How Do Passions Wage War Against the Soul?

00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)

00:00:02.580 | - Good Monday morning, and thank you for joining us again

00:00:07.360 | on the Ask Pastor John podcast.

00:00:10.120 | We start this new week with a great Bible question

00:00:12.180 | here today from a listener named Bill.

00:00:14.960 | It's the kind of question that drops us right

00:00:16.880 | into a discussion over how our hearts work.

00:00:20.960 | Here's Bill's question.

00:00:22.320 | Pastor John, hello, can you explain to me 1 Peter 2.11

00:00:26.120 | and how these passions of the flesh

00:00:28.480 | actually wage war against the soul?

00:00:31.880 | How do these passions threaten the soul?

00:00:34.740 | Can you explain how all of this works?

00:00:37.360 | Thank you.

00:00:38.560 | - Well, let's start by clarifying a few words

00:00:40.560 | in this verse.

00:00:42.420 | For example, the word passions urge you to abstain

00:00:46.320 | from the passions of the flesh.

00:00:49.140 | The word is simply desires, epithumeon.

00:00:54.140 | They can be good desires in some contexts.

00:00:58.620 | Or they can be bad desires.

00:01:00.460 | The word itself doesn't decide whether they're good or bad.

00:01:05.460 | What decides that in this verse is the added phrase

00:01:10.220 | of the flesh.

00:01:12.020 | Abstain from the desires of the flesh.

00:01:15.660 | But even that is not a full explanation

00:01:18.980 | of why the desires would be so destructive

00:01:21.820 | and make war on the soul.

00:01:25.220 | So what does flesh mean?

00:01:27.640 | How does the term flesh make its desires bad and dangerous,

00:01:32.640 | destructive to the soul?

00:01:35.620 | The word flesh can mean simply the human body, as it does.

00:01:41.540 | For example, in 1 Peter 4.1, where it says

00:01:45.420 | that Christ suffered in the flesh.

00:01:48.900 | There's nothing evil about Christ's flesh, his body.

00:01:55.080 | And so not all desires of the body or the flesh

00:02:00.080 | would necessarily be evil, right?

00:02:02.180 | Jesus had the desire for food when he was hungry.

00:02:06.580 | He had the desire for water when he was thirsty.

00:02:08.940 | He had the desire for rest when he was tired.

00:02:13.020 | These desires of the body or the flesh are not evil.

00:02:18.020 | But the word flesh in the New Testament

00:02:23.460 | has other meanings as well.

00:02:25.900 | For example, Paul uses it to define the rebellious mind

00:02:30.300 | of the fallen human nature in Romans 8.7,

00:02:34.000 | where he says the mind of the flesh is hostile to God.

00:02:37.500 | The mind of the flesh is hostile to God.

00:02:41.020 | It does not submit to God's law.

00:02:42.660 | Indeed, it cannot.

00:02:43.900 | And those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

00:02:47.160 | So the flesh is seen as that part of human nature,

00:02:52.020 | which is without the Holy Spirit and in the sway of sin

00:02:57.020 | and cannot submit to God.

00:02:59.660 | Flesh is man in rebellion, without God, without the Spirit.

00:03:04.660 | So what makes the desires of the flesh evil and dangerous

00:03:10.120 | is when they cross over from being innocent wishes

00:03:15.460 | for food and drink and rest or any legitimate pleasure,

00:03:19.580 | cross over into the service of the rebellious human self.

00:03:24.580 | Or another way to say it would be

00:03:28.540 | the desires of the flesh become evil

00:03:31.940 | when they are disconnected from the will of God

00:03:36.940 | and become sovereign or independent with their own will,

00:03:42.100 | their own desires that don't have any reference

00:03:46.100 | to God's desires or God's will.

00:03:49.260 | I will be satisfied and I don't care what God says

00:03:53.540 | about the guidance or the limits of my desires.

00:03:56.500 | I will have my satisfaction of my desires,

00:03:59.740 | my way, my time, my degree,

00:04:01.900 | without any submission to God's will.

00:04:03.820 | That's the desires of the flesh.

00:04:06.900 | So when the desires of the body,

00:04:09.440 | which themselves may be innocent,

00:04:13.220 | become sovereign and independent of God,

00:04:18.100 | now the soul is enveloped in a sea of desires

00:04:23.100 | that are communicating to the soul continually

00:04:28.140 | that it should join them in the pursuit,

00:04:31.380 | not of God, but of this world as the source of satisfaction.

00:04:36.380 | And that is idolatry and that is deadly and destructive.

00:04:41.660 | That is war on the soul.

00:04:46.260 | Now you can see this understanding

00:04:48.500 | of fallen, sinful human desires

00:04:52.180 | a little ways later in 1 Peter,

00:04:53.940 | over in chapter four, verse three, where it says this.

00:04:58.220 | We are to live for the rest of the time in the flesh,

00:05:02.380 | that is the body, no longer for human desires,

00:05:07.380 | but for the will of God.

00:05:10.580 | Now desires, therefore, become destructive

00:05:15.020 | when they are disconnected from the will of God.

00:05:18.540 | They become sovereign, not subject to God,

00:05:21.380 | not subject to anybody.

00:05:22.540 | They are their own law.

00:05:25.860 | They will decide for themselves who their God will be

00:05:29.260 | and where their satisfaction will be found.

