Receive the Kingdom as a Little Child

Well, we all know that today is a very special Sabbath in God's Church, because we are reminded of how our Savior loves and blesses all His children. Jesus reprimanded the disciples who felt He was too busy or He was too important to see the children, to give them an audience. He put the disciples in their place when He told them that they must become like or as little children if they were to inherit the Kingdom of God.

Small children, especially infants, are naturally weak. They're weak in certain ways. I guess it's relative. Have you ever seen any babies lifting 100 pounds over their head? No, that doesn't happen. There aren't any super babies. If you're born on Krypton and come to the U.S., maybe, but otherwise, no. So we haven't seen any super babies. We haven't seen any infants doing one-arm push-ups. That would be pretty awesome if they could do that. But I've never seen that. Even on some of the shows they put on TV these days, I've never seen that. I've never seen an infant whooping up on an adult.

It just doesn't happen. Babies and small children are all weak in comparison to a fully developed, healthy adult. And we all realize that. That goes without saying, but I've just said it. You know, it isn't so easy for adults or teens, however, to see how weak they really are. Let me say that again. It isn't so easy for adults or teenagers to see how weak they really are. And that's especially true when it comes to realizing our true spiritual weakness of and by ourselves.

As Christians, we must come to see ourselves as weak like a child, like a little child, like an infant, but also strong in Christ if we are to receive the Kingdom of God. This is the foundation for entering God's Kingdom. Having the humility to see our weakness and depending upon God for His deliverance. Let me say that again. This is the foundation for all of us. We must have the humility to see our weakness and then depend upon God for His deliverance. We cannot deliver ourselves into the Kingdom of God. We cannot earn our way into God's Kingdom.

God has to give us His Kingdom. It's a gift that comes from God and it is based on whether or not we're willing to see our weaknesses, admit them, and humble ourselves before God. Now we just observed the Feast of Tabernacles, which pictures God's Kingdom, established first upon the earth and then to expand for all eternity. We all want to receive the Kingdom.

We want to be in God's Kingdom, but we simply won't be unless we receive the Kingdom as a little child. So the title of my sermon is, Receive the Kingdom as a Little Child. Again, we have to humble ourselves and recognize our spiritual weakness, but unfortunately, that's not always so easy for people. There's a certain thing called pride that gets in the way. And we know that Lucifer was perfect until the day pride was present in him. Pride is the biggest deceiver of all. Having pride, not being able to see past that pride, not being able to see ourselves as we truly are, not being able to repent of who we are and what we've done.

God has to give us this humility. He has to grant us repentance. God does so by looking at our hearts, however. So we do have to continually examine our heart, strive to have pure hearts, strive to put sin out of our lives. Infants and small children are totally dependent on others for their physical survival. I didn't see any babies walking down the aisle, sitting in these chairs.

I saw parents bringing the children, carrying them down. They're totally dependent upon their parents for their well-being, for their deliverance. They wouldn't live more than a few days if the parents weren't there to take care of them, to feed them, to nourish them, to give them water, to hydrate them. They're totally dependent on others for their physical survival. They simply cannot make it on their own. And we spiritually cannot make it on our own. And if we try, we will fail. Because it's impossible to enter his kingdom on our own.

We can't enter God's kingdom unless God grants us repentance and He gives us the humility that's necessary to be saved. Do you see yourself as a person who needs help, and lots of it, when it comes to inheriting the kingdom of God?

Do you see yourself lacking in various ways?

Do you also have faith in the one who can deliver for you?

