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00:00:00 today's scripture reading is taken from 1 John 2:2 to1 17 reason for writing I'm writing to you dear children because your sin have been forgiven on account of his name I'm writing to you fathers because you know him who is from the beginning I'm writing to you young men because you have overcome the evil one I write to you dear children because you know the father I write to you fathers because you know him who is from the beginning I write to you young men because you are strong and the word of
00:00:33 God lives in you and you have overcome the evil one on not loving the world do not love the world or anything in the world if anyone loves the world love for the father is not in them for everything in the world the loss of the flesh the loss of the eyes and the pride of life comes not from the father but from the world the world and its desire pass away but whoever does the will of God lives forever this is the word of the Lord testing testing good morning Brothers and Sisters in Christ can you
00:01:10 hear me good okay good morning all right today our passage uh oh I have to give the announcements for the sermons in uh the Future Okay so next week we have uh the appointment that has been appointed for us Hebrews chapter 9 verse 27 by pastor Raymond Raj uh the week after the family in Exodus series who am I my Lord Exodus 3:1 to 4:1 17 by uh our Elder Arnold Lim uh the Antichrist and false teachings uh the greatest danger to the church 1 John chapter 2: 18 uh to 27 should be a continuation of what we have
00:01:47 today by Dr Peter all right um okay so for today we are going to consider first John chap 2 uh: 12-1 17 and before we begin shall we ask asked the Lord for help in prayer Our God and our father we come before your presence we give thanks for our Lord Jesus Christ who has bought us with a price he has bought us our father so that we can be taken out of this world one day to be with him in your presence father as we consider what is before us today in 1 John Chapter 2 we pray for wisdom wisdom that we so need
00:02:24 to understand your word father open our eyes to behold wondrous things in thy law open our hearts and our minds that we may be receptive even to the instructions that You' have given to us so father we just pray for your spirit to be our guide in the hour ahead as we open your word and we ask this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ amen right so we have already considered uh the reading just now um today we'll go a little quick on the first part um so I'll divide this very quickly into two verses 12 to 14 and verses 15 15 to
00:03:01 17 so verses 12 to 14 you can say it's like the appetizer as it were to what we are going to consider as the main cause versus 15 to 17 today so we won't spend too much time there so you remember in previous uh studies of First John we are talking about fellowship with God and one of those things that accompanies fellowship with God is to love your brothers and your sisters in Christ that the portion that came before this so in 1 John 2:12 now we will take a look at say for example the first three verses First I
00:03:38 write unto you little children because your sins have forgiven you for his name's sake so there are three groups of people here that um are addressed the second I write unto you fathers that's verse um 13 because you have known him that is from the beginning I write unto you young men third group because you have overcome the wicked one I write to you little children because you have known the father I have written unto you repeated fathers because you have known him that is from the beginning I have
00:04:10 written unto you young men because you are strong the word of God abideth in you and you have overcome the wicked one again we will not spend too much time here what is this portion talking about why is John seems to be like a bit of a sinal old man you know going and rambling over and over the same things but I assure you he's not so he actually gives them exhortations and what are these exhortations now if I'm able to rearrange it as it were you can see that the little children then refers to um
00:04:42 the things that they have to do you or or the things that have they have experienced in this case so I can divide this into two parts now this getting a little technical bear with me there's a reason why I'm doing this the first little children and the second little children actually divides these two parts the first little children tells us of a state and the second little children tells us of a state that is early on in the process of Fellowship so there's the difference the first one refers to relationship and how
00:05:15 do we know this the word that is used little children in the first one is not the same word as the second one one is referring to the relationship and the other is referring to maturity or the lack of it so we as all Christians who those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ we have known our sins forgiven by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ so when John addresses little children he's saying all Christians all of us are children of God your sins have forgiven you but the second one is a little bit different the
00:05:51 second one is talking about the stages of growth in Fellowship where you have little children you have young men and you have fathers so here come comes the interesting part why is he talking about this is because there is a stage of growth in Fellowship which brings us to our topic today why is he suddenly then talking about the world and you will see later on in about three or four weeks God willing about false teachers or the Antichrist is because these are the things that can hinder your growth in
