How to Know that You Know God: The Test of Worldly Affections - 1 John 2:15-17

1:021 John chapter 2, look at verse 15. Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, 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. The world is passing away, and also its lust. But the one who does the Will of God lives forever.

1:34One of the major themes of John's letters that we've been working through, 1 John, 2 John, and 3rd John, is to identify false teachers. He wants the churches to be able to identify who the false teachers are. There are two kinds of false teachers. There are the false teachers that just get the doctrine all wrong. They're off biblically. And we'll come to those after this, after today. We'll get into the test of doctrine. But there are those teachers that are just off biblically. There's a second kind of false teacher, and that's the one who is off spiritually.

2:23They articulate biblical theology well enough, but their life is a living contradiction. 95% of what they say is true, good, orthodox, biblical, correct, and yet their life is a living contradiction. This happened John's day. It happens in ours. Those of you who are following some of the developments in the world of evangelicalism will know that another major Spokesperson, Christian professor has fallen into scandal. We're surprised when it happens, but if you live long enough, you'll see it happen again and again and again. Because there are those false teachers who are off spiritually. They may profess what is accurate, but they themselves are a living contradiction. And in our minds, that may be hard to grasp because they seem so true.

3:45Yet in John's mind, it's to be expected. In fact, he goes through very clearly in this letter. He wants his disciples, he wants the church to understand how to tell the difference. And in this chapter alone, we've looked at the test of obedience in verses 3 through 6. The one who knows God obeys Jesus' commandments and lives like he did. Test of obedience. Then there's the test of love. Those who know God love like he did.

4:25Verses 11 through 7, or 7 through 11. And then there's the test of spiritual growth. Those who are in the truth progress spiritually. And then today we'll look at what I call the test of worldly affections. The one who longs for the things of this world does not know God. The one who sets his heart on pursues the things of the world does not know God. This is John's talking. In John's mind, it's so clear. The ones who obey Jesus are the ones who know the Heavenly Father.

5:14The ones who love like he did are the ones who know him. The ones who grow spiritually are the ones who know him. And the ones who have set their affections on heavenly things are the ones who know him. And there will be false teachers of different sorts in every generation, and many of them, we're not to be ignorant. But another major theme is not just to help us identify false teachers, but John wants to, while he's exposing false teachers, he's wanting. Assure to assure those that they know God. So, on the one hand, he's assuring the faithful and he is warning the false converts and the false teachers. And so, we have to look into our own hearts and ask ourselves these same questions. It's not just about identifying those out there, but to identify ourselves. Do we know God? Do you know God? How do you know that you know? Well, the test of worldly affections says a lot about who you are. What enthralls you when you look at all the things that are going on in this world and everything that you've come to experience? What enthralls you? What is that principle that surpasses them all? What enthralls your soul? What captivates your soul?

7:07Do you find beauty in the Christ that we just sung about? You're beautiful. One of the biggest tragedies is to have professed him and not really possessed him. To be a professor and yet not a possessor. John says there's many professors, many who claim to be in the light, but they do not possess the light. What a shame to have professed him and never to have known him. To me, that's one of the biggest tragedies of them all. He is beautiful. And as you gaze upon him, you will be transformed into his image. He is so beautiful that he transforms those who look upon him. Beauty is contagious.

8:13Don't be satisfied with just a superficial knowledge of who this Jesus of Nazareth is. Well, look back at verse 12 through 14. We looked at this last time. John is writing to them not because they don't know him, but because they do know God. I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for his name's sake. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you know the Father. You see, all of this, he's writing to them, not because They don't know him, but because they do know him.

9:05And since they do know him, they need to set their affections on him and not on worldly pursuits. And that's what exactly John goes on to tell them in verses 15 to 17, our text this morning. They do know God, so their affections should show it. If you know God, your affections should show it. If you are in the light, your affections, what you set your heart on, should show that you know him. Look at verse 15: Do not love the world or the things in the world. There is the command: Do not love the world nor the things in the world. This is the main command we've come to in this chapter: do not be loving the world. It is imperative.

10:14Do not be loving. This is the command. This is the exhortation. Since you do know him, since you are progressing spiritually, do not set your affections on the things of the world. It's interesting, he's addressing all of them. If you look at that, the young children, the young men who've overcome, the evil one, the fathers who have known, he's addressing them all, and he's exhorting them all with the same exhortation: do not love the world or the things in the world.

10:56Even though he's addressed them all, his exhortation to them is the same. Listen, the temptations in this world don't cease when you become a Christian. And regardless of where you are in your spiritual journey, regardless of where you are in the sanctification process, set your affections on what God desires, not on the desires of the world. That's the biblical exhortation that keeps coming over and over to us. And John articulates it here. Life is quickly passing by.

