Worldliness

Introduction and Conference Theme

0:01 This sermon was preached on Tuesday evening, October 17th, 1989, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. In looking out upon the congregation, I see again tonight visitors from some of our sister churches, and it is a special delight to have you with us, especially some of you who were members at one time of this assembly and have now become what we'd like to affectionately call our holy transplants. And the Lord has providentially transplanted into fellowships where the truths we hold dear are loved and proclaimed and lived out by the people of God. And particularly for your sake and any others who may not be fully aware of the theme that has run through the conference this year, and that by design. Let's begin. Let me say just a word about that theme and how the subject we shall examine tonight relates to it. The general theme of this year's conference is the Christian and the world.

1:12 And for four of our morning sessions, Pastor Waldron has been addressing the matter of how a Christian is to relate to the structure of worldly authority, particularly the... ...civil government.

1:30 God willing, tomorrow for our two sessions, Pastor Nichols will speak on the subject of common grace, and we could describe it as God's goodness to a fallen world, that though it does not result in the eternal salvation of those to whom it comes, is a marvelous benefit in restraining evil and conferring many good things upon men who, though they lie under the wrath of God, yet are the recipients of his gracious gifts. And then the two final messages on Thursday morning will deal with the Christian's witness to the world, as Pastor McDiarmid speaks to us. And then the concluding address by Pastor Pizzino, God's overtures of mercy to the world, as he speaks on Christ's gracious invitation to worldlings, laboring under the horrible weight of their sin. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And as we were prayerfully planning the theme of the conference and the various aspects of that theme that should be addressed, my brethren felt that I should address in one of these evening sessions the subject of worldliness. And the moment one mentions the word,

2:57 the word worldliness, one can only imagine the various images that come before the minds of his hearers. For some, the word worldliness immediately conjures up the picture of a modern Jezebel, a woman who must have very strong posterior neck muscles to hold up a face laden with paint and with all forms of attempts. To somehow either recapture her lost youth, for it seems that often worldly women, in direct proportion to the loss of their youthfulness, try to somehow hold back the encroachments of time as it makes its marks with ever-increasing tracks of crow's feet and lines upon the face. And so there are forms of makeup to fill up the holes and obliterate the cracks and draw away the attention from the sagging face tissue. And for some, worldliness immediately conjures up the image of a painted Jezebel, perhaps wearing a dress two sizes too small and seeking to give de facto lessons in female anatomy with every step that she takes.

Defining 'The World': Cosmos

4:21 For others, the word worldliness immediately brings into focus certain forms of makeup that are not necessarily the same as the ones that are used in the Bible. And so there are forms of makeup that immediately conjure up the image of a painted Jezebel, forms of entertainment, what some would call moving picture shows. And for others, matters of external patterns of behavior immediately come to mind with the word worldliness. And as I wrestled before God with this subject, I thought that one of the most difficult things was going to be to make an attempt to somehow clear the deck of our minds of all of those images that we have.

4:56 All of those images which may or may not have anything whatsoever to do with worldliness when contemplated from a biblical perspective. And so what I must attempt to do tonight is first of all to set before you from the word of God a definition of worldliness. And then having done that, I will attempt to address the subject under these headings, our native attachment to the world, our gracious deliverance from the world, and our present danger in the midst of the world. First of all then, a definition of worldliness. And coming up with any biblical definition of worldliness is impossible unless we understand that when the term the world, which is the biblical term that is used, not worldliness, but the world, when it appears before us in the scriptures in the sense in which I am to address it tonight, we must understand that two basic words are used in the original when making reference to that which we mean when we speak of worldliness

6:23 as the characteristic of those who are living according to the standards of the world. And those two words are cosmos and ion. Now the word cosmos is a word that has many legitimate and broad usages in the New Testament. But when we find it in a passage such as 1 John 2, verses 15 and following, perhaps one of the most well-known texts on the subject of worldliness, it is being used in the orbit of our concern tonight.

7:08 1 John 2, 15. 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. Now obviously, though it is the same Greek word for God so loved the world, when we are commanded not to love the world, it has an entirely different significance.

7:43 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. And when the word cosmos is used in this sense, it is referring to the whole present order of men and things and everything belonging to that order as that which is at enmity with God, that which is lost in sin, wholly at odds with anything divine, anything that is pleasing to God. 1 John 2, 15. It is referring to the whole present order of men and things in a state of alienation from God. As such, the world, the cosmos, is ruled by the prince of the world, the devil himself. Turn please to John chapter 12. John chapter 12.

8:55 And verse 31. Speaking of his soon coming death, our Lord Jesus says in John 12, 31, Now is the judgment of this world. That is the whole order of things in alienation from and in opposition to God. Now is the judgment of this world.

