Love One Another

BFG Lesson

11/1/2009

1 John 3:11-18

Notes based on sermons by John MacArthur and John Piper
Prepared by Robert Moritz

I actually want to go back and include verse 10 in this lesson because I believe verse 10 is the key verse of this chapter.

v.10-11 – “By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another."

John is right in more ways than one when he says we should love one another. First he’s been talking about the importance of loving one another and loving our brothers throughout this epistle. In fact he spends a good portion of chapter 2 telling us to love one another.

- Take a look back a chapter 2 for a minute starting in verse 9 and we’ll read through verse 11.

"Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes."

So here, John tells us in verse 9, that we better have no hatred in our hearts toward one another. If we’re going to call ourselves Christians – which means walking in the light – then we better have love for one another, because if you don’t John says you’re still in darkness.

There are two distinct things that make up a child of God, Love and Righteousness. These are the 2 themes we see running through chapter 3. The first 10 verses speak of the righteousness of a child of God and verses 11-24 speak of the love of a Christian.

Then secondly John is referring to the teachings of Jesus which is really the beginning of Christianity which in fact was taken from the law of God which was from the very beginning.

If you would, turn in your Bibles to Matthew 22:34-40. Here, the Sadducees had been badgering Jesus with their legalism and He had just put them to shame. Now it was the Pharisees turn.

"But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question to test Him. Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law? And He said to him, 'you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the prophets.'"

Notice here, that the heart of the law is 2 fold, we are to love the Lord our God and we are to love our neighbor. So back in 1 John, John just reiterates what Jesus is teaching and stating that this message of loving one another is something that is not new. Its not something we’re hearing for the first time. In fact its something that should characterize our very lives as children of God.

I remember a few weeks ago when Drew taught on loving your brother back in Chapter 2, he mentioned that he often struggles in this area. That loving or caring for other people does not come easy for him. Well, I too need to confess, that the same is true of me. And I mean, its crazy! One minute I can be driving down the road worshipping and praising God to some song on the radio and all of a sudden I find myself boxed in between some slow moving dump truck on my right and some old geezer in his Cadillac in front of me. Both are doing 10mph under the speed limit and I can’t pass. What’s up with that.

Its at about this point that I’m no longer feeling the love. Right? Now don’t you sit out there and give me no holy look like you’ve never been in a similar situation and you didn't lose it because this guy was not letting you pass.

After all, he’s got all day. He’s only on his way to the drug store to pick up his 35,000 medications. Doesn’t he realize that some of us are working here and we’re late to an appointment? Alright, that’s enough confession time for one morning. Back to our lesson.

So John tells us here in v.10 & 11 that as Christians our lives should be characterized by 2 things - living a righteous life and loving one another.

Don’t Be Like the Children of the Evil One

As we move into verse 12, John says,

"We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deed were evil and his brother's righteous."

Lets take a closer look at the story of Cain and Abel. Turn if you will to Gen 4 and we’ll look at verses 1-12

"Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, 'I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD.' And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering but for Cain and his offering He had no regard.

So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. The LORD said to Cain, 'why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.'"

Cain spoke to Abel his brother and when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Then the LORD said to Cain, 'where is Abel your brother?' He said, 'I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?' And the LORD said, 'what have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.'"

John MacArthur says, “The lowest level of human relationships is murder.” And he’s right. Murder is the antithesis of love because murder comes from hate and Satan is filled with hate. That hatred first manifested itself when Cain murdered his brother Able back in Genesis. In the Gospel of John 8:44 Jesus tells us that Satan was a murderer from the beginning. Since Cain murdered his brother, the fruit of that shows us that Cain was of his father the devil.

When I was a new Christian, I used to read this passage and think, ‘why does God accept Abel and not Cain? They both gave of their first fruits? Here Cain worked the ground and gave God his best and God rejected it. Why?’ It just didn’t seem fair to me.

But as I became more mature in my faith, and learned about sin and redemption, I learned that there can be no remission of sin without blood. This is God’s requirement for forgiveness of sin. These sacrifices also portrayed a type of Christ which was to come, God’s great sacrifice of His Son for the sins of the world. That’s why God required a blood sacrifice and not just some vegetables. That’s why Cain’s sacrifice was rejected.

