The following sermon was preached at Christ Reformed Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. If you are interested in our church or would like more information about us, you can visit us online at ChristReformedChurchTulsa.org. Hopefully my voice will stay with us here. Let's begin reading in verse 15. 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. And the world is passing away along with its desires. But whoever does the will of God abides forever. Let's pray. Father, we come to You now. We ask that You would write Your Word upon our hearts. We pray that You would revive our hearts through Your Word. Lord, we pray that You would not hold back anything from us, but that You would reveal Your sacred Scripture to us. Lord, I pray that we would be doers of the Word and not hearers only. Father, if there's anybody here today that is in love with the world and not in love with You, we pray that this passage of Scripture would convict them, and that by Your Spirit You would grant them the new birth, that they might arise and flee to Christ, that they might find forgiveness of sins and flee the wrath to come. Lord, speak to us now and be with me as I preach. Lord, as I struggle with my voice this evening, I pray, Lord, that You would just give me strength and show Your power and Your glory through my weakness. Lord, we ask all of these things in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. several years ago while I was attending a funeral, I remember being in a cemetery and I was looking around, as we often do when we're in a cemetery, at the different tombstones and so forth. And I remember coming across this one that I looked at, and it was a rather elaborate tombstone. Usually there's just the person's name, maybe a little engraving here and there, but this tombstone was elaborate because there was not only the guy's name, but there was a scene on this tombstone. And the scene was this. There was a ranch house, and there was a barn, and out front there was cattle grazing. They were fat, and then there was a nice fence around all of those cattle and around the whole place. And as I looked at that picture, I wondered what kind of man it was that was buried there. I wonder what he was like when he was alive. Now, there's nothing wrong with having things. There are many people who have had things and yet love the Lord with all their heart. And he may have very well have been one of those people. He may have had this beautiful ranch and everything else, but yet loved the Lord. But I couldn't help but think when I looked at that scene on that tombstone, I had to ask myself, I wonder what kind of man this guy was. Did he love the Lord or was this what he looked forward to in life? Did he put all of his energy and focus on building this great ranch or farm or what have you? And did he live for that and that alone? Was that what he prided himself in? Was that what he lusted after? Was that what he desired? Or did he desire the Kingdom of God? Well, I'll never know because I never knew that guy. But that's a good question that we should all ask. What is our desire? Do we love the world? Or do we have affections and do we love God with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength? Well, today as we come to this passage of Scripture, The title of our message is very simple, comes right out of verse 15. Do not love the world. Now, in this passage of scripture, it goes right along with what John has been trying to accomplish. In this book, John has been trying to help those who are believers know that they have eternal life, those who have believed upon Christ. He wants them to know that they have eternal life. Now, the reason for John writing this letter is because there were false teachers that had risen among the churches there, and they had risen and they were teaching all kinds of false things about Christ. We know that every heresy, every false teaching stems from a misconception of who God is, who Christ is. And so these false teachers, they did not believe that Jesus had really come in human flesh. They did not believe that He was truly the Christ. But yet here John writes, And He directs their attention to the most important truth in chapter 1, and that is who Christ is. He was that which was from the beginning. That which was from the beginning, we hear that language in Genesis 1 and John 1. It speaks of His deity, this One who was in the beginning, God Himself, Jesus Christ. He was fully God. and fooling man. He came to this earth, taking upon human flesh, and John says of Him, I've seen Him, I've touched Him, my eyes have beheld Him, and I proclaim Him to you that you might have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. John writes to clear up these false teachings about Christ. He writes to declare who Christ is. Not only that, but he writes to show the difference between those who are true Christians and those who are not. And those who are true Christians hold right views about Jesus Christ. They have right views, right doctrine that comes right out of Scripture. Not only that, but those who are true Christians, they do not go on living in sin, but their life when they come to know Christ, it is radically altered. They are granted the new birth, and so they walk in righteousness and holiness. But those who say they have fellowship with God, but go on sinning, they do not know God. They are liars, and the truth is not in them. They are self-deceived. John also talks about how we might know God, that is, if we keep His commandments. If we keep God's commandments, we know that that is