How many different thoughts run
through your mind in the course of a day? And I know you would all agree,
thou my best thought, by day or by night. Would you turn back
to Luke chapter 18? Let's read these verses once
again. Beginning in verse 15. And they, the parents, brought
unto him also infants that he would touch them. But when his
disciples saw, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them unto him
and said, Suffer little children to come to 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 I'm not going to take the
time to try to prove to you that this does not teach infant baptism.
I imagine most of you can already see that. This is the scripture
that is used to promote infant baptism and obviously baptism
is not mentioned. But we have these parents bringing
their infants to the Lord that he would touch them. Who could blame them? Wouldn't you do this? If the
Lord were where you could get to Him and you had an infant
or a child, wouldn't you bring that child to Him for Him to
touch them and to bless them? Now, it's not real clear whether
it's just infants, as in, you know, under six months old, or
whether it's little children, toddlers, or even five or six
year olds, but I repeat, can you blame the parents who did
this? I'd do it. I'd do it. I'd want the Lord to touch my
children. I want Him to touch me. I want
Him to touch you. I want Him to touch everybody
in this room. I want the Lord's touch. I want the Lord's blessing. You know, Everybody he touched,
he healed. And he touched these little children
and he blessed them. That's what we read in the passage
in Mark. And I'd like to know what these
kids' lives were like after he blessed them, wouldn't you? That'd
be kind of interesting to just see what their lives were like
after he touched them and after he blessed them. You know, everybody
he touched, he healed. You know, he even touched a coffin
once and a dead person raised back up to life, the young man
in the coffin. Oh, to be touched by Christ. I love to think of that leper
who probably had not been touched in many years when he came into
the presence of Christ. not feeling a human touch. And
you know what a blessing it is to feel a human touch. But he
felt nothing. And he said, Lord, if you will,
you can make me clean. And the scripture says, Jesus
moved with compassion, reached forth his hand and touched him,
saying, I will be thou clean. Now the disciples rebuked these
parents who brought their children to be touched. They censored
them sharply. You shouldn't be doing this.
Now, why would they have done this? We know it's wrong because
as I read in Mark's account, the Lord was much displeased
by their conduct. Why did they do this? Look what the Lord said to them
after they rebuked these people, verse 16, but Jesus called them
unto him and said, suffer little children to come unto me and
forbid them not. You allow them to do it and don't
you forbid them for of such is the kingdom of God. Now, perhaps
the disciples thought the children were too insignificant and unimportant
to bother the Lord during this discourse. I mean, they're all,
after all, they're just kids. They're too insignificant and
unimportant. And I wonder how they would have
reacted if some rich man came up and wanted to be touched,
or some community leader would have wanted to be touched. I
bet they wouldn't have rebuked them for bringing him. They would
have been glad he did it. But when they bring these children,
these infants, They are upset. These children, what could they
contribute to the kingdom of heaven? About the same thing
you and I can contribute. Nothing. Nothing. Isn't this the kind of people
he saves? I think this is interesting. If you have anything to contribute,
you are disqualified. Christ doesn't need my contributions. Christ doesn't need my talent.
Christ doesn't need my money. Christ doesn't need my influence. As a matter of fact, he doesn't
need me. I need him. I desperately need
him. Now, the kingdom of God is the
only society where unworthiness is the requirement for membership. If you have anything, you're
disqualified. It's only the man who has nothing
to whom Christ is all. Now, perhaps when they brought
these children, they were thinking, well, they have insufficient
capacity for such things as faith and repentance. They're incapable
of understanding. Know anybody else like that? Are you up to these things? These
are gifts of God. And we are all equally insufficient
for these things and are in complete dependence upon sovereign grace. Perhaps they thought, what kind
of life experience have they had that would make them candidates
for coming to Christ? Same as you. Nothing. Nothing. You and I don't have
anything to bring. As I said, the disciples didn't
know this, but they were actually preventing these people from
coming to Christ. And that's what the Lord says,
suffer the little children to come to me and forbid them not
for of such is the kingdom of heaven. Now this is the age old
error. Some prerequisite must be fulfilled. Some condition must be met before
you can come to Christ. There's so much conviction you
need to experience. There's such and such level of
understanding and spiritual experience you have to have. Certainly sin
must be forsaken completely. You need to get your life straightened
out before you can come to Christ. That's not coming to Christ at
all. Let me repeat. That is not coming to Christ
at all. The Lord said, Suffer the little
children to come to me and forbid them not. And when he makes that
statement, he sweeps away all of these prewar acquisites, doesn't
he? He doesn't say they have to do anything. Suffer the little
children to come to me and forbid them not. Now the scripture says
in Revelation 22, 17, whosoever will, let him take the water of life
freely. Whosoever will. Whether six or sixty, whosoever
will, let him take the water of life freely. But I still sin. I still struggle mightily with
sin. Well, the scripture doesn't say
whosoever no longer struggles mightily with sin, let him take
the water of life freely. It says whosoever will. Whosoever
will, let him take the water of life freely. But I fear I
don't understand enough. It doesn't say whosoever understands
enough, let him take the water of life freely, does it? It says
whosoever will. Do you want to be saved by Christ?
