Sermons

Matthew 9:13-15 – Let them come!

Intro: Acute spirit of contradiction in our culture today @children.

• Culture clams to love children.
  • Yet, agenda is all-out assault on children.
    • Society takes target aim on little souls.
    • Society put a hit on our kids (grandkids, nieces, nephews).

 

• “Why is that?”
  • Children, most vulnerable, impressionable creatures on the planet.
    • To change the culture to your advantage then go after the children.
      • Kids were reasonably safe until University but no longer.
      • To soften and pervert the culture, all you must do is to indoctrinate its children.

 

• Turn kids against families, against truth.
  • To what end?
    • License and sensuality.
    • To market sensuality for money.

 

• Chldren’s generation heavily pursued by media and public schools.
  • Not outright condemning as a separatist.
    • Still, if child has access, he/she is being accessed.
      • Either recognize deep danger and warning or vulnerable.
      • Assault is real and religions.

  

• Enticing children with promised entitlements to “identify” sexually is Anit-Christ.
  • Under protection of the federal government.
  • Tapping into a child’s flesh.

[KEY] Gospel preached to kids in church and through Xian families is powerful counterpunch. So do not lose heart in the fight.

[Illus] To borrow and analogy from the late David Powelison, the world is like a massive elephant in size and power. So, what do we have in the face of this? If you look down at the ground, you can just make out a small little mouse and it’s looking up at the elephant. That mouse represents the church in this world and if you look closer you see it has on its shoulder an RPG aimed right at the elephant’s head. The RPG is Truth.

• Single recourse to protect and to build our kids is the most solid recourse.

 

[Illus] The history of AGC, born some 46 years ago, was known by its young adults (median age in 20’s), marrying and having kids. In the late 70’s and early 80’s AGC was known by reputations for its kids, “kids behind every bush and every tree!”

In 1980, GCS was born, expanding and increasing its Gospel influence on kids. This history has played out as a phenomenon, continuing to this day. Children participate in our mission of church and school through GCS that account for hundreds in and through our facility (all week long, morning through evening, representing families all over Anchorage and the Valley, coming here to get the right worldview.

A vision for kids learning truth in GCS, Awana, Sunday School, Youth group, and VBS.

Multiple arenas that have spawned out of our shared conviction that children matter.

This place is a nice counterpunch to the clear Satanic agenda to brainwash society through kids.

I think we could tolerate Universities injecting post-modern poison with their antinomian, antifoundational, anarchist, liberation doctrines and homosexual and feminists’ agendas because typically you have to be an adult to apply for this. 18 to join.

However, when social media and public education go after our kids where our government votes in laws that hedge kids into these false doctrines while shielding parents from influence, then we cannot as a church stand idly by.

[Illus] Some years ago, in a Gallop survey reported by Dr. Jim Slack, Southern Baptist Foreign Missionary Society, that 19 out of 20 people become Christians before age 25. At 25 the survey reflected a dramatic statistic that shifts to 1 in 10,000. At 35, the digression is palpably down to 1 in 50,000 and at 45, 1 in 200,000 and by age 55, 1 in 300,000, and finally by age 75, 1 in 700,000.

[Point] Not sure how a survey is even taken (or validated), but this does make its point that children are far more receptive to being influenced for the rest of their life, at an early age.

• Early developmental stage, minds like clay still wet; still moldable.
  • With age comes exposure.
  • The older someone gets.
    • More exposure someone must overcome, lest they be overtaken.
      • With age, comes mental callous from worldly constructs.
      • Kids are designed to absorb a lot early, if for nothing else to survive.

 

• Be sure, someone’s teaching them, and teaching them all the time.
  • Makeup demands, they be taught!
  • Abdicating role as primary teachers is detrimental.

[TRANS] Not talking nuevo-psychology.

• Traced back to Moses’ teaching.

 

• What Moses put in place to ensure Israel’s success in the Promised Land.

^ESV  Deuteronomy 6:1-9 “Now this is the commandment– the statutes and the rules– that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it,

² that you may fear the LORD your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long.

³ Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

⁴ “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.

⁵ You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

⁶ And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

⁷ You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

⁸ You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

⁹ You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deu 6:1-9 ESV)

 

[TRANS] Command (ethic) to raise children under Truth is everywhere through Scripture. 

