This message was originally two and a half hours in length and had to be divided in two in order to fit on a CD and or a cassette. There existed a natural dividing point since the original message contained four major points. Thus, part one of this message, I will discuss the first two points and part two will cover the remaining two points and conclude.

Thoughts for young men. Part One by J.C. Ryle

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.

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 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 preserving from faults and sins which may hurt his prospects both for time and eternity, then I shall be very thankful. There are four things which I propose to do. First, I will mention some general reasons why young men need exhorting. Secondly, I will note some special dangers which young men need to be warned about. Thirdly, I will give some general counsel which I beg young men to receive. And fourthly, 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.

First, reasons for exhorting young men.

What are the general reasons why young men need specific exhortation? I will mention several of them in order. For one thing, there is the painful fact that there are few young men anywhere who seem to be Christians. There are few young men anywhere who seem to be Christians.

I speak without respect of persons, I say it of everyone. 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 that 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 tells 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 Rubens for whom he has the deepest searchings of the 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 the 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 the land. And what will they 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 their 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 the police officers and note what they will reply. Who goes to the nightclubs and bars the most? Who make up street gangs? Who are the 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 family, the sons will follow no profession and fritter away the most precious years of their life in doing nothing. In another family, they take up a profession as a mere form but pay no attention to its duties. In another family, 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 heartbroken 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, and 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 the pages 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 in all probability is an 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.

Secondly, 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 corpse as well as the aged. I read the names of persons no older than yourselves in every graveyard. I learned from books that accepting infancy and old age, more die between 13 and 23 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 that 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

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 10 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 talk about these things? So thought Felix and those from Athens, to whom Paul preached to, but it never came. The road to hell is paved with such ideas. Leave nothing unsettled that is eternal. Run no risk when your soul is at stake. Believe me, the salvation of a soul was no easy matter.

Everyone 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 the man who does not leave these things uncertain, but never rest 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. 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 will soon feed upon you in the grave. There is but a step between any one of you and death. This night your soul may be required of you. You are fast going the way of all the earth and you soon will be gone. Your life is all uncertainty and your death and judgment are perfectly sure.

You too must hear the archangels 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, get up, you dead, and come to judgment. Yes, I am coming soon, is the language of the judge himself.

I cannot, I dare not, I will not leave you alone. Oh, that each one of you would take to heart the words of the preacher that are found in the book of Ecclesiastes. 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 this, that for all these things, God will bring you to judgment.

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 all the world.

The clearest prophecy in the Bible begins with these words, listen, who has believed our message? The Lord Jesus said, when the son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?

Young men, I fear this is the report of many of you in the courts above. They will not believe. I fear that you will be hurried out of this world and awake to find out too late that death and judgment are realities. I fear all of this, and therefore I exhort you. Thirdly, what young men will be in all probability depends on what they are now. and they all 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 a 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 that is 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 that you can at will serve lust 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 that you can give the flower of your strength to the world and to the devil, and then put off the king of kings with the scraps and remains of your heart, the wreck and the 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 that 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 on the cross 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. But I warn you, it is also written by the same spirit, since you rejected me when I called you, 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.

Believe me, you will find it no easy matter to turn to God whenever you please. It is a true saying of the godly man, Leighton, who said this, the way of sin is downhill. A man cannot stop when he wants to.

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 to 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 take it, 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 they are 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 his spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil. Habits are like stones rolling downhill. The further they roll, the faster and more ungovernable is their course. Habits like trees are strengthened by age. A child 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 fountainhead, and yet 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 that I'm 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 stones, 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 away. Every year that you continue unrepentant, the wall of division between you and heaven becomes higher and thicker, and the gulf to be crossed becomes 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. Fourthly, 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 the 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 into your eyes and prevent you from 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 pleasure 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. He opposed our Lord Jesus Christ throughout all of 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 filled with 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 he 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 weaknesses, all its deceitfulness, and all of its folly. 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 affect 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 it or not, I cannot, dare not leave you alone. Fifthly, 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 wracks their limbs with pain and life is almost a weariness. Their muscular strength is so wasted that the slightest weight seems a burden. Their eyes 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 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 also is a bitter cup to drink. Young men, young men, I wish you only knew 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 in your life and so you will be spared many a bitter tear. This is the truth that Job seems to have felt. He said this, you write down bitter things against me and make me inherit the sins of my youth. So also his friend Zophar said, speaking of the wicked, the youthful vigor that fills his bones will lie with him in the dust. David also seems to have felt it. He says to the Lord, remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways. Bisa, 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 16. 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 had 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.

