Pastor Lutzer | Guard Your Heart: Loving The World, Loving God - Sermon 3

hi pastor Lutzer here you are about to hear a sermon from God's Word we here at Moody Church media believed that the best way to see the transformation of lives is the preaching of the word of God and the power of the Spirit of God to the people of God if you enjoy this ministry we hope that you will subscribe to this channel or follow the link to our website where we regularly publish blogs and videos and have the opportunity even to answer some of your questions and now I hope that you will enjoy this sermon one of the things that we've learned so far is that technology is not neutral the media is not neutral it comes with a bias against holy living someone has written these words technology has developed a dynamic of its own and passed out of human control Neil postman says technology has displaced traditional culture to our great harm and it's true isn't it we are obsessed with technology during the Christmas season what is it that has purchased the most it is updates on technology now this was back in 2008 teenagers averaged two thousand two hundred and seventy two text messages a month which averages out to about 80 text messages a day psychologists and doctors say that it is the leading cause of anxiety distraction failing grades repetitive stress injury and sleep deprivation 37 percent of our teenagers say that they have sent sexually suggestive messages in some form of the social network and half more than half say they have no rules for how they use you know the Internet iPads iPhones and all the other tech oh gee that is out there now in the midst of this the Bible says this and I want you to take your Bibles and turn if you would please to first John chapter 2 because we're going to be there in just a moment first John chapter 2 it says in verse 15 do not love the world or the things that are in the world I need to stop right there and ask you a question how do we reconcile the fact that the Bible says we're not to love the world with a fact of John 3:16 for God so loved the world well the Enigma is not hard to unravel sometimes the word world refers to people and that's of course what John 3:16 is all about for God so loved the world of people and we're to love the world of people but we're not to love the world system which the Bible says is in the hands of the evil one and technology and the media in ways that have never been true throughout history have presented these values to us the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life such as even video games and I don't have time to discuss that today but we'll probably comment on that in more detail in a future message there it is technology throughout 2,000 years of church history the church has debated as to how to relate to this world of course the world in which they were discussing this was entirely different from ours but there were those who said that the answer is separation and monasteries came about as a result what you do is you separate from the world let me tell you about a family that Rebecca and I know very well in fact we know them so well that whenever they travel through Chicago the children stay with us and I'm going to call these children kids even though they're in their late teens and 20s at my age I think I have the right to call them kids and they were in our home again before Christmas and then before that in the fall and they come through and they stay with us and we love to be with them but I want you to understand who they are they belong to a specific denomination which I will not mention because not all people who belong to this denomination agree with this lifestyle but they are growing up in homes and in a church where there is no internet you can have a cell phone but it can't be an iPhone you can't access the internet with it no radio no television if you ask them how do you know what's going on in the world they say well sometimes we're in town and we read the headlines of the newspaper or maybe neighbors tell us now I want you to put your mind around this here are two children in our home and sometimes there have been more than that and these kids in their twenties have never heard of lady gaga they have no idea who JLo was or is they're not concerned about whether or not Brad and Angela get married it's never occurred to them as a matter of fact if we had mentioned to them and said now tell us what you know about MTV I'm convinced they'd have said that it is a certain chemical farmers used to kill weeds they never heard of this they have been totally isolated from pop culture completely knowing nothing of this so what are these kids like well for one thing they want to sit down and they want to talk to you they look you in the eye we had wonderful conversations about God they'll tell you where they are in their Bible reading and they'll catch you up to date on their families and all of those other things and I bet excuse me let me rephrase that and say I venture to say that none of them probably have eating disorders because you know the whole idea that somehow your body has to fit a certain shape and if it doesn't you are devalued and nobody will look at you that has never occurred to them they have never heard to Britney Spears and so as a result they are unaffected by it and we just had such a delightful time with them and of course their modestly dressed because the whole idea of modern culture with the dresses that young people wear today and all that they don't have any of that now you say well we can't do that we can't isolate ourselves like that I mean clearly they are divorced from culture they have no idea what's going on they have no input into culture and on and on we could go to give reasons why we don't want to go there after all what about the socialization process how do they socialize if they don't know anything about pop culture and so I understand that we don't want to go there but you know they don't have it all wrong just two days ago yes two days ago I heard about a man in a church not this church though I'm sure it's happened