Develop Spiritual Strength with Self-Control | Randy Bell | UltimateTube

God's work in your life involves cleansing and turning away from sin.

The first stage of spiritual growth is about developing purity and repentance.

The second stage is about being schooled and learning God's commandments.

Developing self-control and perseverance is key to spiritual strength and being used by God.

Thank you. I'm trying to get you to understand what God's doing in your life. If you're born again, which is the initiation of the kingdom of God's work, at that point then, God does something whether you understand it or not. And that's why I want you to understand. He begins to do a work. In that first phase of His work, He is beginning to cleanse you, to cause you to fully and completely turn away from all sin. And people like to use the word all-known sin. No, He's going to work on you to get rid of all sin that He told you in this book about, whether you know it yet or not. He's developing in you purity. He's pushing you to repentance and total deliverance from sin. That is His will. If you want to know God's will for you, that's the beginning. You must see that that's His pressure point, that's His focus, that's His action. That's what He's going to work in your life. If you don't hear it or understand it, you might get discouraged and buck against what He's doing or whatever, but that is what He's doing. Once you finish that first stage of that baby stage, then it goes on further. So remember, when we talk about the first stage, it's just little children being an infant. All you are is born again. You're converted. Then comes the activity that he's after when he begins to do the work out of 2 Peter 1, where he begins to move you to the promises he's given. He begins to activate grace in you and move through you. Like in verse 4, it says, we were also given absolutely terrific promises to pass on to you, your tickets to participation in the life of God, after you turned your back on a world corrupted by lust. The turning back is the first point, obviously. Then becomes the steps to get the promises. And that second phase is where we're looking at today, as we did the last time we talked about this section, phase 2. In phase two, remember that word children is not the same as little child or little children. It's two different Greek words. The English makes it a little confusing. The first one meant infant, but the child is a half grown. Basically, it's a long phase of life. If you think in the human form or human development, it's like from toddler to high school student. It's a long range of being a student, I guess you could say, or a child. You don't get out of being a child until after you graduate from high school, you'd be classed as an adult when you're 18. So this is a long period of immaturity that you have in your spiritual life also. Many people are not mature, even if they're older. And the goal here then is for God to take you to school, basically. He's going to school you. He's going to discipline you. He's going to raise you. His purpose here is not just the delivery from sin. That should have been done in the first step. this step is to push you to be developed that you're strong in character and i'll tell you today why that's important and what the important steps is so remember when we talk about when it said in first john i've written to you the second phase children because you know the father remember what god says no is we think the word no means yeah i got a familiarity with god that's not what it's saying remember in first john uh he earlier states what that means he says this we know that we know him if we keep his commandments. Knowing God, according to his translation or concept, is that you know him by being obedient to his commands. That's what knowing him means. So you don't want to generalize it or make it real simple. It's not. It's a concept that you are now in a state of being schooled, so you learn and know his commandments. Okay? Now, with that in mind, then, we want to make sure you understand the 2 Peter where it talks about the phases then. Remember the phases, the first phase, according to this, is for this very reason, add your diligence to the divine promises. Employ every effort in exercising your faith to develop virtue. That was phase one or step one. Then it says, from that point on, you need to put every work or energy into the fact to get from adding that virtue, develop knowledge, which is obedience to God. That's the knowledge he's talking about. Secondly, to exercise that knowledge to become self-controlled and in exercising self-control develop that steadfastness or strength or strong man. I just saw part of a movie yesterday about a high school kid or a young guy that went into the dog sled race up in Canada and he went against all these veterans and whatever and he went through it and they nicknamed him as he went through the long enduring process. they changed his name to Iron Will. I forget his name, but Iron Will somebody. And Iron Will is the very clarity of what God is trying to teach you. And we'll find that in Hebrews of what it says. He's trying to make you have an Iron Will. That's what character is all about. That you are developed with strength. That's what you're after. You know, we have church full of weaklings. You know that? The church is full of weaklings. And if you think of a little infant, they're weak. They're not strong, right? Infants are weak. And God doesn't want you to be weak. He wants you to have strength. So it's all got to do with developing your strength of character and will to do the will of God. So remember I gave you this a couple weeks ago. You probably don't remember. A quick review then. Knowledge means, first of all, filling your head with the Word of God so you understand what His commands are, what His concept of salvation is, and why it means repentance. It's got to do with morality. Repenting from immorality according to His standards. The second stage of self-control has to do with a whole bunch of areas of how you deal with that teaching of the Bible. What do you do with what you hit up in your head? What you do is you have to be brought to a place of controlling yourself. That comes through a lot of