Demonstrating Faith

Amen You know, it's great to be able to study God's Word together And, you know, the unfortunate thing is that our time is so very, very short There are 11 weeks in which we have marked out in this fall to cover this topic, and it's only an hour long each week, and so it's not a lot of time And I'm sure that maybe you have many, many questions And if you want to ask those questions, you can You can take a registration card You can put your question on that registration card and just put it in the offering basket You can give it to me You have to put your name on it

Just if you've got a question, you want me to answer it, I'll do that as best I can over the next remaining weeks so that I can at least keep you up to speed as to the questions that you might have The unfortunate thing is, our time is so very, very short And yet, hopefully, we can sim in your own hearts and minds the opportunity to spend time studying God's Word Going into more detail as to what it is God wants you to learn as we study these foundational principles together And I trust that God has taught you much as I look at the building process for our homes

It's a step-by-step process, it takes time It doesn't happen overnight, but if you're committed to fulfilling the biblical principles that we lay out for you through the scriptures, the promise is that God will do a great and mighty work in your family In your own heart and life And so let me just review for you, recap for you really quickly to let you know where we've been To it will introduce for us where we are this evening All right, it begins this way, and that is foundational Principle number one was that there needs to be a forgiving spirit

And we said that this is the principle of alliance, where I align my will with God's will That I'm going to do what God says And I need to be a forgiving person Can you imagine trying to build your home on vengeance and retaliation and bitterness and anger and malice and slander? No home was ever built that way, but so many times that's what happens in our homes And there's so much anger and bitterness and resentment that we need to be very, very careful The writer of Hebrews says that we need to be careful that there is not a root of bitterness that springs up within us, thus defiling many

Our homes are defiled because of a bitter spirit We need to be very careful about that Our God is a good God and ready to forgive, the Bible says In Psalm 86, and we need to be ready to forgive We need to have a forgiving Kind of spirit We need to be kind, tender, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven us It truly is the glory of a man to overlook a transgression Proverbs 19:11 Man is at his best, man is at his brightest when forgiveness is at stake You are more like Christ when forgiveness is at stake than at any other time in your Christian walk

And so we need to exemplify a forgiving spirit, a desire, a willingness to extend and Offer forgiveness, even though someone might not even repent of their sins They might not even ask forgiveness It doesn't negate the fact that I have to have a forgiving spirit toward that person in order for them to understand that I hold No malice, no resentment, no bitterness toward that individual It may be here tonight, and you've been harboring resentment In your own heart toward a husband, a wife, a son or daughter, a brother or sister All that does is t the house down It doesn't build it up

And so a forgiving spirit is the foundation that begins our study because we need to be willing to move on from there For without that, you can't, because the Bible says while you stand praying, You are to be forgiving, Mark 11:2 and 26 And so the very next principle was not just a forgiving spirit, but overarching prayer, because, like in the armor of God in Ephesians 6, prayer is woven In and out of each piece of the armor Prayer is woven in and out of each circumstance, each situation, each hardship, each decision we have in our home That prayer is the bottom line

And, you know, the Bible says, unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it Who's building your house? And if you're not on your knees in prayer, and this is the principle by the way of reliance The first one was alliance This is the principle of reliance, where I depend upon the Lord, I rely upon God for everything It's like King Jehoshaphat said when he was surrounded by the enemy in 2 Chronicles 20, verse number 12, Lord, we don't know what to do, but our eyes are upon you

He had no idea what he was going to do next because he was outnumbered by the enemy, but all he Did know is that his eyes were upon the L And let me say it to you this way: un You rep God to people, you can't represent people to God Do you know that we're called to be a priesthood, right? We are a holy priesthood And priests would represent people to God Well, if I don't represent God to people, that is, have a forgiving spirit because I am to be like God, Then I can't represent people to God Because Psalm 66:18 says, If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me

So if I harbor bitterness and resentment and anger toward those in my family, then what that does is just hinder my prayer life And so everything comes crumbling down because I can't communicate with the Lord with a clear conscience because I am harboring all kinds of inner sin because of what's happened maybe in the past Six weeks ago, six months ago, six years ago, sixteen years ago Some people just can't get away from those things They hold on to those things And all it does is weigh you down The longer you hold on to it, the bigger the anchor becomes, and the further down you go

