The sermon titled 'God's Gifts' by Jason Dohm explores the concept of gifts from God as described in Matthew 19:10-15. It highlights two main gifts: singleness for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake and children, both seen as gifts that require stewardship. Jesus addresses the permanence of marriage, stating that only those gifted can accept singleness for the Kingdom. Dohm discusses how Paul expands on Jesus' teachings, emphasizing that both marriage and singleness are gifts from God. The sermon delves into the different roles and responsibilities of married and single individuals in serving God's Kingdom. It also addresses the disciples rebuking of children being brought to Jesus, highlighting the importance of childlike humility and faith. The sermon urges believers to embrace and use their God-given gifts wholeheartedly for the Kingdom of Heaven.

The sermon text for this morning comes from Matthew 19 verses 10 through 15. And I'll be again reading in verse 1. Now it came to pass when Jesus had finished these sayings, that He departed from Galilee and came to the region of Judea, but beyond the Jordan. And great multitudes followed him, and he healed them there. The Pharisees also came to him, testing him, and saying to him, is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?

And he answered and said to them, Have you not read that he who made them at the beginning made them male and female and said, For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh? So then, they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let not man separate." They said to him, why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce and put her away? He said to them, Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife except for sexual immorality and marries another commits adultery, and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery." His disciples said to him, if such is the case of a man with his wife, it's better not to marry.

But he said to him, all cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given. For there are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother's womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men. And there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He who is able to accept it, let him accept it. Then little children were brought to him that he might put his hands on them and pray.

But the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them. For of such is the kingdom of heaven. And He laid His hands on them and departed from there." Father in heaven, I praise You for Your Word. I thank you for this mighty deposit that you have given to your people, and not just the words on the page, but you have supplied your Holy Spirit to fill, and to come alongside your people to apply these words, to teach these words, to bring these words to memory at just the right moment.

God, we desire to be a people coming under the authority of Your Word. And to be transformed by it. To have our thinking changed by it. We know it's true that your thoughts are higher than our thoughts, and your ways are higher than our ways. Thank you for this mighty method of bringing the two closer together, our thoughts being raised by knowing your thoughts, by having your eternal character put before us, and be helped with it.

God, come now. Send your Holy Spirit to teach and encourage and exhort us in righteousness through your Word in Jesus' name, Amen. So the scope of what we'll be covering this morning is Matthew 19 verses 10-15. And I've titled the sermon, God's Gifts. The word gifts isn't in the text anywhere.

But Jesus does actually talk about something that's given, so it's in the context of that. So there's two sections of the text. The first is about singleness for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake. And Jesus actually describes that as a gift and Paul elaborates on that. So we're going to go see what Paul says as well.

And then the subject shifts to little children. And the Bible also describes little children as a gift from God. So in both of these parts of the text, in singleness for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake, and in what we do with little children, Jesus is setting before us Gifts of God that bring with those gifts a stewardship. Something in both cases entrusted to the people of God that God actually expects His people to do something with. Verse 10 is kind of a double dip.

It was in the scope of last week, and it's in the scope of this week as well. Because verse 10 is absolutely critical to understanding what Jesus was saying about the permanence of marriage last week, and God's design and intent for marriage. And then also in understanding what He begins to teach on singleness for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake. So in verse 10, the disciples having heard that God means business with marriage, and when He joins two together, He doesn't expect men to separate. And that there really is a oneness of flesh that's created when God joins a man and a woman.

Jesus Christ has just been exalting marriage. He's been talking about the greatness of God in marriage. And then the disciples come and say, well if that's the case, it's better not to marry. And The phrase that I used to describe verse 10 last week was shockingly out of step with the heart of God. Just shockingly out of step with what Jesus has been teaching for the whole first section as He addresses the entrapping question of the Pharisees.

And I do think it is that because God has just been extolling the virtues of marriage and speaking of the beauty of marriage. And here the disciples say, well if that's the case, gosh, if We can't just cast off marriage at our whim, then it's better not to get married. And I would expect the response of Jesus to be really harsh at this point. I would expect another get-the-behind-me-Satan moment. And yet we don't see, there's not even a whiff of that in Jesus' response.

Jesus' response is surprisingly tame. And here's the reason why. The disciples are actually onto something here. But not for everyone. They're right for the wrong reason.

They don't have the right reason in view. But The disciples are actually onto something here. But not for everyone. They are right for the wrong reason. They don't have the right reason in view.

But the disciples are actually onto something in that for certain people, for some people, for a few people, it is actually better not to marry. Jesus in verse 11 says, all cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given. Only those who have the gift. There is a subset of people who have been given something that allows them to accept this saying. So for most, this saying that it's better not to marry, they can't receive it.

They won't be able to accept it. But for some people who have been given a specific gift by God, they'll not be like the rest. They'll be able to accept it. And they should receive it and accept it. For most people, it is not good that man should be alone.

