Shalom, everyone. I would like you to open your Bibles, please, and let's turn to the first epistle of John of Yohanan. And we are going to continue with chapter 2. We have covered so far from verses 1 to 11. Today, we're going to continue in 1 John, chapter 2, verses 12 to 17. I find this portion extremely interesting, and I'm sure we're all going to benefit from the study of this passage. So, 1 John, chapter 2, verse 12 to 17. And so I'm reading. I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. "I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one.

I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong. And the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any men love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

And the world passes away, and the lusts thereof. But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever." Now we are in the epistle of Yohanan, of John. This epistle is very important because it reminds us again that we are part of the family of God. But Elohim, every one of us that have accepted Yeshua, the Messiah, immediately have been brought into a family. Yes, this family is not always functioning in the right way. This family is not always pleasing the Father, the Abba. Yet we are all part of the family of God. And in this family, there are many needs, and God desires to see the people of God growing.

You know, Peter, Shimon Petos, wrote his epistles to Hebrew believers many years ago. And the last verse of his second epistle, he wrote, "Grow in the grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah." When we see a child growing, it is essential. When we see children in a normal family, in our very own family, not growing physically, not being nourished physically, we begin to worry. We begin to be concerned. And so we desire to feed them so they will grow and mature and be strong men and women so they can function here in this world. Well, it is the very same thing in the family of God.

God desires to see us all growing spiritually. And when we grow spiritually, we can be used better by the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, among his people and be a better testimony for the Lord here in this world. For these previous 11 verses of 1 John 2, he gave them an important understanding of the fact that the Messiah is our advocate with the Father. We have a lawyer who represents us in heaven. And while we are in this earth, he has exhorted the believers to love the brothers and sisters. And you remember in the last verses that we spoke about in our previous meeting, he said in 1 John 2, 9, He that says that he is in the light and he hateth his brother is really in darkness.

And verse 10, He that loveth his brother abideth in the light. And then verse 11, which we concluded in our previous meeting together, But he that hateth his brother is in darkness. So in the previous portion of 1 John 2, Yohanan, that is John, said, Listen, it is evident that we are really enjoying our fellowship with the family when we love the brothers and sisters. Imagine if you have children in a home, in a normal, ordinary family, and the brothers and sisters are constantly fighting and hating each other, and always putting each other down, and instead of building each other up, constantly hating, and saying, I hate you, I don't love you, I hate you.

You know, God wants the believers to love each other unconditionally. Even if we don't like the manner in which they conduct themselves, we are to love the brothers and sisters. And Yeshua said in the upper room in Yerushalayim to the Hebrew disciples, He says, By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if you have love one towards another. If somebody is going to come in our midst and see us not loving each other, he is going to say, listen, shalom, shalom. I don't want to have anything to do with you. A testimony for God is a love among the people of God.

And I don't mean wishy-washy love. Love that is really sincere. And even when we are wrong and need to be corrected, sometimes the best thing is to hear the need of the correction. If you love each other, we will also seek to correct and help each other graciously and lovingly. And that's what the Apostle Yohanan John is sharing with them. But now he is shifting from loving the brothers and sisters to not loving the world. Now, this is interesting how John is shifting here. And you know there is a verse, that's why we read Psalm 97 and verse 10, "Ye that love the Lord hate evil." Interesting, isn't it?

On the one hand, we are exhorted to love. On the other hand, we are exhorted to hate. You know, God loves the sinner, but he hates sin. He does not love sin. And here we see we are to love the brothers and sisters and to love the human race, but we are to hate and not to love the system, this world system that is against God and against his Mashiach, his anointed, namely Yeshua himself. So before we're going to go into those verses, we should ask the question, what is the world? The Bible, especially in the Brit HaChadasha, use the word world in various ways.

In fact, the Greek word for world is cosmos. In Hebrew, we say Olam. And it simply means it can apply to various things in the Brit HaChadasha, in the New Testament. And I want to show you this before we're going to go into those verses. At time, God used the word for world and apply it simply to the creation of God. In fact, to the earth. In fact, I want you to turn with me to Acts chapter 17 and verse 24. We find Shaul, that is Paul speaking. And I'm reading, God that made the world and all things therein. That word for world is cosmos in the Greek.

