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Preacher: Ross Macdonald Scripture: Exodus 12:43-51
Well this morning we finished chapter 12. We've been here for just over a month now and then next week we'll read the next section from chapters 13 through 20 in the book of Exodus is that'll be the next direction for our time and then perhaps at chapter 20 depending on momentum and where we're at.
We may take a slight detour to Matthew 5 through 7. It would be very fitting coming off the heels of chapter 20. So we still have the Exodus ahead of us. We're on our way out of Egypt, but not quite out of Egypt just yet.
And Pharaoh is certainly not done with the Israelites just yet. We'll come to the Song of Moses and of course along the way toward Sinai where God writes with his own finger the the words the ten words his law.
So there's a lot ahead within this book and even that's not the end. Of course of the book of Exodus, but as we complete chapter 12, we come with further instructions regarding the Passover. This is God's command to the congregation of Israel hereafter instructions for partakers of the Passover, and I think this is instructive in many ways as to who we are as Reformed Baptists our understanding of the church.
The nature of being a member of the church. The nature of being a New Covenant Church. How we understand baptism in the Lord's Supper in some ways. We'll rehearse things that we dove into from Genesis chapter 17.
We spent about six weeks Digging through the finer details of covenant theology. We'll do some heavy lifting this morning. So if you're gonna rummage for a pen or a pencil, you might as well do it now.
I think by design we're gonna sort of lift off and we'll get to the heaviest part somewhere in the middle and then we'll take things where. Perhaps the rubber meets the road and there's some practical needs that we can think of so hang in there when the going gets tough but it will be well worth your Your attention and if you're a if you're a note taker and you really ought to be note takers.
Really? I can't strongly encourage you enough that when you involve more bodily senses you're Wiring your neurons and you're able to not only receive much more but retain much more. So let this be an exhortation for you.
When we continue on in Exodus if you're not a note taker yet by the end of Exodus, you ought to be a note taker. Instructions for partakers of the Passover. Exodus 12 beginning in verse 43. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron this is the ordinance of the Passover no foreigner shall eat it but every man's servant who has bought for money when you have circumcised him, then he may eat it.
A Sojourner and a hired servant shall not eat it in one house. It shall be eaten. You shall not carry any of the flesh outside the house nor shall you break one of its bones? Something that John 19 is surely referencing in the fact that none of Jesus bones were broken on the tree.
All the congregation of Israel shall keep it and when a stranger dwells with you and wants to keep the Passover to the Lord let all his males be circumcised and then let him come near and keep it and He shall be as a native of the land for no uncircumcised person shall eat it.
One law shall be for the native-born and for the stranger who dwells among you. Thus all the children of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron. So they did and it came to pass on that very same day.
That the Lord brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt according to their armies. So here we have in this passage the instructions for the Passover ritual that will be continued. Numbers 9 we have the practice of the Passover once more in the second year and we see that this indeed is still binding along with further elaboration.
There in Numbers chapter 9 the foreigner here is forbidden. That's the umbrella instruction the umbrella admonishment. The foreigner is forbidden to partake and then that also entails the sojourner and the hired servant.
The Dequalification for that forbidding is the servant who is circumcised and then later on the stranger or the Foreigner or sojourner who is circumcised if they are circumcised they are able to partake of the Passover.
Now clearly this is with reference to the mixed assembly at least at first glance. We read last week about the mixed assembly that is coming out of Egypt perhaps due to Being converted during the plagues perhaps through intermarriage perhaps just through seeing The the purpose and the promise of God for his people.
Perhaps they were also slaves that were being liberated and enslaved population. There could have been many and likely were many reasons that not only the Israelites But many others a mixed assembly was being brought up out of Egypt.
And yet this also has not only a reference to the Gentiles in their midst But also to the future generations of Israel who would dwell in the midst of Gentiles. This also will be instructions for them whoever is with them whether a servant's whether a sojourner a foreigner they must be circumcised if they would partake in Such cases the decision to partake in the corporate life of Israel.
Required.
Circumcision if you can excuse the pun, they they need to put some skin in the game. I kind of shudder to say that but it's gonna cost it's gonna cost you if you want to participate In the corporate life of the people of God and this as well as partaking in the Passover Demonstrates that these foreigners these sojourners these servants had actually converted to the worship of the true and living God.
So for example the the term here foreigner and these are all related terms interestingly enough Gur is the the term for stranger gear for foreigner and the the Septuagint the Greek translation of that translates that as a proselyte as a convert.
And so they understand the foreigner who has decided I'm going to align myself with the people of God. I'm going to enter into the corporate life and ritual of God's people. Therefore I will be circumcised that they had converted.
They were now a proselyte and God says they are to be treated as a native in the land. They come into the full protection of the law as a result of that this desire this decision this Conversion would not be evident to mere passersby hired workers.
Temporary residents after one fashion or another they do not show their devotion. They cannot clearly evidently have shown to be converted. The circumcision would be necessary for that. And so while God has much to say regarding Sojourners that had not been circumcised Leviticus 25 almost the whole chapter speaks to their lot.
However, they cannot partake of the Passover again. No uncircumcised person shall eat it. Coupled with God's forbidding of the uncircumcised. He commands this all the congregation of Israel shall keep it.
All the congregation of Israel shall keep it another way of saying all the circumcised shall eat it. The same phrase all of Israel we've seen already in verse 3 and verse 6. This is a corporate meal for a corporate people.
Notice that every household has to eat together. And I think the analogy there is almost to individual church bodies we are the the people of God as a whole and every local congregation is almost like an Israelite household a Local family that partakes of the supper in unity.
There's a beautiful analogy there for the logic of Congregationalism, but that's perhaps for a different time. Certainly we see this as a corporate meal that is for a corporate people every household eats together.
Which is to say there's no isolated spirituality here. Ephraim can't say, you know dad. I Just I'm gonna take my piece. I need to go out in the woods and just be alone with God for this. No, just just give me a few days.
I'm just you know, I really need to be alone. No, sorry. This is a corporate meal. This is a united meal. This is not something you can portion off and go off on your own and take to yourself. There is no privatized Experience for this Passover feast it is all of the congregation.
Eating together with one mind with one heart. It speaks not only to their bodily unity. But it also speaks to God's purpose. He has saved them as one and so they feast as one. He has saved all of his people and so all of his people must feast together.
