Good morning, everyone. If you
care to open your Bibles with me to Matthew chapter 18. Matthew
chapter 18. Before we begin, let's bow before
our Lord in prayer. Our Father, we bow before you
this morning with hearts that we trust are truly full of worship,
of adoration, of humility, of thanksgiving. Father, we dare
only come into your thrice holy presence in the person of our
Lord Jesus Christ, pleading his obedience as our only righteousness,
pleading his blood as the only hope we have of being cleansed
from our sins, and how we thank you for your gift, the unspeakable
gift, Christ our Savior. Father, I pray this morning that
his name would be magnified and extolled, that your people would
be enabled by thy spirit to in silent awe and wonder worship,
worship from the heart our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, I beg of
you that you would deliver us from playing games, deliver us
from simply going through the motions of religion. Father,
enable us to hear a word from thee. Father, I beg of you that
you would give me a word from thee and that you would enable
me to preach it clearly, simply, and boldly, and that you give
your people near faith to hear, believe, and rest in our Lord
Jesus Christ. Father, for those who are in
times of great difficulty, sickness, and sorrow, and heartbroken,
there's so many, Right now, we pray you'd meet every need richly
according to your mercy and grace, your wisdom and goodness for
your people. Father, bless us. Bless us as we look into your
word, we pray. For it's in Christ's name, for his glory, we pray.
Amen. I've titled our lesson this morning,
What Is It To Be Converted? Matthew 18, verse three. Our
Savior says, Verily I say unto you, except you be converted,
and become as little children. You shall not enter into the
kingdom of heaven except you be converted. Well, what is it
to be converted? What is it? It sounds important
that we must be converted. He says you shall not enter in
the kingdom of heaven without it. Well, what is it to be converted? Number one, let me tell you,
be like John Gill and tell you what conversion is not. Gill,
if you read his commentaries, always starts out telling you
what it's not. Here's what conversion is not. Conversion is not regeneration. Regeneration is the birth of
a new nature that's born of God in the heart of a believer. That's
regeneration. Now we know that if you would
be saved, if we would be saved, we must be born again. That's
what the Lord told Nicodemus, isn't he? We must be born again
with a new nature that God will accept. We must be born with
a new nature that believes God, that loves God, that trusts God.
We must be born with a holy, righteous nature. Well, no way
sinners like you and me are ever going to be righteous. The only
way sinners like you and me will ever be holy is if God the Holy
Spirit causes a new nature, a righteous, holy nature to be born in us,
because this is certain we can't make ourselves holy. This flesh
will never be holy and righteous. So conversion is not regeneration. Now, but here's the thing. We
must be regenerated before we can be converted. The word converted
our Lord uses here means a turning. It means a changed mind. Believers
have to change our minds about a lot of things. You know why? Because we're so often wrong.
We have to change our minds about a lot of things. Believers have
to be turned away from self. We've got to be turned away from
the flesh because this flesh keeps trying to get us to look
in the wrong places. This flesh keeps trying to get us to trust
in the wrong things. We've got to have a change, a
turning and turn to quit trusting in the things of this flesh and
trust Christ. Conversion, is a continual thing. It's not a once-for-all thing.
It's a continual thing. Regeneration is a once-for-all
thing. Regeneration is a one-time event. If you're born of God,
you only need to be born once, right? God did it right the first
time. But conversion is a continual thing. It's like repentance.
It's a continual thing. It's continually turning to Christ. It's continually coming to Christ.
Coming to Christ away from ourselves and coming to Christ. Conversion
is a continual changing of our mind. The flesh is just constantly
wrong. It's a continual changing of
our minds and a continual stopping, quitting of trusting in our own
works and turning to trust Christ. Number two, conversion is necessary. It's necessary for salvation.
Our Lord said, except you be converted and become as little
children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. Now, I'll
reference our Lord's conversation with Nicodemus again. Remember,
our Lord told Nicodemus, nobody can enter the kingdom of heaven
except they be born again. Well, here the Lord says the
same thing about conversion. You can't enter the kingdom of
heaven except you be converted. Now, regeneration and conversion
are two separate things, but they're both necessary to salvation.
