 Amen. So happy New Year. Keep your place there in Proverbs chapter 23. We're going to be in Proverbs chapter 23 a few times, many times this morning and also this evening. Proverbs 23 has just got a lot of really good advice and a lot of good Biblical, you know, direction for our lives. Especially when it comes to things, you know, we're looking at for the New Year, typical things people would call New Year's resolutions. A lot of those things are in Proverbs chapter 23. But of course, it's New Year's Day. So it's the first year of 2023 and in everybody, hopefully, you know, you've made some New Year's resolutions. Maybe you didn't. Maybe maybe I can inspire you to make some New Year's resolutions. Today, I'm a little bit late in 2023 as we're here already. You know, I actually forgot that it was 2023. I went to get coffee this morning and I had my debit card was 1222 expired and I went to give the lady my debit. It was, you know, it was declined and I was like, why is it declined? And I'm looking here with my card was expired. So look, it's here. 2023 is here. I don't know where 2022 went. That was a quick one. I don't know if it was quick for you, but it was really fast for me. All right. But New Year's resolutions. So everybody makes New Year's resolutions. Now here's the pitiful thing about New Year's resolutions. It's hard to get an actual statistics on this, but most people abandoned their New Year's resolution by January 31st. So by, you know, they basically make it a month and then they abandoned their New Year's resolution. Before I even get into the sermon this morning, let me just say that's good news for the Bible reading resolution because if you don't abandon the Bible reading resolution until January 31st, you'll read the whole New Testament in January. Okay. So definitely make that resolution to read on the Bible and do the nine chapters a day challenge. But this morning I want to talk about something very specific. And it's funny because in churches like ours and churches, you know, like-minded churches like ours, you know, one of the things that we claim is that, you know, we don't leave things unsaid. Like we just come out and we preach what the Bible says no matter what, no matter if it offends you or whatever. And it's funny because I was studying this topic for this morning sermon. I kind of feel like this is something that, you know, I should probably preach more because it's in the Bible quite a bit. It relates to a lot of different things in the lives of Christians and the lives of a lot of people. And it's actually a huge problem in our society today, what I'm going to talk about this morning. Of course, you know, on the topic of New Year's resolutions and goals and what I want to talk about is something related to your actual health this morning. Alright. 50% of New Year's resolutions in the United States are related to how people eat and how people want to become more healthy. 50%. So if you talk to somebody who has a New Year's resolution, their number one, 50% of people, their number one resolution is going to be something to do with eating, losing weight, something along those lines, just basically getting more healthy. Alright. So you say, well, does the Bible care about what you look like? No, we're not talking about what you look like. We're not even really talking about, you know, body types or anything like that. But what the Bible talks about quite a bit is this sin. It is a sin and it's called gluttony, the sin of gluttony. I want to show you this morning how serious gluttony is and how it's actually attached to a lot of other sins in the Bible. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter three. Keep your place in Proverbs 23, because that's kind of our main chapter we're going to keep coming back to in Proverbs 23. But of course, pastors, you know, I think, you know, and look, I can relate to this myself. They don't really want it. This isn't something they want to preach about because, you know, if a lot of people are suffering from the problem, then it's not something that they're just like, you know, want to just get up and offend all their people. But look, you know what kind of church you're in. So here we go. Alright. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter three. Look at verse number 16. Gluttony is what we're talking about this morning. But really, gluttony is not just a single thing. It is related to so many other things in your life. And that's really the main point I want to get across to you this morning. It's not just one simple problem. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter three, verse 16. The Bible says, Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and the spirit of God dwelleth in you. So our bodies are the temple of God. Now turn to Proverbs chapter 25. So we are not to just abuse our body. We are not to just, you know, do things to our body that just harm ourselves. This was a big thing with the vaccine. This was a big Christian argument. 1 Corinthians chapter three is that, Hey, that my body is the temple of God. I shouldn't put something that is sinful that's against my conscience into my body. Look at Proverbs chapter 25 in verse number 16. The Bible says here, talking about what we eat, it says, Has thou found honey? Eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith and vomit it. Here we're talking about something that is a major problem in our society today in America especially is this idea of sweet things or just sugar. Okay, it's talking about, you know, don't eat so much sugar you get sick or, you know, damage yourself. Now go back to Proverbs chapter 23. Proverbs chapter 23 uses the word gluttony several times. And the first thing I want to point out is that gluttony, while it is, I'm going to show you how it's attached to many other sins in people's lives in the Bible. There is one main sin that gluttony is many times paired with directly in the Bible. And I'm going to explain to you why