As we continue in our time of worship of the Word of God, Matthew chapter 19. Matthew's in the New Testament, sort of towards the end of your Bible. Matthew, Mark, and Matthew 19, we'll be looking at verse 13 through 15. And as you turn in there, what an encouraging baptism that was, praise God. If you haven't been baptized since being converted to Christ, it's a great joy to do so and a command from our Lord. I'm pretty sure there's a couple of us in here who have not been since you've been converted. Just come talk to one of the elders. We'd love to discuss that, the joy of being baptized, to share the glory of Christ in your life. Matthew chapter 19, as we continue just verse by verse through Matthew, letting God decide what comes next in our study. Well, the world has not always been kind to kids. Besides things like more extreme examples like child slavery and forced prostitution, marginalization, we could observe some things in our nation. I looked up one study, a 2015 study, estimated that 1,700 children died in 2017 from abuse and neglect in the United States. It was reported that about 700,000 children are abused in the U.S. annually. I'm not sure the definition of abuse, but the numbers still are staggering. Neglect is the most common form of the children who experienced abuse. 18% suffered physical abuse, about 10% sexual abuse, and about four of five abusers are the victim's parents. The study reported that the United States has one of the worst records among industrialized nations. On average, somewhere between four and seven children die every day because of abuse. One study said that 80% of 21-year-olds who reported childhood abuse met the criteria for at least one psychological disorder. I read another study, a 2013 study from IMS Health, which reported the following stats on American kids and mental health and behavioral medication. They said this, about 4.5 million kids between the age of 0 to 17, about 4.5 million are on ADHD drugs. About 2.2 million kids between 0 and 17 are on antidepressants. 830,000 kids, and again this is four years ago, and they say the stats keep rising. 830,000 kids in that age group are on anti-psychotics, and anti-psychotics are typically used to treat things like bipolar and other sort of erratic behavior. Psychology has crafted all sorts of fancy names for these things. Furthermore, 2.1 million, between 0 and 17 years old, 2.1 million kids are on anti-anxiety drugs. These are the people who will be running the world when you no longer can. And when you can no longer make decisions for the nations, they will be. It's just a few stats, who knows what else goes unreported. Needless to say, needless to say, there's a need A need to consider children, how we think about children, a theology, God's theology who made children. Involvement in the care for children, this passage touches a bit on that. Follow along as I read, if you would, Matthew 19, verses 13 to 15 in our study of God's inerrant Word. Matthew 19, verse 13. Then some children were brought to Him, to Jesus, so that He might lay hands on them and pray, and the disciples rebuked them. And Jesus said, let the children alone, and don't hinder them from coming to me, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. After laying his hands on them, he departed from there. Well, we've studied almost 19 of the 28 chapters in Matthew's inerrant biographical account of the most important individual in history, the Lord Jesus Christ, fully God, fully man. who came down, through whom alone salvation is offered and available, full of grace and truth. This account of Matthew was written to demonstrate and to prove factually that Christ is the Messiah prophesied for centuries in the Old Testament. He is here. Look to Him for right standing with God for life, for salvation, to repair you as a human. We studied for a couple weeks a critical topic in verses 1 through 12 of marriage, divorce, and remarriage, and so it seems fitting that the subject matter now, verse 13 to 15, would turn to focus on children. On children. Now, what if I don't have children? Why should I care about this passage? Why should this matter to me if I plan to never have them? Or if mine are raised up and out of the home, what do I care about hearing such a study? One thing I regret and I'm ashamed of is during my single years and married years when I didn't have children is my lack of interest, my self-centered lack of interest that I showed, perhaps not purposefully, but towards kids, my church, other people's kids. I missed out both on pouring into kids the joy of serving families, And so on. So why should I care? Why should I care? Because, number one, the Bible has much to say about them. 2 Timothy 3.16, all Scripture is God-breathed. All Scripture. It's profitable. I should be interested because God put lots of verses about them in Scripture. And just like I might not be an Israelite living in 9th century BC, but that doesn't mean the Old Testament that I sort of sit out when the Old Testament is being