Exercise Yourself Unto Godliness

church building, that we're able to share the gospel and to walk the way that you want us to. God, we love you in Jesus name. Amen. May be seated. Turn your Bibles to First Timothy chapter 4, where we just looked at just a moment ago. We're going to continue our series on we talked about when you eat a nice piece of candy and you just love that taste of it. talked about the m of bliss of a good night's sleep or a perfect steak dinner meal or or something else along that line. We talked about uh the ooh of just uh I don't know I don't know the answer to that question and we've talked about different ums here today and this one today we're going to talk about the um when you have to lift something heavy.

You ever you ever gone out to pick up something you pick it up you go and you lift it up it's so heavy it's it kind of makes that come out of you. We're going to talk about that today in 1 Timothy chapter 4 and beginning with verse number six. It says, "If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine where until thou hast also attained, but refuse profane and all wise fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profit little, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promised the life that now isn't that which is to come."

This is a faithful saying and worthy of all expectation. A and so exercise is important. Now it says there that bodily exercise profit little which means it's not not that little profit. It does profit you to exercise but spiritual exercise is even more important. And there there's different kinds of exercise that we practice uh for different purposes. You might exercise because you want to lose weight. You might exercise because you want to look better. You might exercise because you want to build muscles or or feel better about yourself. Or possibly you're exercising to pass a PT test in the military.

Or maybe you're exercising because your wife can beat you up and you're tired of that. I don't know what it is. Uh but there's many different reasons why we decide to exercise. And there's different kinds of exercise as well. Uh there's aerobics exercise. In Colossians 3:23, the Bible says, "And whatsoever you do, do it hardly to the Lord and not unto men." And and aerobics is to build up your uh to strengthen your breath, the ability to breathe, to get build up your lungs and your your your breathing and your uh heart as well. And uh and you know, if you're the kind of person that you when you come up the stairs on Sunday morning to come to church, by the time you get to the top of the stairs, you're out of breath.

Uh that's not what the Bible means. It says what you do hardly is to the Lord. The word hardly means to be out of breath, but not because you're out of shape, but because you've given your all. It's like a a football player who's run uh for the touchdown and when he gets there, he's he's given everything he has. He leaves nothing on the field and and and to give our all to the Lord and and we need to build ourselves aerobically, spiritually so that we can have a stronger heart. In Psalms 119 verse number 32, it says, "I will run the way of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart." And I want to have a a stronger heart for the Lord.

In Matthew chap 22, you're familiar with those verses, verses 37-4, Jesus said unto him, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all of thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind." This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On the on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. And we want to have a heart that is strong in the Lord. uh we need to build our heart and for God and our heart for others as well. And we also not only want to have a greater heart and a stronger heart, but we want to have greater lungs.

Uh turn over your Bibles to Galatians chapter 5. Put a marker in 1 Timothy, but go to Galatians chapter 5 and look at verses 16 and 17. Galatians chapter 5 and verses 16 and 17. The Bible says this I say then walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the f flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are the contrary the one to the others. So you cannot do the things that you would. Verse number 25. If we live in the spirit let's also walk in the spirit. And and many of you get out and exercise because you want to build up your your lung capacity.

You want to you want to build yourself up uh in in that way. And we need to build up our relationship with the spirit of God. You see, breathing is essential to life and the spirit is essential to spiritual life. The Bible tells us in John 20 and verse 22, "And when he has said this, he breathed on him and said, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." And so I want to build up my heart to enlarge my heart to have a heart that loves God and loves others. A heart that's strong in the Lord. I want to build up my spiritual life and have a greater capacity with the spirit of God. But we also sometimes do aerobic exercise because we have too high a cholesterol.

You ever go to the doctor says your cholesterol is too high and and you got to deal with that. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 19 says quench not the spirit. You know cholesterol is that thing that that keeps your blood from circulating. It keeps you from uh be able to have that circulation that you need to have. In Ephesians 4:30, it says, "And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption." And and so often what happens, there's things in our lives that have have blocked the spirit of God from working our lives. And and there's sin in our lives that we need to deal with or or not only sin, but just sometimes things that are that are keeping the spirit of God from working our lives because we're not allowing him to move in our lives.

