Real Wordliness

I saw up there something that I think is a caution for us. Sometimes we're looking for the world to come in the front door, and our mind is all on the world on the front door, and the devil is loading up the back door with the world. I'm going to read a very familiar verse here.

We're going to talk about this verse here. It's 1 John chapter 2, verse number 15. Very familiar.

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. You're going to notice as we go down through here, there's no indication that we're to try to get away from it.

For all that is in the world, 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. And the world passes away, and the lust thereof. But he that does the will of God abides forever.

I'd like you to notice verse 16. For all that is in the world, all, all that is in the world can be defined with these three statements. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

And I'd like to just ask you to think about this for a minute. All of these have nothing to do with anything outside, but have everything to do with what's on the inside of me. For example, the lust of the flesh, I have this body and I take it with me everywhere I go.

I can go to the north side of Alberta, I can go up to the northwest territories, and I'm still going to take with me the lust of the flesh. The lust of the eyes, these eyes are not going to pop them out. The desire of my eyes are going to go with me, and the pride of life, the pride of my heart.

My heart, my eyes, my body, they're going to go everywhere I go. And so this idea of me somehow getting away from the world, it's not possible to get away from the world. Because as you look at me, you see the world, the potential for the world all throughout me.

So when they moved to British Columbia or northern Alberta to get away from the world, they took the world along with them. And in a way, the devil sat on the front bumper ready to tempt them. I'd like to look at that here today, talk about some of these things about the world, but let's have a word of prayer before we do.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the instruction again in your word. We pray that in our hearts we would elevate it and honor it, and Lord, that we would receive the word, the engrafted word which is able to save our soul. And Lord, especially I pray that our hearts would be enlightened, that we would not be ignorant and unlearned.

The Bible says to not be ignorant concerning the devices of the devil. So Lord, may we truly understand the world, all that's in the world. Lord, help us today and bless us as we consider your word.

We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Well, in thinking about this sermon and this passage here, I had to think about the two times that the first Adam and the second Adam were tempted of the devil. In the Garden of Eden, and Jesus was tempted in the wilderness.

Now, I'd like you to notice something about both of these places. They're both very remote places. For example, the Garden of Eden was as remote as you can be on the face of the earth.

There was only two people on the entire planet, and the Garden of Eden was a remote place. Certainly the world wouldn't be there. But, even in such a remote place, the devil tempted Adam and Eve with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

And we'll see that here in just a minute. And they fell. Jesus was taken into the wilderness.

He was not taken down to Jerusalem to the red light district. He was not taken down to all the shiny lights and the flashing things. He was out in the wilderness, a very remote place.

Nobody there. And the devil tempted him with the very same things. Three things.

The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. And I think that many of us, and we've been deceived to think that somehow the world is that thing out there. Instead of viewing the world as the Bible says it, as the lust of our flesh, the lust of our eyes, and the pride that is in our hearts.

Instead of thinking of it as sports cars, and Hollywood, and fashion, and movies, and all those things that are outside, the Bible says that the world is here within me. All the devil needs is me. He can tempt me.

We tend to think that only those shiny objects are the world. Yet when Adam and Eve was tempted, it was simply a piece of fruit. A piece of fruit.

There was nothing shiny about it. There was no sparkles on it. It was simply a piece of fruit.

And when Jesus was tempted, he was tempted with a piece of bread. Turn these stones into bread. It wasn't a pizza.

It wasn't a steak. It was simply a piece of bread. Simple, everyday things.

All that is in the world. It doesn't have to be shiny and fashionable. I want to read to you a passage here in the book of Luke.

Luke chapter 14. You don't have to turn there. Starting in verse 16, the story here.

This is a parable about a certain man who established a supper. A certain man made a great supper and bade many. This is talking about the Lord inviting us into fellowship with him.

And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bid to come, for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must need to go and see it.

I pray they have the excuse. In other words, I'm going to choose a piece of ground. It doesn't mean it has to be some resort area.

It's simply a piece of ground. This piece of ground is my temptation. I'm going to choose it, the world, over the Lord Jesus.

Another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them. It's not a John Deere tractor. Big one.

Shiny. I have simply bought five yoke. Five yoke of oxen are the things in the world that tempt me and turn me away from the invitation.

Well, another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. Simple things. Not a Hollywood movie star.

