in our hearts tonight and teach us what you'd have us to know from this chapter and in Jesus'
name I pray, Amen.
Alright, Matthew chapter 18, it starts out with these three words, at the same time.
So this ends up with the story where Peter comes to Jesus, if you remember from last
week just to bring it back into the mindset of the story where we are, Peter is faced
with these tax collectors, Jesus tells him, we don't even, we shouldn't even be paying
taxes.
But anyway, he said, but we have to pay the taxes, so unfortunately that's the law.
So he said, go to the sea, and he said, go down to the sea and cast and hook and take
up the fish that first cometh up, and he says, when thou hast opened thy mouth, thou shalt
find a piece of money, he said, that take and give unto them for thee and me.
So he takes this piece of money out of the fish's mouth, pays the taxes, and the Bible
says in verse number 1 of chapter 18, at the same time came the disciples unto Jesus saying,
who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
And Jesus called a little child unto him and set him in the midst of them, and said, verily
I say unto you, except you be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter
into the kingdom of heaven.
So look, they're talking about who's going to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
I mean, who is going to be the one that has the most glory when they get to heaven?
Who's going to be the one that has the most rewards?
Now look, I don't think it was necessarily a bad question that they're asking.
They want to know who is going to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Now look, why would you want to get to heaven and be the least?
I mean, other times in the book of Matthew, he talked about people who don't obey the
Bible.
He talked about people who teach people wrong out of the Bible.
He said, if they're saved, they're going to be called the least in the kingdom of heaven.
He's saying, look, you don't want to be the least.
You want to be rewarded.
You want to be glorified when you get to heaven.
He said, if we suffer, we shall also reign with them.
But they asked this question, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
And Jesus kind of changes the subject a little bit because he takes a little child and he
sets him down and he says, you know what, except you be converted and become as little
children, he says, you should not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
He says, look, you're asking me who's going to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
He says, you have to be converted and become like a little child or else you're not even
going to go to heaven is what he's saying.
Now what does he mean by that?
We'll look at the next verse.
The Bible says whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is
greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
So the greatest in the kingdom of heaven is the most humble person.
But he says, if you don't have any humility like this child has, he says, you're not even
going to heaven.
You see the difference between going to heaven and going to hell is the difference between
you being willing to humble yourself in the sight of God.
You see, he said, look, if you don't become like this little child, if you don't humble
yourself like this little child, he says, you will not enter into heaven.
He says, you're not going to heaven.
Well, what does he mean by that?
Think about it.
If a person says I'm going to go to heaven because I'm such a wonderful person, I'm going
to go to heaven because I go to church every Sunday, I'm going to go to heaven because
I do this and I do that.
Is that a humble attitude?
Not at all.
I mean, that's a puffed up arrogant attitude.
Now the humble attitude is when you say, I'm a sinner.
I don't deserve to go to heaven, but Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins.
He was buried and he rose again from the dead.
And the Bible says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved.
And I say, if you were to ask me tonight, brother Anderson, do you know for sure if
you died that you'd go to heaven?
Absolutely.
100% sure.
How do I know I'm going to heaven?
I know that I'm going to heaven because the Bible says that Jesus Christ came into the
world to save sinners, because the Bible says whosoever believeth in him should not perish
but have everlasting life.
And so a person in order to go to heaven has to admit they're a sinner, the Bible says.
And the Bible also says that they have to believe that Jesus Christ and what he did
on the cross, the death, burial, and resurrection, the blood that he shed for us is the payment
for sin, the only way to heaven.
I look, it takes a humble person to realize that.
It takes a humble person to say, there's nothing I can do on my own to get myself to heaven.
It takes a humble person to realize, no matter how many sins I turn from, no matter how many
new leaves I turn over, no matter if I go to church every day and get baptized 100 times
and eat the Lord's supper for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I am not going to go to heaven
unless it's through the blood of Jesus Christ, because he is the only way to heaven.
Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No man cometh unto the Father but by me.
And so a humble person is going to say, look, I'm a sinner.
I don't deserve to go to heaven at all.
No, I'm not good enough to go to heaven.
No, I'm not a good person.
There is none righteous, no, not one.
If I got what was fair to me, then I would go to hell and be punished for my sins.
But I'm going to humble myself like a little child and say, God, think about a little child.
Think about John here in the front row.
He can't do anything for himself.
I mean, he can't make his own meals.
He can't dress himself.
He can't even go to the bathroom by himself.
He can't do anything for himself.
And that's the humility that we need to have to God, where we just reach up to God.
This is salvation.
It's where you just reach up to God and say, God, I have no hope for going to heaven without
you.
And there's nothing I can do to save myself.
There's nothing I can do to redeem myself.
God, will you please save me since you already paid for my sins on the cross, since you already
shed your blood for me, since you have the power to do that, since you have the power
on earth to forgive sins, would you please save me and take me to heaven when I die?
And of course, Jesus said, him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.
Of course, Jesus said, whosoever shall call on them in the name of the Lord shall be saved.
And so that's what we have to have in order to...
Now look, I did that when I was six years old.
So I was a child.
Now it's easy to get children saved because they have automatically a kind of a childlike
faith, a reliance on other people and they can rely on God to get them to heaven.
Whereas sometimes you try to win somebody to the Lord that's an adult, or you try to
win somebody to the Lord that's older, or you try to win somebody to the Lord that's
really successful in life.
And they're so used to just doing everything themselves and they don't need anybody's help
and this and that.
And hey, that's great, but you know what, if you think that you're going to go to heaven
on your own, you're wrong.
