SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Baptist Bible Church.
SPEAKER_00: Where is everybody?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, we're not meeting outside.
SPEAKER_00: They're all up north, aren't they?
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that what everybody says over Memorial Day weekend?
SPEAKER_00: We're going up north.
SPEAKER_00: Where do the northerners go?
SPEAKER_00: Do they say we're go is it in the UP?
SPEAKER_00: In the UP is the phrase, we're going down south.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: Chris, Chris, you and No.
SPEAKER_00: Do you still consider yourself a youper or do you have you have you transitioned identities now?
SPEAKER_00: No comment.
SPEAKER_00: Well, hey, it's great to have you all here this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I hope you're excited to be here.
SPEAKER_00: Hope you're excited for the service this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Just a couple of announcements before we get started.
SPEAKER_00: Don't forget, next Sunday, we're going to take up a love offering for our CBM builders.
SPEAKER_00: They're just about finished with that project out in Montana.
SPEAKER_00: They're ready to start making the long journey home.
SPEAKER_00: And so we as a church family, we just want to bless them and show them we love them and care for them and help them with some of those travel expenses as they make their way back here to the Midwest.
SPEAKER_00: So don't forget, next week, Sunday, we'll be taking up an offering for our CBM builder families.
SPEAKER_00: And also don't forget the Asure Women's Center baby bottle fundraiser is going on right now.
SPEAKER_00: That'll be running through Father's Day.
SPEAKER_00: So if you haven't already, make sure to grab a bottle from the mission stable and start collecting some money so that we can be a blessing to the great work and the ministry that they're doing at the Asure Women's Center.
SPEAKER_00: And then a quick programming note, don't forget, next Sunday we have one final adult Sunday school class, one final Sunday school class.
SPEAKER_00: Next Sunday, we'll we'll be wrapping up our series on the books of the Bible and the Old Testament, and then we'll be taking a short summer break.
SPEAKER_00: So one final Sunday for a Sunday school class, that's next Sunday, and then we'll be having that summer break.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray and then we'll go ahead and get started this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, thank you for today.
SPEAKER_00: Thankful for this opportunity.
SPEAKER_00: We have to be here this morning.
SPEAKER_00: We're thankful for the chance to come together and to worship and to take some time out of our day to just devote it solely on you, to take time to uh remember you, reflect on the truths of your word that reveal who you are, to worship you and to study your word.
SPEAKER_00: And I pray, Father, this morning that you'd help us to to do so, help us to remove distractions in our minds, and to really seek to honor you and worship you and praise you and grow closer to you this morning.
SPEAKER_00: It's in Jesus' name I pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: If you would please stand with us and let's sing.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I need you.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: I think it's meet and greet time.
SPEAKER_01: We've got three minutes.
SPEAKER_01: Being Memorial Day weekend, we want to remember those who have given their lives.
SPEAKER_01: I know we have several individuals in the congregation that are veterans.
SPEAKER_01: So we have Air Force, Army, Navy, any other represented here?
SPEAKER_01: And parents and family of those that were and are.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, good.
SPEAKER_01: Well, we want to thank you for your service for the time you uh put in the military and your efforts to keep our country safe from harm.
SPEAKER_01: That's appreciated.
SPEAKER_01: Let's go to the Lord in prayer, shall we?
SPEAKER_01: Dear Heavenly Father, we are so thankful and grateful for you, for your love for us.
SPEAKER_01: We're so thankful, Father, for your grace and your mercy.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we're thankful for your Son Jesus Christ, who came and without sin lived a perfect life and willingly gave of himself as a sacrifice to pay for the sins of mankind, to pay for my sins.
SPEAKER_01: And Father, we're so thankful for his sacrifice, laying down his life for those who would turn their hearts to him.
SPEAKER_01: And we are thankful not only for his death and burial, but for his resurrection, and that he is now seated at your right hand.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we are thankful for these things.
SPEAKER_01: We are so mindful of that even on this Memorial Day weekend when we are thankful and grateful and have no comprehension of the pain and the suffering that individuals have gone through in being in the military and making efforts, Father, to protect us who are not.
SPEAKER_01: Father, for those that gave their lives, we are thankful grateful for that.
SPEAKER_01: Help us that we might be a people that do not forget that, that we remember that and do not take it for granted.
SPEAKER_01: I confess I do take it for granted so often.
SPEAKER_01: Father, for the families that lost loved ones, even in more recent years, Lord, we pray that your hand would be with them, Lord, that they would turn their hearts to you, that they would find the ultimate comfort in you, Lord Jesus, and in your strength.
SPEAKER_01: And even during the pain, Lord, that they would put their hope and their trust in you.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we just pray for our military now, and for our leaders of our nation, that your hand um would be with them to Lord, that they would look to you, Lord, that they would look to your word for guidance, that they would look to you for direction and how to lead our military, how to lead our country.
