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Amen. 1 Corinthians chapter 9. So Paul here is talking about who he is. He's talking about what he does. And more importantly, he's talking towards the end of the chapter about how he does what he does. And that's what we're going to look at this evening. This evening we're going to look at the difference between those who succeed and those who don't succeed. And that's what we're going to look at this evening. You say, in what? Well, in everything is what this applies to tonight. That's the thing about, you know, the thing about practical biblical preaching is that it just, the Word of God applied works everywhere. That's why it's so great, it's so powerful, it works in your spiritual life, it works in your life outside of church. If you apply the Word of God in your life, it's going to work for you. So we're going to look tonight at what Paul is talking about here in 1 Corinthians chapter 9. We're going to start in verse number 19, but don't discount what I just said. Those who succeed and those who don't, this is the difference. This is one of the main differences between those two groups of people, what Paul is talking about at the end of 1 Corinthians chapter 9. Look at verse 19. He says, for though I be free from all men, yet I have made myself servant unto all that I might gain the more. So we're going to cut these up, these verses, but I just want to kind of explain what he's talking about as we go through these first verses. Then we're going to go back and I'm going to break these down for you. But he's talking about what he's doing, what his goals are. Look at verse number 20 and he says, unto the Jews I became as a Jew that I might gain the Jews. To them that are under the law as under the law that I might gain them that are under the law. So he's talking about gaining people. What is he talking about? He's talking about winning people to Christ. He's talking about preaching the gospel, being successful at it. Verse 21, he says to them that are, so he talks about here's what I do with the Jews. Now he's going to say to them that are without the law. He's talking to the Gentiles here and I'll take a couple minutes to explain verse 21. He says to them that are without the law as without the law, being not without the law to God in parentheses but under the law to Christ that I might gain them that are without the law. So what does that mean? Is he saying like he doesn't follow the, what is the law? The law is the Bible. The law is God's word. So he's talking about them that are without the law. Turn to Romans chapter 3. So let's just cut this up so we understand what he's saying and what he's not saying here. Go to Romans chapter 3. Who are them that are without the law? Look at Romans chapter 3 and look at verse number 1. In Romans chapter 3 and verse number 1 the Bible says, what advantage hath the Jew or what profit is there of circumcision? Talking about Jews and Gentiles and there is no, you know, there's no Jews and Gentiles in Christ. Like there's no difference. They can both get saved. And then he's saying in Romans 3, he's like so if Gentiles can get saved and the Jews can get saved, like what good is it to be a Jew? Like what advantage? I mean what advantage is it to be a Jew? And he tells you in verse 2, he says much every way chiefly, mainly, he says their main advantage is this, that unto them were committed to oracles of God. They had the Bible. They had the law. They had God's word. That's, I mean, tell me that's not an advantage. I mean, that's literally what we're talking about tonight is how the Bible is a huge advantage in your life. It's just an advantage that a lot of Christians don't use. It's a tool that a lot of people don't, they don't want to know what it says. They don't explore it. Maybe they're saved, but if you don't study out and, and, and learn the word of God, it's, it's of no advantage to you. So what he's saying is that the Jews had the Bible. So that was their advantage. Okay. Now back in verse Corinthians chapter nine, he's saying them that are without the law, he's talking about the Gentiles, the people that didn't have this advantage, people that didn't have the oracles. So he's talking about how do I win them to Christ? He says, I become as one without the law. And then he says in parentheses, because everyone, you know, you know, we just studied through the book of Acts, right? And there was a big controversy in the book of Acts on the Gentiles getting saved and brought into the church. So you got this Christian church, everyone's saved by what? By trusting on the Lord Jesus Christ. You got some people who are Gentiles and you got some people who are Jews. Well, the Jews are, you know, they do things a very specific way. They eat certain things. They don't eat certain things. They, they have all these, you know, ordinances and all of these things that they, they claim to get from the Bible. And, you know, there was a lot of cultural problems there. So that's what God was trying to break down when he told Peter, you know, Hey, kill and eat, it's slay and eat in Acts chapter 10 and Acts chapter 11. He's like, you know, the carnal ordinances are gone, actually turned to Hebrews chapter nine, and I'll explain this to you. So there's a problem between the Jews and the Gentiles when it came to the church, and this was dealt with in the book of Acts, you know, over and over again, even towards the end of the book of Acts. And that's kind of what Paul is talking about. What he's talking about is how he relates to people. He's talking about how he relates to people when he goes to preach the gospel to them. Look at verse number, go to Hebrews chapter nine, look at verse number nine. Let's start there. It says, which was a