In Proverbs chapter 5 and verse 14, I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation assembly. You know, I I went to the doctor and he said, "Well, you're borderline cholesterol and and I'm almost there." And you you you got to realize that there's things in your life that that are keeping the spirit of God from moving in your life the way you want to. And perhaps the challenge for you this morning is an aerobic exercise spiritually. That you want to enlarge that heart. That you want to strengthen your heart in the Lord and and your relationship with him. That you want to see the spirit of God moving in your lives and nothing that's blocking or keeping the spirit from moving in your lives and and and giving your all to him.

But there's also anorobic exercise. And that's where you're building muscles. In Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 10, it says, "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and the power of his might." And and God wants us to be strong in the Lord. But to be strong, you've got to build up your spiritual muscles just like you have to build up your physical muscles. The same principle applies as I said earlier, the word exercise here in the Greek is the word gymnazo where we get our word gymnasium from. and and to realize that exercise is is spiritual exercise is very similar to physical exercise. The same principles apply.

The principle of repetition, the principle of of of uh being faithful and in your exercise, the principle of of building your muscles and these principles apply in our spiritual life as well. In 1 Timothy 4 and verse number eight, I want you to look there again. It says, "For bodily exercise profit little, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come." You see, exercise is something you do by faith because you don't see immediate results. Wouldn't it be nice if you went out there and and did a little exercise and came in and you and scale said you lost 10 pounds.

Uh but that doesn't happen, does it? You got to exercise and exercise and exercise and exercise and that scale is not moving. But you got to have faith. If you stay faithful to that exercise, if you keep doing it, sooner or later, you're going to see a difference. And and and that's the way exercise is. And the same thing is true with spiritual exercise. You have to continue it by faith. In Hebrews chapter 10 and verse number 38, it says, "Now the just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall not have pleas shall have no pleasure in him." You see, when we draw back because we don't see results, when we draw back because we don't follow through.

Some of you a few weeks ago when I challenged you with the M&M's to memorize and meditate upon the word of God and I challenge you to memorize scriptures, you say, "Yeah, I'm going to do that." But yet, you have kind of pulled back, haven't you? You you've not been faithful to do that. You not kept it up. It was hard to start with and you you kind of quit. Some of you decided, "I'm going to start reading my Bible," but then you kind of pulled back. you drew back from that. And and and exercise is something you have to do by faith. You don't always see immediate results, but you know, if you're faithful in your exercise and you're faithful in doing these things that the results will come, but you have to do it by faith.

You have to continue in that process. Look at Philippians chapter 3 and look at verses 12-4. Philippians chapter 3 and verse number 12. Not as though I'd already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after it, that I may apprehend that for which also I'm apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth onto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize, the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. When you first start out, it it's hard. When you first start out, you want to quit.

You want to give up, but you you keep pushing at it. you keep going at it because you really looking you're you're looking to the ultimate goal of the mark or the prize of high calling of God in Christ Jesus. And that's why we exercise ourselves rather than godliness to to build those spiritual muscles to become stronger in the Lord. And what we need to do is we need to stretch ourselves in Philippians 3:13. It says, "Brethren, I count not myself to have be apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before." And that idea of that word reaching forth is the idea of of of pursuing to persecute to press towards

that mark and to reach a little beyond what I think I can do to give it a little bit extra effort to go that that little bit more because I want to keep building up and and keep going and and and even though I don't feel better even though I don't lose weight right away even though I don't see the results immediately I keep pushing towards that mark. I keep reaching towards that mark. Stretching beyond my limits. In 2 Corinthians chapter 8 verse number three, for to their power I bear record. Yay and beyond their power they were willing to themselves. Our our missionary talked about this passage in the in the Sunday school hour and and talking about how they reached beyond their power.

They they said I can do more and and I'm not satisfied where where I am and stretching to get a little bit further to lift a little bit more in weights to go a little bit farther in my run today to keep pressing towards that mark for the prize the high calling of God. So let me ask you so let me ask you what have you done to stretch yourself spiritually this week in Isaiah chapter 54 and verses 2 and three it says enlarge the place of thy tent and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy inhabitations spare not lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes for thou shalt break forth on the right hand on the left and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles and make desolate cities to be inhabited.