So there needs to be a forgiving spirit because that is the principle of alliance. I am aligning myself with God, the will of God, the word of God And then there is that overarching prayer because that's the principle of reliance, where I rely upon God for everything In fact, the Bible says in Matthew 6 that we are to forgive as God in Christ Jesus has forgiven us And if we don't forgive our brothers their sins, neither will your Heavenly Father forgive you your sins

And so there's a sense where I am to have a spirit that is willing to forgive and ready to forgive, as Psalm 86: speaks of our God And that's important And then overarching prayer, which is the principle of rel And then Foundation number three was an understanding mind That's the principle of com Where I comp with all that God says You see, the Bible says, and you know the verse, lean not on your own understanding But you know, we find ourselves doing that all the time We have an understanding about marriage

We come into our marriage with an understanding, and that understanding could be based on how I was raised What my parents taught me, what I've seen, what I've watched on television, what I've read in magazines. I come into marriage with an understanding as to how it should be And most of us are 90% wrong in those areas We think marriage should be a certain way And when it doesn't happen that way, then I'm all distraught because I don't have an understanding mind in terms of what God says in His Word My understanding is based on what I think is right Let me get real personal with you

Can I do that? I don't have to ask your permission. I'm going do it anyway Okay? But let's look at this Let's say you have an unforgiving spirit, and you become really bitter on the inside And so as a wife, because of my bitterness, I'm going to withhold sexual intimacy from my husband Okay, happ all the time And yet, the Bible says you are never to withhold sexual intimacy from your partner Except for a very short time, and for only one reason: pray That's it Let me read it to you. 1 Corinthians chapter 7 says it this way

Paul says, the husband must fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 1 Corinthians: The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does And likewise, also, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time So that you may devote yourselves to prayer and come together again, so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control

Do you know how many marriages there are in the churches across our country where husbands and wives don't engage in sexual intimacy? For whatever reason may be And the Bible says, don't do that Because it's a protection for both husband and w And so we had this understanding that we come into the marriage, and well, if you're going to do that, then guess what? You're not going to get this And we think that we're in control, but all we're doing is leaving our family out of control and letting Satan have a foothold Into our family

See, we need to have an understanding mind as to what the Bible says That is The principle of compliance. I comply with whatever God says because I want to do his will more than anything else And so, therefore, I want to follow what God's word actually does say The Bible says in Proverbs chapter 18 Verse number two, these words Proverbs 18, verse number 2: A fool does not delight in understanding In other words, I don't really care what God says. I don care to understand what God says in his word That's the fool

But only in revealing his own heart or revealing his own mind. I just want to reveal to you what's on my heart and what's on my mind. I want you to know what I'm thinking Really? Why? When God says a fool reveals his own mind And yet a person of understand really truly wants to do what God's word says Proverbs 17 verse number 27 says, He who restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is the man of understanding If you have a cool spirit, you're a man of understanding

See, we come into a marriage, our families are designed around what we understand them to be. I understand my finances are to be this way

But what does God say about my finances? What does God say about my money? We have plans for our money, but what are God's plans for our money? Do you have an understanding mind when it comes to your money, your finances? Do you have an understanding in mind when it comes to your marriage and sexual intimacy in that marriage? Do you have an understanding when it comes to a forgiving spirit toward those who have transgressed against you? Are you the kind of person who Overlooks a transgression because that puts you at your highest level, your brightest level

We have our own understanding when it comes to what we think about how we raise our children And yet God's word is very explicit on how to raise your children, how to discipline your children, how to nurture your children It's very clear But we we come into a marriage with our own understanding We we have our own understanding about how many children we're going to have You ever Ever gone through that process with your husband or wife? How many children do you want? Well, I don't know How many do you want? Well, I think one's good Oh, I think two is good

