Will All “Children” Be Saved?

**Will All “Children” Be Saved?**
Good morning. It’s good to see everyone here today, and we have several visitors with us today. We welcome you. We’re glad that you’re with us.This morning we’re going to be looking at a question that was submitted to our question box some time ago by one of our young people in the congregation. The question was just put like this: “Will all children be saved?” That’s a question, you know, a lot of people are interested in.

The question also went on to elaborate a little further about the definition of “children.” You know, today we define in our society a child as someone who is under the age of 18 years old. We’ll talk about that and what that means in a little bit. But then looking at the question, you notice that the word “children” is in quotation marks. It is in quotation marks because of the way that we define the word “child” in our society.

So let’s get into thinking about this question and what the Bible has to say about it.

In Genesis chapter 1 and verse 28, we have this statement from the inspired writer. Moses is recording what God told him about the creation. It says, “Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.'”

There’s a directive that God gave Adam and Eve here, and that directive was “be fruitful and multiply.” This same directive was given to Noah and his sons in Genesis chapter 9 and verse 1 after they survived that worldwide flood and then began to live once more on the earth.

Since that time, children have been born into the world, and children are a great blessing to us. We love our children, and they are wonderful. We love having children around us. Those who are older love enjoying the freshness of youth. Those who are younger enjoy the challenge of rearing the child in their home.

In my family, my wife and I had four children, and so we know the beauty and all of the wonderful things that come as a result of having children, and also the great challenges.

But you know, sometimes unfortunately—sadly—some children pass away at an early age, and we wonder, you know, what will happen to those children eternally? So let’s think about children and their relationship with God this morning as we try to answer this question: Will all children be saved?

Let’s begin with this first of all: Children are persons made in God’s image, and because they are made in God’s image, they are valuable and they deserve our respect as human persons. We often sing the song “Jesus Loves the Little Children.” We just sang it last week, I think, and that is so true. Jesus loves children, and we must love children also.

Genesis 1 verse 27 says that God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. And so man—that is, human beings—were made in the image of God, and children are human beings from the time that they are conceived in the womb. They have everything they need to be a human being, a human person, and so they deserve our respect. We must value them. We must love them.

And not only that, but we see that they deserve our respect and value because Jesus died on the cross to save human beings from their sins, and He paid the price of His blood. That shows us how valuable human beings are to God. In 1 Peter 1 verses 18 to 19 we read, “knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

That blood of Christ was given for all human beings throughout all times, and it is there to show how valuable human beings are.

We understand that children belong to God just as everything belongs to God. Psalm 24 verse 1 says, “The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein.” And when we think about this statement here in Psalm 24 verse 1 in relationship to our children, we’ve got to understand that children belong to the Lord, and we are simply stewards of them. They’ve been given into our care for a period of time, and then one day, Lord willing, they’re going to grow up and they’re going to move out, and maybe they will establish a family of their own. They are not going to be with us forever even in this life.

We recognize that one day they must themselves stand accountable before God because they belong to Him. And so we read in 1 Corinthians 6 verses 19 to 20, “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

That means everything belongs to God, including our own bodies and the bodies of our children. So this means we’re stewards, but simply because they belong to God, it doesn’t mean we’re not responsible as stewards. We are responsible for something that belongs to another. That’s what a steward is.

And when we think about that stewardship, we have some instructions given in the Scriptures on how to regard our children. Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 4 is one of them: “And you, fathers [or parents], do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.”

Children are to be reared, and they are to be trained, and they are to know the Lord. They are to be brought up in the Lord’s service. We don’t want to provoke our children to wrath—that is, rear them in such a way so that they’re going to go down the path of Cain and incorporate within their lives all of those things that can be characterized as wrathful. That’s not what we want. We want them to have a healthy, sustained relationship with God and to rear them in such a way so that that happens.

And we think about this: children are like arrows. The Bible even compares them to arrows in Psalm 127 verses 3 through 5: “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed, but shall speak with their enemies in the gate.”

Children are like arrows. They are formed, they are fashioned. You know what? An arrow has to be precisely made. It can’t just be made in any old way. It won’t do the job that it’s intended to do. There’s a purpose there in making an arrow right, and there’s a purpose in having children. But the arrow’s got to be straight. It’s got to have the right guidance on one end and the right point on the other end for it to work. And then what happens? Once you set it in motion and pull it back and then release it, it goes, and it’s out of your control at that point. That’s what children are like as well. A lot of what we do is shaping them, molding them, instructing them, teaching them. And one day, you know, we’re going to put them on the bow and pull it back and release them into the world, and then they are on their own. And hopefully they end up hitting the target, which is—as we’ve discussed earlier—salvation.

