The sermon titled 'Early Piety as it Respects Ourselves' by Scott Brown emphasizes the importance of young people living a life of sober mindedness and fruitfulness. It highlights the dangers of wasting youth in unprofitable activities and passive entertainments. The sermon explores various qualities needed for a productive life, such as seeking wisdom, humility, meekness, gentleness, and temperance. The speaker also addresses the importance of purity, frugality, and avoiding temptations. The sermon concludes by urging young people to put on Christ and make no provision for the flesh, being a positive influence on others through their lifestyle.

Open your Bibles to Titus 2 and open in your books to page 79 in early piety. And this chapter I hope will have an effect on us in a particular way. And this chapter is about sober mindedness. A sermon preached by Joseph Sewell there in Boston. It's very important that young people understand the pivotal time that they're living in, so that they know what it means to get the maximum value out of the years of their youth.

Youth is a time where time can be wasted, opportunities can be lost. They're lost forever. That's the thing about time. The clock is ticking and you can't turn it back. But youth is a very pivotal time.

And I don't believe there's ever been a time where there are so many opportunities for youth to waste their lives, waste their lives in games, waste their lives in passive entertainments, in things that really don't produce anything of any value. And we live in a society where it's really socially acceptable to live your life as youth and not produce anything that should take your breath away. It's a tragedy of an entertainment driven culture and it's a tragedy when young people spend their youth just entertaining themselves rather than setting themselves to using their years of youth and singleness for the maximum advantage for the kingdom of heaven. So this chapter's about sober mindedness that really bears fruit in a person's life so that they are bearing fruit in the years of their youth, not just later on. There's this idea that youth have called later on.

I'll do it later on. I'll bear fruit later on. I'll get serious about life later on. And it's a terrible tragedy when that happens. Now one of the problems with being a youth today is that you don't live in a culture of peers that are using their years of youth for the greatest advantage for the kingdom of heaven.

The youth of our culture are content to spend their lives in passive entertainments and playing games. They're content for them. It's actually a virtue. And they spend all their time studying various matters that don't really have any positive value. So you have to live different.

You have to act different. You have to be willing to step out of the common culture in order to live sober mindedly the way this chapter is talking about I don't know if you've ever heard the story that Charles Spurgeon used to tell about an old man and a boy and a donkey. The old man and the boy were going to take their donkey to market to sell it and they got on their road and headed to the market and the boy was on the donkey And as they went along the way, somebody sneered at them and said, you lazy boy, how could you ride on that donkey when the old man is having to walk? And so they were both taken back by it and they decided that the old man would get on the donkey and the boy would walk. And so they did that for a while and then someone said, you selfish man, how could you ride on a donkey when this young sprightling, this young boy has to walk?

What's wrong with you? And so they both got on the donkey. And they went down the road a little farther, and somebody said, how could you be so cruel to that donkey? Look at you. You have two people on a donkey.

You're harming this animal. How do you expect to be kind to an animal like that? And so they both got off the donkey and they carried the donkey to market. I mean it's a picture of just being jerked around by every person that's around you. And if you desire to live your life in sobriety, People are going to think that you're living differently.

And it's critical that young people understand the value of living differently and not being afraid of all the voices in this world. Because if you listen to all the voices in this world, you are going to just be a puppet of a bunch of stupid people in this world. Spurgeon says this, He that all men would please shall never find ease. And This chapter is about sober mindedness in the years of youth. I think it's so important.

My view is that young people should not walk in the ways of this world regarding the ways that the youth walk in this world. They need to walk differently. They need to work. They need to be productive. They need to be producing things of value.

I pray that the young people in our church really have an eye on productivity and adding value to this world, but it only comes through a sense of godly sobriety. That takes us to Titus chapter 2. I'm going to read verses 6-8 because Titus 2.6-8 is the scripture that this chapter in early piety is based on. Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober minded in all things, showing yourself to be a pattern of good works, in doctrine showing integrity, reverence incorruptibility, sound speech which cannot be condemned, that one who as an opponent may be ashamed having nothing evil to say of you. Now, there's much to extract from this, but of course, it's an exhortation to young people, that's for sure.

