It is absolutely astounding to realize that the King of heaven, of whom we have just sung has revealed Himself to us, not only in the person in the work of Christ but also in His Word. So will you take your Bibles and turn to Mark chapter nine, as we continue to examine this gospel verse by verse, And this morning, we will be in verses 42 primarily, but I want to read verses 42 through 50 because as I began to reflect upon the magnitude of this passage, I realized that I needed to divide this up into right now, three parts, we'll see how all of that goes, but we're doing so under the heading "The Danger of Causing Another to Stumble." Before I read the text, let me introduce the concept. This is a very solemn, frankly, a very terrifying passage of scripture. You want to ask yourself, what kind of impact do I have on other believers? Especially children? Does my life promote or hinder their faith in Christ? Am I serious about jettisoning every rebellious attitude and action in my life that might somehow negatively influence another person's faith in Christ. These are the issues that Jesus is addressing in this passage. And what we will see is that the punishment for impeding or harming or destroying another person's faith, especially a child, or a new Christian, is not only sobering, but it is terrifying. And sadly, this is typically ignored. We all know that the evangelical landscape is littered with corpses of those who have rejected Christ largely because of someone in their family or in their church, who have negatively impacted them. And have hurt them and harmed them, deceived them; we can all tell our stories right. Before I read the passage, let me remind you of the context. The disciples had been arguing with one another about who's going to be the greatest in the kingdom, Jesus is talking about dying and, and rising again, and they just don't understand fully what's going on there. So they're wondering, maybe, if they're going to be part of the kingdom that he's going to establish. So Jesus has just finished confronting, and teaching, them about the difference between the sin of pride and the virtue of humility, you will recall in chapter nine, verse 35, he called the 12. And he said to them, If anyone wants to be first, that is to be first in godliness, and garner God's esteem and blessing, "If you want to be first, he shall be last of all, and servant of all." And sadly, their self promoting arrogance fueled jealousy and strife amongst the brethren, causing them to forfeit God's blessing, to bring chastening upon their life. And so to illustrate the kind of humility that Jesus is talking about, in verse 36, we read that he takes a child, "He sets him before him and taking him in his arms, He said to them, 'Whoever receives one child like this, in My name receives,'" or literally welcomes me, and, "Whoever receives me does not receive Me but Him who sent Me." And certainly, children are ignorant, they're helpless, they're powerless, they're dependent. They have not achieved any status in life. They're largely ignored, and they're in desperate need of love and attention and training and protection. They're too young to even be really corrupted by the world. In fact, Matthew gets even more specific in Matthew chapter 18 and verse three, Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like little children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." In other words, we enter the kingdom of heaven with no status, no power, we need to be loved. We need to be rescued. We need to be forgiven. We need to be protected. We need to be disciplined. In fact, Jesus calls them in verse six, "little ones who believe in me," and certainly this would include believing children. So this is a very serious matter. And for this reason, Jesus reprimanded the disciples who are trying to prevent children, even from approaching him. Remember, in Matthew 19, verse 14, he said, "Let the children alone, and do not hinder hinder them from coming to Me, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." You know, innocent, often fearful, children are leery of coming towards an adult. But isn't it amazing how they came to Jesus? The same will be true with anyone filled with a love of Christ, children will be drawn to them. Other believers will be drawn to them, not repulsed by them, they will feel safe in their care and as God's children aren't we all like children. When you really stop and think about it, we're in desperate need of love and care and protection and provision. And leadership. As I was thinking about this, I was reminded of the hymn that we had sung at our wedding, some 50 years ago, "Savior, like a shepherd lead us much we need a tender care." So Jesus chose a helpless, and dependent child to perfectly illustrate God's adopted children, especially children. And all true believers who have humbled themselves like a child, and come to faith in Christ as their only hope of salvation. And what follows is just one of the most frightening passages in all of Scripture, where Jesus describes his utter disdain for anyone who would dare to cause one of his little ones to stumble literally, to fall into sin and apostasy and unbelief. In fact, as we look at this, we can see his nostrils flare in righteous indignation. And the full terrifying judgment of His wrath is put on full display here, in this passage, we would all do well, to hear and to heed. Now, bear in mind when he was about to say is the very opposite of what was going on with the disciples, right? I mean, they were causing each other to stumble into sin they were arguing about who's going to be first in the kingdom. And of course, with all that type of nonsense, all you do is stir up jealousy and strife. And they even ostracize another believer, remember, in verse 38, and following of chapter nine, another believer serving Christ because that person wasn't in their little group. And so, this really demonstrated how their pride fueled unwarranted intolerance and exclusivity. So that's what's going on here

So let me read the passage to you beginning of verse 42. "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believed to stumble it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. And it's better for you to enter life crippled than having your two hands to go into hell, and the unquenchable fire, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than having your two feet to be cast into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than having two eyes to be cast into hell, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good but if the salt becomes unsalty with what will you make it salty again. Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another."

