Know Your Enemy: The Flesh Introduced | 1 John 2:15-17

ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church

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So I have a few corrections to make to the last Sunday sermon.

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I know I got a little zealous when I said we must believe in two physical distinct resurrections and a literal future thousand year reign.

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Okay, now, you know, we're not going to banish you if you disagree with this particular view.

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Okay, it's not necessarily a primary issue in that sense. But however, theology has consequences.

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Amen. It has consequences. So it is important to rightly understand these doctrines because they affect many other doctrines, including knowing our enemies like the world and the devil, especially, and how to properly resist them and engage them in spiritual warfare.

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So I want us to I want to reinforce these things and for us to think on these things to continue to do so, so that there's no confusion and no false realities.

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Okay. So, again, I want to ask by way of review as well.

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Is Satan completely bound in chains and locked up in the dark, abysmal prison right now so that he cannot do anything?

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Is he or is he not, according to Revelation 20? Or is he still actively stealing, killing, destroying, prowling around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour?

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Is he still doing those things? Is he still actively deceiving the nations?

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Is he no longer the God of this world? Who has sway and power over the whole world, like 1st

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John says, who actively deceives unbelievers to keep them from believing the gospel.

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Okay. This is what Scripture plainly teaches. Right. And we must be consistent in our understanding and accurate regarding the word of God.

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We must understand these things and harmonize them properly. And there's a very popular sentiment today, which says that, you know, eschatology, the study of last things, is just a secondary issue.

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It's a secondary issue that's not too important, overly important or relevant for us today, because, you know, that's just going to happen later on.

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You know, Jesus wins. That's all we really need to know. And but this is very misleading.

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Okay. We cannot be misled or deceived by this mentality because the study of eschatology also includes doctrines that are of primary importance.

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Primary because they directly relate to the issues of the gospel, of how we are saved, of God, of man and salvation.

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Those are three of the key areas that deal with primary doctrines that determine salvation or damnation in those respects.

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So one of those issues, those primary issues, is identifying exactly who the

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Antichrist is. Who is the Antichrist? Now, the reformers, the

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Protestant reformers, they all unanimously, unequivocally pointed the finger at the papacy, at the

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Pope. And that is why the Jesuits decided to, by way of countering the

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Reformation, come up with two different views of the eschatology of end times.

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One of them said that, oh, no, the Antichrist already came. He already came.

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That was Nero. Remember Nero, the guy who burned Rome and torched Christians and used them as lamps to light the streets of Rome?

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That was him. That was the Antichrist. So it can't be the Pope. And then another

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Jesuit, same strategy. He said, no, the Antichrist is a future ruler.

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He's some future ruler that's going to take over the world. If you've heard of the

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Left Behind series, it would be, what's his name? Nikolai. It's Nikolai. He's the Antichrist.

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Some guy from Russia or whatever. And again, this was all an effort to shift the blame away from the papacy, which so clearly reflected what the

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Bible teaches about Antichrist and the spirit of Antichrist. So that is a primary issue because we must, like this whole series has been about, we must properly know, understand our enemy so that we can resist him accordingly and fight him back.

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Amen. So that's very important. That's not a secondary issue.

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OK. Now, another important issue is the final judgment, the last judgment.

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That also deals with last things, with eschatology. What exactly happens at the final judgment?

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Are we going to be judged? OK, because many teach that many have a heretical view of the final judgment and say, no, you're going to be put under God's judgment, put on trial in God's courtroom, and he's going to examine your works to see if you are worthy to enter heaven.

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And that, my friends, is heresy. That is false teaching of false gospel and false salvation.

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That is false. God is not going to judge us on the last day to see if we are worthy of heaven.

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He may evaluate our works to see which ones are going to be rewarded. Right. But he is not going to judge our state of whether we are good enough to enter heaven because who satisfied that judgment already on the cross?

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It was Christ himself. Amen. That's done. It is finished.

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Many heresies today are, this heresy is plaguing the church. Federal Vision, John Piper, Doug Wilson, all these guys are just false.

