Reasons To Abstain From Fleshly Lusts

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: