[0:00] Good morning, everyone. A warm welcome to the service this morning and a special welcome to those who are visiting with us.! It's good to see a number of visitors from different places and you're especially welcome.
[0:14] If you're able to stay behind at the end of the service, please do so. And there's tea and there's coffee served in the time of fellowship available. The couple of notices, I've got 23 of them in front of me, but I'm only going to give you four or five.
[0:30] So, first of all, just to say that during the service, the creche is just over my shoulder. So, if there's wee ones and you want to take them out into the creche, then you can go out that door and take a left turn.
[0:44] There's also Sunday school for visiting children who are here. You're welcome to go to the Sunday school if you'd rather not sit and listen to the whole sermon. But only the children.
[0:54] The service this evening will be at 6pm as usual and that will be taken by Scott. Scott will head off, I think it's on Wednesdays at Scott, off to a conference and then on to Cope Ridge where he'll do six weeks.
[1:11] And Cope Ridge, Fiona and the girls and Angus will follow on in a couple of weeks' time. So, Scott will be preaching this evening. His last preach here for a wee while, so be encouraged to come out this evening for that service.
[1:24] Prayer meeting on Wednesday at half past seven. As we have each year, we'll have a visit from Donald MacLeod. He'll speak about the free church camps which are coming up.
[1:36] A good number of our young folks are going. So, it'll help us to know what's happening and how we can be praying in advance of them going to these camps. Service is next Sunday.
[1:48] The morning service will be taken by myself at 11. The evening service will be at 6. And that will be an evening communion service as we've had, I think, the last two years in June.
[2:01] So, this will actually be Gordon and Gillian's last official service with us before they head off to Carloway.
[2:12] I had the duty of handing over Gordon and Gillian's lines to them this morning, which they'll carry from Harris to Carloway for a period.
[2:24] So, we have been praying. We continue to pray for Gordon and Gillian and the girls as they prepare for the next chapter as God leads them into ministry. And this will be Gordon's last official Sunday with us.
[2:38] So, what will happen is Gordon will preach and then we'll have a communion at the end of the service. And I'll conduct the communion part. After that, there's a, well, not after that, but there's a retiring collection for Tier Fund's Mimoire Earthquake Appeal and informal fellowship at the end of that service.
[2:55] So, please note that for next Sunday and continue to pray for Gordon and the squad at this time. A couple more things. First to say, the Lewis Conference is on this month, 19th to 21st of June.
[3:14] You've got details there on the screen. The second thing is the faith mission, tent mission, has been ongoing since the 1st of June. It's through until the 15th of June in Coonloch.
[3:26] And you're welcome to go along to these meetings also. The last thing is just an intimation I notice with sadness. Many of you will have heard that this morning, Mrs. Mary Morrison, Scott Road, passed away very peacefully.
[3:45] So, she was in Harris House for the last maybe two years, was it? And so, she passed away peacefully this morning. She went downhill quite quickly. She looked very good when I left before Romania.
[3:58] But she went downhill quite quickly over the last few days. She was a bright, gentle, steady, gracious Christian lady. She walked with the Lord for many, many years.
[4:11] And now we have that assurance that she is with the Lord and with the Lord's people. Reconciled with many that she would have enjoyed fellowship with over the years.
[4:24] But was separated with for a period. And so, we are thankful for our life. Our prayers are with the family. No arrangements have been made yet.
[4:34] But you'll hear of that over the next couple of days. These, I think, are all the notices. So, let's begin this time of worship. And we'll sing the first item of praise.
[4:47] The words will be on the screen in just a moment. Though the nations rage, kingdoms rise and fall. There is still one king reigning over all.
