Luke chapter 9. Verse 46, Luke 9, 46. Then there arose
a reasoning among them, Which of them should be the greatest? And Jesus, perceiving the thought
of their heart, took a child and set him by him, and said
unto them, Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receiveth
me, and whosoever shall receive me receiveth him that sent me.
For he that is least among you all, the same shall be great. Even after our Lord had taught
them here in our text what was important, in the very words just preceding
this, He told them what they needed
to stop and think about. Let these words sink down into
your heart. The son of man is going to be
delivered into the hands of men. Think about who I am and what
I'm about to do. And after all they had seen and
heard as they walked with him, And even we find in Luke 22,
let me read that. Turn to Luke 22 if you would.
Even after they had just partaken of that
last supper with him. And I want to read part of that
before we get to the part that parallels our text. Listen to
verse 15, Luke 22, 15. And he said unto them, With desire
I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I say unto you, I will not
any more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of
God. I'm going to sit down with you
one last time on this earth as we are now. and eat this last
supper with you. And he said, I've been looking
forward to it. And so this won't happen again
until we sit down together in glory. What a precious, precious thing. And he took the
cup, verse 17, and gave thanks and said, take this and divide
it among yourselves. For I say unto you, I will not
drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God shall
come. And he took bread, and gave thanks,
and break it, and gave unto them, saying, this is my body, which
is given for you, this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also
the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant
in my blood, which is shed for you. But behold, the hand of
him that betrayeth me is with me on the table. And truly the
Son of Man goeth as it is determined, but woe unto that man by whom
he is betrayed. And they began to inquire among
themselves which of them it was that should do this thing. And
there was also a strife among them, which of them should be
the greatest." Even at that even at that time. And he said
unto them, the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them,
and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors,
but you shall not be so. It's not like that in God's kingdom
here or there. It's just not like that. There aren't preachers and lay
people, there aren't experienced believers and You know, as far
as time is concerned, yes, but a believer with gray hair doesn't
necessarily know any more than a young believer. That doesn't
happen that way. It does take time to grow in
grace, but time doesn't just cause you to grow in grace. And when you do grow, what happens
when you grow in grace? Does that tend to raise you up
in your own sight? Or do you just become even more
of a servant, more humble, realize how little
you know and how little you deserve His grace? You shall not be so. He that
is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he that
is chief, as he that doth serve. For whether he is greater, he
that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth, it is not he that sitteth
at meat, but I am among you as he that serveth. Look at Matthew
chapter 18. I want us to read what our Lord
said about this before we begin to talk about it. We don't have
anything to talk about until we hear what he said, 18.1, Matthew
18.1, At the same time came the disciples
unto Jesus, saying, 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 you be
converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter
into the kingdom of heaven. whosoever therefore shall humble
himself as this little child he makes it clear what he means
by as this little unless you become as little children we
could think about that what does he mean by become humble yourself and whoso shall receive one such
little child in my name receiveth me and then mark chapter nine Mark chapter 9 and verse 30. And they departed thence and
passed through Galilee, and he would not that any man should
know it. For he taught, now listen, this is like our text in Luke
9. For he taught his disciples and
said unto them, the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of
men and they shall kill him. And after that he is killed,
he shall rise the third day. Do you realize what he's telling
them? He's telling them the gospel. He's telling them what their
hope is. These are the words of eternal
life that Christ must die in your place and he's going to
rise again. What he accomplishes on Calvary
is going to be successful. But they understood not that
saying and were afraid to ask him. And when he came to Capernaum,
being in the house, he asked him, what was it that you disputed
among yourselves by the way? Now he just told them what matters.
