Should We Baptize Infants?

Introduction

Good morning. If you will, open in your Bibles with me to Ezekiel chapter 18. Ezekiel chapter 18. As you’re turning there, what’s interesting about our world today, and doesn’t every good phrase start with, what do you want to know about our world today? Is that everyone has a different story to tell, a different background that they’ve shared in, a different perspective that they contain and view life with. The main question is where do those perspectives come from? And if it’s not aligned with God’s vision, how do we align how we were born, how we are raised, with how God wants us to be and how God wants us to see? In the religious world today, there’s all kinds of views on all kinds of different subjects, but there’s one subject in particular that has become kind of a thorn in the sight of many, because there’s not much said about it at all.

This morning I’d like to discuss for just a few minutes, should we baptize infants? The reason it’s a difficult question and worthy of asking the question and studying through this, is because if you look in the Bible, there is not an example of baptizing infants. Sure, in the book of Acts, there may be a couple, if if you’re generous, maybe three, references to a household being baptized, and some would say, well, there are children, there were infants in those households, but that’s far from definitive proof. Now, does that mean that we don’t do it? Well, no, it depends what the scriptures teach. Ezekiel 18 is a critical verse to look at to begin with. But what we need to examine this morning are what our Bible passages that speak about the idea of why we would baptize infants, what sin is for all of us, and who should undergo the idea of baptism, submission to God.

1. The Soul Who Sins Shall Die

So in Ezekiel chapter 18, if you’ll begin reading with me in verse 19, yet you say, Why should not the Son suffer for the iniquity of the Father? When the Son has done what is just and right, has been careful to observe all my statutes, he shall surely live. The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. You may want to leave a marker here, because perhaps we’ll come back later. But note very quickly in verse 18 and 19. The rule in verse 19 is very clear.

This is straightforward enough because the end of verse 20 says what? The righteousness of the righteous is upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself. The rule in God’s law has always been, the soul who sinned shall die. Now, this is a very important passage because in just a moment we’re going to talk about things like inherited sin, Adam’s sin, and some might say, well, this is an Old Testament passage, but let me just give you a quick chronology. To get from Adam to us, you have to cross through what period of Bible history? The Old Testament. So if the sins weren’t carrying through from Adam to Ezekiel’s time, they sure didn’t make it over here. So we have to understand what does Ezekiel mean by that, and we’ll examine that idea in just a moment.

2. Psalm 51: David Was Born Into a World of Sin

The first question, the most important reason that many give that children need to be baptized, infants need to be baptized, is because we inherit sin is the claim. Let’s see what the Bible says about that. One of the strongest proof verses, and if you go online and research this topic, you will see Psalm 51, verse 5, over and over, and yes, over again. Psalm 51. So turn there with me, and we’ll examine Psalm 51. What is it about? Why was it written? What does it teach? What do we learn from it? In Psalm 51, we have a Psalm from David. Many of us are familiar with David. He’s described as a man after God’s own heart. And yet, what’s the thing we remember most about David, if not that he was king or that he is described as a man after God’s own heart?

We remember the adultery with Bathsheba and the blood of Uriah being on his hands. Look in Psalm 51. The Psalm of Repentance from David after that great episode, that terrible idea and execution of sin that he had and worked on time and time again in those two short chapters. Psalm 51, verse 1. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love. According to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words, and blameless in your judgment. Now look closely with me at verse 5.

This is the linchpin of this whole idea, verse 5. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Verse 9 and 10 are important as well. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. Verse 10 created me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. I think you see the repentance leaping from the pages. What is David focused on? Let’s start there. In Psalm 51 and verse 1, he is begging for mercy from God. Why? Verse 9, verse 2, verse 3, verse 4, his sin.

Verse 4 is very interesting and very important. Look at verse 4 again. Against you, you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight. Now that raises a big question, does it not? What question does saying, Against you, O God, you only have I sinned? Well, as I go back through and I think about David’s life and his sin against and with Bathsheba, and certainly against Uriah, not to mention any other sin that David would have had. We think of sin, we think that you can sin not only against God, but also where? Against other people. And yet, what is David’s preoccupation in Psalm 51? His sin before God. Let’s take a moment and examine the rich context here, though. I do want to make an important point for us.

When we sin, and we recognize verses like Romans 3 23, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God to be true. Do we have the spirit that David does? Or do we violate God’s will and kind of not even care? Or shrug it off and go, well, God’s a forgiving God, so it’s fine. No David’s attitude in verse 2, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, cleanse me from my sin. Verse 3, I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. David realized with perhaps his heart that’s like God’s, that sin was awful, it was terrible, and what was it doing? It was separating him from his God. So now we come to verse 5 and the important part of our application for this morning.