Is that your desire? Do you want to be saved by Jesus
Christ? Is that your desire? Is that
your will? but I don't feel the proper emotions
I should feel. Well, it doesn't say whosoever
feels the proper emotions, let him come and take the water of
life freely, does it? It says whosoever will, let him take
the water of life freely. Well, I feel my experience doesn't
measure up. It doesn't say anything about
your experience measuring up. What's that mean anyway? It says
whosoever will, let him take. All objections are answered.
Let him take. Come on. Come and welcome. Whosoever will,
let him take the water of life freely. Are there any conditions
to meet? Yeah, there's one. You gotta
take it freely. That's the only condition. If
you have anything to bring to the table, you disqualify yourself.
The only way you can come is if you can come and take the
water of life freely, with no cause, with nothing in yourself. Now, this thing of coming to
Christ, And this is what they were preventing these people
from doing. They didn't know they were doing that, but they
were. This thing of coming to Christ is the act of spiritual
life. But doesn't the Bible say that
I can't come unless I'm drawn by the Father? Yeah, it says
that. Who ever thought you couldn't? But you're still called upon
to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. The call of the gospel is for
you to come to Christ right now, just as you are. Don't try to do or be anything. Don't wait until you're changed.
Don't wait till you get better. Don't wait for anything. Our
Lord said, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And listen to these blessed words.
Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise, for no reason whatsoever
cast out. You come to him, you will be
received. He said in Matthew 11, 28, come
unto me. And this is a commandment. This
is not good advice. This is spoken of in the imperative
voice. It's a commandment. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden. Laboring under the sense and
burden of sin, heavy laden. He said, come to me and I will
give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you'll find rest
for your souls. My yoke is easy, and my burden
is light. You see, if it's all of grace,
it's light, isn't it? It's light. What an easy, gracious
yoke. He said in John chapter 7, verse
37, if any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
7 for a moment. Verse 25. Wherefore, he, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the one who has an unchangeable priesthood, the one made a priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek, wherefore he is able also to
save them to the, oh, I love this next word, uttermost, uttermost, that come to God by
him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. You
know how I come to God? I do. I come to God. You know
how I come to God? By Him. No other way. He said in John
chapter 14 verse 6, I am the way. I'm not a way, I'm the way. I am the truth. I am the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. And when I come to Christ, here's
what I say, Lord, bring me to the Father because I can't get
there unless you bring me. There's no hope for me unless
you bring me to the Father. I don't come to the Father by
Him, mentioning His name. I come to the Father when He
comes to the Father. I come to Him being in Him. And when I come to Christ, here
is my prayer, Lord, Bring me to the Father. I can't get there
unless you bring me. It really is as simple as that. You're coming to the person of
Christ and asking him to bring you to the Father. You can't
get there unless he brings you. And you know that. So you say,
Lord, bring me to the Father. You say with Peter, bid me. I
love that when Peter said that. Bid me. And that word bid is
not invite, it's command. Command me to come to thee on
the water. Now, someone asked, well, what's
it mean to come to Christ? This is about coming to Christ.
