If you were counseling the youth of America who might be viewing this program, what would you say to them? Think about that a moment, and hear what I am saying to them. OK?
Say, my friend, it is good to have you with us for our Bible study program In Search of the Lord's Way to become and to be a Christian. If you are new to the program you need to know that we are closed captioned. If you have someone in your household who has a hearing problem, you might want to run and tell him, so that he can be with us, too. Thank you for doing that.
A few weeks ago we did a program especially for the youth of America. The youth response was excellent! One letter from an 18-year-old was especially good. I will read a part of it. Of course, I will not give you her name or the state in which she lives. I will tell you though that she lives in one of the New England states. Along with her very encouraging words, she also gave me a gentle-- and well deserved rebuke in a very nice way. Here is that part of her letter.
"I am almost eighteen years old. I became a Christian when I was twelve, but I have been raised in the church of Christ. I have been a member, I have been home schooled for about ten years, and am a few months away from my high school graduation. I'm a member of a congregation that meets in the home, and this past Sunday we watched your program titled, "How Shall the Young Secure Their Hearts" for our sermon. I wanted to first of all thank you for taking the time to direct one of your programs to my generation. We need that very much. And while I enjoyed the program, I couldn't help but feel that it wasn't complete. You mentioned all the sin and lust my generation is facing and you also mentioned how anti-God our public schools are in America, but you didn't offer any alternative options to trying to be a Christian in those environments."
So, today I am going to try to be helpful in that way. If you think you might want a printed copy of the message, or a CD or an audio cassette tape, please mail your request to In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083. Or by e-mail searchtv@aol.com. If you prefer to call our toll-free telephone number, it is 1-800-321-8633. They are all free. We are not here as a business enterprise for money. We are here as a ministry of churches of Christ in the area of this television or radio station. So, let us hear from you. Or, you may have access to our message on our website, searchtv.org. It is there in print and streamed audio and video. Now Ken Helterbrand is going to lead us as we sing.
We will begin our reading today in I Timothy chapter 4 at verse 12. This is Paul, the apostles’ first letter to Timothy, his younger, cooperative brother. “Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.” And I have read through verse 16. Now let us go to God in prayer. Holy Father, we are so thankful to You for the youth of America and especially those who are striving to live their lives to your glory and to your honor. And we pray our sincerest blessings upon those people, those young people who are striving so. We realize the difficulties that they are having, at least some of them, and we know that regardless of any age we all suffer from temptations and the problems of struggle in this life. We pray your blessings upon all of us. And bless our meditation today; may all of us be edified by it. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Biologically young or old, we all come into the family of God as babies by having been born-again. God mentions that in I Peter chapter 2, verses 1 and 2. He says, "...laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby." However, no one wants to always be spiritually infantile any more than he wants to be physically so. Some of Satan's fiery darts attacks every Christian, regardless of his or her biological or spiritual age. However, Satan is very cunning and he knows that some things are more effective in leading the youthful Christians astray, while seniors are more easily deceived by some other means. Most of what we are saying today can be helpful to anyone seriously trying to follow Christ in the world's evil environments. And since my time is very limited, I am going to group my thoughts into four headings.
The first of which, is this: "Talk to God every day." Know the importance of prayer and make it a part of your life from the time you become a Christian to the very end. One of the first lessons a new child of God must learn is his dependency on God. None of us can resist the strong down-draft of evil in the world without the presence and the help of God. Private prayer, in the closet with the closed door, as Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6, verse 6 in the King James Version, is the most practical personal expression possible of a person's faith in the existence and the presence of God Almighty. In that closet or in that "room" (as the New King James has it) with only God to hear and know, we just have to be absolutely honest and totally without a pretense. A lot of people, especially the less mature, think of prayer as "asking God for something." But, I have found-- and preached and taught for years that the child of God, to the child of God "prayer is a purifier also-- not only in the forgiveness of past and current sins, but in the prevention of yielding to temptation even in the future.” Young people, there is absolutely no sin in temptation. It is yielding to it that is sinful. Jesus was tempted (Matthew 4, verses 1 to 11), but Jesus was without sin (Hebrews chapter 4, verse 15). The person who enters his room, closes the door so that absolutely no one is hearing but God, and he prays as Jesus taught us to pray in Matthew 6:9 to 13, that God will "deliver us from evil," is much less likely to yield to temptation to do evil. Now don't you agree with that? He will either stop praying or he will stop the sinning.
