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Before our New Testament reading, let's turn to 2 Timothy chapter 3. This is the last epistle that we have recorded that Paul wrote from prison. He was about ready to be executed. He's giving parting instructions to Timothy on how to pastor the church at Ephesus.
And here he told Timothy that he was going to have a tough time of it as far as all that he was going to have to deal with in the last days, this entire church age, his last days, there comes times of difficulty.
Timothy had to face these difficulties and then he described people in the church that are characterized by a number of these things and he's advocating to Timothy that he should be faithful. However, in spite of all these difficulties, Paul wanted Timothy to be confident of the fact that he was fully equipped to deal with every situation within that church.
It's because God has provided him the Holy Scriptures and with the Holy Scriptures, they're not only authoritative, it's the Word of God, but also it's sufficient to deal with every situation that would ever arise.
And so here we have one of the most clearest statements of the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures as well as their authority and their sufficiency, which isn't always held by people. And so 2 Timothy 3, but understand this that in the last days there will come times of difficulty for people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness but denying its power, avoid such people.
For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also opposed the truth.
Men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith, but they will not get very far for their folly will be plain to all as was that of those two men. You however have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra, which persecutions I endured, yet from them all the Lord rescued me.
Indeed all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and imposters will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you've learned it, how from childhood you've been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. Let's pray.
We thank you our Father that though you've placed before us a difficult task, making known you and your word to a fallen world, we thank you our God that you has given us your holy word that you have inspired, which is infallible, inerrant, powerful and sufficient to deal with every contingency that we may face in life.
We thank you our God for this word and we pray our God you'd help us to be faithful to it, true to it, to proclaim it rightly and fully in our generation. We pray Lord that you would help our church to be true to you and to your word.
Help us to have confidence in you that you will use your word to accomplish your good and holy ends. And now Father we pray for our friend and brother that you would help him as he comes and sets forth your word before us.
We pray that the Holy Spirit would be upon him to help his mind to be clear and sharp and speak truth, the truth of your word to us. And we pray that each of us, Lord, would be granted blessing of the Holy Spirit to understand your word and to apply it to ourselves.
We pray Father for anyone here that may be without Christ, that you would open that heart or mind to their great need for having Jesus Christ and Lord and Savior. And we pray that your word, Lord, would generate faith.
May you grant the grace of repentance that everyone, Lord, leaving here today would do so with fullness of faith in Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen. And if you'll turn to 1 John chapter 2.
Please. Jason, thank you. Good morning. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Our.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for this morning. We thank you for this church. We thank you for the life that we have in Christ Jesus and all the blessings that we have in Christ Jesus. We pray, Lord, that we would direct our attention now to your word, that your spirit would teach us what the scriptures are stating.
We pray that you would take this truth to our hearts, that we might apply it, that we might live it, that we might live for the praise of your glorious grace. So help us now, Lord. Thank you. In Jesus' name.
Amen. Throughout my walk as a Christian, which has been the majority of my life, there's been one passage of scripture that I have continually found to be unsettling. One passage of scripture that has made me very anxious and very uneasy.
One passage of scripture that has frequently kept me up at night in contemplative self-examination. Matthew chapter 7 verses 21 to 23. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
On that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you.
Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. On that day, on the day of judgment, on the day of reckoning, on the great and glorious day of the Lord, all men will stand before the Lord God without anything or anyone to hide behind.
On that day, our thoughts, our deeds, the secret intentions of the heart will be naked and fully exposed. On that day, there will be many who profess to know the Lord Jesus Christ. There will be many who have called upon His name, Lord, Lord.
On that day, there will be many with long lists of religious accomplishments, prophecy, casting out demons, mighty works, having been accomplished in the name of the Lord. And yet, the Lord Jesus Christ will declare to them, I never knew you.
Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. Beloved, on that day, there will be many, not just a few, but many professing believers, elders, pastors, deacons, missionaries, church members, church attenders, who genuinely and sincerely believe that they are in fact belonging to the Lord.
But in the presence of the Lord God, in the presence of the omniscient judge, their deception and their false assurance will be made plain. And it will be declared to them, I never knew you. John Bunyan gives us a very vivid picture of this truth in his book, The Pilgrim's Progress.
After Christian and hopeful cross the river of death, they are welcomed and granted entrance to the celestial city. And looking back, they see their acquaintance, ignorance, ascending the hill. Ignorance reaches the gates of the celestial city, and he is questioned, what is it that you desire?
Ignorance replied, I have eaten and I have drunk in the presence of the king, and he is taught in our streets. So they asked him for his certificate, his passport to the celestial city. But ignorance had no certificate.
So they tell the king, but he would not come down to see him. Instead, he commanded that ignorance be seized, and that he be bound hand and foot. And they carried him away. And seeing this transpire, Christian responded, then I saw that there was a way to hell, even from the gates of heaven, as well as from the city of destruction.
