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you you you you Well good evening everyone welcome back to a mountain Baptist Church Take your song books and turn to song one hundred and ninety eight song 198 in your song books will sing joy unspeakable if you would stand We'll sing song 198 I Have found his grace is all complete. He's some fly every need While I said and learn at Jesus fee I am free as free indeed It is joy unspeakable and full of glory full of glory full of glory joy unspeakable and full of glory All the half has never yet been told I have found I once crave it is joy and peace with What a wondrous blessing I am saved from the awful gulf of sin It is joy unspeakable and full of glory full of glory Full of glory joy Unspeakable and full of glory. Oh that half has never yet been told I have found that hope so bright and clear living in the realm of grace Oh the Savior's presence Is so near I can see his smiley face It is joy unspeakable and full of glory full of glory full of glory joy Unspeakable and full of glory. Oh that half has never yet been told I have found the joy. No tongue can tell how its waves of glory roll It is like a great overflowing up within my soul It is joy unspeakable and full of glory full of glory Full of glory it is joy Unspeakable and full of glory. Oh that half has never yet been told Let's pray heavenly Father Lord We just want to thank you God just for just the abundance of mercy and grace that she was still upon us each and every Day, I pray you Lord now that you would just be with our pastor from with your power and spirit Thank you for the souls that were saved Lord this afternoon throughout last week. We love you. We pray all this in Jesus name Amen. All right, you may be seated and turn in your song books to song 169 Song 169 in your song books will sing come thou found Song 106 Were we supposed to do the psalm Psalm next. Okay. All right, so I'm 100. I'm sorry not psalm. Okay, stop, okay Regular song books coming up on song 169, right? Come bow fount of every blessing Tune my heart to sing thy grace Streams of mercy Never ceasing call for songs of loudest praise teach me some Melodious son and sung by flaming tongues above Praise the mount I'm fixed up on it mount of thy Redeeming love Here I raise my Nebuchadnezzar Hither by thy help I come and I know by thy good pleasure Arrive at home Jesus awed me when a stranger wandering from the fold of God He to rescue me from danger Interposed his precious blood Oh to grace how great a debtor Daily I'm constrained to be Let thy goodness like a better bind my wandering heart to thee prone to Wander Lord. I feel it prone to leave God I love Here's my heart. Oh take and seal it seal it for thy courts above Amen so welcome back to Mount Baptist Church on this Sunday afternoon evening And I want to get the sewing numbers before we get Its announcements here So did we have any throughout the week as far as salvation's one brother Jim One on Monday, so two and then three Okay, so we have three during the week and then what we have today One brother wave and I know brother brother Anthony. I had once that's two four so six two so eight three Eleven and then I see What's that? Two on Monday, so that's four for the week so eleven four fifteen That do my math right, okay? Yeah, why there was three during the week, right? Yeah, so four plus eleven Yeah It's fifteen so So good job with the soul winning and As far as sewing during out during the week We have the regional times Monday Tuesday Wednesday Saturday so just get with the guys there as far as those regional times and then The next thing that's coming up is soul winning marathon in Philadelphia that brother Charles is leading up on July 15th So be in prayer for that, and then if you can make it out to that that'd be great And if you have any questions obviously you can get with brother Charles on that was July July 29th is that the Baby shower so just RSVP On that as far as do you guys have a group set up for that or? okay, so Any ladies that are wanting to go that? Probably get with either my wife miss Paula. Whoever's heading up that in that group there I Think and then we're gonna have a we're gonna have a baptism so brother Nathan's gonna get baptized hopefully it's not too cold for you, but So so stick around after the service for a baptism there And if anybody else needs to get baptized let me know and then We're in Malachi chapter 2 for our memory chapter of the month and then Proverbs 1822 is memory verse for the week who so findeth the wife find us a good thing and obtain its favor of the Lord We went through the birthdays anniversaries and then be in prayer for all the ladies on the pregnancy list there and so We have six on here now, so just be in prayer there and Be in prayer for that. Maybe anybody. It's not feeling well. It can't be interred all of that Anything I'm missing Brother Anthony I know had he knew about yeah, he recorded that so I'll go ahead and put that on here just to note it I don't think we I don't think we haven't been marking it on here though So but brother Anthony knows about that one I think that's about it for announcements. So brother Wade's gonna be reading tonight second Peter chapter 1 But Dave's gonna do one more song before that but besides that the offering box is in the back there I'm gonna give a tie there an offering mother baby rooms for the mothers and babies only Hopefully the power stays on this time All right, take your mountain Baptist Psalms hymns and spiritual song books Blue folders and turn to page number eight And we will sing Psalm 126 We'll sing song Psalm 126 when the Lord turn again We were lying them that dream Then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing Then said they among the heathen the Lord had done great things for them the Lord had done great things for us Whereof we are glad Turn again our captivity. Oh Lord as the streams in the south They that sow in tears shall reap in joy They that sow in tears shall reap in joy Then said they among the heathen the Lord had done great things for them the Lord had done great things for us Whereof we are glad He that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed Shall doubtless come again And countless come again with rejoicing She's with him Then said they among the heathen the Lord had done great things The Lord had done great things for us Whereof we are glad All right take your Bibles and turn to the book of second Peter Book of second Peter chapter number one, and we'll have brother Wade read that for us Second Peter one Simon Peter a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ to them that have obtained like precious faith with us Through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ grace and peace be multiplied unto you throughout the knowledge of God and our Jesus our Lord According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness Through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature having Escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust and beside this giving all diligence Add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge and to acknowledge Temperance the temperance patience and the patience godliness and the godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity For if these things be in you and abound they make you that ye shall neither be barren Weren't fruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ But he that like of these things is blind that cannot see afar off and have forgotten that he was purged from his old sins Wherefore the rather brethren give diligence to make your calling and then election sure for if you do these things he shall never fall For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly Into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things though you know them and be established in The present truth. Yea I