WEBVTT 00:00:01.051 --> 00:00:03.771 Okay, brethren, we find ourselves 00:00:03.771 --> 00:00:09.697 in Ephesians 2 once again. 00:00:09.697 --> 00:00:20.147 This is part four of a five part series 00:00:20.147 --> 00:00:25.001 on these first three verses of Ephesians 2. 00:00:25.001 --> 00:00:27.213 We can read those together. 00:00:27.213 --> 00:00:28.576 I've called this series: 00:00:28.576 --> 00:00:30.021 "How Dead is Dead? 00:00:30.021 --> 00:00:32.309 The Five-fold Fallenness of Man." 00:00:32.309 --> 00:00:33.650 Today's part four. 00:00:33.650 --> 00:00:38.519 Today, we're going to focus on the flesh. 00:00:38.519 --> 00:00:41.232 We've looked at man dead in sin, 00:00:41.232 --> 00:00:43.774 dead with regards to the world, 00:00:43.774 --> 00:00:46.483 dead with regards to the devil. 00:00:46.483 --> 00:00:53.126 Today, dead with regards to the flesh. 00:00:53.126 --> 00:00:56.061 Next week, Lord willing, 00:00:56.061 --> 00:00:58.560 the wrath of God. 00:00:58.560 --> 00:01:06.095 Our deadness to God. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:06.095 --> 00:01:08.117 Ephesians 2:1, 00:01:08.117 --> 00:01:13.226 "And you were dead..." 00:01:13.226 --> 00:01:16.772 You were. 00:01:16.772 --> 00:01:19.964 Only if you're a Christian, you were. 00:01:19.964 --> 00:01:26.524 If you're not a Christian, you are. 00:01:26.524 --> 00:01:30.495 Let me just tell you up front here, 00:01:30.495 --> 00:01:38.171 nobody needs to embellish how bad man is. 00:01:38.171 --> 00:01:40.309 All we need to know 00:01:40.309 --> 00:01:42.429 is the reality of the situation, 00:01:42.429 --> 00:01:46.373 and it's bad. 00:01:46.373 --> 00:01:48.892 "You were dead in the trespasses and sins 00:01:48.892 --> 00:01:52.311 in which you once walked, 00:01:52.311 --> 00:01:55.314 following the course of this world, 00:01:55.314 --> 00:01:57.867 following the prince of the power of the air, 00:01:57.867 --> 00:01:59.556 the spirit that is now at work 00:01:59.556 --> 00:02:01.627 in the sons of disobedience, 00:02:01.627 --> 00:02:04.688 among whom we all once lived, 00:02:04.688 --> 00:02:06.772 in the passions of our flesh 00:02:06.772 --> 00:02:09.164 carrying out the desires of the body 00:02:09.164 --> 00:02:10.917 and the mind, 00:02:10.917 --> 00:02:14.349 and were by nature children of wrath 00:02:14.349 --> 00:02:17.227 like the rest of mankind." 00:02:17.227 --> 00:02:18.366 So there you have it. 00:02:18.366 --> 00:02:21.408 Three verses that spell out 00:02:21.408 --> 00:02:28.438 this five-fold fallenness of man. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:28.438 --> 00:02:32.889 Last week, when I got done preaching, 00:02:32.889 --> 00:02:36.028 one of our younger theologians came up 00:02:36.028 --> 00:02:38.805 after I was done and asked me 00:02:38.805 --> 00:02:44.886 why I hadn't included any application. 00:02:44.886 --> 00:02:47.971 I preached about the prince of the power of the air. 00:02:47.971 --> 00:02:51.314 This young man wanted to know 00:02:51.314 --> 00:02:56.212 how do I apply that to my life. 00:02:56.212 --> 00:02:59.706 And brethren, what I told him, 00:02:59.706 --> 00:03:02.389 is that sometimes when we're confronted 00:03:02.389 --> 00:03:05.372 by the Word of God, 00:03:05.372 --> 00:03:11.038 I told him it's enough if at times 00:03:11.038 --> 00:03:15.118 we're just simply left worshiping. 00:03:15.118 --> 00:03:21.077 Brethren, that is not a bad application of Scripture. 00:03:21.077 --> 00:03:24.034 If we simply are confronted by it 00:03:24.034 --> 00:03:27.016 and we come away seeing God as big 00:03:27.016 --> 00:03:30.157 and ourselves as incredibly small. 00:03:30.157 --> 00:03:35.021 That is profitable. 00:03:35.021 --> 00:03:38.588 That is good. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:38.588 --> 00:03:41.634 Look, I recognize that in these verses 00:03:41.634 --> 00:03:42.893 that we're dealing with - 00:03:42.893 --> 00:03:44.651 following the course of this world - 00:03:44.651 --> 00:03:48.008 you know, we could just get consumed 00:03:48.008 --> 00:03:49.152 with the world, 00:03:49.152 --> 00:03:50.961 and how do we overcome the world, 00:03:50.961 --> 00:03:52.799 and how do we not love the world, 00:03:52.799 --> 00:03:53.660 and you know what? 00:03:53.660 --> 00:03:56.148 Scripture deals with those things in other places. 00:03:56.148 --> 00:03:58.413 But what I want to do is what Paul wants to do. 00:03:58.413 --> 00:04:01.525 And right now, Paul is not telling us how to overcome the world. 00:04:01.525 --> 00:04:04.443 Right now, Paul is not telling us how to overcome the devil. 00:04:04.443 --> 00:04:06.756 He's not telling us how to overcome the flesh. 00:04:06.756 --> 00:04:08.548 You know what he's doing right now? 00:04:08.548 --> 00:04:11.170 He is concerned that we have 00:04:11.170 --> 00:04:14.013 some recognition of the exceedingly 00:04:14.013 --> 00:04:17.169 immeasurable greatness of God's power 00:04:17.169 --> 00:04:18.516 toward us who believe. 00:04:18.516 --> 00:04:20.146 He wants us to measure it. 00:04:20.146 --> 00:04:22.733 And by measuring it, what he wants to do 00:04:22.733 --> 00:04:24.130 is he wants to take us down 00:04:24.130 --> 00:04:27.064 into the depths of the pit from which we came 00:04:27.064 --> 00:04:31.124 over against the exaltation to which we've been saved. 00:04:31.124 --> 00:04:33.442 And it's in that contrast; 00:04:33.442 --> 00:04:34.993 it's in that difference 00:04:34.993 --> 00:04:36.893 that he wants us to step back 00:04:36.893 --> 00:04:39.777 and just be amazed and be in awe 00:04:39.777 --> 00:04:41.128 at the power of God. 00:04:41.128 --> 00:04:44.013 And brethren, if we look at these things - 00:04:44.013 --> 00:04:47.485 the wretchedness, the brokenness of mankind 00:04:47.485 --> 00:04:50.308 and we're left saying, "Wow!" 00:04:50.308 --> 00:04:51.673 You know, that's enough? 00:04:51.673 --> 00:04:53.560 Do you know if you're left coming away 00:04:53.560 --> 00:04:54.642 from the Word of God 00:04:54.642 --> 00:04:56.664 and you fall down on your face, 00:04:56.664 --> 00:04:58.184 don't we get the sense that 00:04:58.184 --> 00:05:01.254 that's exactly why God does everything that He does? 00:05:01.254 --> 00:05:02.531 Because in the end, 00:05:02.531 --> 00:05:06.099 it's not so much just about the application to our lives 00:05:06.099 --> 00:05:07.723 in the sense that, you know, 00:05:07.723 --> 00:05:09.127 I have to walk out this door 00:05:09.127 --> 00:05:11.772 and now I have a list of things to do. 00:05:11.772 --> 00:05:13.751 Brethren, what God really wants us to do 00:05:13.751 --> 00:05:14.841 is walk out this door, 00:05:14.841 --> 00:05:17.656 and fall down on our faces and say, 00:05:17.656 --> 00:05:21.594 "Wow! Thank You, Lord! 00:05:21.594 --> 00:05:25.397 Thank You! Thank You!" 00:05:25.397 --> 00:05:28.098 You know what He wants us to do in this? 00:05:28.098 --> 00:05:30.891 He wants us to recognize 00:05:30.891 --> 00:05:35.998 what sort of people we were 00:05:35.998 --> 00:05:40.876 that He rescued us from His wrath. 00:05:40.876 --> 00:05:42.092 That's what it is. 00:05:42.092 --> 00:05:44.618 The end in view is worship. 00:05:44.618 --> 00:05:48.267 The end in view is awe. 00:05:48.267 --> 00:05:51.446 Brethren, we need to be gripped. 00:05:51.446 --> 00:05:55.909 We need to be changed and amazed 00:05:55.909 --> 00:05:58.896 that God would actually unleash 00:05:58.896 --> 00:06:04.486 His great might on such people as we were. 00:06:04.486 --> 00:06:05.875 That's the issue. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:05.875 --> 00:06:09.474 So, today, part four. 00:06:09.474 --> 00:06:14.993 Turn our attention towards the flesh. 