Sexuality in the Christian Life

… Guten Morgen, alle! Es ist gut, Sie heute Morgen hier zu sehen, insbesondere die Jüngeren, aber auch die älteren, die Paare. Es ist eine besondere Angelegenheit für mich, Sie heute Morgen hier zu sehen. Das Thema, das wir vor uns haben, ist ein sehr wichtiges Thema für uns alle. Wir würden gerne ein wenig über die Bedeutung der Sexualität im christlichen Leben nachdenken. Und das ist etwas, das uns alle beeinflusst. Die Jüngeren und die Älteren, die Männer und die Frauen. Wir könnten uns die Frage stellen, wenn wir unsere Leben in Bezug auf dieses Thema, Sexualität, vergleichen, ist es ein wunderbares Blumenfeld oder ist es eher ein Mindfield? Und es scheint es beide zu sein. Manchmal, und es sollte ein wunderbares Blumenfeld sein, ein Geschenk von Gott, wie wir sehen werden, aber manchmal ist es wirklich ein Mindfield. Und viele junge Christen haben ihr Leben verspürt, weil sie dieses wunderschöne Geschenk der Sexualität missbrauchen. Ich denke, dieses Thema ist ein wichtiges Thema für uns alle. Es ist ein schwieriges Thema. It is not easy, because there are a lot of opinions around. There are a lot of misunderstandings around. The subject is also, to a certain extent, a delicate subject. It is not too easy to speak about that subject and also to find the right wording to be clear and open enough on the one hand, and on the other hand to really use the appropriate language and words, particularly when English is not the mother tongue of the speaker. Of course, it is a very up-to-date subject. We are all confronted with sexuality, inside ourselves, but also outside ourselves. The world around us speaks a lot about sexuality and we will easily find that the opinions of the world around us are completely different from what the Word of God tells us. And this brings us into a certain zone of tension. We see and we hear what people around tell us, what we read, what we hear, and on the other hand we see what the Word of God says to us and we find there is a great contradiction. There is a great contrast and this brings a certain tension into our lives, particularly when we are younger. The great danger for us is that step by step we take over the opinion of the world. And we think that the Word of God might be old-fashioned and that the opinion of this world is up-to-date. But the contrary is true. What the world says is a total contradiction to what the Word of God says. And the Word of God is always right. God gives us the good instructions also about sexuality. And if we read the Bible we might be astonished that God deals with the subject more than once. There is a rich instruction in the Old Testament and there is a rich instruction in the New Testament. There are lots of examples in the Old Testament, positive examples like Joseph, like Daniel. There are negative examples in the Old Testament like Samson or David and Bathsheba. And also the New Testament takes up this subject. In the Epistles of the Apostles we have also instruction about the subject of sexuality. I would suggest that we just open our Bibles and that we read two verses, one from the Old and one from the New Testament. We start reading a verse in Proverbs chapter 6. And we read the verses 27 and 28. Can a man take fire in his bosom and his garments not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals and his feet not be scorched? And from the New Testament the Epistle to the Romans chapter 13. Romans 13, the last verse, verse 14. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ and do not foretake for the flesh to fulfill its lusts. My first point that I would like to present is this one. Is sexuality a gift of God or not? Is it something bad in itself or is it something good in itself? And the clear answer is that sexuality is indeed a gift of God. And all gifts of God are good gifts. God never gives us something that is bad in itself. All gifts of God are perfect, as James says in his Epistle. So sexuality is one of the perfect gifts of God. He opens his storehouse and he gives his blessing. And one blessing, one gift of God is sexuality. What is our reaction to any gift that God gives us? There are always at least two reactions when God gives us something into our hands. First reaction is thankfulness. And second reaction is responsibility. If somebody offers me a gift, the first thing I do is to say thank you. And then I will have a look to the gift and I will use the gift somebody has offered me. So if God gives us the gift of sexuality, the first thing we should do is to say thank you. To be grateful and thankful. Have we ever been praying, thanking the Lord Jesus for the gift of sexuality? Maybe not. But it is a gift of God. A perfect gift of God. Not bad in itself. The second reaction is responsibility. Every gift of God that is given into our hands has the risk that we misuse it or that we abuse it. So God appeals to our responsibility when he gives something into our hands. Sexuality is really a gift that many, many people have misused and abused. If we use it in the right way, our life will be a wonderful fruit field. But if we misuse this gift of sexuality, our lives will become a