Open your Bibles with me to 1
John, chapter 2. 1 John, chapter 2. Bill and Fran's son, Kevin, is
going to have a knee replacement tomorrow, and she requested prayer
for him. And so I told her I'd mention
him. And her son, Kevin, lives up
in Almonte. And it's glad Seth got through
his surgery okay. If that'd been me, I'd been laid
up for months. You'd be back on the ball in
two weeks. That's what's good about being
young. You heal quick, get over things quick. Man, you get, not
get old, just get a little age on you. Don't happen this quick. Don't happen this quick. All
right, I want to start reading here in verse 12 and read down
through verse 17 and hopefully the Lord made me say a few things
about it. First John 2 12. I write unto you little children
because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. I write
unto you fathers because you have known him that is from the
beginning. I write unto you young men because
you have overcome the wicked one I write unto you, little
children, because you have known the Father. I have written unto
you, fathers, because you have known Him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young
men, because you are strong, and the Word of God abideth in
you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. Love not the world,
neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the
world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is
in the world the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes,
and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the
world. And the world passes away, and the lust thereof, but he
that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Here with me again in
John chapter 2. It says there in verse 15, John
chapter 2 and verse 15, Love not the world, And neither the
things in the world, if any man love the world, the love of the
Father is not in him. For all that is in the world,
the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of
life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world
passeth away, and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of
God abideth forever. You know, this John talks about
love an awful lot, speaks about love. And he makes a distinction
here again in love. What real love is, as it pertains
to God, and what it doesn't, if it doesn't know God. And you
know, he talked about our fellowship with the Father and with the
Son, that we're walking in the light. And we have an advocate
with the Father. We know God by knowing that His
commandments, knowing His Word. And then He talked about all
these believers here. He called them children, just
children. Children because they believed
His Gospel. Children because He loved them.
Maybe they were His children in the faith. And then He talked
to the young men because they were very strong. Strong in the
Gospel, strong in the faith, strong in the Word. And then
he talked about the fathers, the older people, the people
that had been in the gospel for a while, people who know him
that was from the beginning, the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
And then he gives several reasons why we, as God's people, should
not love the world. And this is the first reason.
To love the world is inconsistent with the love of God. You cannot
love the world and love God at the same time. It's an impossibility. To love God and love the world,
it's utterly impossible. You can't do both. You know,
that's what our Lord Jesus Christ said. He says, no man can serve
two masters. And that's why he says, God forbid
that we should glory save only in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And if a man's affections and
interests are set upon this world, he doesn't have the love of God
in him. That's what John is saying. He deals with this over and over
and over. This is what the love of God is. This is what it isn't.
This is what it is to know God. This is what it isn't. And all
these contrasts that he does. And that's why Paul wrote to
Timothy, he said, the foundation of God stand assured. The Lord
knows them that are his. He knows who they are. But I'll
tell you who we do love. I know this when we're talking
about these things. And let me mention what the world
is. What the world is. The world is the world that doesn't
love God, doesn't know God, is not interested in God, just lives
for this world and all it can get. I heard an old black preacher
preach one time. He said, get all you can, can
all you get, and then set on the can. So that's what he, you
know, that's what people do. That's what he says. People,
the world is out there. They're not interested in God.
They're just interested in getting and attaining and making and
getting things and just obtaining more and more and more in a thousand
ways. Whether it's education, whether
it's money, whether it's homes, whether it's prestige, whether
it's a position, whether whatever it may be, John says that's the
people out there that's not interested in God. They're not interested
in knowing about God. They live as if they get up every
morning and go about their lives past places where people worship,
past places where the gospel is preached and never enters
their mind that I need to stop and listen, never enters their
mind. My God, a bunch of family that way. You've got family that
way. And John says, now we're not to be that way. If you love
God, he says, if you love God, then you can't love the world.
You can't do that. But I tell you who we do love.
