Presence and Pressure of the World

Introduction to Major Principles of Christian Living and the Second Principle

0:05 Old Sunday School class was held on May 30, 1982, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:22 In looking over the face of the adult class this morning, we do see the presence of visitors, and we extend a very cordial welcome to you. This is not a preaching session. This is our adult Sunday School class, and we conduct it as a class, in that I am the teacher, and then try to be the catalyst to draw forth from you perspectives on the subject matter in hand from the scriptures. Perhaps just this little word of explanation.

0:54 We do encourage the interaction of the class, but we do ask if you have a contribution to make that you raise your hand and wait to be acknowledged. And any assertions you may make, it's sort of a standing rule. He who asserts must prove. We are not here.

1:10 We are not here to share our ignorance or to pool our own notions, but we are here to help one another in the knowledge of the Word of God written. So if in answer to a question that I raise you feel you have an answer, don't give that answer unless you're prepared, even though you may not be able to give the actual location or a verbatim quote of a verse. Be sure you have some biblical substance, and then we'll work together at finding the location and the precise verse. Now, what we are studying together and have been for just a couple of Lord's Day mornings is a very broad and vital theme which I have entitled Major Principles of Living the Christian Life.

1:54 In other words, we are concerned with discovering from the scriptures those principles, those major factors which must regulate how we live as the people of God. Now, we are not discussing...

2:10 major principles as to how to obtain the Christian life. Our question is not how do I become a Christian, but how am I to live once having become a child of God. And if you are here as one who has yet to stand before God in the nakedness of your own sinfulness and to plead nothing but the mercy of God in Jesus Christ, if you have yet to repent of your sins, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, then your great concern should not be how to live the Christian life, but how to enter upon the Christian life by a sound and biblical conversion. But we are discussing together the subject of major principles of living the Christian life. And the first one we considered together was that there is no one master key to living the Christian life. And when anyone comes to you and says, if only you would understand this key, or that key, or the other key, then you will really be able to live the Christian life in a way hitherto you have not been able to live it. We must not ever entertain such teaching because as you have demonstrated from the many verses which you quoted and which together we collated,

3:34 the scripture is very plain that we need the whole of the word of God in order... in order to know how to please the living God.

3:44 All scripture is given by inspiration of God in his profitable, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Then last Lord's Day morning, we began to consider the second major principle of living the Christian life. Is someone, without looking at his notes, prepared to tell me what that second major principle was? Now, not the first heading under it, but the major principle, but the main principle itself.

4:12 All right, Jerry? All right, there is no freedom, no deliverance, no release, from tension and conflict in living the Christian life as long as we are here in the flesh and in the world. Now, we must understand that because if we do not, we will be vulnerable to teaching which says that we can be released from tension and conflict and can enter some kind of a plateau of Christian experience in which there is no struggle, in which there is no agony, in which there is no smell of the dust and blood of battle. And we began to support that second principle, principle number two, that there is no deliverance or release from tension and conflict in living the Christian life. That's adult class shorthand. And now, we began to consider what factors make this true.

Indwelling Sin as a Source of Tension and Conflict

5:23 And we just had time to touch the first of these factors. What factor, what reality, taught in the Word of God, confirmed in our own experience, makes it plain that there is no release from tension and conflict in living the Christian life? It is the factor of, Ralph, the factor of indwelling sin. And I stated it in what way?

5:50 And I think it's important to keep these words in our consciousness. All right, the incessant, that is, the continuous and powerful activity of indwelling sin. And now, without going back over all of the material we've considered, what are the key passages in the New Testament which point to this incessant and powerful activity of indwelling sin as normal Christian experience? If ever we think about this, what passages ought immediately to come to mind?

6:31 Let's take the two or three major ones that we looked at. All right, Mr. Bischoff? Romans 7, and in particular, what section are we in?

6:41 All right, 21 to 23 would be sort of the harder things, particularly verses 14 through to the end of the chapter 25. 21 to 23, in a sense, being the heart of it. All right, another key passage? Yes, Mrs. Mikowski?