00:06:25 fellowship with God okay so that's your appetizer all right these things the ones that we are going to consider today verse 15 to 17 and verse 18 onwards can hinder that Fellowship that growth of that fellowship with God right so that's the main topic what's wrong with loving the world now verse 15 to verse 17 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 for all that is in the world the L of the flesh the L of the eyes and pride of life is
00:07:01 not of the father but is of the world and the world passive away and the last thereof the world in sense is passing away and its lust but he that does the will of God abides forever okay now um the main imperative that there's one thing you're going to take away from today is love not the world now many other translations says do not love the world and they have the the same meaning and neither the things that are in the world so if I break this down there two you can actually see that there is two
00:07:38 portions love not the world neither things that are in the world and he gives us the reason behind why we should not love the world so reason one reason two is reason three we're going to look at it little by little okay so let's focus on the first part love not the world neither the things that are in the world I'm going to bring that down and before we continue any further we're going to do a little exercise okay I'm going to ask a question okay it's a phrase It's A Q I'm going to do a countdown 3 2 1 and we'll all say that
00:08:12 phrase together okay so it goes something like this I'll ask you what is today's takeaway I'll say 3 to one and everyone together will say love not the world all right everyone got that all right let's try that again together yeah all right so what is today's takeaway 3 2 1 love not the world okay that is today's takeaway very simple let's try that one more time what is today's takeway 3 2 1 love not the world okay all right I think that's amply clear we will see the reasons why we're going to do that okay
00:08:50 so when you we talk about love not the world the first part it's very interesting because we sang a song this morning right God so loved the world and suddenly now John in first John he's telling us live not the world don't don't love this world and and John 3:16 Says for God so loved the world so it seems like a bit of a contradiction so to love or not to love it really is something that you know is quite puzzling or is it so in John chapter 3: 16 for God so loved the world the same word is being used in both instances but
00:09:27 the context is different the first refers to the people of the world for God so Lov the people of the world everyone that you see in this world these people God loves them I'm not going to say Lov them he still loves them all of them but when John in 1 John chapter 2:1 15 says love not the world he really is talking about the system of the world the world has many systems we have materialism we have Hedonism we have all the isms of the world the system is the very everything we are not to love so it really refers to worldliness
00:10:06 all right so when he says love not the world is referring to worldliness coming back to the text he differentiates love not the world neither the things that are in the world very confusing right wow we have not loved the world and the things are in what's the difference between the two and the answer is actually found in the text if you go carefully into the verses that come after that the things that are in the world what are they so remember the verse um in this case is 16 for all that is in the world so it's defined for
00:10:51 us here what is in the world and if I can rearrange that all there's in the world really is the lust of the flesh the last of the and the pride of life all these things and if I want to alliterate them I can just put them as the appetite the aage and also our ambition but let us go through one by one what these are so before we go into the reasons so we just still talking about love not the world neither the things that are in the world let's talk about what what is in the world this section I'm not going to
00:11:24 cover in much great detail but we'll still cover it nevertheless using EX examples of what the lust of the flesh is but before we consider the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life what let us consider what is lust and the Greek word for lust is EPA you will hear this phrase coming up and up again um it has been mentioned in gamma before as well it occurs 38 times in the New Testament the idea is to over desire over desire okay so to desire something is not wrong but to overd
00:12:01 desire something beyond the bounds of what we are allowed now that is wrong so say for example um the children of Israel now the context of numbers 11 verse 4 and 5 is about the children of Israel coming out into the Wilderness after Egypt right and they were saying like well I miss the food in Egypt you know they have such nice food there you know I don't know if they have thunder chicken or what but the verse that comes after says we did eat in Egypt freely the Cucumbers the you know the melons
00:12:38 the leaks the onions the garlic fish everything so many things in Egypt that we could eat but we don't have that here in the wilderness have you brought us out here to die that was what the children of Israel murmured against it seems a little unfair right you know God brought them out you know but you they they they forgot something very important and that is that they were in slavery and in bondage in Egypt they forgot that God delivered them out of that bondage and here they are thinking I want to go back to the
00:13:10 place where I was a slave just to enjoy the little things they were promised a land flowing with milk and honey and they just don't trust God in this sense so what about us is in the sense if we were to over desire the things of this world we have been saved from the sins of this world and we want to go back to it it's kind of like a dog returning to his vomit right so if we have been saved from sin when we believe in the Lord Jesus and we want to return to the very sin that we are saved from something is not quite
