Just Say No!

There hath no trial or temptation or trouble taken you, but such as is common to all men. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to suffer, to be tempted, above that you are able. But will with the temptation or the trial also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it.

But young people today are faced with so many problems, especially peer pressure. We were talking about it in the little room that I was in a few minutes ago. I asked the president of one of our great universities one time, I said, what is the greatest problem that you face on this campus? And he said, emptiness.

I asked the president of Concordia a moment ago as we were talking, I said, what do you think the problem would be on the campuses as you see them across America? And he had a good answer, and I think even more correct, he said, it's uncertainty. And I think there is a great uncertainty on the part of young people today. We're talking about going to China in a few weeks.

And as we study the Chinese universities, and as we read about China, and as we have been to the Soviet Union and to all the countries in the Eastern world, Eastern Bloc, we've preached in all those countries except Bulgaria. And I find the same thing there. Young people are uncertain.

They're also under peer pressure. And the hardest word that young people have to say today is the little word no. Whether it's drugs, whether it's picking up a cigarette, whether it's illicit sex, whatever it is, it's the hardest word.

Do you say no when the peer pressure comes? When the hormones begin to rise? When the excitement is there? Yes, we're all tempted. But there's no temptation taking you but what everybody else has had. You say, well, did Jesus have temptations like that? Of course he did.

It says he was tempted at every point like as we are, yet without sin. Because the moment you're tempted, God provides a way to escape. There is a way out.

He provides it. But you have to make the decision to go that way. And when you make that decision, the Holy Spirit is there to help you and give you strength and courage.

I believe in watching television. I remember when we first got a television set, we could barely get it. All we got was some snow.

But we thought it was great when we saw a little movement. Now we have cable television. Get all kinds of things.

But you have to discipline yourself. And you have to say, no, I'm not going to spend all of my time in front of that box. And in many homes, it's become the idol.

It's become the God. You go into the home and everybody's quiet and reverent. You're in front of your God watching.

And that's the way it's become. And even some of our television owners and television personalities are warning us about it and how much harm can come in spending so much time watching television. Jesus said in Luke 21, 34, And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness in the cares of this life, so that the day of death comes upon you unawares, or the day of his coming comes upon you unawares.

Paul said, make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. Peter said, for the time past we walked in lasciviousness, lust, excess of wine, revelings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries. What about you? Do you live a disciplined life? Do you live an organized life? Have you got your life organized and disciplined to the point that you can say no to those things that you know that are hurting your body? You see, the Bible teaches that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

God doesn't live in a church building. God lives in you. And a group of us, called the church and assembly, make up the church.

And we use the building and its facilities to meet in. And so it's a sacred building. It's a holy building, as the temple was in Jesus' day, or the synagogues were considered.

But the real temple of God is your body. And yet you harm your body by the way you treat it. And then another man in the Bible, a young man that said no, that changed history, was Joseph.

He was the boy that his father loved the best, apparently. And the other children became jealous and envious of him. And so they said, let's kill him.

And Reuben, his oldest brother, said, no, let's put him in a pit. And we'll just leave him to die there, and father will not know the difference. But then some Ishmaelites came along, and they said, let's sell him and make some money.

And then his blood won't be on our hands. We'll let the Ishmaelites take him. So they sold him into slavery to these Ishmaelites, and they took him on to Egypt.

And they sold him to a man by the name of Potiphar, that was in the cabinet of Pharaoh. And he became a slave. Strong, handsome.

And the Genesis 39 tells us of the temptation of Joseph. And he said no, because Potiphar's wife was a beautiful woman and a sexy woman. And she came to him, and she said, Joseph, come and lie with me.

Go to bed with me. I've been wanting you ever since you've been here. And now all the men are gone.

My husband's away. Come with me. And he said no, I will not do this great wickedness.

Your husband has treated me well. And I would sin against my God if I did that. And she begged him.

And finally she became angry. And he rushed out of the house and left his coat behind. And she began to scream and yell.

She yelled, rape. He tried to rape me. And when her husband came home, he had Joseph thrown into prison.

Joseph said no. But then God was with Joseph in the prison. And you all know the story of how God used Joseph and made him the prime minister of all of Egypt.

And helped save, again, his family later on. A long story, which I don't have time to tell tonight. But most of you know it, I'm sure.

Now the Bible teaches that sex is not a sin. God gave it. It's a gift from God.

It's the wrong use of sex that's the sin. God gave you the ability to make love. But within the bonds of matrimony.

Not outside. Adultery is wrong. That's when two people who are married.

And then fornication, unmarried people. It's wrong. It's a sin.

And I know that the tremendous urge. Especially when you see it at every counter where they sell books and magazines. You see it on the television.

You see it in the movies. You see it everywhere. And the whole atmosphere saturated with the idea of sex.

How do you say no? I don't believe young people today can say no. Without Christ. With Christ and with the Holy Spirit giving you supernatural power.

You can say no. But I'll tell you it's tough. But the marks of a Christian are self-control and self-discipline.

Paul wrote to Timothy and said, keep thyself pure. He said, flee, flee, youthful lust, run. When that temptation comes, run.

He also said, but I keep my own body under. And I bring it into subjection. What about you?