Jim Van Gelderen: Let’s go in our Bibles to the book of Romans, Romans chapter number 13.

If you’d be going there, I just want to say a word about the day.

It certainly has been a wonderful day.

And I appreciate so much Brother Matt opening his heart, and again including us in on his journey, and sharing those truths about walking with Jesus.

I appreciate the message last night, really laying the foundation, that Jesus is the answer.

I hope you got that.

I think there’s been a theme running through the conference.

And then I appreciated Brother Miller again, this just a few hours ago, an hour or so ago, where he really dealt with issues, young people.

face on a regular basis.

And you are living in Babylon in a very real way.

And I trust that message stirred you.

You don’t have to buy into the things people are telling you you’ve got to buy into.

And there is somebody who needs to stand up and say, you know that’s not right.

And we certainly thank the Lord for that courageous message.

And certainly He not just talked about the issues of the day, He modeled how to deal with it.

And I certainly appreciated that so much.

It’s been glad to have Him here this day.

And minister there in Colorado and certainly it’s been a delight to have him here.

Looking forward to a good day tomorrow and I hope my voice comes back.

I’m not sure exactly what happened to it but anyway I haven’t been drained or anything.

Not sneezing, not coughing.

I don’t think I have COVID.

But anyway I just all of a sudden realized man that thing that voice isn’t where it was.

I’ve been drinking water and we’ll see what happens.

But I want to just say this about the generation.

I know some of you are very familiar with the generation but some of you may not be.

I know this was asked, and I think in all the sessions this morning, the different podcast sessions, but how many of you have ever listened to a The Generation podcast?

At least one time you’ve listened to a The Generation podcast.

Okay, you can put your hands down.

And of course, you’re a little familiar with that, but several of you, in fact, I’d say many of you have not yet listened to a podcast.

I understand that.

Maybe you didn’t even know they were out there, but we certainly encourage you to tune in.

We have one every weekend comes in, and we have monthly ones.

And of course if you went to any of those sessions those are monthly podcasts.

And then Brother Bosler and I kind of hit in there.

I’ve been doing a personal biography, just my journey.

And I’ve been doing a series.

I’m right in the middle of that series just telling how the Lord has worked in my life.

Just an encouragement.

I hope that it will be an encouragement to you.

And Brother Bosler God puts things on his heart.

So, we have a weekly podcast.

And as a result of that we have some mugs in the back for sale.

Okay.

Nobody told me to say this, but I know this is a new item.

First time we’ve had mugs.

How many of you are coffee drinkers?

Here they are, coffee drinkers.

Okay, there they are.

How many of you are Starbucks?

Starbucks.

Okay, you need to listen to the podcast.

Okay, right down there, Christian Zimple is a Starbucks coffee drinker.

I want you to get that down there.

His parents are going to have to work on him on that.

Okay, but anyway, I’m just teasing with you about Starbucks, kind of.

You know what I’m talking about.

Brother Bosler I think he leans that way.

All the fundamentalists are Dunkin’ Donuts.

I just want everybody to know that.

Those are the rock ribbed fundamentalists.

Anti-New Age.

Okay you know what I’m talking about.

Okay.

But anyway you coffee drinkers go back there and make sure you buy a mug and you can get your favorite podcast or one you think will become your favorite.

And we got those back there.

And I really wanted to push those since that was the first year.

Also got stickers coming in.

You probably already know about that.

And so if you went to one of the podcast sessions you can take that coupon and get yourself a free sticker for your podcast that you were in.

And I really am excited about what God is doing through those podcasts.

And I know that I think about, I don’t know, I don’t watch the analytics like Brother Bosler does, but I know it seems to have around 1,000 people end up listening to those things.

And literally all around the world maybe more than that.

So 2,000, 2,000 a week.

So we’re very excited about that.

It’s been growing and our overall audience is growing.

You be a part of that.

Let me encourage you to share with other young people that have a heart for God about the podcast.

Just get them on board and I believe God will encourage you.

It’s really endeavoring to be a faith building ministry.

So, we just want to mention that.

There’s other Thee Generation gear, some Witness t-shirts.

Of course, Brother Matt Weber was wearing one of the Witness t-shirts as he preached.

There’s other things, great music back with everlasting praise.

So, there’s several things in the lobby.

And so, you can spend all the money you’ve got.

And if you’ve got a credit card, you can spend money you don’t have.

No, I’m just teasing.

Okay, don’t do that.

Or if you’ve got mom and dad’s credit card, then you can spend their money.

Okay, I’m just teasing.

In fact, I have a scavenger hunt on Friday in my Christian schools.

One of the things I always ask for, how many has mom or dad’s credit card with them?

Mom or dad’s credit card, just checking.

And I’m amazed.

Most Christian schools, nobody has mom or dad’s credit card.

I’m going to be honest with you.

When I was a junior and senior in high school, I had my dad’s credit card in my pocket.

And he told me to buy gas off his credit card.

So I did that.

And so anyway.

You know that why?

Because I was trusted.

Yeah I was trusted.

You know why your parents don’t give you the credit card?

Because you’re not trusted.

Okay I’m just teasing with you.

Just trying to be a little ordinary here to get it all started up.

I got to get you listening.

I want to tell you something.

I don’t know how to say this.

As an evangelist I sometimes say I’m afflicted with the gift of the evangelist.

And if you’re not an evangelist you have no idea what I’m talking about.

But there’s sometimes you see stuff, you get so burdened, you think you’re going to explode.

You know what I’m talking about?

Well, you don’t.

If you’re not evangelist, you have no idea what I’m talking about.

If you’re an evangelist, you know what I’m talking about.

So I’m just telling you, I saw sessions where kids had their little cell phones out, goof around on their cell phones while somebody was doing a session or somebody was preaching.

So I just want to tell you right now, I don’t know how to explain it.

That bothered me.

And that burdened me.

So if you’re one of them, maybe you can put that thing away and listen to the preaching of the Word of God.

I’m not trying to be unkind.

