From His Heart

Speaker 1

Today on From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve. Learn what you shouldn't love. It's forbidden.

Speaker 2

The test of worldliness. What is your heart longing for today? Are you longing for the things of God? Do you desire to please the Lord? You don't do it perfectly. I don't do it perfectly. But listen, when I sin, I feel it. And I don't want to sin. I want to please God. I want to live my life. Not my will, but yours be done.

I want God to use me. I want to hear from the Lord at the end of my life. Well done, my good and faithful servant. You are faithful in a few things. I'm gonna put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.

He can heal every scar with real truth, real love, real hope from his heart.

Speaker 1

As believers in Christ, we're not supposed to love the world. Now, we can get confused about that because the world can mean several different things in scripture. So we're going to talk today about why it's forbidden for a Christian to love the world.

This is From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve. Thank you for joining us today for part two of the message, Forbidden Love. It's from Pastor Jeff's series, Overcoming the World, the Flesh. This brand new six-message series is our gift of thanks to you for your support to From His Heart this month of any amount. Just go to fromhisheart.org for details.

Now, though, open your Bible to the book of First John. Here again is Pastor Jeff Shreve.

Speaker 2

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 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." 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. 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 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."

Well, second discovery: the world is not only a humanistic system, but it's also an evil system that tempts us to sin. 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: 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 kind of appeals to that base nature, animalistic tendencies: sleep, food, sex.

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, goods, things, houses, lands, cars, and boats. 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 devil tempts with the desire of our eyes.

And 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 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, and 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. That's all that the devil has to work with. When he comes at you, and he comes at me, or his minions come at you and come at me, they're going to come. It's either going to be a temptation: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the boastful pride of life. That's the world's evil system. It tempts us to sin.

Discovery number three: the world is not only a humanistic system against God, not only an evil system that tempts us to sin, but it's a doomed system that can be overcome. You don't have to be succumbed by the world. You don't have to let the world squeeze you into its mold. And neither do I.

So how do you possibly overcome the world and the devil who tempts us in those things that really seem to appeal to us? How do you overcome? Well, you overcome the world by feasting on God's love, by feasting on His love. "Do not love the world, nor the things in the world," verse 15. "If anyone loves the world, guess what? The love of the Father is not in him." The way you overcome the world is by marinating yourself in the love of God. Everything starts with the love of God. We love because He first loved us. The only way that we can please God—the greatest commandment—is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself.

Well, where are you going to get that love? We love because He first loved us. When we understand how much He loves us, then we're able to love Him back, and then we're able to love everybody else. Everything breaks down in the Christian life when you do not receive the love of God first. John 3:1 says, "See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called children of God. And such we are." For this reason, the world does not know us because it did not know Him. This world system doesn't know us. They don't recognize us as twice-born men. They just say, "Those people are weird."

We need to see how great a love the Father has for us, that He would send His Son, that Jesus would die on the cross for me and rise again from the dead for me. "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also, with Him, freely give us all things?" You feast on God's love. You marinate on God's love. You let your mind just meditate on the fact that God loves me.

As my friend Guy Dowd used to say, he grew up a fat kid and got made fun of as a kid, and his family was from the other side of the tracks. He hated himself as a kid growing up. He said, "You know, when I heard the gospel and I heard that Jesus loves me and gave Himself for me, that Jesus loved me—fat slob me—I was blown away." I received Christ as my Savior and Lord. As the song says, "I'm loved by the King, and it makes my heart want to sing." Can you believe that the King of Kings and Lord of Lords loves me? Wow. You marinate in His love.

Now, years ago, I heard an illustration, and it had to do with the love of God and the love for the world. It goes like this: In most of our cars, we have something that tells us if our oil is low, you know, an oil pressure gauge or an oil light that will come on. Hey, when you start to feel yourself loving the world, time out here—the oil light comes on that says, "Hey, buddy, you don't have any spiritual oil in your spiritual crankcase. You have lost the love of the Father. You have left the God that you've loved, so you need to get back to Him and feast on His love."

You overcome the world by feasting on God's love. Secondly, you overcome the world by doing God's will. "But he who does the will of God abides forever." Now, when you're right with God, then you are living your life through the prayer of Jesus: "Not my will, Father, but Yours be done." You want to do His will. You want to shine. You want to share. You want to walk in the light as He Himself is in the light. You don't want to live a hypocritical life.

He says in First John, chapter one, "God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. Hey, if we say we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, guess what? You lie, and the truth is not in you. You're not walking in the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin." You overcome the world by doing God's will.

