First John chapter 2 now we hear
a lot of talk in religious circles about worldliness This person is worldly another
person is not worldly they're separated from the world But John has something to say
about this in first John 2 verse 15 and And I'm quite familiar
with this scripture, and I know you are, because I've heard it
read since I was a child. 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. I didn't bother to read
the other verses after that, 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 when I heard this verse 15
quoted when I was growing up, that was supposed to be, love
not the world, as one old deacon said, if that don't mean baseball,
what do it mean? But I always connected this with
movies. If I went to a movie when I was
a child, I felt like my preacher was standing across the street
watching me go in, you know? And that was worldliness. And
you didn't dare have a deck of cards in your house, you know.
You couldn't even play Old Maids or Rook or anything like that
because the evil was in the cards. And I never will forget when
I bought my first Monopoly set. It had a pair of dice in there,
you know. And I did. And it took me a long time to
play Monopoly because I was taught that those things were evil.
Those dice were evil. Smoking and drinking and card
playing and dancing we didn't when I was growing up The Baptist
Church, I was in all of the young people If you went to the prom
or anything like that you were unsaved you know you didn't know
God you were worldly and Majored on those things and I grew up,
and then I went to a Christian school and and some I remember
some of the students went to see holiday on ice one time and
and The next morning in chapel we got it I wasn't even there,
but I felt like I was getting it with them You know they all
had to come rededicate that worldly had them all down crunching on
their knees Now we got it in our living room holiday on ice
moved in on everybody, you know I There wouldn't be room up here
for all of you tonight, so we won't bother to come down. But
I'm not making fun. I'm just saying, this is, Jay,
what I thought worldliness was. This is all I heard. We had our
Sunday school teachers, five things they couldn't do. The
rest of the things, you know, we never heard of. They couldn't
dance or play cards or smoke or go to the movies or drink. And if they got by those five
things, they was in good shape, you know. They weren't worldly.
But anybody that did any of those things was worldly. And I grew
up thinking that was what worldliness was, and if a fella just could
get free of all that, he'd be spiritual, he wouldn't be worldly.
Well, I was reading in John 17 this morning, in verse 14 through
16, and I find that our Lord gives us a definition of what
it means to be worldly or not to be worldly. And I find it
doesn't have anything to do with these things especially. I know
the Christian avoids the appearance of evil. I know he avoids the
companionship of evil men. I know that he doesn't want to
go anywhere that would bring reproach upon his Lord or do
anything that would bring reproach upon the name of the Lord. But
there are a lot of folks that that don't go to the movies who
are worldly. There are a lot of folks who
don't drink who are still worldly. There are a lot of people who
don't do any of these things who are in church every Sunday,
yet even in the pulpit who are worldly. So this thing of worldliness,
I want you to notice John 17, if you will, beginning with verse
14. John 17, 14, I have given them thy word, and the world
hath hated them, Because they are not worldly, even as I am
not worldly. They are not of this world, even
as I am not of this world. You see what he's saying? They
are not of this world, and here's the key word, even as I am not
of this world. I'm going to be honest with you.
I'm going to be as honest as I can. Let's read on. I pray
not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, But that
thou shouldest keep them from the evil, or the evil one. Here he says it again. This is
in our Lord's, as Joe said, our Lord's priestly prayer. This
very sacred hour, at this very holy time, when the Lord Jesus
Christ is praying to the Father. And twice, twice in this prayer,
he says the same thing. He repeats it twice. He says
again in verse 16, they are not of the world even as I am not
of the world. Now, if you want to know the
answer to worldliness, if you're interested, if you're willing
to lay aside your prejudices and traditions, and you're willing
to take worldliness out of things and put it in principles where
it belongs, If you're willing to take this thing of the principles
of Christianity and the morality of Christianity and the holiness
of Christianity and a true relationship with Christ and get it out of
your traditions and what you've always heard and been taught,
and we call it geographical ethics and geographical religion, and
put it where it's supposed to be, if you want the answer, it's
right here. You'll get the answer tonight. Christ said, they are
not of the world even as I am not of the world. They. Who's
our Lord talking about? This prayer is prayed for special
people. This prayer is not prayed for
everybody. Look at verse 9. I pray for them. I pray not for
the world. This prayer is not for everybody.
