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  SERMONS ON HOLINESS
  by John C. Ryle
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Ryle's teachings on the necessity of personal holiness, particularly addressing
young men on practical living out of Christian convictions and the pursuit of
godliness in daily life.

  Chapters: 3

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS
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    1. Holiness
    2. THOUGHTS FOR YOUNG MEN
    3. THOUGHTS FOR YOUNG MENcontd

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  CHAPTER 1: HOLINESS
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Holiness by J. C. Ryle (1816-1900)

© Copyright Tony Capoccia 2000. This file may be freely copied, printed out, and
distributed as long as copyright and source statements remain intact, and that
it is not sold. All rights reserved. “Without holiness no one will see the
Lord.”--Hebrews 12:14 Our text for today opens up a subject of deep importance.
That subject is practical holiness. It suggests a question that demands the
attention of all professing Christians-Are we holy? Will we see the Lord? That
question can never be out of season. The wise man tells us, there is “a time to
weep and a time to laugh, a time to be silent and a time to speak,”
(Ecclesiastes 3:4, Ecclesiastes 3:7) but there is no time, no, not a day, in
which a man ought not to be holy. Are we? That question concerns all ranks and
situations of men and women. Some are rich and some are poor-some educated and
some uneducated-some masters, and some servants; but there is no rank or state
in life in which a man or woman ought not to be holy. Are we? I ask to be heard
today about this question. How does our account stand between our souls and God?
In this hurrying, bustling world, let us stand still for a few minutes and
consider the matter of holiness. I know I could have chosen a subject more
popular and pleasant. I am sure I could have found one easier to handle. But I
feel deeply I could not have chosen one more seasonable and more profitable to
our souls. It is a solemn thing to hear the Word of God saying, “Without
holiness no one will see the Lord.” I will endeavor, by God’s help, to examine
what true holiness is, and the reason why it is so needful. In conclusion, I
will try to point out the only way in which holiness can be attained in a plain
and practical manner. I. First, then, let me try to show what true practical
holiness is-what sort of persons are those whom God calls holy. A man may go to
great lengths, and yet never reach true holiness. It is not knowledge-Balaam had
that: nor great profession-Judas Iscariot had that: nor doing lots of
things-Herod did that: nor zeal for certain matters in religion-Jehu had that:
nor morality and outward respectability of conduct-the rich young ruler had
that: nor taking pleasure in hearing preachers-the Jews in Ezekiel’s time had
that: nor keeping company with godly people-Joab and Gehazi and Demas had that.
Yet none of these was holy! These things alone are not holiness. A man or woman
may have any one of them, and yet never see the Lord.

What then is true practical holiness?

It is a hard question to answer. I don’t mean that there is any lack of
Scripture on the subject. But I fear lest I should give a defective view of
holiness, and not say all that ought to be said; or lest I should say things
about it that ought not to be said, and therefore cause harm. Let me, however,
try to draw a picture of holiness, that we may see it clearly before the eyes of
our minds. Only let it never be forgotten, when I have said everything, that my
explanation will be nothing but a poor imperfect outline at the best. a)
Holiness is the habit of agreeing with the mind with God, in accordance as we
find His mind described in Scripture. It is the habit of agreeing with God’s
judgment-hating what He hates-loving what He loves-and measuring everything in
this world by the standard of His Word. The person who most completely agrees
with God is the one who is the most holy person. b) A holy person will endeavor
to turn away from every known sin, and to keep every known commandment. They
will have a decided bent of mind toward God, a hearty desire to do His will-a
greater fear of displeasing Him than of displeasing the world, and a love for
all His ways. They will feel what Paul felt when he said, “In my inner being I
delight in God’s law” (Romans 7:22), and what David felt when he said, “I
consider all your precepts right, I hate every wrong path” (Psalms 119:128). c)
A holy person will strive to be like our Lord Jesus Christ.

They will not only live the life of faith in Him, and draw from Him all their
daily peace and strength, but they will also strive to have the mind that was in
Him, and to be “conformed to His likeness” (Romans 8:29). It will be their aim
to bear with and forgive others, just as Christ forgave us-to be unselfish, just
as Christ did not please Himself-to walk in love, just as Christ loved us-to be
meek and humble, even as Christ made Himself nothing and humbled Himself. They
will remember that Christ was a faithful witness for the truth-that He did not
come to do His own will-that it was His food and drink to do His Father’s
will-that He would continually deny Himself in order to minister to others-that
He was meek and patient in spite of undeserved insults-that He thought more of
godly poor men than of kings-that He was full of love and compassion to
sinners-that He was bold and uncompromising in denouncing sin-that He did not
seek the praise of men, when He might have had it-that He went about doing
good-that He was separate from worldly people-that He prayed continually-that He
would not even let His nearest relatives stand in His way when God’s work was to
be done. These things a holy person will try to remember. By them they will
endeavor to shape their course in life. They will lay to heart the saying of
John, “Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did” (1 John 2:6); and
the saying of Peter, that “Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that
you should follow in his steps” (1 Peter 2:21). Happy is the person who has
learned to make Christ his “everything,” both for salvation and example! A great
deal of time would be saved, and a great deal of sin prevented, if men and women
would often ask themselves the question, “What would Christ have said and done,
if He were in my place?” d) A holy person will pursue meekness, endurance,
gentleness, patience, kindness, and control of their tongue. They will put up
with a lot, tolerate a great deal, overlook a lot, and be slow to talk of
demanding their rights. We see a clear example of this in the behavior of David
when Shimei cursed him-and of Moses when Aaron and Miriam spoke against him (2
Samuel 16:10; Numbers 12:3). e) A holy person will pursue self-control and
self-denial. They will labor to subdue the desires of their body-to crucify
their flesh with all of its affections and lusts-to curb their passions-to
restrain their worldly inclinations, lest at any time they break loose. Oh, what
a word of warning is that of the Lord Jesus to the Apostles, “Be careful, or
your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties
of life” (Luke 21:34); and that of the Apostle Paul, “I beat my body and make it
my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be
disqualified for the prize” (1 Corinthians 9:27). f) A holy person will pursue
love and brotherly kindness. They will endeavor to observe the golden rule of
doing to others as they would have others do to them, and speaking as they would
want others to speak to them. They will be full of affection towards their
brothers and sisters in Christ-towards their bodies, their property, their
characters, their feelings, and their souls. “He who loves his fellowman,” says
Paul, “has fulfilled the law” (Romans 13:8). They will detest all lying,
slandering, backbiting, cheating, dishonesty, and unfairness, even in the
smallest things. They will strive to adorn their religion in all of their
outward demeanor, and to make it lovely and beautiful in the eyes of everyone
around them. Sadly, what condemning words are found in the 13th chapter of 1
Corinthians, and the Sermon on the Mount, when laid alongside the conduct of
many professing Christians! g) A holy person will pursue a spirit of mercy and
benevolence towards others. They will not stand idle all day long. They will not
be content with simply not harming others-they will try to do good to others.
They will strive to be useful in their day and generation, and to lessen the
spiritual needs and misery of those around them, as far as they can. Dorcas was
such a person “always doing good and helping the poor,” which she did,”-not
merely planning to do it or just talking about it, but she actually did it. Paul
was another such person, stating: “I will very gladly spend for you everything I
have and expend myself as well,” he says, “If I love you more, will you love me
less” (Acts 9:36; 2 Corinthians 12:15). h) A holy person will pursue purity of
heart. They will dread all filthiness and uncleanness of spirit, and seek to
avoid everything that might draw them into it. They know their own heart is like
tinder, and will diligently keep clear of the sparks of temptation. Who will
dare to talk of strength when David can fall? There are many hints to be gleaned
from the ceremonial law. Under it the man who only touched a bone, or a dead
body, or a grave, or a diseased person, at once became unclean in the sight of
God. And these things were pictures and figures. Few Christians are ever too
watchful and too particular about this point. i) A holy person will pursue the
fear of God. I do not mean the fear of a slave, who only works because they are
afraid of punishment, and would be idle if they did not dread discovery. Rather,
I mean the fear of a child, who wishes to live and move, as if they were always
in their father’s sight, because he loves them. What a noble example Nehemiah
gives us of this! When he became Governor at Jerusalem he might have invoke
taxation on the Jews, requiring money from them for his support. The former
Governors had done so. There was no one to blame him if he did. But he says,
“But out of reverence for God I did not act like that” (Nehemiah 5:15). j) A
holy man will pursue humility. They will desire, in humility, to consider others
better than themselves. They will see more evil in their own heart than in any
other in the world. They will understand something of Abraham’s feeling, when he
says, “I am nothing but dust and ashes;”-and Jacob’s, when he says, “I am
unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant;”-and
Job’s, when he says, “I am unworthy;”-and Paul’s, when he says, “I am the worst
of sinners.” Bradford, that holy and faithful martyr of Christ, would sometimes
sign his letters with these words, “A most miserable sinner, John Bradford.”
Good old Mr. Grimshaw’s last words, when he lay on his deathbed, were these,
“Here goes an unprofitable servant.” k) A holy man will pursue faithfulness in
all the duties and relationships in life. They will try, not merely to fulfill
their duties and responsibilities, as well as others who have no care or concern
for their souls, but even better, because they have higher motives, they will
try to be of more help than the others. Those words of Paul should never be
forgotten, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the
Lord,”-“Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the
Lord” (Colossians 3:23; Romans 12:11). Holy persons should aim at doing
everything well, and should be ashamed of allowing themselves to do anything
poorly if they can help it. Like Daniel, they should seek to give no “basis for
charges against themselves, “unless it has something to do with the law of their
God” (Daniel 6:5). They should strive to be good husbands and good wives, good
neighbors, good friends, good citizens, good in private and good in public, good
in the place of business and good in their homes. Indeed, holiness is worth
little, if it does not bear this kind of fruit. The Lord Jesus puts a searching
question to His people, when He says, “What are you doing more than others?”
Matthew 5:47). l) Last, but not least, a holy person will pursue spiritual
mindedness. They will endeavor to set their affections entirely on things above,
and to hold very loosely the things of earth. They will not neglect the daily
business of their life; but the first place in their mind and thoughts will be
given to the life to come. They will aim to live like those whose treasure is in
heaven, and to pass through this world like a stranger and pilgrim traveling to
their home. To commune with God in prayer, in the Bible, and in the assembly of
His people-these things will be the holy person’s principal enjoyments. They
will value every thing and place and company, in the same proportion as it draws
them nearer to God. They will enter into something of David’s feeling, when he
says, “My soul clings to you.” “You are my portion, O LORD” (Psalms 63:8; Psalms
119:57). Such is the outline of holiness. Such is the character that is pursued
by those who are called “holy.” Such are the main features of a holy man and a
holy woman. But here let me say, I trust no one will misunderstand me. I am
fearful that my meaning will be mistaken, and that the description I have just
given of holiness will discourage some tender conscience. I wouldn’t willingly
make one righteous heart sad, or throw a stumbling block in any believer’s way.
I don’t say for a moment that holiness shuts out the presence of indwelling
sin-No, far from it. It is the greatest mystery of a holy person that they carry
around with them a “body of death;”-that often when they want to do good “evil
is right there with them”; that the “old self” is clogging all their movements,
and, as it were, trying to draw them back at every step they take (Romans 7:21).
But it is the quality of a holy person that they are not at peace with
indwelling sin, as others are. They hate it, mourn over it, and long to be free
from its company. The work of sanctification within them is like the wall of
Jerusalem-the building goes forward “even in times of trouble” (Daniel 9:25).

Neither do I say that holiness comes to ripeness and perfection all at once, or
that these graces I have touched on must be found in full bloom and strength
before you can call a person holy-No, far from it. Sanctification is always a
progressive work. Some persons’ graces are like the sprout of a plant, some like
the almost grown plant, and some are like the fully mature plant with fruit. All
must have a beginning. We must never despise “the day of small things.” And
sanctification at the very best is an imperfect work. The history of the holiest
saints that ever lived will contain many a “however”, and “nevertheless” and
“although”, before you reach the end. The gold will never be without some
dross-the light will never shine without some clouds, until we reach the
heavenly Jerusalem. The blazing sun of our solar system itself has spots on his
face. The holiest men and women have had many blemishes and defects when
compared with the holy standard of the Word of God. Their life is a continual
warfare with sin, the world, and the devil; and sometimes you will see them not
overcoming, but overcome. The flesh is always fighting against the spirit, and
the spirit against the flesh, and “we all stumble in many ways.” (Galatians
5:17; James 3:2). But still, for all this, I am sure that to have the type of
character that I have weakly drawn is the heart’s desire and prayer of all true
Christians. They press on towards it, even though they do not reach it. They may
not attain it, but they always aim at it. It is what they strive and labor to
be, if it is not what they are. And boldly and confidently I say, that true
holiness is a great reality. It is something in a man and a woman that can be
seen, and known, and marked, and felt by all those around them. It is light: if
it exists, it will show itself. It is salt: if it exists, its savor will be
perceived. It is a precious perfume: if it exists, its presence will be
apparent. I am sure we would all be ready to make allowance for some
backsliding, for some occasional deadness in professing Christians. I know a
road may lead from one point to another, and yet have many a twists and curves;
and a person may be truly holy, and yet be detoured by many weaknesses. Gold is
not any less gold because it is mixed with an alloy, nor light any less light
because it is faint and dim, nor grace any less grace because it is young and
weak. But after every allowance, I cannot see how any person deserves to be
called “holy”, who willfully allows themselves to continue in habitual sins, and
are not humbled and ashamed because of them. I dare not call anyone “holy” who
makes a habit of willfully neglecting known duties, and willfully doing what he
knows God has commanded them not to do. Owen said it best, “I do not understand
how a man can be a true believer to whom sin is not the greatest burden, sorrow,
and trouble.” Such are the leading characteristics of practical holiness. Let us
examine ourselves and see whether we are acquainted with it. Let us test our own
selves. II. Let me try, in the next place, to show some reasons why practical
holiness is so important. Can holiness save us? Can holiness do away with
sin-cover iniquities-become a payment for transgressions-pay our debt to God?
No: not a bit. God forbid that I should ever say so. Holiness can do none of
these things. The holiest saints are all “worthless servants”. Our purest works
are no better than filthy rags, when tried by the light of God’s holy law. The
white robe which Jesus offers, and faith puts on, must be our only
righteousness-the name of Christ our only confidence-the Lamb’s book of life our
only title to heaven. With all our holiness we are no better than sinners. Our
best things are stained and tainted with imperfection. They are all more or less
incomplete, wrong in the motive or defective in the performance. “No child of
Adam will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law. “For it is by
grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is
the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). Why
then is holiness so important? Why does the Apostle say, “Without holiness no
one will see the Lord”? Let me give you a few reasons. a) For one thing, we must
be holy, because the voice of God in Scripture plainly commands it. The Lord
Jesus says to His people, “Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the
Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom
of heaven” (Matthew 5:20). “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is
perfect” (Matthew 5:48). Paul tells the Thessalonians, “It is God’s will that
you should be sanctified” (1 Thessalonians 4:3). And Peter says, “Just as he who
called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy,
because I am holy.’” (1 Peter 1:15-16). “In this, “law and Gospel agree.”
