1 John 2 (KJV)
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.
16 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.
17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
The God we worship is a God of LOVE.
1 John 4:16b God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. - NIV
A God of PERFECT LOVE!
1 John 4:18a There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear,-NIV
1 John 4:19a We love Him because He first loved us.-NKJV
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.-NIV
The God we worship is a God who commands us to Love!
John 15:13 “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.” -NASB
A God who commands us to even Love our enemies!
Matthew 5:44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,-NKJV
So our God is a God of perfect love, but because our God is perfect, He is also a God who hates perfectly
Yes God loves and God also hates
There is a ministry called Eternal Evangelism, that wrote a piece in which they said…
Eternal Evangelism -One of the greatest truths missing in the “Main St Church” is they NEVER preach what and whom God hates. For God perfectly loves and perfectly hates. God is, unlike us, perfect in ALL His attributes.
And they made a list of 47 things that God hates!
Well having said that, we know as Christians that we are called to love:
1 John 4: 7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.-NIV
But we are also called to hate!
Romans 12: 9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.-NIV
And the hatred is to be like God’s a perfect hatred!
Psalm 139:22 I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.-KJV
And so this morning based on that, I would like to bring to your attention…
The Love that God Hates!
By bringing you a message I entitled…
A Condemnable Love!
Condemnable = Something that brings or deserves a severe rebuke or censure!
And my proposition to you this morning is this:
A study of 1 John 2:15-17 will give us a comprehensive view of this condemnable love, or the love that God hates, and if he happen to have it, how we can be cured of it!
And I think the best way to approach this is to look at the passage in the following manner. Let’s begin by looking at first of all…
I. The Commandment regarding this condemnable love!
1 John 2:15a Love not…
That is a…
A) Command!
1. The Greek text has this meaning, “Stop loving”….
1 John 2:15a Do not love- ESV
II. The Concisely what are we are not to love?
1 John 2:15b the world,
A) World
1 John 2:15c neither the things that are in the world.
B) The things of the world
1. Things-objects, entities, matters, affairs.
a) Webster – A things is some, entity, object, or creature that is not or cannot be specifically designated or precisely described.
And because that is the word that John uses there is some….
III. Confusion regarding this command?
A) Confusion?
1. The world?
a) Planet?
b) Physical world?
c) Nature?
d) Flowers?
e) Trees?
f) Mountains?
g) Streams?
h) Birds?
i) Bees?
j) Ocean?
k) Breeze?
B) Creation?
1. NO!
a) Creation is good, because it is of God!
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.-KJV
Genesis 1:31a And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.- KJV
Psalm 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.-NIV
Job 38: 4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand.
5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? 6 On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone—7 while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?”-NIV
b) The angels didn’t condemn creation, they celebrated creation!
c) Creation glorifies God!
C) Creatures?
1. People?
a) NO!!
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life-NKJV
b) God loves the whosoevers of this world!
c) So are we!
Leviticus 19:18 "You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD." -NRSV
d) God calls us to love all people!
Matthew 5: 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. NIV
e) God calls us to love all people – Perfectly!
i. Love –??ap?? -agapao
Vines Dictionary of New Testament Words - Love –??ap?? -agapao - " Is the characteristic word of Christianity.
Vines Dictionary of New Testament Words - "Agape and agapao are used in the NT to describe the attitude of God toward His Son, John 17:26; the human race, generally, John 3:16; Romans 5:8; and to such as believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, particularly
Ok having said all that…
IV. Categorically what and who are we not to love?
1 John 2:15b the world,
A) World - ??sµ?? -kosmos
1. Orderly arrangement
2. The system
a) Kosmos = order
b) Chaos = disorder
3. The world’s anti-God, anti- Christ system!
John 15: 18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.-NIV
B) Why are we to love not the world?
1. Because of its- Prince?
a) Prince -????? -archon
i. A ruler, commander, chief, leader
b) Satan!
