The Ambassadors of the Kingdom

Listen, my children, and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five: Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day and year.

It was the spring of 1775 when when the famous words rang out into the night: “THE BRITISH ARE COMING! THE BRITISH ARE COMING!” For on that night, a man became a legend, as he rode into the town of Lexington, Massachusetts, to warn the people that the regular army red coats were coming!

See, the American colonies had received word that the British army was moving in to arrest both Samuel Adams and John Hancock, and that they would then proceed on into Concord to capture and destroy military stores of gunpowder, ammunition, and several cannons that had been stockpiled there. And so upon receiving this information, Paul Revere set out in the middle of the night without packing a bag, gathering food, or setting his affairs in order. He met two friends who helped him slip past a British warship in the darkness of night, by ferrying him across the river into Charlestown, where he borrowed a horse and set out in order to bring a message of great importance!

Riding in the night, Revere narrowly avoided capture from a number of British officers in the area, and eventually arrived at the town of Lexington. However, as he approached the house where Adams and Hanhock were staying, not everyone was excited about all the noise he was making. After all, it was the middle of the night and people were sound asleep! “Who did this man think he was being so rude and inconsiderate,” the guard outside the house thought. “IT’S LATE - STOP MAKING SO MUCH NOISE” - the guard said to Revere. Revere responded: “Noise?!?! You’ll have noise soon enough! For the Regulars are coming!”

Still, the guard wasn’t going to let him in, until finally John Hancock heard Revere’s voice and invited him in where he then received his vitally important message, which forever changed the course of human history. And why? All because one man, upon hearing such an important and meaningful message, set out without hesitation, in the middle of the night, freely and without payment I remind you, in order to bring a costly message of immense importance.

Church, in Matthew chapter 10, we come to a passage where Jesus has sent out his Paul Reveres to just do that. To deliver an important message that must be heard! A message that is freely given and freely received, And, a message that brings costly consequences if is rejected.

And so this morning please turn with me in your Bible’s to Matthew 10, verses 1-15, we will find 3 reasons why the message of Jesus’s ambassadors matters.

The message matters because it is: Important Free Costly

Why does the message of Christ’s ambassadors matter? Why should we even care? Well, we should care because the message is quite important.

Car’s extended warranty

Anyone here everyone gotten one those REALLY IMPORTANT messages left on your voicemail? You know what I’m talking about. The ones that start with, “THIS IS AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE!” Which get’s your attention right away! Because, hey, who wants to miss an important message? But then it goes on to say: “This is an important message about.... your car’s extended warranty.”

Now here’s the thing - we live in a culture where we are constantly being told by somebody that they have an super important message for us! And because of this, that makes it really easy for us to be like the guard who just wants peace and quiet, to tell everyone coming at us with their important messages to ZIP IT!

But here’s the thing, just as Revere was actually bringing an important message, so too do are the Ambassador’s of Christ. For in fact, it is the most important to ever be delivered! And what exactly is that message? It’s not about your car’s extended warranty, it’s actually a lot closer to the warranty of your soul - but that’s a pretty cringe analogy, so I’m gonna drop it and cut to the chase here.

What the gospel isn’t

Do you know what Jesus’s message isn’t? It’s not: God loves you and has a perfect plan for your life, It’s not: God sees your pain and hurt and wants to make the boo boo’s better, Nor is it: “God is desperate for you and wants you in His life!” That’s not the message. What is the message? The message is: “REPENT, FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND!” Which means, “lay down your arms you rebel sinners, for the king is coming to conquer His enemies! So stop your treason you traitors, and bow the knee!

Well that doesn’t sound very welcoming and affirming does it? That message might offend people! Right! It absolutely will!

Which of us like being woken up suddenly in the middle of the night with a message to GET OUT OF BED? Not me. It’s uncomfortable! It messes up my plans! It ruins my dreams! - LITERALLY

But so what? So what if people don’t wanna be disturbed from their blissful slumber. So what if people don’t wanna be woken up in the middle of the night. Because the reality is, if they aren’t woken, wokened, wakened.... Whatever... If they don’t wake up and hear the important message, they are going to really miss out in a crucial way!

Why repentence?

Now, why do I say the important message is repentance? Because that’s what Matthew says.

Remember back in chapter 3 what our wild-haired, locust-eating friend John the Baptist was preaching out in the wilderness? He was preaching:

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

Matthew 3:2 ESV

Which is exactly what Jesus began preaching, right?

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Matthew 4:17 ESV

And this is precisely the message Jesus sends His disciples to preach in verse 7.

Now wait a minute, verse 7 doesn’t say REPENT, it just says “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” “No repent there preacher! GOTCHA!”

