Love Not The World

[0:00] 1 John 2, from verse 15 through to 17.

[0:15] Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

[0:35] And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof. But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Please be seated. There are some things that we ought not love.

[0:49] Some things that we are not to love. There's a command here in this passage. Love not the world. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.

[1:02] Now this doesn't mean that we're to hate planet Earth. That's not what it's saying. We're not to hate God's creation, the planet that we live in. It means really the world system. The world system that is in opposition to God.

[1:15] It's contrary to God. It's against God. The way of living, of the ungodly. The fashions, the loves, the worship of the world. That which the world adores and craves for and is fond of.

[1:28] And the world is something that we as Christians, we're contrary to the world. Or we ought to be contrary to the world. Because the world has alienated itself from God.

[1:41] It's hostile to God. It's hateful to the cause of Christ. The world that we live in. The world system that we walk about in. And in 1 John 5, 19, in part it says that the whole world lieth in wickedness.

[1:57] The whole world is in that domain, that control of wickedness. And to love the world, it means to make the world your focus. It means to make the world your friend.

[2:09] It means to follow the world and its values, and its way of thinking, its desires, and its priorities. And for all of us, we've got to question that. We've got to question, does my heart cling to the world?

[2:22] Does my heart cling to what the world values? Does my thinking conform to the world's kind of thinking? Do my ways pursue the ways of the world? Has the world a place in my heart?

[2:34] In 2 Timothy 4, 10, Paul says of Demas, For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica.

[2:48] Demas hath forsaken me, says Paul, is love this present world. 1 Corinthians 3, verse 19, says of the world again, For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.

[3:02] That's what God calls it, the wisdom of this world. And on Saturday night, Phil was presenting to the young people about evolution. And if it wasn't scientists purporting these views about evolution, you'd think, what absolute foolishness to think that even just a human cell could be just by chance.

[3:27] Let alone that man has emerged ultimately way back from slime, and then into, you know, from non-living to living creatures, and then into the stunning spectacles of a technological marvel that your body is today.

[3:42] As much as we might think that it fails us, we know that it's a technological marvel, isn't it? And it's a design. It's something that, and yet the world, the wisdom of this world, is foolishness.

[3:55] It's utter foolishness to doubt the Creator and creation, and to put in its place the implausible theory of evolution. That's what God calls it, foolishness, the wisdom of this world.

[4:08] And for all of us, we've got to think, am I a friend of the world? If so, we're hostile to God. We read that in James 4, verse 4, you might like to flick there.

[4:22] Are you a friend of the world? If so, consider what the world is and where the world is. The world is God's enemy. The world is God's enemy.

[4:34] It's determined against God. As we read in James 4, verse 4, it says, Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God.

[4:47] In other words, it's hateful and hating God. It's enmity. It's hostile. It's hateful of God. Whosoever, therefore, will be a friend of the world, is the enemy of God.

[5:01] That's something we should take note of, and take notice of. Have you renounced those affections, the affections of the world? The affections of the world. Now, we could all consider, what is the world?

[5:15] And, you know, there's things we could name, and I will name some, but this is not an all-encompassing thing. And it's not really so much places and things, as much as the mentality, the attitude, the devotion to things other than God, is the world.

[5:34] We could consider things that lure us, that attract us, that drag us, that draw us away from God.

[5:45] The world. Things like materialism, nightclubs, rock and roll, Hollywood. Things like Oprah Winfrey. You know, such things as that.

[5:57] These are the world. That's the mentality of the world. Casinos, the racetrack. Of course, these are obvious things, but there's less obvious things too, isn't there? It's just that mentality that drives the world's thinking.

[6:09] That they can get by without God. That God is just some swear word, they say, so flippantly. You know, and use it as a, as a colloquial kind of expression.

[6:22] When something goes wrong, oh my God, they say. And yet he's not even their God. What a mockery. What a tragedy. The world, it's endemic in people's thinking.

[6:33] And we've got to question for ourselves, is that something that honours the Lord, our God? Is it something that honours him? For example, when we choose our recreation, would we ask ourselves the question, would Jesus watch this movie?

[6:50] Would the Lord Jesus sit down alongside us and watch this movie? And we might think, oh, that's a pretty mild one on my bookshelf at home. That's a pretty mild kind of movie.

[7:02] There's only a few swear words in that one. There's only a little bit of nudity and a little bit of immodesty and a little bit of cursing and mockery of God's name and blasphemy.

[7:12] It's only got a little bit of that. It's just mild profanity in that movie. And yet, is that good enough? Is that something that we should want to have a bar of?