He just told them all that matters. And as they were walking along
after that on the way to this house in Capernaum, they're having
a discussion. And he knows what they're saying,
he knows what they're talking about. But he asked them, what
was it you disputed among yourselves? You were having a little argument
there. What was that all about? But they held their peace, for
by the way, they had disputed among themselves who should be
the greatest. If we would understand what's important, let's talk
about what's important. Let's discuss what's important. It says they didn't understand
what he said. Well, maybe they could have talked about that
then and Asked him, you know, what do you mean Lord? What does
all this mean you being delivered? We don't want that to happen,
but we think we want to understand What you're saying And he sat down and called the
twelve and said unto them if any man desire to To be first, the same shall be
last of all, and servant of all. And he took a child and set him
in the midst of them. And when he had taken him in
his arms, he said unto them, Whosoever shall receive one of
such children in my name receiveth me, and whosoever shall receive
me receiveth not me, but him that sent me. What does it mean to be great?
Who shall be greatest? Everybody should want to be great. But what does that mean? There
are two ways to think of that. To be great to most people means
being rich or to have authority of some kind, to have a high
position in this world, which usually wealth goes along with
that. How many poor people do you think there are that have
ever been leaders of a country? To be great to most people, that's
what it means. Just having or being those things,
though, says nothing about your character, about who you are. That's what the Lord's talking
about. Some who have had the greatest
authority in this world have proven to be the most despicable
and base characters that ever lived. I don't want to offend anybody
today, but the one man that's famous for saying, famous for
saying, I have a dream that someday men won't be judged by the color
of their skin but by the content of their character. You start
looking at the content of his character and he might not want
to be judged by the content of his character. It has nothing
to do with what color he is. He's right about that part. Were they great because they
were elevated to a position of some kind or lauded by men? I
want to be great. Don't you? I hope you do too.
I do, I honestly do, but not in the sense of just being powerful
and rich in the things of this world. We're highly esteemed
by men. When I say I want to be great,
I want to excel at what I do. What's the point of doing it
if you're not going to be any good at it? I may not be, but I sure
do want to be. And if I can figure out that
I'm not, then I'll quit doing it and do something else. that
maybe I can be good at. Just speaking of earthly things
now, I want to succeed at what I do, don't you? If you don't
have any desire to succeed, then what in the world are you doing
it for? I don't want to just get by. I don't just want to
be good enough. I want to be great at it. Whatever
it is. And even in that there are pitfalls,
because the question arises, why do you want to be great?
So people don't think well of me, you know, think highly of
me. That's not a good reason. So I can get rich. Well, again,
there's nothing wrong with being rewarded for what you do, but
why do you want to be rich? And what does it mean to you
to be rich? Why do you want that? Look at
James chapter four. Verse one, from whence come wars
and fighting among you? The disciples were having a dispute.
In the very face, in the very face of sweet, beautiful grace
and important teaching, they were fighting amongst themselves.
How does that happen? Come they not hence even of your
own lust that worry your members? Their lust for greatness, for
power, for recognition, for being somebody? You lust and you have
not. You kill and desire to have and
you're not going to get what you. This world is not going
to obtain what they're looking for. They think that they're going
to get a bunch of the things of this world that's going to
make them happy. It's not going to make them happy. They're not
going to get it. You cannot obtain. You fight
and you war. You'll trample people under your
feet to get up the ladder another rung. But the reason that you don't
have what you need, the reason that you don't have
what you need is because you're striving and lusting and wanting
things that are not going to accomplish that for you. Here's why you don't have it.
