Turning this evening to Mark's gospel and the chapter number 10. Thank you for coming this evening. I know some have been at the funeral service today. It has been a busy day and we're just closing out the day around the word of God. We're so thankful for that. So it is a shorter message this evening. I was tempted not to preach at all, but I did have something prepared. And so I thought, well, I will deliver it this evening. I need your prayers. This week has been a busy week, and so preparation for the Lord's Day is very minimal. And so you pray that God will give us good help even in the week that proceeds, and that everything will quieten down and that we'll be able to get into the study. But we're in Mark's gospel, chapter 10, and we're reading just a number of verses from the verse, number 13, a very familiar, event in the life of our lord and savior jesus christ it says and 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 and said on to them suffer the little children to come on 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, he shall not enter therein. And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them. Amen. We'll close there at the verse 16. Let's just briefly pray. Father in heaven, come now and fill me with thy spirit and help us, Lord, through the message. We offer prayer in and through the Savior's holy name. Amen. Well, tonight, as has been announced, we want to focus our thoughts, we want to focus our prayers on the children's ministry throughout the summer months, especially in the open air and also the church Bible clubs, the open air Bible clubs beginning this Monday, God willing, and then the church Bible club at the end of August right then into the month of september and as i thought about that i thought about it how it would be profitable for us to just for a few moments to consider christ's interaction and his teaching when it comes to children too often the church has looked upon children's ministry as a part of god's work that is not as important as other ministries within the church. I don't believe that that is the case in this assembly of believers, but in some places it seems to be that this part of God's work is not looked upon or given as much emphasis as other ministries within the church of Jesus Christ. Sure, they're only weans. That's what people would say. Sure, they're only little ones. What would they understand? That can be the attitude of some within the church of Jesus Christ. And yet if I was to ask for a straw poll in this meeting tonight, how many people were converted to Jesus Christ whenever they were a child, or at least in their teenage years, I would say a good majority of individuals here tonight would say that I came and put my faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ when I was just a child. Did a little bit of research and I found a survey conducted in the United States of America by the National Association of Evangelicals. That organization, they found out these statistics that 63% of individuals became a Christian between the ages of 4 and 14, with a median age of 12 the average age being or sorry 11 the same survey also found that 34 percent of individual individuals became a christian between the ages of 15 and 29 and therefore according to that survey 97 of individuals became christians before the age of 30 that means that if you ask 100 Christians, when they became a Christian, only three out of the 100 came to Christ after the age of 30. Certainly the statistics prove that reaching children and young people with the gospel carries with it the potential of great return. There are great returns. when we come to reach the boys and girls and the young people of our generation. And yet such a ministry to children is a ministry that is underrated and it's sometimes despised by some within the church of Jesus Christ. I trust that is not the case with you, but that you have a heart for the boys and girls of our church and also of this community. You see, such a disparaging attitude to children and to children's ministry is not borne out by Christian leaders from a bygone age. For example, the American evangelist D.L. Moody once said, if I could relive my life, I would devote my entire ministry to reaching children for God. That was D.L. Moody, the great American evangelist that saw thousands of people come to saving faith in Jesus Christ. And yet he said if he was able to relive his life, he would devote his entire ministry to reaching children for God. C. H. Spurgeon said, as soon as a child is capable of being lost, it is capable of being saved. He also said, if you want the eminent man in God's church, Look for them amongst those converted in youth. He also said, You may speak but a word to a child, and in that child there may be slumbering a noble heart which shall stir the Christian church in years to come. The theologian Charles Hodge remarked, the gospel is so simple that small children can understand it, and it is so profound that studies by the wisest theologians can never exhaust its riches. So Hodge, the theologian, believed that even small children can understand the gospel, though it baffles great theologians. Martin Luther, he said, this counteth one of the highest virtues upon earth. to educate faithfully the children of others, which so few and scarcely any do by their own. Consider it the highest virtue to educate faithfully the children of others. In the gospel he was speaking of. But what was the Savior's attitude to children? You see, if I believe that we can decipher that, then I believe it will help us to govern our attitude when it comes to our attitude to children and with regard to us reaching children with the gospel. I want you to notice a very simple truth. I don't know if you've ever thought about it. I'm sure you have. But my first thought is this, that Jesus Christ was a child. Jesus Christ himself was a child. Through all stages of human life, the Savior passed, as He made His way eventually to the cross, to their secure, eternal redemption for His people. The Son of God could have quite easily come into this world as an adult. He could have skipped childhood