OK, thank you, Sherry. Matthew 18. Let's read verse one again, Matthew
18, verse one at the same time, or as our Lord was speaking to
Peter. The disciples. Came the disciples unto Jesus
saying, Who is who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Mark and Luke give the account
that they were disputing among themselves about which one of
them should be great. They were arguing among themselves
they weren't arguing whether Abraham or David. They were arguing among themselves
which of them should be the greatest. in the kingdom of heaven. Mark says that the Lord, they
didn't ask this, but rather the Lord asked them, what were you
disputing among yourself? And what it is, is I believe
that they knew the Lord was reading their thoughts. So they went
ahead and asked him. Which one of them? I found this
amazing, don't you? Because just two years earlier, They were a bunch of fishermen
in a boat, a bunch of lowly fishermen. Scripture says, knowledge puffeth
up just a little bit. It doesn't take much to puff
us up, just a little bit or not. Pride
is our biggest problem, isn't it? And it's the source of most
of our problems. within ourselves and without
other people. Pride is what causes us to be
offended. If we're offended by someone,
it's our pride that's been offended. Someone said you should not be
able to offend the chief of sinners. We're offended because we think
too highly of ourselves. And we are offensive to others
for the same reason. We think too highly of ourselves. And here these disciples were
in the presence of the great Lord and the great Savior. And the scriptures calls him
the great shepherd. the greatest, truly the greatest
in the kingdom, yea, the king himself. And yet they were bragging and
boasting and arguing about which one of them should be the greatest. I remember in my past as a child
bragging to my friends, you know, you get your little cronies around
you and you start boasting and bragging about this and that
and the other. And I remember a time when I was doing that
and my father was overhearing me. I didn't know it, but I finally
turned around and he's who I wilted. He knew me. He knew us all a
bunch of talk. Well, the Lord here, I think,
wilted them with his Rebuke gentle rebuke. They were in the prayer
you talk about ignorance. And needing to be converted.
It said look at read three verses
two and three with them and then Jesus called a little child unto
him and set him in the midst of them. Mark says set him beside
the law and say it. Verily I say unto you, except
ye be converted, and become as little children, you shall not
enter the kingdom." So our Lord used little children
as an object lesson. This is exactly what our Lord
did. His disciples could actually, so that folks could actually
look at a little child as he was talking to them, see them
as they were. Set them in the midst of him
and he said, except he be converted and become as a little And he
pointed, I'm sure, to the little child. And I know you are young
ladies. Now, the word converted means
to be turned around. That's what it means, to be turned
around. You need to be turned from this, this pride that they
had gotten into. The Lord is telling his disciples,
unless they're turned around, from being all puffed up about
themselves and converted back into little children. See, that's
how we begin this thing, isn't it? That's what the Lord does
to every single person that he saves or regenerates. He turns
them into babes, really, just little newborn babes. Know nothing,
have nothing, are nothing, can do nothing, poor, little, lowly
in their own eyes and so forth. And that's the way we need to
stay. And if we ever rise above that, the Lord says, you need
to be converted. And the only one that can do
that is God. The only thing that will do that
is the grace of God. His word is what he uses. And our Lord says, of such is
the kingdom of heaven, little children, childlike people. And he said in verse four, look
at verse four, whosoever Therefore shall humble himself as this
little child. The same is greatest in the kingdom
of heaven." Now, what is it to humble ourself, to be childlike? What is it to be childlike? It
means to be lowly, as I say. It's not think too highly of
yourself. Do you think you're somebody
real great? No. They don't even know. They don't think that they're
real great and important people. They really don't. If you don't
answer my questions right, that's OK. I know you're on the spot. To be lowly is to not think too
highly of yourself. Scripture says, if any man thinks
he's something, When he's nothing I don't mean. Scripture says we're nothing.
I like what Matthew Henry said he said God made everything out
of nothing. If he's going to use us we've
got to be a nothing. Children do not think they're
great and important people there's children. Children are to be
humble and childlike is to be teachable. Very teachable. Children are willing to listen.