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Primary issue. Also the doctrine of the resurrections, plural.

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Two of them for the same reasons above, because the resurrection will happen.

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These resurrections will happen before the judgment, the final judgment, the great white throne judgment that Revelation 20 talks about.

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So, and also, this affects or deals with, eschatology deals with God's justice.

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God's justice because of hell. And these doctrines, these other more modern doctrines of annihilationism or conditionalism that says that, well, you're going to be punished temporarily in hell, but then

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God is going to extinguish you. He's going to annihilate you and you will cease to exist. But that's not what the

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Bible teaches. And God says he will punish and in the smoke of torment, will punish the devil, the fallen angels, the demons, and all those.

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He will inflict the flaming fire of vengeance on all who do not believe the gospel.

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Primary issues. All of these are primary issues. And there are believers today who are deceived by some of these things.

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And that's a very dangerous thing. And that's why we cannot arbitrarily dismiss eschatology and the study of eschatology as a secondary issue because it is not.

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Some things may be, others things are not. And this is just to name some. So, now at another point,

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I also misspoke when after I quoted the larger catechism, I said that the first resurrection was that of the unjust before the millennial reign of Christ on earth.

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Millennial, by the way, means a thousand. It's also referred to earlier in church history as chileasm, which we get the word like in Spanish, kilo.

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Kilo is a thousand, right? So, this is not what

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I meant. That's not correct. The resurrection of the just, of the righteous, of believers is what comes first before the millennial reign.

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And we will reign with Christ for a thousand years. And then we'll follow the resurrection of the wicked, of the unjust after the millennial reign ends.

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And Satan is released from his abysmal prison, his dark prison.

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Okay, that hasn't happened yet. This hasn't happened yet. That's future, okay?

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And I also misspoke when I was referring to premillennialism, pre -remember is before the millennium, as the view that denies the two distinct resurrections, because it does not.

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That's the view that I would take, generally speaking, that the reign of Christ of a thousand years is a literal reign.

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It's a future reign. Therefore, it's premillennial. In other words,

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Christ is going to come back first, and then the millennial reign will start on earth.

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So, I meant to say postmillennialism is the view that denies the two resurrections.

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Post, of course, means after. So, in other words,

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Christ is going to come back after the millennial reign is over, which is now, according to postmillennialism and amillennialism as well.

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They believe that Christ will come back after that millennial reign, which they spiritualize.

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They make it a figurative, not a literal thousand -year reign on earth. Now, but that's because this is a misinterpretation.

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They misinterpret Revelation 20 by spiritualizing it into a metaphor instead of making it literal.

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But it is not metaphorical. If you study the passage carefully, it is not metaphorical.

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This is literal, plain language. The resurrections are literal. The thousand -year reign is literal.

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There is no indication that it's symbolic or figurative. Usually, in the book of Revelation, it tells you.

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The sea is, the ocean, the sea is people. The woman with the 12 stars and all that stuff, that is a sign.

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It says it's a sign. So, we need to be aware of these markers that the book of Revelation tells us to help us to understand it properly.

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And Revelation 20 just very plainly lays it out. Literal, plain language.

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Okay? So, very important to understand. Now, I'm defending the view that's more in line with historic premillennialism, though not completely.

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But specifically, this belief in a literal future thousand -year reign of Christ.

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And I therefore deny the doctrine of the general resurrection of the dead, of both the unjust and the just, at the same time.

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At the same time. Okay? So, in favor, as I said, of the resurrection of the just before the millennial reign, according to Revelation 20, and the resurrection of the unjust after the millennial reign, and before the great white throne judgment.

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Okay? And you should too. Now, if you think you can convince me otherwise, go for it.

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But, I doubt it. These other views tend to seriously misinterpret these passages.

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If you just go back and listen to the sermon from last week carefully, and if you study this carefully,

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I think you will see that. It's very plain, very clear. The sermon called, The Devil's End.

