Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Matthew, chapter 18. Matthew, chapter 18, as a general
rule, I usually preach out of the book of John and then after John, we usually look in
the book of Proverbs. But this morning, I would like
for us to look first in this first message in the book of
Matthew. And then we're going to look at something in the book
of Romans in the Second Service, Lord willing. I'd like for us to look at Matthew
18, verse 1. Verse 1. At the same time came the disciples
unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest? in the Kingdom of Heaven. Let's pray together. Our Father, this morning we thank
You for the blessed privilege to be able to call upon Your
holy name. And we know that, Lord, through preaching You've been
pleased. Call your people out. Comfort
your people. Lord, would you bless this word.
I pray you'd bless the services for Christ's sake. Amen. The disciples of the Lord Jesus
Christ came to the Lord and asked Him The disciples asked Him, Who is the greatest in the kingdom
of heaven? I read that question and it caused me great wonder. Not one that had never really
heard Him. Not one that He had not crossed paths with.
Not just someone that He walked into a city and the first time
they ever heard Him spoke. No. The disciples. Concerning that very question
right there, the book of Mark says that the disciples disputing
among themselves who should be the greatest. And the Scripture says that while
they were in the way, disputing, arguing among themselves, the
Lord knew. Not while they were doing it,
but he knew later. Well, he knew it then, but he
asked them later about it, and they held their peace. Boy, how lofty do we think of
ourselves. I will tell you this, no one here is as high as they
think they are. No one here is as talented as
they think they are. No one here is as wonderful as
they think they are or as faithful as they think they are. Our Lord in verse 3 of Matthew
18, well, let's look at verse 2. After that, who is the greatest
in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child
unto Him and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say
unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children,
ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." Except a man be born again, born
from above, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven. Man died spiritually in the fall. And he must be quickened by the
Spirit of God. Who is the greatest in the kingdom
of heaven? The Lord said, except ye be converted
and become as little children, ye shall not enter. and to the kingdom of heaven. I thought about that, except
you be converted and become as little children. You know, a child, number one,
is generated by another. A child does not produce himself. A child is dependent upon another.
He can't help himself. You take a little infant, that
child is absolutely helpless. A child is made in the likeness
of another. A child doesn't create his own
characteristics. A child is a possessor. of the
inheritance of the One that produced him. A believer in the Lord Jesus
Christ is one that is born of God. Born of God, not born of himself. A child does not decide one day
I think I'm going to exercise my ability to produce myself. How? You weren't even there to
produce yourself. Who's the greatest? Except you
become as a little child, you'll not even enter. Our Lord brought this very issue
to the forefront concerning the greatest. Who is the greatest
in the kingdom of heaven? Here's what he said, Matthew
18, 4. Whosoever, therefore, shall humble
himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom
of heaven. So the greatest in the kingdom
of heaven is the one who humbles himself, makes himself low, abases
himself, brings himself to the ground. That's the greatest. You know, there can be but one
greatest. Who is the greatest? Now, you know, we may talk about
someone being great, but when you use the word greatest, greatest
in rank, greatest in ability, greatest in virtue, greatest
in authority, greatest in power, there can only be one. Who is
the greatest? Our Lord said, Whosoever therefore
shall humble himself as this little child, that little child
that is needy, that's the greatest. The Scripture says concerning
our Lord Jesus Christ, humbling himself. Philippians chapter
2 verses 7 and 8, he made himself of no reputation. Though his divine nature, there
was no change in his divine nature obviously, but he emptied and laid aside his rank and dignity
for a time. He humbled himself. Listen to the words of David's
penmanship concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this is Christ
speaking. Psalm 22.6, But I am a worm. and no man, a reproach of men
and despised of the people. Standing in the place of his
people, how far did he humble himself? Well, I know this. He was rejected of men. He was rejected of His Father
at Calvary. No one save the Lord Jesus Christ
has ever been forsaken as He was. He took upon Him the form of
a servant in the lowest condition No one ever abased himself as the Lord Jesus Christ. The Scripture says he was made
in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man. He humbled himself and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Who is the greatest in the Kingdom
of Heaven? Who's the greatest? The Scripture says, Take my yoke
upon you and learn of me. For I am meek and lowly. That word lowly means humiliated. You know, I don't want to be
humiliated, do you? I don't want anybody to say anything That's
going to humiliate me. I don't want to be embarrassed. He said, I am meek and humiliated
in heart. Consider Him who stood in our
place. What I am by nature, I deserve. to be talked about as a rebel. I deserve to be talked about.
I've earned what you can say about me. I'm truthful. But he who knew no sin took upon
himself the form of a servant made in the likeness of men,
made himself no reputation The Scripture says, He bore our griefs
and carried our sorrows. My iniquities have taken hold
upon me. He was stricken and smitten of
God in absolute justice. Made sin, bore our sin in His
own flesh. Who is the greatest? Listen to this verse of Scripture.