But it is applied to the creation of this world. It's applied to the mountains and the hills and the valleys. It's applied to the sun, the moon and the star. It's applied to creation at large. And that's why Shaul Paul says in verse 24 of Acts chapter 17, God that made the cosmos, the world and all the things that is in the world. Then secondly, beloved brothers and sisters, sometimes the very same word for cosmos is not so much used for the earth and God's creation, but it speaks about the human race, about mankind. And you remember John chapter 3 and verse 16, the famous verse which we all know by heart, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth on him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

That world, using the same Greek word cosmos, the same Hebrew word in the Hebrew text olam, applied to the human race. For God so loved humanity that he gave his only begotten son for humanity, for mankind, that whosoever from among humanity will believe on the son of God and the Messiah will have everlasting life. He's not talking about the love of God for the trees, for the mountains, for the valleys, for the sun, for the stars, for the moon. No, in John chapter 3, 16, that word for world, cosmos, olam, applies to the human race. And this is found in John 3, 16. Another way in which the Brit ha-chadasha used for the word for world.

And this time it's not speaking about the human race. Olam, cosmos. It doesn't speak about the creation, the earth, cosmos, olam. But this olam, this cosmos, applied to an evil system that is headed up by Satan himself. And that's why you notice in the chapter that we just read, 1 John chapter 2 and verse 15, he says, Love not the cosmos, the world. Neither the things that are in the cosmos, in the world. And if any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him. This is the third way in which the word cosmos is being used in the Greek, olam in the Hebrew, world in the English.

Does not apply to the human race, does not apply for creation. But it is applied to the evil system that is headed up by none else, by Satan himself, who is called in the Bible, the God of this world. The small g for God. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 4 for a moment. In verses 3 and 4, Paul, Shaul, is writing to the Corinthians, and he's telling them, But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world has blinded the mind of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Mashiach, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

And so, beloved brothers and sisters, in the Brit HaChadashah, there are three ways in the New Testament, New Covenant, in which the word cosmos is applied in a different context to the creation of this universe, to the human race, and to this evil system that is headed up by the God of this world, small g, namely, Hasatan, Satan himself. Now, there's another word for world, and I want to just mention it since we are in this subject, and that fourth way in which the Bible speaks about the word world, it's actually in the Hebrew, the word is olam, and it is simply applied to the long duration of time.

In fact, it really speaks about, in Hebrew, it is the word everlasting in English, is the word olam in the Hebrew. You remember Psalm 90 and verse 2, we read, From everlasting unto everlasting thou art God. In Hebrew, me olam ad olam ata el. In other words, God, from everlasting to everlasting, me olam to olam, you are God. And it speaks about eternity. It speaks about a long period of time. In fact, a time that has no measurement. It's simply eternity, forever and ever. Simply, the Hebrew word is the same. It is olam. Me olam ad olam ata el. From everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. And so, beloved brothers and sisters, this is very interesting, because in the Greek, we have the three ways in which the very same word cosmos, olam, world, apply to three distinct things.

One of them apply to the human race. The other one apply to the creation. But here, beloved brothers and sisters, in the subject that we have today, is why God teached His children not to love this world system. And here we are now in this text that we have before us today. Now, there are three reasons in this text. Very short text. 1 John, chapter 2, verse 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17. Six verses. In these six verses, we have three reasons why the children of God, the believers in Yeshua, the Messiah, ought not to love this world system. He doesn't talk about not loving mankind. He doesn't talk about not loving the trees, the plants, the valleys, and the mountains.

Not at all. He is talking about that the believers ought not to love this world system that placed Yeshua, the Messiah, on the tree and rejected God and the Mashiach, the Messiah himself. And so, three reasons. The first reason is found in verse 12, 13, and 14. The first reason that believers ought not to love this evil system headed up by Satan is because we are born again people who belong to God himself. If we belong to God, if we belong to Yeshua, the Messiah, if we have been born again, born from above, do you think the children of the Father are to love and spend all their energy and time with the God of this world and its system that is headed up by him and drawing away the children of God out of having fellowship with our Abba, our Father?

Well, look what Yochanan is saying here in 1 John chapter 2, and he began in verse 12. And he's writing, notice he says in verse 12, Now, that word here in the Greek for little really should not be necessarily little children. He's not speaking only for people that were just born spiritually yesterday or today. He's speaking about really the whole family of God. Really, it should be said, I write unto you, dear children. In the Greek, again, it is a different word than a little bit further down. In verse 12, the word is for little children, teknion, T-E-K-N-I-O-N, and simply mean born ones. So, really, what he does here in verse 12, first of all, he's writing to all believers, boys, girls, men, women, adults, and young ones.