[4:59] So, I will not fear. For this truth remains. That my God is the Ancient of Days. So, in just a moment, we'll stand to sing to God's praise. Thank you, Father, who will stand to the ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth ninth One game Reigning over all So I will not fear For this truth remains That my God is The Ancient of Days
[6:00] None above Him None before Him All of time in His hands For this throne it shall remain And ever stand All the power, all the glory I will trust in His name For my God is The Ancient of Days Through the dread of night Overwhelms my soul He is here with me I am not alone So His love is sure And He knows my name
[7:01] For my God is The Ancient of Days None above Him None before Him All of time in His hands For His throne it shall remain And ever stand All the power, all the glory I will trust in His name For my God is The Ancient of Days The Ancient of Days Though I may not see What the future brings I will watch and wait For the Savior King When my joy is
[8:03] When my joy is complete Standing face to face In the presence In the presence Of the Ancient of Days The Ancient of Days None above Him None before Him All of time in His hands For His throne it shall remain And ever stand All the power, all the glory I will trust in His name For my God is The Ancient of Days For my God is The Ancient of Days Let's bow our heads
[9:08] And let's draw near to God in prayer Let's pray Our Heavenly Father We thank You for the blessing And for the steadying assurance That we are given As we sing these truths That come from Your Word We thank You that You are The God who is over all The one true Lord Almighty We thank You that You are The sovereign King And that there is nothing That is beyond Your vision There is nothing that is beyond Your reach And we thank You that in everything You are at work Working out Your purposes And oftentimes we confess We cannot see what You are doing But Your Word tells us That Your ways are higher Than our ways Your thoughts are higher Than our thoughts You are the infinite God And we are finite human beings
[10:10] With limited understanding But we pray that You would help us To trust You Help us in the good times Not to rely on ourselves And to trust You Only And we ask Lord That when we go through hard times That we would not lose sight of You That we would not lose faith In Your promises But that we would trust That You are at work Always Even when we cannot see What You are doing And as we think Of the cross We have the supreme Example of that When all look to be so dark And hopeless We thank You Father That You were working out The purpose of our salvation You were sending Your Son To go to the cross in our place So that our sin could be forgiven So the curse of sin could be taken from us And the blessing of God The salvation of our souls
[11:10] Could be freely Graciously offered to all who believe So help us to believe we pray We pray for anybody here this morning Who may not yet know the Lord Jesus Anyone who may not at this time Have faith in Christ And we ask that You would be working In each heart That You are the God Who gives faith as a gift To those who are looking for it And so we pray for any Who are searching Any who may be confused Any who may be at a crossroads Even in life We ask Father That You would speak to them Through Your Word That the Lord Jesus Would be lifted up In everything that we do And that each one of us Would be drawn in faith to Him The one who promised That there is life Life in abundance And life that is eternal For all who believe We thank You for the comfort That is to us also As we think of Mary As we remember her life
[12:11] As we give You thanks For our life And for our witness We thank You That we have not been left In the dark As to where Your people go When they close their eyes In death We thank You That those who are in Christ Are safe in the arms of Jesus We thank You That there is a place That is prepared for all Who know and love the Lord A place called heaven A place where there is no sickness And no sin No tears No death But perfect life and peace And we thank You For the assurance that we have That Mary is in that place Because of the faith That she had in Jesus We pray that You would bless All of the family Those who are here And those who will come On later and travel We ask that You would Strengthen them That You would grant to them Your comfort And that You would be near To them Especially over these days And be with us As a congregation As we prepare to gather again
[13:13] And to seek Your word For our souls We pray that You would lead us And guide us In this week We pray Lord That You would be At work in each of our lives We remember Gordon and Julian As they prepare To leave us here As a congregation And go to Carloway Go before them we pray And go with them Lead them and guide them And all of the family As they seek to follow Your will We pray for Scott And Fiona as well As they prepare to go To Cope Ridge We ask that You would be With them And with the girls And with we Angus That the time away Would be a time of blessing For them And for the congregation And that they would continue To know Your hand upon them We pray Lord That as we prepare To baptise Little Angus today That we would know Your presence In a special way And we pray for him And for the family That they would know Your hand upon them For good
[14:14] We ask Lord That You would be With all who struggle At this time We are conscious Of those who are sick We are always aware Of those who are Struggling with addictions We continue to remember Many more Who are suffering grief From loved ones Who have passed Not only in recent hours But in recent weeks And months And years We leave them In Your hands And ask that You would be Near to them And we pray for all Who would seek To proclaim Your word We think of the faith mission Especially in Kinloch And we ask Lord That as the word Goes forth That it would go forth In the power Of the Holy Spirit And that many Would trust in Jesus As a consequence Of all that is preached So hear our prayers Lead us and guide us In this service We ask this in Jesus name And for Jesus sake Amen Boys and girls Would you like to Come forward please How are you all today?