So these things we’re talking about in preparation for answering the question “Will all children be saved?” First of all, we need to note: children are in fact made in the image of God, and they are valuable and important.

Secondly, children have no understanding of right and wrong at birth. They are born without any kind of knowledge whatsoever. The Bible teaches this. Look, for example, at Isaiah chapter 7 verses 15 and 16. This is a prophecy that God is going to send Jesus into the world, but then it’s also a prophecy related to the king of Israel in that day and how long his reign is going to last. But as God is giving the prophecy, He says this: “Curds and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that you dread will be forsaken by both her kings.”

So there’s a point in a child’s life before they know evil and good. They just don’t know that information. There’s more than one passage that talks about it. Look at Deuteronomy 1 verse 39: “Moreover your little ones and your children, who you say will be victims, who today have no knowledge of good and evil…”

Children don’t have that knowledge, so we need to instruct them and we need to give them that knowledge. That’s part of the job of a parent. And because they have no knowledge of good and evil, they are innocent.

Think about what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 18 and verse 3 regarding innocent children. He says, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” Children are innocent, and to enter the kingdom of heaven we’ve got to be innocent. We’ve got to be converted and become like little children—that is, to be forgiven of sin and stand before God in a pure and holy state.

Now we know what that process is for an adult, but children don’t have a process for them like that because they are innocent. Jesus said in Matthew 19 verse 14 (which is also reflected in Mark 10 verse 14 and Luke 18 verse 16), “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” In other words, of such character—the character of little children—that’s what the kingdom of heaven is supposed to be like: innocence.

Now when we think about children and their character, we understand that children are innocent. They don’t have sin in their life. They haven’t grown up to be able to make those choices. They are innocent. As a result of such character is the kingdom of heaven. So children are innocent, and they’re safe because they are innocent.

David said this after his child died shortly after childbirth in 2 Samuel 12 verses 22 and 23. He said, “While the child was alive I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who can tell whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.”

I take this statement as a statement of hope on David’s part—that David was hoping to go to this child one day, to be reunited with him and enjoy a full relationship with him in eternity because the child was innocent. David could go to him, but the child would not come back from death. No, David would have to die and then go to see this child and to be with him again.

Now when we think about children and their having no right and wrong in their minds and their being, in a sense, free of all sin, we ask the question: How do they learn it? Where do they get it from? And the answer is simply that children learn from experience. Their experience educates their feelings, their emotions, their thoughts, and their behaviors. Children are little sponges, you know. They just soak up information. They just soak up learning, and they’re constantly experimenting. They’re constantly going out and doing things and trying to figure out, you know, how the world works and what’s in it. And they learn so quickly and so fast in a lot of ways, and they learn a lot of things even when they’re very, very young.

And when children grow up, the behavior that they’ve learned can feel very intrinsic. A lot of times we talk about common sense, and common sense is really just a learned behavior—things that we learned when we were young and our parents taught us about how the world worked. And we learned that and we absorbed it, and it just feels like we’ve always known it. That’s not the case. We had to learn—even those who feel like it was just common sense—we had to learn that common sense. We had to learn how to behave in this world because children don’t have a lot of knowledge when they are born into this world. So many want to talk about genetics today and say, “Well, people know things from genetics,” or “their behavior is genetic.” That’s largely not true. Many behaviors today are simply not genetic. They’re just things that we learned as we were growing up. Our experiences shape us. They mold us into the people that we eventually become.

So children must learn many things before they can understand right and wrong. It’s about those early years and what children learn during those years. First off, you know, they’re learning just how to function—you know, how to eat and how to sleep and eventually how to walk and then to talk. And then they start learning how to care about themselves—you know, brushing their teeth and doing other things that are very fundamental to living this life. They’re just trying to learn all those things as little children, and that’s a lot. It’s a lot to learn.

Language development is very important, and they learn how to—you’ve got to learn language before you can understand right or wrong, good and evil. You’ve got to have a sense of self-consciousness, which doesn’t come along immediately. That develops later, you know. There’s got to be social interaction—interactions between parents come first, of course, and then there’s interaction with family members, brothers and sisters. And finally children venture out and they make friends in the world. They’re still trying to learn how to act when they make their first friends in the world, and they make a lot of mistakes, and there’s a lot of problems. Sometimes we’ve got to go into work with them, you know, and help them. And then finally they make their way into society.

Learning right and wrong is a process that they go through that takes some time. But once they begin to understand right and wrong, they will eventually make a wrong decision and a wrong choice. And that’s where we get to our next point: Children mature to responsibility.

