I'm sure you've already turned
to Matthew chapter 18. The title of this message, The Little
Ones and the Lost One. The Little Ones and the Lost
One. Our Lord teaches us a great message,
a great lesson here in these few verses, these fourteen verses.
The disciples come to our Lord and they want to know who is
the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Who among us? That's what they want to know.
If you go over in Luke chapter 9, verse 46, they were discussing
among themselves. Which one of us is going to be
the greatest? The disciples, they'd been discussing
this, and then they came to our Lord and talked to Him about
it. Who's going to be the greatest? Who's going to occupy the highest
seat? Who's going to have the biggest
congregation in the kingdom of heaven? Well, first of all, there
is no corporate ladder climbing in the kingdom of heaven. That
doesn't happen there. That only happens here. The lowest
is the greatest there. And secondly, they were still
looking for that earthly kingdom to be set up for the Lord to
set that earthly kingdom up. And they would get to rule over
the Romans. They would get a shot at the
Romans. And you can see an attitude in this. Who's going to be the
greatest in this kingdom? Well, the greatest in the kingdom
of heaven is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the greatest. And yet He
shows true humility by not pointing that out to them. He could have
said, I'm the greatest. I am. But our Lord demonstrates
true humility by not pointing that out. Sometimes, you know,
true humility is when you are or have the power or the control
and you just don't make it known. You don't have to make it known.
And then our Lord does something here so wisely. He calls a little
child to Himself. Probably like one of those two
there. He calls one of those little children to Himself. And
He uses him, him or her, I'm just going to say him, as an
example. And this is very important here.
For without becoming like this little child, He says, you shall
not enter. You shall not enter the kingdom
of heaven. And he takes this child, calls this child over
to him. And he's saying, see this child? See how he came when I called
him? See how he just so obediently came when I called him? You see
how when he came, he came lowly and expecting? You ever call
a child to you and they come over to you and they look you
right in the face, waiting for the next word? Just waiting for
you to say something else. You notice the simplicity of
doing as he was told? Come to me. All the simplicity
in that. He just came. And this child
sought no greatness. Children don't seek. Not children. Little children. A child does
not seek greatness. They don't even know what that
is. You learn that as you grow up.
Then you say, well, which one of us is going to be the greatest
here? Which one of us is going to get the attention here? That's what you learn as you
get older. He said, you see this child, how he sits and waits
for further instructions. Just so attentive to the Lord. He's teachable. It's so sad as
we grow older, we become less teachable, don't we? We really
do, because we know it all. And when you finally know it
all, you can't teach him anything. But this child is teachable. And
he has no ambition. He's not ambitious, you know. He's not after fame and fortune.
He's just listening. He came when the Master called
him. And he came to the Master. And he's looking at him. And
he's waiting for the next instruction. So simply. So simple. And a child believes with the
utmost simplicity. He believes that his father is
the best. He just believes his father is
the best. I don't care if his father is poor and broke and
has nothing. That child, when he's a child,
believes his father is the best. No matter what station in life
he has. He never doubts his father's ability to take care of him.
He believes His Father is the strongest. He believes His Father,
the whole world just revolves around Him. So simple. And this is the way, our Lord
says, you must become. You must become like this little
child. Except you be converted. Regeneration
happens one time. Conversion happens throughout
the whole life. When the Lord told Peter over
in Luke 22, you're going to deny me three times, but when thou
art converted, strengthen your brethren. Was Peter saved? Yes, he was saved. We are regenerated
one time, but conversion is a lifelong process. It's a lifelong process. And so our Lord says, except
you be converted and become as little children and your attitude,
your motives, your obedience, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Let us not be strong in doctrine and weak in character and attitude. I'd rather be stronger in character.
I'd rather be both. But to be strong in doctrine
and to be weak in character and attitude will destroy that very
doctrine you preach. It'll destroy everything you
say. There must be a real change from
our natural birth. There's got to be that new birth.
And there must be a real change from our natural ways, and that's
conversion. That's where conversion takes
place. We must believe God with simplicity of faith. Abraham
believed God. He simply believed God. And that's what we do. With simplicity
of faith, we believe God. Take Him at His Word, obedient
to His command, and genuinely humbled. Who am I? Wouldn't that
have been the better thing to say? Oh, disciples, who am I? David said, who am I? What is
my house? Did they forget what they read when David said that? But all human nature is still
with us. It's still with us. You know the greatest faith?
