Recognizing the Way The Flesh Works Against Us

13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

Desire James 1:14

We make it our own James 1:14

Tempted James 1:14

Sin James 1:15

Death James 1:5

The flesh attacks us with evil desires Galatians 5:16

Galatians 5:16 ESV

16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

ἐπιθυμία - epithumia: to desire greatly. Strong desire, longing, lust.

Desires, epithumia, are good and bad.

Luke 22:15 Jesus desired to have the passover with the disciples

John 8:44 The devil has desires

1 John 2:15 The world has desires

Galatians 5:16 The flesh has desires

The desires of the flesh are obvious. Galatians 5:19

Acts of the flesh Galatians 5:19-21, Colossians 3:5-9, 1 Peter 2:1, Titus 3:3, Ephesians 4:31, Romans 1:29, Romans 13:9,

Galatians 5:19–21 ESV

19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 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.

Definitions from: Zodhiates, S. (2000). The complete word study dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.

sexual immorality: to commit fornication or any sexual sin. Fornication, lewdness, or any sexual sin. Galatians 5:19

impurity: moral uncleanness, lewdness Galatians 5:19

sensuality: licentious, brutal. Lasciviousness, license, debauchery, sexual excess, absence of restraint, insatiable desire for pleasure Galatians 5:20

idolatry: worship of idols Galatians 5:20

sorcery: the occult, sorcery, witchcraft, illicit pharmaceuticals, trance, magical incantation with drugs Galatians 5:20

enmity: hatred, hostility Galatians 5:20

strife: contention, wrangling Galatians 5:20

jealousy: zeal in an evil sense, meaning envy, jealousy, anger Galatians 5:20

fits of anger: wrath, indignation Galatians 5:20

rivalries: contention, strife, rivalry. It represents a motive of self–interest, mercenary interest Galatians 5:20

dissensions: a separate faction, division, separation Galatians 5:20

divisions: heresy, a form of religious worship, discipline, or opinion Galatians 5:21

envy: jealousy, pain felt and malignity conceived at the sight of excellence or happiness Galatians 5:21

drunkenness: drunk, drinking to excess Galatians 5:21

orgies: feastings and drunkenness with impurity and obscenity of the grossest kind. Therefore, it always presupposes a festive company and drunken revelers. Galatians 5:21

passion: lusts that dishonor those who indulge in them. It is the soul’s diseased condition out of which the various lusts spring. Colossians 3:8

evil desires: to desire greatly, strong desire, longing, lust for something evil Colossians 3:8

covetousness: greediness Colossians 3:8

anger: wrath, indignation Colossians 3:8

malice: wickedness as an evil habit of the mind Colossians 3:8

slander: Blasphemy, verbal abuse against someone which denotes the very worst type of slander Colossians 3:8

obscene talk: to be foul–mouthed, filthy or improper, vile conversation, disapproved themes: ‘vulgar speech, obscene speech, dirty talk.’ Colossians 3:8

lie: to cheat, defraud, falsify. To lie, to speak falsely or deceitfully Colossians 3:8

deceit: to bait metaphorically and generally fraud, guile, deceit 1 Peter 2:1

hypocrisy: to pretend, dissimulation 1 Peter 2:1

hating: active ill will in words and conduct, a persecuting spirit, to detest, abhor Titus 3:3

bitterness: a state of sharp, intense resentment or hate, spite, likely to be hurtful and destructive to others Ephesians 4:31

clamor: loud scream, cry, shouting Ephesians 4:31

maliciousness: , a nature which is evil and makes one suspect evil in others Romans 1:29

gossip: a whisperer, a secret slanderer. Romans 1:29

adultery: sexual intercourse of a man with a married woman other than his own spouse Romans 13:9

murder: to deprive a person of life by illegal, intentional killing Romans 13:9

steal: to to take secretly and without permission the property of someone else Romans 13:9

Zodhiates, S. (2000). The complete word study dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.

Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition.) New York: United Bible Societies.

We can’t eliminate the evil desires of the flesh. Romans 6:12

Our goal is to defeat them.

Romans 6:12 ESV

12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.

Our goal isn’t to be free of evil desires. It isn’t to eliminate them. It is to respond the right way.

Don’t let them reign in your heart. Romans 6:12

Don’t present your body to the flesh to do what it desires. Romans 6:13

Don’t make provision to gratify them Romans 13:14

Don’t fulfill them. Galatians 5:16

Put them off. Ephesians 4:22

Put them to death Colossians 3:5

Flee from them. 2 Timothy 2:22

Don’t conform to them 1 Peter 1:14

The flesh attacks us deceitfully. Hebrews 3:13, Ephesians 4:22

The attacks from the flesh always seem desirable and able to make us happy.

The attacks from the flesh are internal.

The flesh tries to dominate our appetites, what we want!

We defeat the flesh by walking in the Spirit Galatians 5:16

This is a summary statement. Walking by the Spirit is our specific defense to defeat the flesh. It will help with the world and Satan, but it isn’t how to defeat them.

Our next message will focus on how to walk in the Spirit. It’s easy to understand and in a sense easy to do. What makes it hard is that the flesh opposes us as we try to walk in the Spirit.