Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1439
Delivered on Lord’s-Day Morning, October 20, 1878
“Verily I say unto you, Whoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall by no means enter it.” Luke 18:17.
WHEN our Lord blessed the little children He was making His last journey to Jerusalem. It was thus a farewell blessing which He gave to the little ones and it reminds us of the fact that among His parting words to His disciples, before He was taken up, we find the tender charge, “Feed My lambs.” The ruling passion was strong upon the great Shepherd of Israel, “who gathers the lambs with His arms and carries them in His bosom.” And it was fitting that while He was making His farewell journey He should bestow His gracious benediction upon the children. Beloved, our Lord Jesus Christ is not here among us in Person, but we know where He is and we know that He is clothed with all power in Heaven and in earth with which to bless His people.
Let us, then, draw near to Him this day. Let us seek His touch in the form of fellowship and ask the aid of His intercession. Let us include others in our prayers and among these let us give our children and, indeed, all children, a leading place. We know more of Jesus than the women of Palestine did! Let us, therefore, be even more eager than they were to bring our children to Him that He may bless them and that they may be accepted in Him, even as we are. Jesus waits to bless! He is not changed in Character, or impoverished in Grace—as He still receives sinners, so does He still bless children—and let none of us be content, whether we are parents or teachers, until He has received our children and has so blessed them that we are sure that they have entered the kingdom of God!
Our Savior, when He saw that His disciples were not only backward to admit the children to Him, but even rebuked those who brought them, was much displeased and called them to Him that He might teach them better. He then informed them that instead of the children being regarded as intruders, they were most welcome to Himself and, instead of being interlopers, they had full right of access, for of children and of childlike persons His kingdom was composed. Moreover, He declared that none could enter that kingdom except in the same manner as children enter. He spoke with Divine certainty, using His own expressive, “verily,” and He spoke with the weight of His own personal authority, “I say unto you.”
These prefatory expressions are intended to secure our reverent attention to the fact that so far from the admission of children into the kingdom being unusual or strange, no one can find entrance there unless they receive the Gospel as a little child receives it. It is this statement of the Master which affords us a subject for this morning, which, may the Divine Spirit open up to us and impress upon our hearts. I shall speak upon three matters. First, upon the secret thought of the disciples which the Master refuted by the language of the text. Secondly, upon the open declaration of our Lord in the text. And, thirdly, upon the encouragement which He thus gives to us.
I. To begin with, let us deal with THE SECRET THOUGHT OF THE DISCIPLES—expressed by their actions though not spoken in words. And, first, it is pretty clear that the disciples thought the children were too insignificant for the Lord’s time to be taken up by them. If it had been a prince who wished to come to Jesus, no doubt Peter and the rest of them would have diligently secured him an introduction. But, you see, these were only poor women with babies and small children. If it had been an ordinary person like themselves, they would not have repelled him with rebukes. But mere children! Sucklings and little children! It was too bad for these to be intruded upon the great Teacher!
A word is used about the youthful applicants which may signify children of any age, from sucklings up to 12 years— surely Jesus had worry enough without the intrusion of these juveniles. He had higher subjects for thought and graver objects of care. The children were so very little they were quite beneath His notice—so the disciples thought in their hearts. But, Brothers and Sisters, if it comes to a matter of insignificance, who among us can hope to win the Divine
attention? If we think that children must be little in His sight, what are we? He takes up the isles as a very little thing. To Him the inhabitants of the earth are as grasshoppers! Yes, we are all as things of nothing! If we were humble, we should exclaim, “Lord, what is man, that You are mindful of him? And the son of man, that You visit him?”
If we dream that the Lord will not notice the little and insignificant, what think we of such a text as this—“Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.” Does God care for sparrows and shall He not care for little children? The idea of insignificance must be set aside at once. “Though the Lord is high, yet has He respect unto the lowly.” But are little children so insignificant? Do they not people Heaven? Is it not your conviction? It is mine—that they make up a very considerable part of the population of the skies! Multitudes of infant feet are treading the streets of the New Jerusalem! Snatched from the breast before they had committed actual sin—delivered from the toilsome pilgrimage of life—they always behold the face of our Father which is in Heaven. Of such is the kingdom of God.”