"He … exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord" (Acts
11:23).

Let me try to give a few suggestions to young believers. In the first place, give the Word of God
its proper place in your heart. Do not let a day go by in which you do not spend some time over
your Bible. You cannot grow in grace without that. You are newborn babes and you need to be
fed, and the Word is not only for our food but for our enlightenment. We cannot find our way
through this world without the instructions we get from the Word of God. Not only should you
be careful to meditate upon the Word of God each day, but see that you spend some time daily
waiting upon God in prayer. Prayer is the Christian’s vital breath. A believer who is not given to
prayer will never really count for God in this scene. We are told to be instant in prayer, to pray
without ceasing.

Next, if we are going to cleave to the Lord, we should cultivate Christian fellowship_seek the
association of those of like precious faith. None of us is strong in himself, and we need one
another. We are to exhort one another, to be helpers of one another in the faith. Then let us be
unsparing in self-judgment. We need to keep account with God. When conscious of failure, or of
sin, or when we have yielded in any sense to temptation, let us not go on getting deeper and
deeper into things that are wrong, drifting farther and farther from God; but turn at once to the
Lord, face the matter in His presence; and remember, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and
just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." This is what is meant by
cleaving to the Lord with purpose of heart, recognizing His authority over our lives and His
ownership of all we have and are.

(From Lectures on the Book of Acts.)

NEVER neglect daily, private prayer; and when you pray, remember that God is present and that
He hears your prayers (Heb. 11:6).

NEVER neglect daily, private Bible reading; and when you read, remember that God is speaking
to you, and that you are to believe and act upon what He says. I believe all backsliding begins
with the neglect of these two things (John 5:39).

NEVER let a day pass without trying to do something for the Lord. Every night reflect on what
He has done for you, and then ask yourself, What am I doing for Him? (Mark 5:15-19).

NEVER take your Christianity from Christians, or argue because such-and-such people do so-and-
so that therefore you may (2 Cor. 10:12). You are to ask yourself, How could or would Christ
act in my place? and strive to follow Him (John 10:27).

If ever you are in doubt as to a thing being right or wrong, go to your room, and kneel down and
ask God’s blessing upon it (Col. 3:17). If you cannot do this, it is wrong (Rom. 14:23).

(From Help and Food, Vol. 5.)

Cleave to the Lord with purpose of heart. Depend on Him. There is power in Christ; there is
sufficiency in Christ for all He would have you do or be. Some are allowed a long season of joy
on first believing. But God knows our hearts, and how soon we begin to depend on our joy, and
not on Christ. He is our object_not the joy. Sin no longer remains on you, but the flesh is in you
to the end; the old stock will put forth its buds which must be nipped off as they appear. No fruit
can come of it. It is the new nature that bears fruit unto God. But though the flesh is in you, do
not be thinking of this, but think of Christ. As you grow in the knowledge of Christ, a joy comes,
deeper than the first joy. I have known Christ more or less between thirty and forty years, and I
can truly say I have ten thousand times more joy in Him now than I had at first. It is a deeper,
calmer joy. The water rushing down a hill is beautiful to look at, and makes most noise; but you
will find the water in the plain deeper, calmer, more fit for general use.

Cleave to Christ with purpose of heart. A distracted heart is the bane of Christians. When we have
got something that is not Christ, we are away from the source of strength. When my soul is filled
with Christ, I have no heart or eye for the trash of this world. If Christ is dwelling in your heart
by faith, it will not be a question with you, "What harm is there in this and that?" But rather, "Am
I doing this for Christ?" "Can Christ go along with me in this?" Do not let the world come in and
distract your thoughts.

With regard to the world I speak especially to you young ones (see 1 John 2:14-17). They who
are older have had more experience in it, and know more what it is worth; but it all lies shining
before you, endeavoring to attract you. Its smiles are deceitful, still it smiles. It makes promises
which it cannot keep; still it makes them. Your hearts are too big for the world:it cannot fill them.
They are too little for Christ:He fills heaven; yet He will fill you to overflowing. Cleave to the
Lord with purpose of heart. He knew how treacherous the heart is, and how soon it would put
anything in His place. You will have indeed to learn what is in your own heart. Abide with God
and you will learn this with Him and under His grace. If you do not, you will have to learn it with
bitter sorrow through the devil’s successful temptations. But God is faithful. If you have been
getting away from Him and other things have come in and formed a crust, as it were, over your
heart, you will not at once get back the joy. God will have you deal with this crust and get rid of
it. Remember Christ bought you with His own blood, that you should be His, not the world’s. Do
not let Satan get between you and God’s grace. However careless you may have been, however
far you may have got away from Him, count on His love. It is His joy to see you back again.
Look at the sin with horror, but never wrong Him by distrusting His love. Do not mistrust His
work; do not mistrust His love. He has loved you, and will love you to the end. Talk much with
Jesus. Never be content without being able to walk and talk with Christ as with a dear friend. Be
not satisfied with anything short of close intercourse of soul with Him who has loved you and
washed you from your sins in His own blood.

