Jesus Blesses Little Children, Part 3

Introduction and Review of Previous Sermons

0:05 This sermon was preached on Sunday evening, January 11th, 1987, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:17 Again in our Bibles to the 10th chapter of the Gospel of Mark, Mark's Gospel and the 10th chapter.

0:29 Once again, as we did this morning and last Lord's Day morning, I shall read the brief paragraph beginning with verse 13 and concluding with verse 16. And they were bringing unto him little children, that he should touch them. And the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was moved with indignation, and said unto them, Permit the little children to come unto me. Stop forbidding them.

1:01 For of such is the kingdom of heaven, or the kingdom of God. Matthew uses the term kingdom of heaven. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall in no wise enter therein. And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands upon them.

1:29 Now those of you who are with us this morning are aware that the message tonight is intended to be the completion of what we began this morning. And how did we come to this point? Well, very simply. In our consecutive expositions of the Gospel of Mark, we arrived last Lord's Day morning at the passage read in your hearing.

1:51 And as we almost invariably do, we began by simply unpacking the details, the facts of the narrative. And so in our first study of the passage, we considered the contents of the narrative and the one central personal application, the very one made by our Lord Jesus in his magisterial, the texts that are in the text here. But even though the word of God is presented so clearly to us, and we know that it is a message that is sent to you from the Father and then sent to us as a full part of the Gospel, the Bible says, Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, that is, whoever is not prepared to take the posture of dependant-ness, of vulnerability, of weakness, and in that posture to receive the kingdom, our Lord says he shall in no wise enter therein. But that is not what we have been looking for, we are looking for in the future.

2:30 And it is not as if we have been waiting for the world to move in at all. Josiah and Peter were ignorant, and we never knew what the world was going to be like, and I think that quite clearly we do not know what the world was going to be going in as a whole. says he shall in no wise enter therein and then this morning in our second study of the passage we came back to this portion concerned to take up some secondary matters of teaching and application and the one to which we addressed ourselves this morning was the relationship of this passage to the practice of infant baptism and in opening up that matter I first of all tried to demonstrate why this was necessary and then in response to the

3:12 assertions of those who think that they see strong justification for the practice of infant baptism in this passage I sought to demonstrate in the words of Spurgeon that there is nothing of infant baptism in this passage and then to conclude on the positive note of why it is an act of Christian love and kindness directed both to Christ to infants and to their parents to refuse baptism to any but confessed disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ and if you would be interested in knowing what we said on those points the tapes will be available I was not

3:54 intending to give a broad and comprehensive polemic against infant baptism I am preaching through mark and I only introduced the subject because others have pressed it upon the text and if there are any among us who desire to have an extensive study of the subject of baptism including what I regard in in my exposure to the writing on the subject the most convincing treatment of the subject I commend to you the series of adult Sunday school school tapes by Pastor Nichols given several years ago on the subject of baptism now we come tonight to take up two other...

The Church's Responsibility to Reflect Christ's Heart for Children

4:35 Areas of observation with reference to this passage. And the first is the relationship of this passage to the life and ministry of the Church of Jesus Christ.

4:50 The relationship of this passage of Jesus welcoming the infants, its relationship to the Church of Jesus Christ in its life and in its ministry. Now, one of the most awesome aspects of the Church as instituted by Christ, regulated in its life and activity by the Word and the Spirit of Christ, is this. The Church is called, not by way of just a metaphor, the Body of Christ.

5:27 Now, in a sense, it is a metaphor. The Church is, in some ways, what a body is to its head. It is more than a metaphor. It expresses a glorious and awesome reality that the Church sustains a living, vital, organic relationship to Jesus Christ, the relationship which the head in the human body sustains to the rest of that body.

5:55 And this truth is taught in many places in the epistles of the New Testament, a sampling of which is found in 1 Corinthians 3. 1 Corinthians 12, verses 12 and 13, and then in verse 27. For as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body being many are one body, so also is Christ. In other words, we are not to think of Christ in detachment from His body.

6:33 And what is that body? He is not a body. He is not a body. He is not a body.

6:35 He is not a body. He is not a body. He is not a body. He is not a body.

6:35 He is not referring to the glorified body of Christ at the right hand of the Father. But he says, in one spirit, we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free, and were made to drink of one spirit. He is speaking of the Church, as he clearly indicates in verse 27. Now you, you Corinthians, in your constituted life together as a Church, you are the body of Christ, and severally members thereof.

7:14 Now as the body of which Christ is the living and ruling head, the Church has the awesome responsibility and the unspeakable privilege of representing the Lord Jesus Christ here on the face of the earth among men. And it is for this reason that conforming, conformity to the image of Christ, and following the pattern of Christ, are set forth in the New Testament as major categories of the sanctification of the Church. The sanctification of the people of God is viewed in many lights,

7:55 and set forth under many images, and described in many categories in the New Testament. But one of the dominant categories is that of conformity, and of conformity to the image of Christ, and following or imitating and reflecting the pattern of Christ. For example in 2 Corinthians 3 and verse 18 we read the following statement, But we all with unveiled face, beholding, as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image. from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit.

