Come Like a Child

I hope that you saw the theme in the music this morning.

We need to learn to lean on God.

God does not call us to be independent in our spiritual life.

We must be dependent on him.

So we're working our way through the Gospel of Luke going verse by verse.

And we found our place here in chapter number 18.

We're going to read verses 15 through 17.

And here's what the Bible says.

And they brought unto him also infants that he would touch them.

But when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them.

But Jesus called unto him and said,

Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God.

Verily or truly I say unto you,

Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.

We see three short little verses here.

But Jesus has been kind of last few chapters talking about the kingdom.

That the kingdom is coming.

That Jesus Christ came and the kingdom is here.

But there is a kingdom coming where he's coming back.

And the question that's been surfacing over and over is,

Who gets in?

How do you get in?

And so Jesus is going to answer that question using some children.

That in the first century they thought are just kind of a nuisance.

They're kind of in the way.

And Jesus points to the child and says,

This is what the kingdom of heaven looks like.

And so we're going to look at that this morning.

Let's go to the Lord in prayer and ask him to bless our time as we open the word.

Father, I'm so thankful that we can lean on you.

We're reminded often in the book of Proverbs that we're to trust in you with all our heart.

And we may know that verse, but sometimes our life doesn't necessarily depict it.

And Lord, I pray that as we walk through this text this morning,

you would remind us what the kingdom actually looks like.

And Lord, if there is somebody here that maybe is trusting in something besides

your finished work on the cross of Calvary for their entrance in,

Lord, I pray that you would make that known.

Lord, I pray for those that do know you as Savior,

that sometimes it's very easy to slip into this independence in our own life,

that we're thankful for salvation, but we'll handle it from here.

And Lord, I pray you would help us to rid our mind and our life of that attitude.

Lord, I pray that you would just bless your word as it's open.

I pray you would be with the hearer,

that you would help us to respond when you speak to our hearts.

And Lord, I pray you'd be with me, that you would just help me.

Lord, you would empty me of self.

You'd cleanse me of sin.

Lord, fill me with your spirit that I might be a help to the hearer this morning.

And we ask this in Christ's name.

Amen.

Thank you so much for standing.

You may be seated.

I'm sure you've noticed the older that we get in life,

the less dependent we want to be on other people.

I mean, think about when you're first born.

I mean, you can't probably remember that.

Hopefully not.

That'd be weird.

But when you're born, you can't do anything for yourself.

Somebody feeds you.

Somebody dresses you.

Somebody carries you everywhere you go.

Somebody protects you.

Somebody pays for everything.

That sounds awesome.

That sounds like something I want to be a part of even today.

But as we continue to grow, we become less dependent.

We learn to feed ourselves.

We learn to dress ourselves.

We learn to drive ourselves places.

We provide for ourselves.

And really, eventually when we become an adult, it really means that we're learning to stand on our own two feet.

Because if you're here and you're 35 years old and your mom still lays your clothes out for you in the morning,

we need to talk after service.

That's a different issue and it's a different sermon.

Now, but your wife, she just loves you and she's trying to help you.

That's all that.

That's what that means right there, guys.

But I think we understand this truth that we value independence in our life.

You know, when you get just a little bit older, I mean, you get two, three years old, you can see little kids.

They want to do everything on their own.

I mean, they want to dress themselves.

And you notice when they dress themselves, you see them at Walmart, like, this kid definitely dressed himself.

Their shoes are on the wrong feet.

Nothing matches.

They dress like a ballerina going to outer space and all these kind of different situations.

But a lot of times that independence that we are moving towards in our physical life and as we move into adulthood

is something that really kind of creeps into our spiritual life.

That we want to be independent and we want to kind of set the guidelines and do that.

But as we come to this passage here in Luke's gospel, Jesus kind of turns that thought completely around.

He looks at a group of children that would have not necessarily been despised, but just kind of seen as a nuisance, as an inconvenience.

And nobody really took thought of them until they reached a certain age.