[15:31] Good, good Good stuff Well I don't have anything In my hands To show you today But I do have I don't have something To show you But I have someone To show you And he's sitting over Immediately If you could see What I'm seeing I've been in Romania The last couple of weeks With Kenny and Taffy And immediately Kenny was looking like this Don't look at me Taffy's sitting over there So I want to show you Taffy this morning You can't miss him He's there in the middle And I could tell you Lots of stories About Taffy And Kenny And others In Romania And probably Over the next few weeks I will But today I just thought I would tell you A very simple story About the way that Taffy was With children
[16:32] Because when we were Over in Romania We were in a Big place It was like a camp And every summer Lots and lots Of children come And they have like Weeks and weeks Of holiday clubs And so we were Getting that place Organised And there was one Well let me tell you First of all You know sometimes When big people Are working You know when They're doing jobs Maybe they're working On the car While they're working On the house With tools And they're doing a job And you might come along And say What are you doing?
[17:07] They'll kind of Look at you Can I help? And most of the time Big people will say Just I'm busy just now Watch out I'm trying to finish this job Watch out of the way That's often what Big people will do Isn't it?
[17:23] When they're working On a job They'll say No no Just leave me Just now You can't help It's too dangerous Just watch out of the way Let me finish this You're in my light That's what my dad Used to always say to me Watch out of the way You're in my light There was a wee boy Over in Romania And his name was Bogdi And whenever Taffy Was doing a job He'd always come over And he'd start looking He'd be looking over everything And he'd put his hands in there And hands in there And asking the question What are you doing?
[17:57] And you know Taffy Would never say To Bogdi Watch out of my road Or stay out Because I'm doing something About dangerous just now He'd always just say Come on over No problem You want to see what I'm doing?
[18:14] Yes you can see I'll show you this Here's a hammer Here's a saw No health and safety In Romania Working on a roof You want to come up with me?
[18:24] No problem at all But the thing is Taffy would always say To the children Yes come on over Come over with me And do you know Who that reminded me of?
[18:41] Jesus Now today When you go to Sunday school We're going to read A few wee bits In the Bible And we're going to read About a time When There was lots of Little children And they were being Brought to Jesus And do you know What the disciples said When they were seeing The children being Brought to Jesus Do you know What the disciples said To the parents Who were bringing them?
[19:08] They said Keep the children away Get the children Out of here Can't you see Jesus is very busy And he's very tired The disciples said To the parents Keep the children away And do you know What Jesus said?
[19:28] He said To the disciples Don't dare say that He said To the disciples You tell the children To come To me Let the little children Come To me Don't stop Them coming Said Jesus To the disciples And so Jesus Said that All these years ago And Through the Bible Week by week When we read it Jesus still says Let the children Come To me So boys and girls Do you know That Jesus Wants you Shawnee Finley All of you Jesus wants you To come to him Do you think There's ever a time When Jesus
[20:28] Doesn't want you To come to him Do you think If you wake up In the middle Of the night And you're feeling A bit scared It's very late Do you think Jesus would say It's a bit late To come just now Or do you think He would say Come to me Do you think You're in school And you're a bit Stressed out Because maybe You've been asked A question And you don't Know the answer Or maybe your Friends aren't Being as kind To you as you Wanted Do you think There's ever A time like that When Jesus Would say Don't bother me With that stuff Or do you think He would say Come to me Always Always Always With everything Jesus Wants you Lily Katie Aileen Emily Ellie Michael Benjamin To come To him Always
[21:28] How can you Speak to Jesus Don't need a Mobile phone Do you Just need To pray How can you Hear what Jesus wants To say To you What do you Need to do Family Read the Bible Or read your Book Benjamin The Fisherman That's How we Hear Jesus Speaking to Us He speaks To us Through His word And why Does he Want you To come To him Why Does he Want to Speak To you Why Does he Want to Listen To you Why Do you Think This is The last Question Why do you Think he Wants you To come To him Really Because he Loves you That's Exactly The right Answer So for The little Children You're Probably Actually Bigger Children For the
[22:29] Bigger Children Jesus Says To you Come To me He'll Always Hold you Close For the Tiny Little Children Who Don't Yet Have Legs That Are Strong Enough To walk On their Own And who Don't Maybe Have Minds That Are Fully Developed Enough To want To Actually Say yes I'll Come Do you Know what He says He says To the Parents I Want You To bring Your Children To me And so This Morning Scott And Fiona Are going To make A promise In front Of the Connegration To God And they Are going To promise That they Will keep On bringing Angus Alistair To Jesus In the Hope and Prayer That when
