All right, let's look at Matthew
18, beginning at verse 10, where the Lord is talking about his
children. And he says in verse 10, take
heed that you despise not one of these little ones. Now you
remember what had happened at the first of this passage. The disciples were worrying and
arguing probably, debating. and asking the question, who
is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And that's a question
that comes out of self-righteousness and pride. Because once we understand
the truth of the gospel, we know there is no hierarchy amongst
believers. There's no, as I said last week,
there's no big I and little you. It's not that, you know, false
religion loves to compare themselves with themselves and They want
to put this person up on a pedestal and say well I'd like to be as
holy as he is and all that kind of stuff, but that's not the
gospel the gospel is that salvation for any and every sinner who
is saved is by God's grace and there's not one above another
and You know, I think I've told you about this years ago, back
in the 70s, on the Phil Donahue show. He used to have this false
preacher come on out of New Orleans. I think his name was Bob Harrington.
And he preached a false gospel, salvation by works and free willism
and all of that. And Bob Harrington, they called
him the chaplain of Bourbon Street. And he had his 10 most wanted
list. And these were 10 individuals
that he wanted more than anything else, as he said to, quote, get
saved, unquote. Because he said this, he said,
if I can get these 10 people saved, I could probably convert
the whole world. Well, my friend, we can't convert
anybody, for one thing. Conversion is a work of the Lord.
And you remember Christ told the disciples when they asked
that question, who is the greatest in the kingdom? Look at verse
three of Matthew 18. He said, very last thing, except
you be converted and become as little children, you shall not
enter in the kingdom of heaven. Conversion is part of the new
birth. Regeneration and conversion.
I'm gonna talk about regeneration and conversion in the main message
today in 11, talking about the first resurrection. Well, that's
a work of God. That's not a work you do. It's
a work that God does for you and in you by the power of the
Spirit. That's why we call it irresistible
grace, invincible grace. Because once the Holy Spirit
comes and does that work, you won't resist it. You won't deny
it. You won't refuse it. Because He changes your heart.
He gives you a new heart. Well, anyway, Old Harrington
said, you know, if he can do that, he can convert the world.
And he had people, he had Phil Donahue on there. I guess he
wanted to get invited back. And he had Muhammad Ali, people
like that, you know. Well, my friend, God doesn't
work that way. Over in 1 Corinthians chapter one, what does it say?
That God hath chosen the foolish things of this world. Not the
nobles, not the people, men and women that we exalt. God does
things His way in order that He gets the glory. And when He brings us into the
kingdom, we're all equal partners. That's what fellowship is. I've
preached the gospel for 40 years by the grace of God, but I don't
deserve any more reward than you do. If you're saved, if you're
in Christ, And I've said it a lot of times that if God were to
judge me now based upon my efforts, I'd be damned. My hope is built
on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. It's not built
upon what I do, what I don't do. I want to be careful about
what I do and don't do. I want to honor God in my life.
I want to be an obedient servant. I want to be a good steward of
his grace, all of that. But that doesn't gain me more
points with God, and it doesn't gain me a higher station. And
so when they asked that question, who's the greatest, so he brought
a little child. And he told them, he said, whosoever therefore
humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest
in the kingdom of heaven. Our greatness, our equal greatness
in the kingdom of heaven is because we have all been brought down.
to see our need of God's grace in Christ. And we're all equally
saved, equally righteous. There's no such thing as rewards,
plural, based upon our doing. That's not what the scripture
teaches. There is reward, but it's a reward of grace that Christ
earned for us, and we're all, we'll listen to Ephesians one
and verse three. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ who have blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. That applies to every sinner
saved by grace. Every true believer. So he brought
this little child. And again, now, understand that
the lesson in bringing a child is not that God keeps us ignorant
and anything like that. It's that just as a little child
is absolutely, totally dependent upon its parents for its physical
well-being, we're totally dependent upon Christ for our whole salvation.
That's the lesson. So he says in verse 10, he takes
this little child and he uses it as an opportunity to teach
another lesson. And he says, take heed that you
despise not one of these little ones. Now the word despise means
to look down upon. It means to reject one of these
little ones. He said, for I say unto you that
in heaven there angels do always behold the face of my father
which is in heaven. In other words, The salvation
of any sinner, no matter who they are, is a testimony to the
glory of God. And that's what we should be
all about. We're not here because we have some kind of a social
club or religious country club or something. We're here because
we equally want to glorify God. We behold his face. We look to
him and rest in him. He's our father in heaven. And
where did we come from? We'll look at verse, and all
of this, you know, Christ, he mentions the angels here, and
the comment I have on that, Christ charges his angels to watch over
and protect us. And it's in the salvation of
Christ's children that the angels behold the glory of God in Christ.
