Let me invite you to take your copy of God's words and open up to 1st John. This morning we are continuing our study in 1st John, 1st John chapter two. We'll be considering verses 15 through 17, 1st John two, 15 through 17. If you do not have a copy of God's word, you can find our text on page 1021 on the Bible in the PRAC in front of you. First John, chapter two, starting in verse 15. The words of the Lord. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, desires of the flesh, desires of the eyes, and pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires. But whoever does the will of God abides forever. The grass withers and the flower falls, the word of our God endures forever. To the praise of his glorious grace, let's pray. Father, you know my wrestlings with this text. Father, help us not to love the world. May the meditations of our hearts and the words on our lips be pleasing in your sight. Amen. After his nearly fatal encounter with Apollyon, Christian emerges from the valley of humiliation, bruised, beaten, yet victorious. And as Christian returns to level ground on his way to the celestial city, As John Bunyan continues in this classic work, Pilgrim's Progress, Christian comes along another pilgrim who's been traveling along, and this pilgrim's name is Faithful. And then not much further, Christian and Faithful together encounter an old friend of both of them, Evangelist. And after spending some time recounting their journey, the perils and the triumphs there thus far, Evangelist reveals to them that he has not found them just to merely enjoy one another's company, but to present them with a warning. Because Evangelist tells Christian and faithful that soon they will come upon a town, a village, and this village is hosting a fair. And this fair was unlike many fairs because it did not go and come, it did not travel, but it stayed in this town all year long, and it never left. And there'd be many things in this fair, there would be games, there would be entertainment, there would be things that would be bought and be sold, and things available for purchase. And yet Evangelist warns them that everything in this town can be defined by one word, vanity. In the words of Solomon from Ecclesiastes, this entire town was filled with vanities, for this indeed was vanity fair. The path to the celestial city passed through this town, and therefore Christian and faithful must make their way through vanity fair. And so Evangelist tries to prepare them for the temptations and the trials that await them in this town. And as Christian faithful enter into Vanity Fair, they immediately attract the attention of the patrons of the fair, as well as their scorn. These pilgrims, they gossip among themselves. They wear funny clothes, these garments given from the king at Calvary, and this armor for this battle that they think they're in. These pilgrims, they continue, they speak in funny ways. They don't have the accent of the town. Nor do they use the language that is commonly used here. And most offensively, these pilgrims had no interest in the fair at all. They did not want their stuff. They did not want any of their merchandise. How rude. How offensive. How impolite. And so the citizens of Fanity Fair respond in the most logical way that they could imagine. They riot. They start an uproar. In the words of Bunyan, all order was confounded. These men had insulted their precious way of life. And therefore, they must be punished. And so Christian and faithful are thrown into cages. They're arrested, they're beaten, they're mocked, they're exposed to public ridicule. And then Christian waits in a jail, a prison, and watches from a distance as faithful is led to the trial that will determine his life as he lives up to his name, faithful. This morning we return once again to the letter of 1 John. And in our passage this morning, John is making his own warning to pilgrims who must make their way through Vanity Fair. In verse 15, do not love the world or the things of the world. I do not think that it would take much convincing to show you as Christians or to impress upon you the importance of this passage. If you've been a Christian for any amount of time, you know experientially the difficulties that are found and the difficulties that we confront every day in our interactions with the world. And so in our passage, John takes us aside as we travel on our own journeys to the celestial city. And he warns us about the world and its dangers. But going even further, John's words this morning also provide each of us with a spiritual heart exam. Because John does not just merely want to know what you think about the world. In our passage, he wants to know whether you love the world. So this morning, John wants us to take and a close look at our lives. And as we think about our discipleship and us following Christ, friends, let me ask you a very important question. What is your relationship with the world? What is your posture towards the world? Because in our text, John wants us to take an honest look at our lives, and he wants us to take an honest look at the subtle inclinations of our hearts. where our hearts long to go, where they wander when nothing else is on them, and the habits and the patterns that form our lives. And having these windows open as we examine our lives, John warns us, do not love the world or the things in the world. This morning we will consider our text in two main points. One, the love of the world. and second, the end of the world. And just to prepare you, point one is a lot longer than point two. Point two will be short when we get there. Point one, the love of the world. Verse 15 again. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. From just a mere glance at our passage, our passage contains a serious command with serious stakes. Whenever you became a Christian, one of the things that happened is that you renounced your freedom to live however you wanted. And as a Christian, what you did at your conversion is that you chose to submit yourself to Jesus in every area of your life, including in the area of your loves and of your interactions with the world. And in our passage, John is expressing for us his pastoral concern, as he's giving us this pastoral warning and admonition. Do not love the world and the things of the world. Once again in 1 John, as we have seen thus far, John is providing us with a test for analyzing the genuineness of our testimony and of our faith. Because John's words are revealing that one of the amazing things that happens when we become a Christian is that faith transforms our lives. Faith transforms our hearts. The Holy Spirit, before we can even confess Christ, gives us regeneration, gives us new life. And the Holy Spirit transforms us. And then from that, everything about us changes, including our loves. And so as John shows us in this text, for Christians, there should be a love of the Father. And there should not be a love of the world. At the end of verse 15, John shows us that the love of the world and the love of the Father are fundamentally incompatible. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, verse 15. The love of the world and the love of the Father are like oil and water. They do not mix. The love of the world and the love of the Father are like magnets. The presence of one pushes out the other. And so Christian, if we must be on guard from this love of the world, then the question of the hour is this, what exactly does John mean by the love of the world? Because for important of how this command is, for this importance, Defining the love of the world is not actually as straightforward as it may at first appear. Because our application of this command depends entirely upon what John means by one word, and that is the word world. What does John mean by the world in our passage? And to help us understand what John means by the world, we're gonna spend a few minutes trying to discuss by way of elimination what John is not meaning in our text. First, by commanding us to not love the world, John is not commanding us to hate or to not love the physical creation or the physical world or the earth. And this point just reveals the complexity in our passage because the word world can be translated or could be taken in several different ways. Last night when I was talking with this passage with my family, when I read through it and asked my kids what they meant, one of my kids said, outer space, that's the world. The world can refer to this giant rock that we're on that's hurling through outer space, the earth. The world can also refer to our galaxy, the universe, or the world can refer to anything that is physical. And actually this text reveals to us that one of the main challenges to the early church were various forms of spiritualism and Gnosticism. If you go back to the Greek and Roman mind, even things that John himself goes after in this letter. It was very common for people back then to view the physical world as bad and the spiritual and immaterial world as good. And that's quite understandable. I mean, just spend several minutes walking through the world today from listening to the radio or walking through a mall. And spending some time in this way can make you feel like after a few minutes that you just need to take a bath. And how much more peace do we have if I can just close my eyes and just block out all of those things that are in the world out of our minds? So it was very common within church history for Christians to fall into the trap that they did not need to be saved from sin, but actually from the physical world. that life would be a lot easier if we were just disembodied spirits, disconnected from even the body with its drives and desires, and be freed from all the things that we find here and the fruits of the world around us. And that's actually why one of the most controversial statements in the early church, and then one of the most foundational pillars for a Christian worldview, are these words. God created the heavens and the earth, and it was good. Friends, to be a Christian, to be one who believes the Bible, is to confess that there actually is nothing wrong with the physical world. And we know in our text that John is not talking about the physical world because of verse 16. In verse 16, John takes a moment to describe these things from the world and he says that all these things, the desires of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life is not from the Father. The things on John's minor passage are things that are not related to God. They do not find their source in him. They do not find their origin in him. But clearly And putting all the scripture together, God is the creator of the heavens and the earth. The physical world is from the Father. God made the world and it was very good. Psalm 24, one, the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. The world and those who dwell within. And so in our passage, John is not saying that we are to not love or to hate the physical world. But that actually has a few applications for us as we think about our life currently as Christians. Because it