The Truth About Faith The Gospel Of Salvation

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For any of us to be with our Heavenly Father, Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior, and the Holy Spirit along with all the blessed in the new Heavens and Earth we are to be diligently seeking and doing God’s will so that we please God.

Mark 3:31-35
31 And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. 32 And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.” 33 And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” 34 And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”

Proverbs 16:7
7 When a man's ways please the LORD, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

These scriptural verses listed are just but a few that we need to need to study, understand and as we try to please God and seek to do the will of God the Father, His Son our Lord Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 6:33, Matthew 7:21, Matthew 25:31-46, Luke 9:35, Luke 22:41-42, John 3:26-36 NASB, John 3:26-36 NASB, John 4:23-24 NASB, John 5:22-36 NASB, John 6:24-29, John 9:31, John 12:26, John 15:5-8, Acts 2:42-47, Acts 3:22-23, Acts 22:14,28:28, Romans 2:10-29, Romans 6:16-22, Romans 8:1-11, Romans 8:22-29, Romans 12:1-3, Romans 12:19, Romans 13:1-7, 1 Corinthians 4:1-6, Ephesians 5:1-21, Ephesians 6:10-18, 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8, Titus 3:1-6, Hebrews 10:19-31 (NASB), James 2:1-26, James 3:1-12, James 4:6-10, 1 Peter 2:13-17, 1 Peter 4:1-2, 2 Peter 1:1-11, 2 Peter 2:20-22). 

Verse 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.

Love not the world ... God so "loved the world" that he gave his only begotten Son (John 3:16), but "world" here has a different meaning. "It is an inclusive term for all those who are in the kingdom of darkness and have not been born of God." [35] It also regards the material and temporary character of it. It is "visible" and therefore must be classified among those things which "are seen," contrasting with the things which "are unseen" and designated by Paul as eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18). Bruce noted the difference thus: "It is the world-system organized in rebellion against God which is in view - the current climate of opinion, as we might say." [36] He also observed that the word "love" is different here from that used in John 3:16. "In John 3:16, it is self-sacrificing love; here it is acquisitive love." [37] John will further explain his meaning in the next verse.

Love of the world ... love of the Father ... This strongly suggests the "love of God" contrasted with the love of mammon in Matthew 6:24; and John's statement that the love of the Father is not in one who loves the world corresponds with Jesus' declaration that "No man can serve two masters" (Matthew 6:24). Morris pointed out what he called John's little trick of "emphasizing a word by simply repeating it. He used world three times in this verse and another three times in the next two verses."[38] John used this word "more than twenty times in this epistle,"[39] and in more than one sense. Hoon thought that the "world" has the "sense of creation as contrasted with the Creator."[40] See under next verse.

[35] John R. W. Stott, op. cit., p. 101.

[36] F. F. Bruce, Answers to Questions (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1972), p. 132.

[37] Ibid.

[38] Leon Morris, op. cit., p. 1263.

[39] Paul W. Hoon, op. cit., p. 238.

[40] Ibid.

Verse 16

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

For all that is in the world ... is not of the Father ... This has the effect of explaining what John meant by his use of "world" in 1 John 2:15. It is that aspect of it which is "not in the Father." It is therefore incorrect to accept "world" in these verses as meaning God's glorious natural creation, described by the Father himself as "good" (Genesis 1:10,12,18,21,25). Jesus said the world loves its own (John 15:19); Paul said, "Be not conformed to this world" (Romans 12:2); and John declared that, "The whole world lieth in the evil one" (1 John 5:19). In the light of these and many other passages in the New Testament, it is clear that John was here speaking of that phase of the world of people which is antagonistic to God.

Lust of the flesh ... lust of the eyes ... vainglory of life ... For ages, students of the New Testament have seen in this triad suggestions of the triple temptation of Eve: the fruit was good to eat ... beautiful to see ... and would make one as God, knowing good and evil; and likewise the triple temptation of Christ: he was hungry ... Satan showed him all the kingdoms of the world ... such an exhibition of Jesus' power as that of leaping from the parapet of the temple unharmed would have been a vainglorious triumph. From such comparisons, the things mentioned by John in this verse have come to be called "the three avenues of temptation." The sins in view have been variously classified: sensuality, materialism, ostentation (C. H. Dodd); [41] voluptus (sensuality), avaritia (avarice), superbia (vain-glory) (B. F.Westcott); [42] appetites of the body ... desire to possess material things ... egotism, etc. A number of scholars are reluctant to allow that any correspondence of this passage with the temptations of Eve and of Christ is intended; but David Smith did not hesitate to affirm that, "Here is a summary of all possible sins, as exemplified in the temptations of Eve (Genesis 3:1-6), and of our Lord (Matthew 4:1-11)." [43]

Lust of the flesh ... All temptations which have their roots in appetites and needs of the body are included in this; but the appetites of the body are not in themselves sinful. Therefore, "flesh" is used here in "the ethical sense, meaning the old nature of man, or his capacity to do that which is displeasing to God." [44]

Lust of the eyes ... The eyes have been called the gateway to the soul, hence the point of entry for many temptations. 'tin John's day, the impure and brutal spectacles of the theater and the arena would have supplied abundant illustrations of these."[45] It is no less true of our own times.

Pride of life ... The central lust of the ego itself is indicated by this. The utterly selfish instinct in all human life that insists upon achieving the fulfillment of the person itself, the inherent passion of the soul to do its own will, fulfill its own desires, glorify its own ego, and to occupy the inner control-center of life - that is the pride of life. Salvation in Christ requires that this be denied. 

Macknight's comment on this was

John means all things pertaining to this life, of which men of the world boast, and by which their pride is gratified: such as titles, offices, lands, noble birth, honorable relations, and the rest, whose efficacy to puff up men with pride and to make them insolent, is not of God. [46]

[35] John R. W. Stott, op. cit., p. 101.

[36] F. F. Bruce, Answers to Questions (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1972), p. 132.

[37] Ibid.

[38] Leon Morris, op. cit., p. 1263.

[39] Paul W. Hoon, op. cit., p. 238.

[40] Ibid.

(Cited from “James Coffman Commentaries of the Bible 1 John 2” Study Light.org

Hebrews 12:1-2
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

James 1:22-25 (ASV) 

22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves. 23 For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror: 24 for he beholdeth himself, and goeth away, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25 But he that looketh into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and so continueth, being not a hearer that forgetteth but a doer that worketh, this man shall be blessed in his doing.

Conclusion

Our Lord and Christ Jesus has given us the way to Father  (John 3:1-21, John 10:1-18, John 11:25-27, John 14:6, John 15:4-17, Romans 15:1-4, Ephesians 2:11-22, Hebrews 10:19-25, 1 John 5:10-13) and told us that we need to be doing the will of God (Matthew 21:28-32, Mark 3:31-35, Ephesians 6:1-9, Hebrews 10:35-39, 1 Peter 4:1-2, 1 John 2:15-17) to become not only children of God but brothers and sisters with the our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus (Matthew 12:46-50, Matthew 25:40, Matthew 28:10, Luke 8:21, John 20:17, Romans 8:29, Hebrews 2:5-13). 

Through study of the scriptures and the desire to be part of the body of Christ, making the changes in your life that are needed and hoping to go to heaven you must set your heart, your mind and your soul on doing the will of God. 

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