Humility and faith. Are you weak physically? Let's talk about physically for a moment. Are you weak physically? If you're weak physically, you may be able to see your weakness spiritually a little bit easier than you do if you're strong physically. If you think you're an iron man, it may be more difficult for you. If you think you're invincible, it may be more difficult for you. If you think you're the greatest, it may be more difficult for you because pride has a certain foothold already. Remember Muhammad Ali? I don't know how much of it was just talk, but he did say he was the greatest. And I think he probably believed it, and he actually was the greatest for a while when it came to boxing. But how long did that last? It didn't last all that long, really. He wasn't the greatest for long. We're all frail. We all have to see our frailty. I remember one foreman who was on a construction crew, he gave his men good advice. He told them to never put themselves between two things that were stronger or tougher than they are, like concrete, metal, wood. Flesh doesn't hold up very well when you get smashed between two things that are harder, and most things are harder than the flesh. The flesh is weak. We're physically weak in many, many respects, and we need to recognize that. People get cancer. People die. They get migraine headaches. They're reduced to almost nothing in some cases because of their illnesses, their sicknesses. Spiritually, we do need to see ourselves a lot better than we probably do.

I'd like to go to Numbers 13 and review a story in the Bible. It's not just a story. It's a true story. I believe this actually happened. I believe it did occur. I believe it is something that we can certainly learn from. Ancient Israel had an opportunity to receive the Kingdom of God, but in the form of a promised land. Remember, they were promised a certain land after God. Actually, it was the one who became Christ. After he miraculously delivered the Israelites from bondage in Egypt, they were given the opportunity to go to the Promised Land, to inherit the Promised Land. They were told to go to the Land of Canaan, and they were told that they would inherit the land that was promised to their forefather, to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, who of course was named Israel. The children of Israel were to go in and possess the Promised Land after coming out of Egypt, after being in bondage in slavery. They were to, in a sense, receive the Kingdom at that time. Now, not the Kingdom, of course, in its fullness, by any stretch, but God was to be their God. He was to be their God, and they were to be His children. He was to be their King. In fact, he said later on to Samuel, they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. So God was going to reign over them in the land of promise, but they would not go in and take that land. And we read about that in Numbers 13. Something sidetracked them. Let's go to Numbers 13. As we rehearse this story about what kept them from going into the Promised Land shortly after they came out of Egypt, Numbers 13, verse 27, Then they told him and said, We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey. These are the spies. There were spies that were sent into the land. And I've asked people to tell me, who were the 10 spies? Who were the 10 that went in and gave a bad report? Can you name them? Most people can't name a single one of them. They don't know their names. They don't remember them. They only remember two names, Joshua and Caleb. Because Joshua and Caleb were the faithful ones who said, Let us go in now. Let us inherit the Promised Land. But the 10 spies were unfaithful. Let's read about it. Verse 27, Then they told him and said, We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey. And this is its fruit. They brought back huge grapes and fruit that they had brought out of that land to show the abundance and the fertility of that land. Nevertheless, the people who dwell in the land are strong. The cities are fortified and they're very large. Moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak, a giant, was there. The Amalekites dwelt in the land of the south. The Hittites, the Jebusites, the Amorites dwelt in the mountains. And the Canaanites dwelt by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan. In other words, we would be surrounded if we would go into the Promised Land. Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, Let us go up at once and take possession. For we are well able to overcome it. But the man who had gone up with him said, We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we. Now, wasn't that a good thing that they thought they were weak?

Well, not such a good thing if you think you're weak but don't have faith in God. It takes both. It takes being able to recognize your weakness but also being able to have faith in God to deliver. They didn't have that faith in God to deliver. They did recognize their own weakness to some degree.

But Joshua and Caleb also recognized their weakness. Joshua and Caleb knew they were but flesh. But they had a great faith that God would deliver them.

So, Caleb says, Let's go in and take possession. But the man said, They're stronger than we are. Verse 32, And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants. And all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants. The descendants of Anak came from the giants. And we were like grasshoppers in our own sight. And so we were in their sight.

This was a big problem. God was not happy. God was not pleased. Because instead of trusting Him and going in and taking the land, they rebelled against God. They didn't believe God. They didn't trust God. They didn't have faith in God, even though God had miraculously taken them out of Egypt through a number of great plagues, ten plagues poured out to decimate the land of Egypt. And then to bring them across the Red Sea safely and drown all the soldiers, all the Egyptians behind them. And yet they quickly forgot the power that God has. It's good to see our weakness, but if it stops there, we're in trouble.