He's writing to all those that have been born from above, born by the Ruach HaKodesh, and he's writing to all of us and to all believers, and he says, listen, I'm writing unto you, dear children, those that are members of the family of the body of Messiah. Why do I write unto you and charge you and challenge you not to love the world and its system, the evil system, because your sins are forgiven for his name's sakes? You know, brothers and sisters, every sin that I have committed and every sin that you have committed has been washed away by the blood of Yeshua, the Messiah.

You know, 1 John 1, 7, we already read it. If we confess our sins, you remember that? And if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Yeshua, the Messiah, cleanses us from all sins. You know what happened when you became a believer, when I became a believer in Yeshua? All our sins, all the things that we have done to dishonor God have been washed away. When Yeshua was nailed on that cross some 2,000 years ago, and he cried, you remember John 19, he says, it is finished. Nygmar. It's been done. God had been satisfied. The blood of the Messiah was shed on the tree.

All the sins of the people who have confessed that Yeshua is their Lord and their Messiah have been washed away. When God look at you and I today, he looks at us not through Adam anymore, he looks at us through Yeshua, through Christ, through the Mashiach, and he sees perfection. White as snow. Sometimes I love to sing that song. White as snow, white as snow. Though my sins were as crimson, yet now had been washed away by the blood of the Lamb. And God look at us as clean and forgiven. But, someone had to pay the price. And that's why he's saying in 1 John 2, verse 12, I write unto you, dear children, because your sins are forgiven.

And it was for his name's sakes. The name of Jesus, Yeshua, the Messiah, who says, for those sins I have paid. And it's such a relief to know that we don't have any more to carry on our shoulder the burden of our sins because someone paid for our sins. And they have been dealt with once and for all. And we can now, as dear children, as part of the family of God, now instead of loving this system that hates God, we are to follow the Father, to follow the Messiah, guided by the Holy Spirit, by Ruach HaKodesh, Ruach Elohim, and led by Him, and love the Father.

You know, we read in Scripture in the same epistle, we're going to get to it, we love Him because He first loved us. And so, John reminding, and he's speaking to all of us as he wrote some 2,000 years ago, he's writing to a family, to the Mishpacha, and he says, listen, I don't want you to forget. You see, dear ones, your sins are forgiven. And it will have been forgiven you because of the name of Yeshua, the Messiah. You remember what Matthew, we read in the Gospel of Matthew, and you shall call His name Yeshua, for He will save His people from their sins. And so, what a wonderful thing to know that our sins are forgiven and that we are part of the family of God.

And on that basis, I knew the believer is not to love this evil system, the cosmos of evil system, headed up by Satan. And instead of being drawn after this world, we are to be drawn after Jesus, looking unto Yeshua, the author and the finisher of our faith, and that for the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross, despised the shame, and He sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. And so, verse 12 is a very important verse, and you know, Yeshua Himself called His own disciples with the very same name, the same word, little children. I read this verse, John chapter 13, and verse 33, and He said, It is interesting that Yeshua used the very same word, little children.

It doesn't matter the age, but it simply matters that everyone was a child of God that accepted Yeshua the Messiah. So now, verse 13 and 14, He built up upon this, and here, Yohanan, that is John, now he points out to three levels of growth among the family of God. We have in the family of God various levels of growth among the people of God, in the family of God. And you notice now how he divides these three distinctions here of the spiritual growth among the people of God. Look what he does in verse 13. I write unto you fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning.

I write unto you young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you little children, because ye have known the father. You notice that? He used three levels. Number one, we have fathers, avot. Number two, we have young men, in Hebrew, bachurim, young men, young women. And number three, we have little children, this is yeladim in Hebrew. Now the word for little children here is to be distinguished from the little children in verse 12, because it's a completely different word here. Here, the word for little children is simply to be distinguished. He's speaking about, again, the Greek, I have to say it, it is paldion, P-A-L-D-I-O-N, which is different from the one that we have heard in verse 12.

What is the difference? In verse 12, it's applied to all believers, born ones. In verse 13, the little children apply to a just young believer in Yeshua the Messiah, who just became a believer yesterday, today, maybe one year or two years, walking with Yeshua the Messiah, but he or she are young in their faith. So we have three levels, or three groups, you might say, in the spiritual growth from among the people of God. Fathers, young men, and young children, or little children. We can write it also for the sisters here. Mothers, young ladies, or young women, and little daughters, you might say. It's applied for both, for male and female.

