Childlike Maturity Matthew 18:1-6

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The season of life that Brianna and I are in right now is spent in a kid's world.
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Especially Brianna's. As you know, we have two little ones. Aletheia is five and Isaiah turns three on March 13th.
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Our days are spent reading kids' books, watching kids' shows, playing hide -and -seek, playing wrestle in our guest bedroom, and telling bear stories in the closet.
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On my days off, we try to do something fun with the kids. They love going to Target, and sometimes we go through the drive -thru at McDonald's or Burger King on the way home.
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They love burgers and fries, and Aletheia makes it clear to me, no pickles.
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And Isaiah says, no ackles. Raising little kids is difficult.
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Some of you parents are going through that right now, but living in a kid's world brings so many joys. It is a delight to see their happiness at home and how safe and comfortable they feel when they live in a healthy environment.
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We live in such a crazy world right now, and what a joy it is to see the innocence of children in this world.
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It is true that children are born sinners, and you see their selfishness very early on as a parent, but they certainly do have an innocence to them, though.
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For children to live in this world, they need constant help from their parents. Children depend on their parents for everything.
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Children know their limitations, and they know they need a father and a mother to take care of them.
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Little children do not pridefully say to their parents, I don't need you, I can do it on my own.
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No, they depend completely on their parents to provide all their needs. In our text this morning that we will look at as we continue our sermon series through Matthew, Jesus is going to tell us that we have much we can learn from children.
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We often think that, what do they know? And yet Jesus humbles us by saying, learn from these kids.
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In order to have a relationship with God, you need to become like children. And in order to have a healthy relationship with God through the life of faith, you need to be like children.
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So this morning we're going to look at what does Jesus mean by that? So this time I encourage you to turn in a Bible with me to Matthew 18.
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We will be looking at verses 1 -6, and if you're using one of those red
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Bibles, it's on page 978. This sermon is titled, Childlike Maturity.
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And I'll begin by reading the text. Matthew 18, verses 1 -6.
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At that time, the disciples came to Jesus saying, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
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And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, truly
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I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
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Whoever humbles himself like a child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
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Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me. But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
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Here's our big idea. What the sermon is calling you to do. Learn from Jesus as he illustrates the virtue of children.
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Learn from Jesus as he illustrates the virtue of children. And we'll see two reasons why in this text.
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And we'll see that as we go through it. But before we jump in, let me give you a little recap of where we were one Sunday ago.
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We looked at the story where tax collectors approached Jesus' disciples to ask them if Jesus paid the temple tax.
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And the answer is, of course, he did. Jesus as the God -man knew that the tax collectors had this conversation with Peter.
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So Jesus asked him if it was required for the king's son to pay taxes. And Peter knew the answer.
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He said that the king's sons do not pay taxes, but only the general population does.
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What Jesus meant by this is that he is the son of his father who is the king of the universe. And as his son, he is not under the authority of humans.
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But since he lives in this world and desires to set an example of a law -abiding citizen,
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Jesus pays his taxes. And all sons of God, of whom believers are, also have the responsibility to be subject to the laws of the land, as long as these laws are according to God's design for government.
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As believers show themselves to be law -abiding citizens, the wicked world cannot falsely accuse them and say, see, these people are a problem to society.
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But instead, God is glorified through their obedience. Now, this leads us to our text this morning that we've already read, but now we will zero in on.
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I'm going to begin by looking at verse 1, where, again, Matthew writes,
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At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
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This is an interesting question that the disciples pose to Jesus. What they ask him is, who is the greatest?
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And specifically, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Earlier, when Jesus talked to them about John the
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Baptist in Matthew 11, 11, Jesus said, Among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the
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Baptist. And yet, the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than him.
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What Jesus is communicating is that though John was that great, he was still a sinner.
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But those who will be in the kingdom of heaven one day will be sinless and therefore greater than him.
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It might be that the disciples are thinking of this earlier statement by Jesus when they ask him the question here, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
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Now, as they ask this question, Jesus knows that the disciples are thinking of this the completely wrong way, as they so often did.