They're really listening right now. Children are willing to
listen, willing to learn, aren't they? Children are free, for
the most part, from bias, free from bias or prejudice, free
from most preconceived notions children are. Aren't they? You know, God's Word is written
for our learning and for our obedience, not to be argued or
debated or subjected to our judgment, but for learning and obedience.
Children are trusting. Children trust their parents
implicitly, implicitly, completely, perfectly. They trust their teachers,
some of which are not trustworthy, but they trust them anyway. It's
a good way to be. Adults in general, they do. I'll
ask you this, do you trust your poppy Marvin? Yes, without a
doubt. He would never tell you a lie.
Never. He is never going to do anything
wrong to you. Never. Know you're that? Trust. Children are very trusting. And we should trust our Heavenly
Father in the same way. Same way. Trust His Word. Trust
His Son. Children are dependent, totally
dependent. Children don't worry about too
much, do they? Because they know, and part of
it is ignorance, but they know that they're totally dependent
on someone else. Totally dependent. Have you ever
missed a meal when you've gone to your dad's house? Never. You
never miss a meal. Never. Children trust their parents
to provide all things for them. They don't think for one minute
that they earn anything. You remember a few weeks ago
we talked about how none of us men have ever earned a dime,
really, or paid our bills? No, the Lord has provided everything.
He's given us jobs to work, and that's our reasonable service,
but it's the Lord that's actually providing for us. We're not providing
for our family. The Lord is. We're to do what
we're supposed to do. But the Lord is the one that
gave us those jobs. Right, Brother John? The Lord
gave, and He can take it away. Don't take it for granted. Children
don't think for a moment that they earn anything. They know
everything is provided for them. Everything. All of grace. Everything's
a gift. Everything's a gift. Children are unworldly. Meaning they're not caught up
with all this stuff in the world that the world is caught up in.
Meaning that they're not so concerned about the trends. Well, I've
got two young ladies here with me. Clothes are getting kind
of important. But I need to go a little bit
younger. But anyway, most children are
not caught up in the trends of the day. What kind of clothing
they're wearing. Whether it's of this label or
that label. How they appear to others. How they sound to others. And so on and so forth. They're
not so concerned about how their house looks or what kind of car
they ride in. Let me give you this illustration.
Once when my wife was a young lady in, I think, middle school
at the time, and that's a time when you quit, you are concerned
about these things. She was about 13, I guess, or
14. And her parents, their car broke
down. They normally drove a pretty
nice car, Lincoln. Their car broke down, and lo
and behold, the dealership gave them something like a 48 Ford.
Now, Steve, I know you think that's better than Lincoln. But
at the time, you know, and nobody in town was driving a 48 Ford.
An old humpback, you know, one they had on the back lot. And
then his mother, piled the kids in the car and take them to school,
and Mindy said, I'm not riding in that. So she didn't get to ride to
school. She had to walk after her mother firmly rebuked her. The little children are not so
concerned about those things, are they? Not so concerned. That's being unworldly. Little
children are unambitious. Unambitious. If you ask a little
child what they want to grow up to be, most of you men, if
you were like me, you want to be like a garbage man. Something
like that. Did anybody besides me want to
be a garbage man? Admit it, somebody, please. High
aspiration, wasn't it? You thought that was an honest
and necessary and even an honorable job. It is. Children are unambitious. I'm
afraid to ask them what they want to grow up to be. But children
are mostly unambitious. Generally don't seek great things
for themselves. are generally free from malice.
The Apostle Paul said this in his letter to the Corinthians.
He said, Be men in understanding. Don't be ignorant little children
in your understanding, your discernment and so forth, your judgment and
all that. But be children in malice, meaning
don't have any. Children generally don't hold
grudges. They can get in a little argument between themselves and
a little spat, you know, but they won't, they won't stay that
way with it. Not long, they'll forgive and
forget completely. They can get in a, I remember
this, Stan, don't you? Getting in a knock down, drag
out fight, rolling on the ground, beating each other in five minutes
later. You're playing like nothing ever happened. Right? Free from malice, free from strife. If they do have a problem, it's
quickly over. Free from guile. Children are
free from guile. Our Lord said, be as a little
child, be free from guile. Don't have any hidden subtlety
or subtle innuendos or trickery and so forth. Little hidden agendas. Free from guile. Wouldn't you
like it to be said of you as it was said of Was it Nathanael? Our Lord said of him before he
was converted. When he saw him walking that
way, he said, Behold an Israelite in whom is no guile. I know people like that. To be
as a little child is to be free from hypocrisy. What you see
is the way they are. That's the way they are. They're
not putting on. It's free from hypocrisy. What you see and hear are generally
honest and unpretentious. Now, this is what our Lord did.
