You'll find our text this evening in the Bible reading in Mark's Gospel, chapter 10, verse 13 to 16. If you turn there, please, Mark 10, verse 13 to 16. We'll unite our hearts in prayer and we'll seek the Lord's blessing. Heavenly Father, we do return the thanks again tonight for thy help and presence with us. We pray now as we gather around the word of God, that thou wilt give to us a word from thyself. We thank thee that God's word has lost none of his ancient power. And as a church, we pray that thou wilt give to us a love for the boys and girls, those within our families and those without in the broader, wider community, and that we might see God work in a wondrous fashion in this new year that we've entered into. and dear young lives been brought to faith in Christ. Hear us now, we beseech thee, grant to us the help of God, the Holy Spirit, in the preaching of the Word of God and in our hearing and in our understanding of the Word of God. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. If you remember in John's Gospel, chapter 21, remarkable post-resurrection appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ to Peter and his disciples. Remember there as proof of his sincerity toward the Lord, the Savior inquired of Peter some three times, Peter do you really love me? It's a very searching personal question that was put to him and initially of course Peter embarrassment, he stammered and he said, yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. And the Lord continued to press his point home and he solemnly charged the great apostle, feed my lambs. Peter, if you really love me, feed my lambs. His first concern though is to be foremost amongst the apostles, but his first concern was to be the lambs of the flock, the little children. I am sure as Peter heard those words in John 21, he reflected on the incident that we've taken for our text this evening in Mark's Gospel chapter 10, because the two scenes are set in complete contrast. The disciples in Mark's Gospel were not only hesitant in permitting young children to approach unto the Savior, they actually hindered them approaching unto the Savior. And their action brought a stern rebuke from the master himself when he instructed them, suffer, allow the little children to come unto me. Don't do anything that would prevent the children coming unto me. And as Peter now was recommissioned in John 21, the Savior told him to do what? Peter, you pay a special attention to the young, feed the lambs. I believe as a church today we need to be very careful that we don't fall short of this apostolic requirement and try to reverse the rules. As in the days of old when the disciples were instructed to teach the lambs, to reach the lambs, and to preach the gospel to the lambs. So you and I today likewise are instructed to reach and to teach the lambs of our day and generation the precious word of the living God. We're not to belittle the work of the gospel amongst the young, and it doesn't matter how young they are. Should they be with the moms and tots, should they be in the junior section of the Sunday school, or the senior section of the Sunday school, or of the children's meetings, they are all the lambs. And we have a special responsibility to teach them the gospel of the Lord's own saving grace. I thought tonight would be a very suitable occasion to go back to this familiar passage in Mark's gospel, chapter 10. The Lord in his great providence has brought another little lamb into the congregation. And not only does David and Heather have a solemn responsibility, that they have pledged themselves to fulfill before Almighty God. to teach this little lamb the things of God. But you and I as a congregation, we likewise have a solemn responsibility before Almighty God to take on to our own hearts and lives this little lamb and to pray for Joel and the rest of the children in the congregation within and without those under our jurisdiction and care and to teach them. the good word of the living God. Let's look at this incident tonight. Let's learn, first of all, against harboring wrong attitudes towards the work of the gospel amongst the boys and girls. The Bible tells us that they brought young children to him, that he should touch them, and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. The disciples looked at these parents bringing the children to the Savior, and they thought the Lord had much more important work to do. He had sick to heal. He had the dead to raise. He had multitudes to feed, to clothe, and to teach the Word of God to. And He didn't really have time to be bothered with these annoying parents who brought their children to Him, that He would just touch them and bless them. In their list of priorities, we can see very clearly here that these children fail very, very low. And I fear that there would be a similar attitude amongst some Christians. They have different priorities in the work of God. I hear some people and they say various things about the work of it. What's important? Well, it's important to see the seats filled. It's important, as it were, to see numbers come in and it's important to have a building and all of these things and they're all not unimportant. But the most important thing is, is to take the Word of God and to break it down in such a manner to the hearts and lives of the young that they'll be able to discern and understand and comprehend the things of God. We have a duty, brethren and sisters as Christians, first of all to reach the lambs, to teach the young. the basic rudiments of the Christian faith, the strong attitude of the disciples. It revealed itself in the fact that these men failed to see that these children had a need. When the sick and lame came, they saw the need. It was very evident that these people had a need. But here were mothers and they were bringing children. Perhaps they were all healthy. Maybe there were some of them were sick and needed the Lord's healing touch upon them, were not told those things. But when they saw those children, they didn't see