1450 - Questions about children being saved, Mark 10:13-16

Transcript

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Welcome to On the Way with Tony Chris. Each weekday, Dr. Chris will be discussing biblical passages, people, places, and prophecies. Tune in daily to start your day right and deepen your understanding of how to better walk the way and enjoy the journey. Here's your host, Dr. Tony Chris.

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Welcome to On the Way with Dr. Tony Chris. This is Zach Cochran, the producer of On the Way Podcast. Dr. Chris is in Greece until the end of the month and is doing all of these podcasts while he's on his trip in Greece. But today he asked me to repeat this podcast that recently he has had so many requests to repeat. Since it is Friday Question and Answer Day, here is our host answering your questions on children coming to Jesus.

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God only knows how many times I have been asked this question in my ministry. What is the age of accountability? And how do children come to Christ? And how do we know if they know enough to be saved? Well, those are all good questions, and there's many more that are asked along with those questions. But what I want to do today is try to get to the heart of I believe what these parents and grandparents are asking me. How do we know when a child knows enough to be saved? First of all, let's look at what the scripture says. In the Gospel of Mark, chapter 10 and verse 13, the scripture says, Then they brought the little children. Now the phrase little children is podion. That is the word where we get our word pedagogy, the study of how children are taught in children's education. And sometimes it talks about a child from seven years of age and below. But in Greek literature, in Koine Greek, it's also used for those less than twenty years old. But primarily it's used of children that we would say are children in the first, second, third grade, that particular age group, usually is called potion, that is from that age group and below. So they brought the little children to him, to Jesus, that he might touch them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. In other words, they said, Don't bring these children, don't bother the Lord with these children. Now this is a pretty strong word here for rebuke. In other words, they pushed back against them. They wouldn't allow it. And there is an equally strong word for what Jesus' response was. Verse 14, but when Jesus saw it, he was greatly displeased. Now that's a mild translation. He was angry. It angered him that the children were not allowed to come to him, because he loved children. And he said, Do not forbid them. Stop hindering them, stop getting in their way. For of such is the kingdom of God. In other words, of this sort, this manner, this character is the kingdom of God. Amen, amen. Assuredly. King James Version, verily, verily, I say unto you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it. And when he had took them up in his arms, isn't that a beautiful picture? He laid hands on them and blessed them. This is an amazing story. Now, many people take this story wrongly and twist it around. What I want to do is try to bring just some biblical sense to all of this and balance, because the Holy Spirit never writes things that are off balance. He never writes things that are inconsistent, never inspires people to write things that are inconsistent to what he is taught all the way through the scripture. There are plain teachings in the Bible that talk about a man being born again, a person being born again, making a choice to come from darkness unto light. And God enables that in people who desire to know him. And God actually gives the desire. And children naturally want to come to Jesus. They will do what they're taught to do. We've seen that in Gaza. We've seen that in the Islamic world, where small children are taught and indoctrinated to hate, to hate Jews, to hate Christians, to hate those that are not just like them. And that becomes a part of a generational curse that is in the Islamic world and in other systems of government and other systems of belief. That is a worldview. But Christianity and Judaism teach that a person can know God in a personal way. Now sometimes we get the idea because of what we know of Judaism, that it is a religion of works, that the Bible, that the Old Testament teaches that a person must keep the law in order to be saved. Well, no man can keep the law, that's obvious. And so we need a savior, we need someone to rescue us. We need to understand enough to know that we're in need of a savior. Now, what has been taught in our American churches by and large in the mainline denominations, in Lutheranism, in Methodism, in Presbyterianism, and many of those mainline denominations, is that we as a church have replaced Israel. And that just as a person is born into a Jewish family, they are Jewish, and on the eighth day there is a circumcision ritual that's gone through to circumcise the boys to seal and signify that they are Jewish. And so then they have what's called a bar mitzvah service for the girls, a bat mitzvah service when they're thirteen or somewhere around that age. That is not something that we find in the Bible. I do not believe that's what was going on with Jesus when he was in the temple, was left behind by Mary and Joseph. No, as a matter of fact, the history of a bar mitzvah and bat mitzvah, you can look it up. I'm not going to try to convince you of anything, but history shows that that was something that is later in history, not during the days of the New Testament. This idea, though, that we replace Israel, the denominations I just taught you that rose out of the Reformation and the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Byzantine Church before that taught that we replace Israel. As a matter of fact, that's what the Council of Nicaea actually codified, codified, if