Sunday, August 13, 2023 AM
RETURN TO HOLINESS: Sin of Lack of Self-Control (pt2)
Mike Teel, Pastor
Focal Passage:
28 Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control. —Proverbs 25:28
HOW DO WE DEFINE SELF-CONTROL?
1. SELF-CONTROL
–What is self-control? We must define it before we can implement it.
–Definition: It is the ability to control one’s desires, cravings, impulses, emotions, responses and passions.
–It is saying NO when we should say NO.
2.
SELF-CONTROL
–Biblical Self-Control is not a product of one’s own natural willpower.
–Biblical Self-Control covers every area of life and requires an unceasing conflict with the passions of the flesh that wage war against our souls.
11 Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. —I Peter 2:11
–This self-control is dependent on the influence and enablement of the Holy Spirit.
A FEW MORE REFLECTED
OF CONCERN
1. PERSONAL
–I want you to know it is not my responsibility to be involved in your personal business.
–But it is amazing how vulnerable we seem to be in this area of Personal Finances and in particular credit card debt.
A. THE
OF THE ISSUE
–Recently I heard that the average American household has a credit card debt of $7,000.
–Also, we are now living in an age where you almost have to have a card or do everything in cash. We indeed are moving toward a “cashless society.” (Some places won’t accept cash.)
–This morning I am not referencing those who have had to use their cards for emergencies like health, or housing issues, but to those who use it to satisfy the lust of the flesh.
B.
SPENDING
–A couple of weeks ago we looked at the Sin of Selfishness. I made the statement that I believed this was the DNA of most sins – meaning the motivation of most sin is to satisfy our selfish desires.
–When we are spending time to satisfy our selfish wants of life, we find ourselves deeper and deeper in debt because there is never a satisfaction to selfishness.
10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my labor, and this was the reward for all my toil. 11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun. —Ecclesiastes 2:10-11
–There are those who suffer from impulse buying. Again, they do it because they are sad or glad or uncomfortable.
–If we are not careful these impulse uncontrolled spending will send us into debt or bankruptcy.
2. UNCONTROLLED
DRIVES
–Perhaps the most uncontrolled area of most people today is in the area of uncontrolled sexual drives.
–Addressing this issue will not be received well.
–Please understand I am not angry, but I love every person attached to our church. But I would be remiss if I did not preach God’s Word in its entirety.
–Again, I ask you to allow the Holy Spirit to examine your heart and lead you to the steps of repentance you need to make in response to what He says to you.
A. GOD’S
INTENT
–God created us with the sexual drive. But His intention was that it was to be fulfilled through the act of marriage between one man and one woman.
4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? —Matthew 19:4-5
–But the platform God intended for sexual intimacy to be enjoyed was within the bonds of marriage.
–It was never God’s intent that we would explore sexuality outside the boundaries of marriage.
–Satan is convinced if he can destroy the home, he can destroy the church and Christianity.
–But the greatest detriment to the family today is not from the LGBT movement but from those choosing to live together outside of marriage.
–We sometimes wonder why God is not blessing our church. Could it be because one of the greatest “acceptable sins” of our day is Lack of Self-Control in the area of sexual promiscuity?
B. UNCONTROLLED
9 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
12 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. 13 You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.
18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. 19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. —I Corinthians 6:9-20
A.
OR NOT?
9 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. —I Corinthians 6:9-11
–Notice Paul’s warning here in this text that deals with those uncontrolled sensual urges.
–He is not suggesting the person committing these sins cannot be saved.
B. OUR
12 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. 13 You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit. —I Corinthians 6:12-17
–Paul continues by discussing both the physical and spiritual appetites and how they are to be developed.
–Our physical appetites are necessary early on for the physical well-being of our lives.
–But the Sexual appetite was designed to be created only when we entered the bonds of marriage.
–Paul says when we violate God’s plan for physical involvement with someone else, it affects us to the core of who we are.
C. PROMOTED BY OUR
18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. 19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. —I Corinthians 6:18-20
–Satan knows if he can get you to feed your appetite for the physical you will take on the personality of the physical, which will be in contrast to the personality of God.
–Everywhere we turn we are encouraged to disregard the boundaries God has placed in our lives and indulge and feed an appetite that God said you are not meant to have until you are married.
–As a result, there are grave consequences we are suffering, and we see in our society today.
LIVE IT OUT
–What area of your life do you struggle with self-control that we have addressed today?
–Please understand Paul was not saying a person who has committed these sins are beyond salvation.
–Remember, Jesus is the key to victory not self-reformation.