1 00:00:01,051 --> 00:00:03,771 Okay, brethren, we find ourselves 2 00:00:03,771 --> 00:00:09,697 in Ephesians 2 once again. 3 00:00:09,697 --> 00:00:20,147 This is part four of a five part series 4 00:00:20,147 --> 00:00:25,001 on these first three verses of Ephesians 2. 5 00:00:25,001 --> 00:00:27,213 We can read those together. 6 00:00:27,213 --> 00:00:28,576 I've called this series: 7 00:00:28,576 --> 00:00:30,021 "How Dead is Dead? 8 00:00:30,021 --> 00:00:32,309 The Five-fold Fallenness of Man." 9 00:00:32,309 --> 00:00:33,650 Today's part four. 10 00:00:33,650 --> 00:00:38,519 Today, we're going to focus on the flesh. 11 00:00:38,519 --> 00:00:41,232 We've looked at man dead in sin, 12 00:00:41,232 --> 00:00:43,774 dead with regards to the world, 13 00:00:43,774 --> 00:00:46,483 dead with regards to the devil. 14 00:00:46,483 --> 00:00:53,126 Today, dead with regards to the flesh. 15 00:00:53,126 --> 00:00:56,061 Next week, Lord willing, 16 00:00:56,061 --> 00:00:58,560 the wrath of God. 17 00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:06,095 Our deadness to God. 18 00:01:06,095 --> 00:01:08,117 Ephesians 2:1, 19 00:01:08,117 --> 00:01:13,226 "And you were dead..." 20 00:01:13,226 --> 00:01:16,772 You were. 21 00:01:16,772 --> 00:01:19,964 Only if you're a Christian, you were. 22 00:01:19,964 --> 00:01:26,524 If you're not a Christian, you are. 23 00:01:26,524 --> 00:01:30,495 Let me just tell you up front here, 24 00:01:30,495 --> 00:01:38,171 nobody needs to embellish how bad man is. 25 00:01:38,171 --> 00:01:40,309 All we need to know 26 00:01:40,309 --> 00:01:42,429 is the reality of the situation, 27 00:01:42,429 --> 00:01:46,373 and it's bad. 28 00:01:46,373 --> 00:01:48,892 "You were dead in the trespasses and sins 29 00:01:48,892 --> 00:01:52,311 in which you once walked, 30 00:01:52,311 --> 00:01:55,314 following the course of this world, 31 00:01:55,314 --> 00:01:57,867 following the prince of the power of the air, 32 00:01:57,867 --> 00:01:59,556 the spirit that is now at work 33 00:01:59,556 --> 00:02:01,627 in the sons of disobedience, 34 00:02:01,627 --> 00:02:04,688 among whom we all once lived, 35 00:02:04,688 --> 00:02:06,772 in the passions of our flesh 36 00:02:06,772 --> 00:02:09,164 carrying out the desires of the body 37 00:02:09,164 --> 00:02:10,917 and the mind, 38 00:02:10,917 --> 00:02:14,349 and were by nature children of wrath 39 00:02:14,349 --> 00:02:17,227 like the rest of mankind." 40 00:02:17,227 --> 00:02:18,366 So there you have it. 41 00:02:18,366 --> 00:02:21,408 Three verses that spell out 42 00:02:21,408 --> 00:02:28,438 this five-fold fallenness of man. 43 00:02:28,438 --> 00:02:32,889 Last week, when I got done preaching, 44 00:02:32,889 --> 00:02:36,028 one of our younger theologians came up 45 00:02:36,028 --> 00:02:38,805 after I was done and asked me 46 00:02:38,805 --> 00:02:44,886 why I hadn't included any application. 47 00:02:44,886 --> 00:02:47,971 I preached about the prince of the power of the air. 48 00:02:47,971 --> 00:02:51,314 This young man wanted to know 49 00:02:51,314 --> 00:02:56,212 how do I apply that to my life. 50 00:02:56,212 --> 00:02:59,706 And brethren, what I told him, 51 00:02:59,706 --> 00:03:02,389 is that sometimes when we're confronted 52 00:03:02,389 --> 00:03:05,372 by the Word of God, 53 00:03:05,372 --> 00:03:11,038 I told him it's enough if at times 54 00:03:11,038 --> 00:03:15,118 we're just simply left worshiping. 55 00:03:15,118 --> 00:03:21,077 Brethren, that is not a bad application of Scripture. 56 00:03:21,077 --> 00:03:24,034 If we simply are confronted by it 57 00:03:24,034 --> 00:03:27,016 and we come away seeing God as big 58 00:03:27,016 --> 00:03:30,157 and ourselves as incredibly small. 59 00:03:30,157 --> 00:03:35,021 That is profitable. 60 00:03:35,021 --> 00:03:38,588 That is good. 61 00:03:38,588 --> 00:03:41,634 Look, I recognize that in these verses 62 00:03:41,634 --> 00:03:42,893 that we're dealing with - 63 00:03:42,893 --> 00:03:44,651 following the course of this world - 64 00:03:44,651 --> 00:03:48,008 you know, we could just get consumed 65 00:03:48,008 --> 00:03:49,152 with the world, 66 00:03:49,152 --> 00:03:50,961 and how do we overcome the world, 67 00:03:50,961 --> 00:03:52,799 and how do we not love the world, 68 00:03:52,799 --> 00:03:53,660 and you know what? 69 00:03:53,660 --> 00:03:56,148 Scripture deals with those things in other places. 70 00:03:56,148 --> 00:03:58,413 But what I want to do is what Paul wants to do. 71 00:03:58,413 --> 00:04:01,525 And right now, Paul is not telling us how to overcome the world. 72 00:04:01,525 --> 00:04:04,443 Right now, Paul is not telling us how to overcome the devil. 73 00:04:04,443 --> 00:04:06,756 He's not telling us how to overcome the flesh. 74 00:04:06,756 --> 00:04:08,548 You know what he's doing right now? 75 00:04:08,548 --> 00:04:11,170 He is concerned that we have 76 00:04:11,170 --> 00:04:14,013 some recognition of the exceedingly 77 00:04:14,013 --> 00:04:17,169 immeasurable greatness of God's power 78 00:04:17,169 --> 00:04:18,516 toward us who believe. 79 00:04:18,516 --> 00:04:20,146 He wants us to measure it. 80 00:04:20,146 --> 00:04:22,733 And by measuring it, what he wants to do 81 00:04:22,733 --> 00:04:24,130 is he wants to take us down 82 00:04:24,130 --> 00:04:27,064 into the depths of the pit from which we came 83 00:04:27,064 --> 00:04:31,124 over against the exaltation to which we've been saved. 84 00:04:31,124 --> 00:04:33,442 And it's in that contrast; 85 00:04:33,442 --> 00:04:34,993 it's in that difference 86 00:04:34,993 --> 00:04:36,893 that he wants us to step back 87 00:04:36,893 --> 00:04:39,777 and just be amazed and be in awe 88 00:04:39,777 --> 00:04:41,128 at the power of God. 89 00:04:41,128 --> 00:04:44,013 And brethren, if we look at these things - 90 00:04:44,013 --> 00:04:47,485 the wretchedness, the brokenness of mankind 91 00:04:47,485 --> 00:04:50,308 and we're left saying, "Wow!" 92 00:04:50,308 --> 00:04:51,673 You know, that's enough? 93 00:04:51,673 --> 00:04:53,560 Do you know if you're left coming away 94 00:04:53,560 --> 00:04:54,642 from the Word of God 95 00:04:54,642 --> 00:04:56,664 and you fall down on your face, 96 00:04:56,664 --> 00:04:58,184 don't we get the sense that 97 00:04:58,184 --> 00:05:01,254 that's exactly why God does everything that He does? 98 00:05:01,254 --> 00:05:02,531 Because in the end, 99 00:05:02,531 --> 00:05:06,099 it's not so much just about the application to our lives 100 00:05:06,099 --> 00:05:07,723 in the sense that, you know, 101 00:05:07,723 --> 00:05:09,127 I have to walk out this door 102 00:05:09,127 --> 00:05:11,772 and now I have a list of things to do. 103 00:05:11,772 --> 00:05:13,751 Brethren, what God really wants us to do 104 00:05:13,751 --> 00:05:14,841 is walk out this door, 105 00:05:14,841 --> 00:05:17,656 and fall down on our faces and say, 106 00:05:17,656 --> 00:05:21,594 "Wow! Thank You, Lord! 107 00:05:21,594 --> 00:05:25,397 Thank You! Thank You!" 108 00:05:25,397 --> 00:05:28,098 You know what He wants us to do in this? 109 00:05:28,098 --> 00:05:30,891 He wants us to recognize 110 00:05:30,891 --> 00:05:35,998 what sort of people we were 111 00:05:35,998 --> 00:05:40,876 that He rescued us from His wrath. 112 00:05:40,876 --> 00:05:42,092 That's what it is. 113 00:05:42,092 --> 00:05:44,618 The end in view is worship. 114 00:05:44,618 --> 00:05:48,267 The end in view is awe. 115 00:05:48,267 --> 00:05:51,446 Brethren, we need to be gripped. 116 00:05:51,446 --> 00:05:55,909 We need to be changed and amazed 117 00:05:55,909 --> 00:05:58,896 that God would actually unleash 118 00:05:58,896 --> 00:06:04,486 His great might on such people as we were. 119 00:06:04,486 --> 00:06:05,875 That's the issue. 120 00:06:05,875 --> 00:06:09,474 So, today, part four. 121 00:06:09,474 --> 00:06:14,993 Turn our attention towards the flesh. 122 00:06:14,993 --> 00:06:18,877 Brethren, what we have is man 123 00:06:18,877 --> 00:06:24,865 like an animal, but worse. 124 00:06:24,865 --> 00:06:29,322 Because we have a mind. 125 00:06:29,322 --> 00:06:32,141 Look at it. 126 00:06:32,141 --> 00:06:34,170 Right at the end of v. 2, 127 00:06:34,170 --> 00:06:35,985 "the sons of disobedience." 