Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your goodness to us. We thank you for your Word. We thank you, O Lord, that it gives us insight, that it gives us understanding. We thank you, O Lord, that you have not left us as orphans, but that you have given us a Word that guides us and instructs us and teaches us in all of the weightiest matters of life. And Father, I thank you that you've also given us families, O Lord. You've given us mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers. You've given us children. And you've clustered us, Lord, in families. And Lord, you do so much of your work along family lines. And I pray that tonight as we look at perhaps one of the weightiest topics concerning families, namely discipling children, how to bring children to faith in Christ. Father, I pray that you would enable me to speak only what is true and accurate. And enable all of us to have our hearts set ablaze with the importance of being certain that each of our children has come to personal faith in Christ, and to pray for family members that have not yet come to faith in Christ. Father, I pray that you would teach us well tonight through your word, in Jesus' name, amen. Our topic tonight is making disciples of your children. And as I said, I can't think of a more important topic. When you stop and think about it, There's a lot of things we want for our families, a lot of things that are important. But Jesus gave us the highest priority, didn't he? When he said in Mark chapter 8, verse 36 and 37, what good is it for a man to gain the whole world yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? What does that verse tell you about Christ's view of what our priority should be? What does that verse tell you? For you as an individual person, what should be your highest priority? Your soul, your own soul, right? Isn't that what he's talking about? What benefit would it be for a man or a woman, for any individual, to gain the whole world and lose their soul, right? So therefore, for you as an individual person, your highest priority is your soul. And I'm aware of the fact that I'm speaking to many people, many souls tonight. And I don't know that all of you are going to end up in heaven. I don't know that. I hope so. But I don't assume that just because you came to an Acts family seminar that you are going to heaven. But your top priority in your life should be your own soul. That you would not lose your soul. What does it mean to forfeit or lose your soul? What does that mean? To suffer damnation. Condemnation. literally to go to hell. Hell is a real place. Hell is a serious matter. And so therefore, this is absolutely highest priority. And Jesus puts it twice. It's so important that he puts it twice. What good would it be for you to gain the whole world and yet lose your soul? What does that tell you in Jesus' mind about the value of your soul? What is he saying? It's absolutely priceless. It is of greater value than everything in the world put together. Isn't that incredible? That's Jesus' view of your soul. And it was, you know that Charles Wesleyan, Jesus lover of my soul, isn't that amazing? He loved your soul enough to die in your place. We're gonna talk about that more tonight, but tremendous value that he places on your soul. And then he turns it around secondly and says, what can a man give in exchange for his soul? What does that mean? What's he referring to there? to buy back, let's say you found yourself condemned. The gavel of God's justice has come down and you are condemned. You are about to be sent into hell. What would you hold back of all your possessions? Suppose they were still yours to have, because they aren't, but suppose they are. What would you give and what would you hold back? Of all the things you owned, what would you trade at that moment for your soul? Everything. A million times over, right? And so therefore, again, in a double way he's putting complete value on your soul. It's worth more than everything, anything in the world. Well, let me apply it to what we're talking about tonight. Let me put it this way. What good would it be for you as a father or mother to gain the whole world and yet your children's souls would be lost? Or as a father or mother, what would you give in exchange for the souls of your children? Anything. Anything. Give anything. Give your own soul, maybe. I mean, the Apostle Paul was willing to make that exchange for his people, remember, in Romans chapter 9. I speak the truth in Christ. I am not lying. My conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit. I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart, for I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people, the Jewish people. Would you be willing? I mean, especially given that Paul knew what he was talking about. This is not theological novice. He knew what hell was. And he said, I'd be willing if it were possible. to exchange my soul for that of my people." Well, I think a mother or father might feel that same way. And so, I guess to me, I think we're immediately coming into the most serious topic you can have in a family, namely the salvation of the people involved. Now, God has put us in families, hasn't He? And He has ordained to bless the family. That's really significant. How much have we seen already in our study together of how much God works along family lines? Was it not the family that he first established above all other human institutions before anything else was set up? That was the husband-wife relationship, and then before anything else existed, it was the family. Husband-wife married together, that's a family. Realize that. But now we're into the section in Acts where we're talking about children, and so we're thinking about them as well. And so God establishes families as significant. Now, in 1 Corinthians 7.14, you can look there in your Bible if you would, it's talking there about various marital issues. And he says something really interesting about children, specifically children of a mixed marriage, a marriage of a believing husband, unbelieving wife, or vice versa. And in 1 Corinthians 7.14, He says, for the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise, your children will be unclean. But as it is, they are holy. Isn't that interesting? What does Paul mean there by the words unclean and holy? And it's not easy, but if you are a believer, you're married to a non-believer because of your faith apparently your children are holy and not unclean in the context of this verse okay well what