Kingdom Instructions Pt 1

to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 18. Matthew, chapter 18. As we move into this next section of the book of Matthew, we come to chapters 18 through 20. And as we come to chapters 18 through 20, they really kind of all fit under the same heading. The heading that I have put over these next two or three chapters is the heading Instructions for the Kingdom. And so as we look at these instructions for the kingdom,

Jesus is gonna be talking to his disciples about what it looks like to be a member of the kingdom of God. And so as he does so, there's gonna be several different subjects that come up. The one that we're gonna look at today, the subject we'll look at today, is the subject that actually comes about through a question, who is the greatest? And so we pick up in chapter 18, verse one, and this is what it says.

At that time, the disciples came to Jesus and said, who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And he called a child to himself and set him before them and said, truly I say to you, unless you are a man, you are not a man. Unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

And whoever receives one such child in my name receives me. Now as we move into the first portion of this chapter, verses one through 14, which is who is the greatest, there's three things that we'll look at. We're gonna look at the warning, or excuse me, the question. We're gonna look at the warning, and then we're gonna look at the care. And so the first thing that we see is the question,

and it's a question that the disciples come to Jesus with. It starts off, at that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Now this question appears in the first three gospel accounts, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. But kinda like in the last chapter, Matthew's a little bit more gracious than Mark and Luke are, and doesn't include all of the details of the surrounding things that were taking place with the disciples.

And Luke both revealed to us that there was a conversation that had been taking place amongst the disciples, which sort of prompted Jesus to inquire about what they were discussing, which then brought about this question. The conversation that was taking place amongst the disciples was this. Which of them would be the greatest in the kingdom? You see, the disciples still had this earthly idea of the kingdom of God, that God would establish his kingdom right here on earth in their midst while he was there with them.

And so they all asked the question, which of them would be the greatest in the kingdom? Which of them would be the greatest in the kingdom? And Peter questioned, hey, I wonder which of us is gonna be the greatest? You know, John's probably going, well, I'm the disciple that Jesus loves. And so I'm going to be the greatest. And Peter goes, well, remember Jesus said that

flesh and blood didn't reveal that to me. God actually speaks through me, so I'll be the greatest. To which one of them replied, but he also called you Satan, so I don't think that's a really good yardstick to use at that point in time. Each of them was coming up with their own ideas about which of them would be the greatest. But at the heart of each of those ideas of

who was going to be the greatest was the great problem that they were all facing. They each wanted to be the greatest. You see, at the heart of that desire is the heart of pride. Because our human pride causes each of us to want to be the greatest. It causes each of us to want to be considered the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. We each want to be looked at and have

people say, now that is a great saint of God. Each of us has that same issue that the disciples have, that issue of pride. And that issue of pride is the thing that actually makes entrance into the kingdom of heaven impossible. Because pride will always keep us from being who God has called for us to be. Pride is the great sin. And so as these disciples have this question for Jesus, they say,

who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Jesus responds to their question in a very fascinating way. Take note of what it says. And he called a child to himself and set him before them. I can imagine what the disciples were thinking Jesus was going to say at this point in time. I can imagine that they were thinking that he was going to lay out some form of criteria for

them. Well, you have to understand to be the greatest, these are the things that you need to works that you need to do. This is how many people you need to bring into the kingdom. This is the criteria for what it looks like to be considered the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Perhaps they even guessed that he would begin to name some names. After all, earlier when speaking of John

the Baptist, he said, this guy is the greatest prophet that's ever lived. And yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. They probably expected some names to start getting so who was going to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? In each anticipating Jesus calling their own name would have been shocked for Jesus to respond the way that he did. Because Jesus called

to him a little child. Jesus calls this little kid. You can imagine the scene, right? People were always gathered around Jesus. I think we need to always keep that in mind. Anywhere that Jesus went, people were always around. And when people are around, it meant that their kids were around. And so Jesus looks out at the scene and says, I'm going to call you. I'm going to call you. I'm going to call you. I'm going to

call you. I'm going to call you. I'm going to call you. I'm going to call you. I'm going to call you. I'm going to call yo ng him as they're asking this question in whatever town square he's in or whatever area of the countryside he was in where there were people gathered around. And he says, excuse me, young man, can you come here for just a minute? Or perhaps he said, excuse me, young lady,

could you come here for just a minute? And you know what the amazing thing is? The kid showed up. Right? Have you ever tried to get a small child to do what you want for them to do? You ever been trying to get down the road somewhere? I always think about every time I try to leave my my youngest daughter. It's getting a little better with my oldest daughter, but with my youngest

daughter still, I'm like, Nora, let's go. And she's got 10,000 other things she feels like she should be doing, not the least of which is finding her shoes, right? And so you say, come here, right? It's like that scene in the old Bill Cosby shows. Am I still allowed to reference Bill Cosby? Why not? It's like the old scene in the Bill Cosby shows where he's like, I want you to come here.

