Overview
Temperance is what keeps a believer’s heart pure, because it is the gatekeeper that holds worldly corruption out of biblical character. In this second part of a three-part series, Rev. Rico Magnelli joins 1 Timothy 1:5, where the end of the charge is love out of a pure heart, a good conscience and faith unfeigned, to the list in 2 Peter 1, where believers add virtue, knowledge and temperance to their faith. Temperance sits third for a reason. Without it, endurance, godliness and brotherly kindness never thrive, and a person grows blind, unable to see the return of Christ ahead or the forgiveness of his old sins behind.
Transcript
Temperance and the Pure Heart in 1 Timothy 1:5
Please turn if you have a Bible. You might be just listening. 1 Timothy 1:5. This teaching is part two on the Temperance series. We’ll focus in on a pure heart and how it relates to temperance or how temperance relates to a pure heart. Just as a reminder temperance or self-control or exercising restraint in all matters, physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual is a vital part of a Christian leader’s walk and quality of life. It’s really not optional equipment. In this part two of this three-part series on temperance, we want to focus in on temperance and how it influences our purity of heart and our biblical character.
Now as you recall from temperance part one, temperance is a fruit of the spirit. It issues from the spirit that new nature of Christ. So it’s not simply bodily or mental discipline. Biblical temperance is grace-inspired and spirit-enabled. Grace-inspired and spirit-enabled dominion over those desires and habits that can rule us if left unchecked. It is God-inspired restraint. Temperance holds back the impurities of a corrupted physical and spiritual influence. So they’re not mixed in with our bodies or our hearts and our biblical character. But we want a key here from 1st Timothy chapter 1 and then we’ll get to 2nd Peter.
In verse 5 of 1st Timothy chapter 1 it says, Now the end of the commandment or the end of the charge that Paul gave Timothy is charity, which is the word for love. And it says, and it qualifies it though, out of a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned. The end of the charge is love. That’s where we want to get to. But it comes out from a pure heart. And the pure heart, there’s much that we can do on that in terms of teaching that. But I want to bring to your attention Matthew 5:8.
Blessed Are the Pure in Heart: Seeing God in an Ordinary Day
You don’t need to turn there. I’ll just quote it. Matthew 5:8 says, Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. The pure of heart shall see God. Now we know God’s invisible. What does that mean? It’s talking about seeing his handiwork, seeing his involvement, seeing his partnership in your life. Seeing him in the day by day. You see God. The pure of heart have temperance because they hold worldly influences back from mixing in with their spiritual character. They’re the ones that see God in an ordinary day, recognizing his hand of blessing, recognizing his timing, seeing his blessings day in and day out.
That is characteristic of a pure heart. And it also says of a good conscience. You know, a good conscience is basically you view the past through a moral cleansing power of Christ. Sure, there are things that we did that probably weren’t the best. Oh, I’m sure we’ve got stories. We all do. But see, a good conscience is that you really don’t rehearse those things and you don’t celebrate the things that were done wrong or, you know, the hurt and all of that. We really don’t celebrate those. A good conscience views the past through a moral cleansing of the power of Christ.
Yeah, I did do that. Well, now I move on. Take the pressure off yourself. And it also says faith without hypocrisy or faith unfeigned. That means faith without hypocrisy. You’ll see how temperance is so much involved in this process of that pure heart. Look at 2nd Peter, please. 2nd Peter. 2nd Peter. Peter speaks of escaping corruption. This is the way Peter puts it. In 2nd Peter, chapter one, he’s going to talk about escaping corruption and developing really good moral character, which would include the purity of heart. In 2nd Peter chapter one, verse one, it says, Simon Peter a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ.
Like Precious Faith: Where 2 Peter 1 Begins
To them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Having obtained you have it. And Peter, being an apostle, he’s saying, hey, listen, you’ve got like precious faith, like we have. And another way to look at that is equal valued or equally worthy, equally honored faith. Got to start there. See that levels the playing field. We each have an equal value or an equal worthy portion and equally honored faith. And Peter starts out his second epistle that way. So the clarity of the faith that we all have of Jesus Christ sets the foundation.
Now, what do you do with this faith when you want to develop your moral character and keep your pure heart and maintain it? Well, verse four is going to help us. Verse four, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises. Those are spiritual guarantees from God. Companies give guarantees. But my goodness, if God gives you a promise, he gives you a spiritual guarantee. I think you can count on it and precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature. Now, you already have the divine nature, but now he’s talking about from a practical standpoint.
Escaping the Corruption of the World Through Lust
You have the divine nature of Christ when you, but the potential is there to be a partaker or another word for that word partaker is partner. Partner. Wow, I really like that. Well, what’s this going to require? Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Well, we’re going to have to deal with that because we live in a world that is corrupted physically. It’s corrupted and certainly socially and morally it’s corrupted. So temperance is going to really help us here. The word lust is interesting because it’s talking about a desire that attaches itself to its object.
