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I. "THEY ARE OF THE WORLD, THEREFORE THEY SPEAK OF THE WORLD."
A. The scriptures do present a they and we concept. The they is the world system governed by Satan.
1. John writes:
1JO 5:19 [And] we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.
B. The we are the children of the Kingdom of God. "For our citizenship is in heaven from whence we look for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." The they are the world system that is governed by Satan.
1. You are in the we or they category.
C. Jesus made these distinctions.
JOH 7:7 The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.
JOH 8:23 And he said unto the Jews, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.
2. To His disciples He said,
JOH 15:19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
3. Jesus praying to the Father for His disciples said,
JOH 17:14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
JOH 17:15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
JOH 17:16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
4. Jesus referred to Satan as the prince of this world.
5. At one time Satan offered to Jesus all of the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, bragging that they were his and he had the authority to dispense them to whomever he would.
6. Jesus did not challenge that claim.
D. Paul speaks of Satan as the god of this world.
1. He declared that all of us at one time walked according the course of this world, which is being governed by the prince of the power of the air.
2. Paul tells us that we are not to be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
3. Paul said that the world by wisdom knew not God.
E. The world is in opposition to Jesus Christ. John refers to it as the the spirit of antichrist which is already at work in the world.
F. "They are of the world and they speak of the world and the world heareth them."
1. The world gives a ready eager ear when someone of the world speaks to them of the things of the world.
a. Write a book against God and the world will hail it as highly intelligent, and scholarly.
b. Write a scholarly book against the evolutionary theory and the world will speak of you as ignorant, uninformed, a throw back to the dark ages.
c. Ellen comes out of the closet and the whole world media hails her and congratulates her, and offers her awards.
d. The Boy Scouts require that a young man pledge to honor God and country, and forbid homosexuals from being scout masters and in the world's press they become narrow bigots, and they lose the contributions they once received from Well's Fargo Bank, and the Levi Straus company. In this mornings paper it said that the city of Oakland is no longer going to give them a free berth at the city pier for the Sea Scouts for the same reason. The vote was 8 to 1 against the Boy Scouts.
e. It is very obvious that Satan is in control of this world.
2. The president may be a lying sexual predator, yet he receives in the polls an overwhelming vote of confidence because the economy is good.
a. The world embraces it's own and supports its own.
II. "WE ARE OF GOD, AND HE THAT KNOWETH GOD HEARETH US."
A. The world does not want to hear of God.
1. Isaiah spoke of the conditions of his day that precipitated their destruction.
ISA 30:10 Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:
ISA 30:11 Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.
2. This seems to be the condition of the people today.
3. The prophet Micah spoke derisively of the people saying,
MIC 2:11 If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood do lie, [saying], I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people.
4. Paul warned Timothy,
2TI 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
2TI 4:4 And they shall turn away [their] ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
5. That time has come, and there are many men who have become multimillionaires by appealing to this crowd.
6. Jesus said to the Jews,
JOH 8:47 He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear [them] not, because ye are not of God.
JOH 10:1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
JOH 10:2 But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
JOH 10:3 To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
JOH 10:4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
JOH 10:5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for
III. HEREBY WE KNOW THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH, AND THE SPIRIT OF ERROR.
A. It is so important that we are able to discern between the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
B. There are so many today that are caught up in the spirit of error.
1. It is so sad that so many thousands of people are being deceived and are trusting in a false hope for eternal life.
2. Jesus challenged, "Search the scriptures, for in them you think that you have life, but they are they which testify of Me, but you will not come to Me that you might have life."
3. Millions today are being deceived.
4. We are told that in the last days that the man of sin will be revealed,
2TH 2:9 [Even him], whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2TH 2:10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2TH 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2TH 2:12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
5. I think of the hundreds of millions who have believed in Mohammed.
6. The hundreds of millions who are trusting in the teaching of the Catholic church.
7. The Mormons boast of a membership of 12 million.
8. The tragedy of the Jehovah Witnesses.
9. Even the thousands who are being encouraged to more or less buy their salvation or that of a loved one by their generous contributions to the T.V. Networks.
B. How can you trust me?
1. I don't ask you to trust me, I ask you to trust Jesus.
2. I do not encourage you to read my books to find the truth. I encourage you to read the Bible to find the truth.
3. I am not afraid to challenge you to read the Bible alone, I am not afraid of what you will come to believe.
4. I believe that the Spirit of God can guide you into all truth as you read the word alone.
C. Paul said to the Galatians concerning false teaching that they had embraced. "This persuasion cometh not from Him that calleth you."
1. When people are in error, they did not come to that error by reading the word, but were taught that error by someone telling them that the Bible did not mean what it said, but they will tell you what God meant to say.
2. Be very careful to make sure you are following the truth.
Verse-Reference
Square — [Jhn 1:1 KJV]
Abbreviate Books
Use SBL Abbrev.