think it meet as long as I am in this tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle even as our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me Moreover, I will endeavor that ye may be able after my deceased to have these things always in remembrance For we have not followed kindly devised fables when we may known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ But were eyewitnesses of his majesty for he received from God The father honor and glory when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased and This voice which came from heaven we heard when we were with him in the Holy Mount We have also a more sure word of prophecy one or two you do dwell you do well that ye take heed As unto the light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts Knowing this first that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation for the prophecy came not in old time By the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they are moved by the Holy Ghost Let us pray your Lord. Let's hear your word and be with pasture as we get something for your message Lord and Jesus now I pray I'm in Hey, man, you're there in second Peter chapter 1 and we are continuing to study through Adding to our faith or add to your faith and We're gonna be dealing with temperance Temperance, but I kind of want to just refresh. I know I was out last week and so It's been a couple weeks since we're getting into this So this this whole series is dealing with the fact that we have faith. Let's add some things to that and the first two things that we we were the Bible tells us to add is virtue and then knowledge and so But I just want you to see that from the very beginning on this the second epistle that Peter is writing Is the fact that he's talking to those that already have faith. They're already believers. They've already obtained that so When people try to say well if you have faith and you're gonna have all this stuff, too This whole passage wouldn't make sense There'd be no reason for this passage to be written if this is already automatic that you're already gonna have virtue You're already have knowledge You're already gonna have all these different things Then why would he even be writing this to add all these things to that or that it's just encompassed in that And so in verse 1 there it says Simon Peter a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ to them that have obtained like as like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ Grace and peace and multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and to Jesus our Lord So who we who are we dealing with here? Who are we talking to? We're talking to those that have already obtained that faith. They're already believers. They already have that faith So then it goes on to say according as his divine power had given unto us all things that pertain into life and godliness through the knowledge of him that had Called us to glory and virtue So what you have to understand is that when you get saved inwardly speaking everything has been made new You have everything that you need and that new man that that that child of God that's inside of you That's all there notice the present tense or you know how you know as he hath given unto us all things and If you're a new creature in Christ all things behold old things are passed away behold all things are become new That that happens the moment you believe the moment you have that faith And what this passage is really getting into is the fact that but physically speaking All things haven't been made new we don't have that divine nature if you will on the outward You know the body and all that so this is where in this life. We have to choose to put on the new man We have to choose to add to our faith all these different things and what it's really getting into is I believe it's more so that you're tapping into that new creature that God has created the moment you believe So notice what it says in verse 4 says whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these You might be partakers of the divine nature Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust So the idea of you know basically partaking and being you know taking that new creature that that that new man That child of God that God has has made you Inwardly is that here's how you here's how you tap into that. Here's how you walk in the new man or walk in the spirit and How you do that physically on the earth is that notice what it says in verse? 5 it says and beside this giving all diligence add to your faith Virtue and the virtue knowledge It's a knowledge temperance into temperance patience and the patience godliness and the godliness brotherly kindness and the brotherly kindness charity So there we're obviously going through all these so we'll be getting in the patience godliness brotherly kindness and then charity But notice the reason why right? I mean, it's like well, okay. Well, why why do I want to do this? You know why do I want to add to my faith these things? Because we're all saved we have eternal life and this is a question a lot of people have when you're out So why would you ever do anything right? Why would you ever want to I mean? Why don't you just go out and kill people all day? You know if you know that you're saved and they'll say outlandish thing outlandish things like that, right? Because before I got saved I wanted to just murder everybody right I mean because we're not psychopaths That's why we don't want to do that. But but on a lesser note if you were to say well Why do you go to church? Why do you want to do these things? Why do you want? You Know there's there's many reasons as far as like well, you know, maybe because I want to love the Lord Maybe I want to show him that I care about him that I appreciate him that I appreciate what he did for me But in this it's it states, you know, the reason why you want to add these things It says in verse 8 it says for if these things be in you and abound they make you That you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ So one reason is that you're not barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of Jesus Christ now That could be just the fact that hey, you have a bunch of knowledge, right? And we know this is that knowledge puffeth up but charity edifies So you notice that the end game of all of these things you're adding is charity But you can think about the knowledge but you can think about the fact that by his knowledge My righteous servant shall justify many right and the idea of not being unfruitful with the knowledge of Jesus Christ And as you have therefore received the gift even minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God So you have the knowledge, but are you being fruitful with that knowledge? Are you using that knowledge? Are you getting people saved and all that then it goes on to say, you know That's obviously the idea of being fruitful not being barren When it comes to that but in verse 9 it says but he that lacketh these things is blind He cannot see afar off and hath forgotten that he is purged from his old sins And if you think about the old sins is the the old man right that that flesh that you have there is a constant reminder That you still have this sin and if you're not adding things You're not you're not you're just you just you believe but you didn't do it. You're not doing anything else after that It's almost like you've forgotten that you have this new man that you can put on That you've been living in the flesh so long that you don't realize Hey, I can actually put on the new man. I can actually walk in the spirit I don't have to just live the rest of my life in the flesh Because there are consequences to living in the flesh He that soweth, that God is not mocked for us or a man soweth that shall also reap For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption But he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting Because if you're walking in a spirit and by the Spirit of God and the Word of God you give someone the gospel Guess what? You're reaping life everlasting every time someone believes on Christ. You've reaped life everlasting You've won someone to the Lord that has now has everlasting life and but you know what if you live in the flesh then you're gonna have the consequences for that now Keep reading there because then it goes on to say in verse 10 wherefore the rather brethren Give diligence to make your calling and election sure for if you do these things you shall never fall And when it says fall here in context of the whole book the last few verses state State that you don't fall from your own steadfastness But that you grow in grace in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ So if you're not unfruitful You know and you're not barren and unfruitful in the knowledge then you're growing in it and Then you're not falling right? You're not falling from your own steadfastness. And so So Why do you want it? Why do you want to add all these things so I don't fall so that I abound in it so that I am fruitful in the knowledge of our Savior Jesus Christ and it says for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and We want that abundant entrance, you know, I'm praise the Lord for all those that have life through Jesus Christ But you know what? Jesus says that I might get that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly and the idea of being a disciple and Not only having everlasting life but having it more abundantly by having an abundant entrance into that everlasting kingdom by having rewards for what you do in this life as a believer and So that's what this whole series is about is. Okay. Now you're saved All right, it's time to get the work it's time to get some virtue it's time to get some knowledge and in this sermon We're gonna be dealing with temperance now temperance that that word temperance isn't used a lot in the Bible but there is one place that it's You know probably well-known or more significant that you would think of it go to Galatians chapter 5 Galatians chapter 5 Dealing with the fruit of the Spirit It says in Galatians 5 verse 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love joy. Peace long suffering gentleness goodness faith Meekness temperance against such there is no law Now you have those people out there and they're like, well, you know, I'm a fruit inspector brother I mean if you're really saved and you're gonna sow some fruits like the fruits of the Spirit Well, first of all, it's fruit of the Spirit Not fruits And you say well, well, there's more than one thing that's mentioned there Well, because the fruit of the Spirit is all these things at once All of these things at once that's the fruit of the Spirit So the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace long suffering But you don't have love joy and peace without the long suffering gentleness goodness faith and meekness and temperance But it's interesting how people want to say Well, if you really believe then you're gonna have all this stuff then why is it saying to add it? The Bible says in 1st Peter chapter 1 Seeing you're purified yourself through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the Brethren Okay, so I've purified myself through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the Brethren See that you love one another with a pure heart fervently Whoa, I thought I was already unto unfeigned love of the Brethren But what you have to understand is that spiritually speaking we have unfeigned love of the Brethren But yet there's still a commandment to have Love unto the Brethren, right? Because you still have the body you still have that's flesh that you have to on a daily basis make the choice that you're gonna Love the Brethren and So this this temperance is the is is a part of the fruit of the Spirit And so this is obviously something that we want to have You say what is temperance? Now you can think about someone having a bad temper, right? So when you think of like someone has a temper We mean bad temper, right? So temper like having a temper is not necessarily good or bad. It depends on what you're talking about, right? or as far as what you're dealing with but let me just give you the dictionary.com the definition of temperance and There's a couple definitions that it shows here, but they're pretty much kind of dealing with the same thing Moderation or self-constraint restraint in actions statement etc self-control Habitual moderation in the indulgent of a natural appetite or passion So when you're dealing with temperance, it's really self-control So if someone has a bad temper, that means they can't control their temper, right? It's like they can't control their emotions. They can't control usually when you say someone has a bad temper there They have anger issues, right? They're they're blown off the top, you know, they're they're They get angry and they can't control it So a bad temper mean they don't have temperance in that area, but temperance isn't just dealing with anger It's dealing with all All types of areas right you could have temperance when it comes to eating, right? I don't but you can have it But when you're dieting, you know what that is self-control self-restraint temperance, right? Temperance when it comes to sin or any type of things like that in your life to where you have self-control restraint to where You can control your your emotions control your will all these everything and you can go in this many different facets But this is something that we want to strive to add it, you know, you have virtue you're trying to do, right? Trying to keep the commandments doing good doing righteous you're adding to that knowledge And so you're getting all the Word of God in there and you're trying to gain as much knowledge of the Lord as you can Get but you also want to have self-control right restraint when it comes to sin self-control when it comes to things in your life and just being a controlled type of person where you can control yourself and Go to 1st Corinthians chapter 9 1st Corinthians chapter 9 and verse 24. I Mean think about it the self-control to read your Bible instead of watching something on TV, right? and Showing restraint so like hey, it's gonna it takes more work for me to read Than to watch something and it's not even that whatever you're watching is bad, right? I don't think everything that that's out there is bad to look at you know, I mean I Watch Bob Ross paint a painting. I don't think that's bad But if If you have if you were you know, obviously that is just kind of like you don't have to do any work for right So when you're reading your Bible that takes work takes effort and it takes temperance to make that choice In 1st Corinthians chapter 9 and verse 24 It says know ye not that that they which run in a race run all but one receive at the prize so run that you may obtain and Everyone that striveth for the mastery notices is temperate in all things So notice it's not just like one thing you're temperate in you want to be a master Right. You want to be just master something you need to be temperate in all of it. I Mean think about just different things you can get into I mean, obviously this is dealing with a race So when you think about racing, there's different things. You got to be temperate in your diet your workout schedule your sleep You know, I'm not really a runner, but I try every once in a while to run but there's different things You know think about like even when you're running you're breathing You're controlling your breathing like different things like that in it So when you're if you're gonna win the race, you got to be temperate in all of it You can't you can't expect to win a race and just eat garbage And but you you work out all