Jesus and the Children
(No. 1925)
A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, OCTOBER 17, 1886,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"And they brought young children to Him, that He should touch them: and
His disciples rebuked those who brought them. But when Jesus saw it, He
was much displeased and said to them, Suffer the little children to
come to Me, and forbid them not: for of such is the Kingdom of God.
Verily I say unto you, Whoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as
a little child, he shall not enter in it. And He took them up in His
arms, put His hands upon them and blessed them." Mark 10:13-16.
IT must be a very great sin, indeed, to hinder anybody from coming to
Christ. He is the only way of salvation from the wrath of God. He is
salvation from the terrible judgment that is due to sin–who would dare
to keep the perishing from that way? To alter the signposts on the way
to the City of Refuge, or to dig a trench across the road would have
been an inhuman act, deserving the sternest condemnation. He who holds
back a soul from Jesus is the servant of Satan and is doing the most
diabolical of all the devil's work! We are all agreed about this.
I wonder, my dear Friends, whether any of us are quite innocent in this
respect? May we not have hindered others from repentance and faith? It
is a sad suspicion, but I am afraid that many of us have done so.
Certainly you who have never believed in Jesus, yourselves, have,
sadly, done much to prevent others believing. The force of example,
whether for good or bad, is very powerful and especially is it so with
parents upon their children, superiors upon their underlings and
teachers upon their pupils. Perhaps, Father, if you had been an earnest
Christian, your son would not have been ungodly. Possibly, dear Mother,
if you had been decided for the Savior, the girls would have been
Christians, too. We have to speak and judge after the manner of men
but, assuredly, example is a great fashioner of character. We can, none
of us, tell, if we go down to Hell, how many we shall draw with us, for
we are bound to thousands by invisible bands. Here's the respect which
makes a wide calamity out of the ruin of a single soul. Over the tomb
of each sinner may be read this epitaph, "this men perished not alone
in his iniquity." "None of us lives to himself and no man dies to
himself."
If we could fling our souls away as solitary stones out of the sling,
this were woe enough, but since we are all threaded beads upon the
string of common life, where one goes, many go with him. The plague of
sin will not confine itself to one man's house–it sallies forth from
every door and window–and slays its victims all around so that "one
sinner destroys much good." May I put this question to those of you who
have never repented of your sins, nor sought the Savior's face? Have
you calculated what baneful influences are streaming from your lives
upon the souls of your children, your wives, your brothers, your
friends? Jesus says, "He that is not with Me, is against Me, and He
that gathers not with Me, scatters abroad." How many have you scattered
abroad like wandering sheep? How many have you induced to remain
careless and godless since they see you doing the same? These are
solemn reflections for those who mean no harm and yet are doing it.
Do not some persons go further than their example and hinder others
from coming to Christ by discouraging speeches? They dishearten those
who are hoping for better things. Working men are to be found who never
see any tenderness towards holy things in a fellow employee but what
they hasten, at once, to wound his heart. If they suspect a comrade of
endeavoring to escape from drunkenness, they ridicule him–and if he
goes further and exhibits faith towards God–they make him the football
of their contempt! It must entail a fearful responsibility upon a man
for him to make himself the opposer of all good in his companions. Why
are so many eager to undertake this responsibility? It is a sorrowful
thing that certain men will let others alone and even be friendly with
them, should they drink, swear and commit
lewdness–and yet, as soon as they have serious thoughts of religion,
they attack them bitterly! Half a fault in a Christian is made the
theme of the most ungenerous comment–but actual crimes will be excused
in an irreligious person! Why should men wish to prevent their fellow
beings from being saved? Friend, if you choose to ruin your own soul,
why should you try to ruin others? Why play the dog in the manger? If
you will not have religion for yourself, why not let others have it? It
can be no gain to you either in this world, or in the world to come, to
stand with a club at the gates of life to drive back all who would
enter!
Again, certain would-be wise people hinder souls from coming to Christ
by cunningly insinuating doubts about the Revelation of the Divine
Word. They have heard from an infidel lecturer, or from some "modern
thought" preacher, a dangerous piece of error and they no sooner find a
young mind inclined to serious things than they, at once, repeat this
pretty lie! By their captious questions, they stagger young minds. By
their evil teaching they dry up the springs of repentance and paralyze
the strength of faith. Fierce as Pharaoh, they would throw all new-born
faith into the river of doubt. Cruel as the Prince of Darkness, they
would quench every newly-kindled candle of hope. They are more diligent
to destroy the faith than others are to spread it! What an accumulation
of guilt must be resting upon the mind of the man who breathes out
doubt as other men breathe air! Neither God, nor Christ, nor Heaven,
nor Hell can escape the foul steam of his infidelity. See how he blasts
the souls on whom he breathes!
