WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.800 Okay, for a few minutes this morning, I want to look back at the reading that Robin took 00:00:08.800 --> 00:00:13.759 from Mark chapter 10, rather than Mark chapter 5. 00:00:13.759 --> 00:00:18.480 I don't know why I had that open at Mark 5. 00:00:18.480 --> 00:00:20.760 And really, one of the themes we're looking at, we're looking at the theme we're going 00:00:20.760 --> 00:00:23.160 to look at, we have been looking at Psalms in the morning worship. 00:00:23.160 --> 00:00:26.839 I'm taking a break from that today for a particular reason, because we've got eight 00:00:26.839 --> 00:00:29.519 baptisms to look forward to in the next few weeks. 00:00:29.519 --> 00:00:35.920 So I thought we would set the scene for that today with what we're going to look at and 00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:41.519 remind ourselves of the importance of what we do and the importance of children as well. 00:00:41.519 --> 00:00:46.560 And why it's so significant for us, the sacrament of baptism. 00:00:46.560 --> 00:00:50.079 We recognize that children matter to Jesus. 00:00:50.079 --> 00:00:53.280 And I'm going to come back to that just towards the end. 00:00:53.280 --> 00:00:55.679 And I know that in the passage there was two kind of sections. 00:00:55.679 --> 00:00:58.920 There was one, if you've got a Bible with you, you'll see that. 00:00:58.920 --> 00:01:01.039 But if not, it's fine as well. 00:01:01.039 --> 00:01:04.840 I can just tell you that the first section was entitled, Let the Little Children Come 00:01:04.840 --> 00:01:05.840 to Me. 00:01:05.840 --> 00:01:09.400 And it's that passage just with the children coming to Jesus, the disciples, pushing them 00:01:09.400 --> 00:01:10.400 away. 00:01:10.400 --> 00:01:11.840 And Jesus said, No, let them come. 00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:16.960 And then the other one was his interaction with this rich young ruler. 00:01:16.960 --> 00:01:21.920 And we see in that section, certainly the first section, that children matter to Jesus. 00:01:21.920 --> 00:01:26.560 Now, I know it's not a passage about baptism of babies, and I'll maybe say a little bit 00:01:26.560 --> 00:01:31.560 more about that later, because I do appreciate and I realize that within the Christian church, 00:01:31.560 --> 00:01:36.240 there are a variety of different positions about who should be baptized and when they 00:01:36.240 --> 00:01:37.240 should be baptized. 00:01:37.240 --> 00:01:39.719 And I'm not going to speak about that really today. 00:01:39.719 --> 00:01:45.280 I'm not going to unpack the theology of why we believe it's important that not only believers 00:01:45.280 --> 00:01:50.000 are baptized, but also the children of believers should be baptized. 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:55.120 So what I want to do today is just focus on Jesus and on what Jesus is saying here and 00:01:55.120 --> 00:01:58.799 why I think it's important for us to consider. 00:01:58.799 --> 00:02:03.079 Because when we come to the Bible, we always find that Jesus is provoking us to think, 00:02:03.079 --> 00:02:08.479 and God is provoking us to think about him, about who he is, and about why he matters 00:02:08.479 --> 00:02:09.479 in our lives. 00:02:09.479 --> 00:02:13.520 And that's really a reflection of why we come to church in the first place, because it's 00:02:13.520 --> 00:02:19.680 recognizing that we worship God and we have given our lives as Christians to Jesus. 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:21.120 And that matters. 00:02:21.120 --> 00:02:27.040 And we corporately come together and we worship and we acknowledge that and we live our… 00:02:27.040 --> 00:02:32.000 We seek to go and live our lives recognizing Jesus as our Lord and Savior. 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:39.080 So the first thing I just want to say briefly is that I think when we recognize God's word 00:02:39.080 --> 00:02:47.400 and the passage we read particularly, we're reminded that this world is not all that is. 00:02:47.400 --> 00:02:50.560 I think we're pushed towards recognizing that. 00:02:50.560 --> 00:02:51.560 Jesus… 00:02:51.560 --> 00:02:57.719 There's a couple of verses in verse 16 and verse 17. 