Now our second major point is entitled dangers of young men, dangers of young men.

There are some special dangers that young men need to be warned against. One danger to young men is pride, 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 particular snares and temptations, and it is well to know them. He that is forewarned is forearmed.

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 he 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. keeps us from taking advice, refuse the gospel of Christ, turn everyone to his own way.

But pride never reigns anywhere so powerfully as in the heart of a young man. How common it is to see young men with big heads, high-minded and impatient of any counsel. How often they are rude and uncourteous to all those around them. thinking that 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. 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 he 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 to 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 husk 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. How plainly we are told, the man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. How strict is the command, clothe yourselves with humility. 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. It is written, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor. 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. Surely to be proud is to be more like the devil and fallen Adam than to be 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. That was a very different spirit from his brother Absalom. who thought himself equal to anything, saying, 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. That was a very different spirit from his brother Adonijah, who exalted himself saying, I will be king. Humility was the beginning of Solomon's wisdom. He writes it down as his own experience saying, Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

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 are wrong. Don't trust your 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. 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.

Humility and silence are beautiful graces in young people. Never be ashamed of being a learner. Jesus was one at 12 years. When he was found in the temple, he was sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. The wisest men would tell you that 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.

Another danger to young men is the love of pleasure, 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 generally have 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 that take up their attention. And all these things help to make young men, Think of nothing except pleasure. I serve lust 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 will do you harm. Why should I speak of carousing, partying, drinking, gambling, theater 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. 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 the 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. 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. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with his passions and desires.

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. 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 Christ Jesus. 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 locust, 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 verse 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 a 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. 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. Young men, flee from sexual immorality 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. 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. Listen, 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 who said, I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl. Flee from talking about it. It is one of the things that ought not to be even 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. Another danger to young men is thoughtlessness. Thoughtlessness. Not thinking is one simple reason why thousands of souls are thrown away forever in the lake of fire. Men will not consider. Men will not look ahead. They will not look around them. They will not reflect on the end of their present course and the sure consequences of their present ways. and they wake up to find that they are damned for the 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 to have 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 upon 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. 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 a 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 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. 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 there 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? He says, 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. 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 so 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. Another danger to young men is contempt of Christianity. 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 their Bible so little, sing so little, listen to preaching so little. None are so generally absent at prayer meetings, Bible studies, and all other weekly helps to the soul. Young men seem to think that 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 believe they considered it a disgrace to go to heaven at all. And this is a 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 earnest about it. Contempt of holy things is a 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. The fool, and no one but the fool has said it, but he has never proved it. Remember, if there was ever 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 fault finders. The word of the Lord is faultless. It has been tested in every way. And the more it has been tested, the more 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 is 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 medicine 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. Oh, 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 that it's true. An evil lifestyle must always raise an objection to this book. Many 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. Another danger to young men is the fear of man's opinion, the fear of man's opinion. The fear of man will indeed prove to be a snare. 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 companions 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 in to them, Saul said to Samuel, and so he violated the Lord's command. I am afraid of the Jews, says Zedekiah, the graceless king of Judah, and so he disobeyed the advice which Jeremiah gave him. 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 King Jehoshaphat's weak point. He was too easy and yielding in his dealings with Ahab and therefore caused many of his troubles. Learn to say no. Don't let the fear of not seeming good nature make you unable to do it. When sinners entice you, be able to say decidedly, I will not give in to them.

Consider how unreasonable this fear of man is. How short-lived is man's hostility and how little harm he can do you. Isaiah said, 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. 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 those 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 body and soul in hell. 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.

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. Call to mind the saying of Gardner, I fear God and therefore I have no one else to fear. Go and be like him.

Such are the warnings that 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. Amen.

Part two of this message is continued on CD or cassette, gem number JR009.