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[0:00] 1 John, 1 John chapter 2 and verse 15 through 17 will be our first passage.! 1 John chapter 2 and verse 15. Do not love the world or anything in the world.

[0:15] If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world, the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does, comes not from the Father, but from the world.

[0:33] The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. And then 1 John chapter 5.

[0:46] 1 John chapter 5, we'll be reading the first five verses. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.

[0:57] And everyone who loves the Father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God. By loving God and carrying out his commands.

[1:10] This is love for God, to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome. For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.

[1:27] Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. Well, he seems so on fire for the Lord.

[1:42] Enough to leave home in his own plans for his life. He joined with a missionary church planning team headed by the Apostle Paul himself.

[1:53] Traveled far and wide, evangelizing, building up young churches. Enduring hardships as a co-worker with the great Apostle Paul.

[2:03] He was with Paul when Paul wrote those prison epistles to the church at Colossae and to Philemon. He saw God do amazing things.

[2:14] And yet, at the end of Paul's life, we read this sad footnote. Demas, because he loved this present world, has deserted me.

[2:25] It was the love of the world that drew Demas away from Paul and away from Christ. Now, she was the wife of a righteous man.

[2:37] And so, she was well acquainted with the ways of God. When her husband became wealthy and a leader of their city, many good things happened to her.

[2:48] So much so that when God sent a message that their city was doomed for destruction, she found it hard to leave. And her husband did too. It was only at the last moment that the two angels laid hold of them physically and hurried them out of their hometown.

[3:05] And told them not to look back as they fled for their lives. But she did look back, longingly. And was turned into a pillar of salt.

[3:17] And her behavior won for her a place in that three-word warning of our Savior, Remember Lot's wife. She got her feet out of Sodom.

[3:29] But not Sodom out of her heart. Again, the love of the world was her downfall. Now, these casualties stand on the pages of our Bibles as warnings to us of the power of the world, of its allurement.

[3:46] Especially once it gets a hold of our hearts. So, are you treating this world, not as a friend, but as the enemy, the dangerous enemy that it is, out to seduce your heart and to lead you away from Jesus Christ?

[4:06] Or, have you grown accustomed to the world? And so, find yourself making many little compromises with it. Conformity and this little thing and that.

[4:18] Remember Lot's wife. Remember Demas. Now, we're in the midst of a study of our enemies. The world, the flesh, and the devil.

[4:29] And we saw last week that this sinful world, which is what we mean when we talk about the world as our enemy. Not just the created world as if there's something evil about a tree.

[4:40] Or, for that matter, anything that God has created. But, when we speak of the world, we're speaking of that anti-God system that is set against God. All of humanity in its fallen state joined together in an anti-God rebellion.

[4:57] And so, we saw last week, the world is seeking to squeeze us into its mold. To make us behave like it. To think like it. And so, it is out to conform us to its pattern.

[5:13] And our duty is to not let it. Don't be conformed to the pattern of this world. But instead, to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. So, I wonder if your time in God's word this week shows that you're serious about mind renewal.

[5:31] You're serious about not letting the world squeeze you into its mold. And have you come this morning with a prayer, renew my mind according to your word.

[5:44] Now, worldliness has made its way into the Western church. To where it's hard to tell the difference. The lines are blurred between the world and the church.

[5:56] But according to James 1.22, our battle with the world is of huge importance to God. Do you know that he makes this one of the hallmarks of true religion? One of the proofs.

[6:08] One of the ways that you can know that you have the real thing. He says, To keep yourself from being polluted by the world.

[6:32] Now, that's no small thing. It's going to take some hard work. Because we live in a world that is belching out its pollution every day into our atmosphere.

[6:47] And as we've been learning in the Sunday school hour, you don't even have to leave home to get polluted by the world. Its exhaust pipes reach right into your living room.

[6:58] Through that TV cable. Through that internet connection. Right into our palms. Right into our earphones. Right onto our screens.

[7:09] The world is pumping its pollution. And unless you have a plan. Unless you are working hard to keep yourself from being polluted by the world.

[7:23] You are being polluted. And will be polluted by it. And it will drain your love away from Christ and his word. His ways. His ways.

[7:33] His day. His people. His mission. His commands. And you'll find your heart in love with this world. Even as Demas and Lot's wife did.

[7:46] Now I find tremendous comfort in the fact that Jesus Christ knows the lure of this world. Jesus Christ knows the power of this world's attraction.

