Reason Not To Sin - 1 Peter 2:11 - Strangers and War

Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul.
1 Peter 2:11 

Why not sin?

(1) Because we are strangers here. Jesus said in John 17:16 that we are not of the world, even as He is not of the world. We have a new origin: from God in heaven. Our lives shouldn't be conforming to this world. If we think our heart is with God, but treasure things of the world, Jesus has this to say: "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Matt. 6:21). Where is your treasure of time and money placed? That's where your heart actually is. (See also 1 John 2:15-17.)

(2) Lusts of the flesh wage war against the soul. Sin in our flesh fights to control us. Our soul is superior to the flesh, so when we give into fleshly urges (anger, lust, sometimes even eating!), we are letting our body win over our soul. This is not how God has created us in Christ! Rather, we now have God's resurrection power to rise above the deadness of the lust of the flesh, and our bodies now can be properly submitted to God's control. (See Romans 8:9-11, NASB).

One more way lusts war against the soul is there will be an increasing deadness in our lives the more we sin (Rom 8:13, NASB). One sin leads to another, or to a new branch of sins. Sin separates us from God and his renewing influence (Rom 12:2). Sin takes you farther than you ever want to go. But Jesus can restore you quicker than you think possible!