of the book of Galatians, chapter
one. Galatians, chapter one. We'll
read the first five verses here. Paul and the apostle, not of
men, neither by man but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who
raised him from the dead. And all the brethren which are
with me unto the churches of Galatia, 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,
to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. The Galatians had turned aside
from the gospel of the grace of God, and Paul here in his
writings, and in particular in these first five verses, was
in dead earnest to bring them back to the old paths, bring
them back to the gospel of the grace of God, which would bring a man into perfect justification
before God. He has a burning, eager desire
to straighten this matter out, and he seems to be in a hurry
to get right to the subject of refuting the error that had seemingly
entered into the minds and hearts of the Galatian people. But the
thing that I notice here is this, that it seems like even though he
had such a desire to set forth the truth, that he had to pause
for just a second or two and say something for the honor and
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. It seems like in the writings
of this great man that whenever the name of Jesus Christ is mentioned,
even when it's mentioned by Paul, he always pauses to fall on his
knees, to bow his heart, and to worship and to praise him.
He says here Verse 3, 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. And then he says,
To whom? Be glory forever and ever. Amen. Just at the mention of
the name of the Lord Jesus, Paul wants to praise God. He just
wants to stop and bow and sing praises unto his name. Well,
let's consider here for just a minute this morning what this means when Paul says
in verse 4, "...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." What does this mean? That the Lord Jesus Christ gave
himself for our sins for this purpose. This is the purpose
of it, he says, and what's included in that purpose? That he might
who gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from
this, right now, this present evil world. And he said that
this mission that he was on, and that certainly he would accomplish
that which he set out to do, was, he said, according to the
will of God our Father. All that He will do and is in
the process of doing now for his people is according to the
will of God. He said he can't fail. He'll
do that which he said he would do. He's not going to try to
do something and not complete it. He's not going to be hindered
by religion or He's not going to be hindered by the will of
man or the will of flesh, but he's going to accomplish that
which he purposed to do because it's according to the will of
God the Father. Now, what does he mean here when
he says that he gave himself for our sins that he might deliver
us from this present evil world? Well, first off, it means that
he's going to rescue his people from hell. It means that. If it doesn't mean anything else,
but it means many other things, but that's the first thing that
it means. He gave himself for our sins
that he might deliver us from this present evil world. Gave
himself for our sins. Rescue us from hell. Hell is
this terrible, terrible place that men will finally wind up
in forever and forever because of their rebellion against the
God who made them. That is their ultimate goal. They'll finally wind up there. Go through this life getting
up of a morning and eating their breakfast and putting on their
clothes and going to work and having conversation reading and
writing and sitting down and getting up and whistling and
singing and all that's involved in life. But one day, one day,
now you can just mark this down, one day there'll be an end to
the getting up of a morning and to the eating of the breakfast
and to the putting on of clothes. and the taking off of clothes,
and the laying down, and the getting back. One day there'll
be an end to all of that. And the final destiny of a whole
lot of people will be to die and go to hell. That's a sad,
sad thing, but that's the truth nevertheless. And they'll go
to hell to receive wages. The hell will be their wages. It'll be what they're entitled
to. It'll be their pay. It's what they worked for. It's
what they lived for. And it's where they'll wind up.
Now, the first thing that this means is that He delivered us,
or He gave Himself for our sins, that He might rescue us from
this terrible place, that we might not go to hell and spend
eternity separated from God in which I believe a literal torment. Hell will be a literal torment. You remember the only place I
know of in the Bible that gives a very accurate description of
an unbeliever after death is there in the book of Luke when
it says that the rich man died. And he went into Hades, he went
into hell, and being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and said,
Father Abraham, I torment in these flames. I am tortured in
this place by these flames. And he said, I have an unquenching
thirst here, and would you just please send that beggar over
here with a drop of water on his finger that he might put
it on my tongue. Now that's the only place I know
in the Bible that gives a description of this terrible place of hell
for an unbeliever. Now this is where men will wind
up who are rebels against God, who continually, day in and day
out, year in and year out, continue to bow their necks in rebellion
against God, they finally wind up in this terrible place of
separation and torment and hell. But our Lord Jesus Christ He
said that there is a people, there's a people in the mind
and purpose and the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said
He's going to rescue them from this place. He gave Himself for
their sins that He might deliver them from this present evil world. To rescue them from hell and
to bring them unto the place where he dwells. He said, Father,
I would that those given me be where I am that they might behold
my glory. One day, our Lord Jesus Christ
is going to bring all of those that he represents and all of
those that he died for All of those in whom He suffered the
agony and torment and penalty of their sins, He's going to
bring them home unto Himself and there they shall ever be.
