If we look at Matthew chapter 19 there in verse number 13, Matthew chapter 19 verse
number 13, it says, we have the story here, then were there brought unto him, that's
unto Jesus, little children that he should put his hands on them and pray and the disciples
rebuked them.
You know, there's a lot of times, many times where Jesus Christ would actually speak
about little children in many ways and forms and here we have a situation where
we have these little children, you know, wanting access to Jesus Christ, I assume the parents
have said, hey, go and talk to Jesus.
You know, go and see what Jesus has to say and, you know, just like it is in a lot
of places, you know, in some churches children are not allowed, you know, in some churches
they'll try to remove the children from the church, you know, because they make
a bit of noise or, you know, we just heard a little baby crying just earlier and for
some people they find that frustrating or whatever, but look, when it comes to Jesus Christ,
he does not react that way at all.
These disciples, these disciples are rebuking the parents who are bringing the children,
but Jesus Christ then says these words in verse number 14 and Jesus said suffer,
that means allow, or allow, suffer, allow little children and forbid them not to come
unto me for as such is the kingdom of heaven and he laid his hands on them and departed
thence.
So you can see that Jesus Christ had time for little children.
I mean, I know Jesus Christ was very busy when he walked this earth.
He was casting out devils, you know, he was healing the sick, he was preaching the gospel,
he was preaching the word of God, but you know what, when the little children came,
he had time to stop, lay his hands upon them, spend time with the children, he made
sure the children knew they were important to him and brethren, little children are
important to this church, to Blessed Hope Baptist Church, okay, and I don't say that
just because a whole bunch of them, okay, but all the children in this church are
important to me, should be important to all the families here and is definitely important
to Jesus Christ.
And so, Jesus Christ has also, there's another situation where we won't look at it right
now, where he does speak about little children as well, and let me just give you
the context of that situation.
You may recall when the disciples are arguing amongst themselves as to who's going to be
the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and what does God do, what does Jesus Christ
do?
He takes a little child and sets them there in the midst of them and says, well, if
you don't humble yourself like this little child, you won't even enter, you won't
even see the kingdom of heaven, okay?
And so what Jesus Christ is speaking about there is that our way to heaven, you know,
Jesus Christ came to die on the cross for our sins, he was buried three days later,
he rose again from the dead, and he shed his blood, and he paid the penalty for
our sins, for the wrong that we've done, you know, what Jesus Christ is teaching
us is that going to heaven isn't about your pride, it isn't about, well, I'm doing
so good, look at my good works, I live a good life, and many times when we knock
on people's doors, isn't that what they say, well, I'm a good person, I believe
I should deserve to go to heaven, well, that's not the case, in order for you to go to
heaven, according to the Bible, you have to become like little children, you have
to be able to humble yourself and say, you know what, God, I'm not good enough
for heaven, I'm not perfect, I don't meet up to the standard of God, and
I know God requires perfection, and I know perfection can only come through Jesus Christ,
Jesus Christ died for me, he rose again from the dead for me, and so it's just
me placing my faith, my trust, my full reliance on Jesus Christ alone that
will take me to heaven, and so yeah, of course, you know, getting saved requires
you to first humble yourself like a little child, so we understand that
context, but when we're looking at this context, look at verse number 14
again, Christ is now speaking directly, you know, and literally about little
children, let's read it again, verse number 14, it says, but Jesus said suffer
little children and forbid them not to come unto me, now notice the next words,
for of such, for of such, such what? Well, so of such little children is the kingdom of
heaven, what Christ is saying, not only do we need to humble ourselves as little
children to be saved, but heaven itself is made up of little children, okay, and
so the title for the sermon this morning, brethren, is babies in the
kingdom of heaven, babies in the kingdom of heaven, did you know little children,
little toddlers, babies that perish, 100% of them are in heaven, 100% of them
are in heaven, okay, and of course we are having our special memorial
service for little Andrew, and you know, I'm telling you, you know, without a
shadow of a doubt, according to the words of Jesus Christ, that little child,
that little baby, is in heaven with the Lord Jesus Christ, you know, and
sometimes when we think about passed on loved ones, and you know, we have
memorial services or funeral services, you know, many times we are seeking to
comfort one another, aren't we, you know, we're seeking to find the comfort of the
Lord, and sometimes things are said in these services for that comfort, but
I'm not saying that babies are in heaven just for comfort, it is, it is
true, according to God's Word, this is a fact that little children make up
the kingdom of heaven, you know, little children are perishing, you know, every
single day, you know, unfortunately a lot of mothers are doing it to their own
children, things like abortions, okay, little children perish from
miscarriages, you know, even in this case, you know, newborn children perish,
you know, there are children in other places of this world that perish just
because of lack of food, you know, sicknesses, and they don't have the
nutrients, they don't have clean water, little children are perishing, you know,
in significant numbers across this world every single day, you know what,
and when they close their eyes in this earth and they open their eyes, they are
with God, they are in heaven, they're in the kingdom of heaven, for such is
the kingdom of heaven, Jesus Christ knew this truth, of course, because
it's from heaven, okay, and that's why for him, little children are important,
that question often comes up, you know, what happens to a little child that
perishes, and people come up with their own, you know, ideas of what
happens to that child, and they'll say, well, that child grew up in a, you know,
was born in a Christian family, then he goes to heaven, right, they'll have these
kind of different, you know, if it wasn't from a Christian family, well,
we don't know, or, you know, God has this hypothetical alternate universe
out there, you know, that if he did see that child grow up, he would know
whether he would have believed on Christ or not, and then that's how
God bases his judgment, that's not the case, you know, every little child goes
to heaven, and my purpose for the sermon this morning is to first prove
that to you from the Bible, and then to show you the advantages that
little children, little babies have to have gone to heaven before the rest of us, okay?
