this morning is taken from the book of Acts chapter 10. Acts chapter 10. We will begin to read at verse 25. This is of course the well-known passage where Peter receives the vision of the sheet with animals coming out of heaven. And then he is called by messengers to come to the house of Cornelius. And we read in verse 24 that Cornelius called together his kinsmen and near friends. We pick it up then at verse 25, Acts 10, verse 25. And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. But Peter took him up saying, stand up, I myself also am a man. And as he talked with him, he went in and found many that were come together. And he said unto them, ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company or come unto one of another nation. but God hath showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean. Therefore came I unto you without gainsaying as soon as I was sent for, and I ask therefore for what intent ye have sent for me. And Cornelius said, four days ago I was fasting until this hour, At the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing and said, Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, and thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God. Send therefore to Joppa, and call hither Simon, whose surname is Peter. He is lodged in the house of one Simon a Tanner by the seaside, who when he cometh shall speak unto thee. Immediately therefore I sent to thee and thou hast well done that thou art come. Now therefore are we all here present before God to hear all things that are commanded thee of God. And Peter opened his mouth and said, of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, But in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him. The word which God sent unto the children of Israel preaching peace by Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all. That word I say ye know, which was published throughout all Judea and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached how God appointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all things which he did, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they slew and hanged on a tree. Him God raised up the third day and showed him openly, not to all people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach unto the people and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the judge of quick and dead. To him give all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished. as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Then answered Peter, can any man forbid water that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days. So far we read God's holy word. Based on that and many other passages of God's word is the instruction of the Heidelberg Catechism in Lord's day 27. Question 74. Question 74 asks, are infants also to be baptized? And the answer, yes. For since they, as well as the adult, are included in the covenant and church of God, and since redemption from sin by the blood of Christ and the Holy Ghost, the author of faith, is promised to them no less than to the adult, they must, therefore, by baptism, as a sign of the covenant, be also admitted into the Christian church, and be distinguished from the children of unbelievers, as was done in the Old Covenant or Testament by circumcision, instead of which baptism is instituted in the new covenant. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, when we considered the meaning and the institution of baptism two weeks ago, I asked, what should we be thinking when we see baptism administered? What is pictured there? What is baptism teaching us? And I said there are seven truths about God's work of salvation that the Bible connects with the picture of baptism. The first two clearly go with the water washing idea. The first idea is forgiveness of sins in the blood of Christ. Second, the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. Those are the two most obvious and dominant ideas seen in baptism. Forgiveness of sins, sanctifying by the Holy Spirit. But the Bible also says it's a picture of regeneration. being given a new birth and closely connected, it points to the death of the old man of sin, were buried with Christ into his death, the death of the old man, and then quickened together with him, pointing to the quickening of the new man of Christ. That's the fourth thing. The fifth is separation from the ungodly, especially seen in the two types of baptism, the flood and the Red Sea, which separated God's people from the ungodly by destroying the ungodly. And then six, it's a sign of the covenant. And seven, it's a picture of being graft into Jesus Christ by faith. The believer therefore beholds baptism and confesses, I believe that. I believe that I have those things. Jesus' blood washes away my sins. The Spirit sanctifies me. I am graft into Jesus Christ. All that baptism symbolizes, the believer says, that's mine. I have the blessings of salvation because baptism is a sign and a seal of what Christ did and continues to do in us. Now I ask, How much of that applies to a baby that is just a few weeks old? Does a baby have faith that is able to believe and appropriate all that? for himself or herself as you adult believers appropriate that for yourself? I think it's pretty obvious there's got to be quite a difference. Do we say that we just assume That baby has the work of the Spirit? Just assume that he's regenerated and has faith and therefore on the basis of that baptized? Or do we say that God promises all that to that child? Maybe to every child that is baptized all those things are promised? to that child? Or would it be better if we just wait until the child gets older and then we see whether the child has faith and repentance and then baptize? These questions receive different answers in the church world, obviously. One large branch of the church insists that infants may not be baptized and ironically they go by the name of Baptists even though they deny baptism to children they insist that none of those things that