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TranscriptIntroduction
It’s nice to be meeting with you again. Of course, if this is the first time you’re listening to this series, please be sure to start with Part 1 in episode 613.
Otherwise, I’m glad you’re back with your family to continue our study of I John as we seek to learn what a Biblical Family is and how we can stay in the light at God is in the light. To that end, I pray that you will avail yourself of the free notes, transcript, LifeWork, and related resources that are linked for you in the description of this session. Each of the linked resources will help you and your family members dig deeper into the topics we’re discussing and pursue additional topics that will all help you be more spiritually mature. So, let’s begin. Topic
As always, I hope you’re taking your LifeWork seriously. I hope you’re meditating on the Scriptures we’re going to study and asking God to help you understand His will for your life. In addition, I pray you’re seeing yourself more clearly. Jeremiah tells us that our hearts are evil and deceptive. It’s very easy for us to think we’re doing everything okay, but when we see ourselves through God’s eyes, we recognize that we are still very selfish and disobedient. So, I hope you and your family have taken the time to talk about the two (or more) times this week that you realized you may have looked righteous on the outside, but were actually selfishly motivated.
If you haven’t yet done that, you can do that now before continuing. Either way, let’s read I John 2:15-25 together. “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and also its lusts, but the one who does the will of God abides forever. 18 Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared. From this we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they were of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be manifested that they all are not of us. 20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. 21 I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. 24 As for you, let that which you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life.” Now, admittedly, there is so much information here, and a lot of it gets very deep. So, allow me to set your heart at ease. It’s my intention to address the topics that are relevant to our discussion about biblical families and to move past the rest. And the main focus of our discussion today is the greatest danger that keeps our families from continuing in the light. But before we talk about that, I want to invite you to download the Evermind App and create a free account. This app is the home for Truth.Love.Family.’s online courses, devotionals, and digital books. A lot of the material is free, and you can find other resources like fasting journals, curated resources, and sermons from Faithtree Biblical Counseling & Discipleship, The Year Long Celebration of God, and AMBrewster Ministries. I pray that material will also be part of the tools that help you and your family glorify the Lord even more than you have in the past. Okay, so today’s discussion is about the biggest enemy to your family. I mentioned last time that it’s easy for many church-goers to think that Satan is our greatest enemy. However, though he is one of our enemies, he’s not the worst. So, let’s start with . . . 1. Your Family’s Enemies The Scriptures identify three main categories of spiritual enemies. A. Demonic Forces This would include the Devil and his fallen angels. I Peter 5:8 says that the devil is like a roaring lion prowling around to find someone to devour. Last time we talked a little about “the evil one;” that was referencing the devil. But this passage also talks about the next category . . . B. The World When biblical writers refer to the World in passages like this, they’re not talking about the globe on which we all live. They’re talking about the World System and anyone following that system. The World System is anything and everything that stands against God. Everyone who is in darkness or is living sinfully, is following the path laid by the World. Now, Satan is encouraging all of this. He wants people in the world to be living worldly. He and his demonic forces are at work to convince people to continue following this world system. But Satan cannot make believers do anything. Demonic powers can possess unbelievers and cause them to do things that would otherwise be against their will, but they can’t do that to people who are filled with the Holy Spirit. By the way, we have a series called The Spiritual Warfare in Your Home. If you’ve ever wondered about demonic forces and how they may be trying to influence your family, we open the Scriptures in this series to have a right understanding of the situation. This series will be linked for you in the description of today’s episode, and I’ll reference it a number of times before we’re done today. So, anyone who follows the sinful pattern is considered to be worldly and part of the world. This includes our neighbors, people at school, in our places of employment, and even in our homes. Anyone who is in your home who is still not born again is of the World. And anytime we choose to worship self instead of the Lord, we’re acting in worldly ways. But today’s passage identifies a specific group of individuals which John refers to as an antichrist. Now, you may have thought that the antichrist was a demonic creature during the tribulation. Technically, the antichrist will be a human who is possessed by Satan and used to persecute God’s people during the end times. John quickly references him in verse 8 when he said, “and just as you heard that antichrist is coming,” but then he talks about “many antichrists” who had appeared during their day. So, what makes someone an antichrist? John answers this question in verses 22 through 23, “Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.” Christ was not Jesus’ last name. Christ is a Greek word that refers to the Hebrew word we know as Messiah. Jesus was the chosen one, the anointed one, the God-man who would become the perfect sacrifice for sinful man. When people say that Jesus is not the Old Testament Messiah, that person is an antichrist. When people say that Jesus is not God, that person is an antichrist. When a person denies anything the Bible says about Jesus, that person is acting like an antichrist. This should be a warning to us to be very careful what we believe about Jesus. We need to make sure that we know how He reveals Himself in the Bible and seek to understand Who He is and what He does lest we inadvertently believe and say things about Him that aren’t true. The point here is