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Houston's First Baptist Church is a relevant biblical community where we gather our hearts, grow our souls and give our lives as we seek to fulfill the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20). This podcast provides weekly messages from Pastor Gregg Matte and others. Visit us at HoustonsFirst.org to learn more about HFBC, and visit us in person the next time you're in Houston!
I want all of you here in the auditorium this evening and those of you that listen by radio to open your Bibles to chapter 18 of the book of Matthew. Here in this very first book of the New Testament, we find a wonderful story of children being saved. There are a lot of people who don't believe that children can come to Christ. There's a lot of controversy. Many denominations say that a child should automatically become a Christian at six or eight, or they join the church or go to confession or can partake of the Lord's Supper and to have the catechism at 11 or 12 or this or that. Because Jesus Christ went into the synagogue at about age 12, there are those who believe that our Lord Jesus would have us to become Christians at age 12. But whatever the age, we're agreed on one thing. Men do have to become Christians for themselves. We're not just automatically children of God. We have to be born into the kingdom of God. And there are many wonderful attributes about conversion that children have that make it easy for them to be saved as youngsters, which if you wait until you're older, an adult, it'll be very difficult for you to make a decision for Christ. And so tonight I want us to open the Bible and see what the Word of God has to say about children being saved. In Matthew chapter 18, we'll begin reading in verse 1. You follow along here in the auditorium at First Baptist and there by your radio as we see what God has to say on the subject of children giving their hearts and lives to Christ. Now let's stop right there. Isn't that just like adults? Isn't that the way we act? Lord, which one of us is the greatest? Which one of us is the most important? Which one of us is the biggest shot? You know, we adults are so concerned about our public image and what people think of us. I wonder what God must think of us. I wonder what Christ must have thought of these disciples when they said, Lord, which one of us is the greatest? Surely our Lord thought that these adults had never yet discovered the meaning of what it really means to be a Christian. Becoming a Christian isn't a matter of your greatness and importance. Being a Christian is receiving Christ personally as a child in childlike faith. So Jesus begins to demonstrate His answer. In the second verse, He called a little child unto them and set Him in the midst and said, I want you disciples to know that unless ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. It seems that Jesus Christ was saying to these disciples that I have some serious doubts about your conversion. For a man who doesn't understand the simplicity of the gospel, one who does not understand and comprehend that you become a Christian by simple faith in Christ. This person may have some serious doubts raised as to whether they themselves know our Lord. Jesus says, Unless you yourselves be converted and become as these little children are, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And He adds, If anyone will receive a little child in My name, he receives Me. Now listen. Jesus adds in the sixth verse, Whosoever shall offend one of these little ones, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged around his neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Now this is Jesus Christ talking. This same Jesus of whom we sing, Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Gentle Jesus, meek and mild. Gentle Jesus, lowly child. Is that Jesus talking in such rough language? Is that Jesus questioning the conversion of His own followers? Is that Jesus saying, You're better off dead than that you would get in the way of a child? It certainly is. Listen again. Woe, I say unto you that it were better for you to have a millstone around your neck and be drowned in the depth of the sea than that you would offend one of these little ones which believes in Me. Oh, woe to you who suggest that children do not know how to be saved. Jesus says you're better off dead than to offend a little child. What does it mean to offend? The word offend in this context merely means to impede the forward progress. In other words, here's a child that's coming to Christ. A mother or a dad says they're too young. They can't be saved. Don't let them give their hearts to Christ. They get in the way. They ridicule. They make fun. They will not let their children be saved. Ah, they don't know what they're doing, says the adult. The Bible says, woe unto you. Better off dead you are than to get in the way of a child who wants to become a Christian. Believe me, in this generation, we find that the devil is doing everything he can to keep children from being saved. I urge you with all my heart that you won't be a tool in the hands of Satan, a pawn of the devil, to keep children from coming to Christ. Believe me, he's doing everything he can at a younger and younger age every year to destroy the lives of children. Sex and dope and immorality are the order of the day. And some of you listening to my voice tonight need to get your head out of the sand and get out and walk the streets of Houston and go to the dens and go to the pot joints and go to the hippie pads and you'll find 14 and 15 and 16 -year -old kids away from God as far as they can be. You're not going to win many of them to Christ if you wait that long. Jesus said, let them come now. Let them come to Christ today, now as children, while they're young, today is the day of salvation. I repeat the words of our Lord when he said, you are better off with a millstone hanged around your neck and that you are cast in the depth of the sea and drowned rather than that you would get in the way of a child who wants to come to Christ. Now you say, preacher, I don't do that. I don't laugh at my kids. I don't forbid them to go to Sunday school. I don't forbid them to believe in God. Neighbor, let me ask you a question tonight. Do you take them to Sunday school? Do you encourage them to believe in God? Do you encourage them to come to Christ? Do you say the prayers at the meals? Do you have a family altar? Are you living for God before these children? If not, you are an offense to them too. You're getting in their way too. Jesus said, he that is not with