6:56 All right, in Matthew chapter 6, verse 9, and following the framework of the Lord's Prayer. Our Lord assumed that His disciples, as part of the framework of their prayer experience, would always be conscious of this reality. So He taught us to pray for the daily forgiveness of our sins. He taught us to extend forgiveness to the sins of our brothers and sisters who also have indwelling sin.

7:26 And furthermore, He taught us constantly to pray, deliver us from, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, recognizing that as the people of God, indwelling sin would be a constant house devil, as old Rutherford called it, which would betray us. Now, there's one other key passage, and that's why I've left number two here, that must come into consideration. Yes, Brian? All right, Galatians chapter 5, and verse 17.

The Presence and Pressure of the World System

8:00 Now, we could add many other passages, but these are the pivotal ones which clearly teach that there will be no release, retention, and conflict in the Christian life as long as we are in the flesh because of the reality of indwelling sin. All right? Now, let's come to the second factor which makes it true, this principle true, no release from tension and conflict. Here's our second major factor, and it's what I'm going to call the presence and pressure of this world system.

8:40 The presence and pressure of this world system. Now, can you think of some verses which indicate that Christians will experience tension and conflict in living the Christian life because something, we'll not define it yet, but something called in the Bible the world is constantly seeking to pressure them in a direction contrary to the will of God. All right, George? . In the world you shall have tribulation. Be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.

9:33 Now, what aspect of the world's pressure is particularly emphasized in that verse, George? What seems to be the emphasis of that particular section? Is it the world trying to get us squeezed into its mold of thinking, or is it the world opposing us and persecuting us? What seems to be the emphasis in that passage?

10:02 All right? . All right, so the Lord is going to leave, and when He leaves, leaving His disciples in the world, He is going to leave them in a situation in which they're going to have tribulation and affliction. The description is rather general, though if we look back further into this very section in which our Lord spoke these words, He's very explicit that there is actually going to be opposition. Look at chapter 15 and verse 17. These things I command you that you love one another. If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you.

11:01 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. So here, the emphasis seems to fall upon the world as opposing and hating us. Now there's another strong strand of emphasis with regard to the world and a key passage that ought to be introduced.

11:28 Yes, all right, Pete, and then we'll come to Mr. Van Dalen if you don't both have the same verse in mind. All right, okay, same one. Okay, so the both of you have that in mind.

11:40 Romans chapter 12. Let's turn to it together. Verses 1 and 2. Pete, if you will, read them for us, please.

12:16 All right, now do you see the contrast in verse 2? In the life experience of the child of God, what are the contrasting patterns of life that are constantly set before him? According to verse 2, on the one hand, there is a pattern of life fashioned and molded by what? The world, and on the other hand, a pattern of life fashioned and molded by God or by the will of God, that which is the good, the acceptable, and the perfect.

12:51 And you see, implied in all of this is that we will experience, prove, that is, work out in our own experience, put to the test in our own experience, the reality of the will of God only to the extent that we resist the molding, pressuring influence of the world. The world is always, the world is always pulling in a direction that is exactly opposite to the will of God. Not just three degrees left or right of center, but the world is always pulling us in a direction that is the antithesis, the opposite, diametrically opposed to the will of God. Phillips, in his paraphrase, which at some points is very helpful, translates this verse in the following way. Don't let the world squeeze you into its mold. Don't let the world squeeze you into its mold.

Characteristics of the World System: Lust, Eyes, and Pride

13:57 There is the pressure of the presence of the world system. Now, what characterizes that world system? And here we need to do some biblical thinking with regard to this whole matter of the world. Can you think of some verses that describe for us the world system and what characterizes it?

14:22 What are its leading characteristics? All right, Frank? Okay. And where did you get that notion?

14:40 I'll give you a hint. It's in chapter 2. I'll give you a further hint. Start with verse 15.

14:52 Okay? Okay. All right. 1 John 2, 15.

14:58 Okay. Now, read it out loud, please. 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.

15:09 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 is love. But the one who does the will of God abides forever. Now, do you see a parallel contrast here with Romans 12?

15:28 You see what is contrasted? The world is contrasted to doing what? The will of God. You see it in verse 17?

