The stumbling blocks in the world, part 2; John 16:1; Mat 18:1-10; Mat 13:1-8; 19-23.

Title: The stumbling blocks in the world, part 2; John 16:1; MAT 18:1-10; MAT 13:1-8; 19-23.

 

We are in the intensified stage of the angelic conflict an in this intensification we have been given God the Holy Spirit and the full realm of mystery doctrine to see us through.

 

Satan and the KOD continue to see a resurrected Lord Jesus Christ seated at the right hand of God full of confidence in victory and waiting patiently. He has an air of confidence and victory. The only ones that the enemy can attack are His bride.

 

John 16:1

"These things I have spoken to you, that you may be kept from stumbling.

 

The trap/snare/stumbling block is only successful if it takes a believer away from listening to doctrine daily.

 

Often these stumbling blocks cause us to commit certain sins that we rebound and recover from, but do not cause us to quit on doctrine. This is not to condone sin; it’s just a fact of a younger, weaker believer who is pressing on to maturity. We often react badly to the sudden shock of pressure when we are young believers and we sin, but we confess and recover and there is no glitch in our doctrinal intake.

 

Satan needs people to execute the traps. Those who willingly fall into this service of the fallen angel will be judged, MAT 18:7.

 

Matt 18:1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"

 

Matt 18:2 And He called a child to Himself and set him before them,

 

Matt 18:3 and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.

 

He is not converting the child. He says “converted” because there is one in the room, also arguing about being the greatest, who isn’t even converted.

 

He says “like children” because the young child is an illustration of the positive believer who lives a life of faith.

 

“become like children” - paidi,on[paidion] = infant or small child. Children this age learn almost everything by faith.

 

God is not what anyone would have expected as an unbeliever, and the world around an infant child is nothing that he expected either. Everything is brand new and fascinating and the child learns from his parents by means of faith and sometimes discipline.

 

God desires every believer to have a child like faith and fascination with the brand new things of plan of God for the Church.

 

Matt 18:4 "Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

 

Matt 18:5 "And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me;

 

The child is an illustration representing any believer in Christ. We have only one system of perception in the CWL no matter what stage of growth we are at, and that is faith; faith in Christ for salvation and faith rest in the doctrines of the mind of Christ.

 

How you receive any believer is how you receive Jesus Christ. de,comai[dechomai] = to receive readily with open arms, to take hold of.

 

This is a manifestation of impersonal, unconditional, divine virtue love.

 

Vs. 6 - Now Jesus turns to the ones who will lay the traps at the behest of satan’s cosmos.

 

Matt 18:6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea.

 

This is not specific to the category of young children, nor does it ignore child abuse, but in this context, as our Lord is addressing the disciples who are arguing over who’s the greatest. The phrase “little ones” refers to believers. Then we have the same word we have in John 16:1.

 

“stumbling” - skandali,zw[skandalizo] = to put a snare or a trap or a stumbling block in the way, to cause someone to experience anger or shock because of what has been said or done.

 

Notice the incitement against the one who sets the trap so that a positive believer will stumble away from doctrine. it is better for him that a heavy millstone [large stone pulled by an ass or mule] be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea.

 

This is simply to illustrate the seriousness of the offense. This offense can only be done by someone who truly has gone apostate to the point that he has allowed himself to be commandeered by satan’s cosmic system to actually lay traps for positive believers so that they will quit on doctrine. The divine discipline on that offense is likened to have a asses millstone tied to the neck and drowned in the deepest sea.

 

Despite the warning, there are many such people in the world that are more than ready to be used to lay the stumbling block.

 

Matt 18:7 "Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! [this indicates that there are many] For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes!

 

The traps, snares, stumbling blocks, and hindrances that are in the world are inevitable and God alone will judge the one by which they come. Leave them alone to the Supreme Court of Heaven.

 

We could stop here for our context ends here, but the rest of this passage becomes very confusing and since it is somewhat related to our study we will cover it.

 

Verse 8 switches to the unbeliever since the lake of fire is the end result. His stumbling is to reject the gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

The next warning is to the unbeliever since the lake of fire is the end result. The situation here is changed from the trap set for the young child, i.e. the believer who lives by faith in the plan of God to that of the trap that has been laid for the unbeliever.

 

When the gospel is brought to the unbeliever he has the opportunity to accept it or reject it. If he rejects that gospel he must simultaneously accept something else, and that something else is any one of the false doctrines concerning the person and work of Christ. We will see just this in the parable of the sower.

