Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Good morning. Welcome to faith
ward Baptist church.
Take your seats.
We will get started.
Let's find a seat and grab your
imnal.
Turn to page 260.
He is on the floor.
And on page 260
he is able to deliver the
song 260
.
The
grandest
into the ages
from
his
grandest
immortal
tongue
is the grandest
He is the grandest theme that the world bears.
Our God is able to deliver me.
He is able to deliver me.
Though my sin on press
go to Him for rest. Our God is able
to deliver me. He is the grandest
theme in the earth for me.
Tis the grandest theme for a mortal stream.
Tis the grandest theme for the world again.
Our God is able to deliver me.
He is able to deliver me.
Though my sin on press go to Him
for rest. Our God is able to
deliver me. Tis the grandest theme
that the tidings roll to the guilty heart
to the sinful soul. Look to God in
faith, He will make me whole. Our God
is able to deliver me. He is
able to deliver me.
He is able to deliver me.
Though my sin on press go to Him for rest.
Our God is able to deliver me.
Amen.
Thank you for this opportunity to come to church. Please just fill the pastor with your spirit and help us to be identified by the sermon this morning.
In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
Turn to our next song, song 258.
Song 258.
Singing
Jesus, will we sing
Now this word of grace to all
Who the heavenly God believe
All will linger on the floor
Again. Christ, receive
The sinful man. Make the
message clear and plain. Christ,
receive the sinful man.
Come and He will make you rest.
Just and for His word is plain. He will take
The sinful man. Christ, receive
The sinful man. Sing it o'er
and o'er again. Christ, receive
The sinful man. Make the
message clear and plain.
Christ, receive the sinful man.
Now my heart will tempt me not
Here before the law I stand. He
will bless me from all spots. Satisfy
His last command. Sing it o'er
and o'er again. Christ, receive
The sinful man. Make the
message clear and plain.
Christ, receive the sinful man.
Even me with all my sin
Purge from every spot I sing.
And within I enter in. Sing it
o'er and o'er again.
Christ, receive the sinful man.
Make the message clear and plain.
Christ, receive the sinful man.
All right, this time we'll go through our announcements together.
If you don't have a bulletin, slip up your hand nice and high. We'll get to you with one.
On the inside we have our service times. Sunday mornings at 10
30 is our preaching service. Sunday nights at 6. Wednesday nights
at 7 is our Bible study. This week we'll be in 2 Chronicles
chapter number 17. We've got the soul winning times
listed there below as well as salvation and baptisms.
We've got a bunch of birth announcements here. Congratulations to the Brock
family on baby Melody Marigold, born
Saturday, August 17th at 12.24 a.m.
8 pounds, 20.5 ounces. Congratulations to
the Anderson family. Baby Dietrich
Johannes, born Saturday, August 17th at
1.09 a.m. 8 pounds, 1 ounce
measuring 20.5 inches. So if I look a little bit older and wiser
this morning it's because I'm a grandpa now.
And then below that, congratulations
to the Fide family on baby Liam Christopher, born
Saturday, August 17th at 6.21. Wow, these are all August
17th. Was it a full moon that day or what?
9 pounds, 14 ounces.
Alright, so here's the big baby award. 9 pounds, 14 ounces
22.5 inches long. So speak to Mrs.
Amanda Wright or Mrs. Sarah Ventura for meal train
details if you want to help out with meals for those families. And then on the
back, all ladies and teen girls are invited to a baby shower in honor of
Olivia Stiles. That is next Sunday, so one
week from today at 2 o'clock right here. A catered lunch will be served
but side dishes are appreciated. Please RSVP
with Mrs. Jenny Akinosho. Nurselings only
are preferred. And I believe that's about it
for announcements. Oh no, sorry, we have this other thing.
The soul winning trip to Bryce. Six soul winners had
four salvations. There's a Navajo soul winning trip coming up this weekend.
It's an overnighter Friday and Saturday trip. Speak with
brother Raymond Cooper for more details on that. And with that
let's sing our next song.
Alright, is that your hymnal? You should find Psalm 67.
Psalm 67, please raise your hand if you don't have one.
Psalm 67
God be merciful unto us
and bless us and cause his face to shine
upon us that thy way may be
known upon earth. Thy saving
health among all nations. Let the people
praise thee, O God. Let
all the people praise thee.
O let the nations be glad
and sing for joy
for thou shall judge the people
who righteously and govern
the nations upon earth.
The nations upon earth see
the law. Let the people praise thee
O God. Let all the people
praise thee. O let the nations
be glad and sing
for joy. Then shall
the earth yield her in grace and
God even her own. God shall bless us.
God shall bless us in all the ends
of the earth. Shall hear him.
Let the people praise thee, O God.
Let all the people praise
thee. O let the nations be glad
and sing for
joy.
Amen. Let's do one more song in your song book. Song 257.
Look and Live, song 257.
257.
I've a message from the Lord. Hallelujah.
The message unto you I'll give.
It is recorded in his word.
Hallelujah. It is only that you
look and live. Look and live
my brother live. Look to Jesus
now and live.
It is recorded in his word. Hallelujah.
It is only that you look and live.
I've a message full of love. Hallelujah.
A message oh my friend for you.
It is a message from above. Hallelujah.
Jesus said and I know
it's true. Look and live
my brother live. Look to Jesus
now and live. It is recorded
in his word. Hallelujah.
It is only that you look and live.
Life is offered unto you. Hallelujah.
Eternal life and soul shall have.
If you'll only look to him. Hallelujah.
Look to Jesus who alone can save.
Look and live my brother live.
Look to Jesus now and live.
It is recorded in his word.
Hallelujah. It is only that you look
and live. I will tell you now
I came. Hallelujah to Jesus
when he made me whole.
Was believing on his name. Hallelujah.
I trusted and he saved my soul.
Look and live my brother live.
Look to Jesus now and live.
It is recorded in his word. Hallelujah.
It is only that you look and
live. Amen.
Alright this time we'll pass the offering plates around. As the plates go
around let's turn our Bibles to Mark chapter 10.
The gospel of Mark chapter number 10 as we always do we'll read the entire chapter
beginning in verse number 1. Fall along silently with brother Dan as he reads
Mark chapter 10 starting in verse number 1.
In Mark chapter 10 the Bible reads
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife.
And they twain shall be one flesh, so then they are no more twain, but one
flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder.
And in the house of his disciples ask them again of the same matter.
And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another,
committeth adultery against her. And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be
married to another, she committeth adultery. And they brought young children to him,
that he should touch them. And his disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus
saw it he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me,
and forbid them not. For of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto
you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter
therein. And he took them up in his arms, and put his hands upon them, and blessed them.
And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked
him, Good master, what shall I do, that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus
said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good, but one that is
God. Thou knowest the commandments. Do not commit adultery, do not kill,
do not steal, do not bear false witness, defraud not, honor thy mother
and father. And he answered and said unto them, Master, all these have I observed
for my youth. But Jesus, beholding him, loved him, and said unto him,
One thing thou lackest. Go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast,
and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven. And come, take
up the cross, and follow me. And he was sad at that saying, and went away
grieved, for he had great possessions. And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto
his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom
of God. And the disciples were astonished at his word. But Jesus
answered again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches
to enter into the kingdom of God? It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a
needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And they were astonished
out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved? And Jesus, looking
upon them, said, With men it is impossible, but not with God.
