Sermon: The Fruit of the Spirit – Self-Control

Good evening, thank you for joining us even on this Labor Day weekend. It is a blessing to be here, the blessing to close the night out as again, as I always say, we rise with the Lord and we get to go down with the Lord. What a blessing it is to gather as a body of Christ. What a blessing it is to be able to stand here, to preach, to give God's word. As we close out the series with a culminating fruit of self-control,

um, it's been convicting, weak studying God's word, convicting weak. As I look at self-control for myself, um, it's one that hits right at the hearts right away and one in which you're saying, I lack self-control in every single sphere of my life, it seems like. Um, but I pray this evening that it would be encouraging convicting and that God would speak his truths to you. Our main passage will be Galatians five 16 to 25.

But before we read the word of God, let me pray. Oh, great Lord, we thank you for this evening. We thank you that we can gather as a body of Christ, that we get to hear your word. Lord, may we hunger and thirst for the word of God like no other may be like honey to our lips may be the thing that we desire each and every day. Lord, would you speak to us this evening? May this not be my words by your words, may your truth go forth. And Lord,

may we point everyone back to the gospel of Jesus Christ. We wanna lift this up. We want to praise you and thank you, amen. So Galatians chapter five, verse 16 to 25, but I say, walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. But 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 are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident. Sexual morality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissension, 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 wall. 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 the spirit. This is the Reading of God's Holy er word. Self-control is a theme in the fruit that we have tonight before us. David Mathis defines self-control as the practice of learning to maintain control of the beast of one own sinful passions.

Again, the practice of learning to maintain control of the beast of one own, one's own sinful passion. And It may be true that self-control, even here as many of you're sitting here tonight, there are struggles in your life that you have things that you are struggling to grasp over and have control over things in which each and every single day you're saying to yourself, I've been fighting this for 20 years. Why can't I get any sense of control over

This Being said, I've hurt you that hurt your families, things that have hurt your jobs and your careers.

And oftentimes you've been told Just say no and you've got it. The thing is that self-control and the struggles of self-control comes in many different forms. Maybe it's a self-control over alcohol and then my consumption of alcohol. Maybe you're struggling with substance abuse and drugs. Could it be pornography in the, in the deepest of the knights and the hidden from everyone That is your great struggle to gain a grasp of her. Maybe it's sexuality,

lust, anger, jealousy, Laziness, Time management. Maybe It's self-control that you struggle with over your tongue. Maybe You curse, maybe you gossip. Maybe You love to use the Lord's name in vain. Maybe you're quick with your tongue

And there's List goes on And on and on. And the adage of just say no, just build enough courage and just say no. Meaning you guys have tried hundreds if not thousands of times on your own to just say no to this, just to say no to this. And there may be temporary relief, But Sooner or later you're back in that same position again. Seems as though you haven't made any progress as though nothing has changed. You sit here tonight at the end of your witts ready to hang up the white flag

and you're self-control battle. You feel ashamed, you feel like a failure. You feel like one without hope against such struggles of your life.

And you're saying, What can I do and What more can I do? I've tried everything.

And here's the thing, there is nothing you can do. You see my encouragement for us is that because we are filled with the Holy Spirit, if we are in Christ because we're filled with the Holy Spirit, we shall have self-control over these desires of the flesh. And when I say that there's nothing you can do. I'm not saying there's nothing that you can do to gain mastery over self-control. I'm saying there's nothing you can do in your own strength

on your own. And for us, I have three main points for us today. The first is that self-control is not willpower. Self-control looks upward and self control requires effort. The three main points I have for us, the first is that self-control is not willpower. 'cause oftentimes when we think of self-control, the first thing that comes to mind is willpower. In other words, whatever the heart desires, we just need to train our minds to say no to this and that'll be enough.

