Beloved, please turn with me in your Bibles to the Gospel of Mark. As you're turning there, I wanted to mention I was speaking to one of our members earlier, and she was estimating how long I was going to be preaching in the book of Joshua. And she guessed around four years or so, especially because I just preached only two verses this morning. The fact is we're going to be done with Joshua before we're done with Mark. I'll tell you that. Joshua has long narratives. Mark has a lot of short narratives, so much more to cover in a sense. over time, but we are wonderfully in this gospel, this fast-paced, action-packed gospel. This is our 44th week in the gospel of Mark, and we'll continue working through it. Please stand with me if you are able. We are looking this evening at Mark 10, verses 13 through 16. Please hear the word of God. And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them. And the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, let the children come to me. 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. And He took them in His arms and blessed them, laying His hands on them. Amen. Let's follow the reading of God's word. Would you pray with me? Our Father, as we come to this text this evening, we pray that You would drive its truth deeply into our hearts, that we would believe the gospel promises found therein. We pray, Lord, again for our children. And we pray that tonight, that they especially would hear this wonderful truth that Christ calls children to come unto Him and He blesses them. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. Well, You've heard that it is said that when you're spending time with family around Thanksgiving or Christmas or other times that it's probably wise to stay away from certain areas of conversation if you want things to remain pleasant. What are those things you should avoid? Well, politics is one, right? Politics is one. Others say religion. Some say parenting. You know, don't start talking about parenting or else some fight's going to ensue. Well, Last week, we saw the Pharisees testing Jesus by asking Him politically and religiously charged questions about divorce and remarriage. These were controversial things, and they knew it, and they were coming to trip Jesus up on them. Christ didn't shrink back, of course, from teaching the full counsel of God. He clearly set forth a high view of marriage according to the establishment of marriage in the early chapters of Genesis, and of course set forth the teaching on why divorce in some cases is acceptable. In the four verses before us this evening, Christ is yet again misunderstood and misrepresented by his closest followers, this time having to do with the place of children in his kingdom. Verse 13 states that there were those who were bringing children to him that he might touch them or lay his hands on them. Why were they doing this? Well, it was customary in those days for Jews to bring their infants to the local rabbi to receive a blessing. As an expression of their faith in Christ, these folks desired Christ to lay hands on their children and to pray for them and to bless them. As these hopeful parents approached Christ with their little ones, the disciples, acting like presumptuous and arrogant bodyguards, they begin to rebuke them for trying to take up Jesus's time and their time with these children. And the disciples were busy and did not want to be disturbed. And certainly they thought their master should not be bothered by these children. After all, he had more important things to do and to think about, right? Or perhaps you've already recognized that the disciples had forgotten the lesson that Christ had recently taught them back in chapter nine and verse 37. You remember the scene? The disciples had been arguing with each other about who was the greatest among them. And Christ responded to their selfish and prideful discussion by saying, if anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all. Christ then took a child in his arms, you remember, and he said these words in chapter 9 verse 37, whoever receives one such child in my name receives me and whoever receives me receives not me, but him who sent me. Do you remember the point of this statement that Christ made? The point is that a child will not enhance one's ability to climb the social prestige ladder or to increase one's community rank. A child can do nothing to increase someone's prominence. They were arguing about who was the greatest, and Jesus said, you know, you should listen to this teaching, that whoever sees one such child in my name receives me. The lesson here was not learned. Try to imagine the scene. Several parents excitedly approach Christ with their little ones, hoping for Christ's blessing and for his prayers over their children, and the disciples begin rebuking them. saying something to the effect of, go away. The master can't be bothered by your children. Now, let us pause for a moment and consider a question. Does this kind of attitude exist in the church today? Now, praise the Lord. I don't think it exists in this church, but it does exist in the church. So often the kids are removed from the public assemblies and they are seen as a disturbance. Any peep, any murmur, any sound coming from a child is sometimes rebuked even from the pulpit. There is a sense in which children are not to be a part of the public worship. That's not to say that there aren't congregations who with good intention want to bring some discipleship activity to the children during the public worship of God. But these days, especially in what we would call big box evangelical churches, literally a child will not worship with their parents for the first 18 years of their life. That's extraordinary. That's bad. And we should not see our children in that light. We shouldn't see them as a bother or to remove so that we can do our thing. We know the challenges that come with having children with us in the life of