Worldliness

[0:00] Friends, we're living in a world that is hell-bent. It's fallen, its direction is sinful and hellward.

[0:21] ! The word tells us that the world walks according to a course, a direction that has been set by the Prince of the Power of the Air. The Spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.

[0:35] The course that we set, the direction that we set, is it the same as the world? Is it? It shouldn't be, it shouldn't be, but rather it ought to be finding and doing the will of God.

[0:48] Finding and doing the will of God. 1 John 2 verse 15 through 17 it says, Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.

[1:00] If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

[1:17] And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof. But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.

[1:29] I'm talking about worldliness. It's explained right here. We see it there. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. So, the lust of the flesh, we can think, for example, that which would make us impure.

[1:44] That which would create desires that are wholesome, strong drink. The lust of the flesh. Secondly, the lust of the eyes. Having that preoccupation with the vanities of this world.

[1:57] With covetousness, with such that will engage our eye gate. What do you think of when you think, what do you look at? Movies, for example, got to be guarded about what we take in through the eye gate of our soul.

[2:11] The lust of the eyes. And then, thirdly, the pride of life. The pride of life. That self-obsession. That self-pity at times. That selfishness that overwhelms us.

[2:22] That preoccupies us at times. That seeking after honour. That tendency to arrogance. The pride of life. It's Satan's sin, isn't it? I will!

[2:33] I will! I will! Is what Satan said. That thirsting for honour. For boasting. For pride. For vanity. For vanity. Worldliness is all of those things.

[2:44] Worldliness is getting caught up. Fitting in. Rather than wanting to be holy. A fitting in with the world around us is worldliness.

[2:55] And there's many scriptures that tell us of the world and of worldliness. Worldliness is being more interested in worldly treasures than in eternal riches.

[3:06] And there's an influence. An influence. An influence. Like a magnetic pull from worldliness. Who's ever? Have you ever been tempted? Well, there's a lot of liars here today.

[3:19] Have you ever been tempted? The Bible says it's common to man. It's common to man. Every man, every woman has that common temptation. Worldliness.

[3:30] Worldliness. Worldliness. The Bible warns you about worldliness. It warns us to not have that tug draw us away. You know, there's people here who can testify of that.

[3:43] Who have testified of that. How the pull, that magnetic attraction of the world and the attitude of heart. That soiling effect, that influence, that soiling effect of the world has had its pull and has drawn them.

[4:00] James tells us about lust drawing and then capturing us and leading to sin. And he says, keep yourselves unspotted, unspotted from the world.

[4:11] James 1, 27. The question that you need to ask is, what is it that you love? What is it that you love?

[4:22] Is your love for the Lord paramount? Or is it more true of you that the love for the world is stronger? We need to be honest today, people.

[4:35] Worldliness. Worldliness. We're going to look at worldliness in three dimensions. Three headings. Fellowship, fleshliness and philosophies.

[4:47] Firstly, the world's fellowship. The world's fellowship, it says we cannot join in partnership with the world. In 2 Corinthians 6, 14 it says, be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.

[5:01] For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? What communion hath light with darkness? Fellowship.

[5:12] It means a partnership. It means a joint participation. Fellowship. We're not to link up in communion or in that common unity with such things as against God.

[5:25] We're not to link up with darkness. We're light. Light. We're not to have that relationship, that worldly fellowship. It's plain wrong. We see in Ephesians 5, 9 through 11, it talks about the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth, proving what is acceptable, acceptable unto the Lord.

[5:47] And have no fellowship, have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them, speak against them, oppose them, resist them. The child of God cannot be close to God while at the same time living according to the ways of the world, according to the course of the world.

[6:07] A preacher asked this question, he said, do you want to live a supernatural life of victory? And he described how the victory expressed, the train if you like, runs on two tracks, trust and obey.

[6:24] Someone's smiling at me, maybe they've heard of that one. Trust and obey. Victory comes as we trust and obey. Romans 12, it says, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable, there's that word again, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

[6:45] And be not conformed to this world, but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable, acceptable, acceptable and perfect will of God.

