The sermon 'Children & the Kingdom' by Peter Allison focuses on the inclusion of children within the kingdom of God and emphasizes their special place in God's covenant. It discusses the biblical basis for considering children as part of the spiritual community, citing various scriptures that highlight the inclusion of children in God's promises, such as the Noahic, Abrahamic, Mosaic, and New Covenants. The sermon addresses misconceptions about children's spiritual accountability and capability, arguing against the notion that children are not spiritually aware or accountable. It uses examples like John the Baptist's recognition of Jesus while still in the womb, and David's assurance of seeing his deceased child in the afterlife, to demonstrate that children can indeed have a spiritual relationship with God. Furthermore, the sermon stresses that all who enter the kingdom of God must do so with the humility and dependence of a child, acknowledging human helplessness and God's sovereign grace in salvation. This contrasts human efforts and acknowledges that salvation is entirely a work of God's grace, illustrating this through the practice of infant baptism as a symbol of helplessness and divine intervention.

Duff and his growth. Caleb started a Discord channel, whatever you call this thing, server, I think. And the link to that I can give it to you. I don't think he posted anything yesterday, but we did? Okay, I didn't see it.

So you can keep up there. It may be more than I know. And me continue to take for Alexis. Did you mention that there's a civilized? Yeah, I don't have it.

Is that, yeah, there we go. Okay. Please continue to pray for Alexis. So she'd asked for, I recommended a church and that she find a church and she asked if I could help her and so I was looking for a church in Fort Lauderdale area I haven't looked for one in the Peachtree area yet but I found a reformed church and I was looking to see whether I could recommend it to her. And then Jizu popped up and said, well, I know a church in that area and he gave me the exact name of the church I was looking at.

So that's helpful to have that kind of confirmation. So please pray that she's able to connect with the church there in Fort Lauderdale and begin to worship. So vitally important that she make that connection and find the people of God and the Word of God and the ordinances. And I haven't been able to reply to her last email yet, but hopefully do that later on today. So please pray for Alexis.

Any other prayer requests or announcements? I think the pop-goes are going to be moving. Is that right? Soon? You have a few more weeks.

All right. So we have enough we can get ready for this Yes, Gloria. A lot of problems with health. He has had that problem for a number of years, and it's been really really bad. He said he can hardly walk, but he's in, New England, and he's going to be traveling to extra coma, and it's going to be two weeks before he can go home.

And he's just doing everything he knows to do, and he's going to be proud of it. He can hardly walk. Okay. Yeah. We will pray for David.

Anyone else? Yes, Michelle. Please continue to pray for my friend Dawn. She goes to the doctor tomorrow to get results from all of her tests. And then Tuesday she goes, she's flying to South Dakota to visit family and friends from, from her mother has COVID again.

And her husband, Sean, needs a heart ablation, and that will be on March 23rd. So she's feeling quite overwhelmed. So please pray to her and her family. Heart ablation, okay. Dawn Hodges.

Did I see another hand? Yes, Christina. 100 miles per hour with getting older. If you're looking to have an abolition bill in both the House and the Senate, we have an extremely promising meeting with the majority whip, which is about the greatest office to get into and looking very supportive of the abolition movement. And then also, we were in Oklahoma, and those people turned right around and drove to Fort Worth to help elect David Lowe into office to a Chase Stephanie Clift, the representative who killed the Bill of Last Year in Texas to abolish abortion.

We're grateful for David Lowe's campaign. He wants, you know, to vote here soon. Okay. Yes I think it starts for us starts tomorrow. What tomorrow?

Yes, I'm behind All right, then there are no other prayer requests or Announcements we will be praying for a Christ Covenant Church today. That's our sister church up in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. It's a new church plant. So they are very young and still getting started. Let us prepare then to worship the Lord Jesus Christ.

God's way is perfect. The word of the Lord is proven. He is a shield to all who trust in Him. For who is God except Jehovah? And who is a rock except our God?

It is God who arms us with strength and makes our way perfect. He teaches our hands to make war so that our arms can bend a bow of bronze. His right hand has held us up. His gentleness has made us great. And he has also given us the shield.

Of his salvation, come, let us worship and bow down before him. Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Mercy, peace and love be multiplied to you through Christ Jesus, our Savior. Please turn with me to Psalm 148a as We do just that and lift our voices and praise the Lord in the assembly of the saints. All hail, O great Lord, our Lord, in praise.

All angels be apprised, and all angels in praise. Born an all-engroving King, His name on high, Son, Lord, and Son, Son, Lord, and Sergeant, And the Father, and the Holy Son. O let that broken heart Of the world trust in thee, Let the praise the Lord, and his angels be known, All that's ready is His Word, in the deep and slow. He was proud and bright, and satyrs drove, And satyrs all these way, as your red birds have flyed. Let all the people pray, our dreams are all we have.

The honor was in place, to charge and give from hand. My God and hope, My girl and mine, my girl and mine, Is Him that joy shall be extolled. Lord of all great praise, above the earth and sky, For Your rules and friends' praise, God gives them all our time. Let us pray. Let us pray.

Almighty Heavenly Father, we lift up this morning our hearts and our hands and our voices to you and ask that you would rejoice the souls of your servants here this morning. We ask that you would enable us by your Spirit to come into your presence this morning with joy and into your gates with thanksgiving and praise and to bless your name. For you have redeemed us, you have defended us, You have preserved us from all of our enemies. You have been gracious to us in so many ways. And we know that we are worthy of none of that.

But you, Lord, are worthy. You're worthy of all glory in heaven and earth. It belongs to you. To you belongs all dominion and rule and power and authority. There is no authority except what is from you.

You have put this world together out of nothing by the word of your power. You have put all the stars in their places and they cannot be changed. You, Father, have hung, suspended this earth upon nothing, establishing its foundation, something that is beyond our ability to comprehend what you have done. Though we have searched and found many things, yet we do not understand these basic things. Your wisdom is far above ours.

Your ways are not our ways. Your thoughts are not our thoughts. But we do thank you and praise you this morning that you do think of us. Indeed, your thoughts toward us are more in number than the sand, more than we can count. We ask that you would this morning condescend to meet with us, to speak to us through your word and spirit.

