The Love God Hates B

Down in the depths of my being the truest and purest expression of my redeemed soul is that I hate what poses mind more study titled the love God hates you find that title shocking. Perhaps you're wondering how God who is love could possibly hate what provokes a gracious, merciful God to hatred and how can you be sure that you are loving the things God loves and hating the things he hates those are crucial questions and the answers have major implications for your life right now and through eternity to find out what Scripture teaches about God's hate and how you should respond. Stay tuned as John begins today's lesson. First John chapter 2 verses 15 through 17.

When we title this particular study the love God hates the love God hates here is the love God hates the love of the world.

If you love something you hate whatever threatens that something. If you love someone you hate whoever threatens that someone in the greater your love, the greater your hatred.

The more your affection for what is right, the more your disaffection for what is wrong.

God is a God of perfect love because God loves perfectly. He also hates perfectly.

The two are actually inseparable to love perfectly is to hate perfectly now when we talk about the world when we talking about. This is the compelling question here if you say we don't love the world, what are you saying how are we to understand that were going to find that out before we get too far into this, but there's a very clear indication in the Bible of what Scripture means when it talks about the world. First of all we could be talking about the created order could be looking around and saying well there is the physical world. Is that what this is talking about or what about the human world. Is that what were talking about. No, neither of those are in view here is something much more invisible in one sentence than that, but I give you little outline will work our way into this as true Christians we cannot, we do not we will not love the world.

First of all because of what it is because of what it is were not talking about the physical world were not talking about nature were not talking about the wonder of a sunset or flowers or mountains or streams and CDs in the beauty of God's creation and secondly were not talking about people God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.

What is that world that God so loved. It is not the inanimate world is the human world. God love people will then if it's not the created world is not the human world.

What is it it's the invisible spiritual system of evil. We use the word world and that way we talk about the world of sports Wide World of Sports. We talk about the world of politics. We talk about the world of science.

What we mean by that the order the system structure that are not separate planets and not separate people that their system is made up of ideas and made up of activities and made up of purposes, and the world in the language of Scripture.

This definition of the world is Satan system that opposes Christ. Satan system that opposes God is the very opposite of everything that comes from God. That's why verse 16 says it is not from the father is from the world and is a part of a system that is passing away.

Verse 17 said that evil system that is anti-God over to chapter 5, verse 19, John gives a further definition of it when he says we know that we are of God.

Again, this is the confidence because we passed the test.

We know that we are of God, and the whole world. The whole evil order lies in the evil one Greek literally says lies in the evil one it belongs to him.

He holds it he controls it. Go back to chapter 4 and there's even further instruction about this beloved, do not believe every spirit test the spirits to see whether there from God for many false prophets have gone out into the world. The system of evil is just loaded with false prophets. The purveyors of anti-God teaching by this you know the Spirit of God. You can tell who the true teachers are in the false teachers every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is from God when they get their Christology right there from God and every spirit that doesn't confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world there is in the world. A pervasive spirit that we can call antichrist.

So when you define the world what you're saying is a system that is against Christ anti-against Jesus then call Satan the prince of the power of the year. He also calls him John 1231 the prince of this world. Ephesians 611 and 12 says that Satan has his demons, his evil spirits, principalities and powers working in this evil system.

Satan involves all the unregenerate as children of disobedience in the system we could say this talk about all of the thinking processes of the unconverted Jesus calls the unconverted look.

16. Eight children of the world, offspring of the world but that's not us that is not us, our citizenship clip is 320 is in heaven is in heaven where not all of this world monetary. What this means.

This does not mean that you don't get tempted, sometimes by things in the world, material things, lustful things doesn't mean that you're not the Lord by your own pride and self-interest. That's why the command is here do not love the world.

While it is true that we have literally died to the world. It is also true that we can find it still alluring and find ourselves being tempted to draw back into it up to to further understand this, you became a Christian.

