Lord Jesus, we pray that you
would bless us as you did your disciples with this instruction
from your word. Bring us down and help us to
see you lifted up and so be lifted up by what you've done and by
your greatness. Teach us in our heart what we
cannot learn otherwise. We pray you'd be with the children,
be with us, and teach us not just for a day, but for our whole
life. Bring us to glory. Let us see your glory. In Jesus'
name we pray. Amen. Matthew chapter 18, we're going
to read through the first 18 verses here in Matthew 18. There's actually a setting, a
context, that I want to read first in Mark chapter 9, so if
you want to hold your place there in Matthew 18 and turn to Mark
chapter 9. And verse 30 of Mark chapter
9, it says this, 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 to 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? And they held their peace, for
by the way they had disputed among themselves who should be
the greatest." And so I just want to get those few verses
there. And then turn back to Matthew 18, we'll pick it up.
That introduction is important. Here in Matthew 18 we have, just
before this, what Jesus and Peter had done in the house. Remember, the temple tax or the ransom,
half-shekel ransom that they required to pay, they had to
pay that. And Jesus sent Peter out to catch a fish and take
the coin out of the fish's mouth and pay that for them. That was
the last thing we read in chapter 17. And now in chapter 18 it
says, At that time came the disciples to Jesus, saying, Who is the
greatest in the kingdom of heaven? So evidently, The question here,
the one and mark, were at the same time. And Jesus called a
little child to him and set him in the midst of them. I thought
about bringing Hurley or Taylor over here and setting them down
and doing that today, but I decided not to. The Lord Jesus did it
effectively. He sent this little child. I
don't know how old the child was. I imagine he was probably
three or four, five. He sent him there and he said,
Verily I say unto you, except you be converted and become as
little children, you 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 whoso shall receive
one such little child in my name receiveth me. But whoso shall
offend one of these little ones, which believe in me, it were
better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and
that he were drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe unto the world
because of offenses. For it must needs be that offenses
come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh. Wherefore,
if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off and cast them
from thee. It is better for thee to enter
into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two
feet to 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 to
be cast into hell fire. Take heed that you despise not
one of these little ones. For I say unto you that in heaven
their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is
in heaven. But for the Son of Man is come
to save that which was lost. 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 seek
that which is gone astray? And if so be that he find it,
verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep than of the
ninety and nine which went not astray. Even so, it is not the
will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these
little ones should perish. So the disciples had been disputing
along the way about who should be greatest. And I don't know
what their conversation was really like, but perhaps they were thinking
that Peter might be the good choice. After all, he had walked
on water. He had just given this great
confession when Jesus asked the disciples, Whom say ye that I
am? And he said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God. And Jesus had commended him for that. And then Jesus
went on and said, and I give unto you the keys of the kingdom
of heaven. And then Jesus took Peter, James, and John up the
mount of the transfiguration. So perhaps the disciples were
thinking, it's got to be Peter. Who else would it be? His name
is most frequently mentioned in the Gospels, especially in
the last few chapters. And whenever there's a catalog
of the disciples, it's always Peter that's first in the list.
But then on the other hand, Peter's the one who was walking on the
water, but looked away and sank, and he was afraid. And Jesus
had to save him, otherwise he would have drowned. And he was
the one that Jesus rebuked and said, Get thee behind me, Satan.
For you saver us not the things of God, but the things that be
of men. And after all, when he was on the mount, when he spoke,
he said something foolish. He said, let's make three tabernacles
comparing Jesus and Elijah and Moses on the same level as if
he was just one of them, one among the three. And God the
Father spoke from heaven and corrected that and said, this
is my beloved son and whom I am well pleased. So, who knows what
the disciples were really talking about. But they could have picked
Peter. The Catholic Church picked Peter. But that was a mistake,
as we'll see here in a second. So they come to Jesus, and it
was just on the heels of what he had told them. In Mark, we
just read it. He had just told them that he
had to go to Jerusalem and be killed, suffer the humiliation
of suffering at the hands of these wicked men, die, and then
rise again the third day. And they were very sorry. They
were even afraid to ask Him what He meant by this rising again
the third day. And so when they had that in
their mind, you would think that the sorrow of that occasion would
have so overwhelmed them. They would not be thinking about
silly things like who's going to be greatest in the Kingdom
of Heaven. But it shows here the character and the nature
of these disciples who came and were called by the Lord Jesus
Christ. He chose them. He called them
and they came. And yet these men, these very
men, had a craving for self-exaltation. So much so that they had forgotten
the sorrow of everything that Jesus said was going to happen
to their master and they began to think only about what they
were going to get out of it. And they had this misconceived
notion that the kingdom of God was a thing on earth. And so
they thought that the kingdom of God was made up of the people.
