From His Heart

Speaker 1

Today on From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve, we'll discover what God says should be a forbidden love for us all.

Speaker 2

We're not supposed to love the world. Now we can get confused with what he's talking about because "world" is used in different ways in the scripture.

And we're going to talk today about why it's forbidden for a Christian to love the world. There is tremendous truth. There is hope that you always dream love. He can hear every scar.

Speaker 1

The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans chapter 12 that we should not be conformed to this world. As Christians, we simply can't succumb to the fallen world system that opposes God at every turn.

So how can we possibly safeguard our hearts from the temptations all around us? We'll find that out today on From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve as he shares what the world is, what the world does, and how the world can be overcome.

It's from the new series "This is War: Overcoming the World, the Flesh, and the Devil." This six-message series is our thank you for your support this month of any amount to From His Heart. It's available in the format of your choice. Just go to fromhisheart.org.

But first, let's begin part one of this timely lesson about why the love of earth should be a forbidden love.

Speaker 2

The scripture says in 1 John chapter 2, beginning in verse 15, do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, guess what? The love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away and also its lusts. But the one who does the will of God abides forever.

Now in those few verses, six times John uses the word "world," cosmos, translated as "world." And we're not supposed to love the world. Very, very clear from that. Now we can get confused with what he's talking about because "world" is used in different ways in the Scripture, and incidentally, in the New Testament, it is used some 188 times. Cosmos is used. John uses that; it's his favorite word. Of those 188 times, he uses it more than half, 104 times. John uses the word cosmos in his Gospel, in First John, and in Revelation. In First John, he uses it 23 times.

Now, "world" (cosmos) can mean creation. It can mean nature, the world of nature. Obviously, God doesn't want us to not love nature. We can love the mountains and the streams and the oceans and the hills and the prairies. We can love all that. Psalm 19, verse 1 says, "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse shows forth his handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge." You walk out today and you see the beauty of the landscape and you say, where did that come from? Well, that came from God. You go out at night and you see the moon and the stars. Where did all that come from? That came from God. So it's fine to love the world of nature.

And obviously, it's fine to love the world of humanity, the world of people. Because John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son," so that's the world of people. But then there's a third meaning for cosmos that has to do with the system of the world that goes against God. Do not love that world's system. So we're going to talk today about why it's forbidden for a Christian to love the world. And we're going to talk about what it is, what the world does, and how the world can be overcome.

So first discovery, what is the world? Well, the world is the humanistic system that opposes God. When John is talking about here, do not love the world, he's not talking about the world of nature, not talking about the world of men; he's talking about that humanistic system, that fallen system that opposes God. Now, we see that so clearly in the book of Genesis. You know, it only took 100 years from Noah and his family to get off the ark for people to proliferate. Ham, Shem, and Japheth, everybody is related to Noah. Noah had three sons: Ham, Shem, and Japheth. The whole world is populated through those three.

It took 100 years until you hit Genesis chapter 11. In Genesis chapter 11, we have the account of the Tower of Babel. Now, God had told them when they came off the ark, Noah wasn't going to have any more children. So he told Ham, Shem, and Japheth, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth." So to fill the earth, you're going to scatter. What does it say in Genesis chapter 11, verse 4? The people said, "Come, let us build for ourselves a city and a tower whose top will reach into heaven. And let us make for ourselves a name. Otherwise, we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth." And they built the Tower of Babel.

This structure was given over. When they say, "whose height may reach into heaven," they're talking about the top of that thing being given over to the worship of the stars and astrology, the study of the stars. But not from a scientific point of view, but from a worship point of view. And so God confounded the languages in Genesis chapter 11. He told them to scatter, and they said, "No, God, we're going to gather. We're going to make for ourselves a name." That is a picture of this humanistic system that is against God, that says, "I don't care what you want, God. I don't care about your word, your will, and your ways. I want to do what I want to do." So don't love that world.

Now James tells us in James chapter four, he says, "You adulteresses." Strong words. "Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever wishes to make himself a friend of this world makes himself an enemy of God." Now, God and the world are mutually exclusive. The world has nothing in the Lord, and the Lord has nothing in the world. Think about this.

So we talked about the world of flesh and the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. He is the infernal foe. He is the foe from hell. But we also have an external foe, the world. And we have an internal foe, an internal enemy, which is the flesh. But we have this internal enemy, this part of us that wants to do evil. Now, the world is just like the flesh, but it's external. The Bible says in Romans chapter 8 that the flesh is hostile toward God. It does not subject itself to the law of God. It is not even able to do so. And those who are in the flesh cannot please God because the flesh is against God, and God is against the flesh.

Well, the world is just like that. It's just like the flesh, but it's on the outside, and it's coming at us to try and squeeze us into its mold. It is the epitome of man's hubris, saying, "We're going to build a tower, and we're going to do things our way, and we don't need God." That is how the world comes across. It opposes God, and it is against God, and God is against the world. The ruler of this world is not a surprise. The ruler of this God-opposing system is Satan. He's called the God of this world. It says, "If our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so they can't see the light of the glory of the gospel of Christ, who is the image of God."