128 00:06:35,985 --> 00:06:38,864 The devil was at work in these sons of disobedience - 129 00:06:38,864 --> 00:06:39,791 look what it says - 130 00:06:39,791 --> 00:06:43,646 "among whom we all..." 131 00:06:43,646 --> 00:06:46,351 All of us. 132 00:06:46,351 --> 00:06:48,448 Among them we lived. 133 00:06:48,448 --> 00:06:50,847 In other words, we were one of them. 134 00:06:50,847 --> 00:06:53,780 All of us. 135 00:06:53,780 --> 00:06:57,734 This is a summation, a summary statement 136 00:06:57,734 --> 00:07:02,982 of all mankind in their natural condition. 137 00:07:02,982 --> 00:07:06,032 We lived among these sons of disobedience 138 00:07:06,032 --> 00:07:11,455 "in the passions of our flesh, 139 00:07:11,455 --> 00:07:14,330 carrying out the desires of the body 140 00:07:14,330 --> 00:07:16,581 and the mind." 141 00:07:16,581 --> 00:07:19,381 Now, just get a feel for this. 142 00:07:19,381 --> 00:07:21,641 The New King James: 143 00:07:21,641 --> 00:07:24,698 "We all once conducted ourselves 144 00:07:24,698 --> 00:07:28,686 in the lusts..." the lusts. 145 00:07:28,686 --> 00:07:31,545 Lust. What a word. 146 00:07:31,545 --> 00:07:33,230 Just let that roll of your tongue. 147 00:07:33,230 --> 00:07:36,509 Lust. 148 00:07:36,509 --> 00:07:39,016 That produces imagery in our minds. 149 00:07:39,016 --> 00:07:40,684 "...The lusts of our flesh." 150 00:07:40,684 --> 00:07:42,514 Or the New American Standard, 151 00:07:42,514 --> 00:07:48,427 "We too all (all!) formerly..." 152 00:07:48,427 --> 00:07:51,287 We - Christians. This was us too. 153 00:07:51,287 --> 00:07:59,111 "We all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh." 154 00:07:59,111 --> 00:08:01,435 King James Version: 155 00:08:01,435 --> 00:08:04,494 "We all had our conversation..." 156 00:08:04,494 --> 00:08:07,202 That doesn't mean just what we speak. 157 00:08:07,202 --> 00:08:11,655 That's the full-orbed life of the man. 158 00:08:11,655 --> 00:08:14,384 "We all had our conversation in times past 159 00:08:14,384 --> 00:08:16,455 in the lusts of our flesh." 160 00:08:16,455 --> 00:08:18,134 So, here we have it. 161 00:08:18,134 --> 00:08:22,536 Man - dead in sin is very much alive 162 00:08:22,536 --> 00:08:25,359 to the lusts of the flesh. 163 00:08:25,359 --> 00:08:27,576 Man, like an animal, like I said, 164 00:08:27,576 --> 00:08:29,643 he's an animal: base. 165 00:08:29,643 --> 00:08:31,511 Animal: lust. 166 00:08:31,511 --> 00:08:35,067 But worse, because what he breaks this out into 167 00:08:35,067 --> 00:08:37,662 as he seeks to go deeper, 168 00:08:37,662 --> 00:08:39,873 as he seeks to break this thing out 169 00:08:39,873 --> 00:08:42,065 into some subcategories, 170 00:08:42,065 --> 00:08:43,560 he goes to the mind. 171 00:08:43,560 --> 00:08:44,903 You see, we have a mind 172 00:08:44,903 --> 00:08:46,102 unlike the animals, 173 00:08:46,102 --> 00:08:48,837 but even that mind is just an expression 174 00:08:48,837 --> 00:08:54,040 of the lusting, the cravings of the flesh. 175 00:08:54,040 --> 00:08:56,322 Pollution. That's what we're talking about. 176 00:08:56,322 --> 00:08:58,029 We're talking about the dirtiness 177 00:08:58,029 --> 00:09:00,543 and the filthiness of man. 178 00:09:00,543 --> 00:09:04,136 He's one big bag of lusts. 179 00:09:04,136 --> 00:09:06,550 This is man like an animal, lusting. 180 00:09:06,550 --> 00:09:07,969 Lusting. 181 00:09:07,969 --> 00:09:11,819 Brethren, like a dog driven to its vomit. 182 00:09:11,819 --> 00:09:13,652 You say, oh, that's about people 183 00:09:13,652 --> 00:09:14,996 who once made a profession 184 00:09:14,996 --> 00:09:17,292 or maybe even were teachers and they came back. 185 00:09:17,292 --> 00:09:19,151 Yes, but you think about that. 186 00:09:19,151 --> 00:09:20,973 For Scripture to liken a man like that 187 00:09:20,973 --> 00:09:23,136 to a dog that returns to its vomit, 188 00:09:23,136 --> 00:09:24,452 you know what that implies? 189 00:09:24,452 --> 00:09:27,703 He was once at the vomit, left it, and came back. 190 00:09:27,703 --> 00:09:30,452 Man at his vomit is a picture - 191 00:09:30,452 --> 00:09:35,258 or dogs at its vomit. 192 00:09:35,258 --> 00:09:37,312 You know how many times 193 00:09:37,312 --> 00:09:41,882 Scripture likens sinners to animals? 194 00:09:41,882 --> 00:09:43,746 We're likened to pigs 195 00:09:43,746 --> 00:09:45,438 and we're likened to dogs. 196 00:09:45,438 --> 00:09:46,849 And you think about a dog 197 00:09:46,849 --> 00:09:48,575 licking up its vomit. 198 00:09:48,575 --> 00:09:52,162 You say, that's gross! 199 00:09:52,162 --> 00:09:54,007 That's us. 200 00:09:54,007 --> 00:09:57,959 That's mankind. 201 00:09:57,959 --> 00:09:59,433 That's ugly. 202 00:09:59,433 --> 00:10:02,704 This is the ugliness of mankind. 203 00:10:02,704 --> 00:10:05,247 This is the dirt, the filth, the muck. 204 00:10:05,247 --> 00:10:07,264 You think about a pig. 205 00:10:07,264 --> 00:10:16,166 Listen, my uncle raised pigs. 206 00:10:16,166 --> 00:10:20,239 You ought to see a pig and hear a pig 207 00:10:20,239 --> 00:10:21,688 and watch them eat 208 00:10:21,688 --> 00:10:26,134 and watch what they swim in. 209 00:10:26,134 --> 00:10:28,569 You may have some refined idea. 210 00:10:28,569 --> 00:10:30,016 You know, you walk out of here 211 00:10:30,016 --> 00:10:31,202 after it's been raining, 212 00:10:31,202 --> 00:10:32,538 your foot steps in grass 213 00:10:32,538 --> 00:10:35,049 and it's a little muddy. 214 00:10:35,049 --> 00:10:39,422 You ought to see it firsthand. 215 00:10:39,422 --> 00:10:42,663 You get an idea of what God sees 216 00:10:42,663 --> 00:10:45,668 when He sees man in all the lusts. 217 00:10:45,668 --> 00:10:50,670 Just like a pig greedy to plunge into the slime. 218 00:10:50,670 --> 00:10:56,528 Brethren, what I'm saying here is, again, 219 00:10:56,528 --> 00:11:00,074 this isn't embellishing on the badness of man. 220 00:11:00,074 --> 00:11:02,410 This is the picture. 221 00:11:02,410 --> 00:11:07,800 So often Scripture is likening us 222 00:11:07,800 --> 00:11:09,989 to some sort of animal. 223 00:11:09,989 --> 00:11:11,701 Believer, this was you. 224 00:11:11,701 --> 00:11:13,441 Unbeliever, this is you. 225 00:11:13,441 --> 00:11:16,219 All of us - we lived in lusts. 226 00:11:16,219 --> 00:11:17,300 Somebody says, 227 00:11:17,300 --> 00:11:19,086 "I'm not a murderer." 228 00:11:19,086 --> 00:11:21,426 "I'm not part of the drug cartel." 229 00:11:21,426 --> 00:11:24,443 "I'm not like these homeless drunks out here." 230 00:11:24,443 --> 00:11:25,481 "I'm not like that." 231 00:11:25,481 --> 00:11:27,884 "I'm not like the woman that prostitutes her body 232 00:11:27,884 --> 00:11:30,768 so that she can satisfy her drug addiction." 233 00:11:30,768 --> 00:11:31,971 "I'm not like that." 234 00:11:31,971 --> 00:11:34,295 "I wasn't born on the wrong side of the tracks." 235 00:11:34,295 --> 00:11:35,703 "I'm not like those sinners." 236 00:11:35,703 --> 00:11:39,620 "I wear a white shirt when I go to work." 237 00:11:39,620 --> 00:11:41,951 You know what Paul does? 238 00:11:41,951 --> 00:11:43,724 He puts out his finger, 239 00:11:43,724 --> 00:11:46,709 and he places it on our lips. 240 00:11:46,709 --> 00:11:49,797 Shhh... 241 00:11:49,797 --> 00:11:52,124 Stop. 242 00:11:52,124 --> 00:11:56,594 Just stop. 243 00:11:56,594 --> 00:11:58,821 This is you. 244 00:11:58,821 --> 00:12:02,219 Or this is what you were. 245 00:12:02,219 --> 00:12:04,337 He closes our mouth here. 246 00:12:04,337 --> 00:12:05,834 All of us. 247 00:12:05,834 --> 00:12:13,126 "Among whom we all once lived." 248 00:12:13,126 --> 00:12:15,441 Shhh... 249 00:12:15,441 --> 00:12:18,476 Stop the boasting in what you were, 250 00:12:18,476 --> 00:12:21,306 because this is you. 251 00:12:21,306 --> 00:12:23,196 This is me. 252 00:12:23,196 --> 00:12:25,487 Lusts of the flesh. 