[6:59] Paul says, don't be conformed to this world. Don't let it shape you into its mould. Don't get conformed to the thoughts and goals and actions of this world. Conformed.

[7:11] Conformed. The tense is passive. In other words, it's talking about, it's acting upon you from outside. There's an intense pressure to conform. Do you sense that?

[7:23] Do you sense that? I do. I sense that pressure to conform. Peer pressure. It's something that we're warned about. The word says in Exodus 23 verse 2, it says in part, Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil.

[7:39] Do evil. It's where you get that saying, don't follow the crowd. Don't follow the crowd. Often the crowd is wrong. Most people want to follow the crowd, so just blend in, fit in, go along with the fashions and trends.

[7:53] Friends, will you be a crowd follower or will you be a Christ follower? Will you follow the crowd or will you follow the cloud?

[8:04] Follow God. Will you be a conformer? A conformist is someone who is afraid to be different. You know, I had that when I was at school.

[8:16] Where as a young Christian, there was a lot of pressure, peer pressure. Conformity. Conformity. And when you do stand out, you face it.

[8:27] But it's better to stand for something than fall for anything, isn't it? It's better to stand for God. And there will be no regrets.

[8:39] You might lose some friends. A conformist feels that they have to be like everyone else. Everybody else is doing it. Does it make it right?

[8:50] The word warns us against that danger of association. Association. It will bring corruption, rottenness and decay. That rotten apple in your fruit bowl is going to have an influence on the other apples.

[9:05] An association that will bring corruption. In 1 Corinthians 15, 33 it says, Be not deceived. Evil communications or fellowship.

[9:16] Evil communications corrupts good manners. In other words, evil associations will have that influence, that effect.

[9:28] Many are like Lot. What did he do? What did Lot do? He had a look at the... He took a bit of a stock take and he saw the fancy land with the benefits that would flow materially.

[9:43] And he pitched his tent towards Sodom. He just wanted to have a view of Sodom from his tent window. And then he was drawn, drawn, drawn ever closer till he was living in it.

[9:59] So in the light Lot they have more of an interest in material prosperity than for what matters. Than for the spiritual welfare of their family and for what will do their soul good.

[10:13] And it's about a fellowship. It's about a joining in with the pagans and getting drawn in by their sin. Of course we are to be in the world but not of it.

[10:24] We're meant to be salt. We're meant to be light. We're meant to be shining brightly for our Lord in the midst of a pagan culture. In the midst of a heathen workplace or wherever we find ourselves.

[10:36] We're meant to be light. We're meant to be shining brightly. We're meant to be salt. The question is will we let our light shine? Or will we let someone snuff it out? Will we just let that light grow dim?

[10:49] Grow faint? Will that salt lose its power? Will it just kind of lose that flavour? Lose that potency? The influence of the world can be too strong. And we just blend in.

[11:01] And we lose our flavour. We lose our power. And for some the love of the world is their undoing. Paul writes to Demas. He says, Demas has forsaken me having loved this present world.

[11:15] 2 Timothy 4 verse 10. People today, a worldly Christian is a useless Christian. Don't fall for it. Don't fall for it. A worldly Christian is a useless Christian.

[11:34] He's of no value to the world and no good to God. It's a reproach. It's a reproach. No man can serve two masters. Who do we serve?

[11:46] Who do we serve? Will you serve him? Our Lord and God. Worldly fellowship will hurt you. It will hinder you. It will harm you.

[11:57] Rather than hankering after the world's fellowship. Instead, let us choose godly fellowship. That will bless our soul. Choose godly fellowship.

[12:08] Where you can fellowship. Fellowship with God's people. Fellowship with those who've at least got some interest in the things of God. Find yourself in the fellowship of God's people.

[12:20] Secondly, we see the world's fleshly lusts. We've seen the world's fellowship. Now we're going to look at the world's fleshly lusts. 1 Timothy 6 verse 17. It tells us that God has given us all things richly to enjoy.

