In this sermon, the speaker shares personal experiences and challenges he has faced in his faith journey. He emphasizes the importance of staying faithful to God and not giving in to temptation, as the consequences can be severe. The speaker also discusses the negative influence of the media and society on children, urging parents to protect their children from harmful influences. He concludes by referencing Philippians 4:8, encouraging listeners to focus on what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, and of good repute in their thoughts and actions.

Well, it's really good to be here with all of you, with all you young people and everything. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father I pray that you would help us, strengthen us, guide us for your sake, for the edification of your people, in Jesus' name, give us wisdom, Lord. Amen. Now before we get started I'd like to ask the young people some questions. Is there anything, any particular question or subject that you'd like to talk about? No one ever asked you that, did they? Anybody? Anything particular? If not, I'm going to preach at you very hard. Yes? Being raised in a Christian home, it's very hard for me to see the life change in my own life from living in a very moral home and then becoming a Christian myself. I am a Christian, but there wasn't a drastic, you know, you hear these drastic testimonies of someone who's totally on the other side of the fence. I was lost, but now I am saved, but it's not drastic. Can you talk about that? Well, first of all, so many people think that people like me and others that were very, very worldly and wayward prior to our conversion, that we have a stronger, better testimony. There's two ways in which God gets glory for Himself in a testimony. When we hear how God has saved someone from a terrible lifestyle, it demonstrates His power. But a greater demonstration of God's power is how He kept someone from a horrible lifestyle all the days of their life. Now, there are some pitfalls. First of all, you used the word moral a few times in your question. The one thing that you've got to realize is that morals can be as damning as immorality because there are many, many moral homes, in a sense, very moral, that are not Christian. And so what you want to be looking for in your life, although that may be the outward morals, there wasn't a drastic change, but there should have been just as drastic a change in your heart with regard to appreciation and passion for Jesus Christ. And that's a good thing for homeschoolers to take note of, and anyone who is just taking seriously raising their children for Christ, is that I hear people say, I lived in a moral home. What we're really looking for is, I lived in a home that was passionate about the person of Jesus Christ. And that always will. If, for example, someone is raised in a very, very moral home, they still will not be passionate for Jesus Christ. But that conversion should bring about a passion. Another thing that you need to realize and be very, very careful of is, I know how bad the filth of this world is. I know how bad it is. You don't. The devil is always, ever since the beginning with Adam and Eve, God told Adam and Eve that if they did certain things, they would experience certain things. Now, God's Word should have been enough. But the play of the devil was what? Experience it first to see if it's really true. Okay? And so, maybe you'll never be pulled out of a drunk or have your life ruined and everything else. Maybe you haven't tasted of many of the horrible things in this immoral fallen world. And the devil may come to you at times and say, well, it's really not that bad. You've been sold a bill of goods. Try it. You might see that you can still be Christian and do all these things. You have to be very, very careful. Very careful. You have to accept God at His Word. A very popular statement in modern humanism is, live and learn. Live and learn. You've probably heard people tell you that. Live and learn. That is a demonic statement. Okay? Birthed out of the bowels of hell. It's wrong. The Bible never says live and learn. The Bible says learn and live. God told Adam and Eve, learn and live. Satan told them, live and learn. Experience it and then you'll really know it. There's some things you shouldn't know. There's some things that you should be innocent to. Really. That's why people will tell me about my two boys. Well, you can't protect them from everything. And I say, no, but I can protect them from a lot more than what most people think. And even wanted to say, but I can protect them from you, can't I? So there is a sense of protection. We hear this idea and it's very, very common that you're sort of backwoodsy and ignorant. As we say in Peru, inocenton. You're just a little boy who doesn't know anything. I want to tell you something. It's good to be a little boy in some areas of life. A little girl. Because if experiencing filth is growing up, it's better to stay innocent. The Bible commands us to be innocent with regard to certain things. So what you have, young man, if indeed you have been saved and if indeed you have been protected from these things, it is a great blessing. The greatest of blessings. The greatest. Is there another question? Yes. Well, first of all, the power of God in the life of every believer can manifest itself in different ways. And we see this in 1 Corinthians 11-14. There were some... All the true Christians in Corinth were gifted, but it seemed that some had gifts that were more exciting and that were more noticeable. For example, I was the most noticeable person here this week. After me would be the music director because we were the only ones who really exercised their gifts. See, the way church is set up today, and it's wrong, where's your opportunity to exercise your gifts? You see what I'm saying? So when only a few handful of people ever exercise their gifts publicly, you're going to think that they have more power. But at the same time, there are also callings. It's not just regard to the way in which power is manifested, but there are also callings. You cannot deny as you go through Christian history that there were some men and women that seemed to have just absolutely something special on their life. It's undeniable. You cannot explain Charles Spurgeon. I mean, it wouldn't matter if I studied from the time I was born until right now, 24 hours a day, I would never be able to do, to know, and to preach what Charles Spurgeon preached. He read a thousand pages a day, and if you asked him three months later where he read a certain thing, he could tell you off the top of his head the book, the volume, the page number, and what side of the page it was on. Now it doesn't matter how much I fast or pray, I'm never going to do that. Alright, so look at what we've looked at so far. Every believer, in a sense, the power of God is manifested. In some, it seems to be manifested more because there's more opportunity. In some, it seems to be manifested more because of their gifts. In some, it seems to be manifested more just because you have to realize God has done something very special with a very special person, and He does not do it to every person. He doesn't. Now, some people would have a problem with that, but if you understand election, you won't have a problem with it. God can do anything He wants with anybody at any time. Now, there is another thing which is very controversial only because of the people who claim it, who don't have it, and who have very bad doctrine. I'm referring to the charismatic movement. Okay? I am a... I don't know what you would call me. Kind of a cross between... I'm a Calvinistic Baptist sort of Mennonite and a Baptist kind of person. It's really kind of strange. I don't really know... I call myself a historical Baptist. Alright? One of the... A dinosaur. A theological dinosaur. Okay. But in that context, you've got to realize something. We have allowed many of the false teachers and false movements to rob our heritage from us. We don't talk much about the fullness of the Holy Spirit because we're afraid that they'll identify us with the people who do talk about it and who have false doctrine. We don't talk much about gifts. We don't talk much about the power of God. We don't talk much about miracles. We don't talk much about the presence of God and so many different things. And it's not because they're not biblical. Everyone would recognize that terminology as biblical. It's that we're afraid that someone's going to think we're as kooky as the people who do talk about this stuff. I am not going to allow anyone to rob me of my heritage. I was telling the pastor this afternoon, if Jehovah's Witnesses knock on my door and I open the door and they go, we're Jehovah's Witnesses, I go, well, come on in. So am I. And then after I let them talk for a while, I look at them and go, you lied to me. You said you were Jehovah's Witnesses, but you're not witnessing for Jehovah. You're telling lies about him. Now sit down. I'm a real Jehovah's Witness and I'm going to tell you what Jehovah has said. He sent His Son and His Son is God and His Son died on that tree. And it's okay to call it a cross. You know, the point being, if someone says they're charismatic, I go, well, praise God, so am I. Because I am. Charismatic just means gifted. I'm gifted. Everyone who's a Christian is gifted. Now, in Acts 2 