00:06:14.993 --> 00:06:18.877 Brethren, what we have is man 00:06:18.877 --> 00:06:24.865 like an animal, but worse. 00:06:24.865 --> 00:06:29.322 Because we have a mind. 00:06:29.322 --> 00:06:32.141 Look at it. 00:06:32.141 --> 00:06:34.170 Right at the end of v. 2, 00:06:34.170 --> 00:06:35.985 "the sons of disobedience." 00:06:35.985 --> 00:06:38.864 The devil was at work in these sons of disobedience - 00:06:38.864 --> 00:06:39.791 look what it says - 00:06:39.791 --> 00:06:43.646 "among whom we all..." 00:06:43.646 --> 00:06:46.351 All of us. 00:06:46.351 --> 00:06:48.448 Among them we lived. 00:06:48.448 --> 00:06:50.847 In other words, we were one of them. 00:06:50.847 --> 00:06:53.780 All of us. 00:06:53.780 --> 00:06:57.734 This is a summation, a summary statement 00:06:57.734 --> 00:07:02.982 of all mankind in their natural condition. 00:07:02.982 --> 00:07:06.032 We lived among these sons of disobedience 00:07:06.032 --> 00:07:11.455 "in the passions of our flesh, 00:07:11.455 --> 00:07:14.330 carrying out the desires of the body 00:07:14.330 --> 00:07:16.581 and the mind." 00:07:16.581 --> 00:07:19.381 Now, just get a feel for this. 00:07:19.381 --> 00:07:21.641 The New King James: 00:07:21.641 --> 00:07:24.698 "We all once conducted ourselves 00:07:24.698 --> 00:07:28.686 in the lusts..." the lusts. 00:07:28.686 --> 00:07:31.545 Lust. What a word. 00:07:31.545 --> 00:07:33.230 Just let that roll of your tongue. 00:07:33.230 --> 00:07:36.509 Lust. 00:07:36.509 --> 00:07:39.016 That produces imagery in our minds. 00:07:39.016 --> 00:07:40.684 "...The lusts of our flesh." 00:07:40.684 --> 00:07:42.514 Or the New American Standard, 00:07:42.514 --> 00:07:48.427 "We too all (all!) formerly..." 00:07:48.427 --> 00:07:51.287 We - Christians. This was us too. 00:07:51.287 --> 00:07:59.111 "We all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh." 00:07:59.111 --> 00:08:01.435 King James Version: 00:08:01.435 --> 00:08:04.494 "We all had our conversation..." 00:08:04.494 --> 00:08:07.202 That doesn't mean just what we speak. 00:08:07.202 --> 00:08:11.655 That's the full-orbed life of the man. 00:08:11.655 --> 00:08:14.384 "We all had our conversation in times past 00:08:14.384 --> 00:08:16.455 in the lusts of our flesh." 00:08:16.455 --> 00:08:18.134 So, here we have it. 00:08:18.134 --> 00:08:22.536 Man - dead in sin is very much alive 00:08:22.536 --> 00:08:25.359 to the lusts of the flesh. 00:08:25.359 --> 00:08:27.576 Man, like an animal, like I said, 00:08:27.576 --> 00:08:29.643 he's an animal: base. 00:08:29.643 --> 00:08:31.511 Animal: lust. 00:08:31.511 --> 00:08:35.067 But worse, because what he breaks this out into 00:08:35.067 --> 00:08:37.662 as he seeks to go deeper, 00:08:37.662 --> 00:08:39.873 as he seeks to break this thing out 00:08:39.873 --> 00:08:42.065 into some subcategories, 00:08:42.065 --> 00:08:43.560 he goes to the mind. 00:08:43.560 --> 00:08:44.903 You see, we have a mind 00:08:44.903 --> 00:08:46.102 unlike the animals, 00:08:46.102 --> 00:08:48.837 but even that mind is just an expression 00:08:48.837 --> 00:08:54.040 of the lusting, the cravings of the flesh. 00:08:54.040 --> 00:08:56.322 Pollution. That's what we're talking about. 00:08:56.322 --> 00:08:58.029 We're talking about the dirtiness 00:08:58.029 --> 00:09:00.543 and the filthiness of man. 00:09:00.543 --> 00:09:04.136 He's one big bag of lusts. 00:09:04.136 --> 00:09:06.550 This is man like an animal, lusting. 00:09:06.550 --> 00:09:07.969 Lusting. 00:09:07.969 --> 00:09:11.819 Brethren, like a dog driven to its vomit. 00:09:11.819 --> 00:09:13.652 You say, oh, that's about people 00:09:13.652 --> 00:09:14.996 who once made a profession 00:09:14.996 --> 00:09:17.292 or maybe even were teachers and they came back. 00:09:17.292 --> 00:09:19.151 Yes, but you think about that. 00:09:19.151 --> 00:09:20.973 For Scripture to liken a man like that 00:09:20.973 --> 00:09:23.136 to a dog that returns to its vomit, 00:09:23.136 --> 00:09:24.452 you know what that implies? 00:09:24.452 --> 00:09:27.703 He was once at the vomit, left it, and came back. 00:09:27.703 --> 00:09:30.452 Man at his vomit is a picture - 00:09:30.452 --> 00:09:35.258 or dogs at its vomit. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:35.258 --> 00:09:37.312 You know how many times 00:09:37.312 --> 00:09:41.882 Scripture likens sinners to animals? 00:09:41.882 --> 00:09:43.746 We're likened to pigs 00:09:43.746 --> 00:09:45.438 and we're likened to dogs. 00:09:45.438 --> 00:09:46.849 And you think about a dog 00:09:46.849 --> 00:09:48.575 licking up its vomit. 00:09:48.575 --> 00:09:52.162 You say, that's gross! 00:09:52.162 --> 00:09:54.007 That's us. 00:09:54.007 --> 00:09:57.959 That's mankind. 00:09:57.959 --> 00:09:59.433 That's ugly. 00:09:59.433 --> 00:10:02.704 This is the ugliness of mankind. 00:10:02.704 --> 00:10:05.247 This is the dirt, the filth, the muck. 00:10:05.247 --> 00:10:07.264 You think about a pig. 00:10:07.264 --> 00:10:16.166 Listen, my uncle raised pigs. 00:10:16.166 --> 00:10:20.239 You ought to see a pig and hear a pig 00:10:20.239 --> 00:10:21.688 and watch them eat 00:10:21.688 --> 00:10:26.134 and watch what they swim in. 00:10:26.134 --> 00:10:28.569 You may have some refined idea. 00:10:28.569 --> 00:10:30.016 You know, you walk out of here 00:10:30.016 --> 00:10:31.202 after it's been raining, 00:10:31.202 --> 00:10:32.538 your foot steps in grass 00:10:32.538 --> 00:10:35.049 and it's a little muddy. 00:10:35.049 --> 00:10:39.422 You ought to see it firsthand. 00:10:39.422 --> 00:10:42.663 You get an idea of what God sees 00:10:42.663 --> 00:10:45.668 when He sees man in all the lusts. 00:10:45.668 --> 00:10:50.670 Just like a pig greedy to plunge into the slime. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:50.670 --> 00:10:56.528 Brethren, what I'm saying here is, again, 00:10:56.528 --> 00:11:00.074 this isn't embellishing on the badness of man. 00:11:00.074 --> 00:11:02.410 This is the picture. 00:11:02.410 --> 00:11:07.800 So often Scripture is likening us 00:11:07.800 --> 00:11:09.989 to some sort of animal. 00:11:09.989 --> 00:11:11.701 Believer, this was you. 00:11:11.701 --> 00:11:13.441 Unbeliever, this is you. 00:11:13.441 --> 00:11:16.219 All of us - we lived in lusts. 00:11:16.219 --> 00:11:17.300 Somebody says, 00:11:17.300 --> 00:11:19.086 "I'm not a murderer." 00:11:19.086 --> 00:11:21.426 "I'm not part of the drug cartel." 00:11:21.426 --> 00:11:24.443 "I'm not like these homeless drunks out here." 00:11:24.443 --> 00:11:25.481 "I'm not like that." 00:11:25.481 --> 00:11:27.884 "I'm not like the woman that prostitutes her body 00:11:27.884 --> 00:11:30.768 so that she can satisfy her drug addiction." 00:11:30.768 --> 00:11:31.971 "I'm not like that." 00:11:31.971 --> 00:11:34.295 "I wasn't born on the wrong side of the tracks." 00:11:34.295 --> 00:11:35.703 "I'm not like those sinners." 00:11:35.703 --> 00:11:39.620 "I wear a white shirt when I go to work." 00:11:39.620 --> 00:11:41.951 You know what Paul does? 00:11:41.951 --> 00:11:43.724 He puts out his finger, 00:11:43.724 --> 00:11:46.709 and he places it on our lips. 00:11:46.709 --> 00:11:49.797 Shhh... 00:11:49.797 --> 00:11:52.124 Stop. 00:11:52.124 --> 00:11:56.594 Just stop. 00:11:56.594 --> 00:11:58.821 This is you. 00:11:58.821 --> 00:12:02.219 Or this is what you were. 00:12:02.219 --> 00:12:04.337 He closes our mouth here. 00:12:04.337 --> 00:12:05.834 All of us. 00:12:05.834 --> 00:12:13.126 "Among whom we all once lived." 00:12:13.126 --> 00:12:15.441 Shhh... 00:12:15.441 --> 00:12:18.476 Stop the boasting in what you were, 00:12:18.476 --> 00:12:21.306 because this is you. 00:12:21.306 --> 00:12:23.196 This is me. 00:12:23.196 --> 00:12:25.487 Lusts of the flesh. 