[12:34] Our God is not a killjoy. He is the fulfillment of joy. Of joy unspeakable and full of glory. The Christian life is truly a joyful life.

[12:46] A joy filled life. God has given us wholesome desires that he wants to satisfy. He talks about God will give you the desires of your heart. That's of course when you get a new heart.

[12:57] Because it will be a heart like his heart. And as Christian believers, we believe in life before death. As well as life after death.

[13:08] Life in Christ is life more abundant. Life freeing and full. And fulfilled. Our faith brings us a joy and gladness that the world can't even imagine.

[13:21] Like Wesley put it, sour godliness is the devil's religion. God doesn't want us to be sour pusses. And down in the mouths.

[13:32] God wants us to be full of joy. That joy that he gives. And then there's the devil's substitute. The devil's substitute for godly desires is fleshly lusts. Fleshliness.

[13:43] In 1 Peter 2.11 it says, Dearly beloved, I, besituous strangers and pilgrims, abstain. Abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.

[13:55] In other words, keep from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. We know the word tells us of these days we learn that there's a people that are obsessed as lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

[14:08] Which will we choose? Which will be that obsession? What will be that driving force?

[14:19] In Titus 2.11 it 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.

[14:34] There's a wonderful joy of living for God and his truth. I don't know how I can strongly convey to you today, most strongly convey to you in the strongest words possible, the absolute urgency of this hour.

[14:53] The urgency to stop playing church. The critical hour that we are living in today. The Bible speaks of the God of this world that he ensnares people.

[15:05] He traps people as was talked about. Men and women trapping them in worldly lusts. So that they bow down and worship him and pay him homage. The days are evil, the wicked rule and our holy God is grieved.

[15:19] He is grieved. Meantime fleshliness and hurtful lusts consume people. We see that in 1 Timothy 6 verse 9 it says, They that will be rich will fall into temptation and a snare and into foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.

[15:39] Temptation, snare, hurtful lusts. There's an abandonment of purity. The world dresses to seduce.

[15:50] We see what is popular fashion. We see what the world will delight in. In what is immodest. In what is revealing. In what is fleshly. And it's in the church.

[16:02] It's in the church. Someone said this that I'll quote. Most Christian women who dress immodestly are simply ignorant of the war with lust that men confront on a daily basis.

[16:19] Immodesty. Guard yourself. Women and men. I was shocked lately to hear about a church that had adopted something. Now, some of you might kind of snigger at this and think, Oh, what is he going on about?

[16:32] But I think it's a picture of the state of the church. Now, have you heard of gang man style?

[16:45] Show me your hand. Have you heard of gang man style? Do you want a demonstration? No, no. No, it's a vile worldly dance. I can see those of you who are worldly now.

[16:58] You know what gang man style is. No, but gang man style is a worldly dance. Now, some of it is harmless. We know that. But there's certain gyration, certain dance moves that are just plainly sexual, sensual, fleshly, worldly, devilish, hurtful lusts.

[17:19] And I was shocked to hear of a church that had gang man style on the platform. And I thought, no, that can't be. Someone's having a bit of a joke here. But no, I looked on the internet, and you can too if you want to prove me right or wrong.

[17:34] And there's pastors there dancing gang man style. There's youth leaders dancing gang man style with their worldly youth groups. And, you know, just the lyrics.

[17:48] Let alone the dance moves, the gyrations. It's in a church. It's on the platform. The pastor is doing it.

[17:59] This is the sick state of some quarters today. The question is, are you overcoming the world or are you embracing it? This is just one example.

[18:10] It's maybe only a glimpse of something that people might question. Oh, you're being extreme, Andrew. But the question is, are you overcoming the world or are you embracing it?

[18:23] Who do you belong to? Let the devils crowd, let the discos do their gang man style. Let the people of God reject it as something that is sick. It's sensual.

[18:34] It's of the flesh. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life is of the evil one. It's not of the Father, but it is of the world.