The example of Cain

Cain is the classic example of a murderer. And in these verses we see the formation of two polar opposite religions. Abel’s religion is the religion of grace and Cain’s religion is the religion of human achievement.

a) Abel and the religion of grace

Verse 3 says, "In process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord." That was an act of worship. Verses 4-5 say, "Abel, he also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and to his offering; but for Cain and to his offering He had no regard." It's obvious from the context God had already revealed to them that a blood sacrifice was the only acceptable sacrifice (cf. Gen. 3:21). Hebrews 9:22 says, "Without shedding of blood there is no remission [of sins]." God instituted blood sacrifices as the only proper form of worship, and Abel obeyed.

b) Cain and the religion of human achievement

Cain brought God the fruit of the ground--that which he himself had planted and harvested. He offered what he wanted to offer, not what God wanted him to offer. He invented his own religion, and the Lord would have none of it. Genesis 4:5-7 says, "Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. And the Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry? And why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it."

Verse 8 says, "Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.." He murdered him. 1 John 3:12 says Cain murdered Abel "because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous." Cain was jealous of Abel.

The character of Cain

a) He was a child of Satan

Now, going back to 1 John, it says in verse 12, Cain "was of that wicked one" (v. 12). The Greek word translated "wicked one" is poneros. It is stronger than kakos, the usual Greek word for evil. Poneros speaks of evil in active opposition to good--organized evil. A man who is kakos is willing to be evil and perish in his own corruption, but the person who is poneros seeks to drag everyone else down with him. Who is the evil one? Satan. Cain was a child of Satan. That is made evident because he was a murderer. God's children are not murderers; they love one another. John 8:44 says Satan has been a murderer from the beginning.

b) He perverted God's worship

The Greek word translated "killed" in 1 John 3:12 is sphazo, which means, "to butcher by cutting the throat." It is used in the Septuagint (the Greek version of the Old Testament) to refer to the slaying of animals for Levitical sacrifices. It is quite probable that Cain cut Abel's throat. When Cain and Abel were born, the seeds of death were already implanted in the sins of Adam and Eve. But as far as we know, no one had yet died.

John MacArther states, “The fact that Cain knew how to kill implies he knew God required an animal sacrifice. God instituted a pattern of sacrifice to bring men to himself, but Cain became the first to pervert it and turn it into murder. The human race learned to murder when it was taught to worship.”

c) He was jealous of Abel

Why did Cain kill his brother? Verse 12 says, "Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous." He was jealous--his brother was accepted by God but he wasn't. Jealousy lay at the base of Cain's murder. That's what life is like for the children of the devil.

Not all people are murderers like Cain, and that leads to the next characteristic of a child of the devil.

B. Hate (vv. 13-15)

1. The attitude of the world (v. 13)

Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.

Most people have never murdered anyone, but the only difference between hate and murder is the act--the attitude is the same. There are a lot of haters in this world who don't murder for only one reason--fear of the consequences. If they could get away with it without punishment, guilt, and negative social reaction, they would. In God's eyes, hatred is the moral equivalent of murder.

Let’s jump to verse 15:

"Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him"

Hatred is the same as murder in the eyes of God. And murderers do not have eternal life. As a general pattern, a believer loves and an unbeliever hates.

a) Proverbs 6:17-- The Lord hates "a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood." The Lord hates murderous hands. God's children do not commit murder. According to 1 John 3:15 one who hates is guilty of murder. In God's eyes, the ethic is the same.

b) Matthew 5:21-22--In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said by them of old, you shall not kill and whosoever kills shall be in danger of judgment; but I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of judgment; and whoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council; but whoever shall say, you fool, shall be in danger of hell fire." The attitude you have toward your brother is as significant to Jesus as what you do to him.

There are few people who murder as a way of life, but there are many who hate people.

So we need to be very careful here. We need to take a good look at ourselves and ask, Do I hate people? Do I love people? Its very important to examine ourselves.

John Piper states it this way,

“Hatred is the wish that another person was not there; it is the refusal to recognize his rights as a person; it is the longing to hurt or ultimately even to kill him. If I hate somebody, I am no different from a murderer in my attitude toward him. And with God it makes very little difference whether I actually have a chance to carry out the desires of my heart or not. People who hate are murderers according to Jesus and according to John "you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him." John is not denying the possibility of repentance and forgiveness for the sin of murder. What John is stating is the general principle that to take life is to forfeit life and no murderer has eternal life as a present and abiding possession.”

