this, Genesis 17 and Acts 2. If you remember nothing else this morning, maybe you might remember that if ever you should be in doubt as to why we baptize our infants or seek to defend it to anyone, these would be the first two passages to which you ought to turn. Genesis 17 and Acts chapter 2. God has established this covenant with Abraham. He called him in chapter 12 out of his homeland and God promised that he would bless Abram and that in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. In chapter 15 there was that blood covenant, the self-maledictory oath, when God himself walked through the bloody pieces of animal signifying that he would fulfill the covenant and promise that to his own hurt. And then in Genesis 17, God comes again to Abraham, and now he attaches to this covenant the sign of circumcision. Reading the first 14 verses, Genesis 17 at verse one, God's inerrant word. When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I am God Almighty, walk before me and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you and may multiply you greatly. Then Abraham fell on his face, and God said to him, Behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abraham, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God. And God said to Abraham, as for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep between me and you and your offspring after you. Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh, an everlasting covenant. "'An uncircumcised male who is not circumcised "'in the flesh of his foreskin "'shall be cut off from his people. "'He has broken my covenant.'" And then to the New Testament, Acts chapter two, we're at the Feast of Pentecost. Peter's explaining about what's going on, and he accuses the Jews there in Jerusalem of having crucified Jesus, and in Acts two, verse 37, Well, I'll read it, verse 36. Acts 2.36. Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucify. Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brothers, what shall we do? And Peter said to them, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children, and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself. And with many other words, he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, save yourselves from this crooked generation. So those who received this word, his word, were baptized, and there were added that day about 3,000 souls. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of the Lord stands forever. Turn then finally in the back of the Psalter Hymnal to page 35, to the Confession, Lord's Day 27. We considered baptism last time, and now we're gonna focus upon question and answer 74, but let's begin reading at question and answer 72. Question 72 on page 35, it says, does this outward washing with water itself wash away sins? And the answer's no. Only Jesus Christ's blood and the Holy Spirit cleanse us from all sins. Why then does the Holy Spirit call baptism the washing of regeneration and the washing away of sins? God has good reason for these words. He wants to teach us that the blood and spirit of Christ wash away our sins just as water washes away dirt from our bodies. But more important, he wants to assure us by this divine pledge and sign that the washing away of our sins spiritually is as real as physical washing with water. And then this question, should infants, better said, should the infants of believers too be baptized? And the answer is yes. Infants as well as adults are in God's covenant and are his people. They, no less than adults, are promised the forgiveness of sins through Christ's blood and the Holy Spirit who produces faith. Therefore, by baptism, the mark of the covenant, infants should be received into the Christian Church and should be distinguished from the children of unbelievers. This was done in the Old Testament by circumcision, which was replaced in the New Testament by baptism. Congregation of Christ, this sermon is entitled, Believers, Babies, Entitled to Baptism, which would mean not that children are entitled to anything naturally, but by grace. By nature, we're entitled to death only. O agent of sin is death. But by God's grace, believers and their children have the privilege and the right of baptism. God has embraced in his covenant, not just Christians, those who believe, but he's embraced in his covenant also their children. He has called them his own. He has declared them to be members of his covenant, of his household, of his church. He has declared they are heirs of the promises of salvation. And therefore, being members of the covenant, the children of believers ought to receive the sign of the covenant, which is baptism. The issue, therefore, this morning is not simply a question of who's right. Think of the debate between Baptists, who say only believers should be baptized, only those old enough to profess faith, versus the Reformed, and really most all of churches and church history, who say also that children of believers should be baptized. Sometimes we get into just this debate and the question of who's right. But it's not just about who's right. It's really about the honor of the Lord of the covenant. Is God pleased to speak a word to the children of believers in baptism? Are they his? We're talking about the Lord and his covenant. We're talking about glorifying the Lord of his covenant. And whether or not we baptize the children of the church says something about God's covenant. We have to understand the covenant rightly that God might be glorified and honored. And because we love the children of the church as well, we want them to be, in the right way, honored by the blessings that God would have for them. The question this morning really is this, does God regard the children of believers as his own children? Does he count those members of his church? That's the question. And if the answer to that is yes, then they should receive the mark of the covenant, which is baptism. the sign