The part of the chapter that I'd like to focus on is beginning there in verse 11 where the Bible reads, "For the grace of God that bringth salvation had appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world." I want to focus in on that term there, worldly lust.
A lot of people today don't use the word worldly. It's not in their vocabulary. I've even had people who heard my sermons where I preach about being worldly or worldliness say, "What are your talking about worldliness? What does it mean to be worldly?" These people said, "I've read the Bible and I don't even know what you're talking about when you say worldly." Worldly is a Bible word, actually.
This concept is found throughout the Bible and what I want to explain this morning is the definition of what worldliness is, what does it mean to be worldly according to the Bible. I want to point out three things about worldliness. First of all, the main thing that is associated with worldliness in the Bible is lust. Right here when we actually see the word worldly, it's say that we should deny ungodliness and worldly lust.
Let's go to First John, chapter 2, First John chapter number. Toward the very end of the New Testament there, First John, Chapter 2. We want to understand what it means to be worldly. Number one, it has to do with a person who is characterized by worldly lust. Look at verse number 15 of First John chapter 2. 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 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 and the world passeth away and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.
Here, once again, in this passage, loving the world is associated with lust. It says all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. I also want to point out that in verse 15 there, it says love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
What does it mean to be worldly or to love the world? It is one who lusts after the things of this world. What does it mean to lust? Well, the word lust in the Bible is used synonymously with the words desire and covet. Those are the two words that will help you understand what the word lust means. Desire and covet. Of course, one of the 10 Commandments is though shall not covet. When you covet something, it means that you wish that you had something that you do not have.
For example, the Bible lists thou shalt not covet thy neighbors wife and then it also lists all of his other possessions. Thou shalt not covet his ox or his ass, his man servant, his maid servant. When we wish that we had a different wife than the one that we have or when we wish that we had a different husband than the one that we have or a different car than the car that we have or we say, "Man, I wish I had a car," and we don't have a car and we can't afford a car and we're not going to get a car, but we just say, "Man, I just wish I had a car. Everybody else has ... Why don't I have a car." That's covetousness, that is lust.
When you as a single person look upon a woman to lust after her and you're single, that is covetousness, that is wrong. When you as a married person look upon another woman to lust after her instead of her own wife, that is covetousness, that is the lust of the flesh. That is what the Bible is talking about when it says worldly lust. The world is constantly trying to offer us things and put things in front of us that are off limits unto us and trying to get us to desire those things that are off limits.
If we desire something that is within our limit, that's okay. It's great to be married and to desire your wife or desire your husband. That is a legitimate godly desire or to just be happy with the children that you have and the car that you have and the house that you have and the life that you live. When we begin to become discontented with what we have and always want something better and we don't like our house, we need a better house, and we don't like our car, we need a better car, and we wish that our spouse would be a different spouse because it would be so much better if we were with this other person. That is lust.
That is covetousness and it is a major sin. It's the tenth commandment on the 10 commandments, but really it is the commandment that if you break it, it will lead you all sin because the Bible says hasth conceived, it bringth forth sin and sin, when it is finished, bringth forth death. That's why the Bible says for the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some covet after, the have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. The Bibles says, they that will be rich, fall into temptation and snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
We need to make sure that lust is not a characteristic that we have and when we talk about worldliness, one of the main things that the Bible associates this with is worldly lust. Isn't the world always trying to entice you with something that you don't have? Think about it, you turn on the TV and they're showing you, hey you need this better car, and they're showing, hey you need this better house, and hey you need to do this and you need to fix that. Then they're showing you all these scantily clad women saying, look at these women, lust after these women, instead of thinking about your own wife or showing you all the men or whatever that you should be looking at these debonair on television, tall, dark and handsome or whatever.
It's hard for me to understand that mentality. Let me say this, it's worldliness. When you have an attitude that says, I always need something else. I'm not happy with the things that I have and you always need more money, more possessions, a better lifestyle financially. That's a worldly mentality because the Bible says set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. The Bible says the things which are seen are temporal. The things that are not seen are eternal. Where your treasure, is there will your heart be also.
When we talk about worldliness and being worldly, it's this attitude that just wants to get more stuff. The one who dies with most toys wins. Just this attitude that says I just need another boat, another RV, another vehicle, more pleasure, more goods. The Bible says love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the father's not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust ... What does that mean? We want to just gratify the flesh with things that are off limits to you. The lusts of the eyes. That's where you look at everything and you wish that it belonged to you, whether that is another man's wife or whether that is a car in the parking lot. That's the lust of the eyes. When you're looking at things saying, wow, I wish had that house.
