📖 1 John 2:15–17 • Are you drifting? John reveals three stages that let the world into your heart — and most Christians are already in stage two.

⛪ Preached at Pilgrim Baptist Church • Cookeville, TN • March 5, 2026.

Most preaching on "love not the world" starts at stage two — the point where damage is already done. In this exposition of 1 John 2:15–17, Pastor Fortunato traces the full three-stage progression: friendship (James 4:4), love (1 John 2:15), and conformity (Romans 12:2). By the time John says "love not the world," the world may already be in your house.

The sermon then maps every temptation you will ever face onto the three categories of 1 John 2:16 — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — and shows how Satan has used the exact same three weapons from the garden of Eden to the wilderness of Judea without changing his combination once. The first Adam reached for the fruit. The second Adam reached for the book. "It is written. It is written. It is written."

This message closes with one of the most important distinctions in the passage: John is not warning primarily against the world's wickedness — he is warning against the world's weakness. It is dying. Why would you give your love to something that is passing away? Save your love for the One who isn't.

This expository sermon walks through 1 John 2:15–17, connecting:

• The three-stage progression from friendship to love to full conformity (James 4:4, Romans 12:2)

• How Psalm 1:1 played out in real time through Simon Peter at the fire (John 18, Luke 22)

• The lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life as Satan's unchanging three-weapon system

• Lamentations 3:51 on the lust of the eyes — "Mine eye affecteth mine heart"

• David (2 Samuel 11), Achan (Joshua 7), and Psalm 101:3 as case studies in the eye's power

• The rich fool of Luke 12 as the clearest picture of the pride of life

• Genesis 3 and Matthew 4 as parallel temptation accounts using the same three categories

• Colossians 3:1–2 on the difference between setting your mind and setting your affections

• The Ecclesiastes 2 verdict: Solomon had everything and called it vanity

• The gospel tension between "love not the world" (1 John 2:15) and "God so loved the world" (John 3:16)

⛪ About Pilgrim Baptist Church:

We are a family integrated church in Cookeville, Tennessee where families worship together under verse-by-verse expository preaching from the King James Bible. At Pilgrim, we believe that serious biblical teaching builds strong families — and that the Bible is sufficient for every challenge a family faces.

Most of our sermons are systematic expositions through entire books of the Bible, working through God's Word in context so believers understand not just what it says, but how it fits together across the whole of Scripture.

Families worship together. No entertainment. No shortcuts.

Just faithful, verse-by-verse Bible teaching that transforms families.

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