[7:58] Remember, he lived on this planet. He lived here for 33 years. And was tempted in every way like us. And he overcame the world.

[8:11] And he overcame the world. Do not be troubled, he says. I've overcome the world. And by his grace, we can do the same. And so he commissioned his apostle John to write down some precious truths about how to overcome the world.

[8:27] How to deal with this seductive world that we live in. 1 John 2, 15 through 17. We've already been told don't be conformed to it.

[8:38] Don't be polluted by it. Now he says don't love it. Don't love it. The command. Do not love the world or anything in it. It's a command.

[8:49] To be obeyed. Sometimes I think we cut ourselves too much slack and say, well, I really can't help what I love. Not so. Believers, you are responsible for what you love and what you don't love.

[9:04] You choose what you will set your heart on. And you are daily choosing between love of the world and love of God. And so the command comes.

[9:17] Do not love the world or anything in it. Now it's one thing for a boat to be in the water and another thing for water to be in the boat. In both cases you have contact between the two.

[9:33] But in the one it is proper and in the other it is disaster. The critical thing is to keep the water out of the boat. Now Christian, you are in the world.

[9:46] And that by the design of Jesus Christ. Remember his prayer to the father. Father, I do not pray that you take them out of the world. But that you keep them from the evil one.

[9:58] It's Jesus designed for his people to remain in the world. The boat is to be in the water. How else will they hear the gospel that saved you and can save them?

[10:12] So you're in the world by the design of Christ. But you're not to let the world get into your heart and rule there and reign there in your affections.

[10:27] So how is the Christian to live in this world without loving it? Do not love the world or anything in the world. Now in the rest of this text, John gives three reasons not to love the world.

[10:42] And the first one is this. Love for the world leaves no room for loving God. Notice how bluntly John puts it in verse 15. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him.

[10:57] Love of the world? Is that what's reigning in your heart? No love of the father in him. These two loves are mutually exclusive.

[11:09] The one rules out the other. It's kind of like light and darkness. You can't have both in the same room. Where one is, the other's not. You say, it's light in this room.

[11:20] That's right, then darkness is not here. Or if we came back here at midnight and it was dark, there's no light. But with the flip of a switch, there's light and now there's no more darkness.

[11:30] So it is with love for God and love for the world. They're mutually excluded. In the same way that you cannot love Satan and love God.

[11:41] You cannot love the flesh and love the Holy Spirit. You cannot love the world and love God the Father. You can't love God and love what is anti-God.

[11:55] That's what John is saying. There are two masters, God and the world. And there are masters with contrary values and desires and goals and conflicting agendas.

[12:09] So one is saying yes, the other is saying no. Now you can't serve them both. And that's what Jesus tells us in Matthew 6. No one can serve two masters.

[12:21] You've got to decide which master will it be. You can't serve them both because they are mutually exclusive in their desires and plans and laws. Either he will hate the one and love the other or he'll be devoted to the one and despise the other.

[12:35] You can't serve them both. And so if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Which characterizes you?

[12:48] Love for the world or love for the Father? James says, you adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?

[13:02] Anyone then who will be a friend of the world is an enemy of God. Do you see how these are mutually exclusive? You can't have them both as friends. Oh, I'm a friend of God, but I'm a friend of the world too.

[13:15] No, it's impossible. And that's the reason. That's the first reason John's giving us. Not to love the world. It's incompatible with true love for our Father in heaven.

[13:29] Now, how can you know when the world is getting into the boat of your heart? When it's holding a place it shouldn't? Well, when anything takes priority over the interests of Jesus Christ, it's a clear sign.

[13:44] The water's in the boat. The world's in the heart. When anything takes the priority of Jesus Christ. Thomas Guthrie offers this check.

[13:56] If you find yourself loving any pleasure better than your prayers, any book better than the Bible, any house better than the house of God, any table better than the Lord's table, any person better than Christ, any indulgence better than the hope of heaven, take alarm.

[14:18] The world is leaking into your heart. When you feel at home in the world, rather than feeling like an alien and stranger in the world.

[14:31] When you say, this is where I belong. I kind of like this. I'd like to stay here forever. These are my people. This is my home.

[14:41] You see, the world is a spiritual icebox that would cool your love for Jesus Christ. So above all else, guard your heart.

[14:53] You've got to guard your eyes, your ears, your feet, your hands, but above all else, guard your heart. Make sure that the love of Christ reigns there, not the love of the world.

