What Is Meant By “Love Not The World.”

“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.” 1 John 2:15 

I have to ask myself what does God mean by this statement? This is a scripture which must be defined by the hearer of the verse.  I believe in context the Lord defines it in verse (16) “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” I do not believe that God is telling us not to have any worldly dealings. We do have to live, work, worship, etc., etc., etc., in the world. As Christians we must live in the world, we must preach the gospel to this world, we must help this world, as much as we can. I believe this verse is defined in Romans 12:2 “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” The word “conformed” means - to fashion alike or conform to the same pattern – which the word “world” would be the dealings of the world and not the entire world. We know that the world system is controlled by Satan and having any part of the world system will separate you from God as far as keeping His commandments. This world is a place we must share with the lost as well as Christians. We cannot hate the people because God told us to love the people, and to pray for them. “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;” Matthew 5:44 Satan controls the world system and therefore we should blame the evil of the world on Satan. I am not excusing the people, they will pay to God for their sins, but that is not an excuse for us to hate them and eliminate them from our witnessing.

I want to look at our responsibility to the world. We that believe in the Sovereign Salvation of God, and still believe in the preaching of gospel, but why? The answer is simple, Jesus Christ commissioned the leaders of the first church (The Church at Jerusalem) to “go into all the world and preach the gospel to every living soul”. Mark 16:15 We preach the gospel, why, because God uses it to save sinners. Even though God has ordained or elected those to be saved we preach the gospel and God uses that preached gospel to saved sinners. Since we do not know who the elect are we preach it to the world and it reaches whom God convicts by the Holy Spirit. Our responsibility in the world is to teach the truth of the bible and to walk in that truth. We are to obey the commandments of God’s word, and without question. Now, do we believe that the preaching of the gospel is going to save a non-elect sinner, no. The ordained will of God cannot be changed, and God will save sinners whether we preach the gospel or not. However, God commanded that we preach it anyway. Our responsibility in the world is to be good servants of the Lord and spread God’s word to the world.

I believe our responsibility goes farther. I believe it is our responsibility to fight for Gods ordained will. We are to be good citizens to this world, and as good citizens we ought to fight for God’s will in this world. It doesn’t matter that God has an ordained will, just as it matters not that God has an elected number for salvation. I know that God does as He pleases, and I know that God can change the world as He pleases, but that does not eliminate our fight for good, our fight to stop abortions, homosexuality, and so many other sins in this Satanic controlled world. It is not worldly love to love your country and to be a good patriot and love your flag. We ought to honor those who made us free and gave their life and their family’s life also. Many have died to fight for freedom, both as citizens and Christians and lots of these people were Christians, Church members, and even Pastors. Christens have fought and died for the love of God, and the love of Country. Even though we know that Satan controls this world system and it’s evil, and God will one day destroy the works of the world and the world itself, however we ought not just to lay down and give it over to the evil. Romans 13 pointy says that God ordains the powers of this world, He sets world leaders up and He takes them down. These world leaders are “workers of God” not workers of good but workers of evil, workers to shape the world for God’s ordained will. I believe Christians ought to help shape the world and Country in which we live. It is true of politics as it is in salvation, we change NOT the work or will of God. But God uses our sharing of the Gospel to save sinners, and I believe God uses our votes to shape His will in the world. I do not accept that God’s order for us to “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world” extends to our responsibility to helping to fight for good. If we lose or if we win it is God’s will, but the fight for good should be ours. As Christians we should not just laydown and give our freedoms away without a fight. Just as our forefathers fought, we ought to also fight until Jesus Christ calls us home. Love your Country, State, and freedom, and fight for them every way possible. God uses us in many ways, and in that His blessed will is done.                   

The Joy Of Walking In Truth.