taught. Or I might not experience the Tribulation. That doesn't mean I sit out when those passages are being taught. It's in the Bible. It matters to God, so it matters to us. I may not be a parent, but that doesn't mean I sit out when verses on parenting are being taught. Statistics show that the vast majority of people will have parents as well. I should be interested because children are human beings made an image of God. God cares about them. Fourth, because they are that portion of society, children are that portion of society who are less able to care for themselves. God has a special care for them. We should too. Fifth, I should care to hear teaching on children if I don't have them, because children have like a mostly clean slate, so that's a great need to be taught the things of Christ. Also, as mentioned, children will run the world when you are incompetent to do so, and too tired to do so. And so you must. You must believe her you must care about them and how they're being poured into they're gonna make policy decisions financial decisions all kinds of decisions that are that will affect you and Also because the church's next generation matters. We have to be loving enough to care About the next generation. I might not have biological children But that doesn't mean I have this sort of just check out Well doesn't matter For me, the next generation, we want to make sure that truth is passed on, that they are equipped with truth. Lots of verses in the Bible about the importance of this. For example, Titus 2, 3 to 5 exhorts all older, every and any older woman, to somehow invest in the lives of younger or less mature women, to help them invest in the next generation. When parents are done raising kids, God's calling their life on their life is to plug all the way into their church and invest in the next generation, both in parents and in the children. That is God's will. If you are a more seasoned believer, may God give us strength to do this. What are things going to be like in the next 50 years? Think about that for a minute. What are things going to be like, you know, in the year 2067? Statistically speaking, most of you will be dead, like me. I'm no prophet, but I think things in that year, if Christ hasn't returned, are going to be treacherously terrible. Will we have poured into children? Will you, believer, have poured in to the next generation to help them faithfully endure it as adults and to prepare their children? Do we care about matters beyond my little hobby, my nice little duck-in-a-row schedule? As long as that went right, great, everything's good, do we care? And investing somehow biblically in children is a way to care. Children matter because people matter because God matters. Dr. John MacArthur writes this, quote, no church or Christian movement has prospered spiritually that has disregarded the care and training of its children. And so all of us, no matter our station in life, can and must find ways to tangibly pour into children, as parents, of course. our own, but beyond that, helping other parents in various ways, serving in youth ministry, Sunday school, praying for parents and more. Spurgeon wrote this of Sunday school teachers, Charles Spurgeon, 19th century British, great British preacher. He said this, quote, Sunday school teachers, you have a high and a noble work, press forward in it. And just a huge thank you. There are many of them in the basement right now, enduring trials and tribulations, suffering, Huge thank you to all of you who serve in those ministry, pour into kids. Thank you very much. So it's a certain treachery to leave children to be lackadaisical about this and to leave children to navigate life. It's not enough to take the philosophy of, well, give kids a smartphone, give them some cash, drop them off at school, say a quick prayer, and just hope things go well. That is not acceptable. So our big idea of this study, we have a lot to cover from the Word of God. I have so much to learn. I've only been a parent eight years. I will always be a student of this. Big idea is this, we cannot put kids in Christ, but we can do much to bring them to Christ. Meaning we can't save kids, but we sure can bring them to the Savior. And that is the preeminent, preeminent task in pouring into children. It's not what university they go to. It's not how good of grades they get. These are good and helpful things. It's that they are brought to the Savior insofar as men can do so. We'll travel through the text and make some point of applications later as we go. Let's get right into it. Look at verse 13. Matthew 19, 13. Then some children were brought to him so that he might lay his hands on them and pray. And the disciples rebuked them. Children brought to him. So Jesus has finished his heated exchange. on divorce and remarriage with the religious unsaved leaders of Judaism. They were looking for ways to sort of slither out of their marriages and divorce their wives while still appearing righteous. Christ says no way. We had to spend a couple