 

^ESV  Psalm 8:2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. (Psa 8:2 ESV)

 

^ESV  Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. (Pro 22:6 ESV)

^ESV  Matthew 21:15-16 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant,

¹⁶ and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, “‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?”

(Mat 21:15-16 ESV)

^ESV  Acts 16:31-32 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” ³² And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. (Act 16:31-32 ESV)

^ESV  1 Corinthians 7:14 For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. (1Co 7:14 ESV)

^ESV  Ephesians 6:1-4 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

² “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise),

³ “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”

⁴ Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. (Eph 6:1-4 ESV)

 

^ESV  Colossians 3:21 Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. (Col 3:21 ESV)

 

[Question] “Why the strong emphasis on children?” Two reasons.

 

• Children are most vulnerable and the most impressionable.
  • Kids should hold top priority in church.
  • Jesus puts his stamp on this priority.

 

[TRANS] See priority by how Christ’s values children coming into His Kingdom.

 

• Christ is always building his Kingdom and children represent this unstoppable building project!

 

[TRANS] Been learning in Matthew 19 about husbands and wives (marriages) and singles.

 

• Learn @ Christ’s love for children and what they teach us about how Christ builds his kingdom!   

 

Prop: Children represent how Christ is building his kingdom.

 

1. Children contrast how people miss the kingdom (v. 13).

 

[KEY] What puts people outside kingdom is sin.  

 

• Disciples (though inside the kingdom) model what not to do.
  • Sin of pride.
  • Self-interest.

 

[Context] Parents mob Jesus, going to Jerusalem, miles outside city.

 

• Parents, sensing a turning point, window of opportunity for children closing.
  • Jew, like the modern RCC) were religious.
    • Rabbis lay hands on children as traditional sign of blessing.
    • Act, proforma in religious contexts.

 

• Parents, not acting on religious impulse.
  • Want children inside the Kingdom.
    • By coming to Jesus.
    • For affirmation.

  

• Biblical precedent set by OT Patriarchs.

 

[Illus] Noah in world reset, laid hands on Shem and Japheth, contra Ham, cursed.

 

^ESV  Genesis 9:26-29 He also said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant.

²⁷ May God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant.”

²⁸ After the flood Noah lived 350 years.

²⁹ All the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died. (Gen 9:26-29 ESV)

 

• Isaac blessed Jacob (not Esau).

 

 ^ESV  Genesis 27:26-27 So he came near and kissed him. And Isaac smelled the smell of his garments and blessed him and said, “See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed!

²⁸ May God give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine.

²⁹ Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!” (Gen 26:28-29 ESV)  

 

• Later w/Jacob (Israel), Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh.

 

^ESV  Genesis 48:9-20 Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me here.” And he said, “Bring them to me, please, that I may bless them.”

¹⁰ Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age, so that he could not see. So Joseph brought them near him, and he kissed them and embraced them.

¹¹ And Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see your face; and behold, God has let me see your offspring also.”

¹² Then Joseph removed them from his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.

¹³ And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near him.

¹⁴ And Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, crossing his hands (for Manasseh was the firstborn).

¹⁵ And he blessed Joseph and said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day,

¹⁶ the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys; and in them let my name be carried on, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”

¹⁷ When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him, and he took his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head.

¹⁸ And Joseph said to his father, “Not this way, my father; since this one is the firstborn, put your right hand on his head.”

¹⁹ But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great. Nevertheless, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations.”

²⁰ So he blessed them that day, saying, “By you Israel will pronounce blessings, saying, ‘God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh.’” Thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh. (Gen 48:9-20 ESV)

 

• Continues in NT:

 

^ESV  Acts 8:14 Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, (Act 8:14 ESV)

 

^ESV  Acts 19:1-6 And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples.

² And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

³ And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism.”

⁴ And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.”

⁵ On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

⁶ And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. (Act 19:1-6 ESV)

 

^ESV  1 Timothy 4:14 Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. (1Ti 4:14 ESV)

 

^ESV  2 Timothy 1:6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, (2Ti 1:6 ESV)

 

^ESV  1 Timothy 5:22 Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of others; keep yourself pure. (1Ti 5:22 ESV)

 

 

[Point] Both conferring literal blessing and symbolizing blessing.

 

Making visible, what is invisible.  

 

Patriarchs and Apostles: directly conferred God’s blessing, by proxy.

 

Elders: symbolize realities by baptism, Lord’s supper, laying hands on sick, ordination.

