Do not love the world - 1 Jo..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Very good, brother. My dear sister, as I said, I want to speak to you about this very clear commandment that we have in verse 15, not to love the world.

The words are simple and the words are clear. The commandment that the apostle has given us through the Holy Spirit, not only to the Christians of the first century, but for the Christians through the ages. The commandment is very clear, not to love the world. And it's been my goal to explain to you important concepts that will help us understand the depth of this commandment. We have spoken about the definition of the world and I said, if you remember that the world is this system of darkness that is ruled by Satan, that starts in the heart of wicked fallen men and moves and extends to the outside of our hearts.

That the problem is not so much that the world is out there, but rather that the world has an ambassador, a representative inside of us. I also wanted to say to you that this world is ruled by Satan and the way that he does it is through deception, by bringing confusion, by bringing false teachers and false prophets, that we confuse the Word of God to bring souls unto them and make this world as wicked as possible. so that the world or the love of the Christian will grow cold, as we are told in Matthew chapter 24. And of course, last week I spoke to you about the will of the Father, that we are told there in verse 17, that the one who does the will of the Father is the one that endures until the end. So now, my dear brother and sister, I'm going to invite you to read with me the Scriptures.

And we're going to be reading a long portion, starting from chapter number 1, verse 5, all the way to chapter 25, verse 25 in chapter 2. It's a long portion of the Scriptures. And the reason why we're reading this long portion of the Scriptures is because I want you to see the heart of these apostle brethren. These old men, experienced old men who have seen and observed the tribulations, the difficulties, the struggles of Christians through the years, not only in his flesh, but with his eyes, witnessed and seen the difficulties of the church. Many apostles now have died, and many of the brothers and sisters have already perished or died better in their flesh.

And now he's writing in the ways of maturity, in the ways of experience to a church, not only in the first century, my dear brother and sister, but to your soul. And the burden of this apostle is that we will be made like the Lord Jesus Christ. piercing words are going to be written here, or we are going to read in these verses. And the purpose of those words, my dear brother and sister, is the conformity of your mind, the conformity of your soul, not to self, but to the Lord Jesus Christ. And in those piercing words, difficult words that we read, and even the commandment itself of not loving the world has the purpose of love.

Not love to the world, but love to the Father. So let us read, my dear brother and sister, and get the context of this passage of the Scriptures that is found in verses 15 through 17 by reading, paying attention to each one of the words from chapter 1 verse 5 all the way to chapter 2 verse 25. Let us read together, not wasting our time. but rather by faith and moved by the Spirit, paying attention to each one of the words." If you have the same translation that I have, follow my reading.

If you don't, don't pay attention to my reading. Read it on your own before the Lord. This is the word of the Lord, and I'm reading from the English Standard Version of the Bible, 1 John 1, verse 5. This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have no sin, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. My little children, I am writing these things to you, so that you may not sin.

But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous, and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. Whoever says, I know Him, but does not keep His commandments, is a liar. And the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word in him, truly the love of God is perfected. By this we know, or we may know, that we are in Him.

Whoever says he abides in Him, ought to walk in the same way in which he, Christ, walked. 7. Beloved, O brethren, I am writing to you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard from the beginning. At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you.

Why? Because darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Whoever says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness, and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for His namesake. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written or I write to you, children, because you know the Father. I have written or I write to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning.

I have written or I write to you, young men, because you are strong and the Word of God abides in you and you have overcome the evil one. 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, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, And pride, or the 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. Children, it is the last hour, and as ye have heard, that Antichrist is coming. So now many Antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us.

For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ?

This is the Antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son, has the Father also. Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father.

And this is the promise that He made to you or to us, eternal life. Amen, my dear brother, my dear sister, my dear soul, this is the Word of the Lord, the Spirit of God, in His purpose of bringing the church to full stature and maturity in conformity to Jesus Christ, was pleased to leave the Word of God inscripturated, written for us. and to use the ministry of the apostles to speak not only to the church in the first century, but also to speak to every single Christian through the ages until the moment in which the Lord Jesus Christ will come to judge the living and the dead. And praise God that He was pleased in lifting and raising ministries of the Word of God in the apostles, so that we will know the ways of the Lord Jesus Christ and we will know what is the will of God for our souls. that even though 2,000 years have passed, we can sit back and read in this book and have absolute certainty that the One who died upon the cross was not only resurrected, but is alive today.

And if by grace through faith you have received Him as the Lord in your heart, Then He is the King of kings, and He is your Lord, and you have been given eternal life. And that Lord who died, was resurrected, and is enthroned in heaven is today commanding your soul through the power of the Holy Spirit and the power of the Scriptures out of this wilderness, so that He who began the good work in you will bring it to completion in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. And praise God for this minister of His, the Apostle John, this witness of the Word, this witness of the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom he was given much revelation and much light, who calls himself to be a servant of Christ in Revelation chapter 1. verse 1 and 2, a servant of the Lord, a witness of the sufferings of Christ, a witness of the word of the Lord, a witness of the prophecy of Christ, of the revelation of Christ, whom also calls himself, in Revelation chapter 1 verse 9, to be a brother and a companion. not only of the church of the first century, but also a brother and a companion of all the Christians throughout the ages.

A brother and a companion in the tribulations of Christ. A brother and a companion in the kingdom of Christ. A brother and a companion in the patience of Christ. Because every single Christian, just by virtue of having the life of Christ in him or her, will come to a point in which is complete, incomplete opposition to the things of the world. And it's going to be incomplete opposition to the darkness and the unrighteousness of this system, finding him or herself being under persecution, trials or sufferings.

