Jim Van Gelderen: Okay, you can start moving toward the book of Ephesians chapter number four, but I'd like to say a few things as we get into this. Certainly when we come into a meeting like this, our burden is for God to do a work in our hearts. And some of the work that is done is what we might call preventative work.

And I trust for some of you that a little more on the innocent and naive sort of things, that you will allow a meeting like this to be a protection for you, a warning to you, a prevention, if I can say that. Back when I was just a teenager, the age of many of you in this room, I went to the Bill Rice Ranch, and I remember hearing Evangelist Paul Levine, who was a hero of mine.

He's been in heaven a long time, but a lot of my ministry has been affected by Evangelist Paul Levine. He used to preach at the Bill Rice Ranch, and a lot of the things that Paul Levine preached on, I've never done. And one of the reasons is, because of the preaching of Paul Levine.

And I remember as he preached, he would preach hard against the sins of the 1970s. 70s. I remember as a teenager thinking to myself, you know, I agree with Dr.

Paul on that. That was our Dr. Paul at the time.

Got a different Dr. Paul now. But he can exegete a Bible verse, which Paul Levine couldn't do, but he didn't think knew the Greek.

But anyway, but I remember being affected by his ministry in the sense that he warned me. And it was a prevention. And his preaching did not tempt us to go there.

It was strong preaching against sin. And basically as a naive, innocent young person, I made decisions. You know, I'm not going to drink alcohol.

I'm not going to smoke cigarettes. I'm not going to look at dirty magazines. I'm not going to hang around kids who tell dirty jokes, things like that.

Now, let me just say for some of you in this room, young people in this room, you're on the innocent side of things. A couple of weeks ago, I had something happen that was a blessing to me. I had a seventh grade kid come up to me, and just on the preaching, I'd mentioned the word pornography.

And remember, he came up to me and he said this. He And I remember saying to him, young man, you're innocent and naive. That's the greatest protection you can have because it's something that's devastating and will ruin your life.

Stay away from it. You know, not often do you find people that naive, that innocent. But I will tell you, friends, I don't want you to miss this.

The greatest protection you can have from any kind of besetting sin, but particularly in the moral arena, the greatest protection you have is innocence. Innocence. The Bible exhorts us to be wise concerning that which is good and simple concerning evil.

And I will tell you, in this room right now, there are several young men, and I'm thankful for each one of them, who could stand behind this microphone and tell you a testimony very similar to the one we just heard. And could tell you about making some poor decisions, getting into things they regret, finding themselves hooked and besetting sins, find themselves in bondage to a certain sin, and giving testimony of God's freeing power.

And one of the reasons they can stand and give those testimonies is because they're no longer defined by that besetting sin, they're defined by the victory that Jesus Christ gives them. So they can give it with power. But I say this for those that are innocent in the room.

Each one of them would say to you, if you're innocent, they would say to you, don't go where I went, it's not worth it. And if you're innocent, friend, you better keep your innocence. And I will tell you in the world in which you live, probably one day your innocence is going to be tempted.

Maybe by inadvertently coming across something that you know is not right, or maybe a friend of yours, so-called friend of yours, showing you something that's inappropriate, maybe even in the restroom of a Bible-preaching church, show you something on their cell phone that's clearly wrong. At that moment you're going to have to make a good decision. And let me tell you what the Bible says to do.

It says, flee also youthful lusts. Take your two good legs and get out of there. And make a beeline to somebody who loves you and cares about you.

And say, hey, so and so in the bathroom just tried to show me something that was wrong. And they can protect you. Every one of these young people will tell you the mistake they made as soon as they were introduced to this, they didn't get to the right people.

Don't miss this. They kept it secret. And Satan's greatest weapon to keep you in besetting sin is secrecy.

Secrecy. Hopefully you can talk to your parents about these things, but if not, get to a pastor or pastor's wife. If there's a temptation that comes into your life, and let them know so they can help you keep you innocent concerning that which is evil.

And I'm very burdened about it because we live in a day that's totally different than the day in which I grew up, because a lot of things are what we might call accessible. I remember several years ago, a Christian camp no longer exists in the state of Colorado. And I remember I was preaching there, and this is probably early 2000s, maybe 90s.

And a young man came up to me, I'm thinking 16, maybe 17, and he said, Brother Van Gelden, could I talk to you? We began a conversation. He said, I feel like I should tell you this.

He said, you know, he said, I was with some friends I really shouldn't have been with. Mistake number one. The Bible says, he that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.