weeks on that passage because of the importance, and incidentally, Some parents now are bringing their kids to Jesus. Mark and Luke record this event, perhaps because of its importance. Mark records there was somewhat of a crowd. Luke records that even infants were being brought. And the word that Matthew uses here in the Greek for children, it's a word that's probably a little older. Toddler, post-toddler, and on. So just a wide, all kinds of ages being dumped on Jesus. What a great scene. Parents, caregivers, who knows? Verse 13, so that he might lay hands on them and pray. Now, Jesus isn't a magician. There's no sort of value to him, you know, his finger touching them. At times he healed people that way, but there's no special ticket to heaven by coming into the vicinity of Jesus or touching him. There's great power to hearing his teaching, perhaps being prayed for by Him and believing in this Jesus and faith. The disciples aren't happy about it though. Verse 13, the disciples rebuke them. Perhaps the disciples are thinking, well, he's too important for them, for these little rugrats, these little ankle biters. We're too important to stoop to such a lowly position as to care for a silly child. Kids are an inconvenience. They're best seen and not heard, and we're too great to be bothered by dirty diapers in the children's ministry. Give that to someone else. But Jesus says, verse 14, Let the children alone. Leave them be, he says. Do not hinder them or prevent them. Don't get in their way, Jesus is saying. Don't be an obstacle from them coming to me. Don't you dare do that, Jesus says. The heart of God towards kids is tender, isn't it? It's a welcoming heart. He loves them. Don't prevent a single one. He invites children. Not because Jesus is a slick politician looking to get a front page picture of himself holding a baby to boost fanfare. Nor is Jesus naive about children. He made them. He knows that they are all born in Adam, Romans 5.12. They're born corrupt. Born with a propensity to sin. and that they are not born saved. There is no such thing as a person born, a Christian born, going to heaven. And yet, he has a special compassion because they, in a sense, reflect the highest degree of innocence among a human race who is not innocent. They reflect the highest degree of neediness, helplessness. As we cited some statistics, they're easily abused. neglected, so Jesus has a tender compassion. And you need to also, especially if you don't have kids. Anyone who has something of Christ's love in their hearts will have Christ's love towards kids. One writer says, those who share the mind of Christ, share his concern and love for children, Grant Osborne writes, far from nuisances to be avoided, children are God's special gift to the community. Speaking of the church, the local church, they are to be embraced. Even more than that, they embody the kingdom in the church. As Jesus says in verse 14, look there, don't hinder them for reason, because the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. Again, Jesus is not saying, look, every kid, because it's so cute, is saved and going to heaven. Otherwise, that would mean every human being is, and Jesus taught that many are not. That's the idea that children typically embody the kingdom ethic, or the church ethic. The believer's demeanor in some sense, not everything a child does, like tantruming would be exempt from that. We're not to do that, that's not a believer's ethic. But certain demeanors, we saw this back in Matthew 18 too, just turn back there really quick. Matthew 18 verse 2, remember when we studied that way back a couple months ago? Jesus said, who's the greatest? Excuse me, they came to Jesus asking who's the greatest. Jesus says in Matthew 18 2, he calls a child to himself. Let me show you. Verse 3, truly I say to you, unless you're converted, turned, the word means, repent, and become like children, you'll not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself, verse 4, as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. So recall in that study, we observed that there's certain demeanors in children that God is calling for Christians to have, and they will have when they come to God for salvation and walk with God in sanctification. We observed five. Five of those, like a broken neediness, we saw number one, a broken neediness. Children have a great neediness. If you don't do anything for that child, they're done. Believers are to have a broken neediness before God and in coming to God in salvation. Number two, we saw that coming to God, knowing we have nothing to offer, nothing to offer. except care, need, provision. The greatest believer in the kingdom of God, that he might have three PhDs and be a Nobel Prize winner, but he is to understand that before God, really, he has zero to offer but need. And that God gave him all those things anyways. That's a kingdom ethic. Third, lacking ability. Knowing that we lack ability, children don't have much ability to do anything. Fourth, trust and dependence. Trust