Now when we turn the pages of the Bible, we find this statement in Malachi 2 and verse 15. God wants godly offspring. We think about marriage and the purpose of marriage, and that’s what Malachi 2 is about. It’s about marriage, and God’s talking to the men of that day not to put away their wives in marriage but to be faithful to them so that they can rear godly offspring. It’s not enough to just have children and let them go and do their own thing. God wants us to shape them. He wants us to mold them. He wants them to become godly people in the long run. That’s what the purpose of marriage is. God wants godly offspring. And that’s why He says to the men in Malachi 2, don’t deal treacherously with the wife of your youth, because He’s got a purpose for marriage, and He wants us to fulfill that purpose.

You think about Ephesians 6 and verse 4: “And you, fathers [or parents], do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.” There’s got to be some training there. There’s got to be some admonition. We have a great Bible class program here where our children get to come in and learn about the Bible, and that’s wonderful and that’s great. But you know, the primary responsibility for rearing children comes back to the parents, and parents must be responsible, and they must rear their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

And so God gave children to parents so that those children could become godly adults and they could be reared in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Now children mature at different rates. Boys mature differently from girls. Educated mature differently from uneducated. The nourished will mature differently from the malnourished. And so how children are exposed to the world in these areas makes a difference in how quickly they mature. And every child’s experiences are different in that regard. And so we don’t know when the age of accountability is for each child. It could be different for every single child. Some children understand things at a very, very young age; others, it takes a while for them to understand. But sometime before they reach legal adulthood, children will commit sin, and they will know that it is wrong—the sins that they commit.

I think probably first among them are sins of speech. James chapter 3 verse 8 says, “No man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.” I remember telling a lie to my mother at a very young age, and I remember intentionally telling that lie and purposely telling that lie, and that was a sin on my part to do that. I was very young, but I did it intentionally. I knew what I was doing. Of course, my mother was a lot wiser than I was, and she knew it was a lie. She let me know in more ways than just verbally. But I’ll never forget that because among the sins that children commit, the sins of the tongue are among the first, and then there are other sins to follow that.

David in Psalm 25 verse 7 prayed this prayer. He said to the Lord, “Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions; according to Your mercy, remember me for Your goodness’ sake.” The Lord acknowledged that sins were done by him in his youth. The word “youth” here has reference to very small children, very young children—not necessarily just adolescents or those who are close to adulthood. And David recognized there were sins in his youth that he wanted God to forgive him of.

Knowing we think about these sins, the Bible has advice for youth. In fact, Solomon warned his son. He said, “My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent” (Proverbs chapter 1 verse 10). And here we have a parent telling his child, don’t consent to sin, because children are enticed and tempted to commit sin when they reach that age of accountability.

And so when a child sins and understands what he has done, he becomes accountable before God.

Now let’s answer our question that we began with at the beginning of our lesson: Will all children be saved?

If you define the word “child” as one who is innocent and has never sinned, then yes—all children will be saved because they are safe from condemnation. If you define the word “child” in that way—as one who never sins.

On the other hand, if you define the word “child” by the legal definition of 18 and younger, then the answer would have to be no—not all children will be saved by that legal definition of child, because there will be some who under the age of 18 years old commit sin, and then they pursue those sins, and they don’t seek repentance of those sins, and then ultimately it will be their sins that separate them from God (Isaiah 59 verses 1 and 2 tells us).

And so depending on how we define this word “child,” the answer could be yes or the answer could be no.

How should we regard this question? It is so important for us to teach our children the gospel because one day those children will grow up, and they will want to know, “How can I deal with my sins? How can I get forgiveness for the things that I’ve done wrong?” And they want to know the answer to that question, and we need to be ready to give them that answer. It’s so important for them to understand that God has provided for them in that situation when they get to that age.

And so the message of the gospel is available for all—for all who have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans chapter 3 and verse 23). And that message is simply this: that we need to turn to our Savior Jesus Christ to be saved from our sins. How do we do that? We’ve got to hear His word and believe it, repent of our sins, confess Jesus as Lord, and be baptized so that we can have our sins forgiven. This is what the Bible teaches, and this is what we must explain and teach to our children so that when they are ready, they will one day respond to God’s invitation to come back to Him in love and in faith so that they can once again have that wonderful relationship with God and be saved.

A lot of children who have sinned can be saved, and it’s up to us to provide them that plan for God’s salvation.

Maybe there’s someone here this morning who needs to respond to that great plan of salvation that God has provided for us today. If that’s the case, then we invite you to come this morning and take advantage of God’s provisions in that regard. Or maybe you need the prayers of the church, and you need to be restored to the Lord because of sins that you committed after becoming a child of God. If that’s also the situation, we’d be happy to pray with you and for you. You can come forward now while together we stand and while we sing.
End of transcript. Thank you for reading along!