Children—John Kaiser
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Well, where I stand, but according to my watch, which is more or less.
And who's got a song?
#5 and we don't have to restrict ourselves to the vaccine like we often do.
The hints on the back page of this Kim sheet, as we call it, is are particularly designed for children, but we can also take some of the hymns on the other part of the hymn sheet #5 let's.
Well, therefore.
I developed prepaid.
When she saw the one my things are awake.
Umm, when you come back.
Call one big one.
Nsnoise.
Uh, my Dinder land.
I wonder how many here understand it. I know when I was young.
I sang this song many times and did not understand what I was singing. It says in verse two that his Don the great transactions done. Who here on the front row can tell me what a transaction is?
Anybody can tell me what a transaction is? Yes, an exchange.
Very good, very good. I thought it I would have to illustrate it. Maybe I still will. Is there anybody here on the front row that has a penny?
00:05:07
Anybody here has a penny?
And some checking their pockets. You got a penny.
You got done. Would you be willing to exchange your dime for 1/4?
Find the dime there.
OK, now that's an exchange, that's a transaction, and he came out better on it than I did. That's all right.
That's a transaction. The word transaction made-up of two other words, which means that action across.
Really amazing exchange now.
Jesus took my sin and gave me happiness.
In exchange, is that a good exchange for Jesus to take my sins and give me happiness and joy, salvation. That's a wonderful exchange. And that's what we just sang about. All right, how about another song?
Jesus loves me. OK, that's number 40 on the back and we won't sing all of Jesus loves me. Just sing. We'll sing just the 1St 2 verses and I'll tell you a story about this song #40.
Of the Bible, count me so little I'm seeing him being among them. They are wit, but he's buddy and thronged.
Love me.
Yes, Jake lies cloudy, the Bible tells me.
Now I promise.
Tell a story about this song. This song was written by a lady named Anna Warner. She never married, never had children, but she wrote this song for children.
Anna lived with her sister Susan out East about 150 years ago and they both wrote children's books, which were very popular at the time. And Anna wrote the story about a little boy who was dying and someone came to visit the little boy.
And quoted him 2 verses. I actually quoted him several verses of a poem that these two verses I'm pretty sure of. Jesus loves me. This I know for the Bible tells me so little ones to him belong. They are weak, but he is strong. Jesus loves me. He who died heaven's gate to open wide. He will wash away my sin. Let a little child come in. And that was supposed to be good news.
For that little boy who was dying, you think that was good news?
The good news for a person is dying. Sure it is. Well, that was just a fictional story, but it caught the attention that that that poetry caught the attention of a hymn, umm tune writer named William Bradbury, and he introduced Jesus Loves Me as a hymn to the public.
And people have sung this ever since in many, many languages. It's probably the most popular song in the world, at least among Christians. The most popular song, probably the most popular song among Christians, because it's such a wonderful truth. Jesus loves me.
Let's have one more song. We're a little bit short for time this morning, so one more song and then we'll get on to our verse.
Anybody else have a choice?
Go ahead.
And someone came and told him about the Lord Jesus. And this is a true story. This is a true story #44 Let's sing the whole hymn.
00:10:25
Into us and we're a gypsy white landing. I ain't not alone as I close up the day.
Near the sun, salvation we can return.
Nobody ever has known this little thing.
Coming along again. Tell me about them.
Salvation story Read me nor and all.
I can say I'll come kill them, nobody ever has told me before.
Nobody. I've heard a story around the world.
Tell it again. Tell it again.
Salvation, Salvation.
Till some can say all the children of men.
Nsnoise.
Till nine children of men, nobody ever has told me before.
All right, let's go ahead and ask God's blessings.
Our God and Father, we thank Thee this morning for all my goodness to us, and above all for our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank Thee for thy love. I love for sinners.
We thank Thee for the love that would give the Lord Jesus Christ, thy only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. So we ask this morning.
That each one here might hear the message.
However that is conveyed to each heart, we pray in Jesus name, Amen.
Now we had a memory verse.
At least most of us, I assume, had a memory verse.
And.
Who remembers what that verse is when you learn the verse for this movie?
Anybody know that verse?
Yes, Sir, but can you stand up and say it?
John.
Very good.
00:15:03
We left him within the first one of the first John 4/19.
Somebody. Oh, Paul, Paul, do you want to say the first? You love him because he first loves that.
OK, good. I don't see real well. So I I I appreciate the help I get body spoken if I don't continue around the line here. Anybody else here? All right.
OK, anybody else here?
All right, good.
I remember when I was a when I'm being in Sunday school once and I had worked so hard.
