“Sending Out the Twelve” – Matthew 10:1–15

Sermons – Harvest Community Church (PCA)

Hear now the word of the Lord from Matthew chapter ten, verses one through 15. "And he called to him his 12 disciples, and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out and to heal every disease and every affliction. The names of the 12 apostles are these first Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew, his brother James the son of Zebedee. And John his brother Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collector, James the son of Alphaeus and Thaddeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. These 12 Jesus sent out, instructing them, go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and proclaim as you go, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You receive without paying. Give without pay. Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals, or a staff, for the laborer deserves his food. And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart. As you enter the house, greet it. And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable in the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town." The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Well in 474 BC, started with a story from Old Testament history last week. We'll do it again today. In 474 BC, the city of Susa, a citadel city in the Persian Empire, was thrown into chaos and disarray. Earlier that day, a decree had gone out declaring that within a year's time, all the Jews in that city and throughout the Persian Empire would be put to death, as there were many Jews who lived in that city and many Jews scattered throughout the Persian Empire. There was fear and panic as the Jews heard this word and realized that it came to them as a death sentence. Now, what made this decree authoritative was not because the King himself had sent it. He didn't, although it was sent out with his consent. What made it authoritative was that it went out with the seal of the king, and because that decree bore the seal of the king, that decree went out as the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked. And so as the Jews were Jews worried and and fretted, what are we going to do? Well, if you know this story, you know that for such a time as this God had raised up a young Jewish woman named Hadassah or renamed as Esther, and God raised up Esther to be the queen to this king, the one who could do something about it. And this Queen Esther as queen, risked her life to expose this plot and bring this to the attention of the King. Now, when the plot had been exposed and the one behind this plot, an evil man named Haman had been executed, put to death, hanged on the gallows that he himself had constructed to try to put Mordecai, the relative of Esther, to death. Well, once that was all done, the decree, the original decree still stood out. What are we going to do? Since on a certain day, again with a law of the Medes and the Persians that cannot pass away, every Jew was to be destroyed. Well, the plan was determined that a new decree would be sent out, not a decree that could revoke the old one that was not possible, but a new decree that would instead go out and say that on that particular day, when the Jews were to be destroyed, the same Jews could defend themselves, even putting to death anyone who tried to harm them. Now, I want you to put yourselves in the position and the shoes of Jews who were not in Susa, but scattered to the far reaches of the Persian Empire. I want you to think about every day that had passed since those couriers, those messengers, had first come into your city, declaring that you had a death sentence hanging over your head. And when you wondered, how could this be, knowing that this man standing in front of you was not the king and you asked to authenticate this? How do I know this is true? He pointed to the seal of the king in wax marked with the signet ring of the king, saying that this came with the authority of the king. I want you to think about having to live out the rest of your days. So you thought, with that dense death sentence hanging over you to another day, just a couple of months along the way, where writers came into your city on the fastest horses in all the empire, and where this decree was written in your own language, because the new decree was translated into all the languages of the Empire, and where a new declaration was made that you could defend yourself and put anyone to death who was trying to harm you, that word came to you as salvation. You had to be wondering, is this true? Is this all just a dream? Am I making this up? And once again. That courier would point not to his own authority. He wasn't the king, but to the seal. The seal which bore the authority of the king, and and carried this great news of salvation to the far reaches of the empire, with the full authority of the King himself. Well, this morning we're reading about how another decree of another king is going to go out to the far reaches of the earth. You see, just like the King of Persia could not individually go to all of the villages in time to bring the decree of salvation to the Jews and set right what had gone wrong earlier. So Jesus Christ, even though he is God Himself, even though as God he is without limits or boundaries, yet he took upon himself a human nature, and in his humanity as a human, he couldn't go to every place. He couldn't go to every place in Galilee, much less to the ends of the