Alright, go back to Matthew's
Gospel, Chapter 18. I should say, our Lord's Gospel. The Gospel given to Matthew to
record. Wednesday night, we looked at
how our Lord said, what our Lord said about being converted into
little children. And we did just what he did,
brought children up as an object lesson to look at
and what it means to be childlike. We need to hear that a lot, truly. These disciples sure did, didn't
they? We're going to see in the next chapter over, I believe
it is. Yeah. that they brought children to
the Lord to bless and the disciples. Unbelievable. They said, get
those children out of here. That's incredible. I'm worse. I have more life than they did
at this time. You do too. And we easily grow angry at whoever
and whatever, offend and many more. Our Lord told us, except
we be, he told us, not just his disciples, he told us, except
we become as little children. We're not even going to be in
the kingdom of heaven. And all that that means. He said
in one place, of such, that is childlike, meek and lowly people,
of such is the kingdom of heaven. That's who is in heaven. Everybody in heaven is very childlike.
Very meek and lowly, everybody. Now, our Lord talked about little
ones and on down through here, he's talking about little ones
in the sense that they're little in their own eyes. They're little in their own estimation. They consider themselves to be
less than the least, that's what Paul said. Who's the greatest
in the kingdom? Isn't it ironic, Brother Stan, that these disciples
were arguing about who was the greatest of all the apostles,
and none of them were, but rather it was Saul of Tarsus, a great sinner, the chief of
sinners, that the Lord saved, and the disciples were leery
of him, but he was the one the Lord used more than them. And
he's the one that said, I'm not fit to be called. He said, I'm less than these. So that's what our Lord said,
I've been here the greatest, and we use you the most. And
these little ones our Lord is speaking of are those who are
meek and lowly in attitude and heart. He warned them and us
in verse 7. He says, Woe unto the world first
because of offenses. The world hates, well they hated
Christ. We were talking the other day
about the Jews, about what all the Jews have suffered. And you surely know why. They hated the Son of God and
killed Him. They did what, well, something. And we should, too. You went
many years, I went many years without giving God a thought.
Didn't. Could care less about Jesus Christ. Never gave him a thought. And
that's like when you ignore someone, it's like saying, I wish you
didn't exist. I don't care if you do. Right? Nobody's indifferent. That's right. Nobody's indifference,
not that people are just indifferent. God doesn't send people to hell
for being indifferent. But he pronounced woe unto the
world because of offenses. It must needs be, he said, though.
Offenses must come. He said, you will be hated. I
was hated. He must be hated, mustn't he?
Christ must be hated. He was not accepted. He was rejected. He was not loved. He was hated. And that must be so, because
he was me. He represented me. He must be
killed. Not that he deserved it, but
because I did. When our Lord stood before Pilate
and opened out his mouth, that was me, guilty as charged. And he must be killed. from my
side. So well. This is my stuff and
offenses must come. That those that are approved
might be made manifest. That's what Paul said to the
Thessalonians he said. He said you're hated you've suffered
persecution and that's a good time. While we want to fill this building
up while I would love I would love. To enlarge our borders
as the scripture would say build a bigger tabernacle I would. You know. I'm not going to say
anything about our little building again I'm sorry but nevertheless
I would love to have. More people come for. The glory
of God for their sake when you like to see some folks. But you
know. I spoke to my brother before
he would be a great trophy of grace. The Lord would save him,
he'd be like Saul of Tarsus. And nothing would thrill me more. Thrill me. But, Pence has come. Woe to that man by whom the offense
cometh." Now, the Lord gave this warning to the disciples who
were preachers. These disciples were preachers,
and I'm a preacher, so this applies primarily, mostly, to preachers. A dire warning to preachers who
are the most guilty of this. He warned the apostles that unless
they were converted They wouldn't even be in the kingdom of heaven. Much less deciding who else is
going to be there. They're not even going to be
there. Do you remember who was it? Was it Peter? Yeah, it was
Peter. That the church was not ready
to receive the Gentiles. Remember that? The Jews, the
church of Jerusalem, were having trouble with receiving these
Gentiles. And I think it was Peter that
said, you know what he said, we're going to be saved like
they are. If we're safe, he said. If we
are safe, that's not all presuming, but if we are, we're going to
be saved just like those old Gentiles, not because we're good
Jews and not because we're going to be saved by the grace of God,
same as them. Peter learned his lesson. He
learned it well. The Lord converted him into a
little child. And, you know, he's the one that
said that he needed to talk to Paul was he has he can tell you
more about things. You remember that, Stan? He said,
he says the things hard to be understood. I don't even understand.
