1Pe 4:1 Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.
lusts:
epithumia
ep-ee-thoo-mee'-ah
From G1937; a longing (especially for what is forbidden): - concupiscence, desire, lust (after)
Rom 13:14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.
Rom 1:24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored among them.
Rom 6:11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts,
Col 3:5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. 6 For it is on account of these things that the wrath of God will come,
Today's Evangelicals see action or inaction as righteousness, which is really works righteousness. I particularly am thinking of the issue of homosexuality and their made up "celibate Christian homosexual" category. In other words they are like the Pharisees who thought that because they didn't murder someone or have intercourse with a woman, they were innocent of murder and adultery. However, Jesus rebuked them and showed that He and His law are precise in judgement: it's first a matter of the heart and this is where they were guilty of those sins:
Mat 5:27 "You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY';
Mat 5:28 but I say to you, that everyone who looks on a woman to lust for her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.
Mat 5:29 "And if your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out, and throw it from you; for it is better for you that one of the parts of your body perish, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
If it was the eye that caused one to sin, Jesus said, then remove it because that's how heinous sin is and it's better to be maimed than enter Hell. The problem is that He said it wasn't a body part that was at fault; it was the inner man, the heart of man, where sin begins and therefore in order to deal with sin one must deal with the heart. He showed the necessity of the need of salvation, repentance, faith, and justification. That is, a new heart that only God can give:
Mat 15:19 "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. 20 "These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man."
Jas 1:13 Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.
Jas 1:14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.
Jas 1:15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.
Eze 36:25 "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.
Eze 36:26 "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
Eze 36:27 "And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.
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