Now, lets sum this up with verse 14

We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death."

Lifestyles of love and hate are very revealing. Specifically they reveal whether one abides in death or whether he has indeed passed out of death into life. People who persistently and consistently love other people in heartfelt ways can have assurance that they indeed possess eternal life. Brothers and sisters, loving one another is not a trivial thing; it is not optional. Loving one another is critically important, eternally important. It is a matter of life and death!

C) Indifference

So far we’ve looked at 2 things that should not characterize Christians – Murder and Hate. However, there is another thing which John warns us about here in vs. 16-18

"By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 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? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth."

A person who sees a Christian in need and has the ability to help, yet refuses to do so, is not a Christian according to John. The world is characterized by indifference and apathy. The world murders its own, but Christians care for each other with sacrificial love.

Love is not defined as an attitude or an emotion, but as an act of self-sacrifice. We know God loves us because He laid down His life for us. What should we do? Lay down our lives for the brethren. Cain hated and murdered his brother--that's how Satan's children behave. Christ gave up His life for those He loved. That’s how a Christian should behave. One is selfish, the other is selfless.

Piper defines love this way:

“Christian love is finding one's own joy in actively working for the joy of another, even at the self-sacrificial cost of one's own private pleasure, all for the glory of God. And that is the kind of love we are to possess as Christians and the kind of love we are to exercise.”

He goes on to say, “Not only does Jesus' death embody love because it was the greatest possible sacrifice done for the greatest possible good. It was also done for the greatest possible motive. According to John 12:28, Jesus went to the cross in order to glorify the name of His Heavenly Father. And the writer of Hebrews tells us that Jesus endured the cross "for the joy set before him" (Hebrews 12:2). These two inextricably linked goals—the glory of God and our own delight and joy in it—are to be the supreme motive for any act of love. They were for Jesus, and they are to be for us.

Verse 17 says,

"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?"

This means sharing your material resources with those in need, be it spiritual or physical. And even those of us who are on the most limited income have something to share. Perhaps with individuals directly, or through the church, or through social agencies like the Crisis Pregnancy Center or mission agencies.

But the point is clear. How can we say that we are willing to lay down our lives for our brothers if we are unwilling to part with our money for their sake?

Verse 17 also means sharing your time with others in need. Many times that's what a person needs far more than he needs money. It takes time to be a friend; it takes time to talk, to listen, to relieve loneliness. And let me tell you, there’s a lot of lonely people out there. And for many of us it is harder to part with our time than with our money. We’re so busy doing all our daily chores that its difficult for us to stop for a minute and put our arms around a hurting person and comfort them.

That's something I am always struggling with. Stopping and taking the time to really get to know someone and minister to them. My guess is that's where the heart of the battle is for many of you as well. But if you or I close our hearts with respect to time, towards a brother or sister in need, how can God's love be in us?

Verse 17 can also mean sharing spiritual resources with a person in need through a word of encouragement or exhortation from the Bible and through consistent intercessory prayer. And in many cases the sacrifice demanded is greatest at this point because the spiritual battles are very real and very intense.

We’ll conclude here with verse 18

"Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth."

To put it in the modern vernacular, we need to walk the walk not just talk the talk. I believe Scripture tells us somewhere, we are to be doer’s of the Word and not hearers only. Right?

So I encourage everyone, lets all try to examine ourselves to see if we are truly loving the brethren. If you see someone in need, stop rushing around for a moment and give a word of encouragement; Lend a helping hand; or if necessary, donate a little money. Meet the need and glorify God.

God bless

Rob

Obama Needs To Hear This

The harmony of these kids will just bless your heart. Amazing! I can't stop listening to them.

"Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God."
2 Corinthians 5:20-21

Enjoy

DO NOT LOVE THE WORLD

BFG Lesson

10/4/2009

1 John 2:15-17

Notes based on sermons by John MacArthur and John Piper
Prepared by Robert Moritz



“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world – the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride in possessions – is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” 1 John 2:15-17

The text begins with a command — it's the only command in the text and therefore probably the main point. Verse 15a: "Do not love the world or the things in the world." Everything else in the text is a reason for or against why we should not love the world. A big problem with Christians today, especially in America is our love for the world and the things of the world. When we chase after the things of this world we end up committing idolatry.