8:40 As we behold Christ as He is mirrored to us in the Scriptures, in that beholding, the beholding of an enlightened intelligence, the beholding of faith in the attachment of love and devotion, the Holy Spirit performs an amazing ministry. He, by degrees, transforms us into the very image upon which we gaze. And here we have a classic passage on the progressive sanctification of the people of God

9:16 being considered under the category of increasing conformity to the image and likeness of Christ. If we turn back to Romans 8, we find a similar emphasis in verse 29,

9:33 for whom He, that is God the Father, foreknew, He also foreordained to be conformed to the image of His Son. God's foreordination envisions nothing less than the conformity of the entirety of the people of God to the image of the Son of God. And then in a well-known passage in 1 John 2, 6, He that saith he abideth in Him, ought himself so to walk, even as ye walked. Here the element is not so much conformity to Christ as the imitation of Christ.

10:14 The same emphasis as is found in 1 Peter 2, 21, Christ has suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow His steps. Now surely, brethren, this passage in Mark 10, 13-16, indicates what the church's attitude and posture to little ones ought to be if it is a church to any degree conformed to the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is no longer here visiting villages and hamlets in Israel, let alone in New Jersey.

10:56 Christ is no longer here in the integrity of the two natures joined in one. In the one person forever, He is at the right hand of the Father. He is here by His Spirit. He is here by His indwelling in our hearts individually and in the assembly of His people corporately.

11:18 But we, as the body of Christ, are to mirror. We are to reflect. We are to demonstrate to the world what the attitude and posture of Jesus is with respect to children. None in our generation will ever see the Lord Jesus take children in His arms and call down the favor and goodwill and grace of God upon them.

11:47 They will never see Him do that. He did it once, as recorded here in this passage, while He lived upon this earth, but He has gone back to the right hand of the Father. But it is His purpose that His church would reflect His heart, in all things, including his heart to little ones. It is his purpose that his church would reflect his attitude and his disposition and even imitate, insofar as we can do so, imitate his actions with respect to little ones.

12:23 And it's interesting that in this passage in Mark, there's such an honesty in the gospel writers because there is a contrast between the original disposition of the disciples and that of Jesus, just as there was with regard to that unnamed disciple and miracle worker in chapter 9. You remember the contrast there in verse 38. John said unto him, Mark 9, 38, Teacher, we saw one casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him, because he didn't follow us. But Jesus said, Do not forbid him.

13:01 Though he is not with us in terms of being found in our circle, he is not against us. Forbid him not. There was a contrast between the narrow sectarian spirit of the disciples and the large Catholic, small c, large hearted Catholic spirit of the Lord Jesus. Well, here the contrast is set before us again.

13:27 Here we see the disciples. The disciples, indifferent and even hostile to the little ones, saying, in essence, our Lord has too many weighty, wonderfully important things to be doing and saying, to be in any way hindered by the presence of little ones who demand so much attention. No, do not trouble our Lord. And yet the Lord turns around and rebukes them and says, Stop hindering them.

13:54 Permit them to come. And then takes the little ones in his arms, and blesses them.

14:02 You see, this is a very straightforward word then to us, the people of God, that we are to reflect not the narrow hearted disposition of the disciples in the presence of children, but as the body of Christ conformed to the image of Christ, following the pattern of Christ, we are to manifest the disposition and posture of the Lord Jesus. Now it is said in the text, that he took them in his arms and blessed them. And we did not take time to expound the concept of blessing, but now that I'm saying that your conscience as a child of God

Defining 'Blessing' and the Church's Christ-like Disposition

14:44 and the corporate conscience of the church as the people of God should feel the pressure of this passage, then I must be more precise as to what it is we are to seek to do in being Christ-like. And therefore it's necessary to define with a little more precision what Jesus did when he blessed them. What does it mean to bless someone? Well, it means in the language of one commentator to call down or to invoke the gracious favor of God upon someone.

15:20 That's what it means to bless. When the priest in the old covenant would lift up his hands and bless the people, he would invoke the gracious, the gracious presence and favor of God upon the people of God. And it is seen again and again, as I mentioned in passing this morning, in direct contrast to a curse. Now in cursing someone, what are you doing?

15:46 You are calling down the anger and the disfavor and displeasure of God. Blessing is just the opposite. Look at Luke 6 and verse 28. Luke 6 and verse 28.

16:00 But I say unto you, love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, bless them that curse you. Blessing and cursing are set as opposites. Romans 12 and verse 14. The first part of the verse.

16:19 Romans 12 and verse 14a.

16:28 Rejoice with them that, I'm sorry, bless them that persecute you. Bless. And curse not. You see, blessing is the opposite of cursing.

16:40 And Paul giving his own example of Christ-likeness in this matter. 1 Corinthians 4 and verse 12. 1 Corinthians 4 and verse 12. And we toil working with our own hands, being reviled, abusively spoken against, we bless.

17:01 Being reviled, having people speak, ill of us, and to us, we bless. We speak well of them, we wish well towards them, we invoke the gracious favor of God upon them. You see, our Lord was a great example of this. Even when he hung upon the cross and prayed, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.