(Leighton). b) We must be holy, because this is one grand end and purpose for
which Christ came into the world. Paul writes to the Corinthians, “Jesus died
for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him
who died for them and was raised again” (2 Corinthians 5:15). And to the
Ephesians, “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her
holy, cleansing her” (Ephesians 5:25-26) And to Titus, “Jesus gave himself for
us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are
his very own, eager to do what is good” (Titus 2:14). In short, to talk of men
and women being saved from the guilt of sin, without being at the same time
saved from its dominion in their hearts, is to contradict the witness of all
Scripture. Are believers said to be elect?-it is “through the sanctifying work
of the Spirit.” Are they predestined?-it is “to be conformed to the likeness of
God’s.” Are they chosen?-it is “ to be holy and blameless.” Are they called?-it
is “a holy calling.” Are they afflicted?-it is that they may “share in his
holiness.” Jesus is a complete Savior. He does not merely take away the guilt of
a believer’s sin, He does more-He breaks the power of sin (1 Peter 1:2; Romans
8:29; Ephesians 1:4; Hebrews 12:10). c) We must be holy, because this is the
only sound evidence that we have a saving faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. James
warns us there is such a thing as a dead faith-a faith which goes no further
than the profession of the lips, and has no influence on a person’s character
(James 2:17). True saving faith is a very different kind of thing. True faith
will always show itself by its fruits-it will sanctify, it will work by love, it
will overcome the world, it will purify the heart. I know that people are fond
of talking about deathbed evidences of salvation. They will rest on words spoken
in the hours of fear, and pain, and weakness, as if they might take comfort in
them about their friends that are dying. But I am afraid in ninety-nine cases
out of a hundred such evidences cannot be depended on. I suspect that, with rare
exceptions, men and women die just as they have lived. The only safe evidence
that we are one with Christ, and Christ in us, is a holy life. They that live in
the Lord are generally the only people who die in the Lord. If we would die the
death of the righteous, let us not rest in slothful desires only; let us seek to
live His life. It is a true saying, “That the state of a man or woman is
nothing, and their faith is unsound, if their hope of glory does not purify
their heart and life” (Traill). d) We must be holy, because this is the only
proof that we love the Lord Jesus Christ with sincerity. This is a point on
which Jesus has spoken most plainly, in the fourteenth and fifteenth chapters of
John. “If you love me, you will obey what I command.”-“Whoever has my commands
and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.”-“You are my friends if you do what
I command” (John 14:15, John 14:21, John 14:23; John 15:14).-It would be
difficult to find any clearer words than these, and woe to those who neglect
them! Surely that person must be in an unhealthy state of soul who can think of
all that Jesus suffered, and yet cling to those sins for which that suffering
was undergone. It was sin that wove the crown of thorns-it was sin that pierced
our Lord’s hands, and feet, and side-it was sin that brought Him to Gethsemane
and Calvary, to the cross and to the grave. Our hearts must be cold if we do not
hate sin and labor to get rid of it, though we may have to cut off our right
hand and pull out our right eye to do so. e) We must be holy, because this is
the only sound evidence that we are true children of God. Children in this world
are normally like their parents. Some, doubtless, are more so, and some less-but
it is seldom that you cannot trace a kind of family likeness. And it is much the
same with the children of God. The Lord Jesus says, “If you were Abraham’s
children, then you would do the things Abraham did.”-“If God were your Father,
you would love me” (John 8:39, John 8:42). If men and women have no likeness to
the Father in heaven, it is vain to talk of their being His “sons and
daughters.” If we know nothing of holiness we may flatter ourselves as we
please, but we do not have the Holy Spirit living in us: we are dead, and must
be brought to life again-we are lost, and must be found. “Those who are led by
the Spirit of God,” they, and they only, “are sons [and daughters] of God”
(Romans 8:14). We must show by our lives the family we belong to. We must let
people see by our pure conversation that we are indeed the children of the Holy
One, or our claim to be God’s children is nothing but an empty claim. “Do not
say, that you have royal blood in your veins, and are born of God, unless you
can prove your pedigree by having the courage to be holy” (Gurnall). f) We must
be holy, because this is the best way to do good to others. We cannot live to
ourselves only in this world. Our lives will always be doing either good or harm
to those who see them. They are a silent sermon which all can read. It is indeed
sad when they are a sermon for the devil’s cause, and not for God’s. I believe
that far more is done for Christ’s kingdom by the holy living of believers than
we are at all aware of. There is a reality about such living which makes people
feel, and obliges them to think. It carries a weight and influence with it,
which nothing else can give. It makes Christianity beautiful, and draws men and
women to consider it, like a lighthouse seen from a distance. The Day of
Judgment will prove that many besides husbands have been “won over without
words” by the conduct of a holy life (1 Peter 3:1). You may talk to persons
about the doctrines of the Gospels, and few will listen, and still fewer
understand. But your life is an argument that none can avoid. There is a meaning
about holiness which even the most uneducated can understand. They may not
understand justification, but they can understand love, kindness, and purity. I
believe there is far more harm done by unholy and inconsistent Christians than
we are aware of. Such men and women are among Satan’s best allies. They pull
down, by their lives, what ministers build with their lips. They cause the
chariot wheels of the Gospel to bog down. They supply the children of this world
with a never-ending excuse for remaining as they are. “I cannot see the use of
all this Christianity,” said an irreligious businessman not long ago; “I observe
that some of my customers are always talking about the Gospel, and faith, and
election, and the blessed promises, and so forth; and yet these very people
think nothing of cheating me out of money, when they have an opportunity. Now,
if people who claim to be Christians can do such things, then I don’t see what
good there is in Christianity.” I grieve to have to say such things, but I fear
that Christ’s name is all too often blasphemed because of the lives of
Christians. Let us take heed lest the blood of souls should be required at our
hands. May the Lord deliver us from the murder of souls by inconsistency and a
careless Christian walk! Oh, for the sake of others, if for no other reason, let
us strive to be holy! g) We must be holy, because our present happiness depends
a lot on it. We cannot be reminded of this too often. Sadly, we are apt to
forget that there is a close relationship between sin and sorrow, holiness and
happiness, sanctification and comfort. God has so wisely ordered it, that our
happiness and our holiness are linked together. He has mercifully provided that
even in this world it will be to a person’s best interest to be holy. Our
justification is not by works-our calling and election are not according to our
works-but it is vain for anyone to suppose that he will have a active sense of
his justification, or an assurance of his calling, so long as he neglects good
works, or does not strive to live a holy life. “We know that we have come to
know Jesus if we obey his commands.” “This is how we know that we belong to the
truth, and how we set our hearts at rest” (1 John 2:3; 1 John 3:19). A believer
may just as soon expect to feel the sun’s rays on a dark and cloudy day, as to
feel strong comfort and happiness in Christ while he does not completely follow
Him. When the disciples deserted the Lord and fled, they escaped danger, but
they were miserable and sad. But when, a little while later, they confessed Him
boldly before men, they were cast into prison and beaten; but we are told “The
apostles rejoiced because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for
the Name [of Jesus]” (Acts 5:41). Oh, for our own sakes, if there were no other
reason, let us strive to be holy! They that follow Jesus most fully will always
follow Him most happily. h) Lastly, we must be holy, because without holiness on
earth we will never be prepared to enjoy heaven. Heaven is a holy place. The
Lord of heaven is a holy Person. The angels are holy creatures. Holiness is
written on everything in heaven. The book of Revelation expressly says, “Nothing
impure will ever enter [heaven], nor will anyone who does what is shameful or
deceitful” (Revelation 21:27). I solemnly appeal to everyone who listens to this
sermon, How will we ever be at home and happy in heaven, if we die unholy? Death
works no change. The grave makes no alteration. Each person will rise again with
the same character in which they breathed their last breath. Where will our
place be if we are strangers to holiness now? Suppose for a moment that you were
allowed to enter heaven without holiness. What would you do? What possible
enjoyment could you feel there? To which of all the saints would you join
yourself, and by whose side would you sit down? Their pleasures are not your
pleasures, their tastes not your tastes, their character not your character. How
could you possibly be happy, if you had not been holy on earth? Now perhaps you
love the company of the flippant and the careless, the worldly-minded and the
greedy, the drinkers and the pleasure-seekers, the ungodly and the wicked. None
of them will be in heaven. Now perhaps you think the saints of God are too
strict and particular, and serious. You rather avoid them. You have no delight
in their company. Well, let me tell you-there will be no other company in
heaven. Now perhaps you think praying, and reading of the Scriptures, and
singing of hymns is boring and gloomy, and stupid work-a thing to be tolerated
now and then, but not enjoyed. You believe that Sunday worship is a burden and a
drain; you couldn’t possibly spend more than a small part of it in worshipping
God. But remember, heaven is a never-ending Sunday. The inhabitants there never
rest day or night, they constantly are saying, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God
Almighty,” and singing the praise of the Lamb. How could an unholy man or woman
find pleasure in an occupation such as this? Do you think you that such a person
would delight to meet David, and Paul, and John, after a life spent in doing the
very things they spoke against? Would he take sweet counsel with them, and find
that they had much in common with him?-Think, above all, that he would rejoice
to meet Jesus, the Crucified One, face to face, after cleaving to the sins for
which Jesus died, after loving Jesus’ enemies and despising Jesus’ friends?
Would he stand before Him with confidence, and join in the cry, “This is our
God; we trusted in him, let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation” (Isaiah
25:9). Don’t you think that the tongue of an unholy man would cleave to the roof
of his mouth with shame, and his only desire would be to be quickly depart! He
would feel like a stranger in an unknown land, a black sheep in the middle of
Christ’s holy flock. The voices of Cherubim and Seraphim, the songs of Angels
and Archangels and all the company of heaven, would be a language which he could
not understand. The very air would seem to be an air that he could not breathe.
I do not know what others may think, but to me it seems clear that heaven would
be a miserable place to an unholy man. It cannot be anything else. People may
say, in a vague way, “they hope to go to heaven;” but they do not know what they
are saying. There must be a certain “fitness for the inheritance of the saints
in light.” Our hearts must be somewhat in tune. To reach the holiday of glory,
we must pass through the training school of grace. We must be heavenly-minded,
and have heavenly tastes, in the life that now is, or else we will never find
ourselves in heaven, in the life to come. And now, before I go any further, let
me say a few words by way of application. 1) For one thing, let me ask everyone
who hears this sermon, Are you holy? Listen, I pray, to the question I put to
you this day. Do you know anything of the holiness of which I have been
speaking? I do not ask whether you attend you church regularly-whether you have
been baptized, and received the Lord’s Supper-whether you have the name of
Christian-I ask something more than all this: Are you holy, or are you not? I do
not ask whether you approve of holiness in others-whether you like to read the
lives of holy people, and to talk of holy things, and to have holy books on your
table-whether you mean to be holy, and hope you will be holy some day-I ask
something further: Are you yourself holy this very day, or are you not? And why
do I ask so directly, and press the question so strongly? I do it because the
Scripture says, “Without holiness no one will see the Lord.” It is written, it
is not my idea-it is the Bible, not my private opinion-it is the word of God,
not the word of man-“Without holiness no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14).
Sadly, what penetrating, probing words these are! What thoughts come across my
mind, as I speak them! I look at the world, and see the greater part of it
living in wickedness. I look at professing Christians, and see the vast majority
having nothing of Christianity but the name. I turn to the Bible, and I hear the
Spirit saying, “Without holiness no one will see the Lord.” Surely it is a text
that ought to make us consider our ways, and search our hearts. Surely it should
raise within us solemn thoughts, and send us to prayer. You may try to put me
off by saying “you feel a lot, and think a lot about these things: far more than
many others.” I answer, “This is not the point. The poor lost souls in hell
think about these words too! The great question is not what you think, and what
you feel, but what you DO.” You may say, “It was never meant that all Christians
should be holy, and that holiness, such as I have described, is only for great
saints, and people with special gifts.” I answer, “I cannot see that in
Scripture. I read that everyone who has hope in Christ purifies himself” (1 John
3:3)-”Without holiness no one will see the Lord.” You may say, “It is impossible
to be holy and to do our duty in this life at the same time: the thing cannot be
done.” I answer, “You are mistaken. It can be done. With Christ on your side
nothing is impossible. Many Christians before have done it: David, and Obadiah,
and Daniel, and the servants of Nero’s household, are all examples that prove
it.” You may say, “If I were that holy I would be very different than other
people.” I answer, “I know that. It is just what you ought to be. Christ’s true
servants were always different than the world around them-a separate nation, a
special people-and you must be also, if you would be saved!” You may say, “At
this rate very few will be saved.” I answer, “I know it. It is precisely what we
are told in the Sermon on the Mount.” The Lord Jesus said so thousands of years
ago. “Small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few
find it” (Matthew 7:14). Few will be saved, because few will take the trouble to
seek salvation. Men will not deny themselves the pleasures of sin and their own
way for a little season. They turn their backs on an “inheritance that can never
perish, spoil or fade.” “You refuse to come to me to have life” (John 5:40). You
may say, “These are hard sayings: the way is very narrow.” I answer, “I know it.
So says the Sermon on the Mount.” The Lord Jesus said so thousands of years ago.
He always said that men must take up the cross daily, and that they must be
ready to cut off their hand or foot, if they would be His disciples. It is in
religion as it is in other things, “there are no gains without pains.” That
which costs nothing is worth nothing. Whatever we may think fit to say, we must
be holy, if we would see the Lord. Where is our Christianity if we are not? We
must not merely have a Christian name, and Christian knowledge; we must have a
Christian character also. We must be saints on earth, if ever we want to be
saints in heaven. God has said it, and He will not go back on His word: “Without
holiness no one will see the Lord.” “The Pope’s calendar only makes saints of
the dead, but Scripture requires holiness in the living” [Jenkyn]. That godly
preacher Owen said, “Do not let men deceive themselves; sanctification is a
qualification that is indispensable for those who are saved by the Lord Christ.
He leads no one to heaven except those whom He sanctifies on the earth. This
living Head will not admit any dead members.” Surely we needn’t wonder that
Scripture says “You must be born again” (John 3:7). Surely it is clear as the
noonday sun that many professing Christians need a complete change-new hearts,
new natures-if they are ever to be saved. Old things must pass away-they must
become new creations. “Without holiness no one,” no matter who they are, “will
see the Lord.” 2) Let me, for another thing, speak a little to believers. I ask
you this question, “Do you think you feel the importance of holiness as much as
you should?” I admit I fear the attitude of the times about this subject. I
really doubt whether it holds that place which it deserves in the thoughts and
attitudes of some of the Lord’s people. I would humbly suggest that we are apt
to overlook the doctrine of growing in grace, and that we do not sufficiently
consider how very far a person may go in a profession of Christianity, and yet
have no grace, and be dead in God’s sight. I believe that Judas Iscariot seemed
very much like the other Apostles. When the Lord warned them that one would
betray Him, no one said, “Is it Judas?” We had better think more about the
Churches of Sardis and Laodicea than we do. I have no desire to make an idol of
holiness. I do not wish to dethrone Christ, and put holiness in His place. But I
must candidly say, I wish holiness was more thought of in this day than it seems
to be, and I therefore take this opportunity to press the subject on all
believers who are listening to this sermon. I fear it is sometimes forgotten
that God has married together justification and sanctification. They are
distinct and different things, beyond question, but one is never found without
the other. All justified people are sanctified, and all sanctified are
justified. What God has joined together let no man dare to put asunder. Don’t
tell me of your justification, unless you have also some marks of
sanctification. Do not boast Christ’s work for you, unless you can show us the
Spirit’s work in you. Do not think that Christ and the Spirit can ever be
divided. I do not doubt that many believers know these things, but I think it
good for us to remember them. Let us prove that we know them by our lives. Let
us try to keep in view this text more continually: “Make every effort to…be
holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.”