00:13:44 right it's because we over desire something that is what our flesh wants now Ephesians chapter 2:3 among whom also we had our conversation in times past so it's in past tense in the lust of our flesh fulfilling the desires and of the Flesh and of the mind so it used to be something that we as Christians would do without much thinking we would just go on and on in our ways just like you know um following our instincts and that's pretty much it but God is a God who is also spirit so our bodies are not just a body we also
00:14:25 have a spirit and the spirit is to also please God now let's look at a good example rather than a not so good example of the children of Israel Moses so now he didn't desire he didn't fulfill the desires that he had by faith Moses when he was come to years refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter so remember he was picked out of the river and then he was raised in the household of pharaoh um in you know in Egypt he could have been one of the most powerful men in Egypt but he refused Cho to be called
00:15:00 the son of pharoh's daughter but what do he choose choosing rather to suffer Affliction with the people of God this man must be very silly he can be quite is he he chose rather suffer Affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin but the key word is for a season just for a short while he knew there was something more to this life than just the pleasures that he could have in Egypt to have all the the stuff that the Israelites were yearing for why now this is a very interesting
00:15:36 verse very unusual esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward now the question that we're going to ask is Moses how did he know about Christ he came before Christ many many many years before Christ but what you realize I believe is this that the Messiah was going to come through the line of the Hebrews and he knew that that line that Messiah that was to come that is far more precious than anything that is temporal here on Earth so that's a good
00:16:16 example of someone who has overcome the lust of the flesh as it were then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season he could have he did not now that brings us back to the second point the lust of the eyes so the L of the eyes is something that is actually simpler to understand than the L of the flesh um oh before we move on before we move to the uh L of the The Ice what about us the L of the flesh are the things that we would want we would desire um say for example I want the luxury of um you know
00:16:48 living in a nice big house I want the luxury of a nice sports car is it wrong to desire any of that and the answer is no the answer to say that something is wrong is if we over desire so I go beyond my means to get those things God has planted in US desires but what if we can't get them and we go beyond our means to actually obtain those things so in other words maybe um you know I want to get a big government tender I'm going to bribe the officials you know so that I can get a lot of money or maybe
00:17:25 perhaps I can cheat the poor you know just like zakus did you know when he collected their taxes just so that I can fulfill my desires there an over desire so there's a difference between desire and over desire same thing with the last of the eyes let's move to the next Point um David's adultery basba that's another example okay now David was a good man we are told because he was a man after God's Own Heart and he was um spoken very highly about in the Old Testament but nevertheless David was a man with
00:17:56 flaws and weaknesses in second Samuel 11 he was already anointed king but um he started to be complacent he they were actually at War but instead of leading his army in the battle he was actually um at his Palace he was really just sitting down and looking around he had nothing better to do okay so in 2 Samuel 11 it was mentioned that he saw a woman washing herself on the rooftop and BBA she was very beautiful to look upon notice that she was not just beautiful she was very beautiful and if the Bible says she was very
00:18:42 beautiful she must be very beautiful okay and David sent and inquired after the woman and said you know is not this BBA someone else's wife the wife of Uriah the H and David did something very very stupid he sent messages he ask someone to come take her and she came in to him she came to visit him and he lay with her he slept with her he was sleeping with someone else's wife he committed adultery while his soldiers were out there in battle now how did that happen he saw something and he desired it the
00:19:22 problem was he overd desired it to the point that he actually took action to bring that woman and to sleep with her so that is the L of the ice the example that the Bible gives so moving on the pride of life now the pride of life we will look at an example of the Rich Young Ruler in the Bible and the Rich Young Ruler he came to the Lord Jesus he had a spiritual need and he just asked him you know Master a good Master what should I do that I may inherit eternal life and the Lord Jesus says why did you call me
00:19:56 good do this this this this this and you shall have eternal life as it were that's the price to pay but unfortunately the Rich Young Ruler he went away grieved for he had great possessions because the Lord asked him go sell what you have and give to the poor now this passage is not to say that um you know if you were to sell all that you have and give to the poor and follow the ten commandments you're going to go to heaven that's not the point of the passage the point of the passage is to show that every one has a weakness and
00:20:30 the Rich Young ruler's case the weakness that he have that he can't meet God's standard was that he cannot let go of what is in this world he went away grief for he had great possessions other people have different weaknesses all of us are sinners before God's sight and we are in need of God's salvation the verses that come after that he says it is easier for a camel to enter the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God is the Lord Jesus condemning rich people and the answer is no he's