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Now, however, this does not mean that we are dispensational. Okay? We are not dispensational.

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Because even though dispensationalism similarly teaches a future millennial reign of Christ on earth, and two distinct resurrections.

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However, dispensationalism denies covenant theology, which is what the Reformed faith teaches.

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The covenant of works, the covenant of grace, the covenant of redemption. These are important biblical covenants that the

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Bible teaches, and enable us to understand the Bible as a whole. And also a number of other things, like Israel and the church.

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Dispensationalism teaches that the Jews, believing Jews, are true

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Israel. And that Christians, who are Gentiles, non -Jews, are not a part of true

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Israel. They maintain a separation there, and we would reject that. Okay? The Bible says very clearly, in Christ, all are one true

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Israel. The true Jew is one inwardly, by faith, who has been circumcised, not physically, but by the heart.

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Okay? Very important. Now, and it's also, it's just, it's at odds with Scripture on a number of these points, and with our doctrinal standards.

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So we are not dispensational. Just wanted to clarify that. Now, today, I'm continuing the series on knowing your enemy.

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Knowing our enemy. And as I've said before many times, this series builds on the previous sermons that I've been preaching on.

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So please go back and listen to them if you haven't yet. Very important stuff that we deal with.

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So, and I really think the Lord has been pressing heavily on me to deal with these things, to equip us for what's been happening.

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And I want, I want to, in a sense, encapsulate what

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I've been preaching about regarding the devil. And we know that the devil is not omnipotent.

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He's not all powerful. Even though a lot of media and movies and false religions make it seem like he is.

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But he's not. He is not God. Which is why he constantly, persistently, insidiously, subtly, gradually, has to scheme and strategize.

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Because he is constantly trying to undermine and usurp and replace the omnipotent

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God who created him. And make himself better than him.

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Exalt himself above him. Trying to size God up.

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You know, when somebody sizes you up, they try to say, oh yeah, I'm better than you. That's how the devil is.

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He's a complete fool when it comes to that. How foolish can you be? But that's what unbelievers do as well.

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Who reject God. Why would you, a clay pot, who are you to say to God, why have you made me like this?

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Who are you to challenge God? The potter. Amen? So, we need to beware.

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We need to beware, therefore, of people who always want attention.

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Who always seek attention. You know, the spotlight. The limelight.

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The approval of everyone. Of the world. Who always feel like they have something to prove.

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Like they're better than everyone else. Or they're trying to be better than everyone else. And they also have a tendency to be sore losers.

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They're sore losers. They don't like losing in an unhealthy way. They're behaving like the devil.

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These type of people behave like the devil. We need to be careful to identify these things if we're doing them.

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And rebuke them. And repent of these things. It's also called affectation.

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Affectation. Now, Webster's excellent 1828 dictionary defines affectation as an attempt to assume or exhibit what is not natural or real.

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It's false pretense. Artificial appearance. Or show.

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Okay? It is also selfish ambition. Selfish ambition.

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Trying to seek your own gain at the expense of others usually. At the expense of others.

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Including God. No regard for God. It's like the Bible says. All we like sheep have gone astray.

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Each to his own way. Doing whatever he or she wants. No regard for God.

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Even though they may claim to believe in God. Like the Pharisees, right? Pharisees are a perfect example of this.

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That's what the devil himself is. He is a false deceiver. A pretender.

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That's what pretense means. Pretend. It's a false pretense. He is not

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God. He is envious of God. And of us.

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He is the father of lies. And people driven by affectation, by the selfish ambition, also want the same thing that the devil does.

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They want to take the place of God. They want to replace God. To usurp

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God. Illegitimately take over God's place.

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And this is because of their deficits. Their personal dysfunction. Their deficits.

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Their sin. Because they were rejected like the devil was. In a similar way.

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Because of rejection. In many cases. And because of the lust of the flesh.

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Lust of the flesh. The lust of the eyes. And the boastful pride of life.