the time, but then you just eat you eat stuff. That's not gonna help you It doesn't give you the nutrition you need You're not gonna end up winning that race So you got to be temperate in all those different areas. I think about Shooting, you know, I used to shoot pistol shooting for competition and When it comes to that there's so many different facets that you got to be temperate on in order to Whether it's the movement you're like obviously the way you stand the way you're holding the gun The the breathing that takes place, you know the squeezing the trigger the control Mental aspect like there's a lot of things that you're trying to constrain and control to where You shoot a good shot or you get a good target or whatever you're trying to do there And so you can think about this in many different aspects whether it's your job Whether it's sports But in the Christian life, we want to be temperate in all things whether it's your Bible reading whether it's you know, just Keeping the commandments and trying to get sin out of your life, right? That you're trying to be temperate and all that When you're dealing with this as far as being temper temperate in all things It says now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we and incorruptible So it's kind of showing you that hey There's like these physical things like a race or something like that to where you can kind of hone in Okay, you gotta be tempered in this you got to be you got to be self-controlled in this in order to obtain that crown But that crown that you win at winning the 5k or the the marathon or whatever you're trying to do in a race That's corruptible. You know, that's gonna You know, let's say it's pure gold as you have. Well, you know, that's all gonna be burned up. It's gonna be cankers It's gonna be rusted whatever But we're doing it to obtain an incorruptible crown It says I therefore so run not as uncertainly so fight I not as one that beat at the air, but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection Lest that by any means when I have preached others, I myself should be a castaway the idea here is that he's bringing his body into some to subjection, right so when you're looking at this is that I I'm trying to control my body And this whole idea here of second Peter is the idea of basically putting off the old man and putting on the new and That takes restraint. Okay, and that's not something like You know Paul says I die daily, but honestly You're Dealing with this on even during the day, right? It's not like you put on the new man in the morning You're like I put it on one day down And it's like nine o'clock in the morning. It's like no like all day long You could end up putting up back on that old man And you have to on a constant basis be temperate in that to say, you know what? No keeping the new man on I'm putting off the old man and it's restraint and All different facets of your life go to 2nd Timothy chapter 2 2nd Timothy chapter 2 I know we've already hit on virtue and knowledge, but you know virtue comes first because we were talking about the fact that The Fruit of the righteous is a tree of life and he that when his soul's is wise and the idea of doing God's commandments to to obtain more knowledge and But obviously the more knowledge, you know the more you can you can hone in What you're doing, right? I mean think about it when you first get saved, you know that it's wrong to steal, you know It's wrong to to lie like you don't have to be taught that it's not like you Like oh man, I've been lying all this time. I Thought that was a good thing You know, I've been stealing this stuff for years. I didn't know you're you know, it was wrong to do that I thought I thought that was right now most people you don't have to teach him that but you can look at Honing that in to say okay. I know this is wrong, but This also is wrong and you can think about things that you didn't realize Were sin or things that were wrong to do or or things that would maybe cause you to get into deeper sins and you can hone it in and so the more knowledge you get the more you can be temperate in these areas or Be allowed to be temperate if you will but it says in verse 1 of 2 Timothy chapter 1 it says Thou therefore my son be strong in the grace That is it that is in Christ Jesus and the things that thou hast heard of me Among many witnesses the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others Also thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ No, man that warth Entanglement himself with the affairs of this life that he may Please him who had chosen him to be a soldier and if a man also strived for masteries yet Yet he yet is he not crowned except he strived Lawfully, so we're talking about If any man strive for masteries, he is temperate in all things in specific, you know, we're talking about a race there, but how about in a war and being temperate in battle and Knowing you know, basically You you have been you have the knowledge you have you have some virtue but Honing that in to where you're skillful with it Right You know how to use it, you know when to use it and You think about a soldier as far as not entanglement himself with the affairs of this life, right when you go to war You're thinking about war You're not thinking about your daily tasks in life. You're thinking about the battlefield You're thinking about that fight you have to win and think about if you were I don't know if anybody's done any like type of Martial arts stuff or wrestling or anything like that when you're in there fighting somebody You're not thinking about everything else that's out in the world. If you are you're gonna end up losing No, you're thinking of the task at hand and all that matters to you Is that I'm gonna beat this guy and what I have to do to beat him, right? I've never been in a sword fight to the death. So I can't really speak on that But if you think about the idea of David, for example when he goes to kill Goliath Saul gives him all his armor and his sword But he says it says in 1st Samuel chapter 17 verse 39. I cannot go with these for I have not proved them And it's the idea that you have knowledge, but have you proved it have you honed it are you temperate in it? Do you know how to use it and So when you're when you're thinking about this progression I do believe it is a progression as far as how you should look at it I have faith. You know what I need I need virtue I just need to keep the things that I know a right to keep and start with that go to church read your Bible don't lie don't steal and Some people caught up and think well, I just need to do everything all at once And if I can't do that, I can't be I can't be a disciple of the Lord, you know Like the Lord's gonna kill me, you know all this stuff and people would just get just They overthink everything okay, because when we're when you first get saved You're you're you're a babe in Christ and you need to desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow there by You're not gonna choke down a stake to begin with and you're not expected to be temperate in all things as a babe in Christ God is long-suffering. He's merciful. He's not expecting you to just get saved and boom You're a mature Christian and you're just temperate and everything. You're ready for the battle No, you have to start off being a novice being a beginner You know with the milk of the word learning you're making mistakes. You're just honing in things You're getting temperate in this area getting temperate in this area. You're not just going to be tampered in all things all at once It's gonna take time. It's gonna take You focusing on one area say I'm gonna really get tampered in reading. I'm gonna read the Bible I'm gonna get tampered and just really focusing on being really, you know, restrained in this area And maybe it's an area where you struggle and you're like