To rescue us from hell and to bring us unto Himself. One day. Now He's going to accomplish
this. He's not trying, He's doing it. He will not rest until every
soul for whom he died will be at perfect rest, perfect peace,
perfect happiness, and perfect oneness with himself. Now that's part of what it means,
but it means more than that. I might say in between the rescuing
from hell, and the bringing home unto himself there is another
state, which he says that there is therefore a rest for the people
of God. Now the people of God, though
they are absent from their Heavenly Father, and absent from the literal
presence of their Master, and their Savior, and their Substitute,
and their King, and their Priest, and their Lord, Though they're
absent from Him literally, yet they are in perfect rest because
they're resting in Him. And that's what it means, that
He gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from hell, to bring
us to where He is, but in the meantime, to give us a perfect
rest, that we might rest in Him, rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. and my how that's needed in our
day. We live in a troubled world. This is a troubled world. Trouble
on every hand. There's not a family that I know
of anywhere that does not have troubles. Troubles. I mean deep grief and sorrow
and heavy troubles. And if there's ever a time in
the history of the human race when a man needs a rest, a rest
free soul, he cannot go on 24 hours a day being vexed and tormented
in his soul by the griefs and troubles and cares of this life.
There must be a time when he can rest, and that rest is in
the Lord Jesus, and when he turns to Him, turns to the Lord Jesus,
he can find some rest there, and he can say, though I have
many trials and troubles, though I have difficulties that you
cannot perceive or understand, and I can't understand them myself,
Yet, in spite of all of that, even though I'm full of unbelief,
I believe, Lord, help my unbelief. Though I'm tattered and torn
as to perfection, yet there is a place of rest, a place that
I can lay my soul, I can cast my soul on Him, and I can say,
Lord, I don't understand, and my heart bleeds, my very heart
bleeds, I'm tormented, but yet I know, I know that You know
the way I take and the way I go, and when I come forth, I shall
be as gold. Arrest, that's what's involved
in this. A rescue from hell. I don't want to go to hell. I
don't want to go to hell, do you? Nobody in his right mind
wants to jump into that open pit of destruction and torment
and misery. I'm tired of misery. I'm tired
of grief and I'm tired of sorrow, aren't you? I don't want to live
this life, a life of sorrow and grief and worry and trouble on
every hand and then die and jump off into more of it. I want to
be rescued from that. Our Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what he's talking about. Rescue us from hell and its penalty. Bring us unto Himself. But in
the meantime, Glenn, there is a rest for the people of God. Brother, there's a time when
you can sit by yourself, or you can lay your head on your pillow
and say, Lord, I've wept till my eyes are sore and my heart
bleeds, but yet I know it's good for me. It's good that I was
afflicted. It's good that these troubles
come, Father, because they drive me to You. And I can rest. And I know that You'll not fail
in Your eternal purpose to bring me safe on Canaan's fair shores. I know You'll not be thwarted
in that purpose. And what You start to do, You'll
finish. God of power and might and you're
a king and you'll do right, you'll do right whatever it is. I can
rest. You sent your Son. How dare,
how dare we impugn the love of God to our poor souls when the
Lord Jesus Christ, who was God's Son, God, who spared not His
own Son, Nor shall he not withal, with
him and through him, give us all things, he that spared not
his own son." Now he'll do it. All right? All of this and more. Then more. What's involved in this? To deliver
us from this evil world. This world is evil. It's an evil
world. This world's against God, did
you know that? You wouldn't think so, there's
a church on every corner, religious people crying out against the
injustices and immoralities in this world and everything, and
everybody talking about being born again, everybody talking
about loving Jesus and all that, you'd think that this world I
was with God instead of against God, but this world is an evil
world. This world cast out the Lord
Jesus Christ. This world is no different now
than what it was 2,000 years ago. Oh, we have more modern
technology. Now I don't know whether that's
good or bad. It's like Albert was telling me. He said, Preacher,
don't pay to get sick no more. I said, You can't. Don't pay.