15:37 The world passes away and the lust thereof, but he that does the will of God abides forever. So we bring Romans 12, 2 and this passage together and we see that they color and flavor and support and buttress one another. Don't let the world squeeze you into its mold, but let the world be so transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may experimentally put to the test the will of God. That is the thing that is good, acceptable, and perfect.

16:08 Now, John says, do not love the world, that world's system, which has as it were as its trinity, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, living in order to enjoy things regardless of God's law, regardless of God's glory, regardless of the purpose for which God made us. The world's system is governed by this passion to enjoy things, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the passion to have things, to look upon things and desire them, to look upon things and to acquire them, whether they are needed, whether they can be acquired within a framework of having proper priorities of seeking first the kingdom of God, the priority of the nurture of the soul, the world cares nothing for that. All it says is, I see it, I like it, I want it, I'm going to have it. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and then the vain glory of life, that is, a boastful, proud spirit, whether manifested in terms of just an inward disposition in which a man or a woman regards what he is and what he has as the fruit of his own labors, the fruit of his own industry, or in which someone is actually boastful and proud in an obvious and disgusting way, but that world system John describes

17:35 as being comprised of this trinity of desire, this lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life, and he sets in direct contrast to those things the will of God. The world passes away and the lust thereof. Those who live by the rule of that trinity will pass away with this world system, but he who is doing the will of God, that is, a child of God, a Christian, one who lives by a different set of standards, abides forever. Now then, let's seek to penetrate this thing a bit more deeply.

The Devil as the Power Behind the World System

18:13 We have seen, according to Romans 12, 1 and 2, that there is this contrast and constant pressure of the world and its attempt to move us from the will of God. We have seen in 1 John 2 some dimensions of what the world is in its practical workings, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Now then, let's ask another question. What or who lies behind this world system that is regulated by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life?

18:53 Jeff? John's writing is where the evil ones took them. All right. 1 John 17, verses 14 and 15.

19:12 All right, read them for us, please. I have given them thy word, and the world hated them, because they are not of the world, even if I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldst take them from the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil one. One is an italic system.

19:31 The evil one. And then, over to 1 John chapter 5. All right. 1 John chapter 5.

19:41 Verses 13, no, verses 18 and 19. Okay. And know that whosoever is begotten of God sins not, but he that is begotten of God keeps himself, and the evil one touches him not. We know that we are of God, and the whole world All right, so here we have two clear statements that behind people's desire to live by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is the activity of a personal devil who is in control of this world system.

20:24 Now, can you think of one or two other texts which state this very, very clearly? All right, Charles? Excellent. Ephesians 2 and verse... Pardon?

20:39 All right, read them for us, if you will. Ephesians 2, verses 2 and following. All right. All right, read on. Verse 3.

21:19 All right, now notice very carefully in verse 2 that by walking according to the course of this world, though you have a different word used in the original, the course of this, the age of this world, it's a combination of terms. In so doing, we were walking according to the prince of the powers of the air, that spirit, referring to the devil himself, who is working in the sons of disobedience. So to live according to this world system, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life...

22:00 is to live as a slave of the devil. And can you think of one or two other key texts which make this very, very plain? All right, yes, David?

22:36 All right, so you're saying that by inference, then, there is this tying together of the activity of the devil with this matter of friendship of the world, which is enmity with God. And I would say certainly by inference. That verse fits the framework. But there are one or two other texts which state this explicitly.

22:56 Mr. Dixon? All right, 2 Timothy? All right, 2 Timothy 2.26, in which men who turn from the truth of God are described as those that are taken captive by Satan, by the devil, unto his will. Now, there's another text that directly connects the devil with this world system. All right, Jim? Ah, that's my text.

23:32 All right. 2 Corinthians, chapter 4. That's the one I've been fishing for.

23:39 You fishermen know you don't catch everything with the first cast. Sometimes you pull up seed weeds. Sometimes you pull up a two-pound bass when you're trying to catch a four-pound, but it still makes good meat. Well, that's what happens in a class like this.