“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” 3 John 1:4 

I know the main question is, “what is truth”? The truth is God’s word, outside of God’s Holy Script there is no truth. God’s word is pure and without finite mind, but a pure infinite mind. Men who penned Gods Holy Word did not pen their words, thoughts, opinions, but as the Holy Spirit led them. The truth is the unadulterated scriptures as God wrote them. Not what you think they say, or want them to say, or changed to fit your like of beliefs. People ignore the bible, they ignore what it says and believe it to their own thinking and that is not truth. People talk about doctrine as though it does not exist, I have even heard people brag about not believing doctrine, but they have no idea what doctrine is. Doctrine is not what a church believes it is what the teaching of the bible says, and without being changes or diluted. If your church does not believe in doctrine, then you do not believe in the bible. Our churches doctrine is not Baptist doctrine, you have 100 different kinds of Baptist churches believing 100 different kinds of doctrine. Our doctrine is the bible doctrine, we do not water it down, and we could really careless what others think of us for believing it. We do not set our beliefs to please people, the government, news media, or other churches, our doctrine is to please God. “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15 If you do not believe what we teach and what we teach is unacceptable to you, then another church would be suitable for you, I’m sure you will find one that will believe what you want too. Here John wrote “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth” and he wrote it absolutely correct, it is the greatest of joy when we find other Christians and churches believing and walking in the truth of the bible as we do. Beloved, it is not just that people believe the truth, but also walk in those truths. God wrote the bible not only for our learning but also for our instruction in life. If a person believes the truth of the scriptures and does not teach or walk in them then that make them a hypocrite. None of us are perfect, however we can walk in the biblical truth, certainly not perfect, but very close. We must reverence the bible and hold it as final divine authority. “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation…For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” 2 Peter 1:20 – 21 it is not to be of any “private interpretation” meaning it cannot be changed of thought or meaning, it is God’s word. Parts of it cannot be taught and other parts overlooked simply because you may not want to believe it or it may seem too harsh for you. However, this is why it is such a great joy to find other believers believing and walking in the truth of the bible. The bible is a hard book, hard things to believe and much harder to walk in those beliefs. So, if you believe the bible “as is” I find it a great joy to be with you.

Don’t Be A Partaker Of Evil Deeds.

2 John 1:10 - 11 “If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: (11) For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.”

As Christians and as churches we all must be very, very careful with whom we associate ourselves with. We must understand that people who claim to be of God are not always of God. We must understand that Satan has an army of deceivers that call themselves Christians and churches. This is not uncommon to the scriptures, God said in 2 Corinthians 11:13 - 15 “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. (14) And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. (15) Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.” If they “be transformed as the ministers of righteousness” then they are making themselves appear as Christians, but they are not they are of the devil. The last thing we as Christians and churches want to do is to associate ourselves with these workers of evil deeds. It is not easy for the true believers to figure out who these workers of deceit are, therefore we must be very careful. I do not mean to be harsh toward other churches and people who call themselves Christians, but instead are deceitful workers of Satan. Therefore, I will not name people or denominations. The most simple way to recognize them is to use God’s instructions, 1 John 4:2 - 3 “Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: (3) And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.” I believe this is confessing that Jesus Christ is Saviour. Believing that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh means that you also believe He died, was buried, and rose again on the third day. You must believe that Jesus Christ is Saviour, that He can save you from your sins, and that His blood can wash away your sins. You must believe that you do not need anything else for salvation, not even works of any sort. If a Christian, preacher, or a church does not believe and teach this, then it is a great rule of thumb that they are not of God. Christians may have doctrinal differences, and some of those differences may be miles apart, but there is only one single salvation and that is in Jesus Christ. This is how you separate true Christians and churches from the untrue ones. We can disagree with many doctrinal differences, but salvation is a must. God said, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” 1 John 4:1 These people speak of their own, changing the worship of God into the worship of man, even in salvation. Salvation is the gift of God, not the geniuses of man figuring it out. They have no faith in God, they only know the world. “They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.” 1 John 4:5 the words “the world heareth them” means the world hears their worthless sermons and follows them in masses. These people are not of God, they are fathering the message of deceit. A Christian should know who I speak of, because as a Christian you should be able to connect the scriptural dots. “We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us…” and God went on to say, “…he that is not of God heareth not us…” because they are not Christians they hear not God. The Lord ended this scripture with “…Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.” 1 John 4:6 the Spirit of Truth is the Holy Spirit, and the spirit of error is Satan. Who do you hear, who do you see, is it of the Lord or is it of Satan. You as a Christian cannot support any sort of error teaching, the Lord warned us “For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.” God said in 1 Timothy 5:22 “Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins: keep thyself pure.” While they may seem to be of God, they are not, they are not teaching the truth about salvation. They will use many devices to draw you into their web of deceit. Resist them and be not part of them.