So, first thing I want you to turn to please, you can turn to
Psalm 22 in your Bibles, turn to Psalm 22 and verse number nine.
Psalm 22 and verse number nine.
And I know little Andrew is not here with us this morning,
but what we're about to read are true for him.
These are true words for him.
It says in verse number nine,
But thou art he that took me out of the womb,
thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts.
I was cast upon thee from the womb,
thou art my God from my mother's belly.
You know what's wonderful about little Andrew?
He's not here with us in his church service this morning,
but he's been with us many, many Sundays.
I mean, many church services, he has been here in the mother's belly,
in the mother's womb, he's been here listening to God's word preached.
He's been here listening to songs of praises sung about our almighty God.
Listen, little Andrew's God was the God of the Bible from his mother's belly.
From his mother's belly.
You know, he's been hearing the words of God.
He's been hearing the Bible.
You know, you may remember the story where when Mary,
you know, Jesus' mother was pregnant,
that John the Baptist leaped in the womb of his mother.
You know, the cousin leaped when he found out that Mary was pregnant.
And so we can see here when a child is in the area,
in the environment where he's in church and he's with a Christian family
and with Christian brethren,
that that child has already been here, brethren, in our church.
What an amazing blessing that little Andrew can say,
thou art my God from my mother's belly.
Okay, so, you know, I know which God he worshiped.
You know, it's the only God that he ever became aware of.
You know, many of you have come from false religion.
You know, I believe in something false or even a false type of Christianity.
There's a lot of Christianities out there teaching you the wrong thing.
Well, little Andrew's never going to be confused.
He's had the right God from the very beginning.
He's been hearing the Bible preached from the very beginning
and then he's gone to be with his Heavenly Father in heaven.
What a blessing. What a blessing.
I'm going to quickly read to you.
We've been going through Jeremiah on Sundays, as you know.
Just a reminder, in Jeremiah chapter 1, verse number 5,
because the question becomes, well, you know,
should that child have come into this world?
You know, should that pregnancy have developed
to lose a child at such an early age?
But I want you to notice something, okay?
We often like the idea of knowing that God has a plan for our lives.
You know, and I truly believe in our, you know, God has a plan for us.
Sometimes we mess up the plan, but you know what?
When we mess up plan A, God has plan B, okay?
When we mess up plan B, God has plan C for our lives, okay?
God has a plan for our lives.
And let me assure you that God has a plan
for all these little children that have perished.
And I'm not saying that the plan no longer exists
because they're not on this earth.
No, they are seeing out their plan, okay?
So in Jeremiah chapter 1, verse number 5,
when God speaks of Jeremiah, he says,
before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee.
Let me read that again.
Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee.
You know what?
Even before the child was conceived,
God knew little Andrew's personality.
He knew what plan he had in store for Andrew.
You know, God was not taken by surprise
when Andrew passed away, okay?
He was not taken by surprise.
And then it says, and before thou camest forth
out of the womb, I sanctified thee,
and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
You know what?
God already had a plan, a plan A there for Jeremiah.
You, when you're born, I'm gonna use,
you're gonna be trained up.
You're going to serve me
and you're gonna become a prophet to the nations.
God had a plan for Jeremiah
when he was in the mother's womb.
And even before he was in the mother's womb,
God already had a plan for him.
Let me assure you, brethren,
that God has had and has a plan for Andrew as well.
And all other little children
that you may be familiar with,
that have perished, that have gone to be with the Lord,
they have a plan of God as well.
God has a purpose for them, brethren, okay?
God has a purpose for them.
And yes, it's not gonna be fully realized on this earth,
but it's been realized in heaven.
It's been realized in heaven.
Now, I do wanna show you another passage in the Bible.
If you can please turn to 2 Samuel 12.
2 Samuel 12.
So we've seen that, you know, a child, you know,
we've seen how little children
make up the kingdom of heaven.
We've seen that when a baby is conceived
in the mother's womb,
and even before it's conceived,
God has a plan for that child.
But I just wanna show you here
in 2 Samuel 12,
and I'm sure you're very familiar with this,
but we do have a story of a child
that after it was born,
it was soon, it soon passed away, okay?
And this is the story, of course, of King David
and the sin that he committed with Bathsheba.
And the Lord decided to take that little child away
that was conceived.