I just married a wife. You know, there's a misunderstanding about this idea of the world. The Bible says to come out from among them and be separate, sayeth the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing.

But when the Lord says come out from among them, he's not talking about location. He's talking about fellowship. He's talking about agreement.

He says, what agreement hath Christ with Bilal? What communion hath light with darkness? What fellowship has a believer with an unbeliever come out from among them and be separate, sayeth the Lord? It's about fellowship. It's about communion. It's about agreement.

In other words, don't marry an unbeliever. But you can be a neighbor with an unbeliever. You don't have to move out of the neighborhood.

Don't go in business with an unbeliever. But you don't have to move to the jungles in Bolivia to get away from them. Come out from among them.

This mistaken understanding has led many, and I've met some of them, to move from America to Bolivia, to Belize, to northern Alberta, to northern British Columbia, to somehow get away from the world and from the temptations of the world. But as I read my Bible, neither Jesus nor his disciples lived secluded lives, simply not reality. Most of their lives were spent in metropolitan areas.

And I go back to my experiences when I first became associated with the charity church. It's one of the things that was impressed upon me as I go back when I was in my early 30s. The idea of what you need to do is you need to come out from the cities and get a 10- or 15-acre piece of ground and have your family.

And this kind of mindset was kind of going through the remnant movement, the charity churches, get away. I had just come out of Houston, Texas. I had just come out of ministering in the inner city of Chicago in cities, and now this idea of getting away from those things and moving out into the country.

Some of you have probably heard those things. You need to get away from the world. Let me share this.

The Bible does not teach you need to get away from people to live holy. You don't need to go to a secluded location. You know, the garden was as secluded as it gets, but all of humanity fell in the garden.

There was no other people around. The devil doesn't need people or places or shiny objects to tempt. He just needs you.

And as one of the brothers said, or both the brothers said here this morning, we need to master our own temptation and our own desires. Well, here in 1 John, we see how the devil tempts us. There are three ways, and I'd like to spend a little time here on these.

This is what the world is. I'd like to clarify for you today what really the world is. What is the devil really tempting you with? The world.

In verse number 16, it says, for all, this is not part of it, for all that is in the world. This is the world to God. It may not be the world to you, but this is the world to God.

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. These three things is where the devil tempts you and me. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

And you go back to Genesis and the temptation in the garden. You see the devil tempting in these three specific ways. Listen to this.

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, right? Hey, that tree looks good to eat. And a tree that was pleasant to the eyes, the lust of the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, hey, you shall be its God. This is going to lift you up and make you important.

The pride of life. So there the devil has, in the garden, it wasn't lower Manhattan. In the garden, there was no buildings, there was no concrete, there was no shiny objects, there was no fairs, there was no Hollywood.

But right there in the garden, in a perfect environment, the devil appeals to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Unfortunately, Adam and Eve succumb to it. And they fell.

And, of course, we know the damage it's caused. And then you look at the second Adam in Luke chapter 4, when Jesus came and he was tempted in the very same way, the very three things that we've talked about here. The devil comes to him in this wilderness situation.

He says, command these stones to be made bread. Your flesh is desiring food. Eat.

And there's a temptation to the lust of the flesh. The devil also takes him up to a mountain and shows him all the kingdoms of the world. Look with your eyes, Jesus, and see what's out there.

Don't you want it? The lust of the eyes. And then he takes him to the top of the pinnacle of the temple, and he says, cast yourself down. The angels will take care of you.

This is an interesting temptation. Jesus, you're special. Yeah, you are.

You can cast yourself down. You're special. Oh, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

The pride of life. Here are three temptations. Think about this.

Three temptations that perfect people, both of them, Adam and Eve and Jesus, perfect people in absolute remote locations faced. One fell, and the other overcame. And so the Lord Jesus says, follow me.

We fell with Adam, but we can also overcome by following the Lord Jesus. And we can deal with those nations, the nations, the world, Brother Elson mentioned, and destroy them. I'd like to destroy them today, the nations.

And in our lives, but I think the first thing we have to do is recognize what they are. 1 John 2, 16 says, all that is in the world, this is what worldliness is. Let's look at it very carefully.

What is worldliness? It is three things. It is the lust of the flesh. It is the lust of the eyes.

It is the pride of life. The lust of the flesh, my appetites in this body, the lust of the eyes, my covetous desires, and the pride of life, my desire to lift myself up. That sums it up right there.