11:40It is going quickly. I think you all know that. Even if you're young, you realize time goes quickly. Make the most of your time. Make the most of your time. Time while you are on this earth, do the things that will last, do the things that will count. Do not be preoccupied with that which is passing away. Do not be preoccupied with things that will zap your strength and leave you nothing in return. The world draws us.

12:41Don't give your strength to it. That's the exhortation. And then John goes on to give us three reasons why professing Christians should not set their affections upon the world. Three reasons why professing Christians should not set their affections upon the things of the world. We have to ask yourself this question: Are you a professor or a possessor? Are you merely a professor, or do you really possess the light of truth? Are you in this fellowship of light? Well, I want to look at these three reasons so that you will not give your strength pursuing things of this world. So that you'll give your strength to the Lord. You'll give your love, all of it, mind, strength, everything you are to this beautiful one from Nazareth.

13:50Three reasons. Number one, a love for the world does not coexist with the love for our Heavenly Father. This is one reason why professing Christians should not set your affections upon the things of this world. They don't coexist with the love for our Heavenly Father. If you love the things of this world, you can be sure that the love of the Father isn't in you. Look back at verse 15. Do not love the world, nor the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Isn't it nice how clearly John states things? If anyone, anyone, regardless of where they are in the constellation of this place we call earth, no matter where they are and their stratums and structures and places, If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in them. That's how you can tell who's in, even in your own heart. He uses the word agape here, which speaks about devotion. Agape is about devotion, union.

15:27Remember the schoolyard, love relationships, elementary schoolyard, love relationships, the word is steady. You ever heard that one? Going steady, right? There's, I remember there were little boy-crazy girls, and there were little girl-crazy boys. They like to go steady. The really girl-crazy boys wanted to go steady with all the girls. That doesn't work, does it? Such individuals had their error pointed out to them quite clearly. No one can have, go steady with multiple spiritual authorities. And that's the Concept here.

16:32Jesus said it, Matthew 6:24, no one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. No one, Jesus says. And yet we go through life thinking, oh, yeah, no, that person can love one or the other, and we get confused. It's not clear. I mean, it's not confused in Scripture. No one can serve two masters, Jesus says. James said it as well. Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

17:18Jesus said it, James said it, and John says it here. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. The love for or devotion to your heavenly Father does not coexist with the devotion to the world. You cannot be devoted to the world and devoted to your heavenly Father. One must have priority. And when push comes to shove, even though for a while you may look like you can serve both, ultimately one has dominance.

17:58And you'll learn to despise the. The one you don't love. And there are two reasons, or two reasons why the love of the world cannot coexist with the love of the Father. One is philosophically, and the other is practically. Philosophically, you cannot serve two masters. They are antagonistic to one another. You cannot serve these two. They are like two kings, two masters. They don't sit at the same table. They don't operate from a common ideal. Philosophically, they're different, but practically, also, we cannot love. You cannot love God as he intends if we give our strength to pursuing other things.

18:58You know, for example, just as we've been looking, Jesus wants his disciples to obey his new commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. Guess what that's going to take? Everything. If you're going to obey him, if you're going to love each other like he loved us, he gave everything. Listen, he didn't have a place to lay his head. He gave of himself. He came emptying himself to make others rich, to give himself over. Away. If you are going to love like that, you cannot be pursuing the things of this world.

19:40You cannot give your strength in that category and then be obedient in the other. You know, marriage, a beautiful picture of this. We often think of love as some uncontrollable feeling, right? That's how it's portrayed, some uncontrollable feeling. And then when that's over, well, just go find somebody else that you can have another uncontrollable moment with. But marriage, it's about devotion, isn't it? It's about agape, devotion. And that's really what happens when people pledge their lives together. What you see is a pledge of agape.

20:33And what happens is out of that devotion will develop a philosoph, a growing likeness, a growing familiarity, a growing fondness. And what grows out of that is an eros. Often we use the word eros erotic in a negative sense. But really, there is a positive sense, an intimate sense of this romantic love that it's built upon devotion. You can only go deeper with individuals as you grow. It comes out of devotion fundamentally, and then you grow to be more familiar with. In fact, I can even say, as I wonder, when I got married, when I first was married, to what degree did I really love my wife? It grows. You grow in fondness, you grow in oneness.

