Self-Control

the following message is made available by truth for life for more information visit us online at truthfortheworld.org galatians chapter 5 and renewed from verse 1 for freedom Christ has set us free stand firm therefore and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery look I Paul say to you that if you accept circumcision Christ will be of no advantage to you I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that is obligated to keep the whole law you are severed from Christ you who would be justified by the law you have fallen away from grace for through the spirit by faith we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything but only faith working through love you were running well who hindered you from obeying the truth this persuasion is not from him who calls you a little leaven leavens the whole lump I have confidence in the Lord that you will take norther view and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty whoever he is but if I brothers still preach circumcision why am I still being persecuted in that case the offence of the Cross has been removed I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves a pretty strong language isn't it so something was going on here of significance it wasn't that he just had a hang-up it was that the very essence of the gospel was being challenged and set aside by these legalists who said you have to do this or you don't truly belong to Christ and Paul is sorting that out verse 13 for you were called to freedom brothers only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh but through love serve one another for the whole law is fulfilled in one word you shall love your neighbor as yourself but if you'd bite and devour one another watch out that you're not going assumed by one another but I say walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh for the desires of the flesh are against the spirit and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh for these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do but if you are led by the spirit you're not under the law now the works of the flesh are evident sexual immorality impurity sexual sensuality idolatry sorcery enmity strife jealousy fits of anger rivalries dissensions divisions envy drunkenness orgies and things like these I warn you as I warned you before that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God but the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self-control against such things there is no law and those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires if we live by the spirit let us also keep in step with a spirit let us not become conceited provoking one another envying one another amen God our Father we look away from ourselves again to you we come in our need and our need for understanding and our need for grace and for forgiveness and for direction and for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon our lives as individuals and as a church family so that the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ might be increasingly attractive as a result of your goodness and kindness to us and through us and we pray in Jesus name Amen where we come to our final study in the fruit of the Spirit we've been considering for these weeks essentially what is the lifestyle of those who are energized and indwelt by the Spirit of God if somebody said what is this fruit of the Spirit where do we see this fruit produced and the answer is it is produced in the lives of those who are energized and indwelt by God the Holy Spirit each time that we've looked at an individual element of the fruit we have made sure that we have said that this is fruit that it is not produced by law but it is produced as a result of life it is the result of the work of God the Holy Spirit within our lives as God is making us the kind of people he designed us to be so God has chosen us for himself he has included as in his family He pours out his Spirit upon us he gives gifts to his church and he places his fruit in our lives in order that we might become what he intended us to be now in the course of that it is important that we realize and this is why we read all of Galatians 5 because I think if there's one thing that I've done amiss there's one thing there's probably many but the one that comes to mind is not not to have contextualized 22 and 23 each time that we've looked at it I think I would have taken far longer and that's probably why I didn't but tonight I think is important at least to spend a moment or two recognizing the context in which this particular element of self-control is found the Westminster Confession of faith has been a help to many of us and in the 13th chapter and in the second part of the chapter which is on sanctification and the writers of the confession are explaining progressively the work of grace within the life of a Christian pointing out that sanctification is a word of God and that it works in and through the lifes of God's people but it says this this sanctification although imperfect in this life because we will never be what we're going to be although imperfect in this life is affected in every part of man's nature some remnants of corruption still persist in every part and so there arises a continual and irreconcilable war the flesh warring against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh so that within the framework of our lives we understand what it is that Paul is saying here when in verse 16 of the passage that we read I say to you walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh the reason he says that is because there it we are a walking battleground we face an internal battle