Do Not Love the World (1 John 2:15-17)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.280 --> 00:00:04.639 If you would please remain standing and let's give our attention to God's word in 2 00:00:04.879 --> 00:00:10.109 First John, a first John Chapter two, verses fifteen through seventeen, the 3 00:00:10.630 --> 00:00:16.109 spirit rites. Do not love the world or the things in the world. 4 00:00:16.949 --> 00:00:20.789 If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him, 5 00:00:21.579 --> 00:00:25.699 for all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh and 6 00:00:25.859 --> 00:00:31.500 the desires of the eyes and pride and possessions, is not from the father, 7 00:00:32.299 --> 00:00:38.210 but is from the world, and the world is passing away along with 8 00:00:38.289 --> 00:00:45.130 its desires. But whoever does the will of God abides forever. Amen, 9 00:00:46.289 --> 00:01:11.790 you may be seated. What I've just read to you from First John Chapter 10 00:01:11.950 --> 00:01:18.980 two, verses fifteen through seventeen, is the first a direct command that John 11 00:01:19.060 --> 00:01:23.140 gives to us in this letter. I'm there have been many implicit things that 12 00:01:23.260 --> 00:01:27.900 have been suggested, or rather things that we should assume whom or take away 13 00:01:29.379 --> 00:01:33.250 of regarding God's will for our lives, and we've talked about some of those. 14 00:01:33.930 --> 00:01:38.489 But here is the first direct one. Do not write a command. 15 00:01:38.650 --> 00:01:44.250 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves 16 00:01:44.329 --> 00:01:48.079 the world, the love of the father is not in him. He goes 17 00:01:48.159 --> 00:01:53.000 on and we will as well. But the point is to emphasize that there's 18 00:01:53.040 --> 00:01:57.760 a this is a strong thing to say. There's a kind of framing that 19 00:01:57.959 --> 00:02:02.349 is going on here, a way in which God wants us to think about 20 00:02:02.390 --> 00:02:07.469 our lives. In fact, every aspect of our lives is summed up in 21 00:02:07.509 --> 00:02:12.669 these words, the things that we are to do and, specific and in 22 00:02:12.789 --> 00:02:16.500 particular, the things we are not to do. Do Not love the world. 23 00:02:17.659 --> 00:02:22.539 Now, when John writes this, remember that he's writing a two Christians, 24 00:02:23.460 --> 00:02:27.099 as we went over last week, and you can listen to that sermon 25 00:02:27.180 --> 00:02:31.409 online if you would, if you wish. John has just written to these 26 00:02:32.050 --> 00:02:38.490 Christians with much tenderness and compassion. If you go back to verse twelve, 27 00:02:38.530 --> 00:02:42.689 he says, I'm writing to you, little children. This is his tender 28 00:02:42.770 --> 00:02:46.000 way of expressing his love towards them and his confidence that they are not just 29 00:02:46.439 --> 00:02:52.120 his children in the faith, but they are the Lord's children. Why? 30 00:02:52.439 --> 00:02:57.639 Because their sins are forgiven, because of Jesus, because they know God, 31 00:02:57.960 --> 00:03:01.629 because they have overcome the evil one. So he's writing to Christians, as 32 00:03:01.669 --> 00:03:05.789 he says, do not love the world or the things in the world. 33 00:03:06.509 --> 00:03:09.310 People that do that aren't you, he says. People that do that aren't 34 00:03:09.310 --> 00:03:15.419 Christians. The love of the father is not in them. The world and 35 00:03:15.620 --> 00:03:19.659 these things are passing away, but you, who have been loved by God 36 00:03:19.860 --> 00:03:23.979 and now, as a result, are loving God by doing his will, 37 00:03:23.979 --> 00:03:29.129 you abide forever. This is your calling, this is what you have been 38 00:03:29.689 --> 00:03:35.210 saved unto now, of course, if you are not a Christian, this 39 00:03:35.289 --> 00:03:40.169 supplies as well. On this command, though, directly to believers, is 40 00:03:42.080 --> 00:03:46.199 a call and a warning to those who do not believe, because if the 41 00:03:46.319 --> 00:03:51.360 things of this world are passing away and only the Kingdom of God will last 42 00:03:51.479 --> 00:03:55.030 forever, it's a warning that if you cling to the things of this world, 43 00:03:55.150 --> 00:04:00.310 you will pass away along with them. You will not inherit eternal life, 44 00:04:01.469 --> 00:04:06.789 you will not be saved from your sins. So I want to speak 45 00:04:06.830 --> 00:04:12.500 to you today about how we should not love the world, but the things 46 00:04:12.580 --> 00:04:17.620 of God instead, about how important that is. Now that make you seem 47 00:04:17.699 --> 00:04:20.740 like an obvious thing to you. Don't love the world, Love God, 48 00:04:21.740 --> 00:04:26.490 but I can promise you that this is something we ought to we all need 49 00:04:26.610 --> 00:04:30.610 to think much more deeply about. It's one of the things that are is 50 00:04:30.689 --> 00:04:36.129 of highest importance when it comes to choosing how we ought to live our lives. 