Self Discipline

Job 36:10

Self Discipline

The speaker in this portion of the book of Job is Elihu...

At this point in the book, Job is done speaking & his three friends are done answering him.  That is when Elihu speaks up...

Elihu had been there the whole time, but just watched & listened in silence as his elders went back and forth about Job’s troubles...  And when Job’s three friends finally ceased to answer him, Elihu decided it was time for him to speak up.  And Elihu does a lot better job of assessing the situation than they did!

Elihu’s discourse began in ch. 32 and he has been going on since then as we get to ch. 36...  Here Elihu ascribes righteousness to God in v. 3, and in v. 4 proclaims➔

For truly my words shall not be false: he that is perfect in know-ledge is with thee.

What they are about to hear is wisdom from God through Elihu...

And then look again in v. 10➔ 

Job 36:10 

If people respond correctly to that, then v. 11 comes into play➔

If they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures.

If people do not respond correctly to that, then v. 12➔

But if they obey not, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall die without knowledge.

This is consistent with the recurrent principles of the word of God...

*You do right in the sight of God and you get blessed...  You don’t and 

  things go badly for you...

This is the message of Deut. 28 to Israel...  Do right and you’ll be blessed on every side...  Do wrong and you’ll be cursed on every side.

This is the message of Deut. 11:26-28 which says➔  Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; 

{27} A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day: 

{28} And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.

This also aligns with the words of Jesus in Luke 11:28➔  ...blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.

And to get you to that potential place of blessing, God tries to wake you up...  That is where Job 36:10 comes in. 

Job 36:10 is the catalyst that the Lord uses to try to bring people into a place of blessing that is described in Job 36:11➔

Job 36:10

God commands them to return from iniquity...  If they repent and return to God, and follow God’s ways, they get the blessing of v. 11...

If they rebel & remain entrenched in their sins, they incur the wrath of v. 12...

Now let’s especially notice what the Lord does at the beginning of 

v. 10, just before commanding them to return from iniquity.➔

Job 36:10a➔ He openeth also their ear to discipline...

The word discipline has a couple of applications that apply here...

First is the idea of chastisement...  As in “disciplinary” measures.

Job 36:8-10  And if they be bound in fetters, and be holden in cords of affliction; 

{9} Then he sheweth them their work, and their transgressions that they have exceeded.
{10} He openeth also their ear to discipline, and commandeth that they return from iniquity.

The Lord’s purpose in the affliction of v. 8 is to bring someone back to Him, as in the process of chastisement.  The same chastisement also bringing one back to a place of God’s blessing in their lives. 

This kind of thing is found in both Testaments.

Heb. 12:7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

Heb. 12:11  Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

Job 36:8 describes the chastening being bound in fetters & holden with the cords of affliction...

So Job 36:8 describes the  Event...

Job 36:9 describes the  Eye opening...➔  v. 9

And Job 36:10 describes the  Ear opening...➔  v. 10

They experience the affliction...  They see what they have done wrong to cause it...  And then they hear the voice of the Lord calling them back to Himself & the abundant life that He offers...

That’s the 1st application of discipline here, now before the 2nd...

First let me point out that Job 36:10 is the only reference to the word discipline in the Bible.

And the word discipline has another application which enters into the truths in this passage... 

And that is the idea of someone disciplining himself to follow through and actually forsake his sins & return to a right relationship with God.

And then also disciplining himself to maintain that way of life, and not let it slip.

*To properly live victoriously over sins, takes discipline...

*To attain spiritual growth, takes discipline...

*To maintain a fruitful life, living for the Lord, takes discipline...

*To run your race, and stay the course, takes discipline...

*To finish your course, and finish well, takes discipline...

And that is what today’s message is about  Self Discipline

There is no victorious Christian living without self discipline.

Self discipline is discipline that you impose upon yourself in order to do that which is right, and that which is necessary, so that you can receive the desired benefits of such actions. So many people want the end results without the process of discipline that brings about those results...

*Many would like to be good at some skill, but don’t want to discipline 

  themselves to practice and work at it...

*Many would like to be knowledgeable about some subject or another, 

  but won’t discipline themselves to study.