9:25 You see, the same act which was the world's salvation was the world's judgment. Speaking obviously of two different worlds. Now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this world be cast out.

9:48 Well, what world has a prince who is cast out in the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus? It is that whole order of men and things in opposition to and in alienation from God. It is that world over which the prince of darkness rules the devil himself. You find a similar reference in John 16 and in verse 11 where our Lord is speaking of the coming of the Holy Spirit and, and his influence in coming.

10:29 He says he will reprove the world of judgment, verse 11, because the prince of this world hath been judged. As such, this cosmos, this world, this whole present order of men and things in alienation from and in hostility to God not only is ruled by the prince, the prince of this world, but John uses an even more graphic image when he says in 1 John 5 and verse 19, 1 John, the first epistle of John, chapter 5 and verse 19, we know that we are of God and the whole world lieth in the evil one. It speaks of this whole cosmos, this whole order of men and things in alienation from and in opposition to God as lying in the lap of the evil one. And because this is so, it can be described as the world, the cosmos, marked by utter Stygian spiritual darkness. Ephesians,

11:57 6 and verse 12. In this passage in which we are apprised of the reality and nature of our spiritual warfare, we read, for our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual host of wickedness in the heavenly places. And so our wrestling, our opposition, has to do with a cosmos that is marked by darkness. So we may say in summary that where the word world is used in the kind of warnings that we find in 1 John 2, 15, where it is used to express, as we read in John 17, that outwardly, out of which all of the true people of God have been delivered, it is referring to that whole present order of men and things which is alienated from God and in a state of enmity to God. But then there is a second word, the word I own.

Defining 'The World': Aion

13:24 And the Ephesians 6, 12 passage, I am sorry, should not have been used, the word I own is there. My eye dropped down to my notes under I own. Now the word I own literally means a segment of time or an age. We find the phrase in the Bible again and again, this age and the age to come.

13:47 That's the I own, this I own, and the I own to come. But when it is used in conjunction with our subject worldly, it refers to this present age in contrast to the age to come, this present age in its present characteristics with reference to sin, evil, and the devil. This is why we are told in Romans 12, 2 that believers are not to be conformed to this, this age, but to be transformed by the renewing of their minds. The characteristic of this I own, this age, is that it is an evil age. Galatians 1 and verse 4, a passage we shall have occasion to come to again later on in our exposition tonight. Referring to our Lord Jesus, the apostle writes, who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us out of this present evil age.

15:07 This present age, and there are only two ages, this age and that which is to come. This present age is one that is characterized by evil, so much so that it can be used, the word evil, as a dominant, descriptive adjective. As we say it was a sunny day, we mean that the primary characteristic of the day was the brightness of the sun that shone. So when this age is called the evil age, the word evil is used as a dominant, descriptive adjective. Evil is that which predominates in this, I own, this, this age. Furthermore, it is an age ruled by the devil under the rule of God. Hence, in 2 Corinthians 4, in verse 4, the great apostle who affirms again and again the absolute, all-pervasive sovereignty of God, of him, through him, unto him are all things to whom be glory forever, and unto him be glory forever.

16:29 Romans 11, 36. The God who works all things after the counsel of his will, Ephesians 1, 11. Yet that same apostle is not ashamed to set forth this stark realism of 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 4, back up to verse 3. And if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in them that perish, in whom the God of God, of this world, this I own, this age, hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God should not dawn upon them.

17:13 He is called the God of this present age. And because it is an evil age, and because the devil is its God, it is indeed in, a state of spiritual darkness. And the word I own is used there in Ephesians 6 and verse 12. Now in summary then, we may say that when the word world is used in warnings, when it is used with reference to that out of which the people of God have been delivered, when it is spoken of as that which comes under the judgment of the Lord, which comes under the judgment which comes under the judgment which comes under the judgment which comes under the judgment of God, it is referring, whether the word cosmos or I own are used, to man and his institutions, his surroundings, his standards, his goals, his principles of thought and action, as penetrated and controlled by malignant, devilish, moral, moral, moral, moral, forces.

Conjunction of Cosmos and Aion

18:33 That's the world. That's the cosmos that we are not to love. That is the I own over which Satan stands as God. Man and his institutions, surroundings, standards, goals, and principles of thought and action as penetrated and controlled by malignant, devilish, moral forces.

19:12 And it's very, very interesting that there is one place in the New Testament where there is a conjunction of the two words, cosmos and I own. And I want you to turn to that passage as we conclude this aspect of seeking to get some kind of a biblical, and yet working definition and concept of what the Bible means when it speaks of the world in this way. In Ephesians chapter 2, we read in verse 1,

19:49 You did he make alive when you were dead through your trespasses and sins, wherein you once walked according, now here is the phrase, according to, and if you have the old 1901, you'll see in the mark, according to the course or the age of this world. What you have is I own not to cause me according to the age of this world.