So here Jesus uses very vivid, dramatic, even hyperbolic language to underscore the danger of causing another believer to fall into sin and unbelief. I've divided the passage into three sections. This morning, we're going to look at the first one, which is a call to realistic self-examination. And then we will later look at a call to radical repentance and a call to resolute discipleship. But notice first, under the heading a call to realistic self-examination, Jesus is telling his disciples here, "whoever", verse 42, "Whoever causes one of these little ones, who believe to stumble." Now let's stop here for a second. The term stumble is from a Greek term "skandalon" and it means to cause to sin, or to cause a downfall. It carries the idea of an enticement or a temptation to sin. It was also used to describe a device for catching something alive like a snare or a trap or a bait stick. I remember when I was a little boy, I used to try to catch rabbits, I would do the little box thing and then have a little stick in there and a carrot. And if the rabbit would come in and get the carrot, it would trip the stick and catch the rabbit. I did catch one time. But that's the idea that we have here in this text. You might think of it this way. It's like putting peanut butter on the trip of a mousetrap, right? And we all know what happens. It was used by Jesus in Matthew 16:23. Remember, Peter tried to prevent Jesus from going to the cross, fulfilling His atoning work on our behalf and Jesus turned his head to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan, you are a stumbling block," a skandalon, "you are a stumbling block to me for you are not setting your mind on God's interest but mans." And dear friends, this will always be the driving force of one that causes others to stumble. They are ruled by their own lust. They're promoting their own selfish agenda, or some ungodly, immoral ideology. And what they will then do is try to influence and try to recruit and even force others to agree with them. In fact, Matthew's account adds even further clarity to Jesus warning. In Matthew chapter 18, beginning of verse three, Jesus says, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one such child in my name receives Me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea." Then he says, "Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks. For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come," in other words, God has sovereignly ordained to allow this to occur. Nevertheless, he goes on to say, "But woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes." So as we come to verse 42, of Mark's gospel, "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble," in other words, those who need to be cared for, those who need to be protected, those who need to be respected and loved and disciplined, "it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea." Heavy millstone "onikos mylos" in Greek it means literally, donkey millstone and that is very appropriate in this was the type of millstone that was used in community mills. Now they had small millstones, where they'd have a rock and a little, kind of a doughnut looking other rock that they would use in their homes. And they would grind the flour with that, but this is referring to the large millstone which was a heavy stone shaped like a wheel and it would roll around on another heavy stone on a basin and it would have a shaft through it. And it would be attached to the millstone and attached to a donkey or to an ox that would go around in a circle, you've probably seen pictures of that, and the grain would be placed in the basin where it would be ground into flour. So this was a very familiar analogy to them. Because in that day, in Jesus time, the Romans would employ this type of gruesome execution by drowning criminals with a millstone around their neck, Josephus Flavius, attested to this in his writings. And what they would do is they would tie a rope onto a millstone, and tie it around the person's neck, and then they pitch the millstone off the boat, and it would immediately grab the neck and take you instantly to the bottom of the sea, or sometimes a river. And between the excruciating pain of that on your neck and the water pressure, not to mention the drowning, it would be a horrible way to die. This was also a great indignity to people, because in the Middle East, you need to have a burial, you need to have a grave and this prevented any of that. So Jesus is literally saying, Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for that person to suffer this kind of horrific punishment than the one that awaits for them in an eternal hell. 