He's a better preacher than I am, is what Peter was saying. A wiser
man than I am. He learned his lesson. The Lord
taught him. The Lord converted him. As we need be. But preachers, Brother Don Bell
likes to say, hell, the hottest part in hell, the hottest place
in hell is reserved for preachers. So-called preachers. So-called. Preachers have a constant platform,
right here. A constant platform from which
to stand up and spout off. Nobody else has that. And this is a dangerous thing
here. Brother Barnard used to say to
my dad as a young preacher, be careful what you say. Somebody's
going to believe you. Somebody's going to follow you. And often preachers do this for
their own evil self-seeking purposes. quite often. As Paul said, the
Apostle Paul said in Philippians one time, he said about preachers,
he said that all seek their own and not the things of Jesus Christ.
They're really not interested in the glory of Christ to go
to the church. They're seeking their own name and place and hand down their works to posterity.
That's sad and this is a dire warning to me. A dire warning to me. Woe that
man by whom the offense cometh. And we'll not deal with these
other couple of verses we did that Wednesday night but down
in verse 10 he said now take heed. When the Lord says take
heed he means be real careful you listen up. In other words,
take heed. You listen up and you do what
I say. That's what take heed means.
Take heed now. You listen up real carefully. Take heed that ye despise not
one of these little ones. That is, take heed to use great
care that you do not look down on as inferior, that you do not
judge That you do not censure. That you're not jealous of or
envious of or exclude one of these little ones. That believe
in me. That's who he's talking about.
A young believer. That's who he's talking about. And you know. It's human nature to Pride is
what it is, it's just pride to think of ourselves as seniority in the kingdom. Folks like seniority, wherever
it is, in the job. And a new believer comes in and they're enthusiastic and
so forth. But take heed that we don't despise
that person, envious of, jealous of, or whatever. Be careful. Be real careful. I've seen many
people sit for years under the gospel and miss the Lord Jesus
Christ. Take he said that you despise
not one of these little one you remember how Paul said in Romans
fourteen who are now this is written to church is the Lord
is speaking to his side. Speaking to me he says who are
now Paul said who are valid judges another man's servant. Another man's servant his own
master he'll stand or fall. Uh. God's sheep are just that they're
his sheep. God's church is his church. I
told you about that young preacher, you know that. Well, he preached
here. No, he didn't. I wouldn't let
him. But anyway, I preached for him
on occasion. But he was so. So that's Pharisee. In his white boat. That all he
wanted to talk about was church discipline. That's all he wanted
to talk about. Every time we got together and
we ate dinner in their home many times a day and hours. And all he wanted to talk about
was church discipline. And he would bring up situations,
hypothetical situations. Amy, he'd bring up things that
hadn't happened yet. And say, what would you do if this happened?
I said, well, first of all, I don't want it to happen. I hope we
don't have to deal with it. And if it hadn't happened, don't
worry about it. But that man, to make a long
story short, ended up disciplining all of the sinners out of his
congregation. I mean, buddy, he got rid of
them until the only ones left, honestly. The only ones left
were him and his wife. I mean, they left. He's up in
Pennsylvania somewhere, sitting under a fellow that's one of
the most legalistic. I've preached with that, his
so-called pastor, many times. He made shipwreck of the faith.
He destroyed the temple of God. And I had my doubts about the
man. We want people to be saved, don't
we? I hope so. I hope so. And our Lord tells us, tells
me, if someone claims to believe Christ, why not believe that
they do? Why not believe that they do?