For with God all things are possible. Then Peter began to say unto him,
Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee. And Jesus answered and said, Verily I
say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters,
or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my sake, and the
gospels. But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses,
and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions,
and in the world to come eternal life. But many that are first shall be last,
and the last first. And they were in the way, going
up to Jerusalem, and Jesus went before them, and they were amazed, and as they followed,
they were afraid. And he took again the twelve, and began to tell them things that should
happen unto him, saying, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man shall be
delivered unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to
death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles. And they shall mock him, and shall scourge him,
and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him, and the third day he shall rise again.
And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come unto him, saying, Master, we
would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire. And he said unto them,
What would ye that I should do for you? They said unto him, Grant unto us that we may
sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory.
But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask. Can ye drink of the cup,
that I drink of, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?
And they said unto him, We can. And Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup
that I drink of, and with the baptism that I am baptized with, shall ye be baptized.
But to sit on my right hand, and on my left hand, is not mine to give,
but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared. And when the ten heard it, they began
to be much displeased with James and John. But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto
them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise the
lordship over them, and their great ones exercise authority upon them.
But so shall it not be among you, but whosoever will be great among you shall be your minister,
and whosoever of you will be the chiefest shall be servant of all.
For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life
a ransom for many. And they came to Jericho, and as he went
out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus,
the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging,
and when he had heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say,
Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he should hold
his peace, but he cried the more a great deal, thou son of David, have mercy on me.
And Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. And they called the blind man,
saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise, he calleth thee.
And he, casting away his garment, rose and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered
and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?
The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight.
And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way, thy faith have made thee whole.
And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus in the way.
Dear Heavenly Father and Lord, please fill Pastor Anderson with the Holy Spirit, so that he may preach boldly from the
King James Bible, so that we your children can receive the message and reply to our lives.
In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Amen. The title of my sermon this morning is Getting Children Saved.
Getting Children Saved. The Bible reads there in
Mark chapter 10, verse 13, they bring young children to him that he should
touch them, and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when
Jesus saw it, he was much displeased and said unto them, Suffer the little
children to come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God.
And this verse 15 is the key verse here. Verily I say unto you,
Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little
child, he shall not enter therein.
And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them,
and blessed them. And so we see from this passage that if anyone
is going to be saved, they have to become like a little child.
The Bible says elsewhere, except you be converted and become as little
children, you'll not enter into the kingdom of God. Now here's
the thing, children don't have to become like children to be
saved, because they just are children. And so they have a mentality
that makes it very likely for them to get saved, and it makes it much
easier for them to be saved. You see, those of us who've been out there
for a long time preaching the gospel to the lost and doing soul winning,
we know that in general, all things being equal,
the older someone is, the less likely they are to get saved.
And that the younger people are, the more likely
they are to be saved. It's funny, I was preaching the gospel to some people
recently that were just very atheistic and very ungodly
people, and I mentioned the fact that
the younger someone is, the easier it is for them to get saved, and that children are more likely
to get saved. And this person said, oh that's just because they're stupid, they're just young,
they just don't know anything. But no, it's that as the person
who rejects the Lord Jesus Christ gets older, professing
themselves to be wise, they become fools. It's not that they're actually
too smart for the Bible, or too smart for God, or too
smart for salvation through Christ, it's that they think they are.
Because they get deluded in their own mind. Not only that,
people as they get older can often just become
disillusioned, jaded, they can maybe have bad experiences
with churches, or religion, or something like that.
Or they can just be indoctrinated in false doctrines and false ideologies.
But yet, young children are more pure
in their thinking, and they're more pure in their heart, and it's
obviously growing up in this world and living life that corrupts them.
You know, it's sort of like this, I was thinking about how pretty much every little child is
physically fit. You know, if you think about it, if you look at like a one-year-old, or
two-year-old, or three-year-old, you see them do things, and they're very
limber, and they're very strong for their age, and think about
how kids are just running around, just running around, running around. And then you get a little older, it's like
you don't even have the energy to even run a short
distance, but kids just run, and run, and run. It's like they start out that way,
and then as they get older, bad habits, bad eating,
sitting around, cause them to get out of shape. But you know, they don't
start out that way. Well, think about it the same way spiritually. You know,
children start out, and they're more wholesome, and more
pure, and then as they get older, they get more and more corrupted.
And so all of these reasons, and many more, are why it is easiest
to get saved as a child. It's easier to get saved as a teenager
than as a young adult. It's easier to get saved as a young adult than in your 30s or 40s.
And that's why Jesus says in verse 15,
If you stop and think about a little child,
they fully rely on their parents for everything. You know,
they don't have to worry about paying bills. They're not up at night
stressing about financial problems, or health problems, or
social problems. They're not thinking about politics. They just trust their parents
to just put breakfast on the table, put lunch on the table, pay the bills,
and whatever. And they might have their own piggy bank with their own money in it,
but at the end of the day, that's not going to pay the bills. That's not going to buy dinner.
That's just for little knick-knacks. And at the end of the day, they rely
on their parents for everything. The little child that just reaches up
and says, Mama, Mama, you know, wants to be picked up, and fed,
and cared for. They need their parents for everything. And if you think about it, salvation
is trusting the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
It's putting all of your faith and trust in what Jesus Christ already did
for you on the cross. His death, burial, and resurrection.
And it's easy for a child to exercise that kind of trust
because they're exercising that kind of trust every day for everything.
Whereas the adult who does everything for themselves might not necessarily be
willing to rely on someone else. You know, they're going to do it themselves.
They're going to get to heaven themselves. No, they've got to become like little children.
They've got to be converted and become as little children to enter into the kingdom of God
where they're fully trusting what Christ has done
to get them to heaven, and not trusting in their own works,
their own efforts, and so forth. And so, this verse
makes a lot of sense in that context. Mark, chapter 10, verse 15,
Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God
as a little child, he shall not enter therein.
You're not going to enter into the kingdom of heaven by working for it yourself
and earning it and figuring it out yourself. No, it's by relying
on Christ, trusting in Jesus Christ, putting all your faith in him
to save you. So it's funny, there's a false teacher out there
named John MacArthur, and I don't even hesitate to call him
a false teacher. And don't even begin to try to defend this guy to me because he is
literally one of the worst false prophets of our generation.
In fact, and I'm not the only one who thinks that, you know, famous pastor Jack Hiles
who passed away a couple decades ago, he said that John MacArthur was the worst
pastor in America. And in fact, the pastor that won my
parents to the Lord, Dr. Roland Rasmussen at Canoga Park, you know,
he exposed John MacArthur as a false prophet back in the 80s.
Okay, this guy just teaches the most blatant
open form of just works-based salvation, just a hardcore
works salvation. I remember being a teenager and being in a Christian
bookstore and picking up a book called The Gospel According to the Apostles
by John MacArthur, and it was just a blatant, just in-your-face
works-based salvation. You might have heard this term before,
lordship salvation, and it's the idea that, well, in order to be saved, you have to
make Jesus the Lord of your life. That is, you're doing
what he tells you to do or you're willing to obey what he tells you to do.