I’m just telling you we’re listening we’re in a generation that’s absolutely hooked on technology can’t even sit through a preaching session without withdrawal got to pull the phone out and do something with it and I’m not trying again being kind at all I’m just telling you friends you ought to be able to come into God’s house and tune in to God and tune out to the world and I I was preaching one time talking about technology addiction and I was talking about video games all

kinds

of stuff.

It was a Sunday school hour and I can’t even remember where I was.

And there was a kid, I’m sure he was a bus kid.

I have some compassion about that kind of thing.

There was a bus kid on the front.

I mean he was like four years old.

He was probably elementary, mid to upper elementary.

And he just sitting there, I mean doing that technology, his video games, whatever for about the first 10, 15 minutes of my session.

So finally I stopped and I said, now folks, I said I’ve been preaching on technology addiction.

I said, this kid right here on the front row has been goofing around with his cell phone the entire time I’ve been speaking.

And if you’ll notice, even as I’m speaking right now, he has no clue I’m talking about him.

And I went on and preached the message.

The kid had no clue, no clue at all that he was exhibit A in the preacher’s message that day.

So, if some of you would like to be exhibit A, I’d be glad to oblige.

You just put your cell phone up and I’ll say, there we’re talking right over there.

That’s what we’re talking about.

Okay.

Or right over here, right over here.

Okay, did I point at Hadessa Gilmore?

I’m not sure.

No, I’m just teasing.

I’m not sure.

I don’t know where she is.

I’m just teasing.

Okay, I’m getting in trouble so we better start preaching.

Okay, so I want to preach a message.

I’ll be honest with you, I’ve been arguing with the Lord not to preach.

And one of the reasons is not that I don’t want to preach it, it’s that I’ve preached parts of it in different places and perhaps some of you have heard parts of it.

But I believe the Lord evidently wants us to revisit it tonight because I can’t get it off my heart.

And so we’re going to preach a message here tonight.

I don’t know about you but we are in dire straits today.

And I don’t know how to explain it.

I’m not discouraged.

God’s doing great things.

Every week I’ve been out this fall we have seen God reach down and I’m going to break heart and hearts, revive young people, revive Christian schools.

I am absolutely pumped up what God can do.

But I will tell you friends, God works when we take His Word and we apply it.

And so that’s what we want to do here for a few moments.

We want to take God’s Word, sometimes get where it’s not comfortable.

Where it would be appropriate but not comfortable.

Because I’m telling you, friends, I’m talking to young people in this room, you’re not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.

And you need to wake up tonight and realize I’m part of the problem, and if I’m going to be used of God to stay the tide and stand in the gap, then I’m going to have to deal with some of these things that I know Satan’s got into my life.

Now I’m going to start, before I read the text, I want to start with a study that some of you have heard me preach often on, but I’m going to do it because many of you have not.

When I was growing up, my dad was, I look back now, was a great pastor.

And every Sunday night, I don’t know how to explain it, I just looked forward to Sunday night.

Sunday night was my favorite service of the week.

And at that time I didn’t have the maturity to appreciate some of the other things going on, but I loved Sunday night because dad would often just deal with some of the issues of the day.

And he’d preach prophecy and all kinds of things.

And I don’t know how many times, but enough times for me to remember it, he’d cite the work of a man by the name of J.D.

Unwin.

J.D.

Unwin was a British anthropologist.

He died an untimely death before I believe his 40th birthday.

J.D.

Unwin before he died amazingly produced an academic tome by the name of Sex and Culture.

I hear it’s a snooze fest.

I’ve never read it, never even tried to.

I had one guy said, Preacher, I read through the first chapter.

I had to reread it several times.

But it’s very academic.

But I have read people who have read him and spit it back out.

But I remember my dad talking about J.D.

Unwin and basically a man who was an atheist, agnostic.

He had no Bible basis at all.

But he came to study the issue of sexuality and how it related to culture.

And as I understand it, he came with a premise, and the premise was this, that if you loosen morality, culture would flourish.

He studied 86 cultures and amazingly came to the exact opposite conclusion, that if you loosen morality, culture is destroyed.

He found that culture was destroyed within three generations.

Do you know how many exceptions in 86 cultures?

None.

That’s about 100 years.

J.D.

Unwin found that the very first thing that marked the demise of a culture was this.

No longer requiring prenuptial chastity.

In other words, culture, back in early parts of our country, culture required prenuptial chastity.

In other words, it was expected that young people would keep their sexual purity, they’d marry, they’d be faithful to their marriage partner, and that was expected in culture.

Now, we all know junk was going on.

We get that.

Years ago, I was very disappointed when I read 1776 by historian David McCullough.

Anybody ever read 1776?

And I remember when I read that, I was when the Continental Army was occupying New York City, there was one of the problems the leadership was having with the soldiers visiting prostitutes.

And of course, I was troubled by that because you kind of have a pristine feel the beginning of our country.

But certainly that kind of stuff was going on but it was certainly not accepted.

It was not accepted.

So I would ask you the question, when did American culture begin to no longer require prenuptial chastity?

When was that?

Because that’s the beginning of the end.

And if you really look at it, I think most of us would have to call it probably in the 60s.

Some people I’ve preached to said, no, I think it’s the 50s.

Some might think it was the 70s.

But I think we’d all agree that in those three decades, somewhere along the line, culture no longer required prenuptial chastity.

That of course began to be the beginning of the end.

Now Unwin points out that when that begins you have three generations which is 100 years.

And then he said in most cases at the end of those 100 years the culture is destroyed because a stronger culture militarily overthrows them.

He said in most of the examples.

He said in a few examples, the other stronger culture just amalgamated in.

It was kind of like a bloodless type thing, but just amalgamated in the culture.

But in 86 cultures, it no longer existed.

Now, I’m not trying to be in kind, but you hear me.

If Unwin is right, and I realize it might be a big if, but if Unwin is right, I’m talking to young people who one day will be on this real estate, but it will no longer be the United States of America if Unwin is right.

Now I’m probably too old for this to be a part of what happens.

But some of you may if Unwin is right.

Now you say why did you cite that?

Oh by the way the second generation it’s very interesting.

