This Present Evil World

Gal 1:4 says of Jesus Christ, “Who gave himself for our sins, that he might delver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father”.

To deliver is to set free.  Just as the earth has gravity which forces everything to be drawn to the earth, so this evil world has a hold on its inhabitants.  But just as a rocket can defy gravity and send things into space, so Jesus Christ can break the hold this world has on you.

Our text says that Jesus gave himself for our sins.  He didn’t give himself just to forgive us or to get us to heaven.  He gave himself that he might deliver us from this present evil world.  This is the will of God.  The will of God is to save us, to give us eternal life, to take us to heaven when we die, and to deliver us from this present evil world.

Jesus delivers us from the:

The wickedness of this world.  1 Jn 5:19 the whole world lieth in wickedness.  Gal 1:4 says that he ‘might’ deliver us.  This takes our cooperation.  Some people don’t want to be delivered from this world.

People who don’t know the Bible or who don’t believe the Bible don’t realize the true condition of this world.  But when you read the Bible, you begin to realize that you were born into a world that is terribly corrupt.  God didn’t make it this way.  He made us without sin.  But after Adam and Eve sinned, sin and death then affected the entire human race.

Just read a few books about war that include the atrocities committed by men and nations.  You can’t imagine that men would do such horrendously wicked things to one another.  But they do.  And it’s because we live in a fallen world.  And don’t think for a minute that the atrocities of the past will stay in the past.  There will be more of the same and even worse in the future.

Every person born into this world is born into sin and death.  And these are not passive enemies.  Prov 13:21 evil pursueth sinners.

You have to realize that this present world is evil.  After reading the Bible through a couple of times, I remarked to a friend, “This world is going to hell in hand basket”.  Once you realize this, you should want Jesus to deliver you from it.

The god of this world.  2 Cor 4:4 the god of this world is the devil.  This is one reason it can be hard to lead people to the Lord. The devil blinds their minds.  And religions are a common means of doing this.  Religions are man-made and devil inspired.  Men kill over their religions.

The devil came to steal, kill, and destroy.  Like soldiers in battle, you live in a world that is filled with mines, booby traps, and enemy emplacements.  Your deadly enemies work with the devil to deceive you, trip you, trap you, steal from you, destroy you, and kill you.  They commit horrendous atrocities.  The devil and his allies are full scale enemies against Jesus and the truth.

The course of this world.  Eph 2:2 the course of this world is according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.  It’s contrary to God.   This world is constantly on a course that is moving away from God.  If something is of the world, it’s not of God.  Therefore, you can’t bring the world into the church without taking the church off course and along the course of this world.

The love of this world.  Love not the world, 1 Jn 2:15-17.  Read all these verses.  Demas loved this present world and it took him out of his work for the Lord.  Jesus explained in Jn 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”.

We are to use the world but we are not to abuse it, 1 Cor 7:31.  The fashion of this world passeth away.  But some of us are so caught up in the world that we don’t ever get anything done for the Lord.

Conclusion: examine your heart today and see if the Lord has been delivering you from this present evil world.  If not, then learn from the verses we’ve seen today and let him deliver you.