Lust

Well, today we come to the last of the seven deadly sins and it is the sin of lust. When we think of lust, we think probably primarily of sexual lust and I think that's probably a good way to look at it, but there are other lusts under there.

We can lust for money, for power, for fame, for popularity. And as we begin to look at this subject, this deadly sin of lust, I want to remind you that as followers of Jesus Christ, we have three enemies. We have, first of all, the devil. The Bible says he is our adversary, that is, he's against you.

He'll do all he can to prevent you from following Christ. Then secondly, there is the enemy of the world. James tells us that the world is at enmity with God.

It's an enemy. Paul tells us in Galatians 5, these lusts, these sinful lusts, are opposed to the desires of the Holy Spirit. So as we lead our Christian life, we're confronted with this threefold enemy, the devil, the world, and our sinful lusts. Now, you may not look on your flesh or your sinful nature as it's sometimes translated.

The Greek word is translated differently. You may not look on it as your enemy because sometimes we enjoy the flesh. We pander to it with all of his wonderful feelings and moods.

But we'll see today something that I want you to grasp. If you don't understand this, you're going to toil in your Christian life. The flesh, these lusts, are deadly. Yes, it is a deadly sin. And it's also very deceptive and it's very dangerous. It's a dangerous enemy.

It comes in a multitude of disguises. These fleshly lusts often appear to be your friend, but they are plotting your destruction. Remember at the beginning of this series, we thought of Adam and Eve, our first parents in the Garden of Eden. And Satan, our adversary, was there and he caused Adam and Eve to question the Word of God. Has God actually said that? And we saw that his question, a very subtle question, was an attack on the goodness of God. Satan attacks in many ways, and one of the ways he attacks you as a follower of Jesus Christ is for you to question the goodness of God. That God really isn't as good as you thought.

That you are in fact wiser than God. And our first parents listened to the enemy and so fell into sin. In Romans 1, Paul talks about those who exchange the truth of God for a lie. That's what the devil does. He wants you to exchange the truth of God for a lie, and that is sin.

Let me illustrate it this way. Here we have in the congregation this morning, let's say we have a 16-year-old young woman. Her parents are Christians and they're very committed Christians. They're very godly Christians and they're trying to bring up their 16-year-old daughter in the ways of the Lord. She professed to be a follower of Jesus Christ, but one day she comes to her parents and says that she wants to go to a particular party. And the parents investigate what kind of party this is and give their decision, which is allowed, no. Do you ever get that when you're a 16-year-old?

I did. And I'm grateful that I had parents who could say, no, you're not going to that. And the young lady is very upset. She wants to go to this party. Some of her friends are there.

It sounds very interesting, very intriguing. And so she gets into a confrontation with her parents and she begins to get very emotional and speaks in a way that she shouldn't really speak to her parents. And then she says this, you never allow me to do anything. You ever say that to your parents?

You never allow me to do anything. But this one thing, they say, no. That's what happens in the Garden of Eden, isn't it?

All of the trees. And God says, no, but you can't take this one. And that's exactly what they do. And it is an attack on the goodness of God. So as you're tempted and as the devil wants you to take the bait, remember that God is good. Now let's open our Bibles to one particular text in 1 Peter 2.

It's just one verse. Peter is writing to Christians who are persecuted. They are scattered for their faith. And he gives us this very interesting exhortation, a very direct one, and we're going to read it. 1 Peter 2, verse 11.

I hope you come with your Bibles. Our authority at Calvary Church is not our opinions or our feelings or our traditions, but this is our authority. We believe, although it was written 2,000 years ago, it's the living Word of God. And God is speaking to you and me today.

What's he saying? 1 Peter 2, verse 11. Beloved – he's writing to Christians – I urge you as sojourners and exiles – I'm reading from the English Standard Version – I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul. Think of that. The flesh not only is your enemy, it's waging war against your soul. This is a war. This is serious.

This is deadly. The devil and the world, in a sense, are external enemies, but we have an internal enemy, the passions of the flesh, and they are waging war against your soul. What does Peter say? Abstain. Abstain from fleshly lusts. I want all of us to hear that.

What are you to do? In terms of these lusts, you are to abstain. Yes, the Christian has these fleshly lusts. The New American Standard and the King James say fleshly lusts. The NIV translates it sinful desires. The ESV says the passions of the flesh.

It's a translation of a Greek word, epithumia, which we're going to see several times this morning. Sinful desires, lusts of the flesh. Peter in chapter 4 of 1 Peter is going to contrast these lusts with doing the will of God. Make no mistake about it, God never ever leads you into obeying the lusts of the flesh.

