This article is based on Pastor Adrian Rogers' message, The Conquest.
Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6).
The devil does not want you to obey this.
God gave fathers to the home to provide leadership, character, and strength. The word “train” in Proverbs 22:6 is the same Hebrew word used for “dedicate.” Fathers, have you dedicated your children to the Lord?
Easter offers an excellent opportunity to answer questions and teach your children what Easter represents, and what redemption means.
Use the material below to have discussions with your children.
God made you, and He has a plan and a purpose for your life.
Even if people have never been to a church, they can know that God exists—and that He created the world.
“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:20).
Look at the things around you. Find a toy, or piece of furniture. You know that somewhere, sometime, someone made that thing. In the same way, we can look at the created world and know that God created it all.
God is King over all that He created. God is perfect, and holy, and He created the world to be perfect, too. (Read Genesis 1-2.)
But something is wrong with the world. It is called sin.
Sin is disobeying God. Sin is when we do not do the things God has told us to do, and when we do the things God has told us not to do.
The first man and woman, Adam and Eve, disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden. (Read Genesis 3.) At that moment, sin infected the whole world. Adam and Eve became sinners, and all their children ever since are born in sin.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God… (Romans 3:23).
That means you are a sinner, too.
God is holy, and sinful things cannot come near Him. Because we are sinners, we are separated from God our Maker.
God is perfectly just. All sins—even “little” sins—deserve His anger and punishment. If God ever overlooked sin, He would no longer be holy.
When Adam and Eve sinned, they introduced death into the world. Now, we are separated from God forever—unless we are saved from our sin. We need to be redeemed.
We cannot save ourselves. What is our hope, then? Who can bring us back to God?
For us to be redeemed, something has to die.
Without shedding of blood there is no remission (Hebrews 9:22; emphasis added).
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23).
Jesus is God’s only Son. Jesus reveals God the Father to us and takes first place above all Creation. Jesus reveals God because He is God. Jesus was with God in the very beginning, when God created the world.
How was Jesus Christ able to save us from sin?
Because He is the Son of holy God, and not a son of Adam, Jesus is sinless. So, He was able to die instead of us, and pay the price for all the sins of His people.
There are other false religions that follow the teaching of people with other names, but Jesus is the only One with the power to save us and take us to Heaven.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).
Remember: the wages of sin is death. In God’s love for us, He sent His Son Jesus to be our redeemer. Jesus chose to die for us.
Jesus died on the cross 2,000 years ago, on what we call Good Friday—the Friday before Easter.
And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” …. And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit.’” Having said this, He breathed His last (Luke 23:33-34a,46).
When Jesus’ sinless blood was shed, it paid the price for sin. (See 1 John 1:7.)
After Jesus was dead, His friends and disciples buried His body in a tomb and sealed it.
But that was not the end.
Three days after Jesus died, some of His friends went to visit His tomb—but it was open, and empty. They were amazed!
Two angels appeared and explained what had happened.
Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again’” (Luke 24:5-7).
Not only did Jesus die to pay for our sins with His blood, but Jesus rose from the dead! Because Jesus lives again, God’s people are freed from death, too. Jesus lives forever, and His people will have eternal life with Him.
Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4).
This is why we celebrate Easter Sunday—the day when Christ rose from the dead to reign as King of all Creation forevermore. Easter baskets and Easter eggs are pretty, but Easter is about Jesus.
First, you have to confess that you are a sinner. You are separated from God, and you justly deserve His anger and punishment for your sin. And you have no hope at all of saving yourself. Your only hope is Jesus and His perfect blood.
Second, tell Jesus that you are sorry for your sin and you want to obey Him from now on. This is called repenting—leaving the old way, and walking in a new path. Jesus can forgive any sin!
…If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9).
First, celebrate! You have new life in Jesus, and the promise of a forever home in Heaven, eternal life in the presence of God.
Second, tell others! The story of how Jesus saves us is called the Gospel, a word that means “good news.” So tell the good news!
(Jesus) said to Him, “Go home to your friends and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you” (Mark 5:19b).
Third, grow! Spend time with Jesus every day. You do this by praying, reading your bible, learning Bible stories in Sunday school, and worshiping with your fellow Christians in church.
You will not be perfect, but Jesus will make you more like Himself every day.
Proverbs 22:6; Romans 1:20, 3:23, 6:4,23, 10:9; Genesis 1-3; John 14:6; 1 John 1:7; Luke 24:5-7; Mark 5:19
Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:37-39).
Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life….For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him (Romans 6:4,7-9).
For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:13-14)