You hang around fools and God says you'll be destroyed. And as I mentioned earlier last night, I'm telling you, fool's not hard to find. They talk dirty.

They think dirty. They have dirty innuendos. They're fools.

Some of you in this room are fools. You need to get right with God. I've got good news for you.

If you're a fool, you don't have to leave the warm acts a fool. If you'll start embracing wisdom from the Word of God, you don't have to stay a fool. But he was hanging around these fools, and he said they threw, and this would have been probably a videotape.

this is way back, threw in a videotape. He said, Brother Van Gilden, they threw in what he would call at that time an X-rated movie. And he said, I knew I shouldn't watch that, so I said I left.

He said, I went over to the computer, distracted myself, and I began to goof around the computer. He said, I wasn't doing anything wrong in that computer. It's mistake number two.

Here's what the Bible says you do with moral temptation. Flee. Flee.

The manly, the men, the real men run, and the wimps stay and look at the filth. Real men run from pornography and filth. You know why?

Because they know what it is. And he stayed. He said, I just goofed around the computer.

And he said, when I did, he said, he began to cry. He said, Brother Van Gelderen, he said, I looked up. He said, I shouldn't have, but I did.

He said, I only watched it for a minute. He said, it couldn't have been more than 60 seconds. But he said, I wish I'd never seen that 60 seconds.

And he cried right in front of me, really sobbed right in front of me. Wow. 60 seconds of filth and he's broken.

60 seconds. They say the average teenager today sees more filthy images in one night than a World War II veteran saw in a lifetime. Let that one sink in.

World War II veterans were not squeaky clean. I'm telling you the amazing thing today is availability. What was the difference?

Availability. Nobody was on the internet in those late 90s. It was there, but very few people did much with it at that time.

Broken over 60 seconds. But I will tell you, friends, the greatest protection is innocence, and don't you forget it. And I just want to just encourage you with that.

On the other hand, I realize in a room this size, some of you guys have already made the mistake. You're not innocent anymore. And that's why we have testimonies like we just have.

And I honestly can tell you there are men across this room who, like I said, were one time their life was defined by bondage to this sin. But they're now free, and they freely give their testimony, which I am so grateful for. Because they're trying to tell you, you don't have to stay there.

Satan may try to get you to think you're stuck and you're never getting out, but that's a lie from the pit of hell. And we're going to just deal with some things here. I'm not going to be preaching on that, but I felt like I needed to say something because there's some of you in this room that maybe it's good, just some different reasons, that you are still innocent and thank God for it.

But you will have to, I'm going to tell you, in the world in which you live, your innocence from now on is not going to be accidental. It will be purposeful. You're not going to stay pure by accident.

It's going to have to be purposeful because you live in a wicked world, and sooner or later, misery loves company, and somebody who's on the junk is going to try to get you in too. And you need to be ready to know what you're going to do. And you need purpose in your heart.

you're not going there. And some of you kids, I'm not trying to be unkind, but some of you kids are into the filth and you've never shed a tear over the fact that you're looking at junk, destroying your future marriage, scarring your future kids, touching your future grandkids. And I'm going to tell you why you don't care.

Because the Bible tells us about sin, you can't do it without selfishness. Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lusts and enticed. And one of the great tragedies of the filth of our day is it feeds selfishness.

I've preached it many times. I don't need to re-preach it, except it feeds selfishness. And it makes you going to be a very poor husband and a very poor father if you don't deal with it brutally like has been testified, and you may hear other testimonies about.

But I just wanted to mention that because I just feel like this is a huge issue today. Now as a result of that God has put on the hearts of several leadership people here at The Generation. Because of that we certainly are on a journey to help young people who are sucked in.

But I'm going to tell you friends, some of you guys in this room need to get broken over your filth. You just need to get broken over it. And I want to show you in just a moment you will never get victory until you shed light on the junk.

And you realize what you're doing is setting yourself up for problems. And I will tell you one of the great things that I have been absolutely thrilled about, it's seeing young men who are sucked into this stuff, who got victory, and not only got victory, some of them have even told me God has given them don't miss this. Divine forgetfulness.

They can't even remember some of the stuff they've looked at. That is a miracle from God Himself. Don't underestimate God.

And don't underestimate what Jesus Christ can do. Now you guys that are into the junk, ask God to break your heart so you can be one of the ones who has been through it and can give a testimony of hope and give a testimony that God can bring victory and a testimony to reach down and help others who are in the bondage that you once were in.

