Mark chapter 9, and let's begin
reading again in verse 30. And they departed thence, and
passed through Galilee. And he would not that any man
should know it. For he taught his disciples,
and said unto them, The Son of Man is delivered into the hands
of men. and they shall kill him. And after that he is killed,
he shall rise the third day. But they understood not that
saying and were afraid to ask him. And he came to Capernaum,
and being in the house, he asked them, what was it that you disputed
among yourselves by the way? But they held their peace, for
by the way they had disputed among themselves who should be
the greatest." That's just like us, isn't it? We understood what
we just read, the first two verses, right? And then here they are arguing. They're passing through Galilee,
walking through Galilee the whole time. Who's the greatest? Is there
any doubt in anyone's minds here this morning that we're all sinners? Is there any doubt? Any doubt? Sin has ruined us, hasn't it? Hey, it's absolutely ruined us.
It has strengthened our pride. It has strengthened our flesh
and it has taken our eyes and our hearts off of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what sin has done to us.
The apostles themselves are our proof. They're our proof of this. Now, this very chapter, we've
been in Mark 9 for quite a while, in this very chapter It begins
with our Lord transfiguring Himself before their eyes. Look with
me at verse 3. And His raiment became shining,
exceeding white as snow, so that no fuller on earth can white
them. They saw God. I mean, they saw God. There he
was, God. And right here in this very chapter,
Mark chapter 9, these apostles became a few of the privileged
souls that actually got to hear the voice of God the Father.
Verse 7, there was a cloud that overshadowed them. And a voice
came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son, hear
Him." Right here in this very chapter,
Jesus Christ Himself explained to these apostles the reason
for His coming. He said, I came to die. Be buried, and then after three
days of death, rise again to deliver my people from their
sin and death. And then right here in this very
chapter, they watched him perform a miracle that none of them could
do. You remember that? This man's
son had an evil, dumb spirit, and they couldn't do it, so he
said, bring him to me. And they said, why couldn't we
do it? They sat there and watched him
perform a miracle that not one of them can do. And now these
poor men are arguing. Here they are walking down through
the streets of Galilee, right downtown. Arguing among themselves, who
should be the greatest? It has always been this way.
It has always been this way. And as long as sin is present,
it's always going to be this way. Always. I'll show you where
it started. Go with me over to Isaiah 14.
Isaiah 14 verse 12. How art thou fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the
ground which didst weaken the nations? For thou hast said in
thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne
above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount
of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above
the heights of the clouds. I will be like the most high."
What does God have to say about that? Verse 15, He said, Yet
thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly
look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man
that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms, that
made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof,
that opened not the house of his prisoners? All the kings
of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his
own house. But thou art cast out of thy
grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that
are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the
stones of the pit as a carcass trodden under feet." That's where
the sin of self started. That's where the whole thing
started. He said, I'm going to be my own God. I'm going to be
above God. Now let me show you where it
continued. Go with me over to Genesis 3. Genesis 3 verse 1, Now the serpent was more subtle
than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he
said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, You shall not eat of
every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent,
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
hath said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch
it, lest you die. And the serpent said unto the
woman, You shall not surely die. For God doth know that in the
day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened and you
shall be as God's, knowing good and evil." If you'll just disobey
God, you'll be great. You will be great. God is trying
to keep you from your full potential. You're underestimating yourself.
You're underestimating your value before God. You know, people
are told that every day now. And that's the greatest lie that
a sinner could ever hear. But every single sinner hears
it. It's the sin in them welling
up. Every sinner hears it. Every sinner believes it and
every sinner falls for it. Every single one. Verse six,
when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it
was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make
one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave
also unto her husband with her and he did eat. And the eyes
of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked.
And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. And
they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in
the cool of the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves
from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the
garden. And the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him,
Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice
in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid
myself. And he said, Who told thee that
thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof
I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? What have you done? That's what he's asking him.
What have you done? The sin of self, it didn't work
the first time and it has never worked any time after. Not one time. King Nebuchadnezzar. King Nebuchadnezzar, he was lifted
up with pride and self, wasn't he? Look at everything, the Babylon,
look at everything I've done. God made him crawl in the field
like a beast. And then when God brought him
back to his senses, this is what he said, those that walk in pride,
he's able to obey. That's what he said, he's able
to obey. This is what Peter said. Peter
was at that transfiguration. Peter said, humble yourselves
therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you
in due time. James said, God resisted the
proud but gives grace to the humble. John said he must increase. I must decrease. I must. That's what God's Holy Spirit
teaches. God's child. That's what he teaches
him every time. Now look back at the text in
Mark chapter nine. Verse 30, And they departed thence, and
passed through Galilee, and he would not that any man should
know it. For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of
Man is delivered into the hands of men. He never failed to preach
the gospel to them, did he? Never, never. He said, The Son
of Man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall
kill him And after that he is killed, he shall rise the third
day. But they understood not that
saying, and they were afraid to ask him. And he came to Capernaum,
and being in the house, he asked them, what was it that you disputed
among yourselves by the way?" The whole time they were passing
through Galilee. These grown men were arguing
back and forth. I almost titled this message
competition between the preachers. Going back and forth, back and
forth. They were arguing with each other.
