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Grace be to you from
God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ who gave Himself for our
sins that He might deliver us from this present evil world. Galatians
1:3-4
God forbid that I should
glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified
unto me and I unto the world. Galatians 6:14.
There has been a lot of preaching
on the subject of deliverance the last few years. Deliverance from fear,
from suffering, from poverty; deliverance from the curse. But I have not
heard one on the subject of deliverance from the world. While reading the
little book of Galatians, I was impressed with the fact that Paul opens
and closes the letter on the subject of deliverance from the world.
To a sinner this must sound
mighty grotesque. He may be quick to admit his world isn't perfect but
he certainly does not feel it's so bad as to cause him to want to be delivered
from it and certainly not crucified to it. What does it mean? He was born
in it. It is the only world he knows. What guarantee does he have there
will be a better one? But scripture makes one thing clear. There is more
than this world. (Mt. 12:32) "Whosoever speaketh a word against the Son
of Man it shall be forgiven him but whosoever speaketh against the Holy
Ghost it shall not be forgiven him. Neither in "this" world or the world
to come."
This may not have been clear in the Old Testament where the word "this" is never used when speaking of the world; only the article "the." But in studying the New Testament I noticed how often the scripture uses the demonstrative pronoun "this" when speaking of the present world to distinguish it from that world which is to come.
Matthew 12:32 The cares of this world.
Luke 16:8 The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light.
Romans 12:2 Be not conformed to this world
1 Corinthians 2:6 The Prince of this world
1 Corinthians 3:18 Wise in this world
Ephesians 6:12 Rulers of
the darkness of this world
And Paul's sad commentary
on a former associate in the ministry . . . (2 Timothy 4:10) Demas
hath forsaken me having loved this present world.
And our text, (Galatians
4:13) Who gave Himself for our sins that He might deliver us from
this present evil world according to the will of God our father.
The more I studied the subject
the more I was made to understand the wonder of Christ's coming from heaven.
When you read Jesus' sermon on the bread of life in John 6, note how often
He spoke of heaven; especially His repeated statement that He came down
from heaven. His listeners mocked Him, saying, "Is not this the son of
Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it He saith 'I came down
from heaven'?" How wonderful Jesus answer to them was. "What and if you
see the Son of Man ascend up where He was before." His resurrection and
ascension, is the absolute proof that there is another world.
When He began His ministry
He preached that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. He came to tell of that
world and to make it possible for each to share in it. He said, "I go to
prepare a place for you that where I am there you may be also." But to
do this He must die on the cross to deliver us from "this" present evil
world.
John's gospel has been a
favorite book for me. In my study of it I'm impressed with how often Jesus
spoken of "this" world in the last week of His life; some 39 times from
John 12 - 17. John who is careful to give us background opens in 12:1,
"Then Jesus, six days before the Passover . . ." It was as though the closer
He came to the cross the more He spoke up about "this" world. As I thought
about it I wondered why, and some thoughts came crowding into my mind as
I read and reread these 6 chapters addressed almost entirely to His own
disciples.
The first thing I noticed
He wanted to share with His own was that this world is controlled by the
underworld. (John 12:31) "Now is the judgement of this world. Now shall
the Princes of this world be cast out." John 14:30 "The prince of this
world cometh," (John 16:11) "The prince of this world is judged." He named
that person in 13:29 as Satan who entered into Judas.
He knew that in the last
hour of His life He was facing the combined organized forces of evil who
were bent on taking His life. It had tried to kill Him as a babe, and had
inspired those of His own city to cast Him down over a hill on the day
He officially began His ministry. It made other attempts on His life.
For 33 years He had lived
and walked in this world. It was this world He had made, yet when He came
knew Him not. He was despised and rejected of men. And now in the last
week of His life that world which hated Him would spit in His face, pull
the beard from His cheeks, crown Him with thorns, beat Him with many stripes,
and nail His hands and His feet to the cross. It was a world in rebellion
against God; against Himself led by none other than Satan. He shared with
His disciples that they too could expect to be hated by this world as both
He and His Father were hated. (John 15:28) "Now they have hated both me
and my Father." (15:18) "If the world hate you, you know it hated me before
it hated you. If ye are of the world the world would love it's own. Because
ye are not of the world therefore the world hateth you."
And deeply concerned for
their future He prays to the Father to keep them. (17:11) "I come to thee
Holy Father to keep them in thine own name those whom thou hast given me."
(17:15) "I pray not that thou should take them out of the world but that
thou shouldest keep them.