[23:29] He's old Enough Like you Guys He will Want Himself To come To Jesus And trust Jesus As his Own Savior And Lord God So I'm Going To ask Scott And Fiona Maybe the Girls As well You can Over this Side Too If Scott And Fiona And the Girls Could come Up Just now And I'm Going to Ask Scott And Fiona Not the Girls But you Can stand With them I'm Going to Ask you Four Questions And then We will Baptize This little Man So as They stand And as they Answer their Questions Can I ask The congregation If you're Able Please Stand With Okay Everybody's Here Now Scott And Fiona Do you Acknowledge The Bible
[24:30] To be The word Of God And your Only guide In all Matters Of faith And conduct Do you Confess God Father Son And Holy Spirit As revealed In scripture To be Your God Do you Profess faith In Jesus Christ As the Only Saviour Of sinners And as Your Saviour And Lord And do you Promise Independence On God's Promised Help By your Prayers Teaching An example To bring Up Your child In the Instruction And discipline Of the Lord Angus Alistair MacLeod Angus Alistair MacLeod I baptise You In the Name Of the Father And the Son And the
[25:32] Holy Spirit The Lord Bless you And keep You The Lord Make his Face to Shine upon You And be Gracious To you The Lord Lift up His Countenance Upon you And give You Peace Let's say A very Short Prayer Angus Lord God We thank You for This day And for The joy Of all That we Do We thank You for Angus For his Life For the Blessing That he Is in The family And in The church Family And we Pray that As he Grows up He would Grow up To know You Lord Jesus And trust You As his Own Savior His Own Lord We pray For Scott And for Fiona And for Katie And for Lily As they Try in Their lives To point Angus To Jesus So bless So bless always pointing Angus to Jesus and to be seeking to encourage each one of us to look to Jesus, the author, the finisher of our faith. So bless us, Lord, we pray, and bless little Angus especially, that he would know your hand upon him for good, now and always. And we pray this in Jesus' name.
[27:06] Amen. Good job, little man. I'll hand you over to Dad. We are going to sing now, and we're going to sing the hymn that we would normally sing after a baptism.
[27:27] Mission Praise 52, God sent his Son, they called him Jesus. And we'll stand to sing in just a moment. Mission Praise 52, God sent his Son, they called him Jesus. He came to love, heal and forgive.
[28:11] He lived and died to buy my pardon An empty grave is there to prove my Saviour lives Because He lives, I can face tomorrow Because He lives, all fear is gone Because I know, I know He owns the future And life is worth the living just because He lives But sweet to hold a newborn baby
[29:13] And feel the pride and joy He gives But greater still, the calm assurance This child can face a certain day Because He lives, because He lives I can face tomorrow Because He lives All fear is gone Because I know, I know He owns the future And life is worth the living just because He lives And then one day
[30:17] I'll cross the river I'll fight life's final war with faith And then I'll stay Gives way to victory I'll see the lights of glory And how He lives Because He lives Because He lives I can face tomorrow Because He lives Because He lives Because He lives All fear is gone Because I know, I know He owns the future And life is worth the living just because He lives
[31:21] Okay boys and girls If you head to Sunday school Remember to pray for them as they go And we can turn in our Bibles to Matthew chapter 19 Matthew chapter 19 And I'm going to read verses 13 to 15 And then I'm going to read the same account The parallel accounts from Mark's gospel
[32:21] And also Luke's gospel So Matthew chapter 19 And at verse 13 Then children were brought to Jesus That He might lay His hands on them and pray Disciples rebuked the people But Jesus said Let the little children come to Me And do not hinder them For to such belongs the kingdom of heaven And He laid His hands on them And went away And then the same passage The same account in Mark's gospel Mark 10 and verse 13 You don't need to go there Unless you want to I'll read out that section It says there And they were bringing children to Jesus That He might touch them And the disciples rebuked them But when Jesus saw it He was indignant And said to them Let the little children Let the children come to Me Do not hinder them For to such belongs the kingdom of God Truly I say to you
[33:21] Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God Like a little child Shall not enter it And He took them in His arms And blessed them Laying His hands on them And then the last section Is from Luke chapter 18 Verses 15 to verse 17 And it says there Now they were bringing even infants to Him That He might touch them And when the disciples saw it They rebuked them But Jesus called them to Him Saying Let the children come to Me And do not hinder them For to such belongs the kingdom of God Truly I say to you Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God Like a child Shall not enter it Amen And may God bless these readings of His word to us We're going to sing now again from Psalm 78 The first two stanzas of this psalm
[34:23] Psalm 78 The first two stanzas of the psalm Verses 1 to 3 is marked in English I'll read these verses out in English Attend my people to my law Thereto give thou an ear The words that from my mouth proceed Attentively do hear My mouth shall speak a parable And sayings dark of old The same which we have heard and known And us our fathers told These two stanzas of Psalm 78 And we'll remain seated to sing To God's praise in Gaelic Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum Bum B
[35:27] Thank you.