the church, but we are reinforcing something very important. Number one, that our children are incredibly smart and they are like little sponges. And for our children to grow up in the life of the church, hearing the worship of God, seeing their parents following the liturgy, singing, listening, reading, looking at their Bible, seeing others around them of all ages doing the same, it has an impact. And so we don't want to remove this important aspect of Christian discipleship and the public worship of the church. We love our kids being here, amen? We love our kids being in the context of the public worship service. There was a funny story in our wonderful, wonderful church overseas. And in the United Kingdom, listen, it's sort of like you just have the children removed from the service at one point. It's just what they do. It's just very, very common, even in the best of churches. And we had come over from my sabbatical 12 years ago. We were in Edinburgh in our church, and our kids were young. At a certain part of the service, some folks came over and were literally grabbing our kids and pulling them out of the aisle. Our kids were looking at us, you know, what do we do here? And I said, it's okay, they're going to stay with us. No, no, we have... No, they're going to say, no, no, we have... No, they're going to stay with us. And it was really, really something. But we love to have our children with us and nearby. And this is not in any way a kind of word for the expulsion of nurseries. You know, that's the thing now, right? If you have nurseries, you're sinning against God and you're depriving your children of the Lord. And I think that's extreme. to have that view. But we do have a nursery, and it only goes up to, what, age three? So it's how we have done it here. But we want to demonstrate and to communicate how much we value our children being in the midst of the congregation when they are able to sit and to listen. But here the disciples are saying, get those kids out of here. Get them away. And one commentator, RT France, says, once again, we see the failure of the disciples to see things as Jesus sees them. We see the failure the disciples to see things as Jesus sees them, filled with righteous indignation. Therefore Jesus says this, let the children come to me, do not hinder them for to such belongs the kingdom of God. At first glance, this might seem like a pretty simple and straightforward statement, and on one level it is. But as we investigate further, we will see that this verse is not only like a bombshell, which explodes a lot of false views about the place of children in the kingdom, but it is also in part a blueprint for reconstructing the way we think about our covenant children and their place in the life of the church. Our children are not just the future of the church, they are part of the church now. They are members of the visible church. Let the children come to me, Jesus says, do not hinder them for to such belongs the kingdom of God. I want to unpack this verse with four points. First of all, Children are not second-class citizens in Christ's kingdom. Children are not second-class citizens in Christ's kingdom. Indeed, covenant children or children of believing parents are not to be looked upon as future partakers of God's blessings, but present partakers of God's blessings. They are not to be seen as those who are one day be touched and blessed by Christ, but as those who are already being touched and blessed by Christ, you see. We do not take the approach with our children that we are evangelizing them like pagan unbelievers. We don't approach our children in such a way. We approach our children as those who have been born into our family and born into the life and covenant community of the church. And we raise them in the what? Nurture and admonition the Lord. We don't assume that our children don't believe the gospel when we're raising them. We make charitable assumptions that they will grow up in the life of our home and embrace the promises of the gospel that we are teaching them and that they are learning in the context of the local church. Now, as we'll look at later, is it possible that a covenant child will grow up and throw off the promises and embrace the idolatry of the world? Well, absolutely, that's a possibility. We see this kind of thing happening. Sadly, Sadly, we see this kind of a thing happening, but you have Jacob and Esau. They both received the sign and the seal of the covenant of God's grace. One believed and one did not believe. And instead, traded all of his inheritance and blessing for a bowl of porridge. You say, oh, how could he do that for a bowl of porridge? Well, there are lots of things that we could say are synonymous with a bowl of porridge that people trade the promises of God for, as if they are just nothing, as if they are worthless. And some sadly do that. But when we think about all the Christians around the world and we think about all the believers in this room, how many can say that I grew up in a family or with a family member that shared the gospel with me, that taught me, that loved me, that I grew up in a nurturing home. And the fact is, most of you will say, you know, my parents weren't perfect. And my home was not a perfect Christian home. There are none that exist. But you know, they taught me about Christ. I'm so thankful for that. Aren't you thankful your parents taught you about Christ? Is there any better gift they could have given you? How about a billion-dollar inheritance? Well, that sounds pretty nice, Pastor John. By the way, if you get that, tithe to Christ Church, okay? Remember that. But you know, a billion-dollar inheritance is rubbish compared to knowing Christ. What your parents have given to you is worthless. Thank your parents for teaching you the gospel. But there are those who throw it off. Even so we raise our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. If you look in Ephesians chapter