00:21:04 condemning something else and that is found in the middle verse how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God they were trusting in riches so it's not about riches it's about trusting in riches it's about the pride of life I am independent I don't need God I can just rely on my riches to live a nice healthy and happy life so it's that Pride there are a lot of ways that Pride can show up it can be in recognition you know I want to be recognized for what I've done and
00:21:34 so on and so forth now we have considered the other biblical examples let's look at one of the examples where all three of them were actually in the picture Eve she saw that the tree was good for food was pleasant to the eyes and the tree to be desired to make one wise she was tempted by all three things in Genesis 3: 6 it was good for food Pleasant to the eyes make one wise all three of these aspects now let's look at another example we've been looking a lot of examples the Lord Jesus Christ is that perfect example and
00:22:11 if we ever need help in terms of overcoming these problems in life we just have to look to Christ in Matthew chapter 4 he did not turn the stones to bread he says it is written he overcame the L of the flesh the devil took him up into a the a very high mountain and says you know if you bow down to me I'll give all these kingdoms to you and he says it is written again he overcame the last of the eyes and finally he overcame the pride of life the devil took him up to the Pinnacle of the temple he'll set him there it says
00:22:47 if you are the Son of God cast yourself down if you are the Son of God so he's trying to say that ah you know I don't think you're the Son of God if you want you have to prove it okay cast yourself down again he says it is written he overcame all three why it's such a perfect example to us for we have not a high priest we cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities our weakness our he cannot Sy it's not that he cannot sympathize with us he can because he was in all points tempted like as we are yet
00:23:16 without sin our perfect example that we can look to in time of need we have already considered what is the world what is in the world all the L of the eyes the L of the Flesh and the life now let's go to to the reasons time is catching up okay reason number one if any man love the world the love of the father is not in him so why shouldn't we love the world we cannot love the world because reason number one is that the love of the world is incompatible with the love of God you can only choose one you can't choose to
00:23:55 love two things at the same time and then you'll tell me no William I can okay if any man love the world the love of the father is not in him we cannot love two things the CIT is equally have you ever tried loving two things equally never mind we will look at examples again okay Matthew CH 6: 24 it says there no man can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or he will or else he will hold to the one and despise the other you cannot serve God and riches you cannot serve
00:24:34 God and materialism you cannot serve God and yourself you have to put Christ first there is only one master because we have only one heart you can't love two things equally it's not to say you can't love two things we actually love many many many things but we can't love two things equally there will definitely be one above the other that's the point of this verse it's not saying that um if I love two things I will hate one and love the other the idea that the Bible has about hate is that you're loving less than the
00:25:15 other anything less is hate so here we stand this morning between two Crossroads um actually two roads at a cross Cross Road so between you can say the broad and the narrow way it's very easy to go down the broad way but not so easy to go down the narrow way no man can serve two masters you have to choose you have to make a choice and it's not an easy choice and every person will be faced with the same Choice do we want to love this world or do we want to love the world to come now three examples of why we can't
00:25:58 love equally all right and this all found in Genesis and very interesting I think we've done the study about this uh not too long back um Isaac to love Jacob or to love Esau in Genesis chapter 25 and Isaac loved Esau Rebecca loved Jacob they had favorites they can't love two equally the next one is um a little more interesting there is a reason why the Lord says um a man shall leave father and mother and cleave unto his wife not wife's here Jacob he loved Rachel more than Leah there's no way he could love
00:26:44 too equally and and it was it was very tragic in that household Leah was unloved and she was so you know bitter she was sad you know why doesn't my husband love me that's how God designed us to be we we aren't supposed to love two things equally so for Jacob the son to Love Joseph or his uh his Brethren and Joseph was his favorite so again among children is hard not to have favorites same example the Lord Jesus also knew we can't live equally now this is a very controversial verse If any man come to
00:27:22 me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and Brethren and sisters yay and his own life also he cannot be my disciple wow I must hate everybody okay remember the idea of the Bible when it says to hate is not to literally absolutely hate it is to love less if you love any of these people more than me if you love your father or your mother more than me Christ says you cannot be my disciple you cannot serve two masters now consider this photo all right something is not quite right right