that is. Look at Proverbs chapter 23. Look down at verse number 21. First of all, the definition of gluttony, I mean, just the definition is going to explain much of this to you. But the definition of gluttony, you mean, what does it even mean? You know, what does it say, what does it mean if someone is a glutton? You say, well, that that person's a glutton. It means that they haven't they overindulge in food and drink. That's what the dictionary would say about now I got problems with the dictionary because like apparently playing Scrabble last night, like every word is in the dictionary. But that's a whole nother story in itself. Okay, brother just putting down these words, I'm like, that is not a word. Like every word is in the dictionary acronyms are in the dictionary. Does that even make sense? I'm sorry. Okay, the the overindulgence of food and drink, that's the definition of gluttony. All right, now look at Proverbs 23 verse number 21 Proverbs 23 verse number 21, I'm going to explain to you why that these two things are attached for the drunkard and the glutton. So you see that being a drunk or a drunkard or someone who overindulges in alcoholic beverages is tied with the glutton several times in the Bible. It says what says shall come to poverty and drowsiness shall clothe a man with regs. So you say why now look at go back to verse number 20 of that same chapter is one verse back. It says be not among wine bibbers among riotous eaters of flesh again tying those two things together wine bibbers meaning people that are drunks people that are just sitting there and just guzzling wine and alcoholic beverages. And then it ties them it says they're also going to be riotous eaters of flesh meaning these are people that just like are just overindulging in actual food itself. So you say why does the Bible tie drunkenness with gluttony. And the reason is first of all, drunkenness can be even considered a subset of gluttony from the very definition. First of all, just you know this overindulgence of food and drink. Okay, and obviously, you know, overindulging in alcoholic beverages going to have much more serious consequences than overindulging in like milk or grape juice or whatever. Okay, but the point isn't the Bible talks about that as kind of a whole separate thing drunkenness and all the horrible things that are going to happen to you in your life if you are a drunk. But the point is, many of the consequences of overindulging in food and what we eat, and also overindulging in alcohol and alcoholic beverages are the same. The consequences are the same. Now look, these health consequences of gluttony are a serious problem in our country, especially today. I would say that in United States, we probably have the most serious problem with gluttony. And look, it's alcohol is just a subset of that. You know, you see people that I mean, what do you know? What do you notice about people that just constantly are just constant, you know, consumers of beer and alcoholic beverages? I mean, are these the people that are in the best shape that you've ever seen? No, many of them are just they're overweight, they have these big, you know, this is where you get the men that have the big bellies in front of them, like they're carrying a baby, you know, all this. And you know, it just it ruins, it ruins your body in the same way as gluttony will ruin your body and ruin your health. Let me give you some stats this morning. Let me give you some stats. These stats, by the way, I look at these stats like once a year, and they just keep getting worse. This keep getting worse and worse and worse. The obesity prevalence in the United States is meaning how many people are obese, okay, is 42%. 42% of people in the United States are obese. I mean, that's crazy. That's, you know, that's, that's a high number. That's almost half of the people in the United States are considered obese. Now, I've brought this up before, but this keeps getting more and more, you know, higher and higher and higher as well. Diabetes is a huge problem in the United States. And diabetes is this over indulgence. Look, and if you've ever eaten food from other places in the world, or even gone to other places in the world, and eaten food, it is America that uses so much sugar in everything. It is, that's an American thing. Many people that I've known that were from foreign nations, they couldn't even eat the type of food that Americans ate because they're like, oh, there's too much sugar in that. They just couldn't handle it. But that's why you see in the United States that they say 11% of people are currently diabetic in the United States. And then 30, what is the number? It's 30, 38% of the adult population in the United States is pre-diabetic. So meaning, what does that mean? That means they have elevated levels of insulin. And of course, insulin is what your body creates to take care of sugar. And these people that are pre-diabetic are typically going to be diabetic within 10 years. That's what they say. So you look at these numbers, it's like 40% of the United States is either currently diabetic or is going to be diabetic. Right? And look, sugar is the issue here. Now this affects your, all kinds of things. It's just like alcohol, it can affect your lifespan. It affects your overall health. But the point is, this is why gluttony is tied with alcohol and being a drunkard in the Bible. Because being a drunkard is actually a subset of being a glutton. Just this inability or inability or just you don't want to control what you are consuming. All right? And then alcohol, of course, gives you a whole other set of problems. Like you're going to lose all your friends. You're going to get violently assaulted. All these things are going to happen to you with alcohol. But look, there's other than being a drunk, there is many other sins that are tied with gluttony. Let me just go through a few with you. Turn to Genesis chapter three. You say, okay, gluttony, maybe I should start