I must frankly say I wish there was not such an excessive sensitivity on the
subject of holiness as I sometimes perceive in the minds of believers. A man
might really think it was a dangerous subject to handle, because it is touched
so cautiously! Yet surely when we have exalted Christ as “the way, the truth,
and the life,” we cannot err in speaking strongly about what should be the
character of His people. Rutherford said it well, “The way that says that a
person doesn’t need works and sanctification, is not the way of grace. Believing
and doing are blood-friends.” I say it with all reverence, and it must be said-I
sometimes fear if Christ were on the earth now, there would be many who would
think His preaching was legalistic; and if Paul were writing his Epistles, there
are those who would think he had better not write the latter part of most of
them as he did. But let us remember that the Lord Jesus did preach the Sermon on
the Mount, and that the Epistle to the Ephesians contains six chapters and not
four. I grieve to feel obliged to speak in this way, but I am sure there is a
cause. That great preacher, John Owen, used to say, in the 17th century, that
there were people whose whole religion seemed to consist in going about
complaining of their own sinfulness, and telling everyone that they themselves
could do nothing about it. I am afraid that today the same thing might be said
with truth of some of Christ’s professing people. I know there are texts in
Scripture which warrant such complaints. I do not object to them when they come
from people who walk in the steps of the Apostle Paul, and fight a good fight,
as he did, against sin, the devil, and the world. But I never like such
complaints when I see evidence for suspecting, as I often do, that they are only
a cloak to cover spiritual laziness, and an excuse for spiritual sloth. If we
say with Paul, “What a wretched man I am!” let us also be able to say with him,
“I press on toward the goal.” Let us not quote his example in one thing, and
then not follow him in another” (Romans 7:24; Php_3:14). I do not set up myself
to be better than other people, and if anyone asks, “What are you, that you
speak in this way?” I answer, “I am a very poor creature indeed.” But I say that
I cannot read the Bible without desiring to see many believers more spiritual,
more holy, more heavenly-minded, more whole-hearted than they are in the present
day. I want to see among believers more of a pilgrim spirit, a more determined
separation from the world, a conversation more evidently in heaven, a closer
walk with God-and therefore I have spoken as I have. Is it not true that we need
a higher standard of personal holiness in this day? Where is our patience? Where
is our zeal? Where is our love? Where are our works? Where is the power of
Christianity to be seen, as it was in the past? Where is that unmistakable tone
which used to distinguish the saints of old, and shake the world? Truly our
silver has become dross, our wine mixed with water, and our salt has very little
savor. We are all more than half asleep. The night is far spent, and the day is
at hand. Let us wakeup, and sleep no more. Let us open our eyes wider than we
have done before. “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so
easily entangles.”-“Let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates
body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God” (Hebrews 12:1; 2
Corinthians 7:1). “Did Christ die,” says Owen, “and will sin live? Was He
crucified in the world, and will we love the world? Oh, where is the spirit of
him, who by the cross of Christ was crucified to the world, and the world to
him!” III. Let me, in the last place, offer a word of advice to all who desire
to be holy. Do you want to be holy? Do you want to become a new creation? Then
you must begin with Christ. You will do nothing at all, and make no progress
until you feel your sin and weakness, and run to Him. He is the root and
beginning of all holiness, and the way to be holy is to come to Him by faith and
be joined to Him. Christ is not only wisdom and righteousness to His people, but
sanctification also. Men sometimes try, first of all, to make themselves holy,
and they make sad work of it. They toil and labor, and make many resolutions,
and make many changes; and yet, like the woman with the issue of blood, before
she came to Christ, they feel that “instead of getting better they grew worse”
(Mark 5:26). They run in vain, and labor in vain; and little wonder, for they
are beginning at the wrong end. They are building up a wall of sand; their work
runs down as fast as they throw it up. They are bailing water out of a leaky
vessel: the leak gains on them, not they on the leak. No man can lay any other
foundation of “holiness” than that which Paul laid, even Christ Jesus. “Apart
from Christ we can do nothing” (John 15:5). It is a strong but true saying that,
“Wisdom without Christ is damning folly-righteousness without Christ is guilt
and condemnation-holiness without Christ is filth and sin-redemption without
Christ is bondage and slavery” [Traill’s]. Do you want to attain holiness? Do
you feel today a real heart desire to be holy? Do you want to be a partaker of
the divine nature? Then go to Christ. Wait for nothing. Wait for nobody. Do not
delay. Do not even think about trying to make yourself ready. Go and say to Him,
in the words of that beautiful hymn- “Nothing in my hand I bring, Simply to Thy
cross I cling; Naked, flee to Thee for dress; Helpless, look to Thee for grace.”
There is not a brick nor a stone laid in the work of our sanctification until we
go to Christ. Holiness is His special gift to His believing people. Holiness is
the work He carries on in their hearts, by the Spirit whom He puts within them.
He is appointed a “Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and
forgiveness of sins.-“To all who received him, to those who believed in his
name, he gave the right to become children of God” (Acts 5:31; John 1:12).
Holiness does not come from blood-parents cannot give it to their children: nor
from the will of man-ministers cannot give it you by baptism. Holiness comes
from Christ. It is the result of vital union with Him. It is the fruit of being
a living branch of the True Vine. Then go to Christ and say, “Lord, save me not
only from the guilt of sin, but send the Spirit, whom you promised, and save me
from its power. Make me holy. Teach me to do your will.” Do you want to continue
to be holy? Then remain in Christ. He Himself says, “Remain in me, and I will
remain in you-If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit”
(John 15:4-5). God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in Christ-a
fullness for all a believer’s wants. He is the Physician to whom you must go to
each day, if you want to stay well. He is the Manna which you must daily eat,
and the Rock of which you must daily drink. His arm is the arm on which you must
daily lean, as you come up out of the wilderness of this world. You must not
only be rooted, you must also be built up in Him. Paul was a man of God-a holy
man-a growing, thriving Christian-and what was the secret of it all? He was one
to whom Christ was “all in all”. He was always “looking to Jesus”. “I can do
everything,” he says, “through Christ who gives me strength.” “I no longer live,
but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son
of God.” Let us go and do likewise (Hebrews 12:2; Php_4:13; Galatians 2:20). May
all of you know these things by experience, and not by hearsay only. May we all
feel the importance of holiness, far more than we have ever done yet! May our
years be holy years with our souls, and then they will be happy ones! Whether we
live, may we live to the Lord; or whether we die, may we die to the Lord; or if
He comes for us, may we be found in peace, without spot, and blameless! Amen.

English Updated and Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "Sermons and Articles"
Collection by: Tony Capoccia Bible Bulletin Board Box 119 Columbus, New Jersey,
USA, 08022 Websites: www.biblebb.com and www.gospelgems.com Email:
tony@biblebb.com Online since 1986


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  CHAPTER 2: THOUGHTS FOR YOUNG MEN
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Preface For more than 100 years, J. C. Ryle's (John Charles Ryle) sermons have
been consistently recognized, and their usefulness and impact have continued to
the present day, even in the outdated English of the author's own day. Why then
should expositions already so successful and of such stature and proven
usefulness require adaptation, revision, rewrite or even editing? The answer is
obvious. To increase its usefulness to today's reader, the language in which it
was originally written needs updating. Though his sermons have served other
generations well, just as they came from the pen of the author in the nineteenth
century, they still could be lost to present and future generations, simply
because, to them, the language is neither readily nor fully understandable. My
goal, however, has not been to reduce the original writing to the vernacular of
our day. It is designed primarily for you who desire to read and study
comfortably and at ease in the language of our time. Only obviously archaic
terminology and passages obscured by expressions not totally familiar in our day
have been revised. However, neither J. C. Ryle's meaning nor intent have been
tampered with. Tony Capoccia All Scripture references are taken from the HOLY
BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (C) 1978 by the New York Bible Society, used by
permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.
**************************************** THOUGHTS FOR YOUNG MEN by J. C. Ryle
(1816-1900) This updated and revised manuscript is copyrighted ã 1999 by Tony
Capoccia. All rights reserved. When the Apostle Paul wrote his Epistle to Titus
about his responsibility as a minister, he mentioned young men as a group
requiring particular attention. After speaking of older men and older women, and
young women, he adds this advice, "Encourage the young men to be
self-controlled" (Titus 2:6). I am going to follow the Apostle's advice. I
propose to offer a few words of friendly exhortation to young men. I am growing
old myself, but there are few things that I can remember so well as were the
days of my youth. I have a most distinct recollection of the joys and the
sorrows, the hopes and the fears, the temptations and the difficulties, the
mistaken judgments and the misplaced affections, the errors and the aspirations,
which surround and accompany a young man's life. If I can only say something to
keep some young man walking in the right way, and preserve him from faults and
sins, which may hurt his prospects both for time and eternity, I shall be very
thankful. There are four things which I propose to do: I. I will mention some
general reasons why young men need exhorting. II. I will note some special
dangers which young men need to be warned about. III. I will give some general
counsel which I beg young men to receive. IV. I will set down some special rules
of conduct which I strongly advise young men to follow. On each of these four
points I have something to say, and I pray to God that what I say may do good to
some soul. I. Reasons for Exhorting Young Men 1. What are the general reasons
why young men need specific exhortation? I will mention several of them in
order. (1) For one thing, there is the painful fact that there are few young men
anywhere who seem to be Christians. I speak without respect of persons; I say it
of all. Rich or poor, gentle or rough, educated or uneducated, in the city or in
the country--it makes no difference. I shudder to think how few young men are
led by the Spirit, how few are on that narrow road which leads to life, how few
are setting their affections on things above, how few are taking up the cross,
and following Christ. I say all this with sorrow, but I believe, in God's sight,
that I am saying nothing more than the truth. Young men, you form a large and
most important class in the population of this country; but where, and in what
condition, are your souls? Regardless of where we turn for an answer, the report
will be one and the same! Let us ask any faithful minister of the gospel, and
note what he will tell us. How many unmarried young people can he remember who
come to the Lord's Supper? Who are the most backward about the doctrines of
salvation, the most irregular about Sunday services, the most difficult to draw
to weekly Bible studies and prayer meetings, the most inattentive to whatever is
being preached? Which part of his congregation fills him with the most anxiety?
Who are the Reubens for whom he has the deepest "searchings of heart"? Who in
his flock are the hardest to manage, who require the most frequent warnings and
rebukes, who cause him the greatest uneasiness and sorrow, who keep him most
constantly in fear for their souls, and seem the most hopeless? Depend on it,
his answer will always be, "The Young Men." Let us ask the parents in any county
throughout this land, and see what they will generally say. Who in their
families give them the most pain and trouble? Who need the most watchfulness,
and most often provoke and disappoint them? Who are the first to be led away
from what is right, and the last to remember cautions and good advice? Who are
the most difficult to keep in order and limits? Who most frequently break out
into open sin, disgrace the name they bear, make their friends unhappy, embitter
the older relatives, and cause them to die with sorrow in their hearts? Depend
on it, the answer will generally be, "The Young Men." Let us ask the judges and
police officers, and note what they will reply. Who goes to the night clubs and
bars the most? Who make up street gangs? Who are most often arrested for
drunkenness, disturbing the peace, fighting, stealing, assaults, and the like?
Who fill the jails, and penitentiaries, and detention homes? Who are the class
which requires the most incessant watching and looking after? Depend on it, they
will at once point to the same group, they will say, "The Young Men." Let us
turn to the upper classes, and note the report we will get from them. In one
family the sons are always wasting time, health, and money, in the selfish
pursuit of pleasure. In another, the sons will follow no profession, and fritter
away the most precious years of their life in doing nothing. In another, they
take up a profession as a mere form, but pay no attention to its duties. In
another, they are always forming wrong connections, gambling, getting into debt,
associating with bad companions, keeping their friends in a constant fever of
anxiety. Note that rank, and title, and wealth, and education, do not prevent
these things! Anxious fathers, and heart-broken mothers, and sorrowing sisters,
could tell sad stories about them, if the truth were known. Many a family, with
everything this world can give, numbers among its relatives some name that is
never named, or only named with regret and shame, some son, some brother, some
cousin, some nephew, who will have his own way, and is a grief to all who know
him. There is seldom a rich family which hasn't got some thorn in its side, some
blot in its page of happiness, some constant source of pain and anxiety; and
often, far too often--the true cause is, "The Young Men"? What shall we say to
these things? These are facts, plain facts, facts which meet us on every side,
facts which cannot be denied. How dreadful this is! How dreadful the thought,
that every time I meet a young man, I meet one who is in all probability all
enemy of God, traveling on the wide road which leads to hell, unfit for heaven!
Surely, with such facts before me, will you not wonder that I exhort you, you
must allow that there is a good reason. (2) Death and judgment are waiting for
young men, even as it waits for others, and they nearly all seem to forget it.
Young men, it is appointed for you to die; and no matter how strong and healthy
you may be now, the day of your death is perhaps very near. I see young people
sick as well as the elderly. I bury youthful corpses as well as aged. I read the
names of persons no older than yourselves in every graveyard. I learn from books
that, excepting infancy and old age, more die between thirteen and twenty-three
than at any other period of life. And yet you live as if you were sure that
presently you will never die. Are you thinking you will pay attention to these
things tomorrow? Remember the words of Solomon, "Do not boast about tomorrow,
for you do not know what a day may bring forth" (Proverbs 27:1). "I will worry
about serious things tomorrow," said an unsaved person, to one who warned him of
coming danger; but his tomorrow never came. Tomorrow is the devil's day, but
today is God's. Satan does not care how spiritual your intentions are, or how
holy your resolutions, if only they are determined to be done tomorrow. Oh, give
no place to the devil in this matter! All men don't live to be elderly fathers,
like Isaac and Jacob. Many children die before their fathers. David had to mourn
the death of his two finest sons; Job lost all of his ten children in one day.
Your lot may be like one of theirs, and when death comes, it will be vain to
talk of tomorrow, you must go at once. Do you think that you will have a more
convenient time to think about these things? So thought Felix and the Athenians
to whom Paul preached to; but it never came. The road to hell is paved with such
ideas. Better make sure to work while you can. Leave nothing unsettled that is
eternal. Run no risk when your soul is at stake. Believe me, the salvation of a
soul is no easy matter. Every one needs a "Great salvation," whether young or
old; all need to be born again--all need to be washed in Christ's blood--all
need to be sanctified by the Spirit. Happy is that man who does not leave these
things uncertain, but never rests until he has the witness of the Spirit within
him, testifying to him that he is a child of God. Young men, your time is short.
Your days are but a brief shadow, a mist that appears for a little while and
then vanishes, a story that is soon told. Your bodies are not made of brass.
