Matthew 18.1. We read, At the same time came the
disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom
of heaven? Mark says that they were disputing
about this in the way while they were coming along, walking along
together. And Luke tells us that when they
came to the house where the Lord was, they were silent. They didn't
express these things openly, outwardly, vocally. But the Lord
knew their heart. The Lord knew what they were
thinking in their heart. And he drew them near and asked
them what they were talking about. And so they said, Talking about
who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. They ask Him, who's
the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven? Verse 2, And Jesus called
a little child unto Him and set him in the midst of them. This
is the 12. He set a little child in the
midst of them and said, Verily I say unto you, Extremely important
when the Lord says, verily I say unto you, verily I say unto you,
except you be converted and become as little children, you shall
not enter into the kingdom of heaven. except you be converted,
turned from the pride, from the ambition of seeking a place of
preeminence, from the views of honor and wealth and place of
preeminence. Weren't they already converted?
This is Peter and John and James and this is the disciples of
the Lord. Weren't they already converted?
They were. but believers being converted,
being converted. He said, and become as little
children. Not that a child's without sin, but this is a little
child, not seeking to be greater than another. Verily I say unto
you, except you be converted and become as little children,
little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. He says in verse four, whosoever
therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same
is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. You know, carnal growth, temporal
growth, regular, our normal growth, in so many ways is opposite to
spiritual growth. You know, you remember when your
children were little, I mean little children, little children. When they ask you something,
they were just asking you to. They wanted you to tell them
something, teach them something. And when you told them, they
believed you and depended on you. Remember
that? I was thinking of this this week
about When I was a little child, I was thinking of this when I
was in my dad's house, and I was a little child. You remember
when you were a little child? Oh. You didn't have the worries you
have now. You didn't have the concerns you have now, did you,
when you were a little child? But as we grow, as a child grows,
and as we grow, as I grew, the sin that we are by our birth
becomes more apparent, becomes more obvious. It's there. It's there by conception. It's there by birth. But it becomes more obvious,
doesn't it? Asking takes a different spirit. It's not so much asking as questioning. Questioning. Questioning the
authority. The authority. It becomes obvious
that there's a heart that says, of God, I will not have this
man reign over me. It becomes more apparent. We start putting more confidence
in ourselves. I can remember that. I can remember
when I stopped listening and really asking. and really thinking that the
words that dropped from my dad's lips were just so. I could remember when I started
questioning it, when I started leaning to my own understanding. I remember that. Oh, I said some
awful things. Awful things. He used to tell me, he used to
say, you're getting too big for your britches, boy. I bet you teenagers have heard
this one before. This was a favorite of my parents.
Your hormones are raging. What's our excuse? Us who are grown now, what's
our excuse? And I remember this too. My hand
was still open for all the freebies I could get. And I expected them and felt like
I deserved them. And at the same time, I wanted
to be completely independent of my father. That's a miserable
place to be. Wanting to have all the free
stuff, but wanting to be absolutely independent. And then eventually, we move
out. Eventually we stopped asking,
and we would go out on our own. and we become independent. And then we're really a mess.
Then we're a mess rolled up in a mess. Well, that's the natural order
of growth, but that's what happens between a sinner and God the
Father. As we grow in sin, and as we're born into this world.
Now you reverse that order and we have an idea of what spiritual
growth is. Where do we start out? Out in
the wilderness, out completely separated, out independent, thinking
we rule and know everything and everything's all our own. And
God comes to us and He starts working a work of grace in the
heart. And when He starts to do that, He converts us. And in the beginning, He makes
us like a newborn child. You remember when all that you
knew was Christ the Lord. You knew the gospel when you
heard it. You could hear the gospel. You could hear and say,
there's the voice of my Lord. That's my Lord. But if somebody
asked you to tell you, you could just say, I just know I was blind
and now I see. You were like a baby trying to
talk. A baby knows the voice of their
father. They know the voice of their mother. They can't tell
you. Ask them to describe them. But we still have flesh and we
still have that old, independent, rebellious, hormone-raging old man. And it's always what
it is. And it'll always be what it is.