As human beings, we are created by God. We are made in the image of God, and as a created being, as human beings, we have sexual desires, and we celebrate that. That's a gift of God. That's a good thing for God to give us.

However, these sexual desires can very easily and very quickly become sinful lusts. During the series on the seven deadly sins, we've seen that's what Satan does. God gives us food.

That's good. That's a gift of God. We enjoy a good meal in Israel. We enjoyed all kinds of food, and in the main, we enjoyed it as a gift from God. But we abuse that, and we commit the sin of gluttony. God gives us rest. Part of the Ten Commandments, there was the Sabbath, a time for us to rest. That's good.

But then sometimes it becomes sloth. God gives us possessions, good things. He gives us our homes, our cars, employment.

He gives us money. That's good. That's a blessing of God. But that can easily become our idol, and we commit the deadly sin of greed. In this case, God gives us sexual desires.

That's good. We celebrate that. We're thankful for them, but they so easily can become sinful lusts. Lust is destructive. It's deadly.

Think of it. It leads to abuse. It leads to immorality. It leads to marital breakdown, shame, guilt, and despair. Nothing ever, ever is good from these passions of the flesh.

Why? Because lust is selfish. It's self-focused. It's self-gratification.

It's doing what I want to do rather than what God wants me to do. We live, I don't need to remind you, in a sex-saturated society. Sex is used in advertising, in sport, in movies, in computer games, on the internet, and it's reached epidemic proportions, hasn't it, on social media. There is a dramatic increase in pornography, and the number of pedophiles, and sexual perversion, and sexually transmitted diseases, and the number of women who are sexually abused.

Not only women, but also children sexually abused. Where does it come from? It doesn't come from God. It comes from the lust of the flesh, a deadly sin. Thomas Aquinas likened lust to a lion who, seeing a stag, a deer, thinks of nothing else but the meal to be enjoyed. That's a lion looking at a stag.

Fun for the lion, but not good news for the stag. Lust is self-focused. Now, when we talk about the passions of the flesh, as is translated in our version in 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 11, we're not talking about our physical flesh.

This hand, this body, is created by God. It's not evil, but in the context of 1 Peter 2 verse 11, the flesh is used in an ethical and immoral sense of rebellion against God. It is my flesh, my evil desires, acting independently of God, and these lusts can very quickly dominate everything we do.

It is our enemy. You say, well, I'm a follower of Jesus Christ, my sins are forgiven. Yes, but you must understand this, that your flesh in that sense is never converted.

It's always your enemy. Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3, that which is born of the flesh is flesh. Paul says in Romans 8 verse 8 that those who are in the flesh cannot please God. How do we please God? Without faith, it's impossible to please God. When I'm acting in faith, when I'm trusting God, that pleases God. But my flesh, when I act independently from God, when I focus on myself, my own pleasure, my own agenda, that does not please God. Flesh is my enemy. These are at war against our souls.

Look again at the text. Beloved, I urge you, as sojourners and exiles, to abstain from the passions of the flesh which, says Peter, wage war against your soul. This morning we were honoring our veterans.

Here's the concept. This is a military campaign term. This is not a little skirmish. This is not an occasional battle. This is a war. These flesh, these passions of the flesh, your sinful desires are waging war against your soul.

You ever think of it like that? The verb is in the present tense. Wage war. Continue to wage war. These flesh, these sinful desires waged war against your soul yesterday, and today they're waging war against your soul. Our lusts are continually waging war against us. They're trying to destroy your very soul. They're trying to get you off target. They're trying to stop you from following the Lord Jesus Christ.

They're trying to get you to stop acting by faith. And so we must understand the seriousness of the situation. I've never served in the military, but I know enough to know that the military has to identify the enemy. What's the objective? Who is the enemy? This is the enemy.

Your sinful desires. They're not just a problem. They're not just a distraction. They are your enemy.

The problem is these lusts appear to be our friend. We're so comfortable with them sometimes. We like them. We enjoy them. But the consequences are disastrous, aren't they?

You know that. Think of the damage to relationships. Think of the guilt, the shame, the dishonor, the loss of integrity, the betrayal, the disillusionment. Think of great King David. We were at the City of David, and considering where his palace would be, just south of the Temple Mount, that great king, Israel's greatest king. But one day, instead of going to war, he sees a beautiful woman, and he takes her, has a child with her, arranges for her husband to be killed, lies, deceit, and commits these terrible, terrible sins.

Where did they come from? From God? No, from his own sinful desires. And the consequences were disastrous for David and for his family. And so Peter here is giving a warning, a warning I need to hear, and a warning you need to hear. Abstain from fleshly lust.

