In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of guarding one's mind in a world that is anti-God. The media, particularly in the area of sex, is portrayed as a tool to destroy people's minds. The speaker also discusses the prevalence of injustice in the world and encourages young people to expect and face it with resilience. The sermon concludes with a reminder to young people to not be discouraged by disappointment, injustice, and failure, but to instead strive to be an example of faith, love, and purity.

We'd like to begin by looking at one of the most well-known verses for young people in 1 Timothy and chapter 4 and verse 12. In 1 Timothy 4.12 it says, Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather, in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe. So, Paul was writing to Timothy, who was already a very fine Christian. He said, you're young Timothy, but don't let anyone look down on you because you're young. And how to prevent them from looking down on you. You know, the world is full of people who look down on young people. You've got no experience. You don't know like I know. And how to overcome that. How to make sure that even if you're a young person, that people will respect you. It's not by impressing them with your job or salary or driving a car. That's all for worldly people. Paul tells Timothy, let people see the way you live, the way you talk, particularly the way you talk, your speech, the way you behave, your love, faith and purity. And that your whole life is such an example. I mean, I praise God for young brothers and sisters who I have seen through the years who are an example in this area. I remember when I was a young man, I was converted when I was 19 and from the time I got baptized at the age of 21, I really sought to be an example in everything. In my attitude to money, in my speech, in my conduct with the opposite sex, in everything. In my conduct in the assembly, in my submission to the elders, etc. And I found even at a very young age, people had confidence in me. I could be 23 years old and get up in the pulpit and say something and people would listen. So, I believe God needs many of you to be like that when you're young. To be such an example by your life. You know, people may argue with your age and say, well, you're so young, but they can't argue with a life and a way of speaking and conduct which is really godly. So, please remember that and to help you in that direction, I want to share with you 5 things which are 5 areas where a lot of young people have their major problems. So, if you stick with me till the end and listen carefully, apply it to yourself, I believe you can get something which will really benefit you if you listen. Now, the first thing which I always have said whenever speaking to young people, the first major problem which many young people don't deal with, and you need to deal with it once and for all, is to accept yourself the way God made you. That's the first thing. The first problem that a lot of young people have is just accepting themselves the way God made them. They're always looking at somebody else who appears a little better, either physically, or personality-wise, or richer, or better parents, better upbringing, whatever it is, and they feel, oh, I wish I could be like that person. I wish I could be fairer, I wish I could be taller, or shorter, or thinner. I don't think anybody wishes they'd be fatter, but usually thinner. So, it's always that wish, and if you're honest, I think many of you would have had thoughts like that. When you look into a mirror, or when you look at other people, you wish you had something which you don't have, and if the devil can keep on working on that in your life, you see, ah, it would have been so much better if you were like that person, so much better if you were born into that family, or so much better if you had married that person, or this person, etc., etc., etc., etc. It's endless. It's the best way to live a frustrated, useless life. I wonder how many dark-skinned people there are who are perfectly happy with their color. I am. I started losing my hair when I was 21 years old, and I never complained. I said, well, if that's the way God decides that I should be, I accept it. You know, Paul said in Philippians 4.11, I've learned in whatever state I am to be content. And I want to tell you, you will never become spiritual until you first learn contentment. The Bible says in 1 Timothy 6, Godliness with contentment brings great profit. And the first thing you have to be content with is your person. Many people, even though they say they are spiritual, they are very concerned about their physical person. I'm not saying that we should not be tidy or neat or anything, but to accept that God did not make a mistake in the way He made you. And just like there are dark-skinned people who always wish they were whiter, there are good-looking people who are pretty proud that they are good-looking, and look down on others. So here are two, one discouraged and one proud, both are useless to God. One because they are always discouraged, and wishing they could be different. And the other because they are so proud, because they are smarter, richer, more good-looking than others. Both are useless to God. Don't fall into either category. Accept yourself the way God made you, and recognize