WEBVTT 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:12.720 This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota. 00:00:22.079 --> 00:00:32.000 Beginning next Sunday, we're going to start a walk through the book of Judges for the remainder of the summer. 00:00:32.640 --> 00:00:41.520 I had intended this morning to do an introduction to all of that, not knowing what Webb was going to preach on last Sunday. 00:00:43.119 --> 00:00:54.399 And as our good God, only He can do, what Webb preached on last week was a fitting transition into what I'm talking about this morning. 00:00:55.359 --> 00:00:58.320 But think about what you just prayed. 00:00:59.920 --> 00:01:05.280 Singing really is not much more than that, it's just a different form of praying. 00:01:07.359 --> 00:01:13.280 Satisfied, he is all I need. 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:24.879 Can you rest all of your days in the goodness of Jesus? 00:01:28.159 --> 00:01:29.599 Were you listening? 00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:34.079 Did you hear yourself preach that to your heart? 00:01:36.159 --> 00:01:40.560 Because if you sang, if your voice was producing sounds, you heard it. 00:01:42.640 --> 00:01:45.680 Heart, rest in Jesus. 00:01:47.359 --> 00:01:52.799 You just told yourself that Jesus Christ is all you need. 00:01:55.120 --> 00:01:56.719 Do you believe it? 00:01:58.640 --> 00:02:12.319 As we learned last week, when Webb led us through the account of Elijah and the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel, Israel, ancient Israel, would not be satisfied with God. 00:02:14.639 --> 00:02:17.360 God's goodness was insufficient. 00:02:18.639 --> 00:02:20.240 They desired more. 00:02:22.879 --> 00:02:26.400 But the root of Israel's problem was idolatry. 00:02:27.039 --> 00:02:30.080 They were what we would call today syncretistic. 00:02:30.800 --> 00:02:33.439 They wanted the best of all worlds. 00:02:33.520 --> 00:02:35.439 They wanted Yahweh and Baal. 00:02:37.280 --> 00:02:45.280 In 1 Kings 18, Elijah called it limping between two faiths, which is just the perfect imagery, right? 00:02:45.439 --> 00:02:49.039 It's not walking with confidence and firmness and steadfastness. 00:02:49.360 --> 00:02:49.840 It's limping. 00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:52.560 It's limping along the way because there is no confidence. 00:02:52.639 --> 00:02:54.000 There is no steadfastness. 00:02:54.159 --> 00:02:55.840 You don't even know what's right. 00:02:56.400 --> 00:03:00.000 You're just hoping that one of these things is going to work out for me. 00:03:02.159 --> 00:03:10.400 They tried to appease a demon for their own ends when Yahweh didn't give them what they wanted. 00:03:13.360 --> 00:03:25.199 Saying they followed the God of Israel while bowing to Baal was idolatry because Yahweh was not their sole allegiance. 00:03:26.639 --> 00:03:37.520 I have one goal this morning, and that is to help you walk out of this gathering together with a soul allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:03:40.400 --> 00:03:58.479 Israel attempted to appease a demon in hopes of having fertile soil for their crops, of having a good harvest, of having bountiful seasonal rains while barely clinging to the remnants of their faith in the God of their fathers. 00:03:58.719 --> 00:04:03.120 That's because divided loyalty, that's not the right one. 00:04:11.120 --> 00:04:11.759 Nope. 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:13.840 Did I not get that up there? 00:04:14.479 --> 00:04:16.240 I didn't get that up there. 00:04:18.720 --> 00:04:19.759 Sorry about that, folks. 00:04:19.839 --> 00:04:20.079 See? 00:04:20.160 --> 00:04:21.040 I told you. 00:04:21.360 --> 00:04:24.480 If something doesn't happen, it's because I'm new here. 00:04:26.319 --> 00:04:32.560 Divided loyalty is idolatry because it allows room for other allegiances. 00:04:33.839 --> 00:04:34.720 We say that again. 00:04:34.879 --> 00:04:43.040 Divided loyalty is idolatry because it allows room for other allegiances. 00:04:43.920 --> 00:04:49.839 And when it comes to God, there is no room for another allegiance. 00:04:50.079 --> 00:04:52.720 In a few moments, we will move on to 1 John. 00:04:53.040 --> 00:04:55.600 But first I want you to think about Elijah. 00:04:57.199 --> 00:05:01.279 In 1 Kings, Elijah appears out of nowhere. 00:05:02.560 --> 00:05:04.000 Almost literally. 