Amen, so there in Titus chapter number two the first thing I'm going to point out there is in verse one where he says
But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine
So this is the things that he's telling Titus to speak he's saying speak these things and these are the things that become sound doctrine
So everything that follows here, of course, you know that includes a lot of other different things in the Bible
But specifically or in Titus chapter 2 he's saying these things that you're gonna speak
Are the things that become sound doctrine and these are the things that he is charging him to speak
So, you know as a preacher you would read this and think that's probably something I need to cover too
You know if it's good enough for Titus if Paul is telling him
Hey, these are the things you need to preach on
This is the sound doctrine that you need to put the brother in remembrance of you know, that's probably a good, you know
subject matter for a sermon and hence tonight's sermon and what is it that he taught him to
To teach there. What is it the things that he commanded him to speak?
He says verse 2 that the aged men
Be sober and if you go through this list, you'll see that that is what he's preached
Oh, that's what he's commanding him to to to teach here
Is that all these different groups of people be sober and that's what I'm gonna preach to you about tonight
That's the same thing that I'm going to speak. That's the sound doctrine that we're gonna go over tonight is this topic of sobriety?
Okay, and sobriety obviously most of us understand sobriety simply just to be mean to be you know
Sober in the sense that we don't we're not under the influence of drugs or alcohol and obviously that's a very relevant definition
That's something that even the Bible talks about that
We are to be free and clear of drugs and alcohol that we are to be sober minded in that sense
But sober also means to be serious and I'm going to cover both
definitions tonight
In fact, you know if you just go to the dictionary the Bible says to be sober simply means to be serious to be salt
Sensible to be solemn and to be sincere and we'll see that's how the Bible uses this definition as well
It tells us to be a very sober person or what the Bible calls grave, you know
We should be serious about our Christian life. We should be serious about the things of God
We should be serious about how we conduct ourselves. We should take life seriously and not saying we should never
Joke or have fun or anything like that
Obviously, there's always a time and place for that but we don't want to be one of these people where everything's a joke where life's
Just kind of a game, you know life is a game that you play
I'm always giving our kids a hard time about that because they're always playing that game called life
Right, and I'm always reminding them life is not a game
Although it is okay, but you know what I mean? We need that's how we need to approach life
Don't treat your actual life, you know when you put the board game away and put it back on the shelf
It's time to get serious about life the actual thing that we live and then not to treat
You know life like it's some kind of game that you're playing, you know, life is something they should be serious about
It's something that you should be sober about. Okay, so that's one definition of the word serious to be
Excuse me sober to be serious to be sensible to be solemn right to have gravity to be sincere
And also obviously there's the the probably the more familiar meaning that we would use today to be free from alcohol
Okay, and if you would go to keep something there in Titus, but go over to 2nd Corinthians chapter number 5 2nd Corinthians chapter number 5
And really to be serious or to be sober simply means to be in your right mind
okay to be in your right mind to have to be sensible to be
You know sober is to be in your right mind to not have your
Thinking clouded and to not be at what the Bible says beside yourself
Okay
That's a that's a term that the Bible uses
When it's trying to describe somebody as being crazy or someone who's not sober somebody who's not in their right mind
Okay, they are described as beside themselves. For example in Mark you're going to 2nd Corinthians 5
It says of Jesus when his friends heard of it
They went out to lay hold on him for they said he is beside himself and you say what does that mean?
Meaning he's like beside himself like he's outside of himself
He's detached himself from his mind and his body are you know, somehow detached. He's there. He's not a whole person
He's beside himself. He's mad. He's crazy. That's kind of what the Bible is expressing there. That's what that you know that
that phrase means
It says there in 2nd Corinthians chapter number 5 look at verse 13 for whether we be beside ourselves
So there's that phrase again. It is to God or whether we be sober it is for your cause so you can see how he's
contrasting these two phrases
With each other he's saying whether we be beside ourselves or what or whether we be sober
So to not be sober means to be beside yourself. It means you're not in your right mind, okay?
This is not what he's kind of expressing here
That's what he's saying
Look if we be beside ourselves it is to God or whether we be sober it is for your cause, you know
If you think we're crazy, it's for God if you think we're sober it's for your case
I'm just using this passage that that verse there to kind of
Get the meaning across to get the definition of this word sober
So we could see here from 2nd Corinthians 5 that to be beside yourself or to be out of your mind is the opposite of being
sober
Therefore being sober would mean mean that you are not beside yourself that you are in your right mind
Okay, and look that's a very good definition because it here's the thing it fits it fits in with
The definition of being free of drugs and alcohol, right because a person who's taking drugs and alcohol is not in their right mind
You can't take some kind of a substance that affects your you know
Your neurology your brain the way your brain functions and then say you're in your right mind
Okay, you've just impaired that okay
Another example of this go to 1st Thessalonians chapter 5 would be when Paul was testifying
He said I am not mad most noble festus, but speak forth words of truth and soberness
He's saying I'm not mad. I'm not beside myself. I'm speaking the words of what truth and soberness
So I'm just using this again to get us a definition of the word sober
Okay to be sober is to be the opposite of mad to be sober is to be the opposite of beside yourself
To be sober is to be in your right mind
Okay
And that fits both definitions of both being a person who is serious and sensible and solemn and sincere
It also fits the definition of a person who is free from alcohol and drugs
Okay, you can see how that would fit both definitions because if you're beside yourself if you're mad
You know, you're certainly not a serious person, right? What do they call, you know, and I don't mean this in a degrading way
Okay, but what do you call people a lot of times would go to the insane asylum, right?
You would call it the loony bin that they would say they would make fun of that
You wouldn't say the people in there the way they're behaving are very serious people and I understand they have problems
I'm not making light of it
Okay, but I'm just trying to get the point across that this definition fits both
Or this term fits both definitions be sober if you're not sober then you're not taking life seriously if you're not sober
Then you know, you could be under the influence of drugs and alcohol. So it it fits both
Okay, and it's important to understand both definitions
Because people will go to the Bible and say well, I'm sober because I don't take drugs and alcohol
Therefore I'm fulfilling this commandment. And again, this is something that Titus was commanded to teach
Okay, this is the sound doctrine that he was to express to every group of people in the church
So people, you know, this is an important thing for people and people might get just say well, you know
I don't take drugs. I don't take alcohol
Therefore I'm sober. Yeah, but are you taking life seriously, but are you serious about your walk with God?