eating healthy. But look, I'm going to give you some examples this morning on how serious this is. You say, okay, I struggle with food in my life, but that's just one thing. No, it's not just one thing, because it is going to lead to other bad things. And I'll explain why. Look at Genesis chapter three. The first, here's another sin that is tied with gluttony in the Bible. And this sin is serious. It's the sin of rebellion. The Bible ties sin of rebellion with the sin of gluttony. You're like, wow, that's serious. Look, the Bible says that rebellion, this is what Samuel said to Saul. He said rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. Okay, gluttony didn't seem so bad, but rebellion is bad. Rebellion is bad. Look at Genesis chapter three in verse number six. What did Satan use to tempt Eve? You know what he used? Food. And of course, we know that he was causing her to doubt God's word. We know that she was wondering about what this knowledge would give her. But look at what the Bible says in verse number six. It says, when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes. Look, the food looked good. The apple looked good. And then of course, and a tree desired to make one wise. So yeah, there was the wisdom part of it that she was curious about. But it also says that it was that the food looked good. This wasn't some disgusting plate of something she didn't want to eat. It was good-looking food. It's interesting that Satan used food to cause man to fall. I mean, that's just something that's interesting to notice, but turn to Deuteronomy chapter 21. You say, pastor, that's reaching. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 21. Deuteronomy chapter 21, and look at verse number 20. Deuteronomy chapter 21 in verse number 20. Talking about how gluttony is tied with rebellion. Gluttony is clearly tied with rebellion in the Bible. From the fall of man, or from the fall of Eve to Adam, look at verse number 18 of Deuteronomy chapter 21. It says, if a man have a stubborn and what? And rebellious son. So here a man has this son, has this child, and I believe we're talking about a, you know, an older child at this point. You know, late teens into 20s or whatever. If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them. It's like they're disciplining him how they should. They're doing what they're supposed to do. Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him and bring him out unto the elders of the city and unto the gate of his place. And they shall say to the elders of the city, this son is stubborn and rebellious. But look at what other problems he has here. It says he will not obey our voice. Look at this. He is a glutton and a drunkard. Here we see the glutton and the drunkard together again and it goes along with this son being rebellious and stubborn. And then I mean all the men of the city shall stone him with stones that he die. So shall thou put away evil from among you. Now I bet this didn't have to happen too many times because you know people realize like yeah I shouldn't be a stubborn and rebellious son. So we see that gluttony is tied with drunkenness many times throughout the Bible but it's also tied with the sin of rebellion. You say well that sounds pretty serious. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. I'll give you another sin that gluttony is tied to. You say well this isn't a big deal. You know this isn't a big deal to be gluttonous. I'll just exercise more. I'll get to that in a few minutes. But look at 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Here's another sin that gluttony is also tied to. Look I'm not saying that every person that's a glutton is going to have this sin too. But what I'm saying is is that there is a definite pattern in the Bible about somebody that struggles with gluttony and a connection with drunkenness. I'm not saying every person that has glutton is a drunk. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that there is a definite pattern here and I'm going to give you the answer to this pattern at the end of the sermon. But let's just notice these things in the Bible. When you study gluttony and you study this you're just going to come across these patterns that it's always tied to these other sins as well. Now let me explain to you why. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Look at verse number 7. Here's another sin that the Bible ties gluttony to. Idolatry. You're like oh man that sounds bad. Idolatry meaning literally worshiping other gods. Literally putting something before the Lord in your life. Look at verse number 7. It says neither be idolaters as were some of them as it is written the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Neither here's another one. Fornication. Neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Turn to Numbers chapter 25 and I'll show you the story that this is referencing. So the Bible here is saying that these people they just they were just eating and they were just drinking. Again what do we see there? We see gluttony and drunkenness. You know we can assume drunkenness from that passage. But we see that these people they were they were idolaters as well. And then they were committing fornication. This is the story of the children of Israel when they went into Moab and they committed hordoms with the nation of Moab and God judged them for us. This is the story of Balaam how he tricked them into going and mixing with the the Moabites and they ended up committing fornication with the Moabites women and God judged them. Look at verse number 25. This is what it's talking about. In verse number uh sorry numbers chapter 25 and verse number nine the Bible says in those so God sent a plague upon the nation of Israel and it says in those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand. So God these they went into the Moabites and they were committing fornication but they were also just riotously eating and drinking and and they were also worshiping their