Why Christians Don't Love the World

I've been saying this all along, there is an inherent systemic mutual exclusivity between the world and the Kingdom of God. There is antipathy in the heart of the unregenerate world toward the truth of the gospel. You cannot love the world and know God. Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur.

I'm your host, Phil Johnson. If a stranger looked at your life, your checkbook, your calendar, how you spend your time, what would he say you love the most? What you love, what you devote yourself to, reveals vital truth about you and your relationship with Christ. John MacArthur shows you why, as he looks at the life of Judas and Demas and how their ungodly examples show you how to think and how to live and how to honor the Lord. It's part of John's study titled, The Love God Hates.

And now with today's lesson, here's John MacArthur. First John chapter 2, verses 15 through 17. Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world.

And the world is passing away and also its lusts, but the one who does the will of God abides forever. Here we again have the test of true Christianity. This time the test is loving or not loving the world. We've had doctrinal tests in this remarkable epistle of John, the test of true understanding of Jesus Christ, the test of a true understanding of one's sinfulness. We've had moral tests, the moral test of obedience, the moral test of loving others.

And we come to another test that fits in again the moral category, or the behavioral category, and that has to do with not loving the world. If anybody loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. That is to say he has no relationship with God. Judas provides a sort of strange encouragement to me because even under the Lord of Lords tutelage and discipleship there was a defector. There's another New Testament defector that I want to draw your attention to, 2 Timothy chapter 4. The apostle Paul set a model for ministry that all of us follow and that is a model to do your ministry in a partnership with a team of faithful men and even women who come alongside to serve. And Paul refers to these people on numerous occasions and even indicates how dependent he is upon them. It is typical for Paul to refer to them in his epistles. Some of them are further identified in the book of Acts. But 2 Timothy 4 has a good list that is representative of Paul's partnership. Verse 10 there is the name of Demas which sort of heads the list. And then there is Crescens, and then there is Titus, and then there is Luke, and then there's reference to Mark in verse 11, and Tichicus in verse 12. And if you go on down a little further, greet Prissa and Aquila in verse 19, the household of Onesiphorus, Erastus who remained at Corinth, Trophimus who left at Miletus. Then there is Eubulus and there's Pudens, Linus, Claudia, all the brethren. This kind of indicates that there was this group of people that were around Paul throughout his ministry.

We're very familiar with that. What makes this chapter particularly unique is this is the last chapter he ever wrote. This is the finale. This is his swan song. This is the end of his life. Soon after this he was martyred. And he indicates that that's obviously on the horizon. Verse 6 of chapter 4, I'm already being poured out as a drink offering.

He was a prisoner when he wrote this. The time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight.

I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. And he's now looking forward to the crown of righteousness laid up for him which the Lord the righteous judge will award to me on that day, not only to me but all those who loved his appearing. So he is really knowing that he's at the end. His ministry is over. He's been faithful to the end. He will soon be executed. This great life, this most noble of all human lives has come to its end. And from my standpoint, he is my hero.

He is absolutely on the human level, apart from Jesus Christ, my great hero. And he should have gone out with a hero's ending. He should have gone out with an appropriate fanfare. Everybody around him should have given him a tribute, a tribute that would have exceeded all the people perhaps who have ever lived. The greatest calling anybody could ever have would be to be an apostle of Jesus Christ.

He had that. And of all the apostles, he's the most greatly used apostle because he was used to write at least 13 books of the New Testament. The accumulated power of his life, the power of his message, the breadth and height and length and depth of the contribution he made in the inspired writings that he gave, the spread of the gospel to the Gentile world which in effect makes him the founder, as it were, of the Gentile church and all that comes beyond that really flows out of his ministry should have caused the greatest of accolades to be given to him at the end of his life. Yet at his last hour, the story is, humanly speaking, tragic.

It's heartbreaking. If you go back to chapter 1 for a minute of 2 Timothy, Paul is concerned to pass the baton of ministry to young Timothy. He wants to have Timothy take over his ministry.

Every pastor who gets to the later years of his life, I can certainly speak for that, becomes very, very conscious of who's going to follow, who is going to pick up the ministry, who's going to take the baton, who's going to receive the mantle to carry on what has been begun. And Timothy, of course, was Paul's choice, but Timothy was struggling seriously. He says to Timothy in verse 6 of chapter 1, "'Kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you,'" because Timothy was obviously letting his gift fall into disuse. He tells him not to be a coward in verse 7. God hasn't given us a spirit of timidity or a spirit of cowardice. Tells him in verse 8, "'Don't be ashamed of the testimony of the Lord.