figure for the time then present. So the book of the Hebrews is mainly explaining how all the, the, the sacrifices and the carnal ordinances is going to say here were done in the Old Testament as a picture or a shadow of things to come, a shadow of the Messiah to come. It says, which was a figure for the time then present in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that could not make him that did the sacrifice perfect as pertaining to the conscience. So it says, you know, in other places in Hebrews that the sacrifice of the blood of bulls and goats did not forgive sins. This is a picture of the blood of Christ that would come and actually forgive sins. Okay. So he's saying this is a figure which stood what? Which stood in meats and drinks and divers washings and what? Carnal ordinances imposed on them until the time of reformation. So this is why, you know, we don't follow the diet of, you know, the Old Testament. We don't follow the diet of the unclean and the clean animals because those were just pictures. They were just figures that were, that were meant to be in place until the time of the reformation, which is the time of what? The time of Christ. So that time is gone. So the carnal ordinances are gone. Now turn to Matthew chapter five. So we, that's why, you know, it's consistent with what, you know, God told Peter and God was trying to get Peter to not be this person that would go and visit the church in Antioch and then separate himself and be like, I'm not eating that garbage. That's unclean, you know, and try to be, you know, elitist or whatever it was coming off as just saying, Hey, should all be eating the same thing. It's just like, it's, there is nothing clean. There is nothing unclean. You know what God has made clean, do not call unclean. So it's, it's, it's done. The carnal ordinances are gone, are done. All right. So now here's what some people do though. There's this weird, strange doctrine out there that because of, you know, the carnal ordinances, we don't sacrifice, we're not up here Sunday morning sacrificing bulls and goats. All right. We're not doing that. Those were just pictures of Christ. So that's done with, that's over. I mean, that would be a lot of work. I mean, I, I don't know about you, but when I read Leviticus and all the, the, the feasts and the sacrifices, I mean, these priests are working. I mean, you know, I mean, the fun part about hunting was like, you know, shooting the deer, you know, I mean, it's like, bam, it's like, now the work starts, you know, you know, you got to dress the deer out and you got to clean everything up and you got to package it up. I mean, you look at what those guys in the Old Testament were doing. That was a lot of work. This has nothing to do with the sermon. Are you in Matthew chapter five, in Matthew chapter five. So what people will do is they will say, oh, because you know, Jesus is here, you know, the carnal ordinances are gone away with a lot of people will be like, if you ever heard people say this, like when you talk about, you know, Christian standards or things we should do, places we should go, separation, all these different things that both the New Testament and the Old Testament teach, people would be like, oh, that was in the Old Testament. Oh, that's Old Testament. First of all, like, they're always wrong when they say that, that it's just in the Old Testament, right? Nothing in the, the moral law was not done away with. Even the civil law that God wants is not done away with up to and including the death penalty was not done away with. They're both talked about in the Old Testament and by Jesus himself in the New Testament. So this idea that, okay, because we were putting away the carnal ordinances and we don't sacrifice bulls and goats, look that those things were done away with because they were pictures of Christ. That's why they were in, they were done in the Old Testament. That's why God did that. The, all these things that were done in the temple and things people ate and things people didn't eat. But look at Matthew chapter five, look at verse number 17. To those people that just say, oh, that's Old Testament God and that's, this is New Testament God. No, see, people have just made up a New Testament God today. They've made up a completely different God that it has nothing to do with the New Testament or the Old Testament because the New Testament exactly matches the Old Testament. And Jesus himself says it. Look what he says. He says, think not that I'm come to destroy the law, but what? He says, or the prophets, I'm not come to destroy, but to fulfill. So yeah, the carnal ordinances are done away with, you know, all the, the eating and the drinking of the diverse things. It's like, you know, that's, that's done away with, but that's because those things were pictures of Christ. But the law is the law. The Bible is the Bible. The Old Testament God is the exactly the same God as the New Testament God. It's all God right here. And like, so people that just come up with this, it's just, it's to fit this liberal Christianity thing that is created today. You know, where, where Jesus is this good news only, long haired, dress wearing hippie, carrying a sheep around, you know, that's, that, that's what it fits, but that's not the truth. Jesus came to fulfill the law and the prophets. That's why he told the Pharisees, he's like, Hey, if you would have believed Moses, you'd have believed me. Cause it's the same message. It's the same voice. All right. So carnal ordinances, where we had this cultural problem in the book of Acts between the Jews coming into the church, getting saved, the Gentiles getting saved, the carnal ordinances, what you can eat, what you can not eat. You know, that's what God was saying. Hey, kill and