SPEAKER_01: And we pray for peace, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: We just pray so many people, not only in Iran, but in other countries, are burned being persecuted for their faith in you.
SPEAKER_01: And we just ask, dear Father, that you would be with them, strengthen them, encourage them, Lord, help them through the pain and the suffering.
SPEAKER_01: We ask for your hand of protection, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Father, too, we are thankful for when we look at our own church family here for the good report that has come back for Jim.
SPEAKER_01: And we just are so excited about that, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: But we just pray for your continued hand and his body and uh through the ongoing medical work.
SPEAKER_01: Father too, for Emily that she is gonna have surgery soon.
SPEAKER_01: We just ask, dear Father, that you would comfort her, Lord, and that you would encourage her, and Father too, that you would be with the medical staff as they do the surgery and uh do uh treatment for her.
SPEAKER_01: And we just pray that you give them wisdom, Lord, and that they might do an excellent job, and that she would have good healing and quick recovery.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we are so thankful for those that have been faithful here through the years and now are shut ins, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: We just ask that you hand your hand be with them, that you encourage them and strengthen them, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And Father, that they might continue walking with you and reading your word and in prayer.
SPEAKER_01: And we ask, Father, that you would guide us and the rest of this service, that it would be honoring and pleasing to you.
SPEAKER_01: We ask this in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Take your own copies of God's word now this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Turn to Psalm number two.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't have a Bible, there should be one in a chair in front of you or adjacent to you.
SPEAKER_00: Let's take a moment here now to read quietly on our own Psalm number two.
SPEAKER_01: And the next two songs, um, Great Are You Lord, and then a new song, O Church Arise.
SPEAKER_02: Sul brick source.
SPEAKER_01: This next song, O Church Arise, is a new song to us here.
SPEAKER_01: It's a hymn put out by the Gettys, and it really fits in with the pastor's messages.
SPEAKER_01: O Church Arise.
SPEAKER_00: It is generally understood in the art of warfare that knowing your enemy's battle strategy, his tactics, and his ultimate goal is a key component to victory.
SPEAKER_00: And I applied this same philosophy in my rook playing days.
SPEAKER_00: Any good rook player knows you never play the hand, you always play the opponent or the player.
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: You play the player.
SPEAKER_00: Know thy enemy.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: Know their strategies.
SPEAKER_00: Know their tactics, know their abilities, know their goals and objectives.
SPEAKER_00: And the better you know the enemy, the better equipped you are to defeat them.
SPEAKER_00: It's interesting that Paul articulates that same exact concept in the book of 2 Corinthians, chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: He says, so that we would not be outwitted by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his designs or his plans or his schemes or strategies.
SPEAKER_00: Paul's point is that in order to not be outwitted by Satan, to not be defeated by Satan's craftiness and his schemes, you must know what his scheming is.
SPEAKER_00: For the Christian today, this is essentially this is this is essentially one of the most uh important uh keys to victory.
SPEAKER_00: It is certainly true, I believe, today, that many Christians don't really know who the real enemy even is.
SPEAKER_00: Many Christians today couldn't even identify who the true enemy is that they're actually fighting against.
SPEAKER_00: Oftentimes Christians think of enemies and they unfortunately place the wrong person or thing in that category.
SPEAKER_00: Christians today need to know who the enemy is, they need to know what the enemy is trying to do, what the enemy's objective or goal is, and how the enemy is seeking to accomplish that goal.
SPEAKER_00: Which is why in our series on spiritual warfare, as we begin this series, the first thing we need to do is to establish who our enemy is, and what the enemy is seeking to do, and how the enemy is seeking to accomplish those goals.
SPEAKER_00: Before we dig into this very first enemy this morning, a quick reminder on what spiritual warfare is.
SPEAKER_00: Spiritual warfare is the believer's continual struggle against the devil, the flesh, and the world, one by standing firm in Christ through faith, obedience, truth, prayer, and the ordinary means of sanctification empowered by the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: If you missed last Sunday, could I encourage you to make sure you go back and listen to that very first sermon we did on spiritual warfare?
SPEAKER_00: And that very first sermon we established some of the different views.
SPEAKER_00: Spiritual warfare can be a confusing topic.
SPEAKER_00: And depending on who you ask what spiritual warfare is, you may get some very different answers today.
SPEAKER_00: So I would just encourage you.
SPEAKER_00: If you missed last week, we record our sermons and put them on YouTube now.
SPEAKER_00: So thank you to Randy, Deacon of Technology, for getting that set up for us.
SPEAKER_00: So you are able to go, if you look up on YouTube Baptist Bible Church, look up sermons, you'll find our sermons posted on YouTube.
