Welcome to the pulpit ministry of Christ Community Church in South Florida, aiming to make, mature, and multiply disciples by preaching and teaching God's Word based on the sufficiency of Scripture. And now let's join Pastor Bernie Diaz for the message. Let me begin by hitting you right between the eyes. I want to tell you that I think it is both tragic and fascinating how some people can show just utter disdain for children of every shape and size just because of where they live or their level of maturity. I mean, they just think of them as unimportant. Our culture does. Even those that acknowledge God is creator and sustainer, they still think that way. Many underestimate God's love of children. That's a big mistake. And in one sense, it's amazing. And in another sense, it's unsurprising when I think about the sinful, wicked nature of mankind that this nation, just this nation alone, has legally murdered 63 million plus pre-born children over the last near 50 years. I have to tell you, there is a day of reckoning that is coming for that. for that Holocaust, that great crime against humanity, because we're talking about image-bearers of God. What's more amazing than that is the mercy and the saving grace that God extends to people who have done that, or any sin like that, amen? I mean, talk about love. God loves children, and He treats us, He treats sinners who come to Him for forgiveness and salvation like children. That's what you're going to see in this text from Mark's gospel today. You're going to see the special relationship that the Lord our God has with children and those that become like children in his kingdom. And I think that's just great news for lovers of Jesus Christ. And if you heard the scripture being read, it seems like we've been here before, doesn't it? Because actually, there are some significant differences between this text and the one we went through in chapter 9 that may have come to your mind, even though the central picture of both is children. Jesus used an illustration, a picture of children, to demonstrate the kind of faith that newborn believers in Christ have, possess, and that we should have to really believe in and follow Him. We saw that in chapter 9, verses 36 and 37. At that point, he had rebuked, he had corrected the apostles who pridefully had argued among themselves who was the goat, who was the greatest of all time among them in terms of how they would be positioned in the kingdom of the new covenant. And then here in chapter 10, after dealing with the Pharisees' little trick question on marriage and divorce, which we took a couple of weeks to deal with, they're still in this home, they're on this stop on the way from Galilee to Jerusalem. And what he wants to do, the Lord, is teach what it takes to enter into the kingdom and his special grace of redemption, salvation. Again, using little children as an object lesson of what he's talking about. He's talking here about kingdom citizenship. In fact, he's going to continue this kind of teaching when they leave the house and get back on the road to Capernaum, from Capernaum to Jerusalem, when they're confronted by a rich young man, and that's going to be a great passage of scripture to get into on Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. But here now, the next lesson to the disciples from Christ is on childlike redemption and faith coming from a heart of love. So let's talk about the love of children that Jesus has. Again in our text, verse 13, they were bringing, they, the disciples, were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus prayed a blessing on people, he placed his hands on them. So there's a crowd here, picture this, of parents, little children, and from the Greek word, the idea is babies. In Luke's parallel, it's translated as infants. In particular, these parents heard Jesus is in Perea, in this house. They've already known him to be, they've heard he's this Messiah, the holy man. They want a blessing on their kids. A blessing then by Jewish tradition, by the way, was a big deal. It was like a benediction. It was a pronouncement of a blessing. Shalom, peace, prosperity, and could even include a blessing of salvation, redemption from judgment to come. And I should tell you there was nothing magical per se in the touch of Jesus in these blessings. And the parents may have thought that. We've said before that the Lord would touch people oftentimes, and this was strange to rabbinical Jews at the time. He touched people intimately and with compassion. That might have thrown them for a loop, because the disciples might have seen that, and like those Jews, become a little irritated. And remember also, at this point, the Lord is trying to focus his attention on training the Twelve. He's no longer, as they're leaving Galilee, going to be preaching by and large. He's not going to be preaching by and large to big crowds anymore. And so, the disciples rebuked the people, the parents, lining up with their kids to see Jesus. And that's a strong Greek verb. We have it as rebuked. You don't hear that word much in English anymore. It's a sharp admonishment. It's a scolding. It's a reprimand in a