And so what we really see here, that there are three groups, in three levels. And you know, brothers and sisters, you and I have to ask ourselves the question. How long time you are in the things of the Lord? One year? Two years? Three years? Four years? Five years? What stages are you in the spiritual growth for those that belong to Yeshua? Are you still a babe, a little baby, that still needs to drink milk all the time, and needs to be changed by diapers, you might say spiritual diapers, every day, because you are not growing? Are you a young man, or a young lady, who is really fighting for the things of the Lord, and moving forward, and growing spiritually, and being a good testimony here in this world, overcoming that wicked one, Satan himself?

Are you a father, or a mother, in a Messiah, who really have a good counsel to give to the young one, to assist them in their spiritual growth? Where do we fit into these three stages of spiritual growth here, as we have it in 1 John 2 and verse 13? Well, look at this, what he's saying to the Abba, to the fathers, to the Avot, to the Imahot. He says in verse 13, I write unto you fathers, because ye have known him, that is from the beginning. Now the fathers, we have very few fathers, in the church today. But what we read about those fathers, those Avot, fathers or mothers we can say, they are the one that know him, that is from the beginning.

The him here, is Yeshua, Jesus, the Messiah. They know him in a sense, that they have been so attracted to him, that the world no longer, have any attraction whatsoever. They know him, in an intimate way. You notice by the way, it doesn't say, that you know about him, but you know him. You know him intimately. The fathers, are these men and women of God, who have accepted Yeshua, the Messiah, their Lord and Savior, and have lived for many years, and they grew spiritually, and they become mothers and fathers, among the people of God, and the evident is, because you can see that, in their attitude, in their conduct, because they know him.

And you notice it, it says in verse 13, because you know him, that is from the beginning. The word here has to do with the incarnation of the Messiah. You see, the Messiah was always eternally, existed as the eternal son of God. But he entered humanity, and he became a man, and he suffered, and he lived here in this world, and he died on the tree, for the salvation of the human race, and it is here that the fathers are those that have intimate relationship with Yeshua, the Messiah. How brothers and sisters, we need the fathers and the mothers, who are those that can help us all, who are struggling, who need counsel, who need balance in our lives.

You know, where would you go, if you need some advice, if you need to pour out your heart to someone, and to share your burden with someone, you would, like children, go to their mom and dad, to Abba and Ima, and they say, you know, I really need your help, I need your advice. How can I deal with this issue in my life? What can I do? And you can go to the fathers, to the mothers, to the godly men and women, followers of Yeshua, the Messiah, because they can help us, because they know Him, that is from the beginning. They already have worked with Him enough.

They have suffered for the name of Yeshua, the Messiah, in this world, and the world is no longer attractive to them, nothing whatsoever. They just want to know more about Yeshua, the Messiah. Shaul Paul said it in Philippians chapter 3, that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, to be conformed to Him, to His image. You know, He longed to know more of Yeshua, the Messiah. That's a father. That's a mother. You know, we read in a scripture, in the book of Judges, the book of Shoftim, in Hebrew, about the mother in Israel. If you just turn for a moment to Judges, about Dvorah, Deborah, that is called among our people, Israel, a mother in Israel.

Judges chapter 5, and notice what it says in verse 7, of Judges chapter 5, Shoftim, and it says in verse 7, the inhabitants of the villages seized, they seized in Israel, until that I, Dvorah, Deborah, arose, that I arose, a mother in Israel. How we need these mothers, the sisters, and these fathers, the brothers, who matured and live for the Lord, to help us to have some godly counsel. You see, it says in verse 13, because ye have known Him, that is from the beginning. And I would like to say, fathers and mothers today, in the body of Messiah, it's a goldmine, to have in our midst. Whenever we have, brother or sister, that can assist us, mature spiritual counsel, that will put some sense, into our mind, to help us to look to the Lord, to follow after Him, and not to allow the world, to draw us away, from a relationship with Yeshua.

But then back to 1st John chapter 2, in verse 13, we not only have fathers, but He said, I write unto you young men, and we can say young women as well, I write unto you young men, because He overcome the wicked one. You see, the young men, the young brothers, the young sisters, who have walked for a while with the Lord, they have accepted Him, they belong to Him, and they want to follow Him, and they now have many challenges, in their lives. but they are successfully, with the help of the Spirit of God, influenced by the Word of God, overcome that wicked one. That wicked one is Satan.