20:25 And the two words are brought together and then notice what follows right on the heels. According to the prince of the powers of the air, of the spirit who now, and this Greek verb is exactly the same verb as we have in Philippians 2, God worketh in you the spirit who now worketh in the sons of disobedience. And how does our walking by nature according to the I own of this cosmos, according to the prince of the power of the air, that spirit who energetically and actively and imminently works in the sons of disobedience, how does that manifest itself? Verse 3, among whom we also once lived life with its standards, life with its motives, with its goals, life with its perspectives and value systems, we once lived, lived in the lust of our flesh doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature children of wrath even as the rest.

21:54 And here those various lines of thought are brought together and though I would claim no inspiration for this working definition, I believe in substance it fits and you could substitute it in the language of this text. What is then the world? That world which we are not to love. That world out of which we are delivered by redemptive grace.

22:24 It is that world of man and his institutions, surroundings, standards, goals and principles of thought and action. Notice lust of the mind and of the flesh thought and action as penetrated and controlled by malignant devilish moral forces, the spirit who works in the sons of disobedience.

Our Native Attachment to the World

22:59 Now that I said before you as a definition or a working description of the world. Now, having done that and that was essential, as Albert Barnes said, as he who would expound the word must do so not under the impulse of a vivid imagination but under the discipline of mind prepared to give a reason for the meaning one attaches to biblical words and to convince the judgment of his hearers that those reasons are correct and that those judgments are correct. Well then, let us consider first of all then with this definition as our working tool, our native attachment to the world. There's one thing I can say of every person in this building including the preacher. Every single one of us was born and lived by nature as a worldling. We lived in perfect rapport with the institutions surrounding standards, goals, principles of thought and action as penetrated and controlled by the by malignant devilish moral forces. We were all of us by nature worldlings for in the passages already read in your hearing we are told the whole world

24:28 lies in the evil one among whom Paul says in the text we've looked at in Ephesians 2 we all once lived and when Jesus is praying for his own he says that they are those whom he has taken out of the world but they were once in it up to their ears. The world was their native environment. The world was their native habitat. The world was their native atmosphere.

25:06 They ate it. They breathed it. They thought it. They lived with it.

25:11 They slept with it. The world was their orbit of existence and in that condition according to 2 Corinthians chapter 4 there was an active blinding power of the devil upon our minds according to Ephesians 2 there was an active energizing of our baser lust and passions by the devil we were the disinherited sons of God who had cast in our allegiance with the prince of this world with the God of this world we were of our father the devil. Now that's not very flattering. According to Dr. Schuller that is the worst way to make a convert to Christianity to tell a man that he is a worldling by nature and that to be a worldling means that regardless of how innocent he or she may appear in his or her outward demeanor and regardless of how much common grace operating through an awakened conscience through godly parental restraint and a host of other factors may make that person very upright and respectable and honored in his or her community to tell such people that they are enmeshed in this

26:41 cosmos of this present age that is an evil age and that they themselves are evil that it is an age which lies in the wicked one and they indeed lie in the lap of the wicked one no humanly speaking that is not a way to make converts to Christianity if your Christianity is simply a self-help scheme a psychological manipulation of men but if your Christianity is biblical Christianity Christianity that announces thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins then the kindest thing you can do to any man is tell him honestly how bad he is by nature and what a mighty and glorious Savior Christ is and what he can become by grace and so all of us by nature are worldlings we are natively attached to the world as much as you after conception were nourished in your mother's womb by an umbilical cord that attached you to that internal life support system within her body so we were born with an

Initial Deliverance from the World

28:10 umbilical cord that tied us to the world system it was the womb of our existence but now let me address secondly and this is where the heart of our meditation will lie tonight our gracious deliverance from the world and I want to break down this heading into the initial deliverance the continual deliverance and the perfected or the consummate deliverance now hear me very carefully as I take up the first sub heading our gracious deliverance from the world initially in every true work of grace in the heart of a sinner there is without option a radical a fundamental a real deliverance from attachment to the world and to a fundamental pattern of worldliness now let me repeat the statement I will I've written out the words and I've chosen them carefully and deliberately in every true work of grace in the heart of a sinner there is a radical fundamental