John 12:31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. -NIV
John 14:30 I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me; -ESV
1 John 5: 19 We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.-NIV
Ephesians 2:2b the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.-NIV
Ephesians 6: 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.-NIV
c) Satan is the mastermind behind the worlds systems that is trending away from God!
i. World of education
ii. World of politics
iii. World of the arts
iv. Word of the sciences
v. World of religion
Watchman Nee -Love Not The World - The Mind Behind the System -Politics, education, literature, science, art, law, commerce, music - such are the things that constitute the kosmos, and these are things that we meet daily. Subtract them and the world as a coherent system ceases to be.
Watchman Nee - Love Not The World - The Mind Behind the System - In the Fall…Satan brought on to this earth the order which he himself had conceived, and with that began the world system of which we are speaking. Originally our physical earth had no connection with "the world" in this sense of a Satanic system, but Satan took advantage of man's sin, and of the door this threw open to him, to introduce into the earth the organization which he had set himself to establish.
d) We see it working in every “system” of the world!
i. Men call it “progress.”
ii. But we are trending away from God!
National Geographic - The World's Newest Major Religion: No Religion- BY GABE BULLARD
PUBLISHED APRIL 22, 2016
The religiously unaffiliated, called "nones," are growing significantly. They’re the second largest religious group in North America and most of Europe. In the United States, nones make up almost a quarter of the population. In the past decade, U.S. nones have overtaken Catholics, mainline protestants, and all followers of non-Christian faiths.
National Geographic - The World's Newest Major Religion: No Religion- BY GABE BULLARD
PUBLISHED APRIL 22, 2016
There have long been predictions that religion would fade from relevancy as the world modernizes, but all the recent surveys are finding that it’s happening startlingly fast. France will have a majority secular population soon. So will the Netherlands and New Zealand. The United Kingdom and Australia will soon lose Christian majorities. Religion is rapidly becoming less important than it’s ever been, even to people who live in countries where faith has affected everything from rulers to borders to architecture.
Michael Snyder – The Beginning of the End - 19 Numbers Which Prove That America Is Turning Away From Christianity. [Written in 2012.]
#1 Nearly one-fifth of all U.S. adults have no religious affiliation whatsoever.
#2 The number of Americans with no religious affiliation has grown by 25 percent over the past five years.
#3 The younger you are the more likely you are not to be affiliated with a religion. 9 percent of all U.S. adults that are 65 or older have no religious affiliation, but a whopping 32 percent of all U.S. adults under the age of 30 have no religious affiliation.
#4 88 percent of those that are religiously unaffiliated “are not looking for religion”.
#5 73 percent of the religiously unaffiliated support gay marriage and 72 percent of the religiously unaffiliated support legalized abortion.
#6 The religiously unaffiliated now make up 24 percent of all registered voters “who are Democrats or lean Democratic”.
#7 For the first time ever, Protestants do not make up a majority of the U.S. population. In 2007, Protestants made up 53 percent of the U.S. population, but now they only make up 48 percent of the U.S. population. In 1972, Protestants made up 62 percent of the U.S. population.
#8 29 percent of all U.S. adults “seldom or never attend religious services”.
#9 51 percent of all U.S. adults believe that churches and other religious organizations “are too concerned with money and power”.
#10 66 percent of all U.S. adults believe that religion is “losing its influence on American life”.
Here are some more numbers which show that Christianity is declining in America….
#11 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of Americans with “no religion” more than doubled between 1990 and 2008.
#13 A study conducted by the Barna Group discovered that nearly 60 percent of all Christians in the 15 to 29 year old age bracket are no longer actively involved in any church.
#16 It is being projected that the percentage of Americans attending church in 2050 will be about half of what it is today.
#17 One survey conducted a while back found that 52 percent of all American Christians believe that “at least some non-Christian faiths can lead to eternal life”.