J.D.

Unwin pointed out in the second generation there are three characteristics that indicate the culture is on target to be destroyed.

Would you like to know if American culture is on target to be destroyed?

Because you may not sleep well tonight.

The first one is this.

It is the diminishing of monogamy.

the diminishing of monogamy.

Now monogamy is when a man and woman come together in marriage and they keep themselves for each other.

They’re faithful to each other.

That’s monogamy.

There’s two enemies I see of monogamy, adultery and divorce.

Those are the two enemies of monogamy.

Okay, so has that increased?

Is that increasing?

And the answer is, yeah, unbelievable.

Yeah, it is.

How about this one?

Number two, the diminishing of deism.

Now when J.E.D.

Unwin uses deism, he’s not talking about it like Thomas Jefferson did.

He’s talking about religion.

It’s interesting to me that recently, I think within the last two years, there was a survey done.

And it’s a survey that’s done every year.

And for the first time since they started doing this survey, the people that are non-religious, or the people that claim no religious affiliation, now outnumber in the United States those who do.

Wow.

Okay, religion is declining.

Number three, rationalism declines.

Now hang on, Brother Miller kind of dealt with this, so I won’t have to say a lot about it.

Rationalism is the reign of truth.

It’s when truth is more important than how you feel.

And he points out this, that rationalism declines so that in the second generation, don’t miss this, truth no longer is that important.

What’s important is how you feel.

So if you’ve got male chromosomes but feel like a female, then forget the truth, forget what’s real, And now how you feel is what becomes reality.

And I want every young person in this room to understand something.

That does not indicate culture is flourishing.

It indicates culture is declining and decaying.

So you have to understand.

Okay, so we’re in the second generation.

According to J.D.

Unwin’s research, we are in the second generation.

Now, I didn’t come here to sound alarm, but I did come here to kind of arrest, by the grace of God, arrest your attention.

And I will ask you the question because when I came across that study, and of course my dad talked about it, and recently, probably two or three years ago, I kind of revisited it and checked it out and read people that had read Unwin and was kind of stunned by some of the things I just told you.

But when all that, I began to think to myself, why, why, theologically, why?

It’s one thing for a guy to have a scientific study, but what does the Bible say?

Theologically, why would it be that the loosening of morality or the loosening of sexuality from biblical moorings, why would that be the beginning of the end?

And then it hit me.

Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lusts and enticed.

I will tell you one of the greatest things I want you to understand, friends, that when you indulge in sexual sin, one of the greatest things that you’re going to find happening in your life you are feeding selfishness.

It takes selfishness to sin sexually, and sexual sin literally multiplies selfishness.

It goes both ways.

We are living in an extremely selfish society.

Now, let me kind of illustrate a couple of illustrations.

How about this?

You know what we used to call politicians?

Hang on, please try not to laugh.

Public servants.

Been a long time since I’ve heard that.

You know why we don’t use that anymore?

Because we don’t want to have to drown out the laughter.

Don’t get me wrong.

There are politicians who are servants.

Thank the Lord for them.

They’re few and far between, but there are some out there.

Hopefully in a few months there’ll be more of them.

But the point I’m making, friends, is we have a lot of politicians.

They’re not out to serve you.

They’re out to serve themselves, and we all know it.

We all know it.

Selfishness has overtaken our society.

I remember a couple of years ago, Pastor Wayne Hardy, some of you remember his message when he was talking about gender issues.

If you’ll remember, he opened that message talking about the Great Titanic, that when the Great Titanic went down, that the watchword, the words, and we’ve all heard these words, the words on the deck of the Great Titanic, you all know what they were, women, help me out now, and children first.

You know what men did in the Great Titanic?

They kissed their wives, they kissed their kids, they put them in a lifeboat, and they turned and walked away knowing they’d never see him in this life again.

You say, Preacher, why did they do that?

Why did they do that?

Don’t miss this because that’s what men do.

Every man in this room needs to understand, you know what men do?

They give their lives to protect women and children.

They don’t take advantage of women and children.

They give their lives to protect them.

That’s what men do.

Our culture has dumbed that down, but that’s what real men do.

It certainly was illustrated.

Do you know what?

of those that died in the great Titanic shipping accident?

Do you know the greater gender, it was an overwhelming percentage of those who died were male?

In the 1990s, another ship went down.

I think between 800 and 900 people died.

It’s interesting, in the 1990s, I can’t remember the name of the ship.

I did a little research on it, forgot the name of it.

But a ship went down, 800 to 900 people lost their lives, and the greater gender on that list was female.

those two shipping accidents are to me a very representative of what has happened to this culture and i’m going to tell you why it’s because of selfishness a man looking at pornography is a man who is selfish and what i want you to understand here is we’re going to get into this text is i believe selfishness is absolutely killing us today i want to say every young man and those every every young man young lady you think dirty thoughts you’re hastening the demise of the

united

States of America.

You look at dirty movies, you look at R-rated filth, watch bed scenes, you’re hastening the demise of the United States of America.

You look at some, you look at garbage, you look at filth on the internet, you’re hastening the demise of the United States of America.

Oh, you got a girl relationship, getting involved in killing one of those passions outside of the bonds of marriage, you’re hastening the demise of the United States of America.

Why?

Because you are feeding self.

And selfishness is killing us.

Now I’m going to tell you, every young man in this room, every young lady in this room needs to understand your culture is absolutely bombarding you with filth.

I get that.

But you have to understand there is no way you’re going to get into filth without one thing.

You have to have this.

There’s no young man who’s ever gotten out looking at junk.

Now don’t get me wrong.

Sometimes accidentally it will come across somebody’s path.

I get that.

And I urge young people all the time, If you ever, ever have junk come across your path, don’t keep it secret.

Run to people who love you and people who you trust spiritually to let them know what has happened to be a protection to you.

But I will tell you, friends, that no young man, no young lady has ever gotten into looking at that stuff without selfishness.

It’s what fuels it.