51 00:04:36.170 --> 00:04:44.519 Let's start by thinking about two words defining what they mean so we can 52 00:04:44.879 --> 00:04:48.879 make sure we understand what John is saying. Love and world. Do Not 53 00:04:49.160 --> 00:04:53.470 love the world. What does he mean? Well, the first one's fairly 54 00:04:53.509 --> 00:04:58.389 easy. Right, to love something is to set your affection affections on it 55 00:04:58.470 --> 00:05:02.269 above other things. When you love something, that thing gets, or that 56 00:05:02.629 --> 00:05:12.060 person get, special attention and special importance in your life. You might sacrifice 57 00:05:12.100 --> 00:05:17.019 things for it. You would turn away from one thing in order to have 58 00:05:17.300 --> 00:05:23.970 something else. Maybe it's something as as silly as a TV show. I 59 00:05:24.209 --> 00:05:27.209 love this show, you say, and what do you do? You you 60 00:05:27.850 --> 00:05:31.329 watch it instead of other things. Or I love this woman, I've fallen 61 00:05:31.329 --> 00:05:36.240 in love with her. What happens? Well, and that moment you set 62 00:05:36.360 --> 00:05:43.000 your sights on her, you give your particular attention to her. Or maybe 63 00:05:43.079 --> 00:05:46.160 that's of a friend or an animal or a favorite vacation spot or anything. 64 00:05:46.399 --> 00:05:50.430 That's how love works, right. It's a setting of our affections on something, 65 00:05:50.509 --> 00:05:55.470 a love other things. Now, of course, there are different orders 66 00:05:55.629 --> 00:06:00.670 and degrees of love. There are ways in which we say we love something, 67 00:06:00.829 --> 00:06:03.149 but it doesn't mean we love it as equally as something else. It 68 00:06:04.259 --> 00:06:10.980 just means that in some way it's set aside as special. When God says 69 00:06:11.019 --> 00:06:14.019 do not love the world, but the things of God, here we are 70 00:06:14.060 --> 00:06:18.250 talking about things of the highest order, two categories in which everything, in 71 00:06:19.050 --> 00:06:23.569 your experience and in your life and in your thinking and in your heart, 72 00:06:23.930 --> 00:06:29.810 everything can be divided into either this box or this box, loving the world 73 00:06:30.689 --> 00:06:35.480 or loving God. One or the other is going to be supreme, the 74 00:06:35.600 --> 00:06:42.199 love of the world or the love of God. Which one are you going 75 00:06:42.319 --> 00:06:46.750 to set your affections on? Which one is going to have the highest importance? 76 00:06:47.430 --> 00:06:51.629 Which one are you going to sacrifice for, make decisions about, a 77 00:06:53.230 --> 00:06:58.990 prioritize above all things, not just in your mind and not just theoretically, 78 00:06:59.029 --> 00:07:02.139 but in your heart. Which one do you think about? Which one do 79 00:07:02.220 --> 00:07:12.540 you desire? So That's love, then what is the world? This is 80 00:07:12.620 --> 00:07:15.529 a word that can mean various things. It can have a lot of different 81 00:07:15.569 --> 00:07:19.850 meanings, and at times it does in scripture, in John his writings, 82 00:07:19.970 --> 00:07:26.050 it typically means anything that is antithetical to God and his kingdom and the things 83 00:07:26.089 --> 00:07:31.040 that God loves. The world has already been mentioned once before in John's letter 84 00:07:31.439 --> 00:07:38.439 that's in verse two of this chapter we read he is the propitiation for our 85 00:07:38.519 --> 00:07:43.480 sins, not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole 86 00:07:43.480 --> 00:07:48.149 world. Now that's a very positive statement, right. God has given Jesus 87 00:07:48.310 --> 00:07:53.509 to us in order to turn away his wrath from us. That's a good 88 00:07:53.670 --> 00:07:58.899 thing. And he says he's not just done that for John and the people 89 00:07:59.100 --> 00:08:03.220 in Jesus is immediate context, but for the whole world. So it's a 90 00:08:03.300 --> 00:08:09.339 positive statement overall, but it says something negative about the world. The verse 91 00:08:09.459 --> 00:08:15.610 teaches us that the world is something that is sinful, that the world is 92 00:08:15.769 --> 00:08:20.209 something that needs God's wrath turned away from it. Does that make sense? 