Untitled Sermon

Not been of one mind on this issue.

A popular evangelical theologian chided Billy Graham when at the Oklahoma City memorial service he said, “Someday there will be a glorious reunion with those who have died and gone to heaven before us, and that includes all those innocent children that are lost. They’re not lost from God because any child that young is automatically in heaven and in God’s arms.” The theologian scolded Dr. Graham for offering what he called “. . . a new gospel: justification by youth alone.”

God saves all who die who do not reach a stage of moral understanding and accountability.

First, the grace, goodness and mercy of God

God is love (1 John 4:8) and desires that all be saved (1 Timothy 2:4).

God is love and His concern for children is evident in Matthew 18:14

People go to hell because they choose in willful rebellion and unbelief to reject God and His grace. Children are incapable of this kind of conscious rejection of God.

Second, when the baby boy who was born to David and Bathsheba died (2 Samuel 12:15-18)

David did two significant things:

1) He confessed his confidence that he would see the child again and,

2) he comforted his wife Bathsheba (vs. 23-24). David could have done those two things only if he was confident that his little son was with God. Any other explanation does not do justice to the text.

Third, in James 4:17, the Bible says, “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.”

We are all born with a sin nature as a result of being in Adam (Romans 5:12).

While all are guilty of original sin, moral responsibility and understanding is necessary for our being accountable for actual sins (Deuteronomy 1:39; Isaiah 7:16).

It is to the one who knows to do right and does not do it that sin is reckoned. Infants are incapable of such decisions.

Fourth, Jesus affirmed that the kingdom of God belonged to little children (Luke 18:15-17).

In the passage he is stating that saving faith is a childlike faith

Fifth, some in Scripture are said to be chosen or sanctified from the womb (Jeremiah 1:5; Luke 1:15).

(Genesis 18:25). We can confidently say, “Yes, He will.” When it comes to those incapable of volitional, willful acts of sin, we can rest assured God will, indeed, do right.