This is what our Lord said. He said, if you be converted
and become as little children, well, you won't even enter the
kingdom. To be like a little child is to be tender, moved, I could tell them both a very
sad story right now and reduce them to tears very easily. Our Lord said, we've mourned and you haven't lamented. I could tell them a happy story,
a funny story right now, and they both would just laugh, belly
laughter. I know I could. I know some pretty
good jokes. That one about a potato. Don't
I have it? She said, don't tell it. And they would just cackle. Our
Lord said to some, he said, we've piped and you haven't danced. Be like a child. Be tender, moved,
touched by sadness. Sadness of another, by pain of
another, by the happiness of another. Children, listen to
this, children are shocked. and amazed by some of the terrible
things that go on in this world. Sin and evil in this world. You dread Kelly Grace seeing
the TV set, don't you? You dread it, don't you? The
day when they begin to see some things you don't want them to
see. And while they're young and childlike, Melanie, that's
just shocked by what they say. God forbid that we should cease
to be sensitive to sin and shocked by the things that Scripture
says, it's a shame to even speak of the things that are done by
men in secret. But now the world we live in this last day is making
a boast of it. Don't ever become insensitive
to be childlike in that way to it. And incidentally, we do have
control over that box that they watch. To be like a child is to be grateful
for the least favor or gift. The smallest token will make
these young ladies happy. Just the smallest token will
make them happy. Thank you all. The smallest token. Children
and so many things we could keep going on about. Our Lord said,
except you be converted and turned from pride and become as little
children. And who can turn us but God? As we attempted to pray, the
Lord humbles His people. He will keep us humble. You wonder
why the Lord allows you Do sometimes what you do and
follow the way you do. It's a horrible thing and it's
a painful thing. Hurtful thing. Hurt yourself
and everybody around you. But it's a good thing. If it
keeps us humble. Isn't that right? If it keeps
us humble. If it'll humble us. If it'll
bring that old head down. That old proud head. Scripture
says he's at the base of himself. Why not? Why wait on the Lord
to humble us? Why not just do it yourself?
Ask him, give me grace, Lord, to remember what I am, where
I came from. There's the problem for getting
the pit from which we were digged. That's the problem. Children,
to be childlike is to You know what, these children want to
be with their parent more than anything else. Little children don't need a
whole lot of this world's good, but they do need their parent. And we need our God and our Father
more than anyone or anything else. And he said in verse 5
here, Who so shall receive one such little child in my name,
receive it me? One of our young people asked
me through his father, asked me through his father, what about
little children who die, infants that die? And I answered him
that I thought scripture teaches that little children are the
elect of God. He knows each individual case
there is no such thing as a age of accountability. It's not in
the scripture. But the Lord deals with each
individual case he knows each one. You know there's some that
mature more rapidly than others right. And the Lord. I believe. Based on scripture. who died
in infancy belong to the Lord. I believe Christ shed his blood
for them, that they are the elect of God, that he redeemed them
with his precious blood. The scripture said, he saveth
the simple. I believe all who are mentally
slow or whatever, I believe they're the Lord. He knows each case.
I believe most of them are the Lord. In that respect, something
like a down syndrome person is one of the most blessed people
on earth. You think about them. They're without malice. They're
very childlike, aren't they? You remember old John down here?
Remember what I told you about old John down here at the developmental
center that said he got a job? I love that. I'll tell it again
if nobody's heard it. Fifty-some year old man, but
he has the mind of a six or seven year old. And he came running
up to me and I when we were working with a Special Olympics. He said,
Guess what? I got a job. He said, I get to
go to work. I get to go to work. Most of
us just do not say that. But he did. He was so happy.
Got to go to work. And he went on. He said, You
know what? He said, They paid me to. And he would have gone for free. That's where most of them are.
