It is not that I did choose thee,
Lord, O Lord, that could not be. Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Niver. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at 945 a.m. Wednesday
services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now, here's our pastor, Todd Nibert. I want to speak on the
subject of worldliness. What is worldliness? James said in James chapter four,
verse four, you adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that
the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever, therefore, will be
a friend of the world is the enemy of God." Now I want you
to think of the strength of that language. Friendship with the
world. What is friendship? What is a
friend? A friend speaks of mutual love
between two people. Abraham was called the friend
of God. God saw Abraham as His friend,
and Abraham saw God as His friend. It is a mutual love. And when there's friendship with
the world, there is a mutual love between an individual and
the world. That individual loves the world,
and the world loves that individual. Friendship with the world, James
says, enmity with God. Whosoever will be a friend of
the world is God's enemy. Now, what is meant by the world? Whosoever will be a friend of
the world is God's enemy. What does James mean by the world? If we can understand what He
means by the word world, we can understand something about what
worldliness means. In 1 John 2, verse 15, John says,
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. John is saying the same thing, isn't he? 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. Now, what is meant by the world
that we're condemned if we're a friend of it? We become the
enemy of God if we're the friend of it? God says don't love the
world. If you love the world, the love
of the Father is not in you. What is meant by the world or
worldliness? Now, generally, when people think
of a worldly person, They think of someone who's a mover and
shaker in society, somebody who's given to the world, someone who's
seeking all they can get out of the world. They want to live
in big homes and drive nice cars and be around influential people,
jet-setters, worldly people. But did you know that you can
Be very religious and be a fundamentalist and dress in a religious way
that makes you different from what people would consider worldly
people and be just as worldly, if not more so. Worldliness is
not what most people think it to be. Now, you'll notice that
John says, all that's of the world, the lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. Now, this is what
is meant by the world. The lust of the flesh, the lust
of the eyes, and the pride of life. Now, what is the lust of
the flesh? Well, the word lust is desire
or craving. The lust of the flesh is the
desire and cravings of fallen human nature. Now, understand
that when Adam ate of the fruit, He was changed. He did have an
innocent nature, but as soon as he ate of the fruit, he had
a fallen nature, a sinful nature. Now that's expressed in the fact
that before he ate of the fruit, both he and Eve were naked and
they were not ashamed. They didn't have sinful desires
and perverted thoughts. They had innocent, righteous
natures. And it wouldn't be an issue with
them, but as soon as the fall took place, the Scripture points
out that they both knew that they were naked. They had all
the guilt associated with this fallen nature. Now, the lust
of the flesh, it may be the lust or the desire for sexual sin
or substance abuse, or it can be the lust for a whole lot of
other things that are in this world, for popularity and power
and praise and so on. The lust of the flesh is the
desire, the cravings of fallen human nature that is against
God. What about the lust of the eyes?
The lust of the eyes is being more concerned about what men
see than what God sees. It's being controlled by the
fear of man. It's fearing man more than God. It's trying to put on an appearance
to impress others. It's being popular with this
world. The lust of the flesh is the
lust for the world's pleasure. The lust of the eyes is the lust
for the world's popularity. for the world to think well of
me, to where I'm more concerned about what men think than I am
what God thinks. That's the lust of the eyes.
And then there is the pride of life. Pride. Giving myself credit where credit
is not due. Robbing the Lord God of the credit
that's only due His holy name. It's a desire for power. It's
a desire for control. What it is, basically, is just
a desire for control. Now, you think about this. The
lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life.
I can contemporize those statements by calling it pleasure, popularity
and power. Those are the three things that
men lust after and desire to get from this world. Pleasure,
popularity, and power. Now, somebody once said, I like
this, Paul said, the love of money
is the root of all evil. The love of money is the root
of all evil. You see, it's not so much money
that people worship, but I think through money, I can get all
the pleasure I want, or I can have all the popularity I want,
or what power that would bring me in this world if I just have
money. That's why the love of money
is the root of all evil. But somebody recently said this.