00:05:04.720 --> 00:05:07.040 We don't really know who his parents were. 00:05:07.199 --> 00:05:09.279 We don't have any information about his background. 00:05:09.360 --> 00:05:11.199 It's just boom, there he is on the scene. 00:05:11.360 --> 00:05:15.519 This prophet of God functioning under the name of God. 00:05:15.680 --> 00:05:17.680 Why was Elijah there? 00:05:17.839 --> 00:05:20.639 Well, we get a hint, at least, from his name. 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:23.600 His name is a compound Hebrew word. 00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:30.079 Ali, which means my God, and Yah, which is a shortened form of God's name, Yahweh. 00:05:30.319 --> 00:05:33.279 My God is Yah, or Yah is my God. 00:05:35.519 --> 00:05:37.680 So you can imagine the setting. 00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:47.600 The Jewish people in the northern nation of Israel are drawn to worshiping demons in the form of idols while holding on to some element of worship in the true God. 00:05:47.839 --> 00:05:58.959 The false god, Baal, who was a kind of fertility god, was believed to bring the spring and the fall rains that would promote great harvests. 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:06.879 Baal is being championed by the worst king in the history of Israel and his deadly wife, Jezebel. 00:06:07.680 --> 00:06:15.680 And suddenly along comes this man out of nowhere, declaring, there's not going to be any rain for three years. 00:06:16.560 --> 00:06:20.720 And oh, by the way, my God is Yah. 00:06:24.560 --> 00:06:32.560 Elijah, the prophet, challenged the idolatry that divided allegiance among the people merely by appearing on the scene. 00:06:32.879 --> 00:06:35.360 His name alone declared that. 00:06:36.079 --> 00:06:46.160 And if you were listening last week, you heard of the unquestioned demonstration of Yahweh as the true God at Mount Carmel, bringing down fire from heaven. 00:06:47.199 --> 00:06:52.240 That demonstration was an explicit one that screamed, Yah is God. 00:06:52.399 --> 00:06:56.240 Repent of your idolatry and give him your soul allegiance. 00:06:59.759 --> 00:07:04.959 In the process of his sermon, Webb cut deeply at our idolatry. 00:07:08.800 --> 00:07:18.319 No, we don't have the physical representations of wooden images that may just be wood or covered with silver or gold. 00:07:18.560 --> 00:07:25.279 We don't have physical representations of idols and demons that we worship, but that doesn't mean that we don't struggle with idolatry. 00:07:27.680 --> 00:07:31.279 We don't talk enough about idolatry. 00:07:32.480 --> 00:07:34.959 Probably in part because it makes us squirm a little bit. 00:07:35.199 --> 00:07:36.240 That's good. 00:07:36.720 --> 00:07:38.240 Squirming's good. 00:07:39.120 --> 00:07:46.079 Did you know that there is a New Testament corollary to Elijah's fight against idolatry? 00:07:47.680 --> 00:07:54.000 The person who is the corollary is the Apostle John, that disciple known as the disciple of love. 00:07:54.399 --> 00:07:58.560 And the place is his letter to the church known as 1 John. 00:07:59.920 --> 00:08:06.160 The last line, the very last line of 1 John written to a New Testament church is this. 00:08:06.800 --> 00:08:11.120 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. 00:08:12.560 --> 00:08:13.199 What? 00:08:15.279 --> 00:08:16.959 Who are you talking to, John? 00:08:17.439 --> 00:08:19.199 I don't have idols. 00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:24.560 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:30.560 John wanted those Christians to succeed at living in an evil world. 00:08:30.800 --> 00:08:33.600 That's why we're going to judge us next. 00:08:33.919 --> 00:08:34.960 Next Sunday. 00:08:35.200 --> 00:08:37.919 What is it like to live in an evil world? 00:08:39.039 --> 00:08:53.600 John wanted the Christians of his time to succeed at living in an evil in an evil world, but succeeding at living in an evil world requires a soul allegiance without idolatry in your heart. 00:08:54.320 --> 00:08:56.960 Look with me at 1 John chapter 2. 00:08:57.600 --> 00:09:00.399 1 John chapter 2. 00:09:01.679 --> 00:09:18.000 These few sentences here may be familiar to you, but beginning in verse 15, John says, Do not love the world or the things in the world. 