17:25 What was he doing? He was invoking the gracious favor of God upon his murderers. Now that prayer does not mean that they were all at that moment forgiven in the court of heaven and justified. There is no such indication given in the word of God.

17:42 But it is a reflection of the disposition of his heart, which was not to call down a curse upon them, but to invoke the gracious forgiving favor of God on their behalf. Now I trust that's sufficient to give you a feel for what it is that I am saying we as the people of God are to seek, to reflect as a church in our attitude and disposition and actions towards little ones, fully recognizing the reality of all that was asserted this morning, that because they are children of earnest godly parents, we cannot presume that they are regenerate.

18:25 We cannot assume that they will become regenerate. We cannot in faith and obedience place water upon them, designation, or even take them as members of the church of Christ. We can do none of those things, but what can we and what must we do? Well, we must reflect the attitude and the disposition of Jesus.

18:46 To take the position I've just asserted is not to stand with disciples, discouraging any connection between Jesus and the little ones. Far from it. To be like the Lord Jesus is to seek to cultivate by his Spirit's enablement that disposition that blesses the little ones, that reaches out to the little ones, that seeks to demonstrate that the heart of Jesus is open and large towards the little ones, even to the babes in arms.

19:25 I can do no better than to quote the second head of Ryle's comments on this passage. The third head is the one in which he says, how much encouragement there is in this passage to bring children to be baptized. I didn't quote that section this morning, but the second head of his comments is excellent. Let us learn from this passage how much attention the souls of children should receive from the church of Christ.

19:53 The great head of the church found time to take special notice of children. Although his time on earth was precious and grown up men and women were perishing on every side for lack of knowledge, he did not think little boys and girls of small importance. He had room in his mighty heart, even for them. He declared by his outward gesture indeed his goodwill toward them.

20:20 And not least, he has left on record words concerning them which his church should never forget. Of such is the kingdom of God. We must never allow ourselves to suppose that little children's souls may be safely let alone. Their characters for life depend exceedingly on what they see and hear during their first seven years.

20:45 They are never too young to learn evil and sin. They are never too young to receive religious impressions. They think in their childish way about God and their souls and a world to come far sooner and far more deeply than most people are aware of. The second head of the church found time to take special notice of children.

21:02 He said, let those boys and girls who are still with their parents thatуш end up when they are horrible for the relationships they share with each other. Halloween is not still for those who understand angels and other children. Doctor Mr. Hanson only tells the story of that good cause for the angels of sin.

21:21 His mind is filled with so much pain and so mouthful joy within them. If they wish to escape their procent and their self and memory, they earn a way that might although put in here and reduce their sin, it t could end up interested throughout time. 阿 ا cig outra si حذا They are far more ready to respond to appeals to their feeling of right and wrong than many suppose they each one have a conscience that is mercifully not left left himself without a witness in their hearts, fallen and corrupt as their natures are. They each have a soul that will live forever in heaven or in hell.

21:32 ought to be diligently considered by every branch of the Church of Christ. It is the bounden duty of every Christian congregation to make provision for the training of its children. The boys and girls of every family should be taught as soon as they can learn. They should be brought to public worship as soon as they can behave with propriety and should be regarded with affectionate interest as the future congregation which will fill our places when we are dead. No church can

22:07 be regarded as in a healthy state which neglects its little ones and lazily excuses itself on the plea that kids will be kids. He said young people would be young. The current version would be kids will be kids, and it's useless to try to do them good. Such a church shows plainly it has not the mind of Christ. A congregation

22:29 that consists of none but grown-up people whose children are idling at home or running wild in the streets or fields is in a most deplorable and unsatisfactory condition. The members of such a congregation may pride themselves in their numbers and on the soundness of their doctrine. They may content themselves with loud assertions that they cannot change their children's hearts and God will convert them someday if he thinks fit. But they have yet to learn that Christ will be the one who will be the one who will be the one who will be the one who will be the one who will be the one who will be the one who will be the one who will be the one who will be the one who will be the one who will be the one who will be the one who will be the one who will be the one who Will

23:01 steps toward their goal by 옥 폰 His great blessing. I want to thank you first здесь Goshлаг Great

23:29 But a climate in which the little ones among us would get the distinct notion that the Jesus who is the focus of our praise, who is the medium of our approach unto God, who is the focal point of the proclamation of the gospel, that that Jesus is one whose heart is open towards them, who delights to invoke blessing upon the little ones.

The Connection Between Marriage and Children in Society and the Church

23:58 Now it's interesting to note, and I did not mention this, and I did not purposely, one can't say all that is there in a passage, even the portion that he sees, but it's interesting, is it not, that this section on the little ones, correcting the misconception of the disciples, follows immediately after the Lord's correcting their misconceptions about the sanctity of marriage. You see that? Now, verses 2 to 12 had to do with our Lord's teaching on the permanence and sanctity of the marriage bond.

