-Transcript-
00:43 Amen. Welcome to the cafe. It is a cool spring day.
00:47 I’ve got my coffee here. I’m excited to preach the Word of God. I hope you are here excited to hear the Word of God, to study the Word of God, and maybe together we can be blessed through the Word of God and by the Word of God.
00:58 And truly, that is who our God is, a wonderful God, an almighty, all-powerful God. And He’s given us His Word so that we can dive deep and understand great truths in Scripture that apply directly to our lives, directly, 1,000%.
01:10 Old Testament, New Testament, everywhere in between, you will see the love of Jesus Christ, and you’ll be able to apply it to your life if you pray to the Lord and you ask Him to help you understand it, give you discernment, if you will.
01:26 And today, we are going to be looking at a topic in three parts. This is the first part of a three-part message on a very important topic that the Lord had laid on my heart about a week ago to preach on, and that is temperance, which is self-discipline, the biblical art of self-discipline, temperance. And we see temperance in the Bible.
01:54 It’s a Bible word, amen. We see it in the Bible, and we may just go pass it through. Maybe if we study it up, we may say, oh, that means moderation, do things in moderation.
02:04 But there’s more to temperance than just that. And today, we’re going to look specifically at what this means to have this self-discipline, this biblical self-discipline in your life and what you’ll benefit from it. To start here, the importance of self-discipline in life in general, I mean, think about this.
02:23 It’s very important, is it not? Where would you be without self-discipline? Let’s say you get up in the morning and you’re tired and you say, I’m going back to bed.
02:33 And you just go back to bed and you don’t have the discipline to get out of bed. Well, maybe you would not go to work.
02:38 And what would your boss say? You’d probably end up in trouble if not dismissed. Or you don’t go to school. What would your teacher say? You’d probably end up in trouble if not failing.
02:51 Or you’re supposed to go to a special appointment and you don’t go. If you don’t have self-discipline, you wouldn’t do your taxes. Hey, it’s coming up on tax time, amen. There’s your free reminder.
03:01 If you didn’t have self-discipline, you just wouldn’t do it. What would the government say? If you didn’t have self-discipline and you wanted to go home early and you were in your car and you were tired and maybe you would speed, what would the trooper say when they pull you over?
03:16 Hey, my brother-in-law is a state trooper and he’s the nicest guy in the world, but don’t mess with him, amen? He’ll write you a ticket. The importance of self-discipline in the Christian life is just as important as self-discipline is in life itself.
03:29 Without discipline, we end up in big trouble. We end up failing in our responsibilities. And I think of a mother with children.
03:38 How much discipline does she have to exhibit every single day to do all that she needs to do for her children, to cook for them and to clean for them and to get the medicine and to help raise them and teach them?
03:48 And not that the dad’s not involved, but I stand in awe of mothers. I look at my mom and what she was able to do with a very serious disability with my brother and I is amazing. And I look at my wife and what she’s able to do with our kids.
04:01 And yes, I try to help here and there, but she really exhibits a lot of self-discipline, which she would rather do one thing, she does another.
04:11 And the importance of self-discipline in the Christian life can’t even really be emphasized too much. God expects us to live this out really in all parts of our life.
04:21 Temperance, the definition is to restrain, moderation in thought, word and action. And oftentimes when you go into temperance and you start really researching it, you’ll come across discipline. Discipline, which means to train or develop by instruction and exercise, especially in self-control to bring under control.
04:44 So that’s what we’re talking about here today. Self-control, what does the Bible say about self-control? Well, why don’t we start with the opposite of this? What lacks self-control? What kind of behavior? Flying off the handle. No self-control.
04:57 Living fleshly for the world, that is no self-control. The world says, live like you want, do what pleases you, gratify yourself, and you’ll be happy. And God is telling you through his word, you will not be happy, you will not have true peace.
05:13 And sin, the wages of sin is death. And so sin is lethal. Amen? The world is saying, oh, don’t worry about God.