I thought this was such a good statement. People spend money
they don't have to buy things they don't need, to impress people
they don't like. And that is so. The reason people
seek this world so earnestly is because of what the world
advertises, and actually what Satan advertises, because he
is the God of this world. But people seek this world because
of the pleasure they think they can get from it, because of the
popularity they think they can get from it, and because of the
power they think they can get from it. Now, Satan began this
trinity of evil the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes,
and the pride of life way back in the Garden of Eden. That was
the tactic he used with Eve. This is what caused our first
parents to fall, and it hasn't changed at all. He's still using
this same tactic. Now, I'd like to go back into
Genesis chapter 3. There's not a more important passage of Scripture
in the Bible than Genesis chapter 3. And here we have the account
of the fall of our first parents in the Garden. And I want us
to see how Satan used the lust of the flesh, the lust of the
eyes, and the pride of life to tempt Eve. Now, we read in Genesis
chapter 3, verse 1, Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast
of the field which the Lord God had made. Satan comes in the
form of a serpent. And he said unto the woman, Yea,
Hath God said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
Now, what did God say? Verse 15 of Chapter 2, And the
Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to
dress it and to keep it. And the Lord commanded the man,
saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat.
Now, you see, Satan changed what God said. God said, You can freely
eat of any of these trees. But of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, he speaks of one tree. Of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the
day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. God did not
say you can't eat of every tree. He said every tree you can eat
from, but this one tree. So what Satan does in this temptation,
he attempts first of all to modify, to change what God said. Now
look at Eve's reply. And the woman said unto the serpent,
We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. No, God
didn't say that. 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, the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil, the tree that's in the midst of the garden. God
hath said ye shall not eat of it. Neither shall you touch it,
lest you die." Now notice the fall has already begun because
Eve actually adds to what God says. God never said don't touch
it. Eve said that. God simply said
in the day you eat thereof you'll surely die. But Eve said you
shall not eat of it nor Touch it. Now this is where touch not,
taste not, handle not religion came from. Eve, don't touch it. Paul warned in Colossians chapter
2 verse 20 of touch not, taste not, and handle not, that kind
of religion. Like if I don't touch this, if I don't taste
this, if I don't handle that, I'm going to be more pleasing
to God and I'm going to be more righteous by being that way.
Now understand this, that kind of religion is a denial of what
sin is. You see, You don't become a liar
when you lie. You lie because you're a liar.
Sin's your nature. You don't become a thief when
you steal. You steal because you're already
a thief in your heart. Sin is your nature. It's not
in things. It's not in things. You know,
I've heard people say, well, God loves the sinner, but He
hates His sin. God doesn't put sins into hell. He puts the ones who committed
those sins into hell. Sin is a nature, and she was
confusing that evil, confusing that, and she was wrong in what
she did. Now look at how the serpent replied
to her. And the serpent said unto the woman, You shall not
surely die. He's denying what God says. You shall not surely die, for
God doth know that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes
shall be opened, and you shall be as God's, knowing good and
evil." Now, here is the temptation. He says, God's trying to hold
back on you. He's trying to prevent you from
being all you can be. He knows that if you eat of that
fruit, you'll know good and evil, and that's what's going to make
you like Him. You see, right now, all your obedience to God,
there's no moral virtue in it because there's no choice involved.
God made you with this innocent nature, and you're not obeying
because you're choosing to, but it's just your nature. But if
you eat of this tree, you're going to see good and evil. And
you're going to be able to choose the good over the evil. And that's
going to give moral virtue to you. You won't just simply be
programmed to do God's will, but now you'll be making choices.
You'll have a free will, and you'll be able to use your will
to make choices, and that's what's going to make you like God. That
sounds plausible, doesn't it? But it's evil. It's evil. It's changing what God said,
and if I have a free will, that means my will is free of God.
That means I have independence from God. That means I have some
control. And this is what every man wants.
