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Jesus Loves Us More than Enough!
The Gospel of Matthew
Matthew 18:1-14
Sermon by Rick Crandall
(Prepared October 3, 2022)
BACKGROUND:
*Please open your Bibles to Matthew 18.
In our last study, Jesus began by answering the disciples' question in vs. 1: "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?''
*Turns out, they were wondering about that question, because they had been arguing about it as they walked on the road to Capernaum.
Mark 9:33-35 says:
33.
Then He came to Capernaum.
And when He was in the house He asked them, "What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?''
34.
But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest.
35.
And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.''
*On the road, maybe all of them thought they were entitled to be greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
And they were stubborn about it, even up to the night before the cross.
(1)
*But Jesus tried to teach them that their whole idea of greatness was upside down, and He used a little child to do it.
In vs. 2-4:
2. . .
Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them,
3. and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
4. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
*Then Jesus began to express His love for little children, and it's the same kind of love He has for us.
Please think about God's love as we read vs. 1-14.
MESSAGE:
*There should be no doubt that God loves every single one of us.
John 3:16 is one of the most loved verses in the Bible.
And there Jesus said, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
*John 3:16 is the heart of the Gospel straight from the heart of God.
"For God so loved the world."
This word "world" is found 79 times in the Gospel of John.
And "this word is not talking about the physical world or the sinful world system.
It's talking about the world's people.
*Walter Wilson said: 'No one in all the world could possibly love everyone in the world.
In fact, most people find it hard to love all their relatives.'
But in spite of our faults, God's love is so great that it's possible for Him to love every person in the whole world!
God loves Americans, but He also loves Russians, Chinese, Arabs, Pakistanis, the British, Japanese, Israelis, everyone."
(2)
*You have probably heard this truth in the song our daughter Katie and I used to sing in the car every day when she 4. The tune was first written as a marching song during the Civil War.
The original words were "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, the Boys are Marching."
*But after the war, Claire Woolston wrote new words that turned that tune into one of the all-time favorite Christian songs for children:
"Jesus loves the little children,
ALL the children of the world.
Red and yellow, black and white,
They are precious in His sight.
Jesus loves the little children of the world."
(3)
*Jesus loves the little children, and all the big children too!
God so loved the world!
That means God loves the oldest to the youngest!
And He didn't start loving those little babies when they were born.
No. God loved them, as my daddy used to say, "when they were just a twinkle in their mother's eye."
*God loves all of us!
But how much does He love us?
1. FIRST: JESUS LOVES US ENOUGH TO WARN US ABOUT THE DANGER OF SIN.
*When the Lord thought of that little child beside Him, and all the little children in the world, He began to think about the godless, evil people who would harm those children in any way.
Jesus especially thought about the people who would lead children away from Him into sin.
And He began to warn about the dangers of sin.
*The world doesn't want to hear about sin.
Talking about sin is old fashioned, out of date.
Talking about sin makes people feel uncomfortable.
It crimps their style, so many people would rather just not talk about it.
But Jesus talks about sin.
And why?
Because He loves us enough to warn us about the great danger of our sin.
And the Lord makes this danger clear in three ways.
[1] JESUS BEGAN BY TELLING US IT WOULD BE BETTER TO LOSE OUR LIVES THAN LEAD LITTLE CHILDREN INTO SIN.
*The Lord made this truth clear in vs. 5-6 where He said, "Whoever receives one little child like this 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 if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea."
*Have you ever come close to drowning?
That is a scary experience.
Years ago, Alan Jackson had a popular song called: "Way Down Yonder on the Chattahoochee."
That song reminds me of home, because the Chattahoochee River runs through Atlanta.
It has a few rapids, so it's fun to go down in a tube or a rubber raft, and I used to do it when I went to Georgia Tech.
*But one of those times I fell off the raft and got trapped under a huge rock.
The rushing river was pushing me deeper and deeper under the water, and I couldn't get my breath.
I almost drowned, and I believe that I would have drowned, if God hadn't helped me get free.
*For a few moments, I didn't think I was going to get loose.
What a terrible feeling: Running out of air.
But Jesus says that drowning would be better than leading little children into sin.
[2] HE ALSO SAID IT WOULD BE BETTER TO LOSE OUR LIMBS THAN TO SIN.
*Starting in vs. 7, Jesus said.
"Woe to the world because of offenses!
For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!"
Here Jesus said one of those things that's hard for us to understand.
"Offenses must come."
In other words: It was necessary to allow sin to come into the world.
It was necessary for God to allow people to sin.
*Some people think, "if I was God, I wouldn't let any of these terrible things happen in the world."
Or they may ask cynical questions like, "If God is good, then why does He let bad things happen?"
When people do that, they are setting themselves up as better than the most holy God.
They are setting themselves up as judge over the Judge of all.
When people do that, they have no idea how proud and presumptuous they are to question God.
They also have no idea how patient He is with our pride.
*Many things in life are hard to understand.
And it's hard for us to understand why it was necessary for God to allow sin to come into the world.
But the best way I can understand it is that it was the only way God could carry out His plan for the world.
It was the only way God could make men in His image, make people with the ability to choose.
God did this knowing that everyone would make sinful choices, but only some would choose to receive the forgiveness we can have by receiving Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
*Much about life and the Lord is a mystery, but we will never regret trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ!
And in vs. 7-9 He said:
7. "Woe to the world because of offenses!
For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!
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