Pleasure in Moderation: The Holy Spirit is the Root of Self Control

The Fruit of the Spirit and the Call to Self-Control

Please turn your Bibles to Galatians chapter 5, that can be found on page 975 if you're using the Pew Bible. Galatians chapter 5. Please stand when you have that. I warned 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 flesh, excuse me, if we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. Amen. You may be seated.

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you today for your Word. We thank you for this promise of your Spirit. We ask that today you would teach us to walk by your Spirit, that we would understand this power that you have given in order that we might have power over our own selves.

The Bible says that the tongue is difficult to be controlled, for it leads the whole man. Yet we know that this is true of everything in man, that man is led by his tongue, he's led by his mind. All these things, impossible to control apart from the work of your Spirit.

So we ask that you would teach us of your Spirit in order that we would have self-control. In Jesus' name, Amen. While we continue in our series about pleasure in moderation, these first four messages have just been foundational.

We're going to be looking at specific things that need to be enjoyed in moderation beginning next week. But this week in our final foundational one, point is that the Holy Spirit is the root of self-control.

To have moderation, you need self-control. To have self-control, true self-control, you need the Spirit of God. Describes in here the works of the flesh. The works of the flesh are evident. They are many, sexual immorality, etc.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, etc. What comes from ourselves, what comes from our natural corrupt selves is all kinds of evil. Even those who are outwardly doing the things that accord with God's law, they still inwardly, apart from the work of the Spirit, have enmity, strife, jealousy, anger inside themselves.

To have true self-control, you need the Spirit. Now the fruit of the Spirit is different than the flesh. It's not what comes from our corrupt nature. It comes from a principle that is from outside of us, yet resides within us by the grace of Jesus Christ as he has sent his Spirit.

It's interesting as well that the fruit of the Spirit is singular. It is one fruit that has many aspects. Yet the works of the flesh are many. It reminds me of the opening lines of Anna Karenina. If you ever had to read that, you know it was not a book I enjoyed in high school.

It's something I can hardly remember anything else, but the opening lines of it were something along the lines of that every unhappy family is different, but every perfect family is the same. And so you have something similar here, that evil comes in all different shapes and varieties, but righteousness comes in a singular sort of form.

There is the perfection that comes from the Spirit, and there are many ways that that one perfection can be deformed. But God has given us that Spirit that we may walk by that Spirit and have the fruit that comes from it, which has many aspects, though is one fruit, many aspects, love, joy, peace, patience, etc.

And one of these, the final of them, is self-control. The Greek word is egkrateia. Egkrateia, that comes from the Greek word en, which means in, and then the word kratos, which means strength. Some of you might be familiar with a fictional character named Kratos because he is very powerful, has strength.

Okay, if that helps you remember, this is a word that is talking about strength, inward kind of strength, the strength over your inward self. You shouldn't think about self-control as being just a manner of, maybe you think of it as weakness or just an abstinence from things.

You should think about it as strength that can be exercised over the self. It is very different than other kinds of strength. One of the illustrations that Scripture gives us is found in the book of Judges with Samson.

Samson’s Outward Strength and Inward Lack of Self-Control

Okay, Samson is a very interesting character because he has a lot of strength, but he has only outward strength. He has just an incredible outward strength and no inward strength at all. He lacks all self-control that one would expect from a man.

He can't withhold the secrets he needs to withhold from people, from women. He can't withhold himself from those women that he desires. He can't, even as an Israelite who should be disgusted, absolutely disgusted by dead things, even you today would be disgusted by finding food in a dead thing.

He cannot control himself when he comes across honey in the carcass of a lion. Can you imagine having such a lack of self-control that your sweet tooth has you eating candy out of a carcass? Okay, this is how little self-control he has.

And that is the illustration for us. You can have all kinds of outward strength, but if you don't have inward strength, then you'll have the weakness of Samson that led him to be destroyed, led him to be captured by the Philistines.

