1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:12,440 Welcome to the Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast. We are a Bible-Believing Church located 2 00:00:12,440 --> 00:00:16,680 in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. We are proudly part of the Christian Fellowship 3 00:00:16,680 --> 00:00:21,920 Ministries with 3,000 churches around the world. We are a church focused on world evangelism, 4 00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:27,300 discipleship and church planting. Here we will share recent sermons from P.H.S.A. Church 5 00:00:27,300 --> 00:00:31,880 and other sermons from throughout our fellowship. I am Pastor David Bickford and I will be your 6 00:00:31,880 --> 00:00:36,420 host for this podcast. I thank you for listening today and we hope these messages are a blessing 7 00:00:36,420 --> 00:00:43,520 to you and bring you closer to God. 8 00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:52,000 Hello and welcome back to the podcast. First off, I'd like to apologize for having this 9 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:59,200 podcast not uploaded on the normal time on Sunday afternoon. I was able to get out and 10 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:05,240 preach for the morning but I ended up getting a little sick and so I'd actually been sleeping 11 00:01:05,240 --> 00:01:12,560 most of the time in between I normally post and now. So I apologize for the delay. But 12 00:01:12,560 --> 00:01:18,600 with that, I've put together a message. It was the one that I did preach on Sunday and 13 00:01:18,600 --> 00:01:22,680 it's a little bit of a New Year's message in the sense that I just wanted to take some 14 00:01:22,680 --> 00:01:27,940 time to reflect. You know, it was on Sunday, it was New Year's Eve and as the year is coming 15 00:01:27,940 --> 00:01:32,200 to an end, I wanted to take a little bit of time just to reflect back on the year that 16 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:38,080 many of us would have had. Looking at our successes or our failures is a very common 17 00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:43,800 thing that we tend to do. And so as the world stops and recounts all the events of last 18 00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:49,480 year, we should also set some time aside to remember our own testimony and what God has 19 00:01:49,480 --> 00:01:55,080 done in our own lives to reflect on the blessings and even yes lament on the trials that we 20 00:01:55,080 --> 00:02:01,400 may have faced and to remember to praise God in the midst of both trials and blessings. 21 00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:06,040 Let's keep in mind all the blessings that we have living here in Canada or in the United 22 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:12,320 States or in the Western world. It's just a tremendous blessing that we do have even 23 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:16,320 though there are a lot of things waging war against us, it's important for us to remember 24 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:21,760 our blessings. And with that in mind, I wanted to share a little bit from the satirical article 25 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:28,560 from the Babylon Bee that should just help us to remember how we are blessed and what 26 00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:34,200 we're fighting for in the rest of the world. So here's the article. And just before I jump 27 00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:39,920 into the article, the message I've entitled today is actually called Do Not Love and the 28 00:02:39,920 --> 00:02:46,000 subheading is compassion, clarity and conviction. And the text we'll be working off of this 29 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:53,480 morning or evening or whenever you're listening is first John two verses 15 through 17. So 30 00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:57,360 if you have your Bibles and you're following along, you can go ahead and turn there. But 31 00:02:57,360 --> 00:03:04,840 let's jump into this, this funny fun article from the Babylon Bee. Times are tough in here 32 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:10,300 in the United States, especially for Christians from subpar coffee quality and stale breakfast 33 00:03:10,300 --> 00:03:16,000 pastries to the worship teams fog machine breaking down and congregates having to park 34 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:21,760 up to a hundred feet away from the church building. American churches are facing unprecedented 35 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:27,360 hardships but how are our Christian brothers and sisters around the world faring? The Babylon 36 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:31,800 Bee has conducted an investigation and come up with the following list of differences 37 00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:36,920 