We ask Lord for the work of your Holy Spirit here this morning. You would sanctify us by Your Word, that You would meet with us and speak grace and peace. Through Jesus Christ, we ask all of these things. Amen. Our confession of faith this morning deals with worship and to whom worship is to be given.

Let us confess responsibly. Religious Worship is to be given to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost and to him alone not to angels Saints or any other creature But no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and the worship of angels, intruding into things which he has not seen. Therefore God also gave them up to my deliverance, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, to interchange the truth of God for the lie, Then Jesus said to him, away with you, Satan, for it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only you shall serve. And I felt as he seemed to worship him, but he said to me, seeing as he knew not, I knew that, You shall serve. Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me. For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, and that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son Yes, we worship God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, and no one else. Not even angels. Angels, whenever people tried to worship them, they stopped them as is accounted in Revelation 19.

Well, it's my privilege this morning to baptize Geneva Grace, my tenth grandchild. Actually, I guess it's ninth, but there is another. Normally, I would like to spend a few moments looking at some aspect of baptism and what it signifies. But in God's providence, this sermon this morning concerns the place of children in the kingdom of God. And so I will pass by an opportunity to speak on this since we will be looking at this topic, Lord willing, in a few minutes.

I thought of putting the baptism after the sermon for that reason but decided against it for various reasons so at this point I will ask without further comment ask Benjamin and Kimberly and their family to please come forward. Well, as you have done before, I will ask you once again these vows as you bring Geneva to us this morning and present her for baptism and for membership in Christ's Church and for membership and participation in God's covenant with us. I ask you these vows. Do you acknowledge that although Geneva was conceived and born in sin and therefore subject to condemnation, she is holy in Christ by virtue of the covenant of grace and as a child of the covenant is to be baptized? And do you promise to teach diligently to Geneva the principles of our holy Christian faith revealed in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments and summarized in the Confession of Faith in the Catechisms of the Church.

And do you promise to pray regularly with and for Geneva and to set an example of piety and godliness before her? Do you promise to endeavor by all the means that God has appointed to bring up Geneva in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, encouraging her to appropriate for herself the blessings and to fulfill the obligations of the covenant. I very gladly baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Benjamin and Kimberly, We do rejoice with you this morning in the birth of Geneva and for also your desire that you have expressed for her to know the Lord and for her to follow the Lord all the days of her life. And we also give thanks this morning for the fruit of your diligent training in your family that we see.

And so along, but along with these great blessings and privileges come the responsibilities that you have solemnly committed to, and I charge you to continue steadfast in these commitments that you have renewed today before God and before these witnesses, and to continue steadfastly in the good beginning that you have made, and to continue to humbly rely on the grace of God and the diligent use of the means of grace, especially the Word and the sacraments and prayer. Now, to the rest of us, to you all, I ask you this. Do you as a congregation undertake the responsibility of praying for this family and encouraging them to be faithful in their vows to raise their children in the fear of God. If so, please say, we do. We do.

Let us pray. Almighty Heavenly Father, we thank you for this little life, for this child of your covenant. And we pray that you would be merciful to her, to deliver her from the way of sin and death, and to bring her into the state of salvation through Jesus Christ. We pray that you might open her heart to your grace and to your truth, and that you might fill her with your holy and life-giving Spirit. I pray that you would preserve her in the faith and the communion of your people, that she might never know a day in her life outside of the blessings of your covenant, outside of the worship of your people, outside of your church.

I pray that you would teach her to love others in the power of the Holy Spirit. And I pray that you would send her into this world in faithful witness to your abounding love and grace. And I pray that in your time, in the fullness of days, that you might bring her to the fullness of your peace and glory and present her faultless before the presence of your throne with great joy. I ask this through Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our scripture reading is from 2 Kings chapter 24. Hear God's word. In his days Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him and the Lord sent against him raiding bands of Chaldeans, bands of Syrians, bands of Moabites, and bands of the people of Ammon. And he sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord, which he had spoken by His servants the prophets.

Surely at the commandment of the Lord this came upon Judah to remove them from His sight because of the sins of Manasseh according to all that He had done, And also because of the innocent blood that he had shed for he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood Which the Lord would not pardon Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim and all that he did are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah. So Jehoiakim rested with his fathers, then Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place. And the king of Egypt did not come out of his land anymore, for the king of Babylon had taken all that belonged to the king of Egypt, from the brook of Egypt to the river Euphrates. Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother's name was Nehushta, the daughter of El-Nathan of Jerusalem, And he did evil in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father had done.

At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up against Jerusalem and the city was besieged. And Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came against the city as his servants for besieging it. Then Jehoiachin king of Judah, his mother, his servants, his princes, his officers went out to the king of Babylon and the king of Babylon in the eighth year of his reign, took him prisoner. And he carried out from there all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house, and he cut in pieces all the articles of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord as the Lord had said and he carried into captivity all Jerusalem all the captains and the mighty men of valor 10, 000 captains and all the craftsmen and Smiths none remained except the poorest The land And he carried Jehoiachin captive to Babylon. The king's mother, the king's wives, his officers, and the mighty of the land, he carried into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.

All the valiant men, seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths, one thousand, all who were strong and fit for war. These the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon. Then the king of Babylon, Mataniah Jehoiachin's uncle king in his place and changed his name to Zedekiah. And Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king and he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem and his mother's name was Hemutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. He also did evil in the sight of the Lord according to all that Jehoiakim had done.

For because of the anger of the Lord, this happened in Jerusalem and Judah. Then he finally cast them out from his presence. Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. Against the king of Babylon. Let us lift up our hands to these commandments which we love and meditate on his statutes.

This is the judgment that God pronounced on Israel but had delayed because of the repentance of Josiah. Now, this is also one of the texts that critics like to point to as a place where the Bible has errors because if you look in verse 17 it says the king of Babylon made Mataniah and and if your Bible is the King James the new King James they've put in the word Jehoiachin well that's in italics meaning that's not what it says in the text. It really should say his. The king of Babylon made Mataniah his uncle, his uncle. Now, it is correct that that is referring to Jehoiachin.

