Luke 18, 15. Luke 18, 15. And they brought unto him also
infants that he would touch them. But when his disciples saw it,
they rebuked them. But Jesus called them unto him
and said, suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them
not. For of such is the kingdom of
God. Verily I say unto you, whosoever
shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall
in no wise enter therein. Now this is a very precious passage
of scripture for several reasons. First of all, just the idea of
his touch and what it means. Never did the Lord touch someone
without anything happening. Religion would have us believe
that the Lord's blessing depends on our willingness to receive
it. or our faith were on something having to do with us. But why did the Lord touch them?
It says he touched them and blessed them. Never did he touch someone and
it was a dud. Because somebody just didn't
have enough faith or somebody wasn't willing to receive it
or any other reason. If he touched you, you were blessed. Still that way. Still that way. God's blessing is not a cooperative
thing. It is Christ doing something
for a sinner that the sinner cannot do for himself just because
he wants to. And nothing and no one can stop
him. If he wants you blessed, you
shall be blessed. None can stay his hand or say
unto him what doest thou, Daniel 4.35. His hand is not shortened
that it cannot save, Isaiah 59.1. Aren't you glad? He saves who
he wants to. Aren't you glad of that? Just
what if? This happens to be true, but
what if? You need to be saved, but you're too stupid to want
to be saved. Would you want there to be a
Savior that might just save you anyway? Well, that's the way it is. We're
all too stupid to even want to be. He saves who He wants to
save. All of these things religion
says are prerequisites for His blessing, those things are His
blessing. They say, well, you've got to
have faith in order to be blessed with God. How are you going to
have faith unless you're blessed of God? Faith is His blessing.
It's His gift. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. His people,
well, you've got to be willing to receive the blessing. His
people are willing in the day of His power. Your willingness
is His blessing. It's not a prerequisite for it.
Psalm 110, 3. So when the disciples tried to
prevent this, when they, you know, He's blessing people. and
they got mad about it. They were, you know, insulted
somehow. It made the Lord angry. Listen
to Mark's account of this. He was moved with indignation.
Mark 10, 13, they brought young children to him that he should
touch them, and his disciples rebuked those that brought them.
But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased. That word means
he was moved with indignation. And He said unto them, Suffer
the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not, for
of such is the kingdom of God." Not only is this how people are
saved, but if you're not saved this way, you're not going to
be saved. Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the
kingdom of God this way as a little child, Well, little children don't know
anything. How can they be saved? If you're not saved not knowing
anything, you're not gonna be saved. Is that what he said? Whosoever shall not receive the
kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. And
oh, what a beautiful verse. He took them up in his arms and
put his hands upon them and blessed them. Oh, how instructive and how glorious. His touch is powerful. His touch
is healing. It says in Mark 140, there came
a leper unto him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him,
and saying unto him, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus moved with compassion,
put forth his hand, and touched him, and said unto him, I will. Be thou clean. And as soon as
he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and
he was cleansed. You listen to this passage in
Mark 5.35. While he yet spake, there came
from the ruler of the synagogue's house certain which said, thy
daughter is dead. This ruler of the synagogue had
come to the Lord and said, my daughter is grievously ill. And the Lord, on the way to that
man's house, healed the woman with the issue of blood. And
then, after he had healed that woman, there came some people,
some servants from that ruler of the synagogue's house, which
said, thy daughter is dead. Why troublest thou the master
any further? It's over, it's too late. And
as soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto
the ruler of the synagogue, be not afraid, only believe. And
he suffered no man to follow him save Peter and James and
John and the brother of James. And he cometh to the house of
the ruler of the synagogue and seeth the tumult and them that
wept and wailed greatly. And when he was come in, he saith
unto them, why make ye this ado and weep? The damsel's not dead,
but sleepeth. And they left him to scorn. But
when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the
mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth
in where the damsel was lying. And he took the damsel by the
hand, and said unto her, You know,
we talk about the mercy and the love of God, and we should, But
sometimes we talk about those things as though we can define
them by technical definitions and doctrinal terms. This is
the compassion and love and mercy of God. It's the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, taking a sinner's hand in His and speaking life to that dead
sinner. That's love. He is love. And he said unto her, Talitha
Kumai, which is being interpreted, damsel, I say unto thee, arise. And straightway the damsel arose
and walked, for she was of the age of 12 years. And they were
astonished with a great astonishment. I imagine so. And he charged
them straightly that no man should know it and commanded that something
should be given her to eat. That's the one we prayed to for
your mom, Jennifer. That's the one we prayed to,
that he would heal her if he's pleased to do so. And I tell
you this, he can give her her sight back if he wants to. He
can take it, but heal her in every other way, have no other
problems occur. Or he could just take her home
and she'll be completely healed. I don't know what he'll do. But I'm calling on him to do
all things well. And I'm coming before Him for
her and for all who need Him. Listen to this beautiful verse.