#18 According to a study done by LifeWay Research, membership in Southern Baptist churches will fall by close to 50 percent by the year 2050 if current trends continue.
#19 LifeWay Research has also found that 46 percent of all Americans never even think about whether they will go to heaven or not.
Q: Why is that?
2 Corinthians 4:3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.-ESV
2. Because of its – Philosophy!
1 Corinthians 1:20 Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? -NIV
1 Corinthians 1:21a For when the world with all its earthly wisdom failed to perceive and recognize and know God by means of its own philosophy,- AMP
Joseph Excell- These words might be written as an epitaph on the tomb of ancient philosophy, and of modern philosophy and science.
a) The world (kosmos) through its wisdom (sophia) did not (ouk = absolute negation) come to know (ginosko by experience, know intimately, personally) God!
Chuck Swindoll - Even in our own day, many brilliant astronomers peer into space with the most powerful telescopes ever invented, yet their intensive scouring of the universe never leads them beyond the created realm to the Creator Himself. On the other extreme, many scientists focus their powerful microscopes on the smallest particles of matter, seeking some kind of explanation for the order, the complexity, and the beauty of the physical universe, yet they also fail to find the all-powerful and all-wise Orderer Himself!
Ray Stedman - What is the major fault of the wisdom of man? Well, despite his pretentious claims to have penetrated the secrets of life, he has failed to discover and acknowledge the greatest fact of all -- God Himself! The great Being behind all that exists is God, and for man to ignore and leave out of His thinking the most important fact of all is nothing but stupidity!
b) There are only two sources of philosophies:
James 3: 14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. -NIV
i. Hell!
1 Corinthians 3:19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”; 20 and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”-NIV
John MacArthur - Earthly wisdom is that which is limited to the present, material world of time and space. By definition, it is restricted to things that man can theorize, discover, and accomplish by himself. It has no place for God or the things of God. It has no place for spiritual truth or illumination. It is a closed system, a circumscribed box, as it were, of man's own making and choosing under satanic prompting. As James has just noted, this wisdom is motivated by pride, selfish ambition, arrogance, self-centeredness, self-interest, and self-aggrandizement. It spawns a society whose watchwords are "Do your own thing," "Have it your way," and "Look out for number one." It pervades philosophy, education, politics, economics, sociology, psychology, and every other dimension and aspect of contemporary human life.
ii. Heaven!!
James 3:17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.-NIV
Adrian Rogers -"Wisdom is simply the ability to see life from God's point of view."
Michael Parsons –“Wisdom is God-centered.”
J. A. Motyer-” Wisdom opens the eyes both to the glories of heaven and to the hollowness of earth.”
3. Because of its – Priority!!
2 Corinthians 11:3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.- NIV
a) To draw you away from God!
Matthew 4: 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” 10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”-NIV
b) Satan wants our worship!
c) What else are we not to love?
1 John 2:15c neither the things that are in the world.
i. Things?
a. An object
b. An inanimate material object
c. House?
d. Car?
e. Clothes?
d) No! ( John goes onto explain what it is in verse 16).
1 Timothy 6:17 Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to set their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. – NASB
V. What is Condemnable about this love?
1 John 2:15d If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.-NIV
A) Condemnable?
1. NOT A CHRISTIAN?
a) Love of the Father is not in him?
Romans 5:5b God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.-ESV
Ephesians 1:13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory-NIV
B) Correct?
1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love (for) the Father is not in them.-NIV
Martin Vincent- The love of the Father (?? a??a´p? t??? pat??`?)
The phrase occurs only here in the New Testament. It means love towards the Father, yet as generated by the Father's love to man. This means more than that he does not love God: rather that the love of God does not dwell in him as the ruling principle of his life.
Philo- "It is impossible for love to the world to coexist with love to God, as it is impossible for light and darkness to coexist."
John Piper-“You can’t love the world and God at the same time. Love for world pushes out live for God, and love for God pushes out love for the world.”
Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”-NIV
VI. The Components of this condemnable love?
A) Components?
1 John 2:16a For all that is in the world, (Everything that belongs to the sphere of or the system of the world that is alienated from God,)
1 John 2:16b the lust of the flesh, -KJV
1. Lust of the flesh? – Has to do with our PASSIONS.
a) Lust-?p???µ?a -epithymia
i. Desire, craving, longing, for what is forbidden!
b) Flesh-s??? -sarx
i. The earthly, animal nature of man that is apart from divine influence, and therefore prone to sin and oppose God!
Jamieson, Robert, D.D.; Fausset, A. R.; Brown,- Lusts of the flesh "is the lust which has its seat and source in our lower animal nature.
P.G, Mathew –The word epithymia means a desire that demands urgent gratification through illegitimate means. We must be quite clear that our appetites are God’s creation and therefore good, but how we satisfy them is what matters.
1 John 2:16c and the lust of the eyes, -KJV
2. The lust of the eyes? – Has to do with our POSSESSIONS
Bruce Hurst —Lustful eyes are wandering eyes that continually want more riches and possessions and always remain covetous.
a) Covet – ????? – chamad
i. To desire greatly, to delight greatly
b) Cover?
Exodus 20:17a Thou shalt not covet…
i. Thy neighbour's house
ii. Thy neighbour's wife,
iii. Nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
c) Everything and anything that has not been appointed and apportioned to you by God!
Psalm 16:1 Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge. 2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.”-NIV
Psalm 16:5 Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. 6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.-NIV
1 John 2:16d and the pride of life, -KJV
3. The pride of life? -Has to do with POSITION
a) This is what Satan was cast out of heaven for!
Ezekiel 28 (NIV)
12 This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“‘You were the seal of perfection,
full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
13 You were in Eden,
the garden of God;
every precious stone adorned you:
carnelian, chrysolite and emerald,
topaz, onyx and jasper,
lapis lazuli, turquoise and beryl.
Your settings and mountings were made of gold;
on the day you were created they were prepared.
14a You were anointed as a guardian cherub,
for so I ordained you.
i. This was no small honor!
ii. In heaven, the cherubim hold such a position of celestial prominence that God Himself sits “enthroned between the cherubim.”
Isaiah 37:16 “Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.
Ezekiel 28:14b You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones.
15 You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you.
Isaiah 14 (NIV)
12 How you have fallen from heaven,
morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth,
you who once laid low the nations!
13 You said in your heart,
“I will ascend to the heavens;
I will raise my throne
above the stars of God;
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.
14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.”
15 But you are brought down to the realm of the dead,
to the depths of the pit.
Ezekiel 28:16b So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. 17 Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings.-NIV
Bruce Hurst – “The pride of life is the vain mind that thirsts for man’s applause.”
Albert Barnes - It refers to whatever there is that tends to promote pride.
John Gill- The pride of life is the ambition for honor, chief places and high titles, as in the Scribes and Pharisees, or of grand living, living in a sumptuous, gay, luxurious, and pompous manner, in rich diet, costly apparel, having fine seats, palaces, and stately buildings, and numerous attendance; all which is but vanity and vexation of spirit.
Luke 14:10 But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you.-ESV
C) Consistency?
1. Satan has no new tricks and tactics!
2. He has and will continue to use them from the beginning to the end of the age!
a) Eve
Genesis 3:6a So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, -ESV
i. Lust of the flesh
Genesis 3:6b and that it was a delight to the eyes, -ESV
ii. Lust of the eyes
Genesis 3:6c and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, -ESV
iii. Pride of life
Genesis 3:6c she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.-ESV
b) Jesus
Matthew 4:1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” -ESV
i. Lust of the flesh
Matthew 4:5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”-ESV
ii. Pride of life.
Matthew 4: 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”
iii. Lust of the eyes.