You can see that, that's very clear. But the reason that there is this command for sobriety in young people is really very surprising. Did you notice it? Why? Why do this?

To make other young people ashamed. Right? They look upon your sober mindness and you are shaming them by your lifestyle. Now here's one thing I want us to consider. Is our lifestyle a shame to those who are wasting their lives?

Is your lifestyle a shame to those who are just going to spend their lives in unprofitable activities? Or are you glorifying God in your generation because you're taking things seriously? So you have an outline in front of you that really tries to describe the importance of all this. I really like this quotation on page 79. A most suitable exhortation for those in the heat of youth who are so inclined to give the reins of their unruly lusts and exorbitant passions." In other words, it's easy for young people to get jerked around by their passions and their desires.

And young people have to recognize all their desires, all their passions aren't going to be helpful. You don't want to just do what you want to do because he calls it the heat of youth. I think that's interesting. You know youth have such energy and vigor. It's a huge blessing.

But how is that energy and vigor used? That's the big question. So he speaks of the regulation of body and mind, regulation of affections, of appetites, of passions. Those are the things that youth need to pay attention to. And it's really the key to either the living of a productive or an unproductive life.

Now, if you see the outline before you under this heading, the duty of sober mindedness, and then there are various points that he makes. There are actually 15 points that he makes. He pauses on one point longer than the others. But I'm going to just mention each one of them briefly tonight just to camp on them so that we can all consider them. And you know, you who are parents should be asking, are my children thinking rightly about this?

You who are young people should say, am I thinking rightly about these things? So I'm just going to take them one by one. The first element of sober mindedness that he identifies on page 80 is a mind under the right influence. And he's exhorting young people to take care about what they put in their minds. Because what you put in your mind is the thing that will govern you Your life always follows your thoughts and so your thoughts are the most critical thing Whatever you listen to whatever you read whatever you watch Will form the structure of your thoughts and those thoughts will always take you in a direction.

So he gives us illustration in the Gospel of Mark where the demon possessed man, you know, who was in the caves cutting himself and screaming and scaring all the townspeople that as a result of Jesus' ministry, He was sitting there clothed and in His right mind. Being in your right mind is the most important thing that you can ever experience. And so he exhorts young people to gird their minds, to focus their minds on things that are profitable. And he speaks of the contrast of having your understanding or your mind darkened, being alienated from the life of God. The first matter for a productive and fruitful life is what you do with your mind.

It all starts right here. So you have to be very very discriminating about what you put in your mind. And that happens through private meditations, through the things you watch, the things you listen to, and the things you read. You will become a living reflection of those things. So a mind under the right influence.

And then the second point on the top of page 81 is seeking wisdom. And here he's talking about sober mindedness is developed as a result of seeking wisdom by seeking the very best things you know searching for her as silver and gold setting the very best things before you And this life of seeking wisdom is really based upon searching the scriptures. And as a result, you're no longer children tossed to and fro, carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men and the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. He's quoting Ephesians chapter 4 verse 14. Seek wisdom.

It's the word of God that forms the basis of a productive life that is bearing fruit. And then in the third element of building sober mindedness is the learning of a catechism. I thought that was interesting that he mentioned this. He says Unless our young people be well established in the doctrines of the gospel and under the government of the sacred truths revealed there, there will be the greatest danger of their slighting and then betraying that cause of God for which our forefathers came into this land when it was a howling wilderness. Now he's talking, of course it's in the year 1721, and he's talking about the Pilgrim Forefathers who came to America and they came to a howling wilderness and they populated it and spread the gospel there.

But he's saying that learning sound doctrine is really critical. We've been advocates of learning catechisms and confessions of faith. Our confession, the Baptist Confession of 1689, is critical to learn. Quite likely we're going to engage in a one-year journey through the Baptist confession very soon here. And because we want to sort of reset the doctrine according to the confession that we've embraced, and to make sure it's very clear in all of our minds, from the youngest to the oldest.