We love our relatives. We love our relatives. I love
my brother, love my mother-in-law, love my sister, love my kids,
love my grandkids, love my great-grandkids. I love Shirley's family. We love
our relatives. We love our friends that's out
in the world. We've all got lots of friends
that I know. And we love and pity all the
people of the world. And oh my, because we understand
what an awful place they're in. A man can live without Christ,
but he don't want to die without Christ. And you know, we love
the blessings that God gives us. We love the fellowship that
God gives us. And we love the good things that
God gives us in this world. We understand where they come
from. And he enables us to enjoy what he's given us in this world.
But we do not love the world. We don't do it. We don't love
the world or the things of the world. We love God and we love
Christ. We claim to have Christ in us.
We don't take satisfaction. We don't take contentment in
the things of the world. And we don't make idols out of
them. We don't make idols out of material things. We don't
make idols out of wealth. We don't make idols out of homes.
We don't make idols out of children. Don't make idols out of our attainments
in this world. We don't make idols out of our
education. We don't make idols out of anything that we've ever
attained or ever will attain. And the world does. Oh, what we prefer is heavenly
things, spiritual things, God to speak to us in His Word. You
see, a believer's citizenship and interest is in the kingdom
of God, and this kingdom is not of this world. That's why He
says, when they went out, if they had had opportunity, they
might have returned again. But they confessed that when
they went out, they were strangers in pilgrims. And here they have
no consignion city. And what are they looking for?
They're looking for a city whose builder and maker is God. That's
what we're looking for. That's what we're looking for.
Oh my! Our true family, believers' true
family is the family of God. And our Lord said here, the fashion
of this world will pass away. And we as believers, we claim
to have Christ in us. We prefer absolutely nothing
or no one in this world. more than Christ. He is our all
in all. Our Lord Jesus said, what man
is it that don't count the cost if he's going to build a house?
What man is it that don't count the cost if he's going to go
to war? And that's what it amounts to, beloved. God brought us to
the place where we count the cost. We have found out that
everything that we can have in this world is zero compared to
what we have in Christ. Count the cost. We've counted
the cost. And look what he says here, he
says, for all that's in the world, verse 16, the lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, this is not of
the Father. The Father don't bring these things to us. The
Father don't cause these things to us. The Father's not responsible
for these things that go on in us. God doesn't do that to us. God has ordained that we in this
world, but we're not of it. What God does is He called us
from our worldly lust and sin. And I tell you, the world, if
it could, would usurp our affection. Look over in Colossians 3. Keep
John and look in Colossians 3. Right back to your left a little
ways. In Colossians 3. And James says to be a friend
of the world is to be an enemy of God. The world is the starkest,
starkest unfaithfulness to God. We're not interested in what
the world can do for us or anything about it. Look what he said here
in Colossians 3.1. If you then be risen with Christ,
if you say you've been quickened together with Christ, seek those
things which are above, where Christ sits on the right hand
of God. Set your affection, not affections,
it's singular. Set your affection on things
above, not on things of the earth. For you are dead, and your life
is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, our life, shall
appear. Did you notice it said our life?
Not the most important thing in our life. Not one of the most
greatest things in our life. He is our life. We don't have
no life without Him. And look what it goes on to say
now. he appears, shall we appear also with him in glory. And he
says, since we have this relationship with Christ mortified, therefore
the members which are upon the earth, that's your members of
your body, your mind, your eyes, your affections, your heart,
your hands, all your body, mortify them. You know what that means?
To make them dead, to make them dead, treat them like they're
dead. And he says, and this is the things you do, fornication,
uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness.
That's just idolatry. For which things sake the wrath
of God comes on the children of disobedience. That's what
they are. In the time which ye also walked
sometime and lived in them when you walked in them. He said,
makes a distinction here. So let's go back over here and
look at these things, these three things that's in the world. Now
I'm gonna deal with them just a little different. He says there,
for love not the world, verse 15, the things in the world,
if any man love the world, the love of the Father's not in him.
He just makes that, if you love the world, you don't love the
Father. If you love the Father, you don't love the world. For
all that's in the world, all that's in the world is the lust
of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. What's
the lust of the flesh? That's the carnal, that's the
carnal person. That's the person, the depraved
person. And you know what depravity is?
