[0:00] We have been continuing our verse-by-verse journey together through the Gospel according to Mark.! We have come to chapter 10. And Jesus has, about halfway through chapter 8, summed up his Galilean ministry, which was largely his public ministry.
[0:17] There are certainly some other public things he does as we continue through the Gospel account. But in large part, he's ceased this public ministry, and he's now narrowed his scope to the teaching of the disciples.
[0:31] We see that in chapter 9, verse 30 and 31. He passes through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know, for he was teaching his disciples. He has about six months left now before his death.
[0:46] He is summing up his earthly ministry, and he wants to be sure that the disciples understand the things they're going to need to know before he leaves them.
[0:59] And we've seen in this sort of second act a number of lessons taught, beginning with a blind man healed at Bethsaida in varying degrees, to show us that Jesus is in fact the Lord, both over physical blindness, but more importantly, as we see these samplings, these paracopes, these different stories, that he's also the Lord over spiritual blindness.
[1:24] This section is summed up at the end of chapter 10 with the healing of blind Bartimaeus in an instant. And so we see that Jesus reigns over these things, and he's teaching the disciples all of these various lessons.
[1:39] We come now to a very short paracope, one that seems a bit insignificant and could be easily read past, but let's be sure that we don't do that this morning.
[1:51] Mark chapter 10, beginning in verse 13. And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them.
[2:02] But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, Let the children come to me. Do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.
[2:18] And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them. This is God's word to us. It was written for his glory and for our good. We would all do well this morning to listen to it in order to believe its promises and obey its commands.
[2:35] Let's pray together. Father God, we do thank you for your word to us this morning. Father, I admit, and I admit on behalf of this congregation that we are not sufficient for such things.
[3:03] That we can, in no way, under our own power, understand your word rightly. And so, Father, I would ask that your spirit would be active in me to preach it well.
[3:18] To speak with clarity and with conviction. And that we would all hear it. That it would saturate our hearts and it would change us for your glory.
[3:29] And we pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Now, as I mentioned, it's kind of an easy little four verses to read right past. To maybe make some improper assumptions about and move on.
[3:43] The next story is the rich young man, which I'm massively looking forward to getting to preach through. But this little story is contained in all three of the synoptic gospels. Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
[3:55] Much with the same detail. And they all three contain the phrase, To such belongs the kingdom of God. We need to wrestle with this.
[4:05] We need to really understand what it means. These three gospel writers, under inspiration, thought it was important to include this teaching in the scriptures.
[4:17] In fact, we ought to pay attention any time Jesus talks about the kingdom of God. Mark 1, verse 15. This was the message he was bringing. He said the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand.
[4:28] Repent and believe in the gospel. What is this kingdom of God? And how is it that we get to be a part of the kingdom of God? And once we are a part of the kingdom of God, how do we operate properly underneath the rule of the king?
[4:44] This is the great question, the thing that ought to captivate all human minds. How do we live in subject, proper subjection to the king?
[4:59] And here we see a story that teaches us that what it looks like to be part of the kingdom of God is to have faith like a child. God, to have faith like a child.
[5:13] Now let's understand some of the aspects of this. This would be called the exegesis. What does it mean as we're reading through this story? What are some of the details involved here?
[5:24] And we see at the very beginning that there are people, it says, and they, a larger crowd, it's safe to assume that they were children. I would hope that these are not people who have kidnapped children and for the sake of the children and bring them to Jesus, but they are their parents.
[5:39] So that he could do what? That he would touch them. That he would touch them. And this was the way that Jesus' ministry was largely being carried out. All of the healings that he was doing, he was doing by touch.
[5:52] He wanted to be sure that people knew that the power to heal was coming from him, that he was Lord over this. And so it made sense that they were bringing them to him to touch them.
[6:05] And we see a sharp rebuke. The disciples rebuked him, this incredibly strong verb here, which means in the noun form to punish them. They reprimanded them when they came.
