All right, I can yell. No, I'm on. All right, all right. Are you sure you meant that? Ray, that's a great answer. It's just completely wrong in every way, and you cannot be possibly further from the truth than what you said. All right, well. He doesn't laugh when I say this. Thank you, Dr. Treifel. Good morning, everybody. It's good to be here. We're doing our last week on self-control. I told Dr. Troxell, you saved the best for last, and he said he's much more of a baseball fan, so the worst for last in that case. But let's go ahead and turn to Galatians 5, and we'll read that one last time, at least in this series. Galatians 5. I do know the books of the Bible. I'm just singing the song in my head. Okay, Galatians 5, starting in verse 1. For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Look, I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law. You have fallen away from grace, for through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith, working through love. You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion is not from him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. But if I, brother, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case, the offense of the cross has been removed. I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves. For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh. For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident. Sexual morality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn 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 have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 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. So today we are wrapping up with. the fruit of self-control. And every time I think about self-control, I think of my grandpa, who's a very virtuous man. He's one of those guys who, even in his 60s, could outwork any guy in his 20s and just has a very strong moral backbone. Don't ever hear him say bad words or treat anybody poorly. And just, in a lot of ways, tremendous self-control. I remember two Thanksgivings ago. It doesn't matter which one it was. But a couple of Thanksgivings ago, I go up to the kitchen, and I load my plate, right? So my plate is, like, mounded like this. You know what I'm talking about. So I load my plate up, and then I look at his, and I can see the white in between the spaces. There's like a little bit of turkey, there's like a little bit of salad, and maybe a little potato. And I go, Grandpa, what's wrong with you? And he said this famous phrase that's really popular in our house. It's, a man's got to know his limits. A man's got to have self-control. And it's often repeated over and over again. And just a great model to look up to. In the spirit of full disclosure, he had like four pieces of pie after that. He's very self-controlled when it counts, I guess. He knows his limits. He knows his limits. All right, well, let's pray, and we'll get started for real this time. Our Lord and our God, we have so much to be thankful for today. Thank you for the gift of your church. Thank you for Pastor Troxell and the word that was given to us today. Lord, thank you chiefly for the life, death, and resurrection of your son. Thank you for redemption accomplished and applied for us. And Lord, we look at these, these lists, the fruit of the flesh and the fruit of the spirit, and Lord, we're often convicted. When we see the fruit of the flesh, it's something that's so easy for us, and the fruit of the spirit is oftentimes so hard. And so Lord, we pray that you would help us today, that you would give us more knowledge of you and your word, that you would give us strength in the midst of temptation. Help us, oh Lord, to abide in you and bear much fruit. Lord, so often we long to go in the closet of the old man and put those clothes back on, but help us to crucify the flesh and live anew in you. Lord, we love you and we thank you. And we pray these things in your name. Amen. Amen. All right, so if I can throw it out there, we're talking about self-control today. What often accompanies self-control? What do we need to control ourselves from? Or maybe just more generally, what comes to mind when we think of self-control? Denial. Denial, yeah. Going off of that, it's not only about doing things, it's also pursuing them. I like that, I like that. Denial of, what do we deny ourselves of? Vices, OK. And too much drink, too much food. Yeah, yeah. One of the first things, I always think more practically of when you ask, what do we deny? Self-denial, like language. Putting off the old man and putting on the new. What are the things that we did when we were the old man? Yeah, good, good. And sinful nature. Sinful nature, yeah. Yeah, these are really helpful because. Unrighteous anger. Unrighteous anger, that's really good. Avarice, there you go, there you go. When Caroline and I first met, I do, this is probably too much, but I've already started, so here we go. When we first met, I would do, I occasionally go on these rants about things I get upset about, and I go, you know, I'm usually not angry, but, and I would go on this rant, and then I said it