05:22 He’s not really going to judge you. You just go ahead and sin. And I wish I could preach on the judgment of God today, but that’d be for another message.
05:28 But truly the Lord will judge. Amen? He’s a righteous judge. To live for this world is natural.
05:33 Pursuing the desires of the flesh comes natural. Think about it. We don’t need to exhibit self-discipline to go to the buffet.
05:39 We need to exhibit self-discipline to not make too many trips to the buffet. We don’t need to exhibit self-discipline to kick back and throw on the TV. Typically, we need to use self-discipline to not kick back and throw on the TV.
05:48 So to live just as we want, that is the fleshly desires. That is the sinful nature of man. Not that it’s sinful to rest or to have peace.
06:00 But what is sinful is to live like the world and not realize that we as Christians need to rein ourselves in. Our text verse here is Galatians 5:22-23. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.
06:23 Against such there is no law. And so it’s interesting here. Galatians 5:22-23.
06:34 Very familiar scripture here. Lists the fruits of the spirit. And the last one is temperance.
06:35 But I would argue without that last one of temperance, you can’t have some of the first ones. Can I say here today that you can’t get true joy and peace without being a disciplined Christian. It just won’t happen.
06:49 Think of it as I just mentioned. You’ll fall into sin. You’ll fall into trials and temptations.
06:54 Longsuffering and meekness only comes by being temperate in your life. I mean, think about it. In order to be longsuffering and meek, you must have yourself under control.
07:03 The idea of the bridle in the horse’s mouth. The bridle’s there to control the horse. We have to bridle our mouths.
07:10 We have to get ourselves under control, as the Bible clearly tells us. So what example could we take for temperance? Where could we look in the Bible to see an example of temperance in action? I believe we can see it with Jesus. Amen.
07:23 Jesus exhibited this trait in his earthly ministry. Paul describes Jesus in this light in presenting the gospel to Felix, who was the Roman governor of Caesarea, which is a part of Israel. So the Romans were running Israel at that time.
07:38 And Paul was in prison and he was making his case to Felix privately about Christ, Acts 24:24- 25.
07:48 And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife, Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled and answered, go thy way for this time.
08:07 When I have a convenient season,I will call for thee. And so Felix was trembling. He was put under conviction as he heard about Christ, specifically the righteousness, the temperance, and the judgment.
08:17 Amen. Righteousness, that is who Jesus is and who by nature we are not. We understand that Jesus came into this world sinless.
08:24 Amen. He lived a perfect sinless life. He is and was righteous by the fact of him being God in the flesh.
08:34 We think of God in three parts, the Holy Trinity, God, the Father, God, the Son, who’s Jesus, and God, the Holy Spirit. And that Holy Spirit lives within those that have been saved and accepted Christ as Savior.
08:48 And so we have the second part of the Godhead living here on earth, living righteously, not sinning, not lying, telling the truth, being our example for how we are to live.
09:00 Amen. And Jesus was temperate. He was under self-control.
09:04 He had temperance. He was going against those fleshly lusts. That’s how he lived.
09:13 Amen. Jesus could have done so much. For example, when the cross was coming, he didn’t want to go to the cross.
09:19 Nobody would want to go to the cross and face the most brutal death ever to be had in mankind, to drink of that bitter cup of sin for all of mankind, past, present, and future. To do that, to be the Holy One, the sinless, spotless lamb, to be crucified on that cross was not easy or fun or anything anyone would ever want to do.
09:33 And Jesus, being human, did not want to go to the cross, but he was obedient in the sense that he could have called angels down.
09:43 You read in the scriptures about how they come to get him in the garden, those that were his captors, those that were going to end up submitting him for crucifixion. And he just speaks a word and they all fall down. And that shows his power.
09:54 Oh, how Jesus had all power, holy power, amen, to absolutely rid the earth of all his captors, of all those that wanted to do him harm. And yet he was temperate. He was under control.
10:08 He was disciplined so that he didn’t do that. And he was obedient to the Father, understanding God had a plan. And we have to live like this.