Verily I say unto you, Matthew 11, 11, unto them that are born
of woman, there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist,
notwithstanding he that is leashed in the kingdom of heaven is greater
than he. And you know, if that was anybody
else saying that save the Lord Jesus Christ, that verse of Scripture right
there, when you realize what he really said. Among them born of women there's
not been a better, greater than John the Baptist, notwithstanding
he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." Now, I know there's no degrees
in heaven. Now, degrees in hell, I'd go along with that. based
on our Lord's Word. It's going to be more tolerable
for Sodom and Gomorrah. It's going to be more tolerable
for Sodom and Gomorrah than it is going to be for one person
that heard the gospel and rejected Christ. It's going to be more
tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah that it is a fearful thing to
fall into the hands of a living God. Someone that has sat under
the gospel of God's grace and heard the message of hope and
peace in Christ Jesus and rejects that, it's going to be more tolerable
for Sodom and Gomorrah than for that person. So I know that there's degrees
of hell. But in heaven, we all have one
crown. Our crown of righteousness is
our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. In Him we are complete. In Him we are full. In Him we have all things. There's no respecter of persons
with God. In Christ, all that will ever
be found in glory, in Him, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ,
everyone that stands with Him and in Him has Him. There's no degrees. There's no degrees in heaven. So when it says, that there's
not been a greater than John the Baptist, but he that is least
in the kingdom of heaven doesn't mean that some of you are going
to get in, you know, just right under the wire there, just got
under the door, you know. But some of the others, you know,
the Pauls and the Brother Scotts and the Brother Henrys, you know,
they'll make the, no, oh, no, oh, no, no, no. There will be no degrees. So
when it says, he that is least in the kingdom of heaven, there
can be but one. The least in the kingdom of heaven
is the one who humbled himself, who made himself of no reputation
and took upon himself the form of a servant and made in the
likeness of men. Let me ask you this. Has there
ever been one born in Adam that could ever say, I humbled myself
like no other ever has? Consider how far he humbled himself. The Scripture says that the Word
First, the Word was made flesh. The Word was made flesh. You
know, if I think about for myself, if I could become a physical
maggot, just a low, crawling, wiggly maggot and just feed for
the rest of my life on some dead, rotten carcass out on the side
of the road, if I could become that, I wouldn't I wouldn't be
going that far. But He who is the Word Himself,
God Almighty, the Scripture said, was made sin. He who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. He must be made flesh. that He might die, that He might
obey as a man from the throne of glory to being made the very
dregs of our nature. He made Himself the least. I didn't make Him the least.
He made Himself. of no reputation, took upon himself
the form of a servant. He humbled himself, laid down his life. You think of him taking that
basin of water and washing his disciples. Peter said, you'll
never wash my feet, not you, not you. He said, Peter, if I
don't wash your feet, you don't have any part with me. He said,
all my head and my hands. No. He said, you're clean. Our walk is daily cleaned by
Him who has made us pure by His blood. But He Himself, He made
Himself, He with the everlasting arms of His mercy and grace made
Himself low that He might pick us up and hold us up and redeem
us. He made Himself to be what we
are and bore the very judgment of God. But He is not there now. The Scripture says, Wherefore
God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is
above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should
bow of things in earth and things under the earth, that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God. He who made himself least What was it going to take to
redeem a sinner? You know, we read that word,
he humbled himself, and it doesn't come across like it really is. We just think of a little thought or two. He said, I'm a worm. For the life of me, my heart
It's broken because of my insensitivity, because of my inability to grasp
hold. How low did he make himself to
be? And Almighty God exalted him. He that is least
in the kingdom of heaven is the greatest. And He, as the Lamb, came to
the one that sat upon the throne. The Scripture says there was
the book. He that sat upon the throne had a book in His hand.
There was the book of God's eternal decrees. There was the book of
God's eternal purpose and will. There was God's decrees of that
everlasting covenant of grace. Who is worthy? It was sealed
with seven seals. It was completed. There was nothing
going to be taken away from it. There was no more to be added
to it. It was done. Who is worthy to take the book
and to open the seals thereof? And John said that there was
no man in heaven, no man in earth, and no man under the earth that
was found worthy. There was no one in heaven that
had been now taken up into the very presence of God, that knew
something of the everlasting grace of God to bring them to
Himself. Those that had actually entered
now into the very presence of God, they were not worthy. There was none on the earth.
There was none that would be sitting here today that would
know something of God's mercy and grace to keep us in the midst
of the trials and the tribulations. There's none even here that knows
something in regeneration. There's none worthy here. And
there's none worthy under the earth. There's none that would
even be in hell. today that would say, I know
something right now about the judgment of Almighty God. I can
tell you something. There was a rich ruler. Remember
that ruler? It was Lazarus and this rich
ruler, and he died. He fared sumptuously every day.
He lifted up his eyes out of hell, and he said, Father Abraham,
did you ask Lazarus to come over here and dip his finger in some
water and touch my tongue? I'm tormented in these flames. Not possible. Would you have
Lazarus go back there and talk to my seven brothers? I've got
seven brothers. And I don't want them coming
to this place. He said, they've got the prophets, the law of
the prophets. They won't hear them. No, if
one came back from the grave, they wouldn't hear him. No man was found worthy. But
the Scripture says, John said, I wept much. But one of the elders came to
him and he said, Weep not. Behold, the Lion of the tribe
of Judah. There was one that stood there
as a lamb. And that elder said, He's the
Lion of the tribe of Judah. He hath prevailed. to take the
book and to open it up. Who is worthy? I'll tell you
who's worthy. He that made Himself least in
the kingdom of heaven. He's the greatest. God highly
exalted Him. And this morning, we praise and
bless Him who humbled Himself Even in my fickle inability,
I'm listening to what I'm saying right now and I can't grasp it. Can you, Carl? I can't. I hear
what I'm saying. But my thought is this morning,
Lord, thank You. Thank You for having mercy on
me. Thank You that You don't count iniquity, that You don't
Look upon me. You don't mark iniquity. Lord,
thank you that you don't mark stupidity. Thank you that you
don't mark my ignorance and charge it against me. Lord, if you don't
have mercy on me, I'm going to perish. Lord, as you say you
are, as you say that you made yourself a worm, Lord, as you
say you did, thank you. for the indescribable grace that
you've shown this sinner for Christ's sake. Amen.