Do Not Love The World – Part 2
1 John 2:15-17 (16-17)
March 6, 2022
Last Sunday we began looking at this very penetrating litmus test
That John has provided for us.
And as we pick back up here I just want to be clear again
As to JOHN’S PURPOSE in sharing such a direct truth.
Surely you aware by now to the fact that everything John writes
He writes for the benefit of the church that he loves.
This is NOT a letter of condemnation.
John is NOT seeking to condemn the church or upset the church
Or lead the church into some sort of despair or confusion.
On the contrary, John is writing to COMFORT the church
And to SOLIDIFY THE CONVICTIONS of the church.
He is writing so that those who are saved will know that they are saved.
And in order to do that John is writing very clearly
About what is Christianity and what is not.
We understand how lines of truth can get blurred.
Even in our day, we see TV preachers and prosperity gospel guys
Who have been very successful in promoting a corrupted gospel.
These preachers have somehow managed
To combine Christianity and worldly prosperity.
And there is a great multitude who is buying what they are selling.
But suppose you are someone who has given your life to Christ but you don’t have the prosperity they speak of.
• What if you are even poor?
• What if you suffer some other tragedy?
• Is that an indicator that your salvation is not real?
• Is that an indicator that you really still are on the outside looking in?
Of course WE KNOW that is NOT the case.
Instead we clarify Christ’s call to forsake the world
And we are comforted in realizing that poverty is not a sign of lostness,
Nor is prosperity a sign of salvation.
And a direct truth like that actually produces comfort and assurance
To those who are redeemed.
Well that is what John is doing.
He is writing boldly and confidently because he seeks
To reassure those who are saved that their salvation is genuine.
And this is so valuable for us.
At the same time we do realize that with verse 15 John HIT A NERVE.
“Do not love the world, nor the things in the world, if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
That truth seems to bump up against our American cultural mindsets perhaps a little harder than some of the others.
But that doesn’t mean it isn’t true.
It simply reminds us that as those living in an affluent society like ours
We must be all the more aware of the constant threat we face.
PROSPERITY IS A THREAT IN OUR CULTURE.
IT IS A THREAT TO THE LOST.
We remember Jesus’ explanation of the Rich Young Ruler’s rejection.
Matthew 19:23-24 “And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. “Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
We cannot ignore that truth.
• Rich men can be saved.
• Zacchaeus, Matthew, and Joseph of Arimathea all prove that.
But it doesn’t change the fact that it is hard.
Prosperity is an enemy of salvation.
PROSPERITY IS ALSO A REAL THREAT TO SANCTIFICATION.
Remember the warning of Paul?
1 Timothy 6:9-10 “But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
And that is why Paul told Timothy:
1 Timothy 6:11 “But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness.”
And again:
1 Timothy 6:17-19 “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.”
Prosperity can even be a threat to those who are saved in that
It can cause them to LOSE FOCUS and PURSUE THE WRONG THINGS.
In our culture we have to be aware of that.
It is OFTEN today (and rightly so) that we LOOK AT THE RICH YOUNG RULER as a warning of the dangers of prosperity.
But BEFORE the Rich Young Ruler the Bible had another person
Who was held up as a shining example of the dangers of loving the world.
Jesus spoke of this person in just 3 words:
“Remember Lot’s wife”
Luke17:32-33 “Remember Lot’s wife. “Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.”
She was of course that women
• Whose heart had become so infatuated with the worldliness of Sodom
• That even when the Lord was performing a work of grace to save her from the
judgment on that place,
• She had remorse and looked back.
• The Bible says she became a pillar of salt.
As Jesus warns of the dangers of loving the world He tells us to “Remember Lot’s wife”
So I simply remind you again that love of the world is a constant threat.
And, as we said LAST TIME, love of the world is also
A very real indicator of whether or not salvation is genuine.
JOHN HERE GIVES US A LITMUS TEST.
We are talking about people who love the world,
And John is giving us three characteristics about them.
We saw the first last time.
#1 THE LOVE THEY LACK
1 John 2:15
“Do not love the world, nor the things in the world, if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
If you remember John was talking about a DEVOTION TO THE WORLD.
John spoke of a devotion to the world’s things.