The devil is someone who deceives, and he blinds the eyes of unbelievers. He rules this system. It says in First John, chapter 5, verse 19, "We know that we are of God, and the whole world, the whole cosmos lies in the power of the evil one." It is literally cradled in the lap of the evil one. The devil is calling the shots in the world. He's kind of running the show in the world, and he uses it to steal, kill, and destroy.

Now, a Christian is somebody—a true Christian, somebody who has been saved out of this world. Jesus said in John 15:19 to his disciples, "If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this, the world hates you." So here is a Christian, a person before he becomes a Christian. It's a person who hears the gospel and responds to the gospel, turns from sin, and puts his or her faith and trust in Jesus. And when that happens, boom. You are transferred and delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Now that is all spiritual. You don't feel that physically; it happens spiritually. You become a citizen of heaven. Your name is written in the Lamb's book of life. You are taken out of the world, so to speak, as a twice-born person. But then the Lord puts you back into this world, and he saves us out of this world and sends us back to the world to be a witness in the world. And that's our only business that we have in the world. We are here to be his witnesses because we are twice-born people living in a land of once-born people. We follow the Savior, the king. We listen to the trumpet of Jesus, as the song says, and the world marches to a different beat.

I like what Warren Wiersbe says about a Christian. What is a Christian in this world, in this world system? He said it's kind of like a scuba diver. Some of you have been scuba diving before. Well, you don't go down deep into the water unless you're connected to the boat and you have oxygen or you have an oxygen tank on your back because you're not made for the environment of the water. You can't breathe under there; you can't live under there. You have to have your oxygen tank. If you run out of oxygen, you're in serious trouble. Because although there are creatures all around you that can live in that environment, you can't live in that environment.

That's how it is for a true Christian, a real Christian. You can't live in that environment of the world because you've been saved out of this world. Our oxygen, so to speak, is the Holy Spirit of God who lives inside of us, who gives us power to overcome. So what is the world? It's the humanistic system that opposes God, that lies in the lap of the evil one. No wonder the scripture says, don't love that world; don't love that system.

Secondly, so what is it? That's what it is. Secondly, what does it do to us? How does it work in us or on us? Well, second discovery, the world is not only a humanistic system, but it's also an evil system that tempts us to sin. So the devil uses the world for all that is in the world. The Bible says the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world.

Now, the devil is called the tempter. And how does he tempt? He tempts in those three areas. Think about it like this, because James uses this. In James, chapter one, each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lusts. That word for "tempt" is to bait a hook. The devil is the tempter, and he's got three different lures in his tackle box. All that is in the world is there in First John, chapter two: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life. That's what the devil uses to try and derail your train, to try and derail my train as a believer.

So the first lure, the devil tempts us with the desire of our flesh, the lust of the flesh. When the Bible talks about the lust of the flesh, it's talking about the sensual things, things related to the physical senses and the lust of the flesh. It appeals to that base nature. The Bible talks about false teachers, these like unreasoning animals born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed will end the destruction of those creatures, also be destroyed.

Think about your dog at home, if you have a dog at home. When I first got married, we didn't have a dog at home. We didn't have a cat. We didn't have pets. It was wonderful, and life is a lot easier. But Debbie loves dogs, and I love Debbie. We have four inside dogs now. The first three dogs that we had were little dogs under 10 pounds each. They're just little dogs. So cute, make little messes. Then she said, "Jeff, I'd really like to get a big dog." I said, "Well, that'd be a good thing to get when I die."

So I finally broke down, and we got a golden doodle, Ellie May. Wee doggies. We got Ellie Mae, like Ellie Mae Clampett. That dog is 77 pounds. I call her Big Fat Elle. She sleeps in our bed. She takes up a lot of the bed. I come home, especially after I work out, and she's licking the top of my head. I'm like a big salt lick for her. You think about how a dog operates. I looked this up. Well, how does a dog operate? They sleep. Big dogs sleep up to 18 hours a day. Think about your dog at home. Always asleep unless they're chasing something; they're asleep.

So sleep is a big deal for a dog. How about food? Dogs will eat till they vomit and then eat their vomit. That's why I never liked dogs at first. It's like, man, they eat their own vomit. There's something wrong with a creature that does that. They'll do that. And then dogs go nuts if you have a female in heat and there are male dogs around; they're just going to lose it. They're out of control. Well, that's the base nature. The lust of the flesh is geared toward our sensual appetites, toward our base nature, our animalistic tendencies: sleep, food, sex.

You know, we see the lust of the flesh at work in the life of King David. Second Samuel, chapter 11. It was the spring of the year, the time that the kings go out to battle, that David stayed home in Jerusalem. He sent Joab and the guys out to battle. He didn't go to the battle. He's been lounging around all day. It said when evening came, he got up from his bed. Evening is the time you go to bed, but he's been in bed all day. He's been doing a bunch of nothing.