between the challenges faced by the underground church and the American church. So every time 38 00:03:36,920 --> 00:03:40,720 I say American church, you could think, you know, Canadian church, you could think Western 39 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:45,160 world church, you could, you know, put any of those, those kinds of things on there just 40 00:03:45,160 --> 00:03:50,380 so that we can remember to contrast the blessing that we have in the Western world versus our 41 00:03:50,380 --> 00:03:57,040 brothers who are fighting for the same gospel in the rest of the world. So first up is the 42 00:03:57,040 --> 00:04:02,800 American church complex growth and marketing strategies versus the underground church growth 43 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:10,520 strategy is to preach the gospel and try not to die. The American church will have pastors 44 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:15,720 jump dirt bikes over the stage to attract a crowd. Whereas the underground church pastor 45 00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:22,000 will have to ride his dirt bike to escape the secret police. The American church pastor 46 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:27,700 has thousands of followers on Instagram. Whereas the underground pastor is forced to hide his 47 00:04:27,700 --> 00:04:35,680 identity to avoid the Gulag. And the American eight trained musicians play over a $12 million 48 00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:42,000 sound system. Whereas the underground church have has acapella hymns whispered to avoid 49 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:48,040 detection. In America, you could see here the people say bummer, your favorite preacher 50 00:04:48,040 --> 00:04:53,920 from the pastoral staff isn't speaking today versus the underground will say bummer. The 51 00:04:53,920 --> 00:05:00,320 only pastor your church has was imprisoned last night. And America, it'll say greeter 52 00:05:00,320 --> 00:05:05,200 stand near the doors, you know, to usher people into the church. Whereas the underground church 53 00:05:05,200 --> 00:05:12,560 will have lookouts posted on the roof. American pastors hide money in the walls, underground 54 00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:19,560 pastors hide in the walls. American pastors will or churches will search for new churches 55 00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:24,680 because the music isn't your style. Whereas the underground church, you'll search for 56 00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:31,240 a new church because yours was burnt down by warlords last week. America, the authorities 57 00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:37,000 have issued a mandate to stop the church from gathering together to worship. And the underground 58 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:43,280 church, the authorities have to kill them to stop them from gathering together to worship. 59 00:05:43,280 --> 00:05:48,500 So I bring this the article up and it is tongue in cheek. It's satire from the Babylon B. 60 00:05:48,500 --> 00:05:53,180 But it's critical that we keep ourselves in check. Remembering the difficulties others 61 00:05:53,180 --> 00:05:58,520 face to help us remember that our mission is not over. And sometimes we might get knocked 62 00:05:58,520 --> 00:06:04,720 down or hurt, but we need to get up, rub a little dirt on it and carry on with the mission. 63 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:11,400 So as we turn to our text at first, John two verses 15 at 16 or 15 to 17, just remember 64 00:06:11,400 --> 00:06:19,000 that we do have a calling and we do have a purpose and we should remember to always as 65 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:24,400 we look back on the last year, you know, to count our blessings on where we are and to 66 00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:29,740 remember that God is with us even in the trials and to give him praise both in the good times 67 00:06:29,740 --> 00:06:35,920 and in the bad, because he is there for us in the midst of it all. So let's jump into 68 00:06:35,920 --> 00:06:41,240 our text at verse 15. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves 69 00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:46,000 the world, the love of the father is not in him for all that is in the world. The desires 70 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:50,400 of the flesh and the desires, the eyes and pride of life is not from the father, but 71 00:06:50,400 --> 00:06:55,360 is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does 72 00:06:55,360 --> 00:07:03,640 the will of God abides forever. And as an illustration, I wanted to pull this, this 73 00:07:03,640 --> 00:07:09,040 excerpt that I found from the, the, the U S constitutional convention in Philadelphia 74 00:07:09,040 --> 00:07:17,640 from September 15th, 1787. And these, these, these words come from