"Even the young men," says Isaiah, "stumble and fall" (Isaiah 40:30). Your
health may be taken from you in a moment: it only needs an accident, a fever, an
inflammation, a broken blood-vessel, and the worm would soon feed upon you in
the grave. There is but a step between any one of you and death. This night your
soul might be required of you. You are fast going the way of all the earth, you
will soon be gone. Your life is all uncertainty, your death and judgment are
perfectly sure. You too must hear the Archangel's trumpet, and go forth to stand
before the great white throne of judgment, you too must obey that summons, which
Jerome says was always ringing in his ears: "Get up, you dead, and come to
judgment." "Yes, I am coming soon," is the language of the Judge Himself. I
cannot, dare not, will not let you alone. Oh that you would all take to heart
the words of the Preacher: "Be happy, young man, while you are young, and let
your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart
and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring
you to judgment" (Ecclesiastes 11:9) Amazing, that with such a prospect of
coming judgment, any man can be careless and unconcerned! Surely none are so
crazy as those who are content to live unprepared to die. Surely the unbelief of
men is the most amazing thing in the world. The clearest prophecy in the Bible
begins with these words, "Who has believed our message?" (Isaiah 53:1). The Lord
Jesus said, "When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" (Luke
18:8). Young men, I fear this be the report of many of you in the courts above:
"They will not believe." I fear you be hurried out of the world, and awake to
find out, too late, that death and judgment are realities. I fear all this, and
therefore I exhort you. (3) What young men will be, in all probability depends
on what they are now, and they seem to forget this. Youth is the planting time
of full age, the molding season in the little space of human life, the turning
point in the history of man's mind. By the shoot that springs up we can judge
the type of tree that is growing, by the blossoms we judge the kind of fruit, by
the spring we judge the type of harvest coming, by the morning we judge the
coming day, and by the character of the young man, we may generally judge what
he will be when he grows up. Young men, do not be deceived. Don't think you can,
at will, serve lusts and pleasures in your beginning, and then go and serve God
with ease at your latter end. Don't think that you can live with Esau, and then
die with Jacob. It is a mockery to deal with God and your souls in such a
fashion. It is an awful mockery to suppose you can give the flower of your
strength to the world and the devil, and then put off the King of kings with the
scraps and remains of your hearts, the wreck and remnant of your powers. It is
an awful mockery, and you may find to your loss that the thing cannot be done. I
dare say you are planning on a late repentance. You do not know what you are
doing. You are planning without God. Repentance and faith are the gifts of God,
and they are gifts that He often withholds, when they have been long offered in
vain. I grant you true repentance is never too late, but I warn you at the same
time, late repentance is seldom true. I grant you, one penitent thief was
converted in his last hours, that no man might despair; But I warn you, only one
was converted, that no man might presume. I grant you it is written, Jesus is
"Able to save completely those who come to God through him" (Hebrews 7:25). But
I warn you, it is also written by the same Spirit, "Since you rejected me when I
called and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand, I in turn will laugh
at your disaster; I will mock when calamity overtakes you" (Proverbs 1:24, 26).
Believe me, you will find it no easy matter to turn to God whenever you please.
It is a true saying of the godly Leighton, "The way of sin is down hill; a man
cannot stop when he wants too." Holy desires and serious convictions are not
like the servants of the Centurion, ready to come and go at your desire; rather
they are like the unicorn in Job, they will not obey your voice, nor attend at
your bidding. It was said of the famous general Hannibal of old, when he could
have taken the city he warred against, he would not, and in time when he would,
he could not. Beware lest the same kind of thing happens to you in the matter of
eternal life. Why do I say all this? I say it because of the force of habit. I
say it because experience tells me that people's hearts are seldom changed if
they are not changed when young. Seldom indeed are men converted when they are
old. Habits have deep roots. Once sin is allowed to settle in your heart, it
will not be turned out at your bidding. Custom becomes second nature, and its
chains are not easily broken. The prophet has well said, "Can the Ethiopian
change his skin, or the leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are
accustomed to doing evil" (Jeremiah 13:23). Habits are like stones rolling down
hill--the further they roll, the faster and more ungovernable is their course.
Habits, like trees, are strengthened by age. A boy may bend an oak when it is a
sapling--a hundred men cannot root it up, when it is a full grown tree. A child
can wade over the Thames River at its fountain-head--the largest ship in the
world can float in it when it gets near the sea. So it is with habits: the older
the stronger--the longer they have held possession, the harder they will be to
cast out. They grow with our growth, and strengthen with our strength. Custom is
the nurse of sin. Every fresh act of sin lessens fear and remorse, hardens our
hearts, blunts the edge of our conscience, and increases our evil inclination.
Young men, you may fancy I am laying too much stress on this point. If you had
seen old men, as I have, on the brink of the grave, without any feelings,
seared, callous, dead, cold, hard as stone--you would not think so. Believe me,
you cannot stand still in your souls. Habits of good or evil are daily
strengthening in your hearts. Every day you are either getting nearer to God, or
further off. Every year that you continue unrepentant, the wall of division
between you and heaven becomes higher and thicker, and the gulf to be crossed
deeper and broader. Oh, dread the hardening effect of constant lingering in sin!
Now is the accepted time. See that your decision not be put off until the winter
of your days. If you do not seek the Lord when young, the strength of habit is
such that you will probably never seek Him at all. I fear this, and therefore I
exhort you. (4) The devil uses special diligence to destroy the souls of young
men, and they don't seem to know it. Satan knows very well that you will make up
the next generation and therefore he employs every trick to make you his own. I
would not have you to be ignorant of his schemes. You are those on whom he puts
his choicest temptations. He spreads his net with the most watchful carefulness,
to entangle your hearts. He baits his trap with the sweetest morsels, to get you
into his power. He displays his wares before your eyes with his utmost
ingenuity, in order to make you buy his sugared poisons, and eat his accursed
treats. You are the grand object of his attack. May the Lord rebuke him, and
deliver you out of his hands. Young men, beware of being taken by his snares. He
will try to throw dust in your eyes, and prevent you seeing anything in its true
colors. He would eagerly make you think that evil is good, and good is evil. He
will paint, cover with gold, and dress up sin, in order to make you fall in love
with it. He will deform, and misrepresent, and fabricate true Christianity, in
order to make you take a dislike to it. He will exalt the pleasures of
wickedness--but he will hide from you the sting. He will lift up before your
eyes the cross and its painfulness--but he will keep out of sight the eternal
crown. He will promise you everything, as he did to Christ, if you will only
serve him. He will even help you to wear a form of Christianity, if you will
only neglect the power. He will tell you at the beginning of your lives, it is
too soon to serve God--he will tell you at the end, it is too late. Oh, do not
be deceived! You don't know the danger you are in from this enemy; and it is
this very ignorance which makes me afraid. You are like blind men, walking among
holes and pitfalls; you do not see the perils which are around you on every
side. Your enemy is mighty. He is called "The Prince of this world" (John
14:30). He opposed our Lord Jesus Christ all through His ministry. He tempted
Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, and so brought sin and death into the
world. He even tempted David, the man after God's own heart, and caused his
latter days to be full of sorrow. He even tempted Peter, the chosen Apostle, and
made him deny his Lord. Surely his hostility towards man and God is to be
despised. Your enemy is restless. He never sleeps. He is always going around
like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. He is always going back and
forth in the earth, and walking up and down on it. You may be careless about
your souls: but he is not. He wants your soul to make you miserable, like
himself, and will have your soul if he can. Surely his hatred towards men and
God is to be despised. And your enemy is cunning. For thousands of years he has
been reading one book, and that book is the heart of man. He ought to know it
well, and he does know it--all its weakness, all its deceitfulness, all its
folly. And he has a storehouse full of temptations, such as are most likely to
do the heart of man the most harm. Never will you go to the place where he will
not find you. Go into the city--he will be there. Go into the wilderness--he
will be there also. Sit among drunkards--and he will be there to help you.
Listen to preaching--and he will be there to distract you. Surely such ill-will
is to be despised. Young men, this enemy is working hard for your destruction,
however little you may think it. You are the prize for which he is specially
contending for. He foresees you must either be the blessings or the curses of
your day, and he is trying hard to effect a place in your hearts early in your
life, in order that you may help advance his kingdom each day. Well does he
understand that to spoil the bud is the surest way to mar the flower. Oh that
your eyes were opened, like those of Elisha's servant Dothan! Oh that you could
see what Satan is scheming against your peace! I must warn you--I must exhort
you. Whether you will hear or not, I cannot, dare not, leave you alone. (5)
Young men need exhorting because of the sorrow it will save them, to begin
serving God now. Sin is the mother of all sorrow, and no sort of sin appears to
give a man so much misery and pain as the sins of his youth. The foolish acts he
did--the time he wasted--the mistakes he made--the bad company he kept--the harm
he did himself, both body and soul--the chances of happiness he threw away--the
openings of usefulness he neglected; all these things that often embitter the
conscience of an old man, throw a gloom on the evening of his days, and fill
later hours of his life with self-reproach and shame. Some men could tell you of
the untimely loss of health, brought on by youthful sins. Disease racks their
limbs with pain, and life is almost a weariness. Their muscular strength is so
wasted, that the slightest weight seems a burden. Their eye has become
prematurely dim, and their natural energy abated. The sun of their health has
gone down while it is yet day, and they mourn to see their flesh and body
consumed. Believe me, this is a bitter cup to drink. Others could give you sad
accounts of the consequences of idleness. They threw away the golden opportunity
for learning. They would not get wisdom at the time when their minds were most
able to receive it, and their memory most ready to retain it. And now it is too
late. They don't have the time to sit down and learn. They no longer have the
same power, even if they had the time. Lost time can never be redeemed. This too
is a bitter cup to drink. Others could tell you of grievous mistakes in
judgment, from which they suffer all their lives. They had to have it their own
way. They would not take advice. They formed some connection which has been
altogether ruinous to their happiness. They chose a profession for which they
were entirely unsuited. And they see it all now. But their eyes are only open
when the mistake cannot be retrieved. Oh, this is also a bitter cup to drink!
Young men, young men, I wish you did but know the comfort of a conscience not
burdened with a long list of youthful sins. These are the wounds that pierce the
deepest. These are the arrows that drink up a man's spirit. This is the iron
that enters into the soul. Be merciful to yourselves. Seek the Lord early, and
so you will be spared many a bitter tear. This is the truth that Job seems to
have felt. He says, "You write down bitter things against me and make me inherit
the sins of my youth" (Job 13:26). So also his friend Zophar, speaking of the
wicked, says, "The youthful vigor that fills his bones will lie with him in the
dust" (Job 20:11). David also seems to have felt it. He says to the Lord,
"Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways" (Psalm 25:7). Beza,
the great Swiss Reformer, felt it so strongly, that he named it in his will as a
special mercy that he had been called out from the world, by the grace of God,
at the age of sixteen. Go and ask believers now, and I think many will tell you
much the same. "Oh that I could live my young days over again!" He will most
probably say, "Oh that I had spent the beginning of my life in a better way! Oh
that I had not laid the foundation of evil habits so strongly in the springtime
of my jour­ney!" Young men, I want to save you all this sorrow, if I can. Hell
itself is truth known too late. Be wise in time. What youth sows, old age must
reap. Do not give the most precious season of your life to that which will not
comfort you in the latter days of your life. Sow to yourselves rather in
righteousness: break up your hard ground, don't sow among thorns. Sin may be
easy for you to do with your hands, or run smoothly off your tongue now, but
depend on it, the effects of your sin and you will meet again in time, however
little you may like it. Old wounds will often ache and give pain long after they
are healed, and only a scar remains: so may you find it with your sins. The
footprints of animals have been found on the surface of rocks that were once wet
sand, thousands of years after the animal that made them has perished and passed
away; so also may it be with your sins. "Experience," says the proverb, "is a
hard school to attend, but fools will learn in no other." I want you all to
escape the misery of learning in that school. I want you to avoid the
wretchedness that youthful sins are sure to entail. This is the last reason why
I exhort you. II. Dangers of Young Men 2. There are some special dangers that
young men need to be warned against. (1) One danger to young men is pride. I
know well that all souls are in fearful peril. Old or young, it doesn't matter;
all have a race to run, a battle to fight, a heart to humble, a world to
overcome, a body to keep under control, a devil to resist; and we may very well
say, Who is sufficient for these things? But still every age and condition has
its own peculiar snares and temptations, and it is well to know them. He that is
forewarned is forearmed. If I can only persuade you to be on your guard against
the dangers I am going to name, I am sure I shall do your souls an essential
service. Pride is the oldest sin in the world. Indeed, it was before the world.
Satan and his angels fell by pride. They were not satisfied with their first
situation and status. Thus pride stocked hell with its first inhabitants. Pride
threw Adam out of paradise. He was not content with the place God assigned him.
He tried to raise himself, and fell. Thus sin, sorrow, and death entered in by
pride. Pride sits in all our hearts by nature. We are born proud. Pride makes us
rest content with ourselves--think we are good enough as we are--keep us from
taking advice--refuse the gospel of Christ--turn every one to his own way. But
pride never reigns anywhere so powerfully as in the heart of a young man. How
common is it to see young men with big heads, high-minded, and impatient of any
counsel! How often they are rude and uncourteous to all around them, thinking
they are not valued and honored as they deserve! How often will they not stop to
listen to a hint from an older person! They think that they know everything.
They are full of conceit of their own wisdom. They think elderly people, and
especially their relatives, are stupid, and dull, and slow. They want no
teaching or instruction themselves: they understand all things. It almost makes
them angry to be spoken to. Like young horses, they cannot bear the least
control. They must be independent and have their own way. They seem to think,
like those whom Job mentioned, "You are the people, and wisdom will die with
you" (Job 12:2). And all this is pride. Rehoboam was such a person, who despised
the counsel of the old experienced men who stood before his father, and listened
to the advice of the young men of his own generation. He lived to reap the
consequences of his folly. There are many like him. The prodigal son in the
parable was also such a person, who needed to have his share of the inheritance
so he could set himself up in the lifestyle that he desired. He could not submit
to live quietly under his father's roof, but would go into a far country, and be
his own master. Like the little child that will leave its mother's hand and walk
alone, he soon feels the sting for his folly. He became wiser when he had to eat
husks with the swine. But there are many like him. Young men, I beseech you
earnestly, beware of pride. Two things are said to be very rare sights in the
world--one is a young man that is humble, and the other is an old man that is
content. I fear that this is only too true. Do not be proud of your own
abilities, your own strength, your own knowledge, your own appearance, your own
cleverness. Do not be proud of yourself, and your endowments of any kind. It all
comes from not knowing yourself and the world. The older you grow, and the more
you see, the less reason you will find for being proud. Ignorance and
inexperience are the pedestal of pride; once the pedestal is removed--pride will
soon come down. Remember how often Scripture sets before us the excellence of a
humble spirit. How strongly we are warned "Do not think of yourself more highly
than you ought" (Romans 12:3). How plainly we are told, "The man who thinks he
knows something does not yet know as he ought to know!" (1 Corinthians 8:2). How
strict is the command, "Clothe yourselves with humility" (Colossians 3:12). And
again, "Clothe yourselves with humility" (1 Peter 5:5). This is the garment of
which many seem not to have so much as a rag. Think of the great example our
Lord Jesus Christ leaves us in this respect. He washed the feet of His
disciples, saying, "You should do as I have done for you" (John 13:15). It is
written, "Though he was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor" (2 Corinthians
8:9). And again, "He made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled
himself" (Philippians 2:7, 8). Surely to be proud is to be more like the devil
and fallen Adam, than like Christ. Think of the wisest man that ever lived--I
mean Solomon. See how he speaks of himself as a "little child," as one who "does
not know how to carry out his duties" or manage for himself (1 Kings 3:7). That
was a very different spirit from his brother Absalom's, who thought himself
equal to anything: "If only I were appointed judge in the land! Then everyone
who has a complaint or case could come to me and I would see that he gets
justice" (2 Samuel 15:4). That was a very different spirit from his brother
Adonijah's, who "exalted himself, saying, I will be king" (1 Kings 1:5).