That's the world. All-encompassing. Let's look at each one of these.

First of all, I'd like to look at the lust of the flesh this morning. The lust of the flesh. Now, the world is this.

Our bodily appetites here. The devil is going after your bodily appetites. He is going after your flesh.

He is tempting you with your bodily appetites. And that is the world. I'd like you to turn back to Galatians 5. Galatians 5, verse 19.

All these bodily appetites here are mentioned in Galatians 5, verse 19. Here's where the devil is tempting us with the world. Galatians 5, 19 says this, Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, and uncleanness.

And we'll stop right there. These are the first three. And I think these are the major.

This is maybe even in priority. But adultery, fornication, and uncleanness. Sexual immorality.

Adultery, fornication, uncleanness. Moral impurity. Worldliness is at its very basic level.

Sexual immorality. You're here today and you're involved in adultery. You're worldly.

And that not only means you sleeping with another man's wife, but if you're looking and lusting upon a woman in your heart, Jesus said you're an adulterer. Right? That's the world. That's the spirit of the world.

Pornography. You know, we've talked about many of these things, but oftentimes I've noticed that we don't actually label this stuff worldliness, but it's the world. The lust of the flesh.

Sexual immorality. And so when churches are heading to the world, they are heading down this road of immorality. They are beginning to view pornography.

They are dealing with self-abuse. They are pursuing lustful thoughts. They are heading towards the world.

I hardly ever hear people talk about that as regards to the world. But that's worldliness. The next word here is lasciviousness.

That's a long word, and it means simply this. Excess or the absence of restraint. It's the opposite of temperance.

Excessive wine. We call that person a drunkard. Excessive food.

We call that person a glutton. Excessive sleep. We call that person a sluggard.

Excessive talk. We call that person a babbler. You know, the book of Proverbs deals with all of these.

Excess. Excess drinking. Excess eating.

Excess sleep. Excess talk. All this is lasciviousness.

The body loves excess. In many different areas. Few people talk about this as worldliness.

It's of the world. The lust of the flesh. Idolatry.

I preach a sermon, I do so in many revival places on idolatry. You know, God gave man food. He gave man work.

He gave man pleasure. He gave man relationships. And what men does is turn those things into idols.

They become the center focus of their life. And they commit idolatry. They worship and serve the creature more than the creator.

And it becomes an idolatrous. Their fleshly appetites for pleasure, their fleshly appetites for food and for drink and for all these things begin to consume their life. And they become idolatrous.

All that is in the world. Witchcraft. I studied witchcraft many years ago.

Looking to other means other than the Lord to satisfy your needs. Remember when Asa had a disease in his feet? What did he do? He went to the physicians first instead of to the Lord. It displeased the Lord.

You know, whenever we have needs or maybe we have infirmities or we have needs of whatever, we tend to look first to the doctor. The Bible says we're to look to the Lord. Sorcery is looking to medicine.

Some of you are familiar with your past. Some of you, they look to black boxes and pendulums and everything else. But looking to the Lord.

Witchcraft. Let's keep reading here. This is worldliness.

Hatred. There's a group of them here. Variance.

That's division. Emulations and wrath and strife and seditions. These all have to do with strife, division.

You know what's amazing? I learned last week is you can move to the ends of the earth and still have as much strife and division as if you lived in downtown New York City. Division. It didn't take long for Adam and Eve to start blaming each other in the garden.

No other humans on the earth. They started to blame each other. Strife and division.

Turn with me to James chapter 3. I preached on this up there and this whole chapter, James chapter 3 and 4. I think it's a good one to bring out this idea of worldliness. We had a number of people that responded and were broken over some of these issues, but I'd like to read here in James chapter 3, starting in verse 13. Who is the wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness and wisdom.

But if you have bitter envy and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above. Notice what it says here.

But it is earthly. That's this world. It is sensual.

That's the flesh. And it is devilish. I mean, that hits all three categories right there.

The world, the flesh, and the devil. Envy and strife in your hearts. Or envying, verse 16, and strife is there is confusion in every evil work.

And we were in the midst of it. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable and gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, without hypocrisy. This is the fruit of the spirit.

That's the list right there. If you're walking in the spirit, you ought to walk in that list. If you're walking according to the lust of the flesh, you're going to be in the other list.