minefield. So we have to be very careful to use the gift of sexuality in the proper way. Take an example. Fire is a gift that God has given us. We need fire. It can do a lot of positive things. If you travel to Africa, people need fire every day. Without fire they can do nothing. They cannot eat, they cannot cook, they cannot do nothing. They need fire for nearly everything or for a lot of things in their life. But the great danger is that when you misuse fire, you cannot only burn your fingers. You can do much more than that. And this has an application to our subject. If we use sexuality in the proper way, it is a good gift of God for our benefit. If we misuse, if we abuse it, we will harm ourselves, we will damage our lives and at the end there will be this minefield. My second point, my second consideration that I would like to share with you is this. That sexuality is a human need. It is a need, but it is not a basic need. You know, there are basic needs in our life. Every day we have to eat. Every day we have to drink. These are basic needs. We have to sleep. This is another basic need. We need fresh air to breathe. This is a basic need. If we don't have the air to breathe, if we don't sleep, if we don't eat, if we don't drink, in a few days or weeks we will be dead or if we don't breathe even much earlier. These are basic needs. They have to be fulfilled, otherwise we cannot live. Now people around us say sexuality is also a basic need. You have to live according to what you feel and to your lusts. Just do it. It is a basic need. You can't live without. And you see, my dear friends, this is a big, big error. Sexuality is a gift of God. It is also a need, but it is not a basic need. God wants us to learn to control our sexuality. And this is a very important point for all those who are not yet married. God wants you to control your sexuality. Let us read one verse from the Lamentations of Jeremiah, chapter 3. Jeremiah, chapter 3, verse 27. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. So God wants us, particularly the male, but also the female, to control sexuality, particularly when we are young. We cannot let sexuality flow freely. This is not according to the will of God. God has given us a kind of shelter or of safe room wherein we can use this gift of sexuality. And this safe room or this shelter is marriage. It is ever so clear in the Bible that using sexuality is absolutely linked to marriage. Let us read a verse from 1 Corinthians that makes it very clear. 1 Corinthians, chapter 7, and verse 2. It is good for a man not to touch a woman. But on account of fornication let each one have his own wife and each woman have her own husband. Now the context is a little bit different. Paul says on account of fornication, but fornication has to do with our sexuality. And we can also say because of using sexuality let each one have his own wife. The meaning is a married wife, not just a girl or a girlfriend. And each woman have her own husband. Not a friend, not a boyfriend, but a husband, a married husband. So if you want to use your sexuality, get married. This is the very condition. Never outside marriage. No sexuality before you are married and no sexuality apart or beside marriage. The shelter, the safe room, the fence of protection is marriage. So no use of sexuality before we are married, but only after we are married. This is a very important point. And we clearly realize that people around us teach and practice it totally different. They have sexual intercourse without being married. They change the partners. Today this girl, tomorrow another girl. And this is in total contradiction to what the word of God says. Control your sexuality when you are young. And dear friends, let us not forget. God is never a spoiled sport or a bus kill. Never. He wants your good. He wants our blessing. And therefore he has given this safe room of marriage in order to use this gift of sexuality. The Bible says that for everything there is a proper time or a due course. For everything there is a reason, a season. If you want to use your sexuality, this gift of God, please wait until you are married. And it is good that as young people we learn to control our sexuality. Sexual liberty as it is proposed in modern societies is not for our blessing. It is not for our good. The opposite, the contrary is true. It is only for the moment. It gives pleasure for the flesh for a certain moment but only for a certain moment. It will never give you real satisfaction. Sexuality will only give you a real long time satisfaction when you are married. Now a third point that I would like to share with you. What then is the target of sexuality within the frame of marriage? When God gives us something, when God blesses us, he always has a target in mind. Now what is the reason that God has given sexual feelings, this gift of sexuality? And there are two main reasons in the Bible. The first reason of course is reproduction. You will find this in Genesis chapter 1 and this is repeated several times that God said be fruitful and multiply. This is reproduction. Babies should be born. There should be children. And in order to have children