does it mean well the word holy or sanctified would mean set apart to the Lord set apart as different as unique as special or it could mean completely free from evil now which of the two do you think it means not completely free from evil Rick can you testify to that yeah amen All right, I can say the same thing. Children are not completely free from evil. But in this case, they are set apart as holy, set apart to the Lord. What that means is that God desires to work through believing families to bring those children to Christ. He's set them apart as unique. He's working in a special way through a believing family. Now, Presbyterians recognize this, don't they? How do they recognize it? How do they testify to this, that God sets apart families as holy and special and sacred? And the children of believers are set apart to the Lord. How do they recognize that? They baptize them. They baptize the infants, right? What's the matter with us Baptists? We're kind of left, you know, like families aren't important. Well, obviously they're important. Now, we don't baptize infants. We're going to talk about that. Maybe not tonight, but perhaps. But the point is we still can uphold the principle that the Presbyterians do, namely that God intends and wants to work through believing parents to bring their children to Christ. But just because they're holy in the sense of 1 Corinthians 7.14 does not mean they're converted. You understand that? And so we have to understand the burden, therefore, is on parents to evangelize their children. Have you ever thought of yourself as an evangelist for your children? Well, you should. You should think of yourself as an evangelist. You're seeking to evangelize your children, to bring them to faith in Christ. The children must be converted. Now, there are limits to this, aren't there? We have a responsibility. Parents have a responsibility. Can we, in fact, bring our children to Christ? No, we can't. How do you know that? Because I'm not Jesus. You're not Jesus. That's right. Turn, if you would, in your Bible to John chapter 3. We've talked about this before, but I think it's going to come alive a little more strongly. John chapter 3, there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. came to Jesus at night and said, Rabbi, we know that your teacher has come from God, for no one could do the miraculous signs you're doing if God were not with him. In reply, Jesus said, I tell you the truth, unless you're born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God. You see that? Jesus was an intense man, wasn't he? Right to the heart of the matter. Nicodemus, we didn't come here to talk about my miracles. You didn't come here at night to talk about that. Let's talk about something of greater value. Let's talk about your soul. So he bores right in. That's a good message for an evangelist, right? Let's not waste time. Let's just get right to it. Nicodemus, unless you're born again, you cannot enter the kingdom or cannot see the kingdom of God. Well, how does Nicodemus understand this statement? What does he think he's talking about? Yeah. By the way, this is a major theme in John's gospel. Jesus speaks spiritually. They understand it physically. Happens over and over in John's gospel. Happens in John chapter 2 when Jesus cleanses the temple with a whip. Remember? And they say, what sign can you give us to prove your authority to do all this? And Jesus said, destroy this temple and I'll rebuild it in three days. And they said, it's taken 46 years to build this temple and you're going to rebuild it in three days? But the temple he had spoken of was his body. He was speaking spiritually about his own resurrection, physically too, physical resurrection. They didn't understand it. John chapter 4, the Samaritan woman at the well, right? You know, Jesus says, give me a drink. And she says, why are you a Jew talking to me and asking me for a drink? You know, a Samaritan woman, this doesn't work. What's going on here? Jesus said, if you knew who was talking to you, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water. Well, that's a great enticement to conversation. She's intrigued. She's interested. She wants to know living water. What is this living water? Jesus describes it. And she thinks he means some kind of water source. They didn't have indoor plumbing back then. He said, give me this water so I don't have to keep coming up here to draw day after day. You remember this. She took it physically. Jesus spoke in the same way about eating His flesh and drinking His blood. Remember in John chapter 6. And they are just absolutely weirded out. I mean, that would not be an overstatement. And He said, the words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. They don't understand. But here in John chapter 3, Nicodemus says, how can a man enter in again into his mother's womb and be born? How can, this is just not possible. And look what Jesus says in John 3, 5. Jesus answered, I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Okay, what does that mean? Well, we talked about that. Okay, it must mean baptism, right? Is that what it? No, the next verse helps us to understand it. What does the next verse say? Somebody read it, John 3, 6. The Spirit gives birth to the Spirit. Okay. How does that verse give you an indication of your limitations concerning your evangelistic ministry with your children? Have you given them a flesh birth? Yeah, you're responsible for that. You did that. Obviously, God's responsible for it because He knit you together in your mother's womb. But flesh gives birth to flesh. Okay, what gives birth to Spirit then? The Spirit. The Holy Spirit. Right? The Holy Spirit alone can save your children through Jesus Christ, through faith in Christ. It's the Holy Spirit's job to convict the world of sin and guilt and righteousness and to work the saving work of Jesus. And so in that matter, realize ultimately you're free. There's a limitation to what you're responsible for. You are not responsible to bring your children to Christ, but you are responsible to evangelize them. You see what I'm saying? You're responsible to preach the gospel to them. And more than that, we'll talk more about that few minutes, you're responsible for more things than that. Some of you who aren't married yet or don't have children, it's like, why would I want this heavy burden? But it's an incredible joy. As a matter of fact, it says in John, I have no greater joy than to know that my children are walking in the faith. Now, I know he's speaking