(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Okay, 2 Peter chapter 1, I want to particularly focus on the first 11 verses, so starting in verse 1, 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 1, Simon Peter a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our saviour Jesus Christ. So this is obviously to the saved, this epistle is to the saved and in verse 2 he says grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord according as his divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that have called us to glory and virtue. So basically we've been given everything we need for life and godliness, in fact he's called us to glory Verse 4 whereby given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Right, partakers of the divine nature sounds pretty good doesn't it? Verse 5 and beside this giving all diligence add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge. Right, so diligence is steady application in business of any kind, constant effort to accomplish what is undertaken, exertion of body or mind without unnecessary delay or sloth, due attention, industry, assiduity and care, heed and heedfulness. So basically the following list that we're about to see now is something that we need to put constant maximum effort into but with all care as well. So it starts with faith, we didn't put any effort into faith did we? It starts with faith but the diligence is to then add to the faith. So this is an automatic, everything on this list doesn't suddenly come naturally because you're saved, there's some of that false doctrine out there you're just automatically going to become a good Christian. No, it takes all diligence, we need to give all diligence it says okay. Right, add to your faith virtue. Right, what's virtue? Well virtue basically is moral goodness so we need to add to our faith the moral goodness. Now this is something that obviously we have to give some diligence to add to and basically it's getting our morals and values in line with God's. So it starts after faith, faith is the beginning then it starts with getting our morals and values in line doesn't it? And you can see when you see the progression here because how could we add knowledge if our morals are off? If our morals and values are off you're more likely to get offended by the Bible aren't you? You'd be more likely to get offended than to build knowledge wouldn't you? If you read the Bible, you read the Bible as you know and we could say as unsaved or as basically a baby Christian and a lot of that stuff's going to offend you isn't it? You're going to find it hard to add knowledge. Can you imagine studying Genesis 19 or Romans 1 if your virtue is of the world, if your morals are of the world, studying about what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah, studying about reprobates and you're still thinking how the world thinks, oh you know it's love, love and we're all you know people are just born that way and everything else. No you need to get your morals and values right first. How about even proverbs on child rearing? How hard is that for a new Christian sometimes to deal with that especially in this society that children need the rod of correction yeah and spare not for their crying? That's tough to deal with isn't it? You've got to get that in line for us. What about God's wrath in Revelation? That's not the God of the world is it? That's not the God of the Bible we're told, sorry, that's not how we're told the God of the Bible is and going through Revelation and seeing I mean there is some wrath spilling out of God there isn't there on everyone and now it's hard to get your head around at the beginning even 1 Corinthians 5 on church discipline yeah you imagine you just got saved you jumped straight into 1 Corinthians 5. You're not going to build much knowledge there you're going to find out I think that's going to be a stumbling block for you that what what drinking doesn't everyone in the world drink or fornication what's wrong with that you know what get kicked out of a church what sort of a weird place is that you know well no that's what that's what the Bible says Ephesians 5 on marital roles without getting you without getting your morals in line with God without getting your values in in line a wife submit to her husband what sort of people are you you know what sort of stone age backwards prehistoric men are these you know what sort of stupid submissive wife and that's the sort of thing that will go through people's heads and that's a stumbling block for many isn't it so first we need to add that virtue but after virtue you can then add knowledge can't you after virtue you can add knowledge once you're thinking how God thinks you can really start to grasp the truths in life can't you and then it starts to open up to you psalm 119 you don't have to turn there 66 says teach me good judgment and knowledge for I have believed thy commandments so basically when you're studying accepting the truths in the words of the word of God proverbs 26 says for the Lord giveth wisdom out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding so the knowledge comes from the word of God doesn't it that's where it comes from the word of God but you need to get get in line with God's way of thinking first be able to then add knowledge okay verse six then says and to knowledge temperance what is temperance well basically moderation particularly habitual moderation regard the indulgence of the natural appetites and passions restrained or moderate indulgence as temperance in eating and drinking temperance in the indulgence of joy on earth temperance in eating and drinking is opposed to gluttony and drunkenness and in and in other indulgences to excess now basically temperance is moderation another common word for itself control okay self-control now obviously we need the knowledge to know what to be self-controlled about don't we so we've had to get the virtue to get the knowledge we've got the knowledge to get the temperance because without the knowledge what is it that we need to be self-controlled about now we need the self-control though because it says in verse six and to temperance patience so we need the self-control before we can work on the patience so how can i work on patience if i don't have