I John 2:15-17
Fatal Attraction

Introduction
1. As we walk in the light (1:6) we will confess our Savior and our sin. As we are honest with
ourselves, God produces fruit: (2:3-6) As to God there will be obedience. (2:7-11) As to
our brother in Christ there will be love. (2:12-14) As to the family of God there will be
growth.
2. Has the world caught you?
3. In I John 2:15-17 there are 3 key words: World…Love…Lust from these come a ‘fatal
attraction’.

Has the world caught you?
I. ADMONITION ABOUT THE WORLD 2:15
A. The Commissions
There are two:
1.Love not the world
*Love is agapao which is a self-giving type of love. It is the same love in God is love.
(John 3:16) For God so loved the world…World is the world of mankind. Some of John’s readers were still loving the world’s system out of which they had been saved.
*World Is not the world of creation or mankind. It is the world’s system which is headed by Satan and acts contrary to the will of God and the word of God. The word lusts (v. 16) shows it is something that is inside. (John 14:30; John 16:11; Ephesian 2:2 the course of this world) Filled with SELF there is no room for God.
2. Neither the things that are in the world
*Things is stuff…the here and now.
*This is to love things with a self-sacrificing love. It is possible for the believer
to do this or John wouldn’t be saying, “Stop Loving the World!”
B. The Conclusion
If any man (man is gender neutral) love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
1.The love is habitual. If there is a habitual love for the world the person is not saved.
2.Our love for the Father…to the extent the Christian loves the world’s system and the stuff in it…he does not love the Father. Love is a matter of the heart. It is possible for the Christian to stay away from all ‘questionable amusement’… “all doubtful activity’ and still be worldly.
3.Practical definition: Anything in the Christian’s life that causes him or her to lose his enjoyment of the Father’s love or his desire to do the Father’s will is worldly.

Has the world caught you?
II. ATTRACTIONS IN THE WORLD 2:16
Here are the magnets that attract: All that is in the world…just leave God out and you live
for the here and now.
A.The Pull
The pull comes to our unredeemed side.
1.The Lust of the Flesh
*Lust is neither good or bad. Lust is our desires.
*Mankind has certain desires which in and of themselves are not evil: hunger, thirst, weariness, sex. When ‘flesh’ takes over they become sinful ‘lusts’. Satan wants sex to be used outside of God’s guidelines…homosexuality, premarital sex, extra marital affairs, then it becomes fornication, immorality, unclean…sin! Hunger is God given…gluttony is sin. Sleep is a gift…laziness is not pleasing to God.
*The world appeals to our normal appetites and says, “Satisfy them with no thought of God” or not according to God’s guidelines.
*Do you spend as much time on your spiritual side as you do your physical side?
2. The Lust of the Eyes
*Did you know that your eyes had an appetite? “Feast your eyes on this!” Your
eyes are the gateway to your mind.
*Covetousness is the opposite of contentment. Covetousness is wanting what
God forbids or wanting what God has not given you. The whole advertising world
preys on making us never satisfied.
*The eye is the gateway to the mind and we think the way the world thinks. It’s
an attractive world…it looks sooooo good!
3. The Pride of Life
*Pride is impressed with their own importance. We try to impress others with our
importance or we boast of our possessions or our importance.
*Life is the Greek word bios which is vying with or getting the best of someone
else by any means. It gives ruse to conceit, arrogance and a feeling of superiority.
It thirsts after admiration, adulation, and applause. It strives for honors and craves
position and prestige in society.
*It has many expressions: making ourselves look good. Pretending to have what
we don’t or to be what we aren’t.
B.The Peril
The above (lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life) is not of the Father, but of the world.
1.No matter where you find it…It’s not of the Father. He is not the Source!
2.No matter in whom you find it. It is not of the Father.
3.This isn’t from God. The magnet of the world has caught you!

Has the world caught you?
III. THE ASSESSMENT OF THE WORLD 2:17
Let’s say, ‘I let the magnet pull me in.’ Say that you live like everyone else.
A.What Won’t Last 17a
Two things mentioned are emphasized:
1.The world is passing away
*Nothing in this world system is permanent.
*Everything is in a state of change…kingdoms fall…houses decay…stock markets crash…the dollar loses its value…
*Name anything that man holds dear…it won’t last!
2. The lusts of it
*Desires pass with age.
*It gets to the place that even food doesn’t taste good…sexual desires go…on
your death bed money can’t buy health.
*Let’s say that you are driven by desires…one day, if you live long enough you
will have none!
B. What Will Last 17b
The will of God abides forever.
1.John is contrasting two ways of life: one lived for the here and now and the other with eternity in view.
2.From the Father’s perspective: the will of God lasts forever!

Only one life twill soon be passed. Only what’s done for Christ will last.