00:12:25.487 --> 00:12:27.408 It's an ugly picture, I know. 00:12:27.408 --> 00:12:29.863 Paul means it to be. 00:12:29.863 --> 00:12:32.833 This is man as he is. 00:12:32.833 --> 00:12:36.941 His base, polluted, vulgar, offensive, 00:12:36.941 --> 00:12:42.893 lusting self. 00:12:42.893 --> 00:12:44.881 But brethren, this is where we ought to 00:12:44.881 --> 00:12:47.590 go out and just fall down before the Lord. 00:12:47.590 --> 00:12:49.395 The absolutely astounding thing 00:12:49.395 --> 00:12:52.094 is that God would ever ever ever 00:12:52.094 --> 00:12:59.533 want something to do with us. 00:12:59.533 --> 00:13:04.104 Thank You, Lord. NOTE Paragraph 00:13:04.104 --> 00:13:06.928 The flesh. 00:13:06.928 --> 00:13:08.066 Look at it. 00:13:08.066 --> 00:13:14.504 "The passions (or the lusts) 00:13:14.504 --> 00:13:17.411 of our flesh." 00:13:17.411 --> 00:13:19.006 The flesh. 00:13:19.006 --> 00:13:21.264 We've got to be confronted by this term. 00:13:21.264 --> 00:13:23.627 The flesh. 00:13:23.627 --> 00:13:25.276 Because it's used in Scripture. 00:13:25.276 --> 00:13:26.373 It's used quite often. 00:13:26.373 --> 00:13:31.779 Paul especially uses this terminology. 00:13:31.779 --> 00:13:34.926 Perhaps you're not aware. 00:13:34.926 --> 00:13:38.972 We have friends in different places 00:13:38.972 --> 00:13:42.852 that have been involved 00:13:42.852 --> 00:13:47.660 in various degree of debate 00:13:47.660 --> 00:13:50.745 over the meaning of this word. 00:13:50.745 --> 00:13:53.060 There is a debate among men who we know 00:13:53.060 --> 00:13:56.804 concerning what does it actually mean? 00:13:56.804 --> 00:13:59.704 And what are the consequences of what it means? 00:13:59.704 --> 00:14:02.899 And what should we expect from Christians 00:14:02.899 --> 00:14:06.008 because of what it means? 00:14:06.008 --> 00:14:08.613 We have to ask the question: What is Paul referring to? 00:14:08.613 --> 00:14:10.542 And the first thing we need to recognize 00:14:10.542 --> 00:14:13.252 is much like we looked at when we dealt with the world, 00:14:13.252 --> 00:14:14.572 so it is with the flesh, 00:14:14.572 --> 00:14:17.130 that it's a word that carries 00:14:17.130 --> 00:14:19.587 different shades of meaning. 00:14:19.587 --> 00:14:21.759 So we need to recognize that right away 00:14:21.759 --> 00:14:23.844 that when you come across the word flesh 00:14:23.844 --> 00:14:26.519 in your Bibles, it's not just enough to say 00:14:26.519 --> 00:14:28.456 it means the same thing all the time, 00:14:28.456 --> 00:14:30.039 so it must mean that right there. 00:14:30.039 --> 00:14:32.855 We actually have to examine the context 00:14:32.855 --> 00:14:34.272 to really figure out 00:14:34.272 --> 00:14:36.207 what in the world we're dealing with. NOTE Paragraph 00:14:36.207 --> 00:14:38.383 I'll just tell you this right off, 00:14:38.383 --> 00:14:40.258 in the ESV, you don't see it, 00:14:40.258 --> 00:14:43.068 but if you've got another translation in your hands, 00:14:43.068 --> 00:14:45.805 you may well see that the term "flesh" 00:14:45.805 --> 00:14:47.665 is actually used here twice. 00:14:47.665 --> 00:14:51.453 The ESV says "flesh" the first time, 00:14:51.453 --> 00:14:55.262 "body" the second time. 00:14:55.262 --> 00:14:59.199 But in the original, same word. 00:14:59.199 --> 00:15:00.247 Same word. 00:15:00.247 --> 00:15:01.178 What's he doing? 00:15:01.178 --> 00:15:03.188 Is he just redundantly repeating himself? 00:15:03.188 --> 00:15:05.851 He talks about the passions or the lusts of the flesh, 00:15:05.851 --> 00:15:07.696 and then he talks about the passions 00:15:07.696 --> 00:15:09.237 or the lusts of the flesh again. 00:15:09.237 --> 00:15:12.293 No, he's actually giving us an overall, 00:15:12.293 --> 00:15:13.883 and then he's subdividing it 00:15:13.883 --> 00:15:18.178 into two categories. 00:15:18.178 --> 00:15:20.790 He's not just redundantly repeating the same thing. 00:15:20.790 --> 00:15:22.995 And the reason it's not the same thing 00:15:22.995 --> 00:15:24.840 is because he's actually using flesh 00:15:24.840 --> 00:15:27.330 with two different meanings here. 00:15:27.330 --> 00:15:30.412 And you have to recognize from the context what's going on. NOTE Paragraph 00:15:30.412 --> 00:15:31.601 But just very quickly, 00:15:31.601 --> 00:15:34.109 I want to run through some shades of meaning 00:15:34.109 --> 00:15:36.334 that you find in the term "flesh" 00:15:36.334 --> 00:15:38.591 when you find it in Scripture. 00:15:38.591 --> 00:15:42.248 For instance, it can just simply mean 00:15:42.248 --> 00:15:44.374 "human nature." 00:15:44.374 --> 00:15:45.930 In other words, Paul is using it 00:15:45.930 --> 00:15:47.302 in a very negative way, 00:15:47.302 --> 00:15:49.578 when he talks about the lusts of the flesh. 00:15:49.578 --> 00:15:52.834 That obviously is the ugliness of mankind. 00:15:52.834 --> 00:15:57.054 However, we have the word used this way: 00:15:57.054 --> 00:16:01.666 "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." 00:16:01.666 --> 00:16:03.494 Or, "tabernacled among us." 00:16:03.494 --> 00:16:06.673 Christ became flesh. 00:16:06.673 --> 00:16:09.957 That obviously carries no negative 00:16:09.957 --> 00:16:13.437 overtones or undertones. 00:16:13.437 --> 00:16:14.355 Not at all. 00:16:14.355 --> 00:16:15.764 What does that mean? 00:16:15.764 --> 00:16:18.200 He became a man. 00:16:18.200 --> 00:16:21.287 It has to do with our human nature. 00:16:21.287 --> 00:16:23.531 "In the days of His flesh, 00:16:23.531 --> 00:16:25.716 Jesus offered up prayers and supplications 00:16:25.716 --> 00:16:29.607 with loud cries and tears." 00:16:29.607 --> 00:16:32.452 So, just like the world can, 00:16:32.452 --> 00:16:35.132 flesh can carry meaning 00:16:35.132 --> 00:16:37.593 that is no way negative. NOTE Paragraph 00:16:37.593 --> 00:16:38.933 Or how about this? 00:16:38.933 --> 00:16:42.355 It can mean our common ancestry 00:16:42.355 --> 00:16:44.004 or our bloodlines. 00:16:44.004 --> 00:16:46.485 For instance, 00:16:46.485 --> 00:16:48.791 the New King James Version, 00:16:48.791 --> 00:16:52.765 Romans 11:14, 00:16:52.765 --> 00:16:55.648 Paul is speaking about provoking to jealousy 00:16:55.648 --> 00:17:00.111 those who are "my flesh." 00:17:00.111 --> 00:17:01.822 And I refer to the New King James 00:17:01.822 --> 00:17:05.584 because it actually translates it "flesh." 00:17:05.584 --> 00:17:08.168 He wants to provoke to jealousy 00:17:08.168 --> 00:17:09.994 those who are my flesh 00:17:09.994 --> 00:17:11.243 and save some of them. 00:17:11.243 --> 00:17:13.485 Well, the ESV says, "fellow Jews." 00:17:13.485 --> 00:17:16.057 The New American Standard says "fellow countrymen." 00:17:16.057 --> 00:17:17.920 You see, what he's talking about there. 00:17:17.920 --> 00:17:23.402 Flesh are those that he's related to. 00:17:23.402 --> 00:17:29.062 My own flesh and blood, we might say. NOTE Paragraph 00:17:29.062 --> 00:17:34.388 It has to do also with just this earthly life. 00:17:34.388 --> 00:17:35.736 Single people, 00:17:35.736 --> 00:17:40.317 Paul would say to you - 00:17:40.317 --> 00:17:43.354 again, I'm going to read from the New King James 00:17:43.354 --> 00:17:47.999 because it's actually not 00:17:47.999 --> 00:17:51.367 trying to translate this 00:17:51.367 --> 00:17:56.190 away from the original meaning. 00:17:56.190 --> 00:17:59.684 Paul says, look, if you marry, 00:17:59.684 --> 00:18:01.041 you have not sinned. 00:18:01.041 --> 00:18:03.299 And if a virgin marries, she has not sinned, 00:18:03.299 --> 00:18:08.461 nevertheless, such will have trouble in the flesh. 00:18:08.461 --> 00:18:12.388 The NAS translates that: "this life." 00:18:12.388 --> 00:18:16.419 Single people, you really badly want to get married. 