is actually quite possible for forms of spiritualism to creep into the church today. Because it's easy for us to fall into the trap that thinking that holiness means staying away from anything that is not explicitly spiritual or Christian. If you spend a lot of time in the church, it's really easy to spend all of our time talking about things like reading the Bible, prayer, evangelism, listening to sermons, going to church. And these things are great. These things should define the majority of the Christian life and what we do as disciples. But what about music? What about entertainment? What about sports? What about technology? What about recreation? How do these things fit into the Christian life? In 1 Timothy, Paul helps us to address this issue by going after a temptation in the early church. Because his words to Timothy in this letter reveal that people in Ephesus were being led astray into thinking that following Christ meant rejecting things to be found in creation. And in this passage in particular, people were thinking they were being godly by giving up marriage and giving up eating certain foods. And in 1 Timothy 4.4, Paul confronts this issue head on. And he writes, for everything created by God is good. Everything. Everything created by God is good and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving. For it is made holy by the word of God in prayer. So friends, as we apply this to our lives, a biblical worldview teaches that there actually is nothing inherently sinful that's part of creation. Everything is good. Everything within the physical world is good. And everything in the world that we find is actually to be received as we live our lives with the word and prayer, with thanksgiving to God. And we honor the creator and the giver of gifts by accepting his gifts to us. Just as a thought experiment real quick. If Adam had not sinned in the garden, friends, his offspring would have eventually discovered in creation many of the things that we have today in the world. Things such as technology, or music, or sports, or forms of entertainment that we have. And just to think about it for a moment, if these things are part of creation, if Adam had not sinned, they would have developed in the world without the corrupting influence of sin. The fact that people, though, use many of these things for evil does not mean that they are inherently evil. We cannot blame God for vanity fair. We cannot look at God and say, God, if you had not made our capacities for this way, for music, for pleasure, for enjoyment, if you had not made us like this, the world would be a lot better. We can't do that. And Satan can actually tempt us into dishonoring the creator by leading us to call evil what God has made good. So in our text, John is not talking about the physical world when he talks about do not love the world or the things in the world. But also in our text, John is not telling us to not love or to hate non-Christians. Because some people can take this text, do not love the world and the things of the world, and they can take it as a justification for completely isolating themselves from the people of the world and having as few interactions with non-Christians as possible. Or people can even take verses like this as a justification for the sin in their lives towards non-Christians or their bitterness or sinful fruit that they think is justified because they are of the world. Friends, this is a very common approach to the Christian life. It is very easy to think that as Christians that holiness is best achieved by creating this little holy huddle. and turning the church into something of a monastery or an enclave from the world by taking the church and making high walls that are thick around the church to keep the church in and the world out. But friends, that is not the approach of the apostles nor of Jesus in the New Testament. In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul addresses a severe situation of sexual immorality in the church. And in 1 Corinthians 5, 9, he writes, I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people. Aha, some may say, see, Paul does not want me to have any relationships with anyone engaged in sexual immorality. Well, keep reading. Verse 10, not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world or the greedy. and the swindlers, or idolaters, since he would need to go out of the world. Friends, clearly in Paul's mind, it's not God's plan to extract his people from this sinful world as quickly as possible, or for us to live our lives in isolation from sinful people within the world. Rather, he's making a very specific point. Do not associate with anyone who claims the title Christian, who is living in unrepentant sin. Not that they shouldn't have any non-Christian friends. And even as we think about Jesus, friends, Jesus was not an aesthetic monk or a hermit who is living out on his own in the wilderness. No, that was John the Baptist. If anything, if there was a charge to be made against Jesus by his opponents, it wasn't that Jesus renounced the world. Rather, it was that Jesus was way too comfortable with the world. Apparently, according to Matthew 11, 19, The charge of Jesus being a glutton and a drunkard was not entirely without grounds. And remember, the Pharisees did not like Jesus because of the company that he kept. Friends, Jesus did not just have an acquaintance with. According to the Gospels, he was a friend of tax collectors and sinners. Why? What would drive Jesus to become a friend of tax collectors and sinners? That category that