The first reason John gives for not loving the world is that "if any one loves the world, love for the Father is not in him" (verse 15b). In other words the reason you shouldn't love the world is that you can't love the world and God at the same time. Love for the world pushes out love for God, and love for God pushes out love for the world. Its one or the other. Jesus even said, “whoever is not with me, is against me.” Math 12:30a

Then in verse 16 comes the support and explanation of that first argument. Take a look at verse 16: The reason love for the world pushes out love for God is that "all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride in possessions, is not of the Father but is of the world.

Jesus also told us, "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money" (Matthew 6:24). So don't love the world, because that would put you in the class with the God-haters whether you think you are or not. "If any one loves the world, love for the Father is not in him." That's the first reason John gives not to love the world.

Even though that one reason alone would be enough, he then gives two more incentives not to love the world. One is a negative and the other a positive.

The World Is Passing Away and Its Lusts - Negative

First, in verse 17a he says, "And the world passes away, and the lust of it." Nobody buys stock in a company that is sure to go bankrupt. Nobody builds a house in sinking sand. No reasonable person would lay up treasure where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal, would they? The world is passing away! To set your heart on it is only asking for heartache and misery in the end.

That's not all: not only is the world passing away, but also the lusts of it. If you share the desires of the world, you will pass away. You will not only lose your treasure, you will lose your life. If you love the world, it will pass away and take you with it. "The world passes away and the lust of it."

If You Do the Will of the Father, You Will Live Forever - Positive

Second, in verse 17b John says, "But he who does the will of God abides for ever." The opposite of loving the world is not only loving the Father (verse 15), but also doing the will of the Father (verse 17). And that connection is not hard to understand. Jesus said, "If you love me you will keep my commandments" (John 14:15). John said in 1 John 5:3 which we’ll look at in a few weeks, "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments." So loving the Father in verse 15 and doing the will of God in verse 17 are not really separate things.

If you love God, you will love what he wills. It is empty talk to say I love God but I don't love what God loves. So John is saying in verse 17, "If you love the world, you will perish with the world, but if you don't love the world but love God, you will do his will and live with him for ever."

The Reality of Satan's Reign

Before we go any further, we need to look at what John means by the world. Here John doesn’t just mean material things. He’s also talking about the whole world system.

When Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden they forfeited their right to rule the planet as God intended. Instead they obeyed Satan and sold their rulership of the world to him. Much the same way that Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for food. Satan then created an evil world system opposed to God and that is what now dominates the planet. Satan’s system will continue to dominate the planet right up until the Great Tribulation.

In verse 15 John says, “Do not love the world or the things in the world.” Why? Because the things in the world are part of the satanic system. John MacArthur says, “1 John 2:15 tells us to stop loving the system and the things that are in it; for if anyone is in love with it, his claim to love God is invalid. The system that Satan has developed is in total opposition to God. A person cannot love both. John is defining a Christian as one who loves God, rather than Satan's system.” Satan’s world system can be characterized by 3 factors that enabled him to control the world:

• False Religion: Satan needed to counteract the truth. So he developed lies about God, eternal destiny, and other spiritual truths. All false religions claim that man enters God's presence not on the basis of what God has done by His grace, but on the basis of what man can do himself if he is good enough.

• Crime and War: Satan brought fear and bondage into man's life through crime and war. Men are pitted against men. Throughout history, Satan has used crime, arguments, riots, and wars to destroy the unity that God had intended for the world to have. All forms of crime are a threat against unity. Every time a person steals, covets, or destroys what is someone else's--even to the point of killing them--the unity that God designed for mankind to experience disintegrates further.

• Godless Living: Is a way of living that operates independently of God. Satan has developed a system in which he can captivate men. It is anti-God and anti-Christ. It is rebellion to truth and contradicts God’s will. Although he may not be directly responsible, Satan is behind all Godlessness taking place today in opposition to God’s Kingdom.

First John 2:15 tells us to stop loving the world system and the things that are in it; for if anyone is in love with it, his claim to love God is invalid. The system that Satan has developed is in total opposition to God. A person cannot love both. John is defining a Christian as one who loves God, rather than Satan's system. James makes a very similar statement that I’d like us all to take a look at. Turn if you will to James 4:1-4: You see if you love the world not only are you denying God, but you are an enemy of God. (READ) Love for the world and love for God are absolutely antithetical. In other words they are polar opposites. A person cannot love both at the same time. A true Christian does not love the world. It is impossible because its in direct opposition with who he is.