and Acts 1, and we see it played out in Acts 2, the disciples are told to tarry in Jerusalem. Aren't they? And for what reason? To receive power. Now, theologically, I hold a very historical position with regard to the baptism of the Holy Spirit and receiving the Holy Spirit at conversion and things such as that. But you have to understand that men like Charles Spurgeon, the Puritans, Ian Murray, Martin Lloyd-Jones, many, many others believed that God can work supernaturally in the life of a believer collectively with other believers and alone. And that there could be many, many experiences and many, many manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer. And that the believer is to be constantly seeking the fullness of the Holy Spirit in whatever manifestation that might mean. Because if you look in Acts chapter 4, when the church was under persecution and they cried out to God, they were once again filled with the Holy Spirit. It was a physical manifestation and the house shook. So you can't just say God did something supernatural at Pentecost and He's never going to do it again. You can't say that. I'm sorry. You can say it, but you're wrong. What you need to realize is this. Christianity is supernatural. Christianity has no life and no power apart from the Holy Spirit. Jesus commanded us to pray for the Holy Spirit. Now, here's another thing. Because of the charismatic movement and our fear of being identified with Him, whenever someone comes to the text where Jesus commanded to pray and that the Father would give you the Holy Spirit and He'd give it to you, we take that as... we don't even talk about that. But what He's talking about, according to Charles Spurgeon, according to the Puritans, was that we were to be constantly praying for greater and greater manifestations of the Spirit's life and power in our life. Do you do that? And there is a sense of tarrying before God that His power and His life might rest upon you in a special way. When I was saved, like the very next day, I got in a debate with a guy out on the street like a street preacher. I mean, that's where my career began, the next day. And then I started going out to 6th Street in Austin, which is one of the most ungodly places you could ever imagine. It's like Austin's version of Bourbon Street. And I started going out there preaching just a few months after I was saved. I was terrified of men. I had no power. I was scared. And every night I would come home, I would be so depressed because even though I tried, I knew there was nothing. And one night I came home, I just tossed my Bible on the bed, and I said, either that book is not true, which I knew that wasn't true, or something's wrong with my life. And it just so happens, an old believer in the church there in Austin came up to me and he said, you need to read some of these books. And he just handed them to me. It was the autobiography of George Mueller. It was Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret. It was a few books by Leonard Ravenhill. Why Revival Terry's, Meet for Men, things like that. Some of the old guys. Andrew Murray, E.M. Bounds. And I started reading them. And I noticed that the only common denominator among these men, and I've noticed this throughout all my Christian studies, is that there were certain men in history who actually believed that God would meet with them. There are certain men in history that actually believed that if they sought God's presence and God's face, that God would show Himself to them. That if they cried out for His life and His power, that He would give it. Something happened to me in this sense. I was given an ability to pray. I have to say was given because I've never been able to replicate it. I've never been able to duplicate it. But after I read those books, I began to pray. I was a full-time student at the University of Texas. I'd come home from the library at like 10.30 or 11 at night. I would go into the closet, literal closet, and I would cry out to God until 1.30 or 2 in the morning and get up and then work the breakfast shift as a waiter at a place, a dormitory there. And it went on for weeks and weeks turned into months. Almost insane. I didn't care. I didn't pray for missions. I didn't pray for... I would sit there. My roommates actually asked me to stop and leave. They said, we can't even sleep anymore. I would literally be before God for hours and hours a night going, You promised if I cried out to You, if I sought You, You would show Yourself to me. You would make Yourself known. You would fill me with Your life and Your power. I have been here now for four months, six days, and You have not come. And crying out to God and crying out to God. And then, I'm just giving you a true testimony. I'd be a liar if I told you any other thing. And then it was just about spring break. I'll never forget. And all the Christian students were going to go on a ski trip to Colorado and have little Bible studies. And I felt like God was just no. And I went out to West Texas and I climbed up on a hill as though I was absolutely out of my mind and for days got to the point where I literally was grabbing rocks and throwing them up at the sky saying, either kill me or show me Your presence. I don't know why. Because the prayer life I had then I have tried with all my might and I can't duplicate it. It was the work of God. That's all I can say. And one night when I was back in Austin, I'll never forget, I cried out to God and God came. And I was thrown down on the floor with such fear. I curled up in a fetal position. I covered my head and I whimpered like a baby. And I thought that God had had enough of me and come to kill me. And it went on for hours. And then all of a sudden, all the fear was taken away and my heart was filled with joy and my mouth shot open wide and for over an hour and a half it was like the book of Psalms came out of my mouth. Just saying glorious things. Yes, in the English language. Saying glorious things about God. And from that moment on, my life was different. That does not mean I don't struggle with sin. I struggle terribly with sin. But my life was different. Totally different. And that the life of a Christian is a supernatural life. It is wrought by supernatural means. And the more you cut yourself off from the arm of the flesh, the more you will see God move. God could sweep through here right now and I've seen Him do it. And cast everybody in this room on the ground. Not like those silly TV things, but down trembling and weeping over their sin. God can save 300 people with a five minute sermon. I've seen it with my own eyes. The thing about it is, is Christianity is not just being proper and rule orientated and moral. It is a wild, uncivilized hunger for God. And I always say it's the difference between a boy and a man of God. Some of you will learn a lot of theology, but you'll never really know the one you talk so correctly about. It's all second hand. It's all something you read in a book. And you could go back and you could talk to Spurgeon, and you could talk to the Puritans, you could talk to Edwards, you could talk to Tozer, and they'd all tell you the same thing. You talk to Dwight L. Moody. God came upon his life one time in the middle of the street, so strong when he was not expecting. He had to be put in a hotel room for two days. That's one of the reasons. Now some people probably will not like what I've said, but it's true. Christianity is not just about dressing right, saying right things, looking right, and being nice and neat and proper. Where are the wild men? Where are the ones who are just stinking fed up with everything and can't stand it anymore and go out on a hill and scream up to heaven until God shows up? That's the difference. And that's why some people have power of God on their life to carry out their ministries. And others just seem to kind, to mope. I'm not trying to set anything up about myself. I'm just telling you and answering your question. Old men have told me these things. I remember one time when I was a brand new preacher. There's this store in Paducah, Kentucky where they basically, it's not there anymore I don't think, but they would give discounts to preachers to buy a suit. I was going to buy my first suit. And I was in there and all of a sudden, this old man walked in. Old man. I don't listen to young men very much. They really don't have much to say. An old man. And he looked at me and he said, boy, you've been called to preach. I said, yes sir. He began to tell me. He said, you know boy, you'll probably be asked to go to churches and preach for three or four days. He said it won't amount to a hill of beans. He says, no one really wants revival nowadays. They want a three, four day meeting. You're not going to see revival that way. He said, boy, I was preaching in a tent over here back in the 50's. He pointed over to kind of a place where I guess used to be an abandoned lot. He said, I preached there. And like all the other preachers, I preached for two, three weeks. Wouldn't even think about giving an invitation. And I said, well, when would you give an invitation? He said, when the power of God fell down on the place. That's when I'd give an invitation. And I said, well, how did you know when that happened? He said, well, once I was preaching over there. Preaching for about two weeks and it was dry as a bone. The ceiling was like brass. There was no God in it at