23:52 There are verses that I hadn't even considered that are coming forward, and they are all helpful. All right, read it for us, Jim. 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 4. All right, so here,

24:21 It's all the God of this world, or the God of this age. And it obviously is not referring to the one true and living God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for this God is described as the one who blinds people's minds so that they do not perceive the glory of the true and living God, which is reflected in the face of Jesus Christ in the proclamation, of the gospel, so that behind all of this activity of the world is the powerful, subtle, insidious, God-hating activity of the devil himself. Now, we're going to take a separate category of the vicious and constant activity of the devil, and some of these verses we'll carry over, but suffice it to say for now that we must not regard this world system as it is described in these verses, as something neutral, something that's just out there and happens, but there are powerful, spiritual forces at work, and at the head of them is the God of this world, the evil one himself, who seeks to move man to live according to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

25:45 And this world system is constantly seeking to pressure us. Someone, someone has described the world as the world system, or the system of things under the power of evil, or this system of things cut off from fellowship with and submission to the living God, so that as society sets its standards for what is right and wrong, as society sets its goals with respect to what is worthy of God, worthy of a man's ambitions, a woman's ambitions, as society sets its patterns of acceptable behavior, and all of this, we must remember that behind all of that, if there is not the operation of God in common grace, or the application of the word of God with power in the hearts of men by special grace, we have this powerful activity of the devil himself shaping, and molding this world system. Now then, let me ask the question, how does the world seek to squeeze a Christian into its mold?

How the World Exerts Influence: Cares, Riches, and Vain Philosophies

27:04 By what means does the world seek to influence you and me to make us like itself?

27:14 Alright, Brian, and then John?

27:33 Alright, let's turn to that passage.

27:36 Mark chapter four. Most of you will be familiar with the parable. Jesus talked about a sower who went out to sow his seed, and as he did, that good seed fell on four different kinds of soil. Some fell on the wayside, some fell amongst the thorn bushes, some fell on earth that wasn't deep.

27:56 It had a shelf or ledge of rock beneath a very thin layer of topsoil, and some fell upon good soil. Now, as our Lord interprets the significance of that parable, he says that those who have fallen among the thorns are those who, and this is the passage that Brian has referred to, all right? Let's look at it now in Mark chapter 4 and verse 18. And others are they that are sown among the thorns.

28:26 These are they that have heard the word, and the cares of this world, or the cares of this age, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. Now, what can we learn from that passage with regard to the question, how does the world exert its influence upon the spirit of a Christian? Brian?

28:59 All right, that's what it does. It chokes by its pressures, and in what specific ways does the world exert its pressures? It exerts its pressures upon our spirits to choke the word, right? It seeks to preoccupy our minds with the cares of this age.

29:22 Now, anyone living in this age, does he have to have cares?

29:28 Yes. Yes. What are some of those cares? Let's name some of the legitimate cares that every intelligent, Bible-believing, Bible-obeying Christian will have.

29:38 What are some of the cares? Let's take each one, just say one. All right? Jerry?

29:42 All right. If you don't provide for yourself and your family, what does God say of you?

29:48 You're worse than an infidel, you've denied the faith. All right? Another legitimate care.

29:57 Oh, if that's all you have, I'll trade places with you. All right?

30:04 All right? Loving our neighbor, the care or the responsibility of showing concern for others. All right? Mr. McCaffrey?

30:14 All right? The care of our families, training our children. Mr. Waldron?

30:22 All right? A legitimate concern. A good name is to be chosen rather than riches. All right?

30:28 Mr. Williams?

30:33 All right? We're to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and we're to work out what that means precisely in our given situation.

30:43 All right? Jim?

30:49 Such as?

30:53 All right. Okay. Okay. All right.

30:56 Meeting the bills. Oh, no man anything save to love one another. That's a biblical duty. We could just list any number of them.

31:02 See, some of you are young. You don't think of this. But some of us who wake up with a new crink or pain or crick every day just trying to keep this old machine working. These bodies that are decaying.

31:15 The outward man is perishing. And we are to care for our bodies. Well, these cares of this age, things pertaining to this life as it now is, are legitimate things. But then those legitimate things in themselves can get so out of proportion to other realities.

31:34 That the best meditation and preaching and Christian influences, the best distillation of divine seed upon the human heart can virtually come to naught because it chokes the word. The cares of this life and the lust or the desires of other things entering in inordinate desire. You see, so often our problem is not that the thing we desire is in itself illegitimate and sinful. It's that the level of that desire goes beyond the ordinate.

