We That Are of the Day 2 (let Us Be Sober)

[singing] Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword; His truth is marching on. Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! His truth is marching on. [Speaker 1] Churches and fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God greatly desires a godly home front. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tent Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 2] [singing] Who is like unto thee, O Lord? Who is like unto thee, O Lord? Among the gods, who is like thee? You are glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, Doing wonders, hallelujah. Who is like unto thee, O Lord? Who is like unto thee, O Lord? Among the gods, who is like thee? You are glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, Doing wonders, hallelujah. [Speaker 3] We thank our God again for another privilege and opportunity again for another discipleship class this Monday. We thank him for his mercies. we thank him for his grace. We thank him for his goodness. Honestly, it has been God. And we trust the Lord again that today, it will still be God in the name of Jesus Christ. We trust him that by the working of his mighty power, the Lord himself will work in our midst. The Lord himself will glorify his name. The Lord himself will do again his works in our lives in the name of Jesus Christ. Last week, we started the topic, "We That Are of the Day." We that are of the day. And we considered last week that when we talk about we that are of the day and those who are of the night, we noticed that we that are of the day, it is important that the day of the Lord is not expected to meet us unaware. The day of the Lord. The day of the Lord is not expected to meet us unaware. We noticed that in the Bible text we were considering last week. We noticed what the scriptures say. Let’s go there. 1 Thessalonians 5. Let's see that scripture again. We noticed very importantly that the day will overtake them that are of the night as a thief in the night. It will take them unaware. It will take them in a way that they will not unexpectedly. But the Bible says that we, the believers, we are not of the night. It says we are not of darkness so that the day should overtake us as a thief. We are sons of light and sons of the day. So we are not of the night nor of darkness. And what we saw last week is that therefore, let us not sleep. We should not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, they sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. We noticed last week we raised the matter of one, it should not take us unaware. Two, we are not of the night. And we're talking about the matter of the night, we went further to explain that actually, the period that we are in today is the period of the night. And we notice something about the night. The night is a time that ordinarily people will sleep. But the Bible says we should not sleep. And we're able to note that to sleep is to create excuses for sin, to create justification for sin. Men begin to sleep not when they sin, but when they begin to have excuses, excuses for why sin should be in their life, excuses for why certain sinful acts should be committed, excuses for why certain things that are ungodly should be done. And that was what we discussed last week. Today, we want to move on from where we left the matter. We want to move on, still looking at this matter, "We That Are of the Day." We that are of the day. So, let’s have a word of prayer as we move on for today. Our Father, we thank you for your love. We thank you for your mercies. We thank you for your goodness. We thank you for your grace. We thank you, our Father, for all who you are and all that you are to us. Lord, we are committing ourselves into your hand this evening. We are praying. The Bible says Paul plants, Apollos waters; it is God that gives increase. Lord, we pray that as we move on this evening, you will grant increase to this meeting. For our brethren who are here physically, for our brethren who are connecting with us online, as we all fellowship together, Lord, we pray that Father, you will meet with us all in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank you, Eternal Father. In Jesus' name we pray. So, we want to move on today from the verse seven into verse eight. The Bible says, "For those who sleep sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night." Those who sleep. And we said we need to be careful about our life because this period is actually a period of the night. It’s a period that men want to sleep. And honestly, so many that could be described as believers today have begun to raise one or two excuses, reasons why certain sinful things should be permitted in their life, certain wrongs should be done. What are we supposed to do if we are not to sleep? That is, even though we are in the night. We mentioned last week that the night actually started on the day of Pentecost. And right now, we have moved further and further into the night because the latter day began at the day of Pentecost. Today, we know we are in the latter of the latter, so we are more into the night. Now, we saw that we must not sleep. That was our concern last week. We must not raise justification for sin. We must not begin to give excuses for why certain sinful things