In this sermon, Pastor Scott LaPierre discusses the biblical age of accountability and its significance. He explores the concept of knowledge of good and evil, as seen in the story of Adam and Eve. The role of conscience in choosing between good and evil is also examined, with examples from Scripture. Pastor LaPierre emphasizes that babies are ignorant and unable to choose between good and evil until they reach the age of accountability. He discusses God's mercy towards the ignorant and the accountability of individuals with greater knowledge. The sermon concludes with an encouragement to humble ourselves, repent, and look to Christ for salvation.

Father, it's such a breath blessing to come before you and have your word wash over us. I thank you for the great privilege of preaching it to your people. I thank you for each person here, Lord. I know that they, many plan to just come on this Lord's day because that's their habit. I don't know if others would join us and they're unchurched or unbelievers out of even mere curiosity sake Lord but your providence is behind each person here whether we recognize that or not Lord and I thank you for that.

I think that you knew who would be here, what they needed to hear from your word or really to say what you want to say to them through your word. I pray Lord as we continue to discuss babies going to heaven to prepare for those beautiful verses we've reached in Luke that you would give us a right understanding that you would help us to love children and if we've lost children whether through miscarriage or some other capacity that you would give us confidence that we'll see those children again. Give us even greater enthusiasm for heaven because of that reality and also equip us to be able to minister well to others who've lost children. I don't know there are many things that are darker, more confusing for people and so help us to have your word as a resource to share with them to encourage them during those difficult times. Pray be with us during this sermon help us to remove all distractions from our minds to be focused on you and what you want to say to us.

We ask all this in Christ's name. Amen. All right, well it is great to see all of you. The title this morning sermon is The Biblical Age of Accountability. The Biblical Age of Accountability.

And so as I shared with you in the last sermon we've reached those wonderful verses in Luke's Gospel that are familiar and dear to all of us, about Jesus receiving the children and saying that the kingdom of God belongs to them. And so think of that, those verses or that sermon I'll preach on those verses as kind of the conclusion for this short series. We're building up to that And you could say that these sermons are really helping us understand why Jesus would make that statement that the kingdom of God belongs to infants. Let me say that one more time. So these few sermons we're having are really helping us understand the statement Jesus makes in Luke's Gospel about why the kingdom of God belongs to infants.

And I hope this will encourage you if you've lost a child, but as I said last week, also equip you to be able to encourage others who have lost a child. For this morning's sermon, we need to briefly review something from the last sermon. You don't have to turn there, go ahead and stay in Luke, or excuse me, stay in Romans. But before Adam and Eve ate, from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they could not choose, or they did not have knowledge of good and evil and therefore could not choose between good and evil. And do you remember what served as evidence of that or in a way what almost looked like they were sinning before they sinned?

They were naked. So they had so little knowledge of good and evil they didn't even know, did not even know there was something wrong with being naked. The devil said, Genesis 3 5, God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, you'll be like God knowing good and evil. Then their eyes were opened, they're able to choose between good and evil, they recognized that they were naked and then came what's known as the conclusion of the dispensation of innocence. They're no longer innocent.

And the beginning of what's known as the dispensation of conscience. So moving from the dispensation of innocence to the dispensation of conscience because now they had Consciences. And that's what a conscience does. It tells you whether something is good or evil. And so Genesis 3.7 says, the eyes of them were opened.

They knew that they were naked. They sewed the fig leaves together to clothe themselves. Now we're going to look at a few verses in Romans 2 where the conscience is discussed. We are going to go through these verses quickly because I've covered them in the past. So here's the context.

Paul's discussing two groups of people, Jews and Gentiles, and he wants both of them to recognize their sinfulness so that they will desire Christ or he wants them to recognize their sinfulness so they need see their need for the Savior and this brings us to lesson one Jews disobey the Mosaic law and Gentiles disobey their consciences Jews disobey the Mosaic law and Gentiles disobey their consciences. Both of these groups, Jews and Gentiles, think that they're innocent for different reasons and Paul wants them to see why there are in fact not innocent but guilty. The Jews think they're innocent interestingly this almost might sound absurd to you because you're so familiar with the purpose of the law, but they thought they were innocent because they had the law. They thought that having the law made them righteous or having the law and following most of it, which they probably didn't even follow most of it or some of it, made them righteous. The Gentiles think they're righteous for almost the opposite reason.

They don't have the law. And so they think that they're not accountable or they think that they don't know better so they can't be considered guilty. Look at verse 12. "'For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law.'" When he says, all who have sinned without the law, who's he talking about? He's talking there about Gentiles.