all. And some man walked up to me and handed me some money to get a suit. And I walked over in this store. And when I came through this door, there was a young clerk on the other side of the room over there. And he turned around. And the moment his eyes fixed on mine, he fell to the ground and screamed out, who can save me from my sin? He said, I knew the power of God was about to fall. The old Baptist preachers, the old Presbyterian, the old Congregational, they were men of God. Now we've got little professionals with diplomas. They're really nice. That's about it. I'm very, very fortunate that in my life, I have been around a lot of those old men. The Duncan Campbells of the Great Hebrides Revival. You do well to hear one of the last sermons he ever preached on what happened in Louisville in Wales and the great revivals that occurred there. Leonard Ravenhill, even though I don't agree with him theologically in some things, he had more of the power of God on his life than 10,000 Calvinists with a diploma. And so that's a very important thing. For some of you young men thinking about going into the ministry, I think it was Reedhead that said, all you'll learn in school is one fallen head teaching another fallen head. The point that he was making is you need more than knowledge. You need to know Him. You need to know Him. Not just know about Him. You see, the doctor, any doctor in this entire city here knows more about my wife than I do. They know about how our blood works and how our bones grow. They know so much more about my wife, but they don't know my wife. A lot of theologians. They can tell you everything you want to know about God. They don't really know God. There's a supernaturalness to the Christian life that few people have even begun to discover. Do you know that God could tell you right now to get up and get in your car and drive three houses down and witness to the person that's there? Do you know God can speak that clearly? And sure, you say, well, now hold on. There's a lot of bad things. There's a lot of people who teach bad things on the Trinity. So are you going to deny the Trinity? Just because people take doctrines like that, people who don't even know God or know the Bible, people that act foolish and everything else, do silly things, does it mean that we're just going to totally shut God out of our lives? The only place where you're going to have absolute order is a cemetery. And the greatest needs, if you're called into the ministry as a young man, go find God. Go chase Him down. Such boldness God likes when a young man can't live with just words and propositions, but wants to know the living God, God will show Himself. Is there another question? I want to talk for a moment about several things, if we get a chance to. First of all, I'd like to talk about how to build a fence around yourself. How to build a biblical wall of protection around yourself. We're going to dig some post holes and put some posts in. People are always asking me, what's the will of God? Young people, what's the will of God? What's the will of God? And I always tell them, stop worrying about the decretive will of God. Stop worrying about who you're going to marry, where you're going to live, what kind of job you're going to have, and begin to concentrate all your energy on the perceptive will of God, His commands, what He's commanded you to do in Scripture. If you follow His commands and follow His statutes and seek out His wisdom, He'll lead you. Sometimes telling you He'll lead you, and sometimes His invisible hand will lead you, and you won't even know it's Him until you look back later on in your life and see that He's written all over every page. But anything that comes up in your life, whether it's a book you want to read, or music you want to listen to, or a relationship, or a job, there are certain things that if you will just use them as a filter, they will save you from a lot of harm. Now the first one is found, the first fence post that we're going to drill is found in 1 Corinthians 10.31. Is it the will of God? Well, let's look in 1 Corinthians 10.31. Whether then you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. So the first question regarding absolutely anything in your life is does this glorify God? Does it bring honor, glory, pleasure to God? So here's a book that you think that you want to read, but it's rather risque in some parts. It could bring a cause for something like does this glorify God? What this person is saying, does it glorify God? No, then I don't need it. The clothing that you put on, does it glorify God? That's the only thing you have to... Would someone look at you and glorify God? Worship God? Honor God? Does it bring God pleasure? And listen to me, folks. When I talk about clothing, it's very, very important. I am not simply talking about whether the clothing is decent. You see, we think that as long as our clothing doesn't cause someone to stumble, it's okay. No, that's not the question. Would someone look at our clothing and would it have a sense of bringing honor and glory to God the way we look? So it's not just that the clothing be decent, but that it be somewhat exceptional. Not exceptional in luxury or in elegance, but exceptional in fitness, in appropriateness, in demonstrating excellence, in communicating something about what God has done to us. You see, just everything. The music you want to listen to. Ask yourself the question, does it glorify God? Parents, if you have problems with the music that your children listen to, sit down with the music, listen to it, and ask the child to explain to you how that music glorifies God. Explain to me, teach me, show me how this glorifies God. A relationship, does it glorify God? Does it bring honor to Him? Is it an act of worship towards Him? So that's the first thing. Everything that you're going to do, you ask yourself this question, does it glorify God? Because even if you do the most menial task of eating and drinking, the purpose of it is to do what? Glorify God. Okay? Glorify God. Now, here's a few more fence posts we're going to put in there. Go to Romans chapter 12, verse 2. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may prove what the will of God is. Now He's going to tell us what the will of God is. That which is good and acceptable and perfect. Okay? So if it's the will of God, first of all, it's going to glorify God. Correct? It's going to glorify God. Then the next thing is, it's going to be good. This word in the Greek particularly refers to something healthy, sound, has a quality and substance of good, of healing, of soundness. It's not rotten. It won't cause rot or decay. It is a sound, healthy thing. So you ask yourself, whatever this thing is in your life that you're wanting to do or the relationship you want to be in, or whatever it is, you ask yourself, is it good? Does it promote my spiritual well-being? Does it promote that? You've got to ask yourself that question. Does it promote my spiritual well-being? Will I walk away from this more Christ-like, more holy, possibly more rested, more confident in Christ, more willing to serve, more given to the things of heaven rather than the things of earth? Does this thing prosper me spiritually? If it doesn't, I really shouldn't participate in it. And I have to stop here for a moment because someone might say, well, you know, right now I'm in a calculus class and it really isn't helping me grow in Christ. That's because you have a secular mind. It's not calculus's fault. It's yours. You have a secular, carnal mind. What do I mean by that? You know what calculus is? Along with every true science, it's an exploration into the glory of God. It is. I mean, you realize that's the only reason mathematics work is because there's a God? The only reason there's physics? The only reason you can send a rocket anywhere is because there's a God? And the whole thing that you've got to also see is you've got to be very, very careful that you don't have a secular, sacred mindset. Everything you do. I love to work out in my woodshop. No one has ever gotten saved out there. But I don't get much time alone between my family, my wife, my children, traveling. But if I can get out there for an hour or two, once every two weeks, and just be out there for a little while and make a bow or work on a piece of furniture and just commune with God and marvel at the grain of the wood, watch an arrow fly and realize the only reason the arrow flies is because of God. So you see, when I say that it ought to glorify God, I don't mean that you're going to spend the rest of your life on a church pew with a hymn book in front of you. You've got to drop this idea that some things are sacred and some things are secular. If you're a Christian, everything is sacred, even the pots and pans in your house, because you ought to be cooking to the glory of God. So you ask yourself, does it glorify God? Second question, does it prosper me spiritually? Does it prosper me? Does it prosper me spiritually? Is it good? Now, the next question is this, is it acceptable? Is it acceptable? Did you ever think about that? Acceptable to whom? To your culture? To your flesh? No, is it acceptable to God? You see, it's like what you decide to do in a church. You know, people always say, well, we've never done it that way before. It really doesn't matter. The only question is, is it acceptable to God? Is it what God commands