And then the fourth element of building sobriety is to be cautious. He says young persons must take heed that they are wary, cautious, and deliberate. In other words, don't do everything you want to do. Don't follow everything you see. Young persons are full of heat and therefore are prone to be too quick and sudden in their motions.

And one reason God gives parents to children is to slow them down. This is the design of God. You may think your parents are holding you back. Well, they're holding you back from the heat of youth most of the time. And you should recognize that.

You know, I've been a leader in many contexts in my life, in business, in churches, in various organizations. But here's one thing that's very apparent to me, is that when you lead with other people, you always have the faster and the slower. In most circumstances, it's the design of God to put the slow and the fast together so that they moderate one another. It's a good thing. And it's the same way with children.

God puts you with parents so that they would slow you down. Rejoice in it. Don't kick against it. It's the way that God has designed it. Often children just think their parents are so stupid and so slow and so backward.

And just saying those words brings back to memory some of the conversations I had with my own father when I was 16 years old and how smart I was and how little he knew about the world. Terrifying. So be cautious. Be willing to be slowed down. And then humility Follows being cautious on page 82 Near the top he says you must humble yourselves and become like children and he quotes that prover Proverbs 30 verse 13.

There's a generation how lofty are their eyes Their eyelids are lifted up He says that pride there that's referenced in Proverbs 30 verse 13, that pride leads youth to a really bad place in life. The ravens pick out your eyeballs. That's what he says. It doesn't go well with those who are proud. And then he speaks of how you're cast down in pride that because God resists the proud but he gives grace to the humble and he quotes first Peter 5 5 you younger people Submit yourselves to your elders Yes, all of you be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility It's critical that young people understand how important it is for them, how life-giving, how success-producing it is for them to humble themselves and to submit to those who are older.

He says, you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders in 1 Peter 5. Young people just have to understand that and rest in it and not worry about it and let God use it. And then number six, he speaks of a meek and quiet spirit in the middle of page 83. Meekness is a wonderful quality. Meekness isn't weakness.

Meekness is power under control. In the classical Greek usage of this term, it was a picture of a horse. In a horse, You have significant power. You think of what a horse can do to you. What can a horse do to you?

They are mighty in their strength. It's really staggering what they can do. But the Greeks would use this term of a horse well trained under control. It's power, but it's under control. You know, a horse can kill you.

But how astonishing it is, you know, often I'll look outside and I'll see a 85 pound girl riding a massive horse full of strength and energy that could kill her in a second, throw her off, do anything that horse wanted to do. But that horse doesn't do that because of meekness. It's power under control. And this is a critical quality of youth to be meek. And he speaks of a meek and quiet spirit regulating our anger, our sin, our rashness, and all of these things.

And again, he uses the word heat in this paragraph on meekness. But it's critical that young people, if they're going to be productive and bearing fruit, that they understand the power of meekness and not be so self consumed and he gives the example at the bottom of page 83 of the Shechemites and the next quality is the quality of gentleness at the top of page 84 now we've been talking a lot about the marks of love, the gentleness of love, but here he speaks of this very same thing. Oh, young persons, he cries out, Be gentle and easily entreated, not wrathful and revengeful. I love this phrase, be easily entreated. In other words, be easy to be corrected, Easy to be redirected.

God will bless you. It's the spirit of gentleness that allows you to be easily directed. So, gentleness. Be easily led. That is so important.

When people are easily led, they accomplish more. And that's the whole point that he's making of gentleness. Rather than rashness and resistance, be gentle in your responses and be easily led. Easily entreated, not wrathful and revengeful. I love this language that Sewell uses, meekness is an ornament.

And he Quotes 1 Peter 3, 4, the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit is very precious in the sight of God. Oh, seek this ornament and never forget to wear it such a spirit is pleasing to God, lovely in the eyes of men, and of great benefit to societies." It's such a great point. And then the next point, number eight, is moderation at the top of page 85. Young persons must be moderate in their desires and pursuits of sensual pleasures. And he speaks of the danger of being lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, quoting 2 Timothy 3 verse 4, always looking for play and pastime, this and that diversion to consume their precious time.