[35:57] Thank you.
[36:27] Thank you.
[36:57] Thank you.
[37:27] Thank you. Thank you.
[38:27] Thank you. Thank you.
[38:59] Turn back please with me now to Matthew chapter 19. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[39:10] Amen.
[39:42] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[39:54] Amen. from the earliest years of our lives and have been resistant, we pray that even today we would hear the voice of Jesus saying, come unto me and find rest for your souls.
[40:10] So help us, Lord, we pray, and we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. So we are continuing our studies in Matthew's Gospel.
[40:22] Well, we had, was it two weeks ago before I left for Romania, reached Matthew chapter 14. And I want to just jump forward to Matthew 19 this morning, and then we'll jump back to Matthew 14 in a week or two's time.
[40:37] So where we got to in Matthew 14 was we see, it's probably what we could describe as a high point in the fame of Jesus.
[40:51] Matthew 14, I think it's in verse 1, talks about the fame of Jesus growing. And so the name of Jesus was being known. There was a great buzz around the ministry of Jesus.
[41:04] People were coming to Jesus in great numbers. Matthew 14, we read the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000. 5,000 men plus women and children come to Jesus, and they're fed with a little boy's lunch of five rows and two fish.
[41:22] And then we see the sick in great numbers coming to Jesus, looking for that healing touch. And the compassion of Jesus is so clear to see.
[41:33] Because even though the crowds were coming in such vast numbers, he didn't ever push people away. He called people to come to him, and he taught the disciples to bring the people to him.
[41:47] So that's where we left things in Matthew 14. And as we come to look at these verses in Matthew 19 this morning, what we see is that the people are still coming to Jesus, but this time it's children who are being brought to Jesus.
[42:03] So four points in the time that we have, hopefully. The first thing we'll see is, the first point is bringing the children to Jesus. So we see the parents probably bringing the children to Jesus.
[42:18] The second thing we see is the blessing of the children by Jesus. The children are brought to Jesus. Jesus, he blesses them. The third thing we'll see is blocking the children from Jesus.
[42:34] And that's the sad story of the disciples in this account. And then the final thing that we'll see is how we can belong to heaven through Jesus.
[42:46] So these are the four points, and we'll work through the verses under these headings. So first of all, bringing the children to Jesus. Verse 13. Then the children, it says, were brought to him.
[43:02] And conscious of the fact that we haven't read the first part of Matthew chapter 19, just to get the context of this, we can see, even in a glance through the verses in Matthew 19, that there's a lot going on in terms of ministry for Jesus.
[43:19] Verses 1 and 2, we can see that Jesus is preaching to large crowds, and he's still healing the sick. Verses 3 to verse 9, we see that Jesus is beginning to clash with the religious leaders, the Pharisees.
[43:36] They're questioning him, not because they're looking for answers, but because they're trying to gather evidence to use against Jesus. Then verses 10 to 12, Jesus is teaching his disciples.
[43:49] And then after all that, with all that going on, it says in verse 13 that children were brought to him. And notice it says children.
[44:02] It's not that one child was brought to Jesus, but children, plural, were being brought continually to Jesus. This was a practice that was going on.
[44:16] Children, the word in the Greek means little children, you know, the noisiest, messiest kind of children, they were continually being brought to Jesus.
[44:33] And so that's what was happening back then. And as we said with the children, in a sense that's what's happening still today. That's what Scott and Fiona are seeking very intentionally to do today.
[44:47] They are bringing quiet little Angus, Alistair, to Jesus. And for us as parents, those of us who are parents, and even those of us who are not parents, but who are involved in the family of God's people, our most important job is not to make sure that the children get the best grades in school, although it's good that they get good grades.
[45:20] Our most important job is not to make sure that our little children become the best athletes they can be. Our job is not to make sure that they have the nicest material things.
[45:35] Our most important job is to bring the children to Jesus. J.C. Ryle, a couple of hundred years ago, said this, but it's still relevant.
[45:52] Let us begin, from their very earliest years, to deal with them, with children, having souls to be lost or saved, and strive to bring them to Christ.
[46:08] Let us make the children acquainted with the Bible as soon as they can understand anything. Let us pray with them and pray for them and teach them to pray for themselves.
[46:19] We may rest assured, says Ryle, that Jesus looks with pleasure on such endeavors and is ready to bless them. We may rest assured that such endeavors are not in vain.
