It'll get his attention. Jesus
stood still. Now, as long as you're a victim,
not your fault, as long as you have some kind of sense of entitlement
with God, he's not going to hear. But you cry for mercy. Jesus
stood still. and commanded him to be called. You know, all the Lord does is
speak by commandment. Everything he says is a commandment.
He doesn't offer advice. He doesn't suggest things. He
commanded him to be brought to him. Oh, I want to hear his command,
bring him to me. Now, I think it's kind of ironic. All of a sudden the people say,
be of good cheer, rise, he calleth thee. These are the same people
who tell him to shut up. Now it's saying, be of good cheer,
rise, he calleth thee. And he, casting away his garment,
rose and came to Jesus. Now there's a lot of significance
to that, that garment. I'm sure it was a security blanket
in many ways to him. I mean, if you're blind, you
want something around you, you feel like some kind of protection.
But this represents his filthy righteousness. It was a garment,
dirty, hard telling how filthy it was. But when you come to
Christ, the first thing you will do is see that your righteousness
is nothing but a filthy garment, and you'll cast it away, just
like he did. Paul read that scripture. He
that has entered into his rust has ceased from his own works
as God did from his. He cast that filthy garment off. He was glad to get rid of it.
And he came to Jesus, verse 51, and Jesus answered and said unto
him, now look what the Lord asks him. What wilt thou that I should
do unto you? I love that. He didn't say, what
do you want me to enable you to do? Or what are you going
to do? He said, what do you want me to do unto you? Oh, if the Lord asked you that,
how would you answer? Well, I love Bartimaeus' answer. He said, Lord, that I might receive
my sight. I want to see who you are. I
want to see who I am. I want to see who Christ is.
I want to see. I want to see how you can save
me by your grace. I want to see how you can save
me in a way that honors your justice. I want you to give me
sight. Now, is this all we need, what
he does? What wilt thou that I should
do? unto you, Lord, that I might
receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy
way, thy faith hath made thee whole. Now what is his faith?
that Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of David, the Christ, the
Son of the living God. Whoso believeth that Jesus is
the Christ is born of God. Somebody says that's too easy.
No, it's impossible once God gives you the grace to believe
it. But whoso believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of
God. Go thy way. Thy faith hath made
thee whole. It saved thee. And immediately
he received sight. And remember how the Lord told
him to go your way? Here's what it was. He followed
Jesus in the way. That is one example of how many
of the Lord's healings. Now go back to our text in Matthew
chapter four. Verse 23, once again. And Jesus went about all Galilee
teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the
kingdom, the good news of the reign. I love that. the good
news of the reign. Now, preaching is preaching the
good news of His reign. Now, the kingdom spoken of here
is not a Is that the way you say the word
kingdom? It is not a kingdom that has boundaries. The United
States has boundaries. Mexico, Canada, this kingdom
has no boundaries. It's the reign of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The good news of His reign, the
royal power, the kingship, the dominion, the rule of Christ,
the royal power of the Messiah. That was the message that was
preached. The good news of His reign, of
His kingdom. Now, I love to think about the
Lord Jesus Christ when Nebuchadnezzar was speaking of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's who he's talking about.
He said, his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. He doeth according to
his will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest
thou? Now, this kingdom is the kingdom
of the mysteries of God. The Lord said, it's given to
you to know the mysteries of the kingdom. but to them it is
not given." These mysteries that would have never been known had
not God made them known. Everything with regard to the
gospel is a mystery. If you could understand it, it
wouldn't even be true. It's a mystery that you bow to and believe because
Jesus Christ said it. Nothing else is needed. We believe
the mysteries of the kingdom. For instance, God, one God, in
three distinct persons. Would you have ever figured that
out? Of course not. Do you understand it even now?
No. Do you believe it with all your
heart, soul, and strength? The mystery of Christ in you,
the hope of glory, great is the mystery of godliness. God was
manifest in the flesh. I speak a great mystery. I speak
concerning Christ and the church. The two shall be one flesh, speaking
of union with the Lord Jesus Christ, believers being one with
Him. This is a great mystery. I speak
of Christ and the church. We read in Romans 4, 17, the
kingdom of God. This is the kingdom He was preaching.