He said we're to come as little children, as infants, however
they come. Forbear not, suffer to come,
for such is the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever receiveth not the kingdom
of heaven as a little child, as an infant, he shall in no
wise enter therein. Now what does coming to Christ
mean? Turn to John chapter six. The act of coming to Christ We
know it's a spiritual act. It's not a physical act. It's
not walking down an aisle or anything like that. It's a spiritual
act done in the heart, and it has something to do with where
you're going and what you're leaving. It really is that simple. It has something to do with where
you're going. Coming to Christ is going to
place, and if you go to a place or some place, you leave. Now
look in John chapter 6 verse 35. And Jesus said unto them,
I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. And he that believeth on me shall
never thirst. Now that verse of scripture tells
me that coming to Christ and believing on Christ are the precise
same thing. Now when I believe on Christ,
Look in verse 29 of the same chapter, verse 28. And they say unto him, what shall
we do that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered
and said unto them, this is the work of God that you believe
on him whom he hath sent. You believe the Father sent Him.
You believe the Father sent Him for the purpose of salvation.
And you believe that He did what the Father sent Him to do. Thou
shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from
their sins. That's what He did. And when
I am coming to Him, I'm believing on Him. I'm trusting Him as all
that's needed to save me. It is that simple. And I love
the way the Lord said, this is the will of God that you believe
on him whom he has sent. And I love what comes afterwards.
A period. Not an end. A period. This is God's work. This is the
work God is the author of. That you believe on him whom
he has sent. Isn't there anything else? Just
do it. You'll find that's plenty. Just
do it. Believe on him whom he has sent. Now, to come to Christ, like
I said, is to go to a place. It's to leave another place.
Now, when I come to Christ, there's a place I'm leaving. That's called
repentance. Repentance means a change of
mind. There's a place I'm leaving. When I come to Christ, I am leaving
salvation by works. Bye-bye. I don't want to go that
route anymore. That's no good. I've had a change
of mind. You know, I used to believe that I could do things
to please God if my circumstances were just right. I don't believe
that anymore. I used to believe that whenever
I decided to, I could decide to accept Jesus and be saved
whenever I decided to. I don't believe that way anymore.
I don't believe in free will. I don't believe in works. I've left that.
Salvation by works is impossible. I'm leaving. That's what repentance
is. After you repent of that kind of thinking, Christ is where you go. You go
to him for salvation. You leave salvation by works. You repent and you come to him
for salvation. To him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness. Now let me give you four irrefutable reasons as to why
I come to Christ. And I hope you're going to find
these true with you. Now my first reason to come to
Christ is because He commands me to. He commands me to. It's not advice. It is a command. God commandeth all men everywhere
to repent. And if He commands me to do it,
I have a right to do it. And somebody thinks, well, what
if I'm not invited? Well, you're not invited. You're commanded. You're
commanded. Let's get that settled. You are commanded to come to
the Lord Jesus Christ. And to not do so is an act of
disobedience. Now, if you get an invitation
to somebody's house, you might think, I'm not going. But what
if it says you get shot if you don't come? You'll come, won't
you? This is a command that if I don't
obey this command, it's over for me. It's over. So that is
the first reason to come to Christ, because I am commanded to. When he says, come unto me, it's
in the imperative voice. He's commanding us. You're right. You don't have to worry, well,
what if I'm not one of the elect? What if Christ didn't die for
me? No, you're commanded to come. Now, here is the second reason. Because I need Him. I need the Lord Jesus Christ. I need Him to save me. I need
Him to have mercy on me. I need Him to make me clean.
I need Him to make me whole. He's got to do it all. I need
Him. He said, the whole need not a physician, but they that
are sick. I'm sick! I'm sick! You said you came for sick people.
Here I am. Luke 9, 11 says He healed them
that had need of healing. I come to Christ because I need. the Lord Jesus Christ. I need
thee, precious Jesus, for I am full of sin. My soul is dark
and guilty. My heart is dead within. I need
the cleansing fountain where I can always flee. The blood
of Christ, most precious. The sinner's perfect plea. I come to Christ because I need
the Lord Jesus Christ. And thirdly, I come to Christ
because I'm afraid not to. You know, I know what'll happen
if I don't come. I'll perish. I come to Christ
because I'm scared to death not to, and fourthly, I come to Christ
because I have no choice. I don't decide to come to Christ.
