Do turn please in the word of God to 1 John, 1 John chapter 2. That was a lovely piece to listen to. Some years ago my sister, who has a beautiful voice, she put together a bit of an amateur CD, some songs, and that was one of the pieces that was on that CD. We hunger for the Lord. We praise His name. I'm glad that Pastor Martin's shoes aren't left up here. I'm not literally having to step into them. When Reverend Bannister called on the phone made mention of the developments and they asked, would you like to come? I just asked him, how would you feel if you had been asked to come in for Pastor Martin? But we accept it and we trust that we're here in the will of the Lord and that it's not a matter of you discovering a new preacher, but that you hear from God and He reveals Himself to every one of us as we gather here. Before I read God's Word, I want to especially thank Sermon Audio. I know Stephen will not really want me mentioning his name, but the vision God has given him and the development of sermonaudio.com, I think we all are so thankful for. If you don't use that ministry, if you don't benefit from it, then it's about time that you did. I came to Christ in 2002. Five weeks after I came to Christ, I in person heard the ministry of Dr. Alan Cairns. I then went online and started listening to him. the late Dr. Ian Paisley, and other men. It has had a dramatic impact upon my life, so Stephen doesn't realize, perhaps, the influence that it has, but it has a massive influence upon many lives, and I, indeed, am one who's very grateful. We're turning to 1 John chapter two. As I was given the theme and the topic, the passage was also suggested in the email. And we want to center our thoughts here upon 1 John chapter 2. I hope the accent doesn't put you off. I'll try my best to be clear. I literally arrived in North America at the end of January. So I'm trying. I'm trying to slow down. I'm trying to be clear. And I will do my very best. It's a strong accent. I know that. Some of you are familiar with it anyway. Many of you, perhaps, are not. I do try. They say when in Rome do as the Romans. So there was a family who just started coming to the church and one of the children's called Isaiah. At least that's how we would say it in Northern Ireland, but everyone calls him Isaiah. So I've been doing my best to call him Isaiah and to address him in the right way. It's a struggle. It's a struggle, but we're doing our best. 1 John chapter 2, we'll read together the appropriate verses, verses 15 through 17. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Amen. Would you bow your heads and your hearts with me just for a moment of prayer? Every child of God crying for that message that they need to hear from the Lord. God and Father, we thank Thee for the privilege of being here, the privilege of worshipping with Thy people. We praise Thee, O God, for grace that has triumphed in so many lives here. Let us never lose the wonder of the triumph of the Gospel in individual hearts. Thou, in Thy mercy and love, sent Thy Son to die to be the Savior of the world, to lay down His life, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God. And we're here, and we give thee praise. May thy word now have free course and be glorified. May you grant us the infilling and empowerment of the Holy Ghost. And give us all ears to hear, and hearts that respond to the word to be hearers and doers. Answer prayer, and if there be one outside of Christ, O God, step in and save this evening in Jesus' name. Amen. Love not the world. Four words in our English translation that pierce our hearts with challenge. Four words that the senses of soul wrestles with regularly. Four words that the conscientious parent battles with as they acknowledge the frightening relevance of their warning. Love not the world. Few things are as dangerous in the Christian home as a love for the world. I hope we're aware of that. The men who have organized this conference recognize that, and we do too. The danger of a love for the world. And I think most of us, if not all, have learned the painful lesson of chasing after the floating bubbles of life as one promise of happiness after the other bursts in our grasp. We realize the disappointments come when we seek after that which doesn't really give us the joy we're looking for. When we turn to the world to find that which promises so much and then causes us to sink into despair as we realize the frivolity of it. But the fact that you are here today is an admission of the battle you face to reform. It is an admission that you're not the finished article and it is an admission that more help is needed for you to face the force of the world and to overcome. We all feel that, I trust. In the context of this passage in 1 John chapter 2, It's very helpful for the preacher, especially in the context we are here this evening or this afternoon, because it is in context addressing to all the people of God. It's not just to children. It's not just to the youth. It's not just to parents. It's to all. Verses 12 through 14 say these words. I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake. I write unto you fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you little children, because ye have known the father. I have written unto you fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. He addresses all, and it's not just children, I don't believe, with regard to age and maturity in the physical realm. He is addressing those at different stages of their Christian experience. And we might categorize them as those who need to be fed, those who can self-feed, and those who feed others, or at least are able to feed others. And so that addresses everyone here. This afternoon, there are those I'm addressing and you are needing fed. You can't self-feed. You struggle with understanding even basic passages in the Bible. Others of you have learned to self-feed as you've matured in the faith. And some of you teach others. You're able to take the Word of God and rightly divide the Word of Truth. You have that maturity and ability. And so this passage, in context, when we come to verse 15, is addressing the whole body of the Church of Christ. It's a recognition that this is something that we all need to face, that we all are struggling with at times, and we need help with. We are inclined to consider worldliness as something that's problematic in our youth, and that