The Path to Sanctification: Overcoming Desires
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- Today's topic: Breaking away from the corruption of desires!
Today we will talk about Breaking away from the corruption of desires. The term desire encompasses far more than just sexual matters. The desires we will explore are broad in scope. What are desires? I believe they are the inherent nature of human beings.
A Christian's life is a continuous journey of sanctification. Sanctification means becoming a saint. The English term is Saint. When we say St. Andrew or St. Joseph, it refers to Saint Andrew and Saint Joseph. Our life is a continuous battle against and victory over our inherent nature. We constantly rely on the Holy Spirit to make our lives more and more like that of the Lord Jesus! That is sanctification! Never think that you can live according to your desires in this world, live a religious life without any change in your life, remain a person of temperament, and then come before God after death. If you think so, I tell you, you have been deceived! The Bible never says so.
Today I tell you, all my theological concepts revolve around the word victory. Without victory, one cannot be blessed; without victory, one cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven; without victory, one cannot live a beautiful life! Jesus Christ is the example of victory. This victory is through the power of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus! Overcoming what? Overcoming the evil desires of our inherent flesh.
Why are there so many tragedies and sufferings in the world? It is because of the inherent nature within people. This inherent thing is the sinful nature of man! Although you have not committed sin, you have the inclination to sin. Therefore, the Bible says, Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. Humanity is basically helpless in the face of such problems! A careful understanding of human history reveals that what the Bible says is true. Anyone with a bit of intelligence knows this. The great writers of ancient China were very intelligent people. They also knew this. Therefore, the literary works they created reveal this kind of inner sorrow. Some say that ancient Chinese literature is literature of sorrow about autumn. That is the concentrated manifestation of desires within people. Desires are that inherent nature. As the saying goes, Appetite and sex are human nature. For the sake of our Singaporean friends, let me explain: Appetite and sex means that the desire for food and sex are human nature. That is the nature of man. That is the sinful nature.
The tragedy of humanity is that, through this nature of appetite and sex, people are ruthlessly drawn into tragedy! People want to live a better life, but they cannot. People want to live longer, but they die early. How pitiable! Where is the way to solve our problems? To avoid the tragedies of life and solve the problems of life, there is only one way: to rely on the grace accomplished by the Lord Jesus on the cross and deal with the inherent desires within us, so that we ourselves become more and more like the Lord Jesus. Therefore, today's topic is Breaking away from the corruption of desires!
The Necessity of Renewing the Mind
Last Sunday, I shared Do Not Love the World! The scripture I used was 1 John 2:15-17: Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. Here it mentions that the world we live in is a world of three desires. The corruption brought about by desires is everywhere. In this world, there is nothing more corrupting than desires! In this world, basically everything is driven by desires. In fact, demons are easy to deal with, but the desires within people are not easy to deal with. Desires are a person's own choice, and the power of the devil is manifested through a person's desires.
To overcome the devil, one must first deal with the desires within us. To deal with the desires within us, we must first let the Holy Spirit renew our minds through the Word of God. It is impossible to love the world with a worldly mind and at the same time want to be delivered from the hands of the devil!
As you can feel, my recent series of topics all revolve around one key point: changing our minds. Do Not Love the World!, Do You Love the Lord Jesus More Than These?, and so on. Why? The renewal of the mind is fundamental! Originally, we were all people of appetite and sex. Today, we want to change our minds and change appetite and sex to appetite and sex are not nature. Appetite, sexual desire, and lust are no longer our nature. Our nature is no longer carnal. We must change it to the nature of the Lord Jesus! Amen! This is transformation, this is renewal!
Tell the person next to you, you must change your mind!
Today's scripture: 2 Peter 1:3-4
Today's scripture, 2Pe 1:3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 2Pe 1:4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.Prayer – A prayer to break away from the corruption of desires!
