The Teenager and Proverbs 29 1

I believe that God is calling out a generation of teenagers to serve him. There are teens all over this land coming to Christ and taking the narrow way as opposed to the broad way that all their friends are on. I believe that God is raising up a generation to stand for him in the coming days of persecution.

Things are going to start getting pretty hot in this country for Christians because if you haven't already figured it out, friends, persecution is coming to the church and already Christians are taking the heat from a godless society that hates God and all things holy. Now while I just read the paper this week, 16 North Carolina judges just resigned or retired because of the new legislation forcing them to conduct homosexual weddings. Christian Baker is being sued for not making a lesbian a wedding cake.

Another Christian couple closed their photography business where they photographed weddings because homosexuals were threatening them with a lawsuit for refusing to photograph their wedding. It's as if the entire nation is tolerant to every other religion and lifestyle as long as it isn't Christian. It's intolerant to be a Christian today, young friends, in case you didn't know.

And the persecution that will be coming to the church in America is like a perfect storm brewing on the horizon. All hell is getting ready to break out on the American church. There'll be those churches who will compromise their beliefs and go along with the status quo.

But there'll be others who will stand strong for the truths of the Bible and the God of the Bible. We're getting back to the time, young friends, like in ancient Rome where to be a Christian meant something. It was either Caesar is Lord and confess him or Jesus is Lord and go be fed to the lions in the Colosseum.

If you were Christian back then, you were considered an enemy of the state. They ransacked your home. They took your personal belongings.

They came and arrested your family members, put them in chains or even put them to death for their testimony in Christ Jesus. And God's raising up a generation from among you today to face this coming persecution. Friends, I believe he's building an army of teenagers to get the job done and stand strong for him.

And you can be part of that army. All I say is persecution is coming and your faith has to be strong. But you have to be a Christian.

You have to be a true Christian, young friend, not just an unconverted church member. There's a difference. Have you experienced change? Have you ever been born again? I believe that God's working on young folks all across this country.

I've seen some stirrings of interest in Christianity among you teens. And I see something else happening as well. And it greatly concerns me.

I see some teens who get an interest in God and then they pull back their will and only to go so far. And they pull back into the world from which they came from. They are being reproved by the spirit of God.

And they are rejecting that reproof that comes to them on a continual basis. And there's great danger there, young friends. I believe there are some teens in this country right now who have resisted the wounds of the spirit of God and are in jeopardy of fulfilling the scripture as it is found in the book of Proverbs in chapter 29 and verse 1. And that's my text today that I want to bring before you.

And it declares, He that being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. But some of you don't believe in that kind of God anymore. Some of you've never even heard about that kind of God.

You don't believe that there's a God who would kill someone. You just don't believe that the God of Proverbs 29 1 would act that way today. But he does, young friends.

He's not a politically correct God, but the living God of the Bible. And he is a God who must punish sin. He's a God who brings some destruction upon a person for hardening their neck against him.

Do you believe that? Does your God line up with the God of the Bible? Or is your God just a God of your own imagination? Listen, young people, God is a God who kills people. Will he have to kill you? I believe that there are some teenagers in this country who've hardened their necks after being often reproved with the gospel. You ask, what is a reproof? A reproof is every time someone hands you a gospel tract.

That's a reproof. Every time you hear a gospel message, that's a reproof. Every time you drive down the street and see a billboard with a Bible verse on it, that's a reproof.

Every time someone witnesses to you about Jesus Christ, that's a reproof. And if you harden your neck against those often reproofs, then you are in danger of being suddenly destroyed. And that without remedy.

And the reference to, and that without remedy, is a reference to the remedy for sin in the person of Jesus Christ. If you were cut down by an offended God and you die in your sins, you die without having this remedy for sin in the person of Jesus Christ. I've seen some teens get an interest in the things of God up to a point, and then they draw back into the world.

And sometimes when they do, they end up more wicked than they were before. I recall a teenage girl who was a friend of my daughter's, who expressed an interest in spiritual things. My daughter gave her a Bible underlying some special verses for her to read.

And we both prayed for that teenage girl on a regular basis, even picked her up at her house and took her to church when her parents wouldn't. And for a time, it looked like there was some progress being made. But she drew back into the world and she's become more wicked than she was before.

Many teens have become atheists. They reject God and the Bible all together as a fairy tale. I believe there's teens like that all over this country who've been often reproved by God, but who have now resisted him to the point of hardening themselves against him.

And there's nothing left but for God to remove them quite suddenly, to use them as an example so that some other teens may see the reality of eternity and the need for a savior to go into eternity in heaven. My Bible declares that God is a God who kills people. At least that's what my text in Proverbs 29.1 says.