He's your master. He's your Lord. So if you're not doing works and keeping the commandments,
well, then he's not the Lord of your life and blah, blah, blah. This doctrine
is literally invented or not invented
because obviously this garbage has always been around, but that term lordship
salvation was originally coined about John MacArthur.
Okay, so he's the guy who popularized that style
where it's labeled with that term lordship salvation. This guy
is a horrible false prophet. I don't know, did he die or does he have
one foot in the grave? Did he ever, is he in hell yet or not?
Okay, but the point is, this guy is one of the worst false
prophets in America. Don't even begin to defend this guy to me because
he's preaching a false gospel, and the Bible says if anybody preach any other gospel
unto you, let him be accursed! Okay, and that's
a gospel that mixes in works and keeping of the commandments
with salvation. Let me read a quote for you from
John MacArthur. Here's the quote.
Now let me say this, and I don't want you to panic when I say it.
Saving faith is an adult issue.
Saving faith is an adult experience. Salvation
is an adult experience. Am I saying that a child
cannot be saved? I'm saying that salvation is a conscious
turning from sin to follow Christ. I mean, look,
that's works. You turn from sin, sounds like a lot of
work. Following Christ, that's work too.
It's a conscious turning from sin to follow Christ and an
understanding of something of the sinfulness of sin, its consequences,
and something of who Jesus Christ is that he has provided
and that I'm committing my life to him. At what point can a child
understand that? I tell parents that salvation is an adult decision.
There is no illustration in scripture of childhood
salvation. There is none. He says a little later,
there's no such thing as a childhood conversion.
So basically what he's saying is, I'm not saying that children can't be saved,
but salvation is an adult experience. So I guess the child can be saved
if they're like an adult. They have an adult mentality.
If they can think like an adult or understand like an adult. So basically
it's literally the opposite of what Christ taught. Christ is telling adults that
they need to become as children to be saved. John MacArthur is saying that
children have to become as adults in order to be saved. Why?
Because if you believe that salvation is turning from
your life of sin and now you're going to start living for Jesus
and doing works and keeping commandments, well then of course that's going to
seem more like an adult decision or an adult experience. But if you
believe that salvation is by trusting in the finished work of Jesus Christ,
that's super easy for a child to do, to just believe
in Jesus. Whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have
eternal life. And so those who believe in a works-based salvation,
they're constantly thinking that children
aren't really getting saved and all the children in their churches have to get
re-saved as adults. And you'll be in these churches where these kids grow up
in a Christian home. Maybe it's even the pastor's kids or just
key church members' kids. And then they're getting re-saved when they're 18,
19, 20, 21, 22 because they're just so
confused about salvation. Now look, obviously some people
may end up getting saved later. I get it that you can grow up in church and maybe
not get saved until you're older. But something's wrong
when the church is just filled with everybody getting saved as an adult.
Get saved as a child!
Now look, again, if you're a teenager or you're a young
adult and you're not saved, then yeah, you need to get saved.
But it's not because you are needing to turn from some sinful life
that you're living. If you're not saved, it's because you didn't believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. And if you did believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, then you're already
saved. And you don't need to get re-saved as an adult.
And so I'm going to go through just some practical things
this morning about getting children saved. Because first and foremost
we want to make sure that we get our own children saved, right? That's the most important thing.
And then also we want to get other children saved out there in this world because, again,
children are the easiest people to get saved. So we want to get as many children
saved as we possibly can. Now look, what do I mean by children getting
saved? I personally got saved when I was six years old.
Okay? And I was confident that I was saved. I'm confident
now that I was saved at six years old. Some people might think that that's too young.
There's no way you understood. Well, actually I did understand. You know, I understood
I was a sinner, that I was going to hell. I understood that Jesus died for my sins
and I prayed and asked Jesus to save me and I knew that it was through no
works of my own but through His grace that I was saved and that I was saved forever.
And, you know, I remember obviously I grew up in church. I grew
up hearing the preaching from the pulpit, teaching in Sunday
school, and my mom is the one who actually went through
the plan of salvation with me when I was six years old and I prayed and
asked Jesus to save me. My little sister got saved like
the next day and she was only four years old. Now I've
never really heard of or seen examples of anyone getting saved
before four years old. You know, so that's probably
again everybody's different. Children mature and develop at different rates
but in my opinion four is probably like the lower limit
that I've seen. Like I think Pastor Jimenez might have been four or five when
he got saved. Like I said, my little sister was four when she got saved. I was six when I
got saved. You know, a lot of kids are getting saved when they're around that age whether it's four
or five, six, seven, eight. You know, when they're growing up in a Christian
home and they're just around the Bible and around church and they're
learning about these things very young and you say, well I just don't think that's
possible. Look, the gospel's not complicated. It really
isn't. Obviously they have to be old enough to understand
what sin is and who Jesus is and what
it means to be saved, but it really isn't that complicated to just put all your
trust in Jesus and zero trust in yourself. I mean it's pretty
simple, right? But people with a complicated gospel, yeah you have to be an
adult to figure it out apparently. So
the first point I want to make is that number one, it's easier for children to get saved than
adults. So we should not hesitate to think about children
getting saved or wanting children to get saved.
Number two, when you're getting children saved make sure that you
use the Bible, right? Because the Bible says faith cometh by
hearing and hearing by the word of God. Look if you would at 2 Timothy
chapter number three. 2 Timothy chapter number three.
Use the Bible, right?
And some people will think, oh well children are too young to understand
the Bible so I'm just going to sort of explain it in my own words or I'm going
to get a little children's picture book about the Bible. You know, use the word of
God itself and if there's something in the Bible that's difficult then explain
it. If there's a word they don't know, teach them the meaning
of that word. But use the actual scripture because the scripture
is what has the power of God, right? Faith cometh by hearing,
hearing by the word of God. The Bible says in the book of Acts
he shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be
saved. The Bible says receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able
to save your souls. The Bible talks about how the sower sows
the word, right? Over and over again it's the word of God
that saves. Look at 2 Timothy chapter three verse 15. It says
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. Right?
Salvation is through faith in Christ Jesus and the way that you become wise
unto that is through the scriptures and so you want to know the scriptures
from a child so that you can be saved. The younger
the better. But number three I would say
is when you're preaching the gospel to children don't
dumb down or sugar coat or change the message of the gospel.
Give them the actual
unadulterated gospel. You know, obviously, yeah, there's an age where
they're too young to understand it. If you try to explain the gospel to a two or three year old they're
probably not going to understand it. Maybe even four or five year olds aren't old enough to understand
it. It's going to depend on the child and their maturity level
but, you know, once a child's old enough to understand the gospel you
give them the gospel and you don't change it
or somehow dumb it down or maybe, you know, maybe
Jesus doesn't quite die on the cross or something or, you know, he's not necessarily being
beaten or something. No, my friend, give them the truth.