Lord, You have prepared such wonderful promises for us, and You have prepared such wonderful grace for us. Please help us to know You, to know You more deeply! To truly know that You are the Lord who called us by Your own glory and goodness! Then we ask You to enter our lives and shape us within us according to Your own good will, renew our minds, so that our minds are like Your mind, and our nature is like Your nature. Let us receive Your precious and great promises. We know Your great power. What is impossible for man is possible for You. Speak to us today, let us be willing to break away from all the corruption of desires! We pray in the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen!How Desires Corrupt People
How do desires corrupt people? Those who are corrupted don't know. They all think it is extremely normal. They think that all normal people should make such decisions. They call themselves people of temperament. In human nature, being a person, being a corrupt person, they think that is very normal.
There was a person who came to the church and met me. After a period of time, because the church required brothers and sisters to live a holy life, he came to me and told me about his own life. He said, you know, I am a man, I have my needs. When I was separated from my wife for a few months, I had to go to prostitutes. Later I found that there are quite a few people like this.
Cain's Lesson: The Importance of Subduing Desires
Today I want to teach you not to live in temperament anymore. Today I will give an example. It is Cain in the Bible. At that time, he could still be close to God. Compared to our situation today, that was much better. Cain could hear God speak and could speak directly to God. But Cain was corrupted by his own temperament, by following his own inner nature. As a result, he lived in great pain. Let's read the Bible: Genesis 4:2-8, Gen 4:2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. Gen 4:3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. Gen 4:4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, Gen 4:5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. Gen 4:6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? Gen 4:7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.” Gen 4:8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
This is the first murder in human history. Later, Cain lived under a deep curse. Adam and Eve were tempted to sin by the serpent. Who tempted Cain? Did we see the devil? No. Cain was tempted to sin by his own inherent nature. If Cain had understood the matter of desires at that time, resisted his own desires, and did not follow his own temperament, the result would have been completely different. When God criticized Cain, God did not look favorably on his offering. If it were you, would you choose to be angry or humble yourself and examine your own problems? Cain's choice was to be angry, greatly angry. Why was Cain so angry? Because his reaction was, What's wrong with me? Cain always thought he was right. If a person always thinks he is right, then it is very dangerous, then he is not far from Cain's path. Therefore, we must always be careful, careful of our inherent nature. In fact, people think they are right from birth. But if you follow this nature, you will encounter many regrets in your life. At that time, you feel that you are making the right decision, but later you regret it, and you constantly live in the wrong decisions you have made, but you still believe that you are right. This is Cain!
The Lord said, Cain, why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? You see, this is how desires corrupt people! People must walk according to the Word of God, that is the way! If you go forward according to your original nature, you will definitely be corrupted. People must walk according to the Word of God, that is the way! The Word of God is like a mirror. We must often look in the mirror to know whether we are walking in the will of God.
What did God say? God said: If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.” This sin is outside, at your door, it desires to have you, but you must master it. How to master it? That is to master the anger in you, to master the emotions that you were born with. Cain's tragedy is a typical case of how desires corrupt people. When he obeyed his inherent emotions, he was subdued by the devil.
Thinking that you are right, not acting according to the Word of God, acting according to your natural reaction, all received the consequences they deserved. Below are the examples of Balaam, Korah, and Aaron and Miriam. These are all acting according to their own will. Acting according to the wrong ideas in your mind, the problem is very serious.
Obeying God's Word, Overcoming Temptations of Desire
Therefore, I encourage everyone not to be people of temperament anymore. Act according to the Word of God!
- Do not follow your own temperament, overcome temptations
If you are not living well, do not blame others. Blame yourself. If you blame others, you cannot solve the problem. Where is the root cause? The root cause is that people follow the natural reaction of their emotions. In the church, we do pastoral work, we want to train people not to follow people's natural reactions, but to follow the Word of God. Such work is to enable people to live a beautiful life! Following people's natural reactions is following what we like in our hearts, and the result is corruption, accumulating anger for ourselves, and becoming a person who manifests God's anger in God's eyes!
Everyone, look at Ephesians 2:3: All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh, following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
Do you understand? I have invented a key concept: Constantly ask yourself: If it were the Lord Jesus, what would Jesus do? If it were the Lord Jesus, what would he do when he was wronged? Then you do what he would do. Let the natural reaction become an unnatural reaction. Let that unnatural reaction become our natural reaction! Just like the Lord Jesus, you will definitely achieve a beautiful and glorious new life! To deal with our natural reactions, to deal with all the old ideas in us, to deal with those worldly value systems that seem right but corrupt people, that is the transformation of the mind!
