Pastor Grant Brown's sermon 'Let the Little Children Come' emphasizes the importance of welcoming children to Jesus, highlighting Jesus' indignation when the disciples rebuked those bringing children to Him. The sermon draws from Mark chapters 9 and 10, showing how Jesus values children and warns against causing them to stumble. Pastor Brown addresses modern applications, urging parents and the church not to hinder children's faith and involvement in the church. He underscores the necessity of treating children with the same grace and mercy God extends to believers, advocating for baptism and participation in church life for children who profess faith. The sermon also touches on the role of church discipline as a means of grace, ensuring children are nurtured and corrected within the church community, ultimately encouraging them to live faithfully in Christ's kingdom.

And they were bringing children to him so that he might touch them. But the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, permit the children to come to me. Do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.

He took them in his arms and began blessing them, laying his hands on them. May God bless the reading of his word. Amen. Amen. Let's pray together.

Father, I, you know, I always feel and know my insufficiency in preaching and proclaiming Your Word. I say with Paul, who is sufficient for these things? And Lord, if it's possible to feel even more insufficient this morning, Well, you know. So please help. Please give grace to the hearer.

Renew hearts and minds. Transform your people. Bring children to faith in Christ. For Your glory's sake. And our joy.

In Jesus' name, amen. May be seated. I wanna ask you to recall the sermon from a number of weeks ago. It was a sermon on Mark chapter 9 wherein Jesus said these words, whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for him if with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea. You recall those words of Jesus.

And what happens immediately after that in the narrative? Well immediately after that Jesus begins teaching on divorce and he tells these men, these Pharisees, who are asking Jesus to validate easy divorce from their wives, Jesus responds to them, if you divorce your wife unlawfully, you will make her stumble. You will make this little one who believes to stumble. If you divorce your wife, you will make this woman, this man to stumble. It would be better for you to be crushed by the depths of the ocean than to be crushed by the judgment of God that is coming upon you because of your unrepentant sin.

So stop being like that, Jesus says. Repent. And it should make everyone in this room sit up a little straighter when we hear Jesus make such pronouncements that to make little ones who believe to stumble is an abomination in God's eyes. Jesus says so. And so that influences the way that we approach divorce, and it must also influence the way that we parent and the way we treat our children in this church.

Because that's what comes next in our text. The children are the little ones as well. Don't make little ones stumble. Don't make your spouse stumble. Don't make your children stumble.

Very clear. All of this is connected. Now, this horrifying idea of making little ones who believe to stumble should very much impact the way that we esteem the little ones who believe in our homes and in those seats next to you this morning. Our text begins with the simple phrase, and they were bringing children to Him. Could be translated, they were bringing little ones to Jesus.

That they were the crowds in Judea at the beginning of chapter 10 and these crowds, presumably parents, were bringing their children to Jesus that Jesus might touch them. They might bless them. But the disciples rebuked them. Jesus is busy. Can't you see that he's arguing with the Pharisees and he's doing important things with adults?

This isn't a time for children, say the disciples. And Jesus, seeing this, Jesus, hearing this, was indignant, the text tells us. He was righteously angry. We should very much, church, pay attention to what makes Jesus righteously angry. We should be paying attention to what makes Jesus indignant.

If you are born again this morning, what makes Jesus indignant should make you indignant. And what Jesus blesses, you should bless as his followers, as his disciples. Jesus is indignant. He is very much unhappy with the way that the disciples are treating the little ones here in our passage and so he tells these disciples permit the children to come to me let the little children come do not hinder them For the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.

What did Jesus do? And Jesus took the little children in his arms and began blessing them, laying his hands on them. So here's what we see in this passage with regard to structure. Here's what we see. See if this will work.

Oh, gonna have to do it for me brother. We have, oh, I think I can do it now. The crowd, oh. That's funny. What we have is we have parents bringing their children to Jesus so that he might touch them and bless them Then we have the idea that the disciples are going are rebuking them Jesus then rebukes the disciples and then Jesus touches and blesses the children.

And so I want you to just to see this is very clear it's a chiasm, it's a parallelistic structure. It begins with a desire for the children to be blessed, for children to be a part of the kingdom, and it ends with Jesus saying yes and amen to that desire. The kingdom is for such as these. So let the little children come. Let your children come.

And in the middle of Jesus validating that the kingdom is for children, there is a rebuke for those who won't do that. So here's the application in principle that is very straightforward from this text. Don't be like these disciples. The temptation for you this morning will not be for you to be like the crowd. It will not be for you to be like Jesus.

This narrative, it's kind of like when you are reading David and Goliath and you find yourself, you think, I'm like David. No, you're the Israelite, caroling in the corner. In the same way you are these disciples. That's who you are in this narrative. And there's a rebuke for those of us will not repent of being like the disciples.

This is the application. Don't be like the disciples. So parents and church, don't be like the disciples who say, this isn't the time for children. This isn't a place for children. The Messiah isn't for children.

