Turn with me to Matthew chapter
18. Let's read these first 14 verses. At the same time came the disciples
unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child
unto him, and set him in the midst of them. and said, Verily I say unto you,
except you be converted and become as little children, you shall
not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever, therefore,
shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest
in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such
little child in my name receiveth me. But whoso shall offend one
of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him
that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were
drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe unto the world because of
offenses. For it must needs be that offences
come, but woe to that man by whom the offence comes. 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 haught 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. Cast it from thee. Better for
thee to enter into life with one eye rather than having two
eyes to be cast into hell fire. Take heed that ye despise not
one of these little ones. For I say unto you that in heaven..."
Now notice that word there. That's not T-H-E-R-E. That's
T-H-E-I-R. They're angels. do always stand
before the face of my Father, which is in heaven. For the Son
of Man has come to save that which was lost. How think ye,
if a man having a hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray,
does he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the
mountains, seeketh that which is gone astray? And so be that
he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more over that
sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. Even
so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven that
one of these little ones should perish." Our Lord calls His elect by many
names. He calls them His sheep, His
people, His bride, His beloved. He calls them by all kinds of
names. But none so often as his children. Over and over and over throughout
the Scriptures, he calls them my children. My children. You know, I listen to fathers
sometimes, and I'm a prime example. They think their children are
really something special. Boy, when you sit and listen
to them, they start talking about their child. And you'd think
this was a superstar or something. What makes that child so special? Because it's their child. Their
child. He said, you're my children. That's what makes you special.
You're his child. It's not your conduct. It's not
what you accomplish. It's not something glorious about
you. You're his child. That's what
makes you special. His children, children of Abraham,
children of the promise, dear children, children of light,
children of the day, little children, over and over. He calls them
His children. Now all those who believe on
Christ were chosen in eternity. Isn't that what it says over
there in the book of Acts? I know a lot of things took place
and a lot of things must take place for conversion in this
world. You are going to have to hear the gospel. God is going
to have to arrange His providence to cross your path with the gospel. You are going to have to acknowledge
the Word of God. You are going to have to hear
what this man preaches. and find that to be the teaching
of this book. There's all kinds of things that
have to take place. But the bottom line is this.
Those Jews despised what Paul preached. They despised it. And he said, OK, seeing you judge
yourselves unworthy of eternal life, he said, I'll turn to the
Gentiles. And so he did. And he preached
the gospel. And you know what it says? As
many as were ordained to eternal life All those who believe on Christ
were chosen in eternity, accepted in the beloved, and predestinated,
it says in Ephesians chapter 1, unto the adoption of children,
children by Jesus Christ to Himself, and all this to the good pleasure
of His will. They are heirs of God and joint
heirs with Christ, and this is a great honor and a great privilege.
Now, these disciples didn't understand anything at all about the spiritual
kingdom of God. They didn't understand anything
at all about the spiritual Jew. They knew nothing whatsoever
about God's grace and God's church extending to all nations, every
tribe, nation, tongue, and people under heaven. They knew nothing
whatsoever about that. They believed that Jesus was
the Christ. They believed that. They believed
that he was the one talked about throughout the Old Testament.
But they thought he came to set up an earthly kingdom. They were
ignorant of so many things. And so they were discussing among
themselves who was going to be greatest in the kingdom of God.
It was a discussion they were plagued with their whole life. As they went along and followed
him, they were constantly being rebuked for that question. And
they debated it over and over. Who's going to be great? Reckon
who's going to be his right-hand man? Oh, the word children denotes
more than just their relationship with God. It tells us something
about their character. and attitude. Children are weak. They're weak. They think they're
strong as Superman, but they're weak. They're weak. And they're
ignorant. And they're unable to care for
themselves. You that have raised children
know that. They demand constant supervision and constant instruction. They demand constant protection. You've got to watch over them.
They're gone in a minute. I'll never forget, I was just
a child, I don't want to get off chasing rabbits, but we had
a big rainstorm and the water come up and a day or two before,
my older brother, he was a good bit older than me, took us back
and he made a raft and he took us a little ride out on the creek
in the raft. Well, meantime, we had this big
storm and the water come up. Then after that, we was out playing
in the yard and running through the puddles and all, and we decided
to go get on the raft. We didn't realize that creek
was up and all that was going on, and we were back there riding
around in that raft. Neither one of us could swim,
just little kids. And meanwhile, my mother had
the whole neighborhood out down there by that swift water and
had the police and the fire department, everybody called out, knew we
were just drowned and gone forever. And here we were back there riding
around on that raft. I'm going to tell you what followed
all of that, but I didn't do that anymore. But my point is
this. They demand your constant protection,
even when they don't fear what they're getting into. even when
they don't realize what it is, the dangers, constant protection. They're weak, they're ignorant,
they're unable to care for themselves, and they demand constant supervision. Matthew 18 declares to us that
all who are converted of the Lord become in character as little
children. Not high and mighty, not debating
who's going to sit at the right hand of God, but the other direction. See, you're already there. They
were already there. They already saw in themselves
some quality, or they wouldn't have been debating among themselves
who was going to sit there. No, it's the other direction.
