Let's turn together to Luke chapter
18, verse 15. Our text tonight is very, very
brief. Just three short verses. And yet in these three verses,
we have recorded for us one of our Master's most important messages. The title of my sermon, if you're
taking notes tonight, is a short but vital sermon. Luke 18, verse
15. And they brought unto him also
infants, that he should teach them. But when his disciples
saw that they rebuked them, but Jesus called them unto him and
said, Suffer the 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, very few passages in the
New Testament have been so perversely twisted to teach false doctrine
as these three verses. For that reason, I must at least
briefly deal with the things that men commonly perversely
twist these scriptures into teaching. The first one, I'm sure, already
comes to mind. Papists and those who continue
the practice of the Roman ritual of infant baptism, infant sprinkling,
commonly referred to these verses as a defense for sprinkling a
little water on a baby's face when it's newborn. Now, if there
was any place in the Word of God, any place where we might
expect to find some mention or some example of sprinkling water
on a baby's face and calling it baptism, this would be the
place. But that's not the case. You
see, the practice of what is called infant baptism is totally,
totally, totally without foundation in Holy Scripture. There is not
one word in this book, Old Testament or New, that teaches it or in
any way implies it or suggests it or even allows for it. And there's not a single example,
not one example in the entire Bible where you can point to
and say there were some babies who were baptized or sprinkled.
The practice is purely of Roman origin. That's all. It is purely of Roman origin. It was not even practiced among
the pagans prior to the time that it began to be practiced
by those who thus perverted the scriptures. The practice is not
only a matter of Roman origin, It is done in the vain hope that
somehow by sprinkling a little water on a baby's face, that
child is regenerated. And many would say, oh, no, no,
no, we don't believe that. But the child is at least given
an advantage because this is considered a sacrament. Now,
please hear me. We don't make a big issue about
words where they're insignificant. But the ordinances of the gospel
are not sacraments. The word sacrament teaches that
these things that we practice, public worship, singing our hymns,
baptism, the Lord's Supper, those things, these sacraments, as
they are called, are means by which those who participate in
them sort of automatically receive some kind of grace. And so folks
bring their babies to some priest or a preacher who's acting like
a priest, and he pronounces some holy words over them. I get so
sick of hearing folks talk about this as a holy thing. God is
holy. His people are holy. And that's
all there is that's holy in this world. We went to my wife's uncle's
funeral, and a little old preacher came out in his dress and costume
on. Silly looking thing, had a bow
tie underneath the dress. Little fella. Too little for
me to hit. He said, now I realize this is
a holy time for the family. They talked about this holy ordinance,
the baptism, and said by practicing this, the child is at least given
an advantage. If he should die before he enters
into adulthood, then we are confident that he's the Lord because he
has been thus brought into the kingdom of God. Now, these things
are a total, complete contradiction to the gospel of God's free grace. Baptism, real baptism, that is,
immersion or sprinkling, has absolutely nothing to do with
communicating the grace of God to a sinner. You don't get saved
through water. It doesn't happen. It doesn't
happen. I don't care if you're baptized
so many times that every tadpole in the local pond knows you by
your first name. You're not going to get saved by being baptized.
It does not happen. Salvation is by the grace of
God alone, through the finished work of Christ alone, and received
by faith in Christ alone. Nothing else. Nothing else. Not
only is that the case, but the practice of infant baptism gives
men and women a false hope before God. Our Lord tells us with regard
to eating the Lord's table. If a person eats or drinks unworthily,
he eats and drinks damnation to himself. Now, let me tell
you what mama and daddy do when they bring their child to some
preacher or priest. And by putting a little water
on his face, they tell that child that he's in the church of God
and he's raised as a Christian. We were raised as Christians.
That's our problem. That's our problem. A child raised
as a Christian, what they do is they continually, through
their false practice, feed the child damnation to their soul. because they claim and give themselves
confidence that they have hope before God, not discerning the
Lord's body, having no idea what Christ has accomplished for his
people. And this matter of infant baptism is a contradiction to
the teaching of Holy Scripture with regard to baptism. Baptism
is immersion. Immersion is not a mode of baptism. The word baptized means immerse. It does not mean anything else. It means to dip, to plunge, to
immerse in water. Our Lord was baptized in the
River Jordan by immersion. Some years ago, Shelby was preparing
one of her Sunday school lessons for some children, and she was
reading Matthew Henry. We're driving down the road.