Genesis 2, 18. It's not good to be alone for most people. Or as Proverbs 18, 22 says, He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord. So actually Jesus is putting both of these, marriage and singleness for the sake of the Kingdom, as gifts. He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.

It's actually a gift from the Lord. You're obtaining favor, men, when God gives you a wife. And yet, Jesus is also saying that there are certain people out there who are going to be able to receive this saying that it's better not to marry, and it's a gift from God. Some can Accept it. And it's because they've been given a gift of God.

For some it is better not to marry, but not for the stated reason. Not because it's hard to stay married. That's not the reason why it's better not to marry. It's because God gives some people a gift. In verse 12, Jesus begins to speak of eunuchs.

Eunuchs is not something we talk about. This is not a word in our vocabulary. I was getting ready to say in our everyday vocabulary, but in the last two years I probably haven't said the word eunuch one time except for this week leading into this. It's not even part of our vocabulary. In the Greek there's a really broad range of meaning of what a eunuch can be.

A eunuch can be this, or this, or this. And Jesus in verse 12 as he speaks of these three categories of eunuchs actually covers the whole range of eunuch in the Greek word. Here's the first thing that it can be. Somebody who's born that way. Somebody who from day one is naturally incapacitated to have children.

From day one, they couldn't possibly fulfill that function of marriage because they were born in a particular way. And That too is the hand of God. The Bible is clear. The blind? God made them.

The deaf? God made them. The mute? God made them. Those who are born eunuchs from day one?

God made them. God made them that way for His own purposes, for His own glory, so that He can display His glory in a very particular way. So this first category isn't apart from God and the providence of God at all. It's all wrapped up in God and what He thinks is good, what he wants to do for his own glory. The second category is those who have been made that way.

And this is referring to an actual position. Someone who has been physically altered to be a eunuch. And the Oriental kings used to all do this to have men who were trustworthy to deal with their harems because they weren't interested in their harems. They had been physically altered and so they had no drive to be entangled with their harems. So these were the men who would be entrusted with the keeping of an Oriental King's wives or his concubines.

And they had been made that way. In all likelihood, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, after the people of Judah had been carried into captivity in Babylon, in all likelihood these four men had been physically altered, had been made eunuchs. Daniel chapter 1 says that they have been put in the charge of the chief of the eunuchs. Nowhere says that they were eunuchs themselves, but there are prophecies in 2 Kings and in Isaiah that says that the sons of Judah will be taken away. Some of them will be made eunuchs to serve a pagan king.

And that's exactly what we see in the book of Daniel. Probably Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, these faithful, mighty men of God had been made eunuchs by men for a particular service to the king. So the first category is those who were born that way. The second category are those who are made that way. They are physically altered.

They are physically altered. And then the third category is a category of people who are eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake. It's a Kingdom minded singleness. That's what it is. It's singleness for a specific purpose, with the kingdom of heaven in mind, with particular devotion and service to the Kingdom of Heaven that is in view.

And it's one who voluntarily abstains from marriage. Now this is not talking about a person who physically alters themselves. That is, we can go to other passages of Scripture that would say it's not right. It's not right to do that. But this is a person who has been given a special ability to abstain from marriage for these particular purposes that will develop throughout the sermon.

Now let me say something that's obvious. Jesus is one of these. Isn't He? Jesus is speaking to this. In the first part of Matthew 19, He's been speaking of marriage and we can get involved in the details and forget who Jesus is.

Jesus is the ultimate bridegroom. So the first part of Matthew 19, Jesus is speaking to marriage as one who ought to know because He is the ultimate groom. All of marriage is just pointing to this time where Jesus will be the groom of all grooms and will bring his bride to himself. So when Jesus speaks of marriage, we ought to pay particular attention because He knows what He's talking about above everyone else. He's the ultimate groom.

And now, in this second part of Matthew 19, he speaks to singleness as one who is uniquely qualified to speak to that. Because he is going to be a groom one day, but right now during his 33 years on earth, He will not be a groom to any particular person. He is going to be a man living as a single man for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake. Jesus is talking about the role that he is fulfilling when he is on earth. Jesus is living a very particular kind of life.

In Matthew 8 verse 20, there is a scribe who says, I want to follow you. Here's what Jesus says, Foxes have holes and birds in the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head. And this is the sense that we've been getting as we preach week through week through the book of Matthew, is that Jesus is here, He's there, He's everywhere. It's early in the morning, it's late at night. Jesus is living as a single man for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake.

He is exhausting Himself. He's keeping a schedule that only a single man, for the sake of the kingdom, can keep. We've been seeing that. Jesus said as much, I don't have anywhere to lay my head. So you might want to think twice about following me on this regimen and routine.

So Jesus says, he who is able to accept it, let him accept it. There are some who will be able to accept this. Jason Dome was not able to accept it. Not able. At 21 years old, I didn't walk to the altar.