like four times in the first two days of us meeting, I go, I think I'm an angry person. I just learned something new about myself. And no, it's helpful to ask. I know it's a little bit of a vague, vague question. But yeah, I mean, if it was up to me, I would just say, you need to control yourself from ice cream and watching too much baseball. And that's all that Paul's talking about here. There's obviously a lot of things that we need to deny ourself of. I like the de-said language. That one didn't even come to mind off the top of my head. Aidan, you said, what did you say? It's not just denying, but... It's not just not doing things that's also pursuing the right ones. Yeah, pursuance. you are supposed to be generous. You're not supposed to be angry. You're supposed to be patient. Yeah. Yeah, I like that. Do you guys think that we ever ought to deny ourselves of good things? Is self-control in the Bible just about not drinking too much or, I don't know, getting angry or immorality? Are we ever to deny ourselves of good things? Yeah, they become idols. Yeah. Well, how could a good thing become an idol? Baseball, too much baseball. Right, right. There's not too much baseball right now because there's a lockout. So the Lord is teaching us something, I think. Yeah, you know, C.S. Lewis has, I miss somebody. Stephanie. I was just going to say that I think Dr. Craxill talked about one time sort of testing his desires and testing those good things. So maybe if you really enjoyed coffee for a year or something that maybe you take like a few months off just to test yourself. So maybe not even necessarily when you actually realize you're in idolatry. Yeah. But having the wisdom to see if something that you're enjoying could lead that way by taking a break from it. Did you take a few months off of coffee? Yeah. C.S. Lewis has this great section in his book, Mere Christianity, about desires and how we ought to control and repress our desires at different times. And anger is a desire that we ought to control or repress often. It's not good to be angry all the time, but that doesn't mean We're never angry, right? A lot of us are angry about things happening in Eastern Europe right now, or we ought to rightly be angry when we've seen injustice. There are other impulses, Lewis says, like motherly love. That's a really, really good impulse. But ought we ever to subdue that one? It becomes an island. Yeah, it becomes an island. Or, lest we spoil a child, right? Sometimes somebody needs tough love, right? Not me, obviously, I was always the perfect kid. But, Elizabeth, did you have a question? No, okay. Yeah, so, you know, I think this is, I hope this doesn't seem too redundant. I think it's worth teasing out a little bit. On one side of the spectrum, there may be people who say, self-control is avoiding these actions, these substances. And if you don't do that, you're not really a Christian. But on the other end, there may be people who say, You know, we live by grace. We don't have to, we don't have to have any, any self-control. But I think clearly the Bible calls us to it. And it's not merely alcohol or anger. I think a good, if it's not too, it is too nerdy, but I'll do it anyway. I think just a good dictionary definition of the word self-control is we're restraining our emotions or impulses or desires. And sometimes those maybe, mostly good desires, or sometimes there are desires that need to be controlled quite a bit. It's really interesting, in the King James, it reads, in verse 23 of Galatians 5, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and, here's our word, temperance. Instead of self-control, it says temperance. What do we think of when we hear the word temperance? Yeah, alcohol. Yeah, definitely. I've read that one. It's on my nightstand right now, Pastor. For I do know what you're talking about. Pride and prejudice, yeah. Yeah, I'm teasing this out a little bit because I think we can just get off on the wrong side of the road and think, well, I don't have a drinking problem. I'm perfectly, perfectly self-controlled. But it's a lot, a lot more than that. So I want to talk about why ought we be self-controlled. Any thoughts on that? Yes. The milk can't control the heat. The more control we have, the less laws we break. Yeah, exactly, exactly. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, I want us to think about a few passages here. In answering this question of why be self-controlled, I think a lot of us, maybe we wouldn't say it out loud, but we may say, or we may think to ourselves, yeah, I'm a Christian and I have this anger problem, but... I don't know, I'm not murdering anybody. I'm a Christian, and I drink a little too much, but not all that, all that too much, or whatever it may be. I think it's very easy to become complacent in the Christian life. I love the Owen quote that's quoted here often, be killing sin, or sin will be killing you. So I want to think just briefly about Philippians 3, 17 to 19. Paul says, brothers, join me in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their God is their belly, and their glory and their shame, with minds set on