me is against me. Unless you are living a positive Christian life in front of your children, urging and encouraging them to come to Christ, the Bible says you are an offense to them. Mother and dad, God has entrusted with you the responsibility of raising that boy or girl for Jesus Christ. And unless you're using everything at your command and all of the powers and abilities and opportunities at your disposal to win them to Christ, you are offending that child. Now he goes on and says, How think ye, if a man hath a hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seek that which is gone astray? And the twelfth verse follows with the thirteenth and says, And if it so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more over that sheep than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. You see, Jesus Christ is trying to illustrate in the beautiful parable of the ninety and nine and the one lost sheep that the one lost sheep was a child. The ninety and nine are safe. The adults have come to Christ. He says you are better off, if need be, to turn your attention from those that are saved than go after that one little child that yet is not a Christian. Now you say, preacher, where do you get that? Listen, take the parable in context, and the fourteenth verse will say, Even so, in this very same way. What same way? The same way as the parable of the lost sheep is illustrated. In that same way, it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. You see, the one lost sheep is a story of a child. The ninety and nine speak of the adults. It is better to build boys than to mend men. Oh, how many churches I have been in where I have seen adults saved. And this morning in First Baptist Church, we had five adult people accept Christ as their Savior. Four men and a grown woman. All came down the aisle receiving Christ. Four of them will be baptized in the fellowship of First Baptist here today. But ladies and gentlemen, as wonderful as it is, and as much as people rejoice when adults are saved, Jesus says, Don't overlook the children. Many of you listening to my voice by radio and sitting here in the auditorium of First Baptist Church Houston tonight, many of you have wasted your opportunities to influence and win your children to Jesus Christ. Jesus says, Let the children come to me. Many a sad, remorseful parent would relive their life, confess their sins in front of their children, be right with God, say I failed, and make a better effort at raising their children for Christ and the church if they had a second opportunity. But sunrise, sunset, sunrise, sunset, day after day, the hours are slipping to buy, the days are wasting away, opportunity slips into limbo, boys and girls slip into eternity without God, the weeks slip into months, the months into years, the years into a lifetime, and opportunities have come and gone, and boys and girls have been lost, they become teenagers and men and women, and lived and died without God. Jesus Christ says, let the children come to me. And he adds, if you as an adult are going to come to Christ, you're going to have to come as a little child. I wonder sometimes why it is that we brag so much when children are, when adults are converted, and we ridicule when children are converted. I wonder if it isn't the pride of the preacher or the personal worker. I fear that we don't believe in children being saved many times because there's not as much for us to brag about. Oh, I know it appeals to our ego to say, well, we didn't catch many, but the ones we caught, the fish we caught were the big ones. My brother, I want you to know tonight that Jesus Christ says, let the children come unto me. There's no place for pride in the life of the soul winner. The average age of the conversion of most all Christians in all of this world is 10 to 12 years of age. They tell us that Baker James Cawthon, the executive secretary of the foreign mission board of the Southern Baptist Convention, perhaps America's greatest soul winning group, tells us that about eight years of age is the average age of the conversion of all of our missionaries. His own conversion, Baker James Cawthon. Cawthon was at six years of age. Is it any wonder that Jesus said, suffer the little children to come unto me? Shortly before his death, condemned slayer, red light slayer, Carol Chessman said, there was a time in my life between the ages of 10 and 14 when I was a bewildered, confused boy. Someone could have reached me with a gospel, but nobody tried, and I'm dying without God. Psychologists tell us that what we are by age five, we will become. I believe in childhood conversion for many reasons. Tonight, I want to list them briefly for you. Number one, Jesus said so. That should be sufficient. Remember, when you meet a fact in the road, don't argue with it. Just take off your hat and say, howdy, brother. A fact is a fact. And Jesus said, let the children come to me. Number two, I believe in children being saved when they're young because history proves that most people who are saved accept Christ in their childhood years. Number three, I believe in children being saved when they're young because God blesses the church that blesses children. In 13 years, I was in the evangelistic field, and in nearly every revival, I saw numbers of boys and girls come to Christ. Many times, I would see parents condemn and ridicule, and it seemed that the Spirit of God was grieved, and a revival would just dry up, and the Spirit would leave, and little more would happen. But ladies and gentlemen, I've seen hundreds of boys and girls come to Christ, and mothers and dads and adults and parents rejoice, and the Spirit of God was happy, and people came to Christ by the scores. You can put it down. God blesses the church that blesses boys and girls. Children, it seems, are near to the heart of God. Number four, I believe in children being saved because I believe they do know what they're doing. It is most unfortunate that many uninformed adults are critical of children being converted. Who says that children don't know what they're doing? Is it the preacher? Is it the person who makes a life study of it? Who's given their life through understanding? Who knows what they're doing? Not at all. In most cases, it's adults who don't go to church. It's parents who themselves are not spiritually discerned. Brother, I wouldn't want a plumber operating on me, and I wouldn't want a watchmaker taking apart the transmission on my car. I want people dealing with me who know what they're doing, who are specialists in their particular area. And mother and dad, if you're not a born -again, spirit -filled Christian, you have no business dealing in spiritual matters, trying to determine whether your children know how to be saved or not. You need to leave that in the hands of the preacher who has given his life to knowing. And believe me, most evangelical preachers of the Word of God will agree with our Lord Jesus Christ that childhood is the time to be saved. Then, I believe in children being saved when they're young, fifthly, because when you get older, sin increases and sin keeps you from Christ. The older you are, the more you love sin. The Bible says there is pleasure in sin. Don't deny that. But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth. Sure, there's fun in sin. Of course, there's excitement in sin. Yes, there's a bang in iniquity. But ladies and gentlemen, it's temporary. It doesn't last. It's artificial. Why are the beer joints and dives, the gambling joints, the dirty movies and the hippie pads filled? Because there's pleasure in sin. But the Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death. Ultimately, it's separation from God. By the time these young people are 13 and 14 and 15, the devil is making sin appealing to them. He's making such a pitch for their young lives that if you haven't already won their allegiance to Christ by the time they're teenagers, I guarantee that many of you are not going to have the opportunity of seeing your boys and girls accept Christ as their Savior. Sixthly, I believe in children being saved when they're young because when they get older, pride increases. And pride keeps you from Christ. Believe me, it really does. I dare say that the five -year -old son of the garbage collector of this city would think nothing of playing with the five -year -old son of the richest man. But I doubt seriously that the rich people and the poor people go to the same churches, belong to the same clubs, live in the same neighborhoods, and enjoy the same social strata. When we become adults, we develop our own social groups. When we become adults, we look down our noses at other people. Well, I just wouldn't go to that church as long as she's in it. I wouldn't sing in that choir as long as he's in it. But boys and girls don't hold grudges. They don't have that kind of pride. They have no prejudice. A child doesn't know the difference in black and white. Thank God that boys and girls do not have the kind of love for self and self -esteem and pride that keeps children, that keeps adults from Christ. I urge you with all of my heart as a youngster before your pride increases to open your heart and life and let Christ come in. Then I believe in children being saved when they're young, eighthly, because children have no preconceived ideas as to what to do to be saved. You don't have to argue with them. You don't have to change their minds. I've never heard a child say I haven't got the feeling yet. I've never heard a 10 -year -old argue about so -called hypocrites in the church or contradictions. I've never heard an 11 -year -old boy say there's too much to give up or a nine -year -old say I wouldn't know which church to join. Oh, no. All of those excuses that damn the souls of men and keep people from Christ are conceived by adults. Children have no preconceived ideas. To them, when Christ is preached, it is easy for them to receive Christ. I urge you mothers and dads to realize that until you get rid of your excuses and all of your ideas and all of your preconceived notions about salvation and accept Christ in simplicity and in direct faith, you'll never become a Christian. I spend many hours a week in personal soul winning. Most of the time, I spend my efforts in answering a lot of silly excuses. I haven't got the feeling too much to give up. I can't hold out and all of this. But thank God boys and girls don't have those silly excuses. For many of you, it may never be possible for you to come to Christ staggering through a maze of doubts and excuses and problems. And I urge you tonight, before you get one minute older, before you get one degree harder, before you believe one more excuse or commit one more sin to turn to Christ today. It will never ever be easier for you than it is right now to give your life to Christ. Ninth, I believe in childhood conversion because they have their whole life to give to Christ. Time forbids me to tell of the great men, the C. Oscar Johnsons, the Hudson Taylors, the J .D. Grays, the Criswells, and Truets, the great preachers of the Word of God, great men of this world who gave their life to Christ at a young age. Only one life will soon be passed, and only what's done for Christ will last. Recently, I finished a tour of evangelistic campaigns in South America, sponsored by the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. There were 13 of us down there on the team. All of them were converted from five and a half to eight years of age, except myself. Ladies and gentlemen, these boys and girls can be saved, and in a great majority of cases, they must be saved as children, or they will never come to Christ. I urge you as boys and girls listening to this broadcast, and seated here in the auditorium at First Baptist Church, Houston tonight, to open your heart and let Christ come in. Mother and Dad, if you've grown cold and away from God, today is the day of salvation. You'll never come to Christ until you, in simplicity and in faith, come as a little child. Many years ago, in Coal Rain, Ireland, I was reading through an old Scotty songbook and found a poem recorded in the back. It says what I've been trying to say so beautifully. I want to read it again for you tonight. Said a precious little laddie to his father dear one day, May I give my heart to Jesus and let him wash my sins away? Oh, my son, but you're too little. Wait until you old or grow. Bigger folk, tis true, need Jesus, but the little ones are safe, you know. Said the father to his laddie, as the storm was coming on. Are the sheep all in the shelter, safely harbored from the storm, my son? Well, all the big ones are, my father, but the lambs, I let them go, for I didn't think it mattered. Little ones are safe, you know. Oh, my brother, oh, my sister, have you too made that mistake? Little hearts that now are yielding may be hardened then too late. Ere the evil days come nigh them, let the children come to me. And forbid them not, said Jesus, for of such shall my kingdom be. Shall we pray? Our father, we pray that hearts listening, hearts worshiping, all across this city shall open their hearts as children in faith and give their hearts to Jesus Christ, for we pray in his name. Amen.