Are you serious about the things of this life?
Because if you're not then you're not fulfilling that command regardless of whether or not of you whether you not take take drugs or alcohol
Okay, so that you can't just check off one and ignore the other
Okay
So to be serious or to excuse me to be sober is to be in your right mind
You're there in 1st Thessalonians. It also means to be alert
Okay
meaning not having your senses dulled and this would probably fall more into that second definition of
Not being under the influence of drugs. Okay, it says 1st Thessalonians chapter number five
He said you're not all you excuse me. You are all the children of light and the children of the day
We are not of the night nor of darkness
Therefore let us not sleep as do others but let us watch
Okay, so here's you know the sense of being alert, right? Let us watch and be sober so you can see how being sober
Is associated with being alert watching?
Okay
Then he goes on and he says for they that sleep sleep in the night and they that be drunken are drunken in the night
So he's telling us to watch and to be sober why because some people sleep in the night and some people are drunken in the night
So this kind of fits that second definition, doesn't it?
Where you know if you're watching your then you're not sleeping if you're sober, then you're not drunken
Alright, so again just kind of give us in the background on this term
Okay to understand what that word sober means in the Bible and again
It's important we understand it because it's something we're commanded all of us to do in our lives and to be
This is in verse 8, but let us who are of the day be sober
Putting on the breastplate of faith and love and for an helmet the hope of salvation
So to not or to not be sober is what to lack
Vigilance right to not watch to be drunken to be sleeping meaning you're not clear-headed, right?
If you ever been around anybody who's been drunk like who's somebody who's under the influence of alcohol
You'll notice they get that real kind of dumb look on their face, right? Their eyes get droopy
You know their weight they shouldn't be you know, if they're driving their reaction it's like they're sleeping, right?
In fact, they say that being drowsy on the road is just as bad as being drunk on the road. I don't see that's scary, right?
but you know, so again you get this definition here of
Of sober as to be as being you know
Lacking the clear-headedness not being vigilant being perhaps even under the influence of drugs and alcohol
So you can see how the Bible uses this term in both ways, right?
It defines, you know being sober as not being
Drunken and it defines sober as being serious about being people who are not mad or beside themselves
people who are in their right mind
you know again, this is important to understand because
Sobriety is a necessity. It's something that we need to have in our lives. We need to be serious people
Obviously, you know the Bible talks about us not being drunks, right?
Being a drunk is something that'll get you kicked out of church and we'll look at it in a minute
There's a lot of you know, very strong warnings
Against alcohol in the Bible, you know, and here's the thing if it's kind of cover something like alcohol
I mean, what is it about alcohol that makes it so bad? What makes it so sinful? Is it the way it tastes is?
It the way it's delicious. Is it the fact that it comes in a bottle or
Is it the effect that it has on you? It's the effect that it has on you, right?
So it's so stupid when people say well the Bible doesn't say smoking pots of sin
It just says it has a lot of strong warnings against alcohol. Yeah, but what is it about the alcohol that makes it so bad?
It's the things that makes you do and the things that makes you the way it makes you behave, right?
It's the fact that it dulls your senses, you know, and obviously pot does the same thing smoking weed does the same thing, you know
Praise the Lord that God didn't have that God just trusted us to have enough common sense to figure these things out on our own
That we didn't have to sit there and go okay don't do don't do alcohol don't use alcohol don't smoke pot
Don't shoot up heroin. Don't take pills. Don't you know, just go right down like don't snort coke
Don't do this
Don't inject anything and it just do we really need God to sit here and hold our hand and tell us or as God given
Us all enough, you know common sense to kind of be able to go to the Bible and say well
The problem with alcohol is the effect that it has on your mind. It makes you not sober
You know and if you're taking any kind of any kind of drugs or alcohol that are affecting
You know the state of your mind you're no longer sober. You are no longer fulfilling the command in Scripture to be sober. Okay?
It's a sobriety is something that is necessary. First of all, go to 1st Timothy chapter number 3 for the preacher, right?
It's something that's necessary for the preacher. This is something the preachers commanded to be right?
And obviously it's it says specifically here in 1st Timothy 3 that the preacher isn't supposed to be somebody who's a drunk
Okay, but you know that goes for the church member to
You know, the preacher can't be somebody as it says in 1st Timothy 3
Verse number 3 not given to wine, right? He's not given to wine
No striker not greedy filthy luger patient not a brawler not but not covetous
Verse 8 he says a bishop then must excuse me verse 2 a bishop then must be blameless the husband of one wife
Vigilant, so there's that idea again of what it means to be sober
Like it said back there in 1st Thessalonians 5 that they are we are to watch and be sober here
He's saying that he's to be vigilant and to be sober
That's what it is to be vigilant means to watch to have your eyes open to be alert and that's very important for the preacher
Isn't it?
It's very important that the person who is leading the church
Be vigilant to see what's going on to know the state of his flocks to know
To be able to see the wolf coming to know how to handle certain situations to be able to you know
Look out for things in the church. You have to be vigilant. You can't be somebody who's just kind of you know
Just going through the motions or just you know, not taking it seriously, right?
Which would be the opposite of being sober that's the definition that we just established, right?
It means to be in your right mind to be serious to be grave
He has to be the husband of one wife vigilant he has to be sober he has to be somebody who is serious about
The work that he's been given to do he has to be serious about the things of God again
Why why is it commanded for the preacher because he is to be an example of the believers?
He's been a sample to the flock
You know that you could say yeah, that's good for the preacher. Amen
Well, he has to be all these things so that he can you know, teach them for others to be that way
You know, what's good for the goose is good for the gander
Is that right gander it's not geese's right? Okay. Just making sure go over to 1st Timothy chapter 3
Look at verse 11. You're right there even so a must there speaking about the deacons there the deacons wives be grave
Right meanings meaning sober or excuse me serious, which is sober not slander sober faithful in all things
Okay, so even the deacons wives are supposed to be these things people that are gone into the ministry
People that are gone into the ministry, you know, they have to be sober
They have to be serious and it doesn't mean just free from drugs and alcohol
And that's kind of a low bar for the ministry. Don't you think?