of course we have to use this gift of sexuality. This is one target. It is one important target but it is not the only target. There is a second thing that God had in mind, a second purpose that God had in mind when he gave us this gift of sexuality. And this is that we should have fun and pleasure. Maybe this sounds astonishing but it is true. If we read the Bible we clearly find that fun or satisfaction, true satisfaction is linked to the use of sexuality within the frame of marriage. Let us open our Bibles and read from Proverbs chapter 5. I just want to prove what I said and this is just one example. Proverbs chapter 5 verse 15. There it says, drink waters out of thine own cistern and running waters out of thine own well. Thy fountains shall be poured forth as water brooks and the broad ways. Let them be only thine own and not strangers with thee. Let thy fountain be blessed and have joy of the wife of thy youth. As a lovely hind and a graceful roe, let her breasts satisfy thee at all times. Be thou ravished continually with her love. This is the word of God, dear friends. This is what God has to say and he speaks of a married couple. This is ever so clear. Thy own cistern, thy own well, thy fountains, Solomon says. He speaks of the married wife of a husband and he says have joy. Be ravished continually with her love. Have satisfaction. Let her breasts satisfy thee at all times. This is the word of God. So this makes ever so clear that the second target God had in mind when giving us the gift of sexuality is joy and fun and satisfaction. Let us never forget this. But again, I repeat, only within the frame of marriage. This is the shelter God has given to us. It is impossible, I repeat, it is impossible to separate sexual intercourse from being married. Marriage is a unit of spirit, soul and body. The three things work together. Unity of spirit, of soul and of body. And you can never separate the three things. You cannot say I will only have the union, the unification of bodies and separate them from spirit and soul. This is impossible. God doesn't want us to separate these three things. Therefore, sexuality is like the icing on the cake when you are married. The most important thing is the cake, to be married, to have this union of spirit and soul. And then you add the icing on the cake. A cake can live without icing, but an icing cannot live without the cake. So these things absolutely belong together. We cannot separate them. If we do so, the Word of God says this is not one flesh, but it is one body. Let us turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 6 and read verse 16. 1 Corinthians 6 verse 16. Do ye not know that he that joined to the harlot is one body? That is someone who wants to separate the unification of spirit, soul and body. And God says, do you not know that he that is joined to the harlot is one body? For the two, he says, shall be one flesh. You see, the idea of God is not one body, only sexual intercourse. But the idea of God is one flesh. And flesh means spirit, soul and body. A man is flesh. That means he is composed of spirit, soul and body. That is one flesh. And 1 Corinthians 6 makes it very clear that within marriage God says one flesh. The three things, soul, spirit, soul and body together. And never separate one from the other. This is a very, very important point. In order to use the gift of sexuality, you need to be married. A man and a wife. A male and a female. Never ever two men, two males or two females. This is in total contradiction to what the Word of God says. I know very well and you know very well that people around us tell us something else. Live your sexuality. Men with men, women with women, no problem. Girls with girls, young men with young men. Just as you like. Therefore, God says a husband and a wife. A married couple. A male and a female. And the second thing, sexuality is never a one way road. You always need two. You need partners, you need two. Never alone. God created us differently, male and female. And the sexual unification of a man and a woman within the frame of marriage is a great blessing. Everything that is outside, that is in contradiction to what the Word of God says, is not the will of God. And I clearly want to say it is forbidden. If we use our sexuality alone, and this is a particular danger for men. If we use it alone, this is against the Word of God. This is against the good will and purpose of God. A lot of men, young men, and not only young men, have a problem with what we call masturbation. Masturbation is a misuse of the gift of sexuality because we use it alone. We do it alone. We want our own satisfaction. We want our own pleasure. We want our own fun. Whereas the idea of God is to have fun and joy and satisfaction together. To please our partner, not to please ourself. But first of all to please our married partner. That is the very simple reason why masturbation, I repeat, a problem of many particularly males, is not according to the will of God. The body belongs to the Lord. This is what 1 Corinthians 6 at the end says. The body belongs to the Lord. We cannot do with our bodies whatever we would like to do and