It's for them. It's for them. And our Lord Jesus
Christ said, I pray for them. I don't pray for the world, I
pray for them. They are not of the world. They
are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Now, if
you look over the prayer, you'll immediately see for whom the
Lord prays. And you'll see who the they are.
Back here in verse 6, it's the people to whom He's manifested
the name of God. He says in verse 6, I've manifested
thy name. thy redemptive name, thy name
Jehovah, thy name Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our
banner, the Lord our righteousness, the Lord our savior, the Lord
our substitute. I've manifested the Lord my shepherd. I've manifested your name to
these men. These men know your name. These
people for whom I pray, they know you, God. They know you,
Father. I've manifested your name to
them. Our Lord said eternal life is
to know God, not know about God, but to know God, to know Him.
To have a vital, personal, living relationship with the living
God, to know God. As David said, my heart, my soul,
panteth for the living God. For the people for whom He prays,
the them, I pray for them, they know the name of the Lord. And
then he says, I've manifested thy name unto the men which thou
gavest me out of the world. These people for whom he prays,
the them here. I pray for them. These are the
ones who were given to him by the Father in the eternal covenant
before the foundation of the world. Six times in this one
prayer he mentions those that you gave me, those that you gave
me. I've manifested your name to
those whom you have given me out of the world. They were given
to Christ. All right? Verse 7, and he says,
Now they have known, these people know, that all things whatsoever
thou hast given me are of thee. Everything is from the Father
through the Son. They know that. Now, we're talking
about they are not of the world. Somebody's not worldly. Somebody's
not of the world. Who is this somebody? It's the
same people for whom he prays. I pray for them. They are not
of the world. And these people know God's name,
these people were given Christ by the Father, and these people
know that everything they have is the gift of the Father through
the Son. Now they know that. They know
they deserve nothing, they know they've earned nothing, they
know they've merited nothing, they know that everything that
they have is by the grace of the Father through the Son. Everything
is given to the Son. by the Father. Everything's in
Christ. God has vested everything in Christ. God's vested nothing
in us, or in the church, or in the law. It's all in Christ.
To miss Christ is to miss everything. To have Christ is to have everything.
All right? Verse 8, if you will. I have
given unto them the words that you gave me. I've taught them
thy word. These people are familiar with the Word of God. They love
thy Word. They call it precious promises.
They love it. They love to read it and hear
it read. They love to hear it preached. They love God's word. I've given them thy word, read
on, and they have received it. Uh-huh. He said, my sheep, hear
my voice, I've given them thy word and they have received it.
They haven't argued about, they haven't set up schools of higher
criticism, they haven't pointed out the errors and contradictions
in your word. I've given them your word and
they've received it like a sponge receives water, like a hungry
bird receives a worm, like a baby receives the breast. I've given
them your word and they've received it. They don't have their guns
drawn and the triggers pulled back, making war on whoever presents
them the Word of God. I presented it and they've received
it. They received Your Word. All right, look at verse 11.
Verse 11 says, And I'm no more in the world, but they're still
in the world. They're still in the world. I
come to Thee, Holy Father, but these, My people, are in the
world. They're real people. They have flesh and bones like
everybody else. They're real people. They're
in this world. Verse 21 says this about them,
But they're one, that they all may be one, as thou, Father,
art in me, and I in thee, that they may be one in us. They're
one in Christ, and one with one another. They're family. They're
body. They're the kingdom of Christ.
They're the people of God. They're His jewels. They're all
one in Christ, and they're all one in Him with one another. These people are all one family.