James Madison. So just 75 00:07:17,640 --> 00:07:20,800 keep in mind that it's, that it's a different kind of English that they're speaking at the 76 00:07:20,800 --> 00:07:26,080 time, but I think the point will still come across. Will's the last members were signing 77 00:07:26,080 --> 00:07:31,140 the constitution, Dr. Benjamin Franklin, looking towards the president's chair at the back 78 00:07:31,140 --> 00:07:36,600 of which a rising sun happened to be painted, observed a few members near him. The painters 79 00:07:36,600 --> 00:07:42,560 had found it difficult to distinguish in their art, a rising from a setting sun. I've said 80 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:47,440 he often and often in the course of the session, the viscitudes of my hope and fears as it 81 00:07:47,440 --> 00:07:53,880 to its issue, look at the behind the president without being able to tell whether it was 82 00:07:53,880 --> 00:07:59,560 rising or setting, but now at length, I have happiness to know that it is rising and not 83 00:07:59,560 --> 00:08:04,600 setting. The founding father had accomplished what they had set out to do with full pains 84 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:11,320 of labor. They have given birth and we're seeing the rise of a new nation. 85 00:08:11,320 --> 00:08:18,000 So this, this little piece of a, you know, this excerpt from James Madison brings to, 86 00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:24,440 you know, pretty clear thought the difference between a rising or setting sun. You know, 87 00:08:24,440 --> 00:08:32,040 we have in our text, this call to not love the world. We have in this call that to recognize 88 00:08:32,040 --> 00:08:37,120 that, you know, what is in of the, in the world, the desires of the eyes and the pride 89 00:08:37,120 --> 00:08:44,120 of life, the desires of the flesh, these things are passing away, but whoever does the will 90 00:08:44,120 --> 00:08:50,080 of God abides forever. So the world at the time of Christ's crucifixion, they thought 91 00:08:50,080 --> 00:08:57,600 that they were creating the, the end of the believers belief that this, this, you know, 92 00:08:57,600 --> 00:09:02,400 idea of Jesus Christ by taking and smiting Jesus, that they were putting an end to his 93 00:09:02,400 --> 00:09:07,880 teachings. They thought it was the setting of the sun, but in reality, as we know, Jesus 94 00:09:07,880 --> 00:09:13,640 Christ rose on that third day and it was just the rising of the sun. And it was just that 95 00:09:13,640 --> 00:09:20,480 new beginning in Jesus Christ that was just taking its, its start at the, at, at, after 96 00:09:20,480 --> 00:09:29,520 the third day of his crucifixion. So this brings me my first point, which is compassion. 97 00:09:29,520 --> 00:09:34,640 And the main part of compassion is that I don't want you to perish. And as Christians, 98 00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:40,240 we should want no one to perish. We should want everybody to turn to Jesus Christ for 99 00:09:40,240 --> 00:09:46,180 their salvation so that all men can turn to him and be saved and set free from the bondage 100 00:09:46,180 --> 00:09:52,280 of their sin. And they, this brings me the first thought of what, what we're commanded 101 00:09:52,280 --> 00:09:59,760 not to love. We're commanded by, by Jesus Christ not to love the things of this world, 102 00:09:59,760 --> 00:10:05,060 things that are sort of to sum this up, we're directed not to love things that are directed 103 00:10:05,060 --> 00:10:12,360 towards the wrong things. In Matthew 28, 19 through 20, it says, go therefore and make 104 00:10:12,360 --> 00:10:16,160 disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, the son of the Holy 105 00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:22,720 Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and behold, I am with 106 00:10:22,720 --> 00:10:29,400 you always to the end of the age. We're told in this scripture right away, teaching them 107 00:10:29,400 --> 00:10:36,120 to observe all that I've commanded you. So clearly Jesus gave commands in ways to live 108 00:10:36,120 --> 00:10:42,960 that we are supposed to observe or live by. There are three times when we're called not 109 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:47,800 to love. We hear a lot in today's society that love is love. This statement is meant 110 00:10:47,800 --> 00:10:52,200 to shut down discourse and render us unable to defend against the cultural changes that 111 00:10:52,200 --> 00:10:57,920 we see in the world today. The reality of this argument is the root as at its root, 112 00:10:57,920 --> 00:11:02,680 Oriental mysticism or Gnosticism that is present in our own age, but it's not a new 113 00:11:02,680 --> 00:11:07,760 idea. This has been around for a very long time. And when we look at our texts in verse 114 00:11:07,760 --> 00:11:15,200 15, we see John tell us to be wary of the world too. Do not love the world or the things 115 00:11:15,200 --> 00:11:20,480 in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. John