She said, if you ever read this, got to his commentary, otherwise
Pretty good commentary, I guess, but in Matthew 3, which we read
this morning with our Lord's baptism, he said the Lord Jesus
and John the Baptist went down both into the water and John
got a cup of water and poured it over the Lord's head. Seems
to me like a lot of trouble to get wet all over and pour a little
water on your head. But men will go to no ends to try to demonstrate
that which they know to be wrong. Baptism is by immersion. It is
the believer's confession of faith in Christ. It is for believers
only. Those who believe on the Son
of God confess their faith in Christ as their crucified Redeemer,
confessing that they believe in Him, we are dead to the law,
dead indeed unto sin, and alive to God. We belong to Him, and
this we confess. More than that, there is a problem
in that these verses are twisted and abused by many to defend
the practice of this perverse. Particularly, this is the practice
of baddest in our day, has been for the better part of the past
hundred years, the practice of talking children into making
a profession of faith. I can't think of anything that
would rile me more. And for my granddaughter, my
grandson, to be engaged in any kind of activity where somebody
talked them into making a profession of faith in Christ when they
had no knowledge of who God is, no knowledge of redeeming grace
and saving mercy. I don't think or suggest that
the Bible teaches an age of accountability, as men call it. That's not the
issue. The issue is faith in Christ. Now listen carefully. Neither
adults nor children are brought to faith in Christ by somebody
talking them into making a decision for Jesus. If your salvation,
if that which you call your salvation is something you look back on
and you say, there was a time there when I professed faith
in Christ because this fellow talked me into it. I was talked
into a profession of faith when I was seven years old. talked
into preaching when I was eight years old. Used to take me around
and preach. Used to go to the black church
down the road and preach to them every Sunday afternoon. But I
didn't know God from a billy goat. I was talked into a profession
of faith. And if you were talked into a
profession of faith, you don't have any faith. You've not been
born of God. When God the Holy Spirit comes
in saving mercy, in the mighty operations of His free grace,
The person who's born of God doesn't have to be taught in
the following Christ. He doesn't have to have his arm
twisted. He doesn't have to be manipulated. He is born of God. And being born of God, he is
the willing disciple of Jesus Christ the Lord. Some of you
in our time together have come to me at various times and expressed
concerns, and I know the expectations. is that your pastor can tell
you what you have to do. The pastor can take care of this
for you. Because preachers have conditioned
people to think that pastors are priests. I want it to sink in. I am not
a priest. I can't give you peace. Somebody
says, I don't have any assurance. I can't give you any assurance.
And I won't try. I won't try. I get letters almost every week,
somebody asking me to help them with assurance. I won't even
try to give assurance. And Brock Barnard said one time,
the only fellow who'll try to convince a lost man that he's
saved is another lost man. And I'm convinced he's about
right. I'm not here to make sinners comfortable while they go to
hell. My purpose is to make you as uncomfortable as I can until
you find comfort in Jesus Christ the Lord. You understand what
I'm saying? Faith is not something men talk
you into doing. It's something God gives you
through the preaching of His Word. Not through telling stories,
not through emotional times. When I was in Bible college,
both the colleges I went to, they teach us how to win souls
for Jesus, especially preachers. Prepare your message and you
bring it to a crescendo and then you apply the message and you
get folks to bow their head and raise their hands and then you
persuade them, strike while the iron's hot and get them to make
a decision for Jesus. You see it happen all the time.