You want great faith? You know what great faith is?
It's simple faith. It's simple. It's simplicity.
It's just taking God at His Word and trusting Him. But we still
have that old human nature, though, that crops up and gives us trouble. It gives us trouble. If we were
not so thick-headed, our books wouldn't have to be so thick,
would they? Honestly. We wouldn't have to have volumes
and volumes and volumes of books. We have the Word of God in one
book. That's not a thick book. John
Gill has books that thick. I mean, there's volumes of it,
and yet we have this one. And yet we just have the four
Gospels here where our Lord, when He was on this earth speaking,
and His sermons were always short, and His words of wisdom was always
brief. I've learned the longer you have
to talk about it, the more complicated it gets. And usually it's because
you really don't understand what you're talking about. Our Lord says here, Whosoever
humbles himself, That's the greatest. The one who's been humble. The
one who walks in true humility. This is so opposite of the way
men naturally think, isn't it? The kingdom of heaven is totally
opposite of the kingdom of this world. Totally opposite. The
rule of conduct in the kingdom of heaven is true humility. Preferring
others before yourselves. That's the rule of the kingdom
of heaven. No, you go first. No, you take it. No, you can
have it. That's true humility. That's
true humility. That's the rule of the kingdom
of heaven. And to receive one of these little ones. The little
ones. To receive one of them. He said
it's the same as receiving me. To receive one of these little
ones. And I'm telling you this. I don't care how old you are.
If you're one of His, you're a little one. We're children. You know, no matter how old your
children get, they're still what? Your children. And we are His
children. Even though there's babes and
young men and fathers in Christ, we're still children. We're still
His children and need to be taught. Need to be taught by Him. But
to receive, he said, one of these little ones is to receive me.
It's to receive me. It's like receiving me. You cannot
receive one of the Lord's and not receive Him. That's the oneness
of Christ with His little ones, with His children. Christ and His little ones cannot
be separated. And what we do to the one, we
do to the other. That's what he's teaching here.
What you do to these little ones, you do to me. But there's two sides to this
coin. There's two sides to this coin. In the next verse, if you
offend one of these little ones, if you receive one of them, you
bless them, you feed them, you care for them, how you treat
them, he said, is the way you treat me. If you receive one
of them, you have received me. But now, if you offend one of
them, You offend me. I tell you what, if you want
to offend somebody, the quickest way to offend someone is to touch
their kids. You touch their children. You
see how quickly you offend someone. Touch their children. If you
offend one of these little ones, you cause him to stumble or sin
through your misconduct or attitude. That's what he's saying. If you
just mistreat them, or speak roughly to them, or by your own
conduct, indirectly by your conduct out here in the world, in the
workplace, and they're watching you, and you offend them, it
would be better, he said, that a millstone was hanged about
your neck and you were drowned in the depths of the sea, then
deal with me." It would be better that you were drowned in the
depths of the sea than deal with their Lord, deal with their Heavenly
Father. It would be better. We must set
a watch on our tongue and our conduct. Mortify the deeds of
the flesh is what we are to do. And woe to the world because
of offenses. They're going to come. The world
is going to offend his little ones. The world is going to persecute
the little ones. They're going to make fun of
the little ones. Like Ishmael did to Isaac. He's going to offend
them. But he said woe to them. Woe
to them. Because they're going to have
to deal with their father. They're going to deal with an
offended father. And they're going to deal with a father who
has the power to cast both body and soul into hell. Woe to this world. The world
hates God. It hates His little ones. But
woe to the world because of these offenses. I'm telling you, God
Almighty, the Father, takes it Personal. Personal what He's
done to His little ones. He takes it very personal. Just
like you would. Just like you would with your
children. You take it very personal. Someone offends one of your little
ones. And then He says here in verse
8 and 9, but now, now He's going to talk to the disciples. He said, if your foot or your
eye or your hand offends you, if it offends you or if it offends
one of these little ones, still on this subject, if it's an offense,
cut it off. Cut it off. Now that's severe. You know what's more severe than
that? Being cast into eternal damnation. That's more severe.