00:05:31.860 | And they do not want God to have anything to do with it,

00:05:35.460 | especially as the source of their satisfaction.

00:05:39.700 | And this is what Peter is warning against

00:05:43.340 | in chapter two, verse 11.

00:05:46.220 | The reason such renegade, untethered, insubordinate,

00:05:51.220 | sovereign desires wage war against the soul

00:05:56.820 | is that the life of the soul

00:06:00.620 | is found in being satisfied with God.

00:06:04.020 | But when desires are cut loose from God

00:06:09.460 | and go after every other kind of idol,

00:06:12.300 | the soul is starved of what gives it life,

00:06:16.980 | namely dependence on God, satisfaction in God,

00:06:20.380 | delight in God, feeding on God for its life and joy in God.

00:06:25.380 | And we get an even clearer picture

00:06:30.860 | of what this warfare is like

00:06:34.420 | when we consider how Peter describes the rescue

00:06:39.620 | of the soul from such warfare or destruction.

00:06:44.620 | Here's what he says in chapter one, verse 14.

00:06:46.940 | As obedient children, do not be conformed

00:06:51.300 | to the desires of your former ignorance.

00:06:56.300 | That's an amazing phrase.

00:06:58.540 | Notice that what we need to be set free from

00:07:01.860 | is desires that flow from ignorance.

00:07:06.540 | That is, ignorance of the superior worth and beauty

00:07:11.540 | and greatness of God and all that he is for us in Christ.

00:07:16.900 | When we don't know the infinite desirability of God

00:07:22.540 | and how he's for us in Christ,

00:07:27.940 | our desires will inevitably latch onto lesser things

00:07:32.660 | and drag the soul down away from Christ.

00:07:36.380 | So the way out of soul destroying

00:07:40.660 | into soul saving truth is to see Christ

00:07:45.660 | and have a true knowledge of him and his beauty

00:07:51.180 | and his worth so that the soul embraces him

00:07:54.340 | and with him a whole new constellation of desires.

00:07:59.340 | Peter describes this in chapter one, verse seven.

00:08:05.220 | Though you have not seen him, you love him.

00:08:10.100 | Though you do not now see him, you believe in him

00:08:14.940 | and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible

00:08:18.860 | and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith,

00:08:23.220 | the salvation of your souls.

00:08:26.820 | This is counter warfare, right?

00:08:28.420 | This is the opposite of the destruction of the soul.

00:08:31.540 | Finding Jesus infinitely worthy of love,

00:08:35.340 | finding Jesus infinitely worthy of believing

00:08:39.660 | and so you rejoice with joy that is inexpressible

00:08:42.900 | and filled with glory.

00:08:44.580 | This is the salvation, not the destruction of the soul

00:08:48.300 | because faith sees Christ for who he is,

00:08:52.100 | loves him, rejoices with inexpressible, glorious joy

00:08:56.180 | and so attaches the soul to its life.

00:09:01.340 | The source of all its true and everlasting pleasures.

00:09:05.180 | In other words, we're not in the grip

00:09:08.500 | of the desires of ignorance anymore.

00:09:12.380 | We are in the freedom of the desires rooted

00:09:15.940 | in true knowledge of Christ's glory.

00:09:19.580 | So our counter attack on the desires of the flesh

00:09:24.300 | that wage war against the soul, our souls,

00:09:29.260 | is to pursue a true knowledge

00:09:33.260 | of the infinitely desirable Christ

00:09:37.740 | and then to obey this truth by embracing it as our treasure,

00:09:42.580 | embracing him as our treasure and rejoicing

00:09:46.500 | with inexpressible and glorified joy.

00:09:48.620 | That's the battle that we fight.

00:09:51.740 | The desires of the flesh draw us away

00:09:56.260 | from the all satisfying Christ,

00:09:59.420 | but God opens our eyes and draws us to the true glory

00:10:04.420 | and the one warfare leads to destruction.

00:10:09.820 | The counter attack of truth leads to salvation.

00:10:14.820 | - The desires of the flesh draw us away

00:10:16.900 | from the all satisfying Christ.

00:10:18.780 | Yeah, thank you, Pastor John.

00:10:20.420 | And thank you, Bill, for listening

00:10:21.740 | and for asking this question.

00:10:23.700 | And thanks to all of you for joining us today.

00:10:25.580 | You can ask a question of your own,

00:10:26.820 | search our growing archive or subscribe to the podcast,

00:10:29.620 | all at desiringgod.org/askpastorjohn.

00:10:33.100 | All right, well, I hope you have not had your fill

00:10:37.500 | of 1 Peter 2 11 in this episode.

00:10:39.900 | I certainly have not myself.

00:10:41.660 | Next time we're gonna look at this text

00:10:43.740 | and the next verse, 1 Peter 2, verses 11 and 12,

00:10:47.700 | because in those two verses,

00:10:49.340 | we will find the answers to the two greatest questions

00:10:54.180 | faced by the universe.

00:10:57.940 | It's no joke, it's that epic.

00:11:00.020 | Pastor John will prove it next time.

00:11:02.860 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.

00:11:04.140 | We'll see you back here on Wednesday.

00:11:06.700 | See you then.

00:11:07.540 | (upbeat music)

00:11:10.140 | (upbeat music)

00:11:12.740 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

How Do Passions Wage War Against the Soul?

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