So, it is a correct insertion there, but it really just says his. But if you look in 2 Chronicles 36, and I'm not sure if we're going to read this. I didn't check, so I'll comment on it now. In 2 Chronicles chapter 36 and verse 8, when it's recounting this same narrative, the same history, the captivity of Jehoiachin, and This was not the captivity that Daniel would have gone. He would have gone in the, he would have been taken earlier at the very first time that they were conquered.

But you'll notice in verse 10 there, in Chronicles 36, it says the Lord made Zedekiah, and again some Bibles add a word that's not there, it really should be his again, he made Zedekiah his brother. So in one place, it says it's his uncle. In the other place, it says it's his brother. Now, if you don't believe that God has preserved His word infallibly to us, then you might think, well, this is a problem. Here, in one place it says he's his uncle, in the other place it says he's his brother.

And so that's why these names have been inserted. In the insertion in 2 Chronicles 36, I believe it's wrong. It's not saying that it's Jehoiakim's brother. It is Jehoiachin's brother. That's who the his is referring to.

It says he took him and took him to Babylon and made his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem. So what do you tell the critic that wants to say there's an error in the Bible? We tell them that the Bible is true and that in fact both of these are true. It is his uncle and his brother and I'll leave you to figure out how that happens but it's possible and if you look at this in more detail you will see that that is the solution. It is exactly the solution that the mother of Jehoiah of Zedekiah is also the wife of Josiah and so it is a case of incest and And I should say a case of a son.

Yes, it's a case of incest, a son and a mother. And that's not the only time this happened. It's recorded of David that when Absalom took over that Absalom went into all of the David's concubines and wives and it's Ruben is also did it's also recorded that Ruben has done the same thing and so that and So it's often in these supposed errors of the Bible that we actually can learn a lot. And rather than trying to be embarrassed about it, is what, in fact, Your Bible may say in the margin that this is a textual error, or a scribal error, or something like that. It's not.

God's Word endures forever. The grass withers, the flower fades, the word of our God endures forever, and God has preserved his word to us infallible. If the Bible says that the same person is both an uncle and a brother, then that's what we believe. Let God be true and every man a liar. Well let us go to the Lord in prayer and give thanks to him for preserving his word to us infallibly.

To us infallibly. Our gracious Father in heaven, We thank you that you have preserved your word, that though many have tried to corrupt it, to pervert it, have attacked it, have burned it, have banned it, have imprisoned those who read it or killed those who walk according to it. Yes, even kings have burned the original manuscripts. Lord, you have preserved your word again and again. And where the original manuscript was burned, you had it recreated and made again.

And where, Lord, It has been corrupted by wicked hands, yet you have preserved it for us. And you have preserved many copies all over the world. And we continue to find more and more copies of your Word that you have preserved to us. We are amazed, astounded at how perfectly you have preserved your word over a century, over millennia, thousands of years. We ask your forgiveness where we have not believed it, where we have ignored it, where we have been ignorant of it, where we have not loved it and meditated upon it and laid it up in our heart that we might not sin against you, where we have not prized it as we ought, and cherished it as the words of life and truth, or have doubted it in one way or another, in one form or another.

Another. We ask your forgiveness where we have sinned against the standard that you reveal in it. Father we ask Lord for Your forgiveness for the sins of our land, a nation that at one time recognized the words of this law as being the standard of justice and sought to implement the punishments according to your word. Yet Lord, we have turned away from your word as the standard of truth. Indeed, in Canada recently, their legislature has declared that the truth of your word is a myth and that those who believe according to it are worthy of condemnation and imprisonment and fines.

And so they have condemned the righteous and justified the wicked. And our land is often no better. We have ignored your word with respect to the lives of people, and have allowed the murder of unborn children, and have looked the other way as their bodies were dismembered, Their bodies were dismembered, their blood spilled upon the ground, and the pieces left unburied or washed down the drain. Father, these are things that are happening in our land. And we as a part of this nation ask your forgiveness, we ask, Lord, for your mercy.

And we ask for your deliverance Indeed we we have as a nation in our laws ignored every part every every one of your commandments We have long ago decided it was no crime to blaspheme your name, and that many temples to idols could be erected and publicly worshiped in our land. Lord, This has not been always so in our nation, and we are grieved at our present condition. Indeed, were at one time our law recognized adultery as a sin against you. In many cases, it no longer is acknowledged to be wrong and condemned in our laws. And homosexual fornication, which you have called an abomination, though it is still on our books as a crime, yet it is no longer recognized as such.

And we do not even follow our own laws, as poor and corrupt as they are. Father, we tremble to think of your wrath and judgment that you've poured out on nations that have been as wicked as ours. And we plead this morning for your grace to our land, for your gospel to go forward, for your Holy Spirit to bring a repentance, even as you did in the wicked city of Nineveh. We ask, Lord, for the preaching of your word, to bring a change, to bring a great national mourning for the sins of our land. That we would humble ourselves before you and acknowledge the wickedness of our ways.

We ask, Lord, that you would destroy the government schooling that has corrupted so many of our children and led them into all manner of abominations. An institution that has banned the very mention of your name except in vain, that has robbed you of your glory as creator, if not with lies certainly by silence. But so often it is by outright lies that you have not made this earth and this world, but that they have made themselves, and that in These things which you have made is contained all wisdom and knowledge and power Lord we We are not able In our own strengths to defeat any of these or to bring about any of these changes. And we cry out to you this morning for your strength and your arm to be made bare. And for you to break the back of this institution that has so set itself against you as to hate you and to hate all that is holy and good.

Lord, we ask that you would exact a just restitution from the kingdom of saints and for all that has been stolen from your people. And for all the children who have been corrupted and taken from Christian homes and taught what is wicked and corrupt. And corrupt. Lord, we lift up Diane And we pray that you would bring strength and healing to her. We thank you Lord that you have preserved her.