[6:18] Now in Luke's account, Luke 18, 15, it says, now they were bringing even infants to him. Luke uses a different Greek noun here. And so they were very small children, likely even infants.
[6:33] In the verse 16, we see the summation. He gives us a teaching, but in the summation of this, he then rebukes the disciples and then he takes them in his arms and he blesses them, laying his hands on them.
[6:46] Now what the parents were asking of him was something that was consistent in this culture. It was a tradition of the elders that when somebody had a new child, fathers would come to the elders and they would lay their hands on the child and the elders would join in laying their hands on the child and they would pray for them.
[7:03] Similar in a lot of ways to the way we do dedications when a family would like to do that in our church. We come together and we collectively pray for the child. They would pray specifically for three things.
[7:17] They pray that they would be famous in law. They would know it well and expound upon it well. That they would be faithful in marriage. And that they would do good works.
[7:29] These were the things that were asked of a Jewish child to be responsible by their understanding to their God. They also, in asking these things, were asking for salvation for the child.
[7:45] The Jewish people had an understanding that to be saved, they had to walk in the ways of God. They had to be saved from the condemnation of the law.
[7:55] The unfortunate thing is that it was misguided. It was just simply misguided because they thought it was works that brought them to that point and not their faith. They were asking, as they came to Jesus, that Jesus would bless them, that He would lay His hands on them and set them on the right path that they might merit their salvation by works.
[8:20] Now, maybe this is why the disciples rebuked them, although I think Jesus' response gives us a clue that this is not the reason why. This sharp reprimand that they give to them.
[8:31] Likely, Jesus' sharp response back to them is that they've already forgotten the lesson we observed from chapter 9 concerning the excellence of service.
[8:42] Turn back to verse 33. And they came to Capernaum. They're traveling back through Galilee.
[8:52] They came to Capernaum. And when He was in the house, He asked them, what were you discussing on the way? But they kept silent. They were ashamed. For on the way, they had argued with one another about who was the greatest.
[9:02] Which of us is going to be best in the kingdom of God? And He sat down and called the twelve and He said to them, if anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.
[9:14] And then in verse 36, what does He do? He brings a child into the situation. He brings a child into the situation. He says, whoever receives, verse 37, one such child in My name receives Me.
[9:26] Whoever receives what would have been perceived as the lowest human subject. Children have very little, no worth in society in this day.
[9:39] If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all. And here we see now a group of parents who want to bring children to the midst of Jesus and the disciples have already forgotten this important lesson.
[9:54] And so Jesus is indignant with them. Angry would be a synonymous word here. He was angry with them. And then says to them, let the children come to Me.
[10:08] Do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. To such belongs the kingdom of God. And then He goes beyond. He goes a little further in verse 15. He says, truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.
[10:23] I want to show you four things from the text this morning. First, I want to show you two things that the text does not mean. Those common things that we might misunderstand about it and would cause us to read right past us.
[10:39] Two things that this text does not mean. And then secondly, two things that this text does mean. So firstly, it does not build a case for some sort of special salvific category for children or for the baptizing of infants.
[11:00] It's not some special category that we see here. Jesus says, verse 14, not that the kingdom of God belongs to these children or these children belong to the kingdom of God, but that to such belongs the kingdom of God.
[11:15] To people like this belongs the people, the kingdom of God. He reinforces that in verse 15. Right? Not saying that there's a special salvific category.
[11:30] In fact, the Bible speaks very little to what happens to children, young children, babies in the womb. What happens to these children's souls when they die?
[11:40] They haven't been able to receive and respond to the gospel. What happens to them? What happens to mentally handicapped children and adults who don't seem to be able to comprehend or to understand the gospel?
[11:54] The Bible doesn't speak explicitly to it. I do believe that a case can be made implicitly that children and mentally handicapped people have an eternal dwelling with God.
[12:05] I do believe that. For another day and another time. But I cannot in good conscience make this text mean that. Again, the reinforcement.
