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[0:00] Our passage tonight is Mark chapter 10 verses 13 through 16. Let's read those verses. Here are Mark chapter 10 verses 13 through 16.

[0:20] ! And they were bringing children to him, that's Jesus, that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, Let the children come to me, do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them. When Jesus talks about the kingdom of God, he's talking about the Messiah's rule and reign. We first heard Jesus mention the kingdom in Mark chapter 1 verse 15. In Mark chapter 1 verse 15, Jesus said, The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. Entering the kingdom is synonymous with being truly saved, with receiving eternal life. The disciples have heard Jesus summarize the requirements for getting into the kingdom. We just heard them too. Mark chapter 1 verse 15 listed those requirements as repentance and belief in the gospel. Primarily because of being raised in the Jewish system of works-based religion, the disciples have preconceived notions about which people get into the kingdom and which people get left out. Tonight's passage starts a longer section where Jesus uses examples to illustrate who gets into the kingdom and who is denied entrance. Here's the main idea for tonight's passage. Jesus saves those who recognize that they are helpless and hopeless without him. Once again, Jesus saves those who recognize that they are helpless and hopeless without him. If you search for other sermons and lessons on tonight's passage, you will find many with the title of Jesus loves the little children. Most of those quote the song that many of us learned in Sunday school when we were kids. You probably have that going through your head right now. Of course, it's Jesus loves the little children, all the little children, of the world. Red and yellow, black and white. They are precious in his sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world. That song is true. Many people teaching this passage build on that truth by saying because Jesus loves the little children, we should too. We should love the little children by bringing them to Jesus in the sense of telling little children about Jesus. Many teachers like to quote statistics showing that people trust Christ at a young age if they're more likely to trust him at all. All those things also are true. We should tell little children about Jesus. Jesus commanded us to tell everyone about him.

[3:14] But we'll miss the main point of the passage if we only say that Jesus loves the little children. Therefore, we should love the children and tell them about Jesus. This passage goes much deeper than that.

[3:27] We would misuse this text if we made it merely about physical children. This story is about who can enter the kingdom of God. The kingdom belongs to a certain kind of person. This passage will show us that Jesus saves those who recognize that they are helpless and hopeless without him. We'll split tonight's passage into just two sections. In Mark chapter 10, verse 13 through the first half of verse 14, we see the slow learners. The slow learners are the first things that we'll look at.

[4:03] You probably guessed who those slow learners are. Those slow learners are the disciples. So far in Mark, we have yet to see proof that the disciples can learn much of anything, but we need to give them some credit for how they spread the gospel after Jesus's resurrection.

[4:22] Look at Mark chapter 10, verse 13 through the first part of verse 14 again. It says, And they were bringing children to Jesus that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them.

[4:34] But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, Let the children come to me. Commentaries spend time speculating about who the people were who brought those children to Jesus.

[4:48] Presumably the people were parents, other relatives, or friends. Mark omits that detail, so we will avoid saying anything other than that the people who brought the children must have been people who cared about those children.

[5:02] The original word for children in this passage can mean someone up to approximately 12 years old. The children here likely were much younger than that, because Mark chapter 10, verse 16 says that Jesus took the little children in his arms.

[5:20] Luke 18, verse 15, when it's talking about the same story, tells us that they were bringing even infants to Jesus. We confidently can say that the people bringing the children to Jesus cared about those children.

[5:34] The tense of Mark's original wording indicates that the people repeatedly were trying to get the children to Jesus. Those people with the children refused to take no for an answer, even though the disciples tried to stop them.

[5:51] Mark says that the people bringing the children to Jesus wanted Jesus to touch them. Matthew's account adds another detail. Listen to Matthew chapter 19, verse 13.

[6:04] Matthew chapter 19, verse 13 says, Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people.

[6:16] Regardless of which gospel we read the story in, Matthew, Mark, and Luke all say that the disciples rebuked the people bringing the children to Jesus. Jewish people commonly brought their children to the elders of the local synagogue or to prominent rabbis so that they might pronounce blessing on them.