Just our minds should say no to this. What Greek philosophers believed in this sort of stoic sort of just say no mentality in this battle that they saw between the intellect and the body or the rationalities and the desires. And so this idea of just says no comes from this Greek stoicism and philosophy of just put away the emotions itself because they saw that the mind and and the mind itself was a higher faculty than the emotions

they saw that it was greater and better. And so they could stay in the stoicism say you've just got to train your mind to be strong enough to say no to the desires.

But the issue with this view isn't is that it's not the way the Bible understands humanity. We as God's creation, as God's creatures, as human beings, we are made in the image of God and being made in the image of God. This includes our minds for sure. It includes our wills and it includes our emotions. And so this idea of self effort, this idea of willpower is really just a self-focused pursuit that is deemed to fail.

Because this idea of just saying no doesn't address the heart of the matter, doesn't address what's going on in man. Because we see too often this idea of just say no Doesn't work. We see often that as one drives that one master of one thing that they struggle with, another thing creeps in and takes over that place. And so the same demon they've been fighting, though they have thrown this one away, the same demon is still there.

The same thing that they struggled with is still there. That's why Ed Welch, he states this. He says that exercise instead of food, a slavish devotion to work instead of adultery. The AA observation of the dry drunk is an illustration of people who have reformed themselves in the sense that they are Sober, But the demons that draw them to drink continue to be their masters.

It doesn't work. Strang Galatians five 17 it talks about 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. Being made an image of God means that in the fall our minds, our wills and our emotions are fallen. And So for us to depend upon the intellect for us to depend upon will willpower over the emotions or emotions over the willpower and the intellect is

both deceitful. That both are no good in a fallen world on its own 'cause. Since the fall of man, our desires have taken over. Our minds are slave to the desires. And so we are slaves to our lust and desires of the flesh. We act according to our nature. And so what you set your heart on will win. No amount of willpower is ever enough. This idea that I have enough willpower to get over this on my Own, it's not enough. The idea to think that within me, within myself, if I look inward

I can do this. But I think that fails to grasp

true self-control. All that does is mask the real demons. All that does is mask the truth of why there's a lack of self-control. It's why Just say no is not enough. It's why willpower Is not ever enough. It will never be enough. And so if it's not willpower, if there's nothing I can do, then the question becomes what is It? Then act. What's Our hope? I'm here and I'm struggling. What's my hope? Matt, what do I turn to?

Take us To our second point that self-control looks upward. Self-control looks upward. And I have three main subpoints to this that that that self-control is Christ powered. Self-control is spirit powered and self-control is joy powered. Titus two 11 states for us that for the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled,

upright and godly lives in the present age, our ability to have this fruit of self-control is tied to Christ and his work on the cross for our salvation's. Why Jonathan Cruz reminds us that we are not only saved from the sin of lacking self-control, saved from the sin of lacking self-control, but that we are sanctified to be able to show self-control control.

You see the issue that the heart of the matter is that we live in a fallen world and that that that for us to depend upon ourselves is impossible. And this is why self-control, if it's truly self-control, is Christ powered. Because if you are in Christ, you are not dependent upon yourself. You are connected to the vine who is Christ himself. John 15, five or whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit for apart from me.

You can do nothing is being connected to the life source. It's being connected to the one, to the one who gives and the one who produces fruit to the one who is the one that allows nutrients to flow freely to the branches so that fruit can be born. You see, because in the fallen world a man on his own man is without hope, without Christ, man is without hope of ever having self control apart from Christ. He is the one that produces the fruit. He gives it to you.

It's not something you achieve, it's not something you develop. It's not something you grow. It's given to you as a believer in Christ.

That's why Tim Keller, he says this, that the gospel is not just the ABCs but the A two Z of the Christian life. It is inaccurate to think that the gospel is what saves non-Christians and then Christians mature by trying hard to live according to biblical principles. It is more accurate to say that we are saved by believing the gospel and then we are transformed in every part of our mind, minds, hearts and lives by believing the gospel more and more deeply

as life goes on. You see a Christ powered self-control is grace based. It's dependent and it looks back and it looks back to what Christ has done for us. It's a reminder that we have done nothing and that is Christ who has done everything for us. It identifies us as God's beloved children. It reminds us that we have been given the full rights as God's son. It reminds us that he will never abandon us. That he's a good and faithful father who gives good gifts.

