{UAH} HOW DO I OVERCOME THE DESIRES OF THE FLESH (SINFUL NATURE)?

HOW DO I OVERCOME THE DESIRES OF THE FLESH (SINFUL NATURE)?

 

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." 1 John 2:15-16

 

"For to be carnally minded (minding the things of the flesh) is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind (minding the things of the flesh) is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God"…Romans 8:6-8

 

The five senses namely; taste, touch, smell, hearing, and seeing, all report to the carnal mind – which is the enemy of God. These senses are what Satan/Lucifer uses to tempt us! The lust of the flesh includes tasting, touching, smelling, and hearing. The lust of the eyes is seeing. The pride of life is thinking you are special because of who you are, what you have, what you know, or what you look like.

The enemy uses these three things, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, to entice us to sin. Scripture shows this process at work in both the Garden of Eden and on the Mount of Temptation.

 

In the Garden of Eden: "The woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat". Genesis 3:6 The woman, Eve, saw that «the tree was good for food» – the lust of the flesh, «it was pleasant to the eyes» – the lust of the eyes, and «a tree to be desired to make one wise» – the pride of life. Of course you know the rest of the story! Eve was deceived, Adam disobeyed, sin came into the world, and death passed upon all men by sin, for that ALL have sinned…

 

 

On the Mount of Temptation: When the tempter came to Jesus, he said, «If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.» Matthew 4:3 – the lust of the flesh. «The devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, ‹All these things will I give thee.›» Matthew 4:8-9 – the lust of the eyes. «Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, ‹If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.›» Matthew 4:5-6 – the pride of life. Through the power of the Spirit, with the Sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17), Christ successfully resisted the temptations of the Devil and now we can too!

 

 

The Sinful Nature of Man

 

According to Bible's teaching, scripture proclaims Jesus as the Saviour and our relationship with Him as transformational. This is how the Bible describes our sinful nature:

a)     "For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.  Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things." Philippians 3:18-19

b)   "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.  For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other,  to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.  Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.  And those who belong to Christ Jesus _k have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires". Galatians 5:16-24

What Can Man Do to be Freed From the Bondage of his Sinful Nature?

Jesus is the way of salvation! Jesus took our sin upon Himself. This is confirmed in 2 Corinthians 5:21 which reads that "For our sake he made him to be sin _r who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God". Therefore, Jesus died in our place (Romans 5:8), taking the punishment that we deserve. Three days later, Jesus rose from the dead, proving His victory over sin and death (Romans 6:4-5). Why did He do it? Jesus answered that question Himself: "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). Jesus died so that we could live. If we place our faith in Jesus, trusting His death as the payment for our sins, all of our sins are forgiven and washed away. We will then have our spiritual hunger satisfied. The lights will be turned on. We will have access to a fulfilling life. We will know our true best friend and good shepherd. We will know that we will have life after we die-a resurrected life in heaven for eternity with Jesus!
 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16)

What happens when man is set free from the passions of the flesh?

"Paul teaches that "thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and,  having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, is eternal life. 

What happens when Humans fail to receive salvation from their Sinful Nature?

The Bible is very clear that "For the wages of sin is eternal death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:2).

 

 "It is not out of fear but out of a feeling for what is right that we should abstain from doing wrong." "Doing right is based most of all on respecting the other person." "We ought to do our best to help those who have suffered injustice." "The wise man belongs to all countries, for the whole world is a homeland to a great heart." "Poverty in a democracy is as much to be preferred to so-called prosperity under despots as freedom is to slavery" "I would rather discover a single causal law than be king of Persia!"

 Democritus (ca. 460 BC – ca. 370 BC)

 

 

"It is not out of fear but out of a feeling for what is right that we should abstain from doing wrong." "Doing right is based most of all on respecting the other person." "We ought to do our best to help those who have suffered injustice." "The wise man belongs to all countries, for the whole world is a homeland to a great heart." "Poverty in a democracy is as much to be preferred to so-called prosperity under despots as freedom is to slavery" "I would rather discover a single causal law than be king of Persia!"
 Democritus (ca. 460 BC – ca. 370 BC)