[6:38] The disciples were still influenced by the works-based righteousness system in which they had been raised, and they were not on board with the people's enthusiastic desire to have Jesus bless their children.

[6:49] They saw the children as little more than unnecessary interruptions to the Lord's ministry, and the disciples sharply rebuked the people for disturbing Jesus. Rebuke there translates an intensified form of the verb that means to censure or to reprimand.

[7:06] The related noun actually is punishment, and you see that in 2 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 6. Mark used the same word in several other places in his gospel.

[7:18] He chose the same word to describe Jesus' rebuke of demons in three places. He chose it to describe Jesus' rebuke of a storm in chapter 4. He also used it for Jesus' warning to the disciples not to reveal that he was the Messiah in Mark chapter 8, verse 30.

[7:35] He used the same word for Peter's rebuke of Jesus in Mark chapter 8, verse 32. And then you remember that Jesus rebuked Peter in the next verse, and again, that's the same word there, too.

[7:48] And finally, when we get to chapter 10, verse 48, we'll see that that same word is used of the crowd's rebuke of a blind man who kept calling out to Jesus for help.

[7:59] So why would the disciples consider the children to be an unnecessary interruption? Well, the answer to that question goes back to what we talked about a few weeks ago when we looked at Mark chapter 9, verses 30 through 41.

[8:16] That passage told us about when Jesus put a child in the middle of the disciples. We read a quote from R.C. Sproul then that said, In our day, children often are treated as the center of the universe.

[8:29] But the culture was different in Jesus' day. When the mortality rate was so high that a vast number of babies died before they were five years old, a little child was considered insignificant until he reached an age when it was likely that he would survive to maturity.

[8:46] So Jesus took a small child, a person who was considered to be of lesser dignity, and said to his disciples, Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me.

[8:57] The last part of that Sproul quote from a few weeks ago came from Mark chapter 9, verses 36 and 37. Those verses remind us of why we can say that the disciples were slow learners.

[9:12] Here are Mark chapter 9, verses 36 and 37. And Jesus took a child and put him in the midst of them. And taking him in his arms, he said to them, Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives not me, but him who sent me.

[9:33] We have no way to determine how much time elapsed between Mark chapter 9, verses 36 and 37, and tonight's passage here in Mark chapter 10.

[9:45] But the disciples failed to show here in Mark chapter 10 that they had learned what Jesus previously taught them. James Brooks noted that the description of this Mark chapter 10 validates the accuracy of Scripture.

[9:59] Here's why he said that. He said, Because Mark likely wrote his gospel under Peter's direction, that gives additional validation to the verses we are covering tonight.

[10:34] Peter never would have made up a story that put the disciples in a bad light. If you're thinking back to the end of that Mark chapter 9, verses 30 through 41 lesson, you probably remember that the closing verses also should have taught the disciples to be more welcoming.

[10:52] Listen to Mark chapter 9, verses 38 through 41. John said to him, Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.

[11:06] But Jesus said, Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. For the one who is not against us is for us.

[11:19] For truly I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward. The disciples seemed to be fond of turning people away.

[11:33] Now they were bullying some people for wanting to have children blessed by Jesus. Just think about how little they knew Jesus at this point. Let's move on to verse 14 now.

[11:46] The first part of verse 14 says, The disciples' overzealous rebuke of the people bringing the children prompted an indignant response from Jesus.

[12:04] The Greek verb translated indignant is also a strong word. It means angry, irate, or outraged. The term indicates that Jesus was seriously agitated at the disciples for the way they treated the children and their parents.

[12:22] The disciples were the sole target of his rebuke because of their wrong assumptions and misunderstanding. Indignant means a state of anger that is aroused by injustice, and Jesus certainly saw the injustice of the situation.

[12:38] This text really should purify our picture of Jesus. Is your view of Jesus big enough to include him being indignant with you or somebody else?

[12:51] Do we ever stop to think that Jesus can be offended by us and we can offend him too? Conversely, perhaps you imagine Jesus as stern, so serious that he is unapproachable.

[13:04] But the truth is that Jesus is neither hesitant nor too withdrawn to receive us when we come to him. Jesus' indignation here actually is an overflow of love.