Obviously the scribes and pharisees were born as Jews. They must
be in it. And they themselves would be in it. And they would
be chief most. So that's what they were thinking. Those kinds
of thoughts. But notice that when we read this in Matthew
18, Jesus doesn't do what I would have done. You stupid bunch of
self-centered ignorant men. I should have just left you with
your fish, or at the tax collector's office, or wherever I found you.
Because you haven't been listening to anything I've taught you."
But he doesn't say that, does he? He doesn't correct their
foolishness. In fact, it shows by their foolishness,
the contrast of their character in this setting shows how God's
mercy and His choice of His people has to be all of grace. It has
to be. Because these men had nothing
more in their thoughts than their own position in the Kingdom of
God. They didn't even think about
these spiritual things. This shows us that it's all of
grace. Look at Psalm 103. I love these
words in Psalm 103. He says in verse 12 of Psalm 103, I'm sorry,
verse 10. And think about the disciples
in this context, and how Jesus did not openly rebuke them, but
instructed them. He says in verse 10, He has not
dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to
our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above
the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As
far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions
from us. Like as a father pitieth his
children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him." Isn't that
the reason that the disciples could do these foolish things
and Jesus didn't beat them about the head and shoulders. But instead
of that, notice what he does in Matthew 18. They came to Jesus and they said,
who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? He didn't answer their
question, did he? He didn't say, well, let me tell
you. It's going to be Peter, it's going to be John, it's going
to be John the Baptist or someone else. Who is the greatest in
the kingdom of heaven anyway? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. He
only gets and deserves the glory. All the saints in heaven in Revelation
4 and 5, they take their crowns off their heads and cast them
at his feet. The Lord Jesus Christ alone will
be glorified. And so he says here, and Jesus
called a little child unto him and set the child in the midst
of them. Now you have to understand that
when you do that with a child, they feel a little bit intimidated,
don't they? You got this one, this burly
fisherman. have really no patience for children. When the mothers and fathers
brought children into his presence they said, you know, don't do
that, don't bother the master with these children. Remember
Jesus said, suffer the little children to come unto me and
forbid them not for such is the kingdom of heaven. So these men
naturally were intimidating to kids. But this little child was
not intimidated by the Lord Jesus Christ. The little child felt
comfortable in his presence. In fact, children were attracted
to him. I'm sure of it. And parents were happy to bring
their kids to Jesus to have him bless them. I would want to do
that, wouldn't you? And that's why we bring our kids
to hear the gospel, is so that they would be brought to Jesus.
But when a child comes to the Lord, when a child comes to an
adult of any kind, really, the child immediately takes a low
opinion of themselves, don't they? Here perhaps the child
was resting in Jesus' arms or sitting on his lap and he feels
a little small. And Jesus says, verily I say
unto you, except you be converted and become as little children,
you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Now here right
away we have the answer to the question the disciples asked.
And we also have a warning. The warning is that unless you
become as a child, you won't enter the kingdom of heaven.
But Jesus doesn't say, except you convert yourself. But he
says, except you be converted. Conversion is something that
happens to us not just once, but all the time throughout our
lives. Peter was thinking, I'm not going to deny the Lord. I'm
not going to deny Him. It's not going to happen. And
Jesus said, before the cock crows, you're going to deny me three
times. But after that you're converted, strengthen your brethren."
And Peter was a saved man. And yet Jesus talks to this man,
He says, after you're converted. Because to be converted means
to be turned. It means to be turned from that
foolish way that we're going and be turned to the right way.
We're constantly As Christians, we're constantly being converted.