He gets up at evening time, walks on the roof of his palace, and sees a woman bathing. She was beautiful in appearance. Just to see her, that was not a sin. That was a temptation. Because the Bible says in Proverbs 22, verse 3, "The prudent sees the evil and hides himself, but the naive go on and are punished for it." He sees her, and the look turned to lust, and the lust turned to longing. The longing turned to desire, and he had a night of adultery with her. That adultery produced a pregnancy, and that pregnancy, trying to cover up his sin, he ends up having Uriah the Hittite, his mighty man who is fighting the battles for him, killed in battle.

When lust is conceived, it gives birth to sin. When sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. What happened to David? He succumbed to the lust of the flesh. But that's the first lure in the tackle box. The second lure in the tackle box is the lust of the eyes, the desire of the eyes. Now that's a little more refined as a temptation goes because that's not just the base nature, your animalistic tendencies. That has to do with materialism, that has to do with goods and things and houses and lands and cars and boats, and you want more and more and more. That's geared on greed.

Hebrews 13 says, "Let your character be free from the love of money, being content with what you have," literally not desiring more and more and more. The lust of the eyes, boy, that's when you see something and say, "Ah, I have to have that." "Boy, if I had that Rolex watch, I'd be somebody. If I had that house, that extra car, that toy, then I'd be happy." That's that mindset.

Now, we have several pictures in the Bible, lots of pictures of a person who succumbed to the lust of the eyes, the desire of the eyes. Achan, in Joshua, chapter seven, is definitely somebody who succumbed to that. It wasn't a sexual temptation with Achan. It wasn't to oversleep. It wasn't to be lazy. It wasn't to overeat. He was the one that went into Jericho. When the walls fell down, God said to Joshua and the people, "Everything in Jericho is under the ban," which means it belongs to God. You don't touch it. You don't take anything out of Jericho.

But what happened to Achan? He said, "Well, I saw this coat, this tunic from Shinar, this Babylonian coat. I just said, 'Oh, man, I just have to have that.'" Then he said, "I found some silver, and I just thought, 'Oh, that could be mine.'" He found a bar of gold, took it, and hid it in his cloak. He took them back to his tent, dug a hole under his bedroll, and buried those things under the tent. He looked this way and that way and said, "Nobody sees," but the eyes of the Lord are in every place watching the evil and the good. It came out in the open what he did because God brought it out in the open. He and his family lost their lives.

When lust is conceived, it gives birth to sin. When sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Achan and his family, who were a part of that sin, all perished. The devil tempts with the desire of our eyes. Then thirdly, he tempts us with the desire to be exalted, the boastful pride of life. That is the voice of the braggart and this thing that wells up within us, that wants to impress people, wants people to notice us, wants people to say, "Ooh, they want us." They want to ooh and aah over you, and you have this desire for that. The devil has that lure in his tackle box. He throws that out there. If he can't get you with the lust of the eyes, he can't get you with the lust of the flesh, then he'll try the boastful pride of life.

That's all that's in the world. Every sin falls into one of those three categories.

Speaker 1

Has today's lesson given you something to think about as it relates to your compromise with sin? Well, tomorrow on the broadcast, we'll continue right there after a short review. So make plans to be with us again then for the conclusion to the lesson, "Forbidden Love."

Every day, people around the world are battling powerful enemies that they can't even see: temptation, fear, shame, confusion, and addiction. Families are under pressure. Kids and teens are bombarded with lies. Marriages are strained, and so much more. The faith of many is weakening. It is a spiritual war we're in, and it's raging all around us. But through your support to From His Heart this month, people are learning how to fight and win the very real battles coming against them and their families.

We recently received this very encouraging note from Reagan in Austin, Texas, who wrote, "Through abuse, addiction, and life's trials, I've really been ministered to by Pastor Jeff's teachings of God's truth. It's helped me to have the will to fight, to live, recover, and chase Jesus. It helped me not give up, and I know many others, too. Thank you so much." From His Heart, again, that's from Reagan in Austin, Texas. That's a powerful and proclaiming real truth and real hope from the loving heart of God.

But we can't do that without your help. With your generosity this month, you'll help bring Pastor Jeff's biblical uncompromising preaching to people throughout the world through our media outlets on television, radio, streaming platforms, podcasts, and digital discipleship resources.

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Thank you for joining us today on From His Heart, where next time, we'll present part two of the lesson "Forbidden Love." Join us on Wednesday when we'll again open up God's Word and share real truth, real love, and real hope. From His Heart.

Speaker 2

There is treasure is true, there is blessing, there is hope that you always bring love. He can heal every scars of truth. Real love real.

Speaker 1

From His Heart is the listener-supported broadcast ministry of Dr. Jeff Shreve, speaking the truth in love to a lost and hurting world.

Remember that no matter what, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.

Find out more. Go to fromisheart.org.