Ha-Satan, the wicked one, the one that shoots darts, at every one of us, in order to cause us, to be drawn away from the Lord, to be taken into this world system, headed up by Him, with all its influence. You see, these young men, to whom Yohanan wrote to, they overcome that wicked one. I want you for a second, to turn to Revelation chapter 12. This overcoming is mentioned there, in Revelation chapter 12, during the tribulation period, when our own nation Israel, will go through, Tzarat Yaakov, through the tribulation period. It says, that Satan will be cast from heaven, to this earth. It says in verse 10, of Revelation chapter 12, and I heard loud voice saying, in heaven, now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Messiah, for the accuser of the brethren, is cast down, which accuses them, before God day and night.

You see, Satan, Satan, is accusing you and I, every day. He's saying, hey, do you see what Gideon have done yesterday? Hey, did you hear what she have done? Do you see what they have done? He's accusing us before God, every time, in the context of Revelation chapter 12, he's accusing the remnant of Israel, doing the tribulation, and he's saying, ha ha ha, look at this, these are claiming to be your people, these are the Hebrews, the Jewish people, the brethren, he's calling them here, look what they've done, look at the wrong they have done, he's accusing, just like he accused Job, Eov, as we read it in the book of Job.

But how do you think they have overcome this Satan, this wicked one? Look at Revelation chapter 12, and now in verse 11. They overcome him, by the blood of the Lamb. They claim the blood of Yeshua, the Messiah, not only positionally, for their salvation, but practically, in their lives. And you see, beloved brothers and sisters, 1 John chapter 2, and verse 13, I write unto you, young men, because he overcome the wicked one. How they overcome the wicked one? By the blood of the Lamb. How do we overcome? All the influence in this world is against us, like a flood of influences, influencing young people, to go through drugs, and alcohol, and all kind of things, and telling them, what do you need religion?

Just take the world, and follow the world, and its system. And those young men, and young women, who want to follow Yeshua, they can overcome this evil one, and its system, by following the Lord, by living for him, by being occupied with him, by reading their Bibles, and praying, and spending time with believers, gathered around Yeshua, the Messiah, and growing, and becoming men, and women of God, young men, young women of God, and it's such a joy, to see when a young brother, and a young sister saying, I have decided, to follow Jesus. No turning back. No turning back. The world behind me, the Lord before me, I'm following the Lord, I will stumble, I will fail, I will make mistakes, I will sin, but I will repent, and turn back, to Yeshua the Messiah, and follow after him.

Lord help me. They would say, I cannot do it on my own. And the Lord will help them. I'm writing unto you young men, because ye overcome, the wicked one. And I can tell you, Satan is vicious, he's wicked. Sin will take us further, than we ever wanted to get there. That's what he does. He lead us, the people of God, further than we ever planned to get to, because he's like wooing us, drawing us, pulling us away, from the things of God, into the things of this evil system, the things of this world. And how sad it is, when we fail and stumble, instead of listening to the Lord, listening to Satan, and then later on we say, oh boy, I should have listened to the Lord.

I should have waited for Yeshua, the Messiah's counsel, but instead, I've listened to the voice of Satan. And by the way, brothers and sisters, this is exactly what happened, in the Garden of Eden. Eve was beguiled, by Satan saying to her, has God said? Is really God's word correct? And you know, she had been beguiled. And Adam, her husband, end up to disobey the Lord. And as we know, the story very well, how sin entered into this world. Satan is not someone to play with. He is clever. But God is greater than him. Yeshua is greater than him. So young men and young women, he's saying, I write unto you.

Why? Because you successfully have overcome Satan. And as we know from Revelation, chapter 12, you overcome him by the blood of the Lamb. Looking unto Yeshua, the author and the finisher of our faith. But notice, the third group here, in verse 13, is the little children. Now this time again, it's a different word. It's no longer technion, but it is paldeion. It's a different word. And here, it's really speaking about babies in the Messiah. Little children. Yeladim, you would say in Hebrew. Those are the ones, notice he said, I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. You see, they are the ones who say, Daddy, Abba, Abba, Abba, help me, Abba, carry me, Abba, show me, Abba, give me, Abba.

