Liars and Lying

by Bruce Mills

I was reminded this week of how intrinsic lying is to the fallen human nature.  First, there was the story of the global warming scientists who manipulated and destroyed climate and temperature data in order to support their position that global warming is getting more and more severe and will eventually destroy the planet if drastic steps are not taken to curb human activities that allegedly cause the increased temperatures.  Their emails, which were leaked to the media, revealed that they systematically did all they could to prevent viewpoints which contradicted theirs from ever being presented or published, and deliberately manipulated the data to make it appear that their position was the correct one.  Of course, there were billions of dollars in research grants at stake from which they would benefit if they were successful in convincing the world's governments that they were right.

Then there was Tiger Woods, undoubtedly the finest golfer who has ever picked up a golf club.  He is a man who seemed to have it all--over a billion dollars in earnings and endorsements, a trophy wife, and the finest life that wealth can buy.  He is a man who outwardly seemed to be in complete control of his life and his golf game.  But he was living a lie.  He was cheating on his wife and when discovered, he lied to cover his sin until he was faced with incontrovertible evidence that revealed to the world that he was lying.  Only then did he admit the truth.

Lying has been a part of a corrupt nature since the Garden of Eden.  Satan lied to Eve, telling her that she and Adam would not die if she ate of the fruit (Gen. 3:4), even though God had clearly said that they would (Gen. 2:17).  Shortly thereafter Cain lied to God about murdering his brother (Gen. 4:9), and the same pattern of lying and deception continues to be seen throughout the book of Genesis.  Abraham encouraged Sarah to lie about being his wife in order to save his own skin (Gen. 12:10-20), Jacob and Rebekah lied in order that Jacob would receive Isaac's blessing rather than Esau (Gen. 27:19), and Joseph's brothers told their father that he had been killed by wild animal rather than admit that they had sold him into slavery (Gen. 37:31-34).  In fact, in addition to these examples, there are no less than five more incidents of lying recorded in the book of Genesis alone (Gen. 18:5, 20:2, 26:7, 29:18-24, 39:17).  You can easily find many more examples throughout the rest of the Scriptures.  Jesus bluntly said that lying originates from Satan and those who are characterized by it are his children (John 8:44).

At the same time, the Bible is clear about God's requirement that men and women be honest and truthful under all circumstances.  In the list of the seven deadly sins found in Prov. 6:16-19, lying is specifically mentioned in two of them.  Prov. 12:19 says, "Truthful lips will be established forever, but a lying tongue is only for a moment."  Prov. 19:5 proclaims that "A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who tells lies will not escape."  A few verses later in Prov. 19:9, Solomon reiterates the same idea with these words: "A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who tells lies will perish."

For the believer, lying is never sanctioned.  Eph. 4:25 tells us, "Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another."  Col. 3:9 says, "Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices."  In other words, since we are a part of the same family and are new creatures with a new nature which does not practice sin, we are to stop lying and tell the truth. 

I think a lot of Christians today have adopted the world's perspective that lying isn't really a big deal.  But God doesn't see it that way.  In His infinite mind, it is a very big deal.  It is so important because He Himself never lies and is incapable of doing so (Titus 1:2, Heb. 6:18).  Since we are called to be imitators of God (Eph. 5:1), lying is not to be found in a believer's character.  Jesus said that we are to "let [our] statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil" (Matt. 5:37).  In other words, we shouldn't have to take an oath in order to confirm the validity of what we are saying.  We should be so characterized by truth-telling that those around us will know that they can implicitly trust what we are saying.

Think about this issue in your life.  Do others know that everything you say can be trusted to be the truth?  Or are you characterized by fudging the truth; stretching it to fit the circumstances you are in so that you look good, avoid getting into trouble, or profit from the outcome?  Psalm 15 describes the righteous man who will dwell with God, and one of the things which characterizes him is that "He swears to his own hurt and does not change" (Ps. 15:4).  In other words, he tells the truth, even if telling the truth will mean difficulty for himself.