24:36 In Mark's account, Jesus welcoming the little ones follows hard on this correction of their thinking in private after the Pharisees had gone about the permanence of marriage. The connection is only organizational in Mark, but not so in the parallel account in Matthew. Matthew ties the two. Matthew ties the two incidents together by the little adverb totem, which means at that time, indicating, according to the next paragraph, that from the cessation of this period of instruction, Jesus then went out again into the way and has his dealings with the rich young ruler.

25:18 And so Matthew indicates that there is more than just an organizational connection. There was indeed a connection in our Lord's. There is a correction of the thinking of his disciples.

25:32 And it is proven to be true in the history of societies that these two issues generally stand or fall together. A biblical view of the sanctity and permanence and purpose of God in the marriage bond and a wholesome Christ-like disposition to children. You see, it is this generation that has spawned the preoccupation. With me-ism, my career, my fulfillment, my this and my that, that has despised the institution of marriage and therefore regards children as an intrusion upon the pursuit of personal fulfillment.

26:16 Why should I give up my figure for nine months and give up my career? No, I'll visit the local abortion clinic and have that thing killed. Lest it stand. In my way.

26:32 And because the spirit of the world can so easily infect the church, though I trust it will never infect us to the place where we would consider, except in the most unusual circumstances of a true life-threatening situation of an ectopic pregnancy or some unusual abnormality, the horrible, wretched practice of abortion, we could very easily absorb something of this. And so, this attitude that despises children, stick them off in the daycare center. Get them out of the way. They're a bother.

27:12 And oh, may God help us that as we as a people manifest to a great degree a biblical perspective of the sanctity and permanence of the marriage bond, I thank God that I can say without any tongue-in-cheek that you also manifest to a great degree a biblical perspective of the sanctity and permanence of the marriage bond, a biblical perspective of the sanctity and permanence of the marriage bond, of Jesus, that little ones are indeed a blessing, that little ones are to be received, not as pains in the neck, which indeed they are more than on one occasion, but they are to be received with largeness of heart and openness of spirit.

27:53 I have witnessed in prayer meetings men having to stop their prayers, children, when they prayed for you little ones and they've gotten so choked up with tears they had to stop praying.

28:06 I've heard that with my ears right in that building a few feet away where we meet for prayer on Wednesday and Saturday morning, children, there are grown men, and doesn't it kind of get you upset when you see a grown man crying? I remember when I was a little kid, I could take a woman crying, but when I saw a man crying, you know, it's not a man, strong, see a man crying, it always caught me kind of unstrung. Remember the first time I saw my father cry, he was in such physical pain with a back problem. It's vivid in my mind.

28:35 It seemed as though it were yesterday, it happened about 47 years ago. Now you children, if you came into the prayer meeting sometime, you'd hear grown daddies crying, not because someone is twisting their arm, not because someone's beating on them with a stick, but because their hearts have been touched by the spirit of Jesus. And they know that the Lord Jesus welcomes little children. They know that the Lord Jesus has a heart that is open to children, and they are praying that you would come to see.

29:06 That Jesus is just the Savior that you need. And you don't need to come to Jesus and show him a birth certificate. You've been alive for seven or ten years before you can go to Jesus with your sinful heart, with the guilt of the times you disobeyed mommy and daddy and been selfish with brother and sister and lied and all your other sins. You can go to the Lord Jesus.

An Exhortation to Children to Come to Jesus

29:31 He welcomes children to himself. And furthermore, you children. Then we'll not resent it when we simply try to do what these people were doing. They were bringing their little ones to Jesus.

29:44 We don't know how much they knew about Jesus, how much they believed about Jesus, but they knew this much. Jesus can do something for our children that we can't do. Let's get them to Jesus. And you see, that's why we try to get you to Jesus.

30:00 We can't carry you where he is at the right hand of God the Father. So we bring you in the arms of our prayers.

30:08 We bring you in the instruction that we give you. We bring you by pleading with you from the pulpit to consider your sins and your need of Christ and to trust in the Lord Jesus and ask him to forgive you and to save you. You see, you should not resent that. It's because our hearts, as naturally selfish and full of sin as they are, have at least known a little measure of the spirit of Jesus working in them and changing them.

30:38 And giving us the desire that you should be brought to the Lord Jesus. So I say to you as God's people, abound yet more and more. Meditate upon this passage and in the language of 2 Corinthians 3, as you gaze upon the Lord Jesus mirrored to you in this portion of his word, pray that the spirit will more and more conform you to his image. And that he will help you to.

31:08 Overcome whatever quirks are there in your personality. Whatever sense of ill at ease at nest is there because of your past experience. God can help you to feel at ease among children. I know there are differing personalities and some more naturally and some in virtue of their upbringing.

31:29 There'd be something unusually dense and thick if I didn't love to be around kids and feel at ease. I'm the second oldest of 10 children. I was like second. Father in the changing of their diapers.

31:40 That's before you had pampers you threw away. I mean, it was the messy kind of job. That's right. And sitting with them and making up little songs for them and all of those things.

31:52 And I'm not saying that everyone will have the same degree of ease and outgoing affable relationship to children. But what I'm saying is this, that if we are to be conformed to the image of Christ, if we are to walk as he walked, then surely this passage says something about the church's attitude and disposition to little ones. And may we cry to God that we shall be conformed more and more to the image of the Lord Jesus. I want to make a little explanation.

