The Fruit of The Spirit – Self-Control
Galatians 5:22-23

INTRO:
Good morning. For the last several weeks I've been presenting lessons from Galatians 5:22-23. The sermon this morning will be the last sermon in this group and we're going to be looking at the subject of self-control.

I want to encourage you to take out your Bibles and look at the scriptures I mention. If you have any questions about anything I say, I’ll be glad to talk to you about it. If I’m wrong, I will stand corrected.

We're going to again begin with Galatians 5:22-23 – “22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23. gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”

Self-Control again is an expression that defines itself. Self-control is the controlling of our selves. There are two things that are understood from the word self-control.

The first is I have the ability to control myself, self-control. The mere fact the word exists tells me I have the ability to control myself.

The second thing I’ve learned from this is God expects me to control myself. We human beings are driven by our will and our desires. In our lives as children of God we understand what the will of the Lord is, yet we struggle in doing it.

It is not so much that when we edify each other we have to convince each other of what the truth is, as it is encouraging us to do what we already believe and know the truth to be. Self-control is living that belief and that truth. It is one thing to know the commandments of God, know what is within the Word of God but it’s quite another thing to do it, to live by it.

In our lives as Christians we will have various situations and trials and temptations, then with the knowledge of the Word of God, we are expected, by faith, to do the will of God. Unfortunately, though there are times when there is a situation, a scenario, or a temptation where we know the will of God, yet we choose not to do what God says. This is where self-control is needed.
If we are going to be Christians, we are expected to have self-control, so we do not just desire to do good, are not just willing to do good, but we carry it out in our lives. We are keeping His commandments by faith.

A point we've made in the lessons so far about the fruit of the spirit is that we're talking about manifestations, the fruit, the product, which comes from our relationship with God.

In examining faithfulness, we point out that faith comes by hearing the Word of God and faithfulness is the product, the fruit, of that faith. We are keeping his commandments by faith. Our relationship with God is directly tied to the Word of God where our faith comes from.
If we are going to live by faith, we need to go to the Word of God where faith comes from. As faith grows, we will find its going get stronger and become hope and the highest level of faith is love. Love for God, whom we've never seen and then we're walking, living, by love and keeping His commandments because we love Him.