SPEAKER_00: You'll also find them on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
SPEAKER_00: If you like to listen to podcasts, if you miss a sermon, you can always go back and listen to some of those previous sermons.
SPEAKER_00: Last week we identified what, when I'd say spiritual warfare up here from the pulpit, we're talking about spiritual warfare.
SPEAKER_00: Last week we we identified what that is.
SPEAKER_00: What is spiritual warfare?
SPEAKER_00: And so this is the basic definition.
SPEAKER_00: This is the working definition we'll be utilizing as we go forward in this series.
SPEAKER_00: But if you missed last week, make sure you go back and listen to that one again so you are caught up and know what we're talking about.
SPEAKER_00: Alright, so with that being said, what is what is the first enemy of the Christian?
SPEAKER_00: That would be the world.
SPEAKER_00: The world.
SPEAKER_00: Well, what is the world?
SPEAKER_00: Next question.
SPEAKER_00: In the Greek, the word is cosmos.
SPEAKER_00: The most commonly utilized word for world in the New Testament is cosmos.
SPEAKER_00: In some contexts, the word has a neutral tone.
SPEAKER_00: It's neutral.
SPEAKER_00: So for examples, in some contexts, the word simply refers to the natural or physical world, the earth upon which we live.
SPEAKER_00: In other contexts, the word refers to the sum total of all human beings.
SPEAKER_00: So John 3 16, for God so loved the world.
SPEAKER_00: So that's a reference to humanity.
SPEAKER_00: So we notice in some contexts the term is neutral.
SPEAKER_00: There isn't a positive or negative tone to it.
SPEAKER_00: It's simply a neutral word.
SPEAKER_00: However, in other contexts, the word takes on a hostile tone.
SPEAKER_00: A hostile tone.
SPEAKER_00: In these contexts, the word can refer to either unsaved people who are opposed to God and to believers, or it can refer to attitudes or values that are opposed to God.
SPEAKER_00: This would be the system of belief, the values of what the world values, what the world loves, what the world believes in opposition to God.
SPEAKER_00: So in these contexts, the word takes on more of a hostile tone, and it's this, it's this world that we're referring to when we use it in reference to spiritual warfare.
SPEAKER_00: We can define it this way.
SPEAKER_00: The world in the context of spiritual warfare is a system of beliefs and values arrayed in opposition to God, his character, and his truth, notice, which both influences and flows out of unbelieving humanity.
SPEAKER_00: And we'll notice that in some of the texts we look at today.
SPEAKER_00: When we talk about spiritual warfare, we talk about one of the enemies of the Christian being, the world, we're referring to the system of values and beliefs in the world that are in opposition or contrary to God and his character.
SPEAKER_00: And this system, it influences people, it exerts pressure on people, it influences them, but it also flows out of unregenerate, unbelieving humanity.
SPEAKER_00: Humanity is both the source and it is the object upon which the world exerts its influence.
SPEAKER_00: So this is the world as enemy of the Christian.
SPEAKER_00: Well, then what is the world's objective?
SPEAKER_00: The world's objective, what the world wants to do is to conform you into its mold.
SPEAKER_00: The world's objective, what it's trying to do to you this morning, is to conform you into its mold.
SPEAKER_00: Why do I say that?
SPEAKER_00: Well, turn with me in your Bibles to Romans chapter 12 this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Romans chapter 12, look with me in verse 2.
SPEAKER_00: Romans 12.
SPEAKER_00: Romans chapter 12, verse 2.
SPEAKER_00: Paul says, do not be conformed to this world.
SPEAKER_00: Do not be conformed to this world.
SPEAKER_00: The word conformed is a rare word in the New Testament.
SPEAKER_00: It means to form something after a pattern or a mold.
SPEAKER_00: So picture yourself this morning a lump of play-doh.
SPEAKER_00: And what do you do?
SPEAKER_00: What do kids like to do with Play-Doh?
SPEAKER_00: They like to mold it.
SPEAKER_00: Now I feel like back in the olden days, the toy was the play-doh.
SPEAKER_00: Right, Scott?
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: The toy was the play-doh.
SPEAKER_00: If you wanted to play with the, if you wanted to play play-doh, you get the play-doh out and you mold it and you craft it and you do these things.
SPEAKER_00: Now today we have a play-doh bin at our house, and there's about like 20% of the bin is play-doh, and 80% is all of these other mechanisms and toys you use to then play with the play-doh.
SPEAKER_00: And so you have like the guy that you like put the play-doh in and you push him down, and he like grows hair, and like you can cut the hair, right?
SPEAKER_00: Or there's like one of the most famous ones is the spaghetti maker.
SPEAKER_00: You all know the spaghetti maker.
SPEAKER_00: You put the play-doh in, you push the lever down, and what does it do?
SPEAKER_00: It squeezes and pushes, it exerts pressure on that play-doh to form it into a specific shape.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, now I've contextualized the word and put it into application in our modern day today, but but this is the idea of the word.