We must see our weakness, but we also must see God's greatness.

God told them to possess the land. It was a promised land. God had promised them the land. They should have known that Abraham and Sarah, who obviously came from Abraham and Sarah, she was 90 years old. Abraham was 99 when Isaac was born. Their grandparents, miraculously, God had been working with them for generations. And yet they didn't get it. They didn't see it. They doubted. They were weak physically, but more devastating to them is that they were also weak spiritually. They did not look to their Creator. They did not look to their Sustainer, the one who would take care of them. In fact, he kept them alive in the wilderness for 40 years by sending manna day by day, by sending quail, by sending the water from the rock. God showed that he would take care of them, but not in the promised land, in the wilderness for 40 years. They suffered greatly because they were not willing to go in and inherit the land. God has a land for us to inherit, but we're only going to inherit it if we become as little children.

Only when we see our weakness, only when we see that we are completely dependent upon our Heavenly Father and upon His Son Jesus Christ, to give us the Kingdom, only then will we inherit the Kingdom. As long as we cling to our own pride, our own vanity, as long as we think there's anything that's good in us that's going to allow us to have the Kingdom, we're going to fail. It does take a complete surrender of ourselves, a complete dependence. As a little child, it's totally dependent upon His parents. We too must contemplate how we must surrender ourselves. We need to become dependent upon God and to trust Him and to believe that He will deliver us through all types of trials, through all kinds of pain and suffering, that God will keep His promise to never leave us, to never forsake us, that He will always be there for us. Now, it's easy to believe that you and I would be like Joshua and Caleb. It's easy to believe that. But remember, the vast majority were not so brave. They were not so righteous. They were not so full of faith. Now, I'm not saying that we are like the ten spies. I believe that we are like Joshua and Caleb. But if we let pride get the best of us, we won't be like Joshua and Caleb very long.

Joshua and Caleb knew they were weak, but they put their faith and trust in God.

When times get hard, we're going to have to prove ourselves by putting our faith and our trust in God. If we're going to inherit the Kingdom of God, we're going to be tested along the way.

You know, this true account in the Bible tells us a lot about human nature. Even though the Israelites had been miraculously rescued and delivered from Egypt, they still walked primarily by sight and not by faith. Yes, they were not converted. I realize that. We all realize that. They were not converted. Joshua and Caleb were converted. God's Spirit was in them. That makes all the difference in the world. As long as we yield to God's Spirit in us, as long as we stir up the Spirit of God within us, then we will see our own weakness and we will see God's greatness and we will rely and depend upon God. But they walked by sight, not by faith. Their character was weak. They were human beings, and the flesh is weak. Kay Warren, who wrote an article entitled, The Only Hope for Monsters, wrote this article in the 2008 October issue of Christianity Today. She came to realize a profound truth about human nature when she visited Rwanda. She writes in this article, The first time I visited Rwanda, I went looking for monsters. You heard about Rwanda and all the genocide and everything that went on in Rwanda back in the 90s? Well, the first time I visited Rwanda, I went looking for monsters, albeit a different category of monster, the kind that isn't relegated to bee movies. We've seen Godzilla, we've seen those kinds of movies. She wasn't looking for that kind of a monster. She says, I had heard about the 1994 genocide that had left one million people dead. Many tortured, raped, viciously murdered, and somehow I thought it would be easy to spot the perpetrators. I naively assumed I would be able to look men and women in the eyes and tell if they had been involved. I was full of self-righteous judgment. What I found left me puzzled, confused, and ultimately frightened. Instead of finding leering, menacing creatures, I met men and women who looked and behaved a lot like me. They took care of their families, went to work, chatted with their neighbors, laughed, cried, and they worshipped. Where were the monsters? Where were the evildoers capable of heinous acts? Slowly, with a deepening sense of dread, I understood the truth. There were no monsters in Rwanda, just people like you and me. Before that trip, I can't tell you the number of times I reacted to evil I read about or witnessed by saying, I would never do that. I would never do that. But thousands of years of bloody human history proved differently. Fifty-four years of my own history proved differently. We are all proficient in our ability to conceive, to plan, and to execute evil. Of course, we don't call it evil when we're the ones involved, but it is. As French writer La Rochefelschald observed, there is hardly a man clever enough to recognize the full extent of the evil he does. You might as well face the shameful truth you and I put in the right situation. We'll do absolutely anything. This is something to consider. It's something for us to think about and consider. This was a woman who went to Rwanda. She expected to see monsters there. But she saw people very much like herself that had, years before, been involved in killing many people, some of them raping people and doing that sort of thing, and it was shocking to her. Given the right circumstances, I am capable of any sin. I have grown more afraid of the monster lurking in the dark corners of my soul than of any monster lurking in the dark corners of my house. I thought that was interesting to consider how she looked at her visit to Rwanda. Now, you know when we stop and think about Jesus Christ, who was perfect, who never hurt anyone, was innocent like a little child, and yet what did the mob shout? Crucify Him! Crucify Him! The religious leaders of the day were leading the way.