Not really - It’s not there because it’s implied. Matthew is assuming you’ve read the first 9 chapters when he writes this, which is how you would know it’s implied. But regardless, in Mark’s account of this he writes:

So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent.

Mark 6:12 ESV

Repentance is fundamental to the gospel message of Jesus Christ, because without repentance, you... don’t... get into... the kingdom!

Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out,

Acts 3:19 ESV

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

2 Peter 3:9 ESV

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9 ESV

The Bible is crystal clear here - repentance is a necessary component of being born again. And in order to repent, you must come to see that you NEED to repent. Which means you must come to see your sin as God sees it. Sin is not a mistake Sin is not a mess up Sin is a wickedness as it is rebellion against a Holy God.

Now with that said, there’s A LOT going on in this passage that we might miss if we aren’t paying close enough attention, so I’ll do my best to be clear, and you do your best to stay awake and track with me here. *THINKING CAPS ON* Jesus is about to send His disciples out to do exactly what He’s been doing so far: preaching the kingdom and doing miracles. And it’s sort of a test run, or on the job training situation for them. But what has Jesus been doing so far, especially in chapter’s 8 and 9? He was healing people, right? But what does healing people have to do with repentance? What’s the connection there?

Now that’s a good question, but it’s a slightly more complicated answer.

If you were to summarize Jesus’s entire earthly ministry, what would you say it’s about? It’s about sin. Jesus’s entire mission was about dealing with humanity’s sin. And the miracles are not only showing that, but they are proving that He has not only the authority, but the power to deal with sin. They are proving that everything Jesus taught in chapters 5-7 on the sermon on the mount, wasn’t make believe!

Our Problem is SIN

Now, when it comes to every sickness and disease, what is ultimately to blame? Sin Right? Now don’t misunderstand me here, I’m not saying THE SINNER is to blame for suffering, I’m saying SIN is to blame And those are massively different answers. because some people will tell you that if you’re sick or hurting, it’s because you’ve got sin in your life and you wanna get better, then you better repent buddy! And while that sometime certainly is true, it’s not always true. For sometimes there is sickness, suffering, and hardship in this world, simply because it’s a sin-fallen world, and the effects of sin hit us without blame or prejudice.

Now, with that being said, as we saw in chapters 8 and 9, Jesus’s healing miracles show us that He has the authority and power to deal with sin. How do they show that? Now I don’t have time to jump back into all of this, so here’s the short recap version: Though sin makes us unclean, like with the leper and the unclean women with the bleeding disorder, Jesus not only makes the the physically unclean clean, but the spiritually unclean clean, and He does it with just a touch! Though sin makes us blind and unable to see our spiritual condition, like with the blind men, Jesus is able to give not only physical sight, but spiritual sight to the blind! Though sin makes us lame and unable to walk spiritually after our God, like with the young man lowered through the roof, Jesus can not only restore the our physical legs, but our spiritual ones so we can walk with God. Though sin puts brings us into bondage to Satanic powers, like with the demoniac, as we sing every Christmas, Jesus, Emmanuel, can free thine own from Satan’s tyranny! And He can do all this because, like with the young girl who died, not only can Jesus raise us physically from the dead, but He can raise us spiritually from the dead, which is our ultimate need.

The miracles of Jesus prove to a sin-fallen, pain-filled, suffering world that He can heal us our sin and bring peace to a peace-less world - for He is the Prince of Peace!

In Verses 5 & 6, Jesus instructs His Paul Reveres to go where? To the lost sheep of Israel. And why? Because that’s why He came - to heal and shepherd His people Israel!

Remember about a year ago what Matthew wrote in chapter 2 about this?

“ ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ”

Matthew 2:6 ESV

Matthew makes it clear to us that Jesus’s mission was primarily to the Jews. It wasn’t to the rest of the world - not yet at least. And why not? Is it because Jesus was prejudice? NO! It was because God’s plan for salvation was for the the Jew first, and then the Gentile (which is errbody else). Salvation was meant to come to the Jewish people FIRST, who would then be a light to the gentiles bringing them the message of salvation. And over and over you see hints of this all throughout Jesus’s earthly ministry.

For example: The gentile Magi are some of the first to worship Jesus as King! Jesus reveals who He is to the Samaritan women. Jesus heals the gentile centurion’s servant. After Jesus crosses the sea and calms the storm, He heals the two demon-possessed men who were most-likely gentiles. There’s a lot more examples of this, but you get the idea.

Offering the Kingdom to the Jews

What Jesus is doing is He’s offering the literal, physical Kingdom of God to the Israelites if they would only but accept their Messiah - their Savior! Yes, He certainly still would have had to die, BUT, He’s offering them the kingdom if they will but repent form their sin and accept their Messiah. But, as we’ll see in Matthew chapter 12, ultimately they refuse to do that, which is why in Matthew 28 Jesus’ instructions have changed. How? In that passage, which is called the great commission, He tells them to make disciples of ALL NATIONS! Not just the Jewish people. For by chapter 28, that ship has sailed.