Why not receive them? First off, receive them. Until they prove
otherwise. Until they get mad. This has
happened to me on many occasions. You know, folks come up and tell
me, I believe Christ. I want to confess him in believer's
baptism. What do you do? What would you
do? You really believe this gospel? You believe the truth? You believe
Christ? You trust Christ? Need Christ? Yes. I want to confess him. He says to confess him. That's
what I want to do. What would you do? Well, you'd have to baptize
him. He had, you know, some things
that, I don't know, I hope not. Okay. And then they end up later
on, they're gone. It wasn't anything. It was a
false profession. But what do you do? You've got
to believe them. You've got to receive them, don't
you? Until they prove otherwise. That's
what the Lord said. And as I said before, I'll say
again, I would rather be guilty of believing someone is a believer and receiving them than be guilty
of excluding someone who's not. Our Lord said it'd be better
to have a millstone tied about your neck. Wouldn't you? And I've been a little bit guilty
of this. A little bit guilty. How can
you be a little bit guilty? I've been guilty of this, and
others still are, of believing this man's loss because he believed
that man's sake. You follow me? This fellow believes
that man is saved, and I know he's not saved, so he must be
lost. That ain't up to us. And to hoe our own tatered patch. You know what that means, children. Paul said this. Listen to what
the Apostle Paul said about his Jewish brethren, who are a bunch
of Pharisees. Romans ten is the chapter that
you know it's a strong document Romans ten you know any verses
in Romans ten those are verses we committed the heart the mind
anyway. First of all talk a great deal
about talks about righteousness how does it start? How does that
chapter start? The Apostle Paul goes on to talk
about righteousness How does it start? With what attitude
does he preach that? I've been guilty. I did not deal with verse 1 like
he did. And I've been guilty of not preaching
it the same way. He said, Brethren, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. Right? In chapter 9, what about chapter
9, John? Do you love Romans 9? Oh! Socrates. You know, I love Romans
chapter 9. How does it begin? Paul says, I could wish myself
accursed for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the That's the attitude. There's
a song that says, He that goeth forth weeping, bearing precious
seed, shall no doubt come again rejoicing,
bringing his sheaves with him. Did you hear that? He that goeth
forth weeping, bearing precious seed. Even our Lord wept over. Now, I just, I need to learn
what that means, don't you? I need to be converted. Do you? I'm just ashamed to say I haven't
had that burden for people like that. Have you? He that goeth
forth weeping, bearing precious seed, this precious seed that
we bear, shall doubtless Come again, rejoicing, bringing his
sheaves with him. Did the Lord bless the Apostle
Paul's preaching? Everybody in here saved under
his preaching. Everybody. He bore sheaves, didn't he? Sheaves. Our Lord said that. And that's
why he came. Look at this. Oh, blessed, blessed,
blessed, blessed words. Verse 11. The Son of Man has
come to save. that which is lost. The Son of
Man has come to save. John, that's why he came. That
is why Jesus Christ came to this earth, to save. And you know,
and I love to dwell on this. I love to dwell on this, and
I'm going to do it again, that he came to save. He didn't come
to try to save. He didn't come to make an attempt
to save. He didn't come to make a down payment on salvation,
redemption. He came to save. He was given
a job by the Father to do, and he did it. He accomplished it. Call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people. I love that, don't you? That
brings glory to Christ. That glorifies his power. That
glorifies God's love, God's electing grace. It glorifies him, doesn't
it? It glorifies his word. I love that. But you know, the
blessing of blessings to us right here is he came to save. He came
to save. That's why he came. Who? One of the uttermost. The chief,
the chief of that person that wrote that song we just sang.
I can picture them sitting there writing that with tears in their
eyes. Oh, the love that sought me.
all the blood that taught me, all the grace that brought me
to the fold, wondrous grace that brought me to the fold. Huh?
I picture, I envision that person riding there with tears in their
eyes and a joyful heart thinking, why me? When he talked about,
oh, he poured in oil and wine, I was that, I was that Person
in the ditch, and Christ the Good Samaritan came by. Wasn't
even nobody to have anything to do with, but he did. Here's
the good news. Here's the blessed news for an
old gutter snipe. He came to save. Jesus Christ
came to save. You got anybody that needs saving?
You need saving? He came to save. Let's dwell
on that a little bit. Anybody get any joy out of that?