what we think is good to do. A fourth point I would like to share with you is a very important point again. God made us differently. He made us male and female. We all know that this is true. Even though in our days something else is taught again. If we read the theories of gender mainstreaming, we realize that all of a sudden they tell us, Oh no, we are not differently made. We are exactly the same. We function in the same way. The differences, they have been influenced by the social surroundings in which we have grown up. But dear friends, gender mainstreaming is a big lie. Really, it's a big, big lie. It is nothing but theory. Don't believe what they tell you. There are indeed big differences between the males and the females. God made us differently and fortunately he did so. This makes life much more interesting. But it is important for us to know that we are different. As soon as you get married, you will realize the differences. You will learn the differences by experience. But sometimes it is good not to wait until you are married, but to know beforehand that there are important differences between male and female. The software God has given us is a different one. A girl is functioning in a different way than a boy is functioning. And it helps a lot also in relationship with our subject to know a little bit at least about the differences between males and females. Of course, the first difference is obviously we have different sexual organs. This is obviously, nobody can deny it. We have different sexual feelings. This is already important. My dear friends, my dear boys and my dear men, a girl has different sexual feelings than you have. You have to realize this. My dear sisters, the younger ones, the older ones, never forget a boy or a man has different sexual feelings than you have. He has a different software. He is functioning in a different way. His emotions are different. Her emotions are different. Don't forget this. A girl is not a boy and a boy is not a girl. We experience and we learn about our sexuality in a totally different way. A boy will one day realize that his sexuality wakes up automatically. He can't change it. He can't influence it. The day comes when sexuality wakes up. You can't change it. But you have to control it. And I have already mentioned the great danger for all boys that is masturbation. Because sexuality wakes up and then we try to help it a little bit. And this is wrong. God doesn't want us to help sexuality to wake up, to cultivate it, but just try to control it. When it comes to the girls, sexuality does not wake up automatically. There has to be someone who one day will up sexuality, the female sexuality. And be careful, my dear sisters, don't wake up your sexuality yourself. Wait until you are married and your husband will wake up your sexuality. That is the way God has foreseen in nature. So this is one of the big, big differences. There is another big difference in our sexual feelings between male and female. You see, we can compare a man with a lamp. You see, a lamp has a switch and you can switch on the light and you can switch off the light. If you switch it on, the lamp is immediately on. And if you switch it off, the lamp is immediately off. This is how sexuality works with a man. You switch it on and you switch it off. There is an immediate reaction. Whereas the female sexuality could be compared with an old-fashioned iron. If you switch it on, it takes some time before it is warm and hot. And if you switch it off, it takes some time before it gets cold again. So this is the way the female sexuality works. It takes time to warm up and it takes time to cool down again. This is important to know. I didn't know that when I got married. I had to learn it. But it is better to know it before. There is the great danger for boys to be turned on by the girls. And I say to my dear brethren, don't let you turn on. And I say to my dear sisters, don't turn on the boys. Their sexuality is different than yours. You operate the switch and immediately the lamp is burning. Be careful. Immediately the fire is burning and the boy could get burned and you could get burned. So please be careful. Don't do it. Because sexuality is functioning in a different way. I would use another comparison to make the thing a little clearer. You can compare a man to a chest of drawers. Whereas you can compare the girls with a wardrobe. Why this? A chest of drawers has different drawers. You can open and close them separately. Maybe there are five drawers and you can open each drawer and you can close it. This is the way a man is functioning. He has different drawers. The work, free time, sexuality. All different drawers. He can open and he can close them separately. Whereas a woman has just one door in this wardrobe. She opens it completely or she closes it completely. The man can separate sexuality much easier from other things than a girl can do it. When you attract the sexuality of a girl, it is not only the sexuality but it is always the whole girl. It involves much, much more. A girl thinks much more global than a boy does. So never forget. For a boy it is much easier to separate spirit, soul