Prayer is also a commitment. I became a Christian at age twelve. (I was almost thirteen.) I have never regretted becoming a Christian at an early age and living my life for Him. Oh, I don't mean to imply, and I am not saying that I never stumbled. Of course I did. Yes! I was tempted and tried like all the other youth of that day. No, we didn't have 21st Century Hollywood and the internet and television to entertain us. We didn't have the drugs that are said to be ready temptations for today's youth. And we didn't have a lot of the other evils that I mentioned in the other program-- that are so readily available now. We may have had the same temptations that youth have today; they were just clothed differently. But what I never forgot in all those youthful temptations and trials, that helped me carry through, was my faith in a righteous God (Psalms 7 and 9), and my commitment to Him which I renewed in every prayer. I never forgot I was a child of God. And the passage we are using for our text today was-- oh! what an encouragement to me, and it is worth repeating. I learned it from the old King James Version. Remember it says, "Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation (meaning conduct), in charity (or love), in spirit, in faith, in purity. Until I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine, Neglect not the gift that is in thee..."
Remember this, my friend: "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil-- and the good" (Proverbs 15:3). And remember this, too, "The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil" (I Peter 3:12). So, I would say to the youth who would like to live for Christ, first, stay on speaking terms with God.
Secondly: Well, while I do know which came first the chicken or the egg (because the Bible tells me), I don't know whether this really comes second or perhaps it should be first, in our relationship with God: Let God say something to you every day. That is in our text, you know. "Read your Bible every day." You simply cannot know what the will of Christ is-- so as to do it, if you don't read your Bible and know what it says.
For example: While I was preparing this message, the United States Senate was debating the issue of "same sex marriage." It came to a vote. It was a simple "up or down vote"-- on "right" or "wrong." Well, they failed the test. Intelligent men they are-- all of them (assumed to be from among the very best leadership of our society and what we can produce in our modern day), but the majority voted against God's inspired authoritative teaching. "What does God say about "gay marriage"? My young friend, you won't get that from the United States Senate. Nor, will you get it from the opinion polls or a psychology textbook when you attend college. The only way we can know what the Lord's way is on this matter or any other-- so that we can follow Him-- is by reading and studying the Bible, which is His word. Oh yes, I heard it done once, but to my knowledge-- at least it wasn't widely reported, if it had happened this time that the word of God was read in the Senate debate. God originated marriage. And His word defines it as being between a man and a woman-- they being two, become one flesh for life. And you can read it yourself in Genesis chapters one and two and Ephesians 5:22 to 33 and other places. Don't take my word or anybody else's for it. Read it in the Bible for yourself-- as you should and must do to know the truth about anything.
"Be diligent (King James Version says "study") to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15). I don't want to sound unkind, but I must say this: the fellow who says, "My faith isn't in a book, it is in a person, Jesus Christ" probably thinks he is spirituality astute or sagacious or smart. But he really isn't! He can't have a faith in the person of Jesus Christ apart from what the Book says about Him. Toward the end of the gospel of John, John wrote this: "And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name" (John 20, verses 30 and 31). The things that are written in the Scriptures are written so you and I can believe in Jesus Christ.