And it's always there. And we believe him and we trust
him, but we still find ourselves being way too much questioning
our God. So much of what we are asking
is really questioning. You know that? We still have this old man so
much in us that we're just, we want the freebies. But there's
a part of us that wants to be independent of God. But he keeps on growing us. He keeps on hedging us about. He keeps on sending us through
these blessed, glorious thorns. And that new man, we believe
on him. We trust him. We're able to say, Lord, have
mercy on me, the sinner. We're able to say, Lord, remember
me when you come into your kingdom. By his grace, we're able to say,
Lord, the dogs get to sit under the master's table and have a
crumb. Lord give me a crown. And it keeps on sending us through
these trials and this growth in grace, this growth in grace
is to become, is to become a child in spirit. To truly become men
in knowledge, to be grown in knowledge, to truly become children
in malice. Somebody said to rise to the
greatness of grace is to be continually growing down to littleness, to
simplicity, to the trustfulness of a little child. And God does that by making us
see more and more, there is nothing good in our flesh. There's still
not anything good in our flesh. The more we behold that the flesh
is just corrupt, and it's just what it is, and it's, the more
we behold it. And the more we behold the all,
all salvation, all our hope is Christ, the more we grow little. like a child. You see how that
order is reversed. We start out out, and we're growing
more dependent, more nearer, more closer, more like a child. You know, when we find ourselves
finding fault with another, we do well to consider ourselves
before God. give you example of what I'm
talking about. When you see the employee or the secretary or
the co worker, whoever that you think, you know, they're not
serving the boss like they ought to be. They're just not serving like
they should be. You know, we do well to do consider I'm not serving my God like I
ought to. You know, when the son or the
daughter is trying to usurp the authority of God, trying to usurp the authority
of God, when they're saying to you in defiance, I can tell
you how to better run your house. I can tell you how to make better
decisions. I can tell you how you do a whole lot better than
what you're doing. It would be good to think about
how constantly, continually we're standing before God thinking,
I could do better than this. I wouldn't do it this way. I
do it another way. You ever have those thoughts?
I say I don't thought that's not me. I don't think that way. Do I deserve a higher place then
I deserve a better seat then. That is how I think. That's how
you think. That's how we think. We'd be
honest. If we can see our unfaithfulness,
our unfaithfulness, if I can see my unfaithfulness when I
behold unfaithfulness in a brother or sister, it sure will humble
me more than make me feel like, well, they ought not be doing
that. Well, they might ought not be
doing it. But you know what we're doing?
We're lifting ourselves up in pride and saying, I'm glad I'm
not like that. I'm glad I don't do that. I ought
to get something a little better because I don't do that. I was
talking to a friend of mine this weekend, we were talking about
how sometimes you'll send an email out to somebody and they
don't email you back. They don't respond. And we're
talking about how You know, sometimes you think, well, why in the world
aren't they responding to me? Why didn't they email me back?
And my friend said, he said, you know what we're really saying?
We're saying, why don't you respond to me, this one who's the greatest? You ought to. I deserve to be
heard from, to reply back. His disciples asked Him, who's
the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And the Lord answered,
Verily I say unto you, except you be converted and become as
little children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. You know what it helps us to
remember? It helps us to remember the pit where God found us. You know when you read in Scripture
and you read about a pit? I don't know where it is here.
There's a pit somewhere here that serves this area. The pit was the place where all
the sewer went. That's where the pit was. And when God talks about an abomination, being an abomination before God. It's not the barf bag, it's what
goes in the barf bag. It's not the toilet, it's what
goes in the toilet. I say, preachy y'all don't say
that, that's gross. Listen to what God says, all
our righteousnesses are as menstrual cloths. We can't describe the sin that
we are, in a hideous enough fashion to really enter into how hideous
sin is. We can't. All we've ever known
is sin. We don't really grow better. Not at all grow better in the
flesh. You know what we do grow better
at? Covering it up. Hiding it. Hiding it. That's God's Word to me and you.
