Welcome to the For the Gospel Podcast, where we provide sound doctrine for everyday people. I'm your host, Kasti Hinn, and I want to welcome our listeners on Apple and Spotify and those of you enjoying this on our YouTube video podcast format. On today's episode, we're continuing with the self-control series with lessons from Paul on self-control. If you're just joining us, we've looked at five self-control breakers. That was based on Proverbs 25, 28, where a man without self-control is like one who can bring down the walls of a city. In other words, these breakers break down your life. And self-control is a part of that. We looked at self-control war zones in part two of this series. Items and environments that the enemy will use, they can be good things, to lead us into sin. And they wear down our self-control if we don't have a strategy. And then last time, a tremendous opportunity to look to who else but Christ. It was lessons from Jesus on self-control. And now we look at Paul the Apostle's example. And what's important when we come to the example of the disciples and the apostles like Paul is to remember while they had supernatural gifts and they had apostolic uh uh assignments from the Lord, they had the same Holy Spirit that you and I have in us, the third person of the Trinity. And so, yes, we look to Christ. And yes, he is the source of all power and overcoming temptation. And secondarily, we look to the examples of faithful leaders who are following Jesus, realizing that, hey, if they could be faithful, if they could be self-controlled, if they could keep their eye on the prize, so to speak, hey, so can we. I was talking to one of our deacons the other day about life and leadership and business and ministry. We're having this conversation kind of in depth. And these conversations, for me in particular, are common with a number of men in our church. And on this occasion, we were discussing longevity and faithfulness and how to preserve the unity that the Holy Spirit has already provided. I don't know if it's preventative why I have these kind of conversations with men where we're sitting around and we're thinking about uh threats that can come from the outside, our own pride, our own hearts, but these kind of things are good opportunities to do heart assessment as brothers and leaders in the church. And so I think just how we are as men, I think God has called us to be watchmen on the walls. And we scan the horizon for potential threats, and then we rally others to be on the alert. It's not fear-mongering, it's just being aware that our adversary, Satan, prowls around like a roaring lion and he's seeking someone to devour. The fastest way to be devoured, as we were discussing, is to let your guard down. You just can't ever let your guard down. At the end of our conversation, uh, the takeaway was uh a few things, but number one, just stay humble. That's it. Stay low in your own mind, stay low in your own estimation, stay low, even when God does great things through you or me or our church or your church or wherever you are. It's all him. It's all about him. The quote unquote great things he does are about his glory. It's not greatness for us. We ought to be like John the Baptist. And that's a frequent prayer of our leadership team at church and a lot of friends that I know around the ministry is Lord, will you increase and can we decrease? Can we have all the attention, glory, credit, majesty, and praise be yours? And then can we just be the towel holding people who serve like John the Baptist? When we think that way, it's very healthy because God ends up getting all the credit, God gets all of the focus. Why do I bring that up? Because pride and presumption about who we are and what we've done and what we're gonna do brings men down. It also brings your awareness and your carefulness and your prudence down. The second that you and I begin to lose sensitivity to the fact that we're prone to pride and the fact that when we let our guard down, bad things can happen, is the second that you and I begin to veer away from submission to the Holy Spirit. All of that got me thinking about a quote from Matthew Henry that I had read some years ago. Holy fear of ourselves and not presumptuous confidence is the best security against apostasy from God. I'm gonna say that again. Holy fear of ourselves, not meaning fear of the Lord like worship. I mean fear of what I'm capable of and you're capable of, and not presumptuous confidence is the best security against apostasy. Why that quote? Why do I want to start that way and get you thinking? Because listen, friend, when you and I stop thinking about the reality of sin, and we stop thinking this, and I know you may not like to say this, but it's good for you and I too. If someone can sin a certain way, so can we. Depravity, total depravity, the idea that man is sinful is not uh this doctrine that is all men are as sinful as uh they could possibly be, but that man is stained by original sin. But there is a darkness or a wickedness that can uh overtake you or I in a moment of weakness as we give in to sin. I'm not saying that you could be demon-possessed or the devil's gonna take control of your life. I'm talking about those blind moments where we just keep going in our sin, pride takes over, and we don't listen to godly friends who tell us you're being prideful. You got blind spots. It's this inner narcissist in all of us that just says, I am the captain of my soul. I will determine my destiny. Matthew Henry's wisdom is so helpful when we're talking about self-control, because one of the keys to being a self-controlled person is realizing that you are capable and I am capable of gross sin. That's a good security, not presumptuous confidence. I'm fine, I'm good, I got it nailed. No. We don't want to ever fully trust ourselves. We want to trust the Lord. We don't ever want to think, well, my flesh is completely conquered. No, we need to crucify the flesh