The third thing I would say to the youth-- or to anyone else for that matter-- who is trying to live for Christ in this modern age is be fully committed to Jesus Christ, and be prepared for opposition from the devil and all his helpers. The devil isn't going to lie down and play dead when he sees you coming, and when he sees you become a Christian. When you decided to follow Jesus, and were baptized into Him, the devil rallied his forces. I know, I know, Jesus is called "the Prince of Peace" in Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6. And He is that alright-- the peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4 and 7)! He once said to His apostles, "These things have I spoken unto you, that in Me you may have peace..." (John 16:33). But the fellow, who is thinking the way of Christ is the easy pathway of peace in this world, and he gives that verse as a proof-text, just hasn't read the rest of the verse. Our Lord went on to say, "In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." He also said, "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth, I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's enemies will be those of his own household" (Matthew 10:34 through 36). Yes, well, it is as one of our own poets (Longfellow) once said almost 200 years ago, "Life is real, life is earnest; And the grave is not its goal. Dust thou art, to dust returneth was not spoken of the soul." When you stand up for Jesus and for the truth of His way, you can expect to suffer bitter recrimination-- sometimes from the people you least expect it. It could be from loved ones-- people you love the most! But stand up, and stand with Jesus Christ! And stand up, and stand for Jesus Christ and His way. In spite of what comes, the Lord's way is the best way to live this life that the world has ever known.
That brings me to number four: The Lord's way is the right way. Oh, I know the politically correct thing is that there are no absolute "rights" and "wrongs." That was beginning to be taught back in the pre-historic days when I was in college. Yes, and in spite of what you may have been taught; there is such a thing as "truth," absolute truth, truth with a capital "T." And Jesus is the very embodiment of that truth, my young friend. He said, "I am...the truth...no man comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6). As Sir Winston Churchill said, "Never, never, never, never, never, never give up on that! But, truth is not just "whatever a person believes it to be." Four times the Scriptures are referred to as "the word of truth," as in 2 Timothy 2:15, which we mentioned earlier. My admonition to you, regardless of your age, is found in Philippians 4:1: "Therefore, my beloved brethren and longed-for-brethren, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, beloved."
The Bible is always right about anything that it speaks about. And, what is said to the contrary is just plain wrong, my friend. Now, it doesn't always say what people say it says, so we must study it for ourselves. Somebody wrote us recently that the most difficult passage in all the Bible for him to understand is Acts 2:38. Peter had preached the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. And he had charged the crowd with having crucified Christ-- but God had raised Him up, he said. Oh, they were cut to the heart with that thought and they asked, "What shall we do?" And here is that verse, "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." Now tell me, what is there about that verse that is so hard to understand? To be real honest about it, this gentleman was not finding it hard to understand, but to accept. Now, I didn't tell you about him to ridicule him. Oh no. He is probably been taught that all his life, and he probably believes that to become a Christian, a person needs only to believe. And, he is just finding it really difficult to accept what God says in the Bible. After the hymn, I will be back with a conclusion. Let us pray. Lord, we thank You for these thoughts and also many others that come to our minds as we think upon your word on how we can live closer to You even in our youthful years and in the days of our age. We pray your blessings upon all who are with us today by television and radio. Bless them and help us all to live closer to You is our prayer in the name of Jesus, Amen.
Oh my! There is so much more I really do need to say to encourage young people to do and to be. I wanted to say something about the meaning and the purpose of life-- and loving and seeking truth-- and the true meaning of happiness-- and marriage and family-- and, well, I just spent too much time talking about the importance of prayer, didn't I? Oh no, I didn't, pardon me for saying that. I couldn't do that. I will just have to do another program for our youth. And I promise I will just as soon as I can work it into the schedule.
But if you would like a free CD of this program, or a free printed copy, or a free audio cassette tape of it, simply mail your request to In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083. Or, if you are into e-mail, as most of our youth are now, our address is searchtv@aol.com. Or you may want to visit our website and read it or hear it or see it for yourself, searchtv.org. Oh yes! If you prefer, you may speak to one of us-- toll-free. Our toll-free telephone number is 1-800-321-8633. Say, my friend, why not worship with a church of Christ near you this week. Do that and let us hear from you, will you? It is our prayer that you have been blessed by today's program, and it is made possible in your area by the churches of Christ in this station. God bless you now. We love you. |