The thing I appreciate about many men in this room, like I said, if I asked, there's certain men I could mention their name right now and say, would you come and give a testimony? They wouldn't bat an eye, they'd come and give a testimony. You know why?

Because they want to help you. And they're now experiencing victory, like I mentioned. They're not defined by their defeat anymore.

And I'm telling you young people, you can be 14 years old and have victory in your brain. In fact, if you're 14, you ought to have victory in your brain. And if you're defeated in your mind, get to somebody, hopefully it's your dad, and say, I'm not finding victory in my brain because you can have victory.

In fact, I really shouldn't say this because I don't want to embarrass him, but the speaker a couple of sessions ago, my son-in-law, some of you know, obviously Ryan spoke, my son-in-law, who I'm deeply proud of and deeply appreciative of. But I remember when he sat down with me in 2020, right about the time of COVID, and he had just begun working with accountability. And in that accountability he had begun to see victory he had never seen since he had gotten into this stuff.

And I remember him saying to me, he said, Brother Van Gelder, and he said, and I remember the awe even in his own eyes and voice. He was amazed by it. He said, I've had four months now where I've been tempted to think lustful thoughts, but I can honestly say for four months, God, I've seen the victory.

God give me the victory for four months. Now, I want to ask you, young man, have you had victory for four months? Or you have not allowed pollution in your brain?

It's possible. And you say, why is it possible? His name is Jesus.

God can give you victory. There is, there is truth that can set you free. You don't have to be a statistic.

I'm not saying it's not a battle. He'd tell you it's a battle. He understands the battle of that more than most would.

But I'm telling you friends, this is big stuff. And some of you young people may have never looked at things you shouldn't, but you still are unfortunately defeated in your mind because you're maybe not careful with things you look out in life. We live in a pornographic society, let me just tell you, we do.

I don't care who you are, sooner or later you're going to see things you shouldn't have to see. I think it's tragic you can't check out groceries in the United States of America without filth being on magazine covers as you check out. I think that's tragic, personally.

I think that's tragic, and it's an insult to men. This may shock some of you girls, but there are some men that don't want to look at you in an inappropriate way. That may shock some of you, But there's some men that don't like it when girls dress inappropriately.

They think it's low. Some of you guys are drawn to those girls. You're drawn to the girls who dress inappropriately.

You know what God says? He says you're a fool. He goeth after her, talking about the loose woman.

He goeth after her as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool, there it is, to the correction of the stocks. Any man who is drawn to loose women is a fool. I don't care if it's a picture.

I don't care if it's a video. It doesn't matter if it's a living person. If you're drawn to a woman who doesn't dress right, you are a fool.

And God's calling you a fool. I'm just telling you something to wake up and smell the coffee. I am not trying to be unkind, but I'm sensing in a room like this, some of you kids need to get right with God.

You need to get broken over your self and get broken over the stuff that's destroying you. Now, what I want us to do is I want you to understand, how did you get there? Well, there's many ways you can give ground to the enemy.

How many are familiar with the date? June 6th, 1944. Can I see your hands, please?

Amazing. Normally, when I ask that question, nobody raises their hands. Of course, if you have ever been in history, you probably understand what June 6th, 1944 is all about.

It's D-Day. It's the largest amphibious assault in the history of warfare. And most of us know that, of course, from across the English Channel, the Allied had one objective, and that was to get real estate.

And to get real estate in the country of France. Because at that point they knew they could never win the ground war if you didn't have ground. Yeah, you've got to get real estate.

And many of us, of course, are stunned as we read some of the awful price that the Allied forces had to pay to get that ground. But I will tell you, friend, as soon as they got a beachhead, victory was imminent. And do you know what happens when the Allied Forces got a beachhead, they got greedy.

They wanted more land, and they wanted more, and they wanted more until they're knocking at Berlin. Are you tracking with me? You've got an enemy of your soul.

Even though the Allied Forces is a good example of what I'm talking about, you have an enemy who is a negative example of what I'm talking about. The enemy of your soul wants real estate. And from that real estate, you know what he wants to do?

He wants to defeat you more and more and more again until you are an absolute defeated Christian every day of your life. That's where some of you live in. Another illustration would that be?

I have a man who was the chairman of the deacons for my dad for several years, a godly man. He's in his mid-90s, still alive. I think he's one of the last people that was on the first wave of Iwo Jima that is still alive.

The reason he's still alive, one of the reasons is he shouldn't have done it, but he lied to get in the armed forces. He was a teenager. He's the age of some of you.