Well, why should you be the pastor? Well, I'm not a drunk
You know, I don't I you'll never find me out back smoking meth
You know, I'm sober
That's okay. Great, you know, but that's that's kind of like a pretty low bar
You know, you need to be sober in the sense that you're taking the things of God seriously right serious about the work of God
Faithful in all things go to Titus go back to Titus chapter number one
We'll see that this is again something that is commanded for the preacher. This is the necessity of sobriety
That's why it's important that we understand this term that it's not just free of drugs and alcohol
But it also means to be serious to take things seriously in the Christian life and in life in general
To not go through life just thinking it's just a big, you know funhouse, you know, life is serious you take it seriously
First excuse me Titus chapter 1 verse 7 for a bishop must be blameless as the steward of God not self-willed
Not soon angry not given to wine. So there's that definition, right?
No striker not given to filthy lucre, but a lover of hospitality a lover of good men
Sober right sober just holy and temperate another temperate meaning, you know, he has control of himself, you know
He's temperate so that's kind of ties in with you know
Being sober right having control over yourself people that are serious people that are sober
They don't just give themselves over to every, you know, every impulse of the flesh
You know
If you're just giving if you're just giving in to every impulse of the flesh if you're just giving in all the time
Just doing whatever you want whenever you want you're not living life seriously, you're not taking life seriously
You know to be serious about life means you're going to deny yourself some things you're gonna deny yourself things
You know that aren't good for you. Although they might bring pleasure to you immediately
Although it might be something that you want to do and gratify yourself sober serious people say, you know what?
I'm not gonna do that because that's not gonna do me any good in the long run. Okay, I'm gonna be temperate
I'm gonna be sober. I'm gonna take life seriously, okay
So obviously it's necessary for the preacher, okay
But why is it necessary for the preacher?
So that he can be an example to the flock go back to Titus chapter 2 because as we'll see here in just a second
Being sober is something that is necessary for the people meaning the people that are in the pew right the church
It's necessary for everybody from the preacher down to every single person in the church
Sobriety is something that has to be a part of our life and it's more than just being free from drugs and alcohol
It means you need to be serious about your life serious about the things of God
Titus chapter 2 verse 1 where we began
Speak thou this but speak thou the things which becomes sound doctrine that the aged men be sober grave
Temperate so again, there's that term again temperate grave
Sober sound in the faith in charity and patience so you can see how these all kind of are related
You know to be sober means to be serious to be grave to have a lot of gravity, right?
Someone's a grave person there. You would say that they're a serious person, right?
And again, I don't want everyone to stand up after the sermon tonight and just walk around, you know frowning at one another like no more
Joking, you know, obviously there's a time and place for that, you know a merry heart do with good like a medicine the Bible says
Right, but you know, not everything's a joke all the time, you know
There's a time and place to joke and to have fun and to and to kid then there's a time and place to be serious
And it's kind of like I was preaching about this morning
You know, we're living in a generation now in a time where nobody wants to be serious
They just want everything to be a joke constantly
They just want to constantly be stimulated constantly entertained and as I preached this morning, you know
There's there's blessings and being bored, you know, it teaches you to be a serious person
You know when you have some downtime, you know when you need to fill your time
Maybe it's instead of you know, reaching for the video game controller or reaching for you know, some kind of digital device
Right. I don't want to make everybody's already mad at me from this morning, right?
You know rather than you know spending yourself spending your time and just some vain pursuit, you know
Make the sober serious person would say hey, maybe I need to review that Bible verse. I've memorized
Maybe I need to add to my Bible. So it doesn't sound very fun
It's not but you know what it is. It's it's sober
It's very sobering. It's a very serious thing to do to memorize the Word of God
You know, it would show that you are, you know, somebody who's serious about the things of God if you actually did that, right?
Maybe instead of just you know, reading some whatever some just vain stupid meaningless post somewhere or whatever
You actually said, you know a sober person a serious person would actually sit down and read their Bible right now
You know, that's that's the how you would fill your time if you were a sober person
You know, you would be serious about the things that bring glory to God
You'd be serious about the things that will bring you closer to God. Okay?
So again, you can see how important this is this idea of understanding what sober is
You know that it's not just well, I don't do drugs. Okay, but are you serious about the things of God?
Are you serious about the Christian life? Okay?
And it's not just for the aged men here. Okay goes on verse 3 the aged women now
It doesn't specifically say that the aged women need to be sober
But it doesn't mean that the aged women are getting off the hook right because it says that they are to teach the young women
these things
Okay, the aged women likewise that they be as in behaviorist become with holiness not false accusers not giving them much wine
So in a sense there there's that definition of sober one of them right not giving too much wine
They're not you know, they're not some day drinking mom or whatever
Teachers of good things that they may teach the young women to be sober
So, how are you gonna teach somebody if you don't know how to do it, right?
Obviously if they're to teach the young women to be sober they themselves have to be sober
You know, they have to be somebody who has some seriousness in their life and to be an example
You know a lot of teaching is just done by example. It's just done by the way you conduct yourself. Okay?
Also to love their husbands to love their children so we're covering everybody aged men aged women young women
Look at verse six young men likewise exhort to be sober minded
So we already saw in verse one
He's saying hey speech speak those things which become sound doctrine that the aged men be sober
right and then we get down here to verse six again, and it's like he's he's he's
He's telling Titus once again to not just speak these things but to exhort the young men to be sober
You know young men need to be exhort. We have to exhort you to be sober
You know, you should take life seriously obviously it goes without saying at least it should in this church that
You shouldn't be drunk
You should be under the influence of drugs and I'd be shocked if anybody in this room was to be honest
But what about the other definition of being sober minded about being serious about the things of God?