A desire that attaches itself to its object. And it can become part of you. And if unchecked can eventually define you define your identity if you allow it. So a lust is where anything that goes beyond what we need. And we need to escape the corruptions in the world and that corruption it comes at you through lust. Through that desire that attaches itself to its object and eventually can become part of you. And that’s a problem. We need to extricate ourselves from that arrangement. But what does he say here? Verse five.
Add to Your Faith: Diligence and God’s Resources
And beside this giving all diligence add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge and to knowledge temperance. Let’s pick up some of these details. Giving all diligence in verse five. That means we spend some effort to add to our faith. We want to add to the faith. Not that the faith needs anything but in a practical sense we want to build biblical character. And really what the word add means is supply from God’s resources. What we’re going to do to the faith is we’re going to supply from God’s resources.
And all those resources are those promises, those guarantees already given to you. And in this situation there isn’t really time to waste here. That’s right. This is in the Greek grammatical construction what we would call an urgent command. There’s no time to waste. We need to escape the corruption that’s in the world through lust. We can’t wait till next year. Certainly if we want to maintain a pure heart. Now Peter warned the first Christians on the day of Pentecost in a similar manner. If we recall on the day of Pentecost it is noted in Acts 2:40 it says, And with many other words did he testify and exhort saying, Save yourselves from this untoward, this crooked generation.
That’s the Christians’ challenge. God gives you everything up front. He gives you the faith of Jesus Christ. He gives you the hope of the return of Christ. He gives you the love of Christ. And then we are in the world and we have got to not allow the world’s agendas and ideas and narratives and all the corruption that’s in physical, moral and social constructs to begin to be part of our heart. We’ve got to keep our heart pure, our character good, biblical. So what’s the first thing it says to kind of add to your faith?
Virtue: Setting Your Moral Compass
It says virtue. Now virtue is moral excellence. You can’t get anything better than Christ. He’s your greatest example of moral excellence. What it means practically for us is what you’re going to add to your faith is you’re going to choose and I’m going to choose what is right. You’re going to set your moral compass. That’s what you’re going to add to your faith. Once you’ve got the faith, you’re born again, you understand it. Or you’re getting to understand it. You set your moral compass. Then you add knowledge, that experiential knowledge and in context, it would be of the Lord Jesus Christ and all those wonderful promises that are given to us, those spiritual guarantees.
Now what ends up happening is people get born again. They have the faith of Jesus Christ. They really want to do what’s right. They set their moral compass. They start learning some of the word experientially, but the world gets back in. And that’s why the third one is so key. It’s temperance. It’s restraining those corruptible influences. That’s right. And those influences can be physical, moral, like negative agendas, motives and using people, bad memories, all these things. We want to keep out of the mix of the salad bowl of our heart.
Temperance Is the Gatekeeper of the Heart
That is not an ingredient we want to add. So you see how powerful temperance is? It’s very, very, very, very, very important because temperance is like a gatekeeper. It does not allow the corruption in. So as we begin to understand the faith and then we gain some experiential knowledge of the faith, we want to continue. And what God is telling us here is you need temperance. You need to add that to the mix. Or else it’s very difficult to get to the remaining aspects. The remaining aspects. They will be deluded.
And the remaining aspects begin with, and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience, which is endurance. Your endurance will wane. Your endurance will not thrive if you got the corrupted portion getting in there too much. And we need endurance because we’re in a corrupted world. If you notice that temptation and challenge doesn’t go away on Thursdays. It keeps coming back. So we exercise that temperance, that gatekeeper. And then it allows our endurance to really flourish. We really stand up. We really hold out on the truth of the word. And then to patience or endurance, godliness.
Godliness, Brotherly Kindness and Charity
What godliness is, is a respect for God. Is a respect for God. When the world gets in, they don’t respect God. Have you noticed? They do not respect him and his sovereignty. They don’t. They think something else is bigger. And that can slowly filter into our hearts and our walk if we allow it. And that’s what temperance keeps out. And then the respect for God, there’s brotherly kindness or it’s the Greek word Philadelphia. Many of you know that brotherly love. We want that in our character, our biblical character. We want that in our pure hearts.
We want to have that care and love for one another as brothers and sisters, that kindness. And then you know what it ends up with? Charity, love. Like Timothy, the end of the commandment is love. Well, the end of this list is love too. It’s what we want to get to. But it takes some effort on our part, doesn’t it? The temperance is very, very important, especially in a society that has so much stuff and so much information, you can overload really quick. And it starts to erode the quality of your heart if you don’t exercise temperance.
He That Lacketh These Things Is Blind
You turn off what you need to turn off. You restrict what you need to restrict. Whatever category that is, that’s something for you to decide. Actually, God will show you what you need. Then it says in verse eight, for if these things be in you and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful. Watch this in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Beautiful, beautiful. Because the world will not endorse the Lord Jesus Christ. You already know that. They will not endorse it. You know what the world will do?
It will dilute him. No one can get rid of him, but they can dilute him. And they certainly can distract us from him and what he accomplished for us. And we don’t want that. But he that lacketh these things. Now, this is Peter is telling us here. Now, if these things are not kind of actively being engaged in your life, this is what’s going to happen. But he that lacketh these things is what? Blind. Blind. And it’s so interesting what he brings up here, what we’re blind to. We’re blind and cannot see afar off and have forgotten he was purged from his old sins.