A lot of people today don't even realize that that's a sin today. A lot of people, if you say, hey did you know that if you look at a fancy house and say, I wish that I had that house, that that's a sin, that covetousness. Most people probably wouldn't even believe you because our society has been so ingrained with covetousness, but it's a worldly philosophy that thinks that everything that we can acquire in this world is going to be bring us happiness in life. It says the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the father, but is of the world.
Flip over the James chapter 4, just a few pages to the left in your Bible. It's really amazing when you stop to consider how consistent this is. When we looked up worldliness in Titus chapter 2, what did it mention, worldly lust. When we looked up worldliness in First John 2, the famous verse about loving the world, what was brought up? Lust, lust, lust and loving the things of the world, wanting more things, wanting to acquire more possessions.
Look at James 4 and watch as the pattern continues. Verse 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.
Just as we saw that if you love the world, the love of the Father's not in you. Now he's talking about friendship with the world being enmity with God. Okay, let's back up to verse 1, see what he's talking about. Let's get the context. It says, from whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your what? Lusts. Isn't it interesting how that always comes up. Your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust and have not. Ye kill and what? Desire to have and cannot obtain. Three times so far. Ye fight in war, yet ye have not because ye ask not. Ye ask and ye receive not be ye ask amiss that you may consume it upon your what? Lust, for the fourth time.
Then he says, 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 ye think that the scripture saith in vain, the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth, right, to envy? What is envy? Coveting something that belongs to someone else, wishing that you had something that belongs to someone else. So far the lust count is up to 6 times here just in this one passage on worldliness.
He says in verse 6, but he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
Second Peter chapter 1, just a few pages to the right, Second Peter chapter number 1, and look at verse number 2. It says, grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue.
Second Peter 1 verse 4, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises and by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Do you see that, the corruption that's in the world. What's it about? It's through lust. The corruption that is in the world through lust. Verse after verse.
Go to Mark chapter 4. Verse after verse after verse and people say what do you mean by worldliness. I don't understand what's wrong with worldliness. What does it mean when you say that somebody's worldly? After who lusts after all the possessions they can get, all the money they can get. Maybe they're lusting after another man's wife or whatever, that's what the Bible's talking about when it talks about worldliness. It's the spirit that doesn't realize what Christ has given us and the blessings that we've been given in our life.
That's the Bible the just focused on in Second Peter 1 verses 2 through 4. It was talking about all the things that God has given us and all the things that Christ has given us and it says escape the world's lust and realize what Christ has given you. That's why the Bible says in Hebrews 13, let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Why should be content? Because we have Jesus. Why should be content? Because we're going to Heaven. Why should be content? Because we have the word of God. Why should be content? Because we have physical blessings on this earth that God has given us, whether it's good food that you eat, whether that it's a warm bed that you sleep in or, in Arizona, a cool bed that you sleep in, is what we long for. You've got a cool bed to sleep in, you've got food, you've got drink, you've got clothing, maybe you have good health, maybe you have a spouse, maybe you have children. Some of these things you might have, some of them you don't, but we need to just thank God for the physical blessings we have and to know that we always have the spiritual blessings of the Holy Spirit, salvation, the word of God. Those things are more valuable than anything that the world has to offer. Our home in Heaven is more valuable.
Look at Mark chapter 4 and look at the same thing again in verse 19. We already preached about this a couple of weeks ago when we were going through the book of Mark, but it says in verse 19, and the cares of this world, so again, we're talking about the things of the world, being worldly. The cares of this world, what's the next thing? The deceitfulness of riches. Right? It fits right in with the pattern. And the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.
It's pretty hard to escape from the fact that when the Bible says worldly and worldliness, it's talking about lust. It's talking about covetousness. It's talking about desiring things that don't belong to you. It's talking about not being content with what you have. That is what it means to have a worldly philosophy and worldly mentality, but it means more than that.
Go to Romans 12. Let's see the second thing about worldliness. First of all, we see that worldliness has to do with worldly lust, the lust of this world that passes away. Look at Romans 12 and I want to show you that the second thing that we mean when we say worldliness is conformity unto the world. Now the word conformed means pattern. That's how we would probably say it in 2014. Being patterned after the world, that's what it means to be worldly, being conformed.