00:02:57.719 --> 00:03:00.240 He speaks about… or verse 17 to 30. 00:03:00.240 --> 00:03:05.439 Well, the whole passage really speaks about the reality of the kingdom of God. 00:03:05.439 --> 00:03:10.640 Verse 15, he says, truly I say to you, speaking about the children, whoever doesn't receive 00:03:10.640 --> 00:03:14.400 the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter that. 00:03:14.400 --> 00:03:23.080 And then in verse 23, he also says… or he's looking around after dealing with the guy, 00:03:23.080 --> 00:03:24.080 the rich young ruler. 00:03:24.080 --> 00:03:28.599 He says, how difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God. 00:03:28.599 --> 00:03:32.400 So we've got these two references in this passage to the kingdom of God. 00:03:32.400 --> 00:03:37.520 And it's a reminder that Jesus is always pushing us to think about a spiritual dimension 00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:42.480 to life and worship that we do as part of that. 00:03:42.479 --> 00:03:45.000 Josie's baptism is part of that. 00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:52.599 It's a recognition on her parents' part that they recognize this spiritual dimension. 00:03:52.599 --> 00:03:57.199 And for all of us who are Christians, it's not just make-believe. 00:03:57.199 --> 00:03:59.319 It's not wishful thinking. 00:03:59.319 --> 00:04:05.439 It's not just a sideline or a moral philosophy that we add to kind of attach to our lives, 00:04:05.439 --> 00:04:08.959 but rather it is the core of our humanity. 00:04:08.960 --> 00:04:13.680 Just recognizing the spiritual dimension is absolutely critical to us, that the living 00:04:13.680 --> 00:04:18.240 God is the God to whom we're all accountable, that we are made in His image. 00:04:18.240 --> 00:04:19.600 We're image-bearers of Him. 00:04:19.600 --> 00:04:21.920 In many ways we are children of the living God. 00:04:21.920 --> 00:04:22.920 It's interesting. 00:04:22.920 --> 00:04:27.439 Jesus then later on in this passage we read speaks to the disciples and He calls them 00:04:27.439 --> 00:04:29.079 children. 00:04:29.079 --> 00:04:33.100 And there's that recognition that the story really, that if you take the whole storyline 00:04:33.100 --> 00:04:39.600 of the Bible, it's really about the humanity rejecting His love and His lordship and His 00:04:39.600 --> 00:04:45.200 parental oversight, as it were, over us, that has led to a broken people spiritually in 00:04:45.200 --> 00:04:48.480 a broken world that I was praying about. 00:04:48.480 --> 00:04:55.360 So in a sense we're estranged children from the living God, and we can't enter or re-enter, 00:04:55.360 --> 00:05:01.720 as it were, the kingdom of God or the family of God without God's own help, because we 00:05:01.720 --> 00:05:10.200 can't deal with His holiness and His perfection and His justice and His purity, because we're 00:05:10.200 --> 00:05:13.600 sinners and we fail Him at every level. 00:05:13.600 --> 00:05:15.640 And so there's a barrier between us. 00:05:15.640 --> 00:05:16.840 So you know what that's like, don't you? 00:05:16.840 --> 00:05:23.880 In a family context, either between parents or between children, siblings and parents 00:05:23.880 --> 00:05:27.960 or whoever it might be, in a family or in a work context, really, or any context, if 00:05:27.959 --> 00:05:32.959 there's a barrier, that that barrier needs to be addressed moving forward. 00:05:32.959 --> 00:05:38.719 And that's the reality spiritually of us as well, that we have a barrier between ourselves 00:05:38.719 --> 00:05:46.199 and God, and there's consequences for that in our lives, physical death that speaks of 00:05:46.199 --> 00:05:50.799 spiritual death and separation eternally from Him. 00:05:50.799 --> 00:05:54.639 And that is drastic. 00:05:54.639 --> 00:05:56.159 It's awful. 