at Moody Church and may even be happening now I heard about a man who connected with a woman online and got an online romance going and then when his wife discovered it he did what most people in that situation do confess to only as much as he absolutely had to and hid the rest and then months later of course it all crops up with all of its ugliness again because he left some roots in the ground I'm sure that these young people have problems because I know they do they have a sinful nature but probably if you're raised in a culture and in a church where there is no internet and there is no radio probably those kinds of incidents do not happen because they can't happen it's not all bad to be isolated like that well you say but pastor Lutzer we can't go there that's just nothing but legalism ok all right I hear you so let's go to the opposite extreme this is what Stephen Gallagher says the average teenager encounters today the average teenage boy while waiting for his younger sister to get ready for school he turns on MTV and catches some of the latest videos most of them filled with plenty of innuendo and skin later that morning he has health class his teacher refuses to take a moral stand against premarital sex or even homosexuality and a text message from a girl who thinks he's cute casually lets him know that her parents will not be home tomorrow night while he walks down the hallway he overhears the popular boys talking about the girls that they've hooked up with on the way home from school he stops at a friend's house to log in to social media crews the latest pics and posts from their friends hoping that some of the girls they are looking to hook up with have responded a few hours later he's home in front of the TV where the characters of his favorite shows regularly engage in various sexual scenarios when a sister isn't looking he scans her stack of Cosmo girl in 17 magazines drinking in the seductive advertisements and on and on it goes and then Gallagher says why are we surprised that we have so many sex addicts today so the question that we have to answer in the moments that we have left is this what do we do if we are going to redeem the media for the glory of God now I know of course as I mentioned last time the internet is being used mightily to spread the gospel I get that but I'm talking about our individual personal private use of the media what do we need to do now what I'm going to share with you in this message is kind of hard stuff and I've prayed that I would have the proper balance between being pastoral which of course I always want to be and putting it very clearly and remember whatever I say to you applies to me as well what an agenda for the next few moments you know it was tozer who said that men today think that the world that is Christian men is not a battleground but a playground we're not here to fight he says we're here frolic we are not in a foreign land we feel very much at home what is there in the world that we haven't imbibed we do feel at home what's this business about being strangers and pilgrims and singing this world is not my home this world is our home name one thing that the world has and listens to and watches that we don't and then it says we are not two getting ready to live the average Christian thanks but we're already living the question is how do we live it to the full all right all that by way of introduction and getting us into the text of Scripture and then talking about technology and the Christian first John chapter 2 you'll notice it says this 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 for all that is in the world the desires of the flesh the desires of the eyes and the pride in possessions it's not from the father it's from the world when John says don't love the world and he speaks about the lust of the flesh that has to do with our basic human fallen desires of course there are good lusts and good desires if we use the word desire the desire to eat the desire for sexual intimacy the desire to drink the indata desire to enjoy ourselves but all of these have been perverted because of the fall and the world now sucks us into its mold and it's the desires of the flesh remember the last message I preached I mentioned that we have within ourselves a flammable substance and with all of the sparks and with all of the fires that are burning out there they set us a flame within and turn on your television set at any time and you can see that so John says here that we should not love the world but the thing and neither the things that are in the world and of course we'll talk about those implications secondly it says the desires of the eyes you could in context actually translate the word desire here to refer to craving the craving of the sinful flesh which we have of course whether there'd be a media or not fighting the passions is not a new challenge for the Christian even those who were in the monasteries had to because as we learned last time it arises from our inner nature but it's it's the stimuli without it's the stimuli zation without and then it says the craving of the eyes your eyes have an appetite they crave certain things and the power of the eyes to influence the brain and to have a permanent effect on who we are and what we value is powerful and unrelenting and then he goes on to say by the way remember akin the Bible says he saw a garment he wasn't supposed to touch or steel he saw he coveted it and took it and then it says he hid it in his tent isn't that technology it gives us an opportunity to see to covet to take and then to hide and John says that's the world and then he says the pride of possessions actually the pride of life is a good translation it refers to possessions but notice this the first two categories refer to that which we don't have which we would like to have we covet and the second category now is to take pride in what we have the pride of life and could we say that as you've heard me say at another occasion pride of race that's the root of racism is the pride of life pride of race pride of grace our abilities which are given to us of God