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Man
Cannot Escape the Corruption That Is in the
World
I am talking about getting delivered
from this present evil world. Let us study this deliverance
that there is in real salvation. I want to make it plain as I
go along that this gospel that teaches that you still live in
sin after you have accepted Christ into your heart and life is
another gospel, and it is a perversion of the Gospel of
Christ. Jesus suffered for our sins that He might deliver us
from this present evil world.
Somebody said, "That
means that in the end He is going to take us all to glory and
we will all get out of this world." Well, I will prove to you
before I am through that if you live in sin and have never
found the real deliverance of salvation before physical death
comes on you, you will wake up in hell with this power of sin
still working on you. Therefore, deliverance from this sinful
world takes more than physical death. It takes something else
besides a new body. It takes a real work of salvation in the
heart.
In II Peter 1:1-4 we read, Simon Peter, a
servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have
obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness
of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be
multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus
our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all
things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the
knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious
promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine
nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world
through lust.
Thank God, through a real knowledge
of Jesus Christ and through a real experience with God, you
are born of God as we studied earlier, and you are made a
partaker of God's divine nature. Brother, when you are made a
partaker of God's divine nature, there is a wonderful change.
You have escaped the corruption that is in the world through
lust. Over in II Peter 2:18, he speaks of fallen preachers.
They are preachers who have gone back on God and who have
fallen away from the truth. I want you to see that there is
real deliverance for you. II Peter 2:18 says, For when they
speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the
lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were
clean escaped from them who live in error. At the
beginning of Chapter 2 there, you can see that he is referring
to ministers: false prophets among the people.
Now,
here is what false preachers will do to you. Here is what
false apostles will do to you. If you ever get a real
experience of salvation, you have made a clean escape from the
pollution that is in the world. If vou are not careful, these
false prophets get around you; and they speak great words of
vanity. They will tell you where all they studied, how much
education they have, and how you ought to listen to them
because of the experience they have. They will allure you. Let
us read again the Word of God in II Peter 2, beginning with
verse 18: For when they speak great swelling words of
vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through
much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who
live in error. While they promise them liberty, they
themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man
is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. For if
after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through
the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are
again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse
with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them
not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they
have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered
unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true
proverb, the dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow
that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
That
is a powerful Scripture against the doctrine of once in grace
always in grace. Brother, you can be overcome and lose this
great experience unless you work at it through the things that
you need to do to KEEP you spiritual. Otherwise, you can be
overcome by the very power that you have overcome. The point I
want you to get is that they had made a clean escape, but they
came back under the pollutions of the world. Now may God help
us to see this.
In II Peter 1:4, we read, Whereby
are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that
by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature,
[actually born of God] having escaped the corruption that
is in the world through lust. Right there is the sum and
substance of the religion of Jesus Christ. What is it? First,
when you come in old-time repentance confessing your sin to
Him alone. He removes your sin as far as the east is from the
west. You are washed by faith in His blood and cleansed from
all sin. He takes the old heart out of you with all of its
affections and desires and puts a new heart in you. When He
puts a new heart in you, you are born of God's Spirit and
actually made a partaker of His divine nature.
Also my
friend, we have escaped the corruption that is in the world
through lust. The word "lust" is used throughout the Scripture
in many different ways. Sometimes it merely means a human
desire. Sometimes it is taken for a Greek word that means
something that is vile. Here in II Peter 1:4 the word "lust"
is taken from a Greek word that means an irregular,
unreasonable, inordinate, impure desire. We are living in a
world that is full of corruption, but the only tie that
corruption has to you is the lust that is in your heart for
it. In real salvation when God changes your heart, thank God,
that lust and desire for wrong things is taken out. When that
is taken out, you are delivered from the power of this
world.
The Worst Kind of
Pollution
Too many, I am afraid, do not understand
what lust means in II Peter 1:4 when he talks about escaping
the corruption that is in the world through lust. Lust there
is the desire to have, a desire to do, and a desire to be what
God has prohibited. What is this lust? How do we escape the
corruption that is in the world? The corruption and the
pollution that is in the world spoken of in this verse does
not refer to literal filth. You know people talk a lot about
pollution today. We are getting devices on the cars. They do
not want you to burn your trash or start a bonfire, but there
are not too many working on one of the worst pollutions we
have in this world: sin and ungodliness which are on every
side.
Recently, I was in a revival meeting in a certain
town. When my wife and I drove through the town, I could not
help but notice that every few blocks there were flashing
lights of every kind. Also, the buildings were painted with
orange and black stripes and every kind of color to catch your
eye. They were showing adult sex movies 24 hours a day. We
went downtown to a restaurant that was beside one of these
places. I could not help but notice businessmen patronizing
these places while they were off at the noon hour. My friend,
they were feeding their minds on the corruptible things that
would cause them to think impure thoughts. Within their minds
they commit adultery with other women even if they never
commit the physical act, and they will be lost in a devil's
hell. The sad part is that some of them are Sunday School
teachers and even preachers going right on in the realms of
religion.