Because you haven't bowed before God and said, God give me what
I need. You ask and receive not because
you ask amiss. Here's another reason. That you
may consume it upon your lusts. It's a selfish motive. And God's
never gonna bless that. And if you're not blessed of
God, you have nothing. Doesn't matter what you think
you have. Doesn't matter how big your bank account is. You
have nothing. What you need is God's blessing,
and the way you obtain that is you ask Him for it. That's what
James is teaching. You ask Him for it. He gives
it freely. You adulterers and adulteresses,
know you not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a
friend of the world is the enemy of God. You're going to align
yourself with this world because you think you're going to get
what you need from this world? Then you're standing in a terrible,
terrible place. You're the enemy of God. Do you
think that the scripture saith in vain, the spirit that dwelleth
in us lusteth to envy? Oh, but look, but he giveth. You got to slow it down if you
understand this passage, don't you? We don't understand anything
like we ought to. But a little bit of light here,
maybe. You got to slow it down. But he giveth. You see the context
of it here? you're fighting and you're disputing
and you think you're going to you know people fight we talked
about inheritance this morning people fight and scrap and oh
I'm going to hire the best lawyer I can and they do all that thinking
they're going to this is what I need this is what what you
need is what God alone can just give you just give it to you he giveth more grace Wherefore he saith, God resisteth
the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. You know, it takes
humility to ask God for what you need in the sense that he's
talking about here to finally just say, look, if I'm going
to have what I need, I'm not going to get it by what I did. I'm going to have to throw myself
on the mercy of the God of heaven and earth. To do that, you have to come
down, aren't you? You've got to come down. Submit
yourselves therefore to God. You see that in verse 7? Resist
the devil and he will flee from you. What you need is God. God is the answer. Don't fight
the devil. That's not your fight. The way
you resist him is by submitting to God and not your own lusts. Draw nigh to God. and he will
draw night of you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners,
and purify your hearts, you double-minded." How do you do that? John said,
I saw some folks in heaven with white
robes. And the angel said, who are these?
And John said, you know, these are they which have washed their
robes and made them white. In the blood of the Lamb. How
am I going to wash my hands and make them white? That same blood. You double my... Be afflicted
and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to
mourning and your joy to heaviness. That which you think makes you
happy in this world, you need to realize, like Paul, that's
loss. That's not something to rejoice
in, that's something to mourn over. Humble yourselves in the
sight of the Lord. What do you mean humble myself?
Ask. Depend upon Him. Cast your soul
upon Him. Come to the place where you know
you're not ever going to have anything that you need, anything
worth having, until you just cry out to Him for it and He
says, I will. And He'll lift you up. Come like
that leper and say, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.
I can't help myself, but you can help me. I will. He'll lift you up, won't he?
He'll lift you up. What do you suppose the disciples
meant by being the greatest in the kingdom? They're sitting
there talking about who's going to be the greatest. What do you think they
were saying about that? Let's try to answer that. One
problem they had and why our Lord said they must be converted.
You must be converted. You know what that means? To
turn oneself around. To change one's course of conduct. To change one's mind. You know
why he said that? You're going to have to turn
around and go completely the opposite of where you're headed
right now. You know why? Because it was
a competition to them. Which of them is going to be
the greatest? I want to be, I'm going to be greater than you.
And they argued about that. How do you argue that? And again, we're speculating,
but look, there ain't that many ways you can argue that. Okay.
And perhaps, and if this wasn't specifically the case, This still
reveals what our nature is. I guarantee you that. Maybe Peter,
James, and John might have said, well, it's clearly going to be
one of us. Because the Lord included us
when he raised that little girl from the dead. Nobody else could
even come in but us three. So we can narrow it down to us,
and it's me because of this, that, and the other. On the Mount
of Transfiguration, there wasn't anybody allowed to come up but
Peter, James, and John, so all three of them are probably throwing
that in on their resume, don't you imagine? Does Him being gracious to you
in a special, particular way, does that make you great? Or
does that make Him great? Our attitude is so selfish, isn't
it? So self-righteous. He does things like that by his grace. And his grace is
not upon the great. It's upon the weak and the base
and the foolish and the things that are not. So that's pretty
bad reasoning, isn't it? Say, oh, he must be greater.
He wouldn't have blessed us in this special way. Oh, my. You're going to have to turn
completely around from that, aren't you? You don't have to
be converted if we think like that. May God turn us. I like
what the prophet cried, Lord, turn us and we'll be turned.
