Well, church, this sermon is indeed for all of you. But especially as I came to these words, I wanted to preach them and press them upon the hearts of children in this church. And children, look, these verses that we just read, Matthew 19, verses 13-15, These are the word of God and they tell you one great truth about the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is what you probably sing sometimes. But this truth is this. Jesus loves little children. Jesus loves little children. Amen. He loves little children. Now, I want to tell you some things about these verses. I don't have a long outline here, so it's just a few things you need to know from today. But I want to tell you about these verses. The Holy Spirit is the author of these verses, but He used a certain disciple named Matthew to write these verses down. And Matthew admits in these verses that he made a big mistake, y'all. Kids, he made a big mistake. Him and his friends made a huge mistake. They failed. And you know why they failed? Because they stood in the way of children coming to Jesus. They stood in the way when parents were bringing their children to Jesus, they said, no, you shouldn't do that. And in fact, Matthew even goes so far as to say that him and the disciples rebuked the parents and the people for bringing children to Jesus. Do you know what a rebuke is, kids? Do you know what a rebuke is? I'll tell you what a rebuke is in an example. So if one of my children, let's say Mathis over here, one of my children at breakfast one morning spills a bowl of cereal. Now, I could react to that a lot of ways. I could say a word of correction, a word, hey, pay attention, or I could just simply choose to say nothing at all, because you know what? It's just a mistake. Nobody wants to live with cereal on the floor. They want to eat the cereal, right? But let's say Mathis and Levi now, I come in the kitchen and Mathis and Levi are fighting over the cereal. Who gets to pour the first bowl? You wouldn't do that, children, would you? Or maybe who gets the last of the cereal, right? Because it's running out. And they're fighting over the cereal. Now, I have to do something. I have to rebuke them and say, hey, it's not about the cereal. Your behavior is selfish. You are not being kind to one another. You're being preferential towards yourselves. You're just choosing yourself over your brother or sister. A rebuke is a serious correction. It means that you see someone doing the wrong thing and you say, hey, that's the wrong thing to do. You should stop doing that and do something else. And that's what the disciples, can you believe it, the disciples were doing to the people. They were saying, hey, you're bringing your children to Jesus. That's the wrong thing to do. Stop doing that. Do something else. Go somewhere else. Stop thinking this way. That's what it means the disciples were doing. Now, let me ask you, do you think that's the right or wrong thing to do? That's the wrong thing to do, yeah. It's always wrong to stop people, especially children, from coming to Jesus. So with that in mind, though, I want you to see two lessons, kids, two lessons about this passage that Jesus wants you to know. that God wants you to know about Jesus' loving little children. The first lesson is this. Jesus sees boys and girls, little children, and He is interested in them very much. Very simple lesson. He sees them. He sees them. Right now, Jesus is the Lord of heaven and earth. He rules and reigns over all things. He sees all things. He knows all things. Men and women, boys and girls, you cannot do anything that is hidden from the face of Jesus Christ. Let me say that again. You can't do anything that's hidden from the face of Jesus Christ. And that means that in all things, you must make it your aim to honor the Lord Jesus Christ. But this also means something very comforting that you should know. If Jesus is the one who sees, the one who notices, the one who takes care, the one who takes interest, then this means, this means that Jesus is very near to you. He's not far off. And I think as a child, this is a very comforting thing to remember. Because as a child, one of the things that you are very concerned about, and should be, is this thing called attention, is this thing called notice. And when you hurt the most, I would say this, when your heart hurts the most, when it is sad the most, it is when you have received bad attention from somebody you love or care about, right? Am I right about that? Maybe you want your friends to spend more time with you or hang out with you, but they don't. They choose other things. They choose other friends. Or maybe they're just downright mean to you. Doesn't that make your heart sad? Or your brother or your sister, when they mistreat you, that makes your heart sad. Or maybe it's a teacher or a coach. Maybe it's your parents, you're trying to get their attention, but they're just scrolling on their cell phones. And what does that do? It makes your heart sad. Well, this should inform you. This should teach you kids that Jesus is not too busy for you. He is not too adulty for you. He is not snappy with you if you come to him. No, he notices you. He has a special care and interest in you. He does. He does. In fact, I'll tell you a couple of Bible stories that show this. Remember with me, you guys have been in Sunday school, you have good Sunday school teachers. Remember the story of Moses? Do you remember the story of Moses? Remember when he was a little baby and his mother put him in this mud basket sort of thing