[15:05] Your battle with worldliness is a battle for your heart. That's what John's telling us. So guard it.

[15:15] Be ruthless with anything that dampens your love for the Lord Jesus. So love for the world and love for God are mutually exclusive.

[15:30] Now, that's the problem, but it's also the solution. For this principle works the other way around as well.

[15:41] Let's turn it on its head. And what we find is that love for God leaves no room for love for the world. These are mutually exclusive. The one does crowd out the other.

[15:53] And so we can put this principle to use for us in our battle against the world. To the degree that Jesus Christ fills our thoughts and affections, the world won't have them.

[16:08] When the love of one woman fills you, you're set free from the pull of a thousand others. And the more love for Jesus fills you, the more you'll be freed from the attraction and alluring power of the world.

[16:22] Thomas Chalmers refers to this as the expulsive power of a new affection. The expulsive power of a new affection.

[16:35] The new love for Jesus expels the old love of the world. It crowds it out. It forces it out. Leaving no room to settle there.

[16:47] And this all works like a teeter-totter. So when the love for Christ is up, the love for the world is down. And when the love for the world is up, the love for Christ is down.

[17:03] So that means if I would not love the world, which is the command before us, then I must be dead in earnest about growing in my love for Jesus Christ.

[17:14] Right? The more I love him, the less I will find attractive in this world. I've never seen lasting progress in anyone's battle with sin without this element.

[17:31] And I'll put myself in that boat and others that I've counseled. It's not until we fill our hearts with Christ that we find the root attraction of the world severed, weakened.

[17:55] That's using this principle to help fight against the world. So then, how? How do we grow in our love for the Savior? Well, to know him is to love him.

[18:09] You know, that's not true of everybody. The better you get to know people, maybe you find out things that you wish you didn't know, and you have a harder time loving him. That's not the way it is with Jesus.

[18:20] The more you know him, the more you love him. The better you get to know him, the better that you love him. So get to know Christ better.

[18:31] And how do you do that? We heard it in the Sunday school. You spend time with him, don't you? So get alone with your Bibles and listen to Jesus. It's all his word.

[18:42] He's speaking to you. Rutherford called it the love letters of Jesus. Get alone with Jesus and read his love letters. And then you talk to him. And you tell him everything.

[18:54] You tell him what's bothering you. You tell him how you've fallen, how you've sinned. You tell him what's worrying you. You open your heart and you pour it out.

[19:08] Pour out your hearts to him. All you people. That's Psalm 62. That's what you do. You listen to him. You talk to him. And you do it all the time.

[19:18] You have this running conversation with the Lord Jesus. You pray without ceasing. Throughout your day. You're back at him. You're back building that relationship. And then you're thinking about him.

[19:32] You're thinking about him. That strengthens love. You think about who he is. What he is for you. You think about what he's done for you. And then you think about what he is doing for you right now.

[19:46] And you think about what he will do. And what he's promised to do. And you think about his love for you. Did you know that our love is. All of our love is but a response to his having loved us first.

[20:00] So if you would grow in your love for him. Think much about his love for you. And your response will grow. So where do we see his love most clearly.

[20:11] God demonstrates his love for us in this. And that while we were yet sinners. Christ died for us. That's the grand demonstration of all times.

[20:23] Of his love. Oh that old rugged cross. So despised by the world. Has a wondrous attraction for me.

[20:35] For the dear lamb of God left his glory above to bear it to dark Calvary. The cross kills my fatal attraction to the world. It's here that I have a greater attraction.

[20:48] Jesus Christ. Look at him loving me. Look at him giving himself for me. And this is where our love is inflamed. For our Lord Jesus.

[20:59] The apostle Paul found it the same. He found in the cross. A power to crucify his attraction to the world. Galatians 6.14 May I never boast.

[21:11] Never glory in anything else except the cross of Christ. Through which the world has been crucified to me.

[21:22] And I to the world. So Christ's love at Calvary broke Paul's love relationship with the world. And it will break yours too.

[21:33] So think about his love at Calvary. Paul says. The world. At the cross the world is crucified to me.

[21:46] It no longer holds sway over me. He no longer craves its approval. Courts its smiles. Fears its frowns. Covets its things.

[21:58] Holds its values. No. He's ready and willing to be counted a fool by the world for Jesus' sake. What will do that? The love of God in Jesus Christ at Calvary.