[18:47] And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Instead of following the world, chasing after the pleasing of the flesh or exposing of the flesh, let us rather aim to do God's will, to nurture godly desires, to honour the Lord in all things, to glorify him in and through our life, to determine, to be sanctified, set apart, consecrated unto the Lord, to present yourself as an effective Christian, to be set apart, to stand in awe of him, the Holy One.

[19:23] He's awesome. He's awesome to be available for the Lord's use, to be strong and to do exploits for his glory. God wants you to be an effective Christian, to not be a compromising one, but know that the Lord has set apart him that is godly for himself.

[19:41] Psalm 4 verse 3. We've seen the influence, the world's fellowship.

[19:55] We've seen the world's fleshly lusts. And thirdly, the world's philosophies is another area. The world's philosophies. A third area that the master deceiver delights to draw us into a loving of the world and the things of the world, is in adopting worldly philosophies, the world's thinking.

[20:14] Colossians 2 verse 8, it says, Again, I want to stress and underline the critical hour that we are in.

[20:39] People are being taken hostage. You know, when you hear about a man or woman being taken hostage in a foreign land, the government takes that very seriously, doesn't it?

[20:52] I hope it would if I'm ever taken hostage in another country. I'd like my government to care about me and to send an army to come and free me. Amen? Amen.

[21:03] If you're taken hostage, if you're taken captive, that's something that you hope will make us pay attention. People have been taken hostage. They've been spoiled, taken captive.

[21:16] People need the truth desperately today. Desperately today. Bible truth is real. This is not something to play around with. It's something we've got to take seriously. It's important.

[21:27] The Bible tells us about man, about God, about sin, about the world. We neglect Bible truth and our peril. The world has been taken captive.

[21:38] We must mount a rescue operation. A rescue operation. We want to be telling people about God's saving grace. About the wonder of salvation through faith in Christ.

[21:53] We want to preach and receive hard truth for hard hearts. So that God can break those hard and stony hearts.

[22:04] 2 Peter 3, it tells of the day of the Lord. It's going to come like a thief in the night. The elements are going to be dissolved with a fervent heat. The works of the earth are going to be burnt up.

[22:15] Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved. What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation or conduct and godliness?

[22:26] Looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of God. Where in the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved. And the elements shall melt with fervent heat. It's going to get hotter.

[22:37] There is going to be some climate change. Massive climate change. The elements are going to melt with fervent heat. The heavens are going to be on fire, dissolved. What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness?

[22:53] Looking for that new heavens and new earth. Wherein dwelleth righteousness. There's going to be a massive change to planet earth. Be diligent that ye be found of Him in peace.

[23:04] Without spot and blameless. I want to urge you this morning. Stop thinking like the world. Don't think like the world. You've got something higher, something better, something more worthwhile.

[23:18] It's a trap to take on worldly preoccupation with earthly things. Paul writes in Ephesians 4, Be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Put on the new man.

[23:31] Neither give place to the devil. There's a renewing of the mind that happens for the believer. A change that's a repentance. A changing of heart, of mind, of attitude to sin.

[23:42] Our thought patterns change because the word of God starts to feed the brain box with some good stuff. Some good stuff. Garbage in, garbage out.

[23:53] Good stuff in, good stuff out. Put it in. Put it in. Put it in. Put it in. God's ways of righteousness. The mind can be changed and then the behaviour can change. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good, acceptable and perfect will of God.

[24:15] The verb transformed is in the passive voice as well. So in other words, it comes from externally. Transformed, it comes upon us or within us. You cannot change yourself.

[24:27] You cannot change yourself. The transforming change must come from the power of another. It must come by the power of the Holy Spirit. The indwelling spirit. Right action and right choices follow right thinking.

[24:42] Get the thinking right. As the man thinks in his heart, so is he. We can be amongst those who are valiant for the truth. Do you know God's will?

[24:55] Do you know God's will? Do you want to do God's will instead of the philosophies of the world? What a tragedy it would be to miss that. To miss God's will.

[25:06] Friends, I urge you just in closing, we can make right choices. We can distinguish between the false and the real. We can recognise the neglect of our soul.