Because there's not salvation in any other, the Bible says, neither is there any other
name under heaven whereby we must be saved.
And so the difference between those that are going to heaven tonight and those that are
going to hell tonight is the difference between those who are willing to humble themselves
and say it's all Jesus, Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe, sin had left a crimson stain,
he washed it white as snow, and then that's the humble crowd.
I'm humbled tonight, I'll tell you that I'm a sinner, I'll tell you that I sin every day.
But I know I'm going to heaven by the blood of Jesus.
Then there's the puffed up, arrogant, religious person who would say tonight, I'm going to
heaven because I attend church faithfully.
Or I'm going to heaven because I have repented of my sins and now I'm living right.
Or I'm going to heaven because I go to such and such a church, or I've taught Sunday school
my entire life, or I always try to help you, I've never done anything that bad.
Hey, that's the pride and the arrogance that will send you to hell.
But the humility that says, Jesus will you please save me, that's what takes you to heaven.
You see, the prideful arrogance, you know where it came from?
It came from Satan.
The Bible says in Job 41, he is a king over all the children of pride of the devil.
It says he is a king over all the children of pride.
Remember, that's why he was even cast out of heaven.
He said, I will ascend up into the heaven.
I will be like the most high.
And he tried to lift himself up to a position of being the leader in heaven through his
own self.
And see, that's why he got cast out into hell, the Bible says.
And so humility is the difference between what we believe as born again Christians,
as Bible believing Baptists, where we believe that salvation is through Jesus Christ, by
grace, through faith, plus nothing of our own works.
And that's humility.
Because we're not bright.
I mean, I don't think I'm going to heaven because I'm so good.
I think I'm going to heaven because I'm so bad, but Jesus loved me enough to save me.
And that's humility.
And that's what Jesus is talking about.
And he says, look, if you don't have it, you're not going to enter into the kingdom of heaven.
And I don't think he said that lightly.
And then he's saying, look, if you want to be great in the kingdom of heaven, if you
want to be a great Christian, the Bible says, as you have received Christ Jesus, so walk
in him.
He said, the same way that you get saved is the same way that you live the Christian life.
You got saved by faith, you live the life by faith, but not only that, you got saved
by humility.
He said, live a life of humility.
Now what does humility mean?
Well, keep your finger in Matthew 18 and flip over to the book of Philippians.
Forward in your Bible, several books there, and I'll show you what it means to be humble.
There's a great definition that God has put in the Bible in Philippians chapter number
two.
God defines the word humility for us.
And in Philippians chapter two, the Bible says in verse number three, let nothing be
done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better
than themselves.
You see that?
That's what humility is.
And he goes on to talk about how Jesus humbled himself.
Now humility is not walking around down in the mouth, depressed.
I remember when I was in school, there was always that girl who'd just be like, oh, I'm
so ugly.
You know, because she wants people to say, oh no, you're beautiful.
You know, you look, oh, my hair just looks horrible today, you know.
Oh no, no, this is the best hair day that you've ever had, you know, unless they want
you to say it right.
And so don't confuse humility with somebody who says, down in the dumps, how you doing,
you know.
And that's not what humility is.
Humility is not when you're focused on yourself, how bad you are, oh man, I'm such a terrible
Christian, I'm such a loser, such a failure, and I don't even know how I'm going to pass
in this church, I don't even know what I'm doing up here, I mean, I just, oh man, Pastor
Anderson's so humble, isn't he?
You know, I mean, that's weakness, that's not humility.
Humility is when you say, you know what, you're more important than I am.
You're more important tonight than I am.
So, if something has to go my way or your way, let's make it go your way, because I
esteem you higher than me, like, it's much more important that you be taken care of than
that I be taken care of, because you're so much more important than I am.
That's what humility is.
Humility is when you have the emphasis on others, it's that, esteeming others better
than themselves.
See, there's the person who's proud, everything's about them, it's all about them.
What can be done for me?
Look how wonderful I am, look how great I am, okay?
Then, there's the opposite of that extreme, which is the person who's just this self-hating,
down in the mouth person, they're still just all consumed with themself, oh, I'm so terrible.
Look, humility has nothing to do with yourself, it's when you get the emphasis off yourself
and say, it's about you, it's about other people, if one of us has to fail, it's going
to be me that fails, I'm going to make sure that you succeed.
And with salvation, humility is saying, it's not about me, it's not about my good works,
it's about what Jesus did on the cross 2,000 years ago.
It's about the blood of Jesus Christ, his son cleanses us from all sin.
That's humility.
Humility, the simplest definition I can give you, is when you take the emphasis off yourself
and you put it on somebody else.
That's what humility is.
It's not when you drag yourself down into the gutter, but it's when you esteem others
better than yourself.
And you know, it's interesting, the word esteem only occurs, self-esteem, this idea, it only
occurs one time, and this is what it is, it says, they esteem other better than themselves.
It says, don't have self-esteem, have others' esteem, where you think other people are better
than you.
And you want to lift up others and think of them highly.
But back to Matthew 18 here, that was Jesus' lesson here, he says, number one, you must
be humble in order to be saved, because you must realize that it's me that's saving you
and not yourself.
Number two, if you want to be great, if you want to be a great Christian, if you want
to be called great in the kingdom of heaven, you've got to live a life of humility where
others are more important, where you're willing to sacrifice yourself for others, where you're
willing to put yourself in the back seat so that somebody else could be promoted.
And by the way, that will bless you in your job.