spiritually there, but I think a parent could testify how much more if they're your physical child and walking with the Lord. Incredible joy. Yeah. Well, we're not assuming failure. We're hoping, hoping very much that he's going to be working along family lines and that they are elect, that they are his and you're going to be working with you. You're assuming that we never assume failure. I don't go out and evangelize and say, well, I know this is only going to harden your heart. I have good hopes, you know, I'm always having hopes that the gospel is going to be the power of God for the salvation of those who believe, especially for our children. And so we have good hopes, don't we? And we keep evangelizing them. And so we don't worry that in the end it's going to have a hardening effect, so we stop teaching them. We don't do that. We're going to keep working. But there's a limit. And that's my point here. You cannot bring your children to Christ. That's up to God. But you have a responsibility to evangelize them. And more than that, as I mentioned. Now listen to what Charles Spurgeon said. This is a remarkable statement. Spurgeon said, some wrongly say, do not teach your children. They will be converted in God's own time if it be his purpose. Therefore, leave them to run wild in the streets. Anyone who says that will certainly both sin against the child and against the Lord Jesus. We might as well say, if that piece of ground over there is to grow a harvest, it will do so if it be God's good pleasure. Therefore, leave it and let the weeds spring up and cover it. Do not endeavor for a moment to kill the weeds or sow the good seed. What is he saying? We can't just be laissez-faire. I mean, it's up to the spirit to bring them to Christ. He doesn't need my help. Spurgeon's likening it to somebody having that attitude toward their fields. They're expecting a wheat harvest to say, if God wants a wheat harvest over there, he's gonna do it. And so we'll just let it go. Will you get a wheat harvest that way? No, God has ordained means to the end, right? He's ordained not only the end, but the means to the end. Spurgeon continues, why such reasoning as this would not only be cruel to our children, but grievously displeasing to Christ. Parents, I do hope you are all endeavoring to bring your children to Christ by teaching them the things of God. Let them not be strangers to the plan of salvation. Never let it be said that a child of yours reached years in which his conscience could act and he could judge between good and evil without knowing the doctrine of the atonement, without understanding the great substitutionary work of Christ. Set before your child life and death, hell and heaven, judgment and mercy, his own sin, and Christ's most precious blood. And as you set these before him, labor with him, persuade him, as the apostle did his congregation, with tears and weeping to turn to the Lord. And your prayers and supplications shall be heard, so that the Spirit of God shall bring them to Jesus." Isn't that powerful? That's our responsibility. We have many things that we're called to do. Now, these days it seems that some parents delegate their responsibility, they give it to the church or to others, or they just don't understand the weightiness of what we're talking about tonight. And they testify to that by the low level of spirituality in the daily life of the home. It's just not top priority. I began tonight by establishing your soul as top priority, and therefore your children's soul should be their top priority, and yours as well, your concern for their soul as a parent should be your top priority. And so people are willing to leave this to others, leave it to chance, or just think, and this is what I call the shortcut method, that if you get them to pray a prayer early on, you're free from this responsibility, right? That's the shortcut approach. Is it hard to get a nine-year-old, a six-year-old, or a five-year-old to pray a prayer? I really don't think so. If you have a good relationship with your child, you can get him to pray as early as you want. I've talked in the past about how I, out of the concern of older brother and sister, Nathaniel and Jenny, I led Carolyn in the sinner's prayer when she was about two. That was a lisping prayer, if ever there was one. Are you worried about it? Let's let her pray the sinner's prayer. And she was halfway through and Jenny said, but she doesn't understand what she's saying. And I said, well then, Just be patient. Let God cause her to grow. Believe me, she's going to hear the gospel over and over and over. And let's keep praying for her. But the shortcut is the sinner's prayer, isn't it? It's the shortcut. It's like if we can get them to pray a prayer, experience some feeling, then our responsibility is done. And in the Baptist church, then we apply baptism, right? No matter how old they are, as long as they prayed that prayer. Well, I already told you, I could have then presented my two-year-old for baptism at a Baptist church, right? She prayed the prayer, Right? Hmm. We got some problems. We just came from a church conference in which we have 720 members and about 390 show up. Now, there's a lot of reasons for that. It's like a mighty river flowing through evangelicalism, not just Baptist churches, but there's many tribute and there's many tributaries. But one of them is this whole approach of how we disciple our children. Are we genuinely bringing them to Christ or are we doing the shortcut? Are we having them pray the prayer, then the early baptism and that's it? Could be later on, they go to a young life camp or something and they hear some preaching and then what do they do then? They're really genuinely moved, they come to, as far as they're concerned, faith in Christ for the first time, what do they do? They get baptized. Well, what happened to their earlier baptism? You know how many re-baptisms there are in the Southern Baptist Convention? Many. It happens a lot. I guess what I'm urging, I'm not getting into baptism so much right now. What I'm getting into is, let's not take the shortcut. There is no shortcut. Let's do it the right way. And what is the right way? Well, I believe I've listed out six parental responsibilities. I'm going to give this sheet out next time if our Xerox machine works. But you may want to jot these down. These are six things I think we're accountable for for our children. Number one, prayer. Number two, comprehensive Bible teaching. What do I mean by comprehensive? I mean the whole