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All of which is tied to a love of the world. According to 1

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John 2 verses 15 -17. Which is what our text is today.

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Bear this in mind. Bear this in mind. And the devil also loves to entice us.

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To tempt us. Through affectation. This desire to want to be more.

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To tempt us and ensnare us through our flesh. Again, take note of this.

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In so many TV shows. So much media and entertainment. Movies. They promote this because of the drama that it causes.

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And it's also a form of voyeurism. Voyeurism is the practice of taking pleasure in observing something that is meant to be private.

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Or sordid. Filthy. Devilish. Or scandalous. The TV is full of this trash.

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Also gossiping. Eavesdropping. Conniving. Busybodies.

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Wanting to be in everyone else's business. To try to make... See, oh well, what's wrong with that person?

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What's wrong with that person? Try to make yourself feel better. About yourself. And that is why our flesh is drawn to these things.

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Our flesh, because it likes this. Because it makes us feel like we are better than the person that we're tearing down behind their back.

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Or listening to someone else tear them down. It makes us feel better about our ratchet selves.

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Right? Like we're better than them. Now, in order to deal with this, let's turn here.

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Turn with me here to Luke. The Gospel of Luke chapter 18. Let's start in Luke chapter 18.

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Starting in verse 9. I want to cover this important teaching by Christ.

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In the Gospel of Luke chapter 18. Starting in verse 9.

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God's Word says, And Jesus also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves.

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Trusted in themselves. Self -confident. Selfish ambition.

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That they were righteous already. Self -righteous. And viewed others with contempt.

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Shunning them. Like, I'm better than you. And Jesus tells this story.

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Two men went up into the temple to pray. One a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

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The Pharisee stood and was praying these things to himself. God. And look at the utterly self -deceived.

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I mean, just the blindness of this guy. I thank you. I thank you that I am not like other people.

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Other wretched sinners. Swindlers. Unjust. Adulterers. Or even like this tax collector next to me.

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I fast twice a week. I pay tithes of all that I get. But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven.

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But was beating his chest. Saying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner.

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The sinner. I tell you, this man, the tax collector, went down to his house justified.

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Made right with God. Rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself, selfish ambition, affectation, will be humbled.

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But he who humbles himself will be exalted by God, by Christ.

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Amen? So, brothers and sisters, do not fall prey to these sins and these attitudes.

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Because they are everywhere. Absolutely everywhere. And, you know, and I've recently had to check myself and repent.

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We have to be careful. Because any one of us can fall into these temptations and these sins.

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Any one of us. We are no better than anyone. That's the reality. The Bible makes it clear.

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We are all wretched, filthy sinners. Filthy rags is all we have to offer

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God. That is why Christ had to come and live a perfect life and die for us.

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Because that's how wretched and evil and sinful we all were prior to Christ saving us.

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Amen? That's the reality. We are no better than even the worst of sinners.

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We are only better off. Amen? We're not better.

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But we are better off. Why? Because of the cross.

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Because of what Christ has done for us. Not because of what we did for ourselves. Because all we did was fatten ourselves up for God's judgment.

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All we did was make ourselves worse. And thinking that we could do something to earn

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God's justice and righteousness. Self -righteousness.

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Right? So, remember then to set no wicked or unclean thing before your eyes.

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Psalm 101 and 3. That's a powerful passage especially in our society, in our culture.

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We're so visually driven. Looking at stuff and social media. That voyeuristic desire to look at stuff and to see things.

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You know, all these TV and stuff. And entertainment. All of that.

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Now, so keep your guard up. And keep your distance from these influences and from your flesh.

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Okay? And I really love how the 39 Articles of Religion from the

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Anglican Church corrects this sinful attitude. Article 34 says it's about the works of supererogation.

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Now, supererogation in the Roman Catholic Church is tied to what they believed were these saints.

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Right? In order to be a saint you have to be canonized by the Catholic Church. You have to have special works of supererogation.

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Meaning you did good works. So many good works that they were above and beyond what

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God required of you. And so these good works according to the Catholic Church are deposited into a treasury of merit.

