R311 Experiencing God Through the Preciousness of Our Children

God has an encouraging word for you and me today through the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton and a message on the blessing of children. This is The Encouraging Word featuring Dr. Don, well-known author, evangelist, seminary professor, pastor, and today leading us in this particular message, experiencing God through the preciousness of our children. We'll head to Matthew chapter 18 in just a moment, but Dr. Don wants me to remind you we're here to connect with you.

We'd love to pray with you and for you as we go through the broadcast. Our number is 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673 or connect online as well at www.tewonline.org. That's where everyone's raving about this fresh new book from Dr. Wilton on Dr. Billy Graham called Saturdays with Billy.

Again, details at www.tewonline.org. Now, today's teaching with Dr. Don. Please turn with me in your Bibles this morning to Matthew's Gospel in chapter 18. Matthew's Gospel chapter 18, experiencing God through the preciousness of our children. Whenever one begins to think about our children, one immediately begins to think about a lot of questions, don't we? There is a very real sense in which when dealing with children, particularly related to their spiritual well-being and their relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, that we must understand very clearly where we stand in relation to what God's Word teaches us about children. This morning as we study God's Word, and I hope that you have a copy of God's Word with you, I want us to look at two passages of Scripture in which Jesus specifically speaks to us about the preciousness of our children from a spiritual perspective. In Matthew chapter 18 and verses 1 through 6, at that time, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Now, if I may just pause there for a second, I think that it is very important as adults to understand the question that was asked in order to understand the answer that was given. Hear these people gathering around Jesus and they were apparently Christian people.

The Bible says they were his disciples. This was not a question that was asked by the non-Christian world. This was a question that was asked by moms and dads and grandparents and single adults and college students who have a spiritual interest in the spiritual well-being of children. This is going beyond the bank balance.

This is going beyond our own personal interests. Yeah, they said, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? I don't believe that they were expecting Jesus to say something about children. You know, it seems like the disciples were always jostling for a place of priority at the right-hand side of the Lord Jesus Christ.

They were always trying to find out somewhat who was going to be able to be seated closest to the king. And Jesus gave a very interesting reply. He said in verse 2, he called a little child and had him stand among them and he said, I tell you the truth. Now, anytime Jesus uses that word in the authorized version, he says, verily, verily, I say unto you.

Whenever Jesus said that, he was planting and anchoring what he was saying in the mind of God. I tell you the truth that unless you change grown-up disciples and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Now turn over the page to Matthew chapter 19 and verses 13 through 15. Matthew chapter 19 and verses 13 through 15. Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them.

What a beautiful picture that is. What a wonderful description, what an excellent portrait of God's instruction to you and to me. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. Now again, very interesting here that those who were the disciples of the Lord had great difficulty because Jesus was placing such an emphasis on little children. I mean, after all, children should be seen but not heard. You know, what do children know anyway? We've got important business here. We understand theology, we've been to seminary.

We get up in business meetings and we ask a lot of questions. And we put the focus on all kinds of things and Jesus was saying, Your problem is that you're constantly putting the focus on the wrong things. You're out of whack with my intent and my purpose.

You need to keep the main thing the main thing. That's what Jesus was saying to these people. His disciples rebuked those who brought them.

Isn't it amazing that there's always going to be somebody who's not going to understand the spiritual things of God? And the Bible says that even his disciples had a problem with someone as precious as children and the priority that he was giving to them. So Jesus said, and here is the key, let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.

And when he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there. May the Lord write his word upon our hearts. When does a child qualify for salvation?

How old must a child be? What happens to my child if he or she dies before he or she has given his or her heart to Jesus? I think that this passage here addresses many of these issues and I'm going to just touch on them briefly. There are four overriding principles that I believe Jesus shared with his disciples about experiencing God through the preciousness of children. Number one, they have been clearly identified. They have been clearly identified, not only in this passage in chapter 19, in both verses verse 13 and in verse 14, but again in chapter 18 verses 1 through 6, you can go to 1 John and read about the apostle John writing to the church, to Christian people and literally begging them to become as little children. In fact, if you go throughout 1 John, which we preached on last week, you're going to find out that he uses this word little children constantly and there is a tremendous linkage between what Jesus was identifying in terms of what we know and what Jesus was identifying in terms of what he knew about the kingdom of heaven, about the character of heaven and about those who are qualified to enter into God's presence.