would be a gross error. Perhaps the reason why so many young people cultivate and grow in their worldliness is because there are other forms of worldliness they're seeing every day in their home. I trust that's not the case, but far too often it is. Worldliness is something we all battle with, and so the text comes to all of us. We are to adopt practices and habits that promote the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why we use the word reforming. Reforming. We are constantly in the effort of trying to change, to become more like Christ, to fulfill the great end of our God for us. And we always quote Romans 8,28 and never go on to realize that the great end of God is that we become conformed to the image of His Son. That's the aim of God. You say, what is God's will for my life? His number one will, desire, aim for you is conformity to his Son for every one of us. And so we recognize as we face the world that there's a force against us, and this force is seeking to usurp that aim, is seeking to destroy our goals to become more like Christ. And what the Spirit is bearing in our hearts is facing this wall that we find in this passage called the Word. So at every stage of life we're trying to reform, be in the process of reforming. And these forces within the world are battling against us trying to overcome us. The topic then given is the world wants your affections. It wants your affections. Do you know that it wants your affections? It does. It does. It wants your affections. It is working for your affections constantly. Every single day, there is not a day that goes by, beloved, where you are not faced with this temptation, with this reality, that the world is after your affections. Consider with me three main points. And see, first of all, as we look at this passage in context, we'll be trying to draw out everything that is relevant within the context of the verses. But know first of all that we must realize this drive of the world is to impair your fellowship. This drive of the world is to impair your fellowship. I feel before we can really understand the text here in chapter 2 verse 15 and on, we must grasp the context which causes John to say these words. I mean, why is he saying, love not the world and so on? Why is he saying that? What is in his mind? What is upon his heart? What is it that he is seeking to instruct us by saying this language? Far too often we come to the Bible and we lift verses out of context and we make it say whatever we want. We don't want to do that. We want to understand exactly what the Apostle John meant when he said, love not the word. And to do that, we must go back to chapter one. If you go back to chapter one and look at verse five, it gives us an overall Message. That's the word he uses. The message of the letter. What it is he's dealing with. Verse 5. This then is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you. God is light and in him is no darkness at all. And he elaborates a little bit. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. So this is the message of John. The message of John is that God is light And in order to have fellowship with God, we must walk in the light. God doesn't have to walk in the light. He is light. But we come and our actions every day are to walk in that same light so that we enjoy fellowship with God. And beloved, this is our great desire as the people of God. We want fellowship with God. Is it not true that the darkest periods of our Christian experience is when we enter those times where we feel we are not enjoying fellowship with God? Perhaps it's true, even for some of you here this afternoon. You're not really in fellowship with God. You remember sweeter times. You can recall, if I was asked to ask you to give me your testimony, you would tell me of times that were sweeter, times when prayer was enjoyable, times when the Word of God was alive, times whenever you could take every opportunity you had to share the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. But today that's not the case. Today you lament over this sense of detachment from God, a lack of fellowship with your Saviour. You are feeling afar off. soul is cast down. And John is writing to draw us into fellowship, to maintain or regain fellowship with God, whatever the need might be. So this is the context. This is what he is dealing with, this desire to encourage fellowship with God and maintain this fellowship with God. And the entire letter is full of contrasts. There is a contrast between Christ and Antichrist, light and darkness, truth and lies, righteousness and sin, life and death, love, hatred, those who believe, those who believe not, those who confess Christ, those who deny Christ, those who are the children of God, those who are the children of the devil, those who will have confidence before Christ at His coming, and those who will have shame before Him at His coming. Contrasts. And he does this because, John, we were talking about some of the little grey areas, We mentioned it at the round table and some of those little elements of our faith that we, well, as her brother put it, if you put a gun to her head, we'll say, well, what do you want me to believe? There are some of those things, but not in this letter. In this letter, it's very black and white. In this letter, the things that John is dealing with are white and black. That's it, black and white. There aren't gray areas. He is laying down throughout this letter the great contrasts of real truth, foundational truth within the Christian faith. And I say this in order to show you that John is not dealing with grey areas. He's not confused about who the enemy is and how we are to fight and how we are to win in the battle we face in any age. He knows that the people of God are in a war. He's aware of that. At this point of his life, he has faced that war, faced that battle for many, many years. And so everything he writes is presented, as I say, in a very black and white manner. In John's mind, you're either for Christ or against Him. Did he make that up? Of course not. He learned that from the Lord Jesus Himself. You're either with Him or against Him. You can't serve God and mammon. You can't serve two masters. There is this distinct call to everyone who names the name of Christ. You're either with him or you're against him. No grey. His writing here calls us to an observable and evident separation from everything that is anti-Christian. It's theology, philosophy and practices. The blessing of the gospel is that it brings sinners, which is what we all are, it brings sinners into fellowship with God through Christ. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1 verse 9, You were called into fellowship. The calling. That effectual call. That call into a relationship with God. People talk a lot about having a relationship with Jesus Christ. Well, we were brought into that. A miracle. A miracle took place. If you can say here this afternoon, I'm a child of God. You are a miracle. You are a walking, talking Lazarus. At some point in your life, God came and said, Lazarus come forth, and you stepped out from darkness into light, and into a relationship with God through Christ. He called us into fellowship. Let us never lose sight of the cost that was required to bring this about. John talks about it in chapter 4 of his letter, verses 9 and 10. when he says, "...and this was manifested, the love of God toward us." because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. Oh, isn't it tragic that we read these words and it's like, well, I've read that before. It doesn't really impact our hearts. Look at it, beloved. Look at what it's saying. In this was manifested. In this was shown forth the love of God toward us. In what? God sent His only begotten Son into the world Okay, big deal, that's history. But here, here's the purpose, here's the end. That we might live through him. Live! Which implies that we didn't live before this. We were dead. Dead in trespasses and in sins, as Ephesians 2 verse 1 tells us. We were dead! And God calls us into life. Calls us into this newness of life whereby we walk in fellowship with himself. It's a wonderful thing. Fellowship with God. And herein is love, not that we loved God, didn't initiate with us, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Don't lose sight of that, beloved. If there's anything that gets into your heart, let it be a prayer this afternoon that cries out and says, Oh God, renew my love for these truths. Help me to see them the way I used to see them when they used to bring tears to my eyes. Now we just talk about it. Like facts, state it without any emotion and it's tragic. And we want to know why the world isn't influenced by our life? It's because we state eternal truths without emotion. Without any sense of the reality of them. We just state them like we've memorised them and that's all it is. A memorisation of truth. Let it flow from hearts that are full of gladness and joy that God so loved. God so loved. So loved the unlovely. We are brought to an intimacy with God. Such an intimacy that John says in chapter 4 verse 17, that as He is, so are we in this world. As He is. As God looks at you, as God looks at me, He looks at me the way He looks at His Son in a legal way. Perfect. Righteous. with all the rights and privileges of the sons and daughters of God. Right into His presence, the priesthood of believers to stand and come boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Oh, what a wonder this is. The love of God shown toward us to bring this fellowship to bridge the gap caused by sin and the fall. An impossible scenario for us but bridged by the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise His name. And John gives this warning then in the light of this, in the light of the fact that we are to have fellowship with God, love not the world. A stark reminder that this fellowship with God cannot be presumed upon. We cannot just presume I have fellowship with God. There are things working against us, he says here the word. And we must keep that in mind. That real fellowship with God is something we must always be yearning for and desiring. Not something we sit back and assume or presume, but something we strive for. Fellowship with God. This is not the cry of the Apostle Paul. He's a man probably in his 60s at this stage. He has walked with God for maybe three decades or so. And he's walked with God. He's seen God do things we will never see. He has triumphed in ways through the gospel that we will never have to experience. But what's his cry? What's his cry? That I might know Him. The yearning. You feel the heartbeat of the man through that prayer. That I might know Him. That I might know Him. Is that your prayer? Is that your desire? Why are you here? Because Al Martin was meant to be here. He should be here and I might know him. I might know him. What's the point in the rest of it? What's the point that you meet new friends? That's wonderful. Wonderful to meet those in the faith. Those that we can enjoy fellowship with through Christ. That's a great benefit. But we want to know Him, not just other people. Not just to have someone else we can send emails to or add to our Facebook thing. You know, it's to know God. I might know Christ. If that isn't the desire of your heart, there's something amiss. John is addressing this. Without real fellowship with God, we can never truly reform. You want to reform? You want to see change in your life? Change in the lives of your family? You will never see it unless you realize that at the heart, the very foundation, is this fellowship with God. Without fellowship with God, we cannot intercede a right on behalf of our children. Fellowship with God is absolutely vital. And we are going to see as we progress here this afternoon, that the desire of the world is to break fellowship with God. And if the world succeeds in doing that, you will have little hope in reforming your life or seeing your children reform in their lives. The desire to see God's Word heeded and put into practice will not be fulfilled unless we have fellowship with God. We must have fellowship with God. So let's understand this. The world wants your affections. And we must realize that the drive of this world is to impair your fellowship. That's the goal, that's the theme, that's what it's driving at. Now it looks in a varied ways, it can look so different depending where you are in the world or who you are. But this is the underlying current, this is the drive. Wherever you are, you might be in a part of the world where there is no electricity and there is no technology, so it's not a matter of being lured away by television and cable TV and Facebook and things like that. That's not what you're facing, but there's still a drive of the world. You think you go out