You must have Humble, Trusting Obedience

[0:00] If you would take your Bibles and turn to the Gospel of Luke, Luke chapter 18. If you're visiting with us, there's a black Bible in the chair in front of you, or a chair next to you, in front of you.

[0:20] Go towards the back, the New Testament section, what's called the New Testament, and go to page 62, you'll find Luke chapter 18.

[0:33] We're studying, as I said earlier, verses 9 through 17. 18, chapter 18, verses 9 through 17.

[0:51] I'll read the passage, then we'll begin our study. Verse 9.

[1:04] And Jesus also told this parable to certain ones who trusted in themselves, that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt. Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, and the other a tax gatherer.

[1:20] The Pharisee stood and was praying thus to himself, God, I thank you that I am not like other people, swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax gatherer.

[1:30] I fast twice a week. I pay tithes of all that I get. But the tax gatherer, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner.

[1:48] I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he who humbles himself shall be exalted.

[2:01] Verse 15. And they were bringing even their babies to him, so that he might touch them. But when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called for them, saying, Permit the children to come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

[2:18] Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it at all. It was back in 1988.

[2:31] A television program preceding the 88th Winter Olympics featured blind skiers being traded for slalom skiing. They were paired with sighted skiers.

[2:43] The blind skiers were taught on the flats how to make right and left turns. When that was mastered, they were taken to the slalom slope where their sighted partners skied beside them, shouting left, right.

[2:56] As they obeyed the commands, they were able to negotiate the course and cross the finish line, depending solely on the sighted skiers' word. It was either complete trust or catastrophe.

[3:09] You really have to trust someone to do that, don't you? That's why trusting is linked to those who are blind, when they have to actually trust someone to lead them somewhere.

[3:23] And you'll see in the New Testament as well, trust is linked to children. Because little ones are so trusting without any reservations whatsoever. Remember, Josiah got his cast off, having broken his arm a few weeks ago, got his cast off this past Tuesday.

[3:47] Well, they had to x-ray it to make sure it was healed. So you can imagine, I am leading the little three-year-old into the x-ray, and I'm telling them, I'm right here with you.

[3:58] I don't know how trusting he was of me, given the fact I had to hold him down, so to speak. The sad part about it is, we went back to the orthopedic, and he said, oh, these x-rays won't do.

[4:17] So I said, well, we'll just go back and get other ones. So they wanted him to do like this, and then they wanted him to do like this. So we went back to the x-ray.

[4:28] We got more x-rays done. Oh, and he was trusting his dad as I was holding him down like this, with his arm like that. Ah! Screaming his head off.

[4:39] That was trusting, right? Okay, there you go. Trust takes humble dependence. And as Jesus, or I should say Luke, or Jesus, calls people to follow him, you'll find forgiveness of your sins.

[4:55] What we'll see in our text this morning is, you'll find forgiveness of your sins, but you must have humble trusting dependence upon him. You must have humble trusting dependence upon him.

[5:09] You must have humble trusting dependence upon Jesus. That's what it takes to really follow him.

[5:22] In verses 1 through 8 that we looked at last week, we saw that God would vindicate his people. But who specifically are his people?

[5:35] Whom he vindicates? Who are those ones? Who are his people? How are they distinguished? Who are those who belong to him?

[5:47] Those who are humble and confident in his mercy. Who depend upon him. Trusting. And this mercy, that pediates anyone who thinks he can be saved by acquiring his own merit.

[6:04] Acceptance from God does not come from one's own works, but based upon the merits of Jesus, as one humbles himself and puts complete confidence in God's propitiating mercy.

[6:19] It's not your merits. It's not the merits of the saints. It's not the merits of Mary. It's the merits of Jesus and Jesus alone.

[6:35] In our passage here, the first part, we'll see two representatives. One is proud and self-righteous and the other is humble and contrite. And even a third issue with the child will be humble and trusting.

[6:49] Even this first part, you can see, it's almost called the parable of two prayers. The proud and the humble. One prayer leads to heaven.

[7:03] The other prayer leads to hell. And God shows merciful grace to the most unlikely people. The most unexpected people.

[7:17] But it's those who are humble, who are trusting, who are dependent upon Him. Justification by God is grounded only upon God's propitiating mercy.