earthly things. What Paul is saying here is our stomach can become our God. We're not merely just enjoying a nice steak. We're not just enjoying ice cream. But our desires can come to rule us. And that's why we are called to be self-controlled. There are a lot of good things in creation that we can enjoy. But they make really, really horrible gods. But by the grace of God, I'm a Red Sox fan, even though I grew up in California. Just goes to show how great God has been to me. Yes? I think it should not stand in the way of a relationship with the Lord. Yeah. So also, if I can mention a text in 1 Peter 4. Also, if unbelievers insult you now because they are surprised that you no longer join them in the same accessible way of living, I mean, then, a little bit further, you say, therefore, practice self-control and keep your minds clear so that you can I think that's a great point, that we should be self-controlled in such a way that nothing hinders our relationship with God. And there's very obvious sins that we know we ought to avoid. We ought to avoid blatant gluttony, or alcoholism, or anger. But there are smaller things, too. And so that's kind of where I was going with baseball. I really, really love baseball. And there was this time in college that I was super melancholy for quite a while. I remember very well, it was in December of 2016. I was getting ready, and I checked my phone, and the Red Sox had traded for Chris Sale. and I was elated, and the melancholy was completely gone, which was great, but it also revealed a huge, huge idol in my heart that, yes, these things can get in our way of having a good relationship with God. When, sorry to do so many sports analogies, when the Red Sox traded Mookie Betts, it broke my heart, and I'm mostly over it. I'm not, I never will be. Another passage I want us to look at in answering this question, why ought we be self-controlled? Psalm 135, verses 15 through 18, the idols of the nations are silver and gold. The work of human hands, they have mouths, but do not speak. They have eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear. Nor is there any breath in their mouths. And verse 18 is really key. Those who make them become like them. So do all who trust in them. The psalmist is saying these people are fashioning idols out of silver and gold that are deaf and dumb. And when these idols are worshipped, that's what the people become like. They become like their idols, yes. I have to make paper. Can I repeat what I just said? Yeah, so these people are making idols out of silver and gold. These idols, they don't have ears. They don't hear. There's no breaths in their mouth. And so the psalmist is saying those who make them, the people who make their idols become like them. So do all who trust in them. So he's not being super literal, but he's saying if you're worshiping a statue, a statue can't do anything, and that's what your heart is aching for. So he's being really, he's exaggerating quite a bit to show when we put our hearts in something, we become like that thing. So an idol, if I worshiped this podium, this podium can't do anything. He's just exaggerating his point to say, well, you're just worshiping wood. The wood can't do anything. You won't be able to do anything. But I think we all know people like this who have worshipped and idled too much. Have you ever met someone who their hobby is their whole personality, their whole worldview? That's kind of what I think of when I read this passage. I really, really love cars. I really love cars. And to me, in one aspect, there's no such thing as too many cars. So there's this one collector who's famous, but I won't say his name. He has like 300 cars or something. And I'll show this to my wife, and she'll be like, that's so much. I'm like, makes sense to me. I mean, one every day of the year, like, you know, if it rains, you drive this. If you go off-roading, you need this. But I was listening to an interview with this guy, and he has this, you know, one of many very expensive cars, and it's multi-million, millions of dollars, and so I think we all or can sympathize, when you have a car that nice, you think about it. You obsess over it night and day. So I've had my same truck. I've had it since high school. So how old am I? 10, 11 years now. I've had it, and it's all banged up in the perfect way. If anything happens to it, I don't care at all. And I love that. I drive it hard. It's fine. It's great. Recently, we bought Caroline a new car, and it was perfect when we got it. And every little ding, every little scratch, every time someone, I won't name any names, every time somebody spills kombucha on the seats, it sends me through the roof. And so this guy being interviewed, he's looking at his $20 million car, and he goes, yeah, you know, people always tell me, hey, you don't own that thing. The thing owns you. And he says, yeah, that's the point. And that's what the psalmist is getting at. This man has taken his love for cars so far that they own him, and he knows it, and he's proud of it. His personality becomes, the cars become his personality. Paul is expecting a similar question to this of why be self-controlled. In Romans, when he's laying out the gospel and he says, by grace you have been saved, by grace you have been saved, by grace you have been saved, he expects a question from the Romans. What is that question? Anybody know? Romans 6. Romans 6. 