SPEAKER_00: This is the concept that the world is seeking to act as the mechanism that exerts pressure and influence on you to push you and to shape you into a specific mole.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: So we can you can imagine it like this.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, here you have that's you, there's Plato.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'm missing some of my pictures here.
SPEAKER_00: I'll have to look back and look at those.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, the world is seeking to shape you into a mole.
SPEAKER_00: That's Romans 12, too.
SPEAKER_00: Notice how it does this.
SPEAKER_00: The world wants to conform you into loving what it loves, which is sin.
SPEAKER_00: So it wants to conform your affections.
SPEAKER_00: Your affections, it wants to shape what you love, and secondly, it wants you to believe what it believes, which are ultimately lies that are contrary to the truths of God's word.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: So these are the strategies here.
SPEAKER_00: This is the objective.
SPEAKER_00: It seeks to shape you or conform you.
SPEAKER_00: These are the methods by which it does it, and this is the outcome.
SPEAKER_00: This is the outcome.
SPEAKER_00: Sorry, I'm missing some.
SPEAKER_00: I had like an equal sign here.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure why those didn't translate over to the um to the uh picture here.
SPEAKER_00: So maybe you're more confused now than ever.
SPEAKER_00: But this is this is the objective.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine an equal sign.
SPEAKER_00: Vessel of opposition to God.
SPEAKER_00: That's what the world ultimately wants.
SPEAKER_00: That's the mold it's seeking to push you into to make you into an object that is arrayed in opposition to God because you love what God hates, and you believe what is contrary to what God says is true.
SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna see, we're gonna take a closer look now at how the world does this.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna look at how the world does this, and specifically those two strategies mentioned here.
SPEAKER_00: So turn with me now in your Bibles to 1 John chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: 1 John chapter 2 in verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: 1 John chapter 2 is where we will begin.
SPEAKER_00: Strategy number one, the world seeks to draw your affections away from God and instead lure you into loving sin.
SPEAKER_00: So we're keeping in mind the objective, it's shaping you, it's pushing you into a mold, and it does it, number one, by drawing your affections away from God and instead luring you into loving sin.
SPEAKER_00: 1 John chapter 2, read with me in verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: Do not love the world or the things in the world.
SPEAKER_00: If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
SPEAKER_00: So once again, we have to make sure we're understanding what John mean by cosmos.
SPEAKER_00: What does he mean by world?
SPEAKER_00: He says, Don't love the world.
SPEAKER_00: Don't love the world.
SPEAKER_00: So does John here mean cosmos to the humans of the world?
SPEAKER_00: Everybody do this.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, you're not doing it with me.
SPEAKER_00: Now I just look silly.
SPEAKER_00: I'm doing this by myself.
SPEAKER_00: Why do we say that?
SPEAKER_00: John 3, 16.
SPEAKER_00: For God so loved what?
SPEAKER_00: The world.
SPEAKER_00: So that can't be what John is referring to.
SPEAKER_00: Here we understand our uh responsibility as Christians.
SPEAKER_00: Our responsibility is what does Jesus say is the second greatest commandment?
SPEAKER_00: Love your neighbor.
SPEAKER_00: And he doesn't distinguish who that neighbor is.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, he tells the whole parable of the Good Samaritan to make that exact point.
SPEAKER_00: So we understand it's our responsibility to simply love people.
SPEAKER_00: And one of the greatest ways we can love people is by sharing the gospel with them, seeking to reach the law, seeking to reach those who don't know Jesus so that they can have their sins forgiven.
SPEAKER_00: So John John here doesn't mean you have to you have to hate people that don't know Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what the word world is being used here to identify.
SPEAKER_00: The word cosmos, it's our definition of what cosmos is in the context of spiritual warfare.
SPEAKER_00: This is the system of values and beliefs that are opposed to God.
SPEAKER_00: I don't love that.
SPEAKER_00: And we notice here how the world, how the world gets you to love.
SPEAKER_00: How the world gets you to love.
SPEAKER_00: It seeks to conform you by shaping your affections, drawing you, luring you away from love of God by offering up an alternative object of love.
SPEAKER_00: The world wants to offer up another object of love instead of God.
SPEAKER_00: It's almost Father's Day.
SPEAKER_00: One of the traditions for us for Father's Day is I get to choose the dessert for Father's Day.
SPEAKER_00: And I get to choose the dessert.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody else have that same tradition?
SPEAKER_00: No?
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Well, guys, here's a good one for you.
SPEAKER_00: You get to pick the dessert.
SPEAKER_00: And I'll have to admit, there's one dessert that I almost always pick.
SPEAKER_00: It's almost always the dessert I pick.
SPEAKER_00: It's Liz's famous strawberry shortcake.