If you have this attitude where you're always trying to stab people in the back at your
job and every time somebody does something bad, you're the first one to report it to
the boss, not somebody who blew it.
But then when somebody else does something great, you ought to be reporting that to the
boss.
You'll find that you'll succeed in business, and I mean this.
If you're at work and somebody else does something, some kind of an achievement, if you take that
to the boss and say, hey, so and so did a fantastic job, they did a great job, you'll
find that God will bless you for doing that when you esteem others better than yourself.
And you know what, the Bible says promotion cometh from the north.
And so your promotion at your job that you want comes from God.
It doesn't come from man.
And so when God sees you promoting other people, lifting other people up, and just waiting
your turn, hey, God will bless you, and he'll make sure that you lift up, because the Bible
says humble yourselves therefore unto the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in
due time.
And so God will lift you up if you humble yourself from the side of the Lord.
And so back to Matthew 18 though, the Bible says in verse 5, and whoso shall receive one
such little child in my name receiveth me.
But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for
him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth
of the sea.
He says, look, one of these little ones that believe in me, now is that little child that
believes in Jesus, are they saved or unsaved?
Saved.
Because the Bible says whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have ever last
night.
So we're talking about a saved, born again, young child.
You know, could be, I don't know, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 years old, just a young child.
And he says if you offend one of these little children that believe in me, he said you'd
be better off, my friend, to just tie a millstone around your neck, a big boat anchor, just
tie it around your neck and throw yourself into the ocean, than what I'm going to do
to you.
That's what he's saying.
Now, obviously he's not saying he's going to send you to hell, but he said he's going
to punish you in this life.
He said you'd be better off to just end your life.
Now look, what did we learn from this?
God takes it pretty seriously when you offend or cast a stumbling block for a little child.
Now let me show you what this is talking about.
Turn a few books over to the book of Romans chapter 14.
I'm sorry, yeah, Romans 14, that's what it is.
I'm going to show you what it means when he's talking about offending these little ones,
because he doesn't really explain it that much in the passage.
But there are two other chapters where he goes into this subject.
One of them is Romans 14.
And if you would, look at verse number 13.
Romans 14, 13, the Bible reads,
Let us not therefore judge one another any more, but judge this rather, that no man put
a stumbling block for an occasion to fall in his brother's way.
I know and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself, but
to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably?
Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.
Look if you would at verse number 20.
For meat destroy not the work of God.
All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for that man who eateth with offense.
And here's what God's saying.
He's saying, look, yes, we have freedom.
Yes, we are free in Christ to do whatever we want.
You know, and God says, look, you're not going to lose your salvation no matter what you do.
He says, but I want you to follow my laws.
I want you to obey my laws.
Now, there are certain things, let's face it, there are certain things that some people
think are wrong that are not really wrong, like according to the Bible.
I can't think of any.
No, I'm just kidding.
There are some that are not necessarily wrong, but somebody might think it's wrong.
Like, for example, if you think about somebody may think it's wrong, and this is what we're
talking about in Romans 14, they think it's wrong to eat a particular kind of food.
They think it's a sin to eat, say, pork, you know, or say whatever.
And there were people at this time who actually thought that that was wrong, to eat certain
kinds of meat.
Now, this doesn't really go with our culture as much, but there are some people who think
that it's wrong to eat a certain kind of meat in this story.
And he said, look, you know what the Bible says.
You know that the Bible says you can eat whatever you want, and it's not a sin to eat anything.
But he said, because it says, he said all things are good and nothing to be refused
if it be received with Thanksgiving.
But he said, look, if you're around somebody who thinks that it's wrong to eat that kind
of meat, if you're a Christian, you know, and they're mixed up about that.
But he said, if you're just eating it in front of them, he said, you're offending them, casting
a stumbling block to them.
Now, you may say, Pastor Anderson, I don't agree with all the standards that you believe
in.
For example, I don't, I don't believe it's right to watch television because it's worldly.
It's sinful.
There's a bunch of queers on there and there's a bunch of cussing and nudity and filth and
you name it's on there.
I don't think that's right.
Now you may say, well, I think it is right.
There's certain things that I watch that I think are okay.
And that's fine because I believe in liberty.
You know, you do what you believe is right.
I do what I believe is right.
But look, should you, you know, have my kids over at your house and turn on the television
and say, here, let's, let's watch this.
It's okay.
No, because look, I taught them that it's wrong.
You see what I'm saying?
And then if you expose them to that, you're casting a stumbling block to them because
you're confusing them.
You're mixing them up and you say, I don't necessarily agree that thus and so is wrong.
Well, look, even if you don't agree that it's wrong, if you know somebody who has some kind
of a higher standard than you may be about anything about clothing, about food, about
anything, you shouldn't offend that person.
You shouldn't have this attitude.
Well, Oh, the Bible doesn't even say that that's wrong.
Yeah.
Look, you should have an attitude that says, look, if that offends somebody, if that makes
somebody upset, I'm not going to do it around them.
I'm not going to offend them.
I'm not going to cast a stumbling block because this is what God says.
If you do it around them, he says you will embolden them to do something that they believe
is wrong.
You see, because let's say my kids, I've taught them that watching television is wrong, period.
Let's say you have some program, which I don't even think exists, but let's say you have
some clean program and you say, I'm going to show this to them because I know that there's
nothing bad in this program.
I'm going to show it to them.
Well, if you show it to them and they're thinking, Oh man, this is wrong.
Let's say even if it's not wrong and they're sitting there thinking, Oh, good night.
This is wrong.
I shouldn't be watching this.
But then they watch it anyway.