Now, you get this, somebody who gets into selfishness and then they marry, you’ve got a problem.

you know what marriage many marriages are like it’s like in two taking two alley cats throwing them into burlap bag and tying it up that’s what most marriages are like I mean it’s like it’s like it’s like my dad said I’ve said this before this is I don’t know how to explain it I don’t have a theological basis for this but pretty much everything my dad said must be true but he said you can convert a dog yeah dogs can get saved but cats are

hopelessly

lost they just can’t be converted.

Okay, so I’m not sure where he got that chapter and verse but anyway, you got the idea.

Now, what he was saying is cats are selfish.

Now, I know you cat lovers aren’t going to like me anymore but that’s the truth, isn’t it?

It’s in their nature.

And friends, you put two selfish beings in a burlap bag you got a war, you got battle on your hands.

That’s what most marriages are like.

I’m going to just tell you, young person you walk into marriage selfishly, you’re going to have problems.

You’re going to have huge problems.

The greatest enemy, I’ve said this to BCM students from time to time, the greatest enemy you’re going to have in marriage is yourself.

And you better learn to deal with it.

And the problem with moral issues is when you start looking at filth, watching R-rated junk and watching some other stuff you have no business looking at, and you begin to fill your mind with filth, and you begin to get in relationships and begin to go south there, and all those kind of things, I’m telling you right now, friends, you’re feeding your selfishness, and you’re going to walk down that aisle one day, and I’m going to tell you, I do doesn’t fix your selfishness.

And I’m just begging some of you young people need to wake up and smell the coffee because selfishness always accompanies moral issues.

It always does.

Now, I’ve been on a journey.

Some of you have heard me preach about wounds.

I still believe that wounds are a part of this whole thing, but wounds, you hear me, are not the root.

Selfishness is.

Wounds are catalysts that Satan uses to create the perfect storm.

But without selfishness, they wouldn’t even work.

See self is the bottom problem you’ve got And until you get broken over the fact you’re selfish I’m telling you I’m talking to young men in this room you hear me you can’t go a week Some of you can’t go a day without looking at junk on your cell phone I’m telling you you are selfish to the core you don’t care about your future wife You certainly don’t care about your future kids you don’t care about the future period It’s all about the big number

one

and until you get broken about your selfishness It’s all about you you’re in trouble I’m talking to some young men and young ladies that need to get broken tonight over the fact you sneak junk looking at your cell phone at night you find you’ve got friends you’re looking at stuff you sneak movies your parents won’t want you to look at and I’m telling you you’re sitting here tonight act like you’re smug and okay and I’m just telling you tonight you’re not the part of the

solution

you are a part of the problem now here in the book of Romans the Bible tells us in verse number 8 it says oh no man anything but to love one another.

For he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.

For this, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet.

And if there be any other commandment, is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

Love worketh no ill to his neighbor.

Therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

You see, he kind of puts us a big parentheses here.

He says, love’s the fulfilling of the law.

And he points out if there are any other commandment, well, we all know there are other commandments.

That’s called a first class condition in the Greek language.

It means it’s assumed to be true.

And what he’s saying is, hey, all the commandments are fulfilled in this one command, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

Young person, can I say this?

The Bible is eternal.

It’ll last forever.

But if the Bible disappeared and all you had was thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, you would have all you need to live a life that would honor God in relationships with other people.

God says every command that has anything to do with the relationship with other people is all fulfilled in one command.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

And you hear me, friend?

When you’re looking at filth, you don’t love your future wife.

When you’re thinking dirty thoughts, you don’t love your future wife.

You don’t love your future kids.

I’m just telling you, you better wake up, smell the coffee.

We’re living in a culture that’s falling apart fast.

You better not be part of the problem.

By the grace of God, you can be part of the solution.

I’m telling you, there’s a purity movement afoot.

It’s not very big, but it’s powerful.

it’s extremely powerful I see it happen every week every week I’m seeing young men stand and give testimony of the fact they used to be in moral bondage but they’re free now and God’s doing it man is it powerful so some of you need to get on the board and get part of the solution not a part of the problem some of you are unsatisfied and that’s a podcast that can help you because it deals with these purity issues and I know my son-in-law brother

Ryan

would do anything good to help you in your journey if you’re struggling with this particular issue.

But I want you to understand, see, selfishness is the opposite of love.

So clearly when you come to selfishness, you’re at the core problem.

This is the core issue.

He says love fulfills the law, which means selfishness breaks the law.

In fact, if you think about it, thou shall not kill.

Have you ever noticed if you love somebody, you don’t kill them?

For some of you, that’s the only reason your kid brother is still alive.

You know what I’m talking about?

Only reason.

Yeah, okay, it’s like most roommates I see in Bible college, they never commit murder, they just plot it a few times.

Okay, you know what I’m talking about?

Yeah.

The only reason you don’t carry it out is because you love, well, yeah, I do kind of love them.

It might be my enemy, but okay, you know, kind of like we heard today.

But you know, the point, friends, is every command of God is fulfilled with love thy neighbor as thyself that has anything to do with relationship.

Thou shalt not steal.

You don’t steal from people you love.

Thou shalt not covet.

You’re certainly not coveting people you love.

you’re glad for every good thing that happens to them even if it never happened to you.

If you ever become a parent you’re going to learn this about your kids.

They’re going to get to do things you never got to do and every time they do you’re going to think that is really neat.

You know why?

Because you love them.

You don’t covet good things that happen to them.

See God is basically helping us understand man the whole Bible is full of commands but these commands can all be boiled down to one thing.

I’m a bottom line guy.

I like to get it down to the bottom shelf and particularly working with teenagers I want to get it down simple.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

That’s it.

Now there’s a lot of dynamics we can talk about and one of them is reveling in the love of God but that’s another message for another time.

Some of you have heard me deal with that.

It’s a great truth.

But notice if you would please the very first command there in verse number 9, thou shalt not commit adultery.

Many times we think of adultery obviously and married people who are unfaithful.

But Jesus helps us go a lot further with that thing.

You have heard that it was said by them of old time thou shalt not commit adultery but I say unto you, whosoever looketh on a woman and lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

You see, adultery, friend, is introducing somebody into the intimacy God created for a husband and wife who is not the husband or wife.