The kingdom is only for those mature enough. The kingdom is only for those bordering on adulthood. If you talk like that, you get a rebuke from Jesus. Jesus says the kingdom of God belongs, belongs to such as these, the children. And Jesus goes so far as to say that the way into his kingdom is to be like these little ones, to be like a child.

You are preventing the little children to come disciples while you yourself disciples in your preventing miss the very essence of what entrance and life in my kingdom is like. Entrance into my kingdom Jesus says is being like a child being wholly dependent on God's grace trusting me with nothing in your hands to bring except for your need, and being submissive, humble, and needy. And the disciples, in turning away these children who are very much needy, entirely dependent, humble, and submissive, they miss the point of entrance into the kingdom. You don't want to miss that this morning. So this text is very simple.

We are shown what Jesus does not like in the treatment of children. And we are shown what Jesus loves with regard to the treatment of children. And we are shown what entrance into the kingdom looks like as we consider children. And that's our outline this morning. As a Christian, what Jesus hates, What Jesus is indignant about, you must hate and be indignant about.

What Jesus blesses, you must bless. And who Jesus blesses, you must bless. I'm going to say that again. I'll put it up in a different way in just a second. As a Christian, what Jesus hates, you must hate.

What Jesus blesses, you must bless. And who Jesus blesses, you must bless. That's simple, straightforward out of the text. So we're gonna have three questions that we're gonna answer this morning based on what I just said. Three questions that naturally arise from this text, plain, simple questions, and those questions are going to form our outline this morning.

Three questions, number one, In what way is it easy to find ourselves like the disciples and to sin in this way by hindering children to come to Christ and thereby make them stumble? That's number one. How can you become a stumbling block, not just as parents, but even as a church, to the little ones for whom Christ died? We want to become indignant over what makes Jesus indignant. So we want to put to death anything within us that Jesus rebukes.

Number two, instead of being like the disciples, how can we repent of being a stumbling block and seek to be obedient? How can we encourage little children in our homes and in this church to come unto the Savior like we see in our text this morning? How can we bless that which Jesus blesses and then bless the one whom Jesus blesses. Number three, what does entrance into Christ's kingdom for anybody look like? We're going to just get to the tip of the iceberg of that third question and in the days that follow explore that further.

What does entrance into Christ's kingdom for anybody look like? So number one, how might we sin like the disciples sinned here in this passage? The disciples rebuked the crowd who were bringing their children to be with Jesus. And that word rebuke in our text this morning, it carries with it quite a punch. That's the same word that Jesus would utter when casting out demons throughout the first half of Mark.

This isn't a light word. This is a stern kind of none shall pass Gandalf kind of moment that the disciples are engaged in. It's the same word also that was used to describe Jesus' response to Peter when Peter in Mark chapter 8 was not setting his mind on the things of God but only on the things of man. If you remember in Mark chapter 8, not very long ago, Jesus was foretelling his death to the disciples. Peter takes him kind of over to the corner, passes back and says, Jesus, come on now.

That's not the way it's going to go down. That is far below the behavior of the mighty Messiah. Mighty Messiahs do not suffer and die. What does Jesus do? Jesus rebukes Peter.

Same word, Rebuke. Jesus says to Peter, get your mind right. The way you're thinking is man centered. It's worldly wisdom. You're thinking the same way that all lost people think.

Set your mind on God's interest, God's wisdom, not the foolishness of mankind. Your definition of mightiness, your definition of salvation, weak. It's like the world. That's what he tells Peter when Peter rebukes Jesus. And so the disciples, they get the same kind of rebuke again.

Here in Mark chapter 10, the disciples rebuke these parents who are bringing their children to Jesus because they feel like they will bother Jesus, they're going to get in the way. There are more important things at stake, more important matters going on than bringing children to Jesus, and Jesus looks at these disciples and now he has to rebuke them again. Once more these disciples are setting their minds on man's interests, what makes best sense to them, what the kingdom of God is like in their minds, and they're setting God's interests aside. And God's definition of greatness and entrance into the kingdom is simply not the same as these disciples. God is very much interested in the little children coming to him.

They are the ones that the kingdom is for. They are of incredible importance to God. The task of the disciples is to go and make disciples. And yet here are the disciples doing the exact opposite They're telling these children and their parents you can't come to Jesus He's too busy telling us how to make disciples He's too busy telling us how to be disciple makers as these men turn away little disciples. Because they're annoying.

Because they're immature. Because the disciples think that somehow these little disciples are distracting them from the mission of making disciples. You see that, right? It's ridiculous. Those children are a huge part of the mission.

And we all see, I think, the ridiculousness of the disciples. The sin and foolishness of the disciples. Their immaturity in turning the little children away. They become like children in the foolish sense in turning the little children away. And yet that ridiculousness is so easy for each of us, each of you, to fall into yourselves.