you will, and separated from Israel, separated Passover and Easter, and how Christians celebrate the resurrection. That happened in the Council of Nicaea. And while there were many wonderful things that came out of that Council of Nicaea in Turkey in 325, that Constantine called together and the bishops came together and made decisions. There were good things, great things, I would say, that came out of the Council of Nicaea historically, theologically, but there were several bad things that came out of that as well. But you need to understand that when we talk about Christianity during those days, we are talking about a Christianity that's very much different than evangelical Christianity that we talk about today. Because you see, we believe that a person has to make a volitional decision. You're not born into Christianity, you're born again into Christianity. And many of you that I'm talking to have come up in the and are still in the denominations and belief systems that I just talked about. I'm not running you down. We can disagree on many, many things and still be friends. We can disagree sharply and still not be disagreeable. But I'm just telling you, I don't look to a church council. I don't look to John Calvin as the Presbyterians do. I don't look to Martin Luther as the Lutherans do. I don't look to John Wesley, who is the father of Methodism. But all of those have one thing in common, and they believe that your parents can make a decision for you in some form or another, and that they will sprinkle you, sometimes immerse you, depending on the orthodoxy that you are born into, and that you are safe because of that, and that at age twelve or thirteen you are confirmed. In other words, you affirm and confirm your faith in Jesus, and that you want to follow a certain faith path or whatever the case is, and or you promise as a Roman Catholic to bring your children up in the Catholic Church. Whatever the case is, that is not New Testament teaching. We don't replace Israel, and we don't come into the kingdom of God and into the faith family by someone else's decision. We do that on a personal decision. And I'm not saying that because I grew up Baptist. I'm not saying that because I grew up Methodist. I'm not saying that because I grew up anything. I grew up heathen. I didn't go to church. It was the Methodist who first told me about Jesus when I was six years old. This is important to me to help you to understand my background. I didn't have an ax to grind. I didn't have a theological persuasion that I came up in, that I had to rigorously defend. When I came to the point at age 19 that I realized that I was lost without Jesus and that I desperately need the Savior, I turned my life over to Him and I was born again, and God changed my life. He radically changed my life. Now, because I had been baptized a couple of times, because of decisions I had made, primarily because I felt like if I get baptized, I'd get out of some trouble for something I'd gotten into because I was notoriously getting into trouble. But at age 19, when I was radically saved, then many people said, Well, you just rededicated your life to Jesus because you were already safe, because you'd made a profession of faith and you'd be baptized. Yes. What happened was because of my heart not being changed, I got into the water as a dry center. I went under the water and came out as a wet center. There was no heart change, and no water can ever change anybody's life. It is a relationship with Jesus that changes us forever. So people say, well, how do we know children are saved? And what do children need to know in order to be saved? Well, first of all, children until they are six to ten years old, depending upon their background and their family and so forth, and their physical and mental and emotional makeup. Children, by and large, think of the heart as the blood pumper until they can think abstractly, and that's a little bit later in life than just two, three, four, or five. We just think, well, if they ask Jesus in their heart, they're saved. No, no, no, no, no, that's not the case. Many times what a child is doing is taking a step toward God, like we all do. But parents are so eager to make sure that their children are saved that they don't understand that they're under the grace of God until they are volitionally ready to make a choice and they have enough knowledge base to understand how to be saved, truly how to be saved. I'm not talking about being a theologian. I'm talking about knowing how to be saved and can express that and not being able to be talked through it with just yes or no answers or multiple choice. This is a radical decision. And children many times are pushed into a decision, then baptism, so mom and dad and all the family can have everybody in, and they can say, Well, I'm glad we got another one in the kingdom. But many times, as a pastor over almost five decades, I can tell you that I've baptized hundreds of church members that have told me they didn't have a clue what they were doing. They don't even remember anything but their baptism, and some of them barely remember that because they were so young, but they certainly know they did not come to the point of surrendering who they are to all that Jesus is or what they knew Jesus to be. And so in the Bible, you have to have a certain knowledge base to be born again. As a matter of fact, we don't see children being baptized in the New Testament. We don't. We see grown men following Jesus. We see grown women following Jesus. Now, I'm not saying you have to be grown, but you've got to have a knowledge base. And so let me deal with this. I believe when a child, for the most part, when they're very young, and there is no set age of accountability, but when a child understands that they are a sinner and they need a savior, and they understand this is an abstract concept, they might not even spell abstract, but they understand that the heart that God has given us, the blood