Flee then Pursue

"To hunger and thirst after righteousness is when nothing in the world can fascinate us so much as being near God." (Smith Wigglesworth). Thank you for coming to read the Word with us today. Without holiness we will not see God. Our lesson will reveal some steps we must take to increase our holiness. Ask the Holy Spirit to speak and give you revelation as you read. Eric

"You must everyday make higher ground. You must deny yourself to make progress with God. You must refuse everything that is not pure and holy. God wants you pure in heart. He wants you to have an intense desire after holiness..." (Smith Wigglesworth).

I doubt that any of us would disagree with the fact that there is a lot of evil in our world today. We see and hear of man's inhumanity to man daily. And yet, we see in the Scriptures man's wickedness is nothing new.

The Word of God discloses the universal corruption of mankind before and after the flood. Genesis 6:5 (NIV) reveals, "The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time." (pre flood). 'Inclination' yester is defined as: what is formed, frame, mind and imagination. Man's inclination is the inward bent of the heart and mind that directs conduct. We also read the Lord's words in Genesis 8:21c (NASB)..."I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing as I have done." (post flood).

Mankind has a moral inclination to evil. Man's inborn sin nature must be regenerated! Is it possible? If not, none of us would be here. Noah found grace (favor) in the sight of the Lord. (Genesis 6:8). "Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God" (Genesis 6:9). Noah chose to make holy living the priority of his life.

Let's look at David's instructions to Solomon in 1 Chronicles 28:9 (NLT), "And Solomon, my son, learn to know the God of your ancestors intimately. Worship and serve him with your whole heart and a willing mind. For the LORD sees every heart and knows every plan and thought. If you seek him, you will find him. But if you forsake him, he will reject you forever." King David, who was called a man after God's heart, encouraged his son to know God intimately and to worship and serve Him willingly with his whole heart. He assured Solomon that God is accessible and desires a relationship with those who seek Him. God can preserve a righteous inclination. David prayed in 1 Chronicles 29:18, "Keep this desire and thought in the hearts of Your people forever. God understands our frailty and will pour His divine compassion on us. With the help of the Lord and the Holy Spirit, we can choose to surrender our heart and mind to God. That leads us to our primary focus for this blog post.

God has done everything possible, on His end, in order for us to live a holy righteous life in wonderful fellowship with Himself. Recognizing the reality of our old sin nature (our flesh) in us, acknowledging we have an enemy whose entire intent is to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10), and knowing out heart's desire to live in a right relationship with God - we realize we live on a battleground.

Acting in accordance to His loving nature, God gives us instruction on what we need to do to win the battle, to be successful in living a righteous life and pleasing Him.

2 Timothy 2:22 (BSB), "Flee from youthful passions (lusts) and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, together with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart." 'Flee' means: to run from, avoid by flight, escape or to shun. "When we flee we make a swift departure for safety, avoidance or deliverance from moral evil." (Bible Hub topical Lexicon.) Faith in Action (NSFLB) admonishes us to "Strictly avoid any fleshly indulgence and do not succumb to carnal desires. Our victory often begins when we decide to separate ourselves from those things which tempt us.” To 'pursue,' dioke, in the Greek. means: "to aggressively chase to catch a prize; pursue with all haste, to seek after eagerly and to earnestly endeavor to acquire." (HELPS Word-studies).

What are we instructed to pursue? Righteousness! Righteousness is God's judicial approval or what is deemed right by the Lord. This includes: integrity, virtue, purity of life, uprightness, correctness in thinking, feeling and acting. Pursue: 'faith': belief, trust and confidence in God; 'love': agape - a holy self-giving disposition that originates in God, divine love, unconditional self-sacrificial love of God; 'peace': quietness, wholeness, tranquility and harmony. Jesus provides an inward calm which is immune to external turmoil. (John 14:27). He also gives us a peace which surpasses all understanding and will guard our hearts and minds. (Philippians 4:7).

Psalm 24:3 and 4 (NKJV) reveals, “Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may stand in His holy place? 4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, Nor sworn deceitfully. A 'pure' heart is one that is free from the contaminating influences of sin.