The Jewish religious leaders of the day, many people looked up to them greatly, the rabbis, they were the ones who were saying, Crucify Him! And leading the people, the mob, to crucify Jesus Christ. The Scripture also tells us that there will come a time in the future when some will kill God's people thinking they are doing God a service. Now, isn't that what happened when they justified killing Jesus Christ? They were doing God a service. They were religious people. They prayed, they went to the temple, they worshipped, they sacrificed.

They were good people. Crucify Him! Crucify Him!

Michael Schemmer, the publisher of Skeptic Magazine and author of the Science of Good and Evil, writes this, I once had the opportunity to ask Thomas Kennelly, author of Schindler's List, what he thought was the difference between Oscar Schindler, the rescuer of Jews and the hero of his story, and Eamon Geth, the Nazi commandant of the Placow concentration camp that was pictured in the movie. His answer was revealing, not much, he said, had there been no war, Mr. Schindler and Mr. Geth might have been drinking buddies and business partners, mortally obtuse, perhaps, but relatively harmless. What a difference a war makes, especially to the moral choices that lead to good and evil. What happened in Nazi Germany? Unthinkable. Unthinkable. How could anything like that ever happen? How could people do the things that they did? How could the Holocaust have truly happened? It's been happening throughout history. Human nature is dark. Satan influences human nature. And unfortunately, many people yield to that, to that weakness, to that flesh. Now, Schammer, who wrote this article about Schindler's last The Science of Good and Evil, was the article that he wrote. He goes on to quote Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn, If only there were evil people, some were insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart? So that's an interesting question to ask as well. So the only point I'm bringing out is that, Take heed, lest you fall. Remember what the Scripture says. He who thinks he stands, take heed, lest he fall.

In Numbers 14, we could go on. I don't think I have actually the time to go on too much further. But you know the story. You know what happened. They were not allowed to go in and take the Promised Land because they were gutless. They were not courageous. They were not brave and they did not have faith in God. They didn't trust in God and so they suffered the consequences. They died in the wilderness. Their children were allowed to go into the Promised Land, but they were not allowed to go into the Promised Land. Obviously, we need to be like Joshua and Caleb. We need to see our weakness, but we need to realize the power of God behind us to back us up. Let's go to Hebrews 3 for a moment and read a few verses here. Hebrews 3.

Hebrews 3, 12-19. Hebrews 3, 12. Hebrews 12. Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief. Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. We know many people have departed from the living God. They've been a part of us throughout the years, the decades, but they have departed. Many people have sat in the chair hearing sermons like this one and yet they're not with us today. So again, take heed, lest we fall.

Beware, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called today, while you're still alive, while you're here today, exhort one another. Lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end. While it is said today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.

