About 25 years ago, I was led
to write some commentaries on the 21 epistles of the New Testament
and also upon Old Testament pictures of Christ.
Brother Bill Clark and Evangelical Press printed these commentaries. in the Old Testament studies. Brother Don Fortner has taken
upon himself to reprint those commentaries and reprint those
studies in the Old Testament Scripture. He has secured the copyright
from Evangelical Press and he and the church here sponsoring
this effort. And we talked about it a little
bit, and he asked me about the foreword. I said, you write it.
He asked me tonight about the size of type, and I said, you
pick it. He said, how many volumes do
you want it in, one or two? I said, that's for you to decide.
You know why? Paul said this about Timothy. He said, I trust in the Lord
to send Timothy shortly to you, that I may be of good comfort
when I know your state, for I have no man. There's a whole lot of
preachers in that place too. He said, no man. I have no man
like-minded who will naturally care for your state. And that's
the way I feel about that man right there. We are so close
in the Word, in the things of God, in the preaching of the
Gospel, in the writing of books. He's just my dear, dear friend. I'm grateful and that's the way
I feel about you. I have no man, I can't say that
about every preacher like mine, but this man loves Christ, knows
Christ, preaches Christ, honors Christ, and brings glory to Christ. And I'm grateful for him. And
his sidekick. Like mine, you can't do without.
I said to her today, driving down here, I said, I don't know
what I'd do without you. Please hang around. Open your
Bibles to the book of Matthew. The book of Matthew chapter 18.
The book of Matthew chapter 18. At the same time came the disciples
unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom
of heaven? And the Lord Jesus called a little
child unto him, and set him in the midst of these brethren. And he 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." Every time I stand up to preach
and begin a meeting somewhere, I always read Spurgeon's letter
to his granddaddy. And I'd like to read it to you
tonight in reference to this message. Spurgeon was called
by many the Prince of Preachers. But he wrote, for many years
my own preaching was exceedingly painful to me. because of the
fear and trembling which beset me before entering the pulpit.
Often the dread of facing a congregation has been to me overwhelming.
So I wrote to my dear grandfather, who was a minister of God for
many years, and I told him of my overwhelming mental emotions,
sickness of body, Trembling fears which gripped my heart when I
stood to preach the Word of God. And the old man wrote back. He
said, my son, I have been preaching the Gospel
of Jesus Christ for 60 years, and I still feel the same trembling
fears that you feel. Be content. to have it so. For when these emotions go away,
your strength will be gone too. When you are able, when you are
able to preach the gospel and think nothing of it, when you're
able to teach the Word of God and think nothing of it, the
people will think nothing of it either. And God will do nothing
with it. Paul said to the Corinthians,
I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.
Why? That your faith should not stand
in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. That's our
total dependence, mine and yours, in this hour. This question here,
Matthew 18, verse 1, who is the greatest
in the kingdom of heaven? You know, this is not the only
time that these disciples discuss this. And that's this question. I won't ask you to turn to it,
I'll just quote it. In Mark, when our Lord came to
Capernaum, He asked His disciples, What is it that you were disputing
among yourselves when I came by?" He knew what they were discussing. But he asked them, what was it
you fellows were talking about when I came by? And they wouldn't
answer him. They would not reply. Why? Because
they had been discussing and disputing between themselves
about which one of them would be the greatest in the kingdom. Why do you suppose? Why do you
suppose that these men who live with Christ, who walk with the
Master, why would they entertain such thoughts so foreign to Christ,
so foreign to His teachings, so foreign to His Kingdom? They love Christ. I know they
love Christ. Peter said, we know who you are,
you're the son of God. He asked him one day, will you
go away? And Peter said, to whom? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. They believed God. They loved Christ. They trusted
Christ. Why would they be disputing over
who's the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? I'll tell you why.
Here's the reason. We find these same thoughts in
ourselves. Pride. What is this but pride? Our pride actually feels ourselves
worthy of such glory and acclaim and honor. Covetousness. Covetousness desires recognition. Covetousness desires rank and
riches. Self-righteousness. We feel that
we should be rewarded or recognize for all the things that we've
done and given up for the Kingdom of God. You know, Peter said
that same thing. He said one day, he said, Lord,
we have left everything and followed You. What shall we have there
for? How are You going to repay us?