We pray that you would renew her hope and that you would enable her to bear under this strain of these many, many months of sickness, of weakness. Lord, we ask for your hand to be upon her, to heal, to restore, to strengthen. And for all those, for all others Lord, that are sick in our midst for Dawn, we pray that you would deliver her from fear. Lord, may she walk each day in faith and go forward in trust upon you and not fear. May you deliver her, Lord, from anxiety in the midst of her illness, test results that come, procedures for her husband, Shawn.

We ask, Lord, that her hope and her confidence might be in you, the one who heals us from all our diseases, the one who has redeemed our life from destruction. Lord, may you comfort her. We ask for David as well and pray for your healing for him. Lord, in this time of disability, may he look to you. May you renew his confidence and his walk with you.

And His walk with you. And may you use this time to sanctify and to strengthen, that he might remember you as his creator and provider, as his healer, as his savior. We ask for the legislative sessions in Oklahoma where there are many who are seeking to bring their law into conformity with what is good and true. We ask that you would bless these efforts. We ask that you would destroy the works of the evil one, to deceive, to divide, to blind.

Deceive, to divide, to blind. And Lord may you give courage to those men who are, who know you, to speak the truth without fear of man. Lord we ask also for the upcoming election where we are choosing those who will rule over us. We ask Lord that what is that the truth might be known and that you would give discernment and wisdom to your people that they might not vote out of fear, they might not vote out of a sense of hopelessness, but Lord, look for those men who are the most qualified, who are qualified and among those who are the most qualified to serve in these offices and not be willing to vote for anyone who does not meet the minimum qualifications that you have set for those who would bear civil authority as your ministers. Lord, we ask that your forgiveness where we have forgotten the standards that you have set in your word, where we have been ignorant of them or fearful of applying them.

We pray that you would give faith to your people, to walk in obedience to each of your commandments, even this one. Lord, we do thank you for your many mercies to us. We thank you for the ministry of your word, for the ministry of love and the deeds of service that you have worked in us and through us. As we speak to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs as parents bring your word to their children. Lord as you enable us to love one another and to serve one another and to admonish one another and to encourage one another with your word.

Lord, we ask that the words of our mouth might be edifying and uplifting, that they might be true And that they might be spoken in season. We ask Lord that you would build in us and with us your temple For your of your Holy Spirit. In Jesus name we ask. Amen. Psalm 4b.

The the the the the the the in my stretch you feed me, give me praise I cry. Sons of men, I'll honor you by your each day. From them, here's my glory chained. Where hill of woods furthest, where I see your aim. For the Lord is Satan, stand our pardoned face, For the Lord is Haste and set our heart in praise, And the Lord will hear me when I see his face.

Turn, woe, in your anger, yet once it departs, on your bed in silence, secret in your heart. Your word in silence, speak within our heart. Hark the sacrifices that our mind endures. On the mark we're flying, in impatient flight. Of your right hand just, on the barbed reed pining, in inflation's rise.

You will all the goodness many people say. Of the world's goodness many people say, the light of your face, Lord, let dawn's last refrain. Dear, have faith in my heart, greater joy I find, through others, and upon them all. So in peace I lie down, I will rest and sleep. For all of you only will be safely king.

For a new holy will be saved with thee. Please turn in your scriptures to Luke chapter 18. And I'd also like to read this same parallel passage from Mark chapter 16. So If you can find both of those, keep your finger in mark, we will read these both. They're both very short.

And we can do that. Luke chapter 18, beginning at verse 15. Hear God's word. Then they also brought infants to him that he might touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to him and said, Let the little children come to me, and do not forbid them.

For of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it." And sorry, Mark chapter 10, my mistake. It's verses 13 through 16. Mark chapter 10, and this passage has a couple of additional points that Mark brings out that Luke does not comment on. So Mark 10 verse 13, Then they brought little children to him that he might touch them, but the disciples rebuked those who brought them.

But when Jesus saw it, he was greatly displeased, and said to them, Let the little children come to me, and do not forbid them, for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly I say to you whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it and he took them up in his arms laid his hands on them and blessed them. May this word give you life and be your comfort in affliction. Heavenly Father, We ask that this word that we have heard might be mixed with faith as we hear it. We ask that you might work in us through this word to sanctify us.

And I ask that you would Preserve me from error and cleanse my sinful lips this morning to proclaim the riches of your grace through Jesus Christ. Amen. Infants and the Kingdom Infants and the Kingdom. Infants and the Kingdom of God. Well, this sermon this morning has two points.

First, a little children belong in the kingdom of God and secondly all who enter the kingdom must enter as a little child. Children belong in the kingdom of God and all who enter must enter as a little child. Well, let's look at that in more detail at each of these two points. But before we dig into that, I want to ask, want to look at who are these children that Jesus has in view here when He speaks, who He is speaking to. Are these older children?

Toddlers? Infants? Are they old children? You know, I'm still somebody's child. And so who is Jesus talking about here?

Well, the word that's used in Luke, in this Luke passage, is the word brephos. That's the word that Luke uses to describe the John the Baptist in the womb while he was still inside the womb of Elizabeth it's the word he uses to describe Jesus as a newly born baby lying in the manger in Bethlehem. It's the word that Stephen uses to describe the Hebrew babies that were killed in the days of Pharaoh by being exposed under Pharaoh in the days of Moses. It's the word that Paul also uses to describe Timothy, who had heard the Scriptures, who had known the Scriptures from his infancy, from his childhood. Clearly, what we are speaking about here are infants, babies in arms, nursing babies like Calvin or Geneva.

The other two passages, one that we read in Mark and another one in Matthew, use a more general word that could include older children. But Luke makes it very clear that it is infants in arms that are being brought to Jesus. That's who he's speaking about. Now the place of children in the kingdom is problematic for many. What do we do with them?

How do we view them? How do we think of them? And there are many perspectives about how children should be regarded. Some consider children of believers to be regenerated from the moment of conception. In the view of one godly young man sitting at my kitchen table not too long ago, he said, yes, they are conceived in sin, but from the moment of conception, he thought of them as being regenerated.