Truly, they're blessed people, aren't they? Don't take things
for granted, think everything's a privilege and a gift, grace,
without malice, guile, and so forth. And this thing of what
the kingdom of heaven is made up of. Scriptures are clear that
there are no infant of days in heaven. Everybody's equal. There are no babies that make
them less than us as adults. No, no, no. Isaiah 65 and other
places tell us that. No more infants. We're all equal. We're all going to be in the
image of Christ. Adults. So those children that died in
infancy, those children that died in miscarriage, those children
that died whatever, aborted, they're in heaven right now as
full grown adults in the image of Christ. And you'll know them. And I'll know. We'll know each
other. And I believe, though this is
speaking not only of that, I think that alludes to that, to actual
children, but to those who are childlike. That's the whole lesson
that the Lord is teaching, because it goes on to say, a little one
that believeth in me. Childlike, humble, person that
believes in Christ, one who believes Christ. And he went on to say,
and I've got to quit. I'm determined to cut these messages down. But
he went on to say in verse 5, who so shall receive one such
little child in my name receiveth me. Paul said this in Romans 14,
with him that is weak in the faith, receive ye. Receive them. I remember as a young believer,
scared to death to open my mouth. Not knowing what was going to
come out. Something foolish, something ignorant. I remember
folks being so patient with me. And even now, like I don't have
anything against people that own Tahoe's. Mack, Margaret,
forgive me. Their car, I'm sure, gets more
gas mileage than mine. If you were here, you heard that
slip. And why I said black? It's an
old Southern term. You can't get these things out
of your mouth, can you? Out of your head. Lucky. Things like that. I hear people
say that. People have been around a while.
I know they don't mean that. We all say things we don't mean,
no. Receive the Lord in the same
way. Don't judge him. Let me give you an illustration
that needs to be given. I have known some preachers,
one preacher in particular, who made salvation such an intellectual
attainment that you had to understand so much and be able to state
it so perfectly. that they either made everyone
in their so-called church feel unsaved or turned them all into
a bunch of doctrinal Pharisees. I know about visiting that place,
and that's what they were. And I know one place where literally
there were no more children in that congregation. None. That's bad. And our Lord said. You bet it'd be better for you
to have a millstone hung about your neck. Better to have a millstone hung
around your neck and be drowned than to do that. I would rather
I made this statement and I stand by it. I would rather include
into God's kingdom someone that did not belong than exclude someone who did. Wouldn't you? There's no condemnation for thinking
the best of someone, but there is for thinking the worst. woe unto the world because of
offenses. Verse 7. It must need be that
offenses come. Woe to the world. This is where
the majority of offenses come from. The world is an offensive
place in it. But let us not be. Let us not be. He's talking to
his disciple. And he goes on to say, and we've
looked at this before, not too long ago. He spoke of this in
his Sermon on the Mount. You remember? These very things
he said in a sermon on the map about the hand. Yeah. So for. You remember what it meant. What he was saying is whoever
or whatever it was the nearest and dearest to us if offensive.
Cut it off cut them off. Verse 10 he goes on to say take
heed that you despise not one of these little ones Hey, don't
despise, don't look down on one of these little ones. I say unto
you that in heaven their angel do always behold the face of
my Father which is in heaven. One of these little ones have
several angels. Tell Wesley that, repeat that
to Wesley when you get on. That's what it says, that's what
our Lord said. Not only of our little children.
But us. His little children. Who is he that can harm us? Huh? If that be the case. I love that
story of the servant of Elijah, Elisha, who was worried about
the attacking the enemies that were surrounding him. Remember
that? The enemy went outside and looked and the enemy were
all surrounded their house. They took him for one man. And Elisha said he prayed to
the Lord. The Lord opened his eyes. And
the Lord opened that servant's young man's eyes and he saw the
hills full of heavenly hosts. just infinitely more than those
little to get in some. And a lot is the one that said
is he said they didn't leave for us more than they did. God before you can begin. Be converted and become little
children. Receive the kingdom as a little child. Be all of
these things. And there's none that can do
that but God, by His grace. Okay, stand with me. Okay. Okay. you. Okay. Okay. Okay. I don't know. Okay.