VII. The Christian’s call in the face of this condemnable love?
A) Call?
1. Live a monastic life?
a) NO!
John 17: 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.-NIV
2. We are to be the light of the world, but not lovers of the world!
Matthew 5:14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house-NIV
B) Come out of the world?
2 Corinthians 6: 14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said:
“I will live with them
and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
and they will be my people.”
17 Therefore,
“Come out from them
and be separate,
says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing,
and I will receive you.”
18 And,
“I will be a Father to you,
and you will be my sons and daughters,
says the Lord Almighty.”
1. Corinthian context:
1 Corinthians 5:1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife. 2 And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this? -NIV
1 Corinthians 5: 9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11 But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people. 12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.”-NIV
Galatians 5:9 “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.”
1 Corinthians 15: 33 Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”-NIV
2. Call?
a) Yes, the Lord wants His people to “come out from among them and be separate.” That means:
i. That we should be separate from participation in sin.
ii. We are to be separate from professing believers who are living in sin.
iii. Christians are called to not get involved in inappropriate relationships with unbelievers, which would lead to compromise (and thus being “yoked” with an unbeliever)
C) Conformed not to the world!
Romans 12:2a Do not conform to the pattern of this world,-NIV
J.B. Phillips - Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold, but let God re-mold your minds from within,
D) Don’t be a comrade of the world!
1. Comrade is a companion, associate, or friend.
James 4:4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God-NIV
Thomas Manton - James understands our need for the emancipation of our affections to the pleasures, profits, and desires of the world. People try to please their friends, and they are friends of the world if they seek to gratify worldly people or worldly desires…. People who want to be dandled on the world’s knees lose Christ’s friendship.
Galatians 1:10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.-ESV
VII. The Caution regarding this condemnable love:
A) Christian?
1. Not intentional – it creeps in if your not careful!
Luke 17: 26 “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 “It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. 29 But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. -NIV
a) Legitimate pursuits!
Luke 17: 30 “It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day no one who is on the housetop, with possessions inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. 32 Remember Lot’s wife! 33 Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it.-NIV
i. Life -bios- stands for the material things that support our physical lives.
Luke 21:1 As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. 2 He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. 3 “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. 4 All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”-NIV
Luke 21: 34-36 “But be on your guard. Don’t let the sharp edge of your expectation get dulled by parties and drinking and shopping. Otherwise, that Day is going to take you by complete surprise, spring on you suddenly like a trap, for it’s going to come on everyone, everywhere, at once. So, whatever you do, don’t fall asleep at the wheel. Pray constantly that you will have the strength and wits to make it through everything that’s coming and end up on your feet before the Son of Man.”
B) Caution?
John Piper - Every heart loves something. The very essence of our nature is desire. There is nobody in this room who doesn’t want something. At the center of our heart is a spring of longing. But that’s an awkward image, isn’t it?
John Piper - A longing is a craving, a desire, a want, a need. But these aren’t very well described as a spring. A spring of needs is a contradiction in terms. Springs bubble up; needs suck in. A longing is more like a drain — or a vacuum. At the center of our heart is a sucking drain — like at the bottom of a swimming pool. We are endlessly thirsty. But we can’t suck water and air at the same time.
John Piper -If you try to satisfy your longing by sucking in the air of the world, you will not be able to drink the water of heaven. And eventually, your motor will burn up because you were made to pump the water of God, not the air of the world… Love of the world and the love of the Father cannot coexist.
Luke 12:15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” 16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ 18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ 21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”- NIV
IX. The Certainty regarding this condemnable love?
1 John 2:17a And the world passeth away, -KJV
1 Corinthians 7:9 What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they do not; 30 those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; 31 those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away. -NIV
1 John 2:17b and the lust thereof: -KJV
1 John 2:17c but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.-KJV
A) Certainty?