That is the command. Now, notice how Peter describes his readers here. I think this is very interesting. In 1 Peter 2.11, he says, "'Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles.'" The King James, and I must say I prefer it here, says, "'Strangers and pilgrims.'"

He's writing to people who are not comfortable where they are. They're scattered from their home. They're persecuted. They are pilgrims.

They're heading, as John Bunyan would say in his brilliant pilgrims progress, they're heading for Celestial City. That's where we are. Do you understand that? In this world, we're sojourners. We are exiles. We don't fit in. That doesn't mean to say we're oddballs. Most of us are.

That's not the point. We're not a home in this world. Heaven is our home.

We look up. That's why we look at death differently from the unbeliever. That's why when one of our loved ones dies, while we sorrow, we don't do as those who have no hope, because we realize that soon this world will be over. Fifty years from now, how many of us are going to be sitting here?

In a hundred years, none of us will be here. Life is like a shadow, isn't it? It's there. It's gone.

Quickly. Life is fragile. Life is short. We are strangers and exiles. That means, Peter is reminding them, that they are to keep looking up, and that these fleshly lusts then are totally inconsistent with those who are bound for heaven.

Therefore, abstain from these fleshly lusts. Heaven has nothing to do with them. They're not in heaven. They're here, but they're out to destroy you. And so, Peter is saying, I'm reminding you, you're strangers and pilgrims. You're sojourners.

You're exiles. Therefore, keep looking up. Why is it when we come to worship God here at Calvary Church, our focus is not primarily on ourselves, it is to look up. It's to remind ourselves, as we've been saying, of the Father's great love. To remind ourselves that He's a mighty fortress.

Why? Because we need that. To keep looking up.

To be reminded that what's important in life is not the material, but the spiritual. Yes, we are citizens of this world. We take that responsibly. I trust you're going to go out and worship God on Tuesday. That is true, but we believe we have a much, much better home than this world.

And we're going home. Therefore, if that's the case, abstain from these fleeting lusts. Here is how John describes it in 1 John 2, verse 16 and 17.

He tells us not to love the world. 1 John 2, 16, for all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh. There's a great word, epithumia, the lusts of the flesh, the desires of the flesh. And the desires, same word, the lusts of the eyes and pride of life is not from the Father. These do not come from God.

They're from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, lusts, epithumia, again. But whoever does the will of God abides forever.

You have to remember that this world is short, and it is the one who does the will of God who abides forever. So, please hear me, don't feed your lusts. They damage your soul. You indulge them, you'll be in spiritual bondage. They will distort your thinking. They will pervert your view of intimacy. They will mess up your sexuality. They may wreck your marriage and your relationships. What does pornography do, which is so epidemic? Pornography views women as sex objects. And the great problem is that that isolates sexual fulfillment from a loving, caring relationship. Men, married men, God gives you sexual desires, celebrate them.

Be thankful for them. But there to find their fulfillment, not in pornography, but in a loving, growing, intimate, caring relationship with your wife. And Peter here is urging us, as I'm doing, he says, I urge you. Can you get his passion in his, as he writes, I urge you. See, if you're lured into the, into these, into evil through your lusts, you will lose the sense of God's power and presence. Substantial, spiritual damage will be done. Others may not immediately know it, but it will show in your own heart. Why? Because you're dealing with a deadly, destructive, dangerous enemy, which is waging war against your very soul. This is serious. This is not dealing with the micro in the Christian life.

This is dealing with something which is very, very important and impacts each one of us. When we were in Israel on the, on their Sabbath, we're staying in a hotel in Tiberius, which was celebrating the Sabbath. And Gudney and I had dinner with an Israeli who was married to a Faroese wife.

I just can't get away from them, wherever we go. And so Gudney hadn't seen these women since they were at school together, just a few years ago, of course. And so we had lunch, we had dinner with them. And the man said the Israeli were talking about different things. They were both secular Jews, and she'd been brought up in the same church as Gudney, but had denied her faith, and had been converted to Judaism, and then said, well, really, I'm an atheist.

Very sad. But, however, they said, well, let's get a photograph of the four of us. And there was a woman sitting in the lobby, and so they went up to her with their iPhone and asked for a photo. And the woman replied in Hebrew, no, I can't take a photo, it's a Sabbath. I thought, you know, you can't press a little button on the Sabbath.

They have the Shabbat elevators, so the elevator just goes up to each floor, so you don't have to press the button. That's the micro, isn't it? We're not, be thankful we're not under that kind of burden of the law as interpreted by the rabbis. It's a trivial matter, isn't it? Even if it's wrong to press, to take a photo on the Sabbath, it's a rather unimportant issue. This is not an unimportant issue.