I recognize that this is a high standard.  But I'm not the one who set the bar this high; God did.  Everyone of us has failed in this area; sometimes very badly.  But those of us who claim the name of Jesus Christ must turn from this sin and live godly lives which are characterized by truthfulness.  Not so that we will be considered to better than others, but so that when others are amazed at our honesty (and believe me, they will be), we will be able "to give an account for the hope that is in [us]" (1 Peter 3:15).

The Manhattan Declaration

by Robert Fraire

The following is a link to a document called the Manhattan Declaration. It is a document written and signed by Protestants, Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Catholics. The document is found at this link:
http://demossnews.com/manhattandeclaration/press_kit/manhattan_declaration_signers

In the document the writers and signers pledge to stand united on three areas under attack in the United States today. Those areas under attack are: the sanctity of life, the definition of marriage, and freedom of religious expression.

The document says many things that I agree completely with and I do think that the Christian church in America will face governmental persecutions in each of these areas in the near future.

Some godly men like Al Mohler have signed this document. Dr. Mohler gives his reasons at this site: web site

One small quote from his article says this: "I signed The Manhattan Declaration because it is a limited statement of Christian conviction on these three crucial issues, and not a wide-ranging theological document that subverts confessional integrity. I cannot and do not sign documents such as Evangelicals and Catholics Together that attempt to establish common ground on vast theological terrain."

I respect Dr. Mohler making that statement clear, and his actions and teaching clearly back that statement up.


That being said, I don't believe Protestants should sign this agreement. My reasoning can be summarized in 2 Corinthians 6:14
Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?

You see while we share many common moral stands with Catholics of all types, the fact is unmistakable that the teaching of the Catholic Church is a false gospel. We can not stand in spiritual unity with them on these issues because those that rely on the false gospel taught by the Catholic church for their salvation are unbelievers.


In a practical sense how could this play out? Well take for instance the area of same-sex marriage. The only way we can be successful in defending God's definition of marriage is to proclaim the truth of scripture and call on the people of this nation to repent. And it is at the point of repentance that the gulf between us and Catholics becomes apparent. If people want to repent; to which gospel do we lead them? In order to stand united must we say that it isn't important whether you choose salvation by grace through faith alone (Protestant gospel), or salvation by grace and maintained by godly works and the sacrements (the Roman Catholic gospel)? It is clear to me that we must call me to repentance and the true gospel message of grace by faith alone.

Because of that we must stay independent of all false religion even if they support our moral stance important issues such as life, marriage and religious freedom.

The Birth of God Incarnate

^{Luke 2:1-20 (NASB)}

¹Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. ²This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. ³And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city. ⁴Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, ⁵in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child. ⁶While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. ⁷And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

⁸In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. ¹⁰But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; ¹¹for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹²“This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” ¹³And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ¹⁴“Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”

¹⁵When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, “Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.” ¹⁶So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger. ¹⁷When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child. ¹⁸And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds. ¹⁹But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. ²⁰The shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ

by Bruce Mills

In my last post, I said that I would explain how a person avoids God’s wrath and eternal condemnation. What follows comes from a recent funeral service I conducted for the mother of a close friend. He specifically requested that I present the gospel to those who attended, and this is the gospel message I gave. I have only edited it to remove specific, personal references to the deceased.

That lady was just like every other person on the face of the earth—she was a sinner. She wasn’t perfect—she struggled and suffered the natural outcome of sin’s impact in her life. Every one of us does. Death itself is the ultimate and most obvious consequence of sin, as we are told in the Bible in Romans 5:12 where it says that “just as through one man—Adam—sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.”

So, every one of us is a sinner and some day, if Christ doesn’t return first, we are all going to die. And that means that we have a problem. In fact, it is the most serious problem that anyone will ever face. Our problem is that God is absolutely holy and righteous. He cannot allow sin into His presence. In fact, His required standard for anyone to enter heaven is absolute perfection. In Matt. 5:48, Jesus put it very bluntly when He said, “You are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” And since none of us is perfect, that means we are all unrighteous, and that means we all justly deserve God’s eternal condemnation in hell.

In fact, the Bible tells us that over and over again. In 1 Cor. 6:9 it says, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?” And in Eph. 5:5 it says, “For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” So then, none of us is perfect. So the question is, how can we be certain that we will go to heaven. Well, the answer has nothing to do with Jeanne. It has everything to do with Jesus Christ.