In that last moment, he exercises strength once again, calling on God for strength, and God gives it to him because God is merciful and forgives. Yet it was taken away because he did not have self-control.

Redemption, Union with Christ, and the Spirit’s Work

We need what we need in order to have that strength. We need the benefits of redemption. Okay, so you should think about it this way, that Christ has redeemed his people, and there are many benefits that come from that redemption.

Just a moment ago, I talked about how as Christ has victory, he has redeemed his people. Part of what that entails is that there are spoils that he gives to his people. There are many different benefits of redemption, and we need those benefits of redemption.

We need forgiveness of sins. We need sanctification. We need, ultimately, our glorification as he raises us from the dead. And how is it that all that comes to pass? Well, all that comes to pass through us being united to Jesus Christ.

He is the one that has all those benefits of redemption, and so as we are united to him, we receive those benefits of redemption. Now, how are we united to him? This happens by the Spirit. Jesus explains in John 14 and John 15, he says he's sending a helper, someone who is going to comfort them while he is away, and then he explains in the next chapter, in John chapter 15, that he is the vine and we are the branches.

The implication of all this is that it is by the Spirit's work that we are connected to the vine. He tells us to abide in the vine. That is the same thing that is meant by living by the Spirit. Okay, to abide in the vine is to live in the Spirit.

Spirit keeps us connected to the Son by whom we have the benefits of redemption. There are some analogies that Scripture gives us. One of these is the vine, which illustrates it quite well. I do wonder if when the Bible calls the Spirit the advocate or the helper, what we sang in our first hymn today, the paraclete, if you've not heard that word or was wondering what that was talking about, that's the Greek word for helper there in John 14, where it describes the Holy Spirit.

And the same word that would be used of a lawyer, a lawyer who would defend someone in court. One of the ways that the Bible speaks about the benefits that we receive from Christ in Hebrews 9 verse 17, it says, for a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive.

The Holy Spirit as Advocate and Applier of Redemption

This is an interesting passage. Speaking of how we need Christ's death in order that the covenant of God have effect on us. Yet it's interesting how this passage speaks. It's a Greek pun that's going on here because if you read some translations, it doesn't try to interpret it for you.

It just says covenant. It says in verse 17, for a covenant takes effect only at death. If you think about that, is that really true? There are all kinds of covenants that don't take effect at death. But what this is doing is speaking of a certain kind of covenant that is a will.

So wills, you know, someone's last will in Testament, that will only takes effect at death. There are a lot of people, parts of Hebrew roots movements that will argue that the whole New Testament was originally written in Hebrew.

And out of all the books, the book that's written to the Hebrews has this Greek pun in it that wouldn't have made any sense. If it had been written in Hebrew, something for you to know if you ever come across those people.

But anyway, this passage speaks of these benefits we've received as something that happens through a will. Now, who is it that makes sure that that will is applied to you? If you're the inheritor of someone who would benefit from a will, it's the lawyer.

Okay, the lawyer makes sure that those things are applied. So I do wonder if that's part of Scripture's intention also in describing the benefits of redemption as a will, describing the Holy Spirit with the same word that means a legal advocate, a lawyer.

He applies those benefits of redemption. We need his work. And what is the work that we need? What is the benefit of redemption that we need for self-control? We need strength. We need strength. First Corinthians 6, 12 says, all things are lawful, but not all things are helpful.

All things are lawful, but I will not be dominated by anything. This is what happens with a lack of self-control. Paul talking about a lack of self-control with food, a lack of self-control with sex.

And speaking to both of those things, he says that we should not be dominated by anything. So that's when something overpowers us. He says that food was made for the stomach, but we should not be overpowered by that.

We should not become enslaved to that. We should instead be masters over pleasures, masters over food, masters over sexual pleasure, such that we are enjoying those things in the measure that God intended.