earth, personally bodily, to bring the decree of salvation that he came into this world to accomplish. And so how is the authority of King Jesus and the declaration which is sealed not in wax, but in his own blood, going to get out to the ends of the earth? What we see today that Jesus is going to send couriers, messengers, apostles. To bring this news translated into every tongue under heaven, to declare that Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners. Our big idea then today that we're going to see in the passage we're looking at is this that Jesus sends ministers to administer the authority of his kingdom. Jesus sends ministers to administer the authority of his kingdom. So three parts to our text this morning. Number one, the ministers in verses one through four, the ministers. The number two in verses five through eight. The mission. The mission. And then number three in verses nine through 15 the method, the method, the ministers, the mission and the method. The Ministers (Matt. 10:1–4) The Mission (Matt. 10:5–8) The Method (Matt. 10:9–15) The Ministers (Matt. 10:1–4) So let's start with the ministers and verses one through four. Now remember the context. Remember last week we looked at verses nine or chapter nine, verses 35 through 38 where Jesus looked out on the crowds and he had great compassion on on them as harassed and helpless sheep without a shepherd. And he instructed his disciples to pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest, to send to send out more laborers into the harvest, because the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Well, now we're starting to read about that first crop of laborers that the Lord of the harvest Jesus Christ, is going to send into his harvest. And so we read about the 12. We read in verse one. And he called to him his 12 disciples. Now we've read about some of Jesus disciples so far. We've read about five of Jesus disciples. So far, we've read about Peter and Andrew, James and John, all fishermen who are all called at the same time. Uh, back in Matthew chapter four. And then we have also read about Matthew himself, the author of this gospel, but we read about his calling back in Matthew nine, chapter nine. So we read about five of these disciples. But now we read that there are to be not only five, but 12. We don't have the individual stories whereby these other seven were called, but we know there are 12, and that's important. He called to him his 12 disciples. There's number 12 is important because it's symbolic. It's it's representative of the 12 tribes of Israel, not as though these 12 represented a replacement of Israel, rather that these 12 represented the restoration and the renewal of God's people of Israel. This is a renewal and a restoration for the Old Testament church, as John Calvin writes in his commentary. And note what Jesus does for his disciples. And he called to him his 12 disciples and gave them authority. Now we've read, if you've been with us in our study of the Gospel of Matthew, we've read much about Jesus's authority. Jesus was recognized as one who had more authority than the scribes and his teaching. We saw how Jesus authority played in the way that he was, had authority to cast out demons and to heal various diseases and things like that. And here we read that this same authority Jesus is delegating to his disciples. He gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out and to heal every disease and every affliction. Jesus has authority that's central to what Matthew wants us to see about Jesus. And now Jesus is delegating that authority to those whom he is commissioning and sending, to declare and to bring his decree of salvation to the world. But these disciples themselves. Are not particularly impressive people. They're not particularly authoritative people in themselves. These people are really, by and large, nobody. Uh, one commentator, Osborne, notes that of of the 12 disciples represented here, if you look at the classes that they represented, the classes in society, they represented the highest ranking people among this group were the for blue collar fishermen, that's as impressive as this group got was a group of fishermen at the top of the tier of this organization, of this ragtag bunch of disciples. They weren't particularly notable, but yet they were given a great task of continuing Jesus's own mission. Remember in Matthew nine verse 35, we read that Jesus, as he went around in all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, that he was also healing every disease and every affliction. And right here we read that these 12 disciples in chapter ten, verse one, are to heal every disease and every affliction they're carrying on Jesus's work. But notice in verse two. That these are not just disciples. Disciples are learners that we understand that we get that these are disciples. But Matthew goes on and said, they are not only disciples, but we read that these are the 12 apostles. The names of the 12 apostles are these. Now apostle is a word that carries more authority than just a disciple. Anyone can be a disciple, but not anyone can be an apostle. The word apostle comes from the word to send or to send out. In fact, in verse five, if you look later when it reads that these 12, Jesus sent out the verb there for sent out is apostolo. So the idea of Jesus is sending out his sent out ones. He's apostles, the apostles. That's what Jesus is doing with these apostles. He's sending them to go speak on his