Verse 18, and the fruit of the righteousness is sown in pieces, then that make peace. Now let's keep reading because it's interesting here in chapter 4, verse 1. From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Do you know where all this fighting comes from? The lust of the flesh. The lust of the flesh.

You lust and have not. You kill and desire to have and cannot obtain. You fight and war, yet you have not, because you ask not.

You ask and receive not, because you ask and miss, that you may consume it upon your own lusts. Notice all the lusts here. Here's an important verse.

You adulterers and adulteresses know you not that friendship of the world is enmity with God, whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Can you imagine? Adultery. We talk about adultery and being an adulteress, but you know what it's talking about here? Out there in the world, there is this spirit.

It's called the spirit of strife. Hatred and anger. And so we as Christians, when we yoke up with that spirit and we get intimate with that spirit, we commit adultery with it.

We're committing adultery with the world. And Jesus says, you who are striving and envy and bitter, aren't you not yoking up or having an intimate relationship with the spirit of the world? You're an adulterer and adulteress. You're befriending the spirit that's in the world.

They're fighting. Just look at politics. They're fighting.

Look at most marriages. They're fighting and splitting up. That's the spirit of the age.

You know, I hardly ever heard anyone say, you know, that church is awful worldly because of all the striving and fussing and fighting. But you know, that's a mark of worldliness. I mean, it's just as clear as day.

It's the world. If you ever want to talk about worldliness, don't talk about miniskirts and jewelry. Talk about striving and envy and bitterness and jealousy.

I think sometimes people are looking at the front door to check out the miniskirts and the jewelry when the devil is loading the back door with all kinds of strife and envy and bitterness. And the world is rushing in. And we don't even know it's coming.

Sad to see the situation there in Alberta. 1 Corinthians 3, 3, 4. You are yet carnal, for whereas there is among you envy and strife and division. Are you not carnal? That's the flesh.

And walk as men. That's the world. You're walking like those people out there in the world.

You're striving. You're dividing. And so we ought not to go to bed with the world in layman's terms.

The lust of the eyes. Let's move on here. Time-wise.

Let me just comment on a couple of these other ones here. Heresy. Works of the flesh.

Heresy. You know what heresy is? Heresy is getting my desires into my Bible interpretation. Heresy is coming to the Bible and saying, I want the Bible to say this, this, and this, and therefore my desires, my lusts influence the way I interpret the Bible.

Envyings and murders and drunkenness and revelings and such like. The lust of the flesh. So when you think about worldliness, you think about these things.

The devil is tempting the lust of your flesh. Let's look at the next one. The lust of the eyes.

1 John 2.16 talks about the lust of the eyes here. That's covetousness. Proverbs 27.20 says, Hell and destruction are never full, so the eyes of a man are never satisfied.

Do you realize that? Men's eyes are never satisfied. These eyes right here, never satisfied, always wanting more. That whole spirit is worldliness.

The eye that is never satisfied. Think about this. Adam and Eve in the garden.

God gave them all the trees. All the trees except for one. You know all the trees in the garden didn't satisfy them.

That lust of their eye. The devil played upon that lust and said, Hey, fellas, listen, I know you got all these trees, Adam and Eve, but you don't have just one. Look at the one you don't have.

So he focused their attention on the one they don't have. By the way, that's what advertisers do. That's at the very heart of advertising.

They come to you with a product and they say, You don't have it. And you need it. And so the eye begins to covet those things.

Always looking for more. The eye is never satisfied. By the way, this is what worldliness is.

An eye that is never satisfied. Jesus was taken to the top of a mountain and said, Look, Jesus, all these kingdoms. Look at them.

I'll give you. You don't have them now, but I'll give them to you. If you'll fall down and worship me.

The lust of the eyes. All that is in the world. I've told this story a number of times.

Some of you haven't heard it. Some of you have heard it before. You can just go ahead and take a nap for a minute.

My brother, older brother, when he was young, I remember I was about 15. He was 17, 18. He bought his first car.

It was an orange Camaro. It was an older Camaro, but it was a nice one. And he had that one for probably six months.

And as he's driving along with his Camaro, he sees this Mazda RX-7 drive by. Next thing I know, he's bringing home pictures of a Mazda RX-7. And he's wanting to buy that.

That Camaro doesn't satisfy anymore because he saw something better. And within a few weeks, he's driving this red Mazda RX-7. And he wouldn't let me drive it.