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A treasury of merit. By which the Catholic Church the

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Magisterium of Rome, the Pope can, if you offer up money to pay for an indulgence the

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Pope can dispense the grace the good works the supererogated works above and beyond what these saints quote unquote were required to do on your behalf.

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So he can take from the treasury of merit these works from other saints and because you paid for them and place them on your spiritual behalf and help make you more righteous and help take years or millennia away from suffering and purgatory.

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That is what Rome teaches. That you need someone else's righteousness or you will suffer the pains of purgatory.

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This is an utter denial of the finished work of Christ on the cross.

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Christ alone is sufficient for our righteousness. Amen? Now, this is what this article is addressing.

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This is what it says. The concept of voluntary works besides over and above God's commandments which are sometimes called works of supererogation by the

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Roman Catholic Church state cannot be taught without arrogance and impiety.

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By them, men declare not only that they render to God their proper duty what is required of them but that they actually do more than their duty more than what is actually required from God.

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But Christ says so you also when you have done everything you were told to do should say we are but unprofitable unworthy servants.

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That's from the parable that he taught in Luke 17. Amen? Now this is plain as day.

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This is so this is demonic. This is so plainly contrary to what the

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Bible says and to what Jesus taught. How dare we say how dare the Church of Rome say that there are people that can do above and beyond what

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Christ did? Because Christ himself is the only one who did exactly what was required of God of God the

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Father of the law of the demands of the law. Only Christ could do it and only

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Christ did it. Amen? So we must rebuke this attitude.

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We must deal with this attitude biblically in ourselves and in others. Those who profess the faith.

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This attitude that makes you think that you're better than God. And people may not even realize that.

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It's a very self -deceived mentality. Makes you think that you're better than Christ himself.

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Christ himself the one man the only man who fulfilled all righteousness according to Matthew 3 .15.

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Because there is none who does good. Not even one.

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Like Romans, Isaiah, Romans the whole Bible says. Amen? Now. Okay.

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Now we're on the last of our three major mortal enemies. Okay? This is a very important transition now to these last of our enemies.

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Of our mortal most our major enemies. Every single one of us faces this enemy.

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This mortal weakness. This ultimate weakness that we all struggle with.

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Because it leads us to sin like these sins that we talked that I just covered. Allow me to formally introduce to you the flesh.

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Okay? The flesh. Now, in light of what I just preached recall that the unholy trinity right?

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Of the world the flesh and the devil are allies. They are allies.

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They work together. They conspire together to steal, kill, and destroy us.

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Okay? We also learn that the world in this specific sense is unregenerate civilization.

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Ungodly, unbelieving society and culture as a whole. As well as a sinful lust and lifestyles that tempt the flesh.

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Our flesh. Which is supposed to be in direct contrast to the church and the redeemed people of God.

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As John tells us we cannot love both. We cannot love both.

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The devil also tempts us. Note this. How does the devil tempt us primarily?

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How does the devil primarily tempt us through our biggest weakness? The flesh.

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Okay? Now, turn with me to 1 John 2. Verse 15. This is our text.

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Our primary text for today. In 1 John 2. Verse 15.

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I'm going to swing us back to where we started this series when I started the series on the world.

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Very important text here. In 1 John 2.

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Verse 15 says. Do not love the world or the things in the world.

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If anyone loves the world the love of the Father is not in him.

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Black and white. You either love the world or you love...

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If you love the world then the love of the Father is not in you. You are not saved, in other words.

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For all that is in the world. What is in the world? The desires or lusts of the flesh.

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The flesh. And the desires of the eyes. And the pride of life. Is not from the

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Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires along with its lusts.

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But whoever does the will of God abides forever. And the will of God here is repent and believe the gospel.

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Amen? Don't think that you can earn your own righteousness. Don't think that you can pay a church for somebody else's righteousness that is not actually righteous.

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Because the only righteousness that we can ever have or hope to have is the righteousness of another that is extra nos.