and seal of the covenant, which is baptism. So this morning we see this, that the children of believers belong to God's covenant, and therefore should be baptized, the mark of the covenant. And we see that's communicated in the Old Testament first, it's communicated in the New Testament secondly, and then, therefore, it ought to be communicated by us. Those three points. What does the Old Testament say? What does the New Testament say? And then what should we say? Well, Genesis 17 is a foundational passage to understanding this whole matter, because God in Genesis 17 now gives to the covenant a sign and a seal, namely circumcision. And it's to be administered not just to believing men, but even to boys at only eight days old, before they know anything. This passage really takes us to the heart of why we baptize our children. And why do we baptize our children? Is it out of custom or superstition? No. Is it because we believe that the waters of baptism of themselves wash away sin? No. Is it because we presume every infant brought to the baptismal font is regenerate, born again? No. Is it because we believe that if they're baptized they will automatically go to heaven? No. Why do we baptize the children of the church? For this reason. because they're members of God's covenant family. That's it. We baptize the children of believers, and note that well, we do not baptize every baby in the world. We baptize the babies of the church because they're members of God's covenant. Now what's it mean to be a member of the covenant? Talk about the covenant a lot. What's it mean to be a covenant child? Well, the covenant is simply that relationship that God and His sovereign grace has established with us, a relationship of life and salvation. It was God who came to Abram. Abram did not seek God. It was God who called him out of Ur of the Chaldeans. It was God who, again, approached Abram and said, split these animals apart. And he, the Lord, walks down this blood path. It was the Lord who came to Abraham and instituted the sign of circumcision. The covenant is all about the sovereign holy God stooping down to sinners and pledging himself and his salvation to them. Now in this covenant God makes with Abram, there were many things promised. He promised him a land, that him and his children would receive the land of Canaan. He promised him that he would have offspring as numerous as the stars and of the sand. But at the heart of the covenant, The central promise of the covenant was this, that God would be a God to Abraham and his children. Genesis 17, 7, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. What does that mean? It means that this bond is a bond of life fellowship. I'm going to be your God. You're going to be my people. We're going to dwell together, live together, be committed to each other. The covenant of grace is not that we love God first, but that he first loved us. He first loved us. Sovereign Lord took the initiative of undeserved grace and made a promise to redeem us for himself. And you know, all the covenants we read of in the Bible, from Genesis 3 on to the end of the Bible, are all part of the one covenant of grace. They're all just the bud of Genesis 3.15 unfolding into the blossom of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, in these covenants with Adam and Noah and Abraham and Moses and David and so forth, there are some elements of the covenant that were specific to the Old Testament and were typical, they pointed ahead as a type, But there are other promises that are basic and fundamental and everlasting and remain exactly the same in the New Testament, particularly the one great promise of salvation, which is nothing less than the promise of fellowship with God through the Messiah, Christ Jesus. And in this covenant of life then, this covenant of grace, this covenant of God's Remarkable mercies is included the forgiveness of sins, justification being accepted by God, the promise of a heart and life renewed by the Spirit, and the promise of being glorified to live with God in unbroken fellowship forever. God has promised to be a God to believers and to their children after them. It's remarkable that God does this, isn't it? That he stoops so low as to form this bond with sinners. But in Genesis 17, this glorious covenant to be a God to your offspring now takes a step forward as God says, not only do I make this bond with you, Abraham, but I give to this covenant bond a sign. I mentioned before that the wedding ring is a pretty good illustration of a covenant sign, isn't it? That the promises spoken at a marriage receive a visible token, the wedding band. Well, here the visible token of this marriage between God and Abraham and his offspring is the sign of circumcision. It's clear that this is not a sign that Abraham thought up. He didn't say to God, you know, you've done so much for me. I really wanna do something for you. And you've spoken so much to me, God, I want to profess my faith to you. I think I'll circumcise myself. That's not what it was. But the sign is one that God institutes to bear witness to the truthfulness of God's word. It's important, isn't it? But many Baptists believe that baptism is really a profession of faith. We need to learn the sign language of the Bible, and the sign language of the Bible is always God giving a sign to bear witness to his word, not us giving a sign so that God might believe our word. And it's remarkable how important this sign was to God. He says in verse 11, it's a sign of the covenant. And he says in verse 10, this is my covenant. The sign of the covenant and the covenant are almost identified. So closely connected. God clearly wanted those who were in covenant relationship with him to be marked out as such. And he clearly wanted those in covenant relationship to know that they were in covenant relationship and to know God's promises were meaningful and real and trustworthy. God is serious