93 00:08:20.170 --> 00:08:26.329 That God sent his son is a propitiation for the world means that the world 94 00:08:26.689 --> 00:08:30.639 was not a good place. It means that the world was under the judgment 95 00:08:30.800 --> 00:08:35.279 of God and John, and John writes about this on various places in his 96 00:08:35.399 --> 00:08:39.360 Gospel as well, if you want to look, in Chapter Nine and chapter 97 00:08:39.559 --> 00:08:45.590 twelve, but here in verses fifteen through seventeen, we see this point very 98 00:08:45.710 --> 00:08:50.350 clearly made. The world and the things of the world are not from God, 99 00:08:52.629 --> 00:08:58.259 and neither are those who love the world instead of him. The do 100 00:08:58.460 --> 00:09:01.460 not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the 101 00:09:01.539 --> 00:09:07.500 world, the love of the father is not in him. Now, Paul 102 00:09:07.580 --> 00:09:11.929 are, I'm sorry. John is talking about states in a way, or 103 00:09:11.210 --> 00:09:16.570 habits or ways of living. It's not as though the love of the father 104 00:09:16.610 --> 00:09:20.169 kind of goes in and out and in and out of us in as as 105 00:09:20.289 --> 00:09:24.080 we attach ourselves to the things of the world and attach ourselves to God, 106 00:09:24.279 --> 00:09:28.440 and back and forth and back and forth. No, when God saves us, 107 00:09:28.559 --> 00:09:35.120 he brings us into his kingdom and where they're permanently and but and and 108 00:09:35.720 --> 00:09:39.590 the opposite of that is also true. If you are not in the Kingdom 109 00:09:39.669 --> 00:09:43.149 of God and you don't belong there, then you are still in the world. 110 00:09:43.389 --> 00:09:48.149 What John is talking about in a way is this this strange thing that 111 00:09:48.269 --> 00:09:52.429 happens where you're in the kingdom and yet loving the things that are not of 112 00:09:52.549 --> 00:09:58.179 the kingdom. And he's saying this doesn't make sense. Right. It's like 113 00:09:58.379 --> 00:10:03.860 saying, well, never mind, it doesn't make sense. He says, 114 00:10:05.259 --> 00:10:07.370 if anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. 115 00:10:07.409 --> 00:10:11.809 So why would you be loving the world? It doesn't belong to you. 116 00:10:11.970 --> 00:10:15.649 It's not a part of you, and of course we know this. 117 00:10:16.090 --> 00:10:18.450 Like we read in Galatians, these things are at war with each other, 118 00:10:18.490 --> 00:10:24.519 of a flesh and the spirit. They don't belong together, like oil and 119 00:10:24.679 --> 00:10:30.919 water. But let's get specific. What kinds of things do we love when 120 00:10:30.960 --> 00:10:37.389 we love the world? John gives three examples in verse sixteen. The first 121 00:10:37.389 --> 00:10:43.909 thing he points out is the desires of the flesh, the desires of the 122 00:10:43.029 --> 00:10:52.340 flesh. Now, our bodies have natural desires, whole good desires, desires 123 00:10:52.500 --> 00:10:56.820 that aren't sinful in and of themselves. As I said earlier, in the 124 00:10:56.899 --> 00:11:03.139 service, God made us to have desires. In our natural bodies we need 125 00:11:03.460 --> 00:11:09.690 and desire things like food, water, sleep, affection, work, play. 126 00:11:11.210 --> 00:11:16.250 These are things that we need. There things that we desire in a 127 00:11:16.370 --> 00:11:20.759 way, and in each of these things we can love God with our bodies. 128 00:11:20.440 --> 00:11:24.919 We can serve God with our bodies. The Apostle Paul writes, whether 129 00:11:26.039 --> 00:11:30.320 you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of 130 00:11:30.440 --> 00:11:33.429 God. There's a way in which we can eat and love and rest and 131 00:11:33.750 --> 00:11:39.509 play and do it to the glory of God and enjoy and desire these things. 