Turn back to Matthew 19. Matthew 19. Title of the message, Suffer
the little children to come to me. Suffer the little children
to come to me. I read a story this morning of a small girl who had come
to her pastor, and she asked him to baptize her. And he says, what? You being
so young, what do you really know? She said, I know this. Jesus
said, come to me, and I came. He said, come to me and I'll
give you rest. And he's given me rest. And the pastor replied, but you
don't, you don't know much about the sludge of despond. And she
replied, I didn't come that way. I didn't come that way. Some
of us have come that way, haven't we? When I read that, I thought
of that old crusty Philippian jailer. Remember God sent an
earthquake and loosed those prisoners and he was going to kill himself
and then Paul preached to him and the Lord saved that old jailer,
sent an earthquake to save that jailer. And then Paul went down
by the river and there were some ladies down there having a prayer
meeting and Paul preached to them and he said, concerning
Lydia, the Lord opened her heart. And that sounds so peaceful,
quiet, the Lord just opened her heart. We all do not have the
same degree of repentance. We have the same repentance.
repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But
some it's an earthquake and some the Lord opens the heart. But let us be careful. Let us
be careful. And I started to pass this up.
I started to go over and deal with this rich young man that
came to the Lord, wouldn't know what he must do to inherit eternal
life. And I just kept being drawn back
to this Verse 13, 14, and 15. Allow the little children to
come to me. And I thought, this is God speaking.
This is not just some rabbi. This is God Almighty saying,
let the little children come to me. Most of whom the Lord saves,
from my experience over the years, and I've heard other older men
say so, that usually the Lord, when He saves, He saves in youth. Listen to this. Horatius Bonar
said this. Horatius Bonar said, concerning
the spiritual history, of 253 converts with whom he was familiar
with, people who had made professions and he knew them, befriended
them and knew them. He says this, those who were
saved under 20 years of age was 138 that he knew of. Those whom
the Lord saved between the age of 20 and 30 years of age were
85 of them. And those whom the Lord saved
between the age of 30 and 40 years of age was 22 of them,
of all these ones He knew. And those whom the Lord saved
between age 40 and 50 years of age was 4. And those whom the Lord saved
between 50 and 60 years of age were 3. And those whom the Lord
saved between 60 and 70 years of age was 1. And He said not
one of those were saved of that 253 70 and over. Now, I can say by looking
back over 40 some years now, especially when I was at 13th
Street, the ones that I can remember that made a profession, that
confessed Christ in baptism, most of them, most of them, were
probably in their 20s and 30s, most of them. Now, that does
not mean God does not save old people. He does. He does. But it does say something about
the Lord saving sinners in their youth. And it's a warning to us as we
get older not to ignore the children. You're too young. I'll tell you
this, none understandeth. None understandeth, none seek
after God. The most educated person in this
room cannot, cannot grasp and comprehend the gospel unless
God reveals it. And the youngest person in this
room can get it just like that, if God reveals it. If God reveals
the truth, if He reveals the gospel to the heart, He can make
it known to the youngest as well as to the oldest, just as easy
and just as clear. Now, it's a great blessing to
children when they have parents that bring them to hear the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Bring them and bring them early.
Bring them early. Knowing the Lord Jesus Christ
is the greatest need children have. Is that it? Is that right? They think, well,
their greatest need is to have a good home, their greatest need
is to have a good education. Their greatest need is to have
Jesus Christ, to know Him early. It says, in Ecclesiastes, the
wisest man other than the Lord Jesus Christ, who is wisdom,
He's not just a wise man. But Solomon was the wisest man.
He says to the youth, remember now your Creator in the days
of your youth. Before the evil days come on.