and dependence. Children should typically have a trust and a dependence. They'll jump off the slide into your arms without understanding physics and gravitational pull. Fifth, teachable. Teachable. Most kids are eager to learn. They want to learn. And this is how it is to be with those who will come to God. I'm always a student. Even if I've been walking with God for a billion years, I'm always a student. This is the idea. Don't prevent the children from coming. And so Jesus, verse 15, lays his hands on them and he departed from there. Mark records he took them in his arms, he held them, he prayed for them. He probably taught them some spiritual truth, a parable maybe, a story. But there's much going on here and things that I want us to observe by way of implication and application. Overall, we can observe that ministering to children greatly matters to Christ. Let's just observe that. Ministering to children, not just feeding them and clothing their physical need, but ministering the word of God and ministering Christ to them greatly matters to God. Therefore, ministering Christ must matter to Christians. And not just, you know, a cute picture of a boat like in Noah's Flood, notwithstanding the well-meaning intention of the authors with animals smiling out the windows. You shouldn't like those books. That's not what the ark looked like, that's not what the flood was like. Nobody was smiling, and the sun wasn't out either. Everybody was hunkered down and begging God for mercy, terrified in this barge. Kids need doctrinal precision, biblical accuracy. We're not to patronize them as if the things in here are fuzzy myths and sentimental fairy tales. Kids absorb things, they're incredible. They won't forget the way that you approach the Bible with them, if you do so, as if it's just some sentimental story instead of doctrinal fact about their God with whom they have to do. Kids need to be brought to Christ as the kids were in this event here. No one enters the world knowing Christ. We need someone to bring us. It's a great picture of spiritual reality. There's a lot of things that parents, that they want their kids to know. A lot of people, perhaps, they want their kids to know. Things they want their kids to know. Famous people in history, authors, stories, science, math. All important. But it's secondary for them to knowing Christ. to knowing about Christ, all the things about Christ in Scripture, which is every book of the Bible. Parents, future parents, what do we want our kids to know? Educators in here, what do we want kids to know? Colossians 2 says this, Paul is talking about believers and what they need to know. Notice, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge culminate in Christ. Verse eight, see to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world and not according to Christ. Children, because they're humans, must be brought to Christ. We can't save them, but we can bring them and teach them of the Savior. Kids have a curiosity, usually in a teachability, that doesn't always last. It is just a critical opportune time. to set them on the right track, like that rifle. When a gunsmith, when he makes a rifle, he makes that barrel perfect, smooth, straight to the greatest accuracy because the early stages of that bullet flying needs to be set in the right trajectory so that for the next half a mile that it goes, it goes in the right trajectory. That's how it is with kids. Early on, they need to be rifled in the direction of Christ and doctrinal precision. He's their God. He's their creator. He made everything that they're looking at in the world. Dad, look at this rock, this star, this moon, this plant, this fish, this dog. What's that, Dad? Where'd that come? It's all about Christ. All literature, all math, all science, all cells. The planets, the moons, the motions, this total solar eclipse that we'll probably see if it's not cloudy. 30% chance I heard. That would be kind of funny if it was. Weather everything. It all comes down to Christ. It's all about Christ. Jesus is God, so children need to be taught about Him. Now, what can we say? Some things we can observe, some implications. Children being brought to the Lord. Two big things here we can say about children being brought to the Lord. Number one, children can be brought to the Lord, sadly, prematurely through death. Children can be brought to the Lord prematurely through death. I mentioned that, I mean, that's so morbid. I think you'll be encouraged by this. You're not already aware. Sometimes children will be brought to these tragic situations when a child passes from life early. And the cornerstone elders, as many sound, much more sound, competent scholars than us, believe that children who die prior to the time of accountability go to heaven. All children. We don't know exactly, when's that time of accountability? We don't know exactly when that is because scripture doesn't teach an age. But it seems to be some time in a child's life when they can thoroughly comprehend God's law, God's