and she thought the best way for his life to be saved was if she put him in a mud basket and floated him down the river when he was just a baby. But you know who took care of Moses? Who did? Do you know who took care of him? God did. God took care of him and made Moses a great servant. I could tell you about Samuel. When Samuel was just a boy, God took a special notice of Samuel and had a relationship with him and called Samuel to be a savior, to be a judge and a prophet in Israel. I think of the two child kings, Joash and Josiah. They were like six and eight years old when they began ruling in Judah, and they were righteous kings even at that age. Or how about David, right? Remember David when he was just a shepherd boy caring for his father's flocks? The Lord was his protector. Or in the New Testament, there's this great statement about a young pastor named Timothy. who began a relationship when he was just a child with Jesus, and he became wise for salvation after reading the Scriptures. Why do I say these lessons from these lives? Because I want you to remember that God takes special notice of you children. And when Matthew and his disciples stood in the way and walled off those children and those parents from coming to Jesus, It's not like they stood in the way of Jesus' sight. Jesus could see those children. He noticed them. They were not too little for God to notice, for Jesus to notice. So that's the point I want to make to you, is that you are not too little for God, for Jesus, to notice you. You're not too young for that. And that means That means that you are not too little for you to notice Jesus. Did you hear me say that? You are not too little for you to notice Jesus. If you are old enough to talk, then you are old enough to pray. If you are old enough to read, you are old enough to learn the Scriptures. If you're old enough to misbehave, to be a stinker, to be dishonest, selfish, then you are old enough to do good works in the service of Jesus Christ. If you are old enough to love your mom and dad, you are old enough to love Jesus. You are not too little, too young, for God to take notice of you. So take notice, take an interest in the Lord Jesus Christ. And for all you older people, you are not too old to have a friendship with Jesus Christ. It's not too late. you can still take up a life with Him. The second thing I want you to learn today is that Jesus wants you, dear children, dear boy, dear girl, He wants you to come to Him. He wants you to come to Him. In fact, Jesus says it this way. He sees His disciples walling off those parents and their kids, and He says what? Those famous words, The little children come to me. And do not hinder them. Don't hinder them. Now. Let me show you right here that Jesus is really, really, really serious about wanting the children to come to him. He says the same commandment twice. He just does it in two different ways. He says, let them come to me and do not hinder them. That's the same commandment. If someone said to me, I don't know, I'll use kind of a silly example here, go to Ocean City and buy a bucket of Fisher's Popcorn. And don't stop until you get there. What would you think they meant by that? They meant, I want some Fisher's Popcorn. Go get it. So when Jesus says, let them come and don't stop them, he is meaning, get them to me. Get out of the way. I'm serious. I mean it. I want them near to me. Bring them here. That's what he means. He says it twice. Why does anyone repeat themselves? Not just because they like hearing themselves speak. Oh, well, maybe sometimes that's true, too. When it happens, when your mom, when your dad repeats themselves, when your preacher repeats themselves, when Jesus repeats himself, he wants you to really get it, y'all. Get the children to him. And don't miss what's so important, even more than his emphasis, even more than his importance, his stress on the command. Look at what it says. It says, bring them to me. I think this is so important. And I think, children, you might get this lesson more than the adults in this room. You might understand what is going on here. Jesus says, bring them to me. You see, if I were to ask and survey everyone in this room, survey everyone who's had a part in Christian religion, and I were to ask, what is the meaning of the faith? Why do you do the things you do? Why do you come to church? Why do you read your Bible? Why do you pray? Why do you sing songs? You could get a host of answers. People would say, oh, I sing songs because the music is inspiring. I pray because it makes me less worried or less anxious. I read Scripture because it helps me learn about God. It helps me be wise. Or I come to church because, you know, church is wonderful, I have friends there, and there's just a lot to do there at church. All those things may be great things to say. But let me tell you about what matter they make it all. None. None. To a child, they hear that, and that's all very boring, y'all. That's all very boring. It's not because those things aren't necessarily good things. Some of those things are really wonderful things. Some of those things are true things. The Christian faith has many tenets, many behaviors, many things to do, many doctrines to celebrate, many prayers to pray, and all those things are great. But the point of everything that we do, the point of everything we are, every activity, every meeting, every Sunday morning, every time you come to Sunday school, we don't invite children to Sunday school and we say, hey, come to Sunday school, kids, so we can show them