1. Does the will of God - The verb does is in the present tense which indicates this is a habit of their life.
2. They pursue the will of God, clearly revealed in the Word of God.
3. They may not be perfect practitioners of the Word and will of God, but they pursue it, it is the general direction of their life!
Henry Martyn –“ Though the whole current of my desires is altered, and I am walking quite another way, I am incessantly stumbling in that way.”
X. The Cure for a condemnable love?
THE EXPULSIVE POWER OF A NEW AFFECTION - THOMAS CHALMERS (1780–1847)
Thomas Chalmers - There are two ways in which a practical moralist may attempt to displace from the human heart its love of the world; either by a demonstration of the world’s vanity, so as that the heart shall be prevailed upon simply to withdraw its regards from an object that is not worthy of it; or, by setting forth another object, even God, as more worthy of its attachment; so as that the heart shall be prevailed upon, not to resign an old affection which shall have nothing to succeed it, but to exchange an old affection for a new one.
Thomas Chalmers -The ascendant power of a second affection will do what no exposition, however forcible, of the folly and worthlessness of the first, ever could effectuate. And it is the same in the great world. You never will be able to arrest any of its leading pursuits by a naked demonstration of their vanity. It is quite in vain to think of stopping one of these pursuits in any way else but by stimulating to another.
Thomas Chalmers - Such is the grasping tendency of the human heart, that it must have a something to lay hold of—and which, if wrested away without the substitution of another something in its place, would leave a void and a vacancy as painful to the mind as hunger is to the natural system. It may be dispossest of one object, or of any, but it can not be desolated of all…. The heart must have something to cling to….
Thomas Chalmers - The love of the world can not be expunged by a mere demonstration of the world’s worthlessness. But may it not be supplanted by the love of that which is more worthy than itself.
Thomas Chalmers –The heart is so constituted, and the only way to dispossess it of an old affection is by the expulsive power of a new one.
Thomas Chalmers - In the gospel do we so behold God as that we may love God. It is there, and there only, where God stands revealed as an object of confidence to sinners—and where our desire after Him is not chilled into apathy by that barrier of human guilt which intercepts every approach that is not made to Him through the appointed Mediator.
Thomas Chalmers - Whereby we draw nigh unto God
Thomas Chalmers -We see His glory in the face of Jesus Christ, and hear His beseeching voice, as it protests good-will to men, and entreats the return of all who will to a full pardon, and a gracious acceptance—it is then that a love paramount to the love of the world, and at length expulsive of it, first arises in the regenerating bosom.
Thomas Chalmers – As God’s children, through the faith that is in Christ Jesus, the spirit of adoption is poured upon us—it is then that the heart, brought under the mastery of one great and predominant affection, is delivered from the tyranny of its former desires, and in the only way in which deliverance is possible.
Conclusion:
1. Has this happened to you?
Romans 5:5b God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
2. Does this describe you?
Revelation 2: 2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.-NIV
Revelation 2: 4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
Steven Lawson - As in any relationship our love for Christ is subject to fluctuation. While this relationship can never be broken, it can suffer a severe waning of intensity. Sometimes our passion for Christ explodes and grows. And at other times it grows stale. It can become stagnant, mechanical, routine and we begin to simply go through the empty motions of Christianity without a blazing, fiery love for Him. Sadly, that is precisely what took place at Ephesus.
Steven Lawson - The church there was a great church. They believed correctly, they served exhaustively, they defended valiantly, but something over time was missing and that which was missing is that they had left their first love.
Steven Lawson –Their activities FOR Christ had begun to suppress their intimacy WITH Christ. And rather than it being a relationship, their Christianity had become a performance. They had full heads, busy feet, and cool hearts. The glow was gone....Where are you? Because sometimes the more involved we become in serving the Lord, there can be a sacrifice in our personal communion with and fellowship with the Lord. Is your passion for Christ dynamic?...Has your love faded?
3. Will you?
Matthew 22: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment.
1 John 5:13 In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,
