Psalm 72, 16, Solomon writes these words, and he's speaking about our day, believe it or not. He says, May there be abundance of grain in the earth on top of the mountains. Its fruit will wave like the cedars of Lebanon. And may those from the city flourish like vegetation on the earth. Solomon obviously making an incredible statement of, God, I just want you to bless your people. You're such a great God. You reign so gloriously. Now bless your people. And no doubt when he wrote this, he was thinking of literal fruit and literal vegetation and his people growing and blossoming. But little did he know that ultimately, and maybe he did, ultimately this is fulfilled. and the firstfruits that God brought into his kingdom at Pentecost. And we are those firstfruits. We are those people who are, we are the testimony that the earth is abounding with grain. and blessings upon this earth as God has saved us. And that blessing of that grain ultimately comes for us in the form of God's Word as we fellowship with God as that is abundantly now given to us freely in this His Word. So let us respond to this glorious call to come and fellowship, to eat, to come and indeed eat and fellowship upon God's Word. Turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians 4. as well as turning in your bulletins to the outline that I have there. Use that, take notes, follow quotes, etc. 1 Thessalonians 4, incredible passage, talking about the call to excellence in our lives, whether it be our call to excellence in God's kingdom, in regards to our relationship with him, 1 through 8, or our call to excellence in the body of Jesus Christ, 9 through 12. But all of this is about excellence. And so let's read it and continue our fellowship around this incredible passage. This is God's word. Let me invite you to stand together with me as we read the words of our sovereign king. Please stand. Hear now the word of King Jesus. Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that as you receive from us instruction as to how we ought to walk and please God, just as you actually do walk, that you may excel still more. For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each of you know how to possess his own vessel and sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God, and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. Consequently, he who rejects this is not rejecting man, but the God who gives his Holy Spirit to you. As far as the reading of God's word, let's pray. Father, thank you for your word, this grain which is abundant in our land. Lord, grant us grace as we eat this grain that there be no gluten-free intolerant issues. but that your word would just bless our bodies, feeding us, fulfilling us, growing us. Lord, thank you that this is one meal that won't cause us to be sick as your people. So fill us to the utmost, oh Lord, we pray. Inspire us, convict us, remake us into the image of Christ. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Please be seated. Those of you who have read the Chronicles of Narnia will recall a character that C.S. Lewis made famous named Eustace. Do you remember Useless Eustace? Useless Eustace was the cousin of the Pevensie children, Susan, Edmund, Lucy, and Peter. In The Voyage of Don Trotter, the fourth book, one of my favorite books, Eustace is just being a pain. He's just a spoiled brat, and because of avarice, because of love of money, he turns into a dragon. Do you remember that? Turns into a dragon. And Lewis then describes how this dragon nature affected his desires, his goals. what he wanted. Notice what, you've got it there, notice how he writes it just masterfully as Eustace gazes upon a dragon that just died. We read, he took a long drink and then, I know this sounds shocking, but it isn't if you think it over. He ate nearly all the dead dragon. He was halfway through it before he realized what he was doing. For you see, though his mind was the mind of Eustace, His tastes and his digestion were dragonish, and there is nothing a dragon likes so well as fresh dragon." Beautiful, isn't it? Your nature will affect your desires, your tastes. In fact, listen to 2 Corinthians 5, 17. This is a description of you. Do you understand that when you became a Christian, whether you remember it or not, God gave you a new nature? And thus this new nature leads you to read a passage like this and delight in it. God, I want to excel still more. That is my passion. That is my desire. In fact, we've seen clearly Philippians 2 says, it is God who is at work in you, giving us both the will and the ability to work for his good pleasure. Incredible passage. This passage says that when God saved you, he gave you a new desire. He gave you new desires and new loves, new joys, new values. And because of that, we desire things that, as fallen people, we would never have desired. And it's because of that we live in conflict, don't we? Romans 7, 22 describes it. Paul said, I joyfully concur with the law of God and the inner man. Man, I read God's word and I say, yes, God. That is exactly what I want. I read a passage like this, 1 Thessalonians 4, and I say, yes, God, I want to excel still more and more when it comes to moral purity. I want to be a man of God. Yet, I see a different law on the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind. So as Christians, we have this struggle. We've got our fallen humanness that's still amongst us. It's called our flesh. And it desires all kind of ill and wickedness. And then we've got the new man. And that new man has desires and goals which are contrary to the desires and goals of the old man, such that we struggle. In our passage, of all passages, if there's any passage I could go to explain the rationale for this struggle, not