[22:09] That's the power of the cross. The power of the cross. So Spurgeon says. Dwell where the cries of Calvary can be heard.

[22:20] How close is that? It's pretty close isn't it? Always live within earshot of the cries from the cross.

[22:33] Live that close to Jesus. Keep him within earshot. It's talking about our minds. Our mind's eye.

[22:43] Our meditative eye. Our meditative ear. How close do you live to Calvary in your mind? How often do you just visit Calvary and stare at Jesus loving you and giving himself for you?

[22:58] There's power there. To flame your love for him. And to crucify. And to cut you free from the love of the world.

[23:11] So that's the first reason we should not love the world. Because it leaves no room for love for God. And the second reason John says is because the specific things of the world are not from God.

[23:24] And he gets specific and he lists some of the things of the world that we're not to love. These aren't from God he says. For everything in the world. And now look what he's pointing at. The cravings of sinful men.

[23:35] The lust of his eyes. And the boasting of what he has and does. Comes not from the Father. But from the world. Now we receive a lot of things from the Father.

[23:46] Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father. Doesn't it? But these things don't come from the Father. He is not the source of these things.

[23:57] He's not the giver. So they are not worthy of your love. Don't love them. Because these things are not from the Father.

[24:08] But from the world. Now the things that he lists. Are what the King James language translated as the lust of the flesh. The lust of the eyes. And the pride of life.

[24:20] I want you to notice. That worldliness is not merely a list of external things we don't do. We don't do this. We don't do that.

[24:30] And we don't do this. And if I'm not doing those things on my list. Then I'm not worldly. The Pharisees had such a list. It was a real long list.

[24:42] And they thought as long as they were not doing these external things. They were not worldly. And they missed the boat altogether. That Jesus says.

[24:52] Don't you know that it's out of your hearts you Pharisees. Worldliness has its roots in the heart. We dare not minimize worldliness just to a few external things that we don't do.

[25:05] Worldliness involves a whole mindset. Not only the things we don't do and the things that we do. But it involves the way we think. The way we desire. The things we value.

[25:16] The things that we want. That's where worldliness meets us. And so he speaks first of all. Here's what's in the world.

[25:27] The lust of the flesh. The cravings of the flesh. That's what's in the world. The lust of the flesh. Remember we said last week.

[25:38] What is the world? It's corporate flesh. Remember that part of you. That loves the world and everything in it. There's part of you that still loves.

[25:48] Rebelling against God and going your own way. It's called the flesh. Indwelling sin. We studied that enemy of the soul. And what is the world? It's corporate flesh. It's every unbeliever's flesh. Together.

[26:01] Armed in battle. Against you. And so John is saying. That's what's in the world. The lust of the flesh is in the world. And that's what gives temptations of the world so much power.

[26:18] Remember how John Bunyan had it. The world is one great vanity fair. And as you're passing through. All the stalls are lined with items.

[26:29] And what's on in vanity fair. Is suited to your flesh. There's something here for everything. For everyone. Maybe not everything on the shelves.

[26:40] Really attracts your flesh. But there's something there for your flesh. The world is a vanity fair. Peter speaks of the corruption in the world.

[26:53] Caused by evil desires. Isn't that interesting? 2 Peter 1.4 The corruption in the world. The pollution in the world. Is caused by evil desires.

[27:05] The word lust. The very same word that we have. Here. That's what gives the world's temptations. It's power. And it's by participating in the divine nature.

[27:20] That we escape from the corruption of the world. Through lust. Think of your flesh within. Like an open barrel of gunpowder.

[27:31] Strapped to your chest. That's your flesh. Lots of things that are very flammable. And would break out into rebellion against God.

[27:43] And now think of the world as a place where all kinds of sparks are flying. The temptations of the world. And there's something between what the world is tempting with.

[27:54] And something that's in your barrel. That if they got together they explode. So how do we go through the world. If we have an appreciation that in the world there is this lust of the flesh.

[28:07] And I carry a whole barrel of it in myself. I go very carefully through this world. Guarding against those things that would inflame my flesh.

[28:24] You're to give no thought to how to satisfy the desires of the flesh. But that's what the sinful world is all about. They got it out on the shelves.

[28:35] They're offering it to you. So we have our work cut out for us. Don't love the things that are in the world.

[28:45] The things that your own flesh wants. And then there's the lust of the eyes. The lust of the eyes. John is saying that inward cravings of worldliness are stirred up by seeing.