idols they committed idolatry. All these sins were lumped together. Now we just looked at a Bible documentary last night for our New Year's Eve party and this is one of those things by the way I'll just just a side note that people will say oh the Bible has contradictions in it. You say in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 it said 23,000 and in numbers chapter 25 it says 24,000. There's a mistake in the Bible. Every single mistake that people bring up in the Bible is just they're just not understanding what's actually happening. What does it say in 1st Corinthians chapter 10? It says and fell in one day three and twenty thousand meaning in one day God killed 23,000 of them and in the entire plague 24,000 died. So it just means that they didn't all die in one day. This is actually a proof of honest and how detailed the King James translators were to the original text is what this actually is because they didn't say oh it says 23,000 in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 in the Texas Receptice. We better just change that to 24,000 so everybody doesn't you know point out no there's no contradiction because it says 23,000 fell in one day and in numbers chapter 25 it says 24,000 were killed in general. Now if it would say the other way around 23,000 you know were killed in the plague and then it said 24,000 were killed in one day we might have a problem there but that's not what the Bible says. So the King James translators it shows you how honest and how detailed they stuck to the original words that God had in the Bible. All right so look there is no contradiction. All right so just all that to say this gluttony again tied with all these other serious sins. Look it is a serious sin by itself but you can see how these other serious sins also come along with it. So you say what's the big deal everybody's a glutton in the United States but yeah but it's a serious sin first of all and second of all all these other serious sins many times come along with it. All right here's another one go back to Proverbs chapter 23 you got to keep your place there because that's kind of our main reference text go back to Proverbs chapter 23 actually just look at the your bulletin it's the verse of the week Proverbs chapter 23 so we see that the Bible clearly relates gluttony to drunkenness we see it relates it to rebellion that God like literally equates rebellion with witchcraft okay it talks about you know gluttony being tied to idolatry gluttony being tied to fornication you're just like what in the world look at this one verse number 21 says the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty we'll talk about that tonight but look at this and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags you know what the bible saying here is that gluttony is going to make you lazy gluttony will make a person lazy look gluttony not is being tied to laziness or what the bible would call slothfulness gluttony is tied to that it literally is a is a cause of it you say how because gluttony is a snowball effect because gluttony is a snowball effect you basically you eat too much and then you gain some weight and then what happens when you gain weight you have less energy you have less energy so then you're just not as active anymore you're look if you're a glutton and you eat too much you will literally be tired more what happens after a big Thanksgiving dinner what's everyone do everyone wants to just go take a nap because they eat too much it makes you tired then you gain more weight and then you become less active and the snowball just keeps going less active less energy you know in this snowball effect then you gain more weight because you're less active and less and just one thing adds upon another and pretty soon you just you've put on so much weight where you just you you can't be active anymore you literally get to a point where you can't do certain activities anymore and you're tired more that's one of the things people will always say like when they lose weight like I've got so much more energy now that's what people will say it's not just they're lighter on their feet and you know there's so many other benefits to it it's just like I have more energy now it's because of Proverbs 23 21 because being a glutton eating too much will make you tired all right it'll make you less active it'll turn to slothfulness all right so look why is why are so many sins tied to gluttony why why is it not just just this one thing it's just this one problem that I have look you will see this you will see people that are just that are glutton that have a problem with this they always have other problems they always have other issues other sins that they are struggling with why because it's a lack of self-control that's why that's it that's why turn to Philippians chapter 3 turn to Philippians chapter 3 I'll give you another one I'll give you another one actually you turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 9 turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 9 it's a self-control issue and if you have nobody just like if they just have no self-control nobody's like well that only affects them in one place in their life if you have a problem with self-control it's going to affect you in many different places in your life in Philippians chapter 3 verse number 18 you're going to 1st Corinthians chapter 9 the bible says for many walks of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping that they are enemies of the cross of Christ so here we have these people that are literally enemies of Christ in Philippians chapter 3 then look what it says whose end is destruction whose God is their belly whose glory is in their shame and who do earthly things it's again relating you know just feeding your belly and just doing whatever you want for yourself to people like it's an aspect of evil people this isn't to say gluttons are all evil people that's not what I'm getting at I'm just saying that you have