[0:00] Open your Bibles up to the Gospel of John, chapter 14. John, chapter 14, this morning. That was a lot of singing. I feel like I'm tired.
[0:18] John 14, here we are. The timing of the season for us, this is close to where we're reading in the life of Christ as far as just before Calvary.
[0:32] As a matter of fact, if you have a red-letter Bible, you've got a lot of red letters in these chapters, 14, 15, 16, 17. And we have these words. They're the last night with Christ's disciples and the final discourse with these men and words that he gave, that he spoke, that I believe were not incidental in any way.
[0:56] They were not random. But he spoke these words to men that were very close to him. And actually, come to the very end of the chapter, in chapter 14, verse 31, the last five words, he says, Arise, let us go hence.
[1:12] And so he leaves the room that they're at where they had partaken of the supper and they go on heading toward the garden. Chapter 15 and 16 and 17 are all spoken on the way to the garden.
[1:24] And when you see chapter 18, verse 1, is when he gets to the garden of Gethsemane where he's going to separate himself from his disciples and pray and sweat as it were great drops of blood.
[1:39] You see that in verse 1, that he had spoken these words. He went forth with his disciples over the brook, drawn where was a garden into which he entered and his disciples. So the timing of what we're about to look at is in chapter 14, 15, 16, 17.
[1:54] He's on his way to the garden. And he encourages them, come back to 14 in verse 1. He encourages these men not to fear. And in verse 1, let not your heart be troubled.
[2:08] He says that very same statement again in verse 27. At the end of verse 27, let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. And then he reminds him throughout these chapters of the Holy Ghost.
[2:21] He calls him the Comforter. He calls him the Spirit of Truth. He mentions him in verse 16 of chapter 14 and 17 and 26. He mentions him in chapter 15 at the very end of the chapter, verses 26 and 7.
[2:38] He mentions him throughout chapter 16 as well. And so as he encourages them not to be afraid for what's coming, he encourages them and reminds them that the Holy Ghost, he promised that he would come and he'd be in them and that he'd work through them and that he himself and the Father through the Holy Ghost would be with them and present with them and he wouldn't leave them alone.
[2:58] And there's also though something that stood out to me in reading through and studying these passages. There are so many references to the world in these chapters. And it caught my attention and Christ makes references and warnings about the world.
[3:14] And I thought on the timing of this with the crucifixion imminent and he knows where he's headed and he knows the turmoil that they're going to feel inwardly.
[3:25] He knows he's leaving and he encourages them not to be afraid. I understand those remarks. That seems fitting for what's about to take place. But why the emphasis and why so many comments that we'll look at today about the world?
[3:36] Well, I think as I study this and I think as we look at it today, these are timely thoughts not just for them but for us today to remind us and really to warn us about the world and to keep the truth of the world in front of us.
[3:51] When Jesus Christ spoke of the world, he spoke of a people that are following a leader. Not the leader that Jesus Christ is. A different leader. Perhaps even ignorantly following a leader.
[4:03] And Christ drew a line and he said, it's us and it's them. And he drew that line firmly. And he said, you're not them and they're not you. And he says so many remarks I want to look at throughout today's message.
[4:16] I have, I think, six points here. I promise they'll be quick. And if they're not, they're going to be long. But I'm sure they'll be quick and we'll not keep you long this morning. First thing I want us to realize is in the very beginning that Christ wants his disciples to remember and to be cautioned that the world is not their home.
[4:37] He says these words, I believe, with purpose and with conviction. A truth that his disciples need to be aware of or need to be reminded of or perhaps need to be prepared for.
[4:48] And number one is that the world is not your home. Chapter 14 and verse 1 he says, let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions.
[4:59] If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there ye may be also.
[5:14] If you've believed also, as verse 1 says, believe also in me. If you've believed also in Jesus Christ, then you too have a promise. A promise of a place.
[5:25] As he says in verse 2, I go and prepare a place for you. And there's a person at that place. And in verse 3, well it's called his Father's house in verse 2.
[5:36] And in verse 3, Christ says, if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there ye may be also. There's a person there.
[5:47] In verse number 6, Christ says, no man cometh unto the Father but by me. And look at chapter 17. We're going to hop around these chapters here a lot today.