00:18:16.419 --> 00:18:18.881 Paul says I'll spare you. 00:18:18.881 --> 00:18:21.778 You'll be spared problems. 00:18:21.778 --> 00:18:24.833 I know he says that - I've tried both. 00:18:24.833 --> 00:18:27.351 I prefer the married life a whole lot better. 00:18:27.351 --> 00:18:29.917 I commend that. 00:18:29.917 --> 00:18:31.129 But anyways, you see, 00:18:31.129 --> 00:18:33.225 that's getting away from the flesh. 00:18:33.225 --> 00:18:34.339 The flesh. 00:18:34.339 --> 00:18:35.667 This life. NOTE Paragraph 00:18:35.667 --> 00:18:39.148 Or how about sometimes it just means all mankind. 00:18:39.148 --> 00:18:42.524 It means human beings in general. 00:18:42.524 --> 00:18:45.766 Luke 3:6, "All flesh shall see 00:18:45.766 --> 00:18:47.232 the salvation of God." 00:18:47.232 --> 00:18:49.326 That's just all humanity. 00:18:49.326 --> 00:18:51.739 Or John 17:2 where Jesus is speaking 00:18:51.739 --> 00:18:53.729 of His Father having given Him 00:18:53.729 --> 00:18:56.026 authority over all flesh. 00:18:56.026 --> 00:18:59.011 The New American Standard says "over all mankind." 00:18:59.011 --> 00:19:02.539 "...To give eternal life to all whom He has given Him." NOTE Paragraph 00:19:02.539 --> 00:19:09.089 Sometimes flesh means the soft part of our body. 00:19:09.089 --> 00:19:11.772 For instance, Luke 24:39. 00:19:11.772 --> 00:19:15.162 Jesus says, remember - they're blown away. 00:19:15.162 --> 00:19:16.507 Here's the risen Christ. 00:19:16.507 --> 00:19:19.214 He just kind of appeared in the room. 00:19:19.214 --> 00:19:22.871 You can imagine they're a bit amazed. 00:19:22.871 --> 00:19:24.998 They're not certain what they're seeing, 00:19:24.998 --> 00:19:27.931 and He wants to assure them, 00:19:27.931 --> 00:19:29.926 "I'm here. I'm here as a man. 00:19:29.926 --> 00:19:31.346 I'm here in flesh and blood." 00:19:31.346 --> 00:19:34.288 And He says this to them, 00:19:34.288 --> 00:19:37.469 "See My hands and My feet that it is I Myself. 00:19:37.469 --> 00:19:39.669 Touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have 00:19:39.669 --> 00:19:43.028 flesh and bones as you see that I have." 00:19:43.028 --> 00:19:45.150 See, flesh is over against the bones. 00:19:45.150 --> 00:19:49.649 The flesh is that which covers the bones. 00:19:49.649 --> 00:19:52.579 It's the soft part of us. 00:19:52.579 --> 00:19:55.491 It's the stuff our bones are covered with. NOTE Paragraph 00:19:55.491 --> 00:19:57.175 And I often think, 00:19:57.175 --> 00:20:00.370 Brother Charles Leiter, 00:20:00.370 --> 00:20:04.362 he often refers to the fact 00:20:04.362 --> 00:20:07.387 that the Romanian translation of the Scripture 00:20:07.387 --> 00:20:12.304 literally translates this "meat." 00:20:12.304 --> 00:20:13.768 In our Bibles, it's "flesh." 00:20:13.768 --> 00:20:16.312 In the Romanian Bible, every place you see "flesh" 00:20:16.312 --> 00:20:18.336 it says, "meat." 00:20:18.336 --> 00:20:21.276 "The lusts of the meat." 00:20:21.276 --> 00:20:24.452 What a word. 00:20:24.452 --> 00:20:26.768 Sometimes, this idea of flesh, 00:20:26.768 --> 00:20:31.523 it's the whole body. 00:20:31.523 --> 00:20:34.718 "For we who live are always being given over to death 00:20:34.718 --> 00:20:37.183 for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also 00:20:37.183 --> 00:20:40.983 may be manifested in our mortal flesh." 00:20:40.983 --> 00:20:44.021 Just our mortal bodies. 00:20:44.021 --> 00:20:46.630 It's interchangeable with that. NOTE Paragraph 00:20:46.630 --> 00:20:49.988 But brethren, the most sinister, 00:20:49.988 --> 00:20:54.796 the most dark - 00:20:54.796 --> 00:20:58.114 that way that it is used 00:20:58.114 --> 00:21:03.149 when it's just the base ugliness of man. 00:21:03.149 --> 00:21:06.004 If you search it out in all of its uses, 00:21:06.004 --> 00:21:09.548 you know what you so often see? 00:21:09.548 --> 00:21:17.037 It is that which pertains to our humanity 00:21:17.037 --> 00:21:24.263 which is contrary to the Spirit of God. 00:21:24.263 --> 00:21:26.891 "That which is born of the flesh is flesh. 00:21:26.891 --> 00:21:30.143 That which is born of the Spirit is spirit." 00:21:30.143 --> 00:21:33.621 It is that which is separated from, 00:21:33.621 --> 00:21:35.696 contradictory to. 00:21:35.696 --> 00:21:38.335 You've got flesh. You've got spirit. 00:21:38.335 --> 00:21:41.627 Oh, that separation - that distinction, 00:21:41.627 --> 00:21:44.158 yes, right there is made by our Lord Jesus Himself, 00:21:44.158 --> 00:21:46.004 but so often it's Paul 00:21:46.004 --> 00:21:49.425 who sets that on the table for us. 00:21:49.425 --> 00:21:52.203 "For to set the mind on the flesh is death, 00:21:52.203 --> 00:21:54.287 but to set the mind on the Spirit 00:21:54.287 --> 00:21:55.465 is life and peace." 00:21:55.465 --> 00:21:58.056 Or this, "the desires of the flesh." 00:21:58.056 --> 00:22:00.310 They are against the Spirit. 00:22:00.310 --> 00:22:02.580 And the desires of the Spirit 00:22:02.580 --> 00:22:04.111 are against the flesh. 00:22:04.111 --> 00:22:07.746 Flesh is used in this fashion to express 00:22:07.746 --> 00:22:10.407 that which is in complete antithesis 00:22:10.407 --> 00:22:12.609 to the Spirit of God. 00:22:12.609 --> 00:22:13.963 It is opposed. 00:22:13.963 --> 00:22:18.273 The flesh is all that man is. 00:22:18.273 --> 00:22:21.125 It's his man-ness. 00:22:21.125 --> 00:22:22.991 It is his humanness 00:22:22.991 --> 00:22:26.564 apart from the work of the Holy Spirit in him. 00:22:26.564 --> 00:22:27.942 Just think about these words 00:22:27.942 --> 00:22:29.715 that Paul spoke to the Corinthians. 00:22:29.715 --> 00:22:31.008 You know them. Remember, 00:22:31.008 --> 00:22:32.466 they're acting carnal. 00:22:32.466 --> 00:22:34.350 Even there - carnal. 00:22:34.350 --> 00:22:36.696 Some of the translations use carnality 00:22:36.696 --> 00:22:39.334 in 1 Corinthians 3. 00:22:39.334 --> 00:22:42.070 Carnal. 00:22:42.070 --> 00:22:44.186 Remember the Romanian translation: meat. 00:22:44.186 --> 00:22:47.534 What is the Spanish word for meat. 00:22:47.534 --> 00:22:48.382 Carne. 00:22:48.382 --> 00:22:49.572 Carnal. 00:22:49.572 --> 00:22:50.968 It's the meat. 00:22:50.968 --> 00:22:53.547 It's the lusts of the meat. 00:22:53.547 --> 00:22:57.922 It's the lusts of the man-ness of man - 00:22:57.922 --> 00:23:00.320 the humanness. 00:23:00.320 --> 00:23:01.985 Listen to this. 00:23:01.985 --> 00:23:03.677 1 Corinthians 3:3, 00:23:03.677 --> 00:23:07.450 "You are still..." and he's speaking to Christians here. 00:23:07.450 --> 00:23:11.865 You don't want this said of you if you're a Christian. 00:23:11.865 --> 00:23:14.260 "You are still of the flesh." 00:23:14.260 --> 00:23:15.967 You are still of the meat. 00:23:15.967 --> 00:23:18.148 You're carnal. You're carne. 00:23:18.148 --> 00:23:20.993 "For while there is jealousy and strife among you, 00:23:20.993 --> 00:23:23.616 are you not of the flesh 00:23:23.616 --> 00:23:26.106 and behaving only in a human way?" 00:23:26.106 --> 00:23:28.212 Or, your translation says, 00:23:28.212 --> 00:23:30.884 "behaving like mere men?" 00:23:30.884 --> 00:23:35.788 You say, well, that doesn't sound that bad. 00:23:35.788 --> 00:23:37.392 Just to behave like a mere man? 00:23:37.392 --> 00:23:39.161 That doesn't sound so bad. 00:23:39.161 --> 00:23:41.666 Don't you hear what Paul is saying? 00:23:41.666 --> 00:23:45.396 All men are sons of disobedience 00:23:45.396 --> 00:23:49.554 and we all lived - or still live - 00:23:49.554 --> 00:23:52.377 among the sons of disobedience 00:23:52.377 --> 00:23:54.015 carrying out the lusts 00:23:54.015 --> 00:23:56.506 of our mere man-ness. 00:23:56.506 --> 00:23:57.483 That's the issue. 