They were clearly identified. Jesus didn't mince his words. He spoke about little children and it seems to me as I'm sure that it seems to you that Jesus took these precious little ones that we could just gobble up and eat most of the time and he just took them and he placed them upon his knee and he loved them and he turned to those around about them and he said to them, these are the ones who characterize and epitomize all of the grace of God and every mark of distinctiveness about that place called heaven and God's kingdom.

Just look to a child. He put them in the absolute place of prominence. He didn't say make them secondary or third. He said you bring them into the front of the line.

He's going to say in just a moment, I'm not only going to tell you that these little children are precious but I'm going to take it to the absolute eternal limits of my outpouring grace and I'm going to tell you that the kingdom of heaven belongs to them. Wow. Was he stretching a point? Principle number two. Number one, they have been clearly identified. Number two, they have been divinely authorized. They have been divinely authorized. You see here in verse 14, Jesus used the word let.

Now in the authorized version, that word there is suffer. He says suffer the little children to come under me and what? And forbid them not. You see when Jesus began to explain to his disciples that we experience God through the preciousness of our children, he handed down a divine authorization. Folks, I want you to know something as a congregation that none of us would ever defy parental authority. I would never tell a child to disobey his parents, never. But I'm going to say to you my friends that when it comes to little children and their spiritual well-being, God mandates his divine authorization and he says I don't care who or what or when or how I have spoken. Let these little children come to me and do not prevent them from doing so.

You say how can you prevent children from coming to him? Well in the life of a believer it's possible, it's possible for me to prevent my children from coming to Christ. And the reason is not because I am deliberately doing that, but because as a parent I have a wonderful concern for the well-being of my child and I'm petrified that my child is going to make a decision that's going to amount to nothing but a hill of beans so that when my child is a teenager while they thought they gave their life to Christ, they never had a personal relationship with him.

There's not a parent in here who fears that happening and it does happen. But you see my friend, salvation, salvation is the work of God. It begins in God and it ends in God. I would rather err on the part of my child making a decision for Christ than to err on the part of preventing them from coming to know Christ. Statisticians and youth workers like Hub Blankenship tell us that the older a person becomes, the more less likely it is that they will give their lives to Christ. And Jesus was saying at the earliest possible date, at that age of accountability, when that child is ready to respond to the gospel and to the moving of the Spirit of God, you and I as believers need to stand back and rejoice and teach and nourish and undergird and do everything that we possibly can. I try and meet with parents when their children make professions of faith. I know that I cannot do that with everybody in the congregation. But I do it with a lot.

It's an absolute priority to me. But then in the life of the unbeliever, an unbeliever can prevent children from coming to know Christ. Probably my most sad experience was years ago when my father-in-law was pastoring in a place called Kentwood, Louisiana. And there was a story that got into the newspapers about a vacation Bible school and a little girl who gave her life to Christ. And when she got home in her childlike face, she walked in the door and said, Mommy and Daddy, I gave my heart to Jesus. And Daddy said, you did, did you? Got into his car and drove to the pastor's home and when the pastor opened the door, the father beat the pastor up very severely. When he had finished beating him up and getting all the anger out of him, he said, and I hate to even say this, but it was in the newspaper, he said, I want you to know, you so much as ever talk to my daughter about Jesus or God or any other kind of stuff, I'll come back and kill you.

Now you and I sit here in Spartanburg and we say, that's unbelievable. Well, that's a radical example, but I'm going to tell you that there are people all over the world today who will far rather see their children go and see an X-rated movie than to give their lives to Jesus Christ. Jesus said, suffer the little children to come under me and forbid them not.

But there's a third principle. Number one, they have been clearly identified. Number two, they have been divinely authorized.

Number three, they have been specifically directed. You see, Jesus said in verse 14, let the little children come to me. In another passage, Jesus said this.

He said, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. Jesus wasn't saying as parents that our goal ought to be come to church, which ought to be one of our goals. Our goal ought not to be look at us at what we're doing. Our goal ought not to be singing the choir or become a part of key change or the youth group. Our goal ought to be that in everything that we do, we need to direct the child to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a specific direction. It's pointing that child to the cross.