to explain the struggle, I'd go to Galatians 5 for that one. But to give you the rationale for that struggle, I'd go to 1 Thessalonians 4. It's talking about excellence in ministry. Paul's desire for God's people excels still more in their relationship with God and their relationship with God's people. And in it, thus far, we've seen that he gives this very important foundation. We cannot leave this passage. We cannot read this passage without this foundation clearly in our minds. Otherwise, everything we're reading is moralism. You skip one through two, everything today will be moralism. If you don't, keep in mind one through two. So that's the foundation, which I'll review in a little bit. Salvation, union with Christ, and a deep and abiding relationship with Christ, which comes from knowing his word. With that, then, Paul transitions to the command. And let's begin with the calling, the command. So moral excellence, that's what we're after? Well, what does that look like? Notice with me the calling, verse three. For this is the will of God. Now your texts say the will, in the Greek it doesn't say the will, it just says a will, which tells us this is not the essence of God's will, this is one statement of, it turns out, six that could be made in the New Testament that revolves around God's will. What is it? This is the will of God, your sanctification. Family of God, this is an amazing statement. God has gone on record here to say, family of God, this is my agenda for you. Do you understand that? There are only five of the passages in the New Testament where God has gone on record to say, this is my agenda for you. You go, oh, what is that? I want to know. Is it for me to be happy and holy and healthy, or I'm sorry, happy, healthy, and wise? Is that it? The health and wealth gospel? Is that God's will? That I would live my life in ease of days? What is God's will? Let me give it to you real quickly. John 6, 40, this is the will of my Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes Him may have eternal life. God's will, salvation. God's plan is to save those, as he says here, everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him. God's plan is for them to be saved. Salvation. Being spirit-filled. So then, do not be foolish, but understand the will of the Lord. What is that will? Verse 18, be spirit-filled. What does it mean to be spirit-filled? Well, the word filled is a maritime term which means to be, which refers to sails driven by a wind, so it's pushed wherever it goes. To be spirit-filled means to be driven by the Spirit of God, and to be driven by the Spirit of God is to be driven by the Word of God, because the Spirit is the author of God's Word. So to be spirit-filled is simply to be driven by God's Word. You know what God's agenda is for you and me? To be saved and to be people who are driven by God's Word. That's what He wants. God's Word says it, that settles it. That's all I need. Thirdly, it's to be a people who are filled with gratitude in everything, give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. You know God's will? The non-believer is characterized by ingratitude. Do you know what God's will is? God's agenda in your life, in your salvation, is to make you grateful. Is that He would cultivate in you that glorious spirit which says, I am so grateful to be called by God's name. Not grumbling. Not complaining, but grateful. Another will is suffering. 1 Peter 3, for this is, it is better if God should will it so that you should suffer for doing what is right. It's not that God's a killjoy, but God knows that this state, this world is not a home. Therefore, it's God's will for us to suffer in Christ. Philippians 1 says to you, it's been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in him, but to suffer for his sake. That's part of God's will. You're gonna fill up in your body the sufferings intended for Jesus Christ. Isn't that incredible? Now, you hear that, you go, man, that sounds brutal, but here I am, Lord, send me, if that's what that means. Fifthly, submitting to the governing authorities. 1 Peter 2, submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution. You know what God wants? God's agenda in your life is that you'd be saved. that you'd be spirit-filled, that you'd suffer, that you'd say thanks, that you'd be submitting to the governing authorities. And then sixthly, our passage here, amazingly, what is God's will? For this is God's agenda, his plan. This is the method behind all his madness. This is the will of God, your sanctification. Family of God, when we read this, we need to sit up and realize this is a huge deal. Rarely do you read in scripture a statement this black and white with regards to what God is doing in your life. What is God doing? Why is it that you didn't get that scholarship? Why is it that things didn't go your way? Why did God give you that a blessing? He did it all for your sanctification. Boy, we need to take, therefore, sanctification seriously. I love this quote. It's very humbling. It's written to preachers, but it's so applicable to all of us. It is a palpable error in those ministers that make such disproportion between their preaching and their living that they will study hard to preach exactly and study little or not at all to live exactly. All the week long is little enough how to speak two hours, and yet one hour seems too much to study how to live all the week." Boy, that is convicting. Brothers and sisters, this is God's will for you, sanctification. If that's true, then you and I need to be about studying about, laboring about, working about, praying about sanctification. Well, what is sanctification? Well, this word, sanctification, hagiosmos, It's used, you got this written there, it's