The last week of our Lord's
life was difficult for the disciples. When He was arrested they all fled.
Only John is recorded as being at the cross. When He died they met behind
closed doors. And it was there He came showing Himself that He was alive.
They met with Him again in a mountain in Galilee where He spoke to them
of the kingdom of God and commanded them to return to Jerusalem and wait
for the promise of the Father. You are familiar with the story, (Acts 2:1-4)
"When the day of Pentecost was fully come they were all of one accord in
one place and suddenly there came from heaven the sound as of a rushing
mighty wind... And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to
speak in tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance."
A great crowd gathered. Peter
preaches "Repent, be baptized for the remission of sins and ye shall receive
the gift of the Holy Ghost." About three thousand souls were added to that
little group that day. It was the birth of His church, as by one Spirit
they were all baptized into one body. It was the beginning of a new humanity;
in the world but not of it; characterized by their love for God, for His
word, and for each other. All that believed were together and had all things
common. They met daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread
from house to house did eat their meal with singleness of heart.
The hatred of this world
was not long in coming against the church. The healing of the lame man
gave Peter the opportunity to preach again. About five thousand heard the
word and believed. The fury of Israel's religious leaders was directed
first against Peter and John who were imprisoned . When released they return
to the church, and the church goes to prayer directed by the Holy Ghost.
(Ps.2:1) "Why did the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things?
The kings of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together against
the Lord and against His Christ for of a truth against the holy child Jesus
both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the gentiles and the people of Israel
were gathered together." Their one request , "grant unto thy servants that
with boldness they may speak the word." God answers by sending them a fresh
baptism of His Spirit and the multitude that believed were of one heart
and one soul. They knew this world hated them as it hated Jesus. They had
one task: "to preach the gospel of His kingdom."
All the apostles are seized,
beaten, and charged not to preach in the name of Jesus. Steven is martyred.
The church is scattered by persecution under Saul. James is killed by Herod.
Peter is imprisoned. But the gospel of the kingdom of heaven spreads. Saul
the persecutor of the church is converted and now carries the gospel to
the gentile world. Once part of this world's system, hating and persecuting
the church, he is now part of that church hated by this world. As he moves
to Asia Minor he is drawn from Antioch of Pisidia, and flees to Iconium;
driven from there, flees to Lystra where he is stoned and left for dead.
He crosses the Aegean sea to Macedonia, is beaten and imprisoned at Philippi,
then driven from Thessalonica and Berea; then he's mobbed at Corinth and
Ephesus. Is it any wonder where later he writes to the Ephesians (6:12),
"We wrestle not against principalities and powers, against the rulers in
darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."
In that early church, the
leaders knew from the teaching of their Lord and from their own experience
this world was no friend of theirs. They were hated by it. They were in
this world but not of it. They had a task to fulfill . . . to preach the
gospel of the kingdom of God as a witness to all nations, then their lord
would return.
I spent 6 months in an LCC
camp. Every Thursday night a movie was shown and 10 cents was deducted
from our $1.00 a day wage for that film. I never watched one. Why? As a
child I was taught to avoid worldly amusements, and as a Christian it was
my own choice.
You say, "foolish" - perhaps.
But let me read a promise from the Bible. (II Cor. 6:16), "I will dwell
in them and walk in them and be their God." That promise is conditioned
upon, "Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate and touch
not the unclean thing and I will receive you." I'm 74, pushing 75. Let
me give you an old man's testimony. Separation from the world is a small
price to pay to have God dwell in you and walk in you. Let me pose a question.
Surely no Israeli who all his life had known toil, beatings as a slave,
his little sons killed, once freed from Egypt would ever want to return
to Egypt. Or would he? Surely no person delivered from sin's power, from
Satan's control, from the disgusting lusts of this world, who have the
promise of living forever in heaven would ever want to go back to this
world. Or would he?
Sadly Paul must write to
Timothy. (II Timothy 4:10), "Demas hath forsaken me having loved this present
world." We need to ask ourselves the question, "What is there in this present
world that so appeals to one, once delivered from it, that it's able to
seduce him back to it again?" And what is there in me that responds to
its appeal? The word present in Gal. 1:3, "deliver us from this present
world," is the greek word Uiestemi, which Thayer defines as, to stand in
sight or near. The word present in II Tim. 9:10, "Demas hath forsaken me
having loved this present world," is the greek word Nun. Thayer defines
this word as "now". We call our generation the Now generation. That which
surrounds us, so near to us in the here and now, presses two fingers into
our eyeballs and blinds us to the future; totally absorbed in what it sees,
what surrounds it, and is Now.