evidence that God has done a good work within us. But then, those who do not keep the commandments, and they live however they want, it's evident that they've never been changed, their heart is still as hard as it ever was, and they've never been born again. Also, we know that those who do not love, those who do not love the brethren, do not love other believers, they are not Christian. But those who are in the light, those who walk just as Christ walked, one of the ways in which they walk in the same way in which He walked, is they love the brethren. Now, we come now to another test. A test to demonstrate whether or not we know Christ. Whether or not we truly have fellowship with God. And it is this. Do you love the world? If you love the world, as John says here in verse 15, if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. So, let's look at this together, this passage of Scripture. John starts off here in verse 15, in the first part of it, with a command. He says in verse 15, Do not love the world or the things in the world. Now, we have to look at this because we have to ask, what is John talking about when he says, Do not love the world? Is John calling us to hate or to despise or not to enjoy the creation in which God has made? Not at all. We know from Genesis that all the things that God has made, they are very good. We know that the things that God has made, the heavens declare the glory of God. They speak of this One who is our Creator. And so, there's nothing wrong with enjoying the things that God has made. There's nothing wrong with going out and enjoying a sunset, or your pets, or a mountain, or a meadow. There's nothing wrong with enjoying those things. So that's not what John is talking about here when he says, do not love the world. He's not saying do not love the created order. He's not saying that at all. Well, second, we have to look at, well, is he talking about people? When we hear the word world, we think obviously of John 3.16, For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever shall believe in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Is John telling us that we should stop loving people? Well, he's not doing that because we've already seen that we are to be a people who love, love other brothers and sisters in Christ. We're to love our neighbor as ourself, which would include not only believers, but unbelievers. We're to pray for our enemies. We're to love the brethren. So we know here that John is not saying when he says do not love the world, he's not talking about people. He's not saying don't love people because we know that that's what we're supposed to do. That's what God does. So what kind of love here does John have in mind that we are not when he says that we are not to love the world? Well, It's interesting that the word world can refer to several different things. It can refer to the created order. It can refer to people or different groups of people like Jew and Gentile and so forth. But it also can be used in a negative sense. The word world can refer to this evil worldly system which you and I live in that is hostile to God, that is ran by Satan. And that is the world in which John describes here in 1 John 2 and verse 15. It is the same type of world that John describes in chapter 5 and verse 19 when he says of the world that it is lying in the power of the evil one. He's speaking of the world in a negative sense. He's not talking about creation. He's not talking about humanity. But he's talking about all of those philosophies and ideologies that are opposed to God and opposed to His will. It is the conduct and the attitude and the aspirations that are opposed to God and His law. That's what John is talking about here. Let me give you just one example that comes to us from this week's news. You may have seen where in New York, the Democrats, they passed a law in regards to abortion, where now abortion is legal all the way up until birth. And so there's a late-term abortion that can take place now. In other words, you can murder a child up until that point. And when they passed this, they erupted in applause. That is the world that John is talking about. That is the evil world that is opposed to God. And it has nothing to do with the Lord. And John is saying, do not love that behavior. Do not love that evil worldly system that is opposed to God. We know also that loving the world, as James describes it in James 4-5, it has to do with how we speak. There is loving the world as speaking like the world. People using vulgar language that the world uses, spouting off heresy, false things, all of those things that are not biblical. It would consist of lying or slandering someone. spewing out words of hate towards others, gossiping, and seeing no problem with this type of behavior whatsoever. That is loving the world. Loving the world would be the opposite of Romans 12, 12. Romans 12, 12 talks about how we should have our minds, should be conformed to the Word of God. Our minds should be renewed daily. But those who do not have their minds conformed to the Word of God, and they're not renewed by God's Word, they have their minds set upon the flesh. They have their minds set on the things of this world. That is the type of love that John is talking about here. As James 4 describes it, loving the world means you are a friend of this world. You have no problem with the way the world thinks, the way the world acts. You have no problem whatsoever. You love it. You love the sinful pleasures that the world longs for. You laugh at the filthy things that the world laughs at. You believe the