And we have not only been given the Holy Spirit that speaks to us of Christ through the Scriptures, but also the ministry of our brothers and sisters who in other areas of this nation, of this world, suffer and go through the same sufferings as Christians will go all throughout the world. And in John, we have a companion, as I said, a brother that speaks to us, not only as one who was with the Lord Jesus Christ, but also speaks to us as one who goes through the same trials, tribulations and difficulties of the flesh. Did you pay attention, my dear brother, to the intention of this apostle? The intention of this apostle is to minister to your soul. is that you will be conformed to Christ.

My little children, he says in chapter 1 verse 4, I have or we have written these things to you that your joy may be full. The intention of the apostle as he writes all of these piercing words of even calling people who profess to be in Christ liars if they're walking in darkness. The purpose of these piercing words is that your joy may be full. Even he says in chapter 2 verse 1, I have written these things to you, my little children. So if any one of you sins, you will know that you have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, that you will not sin.

The purpose of the apostle in writing all of these things, my dear brother and sister, is your soul. He cares for your soul. And that is the way that he concludes in 1 John 5, verse 13, saying, I have written these things to those who believe in the name of the Son of God, that they may know that they have eternal life. Brethren, All of these piercing words of these old men, experienced old men, are with the purpose that those who are genuine believers, those who have believed in the name of the Son of God, will know and have certainty that they have internal life and that they might continue to walk in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The piercing words of the apostle have a purpose of love.

And my dear brother and my dear sister, as we approach this text, May the Lord give us the grace that is necessary, not to build walls of indifference around our hearts, or just to simply to allow words to go over our heads, or just cross in our ears, and not to receive the word that is found in this verse 15, 16 and 17 of chapter 2, as per what it says, because we have a clear commandment there. Do not love the world. nor the things of the world." The Apostle is interested in addressing, my dear brother and dear sister, the depths of your heart, the affections that abide in your soul. And there's either you love the Father or you love the world.

Because as we have read there in verse 15, these are in complete opposition and contrast. He who loves the world does not have the love of the Father in him. Complete separation. May the Lord give us the grace that is needed, not to build walls of indifference in our hearts and not to receive these words as something that I just simply receive in a particular message on a particular Sunday when I go to church, but rather that before the Lord who knows all things, before the Lord who examines your thoughts, my thoughts, your intentions, my intentions, the depths of your heart, the depths of my heart, that we will be humble enough to allow the Spirit of the Word and the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ to speak to us about the affections of our hearts. Because if there is one soul, that professing to be in Christ has been taken by the love of the world.

May the Lord give the grace to rescue that soul and to bring them to the Lord. If there is a Christian that being in Christ now has been taken captive in the secret place, not here in church when we wear our best clothes or when we just do things just to be here, but rather in the secret place where no one sees. If there's one soul in this place that has been captured and taken captive by the desires of the flesh, by the desires of the eyes, by the pride of life, May the Lord indeed have mercy, my dear brother and my dear sister, and bring that soul to the ways of the Lord, and rescue them from darkness, and rescue them from the ways of hell. Because he who does not do the will of the Father, according to verse 17, will not abide forever. And as you can see here, my dear brother and my dear sister, we have a very complicated text.

Perhaps complicated is not the word, challenging text. We have a challenging text, not so much for the words that we have presented here, but rather because of the seriousness of the text. My dear brother and sister, here in these three verses, we have two categories of people. People who are in Christ genuinely, or people who are not in Christ. And the Apostle is not addressing the outsider.

The Apostle is addressing those who are within the context of the church. He who does not, or better, he who loves the world does not love the Father. And love, my dear brother and sister, is the substance of faith and is that which makes faith operate according to Galatians chapter 5 verse 6. If you do not love the Father, you simply are not in Christ. In John chapter 8, this is the categorization that the Lord Jesus Christ gives.

If you do not love me, then you are not sons of the Father. Love to God, love to the Father, love to the Son, and love to the Holy Spirit is a characteristic of a person who is a genuine believer. Here we have two types of people, the lover of the world, and we have the lover, the genuine believer. And as I said, this is directed to the church, not to the outsider. So we are to consider this with much seriousness, my dear brother and sister.

The force of this commandment is to be ponder in the mind and to consider in the heart, lest we think that we are therm and we find ourselves stumbling because of our carnal ways. But the text is not only complex because of the seriousness of the commandment, but also, my dear brother and sister, is complex because in the scriptures we seem or it seems that we find two different messages when it comes to the relationship to the world. The Lord Jesus Christ, in John chapter 17, prays that we will not be taken out of this world. He prays rather that we will be kept, that we will be preserved from the evil one. So the Lord Jesus Christ acknowledges that Christians are going to be in the world.

And he could have prayed many things, but rather the Lord prays that we will not be taken out of the world, but rather be protected or kept from the evil one. The New Testament is very clear that the Christian is in the world, but we are not of the world, and that we are to relate to the things of the world. Yet, in this text, we have something very important, that we are not to love the world. Even if you pay careful attention and when you have time you go to 1 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 9 and 10. You may remember when the Apostle Paul is given an exhortation to the church not to have company or fellowship with professing Christians who are sexually immoral.

You remember the wickedness that was taking place in 1 Corinthians chapter 5? that a person was even excommunicated, delivered unto Satan. He says, you are not to keep company or fellowship with those who professing to be Christians are in the context of the church. And in the same breath, in verse 9 and in verse 10, the apostle clarifies that he is not referring to the sexually immoral of the world. but rather that he's referring to the brother who professing to be in Christ is sexually immoral.