29:36 and real deliverance from attachment to the world as a and a pattern of worldliness in other words the umbilical cord that ties us to the womb of our native worldliness is cut when we are born into the kingdom of God and if your whole life support system is still one in which that which flows from the womb of the world determines who and what you are I care not how much you know about Christ how much you can speak about Christ how often you are found among the people of Christ you are a worldling you are in a state of wrath and of condemnation for in every every true work of grace in the heart of a sinner there is a radical fundamental and real deliverance from attachment to the world and a pattern of worldliness now as the men in the academy hear me often say he who asserts must prove and he who asserts most loudly and boldly must prove most convincingly now why is this so why am I so bold to be so

31:05 dogmatic on the issue well let me give you two very simple reasons number one because Christ died with the intention of cutting the umbilical cord between the saved sinner in the world turn to Galatians chapter one Christ died with this very intention in view Galatians one verse three grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins the whole doctrine of substitutionary penal satisfaction and who gave himself for our sins and then a Hina clause of purpose in order that he might deliver us from hell in the day of judgment according to the will of the Father now if Paul had written that that would be good sound theology it would be true because in another place first Thessalonians chapter one Paul says that you turn to God from your idols to serve the living and the true God and to

32:34 wait for his son from heaven even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come it is not wrong to contemplate the Lord Jesus who in dying for our sins has delivered us from the coming wrath don't ever talk as though that's a little part of our salvation were we to meditate more upon the day of judgment and envision ourselves standing before that brilliant throne from which heaven and earth flee away and if we were to hear the sentence in our ears of the mind as it ought to come forth towards us in terms of what we are by nature and think of the horrors of being cast into outer darkness where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth and where they have no rest day nor night and the smoke of their torment descends up forever and forever I say we would have both a greater appreciation for our salvation and a greater burden for the lost but our text does not point us there our text says this who gave himself for our sins in order

34:03 that he might deliver us present evil world according to the will of our God and Father as we saw last night our Lord procures no other salvation than that which is purposed in the counsels of eternity what the Father purposes the Son purchases and here we are told that it was the will of our God and Father that in giving himself for our sins he might deliver us out of this present evil world all that surrounds the shame of his nakedness all that surrounds the beating the bruising the mockery the shrouded heavens the cry of terror he shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied why because he gave himself for the sins of a people whom he determined in the application of that salvation would be wrenched out of this present evil world the umbilical cord would be cut when in the dynamics of redemptive grace elect sinners

Efficacious Application by the Spirit

35:32 would be brought into the kingdom of God and into the possession of the forgiveness of their sins that's why I'm bold to assert that in every true work of grace in the heart of a sinner there is a radical fundamental real deliverance from attachment to the world and a pattern of worldliness why because Christ died with this intention in view and secondly because the spirit makes that intention efficacious in the application of the saving virtue of Christ turn to Galatians 6 because the spirit makes that intention efficacious in the application of the virtue of the death of Christ without going into the context of the entire epistle to the Galatians part of the text that I wish to highlight stands on its own feet without any reference to either the overall or the immediate context suffice it to say the Judaizers were boasting in the external forms and rituals and making converts to a visit to the rabbi and to subsequent adherence to the trappings of Jewish ceremonies but Paul says in verse 14 of chapter 6 but far be it from

37:01 me to glory or to boast save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ through which I have obtained the forgiveness of my sins and the hope of everlasting life now that would have been true and in other places Paul says that but that's not what he says here look at his language God forbid far be it from me to boast save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ not the piece of wood on which he died but the redemption effected upon that piece of wood far be it from me to boast save in the death of Jesus Christ but what has happened the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world what does he say remember our definition of the world what is the world what is this thing called the world it is man and it is institutions religious included his surroundings religious included his standards religious included goals and principles of thought and action religious included how can a man get

38:31 right with God the world has its standards principles of thought and action it is all of that is penetrated and controlled by malignant devilish moral forces and Paul says when I was brought into a saving appropriation of the virtue of the death of Christ the world was crucified to me in other words that cosmos under the control of the devil with men's devilish thoughts of how to be right with God with men's devilish thoughts of how to find acceptance with God with men's devilish standards of how to please one another that world system became to me as attractive as virtuous as desirable attendant as a Roman felon hung across with his dead bloated body having its flesh plucked off by the buzzards that swirled around and its head and its sunken eyes he said the cross of Christ made the world

40:00 as desirable and attractive a companion to me as an ugly dead stinking bloating body hanging on a cross with the vultures and the buzzards plucking its flesh you say alright Pastor Martin is enough enough I had supper two hours ago I don't want to puke God have mercy if I got a little more graphic some of you might puke up your supper but you've never puked up the world the world to you is still a handsome striking fellow his slightest glance makes your heart beat and go pitter patter a stroke of its hand makes you glow for a day you'll sell your soul to hell forever to have his smile the world man and his institution surrounding standards goals his principles of thought and action his approval his acceptance his standards of what is virtuous in speech in dress in music in entertainment in diversions you would never dare do anything that would cause the world to frown he's so