We need to be converted, Lord. Amen. Convert us and we'll be
converted. Might they have been saying things
like this? Well, nobody's cast out more devils than me. They
just come back, you remember, And been rejoicing, you know,
that they were given the power to cast out devils. Maybe they
were saying, I cast out more devils than you did. That'd be
just like us, wouldn't it? Our Lord said, don't rejoice
in that. Rejoice that your names are written
in heaven, which, by the way, is something you had nothing
to do with. Rejoice in that which you had
nothing to do with. Rejoice in the free, sovereign,
eternal, before you were ever born, grace of God. Rejoice in
that. You see what he's teaching here? He gives gifts and takes them
away. Blessed be his name, not yours. God has said that he has saved
and deals with sinners the way that he does specifically so
that no flesh should glory in his presence. So what in the
world are we doing glorying in his presence? And that's exactly
what they were doing. That's exactly what we do too. By nature and when this flesh
rises up, who maketh thee to differ from
another? And what hast thou that thou
didst not receive? Now if thou hast received it,
why do you glory, as if thou hadst not received it? For you see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble are called. But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things which
are mighty, and base things of the world, and things which are
despised hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not to bring
to naught the things that are that no flesh should glow in
his presence. So that we would shut up once
and for all about being great And who's gonna be greater than
who? But there they are. But of Him are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto you everything that you are and
everything that you need. You think you're smart? God put
you in Christ and He is your wisdom. Let him that glorieth,
let not the wise men glory in his wisdom, or the mighty man
in his might, the rich man in his riches, or any man in anything. Let him that glorieth, glory
in the Lord. Isn't that what he's saying to
them? What are they doing in our text?
They're glorying in their flesh in his presence. And this is
why he said to them and to us this morning, if you do not turn
completely around, if your mind is not utterly changed upon that
point, you don't need bother worrying
about who's going to be greatest in heaven. You're not even going
to be there. That's what he said. You're not even going to enter
into the kingdom of God. He's saying that to the elect. He knows who's going to be in
the kingdom and who's not when he said that. So why did he say
that? He's emphasizing clear truth
here, isn't he? You don't have to come down.
And they would. We do. And then we get lifted
up again in our hearts and then he brings us down again. Got
to bring us down. How does he bring us down? By
teaching us. He had just emphasized to them
what was important and they didn't understand it. If you don't understand the truth
of God, don't rest until you do. It's not that complicated what
he told them. If they knew anything about the word of God, When he
says, I've got to be delivered into the hands of men and be
crucified and rise again the third day. Would that have brought
any bells from Isaiah 53 or from Numbers 22, the serpent lifted
up in the wilderness or from Abel's lamb or from anything
in the Old Testament? If they'd have been thinking
about what the Lord had just said to them, which he said, let this
sink down into your ears. There wouldn't have been an argument. And let me say as clearly as
I can, if by God's grace he enables us to just dwell upon the truth
that he has revealed to us in his word, until we know it better and better
and better. I don't want to learn anything
new, do you? There ain't nothing new worth learning. I just want
to know Him better. I want to understand Him better. I want to understand what He
did better. I want to understand what He reveals better. If by
His grace we can just focus on that, there won't be any argument.
There won't be any bitterness. There won't be any strife. There
won't be any ugliness. Do you suppose that they meant
by being the greatest in the kingdom that others would serve
them there? That was the idea they had in
their head. That they would sit next to Christ and be served
by others. You remember it came up one time,
who's going to sit on your right hand and on your left? He had
to straighten them out on that, didn't he? Here's how it's actually
going to be. And he showed me a pure river of water of life,
clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and
of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either
side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare
twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month.
And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of
the Lamb shall be in it. and His servants shall serve
Him. That's glory right there. Serving
Him. Can you think of anything better
than serving Him? Honestly. Think of anything better
than that. Would you consider an achievement
of greatness to not have to serve Him anymore? Did you think maybe heaven, you
know, we serve Him now, we toil and we labor in the ministry.