This is what you affirm. You affirmed that the gospel of Jesus Christ was true is that not right, you can become a Christian. If you didn't affirm that they did. The only way you can be saved is to affirm the gospel of Christ. And when you affirmed that the gospel of Christ in its fullness was true and you believed it, and you embraced it and you confess Jesus as Lord.

At that moment you word dead to the world because the world is a system that opposes that reality. That's why we can say is Christians that we do not love that system. We hate that system doesn't mean I I hate the creation doesn't mean I hate people. It doesn't mean that my fallenness is not sometimes a lured toward the things that make up the world but down in the depths of my being the truest and purest expression of my redeemed soul is that I hate what opposes my Lord is that not true.

I hated sometimes I want to make a whip and clean out the place and so do you and sometimes you want to take the books that deny the deity of Christ and throw them against the wall because they anger your soul because you hate that that misrepresents God and misrepresents the Lord Jesus Christ. If you're a true Christian. That's how you feel and if you don't feel that way then you love the world and the love of the fathers noted what is the dominant spirit of the world. I don't care what religious form it comes in or what your religious form it comes in. I don't care whether it's agnosticism, atheism, or a whether it's the most sophisticated kind of religion. The common denominator in the entire system is antichrist. That's why in chapter 4 verse three the spirit of antichrist is already operative in the system.

This prevailing antichrist mentality, whether it's Islam or Buddhism or atheism or what ever it is cultism. Shiism's whatever Eastern religions any other kind of religion, aberrant forms of Christianity, you name it whatever it is the common denominator is that it contains a misrepresentation of Jesus Christ and the glories of salvation, and it is purveyed by an endless line of false prophets, and it hates us. The line was drawn when you became a believer the world and the family of God are opposites. I'm not saying that you shouldn't enjoy everything that God is provided for you and the wonders of the world should were not talking about that.

I'm not saying that you should disdain the people of the world you should love them, the way God loves them. In fact, in Matthew, the Lord himself said you are to love your enemies, you are to do good to those that hate you, and persecute you, and thereby demonstrate that you are the children of your father. For even God loves the world of people, but you don't love the system of antichrist anti-God, evil people say to me well can you be a Christian and stay in a false religious system. Not very long. Why because you hate everything about it. How much can you endure how much of the reproach that falls on Christ.

Can you endure if you love Christ, if you love the Lord Jesus Christ and you hate whatever it is that brings dishonor to him.

Pardon us for a little fired up about protecting the glories of our God in our Christ against the horrific antichrist spirit that operates in the entire world system. These people who say you can go to heaven without the gospel, you can go to heaven if you just a good person in whatever religion you're in. They don't understand it in every false belief system on the planet. There is operating the spirit of antichrist and God does not reward people for functioning in an antichrist system that was settled when you became a believer.

Verse 13 of chapter 3.

So don't marvel brother. If the world hates you. Don't be surprised expected. They hated Jesus to hate those who hold his name hi the world will not listen to us. It will listen to false prophets.

They are of the world so they speak of the world and the world hears them.

There is an affinity.

There is an identity. We on the other hand, are of God. The whole system is just damning people. The whole cosmos, the whole ideological system is damning. People Jesus said I must send the Holy Spirit.

John 1417 but the world can't receive a set I came to the to the world and the world rejected me.

He said in John 17 92 his father. I do not pray for the world. Jesus gave himself that he might deliver us from this present evil world. Galatians 14, second Peter 220 talks about the pollution of the world what you talking about is is not just sin.

Look, we could sin without a system understand that, but you do understand the don't you. You don't need Satan and you don't need an evil system to sin Scripture doesn't say that Scripture says this the deeds of the flesh are evident, immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, and being broken is carousing, and things like these. Galatians 5. You don't need the system and you don't need Satan to sin.

So when we say we been crucified to the world and we are dead to the world and we no longer love the world that is not to say we don't sin what it is to say is that we hate the anti-God antichrist anti-Scripture systems that are infected with the lies of Satan. Love is the supreme perfection and as a supreme affection.

Love allows no rifles.