everyone knew was the most morally repulsive people at that time. Why was Jesus going to them? What would drive Jesus to eat with them, to drink with them, and to spend time with them? Well, according to the Bible, it's one word, love. I think this is why it's essential for us to spend some time thinking through what John does not mean when he says do not love the world. Because if we know our Bibles, John actually uses these same words in a different way and applies them to God. In 1 John 2.15, we are commanded to not love the world. But in John 3.16, John writes that God so loved the world. Friends, now clearly John is using the word love differently in 1 John 2.15 than John 3.16. But friends, we cannot interpret 1 John 2.15, our text, to mean that John is commanding us to not love sinners. In John 3.16, John displays for us the redemptive love of God for sinners. And friends, this is why this is so important. Friends, if God did not love the world, If Jesus isolated himself from sinners and kept himself as far away from them as humanly possible, friends, none of us would be saved. Friends, make no mistake. It was love that drove Jesus to send his son into the world. It was love that drove Jesus to the cross, that he would die. As Paul said, not just for the righteous, but for sinners. And friends, it was love that drove Jesus to befriend broken and sinful people so that they may know that God sent a savior into the world to save them. Friends, if you're here and you're not a Christian, this is the good news for you. John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. Friend, if you're here and you're not a Christian, this is good news for you. Friend, if you're here and you're someone who has not turned to Christ, someone who's lived a life of sin and rebellion against him, there is grace for you. There are many people here who would love to talk with you after the service of how you can become a Christian and how you can put your faith in Christ. But for us as a church, friends, if God has a redemptive love for the world, friends, and if godliness means being like God, should not we also have a love for the world as well? Friends, should we not also be willing to leave our own comforts and go out into the world for love for sinners and their salvation? This is one of the main reasons why I'm so encouraged by the group that went out to Grand Valley this week and the example that they set for us. So if we want to understand 1 John 2.15, John is not commanding us to have no love for creation and not to have no love for sinners. Rather, John is warning us to not love the world because he knows that every person in this room is drawn to the things of the world because of sin. And he is warning us about the world, because John knows us. And John knows that deep down, left to ourselves, you and I love, love, love sin. You and I, left to ourselves, love vanity fair. In our fallen nature, we love how this world takes the things that God created and twists them and distorts them to satisfy our hearts in ways that God never intended. And so in our passage, John is telling us, Christian, do not love the world and the things you find in the world. In our passage, John is using the world not to refer to the physical creation. Rather, John's writings often reflect this technical understanding of the world to reference the collective human race in their rebellion against God. In 1 John 5.19, John writes that the whole world lies under the power of the evil one. And in verse 16, John lists three things that define the things of this world and that are not of the Father. Three things that clearly reflect the sinful things that are to be found out there in this fallen world. If you look down at our text, verse 16, one of the first things that John says define the world is the love or the desires of the flesh. Again, with how The world is not referring to the physical world, but this spiritual fallen world. The flesh here is not referring to the physical body, but this spiritual sinful fallen body, this part of man within us. The flesh is the most common way that the apostles refer to the sin that corrupts our hearts and naturally directs every aspect of our lives away from God. And scripture could not be clearer on this point about the flesh's relationship to God. Romans 8.8. Those who are of the flesh cannot please God. Furthermore, in verse 16, the word for desire could also be translated lusts or passions. I don't think it would take much creativity to think about the type of stuff that John has in mind here. Romans 1.24. Paul uses this Greek word to describe sexual immorality and homosexuality. According to Galatians 5.19, the works of the flesh include sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, drunkenness, and so on. In other words, the desires of the flesh reference sin, but not just that, but the way that so often happens for sinners, that our sinful passions can take over us and propel us into immorality with no restraints or control as we become enslaved to our desires. That fallen sinful man that wants to give full throttle to sin. The desires of the flesh is one of the main reasons why as I try to model Christian discipleship for my kids in my home. I find the circle of activities that I find permissible for my family slowly shrinking and shrinking every year in our increasingly secular and paganizing culture. My wife and I constantly confront the challenge of trying to hold out God's goodness in creation to our kids. Friends, the beauty of music and art The goodness and truth to be found in