Every Christian is called to fight ! It is a spiritual struggle. The Bible speaks of three terrible enemies that fight against the Christian: The flesh, the world and the devil.
Today the theme will be about the enemy called "the world".
THE BIBLE uses the word "world" in three different ways. First, it can refer to THE EARTH that God created:
The God who made the world and all the things that are in it ... (Acts 17:24).
It can also refer to PEOPLE, as in John 3:16:
Because God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son ...
A third use is found in 1 John 2: 15, where the sons of God are admonished:
Do not love the world, or the things that are in the world.
Here "the world" refers to the mundane system that is the mortal enemy of the Son of God.
WHAT OF THE CHRISTIANS?
Can Satan deceive us? Yes,! Satan uses the attractive things of this world to turn our hearts away from God and prevent us from doing His will. That's why the Bible warns us:
Do not love the world, or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him (1 John 2:15).
The Lord Jesus Christ defeated the world.
The Lord Jesus came into the world to free us from the power of Satan. Although he was in the world, He was not of the world; that is, it was not part of the mundane system of Satan. He said:
... the prince of this world (Satan) comes, and he has nothing in me (John 14:30).
The Lord Jesus defeated Satan and his worldly system. Satan offered the Lord Jesus all the kingdoms of this world if he only knelt down and worshiped him, but Jesus rejected this temptation. Instead, he chose to go to the cross, where he died for our sins.
ON THE THIRD DAY, God raised the Lord Jesus from the dead and gave him authority in Heaven and on earth. God made him the Beginning of a new creation.
THE LORD JESUS not only defeated the mundane system of Satan, but also delivered us from it. The Bible says:
Who (Christ) gave himself for our sins to free us from the present evil (world) century (Galatians 1: 4).
How did Christ deliver us from the world?
By His death on the cross. He not only died for us, but we also died with Him. We were in Him when He died, we were in Him when He was buried, and we were in Him when He was resurrected as Head of the new creation.
FOR OUR DEATH, burial and resurrection with Christ, we have been delivered from the mundane system of Satan. We are in the world, but we are not of the world! The Bible says:
Giving thanks to the Father ... who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son (Colossians 1: 12-13).
Although the Lord Jesus has delivered us from Satan's system, He wants us to be in the world. He prayed to the Father:
I do not pray that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from evil (John 17:15).
Why has the Lord Jesus left us in the world?
He has left us in the world to bring the Gospel to the unconverted. We have a message that can rid people of the power of Satan. The Christian who faithfully gives testimony of His Lord can be the instrument by which many people are won for the Lord Jesus Christ. This means that we are a potential threat to the kingdom of Satan; that's why Satan hates us and tries to destroy us.
WHAT IS SATAN'S STRATEGY against us as Christians? Satan's strategy is to make us ineffective in the battle against him. Satan wants to neutralize us so that we can not fight effectively against him.
SATAN TRIES THAT we conform to this world. He wants us to think how the people of this world think, that we look for the same things they seek and that we do the same things they do. Satan tries to trick us into living for worldly things instead of living for God.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE CONFORM TO THE WORLD?
Two things: We lose the joy of being Christians and we lose the power of God in our lives.
How can we avoid being deceived?
To prevent Satan from deceiving us, we must know the truth. We must have our minds renewed so we can see things as God sees them. The Bible says:
Do not be conformed to this century; but be transformed by the renewing of your understanding, that you may prove what is the good will of God, acceptable and perfect (Romans 12: 2).
WHAT DOES GOD WANT WE SEE as far as the world is concerned? First of all, God wants us to see that the system of the world is ruled by Satan. The Bible says:
... the whole world is under the evil one (1 John 5:19).
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the boasting of life, does not come from the Father, but from the world (1 John 2:16).
SINCE THE WORLD IS RULED by Satan, to be a friend of the world is to be an enemy of God. The Bible says:
Do you not know that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Anyone who wants to be a friend of the world, is an enemy of God (James 4: 4).
THIS WORLD CRUCIFIED OUR LORD; its ruler is the enemy of God. With the apostle Paul, the true Christian can say:
But far be it from me to glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ ... (Galatians 6:14).
God wants us to understand that the mundane system has no future. He has been condemned by God. The world of Satan is like a criminal who has been sentenced to death; Although he is still alive, he has no future. He is condemned to death.
IN THE SAME WAY THE WORLD OF SATAN is under sentence of death. He has no future regarding God; that is why we should not live for the things of this world. The Bible says:
And the world passes, and its desires; but he who does the will of God abides forever (1 John 2:17).
THE BIBLE TELLS US that, someday, the system of Satan will be replaced by the kingdom of the Son of God. The Lord Jesus Christ will reign over the world as His lawful Governor.
The kingdoms of the world have come to be of our Lord and of His Christ; and he will reign for ever and ever (Revelation 11:15).
We have seen that the worldly system is governed by Satan. We learned that he is condemned, and that it will soon pass.
OBEDIENCE IS THE PATH OF BLESSING.
Confess your sins to God. Ask Him to forgive you and cleanse you by the blood of His Son. Turn your back on the world and the things of this world.
The communion with the Father, the blessing of God in our life, and the privilege of winning others for Christ; these are only a few of the rewards of incomparable value that those who live for the Lord receive.
SATAN WANTS US TO live for the things of this world, but this world is not our home. Heaven is our home. The Bible says:
If, then, you have risen with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things of the earth (Colossians 3: 1-2).
Philippians 3:20
Because our citizenship is in heaven, from where we also eagerly await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