So easy to be in sin like these disciples. Here in this church we are a family integrated church in that the children are invited and encouraged to worship the Lord with all of us together during the Lord's Day service with their families the entire time. It's welcome. And I want to simply convey to you, church, my admiration to you brothers and sisters and my appreciation for you church in your great support of that endeavor to let the little children come. Well done by the grace of God.

I have heard from a number of families, and I myself have been on the receiving end of this a number of times, of the ways that you consistently welcome the little children into this body, and I want to exhort you, don't stop doing that. We cannot, we cannot stop welcoming the little children into the worship of Almighty God with us together. So I want to begin this sermon by saying, well done. And don't grow weary of doing good. That is a good thing that you do.

But I also want to warn us of what can start to happen in our hearts when we forget passages like this. Little by little we can begin to fall into sin. So I want you to be wary. In your heart, what happens when a little boy or a little girl starts acting up? What happens in your heart when you begin to hear whimpering?

They start crying, they're getting upset, maybe they have a bad attitude And so one of the parents takes them out to be disciplined, to maybe get an attitude adjustment, or if they're too young for an attitude adjustment, into the nursery, because they're too young. Some of us have to take our children out for several attitude adjustments. But as these parents are leaving with a wailing infant, a wailing toddler, they're not trying to be a distraction, but they are one. What happens in your heart? Is it irritation?

Is it annoyance? That was what was in the disciples' hearts. That's what got a rebuke from Jesus. And so if that ever happens inside of you, instead of annoyance or irritation, fight that sin of your flesh. Fight that sin with the truth that there are parents seeking to be faithful.

That there are parents seeking to obey this very Bible verse to let their children come. They are welcoming their little children to Jesus. So fight the flesh within you by smiling at these parents. Keep smiling. You do such a good job of that already dear saints.

Keep it up. Write a note to parents in this congregation who are doing a good job. It's not easy knowing. I know this firsthand. It's not easy knowing that you have to get up with a little one to go spank them because they're being disobedient in the gathering of God's people.

It's not fun to be the one who interrupts a sermon. It's not fun to be the one who has to go faithfully discipline their child. But it's righteous. Encourage those parents. Keep encouraging those parents, beloved.

Smile at them. Tell them that they're doing a well-done job when they do a good job. Let us never think of our children as an annoyance or a distraction in our Lord's day service. Let us not silently rebuke those who seek to bring their children face to face with the Lord Jesus on the Lord's day as they hear the word of God that can convert their souls. Preached!

Now if a family is struggling to understand how to train their children to worship properly on the Lord's Day. This does not bar you from coming alongside them and training them. That would be glorious. With a heart full of compassion and love. To come alongside parents and to say to them things like, how can I be of help to you?

I myself am up here 85, 90% of the time. I cannot discipline my own children while I am up here without stopping the sermon. I don't put that out of the realm of impossibility, but you by the grace of God have come around my family and have been a source of great encouragement to me as we seek to train our own children up in the fear and admonition of the Lord, that they are to sit still and quiet and listen because God is speaking to them today. Thank you. And you can do that for other brothers and sisters in this congregation to help them in the nurture and admonition of their children.

To come alongside families. Here's what helped when I was raising my little boy and little girl to sit in church together. Here's what I did. It worked really, really well. Do you need me to help sit next to you?

Seek to help, but don't seek to hinder. And once more, I just want to commend you. You're doing that already. So don't grow weary of doing good. I just want to encourage you, dear saints, you have spurred me on mightily in this.

Thank you. We often, as elders and pastors, we are often asked by new parents and visitors, this is new to me. I've never been in a family integrated church before. How do I do this? I've gotten that question a number of times.

Typically, it's after a service where they've never been in a congregation like this, and they're a little bit embarrassed. Their children were really, perhaps, rambunctious. Man, how do we do this? At what point should I take my child out? And what point is the noise too much noise?

Here's our consistent message to those parents as elders. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 14 that order in the church is essential, that we should always maintain order in the church. And so if your child is disrupting that order, in a way similar to the hyper charismatic movement in our day disrupts order, that the message, the worship of God is derailed, that the distraction becomes the main thing and the worship becomes the minor thing, that moment order is not maintained and in that moment it's time for an attitude adjustment or a trip to the nursery with mommy and daddy. The aim is to always maintain order. And if order's not maintained, you ought to take the child out.

But order can very much be maintained in the midst of some wiggles. Order can very much be maintained in the midst of some babbling. Order can very much be maintained with a little bit of noise. In fact, me personally, I love the babbling when I'm preaching, because I feel like it's a whole bunch of amens. And I'm very grateful.

That's one way. How else, How else can we find ourselves hindering the little children in our families and in our church? How can we hinder the little ones to come and worship Jesus Christ? How might we be like the disciples? And the answer is very simple.