And even if you pay attention to verse 10 in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, you will see that even it seems that the Apostle is encouraging or that the Apostle assumes that Christians will have Relationships and company, and even the word there is very difficult, keep company is fellowship, and it is not only just to sit them from afar, but rather to have fellowship and keep company with not only sexually immoral, but even idolaters and greedy people. It is the assumption of the Apostle that the Christian who is in the world will relate to those type of peoples. And he said, well, you know, if I was referring to everyone in the world, it will be necessary to take you out of the world as in saying this is not going to happen in alignment with the prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ in John 17. I am not praying that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. Then brethren, you see the complexity and the difficulty of the text, not only of the text, but of this doctrine of relating to the world.

The Apostle John tells us here that we are not to love the world and not only the world as an abstract system, but that we are not to love the things in the world. Yet in the scriptures, we are told that we are to have relationships to the world, that we are to minister to the sinner, that we are to reach the prostitute, that we are to reach the leper, that we are to even be in contact with a greedy or with a sexually immoral, with the idolater. How are we going to understand that, brethren? How are we going to discern in the heart Because if you paid attention, and as I have made it clear here, this is not a matter of having just a set standard of principles that define with whom I relate and with whom I don't relate, but rather the text is referring to the affections of the heart. How am I going to discern practically, not with abstract concepts and not with doctrines that are just so out there, how am I going to discern in my feeble, wicked, weak, needy heart, the way that I'm going to relate to this world?

How am I going to determine my dear brother and sister, how much I need to love my work? How much I need to love my plans? How much I need to love the even consider the future? How am I going to love, you know, building this or constructing that? How am I going to discerning my wicked, weak, feeble heart?

How much am I going to relate to the lost? How much am I going to relate that one that is openly wicked? Am I going to run away from them and not minister to them for the purpose of sanctification? Or am I going to be in the midst of them, but I'm going to become like one of them? Brethren, The complexity of this text is not only in the explanation of the words, but it comes down to the heart of the person.

And many of you have asked me this question, and even before this text came to the pulpit, of how do I distinguish if I'm in love with the world with particular matters? And my dear brother, my dear sister, let me just tell you a couple of things. First of all, it's of absolute necessity that you will be able to discern the ways of your heart. It is of absolute necessity that you before the Lord will be empowered and able to discern the ways of your heart. Because if you find yourself to be one of those who is in love with the world, remember that this is light or darkness.

This is eternity or hell. This is heaven or hell. This is the weight of the commandment that is here. So it is of absolute necessity that the Christian, by the grace of the Lord, will come to an understanding of the ways of his or her heart. And second, very important, my dear brother here and sister, this is not going to happen with your mind.

This is not going to happen with your great ability to discern the ways of men. This is not even going to happen with your great ability to discern your own ways. Rather, the way that we know if we love the world or if we're falling in love with the world. I hope that doesn't sound awkward in English. But the way that we know if we are loving the world and not loving the Father, is through the illumination of the Holy Spirit.

He's the only one that can direct us. He's the only one that can convict us. He's the only one that can point us. He's the only one that can open our eyes to secret ways in our hearts of contentment and satisfaction with the things of this world. He's the only one that can confirm to our hearts that that which abides in our souls is love for the Father, and not love for religion, and not love for the traditions of men, and not love for reputation, and not love for exaltation, and not love for just simply, I've been doing this for 20, 30, or 40, or 50 years, and I need to continue doing it.

It is only the Holy Spirit, the one that can reveal to your heart and to your soul, if that which you're doing in secret, that perhaps your husband or wife does not know, or if that which you do in the secret of your house, that you're okay with your children and wife knowing, but you don't want others to know, or that which you do or allow to happen is of the Lord, and you have the freedom for the Lord to allow you to do that, or if it's just simply you that have been taken captive by the things of the world. This is not going to happen here by a Colombian person, just simply shouting words from my pulpit and explaining the scriptures. This is only going to happen, my dear brother and sister, if the Holy Spirit speaks to your heart. And for that, humility is needed. For that, dependence is needed.

A genuine desire for the Lord to speak to your soul. knowing a religious exercise that happens on a Sunday, but rather desiring that the Lord will speak to your heart. Because, brethren, if there is something that we're loving of the world to which we are captive, an illuminating action of the Spirit removing us from that, taking us from that is called liberty and liberation. And it's a grace of God given to the saint to convict them of the sin that they did not see, the grace that is sufficient not only to convict them of that sin, but also to bring them to genuine repentance before the Lord. And the same grace that equips and empowers and strengthens this person to move on to victory over sin and to renounce, to give up all of those ways of the world.

My dear brother, my dear sister, as you can see here, we have a very complex Very challenging text. And the only thing that I can do, the only thing that I can do is to pray for your soul, to pray for my soul, and in this opportunity here, to try to speak to you from the Scriptures, so that we will discern before the light of Christ, if our hearts have been taken by the love of the world. So we have in front of us a commandment, a very simple and clear commandment that you have there in those verses. And I hope this is a verse that is commonly known by Christians and professing Christians, something that is already there in your mind. The commandment is very simple and very clear, my dear brother.