No takeouts. No leftovers. This is what it means to belong to God to the Israel of God this is what it looks like to partake of the Passover and notice that it revolves around the sign of Circumcision the Passover instructions drive home that point which actually points to something greater.
So we have those who are far off the foreigner the sojourner the stranger who are by circumcision. Brought near brought quite literally into the household to partake of the Passover this dynamic of being far off and then being drawn near this dynamic of the sign of circumcision the Passover ritual itself pointing to this unification between God's people and those who had been far off Ephesians chapter 2 if you were with us in those original days back in Princeton Center, this will ring in your memory.
Therefore remember that you once Gentiles in the flesh verse 12 were without Christ. Being aliens.
Foreigners.
From the Commonwealth of Israel strangers from the covenants of promise. Having no hope and without God in the world, but now in Christ Jesus. You who were once far off? Have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Notice the same dynamics. The foreigner the sojourner the stranger who had been far off has been brought near. With reference to the blood of the Lamb for he himself is our peace. Verse 17. He came and preached peace to you who were far off and to those who were near.
Something a little bit different. Israel's not automatically in he had to preach peace not only to those who were far off. But also to those who were near. He himself defines who the body of his people is.
He himself preaches peace to that body to that corporate unity and Through him we both. Whether those who were Gentiles in the flesh or those who were Israelites in the flesh. We both have access by one spirit the same spirit given to both.
To the father now. Therefore he says to the Ephesians. You're no longer strangers and foreigners. Now you're natives. Now you're partakers of the Passover. Now your fellow citizens. With the Saints and members of the household of God.
This is the Abrahamic promise realized. This is God's intention for redemption to be a blessing to the nations. This is not a smattering or a sprinkling of a few of the nations. This is the incoming the time of the Gentiles and here we have it even in Ephesus to the wonder of Paul.
As for Exodus 12 What is God doing? God is fencing the table. The Passover is an analogy to the Lord's Supper. And here in Exodus 12 God is fencing the table. There's a positive injunction. All the congregation of Israel is to keep it and there's a negative injunction.
No.
Uncircumcised person shall eat it and the two are related. For all Israel to eat it is to say all those who are circumcised will eat it. To say that no uncircumcised person shall eat it is to say that Everyone who is not of Israel is not to partake all of Israel partakes because all of Israel is circumcised.
So who are the partakers of the Passover. With reference to our understanding of corporate identity. The Lord's Supper baptism. What it means to be in Christ by faith as a Result of the work of the Spirit.
These are the things we want to unfold together this morning. We'll do that in three movements and the second is perhaps the heaviest but you'll have to pay attention.
Throughout all.
The first thing is we want to rightly understand the children of God. In light of what is known as pedo communion pedo coming from the Latin for infant. And so you have infant communion. Just like pedo baptism speaks to infant baptism.
Now our.
Congregationalist friends and our Presbyterian friends. In line with Roman Catholics and Lutherans. They all practice infant baptism with different theologies under girding infant baptism we of course as reformed Baptists We hold on to many of the same tenets of the faith and we must significantly part ways with that understanding of baptism.
But we want to talk about pedo communion pedo communion in part because Exodus chapter 12 is the main defense for those who practice pedo communion and I would argue and I hope you'll see I think they have a right understanding of Consistency, but they apply it in the wrong direction.
So I think they're far more consistent, but they apply it in the wrong direction. So that's that's the first point pedo communion rightly rejected. The second point will be the table of the baptized. We want to press that inconsistency and try to understand how we view what it means to belong to the people of God.
How baptism in the Lord's Supper fit together with the identity of the church. And the last part the last thing we'll look at is What about our children? What do we do with our children? We don't call them covenant children because what covenant would they be a part of?
Covenant of works or covenant of grace. So we don't call them covenant children. But what about when our children ask? What about when they are trying to understand their own place their own status their own identity?
And so we'll close with some practical words on Being fishers of little men and little women little boys and little girls how to fish for them. So first the children of God pedo communion rightly rejected you should know that pedo communion the practice of allowing infants and children to come to the table is a very small splinter in the Presbyterian world.
I use Presbyterian as umbrella, but we're closest to them theologically. So it's natural to speak in these ways. There's a very small minority of Presbyterian churches that practice infant communion or pedo communion the main Denominations that we would see as good credible.
I have many beloved brothers in this denomination men that I read and enjoy teaching and very much sit at their feet. The massive Denomination would be the PCA Presbyterian Church in America a smaller but even more robust and I really love this denomination the OPC Orthodox Presbyterian Church the two major Like-minded denominations that were closest to theologically PCA OPC.
They both forbid the practice of pedo communion. So they had various General Assemblies and study committees and to this day though There's been motions made they have resisted the idea of pedo communion.
That's not to say there's not a vocal minority within those ranks that ask almost yearly for a reconsideration. But they understand rightly from their own confessional background from Reformation heritage and most importantly from the scriptures.
That pedo communion is not something to be practiced. Those that do argue for pedo communion. They they essentially start at Exodus chapter 12. Exodus 12 is one of the main texts and perhaps one of the the great proponents of pedo communion was the senior pastor at a PCA Church in Tacoma named Robert Rayburn.
It's a tremendous preacher. I Don't believe he's preaching. No any longer. He's a sort of senior pastor emeritus, whatever that is. He's still very active he's written wonderful material. He's a good brother Robert Rayburn and he argues for pedo communion in part from Exodus chapter 12.
So I interact with him just for a moment. He says this Exodus 12 is one of the key texts in this debate. Circumcision was given to covenant infants again their term not ours. And so baptism ought to be given to them today and you see the logic here.
If.
Infants were circumcised. They received that sign of the Covenant. What forbids them from partaking in the Passover. If Circumcision is the same thing as baptism their argument not ours. Then what withholds the Lord's Supper from the baptized the circumcised.
Such as the position called pedo baptism. But for centuries now indeed from the origin of the Protestant Reformation It has been our custom to withhold the Lord's Supper from covenant children. So he's acknowledging this is how it is and I'm arguing against that It has been our custom to withhold the Lord's Supper from covenant children.