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They are thinking of greatness like we do in our day. When we see a great athlete, we say we are in the presence of greatness.
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We say that when we see a great musician, when we see one at the top of their field.
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The disciples want to be the best. And it's not bad to aim to be the best at whatever you do.
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It's a good thing, right? As long as it's done for the glory of God. But so often, humans have their heart in the wrong place.
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And the desire to be the best is sinful. For example, if you want to be the best worker at your company, but you don't do it for the glory of God, that is sinful.
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One's aim should be to be the best for the glory of God, whether it be the best athlete, the best musician, the best carpenter, the best teacher, the best business owner, the best farmer, the best parent, and so on and so forth.
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But Jesus knows the heart of the disciples and they ask this full of pride.
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They are thinking in earthly ways. As they ask this, they want to be the greatest.
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They want people to talk about them. They want them to be the story of the town.
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They beam with pride. And like we have seen so often in our journey through the
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Gospel of Matthew, there is a parallel account to whatever text we are in. And that happens here.
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In Mark 9, verses 33 and 34, Jesus describes this event.
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Or I should say Matthew describes this event. And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house, he asked them, what were you discussing on the way?
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But they kept silent for on the way, they had argued with one another about who was the greatest.
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As Jesus asked this question about what they were talking about on their way, their silence is very telling.
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They are embarrassed that their immature conversation has been brought to light.
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And Jesus is now asking them, so tell me about this conversation you guys were having. They were wondering, the disciples that is, they were wondering who is the greatest from a prideful, sinful point of view.
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Now the Mark account says that they were just talking about who was the greatest. People do this all the time. I'm better than you.
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This person is better than that person. This person is more talented. This person is better looking.
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This person is more caring. So on and so forth. And so often these conversations come from a place of pride.
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We form a hierarchy in society on who is more important. This is where elitism lives, by the way.
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And we see elite on display in the world. Elitists think they are above those in the common population.
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And they view commoners as those who are not as important and contribute nothing to society or very little to society.
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This is how the disciples are thinking. Who is the best among us? The disciples apparently think that the better, more talented, more prestigious you are, the higher the rank you will have in Christ's kingdom.
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In verse 1 of Matthew 18, the disciples say not only who is the greatest, but who will be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven in the future.
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Now in verse 2, Jesus answers them way differently than they thought he would. But they should not have been surprised.
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This is what he says. Truly, I say to you, as he takes children and puts them in the midst of them, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
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And that's a humbling. They're talking about who is going to be the greatest, who is the greatest.
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And Jesus says, see this little kid over here? You need to be like him.
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This would have been very humbling for them to hear. They're beating their chests about who's the strongest, who's the most talented, who's the toughest.
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And Jesus tells them that they must become like children. Not only to become the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, but even to enter at all.
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He's taking a shot at human pride. The way that Matthew writes this, we get the picture of what
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Jesus does in our minds. In verse 2, Matthew writes that Jesus took a child and put the child in their midst.
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Now every Sunday morning before the sermon, as we just saw, all the sweet little kids leave here and head over to the
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Madsen building. And we are blessed to have adults who teach the children about the Bible and about Jesus.
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And one of my favorite moments on Sunday is when all the kids run to the door once the service is over to see their parents.
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And then they tell their parents what they did in children's church. It's really hard to get that out of Aletheia, by the way.
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What did you do in children's church? She lets out sometimes, but it's hard to get that out of her. But imagine if Jesus was with us right now.
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By the way, he is in this room right now. He's just not here physically. But imagine if he's here physically right now.
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And we ask him the question, how can we be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
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He would do what he's doing with the disciples right here. He would say, everyone stand up. Let's walk over to the
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Madsen building. He would show us the children and tell us, be like them.
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Once you are like them, you will be among the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And you have to be like them even to enter the kingdom of heaven.
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Now, the question we should be asking here is this. What is it about children that Jesus loves?
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What is it about children that Jesus tells grown men and women who are so far removed from childhood to be like them?
