R1480 The Promise Through Children

The Promise Through Children. That's today's message from Dr. Don Wilton on this edition of The Encouraging Word. The Encouraging Word We'll head to Matthew chapter 18 for this powerful message on The Promise Through Children in just a moment, but know that we're connecting with you 24 hours a day on our website at www.tewonline.org.

That's www.tewonline.org. The Encouraging Word And now, Dr. Don Wilton. I want to speak to you about something where we're going to connect the dots. You ready for this? I'm telling you, this is going to bless your heart today. Not because of what I say, but because of what Jesus is going to show us. You know, Jesus many times spoke in word pictures.

He used a lot of illustrations and he showed us things. And I'm going to show you, we're going to be in Matthew 18 in a minute. And I'm going to show you something here because Jesus was asked one of the deepest questions you can ever be asked. And can you believe what he did was he singled out a child and told this child to come over. And I'm going to ask the question, why do you suppose he did that? Why would he bring a little person over to answer the question of big people? Why would he bring a little people to answer an eternal question that big people want to know about?

Why would he do that? Love being around little children is just nothing like it. So Karen, my wife, comes up to me a couple of weeks ago. She says, have you seen this? I said, what? She showed me this YouTube thing, which I know many of you have seen. But if I haven't watched that thing 50 times already, I don't know.

It is the funniest thing. I'm telling you, it is so classic and I'm just compelled to show this to you today because you're about to see the reality of the preciousness of little children. And we're going to connect the dots because this is what Jesus did. Jesus said, bring this little fellow over here and let me answer your question. Now watch this, or if you take your Bibles, just look at this on your app, your Bible, just take a look at Matthew chapter 18. This is an amazing thing that happened here with Jesus. I mean, this is, it boggles my mind.

I'd like to just read this to you. At that time, the disciples came to Jesus. All right, can we just agree that there's a whole lot of big people?

You know, we call ourselves adults, big people. So these big people came to Jesus and they asked him a question and I'd like to just explain this question. They said, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Now remember that these disciples who followed Jesus around, they knew he was for real. They understood that.

They followed him, they loved him. And they came to Jesus and they said to him, what is it that we need to know about what it is that we need to do in order to be considered worthy of being in heaven with you? I'm going to just put that into simple terms. What do we need to tell this world that we're living in? We live in a turbulent world, a political world, a world filled with racial injustice, with sexism, with violence against people.

We live in a world that is being turned on its head. These people were looking at and saying, you know, even the religious people are on the warpath, these Sadducees and Pharisees and the stuff we're hearing out of the synagogues and the churches and everybody has got an opinion on how it is that we get to heaven. So it stands within reason that these disciples called Jesus and they come alongside of him and they say, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Now look what Jesus did. Verse 2, and calling to him a child, he put the child in the middle of them.

So here we are, if we just picture ourselves here today, if I had us all to stand up and in a way just form a big circle of big people. And let's call a child. By the way, the word there is not the word infant. The word there is a little child, so put an age group, you know, two years old. He brought this little child, maybe three years old, maybe four years old, but bring this little child and he brings the little child and he puts the little child in the middle of all the adults. Can anyone see him there? Hard to see a child in the middle of adults. I want you to really understand this picture.

It's a fantastic picture. It's an illustration. Jesus is giving us a word picture.

So he calls the child, puts him in the middle of them, and then Jesus says, now I'm going to tell you the truth, the absolute truth. This is the way it is, big people. Are you listening? Adults, are you listening?

This is it. You've asked me now, you've said, what is it that it takes for us to get into heaven and to be considered of anything in God's economy? And Jesus said, I say to you, you, big people, you adults, you men and women, you young adults, you college students, unless you turn, and that word there means change. Now, all of a sudden, we're going to run into some very thought provoking things, unless you turn and become like children. You will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Any questions? Anyone today ever asked the question, I wonder if I'm going to go to heaven? Or maybe your question is, what do I need to do in order to be saved? How do I enter the kingdom of heaven? Jesus said, unless you change and become just like this little child. By the way, he wasn't talking about going back into a childlike state, he's talking about the soul spirit. Unless you're willing to accept me in the same way that a little child accepts, you're not going to receive forgiveness.

You're not going to have your name written in the Lamb's Book of Life. This is quite a staggering statement here. He doesn't beat around the bush, did you notice that Jesus didn't look at them and say, now look, I just want you to understand this, I'm just using this as an illustration. And you know, if you didn't quite get it, it's okay. Jesus said something very radical, he said, unless you change and become like a little child, you cannot, you will not, you're not going to heaven.