The structure of the commandment, it couldn't be any more clear. We have an instruction that is given there in verse 15, and we also have a reason that starts in verse 16. We have an instruction given in verse 15, which is the commandment, and in verse 16, together with verse 17, we have the reason or the answer to why in verses 16 and 17. The commandment couldn't be any more clear. Do not love the world.

nor the things of the world. Then we are told that if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Then, in the following verses, we are given the answer to why. Why are Christians not to love the world? And also, there's a reason of why he who loves the world does not have the love of the Father.

Need your mind so that we can just continue together, my dear brother and sister. Verses 16 and 17 give you the reason if you were going to come and ask the Holy Spirit and the Lord, why, Lord, shouldn't I love the world? Then the answer that God gives you is in verse 16 and 17. And he says, for all that is in the world, the reason why you should not love the world is for all that is in the world and all that is in the world is given to you there. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not from the Father, but is of the world.

My dear soul, the Spirit of God will say to you and to your heart, the reason why you're not to be a slave of whatever thing you might have given yourself to be a slave. The reason why you should not love the things of the world is because the things of the world are not of the Father, but they are of the world. And it happens that someone wrote in a book that is called James chapter 1, verses 12, 13, 14 and onwards, that every good gift and every perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of life with whom there's no variation and no shadow of turning. Every good gift and every perfect gift comes exclusively for one source. And that is from the Father.

That is that absolutely everything that is good and everything that is perfect only comes from the Father. So it follows logically that that which is not of the Father is wicked, and that is unrighteous. It does no matter that our eyes will tell us something different. It does no matter that a reason will trick us into believe that is something different. But if something does not come from the Father, in whom there's no variation nor shadow of turning, then just simply by composition and substantial nature is wicked.

and is not of the Father. So the Apostle and the Holy Spirit says to your soul, do not love the world nor the things of the world, because the things of the world are not of the Father by nature, they are wicked and they are unrighteous. And if that was not enough, in verse 17 we're going to be given an additional, with a conjunction, an additional reason why we are not to love the world, and also a reason of why he who loves the world is an enemy of God and does not have the love of the Father. And that in verse 17 is that we are told, "...and the world is passing away, and the last of it."

That is, that you are not to love the world. Not only because the things of the world are wicked and unrighteous, but also, my dear brother and sister, by grace and through faith and the illumination of the Scriptures, you should have a genuine sense of the temporality of things. And the temporality of things should not be appealing to your soul. Yes, we can relate to passing away things, but we are not to be taken captive in our affections, in our emotions, by the things that are passing away. And more importantly, that temporality.

Here, I think the Apostle has in mind judgment. Because passing away, brethren, speaks of a point in which things will be no more. And if the initial judgment was by water, remember that the coming judgment will be by fire. Things will pass away. When you open your eyes and you see the creative imaginations of men, and the empires and the things that men have accomplished, all of them will pass away.

And the way that they will pass away is through fire. Judgment will come upon the heavens and the earth, new heavens and new earth, where righteousness dwell, will be given to the church to dwell with our King and to be with Him. My dear brother and sister, the Spirit of God speaks to your soul before that takes place, so that by faith you will be convinced and you will be certain that you are not to love the world, because the things of the world are wicked and unrighteous, and also because these things are passing away." As you can see, my dear brother and sister... I think I'm losing my voice.

As you can see... As you can see, brothers and sisters, don't be distracted by my voice. And as you can see, please pay attention to this. This can be a distraction just simply to move our minds. Don't pay attention to my voice, please.

I haven't said to you what is important about this text. So my voice will have to last. So don't be distracted by the sound of my voice. Please pay attention to what I want to say to you here, my dear brother and sister, because that is the structure of the commandment. That is the simple commandment as it is there, right?

That is what it is there to simply do not love the world, do not love the world. The reason why you're not to love the world is because everything that is in the world is unrighteous and the world is going to pass away. But brethren, How can I speak to your soul? How can I actually speak to my soul and distinguish and actually tell you what it is to love and what it is not to love the world? It is very difficult because the world of better to love something in and of itself is a passion, is an emotion that is primarily experienced inside of you.

And even though I can speak about the emotion of love, and even though I can speak about the affections of love, because love is an affection, and a strong affection that you have to something or to someone that you are so attached. Even though I can't describe that affection, even though I can't describe that emotion. My dear brother and sister, the reality is that what you experience for love, even though it might be similar to me, is different. We experience love in a very different sense and in very different ways. So let me submit to you that in the Scriptures, Love is not presented so much as an affection, an emotion that is experienced inside of us, even though it is, you know, the inclinations of the souls or the inclinations of the heart in the Psalms.

These are manifestations, emotional manifestations that take place inside of us. But let me submit to you that if we are going to understand what it is not to love the world, we are to understand from the Scriptures what it is to love. If we are going to understand the commandment, what it is not to love the world, we need to understand what is, according to the Scriptures, to love. My dear brother and sister, here in John chapter 2, from verse 15 to 17, we have the most important commandment of the Scriptures. Remember what the Lord Jesus Christ says in Mark chapter 12?

What is the greatest of the commandments? What is the greatest of the commandments, brethren? To love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. And the second commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. It's exactly the same commandment given in the negative or in the opposite sense.

The apostle is not telling you so much, do not love the world, but he's telling us, love the Father, because he says, if you have the love of the Father in you, you will not love the world. What we have here in front of us, my dear brother and sister, is the most important commandment given in the Scriptures from a different perspective, from the perspective of the enemy of the commandment, which is not to love the world. Hence, it's very important, brethren, very important, that if we are going to understand the commandment, we will understand what love is. What love is. Because love is not only an affection and an emotion, but rather, my dear brother and sister, as I said, is something that manifests in doing.

