Our Lord said just before His death in LUK 22:15, I have earnestly desired [epithumia] to eat this passover with you before I suffer

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1 1 Grace Bible Church Robert R. McLaughlin Pastor Teacher Weekly Review Dispensation of the Mosaic Law. Doctrine of Idolatry. Idolatry and the influence of the Phallic Cult One of the main reasons why the Phallic cult is still around today, although it is not titled the Phallic cult, is because most individuals do not understand the difference between natural desires and lusts. We begin with the definition of lust. Here is the subtlety and deception of Satan because the Greek word for lust is the noun epithumia, the word itself actually means a strong or an overpowering desire. Our Lord said just before His death in LUK 22:15, I have earnestly desired [epithumia] to eat this passover with you before I suffer Notice that the word for earnestly desired is the same word that is used elsewhere for lust. It means a driving desire, whether good or bad. MAT 5:28 But I say to you, that everyone who looks on a woman to lust [epithumia] for her has committed adultery with her already in his heart. However, notice how epithumia, the Greek word for lust, is used in MAT 13:17 For truly I say to you, that many prophets and righteous

2 2 men desired [epithumia] to see what you see, and did not see it; and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. Notice that the same word is used, sometimes it s good, sometimes it is not. Here s the point, most of us do not have the ability or discernment to distinguish the difference between lusts and legitimate desires. And we get condemned at times because we cannot discern the difference between our legitimate desires and our lusts...because there is a fine line between them. In 1CO 10:6, lust, or this overwhelming desire within us is used in a negative way, Now these things happened as examples for us, that we should not lust [epithumia] for evil things, as they also lusted [epithumia]. But then in 1TI 3:1, there is the positive use of the word; It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to [epithumia] the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do. JAM 4:2 You lust [epithumia] and do not have; so you commit murder. And you are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. Please notice that in these passages epithumia can mean lust or desire depending on not what it is directed towards but how it is directed toward those things. And, as I said to you recently, the kingdom of darkness, with its

3 3 tremendous organized plan, appeals to the needs of people to get them away from the PPOG for their life by making us question our faith because we have these legitimate desires that the world, or the cosmic system has perverted and distorted. And here is the truth ---- Those desires have been implanted within us by our God to give us enjoyment not condemnation. ECC 3:11 He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set the desires for eternity or eternal things in their heart. ROM 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. PSA 8:1-9, (For the choir director; on the Gittith. A Psalm of David.) O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is Thy name in all the earth, Who hast displayed Thy splendor above the heavens! From the mouth of infants and nursing babes Thou hast established strength, Because of Thine adversaries, To make the enemy and the revengeful cease. When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, The moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained; What is man, that Thou dost take thought of him? And the son of man, that Thou dost care for him? Yet Thou hast made him a little lower than God, And dost crown him with glory and majesty! Thou dost make him to rule over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet, All

4 4 sheep and oxen, And also the beasts of the field, all of creation itself is subject to the authority of man. The birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes through the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Thy name in all the earth! Under point 5 in our doctrine and the influence of the Idol of Sex, when you think of lust, do not of it as it is defined in the dictionary only! Because it is true that lust can mean lasciviousness or an illicit, uncontrolled, overwhelming desire which originates from the old sin nature. However, the dictionary also defines lust also as a pleasure or delight. It can also mean an intense longing or craving for something. Today when we think of lust we always seem to associate it with something evil. Lust by now has come to mean something almost entirely and exclusively bad, and there is a good reason for it. And that is that the overmastering and overpowering desires of most people are evil. However, there is a difference between the legitimate desires and needs that a person has and the different lusts that are destroying many individuals inwardly. For example, all of us have natural instincts! Let s look at COL 3:5-8, Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is on account of these things that the wrath of God will come, and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from

5 5 your mouth. In context, the Greek noun for immorality is porneis which refers to sexual activity outside of marriage] Then next is impurity [abnormal sexual activity], passion [abnormal sex lust], and greed, evil desire [an illicit, uncontrolled, overwhelming desire for sex], and greed [an insatiable appetite or craving for sexual activity], And then a very shocking statement, all of these sexual sins are said to keep on amounting to idolatry or the worship of idols or demons. One of the main reasons why the apostle Paul said that involvement in these different forms of sexual sins was a form of worship toward idols or demons is simply because Satan knows the human race better than we do. And, in our society today sex has become an idol. So, one of the main reasons why the Phallic cult is still around today, although it is not titled the Phallic cult, is because most individuals do not understand the difference between natural desires and lusts. And so, to understand this we need to recognize that all of us have natural instincts. And, the natural instincts in all of us, such as hunger, sex, survival, self-defense are not wrong in themselves. All the natural instincts that belong to our human nature are, in and of themselves, not only not bad, but good. The point is that there is nothing wrong with natural instincts, so stop blaming or condemning yourself for having them alive in you. In fact, it is a healthy thing to have them and not squash them with asceticism or denial. Let me put it like this: It is God who has put these natural instincts into man, including the instinct for sex and a

6 6 need to be loved. And these instincts have been given to man for the enjoyment and the preservation of life. And one of those main instincts is the desire to be loved, needed, held, appreciated, and when it s right, sexual encounters, which Satan has perverted because even knows it is one of the main differences between his race and ours. God made man perfect, and a part of that perfection appears in the fact that our various instincts and powers and propensities were put in such an order and peculiar arrangement in us so that they are all meant to minister to our good and our enjoyment in life. These instincts, which are mainly in man s body, were meant to be under the control of our mind. God gave man both brain and mind! And God s will was that man should have dominion and control over his natural instincts. And the mind alone is not enough, God also gave man a conscience which is higher than the mind and gives instructions to the mind and then, hopefully, the heart. And then, man being made in the image of God, the conscience was meant in turn to be controlled by God Himself, JOH 1:9. Unfortunately, there have been some foolish people in the church who have said that sex is sinful. And that is why celibacy is advocated by the Roman church and others. So, there is nothing wrong with sexual desires! To say so is to say that God put evil into man. At the same time, however, we are all aware that all our instincts must be in their right place which means that they must be governed and controlled by the mind and heart. And here is the tragedy of man in

7 7 sin! Here is the tragedy of the whole cosmic system; that the order has been reversed and that mankind is being governed by his instincts instead of governing his instincts. 1CO 2:12-16, Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no man. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.