and body. But we shouldn't do that. But for a boy it is much easier because we work like a chest of drawers. For a woman, for a girl this is much more difficult. Because always more is involved than just using the gift of sexuality. There are more differences between the two sexes. Between the males and the females. Let us maybe just realize these differences that I have just pointed out. It is important for you, for us to know about these differences. Now my fifth point. I would address a few words to the young man. The girls, you can listen, no problem. But what I am going to say now is particularly for my young friends, my younger brothers. Be aware of the female characteristics and also weaknesses. Don't tease the girls or don't tempt them. Girls, I forgot to say this, are much more sensitive to what you say and how you touch them. Whereas good boys are much more sensitive to what they see. So be aware of the differences in the sexual feeling of a girl. Don't misuse the weaknesses or the software God the Creator has given to a female. This is my first advice to the boys. My second advice is please keep your eyes under control. The Apostle John speaks about the lusts of our eyes. And for us, the male, the eyes are a very, very big danger. A much bigger danger than for our dear sisters. We, the boys, we the men, we are so much influenced by what we see. Whether in life or on a picture. We are influenced by what we see. Be careful when you use your internet. It is such a great danger because your eyes can see a lot of things that they should never see. And maybe you will never forget the pictures you have seen. Even if you want to forget it, it is so difficult and some of the pictures you have seen on the internet, maybe you will never, never forget them. So be careful of what you see. Keep your eyes under control. It was Job who made a covenant with his eyes. He didn't want to see nice girls. So please be very, very careful. The third advice, please control your thoughts. Normally, a bad deed, a sin, begins in our thinking. Of course, sometimes it comes out of an effect, it just comes over us. But very often a sin is a result of our thoughts. So please, young men, dear brothers, keep your thoughts under control. Particularly during night time. Don't think too much about girls. Don't think too much about sexuality when you are not married. Another advice that I would like to give you, please avoid occasions. Please avoid wrong places. There are places and occasions where our sexuality is stirred up. So be very, very careful. Let's read again from Proverbs chapter 7. Proverbs 7, verse 6. Now, the mistake, of course, was on both sides. But the young man, he went out in the twilight, in the evening of the day, in the blackness of night and in the darkness. He was out in the wrong time. And he went out to the wrong place. He came to the house of temptation. My dear friends, my dear brothers, be careful when you go out and where you go out. Avoid occasions. Avoid wrong places where your sexuality is only stirred up. And the last advice to my dear brothers. Don't stimulate your sexuality. We have read this verse in Romans 13 where it says that we should not take forethought or precaution or provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts. Let us avoid everything that could stimulate sexuality without the frame of marriage. This is my advice to you, my dear brothers. Now I have also some advices for my dear sisters. Only two, because the dangers for the brothers are much bigger than for the sisters. But there are also dangers for the sisters. So just two advices for the sisters. Be aware of the weaknesses of the boys. Don't forget they have a different software than you have. It is so easy to stir up the sexuality of a young boy. But don't do so. Be careful. Be careful how you behave when you are together with a young man. Maybe your behavior has a totally different reaction on the side of the boy than you had intended. But if you know how he works, how he functions, how his software works, his sexual software, so be careful not to stir up his sexuality in a wrong way. And my second advice. Don't stimulate your own sexuality. I know this is modern. Modern girls do so. This is what the world teaches. But Christian girls don't do so. Wait until you are married and your husband will stir up your sexuality or stimulate your sexuality. My next point, just very briefly. You can study this at home. I already mentioned that Scripture gives us examples, good examples like Joseph. A positive example to follow. But Scripture also gives us some dreadful examples. One example is the one we just read in Proverbs chapter 6. This young man who met the harlot and who went to bed with her had a sexual intercourse and the end was a minefield in the life of this young man. Read the story of David and Bathsheba in 2 Samuel 11. Again a dreadful example. David, a man of God. A man according to the pleasure of God. A man that God had used and could use. But how great was the sin of David when he fell with Bathsheba. Who was wrong, David or Bathsheba? The answer is both made a mistake. Bathsheba made a mistake. She presented