is 116 00:11:20,480 --> 00:11:26,120 not talking about loving our neighbor or for the created world, but rather the powers and 117 00:11:26,120 --> 00:11:31,000 principalities that make up the spiritual realm that are in opposition to God and in 118 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:37,460 rebellion to his kingdom. In Ephesians 6 12, it says, for we do not wrestle against flesh 119 00:11:37,460 --> 00:11:42,200 and blood, but against the rulers and against the authorities and against the cosmic powers 120 00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:50,960 over this present darkness and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 121 00:11:50,960 --> 00:11:55,800 And James 4 4, it says, you adulterous people, do you know that friendship with the world 122 00:11:55,800 --> 00:12:03,620 is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself 123 00:12:03,620 --> 00:12:13,840 an enemy of God. It is that we are commanded not to love. Jesus tells us the hierarchy 124 00:12:13,840 --> 00:12:21,460 when dealing with the Sadducees in Matthew 22. So there's clearly an understanding of 125 00:12:21,460 --> 00:12:27,120 things that have a hierarchy and how love is supposed to to actually be dealt with according 126 00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:32,680 to the will of God. And Matthew 22 36 through 39, it says, teacher, which is the greatest 127 00:12:32,680 --> 00:12:37,520 commandment in the law. And he said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all 128 00:12:37,520 --> 00:12:42,200 your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first 129 00:12:42,200 --> 00:12:49,580 commandment and the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. So when 130 00:12:49,580 --> 00:12:54,100 where then does compassion come in? When the gospel is taken together as a whole and in 131 00:12:54,100 --> 00:13:00,120 context, we see our love has to first be focused on the right things to focus on things of 132 00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:05,820 on the things of God and his call in our life is right and proper. This is what leads others 133 00:13:05,820 --> 00:13:12,660 to repentance and salvation in Christ. This is godly love and compassion. We do not hate 134 00:13:12,660 --> 00:13:17,720 the sinner, but rather we desperately want to see them come into right relationship with 135 00:13:17,720 --> 00:13:23,540 the father. And this brings me to my next thought, which is the importance of clarity. 136 00:13:23,540 --> 00:13:28,100 And as we think of clarity, think of the woman at the well and how Jesus dealt with the woman 137 00:13:28,100 --> 00:13:35,200 at the well and she he brought to light her sin. Brought it out into the daylight so she 138 00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:40,940 could see it so she had to deal with it. And then in the end, he said, go and sin no more. 139 00:13:40,940 --> 00:13:47,120 Repentance sin no more. There is a declaration of this is your sin. Now go in and live clean 140 00:13:47,120 --> 00:13:56,400 and away from it. Part of clarity is understanding that this is God's design. And part of the 141 00:13:56,400 --> 00:14:02,320 failure of man is that the world is looking at the wrong source. So when you are loving 142 00:14:02,320 --> 00:14:07,080 something that doesn't come from God, when you are loving something that is not within 143 00:14:07,080 --> 00:14:12,080 the framework or the pattern of God's design, you're pulling from the wrong source and that 144 00:14:12,080 --> 00:14:18,440 love is wrong. God has given us the word of God and it is a powerful resource that shows 145 00:14:18,440 --> 00:14:24,200 us time and time again the pattern that he has built into the world. And as a quick aside, 146 00:14:24,200 --> 00:14:29,320 if you think of Noah, in the time of Noah, this is before the Bible, God has put into 147 00:14:29,320 --> 00:14:34,640 nature was put into mankind an understanding of right and wrong. And so when the judgment 148 00:14:34,640 --> 00:14:40,040 of the time of Noah came about, they didn't have the word, but they had an understanding 149 00:14:40,040 --> 00:14:46,800 of right and wrong and they were judged for their for their sin that they lived because 150 00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:52,220 it said that every thought and all imagination was wicked at the time of Noah. And that's 151 00:14:52,220 --> 00:14:56,240 why the judgment of God had to come in at that period of time and only Noah and his 152 00:14:56,240 --> 00:15:03,080 family were saved. But we have this tremendous resource, which is the word of God. And when 153 00:15:03,080 --> 00:15:07,780 we read the word of God and hold to the truth of the gospel, we are able with a plain reading 154 00:15:07,780 --> 00:15:13,060 to see God's plan and his purpose. But we live in a fallen world and we are oftentimes 155 00:15:13,060 --> 00:15:19,840 bombarded with a diff with different or new ideas, new translations or interpretations. 