Amen. All right. Good morning. Good to be in church and worshipping God instead of Tom Brady today. So good to be in church.
All right. The part of the chapter I want to focus on is there in verse number eight. The Bible says be sober, be vigilant because your adversary, the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour.
Let's pray. Lord, thank you so much for this day and thank you for the opportunity to preach this sermon.
Pray that you fill me up with the Holy Spirit and help me to edify your people. And I pray that you get all the glory for it. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Alright, the title of my sermon this morning is "How Not to Get Devoured by Satan". You see there in the Bible, the Bible gives us a charge that the devil's walking about seeking whom he may devour.
The devil wants to destroy us. He wants to destroy this church. And that's not a railing accusation. That's just what the Bible says.
So we need to know how not to get devoured by Satan.
You know, this is an invisible enemy that we never actually see, but yet we're at war with every single day.
I'll read for you Ephesians chapter 6 verse 12. The Bible reads, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."
And especially for a church that's trying to do so much for God and a movement that's trying to do so much for God and for
individual families that are trying to do so much for God, the devil's not gonna take all that stuff lying down.
He's not gonna take us starting churches in Boise and in Spokane and having a church over in the Philippines that gets
2,000 people saved in the first month of the year. I mean, that would take us over two years to do here in Vancouver.
You know, yet there's places in this world where the laborers are working hard and getting over 2,000 people saved in the first month of the year.
That's amazing, right? Well, that's great works for God being done,
but you see the devil's not gonna let that slide without him fighting us.
The devil's not gonna just take that laying down. And you know, because of that, the devil wants us to quit.
The devil wants to destroy our health, our bodies, our spirits, our minds.
The devil wants to attack us from any possible angle. He can.
And you know, maybe if the devil was attacking us and we fell out and we weren't really that important,
maybe it wouldn't be that big of a deal. But for us, for this church, the stakes are too high for us to fail.
Every single person in this church is important. I'll read for you 2 Corinthians 4.
The Bible says, "Therefore, seeing we have this ministry as we have received mercy, we faint not."
You know, we can't faint. You know why? Because we have this ministry. That's why.
Because we have the ministry of soul winning that if we're not doing it, no one's doing it.
You know, I still believe to this day that people in our movement and like-minded to us are doing the vast majority of the soul winning in this world.
We have this ministry. It's too important. We cannot fail.
2nd Corinthians 520 says, "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you and Christ said, 'Be ye reconciled to God.'"
You know, I don't believe like the dispensationalists, like the rucktards, that us Gentiles are just Plan B.
You know, I actually believe I'm an ambassador of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I believe this church, we're all ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ, and if you're saved, you're made kings and priests unto God and His Father.
So we're all important. So when you fall, when you fail, when you get devoured by Satan, that has big consequences.
It's not just no big deal. We all have to take it very seriously.
So number one, how are we going to do this? Look at 1 Peter chapter 5.
Number one, we must be clothed with humility.
Starting there in verse number five, the Bible reads,
"Likewise ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder.
Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility, for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble."
You know, Satan knows the most surefire, quickest, easiest way to destroy your Christian walk is to get you full of pride.
Because the Bible says that if you're full of pride, God himself will resist you.
Turn to Proverbs chapter number six.
Proverbs chapter number six.
And I'll read for you Psalm 138 verse six, the Bible reads, "Though the Lord be high,
yet hath he respect unto the lowly, but the proud he knoweth afar off."
You know, God doesn't think like this world thinks.
You know, God's up high and he doesn't just have respect to people that are high and exalted
up in this world like the world believes.
He has respect unto the lowly and he's going to be close to the person that's lowly.
He says the proud he knoweth afar off.
He's going to get them far away from him.
He's not going to be walking close to him.
Proverbs 6 verse 16.
The Bible reads,
"These six things doth the Lord hate.
Yea, seven are an abomination unto him, a proud look,
a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
and heart that deviseth wicked imaginations,
feet that be swift in running to mischief,
a false witness that speaketh lies,
and he that soweth discord among brethren."
One of the things that God hates and is literally an abomination to him is a proud look.
When you think that you're so cool, and you're so powerful, and you're so mighty, and you're so important,
and, you know, you don't need God, you have that proud look,
God is going to get you far away from him, and you will fail, and you will be devoured by Satan.
Turn to Matthew chapter 4, I'll read for you a few more verses on this.
Proverbs 15-25, the Bible says,
"The Lord will destroy the house of the proud,
but he will establish the border of the widow."
You think of a widow, a widow's not someone that has that much to be proud about, you know?
She's usually living off of the charity of other people.
She can't even really eat unless someone else is helping her out.
And God says he's going to establish the border of a person like that,
but the proud, he's not going to have anything to do with them.
James 4, 6 says, "But he giveth the more grace,
wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud,
but he giveth grace unto the humble."
So of course, Satan knows that God is going to resist you if you become prideful.
So one of the tactics he's going to use against us is trying to get you filled up with pride.