[7:29] It is by grace alone, through trust alone, in the person and work of Christ alone. That's an important phrase, friends.

[7:40] Your forefathers died for that. Did you hear what I said? Your forefathers died for that statement. Because if you said that statement in the 1500s and 1600s, you would be burned at the stake.

[7:57] That was anathema, that was blasphemy in the Roman Catholic Church. But the reformers rediscovered this truth. that it's grace alone, through faith alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

[8:14] It's found in the Scriptures alone. We stand on their shoulders, and your feet are all bloody. Because those shoulders were burned at the stake.

[8:29] You cannot look to your own merits. You cannot look to your own goodness. Our good deeds mean nothing to God, because the standard, the standard is perfection.

[8:42] The standard is perfection. It's not your goodness. It's perfection. It's absolute, total righteousness. That's the standard. And what do you hear when you say that?

[8:56] Nobody's perfect. Exactly. But one was, one was. Jesus Christ, the righteous one.

[9:07] He was perfect. This is an example, parable, slash story. But it's told, as a real event, with a real, a real conclusion.

[9:20] A true conclusion. Now, it's not to say that all Pharisees were like this. Or all text collectors were like this either. But it's descriptive.

[9:31] The first part of our passage are two types of people. Those who trust in their goodness versus those who trust in God. And then when you look at the next part with children, still those who trust in God, those who put simple, childlike, dependent trust in God.

[9:47] That's why Jesus brings up children, because they're trusting. You must think and consider, hello, there you go, you must think and consider yourself as nothing before God, only deserving His just wrath.

[10:07] To gain His acceptance, we look to the sufficient work of Jesus, recognizing one's need for God to give His mercy, and humbly appealing to that mercy.

[10:18] Have mercy on me. A broken and a contrite heart you won't turn away. And, this is not simply what you need today if you're not a follower of Christ.

[10:32] If you're not a follower of Jesus today, yes, this message is for you, but really this is for all of us. Because all of us need to have this continual mindset. We must always be humble, always be trusting, always dependent upon Jesus and God's mercy that flows to us from the gospel.

[10:52] That's the only thing you'll be able to make it through life and through one day and not go crazy. Because you look to His sufficient work on the cross for everyday life, and that same grace that saved you is the same grace that sustains you and holds you.

[11:14] Future grace. Future grace. So, if you go through this passage, keep that in mind, Christian. It doesn't stop once you become a believer, once you become a follower. That's just the beginning.

[11:27] It's not the end. So, I've got two points for you. Humble dependence, trust independence. Pretty simple. Humble dependence, verses 9-14.

[11:41] We'll look at that first. Not prideful independence, humble dependence. We start in verse 9. Jesus told this parable to certain ones who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and viewed others with contempt.

[11:56] Those who trusted in themselves. This word is important. Trusted. It means to confide in, to rely upon, to place hope and confidence in, even be assured.

[12:13] So, he says this parable because based on their own merits, these people think they're accepted or embraced by God. God accepts me based on my merits, based upon my righteousness, my goodness.

[12:29] as for anyone who has this type of attitude, which is pride. And those who despise others, and that's the next part of the text, and viewed others with contempt.

[12:45] Both pride and contempt is their outlook and both of these positions will be condemned by Jesus. Jesus. You ever talk to someone like this?

[12:59] These, they fail to rely on themselves, not on God. The seans, sorry, they fail to see that they rely on themselves, not on God. Probably 99% of the people that we talk to today about the gospel, they have this attitude, which is what?

[13:14] I'm a good person. I talk to two guys in Jerome on Friday for like an hour? I mean, I kept going until almost, I think it was like quarter until six, I think, almost close to then, almost six o'clock.

[13:34] I continued talking with them about this. Scenarios of, so a person, they don't believe in Jesus, and they do all these good things, they save thousands of upon thousands of children, they do these good things to help children all throughout the world, but yet, they don't believe in Jesus, you're telling me that they're going to hell?

[13:57] And I said, your standard is goodness. That's not the standard. The standard is perfection. It's righteousness.

[14:11] But see, that's what they can't get through the head. It's like, but I'm a good person, I do good things, that's what matters, no, no, you must be absolutely perfect.