and die daily. Have a holy fear, not presumptuous confidence. Stay the course, keep it simple, serve the Lord, stay humble, keep your emotions in check, submit to scripture and wash, rinse, repeat. All of that sets the stage for this. That's how the Apostle Paul lived his life. So, how appropriate on our journey through the series that we spend some time walking a mile in his shoes. There's one particular text that I want to take you to and break this down with you. If you want to pause and grab your Bible, go ahead and do that. I'm gonna be uh reading this. I've got it up in front of me on a screen, and so I'll walk you through the text. If you're driving or running or you're cleaning, carry on. I'll walk you through the text as you listen. But we're gonna be in 1 Corinthians chapter 9, verses 23 to 27. First Corinthians chapter 9, verses 23 to 27. That's our text. Paul writes this I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it. Verse 24. Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Verse 25. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Verse 26, therefore, it means because of that truth, I run in such a way as not without aim. I box in such a way as not beating the air, but I discipline my body, verse 27, and I make it my slave, so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified. Let me walk you through some truths here from this text that will encourage you in your self-control and will help you not let your guard down, not hit cruise control, not be presumptuous, but have this holy fear and awareness that if you and I don't stay vigilant, we are capable of great and gross sin. The Apostle Paul was too. And so what does he do? Number one, he roots his self-control in the gospel. Verse 23, I do all things for the sake of the gospel. This again plays right off what we talked about last time with the humility of Christ and not thinking of himself, but considering others above himself. And like Christ put our redemption at the top of his priority list. What does the apostle Paul do? Well, he puts the gospel above his own desires. Leon Morris commentates this Paul's gone conduct was determined by the gospel. That's what mattered, not the preacher. One of the reasons and one of the ways that Paul was so self-controlled is he just stayed focused on the gospel. That drove him. If you and I are going to be self-controlled, we've got to find our motivation in the gospel or it won't last. Worse, let's say you are self-controlled, or I am, and we don't root it in the gospel. We are legalists and we are moralists if the gospel isn't what drives our behavior. So number one, Paul rooted his self-control in the gospel. Number two, Paul roots his self-control in eternal perspective. Listen to verses 24 and 25 again. Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives a prize? Then he says, run in such a way that you may win. Then verse 25 is really interesting. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath. He's of course talking about earthly games, like the Olympics. I'll unpack this further in a second, but don't miss those last uh four words. But we, an imperishable. Paul is saying that winning matters, but it's winning in eternity. I think many people will win in this life materially, but they lose spiritually. And that's what matters in eternity, spiritual victory. In the same way, you and I, we can have temporary pleasures and we can give in to our impulses, but we're not going to win the most important race of all. That original audience would have imagined athletic games that were commonly held in their world at that time. Every two years, secondary only to the Olympics, there were a certain type of games that were held in Corinth. Competition, winning, losing, prizes, all that, very easy illustrations for this original audience. They would think immediately of those local games and competing. When Paul says the phrase competes in the games, it's rooted in the Greek word agonizomai, which is similar to our English word agony, meaning there's this strict regimen, there's sweat, there's effort, there's discipline, and there's training. All of that is what athletes would go through, they still do in order to win. But all of that was merely for a perishable wreath. Paul is saying we're competing for an eternal prize, the upward call of God in Christ Jesus, living all out for the gospel. And therefore, that's why we exercise self-control. He's not saying I do all these things, I train and I work and I sweat so that I can be saved, so that I can make God love me. No, no, no. He's saying because I'm saved, because I'm an athlete and I'm competing in this race, this fight for the faith, I'm saved already, and I've got a gospel mission while I'm here on earth. I don't want to give my body over to sin. I want to exercise self-control so I might win where it matters most. The idea in a lot of Paul's writing is this I am a slave to Christ now, not my own appetite. Eternity and what I'm running for matters more than this earth and gaining what I can right now. I'm living for the future. So if you and I are gonna have self-control, you've got to have eternal perspective. Wake up Monday morning going, all right, what am I living for? Who am I living for? Why am I here? You root that in what's coming in eternity. And that's what will drive you to be faithful with what lies in front of you today. Number three, and quite possibly my favorite one, Paul did everything with purpose and on purpose. I know what I am capable of in a negative way if I don't stay focused. If I don't live with purpose for Christ, I know the way I used to live. Don't you? Do you remember before you followed Christ the way you were? I do. I was I'm an all-in guy. I'm an all or nothing, zero or 10. Okay. So if I'm all in on the world, I was all in on the world, living completely for the kingdom of darkness and whatever Costi wanted to do. When the Lord saved me, it was the final gear, sixth