*Many people would like to have a better knowledge & understand-

  ing of the Bible, but won’t discipline themselves to learn it.

*And many people would like to be victorious, blessed, fruitful, consis-

  tent Christians, but won’t discipline themselves to do those things 

  that bring about such victory in Jesus.

Talk about the con-nection between being a disciple of Jesus Christ and having discipline in your life.

Both words begin with the same seven letters...  Both words have the same root.

*A disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ is one who disciplines himself to 

  follow Him.

*Following the Lord is not always easy  That’s why it takes 

  discipline.  

*And, following the Lord is not always easy  But it is always right.

*And following the Lord is not always fun  That’s why it takes 

  discipline.  

Then again, going to work is not always fun...  But you discipline yourself to do it anyway, or you wouldn’t get paid!

But the fact that you go to work at times when you don’t want to, shows that you already know how to exercise discipline...

You can take that same discipline and apply it to your Christian life.

The same discipline that gets you out of bed to go to work, might have been the same discipline that get you out of bed to come to church this morning...And for some of you, it’s the same discipline that get you to Sunday School at 10 o’clock.

Discipline is what enables a person to be faithful...

And when it comes to living for the Lord, we have an added impetus to help us maintain our Christian disciplines, and that is➔ the love of Christ➔

II Cor. 5:14-15  For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: 

{15} And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.

The love that Jesus has for you, and the love that you have for Jesus is what will drive you to discipline yourself and be faithful to Him even when you don’t feel like it.

*There is no such thing as being a disciple of Jesus Christ without  having self discipline...

Though the word discipline is only found in the Bible once, the words disciple & disciples show up 273 times...  All but one of those being in the New Testament.  

That’s an average occurrence of a little over 10 times a book in the New Testament.

Of course they are not actually distributed that way...  The fact is that the words disciple & disciples show up in only 5 NT books... 

Those books are Matthew, Mark, Luke, John & Acts.  And that makes their average occurrence in those first five foundational books of the New Testament to be a little over 54 times a book!

The Lord is all about you being a disciple and it will take self discipline for you to become one.

It will also take self discipline for you to remain a disciple...

And I guess I should clarify, that, not every Christian is a disciple.

There are people that get saved and don’t grow very much spiritually, and just don’t really follow the Lord like they should.

They may be saved and going to heaven, but they are not disciples.

When the women go to the tomb after Jesus’ resurrection, they meet up with an angel who says to them in Mark 16:7➔  

But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you.

His disciples and Peter...  Peter had lost his standing as a disciple when he mingled with the devil’s crowd and denied Jesus 3 times.

Prior to that Peter was considered a disciple...  I’ll read you one place that indicates that...  It’s Matt. 26:40-41 when Peter, James & John go to Gethsemane with Jesus as Jesus prays before His crucifixion.➔ 

And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? 

{41} Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Here Peter was a disciple, but a sleeping disciple, along with James & John.  Unfortunately, Peter would not heed those words, and kept right on sleeping through prayer time, and not long after, denied the Lord.

And when he did, he lost his position as a disciple...

After he did, Peter would have to go through the grueling process of affirming his love for Jesus three times, and then getting his life back in order to regain his status as a disciple...

This he did, and by the time you get to Acts ch. 2 Peter is preaching Jesus to the multitudes and seeing 3000 souls added to the Lord!

So if I’m talking to anyone who used to be a disciple, but have forfeit-ed your position as Peter did, there is still great hope for you to be restored & used by God.

A disciple follows his Lord.  Peter did... and then he didn’t...  And then he did again. 

But as I said  It takes discipline to be a disciple, and a disciple fol-lows his Lord...➔ 

Matt. 16:24  Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Notice the self denial that is involved.  To follow Jesus, you must deny yourself...  

Self denial is accomplished through self discipline.

Luke talks about this self denial as well, & takes it to another level.➔ 

Luke 9:23  And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

*...daily...*

Luke acknowledges a daily denial...  A daily taking up the cross.

This describes what Paul exclaimed in I Cor. 15:31, when he said➔ 

I die daily.

There is a daily dying to self...  A daily self denial...  A daily discipline that the Christian needs to implement in order to be victorious & fruitful...  In order to be a disciple.