that it is God who made you that way. You don't become spiritual if you are fair-skinned, or pretty, or rich. Now, Paul was one of the most spiritual men the Church has ever seen, and he was very ugly and very short, bald with a hooked nose. Didn't God know when He was making him in His mother's womb that He was going to be the greatest apostle? Yes, He did. That's why He made him like that, to teach the world that the anointing of God has got nothing to do with your height, or the color of your skin, or how smart you are, or any such thing. So I want to turn you to Psalm 139, and see what it says there. Psalm 139. This is a wonderful Psalm. Verse 13 onwards. O Lord, You found me in my mother's womb, and I thank You, God, for my body and my soul. My soul means my personality, my intelligence, and my inner part of me. Body is the outer part of me. I thank You for the inner part of me and the outer part of me. I am marvelously made, inside and out, and I worship You in adoration. What a creation! We come on a Sunday morning and worship God, as we think of what Jesus did for us. You know what this Psalm says? You look in the mirror and you say, Boy, Lord, what a person You made me. What a fantastic person You made me. I may be bald, but this is great. You're going to give me some brains under this bald head. That's worth it. God is... Have you ever worshipped God for the way He made you? I've got a healthy heart, functioning okay. Liver, kidneys, all functioning okay. Stomach... You know, many people think of a stomach only when they get a stomachache. They don't think of it the rest of the time when they're doing a first-class job. There's so many things we have to thank God for and say, Lord, I want to thank You for the way You made me. That's exactly right. I'm not better than anybody else because I'm taller or worse than anybody else because I'm shorter. If God made you in a certain way and girls particularly are very particular about their figure because they see all these models who do all types of things to their body to get this unrealistic figure. You know these models that you see in newspapers, advertisements, television advertisements. It's not a realistic thing. I heard of one of these models who took out some of her ribs so that she could get this type of figure. You want to do that? It's crazy what people are after. What all they'll do to get a good figure? And then they've got it, they starve and all that in order to get it, get sick. And then somebody else who can't get that, gets discouraged because they're so fat. Now what I'm saying is, some people have a tendency towards getting fat. I wouldn't despise them for that. Don't ever despise somebody. It's not because they're eating so much. Because it's in their genes. It's like some people are short. It's not because they didn't eat enough. It's because it was in their genes. Don't ever despise someone who's a little different from you and accept yourself the way you are. It's very important because God's the one who made all of us. And you know me inside out. You know every bone in my body. You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit. How I was sculpted. You know when God made you, He's a sculptor. He's a sculptor who made a sculpture, your body, from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth. You know, conception to birth. All the stages of my life were spread out before you. And the days of my life after I was born were prepared before I was born. Before I lived a single day on this earth. So, it was God who not only made you exactly the way you're supposed to be, gave you the color of your skin, the genes in your system, that gave you intelligence, height, everything. Not only that, but He's the one who determined your parents, your economic, social level. You know, some people feel discouraged, Oh, I'm from such a poor family, my parents don't even speak English. And maybe there's some other religion. And you feel a little inferior to someone here from a high class family. Why? Did some other God make them and some other God make you? God is the one who decided who your parents should be, and your upbringing, your education. And before you knew Him, before you came to Christ, even those decisions you took, where you didn't pray about it, you didn't seek God's will, but you just took a decision. God was in it because He knew one day you would be His child. I have no doubt about it in my mind. I never knew what type of ministry God was going to give me. I mean, I sort of gradually discovered it. I didn't even know the ministry I have today ten years ago. You gradually discover more and more what God has for you as we grow up. So I certainly didn't know when I was a young man what I was going to do. Oh, when I was a little boy, certainly not. And when I decided to join the Navy, I didn't pray and seek God's will. I didn't even know what it was to fast and pray. I just thought that was the best thing to going, and I had some ambitions and I joined it. But as I look back, and I came to the Lord after I joined the Navy, I see that God had planned it. He trained me there for His service, but I didn't seek His will. He was the one who planned it. And some decisions that were taken for you by your parents, when you were young, not old enough to take a decision yourself, you can be pretty sure that God was