Let me give you some examples of what this looks like people that cause little ones to stumble. We all know of children and baby Christians who have been so negatively influenced by wicked people, that their walk with Christ was profoundly wounded, if not completely destroyed. We know of children who grew up in physically and emotionally, spiritually abusive homes. Eventually they want nothing to do with Christ. They lived with parents who are Christian in name only, hypocrites, pretend Christians. Eventually kids get wise and they see the sham and they want nothing to do with it. We've all seen that before. I think of Ephesians six and verse four where Spirit of God speaks through the Apostle Paul and says "Fathers do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." You can cause your child to stumble with harsh criticism and legalism, double standards, unfair rules, unfair and unrealistic expectations, disciplining out of anger, not loving your wife, marital conflict, breaking promises, failing to teach them the word and on and on it goes. Think of the brazenly immoral young woman who dresses seductively for the very purpose of somehow eliciting a lustful response from other men. Frankly, this is the norm now on social media and Hollywood. Or the adulterous woman who, as we read in Proverbs seven beginning of verse 21, "With her many persuasions, she entices a young man, with her flattering lips she seduces him. Suddenly, he follows her as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as one in fetters to the discipline of a fool until an arrow pierces through his liver, as a bird hastens to the snare, so he does not know that it will cost him his life." Think of the horrible influence of superficial churches that are led by people that God has not called, God has not gifted. God has not equipped their self-appointed worldly, many times immoral pastor. Sunday school teachers, youth leaders who lead little ones into sin and to error. By the way, it's not always because of what they teach, but most of the time, because what they leave out. Young people are never trained properly. They're never discipled, they're spiritually malnourished. They grew up to be weak and undiscerning, vulnerable to false doctrine, and the temptations of the world and eventually the kids grow up. They spot the hypocrisy. They don't really know what to do with all of the superficiality, and suddenly they get indoctrinated by some ungodly teacher or professor, or friend, and the rest is history. 

Think of the charlatans that are out there today that deceive young undiscerning Christians. Consider the atheist professor in our colleges and universities that do everything they possibly can to ridicule the beliefs of our children, causing them to deny, for example, God as creator. And of course, the most glaring example today of those who are causing especially our children to stumble is the woke LGBTQ agenda, where people indoctrinate young people to celebrate immoral practices that God abhors. Gay and Lesbian pastors, painted up pedophile perverts, drag queens, presenting Children's Bible stories in worship services. Dear friends, it would be better for them to have a millstone tied around their neck and thrown into the sea than what awaits them, lest they repent. By the way, this is a huge danger for our children today. You must understand that the clear priority of the woke LGBTQ agenda now being embraced and celebrated by many churches that that hold of these things, the goal of all of that is to indoctrinate and recruit and seduce our children. You must understand that homosexuals aren't born, they're recruited. 

