We turn to Romans chapter 2, and we're on verse 6. We've been going verse by verse through this book. And I thought we could use this verse to speak on the topic, the way to success as a youth in America today. Romans chapter 2 and verse 6. tells us that God who will render to every man according to his deeds. This verse is about the justice of God. We may find the same message with slight variations in wording a hundred different places in the Holy Scriptures. God will render to every man according to his deeds. God will render to every man according to his deeds. On this Independence Day weekend, I would like to make application of this verse to our nation. What is true for the individual is true for the nation. God will render to every nation according to its deeds. And I would like to make application to our youth. who are the hope of our future as a nation and as a church. What might God do with America based on its deeds? We have always been a nation of sinners, of course, and we have always stood thanks to the mercy of God. We read in Psalm 33, 12, blessed is a nation whose God is the Lord. But surely America's spiritual condition is degenerating. Over 1 million abortions occur yearly. Over 50 million have occurred since 1973. Unnatural and sinful lifestyles are being mainstreamed as acceptable alternative lifestyles. Marriage is being slighted and redefined. Pornography, vulgarity, foolishness are entertainment for the masses. Personal and national debt are soaring beyond repair. Pulpits across America are going cold. Churches faithful to the scriptures are becoming rarities. Good seminaries are shrinking. God's wisdom is disdained in public discourse. Evolutionary thinking is firmly ensconced in public schools. Socialism is advancing. Free speech is diminishing. Twice we have elected a dishonest, devious, irreligious, unpatriotic, abortionist socialist to lead and represent our country. Even though the Bible says, when the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice, but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn. People wonder how long a righteous God could allow a nation that has so forsaken its God to continue. Truly, the handwriting now may be on the wall for our country. Now, I am very, very aware of how such words may sound to our youth gathered here. I'm aware partly because as a youth myself, going back about 40 years ago, I heard somewhat similar words. And maybe you will get to live life as life has been lived. Only God knows. But frankly, I doubt it. And I think you doubt it too, for the winds of change are blowing all about us. Again, I am aware how such words may sound. A young person may feel robbed, like, why does this have to happen during my watch? Won't I get my chance to pursue the American dream, get married, enjoy all the benefits of marriage, buy a house, grow a family, build a life? What kind of upcoming pain and suffering are we talking about? How should I best prepare? Should we be stocking up food and ammunition, buying gold, moving to a remote place, get off the grid, look for another country, change occupation plans, speed up experiencing what I want to experience before life is over? Maybe the time will come for us to talk about those kinds of specifics. But today I'm going to stress keeping in mind this general guiding principle that God will render to every man according to his deeds. Know this, friends, as with the nation, so God will render to each of us according to our deeds in this as in any age. Was it a convenient age in which David grew up? Israel was at war just down the road from where David was watching his sheep, with a nation seeking to annihilate them. What were the pleasant conditions in Gideon's time? His nation did evil in the sight of the Lord, so God used a foreign nation to humble them, driving them to hide in caves, annihilating their food and their resources. What about the nostalgic era in which Daniel grew up? immorality, spiritual hypocrisy, foreign domination, loss of all familiar characterized at age. Daniel's moved out of his country probably as a teenager, never to return. I'm saying this if it's an inconvenient age. Welcome to life. Look at all the great men and women who have risen in scriptural times and look at their ages. So I say what we need to do is to get our deeds in order. Whatever the trials we face, whatever the marks of this era, let us remember that God will render to us according to our deeds. For what that means, I ask that we turn to 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 12. Here's a verse about youth. 2 Timothy 4.12, let no man despise thy youth. But be thou an example of the believers in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. How rich is virtually every word in this text, 2 Timothy 4.12. See what youth are capable of as youth. It says, let no man despise thy youth. Now, the verb is let. That's the appeal to the will. It means you've got a choice before you, friend, where you can rise up as a youth in such a manner that no man would despise your youth. Despise. The word means to shrink in consideration of, to reduce in respect for. It's like saying, oh, they're just a kid. You can rise up in a way where nobody will say, well, they're just kids, or they're just young, they don't know yet. As youth, this is a very optimistic verse, speaking of the high potential of a person as a youth. You can so engage your soul, you can so involve your will, so that you can have a level of