He's going to elaborate on them more in verses 14 and 15, but he does say that even Gentiles who don't have the law will still perish. He means eternally. They will still be judged even without the law. Verse 12 goes on, all who have sinned under the law or with the law will be judged by the law. And who are those under the law or with the law?

Oh, come on, guys. Who has the law? Jews, and they'll be judged because verse 13 says, it is not the Hearers of the law, which the Jews were, who are righteous before God, but it's the doers of the law who will be justified or declared righteous. And so it's not enough to have the law. You'd have to keep it perfectly, which nobody does.

But if someone could keep it perfectly, as Jesus did, So when I say nobody can, Jesus is excluded from that, right? Jesus did keep the law perfectly and therefore he was justified, as the verse says, or declared righteous. Now interestingly, the Jews thought having the law made them righteous, but having the law actually made them more accountable because the law allowed them to have knowledge of good and evil. So there's a sense in which when the Jews were given the law, they became like Adam and Eve when they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Their eyes were opened.

Now they could choose between good and evil, and frequently they chose evil, as we all do. We choose wrong even though we know what's wrong. The Gentiles did not have the law telling them right for wrong, but they did have something else. Look at verse 14. For when Gentiles who do not have the law by nature or naturally do what the law requires or says, they are a law to themselves, Paul says, even though they don't have the law.

So Gentiles don't have the Mosaic law, but they still obey parts of it. And we know that even if you go to the deepest, darkest parts of the rain forest where, you know, tribal people live and are unreached by the gospel, they still have a knowledge of good and evil, or they still recognize there are some things you shouldn't do, such as lie, cheat, steal, murder, and there are some things that you should do, serve others, be friendly, kind, and so forth. Well, how do they know those things, which are contained in the law, without having the law itself? What do they have? They have consciences.

They have consciences. Notice it says they are a law to themselves. Their conscience actually serves as a law for them which Paul says in the next verse verse 15 They show these Gentiles show Or any unreached people group people unreached by the gospel or with the word of God, they show that the work of the law is written on their hearts while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accusing or even excusing them. And the end of that verse just so perfectly captures what our conscience does. Our conscience accuses us, tells us something is wrong or we shouldn't do something, or it excuses us, tells us that we can do that or it is acceptable to do that.

Now what does this have to do with babies? Babies do not have either. Now it's pretty obvious. You're like, well, yeah, we understand they don't have the law. I don't think I have to convince you that babies don't have the Mosaic law like the Jews did.

But it's a little harder to see that babies don't have consciences telling them right from wrong. And this brings us to lesson two. Babies can't choose between good and evil. Lesson two, babies can't choose between good and evil, which is to say they don't have consciences. If they did have consciences, they would have knowledge of good and evil or they would be able to choose between good and evil.

Now in our last sermon, the primary point to you was babies are innocent. But it shouldn't really matter to you, and I know that it doesn't because you come here to hear God's word, it should not matter to you if I tell you the babies are innocent. It only matters to you if God's word says the babies are innocent. And so we spent much of the last sermon looking at verses declaring the innocence or revealing the innocence of children. Well, it shouldn't matter much to you if I tell you that babies can't choose between good and evil.

It should only matter if God's Word says that babies can't choose between good and evil. So we're going to look at a few examples. You don't have to turn to this first one, but a few examples revealing that babies do not have knowledge of good and evil or cannot choose between good and evil, or you could say obviously don't have consciences. Here's the first example. Numbers 14, the familiar account, the nation of Israel rebels against God, they send in the 12 spies, the spies come back and declare that the enemies that Israelites would have to face in the promised land are too powerful for them, which is insulting to God because it was to say that they were too powerful for God.

So 10 of the 12 spies lead the nation of Israel to rebel, and then God declares that that generation is not going to enter the promised land. And He said something interesting in Numbers 14, 31. "'But your little ones, '" keep this in mind, I'm reading the exact verse, Numbers 14, 31. God says, "'But your little ones, "'who you said would become a prey, ' or would become like prey for those enemies in the land, I will bring them in and they shall know the land that you have rejected. Now the obvious question is, if these little ones were as guilty as their parents, why were they not judged?

Why did they get to enter the land? Well, we're not told the answer to that in numbers, but 40 years later in Deuteronomy. Now Deuteronomy is essentially Moses' three farewell speeches to the nation whom he has loved and led for 40 years because he cannot go into the promised land with them. So Deuteronomy is about one month in length where Moses tells his goodbye to the nation. And during those speeches, he recounts much of Israel's history to them, reminding them about things they did.