Conversion is the result of our regeneration. God gives us life
in the Gospel, and that life in us causes us constantly to
be turned. In Psalm 80, God gives us a prayer. You remember the psalm, Psalm
80. And the prayer goes like this, over and over in the psalm,
Turn us again, Lord God. cause thy face to shine and we
shall be saved we need to be turned not once all the time
Jeremiah 31 verse 18 and 19 says this let me read this to you
and you can turn there if you like Jeremiah 31 18 and 19 Jeremiah
says I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning
himself thus. Ephraim is just a name for all
the people of Israel. Thou hast chastised me, and I
was chastised. As a bullock unaccustomed to
the yoke, turn thou me, and I shall be turned, for thou art the Lord
my God. Surely after that I was turned,
I repented. You see that? God turns us. And God has to continually turn
us, even after our initial revelation to us of the grace of God in
our heart, and He turns us from the darkness to the light. We
still continually need to come to that light, don't we? John
says in 1 John 1 If we walk in the light as He is in the light,
the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. That's the constant
experience of the child of God. So Jesus says here in Matthew
18, except you be converted. Their mindset, their attitude
at this point in time was, let's see who can be greatest. It was
all about promotion of themselves. And Jesus takes this child and
sets him there in their midst. And he says, except you become
like little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of
heaven. Can you imagine these disciples sitting around wondering,
oh man, I thought I was one of the Lord's own people. I thought
I was in and safe and everything was done here. But he says, no,
except you be converted. Except the Lord continually work
in us to bring us down. and exalt himself in our eyes. We won't be entering the kingdom
of heaven. God has to do it. We're so needy
that even that act of turning us, we're entirely dependent
upon God for that. Like little children, we'll go
our own way until mom or dad corrects us and turns us in the
right way. What are little children like? What are they like? Why
would Jesus say, except you be like little children? And there's
a lot of things about children that I really love. I love little
kids. One of the reasons I like them
so much is that they're usually fairly transparent. They can't
help but hide the way they're feeling and thinking. Sometimes
they just tell you what they're thinking and it's almost, you
go, boy, I would never have said that as a grown-up. I'm just
telling all that's on my heart, whatever I'm thinking, it just
comes out. But that's what I like about kids, is that they're open
and honest about things. They try to hide things, but
most of the time they can't hide them, because as adults we're
very skilled at discerning when someone is pulling the wool over
our eyes, because we've experienced it so much and done it so much
ourselves. But when children don't do it, it's refreshing,
isn't it? That's the one thing you see about kids. They're transparent. The other thing is they're unassuming
and unpretentious. They're not trying to always
promote themselves. I can imagine the last thing
the little child that Jesus said in the middle of these disciples
was, I want to be one of you. He wasn't thinking that. He was
happy to be a child. I've never seen a child say,
I'm going to go take dad's job, or I'm going to take the president's
job, or I'm going to be the head of the company. They're thinking
about just ordinary things of life. Children don't think that
way. They're thinking about playing.
Let's go run, let's play tag, let's do fun things. That's what
they do. They're carefree and happy to
be totally provided for. And the other thing about children,
and I think this is the thing, perhaps, that the finger is being
put on right here. is to think about they're close
to their infancy and in infancy they grow up entirely dependent
on mom and dad, especially mom. They can't do anything for themselves.
I mean they cannot get up, they can't roll over and they go from
there to being able to crawl, finally walk and say a few mumbly
words but they continually run to mom and bury their face in
mom's bosom and seek that comfort and they're totally dependent
on mom and dad. And so they have this humble trust that they've
grown up with, and this trust comes out of the fact that they
realize that their strength is little, their knowledge is little. Their ability to contribute is
little. They really can't do anything.
In fact, when they help, usually mom and dad are accommodating
them rather than needing their help because mom and dad could
easily do all the work themselves much more quickly and better,
but they actually take the patience to let their children do that
work with them in order to teach them. So there's this attitude
of humble trust that you see in a child because they know
their position and they know their need. And so they look
to their parents to provide. And even other adults, they're
humble around them too. Now sure, there's these attitudes
that come out of kids and we correct them. There's always
this arrogance that begins to spring out, lies and these other
things. But on the whole, you see that
in children, don't you? This attitude of a humble trust. A recognition of their place
and a recognition that they can trust you implicitly. They never
think about where the meal is coming from. It just shows up.
They never think that dad's got to go to work to earn this and
that he's going to have all these struggles. He just does it. And
dad's strong. Mom's not going to fail. She
loves them unconditionally. These are just things that children
grow up with. And we actually have to fail
them for them to have that trust disappointed and be ashamed of
their trust. So this is the way children are.
And the thing about this, if I were to summarize it all down
to this, when a child trusts their mother or father, they
don't trust them because the child thinks of their own goodness,
or their own strength, or their own knowledge, or their own potential.
They trust their mother or father because their mother or father
is strong and knowledgeable and has all this ability and love
and everything for them. And that is what the gospel is
teaching us. It's teaching us, like the woman
who came to Jesus in Matthew 15, 21-28, where this woman from
Syrophoenicia came to Jesus and said, My daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil." And Jesus didn't say anything. And so she goes
to the disciples, help me. And they said, Lord send her
away. And he said, I'm not sent but to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel. She had this deep abiding confidence that
he would help her, not for what she was. but for what He was,
for what He could do. And that is the gospel. We come
to Christ, we're never more than what we truly are in ourselves,
helpless and hopeless, except for what Christ has done for
us. Unless you become, as little children, like that, you will
not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Now, when we see that
about ourselves and we see Christ in all of His glory, what does
it do for us? Well, it puts us on a level playing, doesn't it?