And then verse 26, Righteous Father, the world hath not known
thee, verse 25. Verse 26 says, But I have declared
your name unto these men, and I will declare it. Now these
are the people for whom our Lord prays, and these are the people
of whom it is said, They are not of the world. I pray for
them. You gave them to me, I revealed
your name to them, I preached your word to them, they received
your word, they're still in this world, they're still on this
earth, but they are not of the world. They are not of the world,
even as I am not of the world. Now, just consider this a moment. Our Lord is not saying these
people are not of the world, period. Because we are, to a
certain extent and to a certain degree, of this world. I was
born just like anybody else, and you were too. We were born
sons of Adam. We bear the image of the earthy. I'm of this world. If I were
walking down the street and I didn't have a Bible with me and I was
dressed just like the man beside me, we were walking down the
street and neither one of us opened his mouth, you couldn't
pick out which one's the Christian, which one's the believer, which
one's the child of God. They both, you may guess the
wrong one. Our Lord said this, you know,
He said that the wheat and the tares were growing out there.
The man planted wheat and during the night his enemy came and
sowed tares and the disciples said, let's go pull up the tares.
He said, don't you do it, you may pull up some wheat. You see,
we don't know, do we? We don't know, we can't see men's
hearts. And so I am of this world. I was born into this world like
anybody else. Out there the image of the earthy,
I grow up and you grow up As a child, like everybody else,
we have to learn to read and to write, we have to learn to
work, we have to learn to live among men. We're going to live
on this earth for a little while longer. We are of this world. We marry, we raise children,
we build a home. We work. You men work at the
Armco steel mill, Ashland Oil, the railroad. You work just like
anybody else. You go to work. You carry your
lunch kit. You wear your work clothes. You punch a time clock.
You go in there and sweat and hammer and build and paint and
labor and do all these things. Sit in an office. You ladies
work in the stores. You work as clerks and secretaries
and in the hospital and nurses. You work just like anybody. You're
just like anybody else. You are of this world. You certainly
are of this world. You know sickness. You know sorrow. Your tears come
just like anybody else's. And your pain, you feel pain
just like anybody else. And your heart breaks just like
anybody else. And you're going to know old
age and death just like anybody else. We are of this world. And
we are citizens of a country. We love this flag. We fight to
defend it and our freedom like anybody else. I don't think a
person ought to be restricted from defending his country because
he claims to be a Christian. We're part of a state, a community. We render to Caesar the things
that are Caesar's. And we're still, unfortunately,
sinners just like anybody else. We sin. You lose your temper
just like anybody else. You ought not, but you do. You're
sinners in word, thought, and deed. Nobody can deny that. But
Christ said they are not of this world, but He didn't stop there.
He didn't say they're not of this world, period. He said they're
not of this world even as I am not of this world. Even as I
am not of this world. And this is an important distinction.
And it would do well for us to carefully look at this distinction. They are not of this world even
as I'm not of this world. Now we've got folks today who
claim to be not of this world, and this is what some of them
mean. Some of them mean that they are spiritual in the sense
that they are philosophers and they are students and they study
religious philosophies and theology and religious principles and
theories, and they don't work. They're too spiritual to work.
They spend their time, you know, in the musty studies and libraries
and different places studying over what the old father said
and what this criticism is and that one and something else.
They're just too spiritual to be like anybody else and go out
and get their hands dirty and do a day's work. Well, one old
preacher had the answer for that. He had a young man in his congregation
who the preacher asked him when he was going to get a job and
go to work. And he said, I'm too spiritual to work. And the
preacher said, well, you're too spiritual to eat then. So don't
come back to the table anymore. The scripture says man won't
work, don't let him eat. Our Lord was a carpenter. When
our Lord came to preach at a certain place, they said, well, do we
know him? He's the carpenter. He was identified with work.
