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We all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind.

Ephesians 2:3

In the 1990s, filmmaker Woody Allen left the woman he had been in a long-term relationship with to be with her adopted daughter. When asked why he would do such a thing, he responded by saying, “The heart wants what it wants.”

That is exactly the teaching of Ephesians 2:3. So, all of us have to make a choice, and that choice will derive from what we believe about the state of our...

Carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind.

Ephesians 2:3

If the fires have burned low in your marriage, expect your sinful nature to produce thoughts about divorce. Something within you will say, “You deserve better than this. There’s another person out there for you.” If you are discouraged in ministry, expect the sinful nature to produce thoughts about quitting. The sinful nature will say, “You deserve better than this. There’s something else you could do.”

The sinful nature will always produce these cravings, strong desires, and intense longings. The Christia...

The desires of the flesh and the mind…

Ephesians 2:3

The Keto diet is the one where you can eat high fat foods but no carbs. This appeals to some people—a diet in which you can eat steak and bacon. But it doesn’t usually last long, because after a few days your body starts craving bread.

What are the desires of the mind? What are the cravings of the flesh? Here are ten examples. You will recognise them immediately.

We all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind.

Ephesians 2:3

The first two words of Ephesians 2:3 are crucial to our understanding of the pervasiveness of sin in all human beings, “We all…”

Notice how Paul moves from you in verse 1 to us in verse 3: “You were dead in the trespasses and sins… among whom we all once lived [that is, among the sins mentioned]” (2:1, 3). So, Paul includes himself in the group of sinners he is addressing.

Paul was about as religious...

We all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Ephesians 2:3

Notice that sin is in the thoughts, it’s in the desires, and it’s in the cravings of the human heart. Sin pervades the mind, the will, and the heart. Our thoughts, desires, and affections are all corrupted by sin.

Sin corrupts the whole human personality—what we love, what we want, and what we think. They are all sh...

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Revelation 21:4

God cuts back the weed of sin, but the day is coming when He will pull sin up altogether and cast it into the fire. Sin will be no more. And there will be a new heaven and earth, the home of righteousness.

Suffering came into the world on the coattails of sin. And when sin is excluded from the...

None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside... Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.

Romans 3:10–18

This is God’s assessment of humanity, and He built restraints into human life to cut...

At that time people began to call on the name of the LORD.

Genesis 4:26

This is the first mention of prayer in the Bible. What was happening that caused people to pray for the first time?

When the destructive effects of sin became obvious in the world—broken families, violence, and murder—people began to pray. They saw evil in all its ugly colours, and they began to ask God for help.

Notice, it doesn’t say that all people began to pray, but some did. These people saw what sin wa...

“If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, and you must rule over it.”

Genesis 4:7

Sin is like a wild animal, a predator, crouching at the door. God said to Cain, “Its desire is for you.” Sin is a destructive power. It is an active enemy.

Suppose you paint a wall in your house, and a child draws all over it with a crayon. You can wash the wall and get rid of the cray...

"That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit ... You must be born again."

John 3: 6-7

Imagine a young man named “Jack” who begins attending a new church. He comes in one day to talk to his new pastor. After some small talk, the conversation goes something like this…

Pastor: “Tell me, Junior, how did you become a Christian?”

Junior: “Oh, it’s pretty simple, really. I was born into a Christian family.”

While it is possible to be born into a C...

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Psalm 51:5

Adam came out of the hand of God upright, but Seth came out of the womb. He was born in the likeness of his father, a sinner. Poor Seth—sin was in his father and mother by their own choice. Sin was in him by nature and by birth.

Not only was sin in Seth, but its effects were all around him. God placed Adam in a garden paradise. But Seth was born outside paradise, in a...

When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.

Genesis 5:3

Do you see the difference between Adam and Seth? Adam was created in the image of God, and his son still bears that image, but Adam’s son also bears the image of his father, who is a sinner.

God made Adam upright, but Adam became a sinner and his son was born in the father’s likeness. This is true throughout human history. All the sons and daughters of Adam live...

The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Genesis 6:5

For some years now, secular education has been teaching our children and young people the postmodern myth that there is no such thing as good or evil—everything is relative.

But sometimes we see the face of evil—things that are too awful for a social or cultural explanation. People reared in relativism then begin searching for words, language, and categories to describe what happ...

I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”

Romans 7:7

In all the generations that came from Adam, not one person has been born who was truly upright, until God became man in Jesus Christ. The upright one did not arise from the human race. He came to the human race. The Holy Son of God was born of a virgin.

In all human history, Jesus is the only one who was born upright and remained upright. He lived the perfect life...

“All these I have kept from my youth,” he [the rich young ruler] said. When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack …”

Luke 18:21–22

Try to imagine Jesus saying these words to you. Whatever words He said to you next would make you aware of at least one undeniable, verifiable sin in your life.