self-control and and it's this i want to focus on today the title of my sermon is improving your self-control improving your self-control i was thinking about this after last week so last week if you turn quickly to first corinthians chapter nine and we went through first corinthians chapter nine and at the end of first corinthians nine in verse 25 the bible reads first corinthians 9 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 and incorruptible i therefore so run not as uncertainly so fight i not as one that beateth the air but i keep under my body and bring it into subjection lest that by any means when i've preached to others i myself should be a castaway okay now we're striving for the mastery of incorruptible rewards aren't we therefore we need to be temperate or self-controlled in all things right okay because they're doing it for a corruptible crown and it's saying people that's striving for the mastery there they're temperate in all things in all things and i think sadly this is a stumbling block for many many many christians this is a this is basically a blocker this is as far as people get on this list often because self-control is needed for regular bible reading isn't it for a good prayer life regular soul winning regular church attendance avoiding junk food junk drink stuff like that in your life resisting other addictions smoking caffeine maybe netflix series keeping your speech clean controlling your anger maybe it's doing regular exercise being healthy giving to others being on time resisting sin and all the many different it all takes self-control doesn't it all take self-control self-discipline whatever you want to call it temperance it all requires that now have a look back to um back to second peter one there verse six then says and to temperance patience and to patience godliness so how do we start learning and working on the patience in temptation and tribulation if we don't have the self-control to resist it in the first place how can we do that but it's after that then comes the godliness after the patience the patience needed to persevere in those times of temptation tribulation now godliness is a religious life a careful observance of the laws of god and performance of religious duties proceeding from love and reverence for the divine character and commands christian obedience clearly you need patience don't you to be able to to be what the what what what's described as a godly person and we need the godliness because it then says in verse seven and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity so we need the godliness for real brotherly kindness okay now many christians think they have the brotherly kindness down because they like some other christians because they're buddies mates you know they get on with with some other christians this is a talk this this here is talking about a kindness towards all your brothers and sisters in christ not oh not necessarily oh just to be seen to be kind no it's the kindness it's in your heart a wanting to give to everyone i don't mean just for our own gain or to appear to be holy and it's not being best friends with everyone no one can be best friends with with everyone unless if they're fake because the truth is we're not all going to have 100 in common with everyone but it's talking about having a kindness having something inside you where you want to be kind to your brothers and sisters um but it comes before the charity because how do you expect to be filled with love charity to the non-believers to everyone else in the world if you can't be kind to fellow believers first right okay but and and with that Colossians 3 14 says and above all things put on charity which is a bond of perfectness so the real charity true charity not the world's charity not the world's just giving money to bums on the street who are drug addicts and alcoholics to go and to go and buy more not the charity of you know just telling everyone what they want to hear you know just saying things and telling everyone how loving you are but the real charity of wanting to give to others wanting to give to everyone is the icing on the cake isn't it that's that that's where we're we're looking to to aspire to get to okay but noticing that passage there there's a clear progression there isn't there faith to virtue he's talking about adding them virtue to knowledge to temperance and like i said which unfortunately i think as far as many christians get to now there are some great examples in the bible of people that show that self-control um we're not going to turn there but in genesis 39 you've got joseph and potiphar's wife um second samuel 16 you've got where david's getting cursed by shimmy eye and and somehow he just manages to not just go over and chop his head off um you got you've got daniel one with daniel shadrach mishak and abednego and and the pulse diet that they managed to go on with all these fine meats and things being offered to them what about the patience of joe just unbelievable isn't it um but one of my favorites turn to matthew 26 matthew chapter 26 and verse 51 and behold one of them which were with jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword and struck a servant of the high priest and smote off his here his ear then said jesus under him put up again thy sword into his place for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword think yourself that i cannot now pray to my father and he shall presently give me more than 12 legions of angels but how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled that thus it must be so jesus christ had some self-control there because if i had at my uh at my fingertips 12 legions of angels i'll tell you what there'd be some stuff going on especially when i'm getting arrested by those scum bags those angels would just be getting called up every five minutes you know in the middle of this song when i'm seeing people drifting off and stuff angels get in there but but he had some self-control didn't he and obviously he's a great example of jesus christ is in many many places but um for me i like that because i think you know that you know you might think oh well that's silly well no imagine having at your at your command 12 legions of angels i think that would be hard to be controlled