in Scripture? So you look at a relationship, you look at music, you look at video, you look at this or that, everything in your life, and you ask yourself this question, is this acceptable to God? I mean, is this really what God approves of and what He desires? Okay? Then, we go on to another, and it is this, perfect. Perfect. Now, what does this mean? It means complete. And let me give you a perfect example of this. If it's the will of God, it's going to be perfect. And primarily, I think this is referring to this. You do not, if it is the will of God in one area of your life, you will not have to violate another aspect of the will of God to do it. Let me give you an example. A pastor who says, I was doing the will of God and carrying out the ministry and doing the work of the ministry, and in order to do the work of the ministry, I had to sacrifice my family. You want to see a problem there? Because God also has a will for your behavior among your family. And if you're saying, I can't carry out God's will in my family because I have to carry out God's will in the ministry, there's some serious problems going on here. One of them is, either God is wrong, really messed up, or you're not in the middle of God's will. Or it's like the girl who decides she wants to do missionary dating. I know he's lost, but I care so much about him. Or I know he's an immature Christian, but I care so much about him that I want to get involved in his life so that he will become the godly man. That's like saying, I want to rob a bank because I need to build a church in Peru. And it needs money. It doesn't work. You can't ever carry out one aspect of God's will by violating another aspect of God's will. And when you do do that, like Abraham, God promised Abraham what? His descendants would be like the stars of the heavens. Well, God was a little bit slow in delivering on that promise, so Abraham just thought he would give him some help. And the curse of that still goes on today. Today. I was just reading about more conflict between the Palestinians and Israel and everything else on the radio when I was coming here. That was a direct result of Abraham helping out God with regard to his will. So see, you can't... Or I hear churches will say, well, we need to drop the bar a little bit on this holiness stuff in order to bring more people into the church so that they can get saved. No. No. We need to become a little bit less religious so that seekers will be drawn to us. No. Be seeker friendly. Well, you need to be seeker friendly. You just need to realize that the Bible says there's only one seeker and it's God. And if you want to be friendly to somebody, I suggest you be friendly to Him. Men don't seek God. Men seek to make their own. So see, you never can carry out the will of God in one area by violating it in another. So let's look at so far how we're protecting ourselves. Nothing's going to come through into our life through the fence we've built so far. If it doesn't glorify God, it's not going to come into our life. Okay? If it doesn't prosper me spiritually, help me to grow in Christlikeness, it's not coming into my life. Okay? If it's not acceptable to God, it's not coming into my life. And if it's kind of off-colored, not perfect, it's not coming into my life. Okay? Now, let's look at one more thing. Go to the book of Philippians 4. Verse 8. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. Now, young people, this applies to every aspect of your life, but particularly to your mind. Here's what needs to go into your mind. This is the qualifications it has to have for you to listen to it, look at it, think about it. It has to be this. First of all, is it true? Is it true? Is what you're watching, looking at, hearing, believing, is it true? Because if it's not true, don't set it before you. If it's not true, don't do it. Is it honorable? Will God honor it on the day of judgment? Will God reward it on the day of judgment? Because if He will not, then don't do it. Whatever is right, not according to the world's standards, but according to God's standards. Whatever is pure, that means not off-colored or mixed. You know when it says, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. The word in Greek is literally referring to unalloyed, without mixture. There are so many things that we do and so many things that are put before us that are kind of, well, it's not really that bad. One of the most amazing things I ever hear Christians say is, you need to go see that film because it doesn't have much cussing in it. Okay? And then it goes on and says, whatever is lovely, beautiful. If I were to get my PhD, I think I would write my main thesis on the beauty of God. No one ever touches on that. And the fact that you can tell when a society begins to depart from God because even in their physical appearance they begin to lose beauty. Their clothing, their mannerisms, their abuse of either femininity or masculinity, it's all lost. We ought to be, in a sense, a lovely people. Now, let me give you an illustration of that. It's kind of funny. But when I was a brand new Christian, I was going to Christ Memorial Baptist Church in Austin, Texas. And they had a choir of about, I don't know, 40 people or something. And after a while, I mean, I was a young guy, 21 years old, you know. And after a while, there was this lady in the middle of the choir. And I just, every time I would go, I mean, she would just stand out. And you just, you know, I don't know. You know, I thought, man, she was like in her 40s. I mean, she was an old lady. And I would just walk in, I was just like, when she'd be singing and everybody would be singing, just kind of be, she was just so, I don't know, beautiful. Now, I don't want to sound crass or anything, but physically, she wasn't, I mean, she was, my goodness, she was in her 40s. And, you know, she kind of had a really big nose. And kind of had just really long, gray, unkept hair. And, I mean, she just, what I'm trying to say is she wasn't physically attractive. But I just, and so one day, I go to the guy who's discipling me, Stuart DiPina. Big old guy. And I go, Stuart, I need to ask you a question. And I lied. I said, there's this girl. And he goes, now look, Wash, he goes, you've just been a Christian for a little while, you're going to have to put that stuff on the back burner until you become a man of God. And I said, well, she's not really a girl. She's a lady. And well, she sings in the choir. And I'm thinking, man, he is going to think I am like really strange. She sings in the choir and I don't really know how to explain it. And then this is what he does. I'm not kidding you. He goes like this. He goes, I am going to prophesy. I'm thinking, whoa, what's that? And he goes, there is a woman in the choir. She sits in the middle of the choir. She's gray-headed and old, in her forties. No, she didn't say that, but she's got gray hair. And you don't know what it is, but she just seems to be just the most pleasant, attractive person you've ever laid your eyes on. And I went, wow, you're a prophet. And he said, no, I'm not. It's just that every person in this church would say the same thing. I said, I don't understand. I said, you know, as a young guy, Stuart, you know, we always struggle, especially when we're on the campus of the University of Texas, you know, not really Christian school. And, you know, we always talk about how we struggle and want to be men that are pure. But I see her, and she's like, you just think about Jesus. You think about, she just seems like so, what is it? And he goes, you've got to understand, it's one of the godliest women you'll ever meet. As a matter of fact, she'll come in sometimes, even though she's not the janitor, and just clean the toilets in the church. She serves everybody. She's in the Word all the time. She loves Jesus, Paul. That's what you're seeing. That's the difference between the lovely that God talks about and the sensuality that the world talks about. And it's real. I want to tell you something. It is real. I'm not making this up. It's real. That people who love the Lord, that they're going to reflect a certain degree of being lovely, of attractiveness. And there's a difference between that and the horrible sensuality of the age. And so there's a difference. Young ladies, you should not seek to be attractive so as to draw men to your wares. You should seek to reflect the glory of Jesus Christ so as to be a blessing and not a stumbling block. And young men, it's the same thing. It's the very, very same thing. I was preaching at a university group a few years ago. And I started preaching on clothing, teaching them, because they wanted me to. No one teaches on this stuff anymore. So I started teaching. And there was this guy, I'll never forget, sitting over to the left. And he was like an Arnold Schwarzenegger wannabe. And he had shorts on and a tank top. And they were so tight, they looked like they'd been painted on. And he's got a notebook. And I'm preaching. And he's taking down notes. And he's just writing down everything I'm saying. And he's saying amen and everything. And finally, I just had to walk over to him and say, are you brain damaged or something? You're amening everything I say, but I'm talking about you. The whole point of the matter is this. Guys, it goes both ways. It goes both ways. It really does. Never, never cast your eye upon a young lady who thinks