The evil days. What are the evil days he's speaking
of? Well, you're looking at it. Age. Before age comes on and
sin has that hardening effect. You know, sin has a very hardening
effect. And the older you get and the
longer one has just been in sin, it's just harder and harder and
harder. It's like putting clay out in
the sun. All that moisture is taken out and it just becomes
hard clay. Does it really matter? And I ask this question seriously. Does it really matter how successful
our children are? If they don't know Christ, does
it really matter? Not to me. It doesn't matter
at all. I'd rather they dig a ditch and
know Christ than run Microsoft and be ignorant of who He is. We know that all spiritual blessings
flow through the Lord Jesus Christ and to teach that to our children
early. It is not only a great blessing,
but now listen, it gives them a foundation. I know this, even
if our children, young children, even if they don't come to know
Christ, they still have a foundation. They still have some kind of
understanding of what all this is about. Now, this verse does not teach,
let me say this, this verse does not teach baptismal regeneration. That we baptize a baby or an
infant, you know, a young child and they are regenerated. That's
not what it's teaching. That's taken completely out of context. They brought their, Luke calls
them infants, Mark calls them young people. It was a mixture. It was a mixture. But this doesn't teach baptismal
regeneration. Regeneration happens when the
Holy Spirit does the work of grace in the heart. When the
Holy Spirit gives life to a dead sinner, young or old. But it
says here in verse 13, Then were there brought unto him little
children, little children, some mothers, brought their little
children to the Lord for Him to bless and to pray for. I thought this shows their high
esteem of Christ for them to do this. They had to have highly esteemed
Him to bring their children to their most treasured possession.
and they brought him to Him, and they brought him to Him to
pray for. Pray for my... Lord, pray for
my children. Bless my son or daughter at this
early age. Children should be brought to
Christ in prayer when they are born and as they grow. We should
always bring them before the Lord, and not just our own, but
others' children too. Children. Most of them are grown,
but I tell you what, they're still your children, aren't they?
They're still your children. I don't care how old they are,
they're still your children. But bring them before the Lord
and set them under the gospel. This is the truth. This is the
truth. When they go out into the world,
they're going to hear all the lies that can be heard. And the world is just, all the
world wants out of them is what it can get out of them. But here
is the truth. Bring them up under the gospel
and the fear, and the scripture says, and the admonition of the
Lord. He's not going to save them without the gospel. God's
not going to save anyone without the gospel. They're going to
have to hear the truth. And I know that we have a tendency
to think that salvation is for adults only. No, it's for whatever
age the Lord has purposed to save one at. It could be young,
it could be old, and everything in between. Remember in 2 Timothy, what Paul
wrote to him in 2 Timothy 3? Turn over to 2 Timothy 3. I've
got it written down, but I want you to read it from the Scripture
for yourself. In 2 Timothy 3, let me see here, 2 Timothy...
I'm in Titus. 2 Timothy 3, verse 15. Let me go to verse 14. But continue
thou in the things which thou hast learned, and hast been assured
of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them. Listen now. And
that 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. His mother and his grandmother
took him and taught him and read to him out of the Scriptures.
And the Scriptures, Paul says, are able to make you wise unto
salvation. It's in the Scriptures that you
and I learn of Jesus Christ. It's in the Scriptures we learn
of God. It's in the Scriptures we learn of us, ourselves. And
he says here to Timothy, from a child you've known this. Never think that children are
too young to believe. Because, listen, faith is the
gift of God. It's not a product of education. Yes, we are taught, but the Scripture
says we are taught by God. He shall teach all His children.
Faith is a gift of God. How many people sit under the
gospel and they sit in a Bible class and year after year they
never believe? Repentance and faith is a gift
of God. To believe God is of God. And
God can give it to youth as well as to the old. God can give faith
to any age. I'm not going to put an age on
it. Now, I know you know infants are infants, but we'll get to
this in a minute. It says over in Matthew 21, 16, our Lord said this, He said unto
him, Here's thou what these say. And Jesus said unto them, Yea,
have you never read out of the mouth of babes as sucklings? Hast thou perfected praise out
of youth? Hast thou perfected praise? And this shows something else
here. This shows our Lord's accessibility
to all ages. To all ages. I can say to any age, Call upon Him. Call upon Him. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. One should not think that because
they are young, they cannot come to Christ. Or because they don't
understand all the doctrines, or they can't understand... Too
many times we get too complicated in the pulpit. We get too complicated. Keep
it simple. Keep it simple, stupid, kids.
Keep it simple, stupid. I like what Einstein said. Make it simple, but not simpler. Make it simple, but not simpler.
Don't make it what it's not. Don't water it down to water. But keep it simple. Keep the
simplicity of Christ in the gospel. But our Lord is accessible to
all ages." This is God. This is God speaking here. And here's the reason that they
brought their children, that He should put His hands on them
and pray. I know this has something to
do with their custom in that day, but it shows here that the
mothers were very comfortable and bringing them to Christ.