counsel of God's will, all of it. Number three, evangelism. And by this I mean sensing God's work in their heart, preaching the gospel to them so that they understand what saves, what the message of the gospel is. Number four, role modeling. Isn't that tough? Living the Christian life in front of them. Loving God and loving neighbor right in front of them. Number five, family worship. And number six, active church life. I think these are six parental responsibilities. Sure. Number one, prayer. Number two, comprehensive Bible teaching. Number three, evangelism, preaching the gospel to them. Number four, role modeling, living the Christian life in front of them. And number five, family worship. And number six, active church life. I think those are six responsibilities. Now you may have thought immediately of six more. They're probably true as well. Are there any other suggestions? Can you think of that parents are responsible in this area of leading their children to Christ? Chris, can you think of any? Anybody? Yes, ma'am. Patience. Go ahead and put that one in there. God's discipline. Yeah. And I think that would factor in. Frankly, I think that they should come to realize what David meant when he said, against you and you only, oh Lord, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight. Now we know David sinned against Uriah, sure, he had sinned huge against Uriah, but ultimately all sin is against God because Uriah was created in the image of God, wasn't he? And children need to come face to face with this invisible spiritual being, God, so that every little transgression that they're confessing, they're really confessing to him, they need to deal with that. So that would be a good one as well. and you may be able to continue to think of others. Let's start with the first one, prayer. Now, if what we said is true, John 3, 6, that it is the Holy Spirit that can bring your children to Christ, then you need to pray. Prayer is your confession of weakness and limitation. How many great figures from church history will testify to the power of a praying and weeping mother? I mean, that's a major theme in church history. I can tell you right now, as a church historian, The power of a praying and weeping mother is huge. I mean, it's tough to resist. I forget who it was, but somebody came across, they were leading a profligate life, came across their mother who did not know they were there. That's the power of it. She didn't know that this person was overhearing. And she's weeping and praying for the soul of her son as though her heart would break. And it's just incredible. And it had converting power. He'd heard the Gospel many times, prayer life, faithful prayer, and for all aspects of their spiritual development, asking God to work in them. For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. Romans 11, 36. All things come from Him, including conversion. Conversion comes from God, born of the Spirit. That's what we're wanting. And so we're praying, O Lord, convict them, move in their heart, break their hearts, bring them to faith in Christ. Let them know you. Let them go to heaven. So, you're praying for their conversion. Secondly, comprehensive Bible teaching. Now, you say, I'm not equipped for that. I mean, I'm no theologian. Then become a theologian. I mean, you should be anyway. You're supposed to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. If you don't feel equipped to disciple and train your children, then become equipped. Study the Bible for yourself. I'm going to speak especially to fathers. I think primarily you are the priest of the family. You're to lead the family spiritually. There are many families in which the mother knows more scripture, knows more theology, perhaps, than the husband. The husband needs to take the primary role, but both parents need to be able to train their children biblically. We've seen that in the book of Proverbs. And so what do I mean by comprehensive Bible teaching? Well, take them through books of the Bible. Read through it. Read through books that you wouldn't ordinarily read. We've read through Chronicles, my kids and I. Not all the genealogies, we'll get to that later, but some of the genealogies we've read through. We haven't done Judges yet, we're waiting. They're not quite ready for Judges. Yeah? I guess I could give you two answers. One is, you know, I believe that there are different levels of understanding as they get older and older. They're not all the same. And the Bible is remarkable for its variety of communication to us, isn't it? I mean, there's a whole bunch of... there's stories in the Old Testament, there's parables, there's extended logical discourses in Romans and the other epistles, there's apocalyptic things in the book of Revelation. My kids love the book of Revelation. because that's the one time Dad's constantly saying, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, you know. But also it's just very visionary. There's just a lot of things going on. It's an exciting book. But they got the message. They understand the main message. The main message is God is sovereign over history. Judgment Day is coming and so is Heaven as well. I mean, they understand the big picture of Romans. And so I guess what I'm saying is just don't go to those favorite ones. Don't do David and Goliath over and over. I just grieve over Sunday School where that's all we were doing. You know, the same eight stories. You know what I'm saying? Can anyone tell me what the eight stories are? Anyway, we'll talk about that after, but you know what I'm talking about, the same ones. No, and I'm not getting into Sunday school right now, but at home, you've got seven days a week to teach your kids the Bible. You've got, God willing, years, years to teach them. So just take them through books of the Bible. And the way I do it with my kids is if we're in a didactic, a teaching passage, we go a little slower and we talk about each word. I ask them, what does it mean? Well, why do you think Paul said it that way, et cetera. Carolyn is not as interested as the older ones, but she's getting interested. And you know something? They don't grow up in a black-white kind of thing, you know? It's like they couldn't and then they could. It's kind of like a sunrise, you know? And the next thing you know, it's full light of day. And when did it happen? And so you shouldn't wait to start. You should begin and just start teaching them, yeah. This is true. I dare say of this room, I mean, I speak for myself as someone who did maybe