I'm going to go ahead and get
started so if you would turn with me to Luke 18. Luke 18. Luke 18 and I'm going to read
verses 15 through 17. Luke 18. And they brought unto him also
infants, that he would touch them. But when his disciples
saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them unto him
and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them
not, for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you,
Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child
shall in no wise enter therein. We read here that there were
some who were brought, I mean infants, it says here. They brought
very small children to him so that he might heal them. Some
of these may have been even younger than our grandchildren we see
today. The disciples, those who follow
Jesus Christ, just as we do, they rebuke them for doing so.
But then the Lord Jesus Christ said to them in rebuke, suffer
the little children to come unto me. Send them forth to Jesus
Christ is what he said. Do not forbid them. Why would
we do such a thing? Send one away that is a little
child of Jesus Christ. I'm talking about young or old.
This agrees with what our Lord is telling us here. We who call
ourselves the children of God, and I don't say it that way to
say that we're not the children of God, but we who call ourselves
the children of God do not behave like we are all the time. That
is children of God. I often think of myself as being
more than I am. Some people say it like this,
we think we have arrived, or you think you have arrived. And
if someone is not like us, then they are not ready for the kingdom
of God. I often have this type of thought,
even though I may not say these words, I have this thought. I
know what God's word says. I know who God is, and I know
what God has done. You know how it often manifests
that thought, how it manifests it forth? It's like this. Why
did they do that? I wouldn't have done that. Preachers
often, and I say that only because of what I experience, but I often
preach what I feel myself to be, so to be that way. So when
I'm saying these things, I know I am very capable and copable
in these things, no matter who it is that's saying these things.
Some of you may have had this happen to you, but have you ever
had a child ask you who God is or who Jesus Christ is? What
kind of answer will you give? I've recently had grandchildren
come to me and ask me who God is and who is Jesus Christ. Or
maybe they might say, tell me about God. When you are talking
to a child, for me anyway, it seems to be a hard thing to find
the words to tell them who God is. There is an answer. But most times when we are talking
to people about who God is or who Jesus Christ is, we think
we have to give some deep answer or some theological answer. The
problem is we are finite. He is infinite. We die as we
are born in Adam and he is life itself. Where will we get our answers?
Where do we get what we will tell them of who God is? The
same place you and I get answers as to who he is and what he has
done, the scripture, the Bible. That is where God speaks to us
and by his spirit. He will seal his words to our
heart, Joe, so that when we then know who he is, to the extent
that he is pleased for us to know him. It does not matter
if I do a very poor job of telling someone, young or old, or if
I've been given the greatest oratory skills to explain to
all ages who he is. It is He who will give you understanding
of who He is, and if He is pleased, He will bring you close to Himself
so that you never stop asking the question, who is God? Who is Jesus Christ? You will
continue to make this type of statement in your heart. Tell
me about Jesus Christ. Let's look at this passage a
little closer and see what Christ says specifically as it pertains
to all of God's Then we will go into the question of who he
is and what he has done. That is what we always want to
hear, right? Who he is and what he has done.
That is the good news, the gospel. To hear of who he is and what
he has done. Jesus Christ goes on to say in our text, for of
such is the kingdom of God. His kingdom is made up of a bunch
of little children. I want to go this morning where
our Lord is going in this passage this morning. I intend to show
that if you do not and are not coming to him as a little child,
you are not part of the kingdom. Our Lord says here in our passage
in verse 17, verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive
the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter
therein. When do we receive the Kingdom
of God? Back then? We may very well receive
the Kingdom of God back then, but we are not receiving the
Kingdom of God right now. If we're not receiving the Kingdom
of God right now as a little child, we will not enter into
His Kingdom. I want to go into this, if God
permits, to point out what God is saying. It makes no difference
what I say, but it makes a whole world of difference about what
he says. He says, whosoever shall not
receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall, that is,
it is certain, those will in no wise enter therein. So what
is it to receive the kingdom of God as a little child? Let's
turn over to another passage, and I believe this is the same
account, but in one of the other Gospels, but Matthew 18. Matthew
18. Matthew 18, and right now I'm
just going to read verse 2. And Jesus called a little child
unto him and set him in the midst of them. And then verse three we read,
and say it. Verily I say unto you, except
ye be converted. And I'll stop right there. Christ
says, except ye be converted. The word itself denotes that
this is something that's done outside of the person. Something
is done to a person by someone else. This is not saying if you
convert yourself. It is saying that if you are
not converted by me, that is Jesus Christ, then you will not
be one of these who will become as little children. Scripture
tells us, we have read it before, that is, God, that is the one
who turns us. That is what converted means.
