Bringing Children to Salvation
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About this ebook
For a parent, there is probably no more important subject to think about than how to deal with our children when it comes to salvation. After my wife and I were married, we were concerned greatly about having any children at all. We were fearful that if the rapture would come before that child got saved, he would be left behind to fend for himself, not just physically but spiritually, with no one to teach them the Word of God.
Another great concern I have is how to know when a child is really saved. It is not unusual to have children make a profession, and then later truly become a Christian. So we ask the question: how do we deal with our children when it comes to teaching them about Christ? How do you know when a child is old enough to understand salvation? What do you look for in a child's life to evidence true salvation?
This book answers these questions. Chapter titles include: Things we must Expect, Things we must Examine, Things you must Express, and Identifying Conviction. There is also a list of memory verses to help your child learn the importance of salvation.
Douglas Hammett
Douglas Hammett has been in the gospel ministry for almost 40 years. He has been involved in many areas of ministry, often covering several areas at the same time. Those areas include Pastor, Church Planter, Staff Evangelist, College Professor and President, Author, Life/Ministry Coach, and Missionary. He has traveled extensively on mission trips around the world as well as preaching for Bible, Missions and Revival Conferences. He has a heart for God's people and desires especially to help preachers advance their ministry for Christ whether in the United States, or on the foreign field. He served for over 20 years as Senior Pastor of the Lehigh Valley Baptist Church in Emmaus, PA. Then in October, 2010, he moved to Botswana, Africa to serve there as a missionary. Pastor Hammett and his wife, Beverly, have 4 children and 7 grandchildren.
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Bringing Children to Salvation - Douglas Hammett
Bringing Children to Salvation
By Douglas Hammett
Copyright 2011 Douglas Hammett
Smashwords Edition
All scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, King James Version.
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Smashwords Edition, License Notes
This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
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Table of Contents
Chapter One: Things We Must Expect
Chapter Two: Things We Must Examine
Chapter Three: Things You Must Express
Chapter Four: Identifying Conviction
Verses for Memorization
A Word from the Author
About the Author
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Chapter One
Things We Must Expect
Introduction
For a parent, there is probably no more important subject for us to think about than how to deal with our children when it comes to salvation. After my wife and I were married, we were concerned greatly about having any children at all. We were fearful that if the rapture would come before that child got saved, he would be left behind to fend for himself, not just physically but spiritually, with no one to teach them the Word of God. That was for us a great concern.
Another great concern I have is how to know when a child is really saved. I have dealt with enough children through the years that I know that every child that says they got saved did not get saved. It is not unusual to have children make one profession, and then later another profession, maybe even later a third profession. So we ask the question: how do we deal with our children when it comes to teaching them about Christ? How do we assure our hearts that what has happened in their life is genuine and real? How do we know when we have led them right? How do we know when we have led them wrong?
I do not expect to answer every question you might have, but I want to try to lay this subject out from a Biblical standpoint. Let’s look at three passages quickly.
"Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD." (Psalm 34:11)
The psalmist is inviting his children to come and to listen and he would teach them the fear of the Lord, which the book of Proverbs calls the beginning of wisdom. It is not the end of wisdom. It is not coming to Christ. It is just the beginning of wisdom. It is the starting point. If your child does not have the fear of God in their heart, then that child is not in any place to be dealt with by God yet.
How do you teach a child the fear of God? It is the responsibility of Mom and Dad, and you do it through careful, diligent use of the Word of God. You need to teach your children a proper recognition of who God is, and how they can have a proper relationship with Him.
"But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 19:14)
This is often used as a proof text to show that children can and should get saved very early. But notice the context of this passage. The children had come to see Jesus and the disciple tried to run them away. But Jesus was not saying, Let the children come and get saved.
This passage is not dealing with salvation in these children’s lives. It is simply dealing with children who wanted to see Jesus. Jesus said, Don’t you forbid those children to come to me. I want children to come.
His message to the disciples was, Of such is the kingdom of heaven.
In other words, people who come to Christ for salvation must come as a little child, humbly trusting and obeying.
"But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." (Second Timothy 3:14-15)
Timothy had learned the Scriptures from the time he was a child and those Scriptures were able to make him wise unto salvation. Paul does not say that as a child Timothy became a child of God. But as a child he learned the Scriptures, which were able to bring him to the point of salvation. As a child he learned the Word of God for the purpose that later God could save him.
I am convinced that many children who are making professions of salvation are not truly converted. There has to be something wrong when children by the hundreds and thousands are making professions, and by the time they hit their twenties and thirties, they want absolutely nothing to do with God.
I wish I had a dollar for every person that had someone come to their house when they were a child and invite them to their church. They went to that church as a child, prayed a prayer and made a profession of salvation, but now they are grown up and want nothing to do with Christ. They do not read their Bible and they are not interested in Christianity. I would be rich, because I have met hundreds like that in this area alone. Many of them were even baptized, but there was no change at all in their life.
You have to ask what is wrong when so many have a so-called conversion experience but it never changes their life. You have to ask why so many children are supposedly saved when they are young, but when they are grown up, they don’t live like a Christian. Could it be that we are dealing with our children in a wrong way and causing them to make a false profession of salvation?
As you study history, you can see that this phenomenon is new to our generation. It is only within the last 100 years that we find churches pulling kids down the aisle, getting them to pray prayers as children and confess conversion as a little child. There is a preacher in our area who has the testimony that at the age of two he came to know Jesus Christ. That to me is very ludicrous. It is totally impossible for a two-year-old to be able to come to Christ. I will explain why in a little while. It would be a laughing matter if it were not so sad.
On the other hand, there is a local seminary where one of the professors has said that parents should not cause their children to memorize the Word of God. His theory is that for children to memorize the Word of God when they don’t understand it is useless. So you have to wait until the child is old enough to understand it before you introduce them to the Word of God. I say that is utter foolishness, for the Word of God teaches us that we ought to be teaching our children even when they are young. There has to be a proper balance here.
You may ask, Does this mean children can’t get saved?
I will say absolutely not. For Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me.
In other words, allow them to come. It is possible for a child to properly understand and be saved. But the invitation Jesus gave was basically for children to come and learn of Christ, to desire the things of God, and to learn about the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let me also say that nowhere in the book of Acts, not on one occasion, do you find a child coming to Christ. Now that ought to cause us to sit back and take notice. I am not saying that children can’t get saved, but it ought to be a rare thing and it is an issue we should deal very carefully with.
You might also ask, What age children are we talking about?
I’m not going to set an age for