In other words, they just were born and just became part of the family of God. We have some of those in our midst, in our Bible studies, those who just became believers maybe six months ago, maybe a year ago, two years ago. They are young believers. Now, it has nothing to do with age. You can be 95 years of age and be a newborn babe if you just accepted Yeshua the Messiah today. It has nothing to do with age. And you can have a child that is a very young age when he or she were seven years old, they've accepted Yeshua, and now they are 35 years old, they are already 20, 30 years in their faith.

And they are much more mature than believers who just accepted the Lord. It doesn't matter what age, they've accepted the Lord, become a newborn babe. And you see, these ones, according to verse 13, they know the Father. They just became children of God. Sons and daughters among the family of God just need to grow. And you know what? Brothers and sisters, we need newborn babes, and we need fathers, and we need young men, young women. We need all those three. We need new believers to come in, and we need young men going on, young women for the Lord, and we need mothers and fathers who are there to counsel us, to assist us, to help us to be established in the faith.

Like Dvorah, mother in Israel, like Yohanan, a father among the believers in Yeshua the Messiah. So this is verse 13, very important verse. And by the way, I've got to read that because in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, Paul said, and I'm reading just this verse 11, when I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things. As young man, a young woman, I now put away childish things, and I seek to follow Yeshua the Messiah. So now, let's go back to our chapter 1, John chapter 2, verse 14, and the third verse here, in verse 14, has to do with John repeating what he already wrote, but he had something else.

He make a little changes here, in verse 14, and in verse 14, he says, Now you notice in this second portion of John repeating what he wrote, he number one, eliminated the little children. Why? Because he understood that the little children need to grow, and it's natural. when you become a newborn baby in Yeshua the Messiah, it is of necessity for you naturally to grow, and to mature, and to become stronger in the Lord. But he did make the change with regard to the young man. When it's come to the fathers, he repeated the very same thing that he said in verse 13. He said, I have written unto you fathers because ye have known him that is from the beginning.

He didn't change anything here. Why he didn't change? Because you cannot go any higher than knowing him that is from the beginning. Once you've arrived, you might say, there's nothing more to know. You can only know more of him, and more of him, and more of him. You can never exhaust him. So when it's come to the fathers, he says, listen, you know him that is from the beginning. But when it is come to the young men and young women, he adds something that is very important. He says, I have written unto you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.

You see, in verse 13, he already said that ye have overcome the wicked one. But how do we overcome the wicked one? Satan attacks his people, the people of God. How can we overcome Satan and all his vicious attack against the people of God? Well, look at this. we must be strong. Not strong in ourselves, but like Ephesians 6 says, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Ephesians chapter 6. And then he adds, in verse 14, about the young men, he says, not only that you are strong, but the word of God abideth in you. In other words, these young men and women appropriated the word of God, the Tanakh, the Brit HaChadashah, the scripture, God's word, they have appropriated this word of God into their lives.

You know, the word of God changes us. It convicts us. And sometimes, I know, our hearts and our conscience are seared, are hardened. But if we allow the spirit of God to speak to us, and our hearts are not seared, are not hardened as a rock, when it's softened by the spirit of God, the word of God abide in us and enable us to overcome the wicked one by being strengthened with Yeshua, the Messiah, and his word in our lives. And this is exactly what Yohanan is saying to these three levels of believers in verses 12, 13, and 14. They are not to love the world, the evil system of this world, which is headed up by Satan himself, because they are born ones of God.

They are part of the family of the Father, the family of God. And on the basis of being born again, born from above, having the Holy Spirit of God indwelling them, they don't need to love this evil system. They are to love the Father, to love the Son, to love the family of God, and seek to live for him here in this world. So the very first reason, beloved brothers and sisters, why the believers are not to love the world is because we are born again, born from above, we belong to God, we have completely different nature. In addition to the old nature, we have a new nature.

The old nature is sinful, the new nature is divine, is from God, and we belong to him. And so now here's the next verses. We have three more verses. Verses 15 and 16, here's the second reason why the people of God are not to love the world. It is simply because of what the world is doing to God's people. What this evil system is doing to the people of God. And he's now showing this to us in verses 15 and 16. First of all in verse 15 he's speaking about this world system that hates God and take away the affection of the believers from God, from Yeshua. And instead of setting our affection on him, we often set our affection upon other things.

