Confirm Your Calling: 3 Examples of the Lack of Self-Control
KEY SCRIPTURE:
"...and to knowledge, self-control..." — 2 Peter 1:6
We’ve been in a series entitled “Confirm Your Calling”. This title is from the Apostle Peter’s instruction to the church to confirm our calling and election. Confirm means to corroborate, make firm, affirm, solidify, or validate.
How do we confirm our calling, by adding 7 virtues to our faith: Goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, Godliness, mutual affection, and love.
Let’s read the passage we’ve been studying.
2 Peter 1:1-11(NIV)
1 Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:
2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;
6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;
7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.
8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.
10 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble,
11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Out of these 7 virtues, the one that sticks out in our culture glaringly is self-control.
Christians struggle with this; politicians, athletes, husbands, wives, daughters, and sons all struggle with this virtue.
I want to take this teaching a step further.
Today’s Teaching is entitled, “Three Examples of the Lack of Self-Control.”
Here are 3 biblical examples of individuals who lacked self-control, along with the consequences they faced:
1. Esau – Lack of Self-Control Over Appetite
Scripture: Genesis 25:29-34
What Happened: Esau came in from the field hungry and demanded Jacob’s stew. In a moment of physical craving, he gave up his birthright—his spiritual and familial inheritance—as the firstborn son, all for a bowl of food.
Lack of Self-Control Over: Appetite and impulse.
Consequence: Esau forfeited his birthright, which was a symbol of blessing, leadership, and legacy. Later, he bitterly regretted his decision (Hebrews 12:16-17), but it was too late to reclaim what he had lost.
2. Samson – Lack of Self-Control Over Lust
Scripture: Judges 16:1-212
What Happened: Samson repeatedly pursued relationships with women outside of God's covenant, ultimately falling for Delilah, who manipulated him into revealing the secret of his strength.
Lack of Self-Control Over: Sexual desire and emotional attachment.
Consequence: Delilah betrayed him. His hair was cut, the Spirit of the Lord left him, and he was captured, blinded, and enslaved by the Philistines.
Scripture Reference: 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 (NIV)
12 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything.
13 You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.
15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!
16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”
17 But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.
18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.
19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
20, you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies.
Having a sexual relationship with a person connects you to that partner emotionally and psychologically. It takes a serious work of the Holy Spirit for you to get deliverance from that attachment. Prayer, meditation (training the brain), and fasting are all tools that can help you overcome the soul tie.
3. King Saul – Lack of Self-Control Over Emotions and Power
Scripture: 1 Samuel 13:8-14
What Happened: Saul was instructed to wait for the prophet Samuel to offer the sacrifice before a battle. Impatient and anxious, Saul took matters into his own hands and offered the sacrifice himself, violating God’s command.
Lack of Self-Control Over: Fear, impatience, and the desire to control outcomes.
Consequence: God rejected Saul’s kingship. Samuel told him that his kingdom would not endure, and God would raise up a man after His own heart—David.
Self-control is often the pathway to success.
If you work diligently and are deliberate in your daily activities, you will achieve many of your goals.
With the power of the Holy Spirit and self-control, the Devil cannot tempt you to get off course!
Question: I thought the fruit of the Spirit is “self-control?” Doesn’t the Holy Spirit give me self-control?
No. It doesn’t force you to make the right decisions.
The Holy Spirit works with our will: The Holy Spirit doesn't operate as a force that overrides our decisions. Instead, it empowers our will, making it easier to choose what is right and resist what is wrong.
This is why the Holy Spirit is called the “advocate” (paraklētos - legal adviser, advocate, counselor, helper) - Exegetical dictionary of the New Testament (Vol. 3, p. 28). Eerdmans.
Self-control is a result of your decision and God’s empowerment.
The fruit of the Spirit, self-control, is a natural outcome of a life lived in close relationship with the Holy Spirit, not a forced behavior.
The battle against the flesh: The passage in Galatians 5 also discusses the "works of the flesh," which are characterized by a lack of self-control (e.g., sexual immorality, idolatry, etc.). The Holy Spirit enables believers to resist these tendencies, not by force, but through a transformed desire and strengthened will.
Choice and growth: The Christian life is a journey of growth, and believers are encouraged to actively pursue self-control by submitting to the Spirit's guidance and resisting temptations. This involves making conscious choices to align your actions with God's will.
The choice is yours to make; the Holy Spirit empowers the choice!
Excuses are a cover-up for the lack of control!
Conclusion: you can go to church, quote scripture, and talk faith all day—but without “self-control” (enkrateia), you're vulnerable to the same old sins, emotional blowups, and spiritual stalls.
Knowledge without discipline is “lack of control” (akrasia)—and it sabotages your growth.
### 📌Application: Write down areas in your life where self-control is an issue. Take it to God in prayer. Begin to focus on things that can help build your discipline in these areas of weakness. Thank God in advance for allowing the Holy Spirit to come in and help you conquer these weak areas.
“Satan is betting against you! He believes that you cannot control your emotions and passions! Prove him wrong!” - Pastor Mike