But he says, cut it off. I could never cut my hand or
my arm off or pluck my eyes out. Well, first of all, he's not
saying to literally take your eyeballs out or cut your arm
off, because that would not stop the problem. Because you have
that old nature. That's the problem. The sin problem
is that old nature. It's not my hand. It's not a
physical bodily member. But what he's saying here, and
he's getting the point across, take care of the offense. If there's something that I'm
doing that's offensive, he says, take care of it. Take care of
it. Even if you count it to be necessary,
if you count it to be necessary to your living or whatever, he
said, no matter how necessary you count it, if it's an offense,
cut it off. Cut it off. There is something
with you personally that is a real problem and hinders your walk
with Christ or hinders someone else's walk with Christ. Stop
it. He says, cut it off. Deal with
it. Deal with it. It doesn't matter
how necessary you may deem it to be. Cut it off. For it's better
to do without the most necessary things and live as it were a
cripple. That's better than hanging on
to it, he says, and perishing. And perishing. You notice here
in verse 8, Wherefore, if thy hand or thy foot offend thee,
cut them off and cast them from thee. For it is better for thee
to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands
or two feet, keeping this offensive thing, whatever it is, to be
cast into everlasting fire. And if thine eye offend thee,
pluck it out and cast it from thee. It is better for thee to
enter into life with one eye rather than having two eyes to
be cast into hell fire." He makes it known here that there is such
a place of torment. Our Lord makes it known here.
This is not just something you try to scare people with. This
is something that's real. This is where people suffer the
unmitigated wrath of God. He says, everlasting fire and
hellfire. That's where they'll be cast. And He doesn't mince any words.
He makes it known this place is real. It's real. Very real. It's better to let
go of these things than to hang on to it and be cast into hellfire. Now take heed. Take heed. Be warned that you despise not
any of these little ones. Their weakness in faith. Their lack of understanding.
These little ones here, they don't understand what the adults
here understand. But we don't despise the little
ones. We don't despise them. Not at all. In fact, we're careful. We're careful with them. You're
even careful with what they watch. You're careful with who teaches
them. You're careful with what they listen to. You're careful
with the friends that they hang around. You're careful with them.
That's why I said, don't you just be careful with these little
ones. You watch over them. Watch over them and take care
of them. Don't be a stumbling block. Don't let your liberty be a stumbling
block to them. He said don't let your liberty
be a stumbling block to them and cause them trouble or else
God's going to cause you trouble. Their father is going to cause
you trouble for they're angels. He's speaking here of the spiritual
children of God. They're angels. Every one of his children have
angels watching over them. No one is more protected than
you are. No one. An angel. Their angels are always
in his presence and ready to do his command. I'm telling you,
here's what he's saying, if you are a cause of offense, God's
going to stick them on you. He'll stick those angels on you.
You don't have to deal with it. For the Son of Man, the Son of
Man has come to save that which is lost. The Son of Man has come
to save the little ones. That's what He's saying. He's
still on the same subject. The Son of Man has come to save
the little ones. That's why He came forth. Who
is this Son of Man? Well, it's the second Adam from
above. It's the Lord from heaven. It's Emmanuel, God with us. That's
who came to save the little ones. The Lord. The God of heaven and
earth. He is the Redeemer of the little
ones. This is the little one's Redeemer.
This is our Redeemer. He's the little one's priest.
He's the little one's sacrifice. He's the little one's mediator.
He's the little one's king. He's the little one's God and
He's come to save them. He said He's come to save the
little ones. And He's come. The long-awaited Messiah has
come. And He's come to save, to recover,
to bring back, to restore, to renew the little ones. The little ones. How's He going
to do it? Well, first of all, He's going
to do it legally. He's going to do it legally. You are legally
going to be saved. He's going to do it legally.
That's why he became the son of man. So he could be a substitute. The law had a rightful claim
on these little ones. He didn't say innocent ones.
You look at little children and say, oh, they're so innocent.
Oh, no, they're not. No, they're not. He didn't come to say the innocent
ones. He came to say the little ones. The little ones. And he couldn't just tell them
to go free. God cannot just say, go free.
No, no. A law has to be taken care of.
Justice has to be satisfied concerning these little ones. These little
ones. And He's going to do it actively.
He's going to become incarnate, bone of our bone and flesh of
our flesh. He's going to work out a righteousness that God
the Father can be pleased with. He's going to go to the cross.
He's going to suffer. He's going to die. He's going
to bear the penalty imposed on the little ones. And He's going
to shed His blood for them. He's going to die for them. He's
going to rise again for them. He's going to be seated at God's
right hand for them, making intercession for the little ones. I pray not
for the world, but for them which thou hast given me. He's going to prepare a place
for the little ones and then He's going to come back for them.
