1st John 2:12-17
“I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you
for his name’s sake. I write
unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that
is from the beginning. I
write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one,
I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I
have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word
of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. 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. 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. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof:
but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (1 John 2:12-17).
“Let’s open in our Bible’s to 1st John chapter 2. Welcome if this is your first-time visiting with us. If you’re a father, I hope you grabbed a cookie when you came in. But that’s for the Dad’s (and I’m sure, probably for the Mom’s, that chocolate thing ladies have, you know). Ooops. You know, as you’re turning to 1st John, imagine with me just for a moment, sitting here in the sanctuary, and walls are painted, and wonderful carpet on the ground, the sound doesn’t sound hollow anymore, it’s got that nice full sound, we have this stained glass, beautiful dove in the back, those windows in the back, the top here is finished, the cross and dove here with some brick. Imagine it being like that and bringing your family and friends on Father’s Day. I don’t know about you, but for awhile it’s been like that, I bring visitors and people to the church, and I’ve got to tell them, well, ‘We’re in the process of doing this…’ and apologize for this over here, you know, I kind of go through this whole thing. It’s just really been on my heart, I pass it on to you, you know as we’ve been reading through 2 Chronicles and the life of Solomon, Solomon and his life. And I guess it encouraged me. His life was just a big building construction project. That’s basically what it says, he went from one construction project to another. But yet he was faithful in doing it, and it says he was very orderly in what he did. And if you remember, too, the Queen of Sheba comes to Solomon, and she had heard certain things and she didn’t believe it was true. And she came to check him out, and when she met with him and heard all his wisdom, but also it says when she saw the order of everything and the excellence of everything, she said, “I know what they said is true, in fact, it’s even more so than what I heard.” It’s been on my heart, I even heard a story of somebody who was here on our building dedication night, I remember Mike McIntosh mentioning, ‘Hey, he’s going to buy carpet for a church’, which he did, Horizon San Diego gave us money for carpet. But then this person came later, a long time later, it’s been awhile, and saw that the carpet wasn’t here, and they’re not a born-again believer, and they began to just question, and there was a sense there, they were wondering about our integrity, maybe Mike McIntosh’s integrity. And there is a statement that we make, and I’m not trying to put a trip on you or anything, but as a brother and a pastor, I just want to encourage you that we need to be faithful in all that we do. And our lives are full, and I know what that means, and you need to do what you need to do in your life, that’s for sure, I couldn’t tell you. But I just pray that as we look at our schedule over the summer, we would kind of think together ‘How can we represent the Lord in the way he wants to be represented?’—and that’s in excellence. And we really don’t have far to go at all, to be honest with you. Some of you are a little skittish after last April and May when you lived here for two months, set up your tents you know. But we’re not looking [at doing] that again, we’re just looking at moving along and getting things done. So, just a thought to consider. We are in 1st John chapter 2. We are going to pick up with verse 12 where we left off last week. I mentioned a Scripture last week and I’ll mention it again, and we’ll look at this as we continue here. But Jesus declared in Matthew chapter 24, verse 12, he said in the latter days, lawlessness will abound. And as a result, and maybe also as the cause of that lawlessness abounding, he said the love of many will grow cold. That is, a love for God and a love for other people. I think of an individual, of course I could give all sorts of stories, I know a number of individuals. But I think of one man whom I’ve known in the past who was at one time very zealous for the things of the Lord, it was so clear. He had a real beautiful heart for God, a wonderful hunger in his heart and passion to serve the Lord in any way he could. And it was clear, as you look at this man’s life, he was just laying his life down for God. But then for some reason, I’m not sure why, but he started to get wrapped up into his appearance, the way he looked. And with that, and that certainly seemed like an innocent thing at first, something that was harmless, something that was fine, but as I watched his life, it started to consume him, he started to invest a lot of his energies and time and his means to just work on his appearance. And then I remember when this individual started to hang out with some of the old gang, some of the old friends, friends from before Christ. And then even hearing him tell stories of how on the weekend he’d been at a nightclub or whatever. I remember hearing these things, and I began to warn him, I began to tell him, ‘It seems you’re getting on a dangerous path here. Your heart seems to be getting distracted. You seem to be drifting.’ Of course, he had excuses, he had his reasons, didn’t see anything wrong in what he was doing. Of course there’s freedom in Christ. But then the course continued on, and he really started to change, and in an interesting way, he started to become and appear like he used to before he was in Christ. Eventually his life appeared in a way that there seemed to be very little hunger for the things of God, very little dedication to the Lord. And rather, he was all wrapped up into the things of the world. And I’m not sure how he is today, but I watched that. And the last I knew him, that’s where he was. Of course I could think of others just like that, people I have known. I had a list of stories, and I had to just cut them down so we could get through this study. But I’m sure we all could think of stories, people who at one time seemed to have a real sweet love for the Lord, some even being greatly used by God, maybe being used by God in our own lives. But now instead they’re consumed with the worries and the ways of the world. Of course, this is something that isn’t unique to this time period, in this modern day. It’s been something that’s been occurring since the start of the Church, even Paul in his epistles and letters, he mentions people that he knew where the same thing occurred. There’s this man, Demos, that Paul mentions. Evidently this man served with Paul. And when Paul was there under house arrest in Rome, he mentions Demos, he sends along greetings from Demos to Philemon when he writes the Epistle, the letter to Philemon. And then when he writes the church in Colossi, he sends along greeting from Demos, and we assume that Demos was with him while he was suffering, while Paul was suffering and going through such a hard time. He was a man, evidently comforting him and serving him, a man that clearly loved the Lord, to be set apart with Paul at that time. But then when Paul writes his final words that he contributes to the Bible, his 2nd letter to Timothy, just a little bit before Paul’s death, he says to Timothy, he says, “Be diligent to come to me quickly…” And why? He says, “for Demos has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica.” This man was with him through some hard times. This man seemed to have a zeal for the Lord. But then there’s this note, one of the last things Paul even notes, that we have in the Bible, is this man Demos seems to have turned his heart from the Lord, and is now seeking after the world. This man’s love was stifled somehow by the love of the things for the world. We think, too, of the church at Ephesus, the entire church, you know, Jesus later admonishes this precious church [the very church the apostle John made his headquarters at, as the last living apostle]. He admonishes them in Revelation chapter 2, verse 4, he says “I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen and repent and do the first works, or else I’ll come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent.” And of course these things are sad to see, though it certainly does happen. And so it is when the light and the fire that is in a believer’s heart is then stifled, as they are lured back into seeking after the things of the world. And so, in the Scriptures, we have the repeated warnings to ourselves about not allowing this to happen to us. And I can say to you this morning that, you know, I look at my life, and I desire very much, I tell the Lord, “I want to be faithful to the end, I don’t want to be one of these statistics, Lord.” And I know, just because I’m a pastor today that doesn’t mean that there isn’t the potential in me to become one of these statistics, one of these folks that like a Demos, that is like in one place and then later is kind of back to where they were before. I don’t want to be one of these statistics, but I can also say to you this morning, and I’m sure we would all agree, there is a great battle going on all around us. So many things seeking to distract our attention. So many things seeking to allure us away from following God and doing what is right. In fact, I wonder at times, in this present hour, in this present age, if there’s not more instruments and tools in the hands of the enemy, resources that he has available to seek to distract me and allure me from the ways of the Lord. Weapons and tools to deceive and draw people and their hearts, Christians from the ways of the Lord. Our TV’s are screaming at us, our radios are blaring, our computers are flashing their images and their messages. We walk the streets, we go to work, we drive to the store, and there’s the billboards and the magazines and the advertisements calling out to us. Even the people around us, their conversations, their actions so often seem to battle against our understanding and our desire to follow after God. But this is what Jesus said, he said “in the last days lawlessness will abound…” and it’s either as a result or maybe it’s part of the cause, “but the love of many will grow cold”, the love of many. I think that’s a statement about the condition of the Church. The love of many, in the other translation, says “shall wax cold”, you know, when it’s like liquid, when it starts to solidify, when there isn’t that heat anymore. I guess the heat and the fire going out of a heart, it starts to wax cold. Well with that, what are we to do? What can we do, what can we learn that will help us not become part of these statistics? What will enable us to run the Christian race faithful to the end? I started it that way, because I think John has some things to say here, some things that will give us insight today, and some encouragement that will help us in this matter. So let’s say a word of prayer and we’ll begin with verse 12. ‘Lord, as we look at these Scriptures together it is a true statement that you say, in fact, Jesus you say in another time that when you return to the earth, ‘Will the Son of Man find any faith?’, referring just to the state of that time, that men will grow worse and worse. There’s another Scripture, and men, rather than loving others, will love themselves, and love pleasure, and love the things of the world. But yet, Lord, as Christians, in our heart we want to be faithful, we want to love you, we don’t want to be distracted, want to faithfully serve you, have passionate hearts for you. But at the same time, there’s such a battle. So many things, even that have moved into our own homes, our workplace, all around us, seeking to grab our attention, seeking to knock us off course. But Lord, as we have this time in the Word, we ask even now you’d give us just eyes to see, help us understand. I pray that we would grow in faith at the of hearing and studying your Word. That when we depart this place today, we would be better equipped for the battle, and we’d run and press on all the more in our faith. And we ask this Lord, in Jesus name. Amen.’