And they stand over there. He's like, no, no, come here. I need you right here. And that's what it is talking to small children. And yet at this point in time, there's this miraculous thing that happens. Jesus says, come here. This little kid just runs up to him. It kind of says a little something about Jesus, right? It tells us that Jesus was not an overly intimidating human being

because kids have a tendency to run from people that they're scared of. It says that Jesus was pretty welcoming in the way that he looked because a little kid had no issue running up to Jesus. And it's kind of interesting because Jesus is going to point out something very interesting about the kid. And we're going to find that perhaps it's very true of who he is. So as Jesus

calls him, he says, come here. And he says, come here. And he says, come here. And he says, come here. He calls this little child unto himself. He looks at his disciples and says, truly, I say to you that unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Enter the kingdom of heaven. We wouldn't know who was the greatest in the kingdom of

heaven. Entering it was never a question in our mind. We thought we were already part of the kingdom. But Jesus says this really interesting thing. He says, truly, I say to you, and anytime Jesus starts off with truly, I say to you, or perhaps your translation, if it's King James or New King James says, verily, verily, I say unto you or assuredly, I say unto you. It means

Jesus is about to say something we really need to pay attention to because this is a principle for life. He says, first of all, unless you are converted. I found it interesting. I suppose I've just never paid that close of attention before, but I found it interesting that Jesus uses this word with his, disciples at this point in time. These are not average people on the street living a pagan life.

These are followers of Jesus. And yet he tells them they have to do something really interesting. He says, you need to be converted. That word converted, I looked it up to make sure I knew what it meant. The word converted means to reverse your present trend of thought. Oh, that sheds a lot of light on what Jesus tells them, right? You see, they up to this point in time have been thinking

about how they can be converted. They can be converted. They can be converted. They can be considered the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, how they can get the most attention, how they can get the most accolades, how they can get the most prestige, how they can find themselves in a position above everybody else around them because I am the greatest. And while maybe they don't

float like a butterfly and sting like a bee, they still want those accolades, right? And yet Jesus says, truly, I say to you, unless you are converted, unless you completely change, the way that you think, and then he tells them exactly what that's supposed to look like, and you become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Now, in our world today, I don't know that we necessarily view kids in the way that it was at that point in time. For better, for worse, we view kids mildly different. Kids in our world have

their own YouTube channels now, right? Where they make millions of dollars unwrapping toys, boxing toys. I will never forget the first time I showed up at the Target, and there's all these toys, and I don't remember what the kid's name is, like Ryan's. Yeah, I should remember that. I think it is Ryan's World. Anyway, all he does in his life is he opens up boxes of toys and demonstrates

them, and that kid is worth millions. That did not happen in Jesus's day, right? It just didn't happen at all. In Jesus's day, kids had no authority, kids had no rights, children had no wealth, they had no prestige. Even if your parents were wealthy, none of that was yours until you became an adult. They had no wealth, they had no prestige. Children occupied the lowest place

in culture. They were, if you will, viewed as property. And so Jesus looks at his disciples as they each want to be considered the greatest, to be considered the best. One who has authority that can be lorded over all of the other disciples, and maybe all the other members of the kingdom of God. Jesus looks at them and says, unless you change your current trend of thought and become the least, as far as this world is

concerned, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Well, I don't know about you, but I've asked myself a question as I've studied this. So what does it look like to become, like a little child? What does it look like to become children so that we can enter the kingdom of heaven? Well, I think first of all, we need to say what it's not. This does not mean that we

become childish. I don't expect each of you after church today to go out and buy yourselves a rabble and a pacifier so that you can begin acting like children so that you can enter the kingdom of God. We are never at any point in time called to be childish. It also doesn't mean that you abandon all learning. I'm no longer going to try to learn to be a child. I'm going to try to learn to be a

child. I'm going to try to learn new things. I'm just going to be like a small child who all he does all day is play. I know way too many adults that want to live their lives that way. That is not what he's telling us to do. He is not telling us to be childish. He's telling us that we must become childlike. And I think to become childlike in the way that Jesus refers to here, based on

the context, means two things. Number one, it means complete. Humility. Complete humility. Humility is so interesting. According to Andrew Murray in his book entitled Humility, he says, humility is the one thing that once you think you've got it, you've lost it. Right? That's what we're to be. I want you to think about the fact that kids, there's just a humility about them, right? It's so beautiful to see the humility about little

kids because they just kind of are who they are. There's a sincerity about them. They can't lie very well, right? Like kids are, they're very sincere. They're very honest. Like if you ever really want to know the truth about how you look, don't ask a child because they'll tell you, right? If you're like, hey, does this make me look fat? They'll say, yep. So does everything else. And then they'll just move on with life because that's