And I told my, sometimes my children wonder about how important certain things are for them. And they're not always convinced that they need to learn history. And so why do we need to learn history? So we don't repeat the same mistakes, right? And so that's what Moses is doing.

He's recounting their history to them. And when he does this, God reveals why the infants or little ones were able to enter. Deuteronomy 1 39. God says, as for your little ones who you said would become a prey and your children, " then listen to this, "'who today have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there and to tell them I will give it and they shall possess it. So these little ones, or infants, were able to avoid the judgment their parents experienced because they could not choose between good and evil.

And even the way it's worded is interesting. He adds the word today. God doesn't just say your infants who have no knowledge of good and evil. He says today they have no knowledge of good and evil, which implies what? They will in the future as they get older have knowledge of good and evil.

Or in other words, they will not always remain innocent, they will develop consciences, or a transition from innocence to conscience. Now turn to Isaiah seven. And as you turn there toward the middle of your Bibles, the first prophet, I'm gonna provide the context for these verses. I don't wanna give you too many names, but I do hope you can appreciate this. Ahaz is the king of Judah.

You are gonna have to remember that name. Ahaz is the king of Judah and you're gonna have to remember that he's terrified of two kings. The whole context of this chapter is king Ahaz of Judah's terror of two kings, Rezin and Pekah. God gives Ahaz a sign that within a few years both of these kings are going to be killed so he has nothing to worry about. So just imagine what that's like.

You're Ahaz king of Judah, you're terrified of these two kings and God graciously gives you a sign that you have nothing to worry about because within a few years, both of these kings that you're terrified of are going to be killed. The sign that God gives Ahaz is one of the most famous in Scripture. Look at Isaiah 7, 14. Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign, give you a sign that these two kings are going to be dead. Here's the sign, behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call His name Immanuel.

Now even though the word you is singular, it's actually a plural Hebrew word for you. And we have the same in our vernacular. Like I can say I'm talking to all of you and the singular word you is being used plurally. Well, the word you is being used plural here. So when Isaiah or when God says to Ahaz through Isaiah I have a sign for you it's a plural form of you.

So it's a sign for Ahaz but it's also a sign for all of us. And we're familiar with that sign. That's the sign of Emmanuel, or this prophecy is for us as well. In other words, we can learn from this. So we see how the prophecy is for us.

The way the prophecy is for us is there was a virgin, Mary, who gave birth to a son, Jesus. Now here's the thing. This verse says that that virgin's son would be named what? Emmanuel. And I know that can be confusing.

So listen, because Matthew is the Jewish gospel, it quotes more Old Testament verses than any other New Testament, New Testament or any other gospel. And when Matthew quotes Isaiah 7, 14 to describe the fulfillment of it, listen to this. Matthew 1, 21. Mary will bear a son, you shall call his name Jesus. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet Isaiah.

Now he quotes Isaiah, behold the virgin shall conceive and bore a son, they shall call his name Immanuel. So two verses apart, we see Jesus being called Jesus and we see him being called Emmanuel. The verses give him two names and so which is it? We know his name was Jesus, but how do we explain the Immanuel part? Jesus did not fulfill Immanuel in title.

He fulfilled Immanuel in person. He did not fulfill Immanuel by having that name. He fulfilled Immanuel by literally being what? God with us. He was literally, that's how he fulfilled the prophecy, Emmanuel by being God with us.

Now here's the thing. Isaiah said, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Now follow me on this. This is important. God told Ahaz, the Lord himself will give you a sign.

Ahaz lived 700 years before Jesus was born. So what benefit would it be to Ahaz that 700 years later a virgin named Mary gives birth to a son. That's not going to be a sign of significance to him. So here's what's going on. Prophecy often has a future complete fulfillment, a near partial fulfillment.

The future complete fulfillment is found in Jesus. The near partial fulfillment is found in Ahaz's day. There would have been a young woman who was, at the time of this prophecy, a virgin. She loses her virginity and has a child. So In other words, this virgin in Ahaz's day had nothing supernatural about her birth except that God predicted it.

So more than likely, she gets married, ceases being a virgin, has a child. Her and her husband decide to name this child Immanuel. David Guzik said, "'Many commentators think this was fulfilled "'when a young woman in the royal household shortly married, conceived a son, and then named him Emmanuel. So there's going to be a day soon after this prophecy when Ahaz learns that there is a child named Immanuel. And when he sees this child named Immanuel, he knows that this child serves as a sign to him that that prophecy about resident Pekah being killed will be fulfilled Now regarding the child look at verse 17 It says this child in a houses day this child named Emmanuel Shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.