Okay, let's settle on one and a half then You know, we had this understanding about how many kids we should have Instead of trusting the Lord, Leaning not on my own understanding, in all my ways acknowledg Him so that He can direct my paths smoothly You see how easy it is to fall into a trap of this is what I think is best Based on what? The way you were raised? Your education? What do you think is best? Is what you think of best what God thinks is best? Always trust in the Lord That's an understanding mind

Can you imagine if your family got together and said, We want to understand the mind of Christ, because the mind of Christ is In us now Christ is in us What is Christ's mind about our finances? What is Christ's mind about our our marriage? What does Christ's mind about how we raise our children or how many children we should have? What does Christ have to say? Let's seek the Lord Let's honor the Lord That's an understanding Mind So he had the principle of alliance, rel, and compliance. A forgiving spirit Overarching prayer, an understand mind

And foundation number four is a non-compromising life That's the principle of def That is, I Am against anything that will cause me to compromise my integrity. I don't want to do that. A righteous man who walks in his integrity, his children will be blessed after him And therefore, integrity needs to rule the home Our children need to walk in integrity As parents, we walk in integrity because we don't want to defile The word of the Lord We don't want to back down from what God's word says is true We want to live a life of truth We want to honor truth

We want to make sure that truth reigns preem And therefore, we want to Live a life of integrity So important We went through what that means and how you install Christ as your chief priority and how you nurture your own Spirituality and how you turn away from all iniquity, and how you are to engage in accountability, how you guard against the enemy, and how you are to simply Respect your own ministry, identify with the godly, treasure your family and yearn for eternity Spells out integrity Of course, if you didn't get that last week, that's what it does It spells out integrity

And that's how you maintain a life of Integrity with your family So important Are you men and women of conviction? So much so that you will not compromise your doct beliefs, your moral commitment, because you are true to the word of the Lord Okay, those are the first four foundations Foundation number five is demonstrating faith This is the principle Of appliance, the process of bringing into action that What I believe, bringing into oper so that things run smoothly, demonstrating faith That is, we are to live out, we are to show what it is we believe Let me begin this way

Turn me in your Bible to Mark chapter 4 Mark chapter 4 In Mark chapter 4, we have a st that deals with Christ and his men And it's really the first time that the disciples experience a miracle first Affecting them They have watched miracles, they have seen them from afar, but this is the first time in their lives that they see God worked a miracle in their lives Okay? Very important It's a very familiar story It's probably my favorite story in all the Gospels

All right, it begins in Mark 4 by saying these words on that day, verse 35, when evening came, he said to them, Let us go over to the other side, other side of what? The other side of the lake Leaving the crowd, they took him along with them in the boat, just as he was, and other boats were with him And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat, so much that the boat was already filling up Jesus him was in the stern, asleep on the cushion And they woke him and said to him, Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? Now, stop right there for a second

The disciples are being obedient to what God had said Let's get in the boat, let's go to the other side So that's what they're doing And as they're making their journey across the lake, which is not very far across, it's about six and a half, seven miles In ac And so it's not very far, but there's a fierce gale of wind. A great storm erupts on the sea, and they are so afraid Now, remember, these are fishermen, okay? These are not just average Joe Schmo like you and me These are fishermen They know the sea They know about storms on the sea

But this storm came upon them in such a way that they were fearful And Jesus was with them It's not like the story we talked about a couple Sundays ago in Mark 6, where he sent them out into a boat and he went up into a mountain to pray Okay, and a fierce storm came, and he came walking to them on the water At this point, he's in the boat with them, he's right there And like us, like us, we think that God is oblivious to our adversity Of course, I know that's not you guys, that's people in some other church, some other place

But we get that, but we get in the midst of an adverse situation, and we think that somehow God is Oblivious to all my surroundings He's oblivious to my turmoil He's oblivious to my pain He's oblivious to my financial situation God just doesn't know or At best, maybe he knows he just doesn't care We don't want to admit that out loud, but that's where a lot of us are So here are the disciples, and they think that Christ is oblivious to their situation because he's asleep, sound asleep

In the midst of a storm, how does Jesus sleep in the midst of the storm when the other men are fearful for their lives? Because he controls the store He's in charge of the store And so they wake him Don't you care that we're perishing? Is there something wrong that somehow you're oblivious to our circumstances? Then he got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, Hush, be still And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm It wasn't like the boat would kind of just stop shaking and just kind of slowly come back to where it was

