Living Free From Lust
1 John 2:15-17 –(AMP) Do Not Love the World 15 Do not love the world [of sin that opposes God and His precepts], nor the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust and sensual craving of the flesh and the lust and longing of the eyes and the boastful pride of life [pretentious confidence in one’s resources or in the stability of earthly things]—these do not come from the Father, but are from the world. 17 The world is passing away, and with it its lusts [the shameful pursuits and ungodly longings]; but the one who does the will of God and carries out His purposes lives forever.
When the bible talks about the world in this scripture, it’s not the physical earth but rather the worlds system and way of thinking. The world is a system of behavior in operation that goes contrary, or against the word of God. It is a system or a way of doing things that goes against Gods Word. It is against behaviors, norms, and values that go against Gods Word. Don’t even allow to THINK like the world.
In what ways do you think you or people you know live in the world every day, without even realizing it?
We who are born again are now abiding in the Kingdom of God, we are not of the world anymore. The Kingdom of God is Gods way of doing things, Gods way of thinking, it lines up with His Word.
The scripture says, Love NOT the WORLD, or don’t allow yourself to love a system, or a way of thinking that goes against Gods Word. Don’t find yourself in love with a way of thinking that goes against the Word of God. Modern TV shows say Marriage is outdated, fame is glorified at any cost, teen moms are praised and drugs and pre-marital sex are the norm. News media use fear to stir up drama and boost ratings. We have to be careful not to be caught up in being politically correct that we find ourselves going against the Word of God and lining up with the worlds way of thinking. Many of the norms of society go against the Word of God.
You are going to have to decide whether you are a goat or a sheep. You cannot act like the world to win them over. You need to act like John the Baptist and say thus saith the Lord, repent. Don’t be to careful to offend anyone who is going to hell. Some people need to know the Truth and the only way they will know is if we make a distinct decision to line up with Gods’ Word even though it goes against the worlds way of doing things.
How do you see the world becoming offended at the Word of God today?
1 Peter 2:11-12 11Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 12Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
Let’s not try to be politically correct. Do not try to please a world that hates you. Jesus said, they hated me, they’re gonna hate you. We’ve gotten like that, that we try hard to impress people instead of God. Were gonna have to be people with no reputation. So long as we think that we have a reputation, we will try to protect it.
Do you think people have allowed the spirit of the world to infiltrate the church?
The worlds way of thinking, doing, and acting consists of -> Lust of the Flesh, Lust of the Eyes, Pride of Life (but the world tells you it’s ok because that’s their system) Sexual Tone is all over the Public TV always pushing the envelope trying to see how perverted they can go, how far they can go. Music, influence of other people. Craving for sensual gratification is everywhere. People call it liberty but it’s really bondage. When morals go down, kingdoms fall.
We been seduced by a wicked world disguised in liberty and independence. This is far from liberty. The world craves sensual gratification and that same spirit gets into the church. That’s the spirit of the world. The lust of the eyes, the greedy longings of the mind.
The pride of life is the assurance in one’s own resources or the stability of earthly things. People are more confident in their own ability to accomplish, in their resources, and little to none in God and His resources. In a sense people have decided they are smarter than God and do not need His resources.
How is it that people can be seduced by the pride of life?
V 17 The world passes away, and the lust thereof, but he that does the will of God abides forever
1 Peter 2:11 AMP 11 Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers [in this world] to abstain from the sensual urges [those dishonorable desires] that wage war against the soul.
Remember They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” (John 17:14)– Not of the world
The word beseech is a strong word that means almost to beg, “plead with you” as strangers (aliens), remember you are not of this worlds way of thinking anymore because we are not citizens of this world. We are citizens of heaven. Abstain means to stay away from it. Leave it alone. Lust does not mean just the sexual things, but can be lust for material things, power, money, even ministry. It will cause a war in your soul = thinker, feeler, chooser (will, emotions, intellect or mind) Know that the soul and spirit are 2 separate things. The world tells us that they are the same thing, the soul and the spirit are not the same thing. WE ARE A SPIRIT, with A SOUL, living inside of a fleshly vessel (BODY).
Do you have a spirit?
In order to overcome lust, we have to understand where it comes from.
Genesis 3 Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food (lust of the flesh), and that it was pleasant to the eyes(lust of the eyes), and a tree to be desired to make one wise (pride of life), she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
Here is the essence of what we need to know about ourselves, about our problem, and how to avoid it. The enemy’s objective was to remove Adam and Eve from the foundation of the Word of God. Once he does this, we are at his mercy.
The supreme objective of Satan in your life is to undermine and discredit the Scriptures. When he has you in a place where you no longer believe and accept the authority of Scripture, you are sunk. You are a casualty. He is subtle in this way. First thing he does is questions Gods Word. When you entertain the question, THEN he denies the Word. Whatever you do, do not be moved away from the Scriptures of the Word of God.
Eves response was DOUBT – DISBELIEF – DISOBEDIENCE – These are 3 downward steps. This is how it is with the believer. Do not go down that slippery downward path.
