Our text is taken from the chapter that we read, 1 Peter chapter two, and verses 11 and 12. Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles, that were as they speak against you as evil doers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. This morning we heard a powerful indictment of sinfulness, man's sinfulness. This evening, there's a rather powerful indictment of sin itself in a rather specific instance. This matter of abstaining from fleshly lusts that war against the soul. And remember, this is not simply a general word that is written and addressed to society at large. Dearly beloved, that's pretty direct who he has in mind, dearly beloved. Loved by God, loved by the apostle, known as saints. You, I beseech, as stranger and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. That's in some ways, I suppose, a negative. Warring, abstaining from fleshly lusts. It's in the interest of the positive. Holiness is a call to holiness in its own way. Be free from defilement. And love addresses us, you, as the beloved. And if you are the beloved, you are to reciprocate in love. And what does love have to do with? Love has to do with faithfulness. Not cheating on God. Giving oneself to fleshly lust is cheating on God. Maybe on Christ, it's certainly not a love for Christ. We say we love Christ and our mind is filled with who and what, what else? How is that love beloved abstain? And the knowledge of his love for you and your claim for love for him, faithfulness. And keep me, Lord, from hidden faults, which is not going to have to be in the way of abstaining from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul, which are not foreign to believers. Regenerated, regenerated the beginning, but a lot of the depravity still left isn't there. How is it that we are not overcome? Well by the spirit, but the spirit uses the exhortations and warnings and admonitions of the word the words of christ himself We are going to not be entangled again with these things and Overcome let me just point out briefly also by way of introduction. There is a connection of course to the preceding Just in the preceding, don't forget he has called you a people who are called out of darkness into his marvelous light. Out of darkness into his marvelous light. And darkness has not simply to do with ignorance. You can talk about darkness being ignorant of what is the gospel and the way of salvation and so on. But darkness also has to do, beloved, with corruption. Darkness has to do with death. And where there is death, there is rottenness and rotting. And if we are in darkness, then that's how we are spiritually. It's a rotting and a rottenness. There is the stink of sin. And that's all there is in the end, the stink of sin. You are the children of the light, which means not only do you have a knowledge, but you have been given life. And life, the love, must show itself in what? A fragrance, not a stink. So that if we were to be opened up and we were to be smelled the nostrils of God, what would he smell in our hearts? A stink? Or would there be a fragrance? Oh, there's sin, but sin covered not with hypocrisy, but sin covered by blood and confession and sorrow and the spirit. To that we are exhorted. You love him, don't you? Well then, you and I have every reason to listen to these words, exhorted to abstain from fleshly lusts, that which we are warned against for what Reason that has to do with the second clause that your conversation may be honest among the Gentiles and the incentive has to do with this day of visitation and the glory given to God in the day of Visitation so As the beloved Exhorted to abstain from fleshly lusts and what we're warned against and for what reason and with what incentive. It's a two-fold admonition, of course, antithetical, positive and negative. The negative is first the prohibition, the abstaining from fleshly lusts. Then the positive, having your conversation, your conduct, honest among the Gentiles. And that has to do with, in some ways, the Gentiles there are the heathen, those who know not God through the Lord Jesus Christ, uncircumcised of heart as yet. The Gentiles, the heathen, the world. and having to do with that which is good says honest but it's a word that has to do with being good and even to a certain extent we might say attractive but the positive and the negative and that positive is in the service subordinate to the main clause, abstaining from fleshly lusts. The war against the members, because it's only in that way that we are going to have our conversation honest amongst the Gentiles. We don't abstain from fleshly lusts. Don't think we're going to have a good report amongst the Gentiles. Our lack of abstaining from fleshly lusts is going to show itself. Don't think it won't, and don't think they won't see it. and don't think they won't take note. They will. So this emphasis upon abstaining from fleshly lusts. Old-fashioned language, they say. How relevant, beloved to modern society, that old-fashioned language is. If there's One thing that governs our society and that faces us on every hand, it's that which stirs up lust, how they love lust. There's many things they might give up. They might give up smoking, but don't think they're gonna give up lust. And then abstinence, who wants anything to do with abstinence these days? They will talk about sexual education, education, in the sexual