Our Lord was identified with toil and labor. We've got a wrong
philosophy in this country that looks down upon labor and looks
down upon hard work. We've got the philosophy today
that the most you can get for doing the less work and the more
you can get for the less labor, the smarter you are. No, the
dumber you are. People who know God earn their
way. But we have some folks, you know, that are too spiritual
to work. Well, that's not godliness, and that's not what—our Lord
works. So that's not what it means to be not of the world,
even as Christ is not of the world. Our Lord was a carpenter.
He was identified with the sweat of His brow and the toil and
labor of His back. Well, somebody else becomes a
hermit, you know, a fella gets religion and he gets too good
to associate with sinners, so he moves off somewhere to a cave
and sits with his legs folded and his arms folded and people
come from everywhere to listen to the wisdom of the old sage,
you know, sitting up there by himself. Well, he's worldly as
anybody possibly could be. He can't say of himself, I'm
not of the world even as Christ is not of the world because our
Lord walked with people and lived with people and ate with people
and associated with people and was called the friend of sinners.
And our Lord said, when you light a candle, you don't put it under
a bushel all by itself, you put it out on a candlestick. He said,
if you're going to use salt, you're the salt of the earth.
If you're going to use salt, you don't put it in the cabinet,
you put it on the meat. It's associated with the need.
And people who are monks and hermits and all of these other
things that are shut off in monasteries and convents, they're not honoring
God. There's no honor at all to God
in that. The man who honors God is the
man like his Savior who loves people and who identifies with
people and who associates with people and enables God to bless people
through him. No, I've seen preachers get like
that, and I've seen church members get like that. I've seen them.
You have too, Jay, get religion and become a recluse, you know,
going around trying to look past all the time and won't talk to
anybody or fellowship with anybody or have anything to do with anybody.
Our Lord, the Pharisee, looked at him and said, now, if he was
a prophet, he'd go up here in the temple with us and study
the old fathers, but there he is eating with sinners. They
are not of the world even as I am not of the world, and then
there are other folks that are not of the world in that they don't
dress like we dress. They've got to look religious
by wearing black, you know, and a collar turned around backwards,
and some wear sandals, you know, and some wear robes, and some
wear dresses like women, and some wear pure white linen, and
all of this paraphernalia just covers a wicked heart. That's
all in the works. Christ dressed like the people.
He dressed like the disciples. He dressed like the people of
His day. And if He lived today, if He's walking on this earth
today, He'd dress just like you and I dress right now. That's
not the distinguishing mark of a believer. It's not what your
bumper sticker says or the kind of clothes you wear. It's the
condition of your heart. They're not of this world, even
as I'm not of the world. And then we know this. Some of
my friends, they can't go to school with sinners' children. They have to have a special school
for just Christians, nothing but Christians. And I never found
a school yet that had nothing but Christians. You've been associated
with some of them. They can't go to school with
black people either, and they can't contaminate themselves
in any way with the sinners of this world. They're different.
They're different. They're peculiar. And they want
everybody to know that they're peculiar. You know, they can't
rub shoulders with sinners. They couldn't go in a restaurant
where beer is served or anything like that. They don't want to
be seen in certain places and locales and so forth. Well, let
me tell you something. Our Lord was born in a stable.
Our Lord worked in a carpenter shop. Our Lord was baptized in
a river. Our Lord attended a wedding.
a wedding where people were making merry and rejoicing. Our Lord
ate dinner with a tax collector, a publican, the lowest person
in the community in the eyes of the Jews of which he was a
part. Our Lord had his feet washed
by a prostitute. Our Lord sat on a well and talked
with a divorcee for a long time until his disciples came and
wanted to know why he was talking to her. Our Lord went to a cemetery
and visited an insane man. Our Lord went fishing with his
disciples. And when he was along, they got
their best catch. Our Lord went home with a Roman
army officer, a centurion. Our Lord let a black man carry
his cross and walked into heaven with a thief. And he was not of this world.