SPEAKER_00: It's delicious.
SPEAKER_00: It's so good.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, I can remember several years ago, this was, I think, probably even before we had kids, Liz made that strawberry shortcake and I brought it to a deacon's meeting.
SPEAKER_00: And I'll never forget, it's like in it's like burned into my memory.
SPEAKER_00: I'll never forget Jim Rouse ate a piece of this strawberry shortcake, and I'll never forget his face when he ate it.
SPEAKER_00: It's like he had been transported to heaven.
SPEAKER_00: And he run, and I remember he like had that bite of shortcake in his mouth, and he looked at me and he said, It's still warm.
SPEAKER_00: Like, oh, so good.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: You have to tell Jim.
SPEAKER_00: You'll have to remind him of the shortcake when you get home when he.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so this is the, so this is the, this is always like the object of my affection is the strawberry shortcake.
SPEAKER_00: But I'll admit there are times when I'm like scrolling on Instagram or I'm looking, I see Instagram, the algorithm knows me, it knows I love dessert.
SPEAKER_00: Because it's always sending me new dessert recipes.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm looking and I'll admit there are other competing loves.
SPEAKER_00: There are competing loves.
SPEAKER_00: And I look and I say, ooh, that peach cobbler.
SPEAKER_00: That's a contender that might replace my love of strawberry shortcake.
SPEAKER_00: Or that blueberry pie.
SPEAKER_00: There's other contenders.
SPEAKER_00: This is the strategy of the world.
SPEAKER_00: This is what the world seeks to do.
SPEAKER_00: It seeks to say, look, here are other things you can love that are better than God.
SPEAKER_00: They're better than God.
SPEAKER_00: Why is this an effective strategy?
SPEAKER_00: John says it right here.
SPEAKER_00: Because you can't love God and sin.
SPEAKER_00: You can't love God and sin.
SPEAKER_00: It's not an and or.
SPEAKER_00: Or it's not, it's not an and also.
SPEAKER_00: It's an either-or.
SPEAKER_00: You either love God or you love sin.
SPEAKER_00: For us as Christians, we must settle with that fact.
SPEAKER_00: We must settle with it.
SPEAKER_00: Because I think that us, and I think there's a lot of Christians out there that want to love both.
SPEAKER_00: That want to love God.
SPEAKER_00: They want the blessings, the goodness, the benefits of having a loving relationship with God, but there's sin that we don't want to let go of.
SPEAKER_00: There's sin that we hold on to, sinful tendencies, sinful attitudes, sinful desires, and we hold on to those.
SPEAKER_00: And God is saying, if you're holding on to that, if you are holding on to your sin, if you are cherishing your sin, you don't love me.
SPEAKER_00: You can't.
SPEAKER_00: Because it's like if you were here this morning and you say, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: I love the University of Michigan and Ohio State.
SPEAKER_00: I love them both equally.
SPEAKER_00: They're filled.
SPEAKER_00: My heart is filled with love and affection for both teams.
SPEAKER_00: We would say, Derek, no, no, impossible.
SPEAKER_00: Impossible.
SPEAKER_00: Either your blood is maize and blue or your blood is scarlet and gray.
SPEAKER_00: There's no room.
SPEAKER_00: The concept John is teaching us here is that you can't love God and sin.
SPEAKER_00: You can't love it both.
SPEAKER_00: Either it's one or the other.
SPEAKER_00: Which is why this is the strategy of the world.
SPEAKER_00: The world wants you to replace your love and affections for God with a love for sin.
SPEAKER_00: And it offers sin up on a silver platter.
SPEAKER_00: We see that in verse 16.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, we notice here the desires of the flesh.
SPEAKER_00: The desires of the flesh is the first category.
SPEAKER_00: Flesh here is a reference to your physical body, your physical body, which means that these types of sins that he's referring to would be the sins of physical gratification, temptation through physical gratification.
SPEAKER_00: This would be sins such as gluttony, lust, substance abuse, these types of sins that are satisfied through the flesh, through the physical body.
SPEAKER_00: He goes on and he references the desires of the eyes, the desires of the eyes.
SPEAKER_00: This would be a reference to desire activated by sight, sinful cravings activated through what you see.
SPEAKER_00: Think of the sins of covetousness, jealousy, discontentment.
SPEAKER_00: I see with my eye, and it awakens a sinful desire in me.
SPEAKER_00: The pride of life is the final category he mentions here.
SPEAKER_00: Most scholars interpret the phrase life.
SPEAKER_00: It's not our normal word for life.
SPEAKER_00: Many interpret it as possessions or property, pride in what I possess, which would essentially then be a reference to love of money, love of possessions, love of the material things of the world, the physical things of the world that I can accumulate, that I can have, that I can get.
SPEAKER_00: And it's a pride, it's a love in those things.