God says that they're sinning because they're sinning against their conscience.
Because look down in the chapter in Romans 14, look at here, it says, has thou faith.
Oh, wait, look at verse 21, it is good neither to eat flesh nor to drink wine nor anything
whereby thy brother stumbled or is offended or is made weak.
Has thou faith?
Happen to thyself before God.
Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he allowed.
Look at verse 23, and he that doubteth is damned if he eat because he eateth not a faith
for whatsoever is not a faith is sin.
You see that?
He says, look, if you don't have the faith to where you believe that I know this is right
to do.
And he says, you doubt whether, well, I'm not sure if this is right or wrong.
Like let's say the case in point, you know, my son's over at your house and you've got
some money.
He says, man, I don't know if this is right or wrong.
I'm just going to go ahead and do it, and I don't know if it's right.
He says that's wrong.
He says, look, if you don't know that it's right, then you shouldn't be doing it.
And so you don't want to be a stumbling block to children, and you don't want to be a stumbling
block to somebody's children.
You want to live to the highest standard that you can.
And if you have something where you know it's okay to do because you've studied the Bible
and somebody else does not think it's right, you shouldn't go to their house and do that.
You shouldn't go to somebody's house wearing something that you know that they think is
wrong, they believe is wrong.
You shouldn't go to somebody's house and act a certain way or use words that they think
are wrong, even if you know that those words are not wrong or if you know that those actions
are not wrong.
You shouldn't do that.
You should try your best not to offend or be a stumbling block to anybody.
And especially, God says, young children.
He says, don't ruin the life of a young child.
I mean, you could mess up a kid's life because you're confusing them.
You know, he's hearing one thing in church and his parents are teaching him something
else and grandmas teach them something else and grandpas teach them something else.
Hey, that could confuse a young child.
He says, don't mess him up.
Don't mess up that life that I died for.
Now look at the view of the one more passage of 1 Corinthians 8, the next book in the Bible.
And so look, not everybody's going to believe exactly the same way, let's face it.
Not everybody in any church is going to have the exact same standards about what is right
and what is wrong.
Some people are going to be more strict than others.
Some people are going to be a little more lenient on certain things than others.
But he says, hey, be careful.
Don't be too lenient because don't be lenient about something that I say is wrong because
if you don't know for sure it's right, he says it's wrong.
And so don't be, watch out with what you allow, he said in that last passage.
But look at 1 Corinthians 8 and the Bible says in verse number 9, but take heed lest
by any means this liberty of yours, because he says, yes, we have liberty, become a stumbling
block to them that are weak.
Look at verse 11, and through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish for whom Christ
died.
But when ye sin so against the brethren and wound their weak conscience, see he's saying
you're doing something that's against someone else's conscience.
Even if it's not necessarily wrong from the Bible, it is wrong from them.
And it says, wherefore, if me make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world
standeth lest I make my brother to offend.
You see Paul's attitude?
He says, look, if I go to a certain part of the country and they think it's wrong to eat
something, he says I would never eat it as long as the world is standing because I don't
want to make my brother offend.
Now look, this is the exact opposite of what the world thinks.
What the world thinks is, well, hey, if you don't just know for sure that it's wrong,
this is what the world believes and this is what most churches believe.
If something's in the Bible, wrong, and the Bible says this is wrong, but if you don't
know about that, it's not wrong for you.
So they teach, like, it's silly, I'm like, man, I don't want to read the Bible at all
and I can do whatever I want as long as I don't know about it.
Because they're like, look, if you haven't heard about it and the Holy Spirit hasn't
convicted you about it, then you're okay to do it.
But you know, if the Holy Spirit talks to you about that, or if you hear that and you
realize it's wrong, well now you can't do it anymore.
It's like, I want to know as little as possible, I can do whatever I want.
Isn't that just retarded?
But so, this is the exact opposite of what we're learning.
What we're learning in the Bible tonight is that if it's in the Bible, it's wrong, period,
no matter what.
And then things that are questionable on top of that are also wrong, especially if it's
in front of somebody who thinks it's wrong.
And so, it's the exact opposite.
Everything in the Bible that says it's wrong is wrong, whether you know it's wrong or not.
So look, if you don't know what the Bible says, you might be doing wrong and you don't
even know about it, and you're wrong.
And if you do something that's even not against the Bible, but somebody else that you know
they think it's wrong and you're doing it in front of them, that's also wrong.
And if you're not really sure if something's right, and you're just wondering about it,
it's wrong.
Now look, how can anybody say this crazy stuff about how you go to heaven by repenting of
your sins?
I mean, how are you going to repent of all that, my friend?
How are you going to quit everything that the Bible says is wrong that you may or may
not even know about?
How are you going to quit everything that somebody else thinks is wrong that you're
doing in front of them, and how are you going to quit everything that you think might be
wrong?
It's ridiculous.
That's why the Bible says that the law has concluded all under sin, for all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God.
There is no difference between the Jew and the Greek for all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God.
Look, nobody can live up to that standard, but we ought to be trying our best to live
a good, godly, Christian life, but good night.
If you have to live a perfect life to go to heaven, we're all going to hell.
It has nothing to do with our works.
It has nothing to do with our sins or lack of sins or our attitude towards sin or what
we did with our sins.
It has to do with one thing.
I admit that I'm condemned by so many sins that I can't even count them, but thanks be
to God I'm saved by the blood of Jesus Christ.
See how simple that is?
If it had to do with us, forget about it.
And that's kind of a theme of the Bible.