You know kids love social media and I was reading some research. They estimate now that there's 500,000 sexual predators online every day. They comb through social media, especially with our kids to try to connect with them. And they estimate that one out of nine kids are approached every day, on the internet through social media, they connect with them, and then eventually they meet with them. And then they are abused. We see this especially in what's called CSAM, Child Sexual Abuse Merial, child pornography. They say that it has increased by 15,000% over the last 15 years. These people cause our children to stumble. I looked on the website of the National Education Association. I comb through it and I clicked on one section that called NEA LGBTQplus resources. Here's what it said. By the way, these are the ones in our public schools that are teaching our children right. "This resource page is designed to provide educators with LGBTQ plus information, tools and resources they need to support transgender and non-binary students to be more inclusive of LGBTQplus history in their classrooms, and to stop LGBTQplus bias and intolerance in our public schools." I looked at the Planned Parenthood website. And besides things that you could click on regarding abortion services, HIV services, birth control services, etc. I noticed it said "Planned Parenthood is proud to provide a safe and welcoming place to get transgender nonbinary hormone therapy. We offer services to transgender women, transgender men and non-binary people services include estrogen and anti-androgen hormone therapy testosterone hormone therapy, puberty blockers." You've heard me speak of California's Bill AB 957. That would require a quote "a parent's affirmation of the child's gender identity as part of the health safety and welfare of the child" end quote. This means that any organization, if this has passed, and it's moving in that direction, it means that any organizations that interact with children, including churches and schools would be required to affirm quote, "gender transitions even in minors or risk charges." California courts would be given complete authority under Section 3011 of California's family code to literally remove a child from his or her parents home, if that parent disapproves of the LGBTQ ideology. There's a new hate crime bill in Michigan, in the Michigan House they're trying to pass, its House Bill 4474 is supposedly designed to protect individuals from harassment and intimidation which encompasses any act that quote, "would cause a reasonable individual to feel terrorized, frightened or threatened." And this would include, quote, "gender identity or expression." And they define that as quote" having or being perceived as having a gender related self-identity or expression, whether or not associated within an individual's assigned sex at birth." And so as you read through this, what you see is this is a smokescreen to attack anyone who, for example, would misgender a transgendered person, or do as I'm doing today, warn other people about the dangers of this, especially with respect to God's judgment. It would make preaching against homosexuality considered to be quote, "harassment and intimidation." And therefore you are quote "guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than five years or by a fine of not more than $10,000." This is where we're going folks. You know, it's fascinating, those who cause our little ones to stumble, seem to have their own name these days in our culture, they're called influencers. I kept hearing this about different people. And I looked it up an influencer. They say, "influencer marketing is a form of social media marketing involving endorsements and product placement from influencers, people in organizations who have a purported expert level of knowledge or social influence in their field." And I looked up some of the top influencers today. And I can assure you that absolutely none of them are influencing the millions of followers, mostly young people; they're not influencing them to come to faith in Christ and serve him. They're doing just the opposite. And of course, you've heard of the transgender influence influencer named Dylan Mulvaney, I believe the whole Bud Light controversy, a guy that pretends to be a woman all dressed up like a woman, you've seen that. But you know, what's really startling is you have an increasing number of ostensibly evangelical people that embrace this filth. All of it designed to groom and seduce our children. And I come back to what Jesus said in verse 42. "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe, to stumble, it would be better for him if with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he would be cast into the sea." By the way, if you see these kinds of people in the church, the apostle Paul tells us clearly what to do. Romans 16 Verse 17, "Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances there's the same word "skandola," Those that cause others to stumble, "keep your eye on them, who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching, which you learned and turn away from them." 

So folks, Jesus is serious about protecting His redeemed, those that he has purchased with His very blood, those that are united to him. Let me elaborate a little bit more on this millstone drowning, execution, and why it would be better for that than a punishment in hell. Let's look for a moment at Matthew 13. You remember in that text Jesus gives the parable of the wheat and the tares and agriculture. A tare was a type of wheat, they believe it was probably what was called a darnel, that was virtually indistinguishable from wheat until the head matures at harvest time. And often what wicked people would do to attack their enemies, they would sew these tares in their wheat fields, and that would ruin the crop. And here in Matthew 13, Jesus uses this wicked procedure to picture Satan's strategy of deliberately planting his followers in churches to grow up undetected, with other true followers of Christ. And it's extremely difficult, and often impossible to distinguish between the true and the false. But the tares will inevitably be the satanic plants that will cause genuine believers, especially our children and our young people, to stumble, to depart