Words of encouragement
Verses 12-14, “I write to you little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake. I write to you fathers, because you have known him who was from the beginning. I write to you young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. I write to you, little children, because you have known the Father. I have written to you, fathers, because you have known him whose from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the wicked one.” Now John does not want his audience, that includes you and I today, to become discouraged in this battle that’s around us. So now he seeks to encourage us by reminding us of certain realities that will help us press on in this race. You remember, he already told us about having a true relationship with God. And that relationship with the Lord will be proved through obedience to God’s commands, and that includes love, of course a sincere love for God, that command to love, and also a love for others. At the same time, John understands, man the struggles we face as believers in a dark world. So before he continues, before he continues with those very strong points he has been making, he now stops and gives some words of encouragement, some things that will help us, get us up, maybe if we’re discouraged. The first thing he reminds us of is (1) true grace. That is, as believers in Jesus Christ, we can be confident that our sins are forgiven. You know, as we note here in verses 12 to 14, he addresses three groups of people in the Church, that is the little children, the fathers, and the young men. Now at the beginning of that verse 12 he mentions “little children.” What does he mean by “little children”? Is he talking to the little kids downstairs? The word literally means “born ones”. And commentators take it either to mean “the young believers in the Church”, or maybe “all of the believers in the Church”, you know, all the “born ones”. As you look at commentators, they go back and forth. But either way you take it, whether you take it as young believers or all believers, you can still apply it to all believers. And that is because all believers were once young believers. And the truth is, John has already shown us, as born again Christians [or Messianic believers] we have an advocate, verse 2 of chapter 2, with the Father. We have an advocate when we sin, Jesus Christ the righteous, who is also the propitiation for our sins, and therefore we are forgiven, forgiven of our sins. So John, he’s been exhorting us, and possibly he knows, possibly as he’s making some of these strong statements, maybe some have become heavy hearted, some have become discouraged, just due to the battle that’s raging around them in the many things that they struggle with. They want to obey, they want to love, but they find themselves being lured so often, being distracted so often, find themselves in places they don’t want to be. But if so, before John continues, he wants to remind us of God’s grace. I tell you, that can bring wind back into the sails of our boats, you know it can get us going again. There’s a story of Robert Robinson, the author of the hymn “Come Thou Fountain of Every Blessing”. This man lost the happy communion of the Saviour which he once enjoyed. And in his declining yeas he wandered into the byways of sin. As a result he became deeply troubled in spirit. Hoping to relieve his mind, he decided to travel. And of course, in his journeys, as he became acquainted with a young woman on spiritual matters, she asked him of what he thought of a hymn she had just read. To his astonishment he found it to be none other than his own composition. He tried to evade her question, but she continued to just press him, she wanted some insight, she wanted some answers. Well suddenly he began to weep. With tears streaming down his cheeks he said “I am the man who wrote that hymn many years ago. I’d give anything to experience that joy I knew then.” Although greatly surprised, she then reassured him that the streams of mercy mentioned in his song still flowed. Mr. Robinson was deeply touched, turning his wondering heart to the Lord, he was restored to full fellowship to Jesus Christ. Amazing, huh? I mean, we sing that song, you know, in churches. Beautiful song, what a place he was in when he wrote that song, but later, in the midst of sin, living in the world. But then, the grace of God is really what got him going, the grace of God. I’m sure he’d gotten discouraged living the way he was, but it was the grace of God, that was a reminder, there was still streams of mercy to you, man. And maybe you’re here today. John’s been speaking to you as we’ve been going through, and you’re discouraged and heavy hearted. You maybe remember better days, where you walked with the Lord. But this morning, understand the grace of God, and the truth is again, as we’ve been told each week, if you confess your sin right now to the Lord and repent of your sin, you sure can, he’ll forgive you and cleanse you and heal you, and he’ll bring that sweetness, flood that love right back into your heart again. It is true. It is true. Well if you can relate to Robert Robertson’s story, then I pray John’s word here, “Little children, I write to you because your sins are forgiven you.” Interesting, he says, “for his name’s sake.” I like that part. He’s just saying it’s all about Jesus, Jesus is everything. My forgiveness isn’t dependant on how I feel right now, forgiveness is dependant upon Jesus and his name sake, it’s dependant upon the work that he’s already accomplished on the cross. It’s a done deal. So that’s the basis of my assurance and confidence that I’m forgiven. Well, the next group that John addresses in verse 13 is the fathers.
The fathers
That Greek word that he uses implies an older person, we would assume somebody mature in the faith. John reminds them of how they have “known him”, that is Jesus, who is from the beginning. So this is a statement about true relationship. We have true grace and we have true relationship that John writes about to encourage. These mature believers over the years have grown in their knowledge, their experiential knowledge of their Lord. Their walk with Jesus has grown tighter and more intimate. They have learned that there’s no greater or more exciting thing than knowing Jesus Christ intimately. That’s what he’s saying, “You’ve known him from the beginning.” You’ve known him, not just about him, you’ve known he’s God, he’s existed forever, you know him in his awesomeness and his goodness. They know, these fathers, they know there is nothing in the world that comes close to comparing with Jesus, that he indeed is more precious than silver, more costly than gold, and more beautiful than diamonds, as we sing in that little praise song. You know, it being Father’s Day, this is the text we end up in. I take the opportunity here just to exhort the dads for a moment, and my own self. God is saying to us, just in his timing here on Father’s Day, that there’s nothing more in life. There’s nothing more in life. There’s nothing better in life than