all the way from here to eternity and the battle takes place in this realm where the remaining corrupted elements of our fallen nature continue to gravitate towards that which is wrong and the work of a Spirit of God within our lives is to say leo's come on now that is not the way that you should be living God has made you an entirely new person and if you're going to live by the spirit then you must keep in step with the spirit now it's not only Paul here that mentions this it runs throughout the New Testament for example James makes the same point largely when in verse 14 of chapter one he says each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire what desire the desire to do the wrong thing a desire to please myself a desire to worship myself rather than to worship God Peter encourages his readers along similar lines abstain from the passions of the flesh this is for Peter 2:11 abstain from the passions of the flesh which do what which war against the soul so this is this is the battleground in which we live our Christian lives and Paul similarly in Ephesians 4 says to the Ephesians put off your old self which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires so any idea that you ever got from anybody who told you that you're now perfect and you may smile at that but I had someone come and talk to me after a service in the last month or five weeks and the young fellow said you may have been attending a church where the minister has told me that absolute perfection is God's purpose for me and I know I am not perfect and it's killing me and I said well of course it will actually kill you if you stay there and you need to understand the gospel and we talked a little bit about it at that time now we begin in that way because what we have here sets the context for self-control for that's the element we're considering now self-control get a grip of yourself get a hold of yourself get yourself under control we may see these things to one another we understand what it means dairy Prime our good friend says self is one of the toughest weeds that grows in the garden of our lives it's true isn't it who do you have the most trouble with in your entire Christian life be honest yourself yourself you see your biggest problem every morning when you wash your face is he or she is looking back at you you might want to say that it's your spouse or the lady of the street but in actual fact the biggest problem is ourselves consider how easily we are caught up in self-centeredness or in self-deception deceiving ourselves that were actually better than we are or in self-importance or in self-centeredness or in self-pity so when we think in terms of self control and we think of this weed as Derek put said then we realize how desperately we are in need of the work of the holy spirit to conform us to the image of Jesus let's think about it on three lines and I'll take longer on the first then I will on the remaining twos so that you'll be okay first of all considering the fact that the need for self control is clear there's nothing like stating the obvious but the need for self control is clear the reason the Bible is so much to say about it is because God knows that his children are tempted to overindulge that we as his children are tempted to live outside the boundaries that he has established for our good he loves us as a father loves his children he established his boundaries for his children for their protection for their well-being for their good and for his glory and he knows that there is a perversion within each of us that somehow or another is prepared to step beyond that boundary as CS Lewis puts it in Screwtape Letters and we often quote this remember Screwtape says to one of the young one of his nephews he says all that we can really hope to do is encourage our enemies that is the Christians will try and encourage our enemies to take the good things that our ultimate enemy has given them that is the things that God has given to encourage them to take the good things at the wrong time or in the wrong quantity or with the wrong person right now you can apply that for yourself you're sensible we live in a self-indulgent culture one that has been too successful too often in pressing its ideology and it's thought forms into the church one of the questions about contemporary evangelicalism in our day at this point in the 21st century is to ask how does it compare to for example even 25 years ago and certainly fifty years ago in terms of life and lifestyle in terms of convictions about holiness and about the gospel and about the nature of belonging to God and about the issues of self-control remember in Ecclesiastes the writer to Ecclesiastes says quite proudly in the middle of chapter 2 I denied myself nothing that my heart desired I just did whatever I wanted to do he said well that's largely the approach of Western culture enjoy yourself please yourself satisfy yourself do whatever you want to do and now the Christian lives in that world and that world easily bleeds into the church remember we always say that the boat is supposed to be in the water but the water isn't supposed to be in the boat but when this water gets in the boat this is the kind of thing you'll come up against you'll begin to hear professing Christians saying things like this you know we have all been set free so we can live as we choose the approach is kind of like we bought the fire insurance so now we can straight matches in the house that's the kind of mentality people who say these things I don't think I've ever understood the nature of the gospel how can anybody ever see this after singing and can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood died he for me did he die for you so that you can do whatever you want to do that he died for you in order that you can please yourself did he bear all your sin in order that you and I may go out and just sin gratuitously clearly not god forbid that's what Paul says in Romans 6 isn't it now as a result of that kind of mentality I'm free therefore I can just do as I choose anybody who does what I'm doing for you now and that is that says that progress in sanctification involves effort or work on our part is almost inevitably branded as a legalist because in the minds of people the idea is that any attempt on our part to do anything at all must surely be that we are depending on ourselves not so no it is the Spirit of God that works within us in order that he might put the willing desire within us to do what we're supposed to do and a careful reading of Paul makes that absolutely clear that true freedom is not a license to do as you please but it is a Liberty to do as we ought James does the same thing James 1:25 he says here you have the perfect law of Liberty he says you can fall in on the one side to license you can fall in on the other side to legalism but he says this is the perfect law that gives you liberty here is the freedom what is the freedom it's captured in there him make me a captive Lord and then I shall be free force me to render up my sword and I shall conqueror be it's a paradox and yet it's at the heart of the gospel story we put it like this we are held in bounds but we are not held in bonds okay the difference a vowel can make you who play scrabble you understand this we are held in bounds but we're not held in bonds we're battling the Bible tells us on three fronts against the world against the flesh and against the devil every day all day in our lives we battle internal desires that are cultivated by external pressures and attractions and our inclination will often be to indulge in temporary pleasures remember said of Moses that he chose to suffer affliction with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season there's something about sin that is pleasurable and that allure of sin and the enticement has then to be addressed enabled by the spirit guided by the Scriptures producing within as the fruit of self-control when we do sin and fall we're tempted many of us to say things like well I couldn't help myself well yes you could the fact is that when we sinned like that whatever was the object of our mistaken pleasure we loved that more than we loved God so in essence it is idolatry it's all about who you're worshipping either we are worshipping at the shrine of our own appetites and desires or were worshipping at the foot of the cross where Jesus bore our punishment in order that we might live in that kind of freedom when we do that what we're declaring is that God is not enough for us that God is not enough for us and therefore we've decided that we're going to have to find our satisfaction somewhere or in someone other than God every time that I sin willfully sin I'm saying that whether it's in the forefront of my mind whether I acknowledge it or not what I'm really saying is I cannot be satisfied in you God I've got to find satisfaction somewhere else the boundaries that you've established for me are restricting boundaries that's what that's what goes on inside your heart therefore I know that you would like this but and it's the challenge that every one of us faces with these men this weekend one said I is to think that Christians weren't tempted and into and when I wasn't a Christian I thought well maybe if I become a Christian that I won't have to be tempted and then I became a Christian and he said it was even worse well he's absolutely right remember years ago and I may have told you this I was listening when I was a teenager to a taught by a minister and he used an illustration of a break-in in a post office where they they took a lot of money in the in the United Kingdom and the way that it happened was that they put somebody in there in the post office toward the end of the day and before the post office was locked the person hid in a closet and then in the darkness of the night he came to the door and he opened the door and he led his fellow thieves in and so they they robbed the place entirely and the minister said you see it was an inside job then he paused and he said and sin is just like that every sin is an inside job I've discovered few things in my life I haven't really made many discoveries but I discovered one I'm Ashley - one great discovery is junk is junk that's one of my great discoveries you can tell I work at a very high intellectual level and the other discovery is people do what they want to do people do what they want to do you take the incidences in our church family here of those who no longer walk with us it began when they decided just to do what they want to do we sat with them we talked with them said no so there's no excuse and when we sinned it would be much better if we just were honest about it and said you know I did that because I wanted to I did that because I enjoy that that was good I think I'll do that again I'll just I'll just have one more just one more and then I'll stop everybody who's been addicted knows that story I'll just have one more and one more leads to one more I'll just have one more look I'll just have one more visit just one more self-control secular culture recognizes this on the one hand it stimulates it and on the other hand it tries to prevent it Tim McGraw I like it I love it I want some more of it I don't know what he's talking about but that's the message I like it I love it I want some more of it I think it was corn on the