we said those seven things none of those things can be applied to that child because the child does not have faith and therefore They will wait to baptize until the child grows up and makes a confession of faith. Within Reformed circles also there are different answers given. One is that we do not know whether the child has the work of the Spirit giving repentance and faith, but we assume it. We assume that and on that basis we baptize. That was Abraham Kuyper. Another part Another group in the Reformed churches says God promises all those seven things to every child, even in the name of that child. But God does so objectively and conditionally with the promise to the child, it will be yours subjectively if you fill the condition of faith. Otherwise you will not receive any of these blessings. And that of course was our controversy in 1953. We faced that and rejected it. So we have significant questions to face. Why baptize infants? Why baptize infants? The Reformed position clearly is that we must. The Catechism asks, are infants to be baptized? Yes. Yes, they are to be baptized. And the Catechism gives reasons why infants are to be baptized. But then is everything in the answer here? true of every child that is baptized? And if not, then why do we baptize every one of the children of believers? To put it differently, believing parents, we're confident, they are members of this, they are citizens of the kingdom of heaven. But now, What about the children who are baptized? Would we also say they are citizens of the kingdom of heaven? So we consider from that viewpoint, as we have been, the idea of the kingdom taking as the theme, baptizing kingdom infants, baptizing kingdom infants. So notice in the first place, what it means to baptize those children. What does it mean? Secondly, why we must, And third, what it promises. What does that baptism promise? What it means, first of all, is the covenant. Baptism is a sign of the covenant. The covenant of God is that beautiful relationship of friendship that God establishes with his people in Jesus Christ. And then to that is added this, that God continues that covenant with believers and their children. God made that plain from the beginning, that his people are in the line of generations. Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, and so on down the line. There was a line of believers, father to children, to children, and so on. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the patriarchs, line of generations. God made that more explicit already to Noah. In Genesis chapter 9, verse 8, God said to Noah, and to his sons with him. And I, God said, behold, I established my covenant with you and with your seed after you. So that's what God said. I established my covenant with you and with your seed after you. And that was confirmed then a few generations later in Abraham, when God said to Abraham, that well-known Genesis 17, seven, I established my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee. God establishes covenant with Israel. You only have I chosen of all the nations, the families of the earth. I will be your God, you will be my people. Build a sanctuary, a temple for me that I may dwell among you. There's the friendship part, dwelling with them, but in generations. So starting with Abraham, God gave a sign of the covenant. which is, of course, circumcision. Genesis chapter 17, God made that clear with Abraham that he was to circumcise in connection with the covenant. You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin and it shall be a token of the covenant, a token, a sign of the covenant betwixt me and you. That's Genesis 17 verse 11. And then God went on to say, and he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you. Every man child in your generations had to be circumcised. Every single one. All through the Old Testament, that was the sign of the covenant of God with his people. It distinguished, it separated Israel from all the other nations of the world. This cutting away had spiritual significance. Deuteronomy 10 verse 16 compares it to the cutting away of the foreskin of the heart. The hard shell of the heart had to be cut away. It involved the shedding of blood, pointing, of course, to the need for the shedding of blood for salvation. And in a sense, that shedding of blood there cleansed the seed that would begat children. Baptism replaced circumcision as a sign of the covenant. God's covenant is one. Old and New Testament is one covenant, but God administered the covenant differently in the Old Testament as compared to the New Testament. The Old Testament was a dispensation of promise, pointing ahead by pictures to the coming of the Messiah, pointing ahead to the atoning death of the blood of the Messiah, So that the Old Testament sign of the covenant would involve shedding of blood was entirely fitting. The whole dispensation involved blood, sacrifices, sprinkling the people, sprinkling the law, sprinkling the tabernacle, blood. So that the sign of the covenant would involve shedding of blood was totally appropriate. But now we come to the New Testament or covenant of God. And now shedding the blood is entirely inappropriate. Because Christ has come. He has shed the true blood of the sacrifice that paid for the sin. No more sacrifices of bulls and goats and other animals. None of that. No more sprinkling with blood. Now Baptism becomes the sign of the covenant, which points back to the work of Jesus and the shedding of his blood. Colossians 2 makes the connection between circumcision and baptism very, very plain. Colossians 2. beginning at verse 11. In whom ye are, also ye are circumcised with the circumcision without hands in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. And then immediately it says buried with him in baptism. And also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised you from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, that's what you were, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all your all trespass." So