about this. Any male who's not circumcised gets cut off from my covenant. He's broken my covenant. Now, this Old Testament sign was clearly one that the females did not, could not receive, but they were not excluded from the covenant. God was, in a big way, teaching about covenant representation in the Old Testament, and women are included under their representative head, their husband or their father. But clearly God wanted his people to see the covenant all around them. Now the Baptists object at times that circumcision was, well, wasn't equivalent to modern day baptism. That this old covenant sign was really just a sign of physical blessing. It was not the spiritual sign that baptism is, they would say. Sometimes it's said that circumcision was really just an ethnic badge. It marked you out as a Jew. It declared that you get the land of Israel, but there was nothing really, really spiritual about it. I'm not quite sure how you could come to that conclusion upon reading Genesis 17. To be a God to you and to your offspring after you. It's very much a spiritual sign. And it's proven in Romans chapter 4 when the Apostle Paul says that Abraham received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith. The main thing the Apostle Paul says was not the land of Israel, which was typical. It pointed ahead to the land of salvation. But the main thing was this, that he had a seal of the righteousness, a seal of justification, that he was accepted by God. This is not simply a sign of family or racial or national identity. It's a sign of life with God, of union and communion with the living God, that a sinner should be accepted by God. That's what it was about. I will be a God to you, you a sinner, I will cleanse you. So circumcision is not to be regarded loosely as some meaningless gesture or badge of national identity only, but it's to be regarded as a token of covenant fellowship with God, the kind of fellowship you read of in the Psalms, you are my God, I love you. The kind of fellowship that is spoken of in New Testament baptism. We are baptized into the name, into communion with the Father, Son, and Spirit. And circumcision too, you know. Like the water of baptism, points to a cleansing that was never to be only skin deep. But as the Lord says in Deuteronomy 30 verse six, the Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul and live. Baptism reminds us also, doesn't it, of our great need to be cleansed, that we may live with God, but also of the promise that God will wash us so we can come into his presence and live with him. Baptism, the new covenant sign, now is a bloodless sign. Aren't we glad of that? That the blood of Christ being shed, the payment's been made, and now the sign of the covenant has no blood in it, but points to the blood that satisfied it all, the blood of Jesus. How remarkable it is then that God wanted the babies of his covenant people to be circumcised, which was full of the greatest spiritual meaning there is, fellowship between God and sinners. And isn't it remarkable that at Genesis 17, as the Lord God institutes a covenant spiritual sign of life fellowship with God, isn't it remarkable that nowhere do we read here not In the least way is God concerned that eight day old males will be too young to understand it or that they might not receive it because they haven't yet repented and believed. Nor does God have any concern at this point that maybe they ought not to receive the sign because maybe some of them will grow up and not believe and walk away from the covenant. Those are not objections. God says mark them all. every one of your household, put the sign of the covenant upon them because they stand in relationship to me. That is an important, important reality. And God throughout all of the Old Testament then is jealous for his little ones, the children of believers. And you can read through the Old Testament and see the concern which God has for the children of the church. In remarkable ways, God is very much concerned with them. But one passage that strikes me or struck me this week is in Ezekiel chapter 16. Jeremiah limitations Ezekiel. 16 where the Lord says that he took Israel as a bride, as his wife. But then she was a harlot, she was an unfaithful woman. But not only that, in being an unfaithful woman she has done wrong to their children together. God and the woman have children and she has done God wrong. Ezekiel 16 verse 20, and you took your sons and your daughters whom you had born to me and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured, to your false gods. Were your whorings so small a matter that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them? God says to his wife, you bore children to me, and in your whoredom, you have slaughtered my children. My children delivered them up in fire to your false gods. Is it remarkable that God calls the children of his people, my children? And with jealousy, God rebukes his people for surrendering his children to the flames and sacrifice to false gods. So what does this mean, Genesis 17? Does it mean that every child in Israel was automatically saved? Well, certainly not. We have clear examples of covenant breakers who forsake God, who rebel against God, who get cut off from the covenant. We think of Esau. But that did not stop God from marking children at their birth as his own. In fact, instead, the Lord insists, repeatedly, that the church and parents of these God's children shall teach them His covenant, shall tell them about how God redeemed them, and shall train them in the ways of righteousness. For with the promises of the covenant, you are my people, come the obligations of God's covenant, we must live as his people. With the promises, I will redeem you, comes the demand for faith, to trust in this God of redemption. And those who will not walk in covenant with God, even though they be marked by the sign of the covenant, if they will not believe on God and