That’s that.

It’s just like chemistry.

I’ve used this many times and I apologize for those who have heard it but for those who have not, maybe it will help.

It certainly has helped me.

One day I was thinking about the fact, adultery, purity, where do you find those words in a non-moral sense?

Where do you find them?

And it hit me, chemistry.

Adultery and purity are found in chemistry.

How many have taken chemistry?

Can I see your hands please?

Wow, wow, we got a lot of people.

Okay, that’s good.

So if you have pure gold, all you that just raised your hand, you answer me out just out loud.

If you have pure gold, how many elements do you have?

Oh boy, that’s great, one, yeah, one.

So if you adulterate the gold, the pure gold, how many elements do you have?

Two or more.

You know what adultery is?

On any level.

It’s introducing into the intimacy God created for a husband and wife, someone who is not your husband or your wife.

Why don’t you think the Proverbs calls her the strange woman?

Because she’s a stranger to your marriage.

You see, friends, I’m talking to young men in this room.

Adulterate your brain every day of your life.

You bring junk into your brain, think about filth, and then sit here while the preacher sits and try to check out.

I’m telling you friend you better wake up smell the coffee I’m just telling you you can adulterate the purity of your mind by just thinking inappropriate thoughts bringing someone into that intimacy who is not your spouse and you don’t have to be married to adulterate the purity of your brain because you can adulterate the purity of a future marriage so selfishness is the big problem every time you think dirty thoughts selfish selfish it’s not about your wife not about your kids it’s about you I’m

just

telling you one of the things when I got on this journey a few years ago one of the things that hit me when I looked at the Conquer series and somebody I won’t go into my whole journey here but I remember when I got on that I thought to myself every man needs this because every man needs to understand certainly there are some men that don’t have trouble looking at filth but there’s probably every man if recognizes there’s a battle to keep your brain pure

and

you better fight it it’s important so um so selfishness now the passage here is so fascinating this is actually where it’s going i’m gonna have to get here quicker quick here but one of the manifestations of selfishness is found right in this passage i used to have these as two points and i kind of still are two points but i realize now the next point is just a subgroup of selfishness and i want you to begin by looking at verse number 12.

Would you do that or let’s begin the second point so to speak.

The night is far spent.

The day is at hand.

Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light.

Let us walk honestly as in the day.

Three times in a row you have what’s called a horatory subjunctive.

You say preacher I have no idea what you’re talking about.

Come to Baptist College Ministry.

Take Greek and we’ll tell you what we’re talking about.

Okay a horatory subjunctive.

Brother Bosler can tell you.

I’m going to tell you something.

Brother Bosler is a great Greek scholar and he can preach to teenagers.

I want to tell you something friends.

I’ve heard a lot of teenage preachers.

Most of them couldn’t exegete the Greek but this one can.

Okay, but anyway.

I make a fair attempt at it but he’s better than I am.

But anyway, a horatory subjunctive.

It’s not a command but it’s more of an exhortation.

Three times God is telling us let’s do this.

Let’s do this.

Let’s put off the works of darkness.

Let’s put on the armor of light.

Let us walk honestly as in the day.

So the question is, how do you get rid of the works of darkness?

You know what the works of darkness are, don’t you?

Like looking at filth, sneaking movies, getting out on a date, doing things, kindling one another’s passions, someone who’s not your spouse.

Yeah, it’s all selfishness.

It’s all dark.

One of the things about work of darkness I’ve noticed is they often are committed in darkness.

You ever notice that bars don’t have windows?

You ever notice that?

You ever notice houses of ill reproof?

Not that I’ve seen a few, but I understand they don’t have windows.

See, I’m going to tell you, it’s just dark.

It’s just dark.

There are some things that are works of darkness.

God says you need to get rid of the works of darkness.

You need to put on the armor light.

Say, preacher, how do you do that?

How in the world do you get rid of the darkness and put on the light?

How do you do that?

When the last horatory subjunctive tells us, let us walk honestly as in the day.

Have you ever noticed in the daytime it’s hard to hide?

Have you ever noticed that recently they’re just committing crimes in broad daylight?

And like everybody’s shocked because they’re picked up on cameras.

They’re picked on security cameras.

It’s like there’s no hiding.

It’s daytime.

And God says, that’s what you need to do.

Walk honestly as in the day because when you’re walking honestly, everybody can see.

So you say, well, preacher, what does it mean to walk in the light?

What does it mean to get rid of the works of darkness?

Put on the armor of light.

And the answer is honesty.

The greatest thing I believe Satan has to keep you in bondage is secrecy.

I’m sure that many of you young men that are in bondage looking to filth, many of you are in bondage because nobody knows.

Nobody knows.

It’s one of the greatest things to keep you in bondage is secrecy.

You know what God says?

You need to get honest about it.

He even tells us six things you need to get honest about.

so if you’re wondering do I need to get honest about some things well let’s look at the passage they’re in what I call three duets of darkness it says first of all not in rioting and drunkenness I’m not going to go into it all except to say that’s substance abuse if you’re out here you struggle with alcohol you struggle with abuse of prescription drugs you struggle with illegal drugs if you struggle with any substance abuse God is telling you you got to shed light on

it

you’re going to get honest with the right people it’s one of those things I found many people in order to get out of that junk they got to just get dead honest with somebody who loves them.

Pastor, mom or dad, whatever.

Okay, I’m really not preaching on that, but it’s there.

I want you to see it.

It says, not in chambering and wantonness.

Now chambering and wantonness are two really blunt words.

Chambering and the Greek, the Greek word is actually a scientific word we have used in English.

The very Greek word is exactly the word used in English for a certain scientific term.

I won’t go into right now in a mixed audience, but and wantonness is another one.

It’s just abandoned to lust.

No boundaries.

Whatever feels good, do it.

It’s just a filthy word, wantonness.

So you know what God is telling us?

He’s telling us that when it comes to moral impurity or sexual sins that you want to get free from, you’ve got to get honest to the right people.

Man, have I seen the power of honesty.