pumper, is not where Jesus lives. But the cardiac is mentioned hundreds of times in the Old and New Testament, and all but I can count on both hands the time that it's talking about the blood pumper. Primarily it is talking about the inward part of a man. And it's used interchangeably with the soul many times. It's used interchangeably with the bowels many times. That is, it is the inwardmost part of a man. And we don't ask Jesus into our blood pumper. We ask Jesus into, and we have little illustrations of a Valentine-shaped heart and a door in it, and a little child standing outside of it, and we ask him to come in, he opens the door. Okay. Now I know what Revelation chapter 3 says, but primarily that is talking to those inside the church, but I don't want to get into that right now. Listen to me, parents. Your children have to understand the concept, at least, of substitution. That they're not just asking Jesus in their heart. Many times they start asking questions and they want Jesus in their life. And what they're doing, they're taking steps toward God, sometimes many steps, sometimes great, giant steps. They're coming incrementally to God, but sometimes we want to baptize them very quickly. Baptism's not going to save them anyway. A child needs to understand and be able to articulate, just like an adult does, that they're giving their life to Jesus, that it is forever. It's not just for that time, it is forever. They need to be able to understand that it is a lifetime decision, that they are enrolling in the school of Jesus. They are giving their life away because he gave his life for them. He died as a substitute for them. He died for their sins. He died to pay for their sins. And it's not just giving a definition for sin. There needs to be godly sorrow for sin. They need to understand that. My wife was only 10 years old when she was saved. People say, Well, what about her? Well, what about her? I asked her, I said, honey, how did you know that you were saved? Give me something that would help you to understand, me understand that there was life change. Help me to help these parents. And she said, Well, honey, when I was saved, I knew I needed a savior. I knew that I had sinned. And I said, Well, what was the difference after you were saved? She said, Well, I a very noticeable difference very quickly is before I gave my life to Jesus, before Jesus took over my life at age ten, and I asked him to do that, I obeyed my parents because I didn't want to be punished. I knew that they would be upset with me if I didn't obey them. But after I was saved, after I gave my life to Jesus at age 10, then I wanted to obey my parents because I knew it would make Jesus happy. I knew it would please him. Folks, that is a major shift in a 10-year-old's life. That they do what they do because Jesus is looking, not because they're have a fear of punishment or a fear of hell or something like that. Now, all of those things are good to have in our lives. But heart change changes the way we think. It changes the way we are. That's why it's used interchangeably sometimes for the mind, because it's all connected. It's that part of us that we cannot see. So a child needs to understand the concept of substitution, that Jesus died in their place, that they are away from God, they're separated from God because of the choices they made, not just what their parents had done, not what Adam in the beginning did, but all of that led to their own desire to want to displease God. And they have to understand what deceit is, what lying is, what cover. I mean, they have to understand that they've sinned. And a child can understand that. But they understand that different ages, so there's no set age of accountability, but there has to be guilt for sin. There has to be sorrow for sin. That doesn't mean they need to be crying and all emotional, but it does mean that they need to understand that they've not just displeased mom and daddy. They've not just disobeyed mom and daddy. They have disobeyed God. And they've displeased God, and they've hurt God, that their sin is the reason Jesus had to die. Like my sin is the reason Jesus had to die. He had to die for sin to pay the penalty of sin. This is very important. And I would love to talk more about it, but I've already been going almost 20 minutes, so I'm going to have to stop. We'll talk more about it later. If you have questions or you don't agree with what I'm saying, you're welcome to write me at questions at TonyCrisp.org or if you forget that, Dr. Crisp D-R-C-R-I-S-P at TonyCrisp.org. I'll do what I can to answer your questions. But I'm not going to argue with you. I know what the scripture says, and I'm not going to argue about what your church believes or what John Calvin said. I'm not accountable to John Calvin. I'm not accountable to Martin Luther. I'm not accountable to Baldazar Hubmeyer or any Anabaptist. I am accountable, and you're accountable, sir. You're accountable, ma'am, to what the Scriptures say and to the God of heaven and the Lord Jesus. And his words trump any tradition, any faith tradition, any book that's been written, and that is going to be the standard by which we're judged. We're going to be judged by the word of God, not by what somebody wrote about the word of God or what they believe about the word of God, including Tony Chris, especially Tony Chris. And so I love you. I praise God for you. Just be Jesus, live Jesus, teach Jesus to your children, and don't worry, the Holy Spirit will do his job. For on the way, this is Tony Crisp.

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Thanks for listening to On the Way with Tony Crisp. Tune in every weekday for information on biblical passages, people, places, and prophecies. Fridays are for your questions. Email your questions to questions at TonyCrisp.org. Then just listen for your question to be answered on Friday's podcast. That's questions at TonyC R I S P dot org. Thanks for listening and have a blessed day on the way.