I have to put covenant in quotes again children of what covenant we wouldn't call them covenant children. It is this practice that has led to our dividing the membership of the church. In the Presbyterian Church the memberships divided into two groups.
The communicants being those who participate in the Lord's Supper and the non communicants being those who do not and he says this Baptists have always argued that if we baptized babies, we should give them the supper to Amen, only the baptized should partake.
Rayburn makes his case by pointing to the unity of God's command in chapter 12 again quoting Rayburn. The participation of children in the sacramental meals is entirely Consistent with the inclusion of those children in the membership of the covenant community in the Lord's for instance insistence upon their circumcision in the scriptures inclusion of them as participants in the life of the community in its Assumption of early even infant faith and it's everywhere treating them as spiritually Susceptible to the nurture and admonition of the Lord and in its placing them on a continuum of development in faith and devotion from infancy to adulthood.
Now you'll notice with Rayburn and those who argue for pedo communion but though one of the things that makes Presbyterians different from Roman Catholics and Lutherans as they deny What we would call baptismal regeneration.
They deny that baptism is effectual to bring forth regeneration. That's one of the main reasons Presbyterians will not allow their baptized children to come partake of the Lord's Supper. They don't presume regeneration.
Yet for that vocal minority that argue for infant communion They essentially without ever stating it plainly They essentially drift towards some sort of presumptive regeneration and you heard it even there the assumption of early even infant faith and listen to this placing them on a Continuum of development in faith and devotion from infancy to adulthood.
You see the presumption there. Because they're children of believers. They already are on this pathway already have this continuum of faith that will continue to develop. So why not give them the Lord's Supper?
It's very presumptive. His conclusion is this pedo communion is as much the necessary consequence of this doctrine of the church and sacraments as is pedo baptism. One one church one baptism. One supper one spirit.
Why would we divide it? He's arguing our understanding of the church as the body of Christ makes pedo communion the necessary consequence of pedo baptism now I completely disagree with the position and I completely admire his consistency.
Right on you're exactly right. If you embrace the one you ought to embrace the other and that's why as Baptist we would reject both. But I think they have consistency on their side. However, the massive response against this is very telling.
Drawing from Paul's instruction on the Lord's Supper in 1st Corinthians 1128 the Westminster larger catechism question 177 says this the Lord's Supper is to be administered only to such as are of years and ability to examine themselves my precious Abbey is about as self-reflective as a goldfish and Presbyterians rightly say as much leeway as we can give if Paul says You are not to partake of the Lord's Supper nor can you in a right and worthy manner?
Hence risking eating and drinking judgment to yourself unless you rightly discern the body unless you examine yourself first. And so the Westminster catechism takes 1st Corinthians 1128 and says here's our proof text.
We do not allow those who cannot examine themselves.
Ie.
Infants toddlers children.
To partake.
Similarly the Heidelberg catechism another great Reformation catechism question 81 who is to come to the table of the Lord. Answer. Those who are truly displeased with themselves because of their sins and yet trust That they are forgiven and that their remaining weakness is covered by the suffering and death of Christ and who also desire more and more To strengthen their faith and amend their life.
Do you notice? True repentance a true faith in the forgiveness of sins and a desire to strengthen that faith in the Lord. Something that a child simply cannot do so the Heidelberg itself denies children access to the table.
Cornelis Venema One of the great writers against Pato communions published through banner of truth written extensively on the subject. He says. Several good points. Here's a quick summary of a few I found important.
He points out in the historic practice of Judaism Male children did not participate in the Passover until the age of 13. If you go and read Luke chapter 2 verses 41 and 42 Jesus when he turns 12 is brought to the temple to participate in the Passover ritual.
And so he points out even even the Jews of Jesus Day understood a child should not Participate. Only the males are to participate and they did not start that until age 12 perhaps 13. Though the Lord's Supper was instituted on the occasion of the Passover.
It was celebrated as a new covenant meal. It's analogous. It's not the same thing and this new covenant meal was celebrated with who?
Disciples.
We don't read of the families gathering around the table. We read of Jesus disciples. Unlike the Passover the Lord's Supper is not this family feast. See the house now is Those who are around Jesus. That's the family of God the household of God brothers and sisters in the faith.
The Lord's Supper was instituted to commemorate Christ's atoning death Not only in terms of the Passover but as fulfillment of all of the sacrifices of the Old Testament. And so this is venomous conclusion.
Reformed churches have rightly insisted that those who are admitted to the Lord's table Be required to make a credible profession of faith. No one may presume to eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord without faith.
Amen.
Jesus in John chapter 6 verse 35 says. I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger. He who believes in me has faith in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you've seen me and yet do not believe.
All that the Father gives to me will come to me now. What do you notice about what Jesus says there in John 6? Who eats and drinks? The one who comes to Jesus the one who believes in Jesus is the one who eats and drinks.
Why do they come to Jesus? Why do they believe in Jesus? All that the Father gives me will come to me. Is it because their parents brought them that they eat and drink? No. It's because the Father gave them.
That's why they came. That's why they believe. That's why they eat and drink. Calvin and his Institute says from the analogy between the Holy Supper and the Passover. The law of Exodus 12 remains in force.
No polluted or impure person should intrude himself at the Lord's table. But that only the faithful should be received after they have professed themselves to be followers of Christ. Amen. We are in full agreement With our brothers on this point faith is Required for you to partake of the very meal that points to the sacrifice of Christ.
But as we'll see this remarkable inconsistency. That you would plunge into the waters that represent his death and resurrection. Those who do not have a profession of faith. Why divide the two and hence divide the signs and hence divide the body of Christ?
Philip Rikin. Another dear Presbyterian brother. I've enjoyed so much over the years and I wholly agree with this Passover was exclusive. It was only for the people of God. Not for outsiders. Foreigners and migrant workers were not allowed to keep the feast.
The reason. They were not members of the covenant community. To use the contemporary term. They were not believers. This was not a matter of race, but of grace. These outsiders had not yet put their faith in the God of Israel.
And so they had no right to receive the atonement that he provided through the Passover it was not appropriate for them to receive the sign of Salvation because they were not yet trusting in the blood of the Lamb.
The church maintains this same restriction at the Lord's table. Like the Passover the Lord's Supper is not for everyone. It is only for those who have come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Pedo communion rightly rejected.