evil people that are against Christ one of their issues is like they just feed their own belly they just feed themselves so we want to stay far away from attributes of evil people but the point is the reason that there's all these other sins attached to gluttony is because the core problem with gluttony is the inability to control the urges of the flesh that's what it is it's like I want that it's lust gluttony is a form of lust it's a lack of self control look at 1 Corinthians chapter 9 and look at verse number 27 Paul talked about self control and this is a perfect application of verse number 27 of 1 Corinthians chapter 9 he says but I keep under my body and I bring it into subjection lest that by any means when I preach to others I myself should be a castaway you know what he's saying now you have to have a king james bible for this one because the other bibles are just like I punch myself and I beat up myself like a boxer and all these different things that all the modern bible version is saying but he says I keep under my body Paul says what he's saying is I have control over my body Paul is saying I have control over my flesh why do people give up on their New Year's resolutions on January 31st because they have no control over their body that's why because they're just like you know what I want I want to eat stuff I want to you know go places that I shouldn't go that I want to break these goals because they don't have control over themselves Paul is talking about self control that's what he's talking about that's what the bible clearly teaches is having self control look the bible doesn't say that we're never gonna you know you're saved so you're not gonna have lust anymore you're not gonna have desire for sinful things anymore no the bible says that all those things are gonna remain with you all those lusts and those sinful desires that everybody else engages in in this world they're still gonna be with you but you're gonna have some differences number one you're gonna have the holy spirit inside you helping you out kind of pulling you along saying like come this way don't go that way come this way but you still have the ability to override the holy spirit your flesh you can still just give in to your flesh and go and just give in to every lust that you could have you know any any covetousness that you have anything all right the bible just says that you have the holy spirit in you to help you and we all know that if you're saved you know that you can feel that the bible literally says you can grieve the holy spirit you know how you grieve the holy spirit you have lost you have temptation and you give into it the holy spirit's like ahhh and you can feel that you can feel that grieving of the holy spirit in you gluttony is just an example of this gluttony is just an example of you know giving in to the flesh and having no self control which is why all these other sins many times are attached to people who have a problem with gluttony now what does the world teach about this so the bible says control your flesh the bible says follow the holy spirit the bible says you know you're still going to have this flesh until we all die physically on this earth and go to heaven but the bible says control it don't give into it what does the world teach here's what the cdc says obesity is a complex disease that occurs when an individual's weight is higher than it was considered healthy for his or her height obesity affects children as well as adults I'll get to that one in just a few minutes but it basically it's just like this is so similar to alcoholism it's ridiculous people saying that like being a drunk is a disease being obese is a disease and look there's a conspiracy here and I'm going to explain that to you and it's true it's true there's a conspiracy here but look gluttony obesity is the same type of disease as alcoholism in the fact that you give it to yourself you literally give yourself this the bible says no it's about self control of your body that's all it is but this is why people who are gluttons struggle with all kinds of other lusts and look you just think about people that you've known in your life that are gluttons and they always have other problems as well the bible is true all right I mean it would be extremely rare to find someone who is a glutton that just doesn't have any other issues like I've never I can't even think of one all right it's just lust and the inability to control a lust is all it is you say what why what are you talking about conspiracy here's the conspiracy here's the conspiracy why does the secular world tell us that everything is just a disease alcoholism disease obesity disease basically the same gluttony is a disease okay here's why they do it this just came up for the for the new year I was looking at some news over the last couple weeks there is a there's supposedly a new miracle drug coming out there's a new miracle drug that's supposed to be approved 2023 it's called tersepotide tersepotide and this is a new miracle drug that you get some injection and it just makes you not hungry but the problem is they're like but who could afford it because like one shot or one treatment for a month is like fifteen hundred dollars for for like one so look if you're and they're saying like healthcare is you know healthcare insurance companies the people that invent tersepotide tersepotide they want people to buy it but nobody can afford fifteen hundred dollars a month so what do they want to do they want insurance companies to have to be able to cover it so what do we do we get the CDC the government to declare a disease you see it's not a conspiracy it's just what's happening all right it's just what's happening but the point is these shots these pills these whatever this is why people take these pills to make themselves not hungry whatever and then five years later they find out they have some horrible side effect like oh that by the way that was that was ruining your liver or whatever