who they are, right? They can't hide their sin very well. I'll never forget going over to some friends of ours house. I was like junior high and there was a, one of them had a little sister. She's about three years old and there was all this fudge out. It was New Year's day. There was all this fudge out and she was told you can have one piece. That's it. Well, that wasn't good enough

for her. So she grabbed a whole bunch of it and went and hid behind the stove and was eating fudge, just shoving it in her mouth. And they, they yelled, Hey, where are you? And she stands up. I'm right here. Her mom looks at her with a big smile on her face because she knows the answer. Have you been? She's been eating more fudge and with literally fudge dripping off of her face, she goes,

uh-uh, right? Because you don't know how to hide her sin just yet. She's not good at it. There's a humility there because they don't know any better. And so in order for us to become childlike, there should be a humility about our lives. But you know what? The second thing I take note of about what it looks like to be childlike is complete dependence, complete dependence.

Our lives should not only be completely humble in the way we view ourselves, but they are completely dependent upon God. Do you know what I've never had to tell my children to do? Stop buying more groceries for the house, right? I've never had to tell them that because they expect for me to buy the groceries. I've never once had to tell them, Violet, stop paying the

electric bill. Okay. I've told you once. I've told you a thousand times. The electric bill's mine to pay. You don't have to pay it. You do not have to pay the electric bill. You don't have to pay it. You don't have to pay it. You don't have to pay it. You don't have to pay it. You don't have to pay it. I have to make the insurance payment this month. I've got that covered, right? Because from the

time they came out of the womb, they've been completely dependent on us. And they've had no issue doing so, right? You've got a brand new baby. What happens with a brand new baby? Because they're completely dependent upon you. And yet we become adults and we think, I'm self-sufficient now. And while in the world standards, we should be self-sufficient, you should not be dependent

on somebody else to take care of you. When it comes to your faith, you should be 100% dependent upon God. Because I have no righteousness to offer. I have no goodness to offer. I have no ability to offer. All I have to offer him is all of my inability. And as I do so, he offers me all of his ability. There is complete humility and complete dependence upon God. And so as he calls

this little child to him, he says, truly, I tell you, unless you're converted, unless you change the way you think, become like one of these little children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. He goes on from there to say in verse four, whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. I found it interesting that he almost says the exact same thing, only he uses more specific words this time. Whoever humbles himself as this little child would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. What does it mean to humble?

It means to have the correct perspective of who we really are. The correct perspective of who I really am. Humility is not constantly talking down on myself. And humility is not constantly lifting up myself. Humility is an understanding of myself. I'm simply a sinner saved by grace. And as long as that's the case, I'm a sinner saved by grace. If that's who I am, then I can absolutely find myself in the good graces of God.

Remember the very first beatitude that Jesus gave us in Matthew chapter five. He says, blessed are the poor in spirit. Why? Because theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Now, the disciples had been taught that. They had seen it witnessed in the life of Jesus. They had seen it witnessed in the lives of those who had come to Jesus. And yet, they still find themselves wanting to know who's going to be the

greatest. Who's going to be the greatest? Who's going to be the greatest? Who's going to be the Jesus said, I'm not going to tell you something brand new. I'm just going to put it in language that you'll understand with an illustration that you'll understand. Whoever humbles himself as this little child, he's the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Now, we could find ourselves

going, okay, so I need to get humble and then I can be the greatest. It's not the idea. The idea is that I humble myself and I no longer care who is the greatest because I'm just glad that I'm a part of the kingdom of heaven. And I'm just glad that God is willing to use me in the kingdom of heaven as he sees fit. You see, if I'm going to reverse my trend of thought, then I stop caring

about who's the greatest, who's the first, who's the best, and I start caring about the one who gives me all of the ability that I have. And I no longer look at myself. There's an old song that we used to sing when I was a little kid at Calvary. It goes like this, let's forget about ourselves and magnify the Lord in worship. Let's worship him. That's the idea that Jesus is presenting here. Forget about yourself and magnify

the Lord. He goes on to say one more thing. And this next one's kind of interesting too. He says, and whoever, verse five, receives one such child in my name receives me. Now, again, we read this and we go, what's the big deal about him saying that? Well, because if you receive a little child, in other words, hey, you can be my buddy, he gives you no social standing. He gives you no social status. He gives you no wealth. He gives

you no prestige. He does not help you in your position in life, period. As a matter of fact, if anything, he is now dependent upon you and you become a servant. Whoever receives one of these little children, it's as if you received me. I always find this interesting because Jesus loved kids so much. This is not the only time in the gospel accounts that Jesus will talk about

children. As a matter of fact, there's going to be a time where parents are bringing all of their kids to Jesus and his parents are bringing their kids to Jesus. Man, he's just praying with them. He's blessing them. He's just loving on them. And his disciples are like, Jesus, these kids aren't really doing much for your reputation right now. Let's tell all the kids to leave. You've got more

important things to do. And Jesus says, no, I don't think you get it. You should welcome the little children because such is the kingdom of heaven. I think it's interesting that that's what Jesus says. Because in the world that we live in today, I think that sometimes we do forget that kids are the kingdom of heaven. Kids are not the church of tomorrow. They're the church of today.