It's by not obeying this clear command of Jesus to let them come. The disciples rebuked the crowd for bringing children. Jesus rebuked the disciples. And now you've just read this passage yourself. A month ago you just read Mark chapter 9 verse 37 where Jesus says, receive the children in my name.

Receive them, you receive them, you Receive me. So Jesus says this morning, let him come. And the ways you might find yourself in sin is by disobeying this command. You stop your child from coming. You stop your child from obeying and following Jesus.

That's being a stumbling block. Don't be a stumbling block. Your little girl, your little boy, comes up to you and says to you, Daddy, I want to follow Jesus. And you look at that little child, seven, eight, and you say, well, Let's just wait until you're a little older and then we'll talk about that. Jesus has a rebuke for you, Daddy.

You stop everything that you're doing when your child says to you something like that. And you have that conversation. You want to know how to follow, you want to be a Christian? I don't care what you're doing. There is nothing more wonderful, nothing more important than that conversation.

You could be on your way to Chipotle. You pull over. Or maybe you get there, and over burrito you have that conversation. But you must have that conversation. You don't ever say to your child, wait until you're older to follow Jesus.

That's what these disciples were doing, and Jesus has a rebuke for that. Perhaps your little boy or little girl comes to you and says, Father, I want to follow Jesus. And so you do indeed drop everything you have going on to have that conversation. You spend day after day, night after night, month after month teaching your child about the gospel. You teach your child the law of God and you use that as a mirror that reveals to them their sin.

You convey to them that they've sinned against God and that they cannot rid themselves of that sin. And yet you also teach them that God sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for helpless sinners like you and like them. And you teach them that helpless sinners like you little daughter and like you my son You need that Savior desperately and he invites You to have him by repentance and faith you teach them those things that a relationship with Jesus changes everything from the inside out and that a relationship with God the Son makes them right with God the Father forever and that God the Holy Spirit comes in and seals the deal And all of that is work of God and that He unites believers to one another in the church. You teach them all of that. And they look at you and they say, I want that daddy.

I want that. I want to follow Jesus. I want to trust Jesus. Help me daddy to know how. Well you don't rest then until they know how.

And perhaps they begin to say to you this, and this is where Pastor Grant gets into all kinds of trouble because of different thoughts on this. I'm just preaching the text. Perhaps they say to you, Daddy, I want to be baptized. I want to join with God's people in taking communion. Because I want to follow Jesus.

I want to follow Him with all my heart. And I want to follow Jesus with these people. My church. Daddy, would you please help me do that? I want to come to Jesus.

That's what they're saying. What do you do, Father? What do you do, Mother? Well, here's how you can act like the disciples in their sin. You can tell your child, well, We'll wait and see.

Let's just wait and see. Let's see if you become mature enough. Let's see if you become godly enough. Let's see if your Bible reading stays consistent. Let's see if you actually regularly pray.

Let's see if you can meet my standard of holiness. We'll see. We need to wait and see if you can come to Jesus. We need to wait and see. You want to be baptized?

Okay. That's a good desire, but son, daughter, let's wait a few years to see if it's legit. But not now. You can't come to Jesus right now. Jesus has a rebuke for that.

Beloved fathers, beloved mothers, Jesus has a rebuke for that in Mark chapter 10, verse 14. But not just there. Do you remember what Jesus said in Mark chapter 4 verse 24? Let me read it to you. Jesus says this in Mark 4, 24.

By your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. By your standard of measure, the standard that you use, it will be used against you. How's your Bible reading, daddy? How's your prayer life, parent? How's your holiness?

Is that the way that God called you? Did God wait for you to meet a level of holiness that you could then be marked out as a member of His kingdom through baptism? Did God the Father tell you, well we'll see, we'll see if you can be disciplined enough to be a part of my people, we'll see if you arrive first, then I will declare you to be a part of my people? Did he say to you, we need to wait and see if all the major sin issues get resolved first? He did not say those things to you, did he?

And praise God that He did not say those things to you and I. Because you would still be waiting to be baptized. Not a single soul in this room would be taking in that table. You'd never get there if that was the standard. Praise God that this saying is true.

That God takes people where they are and not where they should have been. And He makes them born again. He makes them new. He forgives. He transforms the lives of sinners beginning where they were, incredibly immature.

And God takes people incredibly immature. Not where they should have been, but where they are. And He matures them into new creations in Christ Jesus. He saved you, Christian, all by His mercy. He revealed to you your need.

He invited you to come. And you came with nothing in your hands like a child. You came. You didn't have all the doctrines figured out. You didn't even come with perfect hearts.

You had sin hanging all over you. But you knew you needed Christ. And you came and you were baptized into membership of a church and God grew you up, didn't He? And he's doing it still when you were the farthest thing from mature. Treat your children the way God the Father has treated you.

So you're out evangelizing and you meet a young buck, right? Young college student, 20-something. And you share the gospel with him. He's 20 years old, and he believes. He believes.