And he looks at this group of children and he tells the adults gathered around.

He is teaching the disciples.

He said, listen, there's something about them.

There's a characteristic that they have in their life that needs to be very, very evident in yours.

And where Luke places these three little verses is very important to the context of really chapter number 18.

A few weeks ago when we were together in Luke's gospel, really the first 14 verses,

we see that Jesus is telling a parable about our prayer life and how our prayers show how we first believe about God

and also what we believe about ourselves.

And it's particularly in verse 9 through 14, Jesus told us about two men who went into a temple to pray.

One was a Pharisee, a religious, moral, upstanding citizen.

And the other was a publican, a tax collector, despised by all that were there.

And we see this Pharisee stood before God, which he thought he did.

And he began to pray thus with himself and began to list off his accomplishments,

his morality, his religious activity, his sterling resume.

And then the Bible shows us in verse number 13 that the publican just stood afar off.

And the Bible says he smote his breast.

He smote his chest and said, God, be merciful unto me, a sinner.

And Jesus told the crowd listening there that day,

this man, this publican, this sinner, this despised tax collector, he went home justified.

Why? Because he trusted in God's mercy and not in his own accomplishments.

And we're going to see the next time we're together in the Gospel of Luke,

we're going to meet a rich ruler.

This was a man that had position, that he had all the possessions.

I mean, if it was out, it was the latest and greatest, he had it.

He had accomplishments.

He had a spotless reputation.

Jesus lists a whole bunch of things off.

He said, yep, I've done all that.

I've kept all those since my youth.

But right between these two men, these stories of this Pharisee and this rich ruler,

Luke introduces us to some children.

In fact, he says infants.

And I want us to see the picture that he's really painting.

That this Pharisee thinks that his righteousness should count for something.

Hey, at least I'm not like so-and-so.

At least I tithe.

At least I come to church.

At least I do these things.

That's what he was saying.

And this rich ruler appears to have everything.

So why can't he just buy his way in?

Why can't he give a big donation and he's just a good, good person?

He's got a good heart.

And the idea that many of these first century people would have thought,

if anybody's going to make it into the kingdom,

if anybody's going to make it into heaven,

these men are surely going to be at the top of the list.

But here in these verses, Jesus teaches us that if you want to enter God's kingdom,

you must learn how to come like a child.

You have to realize that God's not interested in your resume.

He's not looking at all your accomplishments.

He's not saying, well, what do you have to impress me?

No, here's what he says.

Here's how you get into the kingdom.

You just simply come and receive.

And really, that's the big idea of these three verses,

is the kingdom of God isn't something that we achieve.

It is something that we humbly receive.

So as we walk through these verses,

I want us to answer this question this morning.

What does Jesus teach us about receiving his kingdom?

What does he teach about us, about receiving his kingdom?

The first thing we see is this in verse 15 and 16,

that Jesus welcomes those who come.

That Jesus welcomes those who come.

Verse 15 says again,

And then they brought unto him also infants,

that he would touch them.

So I want us to picture, and we can see it.

A bunch of parents are gathered around.

They've got little ones in their arms,

and they're bringing their little babies to Jesus

because they wanted his blessing in their life.

Now, it may sound a little weird to us,

but when you started the culture

and the first century Jewish life,

they would have brought their young children to the synagogue.

If there was a reputable rabbi,

they would have been traveling through their village.

They would have brought their children there

just to receive a blessing,

just to kind of get their children around the things of God.

It was very, very common.

And more than that,

when we see them bringing their children to Jesus,

they just wanted their children to be near Jesus.

I mean, they would have heard about

all the things that Jesus was doing

and the miracles that were taking place

and all of that stuff,

and they said,

Hey, well, we want to set some good examples for our kids,

so let's get them around Jesus.

And I think as parents,

if you have children,

you desire for your children to be healthy,

to be happy,

to be successful.

Parents want their children to have a good life,

and there is nothing wrong with that,

and we work hard to try to provide that for our children,

as you do as well.