32:09 Beyond the legitimate. Or what we are willing to do in order to fulfill that desire goes beyond the level of that which God says, let all things be done with moderation. Temperance, self-control is to mark the expression and fulfillment of all of our God-given appetites. And so the world then.

32:34 Will influence us in this way. All right. What's another way the world exerts its influence upon Christians? All right, Ron.

32:41 All right. Colossians 2.8. Turn to the passage and then if you will, Ron, read it for us.

33:10 All right. So here's the possibility of worldliness influencing us by means of what?

33:21 All right. Vain philosophies and deceits. Put that in plain, ordinary, 20th century North Jersey Americanese. What does that mean to you, Ron Carreon?

33:34 Right? Any kind of teaching? Does it necessarily need to be religious teaching? No.

33:50 Any expression of what is supposed to be reality that does not derive from the word of God and does not square with this book. God calls it emptiness. God calls it vanity. And God says it is an infallibility.

34:11 It is the influence of the world. Now, if we believe that, what practical implications will that have for us as Christians who really are determined that we will not be squeezed into the mold of the world? What practical implications will that have? All right.

Guarding the Inlets to the Soul: Eyes and Ears

34:45 And we'll be very, very careful to guide all of the inlets to the mind and to the soul. What are the inlets to the mind? The mind and the soul.

34:56 Basically, you have two of them.

35:00 Hands. Hands. Basically, we have two of them. All right?

35:03 Eyes and ears. Eyes and ears. The great inlets to the soul. Be careful, little eyes, what you see.

35:13 Didn't we sing that as kids in Sunday school? Didn't we? Be careful, little ears, what you hear. Didn't we sing that?

35:19 I did. There's a father up above looking down at you in love. Be careful, little eyes. Be careful, little.

35:26 Ears. The great inlets to the soul are the eyes and the ears. Now we're going to leave teaching and go to meddling. You see where we're going?

35:37 Is there much of the world pouring out its perspectives to people's eyes and ears in the end of the 20th century in highly technological America? Hmm?

35:58 Driving to church last Sunday. There's a little fella out jogging. What's he got over his head? He's got a little portable radio.

36:07 His ears. He can't even go out and exercise without having the world probably either screeching its information, its advice, or its empty religion, or its foul music into his ears. And what has greatly aided, what things have greatly aided the attack upon the soul through the eye gate?

36:29 Television? What else? Movies? What else?

36:34 Magazines? The tremendous, the tremendous increase of the attack upon the soul through the eye gate with modern printing techniques and modern printing technology and the television. Now think of it. All of these things innocent in themselves, things that have been great means even to advance the gospel.

36:58 But these instruments by and large are under. Who's control in their actual expression and usage?

37:09 The God of this world. The God of this world has them under his control. And whether very overtly or covertly, blatantly or subtly, in this constant bombardment of the soul through the eye gate and the ear gate, the child of God will be under constant tension. And conflict if he is determined that he will not allow his soul to become unnecessarily vulnerable to the molding influence of the world by a careful guarding of the eyes and of the ears.

37:51 Now can you think of any verses in which you find people in the Bible determined to guide these, guard these inlets to the soul?

38:03 All right? Ray? Ray? Job said, I have made a covenant with mine eyes that I should not look upon a maiden.

38:18 Can someone remember where that's found exactly? I have forgotten the precise reference.

38:25 Someone have it? All right. Let's not get distracted while we find it. I know it's there.

38:30 All right. Yes, Jeff? All right. 31.1.

38:34 Job 31 and verse 1. The book of Job, for some of you newer Christians, is before the book of Psalms. After all of Kings and Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther, Job 31 and verse 1, I made a covenant with mine eyes, how then should I look upon a virgin? Here is a man who solemnly entered into a covenant with his eyes that they should not be the unnecessary inlet of sin to his soul.

39:10 And if Job needed to do this. When the only way he could look upon a maiden in a way that would produce lust was actually to see a maiden, how much more in our day where the whole advertising industry is geared everything from selling shoelaces to radial tires to appeal to the lust of the flesh and to have sin. All right. Well, often, you cannotиться all that is necessary to produce the greatest of you, nothing more that you actually expect of those who love yourself, and can get away with it. Do you know when you would receive such an extraordinary surprise? You glasses are the only way.

