Jesus said if you love others, even moms, dads, and kids, more than you love me then you are not worthy of me. This speaks to the issue of His being the only way, truth, and life regarding eternal life and everything that pertains to it. And His being our Creator to whom belongs all worship, loyalty, and allegiance from us His creation.
At this time of year we celebrate His sacrifice for us that showed His greatest of all love for us, because greater love has no man that he who will give his life for his friend. How He joined with mankind in our death. Providing the way for us to join with Him in eternal life and immortality by faith in Him and His resurrection.
The thing about His sacrifice that is that before He went to the cross the torture He endured was not to satisfy His Father’s wrath against mankind. God is not an out of control maniac that needs to vent His anger before He can forgive.
Jesus came to show men, specifically Israel, the exact opposite. That God is not mad at us. And the real reason for the beating, ridicule, and execution that He went through was for the purpose Paul gives in Col.2:15 where he says, “And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” This is why the torturous death. Because He was exposing Satan for who he really is.
So when you remember Jesus’ death at this time keep in mind why He was beaten. And how this shows you the real enemy and what he wants to do to every one of us. And also shows that His coming was not to satisfy the Father’s anger. But, to show that He loves us more than we can ever know while here on earth.
Because in this act of love God made it possible for us to be made spiritual beings if we will trust in Jesus. Spirits that are His children by its creation in us when we are born again.
This is why in 1John2:15-17 John tells us about if we love the world it shows the love of the Father is not in us. He told them “15 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.
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.
17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”
This passage is completely misunderstood by those who teach Jesus’ sacrifice was to satisfy the Father’s anger toward us. Because taken as an explanation of good vs evil as it almost always is these desires are thought to be evil in and of themselves. And of the spirit of antichrist. When the truth is John is teaching nothing of the sort.
There’s a lot to unpack here. But, in this message let’s zero in on the 3 desires or lusts John said are “of the world.” And what he means by theme being of the world. The desires of the flesh, desires of the eyes, and the pride of life.
Some believe that because John said these desires are of the world they are of the antichrist. Meaning that giving ourselves over to these desires means we have given ourselves over to antichrist. Or at least his thinking.
They teach that these desires are bad and that they are evil. And when we endeavor to fulfill them we are bad or evil. And is the result of a sin nature they say passed from our original parents to us their progeny in procreation.
But, if this were true then this would also mean that these desires are a result of the sin of Adam and Eve. And something that men become as a result of a change that supposedly happened to them and us because of that sin, right?
Is there any proof for this idea they have that these desires are in and of themselves sinful or evil? Or is this just some more false doctrine acquired by those who have succumbed to, having been deceived by, the strong delusion?
I contend that it is the latter. And that it is from the strong delusion of the antichrist doctrine of original sin and sin nature that these teachers of this doctrine come to their false conclusions about these desires. And how they come to have them.
When reading through the Genesis account of creation and the sin of eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I came across a verse that many if not most of you have read. But, may not have connected to what John said yet.
This verse was part of a conversation Eve was having with the serpent, that old devil, Satan. In it we hear what it was that that was Eve’s thought process when she ate the fruit from this tree. Here we are told that “6 when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.”
I want you to take note of each of the things described here that were used by Eve to decide whether or not to eat the fruit. 1, she saw it was good for food. 2, it was pleasant to her eyes. And 3, it was good to make one wise.
These have a familiar ring to them, don’t they? They should. Because they each have the same characteristics as each of the desires or lusts that John spoke of in 1John2. Food being a need for the flesh. Pleasant to look at being the lust of the eyes. And good to make one wise being the pride of life.
And each of these desires or lusts Eve already had before she sinned by eating the fruit. Proving that these were desires given to her and Adam by God when He made them. And were not sinful desires that came as a result of their sin.
This is a big deal for the original sin and sin nature crowd. Which pretty much comprises the whole church since the days of Constantine. And I’m not talking about all believers here, but the church that was made when Constantine declared Christianity to be the religion of Rome. A church that is characterized by the gnostic doctrine of original sin and sin nature.
Because by concluding that these desires are evil, they have concluded that it was God that put this evil in them when He made them. And that it could not be the result of their sin.
Or they will hopefully see, as I have shown repeatedly in these messages, the folly of the gnostic doctrine of original sin and sin nature. And turn from it to be set free from the captivity of Satan. Being instructed in meekness of their having opposed themselves, by God’s giving to them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. As Paul so graciously says was his purpose in 2Tim.2:25,26. Which is also the main purpose of this channel.