that we take credit for pride a face Paul my you know today beauty is the gold coin of human worth you know you young people and many of you are here today and some of you young ladies are very beautiful there's a sense in which I feel sorry for you because our culture was going to put so much pressure on you to become immoral the pressure is going to be huge and unrelenting years ago I was preaching in a Bible College and I said the same thing I told you now and I said I think beauty is a curse later on a student told me that a girl went into her room and said Oh God if beauty is a curse smite me with it and may I never recover but those of you who are striking in your appearance the appearance so many more opportunities you will have than the rest of us but so many temptations so you have pride of race pride of grace pride of face pride of place who are you look at where you work look at what you own you know pastor wares be who preceded me here as pastors said done one occasion that when you think of the world the Bible says first of all we shouldn't be friends with the world you know what James says he says that to be a friend of the world is to be an enemy of God Wow so where's B says you shouldn't be friends with the world and then if you are friends with the world you're spotted by the world James uses that illustration in Chapter 1 spotted by the world and then we should not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of our minds and then if not we may be condemned by the world how seductive it really is but the question is how do we counter it how do we say to ourselves well we're going to use technology privately and personally but we're going to use it for the glory of God Howard how's that gonna work well let's look at the text again and remind ourselves of a couple of things first of all every heart every heart loves something every heart loves something in fact the Bible is very clear about this and we are basically desire driven whichever is the greatest desire wins so I would like to give you three or four ways in which we should love God and we'll relate it to the temptations of this world and we'll see how God leads us from there first of all you'll notice it says very clearly here that if you love the world verse 15 either love of the Father isn't in you what it means is that you and I should love God exclusively he should have full right into every single crevice and closet of our minds and heart nothing cordoned off that says this is for me thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy mind and with all thy soul loving God exclusively John Piper put it rather bluntly but clearly he says if you love the world you're a god hater now is that too strong what did I quote from James you adulterers and adulteresses don't you know that friendship with the world is enmity against God I guess Piper is right that if we love the world it really doesn't matter how loudly we sing on Sundays it doesn't matter how many verses of Scripture we memorize the fact is that the love of the father is not in us if we love the world because clearly we're to love God exclusively and a love of the world and love of God are mutually exclusive have you had the experience as I know I have and you probably also where you come home from church maybe and or maybe you've had a great time in your devotional life and you just say to yourself you know I just really met God and you've been cleansed you've confessed your sin and your relationship with God is just so satisfying then you get home and you flip on the TV and you see a sensual scene and you begin to carry it out and you begin to see it and immediately this love for God that you had begins to drain away like a pitcher that is broken at the bottom and the water drains out doesn't mean that you're not a believer necessarily but it means that you can't love the world and love God simultaneously now we're to love God therefore exclusively so let me ask you a question about technology if you and I are to be radically separated from the world and radical God lovers then the question is this are we willing to submit all of our technology to God are we willing to say God whatever it is that's the great stumbling block in my life I want to get rid of it you say well you know you can't get rid of television I mean oh yeah there have been people who've done that you know you could unplug the thing and leave it for the garbage people to pick it up I mean there's no thing that says you absolutely need to what about the iPhone you know one thing about the young people that I was telling you about who aren't allowed to have in internet connection at all one thing about them is they probably aren't sitting in worship service playing video games or texting one another it's amazing isn't it what I'm simply saying is and I give this a challenge to myself the challenge is simply this are we willing to give our addiction to technology and I'll use the word there our addiction to technology to God seven hours a day the average young person is in some way connected with technology there are homes where you cannot eat dinner without the television set on imagine that being gone and you can actually sit and talk to one another and you're not sitting there trying to text somebody a new picture that you just had what is it that God says what does exclusive love of God mean in your life what does exclusive love for God mean in mine and here's the question now how do we manage temptation sometimes even temptation over which we have no control well you know that in this series of messages every time I've been giving you an assignment and if you miss some of the assignments or wherever whatever you can go online and I'm told that they are there for you notice you can go online I'll give you permission to go online you can always go to the moody website we give you exclusive privileges to do that but today's assignment is going to be there and let me tell you why I give it to you you know speaking of assignments you know the first assignment was three consecutive days without television without media