They behold the glory of God, not in their own salvation because
the elect angels, they didn't fall. But they behold the glory
of God as they see us saved according to the glory of God based on
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. So in verse 11,
he says, for the son of man is come to save that which was lost. Now, I've got in your lesson
later on here how that's similar to what he said in Luke chapter
15, where he talked about how the son of man came to seek and
to save that which was lost. Now, first of all, the son of
man, what is it? That's a messianic title. That
speaks of Christ the Messiah, the anointed one, the one that
God set up in the everlasting covenant of grace before the
foundation of the world, and made him our surety, and commissioned
him to be our substitute to redeem us from our sins. And Christ,
the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, willingly agreed
to that transaction. He made himself indebted, the
scripture says, to become like us without sin, He was made of
a woman, made under the law, to do for us what we cannot do
for ourselves. And he came to save. He didn't
come to try to save. His name shall be called Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. And the point
here is this, that we who are saved by God's grace, we were
fallen in Adam. We're spiritually dead, lost. What is it to be lost? It means
we don't know the way. What is it to be saved? It means
to know the way. By nature, we're all lost. The
lost sheep, he talks about. Lost sheep, he mentions the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. He's got lost sheep among the
Gentiles. The Bible says that he died for
his sheep, not for everybody without exception. He's the good
shepherd. He said, I give my life for the
sheep. John chapter 10 and verse 11 and verse 14. And he saves
his sheep from their sins. And then he comes in his mercy
and his grace and his power and he finds his sheep. He knows
where they are. You remember in John chapter
four when he was taking the disciples and he said, we must needs go
through Samaria. Well, why do you, no self-respecting
Jew back then would have ever thought about traveling anywhere
through Samaria because they hated the Samaritans. Well, why
do we have to go through Samaria? Because there was a lost sheep
there. And he knew that lost sheep was there. When it says
he comes to seek them, it doesn't mean that he doesn't know where
they are and he just happens upon them. No, he knows exactly
where they are. You remember when the Apostle
Paul wanted to go to a place to preach, and the Holy Spirit
said, no, don't go there, go here. He said, for I have much
people in this city. I can't remember which city it
was. It might have been Corinth. But he said, I have much people
here. God has some sheep there. That's
why we're here in Albany. God has some sheep. I hope he's
got some more sheep here. But I know if there's sheep and
not goats, he's gonna find them and he's gonna save them. And
how does he save them? The good shepherd gives his life
for the sheep. And so the point he's making
here among the disciples about this thing, in line with this
thing about being the greatest in heaven and all of this, is
look, there's not one of us here who can say that we deserve or
have earned the least of God's blessings. It's all of grace. I'm saved by grace, you're saved
by grace. And that's our claim. I can't
say, well, you know, I was a religious person from the beginning. No,
I was an idolater. until God found me just like
Abraham. God knows His people. The Bible says, the Lord knoweth
them that are His. He knows them. And Christ said
that. He said, I know my sheep. And he said, I am known of mine.
How do we know we're sheep? Because we know him. This is
life eternal. They might know thee, the only
true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. We know Christ. We believe the gospel. God has
given us the gift of faith. He's brought us to the gift of
repentance. And he causes us to persevere
in the faith. So he says, the Son of Man is
come to save that which was lost. And he's talking about those
sheep. All we like sheep have gone astray. And he laid on,
our sins were laid on Christ and he took care of that and
he redeemed us. Well look at verse 12. He says,
how think ye? Now he's setting up a scenario
here to get them to thinking right. Because they were still
thinking according to the flesh. Who is the greatest? Where am
I gonna be? You remember, I think it was
one of their mothers who asked the question, he said, who's
gonna sit on your right hand? Who's gonna sit on your left
hand? You know, that kind of thing. Well, that's fleshly. That's
not grace. And so he says, how think ye,
if a man have a hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray,
doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the
mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?" A good shepherd
would not say, well, I've got 99 here, that's all right, let
the other one go. No, if he's a good shepherd,
he'll go seek that one. And that's what Christ is. He's
the good shepherd. He gave his life for the sheep.
Think about how could he let one of his sheep for whom he
died perish in their sins? He couldn't. Because their sins
were laid upon him. My debt, my sin debt was charged
to Christ. If you're one of his sheep, your
sin debt was charged to him, imputed to him. And in order
for him to pay for you, to redeem you, he died, he gave his life. Now, how could he let you perish?
He couldn't. He could not let you perish.