You better not get sick unless you've got a pocket full of money.
He said he was in the hospital two days and it cost him $1,900.
I've just been in the hospital, $1,900 for two days. They said,
some of them said, well, we need to go back where we was before.
Well, that may be all right. This modern technology that we
have and all these facilities that we have, we're paying for
every bit of it. And we're paying dearly for it. $1,900 for two days in the hospital? I'm telling you, $700 to a doctor
when he delivers a baby? I'm telling you, we're paying
dearly for the modern technology and conveniences that we have
in this world. But that doesn't make this world
any better. This world still hates God! It's still against
God, and it's opposed, not to the God of some fictitious writer,
and not of the God of your imagination or my imagination, but against
the God of this Bible. Against Him. They say, we won't
let Him do what He wants to do. We'll afford His purpose. God
says He's going to do certain things, and when men hear about
that, they say, oh no, oh no, that's not our God. Well, whether
it's their God or not, that does not destroy the will and the
purpose and the power and the might of God. He'll do what He
set out to do. All right? He's going to deliver
us from this present evil world. This world is still evil. And
in this world are his redeemed and chosen people. And they are
by nature part and parcel of that world. They are equally
fallen. equally separated from God, their
eyes are equally set on mischief, and they are equally certain
to go to the pit of destruction if they are not found. They must be found. Other sheep
I have which are not of this fold. I must go and get them. I must bring them. Other sheep. It is the purpose of the Lord
Jesus Christ to find his own people who were given to him
ever the earth was and deliver them from bondage and from slavery
which is found in this Egypt of which we seem to form a part
of. This is a city of destruction
which is to be burned with fire. And it's the business of the
Lord Jesus Christ to bring his people out of this city which
is about to explode and burn up. So he sends his prophets,
he sends his people, he sends his evangelists to cry to his
people and tells them, flee from the wrath to come. Hang off in
this city, but escape for your lives. The world is doomed. Stay here with it, and you'll
go up in smoke with it. And it's the purpose of the Lord
Jesus Christ to deliver His out of this present evil world. You've got ears to hear this
morning. Let me give you a word of warning. Don't you linger
in this world. I remember reading here in the
nineteenth chapter of the book of Genesis, which is a type,
in a sense, of this world, and a type of what I'm talking about
here this morning. There was a fellow whose name
was Lot, and he was down in Sodom and Gomorrah, the type of this
world. He was in this world. God was
not going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah until He got His people
out of it. It turned out there was only
one that belonged to it in those two cities. Think of that, only
one in two modern day cities of that particular time. He just
had one. He just had one. And He said,
I'm going to destroy that city. But He said, first I've got to
get my man out of here. And He went down there, you know,
the angels went down into the city of Sodom and Gomorrah. Well,
you know the story. It says that they finally got
a hold of old Lot. They had to lay hands upon Lot
and his wife to get him out of that city. Look at verse 16.
Verse 15, it says, And when the morning arose, then the angels
hastened Lot. They said, Get cracking, lot,
get in a hurry, saying, Arise, take thy wife and thy two daughters
which are here, lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the
city. Listen, and while he lingered,
that's the problem with a lot of people. They're lingering.