[13:17] When you love something and you find it attacked, righteous anger should flare up to protect it. Jesus clearly loved the disciples. After all, he never says to his disciples, that's it, I can't take it anymore, I'm done with you guys.

[13:32] He certainly had plenty of opportunity to do that. But we see here that Jesus also loves the children, and there's no way that he would want to be denied the opportunity to take those children in his arms and bless them.

[13:46] James Edwards said, the object of a person's indignation reveals a great deal about that person. Jesus' displeasure here reveals his compassion and defense of the helpless, vulnerable, and powerless.

[14:02] That last sentence is something to keep in mind as we work our way through the remainder of this passage. Jesus' displeasure here reveals his compassion and defense of the helpless, vulnerable, and powerless.

[14:16] We can understand why Jesus would have been so upset with the disciples. He had prepared the disciples well for this test. We just reminded ourselves that Jesus put a child in their midst back in Mark 9, verses 36 and 37.

[14:34] Jesus did more than give the disciples a hint about what they should do. He gave the disciples the test question and the answer to that question, but the disciples still failed the test.

[14:47] As part of his rebuke of the disciples, Jesus gave them the same command in two different ways. One way is stated positively, the other way is stated negatively.

[14:59] The positively stated command is at the beginning of verse 14. We should be very encouraged that Jesus willingly receives people such as these.

[15:15] We'll talk about that concept more along with the remainder of verse 14 as we get into the second section of tonight's passage. In that second section of the text, we will see the slow learners get a visual picture about what Jesus is teaching them.

[15:32] And in Mark chapter 10, verse 14b through verse 16, we see the salvation lesson. The salvation lesson will be the second thing we look at.

[15:45] For context, let's read all of Mark chapter 10, verse 14 through 16. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, Let the children come to me.

[15:57] Do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.

[16:10] And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them. Do not hinder them states negatively what Jesus said positively when he told the disciples to let the children come to him.

[16:24] Jesus emphasized his teaching by saying the same thing two different ways. He commanded them, do not hinder them. The present tense of the verb translated hinder indicates that the disciples were to continue to allow the people and their children to have access to Jesus.

[16:45] The Lord's statement is unqualified. There are no caveats, conditions, or restrictions attached to that statement. He didn't apply it to only the children of faithful Jews, to circumcised or baptized children, to elect children, or to only those infants present then.

[17:03] So here's a side question for each of us to ponder. Do we sometimes do things that might hinder children from being welcomed and being excited to learn about Jesus?

[17:14] Perhaps we get irritated when they make noise during the worship service. Or perhaps we wonder why they need new playground equipment. Or perhaps we would rather avoid having children in our community groups.

[17:29] We see from this passage that Jesus loves the little children and that Jesus also loves the grumpy disciples. Jesus loves the children by receiving them and he loves the disciples by correcting them.

[17:44] His words here are remarkably similar to his response to the man who was casting out demons in his name. In Mark chapter 9 verse 39, Jesus said to his disciples, Do not stop him.

[17:58] And here he says, Do not hinder them. With his disciples, Jesus almost always explains the reason why he gave a command. The end of verse 14 gives us the key to the bigger meaning behind this passage.

[18:13] That's where Jesus tells the disciples not to hinder the children, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Some people misapply the verse by reading that last clause as if Jesus said, For to these belongs the kingdom of God.

[18:30] That incorrect reading causes them to teach that the passage proves that all children who die before reaching the age of accountability go to heaven. The Bible is clear from other passages that children who die before reaching the age of accountability do go to heaven.

[18:46] But in tonight's passage, Jesus is teaching about how anyone who has reached the age of accountability gets to heaven. Jesus didn't say that the kingdom of God belongs to these.

[18:58] He said, For to such belongs the kingdom of God. If you have the New American Standard translation, you see that the NASB renders verse 14 as, But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, Permit the children to come to me.

[19:16] Do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. The New King James translates Mark 10, 14 as, But when Jesus saw it, he was greatly displeased and said to them, Let the little children come to me and do not forbid them, for of such is the kingdom of God.