132 00:11:39.750 --> 00:11:43.909 But when the love of the world instead of love of God is framing 133 00:11:43.950 --> 00:11:48.460 everything for us. Then the desires of the flesh, as he talks about 134 00:11:48.500 --> 00:11:54.379 it here, replace our desires for God. They're not used in thankfulness toward 135 00:11:54.419 --> 00:11:58.860 him or obedience toward him or in service toward him, but they're used for 136 00:11:58.980 --> 00:12:07.730 their own ends. We become consumed by consuming. Our appetites become nothing but 137 00:12:07.809 --> 00:12:15.370 a constant drives that only want to sell feed. God, of course, 138 00:12:15.490 --> 00:12:20.240 knows how to satisfy our hearts, but when we ask food to do that, 139 00:12:20.080 --> 00:12:24.960 or play or work or sex or money or anything other than him, 140 00:12:26.480 --> 00:12:31.470 we set our things on things that can't satisfy, things that, it's John 141 00:12:31.549 --> 00:12:37.509 says, are passing away. You can see what a kind of dreadful cycle 142 00:12:37.669 --> 00:12:45.299 this is, and it is dreadful. These desires of the flesh, these 143 00:12:45.500 --> 00:12:52.019 temptations, are the way that seem works in our flesh. It it tempts 144 00:12:52.019 --> 00:12:56.820 us away from the Lord. It uses the good things that God has given 145 00:12:56.860 --> 00:13:01.690 us and perverts them and twists them and makes them into God's. This leads 146 00:13:01.730 --> 00:13:09.529 to all kinds of evils like gluttony and drunkenness, grieved, sexual immorality, 147 00:13:09.649 --> 00:13:13.919 all kinds of things that, when our flesh now desires these things over and 148 00:13:15.039 --> 00:13:20.360 against God. We want to find our satisfaction in them. Our hope is 149 00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:24.399 in them, our confidences in them. If I can just get this thing 150 00:13:24.639 --> 00:13:28.350 that I want, I'll feel better. If I can just get this thing 151 00:13:28.389 --> 00:13:35.669 I want, my life will maybe make more sense. It's not always quite 152 00:13:35.710 --> 00:13:39.830 as rational as that, of course. The desires of the flesh aren't quite 153 00:13:39.870 --> 00:13:46.100 so calculating, although sometimes we rationalize them in that way. Sometimes they're just 154 00:13:46.379 --> 00:13:56.129 urges which we ignore and give into. The second way in which the love 155 00:13:56.169 --> 00:14:01.250 of the World Makes US stumble is the desire of the eyes. Now this 156 00:14:01.370 --> 00:14:07.289 may sound similar to the first condemnation. It may sound something like lust and 157 00:14:07.450 --> 00:14:11.320 greed, and in a way it is, but I think certain commentators are 158 00:14:11.360 --> 00:14:18.480 right who say this probably refers more directly to the short sidedness, the short 159 00:14:18.639 --> 00:14:22.879 sidedness of our eyes when it comes to living and, or sorry, loving 160 00:14:22.919 --> 00:14:30.710 the world. In other words, the distinguishing trait that connects these things is 161 00:14:30.950 --> 00:14:35.230 that the world is passing away and what the desires of our eyes are. 162 00:14:35.309 --> 00:14:39.620 This is this kind of short sidedness that fails to see that. It's like 163 00:14:39.700 --> 00:14:46.259 a child going through the gift store at the Grand Canyon or something like that. 164 00:14:46.500 --> 00:14:50.379 Just I want that and I want that and I want that. Everything's 165 00:14:50.419 --> 00:14:56.049 exciting, everything's wonderful. There are these things that our eyes just desire because, 166 00:14:56.370 --> 00:15:03.090 well, they're right there and they're great. It's, of course, 167 00:15:03.169 --> 00:15:07.129 not just in gift shops that this happens, but it happens all the time. 168 00:15:07.799 --> 00:15:13.320 Our temptations desire things simply because we see them, because they're there, 169 00:15:13.519 --> 00:15:18.120 even if they're junk, even if we know this thing is going to break 170 00:15:18.360 --> 00:15:22.990 in an hour or in a year, or we know that I'm going to 171 00:15:24.350 --> 00:15:28.509 buy this thing and its value is going to immediately depreciate, and yet I'm 172 00:15:28.509 --> 00:15:33.110 going to set all my affections on it. Or, even worse, we 173 00:15:33.309 --> 00:15:35.980 know that this thing that we're about to do or partake of is going to 174 00:15:37.139 --> 00:15:43.340 destroy us. It's poison, it hurts. That might be physically. We 175 00:15:45.059 --> 00:15:48.659 know it will cause pain to our body, and yet we do it anyway. 