later in life, I agree and I'll tell you what and Tonya I don't think this would ever happen to you but I think the kids pick up on your excitement if you're bored by it they'll be bored but if you're really excited they're gonna at least see that there's something exciting going on here there's something There's something they want to know, and they're caught up in your emotion. And so frankly, again, it comes back to you, doesn't it? If the Word of God doesn't light your fire, if your heart's not ablaze like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, then get your heart that way. I mean, how many Psalms does a psalmist speak to his soul or to his heart? Why are you so downcast, O my soul? What's the matter with you? Come on, this is not boring stuff. Let's get going. Come on. This is interesting. So perhaps you have to get yourself ready. Say, kids, sit here on the couch, I'm gonna go get myself ready. I'm gonna get myself into a spiritual ladder here. By the time I come back, I'll be ready to go. Excited, right? But it shouldn't be boring because it isn't boring. What could be boring about God, the creator of the ends of the earth, who never grows weary, is understanding no one can fathom? He's not a dull being. Have you ever talked to a non-Christian saying, I'll be bored in heaven? You don't know God, that's your whole problem. You'll never be bored near God. God's a thrilling, exciting being, and his word is exciting too. My kids love Bible study. We enjoy it. We really do. And they thank me for taking the time. They thank Christi when she studies with them. They enjoy it. They really do. And so I just work it through. I say, what does this mean? What do you think that means? We're going through Habakkuk 2. I can't wait to preach on Habakkuk 2. I'm just excited. Let's do it now. Anyway, Habakkuk 2 and then into chapter 3 is a picture of God judging. And He's powerful. and God is sovereign over the nations. We're talking about all this. And then in chapter 3, Habakkuk gets it. He starts to rejoice and he starts to pray to God. And he says to God, talking about God's judgment. I was talking to my kids. He says, you uncovered your bow. You called for many arrows. I just stopped. I said, why did God ask for many arrows? You don't have to be a genius to figure that out. Lots of judgment. He's shooting arrows. And not just a few. He uncovered his bow and called for many arrows. And their eyes are big and they're interested. This is the Word of God. Don't you think that makes an impression on a child? God with the bow and arrows? Hey, I didn't write it. It's in the Bible. God is powerful. And then Isaiah 40, He tends His flock like a shepherd. He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart. They can understand that. So, I'll tell you what. Comprehensive Bible training. and just go through the books with them. Go through a gospel. Come back to Jesus frequently, though, and we'll get to that in a moment. But especially in those early years, their minds need to be filled with Jesus. They need to understand who He is. Thirdly, evangelism. We're going to preach the gospel, and in order to do that, you have to know what the gospel is. You have to know what it is. And I don't know that we always know what the gospel is. Let's just stop for a minute and talk about it. There's another class going on there talking about this. the evangelism class. But I usually break the gospel into four parts. God, man, Christ, and response. Those four points. What do we want to say about God? First of all, why do we start with God? Because everything starts with God. Let's not start with us. Let's not start with our situation. Let's start with God. What do we want to say about Him? Well, He's the Creator. He created all things. He created the sun, the moon, the stars. He created you. My little son, my little daughter, little Jenny. Nathaniel, He made you. He knit you together in Mommy's womb. He made you and He made all things. He created you. And not only is God the Creator, He's a King. He's a ruler. He's powerful. He's strong. He is in charge. He didn't just make the world and just leave it alone like a balloon that floated away without a string. He's ruling over it. He's in charge. He's a king. And since he's a king, guess what? He gets to make rules. He's a commander. He gets to make commandments. And because he makes commandments, he's also a judge. He gets to judge you based on whether you keep those commandments. By then, they will have learned the Ten Commandments. You're going to teach them these things. They should know these things. What about man? Well, we're creating the image of God, but we've got a problem, a big problem. And you should be intimately familiar with your kid's sin nature. You will be. I mean, you know better than anyone. You know better than they do. They always think more highly of themselves than they should. But you know that they're sinners. We have a problem with the view of children, don't we? That they're just these little angels. They come into the world just perfect. They're not. They're original sinners. Did you know that? They come into the world children of Adam. That's what the Bible says. They come into the world a son or a daughter of Adam. And if they die that way, they're going to hell. Do you understand that? If they die as only a child of Adam, then they're going to hell. They must be converted. They must come to faith in Christ. Now, I'm not going to get into children that die in infancy and all that. We can talk about those difficult issues that the Bible doesn't openly address. But we know, especially as they're getting older and older, and they understand right from wrong, and they understand God, and they understand sin, they must be converted. They must come to faith in Christ. about Christ, we want to teach that He's the God-man and that He lived a perfect life and He lived a miraculous life. These things should come alive in their mind. They should have a whole storage of Christ's stories. How is that storage going to get in there? How are they going to have all the Christ stories in their head? Yeah, comprehensive Bible teaching. They're going to have them in there. Will you remember the time when Jesus walked on water or the time He fed the 5,000? I'll never forget teaching Nathaniel early on. I've told this story before, but I'll tell it again. We were going through a Bible study and feeding the 5,000. Nathaniel looked bored. His eyes were glazing over. He was drifting off. I said, Nathaniel, pay attention. He