It is not that I did choose thee,
Lord, for Lord, that could not be. Yuba-Sutter Grace Church
would like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Rick
Warda. We currently meet at the Yuba
County Library, located at 303 2nd Street in downtown Marysville,
California, on the corner of 2nd and C Street. Weekly services
are held on Sunday at 11 a.m. at the library. For more information,
visit our website at ysgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Rick Warda.
The scripture for our sermon today is Matthew 19, verse 13-15. Then were there brought unto
him little children, that he should put his hands on them,
and pray. And the disciples rebuked them.
But Jesus said, Suffer, little children, and forbid them not
to come to me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven. And he
laid his hands on them, and departed thence. There are at least six
plain lessons in this text of scripture. First, it is the will
of Christ that children come to him. He said, suffer the little
children to come to me and forbid them not. And he actually laid
his hands on children. He said that these young children
were exemplary of those in the kingdom of heaven. Therefore,
do not keep them back. Do not think that because they
are weak in themselves, insignificant in themselves, have no understanding,
that they should not be brought to Christ, that they cannot be
saved. It is the will of our great God
and Savior that children be brought to Him. O how great is the condescending
compassion of the Lord of Glory! How we ought therefore to depend
on His goodness and heed His teaching here and bring our children
to Christ. Children are never too young,
never too old, never too foolish, and never too sinful to be brought
to Christ. It is His will that they come.
Bringing them is His work. Salvation is not in the understanding,
or by the strength, or because of the will of a child. Salvation
is not by our understanding, or the will, or the work of a
man. Salvation is in Christ alone. And the second lesson is this.
Loving, believing parents bring their children to Christ. They
see the one great need their children have. It is Christ.
The need of their children is also their own need, as Abel
learned from his parents. They see themselves in their
children. They recognize their own sin
nature in their children's disobedience. They believe that their children
need Christ above all things, so they pray for them. They talk
to them. They take them where the gospel
of the grace of Christ is taught and preached, even if it costs
them time and money, even if they have to give up worldly
pleasures to do so. Those who bring their children
to Christ know that they themselves are utterly unable to meet the
spiritual and eternal needs of their children. That's why they
come to Christ in prayer and on their behalf. That's why they
take them where the truth of the gospel is believed and taught. Their children's souls are at
stake. The third lesson is that it is
never too early to be concerned for our children. Luke said in
his account, they brought unto him infants that he would touch
them, Luke 18, 15. They did not bring their infant
children to be sprinkled. They did not bring them to dedicate
them. They brought them to Christ himself. And the fourth lesson
is this. The Spirit of God teaches us
why we must bring our children to Christ and what we are to
ask for them. Why must we bring our children
to Christ? Because, like ourselves, our children are guilty, sinful,
under the sentence of death. They became guilty by Adam's
disobedience. Paul said, by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, Romans 5.19. They are enslaved to the
corruptions of sin and their nature, just as we, their parents. They received a sin nature at
conception. David said, I was shapen in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me. Psalm 51.5. And Job said,
who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one. Job 14.4. We are utterly unable to save
ourselves and we are utterly unable to save our children.
Only the great physician of our souls can save us and our children
from the great disease of our sin. And the Spirit of God teaches
us what we are to seek for our children. We are to seek Christ
alone. There are three things that those
who came to Christ with their children sought from him. We
ask, Lord, save them by your will, save them by your command,
and save them by your touch. Salvation is by the will of Christ. Salvation is by the command of
Christ to sinners to live and believe, and salvation is by
the touch of Christ. We are saved by the will of Christ. In Matthew 8, a leper came to
Jesus. He said, Lord, if you will, you
can make me clean. Matthew 8, verse 2. And Jesus
said, I will, be thou clean. We are saved by the will of Christ. Jesus told the Jews, the Son
quickeneth whom He will. John 5 verse 21. And we are saved
by the command of Christ. Jesus told the centurion that
he would come and heal his servant. The centurion said, speak the
word only, Matthew 8, 8. We are saved by his command.
Jesus said, verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming,
and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of
God, and they that hear shall live. We are given life at the
command of Christ only. The psalmist said, Thou hast
given commandment to save me. Psalm 71.3 And the psalmist said,
Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Psalm 35.3 Christ's command to save is his
call to believe the truth of the Gospel. Paul told the Thessalonian
believers, we are bound to give thanks always to God for you,
brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation. through sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth were unto he called you by our
gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ."