That's something that young men need to be exhorted to be
You know and again in the day and age we're living in and that you know
It's all about fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun and all the fun I can go have and that's a philosophy
That's out there
Oh your 20s are just time for you to
Experience, you know experiment and find out what you like and what you're into and just go out there and live it up
And so you're wild oats. That's not Bible
The Bible says that young men are to be sober
Serious about the things of God serious about the Bible serious about what they're commanded to do in Scripture. Take it seriously
You know, don't just go running off into the world. Just trying to live it up
Like all these all these other yahoos that are out there
I mean you see these guys that are out that are out there
You could take one look at them and you could tell they're not serious about life
You know when you're when you're driving around in public and you have
And I'll just I'm just gonna say it as lightly as I can we have
Japanime stickered all across the back of your car and I'm talking about some of this
I'm not just talking like, you know cute little character. I'm talking lewd
Japanime like I saw this week some 20-something year old driving around just plastered back across of his car a bunch of Japanime
You know, I'm sitting there thinking this guy one. You're just basically telling the whole world. You're a pervert
When you're look when you're putting lewd pictures on the back of your car, you're a pervert
Okay
It's it's it's like I look there's a term
I don't want to use because I don't want parents to have to explain these things to the young children when they go home
But you know what I'm getting at
Okay, and when you're when you're some 20-something year old or whatever something or worse yet 30 40, whatever
It's like good night. Are you ever gonna grow up you ever gonna be sober you ever gonna be serious about life and
You're putting you know cartoon characters in the back of your car
it's like
You're not you're not a sober person. But look there's so many people that would look at that and go that's cute. Oh
Let's pull over and talk about it. What's your who's your favorite character?
There's whole chat groups, there's probably whole forums a bunch of you know, young dudes sitting around talking about
You know some cartoon that some, you know, dweedy kid in Japan drew
That's what you're into and that's what I just blows my mind about these people's like, you know, somebody drew that right
Some other dude sat around and drew that and now you're all
It's creepy man, it's weird. It's a strange sick perverted culture that you're living in it really is
And if you're serious and if you know, you can laugh at it and I get it's kind of funny. It's awkward
But look we need to be serious about these things and not fall into these these these these
Pit, you know these pits that are out there these these pitfalls for young men young men need to be sober
You need to be vigilant. You need to take life seriously
And all things he says in verse 7 showing myself a pattern of good works in
Doctrine showing uncorruptness gravity. There's that word again
Sincerity
There's another word that's synonymous with sobriety, right? So you're getting a very good idea what it means to be sober here
How are you gonna how are you gonna show yourself?
You know, how are you gonna show in doctrine uncorruptness if you're not serious about reading your Bible?
If you're not serious about studying the Bible, how are you gonna live up to that command young men?
You know, that's a command to young men, isn't it?
I mean, I'm pretty sure that that's who that's commanded to it's obviously it's for everybody and all things showing myself a pattern
Of good words in doctrine showing uncorruptness. Do you know why you believe what you believe?
Why not? When are you gonna get serious about that?
Sound speech that cannot be condemned that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed having no evil thing to say of you
Don't ever let some preacher get up and use you as a bad example. Like I just did that guy who's driving around
You know and that's only gonna happen if you're serious if you're sober if you're grave
So we see that sobriety is necessary and if you noticed it was it was alliterated, right?
It was necessary for the preacher. It was necessary for the people and now it's necessary for pugs named Oscar
No, I'm just kidding
You know, my daughter would love it if I threw that point in there
But I just just thought I'd throw that in there for okay little little sugar to help the medicine go down this evening
That's as sweet as it's gonna get though
So we talked about the necessity the necessity of sobriety what sobriety is but what does sobriety look like in practice
Practically, ooh, there's another one man. I'm getting better at this on the fly now. I'm alliterating, right?
Obviously needs do not impair your senses through drugs or alcohol and look
I know I've been kind of glossing over that but I'm gonna park it there for a minute because
That is something we have to take seriously as well. You can't you can't just you know, because here's the thing. I
Think sometimes people they there's these gray areas where they're like, well, it's not drugs and alcohol
You know, okay, but if it's if it's affecting your mind, okay, then it's something you should probably not be taking
It's probably something you should avoid if it's gonna affect how your mind works. Okay, and
I believe that this is at any time for any reason, okay?
Go to Proverbs chapter 31 Proverbs chapter 31
I'm sure we all know these verses in Proverbs, but we're gonna look at him again
I'll just begin reading in verse 1 of Proverbs 31 the words of King Lemuel
the prophecy that his mother taught him what my son and
What the son of my womb and what the son of my vows give not thy strength unto women
Nor thy ways to that which destroyeth Kings
So she's gonna warn him that there's this way that destroys Kings
Now typically a king when you think about a king you think of somebody who's probably you know
Pretty serious somebody probably has a lot of power
Somebody who's you know, a pretty influential person
Okay a king, you know, especially back then it wasn't just somebody that you know
You kind of just treated flippantly, you know, a king was a very serious person was somebody who had strength and power, right?
Especially a king like, you know think about like King David, right?
He was able to go in and to go out and to go in to come out
Come in and go out and to make war, right?
It wasn't just you know, it wasn't just you know, the the royal family over there
You know that are just kind of a showpiece for everybody to write magazine pieces about these words like serious men
But notice that what she's warning about is a way which can destroy a king. Okay?
So if we're not, you know, we should take heed of this
Okay, if it can get a king it could probably get us to it can destroy us just as easily and look that's that's probably
one of the biggest mistakes young people make especially young men is
They think that nothing can touch them
They just go through life thinking. I'm six feet tall and bulletproof. I'm
invincible, right
It's not true
You know, there's things that can destroy you and having that's not a sober way of thinking if that's not being serious
You know, if you're serious, you'll realize if you're sober, you'll realize I'm not invincible
There's a way that can destroy a king, you know, many mighty men have been fallen by you know
The the the whorish woman, okay, she can drag you down
Any one of us it is not for Kings the lingual is not for Kings to drink wine. Oh, is that it? Oh
Is that though? That's the warning. That's what destroys King wine
No problem nor for princess to drink strong drink
Lest they drink and forget the law and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted
You know, that's the strong warning about alcohol here, isn't it?