00:09:19.600 --> 00:09:20.240 Why? 00:09:21.360 --> 00:09:25.360 Because if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 00:09:26.559 --> 00:09:37.840 For all that is in the world, that is the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life, that's not from the Father, but it's from the world. 00:09:39.279 --> 00:09:43.919 And the world is passing away along with its desires. 00:09:44.720 --> 00:09:49.200 But whoever does, the will of God abides forever. 00:09:50.480 --> 00:09:51.279 Amen. 00:09:53.919 --> 00:09:58.559 If you look at the next sentence, sort of amplifies the importance. 00:09:58.639 --> 00:10:01.440 He says, Little children, it's the last hour. 00:10:02.559 --> 00:10:08.240 And if it's the last hour 2,000 years ago, we're probably in the last minutes today. 00:10:09.759 --> 00:10:17.840 Now, if we are honest and objective in our reflections, we might find ourselves in one of three places. 00:10:19.360 --> 00:10:42.799 Some might find themselves living in and loving the world with all of its niceties, its comforts, its entertainments, its fulfillments that make us happy and comfortable and that emphasize satisfying every desire that we have. 00:10:42.960 --> 00:10:44.960 You might find yourself there. 00:10:47.200 --> 00:10:49.279 Some might find themselves on the opposite end. 00:10:49.360 --> 00:10:51.919 No, no, Pastor, I'm not like that at all. 00:10:52.159 --> 00:10:53.519 I'm on the opposite end. 00:10:53.600 --> 00:10:55.519 You might be living a holy life. 00:10:55.600 --> 00:10:58.559 You might not be drawn to what this world offers. 00:10:58.720 --> 00:11:09.840 You may have crucified the flesh with all of its desires, focusing entirely on who you are in Christ, and you regularly succeed at squashing sin in your life. 00:11:11.279 --> 00:11:17.200 Well, if that's your honest assessment, that I would check your pulse because you're probably closer to heaven than you realize. 00:11:20.799 --> 00:11:24.399 Most followers of Christ will be somewhere in the middle. 00:11:27.039 --> 00:11:32.639 Songwriter Mark Hall wrote a song by that title to illustrate this position. 00:11:34.559 --> 00:11:38.559 He wrote, somewhere between the hot and the cold. 00:11:39.759 --> 00:11:42.879 Somewhere between the new and the old. 00:11:57.679 --> 00:11:58.240 It goes on. 00:11:58.399 --> 00:12:00.639 Somewhere between the right and the wrong. 00:12:02.799 --> 00:12:05.360 Somewhere between the darkness and the light. 00:12:06.080 --> 00:12:09.679 Somewhere between who I was and who you're making me. 00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:15.759 Somewhere in the middle, you'll find me. 00:12:16.480 --> 00:12:21.039 The song then moves to even more picturesque language that illustrates that position. 00:12:21.440 --> 00:12:25.840 We are fearless warriors, but we're afraid to get outside of the picket fence. 00:12:27.440 --> 00:12:32.799 We have reckless abandon for Christ, but you know, we can't go beyond our common sense. 00:12:34.720 --> 00:12:40.240 Oh, we have deep water faith, but we never get outside of the shallow end of the pool. 00:12:42.639 --> 00:12:46.879 There's the God I want, and the God who is. 00:12:49.759 --> 00:12:56.399 Somewhere between my heart and my hands, somewhere between my faith and my plans. 00:12:57.759 --> 00:13:04.000 Somewhere between the safety of the boat and the crashing waves, somewhere between a whisper and a roar. 00:13:05.039 --> 00:13:08.080 Somewhere between the altar and the door. 00:13:08.720 --> 00:13:12.559 Somewhere between contented peace and always wanting more. 00:13:12.879 --> 00:13:17.279 Somewhere in the middle, you'll find me. 00:13:20.960 --> 00:13:23.279 I see some knowing glances. 00:13:23.519 --> 00:13:25.360 Does that resonate with you? 00:13:27.919 --> 00:13:32.879 The majority of Western Christians, I would suggest, are somewhere in the middle. 00:13:34.320 --> 00:13:41.360 We are generally satisfied with the status quo and we remain happy as long as life feels good. 00:13:41.679 --> 00:13:49.360 But spiritually, we are often content to have one foot in the boat and one in the water, one in the church and one in our faith, and the other in the world. 00:13:50.720 --> 00:13:59.200 I'm guessing that there are very, very, very few who would sincerely consider themselves as holy as God expects us to be. 00:13:59.440 --> 00:14:05.519 Most of us will be in the middle with at least one foot in the fleeting joys of the world. 00:14:06.159 --> 00:14:11.120 And that's precisely what John addresses in 1 John 2, verse 15. 