Went in first and then I didn't get my chance to say it. I was disappointed. And we like to hear children say versus this one. If we get these truths in our minds and then in our hearts. This is a wonderful verse. You know, when I was asked to take the Sunday school.
The first thing.
I did. We'll see what verse I might be expected to talk about. And I saw this first. I thought, oh, how wonderful, talk about the love of God. I just couldn't think of anything more wonderful to talk about. I look forward to thinking about it for the next few days. And I have thought about it quite a bit. And I thought of several stories that illustrate the love of God. And I want to tell you one story and I want to illustrate another one.
Let me tell you a story. Why should I ask a little bit of question before I tell a story? Let's ask a question. How many here?
Believe they know what it is to be loved. How many here have someone that loves them?
Right, you have parents that love you. How many here believe their parents love you?
All right, now keep your hands up and unless you and you're not sure about this next question, how many here think their parents love them even when they spank them?
Well, that's good. That's true. Because loving isn't always, doesn't always have to do with feeling. And I want to explain that to you, tell you that old story.
Years ago. This was many years ago.
Maybe 100 years ago, I don't know for sure, maybe a little bit less than 100, but there was a man named Albert Drecker who was a bridge keeper.
His job was to take care of a drawbridge that went over a river, and sometimes there were boats coming down the river and he had to open the bridge and let the boat through. And then sometimes there was train. There were trains coming on the railroad track, and he had to make sure the bridge was closed so the trains could go over the river. And one day Albert Drecker was letting a boat go through the bridge.
And.
Uh, just as the boat was going through, as, as the boat was just about through, he started to lower the bridge and just then he heard the whistle of the train in the distance and he knew he had time.
To close the bridge, we stayed right there on the job because he had to do it, man, because he had to. He had to have to keep his hand on the lever to close the bridge. And he knew if he stayed on the job, he'd have the bridge closed in time for the train to go over the river.
But something else happened just then too.
His little boy. He saw his little boy come running along the Bank of the river toward him, and then his little boy stumbled and fell into the river. What do you think Albert Drecker did?
00:20:08
When he saw his boy fall into the river, I think he did.
Yeah, that's what you think you might do. You know what Albert Drecker did? He kept his hand on the lever. He thought about the people on the train. He loved his little boy, but he kept his hand on that lever and he watched his son.
Struggling in the waters, but he kept his hand on the lever so that the bridge would be closed when the train came through because there were a lot of people on that train that would die if the bridge wasn't closed.
Did Albert Drecker love his little boy? Yes, he did. As soon as the as soon as the bridge was closed, he dove into the water to rescue his son. But his son Adrown.
He loved his son. Let me ask you a question. Did Albert Drecker love the people on that train?
What do you think?
He probably didn't have a clue who was on the train. He didn't know who they were, but what he did was an act of love. Those people on the train, it wasn't a matter of feeling to those people on the train.
There's a matter of doing what needed to be done and he sacrificed his son for those people on the train. Now that reminds us a bit of what God has done, doesn't it reminds us that God gave his son for us. That was real love. I want to talk about that because that is the greatest love story. You know, there's there's lots of books in this world, probably few things more popular than love stories. We all like love stories. We hear, we, we watch, we like to watch couples that are.
And just engage or about to be engaged. Umm, we like to watch parents with children. We would like to see the love. But God has given us an illustration of love that we can never forget. And that's what I want to illustrate this morning with itself.
Now who can tell me what is what? What do you suppose you're gonna talk about?
How about somebody else? Yes.
The Lord dying on the cross between the two thieves that we're trying to think of the two thieves, right? Let's read about that in Luke chapter 23. This is the greatest illustration of love, the greatest love story we can ever tell.
Luke chapter 23, We love him because He first loved us, and this is how God showed His love. We have a verse in Romans 5 that says God commands or God shows or demonstrates his love to us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. That's what God showed His love. And so we're going to read the story in Luke 23.
And talk about that just a little bit.
We'll read, uh, Luke 23, starting with verse.
33.
And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, there they crucified him and the malefactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left. And so we have 3 crosses on the a flannel graph here.
That's what they call this thing. Here is a flannel graph, 3 crosses. And there were three men on those 3 crosses. They used to put these crosses up in a prominent place close to a rope. We don't realize that from the from the scripture here, and I'm not going to sit with you in this case, but the Romans habitually chose a hill close to a road for crucifixion so the people passing by could see Roman justice.
And so the Lord Jesus and two thieves were nailed to crosses and put up on the hill called Calvary for people to see. And if you hadn't been there and looked, if you were just passing by and didn't know what was going on, you were looked up and said, oh, there's three criminals.
00:25:12
Because.