[25:20] We must. We can heed the biblical principles that we need. We must flee Babylon, as it were. Understand the times. Realise that there's a course of this world.

[25:31] There's a direction that this world is going. We must unmask it and flee it. Expose it. Realise that the dangers of worldly philosophies.

[25:42] What am I talking about? Relativism. There's no absolute truth. You can just do as you please. You've got your opinion. I've got mine.

[25:53] Let's all just live and let live. Relativism. Humanism. Oh, man's pretty good. That's what the world will tell you.

[26:04] We've all got a little bit of goodness in us. And you know, I'm not as bad as the next guy. The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. Who can know it?

[26:15] That's what God says about the heart. Groupthink. Just go with the crowd. Just go with what's inclusive and tolerant and, you know, the flavour of the month.

[26:30] The foolishness of atheism.

[26:43] I can't believe it. Evolution. It's inconceivable. It's just crazy. The dangers of worldly philosophies.

[26:55] Friends, we need to see what they are. Reject them. Shun them. And depend on what God says. What God shows us. What is your relationship with the world today? We've been talking in general terms.

[27:07] Let's make it personal now. Let's get right down to it now. What is your relationship with the world? With the world and the things of the world. With worldliness. We should not love it, but rather be militant against it.

[27:20] In Ephesians 6.12 it says, For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against the spiritual wickedness in high places.

[27:33] We're exhorted about friendship with the world. It's joining forces with those who are in defiance, in opposition to God. We're meant to be doing damage to the kingdom of darkness, not just joining in with it.

[27:46] Without separation you are spiritually dead. There's churches without separation today. There's no difference. The pastor gets up and does gang man style and they applaud.

[28:00] They just go in this applause, in this euphoric applause. I've seen it. Hellsong London. You can look them up on the internet. God forbid. God have mercy. God have mercy.

[28:11] God have mercy. God have mercy. Without separation you're spiritually dead. Dead. Where you walk hand in hand with God or with the world.

[28:22] Where you sit on the fence, it's going to get mighty uncomfortable there. There is no middle ground. There is no middle ground. None at all. You cannot sit on the fence.

[28:33] You've got to decide one way or the other. Whose side are you on? Our Lord says to us something that is needful. In Revelation 3 verse 19, He's talking to the church.

[28:47] As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous therefore and repent. Come to Him. Christ died so that sin should no longer lord it over us.

[29:01] God is real. This truth is real. Worldliness is real. It's an influence that we need to be mindful of. Victory is possible, it says.

[29:13] For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world. This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. I've been preaching to Christians today.

[29:26] This is a message to Christians. You might not be a Christian right now. You might not be saved. You might not understand what I'm going on about. In simple terms, there's two powers.

[29:38] There's two people who want you. Choose you this day whom you will serve. Will you carry on with the influence of the world, with that which rejects and spurns God and defies Him, and opposes Him, and all that is good and right and true.

[29:56] Or will you follow Satan and his lies? He's defeated. We've heard that. He's defeated. He's got his tail between his legs.

[30:07] He's a snivering, whimpering, ugly, vile, toothless tiger. He's just about to cark it. And yet, people follow him.

[30:19] They want to be in his crowd. They want to be in his company. They want to listen to his lies. Don't believe it. He's defeated. He's just about to get the last kick in the guts.

[30:31] Amen. As God will stomp on him and throw him into the lake of fire forever and ever. Don't follow that loser. Follow Jesus today. Follow Jesus today.

[30:43] Have faith in God. Faith is the victory that overcomes the world. If you're outside of Christ today, you're following a loser and you'll end up where he ends up. In hell. Hellfire and brimstone.

[30:55] It's real. If you follow the enemy and his crowd, you will burn for eternity in hell. The word says so. Trust Christ today.

[31:06] Trust Him today. He's the one who bled and died. He took our sin, my sin, your sin, nailed it there, and bled and breathed this last breath for us. That we can have life everlasting.

[31:19] And rose victorious from the dead. And ultimately he'll come victorious as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Friends, whose side are you on? Let us pray.

[31:31] Bye. Thank you.