used in the Septuagint to translate the Hebrew, akedesh, which is a very significant word in the Bible. Okay? It refers to anything that is different on account of its association with God. See, God is transcendent. Now, what does that mean? It means that God is not part of creation. God created this world, so he transcends it, he's above it, he's over it, he's beyond it. The world is temporal, Mutable, it's changeable. Temporal, mutable. God is infinite, eternal, unchangeable. He's transcendent. He's holy. He's awesome. Now, because he's awesome, anything associated with God, God in essence says, the ground on which I stand is holy, is awesome, is different, because I'm claiming this, it now lives and rests on that same ground. Okay? So holy in the Bible refers to anything that God has said, you used to be on dirty soil, you're now on clean soil, you're now on my ground, you're now associated with me. So in scripture, there are 32, I've got them in my notes, you can get them online, 32 different descriptions, at least, of things that are unique, different, because they're associated with God. For example, we have holy people. There are people in the world, but then there's those people associated with God. Those people are holy. They're unique. They're separate. A holy nation. How many nations are there in this world? But then there's a holy one. That holy nation, Exodus 19.6. Holy ground, Exodus 3.5. Holy day, Nehemiah 10. Holy assembly, Exodus 12.16. et cetera, et cetera. All of these things are unique, are special, because they've been set apart to a unique and special end. Paul describes it for us very beautifully in 2 Timothy 2, the idea, the natural consequences. How do we incarnate this idea? 2 Timothy 2.20, listen to the words. In a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, some to honor, some unto dishonor. Paul says, you know, think about it. We're holy. And what does that mean? Well, think about it. In your home, most of your homes right now, you've got two sets of dishes. You've got daily wear and you've got China wear. You've got China and you've got daily wear. Daily wear, that's the stuff your children unstack when they unstack the dishwasher and drop and chip and break. You're not happy about that, but it's just daily wear. China? Oh, that you treat differently. That is not used for breakfast cereal. That is typically not used for a picnic. Hey, let's go to the park, children. Throw the Frisbee and basketball and football and bring the China. You don't do that. You bring the paper plates because you didn't want to bring the daily wear for that one. They'll get broken. What do you do with China? China, you say, this is set apart to a specific end. Why it's so expensive? I spent a lot of money for this. So I'm setting this apart for a very specific purpose. Now, from the perspective of the china, the china doesn't look at the daily wear and say, I'm more important than you, or I'm special. I'm better than you because I'm china. It doesn't say that. Because one man's china is another man's daily wear. But what it does say is, look, behold, I have found myself have been set apart to a very specific end. Let me give you one more. I'm weird in this way, but I've got things that I treasure, just like you do. You're not weird. That's not weird. But the weirdness is I've got a comb I've been using since I was 14 years old. Now, I would shave my head bald like John and my brother and the whole bit, but if I do that, I can't use my comb. So I will never shave my head bald because I've got this comb I've been using since I was 14. When I die, my oldest boy gets this comb. OK, that's how special this cone is. All right? Now get this. It started out as a cheap $1.50 package of cones. I remember the first time I spied this cone. It's orange. It's beautiful. I spied this cone. I'm serious. I went to my parents' bedroom or bathroom, and there were all these brand new cones. And I went, that's my cone. And I grabbed it. You know why I grabbed the orange one? Because any time I grabbed the good one, my older brothers would steal it. I'm the youngest, I chose a color they wouldn't take. I'm serious. So I grabbed this orange comb when I was 14 years old, and I've been using it every day ever since. Now I've washed it many times, boiled it many times, but guys, it's sanctified. It's not more special than any other comb. You see it, it's sanctified, it's set apart. I do not let my children walk around the house with that comb. There have been times I've had to chew out my children because I'll see this comb in another room. What are you doing with my comb? This is my special comb, okay? So you get the idea. It's not better than other ones. It's just been chosen for a very specific purpose. That's the word holy. Now, in that context then, I love this quote by Kittel. The old Greek term, Hagos, denotes an object of awe. If you've been sanctified, if you've been made holy, you know the word for saint? It's someone who's been claimed by God for his purpose. Every one of you are saints. We are holy ones, okay? The term denotes first the object of awe. I hope you have that today. Do you understand God has claimed you? That should make you go, The God of creation has claimed you for His very own purpose. That's all. The adjective hages means clean. Because of my position, He's claimed me. He's on holy ground. I therefore desire to be clean and to remain clean. Notice the last one. And the verb hazo has a sense to shrink from. Because of my awesome position, I'm in awe, and the desire that he, and because he's made me clean, how's that, I now have this desire to shrink away from common use. I now have this need to shrink away from being used the way that the world uses me, the way that