Inspecting Our Children’s Conversion
Pastor Matt Black
10 July 2007
Midweek Bible Study
Matthew 19:13-15
Introduction: Open your Bibles to Matthew 19. We are going to look at verse 13-16. The title of our message is “Inspecting Our Children’s Conversion”.
Matthew 19:13-15, “Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them. 14 But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. 15 And he laid his hands on them, and departed thence.”.
O how we need to bring our children to Jesus! How we need to see them come to know the Lord! The greatest mission field in all the world is right here before us! Children—they must be won to the Lord at a young age! This is the theme of our message tonight! Let the children come to Jesus!
Context: What’s going on in this passage? Here we have the Lord’s disciples giving some parents a tongue lashing for thinking about interrupting the Lord’s busy schedule, bringing their children to Him. We don’t see it here, but Mark tells us that the Lord was seriously incensed or as Mark says it: “much displeased” (Mark 10:13). The Lord wanted to bring these children to Himself. They were His children—He created them, and He came to redeem them—to bring them into the Kingdom of Heaven. This is exactly what He said—of such is the Kingdom of Heaven! So Jesus turned to His disciples and rebuked them and said (verse 14), “Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. 15 And he laid his hands on them, and departed thence.”.
Every conscientious parent wants to see their children come to Christ. It was the desire of the Lord, and it ought to be our desire. Christ clearly says in these verses that even the littlest children can be saved. Spurgeon said, “Spurgeon said, “A child of five, if properly instructed can as truly believe and be regenerated as an adult."
There are several difficulties that we constantly deal with when it comes to seeing children come to Christ.
v Is a child converted by saying a prayer?
v Is he saved by understanding correct doctrine?
v At what point is a child saved?
Of course conversion is a result of the Spirit of God pressing upon the heart of the child and heaping condemnation on all his sin until that child cries out for mercy. It’s a deep and profound transaction, but many parents do not think in this way. So it results in poor communication of the Gospel and a false conversion.
You can have all the good intentions in the world but never come to grips with the Gospel. We must wake up to our child’s rebellious condition and understand what it is that actually saves our child. He must truly hate his sin, come to the end of himself, cry out for mercy to the Lord, and say Lord save me and do whatever you want with me, I am yours! You are worthy!
We must not be satisfied as parents with anything less than the true, Holy Spirit empowered conversion of our children’s soul. When God enters into someone it is unmistakable. Our children may have 500 descendents, and the way those 500 descendents live and die has so much to do with how you communicate the Gospel to your children and live it before them.
v We want our children to come to Jesus, not to just playing church.
v We want our children to actually cross that line of demarcation between heaven and hell for themselves—from their own passion for God and brokenness from their sin. The littlest of children can do this.
So how can we take the most careful protections to make sure our children come to Jesus?
I. The first point is that we must Inspect. We must inspect their lives to make sure they are coming to Jesus. We all want to see our children come to Jesus, that’s the goal. Jesus wants children to come to Him. “Of such is the Kingdom of God”. Out of this lot will come the children of the Kingdom of God. But let’s make sure that our children are coming to Jesus. Let’s make sure they are actually leaving the Kingdom of this world.
It is very easy for anyone, especially a child, to make an outward profession of faith, but we must never be satisfied with what children say, but with the genuine fruits of Spiritual transformation that are easily identifiable. We must never stop short of genuine conversion. Why? Because a child who does not have a transformed heart, and thereby a transformed life will be forever bared from heaven. Your sincerity cannot effect salvation for your child. We as parents must inspect our own communication of the Gospel. If “faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10?17) then we must be sure our children are hearing correctly.
It was amazing that these specific children in our passage were where they were on that day, right where Jesus was. Wow! God had them be born at that very time and planned that meeting. We need recognize that our children could have been born in any kind of a home, but they were born in your home, in a Christian home, and we have a responsibility not to put up road blocks.
I think the biggest road block to clear communication is trying to communicate the Gospel in cushy language, turning the Gospel into some story. They need to hear the Gospel plainly and clearly.