And they are not taking advantage of us, but we are taking advantage of the pleasures that God has given. This is His intention. This is why we need strength. And that strength comes from Jesus Christ.

He is our strength. It is not just that He gives strength. He is the strength. And being united to Him as the vine, His strength flows to us, the branches, that life, including all of His qualities, which are strength so that the branches are able to bear fruit, flows from Him to us.

As the scripture says repeatedly, the Lord is our strength. And as we learn in the New Testament that Christ is the Lord. Yes, many of these passages may be speaking of the Father, but ultimately it is fulfilled in His Son as His Son is given to us.

Philippians 4 .13, very famous verse because football players wear it. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Who is it speaking of? As it renders it in many translations to make it clear, it is Christ who strengthens me.

He is the one who strengthens. So how does that happen? By the Spirit. It is called the fruit of the Spirit, not because the Spirit, we're supposed to be thinking of the Spirit as the ultimate source of life.

But we are supposed to be thinking of the Spirit as the one who unites us to Christ, bringing that life from Christ to us. Paul has, throughout Galatians, been talking about the work of Christ and believers.

Why is it that he suddenly shifts to the Spirit? Is this a different kind of work that he's talking about? No, it is the same work. It is a different aspect of that same work. It's Christ working in us, how, through His Spirit, bringing His life, including His strength, to us in order that we would have self-control, to be able to restrain from excess, and to even be able to enjoy things without veering into the asceticism that many people do in order to puff themselves up with pride.

Christian Self-Control Versus Worldly Discipline

Being able to enjoy the gifts of God with thankfulness and moderation. Now, why is it that he would have us to understand that this is something that happens by the Spirit? Why is it that he has given us all this direction?

Couldn't he just say, have self-control, don't have enmity, strife, etc.? What does it add to the Christian's life to know that the Spirit is at work? There is a vast chasm of difference between the unbeliever who tries to pursue these things apart from the Spirit's work, and the Christian who does these things with the Spirit's work.

When it says, live by the Spirit, Paul is not just telling us to do these things. He is telling us something more specific that enables the Christian with a greater power than a worldly person apart from the Spirit would have, or even a Christian apart from an understanding of the Spirit would have.

If you look at your own actions, and you see times where you have restrained from excess, and you see times where you have engaged in excess, or times where you have not had the works of the flesh, you have had the works of flesh, what is it that's driving you in any of those cases?

What are your desires? There are many people who refrain from all kinds of things. You can find all sorts of worldly people that live incredibly disciplined lives with all sorts of self-control in so many areas.

Now, like I said, internally, they're going to necessarily have some corrupt things going on, but externally, they might engage in all sorts of discipline that many believers don't have. What is it that is going on there?

Well, when you look at your desires, what desires are fueling you? Are they godly desires or desires of pride? Are they desires for the things of God and a hatred for sin? Or is it a desire for self to puff up self and to latch on to the law of God partially in a way that would increase your pride?

What the Spirit does, He gives desires that would drive us in a deeper way, in a longer lasting way to have real self-control. It changes everything about the way that you would approach a lack of self-control.

It changes the whole diagnosis. I mentioned this morning about how people make excuses about their circumstances, saying that because of the things around them, because the people around them, this is why they had to fall into sin.

There are people who say that that's just the way that I am. I've mentioned before, that's generally the approach to people who have real addiction problems, right, is they will adopt a 12-step program that starts off with holding that as an identity, just saying that's who I am.

I'm a victim of the circumstances and so the only solution I could have is not actually learning a real self-control that would permit me to enjoy pleasure and moderation, but to simply say, I cannot enjoy these things at all in any measure because I am just a victim to these things if they ever come to me.

Now, it may be the case if you find yourself as one who is given to, who is given to excess in certain areas that the right answer is cutting off your hand and poking out your eye like Jesus describes and doing that on a permanent basis.

Yet consider that a measured response that says, this is the right course of action for me is very different than sets up the whole framework to make yourself a victim that cannot be given the strength to enjoy things with self-control.

