The Love that God Hates

Have your Bibles with you turn with me would first John chapter 2 really look at verses 15 through 17 do not love the world of the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love the father is not in him for all that is in the world. The desires of the flesh desires the eyes and pride in possessions is not from the father but is from the world. The world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever spray heavenly father we come before you tonight. Thanking you and praising you for your precious word gives us instruction and guidance and commands in Lord, you give us this because you love us. Give us this, Lord, that we might have direction and guidance in our lives that we might not just go off in her own direction in our own ways, doing our own thing and and just bringing reproach on on your name and hurt to our own hearts and people that we know and love.

Lord, you've given us your word that we might know what your heart is that we might know what your desire for us is Lord in this passage we see that one of the great desires that you have is what we love not the world, help us heavenly father that we might understand that that father we might be so moved by that that it would transform our lives in an Lord that we would love you so much more than we love this world got indirect disloyalty.

This passage will give you praise and honor and glory for what you do for us in Jesus precious and holy name we pray. Amen. You may be seated.

Several years ago I was walking through the mall and man and his wife were walking right in front of me and as we were walking in one direction all of a sudden there were three other men that were walking toward us and and these particular men were being very loud and obnoxious. They'd been been drinking and they came right up in front of this couple that was in front of me and they just stopped and so that the couple in front of me had to stop. I had to stop and the man in the center looked at the man's wife and just stared at her and then he East. He started up a better hand and went down to her feet and went right back up and he said honey. You're looking good you are to be with me and went. When that happened the ladies face got justice red as a beet. The man that was her husband, which is a good bit smaller than the.

The guy that had harassed his wife dropped the package in his hand, and rare back in in one motion popped him in the jaw and he went over like an oak tree that been cut down. Just fail right there in the middle of the mall and his two buddies got family tried to piggyback up but he was just too still woozy to even get up and and everybody just can't look in and then finally they got them up. They walked often and didn't say a word. Nobody called the police. Nobody said anything that the men why just kept walking, and so I was still behind him. Finally, the wife turned around she said did you do that and he said I'm a jealous husband.

Case closed. Now I'm a pastor and I know that I'm supposed to be a kind of a nonviolent type of guy that I tell you what there was something down inside of me that wanted applaud what that man did. It was something down inside of me that said yes.

A man that would do something like that and I'm a man that would that would make a comment like that to another man's wife. He deserves to get a knot on his head and folks I will submit you today that this man's jealousy did not come from the flesh did not come from Satan. I believe that kind of jealousy comes from God. I'm not saying that him pop and he came from God. I am saying the jealousy that was going on in his heart is God's way of me in protecting their wives. I do realize that jealousy can be perverted and hidden can be perverted and something that can be very ugly their relationship for husband or a wife this is just overly possessive and and suppressive lady Jellison and they just kinda smother there might not. That's not a good thing us that were talking about here. I'm talking about a healthy God inducing jealousy which is not a bad emotion.

I believe it's a God-given emotion. Jealousy is one of the divine attributes of God in Exodus chapter 34 verse 14. The Scripture says, for you shall worship no other gods of the Lord's name is jealous is a jealous God.

The command that we have before us tonight.

The command to love not the world, a it is a command that emanates from God's attribute of jealousy. The question that stems from this command is this. If you claim to be a Christian. Are you faithful to him.

Are you faithful to doing are you obedient to the first commandment, that you have no other gods before you, you take seriously the statement that Jesus made. You shall not serve two masters. You babble for the. The command that Paul gave us as Christians.

Be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God's command tells us that God is jealous over our relationship with the world and what is he jealous over. He is jealous of our affections were Presbyterian Church on Presbyterian out of conviction, not convenience and we because we are Presbyterians because we believe what the Bible says we take very seriously the doctrine of God's sovereignty in this church.

We believe it we we we teach it wait preach it. We believe that we breathe it. It's very important to us. We take that that doctrine and we embrace it and we love that doctrine but but you know a strong belief in God's sovereignty can so solidify your thinking about God and how he operates that your understanding of his other attributes can sometimes diminish. For example, if God Almighty is totally sovereign and control of all his creation. God is all wise, all-powerful, immutable, and unchangeable and is everywhere present, then it's easy to perceive him as being a motionless.

He is so holy, so glorious that nothing can affect his emotions and you know that's not true and and and hit Ephesians chapter 4 verse 30. The Scripture says this grieve not the Holy Spirit of God which you were sealed for the day of redemption.

The word for greed. There is a extremely strong word of sorrow.