with that but you might be sitting there thinking look i've i've got no self-control i find it hard to be disciplined what what can i do it doesn't just come naturally like we said how do you what's the diligence how do you work towards that because we're told to give all diligence aren't we now i think there are some practical things that i believe can help with this and i was thinking about also in in like he talked about that those striving for the mastery for corruptible crowns he's talking about people in the world for things like that and they're things that we can apply because he's saying to do that that we should be basically the way he's implying there is that we should be doing the same for our incorruptible crowns so how do we improve our self-control well okay i've got a list here and and there's seven points on this list and you might disagree with some of you might already have some of these down maybe you can maybe take one of these things today i think it would be great um i think it might help you and i think everyone really could work on their self-control to some degree but like i said for many i think that you kind of you could easily just stop at that point can't you can stop at the self-control bit and then you never really reach that next bit because it's easy to just go well i'm a sinful christian well we're all just sinners that's it yeah we are all sinners 100 percent we're all sinners but we're told to give all diligence all diligence to go through this list so number one i believe focus on specific goals so focus on specific goals so turn of philippians chapter 3 philippians chapter 3 and verse 13 philippians 3 13 brethren i count not myself to have apprehended but this one thing i do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching unto unto those things which are before i press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of god in christ jesus let us therefore as many as be perfect be thus minded and if anything ye be otherwise minded god shall reveal even this unto you okay so what are your goals your goals maybe it's to read the bible cover to cover in x amount of time or maybe it's to give up a particular addiction or sin set definite goals set that goal verse 13 there says says to reach forth toward your goals he's saying here he's saying reaching forth unto those things which are before okay verse 14 and 15 says to be single-minded or focused on your goals he says that be thus mind if anything you be otherwise minded god shall reveal this unto you he's pressed toward the mark for the for the prize of the high calling of god in christ jesus now some people could picture their goal maybe write it down remind themselves each day and i think you should keep that and like i said it there are goals there are things you're finding oh with self-control set a goal for that try and achieve that oh never mind i just can't get over this one thing no set a goal work on it and you'll see people do that in in sports and in many other vocations where they want to achieve something they'll set that goal and they'll focus on that goal i mean if you talk to to champions in in many different different sporting disciplines they will actually focus on that prize they're focused on that winning they they will start imagining themselves being up there with their hand lifted up the champion of whatever it is and people and and for many people that will work for them because it's i'm not going to fail this is what i'm going to achieve focus on but focus on that in your in your walk with god focus on those individual things those individual hurdles that you need to get get over those individual tests of your self-control uh turn to philippians uh so in philippians so turn to verse uh chapter four verse eight he says here in chapter four verse eight finally brethren whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any virtue and if there be any praise think on these things so if your goals are true honest just pure lovely of good report focus on them focus on you got nothing wrong with that is there focus on the good things focus on where you want to be focus on on on the things that the place you want to be after that that whether it be healthier less sinful in certain ways whatever it is focus on no things um john four turn to john four sorry so gospel of john chapter four and verse 31 we see a great example of jesus doing this here where says in the mean while his disciples prayed him saying master eat but he said unto them i have meat to eat that ye know not of therefore said the disciples one to another have any man brought him all to eat jesus saith unto them my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work now jesus folks are finishing his work to the point where he didn't even need to eat with them he's got a goal there his goal obviously was to going get the gospel out to all the lost sheep of the house of his own he's out there just just just preaching the gospel he's saying and he goes on there to talk about that afterwards but um but for us focus on it get a goal focus on it hit them one by one get over those those hurdles those problems where you can't you you're just finding that self-control you can't deal with so number one number one there sorry was was to focus on specific goals number two is to have accountability so have accountability turn to proverbs 15 proverbs chapter 15 and verse 3 proverbs 15 3 says the eyes of the lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good okay remind yourself regularly that god is watching everything i think it's easy to forget that sometimes isn't it remind yourself have it in your mind that everything you do i mean let alone everything you think but everything you do god is watching isn't he he's watching everything you do have some accountability for that god is watching everything you do but if that's not enough turn to hebrews chapter 12 because sadly that isn't enough for many people hebrews chapter 12 and verse 1 hebrews 12 1 wherefore seeing we also accomplished about with so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us looking unto jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of god now verse 2 is obviously a great example of jesus focus on on his goal but verse 1 there is showing that