I ran to the altar and it was I only waited till 21 because I couldn't figure out a way to get away with it earlier than 21. I didn't think I could get away with it sooner. If I could have got away with it sooner, I would have ran to the altar at 20, Janet. I'm sorry I was a year late. Jason Dome could not accept it.

And I knew very early on that marriage was for me. And Jesus could accept it though. And Jesus lived a life that showed he could accept it and embrace it and flourish in it. Paul could accept it. And he lived a life that showed that he could accept it and embrace it and flourish in it.

So I want to now ask you to turn to 1 Corinthians 7. Because in 1 Corinthians 7, Paul expands on what Jesus is teaching in Matthew 19. Paul expands on it. Another man uniquely qualified to speak to singleness for the kingdom of heaven's sake. This is what Paul was as well.

So in 1 Corinthians 7, we're going to begin in verses 1 through 9. Paul begins speaking about singleness. 1 Corinthians 7 verse 1. Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.

Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And Likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer, and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. But I say this as a concession, not as a commandment.

For I wish that all men were even as myself, but each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that. But I say to the unmarried and to the widows, it is good for them if they remain even as I am. But if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion." Paul is extolling his gift. Paul is excited about the gift that God has given him. And you can see it in this passage.

It's evident in this passage. Verse 1 he says, It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Not everyone can accept what Paul is saying in verse 1. Paul says in verse 7, For I wish that all men were even as myself. Paul, having been given something by God, is excited about what God has given him.

He's thankful. He's appreciative. He's praising God that God would make him this way. He's not lamenting his singleness for one single second, but he's thankful to God that God made him this way. And he's so happy that God has done this for him, in him, that he wishes that everybody could be the same way as him.

And don't we feel that way about the gifts that God has given to us? Man, I wish everyone could be like that, experience that, know what that is like. And that's what Paul says. And yet, he says in the same verse at the end of verse 7, but each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that. So what Paul is saying essentially, I'm boiling it down, love your gift.

I love my gift. God made me a single man for His glory for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake. I love my gift. I wish you were just like me. And yet, he doesn't expect everyone to have the same gift.

And this is very instructive to us. This is how we ought to look at it. We shouldn't expect for God to give the same gifts to everyone all the time, so that we begin to despise those who don't have the gifts that God has given to us. But we recognize that there is a diversity of gifts, that that's how God wants it. And so as much as we love the gift that God has given to us, we don't despise others who have been given a different spot in the kingdom, or different gifts to advance his kingdom with.

Now Paul in 1 Corinthians 7, these first nine verses, goes right to one of the functions of marriage. One of the functions of marriage is to help with a very strong temptation. One of the functions of marriage is to help with a very strong temptation. This is important. Look at verse 9.

It's better to marry than to burn with passion. It's way better to marry and have an outlet for these burning passions than it is to stay single, not having been given that gift, but to stay single and then wallow in sin. It's much better to marry. Marriage is intended for one flesh. As we look at one flesh, it's much broader, better, deeper, more beautiful than just physical union.

But it certainly encompasses physical union. Marriage is intended for one flesh and physical union is a significant part of that. Most people are made by God for that. Most people are wired, their passions are wired into God's intent for one flesh. And that's a significant factor and can be a significant temptation.

In Genesis 1 we saw that Adam and Eve, their union was to result in them being fruitful and multiplying, to filling the earth. That was Genesis 1. That was two weeks ago. And then last week, we looked at Malachi 2, where Malachi asks, why one? Why a man and woman join together?

He seeks godly offspring. This has always been part of the plan of God for marriage. And so early on in the Bible explicitly stated. Now Paul is not saying that no one should burn with passion. He's not rebuking in verse 9 for burning with passion.

At least that it's not inherent. The desire is not inherently evil. He's saying if you have that, marry. It's better to marry than to burn with passion. Now remember our formula for the last couple of weeks.

Marriage equals Gospel. So we didn't find that out for sure explicitly until Ephesians 5. So the disciples wouldn't exactly know the formula in Matthew 19. They're starting to get some glimpses as Jesus talks about Himself as the bridegroom. But it's not in full bloom yet.

It's not noonday yet. They're still kind of seeing this by candlelight. But not us. It's noonday for us. And we can see it fully.

And marriage equals gospel. And this passion that burns is reflecting something important that Christ desires His church. Now can these passions become all sort of perverted sinful things? Yes it can, but at its heart this passion that God has designed into us is communicating something important. Christ has a burning passion for His church.

Didn't He live and die and wasn't He raised again to show that Christ has a burning passion for His church? Yes. And the church ought to have a burning passion, an insatiable, unquenchable passion for Jesus Christ. A burning desire that just can't be put out. And that's one of the things that God is showing by the way He built us.