without social media and so forth I have been doing that now this past week has been my third week of each week having three consecutive days without television and I'll tell you something what it is doing in my life I'm saying Wow why haven't I been doing this before the sense of freedom and and time and silence if God actually wanted to talk to you he's not going to shout at you he's not going to shout over against you no your stereo set shout louder than it does or the Internet with all of its images are we willing to ask God and say what do you mean well anyway here's the story young men come to me and they say you know I always I always swear it off of course that's exactly what I mentioned last time people do and then they go back but there I am back in those websites that are so destructive or pornography or whatever and I asked them a question what are your resources none you know a verse that almost seems to be the key verse for this whole series is 25:28 of Proverbs where it says a man without self-control is like a city that has been broken into and left without walls where are your walls I mean if you lived in a city and the enemy came over the same place over and over again wouldn't you eventually say you know I think I should put up some defenses right there might just actually occur to you no weapons one day my wife and I were walking in a forest area we're walking along the road and the bear just jumped out and went across the road ahead of us well we were there and I don't know if this would have helped or not I'm glad we didn't need to find out but we at least each grabbed a stick so that we'd have something if we were to see him again rather than pardon the pun just our bare hands and and people go into temptation without no resources if if you want to have resources where do you find out what does the Bible give us any hint yes wish I had time to expound on it but notice it says in verse 14 of the very chapter we're in that's why you bring your Bibles to church I write to you father's because you know Him who is from the beginning I write to you young men because you're conquerors it says you are strong and the Word of God abides in you and you've overcome the evil one and how do you overcome the evil one well the Word of God has to abide in you so this is what I tell young men and I've had some testimonies as to how it works that what you need to do is to memorize five or six verses of scripture that you know cold this is not a time where you're stuttering wondering whether or not you can recite them and then you need to make a promise and say before I open that magazine or before I go ABCD wherever that means I am going to recite each of these promises three times and I'm going to concentrate on what it is that I'm reciting the best way to overcome temptation is through worship and praise Bible says in the Psalms it says that seven times every day you should praise the Lord the best you can do is to you is to worship but part of that worshiping can be the quotation of Scripture so I give this guy the assignment he memorizes it cold this was back in the days before the internet he's standing at the magazine rack his heart begins to race and to pitter-patter but a promise is a promise is a promise so there he is Oh blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God be holy for I am holy says the Lord God whatsoever things are pure what so ever things are honest whatsoever things are of good report think of these things and on and on he goes and I remember how he told me how he was not only able to walk away but to do so with the great sense of peace that he did not have to be bound by this habit now that's why this week's assignment first week was to detox second week I gave you a regimen for when you wake up in the morning today's assignment for this time is Matthew chapter 5 verse 8 blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God and the next verse I'm giving you is be holy for I am holy can you look at me and can we say this together when I say together let's say both verses together okay because you probably know them let's say it together blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God folks that's not going to work you have to say it better than that alright let's say it together blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God be ye holy for I am holy and then of course I'm also giving you 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 beginning at verse 17 and there are many other verses but you have to memorize that now for many of you it's not going to work I'll tell you why to put it a little indelicately the demon is in too deep and you're not yet desperate God delivers people but he usually reserves his finest deliverance for the desperate for those who are willing to pay any price and that's why I encourage you also join a small group we have many ministries for women we have many ministries for men you need to be able to connect you need to be able to pray together because the battle that we are fighting is huge and the scripture says we must love God exclusively secondly we must love him gratefully gratefully won't take time to turn to it but you had better when you have a few moments first John chapter 3 verse 1 this very same book I love the King James Version here what manner of love the father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God and such we are and it goes on to say that his love is so great that we are not only called children of God but it says we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Christianity is different from all the other religions of the world at this point they all say that we should love one another out of a sense of duty Christianity says you love because you've already been loved from before the foundation of the world in eternity past jesus said you have loved them even speaking of us even as all has loved me I mean who can't love a God like that imagine a God who has lavished himself upon us with a indescribable overwrought blessings and so we love gratefully we also love passionately passionately like