the pursuit of knowledge. The virtues and the discipline of sport. The rewards of hard work. And the joys to be found in entertainment. And to help them look at these things and to give thanks to the creator for them. And I find it hard and I'm losing what I can do because this sinful world can't help itself. but take God's good creation, rip out all the goodness, and transform them into platforms for advancing all sorts of sinful pleasures and immorality. I am thankful for the Christians who seek to glorify God in these areas. And there are times in which God's grace and his creation shines through with goodness, despite the intentions of non-Christians. But until these areas of life are fully renewed in the new heavens and new earth, too many products today in the world that are made, if you flip them over at the bottom, they have the manufacturing label, made in Vanity Fair. But also, second, John writes in verse 16 that the things of the world reflect the desires of the eyes. When is the last time you thought about tassels? In Numbers 15, Moses provides this instruction for the people of Israel to put blue tassels on the end of their clothing. And there's a purpose for this, that as they see these blue tassels, they would be reminded of the commands of God. And it sounds like an entirely strange command until you see the insight that Moses provides with it in Matthew 15, 39. Moses tells the people to look at these tassels and remember the commandments of God so that, quote, you would not follow after your own heart and your own eyes. which you are inclined to whore after. I don't think it would take much convincing to show you all the ways that our eyes can get us in trouble. The kid in the toy store, the woman in the mirror, the man on his computer, I know I spent a good bit of real estate trying to defend the goodness of creation. But friends, I will say that smartphones are truly terrible things. Because it seems like smartphones are ways that people have hacked how to take advantage of the desires of the eyes and to profit from them. I mean, just take the example of scrolling. Scrolling is a really funny thing. because I have seen nine-year-olds and 89-year-olds sitting there all day just scrolling on their phones. Now, I think we could probably reason with ourselves and say, you know, when I'm grabbing my phone instinctively, I'm just trying to pass the time. But how often when we grab our phones that we do it because we're hungry, because we're looking for something. Our eyes are wanting to be satisfied. And so they're on the hunt. According to John, attached to every sinful heart are a pair of two sinful eyes. And so often our eyes are searching, they're hungering, they're lusting after sinful things in this world to set their eyes upon. And third, John says in verse 16 that this world is defined by the pride of life. This phrase is a little unique because these Greek words here for both pride and life are both infrequently used in the New Testament. But the basic idea communicated here is that he's going after that feeling that we get when we feel really good about ourselves because of what we have. This kind of sinful inflated love of the things in our life and our possessions. So John is warning us and boasting in our possessions. It is this sinful pride that comes when we try to accumulate all of the things that the world has to offer. The pride of life can drive people to live in neighborhoods they can't afford and to buy things that are beyond their budget, cars, clothes, accessories, to accumulate what the world has to offer. The pride of life can drive us to take pictures of our lives, our families, our stuff, and then go on social media and call out for everyone to say, look at me! Look at me. Only feeding the self-absorption and us finding our identity in the things that we have. So as we look at 1 John 2.15, what does John mean then when he writes, do not love the world or the things of the world? What do we get when we compile all of these things within the world? The desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life. If you're a note taker, if you want to put the picture together, here's what I think John's trying to get at with this phrase. To not love the world means he's calling us, do not set your affections upon the things in the world produced by man that encourage sin. and rebellion against God. Do not set your affections upon the things you find out there that man produces that encourage sin and rebellion against God. In its simplest form in our passage, John is essentially telling us to not love sin and the sin that's found in the world. So friend, while you're here, can I ask you some reflective questions? Why do you listen to the music that you do? Why do you hang out with the friends that you do? Why do you click on the websites that you click on? Why do you consume the media that you do? Friends, if we're honest with ourselves, is it not often the case that you and I are drawn to the world and the things of the world because you and I know that if we go there, we will find sin? In the world, you will find the desires of the flesh. In the world, you will find the desires of the eyes and the pride of life. Friends, isn't it possible that for Christians, sometimes we go out into the world not as evangelists but as addicts. Sin is our drug. The world is our supplier. And so when the desires get too strong, we go out to get. what we want. So Christian, in our passage, John pleads with you. Do not love the world or the things of the world. Friends, if you are a