I mean, this is a powerful statement here. I wrote down some things here and I want to, because I wrote these down, little children, I asked myself the question, why did Jesus use a little child to say something so eternally profound? So what can we say about a child? All our mothers are going to identify with us, us dads too.

Children are very uncomplicated. Don't you love that about them? Karen and I were walking down a road last week when we were with our senior adults in California. You know, it just sticks out in mind, we're walking down a road somewhere and here comes a mother and a father and a little boy.

I still see him, cutest little thing, man, he just walking along the road. And he just, when I said, hey, as he went by, he stopped, turned around, you would have thought he had known me for generations. He just felt, I mean, he was two years old, two bricks and a tiki high.

He looked up, talked to, just uncomplicated. Little children are very short. Did you notice that about children? They're little people. Isn't that an interesting statement?

I'm going to say something about salvation just now. Do you know that little children, for the most part, can't really see what's going on? I hope I'm not damaging anybody here, but I always feel, you know, I'm so glad we got all these gadgets in our motor cars.

Now we can play videos and give them this and do that and all the rest of it. Because little children sitting in the back seat, they can't see a thing. They just look at a back seat.

They look at the window, down the base of the window. Because they're little people. Little children are very short. Little children are unknowing. Now at every stage of development, they acquire different stages of knowledge. But as a general rule, a two-year-old is very unknowing. Their thoughts are not like refined and all properly organized. You know, like these two precious little boys, one of them says yes, the other one says no.

I mean, it's just as cute as anything. They're unknowing. Little children are incapable. If you haven't noticed something, this is a big secret now. If you've got little children, you're going to notice something about them.

If you don't bring them to church, they're not coming. Isn't that profound? They're incapable.

And you can run that analogy with food and, I mean, all the way down. They're incapable. Little children are trusting.

There's my fifth thought about little children. They're just trusting. You know, they just trust. They trust dad. They trust mom. They trust the friend. They trust the brother.

They trust the sister. Little children are dependent. They're dependent on.

Everything has to be done. Little children are poor. Say, oh, well that's a, where did you learn that from? Little children are poor. Did you know that? They're poverty stricken. They don't have the means. You don't see little children walking around the mall choosing a pair of shoes and paying it with their credit card. They're just poor. It has to be done for them. Do you know little children that are loved in a home never have to be concerned that they have to buy something, pay money in order for mom to provide the meal?

Never. Do you know why I do things for my family? Just because I love them. They're just there.

It's like they just are perpetually offering themselves. Come play with me. Mommy, will you play with me? Please forgive the interruption. We'll be back in just a moment, but Dr. Don wants me to remind you we're here for you connecting 24 hours a day at 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673. And online as well at TEWOnline.org where you'll discover great resources like this. 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. It's such a powerful book.

Again, details are on our website at TEWOnline.org where there are many resources that will help you grow your faith. Now back to today's great teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. This is Mother's Day, right? Dads, don't get too busy for the availability of your little ones because I'm going to tell you the time is going to come.

They're not going to be quite as available. So I'm busy, Dad. I've got to be somewhere. Now let me take this call first.

I'll get back with you. Some of you dads maybe, you're so occupied in a good way. Your business, your life, watching that ball game. And guys, watch your iPhones. Put it down with your little ones. Some of you are going to restaurants and you're sitting in restaurants and all you're doing is sitting there looking at Facebook and doing all your stuff.

Man, I just got to do this. And your little one's sitting there with his face in a chicken finger, totally available, just wanting a little attention and you're not giving him the time of day. That little word availability is quite a challenging word, isn't it? I battle with that. We all do, man. We all battle with that.

But little children are just available, right? It's like, hey, it's me. Please talk to me. Play with me. Throw something at me.

Let me throw something at you. And little children are humble. Really, at the heart of little children, they have no strings attached. See, we adults, when we grow up, if you take this little thought pattern that I've got you and of course you can add many more to them, we're just so complicated and we're just so tall and big. We're just big. We see everything and we know everything and we're so capable. Hey, you talking to me?

You don't think I don't know that? We're so untrusting. We're so independent.

We're so rich. We just got it, man. We want it, you know. We'll save up and get it. We're so unavailable. I'll do it in my own time.

And we're so bound by pride. Now watch this. I'm switching sheets here. So here's the child. This is this little child. Jesus is asked a question by the likes of me, by a big person. I'm a big person.

You. And these big people who knew him went to him and said, Lord, we know you and we love you and we believe you and we want to know what it is that we need to be telling this world in which we live about what it means to get into heaven. Jesus said, bring that little fellow over here and he put him right in the middle of them. I think Jesus was showing them the best illustration of the promise of salvation. So here it is.

Ready? This is what he was saying to them. Number one, you want to go to heaven? It's uncomplicated. Jesus loves you.