correcting manner. The disciples are basically saying, stop! Stop! Just hold it right there. You gotta ask, why would the disciples rebuke the parents when they brought their little kids before Jesus? Probably for two reasons, at least. Number one, Kids were thought of by male Jewish adults as a bother. Inconvenient. They didn't do much. They're loud. And they're in the way. And as citizens, they're kind of regarded as less than, in the pecking order. Second reason, they probably think, the disciples think, they're doing Jesus a solid. He's a busy man, Son of God. He ain't got time for baby blessings. They got places to go, people to see, things to do. as they're going from Judea, from Galilee into Judea. The fact is this, they didn't understand children and they did not understand Jesus, God's attitude towards children, which drove the Lord to anger. Look at verse 14, when Jesus saw it, He was indignant and said to them, let the little children come to me, do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. indignant, fancy English word, which means in the original language to really be grieved at something in an intense way. You've heard that phrase before, righteous indignation, right? Christians can have that. That means the Lord doesn't get angry like you and me. We get angry over petty little offenses and frustrations and stuff. That's not God, it's not Jesus. He would get mad over or hate those things that oppose God's glory, His heart, for His namesake. That's righteous indignation, righteous godly anger. And as we said in chapter 9, God loves children and He loves lots of them. And He doesn't like it when anyone means harm to children. Like Psalm 127 says again, Malachi says God desires a godly seed from his people. And you might say this, well, okay, God loves babies, but there's a time and a place for them, right? Some people say babies are best seen but not heard. And the disciples are thinking, yeah, this ain't that time or that place. And Jesus literally says, don't stop them. In fact, that phrase can be translated as, leave them alone. Let them come to me. Permit them to come to me. The ESV has don't hinder them, which was used as a metaphor in Greek to cut something off. Don't cut them off. Let them come. Because I want them close. I love them. And I want to bless them. And you say, even in a church meeting, Really? Why not? I mean, is it because a children's pastor or a worker in a church children's ministry once told you, hand them over. We'll get them out of your way. I think not. Right? You can't justify that attitude or that policy from scripture no matter how well-meaning it is. As you can see, there's little children all over the place. We don't hinder them. We don't stop them. We're not doing that. They're welcome here. They will always be welcome here. That's why for the entirety of our history as a local church, 13 years and running this month, we've never had a children's youth or ministry or children's ministry per se. That's not accidental. It's not coincidental. It's intentional. It's actually strategic. Because the reason why we're a family integrated church, not a segregated one in terms of age or culture, ethnicity, whatever, is because it's always been a biblical principle. It's always been a practice and a pattern of congregational life. You see it in most of Israel's Old Testament history. Really, all of it. And the church, historically, up until only the dawn, early 20th century, when neo-angelicals changed that. If you read the Bible, this is just a quick little detour, you can't find the segregation of God's people. Adults from children into congregational life and segregated programs. You can't find that in Scripture. You can read Deuteronomy 29, 11, chapter 31, verse 11, Ezra. You have texts where always God's people were together of every age and size with guests to hear the word. Like Joshua 8, 35 says, there was not a word of all that Moses had commanded, which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel with the women, and what? Little ones, babies, they were there. They heard Joshua preach. And the strangers, those were aliens outside of Israel, who were living among them. And then you fast forward to the New Testament in both Ephesians and Colossians, Paul taught the children in those churches to obey and honor their parents. So who did Paul write to and where were the children when they heard it? He's writing and speaking to children in the church. Because he's saying, Paul's saying, children obey your parents. He's talking to children. Right? So Jesus Christ, Christianity, is child's best friend. Really is. And there's a great picture of that, by the way. God's love of children. How he referred to Israel that way, metaphorically. And throughout the Old Testament. Ezekiel 16. I want you to turn in your Bibles to Ezekiel. The prophet Ezekiel chapter 16. God's speaking through that prophet. He's talking about his chosen nation being mistreated in Canaan by the pagans. And it says there in the language of a parent to his child, he's saying, he's speaking to Israel. You were cast out on the open field for you were abhorred or hated on the day that