But let's pick it up there in 2 Samuel 12
and verse number 15.
2 Samuel 12 and verse number 15.
It says that Nathan, that's Nathan the prophet,
departed unto his house,
and the Lord struck the child
that Uriah's wife bare unto David,
and it was very sick.
David therefore besought God for the child,
and David fasted and went in
and lay all night upon the earth.
So David, knowing that God was going
to take this child away,
this child was going to pass on,
he had become very sick,
David now is seeking God,
he's praying to God,
he's fasting and he's asking,
God, God, can you please save my little child?
Verse number 17.
And the elders of his house arose
and went to him to raise him up from the earth,
but he would not.
Neither did he eat bread with them.
And it came to pass on the seventh day
that the child died.
So the child in this situation lived for a week here.
And the servants of David feared
to tell him that the child was dead.
For they said, behold,
while the child was yet alive,
we spake unto him
and he would not hearken to our voice.
How will he then vex himself
if we tell him that the child is dead?
So David's servants were so worried.
Look how David's been responding,
the child is passing and he's upset,
he's mourning, he's seeking the Lord,
and they were afraid to come and tell David
that the child had passed away.
They were afraid, what will David do?
He's already in great anguish.
Verse number 20.
Then David arose from the earth and washed
and anointed himself and changed his apparel
and came into the house of the Lord and worshiped.
And he came, then he came to his own house
and when he required they set bread before him
and he did eat.
And so brethren, what we're looking at in verse number 20
is the concept of what we're doing today in a sense.
We know this child has perished,
but I want the family to realize
that this is a very biblical thing
to get ready to come to the house of God,
as we've done today, you know?
And to worship God,
and then we can set some bread before us and eat, okay?
So we've had the blessing of many of you
bringing a meal to share for lunch today, okay?
But we see the biblical principle here,
we see the pattern taking place here.
Why is David responding in such a positive manner though?
Okay, it's still hard for him, don't get me wrong, okay?
I'm sure he's still hurting.
But you can see here, he's ready to move on,
he's ready to have a positive mindset,
but why is that, why is that?
Okay, well let's keep finding out why that might be
in verse number 21.
Then said his servants unto him,
what thing is this that thou hast done?
Thou didst fast and weep for the child
while it was alive,
but when the child was dead,
thou didst rise and eat bread.
And he said, so this is what David says,
he says, while the child was yet alive,
I fasted and wept, for I said,
who can tell whether God will be gracious to me
that the child may live?
But now he's dead, wherefore should I fast?
Can I bring him back again?
So that's a good question, David's asking,
listen, he's not coming back to me, he's gone,
he has gone, but now this is this,
I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.
Okay, so what do we learn there?
King David, a man after God's own heart,
you know, he wrote so many of the psalms
that we read about in the Bible
that brings so much comfort and relief,
he was able to say that you know what,
that child that has passed, he will not return to me,
but I shall go to be with him.
So if we know that David, a saved man,
when he perishes will go to heaven,
where is this child?
In heaven as well, in heaven as well.
This is a little infant,
so the words of Jesus Christ are true.
You know, the kingdom of heaven
is made up of little children.
Can you please turn to Romans chapter seven,
Romans chapter seven please, Romans chapter seven.
I just want to give you the doctrine here,
understanding why is it that little children
that perish go to be with the Lord?
Because we know that we're all born with sin nature, amen.
We all have disobeyed God, none of us are perfect.
Again, we don't deserve to go to heaven on our own.
The Bible says there is none good, no, not one.
Again, you go door to door, talk to people,
I'm a good person.
The Bible says there is none good, no, not one.
Okay, and again, we think we're good
because we compare ourselves to other human beings.
We may compare ourselves to murderers and rapists.
We may compare ourselves to the worst of the worst,
but when we compare ourselves to a holy God
who is without sin, truly there is none good, no, not one.
So the question is,
well then why is it that little children,
why is it that when they perish,
they go to be with the Lord?
Well, the answer to this is found in Romans chapter seven
and verse number nine, Romans chapter seven
and verse number nine.
Now these are the words of the apostle Paul
and we know that Paul at this point is saved, amen.
He's alive.
I mean, he's writing this epistle.
You know, he's actually alive of course,
but so when you look at these words,
we want to see what does he mean by the words
we're about to read here.
It says in Romans chapter seven verse number nine,
he writes, for I was alive without the law once.
He says, look, there was a time
when I was alive in the past, okay?
But when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.
Hold on Paul, what do you mean you died?
You're writing this epistle.
Well, he's not writing about his physical death.
He's writing about his spiritual death, okay?
So spiritually, he was once alive,
but once sin has revived,
once he's realized he's a sinner
before an almighty holy God, then he died.
He died spiritually, okay?
Look at verse number 10.
And the commandment which was ordained to life,
I found to be unto death.
For sin, taken occasion by the commandment,
deceived me and by it slew me.
Wherefore the law is holy and the commandment holy
and just and good.
All right, so what do we learn there?
We learn that when we come into this world,
we are alive, spiritually alive.