He's been using this tactic for a long time.
You're there in Matthew.
Look at chapter number four, Matthew chapter number four, and we'll see Satan use this tactic on Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse eight, the Bible reads, "Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain,
and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them.
And he sayeth unto them, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
Then sayeth Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve."
So Satan is trying to get Jesus to fall down and worship him.
And one of the ways he does that says, "Hey, I'm going to give you all the kingdoms of the world."
Isn't that something that our flesh desires is to have dominion and power?
Isn't that a natural sin that our flesh can fall into of wanting to be proud?
You know, Donald Trump, he owns his enterprise of businesses spanning across the world.
That's the pride of life, right?
And you know what? I believe Satan can get, I believe Satan does have some power.
And I believe that, I don't think he was lying to Lord Jesus Christ right here.
I believe he could have given him all the kingdoms of this world temporarily.
But of course, Jesus knew he's going to have dominion over this earth forever and ever.
But go to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 real quick.
And I'll just show you that Satan does have power in this earth.
He's called the God of this world.
2 Thessalonians chapter number 2, starting in verse number 8.
"And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth,
and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.
Even him who's coming is after the working of Satan with all power, and signs, and lying wonders,
and with all the deceivableness of unrighteousness."
It's true. The Bible says Satan has power. He can work miracles.
He has all these lying wonders to deceive us today.
And one of the ways he's going to do that is he can offer you power.
You know, there's all these mega-rich people of this world.
And I'm not talking about people who just live, you know, make a good living.
Maybe they own a business and they're comfortable.
But I'm talking about the mega-rich of this earth, the Bill Gates, the Teslas, the Donald Trump.
These people that just have all the kingdoms of the world, basically.
There's one thing all of them have in common and that's pride.
Because guess what? Satan has given them their power.
They got their power by selling their soul.
You ever hear people say, "Oh, I sold my soul to the devil"?
It's a real thing. The devil can give you power.
You have to bow down and worship him. He'll give you that power.
Even for a Christian, you're not going to be able to sell your soul to the devil as a Christian, of course.
You can't lose your salvation. But guess what?
Satan can give you that job that you want so bad that can make you a bunch more money
at the expense of going to church on Sunday.
Satan can give you that great job and make a bunch more money.
You can have the boat and all the trucks and all the big houses and everything you want.
You can have that as a Christian if you don't go soul winning, if you give up your Bible reading,
if you give up raising your family and raising your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Satan can give you all those things and how's he going to do it?
He's going to want you to get prideful first and say, you know what?
I deserve to have more money.
I deserve to have this car.
I deserve to have all these things.
You know what? I'll take that job.
You know, and a lot of that's why you ought not think every time something happens in your life that it's God that's giving it to you.
You know, it could be Satan himself trying to trip you up with something.
Not every time you get a job offer should you necessarily take it just because it pays more money.
You know, that's why it's so important that when we pray, we got to be praying according to God's will.
We can't just be praying according to our own heart's lust.
We got to look at the Bible, see what God's will is for us.
And then if we don't know the answer, God, should I do this or should I do that?
Pray, Lord, let your will be done.
That's how you're not going to get devoured by Satan.
James 4.7 says, "Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you."
You got to run away from that pride.
Turn to Genesis chapter number three.
Genesis chapter number three.
We're going to see another time Satan used this tactic.
Genesis chapter number three, verse one.
The Bible says, "Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field."
See, the devil's not going to come out with red horns on his head and a pitchfork and
say, "Do this.
This is what I want you to do."
He's subtle, more subtle than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made.
And he said unto the woman, "Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat every tree of the garden."
And the woman said unto the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden,
but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, ye shall
not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die."
And the serpent said unto the woman, "Ye shall not surely die, for God doth know that in
the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing
good and evil."
There it is.
He's playing on our pride again.
He says, "Hey, you're going to be like God.
You're going to have the knowledge of good and evil."
He plays on Eve's pride.
And by the way, women can be prideful too.
You know, obviously this is a sin that is mostly pertaining to men because men think
they're so cool.
But women can be just as prideful, it usually just comes out in a little bit different way.
It usually comes out in being really passive aggressive because men are direct and they
just want to like tell you "I'm the best" right to your face, right?
But women, they're a lot more passive aggressive.
They'll give the little passive aggressive comments.
You know, they'll just try to be really subtle about it.
But obviously Satan can play on both men and women's pride.
Genesis 3 says, "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was
pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit there
of and did eat and gave also unto her husband with her and he did eat."
You know, it's too bad Eve never learned James 4, 7, "Resist the devil and he'll flee from
you."
Right?
Because that's all she had to do.
When Satan gave her that stupid little gimmick that he pulled on her, he should have just
resisted and she would have been fine.
Go to 1 John chapter number 2.
You know, when the tempter comes to us, we need to resist the devil and he'll flee from
us.
1 John chapter number 2.
Yeah, Hebrews, James, 1 and 2 Peter, 1 John.
