Conversion Required to Enter the Kingdom – Matthew 18:1-4

Title: Converted to Enter the Kingdom

Text: Matthew 18:1-4

Introduction:  Why this Mini-series of Messages?

• The Bi-annual meeting at the end of the month
• The number of attendees who’re interested in becoming members of the church
• We were going to do membership classes, but someone very wisely suggested we take time to consider what it means to be a member of a church, for the whole church to be reminded of.
• Secondly someone asked me last week about what it means to become a Christian, how does it all work
• Since the absolute first step in joining a church, in becoming part of the church is coming to Christ, being converted, we’re going to start there…
• {Read Matthew 18:1-4}

The Context of Jesus words in Matt.18:1-3, starts in Matthew 16

• Vss.13-16, of ch.16, Peter gives his confession that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the Living God.
• Vss.18-19, Jesus describes His Building of His church on the Rock, that is Himself.
• Vss.21-23, Jesus tells the Disciples his coming suffering and death, at which point Peter rebukes Jesus,
  • only to be rebuked by Jesus.
• Vss.24-28, Jesus describes the cost of their Discipleship to His Disciples:
  • Denying ourself, Taking up our cross, and Following Christ, even to dying the death He died.

Matthew 17:1-13, Peter, James & John travel up the Mt. of

Transfiguration to see Jesus revealed in His Glory

• Vss.14-23, Jesus casts out a demon, and
  • He teaches on Faith & Prayer, and
  • restates His coming suffering & death in Jerusalem

Matthew 18 is Jesus’ 4th of 5 teaching passages in Matthew’s Gospel,

• Matthew 18 records and describes what it is to be in Christ’s Kingdom & Community.
• Vss.1-6, Conversion, New Birth, Humility to Enter the Kingdom
• Vss.7-11, Radical Commitment to Holiness req. for the Kingdom
• Vss.12-14, The Devotion of Shepherds to the sheep
• Vss.15-20, The Church’s Discipline of sinning members
• Vss.21-35, The Forgiveness Jesus’ Church & Disciples must demonstrate

Let’s Consider Matt.18:1-3, the Conversion Required to Enter Kingdom

First: I want us to see The Problem with Pursuing Greatness

• Vs.1, “It is about that time”, the same time as in ch.17:24-27 that this fourth teaching passage of Jesus’ occurs
• Jesus’ approaching suffering & death is prominent in His mind…
• But, Jesus’ disciples have something else entirely in mind
• Jesus has made His statement about His building of His Church on the Rock – misinterpreted by so many to mean Peter
• Jesus often separates His disciples: taking the three: Peter James & John with him, whilst leaving the others alone.
• There seems to be some form of hierarchy within the 12.
• The Disciples have by now realized: Jesus is indeed their long awaited Messiah altho the exact implication have yet to sink in
• They expect His Kingdom to begin in a matter of days-weeks, when they arrive in Jerusalem.
• And, being that they’re His official followers-disciples, they begin to discuss: who would be the greatest, who would be doing what role in Jesus’ Kingdom
• Luke describes their discussion, in 9:46-48, as an argument…
• And, again in Luke 22:24-26, they dispute: Who is Greatest?
• Later in Matt’s Gospel, 20:20-23, Zebedee’s wife comes to claim the right & left-hand seats/thrones for her 2 sons….
• There is an underlying desire for the place of prominence.

• What’s going on?
• Have they not understood anything?
• Jesus is repeatedly telling them, of His Own Death…
• and the High cost of their Discipleship:
  • Their dying to self, to sin and to the world.
• And Yet, here they are: arguing, disputing for the top seats.

• But, before we shake our heads and cluck our tongues, let’s remember that their problem…
  • is the world’s problem…
  • is our problem too….
• The Problem of Pursuing Greatness Is that it’s almost always Driven, NOT by the desire to do good for others’ benefit
• But, instead, its driven by prideful, selfish, ambition.
• It’s our own looking out for: “unholy trinity” of Me, Myself & I.
• Pride is a great problem we’re all born with and deal with
• In Gen.3, It was the woman’s Prideful Desire
  • to be wise, to be like God, to exercise her own will…
• …that moved Eve to take, and to eat, of the forbidden fruit…
  • To give it to her husband, who also ate and, in so doing, plunged the whole world into sin… as the Bible says:
  • Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man, sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—
  • Pride was at the root of the problem.