cob or something like that I don't know what it was so you got that on the one hand and people are driving the cart corn that's good that's good we're going down that road and then you've got Nancy Reagan who steps forward Luke's full face into the camera and and introduces us to just say no and as a result of that self effort then becomes the disguise of self control because self effort apart from dependence on upon Christ is entirely self focused and it is ultimately destined to failure in Proverbs Solomon says like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who likes self-control in other words the picture is so clear strong walls were necessary for the inhabitants to live in safety and strong walls are necessary for you and me if we're going to live in safety now I said I'd spend longer on the first and I have let's go to the second the need for self-control is clear secondly the nature of self-control we need to understand the nature of self-control we need to understand what is it that the Bible is talking about here it's not talking about external moral influences external moral influences like for example just say no can partially condition our behavior but they cannot eradicate from our sinful hearts the fundamental flaw in our moral makeup they may edit eight but they cannot eradicate and when you think about that you realize how important it is that we understand that what Paul is talking about here again and don't let's forget is talking about fruit self-control is the spirit enabled ability to avoid excesses and to stay within the god-given boundaries as a sort of random definition that it is it is spirit enabled word guided if we might add that to to avoid excesses and to stay within the god-given boundaries so that we obey the Bible we're enabled by the spirit and then we cultivate the skill and yes I think it is in some measure a skill of living a thoughtful and a careful life in which we do what is right despite our desires then we do what is right despite our desires you remember the desires that are within us you go into Chapter six and Paul makes it clear he says whoever sews to the flesh reaps whoever sews to the spirit reaps do not be deceived he says God is not marked you will reap exactly what you saw so the Spirit of God at work within us producing this element in us enables us to do just that that's why again Solomon in his wisdom recognizing that the real issue is the issue of the core of our lives says to his his son as it where guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life guard your heart but he doesn't mean he doesn't mean a cardiological issue the heart is the center in the Bible of both your mind and your emotions it's just the epicenter the the Eunice of you so he says you you guard that because he realizes that every sin is an inside job so if we manage to do all these different things externally and don't guard our heart then we will is be susceptible to temptation if we live in a war as we will if we live in the center of New York City because the real enemy of our souls is within within sinful desires as Peter recorded it earlier abstained from these things these are the sinful desires which make war on your soul jerry bridges who has helped me through these studies suggest this as a definition and I'll give it to you self-control he writes is the exercise of inner strength under the direction of sound judgment so inner strength under the direction of sound judgment that enables us to think say and do things that are pleasing to God I think that is actually very helpful and that instruction is given for all of us in all the different stages of our lives we don't we don't have time to do this now but let me just remind you of it and you can look it up it is quite striking when Paul gives direction to Titus to encourage his congregation in in Crete he says now I want you to teach what accords with sound doctrine and then he gives he gives directions for various elements in the church older men are to be what sober minded dignified self-control so he says I don't want a bunch of people I don't want a bunch of old men in your church they're a bunch of dirty old man I don't want a bunch of old flabby guys that never exercise and just grow fat and miserable they're supposed to be self-controlled now let me say about your older women they should be reverent in their behavior they shouldn't be slanderers or slaves slaves too much wine in other words self-control and they can train the young women to love their husbands and children and to be self-controlled pure working at home kind and submissive to their husbands and he's not finished likewise urge the younger men to be what self-control so in other words there's no stage of life where you get out of this class it's not like this is a great talk for the teenagers you know let's take him in a room all the boys in one room all the girls in another room and give them the talk you know no this runs through the entire operation two days before you die somebody will legitimately say to you hey beg get a hold of yourself be self-controlled stop doing that that's ridiculous now the nature of it needs to be understood and it needs to be understood clearly and when you go to Titus you realize that after he's given all of these imperatives what does he immediately say for the grace of God has appeared see there's the impetus there's the dynamic you never get the imperative in isolation from the indicative urge them to be self-controlled make sure they stop doing this tell them not to do that tell them to fix this make sure they're self controlled for the grace of God has appeared you see that's it that's the issue that's the wonder