we are accountable to others aren't we we are accountable to others and and that's something you can picture you could think look i've got a lot of people watching me whether or not you believe there are people in heaven watching some people have different beliefs on that or whether or not it's just your your your immediate family your church family whatever you are you are encompassed by a great cloud of witnesses but if picturing that isn't enough tell your spouse tell your parents your friends your family about your goal not to show off hey by the way i'm going to be reading the bible for the 20th time this week and uh you know just thought i'd let you know just so unaccountable no not to show off but but if there's something you need to get over share it share it with with someone so you have some accountability because i mean there's i know brother john here is and i was to to some degree a lot of people that get a personal trainer or something a trainer of some of some point like that basically the one the number one reasons is for accountability and they admit that look there's a lot of people you you'd be surprised because you think when you work in these gyms and stuff you're looking at these guys and you're thinking all these people are really wealthy they've just got all this money to get this personal trainer a lot of the time they're not a lot of the time they're actually scraping together the money because they know that if they don't have that accountability to someone where they've booked in a time and they're going to be there waiting for them they know they won't turn up they know they won't turn up and do the exercise they won't do the training it's that accountability of someone who knows what their goal is what their target is and that they they have someone to answer to okay having someone and obviously that should be god but for many if that's not enough for you tell someone right this i'm going to give up this or i'm going to start doing this or this is what i'm going to do use that use that to your benefit okay so improving your self-control number three on improve your self-control is to remember the cost of failure remember the cost of failure so turn to first corinthians chapter 11 okay first corinthians chapter 11 and this is speaking of the lord's supper we're going to be covering that next week but from from verse 29 he says for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself not discerning the lord's body for this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep for if we would judge ourselves we should not be judged but when we are judged we are chastened of the lord that we should not be condemned with the world wherefore my brethren when you come together to eat tarry one for another and if any man hunger let him eat at home that you come not together unto condemnation and arrest will i set in order when i come now i'm sure that this part of the letter to the corinthians and there's a lot of there's a lot of stuff as we've been going through in first corinthians and a lot of chastisement but i think this part would have put them off treating the lord's supper as some sort of feed up don't you think i think it would have put them off just treating it as some sort of big feast and it would have been put them off just coming to the lord's supper with all this you know just clear problems and issues and open sin and everything else so god was punishing them wasn't he with he says here weakness sickness and death and i think having having an eye on that like i said there having having a reminder of the cost of failure is is is such a benefit to us that's why chastisement is there isn't it chastisement and other repercussions of failure should help us stay on track shouldn't they and that's the idea of chastisement but it's so common for christians to just ignore that part and to just oh i'm being tested by the devil i'm being tested by the devil i'm being you know it's the devil doing this and that and and you know sometimes the devil can be used chastisement i believe but but i i do believe when things happen in life you should first be trying to look and pray and and seek god and and think the first he should be thinking am i being chastised because god says he'll do it doesn't he he's a loving father he said he said as a loving father he will chastise us so why why do we many people never think they're being chastised but we know we're not perfect and we want to be aware of the chastisement and if it's sin be sure that god does chastise look at hebrews 12 11. i know many of us read you know part maybe hebrews 12 5 when we're soul winning we read it do we really think about it ourselves hebrews 12 11 says now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous nevertheless afterward it yielded the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby okay so it should yield shouldn't it the peaceful fruit of righteousness so when we're being chastised when and and the thought of the chastisement that should be something which which should encourage us to to get right should encourage us to improve our self-control it should encourage us to be self-controlled when we know there that we're going to be getting punished for it so a good thing to have in your mind that if it's not a specific sin and it's sometimes it's not this it's necessarily a specific sin that we're trying to work on just remind yourselves of the negatives of failure anyway because there are negatives aren't there to all these things that we want to improve to lack of self-control it could be the impression of your kids it could be knowing that your kids are watching you just indulging and not controlling the flesh having no self-control and knowing that you're likely to form that in your child or maybe maybe you don't have kids maybe it's it's people around you maybe it's your church maybe it's just that you're not doing as much for god because of that lack of self-control with things um remind yourselves of the negatives of failure okay so improve your self-control number four number four is aim for rewards aim for rewards so turn to first corinthians two now first corinthians chapter two the idea of this sermon is because it's you know often you know the preacher you'll just be on sin and this