41:29 handsome to you he's such a desirable companion you will curry to his every whim you will jump to his every wish just a glance at his eye and you're at his feet why because you're still of the world and under the power of the prince of this world and the cross of christ has never been efficaciously applied to your heart by the holy ghost no sinner received witness of sin rooted in the virtue of the cross of christ who did not have the world crucified to him in the virtue of that same cross from higher dimension of experience because my bible says have crucified the flesh with the affections and the lusts thereof he said the world is as attractive to me as a cadaver hanging on a cross but he says you know something coming into the virtue of the saving work of christ something happened that is the obverse of that

The World Crucified to the Believer

42:58 look at it by which the world is crucified unto me and i unto the world now before paul came to a spirit wrought understanding of who jesus of nazareth was and the significance of his cross he was the darling of a whole segment of judaism he was their fair haired boy he was their rising star on the horizon of the triumphs of pharisaic judaism he said he outstripped all of his peers in zeal he was gamaliel's fair haired boy his prize pupil and it was particularly the jewish world with all of its jewish nationalism and its jewish pride and its jewish arrogance and in that context paul was a worldling not one who abandoned himself to the standards of the lecherous men of this world and to the cheating men of this world no he said touching the external standards of the law i was utterly blameless but he was nonetheless of this world and he said when my eyes were open to behold the glory of god in the face of christ

44:26 and i came to understand the identity of this person who are thou adonai i am jesus whom thou persecutest lord what wilt thou have me to do if jesus is god and he has arrested me in grace then i've been a fool and if he has arrested me instead of summon me to judgment and damned me here lord i give myself away it is all that i can do and when he came to an understanding of the identity of jesus and an understanding of the significance of the cross of christ not only did the world become crucified to him but he says he became crucified to the world what's that mean he said well just as i looked upon the world particularly that religious world and that was the issue in the epistle to the galatians if i should yet please men i should not be the bond slave of christ he says in the first chapter he said when i became when the world became crucified to me he said there was a precise parallel in the world's estimation of me when i began to acknowledge that in spite of all of my pharisaic perfection touching the law blameless that when i saw my heart romans 7 1 to 12 i saw a seething cauldron of all forms of evil desire and impulse

45:55 and i saw myself a wretched hell deserving violent sin of sin and error and when that estimation was made of myself and i cast all the weight of my guilt and my sinfulness and my bondage upon jesus of nazareth as crucified and i found forgiveness and life in him and i declare boldly in the synagogue of my hometown that he is son of god and messiah the world that looked upon me as the handsome man whose glances they loved from whom they desired a stroke and a touch suddenly i became as attractive to the world as a cadaver hanging on a cross i became crucified to the world i began to live by a set of standards i began to live by a set of perspectives i began to conduct my life under the pressure of goals and desires and longings and realities that made me as despicable and out of place in good upright decent respectable company as a cadaver hanging on a cross

Implications of Deliverance

47:24 there was this cleavage that went in both directions and my friend it happens every time the virtue of the cross is applied by the spirit that's why jesus could pray they are not of the world as i am not of the world and then went on or previously said if the world has hated me it will hate you why because you are not of the world even as i am not of the world and as we come to contemplate the implications of this truth of our deliverance from the world and from worldliness no true child of god ever lives dominated by the threefold cord by which sinners are bound to the world that's why john says in first john chapter two love not the world neither the things that are in the world why if any man loved the world

48:48 if there is a basic fundamental undisturbed attachment in love to the world not talking about the struggle with remaining affinities for certain aspects of the world and its pleasures and its standards he is talking about a fundamental basic pattern of attachment to the world and he says if any man loved the world he would he doesn't say the love of the father is in him but not developed as it ought the love of the father is in him but he's squelched the love of the father is in him though you can't see it he says the love of the father is not in him the term worldly christian is a radically heretical misnomer you're either a christian or a worldling an imperfect christian christian the world has been crucified to you and you to the world so you no longer live under that impulse of seeking simply to enjoy things the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes to have things the pride of life to be somebody

50:16 now you see it can be a very small circle it can be a very limited number of things but if that which makes you tick that which sets your standards that which draws out your energies and excites your emotions has to do with the lust of the flesh merely enjoying things the lust of the eyes merely having things the pride of life desiring to see somebody be somebody my friend the love of the father is not in you you have never known the application of the virtue of the death of christ either in forgiveness or in the dynamics of cutting the umbilical cord that holds you entrapped in the womb of this present world you see the child of god no longer dances to the world's tune no longer marches to the beat of the world's drum he's got a transplanted citizenship our citizenship is in heaven from whence we wait for the coming of our lord and where our citizenship is that's where the rules that govern us originate and we live by the rule and the law of heaven we live not for this present age but for the age to come we are strangers and sojourners we have here no abiding place

