Be Different (Avoiding Worldliness Part 1)

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website, morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. In the Lord's Prayer, Jesus taught his disciples to pray, Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Deliverance From This Present Evil Age

So once again, if you would, please open to the book of Galatians chapter 1. Galatians chapter 1, and as you're turning there, let me pose this question to you. What has Christ delivered us from? What has Christ delivered us from?

I think the typical response from a Christian would be that he has delivered us from sin and its penalty. And of course, that is true. That's the message of the gospel that Paul is defending in the book of Galatians.

Salvation by grace through faith, not of works. But this message is not really focusing on that. Not salvation as much as today we're going to focus on sanctification. Being delivered from evil. Being delivered from this sinful age.

So what has Christ delivered us from? Let's pick up in verse 3 where we left off. He says, grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins, that he might, what?

Deliver us from this present evil age. Or as one translation puts it, that he might deliver us from this present evil world. According to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever.

Amen.

So this is the will of God for you. That you be delivered from this present evil age. So is it the will of God for believers to be conformed to this world?

No.

Is it the will of God that you just go along with the flow and live and think and do like everybody else?

No.

Or is it the will of God that we be different? Well, you know what the answer is. So with this statement, Paul is reminding believers not so much about their justification before God. But rather their sanctification.

That it is God's will that they be different. That they and we be delivered from this present evil age. And if you haven't noticed, it's getting more and more evil as time goes on. As pre-millennialists, we believe that things get worse and worse before the coming of the Lord.

That's clearly what the Bible teaches. And again, Jesus told us to pray. Pray that you be delivered from temptation. Not give in to it. Deliver us from evil. Not that we engage in it. Jesus gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us.

And that is the will of God. Sanctification. This is one of the big questions that people ask pastors and Bible teachers. What is the will of God for my life? You know the Bible gives an answer. It's your sanctification.

That is the will of God for your life. That you be different. That you be holy.

That you be holy.

Not a lot of talk of holiness in the modern church. A lot of people have the idea that holiness is some sort of legalism or something. I've heard this before. That is not true. That is not true. On this topic of obedience and holiness and being delivered from the ways of this world, would we all agree that people love to rebel?

Isn't that true? I mean, that's true for you. If somebody tells you, hey, you need to do this. There's something inside of you that just because they said it, you want to do the opposite. That's the sinful nature, though.

You know, of course. But it's so true. We know that. It's part. It's in all of us. People love to rebel. They're rebelling against authority, of course. And it's common. We've all heard of teenage rebellion, right?

Some of you have been through that phase of teenage rebellion. Of course, I was thinking about that. It's not really even rebellion because what are they doing? They're just conforming to what all the cool kids are doing.

So it's actually conformity and not rebellion. But obviously, as believers, we want to be different. And if you want to rebel against anything, rebel against the sinful world. If you want to be different, be a godly Christian in this age, and you'll be different.

That's a guarantee. So let's look at an example of someone being different. Let's go back to the book of beginnings. Genesis, go to Genesis chapter six. God wants his people to be sanctified, set apart.

Holy, be different, be separate. That's what the Bible says. The Lord, multiple occasions, the Bible records this. Be holy for I am holy. People have the idea that that means sinless. Obviously, we're not making excuses for sin.

But that's not what holy means. It doesn't mean sinless. Remember when Moses met God at the burning bush. The Lord told Moses to take off his sandals from his feet. Because the ground on which you stand, Moses, it's what?

Holy ground.

He wasn't saying, Moses, that's some sinless dirt you're standing on. That's not what he was talking about. This is set apart unto God. That place was. So it doesn't refer to being sinless. It refers to you being different.

Set apart. Set apart unto God. The Greek word for holy is hagios. This is where we get the word saint.

What are Christians?

Saints. Saints.

So we need to live in light of that, obviously. So let's look at Genesis. You can think of it this way. You know, there's worldliness and there's holiness. The two are not the same. Genesis chapter 6, this is the account of Noah before the flood.

Genesis 6, starting in verse 5, it says,. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth.