It's majoring on the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified. Perhaps it's exactly what the apostle Paul was trying to say when he said, I save to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. They have been clearly identified.

You don't have to guess about whom Jesus was speaking. They've been divinely authorized. Jesus said, this is what I've decided.

Do it. Number three, they've been specifically directed. But number four, they've been eternally secured.

They have been eternally secured. This is a wonderful thought. Jesus said, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.

Folks, I want to say something without any apology in my heart. People ask from time to time and justifiably so if my child or my baby dies, where does that baby or child goes if they have not had the opportunity yet because of their maturity and their age to give their life to Christ? I'll tell you, there's no doubt in my mind, they go straight to heaven. They go straight to heaven. You say, how can these things be if a child is a sinner condemned to die? Absolutely, folks. I cannot explain the sovereignty of God.

But I do know that if a child or a baby has never had an opportunity because of his or her age to make a decision in response to the spirit of God, I'm convinced that Jesus Christ was telling us that the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. Please forgive the interruption. We'll be back in just a moment. But Dr. Wilton insists I interrupt to let you know we're here for you. We're connecting both on our website, tewonline.org, and this phone number. We love to talk with you, pray with you, connect with great resources at 866-899-WORD.

Jot the number down, store it in your cell, 866-899-9673. We'll connect with one of us. Happy to talk or listen or pray or connect with wonderful resources like the new book from Dr. Wilton called Saturdays with Billy.

If you haven't heard about it, it's an exciting new project. Here's Dr. Don with more. Hello, everybody. You know, my friends know me as Don Wilton, pastor, friend, neighbor, dad, husband, grandpa. But I'm going to tell you people all around the world just like you know and identify Dr. Billy Graham as that man that God used to reach so many people around the world for the Lord Jesus Christ. I had the privilege of knowing Mr. Graham in a very personal and intimate way, both as his friend and as his pastor. In fact, for many years, I drove up to his home in Montreat, North Carolina, and visited with him every Saturday, just like friends do everywhere. We sat together and ate together, walked, talked. We discussed politics, friends, places, people. We laughed our heads off. We did everything one could possibly imagine. That's why I wrote this wonderful book, Saturdays with Billy.

It's all about a personal relationship. And I hope and pray that Saturdays with Billy will be a blessing to you, will inspire you, and will encourage your heart, just as Mr. Graham encouraged my heart and changed my life. God bless you, my friends. The number to call for more information on how you can get your copy of that great book is 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673. Or take a look right now on www.tewonline.org, our website, and you'll find out how you can get a copy.

That's www.tewonline.org. Now back to today's great teaching, Experiencing God Through the Preciousness of Our Children with Dr. Don Wilson. We'll find out and consistently write throughout Scripture. But then I believe Jesus was taking us further into the mind of Christ at this juncture. He was telling us that they have been eternally secured.

What does that mean? He was talking about the character of heaven. He was talking about the qualification for entrance into heaven. How does eternal security and membership in God's eternal bliss and glory apply to the life of a child? Well, there are many characteristics of a child, but I want to share just four of them with you. Consider a child's tenderness. What Jesus was saying is that if you want to understand what it means to belong to the kingdom of heaven, look at a child.

Become like a child. Tenderness. You see, a child's tenderness is something that you and I cannot even begin to describe.

I mean these children down here. It is just, it is so spontaneous and it is so pure and it is so deep and it is so heart-wrenching. It just gets down into your very heart and your soul. What a wonderful blessing.

What a wonderful blessing. You look around at our boys and our girls and we just love them so much and you consider a child's tenderness and you gain a little glimpse of what Jesus was trying to teach us about eternal security in heaven. Number two, consider a child's faith. I challenge any of you to go to a child and say, would you give me a theological discourse on your understanding of all the potential possibilities about the sovereign grace of God? It's guaranteed that child was going to say to you, wait a minute, Dr. Wilton, your mental verbosity is far beyond the comprehension of my inferior intelligence, at which point you say, jolly good, you qualify to become a Christian.

Consider a child's faith. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong.

They are weak but he is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, and guess what? Jesus loves you too.

