And these verses that I've read
to you tonight surely asked me on the way to service what I
was going to preach and I said pride, prejudice, and persecution. And we see all of these things
here and I'll show them to you as we go through it. And personally
I don't have any problem finding myself in God's Word. I have
no problem finding myself in this book. I don't have any problem finding
my sin in this book. Guess what's so wonderful about
God's Bible? Whether it's an apostle, or whether
it's Abraham, or Jacob, or Isaac, or some significant person in
the scriptures. God lets them be who they are.
He does not cover up their infirmities, their sins, their weaknesses,
their anxieties, their failings. And I don't have any problem
seeing myself in God's Word, or my sin in His Word, or seeing
my salvation in His Holy Word. And our Lord here exposes the
sin of His disciples, and when He does that, He's exposing my
sin. And not only is he exposing my
sin, but he's also warning me against sin. And particular sins
as he deals with his disciples over things they do. And here
are three things in succession of his disciples. Three things
in succession. First, you have their pride in
verse 46. They reason among themselves who should be the greatest. Then you have their prejudice.
There in verse 49, John said, We forbade him because he falleth
not with us. And then you have their persecution
down in verse 54 when John and James said, Do you want us to
call fire down from heaven on this bunch of unbelievers? You know, surely, surely, We're not proud like these fellows,
not prejudiced like they are, and we certainly wouldn't persecute
anybody who walked along with us. But let's look at these three
things and how our Lord deals with every one of them concerning
His disciples. First look at their pride. In
verse 46, then there arose a reasoning among them which of them should
be the greatest. Can you imagine that? Here's
disciples, here's apostles. Peter, James, John, Matthew. And they're all talking. And
we know what they're talking about. I believe I'm a better
preacher than you. I believe I'm closer to Christ
than you are. I believe I understand the Old Testament better than
you do. And they started reasoning among themselves. One of them
would say something good about himself. Another would say, well,
listen, you think that's something? Well, then y'all see what I do.
And so they started reasoning among themselves which one of
them is going to be the great one. The great one. That would be like four or five
of us men getting together and talking about which one of us
is the smartest, the strongest, the wisest, the best. And here they are. They were
concerned about their position in the kingdom of God. Concerned
about it. Who should be the greatest? You
remember when James and John's mother went to our Lord Jesus
Christ and said, Master, I want to ask something of you. She
said, what do you want? Said, I want my, I got two boys.
Oh, they're fine boys. We got John and I've got James
and Johnny. I got, I got, I got these two
sons of mine. Oh, there's something. And he
says, when you come in your kingdom I want one of them sitting over
here and I want the other sitting over there. I want them at your
right and left hand. I want them sitting on thrones
with you. I can understand the mother wanting
that. But she didn't have a clue what
was going on. Who's the greatest among them?
And all beloved, they were close. Peter, James, and John were close
to the master. And pre-millennius. They believe
that they'll have a greater power and position in the kingdom of
heaven on this earth because they've done certain things while
they've served the Lord here on this earth. They think they'll
have bigger mansions there and they'll think that some of them
are going to rule over certain cities here and some are going
to rule over certain cities over there and they'll have this great
power. But oh pride! Pride is as natural
to a human being as water is being wet. But for a child of
God, for somebody that knows the Lord Jesus Christ, for somebody
that's following the Master, it has to be one of the awfulest,
most horrible things a person can do as a believer. To be proud. You know what? God says six things
I hate, yea seven is abomination. You know what the first thing
he said was? Pride. Pride goeth before destruction,
a haughty spirit before a fall. Take heed, lest thou fall. And he always said, he that exalted
himself, I'm going to put him down. And he that humbled himself,
I'm going to bring him up. And God knows just exactly how
to deal with every individual. But here's the situation we're
in. What do we have that He didn't give us? What do we have that
He didn't give us? What do we know that He didn't
teach us? And what are we ever given that
He didn't first give it to us? So what in the world? And there's these fellas arguing
about who's going to be the greatest. And you know how our Lord answered
this question? Look what He did. And our Lord, perceiving the
thought of their heart, He wretched God the little child. Evidently
there's people around there and there was a child. Some people
say it was an infant. I know it was a small, small
child. And he saw them and he tell them