Depravity, most people think, is somebody that's really, really
bad. Now, there's some really bad
people in this world. But depravity, the carnal nature,
all that means is that you're as bad off in the sight of God
as you can. You may not be as bad as you
ought to be. Or as you want to be. But still yet, you're as
bad off in the sight of God as the worst person you could possibly
ever meet. You're as bad off in God's sight.
And so when God looks at you and you're living in your carnal
nature, or me and we's in our carnal nature, living according
to this body and what it desired and what it wanted and what it
felt like it needed, we gave in to that. We lived according
to that fallen nature. We went after the things that
our fallen nature wanted. That's the lust of the flesh.
That's the lust of the flesh. And I tell you what, and it's
just, you know, materialism. You hear people talk about all
things. I've got to get this thing. I've got to get that thing.
What things? That's what people's interested in, things. But what
about Christ and what about Him and His relationship? And there's
two people. I want to show you two people
in the scripture that deals with worldliness. Two people. And
show you what worldliness is in light of these things. Lust
of the eyes and the pride of life. Look in Genesis 3.6 with
me. Genesis 3. No, start in Genesis
3 and verse 1. Here's your worldly person. Lust
of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. here's
your worldly person right here and she was fresh out of the
you know she was still in the garden hadn't been expelled from
the garden yet and so worldliness has to do with the spirit in
which you relate to things if you know God says that nothing's
unclean of itself. And when I'm out around about
in the world, nobody knows I'm a preacher. Nobody knows I'm
a Christian. I don't wear no crosses on myself.
I don't carry my Bible with me everywhere I go. I don't tell
everybody that I meet that I'm a Christian. Would you like to
know the Lord Jesus Christ? Would you like to go to heaven?
I don't ask them those kinds of questions. But when I get
an opportunity to say something, I'll say something hopefully
that honors God. So you see, worldliness has something
to do with the heart and the spirit. And so look what happened
here in Genesis 3. Verse one, now the serpent was
more subtle, more crafty than any beast of the field which
the Lord God had made. God made Satan, God made the
serpent here. And he said unto the woman, Evidently
he could talk. And he said unto the woman, yea,
hath God said, ye shall eat of every tree of the garden. Did
God say you can't eat of every tree of the garden? First thing
he wanted to do was cause her to start thinking, you know.
And God says you can't eat any of the fruit of the trees. And
the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the
trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in
the midst of the garden. God hath said, you shall not
eat it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. And this is
the first thing, this is the first lie the devil told the
human race. You shall not die. Oh no, you're
not going to die. You're going to live forever.
You're a good person. And look what he goes on to say.
For God doeth know that in the day that you eat thereof, you
know what's going to happen? Your eyes are going to be open.
You'll be as God's, knowing good and evil. He started with, first
of all, with their fallen nature, dealing with this the day you
eat thereof. Then it starts with the eyes, the lust of the eyes,
the pride of life. And then look what you, with
the lust of the flesh, then look what you shall be as God, the
pride of life. knowing good and evil. Now listen, here's exactly
what happened. When the woman saw that the tree
was good for food, that's the lust of the flesh. Boy, what
I need for my body. It's going to be good for me.
Oh, that'll taste so good. I'll enjoy that so much. That'll
just satisfy me like nothing ever could. And then she said
it was pleasant to the eyes. That's the lust of the eyes.
Oh, that looks so good. That looks so wonderful. I've
never seen anything so pretty. I just got to have that. And
then look what happened. And then here's the pride of
life. And a tree to be desired to make one wise. Oh my, I'm
going to be somebody. I'm going to be one of the wisest
people. You know, people are going to look at me and say,
what a fine person. Look what a wise person she is.
Look how strong she is. And look what happened. She took
the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband
with her, and he did eat. And look what happened. This
is the difference. They knew God, fellowship with
God, but right then and there. They lost that fellowship with
God. And the eyes of them both were open. Open to what? They was open before when she
looked on that tree. But now, her eyes were open and they were
naked. That's the way God sees the human
race. He sees us like we are, not like
we think we are or hope to be. And they sewed fig leaves together
and made themselves aprons to cover their nakedness. And oh
my. So you see, there she is, the
lust of the flesh, and all the lust of the flesh and all, and
then the lust of the eyes. Let me tell you something about
the lust of the eyes. The lust of the eyes, people think, and
of course it is when you see something and you want it. But
also it means this, that you want people to look at you. You
love to put on an appearance. You love to be something you're
not. You love to put on airs. You know the lust of the eyes
is, is that you want people to look at you. and you look good
in their eyes. Somebody be on the verge of bankruptcy
and they'll act like, buddy, they just got all kinds of money
and going in this world and they got to put on this appearance.
