Love Not the World - Pastor Stacey Shiflett

Watch Part 1 here:

Watch Part 2 here:

Love Not the World

1 John 2

·       15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

·       16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

·       17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

Intro: Last week, the message was “Overcoming the World.” Today, we are going to expound on that with a reminder that we will never overcome the world if we are in love with it.

NOTE: I am fully aware that these types of messages will get us labeled as a cult.

Apparently, Biblical Christianity is a cult, and carnal, worldly, sensual churches are the right ones.

Pastors that drink beer, smoke cigars, go to rock concerts, get tattoos and cuss are true men of God.

The rest of us are just a bunch of dictators and popes; lording over the heritage.

Show me a pastor that never preaches against loving the world, and I’ll show you a hireling.

Show me a pastor that doesn’t teach God’s people the dangers of the world, and I’ll show you a wolf.

I made the statement last week that the word WORLD is in 1 John thirteen times.

Several of them are here in these verses.

Let’s look at a quick summary of these three verses before we get into the message.

A. The Command is Simple

·       15 Love not the world,

This is not a complicated or difficult to understand command from God.

A new convert can understand this command.

Young children can understand this command.

He is telling those of us that are saved to LOVE NOT THE WORLD.

Let’s be clear – God loved the world. But He loved the souls of the world; not the world system.

He loved the world and wanted to save it.

·       John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

·       1 Timothy 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

·       John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

There are no similarities in God’s love for the world and the obsession that the church of today has with the world.

·       God’s love motivated Him to sacrifice His Son; the church’s love motivates them to sacrifice their convictions.

·       God’s love stirred Him to save the world; the church’s love stirs them to simulate the world.

·       God’s love caused Him to deliver the world; the church’s love causes them to delight in the world.

·       God’s love is aimed at redeeming the world; the church’s love is aimed at reveling in the world.

Jesus came to light the world; not wallow in the darkness of it.

·       John 9:5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

·       John 12:46 I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.

Jesus came to be the bread for the world; not to eat what the world had to offer.

·       John 6:33 For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.

·       John 6:51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

B. The Contrast is Stark

There is no similarities at all in the world and what is of the father.

The child of God and the church of God have NOTHING in common with the world.

The contrasts throughout Scripture are endless.

The godly and the ungodly.

The saved and the lost.

The believer and the unbeliever.

The children of God and the children of the devil.

The quickened and the dead in sins.

Those that see and those that are blind.

Children of the light and the children of darkness.

Jesus was crystal clear: we are NOT of this world.

John 17

·       14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

·       15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.

·       16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

·       25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.

We are not to LOVE the world, but to REPROVE the world.

That is what the Holy Spirit came to do.

·       John 16:8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

Ephesians 5

·       11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

·       13 But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.

We are to be the light of the world.

We are the light, and we are the children of the light.

How can we do that, and be that, if we are in love with the world and the darkness of the world?

·       Ephesians 5:8 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:

·       1 Thessalonians 5:5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

Matthew 5

·       14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

·       15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

·       16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

·       Philippians 2:15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;

C. The Conclusion is Severe

·       If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

A person that is in love with the world and the things of the world does not have the love of the Father in him.

·       You cannot be a capitalist and a socialist at the same time.

·       You cannot be Democrat and a Republican at the same time.

·       You cannot be pro-life and pro-abortion at the same time.

·       You cannot be a Christian and a Satanist at the same time.

·       And - You cannot love the world and the Father at the same time.

The Bible is clear; if you and I are of God, there will be evidence.

·       John 8:47 He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.

·       John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

·       1 John 2:5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.

·       1 John 3:10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.

·       1 John 4:6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

Part 2

Intro: The pull of the world is powerful. It derailed Demas.

·       2 Timothy 4:10 For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica;

This was before the technology even existed that we have today.

What pulled Demas?

Walking by a tavern while street preaching?

Lewd, lascivious women on the street corners?

Gambling halls and drunken dancers in the back alleys?

He had no television.

He had no internet; no social media.

He had no way to see the outside world, so it had to be what he personally witnessed.

And in spite of being with the greatest Christian and greatest preacher in history, it pulled him in.

He was essentially a staff member in the greatest missionary ministry on the planet.

International travel; global influence; the most prolific writer of his lifetime.

Surrounded by other preachers like Timothy and Titus, Epaphroditus.

If it was a problem 2,000 years ago, how much is it now?

We are commanded to LOVE NOT THE WORLD…

I. Because of its Possessions

·       15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world

The characteristics; the qualities; the features; the attributes of the world are not of God.

The things that the world thinks is so amazing and so wonderful are NOT OF GOD!!

What the world has to offer is extremely sub-par to what God has to offer.

The “things” of the world are not that great, but they know how to market it!

For example:

              A. The Wisdom of the World

1 Corinthians 1

·       19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

·       20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

·       21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

1 Corinthians 2

·       4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:

·       5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

·       6 Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:

·       7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:

·       8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

·       12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

1 Corinthians 3

·       18 Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.

·       19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.

·       20 And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.

              B. The Ways of the World

·       Proverbs 14:12 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

·       Psalms 1:1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

·       Psalms 1:6 For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

·       Proverbs 4:14 Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men.

·       Proverbs 4:19 The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.

more to come...