00:05:56.160 --> 00:06:05.160 It's realistic spiritually, but it's there to drive us towards the antidote, towards 00:06:05.160 --> 00:06:11.800 the solution, towards the healing, towards the open arms of a Savior Jesus Christ, and 00:06:11.800 --> 00:06:13.440 that's the gospel. 00:06:13.440 --> 00:06:16.800 And there's two really interesting interactions here. 00:06:16.800 --> 00:06:21.840 The first is with the rich man, who was the business? 00:06:21.840 --> 00:06:24.240 He really was the business, the rich man. 00:06:24.240 --> 00:06:27.259 He was young, he was confident. 00:06:27.259 --> 00:06:31.840 He went to see Jesus, he liked Jesus, he wanted, in reality, seems to have wanted Jesus to 00:06:31.840 --> 00:06:36.960 back up who he was and his morality and his goodness. 00:06:36.960 --> 00:06:41.819 And he simply seemed to assume that he was good enough for God. 00:06:41.819 --> 00:06:44.960 He was a good guy, and he was a good guy. 00:06:44.960 --> 00:06:46.759 We would all enjoy knowing him. 00:06:46.759 --> 00:06:49.160 He seemed to be a nice guy. 00:06:49.160 --> 00:06:50.160 Interesting. 00:06:50.160 --> 00:06:52.360 He was a religious guy. 00:06:52.360 --> 00:06:56.639 He was someone who thought by going to church and by outwardly trying to keep the laws of 00:06:56.639 --> 00:07:00.400 God that would be absolutely perfect with God. 00:07:00.400 --> 00:07:02.280 God would be more than happy with that. 00:07:02.280 --> 00:07:07.319 So by his own standards, and by the standards possibly of those around him, he was as good 00:07:07.319 --> 00:07:10.160 or better than people around him. 00:07:10.160 --> 00:07:13.480 He thought he kept God's law, and he liked Jesus. 00:07:13.480 --> 00:07:19.920 He thought Jesus was a significant moral teacher, and he gave him respect and his due. 00:07:19.920 --> 00:07:23.680 And he really, I think, expected Jesus just to rubber-stab you. 00:07:23.680 --> 00:07:24.680 Good guy. 00:07:24.680 --> 00:07:25.680 Brilliant. 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:26.879 You're doing tremendously well. 00:07:26.879 --> 00:07:33.240 You're doing your best, you're being moral, and that he could go away feeling great, enjoying 00:07:33.240 --> 00:07:37.759 his riches, enjoying his youth, and enjoying all the pleasures that money bought him, as 00:07:37.759 --> 00:07:40.840 well as keeping going to church. 00:07:40.840 --> 00:07:47.960 You know, he's a kind of guy that was a church goer in many ways. 00:07:47.959 --> 00:07:53.120 But the really interesting thing is, I think, that Jesus could see into his heart. 00:07:53.120 --> 00:08:01.079 It's a beautiful verse where it says, Jesus looked at him, loved him, and said, You just 00:08:01.079 --> 00:08:02.359 like one thing. 00:08:02.359 --> 00:08:05.120 Go sell everything you have. 00:08:05.120 --> 00:08:06.120 Give to the poor. 00:08:06.120 --> 00:08:07.519 Then you'll have treasured in heaven. 00:08:07.519 --> 00:08:08.519 Come and follow me. 00:08:08.519 --> 00:08:13.240 Now, there's lots within that, and we don't have time to unpack. 00:08:13.240 --> 00:08:20.199 But Jesus could see right into his heart and could see that actually his wealth mattered 00:08:20.199 --> 00:08:22.600 more to him than anything else. 00:08:22.600 --> 00:08:30.720 It really mattered more to him than being right with God and finding spiritual treasure. 00:08:30.720 --> 00:08:36.600 His treasure was somewhere else, and Jesus exposed that very powerfully, lovingly, and 00:08:36.600 --> 00:08:44.600 in many ways, gently, money, and what it offered to him was actually his God. 00:08:44.600 --> 00:08:46.800 He didn't see any need really to be fixed. 00:08:46.800 --> 00:08:52.600 He didn't feel that he was broken, or if he was broken internally, he felt that he could 00:08:52.600 --> 00:08:54.360 just put himself right with God. 00:08:54.360 --> 00:08:55.600 He was in charge. 00:08:55.600 --> 00:08:59.120 He was as good and better than other people. 00:08:59.120 --> 00:09:05.080 But there was this disordered love in his heart. 00:09:05.080 --> 00:09:11.920 It wasn't the fact that he loves great, but it was the focus. 