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You know, don't we move on from that? The answer is in verse four. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
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So Jesus here, He reveals to us what He's talking about. What He loves about children. There is a way about children that can be described as humility.
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And that is their complete dependence upon their parents for everything.
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Children are helpless. Children bring nothing to the table.
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When children are babies, they need help 100 % of the time. When children start to grow, they still need lots of help.
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And there comes a point where a child can be self -sufficient. But the road to get to that place is a long road.
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Little children need their parents and they know it. Children know that without parents, they would not be able to survive.
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Children are not impressed with their own capabilities. They know they need to depend on those stronger.
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Those who have more knowledge. Those who have the capability to help. And this is the problem with sinful humans as humans grow up.
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Impressed with their own abilities. Abilities. And people find security in other things like their job, their money, their hobbies.
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Another human. Sinful adults who are not transformed by the Holy Spirit don't think they need
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God. They are self -sufficient. They are independent.
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They don't need the help of their Creator. What Jesus is saying here is that to enter heaven, you need to humble yourself like a child.
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You need to be completely dependent upon another like a child. You need to empty yourself of your own abilities and trust the abilities of another.
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What is interesting is that every false religion says the same thing. You can earn your own way to God.
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You can do it. You can earn your own way.
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You can go to heaven. You can be good enough. You don't need the help of another. As long as you're a good person, it doesn't matter what you believe.
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You'll be okay in the end. In fact, the Pope had an interesting thing happen a few years ago.
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A little boy comes up to him. His dad died. His dad was an atheist. Is my dad in hell?
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The Pope takes the kid, wraps his arm around him, and says, Was your dad a good person?
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He says, Yes. Your dad's not in hell. The Pope said that.
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Wow. He's a bad Catholic. By the way, great conversation to have with a
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Roman Catholic. Ask about the Pope. What's wrong with this guy? Certainly doesn't look like the
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Popes of the past. Right. Especially conservative Catholics. This guy is different.
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Great opportunity to share the gospel with them. But this lie that you're a good person, it doesn't matter what you believe.
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You'll be okay in the end. You can be self -sufficient. This is a lie straight from the devil.
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In order to enter God's kingdom, you need to know who you really are. You are a sinner.
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And on your own, you will travel down the wide path that leads to destruction.
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Jesus said in Matthew 7 verses 13 and 14, Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction.
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And those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life. And those who find it are few.
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The people who travel down the wide path think they can live on their own.
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They are so unlike children who humble themselves, who know they need to rely completely on their parents.
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In Matthew 5 verse 3, Jesus said, Blessed are the poor in spirit. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
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What does it mean to be poor in spirit? To be poor in spirit means that you realize what a mess you are apart from God.
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If you trust your heart, it will not lead you to God, but away from him.
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And yet we hear everywhere, people say, follow your heart. But listen to what the
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Word of God tells us about your heart. Jeremiah 17 verse 9 says, The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick.
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Who can understand it? Isaiah 53 verse 6 says, All we like sheep have gone astray.
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We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
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Every person apart from Christ will go his or her own way.
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Every person who follows his or her own heart will be lost forever.
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To follow your heart means depending on yourself. It means pride in yourself. We must understand that God judges the pride of humans.
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You know what Scripture says? God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
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Over 4 ,000 years ago, God told us what he thinks about human self -sufficiency and human pride.
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There's a geological record to show it. The flood happened. He destroyed the entire earth.
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Do you know what God said about the humans he wiped off the face of the earth? God said in Genesis 8 .21 that the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth.
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It is true that there is an innocence to children. And Jesus is highlighting that right here. Because they depend on their parents.
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But children are born sinners. And as they grow and their sin develops, what develops is a life of self -sufficiency.
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It's good to be self -sufficient in one sense. But in our sense, it's deadly.
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A life of, I want to do what I want to do. A life of going your own way.
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A life of following your heart. This path will only lead one to hell. There is only one way to the
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Kingdom of Heaven. And that is through humbling yourself. It is through recognizing your sin. Recognizing that apart from God's work, you will be lost forever.
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There are only two paths in this world. And that is going your own way.