Here he's dialing in on this desire for play and leisure and not doing anything. And I believe it's one of the greatest dangers of youth today because this culture is so leisure saturated. It's so entertainment infused. And people spend hours and hours a day watching, sitting, doing zero, producing zero. And hey when I see youth who are doing that, it makes me angry.

You know what makes me even more angry? When I see parents that don't redirect their children. That they allow their children to waste their life in their unprofitable pastimes and play. And it's a sin against children to let your children just play all the time. He says, oh be exhorted therefore at the bottom of this section on moderation To moderate and mortify your love of pleasures which has slain ten thousands, flee those youthful lusts which war against the soul, abstain wholly from such pleasures that are forbidden and take care to use those delights which are themselves lawful and not abuse them.

So there are lawful entertainments that can be abused. That's the point that he's making. And then the ninth is time. Don't waste your precious time, which is so short and uncertain in sports and recreations. Use your time in such a manner that you may be prepared for serious employments and weighty business.

These pleasures immoderately indulge, blind the mind, stupefy the conscience, debauch the affections and make you carnal, sensual and brutish. They Choke the good seed of the word. Though they are but for a season, if you live in them, they will drown your souls in eternal perdition. Here he's just talking about spending your time on unprofitable recreations. And then the tenth item is temperate.

If you ever hope to live a life of bearing fruit in your youth, be temperate. Young persons must be temperate. He's talking about the self-control that 2 Peter 1.6 is speaking of. And then he speaks of the things that work against temperance and stubbornness is one of those things that he mentions. And then drunkenness, number 11 on page 87, and he quotes Proverbs 20 verse 1, wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler.

Now he talks about drunkenness in a very helpful way. He quotes Ephesians 5.18, Because the issue regarding the use of alcohol is explained there. He says, do not be drunk with wine, which is dissipation, but be filled with the Holy Spirit. The reason that drunkenness is sinful is because it becomes the controlling factor in your life. And God desires that you're the controlling factor of your life is the Holy Spirit, that you're filled with the Holy Spirit.

Because when you're filled with the Holy Spirit, what happens? Love happens. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Well, What's the fruit of drunkenness? Well, it's not love.

It may be a fabricated joy. There certainly isn't any peace or patience in it or kindness in it, because it dials you into yourself. So the issue with alcohol isn't the alcohol, the issue is control. What is controlling your life? Any controlling substance is unlawful.

Because God wants you to be controlled by the Spirit of God. So do not be drunk with wine, but that's the critical word, be filled with the Holy Spirit. And then the twelfth item is purity. And here he slows down and develops this matter of purity with greater detail. Of course, he begins in Exodus chapter 20 in the Ten Commandments, verse 14, you shall not commit adultery, which is this principle of declaring the harm of all kinds of sexual impurity.

And he appeals to 1 Thessalonians 4, 3 and 4, this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you should abstain from sexual immorality, that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor. So purity is the issue and as you can see he lists various elements of the protection of purity. And the first thing that he declares is the importance of avoiding impurity and to turn away from all impurity. And he speaks of this matter of abstaining from lustful thoughts and impure imaginations. He says, take heed that we do not entertain and defile our minds with filthy speculations and burn with unclean desires.

Here's what he's saying. How do you avoid impurity? You don't put any of it in your mind. You starve the mind of impurity. I always like to tell old and young men and women that lust is like a dragon.

Impurity is like a dragon. If you feed him, he grows. You starve him, he gets weak. It's really, really simple. Starve the dragon.

Everything you feed grows. Everything. You can't beat the system. You can't feed your mind something and not have it affect you. It's impossible.

You're just not created that way. You're created to grow by what you feed yourself. And just like the human body grows by the food that you feed, it's so the mind grows in one direction or another by what you feed it. And so he's really essentially saying don't feed the dragon of lust. That dragon will overtake you and devour you if you keep feeding it.

So you have to stop feeding him. And then he speaks of your eyes at the top of page 89. This is a brilliant statement. The eye is a window through which much sin is let into the soul. And therefore if you would preserve your chastity, You must make a covenant with your eyes as Job did, recorded in Job 31.1.

