Turn again to God's word in the
chapter that we read, Matthew chapter 18 and reading verses
3 and 4 for our text. Matthew 18 verses 3 and 4, the
words of Christ. He says, Verily I say unto you,
except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall
not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall
humble himself as his little child, the same is greatest in
the kingdom of heaven. In Matthew 18 verses 3 and 4
we know that the disciples had been disputing among themselves
with regards to which of them should be the greatest. in the
account that we find in the gospel according to Luke and there at
verse 46 following we are told out 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." They were disputing then with
regards to position and authority and influence. At the beginning
of this 18th chapter we are told At that same time came the disciples
unto Jesus saying, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And this was not some disinterested
question that they were asking. They were wanting that Christ
might speak of them as those who would be the greatest in
the kingdom. It was pride that was really
at the root. of the question that they put
to Christ there in the opening verse of the chapter. But we know how that the Lord
Jesus Christ saw through that. The Lord Jesus Christ doesn't
just hear the question but he is able of course to discern
their thoughts. He sees the hearts of men who
are told he needed not that any should testify of man. for he
knew what was in the heart of man. He is that word of God that
is quick and powerful, sharper than the two-edged sword, piercing
to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, the joints and
marrow, the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart,
as we read in Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 12. clearly there
in the context the word of God that's spoken of it's not the
scripture that is of course true of the scriptures God's word
is a quick, powerful pointed word though often does God's
word come to us and expose us and find us out but the word
of God that is spoken of here in Hebrews 4 in the context it's
the Lord Jesus Christ the words, the word that was made flesh.
Paul continues at verse 13, neither is there any creature that is
not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and opened
unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do, seeing then that
we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus
the son of God. It is Christ who is that word
of God. It is Christ then who discerns
all that a man might think. As we read there in Luke chapter
9, Jesus perceiving the thoughts of their heart took a child and
set him by him. He takes a child. Here is a visible
example that has such an effect. What is the Lord doing? He is
putting forth his child as a type really, a type of humility. And the visible example of course
is most striking. And this is what the Lord is
doing, he is teaching them. Verily, I say unto you, accept
ye be converted. and become as his little child
who is set beside himself. He shall not enter into the kingdom
of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble
himself as his little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom
of heaven. It is interesting, is it not,
when we come to this portion of scripture. We see them asking
a question. They ask this question at the
beginning of the chapter. And it has to do with greatness.
Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And the motivation
is really their pride. It's what they want. They aspire
after greatness. But in reply, what does Christ
do? He speaks of the very opposite of that. He speaks of the necessity
of humility. Whosoever shall humble himself
as his little child, says Christ, He is the greatest in the kingdom
of heaven. Well, as we come to consider
the words that I read as the text, verses 3 and 4, I want
to divide what I say tonight into three parts, three headings. First of all, we see here the
importance of humility, the importance of humility. Secondly, we see
the necessity of conversion, and then thirdly and finally
we see the simplicity of salvation. First of all then the importance
of humility. Whosoever therefore shall humble
himself as this little child says the Lord Jesus Christ except
he be converted and become as little children. Now, we need of course to be careful
here. We are not to think that a child
is the perfect pattern of innocence. Children are born into this world
with a sinful nature. Children as well as adults are
sinners by nature. David, when he comes to make
confession of his sin, acknowledges that he was a sinner from the
womb. Behold I was shapen in iniquity,
he cries, and in sin did my mother conceive me. His conception was
not sinful, God meant that men and women should multiply upon
the face of the earth. That was what God said to Adam
and Eve before ever they fell. They were to their children,
they were to be children. But of course, because sinners
entered into the world, the offspring there were men and women, all
their offspring is sinners. Who can bring a clean thing out
of an unclean? Not one. The child then is not
the perfect pattern of innocence. Again the psalmist can cry out,
remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions, nor the
sins of our youth. The hymn writer says it, does
he not? 949 in vanity I spent my youth. The thought now fills my heart
with shame. The folly of youth, the child
then, is not the perfect pattern. of innocence. It would be wrong
to think that that's what the Lord is suggesting as he uses
his illustration. In fact in some things, in some
things we are not to be as children. We are not to be like children. Be not children in understanding,
says Paul. Albeit, in knowledge be as children.