And it's not meant to be suppressed forever in the people that have been wired this way. Marriage is the outlet for it because God is going to give the world a picture of Jesus Christ and the church. And these passions are part of the picture. So we shouldn't think wrongly about these passions. Oh, passions are part of the fall.

No, the fall has done something terrible to these passions that can destroy people, destroy marriages, destroy families. Yes, but at the heart of it is something important. God passionately desires his bride. Jesus Christ does. And his bride ought to have an unquenchable thirst for her groom as well.

Now Paul says this. Same author, same guy, Paul in 1 Timothy 4, 13, says that forbidding to marry is a doctrine of demons. So Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7 that it's better to marry than to burn with passion. He goes further in 1 Timothy 4 to say, forbidding to marry, saying you can't marry if you want to be a leader of a church is actually a doctrine of demons. It's not just you're mistaken about this.

You're propagating the devil's doctrine. It's a doctrine of demons to forbid in marriage. So is perpetual singleness a gift of God that ought to be embraced by those who have the gift. Absolutely. Should it be a requirement on anyone?

Absolutely not. No. Not everyone can receive it. Jesus is clear about that in Matthew 19. Paul is clear about that in 1 Corinthians 7.

Jesus and Paul are teaching exactly the same thing. Now look at 1 Corinthians 7, but we're going to start in verse 32. So In the interim, Paul has said all sorts of interesting things about marriage, but he returns to the subject of singleness in 1 Corinthians 7 verse 32. I will read 32 through 35. Paul says this, 1 Corinthians 7, 32, But I want you to be without care.

He who is unmarried cares for the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord. But he who is married cares about the things of the world, how he may please his wife." There is a difference between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman cares about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. That she who is married cares about the things of the world, how she may please her husband. And this I say for your own profit, not that I may put a leash on you, but for what is proper, and that you may serve the Lord without distraction." Here in this second section that Paul gives to us in 1 Corinthians 7 about singleness for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake, he's speaking about the different lives of singles and marrieds.

If you haven't noticed, singles live different lives, they have different lifestyles, they have different opportunities and advantages and disadvantages than married people do. And he says it about the men, and then he comes right back and says the same thing about the women. Married people are different than single people in terms of the lives that they are at liberty under the commandments and responsibilities of Scripture to lead. Look at verse 35, that you may serve the Lord without distraction. Jesus lived that way.

Jesus was able to have a fully devoted, totally undivided, undistracted life and ministry for the kingdom of heaven's sake. Paul lived that way. Paul could go anywhere at any time. He had the skills to provide for his own needs. He was here, he was there, he was there, he was there, he was on different continents, different countries.

The way Jesus lived, the way Paul lived, is no way for a married person to live. The way Jesus lived and the way Paul lived is no way for a married person to live. This just in. Marriage requires time and attention. Paul calls it a distraction.

But marriage that is going to create a picture, a sacred reflection of the Gospel requires a lot of time and attention. Don't we know that? When you're married, you have to care more about the things of the world and how to please your spouse. That's explicitly what Paul says. When you're married, cares of the world are more front and center.

How to please your spouse is front and center. Now be careful, Paul's not saying that married people have a green light to love the world. That's not what Paul's saying at all here. He's just speaking of the reality that the normal cares of life get multiplied when one person becomes one flesh. Joined together.

And then they start having children. And laundry is different. Mealtime is different. You can't live like John the Baptist. Camel's hair and locusts won't do it anymore.

That wasn't in the notes. Now it sounds like at the surface level, it sounds here like singles are devoted to the Lord, but marrieds aren't. That singles care about the things of the Lord. But married people care about the things of the world. This doesn't sound very good.

This doesn't sound like a highly exalted view of marriage, does it? But that's just at the surface. That's not what Paul is talking about. Paul is not teaching that single people are somehow a holy status. Really the ones who are devoted to the Lord, but married people can't be like that.

That's not the point that Paul is making. Consider Ephesians 522. Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. A couple of verses later in Ephesians 5.25, husbands love your wives just as Christ loved the church. Serving your spouse, pleasing your spouse, is to be unto the Lord.

Serving your spouse and pleasing your spouse in marriage, creating the sacred reflection of Christ in the church, is to be worshiped. So the single person worships in their ability to be devoted without distraction to the Lord, to have undivided attention for advancing certain things in the Kingdom of God. Married people worship differently through their lives. They worship by serving one another. That's worship of God.

That's not a different category here. It's the same category. When they please each other, the pleasing of your spouse isn't an end to itself. It's creating the sacred reflection. And it's intended to be worship.

So Paul isn't teaching that the single people are the holy people and if you just can't be that, then go ahead and get married. That's not what Paul is saying at all. But he is saying that worship in a single person's life, how they worship God with the hours of their day is going to be different. It's going to look different than it does for married people. And so these distractions that Paul speaks of are holy distractions.