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Or going God's way. Two paths. To go God's way, you need to rely 100 % on the work of another.
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To enter God's sweet presence when this life is over. What Jesus tells us in these verses is that every
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Christian is like a child. Imagine my daughter, Aletheia, saying to Brianna and I, I'm going to move out.
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Life will be better without you. Now, she might say that out of anger, but five seconds later, she's like, oh wait, that's a bad idea.
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Little kids don't do this because they know that their life depends on the life of their parents. We provide shelter, food, clothing, love, even their favorite toys.
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And children do not survive without their parents. They rely on them 100 % for their livelihood.
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We have children in this room and everyone in this room was once a child. You need your parents and you knew that.
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And you trusted them to take care of you. And of course, this, of course, assumes if you had good parents.
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And sadly, sometimes that doesn't work out. But when it's a healthy, safe home, those children, if you discipline them, it's amazing.
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I'm amazed by this. You think, well, the kids are going to turn on you. They don't. They find their security in you.
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You know, my parents, even though I'm upset at them, they care for me. They provide my needs.
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And this is this is the analogy that Jesus is drawing out here. You must be like a child.
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We need to rely 100 % on another for our salvation.
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Christ earned your salvation for you. He lived a perfect life. He died in your place at the cross.
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And he was raised on the third day from the dead. To everyone who believes this, your sins are forgiven and you have eternal life.
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When Jesus asks you one day, why should I let you into my kingdom? You can see the prideful person saying, well,
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I'm a great, I'm a great guy. I'm a great woman. Look at the great things I did with my life.
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And it's interesting. If you look at Matthew, chapter seven, listing things off when
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Jesus tells them, what? I never knew you depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.
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When Jesus asks you, why should I let you into my kingdom? You should say, only because of what you did on my behalf when you went to that cross.
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Only because of your finished work. And when you give that answer,
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Jesus will say to you, welcome into my kingdom. Living like a child is not something that only happens when you are first converted.
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This is a process through every step of the life of faith. You need God's help every step of the way.
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We saw two weeks ago that the disciples were not able to cast out the demon because they were relying on their own strength and they failed.
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We as believers can do that. We can do things our own way. But Jesus calls you and I to a life of complete dependence upon him.
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Just as a child realizes that apart from their parents, they cannot live, a Christian realizes that nothing will happen spiritually in our lives unless we depend on him for constant help.
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We also realize that everything we have physically comes from him and we must give thanks. Now, I will say one thing about the comparison of believers to children.
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Jesus calls us to be children here, but he does not call us to be childish. Okay, important distinction.
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1 Corinthians 3 .1, the Apostle Paul is frustrated with the Christians in the Corinthian church and he tells them,
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I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.
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What he's saying is you're childish. You need to grow. Adults should not do the immature things that children do.
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As you grow over time, you don't live that way any longer. And as I said two weeks ago, you should be embarrassed of some areas of your life from five years ago as you grow to become more like Christ.
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But too many Christians stay in the same place and they have these childish behaviors. Jesus wants you to move on from these.
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But there is a childlike behavior that a believer should never move on from and that life of complete dependence on God for help.
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Most mature believers are those who understand how weak they are apart from him. Mature believers live not on their own power, but his power.
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Mature believers are like children. So learn from Jesus as he illustrates the virtue of children.
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And the first reason why is that he uses children as an example of otherworldly humility.
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He uses children as an example. Can you hear me now?
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Oh wow, that's a lot better. Did you hear the whole sermon up to this point?
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Hopefully. I was kind of going in and out a little bit, but hopefully you got that.
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Second reason why we have to learn from Jesus as he illustrates the virtue of children is this.
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He takes very seriously the enticing of children to sin.
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And we'll see this in verses 5 and 6. And he says something very interesting in verse 5. He says, whoever receives one such child in my name receives me.
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What he says is that if any human receives one such child, then that person receives him.
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Now the question we need to ask here is what child is he talking about? Is he talking about literal children?
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Or is he using children as a figure of speech? And the answer is obvious when you look at the first four verses.