And when you can see one sin in your life (and you’re really convinced that it is a sin, and that it is in you), it won’t be long before you see that there is a...

God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.

Ecclesiastes 7:29

Every time you see the wretched destructive power of evil breaking out in the world, use this verse to cultivate a greater hatred toward sin in your life. Say to yourself, “The root of this thing lies in me!” Use this as an incentive to holiness.

You can also use this verse with someone you know who is not yet a believer.

Every time there is another gun shooting, terrorist attack, or natural disaster, you will probably find your...

God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.

Ecclesiastes 7:29

God did not burden Adam with sin. God made him upright. Adam was the one who used his freedom to forfeit his righteousness.

If you are shaking your fist at God today perhaps it is because, somewhere deep inside, you feel that the problems in your life and the evils in the world came from the hand of God.

If that’s the case, you need to know that the Bible says something completely different. There is one Go...

But they [men] have gone in search of many schemes.

Ecclesiastes 7:29

Doing good and right was instinctive to Adam, but it was not inevitable. Adam’s righteousness was natural, but it was also changeable.

So, why did God allow the possibility of sin? If Adam and Eve had remained upright, the whole human race would have been born in paradise. We would all be living in fellowship with God and in harmony with each other in a world with no storms, no famines, no diseases, and no death.

God made ma...

God made man upright.

Ecclesiastes 7:29

The word that is translated “man” here is the word “adam,” like the name—Adam. “God made adam upright, but they have sought out many schemes” (7:29). So, there is a contrast here between Adam and men and women today.

What does it mean to be upright? Adam was good and right in himself. That is how God made him. Doing what is good and right came naturally to him. He had a bent toward what is good and right. It was what he wanted to do.

Adam loved G...

This alone I found...

Ecclesiastes 7:29

What is your explanation of evil? People will tell you that it is social, educational, or economic. But acts of great evil are committed by the rich as well as the poor. Evils abound under capitalism as well as under communism. Some of the most wicked acts in all human history have been conceived by the most brilliant minds.

To bring the question down to a more personal level: Why do families break up? How do people whose love brought them to the place of pledging their...

“This day is a day of good news.”

2 Kings 7:9

Among us today there will be four responses to the good news of Jesus Christ.

1. Some will be like the captain:
We hear the good news, and we refuse to believe it
Jesus gave us a picture of the last day. Many will come to share in a great feast. But outside will be people who heard the good news and refused to believe. If you hear His voice, do not harden your heart (Heb. 4:7).

2. Some will be like the...

Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned said to the man of God, “If the LORD himself should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” But he said, “You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.”

2 Kings 7:2

There is a big difference between the king and his captain. The king did not believe, but he was open to investigating. “Go and see” (7:14). But the captain’s mind and heart were closed. He refused to believe. “If the LORD himself should make windows in heaven, could this thing...

The king rose in the night and said…“The Syrians… know that we are hungry. Therefore they have gone out of the camp to hide… thinking, ‘When they come out of the city, we shall take them alive.’”

2 Kings 7:12

Just one day earlier, the king had heard the Word of God from the prophet Elisha: “Tomorrow… a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel” (7:1). But when the king hears the news that the Syrian camp has been abandoned, he doesn’t believe it. He thinks it is a trick.

God scattered the Syri...

Now there were four men who were lepers at the entrance to the gate. And they said to one another, "Why are we sitting here until we die?"

2 Kings 7:3

The city was under siege, and outside the gates were four lepers. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place! Behind them was a city where they were not wanted. In front of them was a vast enemy army.

So, they evaluated their options: “If we stay here, we die. Let’s go over to the enemy camp and surrender. They migh...

Afterward Ben-hadad king of Syria mustered his entire army and went up and besieged Samaria.

2 Kings 6:24

We take up our last story from the life of Elisha in Samaria. The tactic of a siege was to form a camp around the entire city. No one could go in, and no one could come out. So, it wasn’t long before food was in short supply.

And when supplies are low, prices go up. We are told: “a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels” (6:25). You’d have to be pretty desperate to want to...

“He prepared for them a great feast…

2 Kings 6:23

The Syrian army wanted to kill the king of Israel, and when they were delivered into his hand, he could have destroyed them, but instead, he prepared a feast for them. Don’t miss how this story points us to Jesus Christ and the mercy we find in Him.

The king of Syria sent “a great army” to arrest one man. That’s how it was in Gethsemane. Judas had “procured a band of soldiers” (John 18:3). That was several hundred men. And the chief priests sent “a...

When the Syrians came down against him, Elisha prayed to the LORD and said, “Please strike this people with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness in accordance with the prayer of Elisha.

2 Kings 6:18

You might be thinking, “I know that God is with me, but…” And you go back to all that is against you, and you end up as fearful as the servant before God opened his eyes. If that’s where you are, you may have been infected by an old faith-sapping heresy called deism.

Deism thinks of God being with u...