176 00:15:48.700 --> 00:15:52.409 Or maybe it's relationally. We know that it's going to hurt the people 177 00:15:52.490 --> 00:15:56.529 that we love, the people that we care about, the Lord whom we 178 00:15:56.730 --> 00:16:03.289 serve, and yet we well, just do it anyway. That's that kind 179 00:16:03.330 --> 00:16:07.000 of short sidedness, this desire of the eyes, these these things that we 180 00:16:07.159 --> 00:16:11.879 see, and we just have to have them because here they are. This 181 00:16:12.440 --> 00:16:18.909 is love of the world. Love of the world means desires of the flesh, 182 00:16:18.149 --> 00:16:26.710 this perverted, twisted lifting up of of our appetites into God's. But 183 00:16:26.830 --> 00:16:32.309 it's also this short sidedness that we have forgetting that the things that we see, 184 00:16:33.419 --> 00:16:37.460 most of the things that we see, will not last. They will, 185 00:16:37.500 --> 00:16:45.179 as he writes here in seventeen, they will pass away, they will 186 00:16:45.220 --> 00:16:49.769 pass away. Love of the world exhibits itself in a tendency to think that 187 00:16:49.889 --> 00:16:55.009 everything we hear and everything that we see right now is going to be forever, 188 00:16:55.769 --> 00:16:57.570 and the things that God has promised, well then, maybe, maybe 189 00:16:57.690 --> 00:17:02.360 not. That's what love of the world is, and so the lover of 190 00:17:02.519 --> 00:17:06.079 the world is the one who clings to the all the things that he sees, 191 00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:11.160 forgetting that there are things that he does not see that will that won't 192 00:17:11.319 --> 00:17:19.789 pass away and that will last forever. I want you to turn your attention 193 00:17:19.990 --> 00:17:25.869 over to psalm forty nine. You can look there if you have your bibles, 194 00:17:26.309 --> 00:17:37.500 or you can listen here. The sons of Cora speak to us and 195 00:17:37.579 --> 00:17:45.769 they give us this very strong warning about these things. It speaks two believers. 196 00:17:45.809 --> 00:17:48.849 It's slant it, it's like John and that it speaks too believers, 197 00:17:48.930 --> 00:17:55.450 and in particular, but of course anyone who's listening in ought to pay attention 198 00:17:56.730 --> 00:18:02.200 and become believers, believers in what the Lord is, who he is and 199 00:18:02.319 --> 00:18:07.920 what he's doing. I'm going to read the whole psalm to you and because 200 00:18:07.960 --> 00:18:12.430 there's many things here that illustrate for us and really impress upon our hearts the 201 00:18:12.589 --> 00:18:18.829 things that John is saying. The ultimate message here is like John's, don't 202 00:18:18.910 --> 00:18:25.309 trust the things of this world. They don't get you anywhere. Psalm forty 203 00:18:25.349 --> 00:18:33.339 nine here, this all people's give ear all inhabitants of the world, both 204 00:18:33.500 --> 00:18:37.940 low and high, rich and pour together. All right, so pay attention, 205 00:18:38.140 --> 00:18:45.450 listen up everyone. My mouth shall speak wisdom. The Meditation of my 206 00:18:45.650 --> 00:18:48.890 heart shall be understanding. I will incline my ear to a proverb. I 207 00:18:49.009 --> 00:18:56.279 will solve my riddle to the music of the liar. That might mean this 208 00:18:56.400 --> 00:19:00.880 is going to be easy, it's going to be fun, you're going to 209 00:19:00.960 --> 00:19:07.359 get this verse five. Why should I fear in times of trouble, when 210 00:19:07.400 --> 00:19:12.109 the iniquity of those who cheat me surrounds me? Those who trust in their 211 00:19:12.230 --> 00:19:17.789 wealth and boast in the abundance of their riches. Right. So why should 212 00:19:17.789 --> 00:19:22.069 I fear these things, these people who say that they are stronger and higher 213 00:19:22.109 --> 00:19:26.299 and more powerful, people that are actively cheating me here and now? Well, 214 00:19:26.299 --> 00:19:30.500 I why shall I fear that? Answer Verse Seven. Truly, no 215 00:19:30.859 --> 00:19:34.819 man can ransom another or give to God the price of his life, for 216 00:19:34.940 --> 00:19:40.970 the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice that he should live 217 00:19:41.250 --> 00:19:45.009 on forever and never see the pit. In other words, you can't buy 218 00:19:45.130 --> 00:19:49.130 your way out of head or out of out of hell. You can't buy 219 00:19:49.289 --> 00:19:55.079 your way out of death. Man's life is too costly. There's nothing that 220 00:19:55.519 --> 00:20:00.680 no nothing you can pay that can save you from that, for he sees 221 00:20:00.920 --> 00:20:07.109 that even the Wise Dye, the fool and the stupid alike must perish and 222 00:20:07.349 --> 00:20:18.150 leave their wealth to others. Their graves are their homes forever, they are 223 00:20:18.230 --> 00:20:23.380 dwelling places to all generations, though they be called by their own names. 