should be in our life. Rather, we should, the Bible says, let us not sleep, but let us who are of the day be sober. Let us who are of the day be sober. Let us be deep in our thinking. Today, I want to begin to look at what should characterize we that are of the day. What are the things that should characterize men that are of the day? What are the traits that should be in our lives? How should we live on a daily basis? Practically speaking, how are we supposed to live? So we want to begin to take this matter again gradually, one after the other. We notice that we have been warned that we should not sleep. The one that we should not sleep, we should not sleep, rather we should be sober. And in looking at that verse eight, the Bible says, "But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as an helmet, the hope of salvation." In the verse eight, the scriptures began to raise what should characterize men of the day. And what the scripture says is that but let us who are of the day, number one, be sober. In that soberness, we need to soberly put on certain things. It says, "Let us be sober, putting on." Let me read in another translation. In the NLT translation, it says, "But let us who live in the light think clearly, protected by the body armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation." NIV: "But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled." I'm trying to explain the word sober. The first thing about men of the day is soberness. To be sober is to be clear in your thinking. To be sober is to be clear. It said, let us be clear. There should be no ambiguity in our thinking. There should be no conflict in our value system. We should not be profane like Esau, who for a morsel of bread sold his birthright. We should be clear. We should know that we are to seek the Kingdom of God first, and all other things added to it. We should be clear in our priorities. We should be clear to be sure that we are not trying to serve both God and mammon because you cannot serve the two. Let us be clear. There should be a clear-cut. We are not supposed to be in doubt. We are not supposed to be confused. There should be no duplicity in our actions. We should not be double-tongued. We should not be in any way not genuine. We should be real. We should be sincere. We should be transparent. There should be clarity of intention. We should not be deceitful. We should not live a life of lie. It said let us be clear in our thinking. We should not be foolish in the way we think. We should not be foolish. We should not be carnal. We should not be godless. We should not be profane in our thinking. Our thinking should be clear. We should think, and if you want to understand that, you need to go to Philippians. Look at Philippians 4:8. Let’s see what the Bible says there. Let's see Philippians 4:8. I want to read verse eight. "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are noble, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, if there be any praise-worthy, think, meditate on these things." I'm trying to explain when the Bible said we should be sober. We should be clear in our thinking. I'm trying to operationalize what our thinking should look like, what the things that should take our thinking, the things that should preoccupy our imagination, our meditation in times like these. This is the night period where several men are sleeping, where men are confused in the way they reason, where men are confused in the way they think, where there are so many confusions. Let me give an example to demonstrate this kind of confused thinking. I think it is a good one if I mention it. I was watching this Christian drama trying to make us see how believers have become confused in their thinking. In that drama, the relationship, the marital relationship was between the youth leader and the choir leader of a church. And of course, it was a relationship that had gone to the leadership, open to everybody, so it was not an illicit relationship. It was something clear, so there was no problem about the relationship. But at a point in the drama, the young man was to leave the country. And at that moment, consequence on that, he discussed with the wife-to-be, the fiancee, that, "I'll be leaving the country, and there are so many strange stories about people leaving the country and not returning back, or people leaving the country and going to take another wife outside the country." And he was saying that he's promising that he's not going to do anything like that, that he's going to remain faithful to her, and she who is over here in Nigeria should remain faithful to him. And what was it that was to be the token of the covenant? He said they will need to sleep together, they will need to have sexual intercourse. So that with that, since he would be devirginating the fiancee, the fiancee would know that she had been devirginated by his husband-to-be so to speak, and so she should wait till the husband-to-be is available, arrive from or come and take her. At first, the lady said, "But that would be wrong. The Bible preaches against premarital sex." The young man said, "In this case, I don't think it will be a kind of sin. Since, number one, our parents are aware of our relationship, the church is aware of our relationship, and what we want to do was a token of