in it. If today you are a wholehearted child of God, then God was in it. If you are a half-hearted person, I don't know. I really don't know what God plans for half-hearted people. Because they mess up their life in so many ways by not seeking God. Then I don't know. But if you are a wholehearted person, I believe in those decisions over which you had no control. I'm talking about such decisions. Not decisions which you took. Decisions over which you had no control or before you were saved. Those decisions which your parents took for you, decisions you took before you were converted, God was in all of them. After we are saved, He expects us to be more responsible in our decisions. There's a verse in Acts 17 which says, He overlooks the times of ignorance. I think it's somewhere after 26. Acts 17, 26 onwards. It says, God overlooks the times of ignorance, but now He tells everyone to repent and take the right decision. So you need to accept that God was the one, just like Jesus. God determined that He should be born to Mary in Nazareth, live in Nazareth, but be born in Bethlehem. He even determined that when He was a little baby, He should be taken to Egypt. You read that. Like it says in Hosea, Out of Egypt I brought my son. You read Matthew 1 and 2. It's fulfillment of, as Scripture has written, as Scripture has written. There was a plan for Jesus' life. He couldn't be born in any century, or to anyone, anywhere. It had to be a particular time, fullness of time. God sent His Son. I believe in the fullness of time God sent me, and sent you, at the right time. I'm thankful I was not born in India 300 years ago. What about you? I'm very thankful. I think I'd probably been lost and go to hell. Who would have given the Gospel to me 300 years ago? I'm glad I was not even born 100 years ago. Some of you are really fortunate that you were not born when I was born. You guys are luckier than me. You heard things in your youth, which I heard only when I was in middle age. So, God determined the time of your birth. The period of, in history, when you should land up on this earth. Where you should land up. So, accept that. Accept that as God's plan for your life. Very, very important. And learn to worship Him. Say, Lord, I thank you for all that. Okay. Now, the second thing we face, I want to turn to Ephesians in chapter 6. The second problem young people face is conflict with parents. You see, we grow up as little children, we're babies and we grow up little children. The next problem we face is conflict with our father and mother. You know, all children face it because all children are rebellious. And it says here in Ephesians 6 in verse 1, children, obey your parents. Do what they ask you to do. This is right. Honor your father and mother, for this is the first commandment with a promise attached to it. And that promise is that you'll live well and you'll have a long life. You want to live well? You want it to go well with you on earth? Honor your father and mother. We live in a time when people don't honor their father and mother, except where they tell you to do something against the word of God. They ask you to marry an unbeliever, saying very respectfully, Dad, Mom, I'm sorry I can't do that. Where they ask you to do something contrary to God's word. That's the only place where we're permitted to disobey them. As long as you're living at home. Once you leave home, and you're earning your own living, established yourself, then you don't have to obey them, but you still have to honor them. However old I am, if my parents are still alive, I must honor them. But I don't have to obey them once I'm on my own. The example is Jesus. It says in Luke chapter 2, the last verse, He obeyed Joseph and Mary all the time He was in Nazareth. Joseph died, then He obeyed Mary. But one day came when He left His home at the age of 30. Then He turned to His mother and said, Woman, what have I got to do with you? Don't interfere in my life. John chapter 2. Two mistakes that people make, young people. They don't obey their parents when they're at home, and they listen too much to their parents after they have left. Both mistakes. Exact opposite of what Jesus did. Jesus submitted to Joseph and Mary as long as He was at home. And when He left, when God called Him out, He respected them, honored them. He cared for them even when He was hanging on the cross. He cared for His mother. Somebody has got to take care of her, even though He had younger brothers. Four younger brothers. But He was the eldest son, and so as the eldest son He cared for His mother. What an example. But He didn't listen to her. When it came to spiritual things, He said, Who is my mother? My brother. He's who hears the word of God and do it. I've seen young people make both mistakes. I've seen young people who think wholehearted zeal is rebelling against their parents at home and say, No, I'm not going to listen to you. I'm following Jesus. Stupid. Follow Jesus, but follow Jesus' example at home. And I've also seen people who leave their home on their own feet, and they're still hanging on to their mommy's coattails or daddy's coat and say, Please, can you guide me what I should do? Well, you can get advice from them, but you don't have to listen to them. So, conflict with parents. You know, some of us may have parents who are not born again, or parents of