from the faith, to believe lies. So in Matthew 13, verse 39, Jesus said, "The enemy who sowed them as the devil," by the way them refers to back in verse 38, the tares are "the sons of the wicked one." So the enemy who sows the tears of the sons of the wicked one "is the devil. And the harvest, he goes on to say is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age, the Son of Man will send forth his angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom, all stumbling blocks," literally in Greek, "all causes of sin," which would include all of those that have led others into sin and unbelief. "And those who commit lawlessness." Fascinating phrase, Jesus spoke of this in Matthew seven, verse 23, "those who practice lawlessness." In other words, those who have no fear of God, and who will do everything they possibly can to live in rebellion against Him. Jesus spoke of this, especially with respect to the scribes and the Pharisees in Matthew 23, verse 28, he described them "as those who outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly are full of hypocrisy, and lawlessness." So again, in Matthew 13, verse 41, we read, that a day is coming when "the Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks and those who commit lawlessness and will throw them into the furnace of fire." The term "throw" carries the idea of grabbing something and flinging it, casting it. It denotes the use of supernatural, irresistible power and righteous indignation. It carries with it the idea of abhorrence of utter disdain. They will be thrown into the "furnace of fire", and then we read "in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth," which is a reference to hell. In fact, Mark will go on to state in verse 43 of our text "if your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off, it is better for you to enter life crippled than having your two hands to go into hell into the unquenchable fire." The term hell is "geenna" that occurs 12 times in the New Testament, and it refers to the Valley of Hinnom on the East West Valley, at the south end of Jerusalem, you can read about this, for example, in the Old Testament in Jeremiah seven and verse 31. He speaks of the "high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom." The term Topheth comes from a Hebrew word "toph", for drum. And this was significant because in the Valley of Hinnom, was where the ancient people of Judah sacrifice their children to the god Molech by throwing them alive into a burning fire. And they would do this to the sound of beating drums to drown out the screams. Later, it became a place where dead bodies of criminals and animals would be buried. And so because of this, what we see in the New Testament is that New Testament writers and Jesus as well used this, this smoldering dump that reeks of future faction to symbolize hell. A place of eternal punishment, a place of eternal banishment, the eternal abode of the damned, who rebelled against God, who mocked Him and who caused his little children to be trapped in sin, to be enslaved by deceptions, many of them to apostatize. 

Back to Mark nine verse 44. Mark adds on several occasions here, he speaks of it "where the worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched." Devouring worms would normally feed upon a rotting body upon that rotten flesh until it's all decomposed but not so in eternal hell. You really shouldn't take this literally, but figuratively to give you the idea of everlasting continuation. By the way, this comes from Isaiah 66, verse 24, "Then they will go forth and look on the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me. For their worm will not die and their fire will not be quenched and they will be an abhorrence to all mankind." You say, you know, I don't believe in hell, I don't believe in all that stuff. You know, you're in good company, most people don't. But you will. And all I can do, is in love, warn you what God has said. The horror of hell is described in other passages. We read it about it, for example, in the the pre kingdom judgments that will happen to the wicked during the time of the tribulation, Revelation 14, verse nine, "another angel, a third one followed them saying with a loud voice, If anyone worships the beast, and his image," referring to the coming Antichrist, "and receives a mark on his forehead, or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the couple of His anger, and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone and the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name." Revelation chapter 20, beginning in verse 12, "And I saw the dead," John said, "the great and the small standing before the throne and books were open, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them, and they were judged every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."

Dear sinner, please hear me. If this applies to you, and you will know it in your heart, you must understand that if you cause others to rebel against the Most High God, the fate that awaits you transcends anything that you could possibly imagine. Because a holy God will not be mocked. And your eternal destiny will be horrific beyond words. Again, Matthew 13:42 The Son of Man will send forth His angels and will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks and those who commit lawlessness and will throw them into the furnace of fire in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." There we understand that those that will go to Hell will have a resurrected body that is suited for eternal torment. In fact, we can see that some of their physical faculties will be operational, they will be able to weep, gnash their teeth. You see, this describes the eternal conduct of those who have caused God's little ones to stumble. Weeping signifies the unimaginable horror and helplessness of their eternal judgment and gnashing, or it could be translated grinding of teeth, is an expression of intense hostility, of utter hatred and rage directed towards God. We can see a glimpse of this, for example, in the fourth bowl judgment, described in Revelation 16. In verse nine we read that during that time, "Men were scorched with fierce heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent so as to give Him glory. Can you imagine that? To know that this