Will McKillop
Mark 10: 13-16
Luke 19: 28-36
These two passages refer, as we can see, to little children and then, I would say in the second scripture, to somewhat older but still young people. When the brethren here asked me to preach I was deeply exercised, having heard that there would be many children and young people here, and I believe the Lord would have me to speak to the little children, and to the young people. That does not mean that He forgets those that are older but we have had three days of instruction already, and one would greatly desire that this time should not finish without some child or some young person coming to it that the Lord needs you. I would say to the children that you may not have thought of this - and it is not a very deep thought - but whatever age you are, when the Lord Jesus was here, as a babe, and became a child, and grew, at some point He was the same age as you are. That is an extraordinary thing to think of, that there is not a child in this room, but the Lord Jesus at some time was your age. There is not a young person here who has not committed himself to the Lord that the Lord was not at some point your age. Think of Him as a babe, when His parents brought him into the temple to meet the requirements of the law of Moses: there was an old man there named Simeon of whom it says “he received him into his arms”. What an extraordinary experience! You might say that all his life Simeon had lived for that moment, not knowing what it would be or when it would take place, but, having received the Babe into his arms, he said (which indicated that he knew beforehand, "Lord," (or “Jehovah") “now thou lettest thy bondman go, according to thy word, in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation”, Luke 2: 29, 30. What a wonderful experience. I would appeal to children to think about the fact there are persons here today who are ready to receive you into their arms, because the Lord’s thought is you should be blessed. So it says they brought little children to Him. Think about that; that you are here. You might say that your parents brought you, and I would credit them with thinking that they wanted the Lord to touch you. How blessed to think of that. Who these people were we are not told but I think it is right to say it probably was the parents, and especially the mothers. "They brought little children to him that he might touch them." What greater could a mother’s heart want for her little child than that the Lord Jesus should touch that child; and do so in a meeting like this, not because of the preacher but because the Lord is here. He is here to not only touch you but, as it says, "having taken them in his arms.” Think of that, that in this meeting the Lord is waiting to take some little children into His arms. You might say, ‘How would that work? The Lord is not here physically’. Well, it would come through persons who have the love of Christ in their hearts and who have great spiritual desires for you, as little children. The disciples, of course, are off the mark here as sometimes older ones are. The disciples rebuked those that brought them. We do not often find that the Lord became indignant but "Jesus seeing it, was indignant". The Lord would be indignant about anything in this meeting that would preclude your being brought to Him that He might take you in his arms. It says, "having laid his hands upon them, he blessed them.” Or as it might read, ’He blesses them abundantly’. Think of how the Lord is ready to bless you abundantly at this time. You might ask how it could happen, that the disciples would miss the mark. Well, I know of two young sisters, just girls really, one nine and one ten, who wanted to go to the prayer meeting with their father and he took them. After the meeting someone said that they should be home in their beds. I think the Lord was indignant about that, and I think that at any time there is an attempt to preclude children from coming to the meetings the Lord is indignant, because He wants to bless them abundantly. And a child might ask, ’In what way will He bless me?’. Well, He would speak to you. ‘Your parents have baptised you, they have committed you to Me and I want to bless you first in the forgiveness of your sins. I want you to understand that I am saying to you, although your sins may not seem many and not serious because you are so young; nevertheless, I died to put them away, and I want you to know that. I want you to understand that I have forgiven your sins". And I think He would say, ’I want you to know that you are to have part in the great divine system of which I am Head’. You might say that you find it difficult to take in that thought. Well, in due course you will come to understand it because part of the abundant blessing is that He will give you the gift of the Holy Spirit and you will have an indissoluble bond between the Lord and your own soul. The Holy Spirit is that bond and the Lord could not finish blessing without conferring on that little child the gift of the Holy Spirit. And then there are the saints; He wants you to find your spiritual life among those who love the Lord, those already blessed and who are obedient to Him.
And so He speaks about, “Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child”, meaning that there are persons here who, through acquaintance with Christ and through the Father’s discipline, have come to it that is a most blessed thing, apart from our place in the assembly itself, is to have part in the kingdom of God. And so the Lord speaks this word, “Verily I say to you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, shall in no wise enter into it”. Well, that could refer to a person who is eighty or ninety years old who has not become a little child, who has not received the kingdom of God as a little child. The Lord is thinking about all, in that sense. But still in His mind and His heart He is thinking about the little children and He is thinking about the young people. I must say that it is a long time since I have been in a three day meeting when I have seen so many lovely children, and so many attractive young people. It has been clear to some of us that you have been glad to be here and in some measure you have enjoyed what has come before us. And now the question is, ’Is every young person here really committed to the Lord?’. If it has not dawned on you before, I hope it will at this moment that the Lord has need of you.