[12:18] Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. This is not some special salvific category he's talking about. He's talking about those who will be part of the kingdom and what characterizes their faith.
[12:35] What their faith must look like to be included. in that kingdom. It follows then that this also is not a case for infant baptism.
[12:48] Interestingly, on Friday, in fact, I picked up a commentary by J.C. Ryle who's a 19th century Anglican bishop. On this text, he says, I respect J.C. Ryle so you're clear.
[13:04] Of course, it is not pretended that there is any mention of baptism or even any reference to it in the verses before us. All we, meaning Anglicans who practice infant baptism, all we mean to say is that the expressions and gestures of our Lord in this passage are a strong indirect argument in favor of infant baptism.
[13:29] It is on this account that the passage occupies a prominent place in the baptismal service of the Church of England. This text from Mark chapter 10, 13 through 16 has a prominent place in the baptism service of the Church of England and I discovered in many other denominations that celebrate infant baptism.
[13:52] It is certainly not taught here. By J.C. Ryle's own admission, it's not taught here. And, for that matter, anywhere else in the pages of Scripture. It is a troubling thing to me that so many people who we love and respect, people who we love to partner with in advancing the Gospel, who we agree with on so many finer points of Gospel truth, embrace the false doctrine of infant baptism.
[14:27] It's not taught anywhere in the Scriptures. I read to you before this wonderful quote from A.T. Pearson's biography of George Mueller. I think it would be well read again here.
[14:41] George Mueller, 19th century pastor, operated children's home as well as a missionary society. If you hang around here long, you'll know he's one of my spiritual heroes. While at Sidmouth preaching in April, 1830, three believing sisters held in his presence a conversation about believer's baptism, which proved the suggestion of another important step in his life which has a wider bearing than at first as a parent.
[15:07] They naturally asked his opinion on the subject about which they were talking, and he replied that, having been baptized as a child, he saw no need of being baptized again. Being further asked if he had ever yet prayerfully searched the Word of God as to its testimony in this matter, he frankly confessed that he had not.
[15:27] Now catch here, he's the guest speaker, right? He's the visiting pastor come to speak, and these three women asked this question of him. At once, with unmistakable plainness of speech and with rare fidelity, one of these sisters in Christ promptly said, I entreat you then never again to speak any more about it till you have done so.
[15:53] We would do well to take a lesson from this rather embarrassing moment in Mueller's life, and A.T. Pearson goes on to say that Mueller not willing to back down such a challenge did.
[16:05] He read the Bible cover to cover with the topic of infant and what we would call credo-baptism in mind and was promptly on his completion of that study baptized as a believer.
[16:20] Now there is so much to be said on this topic, and I know that I've made some incredibly strong statements that potentially have offended some of you. In fact, I set out this week to talk a lot about this because it would seem that the text is so grossly misused that that needs to be set straight.
[16:40] However, in my work on that, I realized that I was going to neglect what the text actually does mean, and that would be a shame as well. So we're going to leave it at that this Sunday.
[16:54] But next Sunday, I'm going to expound upon this. Right? Part two of this text. We're going to step away from it, and we're going to look more holistically at the Scriptures at what they have to teach about infant baptism or paedo-baptism versus credo-baptism.
[17:09] Beloved, this is something we should set straight in our minds. It's important to what we believe. So it doesn't mean that. It's not some special salvific category.
[17:20] It's certainly not a case for infant baptism. It also does not mean that we are to have ignorant, uninformed, blind faith.
[17:35] This is sometimes the way people teach this or understand it, that to have faith like a child is this simple, naive type of faith.
[17:47] Many people use it to make an excuse for their lack of knowledge. Right? Well, I just think it's enough to have faith like a child. There's a great jars of clay song that I no longer like after studying this as a result of this.
[18:03] Now, recall in 1 Corinthians 14, Paul exhorts Christians not to be like children in our thinking. And we so quickly want to divorce our heads from our hearts.