1. Be careful with metaphors and pictures.
Why? Metaphors Difficult for Children to Understand
Many a child, who is now lost in the world has “asked Jesus into their heart.” Before we get excited that a child has come to Christ, let’s be sure they truly understand. Be sure in the plainest language that they understand the Gospel.
Illustration: Most young children cannot think abstractly—they don’t’ get pictures and metaphors, so when you say “ask Jesus into your heart”, they may take it that a little man is going to enter into their heart organ with a tiny bar of soap and start scrubbing the inside of their heart. As a very small child I can remember as a bus kid, being led in a prayer like this, and thinking this very thing. I even remember a little picture the Sunday School worker gave me—a picture of Jesus with a lantern in his hand, knocking on a door. Most children at a very young age will take pictures and metaphors literally.
2. Use plain language when communicating the Gospel.
It is best to use plain language when speaking to your child. Even the youngest child can understand what it means to turn away from their sins (we call that repentance). They can understand that their own heart tells them they are constantly doing what God hates. They can understand what God requires of them, and that they are sinning against God every day. We need to be sure that we keep things very plain for children.
Children need clear communication if they are to come to Jesus. Inspect your own communication. But secondly, if children are genuinely saved, then we must inspect their lives.
Many a sincere parent insists that their child has been saved, even though they are living a wicked life. Listen, people who know Christ are filled with the Infinite Holiness of the thrice holy God. A person who is saved is certainly not sinless, but they demonstrate the fruit of holy living.
Illustration: When I used to work in a steak house, I would come home, and my parents always knew that I had been at work. How? I smelled like a steakhouse. The same is true when a child is around bad influences. Most of the time you can tell when a child has been around corruption influences. The same can be said of a child who has been around purifying and holy influences. Moses when he was in the mount with God came down with his face shining. A child who has been with Jesus is easily identified. A child who is truly saved is a holy and a pure child. A saved child even of the youngest age can have strong convictions. They can have a healthy prayer life. Saved children are not perfect children, that is they do sin, but there is the fruit of purity and holiness coming from their heart and out of their lives that is unmistakable. If they know the Lord then they have the fruit of the Spirit’s presence in their lives, but if the Lord’s presence is not distinguishable in the child, then they do not belong to the Lord. My point here though is that some people think it is some mystery whether we can know if a child is saved or not. There is no mystery here. The Lord said on several occasions that any person regardless of their age “is know by their fruit”, and this applies to even a child. That’s exactly what Proverbs 20:11 says, “Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right.”
A child’s heart is revealed in his actions. Does the child have a prayer life that is self motivated? Does the child have a passion to know God’s Word? Is there heartfelt communication with God that is precious and easily distinguishable? A child can be taught rote prayers, but a regenerate child will pray with the power of the Spirit, though simple, it is sincere and there is substance there.
So we must inspect our own hearts to see if we are communicating the Gospel clearly. We need to inspect our child’s hear and life to see if there is the clear fruit of conversion. We cannot simply just hope our children turn out ok. We must put our own entertainments aside and care for their souls and live godly before them! Your example is going to reap the whirlwind in your children, grandchildren and a thousand descendents that will either reflect godliness or carelessness which leads to godlessness! So we had better stop and take time to inspect if our children are coming to Jesus.
II. Secondly, we need to Entrust. We must bring our children to Jesus, just as these parents did. The children didn’t know who Jesus was. They had to be introduced to Him.
A. Have you entrusted yourself to Jesus? Are you a committed follower of Jesus? You might say, of course I am, I’m a church member! You may be a member of this church, but are you yourself experiencing the life of abiding in Christ, the life of answered prayer, the life of the blessed man that turns off the television and opens his Bible. “Blessed is the man the walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly… 2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law doth he meditate day and night”. Are you like a tree planted by the rivers of water? Do you have spiritual fruit in your life? Are you controlled by your prayer life or by the care life. You either have one or the other—you cannot have both. You are either praying or you are preoccupied with the things of this world.