And I think that we in the church should make sure that we do as much as we possibly can to pour into the lives of kids because if we don't pour into the lives of kids, then the church will die. If we don't pour into the lives of kids, then all of these brand new souls that are coming into the world constantly, well, they'll be on their way to hell. I have always boldly said, the most important ministry that takes place in this church is the children's ministry. The second most important ministry is the youth ministry and that whatever takes place here supports those things. Because if we are not pouring into the kids, then we are completely missing the point

of the kingdom of heaven. We are completely missing who Jesus has called us to minister to the most. And those ministries are of such vast importance because after all, Jesus says, whoever receives one of these little ones in my name, it's the same as if he's received, me. It's the same as if you're welcoming me into your home. How do you view those tiny people?

How do you view those little ones? If you're ever here for second service, you know that after second service, it's mildly chaotic in the hallways. It's mildly chaotic in the sanctuary because there are so many tiny children running around and it's kind of like, whoa. When we do communion at the end of second service, we have all the kids come in so that I can explain to everybody what goes on with communion and it takes forever for all the children to come in.

And they're a little rowdy. They get a little rambunctious. They get a little restless. And that's okay because a church full of kids is a church full of life, right? And so Jesus says, whoever receives one of these little ones, it receives me. It's the same as if you've welcomed me. And so Jesus answers their question in a very bold way. Who's the greatest? Well,

whoever's the most humble. Who's the greatest? The one who's the most dependent upon me. Because you no longer care about who's the greatest. You only, only care about knowing me. Well, he then goes on to give a warning. Notice what he says. But whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck

and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks, for it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come. But woe to that man, through whom the stumbling blocks come. If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you. It's better for you to enter life crippled or lame than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire. If your eye causes you

to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It's better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell. Jesus begins to give this warning because he has said, whoever receives one of these little ones in my name receives, he then goes on with that conjunction. But in other words, in the very opposite, whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble.

Now we should ask ourselves the question because Jesus added a little caveat to little ones here. What does he mean by little ones? He says, little ones who believe in me. Well, I think this is a somewhat all encompassing word. I think that first of all, the little ones is speaking of those who are physically little ones, because I think that those who harm children should really

fear eternity. They should really fear the consequences that will come because God seems to point out to us here through the words of Jesus that God has a very distinct punishment for those who would harm children because their lives have value. But I think also what's being spoken of here is those who are little ones like you and I who have come to know Jesus as our Lord and Savior, whether they are the least in the kingdom of heaven or the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, whoever they are, whoever stumbles one of these little ones. whoever offends one of these little ones whoever causes one of these little ones to sin should find themselves in a very scary place because notice what he says whoever causes one of these little

ones who believes in me to stumble or literally to veer off the path it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea bear in mind this is meek and gentle jesus talking right now he says if you're going to harm children if you're going to pull people away from the knowledge of me i need you to know something the punishment will be intense now there's two different words that are used for millstones in the new testament one is for a small stone that you would use within your kitchen to grind grain the other one is for a millstone that is so large that it takes animals to pull it it's a large cylinder stone that i from what i've read

is anywhere from a thousand to two thousand pounds that's the one that jesus is talking about here i didn't realize this until studying this time but the israeli people of that day were a little fearful of the sea for those who would live along the coast they didn't like the open ocean and so jesus just told them if you cause one of these little ones to stumble you'll drown in the most fearful way that you've ever imagined possible in other words that's how seriously he takes it it should cause everyone to sit up and say whoa whoa that is a serious warning that is a serious thing for me to pay attention to it means that as i lead people i should make sure that everything i do to lead people will always lead them into a deeper

knowledge of jesus in a way from the things of sin i have to tell you the pastors that are out there right now teaching that there are certain sinful acts that are okay and that they can continue to take part in them should find themselves concerned because jesus is not just concerned to see who's the one that's going to come to the table or who's going to take the whole field they're going to take the whole thing so that's kind of the goal we're talking about in this ephesus prayer because jesus is pretty clear that those who would lead others astray have severe consequences to face and may i say i'm at the point in time in ministry where where while i get nervous to stand up here and talk in front of people because i don't want to say

something stupid i'm more nervous to stand up and talk in front of people because i don't want to say something misleading because i know that those of us to teach the word have a greater accountability So he warns them against the stumbling of others. Notice what he says, verse 7, Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks. In other words, there's danger in the world right now because there's stumbling blocks everywhere. But woe to the man through whom the stumbling block comes.