They're holy distractions. They're distractions intended to be worshiped when you're serving your spouse, when you're pleasing your spouse. Singleness affords the ability to live a life more like that of Jesus. Singleness affords the ability to live a life more like that of Jesus. Singleness affords the ability to live a life that's more in terms of the schedule of the day, like that of Paul.

Where any time of the day and night, you can be on call for the ministry of Jesus Christ. That's not true of a married man. It's not true. Or it is true. But your primary place of calling is as a husband and as a father, or as a wife and as a mother.

Now, this doesn't just apply to those who have the gift of singleness. That's what we've been talking about. That's what Jesus is addressing in Matthew 19 and what Paul is addressing. But I want to say that it also applies to the single years of those who don't have the gift of singleness and will one day be married. That single, young single people ought to learn to think like this.

Ought to have their thinking informed by Matthew 19 and 1 Corinthians 7. So that their single years aren't spent sitting around twiddling of the thumbs waiting for the end state, waiting to be married, but that there's a recognition that there can be a particular time of fruitfulness for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake, and they ought to be squeezing the last drop of good and possibility and the type of life that is afforded when the other entanglements haven't developed yet. I'm not saying that as young single people in the church live under their parents' roof, that there aren't responsibilities and engagements and a certain level of entanglements there. But it's not like when you're married. It's not like when you start to have your own children.

And so rather than to just wait to be married, these ought to be the most fruitful, devoted, undivided years to the Lord. And here's what you'll find. That makes you so ready to be married. When you spend your single years, as Jesus spent his, as Paul spent his, As Anna in Luke 2 spent her, single years, you find that your fellowship with the Lord is sweet, is deep and wide, and that you are ready for the next things that God brings to you. Here's Anna in Luke 2.

She's this woman who greets Mary and Joseph when they bring Jesus into the temple to dedicate Him. Luke 2 verses 36-38. There's just these three verses about her. She is called a prophetess and it says this about her. Who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.

Anna knew what to do with her single years, and she had a bunch of them. She was married for seven years, we find out in Luke 2, and then she's 84 years old when Jesus comes into the temple. How many decades had she lived as a single woman? And what was she doing with those decades? She did not depart from the temple, but she served God with fastings and prayers night and day.

She had the ability to live like a married person just can't live, like a mother or a father just can't live. Now turn to Isaiah 56. The punch line is in Isaiah 56. Isaiah 56, I'm going to read 3 through 5. Do not let the son of the foreigner, who has joined himself to the Lord, speak, saying, the Lord has utterly separated me from His people.

Nor let the eunuch say, here I am, a dry tree. For thus says the Lord, To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, And choose what pleases me, And hold fast my covenant, Even to them I will give in my house and within my walls a place and a name better than that of sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off." This is a word from God to faithful singles. This is God's word to faithful singles who take the opportunity for undivided devotion to God, who choose what pleases God. That's what it says in verse 4.

To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths and choose what pleases Me and hold fast to My covenant. Do not say you're a dry tree that can't be fruitful because you're a single. Stop saying that. Stop thinking that. Faithful singles should never say I can't be fruitful for God because I'm not married.

Here's a word to brethren of faithful singles. This one's from me. The other one's from God. We'll probably even wipe this off the recording. But this one's from me.

To brethren of faithful singles. Save your pity for somebody who needs it. Save it. Don't you dare pity someone who's single because God has kept them in that state for His own purposes, for His own design. God actually promises them that they can be fruitful, enormously fruitful in their singleness.

Here's three things that God promises in this text. One, that there's plenty of room in the house. Plenty of room for singles in the house. Number two, That for those who choose what He pleases, He gives them a place in the house and a name that is better than sons and daughters. Take that you married people.

Singles for the kingdom of Heaven's sake. God will give them, if they are faithful to Him, He will give them a place and a name that is better than your sons and daughters and three that they'll have an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. I don't have any sons, my name won't continue. Nonsense. That's not what God says in Isaiah 56.

You'll have an everlasting name that shall not be cut off." How do we know that's true? Jesus models it. That's how we know. Just a couple of chapters earlier in Isaiah 53, Isaiah 53 verse 8, and who will declare his generation for He was cut off from the land of the living." Who will say, I'm the son or the grandson of the great-grandson of Jesus Christ? No one will say that because He was cut off from the land of the living.

He never had any physical seed. But the prophet Isaiah picks it up again in Isaiah 53 verses 10 and 11, when you the Father make his soul the soul of Jesus Christ the Son and offering for sin, he shall see His seed. He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the labor of His soul and be satisfied by His knowledge. My righteous servant shall justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities." Was Jesus Christ fruitful?

Cut off from the land of the living, no sons, no grandsons, No great-grandsons. Was Jesus Christ fruitful? Yes. Not in physical seed, but in spiritual seed, which is the seed that counts. Now may God give us both.