And so he says in verse 13, and if so be that he find it. Now,
I know it says if so be, that's not indicating that he might
not or he might or might not find it. No, he says, verily
I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep than of the
99 which went not astray. Well, this is to make a point. If he had 99 sheep and none of
them went astray, they're fine. Now we know that all of the sheep,
the elect of God, we fell in Adam. We were born in trespasses
and sin, spiritually dead, and we've all gone astray. And so
he who died for us comes and finds us, and he finds us, listen,
we're not even seeking him by nature, but he seeks us. And
when he seeks us and finds us, you know what he does? He brings
us to seek him, and we'll find him. That's why I love that passage
in John 6 so much. John 6, 37, he says, all that
the Father giveth me, all of the sheep, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. And him that come to me, I will
in no wise cast out. Well, I've got several things
in your lesson here concerning this because it's such a beautiful
illustration of the relationship of Christ and his people. And
look here, number one, Christ is the covenant shepherd. whose
care God's people were entrusted in the covenant of grace. Before
the foundation of the world, you were given to Him, entrusted
to Him. Our complete salvation was laid
upon His shoulders. That's why we say salvation conditioned
on Christ and on Him alone, not conditioned on you or me. We're
lost sheep. If the salvation and the recovery
of a lost sheep were dependent upon that sheep, you know what
would happen? That sheep would die. Sheep don't
know the way. And you've heard all of the facts
and illustrations about physical sheep and how they are, how they're
so dependent upon the shepherd. They get out there in the wilderness.
They can't find their way back home. Well, that's us. We're
not spiritually smart, we're spiritually dead, and until we're
born again, except you be born again, you cannot see or enter
the kingdom of God. Well, he's our covenant shepherd.
And he's coming to get all of his sheep. He's not gonna lose
one of them. Secondly, Christ is the shepherd who owns his
sheep. He bought us with the price of
his blood. He owns us, lock, stock, and
barrel. He said, my sheep, hear my voice. I've heard preachers say things
like this. Say, well, I've got to preach
to my sheep. You're not my sheep. I'm an under
shepherd. You're his sheep. You're his
people. And we come together as the sheep
of Christ, and he's given me the position to preach to you
and other men. And we're led by the master,
by the shepherd, through the word of God. He leads us into
the green pastures of his word. And so, verse three, or number
three, rather, Christ is the good shepherd who came to lay
down his life for the sheep. Let's read that over in John
chapter 10. I've made reference to it several times. But this
is the classic passage of scripture that lays it down so beautifully. In verse 11 of John chapter 10. He says, I am the good shepherd.
The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. Every individual
sheep. And he says in verse 12, but
he that is an hireling and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep
are not, in other words, the sheep don't belong to him, they
seeth the wolf coming and leaveth the sheep and fleeth and the
wolves catcheth them and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth
because he's an hireling and careth not for the sheep. But
he says in verse 14, I am the good shepherd and know my sheep
and am known of mine. There it is. Verse 15, as the
father knoweth me, even so know I the father, and I laid down
my life for the sheep. That's who he died for. Christ
didn't die for those who perish in hell. And he's the good shepherd, he
laid down his life, he finds us, he feeds us, he cares for
us. He begins a good work in us and
he finishes it. Look at number four. Christ is
the smitten shepherd who died under the wrath of God in the
stead of his people, having our sins imputed to him. He's our
surety, our shepherd surety. He took upon himself the debt
of all of our sins. That's how he was made sin. Our sins imputed to him, our
debt charged to his account, and he willingly took it, and
willingly gave his life to pay that debt, and satisfied the
justice of God, made payment for that debt, redeemed us, and
he owns us. And then number five, Christ
is the great shepherd who was raised again from the dead. because
he'd accomplished our justification in his death on the cross. Justified
by his blood, justified by his righteousness imputed to us. And this shepherd is the salvation
of his people. And then number six, Christ is
the seeking shepherd who has set himself to seek, find, and
to save all of his lost sheep. And as I said back here in Matthew
18, it says, the illustration here states, if so be that he
find it, That's not to imply that Christ could possibly fail
to find any of his lost sheep. Because he's gonna find them
and he's gonna bring them all. He's gonna find them all and
he's gonna bring them all to himself. They are going to reap
the benefits of his surety ship, his being our substitute and
our redeemer. We'll see all those benefits.
And then lastly, number seven, Christ is the chief shepherd
who'll come again. He's coming the second time to
receive his people, his church, his elect, his sheep unto himself
and to judge the world. Well, look at verse 14 of Matthew
18. He says, even so it is not the
will of your father which is in heaven that one of these little
ones should perish. God is not willing that any of
his sheep, any of his chosen people should perish, but that
all should come to repentance. The God of this world, the false
God of false religion, I've often said, is a God of unfulfilled
desires. He wants to save you, they say,
But He can't unless you cooperate, unless you let Him. The problem
with that is, number one, it's not the God of the Bible. Number
two, it denies what God in His Word says of us. That if it's
left up to us, none of us would come to Him. The natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he
know them. They're spiritually discerned.
Christ said, you will not come to me that you might have eternal
life. No man can come to me except the Father which has sent me
draw him and I'll raise him up at the last day. But the God
of this book, the true and living God, he has no unfulfilled desires. He said, I'll do it, I'll accomplish
it, it'll be done, He will save his people from their sins. He,
the shepherd, the good shepherd, the great shepherd, the chief
shepherd, he's going to have his sheep in his flock unto himself. He'll gather them together. And
that's why we can say the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth
me beside the still waters. All of it. Psalm 23, more than
that written on your heart. He is the good shepherd. And
he will have his sheep. Okay.