Ignorance, in his ignorance, confidently ascended the hill to the celestial city. And why was he so confident? His confidence rested in that he knew the name of the king. He had spent time eating and drinking in the presence of the king.
He even knew the teachings of the king. But ignorance did not have a certificate. He did not belong to the king. He did not truly know the king, nor was ignorance known by the king. Charles Spurgeon remarked that, if Christ does not know us, it matters not what we do.
Even if we work miracles, if we astound the world with our abilities, it is all nothing if Christ does not know us. Beloved, this is a grave and serious warning. On that day, many will be deceived. On that day, many will stand in shock and horror as they are told to depart from the presence of the Lord, because they are not known by Him.
Beloved, we must take this warning seriously. This warning should prompt us to prayerfully examine our own lives, to scrutinize our relationship with the Lord God, to scrutinize our walk with God, and to make absolutely certain that we are known by Him.
The Lord God desires that each one of us draw near to Him, not in ignorance, not in weak faith, not in half-hearted faith, but in full assurance of faith. The Lord God wants you to know that you know Him.
The Lord God wants you to know that absolutely, beyond a shadow of a doubt, you belong to Him. Please turn with me to the book of 1 John. 1 John is a very practical book, especially as it relates to the doctrine of assurance.
In stating the purpose of this book, John writes in 1 John 5 13, I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. The book of 1 John is set up as a series of tests to verify the authenticity of your salvation.
Because remember, on that day, many professing believers will be deceived. They will genuinely believe that they are saved, but in reality, they were never saved. In reality, they were never known by God.
So how do you make certain that you're known by God? One way, you take the tests of 1 John. To name just a few, do you enjoy fellowship with God and Christ? Are you sensitive to sin in your life? Do you love Christ and are eager for His return?
Do you see the decreasing pattern of sin in your life? Do you love other Christians? Beloved, your answers to these questions will verify whether or not your salvation is authentic. For example, if you don't enjoy fellowship with God, if you're not sensitive to sin in your life, if you don't love Christ, if you don't love other Christians, then you failed the test and your salvation is not genuine.
Because genuine salvation is marked by fellowship with God and Christ. It is marked by a sensitivity to sin, by loving Christ, by the decreasing pattern of sin in your life, and by love of other Christians.
Do you see how these tests work? This morning, we're going to take a look at one of these tests. Our text this morning is 1 John 2, verses 15 through 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 desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions is not from the Father, but is from the world.
And the world is passing away along with its desires. But whoever does the will of God abides forever. In this passage, what is the test that verifies the authenticity of your salvation? It is your affections.
It is your love. Do you love the world? Do you love the things in the world? If you do, then you have failed the test. If you love the world, if you love the things in the world, then the love of the Father is not in you.
The book of 1 John, as well as the rest of the scriptures, makes a very clear delineation between the love of the world and the love of God. It is either one or the other, but it cannot be both. Loving the world and loving God are mutually exclusive.
Jonathan Edwards remarked that true religion, in great part, consists in holy affections. If your heart is cold toward the Father and captivated by the glitz of the world, you need to ask yourself, do I belong to the Father or to the world?
You see, the heart of man is very, very narrow, and it simply cannot contain more than one love. The world draws the heart away from God, and so the more the love of the world prevails, the more the love of God dwindles and decays.
1 John 4, verses 5 -6 says they are from the world, therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us. Whoever is not known by God does not listen to us.
By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. You are either of the world or you are of God, but you cannot be both. 1 John 5, verses 4 -5, for everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith.
Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? Upon receiving the Lord Jesus Christ through faith, we have triumphed over the world. We have overcome the world.
We have moved from the sphere of death and enslavement to sin to the sphere of life, being enslaved to God. John 15 -19, if you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
Beloved, the world is no friend to Christians. God chose us out of the world. God redeemed and ransomed us from our bondage to sin and from the entrapment of the world. And now that we have been delivered, and now that we are free, the world hates us.
And why does the world hate us? The world hates us because the world hates God. The world is opposed to God. The world wrestles and wars against God. The world is anti-God. The world is anti-Christ, which is why we are commanded not to love the world.
For how could we possibly love that which hates and despises the Lord God? Well, what does John mean here by the term world? What is he specifically referring to? The Greek word translated world is kosmos, and it can be defined as a harmonious arrangement, an order, or a system.
In Scripture, kosmos carries with it three basic meanings. The term is often used to describe creation, the physical world, the heavens and the earth, the arrangement of the stars in the heavens. It's used to describe the created order of everything in the heavens and everything on the earth.