[18:16] It's enough that I feel a certain way. It's not. It's not. God calls all of us into the worship of Him. Our head and our heart and in fact, our head is a conduit for our heart.
[18:29] The way you think affects the way you feel and therefore act. 1 Corinthians 14, 20, Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, innocent in that way, but in your thinking be mature.
[18:44] He exhorts us in 1 Thessalonians 5, 21, to test everything so that, in order that, we can hold fast to what is good. 2 Corinthians 1, 20 states that all the promises of God find their yes in Jesus Christ.
[19:04] You must know these promises in order to live by them. That's the thing I've been saying week after week now, and I intend to say it every single Sunday, why the Word of God was written.
[19:17] God's glory and our good. We would do well to listen to it, to believe its promises, and obey its commands. We are meant to be a thinking people, a people of the book.
[19:35] C.S. Lewis famously said in Mere Christianity, it needs no special education to be a Christian. Christianity is an education itself.
[19:45] This is not a call to high-minded Christianity that has no action at all. Head and heart. The two must be combined together.
[19:56] We must delve in. We must know. Have you ever heard somebody say, oh, I don't really like being theological. Well, then you don't like God. If you love God, you want to know God.
[20:08] The great evidence of the love for my wife is that I want to know who she is. I want to know what she experiences. I want to know what hurts her, what makes her happy. I want to spend time with her.
[20:22] The same is true of our God, that we want to know Him because we love Him. We delve deep. This isn't a naive, a blind type of faith that God is calling us to.
[20:34] Now remember, God doesn't require of us perfect faith, but rather sufficient faith. So I'm not suggesting that you have to know everything and learn everything and you have to be so deep and theological and be able to expound upon anything that God might accept you.
[20:48] That is not what I'm saying right now. He requires of us sufficient faith. Remember the story back in chapter 9, verses 14 through 29, when Jesus heals the demon-possessed boy? It's in response to the faith of the Father.
[21:00] Remember verse 24, He says, I believe. Help. My unbelief. This expression of imperfect faith. I think you can do it. I'm pretty sure you can do it.
[21:10] Please help me believe is the response of faith of this Father. This is the type of faith God requires of us. A sufficient faith. But then we are to go deep.
[21:23] To know God. I appreciated what Stan had to read this morning. It was not planned on our part. This is the most important thing about who we are. What we think and therefore how we act concerning God.
[21:37] So read. Beloved, we have a book. We have a book. A book that's been given to us that we might know our God. What a phenomenal, phenomenal thing. Right?
[21:48] Written by men under the inspiration of the Spirit, the words of God to us. The Almighty condescended to become an author. We should read that book.
[22:00] That's an important, important book. Now here's some fun stats for you. I love statistics. In another life, I should be a statistician.
[22:12] The average person reads 250 to 300 words per minute. Okay? Average. You guys are all above average. I'm sure of that. The average person reads 250 to 300 words per minute. The average page of my Bible, not necessarily yours, but the average page of my Bible contains 750 words.
[22:29] Right? My copy has just over 1,000 pages. 1,042 pages to be exact. Okay? Now catch this. If you read for 30 minutes per day, and I'm talking about sitting down, distraction-free, actually reading.
[22:44] Right? If you read for 30 minutes per day, five days a week, just five, I'm going to give you two off in my example, for the entire year, you could read the entire Bible two and a half times per year.
[22:58] 30 minutes a day. Five days a week. Two and a half hours a week. Two and a half hours a week. You could read the entire scriptures through two and a half times. That's apart from meditation on it. I'm not suggesting that everybody needs to read the Bible two and a half times a year.
[23:10] Please don't hear me saying that. Right? Soak in it. Spend a day on a verse. That's okay. Spend a day on a word in the scriptures. It'll affect your life. But just to give you an idea of the capacity that we have as a people, how about this?
[23:26] Same example. If you read for 30 minutes a day, five days a week, for the 52 weeks of the year, the average book contains 300 pages, which means you can read 26 books in a year. 26 books in a year.