relationships, must be brought into the schools, and there's some reason for that when you consider the promiscuity that is out there. But horrors, if you say, and the simplest way to educate is to remind those of you educate, this is what the reality is, and now your calling is until you're married to abstain. They're not interested in abstaining, beloved, they're interested in being safe as they engage in the activity. Abstinence be hanged. We aren't going to abstain, we just don't want to suffer the consequences in the sexually transmitted diseases. How can we do that? And so they're educated, they're informed how you may do that. And then here are some implements you may use as well. How convenient. And then they look at this as being old-fashioned. This isn't old-fashioned, beloved. as relevant to the 21st century as if the apostle were living today. They don't like the word lust. Too bad, it's so sad that even many in the church, those who used to have on their doorframe Reformed, don't like the word, to use the word lust anymore. How old fashioned lust is the word lust. Sounds like you're a Puritan and Puritanical and trying to impose upon us thought police. Is that how far you're going? You're gonna even police our thoughts? We have the freedom of our thoughts, don't we, and of our imaginations. Who are you to police our thoughts? Well, we're nobody to police their thoughts, beloved. But we better police our own thoughts. We have that calling. We're not policing their thoughts. We're reminding, however, that there is one who is policing their thoughts. I almost call him a silent observer. The thoughts within their hearts, the desires, he knows. Every last one of them is not hid from him. And it's not just the deeds that are under his law and commandments, it also has to do with desires, thoughts, imaginations, that which is known as lust. And, of course, lust here is a translation of a Greek word that has to do with desire. Sometimes it's found in a context that actually has approval of Scripture to desire something strongly. And it doesn't translate the word lust. It says seek and desire something that has the approval of God and do that with a vigor. But when it's in the context of that which is to be forbidden and condemned, warned against, then the word is lust. And the origin of lust, of course, has to do with the heart, the inner part of a man, of a woman, Romans chapter one. 24, wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts to dishonor their own bodies between themselves. Lusts out of the hearts, out of the heart is the issue of issues of life. And if it has to do with the heart, of course, it has to do with treasuring something. Something that a man thinks I can't possibly live without at this time. Like that piece of fruit on a tree, I can't possibly live without that at the time. And there is this lust, this desire, this appetite, this craving. And it comes from the heart. And when you evaluate something that's forbidden and wrong, and then as having this value, and then one desires it, I will put it even before God. the lust. And you read in 2 Peter chapter 1 that lust is the origin of sin and evil itself. It says in 4 verse chapter 1 that you might be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. The corruption that is in the world through lust. How did corruption come into the world? Our first mother had a lust for something that was placed before her by the deceiver, and she desired it. It was to be desired. Her mouth watered. or that she was stimulated, there was an arousal of an appetite, and it was a carnal appetite, and she partook, and then she gave to her husband, and once he saw how happy she seemed to be with that juice coming from her lips, why not himself? And he also lusted, and then they really knew what lust was afterwards, they knew each other was naked, and their desire was no longer having to do with love, had to do with what would be known as lust, carnal lust. Desire to their embarrassment at first and their shame, which by the way is something that in time many even throw off. At first there's an embarrassment and shame, there's the progress of sin. First there's embarrassment and shame and let's cover ourselves with even fig leaves if need be in time, who cares? We'll show it all. The hardening process, the development of sin. Lust, that which has brought sin into the world and it brings sin into the world It is also that which may bring great sin into our lives. All kinds of consequences, evil consequences, sorrowful consequences, fleshly, lust. So the one that becomes preoccupied with these things and in lust, beloved, What is of primary importance is the body with its appetites and its cravings and to satisfy them, and God is not in the whole of the picture. And when that lust takes over, that inner desire, you tell me what room there is for the Holy Spirit to make his testimony. It's going to be a testimony of condemnation, but it's not going to be the testimony of an approval and of a spirituality, I'll tell you that. And it can lead to all kinds of other things. One may say, well, it's just lust, it's just inner desire. Just as long as we keep it to lust, inner desire, no one's injured, are they? The trouble with lust is it doesn't stay. Lust itself, beloved, is sinful because it preoccupies and it grieves the Holy Spirit. And it's as though there can't be