eat. He's like, Peter, quit doing this. It's over the The carnal ordinances are over. You can eat anything you want. He's saying just it's, it's done. All right. That's what Paul is talking about in verse number 21. He's saying that to the Jews, and I'll go into what he did with the Jews in a, in a little bit, but he's saying to people that are without the law, he doesn't go and do what Peter did. He doesn't go and be like, Oh, I'm not eating that. He doesn't go and pretend like he's, he's this person that's got all these different ordinances upon him and you know, demand that they all be circumcised and all these different things. He's, he's becoming as one without the law, meaning he's without the carnal ordinances. But he says in parentheses, not without the law to God, meaning I'm not going into sin is what he's saying. I'm not going and just like going into whatever sin they're doing. He's just saying, I'm not going and putting the law upon them. This was the big argument in the book of Acts where James finally just says, Hey, we'll just tell them to, we'll tell them to, you know, just not eat things strangled and we'll tell them to, you know, just do a couple of things. Stay away from fornication and don't eat something that you strangled. All just good advice. Not to be saved though. Okay. So that's what Paul is saying. He doesn't go in there and pretend like he's just this, this carnal ordinance Jew to the Gentiles because what would happen? He would just turn people off. He would just shut people off. So what he's saying is I try to relate people, relate to people on the level that they're at. And the third one backs that up. He says to the weak, I became as weak that I might gain the weak. I am made all things to all men that I might by all means save some. He's talking about just being a good soul winner. It's what he's talking about doing, right? And this I do for the gospel sake that I might be partaker thereof with you. Knowing not that they which run in a race, run all, but one receiveth the prize, so run that you may obtain. So he's also saying here in verse number 24, there's an interesting note here. He says many people run or all people run, but one person receives the prize. So this implies that what I'm going to talk to you about tonight is a difficult thing for many people to do. What we're going to talk about tonight, which we haven't even gotten to that yet, is something that many people cannot do successfully. And it's the one thing, it's one of the main things that divides the successful from the unsuccessful. Look at verse 25. And every man that striveth for their mastery is temperate in all things. I'll talk about that in a few minutes. And they that do it obtain a corruptible crown, but we have an incorruptible. Therefore I therefore so run as not as uncertainly so fight I, not as one that beateth the air, not one just swinging at nothing, is what he's saying. But look at verse number 27. But I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached unto others, I myself should be a castaway. Now, I always pause and throw out some NIV stuff when we come across something, or modern Bible version stuff. But he basically says in verse 27, I keep under my body and bring it into subjection. In the NIV, in verse number 26, I'm going to read for you what the NIV says here. It says, therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly. I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave, so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. The ESV says this. You're like, that's the NIV. The NIV is like a clown book. Here's the ESV, one of the most popular Bibles in Protestant churches today, says this in verse 26. So I do not run aimlessly. I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body. Still implying, how do you discipline your children? You spank them. So he's basically saying, I spank myself. And keep it under control, lest after preaching unto others, I myself should be disqualified. So Paul in the ESV is basically saying, you know, here's how I do all this stuff. I give myself a spanking. It's funny. I mean, because it's like, who would read this? But what is Paul talking about when he says, I keep under my body? I keep under my body and bring it into subjection. Look, this isn't rocket surgery. This isn't like we have to like dissect some archaic language here. He is talking about his body being underneath him like an authority. He's talking about he's the boss. Like, I'm under my boss in an authority structure. If you have a job, you're underneath your boss. He's talking about keeping his body, having control over his body. His body, he keeps his body in obedience to him. You know what he's talking about? He's talking about self-control. He's not talking about punching himself. He's not talking about, you know, spanking himself. He's talking about self-control. He's saying, he goes through the whole chapter and he says, here's who I am. Here's what I do. Here's how I do it at the end. And he says, how I do it is I have control over myself. And that's what we're going to talk about tonight. That's what we're going to talk about tonight. We're going to analyze these verses that I just read you and I'm going to give you some very simple steps to take to have control over yourself, to have control over your body. Because look folks, this defines who is successful and who is not. Everybody wants to be successful right here. Everybody wants to win in the Christian life. Everybody wants to not have, money troubles. Everybody wants to have a life that really does well and affects their family well and be a good dad and be a good son. Everybody wants that right here, but people can't get this thing to do it. And Paul's telling us how he does it. Not punching himself by