[23:39] Right? Now catch this. The average college student, and again, you guys are all above average. I am sure this is not true of you, but the average college student spends 106 minutes per day on social media. 106 minutes per day on social media.
[23:54] Now, social media itself is not evil. I'm not suggesting that at all. However, if you devoted five days a week, 52 weeks out of the year, that 106 minutes instead to reading, you could read 92 books.
[24:10] Average books in a year. 92 books in a year. Or, and I would encourage the Bible 8.8 times. That's a worthy trade.
[24:24] It's a worthy trade. Set aside Facebook and Twitter and Instagram. I don't know what else is happening out there these days. And read. Get to know our God through the wealth of knowledge that is out there concerning Him.
[24:43] In 1 Corinthians, as Paul is exhorting the Corinthians, as they're putting themselves under the leadership, I belong to Paul, I belong to Apollos, he flips that around on them to say that Paul and Apollos belong to you.
[24:56] Right? That they are in service to you because we are Christ and Christ is God's. Right? Which means that all the saints, all the people in the present and in the past belong to us for our benefit because we belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God.
[25:12] As do they to our service, to our sanctification, to our holiness. holiness. Which means we should access these things that I know of.
[25:24] No one in this church writes deep theological books. Please let me know if you do. I don't think that's the case but men throughout history have written wonderful reads. You can sit down at dinner with some of these phenomenal men and hear their mind on a particular topic concerning God.
[25:43] I started out making a huge list of people you should read. It would have been a waste of time. Ask me some time. Let me just give you the Johns. It's sort of really like recognizing there are a ton of phenomenal theologians that are named John.
[25:58] Ready? The Johns. Read the Johns. Piper, MacArthur, Edwards, that was Jonathan, but Edwards, Wesley, Murray, Flavel, Calvin, Owen, Bunyan, Knox, or Gill. And there's probably some more.
[26:11] Read the Johns. I've set it as a goal for myself, and I know that I've got a little more time, which I love and appreciate, and I thank you all for supporting me so that I can do these types of things.
[26:24] As a goal for myself, in addition to the other reading that I do, to my scripture reading, in addition to that, I'm going to try to read 50 books this year starting this Sunday. I'll be making a stack. There's 50, and I'm going to try to go process through them.
[26:37] Because we can do this. Average. Average. If you're 25% of average, 25% of average, you could easily read through the scriptures in a year.
[26:49] You could easily read five or more books. Right? The call here is not to an ignorant faith. Right? Uninformed.
[27:00] Blind. I exhort you to the opposite. You will not be disappointed. You will not be disappointed. All right.
[27:10] Two things that this text does mean. Two things that it doesn't mean. Two things that it does mean. It does mean that Jesus gave special attention to children.
[27:22] And so should we. Verse 16. He takes them in his arms and he blesses them laying his hands on them. The Greek here just paints for us such a beautifully tender moment.
[27:36] Jesus embraces the children. The Greek word means he enfolds his arms around them. He scoops them up and it would seem in a group he does it with them. All these little babies and these little children.
[27:47] He scoops them up. Jesus loved children. We should do the same. Do we? Do we love kids?
[27:58] Our society doesn't really seem to love kids. Our society seems to think of children more as a burden than a blessing. It kills me. It absolutely just just wrenches my heart.
[28:10] When I go someplace with somebody who owns a dog and we've got our kids with us and you like go to the park and people come up to you and they want to pay attention to the dog and they don't give any attention to the kids at all. People in our society love animals.
[28:22] Right? Soulless beings. Sorry to disrupt your thinking at all. Right? Non-eternal beings. There's no dogs in heaven. I'm sorry. Right? Right? More than my kids.
[28:35] How dare you? My kids are precious and eternal. We should love. And dogs are fine. I'm okay with dogs. But we should love. Love children.
[28:46] Listen to what God has to say about children. Psalm 127. Behold, children are heard from the Lord the fruit of the womb a reward. Not a burden. A reward.