We're not to be children in understanding. We're to be those who would desire
that our understanding might increase, that there might be
that development and that growth. And again, remember how Paul,
when he writes to the Corinthians, rebukes them because they were
not what they should be. They were not growing in grace, there was much foolish sinfulness,
childishness. And so he writes there in the
third chapter, his first letter to the Corinthians, I, brethren,
could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal,
even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and
not with meat, for hitherto you were not able to bear it, neither
yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal, for whereas
there is among you envying and strife and divisions, are ye
not carnal and walk as men? For we rebuke them as being children
yet, and not growing as they ought to grow. There is that
need then for us to be growing, growing in grace, growing in
the knowledge of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ. John, when
John writes in the second chapter of his first epistles, he speaks
of those who are at different stages in their spiritual life. There are some who are little
children, there are some who are young men, there are others
who are fathers. Or there is such a thing as growing
there. And that is important, we are
not to always be as children. The particular point, the principle
point that the Lord Jesus Christ is making in these verses is
simply the necessity of humility. They ask who is the greatest?
What does Christ say? Verily, except ye be converted
and become as little children. ye shall not enter into the kingdom
of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble
himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom
of heaven. And it is interesting to examine
the language, the vocabulary that is used by the Lord Jesus
Christ. Because throughout these verses
he uses the diminutive for a child. There are two words in the original
in the Greek here, there's the word for a child but there's
also a diminutive form of that particular word which indicates that it's a little
child, a small child. And you see how throughout we
read of a little child Jesus called a little child he sets
him in the midst except he be converted he says and become
as little children he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven
there's that need to humble oneself as this little child he says
and then again at verse 5 who so shall receive one such little
child in my name. Now, it's just one word that
is translated as little child here. It's not that he's using
a noun and it's adjective, the adjective for little. It is always
the word that's the diminutive of a child. It's a very little
child that the Lord has taken and set amongst them. He is teaching
them this lesson that to enter into the kingdom of God you have
to be very small. You have to be very small, very
little in your own eyes. You have to be like a little
child. Of course, you have to become a child. You have to be
born spiritually, just as one is born in a natural sense. We
are born into this world as little babes and we come from the womb
of our mother. We are helpless children. And
we are born in that state of sin, we are dead in trespasses
and sins. And we have to be born again.
Verily, verily says Christ, except the man be born again. He cannot
enter into the kingdom of heaven. And are we not born then as babes? This is how we enter in, this
is how we begin. Straight is the gates. Narrow
is the way that lead us on to life. The gate is a straight
gate. It's narrow, it's restricted. It's not a way for some great
giant to enter. We have to be as little children.
It is easier for a camel, says Christ, to go through the eye
of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of
heaven. How we have to be small, how
we have to be those who are truly humbled before God, those who
feel themselves to be as nothing. It is humility and the vital
necessity, the great importance of humility that the Lord Jesus
Christ is emphasizing here. And how necessary it is when
we think of the very nature of our sin, the sin that we've inherited
from Adam and Eve. I know that there Their sin,
the root of all sin there in the Garden of Eden was unbelief.
Unbelief. It is the sin which doth so easily
beset us says Paul. Unbelief. But we see in the account
in Genesis chapter 3 that what was bound up with that unbelief
was pride. And so If we are going to be
those who are made new creatures, those who are truly converted,
we must be changed. Instead of that unbelief and
that pride, we must know something of faith and humility. So what does Christ say? Whosoever
therefore shall humble himself as his little child, The same
is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Now let us not imagine
that we can actually humble ourselves. Whosoever therefore shall humble
himself. If we think that we can make
ourselves humble, isn't that a manifestation yet of our pride
to think that we can do anything. This is why we come to this in
the second place. besides the importance of humility
there is this necessity of a person being converted being changed
and that's what the Lord says here in verse 3 except ye be
converted and become as little children ye shall not enter into
the kingdom of heaven we cannot convert ourselves we cannot convert
ourselves Can the Ethiopian change his skin? Or the leopard his
spots? Then may ye do good what you
are accustomed to do in evil, says Jeremiah. The Ethiopian
doesn't change his skin, the leopard doesn't change his spots.