00:28:01 I think everyone can acknowledge that and and you say like wow this is actually really bad you know um this is actually cheating shouldn't happen but the Bible interestingly puts us a little bit like in that frame in James 4:4 he says you adulterous and adulteresses do you not know that the Friendship of the world is it with God whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God are we friends of the world it's not to say that we can't be friends of people in the world is that are we a
00:28:40 friend of the system of this world are we going to agree with the corruption that is happening around us are we going to agree with the materialism that's happening around us and say that yes you know we are to build our life here on this Earth we should eat drink and be merry you know for tomorrow we die you know there is no life to come there is no eternity so we are to be different from this world now coming on to the next part again we are running out of time so again our exercise what is today's
00:29:12 takeaway 3 2 1 love not the world okay good so why reason number one is because it's incompatible with God love can only be mutually exclusive one or the other you either love the world or you love God you cannot love both at the same time reason number two for all that is in the world the L of the Flesh and the L of the eyes and pride of life we have seen that is not of the father look at the key words for all that is in the world is not of the father it is not of God the world is the inverse is the opposite is the
00:29:50 antithesis of who God Is So for all that in the world if I were to just move that up it's really not of the father you you it is it is not of the same nature it is of opposing Natures so what's the difference of being in the world and off the world and I give an example of say a cup now you can throw oil into a cup of water the oil is in the water but you realize that oil and water don't mix oil is not of the water and the Lord Jesus explains the same way to us I've given them my word and the world hates
00:30:31 them us because they are not of the world we are not of the same nature of this world God is Not of the same nature of this world even as I am not of this world but yet we are still in it but nevertheless our nature should be different it is the inverse of who God is his kingdom the Lord Jesus says is not of this world same thing the world world liness that we face is the opposite of who God is his godliness is not the characteristics of God because God is spiritual he's not fleshly he does not fulfill the desires of the
00:31:08 flesh God doesn't look on the outward appearance he looks at the heart and the Lord Jesus instead of being proud he is meek and lowly he's the most humble person you will see he humbled himself and reason why is because if I last after what my flesh desires I covered things pleasures and satisfaction over Desiring these things the eyes I covered what is not mine what in my neighbor has I want if I love Pride I cover independence from God I don't want to be under God's control so the worldliness
00:31:41 that we see is the opposite of God's character so why do we see the things in this world and chances are is because we find our worth in this world and not in God now there's a parable of the rich fool he says eat drink and be merry you know and he says why does he say that it's because he actually bought a ground that was very fertile and there were lots and lots of fruits and he said wow you know my BN is not enough let's break down this B make bigger BNS you know and he just thinks about the future but without
00:32:11 God in it God is not there and then God says in this Parable you fool this night your soul be required of you so it's he that lays treasure on this Earth for himself and is not rich towards God so the idea here is that there are two things that we need to think about is it the love of this world or the love of God the things that God has and if we think that what we have defines us then we are going to face the same problem as that man in the same passage few verses before beware of covetousness a man's life consists not
00:32:52 in the abundance of things that he possessive it's not what you possess that defines Who You Are and I'm going to ask a question and this is a challenge even to myself do we assign Worth to People based on riches when we look at them do we start to size them up based on what they have or don't have or that man you know he he lives in a flat or you know that woman she lives in a big Bungalow do we a sign Worth or not do we really see people for who they are or what they have and I again this is a challenge to
00:33:31 myself as well yeah not just to everyone here myself as well if that's how we tend to look at people you realize that that's how you look at yourself as well what am I worth is based on how much I have there's a reason why sometimes we hold on to dearly hold on dearly to the things of this world now there's a song called my worth is not in what I own it's a beautiful song because of the lyrics my worth is not in what I own not in strength of Flesh and Bone my worth is not in skill or name in win or lose or in Pride or
00:34:09 shame not in wealth or might or human wisdom's fleeting light because we are finding our wor not in this world but in the costly wounds of love but in the blood of Christ that flowed so that we can boast in in knowing Christ at the cross in 1 Timothy chapter 6: 6 it says there that we brought nothing into this world and certain that we can carry nothing out so why hold on to the riches so dearly if we go to the Grave right you know the the Chinese we we have a lot of Chinese here sorry we're going to use
00:34:47 ourselves an example from the more Pagan backgrounds um you know where you have the T sort of cemetery or the Chinese cemeteries right you realize that the people who are rich usually have the big graves right really really big ones especially for the really really really wealthy but at the end of the day we still occupy the same size of the plot 6 fet Underground there is nothing that we can bring out of this world look at the Great Pyramids of Egypt again they were trying to bring their riches into the
