Exhortations and Warnings for Youth (Part 6)

D. Friends may pressure you to go to other churches that teach different doctrine, or to not go to church at all. 1. They may pressure you to go to a different church which has more programs, entertainment, groups and friends, etc., and where religion is easy. 2. Church is for the praise of God in spirit and truth (JOH 4:23-24), for the feeding of sheep, not the amusing of goats. And true religion was never meant to be “easy.” MAT 7:13-14. 3. Hold fast to the faith you have been taught in church and at home. 1CO 15:58. 4. Be discerning, always measuring what you are taught by the Scriptures (ACT 17:11); don't forsake assembling with a godly church for personal reasons. HEB 10:23-25. 5. Remember Moses who chose to suffer affliction with the people of God rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. HEB 11:24-27. E. Friends may pressure you to disobey, disrespect or mock your parents. 1. God commands you to obey your parents. EPH 6:1. a. You are to obey them in all things. COL 3:20. (1) You need to give them the benefit of the doubt in the rules they set down for you. (2) Unless they are requiring you to do something that you know is sinful, you should not rebel against their rule. (3) If you are convinced that what they are demanding of you is sinful, respectfully tell them that. If the problem continues, tell the pastor. b. You need to honor your parents that it may go well with you. EPH 6:2-3. c. Mocking your parents is not a joking matter. PRO 30:17. 2. You should also respect your elders in general. LEV 19:32 c/w ISA 3:5. F. Friends may pressure you to get drunk or to use illegal drugs or abuse otherwise lawful products as intoxicants. 1. Drunkenness is a sin as murder is a sin. GAL 5:21. a. drunkenness: The state of being drunk; intoxication; the habit of being drunken or addicted to excessive drinking. b. drunk: That has drunk intoxicating liquor to an extent which affects steady self-control; intoxicated, inebriated; overcome by alcoholic liquor. c. intoxicate: To stupefy, render unconscious or delirious, to madden or deprive of the ordinary use of the senses or reason, with a drug or alcoholic liquor, to inebriate, make drunk. 2. Intoxicating oneself by any means other than alcoholic liquor falls under the censure of drunkenness by virtue of the words, “...and such like...” (GAL 5:21). 3. Drunkenness will cause you to lose control of yourself and commit other sins. Exhortations and Warnings for Youth 12-29-13 Page 13  PRO 23:29-35. 4. Drunkenness can cause you to shame yourself by nakedness. LAM 4:21. 5. Drunkenness sets you up for sexual battery. GEN 19:35; HAB 2:15. a. Don't be deceived into thinking that parties where intoxicants are used are harmless teenage fun. b. Young ladies especially need to be on guard here! 6. Mind that there is an element of criminality that needs to be considered. a. In Ohio, the legal age for consumption of alcohol without parental presence and supervision is 21. Parents should review Sec. 4301.69 of the Ohio Revised Code, etc. b. Bodily injury, death or property damage caused by someone under the influence of alcohol or some other intoxicant have serious consequences for youth and parents. c. Illegal drugs are not only dangerous but can carry heavy penalties. 7. Our culture thinks drunkenness is a joking matter but sin is no joking matter. PRO 14:9; ROM 6:23. G. Friends may pressure you into stealing things. 1. They may think it's cool to shoplift or steal from parents or neighbors and suggest that you try it. 2. Stealing may be a criminal act in the eyes of the state and is always a sin in the eyes of God. EXO 20:15; EPH 4:28. 3. Stealing may lead to other sins like lying (to cover it up) or swearing that you never stole the thing you stole, which is blasphemy. PRO 30:9. H. Friends may pressure you into using ungodly or filthy language. 1. Using God's name in vain is utterly forbidden. EXO 20:7. a. Remember that Jesus Christ is God (1TI 3:16) and therefore His name is not to be taken in vain either. b. Euphemisms like Jeez, Geez, Gee-whiz, Cripes, etc. should be avoided. 