That's kind of a theme of condemning mankind and a theme of lifting up Jesus Christ as
the Savior.
But back to Matthew 18, I just wanted to go to those two chapters and teach you what it
means to offend someone.
Look, don't have a puffed up attitude where you think, hey, I know it's okay to do it.
I'm just going to go ahead and do it, and they're just going to have to deal with it.
No, don't offend people.
Don't make people upset with something that you think is right.
Hey, make sure it's right in the Bible, and if somebody else has a problem with it, why
don't you be kind to them?
Why don't you just love them?
And it says, look, maybe they just haven't learned yet that that's okay to do or whatever.
Hey, err on the side of caution.
When in doubt, don't do it.
When you're in doubt about anything, look, I don't have to doubt whether it's right for
me to go soul winning.
When I was out soul winning this week, I didn't have to ask myself, oh, man, I wonder if I
should be doing this, okay?
When I pick up my Bible and start reading it and memorizing it, I think, oh, man, you
think this is okay to do?
I mean, when I show up for church, I don't have to wonder if that's right.
When I sit down and eat a meal with my family, I don't have to wonder if it's right.
Look, when I go to work, I didn't question myself.
I'm just not sure I'm where I'm supposed to be.
Look, when you do things that are right, you know they're right.
When you wonder about stuff, like, man, maybe we shouldn't be watching this.
You're right, you shouldn't.
That's pretty much a good rule of thumb.
But look at Matthew chapter 18.
The Bible says in verse number 7, woe unto the world because of offenses.
The purpose needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.
Wherefore, if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off and cast them from thee.
It is better for thee to enter into life, halt or maimed, rather than having two hands
or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.
And now, look, here's what I want to point out about this.
Do you remember back in Matthew chapter 5, we had a statement that was almost exactly
like this.
Keep your finger here in Matthew 18 and flip back to Matthew 5.
And look at verse 39, I believe it is, or no, that's not what it is, 5, 29.
Look at Matthew 5, 29.
And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee.
For it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy
whole body should be cast into hell.
Now look at that in Matthew 5, 29, okay, you looking at that?
And I'm going to read something from Mark chapter 9, and I'm going to show you something.
And this is important, this kind of has to do with the sermon on how to study the Bible
a few weeks ago, but if you're looking at Mark, Matthew 5, 29, and I'm going to read
for you from Mark chapter 9, a different gospel, the Bible says, and if thy right eye offend
thee, pluck it out, it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom, you're looking
at Matthew 5, 29, right, it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with
one eye than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.
Now are those worded exactly the same?
They're not, are they?
Did you notice a few differences?
It's said it's slightly different.
Now look at verse number 30, okay, and I'll read from the book of Mark.
And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off, it is better for thee to enter into life maimed
than having two hands to go into hell into the fire that never shall be quenched.
Does it say the same thing?
A little different, huh?
Now look, this is what I want to show you.
People who use these phony Bibles, NIVs, HIVs, you know, whatever they are, these people
who use these wrong Bible versions, the New American Standard, the New King James, whatever,
they will sometimes say, look, if you look between Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you'll
see that things are worded just a little bit different.
And so it's not the wording that matters, I mean, that was just kind of the way that
Mark heard it.
You know, I mean, Mark was kind of in the back.
Matthew was right up front, right, when Jesus was preaching, he was right in the front.
And so when Jesus said it, man, he wrote it down exactly.
You know, Mark was in the back, he was half asleep, okay, you know, and so they both worded
it slightly different.
That was just kind of the way that Luke remembered it.
Look, this is God's word, this is the Bible.
It's not what somebody thought about or had an idea.
And you say, well, why then is something worded different in the book of Mark, worded different
in the book of Luke, worded different in the book of Matthew?
And I mean, good night, I thought this is God's word, I thought this is exactly what
he said.
Look, the answer is very simple.
Look at Matthew, chapter 5, okay, he's saying it one way.
In the same book, in Matthew, chapter 18, he's saying it the way it is in the book of
Mark.
He's saying, wherefore if I handed I would offend thee, cut them off and cast them from
thee.
Whereas here he worded it differently.
Here's the answer.
When you run into things that are worded different, it's because Jesus preached the same stuff
over and over again.
And so you're not reading the exact same sermon when you're reading the book of Mark and the
book of Luke.
God gives us different sermons from Jesus in the book of Matthew, in the book of Mark,
in the book of Luke, in the book of John.
It's different sermons.
So you say, well, wait a minute.
Over here, Jesus is feeding 5,000 people and over here he's feeding 4,000.
The Bible is contradicting itself.
Look, in the book of Matthew itself, it has both of those stories.
It's two different events.
A lot of times people will try to say that the Bible is contradicting itself or they'll
try to say that, you know, the wording is off.
Look, it's because you're looking at two totally different sermons.
It's because Jesus preached about how, hey, if your hand offends you, cut it off and cast
it from you.
He preached that on many occasions.
I mean, in the book of Matthew he preached it several times.
And so that proves that he was very repetitive because he preached in this city and he preached
in this city and he preached in this city.
He preached a lot of the same things in each city.
And so between Matthew 5 and Matthew 18, he says the same thing in two different ways,
which shows you when you're seeing something different in Mark or Luke or John, hey, it's
just a different sermon.
It's not the same sermon written differently.
Because I'm going to tell you something, every word of this book is exactly the way it's
supposed to be.
I mean, when you read what it says that Jesus said in here, that's exactly what he said,
word for word.
I mean, it's not a paraphrase.
It's not a rough idea.
That is what he said.