00:09:11.920 --> 00:09:20.040 It was what he loved that displaced his love for God, and presumably in many ways other 00:09:20.040 --> 00:09:23.120 people as well. 00:09:23.120 --> 00:09:28.400 Because that, and we often think of, and I think this guy thought about sin in terms 00:09:28.400 --> 00:09:33.680 of the do-nots of the commandments, the second table of the law, don't do this, don't do 00:09:33.680 --> 00:09:34.680 that. 00:09:34.679 --> 00:09:39.839 It's hugely significant, but they all point to something within our hearts, and that sin 00:09:39.839 --> 00:09:45.559 ultimately is about disordered love. 00:09:45.559 --> 00:09:51.159 It's about putting something in our hearts, either maybe ourselves or other things, before 00:09:51.159 --> 00:09:56.039 our love for God, our maker, and Christ, our redeemer. 00:09:56.039 --> 00:09:59.359 See, Jesus isn't saying anything really about money. 00:09:59.359 --> 00:10:01.559 He's not saying it's good to be poor or it's good to be rich. 00:10:01.559 --> 00:10:04.719 He's not saying it's bad to be rich and it's good to be poor. 00:10:04.719 --> 00:10:09.319 He's not making a point about our wealth and poverty at that level per se. 00:10:09.319 --> 00:10:14.199 He's just saying for this man, wealth was what kept him. 00:10:14.199 --> 00:10:16.559 It was what he lived for. 00:10:16.559 --> 00:10:18.719 It was what he worshiped. 00:10:18.719 --> 00:10:23.799 It was what was significant in his life more than anything else. 00:10:23.799 --> 00:10:28.839 And really Jesus is talking into his heart. 00:10:28.840 --> 00:10:33.360 And that is what Jesus does for all of us, and for each of us, it's different things, 00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:38.920 isn't it, that we can sometimes put before Him, disordered loves. 00:10:38.920 --> 00:10:46.960 It's not always the things that come across as wrong in society or clear and plainly bad 00:10:46.960 --> 00:10:56.480 or sinful, but it can often be loving things the wrong way without the giver of love, without 00:10:56.480 --> 00:11:02.480 the gift of the giver of love enabling us to love things in the right perspective and 00:11:02.480 --> 00:11:04.759 idolizing things before Him. 00:11:04.759 --> 00:11:10.320 Because we often think of the Ten Commandments, and we think of them as very harsh and negative. 00:11:10.320 --> 00:11:15.639 It's all about God, and then it's all about, don't do this, don't do that, don't do the 00:11:15.639 --> 00:11:16.639 next thing. 00:11:16.639 --> 00:11:21.440 But you know, Jesus beautifully summarizes the law of God, the Ten Commandments, just 00:11:21.440 --> 00:11:22.440 with two. 00:11:22.440 --> 00:11:27.920 Love me with all your heart, soul, strength in mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. 00:11:27.920 --> 00:11:31.560 That's really the, that's the outworking of them. 00:11:31.560 --> 00:11:38.000 And love does have these structures, and that's what we fall short of. 00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:46.360 And Jesus was wanting to expose that to this rich man who thought he didn't need Jesus, 00:11:46.360 --> 00:11:51.200 wanted Jesus to rubber stamp him, as it were, and go away happy. 00:11:51.200 --> 00:11:54.560 And Jesus always, doesn't, we've looked at that over the last few weeks, Jesus always 00:11:54.560 --> 00:11:56.080 turns our lives upside down. 00:11:56.080 --> 00:11:58.240 He always changes our thinking. 00:11:58.240 --> 00:12:03.960 He always turns our heart inside out because He wants to see our heart, and He wants to 00:12:03.960 --> 00:12:11.960 see where He is in our heart because He wants to restore that relationship and save us from 00:12:11.960 --> 00:12:13.840 death and from our own sins. 00:12:13.840 --> 00:12:17.520 So there's two responses, isn't there, to that in our lives? 