It means to twist or turn quite around or reverse. What do we
read in scripture about turning? Jeremiah 31, 18. I have surely
heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus, thou hast chastised me
and I was chastised. As a bullock unaccustomed to
the yoke, Turn thou me, that is God, you turn me, and I shall
be turned. For thou art the Lord my God. You trust in yourself to turn
yourself, you will not be turned. But you will not be one of those
who become as little children either. This conversion done
by God is a conversion that causes one to become as a little child.
What is it that our Lord goes on to say in Matthew? And, excuse
me, here is a hallmark, if that is a good word, I don't know,
or an attribute of a child of God, of His, in Matthew 18, four. Whosoever therefore shall humble
himself as this little child, the same as the greatest in the
kingdom of heaven. So here Christ says that the
one who humbles himself, So what does it mean to be humble? Humble
is this, to depress. Back in years ago, I don't see
it being done too much anymore, but especially with kids, the
doctor would take a tongue depressor to press down the tongue. They
do this to press down the tongue and hold it down and keep it
there. So to humble is to depress myself, hold myself down. What else do we read of this
meaning? Figuratively, it means to humiliate, in condition or
heart. To humiliate myself, that is,
that myself is made to be nothing, to be brought low with no self-esteem. It goes on to say in the definition,
it says, abase, bring low, for that is humble. To come to Jesus
Christ, one will be converted, and this conversion will bring
one to think of themselves as nothing. They will be brought
down into submission. Coming to Jesus Christ, entering
the kingdom, is to come bowing down your face to the King, Jesus
Christ the Lord. What else does it go on to say
in Matthew? Matthew 18 verses 5 and 6. And
whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth
me. But whoso shall offend one of
these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him
that a millstone were hanged about his neck and that he were
drowned in the depth of the sea. If you receive one that is such,
one that abases himself at the feet of the King, at the feet
of Jesus Christ the Lord, then you receive such a one in the
name of the King. But read this next verse. But
whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in
me, bowing down to the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ is to believe
Jesus Christ. To humble yourself before the
king is to believe Jesus Christ. And I say humble yourself, but
you are humbled by God. To be humbled by him and be made
to rest at his feet as a little child is to believe Jesus Christ. But if you offend one of these
who believe in Jesus Christ, If you, because you don't want
to bow down to Christ yourself, you offend one of these to prevent
them from coming to Him, I cannot say how bad it will be for one
of those who hate the Lord and try to prevent one of His from
coming to Him. All I can say is what it says
here. It will be worse than this. It
will be better. The following is better than
what one will receive if you offend a child of God who has
been humbled by God to bow down to the Son Jesus Christ the Lord,
the King. This is better than what actually
will happen to such a one. It were better for him that a
millstone were hanged about his neck and that he were drowned
in the depth of the sea. We read of this account also
in Mark 10, starting in verse 13, but I'm not going to go into
that account, but it says the same thing. Now, going back to
this doctrine of coming as a little child, you have heard the analogy,
and I think it's a good analogy. The child is up on a little height,
or maybe the dad is in a swimming pool, and he tells his child
to jump into his arms, and he will catch him. This is how we
are to come to Christ. We must trust him to catch us
and keep us safe. But you know, when I first started
thinking about this, here is where my mind went briefly. So
coming as a little child is one who doesn't know much. And you
have to break it down into little different chunks. You know, maybe
more so than you do for someone else. But then God in His Word
by His Spirit said to me, He brought these thoughts of Scripture
to me. 1 Corinthians 8, 2. And if any man think he knoweth
anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. You
think you have arrived? You think you have God's Word
figured out and therefore you have God figured out? Therefore
you can tell or teach someone into the kingdom of God? God
said in his word, you know nothing. But hear this verse, and this
verse is the one God that brought to my mind when reading our text,
1 Corinthians 4, 7. For whom maketh thee to differ
from another? And what hast thou that thou
hast not received? Now if thou didst receive it,
why dost thou glory, as if thou hast not received it? When my
grandkids come to me and they ask the question about who God
is and who Jesus Christ is, my first thought was something like
this. Well, I ought to be able to do this. Easy, right? Just make it really easy and