And probably regretted that decision pretty quickly because one day he's on the beaches of Iwo Jima. And one of the last living survivors of that assault. And he told me, he's told me this personally, most World War II veterans and Vietnam veterans don't talk, but he talks.

He's a godly Christian. He has literally assimilated it all. He gets it all.

But he said his unit was eight men. He said within minutes, he said six of them were dead. He said they climbed up the rocks.

He said he and the radio man, he said they got in a position where they couldn't be fired at at the enemy. And he said they watched the water turn red as the Marines were gunned down in the waters there, the surf of Iwo Jima. Now, once they got a beachhead at Iwo Jima, the battle wasn't over.

They had many more battles to fight. There were snipers all over the island, and they just tried to pick off Marines. It was a very brutal battle I won't go into.

But they knew there was victory as soon as they got a beachhead. And pretty soon they owned the island. And it became a very important stopping point, a very important airfield in the end of the war on the Pacific Theater for the Allied forces to win that World War II.

Now, all of us understand this. So how does Satan get a beachhead in your life from which he defeats you? Oh, your issue may not be lust.

Maybe your issue is anger. I'm just going to tell you this. I've been doing 39 years of working with young people.

Anger devastates your kids. Some of you say, Preacher, I know. I've got a parent who has an anger problem.

But the unfortunate thing about anger is often it perpetuates itself. Angry teenagers become angry parents, and angry parents produce angry teenagers who become angry parents, and it becomes generational. The amazing thing about some of these issues, it's funny, sometimes people blame them on their genetics.

I can't help it. I'm Irish. Okay, you know what I'm talking about.

Yeah, I don't know if it's the red hair or what the deal is. Okay, but anyway, yeah, okay, I'm Irish. I guess that's why they call the Notre Dame football team the Fighting Irish.

Okay, but anyway, you get the idea. Okay, so sometimes, but you know, friends, the truth is that's not the issue. We're all sinners.

It all comes from Adam. And there are certain issues in your life that you can become very defeated on on a regular basis. And I don't know what your issue is.

Some of you treat your younger brothers and sisters like dirt. And I'm just going to tell you right now, if you're an older brother and sister, you have a unique opportunity to reach down and bless your younger siblings in remarkable ways that will not be evident until you get to heaven. Some of you are on the lower end of the stick, but hopefully you had siblings who knew what it was to reach down and edify you and bless you.

But some of you don't do that. I'm talking to some of you even in Bible college. You don't do that.

You treat your younger brother and sister like dirt. And if you've got that in your life, then that indicates that Satan has got a beachhead in your life, and from that beachhead, he defeats you on a regular basis. Some of you, it's the way you treat your parents.

I'm not trying to be unkind, but some of you probably treat your parents like total dirt. In fact, you probably treat dirt a little bit better. Listen, I'm talking, some of you roll your eyes at your parents, some of you raise your voice at your parents, some of you argue with your parents, some of you hassle your parents, Some of you roll your eyes at your parents when they're talking to you, trying to instruct you.

All of which would have gotten you executed in the Old Testament, really would have. Evidently God must think it's a pretty big deal to honor your parents. Not preaching a message honoring your parents, I'm just talking.

Some of you have gotten into some really bad sinful habits, as the book of Hebrews calls them, besetting sins. Romans calls it bondage. And you're in thick and you don't see a way out.

So let's look at this real quickly here in Ephesians chapter number 4. I try not to spend a lot of time on it, but I want you to see it briefly. So, I've probably dealt with this before, but I'm going to do more of a rocket ride over the deal.

Look what it says in verse number 26, Be ye angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil. Now, that's interesting.

That word place is the Greek word tapas. It's a word, a lot of Greek words in the New Testament. I love Greek.

If you come to Baptist College of Ministry, you say, preacher if I come to Baptist College Ministry I'll really really consider taking Greek. Well let me just tell you if you come to Baptist College Ministry you're going to take Greek, okay, whether you want to or not. Okay, I just want you to know that's one of the reasons.

And by the way I love Greek and we've got some great Greek professors but a lot of Greek words we use in English. One of them is this one, topography. We get that word topos is the idea, it has the idea of real estate.

God says you can actually give real estate to the devil, the enemy of your soul. Now the real estate we're talking about is not physical real estate. It's the real estate of your heart or of your mind.

Now, I don't believe this is talking about demon possession. I don't think it's spooky. I don't think that's what he's talking about.

But he is talking about this. And that is, when you began to buy into wrong thinking, you give Satan an opportunity from that wrong thinking to get more ground and get you to think unbiblically. He gets ground in your mind when you're not thinking biblically and correctly.