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Outside of us. That is Christ himself. Amen?

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So, now note here. This passage clearly warns us against the flesh.

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Very clearly. There's even a sense in which this passage is primarily about the flesh as we will see.

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Okay? And take note that while the Apostle John is being preemptive here, he's warning us preemptively.

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Warning us to not love the world in the first place.

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But James 4 .4 on the other hand is a fierce rebuke to compromise hypocrites in the church.

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You adulterous people do you not know? Didn't John warn you that friendship with the world is enmity with God.

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Hostility with God. You are at odds with God. You are not saved. Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

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You are either one or the other. You cannot be both. But before we proceed, what is the first thing that we always need to do?

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Make sure that we do. The first thing that we must do is what? To define.

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Define our terms. Right? We must always define our terms.

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Biblically and consistently. Because if you do not properly define the terms biblically and consistently you will not understand what is being said and you will not believe the truth of that matter.

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You will believe something that is false. What then is the flesh?

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What exactly is the flesh? Okay? Alright, here we go. Now, I really want to mention that it's going to take some time to adequately define the flesh because there are other related doctrines.

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There's a lot of interrelated doctrines that require our attention that we need to deal with first.

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Okay? But John informs us about the desires, the lusts of the flesh.

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Okay? There are some clues there as to what the flesh is and where they come from.

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Because if you look back in verse 16, it says for all that is in the world right?

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The desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life is not from the Father but is from the world.

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So, that's where the desires of the flesh are from.

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They come from the world. All that is in the world. Now, the desires of the flesh are also the source and energy of the world.

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It's what drives the world to do what it does. Like the law of supply and demand which results in ungodly societies and ungodly lifestyles.

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Or to put it another way, the world is in part the sum of individuals who do not know

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God and live according to the flesh instead because they love the world. The desires of the eyes, like John says, and the pride of life are also energized by the flesh.

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The flesh and the world which is ruled by the devil all conspire against us.

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And to be clear here, John is referring to the flesh of unbelievers.

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Which is different from the flesh of believers. There's an important difference that we will deal with and unpack later.

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Now, let's apply the analogy of Scripture by turning to Galatians 5 verses 16 and verse 16.

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Let's turn there. In Galatians 5 verse 16.

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Very important passage regarding the flesh. So, Galatians 5.

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This is where the Apostle Paul expands on the flesh and its bitter fruit.

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The works of the flesh. Verse 16. But I say, Paul, I Paul say, walk by the

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Spirit and you will not gratify, you will not indulge the desires of the flesh.

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Now, keep all of this in mind. Especially when we get later on to Romans 7.

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Verse 17. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit. Remember?

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Just as John warns and James rebukes. They are contrary to each other.

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Diametrically opposed to each other. And the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh.

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For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

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But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now, the works of the flesh are evident.

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Sexual immorality, impurity, filthiness, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, conflict, unnecessary conflict, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.

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I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

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You will not be saved. You will burn in the fires of hell. Same warning that John and James give us.

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But, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self -control.

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Against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

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If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

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Now, okay. My apologies. I've been reading from the English Standard Version, because I prepared this before that we switched to the

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Legacy Standard Bible. That's the official version that we use, which is very similar to the

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New American Standard Bible. So some of these are going to be the ESV. Now, even though we haven't yet defined what the flesh actually is, we now know it better by its fruit, by its works of sin and death that lead to sin and death, that are sin and lead to death.

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Notice how Paul sharply contrasts the flesh and the Spirit all throughout the passage, just like John does, just like James does, just like all of Scripture basically does.

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The desires... Now, listen carefully here. The desires of the flesh are the same as the desires of the world.

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They are the same thing. This is what 1 John tells us, right? The passage that we read in our text.

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However... There's a distinction that we need to make. The desires of the flesh, however, refer primarily to the individual on the personal level, okay?

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While the desires of the world refer primarily to the entire collective of unbelievers, to unregenerate civilization and society as a whole, okay?