Humility was the beginning of Solomon's wisdom. He writes it down as his own
experience, "Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a
fool than for him" (Proverbs 26:12). Young men, take to heart the Scriptures
just quoted. Do not be too confident in your own judgment. Stop being so sure
that you are always right, and others wrong. Don't trust your own opinion, when
you find it contrary to that of older men, and especially to that of your own
parents. Age gives experience, and therefore deserves respect. It is a mark of
Elihu's wisdom, in the book of Job, that "Elihu had waited before speaking to
Job because they were older than he" (Job 32:4). And afterwards he said, "I am
young in years, and you are old; that is why I was fearful, not daring to tell
you what I know. I thought, 'Age should speak; advanced years should teach
wisdom" (Job 32:6-7). Humility and silence are beautiful graces in young people.
Never be ashamed of being a learner: Jesus was one at twelve years; when He was
found in the temple, He was "sitting among the teachers, listening to them and
asking them questions" (Luke 2:46). The wisest men would tell you they are
always learners, and are humbled to find after all how little they know. The
great Sir Isaac Newton used to say that he felt himself no better than a little
child, who had picked up a few precious stones on the shore of the sea of
knowledge. Young men, if you would be wise, if you would be happy, remember the
warning I give you--Beware of pride. (2) Another danger to young men is the love
of pleasure. Youth is the time when our passions are strongest--and like unruly
children, cry most loudly for indulgence. Youth is the time when we have
generally our most health and strength: death seems far away, and to enjoy
ourselves in this life seems to be everything. Youth is the time when most
people have few earthly cares or anxieties to take up their attention. And all
these things help to make young men think of nothing except pleasure. "I serve
lusts and pleasures:" that is the true answer many a young man should give, if
asked, "Whose Servant are you?" Young men, time would not permit me to tell you
all the fruits this love of pleasure produces, and all the ways in which it may
do you harm. Why should I speak of carousing, partying, drinking, gambling,
movie-going, dancing, and the like? There are few to be found who don't know
something of these things by bitter experience. And these are only instances.
All things that give a feeling of excitement for the time--all things that drown
thought, and keep the mind in a constant whirl--all things that please the
senses and delight the flesh--these are the sort of things that have mighty
power at your time of life, and they owe their power to the love of pleasure. Be
on your guard. Do not be like those of whom Paul speaks, "Lovers of pleasure
rather than lovers of God" (2 Timothy 3:4). Remember what I say: if you would
cling to earthly pleasures--these are the things which murder souls. There is no
surer way to get a seared conscience and a hard heart towards the things of God,
than to give way to the desires of the flesh and mind. It seems like nothing at
first, but it tells in the long run. Consider what Peter says: "Abstain from
sinful desires, which war against your soul" (1 Peter 2:11). They destroy the
soul's peace, break down its strength, lead it into captivity, and make it a
slave. Consider what Paul says: "Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to
your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed"
(Colossians 3:5). "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful
nature with its passions and desires" (Galatians 5:24). Once the body was a
perfect home for a soul--now it is all corrupt and disordered, and needs
constant watching. It is a burden to the soul--not a helper; a hindrance--not an
assistance. It may become a useful servant, but it is always a bad master.
Consider, again, the words of Paul: "Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus
Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature"
(Romans 13:14). "These," says Leighton, "are the words, the very reading of
which gave Augustine a great conviction of heart, causing an immoral young man
to be turned into a faithful servant of Jesus Christ." Young men, I wish this
might be the case with all of you. Remember, again, if you cling to earthly
pleasures, they will all be unsatisfying, empty, and pointless. Like the locusts
of the vision in Revelation, they seem to have crowns on their heads: but like
the same locusts, you will find they have stings--real stings--in their tails.
All that glitters is not gold. All that tastes sweet is not good. All that
pleases for a while is not real pleasure. Go and take your fill of earthly
pleasures if you will--you will never find your heart satisfied with them. There
will always be a voice within, crying, like the leech in Proverbs 30:15, "Give!
Give!" There is an empty place there, which nothing but God can fill. You will
find, as Solomon did by experience, that earthly pleasures are but a meaningless
show--promising contentment but bringing a dissatisfaction of spirit--gold
plated caskets, exquisite to look at on the outside, but full of ashes and
corruption within. Be wise in your youth. Write the word "poison" on all earthly
pleasures. The most lawful of them must be used in moderation. All of them are
soul-destroying if you give them your heart. Pleasure, must first have the
guarantee that it is not sinful--then it is to be enjoyed in moderation. And I
will not shrink from warning all young men to remember the seventh commandment;
to beware of adultery and sexual immorality, of all impurity of every kind. I
fear that we don't very often speak on this part of God's law. But when I see
how prophets and Apostles have dealt with this subject, when I observe the open
way in which the Reformers of our own Church denounced it, when I see the number
of young men who walk in the wicked footsteps of Reuben, and Hophni, and
Phinehas, and Amnon, I for one cannot, with a good conscience, hold my peace.
The world becomes more wicked because of our failure to teach and preach on this
commandment. For my own part, I feel it would be false and unscriptural
delicacy, in addressing men, not to speak of that which is preeminently the
"young man's sin." The violation of the seventh commandment is the sin above all
others, that, as Hosea says, "takes away the understanding" (Hosea 4:11). It is
the sin that leaves deeper scars upon the soul than any other sin that a man can
commit. It is a sin that destroys thousands of young men in every age, and has
even overthrown a few of the saints of God in the past. Samson and David are
fearful proofs. It is the sin that man dares to smile at, and smooths over using
the terms: thrills, love, uncontrollable passions, and natural desires. But it
is the sin that the devil rejoices over, for he is the "unclean spirit;" and it
is the sin that God abhors, and declares He "will judge" (Hebrews 13:4). Young
men, "Flee from sexual immorality" (1 Corinthians 6:18) if you love life. "Let
no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath
comes on those who are disobedient" (Ephesians 5:6). Flee from the opportunity
of it--from the company of those who might draw you into it--from the places
where you might be tempted to do it. Read what our Lord says about it in Matthew
5:28, "I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already
committed adultery with her in his heart." Be like the holy servant Job: "I made
a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl" (Job 31:1). Flee from
talking about it. It is one of the things that ought not even be hinted about in
conversation. You cannot even touch black grease without getting your hands
dirty. Flee from the thoughts of it; resist them, destroy them, pray against
them--make any sacrifice rather than give way to them. Imagination is the hotbed
where this sin is too often hatched. Guard your thoughts, and there will be
little fear about your actions. Consider the caution I have been giving. If you
forget everything else, do not let this be forgotten. (3) Another danger to
young men is thoughtlessness. Not thinking is one simple reason why thousands of
souls are thrown away forever into the Lake of Fire. Men will not consider, will
not look ahead, will not look around them, will not reflect on the end of their
present course, and the sure consequences of their present ways, and wake up to
find they are damned for a lack of thinking. Young men, none are in more danger
of this than yourselves. You know little of the perils around you, and so you
are careless how you walk. You hate the trouble of serious, quiet thinking, and
so you make wrong decisions and bring upon yourselves much sorrow. Young Esau
had to have his brother's stew and sold his birthright: he never thought how
much he would want it in the future. Young Simeon and Levi had to avenge the
rape of their sister Dinah, and kill the Shechemites: they never considered how
much trouble and anxiety they might bring on their father Jacob and his house.
Job seems to have been especially afraid of this thoughtlessness among his
children: it is written, that when they had a feast, and the "period of feasting
had run its course, Job would send and have them purified. Early in the morning
he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, 'Perhaps my
children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.' This was Job's regular
custom" (Job 1:5). Believe me, this world is not a world in which we can do well
without think­ing, and least of all do well in the matter of our souls. "Don't
think," whispers Satan: he knows that an unconverted heart is like a dishonest
businessman's financial records, they will not bear close inspection. "Consider
your ways," says the Word of God--stop and think--consider and be wise. The
Spanish proverb says it well, "Hurry comes from the devil." Just as men marry in
a rush and then are miserable with their mate, so they make mistakes about their
souls in a minute, and then suffer for it for years. Just as a bad servant does
wrong, and then says, "I never gave it a thought," so young men run into sin,
and then say, "I did not think about it--it did not look like sin." Not look
like sin! What would you expect? Sin will not come to you, saying, "I am sin;"
it would do little harm if it did. Sin always seems "good, and pleasant, and
desirable," at the time of commission. Oh, get wisdom, get discretion! Remember
the words of Solomon: "Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that
are firm" (Proverbs 4:26). Some, I dare say, will object that I am asking what
is unreasonable; that youth is not the time of life when people ought to be
grave and thoughtful. I answer, there is little danger of their being too much
so in the present day. Foolish talking and kidding, and joking, and excessive
amusement, are only too common. I don't argue the fact that there is a time for
all things; but to be always flippant and joking is anything but wise. What does
the wisest of men say--"It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to
a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of every man; the living should
take this to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, because a sad face is good
for the heart. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart
of fools is in the house of pleasure" (Ecclesiastes 7:2-4). Matthew Henry tells
a story of a great statesman in Queen Elizabeth's time, who retired from public
life in his latter days, and gave himself up to serious thought. His former
merry companions came to visit him, and told him that he was becoming somber:
"No," he replied, "I am serious; for everyone around me is serious. God is
serious in observing us--Christ is serious in interceding for us--the Spirit is
serious in striving with us--the truths of God are serious--our spiritual
enemies are serious in their endeavors to ruin us--poor lost sinners are serious
in hell--and why then should you and I not be serious too?" Oh, young men, learn
to be thoughtful! Learn to consider what you are doing, and where you are going.
Make time for calm reflection. Commune with your own heart, and be still.
Remember my caution--Do not be lost merely for the lack of thought. (4) Another
danger to young men is contempt of Christianity. This also is one of your
special dangers. I always observe that none pay so little outward respect to
Christianity as young men. None take so little part in our services, when they
are present at them--use Bibles so little--sing so little--listen to preaching
so little. None are so generally absent at prayer meetings, Bible Studies, and
all other weekday helps to the soul. Young men seem to think they do not need
these things--they may be good for women and old men, but not for them. They
appear ashamed of seeming to care about their souls: one would almost fancy they
considered it a disgrace to go to heaven at all. And this is contempt of
Christianity--it is the same spirit which made the young people of Bethel mock
Elisha--and of this spirit I say to all young men, Beware! If it is worthwhile
to be a Christian, it is worthwhile to be in earnest about it. Contempt of holy
things is the straight road to hell. Once a man begins to make a joke of any
part of Christianity, then I am never surprised to hear that he has turned out
to be an unbeliever. Young men, have you really made up your minds to this? Have
you clearly looked into the fires which are before you, if you persist in
despising Christianity? Call to mind the words of David: "The fool says in his
heart, 'There is no God'" (Psalm 14:1). The fool, and no one but the fool has
said it: but he has never proved it! Remember, if there ever was a book which
has been proved true from beginning to end, by every kind of evidence, that book
is the Bible. It has defied the attacks of all enemies and faultfinders. "The
Word of the LORD is flawless" (Psalm 18:30). It has been tested in every way,
and the more it has been tested, the more evidently has it been shown to be the
very handiwork of God Himself. What will you believe, if you do not believe the
Bible? There is no choice but to believe something ridiculous and absurd. Depend
on it, no man is so grossly naive as the man who denies the Bible to be the Word
of God; and if it be the Word of God, be careful that you don't despise it. Men
may tell you that there are difficulties in the Bible; things hard to
understand. It would not be God's book if there were not. And what if there are?
You don't despise medicines because you cannot explain all that your doctor does
with them. But whatever men may say, the things needed for salvation are as
clear as daylight. Be very sure of this--people never reject the Bible because
they cannot understand it. They understand it too well; they understand that it
condemns their own behavior; they understand that it witnesses against their own
sins, and summons them to judgment. They try to believe it is false and useless,
because they don't like to believe it is true. An evil lifestyle must always
raise an objection to this book. Men question the truth of Christianity because
they hate the practice of it. Young men, when did God ever fail to keep His
word? Never. What He has said, He has always done; and what He has spoken, He
has always made good. Did He fail to keep His word at the flood? No. Did He fail
with Sodom and Gomorrah? No. Did He fail with unbelieving Jerusalem? No. Has He
failed with the Jews up to this very hour? No. He has never failed to fulfill
His word. Take care, lest you be found among those who despise God's Word. Never
laugh at Christianity. Never make a joke of sacred things. Never mock those who
are serious and earnest about their souls. The time may come when you will count
those happy whom you laughed at--a time when your laughter will be turned into
sorrow, and your mockery into seriousness. (5) Another danger to young men is
the fear of man's opinion. "The fear of man" will indeed "prove to be a snare"
(Proverbs 29:25). It is terrible to observe the power which it has over most
minds, and especially over the minds of the young. Few seem to have any opinions
of their own, or to think for themselves. Like dead fish, they go with the
stream and tide: what others think is right, they think is right; and what
others call wrong, they call wrong too. There are not many original thinkers in
the world. Most men are like sheep, they follow a leader. If it was the fashion
of the day to be Roman Catholics, they would be Roman Catholics, if it was to be
Islamic, they would be Islamic. They dread the idea of going against the current
of the times. In a word, the opinion of the day becomes their reli­gion, their
creed, their Bible, and their God. The thought, "What will my friends say or
think of me?" nips many a good inclination in the bud. The fear of being looked
at, laughed at, ridiculed, prevents many a good habit from being taken up. There
are Bibles that would be read this very day, if the owners dared. They know they
ought to read them, but they are afraid: "What will people say?" There are knees
that would be bent in prayer this very night, but the fear of man forbids it:
"What would my wife, my brother, my friend, my companion say, if they saw me
praying?" Oh, what wretched slavery this is, and yet how common! "I was afraid
of the people and so I gave into them," Saul said to Samuel, "and so he violated
the Lord's command" (1 Samuel 15:24). "I am afraid of the Jews," said Zedekiah,
the graceless king of Judah: and so he disobeyed the advice which Jeremiah gave
him (Jeremiah 38:19). Herod was afraid of what his guests would think of him: so
he did that which made him "greatly distressed," he beheaded John the Baptist.
Pilate feared offending the Jews: so he did that which he knew in his conscience
was unjust--he delivered up Jesus to be crucified. If this is not slavery, what
is? Young men, I want you all to be free from this bondage. I want each of you
to care nothing about man's opinion, when the path of duty is clear. Believe me,
it is a great thing to be able to say "No!" Here was good King Jehoshaphat's
weak point--he was too easy and yielding in his dealings with Ahab, and
therefore caused many of his troubles (1 Kings 22:4). Learn to say "No!" Don't
let the fear of not seeming good-natured make you unable to do it. When sinners
entice you, be able to say decidedly, "I will not give in to them" (Proverbs
1:10). Consider how unreasonable this fear of man is. How short lived is man's
hostility, and how little harm he can do you! "Who are you that you fear mortal
men, the sons of men, who are but grass, that you forget the LORD your Maker,
who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth?" (Isaiah
51:12-13). And how thankless is this fear! No one will really think better of
you for it. The world always respects those the most, who act boldly for God.