Yes, he certainly understood they needed to be instructed and taught. But that was where he wanted to go. Some people believe that children are simply non-accountable to believe. Others consider children to be what one man called vipers in diapers who are outside the kingdom of God until they get older and can make a conscious profession of faith. And so in this view of things, these are people who are specifically not in the church, not in the kingdom.

Well, this by itself, this text here this morning does not answer all these questions, but it does say a number of things about the place of children in the kingdom, especially as it is understood in the light of a number of other passages of scripture about children. What this text does tell us is that children belong in the kingdom. And we can look at a number of other passages in scripture to see what that means when Jesus says that children belong in the kingdom. And that was, and we see that, that children belong in the kingdom first because from Christ's great displeasure at the disciples' rebuke of parents who brought their children to Christ. He was greatly displeased that the disciples would dare to rebuke parents who were bringing their children to Christ.

You see, these parents wanted their children to receive Christ's blessing. They wanted Christ to pray for their children. These parents had a concern for the salvation of their children, that they would know the living God from their infancy. This is, after all the duty of parents, to bring their children to Christ. Since Christ has ascended and is sitting at the right hand of God.

We do that by teaching our children the scriptures, the Word of God, just as Timothy's grandmother and mother taught him the scriptures from his infancy. We do that by bringing our children to the public worship of God. We do that by bringing them under the preaching of the Word and by teaching them. We do that by we bring them and show them Christ by our care of them and in many many other ways. But the disciples rebuked these parents for trying to bring their children to Christ.

None of the Gospel writers tell us why They thought they needed to rebuke parents bringing their children to Christ. Perhaps they felt that babies could not benefit from hearing Jesus. You know, after all, infants won't ever remember ever being brought to Jesus. We typically don't remember things that happened before we're two or so years old. They won't remember his prayer.

They won't be able to respond to anything that Jesus says. They may not even be able to comprehend what Jesus is saying. Perhaps they felt that blessing children was not important enough for Jesus to be bothered with. He had crowds of people following him. He had the Pharisees who were always seeking to trap him and ask him questions and trip him up and catch him in something.

He had important people that wanted to see him. Maybe they just thought he was too busy to be bothered to put his hands on little children. Perhaps they simply felt that since children couldn't exercise faith and couldn't understand what was being said that it would just be a waste of time to have Jesus put his hands on them and bless them. Perhaps they even felt that children didn't need salvation, that they didn't need to have saving faith to enter heaven. Many Christians today hold to this view or some similar view or variation of it.

I was listening recently to a well-known reform minister who said that While there was no age of accountability, there was a stage or state of accountability. And before that state, before that point, before that point little children couldn't understand or process the Gospel, and if they couldn't understand or process it, then they were not accountable. They can't know that they are sinners. They can't understand that Christ died in their place, so they can't believe in Him. And so in His view, if they die before reaching this state or stage of being accountable, being able to understand and therefore accountable, then he thought he'd go to heaven.

Now he didn't deny that little children are born in sin and conceived in iniquity. So what scripture did he use to support this view? Well, he admitted that there was none. There was no scripture to support that view. He just believed that these children would just automatically go to heaven because it would be, in his view, it was inconceivable that God could condemn to eternal hell all little children who are intellectually incapable of understanding the gospel Now some people believe that children just aren't morally accountable for their sin.

But their very fact that infants die tells us that they are accountable for their sin. The wages of sin is death. And so the fact that people die, even babies, little babies, even unborn babies, The fact that they die is proof that they are being held accountable for their sin. Remember the sinfulness of the estate into which we fell? That was our question not too many weeks ago.

Wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate? Well, it's the guilt of Adam's first sin when he ate the fruit that God said not to. That's part of our guilt. The want of original righteousness, the corruption of our whole nature, which is we call original sin together with all the transgressions that proceed from that. See, Adam's sin as the federal head of the human race is imputed to all, to everyone who is in the covenant of works.

That means that everyone that descends from Adam by ordinary generation is guilty of Adam's first sin because he is the covenant head and his sin is imputed to us under that that's what it means to be a federal head Lack of original righteousness refers to the fact that not being able to obey any of God's commandments we have no righteousness on our own. And remember only the righteous can see God. The corruption of our nature means that we are sinners and we cannot sin. Now some consistent Credo-Baptists do believe that all little children who die before they can repent and believe and make a public profession of faith go to hell. I have at least one friend that I know who believes that way.

But thankfully, Christ didn't take that view of children. Christ was greatly displeased with the disciples for rebuking these parents. And he flatly overruled what they were saying. He said, let the little children come to me and do not forbid them from coming. Infants can come to him.

Unborn infants can come to Christ. How, you ask? How? Well, how does anyone come to Christ? Spiritually, we are dead in our trespasses and sins.

We can't hear the gospel, even if your ears work perfectly well. I thank the Lord so far, mine do, unlike some other parts of my body. We can't hear the gospel no matter how good our ears are. We can't hear the gospel unless the Holy Spirit gives us ears to hear. See that because the natural man cannot discern spiritual things.

It takes the supernatural power of God to enable us to hear the gospel. It takes a miracle. Paul told the Corinthians in first Corinthians 2, for what man knows the things of man except the spirit of man which is in him even so no one knows the things of god except the spirit of god now we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit who is from god that we might know thing the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with this with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of God for they are foolishness to him for he cannot know them because they are spiritually discerned natural man cannot know the things of God for they are spiritually discerned.

God created the ear. Can he not hear the Bible tells us? The very one who knows how the ear works because he made it. Can he not hear? Of course he can.

God calls those things that don't exist as though they do. Why? Because his voice calls them into existence. When Jesus speaks, dead men hear. When Jesus speaks, dead men walk out of their graves, even though they're bound hand and foot.

Now, how does that happen? How do you walk when you're bound hand and foot? Well, when Jesus says, come, you come. It doesn't matter if you're dead. It doesn't matter if your hands and feet are bound.