Calculate his crimes. Put down the soul-murders of which he is guilty.
Item–a young man decoyed from the Bible class, familiarized with
blasphemous notions and then led into outward sin and speedy death.
Write that down in blood! Note the next item–a young girl, once
hopeful and considerate, impressed by the supposed scientific knowledge
of an unbeliever is led from the faith of her mother and, by-and-by,
snared by the world so as to live and die impenitent. Write that also
in blood to be demanded at the doubter's door in the Last Great Day!
Woe unto those who act the part ofjack-als to the lion of Hell! May God
give repentance to those who have been the bodyguard of the Prince of
Darkness, doing his murderous work with both their hands by denying the
Truth of God and sowing the seeds of unbelief! If I speak to any such,
I do it with sorrowful indignation and I beg them to turn from their
evil way.
In many ways, evil-minded persons may lead others to that evil decision
which, in the ungodly, almost occupies the same place as conversion in
the case of the regenerate. Minds in their early days are plastic. The
first seven years of our being often shape all the rest. At any rate,
give to godly teaching the first 12 years of any child and it will be
difficult to erase the writing. Some seem to take a wretched delight in
stamping upon the soft clay their own vile impression and in confirming
upon youth the dangerous tendencies already present! These people work
conversions unto evil by which young minds become settled in vice and
established in wickedness!
God save us from hindering a single soul from coming to Christ and
Heaven! I cannot help trembling, sometimes, lest a cold and chilly
sermon of mine should wither young buds of promise; lest in the Prayer
Meeting a wandering, rambling prayer from a heartless professor should
dampen the rising earnestness of a tearful seeker. I tremble for you,
my dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, lest levity of conversation,
worldliness of conduct, inconsistency of behavior, or callousness of
demeanor should, in any one of you, at any time, turn the lame out of
the way, or give cause of stumbling to one of the Lord's little ones.
Lord, save me from being a partaker in other men's sins and especially
in being, in any measure, the cause of another man's destruction! Oh to
be clear of the blood of all men! God forbid that we should be
accomplices in the murder of souls, either before the fact, or in the
fact, or after the fact–for in each of these ways we may be guilty!
God help us, Brothers, to avoid this great sin of hindering others in
their coming to Christ!
Yet this is not the subject of my discourse this morning. I shall only
deal with a single form of it. I am going to speak upon the great sin
of hindering the young from coming to Christ. First, let us describe
it. Secondly, let us watch its action. Thirdly, let us see how Jesus
Christ condemns it. And then, lastly, let us take a hint from the
doctrine which our Lord incidentally lays down. It may be that the Lord
will bless this to our souls.
I. LET US DESCRIBE THIS SIN of hindering young children from coming to
Christ.
First, I may say of it that it is very common. It must be common, or
else it would not have been found among the 12 Apostles. The immediate
disciples of our Lord were a highly honorable band of men despite their
mistakes and shortcomings. They must have been greatly sweetened by
living near to One so perfect and so full of love. I gather, therefore,
that if these men, who were the cream of the cream, rebuked the mothers
who brought their young children to Christ, it must be a pretty common
offense in the Church of God. I fear that the chilling frost of this
mistake is felt almost everywhere. I
am not going to make any ungenerous statement, but I think if a little
personal investigation were made, many of us might find ourselves
guilty upon this point and might be led to cry, with Pharaoh's butler,
"I do remember my faults this day." Have we laid ourselves out for the
conversion of children as much as we have done for the conversion of
grown-up folks? What? Do you think me sarcastic? Do you not lay
yourselves out for anybody's conversion? What must I say to you? It is
dreadful that the spirit of Cain should enter a Believer's heart and
make him say, "Am I my brother's keeper?" It is a shocking thing that
we should, ourselves, eat the fat and drink the sweet–and leave the
famishing multitudes to perish! But tell me, now, if you did care for
the salvation of souls, would you not think it rather too commonplace a
matter to begin with boys and girls? Yes–and your feeling is shared by
many. The fault is common.