You've got to come down. You've got to humble yourself
as a little child. Let me give you four things this
morning that the Lord tells us concerning these dear children.
First of all, He tells us in no uncertain terms that all His
children become His children by a new birth. That's how you
become. Isn't that what it says over
in John chapter 1? As many as received Him, to them
gave He power to become the sons of God who were born. who were
born. It's by way of a new birth. He
was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world
knew Him not. But these received Him. They received Him as God set
Him forth. They received Him as they heard
declared in the Gospel. They received Him as He was preached
to them, as the Word of God declares Him. And they believed on Him.
And God gave them the power to become sons of God. Now, the
only way to discern true conversion is by its fruit. And by fruit,
I mean repentance and faith. That's the only way you can discern
true faith. Faith as it's set forth in the
Word of God. Faith as it's described in the
Word of God. And repentance the same way.
Those men came out. There wasn't anybody in that
land who doubted that the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the scribes
and priests who came out to John the Baptist, nobody doubted that
they were children in the kingdom of God except John. What did John tell them? You
go back and bring meat for repentance. John looked at the one fruit
that determines conversion, repentance and faith. That's the fruit. That's the only way to discern
it. Paul told the Colossians that he thanked God for them
and remembered them in prayer often. He said, ever since I
heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what convinced
him that these Colossians were children of God. They believed.
They believed. And those who are truly converted
by the Holy Ghost, they receive the Lord Jesus Christ as God
sets him forth. James said concerning these divine
gifts, they come down from the Father of lights and so on, he
said, of his own will begat he us with the word of truth. That's
how I know you're a child. Peter calls it the incorruptible
seed by which we're born. And what the Lord's teaching
us here in these verses is that by way of this new birth, we've
been called into the fellowship of Christ and His dear children. And His dear children, He'll
teach us here how we ought to treat one another. Anybody here
got any children you don't have to teach? I'll tell you, when they're about
45, you'll still be teaching them. You'll still be teaching
them. He's going to teach us how we ought to treat one another,
how the world is going to treat us and why, and what will be
the consequences of those who offend His children. So here's
the first thing He tells us is that we who are born of God are
children. That's why we were born. We're
children. We're children. And we're His
children. We're weak, dependent children. You know, I know that
Paul tells us over through the Apostle Peter that there's babes
in the church and young men and adults and so on. That's not
what I'm talking about. But I'm saying that in a certain
sense, the whole time we live in this world by faith, we're
children. We're children. Them children
before him were his children. And then secondly, he tells us
that we're to treat all God's children as God's children. Let that sink in for a minute.
I'm not to just treat them any old way I want to. I better treat
them as God's children. I wonder if the Lord were to
appear. I thought about this this morning and added this into
my note. If the Lord were to come by here this morning and
reveal himself to us, and walk through those doors with two
little kids and say, here, I want you to take care of these till
I return. Huh? How differently I'd treat those
two little children than if I just found them by the wayside. I
think I'd treat them a little different, don't you? Might not be so quick to judge
them. Might not be so harsh in my correction. Might not be so set to hold grudges. Huh? Children. They're his children
and they're to be treated as his children. They're to be received
and treated as you would treat him. Oh, I'm telling you how
I want to practice that. I want to practice. I want to
know something about this. I want to know how to be able
to treat his children, how to preach to them, how to comfort
them, how to correct them, and in all of that, how to pray for
them, how to intercede for them. I want to treat them as his children,
his children. I want to be able to see you
and talk to you and think about you and treat you. as God's dear
children. He calls them the apple of His
eye. Now, that's not just a phrase.
He's talking about the pupil of the eye. And He said that's
what it is to Him for you to offend one of His children. It's
like somebody taking a stick and poking it right in the eye.
They're the apple of His eye. They're the object of His love.
They're the recipients of His grace. And I'll tell you this,
sin and ignorance, that's all it is. It's sin and ignorance
that prevents me from being able to fully comprehend even what
it means to be a child of God. Can you? That's why I don't think about
it so often. It's just so far above me to
comprehend what it is to be a child of God, to be an heir of God.
