For the Children: Are you Saved? - Paul Washer

We're going to begin right now

with a message - a specific message

to our children, to the young people

in this congregation.

Young people, when this sermon

is prayed about,

it's prayed about specifically

with regard to you.

And you need to listen
very, very carefully.

Now, we've been in the book of Exodus,

and I want to return
there for just a moment.

Exodus 20.

But today, we're going to make
something of a departure.

We're going to summarize

some of the things we've learned,

and then we're going to apply it

in a different way.

Exodus 20:1,

"Then God spoke all these words,

saying 'I am the Lord your God

who brought you out of the land of Egypt

and out of the house of slavery.

You shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol

or any likeness of what is in heaven above

or on the earth beneath

or in the water under the earth.

You shall not worship them or serve them,

for I, the Lord your God,

am a jealous God

visiting the iniquity of the
fathers on the children

on the third and fourth generations

of those who hate Me.

But showing lovingkindness to thousands

to those who love Me

and keep My commandments.

You shall not take the name

of the Lord your God in vain,

for the Lord will not leave him unpunished

who takes His name in vain.'"

Now, from this we have
learned several things.

First of all, that God owns you.

Even if you're a little child

who has yet to come to know Christ,

God owns you;

and you, it is your duty, to worship Him.

He made you.

He made you.

And the breathe that's
in your body right now,

God gave that to you.

And therefore, you owe Him.

What do you owe Him? All your praise.

All your allegiance.

All your obedience.

But for some of us, not only does God

own us because of creation,

but He also owns us
because He redeemed us.

To redeem someone means to pay a price

to set them free from
captivity or slavery.

And that's what God has done.

He's done it through Jesus Christ.

Because of Jesus,

you should have a love
in your heart for God.

Now, I want you to think
about this for a moment.

Every law that we have ever studied

shows us something very important.

Not only that God is good,

but it shows us that we
have broken God's law.

We've created other gods.

In our hearts, there are things

oftentimes that are more important to us

than God.

Many times, we take the name
of the Lord our God in vain.

We do not honor Him or worship Him

or think about Him in
the way that we ought.

Because of that, the Bible says

we have sinned.

Now sin is not something we laugh about.

Why? Because it's not something
that God laughs about.

All the pain,

all the problems,

all the sorrow that you see in this world

is because men have broken God's law.

The fact that people will die today

is because of sin.

The fact that sometimes you will fall down

and hurt yourself,

or there will be sadness in your heart,

or darkness in your life,

everything that happens on this planet

that's bad is because of disobedience.

Because of Adam's disobedience,

because of your great-great
grandfather's disobedience,

because of your father's disobedience,

and because of your disobedience.

Sin is the one great dark monster.

It's the life-eater.

It's the killer of people.

But Jesus came - Jesus came!

Now think about that.

He didn't have to come.

If God would have kept His Son

there in Heaven throughout all of eternity

and allowed us all to die,

He would still be a good God

because if we had died,

it would have been
exactly what we deserved.

It was exactly what we deserved.

But the fact is, the Bible says

that God loved the world so much;

He loved people so much

that He sent His only Son to die the death

that you should die.

Now, listen to me, young people.

This is very important.

Many times when you think

about the death of Jesus,

you think about the cross,

and the crown of thorns,

and the nails in His hands

and in His feet,

the spear that was in His side,

and the blood that poured out -

all of that is very important,

but here's what you must understand.

That's not the great pain of the cross.

That's not the thing
that Jesus most dreaded.

What did He dread?

You see, He was perfect.

He never sinned one time.

But on that tree, your sin

was imputed to Him.

Now that sounds like
a strange word - impute.

It means that your sin was placed on Him.

And He was treated by God

in the way that you should be treated

and I should be treated.

How should we be treated?

We should be turned away from God.

We should be turned
away from His presence.

We should be sent into eternal darkness.

That's what the Bible says about us

because of our sin.

But the fact it,

the treatment that God
should have given us

fell on His Son.

Jesus suffered in our place.

