28. 1Jn 2.15-17 Do not Love the World_ The Temp vs Eternal

Have you ever been frightened by words? I have. When I was a kid, my dad worked offshore on an oil rig. He would work a week on and a week off. There was more than one occasion where I had done something wrong, and I would hear these words spring from my mother’s lips. Wait until your dad gets home. Sometimes he would be home the next day but sometimes I would mess up early into his week offshore and the dread would build day by day until my dad would walk through the door and mom would tell him what I did. That was misery. But that pales in comparison to other words that frighten me. We will get back to that later. But now let us read our text for this morning. And we will look specifically at verse 17.

1Jn 2:15-17 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. (16) For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. (17) And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

This is one of the few appeals that John has written in this letter. Up until now it has been a series of if/then statements to qualify the false from the true believer and more emphasizing the true believer actions from the false. He is addressing the false teaching that has been encroaching on the true doctrine of the church. The whole purpose of this letter is how you may know you have eternal life. Now this brings us back to words that strike fear into my heart, and it should in your hearts as well.

Mat 7:22-23  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?’  (23)  And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

There will be those that stand before the Lord in heaven having been in church all their lives deceived because of their love of the world they were content the form of religion thinking they had the substance of it but they were dead in their trespasses and sins.

Thus, the appeal from John also serves as a warning: 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 of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.

To love the world is to see intrinsic value in it. Remember this is the same word that is used to tell us how we are to love God (agape). It is casting a net over it to satisfy the desires of the heart. What does the world mean in this context? It means all that goes into making up the organized system of evil on this earth. It includes such elements as all unregenerate men, their thoughts, their purposes. Attitudes, and desires that are opposed to God and the patterns of evil practice that characterize life apart from God. It is seeking to fulfill our desires apart from the Lord, His commands, and His provision.

We also saw that to the degree which you love the world is the degree that you do not love God. It is not an all or nothing proposition. We can have varying degrees of love of the world. That is the insidiousness of it. We fool ourselves into thinking a little will not hurt. Something I would like you to consider. Would you be satisfied for your spouse to set their affection on anyone else no matter what the degree? Love of the world is antithetical to love of God.

In verse 17 John moves on to tell us 2 things. 1)The world and its desires(lusts) are passing away. 2) Whoever does the will of God abides forever.

1. The world and its desires(lusts) are passing away

The world paints a picture to please our every desire. Each of us has different predilections, things that we are predisposed to. For some it may be material things. Those possessions that tell everyone around us that we are successful, that we have made it in this life and have all its creature comforts. Maybe you desire the looks of others and so dress in such a way as to appeal to the eyes for the wrong kind of attention. Maybe it is sensual fulfillment. It is all over everywhere. The world and its desires beckons like the woman in Pro 7:4-23 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call insight your intimate friend, (5) to keep you from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words.  (6) For at the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice, (7) and I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man lacking sense, (8) passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house (9)  in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness.  (10)  And behold, the woman meets him, dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.  (11)  She is loud and wayward; her feet do not stay at home; (12) now in the street, now in the market, and at every corner she lies in wait.  (13)  She seizes him and kisses him, and with bold face she says to him, (14) “I had to offer sacrifices, and today I have paid my vows; (15)  so now I have come out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.  (16)  I have spread my couch with coverings, colored linens from Egyptian linen; (17)  I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.  (18)  Come, let us take our fill of love till morning; let us delight ourselves with love.  (19)  For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey; (20) he took a bag of money with him; at full moon he will come home.”  (21)  With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him.  (22)  All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast (23) till an arrow pierces its liver; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life.

The world and its desires are never satisfied and the longing for them comes with a bitter price. Many are pierced because of it and once we have set our desire on it there is always the hunger for just a little more. What we have no longer satisfies so we have to dive deeper. And for what? The world and its desire are passing away. When we lived in Dubai the desert where we were was a very course salty sand. Nothing would grow in it except scrub brush and date palms. But a 150 or so miles away was a place call Ras Al Khaimah. The sand there was called sweet sand because you could grow anything it. What made it so different was one the lack of salt but also the fact that it was so fine. If you grabbed a hand full it would pour out of the smallest gaps in your hand. No matter how tightly you grasped it the would be a steady stream sifting between your fingers. The world and its desires are passing away and no matter how tightly we grip there is nothing to stem the flow. It is a sinking ship whose destruction is assured. So these worldly things that we love, that we have placed our security in, where we seek satisfaction, that have become our idols by which we bow down, that which we have sacrificed the sanctity of our faith for will come to naught.

Thank the Lord for His saving and sustaining grace. Salvation must be wholly God’s or else we are lost. It is in the blood of Jesus that our sins are washed away that we are cleansed from the guilt of our sin. Because have we not all at one point or another to one degree or another now or in the past loved the world and the things in the world. This is a call to repentance and faith. Leave off the love of the world, cling to the Lord Jesus, put away your idols and love the Lord your God with all your heart mind body and soul.