the world uses their lives. My life is now set apart. It's different. I've got this sense of awe. I live and dwell on holy ground. I've been made clean through Jesus Christ, and so I shrink away from worldly purity, et cetera, et cetera. Well, that's the word sanctification. Now, what does he mean by this specifically? For this is the will of God, your sanctification. Well, what is that? What does that mean? Well, notice verse three. That is, that you abstain from sexual immorality. That's the command. Excellence here, abstain. The word for abstain means to complete and total separation. No intermingling whatsoever. Okay, we're talking matter, antimatter. They abstain from each other. That's how we view this word. If they mingle, there's a huge explosion. So we don't lightly mingle them. Matter, antimatter, we leave them alone, right? They're by themselves. They're never going to be mingled. That's the word here. What's the word sexual immorality? The word in the Greek is porneia. It's where we get the word pornography. It speaks of any, and get this, any and all illicit sexual thought, passion, desire, actions, both inside and outside of marriage. This isn't a word that just refers to people outside of marriage. This is inside of marriage as you'll see when we get to verse six. Okay? It's any form of illicit activity, thinking, desiring, both inside and outside of marriage. And thus, God tells Christians, Hebrews 13, 4, let the marriage bed be held in honor, let it be undefiled for fornicators and adulterers, God will judge. In fact, that statement, God will judge. We pick that up in verse 6 in our passage. The Lord is the avenger of these things. We'll address that when we get there. The point is, God has called us for the purpose of sanctification. He said, I'm saving you to set you apart to a holy end. That's why he saved you. He saved you to set you apart to a holy end. Therefore, Paul says, abstain, have absolutely no, none, zip, zilch interaction with sexual immorality, pornea, none whatsoever. Okay? Leon Morris put it this way. Your sanctification, New American Standard, points to the process of which holiness is the completed state. From the moment anyone believes he's set apart for God, set apart to be holy. In New Testament language, he's a saint. This does not mean that he is morally perfect, but that he has given over to God to do God's will. Thus, a process has begun in which the old ways and the old habits are increasingly done away and replaced with new ways that fit the service of God. This is a long and necessary process, and much of the New Testament is taken up with instruction as to how it may be furthered. And such is the case, brothers and sisters, when it comes to our text this morning. God here not only calls us to holiness, but he tells us how to attain it. Now, quickly, before we go on now to the next point, at this point I've got to stop. How do you attain this holiness of verse 3? How do you attain it? You know the answer. How do you attain it? Verses 1 through 2. 1 through 2 is the foundation. 1 through 2 is how you attain holiness. Do you understand that? Verses 4 and following are tools that will help you, aid you, in your war. But they're not how. How you become holy, how you maintain holy, is 1 through 2. Salvation. Okay? You're saved. Because of that, you're holy. And because you're saved, because you're holy, there's no condemnation with God. That's how you maintain holiness, knowing no matter how bad you may be, God still loves you. No matter how much you've sinned, God still loves you. It's when you and I get to this faulty view that I've sinned so much God must not love me, can't love me, therefore it doesn't matter what I do, I'll just sin all the more. Brothers and sisters, that is a fiction. That is wrong. God loves you. He saved you. You're beautiful. Don't miss it. Salvation is a core foundation point, a core value when it comes to holy living. Secondly, union with Christ. We saw from that that because of that, at all times, the power of Christ is always at our disposal. Meaning the power of sanctification, the power to be sanctified. So you may have fallen 70 billion times in your walk. The righteous man rises again. Why? Because he knows the next time he may not. We never have this futility, this sense of, I guess I'm just, I'm a failure. I will never, ever overcome this sin. That's just my lot in life. Absolutely not. If you're in Christ and you know truth, you know that that is false. There's always a chance that the next time you won't fail. But I failed a billion times. Isn't that the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result? It is, without God. But see, you've got Jesus Christ present in your life, and because of that, you're unioned, you are united with Him, that you don't have to sin. Incredible. Thirdly, third core value, because of this, We have a love relationship with Jesus Christ, and that's what's forfeited. The biding relationship, that's what's forfeited. The depth of our walk, the intimacy of our walk when we choose to sin. Not our salvation, not our union, but the intimacy of our walk. So we simply asked a simple question last time. Which is more important to you? Which do you value more? Depth in your walk with God or the passing pleasures of sin? Ask that question, and the answer is, as a Christian, Jesus Christ. Well, then give up the pleasure, the passing pleasure of this sin Friday night with the faith and the confidence in Jesus Christ that tomorrow your walk will be better. And tomorrow may be in three years. I don't mean tomorrow morning. It could be three years later. But understand, your walk will be better. You give up of sin. It will be. That's the foundation. Okay, well then what do we have