But now let us press the inconsistency. The table is for those who have faith. So also is baptism for those who have faith the Lord's table is the table of the baptized. The table of the circumcised speaking to the true circumcision.
J. Ligon Duncan. Another Presbyterian who I love and have benefited from.
He says this.
Exodus 12 makes it clear that only those who are in covenant with the Lord Evidenced by receiving circumcision are to partake in this Holy Meal. This Holy Meal distinguishes God's people from the world.
And so when we invite people to come to the table we invite those who have professed faith in the Lord Jesus those who have identified themselves as his people. And one of the functions of this meal is to preserve the moral and Spiritual purity of his people by making it clear that they are spiritually distinct from the world.
I want you to notice only those who are in covenant with the Lord as Ligon Duncan argues are those who have been circumcised. We're right in Exodus 12.
Uncircumcised person shall eat it and yet all the congregation of Israel shall eat it holding these two things together those who are separated from the world by this meal are All of those who have been united to the Lord by faith.
Therefore they can partake of the Passover. Let me ask the question. Is this right of participating? Is this right of partaking? Is this reception of a circumcision. Is that brought about by Physical fleshly descent.
Is this a work of flesh and blood or is this a work of the Holy Spirit? We know from John the Baptist's ministry that the Pharisees Strutted around like proud peacocks thinking they had been secure because as they said we know who our father is.
We're sons of our father Abraham. Therefore we are the heirs of the Abrahamic promise. We have a sure and lasting covenant with him and this is what John the Baptist said to those Pharisees Brood of vipers who warned you to flee from the wrath to come Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance.
Remember he's standing in the water Baptizing those who has later in acts. We read had come to be baptized with a baptism of repentance. I didn't realize there was also a baptism of the Holy Spirit and he's saying to those who thought they were already in circumcised Abrahamic promise covenant children and he says brood of vipers you want me to baptize you bear fruits worthy of repentance and Do not think to say to yourself.
We have Abraham as our father. Don't think to yourself I have elder Bob as my father. Therefore I'm in Therefore I'm already having this relationship this status with God. Don't think to yourself you have Abraham as your father.
Don't think because your father is a Presbyterian or a Baptist for that fact That you have this automatic standing or status with God. For I say to you God is able to raise up children to Abraham from stones.
And even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. John was forcefully rebuking confidence in the flesh and I would argue that a Presbyterian understanding of the church and the nature of baptism and belonging to the body of Christ as a divided body flows out of having Confidence in the flesh.
Paul says in Philippians 3 if anyone thinks he may have confidence in the flesh. I more so Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin a Hebrew of the Hebrews super Hebrew he says Concerning the law a Pharisee.
I mean look at my resume. Look at my CV. I tithe mint Dylan Kuhlman Concerning zeal. I persecuted the church. How's that for zeal? I dragged people to prison Concerning the righteousness which is in the law blameless.
That's how he thought of himself. But what things were gained to me these things. I have counted loss for Christ. The Jews answered Jesus John 8 we are Abraham's descendants. We've never been in bondage to anyone.
How can you say you will set us free and Jesus answered most assuredly? I say to you whoever commits sin as a slave to sin and a slave does not abide in the house forever. But a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free you shall be free indeed.
Paul in Galatians 4 would tear that declaration to shreds. We are Abraham's descendants. We've never been in bondage to anyone. Paul would say you were born into bondage you were born at Sinai your children of Hagar the slave and The very place where they said we're Abraham's descendants.
Paul would say no. You're children of the flesh, but you're not children of the promise. Romans 9 6 and following they are not all Israel who are of Israel. Nor are they all children because they're the seed of Abraham.
That's not how you become a child. But in Isaac your seed shall be called. That is those who are the children of the flesh. These are not the children of God. It's the children of the promise who are counted as the seed.
This does not come about by fleshly physical descent. For no one. Paul writes in Romans chapter 2 verse 28. No one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly nor is circumcision outward and physical. A Jew is one.
Inwardly.
Circumcision is a matter of the heart by the Spirit.
Not the letter.
Only those who are circumcised are to partake in what is circumcision. It's a circumcision of the heart By the Spirit of God. If you are Christ's he says in Galatians 3 29 if you are Christ's Then you are Abraham's seed.
Then you can say Abraham is my father. Then you can say I'm an heir of the Abrahamic promise. You have no standing no covenantal allotment. Otherwise, you are either in Christ or in bondage. You're either made free and a child of the free the mother above children of Sarah.
Or you're in bondage children of Hagar born into Sinai.
As.
Many as are led by the Spirit of God Romans 8 14. These are the sons of God. The Spirit of God who circumcises the heart so that it may exercise repentance in faith. Those are the ones that are called sons of God children of God we are children of promise by faith.
Whoever does not have faith is not a child of promise is not a covenant child. But a child of the flesh even if that flesh is of godly believing parents. So we've become brothers and sisters because we've been adopted in Christ by the Spirit of God.
We have not become brothers and sisters by fleshly descent but by spiritual adoption. We've been adopted into this new family this new people this new corporate identity of God, which is in Christ. No dual status no division or separation.
There's one body one spirit. He says in Ephesians 4 just as you were called in one Hope one Lord one faith one baptism one God and father of all who is above all and through all and in you all.
You see.
One reality One bride one body one baptism all the congregation of Israel partakes. That is a new covenant church. That is why we are Baptists brothers and sisters. In him Paul writes in Colossians 2.
In him you were circumcised With the circumcision made without hands The putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ Buried with him in baptism in which you were also raised with him.
Through.
Faith.
In the working of God you see how these things are held together. I don't grant exegetically that Circumcision is parallel to baptism across the Old and New Testaments. I don't necessarily grant that again.
I think circumcision speaks to a circumcised heart. That's clear in the Old Testament as much as it is in the new so I don't grant the analogy That is made by many Presbyterians that circumcision equals baptism.
But even if I did I would simply read Colossians 2 and see that both require faith. In him you were circumcised. In him you were buried in baptism and you were raised through faith. Only those who have the circumcision of Christ.
Are those who are buried with him in baptism raised with him into new life? Only those are able to partake of the meal that God said is only for the circumcised for you are all sons of God. He writes in Galatians 3.
Faith in Christ Jesus again. This is what makes you a child of God. This is what makes you a covenant child. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ as.