It is nothing on this earth but the damning of men's souls, not
salvation, not grace. When God the Holy Spirit comes
to you, He'll give you faith in Christ. He will cause you
to come to Christ. He will fix it so you can't do
anything else. You will believe on the Son of
God. You see, faith in Christ is not saying I believe in Jesus,
it's believing Him. It's not saying I want to be
a Christian, it's being one. It's not saying I want to follow
Christ, it's following Him. Now, having said that, I'll say
no more, though much more needs to be said. said often, said
boldly, and said universally. But let me give you a brief exposition
of these three verses, and then I'll come back to them and give
you our Master's message from them. Look at verse 15. They brought unto him also infants. Now that word infants is used
with regard to unborn children. It is used with regard to little
babies nursing at their mother's breast. And it is used with regard
to young children, children who had not yet reached, and this
is where perhaps folks get the notion of the age of accountability,
had not yet reached the age of 12 years old. Any child under
12 years old in the Jewish world would be commonly referred to
as an infant. Now, you who are under 12, don't
get upset with me over that. That's just the way things were
in that day. So the word is used with regard to unborn children.
It's used with regard to small infants, as we use the word,
and it is used with regard to young children. On this occasion,
people brought these infants to the Savior, just as others
brought adults to Him who were sick, that they might be healed
by the Lord's touch. You see that in the next words.
They brought them that He would touch them, that the Master might,
as was His custom, touch them and heal them of their diseases.
But when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them. They rebuked
these who brought these children to the master. They rebuked them,
and we're not told why they rebuked them. Those who brought these
children simply brought them. And the disciples may very well
have had good reasons in their own minds for rebuking them.
But they're not to be scolded by us because you'll notice in
the context, our master didn't say a word to reprove them or
scold them. In any way, he simply corrected
their mistake. And he seized the opportunity
to teach us an important lesson. But again, there's something
here with regard to this practice of infant baptism, frankly. It
is obvious that the Jews never practiced it. It's obvious that
John the Baptist never practiced it. And it's obvious that our
Lord Jesus and his disciples never practiced it, because had
that been the case, if these folks were bringing these babies
to Jesus for him to sprinkle them with a little water, the
disciples sure would not have forbade them from doing so. Our
master says now in verse 16, Jesus called them unto him. He called these disciples to
Him and called these children to Him. And the Lord Jesus tells
these disciples concerning these children who were brought to
Him that they're to come. Now, that's sufficient to tell
us that these infants were not little babies, not these. They
were at least old enough to come to Him on their own. They were
obviously young children, probably, as I said, less than 12 years
old, but they weren't babies, as we use the term. They were
at least old enough to be capable of coming to Christ on their
own. And when he called the children to himself, stretching out his
arms and received them, just like you would if you were reaching
out for a little child. You see a child, you say, come
here, honey. The master did just that. He
called them to him and received them and said this to his disciples. Suffer or allow the little children
to come unto me and forbid them not. Our Lord was such a gracious,
humble, tender, accommodating man that he readily seized this
opportunity to receive these little children and to minister
to them as well as to any adult who was around him. He was so
gracious, so gentle, so kind that young children were perfectly
comfortable in approaching him. Perfectly comfortable. I'll tell
you something about children whose minds have not been twisted
by their parents. Children have a tremendous perception
of human beings. If your children don't want to
be around somebody, You can bank on it. They've got a reason.
They may not put it in words. They may not be able to express
it. They've got a reason. These children, the Lord Jesus
said, come here. And they gathered around him.
Gathered around him. Most of you are old enough to
remember Captain Kangaroo. Just like those kids who gather
around him. Come here. Gathered around him. And then he says,
for of such is the kingdom of God. Now let me give you Faulkner's
paraphrase of that. The master said, don't drive
these children away from me. Let them come and I will teach
you something. These children are a good picture
of what I require all my children to be. Trusting, dependent, harmless,
and inoffensive. Free from bitterness and malice. Meek, modest, and humble. Without pride, arrogance, and
ambition. having no desire for greatness,
just children. Just children. Now look at verse
17. Verily I say unto you, whosoever
shall not receive the kingdom of God, that is, receive Christ
as the King, believing His doctrine, bowing to His authority, obeying
His will, as a little child, in simple, meek, humble faith. trusting Him as Lord and Savior,
shall in no wise enter therein." In a word, our Savior here tells
us that there is no true faith except that faith which is exemplified
in childlike qualities. What a profound, needful lesson. What a message this is. God give
me grace to preach it and receive it. and give you grace to receive
it. Verily I say unto you, whosoever
shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall
in no wise enter therein. Let me call your attention to
several things that should be obvious when you read these three
verses. First, when the Lord Jesus comes
in saving power to any sinner, he comes as a king. to set up
his kingdom in you. He doesn't come as a beggar,
he comes as a king. He doesn't come as one asking
permission, he comes as a king. He comes to establish his kingdom.