gear, as far as I could go. It was level 10, pedal to the metal for Christ. Why? Well, because that's the way that I'm wired. I need to have purpose. You are likely the same way. You know when you wake up and there's no agenda, there's not really a set schedule. What do you do? We kind of fall into the lowest common denominator of laziness. We blow where the wind is going that day. Paul the Apostle, being so zealous like you and I were for the world when we were living for ourselves. He used to live like a Pharisee of all Pharisees, the Hebrew of all Hebrews, uh, a man of the law, a persecutor of the church. The Lord turns the uh the desires of his heart towards himself. He turns the light of the gospel on like he did for you and like he's done for me. And now what do we do? We do everything on purpose and we do everything with purpose. We don't want to waste anything. And you don't do that perfectly, neither do I, but we always go back to the standard. Listen to verse 26. Therefore. Okay, that first word means because of that, because I'm running a race, because it's eternal, and the wreath is imperishable. It's what Christ will reward me with. It's it's the glory of being with him. I'm gonna run in such a way as not without aim. What's Paul saying? He's saying, I'm not going some random direction. I have the map set. I box in such a way as not beating the air. He's not swinging his arms and flailing. He's going for the target. He knows exactly what he's doing. And in light of eternal perspective, Paul doesn't do anything without specific goals. He is the king of intentionality. He does everything on purpose. He is a run over the roadmap, a boxer who knows the target. And that's where you and I need to ask this question. Do we wake up with a clear purpose? Do we know what our goals are? Have we set a spiritual direction for our life? If you're married, you're home. If your children, if you have children, your family. In all of these things, if you wake up every day and you let the flow of this culture, okay, I'm not just talking about waking up and well, I didn't have any encounters, so I sat on the couch all day and watched Netflix. Okay, let's even get past that. That's like basic stuff. If you do not have convictions about God's word, about sexuality, about lifestyle decisions, about gender and marriage and relationships, about work, about money, all of it, then the whims of your sinful pleasures, uh, my flesh, your flesh, it's gonna drive the bus. Why? Because we're not walking by the spirit. If you let the culture, the ways of this world and the worldview out there, which is run by the prince of the power of the air, Satan himself, drive you because you do not have the word of God saturating your mind and setting your course. Friend, that is why you're struggling with self-control so much. That's why your life is in chaos, because you have not gotten out of the way and submitted yourself to the leading and the guiding and the power and the truth given by the Holy Spirit, ultimately leading you to glorify Christ. I love that about Paul. The man was not perfect. He says in Romans chapter 7, the things I don't want to do, I do, the things I'm I'm I'm supposed to do, I don't do. Wretched man that I am. He wasn't perfect, but oh man, that guy lived on purpose. Are you? I hope you are, I hope I am, and let's be diligent to seek the Lord for his help in that. Number four, Paul disciplined his body to keep it under control. This is where things get really personal. Verse 27. But I discipline my body and I make it my slave. Look, Paul gets it. I just brought it up. He's the guy in Romans 7, 15 and 16. He says this, what I want to do, I don't do. What I should not do, I do. Then he goes on again saying, Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death. He says essentially that God does that. He delivers him through Christ. And thank the Lord for that. Paul gets it, okay? So don't hear this as some high standard you can never achieve. Paul knows, I know, you know, we all know, we are in the dogfight of our life for self-control. So what does Paul say? Well, you're never gonna get there. Well, it's all grace, so don't do nothing. Don't wake up and try. Just kind of put it on cruise control. God'll do it. No, no. He says, I discipline. The word means I bruise, I give a black eye, I treat roughly. He's not saying beat yourself. No, he's giving the picture of dominion or subduing something, and in this case, someone, and that is you inside. That fleshly impulse. It's the knockout punch spiritually. It's saying, I'm gonna TKO my sinful lusts. I'm gonna go to war against sin. I'm not gonna sit around passive and act like this is no big deal. I'm going to fight against sin with the truth of Scripture. It's the declaration that this is war. My body and its fleshly impulses will not run the show. The Holy Spirit will run the show. Sin doesn't own me. Christ does. Therefore, Paul is saying, I'm gonna make my body a slave to righteousness. My body, my mind works for Jesus, not this world. And if you say, man, Costi, that sounds a little intense. You know, you're really kind of flying off the rails here, getting real fired up in this one, you know, as it may be a little much. No, it's not too intense. It's just right. It is intense. Why? Because sin is intense. The destruction of sin is intense. So what does Paul do? Makes it a fight. It's war. He puts on his armor and goes into battle. He makes his body his slave. I want to challenge you. Is your body, your fleshly impulses, running the show? Whatever that is for you. I'm not gonna press and start naming applications. I will leave that to the perfect one who does it best, the Holy Spirit, bringing conviction upon you. What are the ways in which you need to have that therefore mentality? Therefore, I discipline my body. I'm gonna make it my slave. My body belongs to Christ. My time, my energy, my labors, all of it. And fifth, Paul considers the