This paper is dedicated to the study of dispersiveness and controllability of linear control systems on Lie groups. Dispersiveness means absence of recursiveness, that is contrary to the existence of control set. A linear control system on a Lie group associates with a derivation operator. For a linear system with stable derivation, it is shown that the system is dispersive if and only if the trajectories through the neutral element have no limit at infinity. As a consequence, a nonempty limit set at the neutral element is a necessary condition for the linear system to admit a control set or to be controllable. In the nondispersive case, the control sets are described by the Lie subgroup of all recurrent points of the automorphism flow of the system. If the derivation operator is asymptotically stable, the central limit set at the neutral element is the unique control set of the system.