Woe to that one who causes other people to stumble. And so as Jesus has warned us against putting stumbling blocks in front of other people, he now begins to warn us about stumbling blocks in our own life. Notice what he says, verse 8, If your hand or foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you. It's better for you to enter life crippled or lame than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire.

If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It's better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell. Again, this is a graphic description that Jesus gives to us here. It's meant to have shock value because he wants us to pay attention to it. Jesus says if your right hand causes you to sin,

in other words, if you find yourself that you can't stop stealing or you can't stop doing things that would harm others or you can't stop doing things that would harm yourself, the best thing that you could do is just to cut your hand off because it's better to go into eternity missing a hand than into the fires of hell completely whole. Don't worry, I'm going to bring this to it. It's a real point in just a minute. I just want us to think about the description that Jesus used.

He said if you find yourself constantly going to places that lead you into sin, cut your foot off. That way you can't even walk into those places that cause you sin. If your eye is what's causing you to sin, the things that you look at, the things that you lust after, the things that you desire, the things that you covet, then pluck out your eye because it's better to go into eternity missing an eye. Than into hell completely whole.

And the statement that Jesus makes here is incredibly bold and incredibly graphic. You can imagine the disciples kind of going, right, because this is intense words that Jesus is using. So what does he mean? Clearly, he doesn't mean that we should mutilate ourselves. He speaks against it in the Old Testament. We're not to mutilate ourselves for the case of our faith.

Some have taken this and made doctrines out of it and said we should mutilate ourselves in order to prevent sin. But you know what? You always find if I cut off my right hand, what do I have left? I still have my left hand. And if I still have my left hand, or if I have somebody else cut off my left hand, what do I still have left? All the sin that's in my heart.

Because all of the physical things that I do will never deal with the sin that's truly in my heart. I can pluck out my right eye, but what's left? My left eye. I can pluck out both eyes, but what's left? All of the thoughts in my mind. So what does he mean? There will always be things and people that cause you to sin. He said, Everywhere in the world, there are stumbling blocks.

Everywhere in your life, there are people or things that will cause you to stumble. We must begin to cut those things and sometimes those people off, even if it costs you. Even if it costs you in your life. And listen, brothers and sisters, sometimes it's going to hurt. But you have to cut off the people that continue to lead you into sin. You have to cut off the things that continue to lead you into sin.

I worked with a young man at one point in time that had a drinking problem. Long time ago, 20 years ago. And eventually I told him, if you're going to overcome this drinking problem, you have to completely eliminate the friend group in your life. Because they're going to keep leading you. They're going to keep leading you down the wrong path. As a matter of fact, you may have to completely relocate.

And if you're dealing with a drug problem, you will have to completely relocate. I'll never forget somebody telling me one time, and I never thought of it this way. And it was a really graphic description. And it makes me pray harder for people to battle with drug addiction. He said, you know what the difference is between battling alcohol addiction and drug addiction?

The owner of the liquor store doesn't show up at your house. And I thought, man, that's a really clear point. Those of you that have battled with alcohol addiction, have battled this in the past, and I don't know, maybe those of you that are battling it now, you may have to relocate. You may have to cut some things off so that you can truly be free of these addictions.

If pornography is causing you an addiction, then it's probably time to do something with your phone. Put a blocker on your phone. Quit watching TV, whatever it is. If there's a person at work that you're flirting with the idea of having an affair with, you may have to go get a new job or be asked to transfer to a different department. There are things in our lives.

If we are going to follow Jesus wholeheartedly, and brothers and sisters, we should follow Jesus wholeheartedly, it's going to mean we have to make sacrifices in our lives. That's what it means to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow him. Because it's worth it. I'm at a point in time with my oldest daughter where she no longer accepts my answer. She wants to know why, and I can appreciate that.

I actually like that she's at that point in time in her life right now. And so she's starting to ask, Dad, why should I not? Why should I not do these things? And it's given me the opportunity to tell her why. Because all of those things will pull you away from the knowledge of the one person you were created to know. Why do we cut off the stumbling blocks in our lives?

We cut them off because they will keep us from the knowledge of the God who created us. We cut off those stumbling blocks because they will keep us from knowing our Savior. That's why we cut them off. Because you are valued and created with a purpose. The main purpose you're created for is to know God. The one thing that will keep you from knowing God is sin.

Therefore, if the one thing that will keep me from knowing God is sin, then I will cut it out of my life. And so he warns us against stumbling others, but he also warns us against the stumbling block in our own lives. But after he has answered the question, and after he has given the warning, he now begins to speak of the great care. That he has for all of these little ones.

Notice what it says in verse 10. See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of my Father who is in heaven. For the Son of Man has come to seek and save that which was lost. What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave? Does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying?

If it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray. So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. As he begins to speak about the care, he sort of gives a little bit of a warning with this. He says, see that you don't despise one of these little ones.