He's also the father who's devoted to our sanctification. And that we will be like Christ the firstborn among many brothers. It is in light of this that we can pursue godliness, that we can pursue true self-control over the desires of the flesh because it is in salvation that the mind is renewed, it is in salvation that desires in the hearts of man is renewed so that man can think rightly so that man can have the right joy, the right love for Christ,

that his desires can be done rightly and well. That apart from the gospel there is no self-control. That apart from the gospel there is no hope for you to ever develop a fruit of self-control for you to have any true self-control.

And yet

Christian struggle still,

some of you tonight know the gospel and yet maybe the question that needs to be asked is, are you resting in the work of Christ or do you look to the gospel and say, Christ has saved me. Now I need to go and work and I need to do this on my own that now I need to muster it up. It's something self-control, something that I need to accomplish now. It's something I need to do. It's something that I need to produce rather than resting in the gospel and the truth that

he has done it for us, that he has empowered us, that we put on Christ. That self-control comes by Christ and Christ alone. At times we lose sight of the gospel for our everyday life. We see it only for our salvation but it's for every moment, every step that we walk

to not allow the gospel to only be the ABC's but allow it to be the A to Z of your life. Everything that was transforming the everything that allows you to have you in the fruit self-control. And yet we also see that true self-control is spirit powered. It's not as though the Lord has given you direction and say, all right, now live in such, such, such way and says figure it out. He says to you, but he gives us the Holy Spirit.

He gives you the counselor, the parat, the one to walk with, the one that you are to walk, step and step alongside of the one who empowers you, guides you and leads you. You are not alone in this. He hasn't just left you as a orphan without any help. He has given you the greater thing. He has given you the Holy Spirit.

And this is a gift of ours. This is why it's a fruit of the spirit. It's born, it's given to us from the spirit of God. And so if you are in Christ, you have this fruit, you have this spirit I I think of like Luke four one and it speaks about Jesus as he was about to enter the wilderness. And it says that Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit.

He returned from Jordan, was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is and truly is man and God. He has two natures. And that's an encouragement for us. That that that that we are to be reminded here that in Jesus's humanity not only had a reasonable soul but Jesus himself was also full of the Holy Spirit. That Jesus himself was also dependent upon the spirit. That it was the spirit that led him to the wilderness.

But it was also the spirit who sustained him before, during and after his temptation in the wilderness. That Jesus lived step in step with a spirit that guided him and led him. He was truly man. And the great news that I hope you're seeing is that that same spirit that led and sustained Jesus in the wilderness against the temptations of Satan is the same spirit that has been given to you tonight. Jesus who has total and perfect self-control,

the great the the fruit that we are talking about tonight. That same spirit has been given to you who are struggling with pornography to you who are struggling with alcoholism or struggling with anger and taming your tongue. That spirit has been given to you to put to death the deeds of these things. Romans eight 13 says, if by this spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live, it's the reminder again that we have not been left alone.

It's a reminder again that it's not in our own strength. It's not in our own power, but that we are utterly dependent upon the Holy Spirit. If we want true and real self-control that will put put to death the desires of the flesh. Real self-control is Christ powered. Real self-control is being led by the Holy Spirit. It is in the life of faith that we walk step and step with a spirit and are able to resist such temptations.

We need to be praying people, we need to be pleading people asking the spirit to strengthen us, asking the spirit to give a a measure of grace and self-control

to often we grieve the spirit instead of asking the spirit to lead us, guide us to sustain us.

We ignore the spirit and just as the Christ powered self-control, we often look to ourselves even as Christians to say, I've got this. I can do it.