work by the Holy Spirit's part, but also work on your part. Most Christians won't work at this. Thirdly, then, in the place that God really is driving to through this whole stage, is to get you to have strength to persevere to do His will. You have no value. Think about a guy that goes into the Marines and what are the first thing they put him into? Training, right? And what is the training doing? They have this weakling guy come in there and they expect at the end of the training to have this tough guy who can fight like a maniac who can go through anything without food water stand days on end fight forever and they're turning him into a weakling, to a strong man, right? That's the point. This is what God's after for you. He wants to take you from being a weakling, spiritually, to a strong man. Why? Because he uses strong people. He can't use weaklings. What are weaklings going to do for him? Nothing. You won't be able to be used by God at all. And God's will for you is that He uses you, so His will, He's pressuring you to push you to be strong. If you don't listen, guess what happens? What happens if you don't listen? Let me change it. What happens when your parents told you things and you didn't listen? Ouch! Exactly. The sad thing is most Christians won't listen, so you get the ouch. And the ouch is what we're going to talk about. Because that's exactly how he develops it in us. So self-control and perseverance is the issue. And so in 2 Peter, we're going to look at phase 2. To integrity, we're going to add knowledge, self-control, and endurance. Because we're going down the stages to where God wants us. Hebrews 10.26 then, look at these verses. First of all, for if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. Think about what we talked about last week, if you can remember. The Lord Jesus came and sacrificed His life for us, bought us eternity. If you do not respond to that, there's not another plan. Right? There's no plan B or C or D. If you reject Jesus, there is nothing else. You don't have an option. There is no more help for you. The law didn't work to bring anybody into the kingdom. and prepared you to desire the Messiah's sacrifice. Now the sacrifice came for you. If you don't respond, you don't listen, you don't obey, there's no more but judgment coming. That's all that's left. So it says there very clearly, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. You are classed as an adversary if you don't bend to in obedience to the living God. You're an adversary instead of a servant. You are one or the other. You're either on his side or you're against him. Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment do you suppose will be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace. If all that effort and love put to you, if you reject it, you've basically spit in God's face and there's nothing else to help you. This is the solution for all mankind. Now, verse 30, For we know Him who said, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. And again, the Lord will judge His people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings, partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated, for you had compassion on me in my chains and jointfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. Notice I underline some words here. Endured, reproaches and tribulations. I've missed sufferings. I should have marked that one. And then it goes on to say, enduring possession for yourself in heaven. The words given here by Hebrews, by the teaching is, you are needing to be tough. If you are going to obey God, then you're going to have to be tough. See, most people are so weak when it comes to temptation, they just sin and I hope God forgives them. They don't stand up for what's right. In their marriages, they lie to their children. They cheat on their wives. They cheat on their taxes. They do everything they can because they're too weak. They make excuses for all these things. Hebrews is telling you, listen carefully here. I'm telling you, God wants you to endure and struggle through these sufferings. You must get through. If you don't hear it, you will be pushed to the brink by God Himself to force you to be obedient. That's what spanking does, isn't it? Spanking does that to children. Now look at what it says in verse 35. Therefore, do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance. Again, you need endurance. God says you need endurance. You need to stop being weak and be strong. You need endurance. He says you need to be strong because after you have done the will of God, you will receive the promise. until you become a strong person inside, a person who obeys the living God and stops running around making excuses for your behavior, you will never get the promise of God. Now, tell me, do you want the promise of God? Do you want the promise of God? Do you want God's blessing? To get it, you must obey first, it says, and you'll have to become strong to do it. It says you have to endure. Verse 37, For yet a little while, and he who is coming will come and not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith. Now we think of faith as kind of an abstract feeling. You believe in something in your head, you believe it. That's not what it's talking about here. Notice what he connects directly to that concept of living by faith. He says in the second stage of that, But if anyone draw back, my soul has no pleasure in him. If people will not follow Christ and turn away from him, they're the ones who do not have faith. They're the ones that prove they don't have faith by what they're doing in their life. They can speak with their mouth they believe in Jesus, but if they do not obey Him, they do not follow through the teachings He's given, they're drawing back and they do not have faith. And it says, verse 39, But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul. And I want to give you an example of this so you understand. Some churches teach that you lose your salvation. this is not what it's talking about and this is one of the places they teach it and here let me show you why let me go to John, the book of John where you see where we have a perfect example here of a guy named Judas Iscariot Judas Iscariot Everybody know him right One of