2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13-14 God, the Father, chose His people
to salvation. All those who were thus ordained
by God to eternal life are given faith, because salvation is through
the sanctifying, life-giving operation of the Spirit of God
in regeneration. Acts 13, verse 48. The Spirit
of God births us as God's sons and gives us faith in Christ
crucified, which is the truth declared in the gospel. Jesus
said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, John 14, 6. And
we are saved by the touch of Christ. When the leper said,
Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean, Jesus put forth
his hand and touched him, saying, I will be thou clean. And immediately
his leprosy was cleansed. Matthew 8 verse 2 and 3. In the
healing of that one leper, we see the will, the command and
the touch of Christ. In his touch, Christ exerts his
will to save. He issues His command to save,
and He puts forth His power to save. He brings to pass in us
the salvation He purposed and purchased for us. And those who
brought children to Jesus asked Him to bless them. who are the
blessed of God. David said, blessed is the man
whom thou choosest and causes to approach to thee. Psalm 65
verse 4. And David said, blessed are they
whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. And Peter said,
God, having raised up his son Jesus, sent him to bless you
in turning away every one of you from his iniquities. Acts
3, verse 26. Therefore, we are blessed by
God choosing us to salvation, we are blessed by Christ's justifying
blood and righteousness, and we are blessed because the Spirit
of Christ turns us from our unbelief to faith in Christ by His life-giving
call in the preaching of the Gospel. May God so bless us and
our children that He would save us by His choice, by Christ's
redeeming work, and by the saving operations of His Spirit in bringing
us to Christ in repentance and faith. And finally, those who
brought their children to Jesus asked Him to pray for them. Matthew
19, verse 13. Christ prays for His people. In John 17, verse 9, He said,
I pray for them. In Isaiah 53, verse 12, He made
intercession for the transgressors. And in Luke 23, verse 34, the
Lord prayed, Father, forgive them, for they know not what
they do. Our Lord Jesus Christ prays for His people. When the
Lord Jesus comes before God, He brings His people with Him. Hebrews 9.24 says, Christ has
not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the
figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now, to appear
in the presence of God for us. Christ is the way. He is the
door. We come by Him. God always hears
Him. He works all things in life and
death together for our good to bring us to eternal glory. O
Lord of Glory, plead my salvation and the salvation of my children.
Therefore these parents brought their children to the Lord Jesus
Christ that He might touch them, that He might bless them, that
He might pray for them, and in so doing save them by His will
and by His command. And the fifth lesson taught in
Matthew 19 verse 13-15 is that Jesus actually saves children. Matthew said he laid his hands
on them. We are not left in suspense or
doubt. Someone might ask, does God save children? The answer
to that question is most definitely yes. Why do we ask questions
like this? Because we think that children
are unable to understand, unable to exert their will in a decision,
unable to commit themselves to Christ, in short, unable to do
anything to help God save them. But doesn't this thinking reveal
that we have a fundamental misunderstanding of how God saves? We are not
saved by our cooperation at all. Salvation is the work of God
alone. It is God's choice, not yours,
not mine, and not your parents. It is Christ's obedience, not
yours, not mine, and not your parents. Salvation is life from
the dead. Spiritual life is not by our
choice, or by our decision, or because of our commitment. It
is because the Lord Jesus Christ, in resurrecting power, commands
us, by the preaching of His Gospel, to live. The gospel is the power
of God unto salvation. Just as dead people cannot raise
themselves to life, even more so, spiritually dead sinners
cannot raise themselves to spiritual life. But God be thanked, you
were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart
in believing that form of doctrine which is the gospel. Romans 6.17
Moreover, we cannot keep ourselves believing, we cannot keep ourselves
saved, but God be thanked we are kept by the power of God
through faith unto salvation, 1 Peter 1.5. Salvation and righteousness
and faith are God's gifts. By grace you are saved through
faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. Ephesians
2.8 and Romans 5.17 Our problem is not our lack of strength.
Our problem is that we think our strength is required to cooperate
with God in our salvation. Our problem is that we think
God requires our strength at all. But God's strength, according
to the Apostle Paul, is made perfect in weakness. 2 Corinthians
12, 9. When we were without strength,
Christ died for the ungodly. Romans 5, 6. And to him that
worketh not, but believeth on him who justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness. You see, to the one who believes
that God justifies on the ground of Christ's blood and righteousness
alone, to that one, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one we believe,
is our righteousness before God. Jeremiah 23.6 We know that an
infant child cannot save himself. We therefore wonder if they can
be saved at all. But doesn't this reveal that
we think God requires something from us to save us? He does not. If any are saved, whether infant,
young, or old, it is of the Lord from first to last. The wisest
man who ever lived, King Solomon, said, I am but a child, I know
not how to go out or to come in. Because Solomon saw himself
as a child before God, he asked the Lord for an understanding
heart. We only ask for what we need
and what we do not have and what we cannot produce. If you don't
come to Christ for all in salvation, then you don't come at all. If
you, like a child, have no ability to do one thing to save or keep
yourself, if you have nothing to benefit Christ and His Kingdom,
then you have precisely what little children have, nothing. And having nothing, you have
what you need to come to Christ. Come to Christ with your nothing
and find Him to be your all. Now, having considered these
six lessons, we must ask, how do we bring our children to Christ? The answer is, we bring our children
the same way we come. How do you come to Christ? If
you come in God's way, you come by looking to Christ as He is
revealed in the Gospel of His grace. 2 Timothy 3.15 says, From
a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to
make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ
Jesus. God exerts His power to save
when we hear the gospel. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation to everyone that believeth. Romans 1.16 And faith
comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10.17
Therefore, if you come to Christ in God's way, you come by faith
in Christ alone. Jesus said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. John 14 6. Jesus told Nicodemus,
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so the
son of man must be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish but have eternal life. John 3 verse 13 through
15. All sinners have eternal life who look only to Christ
as their remedy from the curse of God's law. And God told Moses,
when I see the blood, I will pass over you. Exodus 12, 13.
