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Grace Notes Sermon Ministry:
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Young Hearts and
Special Needs
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. 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
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
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
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
What about babies, they
don't sin?
Romans
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
WHOSE SIN ISN'T ACCOUNTED TO THEM.
Romans
Romans
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
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.
What age will that be?
Different for each one.
Having them under the gospel and teaching them right at home can speed
things up...not that we should try to push it too quickly.
Truth is, they also have to come to the knowledge of evil and sin,
not just the knowledge of the truth.
And they will naturally come to understand right and wrong whether
they are in church or not. Every
day millions of children reach the 'age of accountability' and most of them
don't know how to be saved. We
must reach 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 fair and right and the verse says:
Genesis
You know he will!
[Some material
gleaned from Pastor Tommy H. Heffner Sr.]
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