controlling his body. So the first thing is this. The first thing that Paul does is this. And this is step one. If you're writing things down, I'm going to give you four steps. The step one that Paul says is he defines objectives. That's the first thing he does. Look at verse number 19. Go back to verse number 19. He says, for though I be free from all men, I have made myself a servant unto all that I what? That I might gain the more. He's saying, my objective is to get as many people that I run across saved as possible. That is his objective. It's a pretty good one. Brother Trevor has said in sermons before, he's like, you will, how do you say? He's like, you basically, you hit every, if you don't aim or something, you miss the target. I can't remember the exact saying, but it's basically like, I can't remember what your statement is, but it's really good. If you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time. This is what Paul is doing. He's clearly showing what he's aiming at here. He's defining his objective. Paul says, here's what I'm trying to accomplish. I'm trying to win people to Christ. That's it. You have to ask yourself. We talked about this morning. Ask yourself questions. You say, what kind of objectives should I have? You should be asking yourself questions throughout your life. You ever ask yourself questions like, what am I trying to do? What am I trying to accomplish in my life? How about this one? You should self-reflect on things. You say, where am I good? Where am I bad? What are the problems in my life? You should ask yourself these questions. You say, well, I have no problems in my life. Then you just take a nap for the rest of the sermon because this doesn't apply to you. You should ask yourself these questions and then you can start to define some objectives in your life. Ask yourself questions about your spiritual life. Ask yourself questions about your church life. Ask yourself questions about your prayer life. Some of you are like, prayer life? What? I come to church on Wednesday night and we pray together. I'm talking about your personal prayer life. You should ask yourself questions about this. Do I like where that's at? Is that knowing what I know about the Bible, knowing what I know the pastor screams about all the time, is my spiritual life, is my Bible reading, is all the things that I know the Bible says that I should be at this level, am I there? How is that? It's basically a heart check. You should be asking yourself that question. Even just your physical, personal life. This applies to that as well. Your family life, your home life, your work life, your health. All these different things. How about this one? Your sin life are the things in your life that you are struggling with. Unless you've reached sinless perfection, which you will meet those people, unless you've reached that, you have sin in your life. You should ask yourself these questions. Are there sins in your life that you're struggling with again and again and again? Where you get right with God, you confess your sins to God, and you just keep struggling with this. These are the objectives that you should set for yourself. Just like Paul set the objective that I'm going to try to gain these people, that I might gain the more. The objective is that I win as many people to Christ as possible. We should all have that objective, by the way. We can set objectives everywhere in our life because if you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time. The second one is this. Go back to verse number 20. Once you've gotten your objectives, we're just going to look at what Paul does. That's all we're going to do tonight. We're just going to look at how Paul is successful. I think Paul, probably one of the most influential, if not the most influential evangelists that has lived on the face of the earth, I think we could learn a thing or two from this. You're like, I found my objectives. Now what? Look at verse number 20. Now you need an action plan to achieve those objectives, or what you could even call a routine. Just some plan of action, some routine to help you achieve that goal. Look at Paul's action plan here. Verse 20. Under the Jews I became as a Jew that I might gain the Jews. To them that are under the law is under the law that I might gain them that are under the law. Look what Paul did in verse number, go to Acts chapter 21 and verse number 23. His action plan was to become, to be as the Jews to the Jews, to be as the Gentiles to the Gentiles, without going into sin, and to the weak as weak. But to the Jews, he became as a Jew. Look at verse 21. This will really explain what Paul did, you know, while around the Jews that he didn't do around the Gentiles. This is really the difference here between, or a really good example of the difference between his routine, his action plan between verse 20 and verse 21. In verse 23 of Acts chapter 21, it says that when he had saluted them, he declared particularly what the things God had wrought amongst the Gentiles by his ministry. Now he's telling the Jews how the Gentiles were getting saved when he goes out on these missionary journeys. And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe, and they are all zealous of the law. This is a problem, right? This is a problem. He's like, yeah, they've believed, they've trusted on the Lord Jesus Christ, but they're just like, they're hanging on to all these cardinal ordinances, not for salvation if they're saved, but they're just like, it's going to cause cultural division in the church, right? And they're informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither walk after the custom. So there's probably some exaggeration going on there where, you know, all the Jews are saying like, yeah, he's going after the