• Pride is a Great Evil because it is a pretense to greatness and glory that belongs to God alone.
• These disciples are displaying a Prideful Pursuit for Selfish Greatness in God’s Kingdom, when they only truly Great One in the Kingdom is God, Himself.

• The Bible condemns Pride as Evil in Proverbs 21:4 Haughty eyes and a proud heart, The lamp of the wicked, is sin.

• The Bible describes Pride is a characteristic of Satan, Himself.
  • Isaiah 14:12–14 He’s called “star of the morning” & “son of the dawn” and he said in his… “heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. ¹⁴ ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’
  • 5x, Satan uses the pronoun: I: pride
  • 1Tim.3:6 An elder must not be a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil.

• The Bible says that Pride leads to Self-Deception:
  • Galat.6:3 For if anyone thinks he is something (Pride) when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
• The Bible says that Pride leads to Spiritual Blindness:
  • Deut.8:13–14, Moses warned the people of Israel, that… “when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies, ¹⁴ then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

• Pride leads to a Hardened heart – Pharoah hardened his heart, refused to submit to God’s command thru Moses, ended up dying under God’s judgement under the Red Sea

• Pride leads to a Malicious spirit – Wicked Haman (Esther) craving greatness of position, where everybody but the king, would bow down to him, but becoz of one man’s refusal to bow, in a jealous rage, he plotted the death of an entire race of God’s People….
• But by God’s design  it was turned on his own head & cost him his life & the lives of his ten sons….   Pride.

• Pride leads to Quarreling & Violence (disputing disciples)
  • Jacob and Esau, Jacob and Laban
  • David and his murder of Uriah the Hittite
  • Absalom and his rebellion against David
  • Joab and his murder of Abner and Amasa

• Pride leads to a Contempt for others, to consider them as beneath you, as worthless or to be disregarded…
• Pride even leads to a Contempt, even for God, Himself:
  • Psalm 10:4 The wicked, in the haughtiness of his countenance, does not seek God. All his thoughts are, “There is no God.”
• Pride says: I will not have God to rule over me;
• I will rule my own life, my own way, for my own glory, I will not submit to authority, not even to God’s

• And, Pride is at the root of these disciples question.
  • Who of us will be or the greatest… (lit.) the greater…?
• That was their problem in their desire for greatness
• And Pride is Our Problem, for all of us.

{Pause}

• We need to understand that the Bible only considers two types of people in relation to God,
  • two types of people with multiple descriptions
  • The Godly                   &         the Ungodly
  • The Righteous           &         the Wicked
  • The Saved              &         the Condemned
• The Godly are those, like Jesus describes here…
  • Who have been Converted,
  • Who have become: like little children
  • Who are displaying a Godly humility
• The Ungodly, as demonstrated by the Disciples,
  • Who are still driven by a Pride
  • Who are still actively living enslaved to a sinful life
  • Who are still separated from God becoz of their sin

• And here is the great Problem for them and for all of us…
• We all suffer from the drive of Pride and selfishness
• We all live enslaved to sin.
• We all need to be Converted
  • fr being Ungodly, Prideful, Self-Centered men/women
  • to being Godly Humble, God-centered men/women
  • or we will not enter God’s Kingdom.
• My friend, listening to my voice, or watching the video….
  • Have you been Converted?
  • Have you become like: little, dependent trusting child?
  • Does your Conversion display itself in Godly Humility
  • A Humility that
    • Does Not think _ _ _ _ _ _ _less of yourself,
  • But, instead Thinks of yourself _ _ less
    • Thinks of others _ _ _ _ _ more, and…
    • Thinks of God _ _ _ _ _ _  most of all.

