The Christian life - Living..

Welcome to Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church. Thank you for using and sharing our resources. What you're about to hear is God's Word from one of our teaching elders. We trust that God's Word will inspire, instruct, and bless you. For further teachings or information on our ministry, please visit us on our website at cornerstonerbc.

com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. We're going to continue with our series of Bible studies on the Christian life. I'm going to invite you to please open up your Bibles to John 17, the Gospel of John 17.

Tonight, we're going to continue with our series of Bible studies on the Christian life. I serious that we start the last term and that we are retaking now this term by the grace of the Lord. And tonight, we're going to be addressing the topic of living in the world. And the portion of Scripture that I'm going to be calling your attention to is found there in John 17, from verses 13 to 17. So we are just going to take in this verse as a departing point for that topic of living in the world.

We're not going to be addressing, of course, the aspects of this text, but we're just going to take it as a be part in point there in John 17 verses 13 to 17. So let's read it and then we will pray together that the Lord may bless the time that we're going to be sharing around his word. This is the word of the Lord. John 17 verse 13 to 17. But now, this is the Lord, now with this, which is known as an intercession prayer before His Father on behalf of His disciples.

But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. Verse 14, I have given them your word. and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. So let us come together in prayer before the Lord that he may bless us as we meditate upon these truths. Lord Jesus, we come before you very needy, Lord, that you may help us, that you may guide us with your Holy Spirit. Who are we, Lord, that we are going to come and say that we speak on your behalf?

Who are we, O Lord, that we may call your people? There's nothing in us, Lord, apart from your grace and apart from your mercy and apart from your love and apart from your eternal condescension. There is no place for us here and anywhere. But you, Lord, have been pleased in saving the people unto yourself and also revealing yourself unto them through the gospel and through the scriptures. And you have promised, Lord, that those people are going to grow in conformity to who you are.

So we're coming before you, Lord, as people who are very needy of growing in conformity to you. people who are in much need of understanding your ways deeper and better, people who are in much need of having your love and having your heart and having your mind and having your ways in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. We come before you, Lord, to ask you that you may guide us with your Holy Spirit, that you may not leave us to ourselves, But rather, Lord, that you may guide us as we speak, and as we hear, and as we do all of these things, that we may be strengthened in our faith, that we may be edified, make us more like the Lord Jesus Christ, make us more like the Lord Jesus Christ, our Father, that when we depart from this place, we may be encouraged to strengthen and empower, and that some part of us would have died by the preaching of the Word, and that Jesus Christ will be more and more enthroned in our hearts, which is His rightful place. Help us, O Lord, and do not leave us to ourselves only doing things in the flesh, but guide us with your Holy Spirit, that we may do it for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Very good, brothers and sisters. As I said, we continue with our series of Bible studies on the Christian life. The Christian Life. We started with this series last term, and we said to you, brothers and sisters, those of you who are here and those of you who are online, that the purpose of this series is that we will grow in unity, not only doctrinal unity, but also practical unity. It's very important for the maturity of the soul of the person and also the maturity of the church, that the church will be unified in a path of truth and in a path of practice.

So that with that purpose, we have come with this series that focuses initially in the life of the individual, which we are going to be concluding today. And then we move on to the life of the Christian family, which will start by God's grace, Lord willing, next week. And then, perhaps in the next term, we're going to be focusing on the life of the Church, so the life of the Christian, the individual, the life of the family, the Christian family, and the life of the Church. Now, we have been addressing things as doctrinal as possible, but also we want to provide to you very practical guidelines from the Scriptures that will help us to know how to live our lives individually and also as a church. We're going to be dealing with topics such as what is a biblical husband?

What is a biblical wife? What are children who have been saved? Or how are we to raise our children? All of these... Very practical aspects of the family and of the church is what we desire, I hope, in the Lord to address and to share with all of you, so that we will have an understanding, a unified and united understanding of all of these practical matters.

Now, tonight we're going to be addressing the topic of living in the world. This is what is contained, this topic is contained there in those verses in John chapter 17. The life of the Christian in the world. We have been rescued by grace through faith by the Lord Jesus Christ, but the Lord says that even though he would have the possibility to take him out of the world, he says, I ask that you do not take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one. Is the desire of the Lord that the Christian, once they have been saved by grace through faith, that they will remain in the world for like a period of time, providentially will be different for every single person.

And that then will come even we died and we're taken up to glory or the Lord comes and takes us all together. But is the desire of the Lord that his disciples, that his people will remain in the world? How? How are we to live in the world? And the Lord Jesus Christ, in the verse that we read, He gives us some information that is very important.