Don't be ashamed of me as prisoner. Be willing to suffer.'" It's really an interesting insight into what Timothy was like at this particular time, at the most crucial time in Paul's life when he wanted to pass the baton, pass the mantle, have Timothy take up the work. Timothy needed to be using his gift. He needed to be strong. He needed to be courageous. He needed to be unashamed and bold for the cause of Christ and of Paul. He needed to be willing to suffer and in fact the opposite was true.

All of his tendencies were in the other direction. Verse 13, he says, "'Hold on to sound words,'" which means that Timothy may have been on the brink of even abandoning the truth because it brought so much persecution and so much hostility. Verse 14, he tells him to guard the treasure which is the Word of God. And then he reminds him in verse 15 of this really remarkable reality, "'You are aware of the fact that all who are in Asia turned away from me.'" How can it be that everybody in Asia Minor, the very place where Paul ministered most, have all abandoned him?

The price was too high. How many defectors did Paul have? How many people in whom he invested his life defected?

He says, "'All who are in Asia have turned away from me.'" And he names Phagellus and Hermogenes as a couple of examples. He probably named them because of their prominence.

There's probably some shock value in that. As if, can you believe it, Timothy, that Phagellus and Hermogenes have defected and abandoned me? And then he does refer to the house of Onesiphorus, the Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus for he often refreshed me and wasn't ashamed of my chains.

So there was at least the household of Onesiphorus who was faithful. Over in chapter 4 again, he says, "'At my first defense, no one supported me but all deserted me, may it not be counted against them.'" That's the attitude of Stephen, that's the attitude of Jesus on the cross. "'The Lord stood with me and strengthened me and I was...the end of that verse...delivered out of the lion's mouth.'" Well here Paul comes to the end of his life.

At the time when he should be receiving all the kudos and all the accolades and all the affirmation and all the honors, when everybody should be rising in a great chorus of triumph and thankfulness to God for this man's life, people are abandoning him in every direction. And that takes us to verse 10 where he says, "'Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.'" Crescens is in Galatia, not a defection, probably sent by Paul. Titus is in Dalmatia. Only Luke is here. Timothy, when you come, would you bring Mark with you?

He's useful to me. Tychicus is in Ephesus. It's getting cold here, by the way. When you come, could you bring my cloak which I left at Troas with Carpus?

And could you bring me the books, especially the parchments? I mean, you get this very sort of sad sense. He's alone. Only Luke is there. The combination of missionary work and defection has scattered his beloved friends. But the only one who's really noted as a defector here in chapter 4, the jealous and homogenies in chapter 1, is this man Demas in verse 10. You need to know that Demas had been a co-worker with Paul for many years. He was a close friend of the Apostle Paul. What a privilege.

I would cherish that. I would love to have followed around the Apostle Paul. In Colossians chapter 4, verses 12 and following, Paul writes, Epaphras, who is one of your number, that is he was from the church in Colossae, Epaphras who is one of your number, a bond slave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God. For I bear him witness that he has a deep concern for you and for those who are at Laodicea and Heropolis. Luke, the beloved physician, sends you his greetings, and also Demas.

This man Demas was in some pretty rich company, very rich company, come to think of it. Epaphras, a bond slave of Jesus Christ, what kind of spiritual character did he have? A man who labored earnestly in prayer for his beloved church that they would stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God, the man who had a deep concern for the believers there, a spiritual man.

And then Luke, the great biographer who wrote the gospel of Luke in the book of Acts, the physician of Paul, the private personal physician. At the end of the book of Philemon, we read this, Paul sending greetings, Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus greets you, as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow workers. This man Demas was around the best, Paul, Epaphras, Luke, Mark, Aristarchus, all that to show you that Demas was associated with some very formidable men, preachers of the Word of God, faithful men, men of prayer, church planters, men who suffered and yet it was in that very company, back to our text, 2 Timothy 4, as we look back at Demas to read, Demas having loved this present world has deserted me...deserted me. Demas has deserted me, strong word. The verb in the Greek means to completely forsake. It means to utterly abandon. The idea is to leave someone in serious need.

You just ask yourself, how could he do that? After having lived under the influence of the Apostle Paul himself, incredible example, all the others that he was surrounded with, the influence of men like Timothy and Luke and Epaphras and Aristarchus and Mark and Onesimus, there was influence there, tremendous influence but he left. Why? Verse 10 says it all, having loved this present world...having loved this present world. There it is...there it is. If you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you. What is the world? The system of evil, the system of lies and deceptions and falsehoods and the evil conduct that goes with it, all the ideologies raised up against the knowledge of God, as 2 Corinthians 10, 5, any ungodly idea. He loved the world.