They were in a fierce gale storm, and all of a sudden, everything just stopped The boat just stopped The water was no longer in upheaval It was perfectly calm Now, listen to what it says next They said to them, Why are you afraid? The Greek says, why are you timid? Better translation, why are you cowards? That's the exact translation Why are you cowards? How could you, of all people, be cowards? This is this How is it that you have no faith? He doesn't say, How come you only have a little bit of faith? Not a lot of faith Then say that

Why is it you, of all people, have No faith. I can understand others not having faith. I can get that But I don't understand you guys not having any faith. I mean, after all, you're with me every day You've seen all the miracles I performed You've seen great things happen, and yet you still don't have faith to believe What I told you And what did he tell them? Let's go to the other s They didn't believe that They didn't believe they were going to make it to the other side because they feared for their lives

So, why is it you don't believe what I said? I said we're going to the other side, but yet you don't believe we're going to make it And how can you, of all people, those who say you love me, those who say you want to follow me, don't believe what I've already told you? How is it you, of all people, have no faith? And they became very much afraid You see, they became very much afraid because a great fear came upon them Because a greater for st before them The one who controls the wind, the one who controls the waves See? There was a greater force that stood before them

That's why now they became very much afraid You thought they were cowards before, now they're very, very much afraid And they said this, who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him? It's a Greek translation, pot, which means what manner of man is this? In other words, what otherworldly kind of person is this? Better translation, what? Alien form is this This is from another universe This is something beyond what we have seen or know This goes way beyond anything that we've ever seen or known from before This is other kind of force

See? What otherworldly kind of force is this that this man possesses, that even the wind and the waves obey him? What a statement By the way, that phrase was used by John. 1 John 3, verse number 1 When he said these words about the Lord God, he said, What manner of love is this? That the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God In other words, what otherworldly kind of love does the Father have? That he's bestowed upon us because it's not of this world, it's from another world, it's from another dimension That was the original Twilight Zone statement

This is another dimension And then it's used one other time In 2 Peter chapter 3 Remember, John was on the boat Well, so was Peter And Peter says it this way in 2 Peter chapter 3 Concerning the new heaven and the new earth, and how everything is going to be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and all of its works are going to be burned up And this is in verse number 11 of 2 Peter 3: Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what manner of people? ought you to be

In other words, what other world, other dimensional kind of people must now you be because this world is going to be destroyed Because this world is going to be destroyed fervent heat You need to be from another world That is, your citizenship must be in heaven And how is that demonstrated? Through holy conduct and godliness Wow You see, so what Christ demonstrated in Mark 4 is a foretaste of how it is we are to be From another dimension when it comes to living out our lives in light of the future of this world You see, here's the point

Demonstrating faith is at its best when your family is engulfed in adversity That's why it's such a foundational element to your family You want to strengthen your family? You want to fortify your family? Then, when adversity is there, it is present among you, in whatever form it takes, maybe it's a physical infirmity, maybe it's a death of a loved one Maybe it's a financial affliction because I've lost my job and I have no money Maybe it's It's some kind of issue that's taking place within your family that's tearing your family apart

In the midst of that adversity, this is when your faith needs to be demonstrated at its highest level This is where you need to be from another dimension This is where you need to be from another world Your life needs to be so Not of this world, that everybody around you now is able to see that what you say you believe Is true Would Jesus say to you and to your family, why is it you, of all people, have no faith? In other words, what is faith? It's believing in what God has already said, right? Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen Hebrews 11:1

It's the assurance Of what I've hoped for, and Christ in you, the hope of glory It's the conviction of what I don't see is going to happen because God said it was going to happen That is faith It's believing in what God has already said Mark 4: Let us go to the other side Faith is believing that God's going to get me to the other side They didn't believe that So, why do you have no faith? So, for you and me, it's very simple How is it in our families? That we demonstrate faith to such a capacity that everybody knows who we believe and why we believe it and what we believe