[29:01] God made us seeing beings. That's his creative gift to us. But the world often inflames our sinful desires through the eye gate.

[29:14] That's what's in the world that we dare not love. The lust of the eyes. So Eve, you had all the other trees of the garden to eat of. Why in the world did you eat of the forbidden one?

[29:25] Just the one tree you couldn't. When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye.

[29:36] And also desirable for gaining wisdom. She took some and ate it. And Achan, you knew that in fighting the battle at Jericho, everything was devoted to the Lord.

[29:48] Why did you then take some things for yourself? And he would tell us, well, I was okay until I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia.

[30:01] 200 shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing 50 shekels. I coveted them and I took them. I saw.

[30:13] I coveted. I took. There's a powerful connection between seeing and coveting and taking.

[30:27] Deal with it or you'll be a lover of the world. David, King David, God was so good to you, giving you victories over your enemies. How could you, the favored of the Lord, fall into the sin of adultery?

[30:40] And he would say, among other things, I underestimated the power of a look. For when I was walking on the roof of my house at night, I saw.

[30:52] I saw. I saw. A beautiful woman bathing. And that look inflamed desire within. A desire that overpowered every other consideration.

[31:07] Don't miss how worldliness often works in appealing to the eye. The lust of the eyes.

[31:17] Vanity Fair displays its wares on purpose, you see. They're hoping that they've got something that will catch your eye, that you will be drawn in. Advertisers have uncovered this secret of human nature.

[31:32] Marketing strategies have been devised to exploit the connection between your eye and coveting. Your eye and wanting. And that's why casual shopping is dangerous to those with overspending problems.

[31:47] It's dangerous to those with problems of discontent. Those with problems with greed. And I don't know who of us does not fit into that category.

[31:59] You didn't know you needed it until you saw it. And once you saw it, you weren't happy until you had one. That's what we're talking about. Worldly greed is fed through the eye gate.

[32:13] So the world is a huge supermarket. And it's selling food for your flesh. So be careful as you walk through the market.

[32:29] That the eye not be the thing to inflame your own lust. If we would not love the world, we must guard what we set before our eyes.

[32:40] I wonder if you've uncovered or realized the specific ways that worldliness plays upon your eye gate. It would be a healthy question to ask God.

[32:53] Search me and try me and show me what you see. That's why Jesus says if your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Better to go to heaven with one eye than to have two eyes and go to hell.

[33:07] You see, it's serious business. It's life and death. It's heaven and hell. And Jesus says to his disciples, You've got to guard your eye gates. You've got to deal ruthlessly with anything that becomes for you that occasion to sin that's constantly pulling you down.

[33:32] There's the lust of the flesh. There's the lust of the eyes. And then there's the pride of life. The boasting of what we have and do. This is the football player who makes the big tackle.

[33:44] And then he's doing a strut for ten yards into the enemy territory and pointing to himself. You see, this is me. Aren't I great?

[33:56] It's the girl who dresses every morning in a way that says, Look at me. That's her aim. That's how she thinks as she's getting dressed. It's the person who daily manages their Facebook account to impress others, to make others think, Wow, they've really got it all going together.

[34:15] You see, the world is all about self-promotion. Maintaining your image. The world says promote yourself. And God says, Let another praise you, not your own mouth.

[34:31] Someone else and not your own lips. Proverbs 27, 2. The world says your importance is seen in the abundance of things you possess and in the popularity that you enjoy.

[34:43] And God says, What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? What can he give in exchange for his soul? And I oppose the proud, but give grace to the humble.

[34:58] The pride of life. It's what the world's about. Pump yourself up. And it will help you that way. But you know, it's hard to be proud in the shadow of the cross.

[35:12] It's hard to be proud within earshot of Calvary. Hearing my Savior cry, My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? And knowing that it was my pride that put him there.

[35:26] To see him who was eternal God, the Son, forever praised in heaven. All glory given to him. To see him stooping and coming as a man, as a servant.

[35:40] Not just to wash our feet, but to die in our place. It's hard to be proud at Calvary. Stay within earshot of the cross.

[35:51] And you'll find your love for Jesus growing. And you'll find your hatred of the world and the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life growing too.

[36:03] As Christ is up, the world will be down with you. And you with it. So these things are not from God, but from the world. So don't love him.

[36:13] How can you love the things that God hates? Well, that's the second reason not to love the world. The things of the world aren't from him.