right because the bible just says hey just get self control this is the same thing with like depression drugs people are like oh yeah you know just take this pill and then they take the pill and then they feel good for a while I don't know a month or two or whatever and then like the side effect of depression pill is that you become suicidal it's like what in the world stick to the solutions that the bible says turn to Proverbs chapter 23 if you're not still there I mean because the bible gives a solution here so again gluttony is just a lack of self control that's why you find people that are glutton's they have problems with covetousness they have problems with gambling they have obsessions over things it's not just a blanket statement but look walk through a casino and tell me if you see a bunch of people that are just in the best shape of their life and look like a bunch of like athletes you're not going to see it they're giving into that covetousness they're giving into that greed that lust and they're probably glutton's too what do casinos have what do casinos have you know what casinos have like unlimited free food because all the gamblers are also glutton's I mean that's why because they all suffer from the same just lack of self control hey we'll just give them steaks and lobsters and all the food they want because that's what they want and it's always what it's always these big buffets all you can eat at the casinos because look it's just it's a lack of self control in every area glutton's just one of those things all right look at verse two of proverbs chapter 23 here's the bible's solution you're like you have to get a a pill you have to get a shot what do I have to do do I have to call my insurance company no here's what you have to do put a knife to thy throat that's what the bible says I mean the bible says you know what the bible is saying if that'll be a man given to appetite what the bible is saying here the bible always says solutions it doesn't just come out and just give you all these problems it says hey if you're having problems eating too much just it doesn't say like cut your throat what it's saying is stop eating it's saying do what it takes to stop eating so much this is just like Matthew five where where Jesus says if you're right hand offended cut it off he's saying do what it takes to to get your body under control that's what the bible is saying so look here's the solution eat less solved like oh man that's easier said than done but look here's the thing folks your body your body is an energy balance and look this is something as I'm you know getting older this is something you definitely notice as you get older all right look I cannot eat the things that I used to eat or you know you'd be rolling me up here every Sunday you have to roll the pastor up to the the pulpit and stand me up like one of those weeble wobbles or whatever like if I just ate what I ate when I was 18 years old I would have a serious problem I'd have a serious problem because your body if you don't let me give you an example and here's the thing exercise is good but it is not the answer and I'm going to show you the numbers why you say I'm just going to exercise more here's why I'm an exercise I regularly exercise I've been regularly exercising for I don't know since I was 15 probably since I was in second grade I've been regularly exercising my whole life but let me just give you some numbers and show you why this isn't the answer first of all when I exercise I get more hungry so typically if I just don't control anything when I exercise I will eat more because you're burning all these calories but look here's the calories here's the energy balance of your numbers and how you actually here's the energy balance of your body and how you actually gain weight here's the math of it for someone that is my age and my size if you eat an extra 500 calories a day now somebody my size will usually you'll burn by not really doing anything not really exercising I'll burn about 2200 calories a day just by kind of just living my life breathing all right but if I exercise do more things it'll be more than that of course but here's the thing an extra 500 calories a day that I would eat would cause me to gain one pound a week one pound a week you say one pound a week that's no big deal guess what there's 52 weeks in a year so if I live like this just 500 calories a day you're like is that a lot is that a lot if I gain one pound per week this year I will I will you will you will need a forklift to get me up here by you know New Year's Eve next next year that's that's a lot of weight for somebody my size to put on all right but look you say 500 calories that doesn't seem so bad a big Mac is 563 calories all right McDonald's strawberry shake is about 900 calories I mean you just think about how easy it is to eat one of these things oh you say yeah but I would never eat at McDonald's cause that's disgusting we eat it in and out here in California and okay well a double double with animal fries is 1420 calories I mean that's a lot over that 500 I mean that's almost my entire allotment of daily calories right there now when I exercise when I exercise I'll typically lift weights for a little bit and then I'll go on the elliptical machine for 20 minutes and when I'm on the elliptical machine for 20 minutes it's got a little calorie counter there and I put in my weight and it tells me how many calories I'll burn 250 calories in 20 minutes on the elliptical machine and then I go and have a strawberry shake at McDonald's I just negated like by four times what I did that's why that's why the answer is not exercising that's why in verse number two the answer look exercising is good exercising will keep you healthy exercising will keep you able to move around it'll keep your joints strong it'll keep you able to keep going on those hikes and do all these things give you stamina all this but your weight has to be controlled by putting a knife to