224 00:20:25.779 --> 00:20:30.900 Is this great irony that happens here, right, you name an empire after 225 00:20:30.940 --> 00:20:40.569 yourself, Chalpka Dum, and then you end up buried in a grave in 226 00:20:40.769 --> 00:20:45.930 the land that is supposedly this vast testament to your power and strength. And 227 00:20:45.089 --> 00:20:49.119 there you are, in this tidy little plot of place, six feet under. 228 00:20:52.519 --> 00:21:00.599 Man in his pomp will not remain. He is like the beasts that 229 00:21:00.799 --> 00:21:07.549 perish. He ain't nothing. This is the path of those who have foolish 230 00:21:07.910 --> 00:21:14.509 confidence. Yet after them people approve of their boasts. Right. This is, 231 00:21:14.710 --> 00:21:18.269 this is the way that this is that you you take pride in yourself 232 00:21:18.390 --> 00:21:22.339 and your pomp, in the desires of your flesh and the pride of life 233 00:21:22.380 --> 00:21:25.339 and all that you have accomplished, you're going to end up in the grave. 234 00:21:25.500 --> 00:21:27.700 This is the way it goes, and what happens? Everyone goes Ra, 235 00:21:27.900 --> 00:21:33.250 Ra Ra, keep going, more achievements, more rewards. You can 236 00:21:33.329 --> 00:21:41.289 do it. Verse Fourteen. Like sheep, they are appointed for she'll. 237 00:21:41.289 --> 00:21:48.920 Death shall be their Shepherd and the upright shall rule them. In the morning, 238 00:21:51.000 --> 00:21:55.200 their form shall be consumed in Sheel, with no place to dwell. 239 00:21:56.440 --> 00:22:02.430 But God will ran some my soul from the power of Fual for he will 240 00:22:02.549 --> 00:22:08.309 receive me. What man cannot buy, God can. Where are you going 241 00:22:08.349 --> 00:22:12.950 to place your trust? In pomp and in wealth and pride and lands, 242 00:22:15.309 --> 00:22:19.099 or in the God who can bring you out of the pit, out of 243 00:22:19.339 --> 00:22:26.059 death and into life. It's sort of a no brainer, guys, but 244 00:22:26.180 --> 00:22:32.170 our hearts are tempted, aren't they? They strive after these things and ambitions 245 00:22:32.329 --> 00:22:38.210 and appetites. I know that it's in me too, but that's why God 246 00:22:38.450 --> 00:22:44.599 speaks to us and tells us and reminds us and speaks to us again, 247 00:22:45.079 --> 00:22:52.960 because we're forgetful. Listen to his words. Verse Sixteen. Be Not afraid 248 00:22:53.920 --> 00:23:00.390 when a man becomes rich, when the glory of his house increases, for 249 00:23:00.549 --> 00:23:06.910 when he dies he will carry nothing away. His glory will not go down 250 00:23:06.990 --> 00:23:14.180 after him, for though while he lives he counts himself blessed, and though 251 00:23:14.220 --> 00:23:18.259 you get praise when you do well for yourself, his soul will go to 252 00:23:18.380 --> 00:23:26.099 the generation of his father's, who will never again see light. Man in 253 00:23:26.259 --> 00:23:36.490 his pomp yet without under standing, is like the beasts that perish. Do 254 00:23:36.650 --> 00:23:41.130 not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the 255 00:23:41.210 --> 00:23:45.319 world, the love of the father is not in him. For All that's 256 00:23:45.319 --> 00:23:48.759 in the world, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the Ey'd 257 00:23:48.920 --> 00:23:53.720 pride and possessions, or in the accomplishments and the things in which life is 258 00:23:53.880 --> 00:23:59.630 carried forward, it's not from the father, but it's from the world, 259 00:24:00.710 --> 00:24:07.069 and the world is passing away along with its desires. But whoever does the 260 00:24:07.230 --> 00:24:22.339 will of God abides forever. Life, in our life, as we relate 261 00:24:22.420 --> 00:24:26.809 to the world, is a complicated one. Jesus says this himself in John 262 00:24:26.970 --> 00:24:32.250 Seventeen. He says, I want you to be in the world, but 263 00:24:32.410 --> 00:24:40.039 not of the world. Right, complicated, difficult, not always easy. 264 00:24:42.480 --> 00:24:48.079 But John gives us this