AKJVReader
Member
Let's face it, there is always something in this world that we are drawn to. It is the nature of our creation, as Paul put, we have been made "subject to vanity." The question as Christians is how we deal with our worldly appetites, be they lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes or the pride of life. The 'new' Christianity says that it's ok to love the world and love God at the same time, God will accept us anyway. Some are even saying that it is acceptable in God's eyes to be a believer in Christ, and still keep your old religion. But the Bible message is very clear, we cannot love God and the world at the same time. Remember that God is a jealous God. He will not give place to another. A true Christian then has only one option, that is to hate the world and everything in it. No exceptions.
Most modernized corrupted denominations combine most Christian beliefs with that of modernist infidels. The Bible says, "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?" - 2 Corinthians 6:14
I'll be honest with you, I don't put myself up high on some pedestal and God is dealing with me about the same stuff I'm talking about in this "Note" I'm writing right now. Lets be honest, alot of people, maybe even you, want to be saved but from now until then just want God to leave you alone. Let the truth be known, that is how some people think that are reading this right now and sitting in churches right now. I don't want that for you and you don't want that for you. As I was putting together this "Note" I can clearly see the LORD dealing with my heart. One of the things I want you to know as I am writing this, is that i'm not sitting here ground beating you or that I'm up high on some pedestal, no. It doesn't mean that what I am talking about that I have already achieved and i'm just waiting for you to catch up, no. I promise you that God is dealing with me about the same stuff that I am talking about here. God is dealing with me the same way I hope and want God to deal with you too after you read this. Does that sound fair enough? One of the worst things I think any man or any Pastor could do is to set them selves up exalted over an congregation as if he has already mastered the rules and as if hes just waiting for you to catch up, whats taking you so long. I don't want to be that person and thats not my intent of this message, and I don't want to be that way in my life either. So I ask, that you pray that God deals with me and that God deals with you.
Just briefly by way of introduction the book of "1 John" was written primarily to Christians. And the key verse in "1 John" is, "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God."
I'm going to ask you, how many of you have ever doubted your salvation before? I know I have before. And one of the things we do when we doubt our relationship with God is that we go to the Bible and read what it is that God said we should read, that we will know rather or not that we are saved. I'm writing this because of what Christ has done for me and I know beyond any shadow of a doubt that if I died today that I would be going to Heaven. If you know that for a fact, then say Amen. I'm going to say this to you here out of love, if you are reading this and you don't know that your saved, today is your day. The Bible says, "Behold now is the day of salvation." And I believe that God would have you to be saved.
But you say Christian, I pray every night before I go to bed. Christian, I ask God every now and then to forgive my sins. I say thats good to you, but what I'm going to show you here is that there is a difference between unloading off some sins to God that you can't bare anymore because you feel guilty; and a entirely different lifestyle that you are suppose to be living. What that means is that God has a lifestyle that he wants you to live in this world today, do you believe that? I'm going to give you an illustration, when God freed the Israelites out of Egypt, he did not immediately take them into the promised land did he? And their are other examples of that but he did not immediately do that. God had them on a journey of life, and God has you on a journey of life too. He's proving you, for you to figure out whose side you are going to be on. And I'm going to tell you right off the bat, that you CAN NOT be on both sides! You can't do it. We try to play that game, we try to mess around; we try to love the world and love God at the same time, and i'm telling you on the basis of the Bible that we can't do it!
The Bible says, (1 John 2:15-17) "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. 16For 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. 17And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."
How many of you need me to interpret that for you? Its pretty direct and self-explanatory isn't it? It's pretty much plain! Notice how it says any man, any man means any man or is there an exemption for you? Or is there an exemption for church members or for pastors or deacons or Sunday school leaders? Is there an exemption for anyone in this world, is anyone going to be able to wiggle there way out of this commandment, any body? If it says any man, it means any man, period. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. There mutually exclusive and they can not dwell together. Think about that. Verse 16 and 17 means that you're an idiot for loving the world and loving something that is going to go away. You're deliberately loving something that the Bible says is going to be burnt up in the ferment heat. Which means the love that you have for that is not going to last forever because it wont be around forever. And I'll say this, if you love the world and the world is going to pass away, what does that tell you about you?!