[14:25] That's the standard. But they fail to see that they rely on themselves, not on God. So that's why Jesus says this parable.

[14:37] He speaks this parable. So he says, two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other tax gather. two polar opposites.

[14:49] Two polar opposites in the first century. You have to understand, the Pharisee, a Pharisee was the epitome of piety, of godliness. He was respected, knowledgeable, committed to God's law.

[15:03] And supposedly, he kept it. Now, I thought that a Pharisee was in and of itself a bad thing. I mean, we read Pharisee in the New Testament, it's in the negative context, hardly ever in the positive, maybe a couple times positive.

[15:20] But it didn't start out that way. It began, Pharisee, began during the time of the Maccabean revolt. They stood for God's law.

[15:32] They were a distinct group who maintained piety, godliness, which stood in contrast to pagan Hellenism. Initially, they were good, committed to the law, but they moved toward obnoxious self-righteousness and merely going by external codes and rules.

[15:57] You have to understand, though, in this culture in the first century, these guys had a wide open line to heaven. I mean, there was no business signals.

[16:09] There was no drop calls. God would hear them, so everyone thought. They were leaders of the people. So everyone expected to find the Pharisee in these surroundings, praying in the temple.

[16:26] No one expected to find a tax collector there. And everyone would expect that the pious Pharisee, he deserved to be accepted by God.

[16:37] Whereas that tax collector, that guy should be rejected. The tax collector, he was hated as much as the Pharisee was loved.

[16:51] The most hated profession, stealing from his own people for the Roman Empire. Oh, they couldn't stand it. Oh, what is what? You're working for them.

[17:06] They didn't usually come to the temple because they were hated. Nobody wanted them there. Do you know that tax collectors were disallowed from public office? They could not give testimony in court because nobody would believe them.

[17:21] They were detested. Maybe something equivalent today would be drug pushers, pimps, those who prey on society making money by using others' bodies and stealing from them.

[17:39] That's what the tax collectors are like. I mean, God would never hear this no good rotten jerk wad outcast.

[17:50] I used that word outcast on purpose. So, Jesus, he starts this parable. One of the Pharisees another tax collector.

[18:03] Now, put your Jewish thinking caps on your little thing, you know, the little thing that covers the head. You know, for us bald guys, we're going bald. That's why it's there. You realize that. So, we put that so there.

[18:13] I'm not going, that's black, see, it's not covered. Put your Jewish caps on. You have to hear this parable with first century Jewish ears. Why?

[18:25] Because when they would start a parable, you would start with the positive image and expectation first. And then you would give the negative part second.

[18:38] So, in other words, when you came to the conclusion, who is going to be the positive one? The Pharisee, right? Who is going to be the negative one? The text corrector, right? What does Jesus do?

[18:51] He puts a twist, he puts a spin on the story to grab a hold of his listeners even more because instead of doing, oh yeah, awesome, and this guy was not, he goes, this guy, no good, this guy was awesome.

[19:09] that's why it was going to shock his hearers even more. Does that make sense? Here we go. The Pharisee stood and was praying thus to himself, God, I think of them not like other people, swimmers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

[19:31] First, he most likely walking into the inner court of the temple. In verses 12, excuse me, 11 and 12, he referred to himself in the first person five times.

[19:46] How convenient. Notice how the Pharisee, he described himself, that's like on slow mode, come on, here we go, the Pharisee, oh, let's go back here, the Pharisee described himself in the prayer, not God.

[20:06] He was me focused, not God focused. It was all about his achievements and fulfilling the law. So I'm better than others. He didn't give thankfulness for God and his great work.

[20:21] He didn't focus on God. He was so confident of his righteousness that he compared himself to others who were sinners, morons as far as he was concerned. Fools.

[20:32] I don't see people swimmers. I'm not unrighteous toward others. I have been faithful to my wife and I certainly don't have this guy's job.

[20:46] Evaluated based on vocation. Thank you, God, that I'm such a great guy. Now, let me tell you, God, just how great of a person I am.

[21:00] 12, I fast twice a week. I pay tithes of all that I get. He was confident because of his religious activity.