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Now, this verse gives us all kinds of problems. Does it mean he was born through an act of sin? Does it mean he was born sinful, as many claim? Well, if you look at verse 9 and 10, and even in verse 8 as well, is David always being painstakingly literal here? No. What’s the problem with verses 7 and 8 of David is being painstakingly literal this entire time? In verse 7, purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. If that is true, one of two things has to be so, if this entire thing is to be taken literally to the nth degree.

Either David was wearing a garment or had one that he needed God to strike down from heaven and make white, or in heaven somewhere, God is holding garments of ours that have to be made white. That’s never the idea. What is the purpose of this teaching? What is David saying? Sin has ruined the purity and holiness with which followers of God must have. In David’s deliberate choice to violate God’s will because of the lusts of the flesh and the pride of life, he was found guilty before God, and God and God alone could cleanse him from his unrighteousness. So in verse 5, is it the idea that David was born committing sin? David was born guilty of sin? Of course not. David was born into a world of sin.

3. Psalm 58 and Ephesians 2: Judgment on Those Acting Wickedly

Sin was all around him, temptations were all about him. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity sin ever pressing against me. In sin did my mother conceive me. What is his focus in the Psalm? Repentance from what? The sin he committed as an adult, as king, as the man who should have known better, as a man who did know better. David was born into a world of sin, but he was only guilty of what? His own sin. Ezekiel 18 makes that point for us always. Look at Psalm 58, though. This is the next verse that’s often used, and we’re going to pair this one with a New Testament counterpart. In Psalm 58, if you note these verses, this perhaps gets a little bit more to the point of how do we understand the Bible?

Sometimes the Bible has complex subjects, and we have to take all that it has to say on it to understand what a certain verse that’s a little bit harder to understand means. So in Psalm 58 and verse 1, do you indeed decree what is right, you gods? Do you judge the children of man uprightly? No, in your hearts you devise wrongs. Your hands deal out violence on earth. Verse 3 is the key one here. The wicked are estranged from the womb. Note the second part. They go astray from birth, speaking lies. They have venom like the venom of a serpent, like the deaf adder that stops its ear, so that it does not hear the voice of charmers or of the cunning enchanter. Verse 6, important for the context.

O God, break the teeth in their mouth, tear out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord. And again, we know this isn’t to be taken literally. In verse 6, but what is David calling for? Punishment from God on those who did what? Verse 2, those who devise wrong, those whose hands deal out violence. Verse 3, tell me if you know a single infant from the womb who is wicked the minute it comes out. And the second part, they go astray from birth, speaking lies. Unless and until someone finds me a lying infant. Then we can’t take this literally. What is the idea then? What is David getting at? Well, when you look at verses 1 and 2, and you look at what he’s calling for in verses 6 to the end of the chapter, you see he’s calling for what?

Judgment on those who were acting wickedly. That doesn’t do to say that the infants were wicked. He was judging them. He wanted them to be judged for their sin. That’s what Psalm 58 is getting after. The sinners were guilty of wickedness, and you see that same idea in a harder to understand passage, perhaps. Look in Ephesians chapter 2. We’re going to slow down a little bit after we get through this passage right here in Ephesians chapter 2. But note, in Ephesians chapter 2, these ten verses, particularly eight or nine verses, are kind of the centerpiece of many false doctrines today. We have to understand what is it teaching. So look with me in Ephesians chapter 2. Let’s try to get a good grasp on this important scripture.

Ephesians chapter 2, beginning in verse 1. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the Prince of the Power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved. It’s a powerful, wonderful section of scripture. But note the important qualifiers of who he’s talking about in verse 1 and 2 before we define verse 3.

The phrase that sticks out to us at the end of verse 3 is you were by nature children of wrath. But note the description in verse 1. You were dead in trespasses and sins. Well, what did Ezekiel say about our sins? Who do we answer for? The soul who sins shall die. We answer for our sin. So verse 2, in which you once walked. They were guilty of what? Sin. Why? Because they committed it. They once walked in sin. You see that embedded in verse 2. Following the course of this world. Who? Those who were dead in trespasses and sins. Verse 3. The prince of the power of the air, following him, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. Verse 3, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and mind.

