"let The Children Come To Me" Series

GOSPEL OF MARK: GOD’S SERVANT IN ACTION

“LET THE CHILDREN COME TO ME”

A. Value!

ILLUSTRATION:

A few years ago, the Country Gazette newspaper in Franklin, Massachusetts had this listing in its CLASSIFIED section: “Unknown item for sale. We know it’s valuable; we don’t know what it is.

If you can identify it, we’ll sell it for $250.”

COMMENT:

Now isn’t that interesting? They had no idea what this thing was. But they knew—somehow—

that it had VALUE. And they realized that “only someone who knew what it is” would understand

how VALUABLE it truly was.

1. As far as I know, I really don’t OWN anything of real VALUE.

a. Our HOUSE is the most VALUABLE thing we have, but we really don’t OWN it—the BANK does.

b. We have two 13-year-old VEHICLES that is not nearly as VALUABLE as we think they are— especially when you TOTAL one and the INSURANCE COMPANY pays you around 3,000.00

dollars less than what you think it’s WORTH.

ILLUSTRATION:

Many of you have been in our HOME, you know that we don’t have anything in our HOUSE of real VALUE. In fact, if anyone broke into our HOUSE and tried to ROB us, instead of TAKING anything they would LEAVE us MONEY.

2. But there is one thing that we have that is of great intrinsic VALUE . . . YOU and ME! (no FAT people)

COMMENT:

The WORLD may not know what kind of VALUE we have, but that’s because only the ONE who CREATED us really knows what we’re WORTH. To God, our CREATOR, every person who

has been BORN and yet to be BORN is VALUABLE to Him.

a. “Of all of God’s creation, we are the only ones CREATED in the IMAGE of God”- Genesis 1:27.

b. God was personally involved in our formation. David- “For you [God] created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother’s womb”- Psalm 139:13.

c. God has a PURPOSE for every human being. God told the prophet Jeremiah that “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet

to the nations”- Jeremiah 1:5.

d. “We are so VALUABLE to God that He sent His Son to the CROSS to DIE in our PLACE so that

we can LIVE with Him for all ETERNITY”- John 3:16.

COMMENT:

As we studied last week, Jesus reminds us of how VALUABLE we are when He asked, “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?”- Mark 8:35. (YOU CANNOT PUT A PRICE TAG ON OUR SOULS.)

3. And, yes, the UNBORN have souls. David writes in Psalm 22:10- “From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God.”

B. So if HUMAN BEINGS are so VALUABLE, why is ABORTION still prevalent in the WORLD?

1. Last year in 2019, ABORTION was once again the number one cause of DEATH worldwide. Over 42 million UNBORN babies (“PEOPLE”) were KILLED throughout the WORLD.

2. And, although I am deeply grateful that last year the ABORTION RATE dropped to its LOWEST

LEVEL ever in the United States, still over 850,000 UNBORN babies lost their LIVES.

a. And what’s even more DISTURBING, is that within the last two years 9 states along with Washington DC passed laws allowing ABORTIONS to be performed up to the moment of BIRTH.

b. How can anyone ARGUE that a BABY that has been growing inside his or her Mother for 9 months

is not a HUMAN BEING?

COMMENT:

Yet, the legal stance of our government is that an UNBORN CHILD is not a HUMAN BEING but a “FETUS”— a collection of tissue that can be tossed aside if it is INCONVENIENT because it

doesn’t have the quality of being truly HUMAN.

MESSAGE:

I. JESUS VALUES CHILDREN- Mark 10:13-16 (READ)

A. Mark said, “People were bringing little children to Jesus to have Him touch them…”

1. I realize that this passage is referring to little children, including babies (Luke 15:1), who were

already BORN.

a. This PASSAGE has nothing to do with ABORTION, but it has everything to do with how God

VIEWS children and babies—they were “KNIT TOGETHER” by Him in their mother’s womb.

b. These PARENTS wanted their little CHILDREN and BABIES to be BLESSED by Jesus, the

Son of God.

c. But did you notice what the APOSTLES did? “They weren’t ALLOWING these parents to bring their CHILDREN to Jesus to be BLESSED.”

2. Now, Mark doesn’t say what the apostles’ MOTIVE is, but we do know historically that CHILDREN

were not VALUED very highly during this time.

a. King Herod didn’t think twice about sending his SOLDIERS to Bethlehem after the birth of Christ to KILL innocent baby boys 2-years and under in hopes of GETTING RID of Jesus, whom