she can use her physical attractiveness to attract you. And never cast your eyes upon a young man who tries to use the physical to attract you. Because there's pride there and there's sensuality. And they'll probably use the same thing on other people. Just don't do that. It's not a sin to be attractive. But it is a sin to want anything other than Jesus Christ to come forward. Come forward. Now, he says, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence, if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. These are some things. I just want to give this to you briefly. These are some things that you can put as posts in your life. And if what you want to do doesn't meet up with these qualifications, then be very, very afraid. Now, I want to talk for a moment about relationships with the opposite sex. And it would be very, very important, I think. And what I want to do is just explain to you a few simple things that can be very, very helpful. There are people who have designed all kinds of meticulous forms of courtship and meticulous forms of doing things. And I just stand amazed at what they write because I don't know how on earth they ever got that out of the Bible. It's like they wanted to build a big system and they did it, but there just isn't a whole lot of Scripture. Folks, there just isn't a whole lot of Scripture. There isn't. And you've got to learn the difference between biblical truth and a man's inferences. You really do. Because the Bible really doesn't say a whole lot about it. But it says enough to radically change your life and to radically protect you from falling. Okay? Now, let's look at two extremes really quick. One extreme is very common nowadays. The other extreme was common a long time ago. But here's the first extreme, the old extreme. You're a young girl. It's about time for you to be thinking about marriage. Okay? So dad goes out. He finds a guy that he really likes, brings him home, and you have to marry him. Would you like that to happen? No? Be honest. Not really. All right? You say, man, that is so terrible. That's so perverse. I mean, dad just goes out, finds the guy he thinks would be best, and brings him home. And I've got to accept this guy? I mean, I've got to marry him? That is just horrid. Okay, let's look at the other extreme. The little 16-year-old daughter goes out, finds the guy she likes, brings him home, and dad has to accept him. Now, let's just look at these two extremes for a moment. All right. Here is a, let's say, 55-year-old dad. And here is a 16-year-old girl. This 55-year-old dad, he can say almost about everything. 16-year-old that you've come across, your dad can look at you and say, been there, done that, got the T-shirt. If you're 16 years old, you know nothing. Just want to make you feel good about yourself. What I mean is, the Bible says you're young, you're naive, and you can be deceived. That's what the Bible teaches. Okay? Now, a 16-year-old girl goes out and sees this guy and just thinks he's the most wonderful thing in the world. He might be just a complete idiot. And a monster to boot. But she can't see it. Why? She's 16 years old. Naive. Doesn't really know what's going on. Dad can take one look at that character and go, you even think about getting 100 meters from my house, and you're a dead man. I can see right through you. So, let's think about it for a moment. If we had to make a choice between dad choosing, being able, loving his daughter, having poured his life into his daughter, and knowing the way the world is, and knowing the way other men are, can look through that guy, discern really quick, know, and bring home somebody that at least, that at least would be reputable. Whereas, daughter over here, could go pick any man or a monkey on the tree, and not know what she's gotten herself into. Now, I believe both of those are extremes, and both of them are wrong. But if I had to choose one over the other, I'd choose this one. There'd be a lot less divorce, a lot less deceiving, and a lot less broken hearts. Now, both of these are extremes. Now, having said that, I want us to look at some things. When should someone begin to think about dating? The answer, absolutely never, because dating is unbiblical. There's no case of dating in the Bible, and there is no such thing as dating in human history, up until a few decades ago. It is a modern phenomenon, and it is quite amazing that that modern phenomenon, as it has grown, so has immorality, and so has divorce, and so has broken families, and broken hearts, and everything else. There's not one good thing about it from A to Z. Dating is unbiblical. It just is. And I can add an adjective to that. Recreational dating. You ever heard of that? Recreational dating. That's what most people do. Recreational dating. For example, a guy 16 years old figures he's going to go out on his first date, okay? I'm talking about in the world today, the way people think. Go out on my first date. Alright? Now, here's the question. Why do you want to go out with this girl? When do you have plans to marry her? If you were to ask them that question, what would they do? I don't have any plans. What are you, out of your mind? I don't have any plans to marry her. Why are you going out with her? Why? Well, have a good time. Get you a fishing pole, if you want to have a good time. Why are you going out with her? I'll tell you why. So that, here's two reasons. So that a little boy can play like a man without assuming the responsibilities of a man. And so a selfish little boy can fulfill his selfish little desires without giving back and assuming the responsibility for what he's going to do. That's why. It's wrong. Now, let's look at something else. It is no doubt that the age of children being awakened to people of the opposite sex is getting lower and lower and lower. And the only reason for that is not that we're evolving into some special creature. The reason for it is because children at a younger and younger age are awakened by television, by other children around them, by the spirit of the age. That's why it's very important to protect your child. I've had this happen already. I have a four-year-old. A four-year-old. And I've had people walk up to my boy and say, well, they don't do it anymore, but say, do you got a little girlfriend? And I just kind of push my son back behind me like this, and I say, don't you ever, ever say that to my son again. Who do you think you are? And I don't care who I offend. Don't you dare use that language around me. What kind of sick human being are you? My four-year-old have a girlfriend? My four-year-old should be thinking about, about Lincoln Logs and building sandcastles and reading stories about Winnie the Pooh and don't you come along, being used as an instrument of the devil to awaken love when the Bible says it should not be awakened. But there is a proper time when it does awaken. Now here's something that you need to understand. This is where the world really shows itself to be insane. Let's say that the idea of there is an opposite sex out there, that the idea is awakened in the heart of a 12-year-old or a 13-year-old or whatever age you want to put it, it's awakened. The world says it has awakened. Okay, participate. You've awakened to this reality that there are people of the opposite sex? Okay, go out there and participate. And then there are Christians who are wrong saying that the whole thing is demonic from the beginning to the end and that's wrong too. Here's the way it really is. When love is awakened, what do I mean by that? When a young person begins to realize that there's people out there of the opposite sex, when that is awakened in them, it is not the sign from God for them to begin to participate. It is the sign from God for them to begin to prepare. The moment that is awakened, it is basically God's notice to you saying this, okay, this is a wonderful thing to participate in it. You must be a godly man or a godly woman. And although you should have already begun preparing for that from birth, now is even a greater incentive and a greater motivation to go and prepare, to become Christlike, to study the Scriptures, to become a man, to gain yourself a trade, to do all the things you must do before you're allowed to participate in this biblically. And when that has been awakened, even in a 12, 13, 14 year old, there is nothing wrong in them seeing that desire to be with someone, there is nothing wrong with that desire being a major, not primary, but major motivation in their desire to become godly and to become mature. Nothing wrong with that. You see, we try to ignore the desire. Hopefully it will go away. We don't want it to go away, it's from God. We want to direct it. Okay, son. Your heart has been awakened to these things? Okay. You have a long journey ahead of you before you will arrive there. Now let's become men. Dear daughter, this has been awakened in you? Wonderful. Now, let's prepare. My wife has an article called, Becoming Esther. As Esther had to prepare to become the queen. So you, dear lady, must prepare. Become the queen of your home. The handmaiden of your home. And it's a wonderful thing. It's not something to deny. It's something to stand behind parent and direct into something very positive and wonderful. Be excited about it for them. But that they prepare. And how do they prepare? Well, that's another sermon. To prepare. Godly men, beginning with