This term can also refer to humanity, to mankind, to the inhabitants of the earth, the world of the living and breathing. The third meaning of kosmos refers to order or arrangement. For example, it refers to the evil world system, the invisible realm of darkness that stands in opposition to the Lord God.
In the English language, we often use the word world in this sense. You commonly hear about the world of sports, or the world of medicine, or the world of politics. World refers to an ideology or a system of ideas that relates to something.
In verses 15 through 17, John is using kosmos to describe the satanic world system that stands in opposition to the Lord God. It refers to the worldly mindset, the worldly philosophies, the worldly values, the pleasures, the aspirations, and the worldly spirit that is now working against the Lord God, that is now working against the church of the Lord God.
And who is over this world system? The adversary, Satan. Ephesians 2, 1 and 2, Paul writes, and you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.
In Ephesians chapter 6, he reminds Christians to put on the full armor of God, for our wrestle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
First John 519, we know that we are from God and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. So John uses the term world to describe the evil world system, the system that is filled with those who are enslaved to sin, those who are following the course of this world, those who are following the ruler of this world, the prince of the power of the air.
All of this world and everything in this world is ruled by the evil one. He is our adversary. In contrast, we are from God. We have overcome this world because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.
And this is one of the reasons why we are not to love the world, because the entire world system is set up to oppose the Lord God. The entire world system is set up to oppose the children of the Lord God.
The entire world system is our enemy. It is our adversary and it stands in fierce opposition against us. And if you do love the world, then the love of the Father is not in you, meaning you don't belong to God.
You belong to the world. If you belong to God, then you're going to love God. But if you belong to the world, then you're going to love the world. Again, it's one or the other, but it cannot be both. Now here's where things get a little sticky.
Most Christians will readily admit that they do not have a love for the world. They do not have a love for the world system that Satan is ruling. They do not have a love for the spiritual forces of wickedness or the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
In fact, I would guess that most Christians would admit to having a great hatred for these things. The problem is that while we rightly hate the world, we often struggle to hate the things in the world.
Seeing his hunger, Satan urged the Lord Jesus Christ to turn stones into bread, appealing to the desires of the flesh. He then showed him all the kingdoms of the world. Then he encouraged him to jump off the pinnacle of the temple, which would have been a great source of pride in this miraculous accomplishment, thus appealing to the boastful pride of life.
Beginning in Genesis and running throughout the whole of Scripture, right on through to the very end of days, the adversary will continue to utilize his world system, along with our own desires to incite us to sin and transgress our Father God.
Well, let's look at these avenues in slightly more detail. The first avenue that the adversary uses for temptation to sin is the desires of the flesh. The desires of the flesh refer to our sensual and bodily appetites, the cravings that come from within our own flesh, from within our own fallen and sinful nature.
The desires of the flesh seek self-gratification, no matter the cost. The desires of the flesh seek satisfaction, no matter the consequence. The desires of the flesh are enslaved to their own insatiable appetites that can never and will never be filled.
One.
Commentator described it like this. In the book of Galatians, Paul gives us a list of.
Fleshly desires in which we should steer clear. Galatians 5 .19, now the works of the flesh are evident. Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissension, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.
I warn you as I warned you before that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. So Paul not only tells us to steer clear of these things, of these sins, but if we do not steer clear of them, what's the implication?
The implication, according to Paul, is that you can't possibly be a Christian. It's impossible to be a Christian and to regularly practice these things because a Christian is a child of God. And a child of God is indwelt by the Spirit of God who gives us victory over the flesh.
The world system in which we live attacks us at the very weakest point in our armor, our flesh. The adversary seeks to influence us by using his systems along with our indulgent flesh to incite us to sin.
Well, the second avenue that the adversary is to flatter, to elevate, to.
Rise above all the peaks of pretension and arrogance in both word and deed. A person may be able to get by with a certain item, but he may want to get a better item just to impress other people. People often live just beyond what they can afford because they want others to think they have more than they have.
This is just one example of the pride of life. Charles Spurgeon comments that pride is a sin with a thousand lives. It seems impossible to kill it. It flourishes on that which should be its poison, glorying in its shame.
It is a sin with a thousand shapes. By perpetual change, it escapes capture. It seems impossible to hold it. The vapory imp slimps from you, only to appear in another form and mock your fruitless pursuit.
To die to pride in self, one would need to die himself. Very true. These are the three avenues that the adversary will use to entice you. He's going to try to lure you and trap you by using one or more or all three of these avenues.
He will use the world system along with your sensuality, the desires of the flesh. He will use the world system along with your covetousness, the desire of the eyes. He will use the world system along with your inflated sense of self, the pride of life.
Knowing that this is the strategy of the adversary, how are we to arm ourselves against him? How are we to fight against these three avenues? Let me give you a couple of suggestions. Firstly, do not love the world.