The past and the future. The past and the future. The past and the future. The past and the future. The past and the future. You can’t live in the moment because your future is unclear. You cannot see afar off. And that’s in reference to the return of Christ. You can’t see the return of Christ in your heart. And you forget that you were perched from your old sins. Now, we’re right back where we started. Walking with the influences of Adam instead of the influence of Christ. Keep your finger here. Look at 1st John, please. 1st John.
1 John 3: Sons of God and the Hope That Purifies
This is a powerful verse in terms of seeing what’s afar off. In 1st John 3, in verse 1, it says, Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. My goodness, we are sons of God. Therefore, the world knoweth us not because it knew him not. The world cannot experience you as a son of God. People that have worldly thoughts will not experience you as a son of God. They won’t recognize that. But somebody who is a son of God can recognize that.
Because they don’t know God. They don’t experience God. God is not even in their radar. Beloved, now, now, we are the sons of God. And it doth not yet appear what we shall be. But we know that when he, Jesus Christ shall appear, we shall be like him. For we shall see him as he is. That is going to be a day. My brothers and sisters, that is going to be a day. We will see him as he is. Totally revealed. That’s something to anticipate. But it doesn’t stop there. Look here.
And every man or everyone that had this hope in him, what’s this? Purifyeth himself even as he is pure. There’s an element of seeing afar off that return of Christ that provides a purifying component to your life. We can be as pure as Christ. As we walk in that spirit. As we put on the mind of Christ. Back to Peter. Second Peter. See the ones that’s not conducting themselves with temperance. They’re kind of loosey-goosey with their biblical character. They’re loosey-goosey with their heart. What the road for them is blindness. And eventually they can’t see afar off.
Make Your Calling and Election Sure
They won’t see that hope. And therefore they won’t receive the purification that comes by having the hope of the return of Christ living within you. And they don’t get that they’ve been forgiven. They can say it, but they don’t live it. They’ve forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. You got the past and the future. And then what ends up happening is people don’t have the capacity to live in the moment. Because their past is not resolved and their future is not set in glory. Amazing, right? Verse 10.
Wherefore the rather brethren give diligence to make your calling and election sure. For if ye do these things, you shall never fall. Wow. That’s a great promise. That’s a spiritual guarantee. I don’t want to be blind to the forgiveness of my sins. I don’t want to be blind to the return of Christ. I can’t see afar off. Without a resolved past and a glorious future in Christ, we cannot live in the moment and claim our identity in Christ. Christians fall prey to the multiplicity of the parade of identities that march before them.
But when we do these things, and I’d like to highlight temperance, most specifically, we can keep our heart pure and maintain good character. And God says we will never fall. Amen.
Key Takeaways
- Temperance is a fruit of the spirit: grace-inspired and spirit-enabled dominion over the desires and habits that would otherwise rule us.
- 1 Timothy 1:5 makes love the end of the charge, but it comes out of a pure heart, a good conscience and faith unfeigned.
- The pure in heart see God in an ordinary day, recognising his hand of blessing and his timing.
- In 2 Peter 1, to add to your faith means to supply from God’s resources, and the grammar makes it an urgent command.
- Temperance is the gatekeeper: without it, endurance, godliness and brotherly kindness are weakened by corruption that gets into the mix.
- Whoever lacks these things is blind, cannot see afar off to the return of Christ, and forgets he was purged from his old sins.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does temperance have to do with a pure heart?
Temperance is grace-inspired and spirit-enabled dominion over the desires and habits that can rule us if left unchecked. It holds back the impurities of a corrupted physical and spiritual influence so they are not mixed in with our bodies, our hearts and our biblical character. The pure in heart have temperance because they keep worldly influences from mixing into their spiritual character, and they are the ones who see God in an ordinary day.
What does 2 Peter 1 mean by adding to your faith?
The word add means to supply from God’s resources, and those resources are the exceeding great and precious promises, the spiritual guarantees God has already given. Peter’s order is virtue, then knowledge, then temperance, then patience or endurance, then godliness, then brotherly kindness, then charity. The Greek construction is an urgent command, so there is no time to waste in escaping the corruption that is in the world.
What does it mean that a person who lacks these things is blind?
Peter says whoever lacks these things is blind and cannot see afar off, and has forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. That is the future and the past. He cannot see the return of Christ ahead of him, and he no longer lives in the forgiveness behind him. Without a resolved past and a glorious future in Christ, a person has no capacity to live in the moment or claim his identity in Christ.
Scripture References
1 Timothy 1:5; Matthew 5:8; 2 Peter 1:1; 2 Peter 1:4; 2 Peter 1:5; Acts 2:40; 2 Peter 1:8; 2 Peter 1:9; 1 John 3:1-3; 2 Peter 1:10
This text was prepared from the teaching audio. Please verify scripture references against your own Bible.