He loved the system of the world, human wisdom, human thought, human ideologies, the religions of the world, theories, philosophies had his heart. So we conclude then that Demas was rocky ground, that the seed went in, plant popped up for a little while but when the cost was persecution and suffering and tribulation, it withered and died. He was also weedy soil where the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choked out the seed. Jesus describes that, you remember, in His parable of the soils. The gospel seed died before it ever bore fruit.

This is what it is to love the world. You can be around the truth, you can make profession of the truth, you can get into the association of the most elite people in Christian ministry. You can be a companion and co-laborer and co-worker with the Apostle Paul and not be the real thing. Do I think that Paul knew that? No. Do I think that Luke or Timothy or Paphras knew it?

No. But time and truth go hand in hand. And eventually the reality became known. And when Paul was about to be martyred for the faith, Demas saw, as it were, the handwriting on the wall. The price was more than he wanted to pay and he departed forsaking the Apostle because he loved this present world. He loved the system more than he loved God.

He loved what the world offered him with its ideas and its conduct more than he loved what God offered him in His Kingdom. This is deadly to saving faith. James chapter 4 verse 4 is a verse that builds on this before we look again into our text.

James 4, 4, you adulteresses...very strong language from James...you harlots, you prostitutes, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. I've been saying this all along, there is an inherent systemic mutual exclusivity between the world and the Kingdom of God. There is antipathy in the heart of the unregenerate world toward the truth of the gospel. You cannot love the world and know God because the world hates the truth, the world that we're talking about. We're not talking about the created order. We're not talking about the world of humanity. We're talking about the system of human thought, sinful, corrupt, fallen human thought.

Whatever form it takes, whether philosophical or religious, anything that is against the revealed Word of God constitutes the world. You remember James, when James said that, he was writing, of course, to Jewish readers. James 1, 1 says, James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad. James writing to twelve tribes, scattered Jews, dispersed abroad, those who were professing Christ, obviously. But writing to Jews, he speaks to them of spiritual adultery.

He speaks to them of spiritual harlotry and that's because that's very familiar to them. Jewish readers would know that the Old Testament chronicles Israel's spiritual adultery. In fact, 2 Chronicles, the book itself, is a good place to note that. Let me just read you some things out of 2 Chronicles chapter 21 and I'll start at verse 11. Moreover, he made high places in the mountains of Judah, caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the harlot.

This is pretty much what the kings did, but this is referring to Jehoram . He made high places in the mountains of Judah, caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the harlot. That is, metaphorically, to commit spiritual adultery. And, of course, then it goes on to talk about the judgment of God. Jeremiah wrote about that. Oh, there are lots of places in the Old Testament, but just a few. Jeremiah chapter 2 and verse 20, for long ago I broke your yoke and tore off your bonds, but you said I will not serve. God is saying, you know, I took you out of slavery, I made you My free servant. You said I will not serve on every high hill under every green tree.

You have lain down like a harlot. What did they do on every high hill and with every green tree? They created ashrams, as it were.

They created places to worship idols. This is spiritual adultery. Jeremiah 3, God says, if a husband divorces his wife and she goes from him and belongs to another man, will he still return to her?

Will not that land be completely polluted? But you are a harlot with many lovers, yet you turn to Me, declares the Lord, as if to say, what do you expect Me to do, take you back after you have polluted the land with your harlotry and with your wickedness? Spiritual defection then is described as a kind of harlotry.

In verse 6 of Jeremiah 3, the Lord said to Me in the days of Josiah the king, have you seen what faithless Israel did? She went up on every high hill under every green tree. She was a harlot there and I thought after she had done all these things, she will return to Me. But she didn't return and her treacherous sister Judah saw it, southern kingdom. And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I sent her away and gave her a writ of divorce. And yet her treacherous sister Judah didn't fear, she went and was a harlot also. Came about because of the lightness of her harlotry that she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. This is a way to describe Israel's spiritual defection.

It is a kind of harlotry. I suppose you could read it also in Ezekiel chapter 16, but it's the book of Hosea that most directly confronts this. In Hosea 1, 2, the Lord first spoke through Hosea. The Lord said to Hosea, go take to yourself a wife of harlotry.

This is because he was literally going to be a living illustration of the spiritual harlotries of Israel which defines her worshiping other gods, idols. Chapter 4 verse 15, Israel plays the harlot. Chapter 9 verse 1, same thing.