Abomination. Abomination. Who is the greatest
in the Kingdom of Heaven? The greatest in the Kingdom of
Heaven is Christ Jesus the Lord who made Himself the least in
becoming this hideous thing that His people are. so He could save
us from it and declare His glory. He's the greatest. I want you
to look at Philippians 2 again with me. We've seen this. I want
you to look at this again. I want to point this out to you.
Think about this. Philippians 2. You know, it's a Whenever the Lord came to the
apostles that night and after he had eaten the last Passover,
put it into that Institute of the Lord's table, he washed their
feet. When he did that, he had a garment
around about him. He took that garment off. stripped
himself of that garment, stripped himself naked. What was he symbolizing? What
was he showing by that? Look at Philippians 2.6, 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
a servant was made in the likeness of men. That night he lowered himself
down to Peter's feet and he washed his feet. Verse 8 says, being found in
fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. What does the death of
the cross mean? Keep Galatians 3.13. Galatians
3.13. We're going to come back to Philippians
2, so hold your place there. But look at Galatians 3.13. What
does the death of the cross mean? You can see the death of the
cross. You can see how outwardly, you can read the descriptions
of what took place. You can read just that beaten beyond recognition. And
those bodily, outward things we can see. But this is the death
of the cross. Galatians 3.13. Christ hath redeemed,
purchased, bought, delivered, saved, completely obtained eternal
redemption. He has redeemed us. from the
curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written, curse it is
everyone that hangeth on a tree. A curse, a curse. 2 Corinthians 5.21. You see that?
2 Corinthians 5.21. He hath made him sin for us. Now you want to think about this
now. All we know is sin. That don't even register on our
radar because we're so numb to sin. We're so used to it. This one knew no sin. This one
never thought a thing sinful, never did a thing sinful. He knew no sin. And he was made
sin for us in the place of his people, for his people. As one
man sin entered, as one man by one man, the sin of his peoples
paid for. He's paying it. And he was made
sin for us, for, as the substitute, in the place of. And God poured out the chastisement
of our peace upon Him. He poured out righteous judgment
upon Him. He poured out wrath upon His
Son that we might be made. That word
might doesn't mean that we possibly, hopefully, He did this in hopes
that maybe we would be. It means he did it. He accomplished
it. He did it in order that his people,
those everyone for whom he died, he did this for. He made them
the righteousness of God in him. Completely erased everything
Adam did. Completely, totally undid everything
Adam did. But not only that, He gave us
something we could have never had in Adam. He gave his people
eternal righteousness. He made his people eternally
perfect, eternally fit, eternally meet to enter into the holy God's
presence. This is what he did. Now look
back at Philippians 2.3 just a minute with me. It said there
that he made himself of no reputation. He made himself of no reputation
as far as somebody can make themselves of no reputation. Now, this is
so, when we make ourselves of no reputation, we're generally
making ourselves of reputation, hoping it'll get out that we're
making ourselves of no reputation. In other words, we're hoping
somebody will see how humble we are, and that ain't humbleness.