He enters into the hearts of chosen sinners by sovereign,
omnipotent power and grace cast out the strong man, Satan, binds
him and cast him out, and takes possession of his house so that
he sets himself up as king in the hearts of chosen sinners.
And his kingdom now is within you, within you. Here's another
thing. We must be brought to Christ,
the king, and brought into his kingdom as little children. Our
Master says, of such is the kingdom of heaven. Now mark these words. These little children were brought
to the Master and they were brought by him as examples of those who
enter into his kingdom. And I'm going to give a little
something here that I had not planned on. John Newton once
made this statement. He said, the majority of persons
who are now in the kingdom of God are children. I think he might be right. I
think he might be right. When I think of the multitudes
of babies who have died in infancy, who are now swarming the streets
of the New Jerusalem, I rejoice in God's wisdom and goodness.
and saving so many in infancy, in infancy. A preacher, how can
you say that? Listen carefully. Adults, generation
after generation, die in rebellion and unbelief. While they do,
countless multitudes of infants have entered into the kingdom
of heaven, saved by the grace of God through the blood of Christ
and the power of His Spirit, and forever sing the high praises
of their Redeemer and their friend before the throne of His glory.
Of such is the kingdom of heaven." Are you telling us, Brother Don,
that those babies that die in infancy are all saved? Absolutely. Absolutely. I have no hesitancy
whatsoever in declaring that to you. That includes the infants
who have been slaughtered in abortion. That includes infants
that have been burned upon heathen altars. That includes the infants
of Papists, Mohabbitans, and Buddhists. They enter the kingdom
of God by grace, just as we do. I'm fully convinced that all
who die in infancy are the objects of God's everlasting love, chosen
of God in eternal election, redeemed by Jesus Christ, the Lamb of
God, when he died at Calvary, and born again by God, the Holy
Spirit. But wait a minute, how can they
be born again? They can't decide for Jesus. You understand. You
weren't born again by deciding for him either. You weren't born
again by the exercise of your faith either. You weren't born
again by choosing him either. Oh, we decided for him. We believe
him and we choose him. But that's the result, not the
cause of being born again. They too are born of God. Let
others object if they please. I was preaching one time in another
state. I preached out in California,
down in San Jose, years ago, years ago. And first time I'd
ever been there. Congregations and folks were,
you know, imaginary theologians. They cornered me after services
one night. I'd made some hint that dying infants were saved.
And three, four, five, six fellows, oh, they jumped all over me.
And I, you know, I tried to be nice and explain to them why
I believe this. And they just kept arguing, got
hot under a collar. I tell you what, if it makes
you happy to consider that all the infants who die in infancy
are damned, go ahead and take it. But I don't believe it for
a second. Not for a second. Everything I read in this book,
every example given, the whole tenor of Scripture, and what
I know of the character of my God convinces me otherwise. While I was preparing this message
last week while I was in Cherokee, I got a letter late one night.
I read the lengthy letter from a very dear friend. She and her
husband married late in life. They've been married just two
or three years. They've been trying to have a baby. And nobody
knows this except me. And so I'm not going to, and
she wants to keep it that way. But she wrote to me and she said,
we found out we were going to have a baby. Can you imagine
their relation? Making preparations. And the
day before she wrote to me, she lost the baby. And she asked
two questions, two questions. She said, was my unborn child
really a person? At what point does that child
become a person? That's what she's asking. Second
question she asked, If so, is my child with the Lord in heaven. And I sat down after Sheba went
to bed and wrote to her a rather lengthy letter and showed some
scripture, some things taught in scriptures. And you can imagine
my elation when I was able to write back to her and say, yes,
oh yes, oh yes. You see, God in great mercy snatches
many of His elect from their mother's womb, and our Savior
takes them in His everlasting arms and sets them in His Kingdom. Well, how? How? How do they enter
the Kingdom of Heaven? Same way you did. Same way you did, by free grace,
through blood atonement, Because of God's choice. Because God,
the Holy Spirit, gave them life. Gave them life in Christ Jesus. Oh, what an advantage they have. What an advantage. Did they enter
the Kingdom of Heaven by works? No. Hadn't done anything. And
if you enter the Kingdom of Heaven, you're going to have to enter
without any works. Did they enter the Kingdom of Heaven by some
experience they had, some vision, some dream? No. No. And if you
enter the Kingdom of Heaven, you're going to have to enter
without anything except Christ the Lord. And notice this too.