One verse of scripture, listen to this. Luke 4.40, Now when
the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with
diverse diseases brought them unto Him Everybody that had heard
about him and had sick children or loved ones or anybody that
needed healing, they brought them unto him and he laid his
hands on every one of them. I didn't add that, that's in
there. Every one of them and healed them. There wasn't anybody,
well, I laid my hands on that one but he wasn't willing and
he didn't have any faith and so, you know, that one didn't
work. So next, Do we learn something here about what blessing is?
It doesn't depend on your willingness or your faith or your anything. He blesses who He wants to bless
and then you're blessed. He came to Abraham in Ur of the
Chaldees. Abraham was an idolater, son of an idolater. And he said,
in blessing, I'm going to bless you and I'm going to make you
a father in many nations. And he did. There was no if. Would you not bring your whole
family and desire to be touched by the Lord Jesus Christ? Who
in the world? Think about it. What objection
could there possibly be? The disciples objected. What
objection could there possibly be to the Lord touching these
children? Or what objection could there
possibly be to someone wanting Him to? Can you imagine? Might think of a couple. Because
we are just like them. Someone might think, well if
he just touched everybody that came, you know, it says there,
everybody, everybody came and he just touched them and healed
them. And these children, all of them came and he touched them
and blessed them. If he just touches everybody that comes,
what if he touches somebody that's not supposed to be blessed? What
if he touches somebody that just don't deserve it? Or, you know,
these things are determined before the foundation of the world.
The disciples had some understanding of that. God's blessing is an
eternal thing. These things are determined before
the world began. Yes, they are. How then do we
reconcile what God had foreordained with what happens in time? We
don't reconcile that. He does. Who is it that purposed all things
in the beginning before there ever was a world? Christ, who
is it that brings everything to pass? Christ. Do you trust
him to do it right? Do you trust him that there won't
be any discrepancy in that? Not one that he ordained to eternal
life can be lost. No one that comes to him for
mercy can be lost. And there is no discrepancy between
the two. How many came into the ark? You
ever think about that? How many people came into the
ark? Everybody that wanted to. Noah was a preacher of righteousness.
He was telling people that God's gonna destroy the world. You
better get in the ark. How many did? Everybody that wanted to.
What was the capacity of the ark? How many people could fit
into the ark? Everybody that wanted to. Everyone who was ordained to
eternal life believed And that's true this morning Perhaps the disciples were thinking
what many I know would have been thinking I guarantee I know somebody
that would think this These little children don't know
anything they don't understand who he is or what he's doing.
How can they be blessed I? Let me ask you this. How much
and what did you know before the Lord blessed you? That's an easy one, isn't it?
Nothing. Don't come to Christ with knowledge. Come to Him for knowledge. Don't
come to Him with faith. Come to Him for faith. You say,
I don't have any faith. He's the one that gives faith. Now we come to Him by faith,
but how are you going to do that if you don't have any? Were you
born with some? Did you just happen to find some
in yourself somewhere? No, He's going to have to give
it. Come to Him for faith, for cleansing,
for every blessing. Don't come to Him because you
feel you're fit to do so. Come to Him for fitness. All
the fitness he requireth, we sing this song, is you feel your
need of him. And this he gives you. Tis the
Spirit's rising, then you're not even gonna feel your need
of him without him giving it to you. Your fitness is that you need
fitness. And that hunger and thirst, remember
what our Lord said about those who hunger and thirst after him?
Blessed are they not more spiritual are they not smarter they blessed
of God are they and they'll be filled His blessing He blessed
them Well, wait a minute Chris you're saying
that people are come to Christ. People who come
to Christ are blessed of God to come to Christ. And then when
they come, he blesses them for coming. Are you saying he blesses
sinners in order to bless them? That's it. And think about what the blessing
of God is now. People think blessings is good
things that happen to them. Oh, that was a blessing. That
was a blessing. That's okay. For example, you get a promotion
on your job, that's a blessing. You get fired from your job,
not a blessing. But what if it is? Losing a job can be a wonderful
thing if you're blessed of God. If you are blessed of God, everything
that happens to you is good. It's good. And here's what you need to know
this morning. Ephesians 1. Look at this. Oh, the blessing
of God. Ephesians 1. You know where I'm going, don't
you? Ephesians 1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ
by the will of God, but to the saints which are at Ephesus and
to the faithful in Christ Jesus, grace be to you and peace from
God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. If you're blessed of God, Not
only are you blessed by Christ, you're blessed in Christ. According
as he hath chosen us, what does it mean blessed in Christ? We're
chosen in him. He didn't pick you because you
were better than somebody else, more spiritual than somebody
else. He looked down, you know, to see what you would do and
blessed you, but he blessed you in Christ. If you're blessed before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love. And here's another blessing,
verse five. He's talking about that he's blessed, God has blessed
us. What does that mean? We're in
Christ. And he predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Christ Jesus to himself according to
the good pleasure of his will. to the praise of the glory of
His grace wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. You see His blessing is not about
you accepting Him. It's about Him accepting you.
