"Grace be to you, and peace, 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, according to the will of God and our Father." Gal. 1:3, 43Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, 4Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: (Galatians 1:3‑4).
In Galatians we get the twofold work of Christ, first in giving Himself for our sins. No one can be a true Christian without realizing the truth that Christ gave Himself for our sins. That is the foundation of all. But it is thoroughly possible and sadly true that there are many who know this, that do not likewise know that He gave Himself "that He might deliver us from this present evil world." It is a sad thing that we have so many of God's children who adore Him as Savior and yet do not learn in their souls that the same blessed One gave Himself that He might "deliver us from this present evil world." Of course we know as to the work of Christ in its efficacy, every one of those who have known redemption will be delivered from this scene—will be delivered from this present evil age "for He is faithful that promised." When that hour comes, the Lord Jesus steps forth in the air to receive those for whom He has been waiting. He will by power take everyone who has "tasted that the Lord is gracious" out of this scene, and the poor creature whose heart is in this scene will be taken out of it in spite of himself.
When the hour comes, regardless of where His own are found, however deeply immersed in the world, He is going to take His own to be with Himself, and power will do what grace has failed to do. He will then deliver every child of God from this present evil age. We will be out of reach eternally of all those things which would seek to drag us down now and would seek to give the lie to our profession of belonging to Him who has gone out of this world.
What would be the effect of that with us? The Lord Jesus gave Himself for our sins; that is the starting point of all. It is where you and I found ourselves in our sins, poor, lost, wicked, rebel sinners, without one good thing to plead before Him. It is where we all started, all on the same level. We heard His voice: "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," and dear fellow believer, you and I came to Jesus, and we confessed our sins to Him. We owned to Him all the awful things we had done, and in His grace He just pardoned the whole thing, and He received us and gave us rest to our souls. His precious blood cleansed away our sins, and Oh! we adore Him! He won our hearts! He became our Savior! You and I have peace today as the result of what the blessed Savior has done for us.
The question I want to bring before us practically, is this—has the power of the love -of Christ in our hearts delivered "us from this present evil world"? It is an important thing for us to get hold of that. It is a good thing to get thoroughly established, and to get thoroughly convinced that you and I are living in an evil world, pronounced so by the blessed Son of God Himself. Isn't it sad that we see so many fine young Christians that are so far from the mind of God as to this world, that they are dedicating their lives to what they think will make this world a better place? Their ambition is to make it a good place and they are devoting their lives to bettering the world. Suppose they succeed in what they are trying to do, what would be the result? They would make the first chapter of Galatians and the fourth verse untrue. To find out that this is an evil world will save us a lot of lost energy. What a lot there are in Christendom today, dear earnest young Christians exerting themselves and giving their time and labor to do things God never told them to do, trying to accomplish things which, if accomplished, would make Scripture untrue.
Some of the young people on Washington Square last night got to see the rough side of life. They realized, perhaps as never before, what the heart of man is capable of. Perhaps it was an eye-opener to see really how far the heart of man can go in rebellion to God. The Word of God told us that long ago. The lid is kept on, and there is a certain amount of respectability about the world, but it does not alter it, and underneath it all is the heart of man which is enmity against God. Underneath is the evil work, and it only takes the hand of God to remove the lid. This world is yet to have another demonstration of what kind of world it is. It has had one already. That was at Calvary's cross. One of these days the Lord is coming to take out of this world, His prized Church, and when they go to meet the Lord in the air, the Holy Spirit, the restraining influence is going to go. Then what happens? We see what was held down beneath the surface all the time. We see it manifest itself. We find possibly millions arrayed in open rebellion against God. We find man lifting himself up to the place where he actually says he is God. Can you imagine a condition like that? The declared warfare of poor man against the Son of God and the armies of heaven.
It is a good thing to get thoroughly established in this line of truth. Dear young people that have your life before you, if the Lord Jesus should tarry, your whole life is going to be affected by the attitude you take toward this world. Your whole Christian life will be affected by whether or not you regard this as an evil, doomed world, waiting for the execution of God's judgment on it, or whether you regard it as the world subject to improvement. It is a good thing to get God's estimate of this world before you cast your life into it.