your throat by stopping eating so much you must win the energy balance equation in order to lose weight in order to lose weight it works the same way you say oh 22 hundred calories a day plus 500 I gained a pound you're like I want to lose weight well now you got to eat 500 less you got to burn 500 less or eat 500 less every week to to lose a pound every week works the same way but look so it's a simple solution it's a simple solution but it's not easy because hunger hunger and the eating habits that we get into are some of the strongest fleshly desires that human beings have you say pastor yeah but by by you know two o'clock I'm so hungry I'm so hungry okay just have to you have to find something that works for you I don't know whether it be intermittent intermittent fasting which works really well I started a diet at the beginning of December and I committed I committed I was like I'm going to keep this diet until January 1st today started this diet at the beginning of December and like the first week of that diet it was the nightmare it was terrible it's terrible I was complaining to my wife every night I was like I don't want to live like this this is crazy I had headaches but I was breaking all those bad habits now now like it just what the beauty of it is is like I didn't lose like tons of weight in the diet but the beauty of it is is now it just gave me this complete control over my appetite like I'm hardly ever hungry like now I feel like I could lose weight because I have control over that desire and look that's what you have to get you have to get control over that desire somehow some way there's all kinds of different healthy plans out there I'm not saying you have to do everything you know what I say but look you just have to find a way to eat less is what you have to do if you want to lose weight if you want to defeat gluttony in your life do whatever it takes to get your body under control and here's the thing time is not on your side that's another thing if you get one thing out of the bible we don't control time and time is not on our side and it's especially not on our side when it comes to gluttony our physical health because look do you see let me ask you a question do you see more overweight people that are older or younger of course it's a bigger problem the older you get and it's because and when I say younger I mean less than 40 right look if you're if you're an overweight obese person that is less than 40 like you're going to have problems in in your life because as you get older you your metabolism slows down you literally have to be more disciplined as you get older or this will become more and more of a problem in your life look if you are overweight by you know under 40 under 35 you're going to I mean your problem I mean if you're like an obese person when you're younger you're going to die young I mean that I mean it like the wages of that sin will be in early physical death basically because obesity just destroys everything in your body I was shocked like my wife turned me on to this Dr. Burd guy like I can't stop listening to the guy and I'm just like he'll scare you into losing weight because it's just like what extra calories will do to your body you'll think about this overweight kids see a lot of overweight kids today overweight kids turn to Proverbs chapter 13 overweight children are heading for disaster in their lives you say why because they're going to be obese no look at all these sins that I talked to you about look at all these sins the gluttonous child was he was stubborn he was rebellious who thinks that raising a child with no self-control or self-control problems is going to go well according to what the bible tells you turn to Proverbs chapter 13 now this is the worst thing I've seen this several times in my life and this is borderline child abuse in my opinion all right is parents that use food in place of actual discipline as the bible says in their lives instead of look at Proverbs 13 24 you know you know this verse well it says he that spareeth his rod hated his son but he that loveth him chasingeth him be times in Proverbs chapter 23 verse number 13 and verse number 14 withhold not correction from the child for if thou beatest him with the rod he shall not die thou shalt beat him with the rod and thou shalt deliver his soul from hell this is talking about spanking your children this isn't talking about child abuse here this is talking about spanking your children this is talking about you know giving your children physical correction to deliver their soul and the bible says if you don't do that you hate them well gluttonous example of this people that don't want to spank their kids but they're like hey just do what I say and you can have these potato chips just do what I say just do what I say just be good for this activity this wedding this church service whatever and you can have these Oreo cookies look those that is that is borderline child abuse in my opinion because what you're going to do is not only you're going to destroy their health not only going to destroy their health you are going to you're going to raise children that have zero self control and they will have all kinds of other problems you know what they're probably going to rebel against you too if that is how you do things you're I mean you're teaching them to have no discipline you're teaching them bad habits and look you're literally teaching them habits that will shorten their life I don't understand how you see that so much with parents I don't understand it at all like they must not care about their children is the only thing I can think of you know look as homeschool parents we need to we need to teach our kids against gluttony we need to teach our kids how to take care of themselves we need to teach our kids how to look they're not in fied in some school my kids aren't in fied in some school I have a little gym at home and I teach them Jacob just started lifting weights about five months ago and