I believe, however, that this feeling, in the case of the Apostles, was
caused by zeal for Jesus. These good men thought that the bringing of
children to the Savior would cause an interruption–He was engaged in
much better work–He had been confounding the Pharisees, instructing
the masses and healing the sick. Could it be right to pester Him with
children? The little ones would not understand His teaching and they
did not need His miracles–why should they be brought in to disturb His
great doings? Therefore the disciples as good as said, "Take your
children back, good women. Teach them the Law of God, yourselves, and
instruct them in the Psalms and the Prophets and pray with them. Every
child cannot have Christ's hands laid on it. If we suffer one set of
children to come, we shall have all the neighborhood swarming about us
and the Savior's work will be grievously interrupted. Do you not see
this? Why do you act so
thoughtlessly?"
The disciples had such reverence for their Master that they would send
the prattlers away lest the great Rabbi should seem to become a mere
teacher of babes! This may have been a zeal for God, but it was not
according to knowledge! Thus in these days, certain Brothers would
hardly like to receive many children into the Church lest it should
become a society of boys and girls. Surely, if these come into the
Church in any great numbers, the Church may be spoken of in terms of
reproach! The outside world will call it a mere Sunday school. I
remember that when a fallen woman had been converted in one of our
county towns, there was an objection among certain professors to her
being received into the Church and certain lewd fellows of the baser
sort even went the length of advertising upon the walls the fact that
the Baptist minister had baptized a harlot! I told my friend to regard
it as an honor.
Even so, if any reproach us with receiving young children into the
Church, we will wear the reproach as a badge of honor! Holy children
cannot possibly do us any harm. God will send us sufficient of age and
experience to steer the Church prudently. We will receive none who fail
to yield evidence of the new birth, however old they may be–and we
will shut out no Believers, however young they may be! God forbid that
we should condemn our cautious Brothers, but, at the same time, we wish
their caution would show itself where it is more required. Jesus will
not be dishonored by the children–we have far more cause to fear the
adults!
The Apostles' rebuke of the children arose, in a measure, from
ignorance of the children's need. If any mother in that throng had
said, "I must bring my child to the Master, for he is sorely afflicted
with a devil," neither Peter, nor James, nor John would have demurred
for a moment, but would have assisted in bringing the possessed child
to the Savior. Or suppose another mother had said, "My child has a
pining sickness upon it. It is wasted to skin and bone. Permit me to
bring my darling, that Jesus may lay His hands upon her"–the disciples
would all have said–"Make way for this woman and her sorrowful
burden." But these little ones with bright eyes, prattling tongues and
leaping limbs–why should they come to Jesus?
Ah, Friends, they forgot that in those children, with all their joy,
their health and their apparent innocence, there was a great and
grievous need for the blessing of a Savior's Grace! If you indulge in
the novel idea that your children do not need conversion–that children
born of Christian parents are somewhat superior to others and have good
within them which only needs development–one great motive for your
devout earnestness will be gone! Believe me, Brothers and Sisters, your
children need the Spirit of God to give them new hearts and right
spirits or else they will go astray as other children do! Remember that
however young they are, there is a stone within the youngest
breast–and that stone must be taken away, or be the ruin of the child!
There is a tendency to evil even where as yet it has not developed into
act–and that tendency needs to be overcome by the Divine Power of the
Holy Spirit, causing the child to be born again! Oh that the Church of
God would cast off the old Jewish idea which still has such force
around us, namely, that natural birth brings with it Covenant
privileges! Now,
even under the old dispensation there were hints that the true Seed was
not born after the flesh, but after the spirit, as in the case of
Ishmael and Isaac and Esau and Jacob. Will not even the Church of God
know that, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is
born of the Spirit is spirit?" "Who can bring a clean thing out of an
unclean?" The natural birth communicates Nature's filthiness, but it
cannot convey Grace. Under the New Covenant we are expressly told that
the sons of God are "born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man, but of God." Under the Old Covenant, which was
typical, the birth according to the flesh yielded privilege, but to
come at all under the Covenant of Grace you must be born again! The
first birth brings you nothing but an inheritance with the first Adam.
You must be born again to come under the headship of the second Adam!