253 00:12:25,487 --> 00:12:27,408 It's an ugly picture, I know. 254 00:12:27,408 --> 00:12:29,863 Paul means it to be. 255 00:12:29,863 --> 00:12:32,833 This is man as he is. 256 00:12:32,833 --> 00:12:36,941 His base, polluted, vulgar, offensive, 257 00:12:36,941 --> 00:12:42,893 lusting self. 258 00:12:42,893 --> 00:12:44,881 But brethren, this is where we ought to 259 00:12:44,881 --> 00:12:47,590 go out and just fall down before the Lord. 260 00:12:47,590 --> 00:12:49,395 The absolutely astounding thing 261 00:12:49,395 --> 00:12:52,094 is that God would ever ever ever 262 00:12:52,094 --> 00:12:59,533 want something to do with us. 263 00:12:59,533 --> 00:13:04,104 Thank You, Lord. 264 00:13:04,104 --> 00:13:06,928 The flesh. 265 00:13:06,928 --> 00:13:08,066 Look at it. 266 00:13:08,066 --> 00:13:14,504 "The passions (or the lusts) 267 00:13:14,504 --> 00:13:17,411 of our flesh." 268 00:13:17,411 --> 00:13:19,006 The flesh. 269 00:13:19,006 --> 00:13:21,264 We've got to be confronted by this term. 270 00:13:21,264 --> 00:13:23,627 The flesh. 271 00:13:23,627 --> 00:13:25,276 Because it's used in Scripture. 272 00:13:25,276 --> 00:13:26,373 It's used quite often. 273 00:13:26,373 --> 00:13:31,779 Paul especially uses this terminology. 274 00:13:31,779 --> 00:13:34,926 Perhaps you're not aware. 275 00:13:34,926 --> 00:13:38,972 We have friends in different places 276 00:13:38,972 --> 00:13:42,852 that have been involved 277 00:13:42,852 --> 00:13:47,660 in various degree of debate 278 00:13:47,660 --> 00:13:50,745 over the meaning of this word. 279 00:13:50,745 --> 00:13:53,060 There is a debate among men who we know 280 00:13:53,060 --> 00:13:56,804 concerning what does it actually mean? 281 00:13:56,804 --> 00:13:59,704 And what are the consequences of what it means? 282 00:13:59,704 --> 00:14:02,899 And what should we expect from Christians 283 00:14:02,899 --> 00:14:06,008 because of what it means? 284 00:14:06,008 --> 00:14:08,613 We have to ask the question: What is Paul referring to? 285 00:14:08,613 --> 00:14:10,542 And the first thing we need to recognize 286 00:14:10,542 --> 00:14:13,252 is much like we looked at when we dealt with the world, 287 00:14:13,252 --> 00:14:14,572 so it is with the flesh, 288 00:14:14,572 --> 00:14:17,130 that it's a word that carries 289 00:14:17,130 --> 00:14:19,587 different shades of meaning. 290 00:14:19,587 --> 00:14:21,759 So we need to recognize that right away 291 00:14:21,759 --> 00:14:23,844 that when you come across the word flesh 292 00:14:23,844 --> 00:14:26,519 in your Bibles, it's not just enough to say 293 00:14:26,519 --> 00:14:28,456 it means the same thing all the time, 294 00:14:28,456 --> 00:14:30,039 so it must mean that right there. 295 00:14:30,039 --> 00:14:32,855 We actually have to examine the context 296 00:14:32,855 --> 00:14:34,272 to really figure out 297 00:14:34,272 --> 00:14:36,207 what in the world we're dealing with. 298 00:14:36,207 --> 00:14:38,383 I'll just tell you this right off, 299 00:14:38,383 --> 00:14:40,258 in the ESV, you don't see it, 300 00:14:40,258 --> 00:14:43,068 but if you've got another translation in your hands, 301 00:14:43,068 --> 00:14:45,805 you may well see that the term "flesh" 302 00:14:45,805 --> 00:14:47,665 is actually used here twice. 303 00:14:47,665 --> 00:14:51,453 The ESV says "flesh" the first time, 304 00:14:51,453 --> 00:14:55,262 "body" the second time. 305 00:14:55,262 --> 00:14:59,199 But in the original, same word. 306 00:14:59,199 --> 00:15:00,247 Same word. 307 00:15:00,247 --> 00:15:01,178 What's he doing? 308 00:15:01,178 --> 00:15:03,188 Is he just redundantly repeating himself? 309 00:15:03,188 --> 00:15:05,851 He talks about the passions or the lusts of the flesh, 310 00:15:05,851 --> 00:15:07,696 and then he talks about the passions 311 00:15:07,696 --> 00:15:09,237 or the lusts of the flesh again. 312 00:15:09,237 --> 00:15:12,293 No, he's actually giving us an overall, 313 00:15:12,293 --> 00:15:13,883 and then he's subdividing it 314 00:15:13,883 --> 00:15:18,178 into two categories. 315 00:15:18,178 --> 00:15:20,790 He's not just redundantly repeating the same thing. 316 00:15:20,790 --> 00:15:22,995 And the reason it's not the same thing 317 00:15:22,995 --> 00:15:24,840 is because he's actually using flesh 318 00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:27,330 with two different meanings here. 319 00:15:27,330 --> 00:15:30,412 And you have to recognize from the context what's going on. 320 00:15:30,412 --> 00:15:31,601 But just very quickly, 321 00:15:31,601 --> 00:15:34,109 I want to run through some shades of meaning 322 00:15:34,109 --> 00:15:36,334 that you find in the term "flesh" 323 00:15:36,334 --> 00:15:38,591 when you find it in Scripture. 324 00:15:38,591 --> 00:15:42,248 For instance, it can just simply mean 325 00:15:42,248 --> 00:15:44,374 "human nature." 326 00:15:44,374 --> 00:15:45,930 In other words, Paul is using it 327 00:15:45,930 --> 00:15:47,302 in a very negative way, 328 00:15:47,302 --> 00:15:49,578 when he talks about the lusts of the flesh. 329 00:15:49,578 --> 00:15:52,834 That obviously is the ugliness of mankind. 330 00:15:52,834 --> 00:15:57,054 However, we have the word used this way: 331 00:15:57,054 --> 00:16:01,666 "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." 332 00:16:01,666 --> 00:16:03,494 Or, "tabernacled among us." 333 00:16:03,494 --> 00:16:06,673 Christ became flesh. 334 00:16:06,673 --> 00:16:09,957 That obviously carries no negative 335 00:16:09,957 --> 00:16:13,437 overtones or undertones. 336 00:16:13,437 --> 00:16:14,355 Not at all. 337 00:16:14,355 --> 00:16:15,764 What does that mean? 338 00:16:15,764 --> 00:16:18,200 He became a man. 339 00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:21,287 It has to do with our human nature. 340 00:16:21,287 --> 00:16:23,531 "In the days of His flesh, 341 00:16:23,531 --> 00:16:25,716 Jesus offered up prayers and supplications 342 00:16:25,716 --> 00:16:29,607 with loud cries and tears." 343 00:16:29,607 --> 00:16:32,452 So, just like the world can, 344 00:16:32,452 --> 00:16:35,132 flesh can carry meaning 345 00:16:35,132 --> 00:16:37,593 that is no way negative. 346 00:16:37,593 --> 00:16:38,933 Or how about this? 347 00:16:38,933 --> 00:16:42,355 It can mean our common ancestry 348 00:16:42,355 --> 00:16:44,004 or our bloodlines. 349 00:16:44,004 --> 00:16:46,485 For instance, 350 00:16:46,485 --> 00:16:48,791 the New King James Version, 351 00:16:48,791 --> 00:16:52,765 Romans 11:14, 352 00:16:52,765 --> 00:16:55,648 Paul is speaking about provoking to jealousy 353 00:16:55,648 --> 00:17:00,111 those who are "my flesh." 354 00:17:00,111 --> 00:17:01,822 And I refer to the New King James 355 00:17:01,822 --> 00:17:05,584 because it actually translates it "flesh." 356 00:17:05,584 --> 00:17:08,168 He wants to provoke to jealousy 357 00:17:08,168 --> 00:17:09,994 those who are my flesh 358 00:17:09,994 --> 00:17:11,243 and save some of them. 359 00:17:11,243 --> 00:17:13,485 Well, the ESV says, "fellow Jews." 360 00:17:13,485 --> 00:17:16,057 The New American Standard says "fellow countrymen." 361 00:17:16,057 --> 00:17:17,920 You see, what he's talking about there. 362 00:17:17,920 --> 00:17:23,402 Flesh are those that he's related to. 363 00:17:23,402 --> 00:17:29,062 My own flesh and blood, we might say. 364 00:17:29,062 --> 00:17:34,388 It has to do also with just this earthly life. 365 00:17:34,388 --> 00:17:35,736 Single people, 366 00:17:35,736 --> 00:17:40,317 Paul would say to you - 367 00:17:40,317 --> 00:17:43,354 again, I'm going to read from the New King James 368 00:17:43,354 --> 00:17:47,999 because it's actually not 369 00:17:47,999 --> 00:17:51,367 trying to translate this 370 00:17:51,367 --> 00:17:56,190 away from the original meaning. 371 00:17:56,190 --> 00:17:59,684 Paul says, look, if you marry, 372 00:17:59,684 --> 00:18:01,041 you have not sinned. 373 00:18:01,041 --> 00:18:03,299 And if a virgin marries, she has not sinned, 374 00:18:03,299 --> 00:18:08,461 nevertheless, such will have trouble in the flesh. 375 00:18:08,461 --> 00:18:12,388 The NAS translates that: "this life." 376 00:18:12,388 --> 00:18:16,419 Single people, you really badly want to get married. 377 00:18:16,419 --> 00:18:18,881 Paul says I'll spare you. 378 00:18:18,881 --> 00:18:21,778 You'll be spared problems. 379 00:18:21,778 --> 00:18:24,833 I know he says that - I've tried both. 380 00:18:24,833 --> 00:18:27,351 I prefer the married life a whole lot better. 381 00:18:27,351 --> 00:18:29,917 I commend that. 382 00:18:29,917 --> 00:18:31,129 But anyways, you see, 383 00:18:31,129 --> 00:18:33,225 that's getting away from the flesh. 384 00:18:33,225 --> 00:18:34,339 The flesh. 385 00:18:34,339 --> 00:18:35,667 This life. 386 00:18:35,667 --> 00:18:39,148 Or how about sometimes it just means all mankind. 387 00:18:39,148 --> 00:18:42,524 It means human beings in general. 388 00:18:42,524 --> 00:18:45,766 Luke 3:6, "All flesh shall see 389 00:18:45,766 --> 00:18:47,232 the salvation of God." 390 00:18:47,232 --> 00:18:49,326 That's just all humanity. 391 00:18:49,326 --> 00:18:51,739 Or John 17:2 where Jesus is speaking 392 00:18:51,739 --> 00:18:53,729 of His Father having given Him 393 00:18:53,729 --> 00:18:56,026 authority over all flesh. 394 00:18:56,026 --> 00:18:59,011 The New American Standard says "over all mankind." 395 00:18:59,011 --> 00:19:02,539 "...To give eternal life to all whom He has given Him." 396 00:19:02,539 --> 00:19:09,089 Sometimes flesh means the soft part of our body. 397 00:19:09,089 --> 00:19:11,772 For instance, Luke 24:39. 398 00:19:11,772 --> 00:19:15,162 Jesus says, remember - they're blown away. 399 00:19:15,162 --> 00:19:16,507 Here's the risen Christ. 400 00:19:16,507 --> 00:19:19,214 He just kind of appeared in the room. 401 00:19:19,214 --> 00:19:22,871 You can imagine they're a bit amazed. 402 00:19:22,871 --> 00:19:24,998 They're not certain what they're seeing, 403 00:19:24,998 --> 00:19:27,931 and He wants to assure them, 404 00:19:27,931 --> 00:19:29,926 "I'm here. I'm here as a man. 405 00:19:29,926 --> 00:19:31,346 I'm here in flesh and blood." 406 00:19:31,346 --> 00:19:34,288 And He says this to them, 407 00:19:34,288 --> 00:19:37,469 "See My hands and My feet that it is I Myself. 408 00:19:37,469 --> 00:19:39,669 Touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have 409 00:19:39,669 --> 00:19:43,028 flesh and bones as you see that I have." 410 00:19:43,028 --> 00:19:45,150 See, flesh is over against the bones. 411 00:19:45,150 --> 00:19:49,649 The flesh is that which covers the bones. 412 00:19:49,649 --> 00:19:52,579 It's the soft part of us. 413 00:19:52,579 --> 00:19:55,491 It's the stuff our bones are covered with. 414 00:19:55,491 --> 00:19:57,175 And I often think, 415 00:19:57,175 --> 00:20:00,370 Brother Charles Leiter, 416 00:20:00,370 --> 00:20:04,362 he often refers to the fact 417 00:20:04,362 --> 00:20:07,387 that the Romanian translation of the Scripture 418 00:20:07,387 --> 00:20:12,304 literally translates this "meat." 419 00:20:12,304 --> 00:20:13,768 In our Bibles, it's "flesh." 420 00:20:13,768 --> 00:20:16,312 In the Romanian Bible, every place you see "flesh" 421 00:20:16,312 --> 00:20:18,336 it says, "meat." 422 00:20:18,336 --> 00:20:21,276 "The lusts of the meat." 423 00:20:21,276 --> 00:20:24,452 What a word. 424 00:20:24,452 --> 00:20:26,768 Sometimes, this idea of flesh, 425 00:20:26,768 --> 00:20:31,523 it's the whole body. 426 00:20:31,523 --> 00:20:34,718 "For we who live are always being given over to death 427 00:20:34,718 --> 00:20:37,183 for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also 428 00:20:37,183 --> 00:20:40,983 may be manifested in our mortal flesh." 429 00:20:40,983 --> 00:20:44,021 Just our mortal bodies. 430 00:20:44,021 --> 00:20:46,630 It's interchangeable with that. 431 00:20:46,630 --> 00:20:49,988 But brethren, the most sinister, 432 00:20:49,988 --> 00:20:54,796 the most dark - 433 00:20:54,796 --> 00:20:58,114 that way that it is used 434 00:20:58,114 --> 00:21:03,149 when it's just the base ugliness of man. 435 00:21:03,149 --> 00:21:06,004 If you search it out in all of its uses, 436 00:21:06,004 --> 00:21:09,548 you know what you so often see? 437 00:21:09,548 --> 00:21:17,037 It is that which pertains to our humanity 438 00:21:17,037 --> 00:21:24,263 which is contrary to the Spirit of God. 439 00:21:24,263 --> 00:21:26,891 "That which is born of the flesh is flesh. 440 00:21:26,891 --> 00:21:30,143 That which is born of the Spirit is spirit." 441 00:21:30,143 --> 00:21:33,621 It is that which is separated from, 442 00:21:33,621 --> 00:21:35,696 contradictory to. 443 00:21:35,696 --> 00:21:38,335 You've got flesh. You've got spirit. 444 00:21:38,335 --> 00:21:41,627 Oh, that separation - that distinction, 445 00:21:41,627 --> 00:21:44,158 yes, right there is made by our Lord Jesus Himself, 446 00:21:44,158 --> 00:21:46,004 but so often it's Paul 447 00:21:46,004 --> 00:21:49,425 who sets that on the table for us. 448 00:21:49,425 --> 00:21:52,203 "For to set the mind on the flesh is death, 449 00:21:52,203 --> 00:21:54,287 but to set the mind on the Spirit 450 00:21:54,287 --> 00:21:55,465 is life and peace." 451 00:21:55,465 --> 00:21:58,056 Or this, "the desires of the flesh." 452 00:21:58,056 --> 00:22:00,310 They are against the Spirit. 453 00:22:00,310 --> 00:22:02,580 And the desires of the Spirit 454 00:22:02,580 --> 00:22:04,111 are against the flesh. 455 00:22:04,111 --> 00:22:07,746 Flesh is used in this fashion to express 456 00:22:07,746 --> 00:22:10,407 that which is in complete antithesis 457 00:22:10,407 --> 00:22:12,609 to the Spirit of God. 458 00:22:12,609 --> 00:22:13,963 It is opposed. 459 00:22:13,963 --> 00:22:18,273 The flesh is all that man is. 460 00:22:18,273 --> 00:22:21,125 It's his man-ness. 461 00:22:21,125 --> 00:22:22,991 It is his humanness 462 00:22:22,991 --> 00:22:26,564 apart from the work of the Holy Spirit in him. 463 00:22:26,564 --> 00:22:27,942 Just think about these words 464 00:22:27,942 --> 00:22:29,715 that Paul spoke to the Corinthians. 465 00:22:29,715 --> 00:22:31,008 You know them. Remember, 466 00:22:31,008 --> 00:22:32,466 they're acting carnal. 467 00:22:32,466 --> 00:22:34,350 Even there - carnal. 468 00:22:34,350 --> 00:22:36,696 Some of the translations use carnality 469 00:22:36,696 --> 00:22:39,334 in 1 Corinthians 3. 470 00:22:39,334 --> 00:22:42,070 Carnal. 471 00:22:42,070 --> 00:22:44,186 Remember the Romanian translation: meat. 472 00:22:44,186 --> 00:22:47,534 What is the Spanish word for meat. 473 00:22:47,534 --> 00:22:48,382 Carne. 474 00:22:48,382 --> 00:22:49,572 Carnal. 475 00:22:49,572 --> 00:22:50,968 It's the meat. 476 00:22:50,968 --> 00:22:53,547 It's the lusts of the meat. 477 00:22:53,547 --> 00:22:57,922 It's the lusts of the man-ness of man - 478 00:22:57,922 --> 00:23:00,320 the humanness. 479 00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:01,985 Listen to this. 480 00:23:01,985 --> 00:23:03,677 1 Corinthians 3:3, 481 00:23:03,677 --> 00:23:07,450 "You are still..." and he's speaking to Christians here. 482 00:23:07,450 --> 00:23:11,865 You don't want this said of you if you're a Christian. 483 00:23:11,865 --> 00:23:14,260 "You are still of the flesh." 484 00:23:14,260 --> 00:23:15,967 You are still of the meat. 485 00:23:15,967 --> 00:23:18,148 You're carnal. You're carne. 486 00:23:18,148 --> 00:23:20,993 "For while there is jealousy and strife among you, 487 00:23:20,993 --> 00:23:23,616 are you not of the flesh 488 00:23:23,616 --> 00:23:26,106 and behaving only in a human way?" 489 00:23:26,106 --> 00:23:28,212 Or, your translation says, 490 00:23:28,212 --> 00:23:30,884 "behaving like mere men?" 491 00:23:30,884 --> 00:23:35,788 You say, well, that doesn't sound that bad. 492 00:23:35,788 --> 00:23:37,392 Just to behave like a mere man? 493 00:23:37,392 --> 00:23:39,161 That doesn't sound so bad. 494 00:23:39,161 --> 00:23:41,666 Don't you hear what Paul is saying? 495 00:23:41,666 --> 00:23:45,396 All men are sons of disobedience 496 00:23:45,396 --> 00:23:49,554 and we all lived - or still live - 497 00:23:49,554 --> 00:23:52,377 among the sons of disobedience 498 00:23:52,377 --> 00:23:54,015 carrying out the lusts 499 00:23:54,015 --> 00:23:56,506 of our mere man-ness. 500 00:23:56,506 --> 00:23:57,483 That's the issue. 501 00:23:57,483 --> 00:23:59,202 You say that doesn't sound that bad 502 00:23:59,202 --> 00:24:00,649 to merely be a man, 503 00:24:00,649 --> 00:24:01,951 but to merely be a man 504 00:24:01,951 --> 00:24:05,518 means everything rotten about man 505 00:24:05,518 --> 00:24:07,778 who is without God; 506 00:24:07,778 --> 00:24:09,317 who is separated. 