you know Ashley has been exercising her certain way that we've we've taught her and all these things and we have facilities where they can do that but these things need to be taught and these habits need to be formed because these are things that will literally prolong their life on this earth it and it you know what it does it teaches them discipline it teaches them self-control dad are we working out tonight yeah we better do that you know four times a week we're gonna do that this week we're gonna do that tonight it teaches them that discipline again and again and again that Monday night Tuesday night Thursday night Friday night this is what we do you know what that'll carry them once they're out of the house that'll carry them through their life these habits these things like that's what you do I mean to use garbage and unhealthy things to to replace biblical I mean not doing biblical discipline is one thing but to replace it with sin is is like you just like do people believe the Bible you know what is happening here so look folks it is all about self-control and Gluttony's a very serious thing because like I said time is not on our side the older we get the less we can eat so we need to get better at controlling our desires as we get older all right otherwise that cycle begins we'll start to slow down look I don't want to slow down you know I want to be doing activities with my kids I want to be doing activities with my grandkids I don't want to slow down I don't want to you know gain weight every year okay it's not about vanity or anything like this it's just about what the Bible says all right now look I was going to actually stop this this diet because I thought it was pretty extreme I was going to stop this diet on the first but actually what I'm going to do is I like it so much I'm just going to keep going with it and I'm going to give myself a couple days where I can have you know we'll go out to ice cream you know on a couple days so I'm just I'm modifying it just a little bit but I really enjoy you know what we're doing my wife's doing the same diet so you know she's been doing this diet for like two years so finally I was just like you can't beat them join them you know but now you know we can you know I can kind of I identify with her we can go to a restaurant and kind of eat the same things and I'm not all irritated because she's making me eat dessert by myself you know and all this but the point is is that I'm going to make a couple modifications and I can have ice cream a couple times a month and you can still I mean say I get older I have an ice cream cone like what kind of life is that but no that's not what it's about because having an ice cream cone once or twice a month is not gluttony it's a treat it's a treat see this is life in general this is life in general people don't understand this a vacation is no fun a vacation is miserable unless there's the hard work that you took a break from to go on vacation if I just ate ice cream all day every day and Oreo cookies and and whatever I thought was a treat in my life look I would I would feel horrible if I was you know if I just you know somebody that just you see this people are just like super wealthy and there's like I'm just going to have a vacation my whole life look they're miserable and the reason that they're miserable is because that vacation is only good if the hard work is there on the other side of it that's just what the bible teaches I mean people but nothing with nothing but leisure time are miserable human beings the same way that people that would just do nothing but eat garbage and eat the things that people think or a treat they'll they'll just feel horrible because when you have extra pounds on you're tired you don't want to do anything you'll be miserable but you know what having an ice cream cone twice a month that's a real treat and I've found that I enjoyed a lot more than than I ever did you know having it less you know the same thing pie donuts ice cream you know whatever these are treats not regular things that we should be eating and if we don't have the healthy eating the 99% of the time you know it's you'll be miserable and you'll destroy your health and there'll be immediate effects like you you know you don't want to you get tired as the bible said you can't do things but there'll be a long-term effects as well I mean literally organs kidneys liver heart all joints all made worse because of gluttony your whole body over time so look be healthy eat healthy things eat less is really what the bible says so look it's just it's a it's a message of self control this morning it's a message of self control in 2023 and it if you can get self control in 2023 everything if you're able to tell your body what to do guess what you'll read the bible in January if you're able to tell your body what to do you know you'll end up reading the bible in January you'll you'll sit down and hopefully you know you set some goals for the new year I mean I sat down I got a whole word document I got goals for you know the church I got goals for my family I got goal I got goals for my house I got goals for my yard I got goals for my finances this year I got goals for all these things and guess what I hit my goals why because like when I tell my body to do something it does it like when you tell your body if you can't tell your body to do something and have your body follow you keep your body keep under your body keep your body under control goals are pointless any new year's resolution is pointless that's why gluttony is tied to so many other things there would just be no point to having any kind of goal if your body just doesn't listen to you so look tell your body what to do and it will listen you know that's what the Bible is saying and it will pay off everywhere in your life not just with this sin of gluttony which is why you see it just attached to so many wicked things in the Bible let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer