Three Great Foes: Second, the Flesh (Following Jesus Christ Rightly #18)

Over the last five Sundays we addressed the first of these three--the world. We have shown that the world is primarily in the realm of our thinking. The world as our spiritual enemy is the culture of this fallen world, its ideas, values, and practices that are in opposition to the will of God. The world as an enemy would deceive us. We are not to be worldly, but rather godly; we are not to think like the world thinks, value what the world values, or seek what the world seeks. We are not to be conformed to this world, but we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Cf. Rom. 12:1f). Today we will consider the second of this hostile spiritual threesome with which we battle. This is in the realm of our sinful desires and actions, which the Scriptures frequently refer to as our “flesh”, which Peter referred to as our “fleshly lusts.”