Very different diagnosis that's happening there and a worldly diagnosis. It changes the whole sense of hope. You can have hope that God would give you self-control over whatever it be, whether it be eating, whether it be any kind of sexual immorality, whether it be all kinds of pleasures that he has given entertainment, sleep.

We'll go through these things individually in coming weeks, but any of these things, there is hope because the spirit works with the strength that is not your strength, but the strength that is coming from Christ who is powerful over all.

He has dominion over all things. And so he will give you dominion over yourself that you might have power over self strength. This also changes the cure. The cure is found in Jesus Christ because what is it that you are supposed to do?

Well, if this strength is coming from Jesus Christ through the spirit, then we need to be looking to him in faith. And it is by looking to him in faith that we receive these benefits. Okay, so the whole cure is changed and then the regimen of that cure, okay, so knowing what kind of thing you need and then how often and what varieties you need it, that changes.

The Means of Grace and Growth in Spiritual Strength

You would go to the means of grace that God has given to point you to the son, that you would dwell on him and be transformed by him as you look to him in faith. Okay, you'll go to the word. As you read the word, you will see more of the son and the spirit who has promised to bless such means will work in you so that as you see the son in his strength, you will have more of his strength.

You can use prayer, another means that God has given to conform your will to make you more like him so that as he desires you to be self-controlled, you will be a person who is more self-controlled.

And as you enjoy the worship of God and the assembly of the saints, trusting, not coming here as an unbeliever might, right, just sitting in the pew, listening, but one who is anticipating the work of the spirit and actually looking to Christ in faith, anticipating that work, you will receive that work as Christ works in you through his spirit, transforming you, making you stronger, giving you strength.

The whole regimen changes and it grants humility as well. Humility as you recognize that the strength that you would have in order to resist temptation, in order to keep from excess is not something that has come from you because you are a very strong person with self-control, but you can confess in all humility with Paul that when you are weak, then you are strong, that it's not your strength by which you have conquered, but by the strength of Jesus Christ.

And this will enable you to love your brother and sister, to love them both in the inward emotional sense where you are not thinking pridefully of yourself over them, but then also practically as you direct them to control because if the strength comes from you, what advice can you give?

Working Out Salvation by the Spirit’s Power

Just be strong like me. No, you can point them to Jesus Christ and the work of the spirit that happens as they are being pointed to Jesus Christ. How is it that this takes place? How is it that we live by the spirit?

There are two errors that can happen here that come to mind. One is that someone would think, okay, well, living by the spirit, if it's not me who's doing it, then it's the spirit, so I just let go and let God.

And boy, letting go is not a good way of handling problems with excess. Letting go is the opposite of what you want to do with problems of excess. Someone also might come to this and just interpret it as, well, living by the spirit is just a euphemism for doing all these things directly straight out of my own power.

And then maybe at the end of the day, we credit it to God because he was sovereign over it all. Something like that. These do happen together. There is something for you to do. And yet it is the spirit's work.

In Philippians 2, 12 through 13, it says, Okay, work out your salvation, your own salvation with fear and trembling. And what work out means here is not, it's not wrestle with it and try to see if it's true.

That's not what it's saying. Work out means, okay, you have this salvation. Now, as you're working, express that salvation in the way that you go about your activities. Okay, the expression of that salvation is the fruit, right?

This is talking about the fruit of the spirit, bearing that fruit. Why? For it is God who works in you. Okay, these two things do happen hand in hand. We are supposed to work them out because God is working them out.

Now, how? How do those two go together? Well, you can think about it in the whole trajectory of repentance. Okay, as we are turning away from sin, what you are called to be doing as you're turning away from sin is not just stop sinning.

What you are called to be doing is to stop sinning in the way that a Christian should stop sinning, which is to look to the strength of the spirit and asking yourselves the kinds of inventory questions that you should be asking given this.