[21:14] Fasting and tithing. In the Old Testament, one fast was prescribed once a year, the Day of Atonement. That's it. Oh, wait, wow, so he was really pious.

[21:25] He was really godly. He fasted twice a week. Most likely, he fasted on Mondays and Thursdays. Whoa, that guy's awesome. Tithing.

[21:37] In the Old Testament law, it required more than just a tithe. Actually, they actually gave up to 33% of their earnings. It seemed that he was giving a tenth of everything that he earned.

[21:49] Or anything that he received, he would give a tenth of it. So, based upon his things, he says, I am superior to others. He was certain, he could approach to God.

[22:01] He practically demanded justice as a personal right of his. As a matter of fact, what we could really say is he thought of himself as good as God himself. He was quick to judge and condemn others.

[22:17] Confident in himself, though. He seriously thought he knew the truth. He was self-deceived. He had no sense of guilt, sin, or need of dependence.

[22:30] He was thanking God for how utterly and totally awesome he was. God, you must be proud of me. I wouldn't be on the call of duty.

[22:41] That's right. So, God, aren't you impressed with my service record? Aren't you glad you have me as your servant? And he sounds like a game show host as well. Aren't you glad?

[22:51] God, this type of attitude or approach was totally offensive to Jesus. There was nothing he needed from God.

[23:05] God should just congratulate me. He claimed to be a lover of God. He claimed to be a lover of the Lord.

[23:16] But the fact that he had such lack of love for others, it shows him to be completely fake. He was only confident in his own righteousness. And he looked down on others. Thirteen.

[23:33] Let the tax gather. Total opposite now. Extreme opposite. Two polar extremes. Here's the pious, self-righteous, this Pharisee, and then the tax gatherer.

[23:49] God remained far off, probably at the outer edges of the court of the Gentiles. Was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, suggesting timidity and unworthiness.

[24:07] Did not believe he was able or worthy to approach God. His eyes were down, and notice it says, he was beating his breast.

[24:19] And beating his breast, the text letter, was a sign of contrition, brokenness, sorrow. saying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner, the sinner.

[24:37] He had no self-confident focus. He had a penitent, pleading, prayer to God as a self-confessing sinner. Notice again, he says, the sinner.

[24:49] The sinner. Under such conviction of sin, he mourned over what he was, and mourned over what he had done.

[25:01] He could only throw himself upon God. Notice how God was the subject of his prayer, truly. He's passive. He knew he was nothing before God, only deserving just judgment, so he appealed to God to give him propitiating mercy.

[25:22] That's what the word means, propitiating mercy, or atoning forgiveness. Notice there's no comparison to others. He's not better than others.

[25:35] I need mercy. He was conscious of his own unworthiness, so much so that he believed he could barely approach God.

[25:48] He totally relied on God's gracious, propitiating, atoning, forgiving mercy. He asked for mercy because it was the only thing he dared ask God for. This man knew that God's wrath was upon him.

[26:07] For God to mercifully remove his anger would be his only hope to be saved. gift. This is what we call people to do in evangelism, friends.

[26:23] This is what we need to call them to do. You must throw yourself upon God's gracious mercy and Jesus alone. You cannot trust in your good deeds. You know what that guy, one of those guys said to me up in Jerome?

[26:39] He said, I don't believe that when I told him this. He said, I don't believe God will be that harsh. I said, you know what? I don't believe God will be that harsh either. But he is that holy.

[26:49] And he is that righteous. And he is that just. That's what I told him. You know what that stems from? It stems from a wrong view of us and a wrong view of God.

[27:02] Or it stems from a low, small view of God and a high, exalted view of man. But we call them, you must realize who you are before a righteous God.

[27:23] You must see that you are an outcast. You're nothing. If you're here today, you're not a follower of Jesus. You must see that you deserve God's justice.

[27:39] You deserve his wrath because you're rebellious against him. But he sends Jesus as a way to show mercy and compassion to sinners. And all of God's wrath was poured upon him.

[27:52] It should be poured upon sinners forever in hell. It was poured upon his son to all those who turn away from their sin and put all their hope, all their trust, all their faith in Jesus alone, and you will be saved.

[28:07] You will be saved. Come. Come follow Jesus. You'll find forgiveness of your sins. Humble yourself. Have humble dependence.