It looked like when this, I remember sitting in that Mazda RX-7, it looked like he was driving an airplane. It had all this electronics in the middle there. Nice little sports car.

Well, that one lasted for a while until a Datsun 280Z come driving by one day. And the next thing I know, he was after a Datsun 280Z. But a Datsun 280Z didn't stand a sign for very long until one day he bought a Porsche, $75,000 silver Porsche.

The eyes of man are never satisfied. That's why this country is in $21 trillion of debt. Because human beings want and want and want.

And their eyes are never satisfied. And that's why people are in debt. Because they see things they can't afford.

And the devil says, see, you need this. You want this. And we go and borrow money to get it.

And that's why some of you young people sit and look at magazines and you look at these gun magazines and these fashion magazines and these car magazines and these tractor magazines. You're stirring up your covetous desire. I want these things.

Well, the opposite of the lust of the eyes is contentment. Having food and rain that let us there would be content. That's the necessities of life.

There are three words to describe the lust of the eyes. More, bigger, and better. I need more.

I need something bigger. And I need something better. And that spirit is the world.

It's the world. You can have plain clothes on it, but it's the world. And so the devil is tempting us to the lust of the eyes.

He's setting things before us and saying, you need this. Don't you want this? He sets before us another man's wife or another man's daughter. Don't you want this? You ought to covet this.

A nicer home. You ought to covet this. A bigger piece of ground.

You ought to covet this. A faster car. You ought to covet this.

Another pair of shoes. You ought to covet that. More money.

More decorations for your wall. More tools for your shed. Never ending.

A better phone. And so your eye goes from this to this to this to this to this. And I'm just telling you it's the world.

It's the world. See, it may look good. You may look good on the outside, and you may look simple and plain.

But if your heart is always looking for more and your eye is never satisfied, the Bible says we're to be satisfied with what we have. Be content with the things that you have. Do you know what's the secret for being content with what you have is if you have Jesus.

Be content with the things you have for he has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. The reason why our hearts are discontent and the devil plays upon the lust of our eyes is because we're not content with Jesus. We're not content with the joy of meeting the Lord in the morning and studying his word and praying and seeking his face and rejoicing him all day long.

We're empty on the inside, and the devil appeals to that empty heart with the lust of the eyes. And we've got to go after this and that and every other thing. And so when you find people who are always looking for more, always need more, you find a worldly people.

The lust of the eyes. So the devil's drawing on your bodily appetite, and he's drawing on your eyes. You want more.

And then it says here in 1 John chapter 2, the pride of life. One thing the devil is trying to do, and he does it in many different ways, is to get you to lift up yourself. Just lift yourself up.

And while you do that, put other people down. Because if you put other people down, that means you'll look higher. So the idea of raising myself up and putting other people down is the pride of life.

That's exactly what the, and we've read this a number of times, but it's a good example of the two men who went up to the temple and the Pharisee stood and prayed, God, I thank you that I'm not as these people, this wicked man, this extortioner. They're down. I fast twice in the week.

I tithe all that I possess. I'm lifting myself up. Putting others down.

It's called the pride of life. John the Baptist, I love this. He said, I must decrease.

Let me ask you this. Can we decrease, all of us? Can we just decrease? Ain't it going to be good for us if we were all just decrease? Maybe one person said amen there. How about if we all decrease? Just in our hearts right now say, I want to decrease.

I want to go down, not up. My estimation of myself must decrease. My estimation of my talents and my gifts must decrease.

My estimation of my own personal godliness must decrease. My estimation of my family's godliness must decrease. The estimation of our church godliness must decrease.

Let us be lowly of mind. Let us go down, esteeming others better than me. You know, this is a temptation that Adam and Eve faced when the devil came and said to them, this tree will elevate you.

How much higher can you get? You shall be as God. This tree is going to lift you up. This tree is going to make you wise.

You're going to be wise like God. It's going to raise you up. It's going to put you head and shoulders above all the rest.

How many of you would like to be head and shoulders above all the rest? That's in our hearts, isn't it? Well, with all that pride comes competition, competing. That's out in the world. Competing in business to be the top.

Competing in sports to be the best. Competing in fashion to be the most fashionable. Competing in friendships to be the most liked.

Competing in attention, getting to be the most noticed. There's all kinds of competition going on. It's all worldly.

Love this world. I was driving to Newark. There's a billboard off to the left on the way to Newark.