It is to the credit of those
early Christians that they added another meaning Kosmos which is translated
into English -world- , worldly affairs. The whole circle of earthly goods,
riches, advantages, pleasures, which although hollow, frail and fleeting,
stir desire, seduce from God, and are obstacles to the cause of Christ.
Paul wrote in Thessalonians
of worldly lusts; in Timothy of divers lusts (different kinds). John in
his first Epistle wrote, "Love not the world neither the things that are
in the world. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the
lust of the eyes , and the pride of life," Peter wrote, "Abstain from fleshly
lusts which war against the soul" (I Peter 2:11).
What is this thing of lust?
Thayer defines the greek word Epithumia desire craving-especially for what
is forbidden _ lust. It was this that caused Eve to sin. (Gen. 3:6), "When
the woman saw that the tree was good for food pleasant to eyes (Margui
- a desire), a tree to be desired." It was Satan's method then-it is his
method still. (Eph. 2:2-3) Wherein in time past ye walked according
to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the
air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among
whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by
nature the children of wrath, even as others. Let me suggest just
a few that our Lord mentions in the parable of the sower and seed. Mark
4:19, deceitfulness of riches, lusts of other things, and Luke adds (8:14)
pleasures of this life, deceitfulness of riches. We are being gripped by
the spirit of materialism; possessions. Paul warns in first Timothy 6:9,
They that be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many
foolish and hurtful lusts.
The son of a minister friend,
as a young man called to preach, attended one of our Bible colleges. Now
a millionaire livery owner, he's a breeder of fine racing horses. Once
when a very valuable horse collapsed on the track he ran out to it, knelt
in the dirt and prayed God would spare it. A friend asked for a Christian.
Don't you think that a bit improper, he retorted angrily, "I pay my tithes
don't I?" He no longer attends the Assembly of God church.
Pleasures. Isaiah cries (58:13)
"If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath from doing thy pleasure on
my holy day and call the Sabbath a delight; the holy of the Lord honorable
and shall honor Him not doing thine own ways nor finding thine own pleasures,
nor speaking thine own words, then shall thou delight thyself in the Lord."
We have become a nation blessed
with pleasure. Once a people honoring the Lord's day; we now are filling
that day with the TV, with the finest of sports for the afternoon, and
the finest of movies for Sunday night. It has affected even our church.
It has affected God's people's love for Gods house, and the fellowship
of the saints. We are fast becoming a Sunday morning church as we allow
the love of pleasure to rob us of the love of God.
Lusts of other things. What
a list that can make. It was lust for Egypt's food that caused Israel to
ultimately fail. (Ps. 106:15), "They lusted exceedingly in the wilderness.
He gave them their request but sent leanness to the soul." And they wanted
to return to Egypt.-Fleshly lusts, Peter wrote, war against the soul.
In John 13:17 John records
the last words of our Lord to his disciples. It opens "Now before the feast
of the Passover when Jesus knew that His hour was come that He should depart
out of this world unto the Father having loved His own, He loved them unto
the end. Rising from supper, He laid aside His garment and took a towel
and girded Himself, after that He poured water into a basin and began to
wash the disciples feet and to wipe them with a towel." How could He do
it facing as He was the awfulness of the suffering He was about to undergo.
Why did He do it? Because He loved them and wanted His love to so affect
them they would love each other as He as loved them.
Read carefully and prayerfully
Ch. 13-7. Underline each line. The word love is used some 30 times from
13-34. "A new commandment I give unto you that you love one another as
I have loved you. (15:12), "This is my commandment that ye love one another
as I have loved you." (15:17), "These things I command that you love one
another." Note in these chapters how often He spoke of His love, the Father's
love to them and His command to them to love one another.
But notice as well His deep
concern expressed in the fact of how often He mentions this world (the
Kosmos) in Ch. 13-17; some 30 times. Why this concern? Earlier He said
(John 7:7), "The world cannot hate you but me it hateth because I testify
of it that the works thereof are evil." He knew they would be hated by
this world as He was hated. (17:14), "I have given them thy word and the
world hath hated them because they are not of this world." So He prays
the Father to keep them. (l7:l4), "That thou shouldest keep them from evil."