 

• Apostles, Prophets are foundation of church.

 

• Apostolic age ended w/close of NT.

 

• God’s Word is only Authority and Sufficiency for life.
  • Elders laying on hands for sick (cf. James 5).
    • Represent God’s comfort.
    • Represent God’s healing promise (here or heaven).

 

• Elders laying on hands to ordain.
  • Symbolic of God’s approval.
  • Making invisible, visible.

 

• When spiritual leaders overstep authority.
  • Claim or imply Apostolic authority.
  • Claim to be channel of God’s blessing.
    • For power.
    • For money.

 

• No pastor has authority outside of the Word of God! Period.

 

 

[Question] “What about Jesus laying hands on children?”

 

• When Jesus laid on hands to bless, it conferred blessing, same way.
  • • Making visible, invisible.
      • Symbolized entrance into the Kingdom.
      • Welcoming people into X’s family.

 

• Not a lock for heaven, apart from faith.
  • Still, need to believe!
    • Justified, saved by grace through faith.
    • Also, affirming especial care for children!

 

• Jesus’ ministry is made up by these affirmatons.

 

^ESV  Matthew 9:18 While he was saying these things to them, behold, a ruler came in and knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.”

 (Mat 9:18 ESV)

 

^ESV  Mark 5:23 and implored him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.” (Mar 5:23 ESV)

 

^ESV  Mark 6:5 And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. (Mar 6:5 ESV)

 

^ESV  Mark 7:32 And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. (Mar 7:32 ESV)

 

^ESV  Mark 8:22 And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. (Mar 8:22 ESV)

 

^ESV  Luke 13:12-13 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.”

¹³ And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God. (Luk 13:12-13 ESV)

 

• Jesus’ inherent authority confers a symbolic blessing to children.
  • “children” brought to Chrst.
  • “infants” [paidia], not [teknia].
    • Young toddlers.

 

• Christ, both welcoming and symbolizing Kingdom entrance.
  • Symbol of grace.
    • Entering, not by any effort of their own.
    • Countering religious effort.

 

• Disciples failed to understand.

 

• Crowds press in, disciples “rebuk[ing]” (v. 13) them to get back.

 

[Illus] Jesus welcomes “children” (like when he healed the demon possessed boy, or the little girl who had died) and disciples’ contrast X, acting in pride.

 

• The word “rebuke” is the same used in Jude 9.

 

^ESV  Jude 1:9 But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” (Jud 1:9 ESV)

• Michael the Arch Angel rebuked Satan.
  • Authority of the Lord is summoned to “rebuke” Satan.
  • When Pharisees rebuked Jesus.

 

[KEY] Laying it on strongly to say the least.

 

• Priorities 180 out from Jesus.
  • Rationalized, thinking, protecting X from fatigue/weariness.
  • From Pharisees.

 

• Rationalizations miss pure ministry opportunity.
  • Children coming to Christ.
  • Parents passionate for kids to Christ.

 

[Illus] Two extremes w/parents and kids.

 

First, there are parents who will not allow their children to pray, or to participate in church for fear they are creating little Pharisees.

 

Damaging inner yearnings, want to follow you lead.

 

Parents should cautiously guard against false assurances, while not suppressing children taking steps toward X.

 

Second extreme can be to rush children toward public confessions or even baptism. This can confuse a step of obedience with a “work.” As if a parent is sealing a child’s faith by what he or she does.

 

Do not underestimate your influence over your children, because nothing can stop true faith, but it has to be their true faith.

 

[Point] Carefulness should not shift into stifling a child’s true conversion. Being baptized or partaking the Lord’s supper, never saved anyone, including your child. So, being careful will not push salvation away. No such thing as sealing a child’s conversion with a physical baptism.

 

At the same time, steps can and should be taken to affirm a child’s new status. This may include being baptized.

 

[TRANS] Disciples wanted to dampen an important moment, because of pride.

 

• Pride blinded them from seeing the Kingdom coming to children, brought to Jesus.
  • Pride left to itself, blinds people to eternal death.
  • Humility will see that having the faith of a child puts you inside the Kingdom.

 

[Point] Jesus saw this moment for what it was, and welcomed these children.      

 

 

2. Children represent making it into the kingdom (vv. 14-15).

 

• Mark’s account says Jesus was “indignant” over disciples’ response.