Who was guilty that Paul’s talking about? Those who did what? In verse 2, once walked in sins and trespasses. Those who in verse 3 lived in the passions of our flesh. Those who had violated God’s will were those who were in great need of what? In verse 4. The same thing David knew in Psalm 51. They needed God’s abundant mercy. Remember in Psalm 51 and verse 1, that’s exactly how David started his Psalm. Have mercy on me, O God. This is what we need. If we have sin, we need God’s forgiveness. And when we sin, we separate ourselves from God. David understood that. Paul understood that in Ephesians chapter 2. So there becomes only one real probable solution left, and that’s in Romans chapter 5. And that’s just finishing off the idea of inherited sin.

4. Romans 5: Death Spread to All Men Because All Sinned

Of course, you have that huge chronology problem that if you’re going to get from Adam to me, you have to go through many generations, which include Ezekiel. But Romans chapter 5 is important. I want to make a point that might sound kind of funny, but it’s true. In Romans chapter 5 and verse 12 through 14, important verses here. Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. For sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who is to come.

I want you to skip down for just a minute to verse 17. This is going to be really important. For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reign through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. Who is the man in verse 17, according to our context we already read some of? Who is it that allowed sin to enter the world? The one man’s trespass? Adam. If this is to be read the way it often is, and many people say, verse 12, 13, and 14 say, poof. There you go. Adam sinned, and now we all sin because of Adam’s sin. We are guilty of his sin.

But verse 17 has an interesting dilemma. If you read it that way, what else do we have to understand? If Adam can spread death through sin to all men, what can Jesus do? He can give life to all. Much more. See this in the middle of verse 17. Will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Christ Jesus? If this is to be taken Romans 5, verses 12 through 14, the idea that we’re guilty of Adam’s sin, then everybody will be saved. The idea of universalism is true because Jesus certainly will not be transcended by Adam. God would never allow that to happen. So either this passage teaches that everybody’s saved, or we have to be a little bit more nuanced in understanding what does it mean.

Let’s dig into what is that sin in verse 12. You see one of the first indicators. Yes, through one man sin entered the world and death through sin, but note the last part of verse 12. How did sin spread? And so death spread to all men. How? Why? Because all sinned. Well, maybe they’re just guilty of Adam’s sin. Verse 14 doesn’t allow for that interpretation, though. In verse 14, yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose what? Sinning was not like the transgression of Adam. They sin differently. If we were to look around, we all sin and struggle in different ways. If we’re honest, we’d have all kinds of different temptations, and we’d have to be careful about not having a judgmental mindset on that.

5. Who Is Guilty of Sin?

But in Romans chapter 5, what Paul is getting at is not that we have Adam’s sin. What was the difference between them? Death spread to all men because all sinned. How? In a way that was not always exactly like Adam’s sin. It can’t be Adam’s sin because it wasn’t the transgression of Adam’s sin. And remember back in Ezekiel 18, what was the point there? The soul who sins shall die. Is that not upheld by Romans 5 and verse 12? Death spread to all men because all sin? It is. When we take the scripture to understand it, Scripture becomes more understandable. Let’s look at this idea, though, first. Who is guilty of sin? In 1 John 3 and verse 4. If you look there closely with me, if you want a precise definition of sin to just kind of walk around with just for fun, in 1 John chapter 3 and verse 4, maybe that’s only something preachers do, walk around with a definition of sin.

I don’t know. In 1 John chapter 3 and verse 4. Apparently it’s not a funny thing. In 1 John chapter 3 and verse 4, everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. Sin is violation of the law. So we discussed what the scripture teaches in some of those so-called proof texts of infant sin, whether inherited or committed. But can babies do this? Can babies transgress God’s will? I’ve studied this issue many times with people, for example, in the meetup scenario in the Starbucks at Target at the meetup we have for the community on Tuesday nights. And oftentimes what the response is something along the lines of, well, my child will disobey me. My one or two year old knows not to do something.

The problem is with the one or two-year-old, they’re doing things out of conditioning rather than willful choice. You know how you know this? Because if you have a dog, cats do their own thing, but it has to be a dog. If you have a dog and you’ve raised with any type of understanding of its faculties, dogs know when they’ve done what? What they shouldn’t have done or what they should do, because if they do what they want, they’re going to come to you and get a treat. And if they have done something they should not have, they’re going to retrieve. Do you like that word play? So as you think about dogs, how do we train them with responses? Dogs don’t necessarily know the inherent value of right and wrong, of moral dilemmas.

They don’t weigh in on ethical ideas, but they can tell based on conditioning what is right and wrong. Children, especially little children, one, two year old, six months old. They not only don’t come forth from the womb literally speaking lies, they don’t have the ability to choose righteousness or to choose wickedness. They are trained, they are conditioned. More importantly than that fact, though, how does Jesus look at little children? There’s one takeaway. Matthew 18 is the takeaway from the lesson this morning. In Matthew chapter 18, as we move towards wrapping up in just a moment with four questions. In Matthew chapter 18, Jesus has a very critical idea that raises an intense problem. In Matthew chapter 18 and verse 1, now note what the grown-ups are doing and what he does to point out the error of their ways.