[7:22] Friends, we ought not to be conformed to this world as we read in Romans 12. And that's for each of us to consider where we stand. It's not for me to condemn another Christian or you to condemn me, but for us, each one of us, to consider, whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

[7:42] Can we do that in good conscience? Can we do that with a clarity of heart that this will not offend our Lord God, the Holy One?

[7:52] is it something that will besmirch His name? And the church too needs to consider such things because the church is not of this world. The Lord Jesus says that in John 18, verse 36, Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world.

[8:11] And there's a light scripture in John that says, You are in the world, but you're not of it. We don't belong to it. That's not. Our loyalty is not to this world, but to our Lord and God.

[8:23] And yet, sadly, we see that the world and the church have joined forces so much you can scarce tell the difference today. You can scarcely tell the difference between the church, the saints, and the living God as they ought to be and the world and its system that is utterly godless and driven by some other spirit.

[8:46] For example, someone wrote this poem some years ago. This poem goes like this. It says, The church and the world walked far apart.

[8:58] On the changing shores of time, the world was singing a giddy song, and the church a hymn sublime. Come, give me your hand, said the merry world, and walk with me this way.

[9:12] But the faithful church hid her gentle hands and solemnly answered, Nay! I will not give you my hand at all, and I will not walk with you.

[9:23] Your way is the way that leads to death. Your words are all untrue. Nay, walk with me, but a little space, said the world, with a kindly air.

[9:37] The road I walk is a pleasant road, and the sun shines always there. Your path is thorny, and rough and rude, but mine is broad and plain.

[9:48] My way is paved with flowers, and dews, and yours with tears, and pain. The sky to me is always blue, no want, no toil, I know.

[9:59] The sky above you is always dark. Your lot is a lot of woe. There's room enough for you and me to travel side by side.

[10:11] Half shyly, the church approached the world, and gave him her hand of snow, and the old world grasped it, and walked along, saying, in accents low, your dress is too simple to please my taste.

[10:25] I will give you pearls to wear, rich velvets, and silks for your graceful form, and diamonds to deck your hair. The church looked down at her plain white robes, and then at the dazzling world, and blushed as she saw this handsome lip, with a smile contemptuous curled.

[10:44] I will change them, my dress, for a costlier one, said the church, with a smile of grace. Then her pure white garments drifted away, and the world gave in their place beautiful satins and shining silks, roses and gems, and costly pearls, while over her forehead her bright hair fell, crisped in a thousand curls.

[11:08] Your house is too plain, said the proud old world. I'll build you one like mine, with walls of marble, and towers of gold, and furniture, ever so fine.

[11:19] So he built her a costly and beautiful house, most splendid it was to behold. Her sons and her beautiful daughters dwelt there, gleaming in purple and gold.

[11:30] Rich fairs and shows in the halls were held, and the world and his children were there. Laughter and music and feasts were heard, in the place that was meant for prayer.

[11:42] There were cushioned seats for the rich and gay, to sit in their pomp and pride, but the poor were clam in shabby array, sat meekly down outside.

[11:53] You give too much to the poor, said the world, far more than you ought to do. If they are in need of shelter and food, why need it trouble you? Go take your money and buy rich robes, buy horses and carriages fine, buy pearls and jewels and dainty food, buy the rarest and costliest wine.

[12:13] My children, they dote on all these things, and if you their love would win, you must do as they do, and walk in the ways that they are walking in. So the poor were turned from her door in scorn, and she heard not the orphans cry, but she drew her beautiful robes aside, as the widows went weeping by.

[12:35] Then the sons of the world and the sons of the church walked closely, hand in heart. And only the master, who knoweth all, could tell the two apart.

[12:49] Then the church sat down at her ears and said, I am rich, and my goods increase. I have need of nothing or ought to do but to laugh and to dance and feast.

[13:01] The glory world heard, and he laughed in his sleeve and mockingly said aside, The church is fallen, the beautiful church, and her shame is her boast and her pride.

[13:14] The angel drew near to the mercy seat, and whispered in sighs her name. Then the loud anthems of rapture were hushed, and heads were covered with shame, and a voice was heard at last by the church from him who sat on the throne.

[13:29] I know thy works and how thou hast said, I am rich and hast not known that thou art naked, poor and blind and wretched before my face.

[13:40] Therefore from my presence cast I thee out and blot thy name from its place. It's just a poem about the world and the church walking hand in hand, walking hand in hand.

[13:53] Sadly it's happening all too much these days where the world dominates everything, even the church of the living God, even the church of God has become a disco joint, a house of levity levity and carnality and worldliness.

[14:16] And yet the world is something that's contrary to us as God's man, as God's woman. The world is contrary to you. It's against you. It's against him.

[14:27] It's at enmity with God. It's hostile and hateful towards him. We're reading this passage in 1 John of the pitfalls to avoid, the pitfalls to avoid.