[28:22] Verse 14. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. Jesus endorsed and praised the tax collector's prayer or attitude.

[28:38] He went down to his home justified. Not the Pharisee. The Pharisee, he strode home, confident of his righteousness.

[28:51] He was unaccepted. He was rejected. He was unjustified. He was still condemned. And so are those two guys up in Rome right now.

[29:06] They're condemned. Because they glory in their own self-righteousness. And they think God is harsh. I said to him, what makes you think God is obligated to give you anything?

[29:20] Why should God give you anything? He's not obligated to you. And he said something, and I said, God doesn't have to give you anything. Why should he give you anything? Why does God have to give you anything in this world?

[29:33] Nothing he owes to you. You owe him everything. He's the glorious God. He says, well, but how can you sit there and send people to hell for just a couple of sins or whatever?

[29:45] It's because you're sinning against an infinitely holy God who's infinitely righteous. And that makes your sin infinite. Oh, I don't believe that. And I said, you either embrace what the Bible says or you reject it.

[30:06] How convenient to, they said, well, people change the Bible, you know, it's not, doesn't say, there's a lot of different interpretations. Well, that's convenient, right? I mean, well, there's a lot of different interpretations.

[30:18] Oh, there's another thing he said, he said, said to me, well, doesn't Jesus say you must love people and you want to care for them? I said, absolutely, he said that. But he also said, if anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.

[30:36] Oh, people change that, you know, to say this and that. Oh, that's convenient. What's it mean to be justified?

[30:50] What's it mean to be justified? justified. Justified. Is this important? Justified is a gracious forensic or legal, that's what forensic means, legal act of God whereby sinners are declared judicially righteous in his sight on the basis of the person of Jesus and his mediatorial substitutionary work.

[31:17] That's, you must die for that statement because your forefathers did. You're declared righteous. You're declared judicially righteous.

[31:29] You don't act like it though, do you? As you go out from there, you might pull out in front of a person or they might pull in front of you, oh, you stupid jerk, right? You might just sin as you come out of the church service, right?

[31:42] It's not necessarily what you do all the time. No, it's not necessarily what you do, but it's how you've been declared. On the basis of what? Your good deeds? No. The person of Jesus and his mediatorial substitutionary work.

[31:58] Sin and guilt, they're imputed to Jesus. His righteousness is imputed to us or credited to us. It's called the great swap. Faith, not works, is the only instrument by which justification is received.

[32:15] justification is mediated through the means of faith, the channel. So here is Jesus, here is you. Your sin is imputed to Jesus.

[32:28] His righteousness is imputed to you. What's the channel by which this goes through? Faith alone. That's the channel. It cannot be earned by merit.

[32:40] It is accepted as a gift by faith. And by the way, faith in and of itself is a gift by God given to the sinner. Faith is a gift too.

[32:53] You don't conjure it up on your own. So, the person alone was justified in God's sight and this tax collector specifically, he alone was justified in God's sight.

[33:07] He was vindicated. Those who humbly yet boldly approach God, they're the ones who are justified. Any penitent, humble sinner who humbly looks to God, crying out for mercy, will find it in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

[33:34] When I was up there talking with them on Friday, I brought up Romans chapter three. I said, you must be perfect. I said, but now righteousness from God has been displayed.

[33:47] I said, it was talked about in the law and the prophets. Even the righteousness of God, which comes through faith in Jesus. This is Romans chapter three. I said, for all that sin and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by his grace, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.

[34:03] I said, you can have the redemption. Christ paid that. It was awesome. He said, tell me how you can be saved.

[34:16] I went, here we go. Went through the gospel. God is your creator. He created all things.

[34:27] You are a rebellious sinner. Jesus lived where you and I failed. When we sinned, He was perfect. And that could be credited to you.

[34:38] And He died. All of God's wrath should be poured out upon sinners, was poured out upon Jesus for all those that turn away from their sin. They turn away.

[34:49] They walk a different way. Repent means you're going this way and you turn the other way. And you put all your trust, all your faith in Jesus alone. That's how you get saved.

[35:02] And that's what Romans talks about. Apart from the law, the righteousness of God was manifested. The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe. Chapter 3, verses 21 through 24 of Romans.