respectability, so nobody looks down upon you while young. Indeed, you can be a paragon, the acme, the zenith, the highest standard for these very high virtues listed. You can be an example of the believers. In word, it's interesting that's given first. I think we have an order in reverse, word being the last thing. The Bible says, the tongue can no man tame. Whoever has contained the tongue, tamed it. He has control over the whole body. But here we are told, you as a young person can be an example in speech, seasoned as it were with salt, stirring up the brethren, being aware of the evil times, walking circumspectly, redeeming the time, not saying those things would corrupt and defile others. but would build up and edify. Conversation, the word means behavior. In word, in conversation, means in the way you live your life, an example for how believers ought to live their lives. So also in charity or love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. How important indeed is the spiritual condition of the youth. Let no man despise thy youth, And that's true both for the present and for the future. Go in a new church. One thing one observes is the youth, because they can be an indicator of the spiritual vibrancy of the church in the present. Is this church vibrant? Look at the youth. Is a transferal of knowledge, belief, and commitment occurring? some older generation, they have certain things they believe, is it being transferred to the younger? Are young people walking by faith, even with all the uncertainties in their lives? Can sobriety and deference be observed? Is purity being guarded in spite of the avalanche of temptations today? I tell you, youth can be an indicator of the spiritual vibrancy of the church in the present. and the youth can affect the church in the future. One reason we built a fairly simple church. We wanted it to honor the Lord in its quality. We wanted to limit the expenses and not do that which would communicate opulence or grandeur for the sake that we don't know how long our fellowship here will stay true. I don't say that to be discouraging or pessimistic. We know reality. for churches to stay vibrant, spiritually alive, passing this on from generation to generation. There aren't many incidences in history where that's happened for very long. We're aware of this possibility. So the youth can affect the church grandly in the future. Will they hold to the fundamentals? Will the youth resist compromise and liberalism? Will they detect the new threats arising in their age as evil men wax worse and worse? Will they know and love God firsthand? Will they successfully transfer the faith to the generation that follows them? It's very important for the future of this church, of the church, and certainly for the future of America. Now, we've looked at 2 Timothy in chapter 4, where the charge is given, you can do it as a youth. Now, let no man despise thy youth, but be thou, you, be an example. And word, and conversation, charity, and all these other things listed. Great text of optimism and expression of potential to be seized. Now, if we turn back a couple chapters, we have some explanation for how this is accomplished. So if we would go to 2 Timothy chapter 2, I would suggest to you that the first eight verses provide guidance so youth will indeed be a positive force, both in the present and the future. The rest can listen too. What applies there applies to all. And I don't mean this in any way to be a disparaging or a haranguing, but a compliment and a charge, an expression of hope. So in 2 Timothy chapter 2, which precedes that conclusion we just read in chapter 4, and we read in 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 1, Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. There's the first charge to you. Be strong in grace. Are you strong in grace? Do you know how to become strong in grace? When we speak of grace, sometimes we call it the unmerited favor of God. The Lord keeping you from falling. God's riches at Christ's expense. The Lord giving desire and power to do His will. Be strong in this. You can be strong in grace. How? Allow me to give three answers. The first is found in 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 5. 1 Peter 5. Likewise ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Ye, all of you, be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility. For God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. That's how you get grace. Humble yourselves. One way you can humble yourselves is defer to those who are older. or in authority, even though you see imperfections, even though you may have a better idea, even though you may chafe at some ways in which you're mistreated. I'm telling you, God has provided a means by which one can acquire grace, and it involves humbling oneself. One way to humble oneself is to submit to the elder. A second way, if we would go to 2 Corinthians 12, verse 9. I'm going to word it this way. Embracing your infirmities. 