how awesome our flannel graph depictions are, of stories are. We don't do it so they just have coloring books. We don't come to church just to hang out and have things to do. We do it, why? Because in all of these activities, there is one central thing that it's always, always about, and it's not a thing, it is a person. His name is Jesus Christ. Why do we pray? Because we have communion with the living Christ. Why do we read scriptures? Because it is these, Jesus say, that testify about Him. Why do we come to church? Why do we fellowship? Because Jesus says, where my people are gathered, even if it's just two of them, who is there? Jesus is there. I am there. Why do we sing? Because we want to magnify the name of Jesus. It's not just for inspiration. We want Jesus to be magnified. Everything is about Jesus. And as adults, we can get off this mark as time and seasons go by. I know you do. It happens to me too. We just get a little cold and we think it's about maintaining church life and all those things. Jesus doesn't say, hey, don't hinder the children, let them simply come to Sunday school, let them come to church, let them come to the communion table. No, what is it? Let them come to me. Let them come to me. This is the case with the church, even not far along the road in the early church, if you remember in the book of Revelation. Jesus, children, I'm giving you a little more Bible study here. Jesus tells John to write some letters to churches, and there's this one church called Ephesus, and it's a really wonderful church. They hold fast to sound doctrine. They don't tolerate evil. But there's one thing that Jesus Christ absolutely cannot stand about them. Do you know what it is? They have forgotten their first love. They have grown cold. And what's their first love? Jesus. Jesus. So he says, repent and return to your first love. Maybe you need to hear that. Maybe as you're listening in, adult, you need to hear that. You need to come back. Come back to Jesus. But children, you know it too. I think this is why I said you might grasp this concept better than adults, because Jesus, when you find out about Jesus, He's exciting. He's life-giving. He's protecting. He's all good, all lovely. You just can't imagine life without Him. A baby believer is one of the most precious things to behold, because they are so infatuated with their life, their friendship, their union to Jesus the Lord. Let me tell you, children, that coming to Jesus really is the definition of the Christian religion. That boils down to those three words. Come to Jesus. That's how we, by the way, get into the faith, get into the kingdom of God. We come to Jesus. And when we begin that eternal glorified state in heaven, what are we doing? We're coming to who? To Jesus. From first to last, it's about coming to Jesus. Everything is simplified down to that. Coming to Jesus. It's the definition of all true religion. But children, I want you to look to the Jesus who is in these verses. Do you love Him? Do you love this Jesus? Do you see Him there taking up children into His arms? Showing them that they are precious in His sight. Blessing them. You know, Jesus, on this day, in these verses, was a very, very busy man. He was, in fact, about to die, kids. Just a few weeks after this, He would die. And in these moments, Jesus is trying to train His disciples to change the world for Christ. for His kingdom. In this moment, He is healing crowds of people who are coming to Him for healing from some of the worst diseases, demon possessions, chronic illness, seizures, cancers, blindness, and crowds are thronging around Jesus and He's healing them all. Not only that, but he's debating with the religious teachers. There's all sorts of things that Jesus is doing. And in the midst of that. He takes time to make it clear to the world, to the world forever. There is a priority of his that cannot be overlooked, and that is the receiving and the blessing and the teaching of children so that they may know, too. that they can be a part of the kingdom of heaven. See Him there with a mighty heart, giving blessing and prayers for these children. And not just for the children. I mean, these are parents bringing their children to Jesus. Jesus is giving a great and affirming work to parents. Parents, bring your children to Jesus, and He will bless you for that. Do you see Jesus there? Giving all that attention, giving Himself away to moms and dads, to the little children. This is Jesus. He came into the world. This is God. He is the Son of God. And this heart that He has is the heart of who He is. Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever. This means, kids, if you come to Him today, Adults, if you come to Him today, He will act the same way towards you that He did on this day down in the region beyond the Jordan in Judea. He will not despise you. He will not cast you aside. He will receive you. And He will bless you. He will lay His hand upon you and take you with Him into His kingdom. This is one of the things, sometimes I read this passage, and like I said, it simplifies everything. It simplifies everything down for me as well. As a preacher, this is my whole job. Bringing people to Jesus. That's it. I want you to know Him, kids. I want you to be blessed by Him. to be in His presence because He is the best. There is no one like Him. Kids, look at me. Look at me. There is no one like Him. I'll tell you, when I was a kid, when I was younger than Levi, maybe younger than Charlie even, I began a relationship with Jesus. And I'll tell you, I