32:30 Some of you at times may have wondered, Pastor, why is it that you seem very antsy if I engage you in conversation at the door? Lord's Day morning or? Lord's Day night. Any other time I engage you in congregation, in conversation, your eyes are right on my eyes.

32:46 It's like no one else exists. I feel that you're all there. But when I engage you in conversation, you seem antsy at the door. That's right.

32:52 I am. You know why? You've been sitting under the word. Because of your adulthood, you've been able to grasp much more of its content.

33:01 And long before children can grasp much of the specific content, they need to know that the heart of the servant of God is towards them. And one of the concrete ways it can be demonstrated is to embrace them, to greet them, to check up every Sunday to see if the tooth is coming in in that place. Because they come and lift their lip up the first time the first tooth is gone. Next to their parents, I'm usually the first one to find out.

33:25 And they come bragging, look, lost a tooth. And then we talk about where it went and how much they got for it when they put it under their pillow and all the rest. And then we rejoice when it begins to grow and we talk about the little things we might be able to do to cultivate it and make it grow. But we have a great time.

33:40 But what's involved in all of that? I want them to know that the man who thunders the word of God to them is the man whose heart is towards them. And they won't know that if my hands don't touch them and hold them and embrace them. That's why I get antsy.

Parents' Duty: Bringing Children to Christ Through Fervent Prayer

33:58 I don't like to be hindered in doing what I believe to be a wonderful privilege as well as a duty. Well, I must hasten on to the final application. We've looked at the relationship of this passage to the doctrine of infant baptism, the relationship of this passage to the church of Christ in its attitude and disposition to little ones, and now finally consider the relationship of this passage to our privileges and duties as parents, relatives, and friends of little ones. The relationship of this passage to our privileges and duties as parents and relatives and friends of little ones.

34:42 Now, we've emphasized in expounding the passage that the older ones who brought the little ones, or the babes, are not named. But if, according to Luke, there were babes in arms among them, most of you sitting here should not have to think long to realize why it was most likely the parents. Back before you had glass or plastic bottles to feed babes in arms, and when babes were normally not weaned. Until well into the second and sometimes even beyond the second year of their existence, you know well enough to know that you don't entrust babes in arms who are dependent upon

35:25 nursing mothers to any old character in the neighborhood to take them off for a while. You are bound to those little ones. And so most likely, these little nursing babies were brought by their mothers, or perhaps in a context wherein the social structure of the family was not in the best interest of the parents. The extended family would be found living together, maybe an aunt or an uncle or a grandparent.

35:50 But human nature is no different. And whatever kind of hardness is manifested in people, until they are utterly given up and given over to unnatural affections as, alas, we see happening in our own society, there is still a tremendous outpouring of common grace in the bond between parents and children. Little ones. No one ever feels the same way about their children, all who they have already been passed upon and are not parents and children yet.

36:14 This is a great sense of desire to protect and care for them. And this is why I asserted that most likely, these unnamed adults were parents or members of the extended family. Or members of the extended family. Now what were they doing?

36:27 Well, it says they were bringing their little ones, or their children, unto Christ that He should touch them. Matthew tells us that He should lay his hands upon them and pray for them. Indeed, we meant that both to ent unravel their recognize these kinds who were met as truly daraufing and timebased children. This is, in a literal sense, what living 과 clouds, and the mascara of these two properties truly Ishraf's revelation does project into our understanding of asalta in order to address line they were unique in mind.

36:42 The disciples were saying, no, don't trouble the Lord, even to have him lay his hands upon them and pray for them. These unnamed Christian parents, if I may use that terminology in quotation marks, for I said we don't know how much they knew and believed, but if we're going to use them as the pattern, we would say these unnamed Christian parents should be the pattern and example of what we do as parents with our children in stark contrast to what the disciples did. They hindered. These people persisted apparently and broke through the hindrance.

37:23 An imperfect is used here in Mark about their bringing them. An imperfect is used in Luke about their rebuking them. So the picture seems to be this. As often as they were bringing them, the disciples were rebuking.

37:35 They kept bringing. The disciples kept rebuking until Jesus perceived the situation and altered the set of circumstances. And said, let them come, stop hindering them. And then he took them in his arms and gave them the desire of their heart.

37:51 Now then, the great question is, precisely how do we as parents bring our children to Christ? He is not here. And if the church is to reflect the heart of Christ in its disposition to children, what are the hands of parents by which we can bring them to Christ? You see, now our attention is shifted from Christ to these unnamed parents, relatives, loved ones, whoever they were.

38:20 Well, let me suggest five very simple and basic ways that we can bring them to Christ. First of all, we bring them to Christ supremely in the arms of fervent intercessory prayer. Prayerlessness is like a band of unenlightened disciples who would hinder our little ones. From coming to Christ, fervent, earnest, persistent prayer is like mighty arms joined to a determined heart that our children shall have the blessing that only Christ can give.