[46:33] The seed sown in infancy is often found after many days. Happy is that church whose infant members are cared for as much as the oldest communicates.
[46:46] The blessing of him that was crucified will surely be on that church. He put his hands on little children.
[46:58] He prayed for them. So in baptism, as we've seen this morning, we promise to bring the children week by week by week by week to Jesus.
[47:14] But for every parent, that's our continual calling. So a word for the parents, let us be encouraged to keep on with that.
[47:29] Because it's a hard work. It's so easy just not to bother reading the Bible and praying with the children when life is so busy and so often at the end of the day everyone is so tired and so cranky.
[47:49] It's so easy not to just take a few minutes at the beginning of the day to open the Bible and have a word of prayer and commit the day to the Lord. It's so easy to make Sunday a family day or a loafing around day rather than recognize this is the Lord's day.
[48:11] Not the Lord's hour. This is the Lord's day. It's so easy just to give in and not bother doing the evening service because of the children.
[48:27] I love to see the children charging around in the evening service. I love to hear the children in the evening service because it reminds me of the night that I became a Christian age 10 sitting in an evening service that I did not want to be at whatsoever.
[48:49] This is a Sunday evening service that I had tried my hardest to get out of and yet my dad said get in the car. No discussion no debate get in the car.
[49:04] And that evening sitting in a pew in a church I didn't want to be in God spoke to me. And that was the night that I came to faith in Christ.
[49:19] So keep on bringing the children to Jesus in prayer in the secret place of our own homes and in practice in public worship as we come week by week morning evening.
[49:38] bringing the children to Jesus first point. Second point is blessing the children by Jesus. So for anyone looking on they may have been wondering why are the children being brought to Jesus?
[49:53] Why are the adults the parents likely bringing the children to Jesus? And they might have speculated well there's various reasons it could be because remember Jesus had fed 15,000 people with just a small boy's lunch so maybe people would be thinking well they're bringing the children to get some free food.
[50:11] Jesus can do that. Or maybe they were thinking well the children maybe are not feeling well. They're struggling with an illness and they need a healing touch. Could that be why they're bringing the children to Jesus?
[50:23] And on some occasions that was the case. But on this occasion Matthew tells us that the children were brought to Jesus, verse 13, that he might lay his hands on them and pray.
[50:40] That's why the children were being brought to Jesus. That he might lay his hands on them and pray for them and bless them.
[50:55] Mark in verse 16 of chapter 10 adds that word blessing and Jesus took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.
[51:12] And that's an amazing picture to think about. Some of you will have gone to the National Gallery in London.
[51:25] I'm not an art connoisseur but we went there last year. there were some people who would go to the National Gallery and they'd be standing just gazing at one picture for minutes and hours.
[51:43] Just seeing the detail and seeing the layers and understanding the significance of it and getting the most of it. I was bad for just glancing and then moving on.
[51:53] But this picture that Matthew paints and Mark paints and Luke paints, which highlights to us that this is an important picture, this is a picture that is worth stopping for a while to look at.
[52:11] Because in this picture we see God the Son. we see the one who set the stars in space.
[52:23] We see the one that the what's the chorus that the children sing in Sunday school? The one who's got the whole world in his hands. The Almighty God.
[52:34] And he's pictured here taking an individual child in his hands and praying for them and bringing the blessing of heaven to rest on this single fragile child.
[53:01] It's an amazing picture and that's a picture of the gospel not just to children but to all ages. Because in this picture we see the work of the gospel.
[53:17] We sang it in the second hymn. God sent his Son and he came from heaven to earth and he came not to condemn the world but to save the world.
[53:34] He came not to curse but to bless all who will come to him. In fact we can actually go further than that.
[53:45] We can say that Jesus came into the world and he went willingly to a cross to take the curse the curse of our sin.
[53:58] sin. He took it from us and he took it for us so that we can be forgiven our sin so that the curse can be removed from us and the blessing of God can be given to us.
[54:21] Paul wrote in Galatians chapter 3 verse 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us for it is written cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles the Gentiles are us so that we might receive the promised spirit through faith.
[54:55] So the blessing of God that was promised to Abraham from Genesis 12 is promised not just to him but to us if we will come to Jesus.
[55:19] You know it's one of the greatest tragedies one of the greatest tragedies is that we would come to church but not come to Jesus.
[55:33] One of the greatest tragedies is that we would come in and sit on these chairs and come so close to Jesus and hear his call and stay in our chairs not come to him.