I think that's true to human realm and when you find the person that the you cortical fall in love with their and anybody else we'll go to somebody and say I love you with all my heart and soul and being. And him and him and now it's one of those kinds of supreme affection was that eliminates all rivals. That's how it is just how it is.

That's just his nature, and when you determined by the wonderful working of God in your heart that you were going to love the Lord Jesus Christ. You therefore hate all anti-Christ spirits you still stumbled carnal ambition will get in your way. Personal pride will get in your way.

Greed will get in your way. There will be self pleasure. There will be a certain satisfaction with vengeful attitudes. There will be sins of all varying kinds that will occur in the lives of believers you will be unkind and unloving and unfair and all of those things are part of flash, but as a Christian that's different than embracing the ordered system of antichrist evil. You know love that you hate that and that is part of being a believer turn to second Corinthians 10 I go to this passage so often so often, but it is it is an overlooked passage. I think I'm the only person who ever talks about it, but it's just it's just one of those. It's one of those watermark things that you should show up on every page where engaged in a war. Paul says in the 10th chapter doing little play on words in verse two he says some regard us as if we walked according to the flesh obviously had's critics who said that he was carnal, fleshly, sinful, playing off of that. He says though we walk in the flesh, not in the sense of carnality, but we are human nieces all agreed that we are human, but we do not make war. According to the flesh where engaged in a spiritual war is the kingdom of God against the kingdom of darkness.

It's Christ against antichrist it's the truth against the lie where engaged in this war and the weapons of our warfare are not human.

We know we can't fight this battle with human weapons it's a battle between truth and error to battle between Christ and antichrist. It's a battle between the word of God and the word of Satan. This is a this is a massive battle in the weapons to fight the battle are not human but divinely powerful mighty unto God and the Greek divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses the antichrist system the world system is here pictured as fortresses many different fortresses because the. The world system of thinking.

The antichrist anti-God Satanic system of thinking comes in different forms. There are different kinds of fortresses and if we are going to go against these fortresses and destroy them.

We have have some very powerful weapons. What are these fortresses verse five. Verse four talks about destroying fortresses. Verse five says we are destroying log is minus is the Greek word speculations imaginations. It really means ideas ideas ideologies systems of belief.

Belief systems any kind of belief system anything from a primitive animistic belief system to a complex kind of world religion like Hinduism, with its millions of deities and everything in between any kind of system any kind of philosophy, psychology. Any theories we are destroying all these systems further defined in verse five the word and Chi can mean even which is a further description of what was just said these speculations. These loggers must these ideologies are then identified as every lofty thing that is every proud expression of thought raised up against the knowledge of God. Any anti-God idea constitutes the world the system and our task is to destroy those anti-God fortresses and the universe.

Five.

Take every thought and bring it captive to the obedience of Christ. So there is our mandate for battle. We go out into the world, we confront the lies we confront the anti-God antichrist speculations, theories, ideologies, systems, and we smash them to the ground. Any idea raised up against the knowledge of God and we bring all thoughts captive to Christ. This is the great spiritual war the world and is defined as defined here for us as ideologies, lofty ideologies that are in opposition to God. And when you became a Christian all of that opposition and right and you became a believer in the true God and in Christ you became a child of God and you are now in God's family either. As we learned in verses 12 to 14 as a spiritual child as a spiritual young man or having matured to becoming a spiritual father. Any system that's against God and Christ is the world I want to close with a conversion story Philippians 3 Philippians 3. This is the conversion story of the apostle Paul.

You talk about a man in the world you talk about a man caught up in an antichrist system. If you were to read acts nine will take time to do it. You will read there that Paul was breathing out fury earlier in the book of acts. He was breathing out fury against believers and ask chapter 9 is on his way to Damascus. He's got papers from the Jewish leadership to go there and persecuted and imprisoned Christians is going to continue to do everything he can to stamp out the work of Christ to stamp out the church to rid the world of the gospel he is he is an antichrist.