Does all of that make sense? I wish I had more time to explain why all of that is so significant, but I’m competing with the smell of good food this morning, so we’ll have to save that for later.

Are we supposed to raise the dead?

But notice one extremely important thing here with me. What does Jesus command His disciples to do here? He commands them to, “heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and cast out the demons.” Now here’s the question. Is that for us?

There’s a lot of people out there who will tell you that this is for us. They will tell you that if we have the Spirit of God within us, we’ll do the same thing the Jesus and the apostles did. But I am going to tell you why that’s absolutely untrue At least not according to this passage.

Is our mission to the Jews only? If it is, then we got a serious problem here, cuz probably all of us aren’t Jewish.... We are gentiles.

Another thing, can Christians have more than 1 pair of shoes? Can we have more than 1 shirt? Are missionaries to other countries forbidden to raise support money for their ministry and are they banned from bringing luggage as the disciples were here?

Do you see the problem with equally applying this passage to ourselves as to the 12 disciples of Jesus? Not only would that make Scripture a huge walking contradiction of itself, but it would make evangelism and bringing the gospel to the ends of the earth a ridiculous task!

One more thing, and I’m not belaboring the point here just because, I really want us to see the incredible importance of understanding Bible verses in their proper context, because if you don’t, you can literally make the Bible say whatever you want it to say.

When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

Matthew 10:23 ESV

In verse 24, which we’ll get to next week, Jesus warns them that they won’t have gone through all of the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. Well what that mean? Because if this passage equally applies to us and the 12 disciples, then why isn’t Jesus back yet? Christian missionaries have already gone through all the towns of Israel, that’s not 2,000 year long job... Do you see the problem here? While this passage certainly applies to us, this passage does not equally apply to us as it did to the disciples. There’s a dispensational difference going on this text, that we can’t equally claim applies for us as the disciples did.

When Jesus says here that they will not have gone through all of the towns of Israel before He comes, He’s not talking the 2nd coming, He’s talking to the 12 disciples specifically letting them know it won’t be very long before he comes and joins them in their task. Because the reality is, His task was their task here. Which is exactly why He gave them APOSTOLIC AUTHORITY, as verse one says, to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, and cast out demons. And the reason He gave them this ability was that proved their authority of their message.

The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works.

2 Corinthians 12:12 ESV

in 1 Corinthians 4, Paul’s dealing with some big-mouthed bull frogs who are talking a big game when he’s not there. And in that chapter He writes this to them:

Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.

1 Corinthians 4:18-20 ESV

What kind of power did Christ’s apostles wield? A lot more power than it takes to lengthen legs and get rid of migraines. Remember Ananias and Sapphira. They lied and what happened. BOOM - DEAD. How’s that for church discipline....?

This was a unique thing church, and it’s a unique thing that is no longer here today - for as 1 Corinthians 4:9 says:

For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men.

1 Corinthians 4:9 ESV

The apostles were THE LAST true prophets of God who had a unique authority to carry their vitally important God-given message (or revelation) to the church, and this authority was validated by the remarkable signs and wonders they were able to perform.

The message matters because it is: Important Free

In verses 9-13, Jesus tells His ambassadors to give the message freely - don’t charge for it He says! He’s telling them not to turn His message into personal profit. And why not? Because it was a message they received freely!

If you’ve found salvation in Christ, what did you do to earn it? NOTHING! It was the gift of God so that no one can boast, as Ephesians 2 says. And Jesus’s rationale here is quite simple, isn’t it? If you were given it freely, how can you charge others for it? That’s a bit hypocritical there isn’t it? Yes it is, which is exactly what many of the modern-day “APOSTLES” and “miracle workers” do.

Oh they don’t say it exactly like that, they don’t tell you outright that they are charging for their healing or blessing they claim they can give - but it’s the same thing in the end. Do you want God’s blessing upon your life? Then sow a faith seed of 100$ and God will sprout that bad boy into a thousand dollars! Do you want to be healed? Then give to God so God can give to you! And by give to God they always mean their ministry, which means them. You get the idea...

But ambassadors of Christ don’t operate this way church. We simply share what we’ve been given, which is a message of HOPE & PEACE through Jesus Christ who is the Savior of the world! And to the degree that you’ve experienced Christ’s healing, IS THE DEGREE TO WHICH YOU WILL URGENTLY BRING THIS MESSAGE OF GOOD NEWS TO THOSE WHO DESPERATELY NEED IT?

