The point is, that it is an argument of ungodliness when men walk after their own lusts. The apostle, applying the prophecy of Enoch against ungodly men, bringeth this as a part of the charge, that they ' walk after their own lusts/ I shall inquire : —
1. What lusts are?
2. What it is to walk after their own lusts ?
3. Prove it to be a note of ungodliness.
First, What lusts are ? This I have answered elsewhere ; see my commentary on James i. 14. For the present, let it suffice to note, that lust is either original or actual,
1. It signifieth our original proneness to all that is evil, James i. 14.
2. Actual lust, so it signifieth any evil motion of the heart that swerveth from the law of God, more especially our inordinate desires and inclinations to pleasures, honours, or profit. Sometimes they are called ' fleshly lusts,' 1 Peter ii. 11, as carrying us out to the satisfaction of our bodily and brutish appetites ; sometimes ' worldly lusts,' Titus ii. 12, because they are stirred by worldly objects. Lusts are the fever of the soul, unnatural heats, transgressing the laws of reason and bounds of religion.
Secondly, What doth this walking imply ? It is elsewhere expressed by * serving divers lusts and pleasures,' Titus iii. 3, and by ' fulfilling the desires of the flesh and the mind,' Eph. ii. 3. It noteth : —
1. A willing subjection to lust as a law or as a master The one is implied in ' walking after our lusts,' the other in ' serving our lusts,' when men do as they please, and let their sensual heart give law to the whole man. A child of God may be overcome by his lusts, but he doth not walk after them, or serve them ; he may be foiled, but he doth not give over the combat, and is still resisting, striving, praying, calling in the help of the Spirit ; his soul suffereth a rape by lust, there is not a plenary consent on his part.
2. Customary practice and observance. Walking is a progressive motion, and so implieth men's course and the tenor of their lives. A cliild of God his walking is in the Spirit, Gal. v. 16, and doth not fulfil the lusts of the flesh ; but it is a wicked man's work and employ- ment.
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3. A fond indulgence ; tliey are so far from tliwarting lusts, that they provide, contrive for thera : Rom. xiii. 14, ' Make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.' They nourish their hearts, fondle lust, and make a wanton of it ; they do not crucify it, and setup a course of mortification against it.
Thirdly, This is a note of unregeneracy, or a state of ungodliness. The apostle describeth the natural state by this ' serving,' Titus iii. 3 ; and this ' fulfilling,' Eph. ii. 3 ; and when tlie Holy Ghost doth deride the pride and folly of young men in giving themselves up to a course of lust and vanity, he saith, ' Go, walk in the way of thine own heart,' Eccles. xi, 9 ; and the negative or privative work of regeneration is called a ' putting off the old man with his deceitful lusts,' Eph. iv. 22, and it standeth with good reason : —
1. Because they that walk after their lusts seek to cherish that which Christ came to destroy, and so go about to defeat the Redeemei", and to hinder him from obtaining his purpose in their hearts. Christ came ' to destroy the works of the devil,' 1 John iii. 8, 'iva \var]^ to untie and loosen those cords of vanity wherewith Satan hath bound us. The works of the devil are lusts, which are of his inspiring and cherishing : John viii.'M, ' Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father 3"e will do.' Now when Christ cometh to loose these cords, carnal men tie tliem the faster, and therefore certainly are to be reckoned to the devil, and not unto God. Every degree of service done to Satan is an act of treason and disloyalty to Christ ; therefore, when men make it their work to fulfil their lust, they renounce all allegiance to Christ.
2. They that walk after their lusts have not taken the rule of the new creature upon them. The new man hath another master and another rule ; the renewed soul is not governed by lust, but by the law of God, Gal. vi. 16. If we have not changed our rule, it is a sign we have not changed our master.
3. They that walk after their lusts never felt the power of grace, for * the grace of God teacheth us to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts,' Titus ii. 11, 12. How doth it teach us ? I answer — (1.) Partly by diversion, by acquainting us with better things in Christ : Rom. xiii. 14, ' Put ye on the Lord Jesus, and make not provision for the lusts of the flesh.' Love cannot lie idle in the soul, the mind of man must have some oblectation and delight ; either love runneth out in lust or in respects to God, either to heavenly or worldly things. When we only savour the things of the flesh, it is a sign we never tasted how sweet God is in Christ. (2.) Partly by way of help and supply ; it planteth opposite principles, and makes use of an oi)posite power ; it plants opposite principles, a new nature that hath new desires and de- lights, 2 Peter i. 4, and maketh use of an opposite power, which is the Spirit of God, Rom. viii. 13. (3.) Partly by way of argument. Grace out-pleadeth lust ; it urgeth the unsuitableness of it to our con- dition. See Rom. xiii. 13 ; 1 Peter iv. 3, i. 14; Rom. vi. 2. To our vows ; baptism implieth a renunciation of sins, 1 Peter iii. 21. It is an answer to God's demands : Credis ? — Credo. Ahrenuncias f — Ah- renuncio. Spondes ? — Spondeo. Therefore he that liveth under the full power of lust hath forgotten his baptismal vows, 2 Peter i. 8, * for- gotten that he was purged from his old sins.' It pleadeth also the ua-