behalf. Now, this is the only time that the word apostle is going to show up in the Gospel of Matthew. We'll read it through the rest of the New Testament. But Matthew wants us to know right from the beginning that these 12 bore authority, not their own authority, but that they were stewards of the authority of Jesus. And so we read the name of these apostles, and they're organized in three sets of four, three groups of four. The first four, these are four of the apostles, the disciples whose calling we read about in Matthew chapter four. Simon, who is called Peter, first of all, him. Uh, we note, first of all, Simon, because he did have a particular role of authority. He was not someone who was elevated necessarily so far above the apostles. He was one who was the first among equals. Peter is always associated with the apostles. He's not elevated above them, but yet he has a role of leadership in their midst, the first among equals. So Peter and his brother Andrew, and then James and and John, their brothers, the sons of Zebedee. So that's the first group and then the second group. In verse three, we read about Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew. Now, Philip is someone who comes up in John's gospel. We read about, uh, Philip's calling story in John chapter one. Now, what's interesting there is that Philip also invites one of his friends, a man named Nathaniel, to follow after him. He tells to Nathaniel, come and see this one whom he's found, the one who is the hope of all Israel. And Nathaniel says From Galilee, can anything good come from Galilee? And Philip just responds, come and see. And then Nathaniel is called to follow Jesus. Now, because Philip and Nathaniel are associated in the Gospel of Matthew and they're associated here, some people think that Bartholomew is another name for Nathaniel, and I think that's a pretty persuasive kind of an idea, but it's not totally laid out here. But we should note that there are a lot of disciples who go by different names. We've already read about one Simon, who is called Peter, and we'll read about one who goes by two names a little bit later, but Philip and Bartholomew, who maybe is Nathaniel from John chapter one. And then we read about Thomas. Thomas, who is the doubting Thomas. But he has a lot that we read about him in the Gospel of John and then Matthew, the tax collector. We've met him. And of course, he's the author of this gospel. That's the second set. The third set then. Include a bunch of people that we know very little about, except for the very last one. In this third set of four people, we read about James the son of Alphaeus and Thaddeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. Now these are the first time we meet these four individuals. Of course, we're going to read a whole lot more about Judas. And Judas were told right from the beginning is going to be the one who betrays Jesus. That's very important. But Thaddeus, we should maybe point out in the Gospel of Luke chapter six, verse 16 is not called Thaddeus there, there he is called Judas. So again, we have another disciple who goes by a couple of different names. That's where there's maybe some plausibility to thinking Bartholomew is Nathaniel. But here then, are the names of these 12. But this third list of four people is really interesting. As Leon Morris points out, it's not just that we don't know about their origins. It's not only that their origins are unimpressive, but also we really don't know anything about them. Subsequently, very little is known about them. Almost nothing is recorded about them in the Gospels, and we don't read anything about them in the, in the, in the, in the, in the book of acts. We don't read much about them in church history, he says. Evidently, Leon Morris writes this. Evidently some of these were not memorable men. If this is so, it would accord with the fact that God has often chosen people the world has regarded as insignificant through whom to do his wonderful works. Now, this is interesting. You have people who are from the lowest parts of society who are elevated as apostles, and you have these apostles who many of whom we really don't know hardly anything about. These are totally obscure people that Jesus is going to use to delegate his authority to bear and to bring about and to carry his message, his decree of salvation for the world. Now, I think a similar story or a similar theme we get in a group that I think is one of the most heroic groups of the people who fought in World War Two, those who are called the code talkers. I think I've talked about these code talkers before. Uh, but these code talkers helped the United States military to make secret codes that were unbreakable because they didn't use the high and lofty and well known languages at the time. They didn't use English or French or certainly not German at the time to build these these codes. They rather use the languages of the Comanche people, the Hopi people, the Meskwaki people, and the Navajo tribes. There was a strange paradox here that the effectiveness of these codes, which were never broken during World War Two. The power of these codes lay in the absolute obscurity of their languages. Outside of these tribes, no one knew these languages, and so they could string together codes using words in their own languages that were entirely unknown to the rest of the world. They were obscure, and that was their power. Well, so too Jesus knows what he's doing. He is choosing obscure