that the World System is another enemy of your family—specifically, anyone who denies that Jesus is Who He says He is and did what He said He did. But those are not the only enemies listed in this passage. C. Your Flesh As was mentioned last time, when the Bible is talking about our flesh in a spiritual sense, it’s referring to our sin natures—that part of us that still wants to disobey God and do whatever we want to do. It’s our flesh that loves the world and the things in the world. It’s our flesh that lusts after things it shouldn’t. It’s our flesh that believes things about Jesus that are untrue. It’s our flesh that rejects faith in God. Specifically, though, John identifies three kinds of lusts—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. The word “lust” refers generally to a desire, but more specifically to a wrong desire. I talk about these lusts in great detail in our Spiritual Warfare in Your Home Series, but I’ll illustrate them here quickly with the example of Eve. Genesis 3:6 tells us that after being tempted by Satan to eat the forbidden fruit, “the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, so she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.” Eve recognized that the fruit was good for eating. That was the lust of the flesh. It would taste good and fill her and potentially give her nutrients. But the Bible also says that it was a delight to the eyes. The lust of the eyes is that which is drawn to superficial, beautiful things even though we know they’re not going to please the Lord. Beauty itself is not sinful, but the lust of the eyes deceives us from seeing the wickedness of something because we’re distracted by its beauty. And then we see the pride of life in the statement “and that the tree was desirable to make one wise.” That’s what she ultimately wanted. She wanted to be as wise as God. She was focused on what she wanted and not on what God had commanded. All of our sins fall into one or more of these categories. We want something that God says we shouldn’t have or do, but we want to do it anyway. That’s a lust. And this is the main focus of this portion of John’s letter. “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and also its lusts, but the one who does the will of God abides forever.” It is your own flesh that is your biggest enemies. It is the people who live in your home who are the biggest enemy to your being a Biblical Family. We already saw that any number of individuals in your home may be living biblically as they submit to God’s will for them, but the whole family can only be considered to be living in a biblical way as everyone in the family is striving to obey God. It’s a group effort as we seek to be a family God is pleased to be called our God. Therefore, just one person in the family who is not a Christian or acting like an antichrist, that person makes it so that the family as a whole is not fully pleasing God as it should. Now, for quick clarification, just because there’s one person in your home not pleasing God doesn’t mean that God isn’t pleased with those living in the light to His glory. My point is, we should desire for everyone in our homes to be pleasing the Lord and living in the light. The focus of this Bible study is general in that the goal is for our whole family to be growing disciples of Christ. That group reality requires individual responsibility. Anyway, my sinful flesh is my biggest enemy and an enemy to the maturity of my family. Again, the Spiritual Warfare in Your Home series does a thorough job of supporting this claim from the Scriptures. But I want to consider just one passage before we move on today.’’ James 1:13-15 says “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God;’ for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. 15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully matured, it brings forth death.” God doesn’t tempt us to sin. In fact, we talked earlier about I Corinthians 10:13 and the truth that God always provides us a way to escape temptation. Satan isn’t our biggest enemy because he can’t make us do anything. We are our biggest enemy because we are tempted when we are carried away and enticed by our own lusts. It is those lusts of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life that gives birth to sin. This is why I John 2:15 starts with a command to us. “Do not love the world nor the things in the world.” If Satan or God tempted us and made us sin, this command is impossible. How could we choose to not love the world if someone else were just going to force us? John says this because it’s our choice. By the power of God, we can—and must—choose to not love the world. And this is where we transition to our final point for the day. 2. Your Family’s Defense If I am my greatest enemy, my greatest defense against my sinful flesh is truly a righteous offense. As I live righteously in the light by the power and grace of God, I will not be a friend of the world. It’s our choice. We need to choose to not love the world. We need to choose to reject the lusts of the sin nature. We need to choose to reject the antichrists and their lies. We need to choose to recognize what verse 20 says, we have “an anointing from the Holy One,” Who enables us to do the truth. We need to do what verse 24 commands, "let that which you heard from the beginning abide in you.” God will provide us a way to escape every temptation that grows from our lusts, but we need to use the escape hatch. He won’t pull us from it against our will. We must consciously and intentionally rush through it. With this said, let’s review some of the passages from earlier in I John. “If we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” (I John 1:7) “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” (I John 2:1) “And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; 5 but whoever keeps His word, truly in him the love of God has been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: 6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.” (I John 2:3-6) “The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.” (I John 2:10) “I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.” (I John 2:14) My friends, we have a responsibility to live in the light, to live righteously as God has called and created us to live. We have the responsibility to please the Lord by glorifying Him in all we say and do. But I recognize that this advice lacks relevant practicality. You may be a young person who wants to be a light for Christ in your school, but you don’t know where to start. You may be a parent who knows you need to be patient with your children’s foolishness, but you don’t know how