[14:38] We see there the lust of the flesh. The lust of the flesh. The world is defined for us here in 1 John 2. And the world, think again, what is the world?

[14:52] It's hateful to God. It's hateful to him. The world is called this present evil world in Galatians 1 verse 4 of 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.

[15:10] And the first pitfall is the lust of the flesh. It's those unbridled desires of the flesh. Gluttony is one. Gluttony.

[15:22] Drunkenness. It's the lust of the flesh. Immorality. It's the lust of the flesh. It's like someone put a quote on his desk in his study.

[15:34] It said, He who would not fall down ought not to walk in slippery places. So true, isn't it? Avoid the slippery places if you would avoid falling.

[15:47] If you would avoid slipping. Avoid the slippery places. And God tells us to flee. He says to flee from immorality. To flee fornication.

[15:58] To flee that which is of the lust of the flesh. To flee from it. To run from it. Not to saunter in that place.

[16:09] Not to stay in that slippery place. We read in the word of David and Bathsheba. David and Bathsheba. David wouldn't have ever given in to the temptation of his flesh if he had done what Joseph had done.

[16:25] Joseph, when Potiphar's wife approached him, the adulterous woman approached him in Genesis 39. Contrast to Samuel 11, what David did with what Joseph did in Genesis 39.

[16:43] What did Joseph do? He ran for his life. He ran for his life away from that place of temptation. What did David do? He lingered and watched Bathsheba.

[16:54] And he entertained those lustful thoughts that led him to sin. adultery and the murder of her husband. Paul writes the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh so that you cannot do the things that you would.

[17:11] It's a constant battle we all have about the fighting of that battle. people. And who sets the rules? Who says what's right and wrong?

[17:23] Is it about your opinion? Is it about how you feel at the time of day? Are we just following our own arbitrary sets of preferences and personal convictions?

[17:36] Or is there something higher that should guide us? Is there something more undeniable and more substantial that should guide our life?

[17:47] Truly there is the word of God. This should be that which guides us. The ultimate authority. The one who sets the rules is God, not us. and he says, prove all things.

[18:02] Hold fast to that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil. If it's got the appearance of evil, don't touch it. Don't touch it.

[18:13] The lust of the flesh, that's one of the pitfalls. The second one, John writes of, is the lust of the eyes. The lust of the eyes, we can think of that as covetousness, as greed, as materialism.

[18:25] It's something that drives the world, isn't it? You've got to get the latest gadget. You've got to get the latest that comes out. You've got to buy, buy, buy. You've got to feed, feed, feed that appetite for more, more, more.

[18:40] It's the lust of the eyes. There's never enough. There's always a craving for more. And the word says, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.

[18:52] Even if God blesses you with wealth, wealth, to some degree, the word warns us then, in Psalm 62, verse 10, if riches increase, set not your heart upon them.

[19:06] Even if God blesses you with wealth, set not your heart upon it. It can be a trap, it can be a tripping hazard, as it were.

[19:18] And many people set their heart on this world, on the things of the world, and they wonder why they get in all kinds of stride. The love of money is the root of all evil, not money itself, but the love of it, that craving, that driving, that obsesses some, that they just want more, more, more.

[19:39] They're like the rich fool in Luke 12, where he wanted to amess wealth, and barns, and build more, and bigger, and bigger, and bigger, more, more, more.

[19:51] But God said to him, Thou fool, this night, thy soul is required of thee, then, who shall these things be, which thou has provided? The lust of the eyes be guarded against that, brothers and sisters.

[20:06] Again, even in the church scene, it's almost like they're driving such things into the church scene, where you've got to drive the latest, or have the best, or God's got to prosper you, for your faith to be genuine, substantial enough, you've got to be a zillionaire, but that's not so, it's the poor in this world rich in faith, that's what matters, it's being rich in faith, that's what counts, you can be the poorest of the poor, and be the richest of the rich, spiritually, and that's what really matters, but the lust of the eyes is even driving the church scene, in some quarters, and we can all be guarded, we must be guarded against that, all the time, the third pitfall, that John writes of, is the pride of life, the pride of life, we can all be proud, we can be proud, that we've got the truth, we can be proud, that we've got everything just so, and so, everything's squeaky clean, and we've got it all together, we can be proud, of our own righteousness, so we think of it, we all need to be guarded, don't we, that none of us can ever come to that place, that we can think that we stand, because we've got to take heed, lest we fall, we can all be proud, we can all be arrogant, we can be proud about the things we're doing for God, and then it's just wood, hay and stubble, isn't it, truly, we must never get proud, we must never get proud, you know, us older people, as we get older we think, we get wiser, sometimes we do, but not always so, but we can get proud of our age, that we're above others because of our seniority, because of our rank, because of our experience, because of our learning, because of our ancestry, you know, our wonderful heritage we've got, our forebears that we might regard, our past accomplishments, maybe your learning, your studying, the degrees after your name, all of that, the money, position, power, we can all get proud, can't we, and we all need to be guarded all the time, because pride sends people to help, it's when people are proud, that they will not bow their knee to