in verses four through six? Well, those are tools Paul gives us. He gives us some tools that with that foundation is going to give us success in our battle against sin. Notice the first tool, a body directed by the mind. Okay, verse four. that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor." All right, this is an interpretive challenge before us this morning, verse 4. And the reason why, you got the notes there, possess and vessel. The word for possess is everywhere translated in the Bible as to take, acquire, Not a possess. It's used that way outside of the Bible, but not in the Bible. So because we're talking about taking and acquiring something, it has to be a product. It has to be something tangible outside of us because of this word. That's what the Bible translators faced with. It has to be something separate from us. And then the next word, vessel, skuos, the primary idea behind that is body. A body, your body. Well, how can you, how can, verse 4, that each of you know how to possess, how to take his own body? That doesn't make sense. You were born with your body. You can't grab your body as if it's separate from you. So early on, translators, Augustine, Said this has to be wife. Vessel here has to be wife. This is talking about your wife. He's saying I don't have because he talks about verse 5 and verse 6. Brothers and sisters, long story short, you can read my notes. Everyone rejects that translation today. Everyone. In fact, New American Standard, ESV, NIV, King James, New King James do not accept that. They all translate it as possess his own vessel. Talking about your body. Well, what does this word possess to mean? Well, outside of the Bible, it's used to refer to take control, dictate, determine. That's the idea behind it, okay? And so, in essence, what is the first tool? The first tool that Paul gives us here is that each of us know how to take mastery over, control, and so determine the actions of his own body. That's the first tool. Y'all see that? God's will is sexual immorality or sexual purity that you abstain from sexual immorality. How, Paul? Well, first tool. Know how to possess your vessel. That's the idea. Know how to possess, know how to control, to determine, to dictate your body and what your body does. That's how you do it. In fact, would you notice the word know? Two words in the Bible, primary two words, many words for no, but there's primary two word groups for no, and it's oida and gnosko. Do you remember those words? Gnosko refers John 17, three, this eternal life that they may know thee. Genesis 14, one, in the Septuagint, Cain knew his, or Cain, is it Cain? Adam knew his wife and she conceived and gave birth. The word new there, gnosko. It's a relational term, it's a progressive term. Oida, on the other hand, is fullness of knowledge. complete and total fullness of knowledge. So for example, in the Greek, if I said, did you know 2 plus 2 is 4? What Greek word would I use, oida or gnosko? Pardon? Oida. Oida, you got it. Yeah, because you don't progressively know, right? You know, I learned in second grade, 2 plus 2 is 4. You'll never believe it. Two 2 by 4s plus two 2 by 4s equals 4. I got it. I'm 48 years old. Now I'm 60. Two candy bars plus two candy bars equals four candy bars. Wow, I just got this. No, you learned it in second grade. Two plus two is four. First grade, kindergarten, right? Two plus two, you oida that. You knew that fully, completely. You had mastery over it. Oida speaks of a mastery. Gnosko is relational. Now, what's the word used here? The word used here is oida. So now it makes it even stronger. Paul says God's will for you is your sanctification, specifically that you abstain from sexual immorality, that you have absolutely no contact with any kind of sexual immoral thought, activity, or behavior. Well, give me some tools, Paul. How can I have that? Well, we know how we can have that verses one through two in our lives. But give me some tools that help. One is, you must have complete understanding of how to control, master, dictate, determine what your body does. That's the first tool. You go, okay, well, towards that end, let me have you turn with me to 1 Corinthians 9, because Paul gives us a beautiful picture of what this looks like in reality. 1 Corinthians 9, 24. Turn there with me. Paul explains how this tool works. Or better yet, Paul understood this tool and he used it. 1 Corinthians 9. 24, follow along. Do you not know that those who run in their ways all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. And everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Okay, now Paul is going to explain now how to exercise the control he's just said. I mean, you know that. These athletes, they compete, they do it to win a prize. We do it for an imperishable wreath. Theirs, for an imperishable. How do you do it? Go on. Therefore, in light of this truth, I run in such a way as not without aim. I box in such a way as not beating the air. In other words, I'm deliberate. everything, every moment of my life, I am deliberate with regards to my body. So this is where Paul's going. There's not downtime where I'm off the clock. I am very deliberate with regards to what I do with my body, how I use it, what I do, what I don't do. And then notice how this is done, verse 27. How does this translate to living? Accordingly, I buffet my body, and make it my slave, lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified." Do you understand what he just said? This is incredible. This is key. Paul walked around life always in control of his body. And because he was always in control of his body, he was therefore, so to speak, a trainer. And therefore, he looked at his body as something that needed to be buffeted. God gave us a