Oh, break these bonds, and cast these chains from you! Never be ashamed of
letting men see that you want to go to heaven. Do not think it a disgrace to
show that you are a servant of God. Never be afraid of doing what is right.
Remember the words of the Lord Jesus: "Do not be afraid of those who kill the
body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both
soul and body in hell" (Matthew 10:28). Try only to please God, and He will soon
make others pleased with you. "When a man's ways are pleasing to the LORD, he
makes even his enemies live at peace with him" (Proverbs 16:7). Young men, be of
good courage. Don't worry what the world says or thinks: you will not always be
with the world. Can man save your soul? No. Will man be your judge in the great
and dreadful day of judgment? No. Can man give you a good conscience in this
life, a good hope in death, a good answer in the morning of resurrection? No!
no! no! Man can do nothing of the sort. Then "Do not fear the reproach of men or
be terrified by their insults. For the moth will eat them up like a garment; the
worm will devour them like wool" (Isaiah 51:7-8). Call to mind the saying of
Gardiner: "I fear God, and therefore I have no one else to fear." Go and be like
him. Such are the warnings I give you. Take them to heart. They are worth
thinking about. I am greatly mistaken if they are not greatly needed. The Lord
grant that they have not been given to you in vain. III. General Counsels to
Young Men 3. In the third place, I wish to give some general counsels to young
men. (1) Try to get a clear view of the evil of sin. Young men, if you did know
what sin is, and what sin has done, you would not think it so strange that I
exhort you as I do. You do not see it in its true colors. Your eyes are
naturally blind to its guilt and danger, and therefore you cannot understand
what makes me so worried about you. Oh, don't let the devil succeed in
persuading you that sin is a small matter! Think for a moment what the Bible
says about sin; how it dwells naturally in the heart of every man and woman
alive (Ecclesiastes 7:20; Romans 3:23), how it defiles our thoughts, words, and
actions, and that continually (Genesis 6:5; Matthew 15:19), how it renders us
all guilty and abominable in the sight of a holy God (Isaiah 64:6; Habakkuk
1:13), how it leaves us utterly without hope of salvation, if we look to
ourselves (Psalm 143:2; Romans 3:20), how its fruit in this world is shame, and
its wages in the world to come--death (Romans 6:21, 23). Think calmly about all
this. I tell you this day, it is just as sad to be dying of cancer and not
knowing it, as it is to be a living man, and not know it. Think what an awful
change sin has worked on all our natures. Man is no longer what he was when God
formed him out of the dust of the ground. He came out of God's hand upright and
sinless (Ecclesiastes 7:29). In the day of his creation he was, like everything
else, "very good" (Genesis 1:31). And what is man now? A fallen creature, a
ruin, a being that shows the marks of corruption all over, his heart like
Nebuchadnezzar, degraded and earthly, looking down and not up, his affections
like a household in disorder, calling no man master, all extravagance and
confusion, his understanding like a lamp flickering in the socket, impotent to
guide him, not knowing good from evil, his will like a rudderless ship, tossed
to and fro by every desire, and constant only in choosing any way rather than
God's. What a wreck man is, compared to what he might have been! We may
understand such figures being used as blindness, deafness, disease, sleep,
death, when the Spirit has to give us a picture of man as he is. And man as he
is, remember, was made so by sin. Think, too, what it has cost to make atonement
for sin, and to provide a pardon and forgiveness for sinners. God's own Son must
come into the world, and take upon Him our nature, in order to pay the price of
our redemption, and deliver us from the curse of a broken law. He who was in the
beginning with the Father, and by whom all things were made, must suffer for sin
the just for the unjust--must die the death of a criminal, before the way to
heaven can be laid open to any soul. See the Lord Jesus Christ despised and
rejected of men, scourged, mocked, and insulted--look at Him bleeding on the
cross of Calvary--hear Him crying in agony, "My God, my God, why have you
forsaken me?" Note how the sun was darkened, and the rocks shook at the sight;
and then consider, young men, what must be the evil and guilt of sin. Think,
also, what sin has already done on the earth. Think how it threw Adam and Eve
out of Eden, brought the flood upon the old world, caused fire to come down on
Sodom and Gomorrah, drowned Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea, destroyed the
seven wicked nations of Canaan, scattered the twelve tribes of Israel over the
face of the earth. Sin alone did all this. Think, moreover, of all the misery
and sorrow that sin has caused, and is causing, to this very day. Pain, disease,
death, strifes, quarrels, divisions, envy, jealousy, malice, deceit, fraud, and
cheating, violence, oppression, robbery, selfishness, unkindness, and
ingratitude; all these are the fruits of sin. Sin is the parent of them all. It
is sin that has so marred and spoiled the face of God's creation. Young men,
consider these things, and you will not wonder that we preach as we do. Surely,
if you did think of them, you would break with sin forever. Will you play with
poison? Will you sport with hell? Will you take fire in your hand? Will you
harbor your deadliest enemy in your arms? Will you go on living as if it
mattered nothing, whether your sins were forgiven or not, whether sin had
dominion over you, or you over sin? Oh, awake to a sense of sin's sinfulness and
danger! Remember the words of Solomon: "Fools mock at making amends for sin, but
goodwill is found among the upright" (Proverbs 14:9). Hear, then, the request
that I make of you this day, pray that God would teach you the real evil of sin.
If you would have your soul saved then get up and pray. (2) Seek to become
acquainted with our Lord Jesus Christ. This is, indeed, the principal thing in
Christianity. This is the cornerstone of Christianity. Till you know this, my
warnings and advice will be useless, and your endeavors, whatever they may be,
will be in vain. A watch that does not keep time is as useless as religion
without Christ. But don't let me be misunderstood. It is not the mere knowing of
Christ's name that I mean, it is the knowing of His mercy, grace, and power, the
knowing of Him not by the hearing of the ear, but by the experience of your
hearts. I want you to know Him by faith, I want you, as Paul says, to know "the
power of his resurrection; becoming like Him in His death" (Philippians 3:10). I
want you to be able to say of Him, He is my peace and my strength, my life and
my consolation, my Physician and my Shepherd, my Savior and my God. Why do I
make such a point of this? I do it because in Christ alone "all His [God's]
fullness dwells" (Colossians 1:19), because in Him alone there is a full supply
of all that we require for the needs of our souls. Of ourselves we are all poor,
empty creatures, empty of righteousness and peace, empty of strength and
comfort, empty of courage and patience, empty of power to stand, or go on, or
make progress in this evil world. It is in Christ alone that all these things
are to be found--grace, peace, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and
redemption. It is just in proportion as we live upon Him, that we are strong
Christians. It is only when self is nothing and Christ is all our confidence, it
is only then that we shall do great exploits. Only then are we armed for the
battle of life, and shall overcome. Only then are we prepared for the journey of
life, and shall move forward. To live on Christ, to draw all from Christ, to do
all in the strength of Christ, to be ever looking to Christ; this is the true
secret of spiritual prosperity. "I can do everything," says Paul, "through Him
who gives me strength" (Philippians 4:13). Young men, I set before you Jesus
Christ this day, as the treasury of your souls; and I invite you to begin by
going to Him. Let this be your first step--go to Christ. Do you want to consult
friends? He is the best friend: "a friend who sticks closer than a brother"
(Proverbs 18:24). Do you feel unworthy because of your sins? Do not fear: His
blood cleanses from all sin. He says, "Though your sins are like scarlet, they
shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like
wool" (Isaiah 1:18). Do you feel weak, and unable to follow Him? Do not fear: He
will give you the power to become sons of God. He will give you the Holy Spirit
to live in you, and seal you for His own; He will give you a new heart, and He
will put a new spirit within you. Are you troubled or beset with a strange bent
to evil? Do not fear: there is no evil spirit that Jesus cannot cast out, there
is no disease of soul that He cannot heal. Do you feel doubts and fears? Throw
them aside: "Come to Me," He says; "whoever comes to me I will never drive
away." He knows very well the heart of a young man. He knows your trials and
your temptations, your difficulties and your foes. In the days of His flesh He
was like yours--a young man at Nazareth. He knows by experience a young man's
mind. He can understand the feeling of your temptations--because He Himself
suffered when He was tempted. Surely you will be without excuse if you turn away
from such a Savior and Friend as this. Hear the request I make of you this
day--if you love life, seek to become acquainted with Jesus Christ. (3) Never
forget that nothing is so important as your soul. Your soul is eternal. It will
live forever. The world and all that it contains will pass away--firm, solid,
beautiful, well-ordered as it is, the world will come to an end. "The heavens
will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the
earth and everything in it will be laid bare" (2 Peter 3:10). The works of
statesmen, writers, painters, architects, are all short lived: your soul will
outlive them all. The angel's voice shall proclaim one day, that "There will be
no more delay!" (Revelation 10:6). Try, I beg you, to realize the fact, that
your soul is the one thing worth living for. It is the part of you which ought
always be considered first. No place, no employment is good for you, which
injures your soul. No friend, no companion deserves your confidence, who makes
light of your soul's con­cerns. The man who hurts you, your property, your
character, only does you temporary harm. Your true enemy is the one who plots to
damage your soul. Think for a moment why you were born into the world. Not
merely to eat and drink, and indulge the desires of the flesh, not merely to
dress up your body, and follow its lusts wherever they may lead you, not merely
to work, and sleep, and laugh, and talk, and enjoy yourselves, and think of
nothing but time. No! you were meant for something higher and better than this.
You were placed here to train for eternity. Your body was only intended to be a
house for your immortal spirit. It is flying in the face of God's purposes to do
as many do--to make the soul a servant to the body, and not the body a servant
to the soul. Young men, God does not show favoritism or respects the honors
bestowed by men. He rewards no man's heritage, or wealth, or rank, or position.
He does not see with man's eyes. The poorest saint that ever died in a ghetto is
nobler in His sight than the richest sinner that ever died in a palace. God does
not look at riches, titles, education, beauty, or anything of the kind. There is
only one thing that God does look at, and that is the immortal soul. He measures
all men by one standard, one measure, one test, one criterion, and that is the
state of their souls. Do not forget this. Keep it in view, morning, noon, and
night, the interests of your soul. Rise up each day desiring that your soul may
excel, lie down each evening, inquiring of yourself whether you soul has really
grown. Remember Zeuxis, the great painter of old. When men asked him why he
labored so intensely, and took such extreme pains with every picture, his simple
answer was, "I paint for eternity." Do not be ashamed to be like him. Set your
immortal soul before your mind's eye, and when men ask you why you live as you
do, answer them in his spirit, "I live for my soul." Believe me, the day is fast
coming when the soul will be the one thing men will think of, and the only
question of importance will be this, "Is my soul lost or saved?" (4) Remember it
is possible to be a young man and yet to serve God. I fear the snares that Satan
lays for you on this point. I fear that he will succeed in filling your minds
with the vain notion, that to be a true Christian as a youth is impossible. I
have seen many carried away by this delusion. I have heard it said, "You are
requiring an impossibility in expecting so much Christianity from young people.
Youth is no time for seriousness. Our desires are strong, and it was never
intended that we should keep them under such strong Christian control, as you
wish us to do. God meant for us to enjoy ourselves. There will be plenty of time
for religion in the future." And this kind of talk is only too much encouraged
by the world. The world is only too ready to wink at youthful sins. The world
appears to think it a matter of course that young men must "sow their wild
oats." The world seems to take it for granted that young people must be
irreligious, and that it is not possible for them to follow Christ. Young men, I
will ask you this simple question--Where will you find anything of this in the
Word of God? Where is the chapter or verse in the Bible which will support this
talking and reasoning of the world? Doesn't the Bible speak to old and young
alike, without distinction? Is not sin--sin, whether committed at the age of
twenty or fifty? Will it form the slightest excuse, in the day of judgment, to
say, "I know I sinned, but I was young then?" Show your common sense, I beg of
you, by giving up such vain excuses. You are responsible and accountable to God
from the very moment that you know right and wrong. I know very well that there
are many difficulties in a man's way. But there are always difficulties in the
way of doing right. The path to heaven is always narrow, whether we be young or
old.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 3: THOUGHTS FOR YOUNG MENCONTD
========================================================================

There are difficulties, but God will give you the grace to overcome them. God is
no hard master. He will not, like Pharaoh, require you to make bricks without
straw. He will make sure that the path He requires us to walk is never an
impossible road. He never gave commands to man which He would not give man the
power to perform. There are difficulties, but many a young man has overcome them
in the past, and so can you. Moses was a young man with passions like yourself;
but see what is said of him in Scripture: "By faith Moses, when he had grown up,
refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to be mistreated
along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a
short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than
the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward" (Hebrews
11:24-26). Daniel was a young man when he began to serve God in Babylon. He was
surrounded by temptations of every kind. He had few people with him, and many
against him. Yet Daniel's life was so blameless and consistent, that even his
enemies could not find any fault in him, except "it has something to do with the
law of his God" (Daniel 6:5). And these are not solitary cases. There is a cloud
of witnesses whom I could name. Time would not allow me, if I were to tell you
of young Isaac, young Joseph, young Joshua, young Samuel, young David, young
Solomon, young Abijah, young Obadiah, young Josiah, young Timothy. These were
not angels, but men, with natural hearts like your own. They too had obstacles
to contend with, lusts to mortify, trials to endure, hard places to travel, like
any of you. But young as they were, they all found it possible to serve God.
Will they not all rise in judgment and condemn you, if you persist in saying it
cannot be done? Young men, try to serve God. Resist the devil when he whispers
it is impossible. Try, and the Lord God of the promises will give you strength
in the trying. He loves to meet those who struggle to come to Him, and He will
meet you and give you the power that you feel you need. Be like the man whom
Bunyan's Pilgrim saw in the Interpreter's house, go forward boldly, saying
"Write down my name." Those words of our Lord are true, though I often hear them
repeated by heartless and unfeeling tongues: "Seek and you will find; knock and
the door will be opened to you" (Matthew 7:7). Difficulties which seemed like
mountains shall melt away like snow in spring. Obstacles which seemed like
giants in the distance, will dwindle into nothing when you actually face them.
