Thru the Bible - Minute with McGee on Oneplace.com

“And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.” Now listen to Him. “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 was drowned in the depth of the sea.” And, friends, that’s rather strong language, by the way. And what He’s doing here in this entire section, seems to me, He makes the evangelization of children a divine imperative. He gives top priority to this type of ministry. And I commend anyone that’s working with children today; there’s nothing as important as that.

“As they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead.” Now why wait until then? And then why should it be told? Because it’s part of the gospel story. It tells who He is: He’s now the perfect Lamb of God. He’s been tested for three years, and He’s now on the way to the cross to die for the sins of the world. You see, it has to be a lamb without blemish. He’s the only one who could die. In His perfect humanity, He’s transfigured. That’s the hope of mankind today.

“When the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid. And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only.” You want a good motto for your life, friends? It’s here in verse 8 of chapter 17 of Matthew. Only two words: Jesus only. Jesus only. “They saw no man, save Jesus only.” He’s the one who is the authority. And I hope you’ve marked those two words, “Jesus only” in your Bible. It’s a good motto for all of us.

“Behold a voice out of the cloud said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.” Now this is God the Father’s testimony to Jesus the Son. Have you ever had a voice out of heaven commending you and saying that God was well pleased with you? He’s never said that to you nor anyone else except this One. This is the only One who has ever been well pleasing to God. And you and I will never get in God’s presence until we are “in Christ” by faith. When we accept Christ as our Savior, then we’re put in the body of believers.

“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” And, you know, the hardest person in the world that I have to deny is to deny myself. Well, now to deny myself dessert, that’s difficult, but to deny myself is indeed a difficult thing to do. And He says, “…and take up his cross and follow me,” and not Christ’s cross, but “his cross.” There’s a cross for you and a cross for me; that is, if we’re going to follow Him.

“From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and raised again the third day.” And this is what He did for you and me. This is the gospel. The gospel is that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, was buried, and raised again. You must know who He is and you must know what He did for you—that He died for you and He was worthy to die for you.

“And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” Now what are the keys of the kingdom of heaven? Who’d He give them to? He gave them to those that make this confession; that know Him as Savior. In other words, if you are a child of God, you have the keys as much as any person has the keys. And it will be up to you to unlock the door for someone. This is something very serious. And that means that you and I today have a responsibility. We have a gospel and it’s the only gospel that can save men. Who’s sufficient, friends, for these things? You and I have a responsibility that’s awesome, indeed.

“And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; beginning to sink, he cried, Lord, save me.” That is the shortest prayer in the Bible. He got right down to business, and I think this is the type of praying we need today. Lord, save me. “And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” You see, his problem was he took his eyes off Jesus; got his eyes on those waves rolling. You and I today are in a world where we see the waves rolling, and this is the time when we need to keep our eyes on the Lord Jesus.

“And he took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and broke, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.” And that is really the particular ministry of apostles, disciples, ministers, evangelists, and Christians today. We are to feed the multitudes—not tell Him how to do it. There are too many people in the church that want to tell how it should be done. There are so few that are willing to do it. Everybody wants to be a head of something, on a committee, doing something; places of leadership. What we need friends—we need these waiters to give out the bread of life. And that bread is the Word of God. That’s our business.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.” Well, somebody says, “Well, then what in the world does it mean?” Well, the merchant man is Christ. He left home and came to this earth from heaven, and He came down to find a pearl of great price. And what’d He find? Lost sinners. He died for them. He shed his blood. He sold all that He had. “Though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor that we through His poverty might be rich,” and He redeemed us to God. He bought us.

“Who is my mother? Who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren.” What’s He really saying? He is saying that the strongest relationship today is the relationship between Christ and a believer. This is something that is tremendous today. And you’re closer to kin to other believers than you’d be with anyone that is blood related to you. He’s talking now about a new relationship. “For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, sister, mother.” What is the will of the Father? Well, if you accept the Lord Jesus Christ, you hear Him, trust Him, turn to Him.