[28:56] A blessing. A gift. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. Blessed. Happy. Joyful is what that means. Is the man who fills his quiver with them.
[29:09] Some of us in this church have fuller quivers than others. But kids are a blessing. They're hard. Right? They're sinful. They're a challenge. Expose our sinfulness.
[29:21] I am selfish at my core and my kids often show me how really evident that is in my activity. with them. They're a blessing.
[29:33] They're precious. We ought to be about children. We should love them and because we love them we should minister the gospel to them. Psalm 78 verse 1-4 Give ear, O my people, to my teaching.
[29:47] Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings from of old. Things that we have heard and known that our fathers have told us.
[29:58] We will not hide them from children but tell to the coming generations the glorious deeds of the Lord and His might and the wonders that He has done. We as a society spend so much time entertaining with the fantastical our kids and we don't often give to them the very best possible thing we can give to them.
[30:20] The most amazing, the most miraculous story that we can ever tell them. God and His redemptive work in this world. It is a phenomenal, phenomenal story that has eternal consequence, that has the power, the ability to captivate their hearts and change who they are with eternal purpose.
[30:42] We need to teach our kids. We need to pour into our kids. Why? I mean, I really wasn't prepared for this morning but I read Our House is Like a Little Church for that reason. This is the best thing we can do for our kids, parents.
[30:57] Feed them, clothe them, these things matter but they don't primarily matter. What happens to their souls is what matters most. Have you ever considered that we can fix the problems in the church in just one generation?
[31:15] Have you ever thought about that? Let me just use for an example the way that Christians these days tend to be so consumeristic. They have such a poor view of what church is. They just want to show up, consume the show, entertain me, give me a little life lesson, let me go home.
[31:31] They don't want to show up to serve. They don't want to be transparent. They don't want to get to know. They don't want to be part of a faith family. They just want to go to a big conference every Sunday. This is a disease in our churches.
[31:43] The me, me, me kind of mentality. If we come to realize this, fight against it, push out our culture and what our culture has to say about that and begin to embrace the truth of what church really is and how it is we're meant to live together in the faith, we've got to battle with the wrong understanding.
[32:02] We've got to battle with our history and our upbringings, but our kids don't. We could teach them what it really looks like to be in fellowship in a church and in a generation it could change.
[32:15] Isn't that a phenomenal idea? All the things that lament us about the way that Christians live in this world could be changed in a generation. We should be about that work.
[32:28] Jesus loved children, do we. We let the kids sit in the service with us and I know that that's not always easy. Some Sundays better than others.
[32:40] I'll tell you right now that we have a group of phenomenal kids. There's not a lot of kids that can handle and do what happens in our service together. It serves the parents to get to have their kids with them.
[32:52] It serves the children to get to sit and listen, pay attention, see that this matters to their parents. But those of you without kids, it serves you too. It really does.
[33:03] To not think that you have to have a perfect vacuum of silence to be able to pay attention, to learn to pay attention regardless, and it teaches you to love children.
[33:15] Do you love kids even when they're a little bit disruptive? And let's be clear, it's always a little bit disruptive. It's never a lot disruptive in here. A little bit disruptive. Do you love the children?
[33:27] Went to a graduation yesterday at North Georgia to see Daniel Swanson and Ash Harris who were both here this morning with us as well as Cody Klinker. Klink? Is it Klinker? Okay.
[33:37] Sorry. Sorry, Cody, if you hear this recording. I don't know your last name. I love you though. Graduate. And, you know, and it's silent-ish in the gymnasium if you've been to the graduations there and they're calling the names and there's these kids crying out and you know it's just the most miserable place they could possibly be and parents trying to hush them and deal with that kind of a thing and it was not a distraction to me at all.
[33:59] Praise God that we do this here. It didn't bother me a bit. In fact, I wanted to go hang out with the kids. Ah, that kid just needs somebody to have fun with them. Let's go do it. Was the cry of my heart in that setting.