faithfulness, which the Bible expects them to do." So at that moment, the lady now said, "Okay, okay, since it's a token of faithfulness, they need to be faithful, they need to be faithful one to another, and having a token like you have the wedding ring, a token of the marriage, so that should be a token." So she consented. Now, the question is, does that mean that it is no more fornication? What they did, does that mean that what they did is no more fornication? Does that mean I'm just trying to explain the meaning of people not being clear in their thinking? And I'm just using the opportunity of that drama that I watched to explain it to you. Now, the Bible said one thing we must do about the night is that we must be clear in our thinking. We must be clear in our thinking. You notice that that lady was not clear in her thinking. The lady in the drama I'm talking about. The young man too was not clear in his thinking. There is confusion in their thinking. There is misplaced priority in their thinking. There is impurity in their thinking. In order to understand what it means to be sober, to be clear in your thinking, not to be profane or godless in your thinking, the Bible says that in our thinking, it should be whatsoever things are true. The first thing about your thinking is to think on how true is this thing. When we say true, the truth, we are not talking of how you feel or what you think or how you see it. We are talking of what is the position of the scripture on a matter. What is the position of scripture? He said whatsoever things are true. Brethren, anywhere you are and you are listening to me, if you will not sleep in this period that we are in, the Lord Jesus warned, he said because iniquity will abound, the love of many will wax cold. If your love for godliness, love for holiness, love for righteousness will not wax cold in your life, your thinking must be clear. The way you think must be clear. You must think what is the truth. You must think what is noble. You must think what is just. You must think what is pure. You must think what is lovely. You must think what is of good report. You must think that which has virtue. You must think that which is praise-worthy. That is the matter we are talking about, what should be the response of we that are of the day. We that are of the day, we were looking at it, that day should not take us by surprise. We are in the night. Many people are sleeping. Of course, men ordinarily will sleep in the night. Justification for sin. And today, we are looking at what should characterize us. And wherever we get to today, we'll move on on this matter next Monday. And we are trying to check it one after the other. The first thing is they that are of the day, they must be sober. Brother, are you clear in your thinking? Are you sure this period that we are in, are you sure you are not ambiguous in your thinking? Are you sure you've not become foolish in your thinking? Are you sure you've not become vain, futile in your thoughts like the Gentiles? The Bible described the Gentiles, that they are futile in their imagination, in their reasoning. Ephesians 4:17, he says they are futile in their imagination, in their reasoning. He says they are vain, they are thoughtless, he says they are confused. And the first thing I'm asking you, brother, the first thing I'm asking you, sister, is for you to check your life. How do you think? You'll be wondering, why is this thinking so important? Why is the matter of thinking a very important thing? You need to understand something. You need to realize something. Number one, you remember that the basis of our transformation is consequent upon the way we think. The Bible said, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. So the first thing about our living a holy life is consequent upon the way we think. I'm helping you to understand why the matter of soberness is a serious issue in this period of the night. We are at a time in history that indeed people are just sleeping here and there. Different justification for sin, and that is not wrong. You know everybody's doing it, and you know that is that. What makes it to be wrong? If you look at the pressure, the societal pressure, actually I did not want to do it. It’s because of the economic situation, because of the political situation. Actually, I would not have done it, but you know, my political godfather, they want me to do this. Actually, I would not have done it, but there were orders from above to do this. Different justification for sin today. Honestly, people are sleeping. It’s a time where we're in the night where men are raising why sin should continue, why men are raising different justification, plausible reason for why they should do that which is against the will of God. But I am telling you that if you will not be one of them, the first thing to correct in your life is the way you think. Why is thinking so important? The second reason. I've said fundamentally it’s the basis of our not being conformed to the world. The second thing why it is so important, this matter of soberness in our thinking, is that there is a connection between our imagination and our faith. I may not be going too much into the matter of faith because what that instruction said in that 1 Thessalonians 5 is that let us