Keeping Self Under Control
I.
INTRODUCTION:
II.
DISCUSSION:
A.
KEEPING SELF OUT OF THE BUSINESS OF OTHERS:
1.
Keep out of matters of others that do not pertain to
you.
1
Peter 4:15 =
“But let none of you suffer as a murderer,
or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other
men's matters.”
Note:
We have plenty to do just trying to run our own business.
1
Thessalonians 4:11
= “And
that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and
to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;”
2.
Keep yourself out of God’s business.
a.
It was God’s business to give the statutes and
Scriptures.
2
Timothy 3:16-17
= “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and
is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness:
That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished
unto all good works.”
b.
It is man’s business to keep them.
Psalms
119:145 =
“I cried with my whole heart; hear me, O
LORD: I will keep thy statutes.”
B.
KEEP THY HEART:
Proverbs
4:23 =
“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for
out of it are the issues of life.”
1.
This heart of which I speak is that of the spiritual
man with which we think, trust, believe, love and obey.
a.
It is the source of our conduct.
Proverbs
4:23 =
“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for
out of it are the issues of life.”
b.
Every deed is first committed in the heart.
Matthew
15:19 =
“For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts,
murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness,
blasphemies:”
2.
Keeping the heart will keep us from:
a.
Adultery
Matthew
5:28 =
“But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh
on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with
her already in his heart.”
b.
Murder
1
John 3:15 =
“Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer:
and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in
him.”
c.
Hypercriticism
Matthew
7:3-5 =
“And why beholdest thou the mote that is
in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is
in thine own eye? Or
how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote
out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye;
and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of
thy brother's eye.”
d.
Being puffed up
Philippians
2:3 =
“Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory;
but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than
themselves.”
e.
Selfishness
Philippians
2:4 =
“Look not every man on his own things, but
every man also on the things of others.”
f.
Envy
Proverbs
14:30 =
“A sound heart is the life of the flesh:
but envy the rottenness of the bones.”
g.
Unforgiveness
Colossians
3:13 =
“Forbearing one another, and forgiving one
another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ
forgave you, so also do ye.”
C.
KEEP MY MOUTH:
1.
Keep it with a bridle.
Psalms
39:1 =
“I said, I will take heed to my ways, that
I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle,
while the wicked is before me.”
2.
Take heed lest we enter:
a.
Into gossip.
Leviticus
19:16 =
“Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer
among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood
of thy neighbour: I am the LORD.”
b.
Cursing
Exodus
20:7 =
“Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD
thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless
that taketh his name in vain”
c.
Filthy communication
Colossians
3:8 =
“But now ye also put off all these; anger,
wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your
mouth.”
d.
Hasty speaking
James
1:19 =
“Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every
man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:”
3.
A good life depends on keeping the mouth.
1
Peter 3:10 =
“For he that will love life, and see good
days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that
they speak no guile:”
D.
KEEP MY BODY:
1
Corinthians 9:27
= “But
I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that
by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should
be a castaway.”
1.
Abstain from fleshly desires
a.
Fleshly lusts.
1
Peter 2:11 =
“Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers
and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against
the soul;”
b.
The works of the flesh
Galatians
5:19-22 =
“Now the works of the flesh are manifest,
which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations,
wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such
like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told
you in time past, that they which do such things shall not
inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,”
2.
Keeping control over fleshly desires is essential keeping
one’s self from being “a castaway”.
1
Corinthians 9:27
= “But
I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that
by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should
be a castaway.”
E.
KEEP YOURSELF FROM IDOLS:
1
John 5:21 =
“Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
Amen.”
1.
God has always taught against idolatry.
Exodus
20:3 =
“Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”
2.
The excessive love or veneration for anything is idolatry;
and idolatry has many forms:
a.
Image worship
Exodus
20:4 =
“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven
image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above,
or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under
the earth:”
b.
Hero worship
Acts
14:8-18 =
“And there sat a certain man at Lystra,
impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother's womb,
who never had walked: The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and
perceiving that he had faith to be healed,
Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet.
And he leaped and walked.
And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted
up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods
are come down to us in the likeness of men. And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because
he was the chief speaker.
Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their
city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would
have done sacrifice with the people.
Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of,
they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying
out, And saying,
Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions
with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these
vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth,
and the sea, and all things that are therein:
Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their
own ways. Nevertheless
he left not himself without witness, in that he did good,
and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling
our hearts with food and gladness. And with these sayings scarce restrained they the people, that
they had not done sacrifice unto them.”
Acts
10:26 =
“But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up;
I myself also am a man.”
c.
Pleasure worship
1
Corinthians 10:7
= “Neither
be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The
people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.”
2
Timothy 3:4
= “Traitors,
heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of
God;”
d.
Covetousness or mammon worship
Colossians
3:5 =
“Mortify therefore your members which are
upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection,
evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:”
e.
Self worship
Philippians
3:19 =
“Whose end is destruction, whose God is
their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly
things.”
F.
KEEP SELF UNSPOTTED FROM THE WORLD
1.
This is pure and undefiled religion.
James
1:27 =
“Pure religion and undefiled before God
and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows
in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the
world.”
2.
This keep one from being a stumbling block
Romans
14:13 =
“Let us not therefore judge one another
any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock
or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.”
3.
This keeps one from giving an occasion for the enemies
of God to blaspheme
2
Samuel 12:14
= “Howbeit,
because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the
enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born
unto thee shall surely die.”
G.
KEEP SELF IN THE FAITH:
1.
Avoid profane and vain babblings.
1
Timothy 6:20
= “O
Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding
profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely
so called:”
2.
Keep the church sound in the faith has always been
a problem.
a.
Apostasy creeps in often undetected in sheep clothing
2
Timothy 4:3-4
= “For
the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine;
but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers,
having itching ears;
And they shall turn away their ears from the truth,
and shall be turned unto fables.”
Matthew
7:15 =
“Beware of false prophets, which come to
you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”
2
Corinthians 11:13-15
= “For
such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves
into the apostles of Christ.
And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into
an angel of light. Therefore
it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed
as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according
to their works.”
b.
Apostasy has always been a problem.
Galatians
1:6-7 =
“I marvel that ye are so soon removed from
him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another
gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble
you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.”
3.
Each of us need to have our senses exercised to discern
good and evil.
Hebrews
5:14 =
“But strong meat belongeth to them that
are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their
senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”
H.
KEEP SELF IN FELLOWSHIP AND UNITY:
Ephesians
4:3 =
“Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit
in the bond of peace.”
1.
Unity is a pleasant thing.
Psalms
133:1 =
“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
for brethren to dwell together in unity!”
2.
Christ prayed for unity.
John
17:20-21 =
“Neither pray I for these alone, but for
them also which shall believe on me through their word;
That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me,
and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world
may believe that thou hast sent me.”
3.
God hates sowers of discord among brethren.
Proverbs
6:16-19 =
“These six things doth the LORD hate: yea,
seven are an abomination unto him:
A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent
blood, An heart
that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running
to mischief, A
false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord
among brethren.”
I.
KEEP SELF IN THE LOVE OF GOD.
Jude
21 =
“Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking
for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”
1.
God loved us while yet sinners
Romans
5:8 =
“But God commendeth his love toward us,
in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
[John
3:16]
2.
It is up to us to keep ourselves in the faith.
Matthew
10:22 =
“And ye shall be hated of all men for my
name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.”
[Revelation
2:10]
3.
It is up to us, like Paul, to keep from being a castaway.
1
Corinthians 9:27
= “But
I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that
by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should
be a castaway.”
III.
CONCLUSION:
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