God calls those things that don't exist as though they did. God doesn't need for us to have ears to enable us to hear the gospel. He doesn't need for us to have ears so that he can speak to us. It's no greater miracle for the Holy Spirit to enable a man dead in sins, full of himself, not thinking that he needs anything from anyone to hear the gospel. It's no more difficult for that man to hear that it is for a baby whose ears aren't yet fully developed or who doesn't have any ears yet because it's just a couple cells in his mother's womb.

It's not any more of a miracle for one that one man to hear than it is for the baby to hear. The Gospel. David said in Psalm 22, But you are he who took me out of the womb. You made me trust while on my mother's breast. David said, you gave me faith while I was still a nursing baby.

While my mind maybe wasn't developed enough to listen to a sermon and comprehend academically, intellectually everything that was said, you made me trust while I nursed on my mother's breasts. You gave me faith. Breasts. You gave me faith. I was cast upon you from birth from my mother's womb.

You have been my God. Can a baby receive come to Christ? David said so. David said that he trusted in the Lord while he was a nursing baby that from the womb God had been his God. John the Baptist we read in the New Testament leaps for joy while he is yet in Elizabeth's womb.

Luke tells us that when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary that the babe leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit And then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For indeed, as soon as the sound of your greeting sounded in my ears or the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears the babe leaped in my womb for joy that babe was john the baptist joy remember is a fruit of the spirit The Holy Spirit came upon Elizabeth and it came upon John the Baptist and he leaped in the womb. Before he was even born, he was probably even born. He was probably only a few months old at that point, probably six months behind.

She was six months ahead, so maybe six months. And yet he's able to comprehend. And by the power of the Holy Spirit, his body responds. You see, God sets people apart from their mother's womb. God said of Isaiah, and now the Lord says, who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him.

Or God said to Jeremiah, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I sanctified you. I ordained you a prophet to the nations. When David's son that was conceived in adultery with Bathsheba died, David believed he would go to his son. He said, while the child was alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, who can know whether God would be gracious to me and the child would live?

But now that he is dead, he said, I'm not going to fast. Can I bring him back again? He said, I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me. I shall go to him. David expressed a clear hope that he would see his son again.

And so Jesus rebukes And so Jesus rebukes her or is displeased and flatly overrules the disciples words and Jesus received these children. Jesus blessed the children in His arms and He prayed for them. See, children are the recipients of God's covenant blessings that are not given to children of unbelievers. He didn't initially even heal that Syrophoenician woman because he said it's not right to give the food meant for the children to the dogs. Children of believers are different from children of the world.

They aren't in no man's land. While somebody figures out what they're going to do. Or while they figure out what they're going to do. Children of believers, the Bible says, are holy. That means they are set apart from the world.

They are ceremonially clean. That doesn't mean they are saved, but it does mean that they were not uncircumcised. In Ezekiel 23, God speaks of sons that were born to me, that were being sacrificed. And in Ezekiel 16, God speaks of sons and daughters born to Him and of, He says, my children that are being sacrificed in these satanic, being sacrificed to demons. God called them his children.

They were offspring that were born, that were in his covenant, that had his covenant sign. God condemns divorce in Malachi because Malachi says God is seeking a godly offspring and divorced parents can't lawfully procreate. Psalm 103 says that the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him and his righteousness to children's children, to children's children. And to those to such as keep his covenant and to those who remember his commandments to do them. There is a there are our children.

Are recipients of the blessings of the covenant. But thirdly, our children belong in the kingdom because Jesus states that the kingdom belongs to such as these. Suffer the little, permit the little children to come. And do not forbid them, for of such is the kingdom of God. The church is the organizational boundary or political representation of the kingdom of God.

And the testimony of scripture from Genesis to Revelation is that children are part of this kingdom. They are part of his church. We see that because all of the covenants that God has ever made with us have included children. The Noahic covenant. In the beginning of Genesis, God said, but I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall go into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you.

And as for me, in the next chapter, behold, I establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you. God told Noah he was making a covenant with him and his descendants, his children, God said, are part of this covenant that he is making and of the Abrahamic covenant. In Genesis 17, God said to Abraham, as for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout your generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep between me and you and your descendants after you. Every male child among you shall be circumcised.

In this covenant, God specifically says that the children of believers were to receive the sign of the covenant, the sign and seal of the righteousness that we have by faith, that the children of believers were to receive it. And where the children of Israelites did not believe, they were not allowed to circumcise their infants. There are several places where the Israelites were not allowed to circumcise their infant children because of unbelief. The Mosaic covenant is also made with believers and their children. All these Numbers 18, all these heave offerings which the children offered to the Lord I have given to you and your sons and your daughters with you as an ordinance forever it is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord with you and Your descendants after you and in Deuteronomy 5 Moses says The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, those who are here today, all of us who are alive.

This was a covenant that was made 40 years earlier. And Moses says he didn't make it with them, but he made it with us. Some of those people weren't even born at that time. Therefore know that the Lord your God, he is God. The faithful who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations with those who love him.

And in Deuteronomy 29, I make this covenant and this oath not with you alone, but with him who stands here before us today, before the Lord our God, as well as with him who is not here with us today. In other words, the descendants, the children that would be born to them, God says, I'm making this covenant with you and you who are here and those who are not here right now yet. The Davidic covenant is also made with children. If your sons will keep my covenant and my testimony, which I teach them, their son shall also sit upon your throne forevermore." Children are included in that covenant. Children are included in the New Covenant.

In Isaiah 59, "'As for me, ' says the Lord, this is my covenant with them, my spirit who is upon you, and my words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants, says the Lord, from this time and forevermore." This statement is in the present tense. The blessings of the new covenant, the Holy Spirit are said to be a present reality. And God is promising that what was true then is true now and will continue to be true. So children have always been included in the covenants that God has made and children are heirs of the covenant promises They have a right to them in other words in Galatians 329 Paul told the Galatians you are Christ if you are Christ then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Now, is he talking to the adults there?

Well, yes. But then he goes on to specify, now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, doesn't differ at all from a slave. If he is a child, so a child is also an heir, according to Paul. And in Acts 2.39, Peter said, the promise of salvation is to you and to your children, to all who are far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. The promise is to you and to your children.

