In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The first miracle that Jesus ever did was change water into wine. Even though our Lord could have done that miracle anywhere, the place where He chose to do it was at a wedding. That, of course, shows us something about what God thinks of marriage. He loves it. He holds it in the highest regard, and He wants us to do the same thing too. As the author of Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 13, “Let marriage be held in honor among all.” So, how exactly do we do that? Well, that’s what I’d like to talk about in the morning’s sermon. Because Jesus honored marriage with His presence and very first miracle at a wedding at Cana in Galilee, let us consider together the different ways that God’s Word teaches us to honor marriage ourselves. 

The first and most basic way that we do that is by upholding God’s definition of what marriage actually is. It’s hard to image a worse way to dishonor something than by trying to redefine it, or change it into something that it isn’t. If I gave my kids a brand-new Bible for Christmas and then they turned around and used its pages to start fires, instead of reading it, that wouldn’t be right. It would be a total misuse and abuse of the gift. And sadly, that’s what many people today do with God’s gift of marriage. They don’t use it in the way that God intended. In some cases, they even twist into something completely different than what God designed it to be.

The Bible tells us that God designed marriage to be the lifelong union between one man and woman. Jesus says in Mark chapter 10, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So, they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” Any definition of marriage that doesn’t agree with that definition is no real marriage at all. It doesn’t matter what the government says. It doesn’t matter what the majority of people on the street say. What matters is what Jesus says. As Mary told to the servants in our Gospel reading today, “Do whatever He tells you.”

And Jesus tells us that marriage is between one man and one woman. That means that there’s no such thing as gay marriage. Even if two individuals say that they are committed to one another that doesn’t make what they’re doing okay. People can commit to sinful things all of the time. For example, two bank robbers can agree with one another to go and rob a bank. Well, so what? It’s still bad. And two men and two women can agree to live together as a couple even though that’s bad too. One time in the Bible God destroyed an entire city because the men of that place engaged in homosexual behavior. He reigned down fire and sulfur from heaven and even turned a woman into a pillar of salt simply because she looked back with longing eyes. Let that be a warning to all of us. This stuff is constantly being put in front of our faces on television shows and in movies. We should not be watching it. We need to tell our children that it’s wrong, and do our best to firmly but lovingly demonstrate to others that Christ doesn’t approve of any of it. That’s one way that we honor God’s gift of marriage.

Another way that we do it is by waiting until we get married to engage in the privileges of marriage. Again, Jesus says that a man leaves his father and mother, holds fast to his wife, and then the two become one flesh. The physical union of marital intimacy is supposed to take place after the public declaration and promise to live together in marriage. It has become very common in our time for couples to move in with each other and share the same home before they share their wedding vows. They test each other out as if they are buying a used car instead of preparing to have a partner for life. But individuals who cohabitate with one another are not getting ready for marriage. They are getting for divorce. They are training themselves to be able to leave the relationship at any time they want if that relationship no longer satisfies their desires. But do you know what the statistics say for how likely a marriage is to end between those who move in together first as opposed to those who wait? It goes up significantly.

And none that is to mention the spiritual consequences of doing it. The Bible says that those who live in unrepentant sexual sin will be judged for it. In the same verse that I read at the beginning of the sermon today from Hebrews 13 it goes on to say, “Let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.” God’s judgment against those won’t stop living in sexual sin is that they won’t go to heaven when they die. That’s what Saint Paul writes in Galatians chapter 5. He says that “the sexually immoral will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Is it worth it to save few bucks by moving in with your boyfriend or girlfriend, only to lose out on eternal life? Yes, it might be embarrassing to admit that you were wrong and have to move back in with your parents, or get married a lot faster than you originally planned, but a little bit of embarrassment is nothing compared to a clean conscience. Having God’s blessing and approval in your life is infinitely more valuable than having anything else.

