Matthew 18:1 Becoming like Little Children. I. The disciples had asked our Lord, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" And the answer which our Lord made, though it did not give them any particular light as to the manner in which the coming of His kingdom should be realized, did yet give... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 18:2 Christian Innocence. When our Lord took a child, and set it in the midst of the disciples, and made its face the answer to their question, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" nay, even told them they could not enter into the kingdom of heaven unless they were converted and... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 18:3 I. The expression "converted" is one requiring careful examination; with the simple Greek word faithfully rendered, our text would be, "Except ye be _turned._" It appears, then, that men must be turned, or they cannot enter into Christ's heavenly kingdom. This first implies that they a... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 18:4 I. Notice the expression, "Whosoever shall humble himself" it is not _be humble_"Whosoever shall humble himself." It implies a process, and then a victory; it recognizes and presupposes a state of pride; it declares humility not a gift, but an attainment, not by nature, but by grace. A... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 18:6 I. The Christian home is an instrument of incalculable power for drawing forth and presenting in their full form and force all those ministering qualities and energies by which, in all ages, society is blessed and saved. But it has a further, deeper, and larger power. It can touch the... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 18:7 If there is any work in the world which peculiarly deserves the name of the work of the devil, it is the hindrance which men sometimes put in the path in which their fellow-creatures are called by God to walk. Of all the temptations which surround us in this world of temptations, the m... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 18:10 I. What is meant to be impressed upon us by the text is that in our carelessness about sin and God's service we stand, as it were, alone in creation; that higher beings view with interest every one who is striving to do God's will; that they rejoice over every soul gained over from th... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 18:10 Think of His words, and you will see, first, that Jesus isolates each of us, setting us one by one apart: "despise not _one;_" He is come to save that one; "if one of them be gone astray;" "not His will that _one_should perish." He who counts our hairs much more counts us. Next, you w... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 18:12 I. Look at the figure of the one wanderer. (1) All men are Christ's sheep. All men are Christ's, because He has been the Agent of Divine creation, and the grand words of the hundredth Psalm are true about Him, "It is He that hath made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the shee... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 18:14 Nothing impresses us so much with God's inexhaustible love in creation as tracing it into its minute provisions, and searching for its arrangements which escape the common sight of men. However we may fail to reach the extent of that love of creation, one lesson is powerfully impresse... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 18:19 I. When we consider the great promises which are made to prayer, and particularly the great blessing attached to public worship which the words of the text imply; when we consider, moreover, how sacred and almost Divine the prayers of the Church are, and how these prayers themselves a... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 18:20 Christ with Us. I. In considering this subject, we must bear in mind that the human nature of our blessed Lord and Master must be subject to those laws of nature which He, as God, hath ordained and decreed. The human nature, being a created nature, cannot be omnipresent; nor is this... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 18:21 I. Today's Gospel has a side of comfort to us. It reminds us it puts the truth in a way that none can possibly mistake of the largeness, the freeness, of God's forgiveness. "He loosed him, and forgave him the debt." He forgives us from day to day and from hour to hour, and He is not a... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 18:21 You will not find a single saying of Christ which has any approach to a maxim of morality, or which draws near to a limited opinion on the subjects which belong to religious life, or thought, or feeling. There is nothing He ever said which is to be taken literally, nothing which is no... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 18:23 The Unmerciful Servant. The key-notes of this parable are to be found at the beginning and end. It was spoken in order to show that a man should set no limit to the forgiveness of injuries; and in order to show this, the parable goes into the deep things of God. It shows that the moti... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 18:33 Forgiveness: one Law for Lord and Servant. This is a parable to show us that our life must be a repetition of the life of God. It is not a title to a mansion in the skies, nor even possession of that, which can make us Christians. It is possession of God's life. We are to be perfect,... [ Continue Reading ]