Faith is not a decision. You don't decide to believe.
The only time you come to Christ is when you have nowhere else
to go. It's not like you have two options. It's not like there's
A or B. No, the only time you come to
Christ is if you're like Peter. When the Lord said to Peter and
the rest of the disciples, will you also go away? Peter said,
Lord, to whom shall we go? It's not like there's any other
options. You want to go to the law? That won't do us any good.
He wants to go back to the world? To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life, and we believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ,
the Son of the living God. We have nowhere else to go. We have no choice. There are
no other ways. He is the only one. Now, he says
to his disciples regarding those children, the little children
to come to me, and to forbid them not, for of such is the
kingdom of heaven." Now, what's he mean by that? Talking about
these children. Of such is the kingdom of heaven. Now, there's only one type of
person that enters the kingdom of heaven. Now, do you remember
there in Matthew chapter 18, where the disciples were arguing over
who was going to be the greatest. And I think that's funny because
I know I would have been in that argument and you would have been
in that argument. Now we would we would not be so brazen as
to say I'm the greatest in the kingdom of heaven but still just
even having that argument in the first place let you know
something's wrong. And I love the way the Lord spoke to him. He said except you be converted
and turn from this proud arrogant way of thinking except you be
converted and humble yourself like a little child, you won't
even enter the kingdom of heaven. He said that to the disciples.
Except you be converted and turn from this arrogant, proud, self-righteous
way, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Now first, you're
going to see in this thing of entering the kingdom of heaven
that the kingdom of heaven comes to you by receiving, not by doing. but by receiving. Not by earning,
but by receiving. Now, when I get a paycheck, I take it. I take it. You do too. You take it. You know why? You earned it.
You earned it. You know what you do with a gift? You receive it. You receive it. All the difference
in the world. You receive it. But as many as
received him. Now let me pause. I think it
is amazing that religious people
make the act of reception as the act of salvation. God loves
everybody. Christ died for everybody. God
wants to save everybody. God wills the salvation of everybody.
But the ones who are saved are the ones who received him. And
the ones who are not saved, they refuse to receive him. Now, if
you didn't receive him, it's because he was never given to
you. Anybody he gives himself to, let me tell you what they
do. They receive. They receive. As many as received Him, to them
gave He the power to become the sons of God, even to them which
believe on His name, which were born, not of blood, not of the
will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of God. You
receive Him, and we receive Him as an infant. We receive Him
as an infant. Now, there's two ways to look
at this, and both of them have a lot of validity. Either as
an infant, And I'm talking about a six-month-old infant that can't
talk, doesn't have any understanding. We receive him as an infant or
we receive him as a little child, but both of these things are
true. Now, first let's consider just for a moment this thing
of receiving him as an infant. Now, I personally don't feel
comfortable making dogmatic statements about the salvation of infants.
I just don't feel comfortable with that because the Bible doesn't
make dogmatic statements about it. Now there are statements
that certainly imply. I think if we're David, after
he lost his one-year-old son who was an infant, he said, He
can't come back to me, but I can go to him. And that seems to
imply that he was saved because David said, I'm going to see
him again in heaven. So you can certainly see where
there are implications in the scripture that infants are saved.
And I've got to also say this, don't you see the wisdom of God
in not making a strong statement about it? If God said all infants
are saved, How many crazy people would think the best thing they
could do is kill infants? And really, if you had that assurance,
I wouldn't deny that. What if the Bible said infants
are damned? Can you imagine the despair and
the discouragement that would create with someone who lost
an infant child? Oh, you see God's wisdom. What
wisdom on the behalf of God in being silent on this and giving
us some hope that maybe it is. And I personally, I think they
are. Now, will I make a dogmatic statement about it? No. No, but
do I believe infants are saved? Yes, I do. I think that passage,
we can't establish a doctrine because of an implication, but
that passage in where David, what he said about his child
makes me think, yes, I believe they are. But how's an infant
saved? Because of his moral innocence? No, he's guilty. He's born into this world with
an evil nature. He had the sin of Adam charged
to him and it became his. He's not saved because he's innocent. Any infant that is saved would
be saved for this reason. They were elect. They were redeemed. They were
regenerated. That is the only way an infant
can be saved. Not because of their moral innocence
or goodness, but because of God's sovereign mercy toward them. That's the only way an infant
can be saved, and that's the way the kingdom of heaven is
to be received. Now the only way an infant can
be saved is the way me and you are saved. by the representation of Christ
for that infant. If that infant is saved, it's
because Christ was his representative. Because Christ put away his sins.
