The scripture text for this morning's message is found in the First Epistle of John Chapter 2.

Do not love the world or the things in the world.

If anyone loves the world, love for the father is not in him.

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the father but is of the world.

And the world passes away and the lust of it.

But he who does the will of God abides forever.

Let's begin with an overview of this short text to get the whole in our minds,

and then we'll go back and look at some of its parts.

The text begins with a command. look at some of its parts.

The text begins with a command.

There's only one command in the text,

and therefore it's probably the main point.

First half of verse 15, do not love the world or the things in the world. And everything else in this

text is an argument or an incentive for our obedience to that command.

The first incentive is given in the second half of the verse,

if anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him.

In other words, the reason that you should love the father and not the world is because if you love the world you don't love God.

That's the first incentive.

Love for the world pushes out love for God.

Love for God pushes out love for the world. No one can serve two masters. Either he will

hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and money.

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