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. Ouch. I had some of the world in me, but in the last six months the world really doesn’t mean much to me anymore. It’s futile. Yes, we need to make a living and there are certain things we need to do, but our hope is not in becoming wealthy on the earth. Our hope is in heaven. Above all things that’s where we are headed. I want to start with I John 1:1, That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life. Everything Jesus did, according to John, was different from anything else they had ever experienced. There was substance they could handle and feel that they never had before. I want you to understand that the life of Christ isn’t just a word like we speak, but it’s substance. John said he could feel and handle the word. Handle means it was available to him to use. When God’s anointing comes you can feel His presence. John said, I want to tell you that the word of life that Christ released isn’t just words, but it’s substance that has power. Verse 2, (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it… If you have allowed Christ to do a work in you, you have seen the power manifest. …and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) When the anointing comes, substance comes upon each one who will open their heart. Our job is to allow the substance and eternal life to grow, and the power of it to increase. Verse 3, That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. If we are not to be of the world how can we enjoy the creation of God upon the earth? That’s a real stumbling block for a lot of people that don’t want to give up fun for joy. But here John says I’m writing you these things that you might have joy. That’s what Jesus prayed for the disciples to have: to have a joy on the earth even though they were in this world. Jesus did things that I can’t do yet, because I haven’t gotten rid of all of the world. Jesus said the world has no handle on Me, therefore they can’t destroy Me. Paul said there were things he could do but didn’t because of the weakness of some of the people in his group, that if they were to do it they would begin to drift back into the world. He said, I watch what I do. I know what he’s talking about. If you have the joy of the Lord in you, even though you drive the world nuts, they know it’s real. When you have peace they know it too. If you’re just having fun, it’s not a big deal. So there is a way that we can have the joy of God in this world and not be of it. Verse 5, This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. To have light means God has given us understanding what it is to be with Him. In that ability to see, He gives us hope that we can make it too. There shouldn’t be one of us that wonders, will I make it? If you want God and seek Him with all of your heart, He will be found. You will feel the substance of who God is and His righteousness and holiness and the power of real life and not death, which is the world. Once you have the light, who wants to go back to the world? If you want to go back to the world it’s because you were never really able to see the preciousness of life; otherwise you wouldn’t do it. Verse 6, If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth. If you have the love of Christ and the Father in you, you can’t go back to that other world. When you have an understanding of what you can have in Christ you won’t want to go back to the world. I’ve been saying for years I don’t know how wealthy I am, and you need to be saying that too. You can say, I don’t know how wealthy I am but I am building wealth like Jesus said for us to do instead of building a world, because it isn’t going to amount to anything. It will all be destroyed. It’s the eternal wealth that counts. If you use the worldly finances to further His heavenly kingdom then you’ve gained something. But if not, you’re in danger of going back to the world, slowly without even knowing it. You have the love of money more than the love of God. Verse 7, But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. This is one of the first things I would look at if I was not able to communicate with God like my heart wanted to. We have to walk in the light as He is in the light. Have you ever tried to have a conversation with someone that you have no idea if he is what he says he is? If you have the same goals and desires of destroying those that destroy the earth, and helping those to become saints and walk with the fear of the Lord, then you have something in common. It’s not easy to walk as He has called us to walk, and He knows that, but it’s doable. And as long as we have the same desires as God does, we have great fellowship. Verse 8, If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. One of the most precious things anyone can tell me is that they are seeing all the things they never knew were in them and how God is removing those things and He’s drawing them closer to Him each day as they work together to get rid of it. That’s the way it’s supposed to work. I John 2:1, My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. He could remove all the sins of the whole world if the whole world repented. He has the power to remove every unclean spirit and demonic force in every person in the world if they would just do it. That’s how much faith John had in the power of Christ. Verse 3, And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. If we keep His commandments we know that we know Christ. Verse 4, He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. John was one of the disciples that loved the most, but look how tough he was. That toughness came from him being with the Lord. Verse 5, But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. Christ is the light and each time you fellowship with Him His light shines on something you need to work on. Then when it’s done, the glory of God comes in the morning. It’s kind of like a tunnel you go through. You work on it during the day after the fellowship and you go through the night season and you come out on the other side with great joy because you left that part of the world. The word of prophecy, the word of God, God living in you, however it comes, His word is substance and it works to bring perfection in your life. That’s substance. Something is working in you to bring you to a place of perfection. Verse 6, He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. The old commandments are the spoken word of God and they’re the same back in the old as what they are today. It’s just that we go about it very differently now because we have the power to remove the sin