knowing God, knowing Jesus Christ intimately and walking closely with him. And truly, today on Father’s Day growth in my relationship with the Lord, that’s where it’s at, if I’m going to ensure that I’m going to be a good dad, a good husband. That’s where it’s at, man, a walk with Jesus Christ, an intimate walk with him. That is what ensures victory. So, to the dad’s, the question, is growing in intimacy with the Lord your greatest desire? Is it your greatest desire? Is that how your wife, is that how your children will highlight your life, I mean, there on your tombstone they’ll say “This man loved Jesus Christ.” Will they note the golf? Will they note your hobbies? Will they note your cars, your collections? [Speaking of that reminds me of this large tombstone, built like a display case, with a glass front on it, and on display is a model sailboat, and all this guy’s sailing trophies. It is in a roadside graveyard on the right, in Kittery Maine as you drive down Route 103 towards Kittery Point.] Or will they say “This dad of mine, man, he loved Jesus, and what an effect it had upon my life…” You know, it’s Father’s Day, and God says to the dads, “you know him, as born-again believers, you know him.” But man, may we grow in that knowledge of Jesus Christ. Sure there’s a lot of distractions, but we also have choices we can make. That is for sure. Having a true relationship though with Jesus Christ obviously isn’t just limited to older people, older in the Lord, more mature believers. So as you see there, John also says in verse 13, “I write to you little children, because ye have known the Father.” I mean, they have a relationship too. All these things can be applied to any believer. Certainly they know God. So John is just giving this gentle reminder that there is nothing else that is needed, we have all that we need. We have grace, and we’ve got God, we’ve got a relationship. The word for “little children” in verse 13 is not the same Greek word that he uses in verse 12, however, it’s the patia in verse 13, and in verse 12 it’s the word technia. The Greek word technia indicates more than anything, birth, being part of a family by virtue of birth. But the word patia simply stresses immaturity. So as commentators go through, and I’ve seen them reverse it, one will take it as meaning the young in the Church, spiritually, those that are new in the Lord, and the other one they’ll take to applying to all the Church, like verse 1 of chapter 2 where John says “My little children”, he’s talking to everybody. Or they reverse it the other way, and patia itself, that word can mean a term of endearment, just like technia can for the young and old. So they both can go both ways. Well, the last group in these verses that John writes to is “the young men.” The Greek word here indicates those who are in their prime, vigor, the vigor of manhood to age 40 or so. And if you are well beyond that, I don’t mean to say you’re old, that’s just what the Greek word means. [laughter] But, I guess 37 years of age sort of like me, and of course he just refers to the males here, I mean, this applies the ladies too, the gals. His reminder to them is that they have overcome the wicked one. Man, that’s a great reminder. Interesting, in these verses, he starts with “I write…I write” and then a little later he says “I have written…I have written.” He repeats himself. When the Bible repeats itself, it’s because there’s something important for us to learn, there’s an emphasis upon it. And of course, any good teacher also repeats himself. So John repeats himself, and he knows this is vital encouragement that the audience needs. So he twice says to the young men, “you have overcome.” And why have they overcome, well, he gives the reason, this point of overcoming, true strength, true grace, true relationship, and true strength, and those are all real encouragements to us today. He’s saying to them that they have the resources which have made them strong, and that isn’t physical strength, that’s strong in integrity, strong in character. And because of that, they have been enabled to overcome the wicked one, Satan. What does he specifically mention as the source of their strength? He says in verse 14, “You are strong and the word of God abides in you”, and it’s because of the Word of God abiding in them that they are strong. These are men that have grown, these are women that have grown, they’ve gone down a distance in their Christian faith, they’re chewing on the Word of God. And they have been growing strong spiritually and seeing victory in their life. Of course, just knowing the Word, just knowing the Word and quoting the Word, that doesn’t give me victory. It’s that point of abiding in the Word. I’ve known plenty of men, even women, that can just quote the Scriptures. You know them, maybe extended family, or neighbors, coworkers, man they just rattle it off. But there’s absolutely no godliness in their lives. It’s not just knowing it in your head, man, it’s abiding in the Word. It’s rather saying “I abide by the Word, therefore I will not do these things that are contrary to the Word of God.” [Go back to the previous three sermon transcripts to see what that means.] That’s what he says, “you abide in the word” and therefore you don’t do these other things. Therefore you have the strength to overcome. We have a clear picture of this in Jesus when he was tempted. Jesus as a man, not eating for forty days or drinking for forty days, incredible weakness. Satan knows it, Satan comes to tempt him. But it isn’t just that Jesus quotes the Scripture, Jesus lives by the Scripture. So as Satan seeks to deceive him and to allure him he comes back and says “No way, man. No way. I obey the Word of God, and here’s a Scripture, this, what you’re telling me to do, I would violate this. I abide in these things, so therefore Satan I won’t do those things.” Twenty three years ago on my fourteenth birthday, 1980, February 9th, my grandfather gave me a Bible, and in the Bible, in the cover as I opened it up it said “To ……… from Herbert,” my grandfather, in fact I was going to get that name Herbert, but I got my name instead, my mom couldn’t say the name Herbert, she’s French, so she couldn’t say it, so I got my name… But underneath that there was the date, and it said “Reading this book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from reading this book.” My grandfather wanted me to know then, you know, twenty three years ago, that as a young man I can overcome Satan by the Word of God, having the Word of God in me. Abiding by it, growing. That encourages me, because there is a battle out there. Sometimes I’m saying, ‘Man, it’s such a battle. I’m so weak. What do I do?’ And God says “Get in the Word. Chew on the Word. Let it become part of you, the way you think, the way you reason, the things you do. You’ll find the strength to overcome.” So John encourages us by reminding us that we have true grace, true relationship, true strength. And now he continues. He continues to help us in this battle by declaring a few things about the love of the world.