Two: The Prerequisite of Being Converted

• (forgive my bowing at the Almighty Altar of Alliteration)
• There’s a Necessity for us 2 B converted to enter God’s K-dom
• So, in vs.1) the Disciples ask the question:
• “Who then is the greatest, in the kingdom”
• They, like their nation of the Jews, assume that being Jewish automatically gained them entrance into God’s Kingdom.
• Jesus answer must have shocked them!
• Not only does he not clarify “who will be the greatest”…
• He makes it strikingly clear that being Jewish is Not the necessary prerequisite,     – Instead, it’s Being Converted…
• Jesus says similar things elsewhere:

• In 5:20, speaking on the Mt., to His disciples, with the Jews listening close by, He said, “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
• In John 3:4, Jesus speaking at night, to the Jewish Pharisee Nicodemus, told him: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

• Paul likewise, repeats the prohibition in 1Corin.15:50, “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God…”

• So, it is by Conversion, that we enter the Kingdom of God.
• So, what does Jesus mean be “unless you are converted”
• The word is straphite: meaning a transformation or change of position, to turn around, to change one’s ways
• The word is a verb in the passive voice, meaning
  • the action happens to the subject,
  • not the subject performing the action.

Conversion Explained

• So, Biblically, Conversion is a radical & complete transformation
• It to be changed from Prideful Disregard of God,
  • • to Humble Submission to Christ
• It to be turned from Disloyalty to God
  • • to Obedience to Christ
• It to be turned from Indifference toward of God
  • • to Love for God
• It to be turned from Loving, Committing & Serving sin
  • • to Hating sin
• It is to be a New Creature in Christ,
  • the old has gone; the new has come.
• So How does Conversion Happen?

Conversion Enacted

• Notice again: Jesus says “unless you are converted”
• Mean: we first must receive the Converting work of God in us…
• We must be converted by God to enter the Kingdom of Heaven

The Bible says:

• In 1Kings.18:37, Elijah prays and says: “Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that You, O Lord, are God, and that You have turned their heart back again.”
  • Meaning what?
  • God has changed their inclinations to be toward him, no longer toward sin and self…
  • God inclines, draws, pulls us toward Himself…
• John 6:44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.

• In Ezekiel 36:25–27, God says: “…1) I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; 2) I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. ²⁶ 3) I will give you a new heart and 4) put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and 5) give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ 6) I will put My Spirit within you and 7) cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.
  • 7 converting actions, that God performs on us, first.
• In Acts 3:26, Peter says that “…God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.”

• God had to do His Converting work in us first…
• becoz: left to ourselves, we’ll never turn tow’ds God on our own
• Paul in Romans 3:10–12, quotes Psalm 14 and Ps.53, to say…. “There is 1) none righteous, no, not one; ¹¹ There is 2) none who understands; There is 3) none who seeks after God. ¹² They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is 4) none who does good, no, not one.”
• We, as fallen, sinful human beings, have no desire for God…
• Our selfish, prideful desire is always for ourselves & interests
• We will always pridefully seeking for ourselves before all else
• So, God must do His converting, turning, inclining work in us so that we can then 2ndly respond to His work.

• But, Before we consider our response, we need to understand that God not only does a converting work in us…
• He also calls & commands us to Turn to Him in confession of sin, faith & repent.
• Proverbs 1:23 Turn at my rebuke; Surely I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you.
• Isaiah 55:7^. Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.
• Ezekiel 33:11^. Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’
• Some will immediately say, is it not cruel to command and demand us to do something that we cannot do?
• No!…. 1.000 x No!  When we understand the whole picture, It is infinite Grace
• God in Grace does His converting work in us, first,
• He turns our hearts, He inclines us toward Him, He draws us to Him… at the same time calling us, thru the gospel to turn to God to return and repent of sin…
• He miraculously, powerfully does the one thing we cannot do, so that we can obey his command and do that which pleases Him!

But there is yet a problem to resolve

• How can God call us to come to Him, to return to Him?
• How can God promise us forgiveness of Sin, and mercy and life, when we have all acted in rebellion, in disobedience, in pride and selfishness?
• Does God merely allow bygones to be bygones?
• Does God merely say, that’s ok, no problem, we will just overlook it? – No, not at all!
• The Bible says: Proverbs 17:15 He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the just, Both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord.
• God cannot simply overlook sin, He must judge the sinner!
• For God to overlook our sin would be for Him to deny His Word, to deny Himself, to cease to exist – all of which is impossible!
• God is a Righteous Judge
• God is a Great Saviour of Sinners….