And it then says, "but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." How many of you believe that Heaven is forever? Would you like to live in Heaven forever? Or would you like to be destroyed forever in the lake of fire? So are choice is very clear, we either love the world or we love God, but we can not love both! Have I made myself clear? Has the Bible made its self clear? Here I'm praying for clarity of thought and all we have to do is read the scriptures, Amen!
The Bible tells us, (James 4:4) "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God."
Do you see what I am doing here? Thats two verses already. What is the principle for a witness in the the scriptures? We find the answer in 2 Corinthians 13:1 "...In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established." So already we have two witnesses in the scriptures that tell us that you're either of the world and love the world or you're either of God and love God, but you can not be both! If you believe that, you believe the Bible say Amen! You can not be both! Now we already have two witnesses, and what I'm trying to convince you of and show you from the Bible is that we see so much worldliness in the house of God that is not even funny!
Their is a time when it was in the mindset of people that if they went to church that they couldn't be worldly, i mean they just hand that impressed upon their minds. That if they went to church and said that they was Christians, that they couldn't be worldly and they couldn't do what ever the world was doing, they couldn't do that! Thats just what people use to believe. But now-ah-days some slick guys have got up on TV shows and written there books and got on the radio and they put out to quit preaching separation from the world and developed this mindset that you can have both at the same time, and its a lie!!! It's an absolute lie! It's to the extent now, that they open up church worship service, not with the "the old rugged cross" or "Amazing Grace" but with "Rock 'N Roll or Rap" music that you would hear on your way to church. That's what they'll open up there worship service with. I saw the other day of a church that is practicing what they call "club worship" and its actually a club. We all know what that is right? So if I say you went out clubbing, you know what that is right? There clubbing and calling it church. We can't have it, Amen!
This is not some small concept that God through in every now and then for someone to notice once or twice. Where seeing that this is every where in the scriptures. Notice what this verse says, (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."
Notice the separation, be not conformed to the world, but be transformed to the will of God. And there separate!
(1 Corinthians 2:12) "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God." Here again we see the separation, we have received the spirit of God and if you have the spirit of God in you, then you do not have the spirit of the world in you! And if something has the spirit of God then the spirit of the world wants nothing to do with it. (Galatians 6:14) "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." Paul was our example.
Most modernized corrupted denominations combine most Christian beliefs with that of modernist infidels. The Bible says, "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?" - 2 Corinthians 6:14
I'll be honest with you, I don't put myself up high on some pedestal and God is dealing with me about the same stuff I'm talking about in this "Note" I'm writing right now. Lets be honest, alot of people, maybe even you, want to be saved but from now until then just want God to leave you alone. Let the truth be known, that is how some people think that are reading this right now and sitting in churches right now. I don't want that for you and you don't want that for you. As I was putting together this "Note" I can clearly see the LORD dealing with my heart. One of the things I want you to know as I am writing this, is that i'm not sitting here ground beating you or that I'm up high on some pedestal, no. It doesn't mean that what I am talking about that I have already achieved and i'm just waiting for you to catch up, no. I promise you that God is dealing with me about the same stuff that I am talking about here. God is dealing with me the same way I hope and want God to deal with you too after you read this. Does that sound fair enough? One of the worst things I think any man or any Pastor could do is to set them selves up exalted over an congregation as if he has already mastered the rules and as if hes just waiting for you to catch up, whats taking you so long. I don't want to be that person and thats not my intent of this message, and I don't want to be that way in my life either. So I ask, that you pray that God deals with me and that God deals with you.
Just briefly by way of introduction the book of "1 John" was written primarily to Christians. And the key verse in "1 John" is, "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God."
I'm going to ask you, how many of you have ever doubted your salvation before? I know I have before. And one of the things we do when we doubt our relationship with God is that we go to the Bible and read what it is that God said we should read, that we will know rather or not that we are saved. I'm writing this because of what Christ has done for me and I know beyond any shadow of a doubt that if I died today that I would be going to Heaven. If you know that for a fact, then say Amen. I'm going to say this to you here out of love, if you are reading this and you don't know that your saved, today is your day. The Bible says, "Behold now is the day of salvation." And I believe that God would have you to be saved.