We cannot change ourselves. It's God's work. It's God's work. this great work of conversion,
this is the work of God that ye believe on him whom he hath
sent. God must do the work. Conversion
is that great work of God, it's a new creation is it not? If
any man be in Christ, he is a new creature it says, or as the margin
indicates, he is a new creation. All things are passed away, behold
all things are become new. And as God works in the first
creation, when he makes all things out of nothing, and he does it
simply by the word of his mouth, God said, and it was so. Time and again, God said, and
it was so. He just speaks creation into
being out of nothing. Through faith we understand that
the worlds were made so that the things which do appear were
not made of things that are. There was nothing. And out of
nothingness God created everything. That is the wonder of God's great
works in creation. But when we come to this new
creation, when God converts the sinner, He doesn't work with
nothing, he works with that that is altogether opposite to himself. He works in the heart of one
who is in his very nature an unbeliever, in his very nature
a proud sinner, and he humbles the sinner. All God does the
work, it's God's own work. Whosoever therefore shall humble
himself as his little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom
of heaven. You see by nature we are the
very opposite, the very opposite of what God makes us. There is that pride, there is
that unbelief, and as I say we have it stated so clearly and
so plainly in the biblical accounts of the four The historic accounts,
events that actually occurred and written here in the historic
book, the book of Genesis. How the serpent comes to the
woman. How the serpent tempts the woman. suggests that she should eat
of the forbidden fruit. The woman says, we may eat of
the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the
tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ye
shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it lest ye die.
And the serpent said unto the woman, ye shall not surely die.
For God does know in the day that ye eat thereof, then your
eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good
and evil. Now, there is that contradiction
of the word of God. God said ye shall surely die. The serpent says ye shall not
surely die. Here is the unbelief. The woman
embraces the lie. Sooner accept and believe the
lie of the devil than the truth of God's word. And then he comes
also with this suggestion of pride,
your eyes shall be opened, ye shall be as gods, and the woman
in her foolishness she partakes of that forbidden fruit. All
we bid and love not the world, neither the things that are in
the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father
is not in him. All that is in the world, the
lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes, And the pride of
life is not of the Father, but is of the world. Pride, the cursed
pride, that spirit by God abhorred, do what we will. It haunts us
still, it keeps us from the Lord. Our pride, you see, creeps over
us. We think sometimes that we can
do something, we think, we really do imagine that we can convert
ourselves, and in our folly we might seize upon such a statement
as this, this who therefore shall humble himself, or we can humble
ourselves, humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, we cannot,
we cannot, to think we can is foolishness, but pride you see
is so insidious, Art in that hymn of his own pride says, against
its influence pray. It mingles with the prayer. Against
it preach. It prompts the speech, be silent.
Still it's there. Still it's there. The tale is
told concerning John Bunyan, is it not, that on one occasion
when he preached there were those who were much moved by the ministry
that he was exercising, and remember As a great Puritan, Dr. John
Owen said he would have given up all his great learning if
he could but preach like John Bunyan. Bunyan was a great preacher
and we are told that on that occasion where there was such
an unction upon the ministry of the word and the people were
clearly moved, one came and would congratulate Bunyan on the sermon
that he had just preached. But wise Bunyan turned to the
man and said, the devil has already told me that. The devil has already
told me that. Against its influence, pray,
it mingles with the prayer. Against it, preach. It prompts
the speech. Be silent, still, it's there. Oh, how it's so bound up in our
fallen nature, this pride, that we imagine that there is something
for us to do. And that we can do something.
No, says the Lord Jesus Christ, we stand in need of conversion. We must be converted. And what
are we converted to? We are converted to the very
opposite of what we are by nature. We have to be converted to our
nothingness. That's where we have to come.
We have to see what we are. We're nothing. Oh, it's the venture
of time. Venture to be nought, says the
hymn writer. What does Paul sigh when the
Lord is dealing with him there in 2 Corinthians chapter 12? Thou is brought to see the preciousness
of God's grace. And he says this concerning himself,
though I be nothing. Though I be a cipher, a zero,
a nothing. On that 12th chapter of 2nd Corinthians,
Bernard Gilpin says, it sets forth humiliation which accompanies
the true experience of God's grace. If we have a true experience
of the grace of God, how will it be manifest? There will be
humiliation. We'll be brought to the complete
and utter end of ourselves. And we'll be made to realise
that all our salvation is of God. All men recognise that,
of course, in that they do say, do the great majority of believers,
they will readily acknowledge Salvation is of the Lord, the
great eternal purpose of God the Father. However, it was the
Father who made choice of His people and committed them into
the hands of Christ to secure their salvation. They'll acknowledge
the sovereignty of God the Father. They'll acknowledge the Son.