And that is why I read in Luke’s gospel, “having said these things” - we will not go into those, there is not time but - “having said these things he went on before, going up to Jerusalem”. He was going up to die but there was something to be done on the way and notice that the environment is favourable to what the Lord wants done, like the environment in this meeting; it is favourable. There are lovers of Christ here who have been praying for you and who have faith that the Lord is going to see that you are loosed in order to be attached to Him. “It came to pass as he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany at the mountain called the mount of Olives”. That is a favourable environment, the mount of Olives speaks of the area where the Spirit is active, and that is the environment that we have been in and still are, because the glad tidings are preached by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. And so He sent two of His disciples. You see, there is some person here, some young person that this colt typifies, and the Lord has already indicated to two persons that they are to loose you and lead you to Him. You might say, ’Who are they?’. Well, perhaps it is your father and mother, perhaps it is two brethren that you do not know very well. You will find out, and it really does not matter who they are because it is two of His disciples. And He said, “Go into the village over against you, in which ye will find, on entering it, a colt tied up”. That is some young person here in this meeting. You are a colt tied up, tied up in a favourable environment, but the hour of your loosing has come. And He says, “on which no child of man ever sat at any time”. Think of what that means to you, the spiritual advantage that you have never been dominated in your mind and in your behaviour by some person who does not know Christ. The Lord is specific about that in Luke’s gospel, “on which no child of man ever sat at any time”. That is a great advantage for you, beloved young person, if you have not been under the domination of somebody who is really an agent of the devil. You have been tied; it might be, for instance, your parents have baptised you as a child and they have kept you tied up, they have been waiting the time for the Lord to send someone to loose you and bring you to Him. And so He says, “if anyone ask you, Why do ye loose it? thus shall ye say to him, Because the Lord has need of it”. I was very touched recently to read a gospel preaching by Mr Taylor, and near the end he said, ’When I finished preaching last Lord’s day a ten year old boy came up to me and said, ’I would like to break bread’. And Mr Taylor said, ’Why?’ and this ten year old boy said, ’I think the Lord needs me’, vol 49 p534. Has that thought ever entered your mind, that the Lord has need of you? He has got a place in His testimony in the service of God for you. He needs you. No-one else can fill that place. You might say it has got your name written on it, and now the time has come for you to be loosed and brought to Him who has need of you. We can well understand anyone saying, ’I need the Lord’, but think of the Lord saying to some young person in this meeting (through others, because He sent two), “the Lord has need of it”. Think of the Lord saying that somebody, two perhaps, might be going to ask you after this meeting, if you realise they have come to loose you, because the Lord has need of you? Well, you might say you are needed in other connections. But this supersedes all that. What could supersede the Lord having need of you? I recall another boy, not ten, but eleven, who said to his parents, ’I want to break bread’ and they said ’Why’ and he said, ’I want to be with the Lord’s people’. Have you thought about that, that on the one hand the Lord has need of you, and on the other hand you should have the sense of that need and that there is only one place for you to fulfil that need to satisfy it, and that is with the Lord’s people. “They that were sent, having gone their way, found it as he had said to them”. Sent persons are not coming to you aimlessly about your soul, and about loosing you, and about leading you to the Lord; they are doing so because they know what the Lord has said and they are acting towards you in love and grace, and everything is just as He said it would be, and it comes down to this: when you are loosed, will you let them lead you to Him? And so, as it says, “as they were loosing the colt, its masters said to them, Why loose ye the colt? And they said, Because the Lord has need of it”. Whatever has been used of God to tie you up, so that you did not wander off into Satan’s world, has kept you tied until the time of your loosing came, and now it has come. I have a sense from the Lord that in this meeting the time of loosing has come for someone and the Lord will know who you are; and then they loosed it and they led it to Jesus. That is what is in mind, that there are persons who are going to loose you from whatever is holding you back and they are going to lead you to Jesus. And now, notice the blessedness of what this colt experienced. Previously, “on which no child of man ever sat at any time” but now these persons put Jesus on it. There are persons who are going to put the Lord on you, in all His beauty, in all His attractiveness, in all His power, and they are going to lead you to Him. And what a day that is going to be for you when you look back on it. Indeed, what an hour it is for you now, that you are going to be loosed and led to Jesus. Well, may God bless the word.
Denton
8th April 2012