And what he said in Matthew 5 is exactly how he said it.
The way he said it in Matthew 18 is exactly how he said it.
And the way he said it in Mark chapter 9 is exactly how he said it.
This book is 100% accurate.
So the person who's getting hung up about that has a faith problem.
They don't believe the Bible is God's word.
So they think Mark might have wrote it wrong or Matthew might have wrote it wrong.
Hey, look, the person who has the faith just accepts, hey, this must be exactly what he
said.
This must be God's word.
When it comes to the obvious conclusion, we're talking about several different sermons here.
We're talking about a different event.
That's why it's worded different.
But look back here, it says, find an eye, offend, eat, pluck it out, and cast it from
thee.
It is better for thee to enter into life with one eye rather than having two eyes to be
cast in hellfire.
What he's just doing is he's preaching hard, and he's just trying to beg people to be saved,
saying, whatever it is that's stopping you from getting saved, he's like, hey, man, if
your hand's stopping you from getting saved, then cut it off and get saved.
Whatever it is.
And so it's just kind of a, he's not actually literally saying to cut off your hand, okay.
What he's saying is he's preaching hard.
He's saying, look, hell is so bad.
Hell is such a terrible place, don't go there for any reason.
He said, you'd rather go to heaven having your hand chopped off than to have two hands
to go to hell.
It's just, he's just preaching.
And you say, man, it sounds like he's trying to scare people.
Yeah, I think you're right.
I think he is trying to scare people because he doesn't want anybody to go to hell because
he loves people and he wants to be saved.
And then look at verse number 10, we'll move on from that, it says, take heed to you despise
not one of these little ones, same subject, for I say unto you that in heaven their angels
do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven, and then verse 11 is a continuation
of verse 10, for the Son of Man is come to save that which was lost.
By the way, Matthew 18, 11 is only in the King James Bible.
Any other Bible, it goes from verse 10 to verse 12.
It goes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, they can't even count.
And so the King James Bible has verse number 11, but it says, these little ones, he says,
don't ever despise these little ones.
You know when little kids come to church sometimes and maybe they're not well-groomed, maybe they
act up in church a little bit, maybe they smell bad or whatever, and he says, look,
don't despise these little ones.
He says, look, their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.
And he says, the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.
He says, every little child, and look if you would at verse 14, even so it is not the will
of your Father which is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
He said, I want everybody to be saved, every grubby little kid, every kid who acts up in
church.
He says, I want all of them to be saved, don't ever despise them.
I died for them and I want every single one of them saved.
See this flies in the face of this doctrine of Calvinism that teaches that, well, God
decides, it's up to God who says, no, God said I want all of them to be saved.
Don't offend them, don't despise them, don't kick them out of church, don't send them away.
He says, listen, suffer the little children to come unto me for such is the kingdom of
heaven.
He says, look, don't despise one of these kids because every single one of them is important
to me.
Every little kid in some ghetto street somewhere, every little kid whose mom is a hooker and
their dad's on drugs somewhere, they don't even know who their dad is, every single one
of them is a human being that Jesus died for and wants them saved.
That's why we go soul winning.
That's why we go door to door soul winning because let me tell you something, everybody
in the ghetto and everybody, every little kid on the street, they don't work at your
job.
Did you know that?
Did you know that everybody that Jesus wants saved is not in your family or in your circle
of friends?
No, that's why he said, go ye therefore into the highways and hedges and compel them to
come in.
While I was working last night in an apartment complex, I was working on an apartment complex
where they had 245 fire alarm pole stations, you know, pole for fire, and I work on fire
alarms.
130 of them had been pulled.
We're a real mature group in this apartment complex, huh?
And we're talking about a giant apartment complex, all kinds of adults and children
there, and they pulled 130 fire alarms.
So I fixed them all.
It took me four hours to reset every single fire alarm pole station, get the panel back
up and running.
I got it up and running.
They called me this morning.
The fire alarm went off twice last night.
I said, look, you guys need to do something about this.
You need to teach these people, but look, let me tell you something.
Every kid in that apartment complex has a soul, and do you think that their mom and
dad are taking them to a church like this tonight?
Do you think that their mom and dad are sitting down with them and reading the Bible and telling
them about Jesus?
Hey, if we don't tell them about Jesus, if we don't get them saved, who's going to get
them saved?
No, they won't get saved.
They'll grow up, and there'll be some gang banger walking down the street, and you know
what you'll do?
You'll drive down the car, and you'll see some gang banger walking down the street with
the F word on his shirt, and his pants saying that, and you'll say, oh, that's a piece of
trash, blah, blah, blah.
Hey, why didn't you get him saved then?
Huh?
You didn't care enough to win people the Lord.
You don't care enough to preach the gospel.
You didn't care enough to despise somebody that Jesus died for.
Look, hey, we ought to have some love as Christians for our fellow man and say, you know what?
This kid that's a foul-mouthed punk, I need to love this kid and get him saved.
I need to get him the gospel.
Don't complain about the derelicts around here unless you're a soul winner.
Don't complain about the crime, hey, unless you're winning people to Christ, unless you're
doing your part to solve the problem, because you know what?
Maybe if the kid would get Jesus in his heart, maybe if he would accept Christ as his savior
and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved, maybe then he wouldn't grow up and
be the gang banger that he is if somebody would get to him when he's a child and win
him to Christ.
And so the Bible says, look, the Son of Man has come to save that, which is why I said
the whole purpose I came here was to get people saved.
He says, don't kick out some child because you think he's a failure, so hey, that's who
I came for, just for him, just for her, just for this little girl.