fathers, are to teach the younger men to be men. That is to be the great thrust of your life. And if there are young men here who have no fathers, it is the obligation of this church to search them out and to help them become men. It is. You know, we will run all over the place evangelizing people we don't know, doing all sorts of things to save the world. We won't even save the people in our own congregation. We're always looking at the big picture, and because of it, we're missing all the people. And so it's to teach them. Now, let me say something just really quick about youth groups and things. I've got quite a bit to say on them, but let me just briefly talk about that for a moment. People get really upset that I am not for youth groups. And they don't understand I am not for youth groups as they are done today. Why? Here's the way the modern day youth group is. You hire a young guy who's a few years older than the other youths, who is just as much a fool as they are. He's older. He's usually physically attractive, has a great personality and looking for a wife. He knows nothing about being a man, nothing about raising children, nothing about nothing. And then you take him like the Pied Piper and he leads all your children over to another room to do teenage church and everything else. You've taken them out from under the authority of their father and their mother and the elders and the adults and everything else and taken them over there to become a companion of fools. They are fools teaching fools. I told someone just recently, it was a very large church, they asked me about, well, how do we do youth ministry? I said, don't do youth ministry, do family ministry. If you want to hire a guy, you've got a lot of money you want to spend, okay, hire a man to work full time who has already raised children, he and his wife, and have them disciple all the parents in your church with regard to how to raise teenagers. You see, the work that should be done is not some other person teaching our children, but if we are ignorant of the truth, someone teaching us how to teach our children. Because the main player in your child's life must be you, sir, and not some other 15 year old. The idea that youth need to be with youth is a complete contradiction to Scripture. The Scripture says that children and youth need to be with the mature. Because if they are a companion of fools, they will suffer harm. But he who walks with the wise will be wise. Now, does that mean our youth never get together? That's the way some people feel, and I think they're wrong too. And one of the things that I usually suggest is the following, that parents be held accountable to disciple their children and to watch over their children and to nurture their children in the things of God. Every two weeks or whatever, if you want to, have a great big youth get together. But here are some of the things that need to be done. They get together in order to celebrate and rejoice in all that they've learned from their parents. And that their parents are present celebrating in the same celebration. There's nothing wrong with that. That can be wonderful, you see. And what else? All the young kids that aren't really in a Christian family or don't have a mom and dad that are teaching them and nurturing them. What happens in a normal church? You bring in kids who have no Christian family. They go to the church. No, they go to the youth group. And what do they find in the youth group? Not one mature adult, not one bit of wisdom, nothing. And they say, oh, this is Christian family. It's just like mine. It's just they go to church. I don't see any dad or mom present here just like in my house. But if you did it the other way, what happens is you've got some kids that are coming in, praise the Lord, and they're not from Christian families. They have no idea what a Christian home is. And they go to the youth group meeting that you have maybe once every two weeks or once a month or something. And they walk in there and what are they seeing? What is this? These young people talking about and rejoicing in what their dad taught them. And mom and dad and them, we're all playing together tonight and it's a wonderful time. And oh, the generation gap really is a lie birthed out of the demonic regime of the 60's. You see? Then you've got all these lost kids coming in going, oh, so that's what it means to have a Christian home. I would like to do that. You think one of these elderly men would disciple me? You see? But that's just... Boy, I got 15 minutes. I'm in trouble here. Now, let me just give you a quick run through. This is just a really quick run through on the way, courtship according to Paul Washer. Okay? Now, what I'm going to be using is authority passages in Leviticus, authority passages primarily in Ephesians 5, in Ephesians 6, talking about the authority of the Father and things like this. Now, what's going to be the biggest decision of your life? Who you're going to marry. Okay? That's a big one. That is a big decision. Okay, let's leave mom and dad out. Not if you understand authority, you don't want to do that. So, let me just give you a really quick, perfect case scenario of how this might work. Okay? You're an 18-year-old guy. You've grown. And you see a girl. And boy, dad, I see a girl. And whoopee, I see a girl. Here's a question. Doesn't it say in Genesis, a man shall do what? Does anybody know? Leave his father and mother. When can you start thinking about having a relationship with someone of the opposite sex? Well, let me put it this way. If dad's paying for your car insurance, he can't do that yet. A man shall leave his father and mother. Does that mean he moves out of the house? Not necessarily. But it does mean that he's grown to be a man. And his father and the other men can recognize it. Now see, here's a great problem. Because of college, and I'm not totally against college and things like that, but because of college and things, this manhood thing gets kind of delayed. But let's say that here's a young man. He's not going to go to college. He's 19. He's already started a small business. He's learned to trade from his father or maybe from someone else in the church. Or let's say that he's going to college. He's in his third year. He's about out. He's been working while going to school. He's got prospects of a job. I mean, he's going in the right direction, okay? You can tell this is a man. He knows where he's going. He's providing for himself. He's doing the work he has to do. And he comes to his father and says, Father, there's someone that I've been praying about. And the father will sit there and go, maybe evaluate everything his son's become and say, Son, at least at this moment on your behalf, I can say you have become a man. And I can see the virtue in you, the leadership in you, barring all unforeseen difficulties, maybe you can pursue this. Or the father might say, Son, listen, you're still undisciplined. You're still tied down too much to the family, too dependent. You haven't left in the sense of becoming an independent and strong individual. Son, it's not time. And what should you do, young man? You would do wise to submit. You would do wise to submit. You see, here's the great problem. Young guys have all this, let's say they're 18 years old, they have all this desire, they want to, you know, maybe have a relationship with a young lady and things like that, but they haven't been willing to pay the dues. See, you always want to dance without paying the fiddler. You say, I want to do man things without having to become a man. You can't do that. If you're going to do man things, you have to become a man. And that is a long, hard process. And the sooner you start on the path, the better. And Dad, you ought to be encouraging him to start on the path the moment they're born. It's just like I was sharing the other day. I make bows and I make arrows and I love to hunt. And my son has a bow. He's four years old. He goes out and shoots with me. His arrows have little field points on them that will go through a bag, but really nothing else. I have broadheads. They're very, very heavy, very sharp. They're so sharp on my arrows that you have to use a wrench to put them on because you don't even want to touch them. My little boy cannot hunt like a man because he can't handle those things that make hunting so extremely dangerous. One day he will use the same type of tools I use because he's proven that he has the manhood to do it. But until he reaches that point, he can't play that game. The problem with most of you young men is you want to play the game, but you don't want to pay the price to become men. You can't do it one way or the other. And especially when you have your eye on the daughter of a man. A man who has poured his life into that girl. And you think you're going to come along and just snatch her up? No way. I was sitting there. I go to a church that I really don't have a lot in common with right now, but the Lord has me there and I'll stay there. But I went to a funeral of some grandparents of some very godly people in our church. And I was standing out there and they have two daughters, beautiful daughters. I was standing out there after the funeral and I was just watching and the girls came out and they were crying. And I noticed some boys from the youth from the youth group. And they walked over there to them and they put their arm around the