First of all, He speaks about our condition, our spiritual condition. He says that even though we are in the world, that we are not of the world, just as He is not of the world. Now the eternally begotten son of the father who came from heaven to complete the work that the father had given him to glorify him with the glory that they had from eternity past, the one who came from heaven, who had all the right to say, I am not of the world because he was coming from heaven. He was incarnate, of course, but he was coming from heaven. He says that just as he is not of the world, that the Christians, speaking primarily there to the disciples, and then the principle carries on to all Christians, that we are not of the world, that it is that our condition, our spiritual condition is in union with the one who came from heaven to take us and to save us.

Yet his desire, as we read there, is that we will not be taken or removed from the world, but rather that we will remain of the world under his protection from the evil one. Just as the world hated the Lord Jesus Christ, also the Lord speaks not only here, but also in John and in 1st John primarily, that just as the world hated him because they did not know him, the world will hate us because the world has not known us because we are in the person of Jesus Christ. So the Christian, the believer, the saint, is to remain in the world and to live in the world and to have relationships to the things that happen in the world. And sometimes the line between the things that we ought to do and the things that we are not to do and the things that we are to think and the things that we are not to think and the things that we are to have in our heart and the things that we are not to have in our heart in relation to the world, sometimes that line could be drawn in the place where it's not glorifying to the Lord. Either removing us so much from the world in which we are not in contact with the world anymore, going against the desire of the Lord that we will not be removed from the world, but rather that we will be protected from the evil one.

But sometimes that line could be drawing a place in which we are so united and yoked with the world that there's no distinction between Christian and the things of the world. So it's very important that we will understand this deeper and a little bit better from biblical principles, that we as a church and primarily as individuals, we will know by the assistance of the Holy Spirit through the word and by guiding our conscience on how we are supposed to relate to the world. That is perhaps the main goal of this Bible study, to answer that question. How are we going to relate to the world? How each one of you is to relate to the world as one who is not of the world, but remains in the world, and belongs to a greater, better kingdom, the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, that is not of this world.

How to relate to this world? The way that we're going to do this is just by simply following three steps. I just want us just to meditate, first of all, initially, in understanding better just this concept of the world. This is something that we have thought and that we have meditated upon before and that we have considered before, but I want us just to think, generally speaking, from the Scriptures, what is this concept of the world. And then from there, we move to the role of the Church in the world, because Christians have been incorporated into a body that is the Church.

So we're going to ask ourselves the question, what is the role of the Church as a body, or Christians in general, in the world? And then from there, we will answer the question of how are we to relate to the world individually. I want to give you the principle that is clearly contained in the scriptures of how our relations to the world are to be guided, or to be led, or to be done, conducted, if you want. And from that principle, perhaps I will give you a couple, two or three practical things that will help us. I hope you are so, each one of you.

to indeed live in the world, not being of the world. understanding the concept of the world from a general point of view, then the church in the world, and then answering that how we are to live in the world, giving you a principle, the principle that should rule your relationships to the world, and then a couple, two or three perhaps, practical things that will help us just apply the principle in our daily things. Some of you are students, some of you work, some of you do different things in this world, and we are to live in this world according to what the scripture says. We are not Christians only when we come to the Bible study, but when we come to the Lord's Day on Sunday, or when we gather and do Christian things, we are Christians all the time. That is the condition of our souls, that we are not of the world all the time, but we are in the world basically all the time.

So let's just start just by thinking and meditating together about the concept of the world. It's very clear, and we can see it very simple, that we are not speaking about the world as the things that have been created. We're not speaking about the world as the things that you touch, the things that you see, that which has been created. We're not even speaking about the world as humanity in general, people. But rather, we're speaking of the world as the system in which all creation and people operate.

According to the words of the Apostle Paul in Galatians chapter 1, he says that this is the present evil age. It is a time in redemptive history with a particular place, which is creation, that has certain spiritual reality that is defined as the world, the system of the world, in which All humanity, all creatures, all creation operates. We're speaking about that system, that present evil age, the age, the ace and the one that is to come. The age, the present evil age, this system of the world. Now there are two things that I want to bring to your attention about this system of the world, that perhaps one of them we know it very clearly and we have discussed it many times, so we take that one.

And the second thing, perhaps something that we have not considered and sometimes we pass over and that does not allow us to have a good understanding of the system in which we live. Let me just bring to your mind the first one, the first characteristic of this world. The first characteristic of this world is that this world is fallen and wicked. The system of the world is fallen, utterly unrighteous and wicked. And the reason why the system of the world, that world, is fallen and unrighteous and wicked is because through the disobedience of one man, sin entered into the world, and through that disobedience, death spread to all people, and all people Sin.