It's not meat and drink. It's not do's and don'ts. It's
righteousness. The Lord has made a way for this
sinner to be altogether righteous before Him right now. That's
what the gospel does. He took my sin, put it away on
Calvary's tree, gave me His righteousness, so I stand before God righteous. And what comes as a result of
that? Peace. And what comes as a result of
that? Joy. in the Holy Ghost. The Kingdom
of God is not made in drink. It's righteousness and peace
and joy in the Holy Ghost. First Corinthians 420 says the
Kingdom of God is not in word, but it's in power. I love the
way the Lord said the Kingdom of God comes not with observation.
You can't say, well, here it is. There it is. No, it comes
with power though. The power of God in the Kingdom
and of His reign, the power for him to become flesh? The power for him to live a perfect
life? The power for him to die? Think about that. The God-man
died. What power is involved in that?
The power to raise himself from the dead? What infinite Power
is in the kingdom of God. The power to put away sin and
make it not be. Now, I'm told that batter can
never leave. Once it's in the universe, it's
here for good. It might change form, but it's always here. But the Son of God has the power
to make my sin to be no more, to put it away to where it is
gone. The power to make righteous,
the power to give a dead sinner life. The same power is exerted
in the resurrection that's given in giving a dead sinner life.
The power to preserve me were kept by the power of God through
faith unto salvation. The kingdom of God is not in
word, it's in power. We read this delightful statement
in Revelation 1-9, the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ. This kingdom is a patient kingdom.
Now what does that mean? Do you know the word carries
with it the idea of cheerfulness? The kingdom and patience of Jesus
Christ. I think of the patience of Jesus
Christ. This happened in the last couple
of weeks. I'm a big Reds fan. If you don't know that, you know
it now. I love the Cincinnati Reds and I take the games, much
to Len's chagrin, the way I can get through them quick. But I
go through the angst of watching the umpire cheat my team and
give the other team an unfair advantage. And I'm always upset
and I'm disagreeing with calls. Anxed. Anxed. I twisted around. I'm ridiculous about stuff like
that. But I had it taped. And I hit
something. And all of a sudden, it was a
recap of the game. And the Reds had won 4 to 1. And so I turned
the game back on. I wasn't worried. I was patient. I was real patient. Something
bad happened? It's OK. He missed a call? It's OK. We won. I know the end. Now that is the patience of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He knows the end. He wins. He is salvation. And we get to share in some of
that patience. We already know the end. He said,
it is finished. I know the end. No worries. No worries. We're taught to pray, our Father,
which art in heaven, thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven. The Lord said, seek ye first
the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Oh, have you, and I learned what
that means. I wouldn't be found in him not having my own righteousness.
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness, which is of God by faith. Seek ye the kingdom of God and
his righteousness. Be like Bartimaeus, throw away
that filthy rag of your own righteousness and seek to have his righteousness. Only Matthew 721 says, not everyone
that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of God,
but he that doeth the will of my father, which is in heaven,
which is believing the gospel. Believing the gospel. You know,
if you trust Christ, you're doing the will of God. He's put it
in your heart. But if right now you look to
Christ only, you are doing God's will. The Lord said, except you be
converted and become as a little child, you shall not enter the
kingdom of heaven. That little child is the capacity
to believe. You know, a little child just
believes what you tell them. They get older, it's not the
same, but when they're children, it's the capacity to believe
what you say. Then the Lord said in John 3,
3 and 3, 5, Unless we're born from above,
we cannot see or enter the kingdom of heaven. Now, think of this
glorious statement given by the king. Then shall the king say unto
them, come ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. Now, all this excitement,
going on with regard to his miracles, but there's something that they
would later reject. We will not have this man reign
over us. My reply is, you got no choice. He does reign over you. Because He is King of kings and
Lord of lords. The good news of the kingdom.
We love to sing of Christ our King. And hail Him, blessed Jesus,
for there's no word here ever heard so dear, so sweet as Jesus. Don't you love the good news
of the reign of Christ? Not everybody does. Matter of
fact, most people don't. What was the accusation written
over his head? Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. Well, while
it may be that many people have no love for this, all of the
elect love his reign. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
Lord Jesus Christ And Lord, how we thank you for his kingdom
that rules over all, a kingdom that has no end, no boundaries,
his reign. And Lord, we thank you for the
reign of your grace. We thank you for your absolute
control of all things. And Lord, we stand amazed that
you gave your son. to satisfy your justice so you
could save sinners like us. We give thanks. Bless this message
for your glory and for our good. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.