the twelve disciples Now he is the one who partook with the group He was sent out with the twelve, and he did miracles, it says, because it said they went out and did miracles. He preached with them. He's traveled with Christ. All these things, he was there, but he drew back, didn't he? He drew back and it says when he died, it says he went to his place, which is eternal damnation. So he went to hell. Now, did he lose his salvation or did he not have it? Well, John tells us the answer. And John, it says in this portion, John 6, it says, Jesus answered them, did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil of the evil one and a false accuser. He was speaking of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for he was about to betray him, although he was one of the twelve. Jesus from the beginning called him what? A believer? They called him a devil. He called him a devil. Also in chapter 12 it says, But Judas Iscariot, the one of his disciples who was about to betray him, said, Why was this perfume not sold for 300 denarii, which is a year's wage for an ordinary workman, that money given to the poor instead? Now he did not say this because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief. And having the bag, in other words, he carried the financial treasure of the church. He was a treasure of the church at this time. It says, he took for himself what he was put into it. He pilfered the collections on his own. He was a known thief throughout the whole time. He never repented of being a thief. He lived being a thief the whole time. Jesus knew he was a devil from the whole time. It didn't say that Jesus said, I know you and you fell back and lost your salvation. Yet it says he participated. He tasted the gospel. He knew the truth around him, but he did not come to eternity. He went to judgment. This is the kind of person he's warning about in Hebrews. This kind of person like Judas. How closer can you get? You're next to Jesus. You're right there with him and you still don't go to heaven. Now, thinking of this phase then, let's think about it. If you truly are converted, he said, you're not the kind that goes back. You're the ones that continued on too, right? He mentioned that term. you keep going on. And here's what we're saying then. If you're truly in this and travel to phase two, it's toddler to teenager in the thinking. Toddler to teenager. The transformation from immaturity to adulthood is the issue. Not getting saved or not saved, not going to heaven or not going to heaven. It's already concerned that you're there. Number one, it is absolutely imperative that you become a tough, strong-willed Christian. The strength of character will carry you through to God's promises. This is what the will of God is according to Hebrews, to make you tough and strong to obey God's will. Number two, it takes strength or endurance to obey the will of God in spite of great resistance, opposition, trials, tribulations, and natural disasters. More people stop going to church because they say, my daughter got killed and God didn't save him. What's wrong with God? He must not be a loving guy. You know, they go through bitterness and whatever. the disasters and tribulations and trials, they make excuse why they're not going to follow God. If you do not have strength of character, you will not make it through any of these issues. This is what life's all about. My wife works for different people and I hear a lot about people's lives. There's one lady that she knows. She's so weak in character that she can't handle any changes. She gets all flustered and has to take a break. She can't take a job because... I mean, just everything about it, she can't handle life. And it's a terrible thing to think that you're so weak that you can't handle life. Everything has to be exactly in order, the way that makes her feel okay and safe. She can't take anything out of order, anything unexpected, anything that's not quite right in her mind. She collapses. She can't handle it. You know people like that? That's weakness. They're not strong people. They're weak. They can't handle life. You should not be living a life and you're so overwhelmed with life that you can't have any joy, peace, or whatever, that's terrible. That's not what God's after. He expects you to be so strong. These are nothing to you. You know what I'm saying? You should have nothing. He's like, that's no big deal. Who cares? We can adjust to that. Nothing's not an issue. Car broke down. House burned down. You know, who cares? That's what Job is taught, isn't it? Job said, hey, I lost my kids. Hey, God gave me life, and He didn't promise anything with me. I came in naked. I'm going out naked. Praise God. He loses all his wealth. praise God. You know, that's the strength that he's talking about. That's why they point to Job in the Bible as being a man of faith and strength. That's the example. You're able to handle life and say, so what? My God's taken me to heaven. He gives me everything. It's not a surprise to him. I can take this. Who cares? Tomorrow's another day and God will solve that issue. That's strength that he wants you to get to. People aren't there in maturity, but mature believers are there and say, I trust my God, right? I trust my God. I don't know the solution. Job didn't have the answers, but he said I trust my God. I trust my God. And sure enough, the evidence was in the Bible to tell you that that's what it's all about. Number three, weakness will throw you into defeat, bitterness, and sorrow. People that face issues get bitter and sorry they're alive. They're sorry they got married. They're sorry they have children. On and on they go, and you hear them when they talk and there's sadness and bitterness and everything's overwhelming to them and their life is worthless. It's because they're weak. It's not the situation. I know people that have 20 kids or 19 kids or 12 kids. You see them on TV. They're wonderful and have life. Other people say, oh, I've got three kids and I can't live. I've got one child that's overwhelming. What's my life going to be like and my neighbors? Who cares? That's weakness. Strength says, give me another kid. Strength says, hey, give me another neighbor. Strength is no big deal. I can face these