"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 for ever." [1 Jn 2:15-17]
When we speak of love in The Bible, often the proof of it is obedience. Jesus said, “if ye love me, keep my commandments;” and, “he that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me;” and also, John wrote, as we have expounded upon in earlier chapters, “for this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.” [Jn 14:15, 21, 1 Jn 5:3] The foundation of true love is obedience; as Jesus said, “and why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” [Lk 6:46] We cannot purport to love Christ, nor those brethren who are born of God, if we do not first of all obey Jesus.
Another aspect of love which is foundational, is its endurance. As Solomon says in Songs, “many waters cannot quench love;” [Ecc 8:7] and in Corinthians, “[love] endureth all things. Love is never departing.” [1 Cor 13:7-8] Love must endure; for if it does not, then it was never love. True love endures; the love which gives up and dies off in tribulation, or in the process of time, was not that beautiful love which God displays, but merely affection or infatuation. The love that God displays, and which we should strive for is much like Jacob, of whom it is written, “and Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her.” [Gen 29:20]
With these, let us come to our next test of genuine salvation. Repeating from above, John writes,
“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 boasting of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” [1 Jn 2:15-16]
And again,
“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.” [Jam 4:4]
From these passages, we see that a true Christian, one genuinely born of God, having truly tasted of God’s grace and accepted the truth of Jesus in His heart, must not love the world, either with that divine and unconditional love nor the affectionate, friendly love. For the man who loves the world and the things in it does not have God’s love dwelling within him. And to have “the love of The Father” within is a necessity, because in Romans it says, “…the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts by The Holy Spirit which is given unto us.” [Rom 5:5] And further, the man who is affectionate and friendly toward the world is also unsaved; for James shows us by inspiration of The Holy Spirit that that man is in reality an enemy of God. And this is also incongruous with a true Christian; because it is written again, “…when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son,” [f.f., Rom 5:10] but we are no longer, for we have been reconciled unto God through Jesus: that is, we now have peace with God and are no longer enemies, the word reconciled meaning, “brought into friendship from a state of disagreement or enmity.” [Webster]
Seeing then the necessity of this proof: that a Christian does not love the world nor the things in it, let us now consider again the word love. If the man who loves God obeys God, then the man who loves the world obeys the world. If the man who loves God, endures and continues in those things of God, regardless of afflictions, so too the man of the world in his respect. Let us consider that which John says is of the world to see this more perfectly.
First, “the lust of the flesh.” The lust of the flesh is that which is directly opposed to The Spirit; for Paul says,
“This I say then, walk in The Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against The Spirit, and The Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” [Gal 5:16-17]
And,
“And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” [Gal 5:24]
The word lust itself means simply a “longing desire; eagerness to possess or enjoy.” [Webster] It signifies not always an evil, but merely a strong desire for something, to obtain it or enjoy it in some manner. When The Bible speaks, then, of the lust of the flesh, we should understand The Spirit to mean that which the flesh longs after; that which the flesh is eager to possess or enjoy. This would include that which the bodily appetites, those of the old man, constantly produce; for we are told, in opposition to these, “but put ye on The Lord Jesus Christ, and make not foresight for the lusts of the flesh.” [Rom 13:14]
And, the Christian having died and been separated from such, if he be truly saved, will consistently die to himself and reject such appetites. For it is written,
“[We are] always bearing about in the body the dying of The Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.” [2 Cor 4:10-11]
And,
“For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through The Spirit do put to death the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” [Rom 8:13]
Second, “the lust of the eyes.” The eyes refer to our focus and intent, that which we strive after or walk toward. Remember Jesus, when He said, showing us that our eye relates to the one whom we serve,
“The lamp of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single (without folds), thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! No man can serve two masters…” [Mt 6:22-24]
The eye is like a lamp, a holder for light. If our master is Christ, we shall have a flame of light, which brings forth light into all of our bodies, our lives. The light of Christ will refresh and guide us, and reveal sin to us that we might by His grace correct it. However, if our master is not Him, or is only partly Him, then we shall have a lamp which produces not light but darkness, and we shall live and dwell in darkness, not being able to correctly discern God’s way nor our own sinfulness. In terms of guidance, we can see this in the Old Testament when The Holy Spirit is referred to as, “seven eyes,” [Zech 3:9; 4:10] which are explained by The Lord for us in The New Testament when it describes the Lamb, “having…seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God.” [Rev 5:6] Here, the instruction we receive is explained in Psalms, when The LORD says, “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.” [Psa 32:8] Therefore, we ought to seek to be led of God’s eye(s), of His Spirit, who sees all – in contrast to our own eyes, which can only see what is in front of us. And this describes The LORD’s servant well; for God says, “who is blind but my servant?…seeing many things, but thou observest not…The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness’ sake…” [Isa 42:19-21]
And third, “the boasting of life.” Boasting means, “talking ostentatiously; glorying; vaunting.” Ostentatious means, “fond of presenting one’s endowments or works to others in an advantageous light.” [Webster] Therefore the boasting of life is when one speaks very advantageously of themselves, of their actions, of their accomplishments, or of any other thing which comes from their life. The man who boasts of his own life has forgotten what is written: “in [The LORD’s] hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind;” [Job 12:10] and, “a man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.” [Jn 3:27]
So then let us conclude, and test ourselves. Does the wicked love of the world dwell in us or doesn’t it? If it does, then the love of The Father has no place in us and we are lost. Do we, despite hardship, consistently pursue the bodily appetites? Do the feelings and provocations of our mortal bodies guide us, fuel us? If so, then we are as those described in Philippians: “enemies of the cross of Christ…whose God is their belly.” [Phil 3:18-19] Again, do we with habitual inclination, receive guidance and direction from our own eyes? From our own dispositions? Or those of the world? Do our eyes guide us, search us out, or do God’s, or does The Holy Spirit? Moreover, the third test: do we regularly and consistently boast of our accomplishments? That we have obtained, earned, or done some great thing? Do we boast of our life, of our existence, of our ability and not of God? For He says, “let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the might man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches.” [Jer 9:23] And, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” [Gal 6:14] If these things describe our lives – if they describe your life, dear brother – then you are lost. Let us take heed to ourselves, and guard ourselves, so that we do not fall, for those who love the world do not love God nor do they enjoy that sweet fellowship and covenant love which is found only in Christ Jesus, God’s Son. Again, woe to the man who loves the world – who, though the world and the things of it have been found wanting, who, though the world and its appetites have lacked the ability to satisfy him fully, he goes after them nonetheless. That man is not saved at all, but loving the world, proves himself to be lost.
To see past and future posts in this series of Testing Your Salvation, click here.