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As we just saw, Jesus told us that believers are to be like children. And anyone who is not like children is not a believer.
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Verse 6 also says that the little ones are the ones who believe in him. So it is clear that the child that people are to receive here are believers.
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What Jesus says here sounds like what God told Abraham in Genesis 12 .3. I will bless those who bless you.
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Him who dishonors you, I will curse. To receive the people is to receive
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God. And to reject the people of God is to reject him. To receive in this passage means treating the people of God with care.
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Treating them well. Okay, let's see if we can... Oh boy, that's kind of a rough mic morning, huh?
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What Jesus says in verse 5 is that by treating the little child, the believers, well, a person treats him well. So this is why when the
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Apostle Paul was on the road to Damascus at his conversion, Jesus said to him, Saul, why are you persecuting me?
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To mistreat Jesus' followers is to mistreat him. Jesus takes harm done to believers very seriously.
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Let's see this in verse 6. We already read this. Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
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Wow, that's graphic. There are many in the world who are not content leaving
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Christians alone, but want to harm them. People desire to harm Christians either through attitude, word, or deed.
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And in a little bit, I will explain the harming Jesus is talking about in this text. What Jesus says is the consequences for harming a
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Christian are great. What Jesus is communicating is that to harm one of his followers is to harm him.
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What he says in verse 6 is that the one who causes one of these little ones, that is believers, to sin, the text says it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
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That's a graphic picture that we see there. So why is he using this illustration? In the first century, one of the main forms of execution that the
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Romans used was to tie a millstone around a man's neck, about 100 pounds.
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Then they dropped him overboard in deep water. The criminal would have drowned as the weight carried him to the bottom.
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And what Jesus is saying is that dying this way is better than causing a believer to sin. The Greek word translated to sin in this text says to fall or to stumble.
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To make one fall or stumble is leading one to sin. God desires for people to treat people with care.
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It is a large crime to lead one of them to fall into sin. Such a great crime to lead other
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Christians into sin that it would be better if the person doing the enticing were dead.
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Okay, that's the graphic illustration he gives here. Jesus takes this seriously and he takes this personally.
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Going back to verse 5 where he says whoever does not receive a believer does not receive him. What that indicates is that he takes the harm of one of his followers personally.
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Jesus sees this as an attack against himself and an attack against the work he is trying to do in a believer's life.
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Remember, the work that God is doing in a believer's life is making that person more like him. And if someone hinders that work, he takes great offense at that.
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Now, how does one cause a believer to sin? One of these little children.
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One author writes this well. The Lord is speaking of enticing, trapping a believer in any way that leads him into sin or in any way make it easier for him to sin.
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The Lord takes great offense to this. Leading someone the wrong way is an attack against him.
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Unbelievers entice Christians to sin all the time. On occasions, Bran and I and the kids go to the mall.
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And it is alarming what a place like this is able to display. In one sense, the mall is family friendly, right?
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They have Nickelodeon universe and lots of fun stores. But sadly, the mall is also a great debauchery.
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The mall is very sexualized. It is a wicked thing for these companies to objectify women and to entice men to look at women who are almost no clothing.
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What Jesus says about people is that it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea than to cause one of these little ones to sin.
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Another compromise of American Christianity. On Friday.
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Okay, let me try one more mic here. Third time's the charm.
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Maybe it's not the mic, maybe it's the sound system. But you know what? We're okay because God is going to help us here.
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Okay, so on Friday, we watched part one of Enemies Within the
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Church. And think about the worldly pastor who is leading his congregation and tempting some genuine
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Christians in his congregation to go down the wrong path. Think about the worldly pastor who is tempting millions of genuine
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Christians to go down the wrong path. This is what Jesus is saying to this person.
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It would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned into the depth of the sea than to cause one of these little ones to sin.
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That's very serious. Now, unbelievers lead believers to sin all the time.
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But what about believers? Do Christians cause other Christians to sin?
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And the answer is sadly, yes. This is a question we need to ask ourselves. Are we causing people to sin?
