The Sunday school children were sitting in the front rows, waiting to see what Mr. Charles would take out from underneath the table.
“Here’s Billy,” Mr. Charles said. He placed on the table a wooden stand that held a smiling, neatly dressed boy that had been cut out of thin plywood. “Doesn’t Billy look happy?”
The children all agreed that Billy looked clean and neat and happy.
“But can any of you see inside Billy’s heart?” Mr. Charles asked.
“No,” the children all answered together.
“Who can see inside Billy’s heart?” was Mr. Charles’ next question.
“God can,” one of the children answered.
“That’s right. First Samuel 16:7 says, ‘Man [looks] on the outward appearance, but the Lord [looks] on the heart.’ Then Mr. Charles took away the nice-looking Billy and that uncovered another Billy with a sad face and a black heart. “Now suppose Billy was a real boy. What does he need?”
“He would need salvation,” one of the children said.
“What could you tell him that would show him how to get saved?” asked Mr. Charles.
One child suggested, “Tell him John 3:16: ‘For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’” Then a little girl suggested, “Maybe we could teach him that song, ‘What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.’” Another one suggested, “You could tell him that God sent His Son to die for our sins on the cross.”
“That’s right,” said Mr. Charles. Someone has to pay for every sin that’s ever been committed, and only a person who has never committed any sins would be able to pay for the sins of others. That’s why God had to send His own perfect, sinless Son from heaven to die for us, and if we trust Him to pay for our sins, we will never have to pay for them ourselves.
The children nodded their heads in agreement and looked very serious.
“Where is the Lord Jesus now?” asked Mr. Charles.
“He’s in heaven,” all the children answered.
“What’s He doing there?”
“He’s watching us,” said one. “Praying for us,” said another. “Loving us,” said a third.
“Yes,” said Mr. Charles. “You’ve given Billy lots of helpful things to think about. Now, what if Billy were a real boy, and he took the things you’ve told him seriously and asked the Lord Jesus to save him. What would happen?”
“He’d be saved!” all the children answered.
“Yes, he would,” said Mr. Charles. And he took away the sad, sinful Billy with the black heart, and that uncovered a happy Billy with a white heart.
“Let’s read another Bible verse: ‘I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ [lives] in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me’ (Galatians 2:20). You see, now that Billy is saved, he has his old sinful nature and also his new Christ-like nature. Both are inside him. Do you think those two natures get along well together?”
The children agreed that they would not get along well.
“All of us who are saved have these same two natures inside us. What if Billy said a bad word or hit his sister or disobeyed his dad or mom? Is he still saved?”
Most of the children thought he would still be saved, but some weren’t sure. But they all agreed it was wrong for Billy to do those things.
“What are we going to do about this situation? The two natures can’t get along together, because the old sinful nature cannot do anything that is pleasing to God, and the new Christ-like nature only does what is pleasing to God.”
The children shook their heads sadly. They didn’t know what to do.
Then Mr. Charles took a cross out from under the table and fastened the old sinful Billy onto it. “Remember that Galatians 2:20 says, ‘I am crucified with Christ’? That’s the old sinful ‘me.’ Then the verse goes on to say, ‘Nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ [lives] in me.’ Those of us who are saved have Christ in our hearts, and we can never be lost again. God reassures us many, many times in His Word that if we believe in Him, we have everlasting life. That is life that lasts forever. Nothing can ever take it away from us. But we need to ask God for grace and power to keep that old, sinful ‘me’ on the cross—crucified—so that the rest of that verse will be true of us—‘The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.’ Then we will be happy Christians, living to please our heavenly Father and not living to please that old, sinful ‘me.’”
MEMORY VERSE: “Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7
ML-03/30/2008