You see, Jesus Christ was not merely a man—He was God in human flesh. That’s who He claimed to be. He said, “I and the Father are One” (John 10:30). He said, “He who has seen Me, has seen the Father” (John 14:9). As C. S. Lewis put it, you cannot call Him a good teacher or a great prophet or a good man, but deny that He is God. You must decide whether or not He was telling the truth when He claimed to be God. If you conclude that He was not God, then you are saying that He was either a liar or a lunatic. If He was a liar, then He wasn’t a good man. If He was a lunatic, then He cannot be considered to be a great teacher. But if He is who He claimed to be; that is, God in flesh, then we owe Him our every allegiance and all obedience.

And so God sent His Son, Jesus, to the earth and He took upon Himself the sins of every person who would ever believe and He died to pay the penalty for those sins. Those sins deserved eternal judgment, and so only someone who was absolutely perfect could pay that penalty. And Jesus was the perfectly righteous God-man who paid the price for sin. And then He rose again, defeating death and sin. And now He offers forgiveness from sin and eternal life to everyone who repents of their sin and trusts in Him as the only mediator between God and man.

Once again, Jesus left us with no other options. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). That is a very exclusive claim. But again, if we believe He was who He claimed to be, then He has every right to make such a statement.

And in Acts 4:12, we are told that “there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” Jesus Christ is the only way to God. That’s not something I came up with; that’s what God Himself says.

And those who come to Jesus through faith alone in Him find that God forgives all their sin, and credits the righteousness of His perfect Son to their account, so that when He looks at them, He sees the perfection of Jesus and no longer sees their sin. And that makes them eternally acceptable to enter and live in heaven forever and ever.

It was that gospel which my friend’s mother came to understand and believe. And because she placed her faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone for her eternal salvation, she is at this very moment, in the presence of her Lord and Savior.

And I am convinced that if she could be here with us today, she would tell you, “Believe in Christ. Turn your back on your sin, and turn to Jesus Christ and trust Him and Him alone for your eternal salvation. That is the most important decision you will ever make.”

She would want everyone to recognize their sin for what it is—an offense against a holy and righteous God. It is the corruption that separates man from God, and which destroys everything that is good. And as long as a man or woman remains in their sin, they are dead spiritually.

And she would tell you that the only way to receive forgiveness for your sin is to come to Jesus Christ, repenting of that sin, and place your complete trust and faith in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation. And she would tell you that when you do that, Jesus will cleanse you and forgive you, remove the penalty of eternal death, and give you the free gift of eternal life in heaven with Him.

And then, when that day comes—as it does for all of us—that you pass through death’s door, you will find Jesus there, along with every person who has placed his or her faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation from sin and death.

Now, someone might say, “But I’m too old for that stuff. I’ve wasted my life. It’s too late for me.” Let me just urge you to consider the claims of Jesus Christ, regardless of how old you are or how you have lived your life. Age or the trials and struggles and sinfulness of your life should never be an excuse. In fact, those who come to faith late in their lives are simply demonstrations of the greatness of God’s grace and His willingness to forgive sin and bring peace and hope into one’s life.

I hope anyone who reads this who does not know Jesus Christ will repent of their sin and turn to Him in saving faith. That is the only way that anyone will avoid God’s wrath and eternal condemnation, and enjoy eternal life in heaven.

Dead Men Walking

by Bruce Mills

“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1). In those nine words, there is perhaps no clearer statement in Scripture on the sinfulness of man apart from Christ. In the original Greek text, it literally says “And you, being dead in your trespasses and sins.” In other words, man does not become spiritually dead because he sins; he is spiritually dead because by nature he is sinful. Except for Jesus Christ, that is the condition of every human being since the Fall, including every believer before he is saved. It is the past condition of believers and the present condition of everyone else.

Now contrary to most modern thinking, including such esteemed theologians as Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Phil, man’s basic trouble is not being out of harmony with his heritage or his environment, but being out of harmony with his Creator. His principal problem is not that he cannot make meaningful relationships with other human beings, but that he has no right relationship to God, from whom he is alienated by sin.