body that needs to be buffeted. Did you know that? Did you know that if you don't walk on your legs, your bone calcium density will get so slight, so little, that if you do walk, you'll break your legs? You have to destroy your body to make it strong. That's how you build muscle. You rip apart muscle fibro. Tear it. You tear it. And by tearing it, the body says, whoa, we've got to heal that. In fact, we're going to make it stronger than it was before. Let's put two muscle fibros where there was one. Every time you walk, you're doing damage to your bones. Did you know that? And because of that damage, your body is saying, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, calcium, more calcium, build this bone up. Paul says, I look at my life and I realize God gave me a body that needs to be buffeted. If I don't buffet my body and make it my slave, get this, if Paul didn't buffet his body, make it his slave when it didn't count, then he would lose the battle when it did. Did you get that? Paul was about buffeting his body when it didn't count. I'm home. We always have dessert on Friday. Today, I'm going to deny my body that dessert. Why? I'm buffeting it. That's what Paul did. That's what he means by this. It didn't mean he went around and beat himself. It meant that he said, when my body wanted to do something, it wants to sleep. Is it time to sleep? No, then I'm not going to let it sleep. We live in a world where our bodies dictate what our minds do. The alarm's set for 6. I'm going to get up at 5 o'clock tomorrow morning and have a quiet time. I'm going to be in God's word, man. I'm going to do it. 5 o'clock. Alarm goes at 5 o'clock. You go, oh, man, my body says, I don't want to get out of this nice, warm bed. It's cold. Are you kidding me? Press the snooze button for an hour later. Now it's 6 o'clock. I got to get going at 6.30 for work. If I get up now, I get a half an hour to eat, bathe, and have a quiet time. 15 more minutes. Right? You're not buffeting your body. A body that's buffeted is a body that says, I'm getting up at five o'clock because I say I'm getting up at five o'clock and I don't care what my body says. A body that's buffeted is a body which says, man, I want that sugar. No, my body doesn't get that sugar today. I don't care what it says. I'm going to buffet my body when it doesn't matter. I'm going to exert mastery over this body when it doesn't matter, so that when it does matter, I'm not disqualified. And we'll talk about what that looks like next time, to be disqualified. That's what Paul's saying. Think of great athletes. We have this idea that, oh, do they, well let me ask you, do they buffet their body when the competition begins? You know, 10 minutes before that world-class 100-meter sprinter, you know what they look like. You don't know what they look like. They're in the dressing room, one hand with a donut, the next hand with a cigarette. They're sitting back, you know, scratching their big, fat belly and eating their cigarette and donut. It's like, first call, 100-meter. Oh, put this stuff out. And then they go up and they start going. They buffet their body to run 100 meters. Is that what they do? No. You know what they do, guys? Because competition is so incredible today. Their competition is won or lost six months prior to the battle. Do you realize that? I don't remember the last summer Olympics. My daughter reminded me of this this past week. Kerry Walsh and Misty May Trainer, they were the sand beach volleyball players. They won the gold. Well, one of their competitions, the night before, they did poor on it. They didn't do well. And the trainer was asked, what happened out there? I mean, these guys are the greatest in the world. Why did they play so poor today? Why did this inferior competition almost beat them? The trainer said, well, the night before, They played a one-on-one. They played a two-on-two basketball game against some basketball players, some Olympic basketball players who they idolized. They're great guys, great gals. They played basketball for 30 minutes. And that impacted their performance the next morning. Do you realize when Michael Jordan was in his heyday, I saw a movie about him, when he was in his heyday, he had a private chef that fixed him a scientifically derived meal plan that would help him perform at his peak during the season. That's six months before, guys. That's what it means to buffet your body. You buffet it when it doesn't matter. so that when it does, you're not disqualified. You buffet when it doesn't matter so that when the buzzer's going down and you shoot that basket and it goes, you make that basket. You buffet it so that when it doesn't matter, so that when you're tempted on Friday night, you say no, because that's when it does matter. That's what it means to buffet your body. Now, if you don't buffet your body, are you going to hell? Are you not saved? No. Brothers and sisters, sanctification, the battle of sanctification, verses 1 through 2. Are you saved? Yes. No condemnation. Don't believe that lie. Secondly, are you united to Jesus Christ? Yes. Therefore, you can always, always prove victorious. Don't believe that lie. I just can't do anything else. Thirdly, do you love Jesus Christ and do you want Him more than you want that sin? Yes. That's the decision for sanctification. Okay, living in that world, is there anything I can do to help me? Yeah, buffet your body when it doesn't matter. Be in control of it, so that on Friday night your body says, hey, what do you say we sleep in, or I go to bed early, or I do whatever I want to do. You have the ability to say no, and your body's used to taking commands by you, as opposed to being someone who says, well, my body doesn't want to do this today, therefore