6-1? 6-1. Shouldn't we just sin if it's all by grace? The word self-control isn't used there, but shouldn't we sin if it's all by grace? Why be self-controlled at all? And Paul answers this question, why should you be self-controlled? Why should you try to mortify sin? Because there's no neutral ground. You're either a slave to sin or a slave to righteousness. So how do we then practice self-control? I feel like a lot of times growing up, I would hear things like, have joy, have peace. Or I would hear passages like, out of your heart will flow streams of living water. And I would never hear how to do that. So practically, I kind of want to talk a little more about how we do that. But first, I want to say how we don't do that. And I think a lot of us have a tendency to band-aid solutions, to easy fixes for our self-control. So for me, my self-control, when it comes to ice cream, is just not buying it at all. Because if it's in the freezer, I It's going to get eaten, right? But that doesn't really solve the problem at all. It's a good thing not to buy the ice cream. If we struggle with addiction to substances and abuses, it's a good thing not to buy those or be around people who are going to give those to you. But it doesn't solve the problem, right? If all the alcohol in the world was somehow destroyed, it wouldn't solve the alcoholic's problem. A Band-Aid solution won't do it. A lot of times, I'll be really, really frustrated with somebody or something, and if I were to just go in the gym and just hit a punching bag and write a name on it and think of somebody who wronged me, that's just a Band-Aid solution. I'm controlling myself in a sense, but not getting to the heart of the matter. Colossians 2, I think Paul is, if you'll give me a little bit of grace, he's hammering at these Band-Aid solutions. He says in verse 20, if with Christ you die to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations? Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch, referring to things that all perish as they're used. According to human precepts and teachings, these have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and aestheticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgences of the flesh. So in Colossae, there's this philosophy going around that, hey, just don't do stuff, right? I kind of chuckled at Dr. Troxell's, he was picking on some people saying, Oh, just make more money. It's an easy solution. Just make more money. Just don't be mad. That's sort of what these people are saying. They're just offering a Band-Aid solution. But Paul I think is calling us to something deeper. But he's calling out this vain and empty philosophy of the world that says just don't do it, right? It's every self-help book at Barnes and Noble. Somebody makes you mad, just don't talk to them. Just cut them out of your life. Struggle with this, just avoid that entirely. But he says, again, that these people, this philosophy, is of no value in stopping the indulgences of the flesh. They're obsessed with being self-controlled, but their philosophy is empty and it's fruitless. Another example of this, of how not to do it, is Benjamin Franklin. Has anybody read his autobiography? OK, just the nerds in the room. It's a good book, it's a good book. So Franklin, in his autobiography, talks at one point about growing in virtue. He says, it was about this time I conceived the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection. I wished to live without committing any fault at any time. I would conquer all that either natural inclination, custom, or company might lead me into. Pretty modest goals. I want to conquer everything. I want to have no faults of my own. I want to be the perfect person. So what he does is he creates a catalog where he has probably like a journal or something like that. And he lists all the virtues. And the first one, he says, is temperance or self-control. He says, eat not to dullness or drink not to elevation. And then he lists silence, order, resolution, frugality, Industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity, humility. Interesting list. Some are similar to the fruits of the spirit. Some are different. But what he does is he creates a chart in his journal or his planner. And just week by week, he goes through it. This week is temperance. Next week is resolution. After that is integrity or industry, whatever it is. And he just grades himself all throughout the week. And he finds that he's done pretty well. He makes this book, he charts it out, and he says, I entered upon the execution of this plan for self-examination and continued it. With occasional intermissions for some time, I was surprised to find myself so much fuller of faults than I had imagined. But I had the satisfaction of seeing them diminish. You know, he has some success, but he realized that there's not much he