Okay, Matthew chapter 18. I'm taking the title or the message
from the words found in verse 3. Except you be converted. Except you be converted. Barely,
barely, I say to you. The Lord was addressing those
12 apostles. Peter, James, John, the rest
of them. Except you be converted. and
become as a little child, become as little children, you shall
not enter into the kingdom of God. Now, we know something about
being a little child, don't we? A little child is totally, totally
dependent upon someone else to take care of him. Except you
be converted and become like this little child, you're not
going to enter into the kingdom of heaven. No exceptions. no exception to this unchanging
decree of God, except you, right here, you, be converted. We're not going to enter into
this everlasting kingdom, God. There are no exceptions to God's
unchanging, sovereign, almighty decree, because he says, I am
the Lord, I do not change, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. We study in Hebrews 13, the Lord
Jesus Christ is the same today, yesterday, and forever. There
are other scriptures that we read in the word of God that
uses this word except. Now I looked all these up, except,
and we could spend the rest of the morning looking at these
exceptions, except. is used in reference to the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me remind you of a few. We
studied in Matthew 520, for I say unto you, except your righteousness
shall exceed the righteousness that is described in Pharisees,
you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Now, how
righteous must we be to enter into the kingdom of heaven? Perfectly
righteous. How can that be? only in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed is that man whom the
Lord imputes righteousness without words. Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believes. So except you
have this righteousness in Christ, you're not going to enter into
the kingdom of God. The second one that I want to
remind you of in Luke 13 verse 5, our Lord said not once but
twice, except you repent, you shall all likewise perish. except you repent. Now what is
repentance? It's a change of mind. You thought
this way, don't think that way anymore. You think right thoughts
about God. Except you repent, you shall
all likewise perish. Then we read a moment ago in
John chapter 3, except a man is born again, born from above,
he cannot see, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. We studied
this morning in James chapter 1 verse 18, of his own will begat
he us with the word of truth. So, except you're born of God,
by the Spirit of God, by the will of God, by the word of God,
I'm going to enter into this kingdom of heaven. We read of
another one in John 6, 44. Our Lord said, no man can come
to me except the father which sent me, draw him. So we must
be drawn. Except the Lord draws us, we'll
never believe the gospel, we'll never come to him. My people
shall be willing in the day of his power. And then I'll mention
one other. In John 6, 53, the Lord said,
except you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in
you. Now what does this mean, except
you eat his flesh and drink his blood? It means that believers
feed upon the Lord Jesus Christ by faith upon his person, his
flesh, who he is. We feed upon him, we eat him
up, we receive him. And then by faith we drink up
his blood, sacrifice, as all of our hope of pardon and forgiveness
of sin. So except you eat my flesh, the
Lord said, and drink my blood, that's His person and His work.
You have no salvation in you. Thank God His blood cleanses
us from all our sin. Now, let's go back to verse 1,
and I'll just work our way down through verse 6. Matthew 18 verse 1, At that same
time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest
in the kingdom of heaven? And the Lord called the little
child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said,
Except you are like this little child, you cannot enter in. Now think about this, at the
same time the Lord had told them of his betrayal, His death, His
resurrection, and how He would pay their sin debt with His own
blood. Do you remember what it said
in Matthew 17 verse 22? The Son of Man shall be betrayed
in the hands of men. They shall kill Him, and the
third day He shall be raised again, and they were exceeding
sorry. These same disciples, when the
Lord had told them of his sacrifice for their sin, these same disciples
are seeking to know who among them would be the greatest in
the kingdom of heaven. At the same time the Lord was
speaking of his humiliation, they were thinking of their exaltation. This is Peter. This is John,
the beloved. Now hold your place here. I want
you to find another place where this is written over here in
Mark chapter 9. Mark chapter 9. This is interesting here.