And here is the great news of the Gospel:

• God who is absolutely holy and righteous and just, created us in His own image, to glorify Him by perfect obedience to Him
• Adam & Eve sinned against God, by disobeying God’s 1 Command
• They received a sin-nature within them, that, from then on, compelled them to sin, to act in pride and disobedience to God
• But it was not against their will – they sinned willingly.
• All of us inherited that same sin nature from them, because when they sinned we were “in them” at that moment.
• So, We have all sinned against God…
• We have all acted in prideful selfishness
• We have all sought our own glory not God’s
• We have loved ourselves more than God
• We have all failed to love God with heart, soul, mind & strength
• We are all subject to God’s wrath and condemnation for our sin
• Left to ourselves, we would inevitably fall under God’s judgement and wrath to be endured for an eternity in Hell.
• We are condemned by God already
• We have no excuse, no valid defense, no hope whatsoever
• Our conscience will testify in God’s Courtroom of our guilt & sin
• We need somebody to save us!

• But God, being rich in mercy, becoz of His great love, with which He loved us, even when we were dead in sins and trespasses, sent Jesus Christ to be the propitiation for our sin
  • He endured and satisfied all of the anger and right. indig. of God against us, for our sin.
• Christ came into the world, truly man and truly God
• Christ was born of a virgin girl truly man, yet w/o a sin nature
• Christ lived in obscurity for 90% of his 33 years
• Christ was obedient to His parents in everything
• Christ was obedient to His Heavenly Father, in everything
• Christ was willing to go and be delivered over, by God, into the hands of sinful men to be unjustly tried, brutally scourged, and horrifically crucified, not for any sin of His own,
  • but for our sin.
• 2Cor.5:21, God made Him who knew no sin, to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him
• Christ died in our place, to pay our penalty for our sin
• Christ was willing to give His life, dying by His own command
• Christ’s death is sufficient for every sinner ever conceived
• Yet, His death will be efficient for all
  • who believe in Him,
  • who turn away from sin,
  • who are converted by God’s Grace, thru Christ’s death
• Christ was buried for three days and three nights, in a borrowed tomb
• But, Praise God Almighty, He was raised from the dead by the Power of God and He lives forever more, never to die again
• God has raised Him from the dead
• God has exalted Him to His right hand
• God has seated Him on His Own Throne
• God, in Great Grace, now commands all men, everywhere to repent of sin and believe the Gospel
• God, in Great Grace, does His work in us to turn us toward himself so that we are able, by His grace alone,
  • to believe,
  • to repent of sin,
  • to be forgiven,
• And, as Jesus said to His Disciples,
  • to be converted.
• The moment that we trust God for our salvation…
• The moment we begin that process of repentance, turning away from sin, and turning to God, we are converted
• We become like a little child – a New Creature in Christ!
• That little child that Jesus placed in their midst was the perfect illustration
• A child is trusting of its father
• A child is utterly dependent on its father for everything
• A child is insignificant in its own eyes and the eyes of most adults
• A Child illustrates what we become, an adopted son-daughter of the King.

How does it all happen – How does One Become a Christian?

• God brings into our lives someone who is willing to tell us the Gospel story, a friend, a family member, a co-worker, a neighbour, etc….
• They share with you the gospel, that I just laid out
• As we are listening, God begins His work in our hearts
  • to make us aware of our sinfulness
  • to make us aware of our desperate situation
  • to make us aware that we need someone to save us from God’s great wrath that is surely coming…
  • God is drawing us to Himself, even before we realise it
• As we hear the message, we understand that we must trust in God to save us from His own wrath, from death, from hell, from sin
• We respond because we want to! There is a great yearning, a craving, a desire within,
  • to believe the gospel,
  • to turn away from sin,
  • to be right with God,
  • to know God, to love God…
• So we simply believe, and we repent
• God makes us to be New Creatures in Christ
• And within us there is a new strange sense of peace, of calm, of rest in God
• There is a sense within that no matter what happens from now on, everything will be ok, because we are right with God, we have new life in Christ
• God has converted us! We have turned to God
• The old has gone, the new has come!
• God declares us Right, just, pardoned in His Sight
• God fills us w/ His H. Spirit, to enable us to live to please Him

• God causes us to be born again, into a New Family – the Church!

Which brings me to my last point…..

which will wait til next week…

Let’s Pray