00:23:57.483 --> 00:23:59.202 You say that doesn't sound that bad 00:23:59.202 --> 00:24:00.649 to merely be a man, 00:24:00.649 --> 00:24:01.951 but to merely be a man 00:24:01.951 --> 00:24:05.518 means everything rotten about man 00:24:05.518 --> 00:24:07.778 who is without God; 00:24:07.778 --> 00:24:09.317 who is separated. NOTE Paragraph 00:24:09.317 --> 00:24:14.571 Mere man-ness - don't you recognize? 00:24:14.571 --> 00:24:17.734 Mere man-ness is ugly. 00:24:17.734 --> 00:24:20.224 It is depraved. 00:24:20.224 --> 00:24:22.555 He looks at these Corinthians. 00:24:22.555 --> 00:24:27.126 They were whoring after prostitutes still. 00:24:27.126 --> 00:24:28.817 1 Corinthians 6 00:24:28.817 --> 00:24:31.107 He has to talk to them about drunkenness. 00:24:31.107 --> 00:24:32.809 The rich are getting together 00:24:32.809 --> 00:24:34.199 and despising the poor, 00:24:34.199 --> 00:24:36.205 and they're glutting themselves 00:24:36.205 --> 00:24:38.632 and getting drunk. 00:24:38.632 --> 00:24:40.479 They're taking each other to court. 00:24:40.479 --> 00:24:41.783 They're full of envy. 00:24:41.783 --> 00:24:43.425 They're full of jealousy. 00:24:43.425 --> 00:24:48.200 They are pitting one another against each other in disunity 00:24:48.200 --> 00:24:50.978 and exalting man. 00:24:50.978 --> 00:24:53.672 That's mere man-ness. It's ugly. 00:24:53.672 --> 00:24:58.987 It's horrible. NOTE Paragraph 00:24:58.987 --> 00:25:01.051 Now these different shades of meaning 00:25:01.051 --> 00:25:02.288 are important, 00:25:02.288 --> 00:25:05.887 because just look at the text. 00:25:05.887 --> 00:25:07.877 "The sons of disobedience, 00:25:07.877 --> 00:25:11.389 among whom we all once lived..." 00:25:11.389 --> 00:25:18.004 First, "in the lusts of our flesh, 00:25:18.004 --> 00:25:22.618 carrying out the desires 00:25:22.618 --> 00:25:27.997 of the flesh (or body) and the mind." 00:25:27.997 --> 00:25:30.643 The word flesh shows up here twice. 00:25:30.643 --> 00:25:33.379 It carries two different meanings. 00:25:33.379 --> 00:25:34.835 I mean, this is clear 00:25:34.835 --> 00:25:36.343 to the translators of the ESV. 00:25:36.343 --> 00:25:38.688 That's why they translate it two different ways. 00:25:38.688 --> 00:25:39.946 First, flesh, then body. NOTE Paragraph 00:25:39.946 --> 00:25:43.200 The first use of flesh - it's this broad concept 00:25:43.200 --> 00:25:46.320 which contains - notice - 00:25:46.320 --> 00:25:48.269 it's the broad concept. 00:25:48.269 --> 00:25:53.783 It contains both the desires of the flesh 00:25:53.783 --> 00:25:55.762 or the desires of the body 00:25:55.762 --> 00:25:59.703 and of the mind. 00:25:59.703 --> 00:26:03.058 And you see, the ESV translators are right. 00:26:03.058 --> 00:26:04.417 Body - because what? 00:26:04.417 --> 00:26:06.742 It's that part of our humanness 00:26:06.742 --> 00:26:10.990 over against the mind. 00:26:10.990 --> 00:26:14.906 You have it used flesh in this broad ugly way, 00:26:14.906 --> 00:26:17.138 and then it's used of the body. 00:26:17.138 --> 00:26:18.532 When it's used of the body, 00:26:18.532 --> 00:26:21.198 it doesn't necessarily need to carry 00:26:21.198 --> 00:26:22.630 any negative connotation, 00:26:22.630 --> 00:26:24.475 just like "mind" by itself 00:26:24.475 --> 00:26:26.850 doesn't carry any negative connotation. 00:26:26.850 --> 00:26:29.060 But because these are outworkings 00:26:29.060 --> 00:26:31.902 of the lusts of the flesh, 00:26:31.902 --> 00:26:35.558 it's all negative here. 00:26:35.558 --> 00:26:37.319 And what Paul does is he narrows in 00:26:37.319 --> 00:26:40.254 on these two particular ways 00:26:40.254 --> 00:26:43.064 in which these lusts of the flesh 00:26:43.064 --> 00:26:45.403 manifest themselves. 00:26:45.403 --> 00:26:48.878 The desires of the body, 00:26:48.878 --> 00:26:52.493 the desires of the mind. 00:26:52.493 --> 00:26:54.822 So let's look at these two things. NOTE Paragraph 00:26:54.822 --> 00:26:57.637 First, think about the body. 00:26:57.637 --> 00:27:02.109 The desires of the body. 00:27:02.109 --> 00:27:04.006 You know, what's interesting here 00:27:04.006 --> 00:27:08.055 is we first have the term passion 00:27:08.055 --> 00:27:12.166 or lust - isn't that a desire? 00:27:12.166 --> 00:27:14.071 Yeah, that's a desire. 00:27:14.071 --> 00:27:16.733 And then he uses the term 00:27:16.733 --> 00:27:21.012 that's translated "desire" again. 00:27:21.012 --> 00:27:25.933 It almost can sound like he's being redundant here. 00:27:25.933 --> 00:27:28.560 The second word that he uses 00:27:28.560 --> 00:27:31.187 is the idea of the will. 00:27:31.187 --> 00:27:33.829 It's determination. 00:27:33.829 --> 00:27:36.214 You need to think about this. 00:27:36.214 --> 00:27:40.018 As lost people, our bodies - 00:27:40.018 --> 00:27:42.619 they are determined. 00:27:42.619 --> 00:27:44.732 They are willed. 00:27:44.732 --> 00:27:47.755 There is something at work 00:27:47.755 --> 00:27:51.703 that is driving - driving. 00:27:51.703 --> 00:27:52.712 It's the will. 00:27:52.712 --> 00:27:55.484 Paul is hitting on what slaves we were 00:27:55.484 --> 00:27:58.622 to our bodies as they willed 00:27:58.622 --> 00:28:00.834 to have done to them certain things. 00:28:00.834 --> 00:28:02.656 There was the determination. 00:28:02.656 --> 00:28:03.620 This is sin. 00:28:03.620 --> 00:28:05.993 We see this concept over in Romans 6. 00:28:05.993 --> 00:28:10.100 Sin that seeks to reign in the mortal body 00:28:10.100 --> 00:28:14.458 and to have us obey the passions of the body. 00:28:14.458 --> 00:28:17.615 Sin is at work. It's pressing us. 00:28:17.615 --> 00:28:19.156 The will of the body. 00:28:19.156 --> 00:28:22.339 The determination of the body to gratify. 00:28:22.339 --> 00:28:25.455 There's an urge. There's a driving. 00:28:25.455 --> 00:28:29.567 There's a lusting to gratify its passions 00:28:29.567 --> 00:28:31.976 in a way that opposes God. 00:28:31.976 --> 00:28:32.995 That's the issue. 00:28:32.995 --> 00:28:35.305 That's how sin seeks to reign. NOTE Paragraph 00:28:35.305 --> 00:28:37.064 Look, we have to recognize, 00:28:37.064 --> 00:28:38.792 the appetites of the body 00:28:38.792 --> 00:28:41.072 were created by God. 00:28:41.072 --> 00:28:42.794 And it was good. 00:28:42.794 --> 00:28:44.993 He created us to hunger. 00:28:44.993 --> 00:28:46.474 That's good. 00:28:46.474 --> 00:28:49.198 He created us with these appetites. 00:28:49.198 --> 00:28:51.805 Thirst. 00:28:51.805 --> 00:28:54.570 You know, He designed pleasure. 00:28:54.570 --> 00:28:57.077 Do you know He designed the nerves 00:28:57.077 --> 00:29:00.431 that release that into our brains 00:29:00.431 --> 00:29:03.468 which get processed and produce 00:29:03.468 --> 00:29:07.475 feelings that are good and pleasurable. 00:29:07.475 --> 00:29:09.617 He did that. 00:29:09.617 --> 00:29:14.258 (incomplete thought) 00:29:14.258 --> 00:29:15.772 Some of my children, you know, 00:29:15.772 --> 00:29:18.448 you try to scratch their backs when they were younger, 00:29:18.448 --> 00:29:19.759 and it just tickled them, 00:29:19.759 --> 00:29:22.343 and they couldn't stand it. 00:29:22.343 --> 00:29:25.550 To me, it's wonderful. 00:29:25.550 --> 00:29:28.308 You massage my wife's feet, she just melts. 00:29:28.308 --> 00:29:31.318 You touch mine and it's like, ugh, I can't stand that. 00:29:31.318 --> 00:29:35.898 But God created in His kindness, 00:29:35.898 --> 00:29:38.942 He created our ability to have 00:29:38.942 --> 00:29:40.884 somebody scratch our back, 00:29:40.884 --> 00:29:45.135 and it's like, ah, that feels so good. 00:29:45.135 --> 00:29:46.754 Isn't that kind of Him? 00:29:46.754 --> 00:29:50.229 He didn't have to do that. 00:29:50.229 --> 00:29:51.400 Kind of Him. 00:29:51.400 --> 00:29:57.018 Have you ever taken a big scoop 00:29:57.018 --> 00:30:00.760 of carrot cake or cheesecake, 00:30:00.760 --> 00:30:05.057 and it's like, that's wonderful! 