38:59 You have not, the scripture says, because you ask not. How I thank God tonight that I stand as a monument of God's faithfulness to parents who are determined to pray for their children. Particularly for a mother who was taken perhaps deeper into the school of prayer earlier in her experience than was my father, though I believe God in later years has taken him into that school of prayer.

39:32 And it was some time after I was converted that my mother told me that shortly before the Lord saved me, the only place she could get any privacy was sometimes to shut herself up in the bathroom. And that one night she threw herself, threw herself on the floor. Mother at that time of, had all the kids been born, no. At age 17, there were still two more to come.

39:56 Eight of us were in existence then. She threw herself on the floor and said, Oh God, the only way that boy will be saved is to take my life. You'll take care of the kids. You'll take care of dad.

40:09 But oh God, save him and save him now. He's at the crossroads. Lord, if you don't break through and save him now, I fear he'll be lost forever.

40:23 That's a mother of eight children with no automatic washer, no dryer, summer and winter clothes hung out on a clothesline that off the back porch was fed on the pulleys. No wash and wear clothes. No outside help.

40:41 Teaching her teenagers how to scrub floors, how to iron. Administering the affairs of the household. And yet in the midst of all of those pressing duties, she learned what it was to travail before God in prayer. Now dear parents, you don't come to that point of travail overnight.

41:09 That kind of wrestling prayer isn't it where the graduate school of prayer, you've got to start in kindergarten. And what is that start? Determine that you will never pillow your head any night without having pleaded with God for the salvation of your children. Pray.

41:30 Bringing them to the Lord Jesus in what may now be but a very feeble and infant arm as it were. Though you are an adult physically and chronologically, you may be but a babe in the school of prayer, but you will never grow in that school unless you start and bring them in the arms of prayer to the Lord Jesus and ask him to strengthen your arms until you become a mighty wrestler for your children. When people used to say to my mother in those times of soul travail, well, Mrs. Martin, just commit them to God.

42:09 She said, look, God's committed them to me and he has given me solemn responsibilities and one of them is to wrestle with him for their salvation. How I thank God there was no glib committing us to God. There was in the language of Galatians 4.19 a travailing in birth till Christ was formed in us.

42:31 And I've heard her say, on more than one occasion, I've brought eleven children into the world. One died in infancy. Ten of us are alive today. She said, and I didn't bring one into the world without travail on a birthing table.

42:45 And I don't expect to see them brought into the kingdom without travail of soul. The prophet Isaiah said, as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth children. Dear people, there is no easy way to see our children truly salvation soundly, scripturally converted. Oh yes, they can be made perfect little Pharisees.

43:11 They can be made lovely little decisions full of wrath of God. But to see Christ formed in them, God will take us into the sympathy of soul travail.

43:26 The reasons for that, many of them are not revealed. Some are, but suffice it to say, though we may never say that God will not work unless we, unless we pray, it is biblical to say we have no grounds to expect Him to work if we do not pray. We have no grounds, it is presumption to expect that all of the means with which they are surrounded will be effectual if we do not pray.

Parents' Duty: Consistent Godly Example and Loving Instruction

43:57 So I exhort you, be like these unnamed parents and relatives. Bring them to Christ in the arms of prayer. Secondly, bring them to Christ by the pressure, of consistent godly example. Bring them to Christ by the pressure, the gentle, sometimes it may almost be violent, pressure of consistent godly example.

44:25 I didn't say by perfect example. In many things we all offend, but a godly example is one in which you're prepared to confess sins committed before your children in the presence of God. In the presence of your children and ask them to forgive you, whether it's been a harsh act of discipline, whether it's been a hasty word, an unjustified judgment of them, whatever it has been, children do not expect perfection, but they expect reality and honesty and consistency. And they have every right to expect it.

45:06 And if we are going to be like these unnamed adults who brought the little ones to Christ, we must bring them not only in the arms of earnest, prevailing prayer, but by the pressure of consistent, godly example. You see, dear people, when all is said and done, there is very little exposure your children have to any other professing adult believers but you as parents. They have glancing exposure to the rest of us, but it is the exposure to you, Mom and Dad, and particularly to you, Mom, in those early years. Either your life will validate what they hear from this pulpit

45:51 and hear in family worship and hear in the Sunday school, or most likely it will create the most bitter skeptics we've ever seen. The more plain and fervent the preaching and teaching of the Word of God are, the more deep is the skepticism when those who hear such preaching, preaching and teaching, do not see it validated by consistent, godly example. My friend, dear parent, if God allows you to go through anything of the trauma of a child who goes through a period of waywardness amidst pillowing your head every night with a broken heart, you better be able to

46:34 pillow it with a good conscience that you haven't given them into a far country by your inconsistent example before them. And that's not preachers' rights. That's the right of the God of the Spirit's work of burning the cursed pride that keeps a parent from sitting his children down and saying, I sinned, will you forgive me? I don't understand how anyone who has stood under the cross and owned his guilt before God can find it difficult to say to his children

47:18 as well as to his brothers and sisters, I sinned, will you forgive me? What's the deal with that? Yet you won't do it, and you may damn your own children in the process of protecting those remnants of your cursed pride.