They were putting each other down. They were building themselves
up. And as soon as they got to where
they were going, they went into this house and God looked them
right in the eyes and he said, what were y'all all arguing about?
What was everybody arguing about? Verse 33, he came to Capernaum,
and being in the house, he asked them, what was it that you disputed
among yourselves by the way? But they held their peace, for
by the way they had disputed among themselves who should be
the greatest. They held their peace. Nobody
would say anything. Nobody would answer. They knew
right here, what am I doing? What am I doing? We've all been
made to be members of the family of God. We've been redeemed from all
this sin, haven't we? We're going to spend eternity
in peace with God, peace with each other. Our iniquity is pardoned. We've received of the Lord's
hand double. God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven
us. And I'm going to argue with my
brother over which one of us is the greatest. The greatest. Now watch how sweetly our Lord
deals with them. This is precious. This is sweet. Verse 34. But they held their
peace, for by the way, they had disputed among themselves who
should be the greatest. And he sat down and called the
twelve and said unto them, if any man desire to be first, the
same shall be last of all and servant of all. And he took a
child and set him in the midst of them. He brought this small
child, this weak little child, simple little child. And he put
that child right in the midst of them and then he pulled that
child into himself and wrapped his arms around this child and
he hugged on this little child. Verse 36 says, he took a child
and set him in the midst of them. And when he had taken him in
his arms, he said unto them, Whosoever shall receive one of
such children in my name receiveth me. And whosoever shall receive
me receiveth not me, but him that sent me. You know what they
saw when he did that? He illustrated something to them.
And you know what they all saw when he did that? They saw who
was the greatest. That's what they saw. who was
the greatest. He said, if any man desires to
be first, the same shall be last of all and servant of all. But
this is what our Lord told us in Matthew 23. He said, the opposite
is also true. Look over there with me at Matthew
chapter 23. Matthew 23 verse 11 says, but he that is greatest among
you, not just desires to be but is, he that is greatest among
you shall be your servant. Whoever is the servant is the
greatest. Verse 12, and whosoever shall exalt himself shall be
abased. And he that shall humble himself
shall be exalted. Now let's ask this question.
Who humbled himself? I can tell you it was not us. It was not one of us. We did
not humble ourselves. We would not humble ourselves. God in mercy humbled us. But there is one who humbled
himself." Isn't that wonderful? He humbled himself. There is
one who thought it not robbery to be equal with God because
he was God. But he made himself of no reputation. This text started with the Lord. They were passing through Galilee
and he had some things to tell them. And he said, I don't want
you to tell anybody about this. Why? Because he made himself
of no reputation. But he took upon him the form
of a servant, and he was made in the likeness of men. And being
found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself. And he became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. He's the greatest. He's the greatest. In Matthew's account, he said,
whoever humbles himself as this little child, as this little
child, he made himself to be a little child. He became a little child. The
highest king of heaven humbled himself all the way down to the
lowest part of the earth, both in the womb and in the grave. He's the greatest. He is the
greatest because of his humility. God hath highly exalted him,
he said, whoever humbles himself is going to be exalted. God hath
highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every
name. You know what that means? It
means there's no point in any of his subjects competing. He holds it. He holds the top
spot. He has been given a name which
is above every name. He is the greatest. He is the
highest. And all we need to do is bow
the knee and confess with the tongue that Jesus Christ is Lord. He is the Lord. And it's all
to the glory of God the Father. Our Lord said, if you bow the
knee to me, you're bowing the knee to my father. Now I'm going
to close on this note. Go with me back to the text. Mark 9 verse 37. He said, whosoever shall receive
one of such children in my name. Receiveth me and whosoever shall
receive me receiveth not me, but him that sent me. We are
God's children. We are. If we belong to Christ, if we've
been given to Christ, if we've been put in Christ, if we're
a joint heir with Christ, if we were adopted by Christ, we
are God's children. And he said, if you want to receive
me, receive my children. That's what he said. Receive
each other. He said, if you want to love
me, love each other. Isn't that what he said? He said,
if you want to do for me, do for each other. They all cried,
when did we do for you? He said, as much as you've done
it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, you did it to me.
You did it to me. Down in verse 41, it says, whosoever
shall give you a cup of water to drink. In the name, in my
name. Because you belong to Christ.
Verily I say unto you, he won't lose his reward. Just a cup of
water. He said, greater love hath no
man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend.
He said, On this hangs all the law and the prophets. Love the
Lord thy God. Love each other. And that's just
precious, isn't it? That's precious. That's just
precious. The love of God, it causes all
pride. It causes all self. It causes
all competition to just cease. I don't want to be at competition
with one other grace pastor. I don't want to go to a conference
and start a big argument up. Who's the greatest? Who's going
to preach the best message here this weekend? I think I did. Oh, man. If God will turn our hearts
to look to Christ, just look to Christ, we will all cry collectively. You want to know what the greatest
conference on earth sounds like? When every man who stands up
cries, he's the greatest. He's the greatest. He is the
greatest because he is, isn't he? He is, he's the greatest.
All right, stand with me.