is sin and that is sin but the idea is to hopefully give you some ways that i believe can help you with with this which is a big problem isn't it self-control is a hard thing i think in this culture as well maybe i don't want to blame it on the culture we all have sinful flesh and we all choose to do things but but i think i think there probably is more of an encouragement to just live life if you want to do what you like you know if it feels good do it now we need self-control in life and number four aim for rewards so we're in first corinthians chapter 2 and verse 9 says here first corinthians 2 9 but as it is written i have not seen nor ear heard neither have entered into the heart of man the things which god has prepared for them that love him okay now that is one of many promises in the bible about rewards isn't it one of many promises about rewards and look it says there it says it says i have not seen or heard neither entered into the heart of man the things which god has prepared for them that love him we don't even know he hasn't even we don't even know some of the many things that god has prepared for us and god constantly is talking about the rewards in life crowns and rewards in heaven as well as blessings on earth and i'm not talking about you know the the pentecostal type thing but there are blessings on earth um and god tells us about the rewards for a reason doesn't he because there are many many verses he has it just put them there just hey you know it's going to be great he's telling us about rewards because rewards should inspire us they should inspire us to go on to good things shouldn't they and they should inspire us to be self-controlled because the rewards aren't just for going out soul winning and getting people saved okay they're rewards for every part of the christian life and and like animals and kids what do we do i mean people some people here i'm sure have trained an ant maybe trained a dog and and okay we're not dogs but we do the same with kids don't we we offer rewards and we offer chastisement and that's exactly how god deals with us as well but we need to want the rewards and sometimes it can be hard because we do live a life of faith so it's not that right today i i i got over a certain goal and tomorrow suddenly i've got you know some something great's happened and suddenly i've you know a new car just just turned up at my house or whatever it is that you know you feel is going to be a blessing in life um it doesn't work like that sometimes it could be a lot a lot later and in the same way in the same way that the the rewards in heaven it can feel like it's a long way off sometimes can't it but maybe remind yourself remind yourself of the rewards keep reminding yourself of that and it might help you with your self-control um use that incentive to improve your self-control and turn to galatians 6 and verse 9 Bible says galatians 6 9 and let us not be weary in well-doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not so don't give up don't give up you will reap if you keep the self-control don't give up keeps the self-discipline keep that temperance keep that self-control aim for the rewards keep them on your mind okay that was number four aim for rewards right number five in improving your self-control okay this is a big one i think is avoid obvious temptations avoid the obvious temptations okay it's not just oh well you know i i i need to have these things in front of me to prove my self-control no i believe it's step by step you're never going to improve your self-control if you just constantly just got all the temptations around you the whole time things that you can control turn to proverbs 22 proverbs chapter 22 and by the way this is identical in proverbs 27 and i think when you got got it written twice there's good reason for it proverbs 22 and verse 3 says 22 3 a prudent man for seeth the evil and hideth himself but the simple pass on and are punished okay prudent is cautious careful of consequences like the diligence really that second peter one five commanded okay so if you're cautious careful consequences if you actually care about that you care about your sin you care about yourself control it says here that the prudent man for seeth the evil you should look for where the problems are going to come from and hideth himself don't be simple and just pass on and a punish okay we need to be aware of the risks ahead that's part of self-control you know a little saying some people say is out of sight out of mind you might have heard that before out of sight out of mind so if eating junk food is a problem don't have it in the house if it's a problem don't have it in the house don't buy it and think oh well i'll just have the odd thing if you just if you're one of them people that i you know goes to have a biscuit and next thing you know the whole packet's gone in a minute a lot of people are like that aren't they don't get the packet in the first place like why have it in the house you know um if your phone is likely to distract you during bible time switch it off oh well i'll just keep it on just just switch it off or you know maybe evening like we've talked about before there's a sinful time for you so you just can't avoid any evening partaking in sinful things well get up earlier and go to bed earlier get up earlier get up early when it's not a problem if you get up early you're going to be tired earlier aren't you go to bed earlier um i turn to psalm 101 okay psalm 101 and i i mean this psalm's got so much about this in it and we're just going to read the psalm okay psalm 101 and from verse one okay i will sing of mercy and judgment unto thee oh lord will i sing i will behave myself wisely in a perfect way oh when wilt thou come unto me i will walk within my house with a perfect heart i will set no wicked thing before mine eyes i hate the work of them that turn aside it shall not cleave to me so no wicked thing okay no wicked thing he doesn't want it in front of his eyes the self-control is so much easier when it's not in your face isn't it it's so much easier when it's not in your face so maybe it's a self-control not to lust after the opposite sex okay delete your scantily clad worldly friends on social media just delete them or unfollow them if you're worried