things. Strength is the opposite of weakness. You know what I'm saying? Weakness will throw you into defeat, bitterness, and sorrow. The weak sin and give all kinds of excuses for their sin. The weak cannot stand disappointments. The weak cannot stand unexpected circumstances. The weak cannot stand unfavorable situations. And they do not handle temporary setbacks in their life. All they do is fuss, whine, and cry, and grumble, and complain. and they can't handle it. You see the difference of why God wants you to be strong? Look at chapter 11 verse 33 Here in chapter 11 of Hebrews it the famous faith chapter It lists person after person throughout history who faced greater difficulties than you and I will ever face, basically. Bigger trials, bigger situations. They get invaded by armies. They get destroyed. Their homes are burned down. Things that we never even have to face, they faced. And it says through all these things, it says, who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. They faced everything that could be thrown at them and God says, guess what? These people are just like you and they were strong enough to make it. I need you to be strong. And that's why character must be developed in your heart and life so that you are strong and not weak. you must be a strong man for God and not give in under pressure. 12.1 says, Therefore we also, since we're surrounded by these kind of mighty men and women who walked with God in obedience, it says, By a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us. Remember, that's phase one. Get it out of your system. Stop making excuses for sin. God gives you the grace to obey. Right? Is that what we're not taught? Grace gives you enough power. Therefore, you have no excuse for the way you're acting if it's wrong. You have no excuse. Grace is powerful and almighty and gives you everything you need to obtain the promises of God. So then he says, let us run with endurance. There's that word again. Endurance. Run with endurance the race that is set before us. He's given you a race to set before you to run to. Well, what is it? If you don't know where you're running, you get off the path, don't you? So he's going to tell us what it is we're to run to and so forth. Now, in chapter 12, verse 2 and 3, in the message it says it this way. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Another portion of God's Word translation said, focus on Jesus. So you put your eye on Jesus, who both began and finished this race that we're in. So Jesus already went to the race, so we should know from looking at Him what the race is. Right? Knowing and reading, and that goes back to knowledge. The first phase or first step of phase two, getting knowledge. What did Jesus do and where was He heading? That tells you where you're going and what He's after and what God's will is for you. Study how He did it. That's information. That's knowledge. the very thing of step one of phase two. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed. Have you lost sight of where you're heading? If you have, exhilarating finish with God, he could put up with anything along the way. Notice that. He could put up with anything along the way. Now, that's telling us that there are things coming in your way. Your life will not be peachy keen. It will not have all the solutions. You will never have all the money you want, and if you get all the money you want, you'll find out it's not an answer anyway. You'll never get the circumstances to always fall your way. You'll never get everything, quote, to make you happy because it's not designed for you to live this planet to have everything to be wonderful your way. That's not what you're here for. God instead is going to do something else. In your life, He's going to put circumstances. He's going to put situations to make you cry. to bend your will, to force you to get strong and to endure the circumstances here because he needs your character to be like Jesus. Now, here's what we do. Jesus, please give me strength. Jesus, please give me patience. Do you ever pray those prayers? Lord, help me. Give me strength. Do you know those are stupid prayers? Do you know those are stupid prayers? You know why? He doesn't give an answer that way. He will not give you... In other words, you think by saying that, he's going to get an electric plug out and stick it into you and go, there's some strength, and put it in, there's some patience. He won't do that. You're wasting your praying doing that. You're not going to receive patience or strength by saying, dear God, give me strength. You know that? I'll show you why in a minute here. in Hebrews it's so clear it says keep your eyes on him follow after what he's doing because he never lost sight he could put up with anything and then it says now he's there in the place of honor right alongside God when you find yourself fledging in your faith go over that story again item by item that long litany of hostility he plowed through that will shoot adrenaline into your souls He was not in a... If you remember, I preached a number of weeks ago. God didn't give Jesus a wonderful life. Do you know that? He had opposition. The people hated his guts. They tried to kill him all the time he was preaching. They turned away from him. The crowds only got around him because they wanted free food, remember, and free miracles. And when they didn't do that, they stopped following him. By John 6, it says half of his disciples, most of his disciples left. Not only did not the crowds follow him, the disciples wouldn't even follow him. He had it rough. People rejected God himself and brought him to crucifixion out of rejection to him, not knowing that they were bringing salvation at the time. And so you have to understand, you will face hostility. It may not be from a person right at the moment. It may be from circumstance. It may not be from circumstance. It may be from a boss or a family member. You might get hostility from a neighbor, but somewhere you get hostility from people. You get it, and it keeps coming at you, and it's going to do that throughout your life. You will get it. Stand up and shout it if you love my Jesus. Stand up and shout it if you love my Lord.

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