[35:16] And I also quoted from Romans chapter 3, verse 10. There's none righteous, not even one. There's no one who does good. There's none who seeks for God. Romans chapter 4, verse 4 and 5.

[35:31] Now to the one who works, his wage is not reckoned as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned, credited as righteousness.

[35:47] Any penitence, any humble sinner, anyone can come to Jesus. Anyone, anyone, come and you will be saved.

[35:59] find it in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Cry out for mercy. Why?

[36:12] What's the principle that Jesus gives? The principle is this. God honors humility, pride is condemned, humility is hailed. 14.

[36:25] 4. Everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he who humbles himself shall be exalted. There's the principle. Exalt yourself, you're humbled.

[36:39] Humble yourself, you're exalted. God looks to those who are humble and contrite of spirit and who tremble at his word, Isaiah 66. A broken and a contrite heart, ye won't turn away.

[36:52] We see that display, that humility is throughout the Bible. James chapter 4. James chapter 4, verses 6 through 10.

[37:08] James says, God is opposed to the power but gives grace to the humble. Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil, he will flee from you. Draw near to God, he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners.

[37:19] Purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep, that your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord and he will exalt you.

[37:32] That's the principle. To assume one has the right to receive blessing for activity is despised by God. To assume that one deserves nothing but cries out for mercy based on Jesus' sacrificial death, that's honored by God.

[37:51] true father of Jesus doesn't compare himself or herself, instead knows that their standing before God can only be made possible by his propitiating mercy.

[38:04] There's nothing without it. One writer said this, a quote, God is always ready to receive the unrighteous when they call to him, but he closes his ears to those whose pride in their religious practices and good works makes them feel self-sufficient.

[38:25] Must be humble before God. Humble dependence. And even before others. Throughout the scriptures, being humble towards each other, when pride comes, then comes dishonor, but with the humblest wisdom.

[38:42] In Philippians chapter 2, Paul says, do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind, let each of you regard one another as more important than yourself. Don't look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

[38:57] Peter picks up this same principle. 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 8, let all be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kind-hearted, and humble in spirits.

[39:11] For us as Christians, we should be known as being people who are humble. So one must have a humble appeal and simple trust in Jesus, just like a child.

[39:27] These two marks that go together for a true follower of Jesus, this leads us right into the second point. Humble dependence and now trusting dependence, 15-17. Not doubting, not independence, but you trust, faith, confide in, have confidence in Jesus alone.

[39:50] Verse 15, and they're bringing even their babies to him so he might touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. The word here for little ones, it means babies, which could refer to young babies, although the term could also refer to early childhood, even those beyond toddler years.

[40:11] But whoever they were bringing, they wanted Jesus to touch them. Why? Because it would be a form of blessing. Form of blessing and touching the children. He would be blessing them. And the disciples, they thought it was inappropriate.

[40:24] They wanted to put a stop to it, either verbally or physically, because they thought Jesus didn't need to be bothered, and in frisket his time, he's too busy, he's too tired, go away, you have a runny nose, yucky.

[40:38] Interesting how few of the world's great religious teachers had concern for children. not so for Jesus. Verse 16, Jesus called for them, saying, Permit the children to come to me, not hinder them.

[40:56] The kingdom of God belongs to such as these. That's encouraging to see that Jesus received children, took time to bless them. He wasn't too busy for children.

[41:07] them. But was it just about spending time with children? No. It goes deeper than that. Jesus took the opportunity to now teach his disciples something about the kingdom of God.

[41:23] He says, Permit them. Don't hinder them, because the kingdom belongs to such as these. What are these? Trusting people are the kind that enter the kingdom of God.

[41:36] this kind. This kind. In other words, they admit they're helpless. You must admit your helplessness.

[41:49] Earlier, in the Gospel of Luke, the disciples are arguing, I'm the greatest. No, I am. No, you're a loser.

[42:01] Jesus, knowing what they're thinking in their heart, he took a child he said to them, whoever receives this child in my name receives me. Whoever receives me, receives him who sent me.

[42:12] For he was least among you, this is the one who's great. You have to become an outcast. You have to become like a child. They're helpless.