In fact, is one of the strongest words in the Greek language for sorrow it means to be an over double with grief and it means it is a picture of a husband who is lost his wife or I had one of his children to die in his heart is absolutely broken and he's bent over double and grief when Jesus came back to Bethany while Lazarus was still in the in the tomb while all that's going on. He saw the hurt and in the heart of Martha and Mary and what did he do the Scripture says, and even knowing that he's been raising from the dead. Jesus wept when Jesus looked over the city of Jerusalem, realizing that the city of Jerusalem was rejecting him as their Messiah. He said oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how I have long together you together as a hen gathers her chicks and you would not come and Jesus wept paperless at all. That was just the humanity of Jesus speaking it and it was going to get in the way of his deity, but once he went on to heaven, then all that was was finished and and there's not that emotion.

Folks, that's not true. Our God is an emotional God wrath is an emotion pleasure is an emotion. Joy is an emotion. Jealousy is a motion.

Grief is a motion. He is filled with holy passion.

And that's a good thing in our little minds. We think that if God knows the future as well as the present. If God knows how I'm gonna see them before I see. And then when I see and it doesn't hurt him. That is absolutely wrong so it is wrong wrong thought of God to view his sovereignty as some kind of mechanical rigid, unemotional rule is not controlled by his emotions.

They were controlled by his emotions would all be in trouble.

But that's not the case. I want you to see that when I say that God is jealous. I mean he is really jealous.

He is hurt when we love the world more than we love him. Now my story of the husband. He smacked the man who was coming coming onto his wife that that husband was acting out of righteous indignation. He was protecting his wife and he was punishing that guy who had had come home to his wife and harassed her, and we understand that but what if his wife had gone over to the man is laying down on the floor just got knocked down and when she threw her arms around his neck, she said, I'm so sorry for the for the way that my husband acted. I just apologize to him I appreciated that the things that you had to say in the attention that you are giving million and you're kinda cute yourself what is said that that he would not of been acting out of righteous indignation. He would been acting out a deep deep hurt, and as we look at this command today. We need to see that that is what's going on in the heart of God. When we love the world and love the world more than we love him is the deep grief that he feels in his heart hi the three points that I want to deal with.

First of all is the command in verse 15 do not love the world of the things of the world.

If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. Here's a question have had, how, why would God tell us not to love the world, when John 316 tells us, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believe them should not perish but have everlasting life of the word for world they are is the is the Greek word cosmos has to do with the, the world of people it has to do with God. Not just loving the Jewish people, but his love going out to to the entire world. Different people from every tribe kindred time and nation the word cosmos is also used in first John 215, but here it means something different, it makes a world system at weight means what motivates and and how I how the world operates. It is the political economic material and social system at the secular world I think is important to first understand what don't love the world does not mean first of all, it does not mean Pharisaism now when we study through the four Gospels and the book of acts we come to understand what makes the Pharisees take the Pharisees were the people he said we don't want to be like the world we want to be non-whirly. That's are our greatest desire, they were surrounded by pagan culture and that pagan culture they felt was going to do damage to the purity of their religion.

Pharisaism started back in the Babylonian captivity when they were in Babel and taken away from their homeland. There was no temple for them to go and sacrifice in and worship in and and so these Pharisees decide what we can do is we can set up little buildings and will call them synagogues, and every Jewish community and then will go in and will spend time they are on the Sabbath day will give time to the wall of God and the more we at study love the law of God, the more we get the law of God in our heart, the better offer. Gonna be and so when they went back to Israel. They took the synagogue idea with them, and synagogues were all, like our our modern-day churches.

There were places of of worship places to study the word of God and one of the things that they did in the in the nut in their Pharisaism was they exalted the law to just a very powerful height and they exalted it like they built what they call the fence around the laudable was that the fence around the law was a whole bunch of little laws that they would that they would surround the 10 Commandments with and they would say we gonna be sure that we keep these little laws in order that we can be sure that you won't break the big laws.

For example, fourth commandment says thou shalt keep the Sabbath day holy don't work on the Sabbath day there was a command in the Old Testament said you're not supposed to carry a burden on the Sabbath day so they lace and what you know may be what would constitute a burden is a maybe with with too much saliva in our mouth that would be considered to be a burden. And so one of the little laws was that you had to spit so many times a day to be sure you are carrying a burden on the Sabbath day was Holly's kinda crazy things like that and John MacArthur's book on exposing faults, spiritual leaders, he gave some descriptions of different types of Pharisees and of what they were called in Jesus day only share three of them with you. Number one, the shoulder Pharisee, the shoulder Pharisee wars good deeds on his shoulder. He paraded the good he did when he prayed he put ashes on his head he would look sad so that everyone would know how positive spiritually was, and then the bruised and bleeding Pharisee, the bruised and bleeding Pharisee thought it was a sin to look at a woman.