This is a serious issue. This is something each one of us here has to deal with. And tolerance and moderation are not the answer.

If someone's out to destroy you, you don't tolerate that person. The devil will tell you that a little bit of lust is OK. No, what is the command? Verse 11, abstain, abstinence.

You say, well, that's unrealistic in our society, not for followers of Jesus Christ. Paul tells Timothy, flee youthful lusts. Remember the young man Joseph? Get some promotion working for his master, but his master's got an evil wife who tries to seduce young Joseph. What does Joseph do?

He runs. Well done, Joseph. Know what he says to the woman? Genesis 39, how can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? There was a man who was living by faith. Scripture says that God was with him. God's hand was on him. Think of what happened to him. He'd been betrayed by his brothers. He'd been sold as a slave. If anyone could have made excuses for his behavior, it was Joseph.

No, it's possible. In a situation that Joseph is in, God is greater than any temptation, and he realizes this, that we need to realize that this is a great wickedness and sin against God. You want to call it an affair? You want to call it a little bit on the side? You want to call it a little bit of fun? God says it's wicked.

And at the end of 2 Samuel 11, God's commentary on David was that he had done evil in the sight of God. You understand? We are to abstain. Have a zero tolerance policy.

Young man, young woman, older man, older woman, zero tolerance. If you're involved in sexual sin, stop it. Stop it now. Stop it today. Resolve before God that it will end.

If you're thinking about it, stop thinking about it and don't do it. Is that clear? You say, well, how can we defeat the sin of lust? Peter very wisely, I think, gives us great help here. Notice how he addresses his leader, his readers. First Peter 2 11, beloved, that's a beautiful term. Many of you have heard of the Greek word for love, agape, this is a form of it.

Those who are loved, that is loved by God. Peter is reminding these readers who are faced with their own passions of the flesh that they are greatly loved by God. We'll see that tonight in Ephesians 2, that God greatly loves you. If you're a follower of Jesus Christ, you know about this love which comes from above, a divine love. And to remind myself, as I'm reminding you that you are a person who knows about love.

Not just ordinary love, not just sentimental love, the love that comes from God because God's love is poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who's given to us. Paul says in Romans 5, and it's the opposite of lust. What does lust do? Lust demands, lust takes, lust uses, manipulates, lust is self-centered, lust is never satisfied. It's insistent, it's impatient, it's selfish, it wants it now. Anyone here dating someone that has shown that kind of attitude, demanding in the sexual realm, impatient, it's a good reason to end that relationship.

It's a very bad sign to go for the gusto, to be told, well, you only go around once, get yours while there's still some left, make your own rules. No, true love, which is surely what you want in a relationship, isn't it? True love is the opposite of lust. Lust takes and takes and takes and is never satisfied.

Of course not, it's going further and further and further away from God. It takes, lust, love on the other hand, gives, forgives and never stands with open hands and as it lives, it gives, for this is love's prerogative, to give and give and give. How do we know God loves us?

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. No, love, we're told in 1 Corinthians 13, love is patient, love is self-controlled, love is undemanding, it's sacrificial, it's pure, it's honorable, and the Bible says it never fails. Lust always, always fails.

We'd have pleasure in the short term, that's true, but ultimately it fails. Lust promises so much and delivers so little. Some of you who've been married for some time as I have know this is true, that in a loving relationship, that love grows and grows and grows.

That's phenomenal, isn't it? You can marry someone as a young person and 20 or 30 or 40 years later, you're still in love with that person. I mean, humanly speaking, you think, no, I'm going to get fed up with this person, I want to change. You know, I mean, a lot of interesting people, why should I be saddled with this person all my life?

That's the voice of the devil, isn't it? No, in a true loving relationship, and when you're younger, if you're younger, you're going to think, oh, this is a bit crazy, let me tell you it's true. True love grows and grows, and the respect and the intimacy and the trust continues to grow and grow and grow. What does lust do? Lust humiliates people. Lust leaves people feeling used and cheapened, isn't that right? Some of you have known about lust, and you have been left feeling very cheap, very used, very dirty, that's lust.

So here's the point. When you're tempted to yield to a fleshly lust, I want you to stop. And instead of focusing on that lust, I want you to think of God's love.

That's what Peter says. He says to these readers, you are beloved of God, God loves you. And your brothers and sisters here at Calvary love you. You may have a family that loves you. You may have a husband, a wife, of children, grandchildren, friends who love you. Remember that, and you're commanded, yes, commanded to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to meditate. As we have been...