They're worried more about their appearance in other people's
eyes than they are about anything else. What about in the appearance
of God's eyes? Of how God sees us? We may appear,
you know, people get together. I know fellas that run around
with some awful big shots. Run around with people that have
great big positions in this world. And they're interested in their
appearance. They're interested in the kind of cars they drive.
Gotta have the best car. You gotta have a big car. You
gotta have all these things. And the reason they do that is
that when people say, Boy, they're successful, ain't they? And that's
what he says. The lust of the eyes is that
you want people to see you and view you. But don't care about
how God sees them and how God views them. You can have on a
$10,000 suit, and I tell you, God, as far as God's concerned,
it ain't worth a dime. Now that's right. I know, and that's what I'm,
that's what this, what's exactly what John said. If you love God,
there's no way in the world that you could be so interested in
other people, how they, you appear to other people. And oh, and
then the pride of life. You know, talk about that lust
of the eyes. Old Jacob, I mean, Lot looked
out and he saw the well-watered plains, you know, and he said,
that's where I want to go. And he ended up in Sodom. Ended
up in Sodom. ended up in Sodom. I tell you
what, you see something out there and you say, boy, folks will
really think I've arrived. They thought old Lot had arrived.
His wife said, oh, honey, this is the best place we could have
ever moved. Oh, what a wonderful house we got. Our kids are going
to get to go to the best schools. We got plenty of jobs and got
plenty of oil and we got it made. And God had to drag him out of
Sodom. He wanted an appearance. And
then there's the pride of life. You know, the pride of life is
self-glorification. Self-glorification. The pride
of life is self-glorification. Ambition, seeking honor, seeking
worldly fame. Like the Pharisees, they sought
the chiefest place in the synagogues and the highest seats in the
synagogue. And seek the honor and praise of men and not the
honor and praise of God. Look in John 5.44. Look what our Lord said about
this. John 5.44. Proud of what you're not. Proud
of what you do. That's the pride of life. And you know, God says six things
I hate, yea, seven is abomination. You know what the first thing
is? The first thing that God hates. He says six things I hate,
yea, seven are an abomination. You know what the first one is?
Pride. A proud look. A proud look. And oh, look what he said here
in John 5, 44. How can you believe which receive
honor one of another? Brag on one of another. Honor
one of another. Huh? And listen to this, and
seek not the honor that cometh from God only. Oh, to seek one
another's honor and not seek the honor. How can you believe
if you're going around here seeking one another and you don't seek
God's honor, huh? Oh, my. Well, the third reason
why we're not to love the world. I gave you two reasons. First
of all, because the love of the Father is not in us. It cannot,
it's inconsistent with the love of God. Second one is the three
definitions of the world. And the third reason we're not
to love the world, look what it says in verse 17. And all
these things is not of the Father. God don't have nothing to do,
that's us. But it's of the world. And the world passes away and
the lust thereof, oh my. But he that doeth the will of
God abideth forever. You know why we're not to love
the world? because everything in this world is going to pass
away. Presidents die, kings die, kingdoms come and kingdoms go.