them as they really are before Almighty God. For boys and girls have needs. Not just physical needs, not just spiritual needs. Boys and girls have eternal needs. They have a heart that is fallen. They have a heart that knows what sin is. They have a heart that has an inclination to break the law of God and to go away from the things of God and to rebel against the Word of God. They, too, have a heart that is under the judgment of God and in need of saving grace. And we make a big mistake if we don't think that boys and girls need to be saved. Now we know there's a great debate amongst Christians, what age do children come to, age of understanding that they're able to comprehend the things of God, and we factor all that into what I'm saying tonight. But different children come to that age at different ages and at different levels of understanding. But I know that the very youngest child needs to be taught the gospel of Christ. And we always pray that young in life they'll come to understand the gospel of God's redeeming grace. We look out in our little land and we see there's a great disconnect between this up-and-coming generation and Sunday school and children's meetings and the things of God. My generation, everybody went to Sunday school. We walked to Sunday school every Sunday morning, some three miles, we walked to Sunday school. We were then taken to children's meetings in the afternoon and to other meetings during the week. It was the done deal those years ago. It's not the done deal today because there are parents and they were never at Sunday school today. And if the parents never went to Sunday school, do you think they'll have any priority in sending the children to Sunday school? We know the answer to that. Sadly not. We can't sit within the walls of a church and lament what's happening in society. We have got to go out and be salt and light in society. And we've got to impact the areas where God has placed us in. And we have to go into the highways and byways. And when Jesus said, compel them to come in, he meant the boys and girls as well. included them in that great gospel invitation. Perhaps there were those disciples and they had doubted the sincerity of the children who came to the Lord Jesus Christ. There are many of God's people and they still harbor that wrong attitude and they still question whether a child young in life can really be converted and won to saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Can a child at five or six or seven really comprehend the things of God? Or even younger, can they really comprehend that I'm a sinner, that Jesus Christ died for sinners, and that I need to come to Him and embrace His salvation and accept His salvation as the gift of God? I believe they can, and I believe the Word of God teaches that they can. I've heard people say to me over the years, people who even work with children, they just believe they're sowing seeds. Well, we are sowing seeds. We're sowing gospel seed, but we're also looking for that seed to come to fruition in young hearts and in young lives. We not just only believe in sowing seeds amongst children, gospel seeds, but we actually believe that that seed can be reaped and it can be brought in and young hearts can be won to the Lord Jesus Christ. Many of the most eminent saints of God in bygone generations were one to faith young in life. I took down a little book over the weekend by Sam Docherty. This little book has traveled with me all over the place the biblical basis of child evangelism is a wonderful book and all who are involved in children's work. It should be your benchmark your touch lane where to start off with. And he gives us some amazing facts and figures. We love the hymns of Isaac Watts. I read his life story when I was on holidays there just a few months ago. He was converted at the age of 11. At the age of 9, sorry. Jonathan Edwards, the well-known New England Puritan, who was a man greatly used of God in his own day and generation. He was converted at the age of 7. The greatest theologian, probably from apostolic times, converted at the age of seven. Richard Baxter, the great Puritan preacher, was saved at the age of six. Leighton Ford, the great evangelist, was converted at the age of six. Corrie ten Boone, many, all of my generation, you'll have read her books and you'll know who I'm speaking of. She was saved at the age of five. There are many other names could be added there, but we know from personal experience within our own families, from the church family, from church history itself, that we're not just sowing seeds amongst boys and girls. We're actually looking to God for that seed to come to fruition and to bear fruit in young hearts and in young lives. God is working in the hearts and lives of young children. St. Spurgeon said, a child of five, if properly instructed, can savingly believe as well as an adult. He went on to say, my conviction is that our converts from among children are among the best that we have. I should judge them to have been more numerously genuine than any other class and more constant in the long run. Stephen Alford. A well-known evangelist said, I believe in child evangelism for three reasons. Because I was born again when I was only seven. Two, because the history of personal evangelism shows that by far the greatest proportion of conversions take place before 20 years of age. and three, because the Bible makes it plain that youth is the time to turn to God. Remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth. Let none tonight make the mistake that those of old made, that children not only need to hear the word of God, but children young in life can actually come to saving faith in Christ whilst hearing the word of the living God. Don't harbor wrong attitudes. Maybe some of you have gone on for years. You've way past school time. You've way past college time. And you're still not saved. But you remember being in Sunday school. You remember being in children's meetings or in youth organizations. And in the great providence of God, he's