The Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand—The Book of Matthew · Pastor Adam Wood · Matthew 18:1–14 · November 23, 2025

Transcript:
Amen, let's go to Matthew chapter number 18 this morning. Matthew 18. To be honest with you, one of the benefits and one of the challenges of going through a book and covering each passage and trying not to skip too much. We have skip to verse here and there. But one of the benefits and challenges of our method here is that sometimes you come across passages that don't really make a whole lot of sense in the context of the book. In the context of like, Lord, is this important? That you put it, you spent 14 verses, basically half of a chapter in your word on this one subject. But the answer has to be, obviously it is. Obviously it is that important. And so we're gonna read verses one through 14 of Matthew chapter 18. And we'll see what the Lord has for us. We're just gonna plow through it. And I know for a fact there are some very important truths in here. And probably a lot more than, no doubt, a lot more than I see that I have written down here. So Matthew chapter 18, verse number one, the Bible says this. At the same time Jesus came, 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 ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. So there's no way for any person to get through the pearly gates. No way for anyone to be forgiven of sin and receive eternal life unless they come to God like a child. Lord, I don't have anything, I don't know anything, I can't brag of anything, I'm weak. You have to do it all. That's the only way, that humility that a child knows innately. We've already covered that last Sunday. We continue in verse number five, the Bible says this, or verse four, whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child the same as greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 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. Woe unto the world because of offenses, for it must 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 if thine eye offend thee, 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 into hell fire. Now I'm gonna pause here and say one thing. I dare say that most people, even with the Lord's exhortation here in verse nine, verse eight and nine, if it really came down to brass tacks and that was what was required, it was either your hands, your feet, your eyes or heaven, probably 95 out of 100 people would choose their hands and feet in their eyes. That's just, I think that's just a fact. Verse 10, take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones, for I say unto you that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my father which is in heaven. Such an interesting verse, is it not? Verse 11, for the son of man has come to save that which was lost. How think ye? If a man having 100 sheep and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the 90 and nine and goeth into the mountains and seek of 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 90 and nine which went not astray. Even so, it is not the will of your father which is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. Would you pray with me? Our Lord, thank you once again for the opportunity to look into your word. Lord, we confess that we only scratch the surface of your word, but Lord, we do desire to do that today. So Lord, would you help us? Would you be our instructor and our illuminator? Would you help our minds and our hearts to be inclined to your word, to be ready to hear? Lord, take away, I pray, all distractions from your people, things that are put there to take our attention from you, Lord, for what you have to say. And Lord, I pray as well. Lord, there is satanic activity all around us that is invisible. And I ask you, Lord, to protect your people. Protect everyone here from the attacks and wiles of Satan that try to get into our mind and our heart to dissuade us, even as we read in this passage from you, from your will and from your word. So help us, protect us, and guide us in our study this morning. Lord, if there be a person among us who does not know the Lord Jesus Christ and does not have eternal life as a sure fact, prick the heart of that person, I ask you, Lord. Help us now as we look at your word in Jesus' name, amen. The topic of these 14 verses is, you can pull it down to one basic thing, and that's little children, little children. Now we've already covered the first four verses in which the Lord takes a little child and sets the child in the midst of the disciples, which is the disciples are the big dogs, the big shot, the big shots in this world. They're the people whose names are actually written in scripture. They're bigger than any president or any governor or any king. The names of the disciples, and we're not even to the Lord Jesus himself, whose name can't be compared to anyone else, but these are some of the greatest men in history as far as in God's estimation. And yet the Lord takes those and sets a child right in the middle of them to serve as an example, a humbling and humiliating example of faith and an example of what is required for a person to come to Christ in the right disposition. And you know, little kids have an advantage that the Lord points out here, and just to reiterate a little bit from last week, and this is why the Lord uses children as examples to adults, children have the right disposition and the right view of themselves that makes them kind of ripe already for Christ, if that makes any sense. And I mean that in kind of the natural way. In other words, they haven't yet developed the hardened heart and the firm wrong convictions that adults often have over time. And you know, if you have children or you've ministered to children, there is absolutely a difference in disposition from a young child as they age, their attitude and tone towards spiritual things changes naturally, I'm just referring to naturally. They have this kind of naturally kind of sensitive and humble disposition, and this is what the Lord is describing here. But once they lose that, you don't get it back. Once you lose that, once a child loses that, it's very difficult to regain. In fact, it is so difficult that the Lord uses this to adults who must somehow get that disposition back in order to come to Christ in the right heart. So basically you can't come to Christ as an adult, you gotta come to Christ as a child. You can't come to Christ with all your knowledge and wisdom and all your righteousness and all your experience and all those things that we boast to one another of, you can't come to him with any of that. You come to him empty, you come to him as a child. And that's why the Lord uses it as an example. But once a child loses that, that is a difficult thing to regain. And it is actually a huge stumbling block and hurdle for many adults when they are called to come to Christ. Because they don't wanna humiliate themselves in that way. They don't wanna put aside all the things they've learned in their life and all the ideas they've entertained and accepted that might be wrong. They don't wanna do that. They don't wanna acknowledge that they're sinful and that they're hopeless ...