But if self-control is Christ powered and it's spirit powered, it's also joy powered. Keller talks about how self-control is also a joy powered. And what he means by this is that it's only by the spirit of God that the desires of the heart of man can be set rightly upon the Lord Jesus Christ alone. It is by the spirit of God that our great desire would no longer be our flesh, but rather it is Christ that we seek to glorify.

It is Christ that we live for that our great desires to live for Hum and hum alone and no one else that our affections is for Christ, that our emotions are for Christ, that our love and our passion is Christ alone.

You see our salvation changes our minds, changes our will so that we can will rightly changes our mind so we can think rightly by the spirit, but also changes our affections so that we can love rightly so that we can uh, pursue worship rightly. You see, we were made to be people of worship in the fall. We began to worship the wrong things that has not been lost, but it's been tainted and fallen. So we worship the wrong thing,

but it isn't our salvation that we can worship rightly. It isn't our salvation that we can turn to the Lord rightly again to be made in the image of God means that we are worshipers. I think of Genesis 39, 9 in Joseph's life and Joseph says, as poer is tempting hum, he says, how can I do this great wickedness and sin against God

and sin against God? Joseph lived this life that wanted to honor no one But the Lord. See, his desire to be ethical and morally right wasn't just that, oh this is just right for the sake of being right. Oh that's my great friend. So I don't want to do anything or or anything about my career 'cause if this gets found out I'll lose my career. It wasn't that sort of ethics and morals that was set upon there, but it was set upon an ethic and a moral that loves God more than anything else

in this world. There's this idea that if I sin, I sin against my God who I love. I sin against my God who has rescued me. I sin against my God who's my greatest affection against the one that is my greatest desire

to his desire to bely morally rights was always connected to God, was always connected to honor. God was always connected to the worship of his of God. His desire was to live for the Lord alone. That's what drove his moral and ethical right. It was a worship issue more than anything else. It was a honoring issue more than anything else.

It's a joy powered self-control. One that finds pleasure in the Lord alone. One that seeks Hum above all else.

And yet We need to ask ourselves, Could it be That my continual struggle against such sin in my life Is due To a lack Of love for my Lord Due to a lack of passion for my Lord due to a lack of worship towards My God? Have I have I allowed other passions to overtake my love for the Lord? And is this why I'm not seeing any victory

In our fight for self-control on our lips daily and prayer should be their crest, that the Lord would grow our affections and passions for Han That every movement that everything that we see, we, we look to the Lord that every decision that we make, we look to the Lord that every time temptation comes, we don't just think of ethics and morals in the sense of just ethics and morals, but we look at it as Joseph did and said, I would sin against my God and self.

I did not desire To dishonor home who I live for. You see, because our joy and what brings us most joy often affects areas of self-control in our lives. Think about myself very recently, a couple years ago, I'm a huge bucks fan. Love the Bucks. When we got Tom Brady, the goats, I was super stoked. It was Super Bowl or bust that year. And I remember there were people online, friends and families that were dogging me would get

angry, kept receipts, uh, and I mean it. I did. I kept receipts. And what I mean by that is that I would screenshot their trash talk and I was gonna wait till the bucks won the Super Bowl and I was gonna put it on Facebook. Say, what's up now?

What was it that happened in me that that the great desire of my life in that moment became the Bucks themselves, became Tom Brady, the go. That became my great desire in life. So that affected the way in which I couldn't no longer have control over even my emotions. And so it is an idolatry issue that that is an affecting self-control because those idolatrous issues will affect your self-control in all areas of your life.

And so because I love the buck so much, I begin to hate to my friends and families who are dogging me, I begin to get angry at them. I began to get angry whenever the bucks were losing, especially those first couple games. I ultimately didn't to post it up. I was very convicted at some point late in the season, deleted it all.

