The Gospel in Street Clothes Part Two: Matthew 9:18-20:34
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Matthew: The Gospel in Street Clothes Part Two: Matthew 9:18-20:34 God’s Grand Plan is to fellowship with man. Fellowship is through the kingdom of heaven. PART ONE: Jesus delivers the kingdom of heaven to earth. Part One: Matthew 1:1-9:17 (accessible online at www.hashemministries.org) PART TWO: Jesus plants the kingdom of heaven on earth. Part Two: Matthew 9:18-20:34 PART THREE: Jesus describes the departure of the kingdom of heaven from earth. Part Three: Matthew 20:1-28:20 Lesson Nine: The kingdom of heaven on earth Matthew 9:18-38 And seeing the multitudes, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and downcast like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.” Matthew 9:36-38 Lesson Ten: Jesus explains Discipleship Matthew 10:1-42 Lesson Eleven: …Coming to Jesus Matthew 11:1-30 Lesson Twelve: Jesus explains Lordship Matthew 12:1-50 Lesson Thirteen: …Learning from Jesus Matthew 13:1-58 Lesson Fourteen: …Yoking with Jesus Matthew 14:1-36 Lesson Fifteen: …Understanding Jesus Matthew 15:1-39 Lesson Sixteen: …Testing of Jesus Matthew 16:1-28 Lesson Seventeen: …Seeing through Jesus Matthew 17:1-27 Lesson Eighteen: …Bypassing Jesus Matthew 18:1-35 Lesson Nineteen: …Stumbling over Jesus Matthew 19:1-30 Lesson Twenty: …Working under Jesus Matthew 20:1-34 They said to Him, “Lord, we want our eyes to be opened.” And moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they regained their sight and followed Him. Matthew 20:33-34 81 Matthew: The Gospel in Street Clothes PART TWO: Jesus plants the kingdom of heaven on earth. What is the kingdom of heaven? Jesus Kingdom of heaven Earth Jesus brought the kingdom of heaven to earth. This kingdom is the door to heaven, to God, and to eternal life. I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. Daniel 7:13-14 • The kingdom of heaven was presented to Jesus by His Father. • The kingdom of heaven is open to all peoples, nations, languages. • The kingdom of heaven is where people see and serve God. • The kingdom of heaven is an everlasting dominion. • The kingdom of heaven is pure and true and right, uncontaminated by sin or Satan, therefore it will never be destroyed. Jesus came to earth to plant the seeds of the kingdom of heaven on earth. Jesus brought the seeds of the gospel to the streets of earth. He walked among men, speaking truth, opening eyes, exposing weeds, and preparing the ground for the seeds of the kingdom of heaven to take root and flourish. Everywhere He went, everything He did was to plant the kingdom of heaven firmly on earth. The gospel is the good news that God has set up a satellite kingdom—a heavenly kingdom—on earth and people from every language, tongue, race, culture, and religion are invited to come into His kingdom and live forever. Where is the kingdom of heaven? 82 The kingdom of heaven is on earth in people who hear and believe and obey Jesus. Faith in Jesus transfers us into the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:13-14 Faith allows us to live through Jesus (through heaven) while we are on earth. The kingdom of heaven is a kingdom filled with people who are surrendered to Jesus; they are living through Him, not though their abilities or resources. They walk with Jesus and talk with Him and He walks and talks with them. They are earthly vessels filled with His heavenly treasure. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves. 2 Corinthians 4:7 Faith in Jesus transfers us into the kingdom of heaven; trusting Jesus in everything allows us to walk with Him through the landmines of this world. The challenge for every believer is to continually keep their eyes on Jesus and the kingdom of heaven because we are constantly being contaminated by the things of earth and navigating territory controlled by Satan. Apply these truths: This world is contaminated by sin and controlled by Satan. Jesus is not contaminated by sin or controlled by Satan. When He stepped into our world, He set up a kingdom—a heavenly kingdom—on earth and introduced a way for people to come out of the domain of darkness into this kingdom. When we come to Jesus, we come into His kingdom and to His Father and away from the world. Faith in Jesus, God’s beloved Son, transfers us into His forever kingdom… …but we still live in a contaminated world, controlled by Satan. Sin is a place where we have picked up and put on the contamination of the world and allowed Satan to infiltrate our hearts and minds. Sin has no place in the kingdom of heaven because Jesus is without sin and has canceled its power. Jesus sees where we are being contaminated and controlled. He steps in and speaks to us. When we see our sin, we can argue or agree. If we confess our sin (agree, surrender), Jesus takes it from us and cleanses us. If we refuse to hear the truth He is speaking to us, we make Him a liar. If we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. 1 John 1:8-10 In Matthew, the gospel in street clothes, we will see a dual dynamic: 83 Jesus plants the seeds of the kingdom of heaven in everyone who hears and believes and obeys. Jesus was broadcasting the seeds of the kingdom of heaven everywhere He went. Some fell on fallow ground and bore no fruit; some fell on good soil where it grew and produced fruit. Jesus is still broadcasting the seeds of the kingdom of heaven, working to bring people into the kingdom of heaven and to His heavenly Father. While Jesus was planting the seeds of the kingdom of heaven on earth, Jesus was also investing the keys of the kingdom of heaven in a few people who could be entrusted with the glorious task of continuing to plant and harvest and care for the kingdom of heaven on earth after He returned to heaven. Jesus would love to be able to entrust the keys of the kingdom of heaven to more people. Jesus entrusts the keys of the kingdom to a few key persons. And these things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. 2 Timothy 2:2 The Gospel of Matthew is the record of what Matthew heard and saw and learned as Jesus planted the seeds of the gospel in the people and prepared His disciples to take the keys of the kingdom. As Jesus traveled from place to place, He was intentionally training, teaching, and testing His disciples. Every day was on-the-job training; every person and every situation was an opportunity to learn more about the operation of the kingdom of heaven. These men were going to be entrusted with operating the kingdom of heaven on earth; they had to know and understand the mechanics, the manual, and the Maker. …One of the disciples failed to pass the test because his heart and mind were set on an earthly kingdom. Satan never tires of enticing disciples to focus on an earthly kingdom, rather than on Jesus and His eternal kingdom. Matthew 9-20 is the heart of God’s training manual for disciples. As we apply what we learn to real life, these lessons will reverberate and change us. Faith is taking Jesus’ teaching and training to the streets where we live. Jesus is still training, teaching, and testing disciples. Teach, Train, Test LESSON NINE: The kingdom of heaven on earth Matthew 9:18-38 84 The coming of Jesus and the establishment of the kingdom of heaven on earth fulfills the promises spoken to Adam and Abraham and Moses and David, but it is also a new work—a new beginning between man and God. But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment and a worse tear results. Nor do men put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out, and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved. Matthew 9:16-17 Jesus usually illustrated His teaching with real life.