Now the important thing is to see here is that there is no sin that you committed yesterday that He would not forgive you for today. He died for all. But you see the Holy Spirit is come into the world to make real the salvation of Christ. If you resist that working of the Spirit of God when He speaks to your heart, then, friends, there’s no forgiveness, of course, because you have rejected the forgiveness that He offers that can only be made real to you by the Spirit of God. For it’s the Spirit of God that regenerates you. The Spirit of God, you see, because He’s bringing forgiveness.

“And great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all.” He just didn’t have a few that were healed. All of them were healed. There were multitudes of people, friends, in that day that He had healed. You and I can’t even conceive of the impression that He made in that day. It was something that was absolutely astounding. They had to accept or reject Him. And He’s still controversial. The enemy today is still after Him. You have to make a decision about Him. You have to decide about Him. You will either be His friend or His enemy. He’ll be your Savior or He’ll be your Judge. You can’t get rid of Jesus Christ.

Friends, sin’s too heavy for you to carry. The only place in the world to put your burden is at the cross of Christ. He bore it for you. He invites you to come. Bring your burden of sin to Him and He’ll forgive you. He bore it for us on the cross. Then there’s that commitment we can make. “Take His yoke”—and that means to be yoked with Him. Learn of Him. He’s “meek and lowly in heart.” And then there is a rest that comes by being committed to Christ. You don’t have to worry about certain things if you’re committed to Him. You don’t have to be running around after it, because He’ll put you right where He wants you if you’re yoked up to Him.

Unless you have really committed your life to Him, paid a price, I wouldn’t talk much about my commitment to Christ. I hear a great deal about a commitment to Christ today. I soft pedal that because I find that Simon Peter and myself have never been too good at this type of thing. But, thank God, He’s faithful. That’s the wonder of it all. And verse 38: “He that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.” I wish I could have heard Him use that expression “not worthy of me.” Many of us are not, but, thank God, He’ll not throw us overboard, but it means He’s not going to use us unless we’re really committed to Him.

“Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.” Isn’t that marvelous? He takes care of those little sparrows. Have you ever watched one of those little old sparrows? It’s marvelous, isn’t it? But not only that, but the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Now God loves you. The Lord Jesus loves you more than your mother ever loved you. She never counted your hair, did she? He has. He knows the number. “Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.” Just think of that. If He thinks that of a sparrow, you would never get lost, friends, from Him. That is, you can be lost, but you’ll never get to the place where He doesn’t know where you are.

“But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.” And this is such a lovely thing. The note of compassion which concludes this chapter and session is startling, isn’t it? You see God’s idea of kings and rulers have all been shepherds. Moses had that training. David had been a shepherd. And the Lord Jesus is the Good Shepherd. And when we pray the Lord to thrust forth laborers into His harvest, pray that He gives them the heart of a shepherd. Pray that the Lord would give you a heart of compassion for the lost.

“There came a leper and worshiped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.” Now this leper, when he came to the Lord Jesus, he didn’t come and say to Him, “Will you make me clean?” or, “Are you able to make me clean?” He came with faith. He said, “Lord” and he recognizes His lordship, and he says to Him, “If you will—if you will, you can make me clean.” Not always His will, friends. But if it’s His will, He can do it. And the will of God must come first.

There’s nothing wrong with the Ten Commandments. God gave them. They reveal His mind, His will. Nothing wrong with that. But there’s something radically wrong with man. May I say to you, do you want to hear what the Gospel of Matthew says? It’s the words of the Lord Jesus. Listen to Him. He says, “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man.” The heart is the problem. Man has an awful case—a desperate case of heart trouble today, and jogging just won’t help him. He needs Jesus, not jogging. And He alone can change it.

Nothing that you do—you can’t lift your little finger for your salvation. Now after you’re saved, God has a way for you to live. And that way for you to live is not the Law. It’s not the Ten Commandments. Oh, I know, all the denominations—I was brought up in one of them, I was educated, my shorter catechism said that when you get to sanctification and to live for God, they drag in the Ten Commandments. Suppose you did keep all of the Ten Commandments, which you don’t—but if you did, that wouldn’t save you. Because that’s not what saves you today: It’s faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that saves you.