[42:25] Children, especially young babies, are totally dependent upon someone else, upon another to care for them, else they wouldn't survive. survive. This is the reason, says one writer, quotes, this is the reason they are blessed, just because they have nothing to show for themselves.

[42:48] They call out for God's undeserved kindness because of one's, their helplessness. That's the type of person you need to become. A child in the Jewish first century would stand for those who are helpless and unimportant.

[43:03] which is still true today. I mean, who are the ones that can be taken advantage the most? Who are the ones? It's children. They can be taken advantage of.

[43:17] But greatness is not inherent in a person how great they are. No. It comes in your relationship with Jesus. The least among them is great.

[43:29] You want to be great? Become a nobody. If you want to be great, be a servant. If you want to be famous, be helpless.

[43:43] If you want to be elevated, become an outcast. To our outcasts, come follow Jesus, you'll find forgiveness of your sins. But you must become someone who's humble and have trusting dependence.

[43:57] as the song goes, nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling.

[44:10] Naked come to thee for dress, helpless look to thee for grace. Children, are a great picture of the members of God's kingdom.

[44:25] they have a child like trust and reliance. A child depends on parents. There's utter dependence, unwieldiness, there's openness, there's trust. There's no holier than thou attitude with the young ones.

[44:42] But you notice what Jesus does though. Kind of ups the ante here. In verse 17, look at verse 17. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child, the Greek is ume, shall never enter it.

[45:03] To enter the kingdom, you must become, come on, you must become as a child with humble, simple, childlike trust.

[45:15] If one does not have this type of dependent faith, then one cannot enter the kingdom. Period. There's no if, and, or buts. He does this because we just talked about how children have utter dependence, they're trusting, there's humility, there's reception, they're loving to those who truly care for them.

[45:40] They're not proud of their virtues, they don't battle self-righteousness. They're free from prideful knowledge. Oh, and they love gifts, right? When you first start out with a one-year-old child, for their one-year-old birthday, right?

[45:55] You kind of give them the cake, and they kind of, well, some kids are like, yeah, but you give them the gift, and they're like, what is this, right? The little bag with the paper and stuff like that. By two, they start digging into that cake, right?

[46:09] And then they, okay, I'm getting it. By three years old, they love digging into those gifts, right? They give them, and then they love getting into other people's gifts. Oh, look, it's someone else's birthday, but it's really mine too, right?

[46:21] The three of us are, all right, let me help you with that, right? Like the twins are, like, yeah, man, all right, here, Angela, it's happy with your birthday, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, they want to help everyone with their birthday.

[46:33] Oh, they give you hugs, oh, thank God, all right, they just love to do that. Do you want to enter the kingdom and qualify for its blessings?

[46:50] Then you must come to God with humility, childlike trust, dependent upon his propitiation and mercy. Children are simple, dependent attitudes, the way a disciple of Jesus walks with God always.

[47:05] That's how he always should be. We should live and know that our only hope is the blood of Jesus and mercy that flows to us from the Father based upon his Son.

[47:20] How we pray, it reveals our hearts. Do we really believe a righteousness in his sight? Have we truly banked upon Jesus and his work for us? Christian, have you truly trusted?

[47:32] Do you truly trust in the sufficient work of Christ? That's your only hope. It's not your good deeds. This is what must, we must become outcast children.

[47:51] And not just initially, for salvation, but a continual attitude throughout our Christian walk. It should never stop. Humble, childlike, trusting, dependence.

[48:06] We tell children, right? When older, so four, five, six, seven, eight, you need to grow up and be mature, right?

[48:18] And you need to do that. For us, what we need to learn, we must not grow up. We actually must grow down. Grow down and become humble children crying out to God for mercy.

[48:33] Humble, trusting, dependence. Let's take a few moments and let's ponder what we've seen in God's word this morning. Take a few moments of silence. You know the drill.

[48:44] We like to do that. But if you're here visiting, this is what we do. We take a few moments just to ponder what we've seen in God's word and to think about that. A few moments of silence and then we do our time of giving.

[48:57] We worship the Lord in our time of giving. And then we'll sing songs to praise him. And then we'll have our closing prayer. Thank you.