brought you into the gathering tonight to hear again words whereby you might be saved. And I pray that the Lord will bring to your remembrance powerfully tonight the word of years ago and apply it to your heart and to your life. Don't waste another night, another day living outside of faith in Christ, but tonight put your faith and trust in Him. I want to consider with you secondly some ways in which children are actually hindered in coming to Christ. You might say now, we would never do that. Well, inadvertently you might do it. We don't want to be barriers, even inadvertently. I will start where all of the most important influences are made known. I'll start within the home. And parent, I want to say to you plainly tonight, grandparent, I speak to my own heart. We can be a hindrance. through not giving biblical instruction in the home. If the child is not sufficiently taught in the home, how will the child know? We all have a duty and a responsibility before Almighty God. We think of those great promises that the Lord has given, such as Proverbs 22 and verse 6. As we looked last year, it's not just a promise, it actually is a command before Almighty God. Train up a child. in the way in which he is to go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." What a promise, what a command God has given to us in His Word. Early influences and training in the home, you carry them with you throughout the journey of life. It is a fact that we assimilate more knowledge between our birth and five years of age than any other part of the journey. That's a fact. I listened on the news just a few mornings ago. A lady speaking on behalf of dementia patients, and I said, what's the connection there? People who have lost everything, but they could remember songs that they were taught at 10 years of age. And they made up a playlist of all of those songs in their age, in their decade. And I was just so humbled to see it. And the lady herself, of course, there was an application. She said her father was a Church of Scotland clergyman. He had dementia. And she made a playlist up of all of the hymns he knew, all of the psalms that he knew. And though he didn't know anything else that was going on round about him, he knew the words of the songs that he was taught as a child. When everything else goes, the word of God stays. One of the first converts I ever met of W.P. Nicholson was an old man up in Antrim, Bertie Coppels. Bertie Coppels was the most eccentric character probably in Antrim town, but he knew God, he loved God, he died with dementia. The last time I met him in the hospital ward, as I walked down the old Masreen hospital ward to see him, he was quoting verse after verse after verse. never left them. Early influences cannot be gotten away from. Make sure they're sweet influences, parents. Make sure they're scriptural influences that your children will carry for the rest of their day. Of course, the church has a great role to play in this, too, in teaching boys and girls. The home and the church ought to complement each other. The church cannot make up for what the home doesn't do. We can't go to your house and be where you are with your children. That would not be our rule at all. But when your children are in church, I want you to know that they're taught the Word of God. They're taught the things of Christ. Some people say, well, in your church, Pastor Harsh, you don't have anything for the children. I know what they mean by that. But we have the most precious commodity of all for the children. We have the Word of God to teach them, and it is taught to them. from the moms and tots, from the youngest class in Sunday school right up to youth day as that word is taught to them. The Lord Jesus said we're to preach the gospel to every creature. The message of salvation is not limited, there's no restrictions put upon it. We have to take the word and break it down simply to the children that they might understand it, even just comprehend the simplicities of the gospel itself. I'm a sinner before Almighty God, but there's a savior for sinners, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by his death on Calvary's cross bought salvation at highest cost. And I can embrace that salvation if I come to Him by faith and take Him as my Lord and as my Savior. What a grand thing the gospel is, that the youngest can understand it, the oldest can rest upon it. As individuals, we need to learn how to be stepping stones rather than stumbling blocks. We want to cultivate within the church an openness toward children. When children come in, we want them to feel welcome, loved, and part of the church family. Even when children from unsaved homes come in, from ungodly homes that have no connection with the things of God at all, we want them to know that they're loved, that they're wanted, that their presence is appreciated. And when they come in, that that Calvary love is shown to them, and that we take the time to take an interest in them. I want you to notice, thirdly, because time is moving on, thirdly, how the Lord Jesus Christ addressed the situation. The Savior showed us displeasure at the actions of the disciples. Everything that they had done was contrary to his own spirit. He encouraged the children to come on to him. He wasn't cold, he wasn't aloof. What a personality he must have had. These children didn't know this teacher from Nazareth and yet they flocked to him and parents trusted him and brought their children to him. When children come to the church and parents bring the children to the church, the church has a great responsibility because parents are trusting the church with their children. And that's why we ought to have the highest standards of anyone in looking after the children that are put into our charge and into our trust. And I pray that that same spirit might be cultivated within our hearts and within our lives. The Lord Jesus not only suffered the children to come unto him, he received them. He took them up in his arms. He put his hands upon them. and He blessed them. He