I. Self-Control And The Mind – Self-control is the key, it is the very heart of all of this. When we have self-control, we are carrying out in our body what we are willing in our heart and mind.
A. Let’s look first at the book of Matthew in Matthew 15:18-19. Here it talks about the tie between the mind and our actions when it says; “18. "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. 19. "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.”
1. Notice that all our actions, all our words, originate in the mind. If we're going to have self-control, we need to recognize where it starts.
2. It starts with getting control of our mind, getting control of our thoughts.
B. Next in Proverbs 4:23 and let me mention that if you ever want to memorize a verse memorize this one; “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” Here we are dealing with the mind – as a person thinks in their heart, so he will be. We're dealing here with our mind, keeping it with all diligence, gaining control of the process.
1. You hear the words coming out of my mouth. They start right here in my mind. If I am flailing my hands around that starts here in my mind.
2. Walking back and forth, everything I do, everything I say, originates in the mind. If we're going to have self-control, we've got to keep our heart with all diligence.
3. The idea is getting control of what is coming in and what is going out. From our heart spring all the issues of life. Everything we say, everything we do originates with thoughts in our mind.
C. Now in Romans 8:5 – it says; “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.” Have you ever heard a parent ask “where was your mind” when a child got into mischief? Have you as a parent ever thought “where was their mind?” I certainly have heard this expressed about the immature, including myself.
1. Sometimes we think that about adults too. The point here is the mind... It says someone who's in the world sets their mind on the things of the flesh but the person who’s a Christian sets their mind on the things of the spirit.
2. The common denominator between these three versus that we just looked at in Matthew, Proverbs and Romans—is the mind. The mind is ultimately what controls the actions.
3. That makes the mind pretty important doesn’t it?
II. The Spiritual War For You Mind – In thinking about this I’m sure we recognize there is a war that is taking place and that war is the war for our mind. Our mind which controls our actions, is the spoils in this battle. It is going to determine our soul’s eternal destiny. Satan wants to fill our minds with filth, with temptations, with the desires of the flesh, so that our thoughts are going to be fleshly oriented and desire oriented. Then our actions are going to be the actions of the flesh. We will be creatures of the flesh. There's a battle for our minds.
A. Peter tells us in 1 Peter 2:11 – “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul,” One of the worst things we can do as Christians is just float through life. Not keeping our heart with all diligence, not guarding our heart with all diligence, and just allow anything to come into our minds and come into our hearts.
1. For example, when it comes to the holiday season, I've got some bad news for us. We are what we eat. I know we joke about it but it is true.
2. What we take into our mouth is going to make up our body whether we like that or not. Think about that. In like manner, what we take into our mind is what is going to make up our thought processes whether we like it or not.
3. Have you ever heard someone say “oh I can watch that it doesn't bother me”. Really? I guess that would mean what I eat won’t become part of me.
4. Just like what you consume with your mouth is making up your body, what you take into your mind through your eyes and ears is going to be making up the thoughts in your mind, and it is going to be coming out in the actions of your life.
5. We need to recognize this is a war that is taking place. Satan wants into our minds. We are surrounded by Satan's attacks on our eyes and our ears, the goal of which is to get into our mind and to get into our life.
6. The text says here abstain from fleshly lust. What do you get from the word abstain? To see how close you can get to it? No. You abstain from it because it's warring against your soul.
7. There's a war going on and the worst thing that we can do is compromise, let down our defenses, not guard our heart with all diligence, just let Satan come in and just fill our mind and heart with all kinds of things we do not need.
8. We need to develop our self-control, to get in control of what we're watching and listening and reading.
B. It says this in Psalm 101:3 – “I will set nothing wicked before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not cling to me.” The way in which we take information into our mind is through our senses—taste, touch, smell, and the primary two senses of sight and hearing.
1. How can something we see or hear cling to us? Have you have ever learned a song just by listening to it several times on the radio? I have listened to a song four or five times and by the fifth time or so I know every word and every note.
2. You see its going in there. They call this “the information age” for a reason. Don’t we realize that what we watch on television, in the movies, read in magazines, listen to in music, and see on the computer, is information that is being taken into our mind?
3. No wonder so many Christians struggle when it comes to questions of the spirit and the flesh. How many are going down the broad way because of the information Satan has managed to get into their minds?
4. How many become lost because they're sitting there watching filth and pornography, then come to assemble and sing, “Oh how I love Jesus”? They are acting like; “Oh, I can watch that stuff and I can read about that stuff but it's not going to affect me”.
5. If we think that, who are we kidding? We must have control of what we put in our mind. You don't have to be a Solomon to figure out that we are being bombarded with filth through all sorts of media. Do not watch it, don’t listen to it, don’t read it... abstain.
6. If you know it's going to be there before you go there, then don't go there. Get control of what's coming into the mind. Guard your heart with all diligence.
7. Going back to It shall not cling to me. Have you ever got something on your hand, and you can’t seem to get it off? Rubber cement comes to mind for me. That’s clinging. We set something wicked before our eyes and it is clinging to our thought processes. People think, “That’s not affecting me.” Oh yes it is, it is clinging to you and it will come out in the things you think about.
8. Go back and read from Matthew 15:18-19 again - “18. "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. 19. "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts,”. You must get control of your self and through that control get control of what is coming into your mind. Abstain from it. It's warring against your soul. It will cling to your mind. You'll find yourself having thoughts that are fleshly oriented and they will come out in your actions.
9. What can we do?
C. Do we remember what it tells us in the twelfth chapter of Romans? Romans 12:2 – “do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” We need to recognize it is in the mind where the battle is, if we're going to gain self-control. What we are told in the text is renew your mind. It is the idea of a changing of our heart, a changing of our mind which will ultimately manifest in a changing of our life, in a word—repentance.
1. Notice the close of this verse in Romans, and perfect will of God.” That is what we need to be controlling our minds, not the things of this world.
2. If we want to be spiritually minded, and be keeping our heart with all diligence, a major part of helping us carry that out in our life is letting our mind be filled with the word of God.
D. Ephesians 5:18-19 – “18. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, 19. speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,” That brings a question to my mind, what kind of music does God like? I like many types, though not all types. Some like rap affect me so negatively I don’t even want to hear it.
1. Jazz is perhaps my favorite kind of music, yet I have never been spiritually minded by listening to jazz. I like country, especially the old style that told a story, ballads, but it does not lift me spiritually. I really like classical music. I was raised on classical, but listening to Mozart has never really brought me closer to God.