47:38 God help us if we're like disciples hindering them by an inconsistent example. Thirdly, we bring them to Christ not only in the arms of prayer, not only by the pressure of consistent godly example, but we bring them to Christ by loving, pointed instruction and exhortation. You see, Christ is found in His Word. Christ is in the pages of this book.

48:05 And if we would bring them to Christ, we must bring their understanding and judgment and perspective about themselves and life and heaven and hell and right and wrong. We must bring them to the Christ who fills these pages. Paul could say to Timothy beautiful statement confirming this, 2 Timothy 3, 14 and 15, Continue in the things you've learned, knowing of whom you've learned them, and that from a brephos, from a baby, in arms from a little one you have known the holy scriptures that are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus no

48:46 indication that Timothy was unusually precocious and if from a babe in arms he learned the scriptures it means somebody had to take the time to teach him how to list the name of Jesus to teach him the ABCs of creation and fall and redemption bring it down to his level bring the Word of God to bear upon his conscience there's a beautiful description in the sermon of Spurgeon's that I referred to this morning where he's making this very point and applying it to parents and he leaves no doubt he says parents exclamation point I do hope you're endeavoring to bring your children to Christ by teaching them the things of

49:29 God let them not be strangers to the plan of salvation never let them be strangers to the plan of salvation let it be said that a child of yours reached years in which his conscience could act and could not judge between good and evil without knowing the doctrine of the atonement without understanding the great substitutionary work of Christ set before your child life and death heaven and hell judgment and mercy his own sin and Christ's most precious blood and as you set these before him labor with him persuade him as the apostle did his congregation with tears and weeping that they turned to the Lord.

50:11 Now this touching personal testimony of Spurgeon's. I cannot tell you how much I owe to the solemn words of my good mother. It was the custom on Sunday evenings, listen to this children, Spurgeon wouldn't have been found here the age of some of you.

50:28 It's interesting, I'd love to find out why. But for some reason, perhaps the service was much later and it was wiser as with our prayer meeting for one of the parents to stay home. But be that as it may, he said it was the custom on Sunday evenings while we were yet little children for mother to stay at home with us. And then we sat round the table and read verse by verse as she explained the scriptures to us.

50:52 After that was done, then came the time of pleading. There was a little section of Aileen's alarm or Baxter's call to the unconverted. And this was read with pointed observations made to each one of us as we sat around the table. And the question was asked, how long would it be before we'd think about our condition?

51:12 How long before we would seek the Lord? And then came a mother's prayer. And some of the words of a mother's prayer we shall never forget, even when our hair is gray. This was a 30-year-old man speaking.

51:25 I remember on one occasion she prayed after this fashion. Now Lord, if my children go on in their sins, it will not be from ignorance that they perish, and my soul must bear a swift witness against them at the day of judgment if they do not lay hold of Christ. That thought of a mother's bearing swift witness against me pierced my conscience and stirred my heart. This pleading with them for God and with God for them is the true way to bring children to Christ.

Parents' Duty: Bringing Children to Corporate Worship and Christ-Honoring Education

52:03 And then we bring them to Christ fourthly by bringing them to the place of His special presence.

52:11 By bringing them to the place of His special presence, it is true that Christ is no longer here upon earth as a man, but He is here upon earth by His Spirit in a peculiar way in His gathered people where two or three are gathered. There am I in the midst. And it is at best ignorance of the nature of the church, at worst, it is a despising of this reality for parents to plead that their children would be brought to Christ, to seek to bring them to Christ in prayer by the pressure of godly example, by painstaking instruction,

52:53 and then not to bring them to the place of His special presence where He is most likely under the appointed means of the proclamation of the Word and the worship, and prayers of His people to stretch out His arms and enfold them in His grace. Long before the little ones could give back the text and the outline, they're receiving impressions from that mystical but real presence of Jesus in the midst of His people. That presence that gives life and fervor to the praise of God's people. That presence that gives warmth and passion to the prayers of His people.

53:37 That presence that gives life and unction to the preaching of His servants. Oh, if we want our children to be brought to Jesus, then as soon as they can behave with decorum, as Ryle says, so that the worship will be decent and in order, bring them to the place of His special presence. Some of you may ask, why don't we have junior church? Why don't we herd all the kids?

54:01 Who's under 12 years of age out to a special place? This is one of the reasons, dear people. There is no promise of the special presence of Jesus in a junior church gathering. But in the gathering of His people, there is the pledge of His presence.

54:20 Oh, let us bring our children in the hope and prayer that Christ Himself will not merely extend that general benevolence of His heart, but extend that... that special, distinguishing, life-transforming grace, even in the place and under the means of His appointment.

54:43 And then finally, we bring them to Christ by educating them in a context where He is honored.

54:51 He is called in Colossians 1, the deposit of all wisdom. For in Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And oh, what a context! And oh, what a context!