00:12:17.520 --> 00:12:19.800 We see it here. 00:12:19.799 --> 00:12:27.079 We either go away sad from hearing about Jesus like the rich man did, or we can follow Jesus, 00:12:27.079 --> 00:12:33.319 which is what the Jesus was asking the rich man to do, come follow me. 00:12:33.319 --> 00:12:35.919 It's so easy to go away sad from Him. 00:12:35.919 --> 00:12:40.759 And as Christians, we can do that very often in our lives when we look at God's Word and 00:12:40.759 --> 00:12:46.079 we hear God speaking to us in our hearts through His Word and He asks us to do something. 00:12:46.079 --> 00:12:48.319 Sometimes we just turn away from Him. 00:12:48.320 --> 00:12:51.680 But when we do so, we go away sad. 00:12:51.680 --> 00:12:58.800 And the gospel is about the offer of His love and of His grace and of His goodness. 00:12:58.800 --> 00:13:06.040 But we can look at that and say, nah, nah, the cost is too great. 00:13:06.040 --> 00:13:10.600 That's exactly what the rich man did, didn't he, in verse 24? 00:13:10.600 --> 00:13:14.320 He just, he couldn't keep that going. 00:13:14.320 --> 00:13:16.640 The cost was too great. 00:13:16.639 --> 00:13:20.279 Jesus said how difficult it would be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God. 00:13:20.279 --> 00:13:22.000 Again, it's not the crying wealth. 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:25.799 There's a lot of wealthy people in the Bible, how they lived their lives. 00:13:25.799 --> 00:13:31.840 But it's difficult because we can become self-reliant because of it and not think we need God in 00:13:31.840 --> 00:13:36.439 any way because there is a cost to following Jesus. 00:13:36.439 --> 00:13:37.439 But He goes away, isn't it sad? 00:13:37.439 --> 00:13:39.399 He goes away spiritually alone. 00:13:39.399 --> 00:13:46.840 And He goes away with unresolved need deep in His heart. 00:13:46.840 --> 00:13:52.240 Or we can listen to Jesus and follow Him in our lives. 00:13:52.240 --> 00:13:53.919 And that's an ongoing life for us, isn't it? 00:13:53.919 --> 00:13:57.120 We can follow Him, be transformed. 00:13:57.120 --> 00:14:00.679 He can work in our hearts to the disordered loves. 00:14:00.679 --> 00:14:04.360 And He can deal with the kind of selfishness and the pride and the difficulties that we 00:14:04.360 --> 00:14:05.360 have. 00:14:05.360 --> 00:14:12.000 And we can do that because He took our sinful estrangement from the Father on the cross 00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:13.000 in our place. 00:14:13.000 --> 00:14:15.440 And that's why we sing about the cross so much. 00:14:15.440 --> 00:14:16.440 It's a strange thing, I think. 00:14:16.440 --> 00:14:18.600 I've said that before, strange thing to sing about, isn't it? 00:14:18.600 --> 00:14:22.600 The cross of Jesus, a Jewish man 2,000 years ago and nailed to a tree. 00:14:22.600 --> 00:14:23.600 Strange. 00:14:23.600 --> 00:14:28.840 But we do that because we recognize Him as God in the flesh who gave up everything to 00:14:28.840 --> 00:14:32.840 die in our place to take the price that we couldn't pay. 00:14:32.840 --> 00:14:36.720 In His perfection, He took our sin upon Him and He died in our place. 00:14:36.720 --> 00:14:38.000 And that's what the baptism points to. 00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:40.360 That's what the water and the cleansing points to. 00:14:40.360 --> 00:14:41.360 And that's what it's all about. 00:14:41.360 --> 00:14:43.480 And we can't ignore that or forget that. 00:14:43.480 --> 00:14:45.560 It's not a naming ceremony. 00:14:45.560 --> 00:14:49.600 It's something much more significant biblically than that as we recognize it. 00:14:49.600 --> 00:14:52.320 So there's these two responses. 00:14:52.320 --> 00:14:57.639 And we are all invited to consider and to be challenged by that today. 00:14:57.639 --> 00:14:59.600 So that's the first person. 00:14:59.600 --> 00:15:04.960 Very briefly, I want to just mention the second group that Jesus speaks to here. 00:15:04.960 --> 00:15:07.879 And that's turning things on their head. 00:15:07.879 --> 00:15:09.000 I don't turn things on their head. 00:15:09.000 --> 00:15:13.399 I mean, doing things back to front, which I sometimes do because they'd actually mentioned 00:15:13.399 --> 00:15:14.399 first here. 00:15:14.399 --> 00:15:16.279 So I'm sorry about that. 00:15:16.279 --> 00:15:18.480 Is the pesky little children? 