Mark chapter 9. Mark chapter 9 verse 30. And
we're going to be turning several places this morning, so keep
your fingers ready. Mark 9 verse 30. And they departed
thence, and passed through Galilee. And he would not that any man
should know it, And he taught his disciples, saith unto them,
the Son of Man is delivered in the hands of men. They shall
kill him, and after that he is killed, he'll be raised the third
day. But they understood not that saying and were offended
to ask him. And he came to Capernaum, and
being in the house, he asked them, what was it that you disputed
among yourselves by the way? But they held their peace, for
by the way they had disputed among themselves Who should be
the greatest? And he sat down and called the
twelve and said to them, If any man desire to be first, the same
shall be last of all, and the servant of all. So he took the
little child and set him in the mist, and when he had taken him
in his arms, he said, Whosoever shall receive such children in
my name receiveth me, whosoever receiveth me receiveth Not me,
but Him that sent me. So, they were disputing about
who was going to be the greatest. Now, I want you to see another
one. Turn over here to Luke 9. Luke chapter 9. Luke chapter
9. I think it's good to look at
these things and read these things for ourselves. In Luke chapter
9, verse 46. Luke 9, verse 46. Then there arose a reasoning
among them, which of them should be greatest. And Jesus, perceiving
out of their heart, took a child and set him in the midst and
said, Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receiveth
me, and whosoever receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. For
he that is least in the kingdom of heaven, he that is least The
same shall be great. So the way up is down. The way
up is down. Now, think with me. What led these
apostles of the Lord to ask such an audacious, foolhardy question? Here they're debating among themselves
who's going to be the big shot. What led them to such foolishness? Self-glory? self-love, and a
true need for real ongoing conversion. Changing. What religious, arrogant
pride was still in these men. They were full of it. These sinful
men were still thinking about the Lord establishing an earthly
kingdom, and each of them wanted a prominent place in it. It reveals
their terrible ignorance, their terrible arrogance, their terrible
ambition, and their ungodly motives. Hey, think about that. They're
disputing among themselves. I want you to turn another scripture,
turn to Matthew 20 and read this. This is quite amazing. Matthew
20. Look at verse 17. We've read
this several times. Matthew 20, 17. Jesus going up
to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart in the way and
saith unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, the Son of Man
shall be betrayed, and the chief priests, and unto the scribes,
and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him
to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify him, and
the third day he's going to rise again. Read on the next verse. Then came to him the mother of
Zebedee's children with her sons, James and John, worshipping him,
desiring him a certain thing. And he said unto her, What wilt
thou? She said unto him, Grant that
these, my two sons, may sit, the one on the right hand and
the other, in your kingdom. They were eaten up with pride,
weren't they? And the Lord said, you know not what you ask. Are
you able to drink of the cup that I shall drink and be baptized
with the baptism that I'm baptized with? And they said, we're able. And he saith unto them, Ye shall
indeed drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism
I am baptized with, that is our union with him. But to sit on
my right hand, my left hand is not mine to give, but it shall
be given to them to whom it is prepared. Now watch this. When
the ten heard that, they were moved with indignation against
those two brothers, James and John. Their mother said, Put
my two boys at the front of the line, at the top of the kingdom. We're so full of it, aren't we?
We're just like them. Thank God's salvation for sinners.
Thank God's salvation for sinners. Now, here's some vital lessons
for us. Verse 3. Now he says that these
arrogant, ignorant, self-serving men, I send you..." He calls
this little child and sets this little child, probably four or
five, maybe three, in the midst of them. I can just imagine the
Lord sitting there and calls this little child and He holds
this little child in His lap. He says, you see this little
child? If you don't become just like Him, you're not going to
have any place in the Kingdom of Heaven. Except you be converted
and become as little children You're not going to enter into
the kingdom of heaven. Now we see the great necessity of being
converted. Becoming as a little child, a
little child totally dependent upon the Lord of glory to provide
all things for us in our salvation. There's no exception to this
rule. This word converted, I looked
it up many times, it's translated the same word turned. Turned. The Lord must turn us to him
away from our idols, away from our ideas of self-righteousness,
self-salvation, or we'll not enter into the spiritual kingdom
of God. The Lord must turn us, change
us, make us new creatures in Christ. David prayed this many
times in the psalm. Turn us again, O God, and cause
thy face to shine upon us, and we shall be saved. Turn us again. And again, and again, and again. That's growing in grace. When
Paul writes to the Thessalonians, he said, how you will turn to
God from your idols to serve the living and true God. You
were turned to God, and when you were turned to God, the true
and living God, what did you turn away from? Your idols, your
idols. Our Lord must turn us, change
us, because we have neither faith to believe nor grace to repent. Both faith and repentance are
sovereign gifts of Almighty God. By nature, we will not believe.
By nature, we will not repent, not at all. Paul said, I kept
back nothing that was profitable unto you, and showed you house
to house, and in the temple, preaching repentance toward God,
and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. For by grace are you
saved through faith, and that not of yourself, it's a gift
of God, not of worthless any man should boast. The Lord Jesus
Christ has given us faith. Faith comes by hearing, hearing
by the word of God. God has granted us repentance.