Notice the child cannot choose between good and evil until he can eat curds and honey, which I take to be solid food. Now what age is it that a child is able to eat solid food? Whatever the answer is to that question seems to be the biblical age of accountability because that is the age at which a child can choose between good and evil. But you might also notice that until a child can eat, until an infant can eat solid food, a child cannot choose between good and evil and therefore does not have a conscience. The points made even clearer in the next verse.

Look at verse 16. Verse 16. For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted." So God tells Ahaz very clearly that before this child, probably in the royal palace somewhere, or there's some way Ahaz would be familiar with this child Immanuel, and before that child was old enough to eat solid food, the two kings that Ahaz was terrified of, Rezin and Pekah, would be killed. But again, notice in verse 16, there's two things that God says a child cannot do until he can eat solid food, he cannot refuse evil, and he cannot choose good, which is to say he doesn't have a conscience. So here's what I'd say if I put it all together.

When children can refuse evil and choose good, there are a few things we can say about them. First, they are like Adam and Eve when they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They then have knowledge of good and evil. Second, we can say at that point they have consciences. Third, we can say at that point they're no longer innocent.

And then fourth, I would say at that point they have reached the biblical age of accountability. Now the obvious question, which you've probably had since you heard the title of this sermon, is what is that age of accountability? Or maybe you're even saying, hey Pastor Scott, give us a number, quit talking sort of vaguely like this. Well Wayne Grudem, he's the author of probably the most well-known and respected, I believe, systematic theology book. I have a copy, I've used it numerous times, and many other pastors I know make it sort of a staple in their library.

And this is what Wayne Grudem said, quote, we must realize that a child's sinful nature manifests itself very early, certainly within the first two years of a child's life, as anyone who has raised children can affirm. And the prophecy itself supports that. Now Follow me on this. This chapter, Isaiah 7, takes place in 735 BC. Pekah and Rezin both died in 732 BC when Immanuel probably would have been twoish, or at the most threeish, before he could choose between good and evil.

Now here's two other thoughts I have on this. One reason I'm hesitant to declare a certain age is I suspect that this age could change somewhat or does change somewhat between each child because children or all of us develop differently. But with that said, I don't think it would be safe to take the age of accountability and bump it up to like 14 or 15, right? So we can't be pushing it up too high. Second, I'm gonna talk more about God's character in the next sermon, but for now I just wanna say this, and please listen to me when I say this.

If a child is old enough to be accountable, or if a child is old enough to refuse evil and choose good. It would also seem to be God's character that he would allow that child to be old enough to be saved. Or in other words, it would not seem to be God's character to me that he would allow children to get old enough to be condemned and sent to hell without the possibility of them being saved. Now with that said, I anticipate one of the questions you probably have. How can we say that a child is young or two or three can be saved when they lack biblical knowledge or wisdom?

Well, here's the thing. We're not saved by biblical wisdom or knowledge, are we? We're not saved by knowing enough about scripture. We're saved by faith. And you say, well, are you saying children have faith?

I'm actually not even really the one who said the infants have faith. Jesus did. I say it because Jesus said it. I mean, it's what kind of produced these sermons. Luke 18, 15.

They were bringing even infants to Jesus that he might touch them notice they're infants not older children we know from the parallel account in mark 10 16 that Jesus is picking up it seems many of them in his arms Probably holding two or three of them, they could not have been that big. Luke 18, 16, Jesus said, "'Let the little children come to me, "'do not hinder them, for to such belongs "'the kingdom of God.'" So we even have Jesus himself stating that these infants can be saved. Now I'm not saying that they have some great faith. I'm not saying that they have some great understanding or some great spiritual knowledge, but we're not saved by that. We're saved by faith which it seems that even small children can have.

Next, Jonah 4. You don't have to turn there if you'd like to, I'm just going to read one verse. Here's the context for this. God sends Jonah to the Ninevites. You know the account, the Ninevites repent, Jonah is furious because He wanted to see them destroyed because of their wickedness.

God rebukes Jonah, and I just want you to listen carefully to the rebuke that God gives to Jonah. Jonah 4.11. Should I not pity Nineveh, that great city in which are more than 120, 000 persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left. Now that phrase, discern between their right hand and their left, it is synonymous with choose between good and evil. And so when God says they can't discern between the right hand and their left, He's saying they can't choose between good and evil.

