What Truly Lasts

If you do, the Father’s love isn’t in you. There is room in you for only one of these. They are incompatible, irreconcilable. You can be in the light or in the dark, but you can’t be in both.

The love of the world is the natural state for sinful humanity until Christ rescues us - shines His light and banishes the darkness.

Illust: As we saw earlier in chapters 1-2, the love of God is God’s love for us, poured into us, producing love for Him.

I remember washing out baby bottles by hand, filling six or seven bottles with soapy water, and then facing the task of getting all the suds out. One day, I had a bottle completely full of dirty suds, and I started filling it with clean water, and watched as the suds rose with the water level, and as soon as the bottle was filled, the suds all cascaded off the top, leaving only clean water.

Now, there is plenty of room in the human heart for lots of worldly loves. They compete for your attention, but they’re often content to take turns running and ruining your life. But the love of God poured into a human heart displaces all those worldly loves.

So John says that if you have the suds, you don’t have the water.

Once again, John has given us a stark contrast. Light and dark, life and death, love of the Father or love of the world.

John uses the word “world” to mean a couple of things. In

1 John 2:2 ESV

2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

There we saw that Jesus is the only propitiation for anybody anywhere; no matter where you go in God’s creation, Jesus is the propitiation for the people there. This is the same meaning of the word that Jesus uses in

John 3:16 ESV

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

But most of the time, John uses the word “world” not to refer to the whole created order, but to refer to the realm that remains in the darkness. You remember from last week, the darkness is the anywhere sin, death, and the devil put their feet up on the coffee table as though they owned the place.

The whole world is in that darkness, except for those who have been born again, according to 1 John 5:19.

Do not love the world means, first of all, that those who love the LORD must reject the principle that animates the darkened world.

Psalm 97:10 ESV

10 O you who love the Lord, hate evil! He preserves the lives of his saints; he delivers them from the hand of the wicked.

I wonder if you have ever thought about love this way.

Quote from John 1:9-13 sermon, on Christ’s mission:

God so loved the world. This is not merely a tender love; it is a fierce love. It is zeal. The flip side of His love for His world is His conquering wrath against anything that would enslave it. TRUE love is deadly to the enemy of its beloved.

God’s love is unconditional, but not indiscriminate. And neither should yours be.

Apply:

This is not going to win any popularity contests. From the outset, we’re saying that there’s a good kind of love and an evil kind of love. Everyone knows that this is true, because we can’t escape knowing it as humans made in God’s image. But the world in rebellion against God suppresses the truth in unrighteousness as Paul says in Romans 1:18.

The darkened world takes what is evil and calls it good, and vice versa. The world tells us that it is loving to accept every re-definition of love, marriage, gender, sexuality. These things are destroying families, driving children to permanently damage their bodies, all in the name of love. And with all the venom of the serpent, they execrate God’s good design as evil and hateful.

So get it straight in your mind from the get-go: It is evil to love what is evil.

The starting point for us must be the recognition that these two loves are not only exclusive, but one of them is a love for darkness and death, and the other is a love for the light of life.

x-refs: Matt 6:19-24, John 3:19-21, Jas 4:4, Rom 12:1-2, Luke 14:15-24, Col 3:2

But what does love for the world and the things in the world look like? Verse 16 tells us, in the context of three specific temptations, and our second point:

II. Recognize the temptations to love the world as enemies (v16)

<<READ 16>>

Explain:

Love & trust & keep - often go together. John 3:16 - God’s love - our faith - God keeps us

John 14:15 - if you love me, you will keep my commandments

1 John 3:23 ESV

23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.

Remember - keep => treasure, guard. Believers keep God’s Word; pretenders reject it

But verse 16 helps us see that love for the world involves trusting in things that cannot deliver what they promise, and keeping or treasuring things in the place of God’s Word. But since love and trust go together, by opening up the wicked treasure box a little, the Holy Spirit helps us recognize that these things are not trustworthy and are not worthy of our love.

John picks out three specific impulses that arise from the darkened world, sinful versions of good things. These are desires for the illegitimate uses of God-given things.

The desires of the flesh refers to the drive for immoral indulgence - immorality, gluttony, violence

The pride of life refers to arrogance and misplaced confidence in material things. The word translated “life” in the ESV is different from the word that John uses when he’s talking about eternal life, or life in Christ. This is more like the stuff of life, rather than life itself. Pride of life is a big category that includes trust in things or trust in my own accomplishments or potential rather than God.

And between the two is the desires of the eyes. The desires of the eyes link the two, because the eyes see, and then the hand takes. Lust, greed, covetousness, jealousy, that sort of thing. Lust leads to immorality; greed leads to the pride of life.

I’m going to give you three reasons why John picked out these specific impulses.

First, these three stand in for all kinds of other sinful urges that arise from love for the world.