another religion. And they may ask you to do unreasonable things, things which are against God's word. Of course, there you have to very respectfully say no and show obedience to them and all the other areas which are not forbidden in God's word. I want to tell you it will go well with you. I'm going to be 66 in a few months. I know I look about 35, but that's not my age, by the way. That's just my spirit. It has gone well with me in my life. And one reason is, I've honored my parents. When I was at home, I listened to them. I may have disagreed with them. I got spankings, I suppose. I don't remember all of them, but like everybody else. I turned out okay, so I must have got spankings. Because the Bible says you don't turn out okay if you don't get spankings. But once I left, and I was earning my own income, I was on my own feet. I didn't ask daddy and mummy, shall I leave my job now? Whom should I marry? Will you be happy if I marry this person, that person? I decided on my own. I mean, I can take advice, but I was not worried whether they're going to be happy or not. I want to be happy. But that was not when I was staying at home. No. If I was staying at home, I'd have asked them, Dad, whom do you want me to marry? I'm at home, I'm living here, I'm not on my own. I'm still living under your roof. I'm supported by you. These are the mistakes people make. And some of these mistakes can have lifelong consequences. So many of you, follow the simple principles of Scripture. Don't have conflict with your parents on unnecessary matters. Parental blessing is a tremendous thing which you need to value. And I've always taught here, honour your father and mother, and it'll go well with you. But, like it says, children, obey your parents in the Lord. That means the Lord is first. Why do you obey your parents? Because the Lord told you to do that. So if they tell you to do something against the Lord, you still listen to the Lord. He's the higher authority. That's always God's will. And, you must remember that God has put your parents there to protect you from a lot of stupid things that you will do when you're young. Now, some of you may think you won't do stupid things. You're probably likely to do more stupid things than other people. Because you think you won't do it. You can think your parents are old-fashioned. I've even told people, even if your parents are unconverted, in earthly practical matters, they have a lot more wisdom than you. Even if they're not born again. You may be born again, zealous, wholehearted, but in earthly practical matters, they've got ten times more wisdom than you. They may not have wisdom in spiritual matters. So in a lot of earthly matters, they listen to their advice. It'll be very helpful. And especially if you don't have godly older brothers to guide you. I've seen young people who don't listen to their parents and don't listen to godly older brothers either. They just want to go their own way. I'm going to do my own thing. The world is full of such people today. And you see the condition of their lives. Why is it we have so many young people who are useless to god? So many young people get married, their homes are useless to god. They just live for each other. It's because they haven't gone forth right. You know, you can't suddenly change if you want to do your own way and you're stubborn to suddenly change when you get married. You've got to be broken. And one way god breaks us is through our parents. I've seen pictures of these wild horses. Fantastic strength. Fantastic speed. Absolutely useless if they are not broken. You see these race horses who win horse races. They are not these wild horses. They are these wild horses that have been broken to respond to every little prompting. They taught us to ride horses when I was in the military. And I saw, it was amazing these broken trained horses. You just tap them a little with your leg they understand what you mean. Pull them a little, just a wee bit with those reins, they understand what you mean. They know when to go fast, when to slow down. But that's because they were broken. If you're not broken, you'll be useless to god. Useless in his service. So, god uses parents to break us. If you want to be like a wild horse all your life, and I'll tell you something, you get married as a wild horse, you'll get a few wild horses, male and female, later on. Comes 20 years later or so that you discover their wildness, but they'll come. So, allow god to break you in your younger days. And it'll go really well with you as you grow up and get married, etc. So, be careful that you have, if at all you have a disagreement. Don't have conflict with parents. I don't believe we should ever have conflict. We may have disagreement. Disagreement must only be on spiritual matters. And when we disagree, we must disagree respectfully. Very respectfully. And you've got to make up for that disagreement by doing 101 other things to show them that you really respect them. This is what we've always taught in this church. It's what I've practiced. And I know that it can go extremely well with people who do that. And even if you're 70 years old and your parents are living, honor them. Care for them when they get older. Like Jesus did. In the midst of such severe pain on the cross, he thought, what about my mother? I've got to do something for her. And