room for both, at least not for the enjoyment of both, I don't think it doesn't lead to other things. I just have to mention one man's name, David. You don't know what his lust was. That was where it stopped, just a lust. He took another man's wife and that's just where it stopped. Oh no, it didn't stop there. Then he had to cover the sin up. He had to bring that young man to his own palace and then pretend to be his friend. You talk about hypocrisy. I've got your best interest in mind, Uriah. Go to see your wife. What a happy thought. And that young man denied himself. There's love. He had a desire, but he damped that desire. He had to be to war. And I shall enjoy this while my brother and I are at war, far be it from me. What a godly young man. And this David, this king of whom we so often speak so highly, sent him to his death. Murder him, have him killed. All from lust. And then for a year, going into the presence of God, pretending to worship God as if God didn't know. Treating God as though he was as ignorant as the royalty about him, the people about him. You almost wonder why God didn't appear to him suddenly with an angel. You really think you can deal with me, David, this way? I don't know. It's hidden from me as you bring your sacrifices and go about your religion and you're concealing this lust and the outworkings of that lust, really? Which reminds me, when we speak of the covenant, we better speak of covenant grace in an unconditional form, I'll tell you that, how in the world is it that David stayed within the covenant apart from unconditional covenant grace? And it's not just David. But there's this matter of lust, as James says, and when lust hath conceived, sin is brought forth, and when sin, the deed, then comes death. Do not err, my beloved brethren. So, this matter having to do with warning against the lust and this carnal, this fleshly lust. Now, I grant you that when the apostle makes reference to fleshly lusts, He has more in mind than simply the sexual. There's other appetites as you well know. Israel in the wilderness lusted for leeks and garlic and cucumbers, spicy foods, were weary of this manna. And God gave them quail and then they were struck dead with the meat between their teeth because they had provoked God with their lusting. It was there for food. And there's any number of warnings in scripture against gluttony. It's not a sin unknown, but to be addicted to food and with the thought of food and maybe even what they call a eating disorder. One's preoccupied with food and not eating in that way. And then one must realize this isn't proper and becomes the signal I need help, and there's counseling that one ought to seek at that time. What's the issue? What are the issues that must be dealt with that I'm thinking of food and not eating all the time? And there's counseling out there, beloved, those who are studying this, and they can be very helpful in how to restructure my life. It has to do with spiritual resolution but then there's practical advice that can be given to bring this under control so that food doesn't control me and my thoughts about it but I am in control of my life and what I eat and how much and so on. It's grace that takes help but that also has falls in this this category and yet commonly when we hear the word lust we think of the Sexual, and don't think the apostle doesn't have that on the front burner. It certainly is on the front burner, the matter of the sexual. Satan certainly knows that beloved. It's usually identified with sexual desire, that kind of a lust. And Satan knows that commonly, commonly, This is a weak point in humanity, the point where he can begin his assault, the stirring up of the flesh, even from the side of the sexual, because he knows our proneness, our susceptibility. Commonly, there are those who are exceptions, and they have their own sin, Muslim sin, lust they will have to deal with, but commonly, If we have others, this is one as well, and susceptibility and the assault from that direction. And we know very well, beloved, it doesn't take a whole lot to stir that aspect of our life up. A word, a gesture, just a flash of flesh someplace and back up on the internet or whatever. I got to see that again. And then where will it lead? How many doors will you open? How far down the line will you get? Lusts that waken, stirs up, he knows, were susceptible. Samson wasn't the only one. He isn't the only one. And he knows how a strong man can become very weak like putty in his hands and put his whole office at stake if need be. And one falls. He knows. He knows where it leads, how to arouse it. Society knows that. And so you have the magazines and the advertisements and the internet and so on. It sells. It awakens. It stirs up. It overpowers. And then you may get someone to do what you would like them to do in your own interests this matter of lust and especially in the way of the of the sexual and the reason Satan uses this because of the ruin he can bring. He knows if this is something that gets out of hand families can be ruined, marriages can be ruined and through marriages perhaps that can ruin a whole whole family and so he awakens this he he knows what he's at in the in the church, the power, the susceptibility, and his approach. And so the apostle by the Spirit knows this as well. He knew himself, he knew his fellow man, he knew his fellow believers, he