love God and cling to God, then they shall be cut off from the covenant, and instead of covenant blessings, shall face covenant curses, and the supreme covenant curse is, Instead of having God say, I'm your God, it's to be forsaken by God, cast off from God. So God warns his covenant children, don't choose death, but choose life. So what do we see in Genesis 17? We see, number one, that the sovereign God established a gracious covenant of life, of fellowship with Abraham. We see, number two, that this covenant embraced Abraham's children, present and future. Number three, God sealed this covenant with a sign of circumcision. Number four, this sign was to be put upon every male member of the covenant at eight days old. Number five, this sign was richly spiritual. And number six, this sign also obligated each who received it to walk in faith and repentance. Now let's move to the New Testament. Have things changed? Have things changed now that we flip to the New Testament? Is the covenant with Abraham now annulled and wiped out? It's all forgotten. tear that first half of the Bible out and throw it away because now we have a brand new beginning. It has no relation to the old at all. If that was our estimation, we would misread the Bible greatly, right? Especially when Paul in Galatians chapter 3 says, listen to this, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us so that in Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles so that we might receive the promised spirit through faith. Christ died for sinners. He was accursed in our place so that the blessing of Abraham could come to us. Doesn't sound at all like God's covenant promises to Abraham are forgotten. God promised in Genesis 12 not only to bless Abraham, but he said, in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. And now Christ dies on the cross so that that blessing of Abraham could go to all the non-Jews, to the Gentiles, to the nations, to the world. When you hear that, then turn to Acts chapter two. And look at what's happening here. Acts chapter two. We are gathered in Acts 2 at Jerusalem to a lot of people there in Jerusalem who have no idea of the meaning of Jesus' death and don't believe that he has risen from the dead and they're very much steeped in Old Testament. They have come on the Feast of Pentecost to worship as they always have for hundreds of years, centuries at Jerusalem. And here, Jesus having ascended to heaven just 10 days earlier, Jesus now pours out from heaven the Holy Spirit, and so his disciples, his little band of disciples in Jerusalem start speaking in tongues, in foreign languages, and people who have come from all over the world, Jews, who've come from all over the world where they live, are hearing the gospel, the works of God proclaimed in their own language. The nations are being blessed, as it were. And yet many people don't get it, and they say, what's going on here? What's going on here? And some say, oh, they must be drunk. All these babblers are drunk. And then Peter stands up to preach, and he says, no, no, no. What's happening here is what Joel, the prophet, promised. Verse 16. Verse 17, and in the last days it shall be, God declares, I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your young men shall see visions. Joel had prophesied this coming of time would be a spiritual revival among the church's children. And then at the end of that, verse 21, it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Everyone. And then Peter preaches about how they murdered Jesus. And then they cry out, what shall we do? These Jews say, what shall we do? Can we be saved? And Peter says to them in verse 38, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself. What has just happened there? But Peter calls them to repentance and to being washed, coming under the sign of the covenant, promising the gift of the Holy Spirit, which is connected with the blessing of Abraham we just read in Galatians. And then Peter gives in verse 39 the reason for, he declares the promises to you who are repenting and believing, and for your children, You just quoted Joel, right? That the Spirit's going to be poured out on your children. And for all those far off, all who are called, you just quoted Joel about whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. What's going on here? You come to the beginning of the New Testament church right here and you ask the question, does God still have a place in his work of salvation for families, or in the New Testament now as God switched course, and now he just deals with individuals. And family relationship has no bearing now, no role for the family. Physical descent means nothing. Is that how it works now? Only believers are as people? And the children of believers, well, they're excluded. until they believe. There are just so many pagans out there, just like the world, without promises, without God, without hope in the world, until they believe. Is that what God does now suddenly at the beginning of the New Testament church? Not at all. The reach of the covenant now becomes wider. The promise is to, verse 39, the promise is to all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord God calls to himself, that's the new thing. Speaking in tongues to the nations, all those God called. But so far as the covenant family, things remain exactly the same. The promise is to you and to your children. Now to so many thousands of Jews who know so very well God's covenant with Abraham, what do you think they would have thought when they heard Peter declare that? Would some Baptist say, well, he just means all the children who are called, all those who will believe. Is that the way they would have heard that? These Jews who believe with all their hearts that their children were part of the covenant, and now they hear Peter say the promises to you and their children, of course not. Peter is simply speaking an Old Testament language of