In the scriptures, love is presented more importantly than an affection and something that you feel and something that you have as something that you do. And the best illustration that I can present to you, humanly speaking, or at least fleshly speaking, is the example of husband and wife. Remember Ephesians chapter 5? Remember Ephesians chapter 5. The husband is given the commandment to love the wife.

Husbands are to love their wives as Christ Jesus loved the church. And the wife is to submit to the husband. In that relationship and in that passage of Scripture that we have in Ephesians chapter 5, we have a very good example of what love is supposed to be. The Apostle says that the love of the husband for the wife is such that they are one flesh. And if you remember there in Ephesians chapter 5, the Apostle is quoting not his mind, but rather he's quoting what passage of the Scriptures when he says that husband and wife are one flesh.

Genesis chapter 2. Now brethren, it's very interesting because in Ephesians chapter 5, love between the husband and the wife, as we know, is a shadow between Christ and the church. And the meaning that the apostle gives to marriage is one of love. But he's expounding on something that was already written in Genesis chapter 2. And when you go to Genesis chapter 2 and you analyze and study the relationship between the husband and the wife, the relationship of husband and wife is not given in terms of love, husbands love your wife, but rather the relationship between husband and wife is given in terms of doing.

That is that in Genesis chapter 2 verse 24, we have that which love is supposed to do, at least in the husband. That later on in Ephesians chapter 5, we know that that is husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church, and you are to love her or love them as you love your own body. Come with me to Genesis chapter 2, and perhaps I can elaborate there. Try not to be so conscious of my voice. You can understand, right, with my voice like this?

Brethren, this is the only thing that I've been trying to say as I'm parallelly thinking about my voice or, you know, like on the side thinking about my voice. This is the only thing that I'm trying to present to you here. Brethren, every one of you, please pay attention to this. This is the only thing if we don't get this one, it's just simply one more sermon. This is the only thing that I'm just trying just to say to you.

Do not love the world. is the most important commandment as per what I said, according to Mark chapter 12, right? It's the most important commandment. If we love the world, we don't have the love of the Father. And we're not fulfilling the law if we love the world.

That is the seriousness of it. And I said to you that for us to comprehend what it is to love the world, we need to analyze and understand biblically what is to love. Because brethren, I could have spent here 51 hours speaking about not loving the world and don't do these things. Brethren, none of those things will discern your ways. If we understand from the Scriptures what it is to love, then we will understand when we are in love with something or someone that is not the Father.

Because the Bible has explained to us what to love is. And this is what I'm trying to do as I'm taking you to Genesis chapter 2 verse 24. In Genesis chapter 2 verse 24, as I said, we have the institution of marriage that later in Ephesians chapter 5, the apostle will use to explain what love is meant to be. And love, remember, in the commandment for the marriage, is from husband to wife, right? It's not from wife to husband.

It's from husband to wife, even though we do expect that you love us. But it is from husband to wife. So husbands are to love the wives and the wife is to submit to their husbands. Now, here in this verse 24, we will see what marriage, which is meant to be love, according to Ephesians chapter 5, a practical manifestation of love, really is in the doing sense. Not only in the emotional sense of loving, but rather in the doing sense, which actually the Apostle Paul confirms in Ephesians chapter 5.

Let us read this verse and let's see if I can explain it. I want you to see two things that happen as the result of husband becoming one flesh with the wife. In other words, I want you to see two things that take place when husband loves his wife, when husband unites to the wife and become one flesh. Verse 24, it says, therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother, and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh." Brethren, when you have your time, you can go to Ephesians chapter 5 and check there in verse 30 and 31.

This is what the Apostle Paul is referring to in Ephesians chapter 5. He even quotes this verse word by word. Now, he's explaining what love is meant to be between husband and wife. And in the garden, we have the practical manifestation of what the love in marriage is meant to be. What things do we see here that love moves the man to do?

Two things. The first one is that there is a willing giving of self. That is that there is a separation of the man from the parents. That is that man willingly now gives up that which was normal to him and that which was natural to him. I was living with my parents, I was living with my father, with my mother, and now man, because of the affection of love that now has towards this woman, leaves and separates.

from their parents to second, enter into fellowship with someone else. Do you see that, brethren? Confirmation from your face helps to my voice. Do you see that, right? Two things in verse 24, that is one that men willingly gives himself, departs from the state in which he was, departs, is a willing giving of self from the state in which he was.

And now he's entering by virtue of this love that he has towards the woman. He's entering into fellowship, into communion with this woman. Let me submit to you, and I'm going to try to present to you that from the scriptures, the love according to the Scriptures, requires the relinquishing, if that is a word that you understand, the relinquishing, the giving up, the surrendering of self, so that by giving up self, surrendering self, you will enter into fellowship with the object of your love. Brethren, the two key elements to understand what love entails and comprises in the Scriptures are these, at least there are perhaps more, but at least from the example of marriage, is that love requires, necessitates, that him who loves will leave, depart, or relinquish self in a sense to give himself unto fellowship and communion with the object of his love. In the case of the husband, we have the husband that is leaving the previous state, relinquishing, you know, surrendering all of that to enter into this fellowship and to this friendship and communion with the wife.

And of course, brethren, the best example that we have of this manifestation of love is not only found between the husband loving the wife and doing all of these things, but rather is found in the person of Jesus Christ, right? For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. The manifestation of the love of God was this. that he gave willingly, gave his son, so that his son will enter into fellowship with the object of his love, in this case, the bride, the church. Love, my dear brother and sister, is not only an affection, it's not only an emotion that we just simply have in our minds and in our hearts, but love requires two actions.