00:14:11.679 --> 00:14:18.240 He says that Christians have a unique struggle with a proper allegiance. 00:14:19.200 --> 00:14:25.840 Otherwise, he would have no need to say, do not love the world. 00:14:28.240 --> 00:14:33.840 And it's not just the world, do not love the things in the world. 00:14:36.480 --> 00:14:41.919 Okay, John, I'm okay with you saying, don't love the world, but don't take away my things. 00:14:44.639 --> 00:14:50.799 The Christian should have no allegiance that opposes the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:14:53.759 --> 00:14:58.559 If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 00:14:59.600 --> 00:15:09.200 The problem is that being human inherently draws us toward our surroundings, to the passing things of our world. 00:15:10.240 --> 00:15:21.279 And that world demands our allegiance in order to fit in, in order to be approved, to be accepted, to be recognized. 00:15:21.600 --> 00:15:24.960 But that is not God's way. 00:15:26.320 --> 00:15:36.080 For God says we are new creations, yet we still exist in a world waiting for its own renewal. 00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:44.960 Now, to be clear, John doesn't refer to absolutely everything in the world or every detail about the world. 00:15:45.200 --> 00:15:51.120 So we need to understand a little bit more about what he is thinking when he says, do not love the world. 00:15:51.279 --> 00:16:01.120 And so if we look over and just to chapter 3, verse 1, we begin to see that this world is something that does not know God. 00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:11.919 He's talking about the world in which we exist that is opposed to God because it does not know Him. 00:16:12.559 --> 00:16:25.919 If we keep flipping over in chapter 4, verse 1, we see that this is a world that contains many false prophets, that speaks against God, that speaks contrary to God, that does not want people to believe God. 00:16:27.840 --> 00:16:37.440 Chapter 4, verse 3, it's a world that does not confess Jesus and therefore is opposed to God. 00:16:39.519 --> 00:16:45.120 Chapter 4, verse 9, it's it's a place into which God sent his son. 00:16:48.320 --> 00:16:50.639 Chapter 5, verse 4. 00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:59.039 It's something that is to be overcome by those who believe in Jesus. 00:17:01.360 --> 00:17:09.279 If you pause and think about that, if it is to be overcome, that implicitly suggests that it is trying to overcome us. 00:17:10.240 --> 00:17:12.960 It is trying to overcome the things of God. 00:17:14.079 --> 00:17:17.359 But John says, no, you are to overcome it. 00:17:19.440 --> 00:17:22.079 Chapter 5, verse 19. 00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:24.799 Probably the pinnacle. 00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:31.039 We're talking about the world's system that lies in the power of the evil one. 00:17:34.480 --> 00:17:41.839 So in the context of 1 John, the world is not God's creation that was declared very good on the sixth day of creation. 00:17:42.319 --> 00:17:54.160 The world is the system of life and activity which is now under the sway of the evil one, who is God's enemy and therefore our enemy. 00:17:55.279 --> 00:18:04.079 The good things that God created have been infected by sin and twisted for use in an evil way. 00:18:05.759 --> 00:18:12.160 And human beings, made as God's images, have turned those good things into idols. 00:18:12.319 --> 00:18:19.759 And those idols then turn our allegiance away from Christ to the expectations and demands of a perishing world. 00:18:22.079 --> 00:18:35.359 We become double-minded, trying to focus on spiritual things and on eternity on Sundays while desperately maintaining our grasp of the present world the rest of the week. 00:18:37.279 --> 00:18:47.200 And whether we admit it or not, we are too content living somewhere in the middle. 00:18:49.440 --> 00:18:57.039 And if we are content living in the middle, then that suggests that we are not giving wholehearted allegiance to God or the world. 00:18:59.599 --> 00:19:08.400 We are just like the Jews of Elijah's time when we think that we can follow God and have life our way. 00:19:13.519 --> 00:19:16.240 Right now you're thinking, I wish he'd stayed on sabbatical. 00:19:19.359 --> 00:19:21.920 Don't worry, the preacher preaches first to himself. 