haven't always done a great job. There's been many moments where I've failed Jesus. There's been many moments when I've been fearful and worried, when I've let down Jesus. But Jesus has always remained faithful to me. He's always been there for me. And I'll tell you after spending this much time with Jesus, I'll tell you the thing I fear most, the thing that is the most dreadful thing for me to even imagine, and it is to be in this life without Jesus. I couldn't imagine it. I want you to be blessed by Jesus. To know Jesus. To walk with Him. Do you love Him? Like I said, there is no one like Him. Can I tell you there's no one like Him? Just think about this Jesus. Right now, today, He rules over all things. You look at the stars in the sky, Jesus rules over them all. The Bible teaches that in Jesus, all things hold together. All the processes of this world, things hold together. You know, my grass is turning green out there now. I'm getting these little buds on the trees out there. People are walking around. The season is changing. Why does all that happen? Because Jesus holds it all together. All things are upheld by the Word of His power, the Bible says. When you kids, get this, think about this, when you kids fall down on the asphalt or on the gravel and you scrape your elbow or your knee and it bleeds, and you go and clean it up, you wipe off all the blood, you put ointment on it, you put a band-aid over it, and a few days later, you get that healthy skin that's closing up over it all, You know? And you're like, oh goodness, this isn't going to be so bad. You know why that happens? Because Jesus, y'all. Jesus makes all that happen. He is the one looking after every single process, big or small, He rules over it all. He is that wonderful. He is the judge who is coming and every creature must give an account of its life to Him. He is the commander-in-chief of every angel. Every angel serves Jesus. Every demon fears Jesus. Jesus is, as we already heard sung, the sacrificial Lamb who died on the cross and was crucified. To forgive your sins. And to take away. Your separation from God. And he died on the cross and he was raised to life after being in the grave for three days. So that all who come to Jesus now. Maybe taken up with him and may go with him and be blessed in him and have eternal life in him and walk with him in his kingdom. Children, if you want to be happy, if you want to be blessed, if you want to be full of true life and true peace, you must go to Jesus Christ. You must love Him. You must love Him. It's not too early, as I mentioned, for you to have a friendship with Jesus. It is not too early. It's not too early for you to name Him as your Savior. And that's the same for everyone here, people, young or old. It's not too early if you're young for you to begin a relationship with Jesus. It's not too late if you're old for you to begin a relationship with Jesus. You might even say, you know, I've walked in religion for a long time. I've done a lot of things. I've done a lot of churchy things. I've read a lot of Scripture. I've said a lot of prayers. I've been in a lot of Bible studies. I've been on mission trips. I've done all these things, but you know what? I don't really think I've ever known Jesus. Hey, I could point to you certain people out of the Scriptures who were just like that. who turned to Jesus. After believing everything about their spirituality, everything about their religion was right, but they had no Jesus. And then when Jesus was held out before their eyes, when Jesus showed up in front of their face, they came to Jesus and their life was changed forever. Praise the Lord. You can come to Jesus too. You can come to Jesus now to trust in Him. You are not too old to be happy in Jesus. You can go to Him. What He is for children, He is for everyone who comes to Him. He will take up. He will lay His hand upon you. He will bless you. And you will be made for the Kingdom of Heaven. You will be made and outfitted for eternal life in the service of this Jesus. who is available and ready to receive all who come to Him. Don't stand in the way of kids coming to Jesus. Make sure you make it your aim to lead children to lead others to Jesus. Make sure you make it your aim to remove those obstacles in your life that are in between you and Jesus. Take them away and go to Jesus. He says, Let them come. Don't stop them from coming. Let them come. Go to Jesus and you will be happy in him. You will find all of your joy in him. And it is joy that cannot be conquered. Amen. Would you pray with me? Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time in your word Simple lessons to go back to and just to be reminded in our hearts, in our inner persons, in our inner man, Lord, what is truly most important. We want to be found in Christ. And I pray, Lord, for the children in this church. We have many things to offer as a church. Many things to do. But in all things, I pray that Christ would be the preeminent One. The center of our life. Lord Jesus, that You would be holding all things together. That in everything we do, we make You the center. We raise Your name to the highest. We put nothing besides You. We don't have any competitors in our allegiance to You. Make it our ambition to pursue the surpassing greatness of knowing you, Lord Jesus, as our Savior. Thank you for your word which teaches us that you are ready to receive all who come to you. I pray that you would bless these words to the hearts of these men and women and these children who are here. I pray it in Jesus' name, amen.