[5:59] Look at chapter 17, verse 24. The Lord says, Father, as he's praying toward God, he says, Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me for thou lovest me before the foundation of the world.
[6:19] His will is that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am. The world is not your home. He's reminding his disciples that there's a place that I'm going to and I'm going to prepare for you and I'm going to come again and receive you.
[6:36] And in verse 1, keep your place in 17. I want to show you this to you, just something that stood out to me that we'll do a little Bible study on this quickly. In chapter 14, verse 3, if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, there ye may be also.
[6:54] That never bothered me, that statement, thinking, yeah, where I am, like where I am going to be in the future, there ye may be also. But he actually said that where I am, there ye may be also.
[7:06] Now, still it doesn't mean too much until you connect it with verse 24 that we just read of chapter 17 where he said, Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am.
[7:19] Semicolon. That they be with me where I am. Present tense. Now, if that's peculiar to you, then let's look back at chapter 3 and see something else that Christ said earlier in his ministry.
[7:40] And it's going to remind us that when Christ is speaking, he means what he says, even if it doesn't make sense to us. We're dealing with somebody who is not like us. This is the spiritual nature of God Almighty.
[7:54] In chapter 3, verse 12, Christ is speaking with Nicodemus. He said, If I have told you earthly things and you believe not, how shall you believe if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven.
[8:11] How's that for a little brain teaser? Christ tells Nicodemus, I came down from heaven and I'm in heaven. Present tense, right now. That's why when Christ says that where I am, there you may be also.
[8:23] That's why in chapter 17 he said that they'd be with me where I am. Because Christ, look at chapter 14, because Christ is in heaven. While he's on earth, he's in heaven.
[8:36] This is too much for us to grasp geographically the way we think. But you'll just have to chalk it up to the spiritual nature of who God is.
[8:48] Chapter 14 and verse number 9, Jesus saith unto them, Have I been so long time with you and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.
[9:00] And how sayest thou then, show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am, there it is again, in the Father. Right now, present tense, I am in the Father. And the Father in me, I am in the Father.
[9:15] The Father dwelleth in me, he says, he doeth the works. But where is Jesus Christ? As he speaks to his disciples, he's in the Father. And the Father's in him. And the Bible says, In him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
[9:27] And I really don't want to take all the time, but we could study this through John and see it over and over, especially in chapter 14. Maybe we will catch it later on. We'll come through that chapter to see that the Father and the Son make their abode with a person in the person of the comforter.
[9:43] And I know, it's a little much. But let's get back to the message here. Christ says that his will is that they are with him where he is. The world then is not going to be their home.
[9:55] The world is not your home. Christ says, I go to prepare a place for you. Where is he going to go? Look at 14 and chapter, 14 verse 28.
[10:09] He's leaving this world to prepare a place. And if I go and prepare, then I will come again. So chapter 14, verse 28. Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away and come again unto you.
[10:22] If you loved me, you would rejoice because I said, I go unto the Father. That's where he's going. Look at chapter 16 and verse 28 as well.
[10:33] Now, chapter 16, verse 28, I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father.
[10:48] The world is not your home, men, is what he's telling them. I'm going to prepare a place for you and I'm going to come back and get you and take you to be in that place as well. Where are you going?
[10:58] He's going to the Father's house and he fully intends on taking the believers with him. Now, this is a necessary reminder, I believe, for us today. Just as much as he said it to his disciples here in these chapters and these last moments with them, it's just as much a necessary reminder because the world, it's so easy to allow the world to creep into your heart.
[11:20] It's so easy to allow the affairs of this life to steal your focus and begin to worry about who is who and what they're doing and what the tabloids are putting out for you and what your phone is constantly popping up in front of you to read of who's doing what and who they married and what they named their little precious kids, some weird, crazy name that no one else names their kids and you get attracted to that and you get sucked into it and you want to know about it.
[11:45] You know what you're doing? You're getting focused on the world. You're getting focused on the world. It's not your home. You need to be reminded this world's not your home. You don't need to know who's in control as much as you think you do.
[11:57] You know where the world's headed and the people that are in control of it, they're headed to hell. You need to be reminded that this world is not your home. The world is not your home.