you were born. And then verse six of Ezekiel 16. And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you in your blood, live. I said, you and your blood live. I made you flourish like a plant to the field, and you grew up and became tall and arrived at full adornment. Your breasts were formed and your hair had grown, yet you were naked and bare. And when I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love. And I spread the cover of my garment over you and covered your nakedness. I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God." And mark this phrase, and you became mine. Mine. I think it's time for maybe another song. Kind of like, Jesus loves the little children. Sing it. Children of the world. Keep it going. You might think that's a little cheesy, corny. But if you learn anything from this text, that's God's heart. That's the heart of Christ. He loves the little children he has created in and out of the womb so much that in the same chapter, Ezekiel 16, he rebukes the people for later when they join the pagans in the promised land in child sacrifice. And think of modern-day abortion as a very close parallel. Particularly when you read about the news that's just come out, states like Maryland and California that are proposing pro-abortion laws that could even take the life of a born child several days after they're born in a botched abortion. We are back in Ezekiel 16. Wow! Verse 20 of Ezekiel 16. God said this, and you took your sons and your daughters whom you had borne to me, and these you sacrificed to them, meaning false idols like Molech and Baal, to be devoured were your whorings, so small a matter, that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them. And in all your abominations and your whorings, you did not remember the days of your youth when you were naked and bare, wallowing in your blood. Who? God told Israel, basically, these children you're sacrificing, they're mine. They belong to me. And you dared sacrifice them, slaughtered them to idols? You don't remember how I birthed you, rescued you, gave you a land, fed you, cared for you, protected you? No wonder Jesus, in chapter 9 of Mark's Gospel, said in verse 42, just about how we treat children in general. Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea." The Lord will condemn, He will punish those, the unredeemed, who harm little children physically and or spiritually when He's referring to childlike believers. What does it mean when the Lord says here that those that are like or such as children belong in the kingdom of God? It doesn't mean he's only talking about these little children that were gathered around his feet at this home in Perea, because this is a universal statement. It means two different things, theologically. Here's the first thing it means from the original context. It means you have to have a childlike faith in order to enter the kingdom, to believe, to be saved, as the Lord had said in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 18, verse 3. Truly I say to you, unless you turn, turn, that's repentance, and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. So it's not about children becoming like adults. It's adults that need to be like children. Childlike faith. In fact, the New Living Translation really paraphrases this well, where it says, the kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. So childlike faith. What marks that? It's a simple, humble, weak, dependent, helpless kind of a faith. You know, think about it. Children are more trusting than adults, aren't they? When little kids need something, When they're hungry or they're hurting, where do they go? Who do they run to? Mom and Dad. That should be us at the time of our salvation. The Lord said so in the Beatitudes, Matthew 5, Sermon on the Mount. He says, Blessed or happy are the poor in spirit. It's another way of saying blessed are the needy spiritually. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. You have that kind of attitude coming to Christ, you're in the kingdom. Yours is the kingdom of heaven. And note, by the way, in our text, Jesus is talking about little children in the kingdom. There's no religious ritual there. There's no practice that gets a child into the kingdom. Nothing about a baptism or a baby dedication or a circumcision for a Jewish baby in the Old Covenant. There's nothing like that here or anywhere else in the Bible as a means of creating or beginning saving grace. I was baptized as a Catholic baby six decades ago. It meant and did absolutely nothing, I can tell you. And being brought up in a Christian house, a home doesn't do it either. Salvation takes repentance and faith, with one notable biblical exception, which is here. And I'm going to share in my second argument reason for Jesus referring to children entering the kingdom. Before we go there, though, there's a big application we've got to make, kind of a big practical two-part takeaway to talk about. We talk about the faith of children now. We're back in our text in verses 15 and 16. And Jesus said, truly, truly, it's like verily, verily, amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them. Now, that passage might raise some serious questions, good questions. Like, if we need childlike faith to be in the kingdom, children don't know much gospel, how can little children believe and be saved? What sins have they even committed that need forgiveness? That's a good question, fair. Is there a different gospel? that needs to be preached to children other than what adults would respond to? Is there a gospel for babies or little kids? This goes to the accountability, age of accountability issue many of you are curious about. So let me begin by saying there is no explicit biblical reference to a chronological age of accountability. Some people say, OK, you've got to be 7 years old at least to know and be saved. 