The 120, 000 persons God is referring to are not adults. They're infants. They're babies. One reason we know that is because the adults could discern between their right hand and their left. The adults could choose between good and evil.

That's why they were being what if they didn't repent. Or in other words, we know that the adults knew better because if they didn't, they wouldn't be judged. They were being judged because of their wickedness, because they chose evil so much. Here's a few commentaries, and there's lots of others I could give you, that make the point that the 120, 000 are infants. Ellicott's commentary.

He says, and I quote, this is the number of infants, 120, 000. The Benson commentary says, that is, these are infants who have no knowledge of good and evil. The Pulpit commentary says, they are children of tender years who did not know which hand was the strongest and fittest for use or metaphorically they had no knowledge between good and evil at present they were incapable of moral discernment this limitation would include include children of three or four years old. My Jamison Fosse Brown Bible commentary says children under three or four years of age. Matthew Pool's commentary says, here there are more than 120, 000 innocents who are infants.

And just listen to the way it's worded in the Amplified Bible, Jonah 4-11. God says, should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120, 000 innocent persons who did not know the difference between their right hand and left and are not yet accountable for sin. Well, we know who is accountable for sin, the adults in the city. If they weren't accountable, they would not be in any threat of being destroyed. Jonah said, yet 40 days and Nineveh will be destroyed.

The important thing to notice is God wanted these infants to avoid judgment because they didn't know better, which is to say they were ignorant. And this brings us to lesson three, part one. Babies are ignorant. Lesson three, babies are ignorant. Let's have a brief, Do I tell you guys, I just want to tell you guys something that's on my heart frequently and I don't relay it enough.

I don't think. I just want to tell you, I really love your guys' love for God's word. It's a great encouragement to me when I'm studying that I know that when I come here behind this pulpit, there doesn't need to be a dog and pony show, which I definitely couldn't offer you anyway, but that you come here and you simply want God's word. So I just wanna thank you sincerely for how much I love just being able to come here and plainly exposit God's word to you. It's a real credit to your love for God and for Scripture itself.

Now with that, let's have a brief discussion of ignorance. In Scripture, ignorance simply means what? It means you don't know. That's what ignorant means. It means you don't know.

So when people were ignorant, Paul would give them...what would Paul give people when they were ignorant? Not a slap, not a spanking, not a rebuke. He'd give them knowledge. So they wouldn't remain ignorant. Here's just three examples, but I could give you a lot more.

Romans 11, 25, I do not desire that you should be ignorant of this mystery." And then what does he do? He tells them the mystery so they don't remain ignorant of it. First Corinthians 12, 1, concerning spiritual gifts, I don't want you to be ignorant. Then he teaches them or gives them knowledge about spiritual gifts so they don't remain ignorant of spiritual gifts. First Thessalonians 4, 13, I don't want you to be ignorant concerning those who have fallen asleep and then he explains what happened to those people who fell asleep so they wouldn't be ignorant of it.

We almost think of ignorance as the opposite of wisdom and we definitely should not because the opposite of ignorance is knowledgeable. What is the opposite of having wisdom? Or what's the opposite of being wise, being foolish? So the opposite of Being ignorant is being knowledgeable and the opposite of being wise is being foolish. So foolishness actually means you do have knowledge.

Foolishness means you're not ignorant. You actually can't be foolish and ignorant at the same time because foolish is when you have knowledge of what to do but you don't do it. I mean if you think about the parable of the two builders, they both have the same what? What do the builders and the parable of the two builders both have the same of besides houses and storms they experience. They had the same knowledge.

It's not that one was ignorant and one wasn't. They were both equally knowledgeable, but one applied the knowledge and was wise, and the other failed to apply the knowledge and was foolish. Consider this familiar verse. James 4.17, whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it for him it is sin. Now that's interesting.

It doesn't say whoever fails to do the right thing for him it is sin. Let me say it one more time. It doesn't say, whoever fails to do the right thing for him it is sin. It says, whoever knows the right thing to do or is knowledgeable but fails to do it for that person, it is sin. So you must have knowledge.

In our vernacular, the word ignorant is offensive. If you tell people they're ignorant, they're going to feel insulted. But did you know that being ignorant can be a very good thing when you do something wrong? Because if you're ignorant when you do something wrong, you're not as accountable. You're not foolish.

And interestingly, this also helps us understand why Adam and Eve could do something wrong before eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil without it being held against them. That's why they could be naked, something wrong, without the fall taking place because they didn't have knowledge yet that it was wrong. So they weren't held responsible because of their ignorance. When babies are throwing a fit, yelling, screaming, making a mess, you've labored, well maybe you don't labor over the meal, you prepare for them, right? But you've given them food at least.