[12:10] They're on their way to hell and matter of fact, come back to chapter 18 real quick. Christ made a statement to Pilate as he stood before him.
[12:20] Jesus answered, verse 36, my kingdom is not of this world. It's not of this world.
[12:32] As he stood there and spoke, Christ knew what was coming. He knew the future and he knew right now. My disciples, these men, they're not going to fight for me. We're not starting a revolution. That's not what's going on here.
[12:43] My kingdom is not of this world. It might be a good reminder for every one of us to remember that God's kingdom or what God is doing. It's not of this world. In other words, the powers that be or even the powers of our land that we get so consumed with and focused on, it's just the world.
[13:02] That's all it is. The presidential, it's the world. Who's who in the house? It's the world. I don't know if you feel like some strong tie that you have to be connected to it or you have to know what's going on in it.
[13:14] I'd like to relieve you of some of that and remind you that Christ's kingdom is not of this world. What God's doing is not over in Washington, D.C. or in Beijing or in Honolulu or anywhere in the world.
[13:28] That's not what He's got going on. This world is not your home. These men needed to hear that before Christ left and we need to hear that again this morning. The world's on its way to hell.
[13:39] Christ is going to come and take us out of here so don't get planted. Don't get stuck with what's going on down here. It's not your home. Secondly, well you know what?
[13:49] Let's run a few verses. This is good stuff. I'll try to hurry through this if I can but Galatians chapter 1. Galatians chapter 1. If I can't hurry, I'm sorry, just soak up the scripture a little bit this morning and let it speak to your heart.
[14:04] Galatians chapter 1 verse 4. You know what Christ did? He shed His blood to get us out of here.
[14:17] Galatians 1 verse 4. Speaking of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins that He might deliver us from this present evil world according to the will of God and our Father.
[14:34] That's the will of God and our Father to be delivered from this present evil world. Remember what this world is. Look at Philippians chapter 3. I'll keep moving you to the right. Philippians 3.
[14:49] And we'll start in verse 17. Brethren, be followers together of me and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an example. for many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.
[15:13] They're stuck down here but look at verse 20. For our conversation is in heaven from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who said, I will come again and receive you unto myself.
[15:28] Some of them mind earthly things but brethren, not us. Our conversation is in heaven. That's where our home is. Come to Colossians chapter 3.
[15:40] Verse 1 through 4, Colossians chapter 3. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above. For Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
[15:51] Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.
[16:04] That's what it's about. Come a little, one more, come to, eh, two more. 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 17. This is Christ's intention.
[16:18] I'll start in verse 16. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first and we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
[16:38] This world is not our home. We're going up. Look at Titus chapter number 2. Last one. Titus chapter 2.
[16:50] In verse 11, the Bible says, For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us.
[17:16] Why did He give Himself for us? to deliver us from this present evil world. He reminded His disciples, This world is not your home, men. I'm going to come and get you. I'm going to take you to a better place.
[17:28] I'm going to take you to be with the Father. Come back to John again, and this time in chapter 15. This world is not your home. Chapter 15.
[17:44] And I want us to consider that Christ, one of His disciples, also know that this world is not your family. In verse 19, If I were of the world, the world would love His own.
[17:57] But because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. You're not of the world. Look at chapter 17.
[18:08] He says it twice here. In verse 9, chapter 17, 9, I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. They belong to the Father.
[18:21] Verse number 14. I have given them thy word, and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
[18:31] I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. The Lord God, if you're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, bought you.
[18:46] As a matter of fact, He adopted you. As a matter of fact, in John 1, you're born. In John 1, verse 13, you look it up if you need to. It says you're born of God. And because you're born of God, you're no longer of the world.
[19:01] And I don't want to take the time to cross these references, but Christ spoke to the Jews in John chapter 8. They said, we have Abraham to our father. We're the seed of Abraham.
[19:11] Christ said, I know you're the seed of Abraham, but ye are of your father, the devil. And so, although physically they were born of Abraham's seed, physically, a Jewish race, they were of their father, the devil, spiritually speaking.
[19:27] But if you're born again, you're spiritually of God, being born of God. And Christ says to these men, they're not of the world. He said to the father, they are thine.