One reason we do not love the world is because of what it does. It incites to sin. The world's system is designed to tempt a person to sin. God wants to generate holiness in our lives as we become more like Jesus Christ. Satan uses the world to tempt us. Some of us are able to resist the world's temptation because of our maturity in Christ. But that does not change the evil intentions of the world, which opposes the holiness that God desires in every Christian's life.

Plague of the Christian Church in America

According to verse 15 in our text, if your love for God is cool today it may be because love for the world has begun to take over your heart and choke your love for God. The love of the world and the love of the Father cannot coexist. And every heart loves something. The very essence of our nature is desire. We all lust after something, we all covet something.

So what is this "world" that we are not to love? Verse 16 says it is characterized by three things: "lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life." The first two—lust of the flesh and lust of the eyes—refer to desires for what we don't have. And the third—the pride of possessions—refers to the pride in what we do have. The world is driven by these two things: passion for pleasure and pride in possessions.

According to John Piper, “the passion for pleasure is described in two ways because there are two large classes of pleasure—physical and aesthetic. There is the lust of the flesh—bodily pleasures; and the lust of the eyes—aesthetic and intellectual pleasures. There is the lust of the gutter and the lust of the gourmet. There is the lust for hard rock and the lust for high Rachmaninoff. There is the lust of Penthouse and the lust of Picasso. This book ends with the ringing command: "Little children, KEEP YOURSELVES FROM IDOLS!"—whether they are crude or whether they are cultured.”

Anything in this world that is not of God can rob your heart of the love of God. Anything that is not God can draw your heart away from God. If you don't have something, the lust for it can fill you with passion to get it. If you get it, it can fill you with pride that you've got it.

The Apostle Paul deals very succinctly with the pride of life when he says in 1 Corinthians 4:7, "What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as though it were not a gift .” and again in 1 Cor 1:31, “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord" So let there be no boasting in possessions because it all belongs to God.

(I was just thinking about this very thing this past week and a friend also posted this very thought on her Facebook page last night. The fact that every thing we have is a gift from God. We own nothing. Every breath we take, Every drop of water, every morsel of food we eat is a gift from God. We cannot live without any of those things for very long. Yet God provides them to us every day without us even thinking about what a blessing it is to be alive.)

And against the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes the psalmist says, "Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is nothing upon earth that I desire besides thee." Therefore let us desire nothing but God. Possess nothing but God; pursue nothing but God.

The Problem With The Church Today

One of the greatest iniquities plaguing the Christian Church today is worldliness. If you drive across the country today, you can tune into many different “Christian” radio stations along the way and hear a whole host of teaching, the least of which is true Christian doctrine. Instead, what you hear will reveal much about the secret motivations that drive many Christians today. The same holds true for “Christian” television. Some of these broadcasts would be hilarious if they weren’t so sad.

Instead of true Biblical teaching we have false teachers deceiving and exploiting the gullible. They run around with all kinds of gimmicks to convince people that all they have to do is trust in Christ and they can have health, wealth and success in His name.

• I’ve heard one speaker offer holy water and lucky charms to those who send a donation of X amount of dollars.

• I’ve seen people like Robert Tilton who offers his listeners a prayer cloth that has been blessed by him which would bring money, new cars, health, etc.

• I heard one speaker say he would mail out holy soap which he had blessed. It would wash away any bad luck, evil friends and sickness.

Of course as a true member of God’s elect, these kinds of things should bring real disgust to our hearts because we have our present day Gnostics, teaching a false gospel and leading deceived sheep down the broad road to destruction. And how is this stuff being marketed? Churches are using every type of gimmick imaginable from famous athletes, beauty queens, even business men and politicians who, “make it in the world and have Jesus too.”

Unfortunately today, Christian values are defined almost totally by success as it is promoted by Madison Avenue marketing. Even many Christian ministries gauge their effectiveness by the standards of Harvard MBA’s. Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” So what can we say about today’s evangelical Christians who follow after the desires of this world. Getting into debt for cars, homes, furnishings and clothes that probably aren’t needed and sacrificing family, church and health for corporate promotions and career advancement. Should Christians be loving the world system so much?