is God pouring out his judgement upon you and upon a wicked world and instead of bowing in repentance you blaspheme him. Dear friends the damned will blaspheme God for eternity as they weep and grind their teeth in unending fury and torment. Nevertheless, at that time, all the mocking, all the ridicule, all of the lies and empty threats against the Most High will be forever stopped. All that will be heard will be weeping and the gnashing of teeth. We also know this will be a place as Jesus said of outer darkness, Matthew 22:13. Can you imagine being in a place where there is absolutely no light? And aren't we beginning to see the light of righteousness and truth being extinguished in our culture. Matthew 8 in verse 12, "The Sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness and in that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." In other words, this will be a place of solitary confinement forever removed from the Light of the glory of Christ and the glory of the eternal state. Dear friends the horror of hell transcends all human experience, and it exceeds the limits of our imagination and this is why it would be better for a man or woman who causes a child or an immature believer, or any believer, to stumble in to sin and unbelief, to have a heavy millstone tied around their neck and cast into the sea. No wonder Jesus would say in Matthew 18:7, "Woe," in other words cursed, damned, "to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes! Dear Christian, may I speak to you very clearly here, you must understand that how we treat other believers reflects on our attitude towards Christ. How we treat others is how we are treating Christ. Because every believer has been purchased by his blood and is forever hidden and united to him. Remember Mark 9:37, "Whover receives one child like this in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me does not receive Me, but Him who sent Me." And this is what Jesus is wanting us to understand. You remember on the road to Damascus when the Lord Jesus Christ confronted the zealous Christian killer, Saul of Tarsus, who later became the Apostle Paul. We read in Acts 9:4, he demanded of him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" Jesus parable in Matthew 25 beginning in verse 34 says this great reality, let me read it to you. "Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' The King will answer and say to them, "Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.' Then He will say to those on His left, 'Depart from me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels, For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink, I was a stranger, you did not invite Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, you did not visit Me. Then they themselves will also answer, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not take care of you?' Then He will answer them. 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'" 

Dear friends, how we treat other believers is how we treat Christ. It's a reflection on our love for Him, and all who are belong to him. You know, John makes this very clear that any professing Christian that does not love fellow believers is a phony, we read it earlier. Let me read some of it again, first, John three, verse 14, "We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides and death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him." So with all of this, don't you know that the disciples are examining themselves with brutal honesty? As we all should, right? Whenever the penetrating power of the light of divine omniscience that comes through the word of God falls upon us, it exposes us. This is why Paul said in Second Corinthians 13, beginning of verse five, "Test yourself, to see if you were in the faith, Examine yourselves, or do you not recognize this about yourself, that Jesus Christ is in you, unless indeed, you failed the test." So sobering. The power of self-deception, beloved, I come back to it over and over again, because I've lived long enough to see what happens in people's lives when they pretend to be Christians, and they're not. Like Judas Iscariot, who profess Christ, called him Lord, left everything to follow him. But he did not love Christ. And he did not love others, he loved himself. And when we truly love Christ, we will love those who belong to him, including baby Christians. And when we love in that way, the last thing in the world we would ever do is cause one of them, through our example, through our words, to stumble into sin, or error, or unbelief. Instead, as Paul said, In Colossians, one, verse 28, "We will proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that," here's why, "we may present every man complete in Christ." He went on to say, "For this purpose I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me." So may I challenge you, as we close this morning, examine your heart dear friend, father's, mothers, husbands, wives, think of all the ways that we are perhaps causing little ones to stumble, to be led away from Christ. Charles Spurgeon said, quote, "Inconsistent professors are the greatest stumbling blocks for the spread of the cause of Christ.” Folks, may we not be among that group, so let's examine ourselves. And I might also add that if you are in that camp and you feel convicted, over the influence you have had on others, may I give you the good news of the gospel, that there is forgiveness for all who come to Christ in humble childlike faith and cry out for his undeserved mercy and grace and he will forgive you and he will change you and He will use you for His glory and you will enjoy the fullness of what it means to be forever united to the lover of your soul. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for your word and that speaks so clearly to each one of us. May we all examine our hearts because we find ourselves failing in certain areas of our life. But Lord, certainly there are those that do not know you that literally live to do nothing more than cause others to stumble. Protect our children from them, and use us as fathers and mothers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, use us, to warn them to protect them. We thank you for the hope and the salvation that is ours in Christ. Fortune, his name that I pray. Amen. .