We know that we're no better than others. So let's look at
a few verses about this. First, look at Philippians chapter
2. I think probably almost every sermon I mention this scripture
because it's so central to the gospel and it holds up our Lord
Jesus and what he's done. Look at Philippians chapter 2
verse 1. If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, consolation,
a big word for comfort, if any comfort of love If any fellowship
of the Spirit, if any bowels of mercies," now you just picture
a little child running to its mother, burying its face and
body into its mother's arms. If there be any comfort in Christ,
if there be any bowels and mercies, the deep abiding comfort that
comes because we know that God is good and His mercy endures
forever. He says, fulfill ye my joy that
you be like minded, having the same love, being of one accord,
of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife
or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other
better than themselves." That's the lesson of the Gospel. I heard
Todd Nyberg say that the whole Bible is an exposition of the
parable of the Pharisee and the Publican. And we know what that
was about. The Pharisee trusted in himself
that he was righteous and despised others. And he comes into the
temple and he prays this lofty prayer, thanking God that he's
not like other men are. And here's this publican in the
back, seeing this, hearing this, knowing what he is in himself,
beating on his chest and saying, God be merciful to me, the sinner. And the whole Bible is an exposition
of that. And this verse and the verses
that we're reading is an exposition of that. you and me in ourselves
in the weakness of our sin, in the ungodliness and the sinfulness
of what we are in ourselves, the corruption of our nature,
all the obstacles that our sin and our corruption raise before
God, we owe all of our salvation to the Lord Jesus Christ alone.
And so he says, knowing this, don't let anything be done through
strife or vain glory. This contention comes only by
pride." Proverbs 13. I can't remember the exact verse,
but it's Proverbs 13. Only by pride cometh contention. And pride comes with this attitude
of self-promotion that puts myself in comparison to others instead
of putting myself, like my face in the dust, in comparison to
Christ only. We're all, in the Kingdom of
God, all of God's people are equal. There is not one greater
than another. The greatest, the man who has
been used the most is no better than the weakest most helpless
sinner saved by the grace of God." Over and over you hear
this in scripture. Circumcision availeth nothing.
There's neither male nor female, bond nor free. For you're all
one in Christ. Isn't that the message of the
gospel? Look at 3 John, the epistle of 3 John. Self-promotion is
the problem in the world and in the church especially. Remember what, in Isaiah 14,
14, it says that Satan in his heart thought this. His thought
in his heart was, I will be like the Most High. And for that,
He was cast out of heaven. For that thought, I will be like
the Most High. I want His position. I want to
be honored like God is honored. Like the Lord Jesus Christ. No. You're not going to be honored.
In fact, you're going to be cast down to hell with that attitude. And Jesus says to His disciples,
except you be converted as little children, becoming as little
children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Remember
the first temptation? If you eat this fruit, you'll
be as gods, knowing good and evil. Satan was trying to promote
his attitude to Eve and to Adam, and they swallowed the hook.
So look here, 3 John, only chapter, verse 9. John, the apostle, now
aged, writes, he says, I wrote to the church, but deatrophies,
who loves to have the preeminence among them, received us not. I sent the message, but he wouldn't
have us because he wanted the preeminence. Pride, self-promotion,
seeking glory, trying to be the greatest in the kingdom of God
is the very seed of all problems in the church. Don't let any
root of bitterness springing up defile you or trouble you
or defile you, it says in Hebrews chapter 12 or so. Because these things don't be
desirous of vain glory. It's empty glory, because you
don't have any reason for boasting. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter
3. Paul gives specific instructions on this. The Corinthians, they
said, you know, I was baptized by so and so, or I heard the
gospel from such and such. And there was strife and envies
among them because of this. And so in 1 Corinthians 3 verse
21, Paul says, Therefore, let no man glory in
men." Very clear, isn't it? Don't glory in men. And here
the disciples were, trying to boast in themselves, trying to
set themselves up. In their own minds, they had
this attitude, and these were the chosen of God. This shows
the great grace of our Savior, doesn't it, to us? That we're
proud And yet He looks upon us and He says, of us we are children. Do you know the word children
is the word God uses to identify His people most often in the
New Testament? I can't remember the number,
I counted them, but there was something like, maybe there were
60 different cases in the New Testament alone where the people
of God are called His children. They're called children of light,
children of the day, children of God. Children of this, children
of that. They're the adopted sons of God.
How do we become the children of God? If we understand this,
it will humble us. When we have children, we don't
choose them, do we? We just have a child and say,
well, look at this child. It's my own child. It's how wonderful
this child is. It's a product of the love between
me and my wife. It's wonderful, just like me
and her, in every way. I'm so proud of my child. We talk about our kids. We find
things about them that other people can't see. We talk about
their greatness, their beauty, their skills, their intelligence,
their potential, all these things. Why do we do that? Just because
they're our kids. Just because they're ours. The
Lord talks about His people in a way that's endearing. Just
because they're His children. And how did they become His children?
He chose them to be His children. And then not only did He choose
them, but He redeemed them by the blood of His only begotten
Son. And He actually gave them, He birthed them into His kingdom
by His own Spirit. Look at a couple of verses with
me. In Ephesians chapter 1. God adopted us as His children.