00:19:22.079 --> 00:19:23.359 This is hard. 00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:27.519 John cuts to the core of who we are. 00:19:28.319 --> 00:19:37.279 Christians of every age must must acknowledge that loving the world and the things of the world is enmity with God. 00:19:38.880 --> 00:19:48.720 To be clear, we're not talking about appreciating and enjoying the gracious provisions of our God with thankfulness in your heart to God. 00:19:48.799 --> 00:19:49.920 We're not talking about that. 00:19:50.079 --> 00:19:57.759 We're talking about a love, a kind of attachment that draws us away from our allegiance to Christ. 00:19:58.960 --> 00:20:05.759 You remember what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, you cannot love both God and money. 00:20:06.640 --> 00:20:09.839 Money is just a symbol of the things of the world. 00:20:11.359 --> 00:20:19.839 My friends, it is traitorous to give our allegiance to anything but our sovereign Lord. 00:20:22.240 --> 00:20:26.799 Do not love the world or the things in the world. 00:20:28.400 --> 00:20:33.279 If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 00:20:34.400 --> 00:20:40.000 Loving the world proclaims to everyone that God is not good enough. 00:20:41.200 --> 00:20:46.640 It proclaims I cannot be satisfied with Jesus. 00:20:49.200 --> 00:20:53.279 It asserts that Jesus does not care for us enough. 00:20:53.839 --> 00:21:04.480 It declares that he does not supply our needs in the best way possible, and that he does not have our greatest good at heart because he doesn't give us what the world has. 00:21:08.720 --> 00:21:15.119 I was talking with my son this week that when I was growing up, I did not have video games. 00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:19.359 But the neighbors did. 00:21:23.200 --> 00:21:25.920 That was hard for a little kid. 00:21:28.000 --> 00:21:36.000 I couldn't understand at the time that mom and dad didn't have the money to buy video games and video game consoles. 00:21:36.640 --> 00:21:41.359 I just knew that I didn't have what they had, and that was hard for my little heart. 00:21:42.880 --> 00:21:49.279 Could not understand that God knew that what He was doing for me was my very best. 00:21:50.079 --> 00:21:50.640 Good. 00:21:58.720 --> 00:21:59.759 If God is not good. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:08.799 Enough, if we have a divided allegiance that shouts from the rooftops, I will not live all my days resting in the sufficiency of Christ's goodness. 00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:19.920 Even more startling, John tells us that loving the world means that the love of the Father is not in that person. 00:22:21.519 --> 00:22:30.559 Those who love a perishing world cannot exercise true love for the Father because the Father has not first loved them. 00:22:31.279 --> 00:22:34.160 And that is a precarious place to be. 00:22:34.559 --> 00:22:40.079 1 John 4, verse 19 tells us that we love God because He first loved us. 00:22:40.400 --> 00:22:44.559 But if we love the world, the Father's love does not reside in us. 00:22:44.799 --> 00:22:49.039 Which means there's no faith connection, there's no genuine creation, there's no genuine faith. 00:22:49.200 --> 00:22:51.359 And so John declares the stark truth. 00:22:51.519 --> 00:22:58.720 Those whom the Father has loved first and who have been drawn to saving faith in Jesus do not have a habit of loving the world. 00:23:01.920 --> 00:23:04.720 My friends, it does not get more serious than this. 00:23:05.359 --> 00:23:12.319 You need to check your spiritual status if you habitually love the world and the things in it. 00:23:16.559 --> 00:23:20.720 Christians struggle with a proper allegiance. 00:23:21.519 --> 00:23:25.119 We routinely find ourselves stuck in the middle. 00:23:25.440 --> 00:23:29.119 I once heard it described as an aspect of our sheepishness. 00:23:31.039 --> 00:23:33.599 You know, the Bible talks about us as sheep. 00:23:37.359 --> 00:23:42.319 We once lived in another pasture where the world and everything in it was ours. 00:23:42.880 --> 00:23:46.640 All that we could make of the world was ours, the whole world was ours. 00:23:46.720 --> 00:24:00.480 But when we trusted in Jesus, the Father picks us up and places us in Jesus' pasture, in the pasture led and managed by the Good Shepherd, which is imminently better than the pastures of the world. 