Continual Deliverance from Worldliness

51:44 but we look for a city to come and above all we look for the king who sits enthroned in majesty and splendor and glory for the lamb is all the glory of Emmanuel's land our gracious deliverance from the world and worldliness begins on the threshold when in a true work of grace there is a radical fundamental real deliverance from attachment to the world and a pattern of worldliness but then very quickly let me touch on this gracious deliverance as it works out continually just like with the matter of sin in the initial implantation of grace the dominion of sin is broken it no longer reigns though it remains it is not the president while it is yet resident and the same is true with the world the fundamental attachment to the world in the imagery of the world being our moral womb and our unregenerate hearts as it were the umbilical cord that bind us to that realm of existence though that umbilical cord is cut and we are transplanted into the kingdom of God's dear son and we become crucified to the world and the world

53:14 to us the reality is that part of our remaining sin finds expression in the remnants of worldliness that is the desire to have the approval of those who are doing what living by the standards and goals and principles of thought and action which are penetrated and controlled by malignant devilish moral forces and so we are tempted for the saving of face we are tempted for the sake of peer acceptance we are tempted for economic advancement to conform to the world's standards of ethics our yay is not quite yay in a business deal our yay is not quite yay in a personal relationship where we may incur the frown of a worldling our nay is not nay when the overtures are made to us as single men and women that we should allow ourselves the indulgence of the use of our bodies under the impulse of God-given sexual appetites to compromise and to begin to indulge in forms of sexual intimacy and kissing and petting and even intercourse outside the sacred marriage bed and that's

54:43 why Christians fall into that worldly sin of fornication how is this gracious deliverance to be continually wrought in us well let me give you just three simple heads and a text on which to hang them we must believe it is crucial to fight against worldliness you see if you're not convinced that you must fight against it with all your being you'll never make any headway James says it is of the very essence of true religion pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is what to visit the fatherless and the widows and their affliction to show practical compassion to the needy and then listen not to keep oneself respectively aloof from the world but unspoken from the world the purity of my religion is in direct proportion to my commitment that I shall not allow one of the world to be placed upon the garments of the imparted not imputed righteousness of that God has graciously granted me in his regenerating work and in the cleansing work that he did on the threshold

56:12 do I really believe what James says what vivid language he says in James 4 4 don't you know that whosoever would be a friend of the world makes himself the enemy of God not only his friendship with the world a form of expressing enmity to God but if you read earlier he uses another imagery drawn out of rich Old Testament perspectives he says in verse 4 you adulteresses don't you know that the friendship of the world is enmity with God when you curry the favor of the world you are guilty of spiritual adultery why Christ died as the heavenly bride groomed to have a chaste and spotless bride whose heart is wholly his and when you flirt with the world you're guilty of spiritual adultery you teenagers listen to me when you say well I know that some of the standards for dress and hairstyles that are present I know that they are reflected in great part of a lifestyle and a perspective on life that is not biblical and godly but I couldn't bear with the latest

57:41 hairstyle with the latest clothing styles I must be the world's end in my external appearance at the price of being a harlot to Jesus God have mercy on you well you see when the kids get together if I can't name the latest groups they look at me like I'm some kind of a dummy oh I know that the lyrics are abominable and hellish music itself with all of the din of its repetitive cacophony is like music out of the pit of hell where there is no order and beauty and symmetry but you know they'd mock me out and they'd laugh me to scorn I gotta listen to just enough to be able to be with it at the expense of being a harlot to Jesus I didn't write it folks and people tell me Pastor Martin you're coarse in your preaching my friend you open your Bible and tell God he's coarse and how do you commit adultery by having illicit sexual intercourse

59:01 you commit spiritual adultery as much as a wife goes to bed with her neighbor's husband and that's not Albert Martin coarseness that's Holy Ghost blunders and if you're offended it's providence you're guilty of that very harlotry the raw nerve of your own love of the world has been pinched you and I will make no progress in the continual battle against the world in worldliness unless we believe it's crucial to fight worldliness do I want pure religion with a pure conscience that I must fight to keep unspotted from the world if I would have my heart as the heart of a chaste virgin to Christ in the language of Paul I must be sure that the world's smiles of frowns never cause me to alter my standards change my goals in any way shape or mold what I am convinced from the word of God