Out on the outside they look pretty much alike. If anyone looked worse than the other it was probably the Lord Jesus because they had beaten him and he was bloody from the beatings and the thorns put on his head.
And so people would have looked at at the the three.
Men crucified there and said, oh, there's three criminals.
And, you know, we all look pretty much alike.
But the Bible tells us something.
Yes, man looks on the outside as the Lord looks on the heart. Does he always do that? Yes, He's doing it this morning. God is looking into each heart here, and He knows what you're like on the inside.
No, I see a bunch of boys and girls that are dressed, nicely dressed and clean faces and mostly look like they're awake.
God looks on the inside, and that's what we have a little picture of here.
This is what God saw when people were passing by the hill of Calvary. They just saw three men. But this is what God saw. He saw his perfect Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And he saw two malefactors. That's what it says. Let's read about it in Luke 23 year anniversary.
It says in verse 33 there they crucified him and the malefactors. Malefactor is somebody who does something wrong.
We could be called mouth factors. What's another word for malefactor? Male means bad. Factor means doer. OK, so a malefactor is a bad doer. What's another word for a bad doer? A Sinner. Sinner. Yeah. And that can describe us. And the Bible says what? What does the Bible say? Read that, missus, please. There is no difference. Fraud standing come short in the glory of God. Romans 32233. Right. There is no difference.
These two men beside the Lord Jesus were just like us, and we're just like them. We're sinners.
But there was one difference.
Who who could read this verse for us? Oh God, let's see the hands go up.
And in.
And he knew that he was manifested to take away our students and into his first John series 5 good He was manifested. He was shown to take away our sins, and in Him is no sin. And so we have the Lord Jesus represented by a white cross with a little blue around it to show that he came from heaven. His righteousness was heavenly righteousness, divine righteousness. And the two men beside him were.
Centers represented by black crosses.
And that's like us. We weren't like him, we were like them.
Well, let's read it, but it says here Verse 34 then said Jesus father forgive them. But we uh yeah. Verse 34 then said Jesus father forgive them for they know not what they do and they parted his raiment and cast lots.
And the people stood beholding, and the rulers also with him, derided him, saying he saved others.
Let him save himself, if he be the Christ, the chosen of God. And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him and offering him vinegar and saying.
If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself. And the superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek and Latin and Hebrew. This is the king of the Jews. I just think we read this story. We've all heard the story so often.
This happened. This happened here on this earth. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was down here. He was doing nothing but good and they crucified him.
Has somebody ever been mean to you?
I've had somebody being mean to me.
00:30:03
What do we wanna do when somebody's mean to us?
No, he didn't. And you know the wonderful thing is he was the one person that was entitled to do it. God says vengeance is mine, I will repay the Lord. Jesus had the right to take vengeance and he didn't. Instead he said Father.
Forgive me. Just think of that. And he desires that every one of us should be forgiven this morning. Are you forgiven? Have your sins been forgiven? The Lord Jesus prayed for these people that were crucifying him. And he said, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. And you know, the truth is when we do something, we say, Oh yeah, it's bad, but we really don't realize how bad it is.
When we sin, we don't realize how serious that is. We don't really know what we're doing.
God does. God sees what we don't see.
Well, verse 39 one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him. That means he made fun of the Lord Jesus. He mocked him and said, if thou be the Christ, save myself and us. And the other answer rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God? See, thou art in the same condemnation. And we indeed justly, for we received the due reward of our deeds. But this man has done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, Remember Me when thou cometh into thy Kingdom.
And Jesus said to him, Verily I say unto thee, today thou shalt be with me.
In Paradise. And it was about the 6th hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the 9th hour. And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. And when Jesus had cried, with a loud voice he said, Father into thy hands.
I commend my spirit. And having said thus, he gave up the ghost.
Now we have just read about the death of the Lord Jesus. It was wonderful.
We read some details about it. God tells this is God's story. Every detail here is important. And he tells us a few things about the men who were dying beside the Lord Jesus. You know we're all dying. You realize that?
From the day we're born.
How many here have ever had a scan?
That's bad that you still have the scabbard to fall off.
God, it's part of you that grew and then died.
And we change our skin. They tell me every seven years that we, we, our whole skin is changed. And what happens to the whole skin is, is gone. We're dying continually, even while we're growing. And part of it is dying because the Bible says the wages of sin is death. And this world is full of sin and our lives are full of sins. The person never sinned. They would never die.
Well, the Lord Jesus, he never sinned and he didn't have to die, but he chose to die.
He chose to die between 2 Thieves.
And these two thieves knew who was between, who was next to them and one of the thieves. They made fun of the Lord Jesus. As a matter of fact, both thieves did at first. And then one thief changed.
