Peter Barnes | 1 John 2:15-17
SERMON NOTES
DO NOT LOVE THE WORLD
(1 John 2:15-17)
– there is a right way to love the world (John 3:16; Ps.33:5), but not in its fallenness and sin.
1. It is impossible to love the world wrongly and be a Christian.
– 2:15; note 5:19; 4:4
– John 15:18-19; Rom. 12:2; James 4:4
– Augustine: ‘the good make use of this world in order to enjoy God, whereas the evil want to make use of God in order to enjoy the world’.
2. What it means to love the world wrongly.
– 2:16; for examples, see Gen.3:6; Joshua 7:1, 20-21; 2 Sam.11:2-3
– the world is Vanity Fair
3. To perish or to live forever.
– 2:17; see 1 Tim.6:7; 1 Cor.7:31; 2 Cor.4:18
– sojourners and pilgrims (1 Pet.2:11); Augustine: ‘Hold fast Christ. For you He became temporal, that you might become eternal.’