But as a Christian parent,

there is nothing you should want more

than for your children to know Jesus.

That's the most important thing a parent has.

That is our number one responsibility.

Listen, raising children is kingdom work.

Sometimes the world looks down on that,

and children, even today in 2026,

might be viewed as a nuisance,

but Jesus reminds us that all children are a gift from God.

Whether they're in the womb or they're out of the womb,

I'll just throw that in there right now.

But we know this as we study the Word of God,

that you cannot save your children.

You can't reserve a spot for them in heaven.

You cannot believe for them.

But what you can do is you can bring them near Jesus.

What you can do is teach them His Word.

You can pray for them.

You can bring them into fellowship with God's people.

And most importantly,

you can let them see that Jesus is real in your life.

Because children are very perceptive.

You know, as parents,

we sometimes try to convince ourselves,

oh, they don't know what's going on.

Oh, they know what's going on.

When I was a children's church teacher,

when I was a youth pastor,

and I taught children's church in Sherman there,

I knew everything about every parent in that auditorium

because their kids told me.

You take prayer requests

in a children's Sunday school class,

they'll let you know what's up.

Just a reminder,

thankfully we have Sunday school teachers

that are praying for you as well right now this morning.

But I do want to just remind us,

this is not a text just for parents.

And it's not really just,

I'm not going to give you five steps on how to raise kids

because I'm still working on that as well.

Thankfully the Word of God helps us there.

But I think as a church,

we all have a responsibility

to help the next generation see the beauty of Jesus.

We live in a culture where Jesus is looked down upon,

it's kind of looked on as,

well, you know,

it's just something you have a little bit when you're younger,

and they would call it a fairy tale or a crutch.

That's not what Jesus Christ is.

And while we can't make the next generation love Jesus,

we better be sure we can,

they know how much we do.

I hope when somebody comes into this church,

they realize a couple things.

We like each other,

even though we're weird,

and we love Jesus.

Why?

Because of what Jesus has done for us.

And so they're bringing their children there.

And there's nothing wrong with that.

And we're going to see in a moment,

you see,

as this text is in other gospels,

Jesus welcomes the little children.

But the middle of verse number 15

is kind of crazy.

But when his disciples saw it,

the ones that he's training for ministry,

the ones that he's saying,

hey, this is how we do things, guys.

This is how we love people.

And this is how we're going to move the kingdom forward.

But when his disciples saw it,

they rebuked them.

I mean, when I read that,

this is what my brain says.

Say what?

I mean, that's exactly what I thought.

The parents are just trying to bring their children to Jesus,

which seems like a great idea,

which seems like something you would want to do

with your own children.

And the people standing in the way

are Jesus' 12 disciples.

Luke does not tell us why they rebuke them.

But the thought was,

and the word rebuke,

it carries a very strong connotation.

It wasn't like, hey, guys.

No, they're like, get out.

Hey, leave us alone.

Maybe they thought Jesus was too busy.

He's got a lot going on.

And as we've studied this text,

the Pharisees and all of these people,

they're kind of ganging up on Jesus.

He could handle his own.

But the disciples,

and we see Peter throughout the Gospels,

he thinks his job to be Jesus' bodyguard.

And so they're saying,

hey, get these kids out of here.

Maybe they thought it was just another interruption.

Because we notice this about Jesus

when you walk through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,

that he was always on the clock.

Maybe this happened at 4.55.

Have you ever been at a job and you get off at 5?

Somebody rolls in at 4.57,

and you're like,

I do not want to help these people.

And you're like,

the store's closing in three minutes.

Please make your final purchases.

Maybe that's how the disciples are.

We don't know.

But whatever the reasoning was,

the disciples saw an interruption,

and Jesus saw something worth receiving.

He saw someone worth receiving.

And verse 16 tells us,

But Jesus called unto him and said,

Suffer the little children.

Suffer them to come to me.

And I love that,

because that is the heart of Christ.