2nd Corinthians 12 and verse 9. Now here's Paul speaking, who was whipped nearly to death five times, stoned nearly to death, no, beaten with rods nearly to death three times, stoned perhaps to death one time, and went through shipwreck, and went through rejection by people and wild animals and all these other things. He says in 2nd Corinthians 12, 9, that God said to him, My grace is sufficient for thee, for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore, Paul says, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. The word for infirmities means feebleness in body or mind. A person can reject or resist or wish it weren't so that you were this short or that tall or this homely or that dull. or you have this ache, or that pain, or this challenge. And the scriptures say, see this as a visitation of the Lord, a means by which you become mighty in grace. Embrace your infirmities. Submit to elders. And a third way to grow strong in grace is by fasting and prayer. Psalm 35 and verse 13. Psalm 35, 13. But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth. I humbled my soul with fasting, and my prayer returned into mine own bosom. God says he resists the proud. He gives grace to the humble. Three ways we have listed here for being humble is submitting to the elders, embracing our infirmities, and fasting in prayer. I'm saying, you want power in these last days? I know there's political activity we can do. When do we stand up and say, well, no more of this at the border. No more of this concerning guns. No more of this concerning immorality. And all the answers there, I don't have them. I'm not that good at politics. But I can tell you something spiritually. We need youth to rise up who are something for God and see what God will do with that nation who has youth who are something for God. No man need despise thy youth, but as a youth you can stand for God. How? We go through the process as given in 2 Timothy. The first thing we find is this. You've got to be strong in grace. You're going to say, well, just don't give me grace. God didn't give me grace. There's a system here. I'm not saying it's all a matter of just mathematics. You do this and you're guaranteed it. But here's the process that is provided. You've had authority placed over you. There's a way you can submit where you grow in grace. You've got infirmities of mind or body, there's a way by which you can grow in grace. Fast, pray, and God will give grace. Be strong in grace. Then we go on to verse 2, 2 Timothy 2.2. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. Here is a call for faithfulness. One, grace. Two, faithfulness. The call here is for reliability. Someone who has proved himself to be counted on to do the needful thing. Show yourself to be faithful in little, and God will entrust in you much. You know, Proverbs 10, 26 is vinegar to the teeth and a smoke to the eyes. So is a slugger to them that send him. Smoke to the eyes, vinegar to the teeth are vexations, irritations. God sends you or me on a small task and we're sluggards and not accomplishing it. And that's a vexation to him. You think he's going to give more? No, we need to show ourselves faithful. Why would that kind of person be called upon again who is not faithful with a little he's been given? So how do you develop faithfulness? You do the things you know to do. I know how it is to wonder, what is God's will for my life? What is His calling? So I shared the other Wednesday, there are six general callings that God gives you. There's no doubt about what He's called you to do generally. And I say, as you do those six things which God says to do, general callings for all people, they will serve as stepping stones onto a specific calling. But why should you get the specific if you're not acting on the general? Six callings. 1 Corinthians 1.9, we are called unto fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ. God is faithful by whom you are called unto the fellowship of His Son. He is calling all of us to seek fellowship with Christ. What does that mean? Well, you seek, you'll find out. He has called us all unto holiness, 1 Thessalonians 4, 7. For God has not called us to uncleanness, but unto holiness. Why should He show a specific will if you're dabbling in sin and have little regard for the holiness that God calls you to? God calls you to liberty, Galatians 5.13. For brethren, you have been called unto liberty, but only to use not the liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. Have you been liberated from entangling sins and preoccupations? Freed up not to do what now you want, but what you want. Liberty, fellowship, holiness, liberty, forth is peace. 1 Corinthians 7.15, God hath called us to peace, not conflict. Number five is eternal glory. 1 Peter 5.10, the God of all grace has called us unto his eternal glory. Have you been captured yet with entering into fellowship with the living God? Sometimes we would define glory as the sum total of all the attributes of God expressed in a refulgent display of light. Have you been captured with this? As was Isaiah, as was Ezekiel, as was Moses. Show me thy glory. The day will come when we will see the glory of God. Now you can taste of it. It is glory just to walk with Him. God has called us unto His eternal glory. And number six, God has called us unto eternal life. 1 Timothy 6.12. Six general callings. Fellowship, holiness, liberty, peace, eternal glory, eternal life. In 1 Timothy 6.12 we read, fight the good fight of faith. Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called. The kind of living that goes on in eternities. To know Jesus and know the Father is eternal life. I'm saying that to rise up and be the kind of youth where this church is on solid standing as we move forward. And to rise up as a type of people where God would spare His judgment. We need people such that no man would despise their youth, but they're examples unto the brethren in all these various disciplines. How do you get there? Grace, faithfulness, and now thirdly, endurance. We're in 2 Timothy 2, verse 3 says, Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. What hardness do you endure? We are a pampered generation. I'm not apologizing for that. It's just the way it is. But I just think back. I was saying to my wife as we were driving here this morning, you know, it's only been in the last 100 years or less that there's been virtually any protection against heat or mosquitoes. The great mass of humanity are still tortured with the imperfections of an environment that's corrupted by sin. We have lots of protections here. and a lot of ways in which we can be cultured from the hardness that life can present. And so we can be kind of soft and weak and unwilling to pay the price of what it is to be a son of God in disciplines, in the things we refuse, in our willingness to stand as good soldiers for Christ. What hardness do you endure? What unprofitable amusements have you voluntarily restricted from your life? Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6, 12, all things are lawful unto me. I can watch that. I can spend my time dealing with these things. All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. Are you embracing the rigors of what makes for an outstanding Christian? We read in Ephesians 5, 15, and 16. See then that you walk circumspectly. Circum means circle. Spectly means see. Look around you. Don't you see what's happening? Not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil. You read these polls where youth generally spend, what, five, six, or more hours every day in an electronic device, doing whatever you do. Some may be profitable, some not. I'm just saying, you got time? You want to rise up and be somebody? You must be able and willing to endure hardness. Let's turn to Proverbs chapter 4, please. We will start reading in verse 14. Proverbs 4 verse 14. You have to go against the tide. Dead fish can float downstream. This world is going deeper and deeper into degradation and darkness. So enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Verse 15 is a remarkable verse to me. Only a couple places in all the scriptures do you find a four-fold warning. Avoid it! Pass not by it! Turn from it! Pass away! That's really, really emphasis when you have four charges in one verse. Telling you this is important. You'll never be what God would have you to be if you refuse to separate yourself from the path of the wicked. Instead, you need faithfully to hide the word of God in your heart, that you sin not against God. Endurance leads us to the next point. We're back in 2 Timothy 2, verse 4, separation. No man that woreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. Are you entangled with the affairs of this life? No man that wars does that. Nobody who wars for God does that. The things that preoccupy the world are just not what moves us. Some things that preoccupy the world may have some merit. Some just may be YouTube humor. The latest movies and games and songs, comedians, sports, financial schemes, fashions, attitudes towards ethnic groups, governments, the great, great masses of youth will fail here. This is true with religious movements as well. So come out, be separate. Touch not the unclean thing. No time for distractions. No time for curiosity. Look about you, man. Stay in the tried and true. Don't get sidetracked. Stay on message. See everything through the prism of spiritual war. Ever think on the pleasure of Him who chose you to be a soldier. Number five is compliance. 2 Timothy 2.5, and if a man also strive for masteries. Do you strive for masteries? How high are you shooting? Do you strive for masteries? If a man does strive for masteries, he's not crowned except he strive lawfully. That's why I'm listing these various things. Everybody's got zeal. Everybody wants a lot. Everyone desires. Desiring is common as dirt. But the rhetoric, the soliloquies, the words, the passion, the emotions, they don't achieve the mastery. When I was in high school, we had some good basketball teams who went to state. Defense was sort of my emphasis. I found anybody can do well in defense if he just learns the rules. There are a number of fundamentals for good basketball defense. You learn how to shuffle going sideways. You learn when to pivot. You learn which foot to put forward, which hand to swipe with. You learn how to have peripheral vision. You learn how to be physical without falling. It got to a point that whatever team we played, if it was a little guy who was the best player or the tall guy, 5'6", 6'7", I was put on it. And I stuck him. not because I was a superior athlete, but because I knew, well, I'm awkward saying this, but you learn the rules, you learn the fundamentals, and you give your heart to it, and you work hard at it. I'm saying that's the way it is here. You must strive lawfully. The soul of the slugger desires and has nothing, but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat. Draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded. Psalm 15 says, O Lord, who shall dwell in thy holy hill? Who shall be in thy tabernacle? Who gets into the presence of God? A number of things are listed there. Not that those earn our presence, but God has a system. You need to strive lawfully according to the rules, not just do it however you want. And so you learn to swear you don't hurt and not change. and other things which are listed in Psalm 15. Compliance. Number six is labor. We're