Now I want you to put your finger in this passage and I want you to go just a few pages to Ephesians chapter 5 and I want to show you something that to me has been stunning.

Ephesians chapter 5, then we’ll come back here, come back to this particular passage and finish the message.

But I want you to go to Ephesians chapter 5 and I want to show you something that I was preaching down in Greenville, South Carolina at Stephanie and Ryan’s church.

And I was studying this passage and man, it’s the first place I preached it.

Look at verse number 12 of Ephesians 5.

I won’t go into this great context here, but I’m not going to preach through the passage.

I just want you to see something.

For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.

Now let me stop for a moment and say this.

I’m not saying that preachers don’t need to be appropriate.

I believe they do.

When I was growing up I was very sheltered and all my thought problems came from preachers.

So I know preachers can blow it and be too graphic.

And it certainly is my desire to be veiled enough that people who know, know it, naive stay naive.

So I understand the importance.

but I’m not sure that’s the emphasis of that verse because the Bible does talk about some things that are done in secret.

I mean, it’s always appropriate.

It’s always careful.

But God does talk about some things and warn us and give us stories, David and Bathsheba things, where we realize that some very shameful things happen.

I agree with some of the commentators who said, what this is talking about is when you confess that you are involved in secret sin.

it brings a lot of shame to your heart.

Man, have I seen that.

Man, last week we were in a battle, in a Christian school, a battle.

I mean, the administration was with us.

They were burdened, we were burdened.

Needs, you couldn’t tell what the needs were.

You just knew there were needs.

There was one young man in the school and we thought, well, he’d been out to a camp for four weeks.

He seemed to have the most tender heart.

He was older, but you could tell that he was kind of cowed by some of the peer group pressure, but he seemed to be a good kid.

I think it was Wednesday night.

We finished up our war night.

We had a good crowd.

We were thrilled with the crowd, about 70, 80 kids.

We were cleaning up and we’re about to leave.

In fact, that night, we had a good time fellowshipping.

Sometimes a team, you just need to let your hair down, fellowship.

We probably stayed longer than we normally would on a Wednesday night.

All of a sudden, we heard the click of a car door out in the parking lot.

I’m talking, friends, this is seven days ago.

that big old boy walked in he said preacher can I talk to you I said yeah who’s your team captain he said oh Caleb over here I said okay Caleb you come with me too we got the assistant pastor because I could tell he was burdened down we sat down began to sob began to weep I mean I’m telling you he was broken up big old boy 220 pounds, broken, sobbing.

He said, I’ve been hooked on pornography for years.

You can feel his shame.

I mean, it was not an easy scene.

I mean, he was broken like that, I’d say 15, 20 minutes, just sobbed.

I believe that’s what the Bible’s talking about.

I’m talking to young men in this room, know what I’m talking about.

There was a day when you’re done wearing the mask, done playing the game.

You went to somebody who loved you, cared about you, and said, I’ve got to talk to you.

You know what it is to weep.

You’re broken.

By the way, if you’re not broken about it, you’re in trouble, bud.

You’re in trouble.

And that kid got right with God.

We saw so many guys get right with God about viewing pornography last week.

It was unbelievable.

It was just remarkable.

Every single one of them sobbing.

I mean talk big old boys I’m not talking about 7th graders I’m not saying it’s wrong for 7th graders to sob I’m just telling you these were guys you wouldn’t expect to be broken it’s a shame when you uncover the dirt it’s tough but you got to get in context to the next verse it says but all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light in other words you got to shed light on them and here it is this phrase just came to

me

for whatsoever doth make manifest is light and the commentators pointed out that that verb is the passage passive which the idea that which is manifested that which is being manifested by the light becomes light and the commentators pointed out you know in the physical realm that doesn’t seem to be true because when you shine light at something it doesn’t turn into a light you know only illustration that I can think of that would help us understand that is the moon the moon’s not light but

you

know when the sun shines on the moon guess what it seems like it’s a light doesn’t it best illustration I can think of and here’s what the passage is saying it’s saying young man young lady when you take your sin and you appropriately shine light on your sin so the appropriate people can see and it sometimes comes to a point where God tells you to be much more public about it and to shine light on it you know what that does that very sin becomes

a

light that shines in the heart of those who are darkened.

Do you know why those guys last week came forward sobbing?

It wasn’t just the preaching.

It was the guys on my team giving testimony.

It was one guy getting up, talking about before he got saved.

He was into pornography, into marijuana, giving an honest testimony.

Another team member gets up, talks about living a whole summer as a lie behind his parents’ back looking at Phil.

And their testimonies become searchlights.

Because they’re no longer defined by their failure of the past.

They’re now living in victory, and that no longer defines them.

They’re not living defined by the wickedness.

They’re living defined by a new victory that God is giving in the reality, and it becomes powerful.

But I will tell you the first time, it’s tough.

But it’s necessary.

You know what God’s saying?

You need to get honest.

Some guys in this room need to come clean.

You need to stop living the lie.

You need to stop acting like you’re doing okay when you’re not.

And you need to get honest.

And you say, I’m done, man.

I’m done.

I don’t care what it takes.

I want out of this garbage.

The Bible’s telling us, friends, you know what happens when people are deceptive?

You know what happens when people live a lie?

You know what happens when people go throughout life acting like they’re something they’re not?

They do that for one reason and one reason alone, because they are selfish.

Selfishness causes you to put on a mask.

Selfishness causes you to act like you’re something you’re not.

Selfishness causes you to not reveal that which needs to be revealed.

It’s selfishness.

And I’m just telling you right now, friends, when you get a hold of this thing, you realize it’s powerful.

I tell young people, and they’re blown away when I say this.

I take my cell phone, and I say, I know 20 guys I could call right now, put them on FaceTime, and they would tell you about the fact they were looking at filth, and they’ve been delivering, and they’ve had months, in some cases years, of sustained victory, and they’re so excited about what Jesus is doing.

I said, I could bring 20 of them.

I sometimes say it this way.

I said, if I had Star Trek technology, and I don’t, and I could beam them in, I could beam in 20 guys.