That's the way we became His children. Ephesians 1 verse 4,
"...according as He had chosen us in Him, in Christ, before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love." God chose us. And then in choosing
us, His goal, His objective was that we would be before Him like
little children, holy and without blame, in love, having predestinated
us. Now He's telling us how this
plan of His, His choice unfolds. He says, having predestinated
us, He put in place every step required to bring us to Himself. And the first step was this,
unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself. How
is it that Jesus Christ, how we were adopted by Jesus Christ,
how did we do that? I mean, how did God adopt us
by Jesus Christ? Well, because we had sold ourselves
into the slavery of sin and we were in prison of unbelief. But
the Lord Jesus Christ redeemed us. He paid the ransom price
to set us free from that debt of sin we owed. And not only
Because we were like servants, He not only liberated us, but
He set us free that we might receive the spirit of adoption
as God's sons. Look at Galatians chapter 4.
I'll just show you these verses. to underscore this in Galatians
4 it says in verse 4 but when the fullness of the time was
come God sent forth his son made of a woman made under the law
to redeem them that were under the law in order that we might
receive the adoption of sons we couldn't receive the adoption
of sons until we were redeemed that's why it's by choice and
by redemption and but look in verse 6 and because you are sons
God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying,
My Father, My Father. He chose us, He redeemed us to
Himself, and then He sent forth His Spirit. Look at John chapter
11. When before God sent his spirit into our hearts he calls
us his sons because you are sons By choice and by redemption therefore
he sent forth the spirit of his son into your heart crying Abba
father my father and John chapter 11 in verse 47, it says, "...then gathered the
chief priests and the Pharisees in council and said, What do
we, for this man doeth many miracles, talking about Jesus? If we let
him alone, all men will believe on him, and the Romans will come
and take away both our place and nation. And one of them,
named Caiaphas, being high priest that same year, By the way, he
was an unbeliever, said, "...you know nothing at all, nor consider
that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people,
and that the whole nation perish not." If Jesus didn't die for
the people in that nation, the entire nation, just like Sodom
and Gomorrah, would have been wiped out. But there was a remnant
in that nation. And so he says in verse 51, And
this Caiaphas spake not of himself, but being high priest that year,
he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation. It wasn't
out of his own intelligence. The Spirit of God spoke through
him because he was high priest that year and spoke his own truth
through this man who was just an unbelieving sinner. Verse
52, And not for that nation only, not for the Jews only, but that
also he should gather together in one the children of God that
were scattered abroad." These children were already all over
the earth. Jesus died to gather God's children
who were already his children by adoption, And they would be
His children by redemption, and then they're going to be His
children when God sends forth the Spirit of His Son into their
hearts, crying, Abba, Father. So that's the way we become God's
children. In James 1.18 it says, "...of
His own will begat He us by the word of truth." God the Father,
of His own will, sends the Gospel the Word of Truth to us, and
preaches Christ to us, showing us we were redeemed by His blood,
and causes us to see Him, and that is the way we'll receive
the Spirit of God. In John 3, Jesus tells Nicodemus,
Nicodemus says, How can these things be? How can I be born
again? And Jesus immediately points him to Christ and Him
crucified. He says, "...as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, even so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." And
this is the reason God sent His Son into the world, that all
who believe on Him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. That's the message of the Gospel. We are God's children
by His choice, by Christ's redemption, and by the regenerating work
of the Spirit of God who lives in us and abides in us and teaches
us as little children. And God places extremely high
value on His people because they're His children. 1 John 3 says,
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that
we should be called the sons of God. If you were in the nobility,
in England they had this thing where the royal person would
pass down to their children everything. Not just their possessions but
also their noble position. So that if you were one of these
people of high rank, your children also were people of high rank.
And if you were an heir of a noble person in the British royal generation,
whatever that is, then you automatically were an heir to all of this wealth
and power and authority. So it was a high honor to be
called an heir of someone who was noble, especially a king.
And here God says, what manner of love the Father God the Father
has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of
God. The sons of God? The heirs of God? The joint heirs
with Christ? This name that God puts on us,
this relation He has brought us into by His choice in our
redemption and His Spirit, is the highest possible honor God
could put on anyone. To call them the sons of God.
And so Jesus sets his child and he says, you've got to be converted
and become as little children or you're not entering the kingdom
of heaven. But he speaks of little children here. Look at verse
4 of Matthew 18. Whosoever therefore shall humble
himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom
of heaven." The way up is down. You can't rise until you sink. You have to decrease if you're
going to increase. And what you see is that God
brings you down. First, brings you down. He kills,
then He makes alive. He brings low, and then He raises
up. That's what Hannah prays in her
prayer in 1 Samuel chapter 2. But here He says that Whosoever
shall humble himself as this little child." When we're humbled
by God, He says we humble ourselves because He brings us low. He
brings us low. And in Psalms chapter 34, why
don't you turn there with me, Psalm chapter 34. David, who
had killed Goliath, The champion of the Philistines, David, with
his sling had killed Goliath, threw that stone, sunk into his
forehead and then took his own sword and chopped off his head
and held his head high and the Philistines were terrified. Oh
man! And then David finds himself
being pursued by King Saul and he has to take refuge in a place
in Gath, one of the cities of the Philistines. And the king
of Gath, whose name was Abimelech, the title of the king of the
Philistines was called Abimelech, but his name was Achish in Psalm
34. He's praying this prayer to the Lord. And I'm just going
to read verse 11, but first look at verse 1. I will bless the
Lord, David says, at all times His praise shall continually
be in my mouth, and my soul shall make a boast in the Lord, the
humble shall hear thereof and be glad." In the midst of being
in this... And if you remember the story,
David was scrabbling on the door and letting his spit just drool
down his face, his beard, so it looked like he was a madman.