said, Daddy, I know this story already. I said, Oh, you do? Yeah, I do. All right, well, tell it to me then, since you know. He did a good job. I'd give him a B+. He did very, very well. I mean, he did a good job. For his age, I give him an A. All right, not bad. I said, well, Nathanael, let me ask you a question. How many people did Jesus feed that day? Oh, that's easy, 5,000. Oh, no, I didn't say how many men did he feed that day. The Bible says he fed 5,000 men plus women and children. Oh, all of a sudden he's interested again. Well, how many women do you think there were there? Well, I don't know. Well, why don't you guess? maybe 5,000, all right, that's fine. And so I did the math for him, he wasn't ready to do math yet, so I said, that's 10,000. How many children do you think there were there? Well, you know, 2.2 children per couple. They had bigger families back then. We're talking maybe 20,000 people. And all of a sudden, he's interested again. You know why we get bored with the Bible? We think we already know it, and you don't know the Bible, and you never will. You'll know enough to get saved, and you'll know enough for life and godliness, but you're never finished knowing the Bible. Frankly, you never finish knowing any story in the Bible. Why? Because you keep changing. You keep growing. And even though the words are still the same, and the meaning is the same, you're different, and it's speaking to you new and afresh. The Word of God is alive and active, right? So you're teaching, and they're going over. So they've got a whole bunch of Christ stories in their head. And they understand this mighty God-man who could do anything. He could say anything. He was powerful and strong. He could raise the dead. And He's dead on the cross. Why? And you can explain what Spurgeon said. Substitutionary. Atonement. Now, you don't need to know that title to be a Christian, but you need to understand that concept to be a Christian. You can't be a Christian if you don't understand the concept of substitutionary atonement. What is it? That God had an active wrath against your sin, that you deserve to go to hell because of the things you've done. He had an active wrath, and that He chose to pour that wrath out on a substitute, somebody in your place. And you can illustrate this with kids. You can say, this is here, and then something's in its place, whatever. We've done it lots of different ways. But Jesus stood in our place and drank the cup of wrath. And in our place, He puts His righteousness on us. And based on that righteousness, we stand before God. And so I've had my kids put on cloaks. We've exchanged cloaks, the sin and the righteousness. We've done all kinds of things. Evangelize your kids. They should understand. Now, how does somebody really get saved? What is going on down here? How do they get saved? By the sinner's prayer? Is that what the Bible says? How do they get saved? Two things, repentance and faith. Jesus said, the time is here, the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe the good news. That's it. Repent and believe. Where's the sinner's prayer? Well, I think the sinner's prayer may be the first fruit of repentance. It's the first fruit of a new life, a new change. And out of that heart, you're already speaking, but when did you believe? The moment you believed, you're saved, you're justified. You know what I'm talking about. Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. When he saw the stars, so shall your offspring be. A promise came in his ears. He heard the promise and he believed and he was justified. Let me ask you a question. Do you think that can happen to a young child? Absolutely. I believe it with all my heart. They can hear and understand and they can believe and they can be justified. I believe that with all my heart. Second question, can you as mom and dad know it for sure? Now, that's a different question, isn't it? But let's first at least understand what the gospel is. The gospel is God-man-Christ response. The gospel is these things. The gospel is the Book of Romans, if you understand all those doctrines. But that is it, that Jesus Christ, the God-man, died in our place as our substitute. And by simple believing, by simple believing, by turning away from sin and toward Christ, we can have eternal life. We need to preach that to our children. Number four, role modeling. Why is role modeling important? Why is it important that you live out a Christian life in front of your children if you want to lead them to Christ? Okay. They think they can get away with it? Huh? Hypocrisy. They can see it. Kids can see it. You know, you say love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, but you never talk about God. You don't read the Word. You're not praying. You know, it's a drag to go to church. You're not excited yourself. They can pick up on that. They can see it. And then all the other things. Does this mean you must be perfect in order to lead your children to Christ? Do you have to be sinless and perfect? Well, that eliminates us all, doesn't it? I think instead, frankly, even your own sin can be a great objective lesson to how much all of us need grace. There are numerous times that I've... I don't even want to tell you how many times I've come to my kids, gathered them around and said, Daddy sinned, and I'm sorry. I did this, I did that, I lost my temper, I said some things I shouldn't have said, or I had an attitude I shouldn't have, and I set a bad example for you, and I'm sorry. But thankfully, Jesus died for me, and my sin's forgiven." I think that's what you... Go ahead. Yeah. Well, I actually have a question about that. As far as my son really understands it, you know, there's no one who understands or knows. He's got to the point where when I tell him he needs to be good, he says, no one can be good all the time, so I'm going to do stuff. So grace is a license for sin. Boy, he's advanced. It's like, oh, God will forgive anyway. Well, it's good at least that he understands those things. But you know, in a way, what you're trying to do is get them to the point, like Philippians 3.3, the definition of a Christian, we are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh. You want to strip away their confidence in themselves, their own flesh. They can't save themselves. They have to glory in Christ Jesus. They have to trust Christ. By trusting Christ alone are they going to go to heaven. And that way they will not lose their souls. They will be saved. They will have eternal life by simple