Why does Jesus tell the Disciples to not carry a staff, and to only bring 1 shirt (not 2)? Why is He telling them to travel light? He’s telling them this because the MESSIAH HAS COME! The Shepherd of Israel has come for His lost sheep! Which is a urgent message that makes Paul’s Revere’s message look like someone calling about your car’s extended warranty! Because by comparison IT IS POINTLESS, for Christ’s message is the most important message of them all! It tells us that our deliverer has come! The redeemer is here! The Savior has come, and our sin has been taken care of! And this gospel message of hope and peace IS COMPLETELY FREE! You don’t have to work for it You don’t have to buy it You don’t have to be lucky enough to get it. You simply receive it by grace through faith in Christ Jesus as you repent of your sin and trust in the Savior who buries our sin as far as the East is from the West!

However, if you don’t accept it, If you don’t respond to Christ’s ambassador’s who bring the gospel message of Good News, it will the most costly mistake you’ve ever made. Which leads us to our last point.

The message matters because it is: Important Free Costly

Have you ever missed out on something because you didn’t listen? You ever bought a stock too late after a friend told you how good of a buy it was and you totally missed out? Hurts, doesn’t it? Friend, this is the most costly mistake you can possibly make. For to fall back to sleep and ignore the message of Christ’s apostles, is the most costly of all!

Verses 11 and 12 talk about peace being upon the house of those who receives the apostles, and peace returning if they reject the apostles, and the idea is this: To reject the King’s messengers is to reject the king. And if that king is powerful, which He is, you’re in for some serious trouble.

Shake off the dust

In verse 14, Jesus tells His disciples to shake off the dust of their feet if a house or town rejects their message. And what that visualizes is judgment

See, the Jewish people believed that even the dirt from Gentile towns was unclean, and so before leaving a Gentile region they would shake the dust off of their feet, which is actually a practice that is still done today in The Middle East. However, what this basically meant was that Jewish house or town, was just as unclean as the Gentile nations who didn’t know Yahweh God at all! Which would have been a BOLD STATEMENT! It would have been EXTREMELY offensive to a jew, Because the Jews thought they were spiritually clean simply because they were Jewish. But they weren’t clean... Not even close! In fact, as verse 15 says, these Jewish houses and towns who rejected Christ’s ambassadors were even more guilty than Sodom and Gomorrah, which were two cities in the Old Testament who were so sinful that God wiped them out completely by raining fire down upon them.

Largely speaking, the Jewish people rejected their Messiah. They rejected His kingdom. And why? Because they refused to repent of their sins and turn to the only one who could provide forgiveness of sin and the healing we desperately need! And because of their costly decision, instead of finding peace with God, they will one day soon, on the day of judgment, find the wrath of God waiting them with the force a trillion Suns!

So what about you? How have you responded to the Messiah? Have you heard His message and repented of your sins and trusted in the only Savior who can heal you from your sin?

Maybe you’re here and you realize you’ve been rejecting Christ’s gospel message of salvation which is given FREELY by grace through faith. Maybe you’ve thought that your sin isn’t a problem with God, because you’re a pretty good person. You pray sometimes, you believe in God, you try to be a good person - surely that’s enough! Right?! it’s not - for that kind of thinking is no different than how the Jews responded to Christ.

“We don’t need you, Jesus!” “We are good people!” “We believe in God!” “We are the descendents of Abraham!” But none of that can heal us. None of that can deal with our sin! For only CHRIST, the Son of the living God has the power and authority to heal us! And unless we accept Him, we won’t be healed and we will die in our trespasses and sins!

And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

Matthew 11:4-6 ESV

Don’t take offense to the healer’s message. Don’t reject the only One who can heal you! instead, repent of your sins and turn to Christ. And then join us as we endeavor to Paul Revere it up around here, as we share the gospel with those who so desperately need it.

_ Christians, how are you doing with that? Does your Christian life better reflect the urgency of Paul Revere, or the guy who wanted everyone to just go back to bed? Are you urgently sharing the gospel message of Jesus with others out of your immense gratitude and thanksgiving for the salvation you were freely given? If not, why not? If not, remember that though your salvation cost you NOTHING, it cost Christ EVERYTHING! It cost Him the cross, where He suffered for your sin, my sin, so that by His stripes and wounds we might be healed. Are you thankful for that?

Does your life show that you’re thankful for that? Surely these are questions that would do us all well to reflect upon this Thanksgiving season. For we, the saved and redeemed people of God have the most important reason to be thankful! For we have received SALVATION - RECONCILIATION WITH GOD, FREELY AND FULLY, which is the most costly and precious gift of all. Which is... the most important message of all.

May we as a church never forget it, and do everything we can to bring this important message to those who so desperately need it.

This is the manuscript the sermon was preached from, so the recording may differ in places.