It can be physical things like our STUFF
Or it can even be worldly IDEOLOGIES and the world’s approval.
Don’t love it.
Don’t be devoted to it.
Now, that is a command for the church.
• John is writing to the redeemed.
• John is writing to those who are saved and the command is clear.
• “Do not love the world, nor the things in the world”
Don’t do it.
But there is a reason.
That reason is because loving the world is not a fruit of salvation,
Loving the world is a fruit of lostness.
“if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is no in him.”
• You can’t do both.
• You can’t love the world and God.
Those who love the world demonstrate a lack of love for God.
That was John’s first truth about those who love the world.
This morning we’re going to move on.
The Love They Lack
#2 THE LUST THEY SHOW
1 John 2:13
This point builds upon the first.
One person might ask, “John why do you say that if you love the world then you do not love God?”
Well here is John’s answer to that supposed question.
“For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.”
The quick answer is simply this:
Because everything the world is about is contrary to who God is.
• The world is not pleasing to God.
• The world is not delightful to God.
And one asks: “But I thought God loved the world?”
1. God does not love the evil and wickedness of the world, God loves people.
2. But even the love God has for people is fueled by mercy not by merit.
3. And even though God has love for the world, do not forget that He has also
promised to destroy it.
The world is sinful, rotten, fallen, deprave.
God already flooded it once, the next time He will burn it.
THE POINT IS that the world is nothing like God.
The world is totally incompatible with Him.
And it is therefore impossible to love the world and love God.
It’s a contradiction too great to exist.
That is the simple point.
But you’ll notice that John gives clarity.
He gives 3 characteristics of the world that are totally incompatible with God.
1) THE PASSION OF THE WORLD
John calls it “the lust of the flesh”
“flesh” there is the Greek word SARX
One person defined it as “the animal nature of man”
It is that basic, bodily, fleshly, base desire.
It is the animal instinct in humanity.
And John says the world lusts for it.
That is they crave it even though it is expressly forbidden.
This is what the world is about.
The world is all about satisfying their carnal, fleshly, base desires.
It is that passion that was seen in Sodom and Gomorrah
• When the men of the city surrounded the house of Lot and demanded that he
send out the angelic messengers so that they might have relations with them.
• And even when those men where struck with blindness the Scripture says that
“they wearied themselves trying to find the door.”
Ezekiel adds about Sodom
Ezekiel 16:49-50 “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. “Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them when I saw it.
• It’s the desire for a drunken revelry…
• It’s the base nightclub desire looking to hook up…
• It’s the lottery ticket / casino craze just wanting money…
• It’s the idol of comfort even if it requires overlooking those in need…
• It’s the desire to simply live it up and drink up the world…
There are so many more, but you get what we’re talking about.
And this is the world.
It is what the world craves.
Romans 7:5 “For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.”
Romans 8:5-8 “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
It is as Paul said, they “set their minds on the things of the flesh”
• It’s what they desire.
• It’s what they crave.
• It’s what they are consumed with.
• It’s what they want.
I mean listen to secular music some time and you tell me what the world is consumed with. (Sex, money, and alcohol)
It is their passion.
And it is NOT the passion of God.
It isn’t Godly at all.
• The world is NOT focused on holiness and sanctification and truth.
• They are moving in opposite directions with opposite passions.
• If you love the world it is evident that there is no love for God.
But’s not just their passions.
2) THE PURSUIT OF THE WORLD
“and the lust of the eyes”
You might ask, “What’s the difference between “lust of the flesh” and “lust of the eyes”?
And the answer is: OPPORTUNITY
This is the next step.
A man may lay in his bed full of sinful desire with no opportunity.
Jesus taught us that such lust is already adultery of the heart.
But on the day his eyes behold the opportunity;
Then he moves from passion to pursuit.
Before he dreamed of the opportunity now he can chase it.
And the world does this as well.
If the world is good at anything it is at creating opportunities for sin.
• The world loves to give people a chance to pursue that which they think will satisfy their cravings.
And the world is all about trying to satisfy them.
This is why we don’t see a moral world with a dirty thought life,
But we actually see an immoral world.
Men eventually practice the sin they dwell on.
The word “eyes” here is OPHTHALMOS
Which does speak of the eyes.