1 John chapter number 2, the Bible says, "Love not the world, neither the things that are
in the world.
If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the
pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world."
So if it's not of the Father, who's it of?
If it's of the world, who's it of?
It's of the God of this world.
The pride of life is something that the devil is always going to be trying to play you on.
What are some examples of this?
Go to Proverbs chapter number 7.
A great example of this is the flattering tongue, trying to get you to have the pride
of life.
The flattering tongue.
Look at Proverbs chapter number 7, Psalms, Proverbs, Proverbs chapter number 7, starting
verse 5.
I'm going to read a little bit here.
"That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger with flattereth with
her words.
For at the window of my house I looked through my casement and beheld among the simple ones.
I discerned among the youths, a man void of understanding, passing through the street near
her corner, and he went the way to her house in the twilight, in the evening, in the black
and dark night, and behold there met him a woman with the attire of a harlot and subtle
of heart.
She has that same subtlety that Satan has, verse 11.
She is loud and stubborn, her feet abide not in her house.
Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth and waiteth every corner.
So she caught him and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him, I have peace
offerings with me.
This day have I paid my vows, therefore came I forth to meet thee diligently to seek thy
face and have found thee.
See this harlot is trying to play on this man's pride saying I came here just looking
for you buddy, just for you stud muffin, right?
I'm only looking for you.
I came ready looking for you.
Verse 16, I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine
linen of Egypt.
I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning.
Let us solace ourselves with love.
She's going up to this guy saying, "Look at all this work that I've prepared just for
you, because you're so great.
You're so great, and I would only pick a guy like you."
Men ought to be careful of the woman that flatters him, and especially if a man's in
a position of leadership, that's a really dangerous place for them to be.
And obviously, we see that all the time, pastors, CEOs, owners of company, anyone with any perceived
position of power, this is a huge danger for that person.
And, you know, I've even seen this in the workplace.
You know, I'm so thankful.
One of the most things that I'm most thankful in my life is that I work with all saved brethren
in Christ.
I work with not a single unsaved person.
They're all men.
You know, my bosses are unsaved, but they're not even in the shop all the time.
It's amazing.
But that is such a blessing because I've worked places before where I've been the manager
at a couple different jobs and this one time this woman was having really bad marriage problems
and she was bringing it to work and she's just filling people's ear with all this crap
about her marriage.
And I always shut it down.
I was like, "Don't talk to me about this.
I don't want to hear about your marriage."
Well, the thing is she was talking to the other guys too about it.
And this one guy's like, "Oh, you know, you just need to separate and spend some time
away with him."
And I noticed they started going to lunch together.
I noticed they started disappearing on the clock, you know, at times at work together.
And it turns out that two of my employees were committing adultery, you know, at the
job site.
Why?
Because this woman doesn't feel loved at home and the flattering tongue, Proverb 7, man
in this case, decides to say, "Hey, you know what?
You need to separate from your husband.
Spend some time with me.
Let me take you out to lunch.
Let me show you who a gentleman is."
And then all of a sudden, adultery happens.
You know, the flattering tongue is an easy way for Satan to get you filled with pride
and to devour you, because I promise you, I promise you, you commit adultery as a Christian,
you're going to be devoured.
God is not mocked.
You're going to get disease.
You're going to possibly lose your marriage, God forbid that would happen.
But God's not mocked.
You will be devoured by Satan if you decide to commit adultery.
Let's see where I am.
Another way pride can pop up is in ministry.
Turn to 1 Timothy while I read for you, 1 Timothy, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy.
Philippians 1.15 says, "Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife and some also
of goodwill."
There are some people even in the ministry that are preaching Christ just of envy and
strife just because they want to be proud.
1 Timothy 3, this is why God has this qualification in the Bible.
Verse number 6, the Bible reads, "Not a novice lest being lifted up with pride, he fall into
the condemnation of the devil."
You want to be devoured by Satan, go ahead and become a pastor when you're not ready
to become a pastor.
Go ahead and become a pastor when you're proud, you're lifted up with pride, you're a novice,
you don't even know the Bible and you want to call yourself a pastor.
Here's a good sign that you're a novice when you're preaching sermons, the title, "Not
every Christian's born again."
Not every Christian shall escape the lake of fire.
I just learned this last Tuesday, guys.
This is new doctrine.
I'm so smart.
That's a novice right there.
That's someone who's lifted up with pride and who's going to be devoured by Satan.
Now, obviously that guy's not even saved, Doca and his friend LeBlanc, but that's a perfect
example of a novice right there.
Novice that does not know the Bible.
Preaching Christ of envy and strife.
You know, a good way that you're doing that, a good way to tell if a person is preaching
off of goodwill or if they're preaching of envy and strife, are you self-ordained?
You know, did you actually go through the process to become a pastor or just you want
to be proud and call yourself a pastor so you're just going to be self-ordained?
That's a good sign that you're a novice.
That's a good sign that you're lifted up with pride.
First Timothy 3, 7 says, "Moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without
lest he fall into the reproach and the snare of the devil."