In other words, don't look down on anyone. Don't look down on small children because they don't know any better. Because I'm here to tell you right now, there are some small children that I've seen who have a stronger walk with Jesus than a lot of adults. Because their faith is so pure and humble before the Lord. Don't despise these small children. But also, don't despise each other.

Don't look down on each other. I think one of the greatest issues that we have in the church sometimes is that we look down on each other. I'd never sin like that. I'd never struggle with those things. You're right. You struggle with something worse. I'd never stumble in that way. You're right. You've stumbled in something worse. He says, don't look down on the people that are around you.

Don't despise any of these little ones. Why? For I say to you, end of verse 10, that their angels in heaven continually see the face of my Father who is in heaven. From this, we get the idea that we have guardian angels. I have no problem with this idea. Some people take it a little bit too far. They put bumper stickers that say things like, don't drive faster than your guardian angel can drive,

and stuff like that. If you have that bumper sticker on your car, I still love you. I might make fun of you sometime, but I still love you. Right, sometimes we take that a little bit too far. But we are given the idea that there are ministering spirits. That's what the book of Hebrews calls it. So, why don't we despise one? another? Because their angel is standing before the Father constantly. In other words, they have

value in God's eyes. We can't despise those who God has said has great value in his eyes. Why? Because the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost. This is another verse that if you're reading either the ESV, actually I think the ESV just leaves this verse completely out, or if you're reading the New American Standards, you'll notice there's a bracket around it.

The reason why there's a bracket around it is because some manuscripts, ancient manuscripts that the text is translated from, don't contain this verse. Now we shouldn't let this trouble us too much because Luke chapter 19 verse 10 is in all of the ancient manuscripts and it says the exact same thing. So we know that this heart is true, therefore I'm going to teach on it just like Matthew wrote it there. Because the Son of Man came to save that which was lost.

I love that. I love this verse because it just ministers to my heart so much that that's why Jesus came. He came on a search and rescue mission. He came on a search and rescue mission so that he could seek out and he could save those that were lost. No matter how insignificant they are, no matter how much they're looked down on by the church, no matter how much they're looked down on by the world, Jesus came

to save that which was lost, no matter how insignificant. Because people are people, no matter how small. And so he goes on to illustrate what he says here with a story. And this story is familiar to us. He says, In other words, Jesus is telling this story. And the story has three players, if you will. You see the shepherd. You see the 99. And you see the one.

He says, What do you think? Does this make sense to you? If a shepherd has 100 sheep, 99 of them stay with him. They're with him all the time. They're doing what they're supposed to do. They're following him. They're following the good shepherd. They're listening to his voice. These are good sheep. And yet as he's looking out amongst the sheep, he's counting.

He's like, one, two, three. Skip a few. 99. There was 100 out here. And I've only got 99. Now, if we look at this from a strictly mathematical perspective, we go 99%. That ain't bad. Meatloaf said two out of three ain't bad, right? So 99%, we're looking pretty good at this point in time. We got most everybody. Good enough for me. Not good enough for Jesus. He says,

Would he not leave the 99 on the mountains? In other words, leave them in the place where they're, where they're protected, where they're pasturing for that point in time, and begin to go out and seek after the one that was lost. You can picture it in your mind, right? Jesus is the good shepherd. And remember, not only do the good shepherd know his voice, but he knows them each by name, right?

And as he sees that one of them is missing, he says, Nothing can go on in life until I go and find Ryan. Insert your name there. Until I go and find. And so I've got to go do what needs to be done. And so you can picture how it goes, right? The shepherd is walking and he's looking and he's calling out by name and he's he's hollering. He's can't find it. And finally, this one who was straying.

Did you notice how this one was described? He says he goes out and searches for the one that is straying. And when he finds the one that is straying, notice what it says. If it turns out that he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices more. Over that one than over the ninety nine, which have not gone astray. In other words, he finds the one that had gone astray.

He runs to the one and he picks it up and he rejoices in his heart and he comes back, no doubt carrying that sheep on his shoulder back to the fold with the other ninety nine, and there is great rejoicing with him and the other shepherds as well, because he cared so much about the one who had gone astray. Well, the picture is very clear. Should someone find themselves in a place where they have stumbled into sin? Should someone find themselves in a place where they have gone astray, strayed away from the flock, strayed away from the path left?

What they knew to be right and went after their own way. Jesus does not just abandon you. Well, he should have known better. He's followed me this long. If he can't keep up with my voice by now, then he should have known better. Good riddance. He only caused me problems anyway. That's not what Jesus says. Jesus goes after that one and he goes after that one with intensity and with purpose.