00:24:00.559 --> 00:24:14.640 And yet we want to live as close to the fence as we possibly can, often sticking our heads through the barbed wire to reach the grass from the old pasture, thinking that grass is better than the grass that the Good Shepherd gives me. 00:24:16.960 --> 00:24:21.759 We grow dissatisfied with what God has provided for us. 00:24:22.559 --> 00:24:32.400 And soon we're grumpy and we're we're discontent, and soon we're we're fighting our way through the fence to the pastures of the world, acting as traitors of the one who bought us. 00:24:37.279 --> 00:24:39.039 How do we fix that? 00:24:39.519 --> 00:24:40.400 Glad you asked. 00:24:40.559 --> 00:24:41.680 I didn't tell you. 00:24:43.200 --> 00:24:55.200 The key is first and foremost accepting and believing that we are different to people. 00:24:57.279 --> 00:24:58.720 And that's a good thing. 00:25:01.279 --> 00:25:06.000 A lot of us find discomfort in sticking out and being different. 00:25:09.200 --> 00:25:10.400 God likes that. 00:25:11.519 --> 00:25:12.880 You know that old song? 00:25:13.119 --> 00:25:14.559 This world is not my home. 00:25:14.799 --> 00:25:16.319 I'm just a passing through. 00:25:19.039 --> 00:25:22.319 It has a campy sound to it, but it has a ring of truth. 00:25:24.720 --> 00:25:27.359 We're no longer citizens of this world. 00:25:29.519 --> 00:25:33.759 That's what the apostle Paul proclaimed to the Christians in Philippi. 00:25:34.799 --> 00:25:40.079 Philippi was one of those cities that had a history of defying Rome. 00:25:42.319 --> 00:26:01.680 But at one point in history, they changed all of that and they appeased the Roman Emperor, and so the Roman Emperor declared them to be a Roman colony, which meant that everybody in the city of Philippi obtained Roman citizenship by mere presence of their lives and their living and their birth in the city of Philippi. 00:26:01.920 --> 00:26:03.839 We are Roman citizens. 00:26:05.200 --> 00:26:09.440 And Paul says to the Christians, I don't care. 00:26:11.680 --> 00:26:20.720 Your citizenship is in heaven, from which we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:26:25.039 --> 00:26:28.400 We have been remade for another world, friends, for another place. 00:26:28.559 --> 00:26:36.079 We are no longer locals, but foreigners struggling to live in what is now an alien world to us. 00:26:37.359 --> 00:26:38.640 I can't figure it out. 00:26:38.799 --> 00:26:45.359 People keep looking for alien life in outer space or in Area 51, but all they should have to do is look in the local church. 00:26:49.839 --> 00:26:55.759 Because Scripture tells us we are to live divinely empowered lives in this world. 00:26:55.920 --> 00:26:56.799 We are to be different. 00:26:56.960 --> 00:27:05.440 We are to be alien people in an alien world, emboldened by the Spirit of God to be different, to be like Christ. 00:27:06.960 --> 00:27:09.279 This world is not my home. 00:27:10.480 --> 00:27:13.119 Praise God from whom all blessings flow. 00:27:16.079 --> 00:27:24.240 We're specifically told not to love three portions of the evil world systems: the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life. 00:27:27.519 --> 00:27:38.640 These desires, these cravings, these lusts originate from the unredeemed portion of our being that craves things that are not eternal. 00:27:39.839 --> 00:27:49.680 John's saying that our unredeemed body, the flesh, the physical house in which we live as God's images, carries with it ungodly desires. 00:27:49.759 --> 00:27:53.200 And those desires are of the world and they lead to sin. 00:27:53.359 --> 00:28:00.160 They're not linked to God the Father or spiritual life, but cause us to be drawn away and enticed by outward stimuli. 00:28:00.559 --> 00:28:05.039 The evil nature of this world entices what is sinful in us. 00:28:12.400 --> 00:28:15.119 I want to keep preaching, but I need to wrap this up. 00:28:18.319 --> 00:28:23.759 Pride here speaks of arrogance or conceit. 00:28:24.799 --> 00:28:28.640 The pride of life, the desires of the flesh, desires of the eyes, the pride of life. 00:28:30.240 --> 00:28:38.240 Life is sometimes translated as possessions or objects. 00:28:39.599 --> 00:28:42.480 It's the word bios from which we get biology. 00:28:43.680 --> 00:28:54.799 Most likely it's a speaking here of an arrogance of what we have become, of who we are, of what we've made ourselves into, of what we have. 00:28:55.039 --> 00:28:58.079 We think arrogantly that life is about us. 00:28:58.319 --> 00:29:10.160 It's what I want to make of it, and we we feel like we deserve to have what we want to have because of all of the desires of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, all of these things. 