same false lies and you embrace them just like the world does. You desire or covet the same earthly things that the unbelieving world desires, such as money and possessions and fame and popularity. That's the type of world that John is talking about here. And to love the world means that you would rather have the favor of men than the favor of God. And to boil it all down to what it means to love the world, we could summarize it this way. To love the world means that you are right home here in this world. You don't long for heaven. You have no affections for the things of God. You don't long for that city in which righteousness dwells. Instead, you feel very comfortable where you are. You wish this would just go on the way it is. And this is what you live for. This is what you long for. You're building your little kingdom here. That is the type of world that John says we are not to love. In fact, if the truth would be known, some are more comfortable watching an R-rated movie than they are sitting under a sermon where a preacher is talking about holiness and righteousness and living for the things of God. That's loving the world. Loving the world also means that you may be okay with going to church. and saying you love God while you continue to practice sin just like the rest of the world. That's loving the world. And these are just a few examples of what it looks like to love the world. And we will get into more of what it looks like to love the world and the things in the world in just a moment as John is going to give us some examples. Examples like desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life. We'll break that all down. But what John says here is if you love the world and the things in the world, just like the sinful world around you, if you're part of that system, then John says this, He says there in verse 15, If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. What John is saying is quite clear. John is saying that if you love the world, if you act like it, you like the same things that the world loves, then it is evidence of that right there, that you do not have the love of God, the love of the Father. It has never been shed abroad in your hearts. You are still in your sins. You do not love God. You are still an enemy of God. As James 4 verse 4 says, You adulterous people, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. You cannot have it both ways. You cannot love the world, and say at the same time, I love God. Now I've seen people do this. I've seen people embrace sin, they make no excuses for it, they embrace sin, whatever it is, or some false ideology, and then at the same time they say, I'm a Christian, I love God. I've seen this thing over and over, and I'm sure you have too. But John is saying here, you can't have it both ways. You either love the world or you love the Father. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. If your heart is glued to the world and the things of this world and your love for God and the things of God hasn't replaced your love for the world, the love of the Father is not in you. If the love you say you have for God doesn't make you long to escape the corruption that is in the world, the sin that is in the world, the evil that is in the world, then it is obvious that the love of God is not in you, that God has never changed your heart. You are not Christian. As Jesus put it in Matthew 6, 24, As Chris read earlier, no one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. There is no room for the love of this world in your heart and the love of God at the same time. It's either one or the other. And the question for you is, which is it? Do you have the love of God, the love of the Father in your heart? Or do you love the world? When you look at your life, what do you truly love? Now, if somebody was to look at your life, what do you think they would say about your life? That person is in love with God and the things of God. He seeks the kingdom of God. That's what he loves. Or would they say, he loves doing this or that. He loves the things of this world. That's what he seeks after. What is it with you? What would people say about you? If you were honest with yourself, what causes your heart delight? What rules you? What just is always on the forefront of your mind? What do you do and seek first and foremost? Is it God or is it the things of this world? As Jesus also said in Matthew 6 21, For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Where is your heart? Now we move on to verse 16. We have seen the command not to love the world or the things in the world. We have seen that if we do love the world, we see what it indicates. It indicates that the love of God doesn't abide in us and that we are not a Christian despite what we might say. But now we are given three examples that demonstrate why we cannot truly love God. and at the same time love the world. They're incompatible, just like as we saw earlier. There's those who are in the light, and those who are in the darkness. God is light, and if we're walking in darkness, the two are opposites of each other. You cannot have both, and it is the same here. If you go on loving the world, which is opposed to God, you can't say that you love God. The two conflict, they go against each other, and that's what we see here. Look at verse 16. John tells us why, if we love the world, why the love of the Father is not in us. Verse 16. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life, it is not from the Father, but it is from the world. In verse 16, we have here what some have called the trinity of evil. We have here the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life, or as some translations say, the pride in possessions. And all of these things, they do not come from God, but from a sinful heart that makes up the world that is opposed to God. Already, John has used this phrase, all that is in the world. We saw that in verse 15, the verse that we just looked at. And now he defines all that is in the world. All that is in the world here has to do with sinful man. All the things that he uses to gratify his sinful flesh, his eyes that covet after things. It is the things in the world that he uses and hangs on to, to boast in and pride himself in. Let's look at these together. First of all, there is the lust of the flesh. What is John talking about here? Well, when we think of the lust of the flesh, we know that the flesh here is also a term that is used in a negative sense. It refers to our sinful nature and the things that flow out of our sinful nature. And John says here that All that is in the world is made up of the lust of the flesh, those things that flow out of our sinful nature, the things that we desire after, that are contrary to the things of God. The desire of the flesh are those desires that are of the world, the things that are contrary to God. And so, let me illustrate what I'm saying here, what John is getting at. We were made in the image of God, all of us. We were made in the image of God, and we were made for God. That is, as the catechisms say, all of them, they talk about why were you made, to put it in simple terms. Why do you exist? And the answer is simply this. You were made to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. In other words, you were to find your complete satisfaction in God. And in doing so, you're to make much of Him. You're to glorify Him. You're to praise Him. You're to worship Him. Your whole life is to be centered around Him. But what happens is, with this infinitely glorious God who is magnificent. We exchange Him for the things of this world. When we are sinners, when we are outside of Christ, when we are living apart from Him, when we are hostile to Him, we live for everything else. We seek to take delight in everything else in this world except for God. Our sinful desires, the lust of our flesh, instead of desiring after God, We desire the things of the world when we're not in Christ, when we have never been saved. We desire everything else but God. And we desire that the world, the goods of this world, and all of these things, and many of them are not even bad things, we take them and we convert them into idols, and we go after them. That's why John Calvin said that man's heart is an idol factory. That's what it does. It takes the things of this world, these even good gifts that God has given to us, and instead of giving praise to God and enjoying God, the evil heart bows down to the things of this world. It seeks to go after those things, and it perverts even the good things. For example, We know that there is people who go hard after food. They indulge in it. God has given those things, food and drink, to us, and we are to use them for the glory of God. But people indulge themselves in it. We know that God has even given men sex, men and women who are in a marriage relationship. It's to be confined only to that. But men lust in their flesh and they go after all women, or women go after all men, or they even pervert it and go after the same sex. We know that also, A man can take wine, something that God has given man, and he uses it to become drunk. He indulges himself in it. A man can take money. Money is not a bad thing, but a man can lust after it. He can desire it so much that he makes that his God and he worships that. And that becomes the centerpiece of his life. That's what John is talking about here. All that is in the world, that type of lusting, lusting after the things of this world to make them our all, to make them our idol. Those things are the things of the world. We see it all the time. Man can take things like his family, his job, his hobbies, his sports, or anything for that matter, and live for it, and go after it rather than God. And what John is saying here is quite simple. If you love the world and the things in the world, and you seek to gratify your sinful nature with the things of this world, then you really do not know God. You are not a Christian, and the love of the Father does not abide in you. Remember what Jesus said? You cannot serve two masters. You can't go hard after the world and live for the world and yet at the same time say you love God. It's one or the other. Now we go on here to the second example of how a person loves the things in the world. John speaks here of the lust of the eyes. The lust of the eyes or the desire of the eyes. whereas our flesh may desire wrongfully after the things of this world, our eyes are that vehicle that promotes these wicked desires. For example, that's why the psalmist said in Psalm 101, verse 3, I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. This is why Job said in Job 31.1, he said, I have made a covenant with my eyes, how then could I gaze at a virgin? They said these things because they knew what the eye was capable of. An eye that was full of darkness. An eye that is full of darkness will go after the things of this world. It will lust after these things. And those who are not in Christ, their eyes, as the Bible says, are full of adultery. Eyes full of covetousness. Eyes looking for sinful pleasure. Eyes for what is vain and empty. Eyes for the world. Eyes like Solomon had when he said