But that drove me to have a lack of self-control over my emotions because the desire itself was the bucks. That's why people, if your desire for your life, if the greatest desire you have and what brings you joy is your business, yes, you may have success in certain parts of your business, but if it takes whatever it takes to be successful, you do whatever it takes, that becomes your life goal. That means I treat my, my my, my workers poorly. That's what I'll do.

Watch TikTok of men who are climbed this ladder to be millionaires and they're saying, I've had to leave those friends behind because they weren't allowing me to reach my goal of being a millionaire. So I've left those friends behind, they were good for a season, but I don't care for them anymore. They held me back.

And your whole life is also controlled by that thing in your life that you desire more than anything. What happens when that business begins to flounder? Oftentimes lack of self-control in terms of medicating with alcohol, medicating with drugs, oftentimes a lack of self-control in terms of anger and their emotions towards others. Lack of self-control when it comes, ah, can I just fudge these numbers?

Lack of self-control is affected by what is our great desire self. What is that that brings us most joy? What is that? That it's at the center of our hearts

is why self-control, true self-control. It's gospel centered in that it is Christ powered, spirit powered and by the spirit that aligns our affection rightly with the Lord.

But if self-control is not willpower and if self-control looks upward, I also want to say that self-control requires spirit powered effort, spirit powered effort.

Colossians 1 29 tells us for this, I toil struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. Ed Welch says, as the Hebrews were promised the land but had to take it by force one town at a time. So we are promised a gift of self-control, yet we also must take it by force. It's given and yet we must take it by force. Self-control is yours and yet at the same time doesn't just fall down from the sky and somehow a switch has been lifted and now

you've mastered self-control. It takes hard work, it takes discipline. But this discipline, this hard work and this spirit powered effort is only possible because we do have the spirit of God. That's the difference between self effort. Willpower is dependent upon you. But spirit powered effort is that because we have the spirit, there is work that we can do. There is effort that we can do not to earn it but to work that which we have

already.

The spirit is the decisive act that allows you to resist to temptations that allows you to have self-control and mastery over the desires of the flesh. Kevin Young, he tells us that growth and godliness requires exertion on the part of the Christian. And to have self-control is the reality that we are in a constant fight against temptation and sin. We have been called to put it to death, not just one day but every day.

Not just one hour but maybe every second of our lives. It's a constant battle. We're called to toil and to work. God has truly made it so that we can walk with self-control against the temptations of the world by his spirit. But he has called for us to do the walking itself. Also, we walk by the spirit

and I love even Paul's letter to the Corinthians in chapter nine as he talks about the athletes and the athlete preparing and disciplining and self-control over the body and preparation for the games that they have before them. One of the things I see there is that there's progression. Even as we think of the athlete himself that he prepares for the event that has come, he prepares for what is before him. Because some of you guys may see this and you guys say, Matt,

you're speaking absolutes. It sounds like actually shouldn't have any trouble at all or that should be quite easy. But the truth and the matter of the fact is that the Lord can and he does and he has allowed us to put to death permanently certain sins and desires that we have mastery over. And yet for many of the sins of our lives, it's a continual, lifelong struggle. And you may feel as though I don't see any absolutes in my own life

and yet we know that it's a progression of work, that it is a muscle that works. That self-control is something that we build upon. That's something that gets stronger and stronger, something that we move forward with. And so that in year 10 of that same struggle should not look like year one of that same struggle. So that in year 20 we can look back at year one and see what the Lord has been doing in our lives. It is a continual progression.

It is a continual getting stronger. It's a building of the muscle and self-control something we build, something we strengthen, but we can't strengthen if we're not working at it. So

what does this work look like?

I look again to Christ in the wilderness and I look to Christ in the garden gets enemy. In each of these instances, what do we see? Christ do turns to the word of God against Satan and he prays to the Father.