21:40Spiritual beings becoming one, unique agape, philosophy. But the one who is devoted to the basic pursuits of this world is not devoted to God's will, will not develop a love for the things of God, and will not come to know, come into that intimate relationship with their heavenly Father. They will never know God intimately because they're too busy being devoted and friendly and one with the pursuits of this world. So, three reasons. One reason professing Christians should not. Set your affection upon the things of this world is that a love for the world does not, will not, cannot exist with the love for our Heavenly Father.

22:40Second reason: a love for the world is not given from above. A love for the world has an origin, and it's not from above. Look back at verse 16: For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father but from the world. For all that is in the world is not from the Father, but from the world. The world. Now, when you come across this term world in John's vernacular, there are several things that come to mind. Sometimes, when he's talking about the world, he's talking about the people in the world. For God so loved the world, he gave his only son, people in the world. Sometimes that's the idea, and yes, we are called, God loves the world in that sense. He loves the people of the world. We're called to love the people in this world.

23:47But sometimes John uses this term world to refer to the evil system that is controlled by Satan. And that's how he's using it here. The world is fundamentally adversarial to God. And when he's talking about loving the world, he's talking about a participation, a love for the world, a love to participate, a love to be involved in those pursuits that make up the fallen world. That's what he's talking about. Participation in the system that is hostile to God.

24:30That's how, if you look at the greater way, John uses the word world, but he goes on specifically in this verse to give you three descriptions. Satan's system of government plays upon temptation. It plays upon enticing people to elevate their own preferences above God's. That's how Satan works. To get you to follow your heart over God's will, to do what seems right over God's will, wanting that to be the supreme principle. That's how he operates. He entices people. And there's three specific ways he does this: lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life. At least three that John mentions.

25:30Lust of the flesh. Word for lust refers to longings, cravings, desires. Sometimes it's used in a morally neutral sense. There are legitimate cravings and longings that our flesh has. Flesh, this moral disposition, this natural order, this body. There are certain longings and cravings and desires, but even those good cravings are not to take priority over God's will. Sometimes this idea here is referring to defiling passions, the lust of the flesh, the defiling. You cannot pursue the defiling passions.

26:37That's not from the Father. Well, certainly, that is not from the Father. But even if you champion good, seemingly good pursuits that are good, maybe in and of themselves, anything. Any pursuit above God is not from the Father, but from the world. So there are temptations that as you go through life, you're going to experience that come out of this world that play upon your inner desires, inner natural desires, as being part of this fallen worldly system. Satan plays upon them.

27:33So that playing upon them, you will come to elevate your own will, go after those things. Jesus said this in Matthew 6:31. Do not worry then, saying, What will we eat, what will we drink, or what will we wear for clothing? For the Gentiles eagerly seek all of these things, for your heavenly Father knows that you need all of these things, but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

28:13The lust of the flesh. There's another phrase here that speaks about this that's in the world, the lust of the eyes, the desires of the eyes. And this phrase refers to those temptations that arise from the things we see, from the things that catch our eyes and go in and then play upon this lust of the flesh. But it's this lust of the eyes. It's the things that we see from the outside that go in and we find captivating and enthralling.

28:54Remember Eve's sin, Genesis 3:6 began when Eve saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes. And so she gave that which was forbidden to her husband. You remember Achan? You remember that conquest back in Joshua 7. Remember that? Wasn't supposed to take anything under the ban, but what happened? He says, I went in and I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar and 200 shekels of silver and a bar of gold, 50 shekels in weight. Then I coveted them. After I saw them, I coveted them. And then I took them and I concealed them in the earth beneath my tent. That's where they are. And Achan led, caused Israel to be defeated in battle and his whole family to be executed. Incredible. Remember Gehazi, 2 Kings chapter 5. What did he desire? Remember Naaman's silver and Naaman's clothes? And so what happened? He pursues Naaman, and guess what he ends up with?

30:19Therefore, the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and to your descendants forever. And he went out white as snow. Remember David, 2 Samuel 11:2. Now, when evening came, David arose from his bed and walked around the roof of the king's house, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful in appearance. And you know what happened next. And David brought into his home, into his house, a sword that would never depart.

30:59Captivated. Listen, God does not tempt anyone to sin. Be careful what your eye looks upon. Be careful. The lust of the eyes does not come from your heavenly Father. Whether they be the worldly goods, the worldly treasures, or the worldly indulgences, they are not from your heavenly father. Don't Pursue those because they're not from him. Pursue that which is from him. Pursue those desires that come from him. Don't pursue the desires that come from this fallen world. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes. But then there's another one: the pride of life. The pride of life.

