I read an interesting article the other day on a subject we sometimes joke about. As it turns out, the joke is on us, if we make too much fun of it. The article was about “built-in obsolescence.”
Doesn’t it seem to you that things are designed to fall apart after a while, forcing us to replace whatever it is? The article led me to google the question: “HOW COMMON is built-in obsolescence?” Mr. Ai replied “Built-in (or planned) obsolescence is HIGHLY COMMON and DEEPLY WOVEN into the modern consumer economy, particularly in electronics, automotive, and appliance industries. Manufacturers ACTIVELY DESIGN products to have LIMITED LIFESPANS to sustain demand and force recurring purchases.” The idea began in 1924 in the automobile industry, when most people who could afford cars had them. The industry had to create a lust for new cars, so they began changing their styles every year. “You don’t want an old common black car, do you? How about his new style in a different color?” That led me to the fact that there are five varieties of obsolescence. Functional obsolescence, where manufacturers deliberately design products to break down. Software obsolescence, whose meaning is obvious. Contrived obsolescence like raising gas prices so high that people are forced by buy electric vehicles. Preventable obsolescence, which assumes that people are too dumb to maintain what they own. And then there is the perceived obsolescence, in which advertisers imply we need to replace things.
“Built-in obsolescence” goes back to 1932 with an article titled, “Ending the Depression Through Planned Obsolescence.” The idea was to encourage the government to legislate break-downs on personal-use items, to stimulate and perpetuate purchasing, thus rebuilding the economy. There wasn’t much more talk about it until 1954 when a designer named Brooks Stevens was asked to speak at an advertising conference in Minneapolis. Without giving it much thought, he used the term“planned obsolescence” as the title of his talk. By his definition, it was “instilling in the buyer the desire to own something a little newer, a little better, and a little sooner than is necessary.”
I won’t go so far as to say that “built-in obsolescence” is the epitome of the Apostle John’s meaning of “world,” but it certainly is a part of it. And I am not a conspiracy theorist, looking for and finding a conspiracy under every rock. But there IS a Satanic conspiracy to stir in our hearts a “lust of the flesh, and a lust of the eyes.” It is a part of the Satanic world system to make you proud of owning the best and the latest of something. And if the world can’t force pride of ownership, then it stirs us up to lust for a replacement of what we have. That is not “preacher-talk;” that is the confession of people who are world-leaders in this area of worldly life.
With that in mind, we come to verse 17 and my first point of the morning.
“And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” Notice “and the world passeth away.” The world is in the process of passing away. It carries the gene of obsolescence. But there is the possibility of surpassing that passing.
When Adam, our first father, sinned against Jehovah, a number of things took place. As God warned, Adam’s spirit instantly died, and his connectivity with the Lord was gone. He was expelled from the Garden of Eden, and there was no longer any friendly fellowship with God. Blood sacrifices became necessary before Adam could have any contact with his Creator. Adam became a lost man and doomed to hell if there wasn’t the direct intervention and salvation of God.
The Lord also said, “because thou hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it; cursed is the GROUND for thy sake…” Not only was the ground – the physical earth – cursed, but at about that time, the Lord permitted His enemy Lucifer, the devil Satan, to begin his rebellious government. At that time, “the world” became Satan’s domain and something over which he still governs with an iron hand. Another instant result of Adam’s sin was the initiation of the death process in the man’s physical body, which has extended into the lives of all his children. You are going to die, because Adam, your ancestor, chose to sin against the eternal God and His eternal life.
But here is something else: just as you are dying, so is the world in which you live. The devil may say that he has “the world by the tail,” and in many ways he does. But that world is dying, and he won’t have it forever. “The world passeth away, and the lust thereof…” Satan is a defeated creature, and his world-kingdom is decaying and passing away.
Here is one reason why John tells the Christian, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. FOR all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life…” are dying. “The world passeth away, and the (all the) lusts thereof.” When Satan took possession of God’s creation and started manipulating it for his own purposes, God (so to speak) made sure some “built-in obsolescence” went with it. The verb which John uses is in the present tense: “The world IS passing away, and all the lusts thereof.” That doesn’t mean that God will not definitely and deliberately destroy this world’s wicked system at some decreed moment, but in addition to that, it is decaying of it is own accursed accord.
So here is the point – application number one: There is not one thing which this world has to offer its subjects which doesn’t have an expiry date. There is not a single political position which is praised today that will not be despised just down the road. There are no Titanics which are unsinkable. There is not a single self-proclaimed Christ who will not end up dead in a self-induced Jonestown massacre. There is no gambler’s joy which will not turn to depression eventually. There is no thrill of addiction which will not become an agony of enslavement. Nothing which the world – Satan’s world – has to offer which is permanent.
So, don’t hitch your wagon to any star, because the heavens will some day melt with a fervent heat. Peter has told us in his Second Epistle that in the latter days – days like today – the world will be filled with scoffers, walking after their own worldly “lusts.” (There is that word again.) They will laugh at people like me, declaring that I am a fool to be preaching a sermon like this one. But Peter says, “For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” When this globe goes, so will the world system which feasts upon it. “The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up… the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.” Little children, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life…” are dying. “And the world passeth away, and the lusts thereof.”
In contrast to that we have point two:
“But he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” The world is passing away, but God and His people are SURPASSING all that. Why will he that doeth the will of God abide for ever? The simple answer is: Because it is the will of the God, who abides for ever, that he who does His will will abide for ever.