40:06 Oh, come on. So what we do not have is, we take our personal time. Approch every time. If you, however, women, men, or poor women out there are doing something, we take your time.

40:12 And if you turn off your Egyptians to the most heinous of된 things when you get women, come No. Let us go the other way. It's no mystery. The only way that you're going to see one of those women before you as a virgin is to fruits,村.

40:14 begin to get weary of that conflict and begin to slack off on the covenant and say, oh, well, that's innocent. That won't hurt. My friend, listen to me. You've already begun to succumb to the spirit of the world. When you cease to be shocked, you cease to be horrified, and you cease to act decisively in determining that these eyes will not be the inlets of the world to your soul.

40:41 The minute you begin in our particular situation to just back off and say, well, I don't need to be that careful, I can go ahead and take a popular news magazine like Newsweek or Time, and I'm mature and adult enough to look through it and read through it without any censorship from my wife or someone else who can take out the borderline pornography and all the rest. When you get that sophisticated, you're under the power of the world, and it's high time some of you faced up to it. You're altogether too sophisticated to grow in grace. The world is choking the life out of your soul.

41:23 And if you can watch Dallas and similar sitcoms, and you can watch even the so-called innocent question-and-answer programs where there's constant double innuendo and talk shows. I've long since given up thinking there's anything that's innocent in those things. The world is screaming and clutching and scratching at the souls of men.

41:52 God have mercy on us if we're not aware of it. Because if we just sit back passively, the world will do all its filthy, foul, destructive work, and it isn't going to have any compunctions of conscience about it.

42:14 And I trust that some of you say, ah, there he goes, off on his... My friend, why should I have a hobby horse? What have I got to gain?

42:21 I'm pleading with you to cry to God for the sensitizing of your conscience.

42:30 The world is determined to squeeze you into its mold, and that's why there's no release from tension and conflict all of your days. When the world lies down and more than plays dead, puts a .38 to its head and shoots itself, then we can relax. But until it does, there's no relaxing.

42:54 One of the great points that John Owen made was this. He said, when you're in the presence of a mortal enemy who's out to kill you, as long as you look him straight in the eye and know what the terms of your relationship are, you're safe.

43:07 You know, back in the days of the Old West, when the two guys were coming for a shootout, all right, they watched each other's eyes as they come strolling down, or streaked together. Each one's watching the other guy's eyes, and he's watching his gun hand. Now, as long as they stare at each other straight in the eye and watch for the slightest twitch of the gun hand, they're safe. But the minute they look off to admire the new saloon, they've had it.

43:34 Well, Owen makes the point, though he doesn't use the analogy of two gunslingers in the Old West, obviously. He makes the analogy, as long as you're looking your spiritual enemies straight in the eye and saying of those enemies, he says, you are my mortal enemy, you are out to kill me, but in the name of Jesus Christ, I'm out to kill you. He said, you're in the place of safety. But the minute you begin to look upon your enemy as just an innocent bystander, or just as an innocent passerby, then you are in terrible danger of being slain by your enemy, because the world is active, restless, and determined, to squeeze you into its mold, and if it does, we're back now to the doctrine of perseverance, according to 1 John chapter 2, you'll go to hell.

44:29 The world passes away, and the lust thereof, but only he who does the will of God abides forever, does the will of God how? In the midst of that terrible pressure of the world to squeeze us into its mold. But we overcome through the strength and power of Jesus Christ, but working by the means which he has ordained, constant watchfulness, so we must guard the eye gate, all right, any other verses that indicate this, or the ear gate, the other inlets of the soul. Yes, Louise?

45:04 All right, so here we have a figure of speech, he didn't lift up his physical eyes, but his spiritual eyes, were ever looking toward the Lord, so cultivating the spirit of dependence upon the Lord, all right, yes, George?