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That's the basic difference. The world is the totality of unbelievers. The flesh is our flesh, individual flesh, okay?

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Now... Well... Now, as we just read, the desires of the flesh oppose the

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Spirit and, like it says, they keep you from doing the things that you want to do.

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That you want to do, in verse 17. Okay? Keep this in mind. Now, in verse 19,

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Paul lists some works of the flesh, but not all. Okay?

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There's plenty more. But... But they are all manner of sin, both internal and external, okay?

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Especially due to a lack of temperance, a lack of self -control, and enslaved sinful appetites.

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This is helpful commentary from A .W. Pink's commentary on 1

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John. Now, did you also notice the tension here? There's a very important tension here that Paul presents.

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Because he says, if we walk and are led by the Spirit, we will not gratify the desires of the flesh, according to verse 16.

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And are therefore free from the condemnation and curse of the law.

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In verse 18. And from bondage, enslavement, sin, death, and the power of the evil one, the devil.

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So, now let's look at verse 24 again. Verse 24 here says, and those who belong to Christ, who have been saved by Christ, by His work alone and not ours, by faith alone, in Him alone, those who belong to Him, um...

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Sorry, I lost my place here. Those who belong to Him have already crucified, past tense, the flesh and the, yes, sorry, have already, getting too excited here,

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I lost my place. Okay, let me repeat that. And those who belong to Christ crucified, past tense, the flesh, along with its passions and desires completely.

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Now, the word passions here, it means strong emotions or influences.

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And desires is lusts and even irregular or violent desires, ungodly desires.

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Now remember, the law gospel distinction, because that's what we're seeing here.

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This is a comprehensive gospel promise and indicative. Amen? We have it all in Christ already.

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Now why is that? Because Jesus is the answer. Amen? He's all we need.

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He is our sin crucifier. He is our flesh crucifier.

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He is our passions crucifier. He is our lusts crucifier. He is everything that we need.

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Amen? All of these things and more. However, Paul also warns us again with a law principle in verses 25 to 26.

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This is the contrast here, the tension. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the

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Spirit, meaning we must follow the Spirit in humble obedience to His Word and through His means of grace and His means of deliverance.

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The six S's, remember? And by which, by which the

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Spirit also empowers us to obey. That's why the flesh is past tense crucified because Christ redeems us and gives us the regenerating

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Spirit of God. He regenerates us. Now, yes, so, verse 26 says, let us not become conceited, arrogant, boastful, prideful, provoking one another to sin, envying one another, jealousy.

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The tension here, okay, pay attention carefully. The tension here is that even though we who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh already, we still face the reality of sin and of the flesh as believers every single day.

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Amen? We are still tempted and we still sin. That is why we still need balance and discernment.

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Everything that I've been preaching about before. All of the remedies against the devil's devices.

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We still need those things. We need God's means of deliverance and those remedies.

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The six S's in particular. Remember the six S's. Number one, scripture.

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Number two, sound doctrine. Number three, the sacraments of the Lord's Supper and baptism and prayer.

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Number four, self -awareness. Number five, self -awareness and self -denial.

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Right? The opposite of selfish ambition and affectation. Number five, sage counsel or wise counsel, the church and number six, spiritual warfare including intercessory prayer, praying on behalf of others for the protection of ourselves and others against the world, the flesh and the devil.

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Now these means of deliverance and of the spirit are the remedies not just for fighting the devil but to fight against all three of our mortal enemies including the world and the flesh.

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Amen? We need to take hold of these things because we deal with this every single day.

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We need to internalize these things to fight back against the world, against the devil and against the flesh.

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Okay? So I have some parting thoughts for you all now. I know.

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Okay, like wait a minute. Wait, wait. Weren't you supposed to define the flesh? Like what happened? So I know that I did not quite define the flesh yet but in light of what you heard so far meditate on this.

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Okay? Here's some food for thought. Now we have discussed the flesh. Okay? So we've dealt with it to some extent but how would you define the flesh?