See, the evidence we've been regenerated is we're converted. The only person who can change
their mind is a person that God the Holy Spirit has given them
a new mind in the new birth. That's the only person that can
change their mind. The only person who can turn away from the flesh
and turn to Christ is a person who's been regenerated and been
given a nature of faith in the new birth. The only person who
can do that, turn like that, is a person who's already been
born again. And this turning, this change
of mind is an inward thing. It's in the heart. It's in the
heart. That's the result of the new birth. Conversion is not
an outward thing. It's an inward thing that happens
because we've been born again. And this conversion, this turning,
this constantly, constantly turning away from the flesh and turning
to Christ is as necessary for salvation as the election of
the father and the death of the son. It's just that you can't
enter heaven unless God chose you, can you? Can't enter heaven
unless Christ died for you. Well, Savior says here, You can't
enter the kingdom of heaven except you be converted. That makes
this topic of conversion a very important topic. Conversion is necessary for salvation. And that makes my third point
very important. Conversion is an act of God. It's an act that
God does in his children, not something God's children do for
themselves. Notice the way the Lord says it here, except you
be converted. He doesn't say unless you convert
yourself. He didn't say unless you straighten up and start flying
right. He didn't say except you change
your mind and start thinking things that are true. He says
except you be converted. Unless you be converted by the
power and by the will of somebody else. And that somebody else
is called the Holy Spirit who works in the hearts of his people
to convert them, to turn them, to constantly turn them to Christ.
Now that has to be the work of God, doesn't it? He has to be
the one to convert us. He has to be the one to turn
us because surely we know this by now. We know it from scripture.
We know it from our own experience. We're dead in sins and dead people
can't do anything. Dead people can't do anything
but stink. We can't do anything for ourselves. We can't turn
ourselves. We can't do anything for ourselves. God must be the
one to turn us and he does that for his people. Let me show you
that in scripture. Look first at Jeremiah chapter
31. This work of conversion is the
work of God that God does in his people. Jeremiah 31 verse 18. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning
himself thus. Thou hast chastised me. And I
was chastised as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. Turn thou me, and
I shall be turned. If you turn me, I'll be turned,
for thou art the Lord my God. Surely, after that I was turned,
after you turned me, I repented. And after that I was instructed,
I smote upon my thigh. I was ashamed, even confounded,
because I did bear the reproach of my youth. Is he free of my
dear son? Is he a pleasant child? For since
I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still. Therefore
my vows are troubled for him. I will surely have mercy upon
him, saith the Lord. He said Ephraim here is my child,
my pleasant child, the child of my love. Surely I'm going
to have mercy on him. Surely I'm going to remember
him and I'm going to turn him. And Jeremiah says here, when
we're turned, that's when we're going to repent. That's what
we're going to see. Oh, this is how awful I am. That's what
we're going to, we're going to, um, hate our sin and trust Christ. He says, if you turn me Lord,
I'll be turned. Now look at Lamentations chapter
five. Lamentations chapter five. Verse 20. Wherefore dost thou forget us
forever? and forsake us so long time. Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord,
and we shall be turned. Lord, if you turn us, we'll be
turned. If the Lord converts us, we'll
be turned to Christ, won't we? Now look back at Psalm 80. Three
times in one psalm, David deals with this matter of conversion.
Psalm 80. Verse three. Turn us again, O God, and cause
thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. Verse seven. Turn us
again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine, and we shall
be saved. Verse 19. Turn us again, O Lord,
God of hosts, cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. Here's how we'll be saved. because
the Lord saved us, because the Lord converted us. If he turns
us, we'll be saved, won't we? So conversion is a supernatural
act of God. God does in the hearts of his
children. And how does God do that? How does God, how does
he take his children and convert them, turn them, change their
mind toward Christ? How does he do that? It's by
the teaching of his word. Look at Psalm 19. Psalm 19. Verse 7. The law of the Lord
is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is
sure, making wise the simple. It's the word, the law of the
Lord, the word of the Lord that converts the soul. Now, Would
you be converted? Would you have your mind changed
from error to truth? Would you have your attitude
changed from wrong to right? Would you be converted? Well,
I'll tell you what to do. Avail yourself to the teaching
of God's word. Because God's word is how he
converts his children and teaches them the truth. And many of us
here know that, we know it from God's word, we believe it, God's
word says it, but you also know it from your own experience,
don't you? How often Have you come here to the service and
in your mental wagon you got the axle's broken and one wheel's
dragging? How often have you done that,
huh? How often have you come to the service feeling like you
just got one or two square wheels on your mental wagon? Your wagon's
just broke, isn't it? But you leave that service feeling
like all four wheels are round and well-oiled and well-aligned.
