3st Spirit, Soul, Body (8)
2005-01-09 | Pastor Dr. Jaerock Lee | 1 John 2:24-25, 2:15-16
The Word of Spirit Soul and Body helps us to know the spirit, soul, and body, and how the spirit is revived and matured and enters the whole spirit. Today, continuing from the last time, we would like to look at the driving force that makes us get drunk in order to achieve the soul and body belonging to the spirit.
Man is made up of Spirit soul and body. The outward body is not everything, but the spirit and soul inside are the true self. Among the spirit and the soul, the spirit is more important. However, since those who have not received the Lord are dead in spirit, they live only through the action of their soul and body.
However, those who have accepted the Lord have their dead spirits resurrected and live a born-again life. Just as a newborn baby grows up to become an adult, our spirits must also grow day by day to reach the height of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13), so that we can enter the whole spirit.
1. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life are the driving forces to get drunk
In 1 John 2:15-16 we read, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, for all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. All are not from the Father, but from the world.”
If you love this flesh, you cannot enter the spirit because this world and everything in it are flesh that will eventually decay. It can be seen that is the same as the word. In simple terms, “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” are the same driving forces that make people get corrupted flesh. It is the fact that it is the power that makes people feel good about the flesh, love it, and get drunk on the things of the world.
For example, when Eve was deceived by the serpent to eat the forbidden fruit, the fruit of the forbidden fruit was delicious and stimulated the lusts of the flesh, and because it was pleasing to the eye, it aroused the lust of the eyes and was coveted enough to make one wise, and so the pride of life was aroused. Genesis 3:6). When Eve accepted these lusts, she wanted to eat the forbidden fruit, and she actually ate it.
In the past, he had no intention of disobeying God, but when the fruit of the forbidden fruit looked delicious and beautiful, and his lusts to acquire wisdom like God were stirred, he urged Eve to disobey God and sin. In this way, it is said that the driving force that causes sin to look good and loveable, to do the works of the flesh, and ultimately to commit the works of the flesh is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
So, in order to cast off the flesh, we must first cut off these three things to prevent our desire to take the flesh from activating. After that, you have to get rid of the flesh from the heart. If you first realize how worthless things in this sinful world are, you will be able to cut off lusts more easily. If Eve knew that eating this tree of knowledge would be death and the path of great suffering, it would not have felt sweet, delicious, and coveted. He probably didn’t want to eat it, let alone touch it or look at it.
Likewise, if you realize how painful it will be as a result of taking things of the flesh, and how frightening the ultimate punishment in hell is, you can easily give up the hearts that seek the flesh.
2. To block the lusts of the flesh
It was said that the lusts of the flesh are the attributes that cause people to sin according to the flesh. For example, in the mind of a new believer who cannot stop drinking, “the desire of the flesh to get drunk” remains. The lust of the flesh to get drunk is what drives a person to do the physical work of drinking alcohol.
However, even if you are a new believer, when you are full of prayer, receive grace through fellowship with the saints, and are filled with the Holy Spirit, the lusts of the flesh do not move easily. Even if the lust of the flesh arises in one side of your heart, you can immediately defeat it with the truth. However, if we stop praying and the fullness of the Holy Spirit falls, the enemy devil and Satan will give us an opportunity to incite the lusts of the flesh.
So, in order to block the lusts of the flesh, it is important not to lose the fullness of the Holy Spirit even for a moment, so that we can keep our heart to pursue the Spirit stronger than the heart to take the flesh. In order to do this, we must not stop praying with fiery prayers and we must always be spiritually alert (1 Peter 5:8).
Even workers who think they “have faith” themselves, no matter how busy they are with God’s work, if they stop praying, the filling of the Holy Spirit will fall and the lusts of the flesh will open a way. Even though they say that God’s work is accomplished by resting in prayer, the mind of the flesh is mobilized and they choose the wrong path.
Of course, if you cast off all the flesh and enter the sanctified dimension, the lust of the flesh will not arise just because you have not satisfied the amount of prayer. A sanctified person will not stop praying, but because the spirit rules over and governs the flesh, not only will there be no sin in the flesh, but also the visible flesh, that is, the body, will become strong.
A sanctified person does not pray to block the lusts of the flesh, but to receive more and more of the moving and influence of the Holy Spirit and pray fiery to build up the kingdom of God with power.