So whenever women were around. He bent over and closed his eyes. He kept running the walls. As result, according to Pharisee the more bruises you have, the more holy you were. Then there's the humpback stumbling Pharisee, the humpbacks tumbling Pharisee decide desire to show his humility so he slouched over been his back walked around all day in that humble position. He also thought it was wrong to lift his feet as we shuffled consequently kept tripping on things and tumbling so those standards show why Jesus had such a disdain for the phoniness of the Pharisee we have any of that today in any of our churches believe we do. We have a lot of churches today that that will give you a list of things that you have to do to to be holy and is usually a list of what they like and what they dislike. I know some churches that a if you're in their church than you have to have a specific had a haircut. Your hair has to be up over your ear.

If you're a God, and by no means can you you have a beard you have to be unshaven yet to be shaven and not unshaven. So first, when John says love of the world. He's not talking about this is not talking about Pharisaism which by the way always leads to to judge mentalism. Secondly, is not talking about asceticism what is asceticism asceticism is is giving things up with to make yourself more godly. So if I fast a lot or if I missed sleep or like Martin Luther for flagellate myself in the back with a whip or if I say I'm not going to get married when I would like to get married. I noticed a celibate and and this is what God would have me to do then that's asceticism trying to make yourself right before God by giving things up. Now Christianity should never be measured by what we don't do the Shinto list and the Hindus in the Buddhist and and even atheist don't do a lot of these very same things that doesn't make them righteous.

Got to dioxins at home.

I don't drink smoke or chew and yet they are not righteous. We love them but they are not righteous.

Thirdly, not loving the world is not monasticism. John is not advocating a hermit lifestyle. There is no place in John's theology for those who want to withdraw from the world and and, Bill, some kind of holy huddle. John Stott calls these people rabbit hole Christians.

He says the rabbit hole Christians is so unbalanced that he actually fears the world so he gets up he looks out of his safe haven of his home and and that he runs to church against the church and get ready to leave when he runs to the Christian bookstore and after he leaves a Christian bookstore to run to the Christian coffee Isles that he runs to a Christian friends house finally gets back home and he wipes his brow says sure didn't come to in contact with one believer today with one unbeliever today and he thinks that's good but that's not what John's talking about here. I love John Piper's philosophy of ministry. John Piper and all the members of his staff live in a section of Minneapolis that is is just a very rough section in downtown Minneapolis and he says a lot of times at night you can you gunshots going off their drunks.

There lay in the street prostitutes on the corner and yet they live. They are willing to administer these people I talked to I take him home for supper. They take them to church share the gospel with these people and they earned the right to share the gospel with these people and some amazing thing that takes place ESA will not cut a dangerous here that is dangerous but whoever said that Christianity wasn't dangerous.

John Piper is a great author is written a plethora of books if he had taken the royalties for his books and just A small percent royalties.

He could be a multimillionaire today, but he won't take any money from his books.

All the royalties for his books go straight to missions is never taken one penny at one of Piper's pastors conference back in the 1990s I went to the conference and and the theme was the Christian in his money and took it from first Timothy 672 10 since we bought nothing into this world. We cannot take anything out, but if we have food and clothing with those we will be content with those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare and the many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into and destruction of the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil is through this craving that some have wondered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains to desire to be rich to be controlled by material things. That's what John's talking about here when he's talking about the world.

Alright, so that's what. Do not loving the world is not so what is not live in the world. What is it only give you few definitions here. Sam Gordon described worldliness. This way is anything that keeps me from loving God is all the loving and from doing the will of God is all to do it Billy Sunday. I like the way he said it said it makes no more sense to talk about a worldly Christian than it does to talk to heavenly devil. What John is concerned about here is your affections.

What moves you. What makes you tick, what excites you what all of what rings your bail is not wrong to enjoy God's creation is not wrong to be wealthy is not wrong to enjoy art or music or or sports unless art music or sports becomes more satisfying to you than God. Would you rather have $1 million, or see somebody come into a saving relationship with Christ really would you rather have $1 million, or see somebody genuinely come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Would you rather read a steamy romance novel. Would you rather do a deep study of the book of Ephesians is what John's hit net. You see, John is been in the presence of Christ. John is is seen the future glory.

So don't tell him that NASCAR compares with God, don't. Don't tell him that golf compares with God.