507 00:24:09,317 --> 00:24:14,571 Mere man-ness - don't you recognize? 508 00:24:14,571 --> 00:24:17,734 Mere man-ness is ugly. 509 00:24:17,734 --> 00:24:20,224 It is depraved. 510 00:24:20,224 --> 00:24:22,555 He looks at these Corinthians. 511 00:24:22,555 --> 00:24:27,126 They were whoring after prostitutes still. 512 00:24:27,126 --> 00:24:28,817 1 Corinthians 6 513 00:24:28,817 --> 00:24:31,107 He has to talk to them about drunkenness. 514 00:24:31,107 --> 00:24:32,809 The rich are getting together 515 00:24:32,809 --> 00:24:34,199 and despising the poor, 516 00:24:34,199 --> 00:24:36,205 and they're glutting themselves 517 00:24:36,205 --> 00:24:38,632 and getting drunk. 518 00:24:38,632 --> 00:24:40,479 They're taking each other to court. 519 00:24:40,479 --> 00:24:41,783 They're full of envy. 520 00:24:41,783 --> 00:24:43,425 They're full of jealousy. 521 00:24:43,425 --> 00:24:48,200 They are pitting one another against each other in disunity 522 00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:50,978 and exalting man. 523 00:24:50,978 --> 00:24:53,672 That's mere man-ness. It's ugly. 524 00:24:53,672 --> 00:24:58,987 It's horrible. 525 00:24:58,987 --> 00:25:01,051 Now these different shades of meaning 526 00:25:01,051 --> 00:25:02,288 are important, 527 00:25:02,288 --> 00:25:05,887 because just look at the text. 528 00:25:05,887 --> 00:25:07,877 "The sons of disobedience, 529 00:25:07,877 --> 00:25:11,389 among whom we all once lived..." 530 00:25:11,389 --> 00:25:18,004 First, "in the lusts of our flesh, 531 00:25:18,004 --> 00:25:22,618 carrying out the desires 532 00:25:22,618 --> 00:25:27,997 of the flesh (or body) and the mind." 533 00:25:27,997 --> 00:25:30,643 The word flesh shows up here twice. 534 00:25:30,643 --> 00:25:33,379 It carries two different meanings. 535 00:25:33,379 --> 00:25:34,835 I mean, this is clear 536 00:25:34,835 --> 00:25:36,343 to the translators of the ESV. 537 00:25:36,343 --> 00:25:38,688 That's why they translate it two different ways. 538 00:25:38,688 --> 00:25:39,946 First, flesh, then body. 539 00:25:39,946 --> 00:25:43,200 The first use of flesh - it's this broad concept 540 00:25:43,200 --> 00:25:46,320 which contains - notice - 541 00:25:46,320 --> 00:25:48,269 it's the broad concept. 542 00:25:48,269 --> 00:25:53,783 It contains both the desires of the flesh 543 00:25:53,783 --> 00:25:55,762 or the desires of the body 544 00:25:55,762 --> 00:25:59,703 and of the mind. 545 00:25:59,703 --> 00:26:03,058 And you see, the ESV translators are right. 546 00:26:03,058 --> 00:26:04,417 Body - because what? 547 00:26:04,417 --> 00:26:06,742 It's that part of our humanness 548 00:26:06,742 --> 00:26:10,990 over against the mind. 549 00:26:10,990 --> 00:26:14,906 You have it used flesh in this broad ugly way, 550 00:26:14,906 --> 00:26:17,138 and then it's used of the body. 551 00:26:17,138 --> 00:26:18,532 When it's used of the body, 552 00:26:18,532 --> 00:26:21,198 it doesn't necessarily need to carry 553 00:26:21,198 --> 00:26:22,630 any negative connotation, 554 00:26:22,630 --> 00:26:24,475 just like "mind" by itself 555 00:26:24,475 --> 00:26:26,850 doesn't carry any negative connotation. 556 00:26:26,850 --> 00:26:29,060 But because these are outworkings 557 00:26:29,060 --> 00:26:31,902 of the lusts of the flesh, 558 00:26:31,902 --> 00:26:35,558 it's all negative here. 559 00:26:35,558 --> 00:26:37,319 And what Paul does is he narrows in 560 00:26:37,319 --> 00:26:40,254 on these two particular ways 561 00:26:40,254 --> 00:26:43,064 in which these lusts of the flesh 562 00:26:43,064 --> 00:26:45,403 manifest themselves. 563 00:26:45,403 --> 00:26:48,878 The desires of the body, 564 00:26:48,878 --> 00:26:52,493 the desires of the mind. 565 00:26:52,493 --> 00:26:54,822 So let's look at these two things. 566 00:26:54,822 --> 00:26:57,637 First, think about the body. 567 00:26:57,637 --> 00:27:02,109 The desires of the body. 568 00:27:02,109 --> 00:27:04,006 You know, what's interesting here 569 00:27:04,006 --> 00:27:08,055 is we first have the term passion 570 00:27:08,055 --> 00:27:12,166 or lust - isn't that a desire? 571 00:27:12,166 --> 00:27:14,071 Yeah, that's a desire. 572 00:27:14,071 --> 00:27:16,733 And then he uses the term 573 00:27:16,733 --> 00:27:21,012 that's translated "desire" again. 574 00:27:21,012 --> 00:27:25,933 It almost can sound like he's being redundant here. 575 00:27:25,933 --> 00:27:28,560 The second word that he uses 576 00:27:28,560 --> 00:27:31,187 is the idea of the will. 577 00:27:31,187 --> 00:27:33,829 It's determination. 578 00:27:33,829 --> 00:27:36,214 You need to think about this. 579 00:27:36,214 --> 00:27:40,018 As lost people, our bodies - 580 00:27:40,018 --> 00:27:42,619 they are determined. 581 00:27:42,619 --> 00:27:44,732 They are willed. 582 00:27:44,732 --> 00:27:47,755 There is something at work 583 00:27:47,755 --> 00:27:51,703 that is driving - driving. 584 00:27:51,703 --> 00:27:52,712 It's the will. 585 00:27:52,712 --> 00:27:55,484 Paul is hitting on what slaves we were 586 00:27:55,484 --> 00:27:58,622 to our bodies as they willed 587 00:27:58,622 --> 00:28:00,834 to have done to them certain things. 588 00:28:00,834 --> 00:28:02,656 There was the determination. 589 00:28:02,656 --> 00:28:03,620 This is sin. 590 00:28:03,620 --> 00:28:05,993 We see this concept over in Romans 6. 591 00:28:05,993 --> 00:28:10,100 Sin that seeks to reign in the mortal body 592 00:28:10,100 --> 00:28:14,458 and to have us obey the passions of the body. 593 00:28:14,458 --> 00:28:17,615 Sin is at work. It's pressing us. 594 00:28:17,615 --> 00:28:19,156 The will of the body. 595 00:28:19,156 --> 00:28:22,339 The determination of the body to gratify. 596 00:28:22,339 --> 00:28:25,455 There's an urge. There's a driving. 597 00:28:25,455 --> 00:28:29,567 There's a lusting to gratify its passions 598 00:28:29,567 --> 00:28:31,976 in a way that opposes God. 599 00:28:31,976 --> 00:28:32,995 That's the issue. 600 00:28:32,995 --> 00:28:35,305 That's how sin seeks to reign. 601 00:28:35,305 --> 00:28:37,064 Look, we have to recognize, 602 00:28:37,064 --> 00:28:38,792 the appetites of the body 603 00:28:38,792 --> 00:28:41,072 were created by God. 604 00:28:41,072 --> 00:28:42,794 And it was good. 605 00:28:42,794 --> 00:28:44,993 He created us to hunger. 606 00:28:44,993 --> 00:28:46,474 That's good. 607 00:28:46,474 --> 00:28:49,198 He created us with these appetites. 608 00:28:49,198 --> 00:28:51,805 Thirst. 609 00:28:51,805 --> 00:28:54,570 You know, He designed pleasure. 610 00:28:54,570 --> 00:28:57,077 Do you know He designed the nerves 611 00:28:57,077 --> 00:29:00,431 that release that into our brains 612 00:29:00,431 --> 00:29:03,468 which get processed and produce 613 00:29:03,468 --> 00:29:07,475 feelings that are good and pleasurable. 614 00:29:07,475 --> 00:29:09,617 He did that. 615 00:29:09,617 --> 00:29:14,258 (incomplete thought) 616 00:29:14,258 --> 00:29:15,772 Some of my children, you know, 617 00:29:15,772 --> 00:29:18,448 you try to scratch their backs when they were younger, 618 00:29:18,448 --> 00:29:19,759 and it just tickled them, 619 00:29:19,759 --> 00:29:22,343 and they couldn't stand it. 620 00:29:22,343 --> 00:29:25,550 To me, it's wonderful. 621 00:29:25,550 --> 00:29:28,308 You massage my wife's feet, she just melts. 622 00:29:28,308 --> 00:29:31,318 You touch mine and it's like, ugh, I can't stand that. 623 00:29:31,318 --> 00:29:35,898 But God created in His kindness, 624 00:29:35,898 --> 00:29:38,942 He created our ability to have 625 00:29:38,942 --> 00:29:40,884 somebody scratch our back, 626 00:29:40,884 --> 00:29:45,135 and it's like, ah, that feels so good. 627 00:29:45,135 --> 00:29:46,754 Isn't that kind of Him? 628 00:29:46,754 --> 00:29:50,229 He didn't have to do that. 629 00:29:50,229 --> 00:29:51,400 Kind of Him. 630 00:29:51,400 --> 00:29:57,018 Have you ever taken a big scoop 631 00:29:57,018 --> 00:30:00,760 of carrot cake or cheesecake, 632 00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:05,057 and it's like, that's wonderful! 