about being rude at someone you really think that you're going to try and reach with the gospel or avoid the trip to the beach at peak time when it's full of half-naked bathers oh you're one of those you know prudy christians no we're trying to be sensible we shouldn't be setting wicked things before before our eyes we know that it's wicked don't we is it not wicked to walk around half dressed is is not it's not flawed your nakedness wickedness so why do we then think it's okay to go and hang around at swimming pools and and beaches with a load of load of people in dressed in next to nothing men in you know i don't want to give you the images but why fronts and women in in bikinis and the rest of it and why why is that then okay why would you do that especially especially when it's something that maybe does tempt you okay just just get it out get it don't set it before your eyes and that's the same on stuff you watch because sometimes you know you'll you'll try and scroll through youtube for a video or something and and all the junk's coming up or if you're on facebook or whatever else it is instagram so much stuff isn't it it's hard enough out in the world with that isn't it it's hard enough in the world and and in certain workplaces and everything else let alone you don't need it on your phone as well do you because for many people that is an issue that's a problem don't set it before your eyes it says here in verse four throw would heart shall depart for me i will not know a wicked person who so privily slandereth his neighbor him will i cut off him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not suffer so avoid bad influences too avoid bad influences so is what's role one role one if you're quitting an addiction what's the first thing that anyone would tell you is to avoid people who are doing the same addiction surely no and it's funny how they flock together instead but if you really want to stop whatever it is if you want to stop drinking are you just going to go and hang out with your friends down the pub anyway no i've got you i'll be fine no if you if it's a problem for you you need to cut them out okay now it might not be forever and it might and and with drinking it should be but with other things you want to quit smoking say you want to quit smoking why then spend all your time with smokers are you really going to be able to do it i quit smoking before i couldn't be around a smoker because when i was it's so hard and in the same way with many other things many other sins and i'm not just talking about addictions as well but many other sins if you're around people that have a problem with it how on earth are you going to stop that and i'm not trying to say right you've got to that's it if half your friends do something cut them all out of your life but you need to be honest to them just say look i can't i've i'd find that too hard because it does it just makes it a little bit more acceptable doesn't it with many sins with many sins if there's someone that's openly sinful in a certain way something you want to get rid of you have problem with self-controlling that sin then you need to separate you need to have that time apart from them and hopefully then try and encourage them as well if they want your friendship then hopefully they would maybe do the same thing because a lot of these things are you know they're poison and and sin just is such a downward slope isn't it what about what about you're trying to stop gossiping because gossip always sounds better and i know i talked about this at length last week but always sounds better with other gossips should you then just be hanging around with people that are gossiping you're just going to get drawn back into it aren't you you will get drawn back into it what about pride maybe pride's your issue maybe you just don't have that self-control to not lift yourself up to not puff yourself up to not try and show off to others to not try and be that that that big person whatever in whatever way why hang around with other prideful people then why do that because you're not going to be able to cut it out are you so it's something that for me you know david's making it clear there he's saying he's saying who so privately slandered with his neighbor him will i cut off him that having high looking a proud heart will not suffer now obviously for the other reasons as well that they're they're a problem in in many ways okay verse six he says mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land that they may dwell with me he that walketh in a perfect way he shall serve me so get around people that encourage your self-control if you have a problem with self-control try and get around people that have that can handle it that have self-control surely that's important isn't it that's what that's what we should we should try and surround ourselves and we as a church that's how we want to be and that will encourage others in the church as well to try and get get on top of these things verse seven says he that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight get away from the dishonest as well for some people that's the problem isn't it just those little lies lying about this lying about that if you're spending all your time with dishonest people it just rubs off doesn't it you're more likely and it's more excusable verse eight says i will early destroy all the wicked of the land i may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the lord okay and obviously he goes he goes hard at the end there doesn't he but first peter 211 says dearly beloved i beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lust which war against the soul that means cut them out cut them out that's not oh well you know you know i'm just i'm just a bit of a sinful christian yeah well i'm not perfect no one's perfect no we're not but we should be striving for the mastery shouldn't we we should be giving all diligence not just oh well that's just me no we should be working every day all diligence that's hard work isn't it that's hard work and if we can't get over the self-control we've got no chance to work on the patience do we we have no chance to work on the patience the godliness how can we do that if we don't have the self-control and like i said if you're around people