Look at Romans chapter 12 verse 1. It says, beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 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.
Go back just a couple pages to chapter 8 and you'll notice another use of the word conformed. In Romans 12 he said be not conformed to this world, saying don't be patterned after the world, but look what it say in Romans 8:29. For whom he did foreknow, referring to the fact that God knows in advance who's going to get saved and who's not because God knows the end from the beginning, he's all knowing. It says for whom he did foreknown, he also did predestinate to be conformed, notice the same word, to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
According to this verse, we that are saved, we whom God foreknew would receive Christ as Savior, our destiny is to one day be conformed in the image of his son. The Bible says that at the second coming of Christ, we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is. The Bible says that he shall change our vial body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body. Notice that, like unto his glorious body. According to the working whereby he is able to even subdue all things unto himself. We are going to one day be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, but even at this time we should strive as much as possible in our sinful flesh to strive to be conformed to Jesus, not conformed to the world. We need to conform to the word, not to the world.
Let me just point out a verse that I think will help you see what I mean by this. You don't have to turn there, but in Exodus 23 verse 2, it says thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil. That's what God's warning us about when he says for us not to be conformed unto the world. He says don't follow a multitude to do evil. There are a lot of things about this world that are wrong. It's easy for us to fall into the trap of saying, well I'm just going to be like everybody else. Like the Children of Israel say, give us a kind that we may be like all the nations. It's easy for us to just want to go with flow, go to school, go to work, go where ever, and just say I want to just be like everybody else. I see everybody else living a certain way, that's how I'm going to live.
The Bible says, do not be conformed to this world. Don't just go along to get a long. Don't just act and dress and be exactly like the world. He's saying, be different, don't just conform to the world, be transformed, be changed, and be conformed under the image of Jesus Christ. Let me stop and say this though. There are a lot of people who will take this thing of, hey don't be conformed to the world, and they'll take it to an extreme that's a wrong extreme. They'll start telling you, well don't do this because that the world does that. It's not anything that the Bible tells us not to do in scripture.
Now look, just because the world does something, it doesn't make it wrong. I mean, the world gets up and puts on a pair of pants. That doesn't mean that it's wrong for me to get up and put on a pair of pants. The world eats eggs and sausage for breakfast, I'm going to eat eggs and sausage for breakfast. It's not going to be like, hey you're like the world. Look, it might sound crazy, but there are people who just they don't want to dress like the world at all, so they dress like a weirdo. You know what they're doing is just drawing attention to themselves. Listen to me, it's not godly. It's not modest. They say, oh yeah, we're dressed. Look at me, look how modest I am is an oxymoron because what does it mean to be modest? It means that you're not drawing attention to yourself. It means that you're not bragging or boasting or saying look at me.
If I told you, I would show you my skills on the basketball court, but I'm too modest. What am I saying? I'm basically saying, I don't want to brag, of course I just did, of course I'm terrible at basketball. I don't want to brag, I don't want to show off. If a person is showing off, isn't that the opposite of being modest? Person is bragging, that's the opposite of modest. Look folks, this is what the word modest means. A lot of people don't understand don't the meaning of the word modest. If I said I live in a modest home, what does it mean? It's not a home that draws a bunch of attention to itself and everybody says, that's the most amazing home I've ever seen. It's just a basic modest dwelling.
If I have a modest income, what does that mean? It's not really impressing anyone. It's not really standing out as being anything special. If a women wears modest apparel, what's the opposite of modest apparel? According to the Bible, broided hair, gold, pearls and costly array. He's talking about fancy, flashy clothing as being the opposite of modest clothing.
Now, obviously if a woman is scantily clad with the short skirt and the low cut top, that's not being modest, right, because she's trying to draw attention to her body. That definition definitely applies to the word modest. The primary definition of the word modest is that you are being humble and not drawing attention to yourself. Here's the thing, when you put on a prairie dress from the 1800s and you purposely pick the ugliest fabric you could possibly find in the fabric store and go around looking like you're in public in a nightgown, that's not being modest because everywhere you go people are starring at you're like, look how holy I am. Look how godly I am, everybody look at me.
