Matthew 18. We looked at the first six verses
last week. I'm going to pick up on verse
7. But if you'll remember, the disciples
were asking, who is the greatest? Who has the highest seat, the
most recognition in the kingdom of heaven? And you and I know
that belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. And we are one in Him. No one of us is greater than
the other. I am not greater than anyone
in this room at all. It's just please God to put me
here and you there. We all have our position in the
body of Christ. And one is not more important
than the other. Not in Christ, not in Christ. were one in Him. He's the greatest.
He's the greatest. And He took a child and He set
that child in the midst of them. He called that child and He said,
except you be converted and become like this child, become like
children in attitude and in your conduct and in faith, childlike
faith, you'll not enter the kingdom of heaven. And in verse six,
he said, whoever offends one of these little ones, which believe
in me, because he's not talking about just little children, he's
talking about his little children. Those who believe in him are
his little children. They are the little ones he's speaking
of. It's better that a millstone be hanged about his neck and
drowned in the depth of the sea than to offend one of my little
ones. And then we come to verse seven. And he speaks a word of woe,
and when the Lord says this, woe, of woe, it's a word of warning,
it's a word of condemnation, woe unto the world, this whole
world, the world system. Woe unto the world because of
offenses, that is, and the word offenses has to do with stumbling
blocks. Stumbling blocks. Here we have a word of condemnation
from God. And He's saying here that God
will hold accountable all who offend, all who put stumbling
blocks in the way of His little ones. All who believe in Him,
all His little ones. This world, and the reason He
speaks of this world is because the world is set against God.
Do you know everything? Everything! Now, I'm not exaggerating. Everything in this world is set
against you. Everything in this world is to
throw a stumbling block in your way. Because the God of this
world, Satan, little G, goes about seeking whom he may devour
of God's children. He's talking about God's children.
Seeking whom he may devour. And everything is set up as a
stumbling block. I mean, look at the advertisements
that you see on television. It's set up as a stumbling block.
Something to draw your attention, to pull you away from the Lord
Jesus Christ. Everything. The world is set against God,
it's set against Christ, it's set against his little ones.
Satan is set against God, against Christ, and against his little
ones. We live in a world of darkness. We live probably in the most
educated country on earth, at least right at the top, and yet
we still live in a world of darkness. It's still a world of darkness.
The scripture says, the whole world lieth in wickedness. There was a way that I saw the
world before I heard and believed the gospel, and there's a way
that I see it now. And it's two totally different
worlds. The first one I saw was like a playground. It was a place
where you could achieve things, that you could fulfill the, I
wouldn't call it at that time the lust of my flesh, but that's
what it is. It's to fulfill the lust of the
flesh. Now I see it as God sees it. Not fully as God sees it,
but I see it. I see it as wickedness. I see
the evil of it. I see the deception of it. I
see the vanity of it. I see it. I see it. I see it set against
God. It's set against my good. The world will take you, eat
you up, and spit you out when it's done with you. It's like,
I think of Tom Landry. He was the winningest coach when
he had the Dallas Cowboys. And then when Tom met Jones,
Mr. Jones took it over, they had
a losing season, and he was gone. He was gone. How fickle the crowd. How fickle the crowd. They said
that the game had left him, had passed him. That's the world. As long as you entertain the
world, as long as you serve the world, fine. But when you get
to the point you can't, you're out. You're out. That's the world. Woe unto the world because of
offenses, for it must needs be that offenses come. Satan cannot
leave the little ones alone. He can't leave them alone. It's his way at getting at God. You know, one of the ways that
people can try to get at you is to get at you through your
children. If they hurt your children, that's
more than if they touched me and hurt me. I'd rather they
touch me and hurt me. But he tries to get at God through
his children. And our Lord says here, it's
impossible for offenses not to come living in such a place. It's impossible. While living in this world, there
are always going to be constantly stumbling blocks thrown in your
way by the world. But God uses these offenses to
teach us our dependence on Him. These offenses, these stumbling
blocks, let me say this, that when they come, they don't come
because of a lack of power and knowledge in God. Like He didn't
see it coming and He couldn't stop it. They come ordained of
God to be used of God for our good and His glory. but woe to
the world, but woe to that world, and then he says, to the man,
woe to that man. You see, the world is made up
of men and women. And now he takes it down to the
individual, woe to that man by whom the offense comes. Condemnation will fall on the
man who offends God's little ones. It's not like God doesn't
take notice of what's going on here. There's a condemnation
attached to this. Stumbling blocks do not come
from thin air. They come from someone. They
come from someone. And every temptation, every stumbling
block, he said, will be dealt with. That's thrown in the way
of my little ones. You bother my little ones, I'm
going to deal with you. That's a promise of God Almighty. What may seem to go unnoticed
is recorded and soon to be judged. But he goes on to say here in
verses 8 and 9, he deals with the spiritual aspect that goes
on, the warfare that goes on in us. And he speaks here, and I put
a note here, spiritual surgery. He talks about woe to the world,
woe to the man, and then he turns to the person. We can become
a stumbling block to ourselves. Now he turns to us and he says
here, wherefore, if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut
them off. He said, boy, that's drastic.