But it is written, says one, "that the promise is unto you and to your
children." Dear Friends, there never was a grosser piece of knavery
committed under Heaven than the quotation of that text as it is usually
quoted! I have heard it quoted many times to prove a doctrine which is
very far removed from that which it clearly teaches. If you take one
half of any sentence which a man utters and leave out the rest, you may
make him say the opposite of what he means! What do you think that text
really is? See Acts 2:39–"The promise is unto you, and to your
children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our
God shall call." This grandly wide statement is the argument on which
is founded the exhortation, "Repent, and be baptized, everyone of you."
It is not a declaration of special privilege to anyone, but a
presentation of Grace as much to all that are afar off as to them and
to their children! There is not a word in the New Testament to show
that the benefits of Divine Grace are, in any degree, transmitted by
natural descent–they come "to as many as the Lord our God shall call,"
whether their parents are saints or sinners! How can people have the
impudence to tear off half a text to make it teach what is not true?
No, Brothers and Sisters, you must sorrowfully look upon your children
as born in sin and shaped in iniquity, "heirs of wrath, even as
others." And though you may, yourself, belong to a line of saints and
trace your pedigree from minister to minister, all eminent in the
Church of God, yet your children occupy precisely the same position by
their birth as other people's children do, so that they must be
redeemed from under the curse of the Law by the precious blood of Jesus
and they must receive a new nature by the work of the Holy Spirit! They
are favored by being placed under godly training and under the hearing
of the Gospel, but their need and their sinfulness are the same as in
the rest of the race. If you think of this, you will see the reason why
they should be brought to Jesus Christ–a reason why they should be
brought as speedily as possible in the arms of your prayer and faith to
Him who is able to renew them!
Also, no doubt, this feeling that children may not come to Christ may
be derived from a doubt about their capacity to receive the blessing
which Jesus is able to give. Upon this subject, if I were at this
moment to deal with facts, alone, and not with mere opinion, I could
spend the whole morning in giving details of young children whom I have
personally conversed with, some of them very young children, indeed. I
will say broadly that I have more confidence in the spiritual life of
the children that I have received into this Church than I have in the
spiritual condition of the adults thus received. I will even go further
than that and say that I have usually found a clearer knowledge of the
Gospel and a warmer love to Christ in the child converts than in the
grown-up converts. I will even astonish you still more by saying that I
have sometimes met with a deeper spiritual experience in children of 10
and 12 than I have in certain persons of 50 and sixty!
It is an old proverb that some children are born with beards. Some boys
are little men and some girls are little old women. You cannot measure
the lives of any of us by our ages. I knew a boy who, when he was 15,
often heard old Christian people say, "The boy is 60 years old–he
speaks with such insight into Divine Truths of God." I believe that
this youth at 15 did know far more of the things of God and of soul
travail than any around him, whatever their age might be. I cannot tell
you why it is, but I know it is that some are old when they are young
and some are very green when they are old. Some are wise when you would
expect them to be otherwise and others are very foolish when you might
have expected that they had left their folly.
Oh, dear Friends, talk not of a child's incapacity for repentance! I
have known a child weep herself to sleep by the month together under a
crushing sense of sin. If you would know a deep, bitter and awful fear
of the wrath of God, let me tell you what I felt as a boy. If you would
know joy in the Lord, many a child has been as full of it as his little
heart could hold. If you want to know what faith in Jesus is, you must
not look to those who have been befuddled by the heretical jargon of
the times, but to the dear children who have taken Jesus at His Word
and believed in Him, loved Him and, therefore, know and are sure that
they are saved! Capacity for believing lies more in the child than in
the man! We grow
less rather than more capable of faith–every year brings the
unregenerate mind further away from God and makes it less capable of
receiving the things of God! No ground is more prepared for the good
Seed than that which, as yet, has not been trod down as the highway,
nor has been, as yet, overgrown with thorns! Not yet has the child
learned the deceits of pride, the falsehoods of ambition, the delusions
of worldliness, the tricks of trade, the sophistries of philosophy–and
so far it has an advantage over the adult! In any case, the new birth
is the work of the Holy Spirit and He can as easily work upon youth as
upon age.
Some, too, have hindered the children because they have been forgetful
of the child's value. The soul's price does not depend upon its years.