He sees his sin. He knows he needs a savior. And he looks at you, and he says, what must I do to be saved, preacher? And you're startled because this doesn't normally happen when you evangelize. You go, whoa, what do you tell him?

What do you say to this young man who you just met 15 minutes ago. What do you tell him? You tell him, repent and believe the gospel. And he does that. And then he says, what next pastor?

And you say to him, You need to be baptized into a local church. You need to become a member of a local church. You need to follow Jesus. And he calls you to be baptized, to submit yourself to a local body and to elders and pastors. That's what being obedient is.

That's what you tell this man. 20 something. You've known him for 15 minutes. You tell this young man that you just met the gospel message, repent, believe in Christ, and be baptized. For 15 minutes, you knew that guy.

And yet the temptation will be for you to come home to a little precious soul whom God calls holy according to 1 Corinthians 14 because he or she is your child. And you are holy. And he or she is in your covenant household. And you've known this child for not just 15 minutes but years and years and years. And yet the temptation will be for you to use unequal weights and measures.

And for the college kid, he's treated one way and he's welcomed to Jesus, but for your own child, a different standard will be used. Beloved, Jesus has a rebuke for that. Jesus has a rebuke for that. You don't want Jesus Christ to treat you the way you are treating your children, if that's you. You know your child better than anyone else.

You know all the ways that they are not quite honest, don't you? All the ways in which they are inconsistent with their profession of faith. They say, do you want to follow Jesus? And the next thing they know, they slap their sister. How could you be a Christian as you click on internet pornography?

You see all the ways that they're inconsistent with their professions, all the ways that they don't seem very faithful, and so the temptation for you is to say, how could they be a believer when they're acting like that? But have you ever said that about yourself? Have you ever said that about yourself? Have you ever said that about yourself as you secretly wrestle with a sin that you consistently struggle to put to death by the power of the cross? Your children can't hide from you.

They don't have that built in them yet. They will sadly one day. For you can hide from everyone else but God. Will you use unequal weights and measures against them? If you use unequal measures against your children, you are inviting God to use those same standards when it comes to you.

By the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Do you want Jesus questioning your salvation every time you do something in your life inconsistent with your profession of faith? What a horrid way to live. And yet perhaps our children find them in households that are doing just that. You know, men's group and women's group would look a lot different if that was the cause, if that was the case.

Not a soul in men's group would be confessing sin if what I just said was the case. Last time we met as men, I had the privilege of leading that study, and it was so sweet to be with you men. We were confessing real and persistent sin in our lives. You know what I'm talking about? One God.

You know what I'm talking about? We were confessing real and persistent sin. We are failing in various ways and we're confessing that together. And the wonder of that time together is that not a single person in that meeting started looking around the room and started questioning the salvation of every one of us caught in persistent sin. You're confessing sin.

Nobody was asking, yikes, should you have been baptized? Yikes! Well, you definitely should have been baptized. Yikes! Who are you?

Nobody was doing that. Why? The answer is obvious. We weren't questioning one another's salvation because we were confessing sin and bringing it to Christ together. There is no need to question salvation when that supernatural work is going down.

You need to fight the temptation to keep your children from Jesus because of their sin. Instead, invite them to bring their sin to Jesus with you. Bring them to their Savior. And if they come with you, if you come to the Savior and you say, come with me to the Savior. I want to be like this crowd.

I'm on my way to the Savior. I'd love for you to come with me. If they bring their sin to the Savior with you, that is evidence of new birth. Parents, you are to teach your children that Jesus loves them. This they know for the Bible tells them so.

Right? That's a glorious song. Is it in our hymnal? I wish it was. Maybe do some copy pasting.

You need to teach them that song. And you know, we teach our girls that song. It's so glorious when they're happy. Right? Sing it around the dinner table maybe after family worship.

Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so many. He's beaming, right? They're happy. And that's a glorious thing. But you know what's even more glorious?

Is when they sing that same song when confronted with their sin, with their law breaking. When you discipline your child and you tell them that the law of God has been broken by the rebellious actions, when they've hit their sister, when they're lying to you, to your face, When they're whining, when they're caught stealing from their little brother, they're not sharing. Whatever sin, when you share with them how they've fallen short of God's law, and they've sinned against God by disobeying you as a parent, When that happens and you discipline them and they look up at you, contrite, and they say to you, Daddy, I'm sorry. Will you please forgive me? Daddy, Jesus loves me.

This I know because the Bible tells me so. Even when I sin, is that song still true when I'm dirty? If that ever happens to you, don't you ever, ever look at them and say, well, we'll see. What a horrid standard that God will then turn around and use on you. Don't you ever rob your children of the gospel of grace of which you, Daddy, of which you, Mother, in which you, Christian, stand daily.