which they were very, very familiar. And they're hearing that this gospel, the Messiah who has come now, the Christ whom we crucified is raised from the dead and seated in heaven and poured out the spirit that there is salvation in him for us and for our children, the way God has always worked. Brothers and sisters, when God opens his arms to the Gentiles, he does not forsake his covenant children. That's the point. The thing that's new and the thing that's changed is God opens his arms to the nations, but the thing that is unchanged is God keeps his arms open to the children of the church. Peter's speaking from the Old Testament context, and apart from that Old Testament context, what Peter says in verse 39 makes no sense. If it's true, Peter's only saying the promise is only for children who believe, then why does he bother to mention children? Why didn't Peter just say, for the promise is for everyone who will be called by God? Now, Peter's language assumes that God's covenant ways, his working in the covenant home remains unchanged. And can you imagine possibly a stronger testimony than this one, that at the very beginning of the New Testament church, at the very climax now, the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant, at this very moment, God uses the same language, the same teaching to you and your children. I mean, how could God have said it any bolder? I just wonder what, when the Baptists say there's no verse that argues for infant baptism, Could there possibly be a louder way in which God could say that I still deal with the children of believers as covenant members? And Peter is speaking here in context of baptism, verse 38, repent and be baptized. And if, as Colossians 2 suggests, baptism is a replacement of circumcision, then what would you expect to find in Acts happening when people believe? Well, you'd expect that just as in the Old Testament when a man comes into Israel and gets circumcised and his boys get circumcised with him, household circumcisions, you'd expect to find in Acts household baptisms. A man believes that his household's baptized. And that's what you find, isn't it? Acts 16, Lydia at her household. Acts 16, the Philippian jailer and his household. Paul, 1 Corinthians 1, I baptize the household of Stephanus. It's rather remarkable. Baptists say, well it doesn't say there was a baby present. Well that's kind of the point, isn't it? It just assumes that God's ways continue, that when one believes his household comes into that covenant. It doesn't have to specify the ages of the children, and whether they'd come to the years of understanding. It simply says household. You know, the Baptists accuse us of arguing from silence here, and it's a weak argument from silence, they say, because we can't point to any verse that actually says any infant in the New Testament was baptized, or any command in the New Testament specifically says baptize babies. But you know who's really arguing for silence is the Baptists, and theirs is a very weak argument for silence. Because if after centuries of including the children of believers in the covenant, God now at the birth of the New Testament church, the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant, now decides from now on, no more children. I can tell you there'd be a lot of Jewish parents who would have had a thing or two to say about that. There would have been some kind of dispute, some kind of conflict. that we'd read of in the book of Acts. We read nothing of that. And I tell you this, that if God, after centuries of including children in his covenant, now suddenly turns away and says, no more children of believers in my household, don't you think God would have made that clear in his word? The point is this, the burden of proof, the burden of proof rests squarely upon the Baptist. It's not we who have to prove that children are now included in the covenant and now should receive the sign of the covenant. The burden of proof rests entirely on the Baptist to say, no more children, no more sign of the covenant for children. Prove it. Prove it. God is a gracious God. This is exactly the opposite. In both Colossians and Ephesians, in these letters written to the church, what do we have? Paul writing to the saints in Ephesus, and in the midst of that letter, he says, children, children, obey your parents in the Lord. Well, where did that come from if the children aren't part of the church? Why does he call them to obey in the Lord if they're not in the Lord? You see, we have lots of indications in the New Testament. Christ taking up babies in his arms, infants, to bless them and call them heirs of the kingdom. 1 Corinthians 7, children have even one believing parent, they're holy or set apart to the Lord. We have various indications that God's ways continue. Our God, our gracious God, embraces the believer and his children. But if the Old Testament says it and the New Testament says it, and then finally this morning, We ought to say it. We ought to say it. The argument for infant baptism is very simple if you haven't caught on yet. It's this. The children of Christians belong to the covenant. They're covenant members. Therefore, give them the sign of the covenant. They're entitled to it. But it's not simply enough to believe this or even enough to make the case for it. We must speak it. We must speak. to our children. If God in baptism has spoken to our children, we must tell them what God has said. They weren't old enough to remember. They don't know what happened. We must proclaim to the children of the covenant, God spoke to you, God called you his own, God pledged that he would wash you, that he would make you his forever. We as the church have something to say to the children of the church. We as parents have something to drill into our children. We must tell them over and over and drill into them this reality that God, the gracious God, whom you don't deserve, has stooped down