You see, listen, listen, enlarge your tent. Stretch out beyond yourself. When in u the singles Bible study on Friday night a couple weeks ago, I I I talked to him about Jabz's prayer in 1 Chronicles 4 and:es 9 and 10. And and how you remember that section of the Bible where you're reading name after name. It's verse after verse where so and so begat so and so and so and so begat so and so and you can't pronounce the names. A lot of you get discouraged at that point and stop reading through the Bible in a year because you got all these different names going on, one verse after another. There was five or six names to a verse.

But then you come to verses 9 to 10. And God gives two verses to one man's prayer. And that's Jabz. And it says that Jabz was more honorable than his brethren. And his mother called him Jabz. The name Jabz by the way means means uh suffering or sorrow. Saying because I bear him with sorrow. And Jab has called on the God of Israel, saying, "Oh, that thou wouldest bless me indeed." Now listen, "And enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me." And God granted him that which you requested. Every week you ought to pray, "God, this week, enlarge my coast.

God, this week, help me to stretch beyond myself. help me to reach for a little bit higher goal, to do a little bit better, to go a little further, maybe to read a little bit more scripture, to spend a little bit more time in prayer, uh to memorize another verse this week, uh to stretch myself beyond myself, to do more than I even thought that I could do. And and and and God granted them him him that which he requested. And a lot of us, we don't have that goal. We don't have that desire to do more than we've done before. And and we need to be able to stretch. In 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse number eight, it says, "For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia that we were oppressed out of measure above strength in so much that we despared even of life."

Paul said, "Listen, I I I'm stretched to the point I I don't know if I go any further. I don't know if I can even handle this." In first in 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and verse three again it says for their power I bear record eaya and beyond their power they were willing to themselves. And we need to ask God help me to do more. Help me to stretch myself and not be satisfied with where I am. You know when you're lifting weights one of the important things to do is have a spotter to have somebody there to that's there in case you get beyond you do more you know you can handle to help you with those weights.

And it's important to have that kind of person there with you. In Hebrews 10:es 23-2, it says, "Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, free is faithful, they promise, and let us consider one another, provoke unto love to good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as a manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching." You know, as you're struggling to to be better, you need that person that's going to be there to encourage you, to tell you you can do more. Uh years ago, I was doing weightlifting with Tupu.

And if you want to be intimidated, could do weightlifting with Tupu. Uh he would lift like 400 lb and you got to take all the weight off to get down to your 185 lbs or 200 lb that you're going to do, you know. And uh but Tubu would stand over me and I was thankful to have him there in case I got beyond what I could do and he could help me through that. But he also was my encourager. He would stand above me looking down in my face and say, "Come on, you can do another one." And I'd do another one. I go, "Oh." And I'd do another one. I thought I was doing really great. And then I' then ta look at me and say, "Do another one."

And and he say, "Do another one." And he'd make me stretch beyond myself because he was there being accountable to me, there being my spotter and helping me to go beyond what I thought I could do. Then turn over to Galatians chapter 6. Galatians chapter 6 and look at verses 1-5. Sometimes we also need people to come along and help us to bear that burden. In Galatians chapter 6 and verses 1-5, it says, "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such one a spirit of meekness. Consider thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear one his burdens so fulfill the law of Christ.

For a man think himself to be something. When he's nothing, he deceives himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoice himself alone and not another. For every man shall bear his own burden. We've got to be able to bear our own burdens. But sometimes we need help in bearing that burden. Sometimes we need help, somebody to come alongside of us and help us with that burden. In James chapter 5 and verse 11, it says, "Behold, we count them happy which endure. You have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord. And the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy.

Sometimes we have a burden in our life that's really hard to hold up. Uh I've got here a 35 pound weight here right here. And I'm going to have uh Chris, can you help me out with this? All right. Chris is going to come up and help me out. I'm going to give you this weight here. And what I want you to do is I want you to hold it out in front of you just like that. All right. If you can do that. Now, that's not easy to do, is it? That's a heavy weight. Go ahead. All right. Come on. We'll come together. Let's do this together. All right. together we can hold it. Together I can come alongside them and help them bear that burden.

Thank you, Chris. And sometimes in our spiritual lives, we have a burden that comes along and sometimes there are people in our church that are struggling with something that's beyond their ability to handle and they need you and they need me to come alongside of them and help them to bear that burden. But you know, there are other burdens that are not so heavy there. There's like this uh 10 pound weight right here. All right. Right. And I'm going to ask Jacob if you'll come up here and you can handle this 10 pound weight, right, Jacob? All right. Come on up here and do that for me and take it here and hold it out in front of you just like that.