can do. He gets a little bit better at it, but in the end, he finds himself pretty messed up, which is not too surprising. It's really interesting. In his journal, he has this quote. It's a quote by Cicero, and it says, O philosophy, it's sort of like a prayer, O philosophy, thou guide of life, O thou searcher after virtue and banisher of vice, one day lived well, and in obedience to thy precepts should be preferred to an eternity of sin. So Paul in Colossians 2 is saying, hey, there's this empty and vain philosophy out there that is not helpful at all in helping you be self-controlled and mortifying the flesh. And Benjamin Franklin is at least decently proud of himself and is praying to this philosophy, this false god to help him. But he realizes in the end, I think he might be a little conceited, but he realizes there's not much fruit I achieved. I couldn't really do it on my own volition. So that's how we don't do it. That's how we don't do self-control. How do we do then? That's one of the, I'm gonna be a preaching analogy. You didn't say that ahead of time. How do we then do it? There we go, there we go. This book, this book has been hugely, hugely helpful. It's Mortification of Sin by John Owen. Perhaps one of the most helpful books I've ever read. It's really difficult, but I think if you can read Shakespeare, you can read Owen. And if Shakespeare's too hard, try Owen anyway, because it's really, really worth the painstaking process. And Owen, I think, gives us two helpful gives us two helpful directions in being self-controlled. He tells us that we should mortify the flesh and that we should set our minds on Christ. And the whole book is really centered around these lectures he gave to students at Oxford. And the key text that he builds the whole book around is Romans 8, 13. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Again, I'm not purposely, or I am purposely being redundant. I'm not accidentally being redundant. I want to read that again. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. If we live in the power of our own volition and strength, that way, leads to death. It's only the Spirit who can give us self-control, who can mortify our sins. Owen says, only the Spirit is sufficient for this work. All other ways and means without Him are as a thing of naught, and He is the efficient of it. He works in us as He pleases. Maybe this is obvious. I think it's worth harping on because it wasn't obvious to me for much of my Christian life. There were things that I struggled with. There were areas of my life where I lacked self-control and my solution was always these band-aid solutions or what Benjamin Franklin said, like, darn it, I'm going to try really, really hard. I'm going to keep a journal, and I'm going to do my best to do it. I'm just going to make more money. I'm just not going to be angry. I'm just not going to do these things. But that, Paul says, is the way that leads to death. Owen goes on, in vain do men seek other remedies. They shall not be healed by them. Again, I don't want to be needlessly redundant, but I think the church really, really harps on these vain remedies by not seeking the other ones. So did anybody ever... see those things in high school. I saw one where it's like, don't drink and drive. And there's, you shouldn't drink and drive. I'm not against that at all. But there's like a crash car. There's a crash car outside of my high school gym. And they show this awful, awful movie. It's pure scare tactics. It's like, they just show these brutal, like, it wouldn't even be rated R. It would be on rated R. But they do, right? The church does these scare tactics in order for us to be self-controlled and order us to be obedient, right? If you do X, you'll get diseases. If you do X, people will think poorly of you. You'll have all these bad consequences. So I'm going to, I'm here to scare you straight. I'm going to scare you into, into obedience, right? Or Guilt, right? The church at times has used guilt to push people towards self-control. If you do X or Y, then you'll offend God, and you'll always have this stain on you. I remember when I was in high school, I went to this camp, and one thing that they did to help us seek the fruit of the spirit, to be self-controlled, what have you, was they gave us these bracelets, right? And on it, there was, I think it was an H, a P, and an I. Same but different. Like they looked the same, but they were different. So honesty, purity, and integrity. As if my only barrier in being self-controlled is I needed to be reminded of it, right? Like if I was about to go reach for something wrong, oh, never mind. I am good. And I don't know, maybe there's a place for reminders in the world. That's not the thing that's gonna solve us. That's not what's gonna help us be self-controlled. Owen kind of goes after the, he goes after Rome. He says, now the reason why papists can never, with all their endeavors, truly mortify any one sin amongst others, Rome is in Owen's view, but it's not just Rome for us today. They have views of, I'm gonna mortify sins, but doing it out of order, using the wrong methods, not doing