The eyes. And then your speech. He turns to that in the middle of page 89. And he speaks of corrupt conversations and things like that. And then he speaks of fornication, which is sexual intimacy before marriage.

Then he speaks of adultery. And then he speaks of incest, which is something that happens in the home. And then he speaks of the damage that's done on page 91. 1 Corinthians 6, 18 says that sexual immorality is different than other sins. It's different.

All sins are not created equal. Don't deceive yourself. Some sins are more damaging than others. And what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6, 18 is that a sin of sexual immorality is a sin against your body. It's a heightened level of sin.

And so there's just a stern warning of the damage that's done and even eternal punishment. And then he speaks of immodesty, dressing in a way that is alluring rather than adorning in modest apparel as the apostle Paul instructs Timothy in 1st Timothy chapter 2 verse 9. And then frugality is another way that youth find themselves bearing fruit in their youth. And he speaks of frugality in the things that you are given, not wasting the things that you are given. You know, in every family you find different children handle money and resources differently.

You know, some children are excessively miserly. Some just throw their money away. Others are kind of in between. I think the appeal here is if you want to waste your youth, forget frugality. Now there are a lot of old guys in this room right now.

And when they heard me say that you know what they thought wow if I'd been more frugal in my youth how much further ahead would I be now that's what they were thinking yeah it is for sure so You don't want to be in that boat. You don't have to be in that boat is really the issue. And then gambling, he talks about gambling. As a breach of the eighth commandment, if you want to waste the years of your youth, then waste it with gambling. And then he brings up this issue of presuming on God's mercy.

God is merciful, He is patient, He is long-suffering. But don't presume on God's mercy and persist in your sin. And then finally, he ends with two basic applications. And he speaks of the fact that this sober mindedness is not something that just youths should pay attention to, but it's for all. He says even those who are in the riper years should pay attention to it.

And then there's this appeal in the second application to look back at the sins and the follies of your youth and be deeply humbled. He's really addressing this to older people. Look back and see your folly and repent of it and depend on the Lord in all these things. And then he ends with this matter of stubbornness. Do not be as the horse or as the mule, which have no understanding, you have a precious immortal soul within you, capable of knowing, glorifying, and enjoying God forever." The author is just making an appeal.

Don't be stubborn in your youth. Listen to these things. You'll be further ahead. You'll be happier. You'll be stronger by listening to these things.

And then finally, at the very end, he brings it all down to the key to it all. He leaves the best for last. Put on Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill it in the lusts thereof. Learn from him who is meek and lowly, harmless and undefiled. Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.

So all of this really is designed to help youth, not to waste their youth, and to make sure that they don't follow the unprofitable ways of this world, so that they're not just like everyone else, but rather they are so different that their lives actually shame the unbelievers. I pray that your lives would be lived in such a way that they are ashamed to those who would reject wisdom. That's what the apostle, that's what Titus chapter 2 verses 6 through 8 says. Why should you be sober minded in all things, Showing yourself to be a good pattern, a pattern of good works, so that one who is an opponent may be ashamed. Those who are wasting their lives will see it.

Maybe they'll repent. Maybe they'll turn and use their lives wisely. My prayer is that not just the youth, but all of us would spend our lives on the things that really matter. And that the parents would be very careful to direct their youth early, to be productive and fruitful in all their ways. And that the youth wouldn't be hard to lead in that, but that they would honor their father and mother, and they would direct their paths toward the fruitfulness that God would have for them.

So there it is, Chapter four, sober mindedness. I really like this chapter. It's a hot button for me. It's a hot button that I've been pushing for a long time. And I really desire to be used of the Lord to rescue at least some of a generation that's spending their lives on passive entertainments and playing games.

I really do want to rescue people from that. I do want people to do a lot less of it and maybe none of it. That's my position. And it's a hard position because nobody really appreciates it. But guess what?

I'm right and they're wrong. It's true. Christians should not spend their lives in passive entertainments Christians bear fruit Christians build the kingdom of heaven they don't sit around and play games okay There you go. You've heard this before.