Now, he can do that, right? And that's not You can handle that, right? Yeah. Okay. Keep it up there. Okay. All right. Through the whole sermon. All right. You're going to continue to hold him out there. Now, handling a 10 pound weight for a little time is not so bad. But the longer he's got to hold that up there, the more that arm is going to be start shaking. The longer he's got to hold up there, the harder it's going to get a little harder now, a little more. It's going to get harder and harder. And sometimes people are not handling a weight that's overwhelming. But sometimes the problem is when I have to keep holding enduring that day after day and week after week and we keep holding that weight and we need somebody come alongside and help us with that as well.

You can put that down. Thank you. All right. So our job, our calling of God sometimes is to come alongside people and to help them to bear that burden. In Exodus 17:12, it says, "But Moses' hands were heavy, and Aaron and her stayed up his hands, the one on one side and the other in the other side, and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun." I'm so thankful for people in the church who've come alongside of me and helped me to bear burdens in my life and helped me to bear burdens in the church over the years. And that's what God calls us to do to bear one of his burdens as well. Go over to Romans chapter 15.

Romans chapter 15 and look at verses 1 through3. Romans chapter 15:es 1-3. We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves. Let everyone please his neighbor for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased not himself, but as written, the reproaches of them that reproach thee fell on me. And sometimes God calls us in our strength to come alongside of others as well to help them to bear their burdens in their life as well. And sometimes we just need to bring them to Jesus because the burden is just too heavy and we need to bring them to the Lord.

Turn over to Mark chapter 2. Mark chapter 2. Sometimes we can't bear that burden for them, but we can bring them to Jesus. In Mark chapter 2 and beginning with verse number three. And they came unto him bringing one sick of the polyy which was born of four. And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was. And when they had broken it up, they lit down the bed wherein the sick of the policy lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said on the sick of the policy, "Son, thy sins be forgiven thee." Notice it wasn't he saw the man's faith. He saw their faith, the ones who bore him to Christ.

And sometimes God calls us to be the ones that have the faith for others as well to help them to bear their burdens to bring them to Jesus in prayer. So we do weight uh exercise to build up our aerobics, our spiritual muscles to be able to have a heart that's enlarged to be able to have the spirit moving in our lives. We build up we do a exercise to build up our muscles as well. But also maybe sometimes you do exercises to lose weight. You ever done that? In 1 Timothy chapter 4 and verse number 6 again. 1 Timothy chapter 4 and verse number 6. If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou should be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and good doctrine where to thou has attained.

You see, if you're doing exercise to lose weight, you've also got to combine it with good nutrition. Exercise without good nutrition is not going to help you lose weight. And we got to put the two together. In Proverbs 23:2 it says, "And put a knife to thy throat if thou be a man given to appetite." You got to sometimes put that knife and say, "Take one more bite and I'll cut your throat." You've got to be willing to say no to sin and no to the things that are bad for you and say yes to the things that are good for you as well. In Jeremiah 15 16, thy words were found and I did eat them. And thy word was unto me the joy and rejoice in mine heart for I'm called by thy name, oh Lord God of hosts.

and and and you know exercise is good but you need to combine it with good nutrition. You need to combine it with the milk of God's word. 1 Peter 2:2 as newborn babes as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. In Matthew 4:4, man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedth out the mouth of God. In 1 Corinthians 3:2, I have fed you with milk and not with meat, for hither too you're not able to bear it, neither you are yet now are you able. In Hebrews 5:14, but strong meat belong to them that are full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised discern both good and evil.

You see, we got to build up our spiritual muscles through exercise, but also through good diet. We've got to get into the word of God, the milk of the word, the meat of the word, the bread of the word. We've got to even sometimes the sweets of the word. In Psalms 119 verse 103, how sweet are they words unto my taste, ye sweeter than honey to my mouth. You know, sweets are not bad in moderation. In Philippians chapter 4, it says, "Let your moderation be known unto all men." God wants us to enjoy the Christian life, but we also need to realize what it needs to be good for me as well. And we can get rid of those things that are holding us back, the things that keep adding on weight.