grace, the death of Christ, mercy, forgiveness. We would say it's certainly later than like toddler age, probably later in life as a child, we don't know exactly, but they go to heaven if they die before that time and they are brought straight to Jesus. How is this? Because salvation is by faith in Christ. What if they're six months old and couldn't talk yet? How could they put faith in Christ? This is why. Ephesians 1, 4-5, Ephesians 1, 4-5, because they're elect of God. They're elect of God, just like any other believer, but they died early. Does this include things like miscarriages? Of course. Of course it does. Is an unborn human still a human? Some more scripture to back this up. 2 Samuel 2, 12-21 here. This is the situation when David has committed adultery and Bathsheba gets pregnant and delivers the baby. And the baby gets sick and dies. Then his servant said to David, what is this thing? So David's mourning. What is this thing you've done while the child was alive? So the child lived a few days. You fasted and wept, but when the child died, you arose and ate food. They're confused. He said, while the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me that the child may live, but now he has died. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him. But he will not return to me. Why would David stop grieving? I mean, that's sad the child died. He stopped grieving because of what he says at the end of verse 23 there. Look at that. I'll go to him. David went to heaven, as other places testify to, by faith in God, by the grace of God, that David would join him in heaven. The baby went to heaven. So it seems that kids who die before this time of accountability go to heaven. Give me another passage. Okay. Revelation 7. This is looking into heaven. Revelation chapter 7. God gives John, the Apostle John, a scene in heaven. After these things, I looked and behold, a great multitude. So he's seeing the people in heaven, which no one could count from every nation, all tribes, all peoples, all languages, the Greek says there. Standing before the throne and before the lamb clothed in white robes and palm branches were in their hands and they cry out with a loud voice saying salvation to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb this is in heaven and Notice people from every nation. They're there people from like every tribe like subgroups of nations and people from every language Every language has been spoken Now this is interesting because salvation going to heaven comes through hearing the good news of Jesus Christ, of his death and resurrection, and throwing ourselves in him in faith? Have all peoples and of peoples of all languages and all tribes heard the gospel of Jesus Christ? Of course not. Of course not. There's been civilizations who have come and gone before missionary endeavors circled the globe, right? So how are they in heaven? They're in heaven Because of the children of those languages, those peoples, those groups, who died before this age of accountability, who are elect, and they went to heaven. That's how. That's how it happened. One writer says this, quote, Isn't that a great comfort? If you're a parent and you've had a child die, you've experienced that unspeakable tragedy. As some in this room have. They're in heaven. Like, how old are they in heaven? Are they grown up? Well, they were able to talk in Revelation 7. They were able to praise God. What a great truth that is. What a gracious God. Kind of a mystery. Scripture tilts it in that direction. Now, while the early death of a child is tragic, consider the blessing for that child. They've received eternal glory. They're with God forever. They bypass the struggles of this wretched world. Suffering, hardship, sorrow, they circumvent it by God's grace to go to heaven and be with their Savior. Again, this does not mean that all children are saved. and that like they lose their salvation when they grow up, rather it means that in God's sovereign grace, those who die before this time of accountability which God alone knows, they are elect and they go to heaven. That's one way that kids are brought to Christ that we can't do much about. Number two, of course, we can do something about it. We can bring children to Christ. Number two, we can bring children to Christ. In addition to providing physically for my family, I really see much of my God-given responsibility as a father as regularly doing what I can to bring my kids to the Savior. Again, I can't save them. And I can't expect others to engage in this task. Ephesians 6.4 says, fathers, don't provoke your children to anger, but raise them up in the fear and the instruction of the Lord. Fathers, it doesn't say government, raise your children in the Lord. It doesn't say schools, it doesn't say Christian schools, raise your children in the Lord. It doesn't say, you know, churches even, or society. And if there's no father in the home, physically or spiritually, if there's a disobedient father, if a father won't embrace this pinnacle task