a set of child and he set that child, he must have been sitting
down because he set the child beside him. He said he took this
child and set this child beside him. And look what he says about
it. Oh my, took a child. And that's
what we are. We're just children. That's all
any of us are. We're children of God. John called
us little children. Beloved children. God called
us his children. He said, I'll be your father
and you'll be my children. Children of the living God. And
he took this child and he put this child beside him. And then
look what he said. Whosoever receiveth this child,
receiveth this child. and he receives this child in
my name. This child ain't gonna make himself
to be something other than what he is. He's not a child acting
like a grown-up. He's a child. He says, whosoever
receiveth this child in my name, in my name, it's your relationship
with me that counts. It's what I say that counts. It's who you know me. And receives
people in my name. Not in John's name. Not in Peter's
name. Not in James's name. Not in Simon's
name. No whoever is receiving this
child in my name. He receives me. And that's what
he does here. He's identifying himself with
these people. You're children. That's all you
are. You're just children. What are you running around here
talking about who's going to be the great? And you're just a
child. You see this child right here, this little boy, this little
girl, whatever he was sitting there by, little bitty thing.
He said, you see this child here? He said, you receive this child
just like you'd receive me. And if you receive this child
in my name, he said, you know what you'll do? You'll receive
him that sent me. Ain't that what he says? You'll
not only receive me, but you'll receive the Father who sent me.
Why a child? Why did he choose a child? Well,
a child. A child has unconscious humility. Humble, but they're not aware
of it. They're not aware of it. They're not aware of what they
wear. They're not aware of who they know. They're not aware
of how big they are. They're not aware of how smart
they are. They're not aware of how accomplished
they are, how successful they are. You can put in, you know,
you can put whatever you put on them, they're satisfied with
it. They don't say, no, that looks ugly on me. They don't
say, oh, listen, I'm too big for that. No, no. No, no, not
only that, but this child has an entire dependence, an entire
dependence upon somebody else. And I tell you, they're a simple
concern in the future. You know these little old youngins
sitting back here right now? These are the best years of their
life. You know why? Somebody else is
providing everything they've got. They're dependent on them
to eat, to be dressed, to have a place to sleep, to be educated. If they're sick, they're going
to take care of them. And that's what he said, except
you, because you got this child, you receive a child. And oh,
my. And I tell you one another thing
about a child, whoever's taking care of them, they love them.
They're grateful for it and they absolutely love the persons taking
care of them. They're not getting up, you know,
no, no. And I'll tell you something else
about this little child like he's talking about. They're teachable.
They're teachable. Boy, you ever seen people that
you couldn't teach them nothing? I remember my sister years and
years ago, my oldest sister, Barbara Gale. She was in school,
she couldn't, she was having a problem learning something.
And she just couldn't get it, she just couldn't get it. And
I don't remember who was trying to help her, but they had them
number two pencils, you know. And she couldn't get it, and
whoever was helping her out, they took that number two pencil
and broke it on her head. They just broke it on her head
and said, you poor old dumb thing, you. And I tell you what, some
people's teachable and some people ain't. But they're teachable. Oh my, I tell you what, I'm telling
you something. This book right here, I've been
reading this thing since I was 23 years old. And I don't have
a clue, but I've read it and read and I love it. And you know
what I found out? The more I read it, the more
I look at it, the bigger it's got. And the less I know about
it. I've preached from places in
this book and then I go back and look at it again and said,
boy, I don't remember that. I don't remember a thing about
that. And then you'll be reading along
with something to pop out at you that you never did. You read
it up maybe a hundred times and all of a sudden you see it. This
is the most, this is the most, this, I can read Pilgrim's Progress
and I get that, go right on through it. Read a novel, forget it. But this book right here gets
bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. So I tell you what,
there's no graduates, no people that graduates from the school
of our Lord Jesus Christ while you're on this earth. You'll
never graduate with honors and grace. You'll never be a master
of divinity. You'll never be a big person
in the kingdom of God. Do you know why? Because we never,
ever, ever learn all that we could possibly learn. And what
we do learn is how soon we forget. You ask me a week from this Sunday
what I preached last Sunday, and I won't be able to tell you.