2. There's only one kind of music I have found that actually affects me spiritually, which will even bring me to my knees in the privacy of my room, and that is psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.
3. In Ephesians again we find the idea of getting control of what's coming into us. It says do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit. Then we are told a way of being filled with the Spirit. Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, We're being filled with the spirit, becoming more and more spiritually minded by listening to psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. If we want to become spiritually minded we take things of this nature into the mind through the ears and the eyes.
E. I’d like to cross reference this with Colossians 3:15-16 – “15. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”
1. In Ephesians 5 it says be filled with the spirit. In Colossians it says let the word of Christ dwell in your richly. These verses are saying the same thing.
2. Romans 10:17 tells us that; “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
3. John says in John 20:30-31 – “many of the signs truly did Jesus in the presence of the disciples which were not written in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing you may have life to his name.” [para]
i. The reasons Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were written was so that we could read and learn about Jesus. His birth, teaching, miracles, crucifixion, and resurrection.
ii. From this record we conclude that Jesus of Nazareth, a man whom we have never laid eyes on, really is the anointed one of God, the Christ.
iii. He really is the son of God. He died for me because He loved me. He rose from the dead and the resurrection is really going to happen.
iv. Our faith comes from the Word of God. If you are going have faithfulness you've got to have faith.
4. In like manner if we are going to be spiritually minded, we've got to have the word of God dwelling in us. To get to that point we need to have self-control.
i. I’ll put it to you this way. I have a glass and fill it with water to the very top then turn it sideways, what's going to come out? Water.
ii. If we develop self-control and diligently guard our mind so that what we are allowing into our mind is the Word of God then His word will dwell in us richly and we know what's going to come out in our life.
iii. The word of God. The perfect will of God. We have changed our mind to where it is no longer fleshly minded, but is now spiritually minded, motivated by faith, hope, and love and our life will be changed.
III. The Fruit of Self-Control – What are the manifestations of self-control?
A. A good verse to look at is one we ended with last week 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 – “for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds casting down arguments in every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” [para] Let’s start with “the weapons of our warfare”.
1. Again, please remember we are engaged in a war folks. The battleground is your mind and your heart, and the spoils of this war is your soul’s eternal destiny. If you just lollygag and lay around and are not engaged in the battle, guess what, you're going to lose the battle. We had better be soldiers of Christ fighting the battle.
2. What then do we fight this battle with? Spiritual perspectives. We are fighting against a spiritual enemy. God has given us spiritual weapons. These weapons work.
3. When Jesus was attacked by our enemy, Satan, in Matthew 4, do you recall how He defended Himself? When Satan said; ‘If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.’ What was Jesus response? IT IS WRITTEN 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God'. To each attack of Satan Jesus response was “It is written”. What Jesus was doing in his defense was pulling the spiritual sword out of the sheath; and what is that sword? The word of God.
B. When we're going to be in battle against spiritual wickedness, we better learn our weapons and use them. Find the scriptures that fit that spiritual struggle.
1. Everybody here, every one of us, have our own spiritual weaknesses. There are areas in our life that are strongholds. Last time we briefly talked about these strongholds as something in our mind or the minds of others that prevents the word of God from entering.
2. A stronghold is where Satan has come in times past into our life and he's tempted us. We are thinking to our self I'm not going to do this again. I'm not going to act that way again, I'm going to live a Christian life... and then here comes the same old temptation.
3. It is not something new. I’ve been down this road time and time and time again. I’m sure you have too. Here comes the temptation and you give into that temptation. You have let that temptation succeed and then you end up sitting there, mentally whipping yourself saying; what is wrong with me?
4. I know I'm describing everyone including myself, because when we give into temptation, we feel godly sorrow. We are struggling with a temptation and we are wondering what's wrong with me why am I giving in to this, it is then we realize the problem is self-control.
5. We're willing to do good. We want to do the will of God and yet we find our self giving into temptations.
i. And they're not strangers to us. They are temptations that we're very familiar with.
ii. We can know ourselves and recognize where our spiritual weaknesses are. But the enemy also knows them. Then what we need to do is find the scriptures that fit our spiritual struggle and put those scriptures in our mind.
6. I have had and still do have a problem with my temper. How about this one? Therefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; Or this one? "Be angry, and do not sin'': do not let the sun go down on your wrath, How about this one from James 1:20 “for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”
C. These verses are spiritual weapons God has given us. The point we need to recognize, folks, is that the weapons of our warfare are mighty. They make it so we can pull down a stronghold. The error is seen as beating us down again and again and we think what's wrong with me.
1. You can have the victory. You can say no. You can resist it and he will flee from you, but you've got to know your weapons. And you have to use your weapons.
2. Find the scriptures that fit where you are. Put them to memory and the next time Satan comes back, and you know he's coming back, the next time he hits you pull the sword out and say it is written and quote scripture. Then let that sink in. These weapons work but we need to have them at the ready and use them.
D. Look at the next part of 2 Corinthians 10:4-5. “bringing every thought into captivity” That says every thought into captivity, every single thing I think is under control. Captive.
1. That is the level we strive to get to. Have we reached it? No. But that is where we are trying to get to and what does this bringing every thought into captivity ultimately end in? “...the obedience of Christ”.
2. If we're going to keep His commandments, we will need to have self-control to where we carry out in our body, our lives, what we are desiring and willing to do in our heart as Christians.
E. From James 1:19-20 I was quoting this one to you earlier. We learned “let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;”. Notice it says first swift to hear. That tells us, puts in our mind, to first listen, hear what is being said. Then slow to speak, speaking is usually the first reaction to what someone says, or a situation isn’t it?
1. James 1:26 says; “If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless.” We should learn to let some time pass before we open our mouth and speak.
2. It is a very difficult thing to do but if we are going to be Christians, true Christians, we are expected to get a bridle on our tongue and have control of what is coming out of our mouth.
3. How many times have words come out of your mouth and you really wish they would come back? Can't get them back. We need to be slow to speak so the words coming out of our mouth are words we've thought about and are exactly what we want to say at the time. The right words at the right time. That is using self-control.