45:36 We've got to exercise the strength, this discipline, Matthew chapter 5, if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, cast it from thee, better for thee to enter into life, main than having two eyes to be cast into hell, where the worm dieth not, and the fire is never quenched. Also with the ears, I've been memorizing some very interesting verses in Proverbs, he that goeth about as a tail bearer revealeth secrets, therefore, company not with him that openeth wide his lips, that's a command, you get around people that gossip, by listening to their gossip you sin, and God says the way you avoid the sin is, break off your company with them. What would happen in a church, where someone's wrestling with a gossiping tongue, if every believer began to cut off all unnecessary social intercourse with that person? Huh? I was thinking of that the other day, meditating on that verse. Here's someone that maybe been praying for years, Lord, I've got a gossiping tongue, give me victory over my gossiping tongue.

46:39 And every believer took that verse seriously. He that goeth about as a tail bearer revealeth secrets, therefore, company not with him that openeth wide his lips. And one after another, this man or this woman's personal closer friends begin to say, I'm sorry, apart from saying hello and goodbye to you at church, I can't spend any time with you on the telephone, social, why not? Because you're a tail bearer, and God says, I can't do it.

47:02 God says, I can't keep company with you because worldliness enters my soul by the ear gate when I'm with you. And the person may go off and hop and say, who do you think you are, holier than I am? Lo and behold, the next week, another person, another person, another person, another, until they stand in a little island and begin to get the message. Might be the very means God would use to bring them to the place where they face their sin honestly.

47:31 You say, that's cruel. No, that's what the Bible says. I didn't write it. Company not with him who opens wide his lips.

47:39 It is sinful. For you to have unnecessary social contact with someone who is a tail bearer because you're opening your soul to the influence of sin. You see, that's the way the world operates. The world thinks nothing about breaking trust and breaking confidences and passing on rumor.

47:59 That's the world standard. And therefore, gossip is a manifestation of worldliness. And we must guard the ear gate. So we have this constant.

Overcoming the World Through Faith and Watchfulness

48:09 Constant battle then with the world, the pressure, the presence of this world system that will be with us while under the control of the devil, working by means of stirring up inordinate desires to enjoy things, to have things, to be somebody. And if we are to make progress in the Christian life, we must know what it is to be overcomers. Now, can you think of a verse that gives us great encouragement with respect? To being overcomers in this matter of the world.

48:44 A key passage.

48:50 All right? Jim?

48:57 Let's put that a secondary text. But that says what Jesus has done. I want one that says what I can do. I have no question that he overcame it.

49:07 Now, my question is, do I have any assurance that I can overcome?

49:15 All right? Yes. Gordon? Pardon?

49:20 Verse John 5 what? Verse 4. Read it for us, Gordon.

49:32 All right. First John 5, 4. For whatsoever is begotten of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that hath overcome the world, even our faith.

49:46 So you see, there's no way that you're going to begin to be an overcomer unless you are begotten of God. Unless you have been put into the way of overcoming by the divine begetting and have been furnished. With those dynamics, if I may use that term, to overcome the world. Those who are the slaves and dupes of this world and of the God of this world cannot overcome it.

50:15 But those who have been begotten of God are enabled to overcome the world. And in the divine begetting, they have been made men and women of faith. Those who are united to Christ. Those who look to Christ.

50:29 Those who draw from Christ. The necessary strength to discern the world in its subtle overtures. To discern the pressures of the world upon the mind and upon the spirit and upon the lifestyle. And then, in the strength of Christ, they are enabled in the language of Romans 12 to do the good, the acceptable, and the perfect will of God.

Subtlety of Worldliness and Necessary vs. Unnecessary Contact

50:56 So we come around full circle to where we began. Our second great principle of the Christian life. There is no release from tension and conflict in the Christian life. Reason number one is the reality, the incessance, the powerful activity of indwelling sin.

51:13 Reason number two, the presence and pressure of this world's system. And you know, worldliness, dear fellow believers, is a terribly subtle thing. So subtle. And that's why we must constantly cry to God to keep us.

51:32 Sensitive. And constantly, according to Psalm 1, do not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers. Any unnecessary contact which you have with worldlings will almost inevitably dull your spiritual sensitivities. Now, there are necessary contacts that we have with worldlings.

52:00 Paul speaks of that in 1 Corinthians 5. He said, When I told you not to keep company with fornicators, etc. He said, I didn't mean the fornicators of this world. Us, else must you needs go out of this world.