man, I'm just gonna hone in on just being tampered in that area and Go to go to first Timothy chapter 4 first Timothy chapter 4. I Think about this when it comes to exercising or you know, I I Lift weights, you know, I go to the gym I try to run just so to not be fat, you know and all that stuff, but I don't like running but I do lift I do lift weights and This kind of makes me think of this idea of being tampered in that because You first when you're lifting weights you're just trying to do it, right But the more you do it the more you're trying to really hone in on it And it gets to the point where you're you're lifting I'll just give an example of like let's say bench press right you're doing bench press when you first start doing it You can't do much because you're all over the place You're wobbly and you don't have any form down and you're just like getting something up and you're like, okay I got it the next time you do it your forms a little better You're a little more stable You can do more weight and Then that keeps growing to where the stability is there do more weight But then there comes a point where you're doing weights to the point that if you put a feather on that You wouldn't be able to get that weight up right because you're so temperate in it You are maxed out to the limit as far as what weight you can do with everything locked in everything honed in to the point now it just has Solely to do with how much strength you have and not dealing with all those little aspects that are Stability muscles different things like that. Okay, just a physical realm of understanding How in the Christian life you need to get all these stability muscles in there to where you can really just hit it hard And go to max max strength right and a lot of times when people get saved they want to go like full out Max strength and they're just completely they're as unstable as water Right. It's like someone's like I'm gonna do bench press put 315 on there. Let's do this It's like have you ever done bench press? No, let's do it. Come on It's like you're going to die Or you're gonna get really hurt Even if they're strong enough technically like they have the muscle mass to do it They don't have the stability to do it to get it done. They don't have the experience to get it done And go to first Timothy chapter 4 verse 6 It says if thou Put the brethren in remembrance of these things thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ Nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine where unto thou hast attained But refused profane and old wives fables and exercised thyself rather unto godliness For bodily exercise profiteth little but godliness is profitable unto all things having a prop having promise of The life that now is and of that which is to come listen bodily exercise does profit but compared to Godliness like God, you know exercising on the godliness is very little in its profitability, right? So but don't go out of this be like see probably exercise that's worthless. No, it profits little But at the same time it does show you kind of the comparison though, doesn't it? That bodily exercise and being temperate in that being restrained in that being, you know having a schedule with it You know, let's say you work out three times a week or whatever your schedule is that is temperance That's willpower to say, you know what? I'm gonna go I'm gonna go work out I'm gonna do it this this amount of times every week and I did you're on a schedule and you just keep doing it You can think about this with going to church right being temperate in that in the idea That you're constraining your own will to end up being at church three times a week every week going down the line to where That takes willpower You don't just trip in the church on accident Right everybody that's here Obviously besides the kids that are being brought by their parents everybody that's here There's an adult that drove here had to make the conscious choice Conscious choice to get up this morning Get the church You know like you you made that effort you made that that that conscious choice to Basically restrain any idea of like no, I'd rather do this. I'd rather sleep in I'd rather Just not do anything today. I just want to relax or whatever That's a conscious choice, but it takes temperance To say know what I'm gonna restrain the flesh and I'm going to feed the spirit and Come to church and be around believers Hebrews chapter go to Hebrews chapter 5 Hebrews chapter 5 Hebrews chapter 5 and by the way, this is a quality of this is supposed to be a quality of a pastor of a bishop It says in Titus 1 you know the quality is a place where I talked about qualifications of a bishop It says for a bishop that for a bishop must be blameless as a steward of God not self-willed Not soon angry so you definitely see the temperance in there a little bit But then it goes on to say not given a wine No striker not given a filthy lucre, but a lover of hospitality love of good men sober just holy temperate And it says holding fast the faith for it is as he has been taught that he may be able by sound doctor both to the exhort and convince the gainsayers a Lot of that stuff even is dealing with temperance right not being soon angry that takes temperance not being self-willed that takes temperance and Being temperate you don't want an unstable You know ill-tempered pastor right you want someone that knows how to restrain himself Whether that's with anger whether that's with sin Whatever the case may be you want someone that's that's that's leading the church to be Temperate but yet that's not just for a pastor though because in the next chapter it talks about so it says But speak out of things become sound document the aged men be sober grave temperate and going down a line sound of faith charity and patience is That you know it's not like just the pastor should be temperate no everybody should be temperate But I think it's interesting that obviously the pastor is the synonymous term with the pastor is being an elder Not necessarily an age, but it's but more so spiritually right that you're Not they're not a beginner, right? But the idea of like elder man and the pastor himself being temperate because that takes time That doesn't just automatically happen that takes time with you know experience and Just honing in you know basically stability Being rooted and grounded in the faith right I mean that is our goal is that you get saved Yet baptized, but then you're rooted and grounded in the faith, and what better place to be To be rooted and grounded in faith, but in the pillar and ground of the truth, which is the church of the living God That's where you're going to be rooted and grounded and obviously I'm not here to say like well You can only learn the Bible for me Because the anointing which you received of him abideth in you and you need not that any man teach you But as the same anointing teacheth you of all things and is truth and is no lie and even as it had taught you shall Biden him so you don't need me to teach you the Bible But know this is that the Word of God was manifest through preaching and that through preaching You can understand some very complex things that would take you a lot longer to understand if you're doing it on your own And just gleaming off someone that has put in a little more time than you to learn a subject And obviously you should always be discerning Whether what's being preached is right? Because no, this is the pastors obviously human and You know, I can make mistakes just like anybody else but You know, you should be reading on your own. You should be hearing good preaching and trying to get good doctrine But it's up to you to get that temperance. I can't I can't just like here you are Here's your temperance right and I can say hey, here's a sermon. Here's some knowledge, but you have to write You have to understand