One is that you will give yourself. is that you give yourself. You love so much that it's not about you anymore. You give yourself up. You surrender yourself and you do it with the purpose of entering into fellowship and into friendship with the object of your love.

That is not only the love of marriage, my dear brother and sister. That is the love of the Lord Jesus Christ for his bride. And that is the model of love that is expected of the Christian in the daily life. Come please to 1st John once again. If you come to 1st John once again.

If you come to 1st John once again, in John chapter 4, we have now there the definition of what love is from the divine perspective. Verse 9. Pay attention to this. In this, the love of God was made manifest among us, that God hence sent His Son into the world, so that we may live through Him. In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins."

Brethren, I really need to make sure, and I'm really sorry about the repetition, but I really need to make sure. Love requires these two things. is the self-giving. You see there, the father giving his son, this is biblical love. It's not only about saying, I love you, I love you, I love you.

It is when you relinquish self, when you renounce to self, you give up self, and then you take self and you put it into fellowship with the object of your love. Any type of love that falls from that is not biblical love. It's just simply emotions. It's just simply things that are just happening in the mind. Because this is the love that the Father had for us.

Romans chapter 5 verse 8. And the love of God was demonstrated in this way, that while we serve sinners, He died for us. Right? Remember Romans chapter 5 verse 8? Here we are told that He sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins.

But now please pay attention to verse 11. Beloved. If God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. It says, if God so loved us, not only referring to the amount of love, which is perhaps referring to the amount of love, but rather if God loved us in this way, that he gave his son to be a propitiation for our sins, now the Christian is to love in that same sense. That is that the love that abides in us, brethren, has to have those two elements.

One that is the one that we, In other words, in simple words, sacrifice self with the purpose of entering into genuine fellowship with the object of our love. In other words, we relinquish willingly, we give up self with the purpose of giving self to the object of our love. And the Apostle makes that clear in 1 John 3, verse 16. If you return in your Bibles to 1 John 3, verse 16. By this, 1 John 3, verse 16, by this we know love, that He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

But if anyone has the... now pay attention, because now here we can connect it to the world, okay? Pay attention to this once again from 16. By this we now love, that he lay down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Brethren, now please be with me.

Do you see here? These are the two elements of genuine biblical love. The relinquishing of self and the giving unto fellowship with the object of love in marriage and in the Lord Jesus Christ. And now this is expected of the Christian. And we are told that as Christians, we are to lay down our lives for the brethren because that's genuine love.

Genuine love is not only the emotion, is not only the feeling, but is that which moves you. to relinquish control of your life, to, you know, willingly give yourself to have communion and fellowship with the object of your love. So that puzzle concludes that. But continue in verse 17. But if anyone has the world's goods, which, as I said to you the other day, this is exactly the same word that is used to speak of the pride of life in the passage that we're referring to.

If anyone has the pride of life, and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him. How does God's love abide in him? That is a rhetorical question. And the answer is, it doesn't. The love of the Father does not abide in the heart of that person.

Because genuine love is the love that moves a person to lose control of self and to give self unto the object of the love with the purpose of fellowship. Brethren, this is what God expects of us for the brethren. And this is what God expects of us for Himself. This is the way that we love the Lord. The Lord is not loved by words.

The Lord is not loved only just by saying and saying and just by doing things and pushing and moving. The Lord is loved by the taking up of your cross, or in other words, dying to self. In other words, leaving yourself behind and entering into genuine fellowship with the object of your love that is the Father. That is the manifestation of genuine love for the Christian. When we say that we love the Lord, when we say that we love the Father, it should be manifested in that.

I do not care about my life. I do not care about my things. I do not care about who I am. What I care is that He died for my soul. And because He died for my soul and loved me so much and rescued me, now I renounce to all of that is me.

And I give myself to his hands, and I put myself in his hands, so that I will continue to have ongoing fellowship with him." Just as the husband leaves the parents and enters into ongoing fellowship with the wife, so did Jesus Christ from eternity past, left the heavenly places to enter into fellowship with the bride in eternity, and so is the Christian expected to mortify the flesh, to leave everything behind, and to love the one who loved us first, and to remain in genuine fellowship with Him. And everything that opposes that is the love of the world. Because, my dear brother and sister, at its core, what we're dealing with is idolatry. The last verse of 1 John 5, verse 21, it says, My little children, keep yourselves from idols.

Because an idol, my dear brother and sister, is something that takes that place of God. Is someone or something that takes the place that God deserves and that should have, that should move you to give yourself entirely to that, relinquishing. You give yourself, you give yourself whatever it is, and you give yourself to that. So love to the world, love to the world. It is the self-giving or the relinquishing of self to things of the world, to aspects of things that are in the world that will move you into ways of captivity, because you're going to enter into fellowship with that.

Now, my dear brother, my dear sister, I want to explain to you a little bit more in detail, because the Scriptures do speak in more detail about what the love of the world is. But keep those things in your mind. Loving the world is giving yourself unto something, just as the husband gives himself unto the wife, and just as Christ gave himself for the church, and just as we are to lay down our lives for the brethren. Loving something is when you are taken so much by it, that you're now given over to that. But you're relinquishing, you know, your self control of self onto that.

And by doing so now you enter into fellowship with it. It's not that you do it from here or from one to time or something that just happens here and there. But now because you love the world, and your affections are moved in such a way, now your being is just... you have laid down yourself, you have laid yourself down to that particular something, and that particular something, now it is your friend. You're having fellowship with the world.