[19:38] That's whose they are. So the world is not your family. You belong to the father. The world has its leader. Like I said earlier, they have their father. He's also called, in chapter 12, and 14, and 16, the prince of this world.
[19:51] In Ephesians, he's called the prince of the power of the air. And that prince and leader of, father of these damned are busy. He's busy blinding men and deceiving men and distracting men and entertaining men and keeping their hearts away from truth and away from eternity in the future.
[20:10] They've got their father, ultimately damning their souls. But the world is not your family. In Galatians and in Ephesians, Paul tells the church that they've been adopted into a new family.
[20:23] In Ephesians 2, verse 19, he calls us fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God. A new family belonging to the father.
[20:34] And what about it? This is a necessary reminder, not just for the 12 to know that this world is not your family, that you have a father, but it's a necessary reminder for you and I today because God bought you.
[20:48] And the Bible says he washed you and he sanctified you and he justified you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's permanently done this and it makes the question for me to ask you is how well do you know your new family?
[21:02] How well do you personally know your father? How well do you know the Lord Jesus Christ? Better than that, how well do you know your brothers and sisters in Christ?
[21:15] I'm not talking just about the people that are sitting in this building that claim to be born again. It's not hard to get to get a biography of born again Christians who have something worth saying and have lived a life for the Lord Jesus Christ and to read about what they've accomplished and how God has given them grace and to read how they fulfilled their calling or they didn't surrender or they stood.
[21:40] They, as we sang, dared to stand alone. That's your family whether you consider it or not. It's a whole lot easier on sadly to know more about Hollywood stars and the vanity of their lives and the sin of their lives.
[21:55] It's a whole lot easier for us to absorb that than it is to go learn about the saints of God that have walked before us. That's our family. This world is not your family.
[22:06] It's a whole lot easier to get sucked into learning of the politicians and the lies they tell and the circus that goes on in their circus. Circus in their circus.
[22:18] I don't know what else it is. Versus the saints of the scripture or the martyrs or the missionaries of the past or even God's servants today that are doing it and that have given their lives and devoted themselves to the service of Christ, surrendered to His callings, realize that we're all one in Christ.
[22:36] Look at chapter 17 and verse 20 and 21. How well do you know your family? Chapter 17, verse 20. Neither pray I for these alone but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.
[22:51] Well, that's me. Verse 21. That they all may be one. As thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that they also may be one in us.
[23:05] That the world, that's somebody separate, the world may believe that thou hast sent me. The world's not your family. Well, if you're born again, you get into a relationship with God as your father and you get into a thing that He's established that you become fellow citizens with these saints and you become part of the household of God and the ones we read about in the scripture, we have a bind with them that probably not realized but for the text of the Bible.
[23:33] Probably not understood. But as we read through that, we can read. We're reading about, in this New Testament, we read about our brothers. We're reading about men and women just like you and I who have devoted themselves and given themselves and even read in Hebrews how some were sawn asunder.
[23:49] Some ultimately gave their lives and tortured for Jesus Christ. I recommend you pick up a book and read and learn about the men and the women that have done what they have done for Christ. That's your family.
[24:00] And you're going to meet them one day and you're going to be living with them one day and it'd be nice to know who they are, huh? I mean, if somebody was going to come and stay at your house for a week, wouldn't you want to know a little bit about them?
[24:13] Wouldn't you at least look them up on Facebook? Wouldn't you try to learn something? Why don't you do that? Because that's your family. This world is not your family. So stop spending time reading about them.
[24:26] Stop giving your heart to the world and learning what they're doing and what they're thinking and what they're saying and the fights that they're involved in and the promises that they're making. It's vanity.
[24:38] This world's not your family. Look back at chapter 14, number three. This world is in the dark. Christ wanted his disciples to understand some things about the world before he left.
[24:53] One of them is that it's not your home. The second one is that the world's not your family. God is your father. This world is in the dark. Look at chapter 14, verse 17.
[25:08] I'll start in 16. He says, I will pray the father and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever. Even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you.
[25:26] I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you yet a little while and the world seeth me no more, but ye see me because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my father and ye in me and I in you.
[25:39] He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my father and I will love him and will manifest myself to him. So Judas doesn't understand that last phrase and Judas saith unto him not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us and not unto the world?