You've cleaned up seven messes, you put more food on their plate So they don't starve. All you want is them to look at you and say, thank you so much, mommy, for all you're doing for me. And they take it and they throw it across the room and all of the food just goes across the wall and this is the eighth time. They're screaming, they're yelling, they're mean, they can scratch your face. You never look at what they're doing and say that it's not wrong.

There's no denying that what they're doing is wrong. But we say they're not held responsible for it because they don't know it's wrong they're ignorant at least until they reach the biblical age of accountability and this brings us to the next part of lesson three part one babies are ignorant part two and God is merciful to the ignorant. God is merciful to the ignorant. Now, if you're a parent, When you're disciplining or about to discipline one of your children, isn't it essentially a journey of determining ignorance? Think about it.

When you are about to discipline your children, it is a journey of determining ignorance. You are trying to figure out if your children knew better. And then sometimes we'll talk as parents and I'll say to Katie, I'll say, did you tell them this? Did you tell them not to do this before they did it? And if she says yes, they're not ignorant and now they're in more trouble.

And in fact, if there's one thing that kids love to be, it is what? What do kids love to be? Ignorant. One of their favorite phrase that contains three words when they're about to get in trouble is what? I didn't know.

I didn't know. In other words, I'm ignorant. I have not yet eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I did not know that this was forbidden in our house. So kids know that as long as they didn't know better, they're not going to be in trouble.

And it's true that only the cruelest parents are going to punish children who don't know better. Well, similarly, God is not going to be a cruel parent who punishes his children when they didn't know better. And again, It doesn't matter if that's my opinion. Let me give you some examples to support this. When Jesus was on the cross, who did he pray for when he was being crucified?

For those who crucified him. Luke 23, 34, Jesus said, "'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. In other words, they're ignorant. Now Jesus was not praying that they were gonna be forgiven of all their sins because they weren't ignorant of all their sins. But they were ignorant of this sin in that they didn't know they were crucifying the Son of God.

Peter gives this great sermon in Acts 3. In fact, if you want to turn there, go ahead and turn there, because there's going to be an axe for a bit. Turn to Acts 3. Turn to Acts 3, look at verse 14. No problem at all hearing babies, no problem at all seeing them crawl around.

In fact, this is a good sermon for them. The little babies are listening and they're like, I can scream as much as I want. I'm ignorant. I can't get in trouble for it, right? Okay, Peter gives a sermon in Acts 3.

He heals the lame man and then he tells the Jews, look at verse 14, Acts 3, 14. He says, you denied the holy and righteous one, referring to Jesus. You asked for a murderer to be granted to you, referring to Brabus. And you killed the author of life, referring to Jesus whom God raised from the dead to this we are witnesses. Now just give me your attention, think about this.

You can't get worse than murdering Jesus, but the Jews managed just that because in the process of murdering Jesus, they were also able to get Barabbas, a notoriously wicked man, released at the same time. So there's just simply no denying that what the Jews did was terrible. But look at verse 17. Peter says, Acts 3 17, Now brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance as did also your rulers. So, Peter actually allows them or tries to get them to feel less guilt because even though they did something terrible, they didn't know they were doing something that terrible.

We know Paul himself, terrible to Christians. Turn to Acts 7. Turn to Acts 7. Paul's terrible to Christians, at least before he became one, when he was soul. Stevens stoning, if you don't just read over the verses and you actually consider what it would be like for someone to be stoned, it seems to me to be a completely horrific event, one that I would never want to witness, say nothing about, participate in, which is one reason I'm thankful not to be in the Old Testament where the law demanded that every citizen was responsible of picking up a stone to carry out capital punishment.

But with that said, one of the darkest moments occurred when Stephen was stoned because he was an innocent man who clearly didn't deserve to be murdered. In verse 58, Acts 7, 58, we're introduced to Saul for the first time before he becomes Paul. Acts 7, 58, they cast Stephen out of the city, they stoned him. The witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And then look at Acts 8 verse 1, the next chapter verse 1.

Saul approved of Stephen's execution. There arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem. All the Christians were scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles, verse three. And this is why much of it was happening or This was the leader of it. Verse three, Saul was ravaging the church, entering house after house, dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.

Saul was a monster. He's breaking into people's homes. He's destroying families. He's ripping men and, not just men, but men and women away from their children, hauling them off to prison simply because they were Christians. Now turn to Acts 26 verse 9 to see Paul say something about his actions.