like it could be really hard now you might find look i'm fine with that that's that's good and then try and encourage those people as well but if it's a problem for you you need you need to be around or you need to stop being around people who are partaking sins that you need to get out your life issues addictions whatever it is okay improve your self-control number six make a routine make a routine routines are good um now i'm not saying you have to bind your whole life by routine every day but turn to psalm five psalm five and verse three psalm five three says my voice shalt thou hear in the morning oh lord in the morning will i direct my prayer unto thee and will look up now that's a good way to start the day isn't it with prayer and acknowledgement of god yeah okay what a great way to start the day doesn't it make your days different any of you who do that and then you have that day have those days where you don't where you don't acknowledge god you haven't managed to get around to praying reading your bible in the morning it's a different day isn't it it is a different day um daniel prayed three times a day didn't he that was his way that's what he did three times a day that's actually how they called him out wasn't it but in psalm one it says that the blessed man meditates in the law day and night yeah day and night he's meditating in the law um turn to deuteronomy 11 though deuteronomy chapter 11 deuteronomy chapter 11 and verse 18 okay therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul and bind them for sign upon your hands that they may be as frontlets between your eyes and you shall teach them your children speak of them when thou sits in thine house when thou walkest by the way when thou lies down and when thou risest up now that is a strong family bible study routine that isn't it wow i mean look at that that's basically speaking of them when you're sitting in your house when you're walking outside of the house when you're lying down and when you're rising up and you're not just reading you're talking about it there that looks like a good bible study there and that's a pretty strong routine but when you're doing that when you have a set routine and this is when i'm doing this this is when i do that when you start the day well it's so much easier to maintain it isn't it and i think that you start with that you'll keep that routine so especially for things like bible study prayer church life whatever that's your routine that's when you do it that's the time you do it it's so much easier to stick to when it's set in stone now that could be hard i know for shift workers and others but you can still work the same way if you work if you're a shift worker and you work nights whatever it is an hour before work is when i read my bible for half hour whatever it is get just get get some some routine in there get it set in stone write it down if you need to it's so much easier to keep that control then when you have a routine i've always been a great fan of routine for things like that for when you're trying to maintain something um and and i find it harder to pull away when it's set in stone a routine rather than oh well i'll try and do it this or i'll do that at this you know i'll try and fit this in it just doesn't happen does it it doesn't happen um okay the virtuous woman in proverb 31 she rises she rises early in the morning didn't she it says in 31 15 you don't have to turn there but it says she rises also while it is yet night and giveth meat to her household and a portion to her to her maidens so she she's that that's not just she does it now and again that's when she rises she has a routine of rising obviously when it's still dark to get on with her day and and that's that's an example to all isn't it that lady and and yeah i i do believe a good healthy routine will really help with self-control as well um so like i say if you could just take one of these if you take all of them great if there's some you're not sure if it'll work for you but try and take something from this as well um right improve your self-control number seven number seven there's something which has really helped me with things is to use constant prayer constant prayer turn to romans 12 romans 12 and verse 12 says rejoicing in hope patient in tribulation continuing instant in prayer okay continuing gives you a picture of constant prayer doesn't it an instant is urgently so constant urgent prayer and you know famous verse first thessalonians 5 17 says to pray without ceasing doesn't it and yeah okay maybe that'd be a tall order if it was literally to live life in a non-stop prayer um but pray constantly for self-control throughout the day just just be in prayer all the time i'll pray like i'll pray in the middle of conversations and i'm sure some of you do maybe when you're soul winning and stuff a little prayers in my head to guide me with certain things awkward situations just to guide you just pray pray pray it doesn't have to be right you know now i'm kneeling down and making a big yeah do do some some good proper structured prayer as well but but little prayers little prayers pray without ceasing continuing instant in prayer pray when you feel that temptation coming pray when you feel that temptation coming to to when the self-control you can just feel that starting to go a little bit pray then turn to john 15 and from verse seven john 15 and verse seven if you abide in me and my words abide in you you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you here in is my father glorified that you bear much fruit so shall you be my my disciples as the father has loved me so have i loved you continue ye in my love if you keep my commandments you shall abide in my love even as i have kept my father's commandments and commandments and abide in his love so basically pray before you're already sinning while you're abiding in him ask what you will and it should be done unto you yeah so ask basically ask for self-control ask for that help with problems with your self-control before it's already too late before it's too late if you start to feel that anger coming on maybe it's anger road rage whatever it is pray in your head pray for help with it pray before you're now outside the the will of god yeah i know we pray a lot but when