Many as.
Many as you of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Why? Because you have faith in Christ. That's why you were baptized into Christ. That's why you've put on Christ. There's neither Jew nor Greek Slave nor free.
Male nor female can I add parent nor child? You are all one in Christ.
By the Spirit.
Through faith in him. I hope you see the consistency. And we see the consistency of the argument for the Lord's Supper. Requiring faith we say amen with our Presbyterian brothers and sisters. And then we cannot grasp why they don't press that same Consistency that same affirmation and necessity of faith when it comes to baptism.
Both are realities that speak to being in Christ. Both are realities that speak to belonging to the body.
Both.
Signs are meant to be held together in the life of a Christian being baptized as the initiation the public Profession of the faith you have in him. That's a one-time act and then the ongoing the sort of growth in him the the faith that is Grown as a result of partaking at the Lord's Supper to divide these two.
What warrant do we have to separate them and in separating baptism in the Lord's Supper to so separate the body of Christ? No, no. No as many of you as have been circumcised as Many of you as have been baptized.
All of the congregation shall partake. So to go back to Rykin Again just repeating this Passover was exclusive. It was only for the people of God. Not for half people of God. For the people of God not for on the way people to God.
No the people of God. Not for outsiders but for members of the covenant community. It was not appropriate it is not it is never appropriate to partake of the signs of salvation. If you have not trusted in the blood of the Lamb, and you will never trust in the blood of the Lamb.
Unless you've been circumcised by the Spirit now for that small minority of Presbyterians that hold to pedo-communion. Who do not want to divide the sign and seals of the covenant? We can admire at least that we can admire their consistency.
They say if these are the sacraments of the body of Christ. And we argue by our own confessional standards that the body of Christ is Believers and their children then why would we withhold both signs from that body?
And we say you're exactly right as far as being consistent. But you're wrong in your application because the church is not Believers and their children the body of Christ is not believers in their children.
It's only believers of any age.
Believers in.
Him we were circumcised by the circumcision of Christ buried with him in baptism. If as Many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ then why would we divide this body of Christ? Why would we separate the Lord's Supper from baptism?
Why would we withhold any ordinance from all of the congregation of Israel? So the Lord's table is for the baptized now. Landing the plane a little bit where the rubber meets the road. For parents, especially but also as a church, it takes a church often to Encourage promote and maybe pray and help discern Whether the Lord is doing a work of salvation a life of a young person.
Or an old person for that matter. So, what do you do when your children ask. Here's our theology, I hope you were able to kind of stay with me. That's the theology of our understanding of the church of the body of Christ and how baptism in the Lord's Supper fit together.
But what about when your children ask and I want to encourage us all to be fishers of little men and little women. Not just adults, but to be fishers of the little ones. Which I think in a Year after year with the amount of children that the Lord keeps adding to our number.
It's going to be easier and easier to kind of let the roving packs and herds of children sort of do their own thing and it's going to take a lot of Concerted effort and desire on our part to be fishers of little boys and girls.
Exodus 12 verse 26 when your children ask. What does the ceremony mean to you tell them? It's the Passover sacrifice to the Lord. The Lord has always had a desire to prompt and provoke and put means of grace in front of young minds and young hearts.
Don't forbid them to come to me. Jesus says They have that desire. It's a good desire. Don't don't restrain it encourage it. Don't nip at it cultivate it. Encourage the little ones to come Jesus says and that's your your baseline as a parent is you want to encourage your little ones? to come when they ask what does it mean to you you tell them as Baptists again.
Holding the Lord's Supper and baptism together. We're quite safe from presuming regeneration. All right, if there was a ditch that we could fall into it's not going to be. Assuming or presuming salvation the ditch we might fall on into is on the other side of that.
Our children seem to have some evident work of faith that's evident to everyone. But seven months ago, they you know knocked over the milk when they had been told to leave it alone. So you're doubting their salvation.
Well, that's the ditch on the other side. Right. We don't presume salvation, but we also don't want to necessarily deny or withhold The opportunity for a profession of faith and all that comes with that profession of faith.
So as Baptists, we don't presume our children to be regenerate but we still feel the God-given responsibility to nurture and to evangelize and As the Lord allows disciple our children in the faith, right?
This is a burden that is put on us by God. We don't just say well, you know I have this understanding of the church and of the nature of salvation by the Spirit of God. It doesn't come as a result of blood or flesh.
Therefore my heathen children will have nothing to do with me in my own spirituality. My real family and responsibility is here with God's people know you have all sorts of responsibilities. And of course all of your heartstrings are pulling for your children to come and know the Lord you you should if you don't you?
Should desire to nurture them in the things of God you should desire to evangelize them. So the question we're we're getting at here is how do we do that? How do we nurture? How do we evangelize? How do we disciple them?
Well, we we always keep in the back of our minds what we read from Ephesians 2 13, which is just coming out of Exodus chapter 12. You who are far off he has brought near. By the blood of Christ. It's no different for you or me.
It's no different for our children. It's no different for the stranger the foreigner the sojourner. There's only one way to be brought near and it's by the blood. Please hear me. The hoops that your children jump through the curriculum that they ace.
The parenting skills that are worthy of accolade and praise. These things are not sufficient to bring your children near. Doesn't mean you don't do them. It just means in the back of your mind in your heart and as a girding for your prayer life you recognize.
There's only one thing that could ever draw my child near and it's the blood of Christ. I Can make my children fit a mold for decades in their life without raising any suspicion and they could yet be far off.
There's only one thing that brings them near and it's the blood of Christ. Which means one way you fish for little children is you always put before them the need? The hope the grandeur of the blood of the Lamb.
Your hopelessness without it. Your constant daily Gladness that you're under it. You display before them the difference that it has made for you continues to make for you. There's only one way to be brought near and that's by the blood of Christ.
Now it should be noted also here for all my distancing from our pedo friends. Well that came out wrong. That's it almost sounds like a pot shot for our Presbyterian friends. Pedo means something else in the world today, unfortunately.
It should be noted at the outset that next to this issue of baptism. Children of believing Baptists and believing Presbyterians are by and large treated the same way. I don't think there's substantive difference between the two.