And He has come to accomplish that salvation. And that he is
that one who has come into the very place of the sinner, made
of a woman, made under the law, in that law place, answering
for his people with regards to the demands of the Holy Lord
of God, obeying all its precepts for them. And not only the obedience
of his life, but also in his death, bearing the penalty that
was their desert, they were punished. He was punished. in their room
and in their steps. But then, when it comes to the
work of God the Holy Spirit, our men like to imagine that
there is yet something to be done. Something to be done by
the sinner to accept his salvation. And there are those who present
it in those terms, are they not? They make their offers and their
profits. They speak of the duties of the people to respond to close
with the offer the duty to believe as if there's something for man
to do and I say friends we have to come to this that we feel
what we are we feel our nothingness our nothingness this is what
Paul comes to there in that twelfth chapter of 2nd Corinthians where
we see so much the grace of God and pour his broods to acknowledge
and confess his complete and utter indebtedness to that grace
of God. What does he say? Verse 7, Lest
I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the
revelations there was given me a thorn in the flesh. The messenger
of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. We have that repetition in the
beginning and end of the verse, lest I should be exalted above
measure. Lest I should be exalted above
measure. And what does God do? He says to Paul, my grace is
sufficient for them. My strength is made perfect in
weakness. Most gladly therefore will I
rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may
rest upon me. And then there at the end of
verse 11 he makes that statement, though I be nothing. Remember
he's a pattern. A pattern to all them who should
hereafter believe, not that we're going to have the same depth
of experience, we're not going to see what Paul saw in the way
of those heavenly visions. I'm not saying that for a moment,
but there's a pattern. There he speaks of the grace
of God, and what accompanies the grace of God, where there
is a real experience of the grace of God, there will be that humility. There will be humility. Paul tells us in the scripture
that he is of like passion with us. Elijah is a man of like passions
with us. They are all names these. Be
it Elijah in the Old Testament, be it the Apostle Paul in the
New Testament. And all stand in need of this
continual humbling. We need it. We need that God
would be humbling us, not just at the beginning. What is conversion? Is it not in a sense a work that
is continuous? Yes, regeneration, a new birth
is instantaneous. We are dead in trespasses and
sins and then we are born again and we are alive spiritually.
But how is conversion? It's not like that. We're new creatures, yes. But
as we're new creatures, now we must grow. We have to grow in
grace. We have to grow in the knowledge of our God inside.
You have to grow in faith. These Christian graces have to
develop in us. And what is true faith? Is it
not, as one has said, a weakening, emptying grace? A weakening,
emptying grace. If we are true faith, we'll be
increasingly emptied of ourselves. We'll increasingly feel our weakness
and our dependence upon God, upon Christ. There'll be a constant
humiliation then in our lives. God says to this man, will I
look? To him that is humble, contrite
at heart, and trembleth at my word. All the necessity, friends,
of conversion. Yes, the vital importance of
humiliation if we would enter into the kingdom of God. We have
to be as a little child. We have to be converted to be
as a little child. Verily I say unto you, accept
ye be converted and become as little children he shall not
enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble
himself as his little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom
of heaven. But I said three headings and
the third and final one is this, the simplicity of salvation,
the importance of humiliation, the necessity of conversion and
now the simplicity of salvation on another occasion the Lord
Jesus says suffer little children to come unto me for of such is
the kingdom of heaven little children now the Lord doesn't
mean that religion is only for children in the Sunday school
when he says suffer the little children to come unto me and
forbid them not. We are not to think that religion
is only for children that as we grow older we can put that
away. We are not to think in terms
of real religion being something that is but childish. No, what
Christ is saying surely is this that there is a simplicity in
salvation. There is a simplicity in salvation. Suffer the little children to
come unto mine. Forbid them not, for of such
is the kingdom of heaven. Except ye be converted and become
as a little child, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Back in the Old Testament, in
Isaiah 11, we have a chapter that is clearly speaking of the
gospel. It speaks there, does it not, quite clearly of the
Lord Jesus Christ. We are to understand it ultimately
in that spiritual sense. The rods of the stem of Jesse,
the branch that grows out of his roots. In that day there
shall be a root of Jesse which shall stand for an ensign of
the people. We read, to each other Gentiles
see. and his rest shall be glorious. It speaks, historically I suppose
we have to acknowledge it speaking of the restoration of Israel
after the Babylonian captivity, but spiritually it speaks of
the gospel, it speaks of the Gentiles coming in, this one
who is the right out of the stem of Jesse, Jesse being the father
of David of course, and Christ is that line, he is David's son,
David's greatest son. It is Christ who is the branch
that grows out of his roots. The chapter then clearly speaks
of the gospel. And what do we read there in
verse 6, a little child shall lead Or this is the way of the
gospel you say. This is the gospel way of salvation. A little child shall lead. How is that? It sets before us
this very important point. That the way of salvation is
simple. The way of salvation is simple. So simple that a child
can understand it. and a child can take us by the
hand and lead us in the way of salvation. Isn't the Bible really
so simple? Of course there are portions
of scripture that are difficult to be understood. We acknowledge that, but in principle
the Bible is so straightforward, so simple, what does it speak
of? Well it speaks of God and it speaks of man. How simple
is that? It tells us about God who is
the creator of all things. It tells us about God who sustains
and upholds all his creatures. It's a revelation of God. It's
the word of God. It's God declaring himself. But
it also tells us about man because God created man. And God made
man in his own image. And so if we read it or write
we not only see the truth concerning God but we also see the truth
concerning man who is God's image bearer. But alas, that image
of God in man has been despoiled and lost and ruined in the fall. So what else do we see in the
Bible? You see, we see these basic truths, God and man, and
we see sin and salvation. These basic doctrines. We see
that man is a sinner. And that's what we sought to
emphasize somewhat tonight. The sinfulness of man. And what
that means for a man is his complete impotence, his total inability. He can do nothing for himself.