It shows what they thought of Christ, and I'll tell you this,
it shows what they thought of their children. Do you know how
many children in this world have no access at all to the gospel? Their parents could care less. Their parents have more concern
with the comforts of this life and no concern with eternity.
That's where I'm going to end up. I'm not going to end up here,
I'm going to end up there before God. You know, I thought, I was telling
Vicki this yesterday, I said, I don't have, I don't have anything
against a bus ministry. I said, here's what I have, a
bus ministry that brings them in and then lies to them. I have
trouble with lying to the children. I don't have trouble with bringing
children and telling them the truth. Not at all. I would love to be able to tell
a room full of children every day or every week of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Because who knows, who knows,
but that one of those children are His. One of them is His. Now He may bring a hundred of
them or two hundred of them in here in order to get that one
in here that's His. to hear the gospel. They sought Him to bless them
and pray for them. We ought to do this early and
often. Our children, our grandchildren,
and if you live long enough you have great-grandchildren, ought
to constantly bring them before the Lord. to bring him to hear the gospel. You know, I wrote this down,
and there's a lot of truth in this. You know, we have a nursery,
and we have a nursery for a reason. It's because, you know, infants
won't be disturbing the service, the worship service, you know.
But we also have a nursery because of bad parenting. They can't
keep their kids quiet. When I was growing up, And I
grew up, you know, that generation is almost gone. They disciplined. They knew what discipline was.
All seven of us kids sat on that front row, right up there. My
dad was preaching. He sat us on the front row, a
pair of moms, second row back. You didn't know we were in the
house. Now, he didn't beat that into
us. But he did whip us when it wasn't
in us. He whipped us when it wasn't in us. Discipline. Having them under control and
having them know something about respect in the house of worship,
when we come here together to worship. Our children need the Lord Jesus
Christ because they are sinners too. Children don't become sinners
at a certain age. They are born that way. You and
I are born that way. I was born in sin and shaped
in iniquity. They go forth speaking lies.
You cry for something, you don't cry for mama to pick you up.
You're not hungry, you just want to be picked up. He'd cry lies
right from the beginning. But then the Lord turns and He
addresses His disciples. And this is for us too. Because
I realize I'm just as bad as those disciples. I miss it as much as they missed
it. And the disciples rebuke the mothers for bringing their
children. They thought that the children
would be a bother to Him. Really, it was a bother to them,
not Him. We see how often the disciples
were wrong in their attitude. If you'll remember over in chapter
18, the disciples were discussing who would be the greatest in
the kingdom of heaven. There's your good attitude for
the day. Who's going to be the greatest today? And the Lord
took a little child and He used it as an example. And He took
that child and He used that child as an example that if you don't
become like a little child, you're not going to be in the Kingdom
of Heaven. What are you talking about being grateful? You're
not going to be there. I don't want to get in the business
of saying who can come and who can't. Whosoever will, let him come.
Let him or her come and take of the water of life freely." And if the Lord's in it, He'll
enable one to come. He'll enable one to come. But
notice here how the Lord handles the little children. But Jesus
said, And I can read it like this, but God said, but God said,
if Jesus said it, God said it. Suffer, allow little children
and forbid them, allow them to come to me. He welcomes the little children. All are welcome to come to the
Lord Jesus Christ. He turns none away because of
age or because of sin. He turns no one away that needs
Him, young or old. Salvation is by revelation at
any age. How many children have heard
the gospel? Now listen. How many children have heard
the gospel early in life and later was brought to faith? You know, I remember, and this has been years ago,
probably 10 or 11 maybe, I remember coming home
from from the church service, all of us kids. I mean, we had
a station wagon. We got nine people in the station
wagon. It's like a sardine can. But Dad had it on the radio station.
He was listening to L.R. Shelton. L.R. Shelton was in
Louisiana, and he preached the gospel. And he'd have that man
on every Sunday, every Sunday morning coming home. And I asked
my brother, James, I said, do you remember hearing that man
preach? He said, no, I don't remember at all. I said, man,
I can remember that distinctly. I said, he had my attention every
time. Every time dad turned that on,
he had my attention. And it wasn't until I heard Henry
preaching a message, I'd listened to him on the internet, And he
made this statement, and it just really brought this experience
home for me. He said, the Lord started working
in my heart. He said, I believe the Lord started
working in my heart when I was nine years old. But it wasn't until
he heard Rolf Barnard that he really understood the gospel.
