How Can A Young Man Cleanse His Way?

How Can a Young Man Cleanse His Way?

—Psalm 119:9

The times? They are a changin’,” says the old adage. Today, relativism runs rampant, and sexual permissiveness and perversion are the norm. So of course it is increasingly more difficult for young people to keep their way pure. As I write these words, my mind races back to my own childhood and adolescence. I grew up watching television shows like Father Knows Best, I Love Lucy, and Leave It to Beaver. They consisted of a traditional family—a father, a mother, and children. They taught valuable life lessons like honoring those in authority and respecting the rights and property of others.

Young people today are also watching television, but their favorite programs have been Seinfeld, Friends, and Modern Family. Family television today features relationships, verbal exchanges, and sexual escapades that were only whispered about in days gone by. Media today offers few, if any, examples of a healthy and wholesome nuclear family. So-called family movies today are often sordid, sad, and empty. Tragically, many leave the movie theater to act out their own fantasies. We cannot find much that edifies in our current media or culture.

Again, it is a challenge in these modern times for any young adult to keep pure in mind, motive, and morals. Sex education in schools begins at an early age with little or no mention of abstinence. The urbanization of America has driven more people to highly populated areas, and for many young people, that relocating has brought anonymity and loneliness. Elementary-age children go home from school to an empty house and watch television shows filled with explicit sexual encounters and overtones. Good role models for the masses are not to be found. And then there is the constant drip of advertising that’s directed at young people, and the movie industry capitalizes on this. Sex sells in this modern age of consumerism.

Although our culture continues to deteriorate, the answer to the psalmist’s question, “How can a young man cleanse his way?” is the same now as when the psalm was written. The answer is constant and unwavering. It has never changed, and it will never change. The answer has three parts.

KNOW THE WORD

How can one keep pure in a world of perversion? “By taking heed according to Your word. . . . Let me not wander from Your commandments” (Psalm 119:9–10). It is virtually impossible, however, for the Bible to impact our lives if we know little about it. So the first step in overcoming a corrupting culture is to know what the Bible says. This bestselling book of all time will do you little good if you don’t know what’s in it or how to apply its teachings to life. I shudder to think what would happen in the average church if, on a Sunday morning, the pastor asked the people to turn to the book of Hezekiah. (Don’t look for it. It’s not there!)

Every believer should be able to give an answer to three vital matters in Scripture, beginning with the inerrancy of the Word of God. The Bible says, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16–17). Second, the deity of Christ is an essential and basic truth. The Bible says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1, emphasis added). Third, believers should be able to explain the means of salvation: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).

So the first step in keeping oneself pure is knowing the Word of God. Read it and study it . . . daily.

STOW THE WORD

It is not enough to know the truths and teachings of God’s Word in our head; we need to stow God’s Word in our hearts. The psalmist answered his own question: “How can a young man cleanse his way? . . . Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You” (Psalm 119:9, 11). Knowing God’s Word was Joshua’s secret weapon when he led God’s chosen people through the Jordan into the promised land. He challenged them, saying, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it” (Joshua 1:8).

When we memorize and meditate on God’s Word, we are able to take the Bible with us in all the traffic patterns of life without actually carrying it. This discipline brings with it a mysterious yet very logical outcome: “that I might not sin against God.” Dwight L. Moody, founder of the Moody Bible Institute, wrote these words in the flyleaf of his Bible: “The Bible will keep me from sin, or sin will keep me from the Bible.”

How can a young man cleanse his way and keep his way pure? He must know God’s Word in his head and stow that holy Word in his heart through memorization and meditation. Knowing this, the psalmist added, “With my whole heart I have sought You; oh, let me not wander from Your commandments” (Psalm 119:10).

SHOW THE WORD

There is a third response to the psalmist’s own question: showing the Word through our life and speaking it with our lips (“With my lips I have declared all the judgments of Your mouth” [Psalm 119:13]) supernaturally empowers us to keep pure in mind and morals. Knowing the Word will give you a knowledge about God; showing it through obedience will give you a knowledge of God. And there is an eternity of difference between the two.

We must put the Word into practice through our lives, as Joshua said, in order “to do according to all that is written in it” (Joshua 1:8, emphasis added). You can never learn to play a musical instrument by simply memorizing the score and continually listening to your instructor play the instrument. The only way you can learn to play it yourself is to play it . . . over and over and over. It is better to do one Bible lesson than to hear a thousand of them.

So how can a young man keep his way pure? “By taking heed according to God’s Word” (Psalm 119:9). In a culture where moral values continue to disintegrate around us, there is a surefire way to overcome: Know the Word. Stow the Word. And then show the Word in your life and with your lips.

When you find yourself at temptation’s corner, trying to decide which way to turn, ask yourself these three questions:

Can I thank God for it? “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

Can I do it in Jesus’ name? “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Colossians 3:17).

Can I do it for God’s glory? “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).

Q & A: “How can a young man cleanse his way?” In and of ourselves, we can’t; it is impossible. But God provides the way with His Word. So know it . . . study it . . . learn it . . . fill your mind with it. Stow it . . . in your heart through memorization and meditation. Then show it . . . in your life and lips. Then, as Joshua 1:8 declares, “you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”