Along those same lines then we should also include in this category the sin of lust and for the sake of sensitive ears let’s call it “self-abuse.” It’s possible to commit adultery without ever being in the same room as someone else. Jesus says this exact thing in Matthew chapter five: “You have heard it said, ‘you shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”  The widespread access to pornographic content and material has turned this sin into perhaps the greatest spiritual threat of our time. But married men and women who look at porn dishonor their spouse. And unmarried men and women who do it dishonor their future spouse. Other people are never objects for our own personal pleasure and enjoyment. They are God’s creatures, made in His own image and likeness, that He sent His Son Jesus to redeem and save. That’s what we should tell ourselves whenever we are tempted to look at something that we know we shouldn’t. We shouldn’t play with fire thinking that we won’t get burned. Instead, we should be like Joseph who ran away from Potiphar’s wife and even left his cloak behind in her hand. Part of what it means to honor marriage is to flee from sexual immorality and try our best to fight against it.

The next way we honor marriage, which also needs special attention in our time, is by staying married to our spouse and encouraging others to do the same. Besides telling us that marriage should be between one man and one woman, and that we should wait to get married before we sleep with someone, the Bible also tells us that marriage is supposed to be for life. Jesus says, “What God has joined together let not man separate.” The only two explicit reasons given for divorce in sacred Scripture are adultery and abandonment. And even in those instances the goal, whenever possible, is still reconciliation. This modern idea that falling out of love with someone, or no longer sharing the same life goals as they do, constitutes acceptable grounds for divorce is completely contradictory to God’s clear Word. And that’s not even to mention the issue of getting married again after the fact. Listen to what Jesus says about remarriage in Matthew chapter 19, “Whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.” As hard as those words may be for us to hear, we need to take them seriously instead of immediately trying to find ways that they don’t apply to us. Our goal as Christian people should never be to try and get away with as much as possible, but to follow God’s Word as closely as possible. And God wants couples to stay married. What He has joined together, He wants no one to put asunder.

One of the reasons why the Bible teaches us to take things like divorce so seriously, and do everything that we possibly can to prevent it from happening, is because it almost never just affects the two people who did it. It almost always has an impact on other people too. Few things are as hard on children as when a husband and wife separate from one other and stop living in the same home. Yes, there are legitimate instances where this might be necessary, especially when people’s lives are in danger, but that doesn’t mean that the situation is ever desirable or ideal. In Malachi chapter 2, God Himself tells us how He feels about divorce. He says that He hates it. Then He says right after that that the reason why is because He wants godly offspring. Our Father in heaven knows that what’s best for children is to have a stable home with a caring mother and father who are devoted to one another and to their wedding vows. When that doesn’t happen, it makes Him sad. It should make us sad too. It should cause us to plead with the Lord for mercy and that He would have compassion on all those who are struggling in their marriage.

These are just a few of the ways that God’s Word teaches us to honor marriage. There a lot more of them that we could talk about, but these are some of the most basic one’s that we learn from the Bible. When Jesus turned water into wine at Cana in Galilee, He did more than just perform a miracle. He showed us what God thinks about the lifelong union between one man and one woman. He loves it. He holds it in the highest regard. And He wants us to do the same thing too.

Part of what it means to be a Christian is to try and do what God’s Word tells us to do. It means following after His laws and honoring what He gives us to honor. And when we don’t do that, or fail to do it in the way that we should, we need to stop and repent. The Bible says that, “if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” That’s true for every sin, even for the sins against marriage. If we quit doing them, and ask God to forgive us for them, He promises that He will.  He says that He will wash us clean and make us new as if we’d never done those things to begin with.

Yes, Jesus’ first miracle shows us what God thinks about marriage, but even more than that its shows us what He thinks about our sins. He wants us to have forgiveness for them. Christ didn’t just come down from heaven to encourage us to be faithful towards each other in our marriage vows, He came down from heaven to prove that He is faithful towards us in His. As we read in our Epistle lesson today from Ephesians chapter 5, marriage is a picture of the love that Christ has for the Church. Jesus is the Bridegroom and we are His Bride. And what does Saint Paul say that Jesus does for His Bride? He writes, “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word, so that He might present the Church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.”

We learn in our Gospel text that Jesus changed water into wine by using the vessels for the Jewish rites of purification. There were six stone jars, each holding 20 to 30 gallons. In a way, that symbolized man’s attempts to purify himself. Six is the number of days of mankind’s creation. It’s one short of seven, the perfect number of God. We can’t make ourselves clean. We can’t fix what we’ve broken before the Lord. We can’t wash away our sins. But Jesus can. And when He turned water into wine, He showed us that that’s exactly what He came to do.