[19:38] Verse 14 sets up verse 15, the focus of Jesus' teaching in this passage. Jesus said in Mark 10, verse 15, Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.

[19:56] Jesus only speaks truth. But he sometimes, for emphasis, uses the word translated here as truly. Your translation may say, Assuredly, or as the King James puts it, Verily.

[20:12] The original Greek word there is Amen. We've mentioned before that we can fall into the trap of thinking that Amen is just what we are supposed to say at the end of a prayer.

[20:23] The word means, So be it, or this is the truth. Used at the beginning of a statement like what Jesus makes in verse 15, it adds additional emphasis to the statement that follows.

[20:38] In Hans Strong's lexicon, says, The word Amen is a most remarkable word. It was transliterated directly from the Hebrew into the Greek of the New Testament, then into Latin, and into English, and many other languages, so that it is practically a universal word.

[20:58] It has been called the best known word in human speech. The word is directly related, in fact, almost identical to the Hebrew word for believe or faithful.

[21:10] Thus, it came to mean sure or truly as an expression of absolute trust and confidence. other lexicons say that Amen means something that is indeclinable.

[21:24] Here in Mark chapter 10, verse 15, Jesus is telling his disciples and now us, what I'm about to say next is important. What I'm about to say next is a foundational truth that will never and can never be changed.

[21:41] That foundational truth is this, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. Given that entering the kingdom is synonymous with being saved from the wrath of God and being granted eternal life in God's presence, we need to spend some time digging into what Jesus means here.

[22:03] Consider what a child is like, especially infants and young children like those who are being brought to Jesus in this passage. Can a baby survive on its own?

[22:13] Can a baby or even a toddler get a job to make a living and pay his own way? Some of you might be thinking now about child stars or models like the Gerber baby, but even those rare children could never have obtained those jobs on their own.

[22:33] Their parents or guardians had to submit them for consideration and bring them for judging. No infant has ever said, mother, I would like to try out to have my face on a baby food jar.

[22:47] Infants and young children are helpless and hopeless without someone to feed them, to clothe them, and to protect them. They have yet to develop any particular skills other than perhaps just trying to look cute.

[23:00] Even if they are chosen for a paying job because they look cute, those babies did nothing to contribute to their own appearances. Children teach us something.

[23:12] We see them coming to Jesus with the help of others, no doubt having some degree of hope and expectation, small though it may be. Children are helpless. Their lives are in the hands of others.

[23:26] They don't know all they need, but they know they need the help of another, and they're hopeful that they will receive that help. They come small, helpless, and powerless.

[23:36] They have no clout or standing, and they bring nothing but empty hands. This is appropriate because only empty hands can be filled. Jesus says the kingdom of God is received, not earned.

[23:52] It's received like a little child, or it is not received at all. By their display of trust and absolute dependence on another, children point the way to entrance into God's kingdom.

[24:04] children have the capacity to enjoy a lot, but explain little. They live by faith and dependence. They must trust another to survive.

[24:19] Children give us an amazing picture of how dependent upon Jesus that true believers are. We cannot save ourselves. When we come to Jesus confessing our sins against God and recognizing that we bring nothing worthy of God's blessing, Jesus, as God himself, welcomes us and we receive the kingdom.

[24:40] In other words, we receive salvation from God's wrath against our sins and we receive eternal life. Until studying this passage for tonight's lesson, I had missed the salvation lesson aspect of this text.

[24:54] That raised a question in my mind that you also may have if you've never heard the passage taught this way. And that question is this. Does what I am hearing and thinking now agree with what I see being taught elsewhere in Scripture?

[25:09] We should ask ourselves that question every time we study a passage of Scripture, but it is a question that we particularly need to ask ourselves whenever we think we have spotted something different from or in addition to what we previously have noticed.

[25:25] So let's take a little excursion to answer this question. Does what is being proposed of the main idea of this passage square with other sections of Scripture? Here is that main idea again.

[25:39] Jesus saves those who recognize that they are helpless and hopeless without him. Let's look first at Jesus' most famous sermon, the Sermon on the Mount.

[25:50] That sermon covers Matthew chapter 5 through Matthew chapter 7, but we only need to look at the first few words to see a similarity with tonight's Mark passage.