I don't know about you, but there's been times where I've been that one. There's been times where I've been that one that's gone astray and I have seen Jesus pursue me. The psalmist David put it like this. He said, mercy and truth will pursue me. All the days of my life. That's the idea of who God is as he continues to pursue the one that has gone astray. If that's you this morning, if you're the one that's gone astray,

I promise you Jesus is working on your heart right now and you can feel it. You're probably getting a little bit sweaty. Your heart's beating a little bit fast and you're going, oh my gosh, he's talking to me. I'm the one that's gone astray. Darn straight talking to you because it's time for you to come back. It's time for there to be great celebration in the house because you have returned.

Home. If you're watching online and that's you, it's time for you to return home. Drop a little message down below and let us know. I'm coming home. Because Jesus is out seeking and saving that which was lost because he cares about each of his sheep. He cares about each of his children. He cares about each of his kids. So what is there for us to learn? I think that there's two meanings that we find in this.

Number one, Christ has great compassion for sinners. I don't think that can ever be overstated. That Christ has so much compassion. He has great compassion for those who are sinners. Because we live in a world right now that's full of a whole lot of sinners. And I think it's important that as we're looking at this world that's full of people that are very sinful,

we must remember that Christ has compassion for all sinners. No matter what crime they've committed. No matter what thing that they've done. Christ still has compassion for them. And he's still seeking them because he came to seek and to save that which was lost. Whether those be sinners out in the world or sinners right here in the church. Christ has great compassion for sinners.

As a matter of fact, his compassion was so great that he looked at the world and said, I can't leave them like this. I'll lay aside my glory so that I can go and dwell among them. So that I can seek and save that which was lost. But not only do we see that Christ has great compassion for sinners. But we also see that Jesus cares about us each individually. No matter how small.

He cares about each and every one of us. Very, very individually. And he knows exactly what makes you tick. And he knows exactly what pulls you away. And he cares about you. It's been said before, but if you were the only person that he knew that was going to repent, he still would have come and given his life for you. Oftentimes, we see one person in a church service.

One person at a revival meeting. One person that you've led to know Jesus Christ. And I want you to know that. I want you to know, heaven rejoices as much over one salvation as it does over the salvation of millions. Heaven rejoices as much over one backslidden sinner. Backslidden Christian that comes back to faith in Jesus Christ. As all of those that were already walking with him.

He cares about us each very individually. No matter how small we are. And I really mean no matter how. How small we are. He cares about each and every one of us very individually.

When I was a kid, we read a book. This book was called Tilly. If you ever read it, it's a great book. If you haven't read it, I'd highly recommend it. Tilly tells the story of all of the babies that are in heaven. All of the babies that can't wait to see their moms and dads. Because of what's happened through the sin of abortion. And it's such a neat story.

Because in it, we realize that Jesus even cares about each of those individual little babies. That each of those ones who have lost their life through the sin of abortion. Still have a place in heaven. Because he cares about each one no matter how small. Do you know what else is amazing? So many of these poor young ladies that have ended up in a situation where they have made a life-ending decision.

Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. He cares about them too. And he died for them too. And he cares about their life too. And may I say, he is pursuing each one of those ladies too. Because he wants to bring them to salvation as well. So that they can know the restoration that there is in Christ. But do you know the story is not done there. There are people out there right now who are protesting for the right for this to continue.

And I want you to know something. And this is hard for us sometimes. As Christians. But we need to know. He came for each one of them too. For every abortion provider. For every politician. For everyone out there carrying a sign. For every celebrity who says, I hope you stop watching my movies or listening to my music because you're pro-life. Jesus came to seek and to save them too.

And we have to understand that as believers in Jesus Christ. Because he cares about us each individually. No matter how small. And he cares about us each individually. No matter how lost. Brothers and sisters, the only thing that can change anything in our world. Is the life-changing message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's what I love so much about baptisms.

Because the thing that I love so much about last week with that baptism. Is that you get to see in the most vivid picture possible. The life-changing power of Jesus Christ. That he takes someone. And converts them from being dead. To being alive. Well, Jesus concludes this statement. Or concludes this illustration with this wonderful statement. Verse 14. So it is not the will of your father who is in heaven.

That one of these little ones shall perish. Do we understand that this morning? It is not God's will to send anyone to hell. We need to know that. It is not God's desire to send. Anyone into eternal punishment. That is not something that God ever intended to happen to anyone. It's what he has to do to those who have rejected such a great salvation. It's what he has to do because of his distinct hatred for sin.

But it's not his desire that any would perish. That any would end up dying in their sin. As a matter of fact, do you know what it tells us in the book of Ezekiel? It tells us in the book of Ezekiel. That judgment is God's. It tells us strange work. That he would rather see people come to a knowledge of him. Because it's not the will of your father who is in heaven.

That one of these little ones shall perish. It's his desire that all would come to eternal life. Unfortunately, we oftentimes violate God's will in our world. And so as we enter this time of instruction. The first thing that he tells us is who is the greatest. And the greatest are those. Who are humbly dependent upon him. Amen. Well this morning. Hold on. I got hooked on something back here.