a dear David said that is thirsty I want the water so my heart my heart longs for you of God you say well how do we develop a passionate heart well there are many ideas I could give you but may I remind you that there are some things that won't work sitting in front of a television set hour by hour won't pull it off using the internet to go to places just out of curiosity to see certain images I don't think that's going to work texting 80 times a day probably is not the way to go where you are filled with anxiety as to whether or not you're in the loop about absolutely every little detail there has to be a time when you say enough already I am going to set aside time for God and technology will not get in the way do you agree with that we have to love God passionately the bottom line is simply this that we have to develop a love for God that is greater than our love of sin let me say that again we have to develop a love for God that is greater than our love of sin we love God passionately could I also say that we love him eternally don't you love this verse verse 17 and the world is passing away along with all of its desires what whoever does the will of God abides forever the world and it's desires are passing away someday Hefner's Empire will be incinerated the Bible says says in 2nd Peter chapter 3 this world and all of its works are going to be burned up and the elements shall melt with fervent Heat no more Hollywood no more flat-screen TVs no more iPads iPhones and God knows what else none of that it's all gone with all of its desires and all of its aspirations and all of its false promises the world passes away and all of its lusts all of its desires but the one who does the will of God abides forever folks let me put it to you clearly we are training for another world that's what the whole thing is about and here we're totally distracted because some new technology comes out that we haven't had the opportunity to get hooked on yet as I said this might be a little harder to round the edges but I'm saying it the way we need to hear it I think now you know DL Moody founded this church in 1864 greatest evangelist wow what a guy passionate love for God obsessive love for God if there's any man for whom I could use the word God and toxicated it would be Dell Moody and he preached exactly what the Bible teaches and what the Bible teaches is this that we are not born with a love for God furthermore you can't wake up some morning and say you know what the first commandment is thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy mind I'm gonna do that today you can't can't turn it on and off like a faucet here's what happens when we receive Jesus Christ as our Savior he gives us that new heart it says in the Book of Ezekiel a new heart will I give you I'm gonna take out the heart of stone the heart of callousness the the heart of self-will and I'm going to give you the selfish heart is going to be taken out and I'm going to give you a heart that's going to love me and fear me and and love me all that my friend is birthed in our hearts by the Holy Spirit of God now if you're not a god lover you do have to question whether or not you have ever been born again because one of the indications of being born again is to love God to love God and sometimes our love drains because of what I told you about but fundamentally we love God I know someone who has struggled with numerous addictions and has fallen many times but every time this person vows in prayer this person says Oh God I'm so sorry that this happened because I do love you and I say despite all their struggles that is a mark of the new birth now there's another reason I bring DL moody in at this point in the message about twenty years ago I was in Northfield Massachusetts where a deal moody is buried now his boyhood home is there about a quarter of a mile away he's buried on what is called Round Top it's kind of like the top of a knoll of a hill and as I had the opportunity of being there and staring at his gravestone I was also looking at deal Moody's favorite verse the world passes away and all of its desires and then written on his tombstone but he who does the will of God abides forever the battle is absolutely huge and unrelenting but God lovers will make any sacrifice they need to to honor God no matter the cost even in the face of technology that just keeps coming at you coming after you coming at you one stimulus after another they say no God comes first well are still three messages in this series you'd better show up to find out what else I have to say may we pray father we have all fallen today we have all been convicted we all stand guilty may we remember that if we love the world we're counted as your enemy Oh God we prayed we pray for the businessmen who travel who have so many temptations we pray father for all those who can understand technology and use it in privacy and Father we just fall on our knees and say we do give you our hearts but Lord if you don't come and help us we're doomed it's too big for us rescue us we ask and for those who have never trusted Christ as Savior we pray that today they'll believe and be saved give them a new heart in Jesus name Amen you're watching pastor Lutzer on moody Church media if you enjoyed this and would like to hear additional teaching from God's Word please subscribe to this channel or visit our website at moody Media org may God bless you richly

Channel: Moody Church Media

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Keywords: Erwin Lutzer, Pastor Lutzer, Christian Living, Guilt, Shame, God, Jesus Christ, Moody Church, Christianity, Moody Church Media, Running to Win, Moody Church Hour, Forgiveness, Ephesians, Bible, blessings, gifts of god, holy spirit, christian church, protestantism, union with christ, family, parenting, motherhood, fatherhood, pornography, conflict, addiction, freedom, evangelical, truth, sexuality, new testament, old testament, Guard Your Heart, accountability, spiritual warfare, love

Id: d2l2qYMGXj4

Length: 39min 50sec (2390 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 29 2019