I believe all this is deception engineered by the god of this world to ensnare and destroy effective Christians and to keep them from sharing the Gospel with those who need it. In his book, “Revolution In World Missions, Dr. K. P. Yohannan compares and contrasts what it is to be saved in America vs. what it means to be saved in Asia. The American version, he states, goes something like this: “I was sick and broke, a total failure. Then I met Jesus. Now everything is fine; my business is booming and I am a great success.” It sounds wonderful, if you’re having problems in this life, all you have to do is become a Christian and you’ll get that bigger house and a new car and a boat and you’ll be able to take that vacation around the world.

Dr. Yohannan goes on to say, “ if that were really God’s way, it would put some believers living in anti-Christian and third world countries in a pretty bad light. Their testimonies go something like this, “I was happy. I had everything – prestige, recognition, a good job, and a happy family. Then I gave my life to Jesus Christ. Now I am in Siberia, having lost my family, my wealth, my reputation, job and health. Here I live, lonely, deserted by friends. I cannot see the face of my wife or dear children. My crime? That I love Jesus.” What a difference. Satan has so completely twisted the way we look at Christianity in America today that it is completely backwards.

And what about the heroes of the faith down through the ages? The apostles laid down their lives for the Lord. Christian martyrs have written their names on every page of history.

(Book – Fox’s Book of Martyrs.) Countless stories of men and women down through the ages who have given their lives for the cause of Christ.

One Indian man named Sundar Singh, born and raised in a rich Indian sect’s home became a Christian – his own family tried to poison him and banished him from their home. He lost his inheritance and walked away with one piece of clothing on his body. Yet, following his Master, he made millions truly rich through faith in Christ. American Christianity is so corrupt and backwards. It follows after the system of the world which as we saw was created by Satan. It has become fat, dumb, lazy and happy. Content to just watch the world go by, unwilling to lay it all on the line for the cause of Christ.

Today we have people like Joel Osteen telling his followers that they can have their best life now. That God wants them to be happy and that they can preserver and overcome their struggles. What a damnable message. And he preaches to 30,000 plus every week, not to mention the people he reaches around the globe via TV. He’s leading them all down the path of destruction. His message is a complete polar opposite to what John is talking about in our passage this morning.

Christians in Asia and other parts of the world often suffer for their commitment to Christ. Coming from non-Christian backgrounds, they often are literally thrown out of their homes, lose their jobs and are beaten and chased from their villages when they accept Christ. They faithfully serve Christ daily, suffering untold hardships because Jesus promised His followers in John 16:33, “In the world you will have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

Christ never promised us health, wealth and prosperity in this life. In fact, He promised just the opposite – trials and tribulations. We can face them because we know He already has won the battle. God does promise to meet our physical needs. And He does, indeed, bless His children materially. But He blesses us for a purpose – not so we can squander those resources on ourselves but so we can be good stewards, using our resources wisely to win the lost to God’s saving grace.

Some people say, "It's so hard to live a pure life today." It's always been hard, but the media today has probably made it more difficult to maintain a pure life. There's no sense in watching a movie that is filled with profanity, violence, and sexual immorality. Exposing yourself to things like that is only going to allow your mind to be preoccupied with the world's value system. And this is something I struggle with all the time. Like, when the latest movie comes out and we want to go see it, we’re giving our money in support of Hollywood which is a large component of the current world system.

Have you ever carefully listened to the music of world? I like many kinds of music, but the ideas that are conveyed through the music of the world rarely square with what the Word of God says. If your ears are constantly bombarded by such music, you may find yourself following the world's morality. The same is true with television: When you watch it, you are sold the world's standards in a very slick way. The system is geared to generate sin, and if you want to play with it, that's exactly what it will do in your life. If you want to stick yourself in the world's mold--its materialism, humanism, and immorality--you are going against the very nature of your identity in Christ. Since we are called to "shine as lights in the world" (Phil. 2:15), we had better make sure people can see that there's something different about us. We need to disconnect ourselves from the system by saturating our minds with the Word of God to establish the right kind thought patterns.

Conclusion

If you are a Christian, are you living the holy life that the Lord expects of you?