633 00:30:05,057 --> 00:30:09,034 He's created that. 634 00:30:09,034 --> 00:30:10,386 I mean, men and women 635 00:30:10,386 --> 00:30:12,107 look forward to their honeymoon. 636 00:30:12,107 --> 00:30:14,003 Why? They are going to experience 637 00:30:14,003 --> 00:30:17,293 such things as - I mean, 638 00:30:17,293 --> 00:30:22,526 they're a picture of our relationship with Christ. 639 00:30:22,526 --> 00:30:25,832 Just absolutely good. 640 00:30:25,832 --> 00:30:28,905 Very good. 641 00:30:28,905 --> 00:30:31,301 That's how He created us. 642 00:30:31,301 --> 00:30:34,687 And so, we don't want to despise these things, 643 00:30:34,687 --> 00:30:37,080 but listen. 644 00:30:37,080 --> 00:30:39,702 He created these appetites for us 645 00:30:39,702 --> 00:30:41,345 to be in control of, 646 00:30:41,345 --> 00:30:43,676 not for them to control us. 647 00:30:43,676 --> 00:30:48,122 And He created these appetites to serve Him. 648 00:30:48,122 --> 00:30:53,281 He created these appetites to be for His glory. 649 00:30:53,281 --> 00:30:57,709 Not for His glory to be dragged through the muck. 650 00:30:57,709 --> 00:30:59,880 That's the issue. 651 00:30:59,880 --> 00:31:04,475 What happens is sin seeks to reign - 652 00:31:04,475 --> 00:31:05,579 reign! 653 00:31:05,579 --> 00:31:08,966 It seeks to commandeer these appetites 654 00:31:08,966 --> 00:31:11,440 and use them against God. 655 00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:12,740 That's what happens. 656 00:31:12,740 --> 00:31:15,037 This is the ugly part. 657 00:31:15,037 --> 00:31:18,523 And these passions, these appetites, 658 00:31:18,523 --> 00:31:20,680 they're in the grip of sin. 659 00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:21,717 And what happens? 660 00:31:21,717 --> 00:31:24,785 They scream at us to be satisfied, 661 00:31:24,785 --> 00:31:26,884 and they're relentless in their demands. 662 00:31:26,884 --> 00:31:29,407 And they don't care what God has said 663 00:31:29,407 --> 00:31:30,916 or what has commanded. 664 00:31:30,916 --> 00:31:33,000 Just do it because it's going to feel good! 665 00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:34,222 Do it! Do it! 666 00:31:34,222 --> 00:31:37,348 And they drive us! Do it! 667 00:31:37,348 --> 00:31:38,773 Oh, God will understand. 668 00:31:38,773 --> 00:31:40,769 God will understand. You hear that. 669 00:31:40,769 --> 00:31:42,195 "I'm going to leave my wife 670 00:31:42,195 --> 00:31:44,417 because I don't love her anymore." 671 00:31:44,417 --> 00:31:47,446 Why? "I think God just wants me to be happy." 672 00:31:47,446 --> 00:31:50,336 No, designed us to glorify Him. 673 00:31:50,336 --> 00:31:53,367 And He gave us these appetites to glorify Him. 674 00:31:53,367 --> 00:31:54,494 And we're just driven. 675 00:31:54,494 --> 00:31:56,159 We'll go from one woman to the next 676 00:31:56,159 --> 00:31:57,285 or one man to the next. 677 00:31:57,285 --> 00:31:59,610 You just see this works out 678 00:31:59,610 --> 00:32:01,473 in such a hideous, ugly way 679 00:32:01,473 --> 00:32:03,218 when you get the drug addict 680 00:32:03,218 --> 00:32:05,908 who they've just got to have their next fix. 681 00:32:05,908 --> 00:32:07,886 And you say, oh, I'm not like that. 682 00:32:07,886 --> 00:32:09,370 Yes, you are. 683 00:32:09,370 --> 00:32:11,833 Even if it hasn't manifested itself like that. 684 00:32:11,833 --> 00:32:12,738 You are. 685 00:32:12,738 --> 00:32:16,260 Our will held captive. 686 00:32:16,260 --> 00:32:19,264 We love to think, oh, we're free. 687 00:32:19,264 --> 00:32:21,010 We're free. 688 00:32:21,010 --> 00:32:23,162 The guy dragging on his cigarette - 689 00:32:23,162 --> 00:32:24,882 "I could give it up anytime I want. 690 00:32:24,882 --> 00:32:26,374 I just don't want." 691 00:32:26,374 --> 00:32:28,755 That's exactly right. 692 00:32:28,755 --> 00:32:31,561 You could if you wanted. 693 00:32:31,561 --> 00:32:35,418 But you see, your body screams for nicotine. 694 00:32:35,418 --> 00:32:38,601 And you know what? 695 00:32:38,601 --> 00:32:43,896 When these lusts scream at us, 696 00:32:43,896 --> 00:32:46,751 we don't have the power to resist. 697 00:32:46,751 --> 00:32:49,987 One lust may trump another. 698 00:32:49,987 --> 00:32:51,842 I've seen plenty of sinners 699 00:32:51,842 --> 00:32:55,840 get rid of one for another. 700 00:32:55,840 --> 00:32:58,399 But you don't have power over them. 701 00:32:58,399 --> 00:33:01,557 One stronger than the one you're presently 702 00:33:01,557 --> 00:33:05,474 if you're lost, controls your life. 703 00:33:05,474 --> 00:33:07,516 A stronger one may come along 704 00:33:07,516 --> 00:33:09,215 and boot that one out. 705 00:33:09,215 --> 00:33:10,739 Kind of like the stronger demon 706 00:33:10,739 --> 00:33:13,965 comes along and boots out the lesser one. 707 00:33:13,965 --> 00:33:16,694 That may be true. 708 00:33:16,694 --> 00:33:18,788 You've heard of the bondage of the will - 709 00:33:18,788 --> 00:33:20,976 here we are. 710 00:33:20,976 --> 00:33:23,969 We are given to the will of the body. 711 00:33:23,969 --> 00:33:26,277 That's what he's talking about here. 712 00:33:26,277 --> 00:33:32,518 God gave us appetites to be subordinate to us. 713 00:33:32,518 --> 00:33:37,031 He wants us to keep them under control, 714 00:33:37,031 --> 00:33:39,118 but they dominate. 715 00:33:39,118 --> 00:33:40,978 They dominate. 716 00:33:40,978 --> 00:33:45,341 What happens is we buckle to their authority. 717 00:33:45,341 --> 00:33:47,003 God is to be on the throne. 718 00:33:47,003 --> 00:33:48,297 But what happens? 719 00:33:48,297 --> 00:33:51,117 Sin takes the place on the throne, 720 00:33:51,117 --> 00:33:53,588 and our passions take a place on the throne. 721 00:33:53,588 --> 00:33:56,451 We get down and we bow before them. 722 00:33:56,451 --> 00:33:58,992 And we bow, and we bow. 723 00:33:58,992 --> 00:34:02,280 You find people out here, 724 00:34:02,280 --> 00:34:05,795 they eat when they're not hungry. 725 00:34:05,795 --> 00:34:07,646 There's enough fat on their bodies. 726 00:34:07,646 --> 00:34:09,426 They don't need to eat. 727 00:34:09,426 --> 00:34:12,020 And they eat. 728 00:34:12,020 --> 00:34:13,740 Undoubtedly throughout this city, 729 00:34:13,740 --> 00:34:17,141 people will drink today who are not thirsty. 730 00:34:17,141 --> 00:34:20,811 And they will drink to get drunk. 731 00:34:20,811 --> 00:34:23,267 And they will bow down to that. 732 00:34:23,267 --> 00:34:27,052 Drug use. Prescription pain killers. 733 00:34:27,052 --> 00:34:30,264 People just bowing down, bowing down, 734 00:34:30,264 --> 00:34:32,673 bowing down. 735 00:34:32,673 --> 00:34:36,596 And then there's sex. 736 00:34:36,596 --> 00:34:39,869 Sex is a god in this country. 737 00:34:39,869 --> 00:34:42,094 And how many people bowing down - 738 00:34:42,094 --> 00:34:44,590 sex-crazed, pornographic society. 739 00:34:44,590 --> 00:34:45,998 And brethren, the thing is, 740 00:34:45,998 --> 00:34:48,553 we're not talking just about the society out there. 741 00:34:48,553 --> 00:34:53,341 Paul is saying this - Christian - 742 00:34:53,341 --> 00:34:57,987 this was you. 743 00:34:57,987 --> 00:35:00,946 Unbeliever, this is you. 744 00:35:00,946 --> 00:35:07,747 This is man in his ugliness. 745 00:35:07,747 --> 00:35:09,993 We all know about these things. 746 00:35:09,993 --> 00:35:12,928 We all know about the relentless demands 747 00:35:12,928 --> 00:35:16,665 of our bodies and how we serve them. 748 00:35:16,665 --> 00:35:19,826 Now, let's go to the other subcategory here. 749 00:35:19,826 --> 00:35:21,074 Look at the text. 750 00:35:21,074 --> 00:35:23,000 It's not just carrying out the desires 751 00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:28,133 of the body... "and the mind." 752 00:35:28,133 --> 00:35:30,609 Paul doesn't stop. There's more. 753 00:35:30,609 --> 00:35:33,368 And see, both of these things 754 00:35:33,368 --> 00:35:38,304 are subgroups of the overriding lusts - 755 00:35:38,304 --> 00:35:41,660 lusts of the flesh. 