Tell them the true story. And one area in which
sometimes people will dumb down the gospel for children or change
the gospel to children is they'll say, well, we don't want to mention hell to children
because we don't want to scare them or worry them or
whatever. But in reality, you know, I remember getting saved
as a six year old boy and the reason I got saved at age six is because I didn't
want to go to hell. And I knew what hell was. I understood the concept
and I didn't want to go there. I wanted to go to heaven. And so that's why I got saved.
I think that's a great reason to get saved. Well, you should just get saved
because you just love Jesus so much. It's like, well, you know that too, but I really
just didn't want to go to hell, okay? It's called
being saved, not called being in love. It's called being, it's called being saved. I mean
that means saved means you're saved from something bad.
You know? So we're talking about salvation, okay?
And so we don't want to dumb that down. Now listen to this. This is
from an article about how to lead children to Christ
and this is out of a fundamental Baptist church that's watered
down and lame. And here's what it said. Point two,
sin must be punished for the wages of sin is dead. This is an
article about how to lead children to the Lord. It says this, explain
hell, but refrain from using frightening
offensive descriptions of punishment and hell.
Offensive to who? Like who decided? Well, excuse me, that's offensive.
Wait, did you just say that it's fire? Because I find that
brimstone is offensive unto me. Smoke? Really?
Because I'm offended right now. He says, refrain from using
frightening offensive descriptions of punishment and hell.
These are children after all. Instead,
focus on the worst part about hell. Now stop and think about
how illogical that is. Don't say anything
frightening or scary to them. Instead, focus on the worst part.
You know, it's a contradiction, isn't it?
We don't want to scare them, so we're only
going to talk about the worst part.
Stop and think about it. He says, instead,
focus on the worst part about hell, being separated from God
and from everyone else who has been saved from that awful place.
Now first of all, not only is that not the worst part about hell,
that's not even a part about hell, because you're not separated from hell
in God, or separated from God in hell. That's not what the Bible teaches at all.
Because in fact, the Bible says in Revelation chapter 14
that they shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence
of the holy angels and in the presence
of the Lamb. I don't know, last time I checked, the Lamb is Jesus,
and last time I checked, Jesus is God. And the Bible
explicitly flat out says they will be tormented
in the presence of the Lamb. They will be tormented in the presence
of Jesus Christ. The smoke of their torment, I'm sorry, this is going to be offensive,
the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever, and they have no rest
day nor night. Okay? But then it's like, well, no, no, no.
Don't tell them about the fire, the smoke, the brimstone. Tell them about the worst part
that they're going to be separated from God. Here's the thing about that.
Little children who are unsaved little children, they've never
even met God, so they're probably not that horrified by being separated from
God when they've never even been connected to God in the first place.
Okay? And, you know, imagine going out and telling unsaved
people, well, you need to get saved, otherwise you're going to be separated from God. They're just going to think
like, well, I, you know, I don't even like God anyway. I don't even, I'm not even
religious. I don't even care. But, you know, when they realize that there's
a punishment for sin, a place of fire and torment, well, then
that's something that they don't want to do. Okay?
And so this is absurd, this thing of saying, well, don't
give them offensive descriptions. Any description in the Bible is not offensive.
If the word of God offends you, you have a problem.
And you say, yeah, but they're little children. So a four, five, six, seven year old
child, you know, can't hear about hell,
but yet, I guarantee you, probably these same kids have been exposed to
death and violence and things in other ways, even just from watching cartoons
or something. Okay? Give me a break. What in the world?
God is not going to damage them to hear what the word of God has to say about
hell. Okay? The fear of the Lord is above to the wise to depart
from hell beneath. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of understanding. And so, you know, be very afraid.
Well, you don't want to scare people with hell. Actually, I kind of
do. You know, because I don't want them to go there.
And if they have no fear of God, if they have no fear of punishment, if they have no fear of the wrath of God,
then what's the point? If it's just like, well, you're going to be separated from
God, they're going to be like, well, I don't even know who that even is.
Never even met him. But he says, you know,
focus on, you know, the worst part,
which is that hell is separation from God. First of all, they're tormented in the presence of the Lamb.
Number two, Psalm 139 says, if I, if I ascend into heaven,
God's there. And if I make my bed
in hell, behold, thou art there. I mean, we could
go through scripture after scripture after scripture. God is omnipresent.
It is a stream of fire and brimstone out of the
Lord's mouth that kindles hell in the book of Isaiah.
Okay. And so here's the thing about that is that hell
is a place that is under God's power and under God's
control. It's not the devil's domain or something. You know, the devil's never even been to hell.
He's literally never even been there. Okay. He will
in the end times, of course, be cast into hell for all eternity,
but he's not going to be down there ruling and reigning. He's going to be punished there. He's going to be tormented
there. The person who's ruling and reigning over hell is God.
He has all power in heaven, earth, under the earth.
He is the all powerful, omniscient, omnipotent,
omnipresent God. And so this idea of hell being separation from God
is a false doctrine that's out there for preachers
who want to tone down the message. They don't want to be one of those hell, fire, and
damnation kind of preachers. So then they just kind of soften it up of
oh, you're going to be separated from God for all eternity, you know.
And that's so much worse than being on fire. Okay. Well, let's light you on fire
and let's separate you from God and see which one is worse.
You know what I'm saying?
Think about it. I mean, would you rather be lit on fire in the presence of God
or just kind of chilling and you're not in the presence of God?
Nobody wants to be on fire, folks.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 3, if you would. So number 1, we said
number 1, it's easier for children to get saved than adults, so
we want children to get saved as soon as possible. The best time to get
your kids saved is when they're kids. Don't wait till they're a teenager
or an adult to try to get them saved. You want to get them saved as a kid
because that's the easiest time to get saved. Because if they get older,
they're going to have to have that childlike faith anyway.
So it's easier to have childlike faith when you're childlike.
When you're a child. But number 2, use the Bible. Faith cometh by
hearing, hearing by the word of God from a child you've known the Holy Scriptures.
Number 3, don't water down the message. Give them the straight
dope and tell them the whole thing and don't
cut out parts about hell or parts about Jesus dying on the cross or something.
These are intrinsic parts of the story and they need to be given the whole
uncensored truth. Number 4,
preach the gospel to them repeatedly. Preach the gospel to them repeatedly,
right? Most people are not necessarily going to get saved the first time
they hear the gospel. They need to hear it repeatedly. Look what the Bible says in
1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 5. It says,
Notice, one plants, one waters,
God gave the increase. And the idea here is
that sometimes when you're preaching the gospel you're just planting a seed, right? It might be the
first time that anyone's heard the gospel and so it's new to them
and they need some time to think about it, to digest it. So don't be frustrated
if you preach the gospel to someone and they don't get saved because you've planted the seed.
Don't get frustrated if somebody's already heard the gospel. You preach
to them again and they still don't get saved. You've watered that seed.
Now, the reason why we're able to go out and knock doors
and win people to Christ in one shot is because of the fact
that usually we're not the first person that is
talking to that person. We're not typically walking up to somebody's
door, knocking on the door, and they've never heard of Jesus and they don't know anything about
the Bible. They don't know anything about Christianity and we just take them from square
one all the way to getting saved. That's not typically what's going on. We'll typically
knock on someone's door and they already have knowledge about Jesus,
about the Bible. They're just not saved. They don't understand how to be saved.