he told John to look after her. So, that's the second area. The reason why god allows us to have parents is to protect us. Just like in the church, if you happen to be fortunate enough to be in a church where the elder brother is like a spiritual father to you, boy, are you lucky. There are not many like that. There are a lot of teachers, but not many fathers. For 10,000 teachers, you'll find one father. That's about the proportion. You read in 1 Corinthians 4. So you've got to be... Don't ever despise a man who is a spiritual father to you. One in 10,000. You don't know the number of people who wander around this earth and destroy themselves because they don't have a good earthly father or a good spiritual father. So, don't get into conflict with those whom god has put to protect you from foolish steps. And when you have to disagree, go to God's word and pray and say, Lord, am I really disagreeing on a spiritual principle? Or, is it just my own stubbornness? Okay. Now we go to point number 3, which is peer pressure. Peer pressure. P-E-E-R. And that refers to those who are our peers, are those who are the same age as us. If you are 5 years old, your peers are 5 years old. If you are 15 years old, your peers are 15 years old. Those around that age, the ones you mingle with in school. Starts in school. The pressure to conform to their standards. Romans chapter 12 and verse 2 says, Romans 12.2 says, don't be conformed to this world. And I think it's J.B. Phillips translation which says, don't let the world squeeze you into its own mould. You know there is a mould. You know what a mould is? That's how they make plastic furniture. In a mould, you pour it into the mould, it comes out this shape. You pour another bit of plastic into the mould, it comes out exactly the same shape. It's how they make a lot of other things in the world. You pour into a mould. You can pour molten steel into a mould. Iron, it will come out that shape. Doesn't matter whether it's iron or plastic or anything. You pour it into a mould, it comes out that shape. And after it comes out that shape, you can't change the shape of that chair. You'll break it. You can't change the shape of that piece of steel. It's fixed. So once you allow the world to squeeze you into the mould, it's quite a job to get out of that mould. By God's grace, spiritually we can, but we've got to resist it. And we're living in a world right from school days where company is bad. You know what boys would indulge in in maybe college in my days, they now indulge in fifth standard. You know, in my entire school life, before I joined the military academy, my entire school life, all the way to senior Cambridge, I never saw anybody in any of my classes having a pornographic book that they had that they were showing around. Not even one. I thank God for that. But that's not because I was in a school of wholehearted believers or no such thing. They were all people of all religions. Christians, Hindus, Muslims, everybody was there. And none of them were saved. But the world was different in those days. But it's much worse today. So the pressure from people of our age, come on, do it! What's wrong in doing that? That's how a lot of girls lose their virginity. Because of peer pressure. They are foolish. They don't realize they got a lot more to lose than the boy. The boy would just chuck them and go somewhere and marry somebody else. But peer pressure leads to a lot of sins. Peer pressure leads us to watch movies that we should not be watching, destroying our mind with all that filthy stuff. Peer pressure makes us dress girls particularly in provocative ways because that's the way, that's the latest fashion. Peer pressure makes us spend our money lavishly using money which you are not earning. Your parents, who are not well off, have to spend all that money because you want to be like everybody else. And your parents can't afford it. Those parents of those girls may be very rich. And your parents may just, you may be pestering them and pestering them and pestering them. And they may not be strong enough to resist your pressure. And they finally yield. But they don't realize that they have to spend so much money to yield to get you what you want to get. Because all you want to get it for is not because you don't have enough clothes. But you got plenty but you want this color or this latest style because that's the thing which is the in thing among your peers. And once you go along that direction, clothes and all it's very minor things but it goes on to more major things that destroy you spiritually. Peer pressure. That's how people go into drugs. Drugs are always from peer pressure. That's why these drug dealers catch school boys. Because you know in school people don't have the strength to stand up against peer pressure. Sometimes they give drugs free to some young fellow in school. And he gets a kick out of it and he says, and they don't mind giving it free because they know they'll get business from a hundred other people through this. He says, hey you know what I tried the other day? You gotta try this. And this drug dealer will give that fellow also a little free dose because he knows once he's hooked he'll just come back to buy and buy and buy and buy. He'll even steal in order to buy. It all starts with peer pressure. Smoking cigarettes. Nobody just enjoys smoking