756 00:35:41,660 --> 00:35:44,627 There is this other subdivision, 757 00:35:44,627 --> 00:35:46,180 this other component. 758 00:35:46,180 --> 00:35:50,132 What? The mind. 759 00:35:50,132 --> 00:35:57,187 Think about the filth of the mind. 760 00:35:57,187 --> 00:36:01,624 The thoughts of fallen man. 761 00:36:01,624 --> 00:36:04,299 I know there may be those who imagine, 762 00:36:04,299 --> 00:36:07,304 look, I'm not some great sinner 763 00:36:07,304 --> 00:36:10,851 like you're describing. 764 00:36:10,851 --> 00:36:15,479 I never got drunk in my life. 765 00:36:15,479 --> 00:36:22,837 Never fornicated with my neighbor. 766 00:36:22,837 --> 00:36:26,608 I've not done drugs in my life. 767 00:36:26,608 --> 00:36:33,453 Well, it's true, you may not have. 768 00:36:33,453 --> 00:36:35,779 We may think ourselves not like the gluttons, 769 00:36:35,779 --> 00:36:38,303 not like the drunks, not like the drug addicts, 770 00:36:38,303 --> 00:36:40,119 but you know what Paul says? 771 00:36:40,119 --> 00:36:44,695 He said you just wait a second. 772 00:36:44,695 --> 00:36:48,404 Again, before there's any boasting, 773 00:36:48,404 --> 00:36:52,308 shhh... 774 00:36:52,308 --> 00:36:58,038 Hear what God says about your condition. 775 00:36:58,038 --> 00:36:59,749 There's the mind. 776 00:36:59,749 --> 00:37:02,015 What are we talking about here? 777 00:37:02,015 --> 00:37:06,996 That part of the flesh 778 00:37:06,996 --> 00:37:08,976 that has to do with the thoughts, 779 00:37:08,976 --> 00:37:10,865 the thinking, the intellect, 780 00:37:10,865 --> 00:37:12,757 the affections. 781 00:37:12,757 --> 00:37:15,040 This is just as much an expression 782 00:37:15,040 --> 00:37:17,660 of the carnal lusting of our flesh 783 00:37:17,660 --> 00:37:20,595 as is sexual immorality, 784 00:37:20,595 --> 00:37:22,692 gluttony, sloth. 785 00:37:22,692 --> 00:37:24,561 What are these desires of the mind 786 00:37:24,561 --> 00:37:26,209 or the will of the mind that is 787 00:37:26,209 --> 00:37:27,876 such an expression of the flesh? 788 00:37:27,876 --> 00:37:30,106 We're talking about anything 789 00:37:30,106 --> 00:37:33,666 you live for and dwell on in your thoughts 790 00:37:33,666 --> 00:37:35,554 apart from God. 791 00:37:35,554 --> 00:37:37,444 We're talking about godless thoughts. 792 00:37:37,444 --> 00:37:40,077 We're talking about the things that you're after. 793 00:37:40,077 --> 00:37:41,822 And see, this is the thing, 794 00:37:41,822 --> 00:37:45,061 what God has designed us for is Him. 795 00:37:45,061 --> 00:37:46,999 God has designed us to worship Him. 796 00:37:46,999 --> 00:37:49,807 God has designed our minds to be used for His glory. 797 00:37:49,807 --> 00:37:52,359 And when your mind is after 798 00:37:52,359 --> 00:37:54,683 other things than Him, 799 00:37:54,683 --> 00:37:56,830 and not after them for His glory, 800 00:37:56,830 --> 00:37:59,613 but after them because that's what you've got to have, 801 00:37:59,613 --> 00:38:01,704 and you've got to have them at any price, 802 00:38:01,704 --> 00:38:03,183 and that's what you're driven. 803 00:38:03,183 --> 00:38:05,204 And it's lust, and it's driving. 804 00:38:05,204 --> 00:38:06,662 And there you go. 805 00:38:06,662 --> 00:38:10,237 You're plowing deeper and deeper into this thing. 806 00:38:10,237 --> 00:38:11,989 And you're dwelling on these things. 807 00:38:11,989 --> 00:38:14,458 And you're filling your mind full of them. 808 00:38:14,458 --> 00:38:15,881 What you have to understand 809 00:38:15,881 --> 00:38:18,540 is God looks at that and He says, 810 00:38:18,540 --> 00:38:22,367 that is like a dog running to the vomit. 811 00:38:22,367 --> 00:38:24,384 That is that disgusting. 812 00:38:24,384 --> 00:38:25,845 That's what that's like. 813 00:38:25,845 --> 00:38:27,630 It is unclean. 814 00:38:27,630 --> 00:38:28,855 It is dirty. 815 00:38:28,855 --> 00:38:30,724 It is the pollution of man. 816 00:38:30,724 --> 00:38:32,135 It's in the mind. 817 00:38:32,135 --> 00:38:33,569 When we think about the dog 818 00:38:33,569 --> 00:38:34,836 going to its vomit, 819 00:38:34,836 --> 00:38:36,862 it isn't just like the man - 820 00:38:36,862 --> 00:38:39,195 you know, the man, you try to clean him up. 821 00:38:39,195 --> 00:38:41,438 He's been a drug addict. He goes to drug rehab. 822 00:38:41,438 --> 00:38:43,984 He comes back out again, and he runs back to it. 823 00:38:43,984 --> 00:38:45,387 Brethren, don't you recognize 824 00:38:45,387 --> 00:38:46,847 what we're talking about here? 825 00:38:46,847 --> 00:38:48,952 We're talking about people who in their mind 826 00:38:48,952 --> 00:38:51,257 are full of jealousy. 827 00:38:51,257 --> 00:38:54,486 You can't escape that. 828 00:38:54,486 --> 00:38:57,437 We're talking about minds full of hatred. 829 00:38:57,437 --> 00:39:05,105 Bitterness, malice, envy, jealousy. 830 00:39:05,105 --> 00:39:07,787 Jesus hits on it. 831 00:39:07,787 --> 00:39:10,434 It's not the guy that sleeps with prostitutes 832 00:39:10,434 --> 00:39:11,886 and you try to clean him up 833 00:39:11,886 --> 00:39:15,839 and he keeps going back. 834 00:39:15,839 --> 00:39:17,846 It's the man who sits at his office 835 00:39:17,846 --> 00:39:20,832 and lusts after the secretary. 836 00:39:20,832 --> 00:39:23,210 Day after day. 837 00:39:23,210 --> 00:39:25,229 And his mind is filled 838 00:39:25,229 --> 00:39:30,323 with the pornographic thoughts. 839 00:39:30,323 --> 00:39:34,689 It's everything you go after in your mind apart from God. 840 00:39:34,689 --> 00:39:37,086 It may be learning. 841 00:39:37,086 --> 00:39:40,748 It may be having books, having classes, 842 00:39:40,748 --> 00:39:42,302 being in the university, 843 00:39:42,302 --> 00:39:45,000 just lusting after more knowledge; 844 00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:46,548 lusting to learn; 845 00:39:46,548 --> 00:39:48,580 lusting after degrees. 846 00:39:48,580 --> 00:39:50,945 It can be very white collar. 847 00:39:50,945 --> 00:39:52,769 It can be very clean. 848 00:39:52,769 --> 00:39:56,411 It can look really neat. 849 00:39:56,411 --> 00:39:58,247 You're not visiting the brothels. 850 00:39:58,247 --> 00:40:00,099 You're not over in India 851 00:40:00,099 --> 00:40:03,223 dealing and plying with the sex trade over there. 852 00:40:03,223 --> 00:40:06,576 No, but you're in the college classroom 853 00:40:06,576 --> 00:40:08,340 and you're doing the same thing 854 00:40:08,340 --> 00:40:10,527 in your dirty, filthy mind. 855 00:40:10,527 --> 00:40:13,310 And you're full of hatred towards others 856 00:40:13,310 --> 00:40:15,154 because you're a god in your own mind 857 00:40:15,154 --> 00:40:16,696 and other people challenge that 858 00:40:16,696 --> 00:40:18,415 and you're jealous because you want 859 00:40:18,415 --> 00:40:19,559 what other people have. 860 00:40:19,559 --> 00:40:21,435 And you're envious. 861 00:40:21,435 --> 00:40:25,748 Brethren, this is mankind. 862 00:40:25,748 --> 00:40:27,708 And we know the filth of it. 863 00:40:27,708 --> 00:40:29,324 We know the dirt of it. 864 00:40:29,324 --> 00:40:32,546 This is where Paul is saying, 865 00:40:32,546 --> 00:40:36,102 do you not recognize the power of God 866 00:40:36,102 --> 00:40:41,182 that takes you up out of this? 867 00:40:41,182 --> 00:40:42,758 There may be those here 868 00:40:42,758 --> 00:40:44,787 that have never gotten drunk. 869 00:40:44,787 --> 00:40:47,081 I know it. Never been high on cocaine. 870 00:40:47,081 --> 00:40:49,165 Never had sex outside of marriage. 871 00:40:49,165 --> 00:40:52,629 Never... never, but you just simply 872 00:40:52,629 --> 00:40:55,513 can't escape jealousy. 873 00:40:55,513 --> 00:41:00,242 Because it's right there. 874 00:41:00,242 --> 00:41:02,688 You want what they have. 875 00:41:02,688 --> 00:41:07,239 Covet. Covet. 876 00:41:07,239 --> 00:41:09,935 You need wealth. 877 00:41:09,935 --> 00:41:11,913 You need popularity. 878 00:41:11,913 --> 00:41:13,825 You need a car like the neighbors. 879 00:41:13,825 --> 00:41:16,603 You need your children to succeed like theirs. 880 00:41:16,603 --> 00:41:18,646 You need this. 881 00:41:18,646 --> 00:41:20,711 And we're just driven all our lives. 