00:30:05.057 --> 00:30:09.034 He's created that. 00:30:09.034 --> 00:30:10.386 I mean, men and women 00:30:10.386 --> 00:30:12.107 look forward to their honeymoon. 00:30:12.107 --> 00:30:14.003 Why? They are going to experience 00:30:14.003 --> 00:30:17.293 such things as - I mean, 00:30:17.293 --> 00:30:22.526 they're a picture of our relationship with Christ. 00:30:22.526 --> 00:30:25.832 Just absolutely good. 00:30:25.832 --> 00:30:28.905 Very good. 00:30:28.905 --> 00:30:31.301 That's how He created us. 00:30:31.301 --> 00:30:34.687 And so, we don't want to despise these things, 00:30:34.687 --> 00:30:37.080 but listen. 00:30:37.080 --> 00:30:39.702 He created these appetites for us 00:30:39.702 --> 00:30:41.345 to be in control of, 00:30:41.345 --> 00:30:43.676 not for them to control us. 00:30:43.676 --> 00:30:48.122 And He created these appetites to serve Him. 00:30:48.122 --> 00:30:53.281 He created these appetites to be for His glory. 00:30:53.281 --> 00:30:57.709 Not for His glory to be dragged through the muck. 00:30:57.709 --> 00:30:59.880 That's the issue. NOTE Paragraph 00:30:59.880 --> 00:31:04.475 What happens is sin seeks to reign - 00:31:04.475 --> 00:31:05.579 reign! 00:31:05.579 --> 00:31:08.966 It seeks to commandeer these appetites 00:31:08.966 --> 00:31:11.440 and use them against God. 00:31:11.440 --> 00:31:12.740 That's what happens. 00:31:12.740 --> 00:31:15.037 This is the ugly part. 00:31:15.037 --> 00:31:18.523 And these passions, these appetites, 00:31:18.523 --> 00:31:20.680 they're in the grip of sin. 00:31:20.680 --> 00:31:21.717 And what happens? 00:31:21.717 --> 00:31:24.785 They scream at us to be satisfied, 00:31:24.785 --> 00:31:26.884 and they're relentless in their demands. 00:31:26.884 --> 00:31:29.407 And they don't care what God has said 00:31:29.407 --> 00:31:30.916 or what has commanded. 00:31:30.916 --> 00:31:33.000 Just do it because it's going to feel good! 00:31:33.000 --> 00:31:34.222 Do it! Do it! 00:31:34.222 --> 00:31:37.348 And they drive us! Do it! 00:31:37.348 --> 00:31:38.773 Oh, God will understand. 00:31:38.773 --> 00:31:40.769 God will understand. You hear that. 00:31:40.769 --> 00:31:42.195 "I'm going to leave my wife 00:31:42.195 --> 00:31:44.417 because I don't love her anymore." 00:31:44.417 --> 00:31:47.446 Why? "I think God just wants me to be happy." 00:31:47.446 --> 00:31:50.336 No, designed us to glorify Him. 00:31:50.336 --> 00:31:53.367 And He gave us these appetites to glorify Him. 00:31:53.367 --> 00:31:54.494 And we're just driven. 00:31:54.494 --> 00:31:56.159 We'll go from one woman to the next 00:31:56.159 --> 00:31:57.285 or one man to the next. 00:31:57.285 --> 00:31:59.610 You just see this works out 00:31:59.610 --> 00:32:01.473 in such a hideous, ugly way 00:32:01.473 --> 00:32:03.218 when you get the drug addict 00:32:03.218 --> 00:32:05.908 who they've just got to have their next fix. 00:32:05.908 --> 00:32:07.886 And you say, oh, I'm not like that. 00:32:07.886 --> 00:32:09.370 Yes, you are. 00:32:09.370 --> 00:32:11.833 Even if it hasn't manifested itself like that. 00:32:11.833 --> 00:32:12.738 You are. 00:32:12.738 --> 00:32:16.260 Our will held captive. 00:32:16.260 --> 00:32:19.264 We love to think, oh, we're free. 00:32:19.264 --> 00:32:21.010 We're free. 00:32:21.010 --> 00:32:23.162 The guy dragging on his cigarette - 00:32:23.162 --> 00:32:24.882 "I could give it up anytime I want. 00:32:24.882 --> 00:32:26.374 I just don't want." 00:32:26.374 --> 00:32:28.755 That's exactly right. 00:32:28.755 --> 00:32:31.561 You could if you wanted. 00:32:31.561 --> 00:32:35.418 But you see, your body screams for nicotine. 00:32:35.418 --> 00:32:38.601 And you know what? 00:32:38.601 --> 00:32:43.896 When these lusts scream at us, 00:32:43.896 --> 00:32:46.751 we don't have the power to resist. 00:32:46.751 --> 00:32:49.987 One lust may trump another. 00:32:49.987 --> 00:32:51.842 I've seen plenty of sinners 00:32:51.842 --> 00:32:55.840 get rid of one for another. 00:32:55.840 --> 00:32:58.399 But you don't have power over them. 00:32:58.399 --> 00:33:01.557 One stronger than the one you're presently 00:33:01.557 --> 00:33:05.474 if you're lost, controls your life. 00:33:05.474 --> 00:33:07.516 A stronger one may come along 00:33:07.516 --> 00:33:09.215 and boot that one out. 00:33:09.215 --> 00:33:10.739 Kind of like the stronger demon 00:33:10.739 --> 00:33:13.965 comes along and boots out the lesser one. 00:33:13.965 --> 00:33:16.694 That may be true. 00:33:16.694 --> 00:33:18.788 You've heard of the bondage of the will - 00:33:18.788 --> 00:33:20.976 here we are. 00:33:20.976 --> 00:33:23.969 We are given to the will of the body. 00:33:23.969 --> 00:33:26.277 That's what he's talking about here. 00:33:26.277 --> 00:33:32.518 God gave us appetites to be subordinate to us. 00:33:32.518 --> 00:33:37.031 He wants us to keep them under control, 00:33:37.031 --> 00:33:39.118 but they dominate. 00:33:39.118 --> 00:33:40.978 They dominate. 00:33:40.978 --> 00:33:45.341 What happens is we buckle to their authority. 00:33:45.341 --> 00:33:47.003 God is to be on the throne. 00:33:47.003 --> 00:33:48.297 But what happens? 00:33:48.297 --> 00:33:51.117 Sin takes the place on the throne, 00:33:51.117 --> 00:33:53.588 and our passions take a place on the throne. 00:33:53.588 --> 00:33:56.451 We get down and we bow before them. 00:33:56.451 --> 00:33:58.992 And we bow, and we bow. NOTE Paragraph 00:33:58.992 --> 00:34:02.280 You find people out here, 00:34:02.280 --> 00:34:05.795 they eat when they're not hungry. 00:34:05.795 --> 00:34:07.646 There's enough fat on their bodies. 00:34:07.646 --> 00:34:09.426 They don't need to eat. 00:34:09.426 --> 00:34:12.020 And they eat. 00:34:12.020 --> 00:34:13.740 Undoubtedly throughout this city, 00:34:13.740 --> 00:34:17.141 people will drink today who are not thirsty. 00:34:17.141 --> 00:34:20.811 And they will drink to get drunk. 00:34:20.811 --> 00:34:23.267 And they will bow down to that. 00:34:23.267 --> 00:34:27.052 Drug use. Prescription pain killers. 00:34:27.052 --> 00:34:30.264 People just bowing down, bowing down, 00:34:30.264 --> 00:34:32.673 bowing down. 00:34:32.673 --> 00:34:36.596 And then there's sex. 00:34:36.596 --> 00:34:39.869 Sex is a god in this country. 00:34:39.869 --> 00:34:42.094 And how many people bowing down - 00:34:42.094 --> 00:34:44.590 sex-crazed, pornographic society. NOTE Paragraph 00:34:44.590 --> 00:34:45.998 And brethren, the thing is, 00:34:45.998 --> 00:34:48.553 we're not talking just about the society out there. 00:34:48.553 --> 00:34:53.341 Paul is saying this - Christian - 00:34:53.341 --> 00:34:57.987 this was you. 00:34:57.987 --> 00:35:00.946 Unbeliever, this is you. 00:35:00.946 --> 00:35:07.747 This is man in his ugliness. 00:35:07.747 --> 00:35:09.993 We all know about these things. 00:35:09.993 --> 00:35:12.928 We all know about the relentless demands 00:35:12.928 --> 00:35:16.665 of our bodies and how we serve them. NOTE Paragraph 00:35:16.665 --> 00:35:19.826 Now, let's go to the other subcategory here. 00:35:19.826 --> 00:35:21.074 Look at the text. 00:35:21.074 --> 00:35:23.000 It's not just carrying out the desires 00:35:23.000 --> 00:35:28.133 of the body... "and the mind." 00:35:28.133 --> 00:35:30.609 Paul doesn't stop. There's more. 00:35:30.609 --> 00:35:33.368 And see, both of these things 00:35:33.368 --> 00:35:38.304 are subgroups of the overriding lusts - 00:35:38.304 --> 00:35:41.660 lusts of the flesh. 