That's the whole reason I came to this earth is to win these people to Christ.
And look, if that's Jesus' purpose in life, that's going to be my purpose in life.
The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost, hey, I think that's where
I'm going to make my mission in life, to seek and to save that which was lost.
I don't think I can go wrong following in the footsteps of Jesus being a soul winner,
caring about everybody.
You know, I've heard people say, you go out soul winning and you say, how many people
did you get saved?
You say, I had three people saved, three children, all those children, you know, like it doesn't
matter.
You know, but if you get adults saved, oh wow, you know, you got these adults saved.
Hey look, a soul is a soul, my friend.
And winning a child to Christ, hey, at least they have their whole life ahead of them.
At least they haven't already messed up their life.
That's the greatest thing in the world that you could do.
And so don't ever be afraid to win children to the Lord, get them saved.
The Bible says in verse number 12, how think ye, if a man have a hundred sheep and one
of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety-nine and goeth into the mountains
and seeketh that which is gone astray?
And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep
than of the ninety-nine which went not astray, even so it is not the will of your Father
which is never that one of these little ones should perish.
He says, look, Jesus Christ, God the Father, is more interested in the one person that's
not saved than in the ninety-nine people that are saved being, you know, comfortable.
He says, look, I'm more excited about the person that just got saved yesterday.
I know that you've got a rough life and I know that there's a lot that you need from
me, but Jesus says, excuse me, can you excuse me ninety and nine, because I know that you're
just so filled with problems all the time, but see this one over here, it's in the mountains,
they're not even saved, they're going to go to hell when they die.
I must give them the priority over the ninety and nine.
You see, sometimes we as Christians, as the ninety-nine that are not lost, sometimes we
may have to sacrifice a little bit, sometimes we may have to suffer a little bit for the
one that's not saved.
And you know, Jesus said that's just the way it is, because he said, look, yes you're suffering,
yes you have hard times, but at least you're in the fold, at least you know you're going
to heaven when you die, at least you're born again, at least Jesus Christ your Savior,
at least you got the Word of God, at least you have some point in your life, some kind
of direction in your life.
He said this one that's not saved, what do they have to look forward to?
Dying and going to hell, what do they have to do in life?
Eat, drink, and be merry, and waste their life away, and be a fool?
He said they have nothing, and so if I have to put you through a little bit of hard times
in order to make you more of a soul winner, he says I'll do it in a heartbeat, because
we must reach the one, we must reach the one that's not saved.
He says in, I'm sorry I lost my pace, but he says here in verse number 14, even so it
is not the will of your Father which is in heaven that one of these little ones should
perish.
Notice the emphasis on just the one, he talked about the ninety and nine and the one.
Now he's saying it's not the will of your Father which is in heaven that one of them
should perish.
See it's not good enough to say we got everybody, we got all these people saved.
It's like well what about the one that you didn't get saved, you see what I'm saying?
And that's why we must give Jesus Christ a hundred percent with our lives.
We must sell out for God, because if we don't give him a hundred percent, the one that got
away is the one that breaks the heart of God and the one that should break our heart.
Look do you think I want to have ninety-nine percent accuracy with raising my kids?
Say well I had, I've got three boys, two of them turned out right, the other one went
to the devil.
That's not good enough, you see.
We've got to strive to win everybody the lower we can, to do everything we can.
I got to hurry to finish through this, but it says in verse number 15, moreover if thy
brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone.
If he shall hear thee thou hast gained thy brother, but if he will not hear thee then
take with thee one or two more than in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word
may be established.
If he neglect to hear them tell it unto the church, but if he neglect to hear the church
let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.
Verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, whatsoever
ye shall loose on earth shall be loose in heaven.
Just quickly, this is a story about a man who, you're in church and somebody else in
church has done a grievous wicked sin, and you find out about it.
And you go to that person and say listen, you're in sin, and I don't know if I can
talk about something minor, I'm talking about something terrible that they've done.
And you say look, you're wrong about this, you're in sin, you know what, this is just
between me and you, you know I'm not saying anything to anybody else, and look this gets
rid of the gossip right here.
It said just go between you and him alone, and just deal with that person just one on one.
Now this story is parallel with the other story in the Bible in 1 Corinthians 5 where
a man was actually fornicating with his mother, with his stepmother I'm sorry, and it was
just a filthy thing that was going on and nobody would do anything about it.
He's saying look, if there's a problem between you and somebody else, you know about something
that they're doing that's wicked and immoral, he said go to them and just say hey look,
it's between me and you, you know what, I want to pray for you, you must stop what you're
doing, I mean you're in sin, it's wicked.
And it says if that doesn't work, hey go get somebody else with you.
And go to that person and say look, we love you but you must stop this.
And he says if they won't listen to you, then he says just throw them out, get rid of them.
He says throw them out of church because he says I don't want my house to be polluted
with wicked lewd sinners around these little ones which believe in me.
See, keep in mind you have to look at the context of the Bible, you can't just take
things out of context, what are we talking about in the whole chapter?
What do we start out talking about in verse number 2?
Little children.
What are we talking about all the way through verse 14?
Little children.
Moreover is a conjunction, you see at the beginning of verse number 15, the word moreover
is a conjunction.
We're talking about the same topic that we've been talking about for the last 14 verses,
we're talking about offending a little child, we're talking about offending little ones
and this is not popular what I'm preaching, but he's saying look, you got somebody who's
into sin who's offending your children, I mean I'm talking about, think about how bad
it would be if we had a couple in our church that's just, they've been saved for years,
everybody knows that they're saved and everything and they're just living together unmarried.
