Children's Catechism - What is the Chief End of Man? - Paul Washer

We're going to begin our children's sermon

which several adults have told me

that it's been very helpful to them.

And what we're talking about, children,

in the little handout that I've made

and was given out -

I probably need to give
it out next week again -

is we're talking about the glory of God.

Everything that we do,

we are to do for the glory of God.

Now, we began with a question.

What is the chief end of man?

That means, why were you made?

The 1689 London Confession

and the Westminster Confession say this:

You were made for the glory of God,

to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.

Now what we're studying right now

is how do you glorify God?

And one of the things that we mentioned

that's so very important is this:

You must recognize the worth of God.

You must recognize His worth.

That is why as we go on,

we're going to teach you, children,

about the attributes of God.

Do you know most adults that go to church

and have gone to church all their life

could not sit down and write out

a list of what are the attributes

or the characteristics of God?

But we don't want you to be that way.

Because the beginning of all knowledge,

the greatest of all knowledge

is knowledge of God.

And if you understand how worthy He is,

how valuable He is,

then we won't have to psych you up.

We won't have to send you off

to some conference to get all psyched up

for about a week or two,

and then come back and die.

If you know how wonderful He is,

then you'll want to serve Him

if He has worked in your heart.

Now, last week,

we studied a few things

that I want to look at.

First of all,

we discovered how valuable God is.

That if you took everything
that's in the world

and you put it on one side of the scale,

and you put God on the
other side of the scale,

God would outweigh them all.

He is worth more

than all the universe combined.

But not only did we learn that,

we also mentioned that God was beautiful.

That He was more beautiful

than all the things He has made combined.

Now I want you to listen to a verse.

It's in Psalm 27:4 and it says this,

"One thing I have asked of the Lord,

that I shall seek, that I may dwell

in the house of the Lord

all the days of my life..." Why?

"...To behold the beauty of the Lord

and to meditate in His temple."

And then in Psalm 96:6 it says this,

"Splendor and majesty are before Him;

strength and beauty are in His sanctuary."

Have you ever seen something so beautiful

that you just went (gasp)?

It took your breath away.

It was so beautiful.

A sunset.

A beautiful scenery in the wilderness.

Maybe the trees turning
their different colors

or a magnificent sunset.

You just literally thought it was
going to take your breath away.

Well, let me share with you something.

Now children, listen to this.

God is so beautiful

that if He right now showed you

just a glimpse of His beauty,

that beauty would be so great

that your mind would not
be able to comprehend it.

It would, in a sense, drive you crazy.

It would be so magnificent, so big,

so beautiful that it would almost

explode your mind

and definitely explode your heart.

That is why in order to be in Heaven

and to catch a glimpse of God there,

you must be supernaturally strengthened.

You see, we're not serving God

because we want to be religious

or we like a bunch of rules.

That's not why we serve God.

We serve God because
He's absolutely beautiful!

Now adults, it might
be a little bit difficult

to explain this to your children,

but here's something that you
might want to think about.

God is so beautiful

that it is an act of condescension;

it is an act of humility
on the part of God

to turn His eyes off of Himself

to look at any other thing.

He has to humble Himself.

And it's one of the reasons,

we can also get into this,

that throughout all eternity,

God has beheld His own beauty

in great joy

by looking into the face of His Son

Who is the perfect reflection

of the beauty of God.

You see, it's marvelous!

It's exciting! It's wonderful to know Him!

I don't get up in the morning

and read five chapters just because

I want to say I was able
to read five chapters

or ten chapters.

I get up every morning in the same way

that a miner gets up and
goes down into the mine

looking for gold;

looking for precious jewels.

So God is beautiful.

Now, I want to say one
more thing about God

before we go on.

Remember, we said that God was worth more

than all the universe.

We also said that God was more beautiful

than all the universe.

But now, I want you to also
understand something.

And children, this is very important.

Parents, this is why

before your child leaves the home,

they should go through Proverbs with you

at least 20 or 30 times.

God is the smartest.

He is the most intelligent.

We've got students here
today from Virginia Tech,

and I asked each one of them,

what do you do?

And they're all just brainiacs.

They're all engineers
and things like that you know.

All the things I shied
away from in college.

But as smart as they
are, they're not smart,

compared to God.

Because the greatest wisdom in this world

is dumb compared to God.

Now, let me just say this.

I've written something here

in your little study.

Imagine all the most intelligent men

that ever lived

were sitting in a room

and talking about their great ideas.

It would be amazing to hear

all the great things they knew,

but compared to God,

they know nothing.

Now, let me share with you something.

A lot of young people think they know

all the answers.

Let me tell you something,

you don't even know
what the questions are.

Okay?

I desperately need God's wisdom.

And I'm a lot older than you are.

I study the book of Proverbs every day

with my children,

not simply for them, but for me.

If I do what I think is right

in my own eyes,

I'm dead.

And literally, I'm not kidding. I'm dead.

It leads to death.

To do what is right in your own eyes.

You must do what is right

according to God's Word.

Let me just read something to you.

In Romans 11:33-34, it says this,

"Oh, the depth of the riches

both of the wisdom and knowledge of God.

How unsearchable are His judgments

and unfathomable His ways.

For who has known the mind of the Lord

or who has become His counselor?"

Now, you say, okay, Brother Paul,

I want to listen to God.

Well, let me ask you a question.

Do you listen to your parents?

Are you someone who listens quietly

to obey your parents?

Or are you someone that's always

every time your dad speaks, you go,

"yes, but..."?

Like you've got a better idea?

You ought to listen to your parents.

And parents, if you speak

out of your own authority,

you're wrong.

If you're going to claim
parental authority,

then you better know the Scriptures

so that when you do command

and give guidance to your children,

it is not your human wisdom

or something just handed down to you,

but it's the wisdom of Scripture.

The wisdom of Scripture.

And so what do we know about God?

He is beautiful.

What else do we know?

He's very smart.

Let me share with you just one thing

about how smart He is.

When we say that God knows everything,

we mean that He knows everything.

We use the word "infinite."

His knowledge has no end.

His knowledge is infinite.

It's exhaustive.

And it's without effort.

Now what do I mean?

God doesn't have to think

and try to figure out what's going on.

He doesn't have to research a topic.

He just knows it.

It's instantaneous and without effort.

That's amazing.

He knows all things infinitely

and without effort.

When it talks about the books

on the day of judgment

and them being opened up,

it's speaking metaphorically.

He needs no book.

He doesn't even need to remember

or think.

He knows.

He knows.

His knowledge was not gained.

It simply was, is, and always will be.

Now that's a great God.

And that's the God that we follow,

the God we love,

and the God we fear.

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