They don't understand that salvation's by faith or maybe they've just
thought about it vaguely but they've never made that decision
to actually trust Christ as their savior. Whatever the
case may be, other people have already planted the seed.
They've already watered the seed and we are reaping that seed right there.
We're reaping that result but sometimes we're the one doing the
planting or the watering and so don't be frustrated if you go out
soul-lending and no one gets saved. You did not waste your time because
if you went out and preached the gospel, you've accomplished something.
And you don't know if five years later that person's going to get saved.
You have no idea. You just be faithful, preach the gospel.
So applying this to our children, you know, with our children they might
need the seed to be planted, watered, and then
they might get saved later on. So preach them the gospel repeatedly.
Not just one time but explain to them the gospel
at various stages and at various times as they're growing up.
And by the way, if they seem to understand
the gospel and you pray with them and then maybe later you're not sure if they understood
the gospel and you pray with them again, don't be afraid to pray with them
repeatedly. Don't be afraid to pray with them
You know, you prayed with them six months ago and now you're explaining it to them again and then you pray with them again.
You say, I don't know man, this is going to be confusing to them. Not really because the gospel
is real simple. You're saved by believing in Jesus Christ.
Okay? And here's the thing. I as a kid got
saved when I was six years old, but as I got a little bit older, sometimes I wondered
hey, did I really understand everything perfectly when I was six?
And looking back, I did understand what I needed to understand, but I'm just like
just to be safe, I'm just going to do it again. You know, so I prayed a few, obviously
you only need to do it once. You get saved one time. But you know what?
Do you think that when I prayed again, God's like whoa, what are you doing?
You know, there's only one per customer.
You know, I was just trying to cover my bases.
And at the end of the day, it's the faith in my heart that saved me.
So if I prayed again a second time, third time, fourth time
just to be safe, no harm, no foul. You know, you'd rather
pray one too many times than one too few times.
Okay? And the bottom line is, again, you only need to ask for salvation one time,
but you have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, you've got to call upon
him by faith. Otherwise you're just saying words. You know, it's just
prayer is meaningless. It's the faith in your heart
that actually makes that prayer mean something. Okay?
Ask Jesus Christ to save you. And so don't be
afraid to pray with them repeatedly. You know, I've heard
people say this sometimes, and this is another one of those quotes that just kind of blows my mind,
and shows that people are mixed up about salvation. I heard this
many times. You know, it's really hard for children to grow up in a Christian
home not to doubt their salvation. Because
you know, they didn't have this dramatically changed life.
And so then, you know, it makes them doubt their salvation. But again, this is
stupid because you know what? People have dramatically changed lives without getting saved.
It's called Alcoholics Anonymous. Right? People
can turn over a new leaf and have a dramatically changed life. That doesn't mean you're saved.
But again, if you have this doctrine that says, oh, well,
being saved is all about doing works and keeping
commandments and following the law of God and following Jesus
Christ, if you have that kind of a works-based salvation,
and if you have this repent of your sins salvation where it's like, well,
you know, salvation's all about turning from a life of sin,
well, what kind of a life of sin was I living at age six?
Stop and think about it, you know, six years old.
Let me tell you something. I had a dramatically changed life.
You know, the things I used to do, I don't do them anymore.
You know, like, I'm just like, like, what was I doing?
I mean, I had to get off the drugs. I had to get off the booze. I had to get off
the gambling, you know, all this stuff. But here's the thing.
Growing up in a Christian home is wonderful.
Getting saved as a six-year-old boy is great. It doesn't make me doubt
my salvation because God never said have a dramatically
changed life and thou shalt be saved. He said
believe in Jesus, and I believe in Jesus.
I'm saved because I believe in Jesus, because Jesus paid it all.
Like, why would it confuse me that I didn't go live some simple life?
I remember literally, and you can't even make this stuff up, and for some of you
that haven't really been in a church other than Faithful Word or you're not really
familiar with this, you might even just find some of these things hard to believe.
But I'm telling you, it's out there. I can remember sitting in a youth group
with a teenager and the teacher asking the class, would you
rather grow up in a Christian home
and be saved, or would you rather have been saved
out of a life of sin so that you could have this really awesome testimony?
Testimony to share with other people about how you came out
of some wicked life of sin. I was the only kid in the class
who said I would rather just be raised in a Christian home and never go into the
sewer of sin and never go into the depths of Satan and whatever.
I said, well, I'd rather grow up
in the Christian home because then I, you know, I've already learned a bunch of Bible by the time I'm an adult,
and he's like, oh, this was at a really liberal church, by the way, and they're just like,
oh, you know, Christianity's not just knowing a bunch of facts and blah, blah, blah.
You know, you're not going to believe this, but studying the Bible, it kind of is about
knowing a bunch of facts and, you know, kind of knowing where things are in the Bible,
knowing what the Bible says, knowing the facts about Christ
and the Gospel and about, you know, Old Testament stories
and, you know, yeah, it actually kind of is, you know. How would you like
me to get up and preach and say, well, you know, I might get my facts wrong, but, you know, I mean,
I love Jesus, okay? I'm pretty sure you want me to have
my facts together. Well, you know where I got a lot of these
facts was growing up in a Christian home and from a child knowing
the Holy Scriptures. So I'm not up here like Mohammed or something
where I think that Miriam, Moses' sister, is the same Miriam
that's Jesus' mother. I know those are two different people, you know,
that lived 1500 years apart.
But they thought that it was
superior to have lived some wicked sinful life so they could have some testimony.
Folks, that is not what the, the Gospel's not a testimony about how
you quit drinking and you quit taking drugs and you quit being a rock
star or whatever. No one cares, okay?
You know what? The Gospel is, it's about Jesus.
Why don't we lift him up so that he can draw all men
unto him? And how about we talk about the death, burial, and resurrection?
You know, I, I, frankly, when I go door to door so any, I'm not going around just giving
my life story to people. I'm just
not. I'm preaching Jesus. We preach Christ
crucified. I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus
Christ and him crucified. That's what the Gospel's about.
Not like, oh man, you should have seen how bad I was, man.
And all the fornication and the drugs and the, you know,
it's like, what? But this is how people think.
And it doesn't make any sense. Let me tell you something.
Getting saved as a kid is the best thing that can happen to you.
It's not confusing to grow up as a Christian.
It's not confusing that, oh, I prayed five times so I don't know which one
took. Who cares? You know, we, you know, we go on the Navajo
reservation and there are people on the Navajo reservation who don't know what their birthday is, like much
older people. I think it was, it was your, what was it, great grandmother who
was either 89 or 91 or something. It was like, and
they didn't know which, they said, we know she was born on December 26th
because it was the day after Christmas. And they said, I said,
how old is she? And they said, she's either 89 or 92. We know
it's one of those. But we don't know which one. She's not 90.
She's not 91. She's either 89 or 92.
You say, how can that be? Because it's a different culture. So they don't, you know,
they didn't celebrate, they apparently didn't celebrate birthdays the way that we did back
a long time ago with the Navos. They must have had a different culture.