156 00:15:19,840 --> 00:15:24,640 This is the same thing that the apostles were dealing with in the first century church. 157 00:15:24,640 --> 00:15:29,800 There was a creeping plague that was infiltrating many of the early churches. And that is why 158 00:15:29,800 --> 00:15:37,280 we have many of the epistles that are directly dealing with this so that we can have clarity 159 00:15:37,280 --> 00:15:42,520 on the subject. One example is the book of Hebrews and how it was directed at the Jews 160 00:15:42,520 --> 00:15:47,560 specifically to thwart wrong teaching and to clarify the new covenant in contrast to 161 00:15:47,560 --> 00:15:53,080 the old covenant. In our text with John, we see the battle that is beginning to be fought 162 00:15:53,080 --> 00:16:00,240 in verses 15 through 17. This call to resisting the world. John warned the readers of the 163 00:16:00,240 --> 00:16:07,800 worldly dangers that are that the that faced Christians as he seeks to get to know God 164 00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:15,120 better. He did so to enable them to prepare them for to overcome these obstacles with 165 00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:19,420 God's help. As often in first John, we have reminders of what the readers already knew 166 00:16:19,420 --> 00:16:25,560 and were doing or of what they knew they should avoid. The New Testament uses the term world 167 00:16:25,560 --> 00:16:30,680 in at least three ways. Sometimes the world refers to the planet earth, the physical world. 168 00:16:30,680 --> 00:16:35,200 Sometimes it refers to humankind, the human world. And sometimes it refers to the human 169 00:16:35,200 --> 00:16:40,800 culture as influenced by Satan, the world system, which is what's being used here. John 170 00:16:40,800 --> 00:16:47,320 presents these three pairs or these contrasting ideas in the earlier part of first John and 171 00:16:47,320 --> 00:16:55,160 two chapter two, 12 through 14. In verse 15, he's using the love of the world to contrast 172 00:16:55,160 --> 00:17:01,640 the true love, the love of the father. In verse 16, he's using the come comes from the 173 00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:06,320 world, the idea of what is coming out of the world versus what comes from the father to 174 00:17:06,320 --> 00:17:13,040 contrast what is good to love, which is what comes from the father and which we shouldn't 175 00:17:13,040 --> 00:17:19,960 love, which comes from the world. And then to contrast the end of the times, the world 176 00:17:19,960 --> 00:17:28,000 that's passing away versus the one who obeys God remains forever. So those who abide in 177 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:35,200 the father live forever and those who abide in the world will pass away with it. So these 178 00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:41,560 thoughts, these ideas, they're, they're critical to our understanding of what godly love is 179 00:17:41,560 --> 00:17:46,480 and the kind of love that we're supposed to respect and honor and the kind of love that 180 00:17:46,480 --> 00:17:54,000 we're called not to not to foster. In Romans 12 two, it says, do not be conformed to this 181 00:17:54,000 --> 00:18:00,080 world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind by the testing that you may discern 182 00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:05,360 what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. And second Timothy 183 00:18:05,360 --> 00:18:13,640 four 10, we get a picture of how, how, you know, of this battle was clearly evident in 184 00:18:13,640 --> 00:18:19,600 their time for in four tenants as for Demas in his love with this present world has deserted 185 00:18:19,600 --> 00:18:27,640 me and gone to Thessalonica. Christians has gone to Galatia and Titus to Dalmatia. In 186 00:18:27,640 --> 00:18:34,960 verses 15 through 27 of our text, we only read a snippet of this, but we can see that 187 00:18:34,960 --> 00:18:40,720 there's a recognizing of the spiritual adversary. If you read the continuation of that chapter, 188 00:18:40,720 --> 00:18:45,640 having encouraged the readers with affirmations that their spiritual condition was very good. 189 00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:52,360 John turned next to the enemies that they must face the world and the Antichrist. John 190 00:18:52,360 --> 00:18:58,360 summarized the appeal of the world system as threefold. Here's a picture of the infernal 191 00:18:58,360 --> 00:19:04,360 Trinity, the three faces of the world, the three sources of worldly temptation, lusts 192 00:19:04,360 --> 00:19:10,440 or cravings of desires. And in context, they are evil because they are not in harmony with 193 00:19:10,440 --> 00:19:15,800 God's will. The lust of the flesh is the desire to do something apart from the will 194 00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:21,520 of God. It includes every sinful activity that appeals to the sinful hearts of people. 