Oh, but up there, you know, we ain't got to serve nobody. We're
going to be exalted. Exaltation, greatness is serving
Him right now and forever. It don't get any better than
that. The desire to be great in the way that the disciples
were talking about, to be great, whatever their specific thoughts
were, is to think too much of yourself. They obviously argued
reasons why they would be the greatest, whatever they were.
We're speculating about specifically about the casting out of devils
and about how some of them were privileged to see things that
others weren't and things like that. They argued reasons, they
reasoned among themselves who would be the greatest. Do you
have any reasons? Do you have any reason why you
maybe should be above somebody else here or there? Do you have any reasons why God
would even include you at all, much less exalt you? I like what the thief on the
cross said because of God's grace upon him. He said, Lord, remember
me, remember me. Is that enough for you? Do you
need to be greater than that? Remember, just remember me. Is that enough just to be remembered
by the king? When you enter into your kingdom,
just remember me. To desire to be great in this
way that the disciples were arguing about is to think too little
of Christ. If all of God's sheep are going
to be just like Him, and that's pretty clearly revealed in this
book, then let me ask you just simply, what's greater than that? What's greater than that? If we're all going to be just
like Christ, how can one be greater than the other? Can there be
anything greater than being like Him? And has not our Lord taught us
to prefer one another over our own selves? Be kindly affectioned
one to another with brotherly love in honor of preferring one
another. Romans 12, 10. Philippians 2, 3, let nothing
be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind,
let each esteem other better than themselves. You know, we can begin to imagine
what that might be like when we think of our children. I'd say most of us here would
honestly say they would rather see their children prosper or
benefit from something or be blessed in some way than to have
themselves be blessed or benefit. I think I can pretty honestly
say that. I'd rather see them enjoy something than for me to
enjoy it myself. That's the way it should be with
all of God's people. Brothers and sisters and children. Who is my mother? Who is my brother? Who is my sister? Look not every man on his own
things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this
mind be in you. What does it mean to be that
way? It means to be like him. Let this man be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus. Who, being in the form of God,
thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself
of no reputation, and took upon him the form of the servant,
and 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. And he said, you must become
as little children. Little children. He made it pretty clear what
he meant by that in the general sense of just humble yourself. You're going to have to humble
yourself. God's going to have to give us a spirit of humility.
He's got to bring us down, doesn't he? He knows how to do that.
We're not just going to do, we're not going to achieve that on
our own. As little children, what does it mean to humble yourself?
They're dependent. They're not independent. Now,
when they get a little bit older, they begin to think maybe that
they are independent. And someday they will be independent.
That's why he didn't get a teenager and say, be as this teenager.
He got a little child. Our Lord knows how to illustrate
things, doesn't he? A little child that he took up
in his arms They're dependent. If they need
something, you know where they get it? From their daddy. You've got to come to that place.
And they're satisfied with what he gives them. Little children
are. Little ones. And their father won't withhold
anything good from them. He said, you know how to give
good gifts to your children. Even you know how to do that. Little children are inquisitive.
They're not authoritative. They don't say, here's how it
is. Now when they get a little bit
older now, that's a different story. I knew everything when I was
a teenager. I knew everything. All you had
to do was ask me. But not as a little child. They
don't come and say, here's how things are. They say, Daddy,
why is that like that? What does this do? Why are you
doing that? To an extreme sometimes, don't
they? Count that a blessing. And see our relationship with
our Master in it. Be taught by it. If I have anything to say now,
authoritatively, it better be directly from God's Word. It
better be Him talking and not me. If a little child... You know,
if a little child does come and tell you something... I've had some of your children
come and tell me things. And say, you know, this happened,
or this is the truth, or whatever. You know where they got it from?
Their dad. Or their mom. They didn't just come up with
it. I don't know how that ought to be us. I don't just come up with anything.
I sure don't want to. Let's be learners together. Let's
humble ourselves in that. Students of the Word of God and
learn together. We're learning together. I'm not your preacher because
I'm smarter than you. Because I know more than you.