One observation here. The text says the world and its desires (lusts) are passing away and so they are. What it doesn’t say is that you who are not in Christ, your desire for the world and its lusts does not. You will be forever consigned to the fires of hell with all those desires for the world and its lust enflamed but never satisfied. It will be a thirst that is never quenched because though the world and its desires are passing away. Your eternal soul does not.

Are you flirting with the love of the world and its desires? It could be that first step toward apostasy. Will you hear ‘depart from Me for I never knew you’ or will you hear ‘Well done My good and faith servant, enter into your rest’?

2. But whoever does the will of God abides forever

Here we have the contrast of the eternal versus the temporal. That which is temporal passes away but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Whoever is anyone without distinction. It is not based on race, gender, age, or socio-economic status. This is on contrast to the shock the Jewish Christians had when the gentile family of Cornelius believed the gospel and received the Holy Spirit. But the gospel has always been for all the nations. Melchizedek king of Salem and priest to God most high, Rahab of Jericho, Ruth the Moabitess, to Namaan the Syrian. Jesus said come to Me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Just a side note on the free offer of the gospel. Cast it freely to everyone and do not worry about how it will be received. We live in a dark time in history. Evil is proclaimed as good and good as evil. People take offense at everything and over nothing. The evil of this present age may tend to make us defensive rather than offensive. Connie and I have been reading through the Bible in a year which has been a habit for some years now. We have just finished reading Judges. The main theme is the faithfulness of God in disciplining, redeeming, and restoring Israel when the fell into sin over and over again. But I always get caught up in the utter darkness and sin of Israel so rightly or wrongly I am grateful to be done with reading it. Yesterday we read Ruth which historically speaking happened during the time of the Judges the very book I happy to be finished reading. And here was this beautiful narrative of God at work in the individuals lives in the salvation of Ruth the Moabitess and the picture painted of our kinsman Redeemer in Boaz and seen completed in Christ. God is working and moving with unseen hands to accomplish all of His holy work. So cast the gospel seed and let the Spirit carry it will He will whether to the rocky ground or to fertile soil and everywhere in between.

There are a few questions we must ask next. We know that the whoever is not based upon nationality, gender, age, or socio-economic status but there is certainly a qualification, 1. What is that qualification? 2. What is the will of God? and 3. What is doing the will of God?

a. What is the qualification that makes us able to do the will of God? The answer is simply faith in Christ Jesus. It is understanding that you have no standing before God because you are dead in your trespasses and sins. The wages of sin is death, eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord. It is trusting in Jesus, the life that He lived, the death He died, and the life He lives now seated at the right hand of the thrown in heaven. He fulfilled the requirements of the law for perfect obedience and became the curse for us being made sin and nailed to the cross, 2Co 5:21  For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Because apart from saving faith there is nothing in you makes you either willing or able to do the will of God.

Rom 8:7-8  For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot.  (8)  Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

It is from a renewed, regenerated heart that we are able to do the will of God. Eph 6:6  not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart,

b. The second question is what is God’s will?

In answering this question, we must acknowledge that there are two aspects of God’s will. One is His will by decree or sovereign will, the other is His will by command. It is God’s sovereign control of all things. It cannot be broken. It always comes to pass. “He does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, ‘What have you done?’” (Daniel 4:35).

We see this worked out in Jesus’s death. While in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus prayed Mat 26:39  … “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” God’s will is, in this case, what will be taking place in the coming hours. We see this further explained by Peter in Act 2:22-23  “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—  (23)  this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.

God’s sovereign decree is stated again in the apostle’s prayer for boldness in the face of persecution. Act 4:26-28  The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’—  (27)  for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,  (28)  to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

Then there is God’s will by command. His will is what He commands us to do. Paul writes in 1Th 4:3  For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality. It is quite clear that God commands us to holiness, sanctification, and sexual purity.

1Th 5:18  give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Rom 12:1-2  I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.  (2)  Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

A command does not have to have included ‘for this is the will of God’ in order for it be considered binding to the will of God. Every command given for mankind to obey comes under ‘for this is God’s will’ for you.

c. What is doing the will of God?

In the context of these verses it is loving the Lord your God with all your heart mind body soul and strength. The explicit command was to not love the world or the things in the world. Meaning do not love this evil system that has the devil as its head and in everything stands opposed the Lord. The implied command is loving God and all that is about Him. In the greater context it is also loving your brother the way Christ loves you.

Worldlings look to the world in the pursuit of all they desire. The people of God, His children, wait upon the Lord to supply all that they need. I hope you see the distinction. I will say it once more. Worldlings look to the world in the pursuit of all they desire. The people of God, His children wait upon the Lord to supply all that they need. Inherent on the love of God is trust in God. Put off love of the world for the pursuit of it leads to misery and loss. Put on love of the Lord and of others. Let Him and Him alone be the desire of your heart and you will for eternity have your desire satisfied to the richest and fullest extent.

I will close with the following verse.

Psa 16:5-6 The LORD is the portion of my inheritance and my cup; Thou dost support my lot. (6) The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me.