into the jungle, you'll not face the drive of the world? Then you're deceived. The world is driving, driving at this desire to impair your fellowship with God. That's its entire aim. So, secondly, we must realize our desire for the world should make us inspect our foundations. Our desire for the world should make us inspect our foundations. I'm sure you've heard it before, that talk is cheap. And it was no different in the first century. Talk was cheap, even at a time when those in the church were being persecuted. There have always been those who professed loudly with regard to their knowledge of God. But the question is, do we really have fellowship with God or are we deceived? Am I making professions of things I don't experience? Am I saying I'm a Christian But there's no reality within the heart. I wonder, do you ever have that question even in your own mind? Maybe about others. They say plenty, but do they have fellowship with God? Are they saved, might be our language. Maybe even the question comes to our hearts with regard to ourselves. Do I have what I profess to have? Maybe you're here and you're in that point. Am I even a Christian? What happened back then seems so real. I have the date on the cover of my Bible when I came to Christ, but I don't feel it. This is something many, if not all, believers face at some point in their lives. And we are not to spend our entire Christian existence looking in ourselves. That would be an error. We are to look to Christ. When I was in Australia, one of the few men that I had short periods of fellowship with was a representative for the Trinitarian Bible Society. And he was telling me of an occasion where he was trying to minister to a lady who had no assurance. And he spent a long time trying to talk her through her walk with God and try to assure her because he felt she was a Christian, but no matter what he said, she just did not feel that she had any right to say she was a believer. She was really lacking assurance. And after a long discussion, he turned to her and he said, you know what? Forget about it. Forget about God's word. Forget about prayer. Forget about church. Forget about this whole thing. Just walk away. Forget about it. Never think about it ever again." And she turned to him and just looked in almost disbelief at such a suggestion and said, I could never do that. I could never do that. Why? Why? People do it all the time. All the time the seed finds certain ground where it springs up. And on and on they receive it with joy, the word that is. And then they're hedged in, they're brought in by the cares of the world and for the desire for riches and so on, and they leave. And John talks about them here, they went out from us because they were not of us. But you're here, and you might be here wondering, am I a believer? It seemed real at the time, today not so much. But I ask you, could you ever walk away? And if not, why not? I'll tell you why. Because He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. We are products of grace. God has saved us. He has promised to complete the work. When I was 16 or 17, I worked to a builder. And I need to state here that buildings in Northern Ireland or in the UK, generally, residences are built with blockwork. So you'll understand now what I say. It's not just like walls go up in frames and the whole thing's prefabricated. The man I was working for, he told me a story about another builder. It's called Sammy. And Sammy had a reputation, a reputation for taking on a job, and putting in the foundations, building the block work up to a certain level, and then disappearing. And then the guy who had contracted him to do the job couldn't get him back to finish the job. And he got a nickname. He was called Sammy Silhite. Sammy Silhite, because he would only ever build the walls up to about the height of the windowsills and then disappear. Beloved, I want to tell you, I want to tell you that God is no psalmist. He does not give up on his people. He does not start a work he has not planned to finish. And wherever you are this afternoon, and you might be feeling and crying out with the psalmist, Why art thou cast down on my soul? Hope thou in God. Hope thou in God. There may be within our hearts, and I trust as we look at the word here tonight, that some of the things that may be hindering that fellowship and enjoyment of fellowship may be driven out, that you will make decisions here when the word is preached to have done with those things that are actually inhibiting you in enjoying God. But know that God is working with you, even though you don't feel it. John is so determined that we know how to identify true Christianity that prior to our text he gives six tests to show the validity of a true profession. To show that we have fellowship with God and we're not deceived. Or to show that someone else has fellowship with God and we're not deceived about them perhaps is even more importantly the context. And so he looks at these, and you say, well, what's the point in these tests? I don't need to take these tests. Maybe you don't, but it would be good to go through them. It's kind of like having counterfeit money, isn't it? Those who are honest don't mind if the shopkeeper decides to test it. You've nothing to hide. You want to know if it's counterfeit, don't you? But those who have something to hide, those who have counterfeit money in their pocket, going around trying to use it legitimately and deceive people, they don't want to see the test coming out. So it's right to test. The people of God have no fear to test. We want to know, have we the root of the matter? And John knows that the people of God will look at the tests and see for themselves whether they have the true faith of which he declares. The first test comes in verse 6 of chapter 1. where he exposes those who say sin doesn't hinder this fellowship with God. If we say, and you'll notice that this is how he deals with this, if we say, or he that saith is the language. If we say, here's the profession, that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. We're lying, we're lying to ourselves, we're lying to others. We say we have fellowship but we walk in darkness, but he's just said that God is light. So that can't be. Verse 8 gives us another test. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Exposes those who deny their sinful nature. Verse 10 exposes those who deny that their actions are sinful. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. Chapter 2 verse 4 exposes those who claim to know God even though they disobey Him. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. Verse 6 of chapter 2 exposes those who claim to know Christ, but their life is nothing like His. He that saith he abideth in Him, ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. Verse 9 exposes those who claim to be living right, but don't love the people of God. He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. These are tests he gives right up to the command to love not the Word. So before we even get to that command, before we even face the struggle, the trial, the difficulty of wondering, in what way do I love the world? Or what way am I being deceived by the world? We need to look at the tests and ask ourselves, do I pass? And I want you to ask yourself that, beloved. Honestly, before God, do I pass these tests? Do I really have fellowship with God? Do I really seek to walk in His commandments? Do I endeavour to be like Christ? In fact, there is this language He uses on a few occasions of being like Christ or even as, as the words that he uses. We see it in verse 6 there of chapter 2, being with regard to Christ Himself. Walk even so as He walked. But chapter 3, verse Verse 3 says, Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. And verse 7 of chapter 3 has similar language. Little children, let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. So we are to walk as Christ walked. We are to be pure as Christ is pure. And we are to be righteous as Christ is righteous. That's a challenge to us. That's a challenge that is designed by John to drive out this lie that we can walk in darkness and pretend to have fellowship with God. You can't. And so as we face this concept of the world, and we'll get to it in our final point, as we look at it and try to wrestle with it and understand it, we need to realize that there is no ability to waver in this. We need to recognize that whatever the world is, whatever we are bringing into our lives and imbibing in our hearts that is of the world, is driving us away from God, breaking fellowship with God, and perhaps showing that we're not even saved. John is trying to draw in the people of God to have done with those things that even cause themselves to lack assurance in the faith. You want to have assurance? Heed the Word. Take these things to heart. Don't be a hypocrite. We all have that element of hypocrisy, every one of us. But I'm talking about openly professing to be one thing and walking without any sense of conscience. of doing the complete opposite. I trust you feel the challenge of God's Word. And if you look at any of them in a haphazard fashion, God help you. If you fall foul of them, you don't have fellowship with God. And so it's no surprise then that you love the world. And that's the point. Why should I waste my time trying to drive you away from loving the world If the root of the matter isn't there, you need to be right with God. Maybe that's your greatest need. It's not to reform. For you to endeavor to reform would be like dressing a corpse. You're dead. You love the world because you're spiritually dead. You have not become a partaker of the divine nature. You're not in Christ. You can't overcome because you haven't the Holy Spirit which gives us the power to overcome. You need to be saved. You need, when you hear a call to repent and believe, as I give to you even now, repent and believe the Gospel. From that point you can then enjoy the grace of God to overcome and the ability to love not the Word. There are young people here, many young people, And perhaps, parents, you're looking at them and you're wondering, why is it that the world has such an allurement to them? Perhaps the reason is simply this, they're not saved. And I know you hate to even imagine that. You say, well, they prayed when they were seven. Well, maybe they did. Maybe they did. But take the language of John. He is saying it to all children, young men, those who are older. Every single one. Let's not deceive ourselves. Presume upon the salvation of our children when their life is telling us the complete opposite. Let's plead with God that He will step in, maybe even this weekend. I trust you understand that. Let's realise our desire for the world should make us inspect our foundations. If I have a love for the things of the world, if I have a love for the whole concept of the world, Dr Beaky made mention of the world, gave some insight into what the world is. If I have a love for that, if it's an unbalanced desire after those things, then the foundation probably isn't there. Then thirdly, We must realize our defense against the world is to be informed by the facts. Our defense against the world is to be informed by the facts. This brings us to the heart of the issue. It is clear from John's language, Love not the world, that he is showing to us that the world has a power to lure our affections. It has within it an ability to draw us away from fellowship with God. So what is it, and how do we prevent ourselves falling foul of its power? Let's take a moment to understand what the world is. I said Dr. Beakey made some mention of this. I want to just undergird that and supplement what he said. We need to realize that it isn't the planet, it's not people. And I was struggling to define, well, what is it really? And as I looked to 1 John, I realized John actually gives us some understanding of what the Word is. It's amazing what a simple study of the Word will draw up. In chapter 3, verse 1, he says, "...the world is that which doesn't know Christ. Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not." The world doesn't know Christ. Verse 13 of chapter 3, he shows us that the world is that which hates Christ. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. It hates Him. Why? It hates us because it hates Him, of course, taking the language of the Lord Jesus. And chapter 5, verse 19, we are told that the entire world lies in wickedness. We know that we are of God and the whole world lieth in wickedness. So John enlightens us to what the world is. Without looking anywhere else, he is showing us the world is that which doesn't know Christ. The world is that which hates Christ, which sounds strange because how can it hate that which it doesn't know? But you understand, don't you? It doesn't know Christ savingly. It doesn't know Christ redemptively. It has no knowledge of what Christ is in His person and work. The world doesn't know that. At best they might acknowledge that Christ is an historical figure. But it doesn't know Him. Even if it says Jesus Christ walked the face of the planet 2,000 years ago, if it doesn't know Him redemptively, if it doesn't know Him savingly, the world is that which doesn't know Christ. But it is also that which hates Christ. It hates Him. It hates His truth, hates everything He represents, hates all of His people, everything. And it lies in wickedness. So the philosophy of the world is ignorance to Christ, the attitude of the world is hatred to Christ, and the world is in bondage to wickedness. It opposes truth and glorifies the temporal. Whatever the practice, the purpose is to leave Christ out of the picture. Whatever way it looks, this is the world. You try to say, well, this thing is the world. This is worldly. Whatever it is, it is a defiance against Christ. It is against the Savior and all His truth. So you might engage in religious practice, but if it leaves Christ out of the picture, it is of the world. It's a worldly religion. Love for the world will bring us into fellowship with the world. Fellowship with the world destroys our fellowship with God. That is the problem. We want to have what the world is offering. We see its enticements. We're lured in. And yet at the same time we want to come on a Sunday and enjoy fellowship with God. We want to bow our heads and get by our bedsides on our knees and enjoy fellowship with the Almighty. But when we are giving in to the allurement of the world, when our hearts are after the world, when we're bowing our head before God, but our hearts are out there in the world, then we don't have fellowship. It's like that. Period. There's no exception here. And this is why John is so concerned. And he is driving to the entire body of Christ. Love not the world. There are three things I want you to see here. First of all, and these are three facts that we need to recognize that will help us in our defense. First of all, the world is foreign. It is foreign. I've said already, he's addressing this to the whole body of Christ. Little children, young men, those fathers. But how else are they known in this letter? They're known by what we find in chapter 3, verse 2. Beloved, now are we the sons of God. We are the sons of God. All of you. You're all the sons of God. Those whom he's addressing. They're the sons of God. And this being the case, While we have rejected much of the philosophy of the world and the religion of the world, yet even the sons of God can be drawn in by its material offerings and lifestyle habits. But we are the sons of God. So if we choose lifestyle habits that are of the world, that will keep us and our family from God's house, it will keep us from enjoying His presence. If we take lifestyle habits such as Sunday sports and monthly weekend trips away, camping trips that take us and our children away from God's house. If we relocate for work because we put salary as the most important thing without any prior research as to whether there's a good church and a place you can genuinely know God and experience His blessing in the corporate community of the church, if we do that, we are acting with a worldly philosophy. We are putting money, salary, ability to provide for our families ahead of the need they have spiritually. And so we go, we take up the job, and I have seen this already since I have come here. Because of the distances involved, it's not the same in the United Kingdom. You can take a job in the next city and it's still only an hour away. You can stay in the same house. But here it's different, I know. The challenges are different. But if we take up a job in another city that requires us to relocate, without any consideration, is there a place of worship? I should go there, sit there at least one, maybe two Sundays, see what kind of preaching there is there, before I ever contemplate accepting a job which will bring my family into a place of spiritual poverty. If we don't do that, we are acting like the world. You say preacher, you don't realize how expensive it is to live. That may be the case, but I understand of these things the Gentiles seek. But if you seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, all these things will be added onto you. Now it may be that you have to live on hot dogs instead of T-bone steaks. That may be the case, but that's worth it in order to see our children grow up in the fear and admonition of the Lord, enjoying the community of a church and hearing the Word of God faithfully expounded week after week. We're thinking like the world. We take Facebook over God's book. We think we're so spiritual putting up little verses. We haven't even read the Bible that day. It hasn't even been opened. Oh, look how spiritual I am. I'm such a Christian. I'm putting up a verse here. Facebook evangelizing. But I have not even read God's word for myself. We are the sons of God. There's a strange mentality going on when we live this way. We put interesting programs about the world ahead of intercessory prayer for the world. I have no problem with certain programs that may be fine in and of themselves. Although, there's a documentary on Wednesday night. I'd love to see that. The prayer meeting's on Wednesday night. Well, I'm tired. I have to work. I'll sit and watch this. What philosophy is that? What spirit is that? Is that a spirit of Christianity? Is that the attitude of the first century church? Is that the attitude of any man or woman of God you read of in the scriptures? It's an interesting program when the need, the crying need of our culture is intercessory prayer. Getting before God on behalf of those who cannot pray for themselves and weeping over their souls. That was the last time he wept for us all. Oh, they won't come in. We've tried everything. We need to learn to weep. Weep over our culture. How come Abraham got it and we don't? How come Abraham got it? Abraham had great wealth. But he didn't care much for it. He looked for a city which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God. And the worldly king comes and seeks to give him all the riches of warfare. Abraham says, no, not interested. And God comes to him and says, I am your exceeding great reward. Not the world. Abraham knew it. God