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Please note: The Spirit moved in a special way in this service that
hardly resembles the text version at bottom. Please take the time to
listen to the audio of this message all the way to the end, where you will
hear our Pastor's tearful yet triumphant
finale of truth!
Will my baby go to heaven if it dies? Can my mentally challenged youngster
get saved? As a Pastor I get the first question a lot. As the parent of a
special needs child, I ask the latter question often. And I get asked that
question by others as well. What does the Bible say on this subject?
I once heard a preacher say that because of I
Peter 3:20 all the babies in Noah's flood went to Hell:
I Peter 3:20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the
longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a
preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
His reasoning was, because it said that just eight souls were saved, all
those babies went to Hell. Of course the phrase is referring to the eight in
the ark being saved by floating on top of the water, NOT soul salvation. and
Also a Hyper-Calvinist believes that only the elected, including just the
elected babies go to Heaven, the non-elected babies burn forever in Hell. As
one preacher said, all the "nuts" ain't in the "nut house".
What does the Bible say about this?
The most common answer given by Bible
literalists is the story of David’s baby that died.
II Sam. 12:15-23 – David had sinned with
Bathsheba, and Nathan the prophet is confronting the king for his adultery
and the murder which followed. The wages of sin is death / The soul that
sinneth, it shall die
God struck the baby w/ an illness where we
pick up our passage [read].
This is a special illustration that little
ones are safe until they are old enough to be saved. And it’s special to
people like my wife and I who have lost a little one.
But the Bible has much more to say on this
subject than this classic answer.
Genesis 18:25 ...Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
YES, HE WILL: LET’S LOOK AT SOME SCRIPTURES THAT WILL PUT SOME LIGHT ON THIS
VERY IMPORTANT SUBJECT.
Genesis 2:16-17 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every
tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that
thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Deuteronomy 1:34-39 And the LORD heard the voice of your words, and
was wroth, and sware, saying, Surely there shall not one of these men of
this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your
fathers, Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I
give the land that he hat trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath
wholly followed the LORD. Also the LORD was angry with me for your sakes,
saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither. But Joshua the son of Nun, which
stinted before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage him: for he shall
cause Israel to inherit it. Moreover
your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which
in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in
thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it.
CHILDREN ARE SAFE UNTIL THEY HAVE A KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL, SEE ABOVE
VERSE--Deuteronomy 1:39, NOT JUST RIGHT AND WRONG. YOU CAN TEACH A BABY
RIGHT AND WRONG, BUT YOU CAN'T TEACH HIM GOOD AND EVIL. THIS COMES TO
DIFFERENT PEOPLE AT DIFFERENT AGES.
Why do some babies die?
Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man
(Adam) sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed
upon all men, for that all have sinned:
BECAUSE OF ADAM'S SIN, HE DIED AND WE ALL CAME FROM ADAM, THEN WE WILL ALL
DIE BECAUSE WE ALL SIN. WHATEVER HAPPENED TO ADAM'S BLOOD WAS PASSED ON TO
HIS DESCENDANTS, THAT'S ALL OF US.
Romans 5:14 Nevertheless death
reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned (babies and
the retarded) after the similitude of Adam's transgression,...
What about babies, they don't sin?
Romans 5:19 For as by one man's
disobedience (Adam) many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one
(Jesus Christ) shall many be made righteous.
THEY WERE MADE SINNERS BECAUSE OF ADAM'S SIN, EVEN THOUGH IT WASN'T THEIR
WAGES THAT CAUSES THEM TO DIE.
How do you know babies aren't in Hell then?
Romans 4:8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
“Impute” = to assign, place, pin on, put on
the account of.
HERE ARE SOME PEOPLE THAT THEIR SIN ISN'T ACCOUNTED TO THEM.
Romans 4:15 Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no
transgression.
Romans 5:13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed
when there is no law.)
You don't have to worry about the retarded children and babies that die in
infancy and birth, The fact that that child is born dead in trespasses and
sins means absolutely nothing at all, because sin isn't imputed to the
child.
BABIES ARE NOT ACCOUNTABLE BECAUSE THEY
ARE NOT UNDER THE LAW.
II Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness;
but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but
that all should come to repentance.
IF GOD IS NOT WILLING FOR ANY TO PERISH, AND HE ISN'T, THEN IF BABIES DIE
AND GO TO HELL, GOD IS RESPONSIBLE, BECAUSE THEY HAD NO OPPORTUNITY TO BE SAVED. IN OTHER WORDS IF A CHILD DIES BECAUSE OF ADAM'S SIN,
WHICH, BY THE WAY, THEY SOMETIMES DO.
Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man (ADAM) sin entered into the
world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have
sinned:
THEN THE CHILD DIED WITHOUT KNOWINGLY COMMITTING A SIN, THEREFORE HE CAN BE
SAVED WITHOUT AN ACT OF RECEIVING JESUS CHRIST.
Romans 4:6 Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man,
unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,
Thank God for the truth of imputation. For
God imputes righteousness to us at salvation. Then thru a lifelong
sanctification process He imparts more righteousness. But what He imputed
was already enough for heaven!
Thank God He doesn’t impute sin upon these
little ones until they have knowledge of good and evil.
James 4:17
Therefore to him that knoweth to do good,
and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
The Lord doesn't charge sin to a mentally challenged person, if it’s beyond
their grasp. However, salvation is simple…even a little child…ESPECIALLY a
little child, can understand and receive it!
The same goes for a baby that dies in infancy
or any boy or girl that died before they come to place in their life that
they had knowledge between good and evil. The Lord doesn't charge sin to
those of us who are saved, do you think He'd charge it to a baby? We need
only to keep our kids in church, and living it at home, and they will be
privileged to come to that knowledge at a good age for them. And for those
who ask, what if God takes them just after they come to that knowledge? If
He did that it wouldn't be right and the verse says:
Genesis 18:25 ...Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
You know he will!
[Some material gleaned from Pastor Tommy
H. Heffner Sr.]
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