31:54Literally, the pretensions of life. The pretensions of this bios, the pretensions, the arrogance, the pride. This phrase refers to the bragging rights of life, those bragging points, boasting upon what we have or what we have done, accomplishment or possessions, this boasting. And listen, in every phase of life, in every phase of your spiritual maturity, there are going to be temptations. Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the boastful arrogance of life. They're in every phase. They change, but they're basically the same. I mean, when you're young, you might be tempted to boast in your own strength, or maybe your own ability, maybe in your.

33:00Accomplishments, your own beauty. When you're older, you maybe it's accomplishments, maybe it's possessions. And when you're old, boy, you just could just be tempted to boast about all kinds of things that aren't true. You know, you're, you want to boast in your wisdom, boast in the good old days, you know. Son, when I was your age, I used to run a four-minute mile in cowboy boots. Somehow we lose track, or, you know, I was so hot back then, I just had to carry a fire extinguisher around with me.

33:53I was so influential, I bet my picture is still in the White House. I mean, that's we brag, we brag, and in every phase, we brag differently. And boy, when you get older, you start remembering things very differently, but you can boast. And we, the irony of it all is we brag in order to impress people whom we really don't care about with our own make-believe importance. And we go through life that way with our own make-believe. Importance.

34:32That doesn't come from Him. That doesn't come from your Heavenly Father. We love, we've got this sick sense of boasting in ourselves, putting others down to elevate. That is sickness. That is not a desire that comes from your Father. And we do it in subtle ways, don't we? We put our best foot forward, right? We failed to mention some of the unmentionable, but we constantly, whether it's in speech and even in big things and small things, we tend to put ourselves in the best light instead of focusing on elevating others, honoring God.

35:21We like to make believe we're important and we want everybody to know it. We like to shine and outshine others. That's what this boastful pride of life is about. Wanting to outshine others and using your speech and your accomplishments and your make-believe importance to get there. But the thing that I want you to take away here is and understand and see is that the desires we experience come from somewhere. They have origins. They either originate. From the world, or they originate from God.

36:04And we can think of these desires as gifts. And when you entertain these desires, you receive that gift. Do not receive these thoughts, these desires that come out of a basic fallen world. Be receiving the desires that come from heaven. That's why you're not to put your strength, or why professing Christians should not set their affections upon the things of this world, is because they're not from your heavenly Father. And your heavenly Father knows what is best.

36:47Third, a love for the world is passing away. A third reason why professing Christians should not set your affections or set their affections upon the things of this world is because a love for the world is passing away. Look at verse 17. The world is passing away and also its lusts. But the one who does the will of God lives forever. Two things are passing away, two things that are remaining. I want you to see these. Two things that are passing away. The world is passing away. First of all, the world is passing away.

37:31The world, the fallen worldly order is passing away. Literally, it is passing you by. And boy, like I said earlier, if you haven't noticed, life is passing you by. We're all terminal, aren't we? And life is passing by. That's the, it was even the word to describe Jesus as he was passing by. Same word. Life is passing you by. And there's two ways to react to this reality. I think we all see it, whether you're a believer or an unbeliever. You know, the world is passing you by. And from the worldly perspective, since the world is passing you by, guess what you ought to do? Grab all that you can, jump in, get your thrills while you can. This world is passing you by. That's a worldly response.

38:35But those who are born of the light, since this world is passing us by, let us not preoccupy ourselves with doing the desires of the world, but doing the desires of our heavenly Father. It's all going to be over. It's all going to be over soon. So let us give our strength. Let us do what he wants us to do. It is passing by. The world is passing by. Something is causing it to go out of existence. What is it? Light.

39:13Look back at verse 8. The darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining. That is why the darkness is passing away. That is why this world is passing away. But it's not just the world. Look again, there's another thing that's passing away, and also it's lusts. Think about that. The world, as we know it, is going out of vogue. Because the world is passing away, so also the desires of it. Right? The desires are going away. The world is going away, so also the pursuits of the world are going away.

40:05Years ago, I had some turtlenecks, and my oldest kids were laughing at me, like, Dad, you're so out of it. Well, guess what's coming back in style? Turtlenecks, right? Turtlenecks. The world is going out of style, and it's never coming back in style. So, why would you give yourself to something that is passing away? I remember one of the, probably heard of the Christmas crash, some of you after those who celebrate, sometimes there's you look forward to Christmas, you anticipate it, you have gifts, you open them, and then all this big family, then the day after Christmas is kind of a low point, right? Ever experienced any of that? Well, for me, it was the 4th of July.

41:07At least with Christmas, you had all the gifts and you had your rest and you're getting renewed. But 4th of July, I remember my mom would caution me about spending all my money on fireworks. And so I would, you know, go spend all my money on fireworks. And then all of a sudden, and I would plan, I would spend, and then all of a sudden, in just a matter of half an hour or an hour, it would all go up in smoke. And that's what my mom would say: up in smoke.