In Matthew 18 and verse 1, at that time the disciples came to Jesus saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Don’t you know Jesus loved that question? Verse 2, and calling them a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, Truly I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me. But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

Now I just have to say this when I was in Oregon visiting Kashka’s family a week or two ago, we went to a grain mill, I think it was, and they had these giant millstones. And you may know what the concept of a millstone is, but at least for me, when I saw it, when you see how big and how heavy it is, and you apply that to verse 6, you will not distract little children from coming to Jesus. This is a scary warning. But what is what is underlying this point? Yes, humility. The fact that the disciples were arguing over who is the greatest was obviously a humility problem. And so in verse 4, Jesus identifies what is the point of the comparison. But what is Jesus also implicitly saying?

Children will enter the kingdom of heaven. And if that’s the case, there’s a serious problem. If children are born with sin or born sinning, how does any sin get before a perfect, pure, and holy God? That creates a serious problem. We’ll answer that as we move forward. Of course, Ezekiel chapter 18, if you consider the rule again, the soul who sinned shall die, we answer for our sin. So who is guilty of sin? Those who choose to transgress God’s law. Isaiah 7 in verse 16 gives the idea of a child who can refuse the evil and choose the good, not just be conditioned into good or conditioned away from bad, but choose the good, refuse the evil. Who is guilty of sin? I am when I transgress God’s law.

Whose sin will I answer for? Mine, the soul who sinned shall die. Consider four important questions as we wrap up this morning. Who sin are we responsible for? 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 10 says we will all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. And what will we give account of? Our thoughts, our deeds, our actions. But then there’s this important question again are little children saved? Because if they are born with sin as we just reasoned through, or they do sin from the womb in some mysterious, mystical way, how would they possibly be saved? What is God’s answer for salvation? Romans 1 16, Paul said, I am not ashamed of the gospel. Why? For there’s the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes.

I don’t know about a one or two year old sinning. I think the passages in the Bible teach that that’s not a thing, that that isn’t something that can happen. But as you think about the consequences of what this would mean, if you have a little child who is guilty of sin, and the only remedy for sin is accessing the death of Jesus Christ, the gospel of God. Child has to be able to believe, to repent of wrongdoing. Turning from a life of unrighteousness to a life of righteousness. Now, can a child do that? Of course not. And I would reason with you. That shows that in and of itself that the child cannot be guilty of sin under that scenario. And if so, it creates a serious problem because all of a sudden God is incredibly unfair if that’s the case.

If children are guilty of sin, whether their own or inherited from Adam, God stands in a very unjust position. Because if a child was guilty of sin and cannot access the grace that he offers, that’s not the God of the Bible. That’s not the God of the Old Testament, that’s not the God of the New Testament. That’s a human created God. Our God, as Peter says in Acts chapter 10 and verse 34 and 35, shows no partiality. In every nation, anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. If an infant can’t choose to follow after God, let alone understand the concept of true belief, confession, or repentance, why would putting them underwater do that trick? If you look in the New Testament, I said from the onset that the references to infant baptism are not there other than maybe households.

6. Who Does Then Need Baptism?

But what we do know about the households or what preceded the baptism in every case. People who had sin. People who needed to turn their life towards God, those who believed in Jesus Christ, all actions an infant cannot and would not take from its heart. So that leaves one final critical question. Who does then need baptism? If putting an infant under water doesn’t take their sins away, if infants aren’t guilty of sin then, and Jesus says they will inherit the kingdom of heaven, that’s great news. But there is still some bad news because, like the disciples arguing over who is the greatest, if we’re honest and we take the focus off of infants and onto ourselves, we recognize that we as humans, as adults who can choose good or choose to reject good and do wickedness, I am guilty of what?

Sin. God has the remedy for that, and this is how we access it. Look with me in Galatians chapter 3 as we move towards concluding this morning. In Galatians chapter 3 and verse 26 beginning, excuse me, verse 25. Galatians 3 and verse 25. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, or you might have tutor or schoolmaster. For in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. I ask the question often, how is it possible that someone could be saved without accessing the body, the sacrifice of Jesus the Christ? The answer is they can’t. Sin separates us from God. The only remedy for that sin is what?