It is through Adam that sin entered into the world, and when sin entered into the world, death spread to all people, and that was a cosmic situation that took the world from being created very good to now being made unrighteous and subjected to futility. The whole world now is under the power and under the dominion of unrighteousness and death. And this is something, brothers and sisters, that sometimes just because we repeat it and we repeat it and we repeat it and we repeat it, we just get sometimes so used to the fact that we acknowledge and we come to the fact that the world is indeed unrighteous and wicked. that sometimes we are blinded to the manifestations of the unrighteousness of the world and the horrendous things that take place in the world, because sin entered into the world, and through that sin, death. And death is spread to all people.

And now everyone is enslaved and in bondage to unrighteousness and to corruption, not only humanity, but also creation groaning for the manifestation and the revelation of the sons of God, so that this objection to according to the Apostle in Romans chapter 8, will be removed from the creation, and then all of this system of the world will be made anew. It's wicked, and it's unrighteous, and it is contrary to God. And one of the things that I said to you in perhaps a couple of sermons ago is that that which is in the world, in the system of the world, corresponds to that which is in the hearts of men. is the heart of men, the one that defines the system of the world. And the Bible is very clear to speak very, very, very strongly against the hearts of men, that the things of the heart of men are continually evil, even after the judgment of water that came, and the only Noah and his family were rescued.

After that, sin continued into the world, not even the judgment of God. is enough and is powerful enough to remove the unrighteousness and the wickedness of the heart of men. Not even the eternity in hell will change the heart of a man that is wicked and unrighteous. Not even the vast amounts of water that came upon all of those people back then can remove the unrighteousness and the wickedness of the enemy that is sin and death. And even though Noah and his family found favor, they were taken into the ark that was Christ.

The enemy that was being crushed outside of the ark that was sin and death was inside of the ark, was in the heart of Noah and his family. And that's why after they came out of the ark, all of those things spread and spread and continue to spread because sin and unrighteousness were there. Unrighteous. Sounds too strong in this room, right? Unrighteous, wicked, very unrighteous and very wicked.

This is the fallen world from the heart. All the desires of the hearts of men are the desires that we can see in the world. The things that we see in the world correspond to the substance of what it is in the heart. Now, this is something, brothers and sisters, that we clearly know, that the system of the world, it is unrighteous and it's wicked, and it is contrary to God, very deep into the heart, the desires, the imaginations, the things that are happening. Just remember the things that you have thought, that you don't want us to know, that I don't want you to know.

Imagine that this is taking place in every heart and every mind of every human being that has ever existed. Many of those wicked things have been accomplished in secret places. Many of these wicked things have taken place against Who ran those things? That is the wickedness that abides in our hearts. In our hearts.

We would be very, very naive and ignorant to believe that just because we're not of the world, that that is not in us. It is in our hearts. But the second thing that I want to point to your attention about this system of the world is not only that it is fallen and that it's wicked and that it's unrighteous, but that there is one that rules this world. And his name is Satan. Satan rules this wicked world.

And sometimes we just think of unrighteousness and wickedness as just this abstract idea that is out there, like a virus that contaminates people and moves people to do wrong, as if it was some type of impersonal thing. Of course, unrighteousness is impersonal. But there's one that is unrighteous, and one that is wicked, and one that is evil, that rules. this world. And sometimes we try to reduce down the spiritual matters and the reality that there are spiritual beings in the system of the world that are in charge of making this wicked world to continue to work and operate in the way that it does.

Come with me to Ephesians chapter 2 because I know that is a difficult topic just to simply speak about. So let's come to Ephesians chapter 2. These are words that we've read many times. Words that we have read many, many times. But I just want you to pay attention to that in Chapter 2.

It says in verse 1, And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world. So this is the ones that are dead in their trespasses, lost people, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air. the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind." Put your eyes there, beloved of Christ. This world has a course.

It sounds like a stream, you know, when I think about that verse, like a stream of water, it has like a current. I don't know if that's the word they have in English, like a current, like a stream of water. This is the course of the world. And being the course of the world is following the prince of the power of the air. That is a spirit that is at work in the sons of disobedience.

This is a spiritual reality of a spiritual being that has dominion and power over this system of the world. The apostle emphasizes that point in Ephesians chapter 6, if you go to Ephesians chapter 6. speaking about the battle of the Christian versus the people sometimes that we sometimes just quote and speak, because this is the way that we have been taught in Christianity. But just pay attention to this. Ephesians chapter six, verse 10.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. That we Christians battle against that? I'm afraid of dogs.

That we Christians battle against this? I don't even consider myself able. If I see something like that, I think I just run away. But the scripture says that we Christians are engaged in a battle that is spiritual in nature. And it's not only that uses this word spiritual in a general sense, it says rulers, authorities, cosmic powers of this present darkness.