There is a phrase that shows up twice in the Bible, which makes reference to  the duty of every day...

I have often thought about that in regard to our Christian duties or disciplines...

There are certain Christian duties or disciplines that must be kept up for the Christian to grow and bear fruit...  And it takes discipline to keep up with those disciplines.

These Christian disciplines or duties are always beneficial to the Christian... Yet though they are beneficial, the flesh rebels against them...➔ 

For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye can-not do the things that ye would.  (Gal. 5:17)

When your flesh rises up as such, to be victorious, you must reckon your flesh dead, and reckon yourself to be dead unto it.

And with your flesh kicking & screaming against your spiritual duties, you are going to have to learn to overcome it with some self discipline if you hope to enter into the abundant life in Jesus Christ.

But I want you to know, that...  You can do it!!!

Phil. 4:13➔  I can do all things through Christ which strength-eneth me.  (Repeat as necessary...)

To live the abundant life in Christ you need the discipline to be faith-ful to “the duty of every day...”

In both places where that phrase is found in the Bible, there is more to the phrase...  The fullness of that twice mentioned phrase reads➔

as the duty of every day required...

It’s like we have daily spiritual requirements that we need to meet to stay spiritually healthy...  And we must exercise self discipline to maintain them.

The “duty of every day” for the Christian includes

*Submitting yourself to God...

*Resisting the devil...

*Dying to self...

*Saying, “No” to sin...

*Reading your Bible...

*Praying to the Lord...

*And walking with God!

There may be more things than that, but certainly not less...

Again...  Some days your flesh will fight you on these things, kicking & screaming...  But by the grace & power of God, you can overcome!

And when you do...  How sweet it is!➔ 

Prov. 13:19  The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul: but it is abomination to fools to depart from evil.

See that you’re found in the first half of that verse, & not the second.

And haven’t you found it to be true...

Haven’t you ever found that when you press through the opposition of the flesh to follow the leadership of the Spirit, that when it’s all said and done, you were glad you did?!

Sometimes the flesh fights the hardest when the biggest blessing is waiting on the other side of your obedience to God...

It’s like the devil knows what you’re about to gain, and he fights hard-er to keep you from getting it...

And it’s like God knows the blessing that He has in store for you if you’ll press on and discipline yourself to do right...  And so the Lord allows things to get a little more difficult to see if you will go ahead and press on by faith...

And then if you do, when the battle’s over, having pressed on through the fight, you get to the other side of the battle, and you find the spoils of spiritual warfare!  

And you raise your voice to heaven and give glory to God!  

I mentioned earlier, that the word discipline only occurs once in the Bible, and that’s in Job 36:10...  But though the word discipline only occurs once, the idea of discipline can be found throughout the Bible.

And one of the greatest descriptions of self discipline in the Bible, or anywhere, for that matter...  is found in I Cor. ch. 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.

This is a great verse, and one that every Christian needs to know & digest.  I recommend that you memorize it...  

Of course it will take discipline to memorize this verse about discipline...  But it will be worth it!

*EXPOUND I Cor. 9:27

Paul is not letting his body tell him what to do...  He is telling his body what to do...

That is, he is not a slave to his flesh...  He is not a servant to his body.

Rather, he disciplines himself to bring his body into subjection to cause his body to be a servant to Jesus Christ...

He presents it a living sacrifice, holy acceptable unto God, which is his reasonable service...  And it is our reasonable service as well!

Your old flesh wants some things, and sometimes you just got to tell 

It No!  

Your carnal nature... your flesh... is not your friend...  It is an enemy to your very well being.➔ 

I Pet. 2:11 says➔  Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

Abstain from fleshly lusts...  Abstinence takes discipline, no matter 

what fleshly lust you are abstaining from.

You know, even apart from Christian living, there are many desirable things to obtain that require discipline in order to obtain them... 

Look at the context of I Cor. 9:27...

I Cor. 9:24-25 (EXPOUNDING)➔

{24} Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. 

{25} And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. 

{26} I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: 

{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.

Exercising discipline in other areas of your life can help you to be more disciplined in your Christian life...  