And then envy. Envy and jealousy is such a terrible
thing. There was strife among these
men, among these men, which of them should be accounted the
greatest in the kingdom of God. But preacher, are these sinful
thoughts and traits found among grace people? Are these things
found among the people who love the gospel of God's grace, who
are truly children of God? No question about that. They're
truly children of God. They love Christ. They believe
Christ. They rest in Christ. Of course, these thoughts are
there, especially in the younger years. Especially in the younger
years. And these disciples were young,
young, young in the faith. And that's when these things
really crop up, especially in the younger years. But my friends,
It remains a conflict all our years. You know, Paul called it growing
up. Let's turn to the book of Ephesians.
That's exactly what Paul called this thing of conversion. You know, salvation is instantaneous. The Lord Jesus Christ said to
the thief, today you'll be with me in paradise. It's saved right
now. Believeth on the Son of God,
hath everlasting life. Salvation is instantaneous. But
let me tell you this, growth takes a lifetime. I'm still trying
to grow. Oh, I tell you, conversion takes
a lifetime, doesn't it? It sure does. Salvation is instantaneous. Listen to Ephesians chapter 4. Listen to this. Ephesians 4 verse
11. And the Lord gave some apostles
and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers.
Why? For the perfecting, for the growth
of the saints, for the work of the ministry. for the edifying
of the body of Christ, the people of God, till all of us come in
the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto
a mature man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness
of Christ, that we be henceforth no more children tossed to and
fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight
of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive,
but speaking the truth in love, that we may grow up into Him
in all things, which is our Head, the Lord Jesus Christ." I want
to grow up. Peter called it growing in grace. Growing in grace and the knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter recommended that we study
the scriptures that we might grow thereby. Actually, you know what? This
growing up is not growing up at all. It's growing down. That's the way believers grow.
They don't grow up, they grow down. I think about old Nate
Naaman, when Naaman wanted to be healed of leprosy. And he
went to the king of that other country, you know. God told him,
the girl told him to go to the prophet. He went to the king.
He went to the wrong place. And then when he finally went
to the right place, to the prophet, he went with the wrong attitude.
And then when he got to the prophet's house, he had the wrong thoughts. He said, I thought he'd do this,
that, and the other. And one of his men said to him, said,
Master said, if the prophet had told you some hard thing, would
you not have done it? Dip seven times in the River
Jordan. You'll be clean. So the scripture
said, and Naaman went down. He finally went. He went down
and he met the Lord. And he was humbled by that. So this thing of growing up is
growing down. Ebenezer Erskine wrote this.
What is the first gospel lesson our Lord teaches his people?
What's the first gospel lesson? that the Lord teaches His people.
It's just this. If any man will be my disciple,
let him deny himself. That's the first thing. If any
man would be my disciple, let him deny himself and let him
renounce his wisdom, his righteousness, his holiness, his works, and
everything pertaining to salvation. his ground of hope and be content
to lie down at the feet of sovereign mercy as a wretched, poor, blind,
naked sinner to receive all that pertains to God and life and
truth and grace in Jesus Christ because pride is the enemy of
grace. Pride is the chief expression
of sin. And pride is an abomination to
God. Who asked this question? Look
at verse 1. At the same time came His disciples. His disciples. Who are we talking about? Peter,
the big fisherman. The fellow that always had something
to say. James and John. Sons of Zebedee. Somebody called them the Sons
of Thunder. One time they wanted to call
down fire from heaven on a bunch of people. Here's Matthew, the
prominent tax collector. Here's Andrew, a personal friend
of John the Baptist. Here's Nathanael, in whom there
was no guile. Here's Luke, the beloved physician. What an array of prominent, prominent
men. And they were prominent. I'm
not taking one thing away from these men. Not a bit in this
world. The Lord chose these men. They're
His men. They're His disciples. They're
His friends. They were indeed. He chose them. But they must learn just like
we have to learn. They have to learn in heart and
soul this lesson. Turn with me to Mark 10. They have to learn this lesson. Sometimes it's hard to learn,