Because Christ gave him his righteousness. That's why that infant would
be saved. And that's the way the kingdom of heaven is to be
received. As an infant. How would an infant
be saved? Now let's say It's a five or
six or seven year old child. Now the first thing that comes
to my mind is a child's capacity to believe. Children believe what you tell
them. Their depravity has not developed
to where they read between the lines of everything you say and
all the cynicism that we develop. When they hear something, they
just believe it. That's childlike faith. That's
the kind of faith Abraham had. It was a childlike faith. God
said, Abraham, you see the stars? Can you count them? So shall
your seed be. Now Abraham, we don't read where
he thought, well how could that happen? I'm an old man. Sarah's
an old woman. Don't have any children. She's
been buried. All those objections, he just
listened to what God said and he believed God. When God says, reckon yourselves
to be dead indeed unto sin and alive unto God, you know what
childlike faith does? It reckons itself to be dead
indeed to sin. Sin has nothing to say to me.
It's put away. It's brought. It's blotted out.
Oh, how beautiful is this childlike faith. A child just believes
what you say. You know, you all have seen me
do that with kids all the time when I'm doing the finger trick.
And you know, once, I always know the age where they've left
that ability to be, whoa, you believe in it, you know, and
then all of a sudden they become, ah, he's not doing it, I know what
he's doing. But children, I love that children's just, Wow, wow,
they just believe what they see. They believe what they hear.
And that is exactly what the Lord is talking about when he's
talking about, except you receive the kingdom of heaven as a little
child. Now, to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that
justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
You know what? I believe that. I'm not working
for salvation. I'm trusting on Him who justified
the ungodly by His glorious work on the cross. Children have an
amazing capacity to simply believe. And the child is humble and receives
what is said in an unassuming way. You know, the Lord said,
except you Humble yourself like this little child. You're not
going to enter the kingdom of heaven. The child is humble. There's a true humility. It's
just, it's unassuming. He believes what God says in
a humble way. Your word is all that's needed.
I don't need anything else. Just the fact that you said it,
that's all I need. Now that's the attitude, that's
the thought of the child. And the Lord said, except you
receive the kingdom of God as a little child, you won't even
enter the kingdom of heaven. Under no circumstance will you
enter the kingdom of heaven. You know what this makes me want
to do? Lord, give me this childlike faith that simply believes what
you say. Deliver me from all the objections
that I make. Deliver me from all the whatever
it is that keeps us from simply believing what he says as a little
child. Now, I'm very pleased to be saved
the way an infant would be saved, aren't you? I'm pleased to be
saved the way an infant would be saved. How would an infant
be saved? God's got to do it all. He's got to do every bit
of it. If it's up to the infant, that
infant won't be saved. God's got to do it all. It's
the same thing with me and you, isn't it? Same thing. And I want to
have this simple, simplistic, childlike faith where I simply
believe what he says in his words. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast
out. Lord, I'm coming. You promised
you won't cast me out. I believe what you're saying. Faith is the easiest, hardest thing that there is. It's the easiest, hardest thing
that there is. May God give us this simple,
childlike faith. Let's pray together. Lord, how we thank you for your
word, It's so obviously not the word
of man, but it's thy word. And how we thank you for the gospel. Lord, we're very pleased to be
saved just like infants where you do it all. And Lord, give
us this childlike faith that's humble. and that simply believes
what you say and relies on what you say. Lord, deliver us from
questioning everything you say. Cause us to be like little children.
Lord, as we think of the conference for next weekend, we pray for
your special blessing and anointing. Lord, be pleased to speak and
do a mighty work of grace in our midst. We thank you for your word. In
Christ's name we pray. Want to remind you once again
after