Those of us who He's joined together. May God give us physical seed who are also spiritual seed. But the single who pleases the Lord, who lives for his glory, who labors for his kingdom, may have so many more spiritual seed than you or I who are married ever will." Wasn't that true of Jesus? Yes. Wasn't that true of Paul?

Yes. Listen to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4, 14-17. This is Paul in 1 Corinthians 4, 14-17. I do not write these things to shame you, but as My beloved children, I warn you, Paul calls the Corinthians his beloved children, for though you ought to have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers. For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel." Here's a perpetually single man who is so fruitful in spiritual seed.

He continues in verse 16. "'Therefore I urge you, imitate me. For this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful Son in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ as I teach everywhere in every church. Single people who are single-mindedly devoted to what pleases the Lord can be so fruitful in spiritual seed. Jesus was the ultimate, and Paul was so fruitful as well.

Now, there are two extremes to be avoided. You have to stay away from both of these extremes. The first is this. Don't over-exalt marriage. Marriage is just a shadow.

It's going to pass away. And you'll not be married to that girl or to that boy in heaven. You will not be. Because the shadow will have passed away. And the substance will be there.

And you won't care. Because the substance is better than the shadow. You won't be thinking, is the bridegroom and he's bringing together his bride with him to be together for all of time. So don't over-exalt marriage as if it's something that it's not. It's only the shadow.

Secondly, don't over-exalt singleness. Don't over-exalt either one of those. Don't over-exalt singleness. But recognize that they're different gifts, both given by God. Marriage is a gift given by God.

You should give thanks for it if God has given it to you. And don't you dare be in a marriage saying, maybe I was given the gift of singleness. No, if you're married, you have not been given the gift of singleness. And if you're single and God has given you the ability to abstain from marriage, not to burn with passion, but to labor so single-mindedly, single-heartedly, undistractedly for the Kingdom of Heaven, Praise God for that and do that with all your heart. If God has given you the gift of marriage, do marriage with all your heart.

And if God has given you the gift of singleness, then do singleness with all your heart and be fruitful in spiritual seed. Now God has placed us in a church where we've been recovering things about marriage and about family. And there's a danger because we have such an affection for marriage and for family that then we would not even think about singleness. And we wouldn't have the wisdom of Paul in acknowledging that some have the gift in this manner, Some have the gift in that manner. And because God has shown us wonderful things about marriage and family that we would discount everything else.

But no, we need to learn to live with our single people. Single People should be beating down our doors because how we fold them into our families and include them in advancing the Kingdom of God through the life of the local church. They ought to be beating down our doors. Singles shouldn't say, well, I can't go to a family integrated church. Singles should be flocking to family integrated churches because we use our dining room tables as weapons for the gospel and discipleship, and we fold single people into the lives of our homes.

One final word before we move on to the second part of this passage. Consider that one of your children might have this gift. Now I've been thinking, who do I know who has this gift? I've known people who had prolonged years of being single, but I couldn't come up with a name of someone who had been given the gift just to abstain for their whole life from marriage to labor in a particular way for the kingdom of heaven. But one of your children might have this gift.

Jesus says some people can accept this saying. And He says that if they can, they should. If one of your children has this gift, you're going to have to help them. You're going to have to not treat it like a tragedy that God has given them this gift. You're going to have to not treat it as a disappointment that God has made them able to accept this and to live a life that's so devoted, like Anna never leaving the temple, but fasting and praying and fasting and praying and fasting and praying for a decade and another decade and another decade.

How much power and strength for the Kingdom of Heaven comes from that? Well, what if God has put somebody, a little somebody in your family who's been given that gift? Are we going to act like that's a bad thing? Or are we going to figure out, though we may not know anybody else who's got that gift, are we going to figure out how to fan that into flame and spur them on with the gift that God has given them. Back to Matthew.

Verses 13-15. Then little children were brought to him, and he might put his hands on them and pray. But the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them, for of such is the kingdom of heaven." And He laid His hands on them and then departed from there. There are people that are bringing little children to Jesus.

In Psalm 127, children are called a heritage from the Lord. In Psalm 127, children are called a reward. This is another gift from God. People are doing something with the gifts that God has given them. In this case, it's little children.

Psalm 128, just one psalm later, it said that somebody who has a table full is blessed. So people, they're bringing their blessings to Jesus. And they want Jesus to put His hands on them. And they want Jesus to pray for them. There's a rich history of this in the Old Testament.

You can't get very far in the Old Testament without finding a father who's doing this. He's putting his hands on his children and praying for them or pronouncing a blessing for them. Here's a great example. Genesis 48. Israel or Jacob has Joseph's two sons.

So his grandsons through Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh. And He's blessing them. This tender act of a grandfather putting his hands on these grandsons and praying for them. And you can go on and on. There are a lot of examples in the Old Testament of that.

