Faith of Children
Good Morning,
A few years ago, I sat and watched the graduates of Commonwealth Baptist College receive their diplomas. As each graduate walked across the platform, a brief summary was stated about their lives and ministry involvement. Of course, all of them were faithfully involved in the ministry of the church, but what stood out in my mind was the age of salvation for a large percentage of the graduates. For most of the graduates, a comment was made about when or where they trusted Christ. Some were won to Christ by a bus worker — THANK GOD FOR THE BUS MINISTRY!! — some were saved later in life. Most of them were saved at the age of four or five years old.
We live in a day when Calvinism and other sour doctrines instruct folks not to witness to children. Many people believe that children need to be older to make a REAL profession. Some contemporary churches are accepting a works-based salvation which, likewise, demands more than child-like faith. I differ incredibly! My son, our youth pastor, trusted Christ at five years of age. Once, I asked him if he had ever doubted his decision. He said, “What is there to doubt, God said He would save me and He did.” As I said, the platform was filled with dozens of Bible college graduates who had trusted Christ before they started school. Those who were saved in early childhood were now faithful bus workers, soul winners, Sunday school teachers, and successful workers for Christ. How terrible is this damnable heresy that has slipped into Bible-preaching churches! Satan has always smuggled this wicked teaching into Protestant churches, but now, it is slipping into churches that once were aggressively winning souls and faithfully running buses.
Matthew 19:14 “But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”
All these doctrinal heretics cloak themselves in intellectualism and a deep understanding of the Scriptures; but truly, these ideas just veil the carnality and compromise in a lazy religion.
In Matthew 18:10 Christ teaches about children: “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.” (vs. 11) “For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.”
Christ came to save the lost… children that is.
In the book of Luke, Jesus changes the vocabulary. He says in Luke 19:8, “And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.”
vs. 9 “And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.”
vs. 10 “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
The difference is that in the book of Luke, Jesus is talking with an adult, Zacchaeus. In the book of Matthew, Jesus speaks of children. What is different? One word… SEEK. Children will get saved without much SEEKING. Adults need someone to run after them, debate with them, and convince them. We are to go and seek to reach adults, but children will readily trust Christ with the most basic invitation.
Matthew 19:14 “But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” We need to SEEK adults, but we “suffer” children. Suffer means to allow them or to let them come freely to Christ.
Matthew 18:2 “And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,”
vs. 3 “And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
vs. 4 “Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
Churches today are sending folks to Hell because they allow heresy into their homes through reformed theology and too much vain study of internet teachers. Just recently, I heard of a soul winner getting scolded for witnessing to the child of a relative. How sad that compromise and shame have crept into our churches to the point at which presenting the Gospel to a child is a scolding offense. Jesus rebuked His disciples for that same action.
Luke 18:15 “And they brought unto him also infants, that he would touch them: but when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them.”
vs. 16 “But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.”
vs. 17 “Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.”
This passage talks about little children, called “infants” (which is a broad term), but the point remains that they RECEIVED the truth. Adults are urged to receive the truth as these children did. Adults need to become more childlike; children do not need to get more adult understanding. If a child is old enough to wish to RECEIVE the truth, he can be saved.
If a child is surrounded by good preaching and daily Bible, he will know where he stands with Christ. Parents need not worry that their children do not understand. If something is missing in their faith, they will “work out their own salvation.” Many of my most faithful adults trusted Christ as children, and I have no intention of losing one soul to Hell because some hyper-intellectual says we should not witness to children. The fact is that those who say this typically witness to few or not at all. Their bus ministries are crumbling, their door-to-door soul winning is slipping away, and they are populating Hell with their theological shame.
Teach your children of Christ! Fill your home and bus ministry with Bible, love, and the truths of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. Make it clear and simple! If a child wishes to be saved, the Lord will not refuse him.
Pastor