herself in a way that David's sexuality was stirred up. That was the mistake of Bathsheba. And when David called her, she came. And when he wanted to sleep with her, she didn't reject. But on the other hand, of course, it was the great mistake of King David. He should have never had that look to the bathing nice lady that he saw. He should have been on the battlefield and not outside relaxing a little bit at that time. So the mistake was on both sides. David made a serious and a big mistake and he said afterwards in his confession, Only I have sinned. He was not talking about the mistakes of Bathsheba. Like Adam did when he said, well, Eve gave me of the fruit. No, David said, I have sinned against thee. I only. But in truth, Bathsheba was also responsible for what had happened. There is the example of Samson and Elijah in Judges chapter 16. Again, a man of God, a man of great power, Samson, a judge in Israel. But how great was his problem with his sexuality? He never had his sexuality under control. And at the end, he was tempted by the liar and he paid a very, very high price. He was, at the end, he was a prisoner of the Philistines and he was blind. He lost his eyes. Dear friends, dear brothers, if we misuse our sexuality, we will become prisoners of the enemies. We will lose our eyes, our spiritual inside. And the people of God, they will lose servants if we misuse our sexuality. Sexuality can never be used as a weapon. You see, Deliah used sexuality as a weapon against Samson. And that was a big mistake. Well, Deliah was not a believer, she was an unbeliever. But just maybe you were to those who are married here. It is also a risk if we misuse sexuality as a weapon when we are married. No, sexuality is not a weapon. It is a blessing that God has given us, a blessing that involves high risks. Now, maybe you ask yourself, and this is my next point, how can I be preserved? I have already given some advices to the boys and to the girls that show us how we can be preserved. To be preserved from the dangers of sexuality has two sides. One is a negative thing. We have to avoid, we have to be aware of the risks and we have to avoid occasions where our sexuality is steered up. But on the other hand, to be preserved has also a very positive side. We have to be occupied with positive things in order to avoid negative things. It is impossible to only hear and only say, don't do this, don't do that, don't do this. We also have to hear and to listen to the positive things that we can do and that we should do. So, to be preserved, what do we have to do? I would like to ask you a question. What is the most important sexual organ that God has given us? What is the most important sexual organ? I will tell you the answer. The most important sexual organ is our mind and our head. It begins in our thinking, in the way of our thinking. The starting point is always our heart. We have to keep our hearts. This is what Solomon tells his son. Keep thy heart more than anything that has to be kept. Keep your hearts, keep your emotions. What we need as Christians, as young Christians, is to make a clear decision of heart. To not sin when it comes to sexual activities. This is the purpose of heart Joseph had taken. He didn't want to listen to the wife of Pharaoh. He went away. He ran away and that was the key of the success of Joseph. He had this purpose of heart to not sin. To be faithful to his God. That was the key of the success of Daniel when he was in a foreign country as a prisoner. He didn't want, he didn't want to be spoiled there. To be affected there by all the thinking of the people that were around him. Intelligent people that told him this and that. No, in simple faith Daniel wanted to do what his God said. So please, I repeat, keep your thoughts under control. You know, there is a saying that is a little bit like this. Keep your thoughts under control. They become deeds. Keep your deeds under control. They become a habit. Keep your habits under control. They become a character. But it all starts with our thoughts. On which do we concentrate our thoughts? On the things of this world? On the nice things we can see on the internet or wherever? Or in magazines or I don't know where? The music we listen to? Or do we concentrate our thoughts on things that are above? That are in relation with our blessed Lord Jesus? Again I repeat, because it is so important, keep your eyes under control. Not only the thoughts, but keep your eyes under control. Think of the example of David. He lost control over his eyes when he saw Bathsheba. He didn't turn away, but he looked again and he looked again. And the lust of the eyes began to work. And at the end he fell in sin with Bathsheba. Keep your words under control. Keep your communication under control. Not only what we speak, but also what we write. What young men write to young girls and what young girls write to young men. Be careful in your communication. It is good that you communicate. Of course we have to talk together. We have to communicate. Communication is a very important thing. And also young brothers and young sisters, they can communicate. Of course they can. But be