And some of you have given Satan a beachhead. And I will promise you this. When you give Satan a beachhead, he always takes more ground.

Now you say, preacher, how do you give place to the devil? Well, verse 26 tells us. It says, be angry and sin not.

Now I'll be honest with you, if I had five commentaries or ten commentaries on the book of Ephesians, and I read them, we'd probably find several different views on what in the world does it mean to be angry and sin not. Now I'm going to give you my take on it, and to be honest with you, I think I'm right. Okay, but anyway, that's why I believe it.

Okay, so here it is. That word, be angry is passive in voice. See, that's why you need to take Greek.

Isn't that fun? Yeah, learn all this stuff. It's passive in voice.

You say, what does that mean? Okay, it literally has the idea. God's not saying, in a certain sense, He's not commanding you to be angry.

No, that's not what He's doing. He's basically focusing on the not sinning. And what He's saying is, if I can say this, this is not good English, this would not be the way you would say it, but I'm going to say it to help you understand it.

The idea is be being angered. What it means is you didn't make a decision to be angry. Somebody provoked you to anger.

I've got a question for you. Anybody ever made you mad? Yeah, all of us have been provoked to anger.

And there's a lot of ways we're provoked to anger. I can't deal with all of them here. But the Bible, I believe, is saying is when you and I are provoked to anger, you're at a very precarious position.

And if you're not going to sin. And what God is saying is when somebody makes you mad, realize how vulnerable and what a precarious situation you're in, and whatever you do, do not sin. That's what it's saying.

I believe that's what it's saying. Now, one of the things I believe that causes people to get angry is pain. Now, let me, if I could, please, if I could ask some of you guys to be honest.

I'm going to ask girls. You don't have to be honest. You don't even have to answer it.

You have to be honest, but not at this. I'm not going to ask you the question. Okay, so guys, I've got a question for you.

And I want every guy to respond with a raised hand, if it's you. How many guys would admit, at least once in your life, you banged your head on the cabinets? Can I see your hands, please?

Yeah. All the guys. So you've never banged your head on the cabinets?

Unbelievable. Okay. Okay, here it is.

Okay, put your hands down. Okay, so how many of you, after, would admit that just raised your hand, you would admit that after you banged your head on the cabinets, you didn't do it. But what you wanted to do was destroy the cabinets.

Raise your hand, please. Now, isn't that odd? You can put your hands down.

That's odd, isn't it? In that case, the cabinets really didn't do anything to you. It was you being a moron.

You know what I'm talking about? Yeah, hit your head on the cabinets. What a dumb thing, you know?

Okay, you know why? Because pain, you know, that's what pain does. Pain often causes us, in fact, they say hurting people.

Anybody know? Hurt people, yeah. So pain causes us often to lash out at the person who causes pain.

So God knows that. So there's other ways you can be provoked to anger. People can make you mad a variety of ways, but often what provokes us to anger is when somebody hurts us.

And I'm talking to when you're hurt, I'm talking to some of you who've been hurt in your life, and you've got some unresolved anger in your heart. Why'd my dad have to leave? Why did he have to leave?

Why did he walk out of my life? Then you find that he gets a second wife, has a family and he invests in the second family and seems to ignore you. Say, Preacher, who told you about me?

I didn't. I'm just preaching. I don't know anybody's story in this room.

But some of you know what I'm talking about. And I'm not diminishing that. I'm telling you, that's got to be painful.

You know, there's a lot of ways you get hurt in life, a lot of them. Some of you live in homes where just tough things happen. Perhaps, I will tell what a lot of people get hurt by?

Angry words. Could come from a coach, could come from a teacher, could come from a parent, could come from a sibling. But cunning, unkind things are said.

And I've known grown adults literally weep when they talk about angry things that were said to them in their formative youth. And they sob, recalling the angry words maybe of a father. And unfortunately some young people have even become defined by it.

When things are said to them like you can't do anything right or you're not going to make it in life. I hate to even say words like that. For some of you that's unthinkable that someone you ever say those things to you but others of you can totally relate with it.

Here's what I would say to every young person who's ever heard angry words from anybody. Do not be defined by those angry words because they came from somebody whose chain was being yanked by the devil. be defined by the words of your Heavenly Father who says, yeah, I've loved thee with an everlasting love.

Yeah, see. But there's a lot of times people get, they get hurt. There are other ways, like I said, to be provoked to anger, and I'm not minimizing those, I'm just bringing out pain because we often don't think about pain as a reason why we get provoked to anger.