Brother, there is deliverance from the
pollutions of this world. Brother, the real pollution is the
thing that practically no one is crying out against, from top
evangelists right on down. Supposedly, they lay the gospel
down pretty close; but before they finish their message, they
make room for you to sin, them to sin, and everyone else to
sin. Brother, they have not cleaned up a bit of the pollution
that is in this world. Millions are going forward and making a
decision for Christ; and as soon as they leave the altar, they
make a decision the other way and go right back to the
pollutions and the corruptions of the world. Thank God, Jesus
came to change your life. He came as an escape route where you
can escape the pollution and the lust that puts us under the
power of this filthy world. Let me say again that this lust is
the desire to have, to do, or to be what God has
prohibited.
The Lust of the Flesh -- The Lust of the
Eyes -- The Pride of Life
The Bible tells us that a
sinner does not love Jesus and why he cannot love Jesus. Jesus
said that if you love Me, you will keep My commandments. You
cannot live in sin and say that you love Jesus. The Bible
plainly teaches that we love Him because He first loved us.
When we accept His love and are born again and have the love
of God shed abroad in our heart, then we can love Him and
prove our love by keeping His commandments. In I John 2:15, we
read, "Love not the world..." He is not talking about a world
of sinners--unregenerate souls. God so loved them that He gave
His only begotten Son. He will tell you what world he is
talking about there since the word "world" is used in at least
three different ways in the Scripture.
Starting with I
John 2:15, we read: 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. Then he
goes right on and gives you a strong message of salvation:
And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he
that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. I John 2:17.
The world passes away and the lust thereof when you are truly
converted and get a new heart.
Somebody said, "How do
you know?" Well, we read in II Peter 1:4 and II Peter 2:20
that you have escaped the pollution that is in the world when
you get a real knowledge of Jesus Christ in real salvation.
What is in the world? All that is in the world, in this sense,
is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride
of life. Now he goes right on and declares that in real
salvation, the world passes away and the lust thereof when you
gain a real knowledge of Jesus Christ and God changes your
heart. Brother, when He puts a new heart in you, you get a new
seat of affection. The world passes away and the lust
thereof.
Somebody said, "I don't think that passes away
till Jesus comes again." Well, read the rest of the verse
again. The world passes away and the lust thereof, but he that
doeth the will of God abideth forever. There is a great change
that takes place. Too many people do not understand the
meaning of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and
the pride of life. They have their own idea what he is talking
about. He tells you that if any man loves the world the love
of the Father is not in him.
Someone asked, "What is
the lust of the flesh?" Well, it is many things; but just let
me hit enough of them so you will know what he is talking
about. It is impure desires which seek gratification in
illicit sex, in drink, and in tobacco. Let us get where the
lust of the flesh really is. How come you are bound with that
habit? Brother, it is something the flesh wants. It can come
right on down to eating food if you get bound to it. If the
Spirit of God leads you contrary to what the flesh desires,
you have a battle on; and you need to do some praying. The
lust of the eyes is inordinate desires after such things as
too fine of clothes, too splendid of a house, and too much of
a top-notch car.
As I told you before, many people do
not know what John was talking about in this Scripture. If you
are truly the Church of God, this will not hurt you when we
come along on these lines once in a while. Brother, we are in
a world where men are affected by the world. Unless you stay
spiritual, the lust of the eyes will affect you. Man, are
there ever things for a person's eyes to lust on! We are
living in a world that is producing more things to lust after
than any world that any man has ever lived in.
The
pride of life is simply seeking honor. Someone says, "Don't
you know who I am?" No, we know no man after the flesh. You
are either just a poor sinner who needs God, or you are just a
little old "Church of Godder." Somebody said, "Don't you know
who I am?" No, and I do not want to learn. "Well, nobody
appreciates me," you say. If you would humble yourself, they
would. The pride of life stinks. It spoils the sweet smell. It
is not of the Father. No, the saints of God are the most
humble people on the face of the globe. I endeavor to preach
the Gospel fair and square. You do not have to be poor to be
humble. You do not have to wear clothes with holes in them to
be humble. No, humility is something, my friend, that comes
from the heart.
The pride of life simply means seeking
honor, titles, pedigrees, boasting of your ancestors, boasting
of your family, and boasting about your children. The pride of
life manifests itself when one says, "I think I did a real job
of raising my children." If God had not helped you every day,
you would not even have had any.
I see pride getting
hold of people like creeping paralysis. Whenever pride hits
them, you have to stretch up to talk to them. Then, when they
raise their voice, they want everybody to hush. I am speaking
now about the pride of life. The pride of life is not of the
Father. It is of the world. Let us look just a little further
into this deliverance.