Brothers and sisters, there's much more going on in the world than what we can see. There's much more going on in this wicked, fallen, unrighteous world. Yes, that we acknowledge that is fallen, that we are in Adam, that people are lost and they're in their trespasses. Yes, that is true. They have received the unrighteousness of Adam and sin has entered into the world and that has spread to all people and all people have sinned and they are in bondage to sin.

Yes, but there's also this spiritual reality that there's powers. And these powers are not just simply just watching how things develop. It's not like they are just simply they're witnessing how things develop. The Apostle John says that this world lays under the power of the evil one. And the evil one is seeking someone to devour.

The evil one is active and is doing many things. Come with me to Daniel chapter 10. I know that we cannot interpret these visions and things like that. Independently of what you believe of those visions. Daniel chapter 10.

Is it 10? Let's read it. Let's just read the first 13 verses. Brother Jesus, if you can help me just reading that, please. The first 13 verses.

Daniel 10, from chapter 10, verse 1 through 13. In the third year of Cyrus, King of Persia, the word was revealed to Daniel, who was named El Shaddai. And the word was true, and it was a great profit. And he understood the word, and he had an understanding of the vision. Now in those days, All wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint my soul at all for the full three weeks.

On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river that is the Tigris, I lifted up my eyes and looked to behold a man clothed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uthah, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished gongs, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude. And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision of the men who were with me, did not see the vision, but a great trembling fell upon them, and they fell to So I was left alone and saw this great vision, and no strength was left in me. My radiant appearance was fearfully changed, and I retained no strength. the first day that you set your heart to understand Thank you. Thank you for that.

That should be fine. Now, Michael, it says, a chief prince, we're speaking about a spiritual being here, right? Independently of your interpretation of these things. But he says in verse 13, the prince of the kingdom of Persia, Spiritually speaking, withstood me 21 days. Michael, one of the chief princes came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia.

Beloved of Jesus Christ. Independently, we don't consider that to be a spiritual thing that was going on, that he was prevented because there was some type of angelic battle or something like that. There is much more. in the spiritual world that is taking place, that pertains to our salvation, that pertains to the exercise and the workings of the church, that many times, which is reduced and in a very materialistic and a very physical way, we make of our faiths. and that we just simply do particular things that we see, because it's easier for us to do the things that we see, the things that we can touch.

It says in First Peter, Chapter one from verse nine to verse 13, that when the Spirit of God came upon the church and the church is now proclaiming the gospel that the older generations of the Old Testament desire to see and desire to know, It says there in the last of that section that the angels long to look. Remember from the man on Tuesday? That the angels long to look, or in Ephesians chapter 3, that it's through the church that the wisdom of God in relation to the gospel is revealed to the heavenly powers, to spiritual beings. Brothers and sisters, when Paul says that we are engaged in a battle that is not flesh and blood, he means it. So we are engaged in a battle with a system that is very powerful, with a system, the system of the world that operates and moves in ways that are not visible, are not clear to our eyes, that the things that are taking place beyond our ability to perceive are things that are just so powerful in nature, and they're wicked.

Because the prince of the power of the earth, Satan, is the father of lies. And beloved of Jesus Christ, if it's not because we know who the Lord Jesus Christ is, that all authority has been given to him, and that he has conquered, and that he is the king of kings and the Lord of lords, and if we did not know that our God is the triune God, the creator of heaven and earth, who is the one that rules ultimately over everything, then there will be despair. Because who are we? Who are we to overcome and to battle against all of these spiritual things that are taking place and that are going on? But one thing we are to note and to have very clear, that the system of this world is wicked and unrighteous in ways that we cannot even perceive.

So that means that we are to be not only careful, but that we are to discern with much wisdom because there are things that are going on beyond our eyes, beyond the things that we can perceive, that we can touch, that we can assess with our senses. There are horrendous and unrighteous and wicked things that are going beyond that. Sometimes, you know, I said to Brother Bernie that if the Lord would allow us to see the unrighteousness of the world just in a little bit of a deeper sense, I think we would just explode. because we will not be able just to handle the amount, I don't even know if it's amount, qualitative or quantitative, unrighteousness of the world, every aspect. Every aspect, education, the government, affairs, people, businesses, in every single aspect of the world, there is unrighteousness.

And one would be very tempted just to simply say, wow, how am I going to relate? How am I going to live in a world like that? That it is just so corrupt, so wicked, so unrighteous. How am I going to even touch something? Because I'm not even aware of the things that are taking place.