195 00:19:21,520 --> 00:19:26,800 The lusts of the eyes is a desire to have something apart from the will of God. Whatever 196 00:19:26,800 --> 00:19:32,120 is appealing to our senses, but is not properly ours to desire or obtain falls under this 197 00:19:32,120 --> 00:19:38,920 category. And the pride of life is the desire to be something apart from the will of God. 198 00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:45,240 It refers to the boastful pretensions in earthly matters. The first desire appeals mainly to 199 00:19:45,240 --> 00:19:53,560 the body. The second appeals to the soul or the intellect and the third to the spirit. 200 00:19:53,560 --> 00:19:59,120 The most common manifestation of lust of the flesh in modern Western civilization is illicit 201 00:19:59,120 --> 00:20:04,480 sex, hedonism, idolizing pleasure. The most common manifestation of lust of the eyes is 202 00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:10,240 the excessive buying materialism, idolizing possessions. And the most common manifestation 203 00:20:10,240 --> 00:20:18,800 of the pride of life is trying to control egotism and idolizing power. In Romans 13, 204 00:20:18,800 --> 00:20:25,440 14, it says, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to gratifying 205 00:20:25,440 --> 00:20:33,040 its desires. This is far different than what our society calls us to do today, isn't it? 206 00:20:33,040 --> 00:20:41,800 But we're called to make no room for the flesh or gratifying its desires. In 1 Peter 207 00:20:41,800 --> 00:20:47,160 4, 2, it says, so as to live for the rest of time in the flesh, no longer for human 208 00:20:47,160 --> 00:20:56,880 passions, but for the will of God. In 2 Peter 2, 18 through 19, for speaking loud boasts 209 00:20:56,880 --> 00:21:03,640 of folly, they entice by sensual passions of flesh those who are barely escaping from those 210 00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:09,040 who live in error. They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves, are slaves 211 00:21:09,040 --> 00:21:16,600 of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person to that he is enslaved. This is the folly 212 00:21:16,600 --> 00:21:25,780 we deal with, is that the world is calling us to be caught into the same web of folly 213 00:21:25,780 --> 00:21:33,960 that they are, the same sensual passions of the flesh that they are. Even though they 214 00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:42,120 think they're calling for freedom, they're slaves to their own corruption. For whatever 215 00:21:42,120 --> 00:21:50,240 overcomes a person to that he is enslaved by. Part of the battle is knowing who and 216 00:21:50,240 --> 00:21:55,040 what we are fighting. And during the first century church, much like now, we are fighting 217 00:21:55,040 --> 00:22:00,120 Gnostic philosophies that seek to dilute the scripture and in some cases hide the true 218 00:22:00,120 --> 00:22:07,000 meaning for the select few. So some possible options as to which group of Gnostics John 219 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:14,080 was addressing. You know, one main one is incipient Gnosticism. The basic teaching teachings 220 00:22:14,080 --> 00:22:18,960 of incipient Gnosticism of the first century seemed to have been an emphasis on eternal 221 00:22:18,960 --> 00:22:25,680 dualism between the spirit and matter. The spirit being the high God was considered good 222 00:22:25,680 --> 00:22:32,800 while matter was inherently evil. This dichotomy resembles Plato isms, ideal versus physical, 223 00:22:32,800 --> 00:22:38,940 heavenly versus earthly, invisible versus visible. There was also an over emphasis on the importance 224 00:22:38,940 --> 00:22:44,920 of secret knowledge, passwords or secret codes, which allow us soul to pass through the angelic 225 00:22:44,920 --> 00:22:52,760 spheres up to the high God necessary for salvation. There are two primary forms of incipient Gnosticism, 226 00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:58,760 which apparently could have been in the background of first John. You have docetic Gnosticism, 227 00:22:58,760 --> 00:23:04,760 which denies the true humanity of Jesus Christ because matter is evil. And you have syrnthian 228 00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:11,080 Gnosticism, which identifies Christ with one of many angelic levels between the good high 229 00:23:11,080 --> 00:23:17,920 God and evil matter. This Christ spirit indwelt the man Jesus at his baptism and left him 230 00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:25,320 before his crucifixion. These two groups practiced either asceticism, which is if the body wants 231 00:23:25,320 --> 00:23:34,040 it, it is evil, or antimonism, which is if the body wants it, give in. So these are the 232 00:23:34,040 --> 00:23:39,480 two ideas that we battle with today. And you can probably see a couple of them in different 233 00:23:39,480 --> 00:23:46,120 groups of society today. You have some groups that say give in to pleasure because God wouldn't 234 00:23:46,120 --> 00:23:51,080 have given you these desires if he didn't want you to act on them