Acts 26 verse 9, Paul says, indeed I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. So, in other words, not only did he not know what he was doing was wrong, he thought what? He thought he was doing something right. He thought this is what he must do. Now you don't have to turn there, but just listen to the way Paul, again, describes his actions to Timothy.

First Timothy 1.13, Paul says, though formerly I was a blasphemer, I was a persecutor, I was an insolent opponent. Paul had no problem acknowledging his wickedness. He didn't minimize it. He says, I was a blasphemer. I was a persecutor.

I was an insolent opponent, but I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly. So, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul said that God had mercy on him because he acted ignorantly. Now, let's just bring all of this back to babies. They're the picture of ignorance. They can't choose between good and evil.

If people receive mercy for being ignorant, nobody could receive more mercy than babies. We can be confident that God will not judge babies who perish before they reach the biblical age of accountability. And this is one reason I'll just tell you. It is so important for us to have babies and infants in our worship during our prayer times, part of our family worship. We don't know how God's word is working in their hearts at that time, but we do know God's word is working in their hearts at that time.

We also know that those babies or infants are going to reach the age of accountability when they can choose between good and evil, and we're sure going to have wanted God's word to have worked on their hearts to transform them, right? I mean what could you want more for any of your children, including the infants and babies, than for God's word to be planted, those seeds being sown on them, to hopefully bring them to regeneration at the earliest possible age. And again, and it's like, I'm not naive regarding having infants. We are expecting in October to have our 10th child. I've been around a handful of infants we've raised.

You know, we're in the process of raising them right now. And when they are part of our family Bible studies or family worship or prayer times, I think that there are supernatural things that God is doing in their hearts during that time. And so I'm not saying that they're gonna have great revelation or understanding when they reach the age of accountability, but I am saying that they can have the faith to be saved or regenerated. Now if we're gonna talk about Ignorance and accountability, I don't think I can finish this sermon without talking about us. And this brings us to our last lesson.

God is less merciful to the knowledgeable. God is merciful to the ignorant, but He's less merciful to the knowledgeable. And then turn to Matthew 10. So I can show you some verses that make this clear. Do your Bibles have headings for Matthew 10, 1 through 15?

Do your Bibles have headings in Matthew 10 for verses 1 through 15? Matthew 10 verses 1 through 15. Any headings in your Bibles there? No headings? What does it say?

Yeah, it's about the 12 apostles being sent out. That's the context and I want to read through all the verses but just keep in mind we're going to pick up right after that so I want you to know what just happened. That the 12 apostles are sent out. Look in verse 15. Jesus says it's going to be more tolerable, more bearable, excuse me, on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.

Now when I read this and I think, Sodom and Gomorrah is going to have it easier than this town, Or the other way to look at it, it's gonna be worse for this town than Sodom and Gomorrah. I'm thinking two things. First, what town is this? And second, what could they have done that makes them worse than Sodom and Gomorrah? Because Sodom and Gomorrah are like the picture of wickedness.

How could you even be wickeder than Sodom and Gomorrah? That's like as wicked as you can get. So what must they have done? Like sacrificed all their children or engaged in all sorts of sexual perversion or sacrificed every idol they could or everyone turns into Manasseh or something prior to his conversion. Nothing like that.

In fact, by many accounts, that town is a moral town. That town is an upright town. That town is a town that the 12 apostles visited, but that town would not do what? Repent. Look to Christ to be saved.

That town would not put faith in Jesus. Chose to remain in their sins or chose to trust in their righteousness versus trusting in Christ. So from a human perspective, no, they did not seem to engage in the wickedness that Sodom and Gomorrah engaged in, but from a heavenly perspective, they did because they were visited by the very apostles of Jesus Christ. Think about that. This town or these towns were visited by the very apostles of Jesus Christ who had been empowered with apostolic authority and power that Jesus had given them.

This wasn't like being visited by a priest or a teacher like me or something like that. These are the twelve apostles given all apostolic authority that goes to those towns and they still will not repent. They had incredible accountability. They had an immense knowledge of good and evil. Look one chapter to the right at Matthew 11 verse 20.

Matthew 11 verse 20, Jesus began to denounce or condemn the cities where most of his mighty works had been done because those cities did not repent. Now think about this for a moment. What would give people high accountability? Wouldn't it be seeing Jesus' mighty or mightiest works? And that's what Jesus said.

He visited these towns. Some of his mightiest works were performed there. I mean, knowledge, accountability like through the roof. No greater knowledge of good and evil now. But they wouldn't repent.