00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:23.320 So Jesus has spoken to a rich young man, but He's also now looking at the pesky little 00:15:23.320 --> 00:15:24.320 children. 00:15:24.320 --> 00:15:28.160 Because in Jesus' society, and maybe today as well, to a greater or lesser degree, children 00:15:28.159 --> 00:15:31.319 don't have a great deal of status in society. 00:15:31.319 --> 00:15:32.319 They have nothing. 00:15:32.319 --> 00:15:36.439 Certainly in Jesus' day, they were regarded as having nothing significant to offer. 00:15:36.439 --> 00:15:37.600 Their opinions weren't sought. 00:15:37.600 --> 00:15:38.959 They had nothing to teach other. 00:15:38.959 --> 00:15:41.959 They were just a nuisance to polite society. 00:15:41.959 --> 00:15:45.959 They weren't listened to, apart from, of course, by their parents who loved them. 00:15:45.959 --> 00:15:48.319 But they had no legal or social standing, really. 00:15:48.319 --> 00:15:50.480 They couldn't make demands of any kind. 00:15:50.480 --> 00:15:55.399 They were totally reliant on the protection and love and the provision of their parents 00:15:55.399 --> 00:15:56.639 to keep them. 00:15:56.639 --> 00:16:01.039 And so when the little kids come to Jesus here, the disciples will nag him, go on, get 00:16:01.039 --> 00:16:02.039 away you go. 00:16:02.039 --> 00:16:04.759 Jesus is far too important and busy to deal with you. 00:16:04.759 --> 00:16:10.240 And He rebukes them, and He loves the children, and He blesses them, and indeed goes on to 00:16:10.240 --> 00:16:15.759 use them as an illustration of coming to faith in Jesus Christ. 00:16:15.759 --> 00:16:19.399 Verse 5, True I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of heaven like a little 00:16:19.399 --> 00:16:21.559 child shall not enter it. 00:16:21.559 --> 00:16:24.039 And what's Jesus saying? 00:16:24.039 --> 00:16:30.799 Well, He's reminding us that to become a Christian, rather, to be His children, as He talks to 00:16:30.799 --> 00:16:38.079 the disciples, we need to recognize that we are valuable to Him as our heavenly Father, 00:16:38.079 --> 00:16:43.759 but we're also totally reliant on Him and on His grace and on the grace of God in Jesus 00:16:43.759 --> 00:16:48.399 Christ, that we can't save ourselves, that we don't have a voice at that level, we don't 00:16:48.399 --> 00:16:53.240 have anything we can claim before God to give us entry into His fellowship and His friendship, 00:16:53.240 --> 00:17:00.000 but He has come, and the greater love is no man in this, that He died for His friends. 00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:04.640 And we come claiming Jesus, and to become Christians, we need to be humble and recognize 00:17:04.640 --> 00:17:05.640 that. 00:17:05.640 --> 00:17:10.079 And Jesus finishes this passage by saying, those who are first will be last and the last 00:17:10.079 --> 00:17:18.079 first, and that's really all that He's pointing towards, that we come with nothing, nothing 00:17:18.079 --> 00:17:22.200 in our hands we bring, simply to His cross we cling. 00:17:22.200 --> 00:17:29.400 So we learn from children that way, and especially as Jesus was highlighting their place in the 00:17:29.400 --> 00:17:33.319 society in which He lived, and He said, as Christians, if you're going to become a Christian, 00:17:33.319 --> 00:17:40.319 enter the kingdom of God, that's going to be similar for you, dependent entirely on 00:17:40.319 --> 00:17:43.200 your heavenly Father through Christ. 00:17:43.200 --> 00:17:46.519 But it also speaks that children matter to God, doesn't it? 00:17:46.519 --> 00:17:48.680 He blesses them in verse 16. 00:17:48.680 --> 00:17:49.920 He had time for them. 00:17:49.920 --> 00:17:51.680 He cared for them. 00:17:51.680 --> 00:18:01.080 And He chooses, not exclusively, but foundationally, He chooses to build His kingdom and to grow 00:18:01.080 --> 00:18:03.840 the Christian faith through families. 00:18:03.840 --> 00:18:08.400 He knows that when an individual comes to faith, that they will influence those closest 00:18:08.400 --> 00:18:11.840 to them, and especially their family. 