But a cry comes from His
heart. (17:17), "Sanctify them through thy truth." He knew from experience
and from observation of others the goal of the world is to seduce men from
God; to lure back those who have left it by destroying their love for God.
He knows the need of His own to be sanctified, that is separated from evil
, from worldly influence, and so He makes this awesome statement. (17:19),
"For their sakes I sanctify myself that they may be sanctified through
thy truth." Dedicate all my time and effort to make their sanctification
possible.
Within hours He would be
in the agony of Gethsemane wrestling with the god of this world. At the
cross, where, through death destroyed him who had power of death, that
is the devil, to make possible our deliverance from this evil world. And
in a few short days ascended to the right hand of God the Father to make
intercession for us. As the writer to the Hebrews mentions, (7:25) "Wherefore
He is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him, seeing
He ever liveth to make intercession for them."
What are the lessons? First,
I must come to the recognition there are two worlds. This one and the one
to come. Second, that this world is controlled by the god of this world;
the rulers of the present darkness. It's mass media, amusement, pleasure,
riches; all used to lure me away from God. It is a world of darkness and
evil.
The Kingdom of God is a world
of light. There is a great enmity between these two worlds. Friendship
with this world makes me an enemy of God.
I cannot have my citizenship in both worlds. To choose God's world I must renounce my relationship to this world. I cannot serve God and Mammon.
Born to this world; a subject
by birth and nature to it, controlled by the lusts of this world and Satan.
I must be freed, delivered, to be able to live in that one. And only Christ
through His death on the cross has the power to deliver me from this present
evil world.
Once delivered, I must live
separate from this world. But to do that the umbilical cord that connects
me to this world, my flesh life, must be severed. In Galatians, Paul tells
us by the Spirit, "They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with
it's affections and lusts." Daily I must take up my cross and follow Him.
Making His death to sin and the world, my death to sin and the world.
Worldliness is not something
new; it was a problem in the early church Paul had to deal with it at Corinth
where some were even returning to heathen temples and sharing in heathen
idol feasts. He opens the letter reminding them they are the church. (1:2),
"Unto the church at Corinth (eklesia - the called out ones) to them that
are sanctified, called to be saints."( The word holy, sanctified, saints
have . . . all the same greek root Hagios - separate). And Paul pleads
with them (2 Corinthians 6:17), Come out from among them and be ye
separate.
Strange that James, when
he deals with it, links worldliness to pleasure (4:4), From whence
come wars and fighting among you. Come they not hence even of your lusts
(hedone) that war in your members. (v. 3), Ye ask . . . that
ye may consume it upon your lusts (hedone)." It's the same
greek word in Luke 8:14: pleasures of this life. Webster
defines Hedonism -The doctrine that pleasure is the principle good and
should be the aim. A person's actions always have pleasure as their purpose.
(v.4), "Ye adulterers and adulteresses. Know ye not that friendship with
the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this
world is the enemy of God." That word, friendship , friend, (greek - Philos)
is defined by Thayer as "One who associates familiarly with; one who finds
pleasure in."
A brother, a leader in the church confided in me that his marriage was in trouble. On a
vacation he met and became
closely associated with another woman, though no sexual intimacy had occurred.
Her friendship had continued and was now threatening his home. He had a
beautiful godly wife and lovely children. One thing is clear. No man can
love another woman and his wife with the same heart. Friendship with the
world is like spiritual adultery. John wrote "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." And James makes one thing clear, "The one who
associates familiarly with, the one who finds pleasure in the world is
an enemy of God."
We are a hedonistic pleasure-crazed
nation. We're obsessed with sports, the amusements on T.V. and that spirit
of worldliness is invading the Church, affecting our love for God, for
His house, for His work and each other.
Moses faced the choice of
pleasures for a season or the reproach of Christ's suffering. We are faced
with the same choice. It was not Moses' voice to be raised in the court
as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. But it was his choice to leave Egypt.
It wasn't Daniel's and the three Hebrew Children's choice to be taken as
captive by the Babylonian army to Babylon. Nor was it their choice to sit
at the king's table to eat the king's meat and drink of the king's wine.
. . but it was their choice to refuse.
So too, it is for us to be
distinctly different kinds of persons than those who are in the world.
We are to be molded by the influences of the Kingdom of God rather than
the kingdom of darkness . . . to triumph as Daniel and the three Hebrew
children did when they stood against the pressures in their world to compromise,
conform, and accept that which is less than the divine highest. There is
only one thing which the Christian can wholeheartedly conform to; it is
the image of Jesus Christ.
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