One thief. We'll say it was this one here.
Said to the other, Don't you realize that we're about to meet God? This is no time for joking.
And it's true. Now life is serious. We like to laugh. They say laughing is good for us. But there's a time to be serious and realize that we are guilty before God and we need salvation. And so this one thief will say it's a thief on the side here closest to me.
He said to the other.
We deserve what we're getting. We indeed justly, we received the due reward of our deeds. But this man has done nothing amiss. He knew the Lord Jesus was innocent. He didn't know how perfect the Lord Jesus was, but he knew the Lord Jesus was innocent. And he said to Jesus, Lord, Remember Me when you come into your Kingdom.
00:35:05
He turned to the Lord Jesus and trusted the Lord with his future. How many here, I wonder? Don't hold up your hand. How many here have trusted the Lord with your future? Not just your future in this life, but how about your future in the next? Remember the story we sang about the little gypsy boy?
He says, oh, it's wonderful to know that someone loves me. Tell, tell everybody that story. That's what we're doing this morning. There's no better news than to know that God loves you. He gave the Lord Jesus to die for you.
That whoever believes in him should not perish and have everlasting life. What about your future? If you were to die this morning and it could happen, if you were to die this morning, where would your soul be? Well, this man here talk to the Lord Jesus about his future. Have you ever talked to the Lord Jesus about your future? It's very important everyone of us have a future.
Where are you going to spend eternity?
There's this life too down here. If the Lord leaves you down here, you have a life to live.
If you live it without him.
You're in danger of dying without him.
And being without him forever.
Now is the time. This man knew his time was about up.
He talked to the Lord Jesus about his future. He said, Lord, Remember Me when you come into your Kingdom. Jesus said to him, verily that means truly I say unto thee, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. That was good news. This man didn't realize how good that news was, I'm sure, but that was good news. Now it says after that it's about the 6th hour. There was darkness over all the earth until the 9th hour. That means that God.
Something that man had no party.
It was between him and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I wanna talk about what God during did during those three hours of darkness.
This is very important to everyone of us here during those three hours of darkness. This is what God did.
He took the sins.
Of that believing thief, and laid them on the Lord Jesus, and he took my sins, and laid them on the Lord's youth.
What about your sins?
Did Jesus bear your sins during those three hours of darkness?
Well, you know when the three hours of darkness.
It says here.
Isn't that? Isn't that wonderful?
The perfect Son of God bore our sins in his own body on the tree. Well, that's what happened during those hours of darkness. And then after the three hours of darkness were ended, the darkness was lifted and here is what God saw. I'm counting.
Now isn't that amazing?
Two innocent men, two righteous men, One because he was the Son of God from heaven.
And the other I wonder if anybody knows why this cross is edged in red?
Who would? Who would like to suggest why that cross? Why I put a red edging around that cross? Anybody have any ideas?
Well, you're getting close, but not quite yet.
00:40:27
Cleans us from all sin, all sin. That's amazing, all sin. You know, when I clean a house, or when I wash dishes, or when I do laundry, do you suppose I ever get anything perfectly clean? No, we can't do it, but God can, and Jesus did. The man on the cross beside the Lord Jesus was just as righteous, just as pure in God's sighted as his own Son.
That's the word of God.
Has that work been done in your life?
Are you righteous and pure in God's eyes?
This is what God saw. Well, our time is about up. We know that these all three men died.
All three men died. What do you think these things are supposed to be?
Funny looking things here, yes. What are they? Gravestones. And if these, those men who died on Calvary, two of them, their bodies are still in this earth. That's why I only have two gravestones. Why is there no gravestone for the Lord Jesus?
Why is there no gravestone for Lord Jesus? Why?
There is no grave down here that holds him. Not now. Now.
The Bible tells us something.
Something else?
It is appointed to man once to die and after death.
For judgment, I've other things I could use to illustrate. I want to remember there are two destinies for each one of us here. Where are you going? Which state are you like? Are you like the seas that believed and experienced the law of God? Or you like the thief who didn't believe and will never know the love of God? We love him because.
He first loved us.
The Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. Well, we have just a couple minutes left, maybe to sing one song together. They might have a song.
42 December 4343.
#43.
One door and only one, and yet thighs are two.
All right, that's correct. Our God and Father, we pray that each of us here might even seriously think of the words we just sang.
There's two choices, two sides to the door. There's an inside and outside. We thank dear God for each one here. That's on the inside, and we pray for anyone here who might still be on the outside, not trusting the Lord Jesus as Savior.
We thank you for this wonderful story, for this wonderful demonstration and eternal expression of your love. We thank you this morning, our God and Father, for our Lord Jesus Christ.