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Okay? Think about this. How would you define the flesh according to what scripture says? Do you think there's anything else that is necessary to rightly understand the flesh?

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What other building blocks do we need, if any? What other doctrines do we need to incorporate or bring together?

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And with some... to help you with this I strongly recommend that you consult

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John Owen's Sin Trilogy his famous work on sin to help you answer these questions in addition to scripture, especially

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Romans 6 -8. Now John Owen's powerful treatises, the

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Puritan the giant of the, I believe, the 1600s or...

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Yeah, the 1600s, I think. Puritan, we all need to be familiar with.

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He wrote brilliant treatises dealing with sin. The first one is The Mortification of Sin in Believers.

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The second one is Of Temptation. And the third one is The Nature, Power, Deceit, and Prevalency of Indwelling Sin.

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Prevalence is common. It's like it's something that we always... It's always there.

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We always have to deal with it. Okay? Highly commend those works to you.

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Now, let's close this message with a verse that I covered before on Romans 13.

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Romans 13 verse 12 through 14.

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In Paul's letter to the Romans he gives us a very powerful admonition here. The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand.

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Therefore, let us lay aside the deeds of darkness, the deeds of the flesh, remember?

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And put on instead the armor of light, the armor of God.

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Let us walk properly, appropriately, as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in foolishness, not in sin and sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in indulging our lusts, our senses, our flesh, not in strife and jealousy, but instead put on who?

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The Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ.

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Remember who He is. Remember who He is. Who is the

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Lord Jesus Christ? He is our sin crucifier, our flesh crucifier, our passions crucifier, and our lusts crucifier.

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Amen? He is all of these things and more. He has given us everything we need to overcome the world of flesh and the devil.

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That is why we must put Him on and make no provision, therefore, for the flesh in regard to its lusts and its passions and its desires.

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Amen? Amen. So with that, let's go ahead and close out with a word of prayer.

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Our precious Heavenly Father, we thank You so much, Lord, for this beautiful day and for this large day.

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We ask that You would bless the preaching of Your Word and that You would help us to assimilate these things into our lives,

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Father God, to assimilate, to understand these things rightly, and to walk these things out, to walk by the

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Spirit and apply this in all that we do in every area of our lives, whether it's internal or external, at work, at school, in church, with others, by ourselves, everywhere,

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Lord. Help us to apply these things, Father, and to take hold of these things, and to put on the

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Lord Jesus Christ, the almighty Savior, who for us has accomplished all of our salvation, all of it, and to not have to rely on anyone or anything else,

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Lord, but on You alone and on Christ's finished work on the cross. Father, we thank

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You so much for all that You've done for us and continue to do for us as our God, our almighty omnipotent

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God, who has even numbered the days of Satan, the days of the devil will be over, even the days of the flesh and of the world will be over and will be destroyed when we receive our glorified, resurrected bodies that You will bless us with,

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Father, because Your Son has already accomplished our, has paid the judgment, has accomplished our righteousness for us and we therefore are blessed with that perfection that only

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Christ earned on our behalf. Father, we thank You so much, Lord.

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We ask that You would also bless those who could not make it today. Help us, Lord, to really take on these things and to equip ourselves with the full armor of God and of light and to embrace these six

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S's that we so need. Your means of grace and of deliverance, Father, that Your Word teaches us.

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We thank You, Almighty Father, and we ask these things in Jesus' precious, almighty, all -powerful, all -sufficient name.

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Amen. Thank you for listening to the sermons of Thorn Crown Covenant Baptist Church, where the

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Bible alone and the Bible in its entirety is applied to all of faith and life. We strive to be biblical, reformed, historic, confessional, loving, discerning

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Christians who evangelize, stand firm in, and earnestly contend for the Christian faith.

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If you're looking for a church in the El Paso, Texas area, or for more information about our church, sermons, and ministries, such as Semper Reformanda Radio and Thorn Crown Network Podcasts, please contact us at thorncrownministries .com.