of masculinity, then it falls to the mothers. But we can't force our kids to be saved, but this doesn't mean we disengage from the task. Imagine a farmer with a large field. He has a large field, and he has equipment in his barn, and he sees this field, and he looks at the field, and he says, well, I can't force the seed to germinate, to sprout, to grow, to bring a crop, so I'm just gonna trust God and do nothing and hope for the best. Well, that farmer is right. He can't spend 24 hours a day underneath the dirt sort of picking apart the seed and making it germinate. But since he cannot, he doesn't sit idle, he works all the more. He uses the means of growth. He prepares the ground, he plants, he waters, he fertilizes. He repeats and repeats until the crop is brought forth, and so it is to be with children. They enter the world like an uncultivated field. Wild. Rocky. They need to be plowed up a bit. and remove the weeds and water and seed and the Word of God and care. They require that approach of a faithful farmer. And so like these desperate parents here in Matthew 19, 13, we need to bring children to Jesus. What are some ways we can do that? What are some ways we can do that? Very obviously, this isn't going to be anything profound. You could think of other ways, but number one, some ways we could do that? God in everything. Number one, God in everything. Showing how God is in everything. Talking about him in normal day of life, and all the rhythms of normal life. Almost every topic is one that can lead to God. Junior disobeys, the discussion can go straight to God, as mercy is forgiveness, the death of Christ. Junior obeys. The topic can go straight to God and His grace that He enables anything we're able to do in life. Junior is scared. The topic can go straight to God because Psalm 56.3 says, when I'm afraid, I trust in God. Junior is worried, we go straight to God who is good and in control of our circumstances. Junior is sick, we go straight to God who uses our weakness to remind us how much we need Him, how much we need Him, and that we're not God. And that one day if we put faith in Christ, we'll get new bodies and go to heaven where there is no more sickness. Junior is picked on. We go straight to God to tell him or her about Christ who knows what it's like to come under unjust treatment, and he rewards those for persecution. Junior is happy. Junior has achieved something great. Junior got an A on his paper. He has some talent. It's from God. Boast in God, Junior. Give God the applause. Bow the knee to God. Everything, every conversation can and should be Shown. This isn't forced either. God is in everything. We're just simply showing that. This is what kids need. So that they don't make the tragic mistake of thinking that they're God. As so many kids in our society do these days. Number two. Teaching scripture. Bringing them by teaching them scripture. A very obvious one. Opening up the Bible. We don't need to be intimidated by this. We can read it, get a study Bible if we need help. Pick something, anything, read consecutively through the Proverbs, the Gospel of John, pick a passage, ask good open-ended questions. Why did Jesus say that? Why did the disciples do this? What does that tell us about God? Third, lots of gospel. Lots of cross. current and future parents and everything in between. I mean, much of our task is just planting the cross in plain view in the life of that child. And showing it to them and walking them around all the different angles to look at all the different facets of the cross of Jesus Christ of the gospel. If our kids grow up and stray, let it not be due to a lack of cross. in their life from the time they're zero to when they fly the coop when they're 18 or whatever. We need to teach them of a holy God and his requirements. By the way, do you know the gospel? Do you know what the gospel is? We need to teach them it starts with a holy God and his requirements. That way they'll understand why Jesus came, why the gospel is good news, that the true God isn't like them. that we're talking about a being so great that he speaks the universe into existence from previously non-existent material. Junior makes Lincoln Logs out of logs. God made the universe out of... God is astronomically... blazingly holy. A kid can understand that. God is not an upgraded version of them. He's not like... Mythology that are just moody humans with a little more muscle Pristine and holiness and goodness and love Perfection Morally speaking he's separate Who requires the same from them? They must do all things without grumbling or complaining. And when they don't, like when dad and mom don't, it is an affront to a holy God. and tell them of Christ's obedience. There's a Savior. He obeyed. Jesus always obeyed. When He was three, He didn't throw sinful tantrums. When He was 13, He didn't complain. When He was 16, He never was aloof or indifferent to the glory of God and to obedience to God and to doing His chores. That's what Jesus was like. Tempted in all ways like