it. My job is to make it easy to understand Taking something complex and making it easy for you to understand unpacking it in a simple manner and then you take that knowledge and use it and I Had you turning to I had you turning to I never did read to you Hebrew chapter 5 did I so Hebrew chapter 5? In Hebrew chapter 5 in verse Verse 12 there says for when for the time you ought to be teachers you have need that one teach you again Which be the first principle principles of the oracles of God and are become such as of need of milk and not a strong meat for everyone that uses milk is Unskillful in the word of righteousness for he is a babe and think about that. You're unskillful Now there's nothing wrong with being a babe in Christ and growing in grace and getting the milk of the word But it's just showing you're not skillful in it. You're not a master at it. You're not mastering it You're like are you saying pastor Robinson? You're a master? No, I'm just saying that that's what we're striving to be though I'm striving to be temperate in all things and Striving for masteries and I want to be a master in the Word of God Not that I'm gonna call myself that right Like Jason the master of the Word of God master of theology Dr. Divinity, right? No, but we are striving to Master it master our knowledge in the Word of God but Notice that those that use milk those that are younger and they're not skillful Which I believe they're not as temperate in it. Okay, notice what it says in verse 14 It says but strong meat belongeth to them that are a full age Even those who by reason of what? Use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil So notice that we're talking about virtue and knowledge You know using that knowledge and by reason of use you have your senses Exercised so that you can discern both good and evil think about temperance as being basically Discerning You have the knowledge but you're discerning like what what am I doing with this? What's this for? You know, where am I gonna use it at? and Also actually applying it so I Had some other verses good Go to Colossians chapter 4 Colossians chapter 4 and really when I think of temperance I think about the idea of the how and the win right Because when you think about knowledge is more of the what? What are we talking about? What is this? right But then you think about okay, I Learned that I learned this doctrine, but How do I use it and when do I use it? right and that's something that takes a little more than just Understanding the facts right you understand that the sky is blue, but You This year Before in verse 5 it says walk in wisdom toward them that are without redeeming the time Let your speech be all way with grace season with salt That you may know how you ought to answer every man So the question is how do you answer somebody? Do you answer them roughly you answer them softly Answer them roughly softly or not at all And think about it. Yes, you chapter 3 and I know we did a whole series on this, but here's the win And This passage doesn't tell you the win it just tells you that there is a different time To do certain things and not only certain things, but the polar opposite of it Okay, so think about this is that you can have knowledge that there's a time to there's a time to break down in time to build up but When and how do you do that? And this is why you know the Christian life is sometimes it's not necessarily Difficult to understand, but at the same time it can be difficult to do but in these cases This is why studying the Bible and experience and all these different things are going to help you Have discernment and have temperance in all these areas you're trying to master this right you're trying think about going out So winning mastering how to answer somebody When to answer somebody and Notice what it says in Ecclesiastes chapter 3 and verse 1 it says to everything there is a season and time to every purpose under the heaven So time would be the win, right? It says a time to be born a time to die a time to plant the time to pluck up that which is planted Time to kill and a time to heal a time to break down a time to build up The time to weep and the time to laugh a time to mourn and time to dance Time to cast away stones and time to gather stones together a time to embrace and time to refrain from Embracing a time to get a time to lose a time to keep and a time to cast away A time to rend a time to sew a time to keep silence and a time to speak a time to love and a time to Hate a time of war and a time of peace There's all these times to do all these different things, but the question you have to ask yourself is when? When's the time to do that and when that time comes how do you do it? So when you're dealing with Adding to your faith virtue and knowledge, okay, I got this virtue and knowledge, but okay I need to add some temperance in there. I Need to know how to handle these things, right? How I'm stable in this how to know when to speak to somebody when to not say anything at all when to answer someone roughly and when they answer them softly and There's obviously all kinds of Bible verses to help you with that, right? To know When to speak and when to keep silence And that's just one example, right? That's just one of those times the other the other ones you have to look up other scriptures You know time to love a time to hate. Okay. I know that there is a time Well when and who and how? right and so when it comes to temperance we need to Obviously Try to be adding temperance on a daily basis and don't get caught up if you're not I'm just master overnight in knowing all this stuff Little by little here a little there a little You know bit by bit One upon line bit by bits not that that's that's bluey My kids are speaking like Australia now So This is something that you just have to know okay as I grow I'm gonna get more temperance as I go and You just have to be patient with it which happens to be the next thing you're dealing with Because some people, you know, I'm there with you is that you want to you want to be there before Maybe you're ready to be there when it comes to the temperance that you have Like you get saved you're like I want to be a master at it. I don't want to be a novice I don't want to be a beginner. I want to just be You know there I'm elder in the faith I know at all this doctrine all that it takes time your mind can only Take in so much at one time anyway And the stuff you do take in you can only process and really be skillful in it After using it and that takes time Takes time to take what you've learned and use it and apply it and then from that you learn a lot of mist You have a lot of mistakes, but then you learn a lot of lessons, and then you just over time You just you should be getting better and better and better and better and better Okay, and so But again when you're dealing with this remember temperance is basically restraining yourself from some kind of natural Affection or desire right so look at Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 20 Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 20 which I believe this whole passage in 2nd Peter is dealing with is the idea of putting on the new man But let me just show you a place where it talks about putting on the new man Or that new creature if you will the the inner man right the Bible talked about the inner man that spiritual You know your soul your spirit that you're walking in that and not in the flesh But it says in verse 20 it says so Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 20 says But ye have not so learned Christ if so be ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and That you put on the new man Which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness remember old things are passed away behold all things are become new You're a new creature in Christ, and that's that inward You know man, or