you see, circumcised in Christ, baptized in Christ. He puts them together. They have the same meaning. the same significance. So baptism has replaced circumcision. And again, because the New Testament covenant is better than the Old Testament, the sacrament is better because now it's for all of the children, male and female, they all can be baptized with the sign of the covenant. Baptism therefore, every time there is a baptism of a child, it points to this place of children in the covenant. A baptized child is admitted into the kingdom and covenant of God. Absolutely. And a baptized child becomes officially a member of the Byron Center Protestant Reformed Church. His name is on the rolls. He's a member of this congregation. He has the right to all of the benefits of being a member of the congregation, which includes baptism, but catechism instruction and Sunday school and the elders care of that child. The elders never say, well, we care about the adults, but they'll children. No, we don't. We don't bother with them. No, no children of whatever age you need. Elders care the elders. care for that child. That child is a member of the church. The right to preaching. It isn't merely that we bring our children along on Sunday because we don't have a babysitter at home. No, we bring them to church because the preaching is for them. The preaching addresses children, even though they're not able to grasp everything perhaps because it has to be at a higher level than a 10-year-old. Still it's for them to grow in the knowledge of the truth. That a baptized member is officially a member of the church is evident from a couple of things. First, from a negative point of view, if that baptized child does not come to church and refuses the admonition of the of the elders, eventually he has to be disciplined. But that child cannot be simply erased and we ignore him, but through an official decision of the consistory and the classes, that name is removed. We call it erasure, but it's an official decision to remove that child or that youth from the church. It's like excommunication. That, from a negative point of view, shows those children are members of the church. Secondly, from a positive point of view, when the child is older and comes to the conviction of the truth and confesses that truth, he becomes a confessing member of the church, but he already was a member. He was a baptized member of the church. And now what he's doing by making confession of faith, he's confirming the vows that the parents made about that child. We will rear this child in the fear of the Lord. We will teach them the truth. And now that child comes to years of discretion and says, I believe that. I believe that all the truth of the word of God. This child, being a member of the church, a citizen of the kingdom of heaven, must be distinguished from the children of the world. Must be distinguished. He is not living outside the walls of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. He is not living in the kingdom of Satan. He is not in the kingdom of darkness, having no spiritual life in him, having only a life that is darkness, a life that hates God, a life that denies his existence and only seeking to disobey. On the contrary, this child is a child of the King and kingdom of Jesus Christ. That's how we view the baptized child. That's how we view the child. That's how we deal with the child. That's how we instruct the child and discipline the child. Demanding of that child life that corresponds to being a citizen of the kingdom of heaven. This is how you must live. But of course that raises the question, doesn't it? Are they all? We can see that all the baptized children are part of the external manifestation of the church and kingdom of God. But are they ultimately members of the church for whom Christ died? Those who enter the kingdom must be born again. justified, sanctified, united to Christ by faith. No one else enters into that kingdom. No one. And we know for a fact that not all baptized children come to faith, believe in Jesus. So the question is, and that's the second point, well then why Why must we baptize? Why must we baptize? The Catechism starts off with two answers that we will consider first of all. Why? Yes. Four, since they as well as the adult are included in the covenant and church of God. We've really hit that already, but we'll come back to this. And since redemption from sin by the blood of Christ and the Holy Ghost, the author's faith is promised to them no less than to the adult. By the way, in the German, the original German, it didn't say adult, but parent. They as well as the parent. are included in the Covenant and Church of God. Now, it's pretty plain that salvation is not something that only adults can have. Children have salvation. Jesus blessed the infants, and said, of such are the kingdom of heaven. He blessed the infants. Psalm 22, verse 10, the psalmist says, I was cast upon thee from the womb, from the womb, in the womb already, and as soon as he was born, thou art my God, from my mother's belly. He had faith as a child. 1 Corinthians 7 verse 14 reassures the mother who's married to an unbeliever who never was converted. She was, and Paul says to her, don't worry. The children are holy. They are sanctified by the spirit. Children are. Now we know this from experience. That is growing up in the sphere of the covenant. We were taught the Bible, and we believed it. We were taught the songs of Zion, and we sang praises to God. We were taught to pray, and we prayed. As children, we had faith. We knew our sins. We knew sorrow for sin. We knew that Jesus was our Savior, and He paid for our sins. We knew that. as children. Not everyone has that, of course. The Philippian jailer did not have that. And anyone else who is converted later in life does not have that knowledge and experience as a child. But the child of the covenant is given faith. He knows that the Bible is true. And not only true generally, but true for him. He knows that. I was saved. I