He was not of this world. Now, they accused him. They said
he was a winebibber. They said he was a glutton. They
said he was in cahoots with Beelzebub. They said he was a friend of
sinners. They brought every charge they could against him, but our
Lord was not of this world. And he says this, there's somebody
for whom I'm praying, there's somebody, God the Father who
knows your name, There's some folks who've heard your word.
There's some folks to whom I've manifested your name. There's
some folks who've been given me from eternity past. There's
some folks who know something about redemption. And those folks
are not of this world in the same way that I'm not of this
world. Let's see if we can find out how that is. Well, four things
I want to point out to you. Christ was not of this world
in his nature, in his nature. In other words, our Lord could
stand and talk with Nicodemus the Pharisee. Nothing prevented
him from talking with Nicodemus. Our Lord could stand and talk
with Nicodemus, converse with him. Nicodemus talked to him,
he talked to Nicodemus. Our Lord could go into the home
of a Pharisee and sit around the table with Pharisees. And
yet, I know this, and you know this, and he know this, and the
Pharisees knew this, and the whole world knows this, that
our Lord Jesus Christ was not of the Pharisees' world. He was not of their world of
ceremonialism. He knew the living God. He was
not of their world of ritualism. He was not of their world of
self-righteousness, but he didn't prove it by not associating with
them. He proved it in his nature, in
his spirit. Our Lord could talk with a Samaritan
woman. Here's a woman married five times
and was living with a man at this time who was not her husband,
and yet our Lord, Jake, could sit right there on the well and
talk to that woman, and talk to her about God, and talk to
her about her sins, and talk to her about eternal life, and
talk to her about worship, and talk to her about heritage and
religion, could sit right there, not talk down to her, but talk
to her and spend hours with her. And yet I know and you know and
he knew and she knew and everybody knows that he was not of her
world. He was not of her world. But that didn't keep him from
having any association with her. That didn't keep him from having
a talk with her. That didn't keep him from showing
compassion to her. You don't have to snub harlots
to prove you're not one. You don't have to run around
and gossip on everybody in town to prove you won't do what they
do. You don't have to refuse to shake hands with a sinner
to prove you're not a sinner. Our Lord didn't do that. He was
not of their world. And then our Lord could talk
with a publican, proud publican, tax collector, a man so materialistic
and greedy that he turned on his own nation. and went around
collecting from the Jews taxes to give to Caesar and keeping
half of it in his own pocket. And our Lord could stand and
talk to one of those men and even go home and eat with him.
But Charlie, he was not of their world. His nature was different. His nature was different. Even
the disciples, even his beloved twelve, one day there was some
folks over there casting out demons, you know, who weren't
walking with them, and one of the disciples, I believe it was
John, the beloved John, I believe John's the one that said, let's
call down fire from heaven and burn them up! Well, the Lord
Jesus Christ was not of this spirit. He was not of this nature. And while he could associate,
and while he could converse, and while he could have compassion,
and while he could have a connection with these people, he was not
of their world. And the believer is not of the
world in his new nature. He's a new creature. He knows
something of love, and forgiveness, and mercy, and grace. This is
the spirit of the believer, the nature. I'm going to say something here
that may be offensive, but I'm going to say it anyway. And I've
said it in private. I'll go ahead and let it all
hang out here. But when this local option election
was held in Ashland, I voted dry. And if they had another,
I'd vote dry again. I prefer Ashland to be dry. But I've been
watching these letters to the editor since this vote has taken
in 187, whatever you call it, down to Frankfort. voted to allow
three precincts here in Ashton to go wet. And I've been reading
the letters from some of these, quote, Christians, quote. And
brother, let me tell you something. I know they're people. They wouldn't
drink. They're not worldly. They wouldn't do this, that,
and the other. They're not worldly. But they don't have the nature
of Christ in those letters. I'm telling you this, that's
pure, unadulterated, poisonous worldliness in those letters.