That's drastic. And cast them from you. It is
better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed rather than
having two hands or two feet be cast into everlasting fire.
And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from
thee. It is better for thee to enter
into life with one eye rather than having two eyes be cast
into hell fire. Remove the temptation that causes
you to stumble. Or remove yourself from the temptation,
whatever it is. Remove it. Don't be the stumbling
block and don't allow it to exist or continue. Deal with it. That's why he's saying deal with
it. Nothing is worse or nothing is worth offending a brother
over or offending the Spirit of God over. He says, cut it
off, cut it out, spiritually speaking. Talking about spiritually.
Here's what he's saying. I got this from someone, I don't
remember the guy's name, but it was good. Remove all associates,
all associations, all occupations, all pleasures, forsake them all
if they cause you, or if they cause another brother or sister
to stumble. The Lord says, remove it, sacrifice
it. Sacrifice it. The surgery is
painful, but the result is life-saving. Life-saving. What's your life worth? You can't
put a price on it. What's the life of your brother
worth? Your brother in Christ, your sister in Christ. Can't put a price on it. Our Lord is not saying to actually
cut off the hand because my hand is not the physical hand. My
physical hand is not the problem. This is a spiritual matter he's
talking about. He's not saying to actually cut off the hand
or the foot or pluck out the eye, but get rid of the source
and don't be the source. That's what he's saying. Get
rid of the source and don't be the source of a stumbling block. Job said this in Job 31.1, Job
said, I made a covenant with mine eyes. Why then should I
think upon a maid? He said, I'm not going, if David,
thinking about this, when I read this, I thought about David.
When David walked on that balcony, if he had had the same determination
Job had when he saw Bathsheba, he would have turned around and
went back in the house. But instead, he looked, and he
looked, and he looked, and he got in trouble. And the sword
never left his house over there. God forgave him of his sin, but
the sword never left his house. And what he's speaking here of
in these two verses is the mortifying of the deeds of the flesh. It
is written in Romans 8.13, For if you live after the flesh,
you'll die. You'll die. If you live after
the flesh, if that's what you pursue. But if you through the
Spirit, that is the Holy Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body,
you shall live. Then over in Colossians 3, 5,
it says this, He says, mortify these through the Spirit. Don't
give in to them. Don't feed it. It's like feeding
the bears. Well, once you start feeding
the bear, you're in trouble. You're in trouble. He says cut off the
occasion, cut off the problem. Because here's a consequence
to it. Here's a consequence to it. Everlasting fire and hellfire. That's serious business, isn't
it? That's serious business. There is such a place called
hell. It's a place of torment. All who reject Christ, all who
believe not on the Lord Jesus Christ, all who put stumbling
blocks in the way of His little ones are going to be there. That's
what he's saying. He says they're going to be there.
It's serious business. They're going to be there. All hypocrites
are going to be there. You say, can a child of God Can
a child of God stumble and fall and end up perishing? No. No. Because I tell you what, a child
of God will do just what he's said to do. A child of God, by
the power of God's Spirit, will cut off the problem. But a hypocrite
won't. A hypocrite's not going to. A
hypocrite's going to keep it going. He's going to keep it
going. Now, take heed, he says in verse
10, take heed that you despise not, and that word despise means
cold in contempt, one of these little ones. Where does contempt really come
from? To have contempt for someone, where does it really come from?
Well, first of all, I think it comes from a lack of wisdom and
understanding of the gospel. And it comes from a lack of wisdom
and understanding of who I am and what I am. How can I hold
anyone in contempt if God has taught me who I am? How can I
do that? There's only one way for contempt
to grow in the heart. That is when we esteem ourselves
better than we do others. It's called self-righteousness. For I say unto you, he's still
speaking here to his disciples. I say unto you that in heaven
there are angels. Do always behold the face of
my father which is in heaven. There are angels. There are personal
guardians. There are personal bodyguards.
That's what he's saying. Angels personally assigned to
care for them. They do always behold the face
of my Father. They have access to my Father
continually. They're angels. Look over in
Acts chapter 12. In Acts chapter 12. Let me find out where I want
to start here. This situation was when Peter
was in prison and he was in chains. And I'm not going to read all
of this, this is a little bit lengthy, but the angel came and
unlocked the door, unlocked the prison, took the chains off,
In verse 11, and when Peter was come to himself, this is after
he'd gone out, the angel had departed from him. He said, now
I know of a surety that the Lord has sent his angel and has delivered
me out of the hand of Herod from all the expectation of the people
of the Jews. And when he had considered the
thing, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose
surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying.
And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, A damsel came to
Harkin named Rhoda. And when she knew Peter's voice,
she opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in and told how Peter
stood before the gate. And they said unto her, thou
art mad, but she constantly affirmed that it was even so. Then said
they, it's his angel. They said it's his angel. His
angel has come. They knew something about this. It is written in Psalm 34 7,
The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him,
and delivereth them. It is written in Hebrews 1 14,
Are they not all ministering spirits, speaking of the angels?
Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth from the presence
of God, sent forth from the presence of God to minister for them,
for them and to them who shall be heirs of salvation? Constantly. You remember when
Jacob saw that ladder back there in Genesis? What was going up
and down that ladder? Angels. He saw angels ascending
and descending up and down that ladder, doing the Lord's will,
protecting his children. They've been doing that since
the beginning. God is a God of means. And here he uses angels. He says in verse 11, for the
son of man has come to save that which was lost. I didn't come
to destroy men. I came to save. I came to save
that which was lost in the fall. I came to save that which was
lost. This is how important his little
ones are to him. They were lost. And he says,
I came to save them. That's why I didn't come to try. Never use try in reference to
God or Christ. Never use the word try. I came
to save the lost. You know, he's gonna save every
lost person. It takes God to get a man lost. It literally, I'm serious. It
takes God to get a man or woman lost. Lost. Lord, save me. It takes God to do that. The
Son of Man, who is the Son of God, who is the God-Man, came
into this world. He became bone of their bone
and flesh of their flesh. He came to honor the law on their
behalf. He came to work out a righteousness for them. He came to redeem them,
shed His blood for them. He came to save them. They are
important to Him. You are important to Him. Listen
to how important you are to Him, you who believe. Listen to how
important you are to Him. He said, I came to save them. He came to present them spotless
before the presence of His glory. He's telling us here how important
these little ones are to Him. And our Lord demonstrates the
importance of just one little one here in the next two verses. He says, how think you or tell
me what you think. Tell me what you think about
this. If a man have a hundred sheep and one of them be gone
astray, does he not leave the ninety and nine and go into the
mountains and seek that which is gone astray? And if be so
that he finds it, verily I say unto you, he rejoices more of
that sheep than of the 99 which went not astray. How do you think,
if one, you got 100 sheep. It goes off into the mountains.
You got 99 sheep that are here in the fold. Are you gonna go
into the mountains and find that one sheep, or are you just gonna
say, well, that's just one less sheep? That's just one less sheep. I got 99. I mean, you know, in
business terms, if you lose just one, you know, one-tenth, one
percent, you're still going to make it. But our Lord is saying here,
these little ones are so important that if just one goes astray,
just one. He said a good shepherd, if he's
a good shepherd, he's going to go into the mountains. where
the beast are, trouble is, he's gonna go into the mountain, he's
gonna search, he's gonna find that sheep, he's gonna search
until he gets that sheep. And when he finds that sheep,
he's gonna rejoice over that sheep more than the 99 who are
safe. They're safe. Our Lord came into this world
He came into this world. It's like going into the wilderness,
the mountains, to find you. You see, one sheep is not that
important. What if you're that sheep? Oh, well, that just changed
everything, didn't it? That just changes the whole story. Now, if I'm that one sheep, life doesn't become really valuable
until it becomes your life. When it becomes my life, that's
when it's valuable. But to the Lord, every one of
them is valuable. Every last one of you is valuable.
And the Lord came to seek and to save his sheep one by one. One by one. And he said he rejoices
more of that one that he found than of the 99 that are saved.
I think of this 99 safe, those in heaven, they're safe. Nothing's
gonna touch them there. They are safe, they're at before
the throne of God. But there's still some on this
earth that need to be brought into the fold and the Lord's
gonna seek them out and he's gonna bring them into the fold
and he's gonna rejoice over them. The scripture says they're rejoicing
in heaven over one sinner that repents. The day that God granted you
repentance, heaven rejoiced. Heaven, I mean
all of heaven rejoiced over you repenting. There's more joy in heaven over
one sinner that repents. I remember when I heard the gospel,
the place I was going, I thought they would, I seriously, I thought
they'd be thrilled over what I heard and what I found out.
And when I told them the gospel, they didn't want me there no
more. There was not one happy person in that group, not one,
not one happy person. But heaven rejoiced when God
granted me faith and repentance. That's how important these little
ones are to him. That's how important they are. And last of all, in verse 14,
and so, now listen, show you how important these little ones
are. Even so, it's not the will of your father, which is in heaven,
just as it's not the will of that shepherd to lose that one
sheep. that went astray in the wilderness. He's not going to
lose that sheep, it's His. Even so, it's not the will of
your Father which is in heaven that one of these little ones
should perish. They're not going to perish. You know why they're not going
to perish? It's not the will of your Father. Whatever the
will of the Father is, that's what's going to happen. If it's
not His will, it's not going to happen. It's that simple. It's that simple. No one for
whom Jesus Christ died will perish. He said, I came to save that
which was lost. And He will save that which was
lost. No one for whom He died will
perish because it's not the will of your Father which is in heaven." Our Lord has given us a message
here, a serious message. Don't put a stumbling block before
any of God's little ones because He's going to deal with it. It's
serious business with Him. It's a serious matter. And the
Lord came into this world to save them that were lost. His little ones, He's speaking
of His little ones. He came to save them. And it's not your father's will
that any of those little ones should perish. And that being
so, that being so, we have a sure, a sure salvation
in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a sure salvation. He said,
I came to save, and it's not your father's will that they
should perish. And be careful. He said, be careful
how you deal with one another. Be careful how you deal with
one another. God takes it seriously.