And they could give their testimony how God’s changed their life.

That’s why I say something big’s happened.

A purity movement’s afoot.

I know it’s an uncomfortable subject.

I get all that.

But God’s doing something.

He’s raising up some young men who are getting on the victory side of this thing.

God’s giving them wisdom beyond their years to lead other young men into victory.

And I’m telling you, it doesn’t mean it’s not going to be a battle.

It is going to be a battle.

But something’s afoot, friends.

And that’s why with E-Generation, eventually we’re going to have some more tools to help young men.

In fact, we are right now in the middle of a video project called Renew.

We’re excited about that.

My wife has done a booklet series.

I’m going to mention that in a little bit, a moment that try to help young men and young ladies that are struggling with these, and young ladies struggle too.

Their struggle is a little bit different.

some are similar but they have struggles in this arena as well.

But I will tell you you’ll never get victory until you get honest.

There’s one other thing and I’m going to go back to the moral but I want you to go back there to Romans chapter 13 and I want you to see what it says here.

The third duet of darkness says not in strife and envy.

And that particular issue I would call those you know your anger would be the big one.

Strife, anger.

God is saying you’ve got a problem with one of those attitudes.

You might need to start getting honest.

Maybe some of you need to go to your youth pastor and say, you know what, I’ve got a problem with anger at home.

I blow up my parents, I’m disrespectful, I’ve got a problem.

I’m telling you friends, I’m just telling you right now.

If there’s a future, you come to a future, potentially you’re thinking a future father-in-law, and you want to marry his daughter, and he’s got any sense, he’s going to ask you about several things, But one thing he’s going to ask you about, you may have thought about, and that is, how’s your issues with anger?

Angry men don’t make good husbands, and they certainly don’t make good fathers.

You better learn to deal with your anger, bud.

Just better learn to deal with it.

I’m just telling you, some of you need to wake up and smell the coffee.

The fact you treat your younger siblings like trash is a problem.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it now.

I’m thankful that I had two older siblings, one of them sitting on the front row, one of them is in heaven.

I had two older siblings that reached the point where they stopped being selfish and they stopped reaching down to their younger siblings and said, hey Jesus is changing us, how about joining the trail, joining the journey?

I’m telling you, some of you that are older need to stop being selfish and reach down and minister to your younger siblings.

Just wake up, smell the coffee, and stop your anger and selfishness.

I’m telling you, you have a great responsibility if you’re first born, second born.

You have a great responsibility if you have younger siblings.

It’s huge.

I really don’t know if I’d be in the ministry if it wasn’t for my older brother and sister.

Because I saw the Lord do things in their life.

I’m telling you, they weren’t angry at me.

Treat me like a squirrely little kid, though I probably was.

I’m just telling you, friends, God says there’s time to get honest.

Some of you out here say, well, I don’t have really.

I don’t struggle looking at filth.

My parents are careful.

I haven’t looked at filth.

Well, how’s your anger?

Deal with that issue.

And tonight, there’s power in light.

It’s like I’ve said this before.

I hesitate to mention, but for those that haven’t heard it, I want you to get this.

There is power in light.

Many times I believe when we’re going through life, we almost think of light and darkness as they’re equal.

They’re not equal.

Darkness is wimpy.

Listen, darkness out there in the world is wimpy.

It seems so powerful, but it’s wimpy.

Some of you might say, what do you mean it’s wimpy?

Man, I’ve been hooked on looking at this filth for years.

Or yeah, I’ve been sneaking junk behind my parents’ back for years.

What do you mean it’s wimpy?

Well, I’m going to help you understand it.

You know, this right now, this room cannot be invaded with darkness.

It cannot be invaded with darkness.

You know why?

Because there’s light.

But if we turned out the lights, we could invade it with light.

Have you ever heard of a flashlight?

light?

You can turn it on, there’s this beam of light, just easily, just cutting it like peanut butter, not even like peanut butter.

I mean, it’s easier than that.

It’s just, it just go right through the darkness.

An LED light, whoa, that’s even a white light.

You know what I’m talking about?

Just takes it away.

We just switched our lights to LED now for our competition.

It’s like, whoa, it’s just bright light.

Darkness is gone.

I’ve said this before, but you hear me.

There’s no such thing as a flash dark.

You can’t turn on this gizmo.

Ooh, there’s this beam of darkness.

No.

Because darkness is wimpy.

All you guys, your filth, your junk, it’s wimpy.

It can’t handle the light.

It flees at the light.

And I want to tell you, gang, some of you young men out here, young ladies out here, you feel like I’m in bondage.

I can’t handle this.

I’m telling you right now, just turn the lights on by getting honest.

And then keep turning the lights on.

Don’t just do it one time.

Keep it up.

I know some of you today were unsatisfied.

You heard my son-in-law Ryan give a bit of his testimony.

But I will tell you, I think the thing I have noticed in Ryan’s life is the power of light.

The power of light.

and he’s really led the way in me understanding how important light is.

Some of you know that over three years ago, Ryan approached me about my daughter.

I didn’t know it at the time, but he had been praying about my daughter for seven years.

Of course, they had no relationship other than just being here, but been after her for seven years.

I thought, aren’t you sure that’s Rachel, not Stephanie?

But anyway, you know what I’m talking about.

But seven years.

And we got in a wonderful conversation.

He gave us his journey.

I don’t know how to explain it.

I sensed God was in it.

But when I asked the questions, he was honest with me.

You know what that’s called?

Light, light.

And as a result of his honesty, I had to say, I don’t think so.

Let’s go back like it was before you asked in the first place.

he took that as a no I took it as probably a no I can’t go into the full journey tonight but I will say this a couple of things that I found in his journey and I’m sure he could tell it better than I after a few months of working through all that another young man sought him out and said hey I’m on a similar journey but Ryan was probably at that point in a greater place of victory than this young man.

And they began daily accountability.

You know what daily accountability is?

It’s every 24 hours reporting on what you’re looking at, what you’re thinking about, and another personal issue I won’t go into right now.

Every 24 hours.