"I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the Word of God abideth in you,
and ye have overcome the wicked one" (1 John 2:14). When the apostle spoke to them previously,
he simply said, "I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one." But
now he gives us the secret of that overcoming:Not strong in their own power but in the Lord and
in the power of His might, and because "the Word of God abideth in you." There are people who
spend the greater part of the week occupied solely with the things of earth, things that in
themselves are very right and legitimate. Once a week they come together for Bible study or
worship, and say, "How refreshing and helpful!" It is like folk coming for one good meal a week.
That is not the way to be strong. "The Word of God abideth in you." It is the Word of God first
thing in the morning, the Word of God all day long, and the Word of God the last thing at night.
You go to bed with the Word of God in your mind and you will wake up with the Word of God
in your mind. It is the Word of God that keeps from the power of the enemy all the hours of the
day. Some say, "I do not think this is possible." But it is possible, and many have proven it.
Somebody said to me once concerning a fellow-laborer, "I like your friend; he seems to be just
a walking Bible." That was because that man was constantly feeding on it.

There are many Christians who think of the Word of God as something to take up an extra hour
or so when they have nothing else to do; but one will never grow that way. What little strength
you get from that hour is all used up when you are occupied with other things. You do not get
anywhere that way. But when the Word of God is the supreme thing in your life, and everything
else is made to fit into that, you will grow and become a strong Christian.

The apostle continues:"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man
love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the
flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And
the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever"
(verses 15-17). What is this world that we are not to love? It is not the globe as such. The globe
itself has nothing in it that can hurt our souls. We can love nature; we do not need to be afraid of
a beautiful view or a lovely flower. I have seen some Christians who had an idea that John meant
we were not to enjoy the world of nature. I said to one, "Isn’t that a beautiful rose bush?" and he
replied, "I am not interested in roses; I am not of this world." That is not the world that is spoken
of. This universe is but the expression of the Father’s wisdom and goodness.

Our Lord loved the lilies of the field. He drew attention to the beauties of nature; they stirred His
own soul, and He would have His people see in them the evidences of the wisdom and goodness
of the Father. But what, then, is the world? It is that system that man has built up in this scene,
in which he is trying to make himself happy without God. You get it away back in Genesis where
Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and builded a city, and there what we call the world
really began. It was a wonderful world; they were engaged in all kinds of arts, sciences, business,
and pleasure, anything and everything to make them happy without God; but it ended in corruption
and violence, and God had to sweep the whole thing away with a flood. The principles of the
world that caused the corruption and violence before the flood were carried into the ark in the
hearts of some of Noah’s children. They brought the world into the ark, and when the new world

was started after the judgment of the flood, they brought the world out of the ark with them, and
again set it up.

When some think of the world, they think of things that are abominable and vile and corrupt, the
old-fashioned saloon and gambling-place, and all kinds of violence. Things like that have little to
attract the Christian heart, but the world they need to beware of is the world of culture, the world
that appeals to their aesthetic nature. That world has no more place for the Christian than the
corrupt, abominable world in the slums of our great cities. Do not imagine that if your world is
a cultured world consisting of devotees of the arts and sciences, that you are safe and free from
worldliness. Even the business world may become just as great a snare as any other. But you ask,
"Do not we have to go into business?" Yes, Jesus says, "I pray not that Thou shouldest take them
out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil" (John 17:15). In all these
things we have to watch against the evils of the world.