How does He do that? In Christ. Oh, we got to get
to Christ, don't we? How are we going to get to Christ?
With all of our hearts. But how do we get to Christ? He put us in Christ. He put us
in him. He brought it. No man can come
to me Christ said except the father which has sent me draw
him And I'll raise him up at the last day Verse 7 in whom we have redemption
through his blood Spiritual blessings. Is that what we're talking about?
redeemed How I love to proclaim it Redeemed by the blood of the
lamb the forgiveness of sins, according
to the riches of his grace. Wherein he hath abounded toward
us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the
mystery of his will, according to the good pleasure which he
hath purchased in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness
of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ,
both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him,
in whom also we have obtained an inheritance in Christ." You
see where all this is going. Every blessing that God has for
a sinner, any sinner, is in Christ. The way that He gives you every
blessing He has. The way that you are blessed
of God. You're either blessed of God or you're not. It's not
some people in this world have blessings and some have a few,
some have many. You're either blessed of God
or you're not blessed of God. It's that simple. And if you're
blessed of God, what that means is you are in Christ. The way he gives you every blessing
he has, and you either have them all or you don't have anything
from God. is by three things in the scripture
which all three are really just one. You think about it, three
things. He blesses sinners by giving
those sinners to his son. Now listen to this, John 17,
7. Now they have known that all
things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me. for they are thine. And now, verse 11 of John 17,
and now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and
I come to thee, Holy Father, keep through thine own name those
whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are. Verse 24, Father, I will that
they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that
they may behold my glory. which thou hast given me, for
thou lovest me before the foundation of the world." In other words,
the Lord Jesus Christ is praying unto his Father, he's interceding
for us, his people, as our high priest, and saying, bless them
in every way you can bless them. Who are they? Those you've given
me. That's how we have the blessing
of God. We're given to Christ by the Father. The second thing
is giving you His Son. He gave us to the Son and He
gives us the Son. Listen to that. Isaiah 9, 6,
For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given. And the government shall be upon
his shoulder, and his name shall be called." Who's going to call
him that? Is this world calling him wonderful? Those to whom he's given, though,
aren't they? Wonderful. Counselor. The mighty God. The everlasting
Father. The Prince of Peace. 1 John 5.11,
and this is the record that God hath given unto us eternal life.
And this life is in His Son. How does God give you eternal
life? He gives you His Son, that's how. 1 John 4, 10, hearing His
love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent
His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. For our sins. He gave us. For God so loved
that He gave. And then the third thing is this.
First of all, giving us to the son. Secondly, giving the son
to us. And thirdly, he put you in his
son. Listen to this. Romans 8, one,
there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. God has
no problem with you. No problem. Turn with me to this
one, 1st Corinthians 1.26. 1st Corinthians 1.26. He blessed them. That's what we're talking about.
These children, he took them in his arms and laid his hands
on them and blessed them. This is what his blessing is,
1 Corinthians 1.26. For you see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble are called. But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise. God hath chosen the
weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty,
and base things of the world, and things which are despised
hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not to bring to naught
things that are. You see how this goes with our
text. We talked about possible objections to these children
coming. One of them might be, well, what if they're not supposed
to be black? What if God hadn't ordained them? What if God hadn't? God's ordaining and purposing
to choose a sinner is not dependent on that sinner. He does that
freely. Election is free. And then the
other thing was, well, they don't know anything. Well, neither
did you. Why did He bless you? He chooses the weak, the foolish,
and He blesses them in spite of them. You see that here, that
no flesh, verse 29, should glory in his presence, but of him. Who are we talking about, God?
God chose. God blessed. And of God, verse
30, are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us. Every blessing there is, wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. that according
as it is written, he that glorieth. Don't glory in the flesh. The
flesh had nothing to do with it. Glory in the Lord. He had everything to do with
it. He chose you when you were unchoosable. He loved you when
you were unlovable. How can this blessing, how can
God's blessing, you see what it is? It's not that's a blessing,
that's a blessing. His blessing, everything's a
blessing. If you're blessed of God, being
here is a blessing. And if something bad happens
to you, I guarantee you, it's a blessing if you're His.