[KEY] Matthew 19:14 could not be clearer for what Jesus’ desired: “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder [prevent, hold back] them for such belongs the kingdom of heaven” (v. 14).

• Jesus’ righteous anger is not only bc/disciples’ wrong, but for the sake of the children.
  • He created these kids, loved these kids.
  • We should fight for kids, bc/X fought for kids.

[Illus] John Newton, former slave trader, turned Xian preacher, who wrote Amazing Grace was known for being a studious pastor. What he said about children, stands out to me: “If children are around the front door of the house of a preacher, this is a sign of his love for X,” and vise versa.”

[App] Xians should love these little hearts. Your patience or lack thereof is a sign of your love for X, for what he loves, we should love. This is an evaluation of your priorities.

More than once, I have seen spiritual leaders, in old age, make children the priority, who are the next generation of the kingdom of God on earth.

We cannot bring children into to physical presence of X, but we can bring them to the Word of God.

1. Do not hinder because children can come into the kingdom.

 

• Proverbs 22 promises that parents who train up their children will see a return on investment.
  • Promise and Proverb.
    • Guaranteed cause and effect.
    • Like sowing and reaping.
    • Axiomatic but still under Sovereign choice of God.

^ESV  Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. (Pro 22:6 ESV)

• Guaranteed as powerful influence on spiritual direction toward X.

 

[Illus] The children surrounding X’s triumphal entry cried out, “Hosanna to the Son of David” and when the priests and scribes were indignant, Jesus said, “Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise…” (Matt. 21:15-16).

• In Acts 16:31-34 “the whole household…believed in God.”
• In 1 Cor. 7:14 children raised with a parent who is a believer are sad to be “holy.”
• In Ephesians 6:1 “children are to not be “provoked…but to be brought up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”

 

• All means that children can be converted to X, and I expect them to be.

[App] What I mean is that when a child is being raised in the context of Christian influence, ideally from parents but also by loving influences of grandparents or a loving church, or a youth group,

In these cases, “Why wouldn’t God save that child, when he or she is providentially under this kind of influence?”

I presume God by his sovereign hand has placed a child under the splash effect of the Gospel in the home, for his purposes and I presume it is so they will believe.

^ESV  1 Corinthians 7:14 For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. (1Co 7:14 ESV)

 

• Why having children who believe (in the home of a spiritual leader) is requisite.

 

^ESV  Titus 1:6 if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. (Tit 1:6 ESV)

 

 

1. Do not hinder because children belong in the kingdom.

Question: “In what sense, ‘…for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven’?”

• Children are born in sin.
• David’s testimony established this.

^ESV  Psalm 51:5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

 (Psa 51:5 ESV)

• Sin forbids heaven.
  • Humanity being born under Adam’s curse.
  • This forbids heaven apart from saving grace.

 

• Man’s condition of total depravity is expressed in transgressions that he or she is accountable to.

^ESV  Revelation 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. (Rev 20:13 ESV)

• Still, Scripture gives us a window into how the Lord saves his “little ones” who die before they are volitionally accountable for their sin.

 

^ESV  Leviticus 18:21 You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the LORD. (Lev 18:21 ESV)

^ESV  Ezekiel 16:20-21 And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your whorings so small a matter ²¹ that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them? (Eze 16:20-21 ESV)

^ESV  2 Samuel 12:23 But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.” (2Sa 12:23 ESV)

 

^ESV  2 Samuel 18:31-33 And behold, the Cushite came, and the Cushite said, “Good news for my lord the king! For the LORD has delivered you this day from the hand of all who rose up against you.”

³² The king said to the Cushite, “Is it well with the young man Absalom?” And the Cushite answered, “May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise up against you for evil be like that young man.”

³³ And the king was deeply moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. And as he went, he said, “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!” (2Sa 18:31-33 ESV)

 

• David’s 2 dramatically opposite responses.

 

^ESV  Jonah 4:11 And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?” (Jon 4:11 ESV)

 

 

[Jesse Johnson] The oldest evidence of this debate I found is in Calvin’s Institutes, where Calvin condemned Servetus. He said that Servetus’ theology was so twisted that it stressed free will to the point that if you followed him, you would be forced to conclude that even infants who died were damned to hell because they were not able to exercise their will to believe in saving faith (Institutes IV, 16, p 31). In that same section, Calvin addresses John 3:36, and argues that it points to infant salvation, as infants were not able to exercise willing unbelief, so they do could not possibly stand condemned.