What are my desires? When I manage to have some self-control, is it because my desires have truly changed or is it just that the circumstances have changed? Or is it just because I am operating out of fear and not out of love?

Not out of a love for the things that the spirit would have me love. And so you can, in your repentance, repent not just from the sin itself, but from all the desires that come from this. You are to meditate on these things of God and know that the spirit working in you would give you the right sorts of desires.

It would change you so that you are actually doing war. And as you have a different objective, as you're orienting yourself, not just to a changing of the outward, but a changing of the inward, the spirit has guaranteed that he will work in that in a greater way than with the outward.

Because the outward, he's not going to work in that at all. The inward, as you look to Christ, he has promised that he will work through that and then it be expressed in fruit. So the whole nature of what the Christian is trying to do in repentance is changed in this.

You are to be repenting of desires by cultivating the right sorts of desires and cultivating a disgust with your own sin that can only happen by looking to Christ and the things that he wants and trusting in the spirit to give you strength.

Okay, that's a very different practice of repentance than the kind that the world would have or a Christian who's not sufficiently informed would have. And then as you're turning, there are the things that you are doing to strengthen yourself.

Okay, what are those things that you're doing to strengthen yourself? It is what I mentioned earlier. It is the means of grace that the spirit gives. It is going to the word, going to prayer, the fellowship of the saints, the worship of God.

And these things, not as activities that are in themselves you cultivating strength, but the means by which the Holy Spirit has promised to bless you with strength. So if you do that strength, knowing that you want strength and knowing that you are supposed to live by the spirit, how do you keep in step with the spirit?

Going to the means that he has given you to keep you in step. He has promised to bless certain means, you go to those means. And so it's not what a lot of people, a lot of people I talk to who speak in the language of the spirit are usually describing just kind of a mystical frame of mind where they've just got some kind of confidence in this oomph that they are hoping to happen.

That's not what it is, all right? It is a real trust in very practical things that the Holy Spirit has used. And yes, there is a confidence in the fact that he is going to work through those means and applying the benefits of redemption to us.

But it's not just a feeling that you kind of produce in yourself and you kind of just gin up in yourself and then by producing that feeling in yourself, hope he's going to do something with it. It's nothing like that at all.

Cultivating Holy Desires for God’s Gifts

And then finally, in that process of turning away from sin, being strengthened, and then towards the good things that God has given, having a taste for the glory of God, having a taste for the good things so that you, as you would enjoy pleasures, would be able to enjoy them in the right kind of way that glorify God, that give him thanks, et cetera.

Understanding the good things of God, having cultivated a taste for the good things, you will not desire the things of the earth in a way that would lead you to excess, thinking that's where you would get pleasure.

Now, how does a cultivation for those things happen? Once again, looking to the good things of God, looking to Christ himself, desiring him and cultivating that desire, knowing that as you look to him, the Spirit in you will produce more and more of that desire.

He will give you a finer and finer palate for that manna that is from heaven. You will not be like the Israelites in the wilderness who received manna from heaven and were disgusted at it because they had too much of it and wanted different kind of food.

You will have your palate cultivated so that you will love it and enjoy it and appreciate it and not desire anything else that God would not give. God will do this work through the Spirit. Keep in step with the Spirit, knowing that it is by the Spirit that we have the benefits of redemption applied to us, even strength, even the strength that is needed for self-control, amen.

Please turn in your hymnal. Excuse me, let me pray first. Dear Heavenly Father, we ask you for the strength that comes through your Spirit. We thank you for him. We thank you that he applies the benefits of redemption that come from Jesus Christ to us, that we might have the strength of Christ himself.

We ask that we would have that strength in greater measure and that as we are equipped, knowing this work of the Spirit, that we would pursue repentance as a Christian ought, not looking to ourselves and our own strength, but looking to Jesus Christ and trusting in the Spirit's work.

In Jesus' name, amen.