can say without any hesitation when I was 12, when I was eight, when I was four, I had salvation. And that's, that's the experience of most people who grow up in the sphere of the covenant. We know that. Was it as conscious and as clear as it is for me as an adult? Of course not. It was a childlike faith. It was accepting, trusting, believing, but without the kind of understanding that an adult can have. The catechism says, because that's true, that child, must have the sign of the covenant distinguishing that child from the children of unbelievers. Second, the catechism points out that children have the promise of the remission of sins and the Holy Spirit. They have the promise of that. And in fact, That's exactly what Peter promised. In Acts chapter two, Peter said unto them, repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Remission of sins and the Holy Ghost. That's what he said, that's the promise. Read the next verse. For the promise is unto you and to your children." Children are promised remission of sins. Children are promised the Holy Spirit. And the point is, Peter is then, if children, the catechism, if children are promised remission of sins and the Holy Spirit, then they should have the sign of that administered to them. remission of sins, the spirit working. The connection is made plain from Peter's experience in the household of Cornelius. While Peter is preaching, the Holy Spirit came on those who were hearing. And Peter said then in verse 47, can any man forbid water? that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Ghost as well as we. In other words, they've received the Spirit. Why shouldn't they receive the sign of the Spirit's work? Obviously they should. And so we baptize them. If the Spirit is promised to a child, If remission of sins is promised to the child, should not the child receive the sign of that work of the Holy Spirit? That's really what happens with adult baptism, if you think about it. With adult baptism, you have someone who was not raised in the sphere of the covenant, was not baptized as a child, but by the power of the Spirit, that individual comes to faith in Jesus Christ, confesses her faith or his faith in Jesus Christ, and goes before the consistory, and the consistory examines the confession and says, this we approve. This is a confession of faith in Jesus Christ. The spirit has worked in this individual, true faith. They are absolutely convinced of salvation, forgiveness, and all of the rest. Why shouldn't they then also be baptized? And so they are. But we face yet that lingering question, why all the children of believers? Because not all baptized children have the Spirit working in them, giving them faith. Not all baptized children have remission of sins. Only the child chosen in eternity unto salvation in Jesus Christ will have that. Only the elect. Jesus died for the elect baptized child. Only they will have remission of sins. The Spirit does not give life and faith to every baptized child. This means that there are many baptized children who come into this world, into the church, but they never come to faith in Christ. I say many, not most, but there are a number. They're viewed as citizens of the kingdom. Their baptism has given them, if you will, a passport that says I'm a citizen of the kingdom. They have the knowledge of the kingdom. They have the language of the kingdom. They live as one of the citizens of the kingdom of God for a time. They're given baptism, catechism, instruction. They go to the Christian school, the other citizens, children. They might even make confession of faith and partake of communion, but they are not citizens and they know it. They're not so conscious of that, obviously, when they're seven or eight years old. But when they get to be 15 to 17 years old, they become fully aware of it. I am not a citizen of the kingdom. They know that they do not believe in Jesus. as the Son of God and Savior. They know that they do not really fit here. They've learned the catechism questions and they can recite them. They come to church and they sing out of the Psalter as everyone else does. They're able to say the right things that people would say, yes, he's a citizen of the kingdom. Might even be able to argue doctrine to prove that his church is right. But they do not believe any of it. And so they face the question, do I tell everyone that I'm not a citizen of the kingdom? Do I tell my parents, my teachers, my friends? But they probably hesitate. They fear the social consequences. They will lose their family, their friends, all their social connections. So they continue pretending that they are citizens, though they are not citizens of the kingdom. And that might continue into their 20s and perhaps even into their 30s, playing the part. It's what the Bible calls a hypocrite. And some of them become devious and they want to do damage to the kingdom of Jesus Christ. They're citizens of the kingdom of Satan. Now be careful and let there be no misunderstanding here. What I just described, we're not talking here about a teenager in the kingdom who struggles with some doubts. That's a different matter entirely. Someone who may wonder, am I a child of God? Do I really believe all the things that I have been taught? Or am I just going along with it because my parents do and my friends are, and so I'm just going along with that? Is that who I am? All or almost everyone at one time or another in our lives faces that question. But even the fact that a person would face the question is so different from the one who says, I know that I do not believe in Jesus. I hate him as compared to somebody who's struggling with some doubts. That's entirely a different matter. The believer, given faith then, eventually comes to the conviction, I am a believer. I am. I believe these truths for myself. I am convicted concerning the truth of the Bible. Jesus is my savior. By faith, he appropriates all the truths of the word of God and his baptism. But the reality is that not every baptized child is