Self-Control - 2 Peter 1:6 Series

2 Peter 1:5 For this very reason, having made every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control.

Introduction

I want to start with this question: in Peter’s list of virtues in 2 Peter 1:5-7, why isn’t verse 5 enough? By the end of v.5 you have faith equal to that of the Apostles, and you have goodness, which is God’s moral excellence, and you have spiritual knowledge. So you have God’s perspective on things in the way you think, and you love and hate and desire what God loves and hates and desires. You feel like God feels and think like God thinks—isn’t that enough? Why do we need anything beyond v.5? If your desires are godly and your thoughts are godly, won’t that automatically produce actions that are pleasing to God?

It would if it weren’t for … Mr. Sarx. Sarx is the Greek word for flesh. And in the NT, your flesh is the part of you that still wants to behave like an unbeliever even after you become a Christian. The flesh is the source of all kinds of sinful impulses.

How many times have you been doing just fine—thinking the right way, even feeling the right way—everything’s fine… , but suddenly you have a sinful impulse, and before you can even think about it, you’ve already acted on that impulse? And afterward you’re thinking, Why on earth did I do that? You did it because you are a walking civil war.

1 Peter 2:11 … the desires of the flesh … war against your soul.

The Greek word for flesh is sarx. You have an enemy named Sarx living inside you that sabotages your best intentions. Galatians 5:17 For sarx desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to sarx. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. Have you ever heard one of those “more self-controlled than thou” preachers say, “If you really wanted to stop that behavior, you’d stop” You don’t stop because you don’t really want to”? That’s false. Galatians 5:17 is clear that you can truly want to do the right thing but still fail because of the flesh.

Galatians 5:17 … They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.

So no, verse 5 is not enough. It’s not enough just to have moral excellence and godly thinking… —is because you can have all the right desires, but the actions won’t be there unless you can get control over the impulses of the flesh.

Aren’t there some things you’ve done hundreds of times in your life after resolving never to do it again? “I don’t ever want to do this again!” and yet you’ve done it hundreds (or if we’re honest, probably more like thousands) of times since then? You have the ability to say no to it and many times you do, but many other times it seems to be the master and you’re the slave.

Just think how much better your life would be with more self-control. But on the other hand, lacking self-control puts you in serious danger.

Proverbs 25:28 Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control.

A city whose walls are broken down is going to be a defeated city. As soon as it gets attacked, it will fall. It doesn’t stand a chance. Without self-control, you’re in deep trouble. Your life can be destroyed.

And the enemy attacking your city is a tricky enemy because it lives inside you. The only defense against that enemy is self-control.

So how do you increase your self-control? We’re about to find out because self-control is the next virtue in Peter’s list in 2 Peter 1:5-7. As always, the answer is in God’s Word … or is it?

Why Are Unbelievers so Good at It?

If the answer is in the Bible, why are there secular people who have lots of self-control? Like … every elite athlete in the world? There are people who hate God, never touched a Bible, zero interest in spiritual things, ungodly reprobates… , and yet their self-discipline puts me to shame. Self-control is fruit of the Holy Spirit. So how is it that people without the Holy Spirit can have almost superhuman self-control, they can train like they’re in the first half of a Rocky movie … , meanwhile I’ve had the Spirit living in me for decades and I can’t keep my commitment to go for a walk each day? They can go their whole athletic career without eating a single doughnut, and yet even with the help of the Spirit, my diet completely collapses every potluck.

Could it be what they have isn’t really self-control? No. The Bible uses unbelieving athletes as an example of extreme self-control in 1 Corinthians 9—same word as here and in the fruit of the Spirit. How can that be?