REASONS TO ABSTAIN FROM FLESHLY LUSTS
I PETER 2:11-12
READING THE TEXT
Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
INTRODUCTION
We live in a day when the flesh is exalted and lust is honored. A person’s esteem and worth and image are often determined...
· by how much of the world he possesses
· by how much money he has
· by how much power he has
· by how much worldly recreation and pleasure he is able to enjoy
· by how famous he becomes
· by how many people he conquers in face to face confrontations or in bed sexually
The flesh is exalted and lust is honored. But this is not the way of God and His Word. Scripture is clear: abstain from fleshly lusts.
MAJOR POINTS OF THE TEXT
1. Reason 1: you are strangers and pilgrims on earth (v.11).
2. Reason 2: lust wars against your soul (v.11).
3. Reason 3: unbelievers are watching (v.12).
REASON NUMBER ONE
Reason number one to: abstain from fleshly lusts is because you are strangers and pilgrims on earth. The word "stranger" (paroikoi) means someone who dwells alongside or is exiled, but his home is elsewhere. It is the picture of a foreigner who is in a country for a while, long enough to rent or lease a house, but he is not a permanent resident. He has no legal rights or status. He is a stranger, an exile who dwells in a strange land. What Peter is saying is this: the believer is a stranger, a foreigner, an exile on earth. He is a resident, but he is not a citizen of this earth. He has no legal status in the world. He is not to follow the standards and the ways of the world. He belongs to God and to heaven; therefore, his legal status is in heaven. He is to follow the standards and the ways of God. The believer’s laws are the laws of God, the highest and most moral and just laws in all the universe. The believer has no right to live by the standard and laws of the world, for they are far lower than the standards and laws of God. The believer is to live as a stranger on earth, as one whose heart and mind are upon a far greater home and world. The believer’s heart is to be upon perfection of life and morality and justice, a home and world where perfection is the rule and standard.
This does not mean that the believer does not obey the legal laws of a land. He does; all foreigners are to obey the laws of a land when they visit that land. In fact, believers will go far beyond obeying human laws and do much more when they obey God’s laws. God’s laws and standards stress perfect behavior plus love, and there is no greater law than love. Therefore, the believer is to abstain from fleshly lusts because such lusts are of the world, and he has no right to partake of those fleshly lusts. He is to obey the laws of God which forbid such sins and immoralities.
SCRIPTURES TO PONDER
"For our conversation [citizenship] is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself" (Phil. 3:20-21).
"And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the lamb’s book of life" (Rev. 21:27).
"For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding" (1 Chron. 29:15).
The word "pilgrim" (parepidçmos) has more of a temporary idea than stranger (paroikoi). Pilgrim has the idea of a visitor or sojourner, of a foreigner who may be visiting and staying for a while but not long enough to lease a house.
The point is this: the believer is only passing through the earth on his way home to heaven. Heaven is his home, and his heart and mind are at home. He lives in a consciousness of home and his thoughts are upon home. He lives and walks in the consciousness of being in heaven with God. This is his attitude, his thoughts as he walks through his pilgrimage upon earth. He travels through life often moving from city to city, but his mind and heart are always upon heaven which is his permanent home.
Note what this means in so far as the world is concerned: the believer does not become entangled with the world and its affairs. His customs and life-style come from heaven, not from the earth. He does not practice the customs and life-style of the earth but of heaven.
SCRIPTURES TO PONDER
"By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God" (Hebrews 11:9-10).
"These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city" (Hebrews 11:13-16).
"For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come" (Hebrews 13:14).
REASON NUMBER TWO
Reason number two for abstaining from fleshly lusts is because they war against the soul. The term "fleshly lusts" (sarkikôn epithumiôn) means the evil desires, urges, passions, and lusts of the flesh. It means to have a yearning passion for the things of the flesh. Every person has experienced the flesh...
· yearning
· pulling
· desiring
· wanting
· grasping
· grabbing
· craving
· hungering
· thirsting
· longing
· taking
Every person knows what it is to have his flesh lusting after something, to have it yearning and yearning to lay hold of something. The flesh is strong and difficult to control, and it never lets up its assault against the will.