Come very quickly with me to Romans chapter 12. In Romans chapter 12, we see something very important. Brethren, please be before the Lord, considering this text in Romans chapter 12. In Romans chapter 12, the passage of the Scriptures that we have read already, brethren, there is a very important word. And you may remember this word.

This word is the word conformed. Right? Do not be conformed to the world. This word conformed brings the connotation of the giving oneself unto something. Being conformed to something brings this aspect, this meaning of giving yourself to something.

You have a point of reference, you open your eyes and you have a point of reference, and to be conformed is just take that point of reference and now you want to be like that. It's a similar language that is used for our conformity to Christ, Romans chapter 8. that we have been predestined to be conformed to the Lord Jesus Christ. So that is that we take the point of reference, the Lord Jesus Christ, by beholding Christ, now we are being conformed to Him. Here, the apostle uses this in the negative sense.

That is very in alignment what it is to love the world. To love the world is to open our eyes and to take the outside and not to lay down your life for that thing to such a way that now you're being conformed to the things that you are given over to. Pay attention to the verses there in Romans chapter 12. And in verse 1, it says, I appeal to you, brothers, or appeal you, therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.

And here, what the apostle has in mind is the mind. That is that the person that is given over to the things of the world is being conformed, and the opposite to that is to be transformed by the renewal of your mind. That word transformed there is, you know, like metamorphosis, I hope that is the way that you pronounce it, is that you are being transformed. That is speaking to your flesh. Do not allow your mind to be conformed to the world.

In other words, do not give yourself over to the world in such a way that you take the world as a reference and now your mind is being taken captive, but rather transform your mind, renew your mind. And of course, that happens in the word of the Lord. To love the world is to, first of all, relinquish control of your mind. Relinquish control, my dear brother and sister, of your mind. Your mind now has been taken captive either by the world or by the things of the world.

Remember, passions of the flesh, or the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. Everything that is in the heart of man is what has built the world. The world has an anchor inside of you. And if that which is outside of you is taking captive your mind, now you are being conformed to the world. And if you are allowing the world to conform you or to be conformed to the world in such a way, that means that you love the world.

Because for a person to be in agreement with those ways and to decide to be conformed to the world, that person has to lay down now his will. Now that person has to decide, yes, I'm going to go with the course of the world. Yes, I'm in agreement. Now, I'm going to give myself over or up to these things. I'm not going to exercise self-control anymore.

I'm not going to come and fight against those things, but rather now I'm just being given over to these things. And now initially the person is given over slowly, but then when the emotions are taken, then those things become more appealing and more appealing and more appealing to the point that in the heart now the person has love. And as I said to you, love requires or has this giving of self. And then the second thing, my dear brother and sister, is that you enter in fellowship with it. Comes to James chapter 4, please.

This has never happened before. James chapter 4. James chapter 4, let us read. James is very concerned about ways of worldly, earthly wisdom. If you remember in chapter 3, he's very concerned about that in the church, that some people did not have spiritual wisdom, but rather that some people have earthly wisdom that he calls demonic, that he calls lofty and elevated.

Now, the apostle is confronting the church, or James, better, is confronting the church. And in chapter 4, verse 1, pay attention to this. What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at work within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder.

You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and you do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world, makes himself an enemy of God.

Brethren, love moves to initially lay down yourself for the object of your love. And then you enter in fellowship with that because now you find value in the object of your love. That what love is. You open your eyes and you see the plan. You open your eyes and you see this.

You open your eyes and you see what everything that is out there. And that thing is slowly taking your will and your mind progressively and slowly to the point that now you find value in having fellowship and friendship with that. It's not that your conscience is pierced anymore. It's not that you're bothered anymore by doing those things. But now you enter into fellowship with those particular matters.

And my dear brother and my dear sister, what a terrifying place it is to be. What a terrifying place will be for a person to be. taken captive by the things of this world, and being completely now unaware of it. Because initially and progressively they opened the doors to the wicked things of this world, that progressively and slowly grew in their hearts, in their minds, in their souls, and now transformed their affections to the point that before they were bothered with them, and now they like them, and they enjoy them, and now they give themselves to have friendship and fellowship with them. This word friendship, brethren, speaks of inviting someone into your house.

It's opening the doors of someone and receiving them in your house. When someone comes and knocks on the door and you don't know them, you simply open the door and you speak to them from your door and you don't allow them to enter into your house because you don't know them. But when a friend comes to your house, or when a brother or sister comes to your house, you will invite them to come into your house. Because now you have affections for that person, and the affections that you have for that person empower you, at least give you the peace of mind to open the doors and to allow them into your house. When a person is loving the things of the world, the things of this present system that is ruled by Satan, that person will give his mind, his affections, his emotions, and now will have continuous ongoing fellowship with this particular matter.

Sometimes it will be in the private place because there might be a little bit of their conscience that still tells them that if all my brothers and sisters realize that I'm doing that, perhaps it's not the best thing on my resume. Or perhaps they were just simply doing openly and not caring and not being even able to leave them, remove themselves from that place. My dear brother and sister, come with me to Psalm chapter 19. Let me elaborate this point, perhaps just by reading the scriptures. Psalm 19.