It's just like these anti-Christ Jewish rabbis go around in a weird outfit, look at me everybody or like the Catholic priest, right? Weird outfit. Everybody see me at the airport? The nuns at the airport. Everybody see how holy and pure I am? Everybody see this? That's not modest apparel. Modest apparel is when you just dress in just normal humble clothing. Not fancy, super expensive, showing all the name brands and everything. Just normal moderate humble clothing. That's what that's referring to.
If you're a lady, you know what modest apparel looks like? It's not dressing in some weird antiquated way just to make a point about how modest you are. You can dress normally for the culture that you live in. If you live in America, if you're living in Africa, if you're living in Asia, it's going to be a little different maybe, but you can dress normally, but ... but you're not going to follow the multitude to dress in a way that's ungodly.
The wrong kind of conformity to the world in the way that you dress is when the trend becomes a short skirt and you put on the short skirt. Now you're worldly. Now you're conformed to this world. Why? Because you're violating scripture because the Bible teaches that the woman's thigh should be covered. That's what the Bible teaches in both Isaiah 47:2 and 3, in Exodus 28:42, we find that the thighs are your nakedness and so you should be covered.
When you follow an ungodly trend and when you see all the girls at the beach are all putting on a bikini and you say, well I'm not dressing any different than everybody else, now you're following a multitude to do evil by going out scantily clad, half naked. That is when you're being conformed to this world and not conformed to the word. If you just dress normal and you can still be in style and not look like your dressed from 40 years or 400 years ago, but as long as you are not dressed in a sinful, provocative, sleazy, flashy way. As long as you keep godly and modest, you shouldn't dress in a way that just, look at me everybody.
These Amish people, the way that they dress, that's what they're doing. It's pride, is what it is. It's an outward show for them. By the way, the rules that they follow for dress are not Biblical, they're made up by man. When they tell you, oh you can only have so many flowers per square inch, that's man. That's man, that's not the word of God and we should not teacher per doctrines the commandments of men.
There could people who take this to an extreme where just anything they don't like, anything that they don't approve of because of their own personal opinion, they'll just say, oh that's worldly, and it just becomes a catch all for I don't approve it, I don't like it, therefore it's worldly, No, the word of God should determine what's worldly. The lust and covetousness that God described are worldly because the Bible classified them as worldly.
When the Bible says don't be conformed to this world, the opposite of that is in verse 1. Are you still there in Romans 12? It says at the end of verse 1 there, that our bodies should be a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God. You say, how do I know what's worldly? When you're following the trends of the world and you're going against scripture, that's worldly. That's what I'm talking about. We're not talking about just oh anytime you wear stylish clothes, you're worldly.
No, but when you do things that are ungodly in the name of fitting in, that's worldliness, that's conformity to this world. For example, today men are femininity in the way that they dress and look and act often. You know what, we shouldn't conform to that. We need to be different, we need to be set apart. When you see that the queer looking skinny jeans and the men who are sagging their jeans, you say, well where does the Bible say not to wear skinny jeans and sag them down. Some of these skinny jeans are impossible to pull all the way up. They're designed in such a way where the waist can never reach it's goal. It's true.
Let me tell you something. You say, where does it say that in the Bible? I'll tell you where, when it says not to be a femininity and you see these little queer, sissy-looking clothing on men. That's the style, this metro look or emo or whatever it's called this week. Let me tell you something. If you're a man, you need to dress like a man because the Bible said so. If you are a woman, you need to dress like a woman because the Bible said so and when you violate that because you say, well I'm just dressing like everybody else, now you're being conformed to this world.
We don't want to go to either false extreme. We don't want to sit there and say, oh anything the world does is worldly. I don't like it, it's worldly. I don't approve of it, it's worldly. No, back it up with chapter and verse. I've got a chapter and verse on being a femininity and that covers skinny jeans. Also, I can cover it from Song of Solomon where he talks about the legs being like pillars of marble, not like sticks of straw. Anyway, I digress.
Worldliness is conformity of the world. Number one, it's worldly lust. By the way, there's nothing wrong with being skinny as man. I grew up skinny. Some people are skinny. You know what? Do you just have to go around just showing everybody look at me, how skinny I am. Build some muscle on that frame and if you're not going to build some muscle on that frame, at least dress in a way where you're not just accentuating every bony curve of your body. I'm serious. It's weird. What kind of a weird culture glorifies how skinny we can be and there are literally people who purposely eat as little as possible just try to get as skinny as they can. I don't know if it's some kind of an experiment on how skinny you can be and still be a live, but it's weird. Eat food.