We read in Acts chapter 5 that Christ was exalted to give us
repentance. Him had God exalted with His
right hand to be Prince and Savior for to give repentance and forgiveness
of sin unto His people. Every good gift and every perfect
gift comes down from the Father of lights with whom is no variable
in us, neither shadow of turning. We've heard that before, haven't
we? Now this conversion and this changing is a work of God that
goes on within the believer. It is not something that takes
place naturally. It is a supernatural work of
God the Holy Spirit in you. We read two scriptures in Philippians,
for God who hath begun a good work in you, he'll finish it. And then in Philippians 2 verse
13, it's God that worketh in you both to will and to do of
His good pleasure. This change and this turning
starts in regeneration, when we're born of God, birthed of
God, made new creatures in Christ. being begotten of God by the
will of God, by the work of God, being raised up and quickened
by God the Holy Spirit. We read in John 3, except you're
born again, born from above, you cannot see the kingdom of
God. You have to be quickened who are dead. Of his own will
beget he us with the word of truth. Regeneration is the beginning
of our spiritual life. It's the beginning of our spiritual
life. This work of conversion is a lifelong, ongoing process. It causes us to grow in grace
and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. It causes us to
continually come to the Lord Jesus Christ. There is that initial
regeneration, raising up from the dead, but there is that continual
Coming to Christ, looking to Christ, believing on the Lord
Jesus Christ, it's an ongoing process. I'm still being converted. I'm still being converted. This
conversion is a continual process. Continual coming to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Listen to this scripture. As
newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word that you might
grow thereby. If so, you've tasted that the Lord is gracious. To
whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men,
but chosen of God. Now, did you catch that phrase?
To whom coming. To whom coming. Believers being
converted and always are coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. This
conversion, secondly, is a continual looking to the Lord Jesus Christ.
It begins in a look, it carries on in a look. You remember Hebrews
12, verse 2, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith? who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of God.
So this conversion is our continually coming to Christ. This conversion
is our continually looking to the Lord Jesus Christ for all
things and salvation. And we're afraid to look anywhere
else but to Christ, Christ alone. Thirdly, this conversion is our
continually trusting Him for all things and salvation. You
remember Psalm 62? Trust in Him at all times, you
people. Pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge for us. So we trust in Him at all times.
That's a continual converting work that goes on within the
believer. I want to show you an amazing
Scripture here. Turn over here to Luke chapter
22. Luke chapter 22. Luke chapter 22 verse 31. Luke 22, verse 31. I'll give
you a minute to look at it. Find it. The Lord said to Simon,
Simon. Now this is Simon Peter. This
is Simon Peter. Satan hath desired to have you,
that he may sift you like wheat. But I prayed for thee, that your
faith does not fail. When thou art converted, strengthen
the brethren. Now, is he saying that Peter's
not saved here? That he's not redeemed here?
No, he was redeemed. Peter writes about it in his
epistle. We are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ.
Yes, he was redeemed. Yes, he was regenerated. But
what needed to happen? He had a lot of growing up to
do. Read on. Read on. Luke 22, verse 31. And he said unto him, Lord, I
am ready to go with thee both to prison and to die. That's
a pretty proud boast, isn't it? What did the Lord tell him? Peter,
you need to be converted. Look what it says. I tell you,
Peter, the croc shall not crow this day, before thou shalt deny
me three times. You see what he's saying here?
Peter, you need to grow up. You need to mature in the faith.
He was redeemed. Yes, he was. Peter was regenerated. Absolutely. But Peter had a lot
of growing up to do. that would take place over time.
Peter denied the Lord not only once, but three times. He said,
I don't know the man. And then that little girl came
and said, I saw you with him. And then he cast a big oath. I don't know the man. And then in one of the Gospels,
it said the Lord turned and looked at Peter. You imagine what was
going on in his heart. Just exactly as the Lord said
he would deny the Lord three times, he did. I'll tell you
what that brought about in Peter's life. Conversion. He was starting
to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not
only did Peter deny Him and forsook Him and fled, but all the apostles
did. All the apostles did. Now, so
except you be converted and become as a little child, you're not
going to enter into the kingdom of God. Now look at verse 4. Whosoever therefore shall humble
himself, or be humbled as this little child, the same is the
greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Now the Lord uses this very simple
illustration to teach us a lesson in humility. A lesson of humility
and complete total dependence upon him. Our little children. We've got two of them in the
nursery. Just little children. Little children. Blakely and
Cyrus. Two little children. They're
totally dependent upon mom and dad to take care of them. They
can't take care of themselves. They perish without mom and dad.
Mom and dad have to feed them and take care of them and watch
over them and give them the proper medical attention. All these
different things. A little child is totally dependent
upon his parents to care for him, to feed him, to clothe him,
to shelter him, to teach him, to instruct him. How much more
are we totally dependent upon the Lord Jesus Christ care for
us, to supply our every need, and he does so in such an abundant,
loving, and generous way. He gives us all grace now and
glory forever. Remember, David said, the Lord
is my shepherd. Thank God we have a shepherd.
