1 JOHN 2:15-17 THE LOVE THAT GOD HATES OR THE TEST OF LOVING THE WORLD PART 1

1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  16 For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

 

Today’s message will deal with at least five ways to deal with temptation.  Remember, we are at war and satan does not want us to win.  He will pull every dirty trick in the book and use everything he has in his arsenal of weapons, but he can be defeated if we trust in God and don’t let the devil deceive us.

1Corinthians 10:13 tells us we don’t have to sin, but God will give us THE WAY OUT of temptation.  It is up to us, if we are not ready to quit a particular sin, then God will not force us, He might chastise and discipline us, but when we are ready to overcome that sin, God’s power is available and we can win the battle because greater is He that is within us than he that is in the world.

 

 We cannot love God and the world simultaneously (2:15)

1John 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

The word “world” occurs 22 times in this epistle.  There are four different words for “world” in the New Testament: 1) earth, 2) the inhabited world, 3) age or generation and 4) The devils system of values.  John uses the fourth here. 

The “world” is the Devil’s system of values. 

1 Jn 5: ¹⁹ “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.”

 

Ja 4: ⁴ “Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

Worldliness is not taking pleasure in the natural realm for God wants us to enjoy the spectacular Grand Canyon.  He wants us to enjoy sports and the symphony.  Taking pleasure in the earth is not wrong but yielding to the values of this world violates our fellowship with God. 

or the things in the world.

 These are the material things of the world put at the core of our value system.  Some Christians incorporate satanic integral systems of greed into their lives that advance the Devil’s evil ends. 

PRINCIPLE:  Greed is part of the satanic world system. 

If anyone loves the world,

 2 Co 5: ¹⁴ “For the love of Christ [Christ’s love for us] compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; ¹⁵ and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again, 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,

This phrase begins the first of three reasons why we should not love the world.  An absolute God cannot fellowship with a Christian who loves the world.

1. the love of the Father is not in him

 The love of the world and the love of the Father are mutually exclusive.

2 Ti 4: ¹⁰ “…for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world…”

Ro 12: ¹ “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. ² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

 Luke 16:13 “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

2. The system of values in the world are contrary to God’s values (2:16)

all that is in the world Is not of the father

 We can condense the world system to a three-fold appeal:

• Lust of the flesh Genesis 3:6, Eve  Mt 4:1-11, Jesus
• Lust of the eyes
• Pride of life

Ro 6: ¹² “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.”

Once we become Christians, a titanic tug of war begins to take place within the Christian.  It takes the power of the Holy Spirit to win that war.

 The “lust of the flesh” is the cravings and ambitions of the sin 

The “flesh” refers the sinful nature, the sinful tendencies of humanity, the fallen condition of man, which is present in the body. There is an inclination to follow evil found in our flesh. 

 

the lust of the eyes,

 This usually takes the form of excessive materialism.  This is the idolatry of possessions.  It is not the actual consumption of sin but the contemplation of it that is in view. 

^{Mt 29} “If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.”

The eye of the flesh wants to see more and more.  It is never satisfied.  That is why we want to “keep up with the Joneses”. 

We want things that we do not need to buy things with money we do not have in order to impress people whom we do not like! 

Job 31:1 "I have made a covenant with my eyes; Why then should I look upon a young woman?

Pr 27:20 Hell and Destruction are never full; So the eyes of man are never satisfied.

 

Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?

   John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.

 

“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  -John 8:32

 

Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten. 

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