I'll tell you the only ones that can. Reverend Bell can't. She don't have no sins anymore.
But this fella can't. This fella can. Who's a sinner
the moment he wakes up. The moment he goes to sleep and
sins through his dreams. Here's the good news to every
sinner. And you know who you are and
what that means. He came to save. He told this illustration of
the going to find the lost sheep over there in Luke 15. And it
says right before they said the people, he says he was with a
bunch of sinners. And it begins by saying, this
man received sinners and he is with them. And he went on to
tell those three parables about the lost sheep, a lost coin and
a lost son. What's it all about? the show
that he came to save the lost. Sinners! He said, I didn't come
to call the righteous. Are you saved? Yeah, I'm saved. Well, you know, I believe Christ. I trust Christ. But I'm like
Paul. I'm not there yet. Paul says, I haven't arrived. And you and I better do what
Paul did. Forget the past. You better forget yesterday.
You better forget, yeah, I'm saved because I made my... you
better erase that out of your Bible real quick. You've got
your baptism written down. The day of your so-called...
you better get it out of there quick. Burn it. In a hushed tone. Paul said, forget those things.
Not there yet, Paul said, I lay hold on. I apprehend that for
which I've been apprehended. I haven't arrived yet. Buddy,
you ask me now, if I get the glory, if we get the glory together,
ask me then, OK? Are you safe? Blessed God, yes.
I'm here. I've seen much better people
than me miss Christ. Much better. I've seen several preachers got
their doctrine right in a row. I can name them by name, just
like Paul did. They missed Christ. Left their
families. Left the gospel. Boy, they were
ramrods straight as an arrow in the doctrine. I remember sitting listening
to them. This is the greatest message on imputed righteousness
I've ever heard. They missed Christ. The Son of Man has come to seek
and save the lost. Lost. The Son of Man has come
to save. God sent him to save. You heard
me say that long ago, and I stand by it. That the love of God is at the
heart and soul of the gospel. I know the world abuses that,
but let's not throw it out, okay? It was the love of God that sent
his Son to this earth to save us. Yes, it was. God loves his people more than
we love our own children. There are his children, the apple
of his eye. He loved them with an everlasting love before the
world began. He set his love upon them. Love loves them far
more than we love our own. Yes, sir. So much so that he
did that to his son. It's unthinkable, isn't it? Greater
love hath no man than this. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon thee. Oh, the love that sought me.
God sent his son down here. Because he loved us, me, whoever
believes, you. Isn't that something? We sing
that song. How can it be? You love that
song, Jerry? How can it be that God should
love a soul like me? Well, he does. It's not doctrinalized that way.
God, that's just real. It's true. God loves his people. In Christ, yes, but he loves
them like he loves Christ. They're his sons, his daughters.
Glory to God for sending Christ down here to save. Old Brother Barnard used to say,
You better be glad I'm not God. And I am. As a matter of fact,
I'm glad he wasn't my pastor. I'm glad I'm not gone. That wouldn't
have saved me, let alone Stan Anderson. Would you? Remember old David,
when Nathan came to him, and David was all puffed up and unrepentant,
and David was a sinner. Somehow or another, he got lifted
up with hot pride and fell in a ditch and rut. Unbelievable! He was a rock. He was living. And God, bless God, in His mercy
and grace, sent Nathan to him. And told him that story. Remember
the story he told David? He said a man had a rich man,
you know, had thousands of sheep, all at his disposal. But there
was a poor man next to him, had one little sheep. But he nurtured
and put it in his bosom as a pest, like one of the members of the
family. And that rich man, as if he didn't have enough, he
had a friend come over and he went over and got that poor man's
sheep, took it from him, and slew it, and offered it to his
friend. And David, do you remember what
David did? David got so indignant, so mad, he said, what shall be
done to that man? That man deserves to die for
what he deserves. You know what he heard? Nathan said, thou art the man. He needed converting, didn't
he? He needed converting. It broke his heart. And David thought to himself,
I'm so glad God's not like me. Aren't you? Aren't you, Barbara? Aren't you glad God's not like
you? David wrote in one of the songs, he said, Is this the manner
of man? No. What all God said, said it
through Nathan again. What all God said to me and promised
me, me a sinner. Is this the manner of man? No.