The danger of the love of the world
Verses 15-17, “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. 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. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever.” John goes back to this command, exhortation. He makes some real strong points. Gave us a little bit of encouragement before he continued on. And he says now in verse 15, “Do not love the world.” And what is the result, what does he say is the reason, what follows if you do that? Well what follows from that is this effect. You know, loving the world, it has an effect upon my love for God. And it’s not a good effect. It’s a negative one. As you see there in verse 15, he says “…if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” Now that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re a Christian, and you’re struggling a little bit, being distracted, that there’s no love of God in you. But it does mean you can’t have the two in the same measure, you know. There’s a picture here of a scale, and there’s love in my heart—and how does it weigh out? Is the love of the world weighing out, you know, outweighing the love of Jesus?—the love of God? Or is it vice versa? If I move one from the other, it gets to be more different. There’s a greater extreme from the two. He says “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” So his first point that is going to help me, as truth does, is: The danger of the love of the world…the danger. Now what does he mean by “world” anyway? The Greek word is the word kosmos. And John uses that throughout his epistles. It does not mean the physical world, it doesn’t mean the beautiful mountains, like Mount Wachussett, it doesn’t mean the pretty beaches, you know, Coast Guard Beach or the Leominster State Forest—it doesn’t mean that. I mean, God gave us that to enjoy. What he primarily refers to is the invisible spiritual system around us that is opposing the things of God. It is the fallen creation, the world that is constantly degenerating [i.e. man’s societies]. It is where Satan is working to oppose Christ on the earth, it’s the stuff that we see so often come onto the TV or hearing through the radio or seeing in the magazines. It’s the world, man, it’s the world’s system around us. John says that such a love is dangerous for us as believers. But man, isn’t it a great battle? He says don’t love the world, if anybody loves the world, the love of the Father isn’t in him, and we stand here in America today saying ‘What a battle! What a battle!’ Constant fight, so many things trying to distract me, so many things trying to allure me, entice me, all these things the world is trying to offer to me. Man, I tell you, I’ve changed my email account, I did it a little while back, I was excited, I was getting email from people I didn’t want to get email from. Wasn’t too long though, here comes the ads, you know, for realty, this type of medicine, on and on and on, try this, try that. Of course when it comes to the internet and email these days, there’s all kinds goofy, knarly stuff that comes through that we’ve got to be guarded against. What a battle. I mentioned it on Wednesday nights, maybe on Sunday morning, but I think of Chuck Smith’s final exhortation to the thousand pastors and leaders that were down there in Maryland a couple weeks ago at a conference, he challenged us, he says—we had a tremendous conference, many of the men said it was the best conference they were at ever—at the very end Chuck stood before the thousand of us and he says, “Why don’t you consecrate this next year to the Lord like you never have before. Try it for one year. Live totally sold out for Jesus, give it a try.” I know you would think, guys that are in full-time ministry, guys who maybe have left careers and jobs and family, you would think that’s already a done deal. But it isn’t, man. It isn’t. It’s a thing of the heart. He challenged us to set ourselves apart for the work of the Lord, and I in my journal said “Yes, Lord, Father, I consecrate my life to you this next year.” But I’ve had this thought in the back of my mind ever since then, I been thinking about it, some of the guys have been talking about it who were there, and with this, as I’ve been considering it, I’ve been considering the spiritual battle all the more that goes on—the things fighting for my attention. The truth is, there are things that are even fine for us to do, things that in and of themselves may not be sin, but the enemy is using them to allure, to allure our attention away from God. Now when you read this verse, you may be tempted to think of all the wicked things in the world and say ‘Well, I’m not guilty of loving the world, all that wicked stuff, no way, man…’ The problem here is John is saying a lot more than that. What you and I need to understand, is what he is saying here, in order to not be hindered in our Christian faith, I’ll quote you one of the past century’s Church leaders, “There are so many people in the Christian world who are unhappy in their Christian life, and who are not getting the benefits and enjoyment, simply because they have not faced a text like this, they have not allowed it to search them and influence their whole life.” Are you willing this morning to let go and let God speak to you, and say ‘Search me God, take this text and just write on my heart, influence me, move me Lord.’ Well, just in case we don’t understand, we have a misunderstanding about what John is saying here about the love of the world, the next verse 16, he gives us a little bit more help in this battle. He gives us, we have the dangers of the love of the world, now we have the definition of the love of the world. He defines it for us.
“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” (verse 16).
He begins with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the flesh. Here the word lust, it’s an interesting word, you know, you hear the word lust, ooh bad word (well, the world says ‘good word’, but we say ‘bad word’ in the Church). The word means to abuse something which is natural, something which was perfectly right and legitimate in and of itself, but then it’s abused, it’s altered. It becomes a bad thing. Instead of controlling our desires, and using them as we ought to, lust means we’re being controlled by our desires. They are mastering us, they are controlling us. You take the issue of hunger, now that’s something that’s very natural, hunger. That’s not a bad thing to be hungry, to eat food, that isn’t a bad thing. Certainly we can enjoy food too. But as one put it, the problem is not eating in order to live, but when we live in order to eat, that’s the problem, that’s when it becomes a lust. When eating takes on such a priority and such a passion for us, we are guilty of lust of the flesh. And so the world, you know, we want to be right with the Lord, but we sit in front of the TV and we see burgers, and you see McDonalds, you see the stuff, they’re telling us, ‘This is it, man. You’re bumming out right now, what you need to do it go right down to McDonalds! I mean, it will make you so happy and so fulfilled!’ Really, right? You open up the magazine, you weren’t hungry, but then you are right after. I mean, you’re thinking ‘Man, I got to go get one of these.’ And I’m not hungry. It’s not wrong to eat in order to live, but man, when you live to eat. I think of alcohol, too. Something that the Bible says is OK, I believe in moderation. But then you see the ad, you know, there’s the beach, there’s the volley ball, there’s these people partying, ‘the Mic, that is where life is at, this is it, right here.’ I remember in my college years, that was the mentality of so many people. You know, I have to go, it’s so cool, got some beer, you know, Oh, what a great deal—it was like it was a god. It was like that’s what they were living for. That’s what he is talking about here. If you can say, if you can say, I live to do anything—how to you finish it?—George lives to—I hope they put—to follow Jesus. I hope they don’t put “to play golf.” George lives to tinker around the basement. George lives to whatever. I hope it’s George lives to love and serve Jesus Christ. That’s what he’s saying here. If you can say “I live to fish”, if you got a bumper sticker on the back of your car saying “I love to hunt” or “I live to hunt”, it’s OK to enjoy things, but to say “I live to hunt”, to say “I live to golf”, “I live to lift weights”, “I live to shop”, “I live to cook”, “I live to quilt”, whatever it is, then there’s a problem. I think the challenge is, a lot of us as Christians, we think ‘I’m born again’ , but in this culture, it’s OK to be seen as “I live for golf”, I live for it, it’s so cool. Got the magazines, got all the videos, every moment I can get away, I’m playing golf. But see, he says here, don’t love the world. Why? Because it’s dangerous. Because if you love the world, man, it is reducing your love for God. I tell you, I’ve seen people that were even in strong places with the Lord, and they started to go down that track, and today, man, they’re in dangerous place, like Robert Robertson. But the truth here is, this goes even deeper, I believe. It isn’t just, it’s not just referring to those things maybe would consume our time. Sometime we might think of it on that scale. Well, there’s nothing other than I go to church a lot, I read the Bible a lot, I pray a lot, but there isn’t really anything that you can look at that’s consuming me. But I think what he says here is even deeper, and that’s what the Holy Spirit wants us to look at, you know, he wants to go deeper. This right here can be very subtle. I think it’s so often where we trip up. I think of Chuck Smith again and his words to those thousand men, as I’ve been trying to evaluate my life by that. “OK Lord, I want to be consecrated to you, I want to be consecrated to you Lord, I just want to be set apart for you.” I have that, and as soon as I put that into my mind, I’m reminding myself, thinking about it. So now I’m listening to our Christian radio station, if you haven’t heard it before, and I’m listening to it, and I have this habit this time of year, getting in my car, leaving in the morning, I turn it on, and then I go ‘Oh, what’s the Red Sox score, you know, last night’s game, what’s the score? I want to know who won.’ I flip over there, and as I’m starting to flip over, I hear this little question, ‘What’s so important about the Red Sox score?’ What’s so important? Now I’m not saying there’s anything bad about watching baseball, but I’m wondering in my own heart, yeah Lord, I could listen to this great Bible teacher right now and be edified, I hear you, I hear you. But I really want to know the Red Sox score. I really want to know right now. It’s not that I watch many of the games, I watch few. But I do want to know how they’re doing. And then too, there’s this thing in me, I’ll be listening to the radio and especially at the beginning of the day I want to flip over at the top of the hour and just hear the big events in the world on the news, I want to get the news. And I noticed that increased in my life after September 11th. You know, on September 11th, all of us, we sat in front of the TV watching the news. But I wonder if something is happening in my heart. [Watching and keeping up with the news is important, as some current events tie directly into prophecy being fulfilled. So it’s important.] Because I can be listening to a great teaching, and then all of a sudden, like top of the hour, what’s the news events, you know, flipping over, hear the news. Nothing wrong with knowing what’s going on in the world. But you see what I’m saying, I think it’s more subtle. He’s talking about issues of heart, he’s talking about you know, what do we love? And our hearts should be filled with the love of the Lord, that’s for sure. How does that scale read, love for the Lord, love for the world, where are we man? I hope all of us, it’s just so far toward love for the Father here, with very little love for the world. It’s not bad to enjoy the world, don’t get me wrong, but what do we love? [By enjoy the world, I think he means hobbies, within reason. I like to skin dive. I may get the chance to skin dive maybe once a year now, on my vacation. I love to sail. But I very seldom get a chance to do that anymore. It doesn’t consume my life. I think of Gehazi, the servant of Elisha in 2 Kings 5:14-26, where Gehazi wanted the things of this world. It’s the story of Naaman the leprous general of the Syrian army. He wanted to be healed. He sent to Elisha the prophet of God, and Elisha through his servant Gehazi told Naaman to go dip himself in the Jordan seven times and he would be healed. Naaman at first refused, and then did it, and was healed. He had brought a lot of gold and silver to pay Elisha (via Gehazi his servant). Elisha refused the money, but Gehazi secretly went back and said Elisha had changed his mind and wanted a little, and Naaman gave Gehazi two talents of silver with fine changes of clothing as well. God revealed this to Elisha. Elisha’s famous statement to Gehazi is in verses 25-27, “But he went in, and stood before his master. And Elisha said unto him, Whence comest thou, Gehazi? And he said, Thy servant went not hither or thither. And he [Elisha] said unto him, Went not mine heart with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee?”--Never lie to a prophet, not wise, not wise indeed. Now for the key statement, not just for Gehazi, but all of us that live in this present evil age—this isn’t the time of our reward, that comes later. That’s what Elisha means here, and it applies to all of us—“Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants? The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto they seed forever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow.”] We could go on with a long list here, many examples. Of course we don’t have the time. But when it comes to living for the flesh, these are a few of the things the Bible says about living for the flesh, some of the warnings. Mark chapter 4, verse 19, Jesus says explicitly, living for the flesh is unfruitful. It is unfruitful. John chapter 6, Jesus says living for the flesh will profit us absolutely nothing, give us no profit in our life at all. So then, Paul says to the church in Rome, Romans chapter 13, verse 14 he says “Make no provision for the flesh”, make no provision for the flesh. Then in Philippians chapter 3, verse 3 he told the Philippians “Don’t put any confidence in the flesh.” So there’s warnings. John gives warnings here about the danger. Then I can’t help but think of Peter’s words “In these last days” 1st Peter chapter 2, verse 11, listen to the heart of this church leader, this tremendous man of God. He says to the Church “Dearly beloved”, then he says “I beg you—I beseech you”—now when someone says to you “I beg you”, I mean, what are they saying? They’re saying “I am trying to get through to you—“I beg you, as soldiers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.” He says “I beg you” [King James language “I beseech you”], I beg you, abstain from it. Live for the Lord. You’ve only got so much time. Jesus is coming back soon, you’re going to be before him just a short time from now. Live for Jesus, live for Jesus, live for him. It’s what it’s all about.