His condition has nothing to do with the way he lives; it has to do with the fact that he is dead even while he is alive. He is spiritually dead while being physically alive. Because he is dead to God, he is dead to spiritual life, truth, righteousness, inner peace and happiness, and ultimately to every other good thing.

One of the first indications of physical death is the body’s inability to respond to stimulus, no matter what it might be. The simple fact is that a dead person cannot react. He no longer responds to light, sound, smell, taste, pain, or anything else. He is totally insensitive because there is no life in him.

That is the way of spiritual death as well. A person who is spiritually dead has no life by which he can respond to spiritual things, much less live a spiritual life. No amount of love, care, and words of affection from God can draw a response. A spiritually dead person is alienated from God and therefore alienated from life. He has no capacity to respond. Apart from God, men as spiritual zombies, the walking dead who do not know they are dead. They go through the motions of life, but they do not possess it.

This is the primary reason why I am convinced that Calvinism is correct and Arminianism is wrong. According to what this passage says, men and women are “dead in…trespasses and sins”—they cannot possibly respond on their own to the Gospel apart from the work of God to raise them to spiritual life.

But Arminianism teaches that the fall of man was not total, maintaining that there was enough good left in man for him to will to accept Jesus Christ unto salvation.

Arminians believe that election is based on the foreknowledge of God as to who would believe. Man’s “act of faith” is seen as the “condition” or his being elected to eternal life, since God foresaw him exercising his “free will” in response to Jesus Christ.

The founder of Arminianism, Joseph Arminius, held that redemption was based on the fact that God loves everybody, that Christ died for everyone, and that the Father is not willing that any should perish. The death of Christ provided the grounds for God to save all men, but each must exercise his own “free will” in order to be saved.

He also believed that since God wanted all men to be saved, He sent the Holy Spirit to “woo” all men to Christ, but since man has absolute “free will,” he is able to resist God’s will for his life. He believed that God’s will to save all men can be frustrated by the finite will of man. He also taught that man exercises his own will first, and then is born again.

He even said that a man cannot be saved by God unless it is man’s will to be saved, and a man cannot continue in salvation unless he continues to will to be saved. In other words, he can lose his salvation.

In other words, man’s salvation depends on his own ability and will to stay saved. I find such teachings to be absolutely incompatible with this passage. Before we were saved, we were like every other person who is apart from God—“dead in…trespasses and sins.”

The Greek case indicates the sphere or realm in which something or someone exists. It tells us where we were before our salvation. We were in the sphere of being dead in trespasses and sins. We were not dead because we committed sins, but because we were in sin.

A person does not become a liar when he tells a lie; he tells a lie because he already is a liar. He does not become a thief when he steals; he steals because he already is a thief. And so also with murder, adultery, covetousness, and every other sin.

Committing sinful acts does not make us sinners; we commit sinful acts because we are sinners. Jesus confirmed this when He said, “The things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders” (Matt. 15:18-19).

Now, someone might ask, "Do you mean that because all men are equally dead in sin that they are all equally corrupt and wicked?" No; twenty corpses on a battlefield might be in many different stages of decay, but they are uniformly dead. The manifestation of death occurs in many different forms and degrees, but death itself has no degrees. Sin manifests itself in many different forms and degrees, but the state of sin itself has no degrees. Not all men are as evil as they could be, but all fail to measure up to God’s perfect standard.

As a state of being, a sphere of existence, sin has more to do with what is not done than with what is done. God’s standard is for men to be perfect just as He Himself is perfect (Matt. 5:48). God has never given any standard for man but perfect holiness.

It is because of that perfect standard of holiness that men apart from God cannot be anything but sinful. Because he is separated from God, he cannot do anything but fall short of God’s standard. No matter how much good he does or attempts to do, the standard of never doing or never having done evil at all is unattainable.