Evil. It's an evil attitude and an
evil nature and an evil spirit. And what I'm saying is that in
some of these letters that are written about the so-called hypocrisy
in the churches by some of the wet forces, I have to agree with
them. They're telling the truth, Ronnie. Hypocrisy. Our Lord said they're not of
this world even as I'm not of the world, in nature, in spirit,
in grace, in love, in forgiveness. That's the first thing right
there, nature. Nature. All right, secondly,
Christ was not of this world in His nature, and He said, My
people, their nature is not to call down fire from heaven on
people. Their nature is not to charge
cruelly and harshly and dash in upon people with these terrible
words like one letter I read that three greatest enemies to
mankind, Judas Iscariot and Senator Holbrooke. Isn't that horrible?
That's written by a church member. That is not the spirit of our
Lord. And I tell you, you can be anything you want to on the
outside and refrain from anything you want to. If you've got that
kind of attitude and if you've got that kind of nature, you've
missed Christ. Now, brethren, this is so. When
we're studying this thing, like I say, I'm telling you it to
you like the Word teaches it. They are not of the world even
as I'm not of the world. And then secondly, Christ was
not of this world in His office. Are you a prophet? Yes. But my
doctrine is not the doctrine of this world. It's the doctrine
of God. My doctrine is not the doctrine
of ceremonialism but substitution. My doctrine is not the doctrine
of law. My doctrine is the doctrine of
the righteousness of God. I'm different from this world
in my doctrine. Our Lord spake not like the Pharisees. He spake as one with authority.
He said, I'm telling you what I've seen. John said, I'm telling
you what I've seen and what I've heard and what my hands have
handled. I'm telling you the doctrine of God. Are you a priest? Yes, but not to offer the sacrifices
of form and ordinance, but to offer the sacrifice of myself.
I'm a priest. The Lord Jesus hath made us priests
unto our God. And we come to our God not with
ritualism and ceremonialism and candle burning. We come to our
God with the sacrifices of prayer and faith and praise and thanksgiving. We give ourselves like our Lord
gave Himself. That's the proper priesthood.
We're not of this world in our prophetic office, in our doctrine,
in our priestly office. I like the story Brother Barnard
used to tell about the old Indian chief. Missionary had gone to
the Indians and preached a little gospel and God had done a work
of grace and some of them were being saved and one night the
only the old Missionary was sitting in the tent that they provided
for him in the flap open and in came the chief And the chief
had in his hands his peace pipe And he said to the missionary.
He said missionary. He said Chief give his peace
pipe to Jesus and handed over with all the pride, you know,
and satisfaction and smugness that he could muster. And the
missionary shook his head, and he said, Chief, he said, I'm
grateful, and I understand what you're saying, but, said, the
Lord doesn't want your peace pipe. The old Indian said, Jesus
no want my peace pipe? And the missionary said, no,
I'm afraid he doesn't. So the Indian chief kind of left, in
a little bit of a, in a little bit of a disappointing fashion,
you know, and after a while the missionary's still sitting there
in the flat boat, and in came the chief again. This time he
had his moccasins, hand-woven, pried up. He held them out to
the, to the missionary. He said, missionary, he said,
chief, give his moccasins to Jesus. And the missionary didn't
know what he was going to do, you know, but he had to tell
the truth. He just said, well, he said, The Lord Jesus doesn't
want your moccasins. And the Indian chief got out
of that tent again, a few minutes, came back with his headdress,
you know, the one feather forever, victory, battle, all these things,
and most prized possession. And he laid it down. And he said
to me, give me a headdress to Jesus. And the missionary said,
He said, Chief, he said, you've misunderstood what I've been
trying to preach. He said, Christ doesn't want your headdress or
your peace pipe or your moccasins or any other thing material,
materially, that you might have. And so he left, and after a while,
the Chief came back empty-handed. And he walked up to the missionary
in the tin. He said, Missionary, he said,
me give meself to Jesus. And the missionary said, now
that's what the Lord requires. My son, give me your heart. Give
me your heart. That's where it is. It's not
some decision or ceremony or ritual or dedication to this
cause and that cause and the other cause. Are you a king?