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We can either be used as a positive influence for Christ in someone's life, or we can be a hindrance or a stumbling block, as Jesus says here.
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The more worldly a Christian is, the more a stumbling block he is, and the more Christ -like a
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Christian is, the more of a blessing he or she will be to other believers. The Christians who watch bad
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TV shows with another Christian is leading another Christian to sin. The Christian who drinks too much alcohol may be causing another believer to sin.
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The Christian who gossips may be leading other Christians to gossip. The Lord desires to use you as a sanctifying influence in others' lives.
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And as you let him transform you, this you will do. This you will be. Now, the unbelievers who try to entice believers and cause them to sin have a very dark future.
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Now, Jesus describes this future in Matthew chapter 10, verses 14 and 15. If anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town.
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Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.
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The future of the unbeliever who treats a Christian poorly will be the lake of fire.
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The greater the infliction upon believers, the greater the punishment will be. But what about the sins of Christians when they lead other
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Christians to sin? The consequences are severe, so it can't be hell.
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The Lord never brings a believer into judgment because Christ paid the full price of judgment at the cross, but the
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Lord does discipline his people if we are to lead a fellow Christian astray. By how serious
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God takes the sin, we can see that this is a serious discipline that God sends the believers away, whatever that might be.
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The greatest discipline is loss of rewards in the age to come. Earlier, I mentioned teachers who lead people astray.
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There are false teachers who will be in hell. Then there are true teachers, or maybe people who disqualified themselves over time, and they disqualified themselves because they built their church through worldly methods and not through the word of God.
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It's no mystery. How do we build a church? Well, this book tells us we don't use worldly methods.
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If you build the church the wrong way, Jesus takes that very seriously.
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As 1 Corinthians 3 .15 says, if anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as one through fire.
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That's a sobering passage. So it is for every true
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Christian who dabbles too much in the world and leads fellow Christians astray. Jesus takes this very personally.
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To mistreat a fellow believer is to mistreat him. In 1
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Corinthians 3, he also says, he who destroys God's church, I will destroy him. Very serious.
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He bought the church with his blood, and if there's shenanigans going on, if there is worldly ideas going on, he takes that very seriously.
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And so we, in our own lives, should take it very seriously. Are we leading people towards Christ or are we leading them away from him?
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The famous runner Eric Little once said, we are all missionaries wherever we go.
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We either bring people nearer to Christ or we repel them from him. So look at your life.
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Are you pushing people toward him or not? Jesus takes it very seriously if we are not.
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He does not want us to cause one of these little ones, one of these believers to sin. When a child is mistreated, parents are rightly offended.
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Parents care for the child and want the best. When a child of God is mistreated, God is offended. He cares for his children.
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He wants them to grow and does not want anyone to hinder his work in that person's life.
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At the end of our lives, we want to be those people. This person helped move me toward Christ.
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You know what? This person was a hindrance to me. This person didn't help me in my walk with the Lord. We don't want to hear that.
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We want to be used by God. So learn from Jesus as he illustrates the virtue of children.
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And in this text, we've seen two reasons why. He uses children as an example of otherworldly humility.
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The second reason why is that he takes very seriously the enticing of children, that is believers, to sin.
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We love children, but we don't often think that we can learn from them. But you most certainly can.
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Jesus loves children. He wants you to follow their example of humble dependence. And he takes great offense at those who will harm his father's children by leading them astray.
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Let us learn the virtue of children to go down God's path ourselves and lead others down that same narrow path.
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Now next Sunday, Jesus will show us how serious it is that we fight temptations.
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And the reason that they're so serious is because temptations to sin lead to consequences if we will give in to those temptations.
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So we'll look at that next Sunday. But this time, let's bow our heads in prayer. Father in heaven, thank you for your help,
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Lord. Thank you for your word. And my prayer right now is that you would use the word to encourage,
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Lord, to challenge, that we would be like children, Lord, in the good way.
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Not in the bad way, but in the good way. And be used by you, Lord, to be useful.
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Not to lead others astray, but to lead them towards you. And that we would be dependent on you in every area of our lives.