The world, the flesh and pride are to be removed from our life as a believer in Jesus Christ. The philosphies of the world will infiltrate in your way of thinking, and it can have an effect on the decisions that you make. As we are called to be “children of God,” there should be something strange or peculiar about us.
When you ask God to remove something from your life that will not help you, He will remove it, or cut it away from you.
Jesus came with a sword to destroy the work of the Devil.
Matthew 10:34
Don’t assume that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
1 John 3:8
The one who commits sin is of the Devil, for the Devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God was revealed for this purpose: to destroy the Devil’s works.
Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17).
Out of the mouth comes a sharp sword which was to strike down the nations (Revelation 19:15).
The world–the order or system promoted by Satan, which conforms to his ideals, aims and methods. It is a world of people functioning apart from God. It is a world that doesn’t assign God any consideration or respect to their daily life. The system embraces the slogan, “I did it my way” without God–a godless, self-governing life.
God loves the world, but the believer is told not to love the world, or the love of the father is not in him.
1 John 2:15-16
15 Do not love the world or the things that belong to the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. 16 For everything that belongs to the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s lifestyle—is not from the Father, but is from the world.
We are not to love the institutions of the world. God loves the people of the world (John 3:16). We are not to love the style of behavior for others, including fashion and government.
Matthew 4:8
Again, the Devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.
Matthew 13:22
Now the one sown among the thorns—this is one who hears the word, but the worries of this age and the seduction of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
Ephesians 2:1-3
1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins 2 in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler who exercises authority over the lower heavens, the spirit now working in the disobedient. 3 We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also.
James 4:4
Adulteresses! Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the world’s friend becomes God’s enemy.
2 Peter 1:4
By these He has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desires.
Acts 5:29
But Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than men.
It is impossible to deny sin in this world. We see it daily. How does the world describe sin?
To the scholar, sin is ignorance.
To the evolutionist, sin is the evolution of a person
To others, sin is a disease that is to be treated by science, because man himself does not sin.
To others, it is a weakness of the flesh that we have to live with.
If there were no sin, there would be no need for prisons (incarceration involves rehabilitiation).
Keep this in mind, the purpose of hell is to punish sin with a separation from God.
God’s view is that sin in this world is a transgression of His law. It is rebellion against His will. Sin is coming up short of His plan and His glory. Sin is unbelief concerning what God has said. Sin is doing your own thing without God’s approval.
Romans 3:25
God presented Him as a propitiation through faith in His blood, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His restraint God passed over the sins previously committed.
Isaiah 1:2
Listen, heavens, and pay attention, earth,
for the Lord has spoken:
“I have raised children and brought them up,
but they have rebelled against Me.
1 John 5:10
(The one who believes in the Son of God has this testimony within him. The one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony God has given about His Son.)
Isaiah 53:6
We all went astray like sheep;
we all have turned to our own way;
and the Lord has punished Him
for the iniquity of us all.
1 John 3:4
4 Everyone who commits sin also breaks the law; sin is the breaking of law.
The flesh is seeking your own desire as a rivalry against God.
2 Timothy 4:10
…for Demas has deserted me, because he loved this present world, and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.
Philippians 3:18-19
18 For I have often told you, and now say again with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction; their god is their stomach; their glory is in their shame. They are focused on earthly things,
Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
Ephesians 2:2
…in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler who exercises authority over the lower heavens, the spirit now working in the disobedient.
Anything of the world that keeps you from God needs to be cut away. You need to ask for His help to remove the things you do not want to follow. Who overcomes the world? Those who have faith in Jesus Christ will overcome the world.
1 John 4:4, 5:4
You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
because whatever has been born of God conquers the world. This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith.
Akron Alliance Fellowship 