And thirdly, you overcome the world by walking in faith. "We walk by faith." The Christian life is all about grace and faith. How do you become a Christian? "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that, not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not as a result of works, lest anyone should boast." So that's how I come to Christ. I turn from sin and I put my faith, and I put my puny little hand of faith in God's great big hand of grace, and He saves me by grace through faith.

How do you walk with God as a Christian? By grace through faith. It's by grace through faith the whole way. Colossians, chapter 2, verse 6 says, "As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord by grace through faith, so walk in Him by grace through faith." That's how you do it. It's grace and faith the whole way.

And so it says in 1 John 5:4-5, "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith. And who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?" Your faith. We used to sing that song, "Faith is the victory that overcomes the world."

So feasting on the love of God, doing the Lord's will, and walking by faith and not by sight—that's how you overcome the world.

Now, in closing, I was really wrestling with this because you ask yourself the question: Well, you know, First John was written to expose those who claimed to be Christians and weren't, and then it was written to give assurance to those who truly were Christians. It says in chapter 5, verse 12, "He who has the Son has the life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have the life." "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God in order that you may know (k-n-o-w) that you have eternal life."

We have tests in First John to see if you're really in the faith. If you walk in the darkness, he says, "Hey, you gotta wonder if you're really in the faith." Chapter two, verse four: "The one who says, 'I have come to know Him,' does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him." You look at a person's life; if there's no shine, there's probably no Holy Spirit there.

The other test that he gives is the test that we just read: Is your heart in love with the Lord, or is it in love with the world? Because if your heart is in love with the world, hey, guess what? You probably have never been saved.

Now we have a guy in scripture named Lot. Lot was the one who fell into the lust of the eyes. Lot was Abraham's nephew. In Genesis 13, they're having a problem—the cowboys of Abraham and the cowboys of Lot—because they have lots of flocks and herds. Abraham said, "This isn't good. We're living among the heathen, and we're fighting, and we're brothers, so we need to separate. You go left, I'll go right. You go north, I'll go south. Lot, you just choose for yourself where you want to go."

Lot lifted up his eyes, looked to the east, and saw the plain of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere. He pitched his tent toward Sodom. It says in Genesis 13 that the men of Sodom were wicked exceedingly and sinners against the Lord. He fell prey to the lust of the eyes. He knew, "Hey, this is great pasture land, and I'm going to have flocks and herds and money and all the wonderful things that money can buy if I just go east."

He did. He said, "Well, after all, I'd never live in Sodom because Sodom's a wicked place, so I'm just going to pitch my tent toward Sodom." But it wasn't long before he was living in Sodom, and Sodom was a horrible place. As we read about Lot, the Bible says in Second Peter that he was a righteous man. It says, "That righteous man, while living among them, the Sodomites, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day with their lawless deeds."

Now, Lot did love the Lord, but the love of the world, the lust of the eyes, got in there and wrecked and ruined his life. He lost his family, he lost his wealth, he lost everything. The chapter closes in Genesis 19 on Lot as he is there with his two daughters. He's impregnated his two daughters as they got him drunk, and he's going to have sons by his daughters through an incestuous relationship. He lost everything. It was just a disaster. His life's a disaster. Now he's a Christian, but he fell prey to the lust of the eyes.

Then you have another guy in scripture, and his name was Demas. The Bible is very interesting about Demas. It mentions him three times in the New Testament: Philemon, chapter 1, verses 23 and 24. Paul says, "Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus greets you, as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow workers." Boy, Demas is a fellow worker with me.

In Colossians 4:14, "Luke, the beloved physician sends you his greetings and also Demas." Demas was there with Paul. He was there with the big guys that the Lord was using in such a great way. The last letter Paul writes, Second Timothy, the last chapter, chapter four, he's about ready to get his head cut off. He says to Timothy, "Make every effort to come to me soon. For Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica."

That word "deserted" means to leave in the lurch. It means to abandon somebody when they need your help. Demas loved this present world. Why did he desert Paul at Paul's hour of need? Because he had never been saved. He was around it. He was experiencing ministry, but he never loved the Lord. He loved this present world. When push came to shove, he chose the world over the Lord.

Listen, I know in churches we have lots of people that are like Lot. They've been saved, but they're living for the things of this world. They're succumbing to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the boastful pride of life. They're not fighting against that. Then we have others that say, "Well, I'm okay because I think I made a decision when I was a kid, and I've been baptized, and I'm around it, and I come to Sunday school, and I come to church a lot of times, and I put some money in the plate."