Jesus turned water into wine to remind us of the abundant forgiveness that He comes to bring His church. It was a miracle of excess, because there is no sin which He did not die for and no transgressing that He is unwilling to forgive.  Jesus turned water into wine to remind us of our Baptism, and the washing of regeneration and renewal that we get there which makes us clean and pure. And Jesus turned water into wine to remind us of His holy Supper, the bread and the wine that we eat and drink, which is His true Body and Blood, given and shed for our forgiveness. Christ is our Bridegroom and we are His Bride. He died for us, and He provides for us, so that we can enter into the eternal wedding feast of heaven. 

So, honor marriage according to His design, and thank God that He honors His marriage to you by promising to never leave you or forsake you. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Every year on the first Sunday in Christmas, we are re-introduced to the account of old Saint Simeon in the Temple. This is a wonderful passage from God’s Word that’s been so influential in the Lutheran Church that we use it at multiple times in our Liturgy. First, we sing it on Sunday’s right after we take Communion. That’s the canticle known as the “Nunc Dimmittis,” which is just the Latin translation of the first few lines of what Simeon said in our text. But we also use these words during our Lutheran funeral services too. Right before we lay our loved ones to rest in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection of the dead, we confess together as a congregation, “Lord, now you let your servant depart in peace.”

Even though I’m going to incorporate both the ways that we use Simeon’s song in this morning’s sermon, I mostly want to focus on that second instance, and how it helps us think about death in the right kind of way. What do we learn from the example of Saint Simeon, and how he departed in peace, that can help us to depart this life in peace too?

The first thing that we learn from Saint Simeon is how to get ready to die in general. Lots of times people try their hardest not to even think about death, but even when they do, they end up approaching it in almost the complete opposite way the Bible says we’re supposed to. In many cases, they turn getting ready to die into a sort of personal challenge to see how many fun things they can do before it happens. But preparing for your death doesn’t mean checking off all the things on your bucket list. It’s not about going sky-dying, swimming across the ocean, or seeing the Grand Canyon. That doesn’t get you ready to meet Jesus. In fact, it might even make it so that you’re unprepared to meet Him, because you neglected the things that He said actually matter. 

Getting ready to die isn’t about doing all of the things your sinful flesh wants, it’s about repenting of your sins and continually looking to God for His forgiveness and mercy. It’s about a repeated and ongoing use of the Means of Grace, God’s Word and Sacraments, where Christ promises to be present and active to keep us in the faith so that one day we can go to heaven.

What was Saint Simeon doing while he waited for his own death? The Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not die until he saw the Lord’s Christ. So, what exactly did Simeon do in the meantime? The Bible says that he went to Church. As our text tells us, “And he came in the Spirit into the temple.” That, by the way, is also what Saint Anna the prophetess did too. It says in our reading that “she did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day.” Both of these individuals show us the real way that we’re supposed to get ready to die. It’s through receiving God’s gifts in worship, because when we worship in the Name of Jesus, we get the protection of Jesus too.

God’s Word tells us that Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life. It says that whoever believes in Him will not die, and though he die, yet shall he live. Just like the blood of the Passover Lamb was painted on the doorposts of the Israelites in Egypt, so that when the angel of death saw it, he passed over, and spared them, that’s what happens when we are marked with the blood of Christ too. That’s what happens when we are washed clean by His blood in our Baptism, and when we eat and drink of His Body and Blood in the Lord’s Supper. When we receive God’s Word and Sacraments in faith, we receive Christ, and Christ protects us from death. He shields us from the consequences of our sins by forgiving them so that even if we physically die, we don’t die eternally.

Again, where else do we say the words of Saint Simeon from our text? We don’t just say them at our Lutheran funeral services, we also say them at our Communion services too. With the Body and Blood of Christ still fresh on our breath, we return to our pews singings together, “Lord, now let your servant depart in peace.” That is a confession about what just happened when we took the Sacrament. In the same way that Simeon was prepared to die after he got to take Christ in his arms, and see the embodiment of his salvation with his very own eyes, we are prepared to die after we got to take Christ in Communion, and behold our salvation their as well.