Men will have a crown one day and be a pauper the next. This
world is passing away. Anything, anything that you can
touch, taste, and handle in this world, you're going to leave
it behind. Any status you acclaim, any wealth you accumulate, any
power you accumulate, any homes you accumulate, anything that
you accumulate in this world, you're gonna walk off one of
these days and leave it every bit behind. It's like that rich
fool, he said, oh, I, I, I, soul, he said, listen, I've got so
much stuff, I'm gonna have to tear down my barns and build
great biggins. And he started filling them barns
up. Filled them up, filled them up, filled them up. Then he said,
soul, take your ease down, be merry. Take it easy now. You got everything. You'll have
to do another thing the rest of your life. God said, you fool. Your soul is required of you
tonight. Listen. Everything in this world
is temporary and is changing constantly. Things are constantly
changing. Things is always in an uproar
and then calm down, uproar and calm down. And oh, listen, this
goes and people go crazy over that and then this don't happen
and then people go crazy over that. This election, people's
lost their minds over the election. Just lost their minds. Did you
lose yours? I didn't. I didn't lose it before
and I didn't lose it after. I'm not gonna lose it. Oh, listen,
that's just, that's temporary. It's temporary if God lets me
live. It's just temporary. Everything's temporary. Oh, listen. And the lust thereof,
the world and the lust thereof, all the things that this world
is ever lusted after and attained to, that which men covets, that
which men's desires, that which captivates and desires of the
carnal mind and flesh in this world, gonna pass away. That
which is most precious, that which is most precious, that
which is most... We got women in here tonight
that's lost their children. That which is most precious,
that which is most important, that which is most valuable in
this world is marked, God said, for destruction. And the fourth
reason why we don't love the world and we love the Father
Look what he says in verse 17, but he that doeth the will of
God, look what happens to him. He abides forever. The world's going to pass away
and everything about it, but who's going to abide forever?
He that doeth the will of God. What is the will of God? That
you have Christ, that you seek Christ, believe on His Son, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who seek God, those who
make it their lifelong pursuit after God seeks them to seek
Him, to seek His kingdom, to seek His righteousness, these
people shall abide forever. Our spiritual family, those that's
in the family of God, the family of Christ, they will never die.
Never decay. Our heavenly home will never
decay. Our new body will never grow
old. We're going to that place where
we'll never ever grow old. What a wonderful thing that'll
be with this old body. We don't have to deal with it
anymore. No more troubles. No more heartaches. That's what he says. This new
body will never grow old. The glory of Christ will never
fade away. And you know what? David said,
I'll be satisfied when I awake in your likeness. And we'll not
be satisfied till that happens. And you know our Lord Jesus Christ.
I hope I don't know how long I'm taking. About 30 minutes,
what I've had you so far. Our Lord was the very opposite
of what the world is. The very opposite of what the
world was. He was born poor. Instead of being born in a hospital
or born in somebody's home, he was born in a stable, in a stable,
in a barn, in a stable. Instead of having a crib, he
was laid in a manger. He grew up in a poor man's house,
grew up poor, and he worked as a carpenter, as a laboring man,
until he entered his ministry. And he said, foxes have holes,
birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath nowhere
to lay his head. He made himself of no reputation. And when he came into Jerusalem
as a king, you know how he came in there as a king? Not riding
a big white horse and a crown on his head. He'd come meek and
lowly, riding on a colt, the foal of an ass. And you know
what he says about his people? This is the opposite of the way
the world is. He says, blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are the meek. Blessed
are they that mourn. We're just the opposite of that.
Instead of us worried about our worldly birth, we're interested
in our new birth. Instead of worrying about what's
gonna happen in this world, I'm interested in the kingdom of
God right here and right now. Ain't you? Amen. I hope that's a blessing. Our Father, oh, our Father, the
blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed Holy Name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, our Savior. Oh, what a joy it's been here
to meet with the children of God. Lord, when we miss a day,
it just seems like forever. But Lord, we're so thankful that
you allowed us this time. What a privilege, what a blessing
to be numbered among the living. to be with the redeemed who say
so. No wonder Davis said, bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all
that is within me. Bless the Lord, oh my soul. And
Lord, our souls bless you tonight. God, please work in the hearts
of your dear people here. Strengthen them, encourage them,
bless them. We pray for Fran's son, Kevin. Lord, please have mercy on him
tomorrow, and we pray for Seth, that you would have him heal
quickly, and pray for Pam, and pray for Peggy, pray for others
among us who are weak, sickly, afflicted, worried, troubled,
and tried. God bless them, strengthen them,
encourage them, and save by your grace, in Christ's name, amen.