Grace Bible Church
Pastor-Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Sunday,
October 15, 2017
Point 5. Idolatry and the influence of the Phallic Cult.
Most individuals do not understand the difference between natural desires and lusts.
It's like Holy Spirit conviction and satanic accusation, they can appear to be the same but they are not, in fact, they are really opposites.
Here is the subtlety and deception of Satan because the Greek word for lust is the noun epithumia, the word itself actually means a strong or an overpowering desire for something or someone."
Luk 22:15, "I have earnestly desired [and He said epithumia] to eat this passover with you before I suffer"
Notice that the word for "earnestly desired" is the same word that is used elsewhere for lust. It means a driving desire, whether good or bad.
Mat 5:28 But I say to you, that everyone who looks on a woman to lust [epithumia] for her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.
Mat 13:17 "For truly I say to you, that many prophets and righteous men desired [epithumia] to see what you see, and did not see it; and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
Most of us do not have the ability or discernment to distinguish the difference between lusts and legitimate desires.
We get condemned at times because we cannot discern the difference between our legitimate desires and our lusts......because there is a fine line between the two of them.
1Co 10:6 Now these things happened as examples for us, that we should not lust [epithumia] for evil things, as they also lusted [epithumia].
1Ti 3:1 It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to [epithumia] the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do.
Jam 4:2 You lust [epithumia] and do not have; so you commit murder [1Jo 3;15 Everyone who hates his fellow believer is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life alive in them him].
Please notice that in all these passages "epithumia" can mean lust or desire depending on not just "what" it is directed towards but "how" it is directed toward those things.
The kingdom of darkness appeals to the needs of people to get them away from the PPOG for their life by making them question their faith because they have these legitimate desires that the world [cosmic system] has perverted and distorted into lusts.
ECC 3:11 He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set the desires for eternity or eternal things in their heart.
ROM 1:20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible attributes and His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made [creation], so that they are without excuse.
It is true that lust can mean lasciviousness or an illicit, uncontrolled, overwhelming desire which originates from the old sin nature.
Today when we think of lust we always seem to associate it with something evil.
The overmastering and overpowering desires of most people are evil.
There is a difference between the legitimate desires and needs that a person has and the different lusts that are destroying many individuals inwardly.
Col 3:5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body [such as your eyes, ears, feet, hands, etc.] as dead to immorality
in context the Greek noun for immorality is porneis which refers to sexual activity outside of marriage]
impurity [abnormal sexual activity], passion [abnormal sex lust], and greed, evil desire [an illicit, uncontrolled, overwhelming desire for sex], and greed [an insatiable appetite or craving for sexual activity],
All of these sexual sins are said to keep on amounting to idolatry or the worship of idols or demons.
One of the main reasons why the apostle Paul said that involvement in these different forms of sexual sins was a form of worship toward idols or demons is simply because Satan knows the human race better than we do.
Most individuals do not understand the difference between natural desires and lusts.
The natural instincts in all of us, such as hunger, sex, survival, self-defense are not wrong in themselves.
All the natural instincts that belong to our human nature are, in and of themselves, not only "not" bad, but good.
The point is that there is nothing wrong with natural instincts.....so stop blaming or condemning yourself for having them alive in you.
It is a healthy thing to have them and not squash them with asceticism or denial.
It is God who has put these natural instincts into man....including the instinct for sex and a need to be loved.
One of those main instincts is the desire to be loved, needed, held, appreciated, and when it's right, sexual encounters.....which Satan has perverted because even knows it is one of the main differences between his race and ours.
God made man perfect, and a part of that perfection appears in the fact that our various instincts and powers and propensities were put in such an order and peculiar arrangement in us so that they are all meant to minister to our good and our enjoyment in life.
These instincts, which are mainly in man's body, were meant to be under the "control" of our mind.
God's will was that man should have dominion and control over his "natural" instincts.
The mind alone is not enough, God also gave man a conscience which is higher than the mind and gives instructions to the mind and then, hopefully, the heart.
Man being made in the image of God, the conscience was meant in turn to be controlled by God Himself, Joh 1:9.
There have been some foolish people in the church who have said that sex is sinful = why celibacy is advocated by the Roman church and others.
To say so is to say that "God" put evil into man.
At the same time, however, we are all aware that all our instincts must be in their right place which means that they must be governed and controlled by the mind and heart.
Here is the tragedy of the whole cosmic system; that the order has been reversed and that mankind is being governed by his instincts instead of governing his instincts.
When the "instincts" get out of control they become lusts.
When that which is meant to be under control takes charge and governs the life, there is chaos....and that is exactly what is meant by lusts.
Prin-Lust simply means that an affection or an instinct is taking charge of us and governing us.
It just simply means that our feelings and emotions are just out of order.
The mind is being silenced.
The conscience is being ignored.
The state of man is one of chaos and confusion.
The Bible calls this...."inordinate or unnatural affection."
Prin-There is nothing wrong with the affections implanted in man but the affections must never become inordinate or unnatural.
Desire ---- what is it, where does it come from?
GEN 3:6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
GEN 3:16 To the woman He said, "I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you shall bring forth children; Yet your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you."
DEU 14:26 "And you may spend the money for whatever your heart desires, for oxen, or sheep, or wine, or strong drink, or whatever your heart desires; and there you shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household.
PSA 19:9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether.
PSA 19:10 They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.
PSA 37:4 Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.
Prin-The Lord will give us the desires of our heart to reveal to us that meeting those desires will not satisfy what we really desire and need.
A woman is like a cat; chase her and she will run - sit still and ignore her and she'll come purring at your feet.
Evil desires everywhere are "in control" while "reason and understanding" have been pushed aside.
The decay and the steady movement toward destruction is simply the dominance of lust controlling the individual.
Answer = the idolatry of his lusts.
Eph 4:22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit.
The lusts in turn manipulate the man.