faith in Christ and nothing else. Just by faith in Christ. Fifth, family worship. I'm just even going to tell you what it is and just move on because I want to spend a whole chunk of time on what it is. But what I mean by that is time where you together as a family unit are singing and praying praising, talking about Jesus, focused on Him. Family altar, some people call it. You're focused on God. Major part of your life. It's not just a prayer before the food, the blessing before the... No. It's a concentrated time as a family. And many neglect this, and I want to talk more about that. And then, sixly, active church life. Why is it important to model for them a healthy relationship to a local church? Why is that important? Is that a good example? Is church going to be important in their life? Yes. I don't think it's possible to be a healthy Christian and not in a healthy relationship with the local church. I just don't think it's possible. You can't do it on your own. The world, the flesh, and the devil are just too strong, aren't they? And so we need to love church in front of our kids. We need to speak well about it. We need to, you know, involve them. You know, you hear about kids saying, well, my parents shoved it down my throat. What's wrong with that picture? My parents shoved religion down my throat. What's going wrong there? They're saying the church needs to do it. What else do you think? Other than that, that's a great answer. They're delegating. What else? You know, they shoved it down my throat. That implies what? Authority. Coercion. What is the parent's attitude toward the product that's being shoved? My way or the highway? It's unpleasant. The parents don't enjoy it either. It's medicine. And so it's a displeasing thing A to Z. Frankly, if you're not pleased in God, you can't worship Him, right? You need to enjoy God or it isn't worship, right? These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. We need to not be hypocrites. We need to live a love for God in front of them so that it isn't shoved down their throats. sliding down their throats like honey. It's a sweet thing to be loved by God. It's an exciting thing to follow God in our lives. That's what we're doing. And frankly, again, if that's not the case, then something's wrong with you. Something's wrong in your walk with God. There should be a yearning for Him, a desire to please Him. It should be enjoyable to you. Alright, so those are six things briefly. Now, what is Our goal in bringing our children to Christ is bringing them to conversion. What is conversion? Well, another way of talking about conversion is regeneration. That's what our goal is. They would be regenerate. Well, that's a big word, but it's easy to understand if you take the prefix re-, which means what? Again, like to re-read a book means read it again, and then the gen- reminds us of Genesis. So this would be like a new creation, right? We want our children to be a new creation or born again, right? It's all the same thing. Regeneration, new creation, born again. That's our goal. We don't want them to pray the sinner's prayer. That's not the goal. I mean, yes, we do. I mean, don't misread me. Don't misunderstand. But our goal is regeneration. We want them to be new creation. We already know that we can't do that. The Spirit does it. How does He do it? What does He use to produce faith in people? Where does faith come from? Hearing the Word. So you need to just supersaturate them with the Word of God, right? Day after day. Isn't that what Deuteronomy 6 said? When they sit down, when they rise up, when they go in, when they go out, on the doorposts, on the doormat, you know, on the door side, everything. It's everywhere. You just saturate it in the Word of God. And then at some point, something's going to happen and they're going to come to faith in Christ. Regeneration. Now, I asked you a while ago, is it possible for that to happen to a young child? Yes. Is it possible for you as the parent to know it? Maybe not right away, but you'll begin to see some things. You'll start to see some things, and that's why I want to talk briefly about the marks of regeneration. What happens to a soul when you come to faith in Christ? Well, you're born again, and then? Turning away from sin. Alright, I've got a list here. But first thing I just want to get across so, so clearly. Regeneration, born again, new creation, all of these things lead to something. It all points to something. And this is what I want to get across as the center of my ministry, and not just for children, but it's life, right? Life in Christ. Eternal life. And if there's life, there's going to be fruit, isn't there? There's going to be evidence of the life. Or they're dead, right? Faith without works is dead, right? So there's going to be life, there's going to be fruit, there's going to be stuff coming. If you are alive in Christ, you are grafted into the vine, right? And stuff, sap, is going to flow through you and you're going to bear fruit, right? Guaranteed. Is that 100% guaranteed? You will bear fruit if you are born again. Is that true? Yes, you will. Every time. Now, we can't always see the fruit. It's not just leading other people to Christ. Believe me, that's not it. It's a whole bunch of things. But you as mom and dad, you're going to start looking for life in them, spiritual life. You're going to catch them praying when they didn't know you were there. You're going to find them reading their Bible because they're interested in it. They're going to be asking you questions, initiating with you. They're going to be saying things out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks. They're going to speak about God on their own. They're going to love God. They're going to have a love for Him. And they're going to be hurt when God is hurt. There's a connection there because the Holy Spirit's working in them. They're going to love their Christian brothers and sisters. There's going to be a love for others that He works in them. They're going to love God's Word. And part of that is going to be a consistent growth in obedience to God's commands. Don't worry about getting all this down. I'll give it out next time. But there's going to be a growth in obedience to God's commands. start obeying. And when they sin, they're going to grow in hatred of sin. And when they sin, they're going to see it as a transgression of God's law. It wasn't just mommy said this or no, God is behind this. God gave that barrier and I jumped it. And so therefore I sinned