They brought unto Him infants. These infants had to be brought
to the Master. Someone brought them. And if
you ever come to Christ, Someone's going to have to bring you, pick
you up, and carry you to Him. The word brought means brought
and presented to. They brought these needy children
to the Master and presented them to Him. And when God the Holy
Spirit comes in saving mercy, He brings needy sinners in the
arms of omnipotent grace and presents them to the Savior. And the Lord Jesus receives them. And thereby he sees of the travail
of his soul and is satisfied. This is the joy set before him
for which he endured the cross, despising the shame. Now notice
this. These infants were brought and
presented to the Master, and God's elect are brought and presented
to Christ by the effectual, omnipotent, irresistible grace and power
of God the Holy Spirit. But these infants came to Him
when He called for them. And if you enter the kingdom
of heaven, you must yourself come to Him as He calls for you. You see, those who are brought
by the Spirit of God to Christ come to Him willingly, receive
Him as Savior and King willingly, and serve Him willingly. You see, God doesn't save anybody, but what He makes them willing
in the day of His power. If you serve Christ, you serve
Him. because you want to. If you worship
Him, you worship Him because you want to. If you trust Him,
you trust Him because you want to. If you love Him, you love
Him because you want to and want to love Him more. That's the
reason when we deal with God's people in the matters of responsibility,
we never, never deal with them as though they had to be somehow
whipped into obedience. Brother Lamar just said back
in the office a little bit ago, he used to be a Mormon, he said
paying our tithes was our fire insurance. And that's exactly
how folks live, under law, not under grace. Believers worship
God because they want to, give because they want to, do what
they do because they want to, praise Him because they want
to. They're made willing by the power of His grace. But the primary
thing in this short one-verse sermon is this. All who receive
this king and this kingdom, all who enter into the church and
kingdom of God, must do so as little children. Well, when I was a young father, I
thought I knew everything. Now I'm an old grandpa, and I
realize I don't know much, but I know some things about children,
and I want to share them with you. And these are things that
characterize that faith which is wrought in the hearts of sinners
by God the Holy Spirit. First, utter dependence. Utter dependence. A little child
is completely and utterly dependent. God make me that. God make me
that. Completely and utterly dependent. That's as good and clear a picture
of faith in Christ as I can imagine. Total dependence. Faith in Christ
is total dependence on Him. Total dependence on Him is our
Savior. our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,
and total dependence on Him as our Lord. I started to say I have more
trouble with the latter than with the former, but that's not
quite honest. I have a lot of trouble with both. I keep trying
my best to fight off this horrible, evil, ungodly tendency of my
flesh to find righteousness in me. And I keep crying to God
for grace to teach me to trust Him, trust His providence. When Shelby and I first started
dating, she was a much more mature believer than I. I had been converted
just a few weeks when God brought our paths together. We'd read
scripture, and these two verses we frequently referred to. Trust
in the Lord with all thine heart, in all thy ways acknowledge Him. Trust in the Lord with all thine
heart, and lean not into thine own understanding. But in all
thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." God
teach me to trust you. Every day, every hour, in everything,
to lean on Him. Dependence upon Him alone, as
our Savior and our King. Okay, so that's about children. Children are very modest. You
know where they learn not to be modest? Now, I'm not suggesting that
you teach children to run around naked. We're having trouble getting
Will to keep his clothes on. But he doesn't have any embarrassment
running around naked, because he doesn't have anything to be
embarrassed about. It's called modesty. We call modesty covering everything
up, because we've got something to be embarrassed about. Being
just a child, the child owns nothing. Faith comes to Christ
as an absolute Lord and King, giving up all things to Him willingly,
acknowledging that all things are His. And a child, he recognizes real soon he doesn't
have anything. But there's another lesson here.