Then Elisha prayed and said, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the LORD opened the eyes of the young man… and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

2 Kings 6:17

The servant did not see the full picture. He saw what was against him, but he did not see Who was for him. Elisha wants him to have peace, so he prays, “O LORD, please open his eyes” (6:17).

Paul says that we “walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7). To walk by sight means...

The king of Syria… called his servants and said to them, “Will you not show me who of us is for the king of Israel?” And one of his servants said… “Elisha, the prophet… tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.”

2 Kings 6:11–12

God’s perfect knowledge is a wonderful comfort to His friends. But it infuriates His enemies. When the king of Syria heard that Elisha was revealing his plans, he said, “Go and see where he is, that I may send and seize him” (6:13).

There is a strange leap in t...

Once when the king of Syria was warring against Israel, he took counsel with his servants, saying, “At such and such a place shall be my camp.”

2 Kings 6:8

Here is another remarkable story from the life of Elisha, and this story is especially for all who are fearful. If you feel that darkness is closing in. If you are saying, “What am I going to do?” If you find it difficult to sleep at night, this story is for you.

The king of Syria wanted to ambush the king of Israel. You can almo...

Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, “See, my master has spared this Naaman the Syrian, in not accepting from his hand what he brought. As the LORD lives, I will run after him and get something from him.”

2 Kings 5:20

After being healed, Naaman wanted to show his gratitude. He brought a boatload of money, and so he said to Elisha, “Accept now a present from your servant” (5:15). But Elisha refused. And as Naaman headed home, Elisha’s servant, Gehazi, went after him.

He said, “My master has sent me to say, ‘...

But his servants came near and said to him, “My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?”

2 Kings 5:13

Naaman took offence at the command to go and wash. But did he hear the promise? Elisha said, “Wash, and be clean.”

Perhaps this is your position. There is something that God calls you to do and you don’t want to do it. Something God calls you to give up and you don’t want to give i...

“When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you Naaman my servant, that you may cure him of his leprosy.”

2 Kings 5:6

Things didn’t go so well when Naaman met with Israel’s king: “When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, ‘Am I God… that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy?’” (5:7).

Elisha heard what was happening, and he sent a message to the king: “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, that he may know...

Now the Syrians on one of their raids had carried off a little girl from the land of Israel, and she worked in the service of Naaman’s wife.

2 Kings 5:2

Naaman did not know God, but God brought someone who did know Him into Naaman’s life. She was a little girl, whose name we don’t even know.

This girl had learned in her early years about the God of the Bible. She knew that when God’s people sinned against Him, He sent prophets to call the people back to Himself...

Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favour; because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valour, but he was a leper.

2 Kings 5:1

The story of Naaman is another story from the life of Elisha. Naaman was known for his strength and courage in battle. With that reputation, he would have risen through the ranks until he became the “commander of the army.” Not many people reach these heights.

Naaman was “in hig...

God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak… to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised… even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

1 Corinthians 1:27-29

In the miracles of Elisha, we see two truths: God’s work continues despite our foolish mistakes, and God’s work advances despite our obvious inadequacies. These truths should have three effects in our lives.

1. They should humble us
Go...

A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing the man of God bread of the firstfruits.

2 Kings 4:42

A farmer arrived with food for the sons of the prophets. These students are living through a famine, and this farmer says that he has brought “the firstfruits” of his harvest.

The students hope he has a really big farm! But the cart is almost empty. There’s just one sack with only 20 loaves of bread and some grain. It must have been a massive disappointment.

Elisha said to his servant Gehazi, “Give to the men, tha...

They cried out, “O man of God, there is death in the pot!” ... He said, “Then bring flour.” And he threw it into the pot… And there was no harm in the pot.

2 Kings 4:40–41

How can God’s work continue when His people make so many mistakes? God protects us from the worst effects of our own folly. How does He do this? Here are two ways.

1. Sometimes God protects us by His direct intervention
Flour does not neutralise poison. What happened here is like when Moses put a log into the b...

One of them… found a wild vine and gathered from it his lap full of wild gourds, and came and cut them up into the pot of stew, not knowing what they were.

2 Kings 4:39

The Bible is full of foolish mistakes: James and John wanting to call down fire on a Samaritan village. Peter drawing his sword in the Garden of Gethsemane. The disciples rebuking little children for coming to Jesus.

The amazing thing is that God’s work continued despite these mistakes. And our lives have been filled with foolish mistakes as w...

As the sons of the prophets were sitting before [Elisha], he said to his servant, “Set on the large pot, and boil stew for the sons of the prophets.”

2 Kings 4:38

We are introduced here to a group of men known as “the sons of the prophets.” They lived in community and gave themselves to study and prayer. They brought the Word of God to the people.

It’s likely that Elisha was there often, teaching, mentoring, exhorting them to walk with God. In this time of famine, Elisha wanted them to enjoy a good mea...