confirms it. God confirms it to his child. He is our reward. The world ought to be foreign to us. That's what I'm saying. It ought to be foreign. We should feel, as it was put in the earlier session, we should feel like pilgrims just passing through. This isn't our final destination. And this is what is brought out by this, by John. He is getting at this. He is trying to show that love for this world, this world system, too much love in this direction is not what brings us into fellowship with God. So love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Notice also, secondly, the word is false. The word is false. Verse 16 brings this out. All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. So all that is of the world It's false. It's not of the Father who is true. He is light. He is truth. But that's not the Word. The Word is the opposite to that. It is darkness. It is lies. It is false. We need to recognize this because if we don't, we will be deceived. It encourages us after that which drives us away from the Father. And that's all that is in it. Look at the language. All that is in the Word. This is it. This is what the Word is. If you asked someone out there who never read the Bible, what's the world? And they would go into great rhetoric as to all the great wonders of the world and the wonders of the things there are to experience in the world. You need to travel the world and experience different things, go to different countries. And we've made travel into idolatry. It's amazing. And people boast of all the countries they've been to. You know, it's nice to see various places in the world. But we idolize it as if it adds to us in some way that is more important than what we can get from God's Word. All that is in the world, this is it. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. None of it is of the Father, it is of the Word. Your citizenship is now in heaven. You say you're a Christian? You're saying, my passport isn't a passport of the United States of America, really. It is a passport that belongs up there. I belong up there. Do you understand that? Or do you live as if this world, this nation, this generation, everything you're facing now is the be all and end all? Ask yourself that. There's nothing wrong with having this world's goods. What's wrong is how we steward them. And he brings this out in chapter 3, verse 17. Whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelt the love of God in him? So there's nothing wrong with being rich, it's how you steward it. And there's a challenge, isn't it? Because we want to have big fat pension funds. We want to make sure everything is well. And you know, beloved, that's fine. It's fine to look after a very man Provide not for his own, he is worse than an infidel. There is responsibility to us, to our own, to our families. But we must have an eye to a greater need, recognizing that sometimes we have to sacrifice in order to help others who are in greater need than ourselves. You see, the concept of the world is to look to ourselves entirely and look after number one and put ourselves as number one. And there are three aspects to sin in this world. You see that all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. And people, they wax eloquent trying to understand all of this. And it's true, you'll find it in the Garden of Eden. You'll find this right there in Genesis chapter 3 at the fall. You'll find also the Lord Jesus, instead of falling into temptation like Adam and Eve, he victors over it in Matthew chapter 4 in the temptation in the wilderness. That's all true. But these things are all interconnected. Sometimes they're looked at in a divided type of way, but I don't think they are. They're all interconnected. Lust of the flesh. This is the deceptive power that lies deep within our nature. The lust of the flesh. A deceptive power which lies within our nature. And here's where we struggle because we have this thing that the world can work upon. It's the lust of the flesh. What is it the world works upon? It's this lust of the flesh. What is it it is appealing to? It is your lust in your flesh. This natural inclination that deceives yourself, never mind others. Lust of the eyes. This is a seductive power that we're drawn by with the material world. We see our senses are drawn. Just like Eve. She looked, but that was a fruit to be desired. The pride of life. The pride of life is how we reason the fleshly desire for what our eyes see. It is how we reason the fleshly desire for what our eyes see. So, we yearn for something. Our eyes see it and long for it. And then we justify it by saying, well, there's nothing wrong with that. We sanctify it. We sanctify it. It's amazing. It's amazing how we can sanctify almost anything. A.W. Tozer talked about a day that he was expecting to come. As he saw, this was probably spoken back in the 50s, and he saw a day in which the entire world, the Christian world, was trying to sanctify everything. But he said, I await the day of the association of Christian bartenders who are doing it for Jesus. And we're in that day. The world is fading. I must close very quickly here. Verse 17. We need to keep this in mind as well. You need to understand the world is foreign, the world is false, the world is fading. Verse 17. The world passeth away and the loss thereof. It's very different to where we're going. The world will die. We are living. It will end. We will not. Everything in this world that's not of the Father will perish. And that begs the question then, what is going to perish in this world? Will people remember your score in your computer game, or will it perish? Will people remember the salary that you earned, or will it perish? We need to ask ourselves these things honestly. And anything that will perish, we need to be extremely careful with. We need to see it as a possible temptation, not just merely of my love for the world, but drawing me away from fellowship with God. And I want you to take that away. I want you to get a hold of that. That this isn't a matter of identifying merely love for the world. This is a matter of identifying the things that draw me away from fellowship with God. If I was able to say to you, you can have fellowship with God and love the things of the world, you'd be quite happy to love the things of the world. But that's not the way it is. That's not what John is saying. John is saying, if you love the