DELIVERED FROM THIS PRESENT WORLD
Pastor James J. Barker
Text: GALATIANS 1:1-4
INTRODUCTION:
- Regarding
Galatians 1:4, a preacher
said, "God is not interested in improving the world, or making men comfortable
in it, but in delivering men from it. Our priorities should coincide with His"
William MacDonald.
First John 2:15-17 says,
"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. For all that is in the world, the lust
of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the
Father, but is of the world. And
the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God
abideth for ever."
Notice I John
2:17 says, "And the world passeth away..."
First
Corinthians 7:31 says, "The fashion of this world passeth
away."
James 4:4 says,
"Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is
enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy
of God."
Romans 12:2
says, "And be not conformed to this world."
The Bible says
in Galatians 1:4 that this is an "evil world." It does not matter what you or I think
about it, for we have God’s testimony of it.
God created a
paradise, but man has ruined it. I
saw some pictures yesterday of Zucotti Park.
The place is filthy, with trash piled up everywhere. I even saw a picture of a protestor
defecating on a police car.
Genesis 1:31
says, "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very
good."
Yes, but that was before the fall of man. That was before the serpent beguiled Eve.
Not long after Adam and Eve sinned, Cain killed his
brother Abel. Then later on we read
the world had become so wicked that God had to destroy it with a flood. Then we read of the destruction of Sodom
and Gomorrah.
And on and on it goes. The history of mankind is a story of
sin, heartache, misery, rebelliousness, murder, treachery, deceit, wars and
rumors of war.
Galatians 1:4 accurately describes it as "this present
evil world."
I.
WHAT IS THE WORLD?
- The Bible uses
the word "world" in various ways.
For example, John 3:16 says, "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."
- Jesus died for
the sins of the world. When John
the Baptist saw Jesus coming unto him, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).
- There is a
world full of sinners that need to be saved. That is why our Lord said, "Go ye into
all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall
be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned" (Mark 16:15,
16).
- The word
"world" has various shades of meaning.
A.T. Pierson said, "The general idea suggested by 'the world' is: the
earth as the habitation of man, with everything that pertains to its material
beauty, order and symmetrical arrangement; but, in connection with this, the
notion of that which is fleeting, passing away, perishing" (The Bible and
Spiritual Life).
- The word
"world" as it is used in our text, and in Romans 14:2, in James 4:4, and in I
John 2:15, means, the Satanic system, which man has built up in an effort to
make himself happy without the Lord Jesus Christ.
- Andrew Murray
said, "The world is now an organized kingdom of evil," ruled by Satan, the god
of this world.
- First John 5:19
says, "The whole world lieth in wickedness." This means the devil controls the minds
of lost sinners. Whether they
realize it or not, whether they acknowledge it or not -- he is their
god.
- "In wickedness"
in I John 5:19 literally means "in the wicked one." That is why the NKJV
translates the verse, "The whole world lies under the sway of the wicked
one."
- Andrew Murray
said, "The development of evil, now in its slow growth, then again in its sudden
outbreaks, is no blind evolution, but the result of a deliberate systematic war
of an intelligent power of evil against the rule of God. Whether in the grossest
forms of heathenism, or amid the refinement of art and culture, or even under
the guise of a nominal Christianity—everywhere the world lieth in darkness, and
is in its principles and aims the very opposite of the kingdom of God and of
heaven. The pursuit of the visible, the assertion of man's will against that of
God, the pride of man's wisdom, are its distinguishing characteristics, in
contrast with the will, and the love, and the service of the invisible
God."
- The world draws us away from the love of God. Remember what Paul said in II
Timothy 4:10, "For Demas hath forsaken me, having
loved this present world."
- People refer to "the world of sports" and "the world of
finance," and "the world of entertainment," and "the world of politics,"
etc.
- Any sphere where the Lord is not welcomed is
antagonistic to God and the Bible, and should be off limits for a Christian who
loves the Lord.
- Popular culture is certainly antagonistic to God and the
Bible. Therefore it is
worldly.
- Someone has defined the world as "human society insofar
as it is organized on wrong principles, and characterized by base desires, false values, egotism, greed, fleshly
pleasures, deceit, and vulgarity."
II.
HOW THE DEVIL USES THE
WORLD
- Here is a more
concise definition of the "world": "The world is the organized system headed up
by Satan which is in opposition to God."
- That is why
Satan is referred to three times in the Gospel of John as "the prince of this
world" (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
- That is why the
apostle Paul refers to Satan as "the god of this world." Second Corinthians 4:4 says, "In whom
the god of this world hath blinded
the minds of them which believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of
God, should shine unto
them."
- Satan blinds
people's minds. Satan deceives
people into thinking that material things and temporal things are more important
than spiritual things.
- When men become
engrossed in material things, they become more and more worldly, and they get
further and further from God.
- When men become
engrossed in material things, they become more and more materialistic, and they
get further and further from God.
- Money in itself
is not evil, but the love of money is the root of all
evil.
- The Bible says
that Satan is the "god of this world," but he does not have ultimate authority
because this is God's universe. God
created it.
- And in God's
universe, the spiritual realm, the invisible realm, is higher and more important
than the lower realm.
- Man was created in the image and likeness of God. Man was created so that he might
know God, and commune with God.
- Therefore, when men become enamored with the world, they
neglect the things of God (cf. Romans 1:18-32).
- The world appeals to man's selfishness and
pride.