but it's got to be learned. Matthew 10, verse 42. Listen to this. Matthew 10, verse
42. Jesus called them to Him and
said to them, You know that they which are accounted to rule over
the Gentiles. They exercised lordship over
them. And their great ones exercised
authority over them. But it shall not be among you. For whosoever will be great among
you, let him be your minister. And whosoever of you will be
the cheapest Let him be the servant. What is true greatness? It's
not to sit, it's to serve. What is true greatness? It's
not to have servants, it's to be one. What is true greatness? It's not to be ministered unto,
but it's to minister. Our Lord said that. Not to be ministered unto, but
to minister and give my life a ransom for many. True greatness
is to praise, not to be praised. Humble yourselves, therefore,
unto the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in His
own time. Our greatest enemy, Spurgeon,
said one time, It's not our sinful self at all. It's our righteous
self. It's our righteous self. I ran
into some Scripture about this right here. Turn with me to Psalm
29. Let me look at this here just
a few moments. See if I can make good on this. In Psalm 29, Let's listen to this. Psalm 29,
verse 4 and 5. This is verse 3, 4 and 5. Psalm 29, 3. The voice of the Lord is upon
the waters. The God of glory thundereth. The Lord is upon many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful. Powerful. Great and powerful.
The voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The voice of the
Lord breaketh the cedars. What cedars? Big cedars. Yea, the voice of the Lord breaketh
the cedars. Yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars
of Lebanon. No cedars like that anywhere
but back in Lebanon. Have you seen what lightning
can do to a tree? I have. What lightning can do
to a tree. And one of the old writers wrote
about this right here. These proud cedars of Lebanon. How the voice of the Lord destroys
them. Listen. Black. Black from God's
lightning stroke from above. That smoldering cedar stands. Black. A sad, pitiful, shattered
trunk. Broken. under His mighty hand. What am I saying? I'm saying
all the mighty trees will either bend beneath His mighty power
or they'll be broken under His power. All the mighty men and
the trees, even the cedars of Lebanon, they will be either
bent under His will, under His power, or they'll be destroyed.
And he may send his lightning and strike them, and then allow
them to stand there a while. Allow them to stand there a while
stripped of their beauty, blackened by his power, and just let them
stand there as a sad memento of his power, like Pharaoh of
old. When the Lord said, I raised
you up to show my power. I don't want that. I want Him
to bend me and break me and do what He will. He doesn't mind.
Just do what you will. Just do what you will. But don't
break me. Don't destroy me. Don't let me
stand there as a shattered old tree that the Lord has refused. Let me show you another scripture
about that. Isaiah 2. They'll either bend under the
power of God or they'll be broken. This is what that says right
here. You've got to turn to this now
and listen to it. Isaiah 2, verse 10. Let's listen
to this. Isaiah 2, verse 10. Let's look
at it together. Enter into the rock. Hide thee
in the dust for fear of the Lord. for the glory of His majesty.
The lofty looks of man must be humble, and it shall be. The haughtiness of men shall
be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.
For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon everyone that is
proud and lofty, and upon everyone that is lifted up He shall bring
them down. Back to my text. Matthew 18. At the same time, at the same
time, the disciples came to Jesus saying, who's the greatest in
the kingdom of heaven? And the Lord Jesus called a little
child unto Him. It wasn't a baby, it was a young
child that walked up to Him. And He set them right in the
middle of those men. And He said, verily I say unto
you, except you be converted, except you be changed in your
attitude, in your spirit, in your ways. You don't have to
be concerned about who's going to be the greatest. You've got
to be concerned about the fact that you don't even be that. Except you be converted and become
as a little child, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this child, the same
is greatest in the kingdom of God." What's a little child like? Listen to this. I picked this
up somewhere. Except you be converted, your
attitude, spirit changed, and become as a little child, What's
a little child like? Well, a child wears the name
and reputation of his father. That's what I'd like to have,
the name and reputation of my father. A little child is dependent
totally upon his parents, father and mother. A little child lives
where his father pleases and obeys him. A little child has
no position and no power over other children. He's just a child,
like all the rest of them. A little child is a learner.