It just is not. This one made himself of no reputation
as far as it can be carried. Look at verse 3. Let nothing
be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind. Let each esteem other better
than themselves. Let each esteem other better
than themselves. Now consider this concerning
Christ. He esteemed that other better than himself. He esteemed
the glory of his Father better than himself, more needful than
his own, more needful than anything for himself. And he esteemed
the salvation of those given him of the Father more than himself. He considered God the Father
more than he considered his people more than himself. How much so? He was made a curse for both. He was made a curse in the place
of His people that He might declare the Father just to show this
wretched bunch of sinners mercy. Mercy. Look at verse 9 now. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted Him. Christ highly exalted God when
he took the lowest place that could possibly be taken for God
and his brethren. He exalted God when he did that. This is the love of God. This
is the fulfillment of the law, to be made nothing for the other,
to esteem the other better than yourself. He did this perfectly. Now get this, to esteem other
better than ourselves is to highly exalt Christ himself. It's to give Christ the preeminence. To esteem the other better than
ourselves is to give Christ the preeminence. Christ highly exalted
God and his brethren by making himself the absolute least. And by that he declared the glory
of God and he washed his people completely from their sin. Wherefore
God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which
is above every name. Who's the greatest in the kingdom
of God? This one who made himself absolutely
the least. The greatest in the kingdom of
God his name is above every name listen now Is God above every
name is God above everybody This is God we're talking about He
purchased his church with his own blood and He came in the
person of human, in the body of human flesh, and he redeemed
his people from all iniquity. And God's given him a name which
is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee
should bow. That don't mean, again, that
doesn't mean it might be a good idea. It is a good idea. It might be a good idea, but
it means they will. Every knee. Every knee. should
bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the
earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord to the glory of God the Father. Now listen, when we exalt
ourselves over one of Christ's little children, we're not talking about just
We're talking about when we exalt ourselves over one of the brethren,
over one whom Christ gave his life for. We exalt ourselves
over them. You know what we're doing? You
know what the offense is? We're attempting to exalt ourselves
over Christ. You know, We don't consider that. As believers, at being grown
in the grace of God, we don't really consider the fact that
when I start thinking a critical thought of somebody that Christ
became nothing for, that Christ made himself the least for, it
might be my father, my earthly father, it might be my earthly
mother, it might be my sister, it might be my brother, it might
be my neighbor, it might be the one sitting next to me in the
firehouse, it might be, it's one that he laid down his life
for. When I begin to just think critical
thoughts about him, and when I begin to think, I exalt myself not only above
them, I'm exalting myself, attempting to exalt myself above Christ. Above God. Ever thought about that? Thought
about whenever... It's more than our earthly father
that we're talking back to. It's more than our friend. It's more than our neighbor. It's more than the brother or sister in the
church. It's God that we're talking to. It's God
we're talking back to. I wouldn't equal it to that.
I wouldn't liken it to that. I don't know if I'd go that far.
Christ did. Look at Matthew 18, 5. Matthew
18, 5. Whoso shall receive one such
little child in my name, and that's in my name. He's talking
about one that has his name. One that he's laid down. Whoso
receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. And
he says in another place, and he receives my father who sent
me. He's one with the Father. And
he's saying here, and I'm one with my sheep. I'm one with those
I've died for. But whoso shall offend one of
these little ones which believe in me. 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. That's a pretty bad thing to
think about it. To have a stone, a millstone
tied around our neck and you'd be taken over here to the lake
over here by the university and thrown into it. Or taken down
here to the shore and taken out to the deepest part and just
chunked overboard. That's about as bad as I could think of. The
Lord said it'd be better for that to happen. It'd be better
for that to happen. You see, this is what I'm trying
to learn. And I failed at that. I just
don't have this. This is what makes me so upset
with myself. And really not nearly as upset
with myself as I wish I was. far too upset with others than
I am with myself. But when we want Christ to have
the preeminence, you know how we can give Christ the preeminence?