Because the disciples viewed it as an interruption.

They looked at children as a distraction.

But Jesus shows us his heart.

That song,

Jesus Loves the Little Children,

is not just a children's church song

that somebody made up one day.

No, it's a biblical principle.

That you're never too young,

and you're never too old.

Here's the heart of Christ.

Come unto me.

Come unto me,

all you that labor and heavy laden.

Come to the cross.

Come find forgiveness.

Come find hope.

See, the people that others might overlook

still matter to Jesus.

And you might not be the youngest,

and you might be the oldest,

but here's the reality.

Jesus is still calling you to come.

He still cares about you.

And do you notice this?

God never calls us adult children of him.

You realize you never grow out of being a child of God.

That we are his children.

And there's a reason for it,

and Jesus is explaining it in this situation.

He's reminding us that if we just come,

he's going to welcome us.

And as a church,

and as followers of Jesus Christ,

we should never become a barrier

between the people that Jesus is calling to himself.

But the sad reality is sometimes Christians,

and maybe even they think they're well-meaning,

are a barrier between people and Jesus.

Jesus doesn't say,

clean yourself up so you can come to church.

No, here's what he says.

Come.

He didn't say,

get your life together

and make sure you got your ducks in a row.

I'm looking out.

None of us have our ducks in a row.

We all need Jesus Christ,

and we cannot be a barrier.

Even if we've known the Lord for a long, long time,

we still are completely dependent on him.

And we must come to him,

and we don't need to be a hindrance.

But Jesus is about to do much more

than just welcome these children.

See, what he's going to show us is these little babies,

these infants are actually a picture

of what people who enter the kingdom look like.

Because there's something about these little ones

that every person who enters the kingdom of God

must understand.

And that's what we see, number two.

We see this truth,

that the kingdom of God belongs to the dependent.

The kingdom of God belongs to the dependent.

He said there in verse 16,

he calls them and suffer the little children.

Allow them, is what he's saying.

Don't hinder them.

Stop being a barrier to them, disciples.

Let them come unto me.

Let their parents bring them here.

And forbid them not.

For of such is the kingdom of God.

So not only does he invite the children in.

I can just picture Jesus holding a little baby on his arm.

And a little baby doesn't have a clue what's going on.

He's looking all around and taking it out,

and he's sticking his finger in Jesus' ear,

and Jesus is talking to the disciples,

and he says,

hey, just see this little guy right here?

This is what the kingdom of God looks like.

He's pointing to them.

And he's telling these adults, these disciples,

I want you to see something.

What does he want us to see?

It's not their innocence.

They are.

This small baby is so innocent.

It's not that children are perfect.

Okay, just making sure.

We're awake now.

Yeah.

We know that to be a fact.

We also know this,

that Jesus isn't telling us to be childish.

You know, sometimes my wife says,

you need to act your age.

Well, mentally, I'm just right around 11,

so that's just kind of where I'm at.

That's not what Jesus is saying.

No, here's what he's doing.

He's pointing to their dependence.

He says, this is what the kingdom of heaven looks like.

This is how you enter in.

And we looked at that.

We look at that little word there in verse 15, infants.

Luke was very detailed about that.

And one of the defining characteristics of an infant

is helplessness.

A baby cannot feed himself.

And it's good to look out here this morning.

We see some babies in the crowd.

We got some babies in the nursery.

But a baby cannot feed themselves.

They cannot clothe themselves.

They cannot protect themselves.

They can't provide for themselves.

Everything they need, somebody else has to provide.

And it's not the fact that if somebody doesn't provide it,

their life's not going to be great.

No, no.

When we're infants, if somebody doesn't provide those things,

they will not survive.

There's no hope.

They are completely dependent on life because of other people.

What a humbling reminder as parents that it is a gift.

It is a precious life.

And Jesus looks at that, and he shows that kind of dependence

and says, that's what it needs to look like in your life.

That's where you need to be because spiritually,

that's exactly where every one of us should stand before God.