Okay. I'm undone now. This morning is communion Sunday. And so this morning we're going to celebrate the life that we have in Christ. Because of the gift of his son coming and dying for us on the cross. So down here in the front of course there's these trays. And these trays are full of two elements. There's the bread and there's the juice. The bread of course speaks of his body.

Which is broken for us. And the juice speaks of his blood that was shed for us. And we're told in scripture that when we partake of communion. We're to do so in a worthy manner. And I usually say there's two things that we need to do to make sure that we take part in it in a worthy manner. But I'm starting to think there's three. The first one is the understanding of exactly what we're doing.

What takes place here when we partake in communion. Is simply a little drink of juice and a cracker. But it has. Great representation for what exactly took place. Because on that last great night of the feast Jesus stood up and he took the bread. That matzah bread. If you've ever seen the matzah bread. That unleavened bread. It's flat and it's hard. But if you look at the top of it you'll see that there's stripes on it.

And there's piercings on it. Those things speak of the. Since it's unleavened sinless perfection of Christ. Since it's striped. We're reminded of the stripes through which we're healed. And since it's pierced we'll remember that he has pierced through for our transgressions. And so as he takes that incredibly symbolic piece of bread and holds it up it says that he broke it.

And he says this is my body which has been broken for you. And so we are reminded when we partake in this that the only reason that I can be in the position that I'm in. That I can be a part of the kingdom of God. That I can come to him in humble dependence. Is because of his body that was broken for us. And then he took that cup. That cup that was representative of his blood that was shed for us.

And he says take and drink. This is my blood which is shed for you in the new covenant. It guarantees for us that his blood was enough to not only cover all of our sin. But to do away with all of our sin. And so as we partake in this little drink of juice. It reminds us of the blood of Jesus Christ. That cleanses us from all of our sin. That cleanses us from all sins.

And causes us to be spotless before his eyes. And so what we do here is of vast importance. Because it is the pronouncing and the remembering of everything that Jesus has done for us. In order to make us right with him. That's the first thing that we need to do to make sure that we understand and take this properly. To know exactly what we're partaking in. That we are declaring the death of Jesus as our one place of hope.

The second way that we must partake of it in a worthy manner. Is that you need to make sure that you're a believer in Jesus Christ. Because if you're not this won't mean anything to you. If you've never come to Jesus in humble dependence. If you've never come to Jesus broken over your sin. Then this won't mean a thing to you. As a matter of fact it's really probably not the best thing in the world for you to do.

So if you've never come to Jesus as your Lord and Savior. The best thing that you can do is take this time when the worship team comes up. And confess your sin to the Lord. And invite him to come into your heart. To forgive you of your sin. And put your absolute humble dependent faith in him. And then of course the third way that we partake of it in a worthy manner.

Is we make sure that our heart is clean before the Lord. I would venture to say that as we've gone through this last week. Through this last month. There have been times where those stumbling blocks have happened. Where you have found yourself. Maybe not fully straight away. But in some areas of your life distracted from the truth. You have found yourself falling into sin.

Whether they be sins of omission. Or sins of commission. The best thing that you can do is take time to confess that sin to the Lord. Clear out your heart. Ask God Lord if there's anything in me. Reveal it. So that I can confess these things to you. So that I can have a clean heart before you. Of course the word tells us that if we confess our sin. He's faithful and just to forgive us our sin.

And to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So that's what we're going to be doing here this morning. So I'd like to invite the worship team to come up. Because they're going to share one last song with us. And I'd like to invite the ushers to come on in. And the ushers are going to come down. And they're going to hand out the elements. When you receive the elements.

There will be two cups stacked together. The top cup will have the juice in it. And the bottom cup will have the bread in it. As you receive the elements. If you would please stand. And then when everyone has received them. We will partake together. Thank you.

Would you bow with me? Father we come before you. And Lord I just thank you so much. For your body that was broken for us. Lord that you were willing to endure the stripes. To be pierced and to be broken. Lord for us. So that our sin could be atoned for. Father I thank you for your blood. That was shed for us. That is enough to not only cover our sin. Lord but to cleanse us.

Of all unrighteousness. And make us spotless in your eyes. I thank you for the sacrifice. That you were willing to make for us. And Lord I thank you for the unity. That we have with you. And the unity that we have with each other. Because of your cross. Lord we thank you for who you are. In Jesus name. Amen. Let's partake.

Would you bow with me one more time. And Lord we thank you for what your word has to say to us. And Lord just pray that as we go out from here. That your word would sink deeply into our hearts. Lord that it would begin to transform who we are. And Lord that we would become more like you. I thank you for the freedom that we get to celebrate this week. And Lord we know.

that true freedom comes in you. So, Lord, we praise you for that. In Jesus' name, amen. Be blessed.