We're learning together, aren't we? A little child is humble
in this way. He's thrilled with what mom and
dad provide. Now again, when we get older
now, sin starts to rear its ugly head and we're never satisfied
with anything. But a little child, you can give
him a You give them something for Christmas when they're three
or four years old and they'll play with the box all day long.
They're just happy to have a box. It's not until they get a little
older they become dissatisfied with things. That's why he took
a little child. Little children look to their father and their
mother, the authority that God has placed in their home, and
they're not so worried about greatness. They don't want to be a great
child. They're just happy being a child. They want to please their parents,
don't they? You remember those days? We don't have any real, real
little ones here, maybe one or two. What about you teenagers,
those of you who are about to be teenagers? Do you remember
those days when you thought your parents knew everything? And
you were perfectly happy with whatever they provided? And to
you, they were the greatest things in this world. And you wanted to please them. You wanted to do something. You'd
color something or whatever to make them happy. Little children aren't worried
much about anything at all. When I was a little child, I
was never afraid. I can't remember much, you know,
back that long ago. I don't remember I was never
scared I was going to starve to death. Or that I wouldn't have a place
to live. And you know why? I just figured
my dad and my mom would provide those things. You know why I
thought that? Because they always had. Can we think like that about
God? I think I forgot. I hope y'all
can hear me. I forgot to turn the mic on. Now I can yell at you if I need
to. Oh, man. Need to yell at myself,
don't I? I pray the Lord will teach me
these things. I just knew that they were going
to provide for me because they always have. Little children believe what
their daddy and mommy tell them without questioning. or rebelling
or doubting. That doesn't last long, but for
a little while it's that way. When you can take him up in your
arms still. He says to his little children,
it wouldn't be right to take the children's bread and give
it to a dog like you. And you know what they say? That's
the truth. He says, take no thought for
what you shall eat or drink or wear. I know what you need. I
know what you need. Okay, Lord. That sounds good
to me, doesn't it? Don't you wish you could just
bow to that? Don't you want to be a little
child? He says, I know my sheep and
they know me and they hear my voice and I give unto them eternal
life and they shall never perish. Some don't believe because they're
not my sheep, but they do because they are. Because they're mine. They're going to be perfectly
fine forever. They are eternally safe in my
hand. You know what little children
do when they hear that and know that? They rest. They rest. They just go and play without
worrying about a single thing. Little children don't question
what their father does. If father's doing it, it must
be right. It must be good. When you hear that the Lord has
chosen his sheep and given them faith and life in himself, what
do you think about that? Do you say, well, that's not
fair? Or do you praise him for his eternal love and grace? That's
what a little child in the spiritual sense will do. If he did it,
it must be right. When he says in his word that
he took our sin, the guilt and the punishment of our sin, and
died on Calvary in our place, and we therefore, because he
took our place, because he's our substitute, and bore my sin
in himself and the penalty for my sin, we are sinless and without
blame before God. What do you say? Do you say,
wait a minute, how could he do that? Or do you just say, thank you,
Lord. That's what a little child will say. Thank you, Lord. Thank
you. My prayer this morning is that
the Lord would give us simple and questioning faith in who
He is. It is Christ that died. That ought
to be enough right there. It's Christ that died. Why did
he die? To pay for my sins. To save me. Then I'm saved. Is that good enough for you? Simple unquestioning faith in
what he has done. Paul said in Romans 3.25, through
faith in his blood. I believe that because His blood
was precious enough that He redeemed me. He bought me. He redeemed me before God. He paid an infinite price that
accomplished the end result, the redemption of my soul. And
I want unquestioning, simple faith in every word that He says. Job said, neither have I gone
back from the commandment of his lips. I have esteemed the
words of his mouth more than my necessary food. As a little
child, we receive his word without questioning, without
dispute. What is there to argue about? You want to argue about
this gospel we've heard this morning? How can we just rejoice
in what our Heavenly Father, and in who He is, and in what
He's done, and in every word that He's spoken. Turn us, Lord, and we'll be turned.
Let's pray.