This covenant promises belong to our children. Children received the sign and seal of the covenant in the Old Testament. Children were circumcised. That was the sign and seal of God's righteousness, of God's covenant of grace. And in the New Testament, we see the same thing.

There is never a hint anywhere, anywhere in the New Testament that says that children are not included in the covenant as they were in the Old Testament. In fact, it's just the opposite. In Acts 10, we read about Cornelius believing and his household believes and is baptized. The whole household. In Lydia, in Acts 16, she was baptized with her household.

The Lord opened her heart to hear the things spoken of by Paul, and she and her household baptized. The Lord opened her heart and her whole household was baptized. The Philippian jailer just and he took them at the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized. This is this is what happened when the gospel came to Abraham's household.

God commanded Abraham to circumcise his entire household. And we know that that had to be at least 320 people because Abraham had 318 servants when he went after the the kings that captured Sodom and Gomorrah and Lot he said he had 318 trained servants in his household plus Abraham plus Ishmael So there was at least a very large household that was circumcised. And what we're reading in the New Testament sounds exactly the same. These people believe and their households are baptized. Then Crispus in Acts 18, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household.

And many of the Corinthians hearing and believed were baptized. You see, baptism is the covenant sign and covenant seal, and it marks entry into the kingdom. Now, not all children of believers are elect, certainly. Jesus did not say that the kingdom of heaven belonged to these particular children. He wasn't saying that these were all elect.

He said the kingdom belongs to such as these. Such as these there are the Ishmaels. There are the Esau's there are children of believers who are not elect Ishmael was born to Abraham and he was circumcised but he wasn't elect. Esau was born to Isaac and he was circumcised on the eighth day but he despised his position and before the Bible says, before he had done anything good or bad, he was passed over by God, loved less. Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.

These are, the kingdom of heaven belongs to the children of believers, but not all are elect. The second point, I said there were two points to this, and one is that children belong in the kingdom of God, and they have a right to those privileges according to their age. Not everybody in the kingdom has a right to everything. There are distinctions, but all children of believers belong in the kingdom. But secondly, Jesus said that all must enter the kingdom as children do.

All must enter the kingdom as children do. Surely, Jesus said, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it." Now what is he saying? In what sense do we need to be like little children? What quality is Jesus pointing to? We can think about a lot of qualities that children have.

And the Bible does say, desire the sincere milk of the word as newborn babies do desire that milk. So there's a favorable comparison of children. But many more comparisons of children are unfavorable. They are compared unfavorably when Jesus says that the unbelieving generation was like the children who cry out to each other in the marketplace. Immature children who cry out, we played for you but you didn't dance.

Paul says that when he was a child, he spoke as a child, but then when he grew up, he put away these childish things. In other words, we're to press on to maturity and not continue to be like immature children. So what was Jesus saying? Was He saying we have to be immature? Was He saying we have To be innocent like children?

No, obviously anybody that has had any children of their own knows that little children can be very sinful. And they demonstrate that rebellion very, very, very early before they can talk, certainly. They can express their dislike and rebellion to what mom and dad want them to do. Jesus isn't saying we need to be like that. Infants are helpless.

Think of Geneva this morning. She didn't walk up here. She didn't bring herself up and say, I'd like to be baptized. She didn't even maybe know what was happening to her other than that she got wet. Babies can't feed themselves.

They can't take themselves anywhere. They can't dress themselves. They can't think for themselves. They can't decide what they want to have for supper. They certainly can't grow the food or go procure the food.

They are completely, utterly helpless. They depend upon mother and father for their every single need. When they're first born, they can't even roll over. They depend on They depend on somebody to move them. Infant baptism is a picture of helplessness.

And Jesus is saying that's how we are. We aren't Christians because we decided to follow Christ. We aren't Christians because we got in the car and went somewhere. We're not Christians because we made a decision or we were smart enough to figure out that we needed to do something. We're not Christians because we sought the Lord, because we figured out that we needed to.

We're Christians because in our condition of being dead, of being helpless, of being wholly unable to seek after the Lord, the Lord in His mercy drew us. No one can come to the Father, Jesus says, except the Father draw him. No one can come to me except the Father draw him. It's the Holy Spirit that brings us to see our helplessness, our inability, our complete inability to obey God's law. It's the Holy Spirit that awakens us through our condition of being utterly helpless, utterly unable to save ourselves, utterly unable to do anything at all.

We don't believe God's word because we're smart and we can figure it out and we can figure out that we need to believe it because that's a good thing to do. We were saved by faith and that's not of ourselves it is a gift of God not of works lest anyone should boast see infant baptism is a perfect picture of how we come to Christ utterly helpless utterly unable to save ourselves utterly unable to even know what's happening to us until the Lord awakens us And gives us spiritual ears to hear. And to respond to his call until he regenerates us. Jesus says unless you come into the kingdom that way, You can't get in. That Pharisee who stood in the temple and said, Lord, I thank you how how good I am and praised himself and praised with prayed with himself.

That's That's not how we can enter the kingdom. It's the publican, the tax collector, who realized he was completely helpless and cried out for the mercy of God. But even that realization came because the Holy Spirit had had regenerated him and awakened him. We don't ask the Lord to come into our heart. That's not how we're saved.

If we had to be saved because of that, nobody could be saved, because we're never going to ask. We're helpless. We're like that infant. We're saved because the Lord sovereignly broke into our life, like with Saul, knocked him off his horse and blinded him, and accosted him. Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

We're saved because God in his mercy subdues our rebel heart to himself because he gives us spiritual ears and eyes and a heart to understand because he did all this on his own initiative. It's of God who wills. It's not us. And that's what Jesus said. We cannot come into the kingdom of heaven on our own strength, or by our own ability to keep God's law, or to do anything at all that is pleasing to the Lord, or to seek the Lord.

It's not that we come to the Lord and say, Lord, you should be grateful that I've sought after you. It's not that at all because we can't do that on our own strength. We come like an infant, utterly helpless, completely dependent upon Him to work in us and to move us and to draw us and to save us. Salvation from start to finish is entirely a work of God's grace. Even our sanctification is a work of God's grace in which we are active, Yes, but even the deeds that we do in Christ are done by the power of God working in us.