You know, in my opinion, pride is an evil report.
You know, and if you have the report of pride in your life, you will fall into the condemnation
of the devil.
That's what the Bible says.
And you know what?
It's so weird to me because this isn't just about people who self-ordain.
This is about, you know, normal church members.
Normal church members get lifted up with pride all the time.
People that go on missions trip.
People that get people saved.
Good Christians sometimes become lifted up with pride.
So I want to read to you a verse that should just quench that in your soul.
First Corinthians 8 2, "And if any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing
as he ought to know."
Look, I don't care if you're Solomon, the wisest man in this world.
I don't care if you own 500 businesses.
I don't care if you pastor 10 churches.
I don't care how smart you think you are.
The Bible says, "You don't know anything as you ought to know."
I don't care if you've read the Bible through 200 times.
You've not read it anywhere close as you ought to have read it.
I don't care if you've won thousands of people to the Lord in your life.
You haven't done near as much as you ought to do.
And that ought to just quench your pride right then when you say, "Okay, you know, I'm doing
the best I can, but I'm not doing as much as I could be doing."
And you're actually looking to Jesus instead of looking and comparing yourselves to your
brethren and say, "I'm not doing near as much as the Lord Jesus Christ did."
That'll kill your pride real fast.
You know nothing yet as you ought to know.
Turn to Philippians chapter number two.
Philippians chapter number two.
Let's see the attitude that Christ had.
Philippians chapter number two, starting in verse four.
"Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God
thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took
upon him the form of a servant that was made in the likeness of men.
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross.
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven, and things
in earth, and things under the earth.
What a beautiful scripture.
That's got to be my favorite scripture about the Lord Jesus Christ there.
But what was the mind of Christ that should be in us?
He humbled himself.
He became like a servant.
He was God, he was equal with God, yet he was lowly.
He was meek, and he was lowly.
And guess what?
It says there he made himself of no reputation.
Even though could he have made himself of reputation?
Sure he could have.
And guess what ended up happening because he was humble?
Now he has a reputation all over this whole world.
Every single person in this world knows who Jesus Christ is.
And every single tongue in this world someday will confess Jesus Christ as Lord.
And every single knee someday will bow to give glory to the Lord Jesus Christ.
But why was that?
Because he made himself of no reputation.
So look, Christian that thinks you're so cool and thinks you've read the Bible so many
times and gotten so many people saved, are you making yourself of a reputation?
You got to post on Facebook every time you do something for the glory of God.
You got to belittle other people and compare yourselves among yourselves because that person's
not going so many times as I'm going a week.
You know, you're filled up with pride, you're on a dangerous road to be devoured by Satan.
So number one, we must be clothed with humility.
Go back to 1 Peter chapter 5.
Number two, we must constantly be sober.
First Peter 5, 8 says, "Be sober, be vigilant because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring
lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour."
You know, how easy would it be if you think about, you know, how we're in a spiritual
battle?
How easy would it be in combat to beat someone who's drunk?
You know, you could be the smallest guy and fighting a huge opponent, a guy that looks
like he could just tear you to shreds.
If he's drunk, if he's intoxicated, you'll wipe the floor with that guy, right?
Because it skews the balance in warfare.
So what's the definition of sober?
And I had an article here with me.
I don't even know where it went.
Maybe it fell over there or something.
I don't know where it went.
If anyone sees that, let me know.
I had it somewhere.
Definition of sober, definition 1A, sparing in the use of food and drink, 1B, not addicted
to intoxicating drink, C, not drunk, marked by sedate or gravely or earnest thoughtful
character or demeanor, unhurried, calm, marked by temperance, moderation or seriousness.
So basically what it boils down to, what that's saying is there's two definitions of sober.
Basically not drinking and being a serious person.
So first I want to talk about the first definition because that's probably what we all think
of first.
So I had this news article, which I don't have anymore, but it was by the ChristianNews.com
or something like that.
And they polled like 3000 people of what they believed about alcohol.
Is alcohol wrong all the time?
Is it okay to indulge in it a little bit or is it never okay?
And over 50% of the 3000 something Christians that responded to this poll said that it's
okay to drink alcohol sometimes depending on the situation.
So I mean, wow, right?
Half of professing Christians say that it's okay to drink alcohol.
Now that just shows me that Satan's been corrupting this doctrine, right?
Because that is not even close to what the Bible teaches.
So if it's not coming from the Bible, it's coming from Satan.
So let's see if the Bible teaches that it's okay to drink for relaxation or social gatherings.
That was one of the reasons they listed here.
Go to Proverbs chapter number 23.
Proverbs chapter number 23.
Proverbs chapter number 23, starting in verse 29, the Bible asks these series of questions.
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, I don't know about you.
I don't want to be any of these people.
Woe, extreme danger, extreme sorrow.
I don't want to have woe in my life.
I don't want to have sorrow.
I don't want to have pain and misery and sorrow.