and he has to be brought to that. Finally in his pride he thinks
he is something does this fallen creature. He thinks he is some
great thing. And we see it even in the disciples
of Christ you see. Who is the greatest in the kingdom
of heaven? Men like to think in terms of
themselves being great. And all the accomplishments of
men. But what is man? He is a sinner. if we would but compare what
we are now with what Adam was when he came pristine from the
hand of his creator there was man perfect the image
bearer of God able to give names to all the animals and how those
names suited every creature that was brought to Adam to name that Adam found You see the folly
of man, he speaks of evolution as if man is developing and evolving
and becoming better and better, alas! That's the complete opposite
of the truth. We live in a fallen world, in
this world everything is running down, not running up. This is
the basic thing that we see then here in scripture, we see that
man is a sinner. But we also see this great truth
that salvation is of the law. We see sin, yes, but all that
God would open our eyes to the great truth of salvation. The doctrine of scripture, it's
so simple. God and man, sin and salvation. A little child can understand
that. A little child shall lead them. The doctrine is simple but friends
the way is hard, I don't deny that. There's a difference between
the simplicity of the way of salvation and easy believism.
We don't teach that it's easy, easy to believe, easy to be a
Christian. It's not. A man has to be converted. He has to become as a little
child in order to enter into the kingdom. We have to be brought to the
end of ourselves. We have to be brought to see
our nothingness. Yes, salvation is simple. But
the way of faith is hard. It's hard. How do we enter the
kingdom? The kingdom of heaven says Christ
suffereth violence. And the violence, take it by
force. What does that mean? Well, that
violence has to do with prayers and cries to God, calling upon
God. We have to seek Him, you see.
It's the only way we can enter into the Kingdom. There has to
be the seeking of Him. You shall seek me, He says, and
find me when you shall search after me with all your heart. We have to be wholehearted in
our desire towards Him. We have to give ourselves to
that, to wait upon Him. In waiting, says David, I waited
upon the Lord. Those words at the beginning
of the 40th Psalm. I waited patiently for the Lord,
says David. Imagine I, in waiting, I waited
for the Lord, and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of
an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a
rock, and established my goal. Oh, we have to seek this God.
We have to cry and call, and we have that assurance given
by Christ. Ask, and it shall be given you.
Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened
unto you, says the Savior. And remember he never spoke one
vain idle word. He that asketh receiveth he that
seeketh findeth him that not that he shall be open saith Christ.
O God grant that we might believe him. Believe his word. And here
we have the word of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what does he
say? Do you know the significance of that word? Literally, Amen. So be it. Truly this is a truth
falling from the lips of the prince of all preachers, the
Lord Jesus Christ himself. Verily, he says to us, he says
to me, he says to you. Verily, I say unto you, except
ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not
enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble
himself as his little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom
of heaven. Or doesn't God exalt those that
humble themselves under his mighty hand? God grant then that we
might know the fulfillment of the word in our own soul's experience. Amen. Let us join together in the singing
of hymn number 978, and the tune is Malcolm 369. How blessed are
they who truly see their emptiness and poverty, whose souls are
humbled in the dust, and who in Jesus only trust.