Well, easier said than done. How? How do we not love the world? You need to recognize the world for what it is. It is a system that is put in place to compete for our love for God. It is a system that is geared to generate sin.
It is a system that is geared to incite you to sin. It is a system that has been designed to work alongside our own wicked desires and lead us astray, away from our Heavenly Father. Beloved, the world is not your friend, nor are the things in the world.
And while these things may look attractive to you, while they may allure you with their wiles and entice you with their deceit, most assuredly their end is dissatisfaction. Their end is death. The world, the things in the world, cannot deliver on their promises.
You will not be better off. James 4 .4, you adulterous people, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, who wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
Friendship with the world is hostility towards God. Friendship with the world is to be at odds with God. It is to oppose God. It is to war against Him. Friendship with the world and friendship with the Lord God are mutually exclusive.
For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? What fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with false gods? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? The answer, there is no agreement.
There is no accord. There is no fellowship. There is no partnership. Thus, do not love the world. Do not love the things in the world. Secondly, do not let sin reign in your body. Do not let sin reign in your body.
Romans chapter 6 verse 12, let not sin reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.
For sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under law, but under grace. One of the Puritans wrote this, living in any known sin is a great impediment to a heavenly life. If this be your situation, I dare say that heaven and your soul are strangers.
These beams in your eye will not let you look to heaven. They will be a cloud between you and God. When you attempt to study eternity and gather refreshment from the life to come, your sin will look you in the face and say, these things do not belong to you.
How can you take comfort from heaven when you take so much pleasure in the lusts of the flesh? Every intentional sin will be to your happiness as water to the fire. It will quench your joy. It will disable you so that you can no more ascend in divine meditation than a bird can fly with clipped wings.
We surely need to pray daily. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Beloved, do not entertain any known sin, but rather crucify the deeds of the flesh and the desires of the flesh. Do not relent, but fight against them with all of your might.
Put them to death. Mortify them. Bury them. And thirdly, walk by the Spirit. Walk by the Spirit. Galatians 5, 16, and 17. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh.
For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh. For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do. The flesh rages against the Spirit.
The Spirit rages against the flesh. What does it mean to walk by the Spirit? It means that you will completely rely on the Holy Spirit for every aspect of your life. It means that you will live in the consciousness of His personal presence in us and with us.
It means that you will believe, follow, meditate, and memorize the Word of God, because the Word of God is the Holy Spirit's book. It means that you will be willing to do what the Spirit tells you to do in His Word.
It means that you will be willing to go where the Spirit leads. It means that you will walk thought by thought, decision by decision, and act by act under the Spirit's control, being wholly dependent upon Him.
And when you walk by the Spirit, you will not carry out the desires of the flesh, nor the desires of the eyes, nor the boastful pride of life. Walk in the Spirit. Mortify the flesh, and do not love the world.
Do not love the things in the world. This may seem like a tall order to some of you. It may seem like a lot to comprehend, to a lot to do. But you need to remember one thing. Remember that the world, along with the things in the world, are passing away.
Our struggle against the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life is only a temporary struggle. The world, 1 John 2 .17, is passing away along with its desires. But whoever does the will of God abides forever.
Some of you here today need to make a choice. Who will you love? What will you love? Will you love the world? Will you love the things in the world? Will you love that which is passing away? Or, will you love the Father?
Will you love that which will last for eternity? I suspect that most of us here have already made that choice, but we still need to maintain it. We need to fight. We need to rely upon the power of the Spirit.
Beloved, do not yield to the world. Do not yield to the things in the world. Do not be drawn into the temptations of the world. But rather, do the will of God. For whoever does the will of God abides forever.
Let's pray. Our Father, as we reflect upon this text, Lord, we recognize that we are weak. We are fleshly. We are often controlled by what we see, by what we feel, by what we want. Many times, Lord, these desires are not pleasing to you.
Many times they are in opposition to you. They are in opposition to your revealed will. Lord, we pray that you would give us the same mindset that you have. That we would have a hatred for sin. That we would have a hatred for the things in the world.
That they would not entice us. That they would not allure us. Lord, help us to see them for what they are. They are lies. They are deceit. Their way is the way of death. Lord, help us to see this truth.
Help us to see the reality that is before us. Every day, as we wake up in the morning, as we go to work, as we go to school, as we look online, help us to remember these truths, Lord. That the only lasting satisfaction is God Himself.
Lord, we thank you that you have revealed these things to us. We thank you that you've given us your spirit who enables us to obey you. Who teaches us your truth. So, Lord, we pray that we would be filled with the Spirit.
That we would walk in the Spirit. That we would see the world for what it is. And that we would choose you. And in the power of the Spirit, Lord, we pray that this would happen. So, thank you, Lord. In Jesus' name.
Amen.