How am I going to? related to this world. Again, if we did not know who our God is, because He's the ultimate King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and He's sovereign over everything, then we wouldn't be able to trust what He says, that we are to be in the world and that we are to relate to the world, because, beloved of Jesus Christ, we are to know something very important, that the reason why the world exists today is because God has allowed that this evil system of the world will continue to exist and for it to continue to exist, the hand of the Lord is working in restraining ways so that the redemptive plan of the Lord will come to fulfillment. Because if the world and if our heart is let go, just who we are, and just what the world is, just from what we really are. If we are just let go, according to the fullness of the desires of our passions, according to the fullness of the desires of the passions of every human being, then the world comes to an end.

We will kill each other, we will destroy each other, and even Adam and Eve will just kill each other after the fall. if the providential work of God working in humanity with a final or ultimate purpose will not allow that things continue. And that is what has actually given us hope and rest and peace. That it does not matter how much we do not know, do not see, do not comprehend the depths of the unrighteousness and the wickedness of this world and the spiritual powers that we cannot see and we cannot comprehend. We know the One that is greater than them, and that holds them, and that rules, and that is sovereign over all of those things.

And He is not only the One that rules, but He's also our Savior, and He's also our God. And the Lord has been pleased through all of this time of redemptive history to restrain the evil and the wickedness and the unrighteousness of the world. He does it through our conscience, according to Romans chapter 2. He gives us this knowledge in our conscience to discern between right and wrong. And there is God restraining, in a particular sense, the evil that will be naturally in the heart of a person taking them.

That is because the conscience is accusing them or excusing them. That is the God-given knowledge of right and wrong. He does it with a family, an institution that is established by God. It was not created by man. He does it with the parents, that in a sense, they exercise a sense of righteousness from their conscience.

and from what they know so that they will practically manifest parameters of righteousness, evil, wrong, things that are not to be done. He does it with a government, a servant of righteousness, a servant of justice from the Lord to uphold that which is right and to condemn that which is evil. The Lord in his providence has given us things and institutions that will restrain the evil of the world. and the Lord has also established His people. His people, in the context of the world, not only to live in the world, but also, beloved of Christ, to relate to the world, in a sense, to be a restrainer of the evil things that are taking place and that continually take place in this horrendous system of the world.

The Apostle Peter, in 1 Peter 2, from verse 10 onwards, he says that once we were not a people, but now that we are a people, that we are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a peculiar people, that we have been chosen to proclaim the excellences of the one who called us from darkness into his marvelous light. Then he calls us that we will make war against the passions that are inside of us and that we will behave in front of the hidden in an honorable way so that our behavior, which is honorable, our behavior, which is righteous, according to the Lord in front of the hidden will be so that they will come to glorify God in the day of visitation. The Lord has given unto himself a witness in this wicked world that will be carriers of the glory of God, and that they will be left there, not only with the purpose of accomplishing a purpose unto themselves, but also with a purpose of relating to the world in a particular way that will affect the world. That is when I want to take you now to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5 is perhaps the most popular verse or the most popular section in which we can see the role of the people of God in relation to this world.

Matthew chapter 5. There's so many sermons and so many things that people have said about Matthew chapter 5 from verse 13 to 16. I just want to point A couple of clear things there in this section. Matthew chapter 5 from verse 13 to 16, it says, pay attention to this. The Lord is speaking to the disciples and hence to the rest of the church.

You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world. He says, first, you are the salt of the earth. Now he says, you are the light of the world.

A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. He says here, the Lord is calling the church and the disciples that we are the salt of the earth, but that we are the light of the world. And then he explains then the passage there in the last verse is speaking of these good works. That is the light that shines through us.

that the other people may see our good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Let me just point a couple of things here from there, and then I will conclude with the principle that I wanted to share with you, beloved of Christ. It's very difficult for us sometimes to discern in our hearts truly before the Lord and with clear conscience how we are to live in a world that we know that is so wicked, even beyond our comprehension and beyond our understanding. how we are going to relate to this world, to the people of this world, and to the system of this world. What is it going to happen to me, to my heart, to my conscience, to my soul, to my relationship to the Lord, if I relate to this particular world?

And sometimes, as I said in the beginning, we may draw the line in which we define how much we're going to relate to the world in a sometimes unhealthy place in which we do not relate to the world at all trying to protect ourselves, in which we relate to the world in that way that, thank you so much for that, in a way that the distinction between who we are and what the world is is just now lost and the Christian becomes like the world. But this passage here gives us something very clear and very important. And what the Lord is speaking about here, brothers and sisters, is about a condition of the church, or a condition of the believer, that is meant to be manifested in a particular action. a condition of the believer, either that we are salt or that we are light, a condition that we are salt or that we are light, and that because that condition is a reality in the Christian, then that is to be manifested as an action. Salt, salts.