How would you like, young man, to every 24 hours have to tell somebody what your thought life’s like?

well all I know is that began that 24 hour shedding light did something just began to do some marvelous things I remember us having some conversations where he was telling me about victory he was having that honestly I was stunned by it I was amazed thinking wow gave me great hope what God can do.

Well, over that summer, that was the summer of 20.

I could get this wrong.

I may have had the wrong, oh, I know what it was.

I’ll just point this in.

Ryan came back from a wedding in Mexico and then COVID hit.

Some of you remember that in the early 20s.

And he was going to have to quarantine for two weeks.

And he himself would say, you know, boy, quarantine for two weeks is not something you want to do if you have a past issue or something like that.

So he began to get up early and go down to the lake, Lake Michigan, and start to spend time with God, extended time with God that you wouldn’t have if you’re just living life, but you’re in quarantine, you don’t have a whole lot more to do.

And God began to develop a relationship at another level that he had not been to.

That is another key truth.

It’s not really what I’m preaching on, but I point that out to give you a big picture.

That was a part of it.

On the summer of 20, I said, Ryan, why don’t you travel with us this fall?

I was going to kind of need a community based team because we were going to have weeks canceled.

I needed people that could come home and just do whatever here.

And so he agreed to go with us and make a long story short, we went out west and we had to come back.

We had some weeks canceled and had Matt Phillips, who’s a friend of mine, a Zebulon’s pastor, called me up and said, could you come and do a tent meeting?

That’s how we met Zeb, by the way.

And so sure, we just had some cancellations and we came out there and did a tent meeting.

God was burdening me to preach on Romans 13 one night at that tent meeting.

and I don’t know how to explain it but I just sensed that Ryan ought to give his testimony so I said Ryan would you be willing to do it I will never forget Ryan’s response never he did not hesitate one second he said absolutely I’m going to tell you why young person I’m going to tell you why light light Zeb was there that night I’m sure he could testify maybe it would be a little different angle but I’m telling you Ryan’s given his testimony I’m

thinking

God’s in the tent you could sense the conviction I mean you could sense people were listening he finished that testimony I got up to preach I don’t know if I’ve ever preached on Romans 13 with more liberty than I preached that night man I went after it and I had the liberty to do so finished that thing gave an invitation you could cut the invitation with a knife somebody stepped out of the tent I won’t say a whole lot but somebody stepped out of the

tent

sobbing, weeping.

Ryan took him aside.

It was the same issue.

Been in for years.

I remember the next day, the pastor, myself, Ryan, sat down with this gentleman.

I sat there with my mouth open as Ryan was counseling him.

I’m thinking, whoa, that’s good.

Yeah, that’s good too.

And I remember when I’m sitting in that meeting, I’m thinking, this guy is ready for ministry and he needs a wife.

but since I told them no I can’t go chasing after him they’ll have to come back well to make a long story short we were doing a lot of make a long story longer I don’t know how you want to call it but we say that but really it means we’re making it longer but anyway make a long story longer I remember we were out west and we had long drives and my wife was sitting next to Ryan and yeah you know most of you

know

my wife you know you know her some but i don’t know that all of you know her like obviously some of you that are closer to her know her but many times i’m with my wife and she’ll ask somebody a question and i look at the person in the eye and sincerely say you don’t have to answer that okay okay she can ask questions she would have been a great news anchor you know i’m talking about she’s been a great interviewer she can ask the

tough

question i’m the kind just got to beat around the bush trying to you know i’m just yeah but anyway and I will tell you I don’t know all the questions she asked Ryan I really don’t but I can say this she asked some tough questions and Ryan answered them all you say preacher why?

because that’s light that’s light you just got to stop acting like you’re something you’re not make a long story short my wife and I got together and said comes knocking, we think he’s different.

God’s changed him.

We won’t go into all the ins and outs of it, but finally he did come knocking, and first his parents did, and I remember sitting down with the Swansons, and I said, well, your son needs a wife, and we think Stephanie is the one.

I don’t know how to explain everything, friends, but I will tell you this.

Many of you know because you were here at the wedding.

I remember as we were getting ready for the wedding, and one thing I appreciate about Ryan, I call Ryan up at any time and say, how’s it going?

And he will tell me.

Hey, guys out here, you’re going to be honest when your future father-in-law asks you questions?

I feel like I can ask Ryan anything, anywhere, anytime about anything, and he’ll tell me.

And I will tell you something, friends, that means a lot.

And I have done it too.

But I will tell you, I really don’t even worry about it because he talks to me sometimes as much as just being honest about his journey.

And it’s been such a blessing.

But here’s the point.

Came time for the wedding and some of you here know what I’m talking about.

Ryan said, I’d like to tell my story.

When’s the last time you went to a wedding and somebody gave a story about their journey out of issues like we’re talking about?

now we obviously it was appropriate but you say why do you think that was done because it’s light it’s light God’s called them to a purity ministry in time they’ll launch into a purity ministry and other things as well won’t be the only thing they do that means every week he’s going to be telling his story that’s called light Light.

There’s power in light.

And there’s a lack of power in darkness.

Now, I’m not trying to say this.

I’m sure I’ve embarrassed Ryan.

I haven’t meant to embarrass him.

He’s not perfect, but he’s pretty close.

But anyway, but I’m telling you, friends, you’ve got to make a decision.

I’m talking to some young men out here God’s all over you right now and I’m telling you you can live with a mask on you can live acting like you’re something you’re not you can live that way but it’s not going to work I’m talking to some young men who need to talk to dads about some of the struggles they’re having if you’ve got a dad you respect and spiritually can help you I’ve got some other young men in this room maybe don’t have the

privilege

of having a dad that spiritually can help you maybe tonight you just need to get down an old fashioned aisle if you got a youth sponsor here or a pastor youth pastor you just need to get honest there’s power in light and light is one of the darkness is one of the biggest manifestations of selfishness and you know what light is it’s one of the biggest manifestations of saying I’m done with being selfish I want to start living for others it’s done it’s not about

me

now if we could ask heads bowed and eyes closed Heads are bowed and eyes are closed.