a cigarette. Certainly not the first time you smoke it. It's a habit developed from other people who say, hey this is great. Drinking. Be careful of peer pressure. If you want to follow Jesus this is the third area where you really have to fight a battle and say I'm going to overcome. I'm not going to yield to all this pressure. I faced it as a young man. I was a Christian. I was surrounded by people who used to drink like fish because alcohol was cheap on the ships. And a lot of parties, the alcohol was on the house. I hope you know what I mean by that. It doesn't mean on top of the house. What I mean is that you didn't have to pay for it. That's what I mean. And people would get drunk. And in the midst of that, here I would stand with my glass of orange juice. And I tell you, that glass of orange juice gave me some backbone. That's why I could stand erect against all the mocking and the laughing. And I tell you, I don't think any of you folks have been called the names I was called in those days. Are you afraid somebody calls you some sissy? Sissy? That's peanuts compared to the things which people would call me. Have some guts, you boys and girls. Have some guts to stand up for your convictions. I tell you, it made a man out of me very quickly because I stood up to these people. And I knew that, and they realized after a while, they can't have their way with me. They couldn't get me to smoke or drink or dance. Dancing was another thing. Very common in the Navy. Preferably with somebody else's wife. That's how it went on. And I said, no. I'm not going to do that. I'm a Christian. You know, a lot of problems you face is because you don't, right from the beginning, make it clear that you're a Christian. If you go to a new job, right from day one, if you let them know you're a disciple of Jesus Christ, I don't mean shout out, hey fellas, I'm a disciple of Jesus. I don't mean that. I just mean there are many quiet ways of doing it. Carry a Bible. I used to do that. I used to keep a Bible on my table. I mean, if people can put pictures of their idols on, why can't I keep a Bible on my table? Or a small New Testament. People come and say, what's that? Have a look at it. Or, I carry a Bible in my bag. When I went out, one of the sailors asked me one day, he said, sir, are you an insurance agent? You're always going out with this bag whenever you go out. I said, yeah, I'm an insurance agent. I insure people for eternity, not just for time. And I could tell them about Jesus. I couldn't care less what they called Him. And you get a lot less trouble from girls trying to throw themselves at you, or boys trying to throw themselves at you, if you make it clear from the beginning, I'm a Christian. You make it clear by the way you dress, the way you don't laugh at their dirty jokes, and everybody's laughing, and you're quiet. A little while later, you don't have to give out tracts or shout or yell anything. They know you are different. And I tell you, God will see that and say, boy, that's a young boy and girl I can use in the coming days. Think of what you're missing by not developing a spiritual backbone in your younger days. Don't yield to peer pressure. There's a lot of that nowadays. And number four is, I want to turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Sexual temptation. That's the number four area where a lot of young people are under tremendous pressure these days, much more than in my time when I was a youth. I mean, sex has always been the same from Adam's time. But the openness is oh, a hundred times worse today than it was when I was a young man. And that's why I say, you folks really need much more grace from God than I needed when I was a young man. Let me tell you what the Bible says about sexual temptation in 1 Corinthians 6. I'm reading from the last part of verse 13. The Lord is for the body and the body is for the Lord. And I'm reading it in the Message Bible. Since the Master honors you by giving you a body. Okay, got it? The Master has honored you by giving you a body. Honor Him with this body, with your body. God honored the body of Jesus Christ, the Master, by raising it from the grave because He lived a pure life in that body. He will treat yours, your body, with the same resurrection power until that day comes when your body will be resurrected. Remember that your bodies are created with the same dignity as the body of Jesus Christ. That's what it says there. Your bodies are members of Christ. That means your bodies have been created with the same dignity as the body of Jesus Christ. So whenever you do something with your body, remember, this is a body. That's Jesus Christ's body. I'm going to do something with it right now. I'm going to watch something on the internet right now with this body, which is the body of Jesus Christ. I'm going to do something with this body, with my hands or anything, with the body of Jesus Christ. You can't take the body of the Master, the body of Jesus, and go off to some prostitute and give your body to her, or some loose girl, or some loose boy. That's a body. Oh no! You can't do that. Your body is the body of Jesus Christ. There's more to sex than skin on skin. Got it? There's more to sex than skin on skin. People who think sex is just skin on skin that gives me pleasure, they're probably unbelievers. That's all. That's all I can say. They haven't understood God, or His Word, because they don't have any respect for His Word. Sex is as much spiritual mastery as it is a physical fact. That is a mastery that God wants us to have. I remember years ago, I asked the Lord a question about sex. I said, Lord, people get sexual urges when they're 12, 13 years old, but they can't get married for another 10, 15 years. Why didn't you allow this sexual urge to develop when they're 25 or something, so they can get married immediately? Isn't that more sensible? I mean, if stupid fellows like us were designing the human body, we'd probably give them the sexual urge when they're 25. But always God gave that boy or girl the urge when they're 12 or 13. I don't know if it's younger nowadays, but it used to be around that age in my time. But with the world as it is, and television as it is, it probably gets lower and lower. I don't know. And why did He do it like that, Lord? And the Lord said to me, it's through the sexual desire that I test whether a young boy or girl fears me or not. Because always sex is done in secret. Without the knowledge of parents, without the knowledge of friends, in the dark, or doors all shut in the secret, there, it's only you and that girl and Jesus Christ. That's all in that room. Okay? You probably didn't know that Jesus is also in that room. He also happens to be there. That's what you forgot. It's just you and that boy and Jesus. No? And there, He's invisible. The girl or the boy is visible. Jesus is invisible. God is invisible. He's there. And He's watching. These people who sing and pray and shout in the meeting. Let me see whether they fear me here or not. He's not impressed by all the noises we make on Sunday morning. He's watching us when we are alone. Sexual temptation. Okay. As much a spiritual mystery as a physical fact. It's written in Scripture that two become one. Since we want to become spiritually one with the Lord Jesus, we must not pursue the kind of sex that avoids commitment and intimacy. That will leave us more lonely than ever. That kind of sex can never make you one. Since you want to become spiritually one with Jesus, you must avoid the kind of sex that does that does not lead, that does not come out of a commitment. There is a sense in which verse 18, sexual sins are different from all the other sins in the world. Because all the other sins you commit are outside your body. But in sexual sin, you violate the sacredness of your own body. These bodies that were made for God-given love. These bodies that were made for God-modeled love. These bodies that were made for becoming one with the person whom God chose to be your partner. Or didn't you realize that your body is a sacred temple? How many people would go inside a church building and commit sex there, sexual sin there. No. Church. You know which is the church? Your body. Temple of the Holy Spirit. Your body is a sacred place, a place the Holy Spirit is dwelling. And you go and destroy it. Don't you see that you can't live however you please? Squandering what God paid such a high price for. He shed his blood to purchase your body. Use it for God. I want to tell you, my brothers and sisters, all the media is anti-God. And the clearest area where you can see it is in the area of sex. Nobody can produce a movie without some sex scene. Completely irrelevant. But it's got to be brought in in order to titillate, tickle people, stimulate them and destroy their mind. The media is geared to that. Immodestly dressed girls and on the streets as well as on television, newspapers to destroy your mind. Destroy your mind. Destroy your mind. Guard your mind. You cannot serve God if you don't guard your mind in these days. And the first step is the most dangerous one. Once you've taken that first step, the second step is very easy. Every boy knows that. I'll tell you girls, every boy knows if he can get you to take a first step. First step may be just holding hands. Aha! Tomorrow, step two. And it's a downward slide from there which ends in the pit, in the gutter. So be careful of the first step. If you've taken that first step, turn back. You need to hold hands and be physical with the one you're going to get married to. So, this is an area with this tremendous temptation in our day. Young people all around, Bangalore is full of college students in all these, particularly these rich colleges where parents have got plenty of money to send their children where boys and girls are living together, hundreds of them by themselves. And somebody who was working among them was telling me a lot of them are Christians. At least they think they are Christians. The devils can fool them on that area too. And they go to churches which claim to be born again and spirit filled. But because in those churches they don't preach against sin. They don't preach against sexual sin. They just teach people how to worship and praise and song leaders get up who are living immoral lives in their private life. That's what's going on. You'll be thankful if you listen to messages that denounce sin. That tell you that God hates sin. That adulterers will rot in hell for eternity. That people who live in adultery and destroy their body, God will destroy them one day. Very, very important. You've got to have fear. If wisdom doesn't keep you from sin, at least let fear keep you from it. How