That's my great God. That's why David wrote over and
over and over, you know, the mercy of God, the mercy of God.
Thirty-six times in one psalm he's mercy endures forever. From that day forward, mercy
was a person. Who came to say, glory, all glory
to Christ, who came down here to take the place of people that
weren't worth taking the place of, huh? Give up Barabbas? Substitute your name there. Would you have died for a Barabbas? I wouldn't have died for me.
Christ came to save. Glory to the Holy Spirit of God,
the Spirit of Christ, who came to seek and to save, who came
to seek and find and call and regenerate and keep and protect
the elect of God and the Holy Spirit of God. Glory be to Him. One time the disciples wanted
to call down fire. Remember that? They wanted to
call down fire. from heaven to consume some fellows.
And the Lord said this. He sternly rebuked him. He said,
You know not what manner of spirit you are. He said, I'm going to paraphrase
that. You don't realize how you're
acting. You don't realize what that is. That's devilish, what
that is. He said the son of man has not
come to destroy men's lives but to save them. People are destroyed anyway. He came to say the next time
he is coming to destroy. But you know right now the door
of that ark is open, wide open. Mercy's door is wide open. And whoever will, whosoever will, come on in. Today is a day of
salvation. That's right. While the gospel
is being preached, I can boldly say, as the Lord said to Noah,
come thou and thy house into the ark. Come on. Come on. What are you waiting
on? There's love, there's mercy,
there's grace for all who come to God through Christ. There's
full, free forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness of sins. Anybody
need forgiveness of sins? There's a full pardon. A full
pardon. For Christ came to save. Do you
see what I'm dwelling on here? He said the son of man has come
to save. Who? The lost. All right, now
were you lost and now you're found? Years ago as a young boy, a young
man, I was so full of self-confidence, what they call spit and vinegar, so sure of myself. I thought I knew where I was
going, and I sure didn't need anybody to tell me. I thought I knew what I was doing,
but I was just like that prodigal, just like him. And there's a way that seems
right to every man. It goes its own way. There's
a way that seems right, but the end of it, every time, the end. will be the whole thing. Destruction. And I ended up in the whole thing. And I thank God for putting me
there. And like that prodigal. Lord
brought me to myself. God sent a faithful preacher
to me, sent me to him. Sent me to him. Seed was sown,
ever the seed was some. I distinctly remember at the
time. Scripture coming to mind that
I heard as a child. That had ear heard but I didn't
hear you know. They had no effect on it or start
having. A profound effect. A breaking
humbling effect. And I found out You just don't
know where you're going to. You just don't know what you're
doing. If left to yourself, you'll kill
yourself, won't you? I was lost. Lost. Worthless. Like the prodigal
came crawling back. Didn't feel worthy to be Under
the sound of the gospel, let alone with all those good people,
those good church folk, I wouldn't be impetuous. I really thought
they were just better than me. I didn't know that every one
of them felt just like I did. I didn't know. Now, years later,
here I am, a preacher. If you had told me Let alone
somebody else that years ago back then. They left you scorned
like that girl. She isn't dead. She's sleeping. He he's going to be a preacher
someday. Tell me another one. Honestly. Let alone a believer. Now here
I am. You know I feel more lost than
I did then. There's not a time that I woke
up here I don't think. You don't have any business up
there. You're a sinner. Honestly. I don't you know I
look at this young lady here who's now a wife herself. And
she calls me dad and I. Never I still feel 18 years old. A dad a father. And you know
what I'm talking about you're a grandfather. You still have the struggles
you did when you were a teenager. And now here are these people
looking at you As you know an example of. Other husband. I need the Lord now more than. Anybody? Anybody? He's come to
seek and to save that which was lost. That which was lost. Save the
lost. Well, here in our Texan, I got to quit. My, my. Like I said, there's some time
I feel just, oh, just plumb lost. I do. That ought to give somebody
some comfort, I hope. When you look at yourself, you'll
just feel plumb lost. And look to Christ, he came to
save, that's why he came. If you love this gospel, it's
a good sign. That which was law, he said,
and he gives this illustration, what do you think? What do you
think? How think you? If a man had a hundred sheep,
if he's a good shepherd, if he's a true shepherd, if he had a hundred sheep and
one of them was gone astray, Oh, he'd spare one. No. Not if he's a good shepherd. He's not willing to lose one
of them. Does he not lead the ninety and nine in the wilderness,
or ninety and nine, and go within to the wilderness, the mountains,
and seeketh that which is gone astray? Folks, if Christ, you
know it's true, if the Lord hadn't sought you, you'd have never
sought him. Blessed is the man whom the Lord chooses and causes
to approach and we wouldn't have come here. I wouldn't have come.