Second, he’s pointing back to the beginning of human sinfulness. In Genesis 3, we find out that when our first parents fell into sin in the Garden of Eden,

Genesis 3:6 ESV

6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

desire of the flesh - good for food // desire of the eyes - delight to the eyes // pride of life - desired to make one wise

Third, John is pointing forward to chapter 3. Remember that in chapter 2 we’ve been seeing the distinction between the believers and the pretenders is that the believers keep Christ’s commands - they guard and treasure His Word - and the pretenders abandon Christ’s Word and abandon Christ’s people.

In 2:16 we have desires of the flesh, desires of the eyes, pride of life. In chapter 3:16-17, John uses the same three categories in reverse order to help us see the difference between the believers and the pretenders.

1 John 3:16–17 ESV

16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?

The world’s goods uses the same word that’s translated “life” in today’s text, remember how I mentioned it refers to possessions, the stuff of life? So 3:17 says if anyone has the world’s goods - that’s the stuff of life; and sees his brother in need - that’s the eyes; and yet closes what - his heart - there’s the fleshy part. And he ends the verse with the same challenge we see in today’s text. If that’s how he reacts, how does God’s love abide in him?

Love for the world doesn’t have to look like blatant, obvious immorality. Do you see how all this talk of love in chapters 2 and 3 are connected? Love for God produces love for the brethren; Hatred for the brethren means you love the world.

Any time the world coaxes you to trust in your flesh, your achievements, your goods, recognize this temptation - it’s a false love with false promises.

So what are we supposed to do with this command and its content? Look at verse 17 for our next two points, beginning with point number 3:

Apply:

x-refs: 1 John 3:17, Gen 3:6, Ecc 5:10-11, Eph 2:3, Jas 4:16, Exod 20:17, Matt 6:19-24

III. Remember that sin’s promises are always lies (v17a)

<<READ 17>>

Explain:

We already saw in verse 8 that the darkness is passing away. Now we see that the whole darkened world is on its way out.

This means that every promise that sinful desire makes is a lie.

The worldly desires and pride of life promise satisfaction, joy, relief from pain, and acceptance

Think about how sinful desires lure you in with the promise of satisfaction.

Just one more trip, and I’ll be satisfied. Just one more dessert, and I’ll be happy. Just a little more money and I’ll be set.

Ecclesiastes 5:10–11 ESV

10 He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. 11 When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes?

Proverbs 27:20 tells us that like the grave, the eyes are never satisfied.

Other sinful desires tell us the false promise that we’ll be satisfied with just one more evil thing - one more drug trip, or power trip, one more affair, one more conquest. But any recovering addict will tell you that “just one more” is always a lie.

The world gives another false promise: Acceptance. Jesus even says

John 15:19 ESV

19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

But the world promises acceptance, if you only walk a little way with it.

But this is a false promise - first of all, because the world is asking you to trade eternal, forgiven, grace-filled, unconditional acceptance by God in Christ for the temporary, vindictive, contingent acceptance of a world that is passing away.

Notice just how precarious the acceptance of the world truly is. As soon as some worldly thing - fleshly desire or something else - becomes just a little socially acceptable, the world says, “If you don’t love this, then you are not lovely.” They always say, “Just a little farther. Just love this one thing and we will love you.” But the second you turn your back, they move the goal post again and then demand one more time, “Just one more thing. If you don’t love this wickedness, then you are not lovely.” and the cycle repeats.

Ex. Desires of the flesh - First, the world undermined godly, lifelong marriage by promoting cohabitation and premarital sex as acceptable. And then good. And the result has been disastrous.

And when they’d gotten most people to agree with their deprecation of marriage, they moved on to sexuality. And once they’d convinced us to find our identity in our sexuality rather than as beings made in the image of God, they demanded one more thing - you can’t just tolerate sin, you have to celebrate it or we’ll cancel you.

Every step of the way, we’ve been demanded to accept things that crush people, that distract and divert them from eternal things in favor of the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes, and then they’ve said “just one more thing.”

And if you won’t go all the way every step, you’re shunned, frozen out, hated, dehumanized.

The love of the world is an abusive relationship.

The temporary nature of satisfaction in sin is tied up in the fact that the world and its desires are passing away.

So the world’s promise of satisfaction and lasting joy is a lie. It can only distract you from true joy and eternal life with God; it can only disappoint you with temporary diversions. To love the world rather than God is to trade gold for grass clippings. But even worse, to love the world rather than God is to trade life for death.

But there is a true promise and good news at the end of verse 17, and our fourth point:

x-refs: 1 Cor 7:31, 2 Tim 4:10, 1 Pet 1:24-25

IV. Receive the true promise of the Father’s love (v17b)

<<READ 17 again>>

Explain:

Part of the central theme of Scripture is God’s plan to redeem this world, not only by the progress of the Gospel, but in that final moment that we see at the end of the book of Revelation. When Christ returns and establishes His Kingdom, Revelation 20 tells us that He will cast Satan, and death, and Hades into the lake of fire along with all those whose names are not in the Lamb’s book of life.