Let me read it to you once more. He that being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. I've come across examples of this very thing time and time again.

Listen, young people, when I was conducting my research on my biography on the Baptist evangelist I came across several instances of God destroying people during Barnard's ministry. I remember one instance in particular where this man Barnard was preaching up in a church in the north and in the middle of his message he looked down the aisle of the church and he saw a woman with her teenage daughter and they were both upset. Roth Barnard said he'd never done a thing like this in his entire ministry before, but God, the spirit of God, pressed him to leave the pulpit, walk down the aisle of that church, walk right up to that teenage girl and ask her if she would repent and turn to Christ.

The girl began to yell and scream obscenities at Roth Barnard. So he withdrew, walked back to the platform and finished his message. When he revisited that northern town the following year, he inquired of the pastor of that church about that particular teenage girl.

The pastor informed him that both the teenage girl and her boyfriend were instantly killed in a fire or car crash within two months of that meeting. Listen, friends, God is a God who kills people. Will he have to kill you? I remember a tract that always disturbed me.

When I was just a boy of 14, I was given a job in a Bible bookstore and part of my job description was to sell gospel tracts in the front of that store. There were racks and racks of gospel tracts and I can tell you, young friend, I've read every single one of them. We didn't have cell phones back in that day.

We didn't have the internet back in that day. I had time on my hands and I read every single one of those gospel tracts. They made a big impression on me as a young boy.

I still hand out tracts today as a gospel witness and so should you, young believer. So should you. God honors a gospel literature ministry.

I can promise you that. Anyway, there was a particular tract in that Bible bookstore that alarmed me when I read it. It alarmed me because it talked about a God who kills people.

Up to that time, I thought God was a loving God who'd never act that way. But he does because he's the God of the Bible. And to the best of my memory, that tract went as follows.

There was a revival going on in a certain town where a group of young teenagers were gathering and making fun of the Christians at the church and the teenagers put on a blasphemous skit about the revival. One young man played the pastor of the church. Another young man played a poor sinner come to Christ.

Another young man played the visiting preacher and so on. There were eight young men who put on this shameful expedition and it was so blasphemous that some of the young men became silent and became ashamed for their behavior. But still, they stayed in that room until the act was done.

And as these young men went out into the night, one of the young men, as he became older, he kept up with his other friends who had participated in this God-mocking play. And he told the following story. He said for the last ten years, he'd been keeping up with his fellow play actors and each one of them had met a sudden and tragic death.

One fell down a flight of stairs and broke his neck. Another was caught between a moving train and crushed to death. Another was shot down while coming out of a nightclub.

One young man burned to death in a fire. And time and time again, each of these seven other young men had suddenly died and quite tragically. And it was he who was left alone as a lone survivor.

And he was relating the story as he was anticipating his own sudden death any day now. And I can tell you, that story shocked me as a 14-year-old. It showed me that God is a God who can't be mocked and that He kills people.

I didn't grow up in the church that you've grown up in today. The church in my day didn't mislead folks by only talking about a God of love. They warned us teenagers about a God who must punish sin.

Preachers in my day warned us young folks about the great danger of mocking God and resisting His gospel reproofs towards us. We believe the verse of Proverbs. He that being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed.

And that without remedy. We believed that verse because we still believed in the God of the Bible back in those days. But not today.

Not many people do. Not many young people do. The churches won't even tell you about that kind of God anymore.

They'll soft-soak the gospel, water it down, and only tell you about a big loving God who won't hurt anybody, much less punish sin or ever even send somebody to hell. But listen to me, young people. The God of the Bible is a God who will cut you down even if you don't think He would.

My Bible declares God is angry with the wicked every day. If He turned not, He will wet His sword. He hath bent His bow and made it ready.

Listen to me, dear young friend. Hell is a terrible place. You don't want to go there.

Hell is a place of demons. Hell is a place of the damned. Hell is a fiery pit of noise.

And there are no exit doors in hell. Once you shut up in there, you are locked up in there forever. There's no cell phones in hell.

You can't text anyone in hell. The life you know now would suddenly cease to exist if you died of your sins right now and dropped into hell. Listen to me, young person.

You may think that you have your entire life ahead of you, but you have no guarantee of tomorrow. Go visit a graveyard. Go walk down that field of gravestones.

Read them, and you'll discover that there are many buried there who never yet saw the age of 20. They died as teenagers. They were cut down into youth and sent to an early grave.

When I was a teenager, several of my young friends met tragic deaths in automobile accidents. One died from a sudden cancer. They were cut down before they even got a chance to go to college.

And in 1858, in this country, God sent a national spiritual awakening to the land, and he saved thousands upon thousands of teenagers all over this country. And he did it out of his mercy, because just in a brief time, many of those young men would be cut down on the battlefields of the Civil War. So many died at a time there was no time to even bury them individually.