What is, then, the lust of the flesh (the gratification of the flesh), the lust of the eye (the desires
of the unregenerate soul), the pride of life? I remember when I was a young Christian, my world
against which I had to guard most was the world of polite literature. I used to love it, its poetry,
its essays, its wonderful books, and I appreciate them yet in a certain sense. But I had to
remember this, that if ever these things came in between my soul and my love for God’s Word,
I had to turn away from them and give my time and attention to this Book; and so it is with many
things. There was a young lady with great musical ability preparing to go on the concert stage
when the Lord saved her. She said one day, "You know I have made a sad discovery; my very
love for music is coming in between my soul and Christ"; and that young woman for eight years
would not touch a musical instrument, for she was afraid she would become so absorbed that she
would not enjoy the things of God. The time came when she said, "I cannot enjoy music for its
own sake, but I can use it as a vehicle to bless the souls of men," and she gave her talent to Christ,
and He used it in the work of the gospel. No matter what it is, if you lay it down at Jesus’ feet and
use it for Him, you do not need to be afraid of it. But do not put your work before Jesus Christ.

Sometimes a fine house is "the world." Here is a Christian, and while he is little in his own eyes
and has not much means, he lives in a quiet little home. But the Lord entrusts him with a good
deal of money and he immediately says, "I must have a better house now; I must have some style
about me; I must have magnificent furniture and draperies." What for? Is he any more
comfortable? He can eat just three meals a day, he can sleep in just one bed at a time, and sit in
just one chair at a time, but he feels he must impress people.

Beauty, too, can get in between you and Christ, and it will prove to be "the world" if one is not
careful. "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride
of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world."

What is "the pride of life"? The ostentation of living, trying to make an appearance before others,
the vainglory of the world. I think sometimes if some Christians took two-thirds of the money that
they put into a mansion down here, and invested it in sending the gospel to a lost world, they
would have a much finer mansion up there. As Christians, ours are the only joys that last forever;
ours are the things that will never pass away, and yet to think that we can be so foolish and invest

so much in that which is simply fleeting and will leave us dissatisfied and unhappy at last!

"But he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." In obedience to His will there is lasting joy,
there is endless gladness. In the light of that, who would not say,

"Take the world, but give me Jesus,
All earth’s joys are but in name,
But His love abideth ever,
Through eternal years the same."

Have you made your choice, Christian? You made your choice once when you turned from sin
to Christ. Have you made the other choice? Have you turned from the world to Christ? There is
many a one who has trusted Jesus as his Saviour from judgment who has never learned to know
Him as the rejected One with whom he is called to walk in hallowed fellowship.

No one can ever put this world beneath his feet until he has found a better world above. When
your heart is taken up with that world, it is an easy thing to heed the exhortation, "Love not the
world, neither the things that are in the world."

"Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach" (Heb. 13:13).

I cannot give it up,
The little world I know!
The innocent delights of youth,
The things I cherish so!
‘Tis true, I love my Lord
And want to do His will,
And oh, I may enjoy the world
And be a Christian still!

I love the hour of prayer,
I love the hymns of praise,
I love the blessed Word that tells
Of God’s redeeming grace.
But I am human still;
And while I dwell on earth
God surely will not grudge the hours
I spend in harmless mirth.

These things belong to youth,
And are its natural right_
My dress, my pastimes, and my friends,
The merry and the bright.
My Father’s heart is kind;
He will not count it ill
That my small corner of the world
Should please and hold me still.

And yet, "outside the camp,"
‘Twas there my Saviour died!
It was the world that cast Him forth,
And saw Him crucified.
Can I take part with those
Who nailed Him to the tree?
And where His name is never praised
Is there the place for me?

Nay, world! I turn away,
Though thou seem’st fair and good;
That friendly outstretched hand of thine
Is stained with Jesus’ blood.
If in thy least device
I stoop to take a part,
All unaware, thine influence steals
God’s presence from my heart.

I miss my Saviour’s smile
Whene’er I walk thy ways;
Thy laughter drowns the Spirit’s voice
And chokes the springs of praise.
If e’er I turn aside
To join thee for an hour,
The face of Christ grows blurred and dim
And prayer has lost its power!

Farewell! Henceforth my place
Is with the Lamb who died.
My Sovereign! While I have Thy love,
What can I want beside?
Thyself, dear Lord, art now
My free and loving choice,
"In whom, though now I see Thee not,
Believing, I rejoice!"

Shame on me that I sought
Another joy than this,
Or dreamt a heart at rest with Thee
Could crave for earthly bliss!
These vain and worthless things,
I put them all aside; His goodness fills my longing soul,
And I am satisfied.

Lord Jesus! let me dwell
"Outside the camp," with Thee.
Since Thou art there, then there alone
Is peace and home for me.
Thy dear reproach to bear
I’ll count my highest gain,
Till Thou return, my banished King,
To take Thy power, and reign!