The lust of the eyes
Now John says that the love of the world includes the lust of the flesh, but also includes the lust of the eyes. Man, that’s where it starts, isn’t it? You know, it’s through the eyes that sin so often works it’s way into my life. [Men, more than women, are naturally created to be attracted to the way a woman looks. In proper context with finding a spouse and in context with marriage, and kept within those bounds, this natural trait is good and God-created in men. But it is a danger when taken out of that context.] It is what I see and what the world wants me to see that so often traps me up in sin. Now, when he says “the lust of the eyes” it further includes delighting in pomp, in splendor, in appearance, anything that appeals to the eyes. So you know, you think of, of course Jesus says the man who looks upon a woman lustfully has committed adultery, that’s lust of the eyes. You think of Eve there in the Garden of Eden, she looked at that apple, then she said ‘Mmm, looks like it could taste pretty good.’ It first caught her eyes, then it caught her flesh, and then it worked to pride, and that’s where she said, ‘Yeah, this will give me knowledge, man.’ So she took it. But the lust of the eyes, the lust of the eyes. It also refers to people whose main interest in life is their personal appearance. [I see this all the time in the health club I joined. I joined it, like many older people, to maintain my health and keep my lower back muscles strong, due to back problems. But the place has mirrors lining the walls in the weight lifting section, and many young men and women are there to maintain their appearance, more than health. You see them looking at themselves in the mirror. Us older folks, we just want to stay healthy a little bit longer. Our looks have already gone beyond repair for most of us.] That’s indeed lust of the eyes. When you can’t walk by a mirror without going ‘How do I look? How do I look?’ Someone said, if you follow a persons eyes long enough, you will discern much about their thoughts and much about their heart. And it’s true isn’t it? Are they checkin’ out the babes?—all of the nice cars that drive by? Are they noticing all the mirrors? Are they looking in all the store windows? [Again, it’s part of a woman’s nature to like to shop, and we guys would starve in a house or apartment furnished with wooden boxes for tables and chairs if this weren’t so. Taken to extremes, though is what he’s talking about.] Their eyes, their eyes will tell you—where are their eyes going? I think too of the type books and magazines that constitute a person’s magazine rack at home. [Oh, man. National Geographic’s everywhere, Good News Magazine, Zion’s Fire, 7 massive book shelves loaded with secular and religious history books, going from ancient Egypt to the present, science books—and I’m a remedial reader! But that’s what keeps this site interesting.] That’s very telling. Is it mostly books on spiritual matters? That will always tell you something. All kinds of devotionals sitting in that rack and magazines on the Lord. Or is it Sporting magazines? That tells me about somebody, they’ve got Sports Illustrated, they got sports this, Sports World, that’s all they’ve got. Or is it car magazines. Or electronic gadgetry magazines? Some people really get caught up in that man, they’re looking into those magazines, and they’re just going to the phone all the time, 1-800, ‘I’ll order that, I’ll order that, they got ‘em all, you know. Or maybe it’s work-out magazines, man, it’s all about the gym, music magazines, clothes magazines, the Hollywood scandal mags. I think it tells something about that, I mean, your eyes, your eyes, the lust of the eyes, lust of the eyes. We should always remember the word of the psalmist in Psalm 119, verse 37, he said to God, “Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, and revive me in your way.” If you want revival, you want to be revived, maybe you need to put your attention on other things more. Consumed too much with love of the world. So if you sit here today and there’s very little love for the Father, little passion. Think of Jesus’ words too in Matthew chapter 6, verse 22, “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if your eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” Your eye, your eye, it’s effecting you so much. What are you focusing on, where’s your attention going?
But then even more subtle than the lust of the flesh, that can be pretty blatant too, but the lust of the eyes can be a subtle thing.
The pride of life
But what’s even more subtle is what John tells us at the end of the verse. This third part is “the pride of life.” The best way to describe the pride of life is the word “self-glorification.” It can include the pride of your birth, pride in your family name, pride of your family heritage, pride in your industry or your job, pride about your genealogy, your social status, pride in that. Martin Lloyd Jones said “It is the most serious and most terrible of the three, pride of the life, the most terrible.” I believe it’s true. You know, I was reading his commentary, and he was going on with a long list of [what makes up] the pride of life, examples, examples, making it very clear, as he taught there in London, you know, sixty years ago, seventy years ago in packed out church services. He was teaching, a tremendous orator. And I’ve got his sermons, and I was reading one and he started to talk to the audience about pride, and then he went on to college degrees, being prideful about the university you attended. You know, I heard that and I got a little prick in my heart. Ooh I said, that makes me a little uncomfortable. And it’s true. I like to tell people, I got this degree and this is the college I went to. I’ll be honest with you, I like to tell people that. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, it’s pride. I’m not going to tell you right now I want to. [laughter] Maybe it’s because I was the first one in my family to get a college degree, I don’t know. But you can be prideful about things like that. He says this is the love of the world, and this is dangerous, man. It is dangerous. If you and I are going to live a life that is truly consecrated to the Lord, real love for the Father, we need to have the heart of Paul when Paul said in Galatians chapter 6, verse 14, “But God forbid that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.” And who cares about anything about me, it’s about the cross, that’s the greatest thing, nothing compares to that. Anything in me is just so far smaller and removed and shabby compared to Jesus and what he’s done for me.
“And the world passeth away, and
the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth
for ever.”
