April 7, 2023: 2 Peter 2:18 - They Allure with the Lusts of the Flesh

“For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error.” - 2 Peter 2:18

To allure through the lusts of the flesh has been with us since the beginning of time, when the serpent - Satan - allured Eve with the lusts of her flesh, to look upon with the desire to eat of the fruit of the only tree from which God had commanded Adam not to eat. Eve looked, she desired, she was tempted, which led to the doubting of the word of God and what He had said, and she gave in to that temptation. How many lusts of the flesh are acted upon in this manner? How many people have committed adultery and ruined their marriages because they looked upon someone who was not their spouse, they lusted after that person in their heart, they were tempted by that person, they doubted what God said about marriage and that adultery is a sin, after all, it’s just a one-time thing and it won’t hurt their spouse if they don’t know about it, and they gave in to the lusts of their flesh.

The apostle Paul wrote about the various lusts of the flesh and how we should not fulfill them, we should not act upon them:

“I say then: Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication [sexual immorality], uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another; envying one another.” (Galatians 5:16-26)

The apostle John wrote about this as well:

“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 - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 2:15-17)

As Paul wrote in Ephesians, before we were saved by believing in Jesus Christ as our Savior, we were all guilty of some of these lusts:

“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.” (Ephesians 2:1-3)

Even after we are saved, we still struggle with these same lusts of the flesh, as Paul wrote about in Romans chapter 7. He even said, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24) He followed this cry of despair of his sin by the proclamation that it is Jesus Christ who has delivered him and made him free:

“I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death…For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally [fleshly] minded is death, but to spiritually minded is life and peace…So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.” (Romans 7:25, 8:1-2, 5-6, 8-9)

Paul wrote how we are to put off the works of the flesh and to put on Christ; we are not to mirror the world but to mirror Jesus:

“And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” (Romans 13:11-14)

The Bible, the word of God, is clear on where God stands on the works of the flesh: avoid them like the plague, for they are plagues that lead to death and destruction. However, in many churches today, there are pastors and teachers who are accepting, lifting up, and promoting as good the many works of the flesh, especially with sexual immorality and lewdness; they are luring back to sin those who may have barely escaped those works previously. Why? Because they are deceivers, just like the serpent of old - Satan - who deceived Eve. They speak “great swelling words of emptiness,” promoting that which is evil as good and calling that which is good, evil. The prophet Isaiah wrote of this long ago:

“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20)

These false pastors and teachers are not of God and have been blinded by the god of this age, Satan, who himself has lured them through the lusts of their flesh because they have chosen darkness over light:

“But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4)

I cannot urge you strongly enough that if you sit in a church where a pastor or teacher is promoting as good, as acceptable anything which God calls sin, you are being deceived; get out of it before your mind too becomes blinded by the god of this age. Jesus does not want you to be condemned to darkness. He wants you to turn to Him and be saved, and once you are, that includes turning away from sin and temptation, for it only leads to destruction. It’s not a sin to be tempted, but it is a sin to act upon it. When we walk in the Spirit of God, we will be able to escape it, to walk away from it:

“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear [endure] it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)

Don’t let false pastors and teachers allure you with the lusts of the flesh; rather, listen to and heed the words of Jesus, the light of the world, the only one who can save us from our sins:

“And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” (Jesus Christ; John 3:19-21) ✝️