is it in many places people are more afraid of AIDS than of God. Isn't that amazing? Even many believers avoid sex because they are afraid they'll get AIDS. Not because they fear God. That shows the pathetic level of many so called believers. They don't fear God. Ok, the last thing which I would warn young people is problem young people face is facing disappointment, injustice and failure. You know, all people, sometime or the other in life face injustice from somewhere or the other. You know, somebody who doesn't like you in your place of work, teacher who doesn't like you in college. I remember when one of my boys faced some injustice in school. Long before he reached 10th standard. And I investigated it and I really found it was injustice. I don't just swallow what my children say. I investigated it and found it was really injustice. I mean, he was so discouraged. He wanted to quit school and go to some other school to complete his education. So, I spoke to him and I told him, see you are going out into a world which is full of injustice. You think you get a job somewhere, the fellows are going to treat you fairly? It's a crooked, you know cut throat type of world. Dog eat dog. That's the type of world we live in. Cutting each other's throats. It's injustice, injustice. And if you are being trained for it when you are 14 years old, boy, you should thank God. And the wonderful thing I said is, the teacher is giving you that education free. For the physics and chemistry and maths we pay quite a lot. But this injustice, which is a very important part of your education, you are getting it free. Take it. He took it. Stayed in school and completed school well and I believe he has learned to face injustice now at work. But you shouldn't get discouraged. The world is an unjust place. Don't complain, somebody treat me unfairly. Are you living in heaven by the way? No, you are living in this rotten old world. Expect people to treat you unfairly. Disappointment. Oh, I wanted to marry that person, it didn't work out. Don't worry. God saved you from something. Or that admission in that college. It's not the only college in the world. God can give you something else. Or that particular course I wanted to get. Forget it. Honor God, he will give you the best thing for the future. There are certain things, certain colleges, certain courses, which may not be the best for you. But if you honor God, I'll tell you from 66 years, 46 years as a believer, I can tell you, I've never missed out on the best by honoring God. Not even once. Not even once. So, failure. That's another thing. Don't think that God only chooses those who are successful. I don't think Peter came first in the class. Probably 40th. In the class of 45 or something. You say, which verse? I don't know. But there's no verse like that. Paul may have come first. I'm not saying God doesn't use people who come first. God used people like Paul who came first and people like Peter who were not so smart. God doesn't care for that. All cannot come first in the class, right? But all can be good. Yes or no? If they want to. Why not get into that competition? To be good to people. So, don't ever be disappointed with failure because even through failure, God can give you something wonderful. Through disappointment, failure, and anything that discourages you. Condemns you. Maybe you've made a mistake in your life. Messed up your life. Maybe you've messed up your life sexually. Isn't it wonderful to hear these stories of Jesus who cared for women caught in adultery and for five times divorced women who were living with men with a man who was not even her husband. Isn't that good? That God, that Jesus cared for such people and had time to speak to them and lead them, never condemned them. But also told them, don't sin again. He didn't tell them, oh, it doesn't matter, everybody does it. That's the worldly person's advice. He said, I don't condemn you, but don't ever do it again. That's what he said in John 8, verse 11. That's what he told other people after he healed a man. He said, don't ever sin again, otherwise some worse sickness will come upon you. John chapter 5. So Jesus never said, oh, it's okay. It's not okay. But I don't condemn you. Okay, you messed up your life, but I can straighten it out. Bible says that Jesus has come to untie, 1 John 3, all the knots that the devil has tied. You know, when we are born, we are like given a beautiful ball of string, beautifully rolled up, no knots in it at all. And as soon as we are born, we start tying knots in that string from the time we are six months old. And boy, how many knots you people, you and I, have tied in that string. The thing is a mess. A hundred thousand knots in this. How in the world am I going to open out all these knots? And the Lord says, trust me to do it. And he can give us a clean slate and give us, when we are born again, a new ball of string. All those knots untied. So here you are. Now don't go tying knots again. Okay? So these are areas where the biggest problems that young people face, I think of, I've worked with young people for more than 40 years and I know. So take a little wisdom from someone who is just a little older than you. And you won't regret it. I tell you, you'll thank me one day. If you live as long as I am going to live, you'll thank me. Or at the judgment seat of Christ.