be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith. So I'm still coming to expand the matter of the breastplate of faith. He said the breastplate of faith and love, then I will expand the matter of love, and then an helmet, salvation. I'll come to expand why salvation should be the helmet. Each of those things that were raised, because the next thing in the verse nine is that for God has not appointed us to wrath. Men who have not been appointed to face the wrath of God, to see the other side of God, there is a way their lives must be because it has been written, follow after peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. It doesn't matter how you shape it, how you try it, how you repack it, how you reput it. The Bible says the foundation of God’s kingdom standeth sure. It has this seal: "The Lord know those that are his," and "Let everyone that nameth the name of God depart from iniquity." There is something about the kingdom: holiness, uprightness, godliness. And so when you look at the matter, the first thing to address is how are you thinking. In this period of the night, bro, sis, how are you thinking? What is your thought life like? Are you sure you are clear in your thoughts? There is a connection, and I'm going to show you that very quickly, that the second thing why we must work on our thoughts, there is a connection between our thoughts and our faith. There is a strong connection between the two. If you look at 2 Corinthians 10:3, let's go there quickly. 2 Corinthians 10:3. Let's see that scriptures. Let's see what the Bible says there. 2 Corinthians 10:3. Let’s see how the Bible puts some things there for us. "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare, they are not carnal, but they are mighty through God for the pulling down of strongholds, casting down." Do you see the first thing when God want to help a life? When God want to do anything with a man's life? Do you see the first thing in that place? He says, "They are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds." He began to describe the strongholds. The first thing in that stronghold is what? He says, "Casting down arguments." Casting down arguments. You argue why what you are doing is correct. Stupid argument. Foolish argument. You cannot just submit to the truth of the Bible. You raise different arguments. I'm talking about why soberness is a crucial thing in this period of the night. One stronghold of the enemy is argument. Argument. What makes you a captive of the enemy? What makes you a captive of sin? Arguments. I remember this very funny but sad incident. Very disheartening. I met a woman, and then in the course of preaching the gospel, one or two thing and then we met this woman. And then we had cause to tell her, "Madam, when it comes to dressing, one prime purpose of dressing is to cover the nakedness." You know the conversation went to the extent and she was asking questions and we were talking. And then she brought up this argument. She said, "Sir, you know something? All this covering the breast, covering the breast, not covering the breast, all of these things, they are not important." And I said, "Why?" She said, "You see, after all, when we are breastfeeding, the breast is outside. After all, when you visit the doctors for some checkup, the breast is outside. So what is all of this thing about covering, covering it?" I'm trying to explain argument. Arguments. So the reason why she lost a sense of humanity, because when our nakedness is exposed as human, we should have a sense of shame. It is animal that don't have a sense of shame when their nakedness is outside. Dog don't cover its breast or whatever, there's no sense of shame. Goats don't do the same. But you notice that in Genesis, when the glory of God left man, and man noticed that they were naked, you notice that the immediate thing that came upon man was to make something to cover themselves. Nakedness should bring a sense of shame. But do you see the argument with which the enemy have darkened the understanding of this woman? Such that she have lost her sense of humanity. She became shameless. Even when she exposed her breast walking around, she became shameless under a particular argument. So when God want to deliver men from the captivity of the devil, the first thing God will do is to shatter arguments. God will destroy arguments. I'm talking about why we must be sober. There is a connection between our faith, our state, our situation. Whether you are the captive of the devil or you are walking in the faith of the living God and you are free, there is a connection between it and the way you think. Because the way you think is the product of your arguments. So the Bible says we need to be sober. Something must affect our thoughts. One stronghold of the enemy is argument. Argument. He says we cast down argument and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Do you see the next thing? He says we bring every thought, we take them captive and make them to obey Christ. Do you see that when you want to bring men to God, what is the thing that you take captive? What do you take captive? Their thoughts. So when the enemy want to draw men away from God, what does he take captive? Their thoughts. That is why a man like Esau could look at the birthright. And do you see the godless