It's still the tradition in Jesus' time that people would bring their small children to the famous rabbis of the day and ask them for a blessing. So to what degree these parents have saving faith, the text does not tell us, but they're doing the right thing. This is what we ought to do with our children. So whether they knew it or not, they're doing something that's exemplary and that we should do as well. They're called little children here.

And that's a good translation in the parallel passage in Luke, in Luke 18 verse 15. They're called infants. It's another Greek word and it means babies, newborns. So these are little children. In the parallel text in Mark, Jesus is taking them into His arms.

So these are arm sized children. They're little children. They're infants. They may be newborns. And in James 5.15, James says, the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

The people of God have always known that. People have always known that God attends to the prayers of His people. And particularly people who are holy, who have kept themselves for the purposes of the Lord, God is so pleased to answer their prayers. And so people have always brought the sick, brought their children to men that they knew were set aside for the Lord, because they know that God is so pleased to answer those prayers. And so, they're bringing their children to Jesus and they couldn't have brought their children to anyone better than Jesus.

If the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much, what does the prayer of Jesus Christ avail? This is what we should do with our own children. We should seek the help of Jesus Christ. We should seek the favor of Jesus Christ. We should seek the blessings of Jesus Christ for our children.

Can you give them what they need? Fathers, mothers, can you give these children of yours what they need? Can you do what needs to be done in their hearts? Are you able? They need a lot of things that you can give them.

You should be faithful in all those things. But more than anything in this world, they need for the Holy Spirit to fall upon their hard hearts and take it out and to give them a heart of flesh and to cause them to be born again. They were born the first time in your house. There's a lot of things you can do to them, but the most important things you cannot do to them. You better go to Jesus Christ and plead with Him to do for your children what you cannot do for your children.

It honors Christ when we come, we humble ourselves and we come before Him. It honors Him again when we bring those who He has entrusted to us. Acknowledge again in humility, acknowledging that we can't do what's necessary. That we don't have the ability to do the most important things and to plead with Him in humility to do those things. It honors Him.

Jesus is honored that these people are bringing their newborns. Newborns, these little children, these infants, they probably cannot even understand what Jesus is talking about. But Jesus is honored that these parents would come in humility understanding that they need something that they can't deliver and they want Him to lay His hands on them and to pray for them. Now the disciples are having none of it. And they rebuke these people who are bringing their little children.

What do you think you're doing? What do you think you're doing? Do you know how busy this man is? I mean, how many messiahs do you think there are people? And undoubtedly, They think they're doing right.

Undoubtedly, the disciples think that they're doing something that's wise, that's good, that's honoring to Jesus. Wrong. The parallel passage, Mark 10, says that Jesus was greatly displeased. You get the sense of that even in Matthew. You don't necessarily need Mark for that.

But Mark just comes out and says what you can tell in Matthew. Jesus is displeased. Matthew Henry says this, Either they thought it below their master to take notice of little children, except anything in particular ailed them. Or they thought he had toiled enough with his other work, and would not have him diverted from it. Or they thought if an address as this were encouraged, all the country would bring their children to him and they should never see an end of it.

So Matthew Henry gives us some potential reasons why the disciples might have rebuked these parents. I assume it's parents. So the disciples have taken it upon themselves to become Jesus' handlers. Now, they're the gatekeeper. Every executive has a gatekeeper.

If you've ever been in sales, this is the most frustrating thing in the world because their job is to keep you away and to preserve the time of the executives from the common people. And I was always the common person that the assigned gatekeeper was supposed to keep out. And this is what the disciples are doing. They're now Jesus' handlers. They're the gatekeepers.

And they're going to maximize His time. Now, Scott wouldn't allow us to leave this part of the sermon without saying one of the things that He always says, which is, you are the Pharisee in the story. Don't you dare just go away from this text saying, those knuckle-headed disciples, you know what, It's here because you're a knucklehead and so am I. And God brings us to this text to help us to consider. So, I guess in this case we're the disciple in the story.

But you're the knucklehead in the story. That's what we'll say. And he's brought us here to consider the ways in which we're doing things, assuming that it's pleasing to Jesus, efficient for the Kingdom, but Jesus is greatly displeased about it. Now, think of the reforms in your life in the last five years. Just if you were to make a list of the reforms that God has brought you through in the last five years.

Theological reforms. Reforms in your thinking. Reforms in church life. Reforms in your parenting. Every one of those, by definition, represents an area where you're just skimming along, thinking everything's lovely, thinking that everything you're doing is pleasing the Lord, and God puts His finger on it.

And you see for the first time, this doesn't please the Lord. All this time I've been doing it, thinking it, believing it, and it doesn't please the Lord. All the times and all the categories in the last five years. You think that's done? You think that's not going to happen again?

That All the thoughts that don't please the Lord. All the things that you do that don't please the Lord. All the things that you believe that don't please the Lord. He's purged them all now, and you're not going to have any more of those moments ever again. God would bring us to a text like this just to increase our awareness.