Christian, the Holy Spirit worked at your heart in conversion so that your heart would be radically transformed so you no longer love the things the world offers, but you love the Father and the things of him. But it also is the case that there are people who claim to be Christians who have never broken off their love affair with the world. And this is John's point in our passage. What does it say about your profession of faith? If you say you love God, but you're not fighting at all against the temptations to sin that are out there in the world, and you're not fighting against that love of the things of the world. What does that say about your love of the Father? For as we see in our passage, if we love the things of the world, then our hearts are attached to things that God has determined to remove from his creation. Here's our second point briefly, point two, the end of the world. Verse 17 answers a very important question for us. If we think about it, what is God's ultimate goal for the world? What is his end for the sin to be found in the world? John shares with us God's end game for the world in verse 17. And the world is passing away along with its desires. But whoever does the will of God abides forever. Friends, if sin is an infestation, something that's not supposed to be here, then God has called his exterminator. And there is a day coming in which the complete removal of sin from the world will happen. But here's the problem. If God has determined to remove all sin from the world, that means that God is also determined to remove everything associated with sin from the world. which leaves some people with some pretty uncomfortable conclusions to draw from that. Friends, verse 17 presents us with a universal warning for the entire world. It's akin to that passage in Daniel chapter five, where you have this drunken party of the pagan king, Belshazzar, and this hand shows up on the wall with one clear message. Your days are numbered. And if you wonder why John includes this, it seems as if John includes this reminder about the passing away of the world to wake us up and to help us examine our lives. Friends, there are signs all around us that the things of this world are not going to last. If you live your life according to the things of the world, you are attaching yourself to a sinking ship. But friend, if you pursue the will of God, holiness, righteousness, a life filled in the gospel. Friend, you're attaching yourself to things that are going to last forever. Choose wisely. But as a Christian, as we think about what God has in store for the world, let me ask you one final question as we close. If you think about it, God's end game for the world may sound drastic. But Pilgrim, what is the world's end game for you? After his defense, Faithful was found guilty of all crimes against Vanity Fair. And here is what Bunyan writes about Faithful's fate. They therefore brought him out to do with him according to their law. And first they scorched him, they buffeted him, they lanced his flesh with knives, after that they stoned him with stones, then pricked him with their swords, and last of all, they burnt him at the stake to ashes. Thus came faithful to his end. And remember, Banyan is one who watched many friends in a very tumultuous time meet difficult ends, and he himself spent over a decade in prison because of his faith. In Revelation 17, the same John gives us a glimpse behind the spiritual curtain at the true nature of the world. And one of the angels takes the same apostle John to see the great prostitute, this woman sitting upon the scarlet beast with the name of the chief city of sin in the world upon her forehead, Babylon. And she is robed in fine clothes and covered in jewels. She's described as the mother of all prostitutes and all the earth's abominations. And as John records, the woman is drunk, holding a glass with red liquid in it. Revelation 17.6, and I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. Friends, if you're here and you're a Christian, please heed the warning to you in our text. Pilgrim, you need to know that this world is not safe for you. It wants to offer to you all of the sinful pleasures that it has at its disposal. But friends, know that if you reject them, if you seek to follow Jesus as you walk through Vanity Fair, they will hate you. Because as Jesus says in John 15, eight, If the world hates you, do not be surprised because it hated me before it hated you. So friends, as we come to a close, may we be reminded of the gracious saving love of God for the world. May our consciences be sensitive to the traps and the snares of the evil one out there. But pilgrim, please hear John's warning to you this morning, do not love the world or the things of the world. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for how clear your word is about the realities around us. Father, how your word often reveals the spiritual nature of things happening behind the surface. Father, we confess to you how easy it is for us to find ourselves lulled to sleep by the temptations and by the whispers of the world. Father, we thank you that you love the world, for without that love, none of us would be saved. Father, we thank you for the grace that draws sinners back to you. And even now, if there's anyone who feels convicted of their sin, Father, may you confirm upon them the promise of forgiveness and the grace we found in Christ. Father, may you help us to fear the dangers out there in the world. May we truly not love the world, and may the Father work his love in us, in Christ's name.