I'll come back for you. How's He going to save them?
It says over in Hebrews 1, by Himself. By Himself. It's not He's going
to do His part and then the little ones are going to do their part.
What part could a little one do? by such low thoughts of God
to think like that. He's going to do it by himself.
The shepherd is going to go after the sheep. Now, the next verse
tells us this. How think ye, if a man have a
hundred sheep, if he has a hundred little ones, because it's the
same subject, and one of them be gone astray, Does he not leave
the ninety and nine and go into the mountains and seek that which
is gone astray? And if so be he find it, verily
I say unto you, he rejoices more of that little one than of the
ninety and nine which went not astray. If ninety and nine are safe,
he's giving us an example here of who's going to save and whom
he's going to save. If 99 are safe and one is lost,
one of the little ones is lost, if one of these little ones were
lost, what do you think the shepherd
is going to do? What do you think the father of that little one
is going to do? Huh? What would you fathers do? Would
he do any less? You think he ought to forget
it? You see here, we read this, it rejoices more of that sheep.
And if you look, sheep is added. It's in italics. They could have
just put in there the little one. If that little one is lost, who's going to go after it? You
think we can just let it go? Well, it's just a sheep. Well,
let's just turn that to a little one. It's a different light,
isn't it? If one of the little ones is
lost. Little ones and sheep are the same thing. Same animal. Same person. You think you ought to let it
go? You think you ought to forget it? Not if that little one is you.
That puts it in a different light, doesn't it? Well, you're that
little one. Don't forget me. Remember me
when you come into your kingdom. He's going to go after that lost
little one until he finds it. Until he finds it and brings
it home. He's going to suffer all that's absolutely necessary
to suffer in order to bring home that little one. Why go through so much trouble
for one little one? Why go through so much trouble
for one little one? If that little one was yours,
would you go through that much trouble? Yes, you would. Well, it's His. The little ones are His. And He shall not fail to bring
every one of those little ones home. Because He says here in
verse 14, it is not the will of your father that any of these
little ones should perish. You're dealing with the Father's
little ones. That's why He says in the beginning, be careful,
don't offend them. They have a Father, a heavenly Father.
And it's not His will that any of them should perish. The Son
of Man came to do the will of the Father. And you better be
in tune with that same will. The will of God will be done
in all things. And if you are a problem, if
anyone is a problem, He'll do away with the problem. He told
Israel, I gave Sheba and Ethiopia for you. Those nations. Now He'll deal with whatever
problem He has to deal with in order to save the little ones.
Take care of the little ones. Just like He would. Only on a
far greater scale. He said it's not the will that
any of the little ones should perish. There's your eternal
security. It's not His will Any of these
little ones should perish. That's eternal security. It's
His will concerning these little ones. It doesn't say it's not
His will for any of the little ones to be lost. It doesn't say
that. It says to perish. You won't
be saved until you're lost. You will not be saved until you're
lost. There's not too many lost people. There are not too many
broken sinners. Not too many. But there are some. There are some. When Adam fell,
was it because God's will was overruled? Was God's will overpowered by
Satan? Absolutely not. God's will was
done even in the fall of Adam. And this is way over my head, as this whole book is. But I know this, I know that
the will of God is done in everything and in every event, even in the
things that I call my stupid mistakes. I've made some stupid
mistakes. That's what I call them. But
His will is done. His will is done. He said, My
counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure. But bless God, it is not His
will that any of these little ones should perish. God therefore had a purpose to
save them before the first little one went astray. And they're
not going to perish. They're not going to perish.
Here's what I want for me and for you. I want to be one of
those little ones. I want to be one of those little
ones. Even though I may slide, fall, or roll down a hill, yet the little one won't perish."
He said, it's not his will. You know, it's not a... I don't want to be a great preacher. It'd be good to preach great.
I mean, I'd like to preach great sermons, but I don't need to
be a great preacher. But I do need to be a little
one. I do want to be a little one. The little ones and the
lost one are the same ones and they shall not perish. That's
eternal security. There's your eternal security.
But our Lord said, except you be converted, become like these
little children. Do not enter the kingdom of heaven
because Christ died for little ones. That's who he died for. Okay, Cecil.