to not be instantly annoyed. You may be a child who knows you need to obey, but you just don’t want to. You may be an adult who recognizes that God isn’t pleased by your entertainment choices, but there’s nothing else you want to consume. And none of those examples may apply to you at all. Your lusts of the flesh, eyes, and pride of life may be far more unique to you. That’s why resources like this are far too limited when it comes to the razor sharp application you and your family need. So, let’s reframe our expectations and goals. First, this devotional series is designed to use God’s Word to open our eyes to our need. Second, this devotional series hopes to persuade you that you can glorify God by living in the light better than you have been and encourage a personal desire to grow and change. Third, this devotional series will provide the same application that the book of I John provides to its readers. This means that it will all be applicable to everyone who reads it. We all have something we need to learn from this book, and—by God’s grace—many things we need to start doing and other we need to stop. However . . . Fourth, the specific temptations you face cannot be addressed in a series like this. So, here are the God-ordained ways you can get help for the specific needs we don’t discuss here. A. Biblical families are family discipleship families. We have been called to follow God as we build each other up into Christ. Parents are to rear their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Born again children can speak biblical truth into their parents lives. And I know, you may feel ill-equipped to do that. That’s okay. We all are. We all need to be taught. That’s why . . . B. Biblical families are church discipleship families. If you attend a biblical church—and we have a whole series to help you determine if your current church is functioning the way God intended—then there should be mature believers there who want to help you and your family members be more like Christ. Now, there is no guarantee that people like this will be in your church. It’s also no guarantee that they will be wise enough to be as precise and specific as they should. This is a problem, but it’s systemic and has been around since the beginning of the church because we’re all sinners. But there are many ministries and organizations like this one that are trying to equip pastors and disicplers to do their jobs better. And that leads us to . . . C. Biblical families pursue discipleship anywhere they can. If we’re born again, God has left us here to grow in our discipleship and make new disciples who are to grow in their discipleship and make new disciples. This means that we need to pursue this at all costs. If there isn’t anyone in our church who can help us get as specific and applicable as we need, praise God that ministries like Truth.Love.Family., Faithtree Biblical Counseling & Discipleship, and the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors exist. BiblicalCounseling.com has a find a counselor tool that can connect you with one or more of thousands of biblical counselors across the world. We here at Truth.Love.Family and Faithtree Biblical Counseling & Discipleship have trained biblical counselors who would love to help your family get as razor specific as you need to start growing in leaps and bounds. So, yes, I hope that as you participate in this family devotional you are convicted of areas in which you need to change. But, no, this series won’t be able to directly address all the specific areas that need to be changed in your life. However, we will deal with many general truths in which we all need to grow. Therefore, as you learn how important your growth in righteousness is, hopefully you will seek out those who can help you take the next step in your discipleship. That should start at home, and Truth.Love.Parent. wants to equip you parents to do that better. All of our over 600 episodes are designed to equip parents and their kids to be the men and women God called and created them to be. We not only have episodes that get very specific in their practical application, but we have episodes that teach parents how to be even more precise in their application with their kids. But God has also put other people into your lives or at least into your grasp who can help you better worship Him. Conclusion
Your greatest enemy is your own sinful heart that doesn’t want to do right and only wants to please itself. The same is true for me and everyone in my family.
But we need to fight those lusts by relying on the Holy Spirit’s power to do the things God commands in His Word. And we all need help growing in righteousness. We can’t do it by ourselves. We absolutely need the Holy Spirit, but God also would have us leaning on other believers to speak truth in love to each other so that we can become more like Jesus. Therefore, we all need to seek out and lean into those relationships. So, with that laid out before us, here’s our LifeWork. 1. Read I John 2:26-29 two times this week. 2. Ask God to give you disciplers. Hopefully, they’re already in your family and church. But ask God to help you start an intentional and purposeful discipleship relationship with them. 3. Commit to family discipleship. It’s true that your family may not feel ready for this, but discipleship isn’t something we wait to do until we’re perfect. It’s something we start now and grow in. We won’t do it perfectly, but—Lord willing—we will mature in it. So, your family needs to commit to each other to be an active part of your family’s discipleship. Of course, if anyone in your family is still not born again, they can’t really participate in this process. They aren’t a disciple of Christ themselves. If you fall into that category, the best way to participate in your family discipleship is to submit to God and become His disciple yourself. 4. Find help. If your family is in a bad place or there are individuals who need careful, specific biblical help, please reach out to us at [email protected]. Of course, you may also pursue biblically trained help from people in your church or from an organization like the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors. The point is—if you have a cancerous tumor, you don’t ignore it. You get help to remove it. We all have a sinful heart, and we all need to learn to deny the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. So, let’s not wait any longer. I also hope you share this family devotional with your friends, and I look forward to meeting with you next time when we consider the biblical family’s shelter. See you then.
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