You might say, well I bring my children to church! That’s good and fine. But you need to bring your children to Jesus first! Church will be a farce if they don’t see Jesus in you!
B. Have you entrusted your children to Jesus? Christ says in verse 14, ““Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. 15 And he laid his hands on them, and departed thence.”. Isn’t it interesting that Christ says “Allow these little children to come to me”—but they were not coming without assistance!
So the question is this—are you doing all you can to make sure your children come to Jesus? The point here is that it is very unlikely that your children will come to Jesus if they do not see you constantly going to Him.
Then you must at all times gently lead them to Him. Lead them to Him in heartfelt family worship. Do you not have a prayer closet? Then I guarantee your children will very likely not have one either!! Bring your children with you to Jesus. Do all you can to speak of Him.
Planting and Watering
You cannot save your children, but there is a whole lot you CAN do. Some plant, some water, but it is “God that giveth the increase” (1 Corinthians 3:7). At all times we are planting and watering our children’s lives. At all times you are either planting and watering for a harvest of corruption or a harvest of eternal life. You cannot save your children, but you can plant seeds of godliness and a Christlike spirit and atmosphere in your home.
It’s hard work!!!
Illustration: Have you ever worked on a farm or known someone who worked on a farm? Planting and watering is discipline. My wife planted beautiful flowers in the backyard. But do you know what happened when she went in for surgery? They stopped getting watered. They started dying. You need to work hard at planting and watering the Gospel in their lives. But how?
Glad you asked. Deuteronomy 6 is has a strong answer to that question that deals with exactly how to do this in the context of the family. Turn over there. Look at verse 6, “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. 8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. 9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.”
Look at the key words here. What is involved?
1. Diligence
2. Teaching
a. Teaching while you’re sitting in your house. But I like to surf the internet or watch TV. No when you sit in your house, you are to be teaching your children. Now you can use the TV I think in limited ways, but you’d better be able to bow down before the Lord in front of it and lift up your hands to heaven and give what ever is on the TV as a sweet offering to Him. If you cannot, then don’t offer abominations to your children. Use your time at home to teach your children, not to entertain yourselves. If there is entertainment, it ought to be a kind that is wholesome and above reproach, and that does not encroach on your family worship. Remember, you are to do this diligently. Listen this is the Word of God I’m giving you, so don’t get mad at me!
b. Teaching while you’re walking—don’t be selfish. Make your children a part of your life when ever you can. You ought to be a family. Bring your kids with you—not just for company—that’s fine, but make sure the Lord’s company is with you—teach, teach, teach! Diligently when you walk by the way.
c. Teaching while you are getting ready for bed. Teach when you lie down. That doesn’t mean when you are sleeping, but it means in the night and in the morning. Your kids ought to know what a prayer closet is. Their favorite book ought to be the Bible. If it’s not, then it show that it’s not YOUR favorite book. My kids—even Will constantly go to the prayer closet. They constantly are reading the Bible. Why? Because they see their Mama and Daddy doing it. Their mornings and evenings are filled with prayer and the Word. That’s how it ought to be and must be.
d. Finally a few more key words. He speaks of binding the Word to your hand, to your eyes, and to the gates of your doors. What’s the point? Is your Bible worn because your hands are all over it. Have your eyes perused its pages? What is God teaching you? If your Bible is WORN then your home will be WARM with the love of Christ. The posts of your doors will be glowing with Christ. Christ will be the doorkeeper of your home.
All of this is excruciatingly hard work. It costs your life. That’s what Jesus said. Are you working hard, entrusting your children to Jesus?
Conclusion: Let me close by giving you two simple steps of obedience to the Word of God in light of our children’s outreach.
There is a sign up sheet for distributions on the baptistery.
Listen, there are multitudes of children in Elgin and West Chicago that have parents that are hindering their children from coming to Jesus. They don’t know Christ. Let’s walk by the way and demonstrate to our children what it is to have a heart for the lost!
Closing Hymn: 537 Jesus Saves