You will make your children stumble, and it would be better for you to be tossed into the ocean with a lead weight around your neck than to meet the judgment of God for such unequal weights and measures, for such double standards in your life. And I'm talking about delayed contriteness too. How many husbands in here, when shown their sins, how many fathers and husbands in here, when shown their sins, when confronted with the reality of their disobedience or inconsistency, how many, 100% of the time, immediately humble themselves when confronted with their sin and immediately apologize 10 out of 10 times. Go ahead and raise your hand. Every time you're confronted with your sin, I own it.

Nobody. But later, as the Spirit convicts you as a husband, as pride is revealed for what it is by the Holy Spirit within you, what does that husband do? The husband that belongs to Jesus comes around and approaches his wife and approaches his children in a spirit of contriteness and asks for their forgiveness. It's a delayed contriteness. And yet nobody in that family And nobody in this church looks at that man and says, not sure about his salvation.

Not sure if that man should have been baptized in the membership of this local church, because it took him 12 hours to confess his sin. It took him two days to apologize. No, no, no, nobody says that. Nobody's questioning his salvation. You know what they're doing instead?

Instead, because of his confession, delayed as it was, you are actually more assured of his salvation than you were two days ago. Fathers and mothers, there's going to be a great temptation. This is going to be a great temptation for you. But this, you simply may not take that same standard that we just talked about, that we can place on husbands and fathers and mothers, you can't rob it from you. You can't take it away from your children.

You can't do that. If you do, Peter says, your prayers are going to be hindered, because you're going to invite God the Father, your Father, to treat you as His child the way you treat yours. It's the Bible. Unequal weights and measures. That's a huge way that we can be tempted to become like the disciples in their sin of preventing the little children to come unto Jesus.

Okay? Now, I know that there's some pushback on that. I know it's like, what about, what about? I'm gonna get there. I'm gonna get there.

Just trying to preach a text. How then may you obey? How can we run away from the spirit of the disciples here and how can we welcome the children to the Savior? How can we encourage our little ones to repent and trust Christ without engaging in easy believism? Okay?

That's typical, that's the typical pushback. That is always the right concern. I want you to hear this parents. If you're like me, the right concern about raising our children and wanting to welcome them to Jesus is always the idea, well what if we give them false assurance? What if we make them think that they are Christians when they aren't really Christians?

What if they make a false profession? The question is, how can we obey? How can we welcome the little children to come to Jesus without encouraging easy believism? How can we not be like the disciples, but also not sacrifice the truth that Jesus is Lord? Well, here's the answer, Really simple.

We bring them to Jesus, and we do things God's way. We don't set our minds on man's interests and man's understanding, But on God's interests and God's understanding and again God is very much interested and very much Desiring our children to come unto him. That's very clear So I want to exhort you you must encourage your children to do so with all of scripture at your disposal. You need to really key in on this. With all of scripture at your disposal informing your discipleship of your child, bring them to Jesus.

Your child comes to you in their sin and in their brokenness and says to you, Father, let me come to Jesus. What do you do? You don't make them stumble. You don't hinder them. You realize that God has a path forward for you.

What's the path? Toda Scriptura, all of it. You preach the gospel. You live out the gospel. You daily worship with your children and family worship together.

You prepare their hearts to hear God speak to them on the Lord's Day like today. You tell them that every sermon counts for eternity. You tell them let us be ready children to ascend the hill of the Lord on Sunday. You pray with them. You plead with them.

You ask them questions. You work through the answers to those questions with them. And If they say to you, yes, I believe. Daddy help my unbelief. If they say to you, I believe.

I want to believe more. I want to trust Christ. I want to follow Christ. And I want to be baptized. I want to be a part of this church and take communion.

I want to go out those doors in victory in Jesus with everybody else. Because I believe. And they ask you, what must I do to follow Jesus? Fathers, you do things God's way. He has not left you without an abundance of counselors and shepherds.

Pursue the wisdom of God, not your own understanding. Go to your shepherds. After you've walked your child through the gospel and they're telling you, I believe, help my unbelief, bring your children to your pastors. We will visit with them and we will visit with them again and again we will pour into them We will ask them to tell us about this gospel that they say that they believe. Let us help you fathers and mothers to work out what God might be working in your children.

And if your son or your daughter can articulate the gospel of Jesus Christ to your pastors in a simple, childlike way, that it is clear on what matters most that Jesus Christ saves sinners, that they are a sinner themselves, they desperately need Him, and that they understand that a life trusting Jesus means that Jesus is both Savior and Lord, and that they must follow Him with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, and obedience to this His Word, And they say yes to that. That is the desire of my heart, pastor. Then we will come back to you as your pastors. We will come back to you, parents. And we will say with tears of joy in our eyes, do not hinder them, for the kingdom belongs to such as these.

And we will joyfully, joyfully, baptize them in the name of the triune God. And We will joyfully welcome them to this table. And Jesus will be honored. These two commands in Mark 10 will be obeyed to not hinder and to permit. And we will welcome these little children.