against God. So there's a growth in hatred of that. And they see sin and evil as sin against God. They're also going to start actually resisting temptation. They're going to start seeing victory. in resisting temptation. By the power of the Spirit, they're going to say no to sin. They're going to grow in good deeds done in service to God and others. They're going to start producing good things. They're going to start taking initiative. They're going to start doing some things. You can instruct them, and the Bible does too. They're going to persevere in times of trial and testing. They're not going to give up after a year or two or six months, but they're going to keep at it. I believe perseverance through trial is the greatest indicator of saving faith. I think that is the test. through hard times, you persevere, you don't give up. They're going to begin to grow in their discernment between true and false doctrine, teaching. They're going to hear something and say, that's not right. And they will know because you are building up right doctrine and the Holy Spirit instructs them, they are taught by God. And then they are going to have the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit that they are a child of God. Now, when I preach through Romans, I gave four types of Three types of assurance. I wrote four, but it's only three, sorry. Three types of assurance, and we'll close with this tonight. You want to, you know, say, well, mommy, daddy, how do I know that I'm a Christian? How do I know that I'm born again? I want to go to heaven. How do I know I'm going to be with Jesus? I got this from Romans 5, 1 through whatever it is, 10. Okay. Number one is reasoned out in the mind. What do I mean by that? You hear the Word of God. It makes sense. And by faith, you reason out the implications that you're saved. The best example of this you're going to find in a hymn is, Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. That's all. It's just the basic level. The Bible says so. I believe it. I accept it. It makes sense. If when I was still a sinner, You know, Christ died for me. How much more will I be saved from his wrath? There's a reasoning process in Romans 5 based on the Word of God. He just says it and that's it. That's enough. Okay, second level is worked out in the life. And by the way, all of these you could add by the Holy Spirit or by God. You could just by the Holy Spirit. He reasons this thing out in the mind by the power of the Spirit. He works this out in the life. What do I mean? You're going to see the marks of regeneration. You're going to see changes. The things you love are going to change. The things you hate are going to change. Right? That's what regeneration is. This is good for anybody. It's not age graded. This is for all people. All right. And so you're going to see your life change. Suppose there's zero changes in your life. What could you conclude? You're not born again. You're not saved. There's no change. There's been no impact. No change. It's very much like the seed that fell on the hard soil. It bounced and rolled and a bird came and ate it up. There's no change. There's no penetration. Nothing happened. We need to see change in the life. We need to see a change in what you love and what you hate. It just changes, doesn't it? When you become a Christian, the things you used to hate, you now love. And things you used to love, you now hate. Doesn't that happen? It's like a big rearranging that occurs in your life. Alright, what's the third one? Poured out in the heart by the Holy Spirit. He pours out His assurance. What is all this? Remember, this is assurance. This is all about assurance. How do I know I'm a Christian? I know it because the Bible has assured me that if I have faith in Jesus, if I have trust in Him as my Savior, He is my Savior. Jesus loves me. This I know. Secondly, I see the changes in my life. I see that I'm different. I see that I love things I used to hate and hate things I used to love. I see growth in those marks of regeneration. I want to go to church. I want to study the Bible. I love my brothers and sisters in Christ. I hate sin. I want to grow in my knowledge of God. I hate it when I disobey His commands. Number three, poured out into the heart. God just talks to you, doesn't He? And He just speaks and says, you are a child of God. So when your little son or daughter or grandson or granddaughter or whatever says, how do I know that I'm a Christian? These are the three categories of things that God works in your life. That's how they can know. All right. We've talked about an important thing tonight. We've talked about bringing your children to Christ. Nothing more important than that. We've talked about responsibilities we have to do that, to pray and to read the scriptures to them constantly, saturating their mind, to evangelize them and to model it in front of them, model active church life, all of those things, family worship. We've talked about what the gospel is so that we can preach it to them. And we've talked about conversion, the new birth, and then evidences of regeneration. assurance of salvation. Do you have any questions? Is there a lot to absorb? If you get only one thing, that's the highest priority, is the souls of your children. It's the highest priority. Pray for them, love them, and lead them to Christ. Let's close in prayer. Father, we thank you for the time that we have had tonight to study your Word. Father, I pray that you would please be working. And I pray if there's any that are even in this room who aren't sure, that they don't have this kind of assurance, they don't know that they're born again, that they would trust that Jesus died in their place, that they would believe that Jesus came to save sinners, and that no sin is too much for the blood of Christ. Father, I pray that even now you'd use the Word of God with regenerating power. Father, I pray that you would also be working in us who have already trusted in Christ and that you've entrusted children to us. God, that we would please be faithful to our responsibilities. Father, I pray for my children, for Nathaniel, for Jenny, for Carolyn, for Calvin, that you'd bring each one of them to Christ, that they would be with us on judgment day, that they would be with us in heaven, that they would see the face of Jesus and live with us forever. And I pray for the children of all the parents in this room the same way. God, that you would work in their hearts, that they would know you. Thank you for this time, in Jesus' name, amen.