listing eight requirements of somebody who will be an example to the believers. No man despising him even though he or she is young. Number six is labor. The husbandman that laboreth must be first partaker of the fruits. I'm encouraging the setting of high goals for the amount of time spent reading good books, memorizing and meditating on Scripture, preparing and doing witnessing, performing good works. John 9, in verse 4, we read, I must work the works of Him that sent me while it is day. The night cometh when no man can work. Who said that? It was the Lord Jesus, wasn't it? I must work the works of Him that sent me. All is day. Night comes and no man works. Aren't you aware how soon night is coming? Don't you want to labor now? But you know, zeal without knowledge is not going to accomplish much. We labor. This is a faithful saying we read in Titus 3.8. These things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men. In all labor there is profit. The talk of the lips tend only to pinnery. Proverbs 14.23. We go on to number 7. 2 Timothy 2.7. Again, this is a charge to a young man, how to excel as a young man. He's told, consider what I say, and the Lord give the understanding in all things. I don't think anybody here is going to be a profound youth who's going to inspire the godly, who's going to be the hope of the next generation if he or she has not given over to meditation. This Book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night. For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success." The adverb is then. And the goal is success and prosperity. And they require not just memorizing, but thinking on, soaking it, working on it, observing as the Lord gives understanding in all things. You must be a meditator. Make this your joy. Make this your preoccupation. And finally, number eight, focus. 2 Timothy 2.8. I'm saying all those verses, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, list elements of what's gonna require a person to be, require for a person to be an exceller. And the number eight is focus. Again, focus is a transliteration from Latin. Focus means fire. There's a fireplace in the room. That's where attention is drawn. The focus for us spiritually is Jesus Christ. Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel. So know all you can know about the resurrected Christ. Enjoy Him. Speak of Him. Pray to Him. Pray God reveal more. Study the uniqueness and essential nature of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are told in Romans 2.6 that God will render to every man according to his deeds. It means there's a connection between the choices we make and what the fruit is. Words, zeal, emotion, do that all day. But are you being transformed? No, you've got to strive lawfully. That requires certain choices to be made in life. Those choices are described in 2nd Timothy. With a conclusion you do these things, and no man will despise, look down on you. I don't care what your age is. Timothy was a young man with big responsibilities. But Paul said of him, I have no man, no other person like-minded, who naturally, from the heart, longs to do this stuff. He's my man! He's young. But Timothy, you can live in a way where nobody says, oh, he's young. You can reach this, and you can do this now. The requirements are grace, faithfulness, endurance, separation, compliance, labor, meditation, and focus. That's what I wanted to share today. May we pray. Our Father, we know that you would have spared Solomon Gamora if there were but a handful of righteous people found in those communities. We know that when judgment was coming to Judah, the Lord looked for a man to stand in the gap but found none. There are political devices that we could entertain and perhaps right well should do in response to what's happening in our age, morally, politically, financially. But here's one thing for sure we know to do, and it's being declared here and now for this church. There's a way that our youth can rise up and be of such a godly nature to give hope concerning the future of this local church, to give hope for America. The tide yet can be turned. O Lord, that Thou would inspire young men and young women, within the sound of my voice, to love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, and their neighbors themselves, and to do those things necessary to be exceptional. I thank You for the measure of exceptional character we see already. fan the flames. Give the grace necessary for thy glory. And finally, Lord, as we conclude, we would not presume that all here today have been reconciled to God yet, but still may be in their sins. And so we would pray that this all-important understanding occur, that we've all sinned, that the wages of sin is death, separation from a holy God in this world and cast away from God's presence forever in eternity. And there is no hope for anybody through their own works to remedy the problem, but they must look fully to the merits of another, the substitute, the sinless Savior who came and died in our place, that they would call upon His name and believe on Him and receive Him as their Savior and Lord, they can be saved. So as we conclude, we pray that there are those ready to make that decision, that they would make it today. Oh, that all here, all of us, would redeem the time, seeing then that all about us shall be dissolved What manner of persons are we to be in all holy conversation and godliness? God so inclineth us for thy glory in Christ. Amen.