You know what we're gonna do every Sunday? The same thing I'm doing to you right now. We're going to call them weekly to repentance. And if they do not repent of their sins, if they go off the deep end and forsake Christ and they no longer repent of their sin, then we will exercise faithfully church discipline and we will take that table away from them because we love them. And church discipline is obedience to Christ too, Just as welcoming the little children is obedience to Christ.

We do things God's way and If we do all of that like I just laid out we would have done all of it all of it God's way You know the hard part for parents in this, for me, for anybody hearing this sermon is always the question again of false assurance. What if my child isn't truly born again? Will their baptism be a reason for them to have false assurance? And that question, I know the heart of it, I love the heart of it, please hear me, but that question can be lodged at anybody. It can be lodged at the 30 year old who comes to Crossroad Church, hears the gospel, and believes and asked to be baptized But what if that man what if that 30 year old is only faking it and he he fakes everybody out Right, we don't have special goggles We can't see exactly into the heart as your pastors into everybody So what if they fake everybody out and the congregation fakes the congregation out.

The congregation visits with him. He wants to become a member, wants to be baptized. We present the membership. The congregation has him over for meals and he fakes everybody out and he's not a Christian. He falls away.

What then? Well we're not left with a problem that is unique to us at Crossroad Church. We are not left without instruction by God. We obeyed God in baptizing him, and now we must obey God in calling him to repentance. We lovingly call him to repentance.

We obey Matthew 18. If there's no repentance, we count him as a Gentile and a tax collector. We hand him over to Satan with the hope that he will be saved and repent, we declare him lost. We declare that he was never saved in the first place. We excommunicate him, and this table is no longer available to that 30-year-old because He is no longer of us.

In fact, he never really was. And far from being disappointing to the Lord, in all of that, we get his smile. God is not disappointed in anything that we did there. Obedience, obedience, obedience. Not pretty though.

He smiles on our faithfulness. Christian, parent, this is what we must do with our children who profess faith and appear genuinely converted. We entrust them as we entrust every member of this church unto the Lord and we are faithful to exercise church discipline over them just as the rest and we will remove this table from them as we declare them not to be a Christian when they will not repent. So perhaps, here's what I think. Perhaps our hesitance to let the little children come on our families, perhaps the temptation to hinder our little ones to come to Christ in obedience and be baptized is because we're not comfortable with church discipline.

Because we are afraid of church discipline. Right, it doesn't happen very much. Could be a problem. Church discipline is not a thing to be avoided. It's command to be obeyed.

Beloved, we must not fear that which God has given us as a means of grace to shake away those who might be sleeping in their faith. We must do things God's way. So let me just try to tie this up together. If a child is baptized upon profession of faith, and They met with the elders, they shared their testimony to the body. As best as we can tell, they are genuinely converted and we baptize them.

And then ten years later, they enter into unrepentant sin, they go off the deep end. You know what's going to happen? There is an entire body responsible for that soul. And as we as a church, in the authority of Christ, go after them and plead with them that they would repent lest they perish, that they would turn afresh to Christ. What a means of grace that church membership and church discipline can be for our young ones.

But you take that same child, that same situation, seems converted, interviewed by the elders, interviewed by the congregation, gives his testimony, is baptized, professes faith in Christ. And yet, instead of the baptism, that gets taken away. They profess faith in Christ, they get interviewed by the elders, but there's no baptism. We need to wait until you're a little older. Wait until you're a little older to join the church, and then we'll see.

So take the membership away. Same situation. So 10 years later, that same child does the same thing, goes off the deep end, unrepentant sin. What happens to that child? Not a member of this church.

Never had participated in the table before. No church responsible for him. Nobody responsible for going after him except the parents. No mechanism called church discipline that can be used to shake this little boy, now a teenager, out of his lethargy and call him to repentance. Nothing.

Nothing. In both instances, the young man goes off the deep end. In both instances, it seems like their parents have lost him. But in only one instance is the means of grace called church discipline able to be utilized. In only one instance is there great hope and great reinforcement because we did things God's way.

Brothers and sisters, Let's do things God's way. Young men, young women, I need you to hear me. Listen to me with all that you are right now, whether you're a member of this church or not. Everybody listen, little ones. I'm looking at you.

Thank you, my brother. Thank you. You need to hear me. I want you so very much to trust Jesus Christ. I want you so very much to turn from your sin, to look outside of yourself and believe on the Lord Jesus.

I want that more than anything probably. My heart's desire for you is that as you turn from your sin and you throw yourself upon the mercies of God in Jesus Christ, who loved you, gave himself for you, dying in your place, the righteous for the unrighteous, Children, my heart's desire is that you believe and then you're baptized. I long, I really long to baptize you. I want to baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit who worked your salvation. I want to baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit who worked your salvation.