knew his Bible history. How many fell into this sin, and they weren't just the young beloved. They may have in mind the youth. warning against fornication and arousing these things as youth. And there's no doubt there is sin in this regard. And there must be warning and reminders and so on. But it's not just the youth. David was not a young man, I'll tell you that. He took advantage of a young woman, but he was not a young man. And you can go on into the rest of history again and again. Samson was not a young man, and on and on. There's no fool like an old fool. In fact, you may say David was actually stronger when he was young. There was the godliness, there was the resistance, there he was a soldier of the cross. There he warred against it. Older susceptible fell. Why, trying to rediscover his youth again? Regardless, bringing ruination. Satan knows what he's doing. And so this approach, abstain, says the apostle, abstain, this matter of abstinence. And here, of course, you have the hypocrisy of the world that aren't interested in abstinence. They're very concerned about unclean lungs, very concerned about Smoking, and I'm not in any way promoting smoking and suggesting you just continue. That can be an addiction as well that one better take stock of and how much money one is spending in that direction. But my point is the hypocrisy of society. They want an abstinence, all right, with respect to clean air, cholesterol and so on, for the body. That's not what the text here is concerned about, first of all, the body. It's the soul, they wore against the soul. Abstain from fleshly lust that wore against the soul, not simply the body. You can go to heaven with unclean lungs and with stuff in your arteries, clogged arteries. How many haven't died of a heart attack because they ate too much fat? Didn't keep them from heaven. But lust? The soul? Unrepentant of that, unconfessed? That's another matter, beloved. We may have exercise and it may profit us a little, but there is much profit in this against those that were against the soul. Why the soul, beloved? The reason Satan wants these lusts that war against the soul is because he's out to destroy something. What is Satan out to destroy? He's out to destroy our relationship to God. That's what he's out to destroy. The soul has to do with the spiritual relationship to God. They war against the soul, your relationship to God. One may say, well, but I'm a child of God and I can't die spiritually. My soul will still be preserved. That may be. But I'll tell you what it will destroy, it will destroy your spirituality. You maybe end up being a brand as plucked out of the fire, but it will destroy your spirituality. You think David, having committed this adultery with Bathsheba, having killed Uriah, having covered it up, could write a psalm? He wrote later a psalm when he made confession, but you think during that one year he hid the sin and nurtured his lust? He could write a psalm? The Spirit moved him? He didn't have that spirituality. He was devoid of that spirituality. He was far from God and the Spirit did not other than stab him and he hardened himself against the stabs of the spirit. He didn't want to read the Psalms. He didn't want to read the scriptures because when you're in that mood, and they seem to testify from every direction, it has that way of doing it. Scripture has that way of doing it, doesn't it? Almost open the page and it has a way of finding you out. I don't want to read that page. Back to the spirituality. War against the soul. And notice, beloved, war. Not simply they affect your soul, they war against the soul. And to war, of course, means Satan has destruction in mind. As I said, the destruction of your relationship to God and does not kill you spiritually. In the end, you may be preserved, but it will affect your relationship, your spirituality. And who knows the sorrow and all of the rest. And so this war goes on, beloved. We are soldiers of the cross, are we not? We are called to battle. And in this battle, beloved, there is no furlough. Well, I can take it easy. I'll take some iron arrow. Armor aside, I have a season. I don't need so much prayer. I don't need so much means of grace. I don't need so much reading of the scriptures. I've done that for a number of months. I'll put that aside. I have other things I'm gonna attend to. I'll let my praying and so on go. And one is like David on the rooftop. He should have been with the army out in the field. They were fighting, you know, instead of being out on the rooftop. Wasn't going to be a soldier leading the armed forces. He put his armor, his spiritual armor aside. He was wide open, he was vulnerable. You have to understand that in our day and age, there's no furloughs. Every morning, wake up, you're gonna be under assault. Whatever the lust may be, it may not be the sexual, it may be, but it doesn't have to be, there's other things too. Drink, alcohol. One may drown himself, then inebriation starts with a few. Next one feels good, takes away the inhibitions. I feel more social, I think I'll have some more speakeasy. And strong men, beloved, have fallen very low by the power of alcohol. It has consumed them. And they become husks of themselves. And their weakness, wasted, end up like Samson himself, pushing some implement, blinded, as it were, because they have to come to their senses And not only