world, you're cutting off fellowship with God. So this is a matter of eternal priority. If we have any love for the world, it is cutting us off from God. Anything. And it may be so different for all of us. It used to be that people came to Christ and threw away their music collection. Now they keep it and look for evidence of biblical sentiment. They see the love songs and the lyrics that reflect the sensual, fleshly, carnal appetites of degenerate man. And they look at it and say, well, it reflects the love of God. The love that God has given all humanity to enjoy. One YouTube Christian celebrity was telling people he could enjoy Michael Jackson's Man in the Mirror. Because it reflects the need that if you want to change the world, you begin with yourself. Apparently this is some aspect of the gospel. I'm sorry. I understand the gospel. I can't change the world. I can't even change myself. So, let's tie this up. The most important aspect of reforming our families is making sure we're building upon a true foundation of salvation and enjoying a true fellowship with God. Without that, as I said earlier, we're dressing corpses. Once that is present, we need to see that it is impossible to go too far in expressing heartfelt devotion to Christ at the expense of the world. You can't go too far. How many of you would like to share your spouse with someone else? How many of you would encourage them to divide their affections to another? And yet you expect God to have fellowship with you intimately, pour out His power upon you, bless you with personal revival, and use you in reaching others. And yet you have a divided love. We have a tragic example of this in the life of Demas. 2 Timothy 4.10, Demas hath forsaken me, Paul says, having loved this present world. and has departed onto Thessalonica for a second. He forsook Paul, forsook the faith. Why? Because he had affection for this present world. He had an affection for the present world, not the world to come, and that's the key. His affection was not in things above, Colossians 3.1. His sight for the eternal became clouded with a look of the temporal. Invisible realities became valueless to him. The visible world claimed his heart. He was around the truth. He professed the truth. He ministered among the truth bearers. And yet, at the last, it was proven that he had no love for God. And this is the danger. If we don't take seriously the tests of devotion to Christ, we could be a demis. You say, well preacher, I'm not leaving the church. I'm not leaving the preacher. I'm not leaving at all. I would only be a Demas if I departed the company of Christ. But you turn to 2 Timothy chapter 4 and you read in the context, you see why Demas forsook at the time that he did. He forsook at the latter part of Paul's life as he realized, I am ready to be offered. And Demas looks on and realizes Paul's going to die. Those with him might die. Am I willing to pay the price? And he realized, he realized that his love wasn't for God. It was for the present world. It was all about self-preservation in this life. He had lost sight of the eternal. And if the day comes and persecution presses in upon us to the point where we are having our lives in danger, then that might prove that you are in fact a demon as you vacate the church and vacate profession of Christianity. But the question is, am I a demon at heart? Am I still showing that I have love for the world? Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. James 4 verse 4. enemy of God. I didn't write that. That's the Holy Ghost. We put comfort over the commission, fun over fellowship, recklessness over restraint, immediate pleasure over appropriate patience. This world has become a sports field instead of a mission field, a playground instead of a battleground. We seek to be popular people instead of a peculiar people and we desire to be conformed instead of transformed. There's a problem. When you said you would follow Christ, you subsequently declared war on the world. And any non-essential practice that puts distance between you and God is the word. Any non-essential practice that puts distance between you and God is the word. Love not the word. No man that woreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier." This is a war. You're a soldier. When you said yes to Christ, you said yes to a battle with the Word. You said yes to a battle with the devil. You said yes to trying with all of your might and all of your being to rid yourself of everything that would hinder in your union with Christ, your fellowship with God, that is that intimacy you enjoy with what Christ has purchased for you. Later on in 2 Timothy chapter 2, he talks about the devil holding people as captives by his will. And we've been let loose, beloved. We have been let loose. The snares are gone. The chains are broken. We sing it. My chains fell off. My heart was freed. I rose, went forth and followed Thee. And then we get entangled with the Word. Love, not the Word. Let's bow together in prayer. As your heads are bowed, eyes closed, I want to make an appeal, not that you respond in any particular way, but an appeal to drive to your heart the need to respond to Christ if you're not saved. Wouldn't this be a great time to get right with God? You went to a reforming conference. And here you began a life of reforming, becoming more like Jesus Christ. If I can be of any help to you in that regard, you can talk to me. I'll sit at the front here for some minutes. I'd be glad to open God's book and discuss spiritual matters with you, point you to Christ. Our gracious God and our loving Father, bless thy word. It has been delivered with much weakness, and yet we thank thee that thy word is truth. And Jesus prayed, sanctify them through thy truth. So hear the prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ who intercedes for us. Sanctify all of our hearts with the truth. Help us to respond rightly. If there has been challenge to us, let us respond in rooting out those things that hinder fellowship with thyself. What a tragedy to stand on that day Nothing but wood, hay and stubble, because we played and toyed with the world. Bless our time of fellowship, the food that is provided. Use it to our bodily needs, that we may use our bodies in turn to thy service. In the grace of our Lord Jesus, the love of God the Father and the fellowship of the Spirit be with all thy people now and evermore. Amen.