"But speak thou the things which become the healthful teaching . . . that aged women . . . may
train the young women to be lovers of husbands, lovers of children, discreet, chaste, workers at
home, good, subject to their own husbands, that the Word of God be not ill-spoken of. The
younger men likewise exhort to be right-minded, in all things showing thyself a pattern of good
works, in the teaching uncorruptness, gravity, healthy speech that cannot be condemned, that he
that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil to say concerning us" (Titus 2:1-8
Kelly Version).

Concerning the Young Women

The apostle now looks at the relation of the older women to the younger women, with whom they
would as the rule have a strong influence. How were they to use their opportunities? "That they
may train the young women to be lovers of husbands, lovers of children." Here they would be
admirably in place, and with the Lord before their eyes their experience would prove invaluable
for those that have to face the daily difficulties and dilemmas of human life. Not merely were they
to school their younger ones to be subject to their husbands; to cultivate affection in the home
circle is particularly pressed. This would win with an adversary of the truth where godliness alone
might at first be repellent. Love to a husband and to children is indispensably to be cherished by
the wife and mother. Christianity was never intended to enfeeble the affections.

There is another exhortation which fits in most suitably. The elder women were to school their
younger sisters in Christ to be "discreet" or right-minded:they might be liable to rigidity on the
one hand, or to carelessness on the other. Discretion is therefore a most needed quality to preserve
on the true path of godliness and wisdom in the midst of the difficulties of ordinary Me.

Further, purity claims a great place in the exhortation of the elders to the younger ones. They
were to encourage them to be "chaste" in deed, word, and spirit; how little it was known among
the Greeks, and even among the Jews to their shame! Their very religion defiled the Greeks; it
was the consecration of every corruption, and made them far more polluted than if they had no
religion. Purity is so mighty and so essential a quality in Christianity that it outwardly and really
proved to be a wholly new element in a world without Christ. A selfish Jew or a dissolute Greek
would not fail to appreciate purity in his wife and in family life.

The next thing pressed is that they be devoted to domestic occupation_"workers at home." One
cannot but feel the gracious wisdom of such an exhortation as this; and it must have struck those
who lived in heathen circumstances even more than ourselves, accustomed to the blessed contrast
with heathen habits in these days of Christendom, however degenerate. It is a fine example of the
way in which the Spirit of God adapts Himself to the most ordinary duties in the present scene.
See it in Christ who lived for so many years of His life subject to His parents, and who, in the
most obscure of conditions, advanced in wisdom as well as favor with God and man. It is He who
makes all these exhortations as simple and easily understood as they are morally elevating. He
brings in His own grace as applicable to women as to men. He shows us the way in every sense,
the pattern of obeying God, undoubtedly beyond all comparison. How many He has led, and

fashioned, and blessed, in that narrow path He trod in a wilderness where there is no way!

The next exhortation is of great value, following diligence in work at home. It is that the younger
women should be "good" in the sense of kindness. If Christ were not before their eyes, homework
might be despised as drudgery. But if the work were ever so well done, is this all that would
satisfy or please a husband? Goodness diffuses happiness all around. The exhortation to kindness
has special wisdom in following homework. There is no place where it is more valuable and less
frequent. Nothing short of the Lord’s grace could make it a constant habit, where countless little
occurrences would inevitably turn up to try patience. But with Christ before the heart goodness
would be manifested whatever the circumstances.

Last, but not least, is the call for wives to be in subjection to their own husbands, that the Word
of God be not evil spoken of. It is most irritating to a husband to find a readiness on the wife’s
part to question his authority or interfere with his plans. The habit of subjection is of all things the
most suited to win a husband’s ear. If he had experienced previously the danger of slighting advice
given by his wife, it would have the effect of producing the wish to listen to her in the future. But
the wife’s unjudged insubordinate spirit would completely counteract this happy influence and
make even what might be good advice to be shunned and disregarded. It was therefore of the
greatest moment that the elder women should instill it into the younger women to be in subjection
to their own husbands. And this was not merely for the peace and profit of the household in
general, and for the happy relation of the wife and husband, but "that the Word of God be not
blasphemed," or of evil report.

Concerning the Young Men

Titus is now instructed as to the younger men. First he was to exhort them to a right mind or
discretion. But his own example is brought into the foreground now; any failure on his part in
discretion would be particularly prejudicial to his godly influence with the young men. Therefore
it is said, "In all things showing thyself a pattern of good works," that is, of works right and
honorable.