They're lingering. And he lingered. God had already
told him through these days, He said, I'm going to burn this
place up. I'm going to burn it up. Get out of this city. Flee
this city or you'll go up in smoke with it. Don't fool around. Arise. Make haste. Get in a hurry. In light of all of that, Lot
lingered. he waited. And while he lingered,
the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife,
and upon the hand of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful
unto him. And they brought him forth, and
set him without the city. And it wasn't long until verse
24 says, And the Lord reigned upon, and who did it? You attribute
it to circumstantial situations or something happened in the
atmosphere or what's that volcano out in Mount Helena erupted and
all that stuff is now up in our atmosphere and it's creating
a situation we can't do anything about. Ash is falling down here
and taking paint off the cars. People are breathing it and dying,
all that kind of stuff. Well, I don't know what they
would have said if the modern day writer had got a hold of
this. I don't know how he'd have got around this. But it says,
Then the Lord reigned. Now there was people in Sodom
and Gomorrah. People there. Human people. Passions and desires. There were
people down there, and the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah
brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And He overthrew
those cities and all the plain," now listen to this, "...and all
the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the
grain." He destroyed everything, lock, stock, and barrel. What I'm saying to you this morning
that this world is evil, and it's against God, and it's a
city of destruction. And I'm telling you, to flee
from this world unto the Lord Jesus Christ, where there is
safety, there's safety in Christ. When our first world was destroyed, God told Noah to build an ark
and put all these things upon the ark, all these various animals,
two of every kind, bring them on the ark. And this ark would
bear them up when the floods came and destroyed every living
soul and creature outside of the ark. When it destroyed them
all, this ark This ark would be a means of refuge and security
and safety to the people that was inside. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the ark of safety. I wish you could see that. He's
the ark of refuge and safety, and if you'll get on board the
ark, if you'll get in Christ's safety, free from this world,
God's going to burn it out. flee from it and find refuge
in Christ. Noah and his family, they went
into the ark and God shut the door and they were safe, absolutely
safe. Let me tell you this, the scriptures
say in the book of Colossians chapter 2, talking about these
that have fled to the city of refuge, the city of hope, who
have fled to the Lord Jesus Christ for their rest. Let me tell you,
let me tell you, let me show you this morning what safety
there is in Christ. The Bible says in regard to those
that have fled to Jesus, it says that your life is hid in Christ
who is God. Boy, I'll tell you, if you can
get down. If you can get in Christ, who is God, your life there,
it'll be safe. It'll be safe. You won't have
anything to worry about. That's your rest. That's your rest. Trials and troubles may come,
but if you've got that rest, if you've got that safety, if
you've got that refuge and security, oh, let the rains come. Let it
rain forty days and forty nights. Let the world be on fire. But
brother, if you're in Christ, you're safe. You're safe. That's
what I'm saying. Don't linger, don't linger. All
right then, the aim or the purpose then of the Lord Jesus Christ
is to deliver His people from the common condemnation of this
present evil world. And in order that we may not
perish with it. His aim is to bring us to a state
of justification before God. And that state of justification
before God can only come through the doing through the blood,
through the sweat, through the toil, through the tears, through
the suffering, through the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
the only way that we can be brought out of this present evil world
and brought out of the condemnation of this world into a right relationship
with the God who made all of this and with the God who is
going to destroy all of it. The only way is through the Lord
Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, who is a man like
you and I are men. He was born of a woman. upon Himself our nature apart
from sin. And everything that God required
out of me, the Lord Jesus Christ gladly, cheerfully, happily submitted
to, obeyed perfectly. Everything that God required
of me, the Lord Jesus Christ supplied. Everything God demanded. He said that you're to be perfect. Walk before Me and be that. The Lord Jesus Christ walked
before God for thirty-some years and was perfect in every step,
every breath that He took, every second that He lived. He lived
in complete perfection. Perfect obedience to God Almighty. That's what God required me to
do. That's what He requires you to
do. God requires you not to do the best you can, but God requires
you to be perfect 100%. No deviation from the perfect
standard, from the cradle to the grave. That's what God requires
out of you. Anything short of that is hell
and punishment you have to pay for. Our Lord Jesus Christ, He's
satisfied. Oh, the holy justice of God against
me. He paid that which was my due.
He bore my penalty. My penalty for being a sinner.