[55:57] Can I ask the question this morning have you come to Jesus? Have you come to him and said will you take the curse of my sin from me?
[56:14] Will you bring the blessing of forgiveness the blessing of God to me? Will you save my soul? Will you be my saviour? Will you be my Lord?
[56:25] Have you had that conversation with Jesus yet? He's calling you blessing but will you come?
[56:44] There is blessing promised to all who come to Jesus but there is no possibility of blessing there is no possibility of escaping the wrath of God if we refuse to come to him.
[57:09] And God has done so much in sending his son into this world to suffer and die to be our saviour. if we turn away from him if we refuse to come to him how can we expect to know the blessing of God?
[57:34] How shall we escape it says if we neglect such great salvation and refuse to come to Jesus? So blessing the children by Jesus bringing the children to Jesus.
[57:52] In some ways it would be nice to finish the sermon there because it's twelve o'clock and that's a good point to finish but the thing is the text goes on so we have to go on just a little bit more.
[58:06] The third point we see here is blocking the children from Jesus. Verse 13 says the disciples rebuked the people which is such a sad picture.
[58:25] Children are being brought Jesus is blessing the children and then the disciples rebuked the people and said get the children out here.
[58:39] Can't you see how busy Jesus is? The disciples rebuked the word means they chided they admonished them they warned them sternly get them out of here.
[58:54] But the word that Matthew uses in verse 13 when he talks about disciples is a word that means literally learners. And the thing about learning is that learning takes time.
[59:08] Even learning to drive takes time. I was reading about a woman called Mrs. Git Cor Randhawa.
[59:23] She was from a place called Hayes somewhere in England and she holds the record for being the longest ever person in the time taken in learning to drive.
[59:37] She took more than 330 lessons and she passed her test on the 48th attempt.
[59:49] So she wasn't a fast learner. And the disciples of Jesus, they weren't the fastest learners, which is always encouraging for us.
[60:02] Glance back to Matthew 14. You don't need to go there but you can recall Matthew 14. Just before Jesus fed the 5,000 we see the disciples and they say to Jesus there's all these people here it's getting late we're getting a bit tired send them all home they're going to need fed send them off home get them out of here and Jesus says to the disciples don't send them away make them sit down and give them something to eat and here the disciples they're at the children get the children out of here can't you see how busy Jesus is don't you know how important Jesus is get these pesky children out of here they rebuke the people but Jesus rebukes the disciples Jesus said verse 14 let the little children come to me and do not hinder them that's what Jesus said
[61:03] Mark actually adds a little bit and tells us not only what Jesus felt Mark says that Jesus was indignant when he saw what the disciples were doing which means he was angry and this anger that was within Jesus was not a sinful anger because Jesus never sinned this was a perfect anger this was a right anger Jesus was and Jesus is angry when he sees anyone stopping a child or an adult coming to him that's why Jesus strongest words were reserved for the Pharisees they were doing everything that they could under the name of religion to stop people coming to Jesus and that made
[62:04] Jesus angry he was indignant with them just as he was indignant with the disciples on this occasion and we might ask the question here how does this apply to us what on earth does this got to do with us none of us surely we say would want directly to stop people coming to Jesus but indirectly we may block people from coming to Jesus if I teach the children by my example that work or study or sport or mod or highland dancing or football training or whatever else it might be if I teach the children by practice that these things are the most important things and these things are more important than time with
[63:05] Jesus what do I do I hinder the children the children get that and they are discouraged from coming to Jesus if I prioritize other things over Jesus I hinder the children if my public life and word or yours if you're a Christian is not backed up by our private life in the home we hinder the children from coming to Jesus and not just the children we hinder we act as a block to anyone who may be drawn towards Jesus if we stand up at communion season and we profess faith in Christ we say
[64:06] I'm a Christian then we go out to work and our work in practice is anything but Christian we hinder the people from coming to Jesus I don't often quote!