I'll have to go look. Now ain't that something? But
I, Lord Jesus Christ, a teachable, and then look what he said about
it up here in verse, he said, whosoever, in verse 48, shall
receive this child in my name, he receiving me too. You fellas
worried about who's going to be the biggest among you? I said,
you become a child. If you were a child and somebody
receives you, they get me with you. You receive this child,
you give me too. You take his child, you got to
take me. You mistreat this child, you're mistreating me. That's
what he's saying. And then look what he says. And
he said, for he that is least among you all, he that's least
among you all shall be great. The same shall be great. Now
what do you think he's talking about? Well, all of you had babies
and all of you had grandbabies. Who gets all the attention? Who's
the greatest among you? That's what our Lord is saying. You're like that little child.
You'd be the least and then you'd be great. Just look away from
yourself. Keep Luke 9 now. And look with
me over in Philippians chapter 2. We're going to look at it
first until we see what we want to see. It's hard, Gary. It's hard. Hard to break bad
habits. Oh my. I'll tell you something
else about children. When you rebuke them, And you
discipline them. They'll get hurt, they'll get
offended, but they'll always come back to you and want to
crawl up in your lap. Don't they? I've never seen it fail. When
I get on duty, he comes back to me. I get on lineage, he comes
back to me. I get on my grandchildren, they always come right back. You know what they get over?
Being hurt real, real quick. And that's the way we as God's
children are. Look in Philippians chapter 2
in verse 3. Oh, look away from self, look
to the needs and weaknesses of others. Let nothing be done through
strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem
other better than himself. You know what our Lord Jesus
said? He says, take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am
meek in what? Lowly in heart. In lowliness of mind, let each
esteem others better than himself. Want somebody else to have more
than what you got. Enjoy life better than what you
do. Let this look not ever man on his own things, But look at
every man also on the things of others. Look on his cares,
his concerns, his worries, his anxieties. And let this mind
be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." So this is the
kind of mind he had. He held other people up, took
himself down. And oh, let me go on down here,
let me just look down here now in verse 49. That's pride. Look
at their pride. Now Lord, He dealt and answered
their pride arrogant arguments among themselves and now look
at their prejudice and John answers says master we saw one casting
out devils in thy name and we forbade him because he followeth
not with us And we saw him casting out devils. We saw him in your
name. Now who this fellow was, we don't
have any idea. They didn't say who he was. We
don't know why he was not with the disciples. We don't know
that either. But we do know that he was working in Christ's name. We do know it said here that
he was casting out devils in Christ's name. And while he was
doing it, he was doing it in the Lord's name, he was doing
it by the authority of Christ. So he evidently was a believer.
He evidently was a believer. And so here he was, he's over
here and he's laboring for Christ, laboring under his authority,
and devils are being cast out. And John said, we forbid him.