Therefore I recommend incorporating some exercises in self disci-pline into your life...  Little things that can bring great dividends.

*Joe Louis - In traning - Chocolate cake...

*Make your bed...  Cf. me when I lived alone - Look up the Make Your 

  Bed graduation speech on YouTube by Admiral William McRaven...

*While your eating a snack... (chips, nuts, popcorn, crackers...)

  When you catch yourself mindlessly eating, make it a point to wait a 

  certain amount of time before eating the next one... 

  -If reading a book, wait till you finish the page...  Be creative...

*Put away your clothes...  Hang them up, or put them where they go...

*Go the speed limit... For those who regularly speed, that would be a 

  great exercise in self discipline... And could save you from a ticket!

*Look for opportunities to do little exercises in self discipline... 

Why?  Because exercising discipline in other areas of your life can help you to be more disciplined in your Christian life.  

First time I fasted not for spiritual purposes... wasn't even saved. *Make weight... 

It’s an interesting phrase, “exercising discipline”.   Interesting be-cause exercise is one of the things that takes discipline to accomplish...

I Tim. 4:8 says➔ For bodily exercise profiteth little...

And for the Christian, some of that profit that you can gain as you push yourself in physical exercise, can help you to push yourself in spiritual endeavors.  

It can help you to push yourself 

*To read more Bible... 

*Or help you push yourself to get out to church more often...

*Or push yourself to get that person a tract... *And more!

There is another good verse about self discipline in I Corinthians...

And I am going to guess that when we see it, it will be eye opening for some of you, because it will be like you have never noticed it before...

And maybe you haven’t.➔

I Cor. 6:12  All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

Even if something isn’t overtly wrong, it can become a sin when it brings you under its power...

We know there are plenty of wrong things that bring people under their power.  *Cigarettes, Alcohol, drugs, pornography...

These addictions bring people under their power and ruin lives...

That’s why the best way to keep from getting addicted to anything bad is to never start!

So many things want to suck you in and take over your life...  

The wrong kind of music can do that.  Gambling can do that...  

Spending money...  Going into debt...  These things can take over your life and bring you under their power...

Lying can do that...  Stealing can do that...  

Demonic games, movies, books, and TV shows can all bring you under their power...
 But the Lord Jesus Christ can make you free!!

Still, the lesson from I Cor. 6:12 is that even a good thing, when not done in moderation can bring you under its power...  

Phil. 4:5 says➔ Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.

1828 - moderation

1. Restraint of violent passions or indulgence of appetite...

3. Frugality in expenses.

Speaking of appetite or eating, as in def. #1...

*Illus – Chuck Madaus - candy bar

Sometimes Christians get victory over the glaring sins of life, but excuse themselves as they allow other things to take control and have power over them.

Christian Poem I came across many years ago

Saintly Joe Glorite had none of the vices

Except that he doted on sugar and spices.

He looked with disdain on the pipe and the bottle, 

But his caloric intake he never could throttle...

And so Paul says➔ all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

...I will not be brought under the power of any.  That is self discipline! 

Nothing ought to have power over you but the Lord!

Anything else got power over you that you need to rein in, or get rid of?

If so, it is time for you to go to battle and wrestle it off the throne of your heart so Jesus can take His rightful place there...

Among the fruit of the Spirit is temperance... 

1828 - temperance - Moderation; particularly, habitual moderation in regard to the indulgence of the natural appetites and passions...

It’s keeping under your body...  It’s self discipline...  It’s Rom. 8:13➔  

For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

There is another verse like I Cor. 6:12...  It is I Cor. ch. 10:23➔

All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.

If a thing is not edifying you, but dragging you down spiritually, than you need to discipline yourself to stay away from it.

And then note, that both I Cor. 6:12 & 10:23 begin by saying that though all things are lawful➔ all things are not expedient...

That is, maybe the thing won’t send you to hell, but it might not be helpful to you... and it might not be suitable to Christian behavior. 

And it might hurt someone else...  And it might be a bad testimony...  

And it might not glorify God.

And so you must discipline yourself to see that➔  Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, (you) do all to the glory of God.

And in so doing, God will be glorified, and you will be edified...  And that will be a double blessing!!