That's why it's such a foundational principle That's why it's what characterizes those in the Hebrew Hall of Faith There were things they never saw They never saw the fulfillment of the promises The Messiah never arrived in their day, but they believed in the coming of the Messiah They saw a greater city whose architect and master was the living God They were able to believe in what God said Remember Abraham? Abraham believed in God, right? Genesis chapter 22 God said, Take now your son, your only son, and Sacrifice him, and so he believed God

He believed that what God was going to do was going to be great He believed in the promised seed, he believed in the future people that he was going to be the father of He believed what God said So when God said, Take now your son, your only son, and sacrifice him, he was obedient to God He followed God He wanted to serve God So he did And when he took his son up unto Mount Moriah and was going to offer him up as a sacrifice, the angel of the Lord stopped him And the angel of the Lord said, Now I know That you fear the Lord

Now, the Lord already knew that, but it makes a statement: so Abraham knows that he is doing that which believers do, and that is fear God enough That they will do whatever he asks them to do, no matter what it costs them Is that the kind of faith that you have? That's why in James chapter 2, it talks about his faith And how he worked his faith out Faith is the root Works are the fruit, right? Works prove my faith to be genuine So James uses Abraham as an illustration He also moves from the prophet to the prostitute He moves from Abraham to Rahab

He even uses Rah as a person who lived out her faith because she believed in the Lord God of Israel Read the book of Joshua, 2nd chapter, 8th, verse, and following We'll talk about it this Sunday Because she believed in the Lord God of Israel And she believed what was said about the Lord God of Israel And she embraced the Lord God of Israel And James uses her She's also in the Hebrews Hall of Faith as someone who believed in what God said. and trusted in his promises See, that's where you and I need to be We need to be people who are constantly demonstrating faith every single day

We firmly believe in all that God says No matter what it costs us, no matter what we feel or don't feel We li that way So if you got your Bible, turn with me to the book of 2 Peter chapter 1 Let me show you how this is going to manifest itself in your family, okay? Very practical Peter says in 2 Peter chapter 1, these words In verse number 12, he says, Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things What things? The things he says in verses 1 to 11 Peter says, I'm going to remind you of something. I'm going to put it before you because I know that you already know it

So I'm not going to take anything new, but it's the principle of reminder You can't forget So he says, Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them and have been established in the truth which is present with you. I consider it right as long as I am in this earthy dwelling to stir you up by way of reminder Knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, that means he's going to die

Also, our Lord Jesus Christ is made clear to me, and I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure, you may be able to call these things to mind So he says, Look, you need to remember this So I'm going to write them to you To remind you of what you already know, so when I'm dead and gone, you won't forget him That makes perfectly perfect sense, right? So, what are the things that he is reminding him of? Go back to Hebrews. I mean, 2 Peter chapter 1, verse number 1 Simon Peter, a bonds and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith Okay? You've received a faith

It's a faith that's been given to you by God You don't have enough faith to believe God grants you faith to believe, right? Faith is a gift Like grace is a gift Like repentance is a gift The whole package of salvation is a gift And you received a faith Now, listen, you have received the faith It doesn't say that you need to get more faith, but you receive the faith So everything that you need to do Is based on the faith that you have in God that He's given to you that you've received

That's why the disciples said in Luke 17 that when He that you got to forgive your brother seven times seven, they said, Lord, increase our faith He says, You don't need more faith You've got the faith Getting more is not the issue Being obedient to what I've said, which faith is believing to what God has said, is the issue You just got to believe what I said That's it It's that simple You don't need more faith You don't need more belief in what I've said You know what I've said Just believe it and obey it So Peter says that you've received a faith of the same kind as ours

In other words, we have the same faith Peter had, right? Same faith the apostles had, right? It's a gift By the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ, grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of our God and of Jesus our Lord Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises

So, by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust Now, for this very reason, applying all diligence In your faith, okay? I want you to apply all diligence in your faith In other words, you have faith to believe in me Now, there needs to be, remember, man's most Precious possession, Proverbs 12:2, is what? Diligence Man's most precious possession is his diligence Proverbs 12:2 So Peter says, I want you to apply all diligence, great discipline, great tenacity, great stick-to-, never backing down