[64:19] Gandhi but Gandhi was an Indian political ethicist and at one point he was very interested in and he was drawn to Jesus and when he was asked about this he said this he said I like your Christ I do not like your Christians your Christians are so unlike your Christ that's a tragic thing and yet we know it's real and the disciples on this particular day were so unlike Jesus and because they were so unlike Jesus they were blocking people from Jesus and they had to repent of that and you and I at times have to repent of this same thing the last thing we want to do is block people from
[65:27] Jesus through the things that we say and the things that we do we want our lives not to block but to be used to bring people to Jesus so let's face the challenge repent continuously of our short faults and seek God's strength to be used to bring people to Jesus the last point is belonging to heaven through Jesus and very very briefly Jesus says in verse 15 for to such as he speaks about the children and points to the children he says for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven and he laid his hands on them and went away and Jesus so often did this he met with people at this world level but he was amazing at lifting their eyes to see beyond this world to see the reality of heaven and hell and that's a point that we need to take hold of we are so consumed with the urgent the urgent trivial that we lose sight of the important and we need to think more about heaven and about hell and about the eternity that
[67:08] God has put in our hearts you know I never used to think about pensions but as I get older the pension people seem to be writing to me more and more often about all the things I'm not doing and I'm being forced to think more about pensions how much more should you and I think about eternity you know the years of retirement if we see them are relatively short but of course we need to prepare for them eternity is long it's forever how much more do we need to be prepared for eternity I was in yesterday visiting Mary who passed away this morning the family were speaking about
[68:13] Mary's mother and when Mary was away from home her mother would write to her and they would exchange the news at different places and with every letter that her mother wrote within the family she would always sign it off with the words to be ready she was talking about heaven to be ready Jesus uses the children to teach us about heaven and how to be ready to get there there's two things and I promise you this is just two minutes we're done there's two things that Jesus teaches in these verses there's first of all a promise that relates to children who die in their early years and secondly there's a picture of grace so first of all a promise in these verses that relates to children who die and
[69:22] I'm just going to give you the quote of a guy called John MacArthur who says it quicker than I can MacArthur says the implication when Jesus speaks about such as these children is that for those who because of young age or mental deficiency are incapable of exercising saving faith God grants them in the event of death entrance into his kingdom by the sovereign operation of his grace when children die before they reach the age of decision they go into the presence of Jesus Christ because they are under the special protection of the sovereign king that's MacArthur's word it's also Calvin's words he says the same thing MacArthur goes on to say it was that glorious and comforting truth that David expressed when he lost his infant son born to Bathsheba I shall I shall go to him David said but he will not return to me to
[70:26] Samuel 12 23 so there's a promise there that relates to children those who are beneath the age of understanding when they die is the promise that they're called to Jesus embraced by Jesus and the last thing let me finish with is there's a picture of grace because how did the children come to Jesus well they came to Jesus with nothing in their hands they had no power they had no influence they had no money they had nothing to trade with their hands were empty they came in weakness they came in humility they came with simple faith nothing in my hands I bring sometimes we sing simply to thy cross I cling and those who come to
[71:32] Jesus that way are promised heaven do you want to belong to heaven do you want to have a place prepared for you in heaven do you want to know if you die tonight that you're a citizen of heaven that you will belong there then you need to come to Jesus you're still awake if you're still hearing this he is calling you so come to him and come to him today let's pray heavenly father we thank you for sending your son Jesus into this world we thank you lord Jesus for coming into this world knowing that you were headed for calvary to become a curse to take the curse of our sin upon your body in the tree we thank you that you died so that we might live and we thank you that we are promised that if we come to you there is salvation there is eternal life we pray that there would be no one here this morning who would resist that call no one who would walk out of the door having heard the call of
[73:03] Jesus and determined to go their own way we know that there is no escape from punishment for our sin if we refuse to come to the Savior to help each one of us to come Holy Spirit we pray that you would press the words of the gospel into our hearts and minds and that we would be given faith each one of us to respond by coming whilst there is time to hear our prayers and part us with your blessing we pray in Jesus name Amen we sing to conclude from Psalm 78 the same Psalm that we sang from Psalm 78 verses 4 to verse 7 of the Psalm we also will not them conceal from their posterity them to the generation to come declare will we the praises of the Lord our God and his almighty strength the wondrous works that he hath done we will show forth at length it's a
[74:08] Psalm that is a Psalm where we hear a commitment of one generation to pass on to the other generation the wonders of who God is and what he has done for us so we'll stand to sing to God's praise we are so well than not concealed from dead austerity then to the generation to come he there will be the places of the
[75:10] Lord the Lord and his almighty strength the wondrous works that he hath done we will show forth who the land.
[75:42] In testimony and is born, Israel he did face, and just the father's day to shore to their succeeding ways.
[76:22] Like solar rays which was to come, light well then and know, and sons and born who should arise, right to their sons then show.
[77:01] The thing might send their hope in God, and suffer not to fall, his mighty words out of their mind, but his peace set on.
[77:39] And now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, the fellowship of God the Holy Spirit, be with us all, now and forevermore. Amen.