of it all scripture never expects us to hear God's command separate from our focus on God's work for us in the person of his son and when we divorce these things then we almost inevitably go wrong religion says become by self-effort what you're not Christianity Christian faith says become by grace what you are become by grace what you are because you have been set free 2 Corinthians 5 in order that you might live for him and Paul says we make it our goal to please him so someone says well why are you not going to do that or what why are you refraining from that well because we've got a lot of rules at our church no no no now because I made it my goal to please him I want to please God I want to please God so much that I'm not going to do that with you I'd like to but I'm not going to do it I'm not going to sell out for a simple pleasure because I have a father who loves me and who has died for me and his son and it was prepared a place for me and who is waiting for me so no my great concern is not what he will do to me it is what I will do to him search me and try me and know my anxious thoughts and see if there's anything father in me that makes you sad and lead me in the way of everlasting Third Point finally quickly number one the need for self-control is clear the nature of self-control needs to be understood so that we don't think in terms simply of a self focused self effort whereby we are trying on our own to do these things grace grace grace enabling grace how then does self-control become part and parcel of our lives because I was using because I had need a nature I wanted to use the word normal which is just a problem I have so I wrote in my notes how does self-control become the new normal how does self-control become the new normal well let me just say one or two things and I'll stop the beginning of self-mastery the beginning of our life's being brought under control is being brought under the control of Christ the beginning of self-mastery is to be mastered by Christ it is not asceticism throughout when Paul is writing these kind of letters there are all kinds of people around who are saying you can't do this and you mustn't do that and if you do that there's no way that you could ever know or love God and so on they had all some of them had fantastic names like they en croute i'ts and the N crow tights for bad wagon they for bad marriage they for bad anything that was fleshly at all Paul isn't doing that and five Paul is doing the reverse of that you can read this in first Timothy for the spirit expressly says that in the later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons through the in sincerity of liars whose consciences are seared who forbid marriage require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with Thanksgiving and you need to realize he says that everything created by God is good and nothing is to be rejected if is received with Thanksgiving for it is made holy by the Word of God and by prayer so it's not asceticism it's not sin Francis of Assisi it's not what you know walking around like Gandhi and and and put your fingers in your ears anytime you hear secular music you can try that if you want but don't call it biblical self-control what it means is that in every dimension of our lives is brought under the mastery of Jesus we just say order to first of all our bodies right Romans 12:1 and to present your bodies as a living sacrifice to God what does that mean self-control what is apply it to yourself remember James 1:14 whatever it was we read everyone is is is is tempted and they are lured away by their own desire self-control are you lazy are you lazy then it's an issue of self-control do you do you refuse to take rest and recreation you're out of control are you and I prepare to eat and eat and eat it's a self-control deal or drink and drink and drink it's a self-control are we prepared to live within the bounds of biblical sexuality what are we going to imbibe the spirit of the world I don't want to labor this at all because it so easily becomes the focus and there's so much more to it but nevertheless let's just acknowledge this that in terms of the progression or digression or depression within conservative Christian circles the impact of a secular worldview in the matters of sexuality has a far greater hold within the professing Christian Church than the Christian Church is even prepared to admit itself and it is a matter of self control that's why not only does the Bible say you've got to guard your heart but Paul says to Timothy I want you to flee I want you to make a run for it well that doesn't sound very spiritual doesn't surely I could stay and have a conversation you mean like Joseph had a conversation with Potiphar's wife and what a deal that was you could sleep with me it won't be a problem I mean mother King the part of the beginners Potiphar he had no clue what's going on this is a perfect opportunity I see you every day you like me don't you Joseph come on was Joseph do it runs down a street why because he cares more about God's glory than he does about having sex with Potiphar's wife simple how could I do such a thing and sin against God in other words the only way that I could do this is if i enthroned myself and dethrone God if I decided to worship my own desires I learn to worship the God who has preserved me in brand and prospered me contrast David and Bathsheba he sees he conjures he acts he follows through in terms of our emotions self-control do you have a spirit of resentment or of bitterness or of self-pity or just a flaming temper incidentally to have a temper that requires being brought under self-control is not a mark of ungodliness to fail to