Paul said, I died. I died. I've been crucified with Christ and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God Who loved me and gave Himself for me That's how all of us Got into the kingdom because God in His mercy brought us as helpless sinners. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You that You have loved us and that you have given yourself for us.

We thank you that you have drawn us, that you have elected us from before the foundation of the world and drawn us in time. We know that there is nothing good in us, nothing in us that would make us desirable or worth anything to you, Nothing in us that would incline us to you except your Holy Spirit dragging us to you and changing our very desires such that we want to come to you and do come to you in faith and in repentance. And Lord, I pray that if there is any here this morning who does not know that drawing of your Holy Spirit who has not been given eyes to see or ears to hear Lord I pray that you would open them this morning and that your Holy Spirit would come to them with power and with much assurance. Pray this in Jesus' name, Amen. Hymn 71.

Stand up, O God, be present now, and honor age, And now may all who wait to tell them Run like villains, oh, like gouty macks Down for destruction, near to die From the righteous sing and dance, as sing and dance and shout for joy. We hear the words of God the Lord, His coming as he came upon his earth. His name he raises in praise, in praise, in praise, in praise, in praise, in praise. Sing now the glorious hymn, as we O come, ye justices in risen cross, In risen person, risen hope. Stand up, O God, in present-time, and once a son a new birthright by those who left the prison-sheep, Who crossed the sea and placed the sand, Who laid in the bed of the children, Provided by your Patron's love, They watched the fighting armies, And so they gained upon this land.

Now marching on to Zion's ground, We sing the herald, the hosiest song, Stand up, O God, be present now, and we will sing the joy! When the mughal be present now, and we your people will rejoice, For you have saved us from the So to your holy place you come, Judge us of using God and you, With you the Godless has come, Hail, God, all day for mercy's call. Then shall we send for your voices, Joining through the heavens you may, Stand up, O God, be present now, Please be seated. They will sing their song for time. Please be seated.

As we come to the Lord's table, I'd like to this morning just to read a reminder from the larger catechism of how we ought to prepare to come to this table. It has a very helpful list, summary of the types of things that we ought to do in preparing to come. To come. And the first thing it reminds us to do is to examine ourselves of our being in Christ. Second Corinthians 13, 5 says, examine yourselves and test yourselves if you be in Christ.

And The Apostle John wrote that we know that we love God when we keep His commandments and His commandments are not burdensome to us. It reminds us to examine ourselves of our sins and our wants, the things where we lack. To examine ourselves of the truth and measure of our knowledge. Faith, repentance, love to God and the brethren. Are we growing in these things?

Are we progressing in these things? It reminds us to examine ourselves as to the measure of our forgiving those that have done us wrong, of our desires, to examine ourselves of the measure of our desire after Christ and of our renewing of the exercise of these graces by meditation and by prayer. But it also reminds us that our Worthiness to come to this table is not based on how well we have performed this week but rather it's based upon being in Christ and recognizing that all that we do is Tainted with sin and that that it is only in Christ that we are accepted in the Beloved. And so where we are doubtful or maybe even discouraged, This is the table to come to to have those doubts strengthened or removed or faith strengthened. Now.

Having partaken of the Lord's Supper, we are reminded to reflect upon how we have behaved ourselves here at this table and with what success if we find quickening a life that is in comfort to bless God for it and to ask for the continuance of it and to watch against relapses as we are warned. We are encouraged to fulfill our vows and to remember our vows, to attend to the worship and the public sacraments. And if we find that we are lacking in these things, and we see if after careful and serious examination that We have not done these as well as we ought. We ought to not be discouraged, but really to renew our preparation and to wait for the fruit of the Holy Spirit in time. And it reminds us to be humble and to attend with more care and diligence.

So I hope to remind you and me this morning that even though this is something we are privileged to do each week, yet it is something we should not do carelessly or idly or forgetfully. So may it be so. Heavenly Father, we thank you that it is our privilege to participate in this supper each week. A supper at which you are the host, at which you feed us with your body and your flesh and your blood. A supper, a meal, wherein you give to us your grace, not through the eating, but by faith.

So Lord, help us to come this morning in faith. Though we don't understand all the mystery of this sacrament and of your presence here, yet we know, Lord, that you are present to feed us to grow us to sanctify us Lord we come this morning with anticipation of your blessing we come desiring to know We come desiring to know you, to love you more deeply, to serve you more faithfully, to see our sin more clearly, and to have a greater faithfulness in confessing it, in repenting and forsaking it. And so Lord we ask that you might minister to us at this table all of these blessings through Christ. In his name we pray and that you would Lord set apart this bread and this cup. We thank you for them in Jesus' name, amen.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, in the same night in which he was betrayed took bread and having blessed it he broke it and gave it to his disciples saying take eat this is my body which is broken for you this do as often as you do it in remembrance of me. He took the cup and gave it to his disciple saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood which is shed for many for the remission of sins all of you drink of it please come forward. Psalm 1A. ["The Star-Spangled Banner"] Your sacrifice in earth's deep, Your sin as sore as Moses was. Yes, and He is the One who makes the Lord's heart is enlightened, And in the morning, then in the night, Peace like a deep-leafed gentry beside a water stream, Which in its season bears its fruit, side of water's drain.

Legend in season bears its truth, its peace, its flesh, and rain. When all he does, he will sense him, the wicked are not so true, But they are like the scoundrel's hounds With wide-awaited bow. The wicked therefore fill us and when time of joys it comes, Lord, in the sinner's stead, among us, and we'll just die. Because our Lord the righteous, the path they walk in us, the wicked want the different path that to destruction goes. Now the God of Peace, who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight through Christ Jesus, to whom be glory forever and ever.

Amen. Of Israel, who only moved with wondrous legs in glory, that is now. Who only moved with wondrous works in glory, that is true. How blessed in his glorious view to all eternity. The Holy Land is for the people of Pennsylvania.

The Holy Land is for the people of Pennsylvania.