The Father turned away from His only Son

and all the judgment that
you should experience,

Christ experienced on that tree.

But you know what's marvelous?

Right before He died, He said something

absolutely wonderful.

He said, "It is finished."

What is finished?

He made the payment in full.

Because of your sin, your crimes,

you owed God a debt you could not pay,

but on that cross, Jesus Christ paid it.

He paid it.

He paid it all.

He paid for every one of your sins

in the past, in the
present, and the future.

He paid it all.

You are forgiven,

if you are trusting in this Jesus

who not only died for your sins,

but He rose again from the
dead on the third day.

He is seated at the right hand of God,

and He is able to save you

from every horrible thing

you have ever done or ever will do.

If you look to yourself, young person;

if you try to go to heaven

because your parents go to church

or if you think you're going to heaven

because you're good,

or because you're homeschooled,

or because of all sorts
of things like that,

you are wrong.

Your goodness is not good before God.

Even your fathers.

My best works - I'm a pastor;

I'm an elder.

My best works are nothing more

than filthy rags before God.

My only hope of getting to heaven

is that 2,000 years ago,

the Son of God died for me.

That must be your hope.

You see, Christianity has rules in it,

but it's not about rules.

Christianity has a certain way of living,

but it's not about that
certain way of living.

Christianity is all about this:

We have no hope apart from one Person

and His name is Jesus Christ,

and we follow Jesus.

And everything that we do, we do for Him.

Now listen to me. This is so important.

Why should you want to be a good man,

young man?

Why should you want to be
a good woman, young woman?

Because He died for you.

If it's any other reason, it's idolatry.

You do it all for Him.

Everything you do, you do for Him.

I'm standing up here today, young person,

not because I want to be religious

and not because I just
want to be a good man,

and not because I just
want my family to do okay,

I am here because
Jesus Christ died for me.

And He rose again from the dead.

He's everything! Do you understand that?

Jesus is everything.

He's not only the only Savior,

He's the only Lord.

He's not only the only Lord, young person,

He is also the only Life.

Outside of Him, there's nothing.

Now, to conclude, do you know Him?

You say, well, yes, one
time I prayed a prayer

and asked Him into my heart.

But that doesn't mean you know Him.

Millions of people in America
have prayed prayers

and asked Jesus into their heart,

but their life hasn't changed.

The evidence that you

repented of your sins and were saved

is that you're still repenting today.

The evidence that you believed
in Jesus a few years ago,

you're still believing today,

and you're believing more than before.

And the evidence that you truly

have been saved by grace

is that you keep walking

and following Jesus

and He continues changing you.

Do not think, young person,

that just because your
parents are Christian

that you're a Christian.

Do not think that just
because you read the Bible

you're a Christian.

The evidence that you're a Christian

is that Jesus has done
something in your life.

And that something that He's done

is the thing that motivates you

to follow Him.

And you want to be like Him.

And you continue on and on and on.

So it's all about Jesus, isn't it.

We want you to be good men and women.

We want you to be noble.

More than anything else,

we desire that your heart -

your heart be totally devoted

to one Person: Jesus Christ.

Let's pray.

Father, I pray for the children,

for the youth among us,

Lord, that You would open up their mind

for them to understand truth;

that they would see the reality

of Your holiness and Your righteousness;

that in the light of that,
they would see their sin,

and they would not look inwardly,

except to look inwardly and find no hope,

and then look outwardly, Lord,

at Christ who died

and rose again from the dead,

that they would see the resurrected Christ

as their only Savior,

as the atonement for their sin,

and they would trust in Him.

Father, we pray for our children

that their hearts would be devoted

to Jesus Christ Your Son.

We do not pray for them an easy life,

a wealthy life.

We do not pray for them, Lord,

that they get the things of this world.

We would pray that they would die to self,

that they would turn
their back on the world,

that they would be crucified to the world

and the world would be crucified to them,

and they would be disinterested

in anything but Christ

and Christ alone.

Let it be, O God, more than a song

in the lives of the adults here

and the lives of our children.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

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