And light, shines. So it is not a question of how much I want to shine or how much I want to make the world salty, but rather it's a question of how salty and how much light there is in me. It is not a decision of how much I want to do, but it's a decision of how much I'm supposed to be. The church is meant to be the light of the world. And the church and the Christians are supposed to be the salt of the earth.

And that is to be manifested in action. And that action, beloved of Jesus Christ, is an action that requires levels of involvement. You cannot salt the earth if the salt does not touch the earth. And you cannot bring light to darkness if you are actually bring the light to the darkness. In agreement with the words of the same Lord, we are not of the world, but we are in the world.

And we have a purpose that is not only for us as Christians, that is, I'm going to be more like the Lord Jesus Christ, and I'm going to live my life until I'm 80, 90, 100, 120, and then die, and then come to glory, and then just attend church every Sunday and do some Christian things. There is a purpose that transcends who we are. Primarily for our brothers and sisters, do good to everyone, especially to those of the household of the faith, Galatians chapter 6. But also do good to everyone. That it is that who we are, light and salt, is to transcend beyond us so much that those who are of the world are impacted by the light and the salt that is supposed to be in us.

They are impacted. The light of Jesus Christ comes, the power of Christ comes upon these people. Now, one would say, yes, that is through the gospel. And it's true. It is through the proclamation of the gospel.

But here, very clearly, the Lord says that your good works, that your works towards others will be light that shines upon them. So brothers and sisters, I don't think that the question is so much where we are to draw the line in our relationships to the world. But I think the question really is where are we going to draw the line in our hearts for worldly things in my heart and things of the Lord, so that when the things of the Lord overtake my heart in such a way that now I'm light and I'm sold, the Lord can move me and lead me into a direction of freedom and power in which I can relate to the world in ways that I'm going to be the one impacting the world and not being impacted by the world. So because when we think about what to do and what not to do in relation to the world, many times we do not question or ask the condition of the heart before the action. And the Bible is very clear that the Christian needs to address the condition of the heart first and primarily before.

We do any particular matter. We are to flee from many things. Of course, we are to flee. There's much wisdom in fleeing from many, many, many things. But as we flee from unrighteousness, we are to pursue Christ and righteousness so that when Christ is enthroned in our hearts, we will do the things that He did.

Sit with the prostitutes and preach the gospel to them. Commune with the poor, with the despised of the world. Commune with the one that was rejected, with the one that was sick, the one that people did not want to touch, the one that people did not want to speak to. Places where people did not want to go, that He will go. Why?

Not only because He was God, but He was also man. Give us an example, according to Peter 2, verse 21, that we will follow in His steps. Now, it is not a question of the Christian going and throwing themselves into the world as an unrighteous pool or swimming pool of wickedness because you are protected with the Holy Spirit. But rather, brothers and sisters, it's a principle of the heart that we will indeed be light and salt. That's why the Apostle can give us a very important principle, the Apostle Paul that is found in Corinthians.

If you go to Corinthians chapter 6, 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 6. This is now the principle that is to regulate our dealings and our relationships to the world. 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 12. And now the parallel to this is 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 23.

We could read the whole thing there, but for the examples that he gives, but let's just simply just read this principle there. It says, chapter six of 1 Corinthians, verse 12 and 13. Look what the apostle says, and let's ask ourselves if we can say with an honest conscience the thing that the apostle said. All things are lawful for me. I can say, not all things are lawful for me.

There are some things that because of the wickedness of my heart and my temptations and my sin that I need to run away from because they are not lawful for me. He says, all things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but he says, I will not be dominated by anything. I will not be dominated by anything. That is, that when he relates to anything, things of the world, or any practice, or anything, it was food, or sitting with brothers when food was consecrated in a particular way, or days, or whatever, that his heart was not dominated by any of those things.

So all things for him were lawful, but his relationship then to the brethren will be based in love. Now paying attention to the conscience, faith of the brethren, because now the principle was love. But the principle is that in his heart, in his soul, things were not supposed to dominate him. Because if something dominates us, Now it becomes sin is not being done out of faith. What the same apostle says in Romans chapter 14 in the end there, that all things that do not proceed from faith are sinful.

Sin is that which does not proceed from faith. If something has the power to dominate us, independently of what it is, now that something has taken on a spiritual power in us that only belongs to the Spirit of God. We are the ones that are supposed to be led by the Spirit. Is the Spirit the one that is supposed to lead us, dominate us, if you want, that we are to walk in step with the Holy Spirit? If something takes the place of the leading and the empowerment of the Spirit, then that is unrighteous, whatever it is, and that is spiritual in nature.