So that’s how Simeon teaches us to prepare for death. He shows us that the real way that you do it is by going to Church all of the time to hear God’s promises and wait for them to be fulfilled. It sort of makes you wonder what Simeon was thinking on those days that going to the Temple was kind of hard. Can you image him skipping Church for something like fishing or hunting? Can you see him going on vacation and not trying to find a place to worship God in Spirit and in truth with other believers? I can’t. I bet his attitude was always, “maybe today is the day, so I better not miss.” And that’s how we should think of church too. There’s nothing better in this whole world than what we get on Sunday mornings, and every Sunday we aren’t there, is a Sunday that we missed out. But we don’t want to miss out on salvation. We don’t want to deprive ourselves of God’s gifts that get us ready to die. The hour of our death could come at any moment and that’s why we spend every hour that we can getting ready for it by coming to Church week after week to meet Christ, and receive His forgiveness.

The other thing that Saint Simeon shows us about death in our reading this morning is that it’s supposed to be something that we look forward too. Lots of people dread even the thought of dying because they don’t have any confidence about what’s going to happen to them next. Either they don’t think they’ve been good enough to go to heaven, not realizing that no one is and that’s not how it happens, or they don’t believe in heaven, and they think they’re just going to go right into the ground. Sometimes even Christians, because of their sinful nature, can give the impression that when they die, they might be missing out on something. I’ve heard on more than one occasion baptized children of God give the impression that they hope they don’t die until they get married, or see their grandkids grow up, or even take a vacation. But all of these examples, don’t express the attitude about death that we see from Saint Simeon.

When the moment finally came for him to depart this life in peace, nothing gave him greater joy. He took that little baby in his arms, he looked up to heaven, and he blessed God Almighty. And that’s how we should think about our own death too.

First, if we’re afraid of dying because we think we haven’t been good enough to go to heaven, we should realize that no one is saved by their works, and that even the most egregious sinner can be forgiven through the blood of Christ. In fact, Christ already forgave our sins when He died on the cross, and there’s nothing left for us to do but receive it. Just repent and ask God to have mercy on you and He will. Just get baptized, or remember your baptism, or come and take Communion. Then you can have the assurance, because of God’s promise, not your own merit, that when you die you will safety enter into God’s presence.

Secondly, if you’re worried about missing out on something when you die, you should remember that nothing is lost to us in heaven. It’s not like we’ll be together with Jesus in perfect bliss and happiness wishing that we’re still down here on earth struggling with our sins. What does Saint Paul tell us in Philippians chapter 2? He says, “To live is Christ, and to die is gain.” That means that we gain something when we die, we don’t lose things. The only that we lose is that dumb sinful nature that causes us not to appreciate the things that we definitely should. Or here’s another passage from God’s Word. What about the way that Jesus describes heaven to the thief on the cross? He called it paradise: “Today you will be with me in paradise?” Have you ever even come close to describing anything in your life that way at all? I’ve experienced some wonderful moment with family and friends, but wouldn’t ever say that that’s paradise. But that’s what we will have when we die in the faith and go to be with the Lord. 

Since we are God’s beloved children and He has promised us salvation in Christ just like he did Saint Simeon, we can look forward to the day that we die with confidence and even anticipation. We can even pray for it to happen like we do in the Lord’s Prayer when we say “deliver us from evil,” knowing that whenever it happens God will bless us. Whether we die in old age surrounded by family or all alone just by ourselves; whether we are cut down in our youth or pass away in tragic accident; whether our death is painful or painless, we cannot depart this world in peace trusting in the promises of Christ our Savior. Because of what Jesus has done, and how He died for our sins, we can say in Christian confidence along with Simeon and the saints who followed him, “Lord, now you let your servant depart in peace.” In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

One of the most controversial topics in the Christian Church today is whether or not infants can actually have faith. Lots of people argue that it’s impossible for babies to believe in Jesus because they’ve not yet reached the state of development where they’re apparently capable of it. This has also led to the sad, but very common practice, of withholding God’s gift of Baptism from infants until they’re much, much older. In some cases, the churches that do that have even invented something called “dedication,” which is when a child is presented before the congregation after they’re and prayed for in the hopes that one day, he or she might become a Christian. Instead of simply doing what God commands us to do in the Bible, which is to make disciples by Baptizing them in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, because of their faulty doctrine about infant faith, they’ve made up their own thing to replace it. But our God will not be mocked! And there is nothing that gets more to the heart of the Christian Faith, then the answer to whether or not babies can believe and be saved. 