00:35:19 Afterlife as it were but the Bible tells us that we came with nothing we're going to leave with nothing so why do you love this world so much that is the key so the ransom for the Soul what shall it profit a man these two verses are actually stating the same thing if she shall gain the whole world but lose his own soul worth it or not what shall a man give in exchange for his soul can we exchange all the money in the world for God's salvation and the answer is no it's a different currency that God is
00:35:49 looking for and the currency that God is looking for is blood blood of his precious son that's the only thing that can pay for your soul not the money in this world so why do we treasure Earthly things so much it's not not just money but the the things of this world we have already considered the lust of the eyes the lust of the flesh the pride of life now that brings us to the third reason before we continue third reason what is today take away 3 2 1 love not the world why because loving the world
00:36:21 is incompatible with loving God is mutually exclusive the world is inverse of who God is it is the opposite is the anti-thesis and reason number three the world is passing away and the last there but he that does the will of God abides forever why hold on to something that is temporary right it's not going to last for long the world is inconsequential in comparison to God God lasts forever this world doesn't let's take a look at that the world is temporary the world pass away and last there but he that doth the will of God
00:36:56 abide forever so that's the verse that we're looking at and it is as grass we are told that riches are temporal in nature but the rich in that he made low because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away so is again God is Not condemning the rich the Lord is condemning trusting in riches it is those who really hold on to their wealth as though their wealth is God it has become their Idol now that is the very thing that is being condemned it's not just riches that are temporal the flesh is also temporal life
00:37:33 for All Flesh is as grass and all the glory of men as the flower of grass now most of us here I don't know about myself but we won't live very long on this Earth maybe 80 years I can't say for sure but even if just say I could live to 90 what is that in comparison to Eternity eternity is far longer than any time we can spend here on Earth the end of the world is also mentioned in 2 Peter chap 10:13 let's not go into details we just know that it will burn it shall melt with fervent heat the Earth also and the works that are
00:38:08 therein shall be burned up this world is going to be dissolved it's going to disintegrate it's going to be destroyed to make room for a new Heaven and a new Earth this world of sin is going to go why do we want to love something that is going to go away so fast now what I I brought this slide up and you may be thinking you know oh what has this to do with FBC camp now who here is going for the camp so few I thought a lot sign up apparently I was told this morning that it's full I'm not sure now let's try again
00:38:45 okay okay still a bit better than just now all right now when you go for a camp right I think everyone has a home you know and and you have to travel from your home to in this case Pang right so it's Olive Tree hotel now who which of you will say okay you know um I want to make sure I'm going to have a comfy life in that hotel room I'm going to um buy a nice bit for myself let's go to Dan uh danillo or you know um Serta or GAA get myself a nice bit who would actually do that raise your hand no one right I
00:39:26 don't see any hands okay good at least all of us are in our right Minds um and the reason for that is because you are only going to stay there for about three nights why should I invest so heavily in making myself comfortable if it's only going to last for three nights and I have the trouble you know maybe I can't even bring the bed back and I might just lose a lot of money for that bit so that's just one example why make ourselves comfortable if it's only temporary in the world like is also temporary it's not going to last for
00:39:59 long the Bible describes Us in Hebrews chapter 11 as strangers and pilgrims on this Earth we are just sojourners here we we're just foreigners we are not here we're not citizens of this world FBC has many people who are from nor Malaysia overseas but nevertheless we are still in the household the citizens of God the citizens of Heaven this is not our home this is not our place that we should build our Empire or Kingdom as it were we are strangers and pilgrims on this Earth Peter talks about himself I
00:40:45 must put off this my Tabernacle the word Tabernacle is really tent interesting he describes his life here on Earth as a tent he's just camping temporarily just for the time being so why are we trying to make it as though we are going to be here forever now I'm going to tell you a story about this man called Jim Elliot now Jim Elliot is a missionary who went to Ecuador so let's bring up the world map Ecuador is somewhere in South America and Ecuador um has this um indigenous tribe that he wanted to reach
00:41:27 out too so this is the map of Ecuador I don't know where exactly in Ecuador that um that tribe was but he went all the way there in 1958 if I'm not mistaken now the story of Jim goes like this he actually went there to preach the gospel to evangelize to these people over there called the people of the um H H orani tribe or the Ala people they were known as Savages they were violent and they were dangerous there were five of them and in his effort to preach the gospel to them Unfortunately they attacked them and