So that's just background to what we're seeing. Back to James 4, 4 for a minute. In James 4, 4, you adulteresses, so he's borrowing language very familiar to his Jewish readers. And he's saying, you adulteresses, if you are a friend of the world, you literally have committed harlotry against God.

You are in a hostile posture. You have made yourself God's enemy...God's enemy. That's another Old Testament concept. Deuteronomy 32, 41, I will render vengeance to my enemies and repay those who hate me. Psalm 21, 8 and 9, your hand will find all your enemies.

Your right hand will find those who hate you. You'll make them as fiery...as a fiery oven in the time of your anger. Psalm 68, 21, God will wound the head of His enemies. Psalm 72, 9, His enemies will lick the dust.

Nahum 1, 2, He reserves wrath for His enemies and so it goes. Demas was guilty of spiritual harlotry. Demas had become the enemy of God. And all I can say is, what wasted opportunity?

What wasted privilege? Where did Demas go? Turn back to 2 Timothy for one final note there. Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me, Paul says, and gone to Thessalonica. Why did he go there?

I don't know. Specifically, some worldly reason. Maybe it was some friendships that he had.

He was going back to the life that he used to live and had hypocritically subdued for a few years. But Thessalonica was a big city, about 200,000 people, so he could get lost there. It was right on the Via Ignatia, the main trade route. So everything in the world was there. All the philosophies were being espoused there. All the material things in the world that were being carried back and forth from the west to the east came through there.

Crossroads City, all that the world offered would be available. That's where he went. And he proved in the doing that he was not a child of God. Now let's go back to 1 John. And the command here is in verse 15, do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Demas did not have a love relationship with God. He didn't love God and God didn't love him savingly.

He failed the test. He loved the world. Loving the world, as I told you last week, is impossible for true believers because the world is an anti-God system and you can't love God and love the world. You can't, as Jesus said, serve God and mammon.

Salvation is a deliverance from the world, its ideologies, its viewpoints, its anti-God posture. You're listening to Grace to You with Bible teacher John MacArthur. He's a pastor, conference speaker and chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary. And his current study is from 1 John chapter 2, showing you the love God hates. Now today's lesson looked at two men, Judas and Demas, who both rejected God and embraced the world. Sadly, John, many of our listeners probably know a friend or a loved one who has walked the same path as these false disciples. And so with that in mind, I'm wondering, what can our listeners say to that person in their life who has rejected the gospel that once he professed?

How can they show a person like that love and compassion? You know, that is a very provocative question because that person who has known the gospel, professed the gospel, and rejected the gospel could well be an apostate from which there is no recovery. You know, if you've trampled underfoot the blood of the covenant and considered it an unholy thing and done despite to the Spirit of Grace, there remains no more sacrifice for sin. Another way that it's spoken of in Scripture is it's impossible to renew those who have known the truth and turned from the truth, seeing they crucify the Son of God afresh and put him to open shame. I think the only thing you can do with someone who once confessed the gospel and rejected the gospel, somebody like a Judas or a Demas, is demonstrate a fearful, frightening warning, because that's what Hebrews does. After the warning passage about defecting, it says this, it is a fearful, frightening, terrifying thing to fall into the hands of an angry God. Look, we've got to ramp up the dire realities of apostasy. It may be that that person has not yet finally apostatized.

I think that's the best way to show love and the best way to show compassion. That's right, and thank you, John. And now, friend, it may be that you haven't heard a lot about the issue of apostasy, but this is an important subject to get your mind around. So to help with that, John MacArthur recorded an interview titled When Believers Stop Believing, and it's free to download.

You can get your copy today. You'll find that interview at our website, gty.org, and the full title of it is When Believers Stop Believing, subtitle Portrait of an Apostate. It will show you what to think and what to do when a pastor or an elder or a Christian friend or a loved one suddenly rejects Christ. Again, that interview is free at our website, gty.org.

Download it today. And now, if John's verse-by-verse teaching has helped you understand maybe for the first time what it means to follow Christ, or perhaps you're seeing your family strengthened by God's Word, remember this broadcast is available in your area because of the faithful support of listeners like you. To partner with Grace To You, mail your donation to Grace To You, P. O.

Box 4000, Panorama City, California, 91412. You can also make a one-time donation or set up a recurring gift at gty.org, or when you call us at 800-55-GRACE. Now for John MacArthur, I'm your host, Phil Johnson. Thanks for listening today, and remember to watch Grace To You television this Sunday on DirecTV, channel 378. You can also watch online at gty.org, and then be here tomorrow for another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time on Grace To You.