I don't want to have needless contentions.
I don't want to be going around babbling.
I don't want to be going around with wounds without cause, getting hurt for no reason,
having redness of eyes for no reason.
Who are these people?
The Bible gives the answer.
Verse number 30.
"They that tarry long at the wine, they that go to seek mixed wine.
Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his color in the cup, when it
move itself aright."
So what's the answer?
Who are the people that have all these horrible things?
It's people that drink alcohol.
And you know, a lot of people stop reading it, verse 30, because it says they that tarry
long at the wine.
They say, "Oh, you just can't drink a lot.
You just can't become drunk."
Okay, verse 31 says, "Look not thou upon the wine when it is red."
So we can learn two things from that.
Number one, if we can't even look at it, then obviously we can't even drink it, okay?
So yeah, those people have those things that tarry long at the wine, but guess how they
started tearing long at the wine?
They started looking at it.
They started lusting after it.
They started tasting a little bit and they end up tarrying long at the wine.
And number two, what can we learn from that is that wine is not always alcoholic in the
Bible.
Because is there a wine in the Bible talked about where you are allowed to look at?
Sure.
How about the Lord Jesus Christ when he had the Lord's Supper, right?
The fruit of the vine, non-alcoholic wine.
People every time that they see the word wine in the Bible, they try to act like it's alcoholic.
It's a lie.
Verse number 32, "At the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder.
Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.
Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth
upon the top of a mass.
They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick.
They have beaten me and I felt it not.
When shall I awake?
Yet, I will seek it yet again."
People say, oh, do you ever hear people say, yeah, I just want to go out, have a good time,
get bit by a snake, get stung by an adder, you know, behold strange women, have wounds
without cause, get diseases, commit adultery, just have a good time.
Is that what you hear people say?
No, you hear the lie of Satan that people say, and I just want to go out and social
drink and have a good time with my friends, but what does the Bible say is going to happen
to you if you drink alcohol?
It says your eyes shall behold strange women.
Well, I don't think if I'll drink that my eyes are going to behold strange women.
Okay, what other parts of the Bible don't you believe then?
Because the Bible says that you will behold strange women with your eyes, and you're going
to tell me that you won't?
Forget that.
I'm going to believe God, not you.
You know, you tell me that you're not going to have wounds without cause?
You sure as heck are going to have wounds without cause, because that's what the Bible
says.
So I'm not going to listen to your opinion about it.
That's what the Bible says.
Who hath woe?
Who hath sorrow?
Who hath contentions?
It makes sense now, doesn't it?
People that drink alcohol, that's who's going to have those things.
Go to Proverbs 23 verse 20.
That's why the Bible says this, "Be not among winebippers, among riotous eaters of flesh.
For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty and drowsiness shall clothe a man
with rags."
That's why the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 5 that we're supposed to cast people out from
the church that are drunks.
Because when you hang out with winebippers and riotous eaters of flesh, the drunkard
and the glutton will come to poverty.
Just go to downtown Portland, go outside these doors here and you see the homeless person.
And what are they?
They're gluttons, they're drunkards, they're poor.
Why?
Because of alcohol.
That's why.
That's what the Bible says.
They're really exhorting us to be sober.
Turn to Titus chapter number two.
Titus chapter number two.
First and second Thessalonians, first and second Timothy, Titus chapter number two.
I'll start reading in verse one.
The Bible says, "But speak thou of the things which become sound doctrine, that the aged
men be sober."
Look at there at verse three, or verse four, "That they may teach the young women to be
sober."
Look at verse six, "Young men likewise exhort to be sober-minded."
Verse 12, "Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly."
Look at verse 15, "These things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority, let
no man despise thee."
So Paul, when he's giving this letter to Titus, he's saying, "Hey, speak thou of the things
which become sound doctrine."
What are some things that are sound doctrine?
That the aged men be sober.
That the younger women be sober.
That young men are sober-minded.
That denying ungodliness in this present world, we should live soberly, the Bible says
there, righteously and godly.
That's sound doctrine, the Bible says, to be sober.
That's something that preachers and pastors should be teaching and preaching with all
authority, the Bible says, all the time.
It's something that is emphasized a lot in the Bible and something that needs to be emphasized
in preaching all the time because it's such a dire consequence if you fall into the sin
of alcohol.
All of this applies to marijuana and drugs too.
You get these people that are like Christian libertarians and their big thing is making
marijuana legal, right?
And I'm for making marijuana legal because there's a difference in the Bible between
a sin and a crime, okay?
Homosexuality is a crime, punishable by death in Leviticus 20.13.
Rape, you know, kidnapping, all those things, those are crimes.
There should be laws against those things and punishment against those things, but there
should not be law against sin, okay?
You know, lust, you can't throw someone in jail for lust.
You can't throw someone in jail for drinking alcohol.
These are things that need to be preached by preachers and pastors, but it should not
be a law.
But the thing is, though, these Christian libertarians, they get so zealous in their
defense of marijuana that they almost don't even put it at the same level as alcohol.