He knows better. He knows better. John knows better and that's what he's telling us here when he says love not the world leave the things in the world any man loves the world, the love of the father is not in him hi that's the command. Ellis look at the command defined verse 16 for all that is in the world.

The desires of the fleshly desires lies in the pride of life is not from the father world art. We have three attacks here. The first is called Lester the desires of the flesh. The attack years on the body, the lust of the flesh can be sensual. It's the desire to think about or engage in promiscuous activity easy it is to and even just to think about it is not just the physical act.

It even the thought life. It was Jesus himself. He said said this, he said you've heard it said by them of old. I shall not commit adultery but I send you.

If you can look upon a woman as to lust after her, you committed adultery already with her in your heart Alastair Beck said it this way he defines lust.

He said lust is the love of beauty divorced from the love of goodness, it's a good way to put it Randy Alcorn's written a little book called the purity principle. I would encourage every man in this congregation to read that book's great book the mega statement and read this to you thought this is good. He says suppose I said to you I come on over this watch Titanic. The movie Christians recommend this movie church youth groups view it together. Many of showed in their homes. Yet the movie contains nudity and premarital sex. It may be a popular movie but is that good for the soul. No lust of the flesh includes the desire to overeat and the doing of it to over drink and the doing of it, the lust of the flesh is an attack against the body. Secondly, the lust of the eyes is aimed at the soul and what is the soul.

As always, is the real you. It's your mind will and emotions. This is the lust for power, position and prestige.

It is the lust for material things. Now you wanted to discover what this ENE is then just go to any magazine and take a look at the at at the advertisements and you'll see an advertisement for homes in a particular community and and what will the advertisement say this is where you need to live because if you live here.

It's a notch above what everybody else is living or you need to buy this particular car because this car will not just get you from point A to point B. It will get you there was style and if you had this car you can be a notch above. Why should you wear with pair jeans over another player with this particular pair jeans has a a a label over the pocket, and if you wear these than people know your something special, but that is the lust of the eyes. The third temptation is the pride of life, and this attacks hits us in the area of the spirit. This has to do with pride in who you are as a person. Your bloodline, your race where you attended school your social status. All these different kind of things is also a problem among preachers there preachers they say were trying to reach a certain demographic in our church and this is kind of the people that we won't hear and and this is that the type of people that we feel really fit in it. Somebody comes in and they're not of that demographic and preacher, I would say you know I you probably not really happy here, but you probably need to look somewhere else because this is Chris probably not your, place bugs that is the is the pride of life and it stinks. It absolutely stinks. We ought to be a in in this church and look if you love the Lord Jesus.

If you desire to to submit and surrender to his will. If you believe the doctrines of this church. You are welcome here were glad to have you here no matter what your social status is, no matter what color you are no and no matter what's going home AA in in your in your culture or your ginger. I say the pride of life hits us in the area of the spirit because it causes us to deny our depravity and it causes us to forget our desperate need of the Savior very quickly.

The command obey verse 17, the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. What he means is this if you still love the world, the things of it, then it is clear that you don't understand that all of this is passing away. You might be the best looking man best looking woman in the world just what is not going last.

You don't get older you don't look haggard. You're not going be as pretty as you want for that's gonna happen and and and wealth, riches, learning, knowledge, social status, and all those things they have what in them that the seed of death in them. They're not gonna last.

If we're Christians and we have a new mind that has an eternal perspective and will realize that God is called us to invest in that which is eternal like what what loving people, loving people and showing them Jesus instead of just telling them about Jesus ministering to somebody is lonely ministering to somebody's hungry ministering to somebody who just is hurting than on the inside in the somebody to care telling somebody about Christ who doesn't understand the gospel in sharing the gospel with that person given to missions. What is that it is doing the will of God. It is storing up treasure in heaven and he you does that will what will abide forever John Piper could be a millionaire living in a great mansion if he wanted to. He says is not worth it. It's not worth it. Take the whole world and give me Jesus brothers and sisters. That's where we need to be. That's the attitude that every child of God. All have take the world and give me Jesus spring heavenly father we thank you and praise you tonight for your goodness in your lovely, thank you for the instruction that John is giving us. We pray heavenly father that we might take it apart and Lord, we know that there is great temptation in the world. We know Lord that sometimes it's difficult to turn our back on it.

Heavenly father, help us to realize that it's all passing away and that what should concern us is that which is eternal and Lord that'll be our goal that all of your hard help us heavenly father that we might not love the world, but that we might live Jesus with everything that sentence got in directors Lord all that we do. May our lives bring you honor and it is in the holy and precious name of Jesus that we pray. Amen