you know and even with the women it says that that hidden man in the heart Which is not corruptible right it talks about the wife and that should be adorned in and meekness of spirit and that hidden man in the heart, which is not corruptible and so but go Wherefore put away lying Speak every man truth with his neighbor for we are members of one of one another be Angry and sin not let not the Sun go down upon your wrath not a gift place to the devil So you think about just the idea of being temperate and not lying to people being honest being temperate in your anger It's not saying you can't be angry But you need to be angry about the right things and you need to know when to turn it off Even righteous indignation you need to turn it off at night. Don't go to bed angry Because You know you're not gonna sleep Well, you're gonna have bad dreams, and it's just not good for you in the Bible even tells us Hey, you know don't let the Sun go down upon your wrath even if it's a good thing even just even if it's good wrath And it says Let him that soul steal no more but rather let him labor working with his hands that which is good that he may have to give to him that needed let no Corrupt communication proceeded out of your mouth But that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace unto the hearers and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God Whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be Kind one to another tender heart and forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you and These are just some areas to have temperance in you know that show restraint When it comes to your anger when it comes to obviously Maybe certain sins that maybe you would deal with right? Because some people maybe they you know when it comes to lying. There's like. I don't have a problem with that And then some people do Some people just have a problem. They just constantly They can't help but just lie about it's not even something that's pertinent. You know. They're just like why would you even lie about that? It doesn't make any sense But there are people that deal with being like a habitual liar, and that's what temperance is dealing with is something that's that's habitual meaning that it's something that's ongoing something you have a problem with and constraining it so your flesh is For lack of better terms Habitual lusts that of the flesh, but everybody kind of has their areas that they deal with right We all have sins that are common to man But you know what there's certain things that I struggle with That maybe someone else doesn't or maybe you struggle with that. I don't really struggle with as much, okay It's not that I'm here to say like I could never struggle with that. You know I'm beyond that It's the fact that there are certain things that I that that that are harder for me to deal with and When it comes to having constraint or temperance My anger is one of them Okay We've told sermons about anger But that goes into patience But being temperate in anger will help me be patient and Eating right you know like not eating sweets not eating a bowl of cereal every single night My body's saying yes, I want that but I had to pull back and be like no and There's certain things like that and you say that's trivial It doesn't matter right I mean we all have different things that we struggle with When it comes to life or whatever and anger is one of mine, especially on the road I Haven't actually got into a road rage fight with anybody But there's been many times that I wish I had one of those blue turtle shells from Mario Kart That I can just annihilate somebody on the road I don't want them to get hurt. I just want them out of the way But I have real road rage issues and like in anger to where You know what and listen I do believe I'm temperate enough to where I'm not like some crazy person out there or like But I'm just telling you that there's things even though I would consider myself pretty temperate in that I'm still trying to hone that in on a regular basis Where I'm like looking at it like later, you know, all the kids are in bed, you know, everything like it's calmed down. I'm just like Why do I get so angry, you know, why do I get so like like I need that I need to pull back on that You know, I need I need to just be more understanding and not just be so Angry and that's just one thing that I deal with and so I you know, it's just something that I'm constantly trying to be tempered in and And some of you may look at me You know, like it maybe if you're at my house and all I'd be like that's not anger It doesn't matter because there's still things like I'm not comparing myself Among other people right? I'm not I'm not gonna compare myself to some lunatic That's like beating his wife and be like, well, it's not that bad It's not the point though, right the idea is that as you get temperate in something You're getting to the point where once you're when you're trying to try to master stuff You're at a point where people are just like why are you even worrying about that? Right? Why are you trying to like? Don't go crazy You know, it's like when you're trying to like maybe you're trying to win a race or trying to do something like good night I can't even run a mile Be happy with what you got. It's like no Going forward right and you're just trying to get better and better and better and better and better and better and so don't Don't be down on yourself, okay, because you got to start somewhere but also don't limit yourself Because you're doing a lot better than someone over here. Does that make sense? Is that you should always be you know Not not a Debbie Downer on everything that you're dealing with in life, but also The sky's the limit for how well you can do Okay, I'm pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus And I'm not gonna just like say well, you know, I'm doing better than most people out there. So There you have it Did you know what's gonna happen if you do that? It's gonna start going downhill Because as soon as you stop climbing the mountain the more you start falling down the mountain You start sliding off the mountain And you have to think about that when you're climbing you're you're you're like two steps up one step back on a constant basis And if you stop You're just gonna be one step back no step back and no step back and you have to keep pushing forward Okay, but ultimately when it comes to being temperate I think about the idea of being sober You know being sober about You know reality of where you're at what what your problems are what what what you have to deal with That you're not just like an ostrich where you're putting your head in the same be like, well, you know what? I'm just gonna let everything happen the way it happens I'm not even think about it go to 1st Peter chapter 1 verse 13 1st Peter chapter 1 verse 13 The last thing I just want to mention here is the idea of resisting and restraining yourself You're you're restraining yourself from the flesh essentially You're being tempered against your own fleshly desires Whether that's buying a Tesla or I'm joking I kind of told myself I wasn't gonna give you a hard time, but I just can't help it No, but but not all seriousness I Think about temperance as being You know, basically alert aware of what's going on to where you can hone it in control it I think about it as control and Just being controlled in your life control over your body controlled over everything that you do You're like you're a control freak. So be it I'd rather be in control than Then just all over the place And I'm maybe that's just my personality I like to I don't like I like driving like if I'm going somewhere I want to be in control. That's why I don't like flying because I'm not in control And I'm not afraid of flying but I don't like it I'd rather be just put me up in the pilot seat Well, at least as I don't