882 00:41:20,711 --> 00:41:23,622 Brethren, is that not how it was when we were lost? 883 00:41:23,622 --> 00:41:25,937 No care for God. No care for His glory. 884 00:41:25,937 --> 00:41:28,481 Even religious. Religious. Do this. 885 00:41:28,481 --> 00:41:30,888 Self-righteous. Earn your way. 886 00:41:30,888 --> 00:41:33,193 Be something before God. 887 00:41:33,193 --> 00:41:35,124 Be good enough! 888 00:41:35,124 --> 00:41:36,841 You don't need that Christ. 889 00:41:36,841 --> 00:41:38,367 You don't need that. 890 00:41:38,367 --> 00:41:40,298 You don't need justification. 891 00:41:40,298 --> 00:41:42,560 You need to be good. Work it out. 892 00:41:42,560 --> 00:41:44,246 Keep the law. Keep going. 893 00:41:44,246 --> 00:41:46,204 Just driving, driving. 894 00:41:46,204 --> 00:41:47,533 The lusts of the flesh. 895 00:41:47,533 --> 00:41:49,280 This lust of pride 896 00:41:49,280 --> 00:41:51,371 to be able to stand before God 897 00:41:51,371 --> 00:41:52,793 and say, "Look at me, 898 00:41:52,793 --> 00:41:54,506 and look what I've done." 899 00:41:54,506 --> 00:41:56,360 Rather than bowing and saying, 900 00:41:56,360 --> 00:42:00,388 "Thank You, Lord. I know what I was." 901 00:42:00,388 --> 00:42:02,371 Brethren, this is it. Just think. 902 00:42:02,371 --> 00:42:03,831 Think. Think. 903 00:42:03,831 --> 00:42:05,587 A desire to be right. 904 00:42:05,587 --> 00:42:07,613 A desire to win the debate. 905 00:42:07,613 --> 00:42:10,113 A desire - this desire - 906 00:42:10,113 --> 00:42:12,162 lusting after social media. 907 00:42:12,162 --> 00:42:14,622 Lusting after all the gossip of it. 908 00:42:14,622 --> 00:42:16,658 Just wanting to hear the latest thing. 909 00:42:16,658 --> 00:42:19,140 Hear the garbage. Hear the trash. 910 00:42:19,140 --> 00:42:21,430 Have something to debate about out there. 911 00:42:21,430 --> 00:42:22,777 You want to win. 912 00:42:22,777 --> 00:42:26,195 There's just this lust after video games. 913 00:42:26,195 --> 00:42:28,029 Why? It makes me feel good. 914 00:42:28,029 --> 00:42:29,608 It does something in my mind. 915 00:42:29,608 --> 00:42:31,874 It produces these things in my mind. 916 00:42:31,874 --> 00:42:33,950 I need more. I need more. 917 00:42:33,950 --> 00:42:36,634 You make your resolutions. Anybody ever been there? 918 00:42:36,634 --> 00:42:38,812 As a lost person, I made resolutions. 919 00:42:38,812 --> 00:42:42,400 Okay, I'm not going to do this anymore 920 00:42:42,400 --> 00:42:44,046 when I get out of high school. 921 00:42:44,046 --> 00:42:45,719 And I did it and I did it worse. 922 00:42:45,719 --> 00:42:48,542 Okay, I'm not going to do this when I get out of college. 923 00:42:48,542 --> 00:42:49,527 And you know what? 924 00:42:49,527 --> 00:42:50,938 Shortly before God saved me, 925 00:42:50,938 --> 00:42:53,032 I just came to resign myself: 926 00:42:53,032 --> 00:42:55,094 I'm never giving those things up. 927 00:42:55,094 --> 00:42:56,771 I didn't have the power to do it. 928 00:42:56,771 --> 00:42:58,851 The first time it was really sinking in - 929 00:42:58,851 --> 00:43:00,661 all our resolutions are trash. 930 00:43:00,661 --> 00:43:02,689 They don't go anywhere. Why? 931 00:43:02,689 --> 00:43:05,542 Because inside of us there is this craving, 932 00:43:05,542 --> 00:43:07,340 there is this driving - 933 00:43:07,340 --> 00:43:08,921 that's the idea: lusting. 934 00:43:08,921 --> 00:43:10,624 Lusting, lusting. 935 00:43:10,624 --> 00:43:11,734 We've got to have. 936 00:43:11,734 --> 00:43:13,287 See, we so often think about it 937 00:43:13,287 --> 00:43:15,615 just in the category of sexual immorality. 938 00:43:15,615 --> 00:43:18,148 But we're talking just our desire 939 00:43:18,148 --> 00:43:21,050 in our mind to have whatever it is. 940 00:43:21,050 --> 00:43:23,041 Movies coming in or TV - 941 00:43:23,041 --> 00:43:24,518 just lusting after it. 942 00:43:24,518 --> 00:43:26,367 I've got to know the next episode. 943 00:43:26,367 --> 00:43:28,907 Just some new thing - fill my mind. 944 00:43:28,907 --> 00:43:31,814 We've just got to have - always looking, 945 00:43:31,814 --> 00:43:33,808 always some new thing in this world. 946 00:43:33,808 --> 00:43:35,503 Never content in God. 947 00:43:35,503 --> 00:43:37,831 Always needing something more. 948 00:43:37,831 --> 00:43:40,587 That's why our sin just gets worse and worse. 949 00:43:40,587 --> 00:43:42,056 That's why the drug addict, 950 00:43:42,056 --> 00:43:43,880 they can handle a little bit at first, 951 00:43:43,880 --> 00:43:45,984 but then they've got to have more and more. 952 00:43:45,984 --> 00:43:48,041 The drunk - a little bit in the beginning. 953 00:43:48,041 --> 00:43:49,138 More and more and more. 954 00:43:49,138 --> 00:43:50,892 Sexual people that reach 955 00:43:50,892 --> 00:43:52,981 these stages of perversion. 956 00:43:52,981 --> 00:43:54,677 It doesn't start that way. 957 00:43:54,677 --> 00:43:56,451 It's more and more. Why? 958 00:43:56,451 --> 00:43:59,579 Just lusting, lusting, lusting! 959 00:43:59,579 --> 00:44:01,772 Brethren, this is what we were. 960 00:44:01,772 --> 00:44:04,920 Can you imagine God looking at such people as us 961 00:44:04,920 --> 00:44:09,129 and saying, "I think I'm going to send My Son 962 00:44:09,129 --> 00:44:18,555 to die under My wrath in their place." 963 00:44:18,555 --> 00:44:27,221 Paul wants us to look at that and say, 964 00:44:27,221 --> 00:44:31,929 "What have You done, Lord?" 965 00:44:31,929 --> 00:44:35,025 What have You done? 966 00:44:35,025 --> 00:44:43,535 In such a state of lust, 967 00:44:43,535 --> 00:44:48,311 none of us can stand before God. 968 00:44:48,311 --> 00:44:50,730 Can you imagine walking before 969 00:44:50,730 --> 00:44:59,031 the holy, holy, holy God? 970 00:44:59,031 --> 00:45:05,798 Children of wrath like the rest of mankind. 971 00:45:05,798 --> 00:45:08,091 We'll be engulfed. 972 00:45:08,091 --> 00:45:11,746 We'll be consumed. 973 00:45:11,746 --> 00:45:18,405 Paul seeks to put his finger to our lips now. 974 00:45:18,405 --> 00:45:20,181 I have heard sinners say, 975 00:45:20,181 --> 00:45:21,804 "Well, when I stand before God, 976 00:45:21,804 --> 00:45:28,099 I'm going to tell Him..." 977 00:45:28,099 --> 00:45:31,544 One sight of the holy God, 978 00:45:31,544 --> 00:45:35,949 you won't be saying anything. 979 00:45:35,949 --> 00:45:42,192 You may cry "mercy," but it's too late. 980 00:45:42,192 --> 00:45:47,697 But God has unleashed such power 981 00:45:47,697 --> 00:45:50,122 through the Son of God 982 00:45:50,122 --> 00:45:52,587 and His coming and His life 983 00:45:52,587 --> 00:45:55,758 and His death and His exaltation 984 00:45:55,758 --> 00:45:59,593 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion. 985 00:45:59,593 --> 00:46:02,034 And there is such a power here. 986 00:46:02,034 --> 00:46:04,543 A power like Peter talks about. 987 00:46:04,543 --> 00:46:08,860 We no longer live for the passions of the flesh, 988 00:46:08,860 --> 00:46:10,901 but for the will of God. 989 00:46:10,901 --> 00:46:14,016 There is a power whereby we no longer 990 00:46:14,016 --> 00:46:15,897 surrender our members 991 00:46:15,897 --> 00:46:18,369 as these servants of unrighteousness. 992 00:46:18,369 --> 00:46:20,546 But now, to righteousness, 993 00:46:20,546 --> 00:46:24,871 the body becomes the dwelling place of God. 994 00:46:24,871 --> 00:46:26,997 The very temple of the Holy Spirit. 995 00:46:26,997 --> 00:46:30,227 Brethren, there is power in regeneration. 996 00:46:30,227 --> 00:46:32,935 Transforming power. 997 00:46:32,935 --> 00:46:35,613 That is where the power of God unleashed. 998 00:46:35,613 --> 00:46:39,209 It's in His Son. It's in the cross. 999 00:46:39,209 --> 00:46:43,391 And that's what Paul is doing here. 1000 00:46:43,391 --> 00:46:45,221 He's just wanting to show us 1001 00:46:45,221 --> 00:46:47,939 this wretchedness of man, 1002 00:46:47,939 --> 00:46:53,868 so that it magnifies the power 1003 00:46:53,868 --> 00:46:58,126 and the grace of God. 1004 00:46:58,126 --> 00:47:02,761 Isn't our salvation just amazing? 1005 00:47:02,761 --> 00:47:04,912 Amen. 1006 00:47:04,912 --> 00:47:07,018 Thank You, Lord. 1007 00:47:07,018 --> 00:47:08,436 You're dismissed.