Well John goes on to one more point that helps us in this battle we’re in, all the enticement around us, this struggle trying to live for the Lord, all these things seeking to lure us in this age, he gives us one more thing, and it’s this last understanding which he mentions in verse 17. He mentions the ultimate and final destination of the world. He says in verse 17, “The world is passing away and the lust of it.” The world is passing away. His reasoning is simple, he’s saying ‘Why get so wrapped up into something that isn’t going to last?’ ‘Why get so wrapped up into something that’s so temporary?’ That’s what he’s saying. The world, it’s leaving, man, it’s passing away, and the lust of it. Everything around us, one day, is going to be consumed by fire, so he’s saying, why live for something that’s just going to burn? Why live for that? That’s futile, that’s futile, that’s a waste of your life. You only got one here on this earth, and it’s a waste to live for something that in the end is just going to go boom! Smoke, gone, and it’s done.
The whole planet Earth, and the
heavens too, will be consumed in immense fire. This
is termed the “lake of fire” in Revelation 20:13-14; 21:1. “And death and hell were cast into the lake
of fire. This is the second
death. And whosoever was not found in the book of
life was cast into the lake of fire.” (Rev.
21:1, the very next event) “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth:
for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away: and there
was no more sea.”
Consider the life of Lot. You see in the pattern of Lot, you see the pattern here. You know, it started with the eyes, he looked toward Sodom in Genesis, he looked towards it, he said ‘Oh, that’s nice over there.’ Wasn’t in it yet, but he looked towards it. Because he looked towards it, it started to draw his heart, so he went down and pitched his tent there in the valley, and it says he pitched his tent, he set up the door of his tent towards Sodom. He was looking at it, it was really catching his attention. And then a little later we find Lot living in Sodom, sitting even at the city gate…part of the central life of the city. At the same time when that city was captured by the enemy, who also was captured?—Lot. Abraham had to come rescue him. But then when God destroys Sodom, God had to rescue Lot. And everything he was living for, the next day Abraham stood there and looked over the valley and it was just smoke. He was living for all this stuff, it was consuming his passions, and then just a little while later it was gone. The life of Lot is a reminder of that. But the destination of this world, man, we should consider that, because this stuff is just going to leave. [For the true destination of this world, check out http://www.unityinchrist.com/kingdomofgod/kog.htm .] It’s going to be consumed with fire. It says that “he who does the will of God abides forever.” That’s living for eternity, that’s investing in stuff, that’s making such a good investment where there’s always dividends. You know, why invest into some kind of scheme that’s only going to fail later? That’s bad business. But investing in eternity is something that you will appreciate, that you will reap for all eternity. [For an interesting idea in how to spread your investment where it will do the most good, log onto http://www.unityinchrist.com/missionstatement.htm .] He who does the will of God abides forever. That’s what he means there. Now when he says “the will of God”, what does he mean by “the will of God”? The word there in the Greek is thelema, and it means “what God wants to do, what God wants to accomplish.” And of course, today in this age, God does his work, he wants to accomplish certain things, and he works especially through you and I, through the Church, uses us as instruments. [Pastors, to dig deeper into this theme, check out http://www.unityinchrist.com/evangelism/graham/bgraham1.html.] But there is a little bit more to this word, this word thelema [Strongs #2307]. It derives from the Greek word theleo [#2309] which means not only to will, but to delight, to delight in bringing that will to fruition. So he says “but he who does the will of God”, will, delighting to live for the Lord, those who do that will “live forever.” Well, here we are on Father’s Day, God’s spoken to the dads, God’s spoken to all of us. I think this is a great text, every church in America should probably have this as they come in, you know, listen guys, listen guys…Jesus made it so clear, he says “in the last days lawlessness will abound, and he says the love [agapeo] of many will wax cold.” He says about the church in Laodocia, man, ‘I’m about to spit you out of my mouth, because you’re lukewarm’, the fire’s going out. So today, today where are we? Jim Eliot once said he said “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot loose.” He says, ‘I give up all this stuff for you Lord.’ Meaning ‘I don’t live for it anymore’, because it’s all temporary anyway, I can’t keep it anyway, ‘and I live for you Lord.’ Man, but don’t we live in such a battle? But I hope and pray that John has encouraged you. He’s encouraged me, man, consecrated life. I guess I could share the same words with you that Chuck Smith said to us, why don’t we the next year just live a consecrated life, more than ever before. The world has yet to see what God will do through one man who’s fully consecrated to Jesus Christ. And what he will do is just amazing. John has reminded us of true grace. Maybe you were just a little discouraged, listening to some of the things said [in the previous sermon transcripts], but he said, ‘Hey man, your sins a forgiven.’ He’s reminded us of true relationship, meaning, we know the Lord, it’s all about that. We’ve already got it, man. He’s also reminded us of true strength, we need the Word of God. You know in Galatians 6, Paul talks about fighting the enemy and on ‘that evil day, standing.’ And he talks about the armour, putting on the Armour of God and then he mentions the Sword, the Rema, the Word of God. And it’s so key in the battle, because you know, you can be a soldier with the sword, and you can be good with that sword, and even if you’re real good with it, you can do without the rest of the armour if you’re good with a sword. But it’s not true of the rest of the armour, you need that sword, it’s so vital and central to fighting the fight. So we have the sword. But he also reminded us of the danger of the love of the world, the definition of what the love of the world is.” [sermon transcript of 1st John 2:12-17, given somewhere in New England]
For more on the subject of putting on the Armour of God, log onto:
http://www.unityinchrist.com/ephesians/eph6armour.htm and read through to http://www.unityinchrist.com/ephesians/putonarmour.htm .
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