When we looked at the first verse of this letter, we were confronted with what we call “eternity past.” We were told that Christ was from the beginning,” verse 1. And John has just told us, “I write unto you fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning.” Adding what he tells us in his gospel, the Trinue God was present at the commencement of all things. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
The Bible is crystal clear that Jehovah God is eternal, without beginning and without end. “Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God.” “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” “The Lord shall endure for ever.” “Blessed be Jehovah God… from everlasting to everlasting.” “Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity.” Psalm 90: “Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. A thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday…” By the way Psalm 90:2 makes a distinction between “the earth” and “the world.” As things stand today, the physical earth is one thing, but the world-system is another. The earth is the planet on which we live; but the world is the Satanic world system in which we live. And they both are coming to a justifiable end. I could quote scriptures like these for the next ten minutes or more.
Also, everything that is directly related to the eternal God is equally eternal. “The COUNSEL of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.” “Thy THRONE is established of old; thou art from everlasting.” “The GLORY of the Lord shall endure for ever.” “His RIGHTEOUSNESS endureth for ever.” “Thy NAME, O Lord, endureth for ever; and thy memorial, O Lord, throughout all generations.” “Thy KINGDOM is an everlasting Kingdom, and thy DOMINION endureth throughout all generations.” “Trust ye in the Lord for ever; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting STRENGTH.” “The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal POWER and God-head.” These scriptures are just the hem of the eternal garment of God. And the will of God is as eternal as all these other things. It is perhaps foolish to say, but God and the world are the antithesis of each other.
Remember, when Adam sinned, he spiritually died and his body began the slow process of death. His fellowship with the eternal God was broken; he was no longer eternal. Just as he moved out of the Garden, he moved from spiritual light to spiritual darkness. These are the facts which lay behind what John has told us in chapter one. “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
“Can two walk together except they be agreed?” That may be possible between sinners, but it is impossible between unrepentant sinners and the holy God. “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” So, “hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.” “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”
And returning to our text: “The world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” What is meant by “abideth for ever?” First, whatever it is, it is in contrast to the world which is passing away. Simply put: this is referring to eternal life; joyfully living for ever in the presence of the eternal God. The Lord Jesus gives us a comparative parallel with John when He says of the wicked, “these shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal.” And He said in John 10: “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life.” In the prayer of Jesus recorded in John 17, He said to the Father: “As thou hast given (me) power over all flesh, that (I) should give eternal life to as many as thou hast give (me). And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.” Abiding forever with God is the result of salvation; it is a part of the gift of God to those He saves from sin.
Now, at this point we must become very, very careful. Millions of professing Christians look at verse 17 and say, “Obedience to the Ten Commandments is the path to eternal life.” They say that obedience to the Sermon on the Mount, or obedience to the rules of their religion… Fleshly obedience to certain laws is the doorway into the eternal home of God. I can see why people say things like that. Without understanding this verse in the context of the rest of the Bible it can produce that interpretation. When people ignore or are ignorant of other scriptural statements, that might be a logical conclusion.
The truth is, there ARE other scriptures, and there ARE other obvious facts. For example, James tells us in 2:10: “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” And Galatians 3:10 says, “Cursed is ever one that continueth not in all the things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” Only a fool would ever say that he had faithfully kept every commandment the Lord has ever made. And how much obedience must there be before a sinner will abide with God for ever? Even if at some point the Lord wipes the slate clean, and we restart with a perfect record, that clean record is not going to stay intact very long.
And yet John clearly says, “he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” What does that mean if it is not talking about obedience to a set of divine laws? Let’s take note that John does NOT say, “he who is OBEDIENT to the LAW abideth for ever.” Rather we have here: “he that doeth the WILL of God.” There is a sense in which God’s will is always carried out; God’s will in based in Himself, not in us. But still, this verse speaks about people doing God’s will. They will do what the Lord determines will be done.
When it comes to obtaining eternal life – when it comes to salvation from sin – what is the will of God? Let’s ask the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. John 3:14: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” What is God’s will for people to abide with Him for ever? It is to put faith in Christ. Jesus said in John 5:24: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” What is God’s will? To put faith in Christ and in the Father who commissioned Him to die on the cross in our place. Again, the words of Christ Jesus in John 6:40: “This is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life.” The Apostle says in I John 5: “this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”
What is the will of God in order that we might avoid destruction with the passing world? What is necessary that we may abide with the Lord for ever? It is a trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave His life on the cross to deliver and forgive sinners like us. But I must warn you; it has to be the right kind of faith; the right kind of trust. What I mean by that is faith enveloped in humility and repentance.
What is repentance? I ran across a quote from John Bunyan, the Baptist author of “Pilgrim’s Progress,” and I agree. He said, “I believe repentance is a turning of the heart to God in Christ: A turning from sin and the devil and darkness to the goodness and grace, and holiness that is in (Christ). Wherefore they of olden day are said to repent because they came to loathe and abhor themselves for all their abominations. Godly repentance: Doth not only affect the soul with the loathsome nature of sin that is past; but fills the heart with godly hatred of sins that yet may come.”
This is the will of God: that you humbly repent before Him, and put your trust for forgiveness in the finished work of Christ on the cross. Yes, those who believe on Christ in this way, will want to obey, worship and serve Him. They will yearn to walk in harmony with Him in the light of the Lord. But it is not their obedience to any set of laws that delivers them from this evil world. It is their faith in Christ.
And when this world passeth away, if not long before, those believers will begin their eternity with the Lord. Will you be in that crowd? Are you trusting Christ for salvation and deliverance, or are you trusting your futile attempts at obedience? Will you be judged with the passing away of the world, or are you living the surpassing life in Christ? Seriously ask yourself before it is eternally too late.