Your wagon's been fixed. How'd that happen? Where'd it
go? hearing the word of God. That's
how it happened. The word of God is the children's bread,
and the word of God is the children's teacher. And what does it teach
us? It teaches us Christ. And it
will be taught Christ, our heart will naturally be turned to him.
But now remember, this change, this turning, this matter of
converting is not a one-time act. Conversion is a continual
thing. I mean, how often do we think,
I've learned this lesson before, Why I gotta learn it again? Because
conversion is a continual need. And it happened. God uses his
word to do it. That's why we meet three times
a week instead of once a year. It's a continual need that we
have. All right, here's the fourth thing. How can I tell if I've
been converted? Now this is a very important
subject. Unless I'm converted, can't enter the kingdom of heaven.
I want to know if I've been converted. What's the evidence that I've
been converted? I'm going to give you several examples of
conversion in action. First, the Lord says, those who
are converted become as little children. He says in verse three,
except you be converted and become as little children, you should
not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Now the Lord tells us
become as little children. He doesn't mean become little
children in knowledge, which is ignorant and don't know anything.
Absolutely not. No, we must grow in grace. knowledge. We must know whom we have believed. So the Lord doesn't mean become
ignorant and excuse your ignorance. The Lord doesn't mean become
an immature brat. God's children should behave
themselves as well taught children of our fathers. This is what
the Lord means, that we should have the attitude of a child,
the attitude of a very small child. I'll give you several
things about children. I'm talking about small children
now. I know children learn to be brats, and they learn to be
selfish, and they learn behavior. I'm talking about just a very
small, very small child. They're not full of pride. A
little child is small, and they know it. They're small, and they
know they need help. They know they need help from
their parents. They know they need help from others. And they're
just not ashamed about it. They're just not. I'll use Lynn
as an example. Jim's up in the nursery with
her just last month. And Lynn's small, and she knows
it. And she came up to Jan, just
put her hands on her knees, and she wanted picked up. She needed
help, she wanted picked up, she wanted loved on, and she wasn't
ashamed to ask for it. I'm little, you're big, help
me. That's the attitude of a small child. That's the way we must
be. Small and know it, and not ashamed
to beg for mercy. See, small children are not full
of pride, and that is the very issue that caused the Lord to
teach this lesson on conversion. Look back up at verse one, Matthew
18. Oh my. At the same time, came the
disciples unto Jesus saying, who is the greatest in the kingdom
of heaven? My soul. Can you imagine? I mean, can
you just imagine the pride of these men? Isaac, they're looking
at the Lord of glory. They know he's the Lord of glory.
Peter said so, we know it. They're looking at the Lord of
glory and they said, which of us is going to be the greatest?
Oh my goodness. Oh, the Lord's patience with
his children. He knows we need to be converted,
doesn't he? They asked this question because they thought they were,
they were so full of pride. They thought they were worthy
to be the greatest. Nobody had asked who's going
to be the greatest unless they think they're worthy to be the greatest.
And the Lord teaches them and he teaches us, except you be
converted. You're not going to enter the
kingdom of heaven. You've got to be humbled. You've got to be humbled.
And I tell you what, a believer is converted. In this sense,
a believer is humbled. I know it's not a once for all
thing. It's a continual thing. We're humbled, aren't we? So
that I know, I know I'm not the greatest. I know, I know I'm
not even worthy to be the doorkeeper in God's house. And if I'm converted,
I'll think of myself as less than the least of all the saints.
I'll think of myself as least. I'll think of others better than
myself. And if I want to be the greatest
in something, this is where I know I can be the greatest of sinners,
the chief of sinners. That's being converted. The prodigal
son, he was converted, wasn't he? You know when he was converted?