Maybe they're not reckoning years the same way or whatever. But for whatever reason,
there are people on the Navajo reservation who don't know their birthday and don't
know what year they were born. You know, much older generation.
But does that make me even think for one second, you know, I'm not sure
if you actually were born. Because if you can't
point to a time and a place and a date, I'm wondering if you're
even born. Now, the reason that we know that she's born is because we're looking at her.
That's the evidence she's born. Here's the thing.
You want to know the evidence that I'm saved is that I believe in Jesus Christ.
So, you know, whether I know exactly whether it was when I was,
you know, I do know that was when I was six. But let's say I'm wrong just for sake of
argument. Let's say I'm wrong and I actually didn't get saved till I was seven.
Does it really matter? It means nothing.
Right? Or what if, what if I think you got
saved when you were eighteen but you're like, nah, I think it was actually when I was sixteen.
Does it really even matter? The only thing that matters is whether
you're saved. And the evidence that you're saved is because you're believing on Jesus and everyone
who believes in Jesus is saved. Because whosoever believe in the name should not perish but have
eternal life. And just as the presence
of a person on this earth is proof that they were born, you know,
whether we know the birthday or not, whether or not you know the day or the time or the place
when you got saved, the fact that you believe on Christ is the proof that you are saved.
Now obviously there is a time and there has to be a time
where you put your faith and trust in Christ and call upon the name of the Lord.
I'm not saying there doesn't need to be a time. There needed to be a time when that woman was born
as well. But knowing the exact time
isn't that relevant. So I don't think it's confusing for a child to pray
with them repeatedly and for them to just think, well, I prayed a bunch of times and, you know,
I know I must have meant it one of those times or understood it one of those times because here I am and I know I'm
saved and I know I'm going to heaven. You know, or hey, I think I might have got
saved that other time, but you know what, just to be safe, I'm just going to do it right now just to be safe.
Who cares? Get it done. Do it again. And then
once you've done it and you're sure about it, move on.
But I don't think there's anything confusing about that because
we're not emphasizing the wrong thing. Emphasizing the wrong thing
is emphasizing, you know, a certain time or place or something
as opposed to just emphasizing total trust and faith in Christ as your savior.
That's the emphasis. Number five, take your
children out soul winning with you. What a great way
for them to hear the gospel over and over again. Taking them out soul winning
with you, they get to hear you give the gospel to other people. They get to
hear other soul winners give the gospel to other people. And by going out soul winning and
listening, they're hearing the word of God. They're hearing the gospel
and they're also hearing the stupid things that come out of people's mouths that aren't saved.
You know, they're here, and I think that helps them to see the
contrast between what the gospel is and what it's not. They see you
knock on someone's door and say, hey, do you know for sure if you were to die today you go to heaven?
Oh yeah, yeah. How do you know that? Well, you know, I've rescued a lot of animals.
I'm a good person. I, you know, I keep all the commandments.
And they're saying everything except Jesus. Jesus
isn't even in the answer. Okay. And it's easy
for a child to look at that. And sometimes I'll be out soul winning with one of my kids
somebody will just give the wildest answer. I'll just kind of look at my kids
and there's just kind of an unspoken thing like, wow.
Like, are you listening to this? Like, just the weirdest, goofiest,
silliest answers. And, you know, so I think taking kids out soul winning
is a great way to ensure that they get saved because
they're going to get the gospel. They're hearing it over and over again. And along those
same lines, point number six, constantly expose them to the word of God.
Look at Deuteronomy chapter six.
Constantly expose them to the word of God because faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. And so if they're growing up in a home where the Bible's
being read, the Bible's being quoted, if you're taking them to church
and they're hearing the Bible, this is all going to help them get
saved. This is all taking them down that path toward getting saved.
It says in Deuteronomy chapter six, verse five, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thine heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might. And these
words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart and thou shalt
teach them diligently unto thy children and shalt talk of them when thou sittest
in thine house and when thou walkest by the way and when thou liest down
and when thou risest up. Notice the Bible says these words
are in your heart and you will teach them diligently to your children.
You're going to talk about them when you're walking down the road, talk
about them when you're sitting down to eat, talk about them in the morning, talk about
them at night. Hey, preach the word of God to your children.
And by the way, just to get off of children for one moment,
if I give the gospel to someone
and the person doesn't get saved, and let's say it's someone that
I have a relationship with like as say a coworker, a neighbor,
friend, whatever. Let's say it's someone that I see over and over again,
relative or whatever. If I give a person the gospel
and they don't get saved, you know, I want to somehow water that seed
or I want to somehow still expose them to the word of God, I'm not necessarily just
going to keep giving them the plan of salvation over and over again because I've already given them the plan of salvation,
I've already given them the gospel. You know, sometimes I'll just quote to them other scriptures
that are just relevant to other situations. I'll just tell them other Bible stories and just kind of
bring up, hey, I was reading something interesting in the Bible, this and that, and just expose
them to other things in the Bible because faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. And it can't hurt to just hear the Bible
for an unsaved person to water that seed, even if it's not
explicitly about the gospel. Just talk about the Bible.
And the Bible says that in our homes we should just be talking about the Bible.
Not only because we want our children to be saved, although that's the most important thing,
we don't want them to just be saved. We also want them to know the rest of the
Bible. We want them to know how to live their lives. We want them to
grow up and not just be saved, but also to serve Christ
and to love the Lord with all their heart and soul and might.
And so we want to make sure that we're constantly talking about the Bible with our children.
Turn to Proverbs 23. Proverbs chapter 23.
Quick review. Number one, it's easier for children to get saved than adults.
Number two, use the Bible. Number three, don't water
down or sugar coat the message. Preach them the whole gospel.
Number four, preach them the gospel repeatedly. Number
five, take them out soul-willing with you so they can hear the gospel that way.
Number six, constantly expose them to the word of God. And number seven,
and this is the last point on winning your children to the Lord, and then I'm going to
talk briefly about getting other children out in the world saved,
but number seven, discipline your children.
You say, wait a minute, what does this have to do with children getting saved? Well, look what the Bible
says in Proverbs chapter 23 verse 13. It says,
Withhold not correction from the child, for if thou beatest him
with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt
beat him with the rod, and shall deliver
his soul from hell.
Now, correct me if I'm wrong, this is saying that the child who is
disciplined is more likely to get saved than the child who is not disciplined.
Because if beating him with the rod delivers his soul from hell, how do you get
delivered from hell? You get delivered from hell by getting saved.
Okay, so it sounds like being disciplined is part of the
path toward getting saved. Now, why would that be? Why would there be a connection
between being disciplined and getting saved? Well, here's the thing.
Getting saved, again, the word saved implies that there's a danger.
It implies that there's a punishment that you're being saved from. There's a
disaster or a horrible fate that you're being saved from.
The child who is disciplined by their parents
who represent the Father in heaven, they understand
that they don't just sin with impunity. They understand that you don't
just do whatever and get away with it and there are no consequences.