We saw the Pharisee, that he comes, and the Bible said he prayed thus with himself.

And it's almost like he's walking around and praying like,

oh, Lord, thank you that I'm so good and I'm so wonderful and I'm so awesome.

But that publican said, God, I need you.

See, we saw independence spiritually, independent spiritually.

And Jesus says, that man went home justified.

That man realized who he was, that he had nothing to offer.

And if God didn't show up, and if God didn't pour mercy out on his life,

there was nothing that could help him.

You cannot save yourself.

You cannot justify yourself.

You cannot redeem yourself.

Somebody needs to provide something that you can't.

And his name is Jesus.

He's the only one that can do it.

But in order for God to work in our life, we have to come empty-handed.

We have to realize our need for it.

See, the Pharisee didn't think he needed it because he thought he had everything he needed already.

I mean, think about a child.

Everything they do, we give them a hard time, but we say, oh, man, these kids just mooching off me all the time.

That's what's supposed to happen.

I mean, as they grow, we teach them a little independence, and we teach them responsibility.

But, I mean, a child is so empty-handed.

Your three-year-old's not going to come to you at the end of the month and pull out their little piggy bank and say,

what do I owe my part of the mortgage this month?

No.

They're just there.

It's their room, their toys, their stuff.

I'm like, you didn't pay for none of this.

They're just there.

Children live every day just receiving from something somebody else provides.

And they wake up, and they're excited, and they just assume food to be there, and they assume these things.

And really, what that is, it's just a picture of how grace works.

Because that's our life.

We wake up.

You woke up this morning.

You found out that his mercies are still new.

You got breath in your lungs.

You have all of these wonderful things.

I mean, it's a beautiful sunny day.

It's still going to be 100, but it's beautiful.

I love how the old hymn, Rock of Ages, says it.

Nothing in my hand I bring.

Simply to the cross I cling.

See, it's not just for children.

That's for all of us.

That's what it looks like to be dependent on God.

That's what it looks like to be a part of his kingdom.

And think about the connection that Jesus has just taught.

This Pharisee had accomplishments.

We're going to see this publican came for mercy.

But this child comes with empty hands.

And here's what God does every time you come with empty hands.

He fills them.

Whether it's salvation, you realize, Lord, I'm a sinner.

Would you forgive me?

And the Bible's pretty clear.

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

And he'll fill your hands.

He'll help you.

He'll fill that void in your life.

And the picture is so clear that real dependence leaves no room for pride.

Listen, if you've been forgiven, it's by grace.

If you've been right with God, justified, it's by grace.

If you have any hope of heaven, it's by grace.

So what do I have to boast about?

Nothing.

See, you can't boast about something that you had to receive.

It was just given to you.

But I want us to understand what this kind of dependence means.

I think sometimes we can imagine salvation like this.

Lord, I'm going to do everything I can, and then you do what you do.

That's not helpless dependence.

Listen, salvation isn't Jesus plus what you do equals salvation.

It's Jesus plus nothing.

The only thing we bring to Jesus is our sin and our brokenness.

The gospel isn't do your best and let Jesus handle the rest of it.

That's not what the gospel is.

Jesus didn't come to help save ourselves.

No, he came to save us completely.

The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.

And that's all of us.

We needed him to provide.

And when that dependence is placed in Christ, here's another Bible term we use for it.

It's called faith.

That when we place our faith, our dependence, and what he did on the cross of Calvary,

and we listen to the words that he cried out, it is finished.

We realize he's done it all.

There is nothing you can do to earn more favor.

That's a wonderful, wonderful truth in your life that God loves you as much as he can.

He's not going to love you any more than he already does.

He loves you with an everlasting love.

He loves you with a love that cannot be even measured in our own life.

I just want to remind you today and remind myself that we should never outgrow this dependence.

Listen, your Christian life doesn't begin with dependence on Jesus and then graduate to self-sufficiency.

That's not where it should be heading.

That's not what God wants us to do.

