1 Peter 4.3 observes, there has already been enough time spent in doing what the Gentiles choose to do: carrying on in unrestrained behavior, evil desires, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and lawless idolatry.

Oh how true these words, written nearly two thousand years ago, are today: enough time has been spent carrying on in unrestrained behavior. The ‘final’ fruit of the Spirit is self-control.

Christians are to be controlled by the Spirit and not by the flesh. Our unredeemed flesh, that which contains from birth, Adam’s seed; the overwhelming, never ending, desire to please self and to live unrestrained, is the enemy of our soul.

The penalty for our rebellion has been paid by Jesus if we transfer our debt to Him by faith. The power of our rebellion has been broken if we will choose to obey God by the power of His Spirit within us. The presence of our rebellious nature remains with us as long as we remain in this body, for this body is eternally corrupted and incapable of perfectly obeying God.

This is why our God and Savior will give to all those who will live with Him forever on the new earth, a new body, that is no longer corrupted by the seed of rebellion and therefore no longer subject to the curse of death and decay. This is the hope, the joy and the longed for life of the Christian; the living with God and all those who have ever loved Him forever with no more tears, no more death, no more suffering.

Until then, we are to gain control of this fleshly life by living a Spirit led life. The life of the Spirit is a life of obedience to God as determined by the Word of God. The true Christian spends daily time with God in the Scriptures so that he can daily practice doing God’s will in the world thus disciplining his flesh from evil.

In this way, God is glorified by His people whose lives reflect the life, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.