52:10 There are certain contacts with the world which are laid upon us by necessity in terms of where God has put us, in our neighborhoods, in our work. Certain contacts out of the necessity. Contacts out of the necessity of evangelism. Jesus was the friend of publicans and sinners.

52:26 So I'm not talking about contacts which grow out of necessity. But I'm talking about contacts and exposure that grow out of a dulled conscience and a subtle affinity for the world. And we must cry to God to make us sensitive to all of the subtle overtures of worldliness. And certainly they abound on every hand in our own society in ways that perhaps are unprecedented for people who profess the Christian faith.

53:07 Yes, Pastor Nichols.

53:13 Yes, we are.

54:17 That you do not run.

54:35 Yes. Very good point.

54:41 Yes. Yes, fear. If you don't go along with us. At every level.

54:45 In the high school, don't go along with us. You'll be on the outside. In the job. You don't come to our cocktail parties.

54:51 You may not make your way up the ladder. I thank God. I had a. I had a father who said, take your ladder and throw it in the ocean.

55:00 That's right. They had their executive parties and my father refused to attend them because he says the booze is the central drawing figure and if that means I'm dead-ended business-wise, so be it. And I thank God for that heritage. And he had ten hungry mouths to feed.

55:20 And he was willing to entrust his role as a provider for those mouths to the path of righteousness. He wouldn't be bullied into becoming. Worldly for the sake of advancement.

55:33 I thank God. I've seen that. And that's my heritage. If some of you wonder why I've got right angles on things, it's been bred into me.

55:41 And I bless God for it. Now, am I saying that any businessman who attends an executive party where there's drinking is sinning? No, I am saying nothing of the kind. But I'm saying some of you may be selling your soul in doing it.

55:57 And you better face the possibility. I'm not saying. I can't legislate. That's legalism to legislate where God doesn't.

56:04 But as Pastor Nichols said, that pressure of fear. Fear at the business level, at the social level. I mean, what will all the kids think if I say, No, I will not go to that social event that everyone in the school is going to because I know that the drawing card of that social event is ultimately what happens after it's precipitated in a setting of innocence. And the booze.

56:31 And the drugs. And the illicit sex. And I want to protest my hatred of the whole shoot and match by staying clear of it. Now, what we did on the night of the senior prom, we stood outside the gymnasium where they came out and passed out tracks.

56:48 That's right.

56:52 Fanaticism. Well, you call it what you want. It's wonderful to look back and have a clear conscience about it. And to see those people 30 years after the fact and looking straight in the eye and know that their consciences smite them.

57:07 Because they identify me with that group of people who carried their Bibles to school and walked differently and passed out tracks even at the close of the senior prom while everyone else got into their cars to go into New York and get drunk. And girls lost their virginity and all the rest that happened. But that fear is there. Constantly.

57:31 Fear. Intimidation. It's a very vital point. I'm glad Pastor Nichols made that.

57:37 And I've been able to bend the nail over a little bit only because he's not up here and can't be heard as well. I'm sure he could have bent it over for us. Well, our time is gone, so we're going to have to stop. God willing, we'll pick up next week.

Concluding Prayer and Call to Stand for Righteousness

57:50 Factor number three that means no release from tension and conflict in the Christian life. Let's pray together.

58:05 Our Father, we have been vividly reminded again from your word that being a Christian is a serious thing. We acknowledge that we are no match for this world system under the control of the Prince of Darkness with all of his subtlety, with all of his success, with all of his case histories of the varying people whom he has seduced and dragged into that vortex from which there is no return. Oh, how we pray that by your grace we may be kept from being squeezed into this world's mold. Lord, make us a body of Christians whose thinking at every point is diametrically opposed to that of the world because we think according to the scriptures. Make our lifestyle to be such that the world may know that we are yours. And on the one hand, that they may marvel at our love and our compassion and our sensitivity and our concern. But on the other hand, even when it means we provoke them to anger, that we may be so prepared to stand for righteousness and rebuke ungodliness, that we may be a marvel to them.

59:26 Lord, bless your word that we've studied together, write it upon our hearts by the power of the Spirit. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.