What is an unnatural reaction? Those are the reactions that are not innate. This is called sharing in the divine nature. I often think this way, what would the Lord Jesus do? Although I still have many problems, it is better than not thinking! When you don't think, you act according to what you like in your heart, and the result is pain! Unspeakable suffering! Once you think according to the Word of the Lord Jesus, according to the meaning of the Lord Jesus, you live very happily! It's really good! Things are the same things, problems are the same problems, but what is inside me is different, the beauty inside me cannot be taken away by the environment! Although I fail once or twice out of ten times, it is better than losing every time out of ten times!
Therefore, do not follow your inherent nature. Whenever you find that your nature is activated, you must be alert and know that the thing that corrupts you is coming again! Quickly resist and do not follow it. Even if you are right, do not follow it. But follow the Word of God! Recently, I have found that our brothers and sisters in the church are getting stronger and stronger in dealing with this kind of thing! One sister has this problem. When she saw her boyfriend say a few words to another girl, she couldn't stand it. In fact, nothing happened. She just had this feeling. Very painful. After my teaching, she decided to deal with the problems inside. A few days ago, she told me, Pastor, my situation is much better! Thank God! If she followed her own temperament, how painful would she have to live, how painful would her boyfriend have to live? Because we have the Lord Jesus and His Word has set an example for us, we deal with our original nature and imitate the Lord Jesus, avoiding so much meaningless pain. This is grace!
Do not follow your own temperament, do not think that everyone is like this! In fact, it is different, people with the Lord Jesus are different! We are not people who live according to human nature! Some people are more like the Lord Jesus, some people are more like the devil. Whoever you are like will live out the image of that person. The facts also show that following the teachings of the Lord Jesus is far better than following human nature and following the image of the devil!
Learning from the Lord Jesus: Overcoming Temptation and Lust
Once, while attending a theological course, the teacher posed a question, and I countered by asking, If it were the Lord Jesus, how would He answer? The teacher's response surprised me greatly. He said, I am not the Lord Jesus, how would I know! Later, I began to wonder, if studying theology leads to not knowing the Lord Jesus's intentions, then what is the point of studying? We must learn to know our God, to understand how our Lord views these issues! The Apostle Paul knew the Lord Jesus's mind!
We must become more and more like the Lord Jesus! Our thoughts and intentions must become more and more like the Lord Jesus! The Apostle Paul's thoughts and intentions had become one with those of the Lord Jesus, and that is why his service was so effective!
Facing human nature, facing the temptations of the devil, what did Jesus do? Jesus was a man; He would get hungry if He did not eat. He went to the wilderness to fast and pray for 40 days, and as a result, the devil tempted Him. However, Jesus chose to deal with the inborn carnal nature within Him; He followed the will of the Heavenly Father! Look at Luke chapter 4, Luk 4:1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, forty days being tempted by the devil. Luk 4:2 And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. Luk 4:3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
How did the Lord Jesus answer? The Lord Jesus did not follow human nature. He did not say that appetite and sexual desire are natural. He was a saint from Heaven, while our Confucius was a saint on earth, they are not on the same level! Let's see what Jesus said.
Luk 4:4 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”
How well the Lord Jesus answered! Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God! In fact, man does not live on bread alone. Food nourishes our physical bodies. But the word of God is the most important thing for our lives! What is this dealing with? It is dealing with the lusts within us. Appetite is a key part of our lusts. Jesus meant that even without food, I can still live by the word of God! Do you have such a concept? If you do not, and only have the concept that appetite and sexual desire are natural, then you will be controlled by the devil! If you do not remove these wrong ideas, will you not become a tragic protagonist in the hands of the devil? We Chinese have been subtly contaminated by many ancient Chinese cultural concepts. I myself am a deeply poisoned person. It took me many years to change. We always thought that was what Confucius said, and that we should resist the truth, but that is not the case! It is only corrupting human nature! It is what we must deal with! We really need to be careful!