3. To block the lust of the eye
The lust of the eyes refers to the attribute that causes the heart to be shaken by seeing with the eyes and hearing with the ears to pursue the things of the flesh. The lust of the eyes enters the heart through a series of processes of seeing, hearing, and feeling from birth to growth. In other words, everything you see and hear works on your mind and comes to you as a feeling, which in turn creates the lust of the eyes. No matter how much you see or hear something you’ve never felt before, you won’t feel anything.
For example, let’s say you hear someone admiring how soft and sweet the taste of a red ripe apple is…”. At this time, those who have never seen or eaten apples do not have an appetite to hear such words. However, for those who have eaten ripe apples before and found it “delicious,” these words will already make your mouth water. It brings back memories of past experiences and creates a desire to taste them again. If that desire works strongly, it sometimes comes out as an action to go to the market and buy.
The same is true of the lust of the eyes. When you see something, you take it along with the feeling of the flesh, and the next time you see a similar scene, it elicits the same feeling as before. Just hearing about it rather than seeing it in person can evoke feelings of the past and trigger the lust of the eyes. If we continue to accept the lusts of the eyes without blocking them, we will induce the lusts of the flesh and, as a result, will commit sins.
In the Bible, there is a scene where King David caused a great trial by accepting the lust of his eyes. David was walking on a high place when he saw a woman bathing. Even if he saw it, if he did not immediately turn his head and look, it could not develop into a crime any more, but David accepted the lust of the eyes through seeing.
Because of this, the lust of the flesh was stirred, and he got drunk even though he knew that she was someone else’s wife. Later, to hide this fact, he committed the sin of killing his faithful people at the hands of strangers. As a result, not only were they severely rebuked by God, but even after they repented, they had to suffer a lot of shame and refinement as a great retribution for their sins. He had to go through a lot of hardship because he could not shut off the lust of his eyes for a moment.
Achan in Joshua 7 is also a person who went down the road of death because of the lust of the eyes. When they attacked Jericho in the process of conquering Canaan, God commanded that all spoils obtained from that city be returned to God. But Achan saw a beautiful cloak, silver, and gold among the spoils, and hid it secretly because of the lust of his eyes.
Because of Achan’s sin, God turned away from Israel, and Israel was defeated in the next battle with many deaths. Achan himself suffered a tragic death when the crime was uncovered. In an instant, the lust of the eyes took advantage of greed to steal, and the result was the road to death.
When young children watch violent cartoons or movies, they engage in violent behavior, such as hitting and breaking, even when they are playing. When you see evil, the evil within you fluctuates. The same goes for adults. If a person who wants to quit drinking goes to a bar with his co-workers and sees and smells other people drinking, wouldn’t his heart be shaken?
Therefore, in order to forsake the flesh, you must first completely cut off the lust of the eyes. It is better not to see or hear anything that is not truth, and it is better not to go to a place where you can come in contact with things that are untruth. No matter how much you pray, fast, and vigilantly try to get rid of the flesh, if you do not block out the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh will gain strength and become more active. Therefore, the flesh is not easily thrown away, and it only feels difficult and difficult to fight sin.
For example, if you keep filling a bowl of dirty water with clean water, it will eventually turn into clean water. However, if you fill the bowl with clean water and pour dirty water at the same time, it is difficult to make the water inside the bowl clean no matter how much time passes.
Likewise, if you continue to accept the flesh through the lust of the eyes, no matter how hard you try to become sanctified, change will be slow. When you block the lust of the eyes, you can easily cast away sins, and you can block it out of your own will. It’s not that you can’t throw it away, it’s just that you don’t throw it away. Therefore, if you truly long for holiness and long for God’s love and blessing, you must thoroughly cut off the lust of the eyes.
Dear saints,
Just before God destroyed the city of Sodom, he brought Lot, Abraham’s nephew, and Lot’s family. And he commanded them not to stay near Sodom, where sin is prevalent, nor to look back with regrets, and to leave far away. This is what it means to completely cut off the things of the flesh and to depart far from the flesh.
Therefore, it is a result of renunciation of perishable wealth, glory, pleasure, delicious food, attachment to the fleshly family, lust for the opposite sex, and other fleshly things, and by putting off even the sinful natures in the heart and even the minute things of the flesh in the deep nature. I pray in the name of the Lord that you may fully enjoy God’s love and blessings that He has prepared for those who have achieved the Spirit.