At some point, brethren,
you know, I don't know the exact point, okay, that is.
You know, little children are able to understand
the gospel at very young ages
and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
But at some point, you know,
and you know, we've all come to this realization,
if you're, you know, an adult at least,
at the very least, I know teenagers too,
you know that, well, I've sinned against God.
When you realize that you've sinned,
that you're not perfect,
that you've done wrong things,
and that within you have this desire to sin,
then you realize, boy, what's gonna happen to my future?
And when you realize
that you've sinned against an almighty God,
that's when you die spiritually, okay?
And that's, you say, well, you know,
that doesn't seem right.
But yeah, but that's when Christ has come,
the Father has sent the Son
to die on the cross on our behalf.
So instead of us dying, you know,
and going into an eternity of hell,
we have Jesus Christ who paid the penalty of sin,
and that's simply by believing on Him,
by believing His death, burial, and resurrection,
yes, by faith alone, not your good works,
the Bible calls it a free gift,
we can be made alive again,
we can be born again of the Spirit,
and we can be 100% sure
that we will be with God in heaven,
with all the little children
that were still alive spiritually.
They did not have an opportunity to die,
they did not have that opportunity
to come to the point of realization
that they are sinners against the Lord.
And this is why little children,
little babies, when they perish,
they go to be with God in heaven, okay?
This is why we know they are with God in heaven.
All right, can you please now turn
to Philippians chapter one, verse number 20?
So I've given you the doctrine,
and there are other passages that I could turn to,
but I hope that gives you enough thoughts
and understand that the Bible's
super consistent about this.
You know, it's not like the Roman Catholics teach,
you better get the babies sprinkled with water,
you know, to escape hell,
and then they, you know,
hopefully they go into limbo, purgatory,
and go from there, see what happens.
That's not the case, that's not the case.
All children, all children who perish
go to be with the Father in heaven.
Philippians chapter one, please, verse number 20.
Philippians chapter one, verse number 20.
When we think about little Andrew and his short life,
and as sad as it is,
and we may say that, well,
in life he's not really had the opportunity
to magnify the Lord.
That's the language that we're gonna see
in this passage here.
But I want you to notice verse number 20 here,
let's read it together.
It says, according to my earnest expectation and my hope,
that in nothing I shall be ashamed,
but that with all boldness as always,
so now also Christ, and notice this,
shall be magnified in my body,
whether it be by life or by death.
Whether it be by life or by death.
You know, we may look at the situation and say,
well, you know, it's a shame, it's sad,
you know, it's heavy burden
that little Andrew has not been able
to magnify the Lord in life,
but listen, he has been able to magnify the Lord in death.
Again, look, we've got a full house today.
We've got a full church today.
You know, there's been a driving desire
to be in the house of the Lord this Sunday,
yes, to comfort the families, yes.
You know, to remember Andrew,
to bring to remembrance his life,
but you know what has given us a full house today?
It's his death, it's his death, you know?
And here we are in the house of the Lord,
we sing praises unto him,
we've had the Bible read,
we're preaching God's word,
we are magnifying God in this house
because of little Andrew.
He has brought us together,
and in death, he is magnifying the Lord.
You know, in his death,
it has brought the love, you know,
of the brethren together,
you know, the desire to fulfill a need
and to ask the question,
what is it that I can do for the family?
And many of you have been able to help out,
you know, in that area,
as I've already covered on Thursday,
you know, with the burial and the funeral.
Praise God, these things magnify God.
And it was done through the death of a little child.
The first point that I just want to bring to your attention
as we go through this
is that Andrew's passing has already magnified the Lord.
It has already magnified the Lord.
He's not missed out on that opportunity.
He's already done it.
He's only lived for one day,
and he's already magnified the Lord.
What an amazing thing, what a glorious thing.
Let's keep going in that passage, verse number 21.
And look, again, these words,
they're not just to comfort us.
These are true words.
Okay, these are true words.
Verse number 21 says,
for to me to live is Christ,
and to die is gain.
That's another way of saying profitable.
You know, Paul is saying, look,
it's more profitable to actually perish,
to pass on,
because it's so much better in heaven.
It's great on earth if we can live for Christ,
but you know what's even better than that?
What's more profitable than that?
Is being at home in heaven with the Lord.
Verse number 22.
But if I live in the flesh,
this is the fruit of my labor,
yet what I shall choose I what not.
For I am straight betwixt two,
look at this, having a desire to depart,
and to be with Christ,
which is far better, far better.
You know what?
The next point that I wanna bring to your attention today
is that babies that pass are in a far better place.
A far better place.
As much as we would want this child
with us this morning,
as much as we would want him in the church
that we could look upon him and hold him,
you know, and think of his life,
well, you know what, for little Andrew,
he's in the best place he's ever gonna be.
Okay, and again, I don't say that just to comfort.
This is what the Bible teaches us.
He's having the time of his life, brethren.
He's having the time of his life.
He's seeing what God is doing in heaven.
We know that Christ went to build mansions for us.
He's out there working, getting ready,
getting heaven ready for those of us
that will eventually go there in the future,
and just watching the work.