If you're growing up in a home where you just do whatever
and you get away with it and there are never any consequences, then why would you
then think that God up in heaven is going to have consequences when you break
his commandments? Right? But
here's the deal. We break God's commandments,
we're sinners, and therefore we're condemned to hell
unless we get salvation, which gets us
out of that punishment, right? By believing in Jesus, Jesus took our punishment for us
and so by believing in Christ, we actually
escape that punishment. But if you're growing up in a home where there are no punishments,
well, then you're not going to grow up thinking, well, I need to escape this punishment.
I need to be saved. I need to escape the wrath of God because you're going to think
God doesn't have any wrath because you've never seen any kind of punishment or wrath from your parents.
Because your parents are just doing this
unconditional love, attachment, parenting,
whatever, and just letting you get away with murder and then you think God's
the same way. You're going to think God's up in heaven, just, oh, that's okay.
He's just sort of like Santa Claus and he knows if you've been naughty or nice and
kind of just going to give you a present anyway.
Wrong. God's a consuming fire. It's a fearful thing
to fall into the hands of the living God. God's a God of wrath
and justice and holiness and so if you have these namby-pamby
parents who just let you do anything and don't discipline you, well
then you're going to think that God's up in heaven and that anything goes.
Well, that's not the way it works, my friend. And that's why if you withhold
correction from the child,
then the Bible is implying here that that could cause him to die and go to hell
because you did not show him that there are consequences
for his actions. And let me just be frank with you. Kids that grow up without
getting spanked typically end up being monsters.
Spoiled brats, wicked people, ungodly people. And you know what's funny?
Is if you just Google it like, hey, should I spank my children?
It's just all these articles. Science
once again proves that spanking doesn't work.
Spanking is so harmful and the American Psychological
Association and the American blah blah blah. You know what? But what's funny is
that everybody that you like got spanked.
Isn't that kind of funny how that works?
And you know what's kind of funny, too, is that I wonder
how do these studies that just show you spanking is harmful,
you know, how are they measuring success? Are they measuring
it by how many of them got saved? Is the
American whatever association sitting there and saying like, well, look
these kids are, you know, they're not Christians.
They're a lesbian. No, that's not even on their radar.
Right? So to them, some atheistic
lesbian is a big success to them because she has a Ph.D.
in whatever, you know, gender studies.
You know? I mean, look, hey, she needs to do some post-doctoral
work because I think she still doesn't understand gender.
See, the reason I don't need a Ph.D. in gender studies is because I already learned it in kindergarten
and I got it. These people, they have to keep going because they
get, they're confused. The bachelors, they're still confused.
They got to go for the masters because they're still confused about gender.
Right? I mean, I could write my thesis right now for a
gender studies Ph.D. I could write it on a 3x5 card.
I don't know if the university is going to
accept it, but it'll probably be more correct than the other gender
studies Ph.D. theses that are being, or feces I should say, that are being
put out there. And so the bottom line is, you know, how does the world
measure success? How does the world measure success?
Right? Because to me, successful
parenting is number one that my children get saved.
Like, that's the most important thing to me. And then I want them to be
productive members of society, right? I want them to be out
working and taking care of themselves and not blaming other people
for why they are a failure. But that they would grow up and take
responsibility and work and be productive members of society. And you know what?
I want them to go to church. And I want them to
be married and faithful to their spouse.
And having children. Right? Is this what these people are measuring
when they talk about the success or failure of spanking?
Plus, these idiots who are making these studies should have their scientific
credentials stripped from them anyway because they should have it explained
to them that just because things are correlated, that doesn't mean
that there's causation there. That's like Science 101.
Because, of course, they're going to say, oh, poverty is linked to spanking.
Yeah, blessed are the poor. Woe unto you, rich!
That's what Jesus said. Have not God chosen the poor of this world rich
in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he had promised them that love him?
Of course, more rich people aren't spanking their kids because rich, prideful,
arrogant people don't care what the Bible says. And they know better.
They know better and they say, oh, we're not going to spank our kids because we're enlightened.
We're past that. Whereas more poor people tend to go to church.
So they're going to be more likely to follow the Bible and spank their kids. Spanking isn't making them poor.
Being poor is making you spank!
Everybody understand what I'm saying? They spank because they're poor.
They ain't poor because they got spanked. Okay?
I mean, if you only get one thing from the sermon, that's it right there.
In fact, that is my thesis. Okay?
I'll defend it at any time. But you see what I mean?
There's always going to be these bogus science studies
where people just want to just be against God and against the Bible.
And I wonder how many kids the people who are writing these studies even have.
And, you know, this little worship your child and treat him like a little Lord Fauntleroy,
carry him around on your shoulders like you're some kind of an Indian elephant or something.
You know, maybe those kind of parenting methods work when you have like one kid
or two kids. Hey, I have twelve kids.
Right? You think we're doing attachment parenting?
Nah, man. They're getting spanked if they disobey.
And you know what? They're going to heaven.
Now here's the thing. That being said, I will say this, and I've got to hurry because I'm out of time.
I will say this,
and obviously people have free will.
I don't think you can make your kids get saved.
And this is a scary thought, but I do think that you could do
everything right as a parent and have a child that's not saved.
Because at the end of the day, I'm not a Calvinist.
I'm not a Presbyterian. You don't see us up here doing this with our kids
and everything. You know, at the end of the day, we believe
that salvation is a decision and that we have free will
and that a two silver will may come. But that being said,
although salvation is a personal choice that needs to be made by
each individual, at the same time we can do a lot
to lead people to Christ and to
pull them out of the fire, as the Bible says. So I strongly believe
that we can do a lot to pull people out of the fire. And so
obviously, I think a little common sense would tell you that even though salvation is a personal
choice, the child who's growing up in a Muslim home
and the child who's growing up in an Evangelical Christian home
do not have the same chance of getting saved. They both have a chance,
but obviously the child who's growing up in an Evangelical Christian home
has way more chance of getting saved than the one who's growing up as a Hindu
or a Buddhist or an atheist. That being said, even if you have
two children that are both growing up in a Baptist home,
well, if they're growing up in a Baptist home where they're being taken out soul-winning,
preached the Gospel repeatedly, surrounded by the Bible
and the things of God, lovingly disciplined by their
parents, then obviously they're going to be more likely to get saved
than growing up in John MacArthur's church, being told that salvation's hard
and it's for adults and it's all about turning from your sins.
Or in a home where the parents are Christians
but they ignore what the Bible says and don't use corporal punishment on their children.
So what I'm talking about today is doing everything
you can to increase the chances of your kids getting saved,
to lead them to Christ, to do what you can to make it easy for them to get
saved, to point them toward Christ. And I do think that in that case
the vast majority of the time your kids are going to be saved. Let me give you an example.
You know, I am saved and all three of my siblings are saved.
All four of us are saved. Is that just a coincidence? That just, out of all
the people in this world, because we know broad's the way that leads to destruction,
many there be which go in there at, straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth
unto life, and few there be that find it. But isn't it interesting that me and my three siblings
are all saved. Why? How'd that happen? Obviously
it has something to do with my parents. Obviously it has something to do with what churches we went to.
So this isn't just a thing of just, we just throw up our hands and say, well the kids are either
elect or they aren't. That's not what we're saying. What we're saying is
that we can do a lot to get them saved, but at the end
of the day it is a personal decision that they have to make.