control it is a mark of ungodliness so our bodies our emotions our thoughts and with this we start Paul says it is imperative that we take every thought captive bringing it under the rubric of God's Authority remember he says to the Philippians I want you to think about the kind of things that are good and profitable and so on when I was young people would tell me so you can't listen to that music you can't listen to those songs they might have been right but I mean my stones weren't that bad she loves you yeah yeah yeah she loves you yeah yeah yeah she loves you yeah yeah yeah is this really a problem you know tell me that this is on the same continuum as filthy rap music I mean there is a difference but the principle is there it's hard to take every thought captive when the stuff we fill our minds with militates against the very lordship of Jesus we need then to learn to knit these things in the bud we need to learn to be honest about temptation we need to say to ourselves I can put myself in those vulnerable places because the day when as singer Ferguson has told us the day when desire and opportunity and temptation combined that's a tough day desire opportunity and temptation you're really up against it that day if you've got desire and no opportunity what are you going to do if you're tempted but you're going to a desire who cares desire opportunity and temptation watch out for that day because when the combine is deadly so what the Spirit of God does within our hearts is in part to break the chain of self-indulgence to enable us to resist fleeting pleasures and we do so in the awareness of the fact that there's a direct flow through from what goes on between our ears that when you play golf people usually say the most the most important six inches in golf are the six inches between your ears and there's a measure of truth in that isn't there because if you if you think wrongly you're probably going to execute wrongly as well so a thought repin action so in action reap a habit so a habit reap a character so a character reap a destiny it's clear and the progress that we make we can't make on our own that's why God puts us together so that we can watch out for one another let me finish with one illustration I'm not good on Greek mythology but I found this and you will remember it from school those of you who were better educated than me you remember the sirens you say oh yeah I heard them just this evening in Seoul and yeah no I don't think you did no no the sirens were half woman and half birds remember and they lived on a very famous island and what they used to do was I try and beguile the sailors who were passing by by their entrancing singing and they woulda lure them with their singing so that their vessels would run aground on the rocks they would be shipwrecked and they would perish when the hero Odysseus passed by the island he decided I can fix this so he stopped his ears with wax and he tied himself to the mast of the ship so that he could not be seduced in the mythology when the Argonauts traced the same route Orpheus employed a different strategy he took a harp and played music of such superior charms that the sailors gave no heed to the siren song how do you get this it's when our affections are taken up with the wonder of God's grace and goodness to us when those songs matter so much to us these songs really have no appeal for us when Christ is all in all then we understand how fleeting and how feeble and how futile are these things we're involved in a continual and irreconcilable war but it is a war where victory is assured as we have crucified our life's with Christ in the wonder of His grace to us as we live by the spirit let us also walk by the spirit and let's not be too cautious about saying to one another hey you might want to be careful there because they see the Spirit of God cultivates within us solid joys and lasting treasures and all the other stuff is a counter filled it's all vanity fair' it's all candyfloss it all looks so attractive the entryway to most of these bad clubs is very very nice as soon as you go down the stairs as you often do you go into virtually a deep darkness surely it's a metaphor and Christ shines his light in our hearts well we should stop thank you Father thank you that your purpose for your people is to make us what you've designed us to be and we confess tonight that we have gone through the various elements of the fruit and with every so often cringed and been caught up and the awareness of our own impatience or unfaithfulness but we want to thank you tonight that that it is your blood and your righteousness Lord Jesus Christ that allows us to come boldly before your throne of grace that we stand complete in you that we're not what we once we're we're not all we're going to be but we are different by your grace and so we pray that we might heed your commands and your warnings that you will pour out your spirit upon us in fresh measure that you will help those of us who are toying with sin fiddling around with temptation lying to ourselves about why we do what we do and when we're going to stop and why we only want to do it one more time lord help us to flee help us to guard our hearts before we pray in Christ's name Amen this message was brought to you from truth for life where the learning is for living learn more about truth for life with alistair beg visit us online at truthfortheworld.org

Channel: Alistair Begg

Views: 240,489

Rating: 4.8522291 out of 5

Keywords: Alistair Begg, Character of God, Fruit of the Spirit, Grace, Holy Spirit, Self-control, Temptation

Id: WRKBIWRRy-0

Length: 46min 17sec (2777 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 12 2016