00:18:11.840 --> 00:18:14.920 And family will see them, because you know what it's like with family, don't you? 00:18:14.920 --> 00:18:16.400 They see you exactly as you are. 00:18:16.400 --> 00:18:18.840 And if they see a change, then that influences them. 00:18:18.839 --> 00:18:22.359 And if Jesus has changed you, then it will have an influence on them. 00:18:22.359 --> 00:18:29.119 And parents, especially, have such a responsibility to know and teach and love and pray and make 00:18:29.119 --> 00:18:32.919 Jesus real in the family to them. 00:18:32.919 --> 00:18:39.240 And Roger and Laura all of that privilege and that blessing with Josie. 00:18:39.240 --> 00:18:45.039 So God grants children of believers great privileges in being brought up within that 00:18:45.039 --> 00:18:46.039 context. 00:18:46.039 --> 00:18:52.799 And I think baptism for us in our context speaks of both of these things. 00:18:52.799 --> 00:18:57.559 It's a visible sign of Christ, of what Christ has done. 00:18:57.559 --> 00:19:05.960 The washing of water is a visible sign that it speaks of, and it's a sacrament of what 00:19:05.960 --> 00:19:10.680 the new life, the new cleansing, the washing of waves in, and the new relationship with 00:19:10.680 --> 00:19:13.920 Jesus Christ in the life of a new believer. 00:19:13.920 --> 00:19:20.960 Others are then asked to be baptized, to accept Jesus by faith and trust as their Savior. 00:19:20.960 --> 00:19:26.360 And they have trusted in His promise to redeem them by faith. 00:19:26.360 --> 00:19:33.200 And they believe in that, and they come and we come and follow Jesus whose shed blood 00:19:33.200 --> 00:19:40.759 was poured out on the cross so that we can be made new, have new life, and be baptized. 00:19:40.759 --> 00:19:50.079 And it also speaks, we believe, of the same faith that is in the parents, that is the 00:19:50.079 --> 00:19:57.480 faith that allows their child to come under the baptismal covenant. 00:19:57.480 --> 00:20:05.279 It's faith that they have, that they believe that the sign of the promise that they received 00:20:05.279 --> 00:20:16.319 is not just for them, but also for their children, as it was in the Old Testament, revelation 00:20:16.319 --> 00:20:18.799 of that sign in circumcision. 00:20:18.799 --> 00:20:20.639 Have we got the verses up? 00:20:20.639 --> 00:20:21.639 Did I? 00:20:21.639 --> 00:20:22.639 You have, okay. 00:20:22.639 --> 00:20:29.119 In Genesis 17, verse 9, we've got the verse, when Abram was nine, and I used to the Lord, 00:20:29.119 --> 00:20:33.480 appear to Abram and said to him, I am God Almighty. 00:20:33.480 --> 00:20:37.240 Look before me and be blameless that I make a covenant between me and you and may multiply 00:20:37.240 --> 00:20:38.240 you greatly then. 00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:41.960 Abram fell in his face, God said to him, behold, my covenant is with you and you shall 00:20:41.960 --> 00:20:43.160 be the father of many nations. 00:20:43.160 --> 00:20:49.759 No longer shall they be Abram, but you shall be called Abram, for I have made you the father 00:20:49.759 --> 00:20:51.559 of a multitude of nations. 00:20:51.559 --> 00:20:54.880 And I will make you exceedingly fruitful and I will make you into many nations. 00:20:54.880 --> 00:20:59.360 And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout 00:20:59.359 --> 00:21:05.240 the generations, everlasting covenant to be God to you and to your offspring after you. 00:21:05.240 --> 00:21:14.079 And then the next one, if you have that, and God said to him, for I, well, okay, forget, 00:21:14.079 --> 00:21:15.079 it's fine. 00:21:15.079 --> 00:21:22.919 But there's also a New Testament covenant, or when Peter speaks at the great Pentecost 00:21:22.920 --> 00:21:30.400 sermon, he speaks absolutely with the same terminology and the same language that people, 00:21:30.400 --> 00:21:35.440 the gospel is to go out to all the nations and children of believers and believers were 00:21:35.440 --> 00:21:41.039 to be baptized and to nations far away. 00:21:41.039 --> 00:21:49.080 And we recognize that the privilege, the covenantal privileges, they have huge responsibilities 00:21:49.079 --> 00:21:55.639 and opportunities, and the parents are vowing to point their children to Jesus and to His 00:21:55.639 --> 00:22:01.000 life, to His love, to the washing of sins and to salvation. 