00:35:41.660 --> 00:35:44.627 There is this other subdivision, 00:35:44.627 --> 00:35:46.180 this other component. 00:35:46.180 --> 00:35:50.132 What? The mind. 00:35:50.132 --> 00:35:57.187 Think about the filth of the mind. 00:35:57.187 --> 00:36:01.624 The thoughts of fallen man. 00:36:01.624 --> 00:36:04.299 I know there may be those who imagine, 00:36:04.299 --> 00:36:07.304 look, I'm not some great sinner 00:36:07.304 --> 00:36:10.851 like you're describing. 00:36:10.851 --> 00:36:15.479 I never got drunk in my life. 00:36:15.479 --> 00:36:22.837 Never fornicated with my neighbor. 00:36:22.837 --> 00:36:26.608 I've not done drugs in my life. 00:36:26.608 --> 00:36:33.453 Well, it's true, you may not have. 00:36:33.453 --> 00:36:35.779 We may think ourselves not like the gluttons, 00:36:35.779 --> 00:36:38.303 not like the drunks, not like the drug addicts, 00:36:38.303 --> 00:36:40.119 but you know what Paul says? 00:36:40.119 --> 00:36:44.695 He said you just wait a second. 00:36:44.695 --> 00:36:48.404 Again, before there's any boasting, 00:36:48.404 --> 00:36:52.308 shhh... 00:36:52.308 --> 00:36:58.038 Hear what God says about your condition. 00:36:58.038 --> 00:36:59.749 There's the mind. 00:36:59.749 --> 00:37:02.015 What are we talking about here? 00:37:02.015 --> 00:37:06.996 That part of the flesh 00:37:06.996 --> 00:37:08.976 that has to do with the thoughts, 00:37:08.976 --> 00:37:10.865 the thinking, the intellect, 00:37:10.865 --> 00:37:12.757 the affections. 00:37:12.757 --> 00:37:15.040 This is just as much an expression 00:37:15.040 --> 00:37:17.660 of the carnal lusting of our flesh 00:37:17.660 --> 00:37:20.595 as is sexual immorality, 00:37:20.595 --> 00:37:22.692 gluttony, sloth. 00:37:22.692 --> 00:37:24.561 What are these desires of the mind 00:37:24.561 --> 00:37:26.209 or the will of the mind that is 00:37:26.209 --> 00:37:27.876 such an expression of the flesh? 00:37:27.876 --> 00:37:30.106 We're talking about anything 00:37:30.106 --> 00:37:33.666 you live for and dwell on in your thoughts 00:37:33.666 --> 00:37:35.554 apart from God. 00:37:35.554 --> 00:37:37.444 We're talking about godless thoughts. 00:37:37.444 --> 00:37:40.077 We're talking about the things that you're after. 00:37:40.077 --> 00:37:41.822 And see, this is the thing, 00:37:41.822 --> 00:37:45.061 what God has designed us for is Him. 00:37:45.061 --> 00:37:46.999 God has designed us to worship Him. 00:37:46.999 --> 00:37:49.807 God has designed our minds to be used for His glory. 00:37:49.807 --> 00:37:52.359 And when your mind is after 00:37:52.359 --> 00:37:54.683 other things than Him, 00:37:54.683 --> 00:37:56.830 and not after them for His glory, 00:37:56.830 --> 00:37:59.613 but after them because that's what you've got to have, 00:37:59.613 --> 00:38:01.704 and you've got to have them at any price, 00:38:01.704 --> 00:38:03.183 and that's what you're driven. 00:38:03.183 --> 00:38:05.204 And it's lust, and it's driving. 00:38:05.204 --> 00:38:06.662 And there you go. 00:38:06.662 --> 00:38:10.237 You're plowing deeper and deeper into this thing. 00:38:10.237 --> 00:38:11.989 And you're dwelling on these things. 00:38:11.989 --> 00:38:14.458 And you're filling your mind full of them. 00:38:14.458 --> 00:38:15.881 What you have to understand 00:38:15.881 --> 00:38:18.540 is God looks at that and He says, 00:38:18.540 --> 00:38:22.367 that is like a dog running to the vomit. 00:38:22.367 --> 00:38:24.384 That is that disgusting. 00:38:24.384 --> 00:38:25.845 That's what that's like. 00:38:25.845 --> 00:38:27.630 It is unclean. 00:38:27.630 --> 00:38:28.855 It is dirty. 00:38:28.855 --> 00:38:30.724 It is the pollution of man. 00:38:30.724 --> 00:38:32.135 It's in the mind. 00:38:32.135 --> 00:38:33.569 When we think about the dog 00:38:33.569 --> 00:38:34.836 going to its vomit, 00:38:34.836 --> 00:38:36.862 it isn't just like the man - 00:38:36.862 --> 00:38:39.195 you know, the man, you try to clean him up. 00:38:39.195 --> 00:38:41.438 He's been a drug addict. He goes to drug rehab. 00:38:41.438 --> 00:38:43.984 He comes back out again, and he runs back to it. 00:38:43.984 --> 00:38:45.387 Brethren, don't you recognize 00:38:45.387 --> 00:38:46.847 what we're talking about here? 00:38:46.847 --> 00:38:48.952 We're talking about people who in their mind 00:38:48.952 --> 00:38:51.257 are full of jealousy. 00:38:51.257 --> 00:38:54.486 You can't escape that. 00:38:54.486 --> 00:38:57.437 We're talking about minds full of hatred. 00:38:57.437 --> 00:39:05.105 Bitterness, malice, envy, jealousy. 00:39:05.105 --> 00:39:07.787 Jesus hits on it. 00:39:07.787 --> 00:39:10.434 It's not the guy that sleeps with prostitutes 00:39:10.434 --> 00:39:11.886 and you try to clean him up 00:39:11.886 --> 00:39:15.839 and he keeps going back. 00:39:15.839 --> 00:39:17.846 It's the man who sits at his office 00:39:17.846 --> 00:39:20.832 and lusts after the secretary. 00:39:20.832 --> 00:39:23.210 Day after day. 00:39:23.210 --> 00:39:25.229 And his mind is filled 00:39:25.229 --> 00:39:30.323 with the pornographic thoughts. 00:39:30.323 --> 00:39:34.689 It's everything you go after in your mind apart from God. 00:39:34.689 --> 00:39:37.086 It may be learning. 00:39:37.086 --> 00:39:40.748 It may be having books, having classes, 00:39:40.748 --> 00:39:42.302 being in the university, 00:39:42.302 --> 00:39:45.000 just lusting after more knowledge; 00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:46.548 lusting to learn; 00:39:46.548 --> 00:39:48.580 lusting after degrees. 00:39:48.580 --> 00:39:50.945 It can be very white collar. 00:39:50.945 --> 00:39:52.769 It can be very clean. 00:39:52.769 --> 00:39:56.411 It can look really neat. 00:39:56.411 --> 00:39:58.247 You're not visiting the brothels. 00:39:58.247 --> 00:40:00.099 You're not over in India 00:40:00.099 --> 00:40:03.223 dealing and plying with the sex trade over there. 00:40:03.223 --> 00:40:06.576 No, but you're in the college classroom 00:40:06.576 --> 00:40:08.340 and you're doing the same thing 00:40:08.340 --> 00:40:10.527 in your dirty, filthy mind. 00:40:10.527 --> 00:40:13.310 And you're full of hatred towards others 00:40:13.310 --> 00:40:15.154 because you're a god in your own mind 00:40:15.154 --> 00:40:16.696 and other people challenge that 00:40:16.696 --> 00:40:18.415 and you're jealous because you want 00:40:18.415 --> 00:40:19.559 what other people have. 00:40:19.559 --> 00:40:21.435 And you're envious. NOTE Paragraph 00:40:21.435 --> 00:40:25.748 Brethren, this is mankind. 00:40:25.748 --> 00:40:27.708 And we know the filth of it. 00:40:27.708 --> 00:40:29.324 We know the dirt of it. 00:40:29.324 --> 00:40:32.546 This is where Paul is saying, 00:40:32.546 --> 00:40:36.102 do you not recognize the power of God 00:40:36.102 --> 00:40:41.182 that takes you up out of this? 00:40:41.182 --> 00:40:42.758 There may be those here 00:40:42.758 --> 00:40:44.787 that have never gotten drunk. 00:40:44.787 --> 00:40:47.081 I know it. Never been high on cocaine. 00:40:47.081 --> 00:40:49.165 Never had sex outside of marriage. 00:40:49.165 --> 00:40:52.629 Never... never, but you just simply 00:40:52.629 --> 00:40:55.513 can't escape jealousy. 00:40:55.513 --> 00:41:00.242 Because it's right there. 00:41:00.242 --> 00:41:02.688 You want what they have. 00:41:02.688 --> 00:41:07.239 Covet. Covet. 00:41:07.239 --> 00:41:09.935 You need wealth. 00:41:09.935 --> 00:41:11.913 You need popularity. 00:41:11.913 --> 00:41:13.825 You need a car like the neighbors. 00:41:13.825 --> 00:41:16.603 You need your children to succeed like theirs. 00:41:16.603 --> 00:41:18.646 You need this. 00:41:18.646 --> 00:41:20.711 And we're just driven all our lives. NOTE Paragraph 00:41:20.711 --> 00:41:23.622 Brethren, is that not how it was when we were lost? 00:41:23.622 --> 00:41:25.937 No care for God. No care for His glory. 