Yes, but my kingdom's not of this world. Everything here is
temporary. Everything here will pass away. His kingdom is eternal. Now,
I know you men sitting out here, the Bible doesn't tell you not
to have any concern about what you're going to eat, drink, or
wear. Our Lord rather says, be not overly concerned. Be not
anxious for these things. Don't get the cart before the
horse. Don't get them in the wrong order.
Seek ye first the kingdom of God. Now, anybody out here that's
got little children, You're concerned about their education. They've
got to make a living. We're in this world. And if they
don't learn to read and write, they're going to be in a mess.
If they don't finish high school, they're going to be in trouble.
If they don't learn a trade, they're going to be in trouble.
And you're concerned about them finishing their schooling. You're
concerned about, you mothers are concerned about your children
having a proper diet. I'd have little regard for you
if you didn't care what your children ate. If you didn't care
when they went to bed, if you didn't care whether they were
warm or cold, if you didn't care, if you men didn't care whether
there's a roof over your head or not, if you didn't care whether
you looked decent, combed your hair, washed your face, shaved
or whatever, I'd have less respect for you. And God would too. Sure, we're concerned about these
things, but not overly concerned. We're not anxious about these
things. He said, seek ye first the kingdom
of God. It's the order of priority. Christ
is first. We're not anxious about it or
overly concerned about it or distressed about it. We believe
He'll take care of us, but I've got to give it some concern,
Jay. I've got to give it some wisdom, some thought. We're not of this world even
as I am not of this world, Christ said. Christ said, Seek ye first
the kingdom of God. Yes, I'm a king, He said. You're
right I'm a king, but my kingdom's not of this world. But you have
to think backwards. I read one time where Whitefield,
one night in prayer meeting, his people were all gathered
and Pastor Whitefield came in and he said, I want us tonight
to have special prayer for this particular young man. He called
his name. He said, I'm greatly distressed
about him. I'm greatly concerned about him.
And I want the whole church to get on your knees with me and
let's pray for this young man. Well, had the young man lost
his wife? No. Had he lost his dearest child? No. Had he lost his job? No. Had he lost his health? No. Why
was Pastor Whitfield so concerned? The young man's father had died,
or an uncle had died, some relative, and left him a great fortune.
And Whitefield says he needs our prayers now more than he's
ever needed them before. You see what I'm saying? It's the love of money that's
the root of all evil. Christ, it's not money that's
the root of all evil. Money can do some good things.
Evil is not in things, it's in people. I've been trying to preach
that for years. It's not in things. I'd hold
us rather you spend the whole Sunday afternoon down there in
cinema number one, two or three, than to sit here in the congregation
and have a spirit of hatred for somebody sitting here in this
place. I sure have. I'd heap rather you do that.
I tell you, that spirit of, that attitude of carrying grudges,
And feeling harshly toward others, that do you more damage than
all of this stuff they've been preaching about all year. It's not that which goes in your
mouth that defiles you, it's that which comes out of your
heart. Evil spirit, evil thoughts, evil imaginations, bad attitude,
bad spirit. That's worldliness. They're not
of this world even as I am not of this world. Paul said, I know
how to abound. I know how to be successful.
I know how to handle blessings. I know how to handle goods that
God gives me. I know how to abound. Do you? There's some folks that used
to go to church here that didn't quite learn that. When they were
poor, they worshipped God. When they got prosperous, they
quit. I know one man that was going to go to work and have
another business so he could support some missionaries. He
ain't supporting none now. He's making prayer four times
what he used to. All blessings are not, let me put it this way,
all prosperity is not of God. Somebody says, boy, I've got
a raise, God sure has blessed me, God might not be in that. I got me a good job somewhere
else, preacher, I'm going to make twice as much as I ever
made, have a bigger home than I've ever had, live in a finer
community, God just might not be in that, John. Chances are
He's not. especially if you leave the gospel.