Would you? Last place I'd want to come. Christ said, if he doesn't
leave the ninety and nine and goes into the mountains, you
know, heaven is populated with a host, a heavenly host. He's
the Lord of hosts. Ninety and nine. Ninety and nine. That's what
Luke meant, but that needeth not repentant. there at Holy. He left the ninety and nine in
heaven and came, the old writers called the cesspool, came down
into the cesspool, came down into the cesspool to
find that which was lost. What? Black sheep. Seeks that which
goes straight and so be here. It says if so, be that he find
it. That is, if you're a man and you go out and look and you
might find it. He would look for and he might
find it. And now Christ is not just a man. He's the Lord of
glory. And over in Luke, Luke says, and when he had found us.
He's the good shepherd. Christ has never lost one of
his sheep. He makes us lost. He makes us
realize we're lost. But he's never failed to find
one of those lost sheep. Every single one. All that the
Father giveth me, Christ said. All that the Father giveth me
shall come unto me. Yes, sir. You'll never save that
one. What? He's the one. He what? Now he
can't say. That one's going to be on the
front row. You just watch. See, he gets glory from saving
the worst. Worst. That woman has seven devils. You'll never get... Watch him. And when he hath found
it, oh, when he hath found it, Luke's gospel says he puts it
on his shoulder. He doesn't, you know, when he
goes to find his sheep, to save his people, he doesn't say, well,
now I've found you, now get along, get along, do good, go on home
now. Don't get out of the way. Go
on home, little sheep. What's the nature of a sheep?
Oh, we like sheep. Go astray. Sheep cannot lead
themselves. Sheep need to be led. Sheep can't
lead themselves. Folks left to themselves can't
even each. He puts it on. Don't you like
it? He puts it on and carries it
home and then it says and he said, he said, and then there's
joy in heaven. Luke's gospel says there's joy,
there's rejoicing in heaven over one sinner that repents. That really got a hold of me
one time. It's not getting a hold of me
now like it did one time. What would you think? Somebody you love, son or a daughter,
husband or wife, father or mother, what would it mean to you if
the Lord actually saved them? How would you react? If the Lord actually. Saved your
dear old father. How would you what would you
do. If in that door walked somebody
that we just used to have no really no hope for. That particle. Who just? Gotten that back if we got him
in that baptism. How would you react? This says our Lord says they
have a celebration in heaven. He said that one center. Never been a celebration in heaven. celebration. And in the end,
there's going to be a huge one, an ongoing one, an eternal one. And all of God's people there.
And Christ, it says, will rejoice over his people. This, my son,
was lost. He was dead and he's alive. He
was lost and he's found. Killed a fatted calf. Let's have the Passover. And
our Lord said in closing, even so, it's not the will of your
father, which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should
perish. Are you little? Do you feel lost? That ought to be the best thing
you've ever heard, the best word you've ever heard in your life.
It's not God's will. See, God does his will. His will
shall be done in heaven and earth. You're a little, are you little?
If you're lost, do you need saving? I don't mean you did need saving,
I mean you do need saving. You always will need saving.
It's not God's will to bury you. Not one. No, but you don't know
me. No, I don't. He does. And he said, little one, little
one. So, the moral of the story. Be careful, we're going to miss
glory ourselves. We're going to miss Christ, don't
presume. Don't think we're something,
we're nothing, for any reason. be like our Lord. That's pity. Pray for the salvation of people. And may it be the Lord's will to
bring more, bring someone into His fold. If He does, of my glory
be to him. Okay, Brother Gabe, come and
lead us please. you