Therefore, this is the question. Do you believe that all of your
salvation is that God provided and received and now looks upon
and considers only Christ crucified for you? That is what Jesus told
Nicodemus, all who believe live. The spies Joshua sent to Jericho
told Rahab the harlot that all in the household with the scarlet
thread in the window would be spared, Joshua 2, 18 and 19. Is your only salvation from the
wrath of God that God receives Christ for you? This is what
faith is. What is faith? Faith is renouncing
all that may be called mine and finding my salvation only in
what may be called Christ's. Let me repeat that. Faith is
renouncing all that may be called mine and finding my salvation
only in what may be called Christ's. This is the message of the Gospel. Of Him, of God, are you in Christ
Jesus, just as Israel was in the house where the blood was
sprinkled, and Rahab's household was in the home where the scarlet
thread was tied? Of Him are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. that according as it is written,
he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord. 1 Corinthians 1
verse 30-31 God has made Christ all he requires for his people. Do you have any wisdom in yourself
that can save or keep you saved? Do you have any righteousness
in yourself? Can you sanctify yourself by
your cooperation? Can you redeem yourself? Do you
have anything in yourself to boast before God? If you do,
you are not yet a child of the Kingdom of Heaven. You have yet
to be made a little child. You have yet to be converted
by God. If you are holding anything of
your own as the basis for believing you are saved, or as your confidence
of being kept, or as your answer in the day of judgment, You are
not yet as a child, but are a proud sinner. Therefore cast down all
that may be called yours and look and come to God upon all
that may only be called Christ's. We are the circumcision, Paul
said, which worship God in the spirit and we glory and boast
in Jesus Christ and have no confidence in the flesh. Philippians 3.3
Now, if this is how you come to Christ, then bring your children
to Him in the same way. Don't look for anything in them.
Call upon Christ to save them without their help. Ask Him to
lift them up. Ask Him to exert His will, to
command their salvation, to bring His power to bless them and to
pray for them and save them to the uttermost. Isn't this what
we ask Christ to do for us? Gracious Lord, raise me from
my spiritual deadness, my weakness, my sinfulness, and see that You
alone are my great God and only Savior. Let me hear in my heart
the truth that my salvation is in Christ alone. If you come
to Christ in God's way, you don't consider your obedience. If you
come to God in Christ, you don't consider your will. If you come
to Christ, you don't consider your work, your faith. your love
or your faithfulness. You only consider Christ and
Him crucified. You consider what Christ did
alone in His living and dying and rising and His interceding
at God's right hand. Romans 8 verse 34 You only consider
His goodness and His ruling authority and His power to save the sinfulest
to the uttermost, Hebrews 7.25, and you stake your eternal salvation
and your present grace entirely on God's goodness to receive
you for Christ's sake. If this is how you come, then
tell your children to come in the same way. Bring them to hear
the glorious gospel of God's grace in Christ. Jesus Christ
came to save sinners. Children are sinners. Therefore,
Jesus tells us not to keep any from coming to Him because of
their age or because of their sin. Because salvation depends
on Christ alone. No one should be discouraged
from coming except those who think they have something they
must find and bring from themselves. In summary, Scripture teaches
that it is the will of Christ to save children and sinners
of all ages. And it teaches that none should
keep children from Christ due to age or sin. On the contrary,
we have every reason to pray for our little ones and to bring
them to hear the gospel of God's grace. And it teaches that we
must humble ourselves as little children and find Christ to be
our all. All who are in heaven are converted
to see Christ is their all. And scripture teaches our Lord
does in fact bless children. Christ actually saves babies. Having an understanding of these
things, I would now like to try to briefly answer three questions
regarding children. First, is there an age when a
baby in the womb becomes a person? According to scripture, a person
begins life at conception. David said, in sin did my mother
conceive me. Only a person can be a sinner.