And the king says to his servants, why did you bring this madman?
They knew who he was. This is David. He killed Goliath.
But now he's acting like he's crazy. Why did you bring this?
I don't have time for crazy people. Get him out of here. And he prays
this psalm. And in verse 11, what does he
say? All the kids were probably gathered around David looking
at him, mocking him. He says, Come, ye children, hearken
unto me, and I will teach you the fear of the Lord. And this
is spoken in prophecy of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus
speaks in prophecy to all of his people. He says, Come, ye
children, Listen to me, and I will teach you the fear of the Lord."
And so back in Matthew chapter 18, he says in verse 4, "...whoever
therefore shall humble himself as this little child." And what
does the little child do? He has this humble attitude of
trust, and he listens and looks in the eyes of his Savior. The
same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven because he's the object
of God's saving grace. He's a trophy and tribute to
the greatness of our Savior's mercy and wisdom and power. That
he would save him from his sins and all of his enemies with no
help or contribution from himself. And then he says in verse 5,
and whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth
me." This illustration that Jesus is giving here, it's not just
about little kids. In fact, it's probably a mistake
to think that Jesus is teaching us, you need to be cautious not
to offend one little tiny young child. That goes with it, but
the important thing here is that the children being spoken of
here are the children of God. The disciples at this time did
not understand a fundamental truth that was a mystery until
the New Testament came. And that mystery was this. Those
who are the children of the flesh are not the children of God,
but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. It's
not who you're born to in human terms. It's who you're born to
in spiritual terms. It's children of the Spirit of
God. And so he's speaking here of
his own people as children, those who were chosen by God and given
the promises in Christ and then redeemed and adopted by the Spirit
of God. And he says, Whoever will receive
one such little child in my name receives me." Because that's
what his people are like. They're helpless, and they're
humbled, and God saves them, and now they're his children.
And he says, whoever touches you touches the apple of my eye. In other words, have you ever
seen a father whose child has kids of his own and the kids
are fighting each other? And he gets upset, doesn't he? When one of them pokes the other
one in the eye or punches him. What are you doing? You treat
your brother with kindness. Because it's his son. But when
another, a stranger comes along, a neighborhood kid comes over,
and he kicks his son in the foot or something, man, he wants to
haul him up and thrash him, doesn't he? Because it's his own son.
Don't touch my kids. That's the way we think as parents,
isn't it? And it's right that we do that, to protect our family.
The greatest tool that the enemy has against a father or mother
is to threaten their children. And it extracts all kinds of
information for them when they put them under that threat. You
see it all the time in movies. To threaten a man's own wife
and children is the greatest threat you can bring to a man.
That's his life. And so the Lord Jesus Christ treasures his people
above everything. Now, the Lord Jesus was given
everything, isn't he? He's the heir of all things.
Heaven and earth and all of God's authority and power has been
put into his hand. But what does he treasure most?
It's those he created for his own purpose of grace, to save,
to make his own body, his sheep, his beloved ones, he calls them
his children. In Hebrews chapter 2 he says,
I will confess thy name unto My brethren, in the midst of
the church will I sing praise unto thee. And again, I will
put my trust in him. And again, behold, I and the
children which God hath given me." The people of God are called
the children of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so he says, whoever
receives one of these little ones receives me. And look at verse 6. But whoso
shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me. You
see the whole point here? It's the children are those who
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Whoever believes in me, he says,
is one of his children. A couple of verses. I might as
well have you turn there. Look at Galatians chapter 3. Those who believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, those are the sons of God. That's the evidence of
their sonship. Galatians chapter 3, he says,
verse 26, actually verse 7, look at verse 7 of Galatians 3, he
says, Know ye therefore that they which are of faith the same
are the children of Abraham." Who are the children of Abraham?
Not the Jews in Jerusalem. Not the Jews in the land of Israel.
It's those who believe Christ. Why is that significant? Well,
because God gave the promises to Abraham. God gave all of his
promises to Abraham. And he gave them to Abraham in
proxy because he was giving them to the Lord Jesus Christ who
was his true seed and all of those who would be born in him.
Look at verse 26. For you are all the children of God by faith
in Jesus Christ. And in verse 29. If you be Christ's,
then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.