How do I know that? For the Bible tells me so. The day in this church, folks, that we ever become a church that makes God forbid a decision that all we're going to do is preach up here, we're in trouble. The day we stop preaching so that children can understand is the day we're missing the mark of what God has called us to do.

That's why we have discipleship training groups and everything else on Sunday nights and on and on the list goes. A child's tenderness, a child's faith, number three, a child's dependency. I'll guarantee you can tell a child to do almost anything.

If they love you, they're going to do it. That's what makes the things that some people do to children so horrendous and so sad in society. But then there's a fourth thing about children.

Consider a child's joy, just the joy of a child. Isn't it amazing? You know, there's just nothing like it. You know when I came out on the parking lot last Sunday? Here comes this little one and I mean, she's just filled with the joy of life. I mean, yeah, she's just out on the parking lot. I mean, just going. I mean, you know, she could just get into whatever you wanted to.

It didn't matter. I mean, it's just, everything just wondered. Look, I mean, she's all over and she runs and she saw her little brother over there and boy, she just start running down the hill and kaboom on her face. It just breaks my heart.

Why? She didn't deserve that. Wish I could get down there and just scrape the pain off her and eat it and have it myself.

Just think of a child's joy. Over 35 years ago, my wife's sister, Priscilla Bolton, found herself in a Sunday school class with my father-in-law and mother-in-law, Reverend Ed Bolton. And during that Sunday school hour, based upon a lot of love, my sister-in-law that I didn't know at that time gave her life to the Lord Jesus. My wife's sister, Priscilla, gave her life to Jesus on that Sunday and she said, Lord Jesus, come into my heart.

The next day they went on holiday and a few days after that, Priscilla fell into a swimming pool and she drowned. You know, that was over 35 years ago and my parents-in-law have never forgotten that. And I've seen the agony in their faces, but I can never forget the joy that they express every time because Priscilla had given her heart to Jesus. Would you bow your heads with me? There are many doing what Dr. Don just asked us all to do, to bow our heads, to open our hearts and maybe close our eyes to close out some distractions, whether it's the distractions in our worship center that is the sanctuary or the hangar, wherever you might be right now, wherever you are, I ask you to do the same thing, not if you're driving, but if you have the opportunity, block out some of the distractions and ask yourself, not have you heard something unique from Dr. Don Wilton today, but perhaps have you heard through God's messenger, Dr. Don Wilton, a loving message from God about how you are His child, that is, if you've said yes to Him. If you have not said yes and asked the Lord to come into your life to be your Savior, then you are not His child yet. And He is using this broadcast to let you know He loves you, He is a plan for you in this life, a place for you in heaven, and a reason for you to live every single day to the fullest in His power, but you have to say yes to Him first. You've heard Dr. Don preach, but I pray you'd open your heart right now to what Dr. Don wants to share from his heart. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ?

I'm so happy to hear that. Why don't you pray this prayer with me today? Dear God, I know that You love me very, very much, and I know that the Lord Jesus Christ came and died on a cross so that I might be forgiven of my sin. Today, I repent of my sin, I confess my sin to You, and I invite You to come into my heart and into my life, I pray. In Jesus' name I pray. If you've prayed that prayer, let me be the first one to welcome you to the family of God.

This is wonderful. I hope that you know how much I'm going to be praying for you and how very important this is for me. Call us so that we can talk to you and connect you in the right place so you can begin this wonderful journey.

And in just a moment, I'm going to come back with a final word. If you just gave your life to Jesus Christ, praying along with Dr. Wilton, or maybe you rededicated your life, oh, we have wonderful resources Dr. Don wants you to have if you'll call us and let us know at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673. We'd love to connect with you or connect with you on the keyboard-to-keyboard way at the website, tewonline.org. And again, we mentioned it earlier, but I just want to share one more time what Dr. Don wants to share about his great new resource, The Book Saturdays with Billy. My book, Saturdays with Billy, is about an extraordinary relationship with a precious man who impacted lives across the world. You don't want to miss this opportunity to be inspired by his life too. Again, if you'd like to discover how you can get your copy of that great book with Dr. Don Wilton sharing his heart about Saturdays with Billy, call us at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673. Or, meet us online at tewonline.org. That's tewonline.org. ¶¶ ¶¶ The encouraging word ¶¶