2. We are to put off filthy (morally foul, polluted, obscene) communication. COL 3:8. a. Jokes, stories and such like that make light of or glorify sin, especially sexual sin, are to be avoided. PRO 14:9. b. Verbalizing sin or filthiness tends to incentivize sin or filthy actions. JAM 3:6. c. The same principle applies to written communication which is a form of speech. ACT 8:34. 3. We are to avoid cursing (the utterance of words which consign to spiritual or temporal evil....damning). JAM 3:9-10. a. Not all cursing is wrong. MAR 11:21. b. As young people, you do not have the discernment to know when it is appropriate and when it is not so you should follow your parents' rules concerning it. 4. We know we are on safe ground when our speech is edifying (upbuilding) and sound (without harm or injury). EPH 4:29; TIT 2:8. I. Friends may pressure you into having sex before you are married. 1. Such “friends” have plenty of allies in this temptation: Satan who destroys men through their unbridled lusts, a culture which promotes ungodly sexual activity, and your own nature which is “...corrupt according to the deceitful lusts” (EPH 4:22). 2. The Bible calls pre-marital sex fornication and it is sinful. 1CO 6:18; 1TH 4:3-5. Exhortations and Warnings for Youth 12-29-13 Page 14 a. fornication: Voluntary sexual intercourse between a man (in restricted use, an unmarried man) and an unmarried woman. In Scripture, extended to adultery. b. intercourse: 2. a. Social communication between individuals; frequent and habitual contact in conversation and action; dealings. d. Sexual connexion. c. connexion: The action of connecting or joining together; the condition of being connected or joined together. d. Fornication is thus the connecting of any part of one person's body (sexual organ, hand, mouth, etc.) to the sexual organ of another person's body for sexual gratification. e. This prohibition is not limited to sexual connection between people of different gender. Don't ever get to thinking that sexual connection with someone of your own gender is an acceptable alternative to sexual connection in marriage to someone of the opposite gender. ROM 1:26-27. 3. Pre-marital sex is a defiling thing. GEN 34:1-7. a. defile: To render morally foul or polluted; to destroy the ideal purity of; to corrupt, taint, sully. b. The Holy Spirit plainly says that what happened between Shechem and Dinah was wrong. GEN 34:7. c. The woman who voluntarily had sexual connection before marriage was said to have “played the whore” and was subject to capital punishment. DEU 22:21. (1) whore: A woman who prostitutes herself for hire; a prostitute, harlot. b. More generally: An unchaste or lewd woman; a fornicatress or adulteress; to play the whore (of a woman), to commit fornication or adultery. (2) The woman who commits fornication for personal gratification may not sell herself sexually for money but has given her body for other commodities which she desires: attention, affection, emotional thrill, etc. and so has played the whore, i.e., acted the role of a whore. d. The N.T. makes clear that men who have sexual connection before marriage are sinners also since they are obviously fornicators and/or whoremongers. (1) whoremonger: One who has dealings with whores; one who practises whoredom; a fornicator, lecher. (2) See EPH 5:5. 4. Young people: avoid things which open doors to sexual experimentation. Make no provision for your flesh's lusts. ROM 13:14. a. Avoid entertainment that feeds the desire of the eyes and lusts. b. Avoid reading suggestive material that excite ungodly lusts. c. Avoid conversations with friends, etc. that stir up ungodly lusts. d. Avoid things that break down your inhibitions. e. Young ladies: avoid wearing clothing that is obviously sexually arousing. (1) Dress modestly. 1TI 2:9-10. (2) Immodest apparel is the uniform of prostitution. PRO 7:10. (3) Suggestive clothing sends a universal message: “I am cheap and my sexuality is more important to me than my respect and my virtue.” (4) Breasts are to be reserved for a husband. EZE 23:2-3; PRO 5:19. 5. Marriage is the sole venue for blessed sexual connection. HEB 13:4. Exhortations and Warnings for Youth 12-29-13 Page 15