(Charles Simeon) LISTEN to audio!The great mass of nominal Christians are nothing but unconverted worldlings!
(You will find it helpful to listen to the audio above, as you
read the text below.)
It is to be feared that the great mass of nominal
Christians are nothing but unconverted worldlings!
"Do not love the world or the things 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 lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eyes,
and the pride of life,
is not from the Father, but is from the world!" 1 John 2:15-16
The lust of the flesh, the lust
of the eye, and the pride of life; that is, pleasure, and riches,
and honor. These are the great objects of worldly ambition to
which every godless heart is attached to!
"If after they have escaped the pollutions of the world
through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." The Apostle here
takes for granted, that this effect will universally and invariably follow:
that all who know the adorable Savior will escape the pollutions of the
world. There never was, nor ever will be, one exception to this truth.
All who savingly know Christ, will no longer supremely love the world, but
escape from its enticements and pollutions. Yet it is to be feared that
there are many professing Christians who have never been delivered from the
pollutions of the world. Their desires, and hopes, and joys, and
pursuits—are all worldly.
Be assured that you cannot love the world, and God also; for they are
diametrically opposed to each other. "You cannot serve God and
Mammon."
Know that while you love and desire and pursue earthly
vanities—then you have not yet truly devoted yourselves to the Lord Jesus.
Whatever your situation or circumstances may be, God's view of worldliness
is the same: "You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with
the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the
world becomes an enemy of God! James 4:4
"Remember Lot's wife!"
Scripture paints the world, and all who love it, in darksome colors. O that
all the votaries of gaiety, and fashion, and pleasure, would realize what
Scripture compares them to: "Swine wallowing in the mire!" and "Dogs
returning to their own vomit!" Yes, this is the feast to which
your earthly friends invite you!
Learn to view the world as God views it! Regard it as a country infected
with the plague! Let your great concern be to get through it in safety.
"Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no
unclean thing, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you
will be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty!" 2 Corinthians 6:17,
18
"He gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present
evil world." Galatians 1:4