And so we read here in verse 15, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. You notice, brothers and sisters, here he's using three times the word for world, the same word cosmos. But this time he's speaking about this evil system and he's saying, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. you see what happened. When the people of God began to have their affection set on other things and not on God and not on Yeshua the Messiah, how can the love of the Father be in the believer when he's so much in love with the system of this world?

You know, there is someone who is heading this system, namely Satan. He's the one that introduced all kind of things. Sometimes the music and introducing all kind of things to draw us away from the Lord. You often find that even young people spend so much time to listen to the music from the world instead of the music that has to do with glorifying Yeshua the Messiah. It's not that we cannot listen to some music. The point is that much of the music existing today in this world draws us away from God. And other things that can be taken away for the things of the Lord and he's telling them, he's warning them, he says, listen, if any man love the world, he's speaking about believers, the love of the Father is not in him.

How can we have the love of the Father in our life when all our minds and our thoughts are filled with all the world systems ways in which they are presented before us? so God have taken us away from this world in order that our hearts affection will not be in love with this system. Sometimes even friends, people who are friends, they are drawing us away from the things of the Lord. You know, it's happened to us, we know that. Good friend, instead of drawing them to come to read the scriptures and to learn about Yeshua, the Messiah, they are drawing us away from the Lord.

And you know, once they use our time and our energy when they don't need us, they say, goodbye, I don't need you anymore. And that's the way it is. The Bible teaches us about earthly friends that oftentimes, one day soothe them, the next day doesn't soothe them. One day they are friends, but they don't need us, they cast us away. This is the kind of the system that is simply only used the people of God only for a season. And then when they don't hit him, they just allow him to go away. I think about Luke chapter 15, the man that went down, you remember that young boy that left his father and went away, and you know, he had many friends when he left the father.

When he says, Abba, give me what belonged to me, he took all the things that belonged to him, and the father gave it to him to show him, I love you, but I'm going to show you what is the experience of one that go away from me, and he went, and he went to a far country, and as long that he had what the father gave him, he had many friends around him, but when it finished, and then all his friends left him, they dumped him, and now he had to fend for himself, and he wanted to eat even the pig's food, they wouldn't even give him, and you remember when he came unto himself,

and he realized, oh boy, I can go back to my father, why do I'm staying here with the pigs in this pig pen, I'm trying to eat their food, you see, he was still a son, he was still a son of the father, that's why he didn't stay in this pig area, in this area where the pigs were, he left it and he began, he came unto himself, he went to the father, he says, Abba, father, I'm not worthy to be called your son, make me as one of your servants, but the father didn't want him as a servant, he was a son, so he gave him the ring on his finger, he put clothes

upon him, he put the shoes upon his feet, and you remember, he killed the best calf he had, and he says, this my son was lost, and now he's found, he was away, but now he's back, let us make merry, let us celebrate, and they celebrated the restoration of a son, that have gone astray, what a joy the father must have had, and so what happened is that we read here, love not the world, not the things that are in the world, as if any man love the world, the love of the father is not in him, now when he says love not the world, he's not talking about the world of creation, when he

says love not the world, he's not speaking about the world of humanity, he's speaking about love not that evil system that deny God and his son, the Messiah, and God's word, don't follow this world, do not have your affection set upon this world, but have your affection set on the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, and brothers and sisters, you don't have to be a baby in the Messiah, you don't have to be a young man in the Messiah, you don't have to be a father in the Messiah, all of us are without exempt, are in the danger of this, it is the struggle that we all experience every day in our lives, because from time to

time, when we are not close to Yeshua, we end up being influenced by that, and drawn after this system that hates God, and then James says, friendship with the world is in enmity with God, James chapter 4 and verse 4, if we want to have the world as our friends, and I'm talking about the evil system that hates God, that denies God, then friendship with the world make us enemies of God, the love of the Father cannot be if the system of this world become prominent in our lives, then notice in verse 16, in connection with the fact what the world does to the people of God, in verse 16, it tells us those three

things about this world system, for all that is in this cosmos, in this world evil system, is number one, the lust of the flesh, number two, the lust of the eyes, and number three, the pride of life, it is not of the Father, but it is of this world, notice the three things, you know, this is a very interesting verse, we learn what the world is all about, how even again, we go back all the way to the beginning, to the Bereshit, to the beginning of creation, and when Adam and Eve were placed in Gan Eden, the Garden of Eden, it was there that those three things influenced Eve to to disobey what she knew

in eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

In Genesis 3 and verse 6, it says here, when Satan beguiled Eve, he said to her, has God said, and so we read in verse 6, and when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that's the lust of the flesh, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, this is the lust of the eyes, and that it was desire to make one wise, this is the pride of life, she ate of the tree of the fruit, and she gave it to her husband, and he did it. Do you see, this is exactly how sin enters into this world, with the very same three things that I mention here in 1 John chapter 2 and verse 16, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