want to be the pilot, but I'd like to be up there and like see what's going on You know Why are we slowing down? Why are we going down? Why are we doing this? You know, I wonder why and I want to know where we're going and I want to be there, right? But same thing with driving like I don't really like there's only a few people that I don't mind draw like riding with and You know, there's a lot of people in here. I don't want to ride But for sake of everybody's You know Feelings, I'm not gonna mention anybody No, but honestly though if I'm driving if I'm with my wife, I'm driving and that's not Not because my wife can't drive or she's a horrible driver. It's just that I'm in control when we're there, you know And there are times obviously where She'll drive or whatever for whatever reason when I'm like in the car, but it's a very short basis We're going on a long trip. I'm driving You know, like if we're going somewhere if it's treacherous outside, I'm driving, you know, I want to be in control and That's just the way it is. But in first Peter chapter 1 verse 13 says wherefore gird up the loins of your mind Be sober and hope to the end For the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ as Obedient children not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance, but as he which hath called you and As he which hath called you as holy so be holy in all manner of conversation Because it is written be holy for I am holy and think about this idea of not fashion yourself according to the former lusts But being sober minded right the idea of being temperate and being in controlling yourself from these fleshly Lusts listen these fleshly lusts war against the soul the Bible says that's what it says in chapter 2 then go to chapter 5 first Peter and chapter 5 first Peter in verse 8 It says be sober be vigilant because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion Walketh about seeking whom he may devour Whom resist steadfast in the faith knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world The idea of being sober and vigilant the idea that that in a battle if you're gonna resist somebody you need to be alert Awake, you need to know what's going on. You need to be controlled and That gets into the temperance controlling yourself knowing which way to go how to go when to go and This applies out soul winning You know this applies in your marriage This applies at work This applies at church This this applies throughout your whole life that there's areas where you need to have Temperance you need to have self-control You need to you know This is something that we need to be adding To our faith and not that we just add it but notice that it states that if these things be in you and abound It's the idea that if you have temperance that doesn't mean that you're done And let's say you let's say you were to say well, I have temperance in all areas of my life one No, you don't but two If you did have temperance and just all areas of your life, and you're just like, okay I've got control over all these areas in my life and there's nothing that I'm liking it You need to have bound in it because even in those areas where you have control get better control Get more control And You know But I'd say this is that you should always be thinking that I need to get more control in that area Even if you have a lot of good control, I find that sometimes I'll preach sermons where the sermon is maybe tailored to a certain Crowd I don't you I don't preach against anybody like it's not like I'm like this service for that person, you know Like brother Levi you're getting it today, you know You know, I don't think about it as like a personal thing But sometimes I'll think about like there there's there's just things that we all need to deal with But there's probably people that it would have be speaking to more than others But the thing that's interesting is that usually what I find is the people that are doing the best in that area The ones that are like I need to do better than that right I'll preach on soul-winning and I'll preach about you know The need to go soul-winning and then the people that are going soul-winning like more than anybody else would be like, yeah I need to get better at this just like You know, but that kind of gets into the aspect of those that are temperate and controlled and and and restraining themselves They tend to think I need to do better and that should be the mindset Don't be down on yourself to where you're just like ho hum. I can't do anything, right? But also don't think that you've arrived Okay So you need to be in this state of like, okay. I'm not like just I'm not just losing everything now But hey, I need to get better. I need to constantly get better. I need to start maybe You know honing this in or something like that And again, it may be different for everybody maybe some people are saying you know what I need to be tempered in my reading I need to really have self-control to where I get my reading schedule on a good basis. Maybe it's Bible memorization Maybe it's you know church. It's it's it's whatever right you can maybe think about this in your life when it comes to Things that you're doing at home marriage whatever is that You show constraint you you pull back on your own will and focus on others, right? And the Bible, you know, that's a constant theme of the Bible is not serving yourself, but serving others Whether that's your family whether it's a church family whether it's people at work Whatever the case may be is that that is a sign of temperance in the idea of constraining your own fleshly desires to help others and to do what God wants you to do, so so Lord willing next week, we'll get into patience and That's another one. I struggle But yeah, no, it's this is something that like I said if you may look at me like well I think I have I had this I think I have some of that Well, it doesn't really matter if you have it or some of it All of us need to abound in it and none of us have peaked in any of these Whether it's virtue knowledge temperance patience, you know brotherly kindness going down the line None of us have arrived at the point where we're maxed out at it Okay, so we should all be abounding so all these sermons should be hitting us to some level and say hey I need to be more temperate. I need to have more knowledge I need to have more virtue and going down the line that hey, we should all be increasing and abounding in it So let's end with a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father we thank you for today. Thank you for your word Thank you for the souls that were saved today. Thank you for all the soul winners and just our church family I just pray that you bless them and be with us throughout this week Be with us as we go to work and just give us safety Give us health and what we love you and pray all this in Jesus Christ's name. Amen But they will come and sing one more song and then we'll be dismissed You All right, take your song books and turn to song number 100 Song number 100 in your song books If you would stand we'll sing day by day Song number 100 day by day and with the And I find to meet my trials here Trusting and my father's wise Bestowment, I've no cause for worry or for fear He whose heart is kind beyond all measure Gives unto each day what he deems best Lovingly It's part of pain and pleasure Mingling tall with peace and rest Every day the Lord himself is near me with a special mercy for each hour All my cares he fain would bear and cheer me He whose name And par the Protection of a child and treasure is a child that on himself he lay as thy days thy strength shall This the pledge to me He So to try Promises Oh Lord That I lose not face we consolation offered me within thy holy word Oh Me Lord when toil and trouble meeting Heir to take as from a father's hand One by one his days the moments fleeting till I reach