Young People’s Blog

“Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of My Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 18:10).

Earlier in this chapter (Matthew 18) the disciples had asked the Lord Jesus who was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. The Lord Jesus had told them that those who humbled themselves like a little child were the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Little children tend to be simple in their belief, and they trust adults, unless adults somehow betray that trust. The Lord wants us to trust Him like little children.

In Western countries children are generally treated well today, but that is not true in every part of the world. I have been in countries where people laughed when a child got hurt, instead of showing some love and sympathy. But God has a special care for little children, and according to our verse, His angels are specially assigned to look after them. It is a serious thing to mistreat or to despise little children. The Lord has a special love for them.

“Christ…who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth: who, when He was reviled [insulted], reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously” (1 Peter 2:21-23).

The Lord Jesus was treated very unjustly, and those who hated Him did everything possible to insult and abuse Him. Finally, they hung Him on a cross to die, and the Bible tells us that “sitting down they watched Him there” (Matthew 27:36). The Lord Jesus was God, and He had all the power of God at His disposal. He knew that in a coming day, He would be the Judge of all men, and that all those who did not trust in Him would stand before Him to be judged.

However, the Lord Jesus did not speak of anything like this while He was on the cross. He did not answer back when they insulted Him and said bad things about Him. Rather, He committed it all to His Father. In this, the Lord Jesus was a good example for us. When unbelievers say wrong things about us, or insult us, it is easy to want to answer back. But the Lord Jesus left it all with His Father; we should do the same.

“The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them” (Proverbs 11:3).

“And beside this…add to your faith virtue” (2 Peter 1:5).

The words integrity and virtue have a similar meaning, for both bring before us the thought of moral courage. Both mean having the courage to stand up for what is right, even in the face of opposition. You will find out that this quality is sadly lacking in the world today.

During my lifetime I have had the chance to speak to many people about this, some of them believers and some of them unbelievers. I spoke to them because they were either doing something wrong themselves, or standing by and saying nothing when others did it. When I spoke to them privately, all of them admitted that what I said was right, and that they had been wrong either to do something they knew was sinful, or to stand by while others did it. But then their excuse was, in the language of today, “But what you gonna do, when everyone’s doing it?”

As Christians, we are not to be governed by others in our behavior. The Lord Jesus never gave in to public opinion, and He has called us to do the same. He will give us the courage to do what is right.

“God has been pleased by the foolishness of the preaching to save those that believe” (1 Corinthians 1:21 JND).

“The foolishness of God is wiser than men” (1 Corinthians 1:25).

Our first verse today does not mean that the act of preaching seems like foolishness to this world, but rather that the message being preached seems like foolishness to the natural man. The whole idea of salvation through someone who died on a cross seems like foolishness to him. But God uses what man calls foolishness to save those that believe, for as we saw yesterday, God has only one way to be saved. Our second verse reminds us that the foolishness of God (as man sees it) is wiser than men. All man’s wisdom will come to nothing, but God’s way of salvation saves us for all eternity.

We need to remember all this when we speak to unbelievers about Christ. Unless God works in them by His Spirit, they will laugh at the message, and think it is foolishness. Even if they are too polite to laugh, they will not want it. The natural man does not want salvation through One who was crucified, yet it is God’s way. Even if someone laughs at the gospel message, we can pray that the Lord will work in their heart, so that they will receive it later.

“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

According to this verse, God has only one way for us to be saved, and that is through the Lord Jesus Christ. If we do not accept the Lord Jesus as our Savior, we cannot be saved. There are many people in the world today who want to be saved their own way. They maintain that there are many ways to come to God, and that it does not matter how we come, as long as we are sincere. But this does not make sense, even in natural things.

I remember getting on a wrong highway when I was driving to Chicago, in the U.S.A. I was very sincere, and I drove about twenty miles (thirty-two kilometers) before I realized I was on the wrong road. I had to turn around and go all the way back to the right road. No amount of sincerity would have gotten me to Chicago on that road!

If we want to be saved, we must come in God’s way, and that is through His Son, the Lord Jesus. We cannot make up our own way.

“The love of Christ constraineth [draws] us…that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).

As we noticed yesterday, God will reward us in a coming day, at the judgment seat of Christ for believers, for what we have done for Him during our lives on earth. We said that God does not present rewards as a motive for living for Him. Let me use an illustration.