00:42:07 speared them it's tragic Jim Elliott was only recently married at that time he was 29 years old if I was not mistaken and he wasn't very old he really wasn't very old when he died but he made a lasting impact with the few words that we're going to take a look next he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose let's read that again he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to keep to to gain that which he cannot lose why are we trying to keep that the very thing that keeps us on this
00:43:00 Earth why are we trying to keep that we can't even keep it when we leave this earth why not we give that away to gain something which we cannot lose that's the idea that Jim Elliot had and I think it's very very important to really know where our priorities are should we love the things that are temporary like the bedroom in Pang or our home as it were our home in heaven look not at the things which are seen but the things which are unseen for the things which are seen are temporal they just for the moment for the time
00:43:39 being but the things which are not seen are Eternal in the future but we will see it with our own eyes if we believe in the Lord Jesus so consider this Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus look full in his wonderful face and the things of Earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace strangely dim strangely them here we have a friend we consider this quote we know of no other way by which to keep the love of the world out of our heart than to keep in our hearts the love of God Is by displacement you have to love God in
00:44:18 order for you to love this world less but then you going to say William that is yeah I know I know I know that it's it's very obvious that the Lord wants us to love him but how and no other learn more of what he has done for you and me and then you will grow in love for God the Commandment of Commandments in Matthew chap 22:37 is says Thou shalt love the Lord thy God we all know that we have to love the Lord and only that will displace the love of the world we truly must remember what Lord Jesus has done for us
00:44:58 we love him because he first loved us you cannot love someone unconditionally we are we are we are just humans only God can truly love unconditionally and when God loves us unconditionally we can then understand what he has done for us and then we can reciprocate before we sing our final song I'm going to ask you a question even myself a question you have a choice I have a choice we all have a choice to make Christ or this [Music] world to love the world or to love God and it is something that no one can
00:45:51 run away from and God has commanded us this one thing love not the world love not the world again just to summarize there are three reasons If any man Lov the world the love of the father is not in him loving the world is incompatible is mutually exclusive with the love of God you have to choose one or you choose the other the world is the inverse of who God is it is not his character is not his nature and the world is inconsequential in comparison to God is temporary God is eternal so what is your
00:46:40 choice what is your choice Christ or the world shall we just close with a quick word of prayer Our God and our father we thank you that you so L this world that you gave your only begotten son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life and yet father you have loved us with a love that is so great that it would cost you your dear and only begotten son we have been bought with a price we are not our own and our father we just pray and ask humbly that you will teach us to love
00:47:21 our lord Jesus to love you more and so by extension to not love this dying this temporary this disintegrating World Our Father we ask that you will change our hearts and transform us from within because of him who first loved us and gave himself for us and father we ask this and pray this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ so before we rise to sing for our final song Consider consider what is your decision what is your choice I hope we can all say together I have decided to follow Jesus let us Rise
00:48:13 and Sing thank you brother William for the sharing and let us open up our whole being and commit to the Lord with this song and let's do something different here because the verse is very simple verse one is I have decided to follow Jesus no turning back no turning back verse two is though none go with me still I will follow no turning back and the verse three is the World Behind me the cross before me no turning back so you feel free to close your eyes to sing as I will read it before the line so
00:48:49 let's do this [Music] together I have decided [Music] I have decided to follow Jesus to follow Jesus I have decided I have decid to follow Jesus to follow Jes I have decided I have decided follow Jesus to follow Jesus no turning back no turning not go me not go me still I will still I will fall not go with me not go with me still I will fall still I will fall not go with me still no turning back no turning back no turning back no turning back the World Behind the World Behind me the cross before the cross before me the World
00:50:16 Behind the World Behind me the cross behind the cross before me the World Behind Me the World Behind me the cross cross before me no turning back no turning back no turning back no turning while the music slow down let us do the first tree again the World Behind me the cross before me the World Behind me the cross before for me the World Behind me the cross before me no turning back no turning back no turning back no turning back no [Music] tur if 3:1 17 that Christ May dwell in your hearts by faith that ye being rooted and
00:51:37 grounded in love may be able to comprehend with All Saints what is the breath and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which pass of knowledge and then he might be filled with all the fullness of God and let us all say Amen the meeting is now dismissed have a blessed Sunday have a blessed week