The death of Jesus. The fact that God loved us, and in his great mercy from Ephesians chapter 2, in his great love, he sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sin. How do we access it? How do we become part of the body of Christ? Galatians 3 27 has the answer. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. But there’s that little phrase right before it in verse 26 that stands so critically here. For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God. How? Through faith. Something obviously a little, the littlest of children can’t do. Have a true faith and understanding of who God is and what that means for their life. But what I can do is recognize whether I have rejected God.

Or if I have chosen to submit to him. And if I am going to submit to God, if I’m going to stop rejecting him today and start choosing God and making him true priority, Jesus, true King of my life, then beginning right now, how would I get into Christ? I’d be baptized into him. Why? What purpose does baptism hold? Why is the idea of infant baptism even becoming a thing? Well, yes, because of the false idea of being born with sin. Yes, because of the false idea of that children need to be separated or committed to God at the age of one. But look at me in Acts chapter 22. This is the bottom line. And this is what we need to take heart on this morning.

If you are someone who considers yourself worthy of, or at least guilty of sin or worthy of following Jesus, capable of understanding that there is a God and that he must be worshipped. Look in Acts chapter 22 and verse 16. This verse is critical to understanding what is the purpose of baptism. Why did God send this idea to us? The same reason he sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. Because we sinned and violated his will. Remember 1 John 3 and verse 4, sin is lawlessness. Sin is transgression of the law. In Acts chapter 22 and verse 16, as Paul is recounting his conversion, note what he says in verse 16, and now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.

In Acts chapter 2 and verse 38, there was a similar idea, where Peter was told, was telling the Jews about Jesus. And not just about Jesus, but that he was the Christ. He was the Holy One of Israel. He was the Messiah, and they crucified him. And in verse 38, what did he say? Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. We need what God has offered. Sometimes people look at a verse like Acts 2.38 and they say, You’re misunderstanding the word for the forgiveness of sins. And they’ll say, Well, imagine if you had a headache, and you said, I’m going to take aspirin for a headache. You don’t take aspirin to get a headache. That’s what the word for that’s what you’re taking the word for to mean there.

Here’s the problem with that. How do we understand what the purpose of infant baptism is or isn’t? How do we understand if children are born with sin? How do we understand what God wants from us when things are a little bit complicated? As we did this morning, you walk through and you let the Bible interpret itself. Look at one final passage this morning in Matthew 26, 26. It makes every point for us right here in this one verse. In Matthew 26, the passage we most often looked at as we’re partaking of the Lord’s Supper. Beginning in Matthew 26, 26. Note what Jesus says. As they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it, broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, Take, eat.

This is my body. And he took a cup, and we had given thanks. He gave it to them, saying, Drink of it all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. This is everything, because what is Jesus saying that he did? He died on the cross for me. He died on the cross for you for our sins, that we may be forgiven. Here’s the problem. See that for Aegis in Matthew 26 and verse 28? Why was his blood poured out for many? For the forgiveness of sins. That is the same grammatical construct as Acts 2.38. Did Jesus die on the cross so that we could get a headache? He died because we need the forgiveness of our sins.

Conclusion

When we’re baptized, it’s not because we’ve already had our sins forgiven. It’s so that we can get rid of the headache. It’s so that we can have our sins washed away. When we are the person in Ezekiel 18 and verse 19, who has sinned, we stand before our Creator, worthy of death. But our God, being rich in mercy, love, and grace, sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. And we only have to access the grace and the offer of salvation that God makes available to all of us. We need to make that choice today. Will you go to God in prayer with me? Our dear God and most gracious and loving Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for blessing us with a life in this world, but we pray that we never get distracted by it.

We’re thankful for the health, but pray that we always use it to your glory. We’re thankful for this opportunity to worship you. We pray that we do so in a pleasing way in your sight, worshiping you in spirit and truth, as you have decreed. You are a mighty God. You’re a loving God. You have existed for all of eternity and will continue on for all of eternity. You are a powerful, wonderful maker. And we praise you as the great God that you are. Forgive us in our moments of weakness of when we change your will, of when we violate your law, of when we suit you to fit our needs, rather than changing our lives to fit your image. Help us as we strive to be holy as you are holy, blameless as you are blameless.

Help us to encourage little children, help us to not ever dare make one fall away, but to recognize that we must every day make the choice to follow you and a choice to reject sin. Thank you for sending Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. May we in all ways and in every duplication recognize what that life means, and that it means a life of denial and serving after you and in his image. Help us to follow in the footsteps of Jesus today. Help us to learn from your word in this Bible class period, and help us again to be pleasing in your sight, remembering his sacrifice when we partake of the Lord’s Supper. Thank you for this wonderful day. Help us and help all those who are unable to be here.

It’s in your Son’s name we do pray. Amen.