They were cast into mass graves. Please, young teenager, listen to the pleas of this poor preacher. You've been searching for reality, and you can't find it in the places where you've been looking.

Friends will disappoint you. Drugs and booze and sex are just temporary escapes that only bring more sadness, more guilt, and more emptiness. You feel at times that your legs are in quicksand, and it's pulling you down, and you don't know how to get out of the mess you're in.

Listen to me. There is reality in the person of Jesus Christ. He is a faithful friend who will never let you down.

Jesus was once a teenager. He knows what you're going through. He knows your hurts.

He knows your sadness. He knows your disappointments. He knows the horrible pit that you are in, and he alone can rescue you.

Listen to the words of a man who knew what it was like to be misunderstood, to be abandoned by friends, to be stuck in a seemingly hopeless situation with no way out. His name was King David, and he wrote about his desperate cry to God to get him out of the pit he was in. Listen to the words from Psalm 40.

I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God, and many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.

God saw David's dilemma. God heard David's desperate prayer for deliverance. God answered that prayer in a wonderful way, through a mighty deliverance.

God set his feet on solid ground, gave him a new path to walk in life. God even put a new song in David's mouth, full of praise unto God, unto the God who delivered him. And do you know what, young friend? Others saw the change in him, and they too put their trust in the Lord.

This can happen to you, friend. Jesus is well aware of your situation. He's watching you.

His ears are open to your prayers. He can come and rescue you out of your own pit of misery, and place your own feet on solid ground, and so change your life that others will see the change and be impacted by it. There's a reality in Christ, friend.

Listen to me, young person. The gospel is for the hungry, the weary, and the thirsty. Let me ask you a question.

Are you hungry for the reality of God? Are you weary of your sins and the mess that you're in? Are you thirsty for Christ and a new life? You won't hear much about repentance today in our churches because most pastors leave that out of a gospel invitation. But if you want Jesus, young friend, you must repent of your sins and turn to God. My Bible says a Christian is a person who has exercised repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ.

Jesus warned his hearers, Except you repent, you shall all likewise perish. And that means to perish in a burning hell for all eternity. I want you to listen to the following gospel invitations.

I want you to focus your full attention on the words as I read them to you. Please, young friend, don't look at your cell phone. I don't look around you at someone you know.

I want you to look to Jesus and really look. God alone can save you, young friend. But you must look to him.

He declares in Isaiah, Look unto me and be ye saved. All the ends of the earth for I am God and there is none else. Now listen, young person, as to what God requires of you as you come to him.

Listen to his words. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near.

Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him. And to our God for he will abundantly pardon. You see, young friend, you need pardon for your sins.

Your sins have made you a guilty rebel. Who has sinned against God? And my Bible says the soul that sinneth it shall die. But God will show you mercy if you will turn to him in repentance and faith.

He will pardon you. Ask God now for the grace to turn to him in repentance. Our text says to seek the Lord while he may be found.

Call ye upon him while he is near. Listen to me, young person, become a seeker of him. Look to him, call upon him.

Listen to this next gospel invitation from the lips of Jesus Christ. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.

And you shall find rest unto your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Listen, young friend, to the promise of Christ Jesus. He promises that if you come to him, he will not turn you away.

Christ's reception of sinners is a fact you can trust in. He will never turn anyone away who comes to him in sincerity as a beggar for mercy. Listen to his words.

All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Now listen to me, young person. If God is dealing with you, don't turn away.

Don't turn your back on him. Get serious with God and he will get serious with you. Remember our warning from Proverbs.

He that being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. Don't harden your neck, young friend, but rather bow your neck to him who can save you, the Lord Jesus Christ. He poured out his blood on an ignoble cross because of sin.

My sins and your sins were the nails that fastened him to that cross. That cross had his blood all over it because of our wretched and filthy sins. But the blood of Jesus can wash all sins away.

There's power in the blood. Look at Jesus hanging there for your sins. Listen, dear friend.

I know I'm a sinner and I need a sin substitute in the person of Jesus Christ. And so do you. So do you, friend.

Now, listen to the call of the gospel. And it is my prayer that you hear his voice and that the Spirit of God applies the gospel to your heart. Listen to these wonderful gospel invitations, young friend.

And remember, like I said, the gospel is for the hungry. It's for the weary. It's for the thirsty.

Are you hungry for God? Are you weary of your sins? Are you thirsty for Christ? Then come in the last day, that great day, the feast. Jesus stood and cried, saying, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

And the Spirit and the bride say, come, and let him that heareth say, come, and let him that is a thirst come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.