Anyway, worldly lust, number one. Number two, conformity to the world and when we say conformity to the world, we mean where you're going along with ungodly trends, gender bending trends or trends where you're exposing a lot of your nakedness or just other trends that are just ungodly. We don't want it to be a catchall where we don't have chapter and verse to back it up. Number one, worldly lust. Number two, conformity to the world. Number three, a worldly mentality.
Go to First Corinthians chapter 1. What do we mean by worldly? We mean the covetousness that characterizes the world that we live. What do we mean by worldly? We mean someone who just follows every trend of the world whether it lines up with the Bible or not, they just want to go along to get along and fit in. That's worldliness, number two. Number three, worldliness is when we have a worldly mentality, meaning that instead of having our opinions based on scripture, our opinions are based on what society thinks about things right now. That's worldly.
If I were to say somebody's worldly, it would mean one of these three things. Maybe they're a very covetousness person. Maybe they're a very trendy person that even follows every sinful trend. Thirdly, it could mean a person who has a very worldly mentality, meaning when I get their opinion on a subject, it's not coming from the word of God, it's coming from the TV, it's coming from the school system, it's coming from whatever this world thinks is acceptable. What this world considers acceptable is a shifting sand that changes all the time.
For example, 60 years ago homosexuals were put in straight jackets. True or false? Even the police. I had a police manual that I found put out by the Federal Government for the National Park Service Police and it had a whole chapter on the filthy sodomites and you know what it said in it? It said that this person is sick and perverted and he's after children. Put out by the Federal Government and this was from like the 50s or 60s. It said he's a pedophile, he's after children, he's dangerous, here's the signs that you look for to the arresting officer in dealing with this.
Nowadays, of course, it's oh they're so loving and wonderful and they're just like everybody else and they just love another dude or whatever. You know what though? The Bible's always said the same thing. Filthy, vile, abomination, they shall surely be put to death. That's what God lined out in the Old Testament. The worldly person says, oh they're born that way. This spiritual person says, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things, which are not [inaudible 00:29:20]. God gave them over to vile affections because when they knew not God, they glorified him not as God, they became vain in their imaginations, their foolish heart was darkened.
Romans 1 is the scriptural teaching. The world says, oh it's a choice. It's an alternative lifestyle, they're born that way. Hold on a second, you say, I don't agree with you Pastor Anderson, you're worldly, because I just quoted scripture and you're quoting the world. You're quoting TV, you're quoting Hollywood. It's meaningless to me.
Look at what the Bible says here in First Corinthians 1:18. It says, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
Right there, God says the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. There's people that are wise according to this world and then there are people that are truly wise in the word of God. Flip over to chapter 2, if you would. It says in verse 5 that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought, but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory, which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
Flip over to chapter 3. He says in verse 18, let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. The Bible says if you're truly wise, the world will look at you and call you a fool. That's what the Bible says. If the world looks at you and says, Pastor Anderson is a very wise man. There may be some things that we disagree with Pastor Anderson on, but let me tell you something, he's very wise. Do you think that's ever been said by any newspaper, television station about yours truly, ever or ever will be? Well, let's give him one thing, he's wise. No, but has Pastor Anderson been called a fool? Over and over again because here's the thing, if you actually believe the Bible and take a stand on it, you're a fool to the world.
You know what, to those of us that are saved and we understand the wisdom of God, we look at the world's wise man, we look at Plato, Socrates, Aristotle and think that they're all fools. We look at Richard Dawkins and we look at Stephen Hawking and we look at the so-called intellectuals of this world and we consider them complete idiots and they are idiots. The fool has said in his heart there is no God, but to the world, oh those men are very intelligent, they're very wise. You got to respect the wisdom. No, if God didn't respect Cain's offering, I don't respect any false doctrine or false wisdom of this world. It's foolishness.
Look at Second Corinthians chapter 4. It says in verse 3 ... Second Corinthians, so we're jumping all the way to Second Corinthians chapter 4, verse 3, it says but if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
The Bible calls the devil the God of this world because he's who the world actually looks to. When they're not saved, that's who they look to. When we talk about being worldly, we're talking about the wisdom of the world, man's wisdom, man's logic. You know where they got it from, is the devil because the devil has blinded their minds and that's why they're foolish because they're blinded by the devil. That's why they don't have real wisdom because they of the world blinded their minds. You know if the blind lead the blind, they both fall into the ditch. We don't want to look to the world for wisdom.