The lion that blocks the way that you are traveling and causes you great fear,
will prove to be chained and unable to harm you. If men believed the promises
more, they would never be afraid of their assigned duties. But remember that
little word I press upon you, and when Satan says, "You cannot be a Christian
while you are young:" answer him, "Get behind me, Satan: by God's help I will
try." (5) Determine as long as you live to make the Bible your guide and
adviser. The Bible is God's merciful provision for sinful man's soul, the map by
which he must steer his course, if he would attain eternal life. All that we
need to know, in order to make us peaceful, holy, or happy, is richly contained
there. If a young man wants to know how to begin his life well, let him hear
what David says: "How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to
your word" (Psalm 119:9). Young men, I charge you to make a habit of reading the
Bible, and not to let the habit be broken. Do not Let the laughter of friends,
do not let the bad customs of the family you live in, don't let any of these
things prevent your doing it. Determine that you will not only have a Bible, but
also make time to read it too. Allow no man to persuade you that it is only a
book for Sunday school children and old women. It is the book from which King
David got wisdom and understanding. It is the book which young Timothy knew from
his childhood. Never be ashamed of reading it. Do not "scorn instruction"
(Proverbs 13:13). Read it with the prayer that the Holy Spirit's grace will help
you understand it. It has been said, "A man may just as soon read the Scripture
without eyes, as understand the spirit of it without grace." Read it reverently,
as the Word of God, not of man, believing implicitly that what it approves is
right, and what it condemns is wrong. Be very sure that every doctrine which
will not stand the test of Scripture is false. This will keep you from being
tossed to and fro, and carried about by the dangerous opinions of these latter
days. Be very sure that every practice in your life which is contrary to
Scripture, is sinful and must be given up. This will settle many a question of
conscience, and cut the knot of many a doubt. Remember how differently two kings
of Judah read the Word of God: Jehoiakim read it, and at once tore the page to
pieces, and burned it in the fire (Jeremiah 36:23). And why? Because his heart
rebelled against it, and he was resolved not to obey. Josiah read it, and at
once tore his clothes, and cried mightily to the Lord (2 Chronicles 34:19). And
why? Because his heart was tender and obedient. He was ready to do anything
which Scripture showed him was his duty. Oh that you may follow the last of
these two, and not the first! And read it regularly. This is the only way to
become "mighty in the Scriptures." A quick glance at the Bible now and then does
little good. At that rate you will never become familiar with its treasures, or
feel the sword of the Spirit fitted to your hand in the hour of conflict. But
store up your mind with Scripture, by diligent reading, and you will soon
discover its value and power. Texts will rise up in your hearts in the moment of
temptation. Commands will suggest themselves in times of doubt. Promises will
come across your thoughts in the time of discouragement. And thus you will
experience the truth of David's words, "I have hidden your word in my heart that
I might not sin against you" (Psalm 119:11); and of Solomon's words, "When you
walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you
awake, they will speak to you" (Proverbs 6:22). I dwell on these things more
because this is an age of reading. There seems no end to the producing of many
books, though few of them are really profitable. There seems a rage for cheap
printing and publishing. Newspapers of every sort abound, and the tone of some,
which have the widest circulation, speaks badly for the taste of the age. Amidst
the flood of dangerous reading, I plead for my Master's book, I call upon you
not to forget the book of the soul. Do not let newspapers, novels, and romances
be read, while the prophets and Apostles be despised. Do not let the exciting
and sensual swallow up your attention, while the edifying and the sanctifying
can find no place in your mind. Young men, give the Bible the honor due to it
every day you live. Whatever you read, read that first. And beware of bad books:
there are plenty in this day. Take heed what you read. I suspect there is more
harm done to souls in this way than most people have an idea is possible. Value
all books in proportion as they are agreeable to Scripture. Those that are
nearest to it are the best, and those that are farthest from it, and most
contrary to it, the worst. (6) Never make an intimate friend of anyone who is
not a friend of God. Understand me, I do not speak of acquaintances. I do not
mean that you ought to have nothing to do with anyone but true Christians. To
take such a line is neither possible nor desirable in this world. Christianity
requires no man to be discourteous. But I do advise you to be very careful in
your choice of friends. Do not open all your heart to a man merely because he is
clever, agreeable, good-natured, and kind. These things are all very well in
their way, but they are not everything. Never be satisfied with the friendship
of any one who will not be useful to your soul. Believe me, the importance of
this advice cannot be overrated. There is no telling the harm that is done by
associating with godless companions and friends. The devil has few better helps
in ruining a man's soul. Grant him this help, and he cares little for all the
armor with which you may be armed against him. Good education, early habits of
morality, sermons, books, all, he knows well, will avail you little, if you will
only cling to ungodly friends. You may resist many open temptations, refuse many
plain snares; but once you take up a bad companion, and he is content. That
awful chapter which describes Amnon's wicked conduct about Tamar, almost begins
with these words, "Now Amnon had a friend, a very shrewd man" (2 Samuel 13:3).
You must remember, we are all creatures of imitation: precept may teach us, but
it is example that draws us. There is that in us all, that we are always
disposed to catch the ways of those with whom we live; and the more we like
them, the stronger does the disposition grow. Without our being aware of it,
they influence our tastes and opinions; we gradually give up what they dislike,
and take up what they like, in order to become closer friends with them. And,
worst of all, we catch their ways in things that are wrong far quicker than in
things that are right. Health, unhappily, is not contagious, but disease is. It
is far more easy to catch a chill than to impart a warmth; and to make each
other's religion dwindle away, than grow and prosper. Young men, I ask you to
take these things to heart. Before you let any one become your constant
companion, before you get into the habit of telling him everything, and going to
him with all your troubles and all your pleasures--before you do this, just
think of what I have been saying; ask yourself, "Will this be a useful
friendship to me or not?" "Bad company" does indeed "corrupt good character" (1
Corinthians 15:33). I wish that text were written in the hearts of all young
men. Good friends are among our greatest blessings; they may keep us away from
much evil, remind us of our course, speak an appropriate word at the right time,
draw us upward, and draw us on. But a bad friend is a burden, a weight
continually dragging, us down, and chaining us to earth. Keep company with an
unsaved man, and it is more than probable you will in the end become like him.
That is the general consequence of all such friendships. The good go down to the
bad, and the bad do not come up to the good. The world's proverb is only too
correct: "Clothes and company tell true tales about character." "Show me who a
man lives with and I will show you what he is." I dwell upon this point, because
it has more to do with your prospects in life than first appears. If you ever
marry, it is more than probable you will choose a wife from among your circle of
friends or their acquaintances. If Jehoshaphat's son Jehoram had not formed a
friendship with Ahab's family, he would most likely not have married Ahab's
daughter. And who can estimate the importance of a right choice in marriage? It
is a step which, according, to the old saying, "either makes a man or ruins
him." Your happiness in both lives may depend on it. Your wife must either help
your soul or harm it. She will either fan the flame of Christianity in your
heart, or throw cold water upon it, and make it burn low. She will either be,
wings or handcuffs, an encouragement or an hindrance to your Christianity,
according to her character. He that finds a good wife does indeed "finds a good
thing;" so if you have the desire to find one, be very careful how you choose
your friends. Do you ask me what kind of friends you should choose? Choose
friends who will benefit your soul, friends whom you can really respect, friends
whom you would like to have near you on your deathbed, friends who love the
Bible, and are not afraid to speak to you about it, friends that you would not
be ashamed of having at the coming of Christ, and the day of judgment. Follow
the example that David sets for you: he says, "I am a friend to all who fear
you, to all who follow your precepts" (Psalm 119:63). Remember the words of
Solomon: "He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools
suffers harm" (Proverbs 13:20). But depend on it, bad company in this life, is
the sure way to procure worse company in the life to come. IV. Special Rules for
Young Men 4. In the last place, I will set down some particular rules of conduct
which I strongly advise all young men to follow. (1) For one thing, resolve at
once, by God's help, to break off every known sin, however small. Look within,
each one of you. Examine your own hearts. Do you see there any habit or custom
which you know is wrong in the sight of God? If you do, don't delay for a moment
in attacking it. Resolve at once to lay it aside. Nothing, darkens the eyes of
the mind so much, and deadens the conscience so surely, as an allowed sin. It
may be a little one, but it is not any less dangerous. A small leak will sink a
great ship, and a small spark will kindle a great fire, and a little allowed sin
in like manner will ruin an immortal soul. Take my advice, and never spare a
little sin. Israel was commanded to kill every Canaanite, both great and small.
Act on the same principle, and show no mercy to little sins. Well says the book
of the Song of Songs, "Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the
vineyards" (Song of Songs 2:15). You can be sure that no wicked man ever meant
to be so wicked at his first beginnings. But he began with allowing himself some
little sins, and that led on to something greater, and that in time produced
something greater still, and thus he became the miserable being that he now is.
When Hazael heard from Elisha of the horrible acts that he would one day do, he
said with astonishment, "How could your servant, a mere dog, accomplish such a
feat?" (2 Kings 8:13). But he allowed sin to take root in his heart, and in the
end he did them all. Young men, resist sin in its beginnings. They may look
small and insignificant, but mind what I say, resist them, make no compromise,
let no sin lodge quietly and undisturbed in your heart. There is nothing finer
than the point of a needle, but when it has made a hole, it draws all the thread
after it. Remember the Apostle's words, "A little yeast works through the whole
batch of dough" (1 Corinthians 5:6). Many a young man could tell you with sorrow
and shame, that he traces the ruin of all his worldly prospects to the point I
speak of--to giving way to sin in its beginnings. He began habits of deception
and dishonesty in little things, and they grew on him. Step by step, he has gone
on from bad to worse, till he has done things that at one time he would have
thought impossible till at last he has lost his standing, lost his character,
lost his peace, and almost lost his soul. He allowed a gap in the wall of his
conscience, because it seemed a little one, and once allowed, that gap grew
larger every day, till in time the whole wall seemed to come down. Remember this
especially in matters of truth and honesty. Be careful in even the least
syllable spoken. "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted
with much" (Luke 16:10). Whatever the world may like to think, there are no
little sins. All great buildings are made up of little parts--the first stone is
as important as any other. All habits are formed by a succession of little acts,
and the first little act is of mighty consequence. The axe in the fable only
begged the trees to let him have one little piece of wood to make a handle, and
he would never trouble them any more. He got it, and then he soon cut them all
down. The devil only wants to get the wedge of a little allowed sin into your
heart, and you will soon be all his own. It is a wise saying, "There is nothing
small between us and God, for God is an infinite God." There are two ways of
coming down from the top of a ladder; one is to jump down, and the other is to
come down by the steps: but both will lead you to the bottom. So also there are
two ways of going to hell; one is to walk into it with your eyes open--few
people do that; the other is to go down by the steps of little sins--and that
way, I fear, is only too common. Put up with a few little sins, and you will
soon want a few more. Even a heathen could say, "Who was ever content with only
one sin?" If you put up with little sins then your path in life will be worse
and worse every year. Jeremy Taylor very clearly described the progress of sin
in a man: First it startles him, then it becomes pleasing, then easy, then
delightful, then frequent, then habitual, then a way of life! Then the man feels
no guilt, then obstinate, then resolves never to repent, and then he is damned.
Young men, if you don't want to come to this, remember the rule I give you this
day--resolve at once to break off every known sin. (2) Resolve, by God's help,
to shun everything which may prove an occasion of sin. It is an excellent
saying, "He that would be safe from the acts of evil, must widely avoid the
occasions." There is an old fable, that the butterfly once asked the owl how she
should deal with the fire, which had singed her wings; and the owl counseled
her, in reply, not to even look at its smoke. It is not enough that we determine
not to commit sin, we must carefully keep at a distance from all approaches to
it. By this test we ought to examine the ways we spend our time--the books that
we read, the friends that we visit, the part of society which we interact with.
We must not be content with saying, "There is nothing wrong here;" we must go
further, and say, "Is there anything here which may cause me to sin?" This is
one great reason why idleness is to be avoided. It is not that doing nothing is
of itself so wicked; it is the opportunity it affords to evil and empty
thoughts; it is the wide door it opens for Satan to throw in the seeds of bad
things; it is this which is mainly to be feared. If David had not given
opportunity to the devil, by walking on his house-top in Jerusalem with nothing
to do, he probably never would have seen Bathsheba bathing, nor murdered her
husband Uriah. This, too, is one good reason why worldly entertainments are so
objectionable. It may be difficult, in some instances, to show that they are, in
themselves, positively unscriptural and wrong. But there is little difficulty in
showing that the tendency of almost all of them is most injurious to the soul.
They sow the seeds of an earthly and sensual frame of mind. They war against the
life of faith. They promote an unhealthy and unnatural craving after excitement.
They minister to the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eye, and the pride
of life. They dim the view of heaven and eternity, and give a false color to the
things of time. They take away time for private prayer, and Scripture reading,
and calm communion with God. The man who mingles in them is like one who gives
Satan an advantage. He has a battle to fight, and he gives his enemy the help of
sun, and wind, and hill. It would indeed be strange if he did not find himself
continually overcome. Young men, endeavor, as much as you can, to keep clear of
everything which may prove injurious to your soul. People may say you are too
conscientious, too particular, and ask where is the great harm of such and such
things? But don't listen to them. It is dangerous to play tricks with sharp
tools: it is far more dangerous to take liberties with your immortal soul. He
that would be safe must not come near the brink of danger. He must look on his
heart as a barrel of gunpowder, and be cautious not to handle one spark of
temptation more than he can help. What is the use of your praying, "Lord keep me
from temptation," unless you are careful not to run into it and "keep me from
evil," unless you show a desire to keep out of its way? Take an example from
Joseph--Not merely did he refuse solicitation to sin from his master's wife, but
he showed his prudence in refusing to even be "with her" (Genesis 39:10). Take
to heart the advice of Solomon, not only to "Not set foot on the path of the
wicked," but to "Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn from it and go your way"
(Proverbs 4:15); "Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the
cup, when it goes down smoothly!" (Proverbs 23:31). The man who took the vow of
a Nazarite in Israel, not only took no wine, but be even abstained from grapes
in any shape whatever. "Hate what is evil," says Paul to the Romans (Romans
12:9); not merely not to do it; "Flee the evil desires of youth," he writes to
Timothy; get away from them as far as possible (2 Timothy 2:22). Oh, how needful
are such cautions! Dinah just had go out among the wicked Shechemites, to see
their ways, and she lost her virginity. Lot just had pitched his tent near
sinful Sodom, and he lost everything but his life. Young men, be wise with your
time. Do not always be trying to see how near you can allow the enemy of souls
to come, and yet escape him. Hold him at arm's length. Try to keep clear of
temptation as far as possible, and this will be one great help to keep clear of
sin. (3) Resolve never to forget the eye of God. The eye of God! Think of that.
Everywhere, in every house, in every field, in every room, in every company,
alone or in a crowd, the eye of God is always on you. "The eyes of the Lord are
everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good" (Proverbs 15:3), and they
are eyes that read hearts as well as actions. Endeavor, I beg you, to realize
this fact. Remember that you have to deal with an all-seeing God, a God who
never sleeps, a God who understands your thoughts, and with whom the night
shines as the day. You may leave your father's house, and go away, like the
prodigal, into a far country, and think that there is nobody to watch your
conduct; but the eye and ear of God are there before you. You may deceive your
parents or employers, you may tell them lies, and act one way before their
faces, and another behind their backs, but you cannot deceive God. He knows you
through and through. He heard what you said as you came here today. He knows
what you are thinking of at this minute. He has set your most secret sins in the
light of His countenance, and they will one day come out before the world to
your shame, except you take heed. How little is this really felt! How many
things are done continually, which men would never do if they thought they were
seen! How many matters are transacted in the rooms of imagination, which would
never bear the light of day! Yes; men entertain thoughts in private, and say
words in private, and do acts in private, which they would be ashamed and blush
to have exposed before the world. The sound of a footstep coming has stopped
many a deed of wickedness. A knock at the door has caused many an evil work to
be hastily suspended, and hurriedly laid aside. But oh, what miserable folly is
all this! There is an all-seeing Witness with us wherever we go. Lock the door,
pull down the blind, turn out the light; it doesn't matter, it makes no
difference; God is everywhere, you cannot shut Him out, or prevent His seeing.
"Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and
laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account" (Hebrews 4:13).