And look at chapter 4 verse 28. Now, we brethren, as Isaac was,
are the children of the promise. So the children of God are those
who believe Christ. And that's what Jesus says here
in Matthew 18. He says in verse 6, "...whoso
shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me." The
little ones are the children of Christ. Those given to him
by the Father. In Titus 1.1 it says the faith
of God's elect. Faith is not something that people
who are not God's elect possess. It's only possessed by those
who are. If we believe God, it evidences the fact that God chose
us. Those who were ordained to eternal life Acts 13 48 are those
who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And so here the ones
who believe Jesus are his little children. He says, if you offend
one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better
for you, for him, that a millstone were hanged about his neck and
that he were just drowned in the depth of the sea. I remember
hearing that as a kid, thinking about that. A huge stone tied
around your neck and thrown into the deepest part of the sea.
That's hopeless. That's hopeless for that man.
He's gone. And so Jesus says, this is a
strong warning, isn't it? In fact, he goes on. He amplifies
it. He says in verse 7, Woe unto
the world because of offenses. For it must needs be that offenses
come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh. Wherefore,
if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off and cast them
from thee. It is better for thee to enter
into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two
feet to 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 to
be cast into hell fire. What's he saying? If you offend
one of his children, you're going to spend eternity under the wrath
of God. And what does it mean to offend?
It means to lead them to fall. You see, how does that happen? How do men do that? Well, remember
the whole context here? It's about those who want to
have the preeminence. Theatrophies wanted the preeminence. Satan wanted the preeminence.
That was the great temptation. That was the problem the scribes
and the Pharisees and the chief priests and the rulers of the
Jews had. They wanted the preeminence. When Jesus tells Peter after
he has been recovered and Jesus has resurrected and Peter recovered
from having denied him, he says to him, Simon do you love me?
And of course we know the story, three times he said yes and Jesus
finally says, feed my lambs, my little ones. Paul says in
2 Corinthians 4, he says, we preach not ourselves, we do not
promote ourselves, but we preach Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves
your servants for Jesus' sake. The whole emphasis of the Gospel
is to bring us down, to lift Christ up, to find our salvation
in Him and then to go proclaim Him as servants to Christ in
order to make Him glorious in the eyes of His people. But the
opposite of that is to elevate man, myself, in the eyes of God's
people and cause them to stumble because by my arrogance and pride
I draw their attention away from the only one they should be honoring
and putting their trust in and having them put their trust in
a man. and then think about themselves in terms of what they can do
as men to distinguish themselves among men that's the whole problem
that's being addressed here it's about the arrogance of man and
especially in the church but it happens in the world and he
speaks of the world here he doesn't mean the uh... the people in
africa who have never heard the gospel or in south america wherever
they might be he's talking about in the church is the world, even
though they have sheep's clothing. They wear the clothing of sheep,
but they're not the sheep. and they're wolves and they seek
to destroy. They seek to offend just like
the devil. Through temptation he got Eve to fall. Now can God's
children actually fall from grace? Can they be offended so that
they'll fall? No, they can't. But it's God's
will to bring heresy and this whole persecution of the world
on his people for three reasons. One, to show that God always
holds his own up, always gives them triumph in Christ. Romans
8.37, he says, we are more than conquerors through him that loved
us. And 1 Corinthians 15.57, we always triumph in Christ. That's the first reason, to show
that God's people always triumph. And the second reason is that
God is going to use those things in order to uncover those who
are not His own in the church and in the world. Remember the
parable of the seeds? Affliction and persecution comes,
that seed that didn't have any root is exposed and it withers
and dies. God alone has to hold us and
keep us. And we look to Him alone. It's
not by my own determination or my own willpower or my own diligence
or my own inbred talents and tenacity or stubbornness or whatever
it is. It's about the grace of God.
And that's what little children understand. And so the third
reason that God does that is not only to expose those who
are not His and show His grace toward those who are His, to
hold them up and give them triumph, but to make known His greatness
for His faithfulness to His own in order to save them and preserve
them. But Jesus says it's necessary that offenses would come in the
world, but woe to that man through whom they come. Jesus told Judas
that he was going to betray him and Jesus turns to his disciples
and says, to that man who betrays me it would have been better
for him if he had never been born. For him it would have been
better if he had never been born. To the Jews in Acts 2.23 Peter
said, you according to the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, have taken the Lord of glory,
and by wicked hands have crucified and slain." It was their fault.
They were guilty of it, and they would be brought down for it.