00:22:01.000 --> 00:22:06.119 We recognize it doesn't save, but we know it points to Jesus. 00:22:06.119 --> 00:22:13.159 So Roger and Laura, the baptism of we, Josie, today is on the basis of your faith in what 00:22:13.160 --> 00:22:20.880 Christ has done for you and what you believe He will do for Josie under the covenant of 00:22:20.880 --> 00:22:22.120 promise. 00:22:22.120 --> 00:22:30.440 And as you point her to Jesus by the way you live, by the way you interact, by the way 00:22:30.440 --> 00:22:36.800 you worship, and all that involves not only just for yourselves individually, but as part 00:22:36.800 --> 00:22:43.080 of the church that we all belong to here, because she's baptized into the church family, 00:22:43.079 --> 00:22:46.839 not just the what family. 00:22:46.839 --> 00:22:51.519 And so Josie, as she grows up, she will learn all about Jesus. 00:22:51.519 --> 00:22:58.480 She'll come to know the privileges she has, and she'll need to move from knowing Jesus 00:22:58.480 --> 00:23:03.159 in her home to knowing Jesus in her heart. 00:23:03.159 --> 00:23:09.359 And she'll need to come to that personal knowledge and faith in Jesus Christ as her own, to make 00:23:09.359 --> 00:23:15.799 good the baptismal promises of God for her, symbolized in the washing of blood. 00:23:15.799 --> 00:23:22.000 And her parents will be showing her Jesus all the way through. 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:29.799 And that's a challenge maybe for some today who are baptized grown-ups, who were baptized 00:23:29.799 --> 00:23:33.000 as children. 00:23:33.000 --> 00:23:38.799 And whether they have come to recognize the privilege of the upbringing they had in pointing 00:23:38.799 --> 00:23:44.480 them to Jesus, and whether they've taken Jesus, whether you have taken Jesus to be your Lord 00:23:44.480 --> 00:23:49.000 and Savior, and to put your trust in Him. 00:23:49.000 --> 00:23:55.519 So that is what we do today, and it's not a one-off, it's just a token of what happens 00:23:55.519 --> 00:24:00.200 for the rest of her life, and as long as she is with us and whatever she is. 00:24:00.200 --> 00:24:04.720 And if you keep smiling like that, Josie, you will win a million hearts, and especially 00:24:04.720 --> 00:24:06.319 mine today. 00:24:06.319 --> 00:24:11.679 So we're going to pray, and then we're going to sing, and I'm going to invite everyone, 00:24:11.679 --> 00:24:16.960 the kids back up, and then we'll baptize Josie. 00:24:16.960 --> 00:24:19.599 So Father God, we thank You for this day. 00:24:19.599 --> 00:24:23.240 We thank You for the privilege and hope of this day. 00:24:23.240 --> 00:24:27.879 We thank You for the grace and the goodness that this day brings. 00:24:27.879 --> 00:24:34.039 And we pray Your blessing on us as we move into the baptism of Josie. 00:24:34.039 --> 00:24:39.879 We pray that it would be, it's a physical sign, it's something we can look at and see, 00:24:39.879 --> 00:24:42.799 but it speaks of spiritual truth as well. 00:24:42.799 --> 00:24:48.359 And we ask that it would be something that we would be challenged by, excited by, encouraged 00:24:48.359 --> 00:24:55.759 by, and we remind ourselves as a church family of the importance of children to us, the beauty 00:24:55.759 --> 00:25:01.200 of having the life of children with us, the privilege of the covenant that we believe in 00:25:01.200 --> 00:25:06.960 being a covenant of grace that reaches out with its sign, not only to us as believers, 00:25:06.960 --> 00:25:08.480 but to our children. 00:25:08.480 --> 00:25:13.120 And may that be what we live and what we speak of and what we enjoy and know. 00:25:13.120 --> 00:25:15.799 So continue with us, we pray, in Jesus' name. 00:25:15.799 --> 00:25:31.799 Amen.