They want control and power. So Satan gives that temptation
to Eve, just like that. Now look for the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. And when
the woman, verse 6, Genesis 3, 6, And when the woman saw that
the tree was good for food, the lust of the flesh, pleasure,
And a tree to be pleasant to the eyes. The lust of the eyes. Pleasant to the eyes. And a tree
desired to make one wise. Why, I'll be just like God. The
pride of life. You see those three things. The
lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it
was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make
one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave
also to her husband with her, and he did eat, they fell before
this trinity of temptation, the lust of the flesh, the lust of
the eyes, and the pride of life." The world makes these promises,
and actually it's Satan himself who makes these promises from
the world, that which is contrary to God. You'll get pleasure from
me, true pleasure. You'll get popularity from me.
You'll have power from me. Now, I want us to consider what
God says about the world. If you're friends of the world,
if I'm friends of the world, that means I'm an enemy of God.
If I love the world, that means I don't have the love of God
in me. Now, listen to these scriptures regarding what God says concerning
the world. Satan, the devil, Lucifer, is
called the God of this world, and unbelievers are called the
children of this world. And the Lord said to them, ìYouíre
of your father, the devil, and the lusts of your father you
will do.î The Lord said concerning His elect in John chapter 17,
verse 16, ìThey are not of the world, even as I am not of the
world.î Why? The Lord refused to pray
for the world. In John chapter 17, verse 9,
He said, I pray for them, speaking of His disciples, speaking of
His elect, speaking of those who believe. I pray for them. I pray not for the world. Now, the Lord said that. I pray
not for the world, but for them which You've given Me, the elect. For they are thine." The Lord
said to some unbelievers in John 7, verse 7, the world cannot
hate you, but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the deeds
thereof are evil. And He said in John 15, verses
18 and 19 to His disciples, and this is true of every believer,
if the world hate you, You know it hated me before it hated you. Now, understand this, the world
and the men of this world and the God of this world hate the
living God. Now, men's hatred really is not
seen until they're confronted with the truth. They may even
be very religious and say, I love God. But their true hatred of
the living God is seen in their response to the truth regarding
how God saves sinners by His grace. Now, the Lord says to
His disciples, the world cannot hate you, or if the world hate
you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were
of the world, the world would love His own. But because you're
not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world,
therefore the world hates you. I'm going to read a passage of
Scripture from 1 John chapter 4 that speaks of the world's
preachers. And the world has a lot of preachers
speaking supposedly in the name of God. Paul warned of Satan
and his ministers who masquerade as angels of light and his ministers,
ministers of righteousness. Now listen to this Scripture.
1 John chapter 4. Beloved, believe not every spirit. But try the
spirits, whether they're of God, because many false prophets are
gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of
God, every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ has come in
the flesh is of God. Now, here's what every true preacher
confesses, publicly declares, without apology, without compromise,
Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. He was before He came. He's the eternal Son of God,
the uncreated being, the God of glory, the Creator of the
universe. He was before He came. And He
came in the flesh. The Word was made flesh. He came
in the flesh and He did what He came to do. Well, what did
He come to do? Matthew 1.21 says, Thou shalt
call His name Jesus, for He shall save. His people from their sins. And that's exactly what He did. He saved His people, those the
Father gave Him, those He died for, those He represented. He
saved His people from their sins. Now, everybody that comes from
God publicly confesses that. And then he says in verse 3,
and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come
in the flesh is not of God. Failure to confess that means
you're not of God. He says this is the spirit of
Antichrist, where have you heard that it should come? And even
now already is it in the world. This is what's going on right
now with Satan's preachers. They masquerade as God's preachers,
but they fail to confess. Listen to this scripture from
John chapter 12 verses 42 and 43. Nevertheless, among the chief
rulers, many believed on him, but because of the Pharisees,
they did not confess him. For they loved the praise of
men more than the praise of God. They intellectually saw, this
is the Christ of Scriptures, But they wouldn't confess Him
publicly because they were more concerned with what men think
than what God thinks. They were controlled by the lust
of the eyes. Now, in 1 John chapter 5, verse
19, John gives this assessment of the world. And we know that
we're of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. Love not the world. Now, what
is the believer called upon to do with the world? Well, first
of all, don't love it. It doesn't love God. It doesn't
love the Gospel. It doesn't love God's way of
saving. Don't love it. I'm not going to love that which
does not love God. Love not the world, neither the
things that are in the world. Romans 12 says, Be not conformed
to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind
that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God. Don't be conformed to this world.