men. And there's a strange paradox that the power of the gospel is going to be revealed, in part by the obscurity of the ministers whom Jesus sends to declare this gospel. Because by sending people who are not powerful, not high, not lofty in the world. What Jesus is demonstrating is the power of the gospel is not in the popularity of the people who represent it. But rather in the power of God Himself. If Christianity is going to succeed through these men, everyone will know it's not because of these men, it's because of the man that they represent, the man who is also God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, who is crucified for sinners. So the ministers that Jesus chose were not impressive people. But yet, let's not get hung up with the men. Let's move on to see their mission, because their mission is going to be absolutely impressive. The Mission (Matt. 10:5–8) They are going to bear Jesus's own authority in the world. So next we're going to see in verses five through eight what Jesus sends these apostles to do. So the second section we come to is the mission. The mission. Now the instructions for this mission are going to run from verses five all the way through 42. We're only going to look at five through 15 today, and then we'll continue on in our study as we move forward. But it's kind of interesting to note that, though we have detailed instructions for this mission, we never actually read that they go on this mission. Now, certainly they must have. But what we're being told is that the mission itself at the moment is not important. In fact, these instructions, we get the sense and we're really clearly revealed here are really only provisional in a lot of ways. We're not sort of forced to take these and use and apply these exactly in the same way. Today we get these instructions to see kind of what's happening at this point in redemptive history at this point in Jesus's public ministry. But these aren't to sort of lay down a pattern for all time about how Christian ministry is supposed to go. We'll get more of that when we get to the book of acts. Now these apostles went, and we read, though, that when Jesus went he told them to go nowhere among the Gentiles, or literally go nowhere on the way of the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans. Now, here's one of these places where we are getting something that is only a temporary restriction. By the end of the Gospel of Matthew, we are going to read that Jesus sends his apostles to go to all the nations of the earth to make disciples. So what Jesus is saying here is only temporary. It's only just provisional for what's going on right now. But it's also important to to note that the language here, the way of the Gentiles, the town of the Samaritans. One commentator points out these are place designations. It's not that Jesus is forbidding his disciples from ministering to people. It's that Jesus is telling them, don't go for the moment to particular places. The way of the Gentiles. Any city of the Samaritans. So places, not people. And the reason for this is that for the moment, Jesus wants their main focus to be particularly sharp. In verse six he says, go, only, go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. These lost sheep of the House of Israel are the harassed and helpless sheep without a shepherd that Jesus felt such compassion for back in chapter nine, verse 36, and Jesus saying, where this going to start is first we're going to go to the Jews, and then later we will go to the Gentiles. Well, in verse seven, Jesus gives them their main task. And proclaim as you go, or preach as you go, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. They were going to preach that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, or that it is near. That is, they're going to preach that the King has arrived, and he is establishing his kingdom that is not of this world, but he's going to establish that kingdom in the world. This kingdom is going to be in the world, but not of the world. Now, if we look at a summary of the message that Jesus preached about the kingdom so far, and the summary that we have gives us some clues about what Jesus was after when he sent these disciples to preach and proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. It tells us something about their main objective. Their main focus was the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Their main task was to preach, but their main objective in their preaching was to bring about repentance. When John the Baptist came on the scene in Matthew chapter three and Matthew chapter three, verse two. John the Baptist came preaching, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Then when Jesus began his own public ministry in Matthew chapter four, verse 17, he said, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Jesus is still telling his disciples to go out and preach. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. And so the significance of this is that they are to preach for repentance, for people to turn from their sins and turn in faith to Jesus. But in addition to this preaching, Jesus is also instructing his disciples and giving his disciples authority to do miraculous deeds. And so we read in, in verse eight, they are going to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. They are going to do all of this in a way that is going to support the message of their preaching. It proved the authority of the message. This would function as the seals on the decree that these emissaries, these ones who are commissioned, were going out to declare that this message is true, that it bore the authority of the King himself. Now, it's instructive to think about the nature of the mission that Jesus assigns to his ministers. Why does Jesus primarily send them to preach? And then he says that after these preaching, he's going to then also send them to do these miracles and healings? Why is the priority on preaching? Well, I want you to think about those couriers who were sent out in Esther's day. They were speeding along, or they were sent to declare and to proclaim the good news of salvation. Now, if you think about that first decree, that first decree came declaring death. That first decree came saying, you are going to die on a certain day within the year. But imagine then, if the next set of couriers came and they brought gifts for them. Well, we know the last message was bad, but we want to bring you some gold, maybe some really nice food or some spices that you can use in your cooking. What good would that have done that would have simply let them make a very nice meal, a last meal for their death row that they were on? Or what if they had come and they had and they had maybe offered some miraculous healings? Here we are and we're here to heal any diseases that you have. Yeah, you still have to die, but we want to make sure that you're in tip top condition for when that death sentence is executed. What good would that do? What the people really needed was a decree. A message that salvation was on the way, a message that their lives would be spared. And that's why it was so good. When those apostles, those couriers, those ones sent out by the King, and with the authority of the king to declare that they could defend their own lives. Well, in the same way Jesus sends his disciples, sends his apostles out into the world to declare and to preach a message of salvation to the people. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. In other words, repent, for salvation has drawn near in the person of the king. The Method (Matt. 10:9–15) So to recap, the ministers themselves are very unimpressive people, but this mission is of cosmic importance. This mission is to declare the kingdom of Jesus to the world. Well. Finally, Jesus instructs them on how they are to carry out this mission. Now we come to the method and I said verses nine through 15. But really, we also have to look at the very end of verse eight where Jesus said, you received without paying, give without pay. And then in verse nine he says, acquire no silver or gold or copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals, or a staff, for the laborer deserves his wages. What's interesting here is that the disciples are not supposed to take with them supplies or gear or food. They're not supposed to pack up for a big journey and make sure in advance that all of their needs will be met along the way. But that doesn't mean that Jesus intended them to go hungry. The laborer deserves his wages, Jesus says. So instead of preparing all of these rations and things to go with them, Jesus had a particular plan that would meet the needs of his disciples, his apostles, on their way. And so in verse 1111, he says, and whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it, and stay there until you depart. The idea was, is that jeez was sending his disciples, and when they would arrive in these different towns and villages and cities, they would just start the work. They would start preaching, they would start teaching, they would start healing. And as they were doing this ministry, certainly a crowd would come to listen to them, to watch what they were doing. And in that process, they would identify someone who would graciously offer to them hospitality. I see what you're doing, I can see that what you're doing is of the kingdom of God that has come into this world. Why don't you stay with me while you are here? And they would then stay with that person, and they were supposed to say to that person until they departed. Now they were probably two reasons they had to stay with that same person until they departed. The first is that that would create a natural limitation on the time they could stay in one place. They wouldn't want to overstay their welcome. Jesus wanted them not to set down roots in the house of whoever offered them a place to stay, but rather to keep going, to keep on preaching through all of these cities and villages, to all of the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But the second reason they couldn't move on from the original place they were supposed to stay, is that Jesus didn't want them to be tempted to shop around for better lodging and food. Oh, I see that you were staying with that guy. But why don't you come stay with me? Well, I think I might. That sounds really nice. No, they weren't supposed to do that. They were supposed to continue on their way. But Jesus also told them that they were to judge their hosts in some way. In verse 11, after finding someone who was worthy and staying with that person, we read then in verse 12, as you enter the house, greet it now, not just the building. As you enter the building, greet the house that is the household, the people there. And this isn't just saying, hi, how are you? What they were doing by this greeting was actually like, what happens when I give the benediction at the end of the service? I'm not just saying words the Bible says