Gentiles and getting them saved, saying you don't need to do anything. You just keep living like a barbarian or whatever, right? What is it therefore? The multitudes must needs come together, for they will hear that thou art come. He's like, we've got to find some way to get this solved. Do therefore this that we say to thee, we have four men which have a vow on them, take them and pure, take them, take and purify themselves with them and be at charges with them that they may shave their heads and may know all those things where they were informed concerning thee are nothing, but that thou thyself also walkest orderly and keepest the law. It's like, hey, we've got some guys that you're under a Nazarite vow. It would really help the Jews out if they saw you like participate in that with them. If they saw that you were still walking orderly, you still remember that you were a Jew, this would kind of help patch things up. So he does it and what is he doing? To the Jews he's becoming as a Jew. That's exactly what he's doing. And to the Gentiles, as a Gentile, he's not going to the Gentiles and like encouraging them to take a Nazarite vow. He's just not doing that because to the Gentiles he's becoming as a Gentile, not sinning though. Look at verse number 22. It says, to the weak I became as weak. What does that mean? What that means is this. Paul spent three years being taught by Jesus. I mean this guy was a spiritual like heavy weight. I mean this guy knew every piece of doctrine that Jesus wanted him to know. Jesus Christ taught him himself. I mean he wrote two-thirds of the New Testament that we read, you know inspired by the Holy Spirit of course. But what he's saying is to the weak he humbled himself. He's saying to the weak he didn't come off as some great spiritual sage because look he's saying like you know it's easy to glorify yourself amongst the weak. It's easy for someone that doesn't know any Bible that this is all new to them to just try to just convince them how smart you are. These are the people that we've talked about that they speak in a way where you know I don't care if you understand what I'm saying. I just want to speak in a way where you walk away thinking man that guy's smart. What did he say though? I have no idea. That guy's brilliant. That's a proud way to approach weak people. And Paul is saying like to the weak I just became as weak. What's he saying? You can either you have weak people that are new to the faith. You can either do you know you could be a Jordan Peterson and just try to like speak a bunch of gobbledygook that people are just like whoa. Or you could just like you can relate to them. You know I mean a good way to relate to people that are babes in Christ that are weak is to be like hey you know I was once weak and be an encouragement to them. You know just be an encouragement to them. Just teach them and look a sign of a great teacher is someone who can take and moms should pay attention to this. Someone that can take complicated things and make them simple. Take complicated subjects and make them easily understood. If you can do that you will be a great teacher. I stress about that a little bit like when I have complicated sermons like that are complicated doctrine where there'd be end times prophecy or some other doctrine that's maybe not the simplest thing in the Bible you know maybe a 300 level class or a 400 level class. I really worry about that. I mean I try and I really I really twist myself up trying to find a way to explain it in a way that is understandable by everybody. And that is a sign of someone who will have success teaching people. And I'm not saying I'm successful with that every single time but that's what I strive for. And that's what Paul is saying he's like to the weak I become as weak I try to relate to these people. So the point is this was Paul's methodology for accomplishing his goal. He had a goal to win more as the most people that he could to Christ and his goal you know his his routine was to relate to people in these specific ways. That's his routine and that's what he did. So the question is here's another question for yourself. When it comes to your goals when it comes to your things that you need to or that you want to change or you want to get control over do you have a routine? Are you a person that has routines in your life? Because that's what Paul did here. He had routines. So or do you sometimes do things and then sometimes not do things. This is why in Genesis chapter 49 Jacob told Reuben he said you're unstable as water. You will not excel. I mean if you're unstable he's saying if you're unstable you're unsuccessful. Why? Because you need a routine. You need a routine to be able to accomplish the goals that you've set forth for yourself. See Paul was Paul was decided. You know Paul was decided. Paul wasn't like oh should I go out and evangelize today it was just like what he did. That's that's what he's telling you in First Corinthians chapter 9. He's like I'm an apostle. This is what I do. He's like whether you give me anything or not this is what I do and this is how I do it and that's what we're trying to learn is how he does it. There wasn't this constant decision making with Paul. His life was very simple. This is what I do all the time. There was no am I going to follow my plan today. You know am I going to do this today. No the decision was made. Turn to Proverbs chapter 26. Proverbs chapter 26. Proverbs chapter 26. So you need to define objectives. You need to set a routine that accomplishes those objectives and then look at Proverbs chapter 26. You need to have some determination in your life. Look at Proverbs chapter 26 in verse number 13. Proverbs chapter 26 verse number 13. The Bible says a slothful man saith there's a lion