thought? Birthright. Somebody is talking about birthright. "I said I'm hungry. Somebody is talking about birthright. Give me the food jare. Bring the thing. I am dying." Now, I want to show you the vanity that is in that thought. Do you know that if Esau did not eat for that one full day, he cannot die? You can try it yourself. Don't eat for one full day. Don't even drink water. Try it for 24 hours see whether you will die. But Esau said, "See, I am dying. What is this? Give me this, let me eat." I'm showing you the confusion in his thought. I am saying this thing so that you understand that we that are of the day, we must do something about the way we think. We must be sure, we must establish that actually we are sober. Look at the confusion in that young man’s thought. "What is birthright to me? I am dying, you are talking about birthright. Give me this thing, let me eat so that I will not die." And then he took the thing. Three minutes or five or ten minutes pleasure, and then the birthright is gone. Is that not what people do too when they fornicate? Five minutes pleasure. Two minutes pleasure. Three minutes pleasure. Ten minutes pleasure. And then their birthright is gone. And it look like, "Ah, if I don't sleep with him now, if we don't go together, if we don't do it, we are going to die. It looks so." Is that not the same thing? Is that not why there is so much immorality and perversity everything around us today in the society? Of both young men, old men, married and unmarried, immorality, all kinds of sexual pervasion. It looks so. The foolishness. The foolishness in the thinking. So the first thing, brethren, that we are addressing today is that we must not be vain in our thinking. We must not be vain. You must beg God to address the way you think. Ask God, beg God, "God, God please, Lord please help my thinking." In these last days, in this night when men are just sleeping, being confused in their thought, "Oh, Baba help me to be sober. Help me that my thought will not be confused. I will not raise vain arguments." I was talking with one civil servant one day and we were just discussing and we were talking. And he said, "Sir, let us be realistic. We need to be realistic. That when people are not paid for five, six months, sir, sir, aren't we going to be realistic? I'm using his word for you. I want you to see the way he was coining the argument. I want you to be realistic." He said, "Sir, do they not eat? How will they go to office? How will they come back home? How will they feed their children? How they pay their children school fees? Now sir, if such people now have opportunity to make some money, and should they not make that money, you know, just so that they can handle the situation?" He said, "So that is why he thinks that some of these ungodliness around us, they are justifiable, they are justifiable in a way, they are justifiable." And what I simply said was that, "Sir, I have this to say. If you take a bottle of water, a plastic bottle of water, and you break that bottle or you cut through that bottle, what will come out of the container?" He said, "Of course, water will come out of the container." I said, "Okay. If it was to be a plastic bottle for Coca-Cola, any of the soft drink, if you pierce through, what will come out?" He said, "It’s going to be of course the Coca-Cola." I said, "Do you see that subject to the same situation, each bottle brought out what was inside them?" I said so for me, what comes out of a man under pressure is actually a revelation of what is inside. What am I trying to say, brethren? What am I trying to make you understand? The scripture says, "If you faint in the day of adversity, then your strength is small." If you faint, it means what makes you to faint is not the adversity, it is your strength. The scripture says the people that know their God shall be strong and do exploit. And I like to quote that thing in the other way round: the people that don't know their God will be weak and exploited. Men who know their God shall be strong. And they will do exploit. Look at the pressure situation that surround Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Facing a furnace of fire before an angry king who wanted to quickly release them if they would just bow. And their life was at stake. And those young men said, "Sorry, O king. Sorry, O king. We know our God will deliver us." I want to ask you, was it only Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that was in Babylon? Were there no other Jews in Babylon? Those ones, they were subject to the same pressure. Some bowed down to the image. But those boys did not bow. Why? It’s a product of what was in them. Pressure reveals what is in you. What am I trying to say? I'm trying to make you understand why our thoughts, I'm showing you different situation of thoughts that are not clear. And I'm giving you instance of thoughts that should be clear. I'm giving you instances of thoughts that should be clear. So the Bible says that we that are of the day, we must be sober. We must be sober. We must deal with the way we think. We must address the way we think. We must carefully look at the way we think. We that are of the day. We must be sure that whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are noble, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, those