in Ecclesiastes 2.10, he said, Whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them. He saw things of this world that he wanted with his eyes, and he went hard after them, only later to learn that all was vanity. This is what Eve did in the Garden of Eden. We know that she looked upon the forbidden fruit. And what does the Bible say? The Bible tells us that she looked upon it and it was pleasant to the eyes. It was something to be desired. And she looked upon it and she went after that instead of listening to the Word of God. We know that's what David did. When kings went out to war, he lingered around and he was standing on his rooftop. And what did he do with his eyes? He gazed upon a beautiful woman who was bathing, Bathsheba. And it was through that, through the desire of the eyes, that the lust of his flesh was inflamed and he went after her. And what was the result of all of that? There was adultery. There was murder, a dead child, a divided kingdom, and a disgraced king. He sinned against God. He loved the world at that point rather than God. And these are just some of the types of things that John is talking about when he talks about the lust of the eyes. And what John is saying here, just like he said with the lust of the flesh, if these things characterize you, If your eyes are full of darkness rather than light, if your eyes are not seeing the kingdom of God, but looking to the world to gratify your sinful nature, then the love of the Father is not in you. You are not a Christian despite what you might say. It is only by the supernatural work of salvation, the work of the Holy Spirit, that we can be set free from the lust of the eyes. Now we come to the third example of what John is talking about here when he talks about what the love of the world is. or loving the things in the world is. John speaks here of the pride of life. Here John is once again speaking of that which is not of God. You see, God has given us so many things, so many good things. Every good and perfect gift comes from above, from God Himself, the Father of light. or the lights. But here we have all of these things and what do men do with them? Instead of using money to glorify God, to give to God's causes, to use it in a way that would further and advance the kingdom on this earth, many people who are not in Christ, they take that wealth and what do they do? They boast in it. They take it and they flaunt it. They parade themselves around. Look how much I have. Look what I have done. Look at this empire that I have built. That's true with any type of thing in this world. People take the things that they have. Maybe it's the gifts that God has given them when it comes to sports. Maybe it's the success, maybe it's the fame, whatever it is, a person outside of Christ, He takes the things of this world and He boasts in them. He celebrates in them. He has so much pride. But it's not that way with those who have the love of the Father in them. Because those who have the love of the Father in them, what do they do? They are humble. They are meek. They may have all the world's goods, But they are humble with Him. They seek to glorify God with Him. They give thanks to God. They boast in God alone, not in their own wisdom or what they have done. They trust in God and Him alone. That's what the Christian does. Like Solomon came to realize all the world has to offer is vanity. That's how the Christian views things. These things are passing away. These things are not what I should be boasting in. I boast in that I know God. That's what the Christian boasts in. He doesn't boast in himself. He doesn't have pride. He's not arrogant or any of those things because he has been brought low. He knows that he is a sinner. He knows he is the depraved wretch. He knows that He deserves hell, and everything that He has is a gift from God. And the one thing that is His greatest treasure, and He sold all to gain that treasure, is Christ. That is what a person does when they are in Christ. That is their treasure. That is their boast. They glory in Christ, and Christ alone. But not so for those who are in the world. Not so for those who are outside of Christ. Not so for those who are not a Christian. What do they do? They seek the fame of the world. They seek the pride of life. They seek to boast in the possessions in which they have, the things that God has given to them, instead of making much of God. Now we come to the last verse of our study. We've seen the command not to love the world. We see why we're not to love the world. Because if we have the love of the world in us, the love of the Father is not in us. We've seen what it looks like, what this love of the things of the world consists of. But now we see why it's so futile to love the world. Why it's so vain. Verse 17. And here John seeks to draw our attention away from the world. He says in verse 16, You know, the funny thing about those who live for the world is that when you, and it's also a sad thing, But the funny thing is that people go so hard after the things of this world. They desire things, things that are only temporary. As the Bible calls the things of this world, it calls them the fleeting pleasures of sin. People go after these things that are here and then they're gone. They can be taken away, stripped away, and they go hard after them as though they're going to live forever. I see this all the time. I know a man who's in his, probably his upper 80s, probably 90 by now, and the guy still boasts and lives for this world. All he wants to do is gain more money. And I'm like, for what? You're going to die any