I had a fellow tell me one time, he said, that's the most arrogant
thing I ever heard in my life. He said, you mean to tell me
the creator of the world, he who made all things out of nothing,
you believe that you're his child? Huh? That's what I'm talking
about. I can't comprehend that. Sin
and ignorance keeps me from comprehending. Just a little bit, just a little
bit. and a little bit more as I go
along. But oh, how I want to be able to comprehend that. And
if I could, if I could, I could treat you a lot better. Realize
something about what it means to be a child of God. He is by
eternal love, by divine election, by His sovereign predestination,
by His redemption accomplished in Christ, and by way of that
supernatural birth of His Spirit. John said, it doth not yet appear
what we shall be. He was as ignorant about it as
I am. It don't yet appear what we're going to be. He said, I know this. We'll be
like Him. We'll be like Him. And then he
goes on and he says this, behold, he said, what manner of love
the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the
sons of God. And all of these verses, in light
of that question, who's going to be greatest in the kingdom
of God? And I'll tell you this, there's
only one great one in the kingdom of God. And Paul said in his
day, he's going to show you who that is. He's going to show you
who that is. The one and only potentate King
of kings and Lord of lords. He'll show you in his time. All
the other crowns and glory, cashed down We are all children by the love,
mercy, and grace of God, and we're all to be treated the same. You believe that? We're all to
be treated the same. You think about that. You know,
we want to say, well, for that guy there, he preaches, he gives
up his livelihood, he does this, he does that, he wrote 35 books. Man, he's something. No, he isn't
any different from the guy over here in the weakest in the Kingdom
of God. They are equal. They are equal
in the eyes of the Lord. And then thirdly, it tells us
something here about God's judgment against our enemies. He said,
Woe unto the world because of offenses. If we understood something
of what I just said, something of the grace and mercy of God,
I don't think we'd be so quick to retaliate against our enemies. I think like Stephen, we'd say,
don't lay this at their charge. I understand where they're at
and where they're coming from. Don't lay this to their charge.
And you know the Lord didn't to some of them because the Apostle
Paul was standing there holding a coat. God didn't lay that to
his charge, did he? He said they'd be better off
drowned in the sea with a millstone about their neck than to offend
one of his little ones. And the danger in this, as I
see it, is not so much physical reprisal from God. Now, I do
believe in physical reprisal from God. You know, there was
a bunch of kids, I'm guessing 13, 14 years old, old, rowdy,
rough kids. And was it Elijah or Elisha? One of the others was on his
way up into the mountain. And these kids were running along
behind him making fun of him and said, go you up, you old
bald head, go you up. And the God sent a she-bear out
of the woods and ate them boys up. I believe in physical reprisal. You can see it all around. You
can see it in the hurricanes and in the twisters and in the
diseases. I see it all around. Physical
reprisal. But the big thing is not physical
reprisal. It's spiritual reprisal. Spiritual reprisal. A man comes
and he hears God's child proclaim the gospel. And he just brushes
it off. Or as the scripture said, he
pulls the shoulder. Get your hands off. I don't need
your comments. I don't need your gospel." And
nothing happens. They go home and there ain't
no bears eating them up. There ain't no twisters swallowing
up their house. No. But what happened in the
heart? Huh? That's spiritual revisal. You better be careful. I'm telling
you that, how you hear. Be careful, he said, how you
hear. I see God judging nations and
cities and families and individuals. He said this, listen to this
in Isaiah 43, 15. He said, I am the Lord, your
Holy One, the Creator of Israel. I am your King. Thus saith the
Lord, which maketh a way in the sea and a path in the mighty
waters. He is talking here about that
judgment of Egypt. which bringeth forth the chariot,
and the horse, and the army, and the power, and they'll lie
down together. They'll not rise. They are extinct."
He said, I made them extinct. They are quenched, as told. But oh, this spiritual, this
spiritual judgment. And I tell you, the language
alone in this text is enough seeing cold chills up your back.
Sometimes I wonder if we are not just hardened to the Word
of God to where these things don't even affect us. They don't
even raise a chill bump on us. He is talking here about hell
fire I read to you just a few minutes ago. If you will read
in all of these other texts that deal with this in Mark and in
Luke, you will find out he uses the word everlasting torment,
everlasting punishment. He says, hell fire. And in Mark
chapter 9 he says, and I want you to take note of this, again
that word there, T-H-E-I-R. Now he's talking about those
under the judgment of God. He said, there worm dieth not. Now I read that a hundred times
and I thought what he was saying was, in hell the worm dieth not. That's not what that says. It
said their worm died not. Natural man is called in the
Scriptures a worm. I looked that word up. It means
wiggling maggot. That's what it means. There is
in man a worm of evil that feeds on his corruption. His nature
is that of a worm that feeds on corruption. And in hell, that
worm never dies. It never dies. It just keeps
on and on and on. Spiritual judgment of God is
a fearful matter. In Romans chapter 1, he tells
us three times of God's spiritual judgment against ungodly men.
They changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into a figment
of their wicked imaginations. Wherefore, God also gave them
up to uncleanness through their lusts. He gave them over to their wicked
desires. And then they changed the truth
of God into a lie and worshipped and served the creature more
than the Creator. And for this cause, God gave
them up to vile affections. That's what I see going on in
this country more and more and more. It's just typical now. You can't watch the news for
it. And even as they did not like
to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate
mind. Ever learning, never able to
come to the knowledge of the truth. Searching the scriptures,
never able to come to an understanding of Christ. Profane and vain babblers
striving about words to the subverting of their hearers. And evil men
and spiritual seducers Waxing worse and worse, deceiving and
being deceived. That's spiritual reprobation. That's what that is. There are those that Paul spoke
of, he said, with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them because
they would not receive the love of the truth. They wouldn't have
it. They wouldn't have it. So God gave him what he knew
would appeal to him. And then the fourth thing I believe
we need to see before I quit. He said, except ye be converted
and become as little children, you shall not enter into the
kingdom of heaven. Before we're converted, there
is no fear of God before our eyes. That's something new. That's
something only a believer has. The fear of God. The fear of
God. All my life I confessed a God. Believed in a God. But there
comes a time when God the Holy Spirit calls His children to
know that there is one true and living God. And tells Him who
He is. Tells Him something about His
nature. Tells him something about his
perfections. Tells him something about his
sovereignty. You're just, this world is nothing
more than a heap of grasshoppers. That's what he said in Isaiah.
They're just grasshoppers. He said the nations are but the
drop of a bucket. The old well bucket. You pull
it up, get your water. Nobody tried to sit there and
shake out that last drop, did they? They'd throw it back in
the well. That's how he said the nations are before him. Drop
of the bucket. Just a small dust of the balance. You don't bother to clean it
off because it ain't going to affect the outcome. No fear of God before our eyes. No love of God in our hearts
and no faith toward God, no repentance. towards sin. We must be made
meat, that's what Paul said, meat to be partakers of the inheritance
of the children of life. And this process leaves us with
the character of a child. It's just we don't strive to
be a child. I mean, we do, but it's the natural
process of grace. It's the natural experience of
grace that leaves a man as a little child. He thought he knew it
all, and then God made him realize he didn't know nothing. He didn't
know nothing. I wish I'd have remembered to
bring you a letter that Cindy sent me the other day. She said, I've come to realize
that everything my daddy told me was true. Huh? That's what the believer comes
to realize. He don't know nothing, and his Heavenly Father knows
everything. Brother Mahan used to tell us
that conversion is a change of masters, a change of motives,
a change of manners, and a change of nature. And I believe there's
a very real sense in which all that we do in this life, we're
just like children. We're just like children. And
then last of all, let me show you the security of a loving
Father. In Matthew 18.10 it says, Take
heed that you despise not one of these little ones, for I say
unto you that in heaven their angels do always behold the face
of my Father. Heaven is filled with angels
created for the sole purpose of ministering to those who shall
be heirs of salvation. And they stand before our Heavenly
Father constantly looking, waiting, waiting, waiting to minister,
waiting to take vengeance, waiting to carry a reprisal or a message
or whatever it is. They are constantly waiting to
minister. They're ours as children of God. My friend, God's people are as
secure as one can be made. I always felt secure at home,
didn't you? Always felt secure. I never doubted
there was going to be a meal on the table, or heat in the
house, or water to drink. I never did. I never doubted
anything. I just took it for granted it was going to be there. My friend, God's people are as
secure as one can be made. Heaven's filled with angels created
for no other purpose than to minister to them and protect
them. Paul said this, if God be for us, who's going to be
against you? Huh? If God be for you, who's
going to be against you? He tells us concerning Christ,
he said, who's going to separate you from the love of God? which
is in Christ Jesus, are nothing. Nothing. And then over in Colossians
3, he tells us that we're dead and our life is hid with Christ
in God. I don't know. You can't get no
more secure than that. Somebody asked me one time, they
said, you believe in eternal security? Have you ever asked
that question? That's what the Southern Baptists
believe that we're saved when we talk about sovereign grace.
But he said, you believe in eternal security? I said, if you'll let
me preface that remark by telling you what the gospel is, absolutely,
I believe in it. I believe in it. Somebody asked
Henry one time, said, I hadn't seen him in a long time. He said,
you still saved? He said, is Christ still at the
right hand of God? Then I'm still saved. Lord bless
you.