it by the Spirit. He says, because many of the ways and means they use and insist upon for this end were never appointed by God. So even self-proclaiming Christians can try to seek self-control by means and methods that aren't appointed by God, right? By scaring you, by guilting you, by giving you bracelets or having a coffee cup with a verse on it, whatever it may be. And I think it might be difficult, right, to look at this and say, wow, they're all wrong, when there are Christians sincerely trying to mortify sin, to be self-control. They may be doing things out of order, as Owen says. So we may look, and I don't want to just pick on Catholics. There are a lot of different people. And like I said, this was my struggle with faith. If I pray really hard, if I fast really sincerely, if I go to church, that'll end my sin. That'll help me be self-controlled. The problem with that, though, is I can't, by my own works, put God in my debt, right? Prayer is a good thing. Fasting is a good thing. Going to church is a good thing. But that's not how I become self-controlled. I can't put God into my debt to then owe me. I think when we're looking to gain, to grow in self-control, we should remember two things, that the Holy Spirit is promised of God to be given to us to do this work, and our self-control is a gift from Christ, for apart from Him, we can do nothing. So, everybody comes up here and says the time flies, and it really does. You know, I, yes. So maybe you're going to give some final conclusion. And if you are, I'm sorry for interjecting so soon. But I guess what I'm hearing is you need the Holy Spirit. You need the Holy Spirit to do this work and empower you and to really overcome. So my mind is arguing with you, saying every believer has the Holy Spirit. It's impractical for me to say to myself, I just need the Holy Spirit to have self-control. I already have the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit already preaches the Word to me. I'm still having problems with self-control. And in right doctrine and all the things that you're saying, right, well, I'm not going to then pursue self-control by just, you know, creating a checklist like Benjamin Franklin, because then that would be like being like Benjamin Franklin and not being like God. I mean, I'm just not sure how this package of the Holy Spirit is really the practical reality, because I know that people like John Owen and others had very practiced mortification of the flesh. and very serious disciplined lives. And so, is that where you're going? Because I feel like it's a circular argument at that point, that we just need to still do all of the disciplines that we ought to do over the body, but make sure that we do it in the spirit and not just in the Ben Franklin checklist. Because in that case, all you're saying is be saved and do your checklist. Yeah. Because the Holy Spirit is with those who say it. It is His power alone that gives us all the power to even proclaim Christ as Lord. Yeah. So what is the real ultimate? I think Mrs. Watkins has the answer. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, full in His wonderful face, and the things of this earth will grow strangely dim. Yeah. You know, when Peter looked at Jesus's face, he could walk on water. When he was delighting, enjoying and glorifying God, everything else just kind of clicked in. Yeah, exactly. Stephanie, I think that's a great question. It's a difficult one. And I've been there where, yeah, I mean, I was a Christian for 10 years and still struggling with the same sin for 10 years. I don't want to just repeat something I've already said. I want to take your question seriously, because I think I really understand it. I can say, for me, personally, and I probably didn't do a great job at explaining it, but what Owen's getting at when he's kind of going after this papist religion is, yeah, they're praying, they're believers, they're fasting, but they're trying to put God in their debt. They're doing things backwards. He actually says they're looking at these disciplines as the fountain when they're the stream. Christ is the fountain that we look at. So yes, absolutely, we should pray. We should fast. We should go to church. But those aren't the solution. Christ is the solution. Eric, did you? Rick? Just as I'm hearing this, I'm thinking of my own life. Sanctification is a word that I haven't heard come up yet, and that we would ask that God would sanctify us in the areas that we lack self-control. And I think as that process is happening, we are actively on our own trying to be self-controlled in the area that we know that we can't That's why we are asking for His grace and mercy and sanctification in us and to watch those things, to make our desires His desires and have those things in us. Exactly. So I think that that is, it's not like, okay, I'm going to pray that this just dissipates and not engage in it. Right? I'm going to engage and try to be self-controlled knowing that I cannot fully be self-controlled and ask for the Holy Spirit's help, sanctification, and watch Him and see Him work through that to free us from the sin, because