Because I live on the Gulf of Mexico, let me give you an illustration I have used many times. Let’s suppose that all of us decided we would go down to the beach, and we all lined up and took turns trying to jump across the Gulf of Mexico. Some of us might jump only a couple of feet, but others might jump 8 or 10 feet out before we landed in the water. Even if we brought in a professional broad jumper, he might be able to jump 25 or 26 feet. But no one would be able to jump to the other side of the Gulf. Our degrees of success would vary only in relation to one another, but in relation to achieving the goal, we would all be equal failures.

That is the same way it is with attempting to achieve God’s holiness. Every unbeliever is an equal failure. That’s why the morally good, helpful, kind, considerate, self-giving, generous person needs salvation as much as the serial killer on death row.

The person who is a good parent, a loving spouse, an honest worker, and a civic humanitarian needs Jesus Christ to save him or her from the eternal condemnation of hell just as much as the drug-addicted prostitute or the heartless terrorist. They do not lead equally sinful lives, but they are equally in the state of sin, equally separated from God, and equally estranged from spiritual life.

Jesus once said, “If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same” (Luke 6:33). On another occasion He said, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” (Luke 11:13). What He was saying is that a person apart from God can do humanly good things.

But as the Lord points out in both of those statements, the person is still a sinner, still evil by nature, and still operating on a motive less than that of glorifying God. A sinner’s doing good is good, but it cannot change his nature or his basic sphere of existence, and it cannot reconcile him to God.

There is one more passage which states this principle, which I personally think is the most frightening passage of Scripture in the Bible. It’s found in Matt. 7:22-23. Jesus is concluding the Sermon on the Mount, and he tells the listening crowd what it will be like at the Great White Throne Judgment, and He says, “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’”

In other words, there will be many people who will stand before the Lord and try to justify themselves on the basis of their wonderful works of power, and their wonderful teaching done in His name, and He will send them to hell because they never had a personal relationship to Him.

Being good and kind to other people pleases God. You might even say it is a step in the right direction. The only problem is that 100,000 such steps cannot bring a person any closer to God because it is a sinner’s condition of sinfulness and not his particular sins that separate him from God, his particular acts of goodness cannot reconcile him to God.

So, man is in an impossible situation. He is spiritually dead and entirely unable to extricate himself from that situation. How then, is he supposed to have a relationship with God? How will he ever be able to avoid God's wrath and just condemnation to an eternal hell? We'll examine the answer in our next post.

The Sin of Loving the World

by Bruce Mills

I have been reading a great little book titled Worldliness: Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World which was written by C. J. Mahaney and other pastors from the staff of Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland. The first chapter is titled "Is This Verse in Your Bible?" and it is based on the premise that like Thomas Jefferson who physically cut out the verses and passages of the Bible that he didn't agree with, we believers do the same thing with 1 John 2:15, which states, "Do not love the world nor the things in the world." While we would not physically cut it out of our Bibles like Thomas Jefferson did, we practically live as though we have cut it out.

As I thought about this matter of our attachment to the world rather than to Jesus Christ and His Kingdom, I asked myself, What exactly does John mean when he says, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world”? The word for "world" which John uses here has a wide range of meaning, but its most common use in Scripture and the most significant use in John's writings is to refer to "the world system." So it is not specifically referring to the physical world and the physical things that make up our environment. Rather, John is referring to the world of men in rebellion against God. And the things in the world system that we are to refuse to love are its values, pleasures, and goals. Our attitudes toward those things is to be radically different than the world. So while John didn't mean the physical world specifically, he does mean that we are not to be attached to the things which the physical world values. And that does include many physical things.

The world says, “Gain all the wealth and things that you can.” Jesus said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth…but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven…you cannot serve God and wealth” (Matt. 6:19-20, 24).

The world says, “You better look out for yourself—number one—because no one else will.” The Scriptures say, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others” (Phil. 2:3-4).

John says, “You better not love those things.” And then he goes on in 1 John 2:16 to specify what things he means. The first one he lists is “the lust of the flesh.” While word that is used here for “lust” includes sexual lust, it means more than just that. It refers to an evil craving for satisfaction that finds its fill in the things that please the flesh. It is any kind of craving to gain anything which the flesh desires. You could say that it refers to moral corruption, because the things which are sought corrupt one morally.