They almost like make excuses for smoking marijuana, and you know what?
It's not sober.
It's just as wicked as drinking alcohol, and I know Pastor Thompson's opinion is the same,
so I know that the person that drinks alcohol is going to get kicked out, and I know the
same thing for a person that smokes marijuana without repentance.
They'll get kicked out, too.
So let's go to Titus chapter number one, back a page there.
I'll just read for you a few more exhortations here about sobriety.
Titus 1-7 says, "For a bishop must be blameless as the steward of God, not self-willed, not
soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre, but a lover of
hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate."
Turn to John chapter number two.
Before we get into the secondary definition of sobriety, part of that article that I was
going to read for you guys was these Christians were citing the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ
turned water into wine as an excuse to why we can drink a little bit of alcohol.
So let's just read this together in John chapter two, starting verse one, "And the third day
there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.
And both Jesus was called and his disciples to the marriage.
And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine.
Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee?
Mine hour is not yet come.
His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.
And there were their six water pots of stone after the manner of the purifying of the Jews,
containing two or three firkins apiece.
So think about it.
There's six giant pots there.
Jesus saith unto them, Fill the water pots with water.
And they filled them up to the brim.
And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast.
And they bear it.
When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine and knew not whence
it was, but the servants which drew the water knew.
The governor of the feast called the bridegroom and saith unto him, Every man at the beginning
doth set forth good wine, and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse.
But thou hast kept a good wine until now.
So these people that teach that Jesus made alcoholic wine want you to believe that Jesus
showed up to this party where all these people just drank six giant pots of alcoholic wine
and it's gone.
Jesus fills them all up and then the guy's saying, "Hey man, you've kept the good stuff
till now." When people have well drunk, the Bible said, they were already well drunk,
now, not intoxicated, but they had well drunk the wine that's already there, they had already
well drunk and they're going to tell you that Jesus Christ filled all those up again with
Budweiser and said, "Drink up, guys." That is blasphemous, right? That is complete blasphemy
right there. If Jesus Christ turned water into alcoholic wine, then he's not sinless,
and he's not the son of God, then this whole Bible is worthless and vain, if Jesus Christ
did that. If you're going to call yourself a Christian and you're going to tell me that
the Lord Jesus Christ sinned, then why are you even a Christian? Because your faith is
in vain. Because Jesus Christ is not a good enough sacrifice for you. Because guess what?
I'm not putting my eternal faith, my soul's faith on a man who showed up to a party and
gave a bunch of people booze and got them more drunk than they already were. It's stupid.
That's something else you could tell. Someone's a novice if a pastor is preaching that right
there.
So, the other definition of the word sober means serious. And you know, many of these
verses we've been going over can apply just as equally to that definition of the word
too, but go to 1 Peter chapter number one, 1 Peter chapter number one, Hebrews, James,
1 Peter, 1 Peter chapter one, verse 13, the Bible reads, "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 and your ignorance, but as he which hath called you as holy, so be
ye holy in all manner of conversation." Because it is written, be ye holy, for I am holy.
You saw there it's talking about gird up the loins of your mind. This type of sobriety
is a mental sobriety. What's it talking about? Being serious. Not just living your whole
life aimlessly, not having any plan for your day, any plan for your month, just not being
sober, not taking anything you do seriously. A lot of people wake up at age 30 and they're
still working at McDonald's and that's because they haven't been living a sober life even
mentally. Because they're not thinking, "Okay, what's my plan? What am I doing with my life?"
We as Christians, we should not just be aimless dummies that aren't thinking seriously about
what we're doing. We need to be sober. 2 Corinthians 10.3 says, "For though we walk
in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal
but mighty through God of the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations
and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God and bringeth into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ." One of the ways that the devil wants to destroy
us is the fight in our mind. We need to cast down those imaginations because the devil
not only wants us to be not sober physically, but also mentally. He wants us to just be
goofing off and wasting our days watching television, not doing anything important with
our lives, not reading the Bible, not memorizing scripture, not winning people to Christ, not
spending time with our family. He just wants us to be goofing off and wasting time our
whole life. You know, you waste a little bit of time today, you waste a little bit of time
tomorrow. Over years and years and years, you've wasted years and years and years of
your life that you can't redeem that time again. It's gone. You have to redeem the
time now. You have to be working hard now. You have to gird up the loins of your mind
now. And you have to cast down those imaginations, those things that are going to distract you
from serving God. And you have to bring them into the obedience of Christ. Number one,
we must be clothed with humility. Number two, we must constantly be sober. Number three,
we must commit ourselves to being vigilant. Go back to first Peter chapter five, first
Peter chapter five, first Peter five eight, be sober, be vigilant because your adversary,
the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour. I say we have to commit
ourselves to being vigilant because it's not something that happens by accident. It's something
that takes a lot of work. What's the definition of vigilant? Alertly watchful, especially
to avoid danger. You know, an alert person isn't alert by accident. You're not just accidentally
keeping watch. You know, you think about a guard, you know, there's a guard over here
at that building, uh, just across the road. What's that? I don't remember the name of
the building, but if you ever park on the other side of this building, you'll see this
guard walking around and the whole time, every time I've ever seen him, he's walking like
this on his phone, walking up perimeter of the building on his phone. That's not being
vigilant. You know, I feel bad for the company that's paying that guy to watch their stuff
when he's on his phone the whole time. Not watching, not vigilant. It takes effort to
be vigilant. I'll read for you. First Corinthians 10 12. Wherefore let him that thinketh he
stand take heed lest he fall. You know, we need to realize, Hey, I've got sinful flesh.