us, but without sin. Jesus always did everything right. And then let us make sure we tell them of substitution. Oh, explain the doctrine of substitutionary atonement to kids, whether they're 8 or 18. Talk about it all the time. of penal substitutionary atonement. Break it down. What does that mean? Dad, that Jesus died for my sins. This is how. It is how we no longer need to be in trouble with God. God is good and perfect. He cares greatly about good. So then, how can I always be in the right with God if I'm not always in the right? How can I always be good with God if I'm not always good? How can I spend forever in heaven if I sometimes think or act in less than heavenly ways? How will that work out? That's the dilemma of all humanity. Well, why can't God just say, well, no biggie for those ways in which you weren't perfect, you're just a kid? That would pull God down to our level. That's the last thing we want. That would be catastrophic. No, we need a God who remains God or else He can't save us. God's goodness means, toward us and our sin, God's goodness means that God must act in a way that is right towards all that is wrong. And the real God will act in a way that is just and fair towards all that is unjust and unfair. That's what the true God does and must do. A true God means that God responds in a way that is upright towards all that is crooked, which means God must punish violations of His goodness. And this doesn't mean that God punishes sin abstractly, like we have to write out the naughty things we did on a paper and sort of throw it away and, well, God deals it that way. No, it means God must punish the culprits. Us, sinners. And we can no more have a heaven apart from sin being punished than we can have an orderly society without crimes being punished. God is good and He's upright and He's fair. Yet amazingly, amazingly, He didn't leave sinners to themselves. He did not leave us to our deserved plight of punishment, though it would have been fair and just for him to do so. His own love moved him, moved and motivated him to provide the way, the only way. It is the only way to salvation because there is one God and there is no one as great and as qualified as Jesus. No one could have done what Jesus did. No one is as great as him to live the life he lived and die the death he died and rose as he rose. And so moved by his love, God made the way for those in the wrong to be forever in the right without having to always be right. Motivated by his glory, holy God made the way for those who have only been imperfect to forever be in the perfect without having to always be perfect. Which is to say the creator made the way for sinners who have never been righteous to be permanently righteous without having to always perform righteously. This is the great love of God. Do you know the gospel? Are you saved? Does your heart leap at the sound of the gospel? You might have to check if you're saved if it doesn't. How does this happen that we can be right with such a God on the basis of that substitution? God substitutes someone qualified for heaven for us who are disqualified from heaven so that we might be forever qualified for heaven and in heaven. This is why God became a man, and Jesus Christ stepped out of heaven. He grew up the baby, the obedient child, the obedient teenager, the obedient young man, the God-man. And it all led to that one event, His death on the cross and the resurrection. And at that moment, the wrong, the sin of all who would put faith in Christ for forgiveness, all of it was laid on Christ. Sinners by name were in God's mind when God the Father crushed God the Son on the cross. My name, your name if you're saved, the name of everyone who would bow the knee to Jesus Christ at the cross, God looked upon Christ as though Christ had been every sinner who had committed every sin. And every sin in thought and every sin in word and every sin in nature and deed. And then God took his righteous wrath and put it on Christ, and Christ suffered for our sins. The basis of substitution is how it works. Christ was not a sinner. Of course not. But the sins of his people were charged to him, and he was sentenced for them in their place so they didn't have to be sentenced. Are you saved, friend? Are you born again? Do you know the love of Jesus? God dealt with Christ as it was necessary to deal with every sinner and sin, so He wouldn't have to do that to you. And together, God the Father and God the Son finished the work, and every last ounce of God's justice for all who would be forgiven was served by Christ in His death, and He rose bodily from the grave, victoriously from the grave on the third day, to show, yes, the offering of Christ It was sufficient to eliminate the sentence of sinners. And that is how the conundrum of all humanity is solved. Are you born again? That is how God made the way for those in the wrong to be forever in the right without having to forever be right. Jesus was forever in the right. He was then punished for all the wrongs, for those who