And I've got a whole message where I walk through a lot of scenarios, which I'm not going to do tonight, this afternoon, but I recognize some of you have been hurt in life. You've been hurt.

Perhaps some of you sit here with a deep anger toward a dad who left, or a deep anger toward a step-parent, or a deep anger toward a mother who was abandoned by your father, and she's struggled with anger about the situation, and there's problems and all kinds of unsettledness, and just you live in a home that there's not peace, and that angers you because of the pain that comes with it.

I don't know what kind of home you come from, and it may not be your home. It can be people outside your home that say or do things that are extremely hurtful. But notice what the Bible says, be angry and sin not.

And here's what it says. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Now don't miss this.

If you go to bed angry and wake up, I'm not trying to be unkind, but you have given ground to Satan. And you didn't even know it. See, some in this room, it could be another sin.

But the point is somewhere along the line you gave ground to the enemy. And when Satan gets a beachhead buddy I'm telling you he's going to take more ground. And now you find yourself in a situation where you're hooked.

You're just angry all the time. Or you're hooked and looking at things you ought not. Or you're hooked into lying.

I mean you're just a liar. I'm talking to somebody in this room who's a liar. You can hardly not lie.

You say things all the time that aren't true. I'm probably talking to some cheaters in this room. You know how to cheat in school?

I'm not trying to be unkind. I'm really not trying to be unkind, but of course we all know public school kids cheat. I mean, they've got their cell phones, they can Google the answers.

Yeah, okay. Yeah, we know. But you know Christian school kids cheat too.

But probably percentage-wise, when it comes to homeschoolers and Christian schoolers, homeschoolers cheat at a greater level. You know why? Lack of oversight.

Hey, I've done this for 39 years. I'm telling you, I meet a lot of homeschoolers who cheat. Some of you are homeschooled, and you're a cheater.

And I'm telling you right now, you're in trouble. You're in trouble. You are learning to be deceptive.

You're learning to be a deceiver. You're learning to live a lie. And you're learning to make shortcuts.

And one day, you're going to regret it. Because you're not going to know what you ought to know. Now, I'm not against homeschooling.

My girls had to because you're on the road and all that. I'm just simply saying that if there's not oversight, there's kids who cheat. And some of you get hooked on that kind of stuff.

When Satan gets grounded in your life, friends, I'm telling you, he comes after more. And you find yourself at a point where you can't stop. Now, a lot of things we could say here, friends, but I want to just show you a couple of things that will help you here, that I'm trying to encourage you and help you on this particular journey of getting the ground back.

Because the only way, if you can reverse, of course, we're talking about allied forces, of course, our Americans taking Iwo Jima, which is all positive. But if you flip the script and it was the enemy, the only way to get that ground, the only way to get rid of the enemy is you've got to drive them into the sea so that they lose their real estate. Now a couple of things I want you to see here in Ephesians 4 that will help us.

Look at the verse right before. Okay, here it is. Wherefore, putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor, for he remembers one of another.

The very first thing God is telling you to do when you give ground to the enemy and you become a defeated Christian. You become a Christian who has secret sin in your life. You've got stuff that's going on behind the scenes nobody knows about.

You've got a problem that you're not willing to deal with. Maybe people see your anger, you're just not willing to deal with it. Whatever your issue is, I'm going to tell you this.

One of the things God says that can help you get victory is right here. Honesty. You've already been challenged about that.

Honesty. Did you notice Isaac's testimony? Where did the turn come?

Total honesty. See, some of you have gotten caught, and you know how it is, just like he said, and I appreciated this part of his testimony, because I see those with kids all the time, you give just enough information to get out of trouble. And you know what that teaches me?

You're not broken. You know what happens when people are broken? They tell it all.

I got nothing to hide. I'm telling mom and dad all. I'm just telling them all.

Why? Because I'm sick of it, and I want out. Some of you need to come clean with mom and dad.

Oh, you may have gotten caught. They may know. I've talked to teenagers, I've talked to my parents before, but the question is, do they know everything?

See, the moment you're acting like you're something you're not, you're lying. Did you know you can lie without opening your mouth? Sure you can, when you act like everything's okay, when it's not.

And I will tell you one of the great things that can help you in your Christian life is learn to rip off the mask and be authentic. Authenticity is simply honesty. Sometimes parents even get into this.

They wear a mask because, well, after all, I don't want my kids to know I've got problems. Listen, friends, one of the greatest things my parents ever did was walk an aisle when God dealt with them. You know what they were telling me?