He died for you, gave his life for you, and he invites you to put your trust in him. Any further questions? Uncomplicated. Do you know how bent out of shape people get even over theology?

Trying to get into the... I'm not against that. Jesus was showing these guys. Salvation is uncomplicated. Salvation is not easily seen.

This was a little person, couldn't see. Jesus was saying, just as this little boy cannot see. When it comes to salvation, you walk by faith, not by sight. Salvation is not easily seen. You don't have to see salvation in order to receive salvation.

You don't have to be tall and adult and grown up. You don't have to have a high rise perspective in order to put your faith and trust in Jesus. Three, salvation is not fully understood. See, what was my third one here?

Little children are unknowing. Salvation is not fully understood. Well, I'm doing my best to try and explain to you what it means to trust Jesus. I tell you, it doesn't matter how much you and I, you will never fully understand God. That's why we trust him by faith. You beat yourself to death trying to fully understand God. Now, I'm telling you, I didn't say that you need to do everything you can.

That life group, that discipleship group, that Bible study that you go to, that women's gathering that you're in, that preaching service in which your pastor is teaching you. We need to do everything we can, but anybody here like to declare that we will ever fully understand the mind of God? Number four, salvation is all God. Remember I said to you about little people, they are incapable.

There is nothing that a child can really do capably for herself. Salvation is all God. It begins with God and it ends with God. That's why you trust him. Jesus said, unless you turn and become like a little child, knowing in your heart and accepting before the greatness of God that you yourself are incapable, it's all God. Just accept, just thank, just trust him.

Salvation, number five, is all trust. That's children, they just trust. I love that about little children. You know, in the earlier service today, there was a whole family that joined the church and got a little baby and they were introducing him and I've never been around this little fellow and I just walked down here and just picked him up. He just let me. I'm not saying all babies just respond automatically to strangers.

I didn't say that. But there's something so beautiful about the trusting of a child. I was in one of the corridors here with all the log jam as a little boy there.

I didn't know the little boy from a bar of soap but you'd thought he and I were best friends. I love that, man. Salvation is so all trust. Salvation, this picture, has to do with total dependency. Total dependency.

It's an abdication of depending on anything that I am capable of doing because only God can. Salvation, look at this, number seven, cannot be bought. Remember what I said about little children, they're all dirt poor. Some of them might have a grand inheritance.

I'm telling you, children in and of themselves per se are dirt poor. They have no control and salvation cannot be bought. It's not dependent on a bank balance. It's not dependent on an offering.

It's not dependent on anything. The Bible says we are not redeemed with corruptible things but with the incorruptible, with the precious blood of the lamb. We were bought with the price, with the sacrifice of Jesus.

Salvation, Jesus was trying to tell us, is freely available. What did we say about children? Children are just available. Hey, talk to me, Daddy. Come throw the ball. Let's play together. Salvation is just available because when Jesus died, he looked across this world and he saw you and me and he said, I love you so much, I've died for you. All of you can come to me. All of you can receive salvation. All of you can be forgiven.

It's freely available. Salvation, not last but not least, requires submission. The last thing I will say about children, at heart, children live in a perpetual state of humbleness because children are so subject to everybody else and everything else. And Jesus looked at this little boy and said, you come over and the little boy said, yes, sir. He said, stand here, little boy.

Yes, sir. And I can only imagine the little boy standing there in the middle of all of these people and Jesus is saying, you see, the manner with which this little boy obeyed my voice in a humble attitude and just did what I asked him to do, and it is that I love you so much. I invite you to humble yourself in my presence and just accept what I've done for you. And that great truth of knowing that as we humble ourselves in his presence and accept this free gift, our lives can be changed forever.

You've heard powerful teaching from Dr. Don Wilton today as he's been teaching from the pulpit and now as he steps into the studio, open your heart to what he wants to share next. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today I repent of my sin and by faith I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name. My friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.

This is exciting news. Welcome to the family of God. I'm convinced that some of you, perhaps praying along with Dr. Wilton moments ago, gave your life to Jesus for the first time or rededicated your life. Or perhaps you have questions.

Let's not let this moment pass without you making that decision. You can call us at 866-899-WORD. We'd love to talk with you and pray with you. That's 866-899-9673. And if you did give your life to Christ or rededicate your life, Dr. Wilton has some free resources.

He wants you to have today. If you'll call us and tell us how God's working in your life, that's 866-899-9673. Or meet us on our website at www.tewonline.org. That's www.tewonline.org. And while you're there, be sure and sign up for the daily encouraging word, free email from Dr. Don. It is a powerful insight to every single day. That's www.tewonline.org.