He says, This diligence in your faith, I want you to supply moral excellence And in your moral excellence, knowledge In your knowledge, self-control In your self-control perseverance, in your perseverance, godd, in your god, brotherly kindness, in your brotherly kindness, love For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless Nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ In other words, I want you to be useful and fruitful, not useless and fruitless That's what Peter was

So, applying all diligence to your faith, I want you to supply in that faith certain qualities And this is where demonstrating your faith manifests itself Okay? First of all, it says moral excellence Maybe your translation says virtue It's the word are, which is only used very sparingly in the New Testament Great word Why? Because it deals with courage, bravery Strength Same word used of the Proverbs 31 woman in Proverbs 31:1 Who can find? An excellent wife Who can find a strong wife? Who can find a brave wife? Who can find a courageous wife? Because she is a great treasure

This is a word that's so unique Why? Because listen, remember what it says in Daniel 11:3? Those who know their God display strength and take action He's already said these words That the divine power, verse 3, has granted to us everything pertaining to life and goddess through the true knowledge of Him So, in other words, you have the true knowledge of God Those who know their God display strength, take action Those who know their God have a faith, and in that faith, they are supplying moral Excellence They are supplying virtue They are supplying strength

Why? Because out of the knowledge of God comes great strength, bravery See it to you this way. 1 Peter 2:9 says that we as belie are to declare What? The excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light What are the excellencies of God? They are His heroic deeds In other words, they are the great deeds of God that set them apart from everything else So, therefore, we are to declare his excellencies Now, we are to supply our faith With moral excellencies, great strength, great bravery, great courage

Why? Because we already know God, and the way you display your faith is do it through great strength And that's how you demonstrate your faith You're strong in the Lord, in the power of his might You're not weak, but strong You're able to do hero deeds because of your knowledge of Christ You display strength And you do great things Daniel 11:3 Because you know God Peter 's reminding them of this Look This is what needs to happen in your life. I want to remind you of these things This is a discipline This is the diligence that you are to portray on a daily basis

And then he says this: In your moral excellence, knowledge In other words, he says in 2 Peter 3, verse number 18, 3rd chapter 18, verse, we are to grow in grace and in the knowledge Of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ We're not to grow in knowledge of the Bible, but of the Son, our Savior. A lot of people know the Bible, but don't know the Son, right? That's why Jesus said in John chapter 5, verses 39 and 40: You search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, but you miss me So, you know everything about the about the Bible, so you say, but you miss me

How do you know the Bible and miss me? Happens all the time, right? So, Peter says, I want you to grow in grace and in the knowledge Of your Savior, of your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ And Peter's saying here that, listen, add to your already strong lifestyle Because of your faith in God, that's rooted in the true knowledge of God, keep growing in your understanding of God Is it not true that none of us have reached the fullness of the knowledge of God? He's infinite? His ways are unsearch

So we are constantly look to learn more about our Lord, that we might follow him in obedience, that we might serve him with a full heart So, the Bible is very clear Be diligent when it comes to your faith by supply moral excellence By supplying know to that moral excellence And then he says these: this word He says, Into your knowledge, self-control, self-control

You know, that's very important because we live in a world that's characterized by people not having any self-control. 2 Timothy chapter 3, in latter days, men will be without control, right? We live in a day where self-control has gone out the window But if we are to know our God, And be strong in our God, then we must be able to control our passions and our desires When we control, have self-control, it affects our marital life It affects our devotional life It affects our mental life It affects our social life It affects our em life We need to exercise self-control

It's a fruit of the Spirit, by the way Remember Galat chapter 5? So, therefore, because it's a fruit of the Spirit, And because God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but one of a sound mind or self-control God has already equipped us with what we need to keep our passions, our lusts, our desires, our drives Under control In fact, Paul would say in 2 Corinthians 5, 14 and 15, the love of Christ controls me, right? Either my love for Christ controls me, or my love for self controls me One of the two And Paul says, I am controlled by the love Of Christ