In Hebrews chapter 12 and verse one, wherefore seeing we're compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which just so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race is set before us. And and you know maybe what you need to do is you need to set aside some things that are adding that weight on uh that besetting sin. For me it's ice cream. You know what I'm talking about. Uh my ice cream is my besetting sin. My ice cream speaks to me. It calls me from the refrigerator. Those of you that know, I used to live in Minnesota and I hate the cold weather and I feel sorry for the ice cream have to be in the freezer.

So, I go and rescue it. I go and save it and uh and and take it out of the freezer and and and put it in a nice warm place. Uh but that's not good for me. You see, sometimes we got to say no to that besetting sin, those things that so easily beset us. So we we exercise for many different reasons, but one of the most important things about exercise is this consistency. Somebody once said, "It's not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives. It's what we do consistently." Somebody else says, "If you are persistent, you will get it. If you are consistent, you will keep it." You see, it's you got to be consistent in that exercise.

It's got to be regular exercise. in Luke 9:23. And he said to them all, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." Listen, folks, if you just show up for church now and then, that's not going to help you to grow. If you just read your Bible every now and then, that's not going to help you grow. It It's got to be consistent. It's got to be regular. You got to keep doing it, taking up your cross daily. And that takes discipline. In 1 Corinthians 9:27, but I keep under my body and bring it in subjection, lest that by any means when I preach to others, I myself should be a cast away.

And sometimes you got to you got to beat your body in subjection. You got to say, listen, we are going to go out walking. We are going to go out and run. We're going to go out there and lift weights even though you don't want to do it. You want to stay in the couch. You want to you want to stay in the bed. You don't want to get up and go out and do that. But you've got to bring it under subjection. You got to decide, I'm going to read my Bible. You got to decide, I'm going to spend time in prayer. You You got to choose to do that. And repetition is the key here. Look at Hebrews chapter 5 and verses 12-4.

Hebrews chapter 5 and beginning with verse number 12. For when for the time you ought to be teachers, you have need that one teach you again, which be the first principles, the oracles of God. And it becomes such as need of milk and not a strong meat. For everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he's obeying, but strong meat belong to them that are full age. Even those who by reason of use have their senses exercises are in both good good and evil. It's it's consistency. It's repetition. You got to do it again and again and again. You can't just do it Monday and not do it for another week.

You can't just do it now and then. You've got to be consistent. You've got to have that repetition. You either use it or you lose it. And that's the challenge that we have. And there's got to be a commitment. In Proverbs chapter 24:E 16, it said, "For a just man falls seven times and rises up again, but the wicked shall fall into mischief." How many of you, and you'll have to raise your hands here, but how many of you have clothes hangers in your house that look like exercise machines? You know what I'm talking about? You went out and bought one of those steppers. you went out and bought one of those treadmills or something else and now all it is is a place where you hang your dirty laundry on.

You just kind of lay it over there. You haven't gotten on it in weeks or months or even years. We all do that, don't we? And you know, the greatest impediment to getting in shape is wanting to be in shape. You say, "What do you mean by that, pastor?" It's this idea that that I want to start exercising. And because we want to start exercising, we just kind of feel, well, I feel good in myself because I want to start exercising. But we just never get around to doing it. We never get around to doing tomorrow is the greatest hindrance for today. I'll start exercising tomorrow. I'll start exercising next week.

I'll start eating better after Thanksgiving. It's always tomorrow. instead of doing it today. James chapter 4 and verse number 13. Go to now either say today or tomorrow we will go into such a city and continue their year and buy and sell and get gain. You see so often it's all about tomorrow instead of what we're doing today. And we've got to start here. We've got to start now. Consistency is so important to the spiritual exercise. In 1 Timothy chapter 4 again and look at verse number 10 says, "For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God who is the savior of all men, specifically those that believe."

There's no pain, there's no gain, folks. You got to labor. You got to work it. It takes work to spiritually exercise. And we've got to put that work and that effort in. The problem is a lot of us are exercising. The problem is we're bad exercise. In first Peter, second Peter chapter 2 and verse1 14. Having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, beguiling unstable souls, a heart they have exercised with covetous practices cursed children. See, a lot of us, we've got bad habits, bad exercise. We come home and immediately go to the couch. We come home and we immediately go to the refrigerator.