My body is capable of committing sins, right? I have to realize, Hey, there's a danger there
of me committing that sin. And I have to be vigilant and say, okay, I need to be watchful.
I need to be vigilant. I need to be careful because there's a danger right there. You
know, when I, you know, I grew up hunting and one time we got surrounded by wolves and
guess what? I was pretty vigilant of the wolves location. I was like, okay, is wolves there?
They're there. I know where they are. I've got my gun. I'm like, all right, I'm watching.
You know, if one of these things pop out of nowhere, I'm going to drop one of these guys,
right? But that's what it is. You got to realize, Hey, my flesh is capable of all sorts of wicked
sin. Just because you're saved doesn't mean that you still don't have the lust of the flesh.
All sins that are natural to mankind, you can do when you're saved and you have to say,
there's a danger there. I need to be watching out. I need to be careful. Go to Matthew chapter
15, Matthew chapter 15. Let's see some of the things that we're capable of doing. Matthew
chapter 15, verse 19, the Bible says for out of the heart, proceed evil thoughts, murders,
adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnesses, blasphemies. These are the things which defile
a man but to eat with unwashed hands defile if not a man. You know, you're capable of
evil thoughts. You're capable of murder. You're capable of adultery. You're capable of fornication.
You're capable of blasphemy. You're capable of all these things. You know, I'm sure a
lot of us in this room, unfortunately, have done things on this list, right? You know,
think about abortion. One in four women in this country have committed murder, right?
People commit these sins all the time. So we have to say, "Okay, I'm capable of doing
these sins. I need to set up some safeguards and be vigilant." You know, Satan would love
you to commit adultery. Satan would love to devour your flesh by causing you to commit
adultery and get disease. Satan would love you to kill your children in the womb and
commit murder. Satan would love you to fornicate and destroy your future marriage and to get
all manner of disease. You know, Satan would love you to blaspheme the name of the Lord.
Satan would love unsafe people to blaspheme the Holy Ghost, right? All of these things.
Satan would love you to do that kind of stuff. One of the things today that people really,
really need to be vigilant about is pornography. And this is a subject that's not fun to talk
about or even think about. But unfortunately, this is something that's going on rampant
in the United States of America. Even Christians, it's almost impossible that there's not someone
here today that's struggling with this or has struggled with this. So because of that,
we need to realize, "Hey, there's a danger there. There's something that I can commit.
I need to set up some safeguards and be vigilant against this sin." And by the way, pornography
will not only ruin your marriage, pornography will also ruin your walk with God. Because,
and I'll prove it to you, Proverbs 28, 9 says, "He that turneth away his ear from hearing
the law, even his prayer shall be abomination." You hear this preached all the time. Your
ear pastors rip on this all the time, and the Bible says when you turn away your ear
from hearing it, your prayer will be an abomination. You know, I don't know about you, but I want
God to hear and answer and cherish my prayers. You know, I need God to answer my prayers.
I don't want my prayer to become an abomination to him. So I'm not going to turn away my ear
from the law that says, "Thou shalt not covet." You know, what's covetousness is I am something
that's not yours. Why are you coveting women that aren't yours? Someone else's wife, or
most likely not even someone else's wife, someone else's whore, you know, or someone
else's, God forbid, even sex slave that's going on in this country. You know, and you're
just giving into that, and you're just taking pleasure in that. You think God's going to
bless you for doing that? You think He might just turn away His ear from your prayers because
you're despising God's law? Because you're sinning willfully against God? Turn to Matthew
chapter 5. You're there in Matthew 15. Go to Matthew chapter number 5. Matthew chapter
number 5. Jesus even has a stricter standpoint in the New Testament on adultery and on lust.
He said in verse 27, "You have heard that it was said by them of old time, 'Thou shalt
not commit adultery.' But I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after
her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." You know, that's a pretty
sad thought. That's a pretty, that makes me sick to think that if I do that, I'm committing
adultery in my heart. You know, that's a really sad thing. I never want to be guilty of that.