[25:59] Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he'll keep my words. Now earlier he said in verse 15, If you love me, keep my commandments. In verse 23, If a man love me, he'll keep my words and my father will love him and we, me and the father, Christ and the father, will come unto him and make our abode with him.
[26:20] He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings. The issue here is obedience to the commands of Christ and to his words and Christ will manifest himself to that one that obeys his words and that loves his words in verse 23.
[26:36] But the world, they don't know him. The spirit of truth that comes to be their comforter or to guide them into all truth or to glorify Jesus Christ and testify of Jesus Christ in 1526.
[26:51] They don't know him. They don't see him. They're completely in the dark to truth. Completely in the dark to spiritual truth that man on his own, the natural man, cannot receive.
[27:04] You can't expect the world to be right when they don't know the truth. Look at chapter 16, verse 3. John 16, verse 3.
[27:15] The world is in the dark. They don't know the Father. They don't know the Son. They don't know the Holy Spirit. Chapter 16, verse 3. And these things will they do unto you because they have not known the Father nor me.
[27:27] One more is in chapter 17. In verse 25, O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee. The world hath not known thee. The world is in the dark.
[27:39] They don't know God. You can't expect them to do right. You can only expect them to do wrong and to be wrong. In John chapter 3, he said that men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.
[27:51] You can't expect them to be right. You can't expect them to have the right mindset. You can just expect them to get it wrong and to get it all wrong, as a matter of fact. Look at the difference between God's people and the world.
[28:05] In chapter 16, in verse 20, Verily, verily, I say unto you that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice. What a difference. What a different reaction to that particular circumstance.
[28:19] The world's rejoicing. God's people are weeping and lamenting. You can't expect the world to know what's going on or to get it right. The world is in the dark. And this is a necessary reminder for us today because the world is so quick to influence us.
[28:35] We're so quick to let our guard down and slip from the scriptures and from standing fast in the word of God, rooted and grounded and built up in Him and established in the faith that we allow the world to tell us what's right and wrong or to decide for us when they don't have a clue and they never have.
[28:54] They don't know what you are and what you know and they don't know who you know. They don't know God. They don't know the Father. Ephesians says that the world is without hope and without God in the world.
[29:05] Don't expect them to give you any advice that's going to lead you into the right direction. Well, they may be worldly wisdom. James talks about worldly wisdom. It's earthly, sensual, and devilish.
[29:16] But then Crod talks about the wisdom that cometh from above. That's the one we get tapped into through Jesus Christ. The world, though, is in the dark. So don't allow the world to raise your kids.
[29:28] Don't allow the world that loves darkness to teach them what's light because the world doesn't know the light. They don't come to the light. You know how I learned?
[29:41] I know I'm sure I told you this before. You know how I learned about drugs? You know how I learned about fornication? You know how I learned? I mean, rebellions can be inside of anybody, but you know how I learned to show it?
[29:54] To rebel against man or society or just anything, I learned it from the world, and specifically, I learned it from the world's music. I pumped that garbage in my ears, and I just learned and learned and learned about things I had never seen in my life, never touched with my hands, but I was just learning all about it.
[30:13] And then when the days came that I saw it and touched it, it was second nature to me because the world taught me all about it long before it was ever presented to me. Don't expect the world to do right.
[30:26] They're going to do wrong. They're going to lead you wrong, and even if they think they're right, there was a time in my life where I got caught as a kid in a Christian home with music that was worldly, and some of it was just, was not like explicit lyric stuff.
[30:43] Some of it was just, eh, kind of in the, I don't know, not good. It was worldly, but it wasn't, you know, extremely wicked or something, you know. And so my parents found it, and they were talking to me about it, and I understood if it was raunchy stuff that I, you know, I wasn't going to be able to justify that.
[31:02] But this other stuff that I thought, there's nothing wrong with that. What's wrong with that? And their response was, this is not of the Lord. This is the world.
[31:12] And to me, I was like, yeah, but what's wrong with it? What about it? Tell me something in there that's wrong. That's my defense for it. And I didn't, my eyes, I was so worldly. I didn't get it right at all.
[31:25] They were so right. It's of the world. We are not the world. We are God's children, God's family. We're over here. We don't go to that to entertain ourselves and to feed ourselves.