six, notice with me in Ephesians chapter six, there's instruction. What does it say in verse one? Children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. You mean Pastor John, the great Apostle Paul, is addressing the children of the church in his letter to the Ephesians? He's taking time to address the children and to exhort them to obey their parents in the Lord? Yes, that's exactly what Paul is doing. You see, Paul didn't see them as not a part of the visible church, but very much a part of the visible church. And being a part of the visible church means that you receive the sign and seal of the covenant of grace, that sign and seal of initiation into the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. So believing this point, dear ones, believing this point, truly believing it, will transform the way that you raise your own children and the way you receive the children of fellow believers in the church. Christ teaches us how we ought to understand the place of children in the visible church. Christ, along with all Jews, regarded the children of believers as holy seed, recipients of God's covenant promises to Abraham, and thus set apart. In the case of male infants, by the sign and seal of circumcision, a sign which represented and joyfully anticipated the coming of Christ, who would be our circumcision, the one who was cut off for us and who bled and died for us to cleanse us from our sins. All of these things are wrapped up in the rite of circumcision. It's a cleansing rite. There's blood. And we know that Christ became our circumcision. We know that circumcision never in and of itself saved anyone, just as baptism in and of itself does not save anyone. Someone say, well, pastor, you know, there are children, they receive baptism and then they end up not believing. I'm like, oh yeah, that never happens with adults who get baptized. How many adults get baptized later in life and then throw off the faith and walk away from the church? Happens sadly all the time. The point is not how the person ultimately will respond to the grace of God, it's what's being communicated through the sacrament of baptism. Indeed, it is the promises of God to us and to our children. For Christ and for all of God's covenant people, there was never this separation. between infants and adults when it came to membership within the covenant community. The offspring of believers were always understood to be recipients of God's promises and blessings, never viewed as second-rate citizens among the covenant people of God. The children of believers in the old covenant received the sign and seal of the covenant of grace and were considered members of the covenant community. In the new covenant, There's never one word of abrogation of children being members of the covenant community. In Genesis 17 and verse 7, it states, And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and to your offspring after you. Again, Christ regarded these children of believing parents as holy seed set apart to receive the promises and blessings of God. Apostle Paul underscores this idea in 1 Corinthians 7 and verse 14 when he calls the children of unequally yoked marriages holy or set apart in a covenantal manner because of the faith of at least one parent. Now, a question emerges here. Perhaps you've already been asking this. If the kingdom of God is made up of both adults and little children, and Christ says it in this text, and the Old Testament underscores this reality by circumcising eight-day-old infants, placing upon them the sign and seal of God's covenant of grace, then what does this say about the practice of withholding God's covenant sign and seal of baptism from our children? This leads to point number two. If children of believers are first-class citizens of Christ's Kingdom, if they are to be enfolded into the visible Church, then they should not be denied the sign and seal of membership within His Kingdom. Once again, this sign and seal does not does not cause our children to be born again. Our own confession says that a child can be born again before, during, or after circumcision if indeed the Lord works his grace in his or her life. It's not tied to the moment of of baptism. And yet baptism, baptism becomes this wonderful sign and seal of the covenant of grace, pointing us our entire lives long away from ourselves and our own works to Christ and to his work. And so baptism becomes about the gospel of Jesus Christ and not about my own work and my own testimony, as it were. Even so, along with many other New Testament texts, these verses teach us about the status of children within the covenant community of the church and shed light upon the sacrament of baptism and who it ought to be administered to. I don't believe that these verses we're looking at this evening are some kind of a ultimate proof text for infant baptism, but I do believe they speak into it in terms of our children. and being a part of the covenant community. I want to read a couple of quotes that perhaps would be helpful to us this evening. Hendrickson, Bible commentator, says this, quote, the belief that since little children of believers belong to God's church and to his covenant, baptism, the sign and seal of such belonging, should not be withheld from them must be well founded." Matthew Henry, the Puritan says this, he, that is Christ, owned the children of believers as members of his church, as they had been of the Jewish church. He came to set up the kingdom of God among men and to this occasion to declare that the kingdom admitted little children to be the subjects of it and gave them a title to the privileges of subjects. And then finally, John Calvin, it is presumption and sacrilege to drive far from the fold of Christ those whom he cherishes in his bosom and to shut the door and exclude as strangers those whom he does not wish to be forbidden to come to him, end quote. What these Christian stalwarts are saying is that the children in