are the things, that is what we need to think about. He said let us that are of the day, let us be sober. Let us be sober. Bro, let us be sober. Sis, let us be sober. Brethren, we need to be sober. We need to submit our thoughts to the Lord and ask the Lord to help us. Because if we are not sober in our thoughts, then we'll not be different from those that are of the night. We'll not be different. The basis of our not being conformed to the world is to transform the way we think, to be renewed in our mind. The basis of not being held by the devil, argument, satanic argument, false argument, useless philosophy, is to be clear in our thought. There is so much about you. That is why the Bible says, "As a man thinketh, so he is." Proverbs 23:7. As a man thinketh, as a man keeps thinking, the way he thinks, that is what he will be. Let us who are of the day, let us be sober. Let us be sober. We must deal with the way we think. We must address the way we think. Wherever you are and you are listening to me, anywhere you are this evening, I want you to begin to pray. I want you to begin to pray. I want you to subject your thoughts to the Lord. I want you to subject your thoughts to the Lord. I want you to talk to the Lord. How is your thought? Are you sure you are clear in your thought? Commit yourself to the Lord. Commit yourself to the Lord. Commit yourself to the Lord. Ask the Lord. The Bible says it is he that works in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Philippians 2:13. The Bible says it is he who makes us perfect in every good work to do his will. He's the one that work in us that which is well-pleasing in his sight. I want you to go before the Lord and commit your thought life to God. Commit the way you think to God. The Psalmist said, "Try me, O Lord, know my heart. Search me, O Lord, know my thought. See if there's any evil way in me, lead me in the path of life." Psalm 139:23-24. He said let the word of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight. Psalm 19:14. I want you to talk to the Lord about your the meditation of your heart. You need to ask the Lord that God purge me, Lord purge me. Lord search me, Lord Lord try me know my thought. If there's any evil way in me, if there's anywhere anywhere anywhere, O God, I am profane in my thought, I am vain in my thought, I am futile in my thought, I am godless in my thought, God Almighty, Lord God Almighty, Lord, lead me in the path of life. Lead me in the path of life. Lead me in the path of the truth. Lead me in the path of righteousness. In the name of Jesus Christ. Lead me, Lord. Lead me, Lord. Lead me, Lord. Lead me, Lord. [singing] Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary Pure and holy, tried and true With thanksgiving, I'll be a living sanctuary For you. Our Father, we thank you for this evening. Our God, we give you glory and praise. We give you honor and adoration. We appreciate you for all who you are. We thank you for all that you have. Lord God Almighty, we know that this period that we are in is a period of the night. So many things are happening around us today in the society, God Almighty. Government is failing. The social structure, the family structure, the educational structure, the political structure, the religious structure; God Almighty, God, everything is failing. Iniquity is abounding. Wicked men and seducers are waxing worse and worse. And Lord, it seems, O God, that even we that are of the day, we are gradually being overwhelmed by some of these things that are happening around us. Lord, we commit ourselves again into your hand. Lord, we pray like the Psalmist: Search us, O Lord, know our heart. Try us, O Lord, know our thought. See if there's any evil way in us, O Lord, and lead us in the path of life. Lead us in the path of the truth. Lead us in the path of righteousness in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, our eyes on you. Let nothing prevail against your purposes our lives in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank you, Blessed Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Let's share the grace together. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us now and forevermore. Amen. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives, and we shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever. Amen. [Speaker 4] This message is coming to you from Family Tent Ministry, a Christian ministry involved in reaching the lives of singles and married through preaching and teaching of God's word, discipleship, family life enrichment, social and community development, and mission heat. Our regular activities are: Discipleship class, every Monday, 5:00 PM; Adolescents and singles club, every first Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM; Marriage forum, second Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM; Family life seminars, regular school outreaches, and everyday counseling. For further counseling, you can reach us at our location, Life Camp by the first bridge, Ilaro community, opposite Veryjoy Filling Station along Idoro road, Akure, Ondo state, Nigeria. You can also reach us through our social media handles: familytent@yahoo.co.uk, familytentministry01@gmail.com, www.familytentministry.org. Our phone numbers are: 08033861136, 07033613848. God bless you all.