command here that we can't ignore. Though we are 265 00:24:48.160 --> 00:24:56.829 in the world, though, we are constantly surrounded by temptation, by shying 266 00:24:56.029 --> 00:25:03.869 me things, by promises of the evil one. God remind God is reminding 267 00:25:03.950 --> 00:25:11.059 us this morning to not exchange the things of lasting value for the things that 268 00:25:11.259 --> 00:25:18.380 pass away. As you take a mental checklist of your life over the last 269 00:25:18.500 --> 00:25:22.210 week, you ask yourself, where are the instances in which I have loved 270 00:25:22.329 --> 00:25:30.410 the world more than God? No doubt you will find yourself a feeling not 271 00:25:30.490 --> 00:25:37.079 a little sickened or embarrassed, either from fearing those that are in power and 272 00:25:37.160 --> 00:25:44.559 have wealth and glory and fear overly, fearing them as though your destiny lies 273 00:25:44.680 --> 00:25:49.109 or falls with them, or maybe trusting them and hoping in them and wanting 274 00:25:49.150 --> 00:25:56.349 to become them. As we think of these things and as we find embarrassment 275 00:25:56.549 --> 00:26:03.789 or sorrow, let Remont let me remind you of what John wrote in verses 276 00:26:03.869 --> 00:26:08.819 twelve through fourteen. There he writes and he tells us that God has done 277 00:26:08.980 --> 00:26:14.619 something in our lives that can help us to live in the world and not 278 00:26:14.819 --> 00:26:19.250 be of it. Listen to these strong words again. From verse fourteen he 279 00:26:19.450 --> 00:26:22.250 says, I write to you, young men, because you are strong, 280 00:26:23.490 --> 00:26:29.490 the word of God abides in you and you have overcome the evil one. 281 00:26:30.769 --> 00:26:33.400 This is something he repeats not just to young men but to all people later 282 00:26:33.559 --> 00:26:40.279 on, I believe it's in chapter five. If you see the world in 283 00:26:40.359 --> 00:26:45.480 this way, if you have rightly, if you are rightly at this moment, 284 00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:48.869 seeing things as God aught, as you ought to see them, as 285 00:26:48.910 --> 00:26:52.710 God has told them to you, the love of the world versus love of 286 00:26:52.869 --> 00:26:56.549 God, and you're asking yourself, what can be done, how can I 287 00:26:56.670 --> 00:27:02.140 make sure that I don't attach myself to the things of this world and pass 288 00:27:02.220 --> 00:27:07.779 away with them and judgment and in death, and instead attach myself to God 289 00:27:08.140 --> 00:27:15.769 and his things, then let me tell you. First things first, there's 290 00:27:15.849 --> 00:27:21.730 nothing that you can do on your own and in your own strength to accomplish 291 00:27:21.849 --> 00:27:30.480 that goal. Let me explain. Would it make any sense if I told 292 00:27:30.559 --> 00:27:36.680 you that the way to love God as the chief of all things and defined 293 00:27:36.759 --> 00:27:41.480 all of your hope and salvation and confidences in him was to love above all 294 00:27:41.599 --> 00:27:48.869 things and trust in your own ability and strength to love God? Do you 295 00:27:48.910 --> 00:27:55.549 see what I'm saying? You can't say I know the way to love God 296 00:27:56.470 --> 00:28:03.779 above all things is to love and trust in myself above all things. Just 297 00:28:03.900 --> 00:28:08.220 doesn't work. The only way to love and trust in God above all things, 298 00:28:10.380 --> 00:28:15.809 to hold him for every confidence, to fear him above everything else, 299 00:28:18.450 --> 00:28:22.089 is to do exactly that, and you can't do that by simply trusting in 300 00:28:22.210 --> 00:28:30.039 yourself or doing a bunch of things in your life. What scripture says is 301 00:28:30.240 --> 00:28:37.960 that you must be reborn. Something has to happen in you, were the 302 00:28:37.200 --> 00:28:45.710 makeup of yourself changes, where you are spiritually constituted in a different way, 303 00:28:45.789 --> 00:28:51.549 a way that will even progress to the point where one day you will be 304 00:28:51.990 --> 00:29:00.339 physically reconstituted in a glorified body. You must be reborn, and what John 305 00:29:00.460 --> 00:29:06.539 says, quoting Jesus and John Chapter Three, is that this doesn't happen by 306 00:29:06.619 --> 00:29:10.809 the will of man or by flesh or blood. You can't make that happen. 