Faith looks to Christ for everything, offering Him nothing. We trust
His expiation, not our experience. His mediation, not our morality. His work, not our works. His
sanctification, not our sanctity. His priesthood, not our piety.
His sacrifice, not our services. Modestly looking to Him. just
as we are, naked, helpless, for everything. As you receive Christ
Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. Don't ever grow beyond that. Children, thirdly, are tender
and loving. It's just their nature. The younger
the child, the more this is true. A young child is crushed with
a loving father's disapproval. A young child is devastated when
a loving mother frowns. The child loves mom and dad. He craves nothing more than to
do for him, to honor him, to do for her, to honor her. He craves nothing more than to
enjoy their approval and delight. So it is with God's saints. I
am not suggesting that's the way it is with religious people
or even with devoted religious people. But that's the way it
is with God's people. Believers love Christ and want
to serve Him and want to honor Him in everything. In everything. In every thought, in every decision,
in every deed, in every word, in every relationship, honor
Christ. That's the desire of every heaven-born
soul. For the love of Christ constrains
us, because we thus judge, that if He died for us, then we're
dead. He wouldn't have died for us
if we hadn't been dead. And that he died for us, that we should
not henceforth live unto ourselves, but unto him who died for us
and rose again. We love him because he first
loved us. You won't mind, I hope, me telling
you the story again. I don't ever get tired of telling
it. And if you've been around for a while, know I tell the
same story a lot of times anyhow, but this one's really good. I'd
been away preaching and gone for a little better than a week
one time. Faith was about three, four years old, and I was coming
home. Everybody had CB radios at that
time. I got on top of the mountain where I could reach Shelby at
the house and called her and told her I'd be there in about
15, 20 minutes. When I drove up in my truck, Faith was sitting
on the front step of the house right in front of my office.
When I drove up and opened the door, she got up, came running
to me, and she had picked a whole handful of dandelions. Ugly things. Just the fuzz, you know. And she came running with a big
smile on her face, and as she got to me, she reached out those
dandelions, and she started to bawl, because all the fuzz had
blown off. And I started to bawl, because
they were the prettiest flowers I ever saw in my life. Wish I'd
have had the good sense to have kept her. How come? Because she did it just for me. Just because she loves me. That's the way God's children
serve Him. Just because they want to. There's
something else about children. A child is an open book. Honest,
sincere, without guile. Now adults, we're real good at
hypocrisy. Children play hypocrisy. Audrey Grace loves to get shoes. She got something from my mother.
My mother never saw anything in her life she didn't have to
have two of right now. And if it was gaudy jewelry,
it was even better. And Audrey Grace loves that stuff.
She'll get it and put it on and dress up, put on high heels and
put scarves and sweaters and things on, way too big for her.
She dresses up and walks around like an adult. But she just plays
at hypocrisy. Adults live it. Not a child. Not a child. The other night,
last night, Shelby was putting Will to bed. And they were praying. And Will said, I'll pray first.
And I don't have any idea what he said, but he said a little
something. I wasn't in the room. And he leaned over to Nana and he
said, what do I say next? I don't have any idea what she
said, but he said something else. Now what do I say? Oh, I wouldn't
do that, would you? No, I wouldn't dare let you know
I didn't know what to do. Wouldn't dare let you know I
didn't know how to speak to God. Not a child. A child is an open
book. Open book. No pretense. No hypocrisy. A child of God
before Him stands before Him and worships Him in spirit and
in truth. Rips open his heart. God help
me. Here I am. And I don't know what
to do. And I don't know what to say.
And I don't even know how to tell you. And children are teachable. Teachable. They're not just teachable, they're
anxious to learn. Anxious to learn. They don't have to be convinced
of anything. Not with argument and debate. looks at mom or dad,
in my case, grandpa, poppy, or nana, and asks you something
and you tell them, that's it. Good enough. Good enough. They
don't make simple things complex. And they never debate obvious
things. This happened a year or so ago.
Forgive me for using our grandchildren. I don't know yours as well. And
you haven't told me all the stories I've told you. Just a little while back, we
was talking to his daddy. He said, Daddy, did God make
that door? Daddy said, well, son, God made
everything. But he said, you know, some men
got some wood, did this and did that, and hung the door there.