[36:25] And thirdly, because the world and its desires are passing away. They don't last. They don't last. Notice what he says in verse 17. The world and its desires pass away.

[36:37] But the man who does the will of God lives forever. Now, we would call him a fool who invested his entire life savings in a company that was bankrupt and going out of business.

[36:50] There it is. Bankruptcy. Going out of business sale. And this guy is dumping his whole life saving into that stock. You say, foolish.

[37:01] But how many people are buying up and selling their souls for a bankrupt world? That's this world. It's bankrupt.

[37:14] It's on its way out. Right now, the world and its desires. It's passing away. It's coming to nothing. And John is saying, wake up, Christian, to the reality that this world is bankrupt.

[37:27] See it for what it is. And you will not love it. It's doomed. And it's heading for judgment. The God of this world has already been judged. Jesus Christ judged him at the cross.

[37:40] The world is going out with its leader, Satan. It's passing. And all of its desires. All that it has to offer. It's going.

[37:51] And all who belong to this world system will pass away with it. There's only one kind of man who is enduring.

[38:02] And it's the man who does the will of God. He lives forever. You see the contrast? The world and its desires and all who follow it are passing away.

[38:13] The future is with a different people. They're God's people. One of the ways that you'll notice them is that they do the will of God. They once did the will of the world.

[38:27] They now do the will of God. They now love God. And those who love God keep his commandments. He's not speaking of perfect obedience.

[38:41] There is none in the earth since Jesus ascended. No, he's talking about real obedience. Real doing of the will of God. From the heart. With sincerity. And God accepts and delights in it for Jesus' sake.

[38:54] This is the man who lives forever. And whose joys are not passing. But are forever and ever. So we share. Isn't it fitting that we share in the end of the thing that we love?

[39:09] So the world and its desires are passing away. And so is everyone that loves the world. It's passing away. It's heading to destruction. But those that love God are heading to an eternity with him.

[39:24] They will endure forever and ever. And that's another reason to not love the world. Remember, it's passing away.

[39:39] How foolish to live for what's passing away. When you might have had eternal pleasures at God's right hand forever. Newton says, fading is the worldling's pleasures.

[39:53] All his boasted pomp and show. They're fading. They're passing away. Solid joys. Lasting treasures. None but Zion's children know.

[40:05] How sad to be mud raking in the world when a crown of life is being offered over your head. And all you've got is your rake to rake around in the muck of this world.

[40:16] How eternal pleasures are being offered to you in Jesus Christ. Remember that as the world calls to you.

[40:29] Dozens of times this coming week. It will be calling to you. Pursue me. Live for me. Love me. Be at home with me. Conform to me. Seek my pleasure.

[40:40] Live for me today. Oh, think beyond the moment. Ask which will be here tomorrow. Where does the future lie?

[40:53] Where will you be? A hundred years from now. A thousand. A million years from now. What is the blindness of this world?

[41:04] That for the sake of a few short-lived pleasures of sin in this world. They would trade. Not a hundred. Not a million.

[41:14] Not a billion. But eternity of pleasures at God's right hand. Sell their soul. For such. A bankrupt world.

[41:28] Why are we any different? Brothers and sisters. Brothers and sisters. We once served the world. We once were loving the world. Why do we do it any different now?

[41:40] Well, it's because we've been given faith to see this world for what it is. Look over the page there to 1 John 5, verse 4.

[41:53] This is the victory that overcomes the world. Even our faith. You see, faith is the weapon that wins the victory over the world.

[42:06] Read Hebrews 11. You'll see those overcomers and every one of them overcame. How? By faith. By faith. By faith. Faith is the weapon that overcomes the world.

[42:19] The worldling lives by sight and senses. That's all he can see. That's what he satisfies. The Christian. The one who is born of God overcomes the world. Why? Because they've been given faith.

[42:30] Faith. The weapon that overcomes the world. And with faith we see our Lord Jesus. The worldling thinks of Jesus as just a fairy tale person. Oh, he may say, I believe in a real Jesus.

[42:42] But it does not register with his heart. This is not. They see no glory in Jesus that they should depart from the world. And love him and seek him and trust him alone.

[42:53] But the Christian, the newborn man, has been given new eyes. Eyes of faith. And we see Christ. And we love him. And we trust him.

[43:05] And that's why we can see right through the world. For all that it promises us. It doesn't satisfy. It's an empty bubble. It looks good on the outside.