I'm not going to do it. My body doesn't want to get up early and be in God's Word. My body wants to get more sleep today. But what does your brain say? Your mind says, no, you don't need more sleep. What you need to do is be in the Word of God. Well, then be in the Word of God. Don't let your body say you're too tired. It's not concentrating. It's been a bad week. You deserve it. Absolutely not. Your body doesn't deserve it. Your body is a tool that the more you beat, now take this carefully, the more you beat, the stronger it's going to be. Okay? Now, you can overtrain. Yes, you can. We call that anorexic. You can overtrain your body. You can say, I'm denying this, a workaholic. We call that a workaholic. You can overtrain. But you hopefully understand. You get it, guys. Another incredible tool that God's given us, one tool, is for us to take control of our bodies. Towards that end, backside of your paper. Towards that end, where we live. Understand that when it comes to our bodies, discipline and self-control are systemic virtues. Understand that. This is huge. If you want to turn there, you can, or just listen. Galatians 5, 22 and 23. The fruit, singular, which means it's binary. You either have it or you don't. You don't sort of get the fruit of the Spirit. It's one fruit. You either have it or you don't. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Control over your body. That's the fruit of the Spirit. Which means, if you have that fruit, you've got it everywhere. You can't be disciplined in one area of your life and not in everywhere else. You say, yeah, you can. I'm a disciplined person. I watch my calories. I have no problem with eating. I exercise at the gym all the time, but I struggle when it comes to pornography. You're naturally disciplined. That's called the propensity of your personality. You ever meet non-believers who are disciplined? Yeah, that's through the Spirit? No. That's called their personality. You ever meet non-believers who are gracious and kind? Yeah, that's not through the Spirit. For them, that's their personality. And sadly, in the church, we confuse personality with spiritual godliness. I'm naturally disciplined. Man, I go to the gym all the time, look at these muscles. Now they think they're godly because I'm disciplined. The alarm goes off at four in the morning, I get up, I'm in charge of my body. It's my slave. I'm a godly man. But yet that same person turn around doing these horrible things or being mean to their spouse or whatever. Brothers and sisters, discipline is systemic. If you have the fruit of the spirit, you have it everywhere. Which means, so to the fruit of the Spirit, discipline, and guess what, brothers and sisters? You'll be disciplined. That's what we're talking about. Win the battle when it doesn't matter, and you'll win the battle when it does, and thus you won't be disqualified. It's systemic. I love that truth. Next, accordingly, what is involved specifically in buffeting one's body? Would you notice how verse 4 ends? That each one of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor. All right, because of those words, sanctification, same word, in being set apart unto God, claimed by God, for God, honor means virtue. And sanctification, which refers to, therefore, a position and a life that's virtuous. Because of those two words, let me give you six suggestions. You've got them right there, exactly what my notes read. Almost exactly. One, realize first and foremost that your body is the Lord's body. That is the first nuance of the word sanctification. It has been claimed by God for his purpose. As such, your hands are his hands, your eyes are his eyes, your feet are his feet. Start there. Do you understand that? Do you ever do this? I do this. Maybe I'm strange. I sometimes feel like I'm me inside this body. Especially as you're aging, you look in the mirror and say, who is that older person? In my body, I don't feel the way I look. I look in the mirror, whoa! You know, I scared me. Who is that older person? You know what I'm talking about? If you know what I'm talking about, then you can glean, you can grasp the idea that this body is a gift from God. It's the corpus of The corporeal existence God's given your spirit in which to serve him. Now, we're going to be united with this by the rest of eternity. I understand that. After we die, we'll be rejoined to it when God comes back. But, so not to be dualistic here, but to realize this body is not yours. These hands are not yours. You're driving a body which God owns. God owns it. Now I don't know about you, I was the kind of child that if I was borrowing someone's car, even today, if I borrowed someone's car, I would be very much more careful with it than I would with my own car. Because it's theirs. Do you understand this is not your body, it's God's? God owns your body. Secondly, because of sanctification. Next, ask the question, if Christ were in my shoes, if he were in my body, would he use his body as I use mine? We're talking here about honor. Would he gaze upon that which I gaze upon? Would he delight in that which I delight in? Ask yourself, as you look at your life, go, okay, this is not my body, it's Christ's, God owns it. Now, would Christ submit his body, this body, to that? If the answer is no, that gives us to our third point then. Thirdly, if it's no, if there's any divergence in how you are living and how Christ would live, then with the foundation clearly in mind, I'm not gonna repeat, I've done it twice now, do I need to repeat again? I hope not. With the foundation clearly in mind, make the necessary changes to align your living with Christ. This will involve buffeting your body. No more. No more am I gonna eat sweets. No more. This body's