And the men put the lock on it. Men did this. Men did that. And
God gave them the skill and ability to do it. And God planted the
tree. But men were, they did this. He said, yeah, God made
the door. Teachable. Ready to receive instruction. And children are relatively free
of envy and ambition. Again, they learn those things
from us. They learn those things from us. Two children who are
friends don't even think about what the other one's wearing.
Don't even think about where they shop for their clothes.
They don't even think about which one lives in the biggest house,
not unless mama or daddy pulls in their mind. They don't even
think about what kind of car one parent drives and the other
one drives. They don't even think about asking
what part of town they live in. They just don't even think about
it. Because those things just don't
matter. They just don't matter. Oh, God, teach me to be a little
child. They just don't matter. Say something
else. Children. Let's see. Lex is back there. You're 10
now, aren't you, honey? Eight. Eight. Eight. OK, forgive me. She won't mind
that. She and our six-year-old granddaughter
are friends. And you know, I don't ever recall Aubrey Grace one
time mentioning the fact that her friend Alexis has different
color skin than she does. Don't ever remember it coming
up. And to one of us big folks, tell
her about it. Just doesn't happen. Just doesn't happen. How come?
Children are envious. Children are relatively free
of ambition and desire to stand out. Say something else about
it. Turn over to Ephesians 4. Ephesians
4. If it happens that Alexis and
Audra Grace are playing, they have a falling out, they get
mad at each other, as long as Rex and Debbie and Jenny and
Don and Shelby don't get involved, as long as we don't get involved.
You know what they'll do? Give them five minutes and they'll
be playing together again. Just forget it. Just forget it.
Mom and Dad can't, but they will. They'll forget it. God's children
are taught by His Spirit to forgive. Ephesians 4.30. Grieve not the Holy Spirit of
God, whereby you are sealed into the day of redemption. Let all
bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking
be put away from you with all malice. And if you put
away the malice, you'll put away the other. I don't have any malice,
but your but just told your malice. with all malice, and be ye kind
one to another." Tenderhearted. Forgiving one another, even as
God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Forgive me. I've got a little
longer than I ought to be, but I want you to hear this. Several
years ago, this is back when I was in college, Shelby and
I were in a local church, very small congregation, one deacon
and the pastor. The two of them worked together,
side by side at the post office. And they got to squabbling about
a lawnmower. And here are two fellows, the
only two people in the post office who claimed to believe the gospel
of God's free grace. One working here, one working here, and the
fellow standing in between them. and wouldn't speak to each other,
going to the same church, wouldn't speak to each other. The pastor
said, tell him. This fellow said, tell him. Hand
me that. Hand me that. Tell him to do
this. What stupidity. What ungodliness. What reproach. And I spoke to both of them.
Well, he hasn't asked. I was just a kid, and I tried
to be modest before them, tried to respect their age. They were
both men who had been so influential in my life. Well, if he would,
how did God, for Christ's sake, forgive you? Hmm? He waited on you to ask for forgiveness
before He gave it? He put some strings on it? Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath
forgiven you. Be ye therefore followers of
God, imitators of God. Now the one thing, Lindsay, I'd
like for us to learn to imitate, God Almighty, as dear and walk
in love as Christ also hath loved us and given himself for us. An offering and a sacrifice to
God for a sweet-smelling Savior. Forgive one another for anything. It's meaningless. It's just meaningless. It's just meaningless. Just like
God forgives you, imitate God. Walk in love, one another, as
Christ loved you. That's an awful lot to give,
is it now? Huh? Is it? Is it? I talked to some
friends in the congregation, just out on the verge of just
shattering a small congregation sometime back. And I called every
man in the congregation. I said to them, Would you break
up your house over this? Why not? You're going to break
up God's house over it? Well, I never thought of it that
way. I believe I would advise you. Too much to ask, what did
Christ give for you? A sweet smelling savor to God. Now back to Luke 15. Verse 17, Truly I say to you, whosoever
shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, shall
in no wise enter therein. Oh God, make me as a little child before
you. and as a little child before
your people, for Christ's sake. Amen.