41:40Why spend all your money with something that's just going to go up in smoke? Well, that's kind of that, and I remember that empty feeling: like, wow, it was great, but it's over. And I'm broke. I'm broke. It's over. But what a lesson. Why would you, with the time? You have, if you're a child of the light, why would you give yourself to the pursuits of darkness? Emptiness, I assure you, is at the end of that. Ruin and emptiness. And that's what John's saying.

42:19As children of the light, we pursue the things of the light, and that's how you can tell who is in the light. That's how you can tell the difference between true and false teachers. That's how you can judge your own heart. What enthralls you? Two things are passing away: the world and its lusts. But two things remain. Look back. But the one who does the will of God lives forever. So the will of God lives forever. God remains forever, right? So does his will.

43:00God remains forever, and his will remains forever. And those who are doing the will of God remain forever. The one who does the will of God lives forever. The word is remain, remains. The one who is doing the will of God now is the one remaining with God now. And will remain with God throughout the ages. That's what John is communicating. God's will is never going to go out of style. On the contrary, we will come to find it more and more desirable, more and more profound, more and more beautiful, more and more deep. It will ever be a fountain of increasing satisfaction and beauty.

44:05But the one who is devoted to God's will is abiding with Him now. Only that's the only kind of person that's going to live forever. There's only one kind of person that's going to stay in vogue, and that is the person who is doing God's will. You don't do God's will unless you receive a desire to do His will. So do not set your affections upon the things of this world, but upon the things of God.

44:43All of us are going to be tempted throughout this lifetime. Look back at what he says in verse 15: Do not love the world nor the things in this world. If anyone loves the world, The love of the Father is not in him. The darkness is passing away. The light is already shining. So we live in this time of overlap between darkness and light, and we're caught up in the middle. We're pulled in different directions. There is the desire that God has, there is the desire for the world, and these two are in conflict, and we feel the tension. We feel the pressure. For a time, the children of light and the children of darkness live side by side.

45:39It is the children of light who are born of God. It is the children of darkness who are not born of God. That's the reality that we find ourselves in right now. Then the question is: how do we live in such a state of overlapping principles? We're caught up in the middle of this. How do we live? Well, do not love the world. Do not go after it. Do not go after the things of the darkness.

46:18You know, in John 17, 18, Jesus makes a startling statement: As the Father sent Jesus, Jesus says, So I have sent Jesus. My disciples into the world. The world is Satan's sphere of influence, and he has sent us into the world just like his heavenly Father sent him into the world. Jesus did not come into the world seeking worldly things for himself. He came to love those who were passing through this world. He had compassion upon those who had been taken captive and led away by their own lusts through the agency and the temptation of the one who is adversarial to God. And he has compassion on them.

47:20Are you a professor, merely a professor, or are you a possessor of light? Listen, those who are presently living according to their own ways will pass away with this world. If the guiding principle of your life is what seems good to you, regardless of what God says, you can be sure you will pass away with the world. But the good news, John has already announced it in verse 2 of the same chapter, and he himself is the propitiation for our sins and not for our sins only, but Also, for those of the whole world, God has compassion on those who have been deceived, led astray, and so are we.

48:13And He is devoted to saving those who come into the light. That's why He came into the world, and that's why He has sent us into the world. And that is why Christians are not to pursue the things of the world because it doesn't coexist with the love of God, it isn't from above, and the world is passing away. God so loved the world, He loved the people in the world to save them from the entanglements of the world.

48:54So, bring it back to the question: your temptations have not come to an end. But what enthralls you? What enthralls you? What is your affection? Let us move on from let's move on for which salvation has occurred. You know, salvation is from something, by something, and to something. Salvation is from sin, from the power of sin, from the guilt of sin, from the grip of sin. That's why he saves. So, let us be saved. Look upon these wonderful truths. Your Creator, God, has come as a payment for your sin to deliver you from the guilt and the power of sin.

49:46You are saved from sin. You are saved by God. You are saved by something, and you are saved to something. You are saved from sin by God so that you will overcome sin and know God. So take hold, as Paul said, press on to that which God has taken hold of you for. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, forgive us of the many ways we pursue and set our affections upon worldly things, things we have no business setting our hearts upon.

50:37They divide our strength. They are antagonist to you. And yet we are often caught up, enthralled with things that do not come from you. Forgive us. Help us to turn away from. Things. Help us to identify worldly pursuits that come to nothing. Help us to take hold of that which you have taken hold of us for. Forgive us, cleanse us, renew us. We ask all this in Jesus' name.