in the way. A lion is in the streets. Now it doesn't say there is a lion in the streets. It says that's what he says. That's what he's saying. He's saying that there's a reason that he can't go and do what he's supposed to do. He's got a routine that he knows about. He's like I don't want to do it. There's a lion out there. There's danger out there. What you have to understand is that there is always going to be something put in your way to stop your routines. Especially if it is a spiritual goal. If it is a spiritual goal you are guaranteed to have things put in your way and what will be put in your way for your spiritual goals will be your biggest weaknesses. You say what do you mean? Like how about this? Like money. Opportunity. It's the babe in Christ that thinks any opportunity put in front of them is of God. I mean I don't know how many times I have to say that. Every opportunity that comes your way is not of God. Maybe it is. All you have to do is measure it against your spiritual life. Does this make my spiritual life better or worse? It's a very simple methodology. Worldly interests people. People. People can stop your routines. People can derail your routines that you've put in place in your spiritual life. How about this one? Sins that you struggle with can derail your spiritual life. So you have to recognize that things, just expect it. Expect that things will be put in your way to derail your spiritual life. Go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 9. There's a lion in the way. There's a lion in the streets. There's always going to be a lion in the street. There's always going to be something in your way. Always. Expect it. You're like oh man but it's something I really struggle with. Exactly. That's how it's going to be. Guaranteed. Especially with the spiritual things. Because Satan doesn't want you to be spiritual. Satan can't take away your salvation but he can knock you out of your routine. He can stop you from being profitable. Look at verse 25. Here's the fourth one. Here's the fourth one. So you need some determination. You need some goals. You need some routines. You need some determination to actually stick to those routines no matter if there's a lion or not. 1 Corinthians chapter 9. Look at verse number 25. Look at this. It says, and every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. The next thing that you need is patience. Now I'm going to explain what biblical patience actually is in just a minute but look at this sentence right here which says every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. What's he talking about? Striving for the mastery of what? Anything. He's talking about any man that strives to be a master, that strives to obtain expertise, strives to obtain perfection, completeness in whatever they're trying to do is temperate in all things. You know what that means? It means he's controlled in all things. Now they do it. He's comparing like somebody trying to be a master of their trade or a master of a skill or something like that. He's like they do it to obtain a corruptible crown. They do it to make more money. They do it for praise. They do it for these things. He's like but we are incorruptible. He's talking about I'm going to go and I'm going to gain the more and I'm going to get an incorruptible crown. I'm going to get rewards that are incorruptible is what he's talking about. Turn to Romans chapter 5. Look biblical patience is what's needed when it comes to being determined and staying on your routines to accomplish your goals. You know what biblical patience really means? It means pain tolerance. It means that you are to you know you walk out in the street and guess what? There's really a lion there and he starts chewing on you and you're going through some discomfort in your life and he's talking about just like hey you just control yourself through it. You just keep going through it even though you're getting torn up by the lion. So it doesn't matter if a lion is there or not because you go anyway because if the lion attacks you, you have the patience to deal with that. Look at Romans chapter 5 verse number 3. I love these verses in the Bible right here. It says that not only so but we glory in tribulations. These are the lions. These are the lions that come after your spiritual life right here and he says you know what you do? When you get out and you're doing the right thing in your spiritual life and you got your church life and your prayer life and your family spiritual life and you got everything in order and then people start coming at you and the lions start attacking you. He's like you glory in that. You're like yes. You know what? How in the world can you glory in that? Why? Because the Bible is true. This is why the Bible tells you this. I mean you have to notice those moments in your life where Jesus says you know you shall suffer persecution where the Bible tells us you will suffer persecution. If you're doing what you're supposed to do and you're following a good spiritual routine, you're going to be persecuted. You're going to go through tribulations. The tribulations worketh what? Knowing the tribulation worketh patience. You know what? You get some pain tolerance. You can take it. You have the patience to let the lion tear on you and keep going with your routine and patience experience. Patience meaning now I know. Now I know I can walk through that street whether there's a lion there or not. Now I have that knowledge that I can get through that and experience and once I know when I walk out of my house into my spiritual life and I walk towards the street, I don't even care if there's a lion there because if he's there, it doesn't matter. I just keep going. You know what that gives me? That just gives me hope. I don't