He adds to that principle in chapter 10. If you go there to 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 23, In chapter 6, he speaks about what these things will not do. That is, that these things will not dominate him. He says, all things are lawful for me, but I will not allow them to dominate me. But I will not be dominated by anything, he says.

Now in verse 23 of chapter 10, he says, all things are lawful, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful, but not all things build up. That is that the things to which he gave himself to, and the things that he did, and the things that he engaged his mind into, and the efforts, and all of the things that he was doing, he was doing before the Lord by faith, walking in the Spirit so that those things will not take him over and dominate him. And the purpose for what he did was that there will be any type of building up, either in this context for the brethren or for the kingdom, if you want. This is what defines Beloved of Jesus Christ, our relationship to the world.

It is not about us having a list of things to do and things not to do, even though they are very important. Because if we have issues in our hearts, it's very important that we help ourselves with the things that we should not do and the things that we should do. Flee from passions of youthful passions, says Paul to Timothy. You flee from them. So remove yourself and don't even give yourself to the opportunity of being there.

Don't consider yourself so strong and so mature. The moment you consider yourself strong about sexual immorality, things like that, you've lost. You've lost it. Now you're taken. So he says flee.

But the Christian life is not ruled by do's and don'ts, but it's ruled by a heart that is supposed to live. It's a faith that works through love. So the concern of the Christian is not so much in the outside of the things that I'm going to do and not going to do, but rather it's a concern that starts in the heart and ends in the things that I'm going to do and I'm not going to do. And being concerned about our heart, brothers and sisters, is more complicated than being concerned about the things that I can do and I cannot do. It's easier for a flesh to be moralistic than what it is To be Christ-like is against our nature.

To be moral, to be self-righteous is according to our nature. So what we ought to do is to have a heart that is so dominated and led by the Holy Spirit that in the wisdom and in the mind of Christ we can discern the things that we can relate, how we can speak, how we can engage, and how we are to relate to the world. So I want to give you just perhaps a couple of things, how we are to apply that principle, how we are to actually experience that principle and have that, perhaps two or three, depending on how we progress with this. The first thing is that for us to have that type of heart, beloved of Jesus Christ, we are to do what we need to follow the principles that the Lord Jesus Christ gave there in John 17, in the end of the verse, in verse 17, sanctify them by your truth, by your word. According to the words of the Apostle Paul, if you come with me to Romans chapter 12, go there to Romans chapter 12.

You know, like, that we will be enlightened so much by the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, that we will see the depths of this truth that is in here. That is just the solution for this problem. Romans 12, verse 2. Do not be conformed to this world. There is an implicit, you know, there is an implicit thought in the puzzle that we can be conformed to the world, right?

Otherwise, we can say, do not be conformed to the world. So Christian, you who are not of the world, but are in the world, do not conform to the world, do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. The heart of the believer is to be rich with the wisdom of the Lord Jesus Christ in the renewing of our mind through the words of God. We cannot relate it to the world in our morality, brothers, sisters. We cannot relate it to the world, you know, in just the precepts that we learn.

This is one of my greatest fears for Sophia, for my kids, that they will just learn principles. I know that they will behave in particular ways while they are with me. But if the only things that they have in his heart and in his mind is principles, they may walk in a particular way. But there's no guarantee that that heart, if it's not rescued by Jesus Christ, is going to be taken by this world and by the horrible things of this world. Brothers and sisters, The only thing that controls and that takes in the path of righteousness is the heart that is taken by the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is filled with His word.

We have the mind of Christ, according to Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 2. We are to grow in the mind of Christ so that we will discern what is the will of God. the will of God for this world, there are many things that are taking place in which we are to discern what is the will of the Lord. And the only way that we discern the will of the Lord is by having the word of God, not in our minds, but brothers and sisters, in our hearts, that is inked by the holy finger of the Spirit in our hearts, so that it moves us and it leads us to say, to think, to close our eyes, to run away, to proclaim, to be, to have, to speak, to do the things that we are to do, works that bring the light of Jesus Christ and that bring glory to the Father. It is a mind that is taken captive by the thoughts of Christ, a heart that is filled with the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, a renewed mind.

We are to know the truth. And just as we are to know the truth, beloved, in our hearts, it's not only a heart that is filled with truth, but it's a heart that is with fervent love. Just pay attention to that fervent love. You remember what 1 John 2, verse 15 and 16 says? Do not love the world, nor the things of the world, but love the Father.

It's a matter of love. We cannot engage and live and relate to the world with a love for the Lord that is not fervent, that it is just intellectual and abstract. Now, I'm not speaking about emotional situations, but love that is real will move our affections, the affections of the soul. We cannot allow our soul, beloved of Jesus Christ, to live in a crooked and wicked generation in which our hearts are called for the Lord. Because the things of the world are more in agreement to our unrighteousness in our flesh, and they will distract us, take us captive, and capture us more easily.