He is one of those false prophets who purvey the system of the world. The Satanic system that's against God and against Christ. But on the Damascus Road. He is confronted by Christ and he is converted the history of that takes place in acts nine. The internal working is described in Philippians 3 the story of what happened on the outside is in acts nine. What happened on the inside is in Philippians 3 he listened the system that he was in the says some he had confidence in his flesh. Verse four Philippians 3 he had confidence in his own human strength. He he had his own achievements religiously. He was circumcised the eighth day he was of the nation of Israel. He was of the tribe of Benjamin. He was a Hebrew of Hebrews as to the law Pharisee is to seal a persecutor of the church as to the righteousness which is in the lie was found blameless. That was his system. That was his fortress. He was okay. He was secure. That was his antichrist. Put posture and position, and from that position of being a devout zealous Pharisee vehicle law abiding you.

He was fighting Christ and Christ smashed him into the dirt confronted him he was amazingly transformed and in that moment he died to the world. His world is system of ideology because in verse seven he says whatever things were gain to me, all those things were. And again, those things I've counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

That's when he died to the world. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but scuba line waste, garbage, filth, and order them again. Christ once I saw Christ.

Everything else was trash. That's when he stopped loving his world is ideological world. This theological world is philosophical world. His own personal world of religious accomplishment. So if you still love that world and the love of God is not in you, you're holding onto any other ideology. Any other religion. Any antichrist ideas the love of God is not in you, you can't love the world, you can't because of what it is, by definition, it is anti-Christ and you confess Christ as Lord. This is grace to you with John MacArthur. Thanks for being with us. John's current study from first John two is calling you to examine your love for the world and your love for God. It's titled the love God hates John. You made it clear today that believers are to reject the world system to break free of sin's grasp and wondering what that looks like practically what are some ways a believer can shield himself from the influence of this world and maintain a clear conscience while living in a sinful culture, simple, protect your mind. Guard your thoughts, you know, the Old Testament says in Proverbs. Guard your heart. For out of it on the issues of life you live. What occupies your heart, your mind, your consciousness, David said the positive side, I placed your law in my heart so that I might not sin against you. It's about your thinking it's about what's going on in your mind. The only way you'll ever protect yourself against sin is to control the inside. James says sin conceives in the mind and brings forth death. While we tell you about a book really important book.

In fact, a few years ago we set a copy of this book to every congressman and senator in the in the American government. The title the vanishing conscience the vanishing conscience. This book is designed to show you how seriously the Bible takes sin. This arms you with specifics of how to control the battle inside of you. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. This helps you to get in connection with your conscience. That's was titled the vanishing conscience.

Many people don't even understand the conscience and how it functions and it's an amazing gift from God.

The vanishing conscience it's a full book 250 pages is affordably priced and if you are struggling with sin as a believer or even as a nonbeliever.

And I know you are because everyone is you need to read this not because I wrote this.

It's not the part that I wrote the is important.

It's the part that God wrote that I point you to that is important. Again, the vanishing conscience you can order it today, shipping is free. That's right, and friend. Your conscience is an essential weapon in the fight against sin. This book will help you sharpen your conscience and win the battle with temptation and it's a particularly great tool for anyone struggling with habitual sin, pick up a copy of John's book called the vanishing conscience when you contact us today.

You can order by calling us toll-free at 855 grace. You can visit our website Jide TY.org and you can order their again to get a copy of the vanishing conscience for yourself or a few to give away. Call 855 grace visit TTY.org and if you're looking to strengthen your conscience with further Bible study. Let me recommend the MacArthur study Bible with detailed introductions to each book of the Bible and 25,000 study notes by John the MacArthur study Bible helps you understand Scripture in its proper historical context and also how to apply it to your life.

It's available in the new American Standard new King James and English standard version.

There also many non-English translations choose from to see all of the options, go to Jide TY.org that's TTY.org or you can call us at 855 now for John MacArthur and the entire staff on Phil Johnson. Thanks for listening today and invite a friend to join you tomorrow when John shows you how to love what God loves and how to hate what he hates. That's John's focus when another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time comes your way on racing