The central message of this sermon is that Christians are not of the world, but rather in it, and this distinction is crucial for understanding our relationship with God and the world around us. As believers, we are part of a system that is fundamentally opposed to God, under the control of Satan, and characterized by evil. However, through faith in Jesus Christ, we can be born again, or "born from above," which means being transformed and made new, not of this world. This transformation requires active effort on our part to resist the pressures and stresses of living in a world that is hostile to God's kingdom. The sermon emphasizes that lowering the standards of God to fit into the world is not an option, but rather we must strive to live according to God's absolute perfection, which is found only in Jesus. Ultimately, this means swimming upstream against the currents of the world, which will always try to squeeze us into its mold and conform us to its evil ways.