00:41:25.937 --> 00:41:28.481 Even religious. Religious. Do this. 00:41:28.481 --> 00:41:30.888 Self-righteous. Earn your way. 00:41:30.888 --> 00:41:33.193 Be something before God. 00:41:33.193 --> 00:41:35.124 Be good enough! 00:41:35.124 --> 00:41:36.841 You don't need that Christ. 00:41:36.841 --> 00:41:38.367 You don't need that. 00:41:38.367 --> 00:41:40.298 You don't need justification. 00:41:40.298 --> 00:41:42.560 You need to be good. Work it out. 00:41:42.560 --> 00:41:44.246 Keep the law. Keep going. 00:41:44.246 --> 00:41:46.204 Just driving, driving. 00:41:46.204 --> 00:41:47.533 The lusts of the flesh. 00:41:47.533 --> 00:41:49.280 This lust of pride 00:41:49.280 --> 00:41:51.371 to be able to stand before God 00:41:51.371 --> 00:41:52.793 and say, "Look at me, 00:41:52.793 --> 00:41:54.506 and look what I've done." 00:41:54.506 --> 00:41:56.360 Rather than bowing and saying, 00:41:56.360 --> 00:42:00.388 "Thank You, Lord. I know what I was." 00:42:00.388 --> 00:42:02.371 Brethren, this is it. Just think. 00:42:02.371 --> 00:42:03.831 Think. Think. 00:42:03.831 --> 00:42:05.587 A desire to be right. 00:42:05.587 --> 00:42:07.613 A desire to win the debate. 00:42:07.613 --> 00:42:10.113 A desire - this desire - 00:42:10.113 --> 00:42:12.162 lusting after social media. 00:42:12.162 --> 00:42:14.622 Lusting after all the gossip of it. 00:42:14.622 --> 00:42:16.658 Just wanting to hear the latest thing. 00:42:16.658 --> 00:42:19.140 Hear the garbage. Hear the trash. 00:42:19.140 --> 00:42:21.430 Have something to debate about out there. 00:42:21.430 --> 00:42:22.777 You want to win. 00:42:22.777 --> 00:42:26.195 There's just this lust after video games. 00:42:26.195 --> 00:42:28.029 Why? It makes me feel good. 00:42:28.029 --> 00:42:29.608 It does something in my mind. 00:42:29.608 --> 00:42:31.874 It produces these things in my mind. 00:42:31.874 --> 00:42:33.950 I need more. I need more. NOTE Paragraph 00:42:33.950 --> 00:42:36.634 You make your resolutions. Anybody ever been there? 00:42:36.634 --> 00:42:38.812 As a lost person, I made resolutions. 00:42:38.812 --> 00:42:42.400 Okay, I'm not going to do this anymore 00:42:42.400 --> 00:42:44.046 when I get out of high school. 00:42:44.046 --> 00:42:45.719 And I did it and I did it worse. 00:42:45.719 --> 00:42:48.542 Okay, I'm not going to do this when I get out of college. 00:42:48.542 --> 00:42:49.527 And you know what? 00:42:49.527 --> 00:42:50.938 Shortly before God saved me, 00:42:50.938 --> 00:42:53.032 I just came to resign myself: 00:42:53.032 --> 00:42:55.094 I'm never giving those things up. 00:42:55.094 --> 00:42:56.771 I didn't have the power to do it. 00:42:56.771 --> 00:42:58.851 The first time it was really sinking in - 00:42:58.851 --> 00:43:00.661 all our resolutions are trash. 00:43:00.661 --> 00:43:02.689 They don't go anywhere. Why? 00:43:02.689 --> 00:43:05.542 Because inside of us there is this craving, 00:43:05.542 --> 00:43:07.340 there is this driving - 00:43:07.340 --> 00:43:08.921 that's the idea: lusting. 00:43:08.921 --> 00:43:10.624 Lusting, lusting. 00:43:10.624 --> 00:43:11.734 We've got to have. 00:43:11.734 --> 00:43:13.287 See, we so often think about it 00:43:13.287 --> 00:43:15.615 just in the category of sexual immorality. 00:43:15.615 --> 00:43:18.148 But we're talking just our desire 00:43:18.148 --> 00:43:21.050 in our mind to have whatever it is. 00:43:21.050 --> 00:43:23.041 Movies coming in or TV - 00:43:23.041 --> 00:43:24.518 just lusting after it. 00:43:24.518 --> 00:43:26.367 I've got to know the next episode. 00:43:26.367 --> 00:43:28.907 Just some new thing - fill my mind. 00:43:28.907 --> 00:43:31.814 We've just got to have - always looking, 00:43:31.814 --> 00:43:33.808 always some new thing in this world. 00:43:33.808 --> 00:43:35.503 Never content in God. 00:43:35.503 --> 00:43:37.831 Always needing something more. 00:43:37.831 --> 00:43:40.587 That's why our sin just gets worse and worse. 00:43:40.587 --> 00:43:42.056 That's why the drug addict, 00:43:42.056 --> 00:43:43.880 they can handle a little bit at first, 00:43:43.880 --> 00:43:45.984 but then they've got to have more and more. 00:43:45.984 --> 00:43:48.041 The drunk - a little bit in the beginning. 00:43:48.041 --> 00:43:49.138 More and more and more. 00:43:49.138 --> 00:43:50.892 Sexual people that reach 00:43:50.892 --> 00:43:52.981 these stages of perversion. 00:43:52.981 --> 00:43:54.677 It doesn't start that way. 00:43:54.677 --> 00:43:56.451 It's more and more. Why? 00:43:56.451 --> 00:43:59.579 Just lusting, lusting, lusting! NOTE Paragraph 00:43:59.579 --> 00:44:01.772 Brethren, this is what we were. 00:44:01.772 --> 00:44:04.920 Can you imagine God looking at such people as us 00:44:04.920 --> 00:44:09.129 and saying, "I think I'm going to send My Son 00:44:09.129 --> 00:44:18.555 to die under My wrath in their place." 00:44:18.555 --> 00:44:27.221 Paul wants us to look at that and say, 00:44:27.221 --> 00:44:31.929 "What have You done, Lord?" 00:44:31.929 --> 00:44:35.025 What have You done? 00:44:35.025 --> 00:44:43.535 In such a state of lust, 00:44:43.535 --> 00:44:48.311 none of us can stand before God. 00:44:48.311 --> 00:44:50.730 Can you imagine walking before 00:44:50.730 --> 00:44:59.031 the holy, holy, holy God? 00:44:59.031 --> 00:45:05.798 Children of wrath like the rest of mankind. 00:45:05.798 --> 00:45:08.091 We'll be engulfed. 00:45:08.091 --> 00:45:11.746 We'll be consumed. 00:45:11.746 --> 00:45:18.405 Paul seeks to put his finger to our lips now. 00:45:18.405 --> 00:45:20.181 I have heard sinners say, 00:45:20.181 --> 00:45:21.804 "Well, when I stand before God, 00:45:21.804 --> 00:45:28.099 I'm going to tell Him..." 00:45:28.099 --> 00:45:31.544 One sight of the holy God, 00:45:31.544 --> 00:45:35.949 you won't be saying anything. 00:45:35.949 --> 00:45:42.192 You may cry "mercy," but it's too late. 00:45:42.192 --> 00:45:47.697 But God has unleashed such power 00:45:47.697 --> 00:45:50.122 through the Son of God 00:45:50.122 --> 00:45:52.587 and His coming and His life 00:45:52.587 --> 00:45:55.758 and His death and His exaltation 00:45:55.758 --> 00:45:59.593 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion. 00:45:59.593 --> 00:46:02.034 And there is such a power here. 00:46:02.034 --> 00:46:04.543 A power like Peter talks about. 00:46:04.543 --> 00:46:08.860 We no longer live for the passions of the flesh, 00:46:08.860 --> 00:46:10.901 but for the will of God. 00:46:10.901 --> 00:46:14.016 There is a power whereby we no longer 00:46:14.016 --> 00:46:15.897 surrender our members 00:46:15.897 --> 00:46:18.369 as these servants of unrighteousness. 00:46:18.369 --> 00:46:20.546 But now, to righteousness, 00:46:20.546 --> 00:46:24.871 the body becomes the dwelling place of God. 00:46:24.871 --> 00:46:26.997 The very temple of the Holy Spirit. 00:46:26.997 --> 00:46:30.227 Brethren, there is power in regeneration. 00:46:30.227 --> 00:46:32.935 Transforming power. 00:46:32.935 --> 00:46:35.613 That is where the power of God unleashed. 00:46:35.613 --> 00:46:39.209 It's in His Son. It's in the cross. 00:46:39.209 --> 00:46:43.391 And that's what Paul is doing here. 00:46:43.391 --> 00:46:45.221 He's just wanting to show us 00:46:45.221 --> 00:46:47.939 this wretchedness of man, 00:46:47.939 --> 00:46:53.868 so that it magnifies the power 00:46:53.868 --> 00:46:58.126 and the grace of God. NOTE Paragraph 00:46:58.126 --> 00:47:02.761 Isn't our salvation just amazing? 00:47:02.761 --> 00:47:04.912 Amen. 00:47:04.912 --> 00:47:07.018 Thank You, Lord. 00:47:07.018 --> 00:47:08.436 You're dismissed.