What are the lusts of the flesh? What kinds of sins are being referred to by Scripture? Scripture means far more than the sexual sins usually thought about when the lusts of the flesh are mentioned. They are listed in Galatians 5:19-21. When they are read they paint a picture of human nature that is seen or experienced by us all every day:
a. Adultery (moicheia): sexual unfaithfulness to husband or wife.
b. Fornication (porneia): a broad word including all forms of immoral and sexual acts. It is pre-marital sex and adultery; it is abnormal sex, all kinds of sexual vice.
c. Uncleanness (akatharsia): moral impurity; doing things that dirty, pollute, and soil life.
d. Lasciviousness (aselgeia): filthiness, indecency, and shamefulness.
e. Idolatry (eidololatreia): the worship of idols, whether mental or material; the worship of some idea of what God is like, of an image of God within a person’s mind; the giving of one’s primary devotion (time and energy) to something other than God.
f. Witchcraft (pharmakeia): sorcery; the use of drugs or of evil spirits to gain control over the lives of others or over one’s own life. In the present context it would include all forms of seeking the control of one’s fate including astrology, palm reading, seances, fortune telling, crystals, and other forms of witchcraft.
g. Hatred (echthrai): enmity, hostility, and animosity. It is the hatred that lingers and is held for a long time, a hatred that is deep within.
h. Variance (ereis): strife, discord, contention, fighting, struggling, quarreling, dissension, and wrangling. It means that a man fights against another person in order to get something: position, promotion, property, honor, or recognition. He deceives, doing whatever has to be done to get what he is after.
i. Emulations (zeloi): wanting and desiring to have what someone else has. It may be material things, recognition, honor, or position.
j. Wrath (thumoi): indignation; a violent, explosive temper; anger; quick and explosive reactions that arise from boiling emotions. But it is anger which fades away just as quickly as it arose. It is not anger that lasts.
k. Strife (eritheiai): conflict, struggle, fight, contention, faction, and dissension; a party spirit; a cliquish spirit.
l. Seditions (dichostasiai): division, rebellion, standing against others, and splitting off from others.
m. Heresies (aireseis): rejecting the fundamental beliefs of God, Christ, the Scriptures, and the church; believing and holding to some teaching other than the truth.
n. Envyings (phthonoi): this word goes beyond jealousy. It is the spirit...
· that wants not only the things that another person has, but begrudges the fact that the person has them.
· that wants not only the things to be taken away from the person, but wants him to suffer through the loss of them.
o. Murders (phonoi): to kill; to take the life of another person. Murder is a sin against the sixth commandment.
p. Drunkenness (methai): taking drink or drugs to affect one’s senses for lust or pleasure; becoming tipsy or intoxicated; partaking of drugs; seeking bodily or sexual pleasure through drink or drugs.
q. Revellings (komoi): carousing; uncontrolled license, indulgence, and pleasure; taking part in wild parties or in drinking parties; lying around indulging in feeding the lusts of the flesh.
Note that the flesh wars against the soul. . The flesh has within it base and unregulated urges and passions. A man senses the desire and urge to do what he likes, to lift the restraints and to follow his own desires and passions. He knows he should not do it, but the pull and desire tugs and struggles and wars against the soul.
The flesh keeps a person from doing what he would. Every person has experienced the power of the flesh; everyone has caved in to the flesh and done something that he did not want to do. He fought against doing it—knew it was harmful or hurtful—yet he could not resist the flesh. He gave in to the power of the flesh and did it. He...
· overate
· became angry
· began smoking
· got drunk
· acted selfishly
· committed immorality
· did evil things
· lusted
· became prideful
· cursed
· cheated, lied, or stole
Note another fact as well. All of us have been tempted, and we have known how to combat and overcome the temptation. However, the flesh was so strong we just did not struggle long enough to overcome it. The struggle we experienced involved that of...
· controlling
· reaching out
· loving
· sacrificing
· giving in
· being patient
· giving
· helping
· showing kindness
The point is this: the flesh is so strong that it often keeps us from doing what we would. The only hope of ever controlling the flesh is to walk in the Spirit of God—in His presence and power.
SCRIPTURES TO PONDER
"For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; for what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me" (Romans 7:15-20).
"For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal [fleshly], but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds" (2 Cor. 10:4).