You know, he may even be helping out in the work.
We don't know exactly what service the Lord has for him,
but remember, God did have a plan for him, okay?
And that plan has been realized in heaven.
Can you please turn to Revelation 21, please?
Revelation 21 in verse number three.
We are fast-forwarding into the future.
You know, the Bible's a prophetic book,
speaks about future events,
and the period that we're looking at now
is the eternal state.
You know, when Christ comes back and roars and rain,
and one day God's gonna create a new heaven, a new earth,
so this is the eternal state with God.
Well, that's still a future event for us,
for baby Andrew.
He's already in that eternal state with God.
And it says here in verse number three,
Revelation 21 verse number three,
it says, and I heard a great voice out of heaven saying,
behold, the tabernacle of God is with men,
and he will dwell with them,
and they shall be his people,
and God himself shall be with them,
and be their God.
And notice verse number four.
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes,
and there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow nor crying,
neither shall there be any more pain,
for the former things are passed away.
All right?
So what's the next advantage that we see?
Why is it that we cry?
Why is it that we weep?
Why is it that we experience pain?
Why is it that we experience death?
Why is it that we have tears in our eyes, brethren?
Why is that?
Once again, because we live in a sin-cursed,
wicked world.
And you know what?
As we live through this world,
you are gonna go through different types of hardships.
You are gonna go through different types of burdens.
You're gonna be hurting at different points,
and different families will experience different hurts
to other people.
We are all gonna shed tears.
We are all gonna feel pain, okay?
And it's not pleasant.
It's not something we just like, you know,
desire and enjoy necessarily, right?
But you know what?
There's come a time when we're not gonna have to deal
with this sin-cursed world anymore.
We're not gonna have to deal with all this pain,
suffering, all these consequences of sin.
We don't have to deal with that one day,
you know, in the future.
The third point that I wanna drive home in this message
is that babies that pass will never know sin.
They will never know sin, nor the consequences of sin.
What a blessing!
Brethren, I hate it when I sin, don't you?
When you sin, you feel defiled, you know?
You feel, Lord, I failed you again.
And we know that we're just gonna sin till the day we die.
And not only the sin, knowing that we've disobeyed God
and we failed God once again,
but many times those sins have lasting consequences,
lasting pains, lasting sorrows.
You know what?
Little Andrew will never experience that.
He will never, he doesn't know what sin is.
He doesn't know what the consequences of sin is.
What a blessing.
You know what?
That's what we're looking forward to,
at the resurrection, the new resurrected bodies
that will never sin.
That's what we're desiring for.
That's what the whole creation is grounding for.
Little Andrew's already there.
He's already at that place where he will
not only never sin, but never had the opportunity to sin
or to face the consequences of sin.
What a blessing.
What a blessing for these little children
that are in heaven.
You're in the book of Revelation.
Please turn to Revelation 22 and verse number three.
Revelation 22 and verse number three.
As I said to you when we started, you know,
that God knows little children from the womb.
He has a plan for them.
You know, he had a day in Jeremiah
to be a prophet to the nations.
We will never know on this earth
the exact plan for little Andrew, okay?
But again, just because that plan
is not being fulfilled on this earth, you know,
we need to understand that his plan
is being fulfilled in heaven right now, okay?
It says here in Revelation 22 verse number three.
Reverend, when we go to be with God in heaven,
when we are in that eternal state,
we are still serving God.
You know, you don't stop serving God in heaven.
You keep serving God, meaning God still has a work for us.
He still has a job for us.
He still has a purpose for us, even when we're in heaven.
And again, little Andrew, you know what?
His purpose, the plan that God had for him
was not on this earth, brethren.
He's up there in heaven, worshiping God,
serving God, he's fulfilling the, you know,
the role that God has for him right now.
You know, it's not like, you know,
he's missed out on something.
No, he's doing the exact role
that God has ordained him to fulfill in heaven.
What a thought that he can be serving
the Lord God right now.
Because brethren, aren't we all just even on this earth
trying to serve God right now?
But again, we have the flesh,
we have this sinful state,
and so we fail in our service for God, don't we?
You know, we know how God wants us to live
and walk in accordance to his ways
and, you know, and we sin and we fail
and we know God's plans for us
and many times we don't fulfill God's plans
for whatever reason, you know,
and then we have that battle once again,
the spirit versus the flesh
and the spirit wants to serve God,
spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.
You know what?
Little Andrew doesn't have that problem.
He's fulfilling the role God has for him perfectly.
He has no flesh to battle with.
He's not gonna fail in his service.
We fail in our service.
We fail in our faithfulness.
Little Andrew's never gonna fail.
He's got, yeah, boy, you know,
he's soldiering on up there in heaven right now,
serving the Lord, never having that flesh
to battle with, never failing on the job,
he's doing the exact work that God has for him,
the exact service, the worship
that God expects from him in heaven.
So, you know what?
Here's the fourth point that I wanted to drive there,
you know, that babies that pass
are fulfilling their purpose in service for God in heaven.
