Children's Catechism Part 5 - Paul Washer

At this moment, we're going to have

our sermon that's kind of based

a bit around the catechism

off of the 1689 London Confession.

It is for our children and
for our young people,

but we have heard a lot from our adults

saying I think I
understand a lot of things

through these sermons that
I've never understood before.

Before we get there,

again, I want to teach you.

You're probably right now,

if you were singing with all your heart

right now - this song -

you're reeling.

Your head is so full

and I hope your heart is

that you're literally almost,

wow, I don't know if I can take anymore.

What is that?

You could sing choruses,

and there are some wonderful choruses -

we're not against choruses -

but you could sing some choruses

that are out there

for an hour and a half

and they would not wear out your mind.

Why? They're really not saying anything.

My mother used to call it 7/11 music.

You sing 7 words 11 times.

And here, what were you doing?

It was almost like when you're
reading Scripture, isn't it?

I mean, it's like drinking
out of a fire hydrant.

There's so much truth.

Now, here's something
that I want you to see.

We do live in a certain culture.

And it's important to recognize that.

At the same time, we must not succumb

to our culture.

At the risk of offending you,

I want you to know we are

something of a superficial
and frivolous people.

And we like superficial

and sometimes trivial things.

But I think it's the
responsibility of the church

to help us turn from that.

It's not that we should always sing a song

with this much in it.

My mind can't handle it.

And again, I do love many

of the beautiful choruses
that are written today.

We need to learn to sing them.

But what I want you to see

is that worship should be substantial.

It is didactic.

That means it is a means of teaching.

The purpose of worship
according to Ephesians

and Colossians - one of the purposes -

is to teach or communicate truth.

Do you see that?

Well, there was a lot of truth here.

And one last thing about worship.

Isn't it amazing -

and there's nothing wrong with instruments

and beautiful music;

I can really rejoice in that -

but isn't it amazing

that if we had come in here today

with a lot of beautiful instruments,

with a beautiful rhythm and sound

and all sorts of things,

maybe some of you would have been filled

with a lot of emotion and passion.

Now, there's not necessarily
anything wrong with that,

but here's what I want you to recognize.

We want emotion and we want passion,

and it can come through instruments.

That's fine.

But first of all, I want
you to learn something.

If the emotion and the passion

does not come through
the magnificent truth

that you're hearing,

something's wrong.

Now, I don't want to throw the baby out

with the bathwater,

and I don't want to reject
one in favor of the other,

but I think we need to
mature in this, don't we.

We truly do need to mature.

Now, if any of you need something

of what we call the family catechism,

just raise your hand. Anybody?

Okay, there's one back there.

Could you take that over there for us?

Here's a young man here
who also needs one.

We've been studying a very
important question,

and it is this:

What is the chief end of man?

Okay, listen to me all you
youngsters out there.

What is the reason why you were made?

That's very important.

Why did God make you?

Remember the story I told you?

If you walk up and you see a man

standing out on the sidewalk in the rain

and you ask him,

"Sir, why are you standing
here in the rain?"

And he looks at you and says,

"Well, it's because...
well, I work out here.

I watch the traffic.

I do things for the government."

You'd go, "Okay, well, I
can understand then

why you are standing
out here in the rain."

But if you walk up to
that person and say,

"Sir, why are you
standing in the rain?"

And he says, "I don't know."

You walk away thinking
that man's not very smart.

Well, do you know if you
walk up to most people,

even people who are very driven,

they go to the university,

they work at jobs very hard,

but if you ask them, "why are you alive?"

do you realize that most people would say,

"I really don't know."

Well, why are we alive?

We are alive for the glory of God.

Now, I want to explain just really quickly

what we're talking about.

It's this.

We live for His purposes and for His joy;

for His good pleasure.

We live in a sense -

now this sounds kind
of childish, but that's okay,

we live to make Him happy.

And you know what?

When we do that, we're happy.

Do you know why?

Because He teaches us how to live

in a way that glorifies Him,

but it's also a way that brings

the most pleasure to us.

Now another thing that I want you to see

is how can we develop this attitude

of wanting to live for God?

There's only one way.

That is to know more about Him.

Have you ever seen maybe

a little boy or a little girl

and you thought to yourself,

man, I want to be their friend?

But then you got to know them,

and you thought to yourself,

I don't want to be their friend.

I mean, they're not very nice.

They're very selfish. They're ugly.

They're mean.

And so you walk away from them.

But then there's other little children,

maybe a boy or a girl,

and you walk up to them

and you think I would
really like to know them.

And then you get to know them

and they're wonderful!

And so you say to yourself,

I would like to get to know them more.

I would like to be with them more.

And the more you know about them,

the more you like them,

the more you want to be with them,

the more you want to do things with them.

I know you've experienced this before.

That's the same way.

I know we use all these big words,

but that's the same
thing we're talking about

when we talk about God.

You see, the more you know Him

through His Word;

the more you know Him

through just walking with Him

and seeing what He does,

the more you'll want to be with Him

if He's changed your heart.

If He's changed your heart

and you truly are a Christian,

then the more you hear about Him,

the more you want to be with Him

and the more you want to serve Him.

Now what are the proper ways;

how should we live before God?

Well, first of all, we've already studied

that God deserves our love.

We should love Him.

And love has to do with emotions.

Don't let anybody kid you.

It has to do with just, oh, I love Him!

You get up in the morning and you say,

I love Him.

But you need to understand

that the emotions are not always there.

Sometimes you get up in the morning
and your heart's kind of dull.