When the Son of God came into the world, He said, A body hast
thou prepared Me. Hebrews 10 verse 5-7 Christ came
into the world when He was conceived by the Spirit of God in the womb
of Mary. And John the Baptist leaped in
his mother's womb at six months from conception. God said also
that Jeremiah was set apart to be a prophet of the Lord from
the womb, Jeremiah 1 verse 5. Therefore, babies are children
at conception, in the womb. Second, Is there an age of accountability? Are children innocent until they
reach a certain level of maturity so that if they die as children,
they enter heaven by their innocence? The answer is no. Again, David
said, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive
me, Psalm 51.5. By Adam's disobedience, all of
Adam's sons were made sinners and subject to death. Romans
5 verse 12 through 19. According to David, our state
before God is that we are sinners. And there is only one way a sinner
can enter heaven. That way is Christ. God saves
sinners in one way alone, by His eternal electing love, by
Christ's redeeming blood, and by the life-giving birth of the
Spirit of God. God said that Jacob was loved
by God while he was in the womb of his mother, Rebekah. God said
that Esau was hated in the womb. He was not chosen to salvation. Esau lived and died in his own
sin and will stand and answer God for his own sin. But Jacob,
though he was as much or more of a sinner than Esau, because
he was chosen by God in Christ, Christ therefore suffered and
died for him. The Lord Jesus redeemed Jacob
from all his sins. God spared Jacob because God
did not spare his only begotten son for Jacob. Therefore, God
saves all, whether infant or ancient, whether male or female,
Jew or Gentile, in one way alone, by the electing love of God the
Father, by the redeeming blood of Christ, and by the sanctifying,
life-giving call of the Spirit of God. There is no other way
for sinners to be saved. No son or daughter of Adam will
appear in glory who was not washed in Christ's blood and robed in
his righteousness. Do you look to Christ alone?
And the third question is, do all children who die in childhood
go to heaven? We all want to know the answer
to this question, don't we? Consider these facts first. Throughout
history, many children died in childhood. Some died directly
at God's hand. In all of the firstborn that
perished in Egypt, there were doubtless young children included.
And surely, there were children that perished in the flood of
Noah's day. And there must have been children that died in the
fire and brimstone that fell on Sodom and Gomorrah. Moreover,
some children died at the hand of others by God's command. For
example, Samuel told Saul to kill all the Amalekites. Samuel
said that would include infants, 1 Samuel 15, 3. And of course,
many children died at the hands of wicked men. Pharaoh killed
many newborn Israelites, Exodus 1, verse 22. And in Psalm 137
verses 8-9 God speaks of vengeance on the Babylonian babies, because
the Babylonians killed Israelite babies. But understand this,
the Old Testament is prophetic. Let me say that again. The Old
Testament is prophetic. Sodom and Egypt were evil, but
they represent a greater evil, the kingdom of Satan. Babylon,
Egypt, and Sodom represent Antichrist, free will works religion. Revelation
11 verse 8 and Galatians 1 verse 8 through 9. The Jews of Jesus'
day trusted their parentage and worshipped their will and their
works. They rejected Christ and Jesus
told them, you are of your father the devil. John 8 verse 44. All
who trust their works are in Satan's kingdom. Therefore, though
babies were put to death in the Old Testament, their deaths signify
the judgment of God on the devil and his kingdom. God will not
spare those who oppose His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Those
who assert their will and works in salvation against Christ will
perish. But the answer remains, do all
babies go to heaven who die in childhood? The Bible teaches
with certainty that some do. David's first born son by Bathsheba
did, in 2 Samuel 12.23. And Abijah, whose name means
Jehovah is my father, who was the son of that wicked king Jeroboam,
was also saved by God, 1 Kings 14.13. But do all babies go to
heaven who die in childhood? To this question the Lord leaves
us to trust Him. We know that Christ received
infants. We know He blessed and prayed
for infants. And we know that heaven is populated
with those made like infants in conversion. But we must leave
the matter with Christ. Now, in this answer, that we
must leave the matter with Christ, I want to point out something
very important. When we leave our children with
Christ, we should be no less confident and no less comforted. Jesus Christ came into the world
to save ungodly, unrighteous, hardened, helpless, hopeless
sinners. And if He can save me, He can
save anyone. He neither requires nor accepts
help from those He saves. If He did, where would you and
I be? Therefore, just as I look to
Christ as all my righteousness, trust Him to take away all my
sins. and just as I depend on His grace
alone, in the same way I trust Him for my children. May God
give you and me grace to come to Christ and bring our children
to Christ in this way. There is no salvation but by
His will, by His command and by His touch. There is no Savior
but Him. I am greatly encouraged that
in the Gospels the Lord Jesus Christ healed and raised from
death and delivered from Satan every child who was brought to
him. He said himself, him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. John 6 verse 37. You've just heard a sermon by
our pastor, Rick Warda. You may contact us by email or
by phone, or download a copy of this sermon by visiting our
website at ysgracechurch.com.