[26:01] Here are Matthew chapter 5, verses 2 and 3. And Jesus opened his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

[26:15] Notice the similarity with Mark chapter 10, verse 15. In Mark chapter 10, verse 15, Jesus said, Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.

[26:28] In Matthew chapter 5, verse 3, Jesus said that the kingdom of God belongs to those who are poor in spirit. The similarity implies that being like a child and being poor in spirit are two different ways of saying the same thing.

[26:44] Let's see if that's the case. Martin Lloyd-Jones said that when Jesus talked about needing to be poor in spirit, Jesus was talking about man's attitude towards himself.

[26:57] Here's how A.W. Pink defined being poor in spirit. He said, To be poor in spirit is to realize that I have nothing, am nothing, and can do nothing without God and have need of all things.

[27:11] Poverty of spirit is a consciousness of my emptiness, the result of the spirit's work within. It issues from the painful discovery that all my righteousnesses are as filthy rags.

[27:25] It follows the awakening that my best performances are unacceptable, an abomination to the thrice holy one. Poverty of spirit evidences itself by bringing the individual into the dust before God, acknowledging his utter helplessness and deservingness of hell.

[27:44] It corresponds to the initial awakening of the prodigal in the far country when he began to be in want. John MacArthur put it like this.

[27:55] MacArthur said, To be poor in spirit is to recognize one's spiritual poverty apart from God. It is to see oneself as one really is, lost, hopeless, helpless.

[28:09] Apart from Jesus Christ, every person is spiritually destitute no matter what is education, wealth, social status, accomplishments, or religious knowledge.

[28:20] That is the point of the first beatitude. The poor in spirit are those who recognize their total spiritual destitution and their complete dependence on God. They perceive that there are no saving resources in themselves and that they can only beg for mercy and grace.

[28:38] They know they have no spiritual merit and they know they can earn no spiritual reward. Their pride is gone, their self-assurance is gone, and they stand empty-handed before God.

[28:51] In spirit also conveys the sense that the recognition of poverty is genuine, not an act. The word for poor that Jesus used in Matthew 5, verse 3 means utterly destitute with no visible means of support and no actual means of support.

[29:13] A person who is poor in that sense is wholly dependent upon someone else for sustenance. So you can see that being poor in spirit does match what it means to be childlike.

[29:25] Although he explained the concept in different ways at different times, Jesus was consistent in what he said about how people must approach God if they want to be part of the kingdom.

[29:37] Jesus had to explain the same thing in different ways because he knew that his disciples were slow learners. Jesus had to explain the same thing in different ways because he knew that we also can be slow learners.

[29:50] The New Testament letters teach the same thing. Some of you may have been thinking about Ephesians chapter 2 verses 1 through 9. Here are Ephesians chapter 2 verses 1 through 9.

[30:05] And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.

[30:31] Let's pause here for a minute and consider something. A dead person is even more helpless and hopeless than a child. A child can at least cry for help, but a dead person can do nothing to save himself.

[30:45] A dead person can do nothing to save himself because he's already dead. How's that for a profound explanation? Going back to our Ephesians passage, Ephesians chapter 2 verse 4 starts with two of the greatest words in the Bible.

[31:02] Those two words are, but God. Here are Ephesians chapter 2 verses 4 through 9. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved, and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

[31:36] For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

[31:48] For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. I couldn't resist going on to verse 10 because that tells us the part that we have after salvation.

[32:02] The Ephesians passage also parallels another portion of our Mark passage tonight. Jesus said in Mark chapter 10, verse 15, that people who come to him like a child receive the kingdom.

[32:16] The kingdom of God is a gift from God. It is received and it's not earned. It's received like a little child or it's not received at all. By their display of trust and absolute dependence on another, children point the way of entrance into God's kingdom.

[32:35] In the Old Testament, God was teaching the same principles long before Jesus came to earth and first said the words in Mark's gospel. Here are a few Old Testament cross-references to see that.

[32:48] In Isaiah 57, 15, we see these words, For thus says the one who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy.

[33:00] I dwell in the high and holy place and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.