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, I shall not want. He's
able to supply all our needs according to his riches in glory.
The Lord Jesus Christ, he does care for us because so much so
that he said, I'm the good shepherd, I lay down my life for the sheep.
The Lord does care for his people, doesn't he? The Lord does feed
us. He does feed us with the word
of truth, the word of life. The Lord does clothe us, doesn't
he? We're clothed with the robe of righteousness and the garments
of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord shelters us. We have a shelter. He's our refuge
from a storm. He's our strong tower. He's our
hiding place. The Lord certainly does teach
us and instruct us David said in Psalm 32, I will instruct
thee and teach thee. The Lord said, I will instruct
thee and teach thee in the way thou shalt go, and I'll guide
thee with my own eye. Aren't you glad we have a heavenly
father that takes care of his little wayward children? The Lord had chosen us to be
His children, His bride, His family. Chosen of God in eternity,
He chose who He would save by His grace. We are bound to give
thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because the Lord has chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto He called you
by our gospel. Chosen of God in eternity to
be children of God, Not only chosen, but adopted into the
family of God by His sovereign love. I have an older sister
who adopted two children from Korea. This is back in the 70s,
1975 or so. She adopted two little children
from Korea. Those little children had absolutely
no voice in being adopted. My sister, and her husband, they
made the choice to adopt those children. Now that's so, an adoption. We are adopted into the family
of God by His sovereign choice. that God, who is rich in mercy
for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead in sin, quickened us together with Christ. So we're chosen
of God in eternity to be His children, we're adopted into
His family, we are made accepted in the Beloved, and we're born
into this family. We're born into this family by
the Spirit of God. made heirs of God and joined
heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. We have an inheritance that's
incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away, that's reserved
in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God. Peter later
writes that in his epistle. We're kept by the power of God.
He knew something about being converted, didn't he? Satan had
desired to sift you like wheat, but I prayed for you that your
faith fail not. were kept by the power of God
through faith, he writes. I want you to turn to 1 John.
We'll look at this and I'll let you go with these words here.
1 John. 1 John now. Nine times in this 1 John in
his epistle. 1 John, look at chapter 2 verse
1. Nine times he uses this word
or this phrase, little children. Little children. 1 John 2, look at verse 1. My little
children, these things I write unto you, that ye sin not. If
any man sin, we have an advent with the Father, Jesus Christ
the righteous. He is the propitiation, the mercy
seat for our sins, and not for ours only. but the sins of the
whole world. That is, all in this world, there's
just one propitiating sacrifice for sin, and that is Jesus Christ. So there's 1 John 2, we're down
to verse 12. 1 John 2, verse 12. I write unto
you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for His
name's sake. Aren't you glad you're a little
child? who sins are forgiven for His
namesake. Look down to verse 18. 1 John
2 verse 18. Little children, it's the last
time, as you've heard, that Antichrist shall come. Even now there are
many Antichrists whereby you know it's the last time. He's
writing to his little children. Now John, you think about it.
John heard that before, didn't he? Except he'd become a little
child. Now he's writing to believers.
Little children. Little children. In chapter 3.
In 1 John 3, look at verse 7. Little children, let no man deceive
you. He that doeth righteous is righteous,
even as He is righteous. That is, in the Lord Jesus Christ,
we are made righteous. In 1 John 3, look at verse 18. My little children, let us not
love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. My
little children. And what he's talking about here
is about growing up. And as we grow in grace, let's
turn to a couple more. Turn to 1 John 4. 1 John 4, verse
4. 1 John 4, verse 4. You are of God, little children, and have overcome them because
greater is he that is in you and he that is in the world. As we grow in grace and the knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ, we grow in less and less and less
esteem of ourselves and we grow in more esteem beholding the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's growing in grace. Now,
the last one is 1 John 5. Look at verse 20 and 21. 1 John
5. And we know that the Son of God
has come, and given us an understanding that we may know Him that is
true, wherein Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ.
This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, Keep yourself from idols. Amen. Keep yourself from idols. Now,
let's read verse 5 and 6 and I'll let you go. Matthew 18.
Whosoever shall receive one such little child in my name receives
me. But whosoever 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 drowned in
the depths of the sea. They always say about bears,
when you're out in the woods in the wilderness, be bear aware. And especially be bear aware
if mama bear has a baby bear. If mama bear has a baby bear
nearby, you better skeed out. Bear spray is not going to help.
How much more does your Heavenly Father care for you, for those
who believe on Him? You're His little child, born
into the family, begotten of God.