CONCLUSION:
Then finally Paul said in First Corinthians 9:27 – “But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.” Disciplining the body—the idea is gaining control of the body, bringing it into subjection to where when we're willing to and desire to do the will of God guess what? We carry it out. We're actually doing the will of the Father in Heaven not just knowing what it is. We understand it's not enough to recognize what the word of God is. We're expected to do the will of the Father in heaven, by faith.

To do that and to be faithful, to be keeping the commandments of God is going to require discipline of the body, control of the temper, control the tongue and getting all the way down to the core of it—control of the thought, our mind. Bringing every thought into captivity.

To get to that level we need to become more and more spiritually minded realizing that is where the battle is taking place. That's the battleground, our mind. We've got to keep our heart with all diligence, taking control of what we are bringing into our mind and into our heart through our eyes through our ears. Do not allow the filth seen in this world to come into our thought processes because it will cling to us. Then it will come out in our thoughts and our actions.

Instead be filled with the spirit. Listen to songs, hymns and spiritual songs. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Spend time reading the Scriptures. Listen to the Scriptures. Learn what they say.

I suggest that we learn specifically the Scriptures that fit our personal spiritual struggles and then bringing the sword out of the sheath when the battle is engaged. By doing this we can experience the fruit of the spirit—self-control.

As I said at the very beginning there are two things that are understood by the word self-control. First, we do have the power within ourselves to control ourselves and second God expects us to do it.
How can we do it? By becoming more spiritually minded. By getting engaged in the battle and fight to strengthen our faith, to strengthen our relationship with God so that in our lives we are carrying out, doing the will of God.

There may be somebody here this morning who is not a member of the body of Christ.
If you believe in your heart that Jesus is indeed the Christ, the son of the living God and you're willing to openly confess your faith and repent of your sins we'd be glad to assist you as you are baptized into the body of Christ.

All that will be expected of you in your life as a Christian is to take up your cross daily and follow by faith. You need to recognize just because you obey the Gospel doesn’t mean the battle’s over. You’ve finally engaged in the battle. You're finally fighting against the enemy; standing up to the enemy and not letting Satan just roll over you. You have begun a race that if you run faithfully all the way to the end of your life, it will lead to the throne of your king.

If you are a child of God and you find that you are struggling with self-control and thus struggling with obedience to the will of the king I hope that you have the desire to deal with it. The worst thing to do is recognize the problem is there and do nothing about it.
We have the ability to grow in these spiritual attributes, but we have to be willing to take those first steps.

If you are a subject of the Gospel call in any way let us know while we stand a sing the song that has been selected.

Invitation song: xxx
Reference sermon by: Wayne Fancher