Go to First John chapter 5, First John chapter 5 and let me just give you some points on this. When it comes to marriage, do you have a worldly mentality or a Biblical mentality on marriage because if you're going to tell me Pastor Anderson I have Biblical view of marriage, then that means that you should be able to cite chapter and verse and show me what the Bible says about marriage and why you believe it is thus and say this is where I'm getting my opinions on marriage. It's right here in the Bible.
The world, they have a philosophy about marriage, don't they? It's very different than what the scriptures teach. They teach a completely teaching on marriage. When it comes to raising your kids, the world has a philosophy ... They have several philosophies out there and then there's the Bible's philosophy. Unless you can articulate to me your child rearing philosophy using scripture, you probably got it from the world. Attachment parenting, or whatever the trend is this week in parenting. All these strange ideas and new fangled and there's got to be a new one every generation because it fails. A generation tries it, it fails and oh we've got to repackage this, we've got to come up with something else. The Bible never changes. The Bible always is right.
If you are one ... Now look and I'll just get specific here quickly. The Bible teaches for you to spank your kids, that's what it teaches. It says he that spareth his rod hateth his son, but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes. The Bible says withhold not correction from the child, for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shall beat him with a rod and shall deliver his soul from hell. The Bible teaches spanking your children and, listen, if you don't spank your children, you're worldly. You're using time outs, you're worldly. Dr. Spock, you're worldly. Attachment parenting, worldly. Spanking your children, Biblical. That is the measure of worldliness. You say, oh well my wife and I, everything's just 50/50 with us. Worldly.
By the way, there's no such thing as 50/50. If a man tells you his marriage is 50/50, it means he's got 10% of the power and his wife has 90. I guarantee you somebody's got 51 and the other one's got 49. Let me tell you this, worldly. The Bible says the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. Wives are to be subject under their own husbands in all things. That's what the Bible says. You say, I just can't even believe that. You're worldly. This is like worldliness anonymous. Just say, I'm Steven Anderson and I'm worldly. If you have that view of marriage or you might have this view, well I just don't want to be a jealous husband, so I just let my wife just spend a lot of time with other men and go to dinner with other men. You're worldly.
The Bible teaches that jealously is a good thing. Look up every time the word jealous appears in the Bible, it's good. It's right. Now envy, envy is a bad thing. A lot of people confuse envy with jealously. Let me explain the colossal difference between envy and jealously. Everybody ready? Envy is when I am basically possessive of something that belongs to someone else. Envy is when I look at what you have and wish I had it. Covetousness, lust, right?
You know what jealously is? Jealously is when I legitimately own something and I don't want to share it because I don't have to share it because it's not right for me to share it. My wife belongs to me. I'm not willing to share. I belong to her, she's not willing to share me. That's jealously. God is a jealous God the Bible says because he wants all the worship for himself. He doesn't want it to go to other Gods. That's not envy. Envy is when I say, I wish I had your car. That's envy. Jealously is when I say, I'm not going to loan you the keys to my car because I'm too protective of my car. [inaudible 00:37:43] I've never been jealous of my car. I've handed the keys to a lot of irresponsible people in my time and that's why my car's no longer with us. No, I'm just kidding. No, it's no longer with us because it had 350,000 miles on it.
I've never really been jealous about my car or things that ... Tools, I'll loan out tools. I'm not really jealous. I'm jealous of my wife. I'm jealous of my authority as husband and father. I'm jealous of being the pastor of the church. There's certain things that are important to safeguard that belong to you. You might have things that are important to you that belong to you that you safeguard. That's what it means to be jealous. What is your view point? You say, well I don't agree with your view point. That's fine, you don't have to agree with me. You can disagree with half of the sermon if you want, but just have Bible to back it up. Disagree with anything I say, but have Bible. Don't just have, well I just don't think. Well I just feel like ... But on Ricki Lake it said ...
It should just be what's Biblical. I'm not perfect, I'm not God. I'm wrong on things from time to time, but it better be Bible that you're using to prove me wrong. When it comes to our business practices, do we just go with what the world teaches is ethical and right or do we study the Bible to figure out how to run a business or when it comes to politics. Our political views. Do we have a political view point that lines up with scripture? Not that lines up with the Christian right or whatever that means or the republican party or being a conservative or being whatever. Is it Biblical what you believe on politics. You say, what in the world? Is Pastor Anderson a liberal ... No.