But listen, if you've never had a change in your heart—because it's all about heart. If the Lord's never come in and you've never given your heart to Jesus Christ, you're Demas. When you die, you're not going to experience the glories of heaven. You're going to hear the Lord say to you, "Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. I never knew you." You have to decide where you stand.

See, the last blank in your outline says this: The test of worldliness. What is your heart longing for today? Are you longing for the things of God? Do you desire to please the Lord? You don't do it perfectly; I don't do it perfectly. But listen, when I sin, I feel it. I don't want to sin. I want to please God. I want to live my life: "Not my will, but Yours be done." I want God to use me. I want to hear from the Lord at the end of my life, "Well done, my good and faithful servant. You were faithful in a few things. I'm going to put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master."

And you know, when we talk about the prosperity gospel that's preached so much on television and on the radio, what is the prosperity gospel? It's all about the lust of the eyes. It's all about, "Listen, you come to Jesus, and He will give you all these things you want." You come to Jesus, and you know what you're going to find? "All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." You're going to find that you're in the Lord's army. Paul says, "Suffer hardship with me as a good soldier of Christ Jesus."

You're going to find hatred from the world because Jesus said, "If the world hates you, guess what? It hates you because it hated me before it hated you. It hates you because you're not of this world. I have brought you out of this world, called you out of this world, sent you back to this world to be a witness in this world." Just as I called out the world, He said to His brothers, "The world can't hate you, but it hates me. Why? Because I testify against it that its deeds are evil."

As we really shine and we really share, the world is going to hate us. The Lord Jesus Christ is going to be so proud of us. We need to stand up for the truth. Stephen preached in Acts, chapter seven, and they got so mad at him at his sermon—the chief priests and the religious leaders—they covered their ears; they couldn't hear it anymore. They were gnashing their teeth at him, and they rushed upon him and they stoned him to death.

Stephen, before he died, said, "I see the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." The Lord Jesus Christ gave that man a standing ovation for his faithfulness. That's the way I want to live.

Speaker 1

If you've just realized that you've been so focused on the desires of the flesh, perhaps you've also realized that you need to repent and turn to God afresh today. Maybe you need to just pray and sincerely cry out to God saying, "God, here is my life. Help me to be the Christian you want me to be, that you created me to be."

Or maybe you know that you've never been saved. You've never asked Jesus to come into your life. Would you like to have victory in your life rather than defeat? Then the Bible says, repent of your sins and surrender your life to Jesus and Jesus alone. He said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, and no one comes to the Father except through me."

To find out more about how to make your life anew with a personal relationship with Jesus, go to fromhisheart.org and click the "Why Jesus" link. There you're going to find some free materials to help you get started in your new Christian journey with benefits for now and eternity. Again, go to fromhisheart.org and click the "Why Jesus" link.

As we've said, this month we're airing Pastor Jeff's new six-message series, "This Is War: Overcoming the World, the Flesh, and the Devil," and this series is our gift of thanks to you for your support of any amount to help us reach the world. Will you join us this month to also help others listening to stand strong in this battle we call life? Many are battling temptation, fear, addiction, and shame without even realizing what's happening. But through the faithful support of friends like you, From His Heart is equipping them to fight and win these battles with the truth of God's Word.

To make your gift and also receive the six-message series "This Is War: Overcoming the World, the Flesh, and the Devil" as our gift to you, call 866-40-BIBLE (866-40-BIBLE) or go to fromhisheart.org to request the series on USB flash drive, CDs, DVDs, or immediate MP3 download. Thank you so much for joining us in this war against the devil.

We also hope that when you visit our website each day, you'll go to the Real Hope Minute from Pastor Jeff. Sign up for the weekly Real Hope email encouragement letter that you'll get every Friday morning in your inbox, and download an MP3 of any broadcast you may have missed, and so much more at fromhisheart.org.

As you move through your day, we hope today's closing scripture sinks in and resides deeply in your heart. It's found in Isaiah 41:10, when God urges us to fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Thank you for being with us today. I'm Larry Nobles inviting you to join us tomorrow for the beginning of the third lesson in Pastor Jeff's six-lesson series, "This Is War: Overcoming the World, the Flesh, and the Devil." Tune in for the lesson, "The Battle Within." That's tomorrow when we'll open up God's Word and share real truth, real love, and real hope from His heart.

Speaker 2

There is treasury There is bless love There is hope that you always dream love he can heal every scar.

Speaker 1

Real.

Speaker 2

Truth, real love, real hope from his heart.

Speaker 1

From his heart is the listener supported Broadcast Ministry of Dr. Jeff Shreve speaking the truth in love to a lost and a hurting world.

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

Find out about that. Go to promisheart.org.