That if we drink we're going to do what forget the law and pervert judgment
You know, the law is not something you want to forget especially as a king when it was your job to enforce the law, right?
But even just the idea of forgetting the law as you know, God's child
You know, that's not something we want to have to be said of us
You know, we don't want to get into some, you know bad situation through drinking alcohol and then say well, I didn't know
Well, you know if you hadn't been doing what you're doing
You know, if you'd been more sober and took in the time to find out you you wouldn't have that excuse. Okay?
So
You know at any time for any reason we should not we should be staying away from alcohol
Obviously, you know Proverbs 31 goes on and on about this and some other things but go over to Proverbs chapter number 23
Proverbs chapter number 23, which is another very strong warning against the use of alcohol
You say never use drugs or alcohol under any circumstance
I'll say this people who are in severe pain
You know, I could see where you would administer some kind of
And I'm not saying like you woke up and stubbed your toe
You know, you got a little migraine or something. Well, you know, let me take some oxycodone to numb this migraine
Maybe let me ingest an opioid so I can you know not have such a such a severe migraine or something like that
Obviously, you know if they're bad enough
You know, okay, I bet I'm talking severe pain. Okay, you say well, why is that acceptable?
Well, here's the thing what I mean, what does it mean to be sober? What was the definition to be in your right mind?
Okay. Look if you're in severe enough pain, you're not in your right mind to begin with
Taking some drug. It's actually probably gonna put you back in your right mind a little bit more, you know
And I don't want to go on on on on on and on about it
But anyone who's watched anybody go through like cancer
You know, yeah at some point you know, you know, you're going to be in your right mind
Cancer
You know, yeah at some point give that person strong drugs to numb the pain that they're in and let them go out with some
peace in their life
But you know, I don't think that's anybody in the room
You know
I don't think there's anybody here that has an excuse to go out and be taking drugs of any kind whatsoever
That I know of I mean, maybe you have some severe chronic pain that I don't know about, you know, and that's fine
I don't need to know about it
But you know, they're I believe there is an exception but it's a very rare exception
because again to be sober is to be in your right mind if you have some
debilitating disease, you know
If you just had all four of your molars removed and they all got dry sockets and you can't even talk and you're just writhing
And agony give that guy some drugs. Okay, because he's not in his right mind to begin with he's not sober to begin with
You know the drugs have probably put him more back in his right mind get him get you know
Get the pain out of out of the way. I'm not saying that's gonna make them perfect
Hopefully you all understand that hopefully everyone gets that okay that I can I can move on here
So obviously, you know the practice of sobriety, which is we're talking about is to not be under the influence of drugs now
Call that's that's probably the definition that everybody understood when they walked in here tonight
And we will take the time to look at it again. Look at verse
20
29 there it says who hath woe who hath sorrow who hath contentions who hath babbling who hath wounds without cause
Who hath redness of eyes?
Now put that on the Budweiser poster
You know if this was you know, if it was Coors Light writing this, you know
If it was, you know some alcohol distributor writing this it was some beer distributor of some hard liquor
You know manufacturer they would word this differently who hath six-packs
You know who hath babes on the beach?
Who hath you know abundance of wealth and good looks?
You know who who has all these great they would paint a different picture wouldn't they?
You know, who's who's the cool guy at the party?
Right. It's the guy who's drinking Bacardi or you know, whatever they have some clever little rhyme
But that's not the picture the Bible paints at all. The Bible gives it to us
You know real it's raw
Who hath woe who hath sorrow who hath contentions? I mean, these are all different things
Whoa, you know, you're gonna wake up and go whoa. What did I do last night?
You know, whoa what happened and then you know, you'll live with consequences that are just gonna be
Just gonna cause you to be in woe the rest of your life who hath woe who hath sorrow
You know who has sorrow the guy that you know
Got his buddy drunk and then let him leave the party and he went out and crashed into a telephone bowl and died in a blaze
And you know and it went out in a you know, a fury of a flaming wreck of a car. I
Know people like that
People that have gotten drunk and stepped out in front of snow plows and they're just gone
You know who has sorrow the guy that got him drunk. I imagine that'd be a hard thing to live with
That you let had you through a party someone came to your house they got drunk you were drunk
nobody was being serious about anything and
He's I'm leaving. Oh, see you later, dude
And then just he's gone and now you're at the funeral
Trying to explain that to their parents and you got to live with that the rest of your life
You get drunk get behind the wheel of a car and kill somebody
Who has sorrow that person? Oh
That never happens. It happens every day in this country in this world. It happens all the time
Multiple times a day. I'm sure I didn't look up the stats, but it would it really surprise you if that didn't happen every single day
Like more than once over the whole the whole world
Multiple times people are waking from one day the next everything's fine. Now. I have sorrow
continually
because of alcohol
Who hath contentions, you know who's gonna go and start the fight
The
Drunk guy, you know, he gets he gets all of a sudden. He's 10 feet tall
You know, he started out this tall
Then he drank a six-pack, you know and threw back a couple and now he's this tall in his mind
And he doesn't like the way that guy's looking at him
Right, except that guy really is that tall, right and it's not gonna go well, you know
Then you're gonna go home, you know, you're gonna wake up the next morning. Go. What happened to my teeth?
Where'd they go they're all they're they're in the back alley is behind some bar somewhere
Where you know guys took you out back and beat you up. Oh
That never happens. I know people that's happened. It happens all the time folks
Well, the Bible is just being dramatic. Right the Bible is just making this up because God just really doesn't want us to drink alcohol because
Well, he doesn't have a reason, you know, he's just making it up
No
The reason why he wants you to steer clear of these things is because this is what happens to people
Who has babbling? Oh good night drunks have babbling don't they?