We told him to stop. You can't do this. And you know
what he said? Because he's not with us. He
don't follow us. He's not in our clique. He's
not in our group. Not in our group. And that's
the way, you know, I look at our Lord Jesus, how He answers
them. And I said, Jesus said unto him,
forbid him not. Don't you forbid him. Don't you
forbid him. Who do you think you are? You're
going to go around him and tell people what they can say and
what they can't, where they can go and where they can't, what they
can do in my name and what they can't. Our Lord dealt with those
issues in other places. He said, forbid him not. And
look what he says. For he that's not against us
is for us. If he's not out here blaspheming
my name, if he's not out here belittling my name, if he's not
out here dishonoring my name, if he's not out here representing
me in an ungodly and untimely manner, he says then, if he's
not for us, for he that's not against us is for us. Huh? And he pronounces his opinion
upon this man that John's talking about. Our Lord don't praise
him. And they don't blame him for
what he's doing. And he's not upset because he's not following
them. There's a whole lot of people
that followed our Lord Jesus Christ. And then you find one
time a multitude of disciples quit walking with him and there
wasn't nothing but the twelve left. And he said, are you going
to also go? And then one time a bunch followed
him and he said, I know why you're over here. He said, I fed you
with bread yesterday afternoon. And you're back over here to
sit down so I can feed you again. That's all you're after. You're
after the bread that I can feed you with. But he neither praises
this man or blames him for his work or not following his disciple. He simply declares that he must
not be forbidden because he that's not against us is evidently for
us. Can't be against us and be for
us. And I tell you, beloved, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and I
do know this, hard, hard words never yet made people of the
same mind. You can't change a man's mind
using hard words. You can't argue a man into the
kingdom of God. You can't argue a man to believe
like you do. Unity will never be come by force. It'll never happen. It'll never
happen. I want you to look with me in
Philippians again in Philippians chapter 1 verse 18. Then we're
going to look over in Numbers. I want you to see this thing
over in Numbers. This is what we're saying. Now this doesn't
mean that we're indifferent to sound doctrine. We're not indifferent
to sound doctrine. We're not indifferent to the
message of the gospel. And I'll deal with that here
in a minute. But look here in Philippians 1 Verse 15, some indeed preach
Christ even of envious strife. They're envious of other people's
abilities and they're striving because they think they're better
than another preacher and they're envious and they do it through
strife. And some preach Christ of goodwill. They've got goodwill
about it. They're not upset with anybody. They're not envious
of the other preacher. The one preached Christ of contention. He's contentious. He's argumentative
and he's not sincerely preaching Christ opposing to add afflictions
to my bonds. But the other, he's preaching
Christ of love, knowing that I'm set for the defense of the
gospel. What then? What then about these preachers
preaching Christ? What about the contention? What
about envy? What about strife? What about
love? What about adding afflictions to my bonds? What? Notwithstanding,
every way, whether a man's pretending or in truth, Christ is preached. They're talking about the Lord
Jesus Christ. And I'll therein do rejoice and
ye will rejoice. Christ is preached. And that's
what he's saying here. He said, they're talking about
Christ. They may not have the best attitude. They may not have
the best spirit. They may be angry. They may be
envious. They may get up and preach. I
remember one time I've told you all this. Years and years ago,
a fellow walked in the pulpit, walked in the building where
I was preaching, and he had his thumb and his finger in his Bible
like that. And he says, See that? Don't you? I said,
yeah. He said, I forgot more than that than most fellows will
ever preach. He said, I'm ready if you're
not. And I'll tell you another true
story. Had his finger in his Bible. Another true story. This is a true story. Henry Mahan
sitting getting ready to preach. I never heard a better preacher
than Henry Mahan. Never in my life I heard a better preacher.
I got a whole bunch of his messages on my phone. I mean, God used
him mildly in my life and your life, I know, and a lot of people's
lives. But he sat there and this jake leg walks up and sits down
behind him and said, Brother Henry, If you don't feel up to it tonight,
I'm ready to go. I'll help you out if you don't
feel like you can deal with it tonight. Can you imagine somebody
sitting down beside you and said, Henry, if you can't handle this
tonight, I believe I can take care of it for you. Henry was very gracious and said,
I believe the Lord will. I believe the Lord will help
me. That's all he said, I believe the Lord will help me. Could
you imagine that? Be sitting down beside Henry
Mayhead and saying, or Don Fortner, or Tim James, or Clay Curtis,
or anybody, and saying, listen, boy, I've got something to say
tonight if you don't feel like you know that you're up to it. You can't make it up. You can't
make it up. And that's what they say. They
got this preaching of envy, of strife, and contention. Somebody
gets up and says something, you get up and start being contentious
about what somebody said that you didn't agree with, instead
of being gracious enough to let it pass so you can talk to them
personally and privately. And now look over in Numbers
with me, just in Numbers 11. Oh, these fellas had prejudice. And I have found this out. I
have found this out. There is a lot of people out
there preaching the grace of God. And I didn't know. And now
I found out lots and lots of men in other different places
are preaching. And there's a man up in Indiana. I listen to him in Indianapolis.
