1 John 2:15; Love not the world, [that is, the materialistic world around you,] neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Now, this is a pretty strong statement, and we better give it careful attention. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Jesus said, No man can serve two masters: for either he will hold to one and despise the other, or he will love the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (Matthew 6:24). You cannot, not you should not, you cannot. And mammon, of course, is that worldly materialistic things, the monetary system of the world. You cant serve them both. Now John defines for us what he is meaning by the world. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world (1Jo 2:16). When Satan comes to tempt, you can be sure that the temptation will fall in one of three categories. Either in the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or in the pride of life. Those are the three areas where Satan will attack. Go back to the Garden of Eden when he came to Eve there in the garden, Hath God said that you can eat of all of the trees that are in the garden? Yes, Eve said, all except the one in the midst of the garden, and God said that we should not eat of it. For in the day that we ate of it, we shall surely die. Aw, you wont die. God knows that in that tree lies the knowledge of good and evil. He is trying to protect Himself to keep you from becoming like God. And when she saw that it was pleasant to eyes, a beautiful fruit, that it was pleasant to the taste, and it could make her wise as God, she ate. The lust of the flesh, great to eat, delicious, the lust of the eyes, beautiful to look upon. And, Hey, it will make me like God, the pride of life. And Satan tripped her up. Basically, when he came to Jesus, Command the stones to be turned to bread, the lust of the flesh. The promise of all the kingdoms of the world, the pride of life. And of course, Cast yourself down, he will give His angels... again, the pride of life, do something spectacular, draw attention to yourself. These are the areas where Satan will attack you. These are the areas of the world. Now today we are living in a day and age in which I feel that Satan is attacking in these areas in a greater degree than ever before. Jesus talked about, Evil days shall wax worse and worse, and because the iniquity of the earth will abound, the love of many will wax cold. The iniquity of the earth is abounding, as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of Man (Matthew 24:12,37). Days of Noah, eating, drinking and all, and hey, weve got a day and an age in which the opportunity of fulfilling the lust of the flesh are just myriad. And the lust of the eye, Satan has opened the flood gates of lustful material, magazines, billboards, movies, where there seems to be no holds barred, anything goes. And these things designed to inflame the passions, to start your mind thinking in these ways of the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and theyre working together. Creating desires for fleshly fulfillment that is outside of the confines that God has established. If any man love the world, the world system, the things that are going on, the love of the Father is not in him.
Posted on: Fri, 04 Jul 2014 11:22:10 +0000