Did you notice, in 2 Timothy 2:22 that we are to pursue these godly attributes with other believers who 'call on the Lord with a pure (sincere, not false) heart'?

We are not expected to fight this battle alone. We are admonished to bear one another's burdens. (Galatians 6:2). Then, we read in Philippians 2:3 and 4, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than your selves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests but also to the interest of others."

Our starting point for ourselves is to make a choice to not allow sin or unrighteousness to rule in our lives. Then, we must choose to aggressively, earnestly pursue righteousness. Romans 6:12 and 13 (NLT) expresses this well, "Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. 13 Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God." Then, we read in verse 16 (BSB), " Do you not know that when you offer yourselves as obedient slaves, you are slaves to the one you obey, whether you are slaves to sin leading to death, or to obedience leading to righteousness?" When you are a 'slave' "properly you are someone who belongs to another, a bond-slave, without any ownership rights of your own. (HELPS Word-studies). Your moral character will be determined by the master you choose to serve.

When we seriously consider this truth - it comes down to whether we choose to be a slave to and live under the evil one's authority, whose end is death and destruction, or to willingly live under Christ's authority as His devoted follower. "Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor." (Proverbs 21:21 NIV).

What things are we instructed to flee?

Sexual Immorality: 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 (NIV), "Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. 19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies."

Idolatry: 1 Corinthians 10:14 (NIV), " Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry." Scripture identifies idolatry primarily as a misplaced affection of the heart, manifesting whenever a created thing is exalted to God's place; the worship of false gods.

Desires of the flesh: 1 Peter 2:11 (BSB), "Beloved, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles to abstain (flee) from the desires of the flesh which war against your soul.”

Every form of evil: 1 Thessalonians 5:22 (BSB), "Abstain (flee) from every form (appearance, kind) of evil."

In order for us to be successful and accomplish the goal of fleeing, escaping or avoiding the abhorrent things we encounter, we must also submit to God and His will and resist the devil.

Here are some ways we are to submit to or pursue God:

James 4:7 (NIV) instructs us to "submit yourselves, then to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." To 'submit' we obey or be subject to. So, when we submit to God, we surrender to His divine authority. To 'resist the devil' we oppose or withstand him completely. We refuse to be moved by his wiles, strategies and deception. In fact, we set ourselves against him. As we resist him and stand firm in our faith, he will flee (run away, to escape) from us! Don't let him bully you! We have been given the power to resist him.

Here are some ways we submit to and pursue God.

Guard our hearts: Proverbs 4:23 (BSB) instructs, "Guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flow springs of life."

Walk by the Spirit: Galatians 5:16 and 17 (NIV), "So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want." 'Walk' means to live or follow. So we live by or follow the Spirit.

Put on Christ: Romans 13:14 (ESV), "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires."

Bring every thought into the captivity of Christ: 2 Corinthians 10:4 and 5 (ESV), " For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,"

Put God first in all our pursuits: Matthew 6:33 (ESV), "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." Matthew 5:6 (NIV), "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."

One of the biggest factors in our making these choices is our determination of who or what we love more . Do we love God, the devil with his guilty pleasures or ourselves and our selfish desires? We need to choose well.

"What is my task? First or all, my task is to be pleasing to Christ. To be empty of self and be filled with Himself. To be filled with the Holy Spirit, is to be led by the Holy Spirit." (Aimee Semple McPherson),

Always remember, with every temptation that comes, God provides a way of escape. (1 Corinthians 10:13). It is our choice whether or not we use it.

Titus 2:11 and 12 (ESV) reveals, "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people 'training' us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age." It is a process.

With the help of the Holy Spirit, we must continue to pursue and submit to God and flee from the clutches of sin and our own worldly desires, so that we may be transformed more into His image every day.

Help us Lord.

Scriptures were taken from the:

NIV New International Version

NASB New American Standard Bible

BSB Berean Standard Bible

NSFLB New Spirit Filled Life Bible

NLT New Living Translation

NKJV New King James Version

ESV English Standard Version