Get over yourself-y. And self is in a different color than the IE. Get over yourself.

Amen? With competition comes strife. The 12 disciples were competing who should be the greatest. There was a strife among them.

It is the spirit of the world. The spirit of the world is to compete. Would you agree with me? It's all over the place.

Competition. Competing back and forth. Sports teams competing.

Politicians competing. Trying to elevate themselves above the other. Has no place in the church.

We ought to be competing to see who can go the lowest. Be the humblest. Now I realize we probably are going to disagree on things in church life.

But we can always do it very humbly and graciously and in love. And so Jesus was taken to the pinnacle of the temple. Way up high.

And the devil said, cast yourself down, Jesus. You're very special. The angels will take charge of you.

You won't hurt your foot. Somehow we tend to think we're special above others. Isn't that how we as human beings think? I'm different.

I'm special. If Jesus didn't buy into that, you shouldn't either. Amen? Look at 1 John 3, verse 16 again.

For all that is in the world, 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. And the world passes away, and the lusts thereof. But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.

What is the will of God? He that does the will of God. It is contrary to the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and the pride of life. I got three words that are the exact opposite of the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and the pride of life.

And if you have these three in your life, I'll tell you you're not worldly. And those three words are this. Number one, temperance.

Number two, contentment. And number three, humility. Beautiful words.

Temperance, contentment, and humility. Boy, you get those three down, and the world will have a hard place lodging in you. And if you get those three down, you'll destroy those nations.

All those nations around you, as Elson was saying, you won't embrace those nations and their ways, because you'll be temperate, content, and humble. This is godliness. It's godliness.

What is worldliness? Your appetites, your body control you. Your eyes are always wanting more. And your heart is raising itself up above others.

That's the world, and all that in it is, the world. That's the spirit of this world. If you go out in this world, you'll find people whose bodies control them, their eyes are never satisfied, and they're always trying to raise themselves up above others.

And I know you can spread this all over as far as my pride and contentment and all these words, and there's many things we could talk about. But I trust that you can see in these three things, the lust of your flesh. Let me ask you a question.

Is your body under control? Have you mastered, I think Brother John mentioned that word, have you mastered your appetites? Have you mastered your body? Have you, by the power of the spirit of God, mastered your appetites, that you're not out of control? Nothing is controlling you. You're controlling, as John mentioned, about Paul kept his body under and brought it into subjection. Are you one whose eyes are always wanting more? Can we just, I'm just asking this question, do you have enough right now, today? Are you content with what you have? You're sitting here, you're saying, I have to have bigger, more, and better than you have a problem with a worldly heart.

And that's going to manifest in many, many different ways. It may manifest in clothing. It may manifest in automobiles.

It may manifest in tools. It may manifest in a hundred different ways. But it's still the same worldly heart.

I want more. I see things. I want them.

That is the spirit of the world. And it ought not to be in the church. And then your heart raises yourself up above others.

Do you think that you're more holy than other people? Does your heart raise you up above others? Or do you take a very low view of yourself? I think that we learn from Isaiah, the Bible says not to compare yourself among yourself. If I stand here and I compare myself with you all, we can be tempted to say, that's foolish. Only one person you should compare yourself with.

Who is that? It's the Lord. And if you, all of us, compare ourselves with Him, guess what we're going to say? Woe is me. Woe is me.

And if your heart is truly, Lord, woe is me, I have so many needs, you'll never go like this to other people. You'll have compassion on other people because they're in the same place you are. And so humility of mind.

And so when you hear someone say, that church is going to the world, you ought to ask them, are you talking about the lust of their flesh, the lust of their eyes, and the pride of life? All that is in the world. The world is going to pass away. All these lusts are going to pass away.

And here's the tragedy. Here is the tragedy of going to hell. And I'll close with this.

The tragedy of going to hell is to be sent to hell with the lust of your flesh. And you can't fulfill them. The lust of your eyes.

Give me just one drop of that water. Get at it. And the pride of life.

I mean you're just squashed. You're crushed. What a place to be with those passions still in you.

And you're in hell. Don't love the world. Neither the things that are in the world.

My Bible says if you do love that world, the love of the Father is not in you. So let's work on temperance, contentment, and humility. And I'll tell you what.

As I learned last week, it doesn't matter whether you live in northern British Columbia or downtown New York City. Everyone saw us deal with those three things.