and sent you by name. You are mine. And I love you. And I give my son to die for your sins. And I will wash you. And I will make you mine forever. We ought to labor, work, and pray to cause the children of the church as much as we are able to see the joy and the wonder of this. Boys and girls, do you hear this? Do you see this? That you want to say to yourself, who am I that the living God would come to me and at the baptismal font speak a word to me and put his mark upon me and say to me, you are mine? Who am I that I was born into the church, I was born into a Christian home, when all kinds of boys and girls out there are born into unbelieving homes and who live under the wrath of God, and I am born into this blessing? What a wonder. Parents, we must speak. We must speak it. We must teach, we must train. We must declare to our children the things God has spoken to them. We must teach them the way we get excited about this, more excited than about their ball game. That this is what matters in life, that God has formed a bond of fellowship with you. Young people, are you amazed by grace? As you walk around wearing your baptism, are you amazed that God has loved me? That the blood of the Son of God was shed for me? With this glorious promise comes obligation, and we must speak this as well. We have a responsibility, don't we, that as God has set us apart from the world and set us apart to himself, we must live to the Lord. Our obligation is to believe the promises God spoke at baptism and to stand up and say, I believe, that's what professional faith is, I believe the promises made to me at baptism, and I stake my life on Jesus Christ. We must warn the children of the church against a falling away. of trampling underfoot the blood of Jesus Christ and of treating it as a cheap thing, for which those who are marked with baptism have no problem now in rebelling and being disobedient to their parents, or no problem in running away from the church, or no problem in engaging their bodies in sexual morality. No, I am marked as the Lord's. I am fully to God. This is my covenant obligation to say to the God who said, I am your God, to say to him, I'm your child, and I will live for you. Does this mean all the children baptized will embrace God? And they'll do that at their youngest years? No, it doesn't. God works in his own schedule. And Christ has told us plainly that he has come not just to bring peace, but he's come to bring division, even a sword, even into our homes. Jesus said clearly that his gospel, his kingdom gospel, would actually provoke divisions in the closest relationships between parents and children. And Jesus said that if we would be his disciples, we must love him more than our families. willing to lose family for his sake because our primary allegiance is to Jesus Christ. And these are painful reminders that we live in a sinful world and our hearts are by nature rebellious and it's possible for children of the covenant to spurn the promises of the covenant made to them at baptism and refuse to respond in faith. But let us not remember, brothers and sisters, that our hope for ourselves and for our children is not in our strength and ability to purge our own hearts, but it's in the God of the covenant who said in Deuteronomy 30, and the Lord's your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring so that you will love me. So we pray, looking to this God of salvation. We may not cling to our family, but we must relinquish it and take up our cross. We may not redefine Christianity to make room for rebellion and unfaithful children, but as we lay our family in the hands of the Lord Christ, we may receive them back in Christ Jesus wherever the Lord has willed. And the good news is this, what we can never hold together by human strength and human persuasion or by sinful accommodation the Lord is able to restore by his mighty power. Some may depart the covenant forever, but many more not so. For the Lord God himself has promised to restore and reorder families in the coming of his kingdom. God promised through his prophets the restoration of the covenant home. And the last two verses of the Old Testament are what? Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction. Luke 1 takes that up at the coming of John the Baptist leading to the coming of Christ. A Savior comes to restore the hearts of parents to their children and children to their parents that they meet again now in covenant fellowship with God. And our hope, therefore, is not in our abilities to train, teach, or pray, but our great hope is in Jesus Christ. the great Lord of the covenant, the mediator of the covenant, whose blood and spirit are everything for us. Let us tell our children the good news. Let us impress upon our children the obligation and let us pray in the hope that the Lord of the covenant can do it. Amen. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your precious promises. We stand amazed at the glory of your covenant and of your condescending grace When we deserve death, you came to us with the promise of life. Oh God, we praise you for washing us, for cleansing us, and we thank you for including in the covenant our children. And we do pray, Heavenly Father, that their baptism and its meaning would be known to them, that they might hear of the riches of the promises, that they're children of the King, that they might feel the weight of their obligations in joyful obedience to follow him, trusting, in his cleansing work. O God, grant this. Where, O Lord, there's waywardness to the covenant, where there's rebellion, we pray that you bring to mind, to those who've wandered, the reality that they cannot escape their marking, that which could be such a great joy to them becomes now a testimony against them. But may it humble them and bring them back in repentance to you. O God, we pray, work your sovereign grace the glory of your great name, we pray for Jesus' sake, amen.