A Warning About The World
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Introduction:
Introduction:
Article: “Guidance in the Word”
In 1914, Ernest Shackleton and a team of explorers set out from England to do something that no one before had accomplished—cross Antarctica from one side to the other across the South Pole. Disaster struck when the team’s ship, Endurance, became entrapped in ice and eventually sank after her hull was crushed. Marooned on nearby Elephant Island, there seemed little hope for their survival.
In a desperate effort to get help, Shackleton and five others set out in a twenty-foot lifeboat across some of the most dangerous and storm-filled waters in the world. It was an eight hundred-mile journey to South Georgia Island where help could be found. For fifteen days the men battled the treacherous seas and massive storms with waves of up to one hundred feet. Using only a compass and a sextant, Frank Worsley (who had captained the Endurance) navigated their course until they safely reached land and found help. Shackleton procured another ship and returned to rescue all of his men. He became a national hero in England for his courage and persistence.
All of us are making our way through a stormy world. Ever since the first sin in the Garden of Eden, mankind has struggled to make wise decisions about an uncertain future. The only way to ensure that we do not go astray is to have an objective source of truth that will guide us. Just as a compass can guide sailors through dark and uncharted waters, God’s Word can guide us through uncertain and difficult circumstances. We must simply trust it—over our feelings, over our own wisdom, and over contrary advice others may give us. Because the Bible is inspired by God, it is without error, and we can always trust it.
I start with this story because as we celebrate the graduating class of 2022, I specifically want to talk to you this morning. As you prepare for a new season in your life, you will face an onslaught of temptation and push back from the system of the world. My hope and prayer for you this morning is that you hear the warning the Apostle John wrote about the world system and at the same time find encouragement when you remain in the will of God.
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 everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s possessions—is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does the will of God remains forever.
(Prayer)
A Broken System:
A Broken System:
“Do not love the world or the things in the world…-1 John 15a”
world system n. — the people constituting the world whose values, beliefs, and morals are in distinction and rebellion to God’s.
“There are two systems we choose to live by, the system of the world or the system that the Lord created.”
(Example: The Importance of Biblical Principles)
“French writer Alexis de Tocqueville, after visiting America in 1831, said “I sought for the greatness of the United States in her commodious harbors, her ample rivers, her fertile fields, and boundless forests—and it was not there. I sought for it in her rich mines, her vast world commerce, her public school system, and in her institutions of higher learning— and it was not there. I looked for it in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution—and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great!”
“If the world hates you, understand that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you. Remember the word I spoke to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
“You’re being brained washed. Yes, my brain is being washed and cleansed through power of Jesus Christ.”
The Three Methods:
The Three Methods:
1.) The Lust of the Flesh:
Lust: a craving for what is forbidden.
Let us walk with decency, as in the daytime: not in carousing and drunkenness; not in sexual impurity and promiscuity; not in quarreling and jealousy.
Carousing: Excessive eating or drinking.
Drunkeness: Excessive consumption of alcohol.
Sexual Impurity: Sexual relations outside of biblical defined marriage.
Promiscuity: Sensual pleasures (Pornography).
Quarreling: Bitter Conflict.
Jealousy: a greedy or prideful longing for something that belongs to another.
(Personal Example: The “College Experience”)
How do you fight?
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires.
2.) The Lust of the Eyes:
“What you fix your eyes on effects your mind, body, and soul.”
The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light within you is darkness, how deep is that darkness!
(Photo Example: What you see effects your thoughts, and your thoughts effect your actions, and your actions effect your results.)
3.) The Pride of One’s Possessions:
false pride n. — a self-exalting, self-absorbed conceit of one’s own superiority; especially one that believes that all achievements are of their own doing.
“The one with the most toys, wins!”-Malcom Forbes
A funeral director added to that, “but he is still dead.”
“The gift of life and the difference we can make is more important than all the stuff we gather.”-David John Cooks
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
The World System Passes, But The Lord Remains Forever:
The World System Passes, But The Lord Remains Forever:
And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does the will of God remains forever.
“The darkness of this world is starting to pass and will be gone forever.”
Yet I am writing you a new command, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
“The true light of Jesus Christ is shinning through. His light will never go out!”
So what’s the will of God?
For it is God’s will that you silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing good.
For this is God’s will, your sanctification: that you keep away from sexual immorality, that each of you knows how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not with lustful passions, like the Gentiles, who don’t know God. This means one must not transgress against and take advantage of a brother or sister in this manner, because the Lord is an avenger of all these offenses, as we also previously told and warned you. For God has not called us to impurity but to live in holiness. Consequently, anyone who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.
sanctification n. — the act of becoming more personally dedicated to God; especially by becoming more distinct, devoted, or morally pure.
Why should I become more personally dedicated to Christ? Because He wants to use you to shine His light.
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
Story: When the Lower Lights Went Out:
On a dark, stormy night when the waves rolled like mountains and not a star was to be seen a boat rocking and plunging neared the Cleveland harbor.
“Are you sure this is Cleveland?” asked the captain, seeing only one light from the lighthouse.
“Quite sure, sir,” replied the pilot.
“Where are the lower lights?”
“Gone out, sir.”
“Can you make the harbor?”
“We must, or perish, sir.”
And with a strong hand and a brave heart the old pilot turned the wheel. But in the darkness he missed the channel, and with a crash upon the rocks the boat was splintered and many lives were lost in a watery grave because the lighthouse keeper had not kept the lower lights burning to show the way to safety in the harbor.
Christians are like the lower lights directing people to the Saviour, but if we do not show the way they will die and enter eternity without Christ.
To the class of 2022, and to all of us here today, let us go be the lower lights. Wherever your next season of life takes you, be the light that Jesus Christ has called you to be. You don’t graduate from Christianity, you live it out on a daily basis.
(Prayer)