Us in this room never want to be guilty of that. But if you're looking at women with
lust in your heart, that's exactly what you're doing. So, you know, you say, okay, I don't
want Satan to devour me in this area. I need to set up some safeguards. Psalm 39.1 says,
I said, I will take heed to my ways that I sin not with my tongue. I will keep my mouth
with a bridle while the wicked is set is before me. We need to take heed to our ways and set
up some safeguards. What are some good safeguards for that? How about, you know, not putting
passwords on your phone that your wife and spouse don't know about, or even your children
don't know about keeping everything in the open, keeping bedroom doors open, you know,
not using the electronics super late at night when your willpower's down and you're tired
and you're not in the spirit, you know, don't have that stuff on at night. Don't tempt yourself
needlessly like that. You know, some people, maybe they just need to get rid of the smartphone.
You know, where in the Bible does it say you have to have a smartphone? You know, if you
struggle with it that bad and you can't handle it, get rid of your smartphone. Jesus said,
if your eye causes you to offend, pluck your eye out, right? If your hand causes you to
offend, cut your hand off, Jesus says. If you can't handle the smart technology, get
rid of it. Have a flip phone that you can call and text your wife on, you know? It's
not that hard to deal with. Matthew chapter 4. Matthew chapter 4, I'll read for you in
verse 3. You know, another good thing that we can have is some go-to verses to protect
our minds, to gird up our minds, to cast down those imaginations when we're being tempted
by the devil. Look at Matthew 4.3 when Jesus was being tempted. And when the tempter came
to him, he said, "If thou be the son of God, command that these stones be made bread."
But he answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by
every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.'" You know, when the tempter comes
your way, you need to be able to say, "Hey, tempter, it is written," and give a verse that
helps you with whatever sin you're struggling with. Sorry, I'm stumbling here. It is written.
Go to Psalm 103, or I'll read it for you. Psalm 103. Say, "It is written, 'I will set
no wicked thing before mine eyes. I hate the work of them that turn aside. It shall not
cleave to me.'" You know, when you're feeling temptation to commit wicked sin, if you do
struggle with pornography and you ever have that temptation, say, "Hey, it is written."
Psalm 103. Read it. Say it out loud to yourself. Have it in your pocket. Hey, say, "It is written,"
James 1.15. "Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is
finished, bringeth forth death." You want to bring death to your marriage. You want to
bring death to your family. You want to bring death to your Christian walk with God. Just
start giving yourself over that kind of stuff. When the tempter comes to you, say, "It is
written," and answer with the Word of God. The only way we can avoid getting devoured
is by staying vigilant. Psalm 119.11 says, "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I
might not sin against thee." That's a biblical concept of, you know, memorizing Scripture
to help you avoid sin. We need to fill up on the Word of God. It cannot be understated
how important reading the Bible is in every aspect of your life. It cannot be understated
how important memorizing Scripture is to help you with your Christian walk, to help you
abstain from sin. And not only that, you know, memorizing Scripture is going to help you in
every aspect. It's going to help you understand Scripture better. It's going to help you be
closer to God. It cannot be understated how important these things are. Hosea 4.6a says,
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." You got to get the knowledge of the Word of God
inside of you if you don't want to get destroyed by Satan when you're being tempted. You know,
there's so many false doctrines out there, you know, and unwise things that Satan wants you to be
devoured with, with the pre-trib rapture and Zionism and, you know, homos can be saved,
and not every Christian is saved, and not every Christian will escape the lake of fire,
and all these, you know, Christians can drink alcohol. I could just go on all day, you know,
being that we're in the great falling away pretty much. There's so many false doctrines out there,
and the Bible says that if you don't have knowledge, you'll be destroyed. "My people
are destroyed for lack of knowledge." You cannot stop reading the Bible. It has to be every single
day. Proverbs 2-6, I'll read for you a few more verses and we'll be done here. "For the Lord giveth
wisdom out of His mouth, cometh knowledge and understanding." Revelation 1-3, "Blessed is He
that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written
therein for the time is at hand." You want to be blessed by God? You know, in this time when so much
work for God is being done, do you want to be a part of it? Do you want to be wise or do you want
to be the one that's that's plucked up by the wayside, that's the seed fallen by the wayside
that Satan devours? Do you want to be the person that Satan devours in 1st Timothy or in 1st Peter
5? Do you want to be devoured by pride? Do you want to be devoured by drunkenness? You want to be
devoured by all these things we talked about? Then just don't read the Bible. Don't take heed to any
of the scriptures read this morning because I'm telling you, "Let him that thinketh he stand,
take heed lest he fall." You think that you're the exception that's not going to get devoured by
Satan? You think that you're the exception that's going to stay in church for 50, 60, 70 years
with no effort? You don't have to take any of these things into account? You're wrong and you
will be destroyed. But obviously God does not want that for us. He gave us his word so that we can
know how to deal with this. So number one, we must be clothed with humility. Number two, we must
constantly be sober. And number three, we must commit to being vigilant. Oh look, I found my
article. Too late now. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for this day and thank you so much for the
scriptures. Just pray that you'd help us to take heed all these things. And Lord, we know that
you're way more powerful than the devil. He has no power over us. We're not afraid of him, God. We
just trust in you and in your word. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.