It's so annoying. I remember when I used to deliver pizzas. I
Hated having to go and deliver to drunk people or I'd have to go to a hotel
and I remember there would be drunk people in the lobby they get in the elevator with me and
They would just talk like you're not even there. It's like good night
Or when I used to do rideshare, that's when I quit rideshare
And I thought you know, I wouldn't go past 1030
So when I started doing ride shares
I was like I'm done after 1030 because the drunks just got worse and worse as the night go on by two o'clock in the morning
And all the drunks are coming out of the bar. It's you can't even take it
Then the most annoying people to be around just leaning out your car window
Just talking all kinds of nonsense just not making it they're just babbling they're idiots
You know, and if you're that's why only drunk people can stand to be around drunk people
Who hath babbling who hath wounds without cause you know, you didn't have to have your teeth kicked out
You didn't have to what come on with that broken nose and that, you know black eye who hath redness of eyes
You know the hangover who has these things first 30 they that Terry long at the wine
They that go to seek mixed wine
Look not thou upon the wine when it's red when it giveth its color in the cup when it moveth itself
All right, it's talking about fermented alcohol at the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder
You know what you that's just imagine alcohol like that it's it's a in an adder it's a poisonous venomous snake. I
Don't know too many people that would pick that up and hold it to their face
You know, there probably are some people out there right? Are we going back to Steve Irwin now? No, I won't do the accent
Promise
Like a French accent comes up, all right, I'm not gonna do it
I'm still want to try but I'm not gonna try
My dad used to milk rattlesnakes
Yep, I had a place in South Dakota called the reptile gardens
It was a funny story. He goes out there to get this job. He goes out with his buddy
This is my dad, you know, I have pictures to prove it
But you know, you can never believe you never know if he's pulling your leg or not
But he go his buddy's going out there and it to this it's like this tourist trap where they have like alligators and
You know, it's in the middle of South Dakota. I don't know if you know this but alligators are not native to South Dakota
All right, that's not really something you see there, right?
So they have this this tourist trap for to get all everybody to come out and see the alligators and snakes and everything
So his buddy's going out there to apply for the job. He's like, hey come with me
So he's standing there a gift shop the guy's filling out the application the guy down the counter goes my dad
Because my dad's you know, he's native. He looks like a like an Indian, right?
So I guess the guy was and his buddy was white
So the story goes that he thought he had more of the look he was going for
He had that long black hair and everything. He's like, well, why don't why don't you fell in an application too?
He's like, alright, he ends up getting the job
So then we got pictures of him where he's milking rattlesnakes, but that's not something you typically do
He's turned over alligators and things like that. Somebody had to pay him to do that, right?
You know, we probably wouldn't you know, but people voluntarily go and pick up a bottle alcohol and guzzle the whole thing and they just get
drunk
But they you know, but we wouldn't go near some venomous, you know snake
But isn't that what the Bible says about alcohol?
At last it biteth like an adder the story goes this is where I think he's pulling my leg
My dad is that after he quit that job his buddy that originally applied got it and lost a hand
So, I don't know to an alligator, but I don't know, you know consider the source on that one
That's all I got to say. It might be true, but you never know with with with paw
But that you know, it's still either way the illustration serves this portion of Scripture well, doesn't it?
You think oh, it's just playing with this with an alligator. It's just playing with the venomous snake. What could go wrong?
You know, what could possibly go wrong, you know, what's the worst that could happen, you know or really bad like
What could go wrong playing with an alligator? I don't know. What do you think might happen?
You know or you know, what's the worst thing gonna happen playing with a venomous snake now
I'd have to fall over and actually be dead right play dead. I'm not gonna go that far with it
And we would say yeah, don't don't go near that diamondback rattler kid. Stay away from that poisonous snake
But then when it comes to alcohol they're like drink up
Aren't you gonna be a man real men drink right the Bible talks about people that are mighty to drink wine
What they're really doing is there it's it's just like picking up that venomous snake and just hoping you don't get bit, right?
What else is gonna happen verse 33 thine eyes shall behold strange women, right?
And it's talking about women that are foreign to you. It's talking about adultery. Okay, and
Nine, that's what it means by strange. Okay, and thine heart shall utter perverse things
You're gonna say things that you better. Hope nobody's got is recording you
Right, you're gonna say things that you wish you hadn't said
Yeah, that shall be a see that lieth down in the midst of the sea or see that lieth on the top of a mast
It's a perfect description of being drunk
You know, you're curious about what it's like being drunk. Look here. All you got to do is spin around in a circle
Right, just spin around sir. Obviously, you're not going to do the the babbling and all these other things
but if you want the physical sensation just spin around until you feel like you're ready to puke and
Then just imagine feeling like that constantly
Like when you lay down it just feels like the whole room is spinning constantly now
You don't have to wonder about it
well
If you get curious kids about what it's like to be drunk and I'm and I'm dead serious who would back me up on this
right, I
Shouldn't have done that but
You know
All you got to do is just spin around in a circle
And tell you in fact spin around till you puke because that's what happens when you're drunk
You end up barfing your guts out doesn't that sound like fun, you know, just go rest your head on a toilet
I'm not kidding. This happens, you know that they they oh, she's such a nice friend
She held my hair back when I puked at the bar
I've heard people describe people like that. Oh, I like her. I was I was barfing and she held my hair back. Oh
He's so sweet when I was yakking my guts out he held my hair back for me so I didn't get any vomit in my hair
What's it like to be drunk just just gag yourself and then spin around in a circle and then just imagine that not stopping for
hours, you're just like
You know and then then you'll have you'll know exactly what it's like and that would be better because then you won't have what you
Won't be saying all the perverse things
You know, you won't be having the wounds without well
You might end up with wounds without cause because you might fall over or something like that, right?
But you know, that's one way to find out
Verse 35 they have stricken me thou shalt say and I was not sick
They have beaten me and I felt it not when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again
Then you end up being an addict
That's the craziest thing about this passage. I will seek it yet again
To become an alcoholic to become an addict it's doing all these horrible things to you. I'll seek it again
That's a miserable way to live your life. It's no fun
What was this sermon about we asked sobriety
The practice of sobriety, right? This is the the one we're probably more familiar with to not be under the
Influence of drugs and alcohol. So, you know, we got the strong warning there
But again, you will say yeah, I'm never gonna do that
But are you take what's are you fulfilling the other command to be sober the other application to take your life?