00:29:10.240 --> 00:29:12.799 Now it's not wrong, friends, to have possessions. 00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:20.319 It's not wrong to be comfortable or to be wealthy even, but it but it does come with problems. 00:29:20.880 --> 00:29:25.359 It's not sinful to enjoy the good things that God has given us. 00:29:28.799 --> 00:29:38.079 However, the heart can be drawn away into a prideful view of this life and everything in it rather than to be drawn to thankfulness and generosity. 00:29:38.319 --> 00:29:41.680 And the point here is that we must not be worldly. 00:29:42.000 --> 00:29:55.920 God's people must not act, must not speak, and live like human beings that are drawn to the passions and desires of the evil world. 00:29:58.480 --> 00:30:03.759 In fact, chapter 3, verse 6 says this no one who abides in him keeps on sinning. 00:30:03.920 --> 00:30:06.079 No one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or know him. 00:30:07.279 --> 00:30:11.759 If this is your habit, if this is your way of life, then you've got problems. 00:30:13.599 --> 00:30:17.839 In this little letter, John writes much about how we should be different. 00:30:19.200 --> 00:30:20.960 How does that happen? 00:30:21.599 --> 00:30:25.279 Well, it's a lifelong process, to be sure. 00:30:25.599 --> 00:30:28.079 And first and foremost, it's a work of God. 00:30:29.440 --> 00:30:34.079 He promises that he is making his people into the image of his son. 00:30:34.880 --> 00:30:42.880 He's doing that by giving us his spirit to empower us to live upright and godly lives in this present age. 00:30:43.519 --> 00:30:52.960 He says, I've given you the down payment of my spirit to guarantee that I'm going to finish what I've started, but that means he has already started it in you. 00:30:54.160 --> 00:30:56.240 That's the divine perspective. 00:30:56.720 --> 00:31:02.559 But we as human beings tend to view things not first from God's viewpoint, but from ours. 00:31:02.640 --> 00:31:06.640 And so John helps us with that in verse 17. 00:31:07.119 --> 00:31:08.799 He helps our mindset. 00:31:09.920 --> 00:31:16.160 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. 00:31:19.039 --> 00:31:23.359 This beloved disciple helps us with a proper worldview. 00:31:24.400 --> 00:31:37.920 It's a point of view that knows deeply that everything outside of the sanctuary of Christ is going to go away. 00:31:42.960 --> 00:31:49.200 We are to be alien people, not in appearance, but as a matter of being and conduct. 00:31:49.920 --> 00:31:53.440 That happens as we cultivate an eternal perspective. 00:31:53.680 --> 00:31:55.359 Why are you doing what you do? 00:31:55.519 --> 00:31:57.200 Why are you living the way you live? 00:31:57.359 --> 00:32:08.400 Is it because of your attachment to the world and the things of the world, or is it because you have been changed by Christ to have the mind of Christ and to be thinking eternally? 00:32:09.440 --> 00:32:10.880 I love the way that C.S. 00:32:10.960 --> 00:32:18.240 Lewis stated very pointedly in his book, Mere Christianity. 00:32:21.680 --> 00:32:36.240 He said, every time that you make a choice, you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little bit different than what it was before. 00:32:36.480 --> 00:32:57.359 And so when you take your life as a whole from beginning to end, with all of its innumerable choices, all your life long, you are slowly turning that central part of you into a heavenly creature or a hellish creature. 00:32:57.920 --> 00:33:04.880 In John's words, into an eternal focused being or a worldly focused being. 00:33:05.279 --> 00:33:06.640 Lewis goes on. 00:33:06.880 --> 00:33:23.759 Either into a creature that is in harmony with God and thus with other creatures or and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God and with its fellow creatures and with itself. 00:33:26.960 --> 00:33:30.400 If you love the world, you're at war with yourself, Christian. 00:33:33.279 --> 00:33:36.319 To be the one kind of creature is heaven. 00:33:37.440 --> 00:33:40.079 That is, it is joy and peace and knowledge and power. 00:33:40.240 --> 00:33:46.480 To be the other means madness, horror, idiocy, rage, impotence, and eternal loneliness. 00:33:47.759 --> 00:33:53.279 Each of us at each moment is progressing to the one state or the other. 