SPEAKER_00: These are powerful influences.
SPEAKER_00: The world seeks to offer these things up to you and says, you can love these and you can be satisfied.
SPEAKER_00: We'll satisfy those cravings and their powerful influences, their powerful temptations.
SPEAKER_00: But notice the reminder of verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: He says, And the world is passing away along with its desires.
SPEAKER_00: But whoever does the will of God abides forever.
SPEAKER_00: We notice here the reminder that the world and the sins that the world offers you are passing away.
SPEAKER_00: This world is temporary.
SPEAKER_00: This world will pass away, and the satisfaction of sinful cravings will pass away with it.
SPEAKER_00: Whereas the satisfaction, the joy we have in God abides forever.
SPEAKER_00: That's an eternally lasting satisfaction.
SPEAKER_00: A joy that lasts into eternity.
SPEAKER_00: The satisfaction of sin is a temporary satisfaction.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't truly satisfy.
SPEAKER_00: And so, as a believer, we'll get into these strategies as we go along, but just to say this morning, you fight the battle this morning.
SPEAKER_00: You engage in spiritual warfare when you choose to believe in faith that joy in God is the better joy.
SPEAKER_00: It's the higher joy.
SPEAKER_00: It's the better satisfaction.
SPEAKER_00: It's better than what the world offers.
SPEAKER_00: It's better.
SPEAKER_00: It's better than sin can offer me.
SPEAKER_00: And that is a fight this morning.
SPEAKER_00: That's a fight.
SPEAKER_00: Christian, do you believe me?
SPEAKER_00: Can you say by experience you believe me?
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's a fight in your flesh to say, I need to choose by faith.
SPEAKER_00: Because right now, what sin offers me, the gratification I know I can have by sinning in this context is a powerful urge.
SPEAKER_00: And I think that'll feel really good.
SPEAKER_00: And you need to force yourself into submission by faith to say, I'm going to choose to love God.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to choose to love his commands.
SPEAKER_00: And believe by faith that that will satisfy me more, abundantly more than the mud pie that sin offers me instead.
SPEAKER_00: It's a fight.
SPEAKER_00: You have to fight.
SPEAKER_00: I think there's many Christians, way too many Christians, that say they're battling sin, but what does that battle actually look like?
SPEAKER_00: Does it just mean you sin all the time?
SPEAKER_00: Or does it mean you're actually fighting to force your will to submit to say, I believe that God is better.
SPEAKER_00: I believe it.
SPEAKER_00: So even though I don't want to in my flesh, I'm gonna obey.
SPEAKER_00: Strategy number two, the world seeks to convince you to believe what it believes instead of truth as it is revealed in Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: This is the second strategy the world employs.
SPEAKER_00: Turn to Colossians chapter two, verse eight.
SPEAKER_00: Colossians two, eight.
SPEAKER_00: We saw the first way it's a battle for the heart.
SPEAKER_00: The second strategy, the mind.
SPEAKER_00: The mind.
SPEAKER_00: Colossians chapter 2, verse 8.
SPEAKER_00: See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Notice the warning, the warning.
SPEAKER_00: Don't be taken captive.
SPEAKER_00: And how is it that you are taken captive here?
SPEAKER_00: You are taken captive when you are persuaded to believe a philosophy, or in other words, a system of beliefs, or a worldview that is in opposition to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: This is how, this is the second strategy the world uses to take you captive by persuading you to believe in things, to believe values, systems, truths, philosophies, worldviews that are in opposition to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And this is the world strategy.
SPEAKER_00: Notice that this philosophy here, this philosophy is described as empty deceit.
SPEAKER_00: It's empty deceit.
SPEAKER_00: That's a very interesting choice of phrase there.
SPEAKER_00: We notice deceit, number one, it's a lie.
SPEAKER_00: The system of belief, whatever it is, it's a lie.
SPEAKER_00: It's a twisting or morphing of truth and reality.
SPEAKER_00: But notice it's an empty lie.
SPEAKER_00: It's an empty lie.
SPEAKER_00: It may promise you fulfillment or satisfaction or purpose and meaning, but at the end of the world, there's simply nothing there.
SPEAKER_00: There's nothing there.
SPEAKER_00: There's nothing of substance there.
SPEAKER_00: So it's an empty deceit.
SPEAKER_00: And notice that it's also according to human tradition and elemental spirits in verse 8.
SPEAKER_00: There is much debate on that second phrase, elemental spirits.
SPEAKER_00: The phrase refers to the material building blocks and elements of the world, kind of the basic atoms that construct the world.
SPEAKER_00: And so I think the idea here is that these are philosophies and beliefs that are man-made in origin.
SPEAKER_00: They come from the world, they originate in the world, and therefore are in opposition to God.
SPEAKER_00: We notice in the book of James, James contrasts wisdom from above versus wisdom from below.