"Oh, it is only a child!" "Children are a nuisance." "Children are
always getting in the way." This talk is common. God forgive those who
despise the little ones! Will you be very angry if I say that a boy is
more worth saving than a man? It is infinite mercy on God's part to
save those who are seventy–for what good can they now do with the end
of their lives? When we get to be 50 or 60, we are almost worn out and,
if we have spent all our early days with the devil, what remains for
God? But these dear boys and girls–there is something to be made out
of them! If now they yield themselves to Christ, they may have a long,
happy and holy day before them in which they may serve God with all
their hearts! Who knows what Glory God may have of them? Heathen lands
may call them blessed! Whole nations may be enlightened by them! If a
famous schoolmaster was accustomed to take his hat off to his boys
because he did not know whether one of them might not be Prime
Minister, we may justly look with awe upon converted children, for we
do not know how soon they may be among the angels, or how greatly their
light may shine among men! Oh, Brothers and Sisters, let us estimate
children at their true value and we shall not keep them back, but we
shall be eager to lead them to Jesus at once!
In proportion to our own spirituality of mind and in proportion to our
own child-likeness of heart, we shall be at home with children–and we
shall enter into their early fears and hopes, their budding faith and
opening love! Dwelling among young converts, we shall seem to be in a
garden of flowers, in a vineyard where the tender grapes give a good
smell!
II. Secondly, concerning this hindering of children, LET US WATCH ITS
ACTION. I think the results of this sad feeling about children coming
to the Savior is to be seen, first, in the fact that often there is
nothing in the service for the children. The sermon is over their heads
and the preacher does not think that this is any fault. In fact, he
rather rejoices that it is so! Some time ago a person who needed, I
suppose, to make me feel my own insignificance, wrote to say that he
had met with a number of Negroes who had read my sermons with evident
pleasure. And he wrote that he believed they were very suitable for
what he was pleased to call, "Niggers." Yes, my preaching was just the
sort of stuff for "Niggers" he said. The gentleman did not dream what
sincere pleasure he caused me, for if I am understood by poor people,
by servant girls, by children, I am sure I can be understood by others!
I am ambitious to preach to anyone, if, by these you mean the lowest,
the rag-tag and bob-tail. I think nothing greater than to win the
hearts of the lowly! So with regard to children. People occasionally
say of such a one, "He is only fit to teach children. He is no
preacher." Sirs, I tell you that in God's sight he is no preacher who
does not care for the children! There should be at least a part of
every sermon and service that will suit the little ones! It is an error
which permits us to forget this.
Parents sin in the same way when they omit religion from the education
of their children. Perhaps the thought is that their children cannot be
converted while they are children and so they think it of small
consequence where they go to school in their tender years. But it is
not so. Many parents even forget this when their girls and boys are
closing their school days. They send them away to the Continent, to
places foul with every moral and spiritual danger, with the idea that
there they can complete an elegant education. In how many cases I have
seen that education completed and it has produced young men who are
thorough-paced profligates and young women who are mere flirts! As we
sow we reap. Let us expect our children to know the Lord! Let us, from
the beginning, mingle the name of Jesus with their A B Cs. Let them
read their first lessons from the Bible! It is a remarkable thing that
there is no book from which children learn to read so quickly as from
the New Testament–there is a charm about that book which draws forth
the infant mind. But oh, dear Friends, let us never be guilty, as
parents, of forgetting the religious training of our children, for if
we do, we may be guilty of the blood of their souls!
Another result is that the conversion of children is not expected in
many of our Churches and congregations. I mean that they do not expect
the children to be converted as children. The theory is that if we can
impress youthful minds with
principles which may, in later years, prove useful to them, we have
done a great deal. But to convert children as children, and to regard
them as being as much Believers as their seniors is regarded as absurd!
To this supposed absurdity I cling with all my heart! I believe that of
children is the Kingdom of God, both on earth and in Heaven! It is a
sacred joy to me, on Thursday night, to notice certain boys and girls
who have, for a long time, attended the pastor's Prayer Meeting with
great regularity! Some of you old folks do not come and pray for your
pastor, but these children do, for they love their pastor and he, on
his part, highly values their prayers! Happy Church which is adorned
and blessed by prayers of dear children who early learn to cry to the
great Father for the hallowing of His name and the coming of His
Kingdom! We expect to see children converted and we do!
Another evil result is that the conversion of children is not believed
in. Certain suspicious people always file their teeth a bit when they
hear of a newly-converted child–they will have a bite at him if they
can. They very rightly insist upon it that these children should be
carefully examined before they are baptized and admitted into the
Church, but they are wrong in insisting that only in exceptional
instances are they to be received. We quite agree with them as to the
care to be exercised, but it should be the same in all cases and
neither more nor less in the cases of children. I thank God that the
most of those dear children who have been added to this Church could
stand a rigid examination in doctrinal matters and would bear favorable
comparison with the older folks! But still, it seems to me a very harsh
thing that a high degree of knowledge should be expected of them.