He's a listener. A little child has no possessions
to fall. Because he realizes that a man
can receive nothing except it be given him. from above. He's
got nothing to boast about. And a little child is content
with what his father provides. That's true, isn't it? I know
that's true. All right. Here's the last thing. Boston. One of the first books
I picked up and read when I heard the Gospel in 1950 Fifty-seven
years ago, I read Thomas Boston's Fourfold State. I'm sure you've
seen that and read it too. It was such a blessing to me.
And in this book, he had a sermon with three points. True conversion, that's what
he called it, true conversion. And first he said this, in true
conversion, the mind is enlightened. That is, we grow in grace and
in the knowledge of Christ. We know that the Son of God has
come and has given us an understanding that we know Him, that we may
know Him as true, and we're in Him. That is true. Even in His
Son. This is a true God. This is eternal
life. The mind is enlightened in the
knowledge of Christ. Christ said, take my yoke upon
you. and learn of Me, and you'll find rest in your souls." The mind is also enlightened
in the knowledge of myself. Who makes the feet of different?
What do you have that you did not receive? If you received
it from the Lord, why do you boast as if you didn't receive
it? So we learn something about ourselves. That I am what I am
by the grace of God, not by my own choice and will. And then
we grow in the knowledge of the world. Our minds grow in the
enlightenment of our minds and of ourselves and of this world. Turn with me to Matthew 6. Listen
to this in Matthew 6. Verse 31. In true conversion, there's a
growth in the mind about Christ and about myself and about the
world. Matthew 6, verse 31. Therefore, take no thought, no
anxious thought, saying, well, what are we going to eat? What
are we going to drink? Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
After these things, for after these things, all these things
do the Gentiles seek. Your Father knows what you have
need of, that you have need of these things. Seek ye first the
Kingdom of God and His righteousness. These things have been added
to you. That's growth in mind about Christ, about myself, and
about these things. And then not only, Mr. Boston
said, in conversion there's a change in the mind, there's a change
in the will. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of your power. Turn with me to Ephesians 2.
And you can quote this, every one of you can, in Ephesians
chapter 2, verse 8. Listen to this. Ephesians 2,
8. or by grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. Not of
works, lest any man should boast with his workmanship, creating
Christ Jesus on two good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. And also in Ephesians, Watch
this in Philippians 2. Philippians 2. Listen to this.
Philippians 2, verse 12. Philippians 2, 12. Wherefore, my beloved, as you
have always obeyed, not in my presence only, but now much more
in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
It's God that works in you. It's God that works in you, both
the will and to do of His good pleasure.
One of my friends, I called on him to pray one day, and he said,
Lord, I thank you for the privilege of being here. I thank you for
the will to be here. You're the one that made me willing.
That's right. It's God that works in you. Not
only to do His will, it's the will to do it! Not my will, Thy
will. And that's growth. And then last,
this is a powerful point. Mr. Boston brought this out.
Listen. In conversion, the mind is enlightened. The will is changed. And the memory, the memory is
altered. Grace has a good memory. And
grace has a good loss of memory. Remember that. Grace has a good
memory. What is the good memory? Well,
I know whom I have believed. I'm not going to forget his benefits.
Psalm 103. I'm not going to forget his benefits.
I remember them. We remember him at his table.
I've had the Lord's table here with you. It's such a delightful
time to remember his shed blood and broken body. And we remember
the words of our Lord Jesus Christ who said, it's more blessed to
give than to receive. I remember that. And I remember
those who taught me the gospel. Old Brother Barney, he was an
ornery thing sometimes, but I tell you, I loved him. I'd lay down
my life for him. He brought me the gospel. And
I tell you, I thank God for the men who came to preach the gospel
to me. I said, I remember them. I remember
them. Remember them that taught you
the scriptures and had the rule over you. Whose faith follow? The greatest gift God can give
a church is a faithful, loyal, loving pastor. The greatest gift
God can give. Take him away and find out what
happens. That's just so. I know. But grace has a good memory,
but grace is a good forgetter. Forgetting those things which
are behind, I press forward towards the mark of the prize of the
high calling of Christ Jesus my Lord. I hear people sometimes
talking about their past life, and sometimes they sound like
they're proud of it. You ever heard a fellow talk
about, oh, I was a rounder. You ought to have known me when
I was a rounder. I don't want to know you when you were a rounder.