that's actually putting God's name on his people. In the same way, when they greeted that house, they were putting God's peace on that house. And so we read then in verse 13 that if the house is worthy, that is, if that hospitality continues in these people are earnest and seeking and following after the Lord and learning more about the kingdom, then Jesus says, let your peace come upon it. Stay upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of Judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town. So their hosts are not gracious. The piece is supposed to return to the disciples. It's not going to stay as a blessing for that people, as the first installment of the blessings that are going to flow from the King to his kingdom. But rather the disciples are to shake off their feet. Uh, part of this has the idea of removing impurity. I don't know if you've ever seen on the movies. Maybe you've seen a sci fi movie where someone is exposed to some level of radiation, maybe from a a nuclear, a bomb that goes off, or maybe from a nuclear plant meltdown. And if you if, you know, they have to, they have to completely get scrubbed down. Why? Because if you let that radiation stay on you, it can not only affect you and infect you and kill you, you're actually radioactive as you walk around and you can start hurting other people. The same kind of idea was carried in the in the Jewish idea of uncleanness. The my uncleanness not only renders me unclean, but I can also then infect you. And so there had to be a decontamination. That's why they would shake the dust off of their feet, to leave that contaminated radioactive dust that would bring about the fire and sulfur and judgment of heaven. That would be worse than the day of Sodom and Gomorrah on that town. They wanted to leave it all there. But that does. Shaking it off would also bear witness against them so that it would be worse for that town on the day of Sodom and Gomorrah, or than it was for the Sodom judgment on the Sodom and Gomorrah. What we're seeing here again, the first installment, the first set of instructions, we're seeing just a snapshot into one moment in how Jesus is sending out his apostles to begin to declare the gospel of the kingdom first to the lost house of Israel, and then later, as we're going to see to the rest of the world, to all nations. So what then should we draw from this? Rather than sort of trying to apply this and directly inform how we do ministry today? Although there are some lasting principles, some of the details are just for that moment in time. How then should we apply this to our lives? Well, the first thing is true. The first thing is the enduring message, first of John the Baptist and of Jesus, then of these disciples. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. When we talk about repentance, we are talking about a change of mind that stems from a change of heart, that overflows into a change of life. It's changing your mind about your sin. Recognizing what I have done in this life is wrong. But it's not just intellectual. It stems from a change in heart. Not only to recognize that you are wrong, but to hate the filthiness and the odiousness of your sin. In such a way that overflows into a change of life. You don't just feel bad and then go back right to what you were doing, but you are turning from sin and turning toward faith in Christ. The message of the gospel is that the Kingdom of God is at hand. The King has come into this world. The King has now gone into heaven, where he is seated on his throne, and one day he will come again to judge. On the day that he comes, there will be no further time to settle your accounts with him. And so the message of the Bible tells us that we need to be ready. If you're reading the McShane Bible reading plan that many of us are on, you may have read this week The Parable of the virgins, and that there's this great big wedding feast and and there are ten virgins who are all waiting for the bridegroom to come into the city. And there are five wise virgins who are prepared. They're ready to go. When the bridegroom comes, they have oil to light their lamps, and they're ready to go when he arrives. But they've all been sleeping. And there are five other virgins who are foolish, and they don't have oil. They're not prepared. And so they ask some of the wise virgins, can we have some of your oil? And they say, we don't have enough for both of you. You need to go out into the markets and buy it for yourselves. And when they're all busy buying oil for their lamps, the bridegroom comes. And they miss him. They're not prepared, they're not ready. And because of that, they're locked out of the wedding feast. They're left in darkness where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. And the point of that parable is, be prepared. The day is coming when the King will return to judge. Have you repented? The coming of the kingdom is imminent. It can come anytime now. It may not come for thousands of years, but it may come moments from now. Sin deceives us to think that there is always more time. I'll deal with God later. I'll change that about my life later. But Jesus says, repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. The kingdom of God has drawn near. This may be your last Lord's Day. This may be the last sermon you hear. This may be your last opportunity to repent. And the warning is, if you are someone who has heard this gospel, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for