And I'm a strong believer in that free will, otherwise
if you think about it, you know Noah could have just
made sure that all his kids got saved and they could have just made sure
that all their kids, you know at some point something went wrong somewhere.
First of all, something went wrong somewhere, you know, the first time with Adam and Eve
and then, you know, they pushed a big reset button with the flood
and something went wrong again. And if God reset it again and it was just
your family, you guys would still screw it up somehow.
That's just the true
story.
Last thing I want to briefly touch on is door-to-door
soul winning, right? So we go out and do door-to-door soul winning, you know,
what about winning children to the Lord out there in this world?
Now obviously, look, if you have friends and relatives and
they're okay with you talking to their children about the Gospel, yeah, you know, make sure that
your nephews and your cousins and your friends, kids and everything, you know, you can always talk
to them about the Gospel as well. But, you know, when you're out door-to-door soul winning, obviously this
can sometimes be inappropriate because let's say you knock on the door
and a five-year-old comes to the door, an eight-year-old comes to the door, a ten-year-old
comes to the door, it's not always necessarily appropriate to sit there
and be giving the Gospel to that child at the door.
Okay? Because, especially because we're living in a weird society
where there's all kinds of danger and weirdos out there and, you know, I don't
want some adult coming up and talking to my eight, nine,
ten-year-old, I don't know what their intentions are, you can't really blame other people for feeling
the same way, it just makes sense. And so, you know,
if I knock on a door, I'm just telling you what I do, if I knock on a door
and a child answers the door, I just say, are your mom and dad home?
And I just go straight to the parents, and if the parents aren't home,
I just give them the invite and say, hey, give them this when they get back. You say, why not just preach them the
Gospel right there? Well, then what happens is you start preaching them the Gospel, then the parents
will come home while you're preaching them the Gospel, and then the parents, now you're losing
an opportunity to reach those parents, you're making them mad, you're
offending them, you know, you're causing all kinds of problems, and you're not really
doing unto others because you don't really want people talking to your kids like that
and whatever. And so, obviously, I can see both
sides of it, but I have always had that policy where if it's kids,
I just give them the invite and move on, and I try to talk to their parents.
Now, here's that being said, there are opportunities
outdoors or soul-winning when you can win children of the Lord, and I've won lots of children of the Lord out
soul-winning, and the way that that typically works is something
along the lines of you can get the parents saved, and then after the parents get saved, you
can sometimes say, hey, is it alright if I explain this to your son as well?
Like, I just explained it to you, can I explain it to your daughter? Can I explain it to your son?
And then you'll be able to explain it to them right then and there, the parents are there,
they know what you're saying to them, they know what it's about, and that's a great way to do it.
Other times, there are situations where kids are playing outside
and I will just ask the parents this question, I've done this a bunch of times
and it worked, I would ask the parents if I could preach them the gospel, they're not interested,
I'll say, okay, well, is it alright if I tell the children
a Bible story? You know, I know you're not interested, but could I
tell the children a Bible story? And a lot of times parents will just be like, sure, yeah, tell the kids a Bible story.
So then I tell them a Bible story, and the story's about Jesus
dying on the cross for their sins and everything, and it ends up being
a story that leads into the gospel or segues into the gospel.
So that's a method that I've used many times to get children saved
and things like that. You know, I'll be out soul winning
sometimes, and let's say they're a group of like older kids or teenagers
or something and they're all playing at a park or something, you know, I'm typically comfortable gathering
a group of teens and older children in a group,
sitting them down and preaching them the gospel, and usually that's, you know, when you're in a public
place, that's a little different than being at someone's door and a little kid comes to the door.
You know, being out at a park or something and approaching teenagers, and by the way,
if I knock the door and they're 14, 15, 16 years old and they seem mature, then
I'll preach the gospel to them if they're old enough. You gotta use a judgment call,
and I think I use common sense when it comes to that, but that, you know,
I will say this, and also, another thing I want to say is that this sermon
is not a sermon about how to win someone to Christ, because I've done
whole sermons about how to win someone to Christ, how to do soul winning.
Obviously, this is like a supplement to those sermons. I'm not going through the nuts and bolts
of how to get kids saved. This is a sermon just about
the philosophy of getting kids saved, okay? And so
when you're out soul winning and you have the opportunity to give the gospel to kids, that's
great, because they're so receptive, but you just want to be careful that you're not
offending people and making people mad for no reason by
getting into weird situations. You want to keep it always on the up and
up and not upset people, because parents do have the right to protect their kids,
obviously. Now, I know that a lot of people in our church have also been
doing soul winning on, like, video chat-type platforms, where they'll go on these
video chat platforms, and they're talking to people from all over the world, and from some of the
people that I talked to, they were witnessing to children on there. And here's the thing,
you know, that's great, because obviously kids are really receptive,
and so if you can preach the gospel to kids on the video chat, well then, great.
But here's the funny thing about that, is that, like, you know, I would never in a million years just
want my kids to just be, like, on some video chatting
platform, just talking to strangers, literally just going through and just talking to
random strangers on video chat.
It's crazy to let your kids do it. But here's the thing, if parents are putting
their kids on there, and letting them do this, and giving them unfettered access to the internet,
well, you know what, they might as well be talking to you, giving them the gospel.
You know, because, hey, at least you're preaching something good to them,
and who knows what kind of weirdos are on, and I'm sure there are
a lot of weirdos on these video chatting platforms. And so
do not give your kids unfettered access to the internet, folks. But if other people
are giving their kids unfettered access to the internet, they could do a lot worse than running into
some soul winner, you know, from Faithful Word Baptist, giving them the gospel.
And so, obviously, when you give kids
the gospel, you gotta be thorough. Sometimes they don't even know what sin is,
sometimes they're young, they don't even know things that we maybe take for
granted, use a lot of illustrations, you know,
usually it ends up taking maybe twice as long as it would with an adult sometimes, because you're
having to kind of break things down and use a lot of illustrations and parables
and things. And again, this sermon's not exhaustive,
because obviously it's a supplement to other sermons just about how to
give the gospel in general. And frankly, the only real way to learn
how to give the gospel and go soul winning is really just to go out and do it
as a silent partner. You come along, you tag along, and you watch it
done in action. Let's pray, let's have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord. Please help us to do the best job
that we possibly can to get the gospel to our children.
Lord, we want, of course, our children to be saved.
We know that you want our children to be saved. Lord, help us to do everything we can
to lead them to Christ. And also, Lord, please give us opportunities to lead
the children of this world to Christ outside these four walls.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Jesus is very
near. Pass your care
on Jesus today. Leave
your worry and fear.
Burdens are lifted at Calvary.
Jesus is very near.
Burdens are lifted
at Calvary. Calvary,
Calvary.
Burdens are lifted at Calvary.
Jesus is very near.
Double soul, the Savior
can see every heartache
and tear. Burdens
are lifted at Calvary.
Jesus is very near.
Burdens are lifted at Calvary.
Calvary,
Calvary. Burdens are
lifted at Calvary. Jesus
is very near.
Jesus is very near.