And we, as the people of God, need to be people who live lives of self- Let me give you the example Because those who are lacking in self-control You're going to find that there is a habit pattern in their lives as to why they can't control their urges They can't control their sinful appetites, their sinful desires There's a habit pattern in their lives Look at it this way You're at home, and you're a father or a mother, and your child comes home, and they come home and they're filled with mud all over themselves

You say, Hey, what happened? And they say, well, coming home today, I fell in the ditch and I got muddy You say, oh man, I am so sorry Let's get you cleaned up So we'll get them all cleaned up and get them all ready to go And next day we send them off to school And the next day they come home And they're muddy again And you say, Well, what happened? And they said, I fell in the ditch And you say, the same ditch? And they say, yeah, the same ditch And you kind of conc it for minute, and you might still be a little sympathetic toward them

So you'll get them cleaned off and change their clothes and do their laundry, send them off to school the next day And they come back the next day filled with mud And you say, let me guess You fell in the ditch They say, yeah, how'd you know? And you say, you fell in the same ditch They say, I did How did you know? That's why I'm your mom That's why I'm your dad. I'm paid to know those kinds of things, you see So the first day, you're a little, a little sympathetic And maybe the second day you're a little sympathetic But the third day, you're thinking, you're a little silly

Do it three days in a row So you clean them up anyway, and you send them off to school again the next day, and they come back filled with mud And you say, same ditch? Yeah, same ditch You're still dirty Yep Now you're irrit, right? Now you're not sympathetic Now they're not silly They 're just plain stupid, right? You're going home the same way, fall in the same ditch at the same time, and you come home filled with mud You get a little irritated, don't you? You see, there needs to be a change of route You've got to stop going the same way Or Fill in the ditch so you don't fall in anymore

But you got to make a change, right? You can't be going the same way at the same time, past the same ditch every single day, and expect To escape temptation And that's what happens with people who find themselves in habit patterns They keep going the same way, doing the same thing Engage in the same activities, and they're like, just keep falling the same ditch. I don't know what to do What am I going to do? You're going the wrong way You've got to change a different path You got to stop hanging around with the same people You got to go a different direction

You see, there's something practical that can happen It's called self-control It's called discipline But you see, you'll find that people don't like to do that because they like the ditch They like falling into the ditch They like the mud that they fall into They like that So, to change their route, to fill in the ditch, to go a different direction Is almost too practical for them to even begin to conceive So the Bible says that we are to To put off the old man and put on the new man That's why we're to put on the clothes of the new man

In the book of Ephesians, the book of Colossians talk about that heavenly wardrobe that we're to put on every day Why is that so important? When you get up, When you get up in the morning, you get dressed You don't get up in the morning and take a shower and go to work naked You don't do that, you put your clothes on You don't go to work without doing your hair You do your hair You don't go to work without brushing your teeth Why? Because you put on those things that allow you to leave the house knowing that you're ready to face the world

Same is true with the spiritual qualities and the spiritual virtues that God wants us to put on every single day because it's a discipline that we do The discipline of self-control is important Well, if you're not adding to your faith moral excellence and knowledge You'll be lacking the self-control See? That's why Peter says, I'm going to remind you these things, because this needs to be evident in your life, because you need to be able to demonstrate your faith on a daily basis Because those around you need to know what you believe, why you believe it, and who you believe in

And you don't want to send any mixed messages out there as to your commitment to the Christ And then he says this: I need to self-control, perseverance, hupo mon, the ability to bear up under pressure You want to be able to demonstrate faith in your family, then you got to be able to bear up under negative circumstances Hardship, pain, diffic, advers because that stick-to-it That perseverance is the hallmark of what it is we say we believe The word hupo-mone has a forward look to it, has an upward look to it Remember Hebrews 12? How we are to well, let me read it to you

Hebrews chapter 12, verses 1 and 2 He says, Therefore, since we have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance to the race that's set before us That's self-control, right? Let's lay aside the sin And those silly little things, those encumbrances that weigh us down, lay those, that's called discipline, that's called diligence, that's called self-control He says And let us run with endurance the race that's set before us