That's an important point for you to remember.
Important point for you to remember.
Can you please turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter four.
1 Thessalonians chapter four.
1 Thessalonians chapter four and verse number 13.
And we're going to read the very famous passage
on the rapture here, the resurrection.
If you're not familiar with that concept,
you know, one day Christ is going to return,
he's gonna come back in the clouds
and this old body, this sinful body will perish.
It's gonna be changed
and God is gonna give us a new resurrected body,
which is like the one that the Lord Jesus Christ had
when he was resurrected from the dead, okay?
This is known as the rapture.
The word rapture is not in the Bible,
but the word resurrection is in the Bible.
1 Thessalonians chapter four, verse number 13.
It says here,
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren,
concerning them which are asleep.
Now, when it says here which are asleep,
he's not speaking about there are Christians
that are just sleeping.
You know, they're just lazy sleeping in Christians.
No, when the Bible says here that those that are asleep
it's speaking about those that are saved in Christ,
but have passed on.
Yes, adults, of course, little children, of course, okay?
We are, in a sense, as believers,
yes, the body perishes, it dies,
but truly, we will never die.
You know, truly, when the body passes on,
it's really asleep.
It's waiting for a future event to come.
It's going to wake up.
The point of being asleep means
that you're gonna wake up from sleep at some point.
Okay, that's the whole point of being asleep, okay?
And so why is Paul writing about this?
Because it says there,
You know, the unbelieving world has no hope.
They don't know what the future holds.
They don't know about their loved ones.
They don't know where they're gonna be when they pass on.
We don't have to sorrow like that.
It doesn't say we should not sorrow.
It just says we should not sorrow
as others which have no hope,
meaning we have a hope to come, okay?
Because we know when that body perishes,
it's not really perishing, it's asleep, okay?
It's waiting to be woken up from the dead.
Because in verse number 14, it says,
For we believe that Jesus died and rose again,
even so them also which sleep in Jesus
will God bring with Him.
So those that sleep with Jesus, where are they?
They're with God.
Because God's gonna bring them with Him
at this resurrection.
Verse number 15,
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord,
that we which are alive and remain,
that's us right now,
as long as we live until Christ comes back,
which are alive and remain,
unto the coming of the Lord,
shall not prevent them which are asleep.
The word prevent there is an old English word
for to go before, okay?
So what Bob was saying is here,
yes, we're going to have the resurrection,
those that are alive, okay?
But we're not going to go before those that are asleep.
Meaning those that are asleep,
those that have passed on
are going to experience the resurrection of the body first.
They're gonna wake up first
before the rest that are on the earth.
Verse number 16,
For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven
with a shout, with the voice of the archangel,
and with the trump of God.
Now look at this.
And the dead in Christ shall rise first.
Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air,
and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
What's the comfort that we can have as Christians?
We know that at the time of the resurrection
that baby Andrew is already gonna be there in the clouds
waiting for the rest of us, okay?
All believers that have gone before us,
they're gonna be ready.
They're gonna get the resurrected body first.
Christ comes in the clouds.
You know, we hear the sound of the trumpet,
the sound, the shout, you know?
And believers that have died in Christ,
they're gonna be up in heaven.
They're gonna be up in the clouds, I should say.
And then the rest of us that remain on this earth
that are believers,
we're going to receive our new resurrected bodies
and we're gonna be in the clouds
with all those that have gone before us, okay?
So the fifth thing that I wanna explain to you
or share in this sermon
is that babies that pass
will experience the resurrection first, first, okay?
You know, sometimes I hear Christians say,
you know, I wanna make it to the rapture.
You know, I don't wanna miss out on the rapture.
No one's missing out on the rapture.
In fact, if you pass on, you get to go first.
You get the resurrection body first, you know?
So, you know, not to worry, you know?
Yes, the body of little Andrew will be buried this week
but it's just a sleep, brethren.
It's just a sleep.
One day, those graves are gonna be open.
God's gonna take whatever substance is left of those bodies,
you know?
We don't want those bodies anyway.
They're corrupted, they're sick,
they've got that sinful nature in them, right?
God's gonna give us a new resurrected body
and so shall we be together in the clouds,
not only with the Lord
but all the brethren that have gone before us.
And so these are comforting words, aren't they?
We're for comfort one another with these words.
As I said, the fifth thing that I wanna mention today
is that babies that pass
will experience the resurrection first.
Can you please now turn back to the book of Revelation
and go to Revelation chapter 20.
Revelation chapter 20 and verse number six.
Because the next thought might be,
well, yes, you know, he doesn't experience sin.
Babies that perish will not experience sin
and they will be resurrected
so they're not gonna miss out on that body,
you know, that new perfect body to come.
But, you know, the thought might be, you know,
well, it would have been nice
if they just had an opportunity to be on the earth
and lived longer lives and lived out their lives, okay?
The truth of the matter is
they're still gonna experience this earth, okay?
In Revelation chapter 20 and verse number six.
Revelation chapter 20 and verse number six says,
blessed and holy is he
that have part in the first resurrection.
