Recently, a lady I am acquainted with told me of the death of the unborn child of a member of her family. Such news always breaks my heart and I feel for all who suffer such a loss. She said she was comforted because an Episcopal priest had told her the baby was one of the “holy innocents.” He said that term came from Matthew 2 where Herod killed the children under two years old after the birth of Christ. I reread that passage of scripture and many others but found no such thing or any like ground for true comfort! As a matter of fact, the reason that any die, young or old, is sin. “The wages of sin is death.” We may be “innocent” of a particular sin but none are innocent of that sin which Paul describes in Romans 5. It is our sin which we sinned in Adam when our whole race fell in him. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:” (Rom. 5:12) “In Adam all die” (1 Cor. 15:22) and that is because in Adam all sinned. There are no innocents in Adam’s race! Death is because of sin and we all, baby or old person, confess this in our death. This is why we are described as being born “dead in trespasses and sin.” I have often heard preachers giving those who have lost babies and small children the same kind of comfort as this priest. They speak where the Bible is silent and try to draw conclusions from passages where the matter is at best obscure. I must be silent where the Bible is silent but I must speak where it speaks. Thankfully, I can say that all who go to heaven will go the same way. They are saved by the free and sovereign will and grace of God in Christ! They are not saved because they are innocent but because theirs sins were laid on Him. If we have hope in the death of any of these who die in infancy or as young children it must be in the same grace that we as older people have hope, in Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We rest in God’s will of wisdom and mercy. We know that the Judge of all the earth will do right. There has only been One “Holy Innocent,” the perfect Son of God who was born to die and save ALL His people from their sins. I cannot say who will be in heaven or who won’t of these who die so young but I know that true comfort of heart and mind concerning them is the same as it is in all things, in trusting our good and righteous God who “will be gracious to whom He will be gracious.” These little ones, like us, could do nothing to save themselves but HE CAN. Thank God, He WILL have mercy on whom He will have mercy. It is not their innocence but His grace! Can we trust Him with these precious souls also? Absolutely!

Gary Shepard

Election is God's eternal choice of some persons unto everlasting life; not because of foreseen merit in them but of his mere mercy in Christ; in consequence of which choice they are called justified and glorified.

C. D. Cole

The Gospel of God’s grace in Christ Jesus is not a thing to be proved, but truth to be believed. It is not submitted to our reasoning powers as a subject for critical examination. The gospel is a MESSAGE FROM GOD, addressed to the conscience, feelings, and affections. For this reason, men fond of argument and proving everything by strictly logical deduction generally make very poor preachers. In the Scriptures, God does not argue, He proclaims!

J. C. Philpot

CHRIST IS ALL

Every child of God realizes that without Christ, he is nothing. Christ is our peace, our hope, our joy, our preservation, our life, our wisdom, our sanctification, our righteousness and our redemption; He is our all. Should He forsake us or withdraw His presence from us (something that can never happen), we would again be lost, dead and absolutely unacceptable to a holy God. The fact of the matter is that we are totally dependent upon the blessed Savior for everything. Our eternal safety does not hinge upon our feeble hold of faith upon Him (though we do believe and rely on Him), but upon His almighty grasp of us. And if we ever become too self-confident and "think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think" (Romans 12:3), may the Lord remind us that if He should ever release us from the omnipotent embrace of His grace, we would immediately revert back to unbelief, dead works of religion and self-righteousness. We would be like the dog that is "turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire" (2 Peter 2:22). Paul’s words are true of us all, "For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing" (Romans 7:18). Christ is all!

Jim Byrd

O GOD HOW TRUE AND GOOD

O blessed God how true and good,

You prove yourself to be,

In everlasting love to save,

A sinner such as me.

What wonder it will ever be,

That we of wretched kind,

Can be in perfect fellowship

With God the One divine.

A new and living way was made

By Christ’s own blood then shed

And heaven opened wide to all

Who enter through the Head.

We marvel now to think of how,

There in our place you died,

And rest in all your finished work

Which God has satisfied.

All glory be to you alone

No boasting can be ours,

We praise you now with thankful hearts,

And shall for endless hours!

8.6 8.6

Gary Shepard

It is not determined by a man whether or not a point of our doctrine is true or not. That is determined by the word of God alone. It is the standard. Furthermore, those who are quickest to charge others with being off the mark do so because they feel threatened themselves, knowing that what they espouse cannot be supported by holy scripture. The fear of man brings a snare but if the Son has made us free then we are free indeed and my liberty is to follow Christ and His words alone.