You can't persevere, you can't endure unless there's discipline in your life You can't do it Unless there's self-control in your life, you can't do it because you're going to fall by the wayside You're going to fall in the ditch at every corner Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, sat down at the right hand of the throne of God Consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself You will not grow weary and lose heart You can't afford to lose heart Can't afford to grow weary

Why? Because you are demonstrating faith to everybody in your family And therefore, you've got to bear up under pressure You've got to be able to persevere amidst hardship You've got to be able to be steadfast in all kinds of circumstances So they know They know that what you believe is absolutely tr That 's why God told Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter 12

Having a hard time running with footmen, Jeremiah? How on earth are you ever going to be able to run with horses? If you can't handle it when things are a little bad, how are you going to handle things when things are really bad? That's why the book of Proverbs says: if you faint in the day of adversity, Your strength is limited How many of us can't even run with footmen? Let alone one with horses Because our strength is limited It need not be, it doesn't have to be Lay aside every sin, every little silly thing that weighs you down, whatever it may be Fix your eyes on Jesus Look to Him

He endured all kinds of hostility Because there was a joy set before him that caused him to keep on keeping on And that's what you and I need to have And then he says this Th your perseverance, godliness You say be It's a word used ten times in the pastoral epistles, eight times in 1 Timothy alone Because it's indicative of those who lead in the church, that there must be a God-likeness about them That's godl Our God is holy, holy, holy, right? And we are to be godly people Well, we can't be godly people if we're out of control of our own lives

And we certainly can't be godly people if we can't bear up under pressure And we certainly can't be godly people if we don't operate in the realm of strength and bravery and courage And we can't be godly people if we're not increasing in our knowledge of God He says, be godly, be god- For he is holy So too should you be holy That's why Paul would say in 1 Timothy chapter 4: dis yourself unto godliness For bodily exercise profiteth a little, but goddiness is profitable not just in this life But in the life to come, it's the ultimate virtue to be like God

And then he says, add to your godliness, brotherly kindness, which is Philadelphia, which is friendship and biblical affection, that we're to love the brethren, that we're to love other people, and especially within your own family, right? You're to be kindly affectionate To those that are closest to you, and true love for the brethren is indicative of my love for Christ, right? The more I love Christ, the more I love those who are of the same spiritual womb as I am, those who have been born again by the By the Lord God And then add to your brotherly kindness what? Love

Because Paul would say in 1 Corinthians 13: that kind of love never fails True biblical love, and we'll talk more about this in weeks ahead That true biblical love is the kind of love that never, never Fails because it endures all things, it believes all things, it hopes all things, it never keeps a record Of wrongdoing It's never jealous or envious It's patient and it's kind And love should be the hallmark of your faith

So If we go back to our original illustration of Mark 4, what would Christ say about you and your family today? And I don't know what's going on in your family, even as we speak But would he say to you amidst what's ever happening today? Why, of all people, is that you have no faith

Why don't you believe in what I've said? Why can't you live in light of what I've said? Why can't you believe when I say we're going to get to the other side that you can believe we're going to the other side? No matter what happens in between, one shore to the other, no matter what's going on on the in-between cycle, we're going to make it to the other side Because I said that's where we're going How about you? You know, one thing that must happen

In your life, my life, your family, my family, for it to be strong, secure, and stable, is that that must be permeating within the family unit a faith that's demonstrated At every turn, at every situation, at every moment of our lives Because when that happens, when you believe what God has said, guess what? Everything Is strong because your strength is wrapped up in who God is We pray Father, we thank you for tonight a chance to be in your word, a chance to study a little bit about who you are and what you've done

Oh, our prayer, Father, is that you would go before us and cause everyone in this room to be able to trust in you Lord, I don't know what's happening in marriages, in families, across this auditorium Only you know. I don't know what's happened in the past. I don't even know what's going happen in the future No one knows that except you But Lord, I pray that we would be people Who truly believe in what you've said And that will be demonstrated by our strength, bravery, and courage, our knowledge of you Our self-control of our passions and desires

The ability to persevere under pressure, stand strong To live a godly, holy life so that we can love our brothers and our sisters, but ultimately love You, because you are all that matters We thank you in Jesus' name Amen.