Hey, I'm a Christian on a journey too. I'm not perfect. I'm growing in the Lord, but I want to get honest about where I am in my Christian life.

Yeah, see. I thank the Lord for parents that were willing to apologize when they needed to. I'm talking to some of you.

You can't remember the last time you apologized. Can I say this for you guys that just don't apologize for anything? You're going to be a pretty rough husband.

Because I will tell you this, in marriage, I'm going to give you some marriage advice. How many out here are not considering marriage? No, I'm just teasing.

Okay, but anyway, here it is. I'm going to give you some marriage advice. Okay, now all the girls are listening.

Okay, they're into this thing now. I lost them for a while. The girls are back now.

Okay, yeah, I'm going to give you some marriage advice. And here it is. Be a good forgiver.

And all the married couples said? Yeah, amen. Because I'm telling you, friends, this may be really shocking to you because when you're in that courtship thing, you think the person you found is perfect.

I hate to tell you this, when you marry, you're going to find out they're not. And if you're not a good forgiver, your marriage isn't going to make it. You're going to have to forgive, you hear me, a lot.

You know why? Because you're living with a human being. I'm not trying to disillusion you, I'm trying to help you.

And I'm going to tell you, friends, here's how you learn to be a good forgiver. Right now in high school you learn to do it. Say something to your friend you should, go back and get it right.

Be mean to your siblings, go back and say, I was wrong, I shouldn't have done that. Treat your parents the wrong way, say, Mom, I had a cross spirit, I was wrong, would you forgive me? Do you guys know how to do that?

See that's verse 25. It's telling us just stop playing the game, stop acting like you're something you're not, and honest about the fact that you need to apologize. I don't care who you are in this room.

I don't care how good a kid you are. Everybody in this room needs to learn how to apologize because you all blow it. Because you're sinners.

And if you say that you have no sin, you deceive yourself and the truth is not in you. You say, well that's pretty blunt. Well read 1 John chapter 1.

John will tell you that straight up. None of us want a sin hopefully. But if we do I will tell you we need to get it right if there's somebody we need to get it right with.

So I was wrong, would you forgive me? Some of you guys room don't even know how to say I was wrong. Yeah, maybe some of you have never stuttered a syllable in your life, but if you come to the word wrong you'll stutter like there is no tomorrow.

Yeah. Get that word out. Learn how to say it because you're going to need it in life.

You see the very first thing you've got to do about your sin is you've got to get honest about it. Some of you need to get dead honest. I'm just talking about some of you just need to get dead honest.

Some of you guys when you sit down with your dad if you've got a godly dad and a good relationship and you just need to get honest. You say, well preacher my dad's not around. Well, there's godly men in your church, there's a pastor, youth pastor, whatever, who can help you just get dead on and say, I need help.

Because one of the greatest things you can do is to shed light on it. And what you will find, because some of you, as a moment ago, during that testimony, you were blown away. Because you've never heard anybody talk about being addicted in that particular scenario.

Now, I'm telling you, friends, I will tell you probably the last five or six years, I've had at least one guy on my team who's given testimony just like that. In fact, to be honest with you, in the last probably decade, 90% of the guys who've traveled my team obviously were honest with me and have struggled in this arena. It's obviously a very prevalent issue, unfortunately, in the world in which we live.

But every one of them was willing to give their testimony. And there was something cleansing about being honest and no longer playing the game. Say, this is part of my story.

Thank God it's in the past. Thank God for His victory. But hey, this is where I was, and Jesus can deliver.

Honesty.

that may not be your issue there may be other ones like we've talked about again I don't know why I'm on this cheating thing but I think there's some cheaters in this room some of you as soon as this service is over you don't even you don't even go to need to go to the next thing you need to get on the phone call mom and dad say by the way I'm going to get home I got to talk to you about the fact I've been

cheating and get it right because you're destroying your integrity you're destroying it mask wearing is no good it's uncomfortable get it off be real about things. You know, I will tell you something, some of you that will one day go in the ministry, let me give you a little tip. Nobody can relate with perfection.

And when you're in the ministry, you're going to learn this, you're not going to be perfect, and the people you lead are not going to be perfect. But I will tell you, there's one thing you can be as properly authentic. And I want you to understand, God is telling us right here, you're giving ground to the enemy.

Okay, one of the first things you need to do is get honest with the right people. You have any questions who the right people are? Get they can help you with that.

Anybody that's godly can help you understand that. But there's obviously another issue. If you've ever given ground to Satan by letting the sun go down on your wrath, and we'll be done.