We just read about that, okay?
So that's all believers.
On such the second death,
the second death is the lake of fire by the way,
hath no power,
but they shall be priests of God and of Christ
and shall reign with him a thousand years.
Brethren, what's the average lifespan for a man these days?
I think worldwide it's like 75.
I think in Australia the average lifespan is about 85.
We have a longer lifespan than most of the other world,
okay?
That might seem like a long life
in comparison to one day.
Might seem long.
But what about a thousand years?
I mean, what's 85 years in comparison to a thousand years?
Okay?
What is the promise here?
The promise here,
little Andrew's not gonna miss out on the earth, okay?
He's gonna walk this earth.
He hasn't missed out as an opportunity.
He's gonna be on this earth for a thousand years.
Christ comes back.
We have our new resurrected bodies.
We have that first resurrection.
We are going to rule and reign with him,
with Christ a thousand years.
Now, what's even better than that?
But you know, yes, he's gonna experience the earth,
but what's even better?
He's not gonna experience a wicked earth.
He's not going to experience unjust governments
and unjust laws.
He's not going to experience laws
that are against the word of God.
He's not going to experience this wicked,
sinful lifestyle that we have to put up with
in this earth.
When he comes back to this earth,
the whole earth is gonna be submissive to the Lord God,
submissive to Jesus Christ as King over the entire earth.
So brethren, the sixth thing
that I want to bring to this sermon
is that babies that pass will only know the earth
as submissive to Christ.
Boy, that's what I want.
I want this whole world,
I want our nation to be submissive to Christ.
I want our nation to have fear of God, at least.
You know, I want our governments to take up God's word
and to build laws built on God's word
and to stick their nose out of businesses
that are not theirs.
I want that.
I get frustrated with the wicked world
we live in, brethren.
You know, I want to see proper justice and judgment
for the wicked out there,
the pedophiles and all the kind of filth
that's in the world.
I want to see justice done.
You know what?
And we get frustrated when we see people
with a slap on the wrist for major crimes,
for major sinful things
that God has greater punishment for.
We get frustrated at the earth.
You know what?
Andrew, when he's here ruling the rain for 1,000 years,
he's going to see a world run under godly laws,
under a godly rule,
Christ reigning on this earth,
and he's going to be reigning with him
for 1,000 years.
So he's not missed out on this earth.
He's going to experience the earth in a much better shape
than we've experienced these 70, 80 years,
if we're lucky, to live that life,
you know, to live that long,
if we're blessed, I should say,
to live that long.
And so babies that pass
only know the earth as submissive to Christ.
Can you please turn to Hebrews chapter 12 for me?
Hebrews chapter 12.
I hope you see as we go through this sermon
that as sad as it is,
hurting family and I know the rest of us
sharing that grief,
that for Andrew,
he's very blessed, he's very blessed.
Let's turn to Hebrews chapter 12
and Hebrews chapter 12 follows on,
obviously, from Hebrews chapter 11.
Hebrews chapter 11 is known as the chapter
of the Hall of Faith, very famous chapter.
You know, so it goes through very,
it goes through different Bible,
yes, men and women in the Bible
that were faithful to God
and they were able to accomplish great things
because of their faith from the Lord God.
And so we have this list of believers there
in Hebrews chapter 11.
And then we pick it up there in Hebrews chapter 12
in verse number one.
And it says here,
we're foreseen, we also,
we also, this is about us,
are compassed, that means surrounded,
are bathed with so great a cloud of witnesses.
Hmm, that's interesting.
No, the Bible's teaching us here
and those witnesses, of course,
are the people that I mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11.
So it's mentioning those saints
that have gone before us,
they've perished, they're in heaven, okay?
The Bible's telling us now
that we believers today on this earth
are compassed, we're surrounded
by this so great cloud of witnesses
that were mentioned there in Hebrews 11.
But again, in greater context,
all the believers that have gone to be with God.
What does that mean?
Well, let's keep going.
It says, let us lay aside every weight
and the sin which easily beset us
and let us run with patience
the race that is set before us.
You know what the spiritual life is like?
I guess think about the Olympics or something, right?
Where you might have a 100 meter sprint
or something like that.
Maybe it's more of a marathon.
The Christian life is more like a marathon
than a sprint really, okay?
And so you've got this great cloud of witnesses,
you've got these people cheering on.
Yeah, you know, run, run hard.
Yeah, keep going, keep going, right?
Cross the line.
We kind of have that idea when we see things like,
you know, athletics and Olympics, things like that.
Well, in the spiritual realm,
there's something very similar as well.
You know what?
God has set a race before us.
It has asked us to run that spiritual race.
You know, to live a life
that is pleasing to God, okay?
To live a holy and righteous life.
But the Bible's telling us here
that we have these witnesses,
these that have gone before us, watching the race.
Watching the race.
And so the reason I wanted to bring this to your attention
is because, you know, little Andrew
is watching our race.
Believers that have gone before us
are witnesses watching our race.
I want you to run a good race.
And I say this to the family who I heard in,
run the race that God has set before you.