alcohol, where it can lead, gambling. I trust there's no one here this evening that has a susceptibility to gambling. It can happen. There's something not simply about, well, taking a certain risk, but the stimulation, they say, if you get into it, and the suspense, and you're going to win or you're going to lose. And even if you win some, I got to go back and get that suspense. One may in the end waste one's living because one has not put aside that lust, that fleshly lust, that appetite. So this warning, beloved, against the fleshly lusts that war against our, not members simply, that's another passage, but against our very soul, our very relationship to God and would, preoccupy us, and then we're not at all pilgrims and strangers. Then we're like Lot in Sodom and Gomorrah, viewed by them in many ways as one of themselves, and if not himself, certainly his family, and what happened to his family as a result of his foolishness, of his choosing, of his not abstaining from his lust for wealth. That's why he was there, you know. That was his lust. I have flocks and herds, and there is a market there. and I will go there and feed my flocks, and I will live sumptuously, and he did, and he lived sumptuously, and look what he lost for living so sumptuously. They wore against the soul, he was saved. Is that how we want to be saved, as a bran plucked out of the burning and almost everything is lost? Our very reputation and a blot on the name of Christ. And the church where we are members as well, all because of that appetite we thought we had to satisfy, God forbid, let us be warned as pilgrims and strangers and show we are not like the world but different from them, keeping our distance from their entertainment and all the rest, lest it feeds our fleshly lusts and stokes them up, and we fall headlong into what, who knows what sorrow and grief. But then notice, along with having your conversation honest amongst the Gentiles, and it's not simply a second thought, this is a subordinate thought. It says abstain from fleshly lusts, so that when you're among the Gentiles, they may know that your conduct is one of an honest man. That word honest has to do with being good, but it also has to do with, as I said, to some extent being attractive and useful. And there is And I will use, I think, the word consistency. I think that's why the King James word, honest, is not such a bad translation. An honest man is one who is consistent. This was exactly Peter's condemnation of his own fellow Jews, as he was writing, if you recall, to Jews of the early Christian church. And don't be like those Jews back in Jerusalem and Judea, who have a code of conduct, a very high code of conduct, and everyone knows they have this high code of conduct, and they will gladly impose it on you. And now watch them wiggle out from under it. They're very good at laying laws upon you, but now see if they live according to it themselves, and they find this loophole, they find that loophole, and they're guilty of giving in to their lusts. They make the laws, and then they have a lust and desire, and they get around it anyway, and don't think the world doesn't know that, those bunch of hypocrites. They're very good at raising a code of conduct and imposing it on others. But when push comes to shove and they have now to live by it, well now, now they have some exceptions. Now they have some ways of getting around it. There is no consistency. They're not honest. There's nothing attractive about such a Christianity. Simple fact is, beloved, the world may not have any good thing good to say about what you hold, the doctrines you hold, but if you and I live consistent with the doctrines we hold and what we claim and confess, they will say, well, at least you can take them at their word. At least they're consistent. They walk the talk. They have a certain honesty that enhances, beloved, reputation of the Christian faith, that would enhance the reputation of the Protestant churches. They also have a rather high code of conduct. But as we observe them, we see there is a consistency, and that's the point, that's the implication of the apostle here. He assumes, he presupposes something. that whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation, they are watching. Better believe the world is watching. Make a profession of Christianity, they see you at work and you bow your head in prayer, and they don't. Okay, this man makes a profession of Christianity. Now let's listen how he talks. Does he join with us in our vulgarity? Does he join with us in our obscene jokes? Does he work as he should for a hour per, for his pay, or is he a slacker? They watch, they observe, they notice. There's some religion in the man, but it doesn't line up with what obviously they, what they also know the word would require of such a man. They know what the basics of the Christian faith are. Is he consistent? And if one is consistent, there is an adorning of the faith. You see, there is a certain attractiveness from that point, even adorning of the faith and not a dismissing and a demeaning of the faith and of the Christian walk. And so your conversation, honest, upright, consistent amongst the Gentiles as they behold and they watch even though they may speak against you as evildoers because of course in some ways they do, they don't like this whole matter of what they are called to do by one's conduct