[31:38] We abstain from the world. We stay away from that. And I didn't get it. John says in 1 John 5, 19, and we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.
[31:52] That's what my parents knew. That's the life they lived. And I was one foot in the world trying to pretend like this part right here is okay, full well knowing that it was of the world.
[32:06] The world is blinded and ignorant and deceived and lost and condemned and without hope. The world's in the dark. It's a reminder for us today to know that, to consider that as we live in the world that we're not of the world and not to be of the world.
[32:24] Number four, the world doesn't have what you need. Look at chapter 14, verse 27. The world doesn't have what you need. Verse 27, There's two different things between what Jesus Christ is giving and what the world is giving.
[32:50] And look at chapter 15, and verse 9. Here is speaking of love and joy.
[33:18] The first one was peace. That's the first three fruit of the Spirit as we know it in Galatians 5, 22. Love, joy, peace. And it's all offered by the Lord Jesus Christ.
[33:28] Look at chapter 16, and verse 33. The world doesn't have what you need. Verse 33, These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace.
[33:41] In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. We read about Moses. You don't need to turn, but I'm going to run back to Hebrews quickly and read you a passage about Moses, a decision that he made when he was in Egypt, which as you know in your Bible is a type of the world.
[34:01] Hebrews 11, verse 24, By faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, not his family, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ's greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.
[34:23] By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. That is, Moses, in the world there's pleasures of sin.
[34:34] In the world, there's riches, there's treasures in Egypt, there's treasures in the world, sure. But Moses, our example, forsook the world, saying, this is not my family, and I'm going to suffer affliction with the people of God rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin.
[34:53] And you can't replace the joy and the peace and the love that God can put inside of you. In the world, you'll have tribulation. The world doesn't have what you need. In 1 John chapter 2, again, for time will not turn, but he teaches, to love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
[35:11] He then says that the world passeth away. But he that doeth the will of the Father shall endure it forever. The world passeth away. It's only temporary. The things of the world are only temporary.
[35:22] The pleasures of sin are for a season. So the world doesn't have what you need. The world will throw that at you because that's all it has to give you. Temporary money, temporary pleasures, temporary fame and popularity, and then you die in a moment, go down to the grave, and it's gone.
[35:42] Never to be achieved again. Never to be enjoyed or received. It's gone forever. The world doesn't have what you need. Come back to chapter 15 and let me say this.
[35:52] The world also here needs to be forsaken. Christ reminding some things to his men, making them aware or preparing them in several ways.
[36:06] And one thing he teaches them is that the world needs to be forsaken. Needs to be walked away from. And never looking back. Chapter 15 and verse 18 and 19. If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you.
[36:18] If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. God chose for you as well to come out of the world.
[36:33] But it's up to you to decide whether you're going to come out. In 2 Corinthians 6, verse 17, the Apostle Paul says, Wherefore, come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing.
[36:49] And he then talks about the fellowship that we don't have with unrighteousness and darkness and belial and unbelievers. In 1 John, chapter 5, verse 4, the Bible says, For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world.
[37:02] And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. We're to come out. We're to overcome. We're to walk away. We're not lost.
[37:13] We've been found. We're not condemned. We've been justified by faith. We're no longer the enemies of God, but rather we're children of God. We're heirs of God through Jesus Christ.
[37:26] We have overcome the world. So God's calling us to walk away from the world. But there's an irony that I want to close with in this passage about the world.
[37:38] It's in chapter 17. Turn with me to chapter 17. It's our last scripture this morning. As God calls us to come out of the world, the irony is that he's calling us out only to send us right back.
[37:55] Verse number 18, As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them. into the world. Finally, the world needs Jesus Christ.
[38:09] Look at verse 20. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also, which shall believe on me through their word.
[38:20] He's praying for them also. That's lost people there. That's the world. that's the one that he's sending his disciples into the world to get. He's praying for them, which shall believe on me through their word as they're faithful to coming out of the world.
[38:37] and Christ sends them back into the world. One thing we need to realize is they need to realize is the world needs Jesus Christ. And they're out there. They're out there with hell in their future and no way of escape unless they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
[38:55] And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? The world needs one sent to them. Christ sends to the world.