[22:15] Christ, it's when people get proud, that they will not humble themselves, in the sight of the Lord, so that he can lift them up, it's when people get proud, that they will not confess their sin, and be saved, that they will not repent, they will not acknowledge him, who must be truly master, and Lord, to save their soul, pride, sends people to help, pride keeps people from coming to Christ, and bowing the knee, pride, it must be denied, it must be crucified, it must be killed, the pride of life, again, even in the church scene, we can adopt the mentality of the world, it can happen, and I popped in, I mentioned this some years ago, I popped in the back door of a church, a very large church, one of the largest churches in Adelaide, and the message of the day, I only stayed for about five seconds, I think, but it was jam-packed with people, chock-a-block, and the preacher's message was how to make friends and influence people, you know, straight out of the psychology books of the world, positive thinking, nothing to do with God and truth, how to make friends and influence people, pride of life, how to make it, you know, your best life now, as a popular sermon goes that is hitting the airwaves, your best life now, you can make it, you can be a success, you can be a prosperous man or woman,

[23:47] God will make you succeed. What are the Christians in China? What are the Christians in Russia in years back, and places where they had to stand up for Christ and lose everything, lose everything, they didn't have the prosperity, gospel there, but they had the saviour, they had the truth, they had saving grace, they had a humble heart and a saving of their soul, and that is what must drive us to bow our knees to come in humility and reverence, the world passeth away and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.

[24:30] Little children, keep yourselves from idols, in 1 John 5 21. Friends, think of this to close now, of the love of the world, the love of the world, the love of God.

[24:43] Which one do you have? Don't love the world, don't love the things in the world, don't love the pride of life, don't love the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, learn to love God with all your heart, replace those ungodly loves with a godly love, those ungodly motives, those ungodly habits, those ungodly affections, replace them with godly ones, with godly ones, so that you can stand tall for Christ, not by any doing of your own, but because of his doing for you, because of his done for you, to replace those ungodly things with a godly desire, a godly ambition, a godly yearning, a godly motivation, so that you want to hunger and thirst after righteousness and he will fill you with it, to develop a drive for that which is right and that which is true, as Paul writes in Colossians 3, to set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth, set your affection, set your eyes above, set your focus above, he says, set your sights on things above, aspire to them, aspire to be like him, and get enthused, get enthused about serving, serving him in whatever means you can, in 1

[26:05] Corinthians 16 verse 15 it says, of the house of Stephanus, that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints, they were addicts, addicts, of the ministry, they were addicted to the ministry of the saints, it was something they wanted to do, that drove them, that urged them, that motivated them, they wanted to do that, and Christians and I, the word urges you, keep yourself unspotted from the world, unspotted from the world, now if you want to keep your clothes clean, you don't go trampling in the muddy puddles, you don't go traipsing in the slippery places, friends tonight, don't go to the slippery places, because you'll get spotted by the world, and we know who the world is governed by, it's governed by a prince,

[27:10] John 16 verse 11 says this world is governed by a prince, the prince of this world, and we're talking of the enemy of our soul, and we've got to cut those ties, those ties have to be cut, they have to be removed, those ties that bind, that attach us to the world system, if any man love the world, the love of the father is not in him, that's challenging isn't it tonight, if you love the world, the Bible says the love of the father is not in you, it's not in you, so it comes to the crunch really doesn't it, that there's some things you've got to let go of, and that's something that God will convict you of, he will convict you of those things that are less than his best, keep yourself unspotted from the world, let's pray, Lord help us tonight, we pray that you'd replace a love for the things of the world, with a love for the things that are pleasing unto you, help us

[28:16] Lord to come to that place where we won't dabble and mess with such things that could harm our walk, our testimony, most especially Lord we pray that every soul here would know what it is to bow the knee, the heart, the will, to trust you, Lord we pray that some would come to that place of repenting, we know Lord that you're not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance, Lord we pray for repenting of hearts tonight, we pray for Christians to be sold out to the ministry, to be addicted, to be committed to Christ more than ever before, we know some in this world are so committed to the world, they're committed to the world, to the things of the world, help us Lord to break those ties, that bind us to the world and it's thinking, we pray

[29:19] Lord you just move in every heart, help us Lord to commit even this very day, to those things that spot our lives, those things that tarnish our testimony, help us to make a break with it, to go home and break some things, Amen.

[29:43] come to tell the story of haunting things of God.