and confession, they ought to live in a Christian way themselves, they ought to make a confession of this Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ and then they come back and say oh no they're a bunch of troublemakers, speak against this, they speak against that, and they disturb the peace of the nation and the community. They're at fault, they're troublemakers, they're disturbers of the peace. So they speak evil of you as evildoers. They were experienced that, the early Christians, who brought this new religion into the community, called people to become Christians, and take people away from our sacrifices and our temples, Jew and Gentile temples, say synagogues, if you will, and they spoke of them as evildoers. And the apostle says, don't worry about that. You walk in the godly way, be honest, consistent, and God will take care of the rest. And the way you walk, that will be an adornment of the gospel. They may speak of you as evildoers, but their charges will be without any merit and without any basis. And so beloved, we are finally come to the whole matter of this incentive. And the incentive is, they shall glorify God in the day of visitation. They behold your good works, your godliness. They have to glorify God in the day of visitation. Now there is explanation of that phrase by Men for whom I have a certain esteem who want to say that day of visitation refers to Gentiles who are by the witness of Christians converted. So the day of visitation is they spoke evil of the Christians. The Christians live in a godly way, consistent, and they were won over. You know, like the Catechism says, we may gain others by our good works. They behold the men. and then they are visited with grace, so the visitation would be a day of grace, and they glorify God. I'm thankful that he made this good witness. I was gonna dismiss the Christian faith and gospel, but I saw what a difference it made in this man's life, and I found it attractive, and now I've joined the faith. Pardon me. I'm not convinced that's correct. that it's the day of conversion, but rather the day of visitation is the day of judgment when God visits the earth as he visited Sodom and Gomorrah with the angels to assess indeed humanity and to bring an end to it. I'm reminded of a commandment of a jealous God who visits, visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation and then that hate me. That day of visitation, that after all is what the Saints they were looking forward to the return of Christ and says there's gonna come a day of visitation Christ will return it will be of a judgment but also be a vindication of how you have lived they have spoken of you in an evil way as if you're evildoers but in the day of judgment You will be vindicated for your faith and your consistency and God will be glorified. Don't forget on the day of visitation as well, men would like to say, but I'm being punished. This isn't fair. God is not righteous. In the judgment day, beloved, God will show his righteousness. They will not be able to say, but this punishment is too severe. I didn't know that the first day of the week should be set aside for worship. I didn't know I should be faithful in my marriage. I didn't know that I shouldn't curse and swear. I didn't know that Christ Jesus and the Christian faith was the one only name under heaven by which men might be saved. I didn't know those things. God will say, nonsense. You know those things. Those whom you hated testified of those things to you. You watched, you saw, and that's exactly why you didn't like them. You hated them. They made you feel uncomfortable. You weren't living that way. I am justified and they will have to glorify God as the just and righteous God because our living in a certain way bear bore testimony how they also should have lived and they will be without excuse and in that way God's righteousness is glorified and his judgment is just in the severity that he places upon those especially who have sinned against knowledge. They may speak against you as evildoers now, but how you live shall be exonerated in the day of days when the real judge makes judgments. And so we are willing, beloved, to be used in that fashion But don't you see, we bring glory to God in the day of visitation, but that implies as we live now as Christians, as believers who war against this lust and will not allow the lust of the flesh to become sins, and we repent of those, and we live in a godly way before the Gentile, before the world, we glorify grace. That's our desire, isn't it? I've been saved by grace. I want to glorify that grace. How do you glorify grace? By walking in accordance with what it has done, what it has done for me, who it has made me to be. And so, beloved, you bring glory to grace. And when you bring glory to grace, you bring glory to Christ in the name of Christ, the beloved. And isn't this what we want to do? Not shame to his name, the glory to the name of our beloved, our bridegroom. How? Listen to the text. It tells us how. And the reward, beloved recompense, is beyond telling. Amen. For thy word we give thee thanks. Give us understanding. Give us a spiritual heart. the knowledge of thy love, and a desire to respond in love, in the way of purity of deed, and more and more of thought and desire as well. We pray in Jesus' name, not because we are worthy, thanking thee for salvation by grace, amen.