Seriously, obviously if you're doing this
You're not taking life seriously, you know, you're gambling with your life pretty much at that point. You're just taking drugs and alcohol
You're just smoking whatever's passed to you. You're just going down to the dispensary and getting this incredibly potent marijuana
You're just doing hard drugs. You're not you're not fulfilling either commandment
You're taking your life your mind your body in your hands and just rolling the dice
Okay, and hoping it turns out and you know what it doesn't always turn out right for a lot of people
Take your life seriously go to 1st Peter chapter number one. We'll run through this real quick and then I'll close
I'll just begin reading in verse 13 of 1st Peter 1 it says wherefore gird up the loins of your mind
Gird up the loins of your mind, you know the idea of girding up your loins
You know, we would we would liken that on to like, you know, tightening your belt, you know pulling your pants up
I'm doing these guys at sags. Okay, I'll be a sagger
Look if you're sagging you're fagging. Okay
People don't they can't believe you'd say that
You know where that came from came from prison
That's where that came from
Put your pants down below your booty
To let everybody know
Okay, do I need to say it that's where that came from and if you're sagging you're fagging okay there I just coined it
But you know, I don't know what that has to do with girding up the loins of your mind
Oh, yeah, you know what I mean when these guys want to gird, you know, be serious
Look, you got one of these guys that can't even run, you know, cuz he's got his pants so low. You're not very serious
And I don't look at guys like that and think what a serious individual that person's really got it together
You know, they've really they they're going places in life, I mean look how they can't even get their pants up on their hips
They can't get even get up with their pants belong. They are so serious, right?
But we need to gird up the loins of our mind
Right to be take life seriously and to what be sober
So you can see again how this idea of being sober is associated with being serious
Okay
Gird up the loins of your own mind
Be sober and hope the end for the grace that has to be brought unto you at the salvation at the revelation of Jesus Christ as
obedient children
Not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance
You know being obedient means you're gonna be serious about things, right?
Look if you're if you're gonna obey if you're gonna do what you're supposed to do
If you're gonna obey the Word of God, it means you're taking things seriously
You're not just like yeah, I read Proverbs 23, but whatever. I heard what the preacher said, but whatever
I'm not gonna obey that then you're not being sober and you're not girding up the loins of your mind
He goes on and says but as he which hath called to his holy beat so be holy all manner of conversation
Because it is written be holy for I am holy
I'm not going to take the time to develop all that we're holy is talking about being separate being you know set apart
Go over to first Peter chapter number four
first Peter chapter number four
You know, he says there at the end of first Peter that we are to be holy for I am holy
That we were to be holy in all manner of conversation
You know, if you think about somebody who's holy you probably think about somebody who's serious
You know, holy people are typically people that are gonna take their walk with Christ seriously
Because to be holy basically means to be separate to be set apart unto God, right?
That doesn't just you know, obviously in salvation where you know
We've received the anointing of the Holy Spirit, right?
We have the earnest of our inheritance until the day of the redemption of the purchase possession
Okay, we have that but as far as living this life, you know, we have to be holy we have to be separate
That's something that we have to intend to do that doesn't just happen automatically
You know, you don't just become a you know, a Bible believe, you know, or a godly Christian
I guess I should say just
de facto because you got saved
You know, you know who the Christians are that live a holy life the ones who are serious about it
The ones who obey the Word of God. Those are the ones are that are serious that are sober about their Christian life
They're the ones that take it seriously, okay
He's saying here look and I'll just read you from second Corinthians chapter 6 he's saying wherefore
come out from among them and be ye separate sayeth the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you and
Will be a father unto you and you shall be my sons and daughters sayeth the Lord Almighty
You know God wants to treat us like a child like he wants to treat us as his son as his daughter
We have to be separate. We have to not touch the unclean thing. We have to be holy
Which takes intention which means you have to be serious about the things of God in order to do that, right?
But notice what he's saying when he's telling them to come out from among them
He's saying be separate and what touch not the unclean thing
To not touch that which defiles
right
You know, we need to be serious about our Christian life. So we don't get dirty, right?
We don't want to be filthy in the sight of God, right?
We don't want to be that spiritual
You know boy or girl that puts on their Sunday school
You know their Sunday best and goes out plays in the mud puddle and their parents are all upset. What are you doing, right?
We want to be people who stay away from the filth of this world
And look it gets hard to do, you know because it the devil's just slinging it and he's just throwing trying to
You know smear us every chance he gets with all the filth that's out there
I mean, like I said earlier, you can't even drive down the road anymore without having to hear some lewd disgusting
Music come out of somebody else's car
I mean, I love it every day it happens to be coming down up and down Valencia with on the way home today from church
I asked my wife because the window doesn't work on that side of the van. I said, can you please I don't think I said
Please I'm sorry, honey. I just said roll up the window. I don't want to listen to that crap
It's a crap from pulpit. Whoops
You should have heard what was coming out of that car
And it's like I can't repeat that from the pulpit I don't repeat that I don't want to think what I was hearing
You know the same thing happened to me the other night the night before down the stream such a road people just blasting the just
most vulgar
Disgusting lyrics put in the most filthy disgusting things in their back of their car
You know what you are you're rolling around in Satan's filth
and
Everybody can see it and everybody can hear it
It's amazing to me how many people just they just they just get on their phones. They just get in front of their television
They just open up their laptop
They just do whatever
They just put on the earbuds and it's like they just open up their brain and they just let the devil just barf into their
brain
And I know it's kind of a humorous, you know illustration
But think about it. That's what's really going on there
That's what the world does is just here Satan just barf into my brain all the filth you want
And God says don't be like that be holy be separate touch not the unclean thing come out from among them
You're only gonna do that if you're serious about the things of God. That's the only time you're ever gonna do that
Because
You know, it's our former lusts, you know want that they want to go along with the world enjoy everything that the world's enjoying
But God the Bible says the Lord has set apart him that is godly for himself
The Lord will hear when I call unto him stand in awe and sin not
Commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still
The Bible says we are in holy people in the Lord thy God
The Lord thy God hath chosen it to be a special people unto himself above all people that upon the face of the earth
That's what we are in Christ. We are God's people. We should be different
We shouldn't just be rolling around in the same filth that the world's rolling around in. Okay
We're only gonna be that way if we're serious, you know, so ask yourself do your actions reflect the holiness of God?