Ephesians 2:2-3 gives you the
same picture as I John 2:15-17. It shows you that men and
women who have not been regenerated are still walking under
the spirit and power of this world. 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.
Brother, if you will go back to II Peter
1:4, thank God, he tells us that we have been made partakers
of His divine nature; and we have escaped the corruption that
is in the world. Friend, I want you to see something here. We
need to realize that there is no way to escape by outward
flight. It is pitiful to see men and women leave their
companions. Others quit a good job and go clear across the
nation. Some even go halfway around the world trying to change
their circumstances. Brother, there is no way you can make an
outward flight from this thing. It is an inward condition in
the heart of man, and only God can change it. There is no way
to make an outward flight or an outward escape. I want to
repeat that even physical death is no escape from this lust
condition.
Somebody said, "I don't believe it." You
look in the Bible where Jesus uncapped hell, and you will find
out that the rich man down in hell had every one of his senses
and everyone of his passions still operating. The only
difference between here and hell is that if you have enough
money here, you can satisfy that desire even though it is
carnal, even though it is contrary, and even though it is
sinful. You can satisfy it here; but when you wake up in hell,
you will have every one of those desires and no place to
satisfy them. There is no deliverance in physical death from
sin and corruption.
My friend, according to II Peter
1:4, this corruption is not only in the world; but it is in
you as a sinner by the lust or the spirit of the world. That
spirit of the world is in you until you have had a change of
heart; and you will lust after the lust of the flesh, the lust
of the eyes, and the pride of life. When John was baptizing
and Jesus walked up, John spoke those faithful words in John
1:29, The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and
saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of
the world.
Let us go right back to our text in
Galatians 1:4, "Who gave himself for our sins, that he might
deliver us from this present evil world. . . ." Now we have
found out what the world is. All there is in this evil world
is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride
of life. That is all that is in the world, and that is what we
have been delivered from. Thank God, He delivered us from this
present evil world. We cannot read that verse too
much.
Christ's Perfect
Sacrifice
The object of Christ's sacrifice was not
only to deliver us from the guilt of sin, but to deliver us
from the manifestation of sin in this present world. Somebody
said, "I don't see that in that verse." Well, you read
Galatians 1:4 again, "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." Somebody said, "What's that
got to do with it?" It was according to the will of God and
our Father. Brother, here is salvation in a nutshell. It was
by God's will that salvation originated. My friend, it was His
will carried out by Christ who perfected the plan.
I
want you to see what Christ did. I want you to understand what
that clause "according to the will of God and our Father"
means. Brother, God originated a plan. Jesus carried it out by
fulfilling God's will. In Hebrews 10:4 we read, For it is
not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take
away sins. Those old sacrifices just could not do it.
Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith,
Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou
prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou
hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume
of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. Above
when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and
offering for sin thou wouldest not… Hebrews
10:4-8.
He came to do more than just give an offering
for sin. Too many people cannot see anything in Jesus but just
an offering for sin. Brother, He came to do more than bring an
offering for sin. Verses 8-10 tell us, Above when he said,
Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for
sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which
are offered by the law; Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy
will, O God. He taketh away the first, (that's the Old
Covenant) that he may establish the second. By the which
will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of
Jesus Christ once for all.
Every time some people
read the word "sanctified", all they can think of is a second
work of grace. Brother, you need to realize that when the word
"sanctified" is used in the Scripture, it does not refer to a
second work of grace every time. It is taken from a Greek word
that merely means "set apart unto God," and here the word
"sanctification" is taken from the same Greek word. Jesus came
to do more than just offer an offering for sin. Brother, Jesus
also ordained a plan whereby you can be sanctified--you can be
set apart unto God to do the will of God in your life just
like Jesus did the will of God in His life. That
sanctification is in the first work of grace.
Someone
asked, "How do you know?" Brother, in the first work of grace,
you are made holy. You are set apart unto God. You are not of
the world even as Christ was not of the world. Right in the
first work, you are set apart to do the will of God.
Therefore, when Paul uses that expression "that He might
deliver us from this present evil world according to the will
of God and our Father," he means that by His will, salvation
originated. By His will, salvation was carried out; and Christ
perfected it. Are you ready to take it? The outcome of real
salvation is that if you have it, you will be doing the will
of God here just like the angels carry out God's will in
heaven, did you know that?
Let us go right back to
where the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray in
Matthew Chapter 6. How did He teach them to pray? After
this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in
earth, as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:9,10. II Corinthians
4, verses 6 and 7 tell us, For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of
Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels,
that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of
us. What did He do? He offered Himself for our sins, but
He did more than just bring a sin offering. He gave Himself in
such a way that He might deliver us from this present evil
world. We are delivered from it when we get delivered from the
lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of
life. Those are the three points that you are tempted
on. |