So look what Jesus says to these cities. Verse 21, woe to you Chorazin, woe to you Bessahiah, if the mighty works done in you had been done entire in sight and they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Always a verse that I've never fully understood and has somewhat bothered me that we're actually told here that those cities would have repented. They had the potential to repent if they had been exposed to the same works that these New Testament cities had been when Jesus visited them. Then in verse 22, Jesus says, I tell you it's going to be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.

Now what could fire and brimstone rain down from heaven on these cities. Sodom and Gomorrah, I mean, yet it's going to be more bearable for them than some of these wicked cities. Tyre and Sidon, notoriously wicked, just like Sodom. Jesus said they'd receive greater mercy than Chorazin and Bethsaida, which never engaged in as much wickedness as the tyrant Sidon because they had greater accountability. Verse 23, Jesus says, you Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven?

That's rhetorical. In other words, you will not. You will be brought down to Hades if the mighty work's done and you have been done in Sodom, Sodom would have remained until this day. In other words, Sodom would not have engaged in that same wickedness. But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.

So again, you've got the wicked city of Sodom, yet God says it will be more tolerable on Sodom than Capernaum because Christ never visited Sodom. Christ never preached in Sodom. Christ never healed in Sodom. None of his miracles performed there. So for a city that could have been moral or upright to have had these types of supernatural experiences causes them to have just unbelievable accountability.

What individual had the greatest accountability yet turned from it? Nobody could be worse than Judas. Judas is the wickedest man to ever live. Not because he engaged in the wickedest acts that a person could engage in, but because judgment is determined by accountability and nobody could have greater accountability than the disciples who walked or essentially lived with Jesus for a few years. And so for Judas to turn from that, nothing could be wickeder.

To fail to repent is to bring immense judgment on yourself when you have high accountability. And who has high accountability? Why am I talking about this? We have high accountability. How many sermons have we sat through?

How many times have we read God's word? A wonderful thing to do, something we should be doing, but can you imagine? And so this is one of the thoughts we have. We have these conversations at home, have these conversations with people over the years, and I'm not minimizing the concern. I mean, this is why we support missionaries, so I'm not criticizing this question.

It's a very legitimate question or concern and it goes like this. Well, what about those people, those tribal people? What about that window, the window globally that has not heard the gospel, that's unreached? Okay, we're concerned. We're sending missionaries to them.

Do you have any idea how much greater accountability ours is than people who don't even have Bibles? I mean, can you imagine the judgment that would await us to have heard and learned as much as we have yet turned from it. I mean I can't even imagine, I mean how much greater mercy will God have for those unreached people than for us? And so what are we doing with it? So I'll conclude with this, Until babies reach the age of accountability, they're innocent, they don't have consciences, they can't choose between good and evil, but this is not the case for us.

All of the sermons, all of the Bible teaching, all of the home fellowships, all of the Sunday schools, incredibly high accountability. Now, this is where you might expect me to say something like this, so you better refuse evil and choose good. You might expect me to say, well, so this is where you better try harder. Do better. Come on, your accountability is so high.

I'm not going to say that to you. I'm not minimizing faithfulness. I'm not minimizing the need for you to be faithful. But no matter how hard you try, no matter how good you become, and I'm using that very loosely, you're still going to fall short. Romans 3.23, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

The solution is for us, because of our accountability, to humble ourselves, to repent, and to look to Christ. The problem for those wicked cities is not that they weren't better, the problem is that they wouldn't, what did it say? Repent. Jesus didn't say, you guys better do better, you better work harder, you better be greater than you are. Most of those cities were already Jewish and fairly religious and moral.

The problem is they wouldn't repent. So my encouragement because of our great accountability is to live in humility, repent, look to Christ to be saved. If you have any questions about anything I shared this morning I can pray for you in any way I'll be up front after service and I consider it a privilege to speak with you. Father, I thank you so much for your word. I thank you for the children you bless us with.

I pray that we would keep them in our studies, in our prayer times, in our family worship. We pray you would be working in their hearts for that time when they reach the age of accountability, when they, like Adam and Eve, transition from almost a dispensation of innocence to a dispensation of conscience, when they learn or are able to refuse the evil and choose the good. I pray for us, myself included, having along with the other elders the highest accountability in the room that Lord by your grace we would live humble repentant lives I pray that with the accountability we have we would recognize it and that you would use us for your glory and not our own. And I pray, Lord, that we would just have these truths with us equipped to be able to minister to people who do lose children. And we ask all this in Jesus' name.

Amen.