You're blessed, period. And so we need to understand
that. But also, how can this blessing be mine? He told us
in the text, come as a little child. Come as a little child
to Christ. Come to Christ. You don't have anything, you
don't know anything, and you can't do anything. That's how
you come. That's how you come. How do children,
how do you come as a child? Let me ask you this, you who
have children, how do they come to you? Think about this. One of the
things that children, it's always a daily, it seems like it's every
couple of hours. I'm hungry. Aren't they always
hungry? Somehow, the littler they are,
the hungrier they are. I don't understand that. When
they're babies, they depend on you to provide everything for
them. And as children, it's the same, isn't it? They depend on
you to live. They depend on you for the necessities
of their life. That's how you come to Christ.
If I must have Him or I perish. They don't worry about it much,
do they? Either. When you come to Christ,
He said, don't take any thought for what you shall eat and drink
and all that stuff. Just seek Me. Seek Me. They don't wonder whether you
have any food. They don't say, is there any food? Do we have
any? They just say, Daddy, I'm hungry. That's how you come to
him. Remember when he fed the 5,000?
They said, we don't have any food here and we don't have any
money to buy. He said, you don't need to go anywhere. Can you
come to him like that? Well, what about this and what
about that? He's here. He's yours. You have what you need. That's how we come to Him. I've
got to have Him. He's the one thing needful. There
is no doubt in my mind by His grace through faith that He's
all I need. And think about it this way.
Your children, do they need food? No. What do you mean by that? Of course they need food. No.
What in the world do you mean by that? They need you. If you give them a little food
and then they don't have you, You see, we don't come to Christ
just for the stuff that He gives. What we need is Him. You'll feed
them, but that's not what they need. They need you. That's how we come to Christ.
We don't just need some stuff and so we come to him because
he's able to give us the stuff we need. He is what we need. And I'll tell you this, children
don't just need, they want, don't they? They want everything. Whatever they don't have, that's
what they want. You take a little child to the store and get ready. Daddy, can we get that? Can I
have that? I want that. They aren't worried about budgets
and bills. They don't think about that.
They don't care about that. They just want what they want. And
they want everything. When we come to Christ, there
is this element to it now. Remember what Simon Peter said,
where would we go? You have what we want. You have
the words of eternal life. He not only gives me what I need,
but He is what I want. I've got to have Him. We sing
that song, Thou, O Christ, art all I want. More than all in
Thee I find. That's the truth, isn't it? That's
the truth. You know how to stop your children
from asking for stuff? Buy them everything. I'm not
suggesting you do that. It's just a matter of principle.
It's just if you buy them everything but one thing guess what they're
gonna want When will you be spiritually
satisfied When you have everything When did that merchant man seeking
goodly pearls quit seeking I When he had found that pearl of all
pearls, somebody might say to him, well, you've sold everything
you have. How are you going to get any more pearls? Don't need
any more. I got what I need. I got what
I want. Oh, you remember what Jacob and
Esau met on the road? And Jacob was worried because
he had wronged Esau greatly. He thought his brother Esau was
going to be mad at him. And he had every right to be. And so
they're coming toward each other. They had sent messengers ahead.
They knew they were approaching one another on the road. And
Jacob sent a great caravan of gifts to his brother Esau to
appease his wrath. My brother's going to be mad.
I've stolen the birthright from him. Cheated him out of it. He's
gonna kill me. So he sent a great gift ahead
to Esau, his brother. And Esau, when they had met finally
on the road, Esau said, I don't need, what's all this stuff you
sent ahead? He said, that's a gift to you from me. And Esau said,
I don't need this gift you've given me. I have enough. Lord,
I've got everything. I've got all this, I'm rich.
And here's what Jacob said in Genesis 33, 11. Remember, Who Jacob is? I'll tell you who
Jacob is. God said, Jacob have I loved. That's all you need to know about
Jacob right there. Here's what Jacob said. Esau
said, I don't need your gift. I have enough. I'm rich. Jacob
said this, take I pray thee this blessing for the Lord hath dealt
graciously with me and I have everything. That's how you come to Christ.
And then one last thing. You know what children come to
you? Every parent will say, you're fixing to say amen to this in
your heart, if not with your mouth. Children ask questions,
don't they? They want to know everything.
What's this? Why does that happen? Why not?
Why? You know, it's why, how, when? Can I? Questions, questions. David said in Psalm 27.4, One
thing have I desired of the Lord, and that will I seek after, that
I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple. Come to Him asking. He said you have not because
you ask not. Do we come to Him that way? Asking My children
thought that I had the answer to every question and they asked
every question Christ is the answer to every question Let's pray