[33:14] Proverbs 29, verse 23 says, One's pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.

[33:26] Ezekiel 21, verse 26 says, Thus says the Lord God, Remove the turban and take off the crown. Things shall not remain as they are.

[33:39] Exalt that which is low and bring low that which is exalted. So even though the New Testament had not been written when the disciples were getting this teaching from Jesus, they should have known from the Old Testament what Jesus would have expected them to do.

[33:55] From both the Old and New Testaments, we see that those who are saved are those who repent of their sins and recognize that God is their only hope for salvation. Going back to our Mark passage, we have one more verse to cover tonight.

[34:10] Here's Mark chapter 10, verse 16 again. And Jesus took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them. Here Jesus is pictured as supporting his teaching with his actions, visibly demonstrating that the blessings of the kingdom are available to those who will come to Jesus.

[34:32] By taking the children in his arms, he did more than what he was asked to do. Listen to what John MacArthur had to say. Jesus embraced the children and began blessing them one by one.

[34:47] The sense of the verb translated blessing is that Jesus blessed them fervently, praying for each one of them with his hands on them, a very familiar blessing posture.

[34:59] The Lord's acceptance pictures the reality that the salvation is by grace alone. Daniel Aiken continued the thought. He said, What a picture of amazing gospel grace.

[35:13] Jesus is tender and affectionate to those who bring nothing to him but their need. He even took them in his arms and blessed them. There were several components of the Hebrew blessing, a meaningful touch, a spoken word, attaching high value, picturing a special future, and an active commitment.

[35:34] Christ fulfilled all these components. He picked up and held these children, spoke a word of blessing over them, and attached high value to their intrinsic worth. He might have spoken prophetic words for future service in God's kingdom, and he made an active commitment to see the blessing fulfilled.

[35:54] Calvary and the cross say it all. Jesus saves those who recognize that they are helpless and hopeless without him.

[36:05] Warren Wearsby said, We tell the children to behave like adults, but Jesus tells the adults to model themselves after the children. We enter God's kingdom by faith like little children, helpless, unable to save ourselves, totally dependent upon the mercy and grace of God.

[36:25] We enjoy God's kingdom by faith, believing that the Father loves us and will care for our daily needs. What does a child do when he has a hurt or a problem?

[36:36] Take it to father and mother. What an example for us to follow in our relationship with our Heavenly Father. Yes, God wants us to be childlike, but not childish.

[36:48] That last sentence is worth repeating. God wants us to be childlike, but not childish. This passage should be good news for all of us who have put our faith in Christ alone for our salvation.

[37:04] Jesus did more than simply bless the children who came to him that day. As Daniel Aiken said in the quote we just heard, Jesus made an active commitment to see the blessing fulfilled.

[37:16] Calvary and the cross say it all. We were yet to be born when Jesus blessed the children in our passage tonight, but true believers recognize that our only hope for eternal life is Jesus' sacrifice on the cross.

[37:32] Jesus willingly suffered and died to pay the penalty for our sins that deserve the wrath of God. Because of that, every believer has received an even better blessing than those children did.

[37:44] If you have yet to believe in Jesus alone for salvation from the wrath of God for your sins, you can do so as long as you're still living. Here's a quote from J. Dwight Pentecost.

[37:57] He said, What do you have to offer God? Nothing. What does God have to give you? Everything. What makes God's riches yours?

[38:09] A cry for help, a cry of dependence, a confession of your own helplessness. Listen to the words of Jesus himself in John chapter 6 verses 37 through 40.

[38:23] Jesus said in John chapter 6 verses 37 through 40, All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

[38:35] For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.

[38:50] For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. Here's one more quote from Jesus.

[39:04] It's Matthew 11 verses 28 through 30. And in Matthew 11 verses 28 through 30, Jesus said, Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

[39:18] Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

[39:32] Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this picture tonight of how people must come to you. We must come to you recognizing that we are helpless and hopeless without the salvation that only Jesus can provide for us.

[39:51] If we are ever tempted to think that we have done a great deal by coming to you, always help us remember that you drew us first. help us be willing to share this with others.

[40:04]  In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.