“Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” – James 4:4
“If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” – I John 2:15
How conclusive these statements! The friend of the world makes himself thereby the enemy of God. We would not use so strong a term as “enemy,” but God does. “The friendship of this world is enmity with God.” Not mild disagreement but utter hostility!
And John does not say that if any man love the world the love of the Father is weak in him – it is not in him at all. Why is it that we hear so little of this today? Because Christians and churches that have compromised with the world and gone into alliance with it are in no position to say “amen” to such an unequivocal pronouncement at this. We have become artists at soft-pedaling Bible verses that come too uncomfortably close to where we live, and these certainly are two that are played pianissimo while we pull out all the stops on others.
But no exegetical sleight of hand can tone down these texts. The friend of the world is God’s enemy. The lover of the world has no love of God in him. – Vance Havner
Those are the facts – the horrible facts about those who are unsaved. But there is another fact that can change this ugly picture – God “is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him” (Heb. 7:25). Through the Lord Jesus Christ you can be forgiven, reconciled to God, accepted by God, made a child of God, assured of heaven, and transformed. Then you can sing “What a Friend we have in Jesus”. Through simple childlike faith you can be saved and transformed. Those who experience His soul saving grace love God above all else and it’s all because “- God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:8). -HDS
David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346