You have an extra person in the grandstand
cheering you on, saying, run that race.
Serve God with your life here on this earth.
We have this cloud of witnesses.
Look at verse number two.
Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,
who for the joy that was set before him
and due of the cross, despising the shame
and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
The seventh point that I wanted to bring to this sermon
is that babies that pass
are watching and cheering your spiritual race.
So I hope that makes you want to run harder, run faster.
You know, looking unto Jesus and say, you know what?
I'm gonna make sure that my life
is one that serves Christ.
I wanna make sure my life is one
that reflects Jesus Christ.
Because I've got loved ones, I've got little children,
I've got these great men in Hebrew chapter 11,
all part of these witnesses,
all sitting there in the grandstand,
cheering us on to run this race.
I want Blessed Up Baptist Church to win the race.
I want us to attain the prizes,
the crowns God has in store for us.
Can you please turn to Romans chapter seven,
Romans chapter seven and verse number 14.
Romans chapter seven, verse number 14.
You know, I've had people say to me,
but I don't want these witnesses watching my race
because I mess up.
But what about when I sin?
What about when I do wrong?
I don't want these witnesses watching me, right?
I mean, I think that's a legitimate concern, okay?
But one thing you need to understand,
when you've done wrong, when you've made mistakes,
when you've sinned against the Lord,
you're not running the race at that point in time.
These witnesses are watching the race, okay?
Now if you pull out of the race briefly, momentarily,
you know, and have done something wrong,
those witnesses aren't watching your race
at that point in time.
You're not racing, you're not racing, okay?
Don't forget that within man, as a safe person,
don't forget the dual nature that we have within us,
the flesh and the spirit.
Listen, the flesh of man is not running the race.
It's running its own race, okay?
It's doing whatever he wants, okay?
But we have the new man,
we have the spirit of God within us.
Remember, the spirit is willing.
The spirit is the one that wants to run the race,
but the flesh is weak, okay?
So keep that in mind.
When those witnesses are watching our race,
they're only watching the righteous works
that we do for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans chapter seven, verse number 14.
Romans 7, 14.
For we know that the Lord is spiritual,
then he says this, but I am carnal, sold under sin.
What does the word carnal mean?
Well, it means fleshly, gets your flesh, carnal, you know?
Verse number 15.
For that which I do, I allow not.
For what I would, that do I not.
But what I hate, that do I.
Now, this is the apostle Paul,
who God used to write many epistles
in the New Testament, okay?
And he says he is carnal.
He says he does things that he hates.
And that's what we do, brethren,
when we sin against the Lord.
We, you know, the new man within us hates it
because we're not running the race, are we?
We're only running the race if we put on the new man,
if we live and walk after the spirit.
Verse number 16, oh, verse number, sorry, yeah, 16.
If then I do that which I would not,
I consent unto the law that is good, that it is good.
Now then it is no more I that do it,
but sin dwelleth in me.
So you know what, when you sin, it's not really you
because the real you is the new man, the spiritual man
that has been born of God, okay?
The flesh does it, that flesh is gonna perish anyway, okay?
Verse number 18, for I know that in me
that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.
For to will is present with me,
for to will, the spirit was willing, remember?
But how to perform that which is good, I find not.
So the reason I'm just reading that to you, brethren,
just to remind you that dual nature that we have,
the flesh, there's no good in that flesh, okay?
But when it sins, it's not really us that do it, okay?
Because the new man, the soul that has been saved,
is sinless, okay?
The Bible tells us in 1 John 3, 9,
whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin,
for his seed, that's God's seed, remaineth in him,
and he cannot sin because he is born of God.
Now, brethren, this flesh was not born of God.
This flesh was born of my parents,
all the way from Adam and Eve, okay?
But the new man, the spiritual man that is within us,
that is born of God, and that which is born of God
doth not commit sin, okay?
So the reason I read that to you
is to remind you that we're running a race, okay?
And I believe, you know,
the reason I wanted to end on this
is because I strongly believe, you know,
biblically speaking, from the Bible,
that little Andrew's there, cheering us on, okay?
Say, what would Andrew want us to do right now?
He would want us to run the race, okay?
He would want us to put off this flesh,
this carnal nature that we have,
that battle that we battle with,
and he wants us to walk in the new man,
he wants us to live after Christ,
and then he wants to cheer us on as we run that race.
I want that to be a reminder to the parents
that babies that pass are watching
and cheering on your spiritual race.
So, brethren, in conclusion, you know,
I told this sermon, babies in the kingdom of heaven,
I hope I've proven to you
that little children that perish are in heaven,
without a doubt, okay?
And let me just quickly remind you
of the seven points that we looked at today.
Number one, their passing magnifies the Lord.
Number two, they're in a far better place.
Number three, they will never know sin
nor the consequences of sin.
Number four, they are fulfilling their purpose
of serving God in heaven.
Number five, they will be the first
to experience the resurrection.
Number six, they will only know the earth
as one that is submissive to Christ.
And number seven, they are watching
and cheering us on in the spiritual race.
Okay, let's pray.