not, I'm not gonna, I'm done for the next month, for the next year. I'm done, or for the next week. I'll eat it on Saturday, but that's it. Whatever your regimen is, this is how I'm gonna use my body. Be purposed. Be purposed on how you use your body. I will not use it this way, I'll use it this way. Honor. Fourthly, don't downplay the significance of any context when it comes to disciplining your body. Again, discipline is systemic. You can't be disciplined in one area of life and not in all areas if it's a fruit of the spirit. Win the battle, if you have win, this is because I didn't edit it, okay? Win the battle over control in your life when it doesn't matter, and the bigger victories will be brought down to size. So, brothers and sisters, every moment counts. Fifthly, as self-control is the fruit of the Spirit, as the fruit of the Spirit is a correlation of being driven by God in His Word, brothers and sisters, if you want to cultivate self-control, you've got to be in the Word of God. And that doesn't mean learning theology. That means learning orthopraxy. Not learning orthodoxy. Yes, learn it. Learning orthopraxy. Allowing this to drive you. That's what it means to be spirit-led. Spirit-filled means you are driven by God's Word. So cultivate that. It's the hardest thing to do. Pharisees learn God's Word well. And we, you and I, are natural-born Pharisees. It is not hard to learn theology. Who made you? God. I mean, you teach monkeys that, okay? You can teach a four-year-old baby, a child that. Who made you? God. What else do I make? All things. Why do I have to make you in all things? For His own glory. How do you glorify God? By loving Him and doing what He commands. That's the children's children's catechism, right? Anyone can learn that, okay? Anyone can learn that. But does that drive you? That's what it means to be spirit-filled. Anyone can learn that, get this guys, anyone can learn that Jesus Christ died while the animals were being sacrificed on Passover. Because Passover meal was celebrated at different times in that day based upon where you lived. So they had a Passover meal on Thursday and a Passover meal on Friday. So Christ participated in the Passover meal on Thursday and then he went and was crucified on the cross and during that time there was a Passover meal taking place and animals were being sacrificed in the temple as Jesus Christ died on the cross. Anyone can learn that and walk away and go, wow! But what difference does that make in your life? If it makes no difference, then what you've just learned has damned you. Now, if you're saved, it hasn't. But if you're not saved, what you just learned has damned you. As Gerstner said, the deepest pit in hell is reserved for the theologian. Theology doesn't save. Responding to it does, so be spirit-filled. And then lastly, Encourage you, and this is not from our text, it's from Hebrews 3, get involved in a relationship of accountability where a brother or sister is praying for you, rooting for you, encouraging you, and holding you accountable. Hebrews 3, 13, but encourage each other as the day draws near, lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Get accountability. Have a brother or sister, a parent, a spouse, Know what you're going through. Pray for you. Cheer for you. Man, I want to eat right. And I want your prayer and accountability. Whatever. So, we're out of time. That's the first tool Paul gives us. I hope you take it as a tool. You see, if you don't buffer your body in all ways, the battle's going to be a lot more difficult. When it matters, the bombs are going off, you're probably gonna fail if your body's not buffeted. When the buzzer's sounding, you're shooting that basket. If you haven't shot a million baskets before that, you're probably gonna miss that basket. So, buffet your body when it doesn't count, so that when it counts, you won't be disqualified. Okay, that's a wonderful word of wisdom that we get from verse four. Next week, we'll look at five, six, and seven. Let's pray. Father God, how we want to be used by you. Lord, your word is indeed our delight. We delight in the law of God and the inner man. God, we look at this passage which talks about sanctification and moral excellence and being used by you. And Lord, we say, Amen. God, take me. Here I am. Send me. Lord, grant us the grace to be disciplined. Lord, to disciple ourself. That's what that word means. God, give us the grace to therefore take our body, take our minds, take and dictate and determine as we enjoy our salvation, as we access Jesus Christ in your word with union, and as we fellowship with you, our God, and choose that over any passing pleasure of sin. God, we pray this day, transform us. Pray for the one this day who is struggling with sin, a dark sin that they wouldn't confess to anyone, maybe even not to you. I pray that in Christ that you'd free them from their darkened imagination, the belief that no one else could struggle like them. And Lord, that they would come and fight the good fight of faith with one another. That, Lord, as good soldiers, we would encourage each other, not judge each other, but pray for each other, knowing that we're all fighting the same battle. And then, Lord, we pray, resting upon grace, God, make us a unique people, a distinct people, a peculiar people in holiness and reverence, as we stand in awe over the salvation and the place you've placed us. As we rejoice over the cleaning that has been affected in our lives such that we stand before you without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that there's no condemnation. Lord, make us a people who therefore delight in you and therefore live a life of service as vessels useful in your hands. This we pray in Jesus' name, amen.