But let me show you another place it is used.
Mark 7:21-22 “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness.”
The word shows up in that text too, only there it is not translated “eyes”,
It is translated “ENVY”.
It is to identify that which you think will bring you satisfaction.
It starts in the heart and it is carried out in the pursuit.
It is what Jesus spoke of:
Luke 11:33-35 “No one, after lighting a lamp, puts it away in a cellar nor under a basket, but on the lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light. “The eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is clear, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is bad, your body also is full of darkness. “Then watch out that the light in you is not darkness.”
Jesus said “The eye is the lamp of your body”
What is He talking about?
• What makes your eye twinkle…
• What catches your eye…
• What do you envy…
You can tell a lot about a man here.
As Peter talked about false believers in the church, he described them as:
2 Peter 2:14 “having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children;”
There it was “eyes full of adultery”
THIS IS THE WORLD.
They dream of sin and watch for opportunities to satisfy their cravings.
• This is not Godliness.
• This is not what God is like at all.
• They are polar opposites in every way.
So to love the world is evidence of a missing love for God.
Their Passions, Their Pursuit
3) THE PRESUMPTION OF THE WORLD
John also talks about “the boastful pride of life”
The Greek word there for “boastful pride” is ALAZONEIA
It means “empty braggart talk”
It is only used one other place in the New Testament.
James 4:16 “But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.”
• James talked about this empty boasting in arrogance and said it is evil.
Do you remember what James was talking about?
James 4:13-16 “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.”
That is a man
• who NOT ONLY has a passion for worldly success…
• And NOT ONLY does he pursue worldly success…
But notice he is convinced that
Such success will be to his ultimate satisfaction.
Do you remember the promise Satan made to Eve in the garden?
• He promised her that if she would just eat the fruit then she would be satisfied.
• And in arrogance, Eve believed him.
It is the same arrogance seen in this man:
Luke 12:15-21 “Then He said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive. “And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ‘And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.” ’ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ “So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
Did you hear that man’s arrogance?
“And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”
That is the arrogance of the world.
• Not only do they dwell on sin with a passion…
• Not only do they pursue sin at every opportunity…
• But they do so convinced that even though it is contrary to the Law of God they are certain that it will be all-satisfying.
The deception of the world is that they
Can defy God’s Law and still find ultimate satisfaction.
What lie is that!
That was Satan’s lie in the garden wasn’t it?
That is worldliness. It is not Godliness.
And salvation itself is a salvation FROM worldliness TO Godliness.
TURN TO: EPHESIANS 2:1-10
Do you see those first 3 verses there?
• You see the same sort of categories there that John mentions here.
“Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest”
That is just basic unregenerate worldliness
What happened?
(4) “But God, being in rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when were dead in our trespasses and sins, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places.”
• Do you see that God pulls people out of their sinful passions?
• Do you see that God delivers people from the lust of their flesh?
And then what does a redeemed person look like?
Well skip down to verse 10
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
Do you see the difference?
God rescues men from sin He doesn’t guide them there.
Love of the world and love for God are polar opposites.
James 1:27 “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”
And this is why John can say that
If you love the world then you don’t love God.
It’s impossible.
• All of the world’s passions…
• All of the world’s pursuits…
• All of the world’s presumptions…
John says “is not from the Father, but is from the world.”
• If those are your passions you didn’t get that from God.
• If those are your pursuits you didn’t get that from God.
• If those are your presumptions you didn’t get that from God.
There is NO COMPATIBILITY between worldliness and godliness.
Luke 16:14-15 “Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and were scoffing at Him. And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.”
And if you are in the church and have forsaken the world,
Don’t let some prosperity preacher cause you to think
That somehow you must’ve missed what true Christianity is.
No, you’re right on track, their supposed Christianity is a mirage.
But you see clearly as John speaks of the man who loves the world.
The Love They Lack, The Lust They Show
#3 THE LIFE THEY FORFEIT
1 John 2:17
This is perhaps the saddest reality for those who love the world.
John says, “The world is passing away, and also its lusts;”
Last time, when we defined the world “world”
We talked about the usage of the word KOSMOS.
We said it could be the literal physical created world.
Well, guess what, it will not last.