The Lord Jesus died and gave Himself for our sins that He might deliver us from this present evil world. The Apostle Paul is the most blessed example of one who realized as perhaps none other has, really what this world is. He estimated it at its true value, as he viewed it in the light of "that day" when he was going to be with the Lord Jesus; he pronounced the whole thing but refuse. He counted it all loss for Christ. You and I were not in the least sorry when the delivering power of Christ came into our lives and freed us from all those sinful things which we used to go on with. We do not long for the old carnal pleasures which we indulged in our unconverted days. The gambler who was delivered from the gambling table does not look back and long to be back in the throes of that awful habit. But what the Apostle says is "what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ." There is no gain to a man's being a drunkard, nor being a gambler, but what is the line of things that are gain? According to this third chapter of Philippians it was what Paul had as a natural man in this world, in the way of worldly temporal advantages. It was his family, his education and his standing, his position and his influence, all that he possessed and of which he could boast. Nothing he needed to be ashamed of and yet he says he "counted" those things but "loss."
I believe right in that line of things there is something searching for our hearts. There is nothing more natural to a young person and I suppose to all, but particularly to a young person, than ambition. From the time you entered your school life down to the present time you have heard lecture after lecture, and talk after talk, seeking to stir you up to be ambitious, and you have success put before you as something to be desired. Your ambition has been kindled and you have had success held before you as the only right goal. Bring this to the light of the Word of God. "What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ." The Lord Jesus has given Himself for you. You committed the keeping of your souls to Him, and He has given Himself that "He might deliver us from this present evil world." If that transaction has taken place between you and the Lord Jesus, there has been an agreement entered into, perhaps not expressed but implied. That agreement is that the blessed One who died on Calvary's cross has now not only become your Savior but your Lord, and as your Lord He possesses authority over you. He has absolute right and title to your heart. You have been purchased. You "are not your own." You are purchased from the claims of this world and you now belong to Christ.
No doubt you have power of one kind or another over those things that are peculiarly your own, those things that make you an individual character. The question before your soul is, is the attractiveness of Christ sufficient for your soul to lay that down at His feet and say, "Lord Jesus, I want you to have all, all that I possess, all that I am. I want to be wholly at your disposal, and I want to be ambitious for nothing but this one thing, that I might be well pleasing to Thee." It is going to spoil us for the world. Our faith in Christ and our practically laying hold of the Lord Jesus as the One who has delivered us spoils us for the world. But blessed be God! What does that amount to in comparison with "that day" which is near at hand, when we are going to stand before that blessed One "who gave Himself... that He might deliver us from this present evil world." We will not regret then that we gave everything into His care, and we will have one ambition and one desire that we might be found well-pleasing to Him.
This may be using a pretty sharp knife on ourselves; there may be some cutting off to do; there may be a change in our course in a good many ways. But dear young Christian, He may be here at any moment.
How easy it is for us to lend an ear to the world in its flattery as it seeks to drag us into that line which makes success and popularity in this world. It is natural, but when we realize that it is an evil world, and that that blessed One gave Himself to deliver us, it shows a different face on the whole matter. In the light of that coming day how am I planning? Am I planning to make my life a success, or to be found to His praise and honor? That is the only ambition for the Christian. The Christian has no business to be the most popular or most successful man or woman in this life. Another One has claim over him now, and he has but to please that One, regardless of his talents or gifts. They must all be put down at the feet of that blessed One. We will be glad in that day for whatever sacrifice we have made for Him. At this time the Christian's life is a hidden life. It is hid with Christ in God. It is unknown now, the world does not know, but it will not always be so. One of these days we are going to be manifested, we are going to be displayed. The Lord is going to show us forth in full power, and we will be displayed before this poor world. Are you satisfied to live a hidden life in Christ? Are you content to live as unknown? Are you content to pass quietly through this world that the approval of that blessed One whom you profess to serve may rest upon you? That is the secret in going through this life, living in the sense that He is coming. We will not cause much of a stir down here. We will never set the world on fire. We will perhaps pass through it unknown. But blessed be God! we can pass through it as our blessed Savior did, the rejected Man. Should a servant be greater than his Lord?
May the Lord give us grace in the light of that day, to count all things but loss, even the things that were gain, but loss for Christ.
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