Please enable Javascript to play audio

Vigilant And Sober In The Last Days

May 13, 2007

The last days began with the Jesus Christ

Hebrews 1:1-2 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds (NKJ)

We are living in last days

2 Timothy 3:1-5 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men (outside & inside the Lord’s church) shall be [in their lifestyles] lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent [no self-control], fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

Inside/outside – the church of God

Mark 4:11-12 And He (Jesus) said to them, "To you (disciples inside His church – His baptized elect) it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, 12 "so that 'Seeing they may see and not perceive, And hearing they may hear and not understand; Lest they should turn, And their sins be forgiven them.'(NKJ)

1 Corinthians 5:12 For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside [“the church,” NIV]? Do you not judge those who are inside? (NKJ)

1 Timothy 3:7 Moreover he [“an overseer,”v.2] must have a good testimony among those who are outside [“the church of God,”v.5], lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. (NKJ)

Vigilant defined

The World Book Encyclopedia Dictionary:

Keeping steadily on the alert; attentively or closely observant; watchful, wide-awake, or cautious: The dog kept vigilant guard over the baby. SYNONYM(S): wary, sharp.

Webster’s 1828 Dictionary:

Watchful; circumspect; attentive to discover and avoid danger, or to provide for safety.

American Heritage Dictionary:

On the alert; watchful.

Compact Oxford Dictionary:

Keeping careful watch for possible danger or difficulties.

Infoplease Online Dictionary:

1. Keenly watchful to detect danger; wary. 2. ever awake and alert; sleeplessly watchful.

Roget’s II The New Thesaurus, words similar in meaning:

Alert, observant, open-eyed, wakeful, wary, watchful, wide-awake. Idioms: on the ball.

Enhanced Strongs Lexicon:

1. to watch 2. metaph. give strict attention to, be cautious, active 3. to take heed lest through remission and indolence some destructive calamity suddenly overtake one.

Watching versus sleeping

Matthew 26:38,40 Then saith he (Jesus) unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch (be vigilant) with me [present active imperative]. 40 And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?

Awake out of sleep

Romans 13:11 And that, knowing the time (it is the last days), that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation (into the kingdom) nearer than when we believed.

Walk circumspectly – redeeming the time

Ephesians 5:14-16 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. 15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, 16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

A frivolous life

Luke 12:19-20 'And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry." ' 20 "But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?'

To be ready and prepared

Mark 13:24-27,32-37 But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, 25 And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. 26 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. 27 And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect …32 But of that day and that hour (Christ’s second coming after the tribulation) knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. 33 Take ye heed [examine, weigh carefully – to all the signs of Christ’s coming v.5-29], watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. 34 For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey (His ascension to heaven), who left his house (His church), and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. 35 Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: 36 Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. 37 And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.

If you are not watchful he will come on you as a thief

Revelation 3:2-3 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. 3 Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.

Sober Defined

Sobriety carries with it the basic idea of being under the control of, or regulated by or ruled by, Mind, Intellect or Reason. It also means not being under the influence of an intoxicant --- a meaning that presumably comes from the effect that an intoxicant has on a person in robbing him of good sense, balance, judgment and reason.

Roget's Thesaurus, words similar in meaning:

Sober, solemn, grave, serious, earnest, thoughtful, sober-minded, sedate, staid, calm, composed, sensible, reasonable, rational, logical, well-balanced, levelheaded, coolheaded, temperate; plain, simple, natural, unadorned, unaffected, matter-of-fact

A warning against intoxication

Luke 21:34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.

Stumble in judgment

Isaiah 28:7 But they also have erred through wine, And through intoxicating drink are out of the way; The priest and the prophet have erred through intoxicating drink, They are swallowed up by wine, They are out of the way through intoxicating drink; They err in vision, they stumble in judgment.

To think soberly towards our own self

Romans 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

Church leaders need to be sober

1 Timothy 3:2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;

Titus 1:8 But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate;

Woman in the church adorned in sobriety

1 Timothy 2:9 In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array

We need to be taught to be sober

Titus 2:1-6 But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine: 2 That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience. 3 The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; 4 That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. 6 Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded.

Paul spoke words of soberness

Acts 26:25 But he said, I am not mad, most noble Festus; but speak forth the words of truth and soberness.

Sober teaching in the church

1 Timothy 4:16 Take heed to thyself, and to thy teaching. Continue in these things; for in doing this thou shalt save both thyself and them that hear thee.

Watch and be sober in view of the day of the Lord

1 Thessalonians 5:1-8 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. 2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 3 For when they (false teachers) shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. 4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. 5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. 7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. 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 day of the Lord is “after” the tribulation

Joel 2:31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

Matthew 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

Zechariah 14:1,4,9Behold, the day of the LORD cometh…4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, 9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.

Be sober, be vigilant due to your enemies potential

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

Live soberly…looking for that blessed hope

Titus 2:12-13 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 13 Looking for (exercising vigilance) that blessed hope (“the hope of age-lasting life,” Titus 1:2), and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