I listen to him often. There's a fella who used to be
down in South Carolina. Pastored down there for years.
He lives over in Ireland now. I listen to him often. He's got
a message on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It's as clear as a bell. Oh, so good. But look what he
said here in verse 26. But there remained two of the
men in the camp. The name of the one was Eldad,
and the name of the other Medad. And the Spirit rested upon them,
they were of them that were written, but went not out unto the tabernacle,
and they prophesied in the camp." That word prophesied there means
they're preaching. They're preaching. And there
run a young man and told Moses, said, El, dad, me, dad, do prophesy. They're preaching over yonder
in the camp, Moses. And Joshua, the son of Nun, the
servant of Moses, one of his young men answers, says, My Lord
Moses, forbid them. Go up there and tell them to
quit preaching. El dad and me dad, they're out there preaching
among the people. And look what Moses said, and
Moses said unto him, Envious thou for my sake? Are you jealous
for me? Would God that all the Lord's
people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit
on every single one of them. Wouldn't it be something for
all of us as preachers? That's what he said. He said,
don't you worry about me. He said, I wish God bless everybody
to be a prophet and prophesy. And oh, now this, when we look
over here, they forbade him not. This doesn't mean we're indifferent
to sound doctrine. We're indifferent to the message
of the gospel. We must not talk or act like
it doesn't matter what men are or what they believe. You know,
you take Jews who reject Christ and don't believe Christ. We
know. We don't have to say don't forbid
them, not because we know. Muslims, we know that they're
not telling the truth. Catholics, we know they're not
telling the truth. But we cannot go along with them
and approve of them just because they're sincere and earnest. But let's never hinder or forbid
those who truly labor for Christ and his gospel. And there's some
men out there, and you'll run across them in time. What men
have treated me that way when they first met me? What some
of these men have treated me that way when I first got around?
I'd have been a... You know, I run a hundred miles
an hour when I preach. I run a hundred miles an hour,
sweat everywhere. And them fellas just sat there
and looked at me, you know, just blessed his heart. You know,
at least he's telling the truth. They say, well, he's preaching
the truth. He just says it fast. But at
least I'm not like Jack Shanks, where some women told him one
time, said, Jack, Brother Jack, we can listen faster than that. But I tell you what, it
was hard to keep up with me back in the day wasn't it? I mean
it really was. Oh my goodness. Thank God for
age and a little wisdom and preachers helping you. Alright, now let's
look at the persecution down here in verse 54. And it came to pass that when
the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly
sent his face to go to Jerusalem. This is our Lord's view of his
death. The time had come. It was time for him to go to
Jerusalem, time for him to be delivered into the hands of men,
time for him to be crucified. And so he steadfastly set his
face to go to Jerusalem. I'm going to Jerusalem. Nothing's
going to stop me. Nothing's going to hinder me.
And he sent messengers before his face. And they went and entered
the villages of Samaritans to make ready for him. The Master's
coming. The Christ is coming. The Messiah
is coming. The Lord's coming. And you be
ready for him. Have something for him to eat. Have a place for him to rest.
And look what it says in verse 53. And they did not receive
him, because his face was as though
he would go to Jerusalem. Our Lord Jesus Christ, in view
of his death, the time had come for him, steadfastly said, to
go to Jerusalem. He knew what was coming. He knew
what was going to take place. They sat like a flint, and he
will not be deterred. He, for the joy that was set
before him, endured the cross, despising the shame. And oh my,
then when they did not receive him, and when his disciples,
James and John, that's the same one his mother said, will you
let them sit on either side of you? When they saw this, they
said, Lord, Lord, these men, John and James, they
were sons of thunder, that's what they were, zealous for the
honor of their master. And they said, Lord, and listen,
don't you see this? Their question revealed that
they had faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, if thou wilt thou
that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume
them even as Elijah did. First they said, Lord, If you
will, if it's your will, I remember Elijah back there with a bunch
of folks that didn't receive God and didn't receive his message
and Elijah called down fire from heaven, destroyed all them old
false prophets. He said, Lord, if you will, then
old John will do the same thing for you. We'll protect your honor.