12 to 13 years old. I mean, in the Jewish tradition, Jews, 13 year old, that's a big deal. That was the situation with Jesus, in his case, where they would be recognized in that tradition, held accountable to the law of God, to the Torah, and that's why they observed bat mitzvah, right? You can see that. That was the approximate age of puberty, too, which was a guideline there. But a better way to think about this is not an age, but a condition of accountability. That means a child who is born, hold on to that thought, begins to grow and mature to a point or condition, a state of mind where they understand law and grace. They understand that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only means by which they can be made right with God and have their sins forgiven as sinners in order to be rescued from the judgment of sin. What age does that happen? Everybody's different. We've baptized kids here based on a creditable profession of faith, as best as we can ascertain, as young as six, seven years old. That tends to be more the minority. For many, it's preteen, teenage years onward. In fact, I'm of the view that a lot of these young people that say, I'm recommitting my life to Christ, were decisions by young people. They made in their mid, late 20s and stuff, or teen years. Those were actually times of salvation, those recommitments. Because they may not have been in a proper condition of accountability when they were young and made their first profession of faith when they were very, very little. Why? Because they didn't totally get it. And that happens often when I talk about repentance, which is necessary to saving faith. And we're going to picture that big time in the next passage of Mark 10. Because often, young kids, they have a misperception about what it means to repent and believe in Christ. Because those words can mean different things to them, even though they're both sides of the same salvation coin. If you want to be a Christian, you have to repent and believe. You can't just repent alone. You're turning to something you have to believe in. And you can't just believe. You have to turn from sin and self. So you need both. But many churches, as we know, don't preach repentance. We do that here because we want to make a clear, comprehensive gospel presentation to people so that people don't come away doubting, I don't know what decision I made, I don't know if this is real or not. Listen, it's better to give more than less. Okay? Take that away. So, a proper understanding of sin in the gospel is going to vary from child to child. It's all about a condition, not a calendar. And this verse tells us according to the Lord, that the kingdom of God in heaven, check this, is to be both received, literally in the Greek, to embrace or take a hold of, and then it's to be entered into the kingdom, to go into, which pictures repentance. You're making a turn of your heart, your mind, and the direction your life is going in. Right? So whether you're 5, whether you're 7, you're 12, you're 22, You're 82. It doesn't matter. There's only one gospel that saves. Last year, we talked about one way that you can give, among many good ways, a clear, concise gospel presentation. We call it, I call it, take five to give five. What's the most that you can say in the shortest amount of time? If you're taking note, here's five things you can say in five minutes. five gospel truths, necessities, in five minutes or less. Number one. I'm going to give you the five real quick and then we'll talk about them very quickly and move on. It's God, man, lost, gospel, and faith. That summarizes five things you can say in five minutes. God. If you're talking to an atheist, well, you've got to start from scratch. Is God real? Does he exist? Then you get into his nature. What is his heart? What is his law about? That's number one. Number two, if you're talking to a theist, you can bypass number one, largely. You've got to talk to people about mankind. The nature of man. Man is in sin. Right? Man is a sinner by nature. Number three, the lost. You've got to get to the point, talking about man, that they see themselves as unable. They have an inability to save themselves. They cannot do it on their own. not in their unredeemed state. Number four, therefore they need the gospel, the good news of atonement, that Jesus Christ on the cross made a substitutionary sacrifice to pay for the penalty, the payment, make the payment for sinners to