an elect child of God. And yet because God establishes His covenant with believers and their seed in their generations, because the promise of remission of sins and the Holy Spirit is given to the child, they must receive the sign of the work of the Spirit. They must. to distinguish them from the children of unbelievers as was done in the Old Testament by circumcision. But now the all-important question thirdly is what is promised in baptism? What is promised? My answer is the covenant promises of God. The covenant promises of God to the believing parent. Namely, God says, I gather my citizens from your children. That's his promise. These are citizens eternally chosen in Jesus Christ, who will already have the work of the Spirit, giving them faith, new life. This is not a promise to every baptized child. It is not. It is not a promise that the blessings of salvation are objectively given to that child, and it will be that child's if the child will fulfill the condition of faith. That's not what is promised at baptism. The promise spoken at baptism is particular, just as the promise in the preaching is particular. If I would say in the preaching that Jesus died for you, You would know from the context that the you are God's people. They're the elect from eternity who come to faith in Jesus Christ. Those are one in the same believers and elect. Or if in the preaching, I would say that Jesus saves to the uttermost those who believe, you would know that's not a promise to everybody who hears my preaching to every unbeliever that says, well, now, if you believe you will be saved. That's not what that statement says at all. The preaching is particular. The promise is particular. The promise is to the believer. And the believer is chosen. Otherwise he wouldn't be a believer. The promise is to a believer. So likewise, baptism is not a general promise to every single child that is baptized. The promise is to the elect child that is baptized. Baptism cannot be broader than the preaching. The preaching is narrow, that is particular. The promise is to the believer. And now baptism somehow becomes a promise to every single child? That would be wrong. Baptism only pictures what the preaching teaches us. Baptism, nonetheless, is a blessing for parents. God testifies that He does gather His church, the citizens of the kingdom from the children of believers. And the beautiful thing is God says, I gather them. I do that. I will translate those children born dead in sin from the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of my dear son. I will do that. It will not depend on your efforts as a parent, as important as that calling is. It will not depend on that child born dead in sin, now somehow fulfilling a condition and somehow getting faith and taking hold of salvation. It will not depend on the child. I, says God, will save your children. And he does. God sovereignly saves. And baptism promises that, that God saves in generations. Hearing the promise then of that, of baptism to the parent, how does the parent respond to that? And the answer is gratitude. The answer is not this, that he will say, wait a minute. No, no, no. I need more than that. I need to know that the child I just brought for baptism has the promise. I need to know that. I will do my best to see that that child believes the promise. I will do my best to see that that child takes hold of salvation. That's not the response of parents. It must not be. Because the sad thing is that the parent will fail. You will not save your child. No matter how you instruct, you cannot save. And when that believing parent sees his child walking away from the truth of God, he may react very wrongfully He might blame himself. I didn't do enough. I didn't do enough. Or worse, blame God. I did it. I worked. I did everything the Bible told me to do with my child and God didn't save him. We don't go there. We don't need to say the only way i can walk away from baptism is that i am sure this child has the promise also that's not our that's not our prerogative but we do walk away from baptism grateful and that gratitude leads to tremendous diligence in the instruction of our children. It is a labor of love with God's own children, teaching them the word of God, nurturing them as citizens of the kingdom of heaven. These children belong to the king. They've been chosen. They've been redeemed in the blood of Jesus Christ. They are precious. So the believing parent is diligent, not because his efforts can save the child, that's not why, but because God demands it of us. And the tremendous blessings also as incentives that your children will walk in that truth, that they will love the truth. They will be prepared for life, in God's kingdom now and in eternity. That's what you parents are doing, preparing your youth for the kingdom. Amen. Let us pray. Father in heaven, what a glorious God thou art. What a glorious salvation we have in Jesus Christ. And that covenant, so rich, so beautiful, so comforting to us. Apply this word to our hearts, make us to take hold of it as children. To be thankful for the great work of God that are not merely for parents, but for children. And then as parents, diligently to instruct, Lord, hear us. Unworthy people that we are, forgive our sins for Jesus' sake. Amen. Psalter number 281. 281. The stanza four, all the faithful to his covenant shall behold his righteousness. He will be their strength and refuge and their children's children bless. All the stanzas 281. ♪♪ Of our humility is the God in whom we trust. He whose years are everlasting, he remembers me. Christ, thy God and your power, and his kiss are on the cross, will and where'er we be furnished, The angels' hymns shall over us proceed, rising up to hear His plea. The mercenary Almighty One, the Lord, the God of Israel, for He alone has won this battle, and He's in And blessed be his glorious name, long as the ages shall endure, for all the earth has sent his King, the bread of heaven. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.