integrity of his life and ministry. In verse 27, he finishes saying, so that. So you think, what's all the discipline for? Why all the intensity? So that after I myself have preached to others, I will not be disqualified. Self-control is linked to your integrity. It's linked to mine. Who you are, who I am when no one's looking is who we really are. So we got to get honest about not only what needs to change in public, but perhaps most of all, what needs to change in private. And sixth, Paul considered how his actions impacted others. This is tied into that one. Verse 27 again, he says, so I myself will not be disqualified. What does disqualification impact? And don't think disqualification only in terms of, like me, I'm a pastor and I'm gonna be disqualified if I live in rampant sin. Don't just think positionally with our elders and our pastors. No, but think about our witness. What does it mean to be disqualified? To have failed to live for Christ, to have failed to uphold our witness, to have failed in our integrity is to be disqualified. Now, can the Lord redeem? Of course. Does he cover us with grace and forgiveness? Yes, but we don't use that as a license to sin. In fact, grace drives us all the more to want to follow and obey him. Paul says, I do all this because I don't want to be disqualified. I want my life and integrity. To be consistent and in line with Jesus. Paul's thinking of those he serves and those he leads. And consider 1 Timothy 4 16 when he tells Timothy, pay close attention to your life and watch your doctrine, for it will preserve, literally save both yourself and those who hear you. Are you a teacher? Are you a leader in an institution? Are you a parent, a grandparent, a pastor? Look, we're all leaders of some kind, including leading ourselves. Has God given you influence over someone or something, maybe an organization? Maybe it's with your toddler or you're an educator with a whole school under your leadership and under your authority. Maybe it's a small group, a business, whatever it is. It could be a Sunday school class or an entire church if you're an elder. Faithful Christians consider how their actions impact others. And Paul, perhaps better than anyone in the New Testament besides Christ, laid down his rights, his liberties, his feelings, and even his own safety and comfort so that he might accomplish the greater purpose that he was living for. You say, I'm not an apostle. You know, what does this all mean for me? Don't get lost in distinctions. Paul was a Christian. He had no super version, varsity version of the Holy Spirit, any different than you and I. You're not being told to raise the dead or cure cancer. I'm not being asked to go to the third heaven with a dream or a vision. No, Paul is simply laying out how a Christian can live their life for maximum impact by putting the gospel above their own appetite and considering others the way Christ did. Are you living on purpose? Are you motivated by the gospel? Are your quote better behaviors and mine just moralism or the result of spirit-filled submission and eternal focus? Life is short, friend. You've got one reason for being on this planet today if you're a Christian. It is living your life for the glory of God. That's why we're here. That's our purpose. And self-control is not about just being better for the sake of being better. Self-control is about disciplining ourselves, remaining submitted to the Holy Spirit so we can fulfill our purpose to bring glory to Christ. Well, I hope this episode has given you something to consider from the life of Paul. And I pray this series is challenging you to think deeply and biblically about self-control. In the next episode, we're going to finish the series and I'm going to walk you through briefly six bricks for building a life of self-control. And I'm really excited to give you those as kind of the closing uh call in this particular series. Also, I need to tell you coming up in just a couple episodes, I'm going to start a series on suffering and loss. I've invited Tim Chalice, a dear brother in the Lord and a friend, to join me for three episodes on suffering and loss. He's going to share the story of his 20-year-old son at that time, Nick, going home to be with Jesus very suddenly, and the aftermath of that, as well as answering big questions about God's sovereignty, God's goodness, uh, is it possible to grow closer to the Lord in times of loss? And then for those of us who know people who have gone through this before or may, which could be all of us, he's going to give us wisdom and insight on how we can walk with people. And then if you're someone who's experienced loss or you're in a situation that is going down the road to loss, this three-week series is just going to be a healing balm of comfort, but also a way to fortify your heart and your mind as you prepare for the season of sorrow that lies ahead. That's the name of his book, Seasons of Sorrow. I'll recommend it to you. We'll post about it, but kind of keep that on your radar in just a couple of episodes with Tim Challey's on Suffering and Loss. Thanks for listening. Thanks for watching. Thank you so much for supporting. Can I just say that on behalf of our entire team, everything that you guys are doing to support this ministry matters. There is no such thing as a small gift. So many of you are supporting in ways that matter in eternity. And I just want you to know we are so grateful. Nothing is wasted, and everything we're doing is kind of got wind in the sails because of you. If you haven't already, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Take advantage of the free teachings there if you're new to our ministry. Or if you want to check out our team, uh partner with us by becoming a gospel patron with a recurring or a one-time gift. You can go to forthegospel.org and click give or click team and check it all out there. I'll be back next Monday with another episode. Keep on living for the gospel.