2. Dangers Facing Young Men:
In the second chapter of his book, J. C. Ryle addresses certain dangers and temptations that face young men. One of the most common dangers that young men face is the sin of pride. Being a young man myself I can most assuredly agree with this one! Pride is a sin that is as old as our earth. Satan was cast from heaven because of his proud and rebellious heart and Adam was cast form paradise because he wished to be like God. Sin entered our world through the proud heart of man and it is no different today. Pride dwells in all of us by nature. Pride teaches young men to trust their own strength and not the strength of God. Many young men reject counsel, are rude, un-courteous, and think that only themselves should be treated with respect and dignity. Young men seem to think like those who Job mentioned, “We are the people, and wisdom shall die with us.”
J. C. Ryle
addresses young men with these words of wisdom:
"Be not proud of
your own abilities, your own strength, your own knowledge,
your own
appearance, your own cleverness. Be not proud of yourself, and your
talents of any kind. It all comes from not
knowing yourself and the world. The older
you grow, and
the more you see, the less reason you will find for being proud.
Ignorance and
inexperience are the pedestal of pride; once let the pedestal
be removed, and
pride will soon come tumbling down."
Think of the great example of humility given to us by our
Lord. He washed his disciple’s feet! The very king of Heaven bended his knee to
wash common man’s feet (John 13:3-15). Not only did our Lord wash feet he died
a cruel death on a cross to save your soul and mine! What an example for us
young men. We need to be humble like our Lord. Proverbs 26:12 says, “Do you see a man
wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.” If we are to
be wise young men, we must beware of the sin of pride.
Besides the sin of pride, the love of pleasure can be a
major danger that faces Christian young men.
Youth is generally the time that we have the most
strength and the least cares or anxiety. This fact makes us young men think
mostly of pleasure. Now, pleasure is not a bad thing in itself, but we must
beware that the love of pleasure does not take over our lives. Besides from
begin wasteful, earthly pleasure are usually harmful to either our minds or
bodies. 1 Peter 2:11 says, “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to
abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.” And Colossians 3:5-6
says, “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality,
impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is
because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of
disobedience.” Mr. Ryle states:
"Go and take
your fill of earthly pleasures if you will, - you will never find your heart
satisfied with them. There will always be a voice within, crying, like the
horse-leech in Proverbs 30:15, “Give, give!” There is an empty place there,
which nothing but God can fill. You will find, as Solomon did by experience
that earthly pleasures are but a vain show, - vanity and vexation of spirit, -
whited sepulchers, fair to look at on the outside, full of ashes and corruption
within. Better be wise in time. Better write ‘poison’ on all earthly pleasures.
The most lawful of them must be used with moderation. All of them are
soul-destroying if you give them your heart."
Young men also struggle with thoughtlessness and lack of
consideration for others. Many young men do not think of their future or the
end of their lives. We think that youth is the time to be foolish and
unreasonable. It is only too common to see young men who waste their lives on themselves.
They have no serious thoughts of God or His Word. The things of God are
serious, and must be treated with respect. Whether we believe them or reject them is a
serious matter. It is the difference between spending eternity in heaven or
Hell. Mr. Ryle states:
"Just as a bad
servant does wrong, and then says, “I never gave it a thought,” so
young Men run
into sin, and then say, “I did not think about it, - it did not look like sin.”
Not look like
sin! What would you expect? Sin will not come to you, saying, “I am sin;”
It would do
little harm if it did. Sin always seems “good, and pleasant, and desirable,” at
the
time of
commission. Oh, get wisdom, get discretion! Remember the words of Solomon:
“Ponder the
path of your feet, and let all your ways be established” – (Proverbs 4:26)"
Sadly, many young men in our culture have a contempt of religion. They scorn and mock the things of God. I know this from experience in my own life and I have seen young men who live like this. Young men seem to think that they do not need religion in their life. Oh, if only they saw how much danger their souls are in! They are fast on the way to hell and will do nothing to stop it. They are ashamed to speak of the things of God, ashamed to sing, ashamed to publically read God's Word, ashamed to pray, ashamed to talk of Christ. Besides all of this they claim to be Christians! I plead with those men who follow Christ, do not be ashamed of Him or He will reject you from being His child (Luke 9:26). For those who don't believe, you must look long and hard into what lies before you. Only the fool has rejected God, but he has never disproved God 's existence. The existence of God is written on your heart (Romans 1:18-22). Do not despise Him. He will save your soul if you call upon His name! J. C. Ryle says:
"Be very sure of this, - people never reject the Bible because they cannot understand it.
They understand it only too well; they understand that it condemns their own behaviour;
they understand that it witnesses against their own sins, and summons them to judgement.
They try to believe it is false and useless, because they do not like to admit it is true."
One other danger that young men face is the fear of man's opinions. Proverbs 29:25 says, "The fear of man brings a snare, but he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted." Many young men today do not have opinions of their own. They are caught up with the crowd or what their peers say. Their conviction is weak and mostly based on what they think is right and wrong and not on what God says is right and wrong.
"Few young men seem to have any opinions of their own, or to
think for themselves.Like dead fish, they go with the stream and tide:
what others think right,they think right; and what others call wrong,
they call wrong too."
- J. C. Ryle
As Christian young men, we must develop conviction from the word of God. It does not matter whose side my friends are on, as long as I am on God's side! It does not matter what people say or do to me. Remember what God says in Matthew 10:28, "Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." How unreasonable it is for us to fear what man may think of us. It will not benefit us, but rather only discourage us and bring shame to God's name. Let us as young men be strong and courageous! Man can give you nothing but God can give you, "everything pertaining to life and godliness." (2 Peter 1:3). May the Lord grant us strength to resist pride and the love of pleasure. May we be thoughtful of others and may we never, ever scorn God's word, or fear what man can to do our bodies. Our soul is a very precious thing. We must guard it from evil so that when we see the Lord, we will be pleasing in His sight. To the praise of His Glory alone!
Blessings,
Lucas C.
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