 

[Illus] Al Mohler compares this to the second generation God’s people wandering in the wilderness, escaping judgment their parents procured for their rebellion (cff. Dt. 1:35, 39).

^ESV  Deuteronomy 1:35 ‘Not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land that I swore to give to your fathers, (Deu 1:35 ESV)

 

^ESV  Deuteronomy 1:39 And as for your little ones, who you said would become a prey, and your children, who today have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there. And to them I will give it, and they shall possess it. (Deu 1:39 ESV)

 

“After the children of Israel rebelled against God in the wilderness, God sentenced that generation to die in the wilderness after 40 years of wandering. ‘Not one of these men, this evil generation, shall see the good land which I swore to give your fathers.’ But this was not all. God specifically exempted young children and infants from this sentence, and…explained why he did so: ‘Moreover, your little ones who you said would become prey, and your sons, who this day have no knowledge of good and evil, shall enter there, and I will give it to them and they shall possess it.”

[App] Hope and comfort is for those who’ve lost children to death.

Spurgeon speaks evangelistically.

CH Spurgeon:

“Now, let every mother and father here present know…it is well with the child, if God has taken it away from you in its infant days. Many of you are parents who have children in heaven. Is it not a desirable thing that you should go there, too? Mother, unconverted mother, from the battlements of heaven you child beckons you to Paradise. Father, ungodly, impenitent father, the little eyes that once looked joyously on you , look down upon you now, and the lips which scarcely learned to call you father…sealed by the silence of death, may be heard as with a still small voice…’Father, must we be forever divided…does not nature itself put a…longing..that you may be bound I the bundle of life with your own children?”

[TRANS] Verse 15, final phrase pictures how anyone ever enters X’s Kingdom.

• The King is only One who lets people inside his Kingdom.

[KEY] “And he laid his hands on them…” (v. 15).

• What mob of parents desired for them.
  • X “lay[ing] hands on them” meant they were encountering X’s Kingdom.
  • Cannot think of a deeper prayer request a parent has for his or her child.

 ^ESV  3 John 1:4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

 (3Jo 1:4 ESV)

• To be part of Christ’s kingdom.
  • To know him.
  • And have heaven.

 

• Mark says, “…he took them in his arms” detailing X’s intimate care; they were his and he was there’s.

^ESV  Mark 10:16 And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them. (Mar 10:16 ESV)

• No different than how anyone comes into X’s kingdom.
  • Never anything anyone does.
  • Always all of what he does.

^ESV  Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, (Eph 2:8 ESV)

[Illus] My childhood was not perfect, for that I am certain.

Looking back, I do not remember much, if anything of the bad.

This is because I was raised in a house filled with unconditional love.

Not everyone has this experience by earthly parents.

But this experience is promised to those by a Heavenly Father who loves you unconditionally.

^ESV  Romans 8:14-17 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

¹⁵ For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

¹⁶ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

¹⁷ and if children, then heirs– heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (Rom 8:14-17 ESV)

 

Conclusion: In terms of whether children who die, go to heaven or hell, you fall into one of three categories.

1. Logical view: A child’s inherited sin nature forbids them heaven. Must exercise faith, or not entering in.

 

2. Agnostic view: Because God is good, we are shielded from knowing the answer, so we trust God to do what is right.

 

3. Scriptural view: We know what we know, as far as Scripture reveals regarding children who die before being able to understand and exercise faith.

 

They are in heaven:

1. God’s witness about his little ones.
2. David’s testimony to see his child again.
3. Jesus’ blessing children.

Taking the Scriptural position has to be taken by faith and not mere logic.

Every child who tragically dies, even in abortion or pagan cultures, according to Scripture’s witness, is instantly in heaven.

 

Not sanctioning murder of unborn, a violation of God’s nature and Law.

At the same time, Scripture explicitly reveals (here), God’s heart through Christ.

Christ is God, as fully man, who reveals (here) what otherwise would be left to mystery.

 

This week, VBS will usher in some 200 to 300 children into our building.

We say, “Come!” “Come to Christ, by coming to his Word!”

His Word is his witness in the heart of every child who comes under its precious witness.

 

Children, here the welcome to sit before X, by sitting under X’s Word.

Jesus who bids them “Come!” bides you to “Come!”

Enter his presence because He who made you, calls you, and loves you.