Sermon audio: 1 John 2.15-17 – Why We Must Not Love Worldly Things – Preached at First Southern Baptist Church of Bellflower in the morning service, 12/17/14. (mp3)
Text of 1 John 2.15-17 (CSB):
15 Do not love the world or the things that belong to the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. 16 For everything that belongs to the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s lifestyle—is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does God’s will remains forever.
In his book Losing Our Virtue David Wells described worldliness as
that system of values, in any given age, which has at its center our fallen human perspective, which displaces God and his truth from the world, and which makes sin look normal and righteousness seem strange. It thus gives great plausibility to what is morally wrong and, for that reason, makes what is wrong seem normal. (p. 4)
Main Point – Understand why you must not love the world so that it’s allure is broken.
Outline: Do Not Love the World Because…
1. …Because you have been given eternal life that is maturing in you (vv. 12-14 – review)
2. …Because you love the Father (vv. 15-16)
3. …Because you will live forever (v. 17)
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