And we've got these bad habits we built instead of building good habits spiritually. We become spiritual couch potatoes in James chapter 1 20 through 25. But be you doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like unto a man, beholding his natural face in a glass. For he behold himself and and goeth his way and straightway forget what manner of man he was. You see, coming to church without putting to practice is like watching an exercise video while sitting on the couch. It isn't going to do any good. And you can come to church every week and hear the message, but you sooner or later got to be doers of the word to see the changes.

You got to put it into practice in your life. Now, one of the things I want to be clear on here is you can't exercise yourself into heaven. Again, in 1 Timothy chapter 4 and verse number 10, it says, "For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God, who is the savior of all men, specifically those that believe. You cannot work your way into heaven." I I've got this bench set up here and Trip has volunteered. Actually, uh Noel said she could lift his weights here. So, maybe we'll have Noel come. You know, I'll have Trip come on up here and he's going to lift these weights and and sometimes we think, well, I can I can get my own way to heaven.

And and and yes, maybe you can lift certain weight. So, Trip, go ahead and get in the bench there and lift that weight. I don't think it'll be too much for you there. And so, go and lift that weight. And and here's the thing, folks, is Romans 3:23 says, "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." You may be doing okay with this, but go ahead and just hold those weights up there, Trip. Just hold them up there. And and Trip, I need your help, Chris, over here. And I need your help, Jack, up over there. And Chris, have you ever you ever told a lie? You ever said anything that you shouldn't say?

Yes. You ever done that, Trip? Yeah. In your life. And so, I want you to grab this other weights here and put it on there. And see, we might say, "I can handle this, but then what about the other things that we do?" And we add those weights on there. And there it goes. It gets a little heavier. And then, well, maybe, well, he has some bad thoughts and he does things he shouldn't do. And so we got another 25 lb weights here we're going to add onto there. No, we're not going to do it. Go ahead and put the bed. Put it down there on the bars there. All right. Here's the things, folks, is you may think I can handle it, but then it just keeps adding on because we keep sinning.

The Bible tells Luke 7:47, "Her sins which are many, and that weight becomes overwhelming, the weight of our sin." In Matthew 11:es 28-30, "Come unto me all you that labor and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, my burden is light." You see, folks, you're trying to hold up your own self in your sin. You can't do it because that sin just keeps getting added to more and more and more and more. And what we need is we need Jesus to take that burden of sin. In 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 21, the Bible says that he hath made him to be sin for us.

Talking about Jesus who knew no sin that we might be made the righteous of God in him. Jesus wants to take all those weights and lift them for you. He wants to take the weight of your sin and forgive you and give you eternal life. You can't exercise yourself. You can't work your way to heaven. can't handle that sin in your own strength. You need Jesus to take it. In Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 and n it says, "For by grace are you saved through faith, then not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of works as any man should boast." You can put a thousand miles in on an exercise bike and get nowhere.

And that's like trying to work your way into heaven. But you know what? You can get on a plane and sit and never move and get somewhere because the pilot is taking you there. You can't get to heaven on your own. It's like riding an exercise bike. You're going to get nowhere. But if you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, he can take you to heaven. We were at a funeral yesterday and that man died, but he's in heaven today. That grave is not his home. That's just a transportation to heaven. He's already at his destination. How about for you? Hebrews chapter 12 and verse one number 11 says, "Now no chastening for the presence seemth to be joyous but grievous.

Nevertheless, afterwards it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby." You see, what's it going to take to get you to pay attention? What's it going to take to get you to change some bad habits in your life and start exercising yourself rather than godliness? Is it going to take a heart attack? Is it going to take being kicked out of the military because you're overweight? Is it going to take a a talking scale that screams whenever you get on it? Is it going to take being beat up by a six-year-old? You see, you've got to make the decision. My wife talks me all the time about eating better and exercising more so I can lose weight and be in better shape so I can be around for her.

My doctor tells me that all the time, too. But nothing's going to change until I decide that I'm going to change. And I want to challenge this morning to exercise yourself rather than the godliness. And the same principles apply to your physical exercise apply to your spiritual exercise. It starts with Jesus Christ. You cannot do it in your own strength and your own power, but he will bear that burden for you. But he says, I want you to become stronger in the Lord. And that's by picking up your Bible every day and reading it. It's by doing get down your knees every day and praying. It's by getting up every Sunday and going to church and Bible study during the week. It's by doing these things that we build up those spiritual muscles and become stronger in the Lord. was bound prayer. Every head bowed, every eye closed.