even stress out about the lion anymore because I know I've done it before. I have that experience because what? Because I gain that patience, that pain tolerance that I know. It's like once you've been in a fight, you know you can be in a fight. I don't know. Maybe I didn't come out of that one so well but I know I can be in a fight. So he's keeping that controlled routine through patience. Whether there's a lion or not, this is a prerequisite for success in anything. The things that Paul is talking about here. Being able to control your body, what you do, what you don't do. You read the Bible. You know the truth. Can't control myself. Fail. Think about it. I know the whole Bible. I've read the Bible, you say somebody comes up to me, I've read the Bible two dozen times. I've read the Bible this many times. I've read the Bible. Can't control myself. Fail. This is a big deal what we're talking about. Turn to Proverbs chapter 26 again. Look, I mean you ask yourself these questions and you define, you say, you know, I know there's a problem. I know there's a problem but I can't control myself. You're going to fail. Because what people do and what the Bible calls it, look at this. Just think about sin. Just think about sin. You know, if you sit in a church like this and you read the Bible and you hear the Bible preach, you know what the problems are. You know what the problems are. Think about in Proverbs chapter 26, look at verse, you know what the Bible calls it. You think about alcohol. You think about pornography. I don't know what the stats today are on pornography. I don't want to look those things up and every device in my house explodes and sends a message to my wife. But we'll talk about that in a second. But the point I'm trying to get you to understand is that there's a lot of things that people struggle with and if you can't knowing that they're wrong, knowing it's a problem is not good enough. You have to get control of yourself or you'll fail. You think about things like, what does the Bible call it? Look at Proverbs 26 and verse number 11. See, in the Bible there's no addiction. You think like addiction is such a big thing today. Drug addiction, alcohol addiction, pornography addiction, what other addictions are there? I mean everything is an addiction. But the Bible doesn't say there's addiction. You know what the Bible says there is though? Look at verse number 11 of Proverbs 26. It says that's a dog returned to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly. The Bible is saying here that a dog goes back and eats his own throw up. It's gross. A dog goes and he eats his own throw up and he just keeps doing that and he'll just do that because he's a dog. It's like somebody that just continues to go back to their same sin is just like that dog, is just a fool. So in the Bible there's not people that are addicted, there's fools. That's the first thing. Go to Proverbs chapter 23. Go to Proverbs chapter 23. I mean you think like if addiction was a thing, the Bible would say it. The Bible would talk about it. I'm not saying that people don't struggle with sins that they return to, but the Bible is saying that that's foolish. Look at Proverbs 23 and verse 35. Proverbs 23 and verse number 35. There's a lot of verses here talking about alcohol, people drinking alcohol, people waking up, wounds without cause. Look at verse 35. It says they have stricken me thou shalt say and I was not sick. They have beaten me and I felt it not. When shall I awake? It's saying like all these people that drink alcohol they're going to wake up on top of a mast. They'll wake up with wounds that they don't know where they came from. They're all beat up. You know, does it sound like a good idea? But then what will they say? They'll be all beat up. They'll be sick. They'll be wounded. They'll be just realize they were in terrible danger. They'll wake up on top of a cliff like, ah, how did I get here? They'll wake up in terrible danger and what will they do? They'll seek it yet again. See, addiction, all there are, addiction, the Bible doesn't acknowledge addiction, but what it does say is that there are people that have trained themselves to have bad routines and the Bible says those people are foolish. Look, you can train your body. You don't think you can train your body? Go talk to somebody who's an elite anything. You hear about this like with people in high stress situations, soldiers, whatever it is, they get in high stress situations and they still perform. Why? Training. They just trained again and again and again and again and again and again and then when a seriously stressful situation came to them, what happened? That routine just kicked in. You can train yourself in a good way. You can train yourself in a bad way. You can train your body to need things. You can train your body to not want things. You can train your body to want sugar and then you won't want fruit. You can train your body. You can get good routines and bad routines and your body will be trained in that way. So, if you just have no control over your body, you're going to get a lot of bad routines into yourself and the Bible says that people that do that are foolish. The Bible calls them fools. I mean, addiction as a disease, it's just like, it's the only disease you can willingly give to yourself and then willingly cure yourself. I mean, if it was some disease to be an alcoholic or a heroin addict or whatever, it's like, well, I mean, certain people have been able to cure themselves of that disease and certain people haven't. It's just some people are foolish and some people are not. It's basically what it comes down to and they've trained themselves to want these things. Can your body crave things? Of course it can, but it's because you've trained it