Page 63 - Fundamentals Ebook Final

to show you the indispensable goal of redemptive living. If I’m
going to live redemptively, I’ve got to meet this condition and it will
lead to this goal.

What is the indispensable condition of redemptive living? I’ll state
it for you and then I’ll try to illustrate it for you. In one word, it’s
childlikeness. God demands childlikeness. Unless you are like a
child you are not going to enter. Mark 9:35-37, “And sitting down,
He called the twelve and said to them, ‘If anyone wants to be first,
he shall be last of all, and the servant of all.’ And taking a child, He
set him before them, and taking him in His arms, he said to them,
‘Whoever receives one child like this in My name receives Me; and
whoever receives Me does not receive Me, but Him who sent Me.’”
He takes a little child as an illustration.

Mark 9:42, “And whoever causes one of these little ones who
believe to stumble, it would be better for him if, with a heavy
millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea.”
Don’t offend a little child. Mark 10:13-16, “And they were bringing
children to Him so that He might touch them; and the disciples
rebuked them. But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said
to them, ‘Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for
the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you,
whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not
enter it at all.’ And He took them in His arms and began blessing
them, laying His hands upon them.”

Let me share the background. It’s almost comical for this occasion.
Mark 9:33-34, “And they came to Capernaum; and when He was in
the house, He began to question them, ‘What were you discussing
on the way?’ But they kept silent, for on the way they had discussed
with one another which of them was the greatest.” The disciples
walked in the doors and Jesus asked, “What were you talking about
on the way?”