Now note a fact of critical importance: the flesh in itself is not sinful. The flesh or human body is God given; it is for God’s use. In fact, when a person is converted to Christ, his body becomes a temple for God to dwell in through the Holy Spirit. The Christian is not told to cleanse himself from the flesh but from "the lust of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16), "the filthiness of the flesh" (2 Cor. 7:1), and from "the works of the flesh" (Romans 13:12; Galatians 5:19). The works of the flesh are the fruit of indwelling sin, and sin originates in the heart not in the flesh.
The exhortation is strong: "abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul." We must abstain from them, for they do unbelievable harm and damage to the soul.
Fleshly lusts enslave and weaken the freedom of the soul. Lust enslaves, no matter what the lust is:
= Lust for drugs enslaves.
= Lust for alcohol enslaves.
= Lust for cigarettes enslaves.
= Lust for sex enslaves.
= Lust for pornography enslaves (films or magazines).
= Lust for position and power enslaves.
= Lust for money enslaves.
The more a man follows the lusts of his flesh, the more freedom and liberty he loses. He becomes a slave to that which he sets his heart upon. If he sets his mind and thoughts upon the flesh and its lusts, he will enslave himself to fleshly lusts. He finds himself enslaved and in bondage to those lusts and finds it very difficult to break away from them.
Fleshly lusts disturb and often destroy the peace and security, assurance and confidence of the soul. When the believer came to Christ, one of the first things Christ did was give him peace and security of soul. If the believer turns back to the world and follows his fleshly lusts, he breaks his peace with God and loses the security of God’s presence and guidance and protection.
Fleshly lusts hamper the growth of the soul. The soul living in the lusts of the flesh is destroying its fruit, not growing and proclaiming the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).
Fleshly lusts doom the soul to defeat, sorrow, brokenness, and eventually to eternal separation from God.
The exhortation is strong: believers must abstain from fleshly lusts, for they war against the soul.
SCRIPTURES TO PONDER
"And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell" (Matthew 5:29).
"Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin" (Romans 6:6).
"But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof" (Romans 13:14).
"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16).
"Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry" (Col. 3:5).
"For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication" (1 Thes. 4:3).
"Abstain from all appearance of evil" (1 Thes. 5:22).
"Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul" (1 Peter 2:11).
"That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God" (1 Peter 4:2).
CONCLUSION
REASON NUMBER THREE
Reason number three for: abstaining from fleshly lusts is because unbelievers are watching you. The world watches everything a genuine believer does. If a person really follows Christ—if he is genuine—then the world watches. This is the reason for this exhortation: we must live honest lives before the world, always abstaining from fleshly lusts.
The word "honest" (kalos) means a good life, a life that is honorable, righteous, pure, lovely, decent, excellent, upright, and noble. It means a life that is without blame, that cannot be justly or accurately blamed with any sin or evil. The world watches a genuine believer to see if he really lives what he professes. Therefore, we must live honest lives, lives that are just what we profess: holy, righteous, and pure. Note two reasons why:
Unbelievers speak evil of believers. Some will always speak evil of genuine believers. If a person really lives for Christ, his righteous and self-denying life convicts those who love the world and its pleasures and possessions. Therefore, they talk about, joke, mock, ridicule, abuse, and persecute the believer when they can.
The point is this: the believer must never add fuel to the fire. He must never give the world a chance to justly accuse and down him. The believer must abstain from fleshly lusts: he must live an honest life, do exactly what he proclaims and professes.
Unbelievers must have a chance to be saved. If we live dishonest and fleshly lives—go against all that we proclaim and stand for—then unbelievers will know we are hypocrites. They will not be attracted to Christ. We must, therefore, live for Christ and do good works. When unbelievers see our righteous lives and good works, they will experience the day of God’s visitation and glorify God. The day of visitation means two things:
= the day a man is visited by God to bring the man to repentance and salvation.
= the day God will visit the earth for final judgment.
The day of visitation is the day of God’s inspection and salvation, the day when He saves a man. It is also the day when He returns to earth as Savior and Lord. The idea is that unbelievers will be won to Christ by our honest lives and glorify God in the great day when He shall visit the earth.
FINAL SCRIPTURES TO PONDER
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 5:16).
"For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to Godward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing" (1 Thes. 1:8).
"Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity" (1 Tim. 4:12).
"In all things showing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity" (Titus 2:7).
"Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works" (James 2:18).
"Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom" (James 3:13).
"Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation" (1 Peter 2:12).
"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therin shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?" (2 Peter 3:10-12).
MARANATHA
JD