But you say Christian, I pray every night before I go to bed. Christian, I ask God every now and then to forgive my sins. I say thats good to you, but what I'm going to show you here is that there is a difference between unloading off some sins to God that you can't bare anymore because you feel guilty; and a entirely different lifestyle that you are suppose to be living. What that means is that God has a lifestyle that he wants you to live in this world today, do you believe that? I'm going to give you an illustration, when God freed the Israelites out of Egypt, he did not immediately take them into the promised land did he? And their are other examples of that but he did not immediately do that. God had them on a journey of life, and God has you on a journey of life too. He's proving you, for you to figure out whose side you are going to be on. And I'm going to tell you right off the bat, that you CAN NOT be on both sides! You can't do it. We try to play that game, we try to mess around; we try to love the world and love God at the same time, and i'm telling you on the basis of the Bible that we can't do it!
The Bible says, (1 John 2:15-17) "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. 16For 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. 17And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."
How many of you need me to interpret that for you? Its pretty direct and self-explanatory isn't it? It's pretty much plain! Notice how it says any man, any man means any man or is there an exemption for you? Or is there an exemption for church members or for pastors or deacons or Sunday school leaders? Is there an exemption for anyone in this world, is anyone going to be able to wiggle there way out of this commandment, any body? If it says any man, it means any man, period. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. There mutually exclusive and they can not dwell together. Think about that. Verse 16 and 17 means that you're an idiot for loving the world and loving something that is going to go away. You're deliberately loving something that the Bible says is going to be burnt up in the ferment heat. Which means the love that you have for that is not going to last forever because it wont be around forever. And I'll say this, if you love the world and the world is going to pass away, what does that tell you about you?!
And it then says, "but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." How many of you believe that Heaven is forever? Would you like to live in Heaven forever? Or would you like to be destroyed forever in the lake of fire? So are choice is very clear, we either love the world or we love God, but we can not love both! Have I made myself clear? Has the Bible made its self clear? Here I'm praying for clarity of thought and all we have to do is read the scriptures, Amen!
The Bible tells us, (James 4:4) "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God."
Do you see what I am doing here? Thats two verses already. What is the principle for a witness in the the scriptures? We find the answer in 2 Corinthians 13:1 "...In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established." So already we have two witnesses in the scriptures that tell us that you're either of the world and love the world or you're either of God and love God, but you can not be both! If you believe that, you believe the Bible say Amen! You can not be both! Now we already have two witnesses, and what I'm trying to convince you of and show you from the Bible is that we see so much worldliness in the house of God that is not even funny!
Their is a time when it was in the mindset of people that if they went to church that they couldn't be worldly, i mean they just hand that impressed upon their minds. That if they went to church and said that they was Christians, that they couldn't be worldly and they couldn't do what ever the world was doing, they couldn't do that! Thats just what people use to believe. But now-ah-days some slick guys have got up on TV shows and written there books and got on the radio and they put out to quit preaching separation from the world and developed this mindset that you can have both at the same time, and its a lie!!! It's an absolute lie! It's to the extent now, that they open up church worship service, not with the "the old rugged cross" or "Amazing Grace" but with "Rock 'N Roll or Rap" music that you would hear on your way to church. That's what they'll open up there worship service with. I saw the other day of a church that is practicing what they call "club worship" and its actually a club. We all know what that is right? So if I say you went out clubbing, you know what that is right? There clubbing and calling it church. We can't have it, Amen!
This is not some small concept that God through in every now and then for someone to notice once or twice. Where seeing that this is every where in the scriptures. Notice what this verse says, (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."
Notice the separation, be not conformed to the world, but be transformed to the will of God. And there separate!
(1 Corinthians 2:12) "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God." Here again we see the separation, we have received the spirit of God and if you have the spirit of God in you, then you do not have the spirit of the world in you! And if something has the spirit of God then the spirit of the world wants nothing to do with it. (Galatians 6:14) "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." Paul was our example.