simple for them to understand, and voila, there you go. Then
God, humbling me at first, caused my mind to really go blank. I started thinking, how do I
do this? Then I thought on this passage,
and if you would turn with me to Isaiah 40, Isaiah 40. Isaiah 40 and verses 21 through
25. Have ye not known? Have ye not
heard? Hath it not been told you from
the beginning? Have ye not understood from the
foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the
circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers,
that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them
out as a tent to dwell in. That bringeth the princes to
nothing, he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. Yea,
they shall not be planted, yea, they shall not be sown, yea,
their stocks shall not take root in the earth, and he shall also
blow upon them, and they shall wither. and the whirlwind shall
take them away as stubble. To whom then will ye liken me,
or shall I be equal, saith the Holy One." We often do comparisons
to explain someone about a subject, and that's okay to do. We all
do it. But God says, to whom shall ye
liken me? There is no one. I cannot give
someone an example of a person or a being and then say, so there,
that's what God is like. There is no one to compare him
to. I am then once and again humbled
by God to see he is all and mightier than I, and I am nothing but
dust. So now where do I go to tell
a little child or even someone who is older who wants to know
about who God is? I go to the same place that all
of God's children go, because God puts them in that place.
He will put you in the hearing vicinity of one he has sent,
who knows themselves to be in need of him. One who will tell
you what this word says and about who he is, or he will cause you
to read what those have written and said about him and those
he has sent as well. I will get, children will get,
old folks will get who God is from his word and by his spirit. He will send you a preacher to
do this in some way. All we can do is give someone
what he has said in his word, whether they be three or whether
they be 83. Those who come to Him will all
come as little children, humbling themselves as little children,
knowing they are nothing and that He is everything. All I
am to receive will come from Him. All that I am to do will
come from Him. All my blessings will come from
Him. So now, that was my introduction. So now let me see if God will
allow me to tell you about him, that is, who God is and who Jesus
Christ is and what he has done. So first, let me start here.
He is creator of all things. Colossians 1.16 says, for by
him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in
earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers. All things were created by him,
and here's the thing, and for him. He made all things, as it
says there in Colossians, and they were made for him. So he
has the say over what he does with all of his creation. He
can make one vessel unto honor and another vessel unto dishonor.
It's all up to him. Because He is God and He created
all things, He did this for a purpose. He wanted to give honor and glory
to Himself. He wanted to show that He is
a merciful God. Mercy means compassion, or that
is being kind to someone. God was pleased to be kind to
a people. But why is it that He had to
be kind? because his creation, that is
human beings, man and woman, boys and girls, disobeyed him. He told them to do something
and they did not. Genesis 2, 16 and 17, this is
very familiar, but it's in God's word. It's what we like to hear,
what God says, right? Genesis 2, verses 16 and 17,
and the Lord God commanded the man saying, of every tree of
the garden thou mayest freely eat. But of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it. For in the day
that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." God told Adam,
do not eat of this one tree. Whatever fruit it was that was
on this tree, he was not to eat of it. God told him when he ate
of this fruit, he would die. He did not tell Adam if he ate
of it. He said when you eat of it. God
knew Adam would eat of the fruit of this tree. Adam was in no
way deceived. Eve was. Eve was tricked by Satan. Adam was not tricked. He was
given by Eve this fruit and he knowingly, that is he knew this
was the fruit of the tree he was not supposed to eat, he knowingly
ate of this fruit himself. As we all know, because we all
come from Adam, this plunged us into death and sin. Total
separation from God and total offense against God. We were made totally dead to
God and because we being dead can do nothing but sin, or that
is, do the things wrong against God who created us. That's just
the way it says in Romans 5, 12. Wherefore, as by one man,
sin entered into the world, and death by sin. And so death passed
upon all men, for that all have sinned. Something that also might
help those who God has opened their eyes to see this is his
law says, honor your mother and your father. This means obey. Do what your parents tell you
to do. But even children know that they do not always do this.