60:28 are the standards for personal dress and appearance and the use of TV and what movies I do or do not watch if I watch any what TV programs I watch or don't watch where I go and will not go it is a matter of I'm jealous to have a virgin's heart for my blessed savior who loved me and died for me you better believe it's crucial or you'll never fight secondly you must use every God ordained means to conquer worldliness I commend Pastor Bob's sermon on Romans 12 1 and 2 you must use every God ordained means be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind and what is the grand instrument of that renewal Psalm 1 the blessed man is he who does not walk in the council of the ungodly the worldling but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night he shall be like a tree planted and may I again pour out my heart to you young people I thank God for so much that I see in so many of you but you know frankly one thing that disturbs me I don't see you I don't see many of you unless I'm really ignorant and it could be that I am there may be hidden depths that I've not yet locked into I don't see you using

61:57 the relatively carefree single state to soak up your Bibles and God saved me at age 18 in two years time I wore out a Thompson chain reference Bible committed whole passages to memory I couldn't get enough of my Bible sure as I'm a man sometimes doing construction work and being awake all night with asthma so don't anyone cop out it's amazing how people will try to squirm out and think ah you had it easy no no I know what it's like to sit in a chair wheezing like an old horse ready for the glue factory all night with asthma before going off to do cooley work for a mason and plaster construction man eight and nine and ten hours in the hot human weather of Connecticut in July and August to get that Bible out and pour over its pages and pray in its truth oh dear young people the world is seeking to squeeze you into its mold its standards its perspectives its values scream at you through all the media scream at you through your peers in their attitudes their bearing their dress their walk how can you ever hope to be the blessed man the blessed woman of someone unless you use the God ordained means of constant interaction with the word of God

Trust in the Great High Priest

63:25 other texts could be quoted but then thirdly we must continually trust in our great high priest that's why I asked Pastor Lamar to read John 17 at times when it seems that the remaining propensity to reattach that umbilical cord to that whole womb of worldliness is so strong oh what power there is when I remember my savior is praying father I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world you see how world is used differently there that is don't take them out of the realm of the inhabitants of the earth and that little orb down there into the safety of my presence and into the company of just men made perfect I pray not you should take them out of the world but keep them from the evil one blessed be God at times when it seems that every last defense was down and we were as vulnerable before the foul power of the enemy of our souls and we cannot trace our deliverance to any human means it's in those times that I look back and I say Lord Jesus were it not for your intercession I'd have been gone I'd have been gone when Peter looked back after his oaths

Consummation in the Age to Come

64:53 and after his self-maledictions that he never knew him no attachment to him I wonder how many times in later life he said look there wasn't a thing in me that was keeping me attached to my Savior I was sold out to the world in those moments of weakness he would remember the words of Jesus Satan hath desired you to sift you as wheat but I have prayed for you and when you are turned again my prayers are efficacious and oh dear child of God while believing it is crucial to fight worldliness while engaging in every means to oppose it constantly remember and look to your blessed Savior at the right hand of the Father who is praying that you should be kept from the world and from the evil one and then of course our gracious deliverance that begins initially as we've described goes on continually will be consummated in the age to come this age is the age where worldliness is part of the burden of the overlapping of the ages heaven is in our heart and in our deepest affections and yet the world and the devil are still very much our daily companions

66:20 but thank God in the age of worldliness and in the age to come it will be the new heavens and the new earth wherein dwells nothing but righteousness I love at times sometimes when I'm running sometimes when I'm engaged in other activities where I'm in direct contact with the terra firma I like to look down and say there's a time coming when every square inch from the surface I'm running on right down to the center of the core of the earth will be marked by nothing but righteousness the new heavens the new earth wherein dwells righteousness and this ion this world system this cosmos under the curse and under the prince of the power of the air will be no more Satan and his minions and all of his children will be banished to eternal perdition and the people of God will shine as stars in the firmament of God's God's redemptive glory now I want to close on this very sober note having given you I hope what is at least a somewhat accurate biblical definition and then having considered our native attachment to the world our gracious deliverance from the world I want to close on this note

The Present Danger: Demas and Worldly Success

67:49 the present danger we all face from the world in my preparation my preacher brethren you know what text kept coming back to me Demas hath forsaken me having loved this present age think of it to have prayed with Paul labored with Paul at one point he calls him Demas my fellow worker read Hendrickson's commentary on 2nd Timothy 4.9 I don't have time to read it I brought it with me but it's so moving think of it Demas who knelt and prayed with Paul who heard him weep over his fellow countrymen the Jews who saw him with his tears staining the parchment when he wrote his pastoral letters Demas hath forsaken me and all that this man was to whom the world was crucified who was crucified to the world Demas hath forsaken me and what caused him to leave Paul in every way of life and everything he stood for the world bewitched him my preacher friend listen to me you beware of anything that has its tap roots in this world's standards of success