Verse 16, For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses, the vast majority? Now with whom was he angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness, those who lacked faith, those who did not depend? Like a little child upon their heavenly Father. And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. We will not enter the kingdom of God unless we believe in God, unless we have faith in God, unless we trust in Him. We will not be given entrance to His kingdom.

It is important that we turn to God in repentance on a daily basis.

It's important that we allow God to exhort us every day by reading the Scriptures, by being corrected by God's Holy Word, by being corrected by His words, by being able to see ourselves and just how far we fall short from perfection. We're told to go on to perfection. That is our goal, but we all fall very short of that goal. Thankfully, we don't have to be perfect to enter God's kingdom, but we do need to trust in God. We do need to have faith in God, and we do need to stop making excuses for ourselves and for our weakness. We need to admit our weaknesses, admit our sins, ask God to cover our sins by the sacrifice of His Son, accept Christ as our personal Savior, and know that our sins are forgiven in Christ. But it doesn't give us a license to sin, does it? Just the opposite.

We must strive against sin. We must fight the good fight. We must fight the good fight. We must again learn to depend fully upon God and surrender ourselves fully to God. In Hebrews 4, we're given instruction on what we need to do, brethren. We all need to do this. Hebrews 4, verse 14, it speaks of our Savior, Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession of faith. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are. He was tempted, He was tried, yet He was without sin. He never yielded to any of the temptations that Satan brought His way. He never yielded to the human nature that was trying to pull Him down and have Him make a decision to do evil. Christ never made a decision to do evil. He always made a decision to do righteousness, to do what was right. He never sinned. So the conclusion for us, who have all fallen short of the glory of God, is to let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace. Even though we are to humble ourselves, in our humility we are to come boldly before the throne of grace, throwing ourselves completely upon the mercy seat. Throwing ourselves completely, dependent completely upon God, knowing that only God can forgive us our sins. Only God can wash us clean of our sins. The wages of sin is death. It is an eternal life. We all deserve eternal death. We don't deserve eternal life. It is a gift that God gives His people, who will humble themselves and surrender themselves and allow Jesus Christ to live in them. We know that Christ lives in us by the power of the Spirit of God. Christ is Spirit. The Father is Spirit. They share with us their Spirit. The Spirit of God dwells in us if we've accepted Christ as our Savior, if we've had hands laid upon us and been baptized, we've received the Spirit of God. And that's what sanctifies us and sets us apart. But David wisely knew that God could take His Spirit away. David wisely knew that he was in jeopardy because of his sin. Because of his sin with Bathsheba, because of his sin with Uriah the Hittite, because of all of his sins. He was in jeopardy to have that Spirit taken away. David repented bitterly. Psalm 51 is evidence of his repentance.

And that is a prayer that we should continually pray ourselves because we all fall short. We all sin. We all need forgiveness. In 2 Corinthians 12, let's read a few verses because here we see that God's strength is made perfect in weakness. We are all weak, but God's strength is made perfect in our weakness. 2 Corinthians 12. The Apostle Paul was such a man who was struck down. He was blinded, as Chevy mentioned in the sermonette. He was blind physically, but more importantly, he had been blind spiritually. And God opened his eyes in 2 Corinthians 12. Let's read what Paul says beginning in verse 7. 2 Corinthians 12. And last, I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelation. A thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan, to buffet me, that I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. God allows us to suffer. He allows all of us to suffer. We suffer in various ways. We suffer in many, many different ways because we're flesh. We're weak. Things happen in this life.

But through all of our trials, we must depend upon God. We must know that He has promised to never leave us and to never forsake us, and that God is faithful. He keeps His promises and He is there for us.

And God's strength is made perfect in weakness. But we have to rely on Him because He will deliver us into His Kingdom.

He will exalt us above measure in due time.

He will give us His Kingdom. We will be changed from puny flesh to spirit to glorious, powerful spirit beings who will live forever, who will have the power of God.

But He won't give you that unless you depend totally upon Him.