[39:08] He calls you to come out and not be of the world and ironically go right back in. The Bible says how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace.
[39:21] How beautiful in God's eyes are those who go back into the world to win the world. To win them to Christ. Now these are Christ's words as I said earlier that are spoken to his disciples not random thoughts.
[39:36] I don't see that at all. I believe they're purposely reinforcing truth that they needed to be aware of and to be cautioned about and be prepared for. And I think they're timely for us today as well.
[39:49] To remind us and to prepare us and to let us get a position that we are not of the world. To know what the world is they are the world and we are of God.
[40:01] And to realize also then that we have a duty towards it. This world's not our home. This world's not our family. This world is blinded and lost and in the dark to truth.
[40:15] They don't have what we need. We have what they need. We're called to separate ourselves from it but then go back to it with beautiful feet to preach the gospel of peace.
[40:28] when Christ was going to die as so many will be recalling this week the timing of the days of his trip to Calvary he said some things to these men and it wasn't just about caring for their hurt on the inside it was to strengthen and establish them and let them know some things.
[40:51] And may we take this to heart this morning that while we live in this world we are of God we are not of the world and by the grace of God what a shame it is to take that free gift and to realize this to be true and then just say whatever I'll still do my thing.
[41:13] God have mercy on us encourage us strengthen us to do what we know is right. I'm convinced that you folks here know what's right. I'm convinced you know the scriptures and you know your calling is to tell them about the Christ that saved them or died to save them.
[41:30] I'm convinced you know you're not to be like them and to be rubbing shoulders and enjoying their lifestyle. I'm sure you know that. But are you practicing that this morning? You need to hear about the world and we need to be reminded about the world because the world so quickly creeps in.
[41:46] It gets inside our ears and our mind and in our heart and before long this isn't so important anymore. serving him is not as much zeal anymore.
[42:00] Kind of get a little numb to it all and just back off a little bit. You need to realize this life is but a vapor. The world's going to hell. By the grace of God we're going to heaven and there's no reason not to live like that right now.
[42:14] Let's bow our heads together and we'll be dismissed in a moment. In a moment we'll sing a song, a hymn and as your heads are bowed I want you to consider before God before you and God this minute of this day as the thoughts came forward what do you think about what does God think about your lifestyle?
[42:39] Does it scream Jesus Christ or is there filth of worldliness on you? we read the passage that Christ gave himself for us to deliver us from this present evil world.
[42:57] I quoted for you that John said the whole world lieth in wickedness. Is some of that on you? If it is, if God reveals it to you would you be willing to get it off?
[43:10] Would you be willing to give it up? Would you be willing to drop some of that garbage so that you could do a better job for Jesus Christ and be a better testimony for Jesus Christ?
[43:25] How about this? How well do you know your family? Do you know the world more than you know God's children? Do you spend more time with the world than you do with saved? Is your fellowship in Christ or is it in the world?
[43:41] God's called us to get out and get so far out that you can't even see it? And as God moves in your heart and opens your eyes to their condition will you be faithful to preach the gospel of peace?
[43:59] You say they don't like me they don't want to hear it well Christ said the world will hate you so you expect that you get some gumption about you and say I'm not worried about how they react my worry is that I'm serving my savior my worry is that he's pleased with me father as we pray as we consider our position in this world and our condition before you I pray that you have access to our hearts to convict us and to reveal to us our sin reveal to us our selfishness our laziness Lord if we need an attitude adjustment then please give it to us in mercy God please clean us up sanctify us through thy truth Lord wash us in the blood of Christ may the world see something different may they see the
[45:01] Lord Jesus Christ how he's changed us and made us sanctified and holy and like you God give us this conviction this day Lord if there's some here that are struggling with real sin that they can't get victory over Lord I pray for them I pray that you'll minister to them that your spirit be strong in them that they get the victory that they overcome the world Lord if anyone here is not certain that they're on their way to heaven show them their need for the Lord Jesus Christ Lord don't give them peace keep it from them may they seek out the gospel may we be willing to share that with them thank you Lord for these thoughts and for the word of God and the truth in this book in Jesus name we pray amen please stand with me as we sing verse three three