When he realized I'm not worthy to be called son of my father.
I'm not even worthy to be his servant, but maybe he'll let
me be one. I'm not going to go back and ask to be a son. I'm
going to go back and ask to be a servant. That's being converted. See, greatness in God's kingdom
is measured in humility. It's by being humble. It's not
about being the big boss of everyone and everything. We're the greatest
when we know, truly know, we're nothing. That's when we're the
greatest and we know we're nothing and Christ is everything that's
being converted. Number two, small children are
teachable. A small child doesn't know anything
and he knows it. Small children are fascinated
to learn things about the world around them. Last week we were
at Jan's mother's for her birthday and all the family was there
and I was with our nieces' children, five and three. I can't even
remember what I told him. I told him something, you know,
about something. It was true. Unlike the normal
things I tell him that are jokes, this was a true thing. And they
looked at me, really? They're just fascinated to learn
something new. Babies are fascinated to learn.
They got fingers. Where do those things come from?
You know, they're fascinated. They don't know anything and
they know it. Well, here are the disciples.
are in complete ignorance, asking the Lord who's going to be greatest
in the kingdom. They're still thinking about
an earthly kingdom. They're trying to carve out their spot, you
know, in the council, you know, or the cabinet of the Lord, you
know, in this earthly kingdom. They're not thinking about a
spiritual kingdom. Let's think about a spiritual kingdom. They
still don't know that all the glory belongs to the Son of God.
It all belongs to him. and they need to be taught. Our
Lord taught them and they learned, didn't they? They learned. Let's
be patient with one another. Be patient with ourselves. Be
patient with our brethren. If they're God's children, they'll
learn. They'll learn. God will teach them. And I'll
tell you how to tell if we've been converted. We'll be teachable. We'll be teachable. And if God
will make us teachable, I'll tell you what God's children
are going to learn. They're going to learn Christ. That's what
they're going to learn. Number three, children are obedient.
Verse two, Jesus called a little child unto him and set him in
the midst of them. Now the Lord called this little
child, it was probably a toddler, and that child, that toddler,
came to the Lord. The Lord said, come here, man.
And he came. Children are obedient. Well,
when you and I are converted, we will become obedient. We'll
become obedient to our Father, we'll become obedient to his
will, we'll become obedient to his word. Whatever it was that
we used to think before, whatever it is I'm thinking right now,
if it's wrong, my mind's going to be changed when I see it in
the Word of God. It'll be changed. I'll just believe
it. We're obedient to the Word, obedient to believe God. This is the commandment of God,
that you believe on His Son. Now believe Him. You know who
will believe Him? God's children. He's going to
make them obedient. Fourthly, small children are
dependent. They don't own anything. They can't do anything for themselves.
They're naked and they need somebody else to buy them clothes. They
need somebody else to put clothes on. They can't even clothe themselves.
They can't even put their own clothes on. They know it. They need somebody
else to help them. When they're hungry, somebody else has got
to buy them food. Somebody else has got to fix
them food. They're too little to get up there on the counter
and operate the stove. It'd be a bad thing if they did,
wouldn't it? It wouldn't be safe. They need, they're dependent.
They need somebody else to do these things for them. Well,
I'll tell you when we've been converted. We find ourselves
completely and utterly dependent on the Lord Jesus Christ. He
has to be everything the Father requires of me, that I can't
produce anything, not one blessing thing. I'm completely dependent
on Him. That's when I've been converted.
God's children are converted and know this, I don't have any
good works. I don't have any obedience. I
don't have any goodness about myself that I can bring to God.
So I'm totally dependent on Christ. That's being converted. Then
fifth, small children are not offensive. I know sometimes they're
selfish and they want to play with the toy I'm playing with
and the toy this child is playing with too, I know. But generally
speaking, small children are not offensive and they like to
play with other children. They like it when somebody their
size shows up. Well, as the children of God,
you and I need to be very, very careful about this. We need to
be very careful not to offend one of God's little ones. Because
when we do, when we offend one of God's little ones, in that
so much that you've done to the least of these, my brethren,
the Lord said, you've done it to me. When we offend one of
God's little ones, we've offended God Almighty. I mean, you think
about that. Of all the titles that God uses, that are especially
in the gospels, our Lord uses When he talks about his elect,
the word child, children and little ones, that's the most
common word, descriptor he uses to describe a believer, my children,
my little ones. Now you and I love our children.