Because you've already seen that though we have Incredible disagreement about baptism and and how that relates to the church we both fully agree that there must be a profession of faith before there is a partaking of the Lord's Supper and So they they might be counted in the body, which I think is a travesty.
Yet they still are denied access to the table. They're non-communicant. There's a sense in which they have not yet Shown themselves to truly be in Christ. And that will come when they like a Baptist Would profess faith and therefore be received into the fellowship of the church into the rite of communion.
How that filters into the home then is largely the same both Baptist and Presbyterian Parents get on their knees and they pray for their children. They both encourage them to repent and believe upon the Lord.
They both try to put the gospel before them. You can pick up parenting books and children's books from Baptist or Presbyterian alike and you can use them interchangeably. There's almost no difference and so it's very encouraging I think in some ways to find our unity which is often a unity born by Experiencing the same struggles and heartaches of raising children to know the Lord.
I should also say we are not as Baptists though. We don't want to presume regeneration. We're not surprised that God often saves the children of believers. That's not a surprise. He's pleased to do that.
He's not obligated to do it. There's not some mechanism by which a child of believers automatically are on the pathway to salvation. It's simply out of the goodness of God that he delights to bring salvation To homes that are flooded with the means of grace.
It's not surprising to me that a child who's grown up hearing the gospel week in week out day in day out May actually come to saving faith at some point in time. That's God saying my word doesn't return to me empty or void I accomplish things when I send it forth.
So there's every encouragement to surround your children with the means of grace. It's no surprise. Because there's only one way. That someone is saved by the gospel and that's through the hearing of the gospel, right?
How shall they believe unless they first hear and there's no better place to hear Than in a Christian family that regularly attends and participates with the Christian Church. Ray Byrne, to go back to him for a moment and speaking to his critics, he says.
What they fear is nominalism. In other words Christianity in name only. And Ray Byrne says but the Bible does not address the fear of nominalism by withholding the ordinances to covenant children again.
There's the problem in his view. What covenant are these children in? He says the Bible addresses that fear with the nurture of a Christian home with teaching. Discipline the example of godly parents and with instruction from the church and a godly example of church family.
Amen we don't practice pedo-communion. We don't call our children covenant children automatically. But we certainly can say amen to that. The nurture of a Christian home. Teaching discipline the example of godly parents the instruction of the church the godly example of those in the church.
These are the ordinary means that God often uses to draw sinners to salvation. So there's no disagreeing with that, but we should nevertheless fear nominalism. Nominalism can creep up not only in a Presbyterian Church, but in a Baptist Church just as much.
It doesn't matter if your toddler doesn't doesn't drink wine on a Sunday. You can still face nominalism. And in a church like ours we put this perhaps the standard or this ethos toward families and parental responsibility.
We can easily breed nominalism we can easily be satisfied with the externalities of belief rather than the sincerity the heart and. So it takes the discernment of godly parents and it takes the prayerfulness watchfulness and discernment of a church body especially its leaders.
To say is this just little Johnny filling the mold. Or is there something that the Lord is evidently doing in his life? JH Philpott an old Baptist recounted his father bringing them up in this way him and his siblings.
He said by early influence an example you can bring up a child to be anything. You can bring up a child to be a little patriot a little Catholic a little Calvinist a little Bolshevist. Perhaps even a little citizen of the world.
Don't you see that around us? You can bring up a child to dye their hair neon and hold Antifa signs. You can make a child claim and be convicted with anything. But no power on earth. He says of his father no power on earth.
My father would have maintained. Can make that child a child of God unless their name has been written in the Lamb's Book of Life and So he took care that all of his children attended the means of grace had family prayer.
Came and assembled with the church. But at the same time he didn't expect us to be something other than little heathen. There's sort of a shock factor that comes with that. We adore our little children.
We want to think of something we've produced as.
Angelic and.
We try to newspaper over their warts and stains whenever we're in public, you know. And you're looking for the CCTV cameras and you're like get in the car. But the reality is if you're not in Christ by faith because he's circumcised your heart by the Spirit.
And you're in Adam and with time and opportunity and influence from within and without. You'll be just like Adam. And that may break a parent's heart. But bad theology is not the covering that child needs.
And a bunch of bread and wine and false affirmation Is not what that child needs. Repentance and faith is what that child needs. And so that is what the parent must always put before the child. We do not baptize unbelievers whether they're six feet tall or one foot tall.
We do not baptize unbelievers, but once there is a profession of faith. Not not a blur of the moment not three of my friends were baptized but a credible profession of faith. We baptize them. And we say Christian and we hold them up at the table and hold them up in our fellowship.
And whether they're seven or seventy, they're a brother. They're a sister now. They're a saint a partaker with us in the household of God. So I believe that children should be taught the gospel again and again and again.
It's taken some pain and this is not easy for a parent to know how to do. But it used to be for some time that Elsie would only pray for unbelieving family as if she was a believer and with patient.
Warm heartfelt.
Conversations. She understands now that when she prays and this is how she's prayed every night of family worship lately. I'll ask her at the end of whatever we're reading when we're about to pray us.
There's anything you want to pray for and she'll say what she had said for years. I want to pray for auntie so-and-so for cousin so-and-so unbelieving family and then she says at the end. And I also want to pray for me that guy would save me.
It's just like amen. It's gonna be really hard to discern because I know you want to please us and you're gonna parrot things that you hear and you ask questions that seem to be a little ahead of where a child your age could be but then you're still doing the things that Your flesh in Adam would want to do and I can't leap on that.
Hope she's asking for God to save her. She must she must be saved. I have to patiently pray with her and say yes Lord make it clear to her and to us. When you do that work if it pleases you and please Lord save her.
Children should be taught the gospel not for others. Children should be taught the gospel and when they receive the gospel and can Articulate something of what it means to have trusted in Jesus. Wanting to live for him and knowing that the only way they could be saved is because of what he did for them.
If they can articulate that and there seems to be something heartfelt and the parents along with church leaders seem to agree. And that's largely going to be church leaders trusting the discernment and wisdom of the parents.
You know our exposure to the things that go on during the week will be very limited and you'll do your child. No favors by brushing things over if they've truly been born of God. You will not be able to dissuade them from salvation.
They're truly saved. They'll be able to persevere longer in the salvation if they've been given that salvation and yet we should not make them wait unnecessarily. That's a real danger that we could play into.