He bore that in His own body. He said, Here I am, Lord. I'll
bear the sins of this felon, that felon, this boy, this girl,
this man, this... I'll bear their sins. I'll bear
their sins. And when He went on that tree
and they hung Him to that tree, He was bearing the sins of His
people. That's what it means when it
says, He gave Himself for our sins to bear their due. Their due is hell. That's what
our Lord Jesus Christ suffered on the cross. Hell! He's rescuing
us from hell by going to hell for us and paying our due. And
then clothing us. in that perfect life, every breath
in perfect harmony with God Almighty. Oh, establishing a righteousness
which is agreeable with heaven. Our Lord Jesus Christ kept the
law and magnified the law, honored the law, exalted the law. Our Lord Jesus Christ. And He
clothes us in His righteousness. We are accepted in the Beloved
before God as one that never had sinned. Now, in Christ, our
representative, as we stand in Him seated in the heavenlies
in Christ on God's right hand, God views us now. He doesn't
view us now as poor, miserable sinners. He views us as though
we had never sinned. He views us now as perfect as
the Lord Jesus Christ is perfect. He's made us as perfect as we
can be made perfect in Christ. Oh, this is, brethren, what His
aim is, is to deliver us from the common condemnation of this
present evil world. in order that we might not go
down with it or perish with it. His aim and purpose is to bring
us to a state of justification before God through His blood
and His righteousness. Oh, I told you as the world was
destroyed by water, Noah was preserved from it by the ark. We have an ark to flee to, to
be saved from the fiery flood of the divine wrath of God against
this world. Flee to the ark. Flee to Christ,
Waller's time. I'm telling you, God's going
to put the match to this, just like old Samson did one time.
They maligned old Samson there, and Samson caught 300 foxes. He caught them, and he tied their
tails together, and he set their tails on fire. And the fire from
one whipped to the other, and he turned three hundred boxes
loose. And in the fields of the Philistines
was the barley and the wheat and the oats, and it was ripened
and dry, and he burned their barley fields up. And God is
going to do that to you and me if I am not in a place of safety. He's going to burn my field up.
To deliver us from the condemnation in which this world is now. In Paul's day, the world was
in a horrible state. The slave was chained to his
master's door like a dog, just had a hook out there on the door,
had a chain around his waist or around his legs, hooked that
chain up and there was the slave, right there at his master's door.
He stayed right there while his master indulged in all forms
and types of ungodliness and sin. Now the Lord's purpose and
aim is to gather his people, a holy people who could not and
would not live as the rest of the world lives, but have a holy
and kind and generous and loving and gentle people just like his
master. And for this reason, our Lord
Jesus Christ said that he might deliver us from this present
evil world. He wants a people like himself.
There's things in this world that takes place, things that
seem to be attractive that you cannot do and you will not do.
He came to deliver us, I believe, from this world's customs and
this world's practices. As I said, there's many things
which a worldling does which a Christian cannot do, which
a Christian does not want to do. Our course, I believe, is
to be as straight as an arrow. Our conscience is to be as white
as the driven snow in this matter. We're to say His way is our way. Whatever way He leads, that's
our way. Whatever the Bible says, that's
what we believe. That's what we'll practice, whatever
it is. However it crosses my thinking,
the will of my own flesh, whatever it is, His way, His will is my
will and His way is my way. And then there's something else
that's involved in this delivering us from this present evil world.
It's this, to be delivered from the spirit of this world. Oh,
the awful spirit of this world. Let me tell you what it is. by
way of illustration. This is the spirit of this world.
This world says, I can swim, so if everybody else drowns,
there'll be more room for me. That's the spirit of this world.
The spirit of this world is to crush the widows and the fatherless
and do anything, anything to them that would hinder them from
accomplishing or achieving their purpose. Their purpose is personal
success. That's what this world is. You
see a fellow that's out of Christ, and if he's got any ambition,
his ambition is what? Personal success. Personal recognition. His ambition is power. He thinks
that there's power in riches, and so he strives in every way,
shape, or form under the sun in order to gain riches, in order
that he might have power. And if he's got power, he's got
recognition. And that's what he wants. That's
the spirit of this world. Brother, the rules that he goes
by does not allow for any mercy, and he'll not show any mercy,
and he'll go over top of you, and he'll crush you and grind
you to powder. That's the spirit of this world.
