Born Again Clip 2 When Can a Child be Born Again?

Transcription

Michael:  When can a child be born again? I'm not sure that any of us will know in the life of our children when they're ready to be born again. I mean, if they get 21, you could know, but when you've got 4-year-olds, 5-, 6-, 7-, 8-, 9-, 10-year-olds that want to be saved, you have to say, well, are they old enough to understand "be born again"?

That really is irrelevant. That's not the point. The important thing is that your children believe on the Lord Jesus Christ from the time they believe on anything. From the time they believe there's butterflies and puppy dogs and granddaddies, grandmothers . . . they need to be believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. They need to continue to believe on him every day, every week of their life until they're old enough to be born again.

I do believe that in the process, they will not come under condemnation at any point, because they will be in a believing state. Jesus said, "Suffer the little children to come unto me, [little children] and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God."

If the kingdom of God is composed of little children, even though those children haven't been born again yet, they haven't entered into condemnation because they are believing. Now, if they come to a place of accountability at some age—9, 10, 8, 12, 16, 18 years old—when they come to a place of accountability, if they don't believe, then they come under condemnation. The moment they come to a full understanding of good and evil and they don't believe, then they're unbelievers.

You couldn't call a 3-year-old an unbeliever. They believe anything, everything you tell them unless you're a perpetual liar; then they learn not to believe you. But children can be believers from their youth. That's our job—to supply them with that knowledge and love of the Lord Jesus Christ that they are always believers.

So that's just aside, but I thought that was interesting. Let's read it again and let you look at it in that light.

John 3:18. "He that believeth [present tense] on Him, is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. [19] And this is the condemnation . . . " [This is what condemns; this is where condemnation comes from. Listen to it.] " . . . this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil."

The thing that condemns is when the light comes to men and men prefer the darkness over the light, condemnation results. What do you prefer, light or darkness?