fully. And this is 235 00:23:51,080 --> 00:23:55,920 something John was dealing with. And we've already got the epistles. We have Paul, I've 236 00:23:55,920 --> 00:24:00,720 read from Peter, I've read from Paul's writings and I've read from John's writings and they 237 00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:07,920 all come against this idea. So we've already had this dealt with since the first century, 238 00:24:07,920 --> 00:24:18,360 since the beginnings of the church. So there's no excuse for it. This giving into your pleasures 239 00:24:18,360 --> 00:24:22,680 and your flesh and giving into your desires has already been dealt with by the word of 240 00:24:22,680 --> 00:24:30,080 God long ago. And then we have this other group that says if the body wants it, it's 241 00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:43,240 evil. This is shooing of everything that the body needs, like eating food for that matter. 242 00:24:43,240 --> 00:24:51,200 That is more of an idea that you see commonly in Buddhism, where they're trying to eliminate 243 00:24:51,200 --> 00:25:00,920 self altogether. And this idea is also dealt with. We're supposed to love God with everything 244 00:25:00,920 --> 00:25:09,840 and we're supposed to live according to his pattern. Enjoy. That's why clarity of our 245 00:25:09,840 --> 00:25:13,880 beliefs is so critical. To understand the plain reading of the words of Christ in the 246 00:25:13,880 --> 00:25:18,760 many epistles gives us this basis to grow in our knowledge of the Lord. It gives us 247 00:25:18,760 --> 00:25:24,040 a measuring stick to judge this world. If something in our culture is antithetical to 248 00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:28,320 the gospel, then we need to offer clarity to the world and be the salt and light that 249 00:25:28,320 --> 00:25:36,200 is needed. This brings me to my final point, which is conviction. To know what God's truth 250 00:25:36,200 --> 00:25:45,000 is. Part of the way that we know what God's truth is, is by the fruit that someone bears. 251 00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:51,760 So when someone is providing godly fruit, we know that it's from God. But when the wrong 252 00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:59,680 fruit is being created, then we know that it's coming from the wrong source. God allows 253 00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:06,160 us to live in our sin in the hope that we will turn from our sin and to him will turn 254 00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:11,520 for redemption. We live in a fallen world and there's a lot that is wrong with the world 255 00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:17,240 due to the corruption of sin. This does not mean that we have free reign to keep sinning, 256 00:26:17,240 --> 00:26:22,400 but rather that we aspire to a higher principle. We should be growing in our convictions as 257 00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:27,480 we draw closer to the Lord, not moving farther and farther away from the light. In verse 258 00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:33,440 17, we learn that another reason we should not pursue the desires of this world is that 259 00:26:33,440 --> 00:26:39,280 this system, along with its desires, is in the process of passing out of existence. We 260 00:26:39,280 --> 00:26:45,920 are living in what John called the last hour of the world's existence. The world is only 261 00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:55,520 temporary and ephemeral. Those who do God's will will abide, will remain alive forever. 262 00:26:55,520 --> 00:27:01,720 Since all Christians will live forever, John was not saying we attain eternal life by our 263 00:27:01,720 --> 00:27:07,320 obedience. However, we abide, we enjoy this relationship, this intimate relationship with 264 00:27:07,320 --> 00:27:15,680 God and we experience our eternal life abundantly now as well as after death when we obey God. 265 00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:20,680 Just as Abraham through obedience to God obtained the title friend of God, by which he is known 266 00:27:20,680 --> 00:27:26,200 today in three world religions, it will be known forever, so too the obedient Christian 267 00:27:26,200 --> 00:27:32,520 can obtain the same identity by obedience. Likewise, it would be reasonable to conclude 268 00:27:32,520 --> 00:27:39,360 that Christian identity and eternity will be determined by obedience to God in time. 269 00:27:39,360 --> 00:27:44,600 Resisting the appeal of the world is difficult for every believer. John urged his readers 270 00:27:44,600 --> 00:27:51,440 in view of its attractiveness to understand the avenues of its temptations and to remember 271 00:27:51,440 --> 00:28:02,360 four things. Love for the world indicates a lack of love for God. It results in consequences 272 00:28:02,360 --> 00:28:08,200 that are not what our loving Heavenly Father desires for our welfare. It lasts for only 273 00:28:08,200 --> 00:28:17,200 