69:17 if you don't die to the world's standard of success you'll learn how to begin to cut the corners off the offense of the cross that's what the Judaizers were doing Paul said at the root of their heresy was not a real conviction about truth he said they didn't want to bear the offense of the cross it was an aversion to persecution and who among us does not have an aversion to persecution and if you've not died to your own success standards and your own success image determined to say if I must preach to nothing but the echo of my own voice against the walls I will not cut off one right angle of my father's truth

70:08 I don't understand I don't stand in judgment on any man because I know at least one or two sitting here and you brethren know me well enough to know I trust I am not speaking of you but frankly I don't understand wherever I go in pastor's conference every Tom, Dick and Harry is getting his demon getting an advance where they find the time I think they've allowed the world to influence them if on your letterhead you've got a demon give you a little more influence rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish crying to God for the Holy Ghost to come upon you and to come upon your people and to come with power upon sinners and you'll have the only validation a true servant of God needs Paul says you are my epistle living transformed lives now don't anyone go out and say Pastor Martin said anyone got a demon he's backslidden in a worlding Pastor Martin didn't say that what Pastor Martin did say is if you've got the itch for a demon D-men, you better ask, where did the itch come from? Did it grow out of your most intimate seasons of communion with Christ when the world lay at your feet as a cadaver?

71:32 Or did it grow out of your association in the local ministerium where everybody was talking about his degrees and you felt a little baggy-kneed and snotty-nosed academic? That's worldliness. That's worldliness! Oh, dictating your standards of ministerial credibility.

72:01 Beware of it, men.

Worldliness in Media and Relationships

72:03 Under the guise, well, I really got to understand the mindset of my generation. You're reading a little bit too much secular literature.

72:13 You're watching programs on the TV under the guise of ministerial enlightenment that you know are titillating to your remaining sin. Things that once made you blush now can't even bring a twitch of red to your cheek. Beware, my brother, or it may be said of you, so-and-so hath forsaken me, having loved this present world. You single men and women, listen to me.

72:43 Many, many, many a single man or woman professing the name of Christ has forsaken Christ because they got a worldly perspective on marriage. They got their standard from the ladies in the men's magazines. The body worship magazines. They didn't get them from the Bible.

73:07 And because they bypassed opportunities to marry according to biblical standards while they waited for their world-dictated dream standards, they then got desperate and jumped.

73:26 Beware of the danger of the world. Preachers, single men and women, beware. Members of Trinity, God have mercy on us. Amen.

Warning Against Carnal Pride

73:42 Let these lovely walls and impressive beams become a source of carnal pride. And God will let the walls stay and the beams stay, but take away the only thing that's beautiful around here. And that's His presence.

74:00 And God help us if that day ever comes.

74:06 Jesus won't draw near with the kisses of His gracious presence to a bunch of spiritual harlots. Who've opened their hearts to worldly pride.

74:25 May God grant that in the constant fellowship of His cross, the world may lie at our feet as dead. And we, dead to the world. Let us pray.

Prayer for Weanedness and Evangelism

74:47 Our Father, once again we bow in Your holy presence. Filled with a mingled sense of shame on the one hand that hearts made for You should have been made for You. Should have been so unreservedly given over to the world and to the devil. O Lord, we're not proud that the world was our womb.

75:14 We're ashamed and we would afresh mourn the horrible fruits of our attachment to the world. And yet we are filled with joy and with wonder that according to Your own purpose You sent Your Son to deliver us from this present evil world. And we thank You that many of us bowed in Your presence can say with Paul that the cross in which we have found forgiveness and pardon of all of our sins is the cross by which the world has lost its attraction to us and we unto the world. But O Lord, in the very thanking of You for that reality, we must cry for greater weanedness from the rest of us. We must cry for greater weanedness from the remnants of our worldliness. O God, take the word meditated upon this night and make applications in a thousand ways that Your servant could never make those applications. That we may be a people marked as true pilgrims and sojourners who make it evident that this cosmos and this I own are not our resting place.

76:32 O may it be. And may it be evident in all of our demeanor and bearing and speech and attitudes in our physical appearance, everything about us. O may we be marked as pilgrims, Lord. And we pray then that the light of Your own grace in us and through us would then awaken in poor worldlings who carry the burden of their attachment to a world that is perishing and they with it, oh, that we might be used to see multitudes rescued and brought into the glorious liberty of being cut loose from the world and translated into the kingdom of Your dear Son. O Lord, we know unless You seal the word to our hearts, we'll flick it away in a moment's time and go back to business as usual. Lord, don't let us destroy ourselves through a careless indifference through a careless indifference through a careless indifference through a careless indifference to the word preached. But may we by prayer and meditation wait upon You until, as it were, it percolates into all of the recesses of our hearts and bears the fruit of righteousness to Your praise.

77:52 We ask through our blessed Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.