that's what it is. If we're not controlled in this area, then we are captive to that area. And He has come to set us free from those things. And maybe not completely free, as we are still here in our flesh. And then we give glory to Him as we see that it's happening. Pastor? I was just going to add, I think I missed the first few minutes of your study, but I think this is the hardest of the fruit of the Spirit to teach on, to wrestle with. It's like that needs to be acknowledged. It's interesting if you look at what Paul refers to up above as the works of the flesh, how many of them really are the antithesis of self-control, right? self-control and one is big category that it breaks down into all these different things. I think one reason why I find it the hardest is because, just acknowledging for myself, I think we have selective self-control. In other words, all of us in our lives have areas where we probably exercise a good bit of self-control and then we have other, you know, sort of like sins. There's like It's almost like there are sanitized or respectable sins is a phrase that some will use. So like morning, evening worship, very important, but bad language or indulgence in food or whatever, those things are more allowed. In the South, you don't drink, but abuse is prominent. So you have different dynamics like that. I think something maybe we haven't unpacked a lot is what it means to walk. by the spirit, this phrase up above, probably gets to Stephanie's question and the tension insofar as these are fruits of the spirit. There's also the idea of walking in the spirit that attaches to our part of it. Walking is what we do. The fruit of the spirit is something that the spirit bears. But it's more of a both and than an either or, at least in my mind. Yeah, that's great. OK, yeah, one more. I just wanted to comment on the band-aid solution. Yes. I would argue that there are times when that's appropriate, when we are weak to our faith, and so weaken our faith, or weaken by sin, that the best option for us is, as Scripture says, to flee from temptation. Yes, exactly. To pull out of our lives, to leave a place, or whatever it may be, that's maybe our only option. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, and I hope I wasn't too antagonistic against a Band-Aid solution. If someone struggles with Ice cream. Ice cream. They should not go to Handel's ice cream, right? You shouldn't go and just say, I'm not going to eat anything. There's definitely a place for that. It just shouldn't be our end all, right? There were a lot of great questions. And I had a few more things to say, but I think now would be a good time to end. Heather, I'm really thankful for your word is look to Jesus. recently, reading Matthew and the Sermon on the Mount, there's all this, you know, It's been said, don't commit adultery. But even if you look at a woman with lust, you've committed adultery. And if you call your brother a fool, you've murdered him. And I was just beat down by that, thinking of how often I fail, how often I struggle with all these things that Jesus is coming after in the Sermon on the Mount. And I was honestly discouraged. And we turned the page to Matthew 8. The first story in Matthew 8 is the woman with the emission of blood for years, and it does nothing. And all she does is she reaches out, she grasps the cloak, and she's healed. So a lot more could be said, but I think we should wrap up. I just want to close by reading a prayer from the Valley of Vision. So if you'll pardon the old English, I think it's worth it. Pray with me. That eternal God, thine is surpassing greatness, unspeakable goodness, superabundant grace. We can as soon count the sands of ocean's lips as number thy favors towards us. We know but a part, but that part exceeds all praise. We thank thee for personal mercies, a measure of health, preservation of body, comforts of house and home, sufficiency of food and clothing, continuance of mental powers, my family, their mutual help and support, the delights of domestic harmony and peace, the seats now filled that might have been vacant, my country, church, Bible, faith, but oh, how I mourn my sin in gratitude, vileness, the days that add to our guilt, the scenes that witness our offending tongue. All things in heaven and earth, around, within, without, condemn us. The sun which sees our misdeeds, the darkness which is light to us. the cruel accuser who justly charges us, the good angels who have been provoked to leave us, thy countenance which scans our secret sins, thy righteous law, thy holy word, our sin-soiled conscience, our private and public life, our neighbors, ourselves, all right dark things against us. We deny them not, frame no excuse, but confess, Father, I have sinned. Yet we still live and fly repenting to thy outstretched arms. That will not cast me off for Jesus brings us near. That will not condemn us for he died in our stead. Thou will not mark the mountains of our sin for he leveled all and his beauty covers my deformities. Oh my God, we bid farewell to sin by clinging to his cross, hiding in his wounds and sheltering in his side. Amen.