I don’t normally recommend William Barclay as a commentator, except for historical background, at which he is superb, but on this point, he really nails it. He writes these words to describe what John is talking about:

It is to live a life which is dominated by the senses. It is to be gluttonous in food; effeminate in luxury; slavish in pleasure; lustful and lax in morals; selfish in the use of possessions; regardless of all the spiritual values; extravagant in the gratification of worldly, earthly, and material desires. The flesh’s desire is forgetful of, blind to, or regardless of the commandments of God.

John says that those things appeal to our flesh and we can easily crave them, but we are to avoid them.

The second thing he lists is “the lust of the eyes.” What does that refer to? Again, I think we can easily mistake this phrase as referring to sexual lust. But it goes far beyond that. The basic idea behind this phrase is covetousness. It refers to the desire to possess things, to have all the toys that our society throws at us, to achieve status and fame. It is the appeal of Madison Avenue with its advertising which is designed to make us dissatisfied with what we have. It can include sexual lust of looking on a woman and desiring to have her for oneself, but it goes far beyond that kind of temptation.

What John is saying when he says we are not to lust with our eyes is that we are to be content with going without those things that reflect success and achievement. In other words, being willing to be overlooked for a promotion because to do so might diminish the time we have to serve the Lord; to do without the external symbols of success in order to be able to give more to the Lord’s work; to be thought of as unsophisticated or unglamorous if need be in order to accomplish the Lord’s purposes for which he has appointed for us.

Now, I’m not saying that we have to go around looking like we are wearing clothes from the 1950’s and living in a shack that we never spruce up. But we are not to allow the desire for things to control us.

This idea has particular significance for us as we will be entering the Christmas shopping season in just a matter of days, and we will be bombarded with advertisements shouting at us what we absolutely must have if we are going to be cool and up-to-date. Resist the temptation to have your desires controlled by the unregenerate minds of advertising executives who are only consumed with getting you to spend your money on their stuff.

Finally, John says we are to avoid “the boastful pride of life.” This is the attitude which says, “Look at what I have achieved. Pay attention to me. Look at how great I am.” That attitude can be based on the gaining of possessions, education, power, fame, or status. It may even be based on intellect, which is something the person didn’t do anything to gain more of than anyone else. Yet, within the world system, those who have more of something than others have, will flaunt their position and display their pride and arrogance, demanding that others defer to them.

John is saying, “True believers avoid that kind of attitude. They don’t boast about what they have achieved because the true believer considers himself to be lowly and unworthy, because he recognizes that he was destined for eternal hell apart from God sovereignly reaching down and drawing him to Christ.”

If you look back at these three phrases, you can summarize them in this way. “Lust of the flesh”“Lust of the eyes” refers to corruption of the next higher part of man’s nature; his desires for that which is otherwise good and pleasant and nice to have. But “the boastful pride of life” refers to the highest corruption of a man’s heart, because it is the exaltation of man himself. By sensuality man sinks to the level of animals; by covetousness, he competes on the level of men; by pride, he tries to reach to the heights of God. refers to corruption of the lowest, basest parts of a man’s nature.

The world accepts and prizes these values, but they are opposed to true Christianity. To love God is to move away from such values. To love the world is to increasingly drift away from love for God and thereby also lose love for others.

John wraps up this great passage in 1 John 2:17 by giving us another reason why Christians are not to love the world. It is that all that is in the world is transitory and headed for destruction. Everything that is a part of the world system is going to be destroyed.

So, does anything remain? John says, “Yes, 'the one who does the Father’s will abides forever.'” Because the good works a believer does are an aspect of his love for the Lord and find their source in God, the believer will abide forever because he is a possessor of eternal life and an heir to all of God’s riches in Jesus Christ.

When we are called to love God, we must turn from all lesser loves and loyalties. To fail to do this does not mean that we lose our relationship to God, but it does mean that we are unfaithful to Him and disgrace our calling.

It is like a marriage. Adultery does not change the legal status of the marriage, but it destroys the fellowship and is dishonorable. As Christians, we are married to Christ. Therefore, we must not dishonor that relationship by adultery with, or even by flirting with, the world.