00:33:54.319 --> 00:34:08.960 And each decision, each choice, each action in your life takes you one step towards loving the world or one step closer to the love of the Father. 00:34:11.119 --> 00:34:16.320 We live in an evil, perishing world that exists temporarily. 00:34:17.599 --> 00:34:20.960 Unless the Lord returns first, you and I are going to die. 00:34:22.639 --> 00:34:27.840 And this world in which we live is going to burn in a divine cleansing and remaking. 00:34:28.000 --> 00:34:30.559 Now let me ask you some troubling questions. 00:34:32.159 --> 00:34:34.000 In light of all of this. 00:34:37.760 --> 00:34:42.800 If you are not in love with the world, let's make that assumption. 00:34:42.960 --> 00:34:50.000 We are not in love with the world, but we are walking with Christ, should we get bent out of shape about the economy? 00:34:53.760 --> 00:34:57.360 Should we worry about what a foreign president thinks about America? 00:35:01.440 --> 00:35:07.760 Should we be stressed and wringing our hands about who is or who will be the president? 00:35:09.679 --> 00:35:13.280 Or what the next freedom to slip out of our fingers will be? 00:35:14.559 --> 00:35:16.559 It's all gonna burn up anyway. 00:35:23.280 --> 00:35:27.039 These are troubling questions because we're caught in the middle. 00:35:29.360 --> 00:35:31.840 Our hearts are drawn in two directions. 00:35:32.000 --> 00:35:37.360 We want to be drawn to eternity, but we can't help but have our feet in the world. 00:35:37.760 --> 00:35:40.000 There's a part of us that loves the world. 00:35:40.159 --> 00:35:42.000 Well, God is sanctifying us. 00:35:42.159 --> 00:35:47.679 That means he is slowly but surely turning our hearts away from the world and toward him. 00:35:48.079 --> 00:35:54.079 But we are idolaters as long as we desire the world and the things of the world. 00:35:54.559 --> 00:36:03.199 And in that case, we are no different than Elijah's people who shouted for Baal to give them rain. 00:36:06.559 --> 00:36:12.639 Oh, we desperately want to see things from an early earthly vantage point and God's vantage point. 00:36:14.320 --> 00:36:21.119 But when we want both, we fail to remember that only one of those will last. 00:36:22.880 --> 00:36:27.840 Whoever does the will of God abides forever. 00:36:29.119 --> 00:36:34.960 I'm not suggesting at all that we shouldn't care about those difficult questions. 00:36:37.679 --> 00:36:43.760 They are essential for us to consider because we are here as resident aliens. 00:36:43.920 --> 00:36:45.119 They impact us. 00:36:45.280 --> 00:36:47.519 We should care about those questions. 00:36:50.239 --> 00:36:55.840 But do they distract us from our primary focus on eternal things? 00:36:56.320 --> 00:37:01.119 Do they draw our hearts and love for those things more than the things of Christ? 00:37:01.679 --> 00:37:11.360 Through death or the Lord's return, a time is coming, probably more quickly than any of us realize, when none of the desires of this life will matter anymore. 00:37:11.599 --> 00:37:19.840 The things of this world presents to us to lure us into its embrace will be long gone and long forgotten. 00:37:20.079 --> 00:37:31.119 And it's better to remind yourself continually of the temporary nature of this world and command your heart to give sole allegiance to the Lord who bought you. 00:37:34.480 --> 00:37:50.559 Shift your hands, your feet, and your heart away from the middle, where Christ might be to you a stumbling stone. 00:37:52.800 --> 00:38:12.639 And instead take your hands and your feet and your heart directly to the stone sanctuary, where you can love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind, and with all of your strength. 00:38:13.599 --> 00:38:18.719 Lord Jesus, we come and we bow before you, confessing the idolatry of our heart. 00:38:21.760 --> 00:38:28.480 Lord, your people do not want to have this torn allegiance, this dividedness within us. 00:38:28.719 --> 00:38:32.800 We desperately want to be wholeheartedly devoted to you. 00:38:35.519 --> 00:38:39.039 Loosen the grasp this world has on us. 00:38:39.840 --> 00:38:47.440 Cause us to see you more clearly, to see Christ and Christ alone. 00:38:48.320 --> 00:38:48.960 Amen. 00:38:50.800 --> 00:38:54.559 That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church. 00:38:54.719 --> 00:39:01.599 Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus. 00:39:01.840 --> 00:39:05.840 You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.