Tag: desires of the body and mind

35.b. “Passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind”

 

 

Genesis 2:16  And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

 1 Samuel 15:22    And Samuel said, “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.

 Ephesians 2:1-6   And you were dead in the trespasses and sins  in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—  among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.  But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,  even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved  and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

 There was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, so called because there was a positive revelation of the will of God about this tree, so that by it man might know moral good and evil. What is good? It is good not to eat of this tree. What is evil? It is evil to eat of this tree. In these two trees God set before Adam good and evil, the blessing and the curse. God has put certain boundaries and restrictions in place for our benefit. Yet there is a lie that the enemy has tried to whisper into our ears since the beginning of time: obedience to God leads to misery. You see, we have this idea that the freedom to do what we want to do leads to happiness, while obeying God leads to unhappiness. Deep down, we think God is some cosmic killjoy, and the reason He gives us boundaries for our behavior is to restrict our happiness. We think these rules, these standards of behavior, really are for God’s benefit rather than for ours. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The reason God has given us certain restrictions even though we live under grace is not for His benefit but for ours. There are boundaries that are given for our benefit, not for our detriment. What kind of Holy Creator would remove all barriers and standards for behavior? Satan.  What motivates people to live as close to the edge of disobedience as possible?

18.g. “Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.”

John 13:2   During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him,

 Acts 5:3     But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit

 Ephesians 2:3   among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

 James 1:13-17   Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.  But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.  Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.  Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.

 Mark 4:19     but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

 Romans 6:12    Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.

Some people are like the ground on a hard-packed pathway. This is hard ground because people walked on it all the time and hardened it. When people are hard to the word of God, they allow no room for the seed of the word in their lives – it never enters.  “There are some that hear the word, but never meditate upon it, never lay it to their hearts, never cover it with second thoughts.” (Poole)  Some people are like the ground that is rocky but covered with a thin layer of dirt. They receive the seed of the word with a flash of enthusiasm that quickly burns out. Some people are like the seed that falls among the thorns. They receive the word but allow the interests and cares of this world to choke it out.

We ought to be able to rightly see and understand the world we live in, its lures, lies, fears, temptations, and false hopes.  But how is this to occur?  When we are in God’s Word.  When we hunger and thirst for His Word.  When we have surrendered our life in this world to victoriously living to bring honor and glory to Jesus Christ.  This does not happen by walking hand in hand with what this world has to offer or giving head nods toward Christian values, the bible, attending church, or listening to Christian music.  Head nods are not the same as a heart surrendered.  There is a big difference.  Head nods do not let the word of God into their heart.  These people play at being a Christian but there has never been a heart change that only comes through repenting, confessing, and surrender all hope of eternal life into the hands of Jesus Christ.  No thought of being good enough enters their thoughts.  They understand they were lost and without hope and then the Light of the Gospel flooded their heart and mind.  They realized there is only one way to eternal life and that is through hope and faith in Jesus Christ.  God’s Word allows them to see this world and what it has to offer.  This allows them to reject temptations that come at them in all kinds of forms.  Greed, lust, passion, hate, anger, fear, worry, pride, self-worth, and self-reliance are some of the many forms this world will tempt.  Hunger and thirst for His Word with a desire to live so that all you think, say, and do honor and glorify Jesus Christ.