girl and patted her on the shoulder and consoling her. And they were acting like the men who were going to console the crying girls and everything. And when the girls walked away, I went up to those boys and I said, don't you ever do that again in my presence. Don't you ever do that again. You have no right to fulfill the role of a father to console those girls. You have not made a commitment to those girls. Those girls do not belong to you. You do not belong to them. You are little boys. You know nothing about consoling anyone. Don't ever do that again. You say, man, that Paul Washer, I thought he was crazy, but he really is. No, I'm right. They have no right to do that. It is not their place. They have not earned that place. God has not given them that place. In the same way that the devil stepped outside of his place, his domain of authority, so they stepped out of theirs. And they were just wanting to get a hug anyways. That girl has nothing to do with you. She doesn't. Now let's see this perfect case scenario. The young man is a godly man. The father confirms it. He's shown himself to be a man. He's worked hard. The father is proud of what God has done. Maybe the father might even go and call in the elders, just to be doubly sure. And the elders talk about it. Yes, this fine young man, yes. But then he might say, and father, this is the girl. And the father might say, son, no. Now, here's something young person. When your father says no, it's not God's will, he's not saying no, never. He's probably saying, son, I can't tell you that she's not God's will for your life. But I can tell you in her present state, she is not. And if you truly believe that she's God's will for your life, you need to wait because she's not ready. Maybe she's a godly girl. She's just young. Maybe she's got some problems that would be detrimental to the marriage. If your father says, wait, here's where we're going to believe whether or not you think God's sovereign. Because if you say, no, dad, I'm going to do what I think God will do, you're saying God is not sovereign and I'm going to have to bust outside of the authority He's placed over me in order to get the job done. I was 30 years old when I asked for Charo's hand in marriage. Her father said no. Because he was an unbeliever and he wanted her to go back to Spain and did not want her marrying some poor missionary running around in the jungle. He said no. He was 5,000 miles away. He couldn't do anything. He said no. And you know what Charo and I did? We submitted to him. I was 30, director of a mission organization, been around the world twice. He said no. I said okay. And I bowed my knee and I said, Father, if this passion you've placed in my heart for her is true, are you not the God who moves the hearts of kings? Six months later, he calls up and says, you can marry the guy. Why? Why the change of heart? Never in my wildest dreams did I think a man would ask for your hand in marriage. And when I said no, that he would actually submit. There can't be another man like that on the planet. Marry him. You see? Yes, respect. But let's say, perfect case scenario, you tell your dad this is the girl and he goes, son, she's grown to be a fine woman. Fine woman. Pray about it. Seems to be the case. Now, guys, you don't go send your best friend to talk to her best friend because it just means you're a little coward in diapers. Okay? You are a coward. Just write it out. Coward. Wear it on your back. That's what you are. Because you're saying, and you're proud because you're not willing to face rejection. She might say, no. Alright, even if you are brave, you don't go talk to her. You don't. Why? I'll give you an example. It is October 1st, 2006, which is a holy day. Did you know that? It's the first day of deer season in Illinois. Alright? And I'm excited. I'm up. I haven't even gone to bed. I've been sitting out in the snow since midnight with my bow, just waiting to go. Alright? Well, I come outside. It's 4 o'clock in the morning. I'm excited. I'm going to go hunt up on Reepy Farm. So I go out to that old beat up truck of mine. And it's gone. And I'm mad. I mean, I'm real mad. Someone's got my truck. I'm not going deer hunting. I'm madder than a hornet. And I'm just pacing back and forth out there in the driveway until about 9.30 in the morning. And you, you little boy, you come driving up in my car, my truck. And you jump out the door and you throw me the keys and say, thanks Mr. Washer. Enjoyed using your truck. I got a place behind the barn where I've buried several young men like you. I'm going to be speechless. I'm going to be so mad. I'm going to be... That would be wrong. Would you do that? Yet you would go take a man's daughter. You would take a man's daughter without his knowledge of it. You'd start drawing near to a man's daughter without his knowledge of it. What a disgrace. I'm not talking about asking her out. I'm talking about just drawing near and trying to get closer and closer to search out the... You have no right to do that. None. So what do you do? You do what a man does. Go to her father. You say, sir, I've been praying about you. That's the best way to say it. I've been praying about you. Don't say I'm interested in your daughter or your daughter really looks fine because he's going to rip your head off. I mean, at least try to look spiritual, okay? I've been praying about your daughter. And the dad will probably say, she doesn't need a servant. No, it's for something else. But I've been praying about your daughter. If he looks at you and says no, the answer is no. You trust God. And if he says no and you say why, you've already proved why he said no because you don't need to know why. He said no. But... And he has that right. He has that right just to look at you and say no. But he doesn't have the right to look at you and say yes. If he looks at you and says no, it's no. But if he looks at you and he thinks, you know, he's seen your life and thinks you'd be a great candidate, he's not going to tell you yes. Here's what he's going to do. And fathers, listen. And look at that young man and say, I'll pray about it. You don't say, I'm going to go talk to my daughter. You say, I'll pray about it. Why? You're going to see in a moment. So you go back and you talk to your daughter. If you feel like this guy is really a possibility, you go talk to your daughter. Now at the mention of his name, she throws up, he's probably not the guy. And if she says no, no, daddy, no, please, daddy, no, no, no, daddy. Then, daddy, you tell her to pray about it for a couple of weeks. And after a couple of weeks, she says, no, daddy, no, no, no, no, no. Then you go back to that young man and this is what you tell him. You don't tell him, I talked to my daughter and she said no. Why? Sir, it is your job to see to it that your daughter never comes into a conflicting situation with another man. Any man that wants to address your daughter with questions that are that important, they don't address her, they address you. Your job is to protect her. That young man is not to walk out there thinking, well, that girl, who does she think he is? No, it has nothing to do with the girl. You protect your daughter. If she says no, you go back to that young man and say, young man, I've prayed about it and the answer is no. Now, young man, I'm always open to the will of God. Pray about it for six more months or whatever. Come back, talk to me, that will be fine. I'm open to anything, but right now the answer is no. But if the father thinks he's a pretty good candidate and everything and goes over and talks to the girl and says, you know, so-and-so just came and she falls down and starts screaming out hallelujah, you know that maybe God's working. Then what happens? Then the parents get together. To do what? To set out parameters. I've gone over my time. What should I do? Okay, okay. Those old carnal people that arrived late can just sit back there. Tell them to come on in. They're about to turn blue back there. You can tell them to come in if you want. This is just so... Is this okay? The pastor knows karate. I'm not going to get beat up, am I? Okay. If she says yes, then the parents come together prayerfully rejoicing and seek to establish parameters. Okay? Seek to establish parameters. Now what am I talking about about seeking to establish parameters? It has to do with this. This is so extremely important. You listen to me. It is true. It never fails. I'm going to show you something that if you do not obey, you are going to suffer like you cannot believe. And that's all there is to it. You are going to suffer like you cannot believe if you do not obey this because it is Scripture. Parents, listen to me. And you listen very, very, very well to what I'm about to say. Because it never fails. It is true. It always is true. Always has been true. Always will be true. And it will be true with your daughter. And it will be true with your son. Your wife said I could keep going, so she's wrong. She's the one who told me I could keep going. Here it is. Now listen to me. Ephesians chapter 6 says that we fight not against flesh and blood, we wrestle not with flesh and blood, but we wrestle against powers and principalities and mites and dominions, right? Alright. The context there, the Greek verbiage there, all of it indicates that the believer is in a hand-to-hand, face-to-face combat with the devil. The believer is not