I want to baptize you in the name of the triune God who saved sinners like you little people. I long for you to join this church in baptism. I want so badly for you to declare to all the world and to your siblings and to your fathers and to your mothers, I am a part of God's people. And I really, really, really want you to participate in this table too. I want you to be able to come to church every Sunday and be able to remember with your parents and your siblings and the other brothers and sisters in this room what Jesus did for you.

I really want that for you. I long to proclaim together with you at this table the good news that condemnation is defeated in your life. That sin is no longer your master. That all of the promises of God are true for you. And they're true for you.

And they're true for you. I really want to do that with you. I really want to do that with you. I really want to do that with you. I mean, it's saving me right now that my own children are back there.

As I was working through this sermon, I could not keep it together when I got to this part about my heart's desire, but when I don't, it's nice that they're not there. I want Abigail and Annie and Ellie and Emmy with all of my heart to submit to the Lord Jesus Christ, to be a part of this body and to participate with her father and mother in the communion of the Saints. There is nothing more and so children I can't look at you I'm trying to keep it. I had went through the directory right before I got sick this week. And I pled with God for each and every single one of you.

I pled with God that you would this day trust in the crucified, risen, and resurrected Savior, every one of you by name. I want that so badly for you. I have prayed that you would come to Jesus and hear. You would come to Jesus and then join us as members of this church through baptism, partaking of the table. And I want to invite you this morning to come.

Tell your parents, I want to come to Jesus. Did you hear what Pastor Grant just said that Jesus said? Did you hear what Jesus said, Mommy and Daddy? He told me to come. He told me to come.

Did you hear that, Mommy and Daddy? And that Mommy and Daddy, you gotta have answers for them. And you need to know, little ones, that if that happens and you trust Jesus and become a member of this church through baptism, when that happens, when that happens and you enter into sin and you won't turn from this sin, If you start living like it's okay to sin, and you entertain sin and you think that sin isn't a big deal, and what you used to say is no longer true and you just throw it all away, you need to know something little ones. You need to know that there will be an entire congregation of people who will chase you down, who will plead with you to let go of the evil and destruction that you're flirting with. They will come after you.

There will be a whole congregation of people, these people, who will not stop until they are sure that you are either repentant or that you are not a Christian. You need to hear that this morning, little ones. We will go after you. And if you will not turn, we will excommunicate you and take the greatest of all tables, the greatest of all feasts, and the authority of God will take it all away from you until you do repent. Because we love you more than you could possibly know.

That's the answer to the question, How do we obey? I'm sorry if I did not do a well job. Did my best. We should do things God's way. Final question, and this is very short, very brief.

How does anyone enter Christ's kingdom? I've already answered the question a million times. I'm just going to give you a couple of quotes. A few quotes. How do we enter the kingdom?

Spro says this. God's kingdom belongs to small children, not because they're innocent, but because they model true believers who have nothing to bring and everything to receive. Spurgeon said it this way, instead of growing wiser in order to be fit for Christ, we must be more conscience of ignorance, more trustful toward him, more dependent on him, and more childlike. And lastly Albert Moeller. In contrast to these great influential leaders in Jewish society who were seeking to destroy Jesus, small children, the least in society, are brought to Jesus not to dispute and not to test Him, but to receive and accept His blessing.

They lacked status and importance and yet received blessing from Him. Jesus said that they were to exemplify how anyone will enter the kingdom of God. They display dependent reception. They contribute nothing to the blessing. They simply receive it from Jesus by faith.

The kingdom of God will be entered in the same way. Children, young ones, old ones, entrance into the kingdom is all by grace. You bring nothing but your need. Christ was crucified for sinners. His blood shed for the remission of sins.

And so, like a child, running away from the danger of their sin to the comfort of the Father. Christian, you can run in the same way. Children run away from danger to their father, Christian, lost person. The call is the same. Run away from the danger of destruction.

Trust Christ and He will have a promise for you that he will never leave you or forsake you, for such is who the kingdom was for." Allow me one final quote and then we are through. Last quote from Joel Beeke. Parents, what good are we? So Beeke asks, what good are we? He says here, this is how Beeke encourages us here at the end.

Do not trust in yourself or in your own techniques. Trust the Son of God. Trust in the covenant-keeping character of God. Trust His heart of mercy. Heed the command and promise of the Lord Jesus.

Ask and it shall be given to you. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and that shall be opened to you. For everyone that asks shall receive, and he that seeks unto him that knocks shall be opened. The invitation is open to you too, parents, to come unto Jesus.

He hinders you not. Let us pray together. Father, our prayer is that of the hymn, O give us homes, built firm upon the Savior, where Christ is head and counselor and guide, where every child is taught his love and favor and gives his heart to Christ crucified. O Lord our God, our homes are thine forever. We trust to thee their problems toil and care.

Their bonds of love no enemy can sever, If thou art always Lord and Master there. O Father, be thou the center of our least endeavor, And be thou our guest, our hearts and homes to share. For your name's sake we pray, And all the people of God said, Amen. Musicians, if you'd come.