So we must conclude that “of the world” in this passage in 1John2:15-17 is not a reference to evil desires that are in all men inherited from Adam because of his sin. But, is a reference to God given desires that are natural and not spiritual that Adam had when God made him.
Natural because that is what God made man when He made Adam. Natural as Paul says in 1Cor.15:45-48 when speaking of Adam when he was made. And of the rest of mankind as they have been conceived since that time.
So instead of placing the emphasis upon bad or good. The believer in Jesus and student of God’s word must place the emphasis where God places it. Squarely upon what Jesus said creates man’s need to be born again.
And that is his being natural and not spiritual. For which Jesus said in John3:1-8 that what is born of the flesh is flesh. Nothing else. And what is born of the Spirit is spirit. So that this is the reason men need to be born again.
Not because he is bad and needs to be made good. And not because he inherited this evil from Adam. But, because as Paul said in 1Cor.2:14 “14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
This is why Jesus said in John4:24, “God is a Spirit. And those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” In this Jesus showed that it was because man is natural that He came into the world. And that only through faith in Him by the New Covenant could man become spiritual. And know Jesus who is the truth.
So don’t let anyone tell you that your desires are evil. They were given to us by God. The thing about our desires that can be a problem for us is when we trust in them instead of trusting in Jesus.
They serve us as we relate to the world we live in. But, they can not perceive spiritual things. So they can not serve us in relationship to God who is a Spirit. Nor the judgments that require spiritual perception for us to make.
This is why Paul adds in 1Cor.2:15 that “he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.” He judges all things because his judgment is inspired from his relationship with Jesus. His relationship with truth. And man’s judgment can do nothing to him because he has already been judged by God and declared righteous for his faith in Jesus. Just as faithful Abraham was.
So when John says that they must not love the world he is telling them they must not trust in the natural senses God gave them to relate to this natural world with. Because those senses can not perceive the things of the Spirit. And it is only by the spirit that we are led as sons of God and heirs to His kingdom.
This is why Paul said we must renew our minds in Rom.12:1,2. No longer being conformed to the world by our natural senses. But, being transformed in our minds by the Spirit of God we are now able to relate to by our spirit that God created in us when we were born again.
So we do not trust in natural things like the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, or the pride of life to help us relate to spiritual things. Because these can’t relate to what is spiritual. John said that to love these things, which means to trust in, cling to, and rely upon them, means the love of the Father is not in us.
Because when we know God we hear Him and do what He says. These natural senses only help us relate to the natural world around us just as it was with Adam. To be spiritual we must trust in, cling to, and rely upon the spiritual perception we who are born again have been given from God.
It has nothing to do with natural desires being evil and spiritual desires being good. Just as the enmity between the flesh and the Spirit has nothing to do with bad vs good. Bad and good have nothing to do with any of this.
Because these desires John speaks of while being of the world are not evil. They are of the world because they are natural. They are the God given desires that were given to Adam and us to perceive and relate to the natural world around us.
But, they can not relate us to God. And this is why we must not trust in them to lead us into all truth. That is the job of the Holy Spirit. This is why we must be born again. Because God is a Spirit. And those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.
And worshipping Him is eternal life. Because to worship Him is to know Him. And knowing Him Jesus said is eternal life. And if you want this eternal life Jesus came to provide for all men you need to trust in Him and His resurrection.
And in this time when we celebrate the love God showed to us through His Son Jesus Christ we must see His sacrifice for what it truly was. That He joined with man in our mortality. And exposed Satan for the evil force he is by allowing Himself to be tortured by him for a short time. And when all was said and done He raised from that mortality to break death’s power over mankind. So we could join with Him in eternal life and immortality at the resurrection.
Knowing this is why Paul says in Rom.10:9,10 that if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus. And believe in your heart that He has raised from the dead. You shall be saved. You shall be born again. All because Jesus was willing to give Himself for us.
This is the gospel. This is the message of reconciliation. When you trust in Jesus and God creates in you a spirit that was never in you before. And He gives you the Holy Spirit to dwell in you too. This makes you a child of God and heir to His kingdom and eternal life. Eternal life now. And immortality at the resurrection.
If you will do what Paul says in Rom.10:9,10… then I will see you there or in the air!
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