But still, you can show your love for Him

by doing what? By keeping
His commandments.

By doing what He says.

Some of you young guys out there,

you boys, you're fighters.

You like to fight.

I know my two boys -
they just love to fight.

Well, why don't you fight?

Fight to love God.

You get up in the morning and you say

you know I really don't
feel like I love God,

but I'm going to fight.

I'm going to get into His Word.

I'm going to study.

I'm going to obey His commandments.

I'm going to fight.

Now, another thing is that
God deserves our respect.

Listen, young children,

you do not treat adults

like you treat each other.

You should respect each other,

but when adults walk into the room,

you do not talk to an adult

like you would talk to
one of your little friends.

You show them respect.

One of the good things that you can do

is when an adult walks in the room

and you're playing with a friend of yours,

you should stop playing
and look at that adult.

And ask them maybe,

how can I help you?

It might even be good to stand up

and say, "Sir, can I help you?"

You want to treat adults

and especially your parents with respect.

But if that's the case,

then how much more should you respect God

and honor God.

Do you see that?

We don't tell jokes here about God.

We don't giggle and laugh about God

in an irreverent way.

When we talk about God,

we have a seriousness - a joy -

but a seriousness, why?

We're talking about the One
Who sent His Son to die for us!

We must show Him respect. We must.

So, we also reverence Him,

but also we worship Him.

You realize what I've
been telling your parents?

He deserves our worship.

We ought to worship Him.

We ought to be worshiping all the time.

And one of the reasons
why you have trouble

worshiping on Sunday morning

is because you don't worship
throughout the week.

You don't need to be with
someone else to worship God.

You just worship Him!

Just worship Him.

Okay, and then also He deserves

our gratitude and our thanksgiving.

Brother Shannon was moved in his heart

because he was thinking about,

my, look at what I deserve!

I don't deserve anything good.

I deserve to go to hell.

I fail all the time.

But look at what God's done for me!

He's died for me.

He sent His Son for me.

Oh my, I must have gratitude.

I must have thanksgiving.

If God didn't give you any other blessing

the rest of your life,
you should still worship Him

because He's given us His Son.

His Son!

Now, it goes on, He deserves our trust.

Our trust.

(incomplete thought)

Elijah, let's say I walk up to you

and I say, "Elijah, if you mow my yard,

I'm going to pay you ten dollars."

And then you go, "Okay."

But then you don't mow my yard.

And I say, "Elijah, why
didn't you mow my yard?

I promised to give you ten dollars."

And you said, "Well, I really
didn't think I could trust you.

I was thinking, well, I'll mow his yard,

but he won't pay me ten dollars."

Do you realize how
offensive that is to me?

He's saying I'm a liar.

He's saying that I'm not trustworthy.

He's saying I won't do what I say.

Do you see? That's offensive.

That hurt me when he said that about me.

He doesn't trust me.

Alright, I want you to
look at faith that way.

God says He will do these things.

He says if you believe in His Son,

He will give you eternal life.

Do you see that? He will!

He said you call upon
the name of the Lord,

He will save you.

The ones who trust in Him
will not be disappointed.

You see, He's got all these promises,

but when you don't believe it,

what you're saying is: God's a liar.

God doesn't tell the truth.

I want to tell you something.

I can stand here as an
older man with Joshua

and so many other people
down through history

and many of the adults here,

and I can testify to you,

not one word God has ever
spoken has ever failed.

He's fulfilled every promise.

How many parents here today

can raise their hand and say

God's Word has never failed me one time?

Keep your hands up.

Just the parents.

Now children, you too, all the adults,

I want you to raise your hands.

Now children, look around.

Look at all these people

who have lived a long,
long, long, long time.

And they say God has
never failed them one time.

Now put your hands down.

Do you see that?

He's never failed, so
we ought to trust Him.

And then, finally, to close this out.

He deserves our obedience.

Jesus talked one time about one son.

His father came up to him and said,

"son, do this."

And he said, "I will do it."

And then he walked away and didn't do it.

But another son, he walked up to him

and said, "son, do this,"

and the son said,
"no, I'm not going to do it."

But then the son was
convicted in his heart.

He realized in his heart he was wrong

and he went ahead and did it.

You can talk, talk, talk, talk, talk.

Listen to me, kids.

You can talk, talk, talk, talk...

The world is full of talkers.

Even in Pilgrim's Progress

which I hope you all will
read with your parents,

there's Talkative.

He just talks and talks and talks

about how obedient he ought to be

and this and that,

but he never obeys.

Don't be that way.

Remember what we read in James?

Don't talk too much.

Just obey His commandments.

Alright. I hope this has
been a blessing to you.

And I pray - I pray

that you will come to believe in Jesus.

And I beg you, children, I beg you,

listen to me.

If you're sitting there
and you're thinking

I don't know if I'm saved,

go to your parents.

And parents if they come to you
and they don't have questions,

come to me.

Come to somebody here.

Alright? Little children, listen to me.

If you want to be saved, you can be saved.

You can.

Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and you'll be saved.

And little children, realize this,

this is the most important thing.

There's nothing more important.

There's nothing more important

than believing in Jesus.

There's not.

Alright, let me pray.

Father, I pray for everyone
who's heard this,

oh God, that by the Spirit of God,

they would be converted;

that their sins would be made known

and they would see everything clearly

as it truly is

and that they would trust in Christ;

that they would seek the Lord

until You let them find You, Lord.

Lord, I praise You that no one
comes to You and is cast out;

that no one truly seeks
You that will not find You.

Oh Father, bless this service.

Bless Your people.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

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