He said, the Lord started working in my heart when I was nine years
old. And I thought, that's... Because I didn't really know
how to handle that experience that I had, because I was hearing
the gospel. And I remember things that I heard. I remembered them.
I was just a kid. Who knows? Who knows? That one of the little
children that's been brought up here over the years, when
they're 20, 30, 40, God gives the increase. God gives an interest. That interest
was started years ago, and they didn't even know it. You know,
I heard that when I was just, I don't know, I was just a young
boy, just a young boy. And then I grew into a teenager,
rebellious. I left home. I ran away from
home when I was a teenager. I just, a hellion. And then I heard the gospel. Who knows when that seed is planted? That's why parents bring your
children. Pray for your children. I don't
know, your child might be 40 years old. Bring them. Encourage them. Who knows? God
saves sinners. Allow the children to come to
me. We see our Lord's tenderness towards all sorts of sinners. We see His tenderness. Now listen here, for of such
is the kingdom of heaven. Do not forbid anyone at any age
from coming to Christ. Salvation is His business, not
mine. It's not my business. My business is to preach. His
is to save and enable me to preach. all enter the kingdom of heaven
as little children. Don't we? We don't enter the
kingdom of heaven as adults. We don't do it. You're born into
it. Babes in Christ. That's how we
enter the kingdom of heaven, as babes in Christ. And I believe this, I believe
this with all my heart, when he says here, also, for if such
is the kingdom of heaven, I believe that the kingdom of heaven, for
the most part, is made up of those infants, children, the
mentally handicapped that have died. And I believe the Lord
purchased them with his own blood. It's not that they went to heaven
because they were not sinners. It's not that an infant or child
goes to heaven because it hadn't sinned. It has sinned. It is
sin. It's there because Christ redeemed
it. Redeemed it. This book right
here is written to morally responsible people. And I have no doubt that
the kingdom of heaven for the most part is made up for those
who have in every tribe, kindred, tongue and nation under heaven
has died in childhood or are mentally handicapped. I do, I
believe that. David said, remember when that
child died that Bathsheba had? David was weeping and weeping,
asking the Lord to save that child and the Lord took it. It
died, and David got up, wiped his face, and they were all surprised. They said, you were weeping,
you were brokenhearted, and now you're okay. David knew that
while that child was alive, the Lord could keep him alive, and
he didn't want that child to die because of what he did. I
have no doubt about it. But he said this, after that
child passed, he said, he cannot come to me, but I go to him. He knew where he was. He was
with the Lord. Of such is the kingdom of heaven. And it says, He laid His hands
on them and departed thence. He blessed them. He didn't rebuke
them. He blessed them. He took them
up here in Mark chapter 10. Listen to Mark chapter 10, 15
and 16. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever
shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he
shall not enter therein. And He took them up in His arms.
God, can you imagine this? God Almighty picking that child
up. This is God, this is the one
who said, let there be light, and there was light. And it says he blessed them.
Wouldn't you have liked to have followed their life? It would have been
interesting to have followed the lives of those children he
picked up in his arms. And I'm sure some of them were
probably sick and he healed them. But it says He blessed them.
Now, if God blesses you, you're blessed. You're blessed. The lesson our Lord is teaching
here is, first of all, you must become a little children in attitude,
in faith, if you're going to enter the kingdom of heaven.
And become like that shows a work of grace in the heart. And secondly,
I'm not the one to pick and choose whom the Lord will save. I'm
not to say, well, you're too young. You can't understand this. Nobody can understand it. If God Almighty, the Lord said
this, He said that He could take rocks and raise them up and make
them children of Abraham. You know what He did? You look
at one. It was the time my heart was hard as a rock, and yours
too. And he's made you sons and daughters
of Abraham by faith. God can create a work early,
early in life. Now that flower may not bloom
for another 20 years or 30 years, but he can start a work early.
I've learned this about being a believer. I'm a work of God
from beginning to end. Scripture says in Ephesians 2,
we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus. When does this
workmanship start? Well, before the world began,
but it also starts when you're born and He's guiding, He's directing,
He's moving you. And one day you're born of God. We don't know who God's children
are. I don't know who they are. He
does. He does. That's why he said, don't forbid
the children. Don't forbid anyone. Don't forbid
anyone to come to Christ. If someone wants to come to Christ,
come to him. That's the work of God. All right.