a short time and it precludes intimate fellowship with God. In 1 Corinthians 7, 31, and those 274 00:28:17,200 --> 00:28:21,700 who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it, for the present form 275 00:28:21,700 --> 00:28:29,880 of this world is passing away. So as we close, we need to remember that we are to deal with 276 00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:34,720 those in the world with compassion just as Christ did. The goal is not to become more 277 00:28:34,720 --> 00:28:40,020 like the world but to rescue others from the grip of the world. When dealing with the world, 278 00:28:40,020 --> 00:28:47,120 our place in it must stand with clarity. The world will try to confuse you and lead you 279 00:28:47,120 --> 00:28:52,600 astray. One of the best ways to combat this is to pray. Read your Bible regularly and 280 00:28:52,600 --> 00:28:58,340 to commune with fellow believers. We are also shown we should avoid the fleshly and carnal 281 00:28:58,340 --> 00:29:03,440 things of this world. And that finally brings me to conviction. As we grow in Christ, we 282 00:29:03,440 --> 00:29:08,800 should also grow in our convictions. The closer we move to Christ, the further we move away 283 00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:14,960 from this world. So do not be afraid to tell others that even though God is the God of 284 00:29:14,960 --> 00:29:20,360 love, that does not mean that we are called to love all things. We are called to love 285 00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:28,160 the Lord. Matthew 22, 37. And he said to them, You shall love the Lord your God with all 286 00:29:28,160 --> 00:29:33,800 your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. That means you love him more 287 00:29:33,800 --> 00:29:41,480 than you love yourself. And that means that you do what he says out of love for him before 288 00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:48,520 you just do what you want, especially when what you want is in contradiction or is contrary 289 00:29:48,520 --> 00:29:55,400 to his word. That means we love him above all else, that because we love him, we will 290 00:29:55,400 --> 00:30:01,600 not love the things that are in rebellion to God and his nature. And with that, if I 291 00:30:01,600 --> 00:30:07,840 could have every head bowed, every eye closed, unless of course you're driving. I always 292 00:30:07,840 --> 00:30:13,600 like to throw that in just in case. I want to thank you for listening to this message 293 00:30:13,600 --> 00:30:18,800 and I pray that it has impacted your life. But as if every message I want to give an 294 00:30:18,800 --> 00:30:23,460 opportunity that if this message is spoken to you, if it's convicted your heart and you 295 00:30:23,460 --> 00:30:27,440 recognize that you're not right with God and you want to get right with God, that you can 296 00:30:27,440 --> 00:30:33,680 do that right now. You could signify that you want that by lifting your hand, raise 297 00:30:33,680 --> 00:30:41,760 a hand. I can't see it, but clear you know, but God can. And if you did raise your hand 298 00:30:41,760 --> 00:30:47,480 and you mean it, that you want, you want to repent, you want to get right with God, that 299 00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:51,080 you can do that. You just simply repeat this prayer after me. Dear Lord God, I know that 300 00:30:51,080 --> 00:30:57,200 I'm a sinner, but I know that you sent your son, Jesus Christ to die for me and that he 301 00:30:57,200 --> 00:31:02,800 rose from the dead and I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and my savior and I repent of my 302 00:31:02,800 --> 00:31:10,920 sin. I turn from him and I thank you for salvation in Jesus name. Amen. Simple prayer. We typically 303 00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:19,040 call that a sinner's prayer and that is all it takes to, you know, to go from being dead 304 00:31:19,040 --> 00:31:25,360 in the world to alive in Christ. And of course there's always next steps just to grow in 305 00:31:25,360 --> 00:31:29,440 Christ like I always said and part of that is finding a Bible believing church. If you're 306 00:31:29,440 --> 00:31:36,560 in Salmon Arm, you know, reach out. We have service at 1030 on Sundays. If you're somewhere 307 00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:41,740 else in the world and you want help finding a church, reach out. I'd be more than happy 308 00:31:41,740 --> 00:31:49,640 to point you in the direction of one of our 3500 fellowship churches that we have worldwide. 309 00:31:49,640 --> 00:31:58,440 God's moving in this end times and we want to get as many people in right relationship 310 00:31:58,440 --> 00:32:02,800 with God as we possibly can. I want to thank you for listening. I apologize for the sound 311 00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:07,520 of my voice this morning. I'm getting over being sick, but I thank you again and I can't 312 00:32:07,520 --> 00:32:25,840 wait for you to come back next time. God bless.