Most of you who are reading this have fathers and mothers, and I hope that you are living in a happy home. Can you imagine your father saying to your mother, “If you make me three good meals every day, look after the children well, keep the house clean, do the laundry regularly, and give me a nice hug and a kiss when I come home from work, I will give you a really nice present for your birthday! No, that would never happen in a normal home.

But your mother probably does all of those things I have listed. Why does she do it? You know why; it is because she loves your father, and you too. It is the same with the Lord Jesus, and with us. Why do we do what the Lord Jesus wants us to do? It is because we enjoy His love so much that we want to do something in return for all He has done for us.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).

In our verse yesterday, it said that all of us must give account of ourselves to God, and we mentioned that this included both believers and unbelievers. However, it is most important for us to understand that there can never be any judgment for sin for believers. Today’s verse makes this abundantly clear. If we have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, then all the judgment for our sins took place at the cross. The Lord Jesus bore the judgment for us, and the question of our sins can never be raised again.

However, God will hand out rewards to believers for faithfulness in our lives down here, and in that sense we will, as believers, also give account of ourselves to God. At the judgment seat of Christ for believers, our lives will be reviewed, and what has been done for the Lord will be rewarded. Everything else will be burned up.

Those rewards are something greatly to be desired, although God never sets rewards before us as a motive for living for Christ. No, there is another more important motive for living for God’s glory in this world, and we will discuss that tomorrow.

“So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God” (Romans 14:12).

For many years I and several others went into the downtown of the city of Toronto, Ontario each Lord’s Day afternoon to visit in a “Detention Centre”. All the young people locked up in there were under 16 years of age, and all had committed serious crimes. It was a privilege to be able to speak to them about the Lord Jesus. On one visit I read this verse to them and asked them what it meant. Most of them did not know; they did not understand the words, and I had to explain it to them.

However, it is a most important verse, for it means that every one of us must answer to God for the way we have lived our lives, and this applies to believers and unbelievers. When we are guilty of doing something wrong, it is easy to try and blame someone else for it. When we are before God, however, we cannot do that. God knows all about us, and it is what we have done that matters, not what someone else has done. The Lord will take care of that other person, but we must answer for what we have done.

“He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare His generation? For He was cut off out of the land of the living” (Isaiah 53:8).

“When Thou [God the Father] shalt make His [the Lord Jesus’] soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days” (Isaiah 53:10).

If you have read Isaiah 53 before, perhaps you have wondered what the expression “declare His generation” means, in verse 8. The Roman governor Pilate knew the Lord Jesus was innocent but gave in to the demands of the Jewish leaders and gave orders to crucify Him. In a natural sense, this would mean that the Lord Jesus would never have any children. In many parts of the world, and especially in Eastern countries, it is considered a shame and a disgrace to die without having any children.

But God had other plans, if we may say so reverently. It is true that the Lord Jesus never had any natural children, but how many spiritual children came from His work on the cross! Millions of people will be the children of God, and will be in heaven, because they have believed on the Lord Jesus. That is what it means in verse 10, when it says, “He shall see His seed.” His seed refers to His children, and although He was cut off as a man in this world, yet “He shall prolong His days.” Man thought he had gotten rid of the Lord Jesus, but in resurrection there was to be tremendous blessing.

“But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid” (Matthew 14:27).

“Be of good cheer” is a very encouraging expression, and it occurs seven times in the Word of God. It occurs twice in Matthew, once in Mark, once in John, and three times in Acts. See if you can find them all. The word that is translated “cheer” in the Greek language is sometimes translated “comfort,” so that the Lord Jesus could say to the woman who touched the hem of His garment, “Be of good comfort.” It is the same word.

Here in our verse for today, the Lord Jesus had asked His disciples to get into a ship and to go across the Sea of Galilee, while He sent the multitudes of people away. Then later, in the night, He came to them, walking on the water. They were in the middle of a storm, and were frightened when they saw Him, but He reassured them, telling them who He was.

The Lord Jesus wants to do the same for us today. We may encounter storms of various kinds in our lives, and various troubles. But He comes to us, and says, “Be of good cheer.” When He is with us, nothing can harm us.