Look what it says in verse 32. There's much more we can say, but I'm just for time. And be kind one to another, tenderhearted, here it is, forgiving one another.

Now how do you do that? Here it is. I've got a whole message on forgiveness.

In fact, I think I preached in 2017. I went back and checked. You can find it on The Generation.

If you put my name in, Thee Generation Youth Summit, and Forgiveness, put that word in, you can find the message. 2017, I believe it was. Preach the whole message on it.

But look at verse 32, Be kind one to another, tenderhearted. Here it is, forgiving one another. Here it is.

How? Even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Now, don't miss this.

Forgiveness sometimes can be hard. You're thinking, Preacher, my dad, man, he walked, he's caused my siblings and my mother and I a lot of agony, a lot of pain. I don't doubt that.

I don't diminish it. I don't diminish the pain.

and some of you have other things that have happened in life disappointed you people who've hurt you things that have been said I know all of you have that sooner or later in life it's going to happen I didn't get wounds from my parents but boy I can tell you other times that I look back and I even forgot about some of them I've given that story at other times about times in my childhood I can remember whoa I remember that when I thought of it

like hurt like it happened yesterday I'm thinking, wow, that's amazing. Yeah, we all understand what it is things to happen to be hurt, but here's what God is simply saying, no one, no one, no one, no one has hurt you worse or sinned against you worse than you sinned against Jesus. Even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you.

Now I want to ask you a question. What if God had the attitude you have toward the person who wronged you. Would you go to heaven or not?

Some of you would go to hell. You know why? Because you're not forgiving that person.

No way, man. Preacher, he hurt me. She hurt me.

She said this. She did this. He walked out of my life.

This happened. This happened. And here's the point.

If God had that attitude, you wouldn't be saved. Aren't you glad God didn't have that attitude? God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven us.

In fact, the Bible says when Jesus hung on the cross, it's an amazing statement. It says he suffered. He threatened not, but committed himself unto him, the judges righteously.

You know what Jesus said? You know, because we all know bitterness comes because of violated sense of justice. It's a whole other message.

But it comes because of violated sense of justice. And you know what Jesus did on the cross? He committed himself to him, the judges righteously.

You know why I believe that's written for our sakes. There's sometimes in life we're saying, God, that wasn't fair. God says, I know.

My son experienced that on the cross. But you know what he did? Even when he suffered, he didn't threaten.

He committed himself to him that judges righteously. Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? Joseph, when his brothers came and fell before him, said, behold, we be thy servants.

You know what he said? Am I in the place of God? It's not my responsibility to sting you.

It's not my responsibility to get you back, Joseph was saying. God will make sure it all comes out right. I've committed himself to him that judges righteously.

And friends, I want to incur you on forgiveness. I want you to understand it's real simple. Just like Jesus forgave you for Christ's sake.

You need to forgive. Okay, you're saying, okay, God, I'm letting it go. I'm not holding it against Him.

There's other truths that we can deal with with forgiveness, but I want you to understand you forgive the same way God, for Christ's sake, forgave you when you got saved. That's how you forgive. May I say this?

Forgiveness is rooted in the cross. that's where it's found. So giving ground to Satan.

Every young person in this room who's defeated has given ground to Satan. Oh, it may not be somebody who's provoked you to anger and you went to bed on it and been angry ever since or bitter ever since or resent. By the way, resentment, bitterness, anger are all cousins, you know, of this hatred, blame, that person ruined my life type stuff.

All indications that you've given ground to Satan if it's over 24 hours ago and you still have that feeling in your heart. We all understand that. And that's why the very beginning of getting the ground back is this issue of forgiveness.

Saying, okay, God, for Christ's sake, you forgave me for all the stuff I'm forgiving you. Just the best I weigh, I know how. Friends, let me encourage you, if you're defeated in this room, there is a way to get the ground back.

It may, again, not be this issue. There's other ways to get the ground back. But this is, for this issue, the way it starts with verse 32, forgiveness.

I'm just challenging every young person in this room who is into some stuff you shouldn't be into. I'm telling you some of you girls are defeated in the moral arena. And there's junk out there for both genders.

Messing with minds, polluting minds. And I'm telling you, some of you need to get broken over. I don't know how to explain it.

What I get concerned with, when you get and nundated in filth, your conscience becomes seared and you become insensitive to things that ought to break your heart. I'm begging some of you in this room here this afternoon before Almighty God, say, God, I want the ground back. God, I want the ground back.