careful what you say and how you say it. This can be a great risk. Particularly the young men have to be careful what they tell a young girl. Avoid wrong places. This is what I already underlined and mentioned. Avoid alcohol and music. They stimulate, they normally stimulate sexuality in a wrong way. Music can stir up one's blood. Alcohol makes you insensible, makes you unreasonable. So be very, very careful to the music you listen to. Particularly when you are together. Be very, very careful with alcohol. All this, of course, is the negative side. All these are the things that we should keep under control. But of course there is this positive side. And this positive side is so important. What is our food? What do we feed on? The food that we eat forms our character. I mean the spiritual food. The natural food that we eat forms our health, our bodies. But the spiritual food that we eat, that we take on, forms our character. If you only read books of this world, if you are on the internet the whole day, consuming this and that, that will form your thoughts and your character. On the contrary, if you feed on the Word of God, if you read the Word of God regularly, this will also form and shape your character. If Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, if He is the object of our hearts, the other things, they will lose their attraction. There is this wonderful verse in Psalm 119. Whereby shall a young man or a young girl cleanse his path? Let us read the verse, Psalm 119, verse 9. How shall a young man cleanse his path? By taking heed according to Thy Word. I would really like to encourage you, my young friends, to read the Word of God. To do it on a daily basis. To have this quiet time every day. The best to do it is in the morning. But if you say, I can't do it in the morning, then do it in the evening. But it is ever so important that you read the Word of God. That the Word of God really forms you, moulds you, gives you your character. Feed upon the Word of God. This is the best remedy against misuse of sexuality. Flee the danger and don't play with the fire. We have started by reading this verse in the Proverbs. Can you touch fire without getting burned? Can you run over a field of coals, hot coals, without getting burned? This is impossible. So please flee the danger and don't play with the fire. Remember, fire is a gift, a good gift. We can use fire in a positive way. But if we misuse it, it can cause a great danger. And have this resolution of heart, this purpose of heart. Give your hearts to God. The heart is the control centre of our life. It is the switchboard of our life. So, to whom are we giving our lives? To the Lord Jesus, who died for us, who saved us, who gave his life on the cross of Calvary? Or do we give our lives to Satan, to the world, and to sin? So, to be kept and preserved, it is ever so important to have this resolution in our hearts, this purpose of our heart, to keep going on with our Lord Jesus Christ. And just very briefly, a last point. What is to do after a failure? I think we all, the older we are, we have to confess our faults. I don't talk about sexuality today because I made everything in a perfect way. The contrary is true. I, in my life, 56 years, I've made a lot of mistakes. A lot of mistakes. And I have to confess this. I don't speak about sexuality because I have been so perfect. No, not at all. There are failures. We can avoid them, of course. But when there are failures, what can we do? If there is a crash in our life, a sexual crash, what is to do? Is everything lost? No. Take the example of David again. Was everything lost when he sinned with Bathsheba? No. David was restored. He came back with a clear and true confession. And God accepted this confession. And again, he could use David as a king and as a servant. No, there is always a way back. There is never a dead-end road. Return is possible. Pardon is possible. A new start is possible. A new kick-off is possible, yes. But the thing that is absolutely necessary is a true confession. If we confess our sins, also as believers, God is true and faithful to forgive. We have to confess and we have to forsake or to give up our transgressions. This is what Solomon says in the Proverbs. We have to confess and to stop. God is rich in mercy. I just mentioned the example of David and Bathsheba. That shows us very, very clearly how rich God is in mercy. But let us never play with the mercy of God. Let us not misuse the mercy of God. Yes, God is merciful. He is a gracious God, rich in forgiveness. But let us never misuse this mercy and grace of God. Let us be careful. Let us do what the psalmist in Psalm 119 said. Let us take heed to the word of God. Let us follow the good instructions of God. One day, young people, you will be married. If you have learned to control your sexuality when you are young, your married life will be richly blessed. The foundation for a blessed marriage is laid in the time of our teenage years, in the time before we are married. So, don't misuse this wonderful gift of sexuality. Wait until you are married. And then God will richly bless you also in using this wonderful gift of sexuality. …