Are you no different than the drunken sleeping world that we're surrounded by?
You know and to be sober obviously means to be free and clear of drugs and alcohol
Not taking things that are gonna affect your mind and and keep get you out of your right mind
But it also means to take life seriously to be guard on guard against sin in your life
How many times did we look at it tonight where it was be sober be vigilant?
Watching, you know being vigilant. These are the things that are associated with being sober
Meaning be on guard against sin in your life
Because if you think that sin can't creep into your life you're wrong and you're not serious you're not thinking soberly
Sin will creep into your life. We have to constantly be on guard against it in our lives constantly
You know, we it's like it's that game like
Was it whack-a-mole? Remember at the I don't know if anyone even go is it probably vast half the room
But has never even been an arcade at this point
All right
But they used to have that thing where you took the mallet and all the things would pop up the holes and then you
They still have that. All right, you whack them and then you get the tickets then you go get that cheap plastic ring or whatever
You know, you get some stupid toy that cost you like eight bucks you could have gotten from 25 cents online or something
But that's what sins like it's like that stupid game, right? It's like oh here comes that sin. Damn. Well, I got that sin down
Well, you know what? This one's gonna pop up over here next
You know, you don't want to be the Christians just sitting there with the mallet in his hand
Just go look at that sin. Oh, yes, so you're not gonna get any tickets
You know, you're not gonna be able to go to the to the to the counter in heaven and redeem those things
You have to be you know, you have to be constantly
On guard against the sin that wants to pop up its ugly head in your life
But who's gonna do that?
The guy that's sober
The guy who's in his right mind
The guy who's serious about the Christian life
That's the guy who's gonna bother to take the time to pick up, you know, that whole thing
You know that holy hammer so to speak and and get the sin out of his life when it pops up and it will pop up
You know, I've been saved for
20 years
There's been plenty of sins, you know, it's like oh I got that one right and then it's this one
You know, it's the sins of the flesh then it's the sins of the mind. It's pride. It's arrogance
It's all kinds of things that we because look paul said in my in in me dwelleth
No good thing that is in my flesh
How can you walk around in this flesh and not have to contend with sin every single day of your life?
Well, I don't know if I really believe that you're not sober. You're not thinking soberly then
You have to think soberly about these things first peter chapter four verse seven, but the end of all things is at hand
Be ye therefore sober and watch unto prayer
The end of all things is at hand be sober watch under prayer
So again this idea of being on guard being vigilant first peter chapter five
I'll read it very quickly verse eight. We all know this one be sober be vigilant
Why because your adversary the devil as a roaring walk a roaring lion walketh about seeking who he may devour
Be sober be vigilant. Why? Oh just to keep you busy
Just because god wants to give you something to do
No, because you have an adversary
Who's walking about as a roaring lion seeking who may devour
You ever seen a lion hunt
They're you know, they're pretty sneaky for being such a big animal, aren't they?
Somehow they manage to take down these animals that are quite quick
It seemed like they could get away
But they sneak up on them. Don't they they prowl they get close and then when the animal isn't looking when they least suspect it
That's when they pounce on them. I mean why I mean god could have used anything any animal
He wanted to describe the devil, but he chose a lion
One because I mean, I don't know about you, but i'm never going to take on a lion
I mean dad might have wrestled alligators
Okay
But he never wrestled a lion
There's a reason why they don't have you know, the lion wrestler at reptile gardens and it's not just because it's not a reptile
It's because everyone would be walking around you'd be walking around a lot less than this
You'd be like, I wish I could pull my head in right now, right
What's the worst that could happen wrestling a lion? What could possibly go wrong contending with a beast twice my size?
You could lose your head
But that's the animal that god used here to describe the devil
this formidable
predator
That you know, we don't really stand it. I mean I get it. Well, i've got a gun, you know, every analogy falls apart
Okay
But if it's just you if it's just mano el laino
The great plains of sahara and you got nothing in your hand you're going down buddy
You are not going to outrun it. You're not going to wrestle it. You're not going to scare it
And the devil's the same way. Look the devil has seen people like me and you come and go for millennia
And he knows just how to work on us
He knows all the tricks. He knows how man operates. He knows what to do when he knows me and you
In and out the devil is a worthy adversary that we cannot stand against on our own
You know, all we need to do is to be sober and to be vigilant to be serious about the christian life
Because we do have an enemy
And if you're going to live the christian life and just think well, I don't have anything to worry about
You're the next victim
You're going out
We have to resist him as it says they're steadfast in the faith
Knowing the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world
Look, so sobriety is something that has to be practiced
It's something that has to be preached as i'm preaching tonight. We saw that
But some also I want to close on this that being sober makes you a powerful threat against the devil think about this
If you are serious if you are serious about the things of god, you know
if you do
Put on the whole armor of god if you have the shield of faith if you have the sword of the spirit now now you're armed
Now you can't stand against the wiles of the devil now you can
Quench all the fiery darts of the wicked if you're serious if you're sober
You know if you're serious about you know, girding up the loins of your mind and being vigilant
You know being sober isn't just going to keep you safe. It's actually going to put you on the offensive
It's going to make you powerful for the lord
It's going to make you a powerful threat to satan. Why do you think satan spends so much time?
Trying to get people drunken
Trying to get people to let down their guard
Because he knows what a threat they can be to him
And his intentions his will right he has a will, you know, he has things he wants things to go a certain way
But you know if we're sober if we're serious about the things of god, you know, we can resist him
You know the bible promises that if we resist the devil he will flee
But who's the guy that's going to resist?
The guy who's serious enough who's sober enough to acknowledge the fact that there is an enemy that there is an enemy to be resisted
Not the guy who's just treating life like a game just kind of
Whatever happens well, I guess maybe
You know if you're sober if you're serious, you could actually be a threat against the devils. Go ahead and have a quick word of prayer