A Heart for God, Part 1 (1 John 2:15-17)

I. Introduction. A. Orientation. Last week, we saw our Savior telling us That we are to love God With all our heart, soul, strength, and mind Our love for Him is to be so strong That we focus our whole being on serving Him. And we saw That we are to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Why? Because its the right thing to do, Because the Lord commands us, But also because Jesus said This is what we must do to enter heaven Do this and you will live.

Now again, we know we cant. We have all failed. But since we failed, God sent His Son into the world To do this for us.

2 Thats what the Gospel is all about. And if you will only turn from your sins and trust Him He will take away your sins And He will give you His righteousness. He will save you from what you deserved: hell, And He will give you what you dont deserve: heaven.

We also saw that the Lord never intended For the Gospel to do away with the standard Jesus didnt obey so that we wouldnt have to He still wants us to love God with our whole being And our neighbor as ourselves.

Jesus obeyed so that we could obey as well Far from destroying the standard Through His work, He actually gives us the ability to keep it.

He gives us His Spirit Who is working His character in us, So that little by little We are becoming more like Jesus.

Thats what the Christian life is all about. Its not just about salvation from hell,

3 Its also about transformation into His image.

And He hasnt left us without incentives:

He has loved us with an infinite love, Sent His Son for us, Prepared heaven for us.

He has put His love in our hearts So that we can love Him in return.

As we obey, it strengthens our assurance The more we sense His love for us And see the love He has given us Operating in our lives, The more assured we are That we are His.

And He has promised rewards Every time we deny ourselves to do His will, Every time we love Him and love our neighbor, We are storing up riches in heaven.

But there is at least one more incentive That we dont often think about: The more we love in this way

4 The more our heart is for God The more He will be for us. The prophet Hanani said to Asa, king of Judah, For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His (2 Chr. 16:9).

Do you want His help and support As you seek to serve Him in this world? Then you need to develop this kind of heart A heart that loves Him, That loves your neighbor, A heart after His own heart, A heart for God.

B. Preview. This is a theme I would like to develop For the next few Lords Days, Beginning with a consideration Of our greatest obstacle: the world.

If you really want a heart for God, You must overcome any love You have for this world.

Lets begin this morning by considering three things from our passage: What the Lord tells us we are not to love.

What He tells us we are to love. And what difference it makes. II. Sermon. A. First, what does the Lord tell us not to love? John writes, Do not love the world nor the things in the world (v. 15). That sounds simple enough to understand. But is it?

What does the Lord have in mind here? Is it just the really bad things, The things that make us all recoil when we hear about them Gross immorality, murder, etc. He does, but thats not all.

Hes talking about everything in this world That is displeasing to Him, That is on the opposite end of the moral spectrum From what He loves, From what He knows is right and good. There are many more things in the world like this Than we usually care to admit.

John actually boils them down to three categories: The lust of the flesh, The lust of the eyes,

The boastful pride of life (v. 16).

The lust of the flesh Refers to the evil desires in our hearts Our fleshly appetites Our desire for things that are wrong in themselves, Or for things that are good For the wrong reasons.

The lust of the eyes Refers to the things we look at, That we lust after, That we have to have. Our desire for anything Usually comes through the gateway of the eyes. We see something, And we want it.

The boastful pride of life Has to do with the particular desire For fame, glory, position, authority, recognition To be outstanding in some way.

There is a great deal of overlap in these categories Because they all have to do with the same thing:

The flesh, carnal appetites, the evil desires sin creates.

This is a perfect description of the world. This is what drives the world to do what it does, Which is why you must never use the world As an example/model of how you should live.

Those who are in the world Do what they do purely out of sin. Another way of putting this is That they are completely self-centered They do what they do to satisfy their own appetites, To gain glory for themselves.

God made them to serve Him, But they serve themselves, Which is why God is at war with them, And they with God.

If you are to have a heart for God You cant love the world. God hates it, and so must you!

B. If you are to have a heart for God, What is it that you should love?

8 You must love what God loves.

1. You must love the things of the Spirit and not of the flesh.

God hates the flesh/sin, But He loves the things of the Spirit What the Spirit does in our hearts.

He gave you His Spirit To fight against your flesh. And to move you towards the things of heaven.

If you are to have a heart for God You must yield to Him, And not to the flesh. Paul writes, But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh (Gal. 5:16).

2. Second, instead of having eyes Fixed on the things you can see and desiring them, The Lord wants you to fix them on the things you cant see That you might desire them. Paul writes, For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal (2 Cor. 4:17-18).

The Lord would have us look through the eyes of faith

9 To the realities of the unseen world, To see what He says/promises is true. We are to be like Abraham, Who left the city where he lived To look for the city God built For those who love Him and desire better things (Heb. 1:10, 16).

You must take your eyes off the things of this world And set them on the things above.

And finally, instead of seeking fame and personal glory, You are to humble yourself and serve the Lord.

When the disciples were haggling Over who among them would be the greatest, Jesus called them to Himself and said, You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many (Matt. 20:25-28). Instead of seeking a great name for yourself in this world, You must seek to make His name great.

If you would have the kind of heart God loves, If you would have His support, You must purpose to seek Him and His glory, Not the things of the world.

10

C. Finally, what difference does it make whether we love the world or God? From what John tells us here It makes all the difference between heaven and hell.

He says, If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. If after everything youve heard this morning You still love the world and want it rather than God, Then you really dont love the Father.

Why does John say this? Because all that God loves And all that is in the world are opposites: We cant love both!

Does that mean That if we have any love for the world at all We dont love the Father? No. Weve already seen That there is a continual war Between the flesh and the Spirit. As long as were in the world, We will love the world to some degree.

11 What John is saying Is if Gods love is in us, We will resist the love we have for the world So that we will not love it to the point That we go after it.

If we are continually pursuing the world We have every reason to suspect That we dont love the Father. How can we love Him When we continually devote ourselves To the things He hates And serve them? Jesus said to His disciples, He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me (John 14:21).

If you are in love with the world this morning The Lord tells you That you must give it up Or you will perish with the world.

You must turn from your sins And turn to Jesus in faith. Ask Him to break the power of sin within And to give you a new heart.

12

Its only if you have a heart that loves Him enough To forsake the world and obey Him, That you can know you have eternal life. John says, The one who does the will of God lives forever (v. 17).

On the other hand, If you already do have such a heart, What does this say to you? If you want to be a man, woman, child, After Gods own heart, So that He will strongly support you, Then this is what you must do:

1. Put your flesh to death And seek to be filled with the Spirit.

2. Get your eyes off the things of this world And put them on the things of heaven.

3. And give up your aspirations Of being someone great in the eyes of the world And humble yourself and become a servant.

If you do, God will be honored,

13 He will be pleased with you, And He will more strongly support The things you do for Him in this world.

When you are for God, You can know God is for you.

May the Lord grant to each of us such a heart. Amen.

http://www.graceopcmodesto.org