Luk 4:5 And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, Luk 4:6 and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. Luk 4:7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” Luk 4:8 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’”
Today, I must tell you that this concept must change; we do not live to live. We live to serve the Lord and manifest His glory! If you live for yourself, you cannot live out any glorious form! Some people say, Lord Jesus, You are my God. But they do not serve Him alone! What is this concept? They come to church only to participate in an activity, to learn some knowledge, to have some fun. That is not serving God! The Lord Jesus overcame these carnal lusts!
Obeying the Holy Spirit, Overcoming Lust
Luk 4:9 And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, Luk 4:10 for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ Luk 4:11 and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” Luk 4:12 And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
The words that the Lord Jesus spoke were all dealing with human lusts. The devil tempts people through their lusts! Think about it, if the Lord Jesus jumped down, and angels caught Him, how majestic He would be in front of everyone! But the Lord Jesus said, You shall not put the Lord your God to the test. The Lord Jesus refused the devil's temptation; in reality, He was dealing with the evil desires within Himself.
If our thoughts are that I live to serve God, I live to worship the Lord, the devil cannot tempt you!
- What you sow, you reap
Following your lusts, or following the Holy Spirit, is the law of sowing and reaping. Gal 6:7-9, Gal 6:7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. Gal 6:8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Gal 6:9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
If you plant grass in the spring, you will reap grass in the fall. If you plant thorns in the spring, you will reap thorns in the fall. If you are lazy, sleep, and follow your own nature, what will you reap in the future? You will reap corruption! When the time comes to reap corruption, you will not be able to do anything!
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- The Holy Spirit and Lust Contend
Where the Holy Spirit is present, people are free, and the devil must retreat! The devil is no match for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit's opponent is our carnal lust. As Galatians 5:16-25 says: Gal 5:16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Gal 5:17 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. Gal 5:18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Gal 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, Gal 5:20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, Gal 5:21 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. Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, Gal 5:23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Gal 5:24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Gal 5:25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.
The work of the Holy Spirit is to lead us to contend with lust, to overcome the evil desires within us, which is called crucifixion. So, take up your cross means to remove the evil desires within you. Originally wanting to be angry, now relying on the Holy Spirit to reject the anger in your heart, and let go of your set of inherent ideas.
Let everyone receive this passage according to its literal meaning! To explain further, there is not enough time. Thank God, this is not difficult to understand.
- Apostle Peter's Advice Before Departing 2 Peter 1:3-4
Following the Holy Spirit, Bearing the Fruit of the Holy Spirit
——2Pe 1:3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness,
This is all done by God.
——through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
Knowing God, this is what we should do.
—— 2Pe 1:4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises,
After we do this, God will grant us promises, so that we may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. If there are these precious and very great promises given to us, that God has achieved, but our part is to choose to escape, or obey our inborn lusts.
- Conclusion: So That You Might Be Partakers of the Divine Nature
Do you know how the devil deceived Eve? He said to Eve, You are not like God. In fact, Adam and Eve originally had the image of God. But the devil deceived Eve, You are not like God; you will be like God if you eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. As a result, after eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they were originally like God, but they were no longer like God. Today, we must begin to eat the fruit of the tree of life. If you are still living in the state of distinguishing between good and evil, you probably will not have the nature of God. If we still live in the corruption of lust today, following our own preferences, following our own inborn nature, we should be more like demons. Today, can you learn to be like God, to partake in the nature of God? If someone offends you, choose to forgive; if you lack love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control in your life, let God bear these fruits of the Holy Spirit in your life. At this time, let us also reject all the jealousy, strife, hatred, factionalism, filth, and licentiousness in our hearts. Let us pray together: Lord Jesus, I ask You to save me from all corruption that comes from lust. In the name of Jesus Christ, I confess my sins and repent to You. Lord Jesus, forgive my transgressions, save me from the values that come from lust, from the corruption that comes from lust, let me no longer follow my own preferences, let me learn to follow the Holy Spirit, bear the fruits of the Holy Spirit, overcome the temptations of the devil, remove the worldly thoughts in me, let me love You alone. In the name of Jesus Christ, I declare to this spiritual world that in the days to come, I will obey the Holy Spirit, trust in the Lord Jesus, and live a victorious life. In Jesus' name, Amen! Say to the person next to you, You must have the nature of God!
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