And that takes a complete sacrifice. The Scripture says that we're to be a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God. Our reasonable service. That's what's reasonable for someone who created us and then gave His Son to die for us. We have a Savior, Jesus Christ, who has delivered us out of darkness into His marvelous light and given us a great hope in a wonderful future. Paul said, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. You can do nothing of and by yourself. Nothing that really matters. Nothing that really counts.

And we all have to come to realize that and understand that. Now, there are likely a number of reasons why Christ said we must become as little children. In fact, Mr. Whitlark, Fred Whitlark, I think had something like 16 different characteristics in his Friday night messages about becoming like little children. I think the most important one is that we have to depend totally upon God. That is the foundation. We must learn to have faith and trust in God. There's just a couple others I would like to mention very briefly. Children are also very enthusiastic and they're very full of joy. And let's face it, Christ accentuates the positive. Right? Christ said, or Christ through Paul, Paul said, think on whatsoever things are good, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatever is a good report, whatever is virtuous. Think on those things, dwell on those things, meditate on those things.

Obviously, little children can be a pain sometimes, can't they? God doesn't want us to look at the negative characteristics of a little child. He's talking about the positive things. Now that's what we need to consider when we look at a little child. A little child is extremely enthusiastic. They're very hopeful. They're very dependent. They're excitable. They're full of anticipation. And that's what makes them such a joy to be around. I love being around little children. They energize me personally because I just think they're cool.

And we have to also be energetic. We have to be enthusiastic. We need to be uplifting and encouraging like a little child, full of joy. And we should be full of joy as we consider the bright future that we have ahead of us in God's Kingdom. Being enthusiastic, being excited, and anticipating God's Kingdom will further ensure our entrance into His Kingdom.

What is your overall approach to life like? Are you a positive person, a positive Christian who does look at the positive, who accentuates the positive, and does follow this Scripture, meditating on those things that are right and good and pure and lovely, meditating and getting energy from those things? We all need to be more like that, more like little children in that regard. And also, when you stop and, you know, at first you might think, well, little children are not very obedient. But I think they are pretty obedient when you really stop and think about it. You know, all the commands that little children are given on a daily basis, I mean, we order them around all the time. Do this, do that, come here, come there, put that down, go over there. You know, we're always telling them to do things, and in many respects they're pretty obedient.

They oftentimes do what we ask. God wants us to be obedient. He wants us to obey Him.

So the foundation is to depend fully on God and to humble ourselves, to be full of enthusiasm and joy for God's Kingdom, and also to be obedient children. If we'll do those three things—I don't have time to go through 16—if we'll do those three things, God will surely give us His Kingdom.

So last week I spoke about the importance of having spiritual goals, and if you missed last week's sermon, many of you did, you weren't back from the feast. I would encourage you to go in and listen to that particular sermon, because I think it will help us stay on target for the next several months as we look to the spring Holy Days. Of course, we have a weekly Sabbath. Every week we should be energized every week by being here on the Sabbath. But also, having spiritual goals will help keep you focused, will help you a great deal. So if you didn't have an opportunity to hear that sermon, I would encourage you to do that. Let's be sure we utilize the time that we have together as God's people as well. Fellowshiping with one another and trying to have spiritual conversations when we're here on the Sabbath. Trying to get away from the mundane, but really discussing things on a spiritual level. That would help us greatly. So, brethren, if we are to enter the Kingdom of God at Christ's return, then we must learn how to approach God in Christ as a little child, as a little we-one. Seeing our own weakness and having true humility is the key to receiving the Kingdom of God. Trusting in having faith in God to give us the Kingdom and to deliver us from Satan, because Satan is alive. Satan will try to destroy us in the future, and our own human nature is also weak. So, trusting in having faith in God is essential if we are to become as a little child. So, brethren, let us be obedient, let us listen to God and respond faithfully to Him. Let us be enthusiastic and joyful about our bright future in God's Kingdom as a little child.