have their sins forgiven. We leave it up to you and wisdom and grace, depending on who you talk to, to manipulate the language so it's as understandable as possible. So these are the concepts. God, man, lost, gospel, and finally, obviously, faith. You have to communicate repentance and faith. They have to turn to God and trust in Jesus alone for the forgiveness of sins so they can receive God's gift. It's a gift of grace. They have to acknowledge their inability to earn salvation in any way, shape, or form. That's the Christian message. In fact, the very first words, I don't want you to think this is anybody's opinion up here, the first words from Jesus Christ in His public ministry, in the very first chapter of this Gospel we're studying, Mark 1 15, the Lord said, the time is fulfilled, the Kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the Gospel. Right? So this shouldn't be the mystery. And then in our text, verse 16, Jesus took them in His arms and blessed them, laying His hands on them. God's kingdom. Jesus embraced them. He hugged them in the original language. And this blessing, it's an interesting word. It's where we get the English word eulogy from that you talk about at somebody's memorial because you're praising them and celebrating them. So Jesus is praising these little children in a similar way. That's a picture for us, by the way, to consider spiritually. When you were saved, the Lord embraced you, as it were, spiritually, brought you into the kingdom, right? And then we continue to be blessed by the Lord, and the best blessing is yet to come, amen? Now we have the second theological argument here, it's weighty, to make about the kingdom belonging to children. You have to understand, theologically, we can argue, and it's clear in scripture, I believe, God determines alone who will be saved, when they're going to be saved, and how they're going to be saved. Just as Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Now there's more baby talk there. You have to be born again to see, to enter the kingdom of God. Listen, did you have anything to do with your physical birth? No. You don't have anything to do in that sense with your spiritual birth either. aside from repentance and faith. And all of this is possible only because God is sovereign in salvation, like everything else, including His relationship to children, to infants. God's salvation, His redemption is given by His grace and mercy. And I believe this, folks. The Bible teaches that the kingdom is for the littlest of kids. Those, listen, that are not in the condition of accountability. And we deal with this, Carlos and Nicole can tell you, on the sidewalk with our pro-life ministry at the abortion centers every week. You often get the question or the idea, what happened to those 60 million plus pre-born children aborted in this country since Roe v. Wade in 1973? Where'd they go? Where are they going? What's their destiny? That's 200 a week here in Broward County, folks, every week. Or what about children that have been miscarried? or died as unborn in tragic accidents. Where do they go? I believe, and I teach, they are safe in the arms of God. You say, Pastor, wait a minute. Not so fast. They don't believe in Christ like the rest in order to be saved. Doesn't the Bible say you have to believe to be saved? Or, Pastor, I know this is kind of sketchy, so maybe God saves them because they're not sinners. They're innocent. So they don't need the cross. They don't need atonement or forgiveness for their sins. That's why they're safe in the arms of God, right? We'll start backwards in dealing with that. The Bible teaches that every human being ever conceived, has been conceived in sin, is a person who is by nature a sinner. Remember that's the second argument of the take five in giving five. which is man, man's nature, mankind's nature. Ezekiel 18 says that the soul, which is your nature, your being, the soul that sins shall die. And everybody conceived is that way in sin. Every human being ever conceived is a person. And you say, that's harsh. Really? Little babies are sinners? Well, first off, ask any parent in this room. You can have this conversation at the Love Feast on this side. if you think you had to train your children to be sinners. Okay? I have three wonderful children and they were saying no and getting into trouble from the get-go. They weren't trained to do that. They did that by their nature. That's who they are. You say, well, pastor, do you have some scripture for that? I just happened to. Psalm 51. You turn there. or just even make a note of it. I'm going to give you three from the book of Psalms. This is David in his great repentance, prayer of repentance. Great prayer, by the way, to pray today on Lord's Supper Sunday. He says in Psalm 51, verse 5, Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. It's pretty clear. Skip over Psalm 58, verse 3. David writes, the wicked are estranged from the womb. So they're already separated from God from the womb, in a sense. They go astray from birth, speaking lies. God just said through David, when they're born, they're born liars. They are. I was one of them. Absolutely. Skip over Psalm 143. It's all over the place. I'm just giving you a couple. Verse 2. Enter not into judgment with your servant, David writes, for no one living is righteous before you. Are the conceived children living? Yes, they're not righteous before God. Ecclesiastes 7 says the same thing. In Isaiah 48, the Lord tells Israel, in the time of their rebellion, as is the case for all mankind, He says that before birth you were called a rebel. Before birth. Children are rebels. What would Vodie Bachum say right now? If you can't say ouch, say amen. And then, of course, you have Romans 3. No one is righteous. No, not even one. None seeks after God. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. All of mankind is included in that. No exception by age or anything else. So children, born and unborn, are sinners by nature. That's who we all are. So if they die without repenting and believing, you'd think they would go to hell, right? That would be tragic, I think, to think that way. Many Christians do. And why? Because maybe they're ignorant of this doctrine, this teaching. Because God is about mercy and grace. God does not condemn those that have never had a chance, an opportunity to accept and then reject him and his gospel, you see. God holds sinners accountable based on what they know. Condemned sinners are those people that knowingly sin and reject Christ and the gospel's offer to be forgiven. Just as Paul writes in Romans chapter 1. He says in verse 19, big clue here. He's talking about God's wrath on unrighteousness. For what can be known about God is plain to them. because God has shown it to them. Verse 21, for although they knew God, they did not honor Him or give thanks to Him, and they became futile or empty in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. You see, through creation in conscience, people know, people accountable in that condition of accountability, they know God exists. and they need to be right with him. But an unborn child, a small born child, a baby, an infant, is incapable of consciously knowing their sin, their sin nature, much less being able to make a decision to accept Christ and the gospel and be redeemed from their sin, right? They're not in a condition of accountability to honor and thank God or not honor and thank God. Does that make sense? Are you tracking with me a little bit? Remember something else. The Bible also teaches that although we are saved by God's grace, listen to this, we are damned, we are judged only by our works, what we knew, what we thought, and what we did. Paul says so in Ephesians 5.5, For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral, or impure, or who is covetous, that is an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ in God. And Colossians 3 says the same thing, 1 Corinthians 6, Galatians 5, makes the same point that people who have committed all these sins of unrighteousness, they will not enter the kingdom of God. Now that seems obvious to us, but here's the thing. Babies cannot be included in that category. They cannot be judged or condemned by their works. But they have a sin nature. So here's what happens. God's grace is what prevails. God's grace saves us, generally by faith, but works damn us. You got that? Our God is by nature a Savior. You know that's Jesus' name? Yeshua, Joshua, Jehovah saved. That's what He's about. And salvation is by God's sovereign grace. He foreknew, predestined, called, justified, the elect, His church. He's free to do that. He cannot be limited by how He wants to and how He's going to extend His grace. Babies, and for instance, I would say the severely developmentally disabled, because they cannot consciously choose to sin, believe or not believe in Christ, I believe they're in heaven. So to wrap up my argument here that babies are safe in the arms of God, that they're citizens of the kingdom, I'm just going to give you two more scriptures and then a picture to illustrate it, and we're done. Romans 6.23, what does Romans 6.23 say? We know that the beginning part is the wages, the payment, the penalty of sin is death, which means separation from God forever, right? But the other phrase on the back side says, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. free gift of eternal life. And I believe the Lord is giving that to the unborn. Very interesting passage, too. I want you to see from the book of Job. Job, yeah, he's really struggling here with his suffering. He was in despair. He lost his family. He lost his business. Job, keep in mind, was a very righteous man in his lifetime. When I read this passage, I was thinking of George Bailey. It's a wonderful life. Because he's talking about this life that's better than the one he's living on earth. Listen to what he says in Job 3, the first few verses. Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. And Job said, let the day perish on which I was born and the night that said a man is conceived. Let that day be your darkness. Let's skip to verse 11 if you're there. Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb, and expire? Verse 13, for then I would have laid down and been quiet. I would have slept. Then I would have been at rest. Verse 19, the small and the great are there, where he would be laid to rest. He's not talking about the grave here, because these are conscious thoughts. And the small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master. I think Job, an inspired scripture, seems to be saying there's a paradise for the stillborn and for the unborn. Child, baby. And then finally, my picture of this kind of brings it all together. And that's when you may remember King David had to deal with the consequences of his sin with Bathsheba, remember? Conspired to kill her husband. It was a conspiracy. Look at 2 Samuel for a moment, if you would, chapter 12, or just make a note to go there later. 2 Samuel, I'll just read this starting in the middle of verse 15. And the Lord afflicted the child that Uriah's wife bore to David, and he became sick. So this is a discipline for sin directly in this case. The child born to David in Bathsheba is sick. Verse 18, on the seventh day, so as a week passes, the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, he did not listen to us. How then can we say to him, the child is dead? He may do himself some harm. But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David understood the child was dead. And David said to his servants, is the child dead? They said, he is dead. skip down to verse 21. Then his servant said to him, what is this thing that you've done? What has he done? He starts eating and living life normally. It says, you fasted and wept for the child while he was alive, but when the child died, you arose and ate food. What is that? Verse 22 and 23, the end of the passage tells us. He said, while the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, who knows whether the Lord will be gracious to me that the child may live. I don't know if God's going to heal this child or not. But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me. We know what that is. David's talking reunion with his baby in heaven, because we know where David is. The only man described in Scripture as a man after God's own heart. We know where he's going. We're talking heavenly reunion here. So I sincerely believe, in summary here, theologically speaking, that God is going to reunite many of those aborted babies I mentioned with their Christian parents in heaven. After all, absent from the body, present with the Lord, as Paul said, right? So I believe every single child born and unborn before the condition of accountability is in the kingdom of heaven, awaiting as we are, children of God, our resurrection bodies in glory. Amen? That's our hope. That means that's our sure expectation. Can't wait for that. So as I close, I think we can take comfort in God's saving, redeeming grace, mercy when we think about these small children, where they are right now, which I think is safe in the arms of God. Now here's the big question. Are you safe in the arms of God? Where are you going when you die? Where are you going to spend eternity? Great way to think of this. Ask yourself this question today in the quietness of your own time with the Lord. You might want to do it today. If you were to die and Jesus with His holy angels were at the gate, as it were, in heaven, And he asked you, why do you think I should let you into my heaven? What would your answer be? Because your answer is going to be a massive indicator of where you are with him, of your relationship, if you're kingdom bound or not. So we're going to observe the Lord's Supper in a moment. George will lead us in that. But if you are in the condition of accountability, you know that God exists. You know what his law says. You know what he demands. And you know, you have to know, you've fallen short of obeying His law and you've broken it all over the place. You've rebelled against Him. And that today, if you haven't done this already, today should be the day, if you haven't already, to turn from your sin and your old self, I don't care how old you are, if you understand what I'm saying, today is a good day to turn to God and trust in Jesus. This doesn't make a whole lot of sense to you, I get it. Maybe you're an adult that doesn't make a whole lot of sense, too, and we can talk. We're going to have a great time of fellowship, talk about that kind of thing today. And if you're a child, you're a young person today, and you don't get it, okay, let's explain it. And if the concept is totally foreign, then you may not be in the age, the condition of accountability. But if you are, believe in Him, who He is, what He's done to save you from the just punishment from hell, and receive His free gift of grace. Follow Him, love Him, Be with Him and those of us in Christ now and forevermore. Because His resurrection, we're going to celebrate soon, gives you new life now and for eternity. So there's no reason to wait, people. Again, I'm speaking to our kids right now. Everyone has a different condition of accountability. If you understood what I just said, go for it. Don't wait. Confess Jesus as your Lord. Believe He has been raised from the dead. Call on His name. The Bible says you will be saved. 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