you're when you know you can feel that self-control being being lost that's a good time to to pray before you're you're now it's already it's a problem then it starts to put that block there doesn't it's hard then to pray you're feeling bad you feel like there's that block between you and god pray pray before pray when you're feeling it pray when things are going well as well pray for help just to maintain it pray for self-control um okay so improving your self-control was number one focus on specific goals number two have accountability number three was remember the cost of failure number four aim for rewards number five avoid obvious temptations number six was make a routine and number seven was use constant prayer okay back to second peter one then okay back to second peter chapter one and we saw this list from verse five it said beside this giving all diligence add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity okay four look at verse eight for if these things be in you and abound they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our lord jesus christ so we need all these things in abundance to be really fruitful okay we do if we have these things in abundance if they abound in us then then we shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our lord jesus christ like i said we're a soul-winning church here it's not just a soul winning is it and and you know it's easy to to to fall again it's easy to go back downhill it's easy for problems to rise it's easy to be a bad church member it's easy to to fail in many ways which which soul winning like we said before it doesn't cover the multitude of sins and it can become that you eventually become unfruitful in soul winning as well in the future if we can't get that self-control sorted um verse nine says but he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off and has forgotten that he was purged from his old sins so otherwise we're blind a blind christian is that is that a fully effective christian it's not is it that's what it says there it says otherwise we're blind and obviously it's not just talking about the self-control but self-control is right in the middle of there a blind christian not fully effective because there are many ways we can be effective as a christian verse 10 says wherefore the rather brethren give diligence to make your calling and election sure for if you do these things you shall never fall so again that diligence wasn't it the diligence that we achieve those good works for god now the calling and election is unto glory and virtue look at verse three there says according as his divine power given unto us all things that pertain unto life godliness through the knowledge of him that have called us to glory and virtue because this is one of them verses where the calvinists love to take out of context don't they and they start talking about your calling and election see you're called and elected no it's it's talking about your calling and election is unto glory and virtue okay remember ephesians 2 10 just after for by grace you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it's a gift of god not of works that any man should boast then verse 10 says for we're his workmanship creating christ jesus unto good works which god hath before deigned that we should walk in them that's what he wants us to do he's ordained that we should walk in them we should walk in good work sadly we don't all do that do in fact sadly many don't but it's the things plural we've just seen seen there in verse 10 of second peter one it's the things plural that we need to do to not fall for if you do these things you shall never fall okay and we need to get through that whole list don't we to do those things so that we don't fall um in in our calling and election towards glory and virtue okay um he says in verse 11 for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our lord and savior jesus christ so here you know work salvation is oh look you've got to do all these things to get into heaven well no because we already had the faith didn't we we know it's it's it's by grace through faith yeah not of yourselves so what's it talking about here well the key keyword here is abundantly so plentifully overflowing it won't just be an entrance it'll be an entrance basically with all the bells and whistles that's i want to go to heaven i want to go to heaven first class yeah i want to go to heaven i want to be be going in there with the with the red carpet rolled out i'm not saying i'm there but that's my aim that's what i want to get to i don't just want to be going i want to be going i want that entrance to be abundantly okay and if you want that first class heaven experience yeah i'm selling it now anyone wants anyone wants that first class heaven experience you need to tithe more no no you you need to work your way through the list don't you you need to work your way through the list and we can't just stop at one point oh well that's me no work give all diligence all diligence we need to work hard and if some of these things help you great because proverbs 25 28 says he that has no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls that is a useless city isn't it a city broken down and without walls and obviously it's talking about defenses really there isn't it um and you don't want to be you don't want to be one of those cities um on that let's pray emily father i thank you for your word thank you um thank you for that clear structure there in in second peter chapter one and and thank you that you give us everything we need for that for that and and but but help us to to give that due diligence that giving all diligence to to achieve what you want us to achieve and help us to to focus on that help us to focus on the rewards help us to focus on our goals help us to get in good habits help us to improve our self-control and those of us that find that hard help us to to please take things from this sermon not just to kind of close our ears and and just say oh well you know that's that and and and bristle our backs or anything help us to actually think yeah your your word's given us a lot of guidance a lot of help for this please help us to to apply it to our lives and help us to have a great great day now and in jesus name we pray amen