It may seem simplistic and it may be the answer you always hear, but the word of God and prayer are our weapons. When temptation erupts before us, the word is the ordinary means of grace. It means that when temptation comes, it's probably wise to remember scripture. It's probably wise to start speaking scripture, to point us back and to remind us of Christ, to know scripture itself. But not only when it comes, but also in preparation for temptation.

We should be in the word of God if we believe that the word of God is the means of grace that strengthens and sustains us. We need to have a regular diet of God's word if we want to be ready. An athlete does not go to an event malnourished. He prepares rightly. He prepares with the right nutrition. The right nutrition is the word of God in our lives. It's what feeds us. It's what strengthens us. It's not just in the moment.

It's before and it's after. It's our everyday meal. It's the stake in potatoes of our lives. It's the protein shake of our lives. It strengthens you and I.

That means sitting under the preached word Regularly matters. That means di visible word of the sacraments Matter that we regularly partake of.

But he prays. He prays to the one that sustains. He prays to the one that hears his prayer. He prays to the one that we give a measure of His grace. He prays to the one who is a good father that gives good gifts to the one that hears His people Word. And prayer Is the core of what we need Regularly in our lives. If this is an everyday battle, we need to Be praying every moment. Pray without ceasing.

But I wanna say this too, we need brothers and sisters in Christ. The Lord did not save us as Individuals but us as a church, as the body of believers as a whole. You are not called to walk this by yourself. You have been called to walk this with your brothers Sisters in Christ That as the the true self-control is one in which we are dependent upon Christ powered self-control. One that is spirit powered self-control and one that is joy powered

self-control. We look upwards, but we look outward as well to, to our brothers and sisters in Christ bring the fiercest battle into light. It's true that all of our temptations can be common, but it's also true that each of us has unique Struggles. Some of us battle certain sins and some of us battle to gain a grasp of a control of certain things.

Wherever this battle is for you wage most vigorously in your life, you need brothers and you need to share It with them. You need sisters and you need to Share it with 'em. You need people who are gonna walk with you into battle 'cause you're never Meant to do this alone. And to the ones who are struggling today, you, you're thinking, oh, I've been doing this my whole life. Maybe part of it is you need brothers to walk alongside of you.

You need brothers and sisters who are praying for you. You need brothers and sisters who are reminding you, who are rebuking you even

or Challenging you.

We need each other in this,

in this long battle or self-control. And there are other things we could talk about. The things that are very practical. So just one is boundaries. Proverbs 25, 8 reminds us that lack of boundaries is actually what Enslaves us. I wanna say this as I even I talk about just some of these things. The boundary itself, It's not what empowers you, not what helps you. The boundaries itself does not do anything of itself because it's a

spiritual issue. It's a thing of the flesh of the mind, But it can be wise to use boundaries because you don't want to tempt yourself because you don't want to walk into situations that are dangerous and scary, But do not place your trust And hope in the boundaries itself. Though they are wise to use, they're not the thing itself. As I conclude here, I pray that you are encouraged to those who have been struggling and fighting

their whole life to those who are without hope. Pray that if you are in Christ, that you would know that you have the spirit of God that you can call upon. You have the word of God that sustains and nourishes you. You have brothers and sisters in Christ who are walking in battle for you and with you. And because we are filled with the spirits, we shall have self-control over the desires of the flesh and we look forward

To the end when glorification comes and we in that end battle, will no longer

have to worry about the desires of those flesh that continually erupts before us. And you continue on to the very end.

Let me pray for us Our great God, we thank you Lord, that you are gracious and kind to us. Lord, we thank you that you have sent your son to die a death for us, Lord, that we are saved and not only saved Lord, but that by your son's death and salvation Lord, that we are made New. That we are filled with the Spirit Lord. And that this struggle with self-control is one in which we can claim victory by the Spirit. Though it may be a long battle ahead,

what we do know is that the desires of the flesh and Satan himself is bleeding out And slowly dying already. Lord, may we turn to you in our struggle, in our fight for Self-control this life. Amen.