Young Joseph understood this well when his employer's wife tempted him. There
was no one in the house to see them, no human eye to witness against him; but
Joseph was one who lived as seeing Him that is invisible: "How could I do such a
wicked thing and sin against God?" (Genesis 39:9) Young men, I ask all of you to
read Psalm 139. I advise all of you to learn it by heart. Make it the test of
all your dealings in this world's business: say to yourself often, "Do I
remember that God sees me?" Psalm 139 “O LORD, you have searched me and you know
me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You
discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. You hem me
in--behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too
wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.” “Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the
dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide
me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide
me and the light become night around me,’ even the darkness will not be dark to
you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.” “For
you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise
you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I
know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the
secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes
saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.” “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the
grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.” “If only you would slay the
wicked, O God! Away from me, you bloodthirsty men! They speak of you with evil
intent; your adversaries misuse your name. Do I not hate those who hate you, O
LORD, and abhor those who rise up against you? I have nothing but hatred for
them; I count them my enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and
know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me
in the way everlasting.” “Live as in the sight of God. This is what Abraham did,
he walked before Him. This is what Enoch did, he walked with Him. This is what
heaven itself will be, the eternal presence of God. Do nothing that you would
not like God to see. Say nothing, you would not like God to hear. Write nothing,
you would not like God to read. Go no place where you would not like God to find
you. Read no book of which you would not like God to say, ‘Show it to Me.’ Never
spend your time in such a way that you would not like to have God say, ‘What are
you doing?’” (4) Be diligent in the practice of your Christianity. Be regular in
going to church, whenever it is open for prayer and preaching, and it is in your
power to attend. Be regular in keeping, the Lord's day holy, and determine that
God's day out of the seven shall always be given to its rightful owner. I would
not want to leave any false impression on your minds. Do not go away and say I
told you that going to church made up the whole of Christianity. I will tell you
no such thing. I have no wish to see you grow up formalists and Pharisees. If
you think the mere carrying of your body to a certain building, at certain
times, on a certain day in the week, will make you a Christian, and prepare you
to meet God, I tell you flatly you are miserably deceived. All services without
heart-service are unprofitable and vain. They only are true worshipers who
"Worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers
the Father seeks" (John 4:23). But the practices of Christianity are not to be
despised because they are not saviors. Gold is not food, you cannot eat it, but
you would not say it is useless, and throw it away. Your soul's eternal
well-being most certainly does not depend on the practices of Christianity, but
it is certain that without them, as a general rule, your soul will not do well.
God might take all who are saved to heaven in a chariot of fire, as He did
Elijah, but He does not do so. He might teach them all by visions, and dreams,
and miraculous interventions, without requiring them to read or think for
themselves, but He does not do so. And why not? Because He is a God that works
by means, and it is His law and will that in all man's dealings with Him means
shall be used. No one but a fool would think of building a house without ladders
and scaffolding, and just so no wise man will despise means. I dwell on this
point, because Satan will try hard to fill your minds with arguments against the
practices of Christianity. He will draw your attention to the numbers of persons
who use them and are no better for the using. "See there," he will whisper, "do
you not observe that those who go to church are no better than those who stay
away?" But do not let this move you. It is never fair to argue against a thing
because it is improperly used. It does not follow that the practices of
Christianity can do no good because many do them and get no good from them.
Medicine is not to be despised because many take it and do not recover their
health. No man would think of giving up eating, and drinking because others
choose to eat and drink improperly, and so make themselves sick. The value of
the practices of Christianity, like other things, depends, in a great measure,
on the manner and spirit in which we use them. I dwell on this point too,
because of the strong anxiety I feel that every young man should regularly hear
the preaching of Christ's gospel. I cannot tell you how important I think this
is. By God's blessing, the ministry of the gospel might be the means of
converting, your soul, of leading you to a saving knowledge of Christ, of making
you a child of God in action and in truth. This would indeed be cause for
eternal thankfulness. This would be an event over which angels would rejoice.
But even if this were not the case, there is a restraining power and influence
in the ministry of the gospel, under which I earnestly desire every young man to
be brought. There are thousands whom it keeps back from evil, though it has not
yet turned them to God--it has made them far better members of society--though
it has not yet made them true Christians. There is a certain kind of mysterious
power in the faithful preaching of the gospel, which has an effect on multitudes
who listen to it without receiving it into their hearts. To hear sin exposed for
what it is, and holiness lifted up, to hear Christ exalted, and the words of the
devil denounced--to hear the kingdom of heaven and its blessedness described,
and the world and its emptiness exposed; to hear this week after week, Sunday
after Sunday, is seldom without a good effect to the soul. It makes it far
harder afterwards to run out and commit gross sins. It acts as a wholesome check
upon a man's heart. This, I believe, is one way in which that promise of God is
made good, "My word that goes out from my mouth: it will not return to me empty"
(Isaiah 55:11). There is so much truth in that strong saying of Whitefield, "The
gospel keeps many a person from going to jail and from being hanged, if it does
not keep him from hell." Let me name another point which is closely connected
with this subject. Let nothing ever tempt you to become a Christian who does not
make every effort to attend church on Sunday and make the day special to the
Lord. Make up your mind to give all your Sundays to God. A spirit of disregard
for this day is growing up among us with fearful rapidity, and not least among
young men. Sunday vacations, Sunday visiting, Sunday excursions, to the
exclusion of church attendance and honoring of the Lord, are becoming more
common every year than they were, and are doing infinite harm to souls. Young
men, be jealous on this point. Whether you live in the city or in the country,
take up a decided line; resolve not to miss church on Sunday and the fellowship
of God's people. Do not let the plausible argument of "needing to sleep-in to
rest your body," do not let not the example of all those around you, do not let
the invitation of companions pull you away from fellowship and worship; let none
of these things move you to depart from this settled rule, that Sunday's are for
God's honor and for fellowship with His people. Once you don't consider Sundays
important or anything special in your Christian life, then in the end you will
give up caring for your soul. The steps which lead to this conclusion are easy
and common. Begin with not honoring the Lord's Day, and you will soon not honor
God's people; cease to honor God's book; and in time you will give God no honor
at all. Let a man lay the foundation of having no respect for God's worship or
the fellowship of the saints, and I am never surprised if he finishes with no
God. It is a remarkable saying of Judge Hale, "Of all the persons who were
convicted of capital crimes while he was on the bench, he found only a few who
would not confess, on inquiry, that they began their career of wickedness by a
neglect of the church and God's people." Young men, you may have friends who
forget the honor of the Lord's day; but resolve, by God's help, that you will
always remember to keep it special. Honor it by a regular attendance at some
place where the gospel is preached. Settle down under a faithful ministry, and
once settled, let your place in church never be empty. Believe me, you will find
a special blessing following you: "If you keep your feet from breaking the
Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a
delight and the LORD'S holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your
own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find
your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob" (Isaiah 58:13-14). And one
thing is very certain, your feelings about Sunday and the fellowship will always
be a test and criterion of your fitness for heaven. Fellowship and worship are a
foretaste and a fragment of heaven. The man who finds them a burden and not a
privilege, may be sure that his heart stands in need of a mighty change. (5)
Resolve that wherever you are, you will pray. Prayer is the life-breath of a
man's soul. Without it, we may have a name to live, and be counted Christians;
but we are dead in the sight of God. The feeling that we must cry to God for
mercy and peace is a mark of salvation; and the habit of spreading before Him
our soul's needs is an evidence that we have the spirit of adoption. And prayer
is the appointed way to obtain the relief of our spiritual necessities. It opens
the treasury, and sets the fountain flowing. If we don't have, it is because we
don't ask. Prayer is the way to procure the outpouring of the Spirit upon our
hearts. Jesus has promised the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. He is ready to come
down with all His precious gifts, renewing, sanctifying, purifying,
strengthening, cheering, encouraging, enlightening, teaching, directing,
guiding, into all truth. But then He waits to be asked. And here it is, I say it
with sorrow, here it is that men fall short so miserably. Few indeed are to be
found who pray: there are many who go down on their knees, and say a form
perhaps, but few who pray; few who cry out to God, few who call on the Lord, few
who seek as if they wanted to find, few who knock as if they hungered and
thirsted, few who wrestle, few who strive with God earnestly for an answer, few
who give Him no rest, few who continue in prayer, few who pray always without
ceasing and do not grow weak. Yes: few pray! It is just one of the things
assumed as a matter of course, but seldom practiced; a thing which is
everybody's business, but in fact hardly anybody performs. Young men, believe
me, if your soul is to be saved, you must pray. God has no speechless children.
If you are to resist the world, the flesh, and the devil, you must pray: it is
in vain to look for strength in the hour of trial, if it has not been sought
for. You may be thrown in with those who never do it, you may have to sleep in
the same room with someone who never asks anything of God, still, mark my words,
you must pray. I can believe that you find it difficult to do, difficulties
about opportunities to pray, and times to pray, and places to pray. I dare not
lay down too strict rules on such points as these. I leave them to your own
conscience. You must be guided by circumstances. Our Lord Jesus Christ prayed on
a mountain; Isaac prayed in the fields; Hezekiah turned his face to the wall as
he lay upon his bed; Daniel prayed by the riverside; Peter, the Apostle, on the
housetop. I have heard of young men praying in stables and haylofts. All that I
contend for is this, you must know what it is to "go into your room, close the
door and pray to your Father, who is unseen" (Matthew 6:6). There must be stated
times when you must speak to God face to face, you must every day have your
times for prayer--You must pray. Without this, all my advice and counsel is
useless. This is that piece of spiritual armor which Paul names last in his
list, in Ephesians 6, but it is in truth that is first in value and importance.
This is that meat which you must eat daily, if you would travel safely through
the wilderness of this life. It is only in the strength of this that you will
get onward towards the mountain of God. I have heard it said that some people
who grind metal sometimes wear a magnetic mouthpiece at their work, which
catches all the fine metal dust that flies around them, prevents it from
entering their lungs, and so saves their lives. Prayer is the mouthpiece that
you must wear continually, or else you will never work uninjured by the
unhealthy atmosphere of this sinful world. You must pray. Young men, be sure no
time is so well spent as that which a man spends on his knees. Make time for
this, whatever your situation may be. Think of David, King of Israel: what does
be say? "Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice"
(Psalm 55:17). Think of Daniel. He had all the business of a kingdom on his
hands; yet he prayed three times a day. See there the secret of his safety in
wicked Babylon. Think of Solomon. He begins his reign with prayer for help and
assistance, and hence his wonderful prosperity. Think of Nehemiah. He could find
time to pray to the God of heaven, even when standing in the presence of his
master, Artaxerxes. Think of the example these good men have left you, and go
and do likewise. Oh that the Lord may give you all the spirit of grace and
supplication! "Have you not just called to me: 'My Father, my friend from my
youth'" (Jeremiah 3:4). Gladly would I consent to the fact that all of this
message should be forgotten, if only this doctrine of the importance of prayer
might be impressed on your hearts. V. Conclusion And now I hurry towards a
conclusion. I have said things that many perhaps will not like, and not receive;
but I appeal to your consciences, Are they not true? Young men, you all have
consciences. Corrupt and ruined by the fall as we are, each of us has a
conscience. In a corner of each heart there sits a witness for God, a witness
who condemns when we do wrong, and approves when we do right. To that witness I
make my appeal this day, are not the things that I have been saying true? Go
then, young men, and resolve this day to remember your Creator in the days of
your youth. Before the day of grace is past, before your conscience has become
hardened by age, and deadened by repeated trampling under foot, while you have
strength, and time, and opportunities, go and join yourself to the Lord in an
everlasting covenant not to be forgotten. The Spirit will not always strive. The
voice of conscience will become feebler and fainter every year you continue to
resist it. The Athenians said to Paul, "We want to hear you again on this
subject" but they had heard him for the last time (Acts 17:32). Make haste, and
don't delay. Linger and hesitate no more. Think of the unspeakable comfort you
will give to parents, relatives, and friends, if you take my counsel. They have
expended time, money, and health to raise you, and make you what you are. Surely
they deserve some consideration. Who can know the joy and gladness which young
people have in their power to give? Who can tell the anxiety and sorrow that
sons like Esau, and Hophni, and Phinehas, and Absalom may cause? Truly indeed
does Solomon say, "A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son grief
to his mother" (Proverbs 10:1). Oh, consider these things, and give God your
heart! Let it not be said of you at last, as it is of many, that your "youth was
a disorder, your manhood a struggle, and your old age a regret." Think of the
good you might be doing for the world. Almost all the eminent saints of God
sought the Lord early. Moses, Samuel, David, Daniel, all served God from their
youth. God seems to delight in putting special honor upon young servants; and
think of what we could expect, if young men in our own day would consecrate the
springtime of their lives to God? Workers are wanted now in almost every great
and good cause, and cannot be found. Technology of every kind for spreading
truth exists, but there are not people to make it work. Money is more easily
obtained for doing good than men. Ministers are wanted for new churches,
missionaries are wanted for new fields, teachers are wanted for Sunday School,
many a good cause is standing still merely for want of workers. The supply of
godly, faithful, trustworthy men, for posts like those I have named, is far
below the demand. Young men of the present day, you are wanted for God. This is
an age of activity. We are shaking off some of our past selfishness. Men no
longer sleep the sleep of apathy and indifference about others, as their
forefathers did. They are beginning to be ashamed of thinking like Cain, "Am I
my brother's keeper?" A wide field of usefulness is open before you, if you are
only willing to enter into it. The harvest is great, and the workers are few. Be
zealous of good works. Come, come to the aid of the Lord against the wickedness
of this age. This is, in some sort, to be like God, not only good, but doing
good (Psalm 119:68). This is the way to follow the steps of your Lord and
Savior: "He went around doing good" (Acts 10:38). And who can doubt that this is
the path which makes an immortal soul beautiful? Who would not rather leave this
world like Josiah, grieved by all, than depart like Jehoram, "to no one's
regret?" (2 Chronicles 21:20). Is it better to be idle, frivolous, to live for
your body, your selfishness, your lusts, and your pride, or to spend and be
spent in the glorious cause of usefulness to your fellow men--to be a blessing
to your country and the world, to be the friend of the prisoner and the captive,
to be the spiritual father of hundreds of immortal souls in heathen lands, to be
a burning and a shining light, an epistle of Christ, known and read of all men,
the inspiration of every Christian heart that comes across your path? Oh, who
can doubt? Who can for one moment doubt? Young men, consider your
responsibilities. Think of the privilege and luxury of doing good. Resolve this
day to be useful. Give your hearts at once to Christ. Think, lastly, of the
happiness that will come to your own soul, if you serve God, happiness as you
travel through life, and happiness in the end, when the journey is over. Believe
me, whatever vain notions you may have heard, believe me, there is a reward for
the righteous even in this world. Godliness has indeed the promise of this life,
as well as of that which is to come. There is a solid peace in feeling that God
is your friend. There is a real satisfaction in knowing that however your
unworthiness, you are complete in Christ, that you have an enduring portion,
that you have chosen that good part which shall not be taken from you. The
backslider in heart may well be content with his own ways, but "the good man
[will be] rewarded for his" (Proverbs 14:14). The path of the worldly man grows
darker and darker every year that he lives; the path of the Christian is like a
shining light, brighter and brighter to the very end. His sun is just rising
when the sun of the worldly is setting forever; his best things are all
beginning to blossom and bloom forever, when those of the worldly are all
slipping out of his hands, and passing away. Young men, these things are true.
Listen to the word of exhortation. Be persuaded. Take up the cross. Follow
Christ. Yield yourselves to God. Transcribed and Provided by: Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board Box 314 Columbus, New Jersey, USA, 08022 Websites:
www.biblebb.com and www.gospelgems.com Email:
tony@biblebb.com("mailto:tony@biblebb.com") Online since 1986


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Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/sermons-on-holiness/
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