So they know they have been wrong. If God says to do this and you
do not obey your parents, then you are disobeying God. But there
is hope. Even though we have done wrong
against the God who created us, the scripture says God delights
to show mercy. Even though man has sinned against
Him, He delights to show mercy. He wants to show mercy. He wants
to be kind to someone. But there is one thing about
this. God is so holy. He is so right. God does all
things right. He cannot just let sin, that
is your wrongdoing, go. He cannot go on without it being
punished. God has to punish wrongdoing
and no matter what the wrongdoing is, the punishment is always
the same. Death. Death. So the problem
is that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So
for God to show mercy, someone will have to pay for those sins,
those wrongdoings against the Creator of all things. It was
God's purpose, that means God intended, God meant to accomplish
this Himself. But for Him to accomplish this,
He had to be a man. God is spirit, the Bible says.
So he could not do it being spirit only. God says in his word, everything
brings forth of its own kind. So God being spirit could not
bring justice or that is right to a human being who is flesh. God had to come down and be born
of a woman. made under the law to redeem,
or that is, to show mercy to them who were under the law,
to be kind to those who were under his law. Himself as a perfect
human being who always did what pleased God was the perfect sacrifice. He was clean, in other words.
He was the perfect sacrifice, or that is, the one who could
take his people's place because he was clean. In doing so, he
also had to take away their sins. He could not just forget about
their sins. So he took their sins in his
own body when he was crucified on that tree. The punishment
for sin is death. Jesus Christ died, being made
a curse and sin for us. Jesus Christ is God, so God died. God came down to be a man so
that he would take a people's place to take away their sins
to never be seen again. So by this one thing that he
did, he can now, being a God who has always done the right
thing, he can now bring those vessels whom he chose to be vessels
of mercy, he can now then bring them to himself as little children. He is the creator of all things. How did he do that? Only he knows. Only he knows. How did he come
down? How did he come to sin and was
born of a virgin? Only God knows. We know that
he has, but we do not know how he did. But by his grace, we
believe who he is and what he has done. We do not know how
he will catch us. but we know that he has called
us. We know nothing and that is how
it is, if we know anything. It is because he has given it
to us. We have to place our trust in him because we are nothing
and he is everything. Joe just went through all that
last week. He is everything to his people. We are to come to
him as little children. We know nothing of him and can
do nothing for him. That is how we come. We do not
stop coming to him. We have not arrived. We cannot
survive in the face of a holy, angry God on our own. We are
naked just as Adam and Eve was. We are naked, and being naked
means we cannot hide from him. He sees us for who we are. He
must clothe us, and what he clothes his people with is his righteousness. That means he puts clothes on
us that cover us from the wrath or anger of God. That robe being
Jesus Christ and what Jesus Christ did. Nothing of what we have
done or do, all of what he has done. We come bowing to him for
everything because we can do nothing and we can bring nothing. We must pray to God, calls us
dear Lord, keep us dear Lord, Make us to see you as our prophet,
priest, and king. You are our all. We are nothing
without you. Heal us, make us better, because
we are sick as one can be. We are sick unto death. Heal
us. Cause us to come to you as a
little child, placing all of our trust and care on you. Amen. Dear Lord God, thank you for
allowing us to be here. Dear Lord, we have so much pride.
We could never humble ourselves, dear Lord, but we thank you that
you humble us and bring us to your feet, dear Lord, and cause
us to see your face all the time, dear Lord, and proclaim this
message to whoever asks of us of the reason of the hope that
lies within us, dear Lord, no matter whether they're two or
102, dear Lord. Be with all those who stand today
are supporting and proclaiming your gospel, dear Lord, that
maybe your name will be honored and glorified, dear Lord. All
these things we ask in your name. Amen.