So, on the basis of our Gospel lesson for today, where we get a divinely inspired account of infant faith, allow me to spend a few moments in this morning’s sermon defending how it’s possible, and why it matters. 

In Luke chapter 1, we read about what’s called “the Visitation.” That’s the story of when Mary went to visit her cousin Elizabeth while both of them were pregnant with John the Baptist and Jesus. There are a lot of amazing things that happened during that visit, but nothing more incredible than what we’re told in verse 41. There our text tells us that “when Elizbeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb.” It’s such a small detail, that if you’re not paying attention, you might almost miss it. But the significance of what that detail means is beyond measure. Again, here is a real-life instance given to us by the Word of God itself which demonstrates in clearest of terms that children actually can have faith in Christ. And not only any children, but pre-born children at that. What could it possibility mean that John the Baptist leaped for joy at the sound of Mary’s greeting, if he did not believe in Mary’s Son. What would even be the point of the Holy Spirit providing us with this information, if it wasn’t intended to show us anything at all?

Now, sometimes it gets argued that John leaping in the woman at the sound of Mary’s greeting, is not evidence of infant faith universally, but only a special case that applied specifically to him. “It’s not that all babies can believe,” some say,” but just John, because he was uniquely filled with the Holy Spirit.” And I suppose that if this were the only place in the Bible that made any references to babies believing, then that argument would hold some weight. But when we look at the rest of the Scriptures, we see that there are many other clear instances of the them talking about infant faith too.

Listen to what the Psalmist says in Psalm 22, verse 9. He writes, “You are He who took me from the womb; You made me trust You at my mother’s breasts.” Once again, we have not just an example of a baby believing, but a baby that’s so young that he’s still nursing. The Psalmist says that God caused him to trust in Him before he was even weaned. Or what about what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 11. There our Lord prays this: “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was Your gracious will.” The word for “little children” in that passage is the same word for babies. Jesus is saying that God reveals Himself, and His plan for salvation, even to little babies. What would be the point of God doing that, if babies couldn’t even believe it?

Or here’s another example of the Bible talking about infant faith. What does Christ say in Matthew chapter 18? First, He tells us that “Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of God.” Then He says one verse later, “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.” Here Jesus not only tells us that adults need to become like children if they want to go to heaven, but that children can believe in Him, so we should be careful not lead them astray. 

Lots of times people talk as if infants believing in Jesus is the exception to the rule, and that adult faith is really more the norm. But God’s Word shows us that its actually the opposite. Its grown up’s that have a harder time coming to faith, not kids. It’s adults who struggle to believe the Gospel, not children. They’re the ones who put all kinds of obstacles in the way of the Holy Spirit, and have trouble setting aside their pre-conceived notions about how things should work. Have you ever heard a toddler argue with his parents about the theory of evolution? Have you heard a 2-year-old deny the historicity of the Bible, because of something that he read one time on the internet? Kids don’t do that. They might be little sinners, but they’re little sinners who bring a lot less baggage to the table.

Those who reject the possibility of infant faith are not doing so on the basis of anything that we read in the Scriptures. They aren’t making an argument from any particular passages that we find in God’s Word. They’re making an argument solely from human reason. Because it doesn’t make sense to them that babies can believe the Gospel, they assume that it’s impossible. But who knows better about whether or not a certain individual can come to faith? Who knows more about who can actually believe in Jesus? Is it the One who causes it to happen, or is it the person that it happens to?