How often do people expect to see in boys and girls the same solemnity
of behavior which is seen in older people! It would be a good thing for
us all if we had never left off being boys and girls, but had added to
all the excellencies of a child the virtues of a man. Surely it is not
necessary to kill the child to make the saint! It is thought, by the
more severe, that a converted child must become 10 years older in a
minute. A very solemn person once called me from the playground after I
had joined the Church and warned me of the impropriety of playing at
trap, bat and ball with the boys. He said, "How can you play like
others if you are a child of God?" I answered that I was employed as an
usher and it was part of my duty to join in the amusements of the boys.
My venerable critic thought that this altered the matter very
materially, but it was clearly his view that a converted boy, as such,
ought never to play! What foolery, Brothers and Sisters! I will say no
more.
Do not others expect from children more perfect conduct than they,
themselves, exhibit? If a gracious child should lose his temper, or act
wrongly in some trifling thing through forgetfulness–straightway he is
condemned as a little hypocrite by those who are a long way from being
perfect themselves! Jesus says, "Take heed that you despise not one of
these little ones." Take heed that you say not an unkind word against
your younger Brothers in Christ, your little Sisters in the Lord! Jesus
sets such great store by His dear lambs that He carries them in His
bosom–and I charge you who follow your Lord–show a like tenderness,
in all things, to the little ones of the Divine family. I will not say
more on that point.
III. And now let us notice, thirdly, how JESUS CONDEMNED THIS FAULT.
First, He condemned it as contrary to His own spirit. "They brought
young children to Him, that He should touch them: and His disciples
rebuked those who brought them. But when Jesus saw it, He was much
displeased." He was not often displeased. Certainly He was not often,
"much displeased," and when He was much displeased, we may be sure that
the cause was serious. He was displeased at these children being pushed
away from Him, for it was so contrary to His mind about them. The
disciples did wrong to the mothers. They rebuked the parents for doing
a motherly act–for doing, in fact, that which Jesus loved them to do.
They brought their children to Jesus out of respect to Him. They valued
a blessing from His hands more than gold. They expected that the
benediction of God would go with the touch of the great Prophet. They
may have hoped that a touch of the hand of Jesus would make their
children's lives bright and happy. Though there may have been a measure
of weakness in the parents' thought, yet the Savior could not judge
harshly of that which arose out of reverence to His Person. He was,
therefore, much displeased to think that those good women who meant Him
honor, should be roughly repulsed.
There was also wrong done to the children. Sweet little ones! What had
they done that they should be chided for coming to Jesus? They had not
meant to intrude. Dear things! They would have fallen at His feet in
reverent love for the sweet-voiced Teacher who charmed not only men,
but children, by His tender words! The little ones meant no harm and
why should they be blamed?
Besides, there was wrong done to Himself. It might have made men think
that Jesus was stiff, reserved and self-exalted like the Rabbis. If
they had thought that He could not condescend to children, they would
have sadly slandered the repute of His great love. His heart was a
great harbor wherein many little ships might cast anchor. Jesus, the
Child-Man, was never more at home than with children. The Holy Child
Jesus had an affinity for children. Was He to be represented by His own
disciples as shutting the door against children? It would do sad injury
to His Character. Therefore, grieved at the triple evil which wounded
the mothers, the children and Himself, He was sorely displeased.
Anything we do to hinder a dear child from coming to Jesus greatly
displeases our dear Lord. He cries to us, "Stand off. Let them alone.
Let them come to Me and forbid them not." Dear gray-headed Friends, who
are so strict and good, I must get you to stand back a bit and suffer
that child to come to Jesus, for I do not wish the Lord to be
displeased with you. And you, good Christian Sisters, who have curdled
a little in your temper, I must beg you be quiet lest the Lord should
be displeased with you, as He will be if you forbid the children to
come to Him! So, you see, it was contrary to His spirit.