and adolescence. He could have come into this world. It wasn't beyond the power of omnipotent God for the Christ just to step into the world as a 30-year-old man. But he didn't choose to do that. Rather, he chose to confine himself in the womb of the Virgin and then to go through the birthing process. to become an infant on the breast of his mother and to be weaned on that breast and then to go through the years of childhood and then into the teenage years and then into the early years of adulthood until he reached the age of 30 when he began his public ministry. And so he moved through all of the stages of human life. To despise the stage of life then that we refer to childhood, and those who are presently in that stage of life, is to despise a period of human development that was graced and sanctioned by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. If God the Son saw the importance of experiencing firsthand all of the trials and all of the temptations that even a little child experiences, then we ought to take countenance off that and look upon childhood as an important stage in life and not simply a stage in life that an individual passes through in order for them to get to adulthood. We often look at children like that. If we can only get them through childhood, through adolescence, and then into adulthood. But we shouldn't look at it like that. We should see every stage of human development as important. And God the Son sanctioned each stage by himself moving through each of the stages. He learned obedience, or he learned to be subject, sorry, to his mother. and earthly father there in Nazareth. We read of that. I'm sure he was a model child, but I'm sure he was still tempted like children are tempted, because in all points he was tempted. We often think, well, that simply means there whenever he began his public ministry. No, throughout his full stage of development, Jesus Christ was tempted, and thus he is able to succor them that are tempted. And so Christ himself was a child. But in the second place, consider with me that Christ interacted with children. You know, he didn't see children as being a plague, or being tiresome, or looking upon them as being troublesome within the assembly or the congregation of people to which he ministered. Jesus Christ, he didn't separate himself away from children, but rather we find that he interacted with children. Christ loved to interact with children. He loved to speak with children. He loved to heal children. During the years of his own childhood, the Savior would have interacted with his half-brothers and sisters. We read of Mary We believe Joseph having more children in the family home. They spoke about Mary being there and his brethren, and thus we find that Jesus Christ would have been in a home where there were brothers and there were sisters, and so as a sibling, a half-sibling with just being Mary his mother, we find that the Lord Jesus Christ, he interacted with his half-brothers, half-sisters. When he was an adult, he would also interact with children. Do you remember the young boy that was brought to the Savior by Andrew? That young boy who finds himself with the only person. I often find that amazing. He was the only person that day that had any food. Now, whether the others had ate their food or not, I do not know. But could I suggest to you that God in his providence made sure that he was the only boy. We don't know his age, but we know that he's called a lad, and thus he isn't into adulthood. He's at least in the latter stages of childhood, maybe moving into the teenage years. He's just a lad. That's what they said. There's only a lad here, and he's got five loaves and two fishes. But the Lord Jesus Christ, he took those loaves and fishes from that young boy, and he interacted with them. You'll remember the feeding off the 5,000, you'll remember that the Lord Jesus Christ, He didn't only feed the men that day, He fed the woman and the children. Because He cared for the children. He loved the children. The children that day needed as much food as the adults needed that day. They needed their bellies as filled as the adults needed on that particular occasion. And so the Savior made sure, He made sure that the children, the woman, and the men were all fed in that miracle. was a little boy whom Jesus called to himself over there in Matthew chapter 18 in order to communicate to his disciples a lesson about humility. They were all wondering who was going to be the greatest in the kingdom. Jesus Christ he calls a young boy. It's a boy. And he calls that boy into the midst and he reminds his disciples that they had to humble themselves like that little boy and they were to be converted just like that little boy. If they were to enter into the kingdom of heaven, the Savior then goes on to say there in Matthew 18 verse 5, and whosoever shall receive one such little one in my name receiveth me. The reception of the little one is just like receiving Christ. Did you ever think about that? Did you ever think about that whenever you interact with the children within our church? Do you talk with them? Do you communicate with them? Do you love them? Do you enjoy hearing them among us? Jesus Christ, he said, if you receive one such little one in my name, you're receiving me. What a marvelous thought. I don't think we actually think about that. These are all statements that have children at the heart of them all. Do you remember it was a 12-year-old girl? She's only 12. Jairus' daughter. And Jesus Christ, he drops everything to go and raise that young girl from the dead. He could have been doing many another thing, but for a 12-year-old girl, Jesus Christ dropped everything. He made his way at the request of Jairus. She wasn't a problem or a hassle. The Lord Jesus Christ. It was the lunatic child of a certain man in Matthew 17 that the Lord Jesus Christ restored to health when the disciples were found to be unable to perform such a feat. Christ comes down off the mountain and they bring the boy to the Savior. Why could we not cast him out? This kind cometh not forth but by prayer and by fasting. And yet it was a boy, the boy that Jesus Christ healed that day. Do you remember what we have read here tonight? Babes in arms, that's what they were, babes in arms, who were brought to the Savior for Him to bless at the request of their parents, a request that the Savior gladly consented to. Rather than condemning the children that were singing his praises in the temple like the priests and the scribes did, the Savior, what did he do? He defended the children, and not only did he defend them, but he commended the children by quoting the words from Psalm 8. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings has thou perfected praise. They were singing his praise. Hush, hush. Hush, hush, the scribes and the Pharisees said. Christ commended the little children. These occurrences in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, when he would show kindness to children, indicate to us his interest and affection for boys and girls. And since the Son of God had an affinity for children, since he had time for them, since he sought their well-being, since he welcomed them into his company, we as his followers ought to cherish The children that God has entrusted into our families and those children that God permits us through the children's ministries off the church to influence. It's very clear, very clear in Scripture that Jesus Christ loves the little children. He loves the little children. Thirdly, Christ's great commission includes children. Before his return to heaven, the Savior commanded his disciples to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. And it is that term, every creature, that I believe embraces children as well as adults. The Savior doesn't place some age limit on those that the disciples were to preach the gospel to. He didn't go into and say to the disciples, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every adult. He said it was to every creature that the gospel was to be communicated. And so whenever you come to read Paul's epistles, a man who took seriously the Great Commission, you'll find that in his letters, especially to the churches of Ephesus and Colossae, that in those letters he addresses children. In the letters, he addresses children in the congregation with counsel and with instruction. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. He addresses the children. He doesn't just pen his letter simply for the adult, but a man who's got a heart for God, a man who the Great Commission has got a hold of, he realizes that there's not only going to be adults that need instruction and counsel, there's also going to need to be children. And so he pens it in his epistle. You see, by doing so, I believe that Paul believed that children were able to believe the gospel, receive the gospel, and live out the gospel in their lives. live it out. This idea that children cannot understand the truths of the gospel and believe the gospel for themselves has no basis in scripture or in real life. We all know children who have come to Christ in early childhood days and have evidenced the genuineness of their faith as they have continued to walk with God. Like Peter, we are to feed the lambs as well as feed the sheep. And yes, I know that that term there in John 21, I know that it's speaking, yes, in terms of a spiritual sense, most likely with regard to the new convert, those little lambs, those ones brought into the flock of God. But is there not also the idea of those who are younger in age that are lambs? Feed the lambs. And Jesus Christ put the lambs first. We put the sheep. Feed the adults. Let's put all and pour in all of our resources and time and energy into feeding the adults. But Jesus Christ said to Peter, feed my lambs. The lambs first. Fourthly and finally, Christ's gospel invitations embrace children. Think of the invitations that the Savior issued during his earthly ministry with respect to the gospel and ask, Did the Savior stipulate what age a person must be in order to respond to those invitations? You'll find that none of the Savior's invitations had any hint that a child was prohibited, that a child was prohibited in responding to them. Jesus Christ said, repent ye and believe the gospel. He said, come on to me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever, whosoever. Are you going to place an age limit if a child understands their sinnership and they understand that Christ is the only Savior of sinners? Are you going to stipulate with regard to the whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life? Why can a child not repent? Why can they not believe in him? Why can they not come to him? Did he not invite them? Come on to me. Come to me, he said. And this is what he says. Let them come on to me. Suffer the little children to come on to me. That's what he said. Many have, many have evidence that they have been converted as they have grown older. Beloved, the salvation of our own children alongside the children who populate our community is a task that then we must give ourselves wholeheartedly to. Christ has a love for the children, a desire for the children to hear the gospel. They may not believe it in young age, but their seed being sown, it may bear fruit, we pray it does, in future days. And so let's be involved wholeheartedly in the work of God. You know, there are many parents out there, and they care nothing for the spiritual well-being of their children. But let us let the words of Psalm 78 verse 4 be our resolve. We will not hide them from their children, showing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and his strength and his wonderful works that he has done. We will not hide it from their children. We'll tell their children, If they choose not to do it, we'll tell their children of the wonderful works that He has done and is not the work of redemption, the work of salvation, not the most wonderful work to tell boys and girls, mums and dads about. May God then give us a heart even for the children. And if we cannot go and speak ourselves, we can pray for those who do that God will enable them as they go forth with the gospel. May the Lord bless even this short, brief word to our hearts for Christ's sake. Amen.