[43:17] But it's not what it seems. Here is the real treasure. Here is the pearl of great price. Which if a man has, he's willing to depart with anything just to get him.

[43:29] Christ. It's faith that gives us to see what the world can't see. We see what only faith can see. The unseen world.

[43:40] Faith. What is it? It's that certainty of things unseen. And with faith we see there is coming a day of judgment. And the world sits so blindly to the fact of a day of judgment.

[43:51] We see there's a real heaven and a real hell. And the world sits so loose to those things as if they were a fairy tale. The unseen world is seen by faith.

[44:03] And it's the eye of faith then that cuts the nerve of the world's attractions. Look what it's offering you. And the eye of faith sees the hook. It sees, yes, but how long does this pleasure last?

[44:17] And what comes after it for all eternity? Faith sees it. Faith in Christ. Faith is the victory that overcomes the world.

[44:29] So there's Moses and he's living down in Egypt. And he's got all the treasures and pleasures of Egypt at his disposal. And he chooses instead to suffer shame with the people of God.

[44:41] Why? Because he saw him who was invisible. How do you see someone invisible? With the eyes of faith. You read of him in the scriptures. And you believe.

[44:51] You see it. It's a reality. And faith makes it real to you. Faith sees that I'm a sinner. That I have the need of a savior.

[45:06] And faith sees that Jesus is the perfect savior that meets my need. I need righteousness to get into heaven. I don't have any of my own. Not that will stand the day of judgment.

[45:17] But Jesus has a perfect righteousness to give to all who trust in him. I'm headed to judgment. I've got a debt to pay to God.

[45:27] My sins have piled up. And I have an eternity of punishments to pay for my sins. But Jesus. He has come and paid the debt on Calvary for all who trust in him.

[45:39] Paid it in full. And faith sees Christ and sees in him all that I need. And cast myself upon him. Faith is the victory that overcomes the world.

[45:51] Much of the world will wake up one half of a second after their death. To the fact that they've lived this world. They've lived this life for the wrong world.

[46:04] They live for this world. And they will die. And they will wake up to the reality. I live for the wrong world. I sought the bubble. I sought the thing that was passing away.

[46:17] And I ignored the eternal. And now I come to eternity with nothing. I have no savior to stand with me in the day of judgment. I have no eternal life.

[46:30] May the Lord open your eyes to the reality this morning, my friend. Trust in Christ. He is indeed the pearl of great price. And so, if I'm serious about not loving the world, I'll want to be serious about growing in my love for Jesus.

[46:48] And that'll take me to meeting often with him in his word and prayer. And if I'm serious about not loving the world, then I'll want to grow in my faith. That enables me to see things as they really are.

[47:02] And the temptations of the world for the empty things that they cannot give. And the reality in Christ. And where is my faith strengthened? Faith comes by hearing.

[47:17] Hearing the word of Christ. You see, it's not a preacher's hobby horse, just that he'd like to see his people reading the Bible because, well, he does. No, the reality is that we'll be sucked in with the world and love it.

[47:36] We'll be as blind as the world. But if we do not have faith that feeds on God's word and shows us our Savior, it makes him more precious to us.

[47:51] So may we find ourselves often this week meditating on the things of God's word. Let's do it right now. Let's fix our eyes. Let's come within earshot of Calvary as we sing our response to God's word in the grace hymns number eight, the power of the cross.

[48:08] It's the amazing love of Christ at the cross that will break the back of the world's attraction. Let's stand and sing of our Savior's love for us in number eight in our grace hymns.

[48:25] Father, we thank you for not leaving us in this world by ourselves, but hearing the prayer of your Son to keep us from the evil one. And thank you for giving us new birth so that we could overcome the world.

[48:39] You've given us to partake in your very nature so that by that we might escape from the corruption in the world through lust. You've given us the gift of faith to see our Savior who saves us from this present evil world and that enables us to see the hook in each temptation and to see where it's leading and to see how futile it is to love this passing world.

[49:07] Oh, strengthen our love for the Savior. Holy Spirit, have you not been put in our hearts for this very thing, to be the heavenly matchmaker, to show us the love of God in Christ, to shed it abroad in our hearts, that we might love him more and not love this world, and that we might believe his promises more and not fall in with the lies of this world.

[49:30]  So help us as we cast ourselves afresh upon you, looking to Christ in whose name we pray. Amen. Amen.