You know, just living together, having children together and they're coming to church and
boy we honor them and he's leading the singing, you know, or they're even being used in the
church in some capacity, look, what kind of message is that going to send to my children?
They're just accepted in church?
Somebody who's been saved for years, and I'm not talking about somebody that we just
won to the Lord yesterday, you know, I mean you win somebody to the Lord, you know, they
need time to grow and everything, but I'm talking about the Bible says if somebody be
called a brother and they're a fornicator and it lists some wicked sins, he says look,
don't even eat with them, if they're called a brother.
I mean we're talking about somebody who's been saved for a while, not somebody who just
got saved and we're trying to teach them the things of God, but look, some backslidden
Christian and they got their live-in girlfriend, you know what, you don't like what I'm preaching,
I don't care, because I'm not going to offend these little ones, you see what I'm saying?
And so I'm not going to just have sin just rampant in church where people living together
but nobody really, you know, we're not going to say anything about it, well look, the kids,
they know what's going on, they can see the difference between people that are married
and people that aren't married, and that's just one example, but you know, people who,
some filthy pervert comes in the door, he's going to beat us as a heathen and a man and
a publican and send me out on the street, because we're not going to have filthy, wicked
sin in this church, that's all it's talking about, and it's not talking about just somebody
who's going to pay sins, throw them out, look, hey, we'd all be thrown out every day, okay,
it's talking about being offensive to a child, is what it's talking about, and so on and
on, the thing that I want you to see there is just, hey, study the Bible in context,
when you see a conjunction at the beginning of a verse, realize that we're talking about
the same subject that we've been talking about for the rest of the thing, if you see a verse
start with and, that's a good sign that has something to do with the verse before it,
and then just very quickly, I'm out of time, but it says, then came Peter to him in verse
21, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him. See how
we're on the same subject, see how in verse 15 it said, moreover, if thy brother shall
trespass against thee, which means sin against thee, and it says, then came Peter to him
and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him, till seven
times? Jesus saith unto them, I say not unto thee until seven times, but until seventy
times seven. He says, no, don't forgive somebody who wrongs you seven times, he's saying, forgive
them 490 times, which obviously you're not even going to keep track of that, and so he
says, no, don't forgive them seven times, make it 490, and then he tells this story
about a king, and I'm just going to blow through this, a king who had a servant that owed him
ten thousand talents, and he didn't have enough money to pay the debt, he came to the Lord
just crying and saying, God, or not Lord, but his master, his boss, his Lord, his leader
there, and he says, I don't have the money to pay this, give me some time, I don't know
what I'm going to do, and then he says, look, don't worry about it, I'm going to express
some love to you and just let you off the, then he goes out, the man who's forgiven in
the story, then he goes out and finds somebody who owes him a hundred pence, which is a lot
less money, and he takes that man by the throat, and says, pay me that thou owest, and the
guy says the same thing, I don't have the money, I'm going to get it together, I'm sorry
I'm going to do it, and he says no, he gets the guy thrown in jail for not paying him
the bill, when the, when his Lord finds out about it, then he takes him and says, you
know what, I showed you a lot more mercy than you showed, than you should have showed him,
he says, now I'm going to exact the debt that you owed me out of you, and he throws
him in prison, until he pays every cent, and so what's God trying to say, look, God has
forgiven us a lot more than we would ever forgive anybody else, I mean, people that
wrong you, people that do you wrong, I've heard people say, I can never forgive so and
so, I'll never forgive them, hey look, it's a good thing that God doesn't have that attitude,
because I'm going to tell you something, nobody has ever done as much wrong to you as you've
done to God, I'll tell you that right now, nobody has ever done wrong to you like we've
done to Jesus Christ, has anybody, I mean, did somebody spit in your face and nail you
to a cross, did you have to go to hell for somebody, look, that's what Jesus did for
us, and Jesus said to the man who nailed him to the cross, he said, father forgive them
for they know not what they do, and so look, we should be willing to forgive people the
same way that Jesus forgives us, and he says, look, and this is the warning at the end,
he says, if you don't forgive people, then when you do wrong, he says, I'll hold it to
you, like, let's say, I mean, good night, when you do something wrong tomorrow, when
you mess up, which all of us mess up, do you want God to take it out on your hide like
you really deserve, or would you rather that God is very gracious with you and just kind
of let things slide a little bit, yeah, that's what you want, is that how you treat other
people, is that how you are when people do you wrong, are you gracious and kind and loving
about it, or are you just unforgiving, you're going to hold a grudge, you're going to pay
him back, hey, look, God says, I will treat you that way, if that's the way you treat
other people, that's exactly how I'll treat you, yes, your sins are forgiven, you're going
to heaven if you're saved, but, he says, in this life, I'll put the hammer down of judgment
and chastisement on you and discipline on you, because that's the way you are with other
people, you expect them to be perfect, I'll expect you to be perfect, you won't forgive
them, I won't forgive you, is what he's saying, so, look, Jesus forgave us, Jesus loved us,
let's extend that same kindness and forgiveness to everybody that we come into contact with,
people that have done you wrong in your past, hey, let it go, whatever it is, I mean, whoever
it is, you say, but you don't know what they did, you don't know how bad it is, hey, just
let it go, because it's not as bad as what you've done in comparison to God throughout
your lifetime, let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer, Father, thank you so much
for the Bible, and please just help us to follow these principles that are taught in
the Bible, I know that it's hard to obey some of the things that you...