SPEAKER_00: I think it's that same idea here.
SPEAKER_00: The origin of these philosophies is the world, an enemy of God.
SPEAKER_00: So then why is this strategy effective?
SPEAKER_00: Why is this effective?
SPEAKER_00: Well, one of the most dangerous features of worldly philosophy and belief systems is that they don't always sound openly anti-Christian.
SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, we wouldn't be duped.
SPEAKER_00: We wouldn't be deceived.
SPEAKER_00: Notice they're empty deceits.
SPEAKER_00: They're specifically formulated to fool you, to trick you into embracing those systems of beliefs.
SPEAKER_00: We see this everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: It sounds compassionate.
SPEAKER_00: It sounds moral.
SPEAKER_00: It even sounds biblical on the surface.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's see if we have these on here.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I have some quotes.
SPEAKER_00: You're going to soot thy neighbor, we're going to love our neighbor.
SPEAKER_00: Love your neighbor as yourself.
SPEAKER_00: There is no greater commander, greater commandment than these.
SPEAKER_00: A social system that denies reproductive justice violates the central biblical imperative to love and render justice to one's neighbor.
SPEAKER_00: On the surface, these sound biblical, don't they?
SPEAKER_00: These comments sound very biblical.
SPEAKER_00: They're steeped in biblical language.
SPEAKER_00: They even quote scripture, don't they?
SPEAKER_00: Love your neighbor.
SPEAKER_00: The second greatest command, love your neighbor.
SPEAKER_00: But then the third phrase for the astute in the room this morning gives it away.
SPEAKER_00: All three of these quotes are from abortion advocates who utilize these statements to refer to the right for moms to abort their children.
SPEAKER_00: All three of these phrases are used in this context.
SPEAKER_00: So we notice here what do the systems of the world, what do the belief systems of the world want to do?
SPEAKER_00: They want to convince you to believe something that is fundamentally in opposition to God, but they want to dupe you.
SPEAKER_00: They want to deceive you.
SPEAKER_00: They want to deceive you by utilizing phrases, statements, arguments that make it seem like this is actually right.
SPEAKER_00: This is everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: This is everywhere today.
SPEAKER_00: This isn't, I just picked abortion.
SPEAKER_00: I could have picked 53 other ones.
SPEAKER_00: There is an array of systems of belief today.
SPEAKER_00: And the discerning Christian who doesn't want to be taken captive.
SPEAKER_00: How many Christians do you know who've been taken captive by this?
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot.
SPEAKER_00: It's why, after Roe v.
SPEAKER_00: Wade, there's more abortions now than there ever have been.
SPEAKER_00: Because there's a lot of people who've been deceived by this.
SPEAKER_00: The discerning Christian who doesn't want to be taken captive, because guess what's happening to Christians who believe these things?
SPEAKER_00: The world has forced them into a mold that is now in opposition to God.
SPEAKER_00: They've been formed into this mold.
SPEAKER_00: The world's won.
SPEAKER_00: The world has won.
SPEAKER_00: So how do you fight?
SPEAKER_00: How do you fight?
SPEAKER_00: Well, Paul warns us in Ephesians chapter 4.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to turn there, but in Ephesians chapter 4, Paul explains what is the sign of the mature Christian.
SPEAKER_00: What's the sign of the mature Christian?
SPEAKER_00: He says, the immature Christian is one who is blown about by every wind of doctrine.
SPEAKER_00: He says, that's the immature Christian.
SPEAKER_00: And the imagery he's using, the picture he wants you to have in your head is a boat, probably on the Sea of Galilee, when a storm starts ripping through that region.
SPEAKER_00: And it was famous.
SPEAKER_00: The storms on the Sea of Galilee were famous for coming out of nowhere.
SPEAKER_00: Just like boom, all of a sudden.
SPEAKER_00: The wind starts howling, and you're stuck.
SPEAKER_00: You're stuck there.
SPEAKER_00: And there's nothing you can do.
SPEAKER_00: You are at the mercy of the wind.
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't matter how skilled you are as a sailor, right?
SPEAKER_00: We see that in the gospel accounts.
SPEAKER_00: You have these skilled fishermen and they're despairing in the boats because of the storm, right?
SPEAKER_00: These guys, they knew the waters, they knew how to sail, but when that wind starts howling through and when that storm starts kicking up, you are simply at the mercy.
SPEAKER_00: You are going to be blown about wherever the wind decides.
SPEAKER_00: Wherever the storm decides, that's where you're going.
SPEAKER_00: And this is the picture Paul gives of the immature Christian, the believer who isn't anchored in the truth of Scripture is the one who gets taken captive.
SPEAKER_00: Because it sounds, it sounds right.
SPEAKER_00: On the surface, it sounds like this is what I should believe.