Practical conduct, however indispensable it may be, is not everything. In his teaching he was to
see to "uncorrupt-ness." No quality can be, at any time or with any souls, of greater moment.
Compromise of truth or holiness is of all things most damaging to Christianity. Titus had a
position of great honor and equally great responsibility. It was therefore of all importance that he
should be vigilant for himself. An apostle even was in no way absolved from the necessity, both
in his walk and in his ministry, of continual watchfulness, and keeping his body under, and
bringing it into subjection, as the great apostle phrases it in 1 Cor. 9. Here, however, it is in his
teaching that Titus is exhorted to show uncorruptness; his practical walk and works had already
been insisted on.

Next, he was to show "gravity." Only the Spirit of God could maintain this high character in his
occupation with the younger men. There would not lack ample opportunity for conversation more
or less light and frivolous. But the grace and truth which came by Jesus Christ claims gravity.

There is another quality, it seems, not confined to his teaching, though certainly not excluded from
it. But the apostle presses "healthy speech that cannot be condemned," sound in itself, and not
open to just censure, not merely on the more formal occasions of teaching, but on all occasions.
Assuredly we must all feel the great importance of this, even though it be a characteristic in which
we have to acknowledge our own frequent failure. One thing alone is an adequate safeguard_the
conscious presence of God.

The apostle finally gives moral aim to this last exhortation. "That he that is of the contrary part
may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say concerning us." We have to consider not friends only
but foes, with their readiness to malign what condemns themselves. Let us seek then to cut off
occasion from those that seek occasion, that even the adversary, of whatever sort he be, may have
no evil thing to say concerning us.

(From An Exposition of the Epistle of Paul to Titus.)

Do not in public relate your experience_telling how good you are, how devoted, how holy (Exod.
34:29, Psa. 66:16, Phil. 3:13-17).

Give up at once for Christ’s sake all habits, ways, and words unlike the Lord (Eph. 4:22, 5:1-4,
5:13-18, 1 Pet. 2:11).

Never ridicule, or make sport or fun of, the mistakes or foibles of any one, especially of
Christians (Rom. 14, 1 Cor. 12:21-26, Eph. 4:2).

Avoid as you would the plague all and every form of joking, jesting, and punning on the Word
of God (Psa. 119:22,63,103,133, Eph. 5:4).

Meet with your companions as often as possible for prayer, Bible study, and conversation on the
Lord’s things (Mal. 3:16, Heb. 10:24,25, Jude 20).

It is a matter of great joy that so many young people have been led not only to accept the Lord
Jesus as their Saviour and to confess Him as such, but definitely to accept the responsibilities
which go with this. They have identified themselves with the testimony of the Lord as to Church
fellowship; they have thrown themselves into Sunday school, tract, and gospel work. We bless
God for every dear young Christian of whom this is true.

Young people do not relish fault-finding, nor do they wish always to be hearing advice. Indeed,
constant criticism and advice may fail, from their repetition, to secure the very result desired. We
trust that these few words may not be looked upon as criticism nor taken as mere exhortation. In
the language of God’s Word we may say:"Rejoice in the Lord alway." God has made every
provision to make His children happy. A sour visage misrepresents the very grace of God. "Let
us eat, and be merry." If anything interferes with our happiness in the Lord, we may be sure that
something is wrong.

"Watch and be sober." Life is an intensely sober thing. Who that thinks of the destiny of the
world, the condition of the professing church, the needs and sorrows all about us, can spend his
days in empty levity? Youthful spirits are one thing; trifling, worldliness, folly should have no
place in the Christian’s life, however young.

"Be strong in the Lord." It takes a good deal of courage to say "No" to a tempting invitation; to
confess Christ publicly; to bear witness against sin; or to invite an unconverted person to the
Saviour. If we are to be of any service to Him who humbled Himself to serve our need, we must
be ready to endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ.

"Search the Scriptures." No one can rejoice in the Lord who is ignorant of His Word; no one will
be truly sober whose thoughts are not filled with that Word; nor can one be strong unless the
Word of God dwells in him. A daily, regular reading and study of the Bible consecutively is
therefore indispensable.

"Continue in prayer." Prayer always accompanies a true feeding upon the Word of God. We feel
our dependence and helplessness and turn to Him who alone can meet it. There are dear ones
whose salvation we desire; Christians whose blessing we wish; guidance, wisdom,
grace_thousands of things to pray for. Dear young Christian, do you pray_perseveringly?

(From Help and Food, Vol. 32.)