I can swim! I can swim! If nobody else can,
hurrah! I'm all for it! There'd be more
room for me. That's the spirit of this world.
We're to be delivered from the spirit of this world. We are
to love our enemies, our Lord Jesus Christ said. Love your
enemies. Love your enemies. It doesn't
say forbear with your enemies. It doesn't say put up with your
enemies. It says love your enemies. Do good, do good unto all men,
especially them of the household of faith, but do good unto all
men. Be gentle and kind and civil. Why, I despair sometimes when
I see people who profess to be Christians that seem to hang
back from a smile or from a greeting. It doesn't hurt anybody to go
around once in a while and say, brother, I've been thinking about
you. praying for you, you're doing a good job, or God bless
you, I want to help you. It doesn't hurt anybody to do
that. But I am in despair many times. I see people who said, I've been
rescued. I've been rescued from this present
evil world, from its customs, from its practice, from its spirit,
from its condemnation. I've been rescued from hell,
and I've been made safe for heaven, and they can't speak a kind word.
Can't pat a man on the back once in a while. Can't encourage a
brother or a sister in anger. Ah, deliver us from the fear
of this world. He gave himself. I need not tell
you that the Lord Jesus Christ, it does say here that He just
laid down His royal crown, which was certainly brighter than the
sun. No, it doesn't say that he just gave up thrones and all
the royalties of heaven, but says he gave himself. He sums it up in those three
words. Who gave himself? That's what it's all about. That's
the gospel right there. That's substitution. Who gave
himself? Whatever is involved in giving
Himself, He gave Himself. Whatever is involved, body, soul,
spirit, strength, mind, will, He gave Himself in our stead,
place, and room in order that we might be delivered from this
present evil world. And He did it because it was
the will of God and the purpose of God Almighty. He gave Himself
for our sins. Stay with me and I'll quit in
a little bit. That's the wonder, brethren,
of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, sin cannot
be put away. God cannot put away sin apart
from the doing and dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. He can't put
it away. He can't overlook it. I'm afraid
that there's a lot of folks living today, right now, either the
first of November or the last of October, whatever it is, a
lot of people in this world right now that really think that God's
going to look over their sins, that everything's going to be
alright. Preacher, I don't need your advice, I don't need your
counsel, I don't need your preaching. Down deep in my heart, I think
you're wrong. I don't think God's like you
say He is. Somehow, someway, I don't know how. It's not my
business to be a theologian or to get technical in regard to
the hereafter. I don't know anything about it,
but I do know this. I know this, that God somehow,
so I'm a good person. I'm a good person. I love myself. I'm a good person. Somehow God,
in His Mercy is not going to send me to hell. He's not going
to do it. He's going to overlook my rebellion. He's going to overlook what people
call sin. And I'm going to be alright.
But it ain't going to be alright. That's not right. That's false. God can take away sin. And the only way He can take
it away is by punishing sin in the person of another. and that
other must be the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh no! He just didn't
lay down His royalties, His crown, He laid down His life! He gave Himself for our sins
that we might be delivered from You've been delivered from this
present evil world, huh? Oh, if we have, if we have. Therefore, out of gratitude to
God and honor to the Lord Jesus Christ, if for no other reason,
let us not be a part of this world. Let us not be like this
world. Let us not be servants of this
world. Let the dead bury the dead. I was reminded of this the other
day, and talked to some fellas here, and they got all interested
in a cemetery, interested in a graveyard, so interested in
the tombstones, so interested to whether they're straight up
or not, so interested whether there's any weeds on the grave
or not. And I'm not saying that these
things are not important, but put them in their proper perspective.
I was so interested. I was to do a good work. If you
give fifty dollars, we'll have a big meeting and I'll read your
name down there and you'll be recognized. You know what I said? Not to them, but to my heart.