And he was grieved in his heart. So the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air. For I am sorry that I have made them.

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And then verse 9 says that Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. And Noah walked with God. Are you walking with God today? You know, the world was wicked and Noah was just.

Why was Noah just? It says perfect in his generations. Again, some people think, oh, that means he is sinless. Not what it means. But he sinned a whole lot less than everybody around him. That's a guarantee.

But why was Noah a just man? Because he walked with God. He was different from everyone else around him. And because he was different from the world, he was delivered from the judgment which God poured out upon the world.

And don't you know, the Bible says that God's judgment is coming upon this world. So if you want to be delivered from the wrath of God, which is to come, another thing that gets ignored in pulpits today, but if you want to be delivered, you need to walk with God.

You need to be different from everyone else. And I say that because I care. I care about people. This is what the church needs to hear today. We need to be holy and different and not just. It's so easy to just follow along and conform and fit in.

So on this subject of holiness, I've already brought up a couple things that are challenging and a little difficult to hear. So why don't I just give one or two practical examples of what holiness might look like in a person's life?

Let me start by speaking to females. If you want to display holiness, there is one simple thing you can do. Dress modestly. Dress modestly. And of course, I know everyone in this church already does that.

That's not a problem here. But someone listening on radio or online ladies dress modestly. There's some women as well. I don't dress that way for it. I just it makes me feel good. Well, you know, there's people who do it for attention.

That's not the kind of attention you want. And yeah, some of the ladies might want that guy's attention or that guy's attention, but they're getting his attention. They don't want his attention. Well, why do you got to just say that to the women?

Okay, here's some advice for the men. Watch your mouths. Watch your mouths. You know, using four letter words and blasphemies does not bring glory to God. Dressing immodestly does not bring glory to God.

And these things apply to both genders. We all get it, but I think it's common for one and maybe more than the other. But all of these things deep down, we know these things do not bring glory to God.

So there's just two quick example. I don't keep people busy enough just on those two things. Let's go back to Noah. Say good. Let's get off this topic. Hey, it's true, isn't it?

It's true.

And all God's people said, Amen. All right, let's go back to Noah. Noah walked with God. It says the Lord delivered him. Now, let's turn to Matthew chapter 24 because there's a tie in between what the Bible says about Noah and the flood and Jesus and the second coming in Matthew 24.

This is the passage known as the Olivet Discourse. One of the most important passages, I think, in the New Testament scriptures. It's called that because Jesus is on the Mount of Olives and he's having a conversation or a discussion discourse with his a couple of his disciples.

And we see that Jesus is going to make reference to the days of Noah and how in the end times there is going to be something similar going on. Jesus speaking about his return in glory. Look at Matthew 24, starting in verse 36.

He says, but of that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the son of man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark.

People are going to be clueless, just living their lives and they're not going to know. And then one day it starts. So there are going to be some similarities between this time period preceding the flood and also the time period preceding the second coming of Christ.

Before the flood, the world had got so bad, right? Things had got so bad. It was like mankind was just bent on inventing new ways to rebel against God. That sounds familiar today. And because the world had got so evil before the flood, Lord, the Lord looked down from heaven and he said, you know what?

That's enough. And I'm going to step in and do something about it. And of course he did. It will be the same way leading up to the return of Christ. Evil will be called good. Good will be called evil.

People will be given over to a debased mind, as we talked about in our series from the book of Revelation. Things are going to get so bad in the end times. Finally, the Lord is going to step in and say, enough.

The first time he used water. The second time he is going to use fire. Look at verse 40. Then two men will be in the field. One will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill.

One will be taken and the other left.

Verse 42.

Watch, therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. So we need to be living differently set apart from the world because we don't know when the time is drawing near. Now let's turn to second Peter chapter three.

Second Peter three. This is all based on the statement in Galatians, which really I felt needed to be expounded upon that he might deliver us from this present evil age. Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Coronet Church.

If you'd like to listen to the complete message or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, morriscoronetchurch .com. We'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett.

Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.