day. You may not even have the next year. Why are you living for this world? I mean, do you ever see a U-Haul following a hearse? You can't take this stuff with you. Everything in this world is passing away. And that's John's point. That's John's point here. He said, and the world is passing away. This is what he wants the believer to get. He wants the believer to understand the world is passing away. So who cares if you get to the top in this world, in the world's eyes? It's all fading away. That's why he'll go on in verse 18, the next verse, which we'll look at next time, Lord willing. He tells them, children, it is the last hour. In other words, we're at the end of human history when our Lord shall appear. Our Lord can return at any moment. All these things of the world are passing away. The only thing that's going to matter is, do you know Christ? That's the thing that matters. As we saw in verse 8 of chapter 2, the darkness is passing away and the true light that is Christ is already shining. With the advent of Christ, a new age or a new era in world history has begun. And the old worldly system that is opposed to God, it's fading away and it will be brought to nothing. That's why 2 Peter 3, 7 said, In other words, you don't want to live for this world, because this world is passing away. God is going to destroy all that opposes Him. And all those who do oppose Him, they will be cast into the outer darkness, into the lake of fire forever and ever, where they will burn in hell, where God will be there pouring out His wrath upon them. That's why Jesus said in Matthew 6, verse 19 through 20, Treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, or where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." That is basically along the same lines of the wisdom that Solomon gave us. If you have your Bibles, Ecclesiastes chapter 2. Ecclesiastes chapter 2. And in that passage there, Solomon talks about, with his eyes he saw all of these things of the world and he went after them. He didn't hold anything back. And listen to what he says. Ecclesiastes chapter 2 verse 1. He said, I said in my heart, and this is By today's standards, even, he would have been the richest man that ever lived. I said in my heart, come now, I will test you with pleasure. Enjoy yourself. He's saying this of himself. But behold, this was also vanity. I said of laughter, it is mad, and of pleasure, what use is it? I searched with my heart out to cheer my body with wine. My heart's still guiding me with wisdom and how to lay hold on folly till I might see what good was for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life. I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards up for myself. I made for myself gardens and parks and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. I made myself pools from which to water the forests of growing trees. I bought male and female slaves, had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. I also gathered for myself silver and gold and treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, the delight of the sons of man. So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me, and whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. Then I consider all that my hands had done, and the toil that had expanded in doing it. And behold, all was vanity, and striving after the wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun." All is passing away. You can gain everything and yet lose your own soul. All is vanity. So as John is saying here, why would you want to pursue the things of the world? These things are passing away, these sinful pleasures, these things that you're working so hard for in this life, they're going to be gone. I mean, I can see that in my own life. I'm 39, soon to be 40 this year. And yet, it seems like yesterday I was a boy. And all of these things, I remember in my 20s, the world was ahead of me. And I can tell you something, if it hasn't already hit you, at least it did for me in the 30s, I realized, man, the world isn't before me. This life is going by quickly. And it's going by quicker and quicker each day. Yesterday I was a boy, yesterday I was 20, today I'm almost 40, and tomorrow I'll be 80 if the Lord lets me live. That's how quick it all goes by. It's all passing away. But who abides forever? Those who are in Christ. Those who have believed upon Christ alone for salvation. As John says, whoever does the will of God abides forever. What is the will of God? That you look to Jesus Christ as God Himself, and you believe that He alone can save you from all of your sin. You abandon self-effort, you abandon the pride in yourself, the pride in your self-righteousness, and you look to Christ and Him alone for salvation. You realize that you're bankrupt before God, that you have nothing. All the goods and everything that you have cannot earn you salvation, cannot buy you salvation. But the only way that you can stand before a holy God is to believe in Christ and Him alone to save you from your sins and the wrath of God. And those who have done this, those who believe in the name of the Son of God, it is they who have eternal life. They who have repented of their sin, turned away from these worldly fleshly things, these lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and the pride and possessions. Those who have abandoned those things and looked to Christ, the ultimate treasure, the pearl of great price, and have sold all to go after Him. They are the ones who do the will of God. They are the ones who abide forever. John is not talking about works-based salvation, that