to. Your body gets used to routines. You might as well get it used to good routines and that's why you need to learn to control it, especially when it comes to sin. Turn to Job chapter 31. Turn to Job chapter 31. It's like, yeah, I've tried and I'm just no good at it. I don't know how to start. Look at what Job said in verse number 1 of Job chapter 31. Job chapter 31, look at verse number 1. This is how Job, it's kind of a strange statement here, but this is how Job controls what he looks at. Say, well, I keep looking at things I shouldn't look at. A huge problem today. Look at verse number 31. It says, I made a covenant with my eyes. I made a promise or I made a deal with mine eyes. He said, why then should I think upon a maid? Isn't that interesting? Turn to Philippians chapter 4. Turn to Philippians chapter 4. What he says is, I made a deal with my eyes that I should not look upon a maid. He's talking about not looking upon a woman that's not his wife. He's saying, I shouldn't look upon a woman. Jesus says, if you look upon a woman to lust after her, you've committed adultery with her in your heart. Old Testament, New Testament, they match. Wow. So he's talking about not wanting to do that, and how does he do it? He doesn't even think upon it. Isn't that interesting? He's like, I made a covenant with my eyes so I don't look at that. That's not what he says. He says, I made a covenant with my eyes. I don't even think upon it. Look at verse number 8 of Philippians chapter 4. Philippians chapter 4, verse number 8. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are a good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, do those things. No. It says, think on those things. See, that's what Job's doing. He's Philippians 4 aiding this thing. He's like, I got a problem. I don't want to look at things that I shouldn't look at, so I'm going to take care of it three steps back. He's like, I'm going to control what I think about. And then Philippians chapter 4 and verse number 8. See, the Bible has all the answers. The Bible has all the answers, but hey, you know what? You know what? If you fill your life full of garbage, if you sit there and you just watch all this garbage, all this trash from Hollywood, Hollywood went on strike, I heard. This is the best thing that's happened to this country in 50 years. I hope they all stay wherever they are. Because that's what people do. People are sitting there like, oh, they just sit there and they watch TV and they watch movies and they watch all this filth and garbage and then they start to think about filth and garbage. Hello! I mean, we're not building a space shuttle here. This is what Hollywood has done to this country for the entire time it's existed. They programmed everybody to want filth. They've given you a routine of filth. The average American watches seven hours a day of TV. And we're a country of perverts. I don't understand how this has happened. Because none of those things are true and honest and pure and lovely. That's why. So you crave it. So you crave it. So yeah, you know what? It's good to go put protection on every single device you have that your children touch, that you touch, whatever. That you should do. But you know what? Quit filling your life full of trash. Quit filling your mind full of trash. They can't even measure how much your mind can record. They can't measure it. We're sitting here and I started in the semiconductor design industry in 2000, 1999. And I watch how the memory on these chips gets, it just gets exponentially more and more every single year. What God designed can record forever. You can't unsee the things that you see. So you know what? Control what you look at. Control, how do you do that? Control what you think about. Control what you let in your home. I mean, it starts here. And then it goes, this controls this. And I mean, I fill myself, I fill my mind with trash and then I desire trash. I mean, we should just pray right now because this is really what it is. That's it. It's that simple. It's bad routines that people are training themselves for. And look, Satan has controlled the media in this country since the beginning. Satan has controlled all this perversion and the movies that just inch things in and all of this kind of stuff. I remember watching movies in the 80s, folks, in the early 90s. And I remember there would be some guy in the movie, it was like some action movie or something. And there's some guy that's just in the middle of the movie just dancing around in a dress. And it was just like, I mean, it's like, you know, it's vile. Like you just don't like seeing that. Like, why would that be there? Why would they put? Look at us now. Control what you think about. Control what enters. That's what Job is talking about. You know, you got to tell yourself, I don't go there ever. I don't do those things ever. Maybe I need new friends. I need to get rid of the old ones and get the new ones. But you must put your body in subjection. Identify what comes. Put in place routines. Be determined beyond all excuses. And then execute patience, pain, tolerance on those routines. Anyone, folks, that has achieved any level of greatness anywhere has figured this out. I mean, I don't care. We don't even have to talk about spiritual things. You look at any athlete that has achieved greatness. You look at any businessman. You look at any expert. You look at any kind of intellectual giant. And, you know, anyone that striveth for the mastery has figured this out. It is possible. It's possible to control yourself. And the Bible tells you a very detailed way how to do it. And you know what? You apply that as a Christian and look at what Paul, look at what Paul was able to achieve. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Let's pray.