10:17 When we live, we have to live with ourselves under control, just as we have to have ourselves under control to make sure we’re going to bed on time, getting up to go to work or to school.
10:28 Or if you’re retired, getting up to tend to whatever God has got you to do. Or if you’re in the ministry, how about this? If you’re in the ministry, using temperance to make sure you’re doing all God’s called you to do.
10:37 How many times in the ministry are we thrown into situations that can be uncomfortable, that can be difficult, that can be challenging. And we have to have that self-discipline, that godly discipline to say it’s the will of the Father. And in my experience, I’ll just testify here for a quick minute.
10:52 When we do what God calls us to do, he gives us such an extraordinary peace. And when we do those things that he calls us to do that he knows is hard for us, he really does bless us. I believe that.
11:04 He really gives us an extra blessing. I can think of some times I was called by the Lord to do some things that I didn’t want to do, frankly, and I went and did them. And oh, how I just felt the hand of God upon me while I did it.
11:14 And I just felt this deep sense of peace afterwards, a joy that I can’t describe. And that’s all, that’s all our Lord Jesus Christ. He’s our example.
11:22 Paying taxes. Think about that one. God of the universe, the maker of all things, had to pay taxes.
11:32 That’s in Matthew 17: 27. And it’s unbelievable, but Jesus did it. He said, lest we offend, let’s go ahead and get you, I’m going to do it supernaturally.
11:38 I’m going to have a fish come out for my disciple to go ahead and grab that coin out of the fish’s mouth to show that I’m God and I’m in complete control. But we’re still going to pay that tax, lest we offend.
11:49 And that’s the example of Jesus just showing his power, yet always being disciplined to the Father.
11:54 Dinner with Zacchaeus. I love the story of Zacchaeus. One of the first messages I ever preached was on Zacchaeus.
12:01 This guy’s a tax collector. He’s hated. He’s corrupt.
12:06 And Jesus sees him there in Luke 9. And Jesus is long-suffering. And Jesus is excited. He says, I’m going to have dinner with you, Zacchaeus.
12:13 And he’s withholding judgment. And he’s allowing him to make things right. Oh, how people in this world, when they’re famous and when they’re notable, they’ll want to go with other famous, notable people and have dinner.
12:24 And Jesus says, that sinner up there on the tree, that’s the one I’m going to go eat with. That’s self-discipline. That’s long-suffering.
12:32 And of course, Zacchaeus repented and restored all that he had taken away. And resisting the fleshy lusts in the wilderness is another example of how Jesus
12:43 —and this is in Matthew 4—used self-discipline when he was tempted by the devil in the wilderness to turn the stone to rock and to be cast down from the building in front of everyone and to bow down to the devil.
12:52 He kept quoting Scripture, and he kept being self-disciplined despite the fact that he was tired after fasting 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness.
13:00 And so we see here that Jesus can be a great example for us in Christian discipline, in self-control, in getting ourselves in line. And I want you to think about what that would mean for you today.
13:12 Again, we’ve got several messages in the series, but just think about how can you be more like Jesus when it comes to self-control? And how can you make sure that you have yourself under control when it comes to what God wants us to do, what God wants you to do?
13:25 It’s not an easy thing to do, but it’s certainly the Christian thing to do, and it will make you stand out, I believe, and it’ll bear fruit in your ministry and in your life if you’re able to say, I’m going to get things under control.
13:39 And the Lord, I believe, will reveal to you where the need might be. Amen? He has to me, and I believe He will to you. He’ll show you where the need is to rein things in and to give it all to Him.
13:49 And as the Bible says, to pray without ceasing so that we have a closeness with God, and we’re exhibiting this temperance as Jesus had, that we’re doing that here in our lives day to day.
14:02 And others will look at us and say, that person looks like Christ. And by our conduct and our discipline, we’ll draw others to Him.
14:08 Thank you so much for listening. Tune in for part two coming soon. Take care, God bless, and amen.