where they only had the power to resist it by doing stringent things to keep themselves from sinning. The Ten Commandments were put on stone. That was pretty hard. But now He has placed the new covenant in our hearts, which when we open it up is very different than that rock. But the word of God in you is the same thing. It’s just that we handle it different; we respond out of love for the Lord instead of just obeying. Verse 8, Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. If you can’t love the brotherhood you’re not in the light. Verse 10, He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes. I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake. I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. Fathers are those that help the young ones learn how to walk in the spirit, overcome the world, and do all those things that are tough. Because the fathers have gone through it and know what it takes, they can patiently wait for a person to become hungry in that particular thing and then can lead them into that place. Before you can be led you have to become hungry or you will never be able to get there. Verse 14, I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. 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. Ouch. I had some of the world in me, but in the last six months the world really doesn’t mean much to me anymore. It’s futile. Yes we need to make a living and there are certain things we need to do, but our hope is not in becoming wealthy on the earth. Our hope is in heaven. Above all things that’s where we are headed. Verse 16, 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. The lust of the flesh is buying things or doing things that bring us happiness in the world for the time. It has nothing to do with God; it just has to do with us being satisfied. When I first began seeking God, I had three worlds: God’s world (or what I thought was God’s world), satan’s world, and my world. My attitude was that you couldn’t take certain things I enjoyed in the world away from me. The lust of the eye can be a whole gamut of things; things you don’t have that others do and you wish you had them. What is the pride of life? I had a little grandson whose parents gave him lots of little cars. He must have had a hundred of them. He would be on the floor driving them around and doing all kinds of things with them. All of a sudden the Lord said to me, that’s his god. His parents never removed it and when he got his license he was selling his car and buying another one every few months because he had a love of all the cars. He spent all of his labor, all of his time, buying cars. That’s part of the pride of life. Verse 17, And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. We can’t just show up, we must do what God wants in order to be a part of it. Verse 20, But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: [but] he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also. John is talking about himself as well. When Jesus was about to be crucified, all of the disciples denied him and ran. But Jesus brought all of them back except Judas. They were forgiven and He made them to be mighty people on the earth. That’s the way God loves and cares. He knows that we’re going to be tripped up so we just need to cry out to the Lord to remove the lies, anything we’ve done, whatever it is. Get it out that we can have fellowship with Him and be part of the kingdom of God. Verse 24, Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. Paul says the whole world is waiting for the sons of God to arise. If you are a son, the world and the earth are waiting for you to arise and manifest yourself; not who you are but what Christ has done for you. Verse 25, And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life. We’re going to be walking for all eternity in the substance of life. When I think of that, I think of taking a stem of wheat before the head comes out, opening it up, and you will find juicy, rich, nutrients to build that wheat that’s going to come out of the stem. I believe that much of the reason the head grows so fast and comes out is that it is full of juicy, sticky, thick nutrients that it can absorb all in a matter of hours and begin to come out and be ready. An ear of corn is the same way. The first blade comes out, then the ear, then the silks, and then the cob begins to grow and as it comes out the tassels come out and drop down on it and it can grow that ear in just a couple weeks. The juice goes out of the stalk then into the ear. When you see somebody chopping corn they leave the stalk tall because it doesn’t have any food value anymore; it’s gone into the upper part of the plant. They want the nutrients so the cows will give the best milk they can. Verse 26, These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. I have had a lot of people come to me and ask how they are to carry their call out. I say, I don’t know. As an adult that’s something between you and God that you hear from Him. You have to discern whether you are hearing from God or from a seducer or whoever it is. If you can pick out the right way to go then you’re on your way to your high call. Every time it will be hard. The only reason it’s hard is because each time it gets finer. Verse 28, And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. How many would like to have confidence that when Christ comes you know you’re going with Him? I want confidence. When He comes you will have confidence that you know where you’re going to go because you have the love of Christ in you. If He’s in you then the devil can’t say you’re this or that. When it’s all said and done and the Lord comes back you’ll have confidence that you’re going to be with Him forever and ever and ever. Let’s read 28 again. And now, little children, abide in him; the whole key is to abide in Christ. John 15 talks about abiding in Him. It’s a whole chapter about it. …that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. When God comes He wants us to be there with great joy and to be strong. Not weak and wondering if we made it. There will be singing and joy and happiness that finally we broke through to be with Him. Verse 29, If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him. Righteousness is doing the right thing, not necessarily for your prosperity, but for the good of the kingdom of God. If you’re not doing it righteously like that, you are doing it religiously, which is for your own good. That’s why I love John so much. He just spills it out and gives us confidence that we can make it.
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