Look, you pretty much have to worship satin to be a democrat anymore. Pretty much, to be a democrat anymore, you pretty much have to worship satin because you have to believe in abortion, murdering babies, and you have to be pro homosexual. You pretty much have to be a complete soviet style communist. Look, the republican party is not someone I can support either for a lot of reason. There are a lot of things wrong with the republican party and I will never vote republican again, unless some weird thing happens where just the republican party just suddenly becomes anti-war and becomes Christian and starts actually promoting things that I believe in. I want nothing to do with it.
You know what's funny though, is the knee-jerk reaction. If I say something negative about the democrats, oh you're republican. Say something negative about the republicans, oh you're a democrat because people just have this false left/right para-dime like it just has to be one of those two choices or something like that. I'm neither. My view points come from the Bible. Neither political party in America right now is following the Bible, at all. Not even close.
You say, well we're just voting them for political things, not for region. Yeah, but they're both so far off the deep end from what the Bible teaches, I can't support either one of them. I'm not going to support endless warfare. I'm not going to support the military industrial complex. I'm not going to support bombing men, women, and children. I'm not going to support homosexuality, both sides hire all kinds of homosexuals. I'm not going to support abortion. The republicans now, it's like, well abortion sometimes. Not going to support. I can't support that stuff. I can't support this big government socialist state. I can't do it. I don't want anything to with it.
My views on this come from the Bible. I can take you aside and show you from the Bible where it's wrong to kill men, women, and children in warfare. I can take you from the Bible and show you how we should, as much as possible, live at peace with all men and not meddle with strife not belonging to us. I can show you from the Bible where abortion is murder. I can show you from the Bible where homosexuality is an abomination that God said it should be punished with the Death penalty. I can show you all these things that I believe from the Bible.
I know you've got Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh in your corner, but I can show you these things from the Bible. I can ... Oh, pro Israel. Go get that CD on the back thing. The Jews and their lies CD. That's printed for you buddy. Let me tell you something. We have been brainwashed today by TV, Hollywood, and talk radio. Our political views are way out to lunch. Our business views are off the deep end. Our marital views are messed up. Our child rearing views are messed up. Look, just turn off the TV. Turn off what the world has to say and get in your Bible and figure out what the Bible teaches and then you can stop being worldly and have a Biblical view point.
When we talk about being worldly, we're saying, number one, you're not one of these lustful, covetousness people that just always want something that you don't have. Number two, we mean that you're not conformed to this world, following every worldly trend, whatever comes down the pipe, whether it's right or wrong. Number three, when we talk about being worldly, it's when you lean on the wisdom of this world instead of the wisdom that comes from God. This wisdom of this world has the wrong marital advise, the wrong child rearing advise, the wrong economic and business advise and it has the wrong political advise.
People get all touchy and scared when you talk about politics, but you know what, the Bible has everything I need to know about every subject. Don't say, well just keep the Bible out of politics. No, I'm sorry, the Bible should guide what we think bout politics. The Bible says have not fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them for it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.
When you got these politicians bowing down to a giant owl statue in Bohemian Grove and offering fake human sacrifices and when you have them just promoting every kind of filth and iniquity and flying the rainbow flag all over the world at the embassies and stuff, when are you get to the point where you stop supporting and just realize, wow I need to just get my citizenship in Heaven. A lot of people, it's like an article of the faith for them to just support everything America does. It's getting to the point where I'm hoping that people are going to start to transition to the point where they say, wait a minute, our country's doing a lot of evil things. We need to pray for our country to turn to God.
We're not with the Lord. We're not ... The things that we do ... Any warfare, any conflict, we're always right. Amen. Yeah, we're always right, right, we're America, yeah. Yeah, America. Kill them all, let God sort them out. Is that really Biblical? Oh, you know put under God back on the money. Refused to accept the coin that doesn't say under God. You know what, I don't want to accept any coins that say under God because it's a lie because our country doesn't follow God at all.