 

His stumbling ends up in a trap that he can never get out of and that is the lake of fire. And so it would be better for him if he was maimed than to go through life completely healthy but wind up in hell.

 

This is teaching by the shock method. It would be better to maim yourself than to end up under the eternal second death. Naturally, Christ is not asking unbelievers to maim themselves. He is only teaching the seriousness of the matter. Rejecting the gospel and therefore accepting something else is the worst decision a person can make in this life.

 

Matt 18:8 "And if your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the eternal fire.

 

Matt 18:9 "And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out, and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into the fiery hell.

 

If whatever his hand does or wherever his feet take him or whatever his eyes see cause him to reject Christ as Savior then it is better not to have any of them (metaphorically).

 

The application is metaphorical since faith in the gospel is a function of the soul and not the body. This is close to crisis evangelism and thus displays the seriousness of the matter.

 

Vs 10 reverts back to the apostate unbeliever/believer who sets stumbling blocks for the faithful believers.

 

Matt 18:10 "See that you do not despise one of these little ones [believers of faith], for I say to you, that their angels in heaven continually behold the face of My Father who is in heaven.

 

It may seem odd that an omnipresent and omniscient God would use angel messengers to relay messages to Him, but then again it seems quite odd that God would use mankind to resolve His conflict with the fallen angels. God can do lots of stuff that He gives man and angels the privilege of doing.

 

HEB 1:13-14

But to which of the angels has He ever said,

"Sit at My right hand,

Until I make Thine enemies

A footstool for Thy feet "?

Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?

 

Everything God does in the CA is for our sake. Angels are closer to us in stature than God is. They are finite, can speak as we do, defend honor as we do, fight as we do, and so to know that we have them as guardians that are always in an instant beholding the face of God is a comfort to us. In our finite minds it is more comforting that something we can somewhat identify with is face to face with an infinite God that is harder to identify with. In the face of the adversity that has occasioned from the stumbling block we know that we have a Helper within, another Helper at the right hand of God continually praying for us and relaying our correct prayers to the Father and an angel or angels who are conveying messages concerning us directly to the Father. All of this is done for our benefit without merit on our part and that is why it is imperative that the believer through faith stays oriented to grace.

 

There is a real warfare all around us that has been going on since long before us. Too often people, and especially Christians simply go through the motions without ever searching for the reason why they are doing what they do.

 

Theologians may struggle or argue when attempting to define evil and the evil character of satan, but no one has difficulty recognizing evil when they are engulfed by it.

 

There are perhaps millions of overt examples of evil. They are all motivated by a mental attitude of evil and in certain circumstances the evil motivations of man’s heart, fed by satan’s cosmos and his arrogance and hatred, become seen, and are to the extent of being indescribable.

 

Historian Phillip Friedman provides the following eyewitness account of what happened to a young Jewish girl living in the Warsaw ghetto during the Nazi occupation.

 

Zosia was a little girl … the daughter of a physician. During an “action” one of the Germans became aware of her beautiful diamond-like dark eyes.

 

“I could make two rings out of them,” he said, “one for myself and one for my wife.” His colleague is holding the girl. “Let’s see whether they are really so beautiful. And better yet, let’s examine them in our hands.”

 

Among the buddies exuberant gaiety breaks out. One of the wittiest proposes to take the eyes out. A shrill screaming and the noisy laughter of the soldier-pack. The screaming penetrates our brains, pierces our heart, the laughter hurts like the edge of a knife plunged into our body. The screaming and the laughter are growing, mingling and soaring to heaven. O God, whom will you hear first?

 

What happens next is that the fainting child is lying on the floor. Instead of eyes two bloody wounds are staring. The mother, driven mad, is held by the women. This time they left Zosia to her mother … At one of the next “actions,” little Zosia was taken away. It was, of course, necessary to annihilate the blind child. [end quote]

 

Evil comes in many forms. What snared the mind of those soldiers so long ago that they evolved such evil in their puny brains? We could analyze the men’s past and see the chain of events, but what the point to all that? We know the source, we know that satan would have been laughing at Zosia. We know that we must cling to the light of the world and avoid the darkness that can engulf our hearts as well.

 

Some of the methods for producing stumbling blocks are listed in the parable of the sower, Matt 13:1-8; 18-23.

 

Matt 13:1 On that day Jesus went out of the house, and was sitting by the sea.

 

Matt 13:4 and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up.