EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/11/2024 9:42 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-4 “Because of What the World Does”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 1 John 2:16
Message of the
verse: “For
all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and
the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.”
Perhaps because we are in a world where sin prevails
that we as believers have a difficult time at times to understand the serious
danger sin poses, so the apostle John summarized the avenues the world uses to
incite sin as he writes the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the
boastful pride of life. Though he briefly
stated this those three designations are of profound importance.
MacArthur explains “The lust of the
flesh refers to the debased, ignoble cravings of evil hearts. The flesh denotes humanness and its sinful
essence. The word translated lust (epithumia) is a common New Testament
term denoting both positive and negative desires (Luke 22:15; Rom. 1:24; Phil.
1:23; Col. 3:5; 1 Thess. 2:17; 2 Tim. 2:22; Titus 3:3; James 1:14-15; 2 Peter
1:4; cf. Matt. 5:28; Gal. 5:17; Heb. 6:11; James 4:2). Here it refers negatively to the sensual impulses
from the world that draw people toward transgressions, but, while they are
included in its definition, the phrase is certainly not limited to that
meaning.”
Now let us talk about the base
desire of the human heart as it perverts and distorts all normal desires as
seen in the following verse: “The heart
is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” Picking up from the last sentence that “distorts
all normal desires” sending them into relentless, slavish pursuit of evil that
exceeds the proper limits of what is good, reasonable, and righteous—any attitude,
speech, or action that will oppose God’s law, “For while we were in the flesh,
the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the
members of our body to bear fruit for death” (Rom. 7:5 and 8:7 “because the
mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to
the law of God, for it is not even able to do so.” MacArthur
adds “those lusts include all the immoral excesses about which Paul warned the
Galatians:
19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are:
immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife,
jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, 21 envying,
drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as
I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the
kingdom of God (Gal. 5:19-21).
“Those sinful attitudes and actions are
primary characteristics of the world system and are irresistibly appealing to
the corruption of the unconverted soul.”
Lord willing I will continue to look at
this passage in my next SD.
11/11/2024 10:04 PM
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