The main reason why so many people in our time reject the idea that babies can have faith is because of a misunderstanding about what faith really is. All too often you hear Christians equating faith with something like knowledge. And while it’s certainly true that knowledge can inform our faith, and that God uses knowledge to strengthen it and keep it growing, that doesn’t mean that faith is the same thing as knowledge altogether. You can have knowledge without having faith. You can know every single detail of the Bible and still not trust in Jesus as your Savior. I had professors when I studied at Cambridge who could rattle off almost any verse of the New Testament that you wanted them to, but if you asked them what they believed, hardly any of them would agree with the verses they had memorized. Many of them didn’t even think that Jesus actually rose from the dead. 

And just like you can have knowledge without having faith, you can have faith with a very limited knowledge too. You don’t need to be able to articulate every single teaching of the Bible perfectly in order to trust in Christ for your salvation. How much does a little baby need to know about his mother or father before he can trust in them? Not very much. In fact, sometimes babies show an even greater trust in their parents then their older siblings do. While the “big kids” will follow a stranger into a van just because he promised them candy, or give their address to some “wierdo” on the internet because he was nice to them, infants will scream bloody murder just because someone that they don’t recognize holds them. They know their mom and their dad. They have enough knowledge about who their parents are to look to them for help and rely on them for care. And if they can do that with their earthly parents, how much more so for their Father who is in heaven?

God’s Word shows us without a shadow of doubt that infants absolutely can have faith. No matter how small they are, even if they are still in the womb, it’s still possible for them to believe in Jesus. That’s what we see in the example of John the Baptist, and that’s what we see all throughout the Scriptures too.

So, why does any of this matter? What is the point of God showing us that infants are capable of having faith and that babies can trust in Christ too? Certainly, one of the reasons why God shows us this truth is so that we would not neglect our children. If you don’t think that infants can believe or understand anything about Jesus, then it doesn’t make much sense to even try and tell them about Him. And sadly, that’s what a lot of parents do. Instead of seeing early infancy, and pregnancy for that matter, as the most important time for their little one’s instruction, they see it as one of the least. Sometimes they don’t even make a habit of taking their newborns to church because they assume that through all the crying, no one is getting anything out of the service. Well, who says so? Maybe, you say so, but that’s not what Jesus says. In Matthew chapter 19, He says, “let the little children comes to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.”

We bring our babies to church and get them baptized in God’s Holy Name as soon as we possibly can because Christ our Lord tells us that they can be part of His family too. Just like they were able to receive their first birth from their earthly parents, apart from their own contributions and efforts, they can receive the new birth from above as God’s children apart from their own contributions and efforts too. They are the perfect candidates for being baptized, because they are perfect candidates for being saved.

In the end, the reason why it’s so important that we recognize that infants can have faith is because nothing highlights the grace of God and the cause of our salvation more. What’s the reason we have the hope of eternal life? How does a person actually get to heaven? Is it through something that we do? No! It’s is entirely the work of the Lord. It is a free gift that God gives to us out His own goodness and mercy.

Little kids can’t do anything on their own. Babies, in particular, have to rely on someone else for literally everything. If we left them alone even for just a couple of hours, there’s a good chance that they might even die. But that’s exactly how it is when it comes to our relationship with God. We can’t do anything on our own. As Jesus tells us in John chapter 15, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” If God left us by ourselves, and did not intervene with His love to save us, then all of us would without doubt perish eternally. If He had not sent His only begotten Son to die for all of our sins, then we would never be able to be forgiven for them. If He would not, even now, continue to provide us with His Holy Spirit, who works through the Word to call people to faith, then we not be able to believe in Him.

And when we realize that, it becomes easier to see how God can save babies, and why He gave give them the gift of saving faith too. That, right there, is the key that unlocks everything. Babies can believe the Gospel, because faith itself is a gift. It isn’t something that we figure out by ourselves. It isn’t something that we produce in ourselves through our own striving and efforts. It isn’t a decision that we come to after a long process of thinking it over. Even if we think that’s how it worked, like many people today do, that’s not how it really happened. It happened when the Holy Spirit gave us a new heart. It happened when God Himself intervened in our lives and brought us back from spiritual death by converting us and raising us up with Christ. It happened when Jesus visited us, like He did John the Baptist, and proclaimed to us the good news of our salvation.

So, may we cherish the gift of faith that we have received. And may we rejoice that God can give that gift to anyone He wants: to literal children, yes, but also to all those who become like children too. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.