if you do this, then God will give you eternal life. He's not saying that. But those who have trusted in Christ, those who have had God do a good work within them and shed the love of God abroad in their heart, those who have been born again supernaturally, it will be evident in their life because they will do the will of God. They will trust in Christ alone for salvation. They will obey the commandments of God. They will love God and love His people. That is the people who will abide forever. Now you see the contrast. Those who live for the world, the world is passing away. All of its desires. This is just a small piece of eternity in which you and I live in. And it's passing away. But eternity is forever. And those who have trusted in Christ, they are the ones who have eternal life. And what is eternal life? They have fellowship with God, with His Son and join Him forever. That is true eternal life, and that is what it means to abide forever, to be in the presence of God. So the question here today is this for you. Where do you stand in relationship to the world? Do you love it? Do you delight in the things that go against God's Word? Do you delight in the things of the world that are opposed to God and His Word? Do you delight in the world more than you do God? If all was stripped away from you today, Would you be content because you have God? Because He is your portion. Is He the true love of your life? Where are your affections? Where are your desires? Are they for God and the things of God? Or are they for the things of the world? Are they for Sin, sinful things, or are they for righteousness? That is a true test of whether or not you know God. Whether or not you have the love of God shed abroad in your heart. Whether or not you know Christ truly. You will have a new love. You will not love the world, but you will love the things of God. And if your affections are not for God, But they are for the world. You need to wake up. Don't live in this world just seeking after the things of this world. At any moment you could die and go to hell. And what have you lived for? Things that are fleeting. Live for God. Look unto Christ. Cry out to Him to shed abroad this love that He has into your heart, that you might love Him rather than the things of this world. Cry out to Him. Look to Christ who can deliver you from your sinful condition. Look to Christ who can break the chains of sinful lust and humble yourselves. Look at James chapter 4 and verse 1. Here we see the solution to what we should do if we do find ourselves in love with the world. James says in James chapter 4, He said what, in verse 1, what causes quarrels, what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire, do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongfully to spend it on your passions, you adulterous people. Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is no purpose that the Scripture says, he yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us, but he gives more grace. Therefore, it says, God opposes the proud. but He gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourself before the Lord, and He will exalt you. The first step is humility. being poor in spirit, realizing that you need Christ and He alone can save you, and abandoning that love for the world and seeking God and Him alone. And when you trust in Christ alone for your salvation by faith and repent of your sins, He will save you. He will declare you righteous before a holy God. And for those of you whose love is for the Lord here this morning or this afternoon, be on guard. John will say later in 1 John, he will even close this whole letter by saying this, little children, keep yourselves from idols. Beware. You see, we live in a time, a day and age, where the world is all right there before us. I mean, we have everything, especially as Americans, at our fingertips. And we are so prone, that old nature, to love the things of this world. We must be on guard. We must guard our hearts against idols, lest we become like Demas, who deserted Paul for his love for this present world. where your heart has grown cold, believer. Confess your sin, cry out to God, and cry out that God might stir your heart to go hard after Him like you once did. Dwell on the gospel, dwell on Christ, and cry out that God, as the psalmist said, would revive you. Ask God to strengthen what remains, that fire that has been put out, that fire that is barely glowing. Cry out to God to revive your heart today. that it might be fully in love with God and not this world. Let's pray. Father, as we come to you, we thank you for your word. I pray, Lord, that if any believer here today has grown cold, has grown, Lord, has grown cold and does not have the love that they once did, I pray that you will kindle that love, that desire for you fresh again. Revive our hearts, O Lord. Do not let us Go astray. As the song says, prone to wander, prone to leave the God I love. Lord, that is so true. Lord, I pray that You would be near to us, that You would, by Your Spirit, continually be drawing us to Yourself. Lord, if there's anybody here today that has lived for nothing but this world, may they wake up to the reality that this world is passing away. This world and all the things they are living for is vanity, it's useless. I pray that they would wake up and see the preciousness of Christ, to see that He is the infinite treasure that we should go after. And I pray that they would sell all, that they would give up all self-righteousness and flee to Christ and be saved. Lord, we ask all of these things in Jesus' name. Amen.