I want to forget it. Boy, you ought to know who I
was. I don't want to know about it.
I want to forget it. I wish you would. Grace is a forgetter. Forgetting
my professions. Oh, professions and experiences
and my work. I used to be a Sunday school
teacher a long time ago. I had a bunch of ribbons clear
down to my belt line, you know. Won't you forget it. I count
all things but lost for the excellence and the knowledge of Christ Jesus,
my Lord. I do count them but dawn that
I might win Christ and be found in Him. Grace is a forgetter. Tell you something else. Grace
loves to forget misunderstandings, mistakes. Oh, I've made a million
of them. I'd like to forget them. I'd
love for you to forget them. Don't bring it up. Forget grudges,
faults and failures of ourselves and others. Just forget it. Just
wipe it clean. Don't think about it anymore.
Don't bring it up again. Don't bring it up. Because our
Lord said, listen to this, He said, there are sins and iniquities
I will remember no more. Let's do that too. There are
sins and iniquities I won't remember anymore. I'm not going to bring
it up. Let's do the same thing toward
others. Forget it. I believe that would
be a good sign of conversion. It looks like something happened
to that old boy. He's not finding fault with everybody and bringing
up things that happened in the past a long time ago. Forget
it. Grace has a good memory. I know
whom I believe in. His precious blood and broken
body. Remember the blessings we've
had together in the preaching of the Gospel. It's a good thing to forget those
things we don't want to talk about. Let me tell you about
Freddie. And then I'll quit. I'll tell
you about Freddie. I don't think Doris has ever
heard about Freddie. But I'm going to tell you about
it tonight. A long time ago, when I was a kid, I remember
hearing a preacher. And he brought an illustration
that blessed my heart. He said my wife and I never had
any children. And she couldn't have children.
So we decided to adopt a child. And so my wife and I went down
to the orphan's home. And they didn't have those high-toned
orphan's homes where you had to go through a lot of line and
everything to adopt children. They just went down, got a child,
and brought him home. I mean, way back Alabama time. So this man and his wife went
down to the orphan's home, and there was a bunch of children
with no parents, and all ages, and they got out of the car,
and they started walking across the gravel walkway, and a little
boy met them. And a little red-headed, freckled
face boy. about five years old, and he
stuck his tongue out at him. And then he wiggled his head
like this at him. And the daddy, the man, reached
out to embrace him, you know, and he shoved him away and ran
from him. So I said, what about that? So
they went in and met the superintendent, and she took them around, you
know, and all the children would play. The superintendent wasn't
going to say anything who they were going to choose, or anything
like that. So the man and his wife saw all
the different children, and there was one little cute little blonde-headed
girl, you know, with pigtails, and they just were really impressed. And they came back to the superintendent's
office, and the two of them sat there, and the superintendent
talked to them and said, well, what did you think about our
children? Did you find any that won? That little red-headed boy, the
one that stuck his tongue out at me, who is he? The superintendent said, that's
Freddy. That's Freddy. But I don't imagine
you'd be interested. Freddy, he's a smart little boy. He's a very smart, sharp little
guy, but he has a lot of rough edges. I mean rough. The man
looked at his wife and said, I've made up my mind. She said,
me too. I want Freddie. Superintendent
said, you want to adopt Freddie? I told you he had rough edges. Preacher said, lady, my Heavenly
Father chose me and I had a lot of rough edges. A lot of rough
edges. And I hope to be able to do for
Freddie what my Lord has done for me. Take away my rough edges
and make me like Himself. It breaks your heart, doesn't
it? They adopted him. I don't know what happened after
that. But I know the thought was good. The heart was good. Accept you be converted. Grow
in grace and the knowledge of Christ. You needn't worry about
what kind of rank you're going to have in glory. Do we? I hope God will bless it. Thank
you, Brother Don, for letting me be here.