When are we going to realize that we're living in a Godless pagan nation? When are we going to realize that we need to stand with the light of the world in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation among whom we shine as lights in the world? Wake up, turn off the TV ... You know what, some of you just need to turn off your TV for month and then maybe this sermon might make more sense to you because a lot of people, they're mind is controlled by the TV. Then they, well I can't handle what that pastor's saying because it just doesn't jive with what I've been watching on TV every night. Wait a minute, does what I'm saying jive with the word of God.
Prove me wrong. Prove me wrong on anything that I just said. Come up here prove me wrong on my stance on abortion. Come up here and prove me wrong on my stance on homosexuality. Come prove me wrong on warfare and the military industrial complex because I've got all kinds of scriptures for you if you don't like what I just said. Come on up here. You shy? Come up after the service and come show me all the scriptures to back up your belief. We need to understand that worldliness is when we follow the wisdom of the world.
Last thing I want to show you, First John chapter 5 verse 4. This is one of my favorite scriptures in First John chapter 5 verse 4. It says, for whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
When the Bible says that we over come the world, the Bible means that we have believed that Jesus is the son of God. Why is believing that Jesus is the son of God referred to as overcoming the world? I'll tell you exactly why. The Bible is showing us here that the world is set out to stop you from believing is the son of God. Think about that. The world is setup to stop you from believing that Jesus is the son of God. In order to believe that Jesus is the son of God, do you know what that means? You have to overcome the world.
There's an obstacle between you and believing that Jesus is the son of God and that obstacle is the world. Of course, the group that I'm speaking to here this morning, 90 some percent have already believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. They're already saved, I'm preaching to saved this morning. Let me say this, the reason that you're saved is because you over came the world because the world has an agenda to stop you from believing that Jesus is the son of God.
Let me tell you something, the school system is geared towards stopping you from believing that Jesus is the son of God. The television has an agenda, stopping you from believing that Jesus is the son of God. The magazine industry, Madison Avenue, advertising, has an agenda to stop you from believing that Jesus is the son of God. All that to say this, the world is an opposition to our Lord Jesus Christ today, even at the most basic level of salvation, even just the most basic level of believing he's the son of God.
By the way, let me give you two religions that Jesus is the son of God, Judaism and Islam. We were out soul winning this week, talked to some Muslims, asked two different Muslims, they both would not believe that Jesus is the son of God and they tried to tell you, oh we believe we just like you. We believe in Jesus, just like you. The Muslim said, we believe Jesus is the messiah. I said, do you believe he's the son of God? We believe in Jesus. You believe he's the son of God? We believe he's the messiah. Do you believe he's the son of God? Well, no.
You have to believe on the Son to have everlasting life. The Jews today, they don't believe he's the son of God either. There are some Jews how that are starting to say that they believe in Jesus. I'm not talking about Messianic Judaism. I'm talking about Judaism, Judaism, where they're starting to say, oh well Jesus was as good prophet or even that well we believe Jesus was the messiah, but they don't believe salvation's through him. They don't believe he's the son of God. Then you know what, it means nothing.
Muslims believing in Jesus isn't going to get them to heaven because they don't believe he's the son of God. Jews, the minority of Jews that say that Jesus is the messiah, but he's not the son of God, he's not the savior, he's not God in the flesh, that's not going to do them any good either. Most Jews believe he was a, what the [inaudible 00:50:02] say, that he's a wicked person and the blasphemy our Lord Jesus Christ.
Let me tell you something, you've got to believe that Jesus is the son of God to be saved. It's not enough just to believe that he was a good teacher, good profit, that he ... Even just to give lip service. Yeah, he's the messiah, whatever that means to you. What the Bible means by the messiah, is that he's the anointed one, the son of David, but also that he's the son of God.
We've got to understand that God doesn't want us to be worldly. He doesn't want us to be conformed to the world and he doesn't want us to get our opinions and our ideas from the world. He wants us to get then from the word, not the world, the word.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father we thank you so much for bringing us here this morning, Lord, and that we can hear from your word. Father, I pray that every single person who's here today would let these things sink in and ask themselves am I worldly? Am I a person that could be described as a worldly person because I'm so into money and things or because I'm just so trendy that I just don't even stop to think whether God wants me to act and dress the way that I do or am I so worldly that I'm just repeat stuff from political pundits and Hollywood and TV? Am I so worldly in my philosophies of marriage and child rearing? Lord, help us to just get the worldliness out of our hearts, Lord, and help us to get the word worldly back into our vocabulary and know what it means and be able to use it properly. Jesus name we pray, amen.