By preferring our brethren above ourselves. You know why that's so? Because
Because God put them in Christ, and Christ redeemed them, and
the Spirit of God is in them. So that they're as one with Christ
as Christ is with the Father. That one. So that Christ says,
when you receive them, you receive me. And when you've done it unto
them, you've done it unto me. One, that gives me great reason
to rejoice that Christ would consider me that way, myself,
doesn't it, you, that he consider you that one with him, that he's,
you that trust him. And it gives me great rejoicing
for you, my brothers and sisters, that he's made you that one with
him. And it humbles me. It brings
me so down to see I have such a proud, arrogant. My hormones are still raging
to this day. I'm still too big for my britches. And I'm getting worse. Just get worse. Here's what Christ is telling
us. What do we see Peter say on Thursday night? 1 Peter 5.5. Look at this. Remember now, he
said there, he highly exalted God by making himself the least. Wherefore God also highly exalted
him, giving him a name above every name. Look at this. 1 Peter 5.5. He gave a word to the elder concerning
the flock, and he gave a word to the flock concerning the elder,
and then he says this, yea, all of you. Now putting one above
another, all of us, all of us who have been born of his spirit,
believe on him. He says all of you be subject
one to another, and be clothed with humility. You know who's
saying this now? The same one who was standing
there in that group saying, who's going to be the greatest? Who's
going to be the greatest? He learned this through some
suffering too. All of you be subject one to another, be clothed
with humility, for God resisted the proud and giveth grace to
the humble. Can you hear Christ telling us
this? Listen now. He gives grace to the humble.
Humble yourselves therefore unto the mighty hand of God that He
may exalt you in due time. Casting all your care upon Him,
for He careth for you. You know what Christ did when
He made Himself the least? When He humbled Himself and went
to the death, leaving the death of the cross, and was made sin
and despised the shame of it. You know what he did? The Scripture
says that he cried out to the Father. He cast all his care,
the Son of Man cast all his care into the hand of the Father.
And in due time, when the justice of God was satisfied, when the
sin of all his people was purged, when God said, I have seen of
the travail of my soul and I am satisfied. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name. And
so Christ tells his disciples, and Peter, through painful experience,
tells us, right here, through his spirit, all of you be subject
one to another, all of us. And cast all, and humble yourself
under the mighty hand of God. And He may exalt you in due time,
when it's time. Casting all your care upon Him,
for He careth for you. I was preparing this, trying
to finish up this message. I'd just been trying to think
about it, walk around with it, and for a while, a couple of
weeks now, and I was trying to finish it up on Friday. Just
jotting down some things, and I was just sitting there, just
trying to get this, just get it in my heart. and just thinking on these things.
All of a sudden, I heard this scream of a little child in the backyard. And I looked
out the back door, and Will's laying face down, and he just,
I mean, it was a, just a, Some shivers down your back, that
kind of scream. The first thing I thought, I
saw that play set there and I thought he fell off that play set and
broke something. And I took off out there. I ran
out there. I asked him this morning if he'd
be embarrassed if I said, told this, but he was running, looking
back at his sister. Isn't that when we, Isn't that
when we mess up? When we're running, looking back
at our brethren. And you know that metal pole
in our yard standing out there by itself that holds the bird
feeder? He ran headfirst into that metal pole and put up, when
I got out there, there was a, I mean, a big old, big old knot
right there on his forehead. But you know what? When I heard
his cry, I didn't ask any question. I just ran straight to him. And he cast all his care on me
to comfort him, to care for him. Do you think I turned him away? Do you think I said, do you think
I got on to him? pulled out the belt and whipped
him. I cared for him. I cared for him. That's what
the Lord's saying. The Lord says, children, don't
be looking back at your brothers and sisters while you're running.
Don't be looking at your sin while you're running. Don't be
looking at Don't be looking at how good a job you've done at
putting away your sin. Don't be looking at your righteousnesses. That'll make you say, all those
things make you say, I ought to be the greatest in the kingdom.
There's one that's the greatest, and it's Christ. run the race set before us, looking
to the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that
was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and
is sat down at the right hand of the Father. And in due time,
when he's done, when he's brought us to the end of our race, today
or tomorrow or whenever he's pleased to bring us there, He'll
exalt us in due time. And we'll all be, every one of
his brethren, be side by side, casting all our golden crowns
down at his feet and saying, there's only one in the kingdom
that's worthy to be prayed. Can't you say amen? I feel like
such a fool. That's the only message that
I know that both exalts God and abases us all at the same time.
Makes us so glad and sad. Makes us rejoice and love God
and abhor what we are all at the same time. Isn't it amazing? I pray God a blessing.