[34:10] Plus, it was really long and boring. it would have been better. Right? So, it's good. It's good. I think it's good for everybody. I think it's good for all of us. Not that it's the only way that church can be done.
[34:21] I would not argue that. I wouldn't draw that kind of a line in the sand but I do think it's the best way for us. If you don't have kids, what can you do? You can help us love our kids. Right?
[34:31] You could use your help. You can babysit. Healthy parents are good. When they're good together, they're good for kids and we need time away from our kids sometimes to be good together. Offer your services and that whether you're a young person or an older person.
[34:44] Your kids are out of the house. Spend some time with the kids. It'll help you appreciate not having kids in the house. Spend time with some of the older kids in our church as well.
[34:56] Young people, college students. We've got upcoming young people who would love to spend time with you. The young adults. Right? I'm losing cool. I'm trying.
[35:07] I'm really working at it. You guys are cool and you can spend time with them and you can point them to God. You can reinforce the things that their parents are doing at home with them. Right? Keep the distractions down in the service the way that you can love kids and love parents.
[35:24] Show the children how they're supposed to act in the service. That could be helpful. Talk to each other. Pass notes. Draw. Right?
[35:34] Sit. Pay attention. Be an example for them. Right? You've got to go to the bathroom. Go to the bathroom. Please don't suffer. But if you don't have to go, don't go. Stay. Stick around. I do it every Sunday.
[35:46] I think you can too. Right? What we do in the service together is important. It matters. It matters. It matters to Jesus. He enfolded his arms around them.
[35:59] Right? Secondly, what it does mean. Right? And here's the primary point of the text. It took us a while to get to it. But here is the primary point. Right? If you don't hear anything else I said, if you don't take anything else away from this, this is the primary point of the text.
[36:13] That we must come to the kingdom with humility. Right? What does childlike faith look like? Right? It means that we come to the kingdom with nothing to offer.
[36:25] We recognize that we have nothing of ourselves to offer to the kingdom. Again, remember all the misconception about what the kingdom even meant. They thought that Jesus, that the Christ, was going to come and he was going to reign militarily.
[36:37] I think that the disciples are still getting this understanding out of their heads. Jesus is continually giving them passion predictions and they keep misunderstanding what that's going to mean. We're going to see that again in a couple of weeks.
[36:47] About halfway through chapter 10. Again, he foretells his death. Again, they don't get it. It's common misconception. What does a child have to offer to the army of God who's going to come and set them free from Roman rule?
[37:02] Nothing. Nothing. Luke says that they're infants. Whether or not they're infants, they're little and the parents are the ones that bring them to Jesus. They didn't come under their own volition.
[37:13] They were brought to him that he might pray for them, that he might bless them. This is the way we come to the kingdom as well, with humility.
[37:24] Knowing that we have nothing to offer. Knowing that we're insignificant. That our sin has totally wrecked our image-bearing capacity. Destroyed it. We come to Christ by grace alone, through faith alone.
[37:40] no merit of our own. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. For by grace you have been saved. Through faith. And this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God.
[37:51] Not a result of works so that no one may boast. We cannot be proud of what we have done. We do not trust ourselves for salvation.
[38:03] Oh, if that was the call of the gospel, I would be lost again and again and again. We rather trust in Him, in Jesus Christ. We recognize that there's no thing or massive things, massive pile of things that we could possibly do to merit our own salvation.
[38:22] We see that Jesus' perfection, His holiness, His righteousness can be ours through faith. We simply believe that that is the case.
[38:33] this gift of faith that is given to us. This is what Jesus is communicating in this text. This is what He means when He says, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child, a little one, an insignificant one, one who has nothing to offer shall not enter it.
[38:56] Children, perk your ears. I wholeheartedly agree with the words of Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me.
[39:07] This I know. For the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong. They are weak. The point of this text. But He is strong.
[39:19] Let's pray together.