As I said to you in the beginning, when I had a voice, as I said to you from the very beginning, brother, this cannot be discerned. This cannot be discerned with your intellect. You cannot discern this with your intellect because, brethren, remember that the world is not only outside of us, it's also inside of our hearts. And you think that Satan is going to come and tempt Christians only with that which is externally and clearly wicked? No, brethren, Satan is going to come and tempt us and distract us with things that are, you know, apparently they're godly and apparently they're religious and apparently they are good things and taking our minds and our hearts apart from the Lord.

And pay attention to what he says in Psalm 19, Psalm 19. I hope that even in the midst of the limitation of my words, at least you could see this text in verse 12. Just ask this question, who can discern his errors? Brethren, that is a rhetorical question, because the answer is no one. Who can discern his errors?

So then the psalmist says, declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sin. Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless and innocent of great transgression, of the great transgression. Then it says, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight.

Oh Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. Love to the world, my dear brother and sister, does not happen out here. It starts in the depths of your soul. It starts in the depths of the meditations of your mind. In the secret place, when you turn the lights off and there's absolutely no one else in the room, only your conscience and the Lord.

That is the place where sin takes advantage of the things that you've observed, the things that you have given over. But more importantly, and let me repeat that unless my voice is not very clear, at that moment and that place is where sin, the sin that is inside of you, will take advantage not only of the things that you've seen and observed and given over, but more importantly, the things that you have not done. Because you do not become stronger by removing yourself from the things of the world. You become stronger by giving yourself unto the one who is able to empower you to deal with the things of the world. You do not become stronger only by separating yourself from those things that are outside, even though it is important that we will do those things at times.

But strength and power and love to the Father is begotten and starts in genuine communion with the Lord. in giving ourselves over to Him, and not to the world, in relinquishing our lives to Him, and not to the world, in having fellowship with Him, and not with the world, in having communion with His Word, and in the secret place, and in prayer, and not with the world." Come quickly to Jude chapter 20, and this is very important there that you see it, Jude chapter 20, chapter 1 verse 20. Jude chapter 1 verse 20. Brethren, it is not about the things that you do, but you will realize at some point, or we will realize at some point in our Christian lives, that maturity, brethren, is not so much the things that we do, but it's the things that we haven't done.

is the many times that we did not bow our knees to the Lord, is the many times that we should have read the Scriptures and we didn't, is the many times that we should have been praying and we were not praying, is the many times that we should have been sharing the gospel and we were not sharing the gospel, is the many times that we should have been serving one another and we were not serving one another, is the many times that we should be loving our wives and we were not loving our wives, It is the many times that we should have been speaking the truth in love and we were not speaking the truth in love. It is the many times that we should have had meditations of the Lord in our minds and we did not have them. You will see in your life that maturity is not so much the things that you do, as many times we think, but rather is the things that you didn't do. And it's the things that you don't see important in doing. It's the things that now you don't consider that it's important that you will give up anything and everything to give yourself unto the things of the Lord.

Because this is what Jude says in Jude chapter 1 verse 20, "...but you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith, and praying in the Holy Spirit, Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. You want to tell me how much of a man of God you are? You want to tell me how much of a woman of God you are? You want to tell me how much you love the Lord?

Tell me how much you pray. Tell me how much you build up your faith. Do not tell me about the things that you do. Rather, tell me the time that you spend with the Lord in the secret place. Because that time that you spend with the Lord in the secret place, when you don't do it, you're spending it doing something else.

Everyone is valiant and everyone is courageous to come and do what I do and to speak just with loud words. It is more difficult, brethren, to go tonight at house and being tired and to go down on your knees and to pray. It is more difficult to go to the house tonight and to open the Bible and study it and to wake up tomorrow and to do the same and to do it every day. That is more. against the flesh.

And brethren, we are conformed to the world, not so much because of the things that we do, but the things that we don't do, the times that we don't spend with the Lord, the things, the meditations that we now have. And this can only come with a realization, my dear brother and sister, of the beauty of Christ. and the place where when you have been taken, that you will come to a realization that the sins that have been forgiven, that the Lord died upon the cross, this is what genuinely moves you to keep yourself in the love of God by praying in the Holy Spirit and by building yourself up in your most holy faith and waiting for the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, so that empowered with the Lord Jesus Christ in you, you will be able to go and touch the leper and not run away from it. Just to go and minister to the prostitute and not be offended by the clothes that they are wearing. To go and minister to the one that is sick and not be offended by the smell of the looking of the one that is sick.

To go and be spent for the Lord, for the church. Not counting your life as something that is to be treasured up, but rather desiring to be spent for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then you will open your eyes to see this world. and not so be quickly offended with the unrighteous government and the wickedness of this world, but rather to be moved to compassion, because those people are going to hell if they are not receiving the grace of the Lord. To be moved to compassion for the one that is walking through the streets, to be moved to compassion with your neighbor that has not heard the gospel, to be moved by compassion with the one that offended you at work, to be moved by compassion and with compassion or love with the one that said something that you did not like or that you did not appreciate, rather than running away from them, my dear brother and sister.

Maturity is not so much the things that we do, But many times it's going to be defined by the many times that we did not pray and the many things that we did not do. And only the Lord Jesus Christ is able to move us in the secret place where no one sees. You know, to do this is very easy because there is a reputation of words and to be heard and to be observed. It is more difficult to go into the secret place and to give oneself unto the Lord Jesus Christ, not expecting absolutely anything, but only to die. and that He will receive all the glory.

My dear brother and dear sister, that He will speak to your heart only one word, and that He will protect your soul, my soul, our families, our children, from being taken captive by the love of the world. And that the love of the Father will be triumphant always in our hearts. Amen. Amen. Let's pray.