It indicates you didn't know God. Spurgeon said, for every
one man he ever saw fall by adversity, he seen 50 fall through prosperity. Christ said, I'm not of this
world in his nature. And thirdly, I'm not of this
world in attitude. I'm not of this world in attitude.
What was our Lord's attitude towards God, the Father's divine
sovereignty? He said, even so, Father, it
seemed good in your sight. When he talked about election,
when he talked about God hiding it from the smart alecks and
revealing it to babes, he said, that's all right with me. Even
so, Father, it seemed. What was his attitude towards
suffering? Let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my
will, but thy will be done. That's our Lord. That's not of
this world. What's our Lord's attitude toward loneliness? Just
turn back one page John 16 verse 32 He said that last line. I'm not alone. I'm not alone I'm not alone the father's with
me That was his attitude toward loneliness he wasn't alone What
was his attitude? Our Lord's attitude toward prosperity. He said, a man's life doesn't
consist in the things he possesses, for a man shall not live by bread
alone. What was his attitude toward his enemies? Boy, I hope
God gets even with him. No. He said, Father, forgive
them. They don't know what to do. That's
not of this world. That's not of this world. I got a little article in the
bulletin Sunday where a bunch of men were sitting around a
stove talking. They were talking about the Sermon on the Mount.
One of the men said, love your enemies, do good to them that
hate you. Well, that's not natural. You're
right. That's not natural. That's spiritual.
That's spiritual. That's not of this world even.
as I'm not of this world, was the Lord's attitude towards trouble.
All the trouble of the world was falling upon him, and Pilate
said, I can crucify you or let you go. He said, you couldn't
have any power over me at all, except it were given you from
above. All things work together for good to them that love God,
who they call according to God's purpose. That's our Lord's attitude
towards trouble, was his attitude towards God's providence. They
said, don't go to Jerusalem. He said, shall I pray, Father,
save me from this hour? For this cause I came out of
this hour. In everything give thanks. This
is the will of God for you. That's not of this world. Job
lost 10 children. All died at one time. He lost
everything he had. And instead of murmuring against
God's providence He worshipped God he blessed the Lord and he
said the Lord has given and the Lord had taken away blessed be
the name of the Lord and Then Christ was not of this world
in his nature in his office in his attitude or in his conversation He said the words that I speak
are not my words, but the words of him that sent Can we say that? When I stand behind this pulpit,
Joe, Jay, Darwin, Bruce, Charlie, Cecil, in these classrooms, you
other men, can we say we're not trying to put across to the people
our traditions and our prejudices and our opinions? We're trying
to preach His word. That's not of this world. Because
the natural thing of this world is to get attention to yourself,
or glory to yourself, or to present some unique thing, or something
new, or something that hasn't been presented before, or something
that will cause the people to marvel, or maybe to get across
my intellect, or my superior gifts. Come on now. Our Lord
said, the words that I speak are not mine, they're his. I
can't take credit for anything I say. Well, I wish that's so. I take credit for most of the
things that I say. Pure, all the credit's mine.
Put the blame on me. But I sure wish it was so that
I could give God the credit for what I preach, what I say, what
I teach. We're not of this world in conversation. It's not what I think. My thoughts
are not your thoughts. Not just what I'm convinced of,
it's what does get, Ava and I were talking about this a few days,
get so saturated in this book, so filled with the words and
the knowledge of this book, that when someone asks you to give
them a reason for the hope that's in you, you give it to them from
the book. If they ask you a question like
this, This God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
son, and try to teach universal redemption from that. Be so saturated
with the word of God that you can come back with the scripture.
Does that word world there mean every human being on earth? Well,
that's what the fellow says it means. Well, what about this
scripture? We are God and the whole world, life, and wickedness.
That's two groups of people. What about this scripture? The
whole world's gone after him. Well, everybody