The fruit was good for food, the fruit was pleasant for the eyes, the fruit was desire to make one wise, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. It's exactly how it all began, and we are struggling with this every day. Beloved brothers and sisters, when we are here in this world, we are struggling with these three areas that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. And so this is the world system, and you know how different when you think about Yeshua, you see, when Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, they were innocent.

On the other hand, when Yeshua was tempted by Satan, just like Eve and Adam were tempted, Yeshua was in the wilderness. Adam and Eve, Adam and Havah, were in the Garden of Eden where they had plenty. Yeshua, the Messiah that was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, he did not eat for 40 days and 40 nights. Look at the difference between the first man, Adam, that is of the earth, earthy, and the second man, Yeshua, the Messiah, from glory, the man from heaven. Two different men all together. Adam was in a place of Eden, of delight, Yeshua was in a place of drought, of wilderness. Adam had everything and every possibility to subject himself to God.

Yeshua, the Messiah, was hungry and thirsty. Both of them were tempted. The one failed and the other one didn't. Adam fell and brought sin into this world. Yeshua did not fail. And remember what he said to Satan in Matthew 4 when he said to him, he says, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. Yeshua, the Messiah, submitted himself to God all the way to the end. And that's the difference. And you see, he was tested in a very same thing, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

You remember the three temptations that Satan have tempted Yeshua, and you will notice it was in the very same three areas, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. And Yeshua did not submit to Satan's temptation, and therefore proved to us that he was the Messiah of Israel and the one that will be able to redeem this world for himself. And so, beloved brothers and sisters, there are three reasons why we are not to love the world. Number one, because we are born again, born from above, children of God, 1 John 2 verses 12 to 14. Secondly, because what the world is doing to mankind, to the believers, 1 John 2 verses 15 and 16.

And the third reason why the believers are not to love the world is in this last verse, is 1 John chapter 2 and verse 17. It is because of what will happen to the world, to this system that hates God. Do you see, this system will not continue forever because it says here in verse 17 of 1 John chapter 2, the world is passing away and the last the wrath, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. You see, this evil system one day will have an end. You see, Satan is not going to be allowed forever to do what he does already from these old age tricks that he has done already from the garden of Eden.

He will not be allowed to do this forever. It's only for that season that will end at the culmination when Yeshua is going to come at the second coming. You see, one day, beloved brothers and sisters, we read it in the book of Revelation, when the Messiah is going to come to this world, he is going to judge Satan, and if you read it carefully at the end of the book of Revelation, chapter 20, at the great white throne judgment, it says in verse 10, and the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beasts and the false prophets are and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.

There will be an end to this system. This world that hate God is going to have a conclusion will have an end.

Even though he will be loose after the thousand years, Satan going to be loose time at the end of the messianic kingdom when Israel is being in a land and the Mashiach Yeshua is going to rule and reign from Jerusalem there will be an end at the end of it Satan going to be loose he going to attack Israel again and God himself will make an end to Satan and all what he have sought to do over the generation to the human race 21 and chapter 22 of the book of Revelation where new heavens and a new earth will begin and all the things that have happened in the past going to be totally removed

and a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away notice his expression Revelation 21 verse 1 very similar to 1 John 2 verse 17 the world passes away it's going to end and therefore beloved brothers and sisters Yohanan is speaking to the fathers to the young men to the children he's saying to them don't love the world know the things that are in the world be occupied with me and when you follow me and not following this system the love of the father will be in you and you will be able to be a good testimony for me here in this world and that's how this

section is being concluded the world passes away the last the road but notice 1 John 2 17 he that doeth all what we do for the Messiah for Yeshua will remain all what we have done for the world and its system will have to be burned up and totally set aside completely and so John is writing if you are father here if you are young man here if you are child if you are a mother if you are young lady if you are young girl who became a believer in Yeshua the Messiah let us all with the help of the Lord be drawn after Yeshua learn more about him and not be attracted to this

world and its system which take us away from being near to Yeshua the Messiah may the Lord help us because without his help we cannot do so