Oh, they believed if he answered, he'd give them power to call
down fire just as Elijah did. Oh, these fellas, they wanted
to persecute these men because they didn't receive the Lord
Jesus Christ. What would I do if my children
don't receive the Lord Jesus Christ? My grandchildren don't
receive the Lord Jesus Christ. How am I going to treat them?
We're going to call fire down from heaven on them? We're going to call down fire
from heaven because somebody in our family, our wives, our
husbands, our sons, will listen. They don't want to see the Lord.
Lord, you give me the power and we'll just wipe this outfit out. But look what our Lord Jesus
said. Oh, they'll be consumed even as Elijah did. Let's just
wipe them out. And look what our Lord said.
But he turned. He turned right around and looked
at them, James. He's walking along and they stop
and he turns and looks at them. I can just imagine what a look
he gave them. I bet they just willed it. I
bet they just willed it. And he turned and rebuked them.
And rebuked them. And said, you know not what manner
of spirit you are of. That's not the spirit of Christ.
That's not the spirit of grace. That's not the spirit of mercy.
That's not the spirit of kindness. That's not the spirit of generosity.
That's not the spirit of love. Oh my. Then look what he goes on to
say. For the Son of Man has not come to destroy men's lives. Why don't he have to destroy
them? They're doing a good job of their own. They're destroying
themselves on their own. He don't need to help them. All
he got to do is just leave him alone. Man will destroy himself. He'll destroy himself by sin.
He'll destroy his body. He'll destroy his mind. He'll
destroy everything about him. Destroy his home. Destroy his
children. Oh, he'll destroy. He said, but I didn't come to
destroy men's lives. I didn't come into the world
to condemn the world because the world's already condemned.
I didn't come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. but
to save them. He's not come to destroy. In
fact, he said in John 10.10, I've come that you might have
life and that you might have it more abundantly. Pride. Oh, who's the greatest? Oh, Muhammad Ali, you know, Muhammad
Ali, Cassius Clay. He was the greatest. He said he was the greatest. And for what he did, it's good. But pride and prejudice. Oh, listen. We ain't going to
let them fellas. No, they're not with us and they're
over there. We're going to stop them. Another says, boy, boy, if they
don't want the Lord Jesus Christ, I tell you what we'll do. We'll
just call down fire from heaven. We'll consume them. And none
of those are the Spirit of Christ, not one of them. Oh God, have mercy on me. Have
mercy. Do you loathe your pride? Oh,
I loathe my pride. And I've got plenty of it. All
you do is just upset me, and I'll let you see it. You see
it. Oh, our Father, Gracious God
in heaven, thank you for your word. Thank you for how gracious
and kind and patient you are with us as children of God. Lord,
you rebuke us and you teach us and you instruct us. And you
just will not leave us to ourselves. And pray you never will. You
never left these men to themselves. You instructed them, you taught
them, you rebuked them. You've done what was necessary
to see what they was taught was the Spirit of Christ, the grace
of God, the love of Christ. God, work in us to be that way.
Help us to honor your blessed name, not by being harsh or mean
or cruel or impatient, but, oh Lord, by being kind and generous
and forgiving and loving. and tender and gentle towards
those that are outside of Christ. Lord Jesus, may we pray for them. May we be kind to them because
they don't know what they're doing. And Lord, we do. Please uphold us by your Spirit
for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen. There is a name I
love to hear. I love to sing its word. Earth, it sounds like music in
my ear. The sweetest name on earth. Oh, how I love Jesus. That's the best part of the song
amen see you Sunday guys