It's better when they articulate the faith if there's enough substance there to baptize them without delay and Then to hold them to that henceforth we're on occasion we are Perhaps hasty. It's probably because we are so excited for there to be the first sprout of grace.
You just want to seize the moment. He shed a tear about his sin. We haven't seen this in 13 years. Hallelujah the Lord has saved him. We'll be patient brother and sister be patient. See what the Lord is doing see if he's back at that sin in another week in another season.
Sometimes we err because we're waiting for some emotional conversion experience. And we can do that to the detriment of the objective nature of the gospel. There's a concrete reality of what it means to enter in to the refuge of Christ and it doesn't mean you have to have a Rollercoaster of emotions and be able to write this incredible three-part novel about how you came to the Lord.
Especially if you're grown up in a Christian family and come to church it may well be. You can't recount the day. I love what Spurgeon says on this just a matter of wisdom. He says, you know. We love to look back and and we count so much of our assurance stemming from the day that we were converted.
I know the day that God changed my life that he conquered me and made me his forevermore and however much I've struggled and backslid since then I can go back and say I'm not who I was before that and I'd never go back to that and God bless me.
I know he saved me and he says but I'm conscious. There's many in the congregation that especially those who grew up in a Christian home. They're not conscious of a moment. And he uses this analogy says they go to the birth registry.
They want to find out the day they were born reborn. They want the birth certificate Lord. When did you give me the new birth? And the registry doesn't have anything. It wasn't that Momentous. It wasn't all of a sudden.
Perhaps it was a period of stretch of time a strange warming of the heart as Wesley said. And Spurgeon says now the worst conclusion that that brother could come to is say There's no record of my birth.
Therefore I'm not alive. Right, you wouldn't go to the City Hall and say I need my birth certificate. They said we don't have one for you. Well that I must not be alive. I I have never been born. Of course not you're living and breathing.
There may not be the record of when it happened. It may have been over a period of time. But the fact that you're living and breathing shows you've been born and so it is spiritually you may not be able to recount the hour.
But if you're trusting in Christ and he's present in you you have been born again. So I think we we can't push for them to have this emotional experience as confirmation frankly, there's those that have been baptized as a result of an emotional experience that shown themselves to never have trusted in Christ and there's those that Underwent conversion as dry as a cyborg and they've been walking with the Lord 30 40 years on ever since so you can't judge Everything by emotions so we could err on that side.
The other thing we could do is it's frankly we could think we're better than Philip the Evangelist and. And a child comes up and they articulate everything and we just keep saying. And every week every month every season every year goes by and they say what prevents me from being baptized.
We say a little longer a little longer a little longer. We need to follow Phillips advice. If you believe with all of your heart you may. If you believe with all of your heart you may we want to prevent false assurance.
We want to prevent hypocrisy, but at the end of the day If they believe with all of their hearts They may so again the hardest discernment comes with the parents. This is a hard thing because you have to balance it you want to on the one hand encourage your children to embrace the truth Of the gospel and especially at a young age.
They want to do that because they really don't know anything else. They can see the impact maybe in some way they desire after it and they know it would be to your delight into the light.
Of the church.
And so as they mature as Influence comes you're perhaps a little more confident and be able to encourage them to the truth of the gospel confronting sin. Confronting need. Displaying an example giving evidence of what repentance and faith looks like in your walk.
You want to do that? Encourage an embrace of the gospel without squeezing a confession. Like some Soviet interrogator or the NYPD you don't want a false confession. You don't want to corner them and you know put the lamp and make them sweat a little bit and say have you trusted in?
Christ.
You know, when are you gonna be baptized? No today. Just cut me some slack. You don't want to squeeze a confession. But you do want to encourage an embrace of the gospel and I love what Martin Lloyd-Jones.
I think I've shared this before.
It's just so helpful.
Martin Lloyd-Jones cautions against a sort of mechanical view of children. He says this. I went to stay with some friends when I was preaching at a certain place and I found the wife the mother of the family in a state of distress in Conversation.
I discovered the cause a certain lady had been there lecturing that whole week. Her theme being how to bring up all of the children in your family as good Christians, and it was wonderful. She had five or six children.
She had so organized her home in her life. That she finished all of her domestic work by 9 o 'clock in the morning and then gave herself the various Christian activities and all her. Children were fine Christians.
It was all so easy. So wonderful. The mother talking to me who had two children was in a state of distress. She felt like an utter and complete failure. What could I say to her? This is what I said. How old are the children of this lady?
I happen to know the answer and my friend knew it. Also, not one of them at the time was above the age of 16. So I went on. I don't know. This is the best path for counsel, by the way. But leave it at that yeah, yeah, she'll get what's coming to her.
That's not come on Lloyd-Jones. That's okay. Wait a while. He says the story may be different in a few years and alas it did turn out very different. It's doubtful whether more than one of her children is a Christian today.
In fact several are openly anti-christian have turned their backs on it all. Now his point is this. You cannot bring up children to be Christians in that way. It is not a mechanical process and in her case It was all so cold and clinical but a child is not a machine and this work cannot be done mechanically.
If you're a parent and your children are getting up there, you know, it's a spiritual battle. There's no lever you can pull there's no system you can adopt. It's just wrestling with the Lord and with the flesh and with the devil and with the world.
So Lloyd-Jones gives us encouragement and this is good encouragement. This work must never be done in a negative or repressive manner. You can't impose a discipline on your children that will convert them.
Remember there's only one thing that draws near it's the blood of Christ so he says this if you give children the impression that to be religious is to be miserable and That it consists of nothing but prohibitions and constant repression you may well drive them into the arms of the devil.
Don't you want to be like us son? The joyless and the gloomy. Never be negative. Entirely never be repressive. The important point is that the impression is always given that Christ is the head of the home and how is that impression given?
By your conduct by your example. He says parents should be living in such a way that children always have some feeling that they are under Christ. They may not have closed with him. But there's some feeling that they're under him because their home is under him their home is ordered by him.
This fact should be obvious in the parents behavior and above all it should be girded with an atmosphere of love. Because the fruit of the spirit is love and if the home is filled with an atmosphere of love produced by the spirit.
Most of its problems are solved. That is what does the work.