SPEAKER_00: So, what's the antidote?
SPEAKER_00: Steep yourself in the word.
SPEAKER_00: Don't get lazy.
SPEAKER_00: Don't get complacent.
SPEAKER_00: You say, I've been a Christian for 30 years.
SPEAKER_00: I know it all.
SPEAKER_00: No, you don't.
SPEAKER_00: You don't.
SPEAKER_00: Because guess what?
SPEAKER_00: The world isn't using the same arguments it was 500 years ago.
SPEAKER_00: The world is a smart enemy that continues to develop.
SPEAKER_00: And you must continually be studying the scriptures, learning the scriptures, growing in the scriptures, knowing the truths of God's word so that you aren't blown about and taken captive by the world.
SPEAKER_00: This is the second strategy.
SPEAKER_00: The third and final strategy, we'll wrap with this.
SPEAKER_00: The third and final strategy.
SPEAKER_00: Persecution.
SPEAKER_00: We see this in the book of John.
SPEAKER_00: John chapter 15.
SPEAKER_00: John chapter 15, verse 18.
SPEAKER_00: If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.
SPEAKER_00: If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own.
SPEAKER_00: But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
SPEAKER_00: Remember the word that I said to you a servant is not greater than his master.
SPEAKER_00: If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.
SPEAKER_00: If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
SPEAKER_00: The final method of molding that the world employs is through hate and persecution.
SPEAKER_00: If the world can't shape your affections and lure your love away from God through sin, and if the world can't trick you and deceive you into believing things that are in opposition to God and take you captive that way, but if you stand firm in those ways, this is the world's final strategy.
SPEAKER_00: It will seek to force you into submission through persecution and through hate.
SPEAKER_00: And we see this all throughout human history, we see it all throughout the world today.
SPEAKER_00: There are many places today that if you seek to resist what the world teaches in that corner of the world, your life is on the line.
SPEAKER_00: You could be killed.
SPEAKER_00: There are certainly social pressures in our corner of the world today that we would acknowledge.
SPEAKER_00: Social pressures to push you into believing what the world believes and loving what the world loves.
SPEAKER_00: Persecution and hate.
SPEAKER_00: Powerful influences.
SPEAKER_00: You don't like to behate.
SPEAKER_00: This morning, do you?
SPEAKER_00: You don't like it when people hate you.
SPEAKER_00: But they do.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, if the world hated me, like I never sinned.
SPEAKER_00: I'm the good shepherd.
SPEAKER_00: I'm the creator that gives you the very, like we sang this morning, that gives you every single breath that you breathe into your lungs.
SPEAKER_00: It's from me.
SPEAKER_00: And the world hated me.
SPEAKER_00: And so if you are gonna follow me, the world's gonna hate you too.
SPEAKER_00: Stand firm, church.
SPEAKER_00: Stand firm.
SPEAKER_00: Don't allow the world to push you into the mold.
SPEAKER_00: Don't allow it to do it.
SPEAKER_00: This is the fight.
SPEAKER_00: This is what the world wants you to do.
SPEAKER_00: This is how it seeks to, this is, this is what it wants.
SPEAKER_00: It wants to conform you and mold you.
SPEAKER_00: That's its objective, to turn you into something that is fundamentally opposed to God.
SPEAKER_00: And you've been called to resist.
SPEAKER_00: You've been called to fight.
SPEAKER_00: Stand firm this morning.
SPEAKER_00: In your love for God, don't allow the world to lure you away and to replace your love for God with a love for sin.
SPEAKER_00: Don't allow the world to shape your mind this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Don't be taken captive.
SPEAKER_00: Steep yourself and root yourself in the truth of God's word.
SPEAKER_00: Be discerning.
SPEAKER_00: And ground yourself in the love of God this morning.
SPEAKER_00: The world may hate you.
SPEAKER_00: But God loves you.
SPEAKER_00: And you don't need the love of the world.
SPEAKER_00: You don't need it.
SPEAKER_00: You have everything you need in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we thank you for today.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you for this opportunity we've had to dig into the Word this morning to examine our very first enemy, the enemy of the world.
SPEAKER_00: And we I I hope I hope I have come across this morning that this is an enemy to be reckoned with.
SPEAKER_00: This is a powerful enemy.
SPEAKER_00: And your word makes that very clear that we need to be on guard.
SPEAKER_00: We need to be actively vigilant in resisting these schemes and strategies of the enemy.
SPEAKER_00: So help us, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Help us today.
SPEAKER_00: Strengthen us to resist these attacks, to stand firm, rooted in you, and in your word and in your love.
SPEAKER_00: And give us the victory.
SPEAKER_00: We love you and thank you for loving us.
SPEAKER_00: It's in Jesus' name I pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Great to see each and every one of you.
SPEAKER_00: Lord bless you as you go.