God: "I looked for someone to take a stand for me, and stand in the gap" (Ezekiel 22:30)
John Bunyan says that he never forgot the divinity he taught, because it was burnt into him when he was on his knees. That is the way to learn the gospel. If you learn it upon your knees you will never unlearn it. That which “men” teach you, men can unteach you – if I am merely convinced by reason, a better reasoner may deceive me. If I merely hold my doctrinal opinions because they seem “to me” to be correct, I may be led to think differently another day. But if “God” has taught them to me – he who is himself pure truth – I have not learned amiss, but I have so learned that I shall never unlearn, nor shall I forget.
When we think of sobriety, what naturally comes to mind is not being intoxicated by a substance (often alcohol). Specifically, we are called not to be drunk with alcohol, but to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Eph. 5:18). Alcohol or any substance has the ability to control us which in turn causes us to lose control. In general, Christians are called to be sober-minded (1 Pet. 1:13). This speaks of the mind regarding anything that leads us into a state of spiritual intoxication. The fruit of the Spirit is self-control. Christians are called to be temperate, we could say level-headed, biblically evaluating all things, clear-minded, sober in spirit.