I said, let the dead bury the dead. Let the dead take care
of the dead! Our God is not the God of the
dead, but the God of the living. Our business is not to become
a part of this world. It's separated from it. Listen, we ought not to go back
to it and deliberately put our necks under the yoke of this
world and become once more the world's slaves if we've been
delivered from it. I'm ashamed of myself. And I'm
ashamed of a whole lot of other people, too, along with myself.
Whenever we, for the second time, act as the ungodly world acts
and lives, we become what? Self-pleasing, self-centered. To be self-centered and self-pleasing
is to act as the world acts. We're not to please ourselves,
we're to please God. And to please God, we're to esteem
our brethren over and above ourselves. That's what we're to do. We're
not to please ourselves. We're not to live in order that
this body of flesh is always gratified, always pleased. I know that you've got at times
Please yourself in certain forms of relaxation. But not always! Not always! Not every day, every
day, and every day! Me, me, me, the big me, the big
I. No! No, that's wrong! And when
that becomes that with you, that's your God. This world is your
God. You're your God. You've got to
please yourself. Our business is to please God.
Please God. We've been rescued from this
world. Oh, listen. Well, I'm going to quit. I've
stayed too with it too long now. But I'll say this in closing. If holiness, which I think it
is, godly living, godly living, that has to do with you and I
living in this present evil world. We're to be godly people. Godly
people means to be like God. That's what it means. To be ungodly
is to be just the opposite of who God is and what God is. We're
to be godly people, have godly practices. And I feel that if
this is the purpose of God, which He says it is, deliver us from
this present evil world, rescue us from this spirit of this world,
aim and practices of this world, and this is the will of God,
this is God's will, this is God's purpose, then I say if we have
in a measure been brought to know the Lord Jesus in pardon
and forgiveness of sins, let us determine with all strength,
power, and might to fulfill that purpose and live godly and soberly
in this present evil world. Godly and soberly. I think we
ought to. I'll close with this. John Bunyan,
you'd all know the story of John Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, and
the Holy War, and all the books that he wrote, put him in jail
for preaching the gospel. That was the only charge they
had against him, preaching the gospel. They called him a tinker,
a tinker. He was a shoe cobbler's son. Went around and sold pots and
pans and repaired pots and pans from house to house. Had a little
bell that he rang over in London way back in early or late 1600s,
early 1700s. They called him a tinker. And he loved to get out in the
village square and play sports, jump, see how far he could jump,
things of that nature. But God got a hold of this fellow.
brought him under Holy Spirit conviction and downed him, downed
him, revealed the Lord Jesus Christ to his heart. And he wasn't
the same after that. He is a changed man. And he felt
God called him to be a preacher of the gospel of grace. He started
preaching the gospel of grace everywhere he went, and people
flocked to hear this tinker, this cobbler's son. No education. But he could preach. He could
tell the story. of how the Lord Jesus Christ
died for poor sinners, and there was people that was attracted
to his ministry from all over England, and the authorities,
they said, you've got to quit preaching the gospel of grace
or go to prison. So they took him to prison, and
I told you the story about his blind daughter and how she'd
weep for him during the day, look over and stand out in the
courtyard, and his wife would come down and they'd plead, and
thereby warned him to recant. So they put him in prison, they
told him. They said, John Bunyan, if you'll quit preaching, or
they said, the day that you'll promise us that you'll quit preaching,
that's the day that you can be delivered from this prison. He
said, no business. He said, no business. He said,
I understand the hardships that's working on my blind daughter
and on my wife and the rest of my children. I understand all
that. I've weighed it. I've considered
it. But he said, if you let me out
of this prison today, he said, I'll be preaching the gospel
of God's grace again tomorrow. That's what he said. And he said,
furthermore, he said, if this prison is to be my home because
of the only crime that I've committed is preaching the gospel of the
grace of God, he said, I will not deny my master, but he said,
I'll stay here in this prison until moss grows on my eyebrows. I will not deny it. God help
us this morning. If it's the purpose of God to
deliver us from this present evil world, God help us to fulfill
that purpose. and be godly and Christ-like
men and women for the glory of God who called us and the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ who redeemed us. Let's stand and
be disciplined.