supposed to run. He's not supposed to flee. He's to resist the devil. And he's promised in James chapter 4 that if he does resist the devil, the devil will flee from him. Okay? Do you understand that? That's what the Bible says. That you are commanded, you are more than allowed, you are commanded to enter in to a face-to-face, hand-to-hand combat with the devil, fight him, and it is promised to you that he will resist you. Okay? But then, over in 2 Timothy chapter 2, it tells the same person to run with terrifying fear from youthful lust. Now think about that. You're allowed to go hand-to-hand, face-to-face combat with the devil, but the youthful lust inside of you, young person, you're to run from it as something worse than the devil himself. Now, write this down as a rule. If two people, young, even old, if two people of the opposite sex spend any time, any time, any extended period alone together, they're going to fall into immorality. I've had parents tell me, not my daughter, not my son, no, it's going to happen. It's going to happen. It probably already has with some of you. And you know it's true. Your heart's looking down at this moment. You know it's true. I had one of the finest young men I know who's in seminary right now, and he had a fiancée, and she was just as godly as he was, but typical, raised in a typical sort of way, not knowing anything about these kind of things, and he came into my office. He's a man's man. He came into my office, and he burst out in tears, and I said, son, what is wrong? And he said, you know I want to be godly, and my fiancée, we want to be missionaries. We're reading the Bible. We're fasting, and we're praying, but sometimes when I take her home from church or when we go out to get a bite to eat or sometimes when we're in a place and we're by ourselves, well, things will happen, and then after they happen, then I just feel horrible, and I want to die, and she wants to die, and we don't know how to overcome it. I mean, it's so powerful, and yet we... I said, what do your counselors tell you to do at your church? What does your leadership say? He said, well, they say that, you know, it's really difficult, and well, we need to pray and fast, and this is a difficult time. I said, you go back to them, and you use my name. You tell them to stop counseling young people. Stop it. Tell them to call me on the phone. Use my name. I know who they are, and they know me. Most ignorant thing I've ever heard in my life. Do you think you can actually pray to be filled with the Holy Spirit in order to give you enough power to rob a bank? My dear friend, God makes no promises of giving you enough spiritual strength and moral fortitude to resist being alone with someone of the opposite sex with whom you're not married. He never gives you that promise, and He's not going to give you that promise, because He's already told you what to do. Run. Run. You are never to be alone with someone of the opposite sex with whom you have a romantic interest because you are going to fall. Even in courtship, you are not to be alone. Now, a lot of you think I'm absolutely out of my mind, and a lot of you who think that, you've already fallen, and you will. It's a biblical truth. You just can't do it. You can't... What would happen... Okay, let's just... Alright, I'm preaching here, okay? I'm preaching. Okay, but let's just say that I have... Instead of a hotel room, I have a little, you know, not only a hotel room, but one of those little hotel rooms where they also have a little kitchenette in it and everything, you know? And let's say that the pastor pulls up, you know, on Thursday to pick me up, and I say, Pastor, I'm really not done right now. Just come on up, though. So the pastor comes on up to the room, opens the door, walks in, and I'm making cookies there in the little kitchenette with a very beautiful single woman from this church. Okay? What's going to be the pastor's reaction after he picks his jaw off of the floor? What's going to be his reaction? He's not even going to let me preach that night. The meetings are over. And rightly so. The meetings are over. He's going to say, Are you out of your mind? I say, What are you talking about? We're making cookies. Are you out of your cotton pick? What are you doing? Pastor, look, we're making cookies. I've got this apron on. There they are, the Walmart cookies, the cheap ones, but they really taste good. There they are. I mean, we're making cookies. He's just almost... His head's going to blow off. He's going to be so mad. He's going to call the deacons, the leaders, the elders of the church, and he's going to say, You know what? We've got to explain this to the church. Aren't you? We're going to cancel the meetings. Now, I want you to look at something. I am 44 years old. I'm the director of a mission organization. I have a beautiful wife and two children that I love. I've got a lot more to lose than a 16-year-old boy, don't you think? Not only that, I've been walking with Jesus Christ for 23 years. I've probably got a little bit more sense than a 16-year-old boy. If I fall into sin, I am going to lose my wife. I am going to lose my two boys. I am going to lose the ministry. 85 missionary families who are being supported are probably not going to get supported next month and their children are going to go hungry. I've got a lot to lose. And yet, you're going to look at me and say, Paul, there's no way you ought to be alone. And yet, you'll let your little 16-year-old, who has no moral fortitude, very little Scripture, very little Bible, go out with a 15-year-old, and then you're just all confused. I don't know what went wrong. I don't know what went wrong. That's what went wrong. It went wrong. Because they can't. Now, I want to be careful here because I want you to realize that there are things that youth can share together, things that youth can do together, things like that. I mean, controlled and things like that. But what I'm talking about, if you let two people enter into a romantic relationship, young, that are not married together, and they start spending a lot of time alone, they are going to fall. It's not a case of if. It is only a case of when. It's going to happen. And so then you have to ask yourself the question, what kind of parameters do we set to protect our children? Have you ever heard of a parlor? Do you know what a parlor is? Do you know that's the specific purpose of a parlor? Did you know that? A parlor was a room in the house, kind of set off a little bit, and it had a big, usually it didn't have doors, just had a big open space like this. Do you know what they're for? It's for a young couple who are in courtship. They can sit there, they can talk, can share things, but even there ought to be parameters there. Share things, talk, discuss, get to know one another, all sorts of things. But it's safe because just when you least expect it, Dad passes by with a 12-gauge shotgun and dressed in camouflage. The thing that I'm trying to say is, now look, remember what I said, there are just some principles. We can make all kinds of rules and tighten this thing up, but they're really not biblical. There's just some principles here that are very important. One of them is submission to parents, godly parents. Another thing is to set parameters so that when the couple that are interested in one another, that are courting, actually courting, are spending time together, there are parameters built. And, listen to this parent, I want to tell you something, there are other parents that will betray you. They will. I've seen it happen where a few parents think that, well, this is ridiculous. And so what they'll do is say, well, why don't you let both of them come with us? We're going to go out tonight to a certain place. And then they'll walk over there and say, look, I know that you guys never can do anything together. Just go on, go on. I'll cover for you. I know parents that do that. Wicked people. You say, this is absolutely ridiculous. No, what's absolutely ridiculous is 50% divorce rate among people who identify themselves with Christians. Another thing, very, very important, you cannot enter in, young person, listen to me, the average church person, young person, has five major relationships with five different people before they ever marry. Even if there is no physical contact, it still will be very detrimental to their future marriage. Because they've given five pieces of themselves away already. And young men, listen, this is what I'm telling you, you have no right to share certain things with a girl that you're not going to marry. You have no right to share certain experiences with her because you are the first one to share that experience with her when it should be her husband. You're robbing him. I know that this is very unorthodox. I'm very sorry. But please understand this. I'm trying to save your life. I'm trying to save your life. It is not a question of if you can be spiritual enough to resist alone. Because God says you can't. It is build parameters so that you can get to know one another without ever being so alone that you're not checked up on. Okay? Extremely important. Extremely. Just from young people. Are there any questions just really quick about what I've said? From young people. Any questions? All right, we'll go to the Lord in prayer. Father, I come before You and I ask, Lord, that You would help. Help us, Lord. In Jesus' name.