2 Peter 3:10-13 “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.”
If your hope or your satisfaction is in any way bound up in the physical realities of this planet then I need to prepare you for some bad news.
Read the Revelation.
• First God will ravage the world with war and famine and plague.
• Then God will terrify the world by ripping off the sky and revealing Himself on the throne.
• Then God will burn up 1/3 of the earth.
• After that God will turn 1/3 of the sea to blood and kill 1/3 of the life in it.
• God will then ruin 1/3 of the earth’s fresh water.
• Then God will strip away 1/3 of the earth’s natural light.
• God will terrorize the world by turning loose a horde of demons to torment the world like locusts.
• Following that God will unleash 4 demons and their 200 million strong army to inflict death on the earth.
• God will then give malignant sores to all unbelievers
• He will turn the rest of the sea to blood
• He will scorch men with the fire of the sun
• He will put men in pain causing them to gnaw their tongues
• And finally He will gather the rest of them to a place called Har-Magedon where Jesus will slaughter them and the blood will run in the streets up to a horses bridle for 200 miles and the birds will gorge themselves on their flesh.
• And then God will destroy the entire universe and create a new one.
My point?
If you tie yourself to this ship, you are going to be sorely disappointed.
God is going to destroy this place completely.
Isaiah 24:20 “The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard And it totters like a shack, For its transgression is heavy upon it, And it will fall, never to rise again.”
But it’s NOT JUST the physical creation that will pass away.
John says, “also its lusts”
That is those “things of the world” which John also told us not to love.
• Worldly logic
• Worldly ideology
• Those “lusts of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life”
All those things are leaving too!
Revelation 21:1-8 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. “He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
Revelation 21:27 “and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”
Revelation 22:14-15 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.”
There is coming a day when the sinful passions of our world will no longer exist.
• Sexual immorality won’t be cool in heaven.
• Drunkenness and arrogance and greed and envy won’t exist there.
God is getting rid of all of it.
And as Peter said we are “looking for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”
Those who are loving in the world are loving something that they don’t get to keep. They are attaching themselves to a sinking ship.
BUT that is NOT the case
For those who forsake the world and who love God.
“but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”
The simple point is that when you love the world you lose it,
But when you love God you keep Him forever.
Isaiah 51:6 “Lift up your eyes to the sky, Then look to the earth beneath; For the sky will vanish like smoke, And the earth will wear out like a garment And its inhabitants will die in like manner; But My salvation will be forever, And My righteousness will not wane.”
And of course this is nothing new, it’s exactly what Jesus said:
Matthew 16:25 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”
Of course this prompted Jesus then to ask this question:
Matthew 16:26 “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
Jim Elliot was one of those famous missionaries who were speared to death while seeking to reach that wild tribe of natives in South America.
Jim Elliot’s famous quote is: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”
That was Jesus’ message.
That is John’s message.
The church is marked by those who love God, not the world.
This is basic Christianity 101.
• Christ calls us out of the world.
• Christ saves us from the world.
• And we leave the world that we may gain Christ.
Don’t let the prosperity culture in which we live blur that line.
“Remember Lot’s wife”
And now to sort of wrap up this segment of John’s message
I want you to turn to the book of Revelation.
TURN TO: REVELATION 18
• If you’re not familiar with Revelation 18 the best way I can sum it up for you is that Revelation 18 is about the fall of world’s economic system.
• (Revelation 17 is about the fall of the world’s religious system)
God speaks of the fall of this system in one day.
And I first want you to see the grief of the world as this system falls apart.
(READ 9-24)
• Do you see how God will devastate all those who love the world?
• He’s going to crush it all.
But there is a message in this chapter for the church.
(you already saw in verse 20 that God does this “for you against her”)
(READ 1-8)
Did you catch that warning?
“Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues”
There is a threat and a danger here.
Do not attach yourself to that which God will destroy.
Do you see why John is commanding the church not to love the world?
• Not only is loving the world a fruit of lostness…
• Not only is loving the world contrary to Christian living…
• Loving the world is a dangerous threat to you…
Don’t buy a ticket on the Titanic
Lest you get seduced by her extravagance and end up in judgment.
“Remember Lot’s wife”