Knowing that we are conditioned to accept the world's values through secular media, we must carefully evaluate the kinds of things that we expose our eyes and ears to. Is TV programming you with its distorted perspective of human relationships and materialism? Its influence on you may have been so gradual and subtle that it has been hardly noticeable. Have you become so worldly that it is difficult to tell you apart from an unbeliever who attends church? Based on your understanding of the Word of God, examine yourself to see how brightly your life shines in the world as a lighthouse of truth to the people lost on the sea of secularism.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, do not love the world or the things in the world. If any one loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. John Piper puts it best when he says, "If the love of the Father is in you, if you love God with all your heart, then every room you enter will be a temple of love to God, all your work will be a sacrifice of love to God, every meal will be a banquet of love with God, every song will be an overture of love to God."

AMEN

Obama Declares War on Fox News

During the president's address in New Hampshire the other day, he continued to press for his health care reform bill which is floundering in the polls. Amazingly, he misquotes AARP and uses a little girl in the audience, who is a plant, to ask a ridiculous sobbing question. It was so ridiculous that it was uncovered by the very liberal Boston Globe. They found that the girls mother is kathleen Manninghall who was the coordinator of the "Massachusetts Women for Obama" during the election campaign.

Liberals can't seem to understand why everyone is so angry. They think its all because of Obamacare and yes that is a big part of it. However the anger is increasing more and more because of the self righteous, arrogant attitude of the members of the House and Senate who are treating citizens like little children and not taking their concerns seriously.

Democrats just "poo poo" everyone's concerns because none of them have read the bill and therefore are unable to respond to people coherently and correctly on the issue. People want a truthful response but are being lied to by those who are supposed to be representing them. Especially when it concerns 1/7 of the US economy with life and death decisions hanging in the balance. Its truly amazing to watch some of these town hall meetings where a citizen will ask a question, directly from the bill, and the congressman will flat out deny that its in there.

Its just truly stunning to see how backwards our country has become. The US government is supposed to be, "of the people, by the people and for the people", not the other way around. Our politicians are supposed to govern, not rule. They are to serve "we the people" not we the people serving them. It seems as if no matter who we send to Washington, once they get inside the Beltway, its like they enter the Twilight Zone and completely forget why they were elected in the first place and the people who sent them there.

Enjoy the video of O'reilly calling the Obama administration on their antics.

Socialized Obama Care

So far ObamaCare has not been a big hit with most of the American people. Even democrats are beginning to wake up to see what this is going to mean to there families and themselves if this behemoth program passes. Trillions of dollars in new debt that future generations will have shoulder the burden for. All for the sake of a one payer system which has been proven not to work the world over.

To emphasize this, Glen Beck talks to Daniel Hannan from Great Britain who tells how well a socialized health care system is going over there. If you don't like waiting a few hours for treatment now, just wait until Obama implements his socialist mess. Check it out below.

The National Debt Road Trip

Thought this was quite interesting. It shows in graphic detail the speed at which our national debt is going to increase under Obama's watch, far and above all previous presidents, Bush included.

The Freedom Of Boundaries

Today, you will often hear non-Christians say that they would never become a Christian because they don't want to give up their freedoms. They don't want any boundaries in their lives. But it's actually having rules and boundaries that give us freedom and allow us to live happy and secure lives.

I know this sounds backwards but think about it for a minute. Think of the rules of the road. There is great freedom in driving, but we need to obey certain rules. In America we drive on the right side of the road. What if you said, 'well I'm free to drive on whatever side I want.' Well you could do that but the consequences might me deadly. Or, what about a traffic light? Red means stop and green means go. Should we not listen to those rules. If you pull up to a red light and say 'I don't need these rules' and drive right through the light, the consequences could be deadly. There is safety and security and freedom in boundaries.

Mark Cahill, in his book, "One Heartbeat Away" gives another good example. "If you were staying on the 30th floor of a hotel, would you go out on the balcony if it were just a slab of concrete, but had no railings? Would you put your child out there?

Of course not, it would be too dangerous. But once you put some good strong railings on the balcony, would you go out there then? Would you go out there with your child? Of course. Not only would most of us go out there, we would even lean on the railing while we were out there. Why would we do this? Once there is a boundary, you have all the freedom you want inside that boundary. You can even have lunch out there if you want. Boundaries actually provide freedom."

The 10 commandments are not the 10 suggestions. God did not give us the 10 commandments to suppress us but so that we may live life to the fullest. If we try to live our lives by keeping them we will live happier, fuller lives.

God bless

Rob