And Revelation 21 tell us that our eternal home will be a new heaven and a new earth, where God will dwell with all those who belong to Jesus, and He himself will wipe away every tear from our eye, for the former things will have passed away.

The joy that lays before every Christian is eternity with the God who loves you.

The world’s promises are seductive and persistent, and they speak to our own fallen desires and arrogant pride. But see how badly these things disappoint and destroy, and then consider the beauty and wonder of God’s promise.

Verse 17 doesn’t say that some who do the will of God will abide forever. It says whoever. Whoever you are, if you do the will of God, you will abide forever.

No matter how in love with the world you have been, no matter how lost you know you are, no matter how arrogant or full of selfish and destructive desires.

No matter how slight your sins have seemed to you in the past. Some people hear the Word of God and come to Jesus Christ in faith after a lifetime of obvious selfishness, hurting themselves and others, and Jesus receives them and forgives them, and their testimony is that they once were lost and now are found.

Others hear the Gospel and come to Jesus, and they’ve spent their whole life thinking they were good religious people. They didn’t cheat on their spouses, they didn’t go out of their way to hurt others, but when they hear God’s command not to love the world, they realize that they have lived for the sake of their own desires. Maybe that’s you - you’ve been an outwardly decent person, but you recognize that the pride of life really is where your identity is found.

The promise is that whoever does the will of God abides forever.

The will of God is that you abandon those lesser loves and turn to the One who can save you. To recognize that whoever you are, you need rescue, because you’ve been walking in the dark, headed the same way as the world.

But now the true light has shined in the message of the Gospel:

That everyone who confesses with their mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and believes in their hearts that God raised Him from the dead will be saved.

That whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.

Psalm 125:1 ESV

1 Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever.

So no matter who you are, no matter how old you are, or how young you are, the promise of eternal life - of abiding with God forever in the kingdom that never passes away - is a promise that you can take hold of. But only if you turn to Him as LORD.

And God is calling you to Himself. I know many of you are Christians, but many of you aren’t. If you’ve gone to church your entire life, but you’ve never actually turned to Jesus Christ, you personally, in repentance and faith, then you’re still in the dark, and He’s calling you today to come to Him. And even if you’re afraid to admit that you’ve never actually become a Christian, you’re in good company.

Every one of the apostles was an adult when they were saved.

Augustine, John Wesley, C.S. Lewis, Dwight L. Moody,

And if you turn to Him in faith, He will give you a wonderful gift: He’ll teach you how to love. He’ll teach you real love. Like a bottle filled up to overflowing, He’ll pour His love into your heart.

V. Conclusion: Rest in the Father’s love

Explain:

But I want to end by applying our text in a bit of a different way.

What if you look at this text and ask the question, “How can I know if I love the world? And what do I do if I see the temptation to love the world working in me? And how can I know if I love the Father?”

The first thing I can tell you is that the love for God is the result of coming to know the love of God in Jesus Christ. 1 John 4:19. If you don’t believe the Gospel, you don’t love God. You must repent and believe. And if you want to believe, but you feel like you can’t, you must pray like the man in Mark 9:24 - “I believe; help my unbelief!” Or the apostles in Luke 17:5, when they begged Jesus, “Increase our faith!” Ask the LORD to give you faith.

Second, if you read this text and say, “I have repented and put my faith in Jesus Christ, but I’m still afraid that I love the world, because I am tempted by these very things,” go back to the beginning of your own confession again.

Every Christian faces temptation. Every Christian wrestles against these things. But the Christian sees them as the enemy that they are.

If you’re wrestling with some specific temptation today, look at verse 17 and remind yourself, it’s passing away. Take heart in the knowledge that enemy will be destroyed by your Savior. And look at verse 15. What’s the temptation that haunts you? Do you love it? Or do you see it for the enemy that it is?

Maybe you say, “I don’t love it, but I know I don’t hate it the way God does.” But you didn’t have to tell me that, nobody hates sin the way God does.

But isn’t it wonderful that the Father, who made you and who knows you better than you know yourself, He knows your every atom and every proton and every quark, He knows exactly how you like your steak cooked, knows exactly how many breaths you will take in your earthly life,

and He knows exactly how dark the darkness is in you

and He loves you so much that He sent His Son as the conquering light to die in your place, as your substitute, and after three days rise again for your justification

Isn’t it wonderful that the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who perfectly and righteously hate evil, loves sinners who don’t hate evil as much as He does?

What truly lasts? What abides forever?

The objects of God’s love.

Romans 8:38–39 ESV

38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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