- The world, with all of its glitter and gold, attracts
men, and deceives men, entraps men, and ultimately destroys
them.
- First John 2:16 says, "For all that is in the world, the
lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of
the Father, but is of the world."
- The devil uses the things of this world -- the lust of
the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life -- to lead people
away from God.
- "Lusts" refers to carnal cravings. Consider the lewd advertising we are
constantly bombarded with -- in our mail, in newspapers and magazines, on the
television and on the Internet, on billboards and even on city
buses.
- Titus 2:12 says we are to deny "ungodliness and worldly
lusts."
- "The pride of life" refers to worldly ambition,
selfishness, seeking prominence, the display of worldly honour and recognition,
and worldly titles. Philippians 2:3 refers to "vainglory,"
- A.T. Pierson said, "They all appeal to self --
that root of all sin and pride and rebellion. With pleasures, gains, crowns, which are
but for a season, it ensnares and enslaves the man."
- Satan uses the things of this world to grab our
attention, and change our focus from the things of God to worldly things. Psalm 10:4 says, "The wicked, through
the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts."
- The devil works on people's minds. He brainwashes people. For example, today multitudes today have
been brainwashed into accepting homosexuality, evolution, global warming
theories, and many other foolish ideas.
- Second Corinthians 4:4 says, "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the
minds of them which believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of
God, should shine unto
them."
- Satan uses the things of this world to absorb our
attention and our affections. There
are many examples of this in Scripture. Lot saw the well watered plain of Jordan as an ideal for his flocks and
herds.
- One preacher said, "Sodom was a great place to raise
cattle, but a terrible place to raise children."
- Lot wound up losing his home in Sodom. He also wound up losing his
family.
- Achan admitted to Joshua, "When I saw among the spoils a
goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of
gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them" (Joshua
7:21).
- The devil deceived Achan. He lusted after that goodly Babylonish
garment, and those two hundred shekels of silver, and a that wedge of gold of
fifty shekels weight.
- And because of his covetousness and lust, he died along
with his wife and children (Joshua 7:19-26).
- Even the great King David, a man after God's own heart,
lusted after beautiful Bath-sheba.
His lust led to adultery and then the murder of her husband, Uriah the
Hittite.
- So we read these sad words in I Kings 15:5, "Because
David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside
from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in
the matter of Uriah the Hittite."
- A big ugly stain on King David's
record.
- The things of this world can never satisfy. Haggai 1:6 says, "Ye have sown much, and
bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled
with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages
earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes."
- The devil deceives people into thinking that happiness
comes from money and the things money can buy. Our Lord said that was "foolish" (cf.
Luke 12:15-34; Matthew 7:24-29).
- The politicians are helping to destroy this country by
promoting gambling. Gambling
breeds covetousness, poverty, drunkenness, organized crime, and a thousand other
sins.
- It is just another worldly trick to get money from
people and make them paupers.
III.
HOW DOES THE LORD DELIVER US FROM THIS PRESENT EVIL
WORLD?
- The Lord Jesus
Christ gave himself for our sins, as a great sacrifice to make atonement for us
(Gal. 4:1).
- He died so that
we can have our sins forgiven.
- He died so that
we can go to heaven instead of hell.
- And He died to
"deliver us from this present evil world" (1:4).
- Not only to
redeem us from the wrath of God, and the curse of the law, but also to recover
us from the corruption that is in the world through lust (II Peter
1:4).
- The Lord Jesus
Christ died to deliver us from this present evil world, not just to take us out
of it, which He will do at the rapture, but to rescue us from the power of
it.
- This is
"according to the will of God and our Father" (1:4). Christians sometimes wonder about the
will of God. Well, it is definitely
God's will for you to be delivered from this present evil world
(1:4).
- Romans 12:2
says, "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing
of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and
perfect, will of God."
- We need to
understand that the spirit of this present evil world and the will of God are
diametrically opposed. There can be
no middle ground.
- For us to properly understand the will of God, and to
fully enjoy the blessings of being in the will of God, we must come out and be
entirely separate from all that is of this present evil
world.
- The Lord Jesus Christ came to deliver us out of this
present evil world, by freeing us from its spirit, and making us partakers of the divine nature (II Peter
1:4).
- Our Lord said to His antagonists, "Ye are of this world; I am not of this world" (John
8:23).
- In John 18:36, our Lord said to worldly Pontius Pilate,
"My kingdom is not of this world."
- But all Pilate understood was this world. Beloved, you and I are not to be like
worldly Pontius Pilate. Our Lord said in John 15:19, "If ye were of the world,
the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have
chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth
you."
- Beloved, we can endure the enmity of the world because
the Lord Jesus Christ died to deliver us from this present evil
world.
- This is according to the will of God (Gal.
1:4).
CONCLUSION:
- This morning I
have attempted to demonstrate how the devil uses the world to deceive people and
to lead them astray.
- There is one
method I have not spent time with, and that is the world of religion. Multitudes of lost sinners are convinced
that they are on their way to heaven because they are religious, or they do good
deeds, or are church members, etc.
- In John
Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, Christian meets a fellow named Mr. Worldly
Wiseman from the town of Carnal Policy.
- Mr. Worldly
Wiseman directed Christian to a village named Morality, and to a gentleman there
whose name was Mr. Legality.
- Soon Christian
discovered that Mr. Worldly Wiseman gave him bad counsel. He once again meets up with Evangelist,
who corrected him and sent him toward the wicket gate, and on to the straight
and narrow King's Highway.
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