Not.
Direct mechanisms of pressure and appeal but an atmosphere of spirit wrought love. JC Ryle Essentially says the same thing Though a century earlier and these are the nets by which we cast out for our little men and women we're casting these nets as Fishers that God has made.
This is what Ryle says. Train up your children with all tenderness and patience. I do not mean that you are to spoil but I do mean that you should let him see that you love him. Love should be the silver thread that runs through all of your conduct.
Kindness gentleness long-suffering forbearance patience sympathy a Willingness to enter into childish troubles and a readiness to take part in childish joys. These are the cords by which a child may be led most easily.
These are the clues by which you'll find your way to his heart. I was thinking of the great theologian John Murray Who's a very dour Scotsman and taught at Westminster in the post-war years. He'd been a World War one vet lost an eye and so he had his real eye and an artificial glass eye and he was seen as so dour and Intimidating a presence that his students used to make a joke that you could tell which one was the fake eye.
The glass eye because it had a glint of mercy. In other words, the cold glass was merciful the real eye wasn't you know, he's so intimidating. He had this deep brogue and Yet it was recounted of him whenever he would visit his students who had young families and toddlers.
He would take off his coat and he'd get on his hands and knees and play with them rolling on the floor with them. I think that's such a beautiful display of what God the father is like.
Just.
Incredibly Dignified if you could bear to look at his holiness intimidating to the core and yet so tender-hearted and kind and affectionate and Condescending to be sharing in the joys of his children.
So Ryle says try hard to keep a hold on your child's affection. It is a dangerous thing to make your children afraid of you. Anything is almost better Than reserve and constraint between your child and yourself.
You know sitting there in the seat. They all know their seat, you know, they're eating at the meal. There's just there's no sense of affection or connection or intimacy. Here's here and this is your place and this is my place and you know your role and I know mine.
Let's just kind of get through this and Ryle says anything is better than that. Fear puts an end to openness fear leads to concealment. Fear sows the seed of hypocrisy and leads to many lies. So there is much truth in the Apostles words to the Colossians fathers provoke not your children to anger lest they be discouraged.
Brothers, what's the atmosphere in your home? Grandparents what's the atmosphere in your home when the grandkids come? It's kind of like okay. Well, you know the hours up. Ship off, you know, we had our time with the applesauce stains and the diaper changes.
What's the emotional connection? What's the intimacy? Are you seeking to understand and connect to your child's affections? So that you can be a fisher of little men and women. Now, let me kind of close here.
I'm conscious of some who are in a very different season of life maybe children that are grown all the way up maybe are grown more than you want them to be grown and maybe They're straying from the truth.
Maybe they never were even close to it. Maybe you were converted later in life or you're just looking back through this whole thing and saying Can I go back in a time machine and do it all over? Can I listen to Lloyd-jones listen to Ryle understand the importance of these things and just have a do-over?
Well, no you can't. But you serve the God who changes not and though you would want to change. When you repent and trust and walk with the God who does not change. The aches of your heart will be answered.
It's natural to feel a certain responsibility even a guilt for your children's unbelief. But if you understood what we're saying rightly. That's probably more often the devil speaking there may be some accuracy in your sins and you should own those sins and repent of them.
But don't give the devil a foothold. Your parenting didn't make your child the child of Adam. They were born that way. Only the Spirit of God can make a child of God. And While our faith reminds us that salvation is a sovereign gift beyond our control.
Our conscience will often sting with failure. And again, we may need to repent but to keep the enemy at enemy at bay. Let us remember these things. First remember this there are many parents whose failures and examples were so far worse than yours and yet God has saved their children and then remember that there's probably Parents whose labors and prayers and efforts for God are much greater than yours have ever been and their children are not saved.
Remember as Matthew Windsor says so well. There's nothing in the raising of a child which naturally tends to make that child a believer in the Lord Jesus. Absolutely nothing at all. Think of a parent's humility patience.
Discipline self-sacrifice diligence these things have no power Inherent to them to make the slightest spiritual impression on a child. What is your patience and your humility and your discipline and your self-sacrifice and your diligence look like in a graveyard?
We're all born in this world dead in sin and trespass. These things cannot make the slightest spiritual impression unless God blesses them. No parent is perfect. But even if they were perfect, there is still nothing that parent could do to put grace in the heart of their child so as much as we are to love our children, we are to love God first and foremost and resign ourselves to whatever his will is.
And remember with that that Jesus knew the pain of unbelieving family. Jesus knew the pain of unbelieving family. And in as much as he found a spiritual family, which is the church. So also you may know the pain of unbelieving family even your own children.
But you have been adopted into his family. You can take solace there. There you can be a spiritual parent in ways that you wish you could be an earthly parent there you can raise up a spiritual.
Seed.
You can be like Peter to Mark and say my son. You could be a Paul to a Timothy or a Philemon. At the end of Pilgrim's Progress when Christian comes to the river of death and he's grieving. And he says I I have to wait.
All right, the whole journey has finally come to the end. He's about to cross the river of death into new life. And what's on his heart? What what's on the parents heart at their deathbed? My family. My children.
He says I have to wait as much as I want glory. I have to wait for them. I have to go back and show my wife and my children this way. An Evangelist so wisely says as I'm saying to you this morning The road has been paved for them.
It is theirs to follow as it was for you. The road has been paved for all of us. We cannot be the Holy Spirit though. He would like to be. The road is paid for all of us. It is ours to follow. And so we remember with Paul whatever things were gained even perfect parenting even here we can count that loss.
For Christ.
Let's pray father. Thank you for your word, please.
Challenge and convict us Lord in these matters as much as you. Encourage and comfort us Lord. Don't let our burden conscience overwhelm us Lord and yet let us not be dull and forgetful either. May we trust that you appoint not only? The ends of our salvation, but also the means and take them up diligently laboring praying teaching living as examples before our children.
And yet not finding our ultimate hope or refuge in that. Nor being discouraged or left without joy if they don't follow in our steps. Let us be a church Lord that Is watchful and discerning and prayerful for her youth for this next generation.
Trusting Lord that with these means of grace you will be pleased to circumcise many hearts and bring about many professions of faith and that we would be Baptized as a body in the next generation partaking of this Passover feast these things we ask in your son's name. Amen.