307 00:29:11.289 --> 00:29:15.490 You can't do anything to bring about the power of God in your life. 308 00:29:18.569 --> 00:29:23.799 What can you do then? Well, you ask him to do it. 309 00:29:26.359 --> 00:29:30.160 You go to him and you say, Lord, I know that I 310 00:29:30.279 --> 00:29:34.960 can't cause myself to be born of you as much as I could cause myself 311 00:29:36.079 --> 00:29:41.309 to be borne from my own biological mother, but I know you can do 312 00:29:41.549 --> 00:29:48.589 that, and so do it. Cause me to be reborn, give me 313 00:29:48.750 --> 00:29:55.940 your spirit that I might love you, change my heart, forgive my sins. 314 00:29:55.980 --> 00:30:02.339 And the amazing thing is this not only sort of logically, all makes 315 00:30:02.339 --> 00:30:07.210 sense, but this is what God has promised to us. He has said, 316 00:30:07.730 --> 00:30:12.809 come to me and I will give you life, I will give to 317 00:30:12.970 --> 00:30:19.329 you the thing that you cannot provide for yourself. Come to him with your 318 00:30:19.410 --> 00:30:26.000 brokenness, with your empty hands, with your perverted heart. Come to him 319 00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:30.640 and confess your sins, and he will give you his spirit that you might 320 00:30:30.880 --> 00:30:41.150 love him. He will change you so that your affections also change. And 321 00:30:41.349 --> 00:30:45.190 as he does that, what will happen is that he will put his spirit 322 00:30:45.349 --> 00:30:49.779 into you, so that you will walk in the spirit. How do you 323 00:30:49.980 --> 00:30:53.299 love the world and are sorry, Love God and not the things of this 324 00:30:53.500 --> 00:31:02.140 world, in the same way in which we receive the newness of life by 325 00:31:02.220 --> 00:31:07.809 asking him for it, by trusting him for it. When temptation comes in 326 00:31:07.930 --> 00:31:14.650 its pressuring, pressuring, pressuring and you want this other thing so bad and 327 00:31:14.809 --> 00:31:19.400 you know it's sinful, what do you do? Well, before they're all 328 00:31:19.400 --> 00:31:23.440 kinds of practical things we might suggest, but at the bottom of it all 329 00:31:23.640 --> 00:31:30.400 has to come a trust that the Lord himself can change your heart and then 330 00:31:30.559 --> 00:31:34.309 acting on that. In that light, I'm going to turn away from this 331 00:31:34.470 --> 00:31:38.109 sin because I know that God is working in me, because I know that 332 00:31:38.230 --> 00:31:42.670 God wants this for me. When we fall, it means going to him 333 00:31:42.750 --> 00:31:48.539 for forgiveness and for life and for hope. It means, again and again, 334 00:31:48.619 --> 00:31:52.779 going to him in submission and saying, Lord, please save me, 335 00:31:52.740 --> 00:32:01.730 and knowing that he will. You can't love God by loving and trusting the 336 00:32:01.890 --> 00:32:07.450 things of this world. You can't say I'm going to love God and strive 337 00:32:07.569 --> 00:32:15.609 after him by making up rituals of my own or impressing him with my wealth 338 00:32:15.650 --> 00:32:22.480 or showing him how spiritual I am, or joining the right churches or having 339 00:32:22.559 --> 00:32:27.200 the right friends or whatever else you might come up with. Those might be 340 00:32:27.400 --> 00:32:30.190 good things, they might even be things that God wants you to do, 341 00:32:30.470 --> 00:32:37.829 but if, even if you're replacing those things, if you're replacing him with 342 00:32:37.069 --> 00:32:46.660 anything, then you will not succeed. I know it sounds maybe overly simple, 343 00:32:46.859 --> 00:32:53.259 but the way to love God is to love God. It's to fully 344 00:32:53.299 --> 00:33:00.730 attach yourself in every way to him, knowing that even that is impossible apart 345 00:33:00.730 --> 00:33:07.450 from his love working in you. So do not fear the things of this 346 00:33:07.650 --> 00:33:14.400 world, do not trust the things of this world, but set your heart 347 00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:21.400 fully on him. He will save you and you will not go down to 348 00:33:21.440 --> 00:33:28.190 the pit like the beasts and see no light forever, but you'll rise on 349 00:33:28.309 --> 00:33:32.190 the last day and you will live for the rest of eternity in the light 350 00:33:32.430 --> 00:33:40.150 of the son of God in his kingdom forever. Let's pray and ask that 351 00:33:40.230 --> 00:33:44.700 God would do these things in our lives, in our Church