SOBERNESS Soberness is the exercise of self-control over the mind, it is the ability or strength to keep excitement and other fleshly activities under control so that they do not trouble the calm waters of the spirit of Man and thereby hinder the continuous flow of revelation from the Spirit of God to the spirit of Man. Titus 2:6: Young men likewise exhort to be SOBER minded. In the Scriptures soberness is generally associated with 2 things: 1. Watching 2. Warfare Watching 1 Thessalonians 5:6: Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be SOBER. Watching denotes the idea of vigilance, i.e. being vigilant especially at a time when figuratively others are sleeping or spiritually dull and insensitive. Watching goes hand in hand with Soberness since Soberness is the ability or strength to keep at bay…guard against the things that excite the flesh even ‘spiritually’. A calm spirit is the result of a calm mind; i.e. a mind that is not given to frivolities, hilariousness, lustful desires, wild imaginings, fantasies and so forth. Warfare The scriptures abound with illustrations and analogies of the actual circumstances of the believer…i.e. he is involved in a warfare whether he knows it or not. The fact that he is not aware of it can only be because he is not vigilant, he has not been watching, 1 Thessalonians 5:8 But let us, who are of the day, be SOBER, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. The above scriptures suggest that one must first be sober…self-controlled…alert…guarded in thought, word and deed, BEFORE being able to put on the breastplate, for this is the only mind-set in which he can successfully put on …appropriate… or make use of the breastplate of faith and love. Those who are of the day refers to the children of Light, those who WALK in the light, not just associating or identifying with the Light by a ‘confessed’ New Birth that does not yield the fruit of a practical walk in the Light. In another scripture, this same breastplate is referred to as the breastplate of righteousness: Ephesians 6:14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness ; This is probably because faith is an interchangeable quality or characteristic of righteousness…for instance reference is made to the ‘righteousness of faith’ in Romans 4:13, showing that faith itself by its very nature is righteous…hence conversely the exercise of faith is an exercise of righteousness…for the just (or righteous) shall live by faith…and the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith…only the righteous can LIVE by faith…it is impossible for any other being to do! 1 Peter 5:8 Be SOBER, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Again in the above verse we see soberness working hand in hand with vigilance or watchfulness. The implication of this verse is that wherever soberness and vigilance cannot be found, one becomes the easy prey of the devil and his cohorts. One may not even know that he/she has been devoured…such is the power of spiritual insensitivity…hence backsliding is a sure sign that the devil has devoured the unwatchful believer! He seeks whom he may devour…believers who are not sober minded are the ones he continually seeks…not the unbeliever…for the unbeliever was his yesterday’s meal…it is not ‘Old School’ to be sober…it is simple spiritual wisdom…but it is foolishness to be a ‘whooping, bring down the ceiling, happy-go-lucky believer’, who is ‘excited’ to be in the presence of the Lord as though were Christ to appear physically they would not fall flat on their faces in fear and trembling! How contradictory the baby believer is! They are ready to dance and shout and yell in praise and excitement…but let the Holy Spirit reveal Himself only slightly, all the yelling soon turns into agonizing and hurried repentance! People misinterpret being ‘hot’ for God as is encouraged in the book of Revelation to mean being noisy, loud and excitable…yet even their excitement has to be wound up and hyped up by whoever stands before them, showing that the excitement was never genuine in the first place…it was faked to please whoever does the hyping. ’Hot’ denotes the fervency of the spirit man in all his spiritual activities and none of this is measured by fleshly manifestations of noise, hype, and so forth; but by the purity of the spirit and its ability to manifest the light of God. No…God does not want excitable believers…he wants sober ones…there is no scripture in the New Testament that talks about being ‘excited in the Lord’…it talks about being ‘strong in the Lord’, it even talks about ‘glorying in the Lord’ i.e. rejoicing in the Lord…(but when even that is read in context it refers to giving God the glory for work done through the believer by God, as Paul the apostle did in those verses and not some fleshly excitement:). 2 Corinthians 10:15-18 Not boasting of things without our measure, that is, of other mens labours; but having hope, when your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly, 16 To preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another mans line of things made ready to our hand. 17 But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord . 18 For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth. You remember the parable of the 5 wise and 5 foolish virgins? The wise ones were able to enter in because they had extra oil in their lamps. Many feel that the oil represents the Holy Spirit…but truly the oil represents the WORK of the Holy Spirit in the heart and life of the believer. The function of oil in the lamp is to BURN so as to produce light…not just to be there in any storage capacity…even so it is the work of the Holy Spirit to render the believer HOLY…PURE AS LIGHT…but only if permitted…it is this work of holiness that the bridegroom will seek in the life of each believer when He comes in the Rapture…for without holiness no man shall see God. I believe that the extra oil represents the righteousness of God that has been wrought inwardly in the believer, as opposed to the initial deposit of oil which represents the righteousness of God that was legally purchased for us all by the blood of Jesus…this was the initial oil which all the 10 virgins had at the beginning…but only 5 wise ones went the extra mile to allow the Holy Spirit to work OUTWARDLY the righteousness which Christ imparted INWARDLY to the believer. Many glibly confess, they are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus…yes…but the righteousness imputed by Christ must now become the righteousness imparted by the Holy Spirit… Again the 5 wise virgins initially slept like all the others…but when the call came to alert them that the bridegroom cometh they woke up and began to work out their salvation with fear and trembling…the Illuminati…Boko Haram… wars here and there are all indications that TIME IS UP!!! There is a wakeup call going on now! No more time for frivolity and church playing…be watchful…and where you have slept and been devoured…recover yourself from the snare of the fowler! Stand strong…be SOBER…be HOLY…in thought, word and deed…the breastplate of righteousness as indeed all the other components of the armour of God…can only be worn by the sober…those who realize they aren’t going for a party…but a battle!!!
Posted on: Tue, 04 Mar 2014 04:06:12 +0000