And so maybe we need to ask ourselves this question this morning.

Have I become more self-sufficient spiritually than I used to be?

Because it's very easy to do that.

We think, well, I'm going to handle this.

Hey, Lord, I'll take it from here.

We don't say that, but sometimes that's how we live our life.

And then you know how we know we live that way?

We go to the Lord and say, Lord, I'm sorry, but I'm going to need you to help me out here.

No, no, no.

We just need to live there.

We need to be completely dependent on him.

Because the reality is the closer we get to Christ, the more we mature in our walk with him, the more we realize how much we need him.

Listen, when you realize you're a sinner, you know, man, I need the Lord.

And God just speaks to your heart and you realize you're on your way to hell, but Jesus paid the debt.

And so you call and say, Lord, forgive me, I'm a sinner.

And he does.

And you think, man, I'm glad God stepped in when he did.

And you should be thankful for that.

But I would imagine many in this room understand the more, the longer you've been saved, the more you realize you need him.

You know, as I'm raising my own children, as I'm getting older, I look back at my parents and I'm thinking, man, I didn't realize how much I actually needed them.

They kept me alive.

That was a pretty big deal.

I mean, that's a good goal in parenting.

I needed them.

But I realize this, I need the Lord more and more.

I need the Lord more today than I did last week, than last year.

And it shows us in our own life that truth.

But Jesus takes this picture one step further.

See, in verse 16, he shows us the kind of person who enters the kingdom, who it belongs to, the dependent.

But in verse number 17, he shows us what dependent people do.

This is the truth that we find, number three, that the kingdom of God must be received.

See, dependent people inherit it, but how do they do it?

They just receive it.

I mean, think about a kid's birthday party.

So fun.

You get the invitation in the mail, Chuck E. Cheese, one to three.

And as a parent, you're like, this is exactly where I want to spend my Saturday.

This is going to be amazing.

I mean, but you go there, and the kids start coming in, and the birthday person's there, and they're looking at those presents.

And you got coins and tokens to play all the games.

You got pizza.

And they keep asking this question, when can I open my presents?

You know, my friend just told me they want me to open the present.

And they're so excited.

And when the present is given to the child, they usually don't sit there and say, you know what?

I don't know if I've really done enough this week or this year to deserve this present.

No, it's like most birthday parties I've been to, ones that I've participated in myself,

half the time they're tearing into the present before you even know it.

And then you're trying to figure out who that came from so you can teach them manners to tell them thank you,

and they're already on the next present.

And that's just kind of how birthday parties I've been to have gone.

You know why?

Because they're just simply receiving what's been given.

Their name's on it, so they're going to take it.

They've been invited.

They've had this situation.

And that's really a picture that Jesus is kind of showing us in verse number 17,

that that's how you enter the kingdom of heaven.

There's nothing you do.

You cannot earn your salvation.

You receive it.

You don't purchase grace.

You receive it.

You don't provide enough righteousness on your own.

No, you just accept what Jesus gives you, and he robes us in his righteousness.

Why do children just receive these gifts and receive everything their parents provide?

Here's why.

They trust them.

And that's what saving faith does.

It trusts God.

It trusts his goodness.

See, faith that saves, faith that changes you, faith that allows you to enter the kingdom is much more about than just knowing facts about Jesus.

Listen, you can know Jesus died on a cross.

You can know Jesus rose from the dead.

You can know all the Christian lingo of the day.

You can know the hymns by heart.

You can have verses memorized.

But saving faith moves beyond knowing about Jesus to completely depending on Jesus.

There's a big difference there.

There's a difference between believing Jesus is the Savior and trusting him as your Savior.

And that's what he's showing here.

That there's a lot of people that think they're saved.

Listen, in no way I'm trying to get us to doubt, but we can't be riding somebody else's coattails or having dependence on other things.

It's in Christ and Christ alone.

And that's what Jesus is saying.

He leaves no room for exception.

He doesn't soften it.

Look at the very end of verse number 17.

That whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.

The door is narrow, but everybody's invited.

All roads don't lead to heaven.

Jesus is the way, and he's the truth, and he's the life.

He's just reminding us there's no other entrance.

There isn't an entrance for people who don't need as much grace as other people.

No, we need all the grace we can get.

There's no other way for people to come in.

Everybody enters the kingdom of God the exact same way.

Dependent, empty-handed, and simply receiving what Jesus gives.

That's the only way.

The Pharisee had his resume.

The ruler had his resources.

And this child just has empty hands.

And Jesus points to that little kid and says, that's how you do it.

That's how you come in.

That's the kind of trust that I want you to have in me.

Because everything we have is from him anyways.

Everything you have today right now is because you're completely dependent on him.

You're not keeping yourself alive.

You're depending on God.

So what has Jesus provided?

What do we need to be so dependent on?

We talk about receiving salvation, but we need to be clear about what he's actually offering and why we need it.

Here's the problem.

Romans 3.23.

For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

Sin is the problem.

It's not their problem or those people.

It's your problem.

It's my problem.

Every single one of us have sinned.

There's no amount of religious activity that can erase it.

There's no amount of good works that can pay for it.

And we've already mentioned it.

We needed somebody to pay for it.

Jesus did.

That he shed his own blood.

That he laid down his life.

The Bible says on that cross he bore our sins in his body.

Why?

That we may be made the righteousness of God in him.

See, he did what we could not do.

Where Adam failed, Jesus succeeded.

He lived a sinless life.

He paid the judgment for our sin.

He died in our place.

And three days later, he rose again.

And because of that, because of that truth that we find as the gospel,

Jesus provided everything necessary for you to enter in.

For you to walk right into the kingdom of God.

Because salvation is not offered as a reward for good people.

For Americans, for Christians.

No, no, no.

It's a gift to be received.

Paul told the Ephesians,

For by grace are you saved through faith.

And that not of yourselves.

It is a gift of God.

Not of works.

Lest any man should boast.

That's how you enter in.

That's what these little children are a picture of.

And it doesn't matter if you're in the first century or we're here today in 2026.

There's numerous opinions on who and how you enter God's kingdom.

But there's only one opinion that actually matters.

And it's Jesus's.

And that's what he's showing us here.

And in these three verses, he doesn't necessarily give an opinion.

He gives the verdict.

He says, this is how you do it.

And this is who gets it.

It's not exclusive for certain people.

God didn't pick and choose and say, well, you're in and you're not.

No, it's available to everybody.

But you must be dependent.

You must come humbly and receiving.

See, we're hardwired to be independent in our life.

I remember just like you did.

Some of our teens are there right now.

I couldn't wait to grow up.

You know, I think to myself, ain't nobody going to tell me what to do.

I can't wait until I'm the boss and I can eat ice cream whenever I want, go to bed whenever I want.

Well, that's not how it works, is it?

Now somebody tells me what to do and if I eat ice cream, I'm like, are you eating ice cream again?

We can't wait to stand on our own.

We can't wait to provide for ourselves.

And we should mature in our physical life.

But spiritually, real maturity, a closer walk with God begins when we realize how dependent we really are.

How much we really need Him.

Salvation isn't we just need Him one time and then we're good for the rest of our life.

No, it's just the start of a life that is dependent on Him.

And the closer we grow, the more we realize that everything we have, everything we do is all dependent on Him.

But that question that we must answer is the same question we've been asking for the past few sermons here in Luke's Gospel.

What am I depending on to make me right with God?

Goodness, your goodness.

Kindness.

Your religion.

Your accomplishments.

Your resources.

We said before, none of those are bad things, but they're not saving things.

None of them can change your life.

Jesus can.

We have to come to Him empty-handed.

And I'll leave you with this thought.

Come to Him empty-handed.

Depending completely on what only He can provide.

Verse 17.

How do you come to the kingdom?

Come like a child.

What do we stand with our hands?