Don't be conformed to its ways. Don't try to be like it. Don't
be conformed to this world, but be transformed. Remember, that
which is highly esteemed among men, these are the words of the
Lord Jesus in Luke 16, 13, that which is highly esteemed among
men, that which the world values is an abomination to God. James said in James 1, 27, pure
religion and undefiled before the Father is to visit the fatherless
and widows in their affliction and to keep yourself unspotted. from the world. Now, Paul said
in Galatians chapter 6 verse 14, there's a couple of scriptures
I want us to think about. Paul said in Galatians chapter
6 verse 14, and remember who's speaking, it's the Apostle Paul.
This is the man God used more than anybody else to expound
the gospel. This is the man who was taken up into the third heavens
and the Lord Jesus directly taught him the gospel. The gospel that
he preached was given to him by revelation. This is the man
God used to write 13 books in the Bible. This is the man God
used to establish churches. Oh, how greatly blessed and used
this man was. Paul the Apostle, now hear his
own testimony. He says in Galatians 6, verse
14, But God forbid that I should glory, that I should have confidence
in, that I should rest in, that I should find hope in. God forbid
that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul, aren't you going to glory
in any of these other things? No. No, I'm not going to glory
in the fact that the Lord used me to write Scripture. I'm not
going to glory in the fact that God took me into the third heavens.
All I'm going to glory in is the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ,
who He is and what He accomplished. When He said, It is finished,
my salvation was finished. And that is what I glory in. God forbid that I should glory,
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world
is crucified unto me. I don't see any beauty in the
world. I see it as a crucified, worthless
thing. That world, the lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, that which is
against God, I see it as a crucified thing. And the world is crucified
to me. And I enter the world. The world
sees me the exact same way. The world is not going to love
that man who glories only in the cross. The world makes promises
it simply can't deliver. The Lord said, what would it
profit a man if he gained the whole world and lose his soul? What if you had all the world's
pleasure and all the world's popularity and all the world's
power? What good would it do you if
you lose your soul? What shall a man give in exchange for his
soul? Now, what the unbeliever seeks
in the world, the believer seeks in Christ. Pleasure. There is no pleasure greater
in this life than hearing the gospel and the power of the Holy
Spirit and knowing it's the truth of God. There's no pleasure in
this life like simply resting in Christ and knowing that who
He is and what He did is all I need to make me perfect and
accepted before God. This is pleasure the world knows
nothing of. Popularity. Well, what about
having God for you? If God be for us, who can be
against us? If God's on your side, this is
infinitely better than any popularity the world can afford. If God
be for us, who can be against us? And power? Why, the world's
power is nothing. Yet God said to Jacob, as a prince,
thou hast power with God. and has prevailed. If you're
a believer, you have the omnipotence of God on your side, working
all things together for your good and His glory. Now here
is true pleasure, resting in Christ. Here is true popularity,
having God's approval, having God on your side. Here is true
power, having the very ear of the Almighty God, which every
believer has for Christ's sake, to be heard of God. Now, see the world for what it
is. It's nothing but the lust of
the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. See it
for what it is. Don't love it. Don't be its friend. And remember this, Christ Jesus,
if you want out of the world, listen real carefully, Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Oh, if you're a sinner, there's
salvation for you. Christ came into this old world
that hated Him so. To save sinners, Paul said, of
whom I am chief. Now, we have this message on
DVD and CD. If you call the church or write,
we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Knight with Friendly
Lovely. Please make yourself known to you. That's our prayer.
For Lord, that could not be. To request a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send your request to messages at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Or you may write or call the
church at the information provided on the screen.