Though we might not know what they are, there's a long list of them in practice, in theology, in our thinking that right now we assume pleases the Lord and doesn't please Him at all. We should read this text and be so humble. You are the Pharisee in the story. Here's what J.C. Ryle says.

Let us learn from these verses that the Lord Jesus cares tenderly for the souls of little children. It is probable that Satan specially hates them. It is certain that Jesus specially loves them. Young as they are, they are not beneath His thoughts and attention. That mighty heart of His has room for the babe in its cradle, as well as for the king on its throne.

Now Jesus responds, let them come, let them come. Stop hindering these, let them come. And He gives the reason. For of such is the kingdom of heaven. Now Matthew doesn't record something that both Mark and Luke in the parallel text on this record.

And Mark and Luke have exactly the same words, which is this, Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of heaven as a little child, will by no means enter it. So Jesus says, don't hinder them, let them come, For of such is the kingdom of heaven." And then we get an expansion of that, an explanation of that in Mark and Luke, which is really helpful so we don't create crazy doctrine out of what, for of such is the kingdom of heaven might mean. It means that, assuredly I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven." There's a special tenderness in little children. There's a special humility. There's a special unqualified trust in little children that evaporates the older we get.

And these are qualities that are required for entry into the Kingdom of Heaven. And does it mean they don't have a sin nature? Anybody here have children? They have a sin nature. Doesn't mean that, but it does mean that they haven't undergone the cycles of hardness that sin produces over time.

And so they have these qualities that haven't evaporated yet. And if you're going to be born again, if you're going to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, These qualities have to be recaptured, have to be given to you by the Holy Spirit. I'll end with a quote from Ryle and then a few concluding comments. J.C. Ryle says this, Finally, let us draw from these verses encouragement to attempt great things in the religious instruction of children.

Let us begin from their earliest years to deal with them as having souls to be lost or saved, and strive to bring them to Christ. Let us make them acquainted with the Bible as soon as they can understand anything. Let us pray with them and pray for them and teach them to pray for themselves. We may rest assured that Jesus looks with pleasure on such endeavors and is ready to bless them. To that I say a hearty amen.

Jesus looks with pleasure on those endeavors. Jesus actually expects those endeavors. When God gives you this blessing, when God gives you a heritage from the Lord, when He gives you a reward of a child in a Christian home, He is expecting this. He is expecting us to bring them to Jesus. He is expecting them to teach them the Bible.

The minute they can understand something, He is expecting us to pray for them, and to pray with them, and to teach them to pray for themselves. When God gives gifts, a stewardship comes with it. Whether it's singleness, or whether it's children given to you and placed in a Christian home, there is a stewardship. Early in the chapter, just the last few remarks, early in the chapter, Jesus speaks to marriage as the ultimate bridegroom. Here in this text, He speaks to singleness as the ultimate single.

And Paul echoes the same teachings. It's rare, But God does give the gift of singleness to some so that they can live in a completely different way in being undivided, undistracted, totally devoted to fasting and praying and preaching in Psalm and attending to the things of the Lord all day and all night. This helps us to think rightly about the diversity of gifts that God has put in the body. Not the same gifts. And all to be embraced by those that when God gives you your gift, He expects you to praise Him for it, recognize it, praise Him for it, and then use it with all of your heart for the Kingdom of Heaven.

The circumstances of your life are a gift from God. He made you married, it's a gift from God. He made you single, it's a gift from God. He gave you children, It's a gift from God. You lost your job?

It's a gift from God. He gave you another one? It's a gift from God. The circumstances of your life are a gift from God. Those who believe in the sovereignty of God just believe that.

That God knows what He's doing. That He sees the big picture. Even when all we see is just a little speck of the picture. We trust Him and we know that He's working all things together for our good and for His glory. And so that everything that He's brought into our life is a gift, and a stewardship comes with that.

And that whatever gifts He gives us, we would just do that with all our heart. When He returns again, whenever that is, He would find us doing that with all our heart. Loving the gifts that He's given us in particular traits about ourselves but in the circumstances of life. And then doing that with all our hearts for the Kingdom of Heaven, for the glory of our king. Let's pray.

Father, I thank you for this text. I thank you for bringing us to something we don't talk about or think about very often. But God, I pray, Lord, that you would Help us to understand these things and to the extent, to whatever extent you give us a singleness in our midst for the sake of your kingdom, whether single years or single lives that you would cause us to love it and embrace it and to squeeze the very last drop of benefit that you intended through all the gifts that you give to your people. Help us to live wholehearted lives, God, whether you make us married or single or give us children or in our vocations that you would cause us not to be lukewarm but to live with a white hot love for you and devotion to serving you. Not from simple, or not only from duty, but also especially from hearts that are thankful.

We ask these things in Jesus' name, Amen.