Next, it was contrary to His teaching, for He went on to say, "Whoever
shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not
enter in it." Christ's teaching was not that there is something in us
to fit us for the Kingdom of God and that a certain number of years may
make us capable of receiving Grace. All His teaching went the other
way, namely, that we are to be nothing and that the less we are and the
weaker we are, the better, for the less we have of self, the more room
there is for His Divine Grace! Do you think to come to Jesus up the
ladder of knowledge? Come down, Sir, you will meet Him at the foot! Do
you think to reach Jesus up the steep hill of experience! Come down,
dear climber–He stands in the plain! "Oh, but when I am old, I shall
then be prepared for Christ." Stay where you are, young man! Jesus
meets you at the door of life–you were never more fit to meet Him than
now. He asks nothing of you but that you will be nothing and that He
may be All in All to you. That is His teaching–and to send back the
child because it has not this or that is to fly in the teeth of the
blessed doctrine of the Grace of God!
Once more, it was quite contrary to Jesus Christ's practice. He made
them see this, for, "He took them up in His arms, put His hands upon
them and blessed them." All His life there is nothing in Him like
rejection and refusing. He says truly, "Him that comes to Me, I will in
no wise cast out." If He did cast out any because they were too young,
the text would be falsified at once–but that can never be! He is the
Receiver of all who come to Him. It is written, "This Man receives
sinners and eats with them." All His life He might be drawn as a
Shepherd with a lamb in His bosom–never as a cruel shepherd setting
his dogs upon the lambs and driving them and their mothers away! I have
neither time nor strength to say more and I must close with a mere
glance at our last point.
IV. LET US TAKE THE HINT WHICH JESUS GIVES TO THOSE WHO WOULD COME TO
HIM. "Whoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child,
he shall not enter in it." How I wish that all my congregation would
come and receive Christ as a little child receives Him! The little
child has no prejudices, no preconceived theories nor opinions it
cannot give up. It believes what Jesus says. You must come in the same
way to learn of Christ. I fear you know a great deal–throw it out the
window! You have made up your mind about a great many things–unmake
your mind and be as wax to the seal before Jesus!
A little child believes with an unquestioning faith which makes
everything vivid and real. Believe just so! The child believes in all
humility, looking up to its teacher and receiving its teacher's word as
decisive. Believe in Jesus just so! Say, "Lord, I am a know-nothing. I
come to You to be taught. I am nothing, be You my All in All."
A child, when it comes to Christ, comes very sincerely and with all its
heart. It knows nothing of sinister motives, or of formality. Its
repentance and faith are genuine. I wish you would come to Christ this
morning, you poor guilty ones, in real earnest, just as you are. Do not
play at religion any more. Do not look for fine words with which to
trim yourselves and make your prayers look neat and pretty, but come as
a child does, in all simplicity, not ashamed to talk as your heart
feels.
When a child believes in Jesus, it cares nothing for critical points.
That is the way you must come to Christ. You that have always been
inventing religious riddles–you that for many years have been readers
of the last new novels in modern theology–for they are mere novels and
nothing better! You that have addled your brains with the vain thoughts
of vain men, come to Jesus as you are and believe what Jesus says
because Jesus says it! Take Christ at His Word and trust Him– that is
the way to be saved!
"But I have no merit," said one, "I have no preparation." Neither has a
child. I never find children troubled about being prepared for Christ.
I never hear of such a thing as a child worried about qualifications
for Grace! A child is a sinner and knows it. That is the way to come to
Christ. Come as a sinner, knowing that you are such! Say, "Jesus calls
me, and I come; Jesus died for me and I trust Him." That is the true
way to come to Jesus. O Friends, instead of thinking yourselves more
fit for Christ by growing bigger, grow smaller! Instead of getting
greater, get less! Instead of being more wise, be more completely
bereft of all wisdom and come to Jesus for wisdom, righteousness and
all things!
Sometimes when we are very feeble and our language is very simple, God
may bless it all the more and I do pray He may, this morning, set His
seal upon this poor talk of His sick servant! Every particle of my
flesh and every atom of my bones is praying God to bless this sermon!
Grim pain has been racking me while I have been speaking. May this
discourse be more honorable than its brethren because I bore it with
sorrow! I long, I pine, I cry before God that He may bless this feeble
word of mine to your conversion and to the conversion of many dear
children. Those of you who have never looked to Christ and lived, do
unto Christ, I pray you, just what these dear children did–He called
them and they came and were folded in His arms. Come along with you! Do
you half wish you could be a child, again? You can be! He can give you
a child's heart and you can be in His Kingdom newly-born. May it be so,
for His name's sake! Amen.