We love our little ones, don't we? I mean, we just do anything
in this world to protect them, our little ones. We have no idea the infinite
perfect love of the father for his little ones, for his children. He chose them in electing them. He chose them. He brought them
into his family on purpose in adopting love. He begat them
in regenerating love. He redeemed them because he loved
them. He redeemed them by the blood
of his only begotten son. The only reason in this world
he'd do that is he loves He loves them enough to die for them,
to pay for their sin debt. He loves them. He gave them life
by his Holy Spirit that he sent to dwell in them, because he
loves them. The God of heaven and earth loves
his children, and you and I better be careful not to offend them.
Look at verse six. But whoso shall offend one of
these little ones, which believe in me, it were better for him
that a millstone were hanging about his neck, and that he were
drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe unto the world because
of offenses. For it, it must be, 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, cast them from thee. It's 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's 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 there are angels to always behold the face of
my father, which is in heaven. Here's what the Lord's teaching
us. He's not teaching us to mutilate your body. Don't anybody go home
today, pluck out your eye or cut off a hand or a foot. That's
not what the Lord's teaching here. This is what he's teaching. If you have something, I mean,
even if it's dear to you, even if it's dear to you, maybe your
own glory, maybe your own recognition, something like whatever it is,
something that's dear to you, and by you doing it, it offends
one of God's little ones, cut it out. Cut it off and throw
it away. Whatever, I know it's dear to
you, but whatever it is, trust me, it's not worth it. It's not
worth it if by doing it, you offend one of God's little ones.
You're far better off getting rid of something indifferent
than hurting a child of God. Here's the last thing. Look at
Luke chapter 22. Luke chapter 22. If we're converted, we're going
to be a whole lot more interested in serving others than bossing
them. Luke chapter 22, verse 24. Here the same issue has come
up again. And there was also a strife among them, which of
them should be accounted the greatest? And he said unto them,
the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and they
that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors,
but ye shall not be so. This spiritual kingdom is not
run the way of sinful earthly fleshly kingdom, is run, you
should not be so. But he that is greatest among
you, let him be as the younger. And he that is chief, as he that
doth serve. For weather is greater, he that
sitteth at me, or he that serveth. It is not he that sitteth at
me, but I am among you, as he that serveth. Think of that.
The prince of glory came to serve, didn't he? Ye are they which
have continued with me in my temptations, and I appoint unto
you a kingdom, as my father hath appointed unto me, that ye may
eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on the thrones,
judging the 12 tribes of Israel. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon,
behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you
as wheat. But I prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not. And
when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. Strengthen thy
brethren. And he said unto him, Lord, I'm
ready to go with thee both into prison and to death. And he said,
I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day before
thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me. This is what the
Lord's telling Peter. Peter, when you're converted,
you're gonna have to drop this matter of pride. This matter
of pride of thinking you're the greatest, this matter of pride
thinking you're the greatest among these other 12 that you'll
go with me to death and to the grave. Peter, you don't know
how weak you are. When you're converted, you're
going to drop this matter of pride. And then when you do, here's
what you do. Start serving your brethren.
Strengthen your brethren by serving them. Not by bossing them. Not by lording your faith over
them. Oh, I'm more willing to die for the Lord than you are.
I'm more willing to go to prison for the Lord than you are. I'm
closer to Him than you are. Not by lording those things over
them. but by serving them. Peter, serve them by pointing
them to Christ. Peter, serve them by telling
them about our great need. Peter, serve your brethren. They're
hurting, they're low. Serve them by telling them, I
understand. I'm nothing to you. And the only thing we have That's
your only hope. Serve them like that. Serve them.
Serve them in whatever way you can. If it's physically, serve
them. After service this afternoon,
we're going to have lunch. Aren't you glad the ladies are
so happy to serve and cook food and bring it all in here? That's
wonderful. Do that. Whatever way it is that God's
given you to serve his people, do it. Serve them. Don't look for the credit. Just
serve them. That's being converted. All right.
I want to bless that too.