are in the wrong. And by simple childlike faith, the gavel falls. And God says, you're righteous, forgiven all of it. Not because you have performed righteously, nor on the condition that you would from then on always perform righteously, but because Christ the righteous took your unrighteousness at the cross." It's the gospel, the great news, the greatest news on the planet. Nothing matters compared to this. God treated Jesus how we deserved so that we could be treated how Jesus deserved by simple faith. Romans 5.1, therefore, having been justified by faith, by faith, not works, by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The work is finished. God has poured out every last drop of his divine anger and his divine justice on Christ so that flagrant sinners like me and you could become cherished children of God. This is the way it works. So we might say, how can I be sure that I will not die and face God and have more punishment to endure? Because Christ didn't stay alive. If Christ had only been, you know, greatly injured or sort of, you know, really like comatose but then recovered, then you couldn't be sure. But he died, as Hebrews 10 says, Hebrews 10 says this, by that will, we have been sanctified, set apart permanently for God, it means through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. Notice, once for all, every priest stands daily at his service offering, talking about Old Testament priests, because the Jews were still kind of doing the priest thing, because it felt good, it felt good to have like the ceremonies, I'm doing something religious with my hands. He says, no, Christ did it all. And they can never take away sins, but when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down in the right hand of God. He rose and he sits on that throne, a throne of grace and mercy, and invites the wretched of the world to come and be made righteous through childlike faith. Have you come, friend? Have you come to heaven's holy throne to meet Jesus? Have you come? What have you done with your sins? How do you think about the ways in which you have failed to meet God's blazing perfect moral holiness? What's your plan to deal with that if it's not Christ? What will it be like for you to exit this life and stand before an unspeakably righteous God? Flee any effort, dear friend, to think that you can clean up your sins. You cannot. It's too great. You need heaven's hazmat, which is Christ. And don't think, well, you don't know. I mean, I'm so filthy. Your sins are not more filthy than the blood of Christ is pure to cleanse you. God knows how filthy you are. Just tell Him and believe on Him and come all the way to Christ. Some of you, perhaps, have come halfway. You've admired Jesus a bit. He's great. He's got some helpful things, even helpful things for my kids. You sat in church, but you haven't come all the way to Christ yet. You've come, you know, 60%, but to come 60% is to become 0%. You've looked at the cross a bit, that's nice what Jesus did, but now it's time for you to knuckle the cross and come all the way to the cross, dear friend. Come all the way to Christ and make Him your Savior today. Christ saves sinners, He loves sinners. Don't say, oh, well, let me think about it. Let me think about it. I'm going to wait. You'll be dead if you wait. That happens. Today's the day, dear friend. No one in their right mind delays receiving the greatest bargain and offer in the universe. Let me think if I should cash in that $100 million lottery ticket. You're crazy. Infinitely more worth the blood of Christ. God's love doesn't depend on you. The way of salvation is by faith in Christ. His love depends on Himself. Have you been saved? Are you saved? It's the message we bring to ourselves, to all humanity, and especially to children. We hold their hand, we show them all the different angles of the glorious cross. Lots more to talk about bringing kids to Christ. Let me just finish here and just say a real quick prayer. We bring kids to Christ, giving them the gospel. We bring kids to Christ, number four, in prayer. Number five, plugging into a church. God created the church in part to encourage and equip parents in their exalted role. Number six, a godly example. This helps show something of Christ. Godly example. Number seven, confession. Confessing our need to our kids. Confession. Are you honest with your kids, dads, moms, that you ain't God and you need them really bad? How many times have I heard kids, adults say, yeah, you know, we went to church a lot, but it was just sort of dad, you know, dad was one guy at church and dad was like a saint at church and a devil at home. Confession, encouragement number eight. encouragement, and love. Father in heaven, so much more we could say, but we marvel at your great love. We marvel at your great love in Christ. Let current and future parents let us be faithful in the great task and privilege of raising kids, and let all of us cherish Christ, cling to Christ, and bring Christ to others. For your glory we pray, amen.