Our faith is to be rooted and established in the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ. But also, as Jude says in Jude verse 20 or 21, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourself in the love of God. Keep yourself in the love of God. And I'm pretty sure that you know the thing that I'm speaking about is very difficult. It's very difficult to move your eyes or to move your mind to things that are wicked and unrighteous when your heart is taken captive by the beauty of Christ.

When your mind is just filled with thoughts of Christ, and when you have meditated upon his words, and you are keeping his word in your eyes, it's very difficult that your being will be moved to one place or to another. It's very difficult to relate to another person, even if it's logic, it's wicked, without compassion. If you had been in the presence of the one who is compassionate, it's very difficult to relate it to the lost as, you know, like, you're going to contaminate me. If you have been in the presence of the one who came to be among us, the one who is divine and holy and perfect, to be among us as if we were worthy of his presence. It's very, very difficult when the Lord not only reveals to us, speaks in abstract ways to our minds, but to our hearts and to our souls of His presence and who He is, that we will go on to our world and we will not be light and indeed souls.

It is not about what I'm going to do, it's who am I going to be. It is who am I going to be in the world? Who am I going to be to the lost? Who am I going to be at work? Who am I going to be to my friends?

Who am I going to be at school? Who am I going to be with my coworkers? Who am I going to be with a person that I'm going to be seeing on the streets? Who am I going to be to the government, to everyone? It is a matter of the heart.

Truth, I said to you, and love. renew your mind, and then having a fervent love for the Lord. This is the faith that works through love, the faith that is established upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know what the Apostle John says about this faith? Come with me to 1 John chapter 5.

1 John. 1 John 5, it says, Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. By this we know that we love the Children of God when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world.

What a great promise, right? Even I'm just seeing that now. Everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world. You know, you would expect that He says, Christ, right?

That is the victory, Christ upon the cross. Then He transfers onto us something, as if we deserve something. He transfers onto us some credit. Right? Because he uses the pronoun there for us, our faith.

This is the victory of the world. Like if the next verse does not exist, that does not make sense. As I said to you, I'm afraid of little dogs. How am I going to overcome the world? How am I going to overcome, you know, like all of these things with my faith?

No, it says there, for everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? Because faith is an overcoming, overcomer of faith. and the substance and the object of that faith is the glorious Lord Jesus Christ. The one that removes, now brother, sister, dear friend, the one that takes the eyes of our spirit and place him on him alone, captured by his beauty, and gives us the awareness that everything here is passing away.

Because when our eyes are rooted and anchored in the person of Christ by his power, by his mind, by his spirit, by the glorious gospel and what he has done, his love for us, then indeed, brother, sister, things are passing away. Things are passing away. You know, like white hair and then you died and the things are broken and they are literally passing away. And the apostle John says that everything that is in the world, is passing away, it's desires, it's passions, it's passing away. You know, those angelic beings that we imagine with swords and chariots and things like that, just fighting there and there, perhaps that is how they look like, that they're fighting that way, passing away, because Jesus Christ died upon the cross, destroyed the evil works of Satan, conquered death.

That was the death of death in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. The life of the Lord Jesus Christ now given to his people so that they will remain in the world. And even, even if someone comes and takes our physical life, there's absolutely nothing that they can do to take that which the Lord has treasured in us. our faith, and that is the faith that he has left in us so that we can be empowered, brother, sister, to live in this world, to pass, to go and proclaim to others about this Jesus that saved us, this Jesus Christ that redeemed us, to speak about this glorious Savior that can give you freedom for all of these sins that you are there so broken and that you're taking captive and you're a slave to. I'm not going to run away from you as if you had like a disease that I'm going to be contaminated, but the light of Christ.

If he decided to dwell among us, how are we not going to be salt and light to the world? How are we not going to preach the gospel to the world? How are we not going to encourage one another so that by being encouraged by one another we will be salt and light to the world? How are we not going to relate to the world, brothers and sisters? that we will not be fearful, rather that we will be strong.

Strong not in our morals and not in our code of practice that is so clearly defined so that I can move towards darkness, protecting myself from being contaminated, but rather that we will walk wherever the Lord places us with the certainty that it is not my code of practice of my moralistic guidelines, the ones that protect me, but rather the one that is perfecting His love in my heart, the one that is enabling me to speak words, to other people just with the desire that they will come to the Lord Jesus Christ and not so much seeing who they are or what they have, rather with the compassion of Christ, being witnesses of his presence and who he is and bringing all of that to the world. Amen.