those who are not worthy and who do not. And I don't mean that they're good enough to receive this gospel. I mean that they demonstrate their worthiness by repenting of their sins and looking to Jesus in faith. Because this gospel comes not only with a warning. But with a promise that the King is kind and he is merciful, and he is gracious to save repentant sinners, that this king came so that he willingly suffered and bled and died, so that all those who repent may be forgiven. This gospel of the Kingdom of heaven is a great word. Will you not repent? But if first application is to repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. The second is this that we must recognize that the church is the administration of King Jesus's authority. Remember, our big idea is that Jesus sends ministers to administer the authority of his kingdom. You see, we have such a weak view of what the church is in reality. Westminster Confession of Faith 25, paragraph two puts it very clearly that the visible church is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the house and family of God, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation. We've such a low view of the church, we think it's a social club or a hobby group or a special interest organization, but it's not. The church is an embassy of heaven established here on earth. This is the territory of heaven here on earth where the gospel of heaven is proclaimed here on earth. And here. Because Jesus's body is up in heaven. The decree comes from the king declaring by his own authority, sealed in his blood, that all those who turn from their sins and look to him in faith will be forgiven. And this is why Jesus sends ministers. See, in America, we don't recognize that the idea of a minister is a governmental. Terms. Kings have ministers who then go out into the world to execute the agenda of the king. And so to have ministers in the church means that you have ministers of King Jesus who are declaring the decrees of the Lord. Not because ministers are great, ministers are obscure, they are unimportant. They are weak in the world. The first ones were, and still to this day we are. The ministers are not great, but the ministry is great. As we proclaim the gospel of the kingdom. In Matthew chapter 16, Jesus is going to explain that the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus is one of the keys of the kingdom, that it opens wide the gates of heaven to sinners, by declaring that sinners may be forgiven and counted righteous through faith in Christ. And as we gather, week by week, it is King Jesus who leads our worship from heaven, who declares to us that decree of good news, of salvation sealed in his blood. The King speaks. His people listen, believe, and are saved. But I want to bring this back to something that we talked about last week. This is why church planting is so essential. Bible studies are not enough. Parachurch organizations are not enough. The lost sheep of the house of Israel and all the nations of the earth need churches, because churches are embassies of the kingdom where Jesus administers the authority of his kingdom through ministers. These ministers are those couriers who were sent out, who were sent out to make these authoritative declarations of the king's decrees. The first decree that went out from the king is the law, the law that condemns all of us to death, because all of us have fallen short of the glory of God. But then ministers are not only to declare the law, but also the gospel, the gospel that Jesus Christ died to save guilty sinners. And this is a gospel, the decree that comes out that says, for all those who turn to Jesus and are saved, you will be forgiven of your sins. And this is again sealed not with wax and a signet ring, but in the blood of Jesus, marked in the piercings of his hands and his feet and his side. But there's a role in this for all of us. It's not just pastors. As much as pastors have a role in declaring the authority of King Jesus, just as every nation of the world, just as every community needs churches as embassies of the kingdom. So there cannot be churches to get into the life of every individual person. We then go out from here as ambassadors of the kingdom. Declaring the good news of Jesus to our own individual friends and neighbors and coworkers, inviting them to come into the embassy where they can be saved and find salvation from the wrath of God. So we're called in to pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send more laborers into the harvest. And we are also called to pray that God will send us to those who need to hear it, that God has raised us up for such a time as this to reach those people. This is the this is the calling to which we are called. This is the gospel that Jesus gives to us. This is the hope of salvation we have in his name. Let's pray. Heavenly father, we thank you for the church. We thank you for the place where King Jesus's gospel can be declared to us and we pray. That just as the gospel has come to us and that we have been saved by it, we pray that you also would continue to send us out into the world to reach those who do not yet know him. Thank you for your first disciples, and thank you for the great commission that continues to send us into all nations and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that you have commanded us. We pray this in Christ's name, the one who has received all authority in heaven and under heaven. It's in his name we pray. Amen.