55:04 And oh, what a context! To bring them to Christ in the arms of prayer, by the pressure of consistent godly example, by painstaking instruction, by bringing them to the place of His special presence, and then to immerse them hours every week in a context where their minds are thought to think of the world and themselves without God. Dear people, don't you feel pain that as you hear the discussion of all of our problems, the problem of craft, and cocaine, and dope, and double dealings in high places, no one doesn't even pain you

55:48 that we've become such a godless society?

55:59 And more legislation, and more programs, real hunger cracks,

56:06 or big shots to make TV persuasive things. You're dopey if you fool with dope. And they really think that's going to do it? They really do?

56:20 Poor, deluded fools. But what else do you expect? They're the products of an educational system and of all that have brought them up and molded them to be totally, consistently secular. God doesn't matter.

56:40 Oh, dear people, how can we profess to be earnest in bringing our children to Christ if we do not bring them to Christ by surrounding them with a context of conditioning their whole lives, their whole perspective on life, and reality, and the world, and themselves, and right and wrong, consist with the word of God and with the truth as it is in Jesus? Well, as I conclude, I find myself haunted with a question from this passage. Maybe you've thought of it. What happened to these children in later life?

Concluding Reflections and Final Exhortation

57:24 Perhaps some of them were old enough to remember after stories spread throughout Palestine, and the news comes of what happened at Pentecost, and the gospel goes out to the ends of the earth. I wonder if some of them in later years, when they heard an apostle, or they heard a messenger from one of the early churches preaching, and when they spoke of God so loving the world that He gave His only begotten Son, I wonder if some were converted upon remembering. I remember as a little kid, there was a big hubbub in our town, and everybody was excited. I was excited that some great prophet who'd come down from Nazareth was down in our area in Perea.

58:05 And I was taken as a little child. Can I ever forget the kindly look in his eyes? Can I ever forget the warmth and the vigor of his embrace? Oh, can I ever forget the blessing he invoked upon me?

58:20 If that's the Jesus you're preaching about, tell me more. I wonder, I wonder, how many of them were brought to faith in later years. I wonder how many of them are in hell, having as an additional curse upon them that they turned away from even the benediction of Christ pronounced over them, pleaded on their behalf when they were held in His arms. I don't know. I don't know.

58:47 There is no reason to assume that all of these children were ultimately saved or regenerate. There's no reason to assume that the parents had saving faith. One wonders, one wonders, what happened after they brought their little ones to Jesus. But, dear people, there's a sense in which that doesn't affect at all our duty.

59:09 You see, it is our duty to bring our little ones to Christ. Whether or not they eventually close with Christ does not affect what our duty is. Our privilege as a church to reflect the disposition and heart of Christ is a duty established in the Word of God. And whether God is pleased to save all or nine-tenths or only half of our little ones is not ultimate.

59:42 But our duty is clear. And there are many promises to encourage us that if we fulfill that duty, God does delight in many cases to honor it with bringing our children to the place where they will eventually embrace Christ as their own. But I entreat you, as we leave this passage, to ask God forever and indelibly to stamp upon your mind and your spirit the picture of the Lord Jesus with that frown of disapproval first upon His face when He says to the disciples, Stop hindering them! Let them come!

60:24 And then that frown changes to a warm, welcoming smile and His arms are outstretched and they pop up into His arms or He takes them from the arms bringing mothers one by one and fervently blesses them, laying His hands upon them. Dear children, in all of your sin and need, that's the Jesus who waits to welcome you. And those hands are different now from what they were then. When He held those babes, there were no prints in His hands, no scars.

60:57 There was no scar in His side. And if you come to Jesus now, He'll be different. He has scars in His hands where His hands were stretched out on the cross when He died for sinners. Sinners like you, children.

61:13 Sinners like me. Sinners like all of us. But He welcomes you. And He says if you come to Him, He'll forgive all your sins.

61:23 He'll wash you in His own precious blood. Dear children, that's the Jesus of the Bible. He welcomes you, even as a little one. And dear parents, I trust we'll never forget our duty, our privilege.

61:37 What greater privilege do we have than to bring our little ones to Christ, for Him to do for them what we can never do for them. And then as a church, to mirror the disposition and attitude of Jesus, never violating the sanctity of the ordinance of baptism by applying water to little ones, but manifesting our goodwill and desire for them by this fivefold means of bringing them to Christ for His gracious working in them. We can only do it in His strength and by His Spirit. And yet it is that very Spirit He has given to us who dwells within us

62:21 and who is able so to fill us that it can be justly said that this is a Christ-like congregation in its disposition to little ones. Let us pray. Our Father, we thank You for the privilege we have had in these past three times together to look into this portion of Your Word and we ask that the Holy Spirit will make it a permanent deposit in the life of this congregation. In the heart of every parent, we pray for those who have felt the arrows of conviction,

63:04 who have had their sins laid bare. We pray for children who have thought they had to wait till they were old to run to Christ. O God, wherever there has been the exposure of sin, the correction of false notions, we pray that every heart as we sang together before the preaching would be like Samuel's, saying, Speak, Lord, for Your servant's here. Hear our prayer.

63:33 Seal the Word to our hearts as we commit ourselves and Your truth in its relationship to us into Your safe keeping. In Jesus' name, Amen.