And he points it out to them that even though they They did
it, it was God's will. And in God's will and His mercy,
even some of those who crucified the Lord of Glory, they were
saved in spite of that. And so the Lord tells us, He
warns us, these huge warnings. There is a hell, everlasting
fire, He says. Cast into hell fire. If it's self-promotion that we
seek, the Lord tells us, if it's the honor from God's people that
we seek at the expense of their eternal souls, then it would
be better for you to start chopping off your body parts and plucking
out your eyes. It's better for you to take away
all motivation for that in order to spare your own self the punishment
that would be given to those who do that. You can go through
scripture, this is always the case. Look at the Catholic Church
for example. The whole hierarchy, their whole
church is based on a hierarchy of honor paid to men. And what
is wrong? The whole church is leading millions
and millions to offend, to stumble, to fall. And what will become
of them? They will have to suffer the
vengeance of eternal fire because of that. And God will be glorified. He will save his people in spite
of it. And he'll save his people out of it. But he will not allow
any... Even though they don't cause
God's people to eternally stumble, because they came against them,
God's going to hold them accountable. So then he says here in... verse
10 he says take heed that you despise not one of these little
ones for I say unto you that in heaven their angels do be
always behold the face of my father which is in heaven two
times he he mentions in heaven their angels in heaven behold
the face of my father which is in heaven now we don't know exactly
what this has to do with we don't know the relationship between
angels and the and the people of God how they're saved we do
know that God has ordained that the angels are servants to those
who are going to be saved. It says that in Hebrews chapter
1 verse, the last verse. They're servants to the Son of God on
behalf of those who are heirs of salvation. The heirs of the
salvation are heirs of God, the sons of God. The angels are their
servants to bring them, to spare them, to save them from all the
ravages that would harm them and to bring them providentially
to hear the gospel, keep their life. I remember all the times
as a kid, those times where my life should have been lost and
wasn't. About to drown, fall off a cliff,
all the things. I remember as a little kid, three
or four years old, crawling around the precipice of the Royal Gorge. A mile down there, things looked
so far away you couldn't even tell. And here I was, there was
no barrier. I could have easily rolled over and died forever. All the things in our life, we
think about those things. God preserved us. And I think that
that's one of the reasons that these angels, but in particular,
the angels that are used by God to bring his people to himself,
it shows them here in heaven constantly beholding the face
of God the Father. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ by
this is trying to show us the importance of these people, that
they are to God. They're angels, much stronger
than men, constantly 24 seven behold the face of the anybody
who intends hurt to his people I better know that God has got
angels guarding his people, but it's more than that Who is it
here? That's telling us to be Extremely
cautious of ever offending one of his little ones. It's the
Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God, but then he goes on in verse
14, 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
the Father himself is brought to bear on the importance that
these little children have to God. God the Son, God the Father,
even His angels are created and given this job to protect them.
They're important to Him. And He's not going to let one
of them fall. It's God's will. And God's will cannot fail. It
cannot change. It cannot fail. God will do all
His pleasure. And so we see that these children
are kept by the power of God. 1 Peter 1.5, they're kept by
the power of God to salvation. But in the meantime, we, the
disciples, He's telling this to the disciples. These are the
ones who are put in authority to bring the gospel to the world,
to teach as the foundation to bring the gospel into the churches
and to set them up as the foundation of establishing the churches
of Christ throughout the world. And he tells them, unless you're
converted and become little children, you will not enter heaven. And
Judas was sitting there. He was never converted. The eleven
were converted. And they were continually converted
over and over in Peter's life. It's nothing but one rise up
and fall down, rise up and fall down. And you see that over and
over. Finally he says in the book of Acts 15 11 he says, but
we believe by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. We're going
to be saved even as they. And that's all of our hope. And
that's the message of the Gospel. Christ is telling us here, don't
take on airs. Don't try to lift yourself up. If you find in your heart this
desire to be highly esteemed among men, You go to God and
say, Lord, chop off that desire, cut it out, remove it, forgive
me for that wicked thought. It's the same thought that had
Satan cast out of heaven and our parents fell out of the Garden
of Eden that plunged a whole human race into sin. Pride. It's by pride. It says in the
Proverbs, before honor is humility. and you see it prominently in
the Lord Jesus Christ. He humbled Himself. He entrusted
His glory to His Father and He set aside everything in order
that He might do the will of God to the honor of His Father. And God took that glory and He
kept it up for Him so that when He finished the work of salvation
he bestowed it upon him before all so that God the Son and God
our God-man Jesus Christ our mediator is glorified to the
glory of God the Father. Let's pray. Father, thank you
for your mercy that you would so save us who in ourselves have
no strength, no knowledge, no capabilities, no potential. We
were opposed to you. We were enemies in our heart
and mind, and by our own practice in our wicked works, we were
opposed to you. And we can only be turned unless You turn us.
Except You turn us, Lord, we will perish. And we depend upon
You, we pray, Lord, bury us in Your bosom, in the bosom of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Cause us to see Your glory in
Him, that You save sinners. And save them to the uttermost,
who come to God by Him. Let us never come through a man,
but through the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us seek Him and His honor. May we not glory in men. Let our only boast be Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. And may we take no confidence
in our flesh. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.