our churches must not be viewed or treated in a second-class way. Rather, they must be admitted to membership, visible membership in the church through baptism, the sign and seal of God's covenant of grace, and viewed as an important part of God's people. Wasn't this what Christ was getting at when he said, let the children come to me. Do not hinder them for to such belongs the kingdom of God. To such belongs the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God belongs to our covenant children. It's a wonderful, wonderful blessing. To such belongs the kingdom of God. Thirdly, children are to be brought to Jesus from infancy. One question that usually arises when studying this text is how old are the children being brought to Jesus? We don't know. We don't know, but we can do a little study and conjecture. Matthew's account of this same story in Matthew chapter 19 and verse 14, there we'll notice that in the English translation, it says, let the what? Little children come unto me, rather than simply say children, as it states in the Markan text. This term, little children could also be translated infants. the infants come to me." That would make sense in our texts. Mark 10, 16, it states that Christ took the children in His arms and blessed them. Now, of course, Christ could have taken them in His arms if He was sitting down and they came and He took them in His arms, but it could also mean that He took them in His arms, infant children. The covenant offspring of God's people are to be brought to Jesus, first by covenant baptism, which, as I stated earlier, is the sign and seal of initiation into the covenant people of God, and secondly, through biblical instruction and discipleship. Indeed, as Christian parents, we are exhorted in God's Word to teach our children the scriptures and consistently impress upon them the need to turn from sin and to turn to the promises of God. By the way, what do I do every Lord's Day from this pulpit? I exhort all of us to turn from sin and to put our hope and our faith in the promises of the gospel. It's how we raise our children as well in our homes. We are committed to this. And what we can say to our children while other baptisms are going on is to say, there's a baptism happening this morning. You know you're baptized. What does that baptism mean? Well, Daddy, it means that God loves me and he's made promises to me. It means, Mommy and Daddy, that I can't save myself. It means that that water, it's symbolic of the blood of Christ, which washes me clean. And so while baptisms are taking place, we are exhorted in the Westminster Larger Catechism to remember our own baptisms and to improve upon them by embracing all that they mean and represent. You see, Christian parenting in its essence is daily driving home the promises of the gospel to our children, that same gospel that was represented to them in their baptisms. Now, Again, this does not mean that all of our children who are baptized are immediately converted. No, that's not the case. And it wasn't the case with circumcision and the old covenant. But we trust the Lord that we use this as a tool of Christian discipleship, as a means of what? Grace, as a means of grace. You know, your baptism is a means of grace. It's not something that's done and forgotten. It's that which you meditate on, you think about. You know, Martin Luther has so many wonderful anecdotes from Luther when the devil came and tempted him or was telling him he was a loser and should die and was accusing him of things. And what did Luther say? Luther say, go away from me, devil, I am baptized. What did he mean by that? He meant that he was a child of God, that he was saved by grace, that the Lord owned him, that the Lord had marked him by baptism, that he wasn't his own. And he was the Lord's. Again, Romans 9, we have Jacob and Esau. They both received the sign and seal of the covenant. One believed, one threw off. promises of God. Christ is not teaching here that all children of believing parents are regenerate or born again, or that those who receive the sign of baptism are automatically saved from their sin, which would be an interpretation more akin to Roman Catholicism or Greek Orthodoxy. Rather, what Christ is teaching His disciples, what He's teaching us this evening, is that the offspring of believers are to be set apart, as in the Old Testament, as receivers and beneficiaries of God's promises and viable members of the visible Kingdom of God, namely the Church. to be initiated into Christ's church by baptism, to be faithfully instructed in the home and at church to embrace God's glorious promises as revealed in the gospel." Dear ones, this is so much more than sort of, you know, hoping that our kids get converted at summer camp. Like, throwing everything I'm saying here just away, like, we don't need to think about all this. Let's just get our kids to summer camp and get them saved. This is nurturing, loving Christian discipleship in the home. And it's the way we think about our children and so many of you do think about them. If you are at the outset of your Christian parenting, or a lot of this is new to you, you ought to connect with some of the parents that are doing this and doing it well, and learn from them. That is a part of the workings of a church, is we love one another, we encourage one another, and we teach one another. Our covenant children as members of Christ's church must be raised not as outsiders, but as growing, maturing members of God's covenant people. Now, our hope and prayer is that God will do a marvelous work in their lives at a young age, even perhaps before they learn to say the name of Jesus. You know, we have so many people coming through the church and joining the church regularly. We were just interviewing some couples earlier, and at least the ones we interviewed tonight, They don't remember a time where they didn't know the Lord and love the Lord. Sure, they've had ups and downs and ebbs