took them up in His arms. Can you visualize the scene? These mothers queuing up, the Lord Jesus taking their children. He's been busy teaching adults. He's been busy on His way. We're now coming up to the cross and all that went with that, all that lies ahead of Him, but He's busy with these children. He has them in His arms. Their hand is upon them. Where's the safest place for your child to be, dear parent, in the Savior's arms? with his hands upon them. And regardless then of what happens in the days that lie ahead, the best place for our children to be is in the Savior's hands. That's why Providential was saying that little chorus to me. Father, I place into your hands my friends and family. It's a wonderful opportunity even tonight to place into the hands of Christ our children, our grandchildren, our loved ones. Place them into his hands. He knows how to take that life and to mold that life and to make that life and to use that life. Matthew Henry, 11 years of age, was converted as a child in his father's home. His father was a godly Presbyterian minister. Young Matthew sat at his father's table every day during the family devotions and he wrote down the notes that were given. That was the basis of the great Matthew Henry's Bible commentary. Young lives in Christ's hands are molded for the days that lie ahead. Notice in closing the good advice that we learn from this incident. Look at verse 15. Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. Here is counsel for every soul in the gathering tonight. Unless you come as these children came to the Lord Jesus Christ and know his touch upon your own soul, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God. You might say, well, I'm an adult. I can't come that way again, but you can. It takes the simple faith of a little child to take God at His word, just believing God at His word. God has said it, it must be right. Whosoever, it's you, it's me, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. It doesn't take a degree to comprehend it or understand it. Whosoever, encompassing one and all, whosoever shall call. upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, and calling upon the name of the Lord, that individual, be they five, be they 50, be they 90, whatever age they are, they will experience God's mercy and God's grace and God's salvation in their hearts and lives. Children can display not only simplicity of faith, they have a sincerity of faith. They actually want to follow. They want to do what is right. It's the coarsening of sin in society that is all round about us. Oh dear unsaved soul, not only do you need the simple faith of a child, you need the sincerity of heart of a child to follow on. It's not just words, it's actions. It's not just words to say, I love Jesus, hallelujah. It's actually by your actions proving that you love the Lord Jesus. and following on to new him. May the Lord help us tonight as we look at this incident to cast away all our prejudiced opinions or preconceived ideas. As these children were brought to Christ, so you've been brought into this gathering. That's providence. That's God in providence. He's brought you here. He's brought you here to feel his touch upon your life, his mercy. His grace, His love, His pardon. And I'm glad that He is here. God is here and not to bless us. And here is counsel from the Savior Himself, advice from the Savior Himself. If you receive the kingdom of God as a little child, you'll enter in. If you refuse to become that little child tonight in simple, sincere-like faith, you can never be saved. May we always have our priorities right. I'm glad that the work amongst the boys and girls within the family and within the church family is something that we take very importantly. We have a great mission field all around about us, within and without. The boys and girls of today are the church of tomorrow. We miss the boys and girls of today. We will have no church of tomorrow. Let's use our talents, our time, to reach them, win them, and place them in Christ's hands for him to mould them and make them into lives that he'll use. Thank you all for coming, for your time, for your attention. We pray that just like these children, you'll receive the kingdom of God as a little child tonight and enter in. That's all you need, our hearts and prayer, and we'll close our service. I always say this every Sunday, I'm here to help, and if I can be of help to anyone You have some question, some spiritual burden, problem in your heart or life. You want really in childlike faith tonight to come to Christ and be saved. If I can be of any help, further help to you, just intimate that to me at the door and we can take time to talk it over and put the matter right tonight. Heavenly Father, we do thank thee tonight for the childlike faith of the boy and the girl. I thank thee for many boys and girls already in the meeting who have childlike faith in Christ. We pray for all of the adults in the meeting tonight. We pray that you'll strip away the pride of heart and of life from them. You bring them back just to basics tonight. You'll show them the sinner that they are before Almighty God. Those that have broken God's law. And you'll bring them to understand tonight the wonderful Savior that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ, and bring them in simple faith to saving trust in him this very hour. We commit and commend each head bowed in thy presence, and we place them into your hands, and we place them into your care. And we pray that you'll take their lives and mould them and use them and make them to be the people you would have them to be in the days that lie ahead. We thank thee for thy presence for all who have met with us young and old alike. And I pray that they will sanctify the word of God to hearts and lives and when the voice of man is silent, may the voice of God continue to be heard. Hear our prayers tonight and be with us in the week that lies ahead. Go with us out into the week and use us, Lord, wherever we are. Use us and make us a blessing.