and flows in their Christian walk. Who hasn't? But the point is, they don't remember a day because their parents told them about Christ, taught them about Christ, brought them to church, they were nurtured in a covenant community, and they can't even remember a day where they didn't know the Lord and love the Lord. Isn't that wonderful? What a great testimony. Some people say, I have a boring testimony. You know, I wish I was like a hell's angel riding motorcycles for 10 years and causing all kinds of craziness so I'd have a real good testimony. No! We thank God for those kinds of testimonies. But listen, what a wonderful testimony to grow up in a Christian family and a Christian home and a loving church and to embrace those promises that are made to you in your baptism. Let the children come to me. Do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Dear ones, children are to be brought to Jesus from infancy. Our children are different than those children growing up in unbelieving homes. They're covenant children. One of our elders in my former congregation that I pastored for 10 years, lost a three-year-old child, and to this day, you speak with him about it, he will tear up. The gravestone for his three-year-old daughter who died of cancer says her name, and then it says, child of the covenant. You know, it's like King David, when he lost his child, said, I will go to him, he shall not come back to me. We put our hope and our trust in God and His mercy when it comes to our children, don't we? We have so much to be hopeful in and hopeful for. The Apostle Paul in his final epistle prior to his execution at the hands of Nero, wrote to Timothy these words, 2 Timothy 3, This last bit, through faith in Jesus Christ is important. It's crucial to our understanding of the place of children and the covenant. All the promises of God made to our children and their baptism through the word of God are received upon a condition called what? Faith. Faith. Covenant children, Children of the covenant, those who have grown up in Christian homes, you need to understand that you must exercise your own saving faith in Jesus Christ. You cannot be saved through the faith of your parents. We are saved by God's grace through faith. We know that for some who are converted in the earliest stages of life, some perhaps even in the womb, There can be faith in them that doesn't get expressed until later. And the Lord does these things, doesn't he? But we have to ask ourselves, how do our children get faith? Can they earn it? No, it's impossible to earn. Can they buy it? No. Faith is not for sale. Can they stir it up naturally within? Do we all possess faith when we were born and we just have to kind of stir it up? No, it doesn't work like that. We are depraved and dead in our transgressions when we are born into this world. No, the Bible says that faith is a gift from God and we receive it when we are born again. Our children need to be born again. Amen. Our children need to be regenerated. don't take this view where we just have this sort of lazy assumption about our children. We love our children. We make charitable assumptions about the work that God is doing and will do in their lives, but we also understand that we are commanded to nurture them in the Lord, to teach them the word of God, to teach them about what their baptism means, to point them to Christ, Faith is a gift from God, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not of your own doing. It is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast." This is what Christ is teaching in verse 15. Entrance number four, entrance into the kingdom is by grace through faith in the person and work of Christ and by no other means. And this leads us to the statement made in verse 15. If you'll look there with me, Jesus says, truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God, like a child shall not enter it. How does a child receive the kingdom of God? He just receives it. There's total dependence. This verse, demolishes any notion that receiving covenant baptism or being raised in a good church or a solid Christian home is what is required to gain entrance into Christ's kingdom. On the contrary, the condition for entering heaven is, by God's sovereign grace, realizing one's utter helplessness to save oneself from sin and receiving this gift as though a small child. as someone who understands himself or herself as utterly helpless to enter the kingdom apart from the king whose death will purchase the way. The only way that any of us go to heaven is through the saving work of Christ, his fulfillment of the law of God, his righteous sacrifice on the cross, and his glorious resurrection from the dead on the third day. One commentator puts it this way, quote, the unchildlike piety of achievement must be abandoned. And the recognition that to receive the kingdom is to know oneself, to be given it, to be given it. I hardly think any of our small children in our congregation would think that they're in the home that they are in because they earned it. They think that they need to be corrected. It's all a gift. They've received it. A covenant child must be taught to love God with this kind of humble, childlike dependence, not only when he or she is a small child, but their entire lives. This is the kind of faith that proves authentic, a faith that looks to Christ for our salvation. Not some of it, but all of it. Christ does something brilliant here. While defending the place of children within the covenant community or the visible church, he masterfully underscores the necessity of dependent faith in Christ for anyone who hopes for eternal life. The kind of confident faith a nursing infant shows when his mother comes into the room to feed him. As she enters the room, he does not doubt his need of her and the nourishment that will come from her. He cannot feed himself, nor does the infant doubt his mother's intentions. She will feed him. He dependently rejoices in his mother's nurturing love. And doesn't this teach us of the kind of dependent faith we are all called to have as God's children? Our text ends with verse 16 and a beautiful picture of Christ's love for the children. Verse 16, and he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them. He blessed them and he laid his hands on them. Verse 16. Dear ones, may we all receive the offspring of believers as members of the covenant community, members of the visible church, not hindering them from coming to Christ and receiving the sign and seal of the covenant of grace, which he ordained for his people. Our covenant children are not strangers to the promise, but they are receivers of the promise. We've had so many children born into the life of this church. We have several more that will be born soon. And the way I view these children that are born into our congregation is as members of the covenant community, not the future of the church, but the church now. And what a blessing they are. There are many things, of course, that could be said, many more things that could be said on this topic of children in the church. I by no means believe that those who are not quite here yet, as it concerns the children of the church, that somehow they are on some road to destruction or that they somehow have it out for children. On the contrary, I know those who do not hold to this understanding of God's word when it comes to children being baptized that are wonderful, godly examples of those who raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and in many ways are doing exactly what we would want them to do when it comes to raising their children. And so we praise the Lord. for that. But we must be challenged as it concerns these things. As it concerns the household baptisms in Acts chapter 16. As it concerns the lack of truth in God's Word about the abrogation of children receiving the sign and seal of the covenant. So we should see our children as those who should be nurtured and raised in the Lord with admonition and instruction. We want to teach them God's word. We also want to teach them the catechism. We do that here at Christ Church. We take that seriously. Matt Watson does a wonderful job catechizing our children, but this really shouldn't be the only place our children are receiving catechism. They should be receiving catechism at home as well. We're helping our children to learn the catechism so that sound doctrine is a part of their their lives. To encourage you parents, I grew up in the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod. I was confirmed in the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod. I learned Luther's Shorter Catechism. All of this truth was lodged into my brain. And one illustration I like to use, because I was converted in an event in my life where, as many of you will know, it was a hard circumstance. And I was so low, the only place I could look was up. But here's the thing. I like to use this illustration. All the furniture was in the room. The light just needed to be turned on. My parents saw to it that all the furniture, the spiritual furniture was in the room and the light needed to be turned on. And by the grace of God, the Lord had mercy on me and the light was turned on and I was born again. And so as you're raising your kids, remember that is what you are doing. You are instilling in them the truth of God and the gospel. We pray that they will never wander or have great rebellion, but even if they do, it is in there. And we pray that the Lord would draw them, would draw them back. So we also need to recognize as a church that we have the privilege of serving our children, the privilege of serving our children in the nursery, in Sunday school. Many of you have committed to teaching in our Sunday school classes. It's a wonderful thing to do. And to serve our covenant children in the nursery is a wonderful thing to do. We have vacation Bible school. There are other ways that we can serve our children, even just on the Lord's day, to speak to them, to encourage them, to ask them how they're doing. These are ways we can love and encourage our kids. And finally, let us all recognize from this text that we are called to exercise childlike faith in Christ. Childlike faith in Christ. You know, we can get pretty sophisticated with our theology, and our philosophy, and our history, and we enjoy these things, and rightly we should. and they should be an important central part of our discipleship and learning and growing. However, we don't want to get so philosophical and so overly theological that we forget about the love of Christ and the simple walk with God that the Lord calls us to. You know, one of the great theologians of the 20th century was asked the question, Can you sum up all of your theology, all of your works, in just a short sentence? And you know what he said? Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. And that's it, isn't it? And that's what we're gonna sing. that wonderful hymn in our hymnal, Jesus Loves Me. Yes, Jesus loves me because the Bible tells me so. Would you pray with me? Our Father, we thank you so much for this brief time and your word. We thank you, Lord, for our covenant children. We love them so much and we pray that they would come to know you by grace through faith. We pray that as they meditate on their baptism, that they would remember that Christ's blood washes them clean of all of their sin and makes them right with you. O Lord, would you be glorified through this church as we seek to raise our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Give the parents, especially of young children in this congregation, strength, wisdom, and encouragement as they carry on in this wonderful calling to raise their children in the Lord. O Lord, we pray that our children would be born again unto a living hope. And would you receive all the glory from it, in Jesus' name, and all of God's people said, amen.