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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/joel-portman/this-age-and-our-life-for-god/
Let's read in Galatians chapter 1. I appreciated the ministry this morning, as I'm sure all of us did who were here. I trust that we'll be able to follow a little bit in the same tenor. Galatians chapter 1.
Let's read from verse 1. Paul to the apostle, not for 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.
We don't know how many. We don't know exactly where they were. Definitely. But they were in the area of Asia Minor as identified as Galatia. He says, Grace unto you and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us out from this present evil world according to the will of God and our Father.
To Him be glory forever and ever. I have a number of scriptures I'd like to read with you, but we'll read them in sequence as we come to them. Some of them I trust to be for benefit to each one of us.
I'd like to talk to you about this world. Actually, the word is not world. It's the word aion in the Greek. I'm not a Greek scholar. You know that. But it's a word that has to do with an age. So it's this age.
There are two words in the New Testament I understand that are translated world oftentimes. One of them is the word cosmos, which has to do primarily with the created world as God has made it, as well as the people that live in it in very many places.
It's a word that indicates the orderly arrangement of things. Cosmetics comes from that word. It's a word that indicates, of course, that which is ordained and determined by God, not only what God has made physically, but also in relation to the people that inhabit this world and the other elements of it.
So the word cosmos is a word that is used primarily in relation to the world that we see around us, the matter of nature and all that exists in this world. But the word age is a word that is oftentimes translated world as well.
But it's a word that has to do with something that perhaps in some cases it has to do with the matter of time or eternity, forever, ever and ever. I find it interesting, just by way of a side note, that John's gospel and John's epistles never use the word age in relation to the world.
He uses it only in terms of forever, or forever and ever. And it's interesting to notice that he always uses the word cosmos. The Lord Jesus, it says, was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
And so we find that it's not a word that he uses in that respect because he's not too concerned about writing about that. But Paul has a lot to say about this age in which you and I live, and I want to call your attention to a number of times in various formats that we have this expression, and I have a definite reason because you and I are living in this age.
There are things about this world that thou hast made, the creative world, that I think are very pleasant. For my condo is situated, it sits in the woods, and I enjoy watching the animals and the different elements of the trees, and they're budding out now and starting to put out leaves, and I think it's a beautiful place.
There are eight deer sleeping on the ground behind my condo this morning. I enjoy that. Those are things that you and I can enjoy and appreciate. They come from God's hand, but we're living in an age.
And you say, what is this age? And it speaks about, when Paul writes here, that he gave himself for us, that he might deliver us from or out of this present evil age. The word really is a word that's rather difficult to define exactly.
It's a word that has an idea of the floating amalgamation of ideas, opinions, standards, and philosophies or attitudes that are accepted and primarily, in a large extent, dominate the thinking of mankind today.
Schools in our day are dominated by this age. The workplace is really controlled by this age. The priorities of life that men generally aspire for are a part of this age. The fashions of this age, God, Lord, Paul says, are passing away.
So it's a matter of the things that men are occupied with to the largest extent. They're going in for, their lives are controlled by them. And you and I are living in this age. We're in the world, but we're not of the world.
We're called to be out of the world, separated from it. We're not separated from the cosmos, the world in which we live, but we are separated from the age and the manner of man's thinking. You find three cases in the New Testament where the two words are used together in one verse.
In 1 Corinthians 1, verse 20, you'll find it. He says, where is this disputer of this age? God has made foolishness the wisdom of this world. Those are the two words, the disputer of this present age and the wisdom of this world in which you and I live in.
In Ephesians 2, verse 2, Paul says that in time past we walked according to the age of this world, the course of this world. That is the manner of thinking, the manner in which all people live primarily, the standards by which they behave themselves.
In his case, of course, there were religious standards that he sought to maintain under the Judaistic religion. We walked according to the age of this world, the manner of thinking and the way people behave themselves in this world.
Again in Hebrews 9, verse 26, where our brother Scott read this morning, he says, but since the foundation of the world, the cosmos, but then he says, now at the end of the age, as he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
And so we have the two words used together a number of times in that way. And of course, there's a difference between them. But you and I are surrounded by it. And the verse that we have just read is Paul's exhortation to these believers in the churches in Galatia that they should remember that the Lord Jesus Christ gave himself, gave himself for our sins, that it might deliver us out of this present evil age.
And in this case, in terms of the churches in Galatia, the age that he is addressing was the age that had to do with the legal domination that was connected with a law that had passed. There are those, of course, who were teaching them that in order to gain a degree of sanctification and a degree of holiness before God, it was necessary for them to be circumcised and come under the law of Moses.
He says that that was a law that was contained in carnal commandments, earthly, fleshly commandments. And what these people were doing is that they were reverting their thinking and their practices to go back to a kind of thinking and attitude that dominates this age, that I can gain something from God by how I live and what practices I carry out, by adhering to certain religious ordinances, and by somehow coming under the subjection to this matter of what basically is only a form of legalism.
You know what legalism does really is it causes one's thinking to center upon themselves and how they're performing and how well they're doing and perhaps there's a standard they compare themselves with against other people because I'm better than you in terms of what I do and what I don't do.
And so God, Paul says that the purpose of God's salvation, and I'll be very brief in this, but it's to ultimately take us out of this world. And we know that is true because we've been singing about it in the hymn that our brother gave out.
I love that hymn, by the way. I thank God for it. Oh, the blessed joy of meeting all the desert past. What a day that's going to be. We'll be delivered out of this world in which we live. We'll be in a different sphere altogether.
But in the meantime, he has given himself that he might deliver us out of a world that he has, that is always opposed to God. In fact, he might say the age that we live in is the environment of which the things of Christ and of God are rejected.
Man is centered. Man is the important thing. Man's standard is all that matters. And so he says that he delivered us out of that. You and I have been redeemed. We've been delivered from it that we might live in a different way.
And even though we're submerged in it, even though we're surrounded by its influences, we're not intended to be dominated and controlled by it. I would ask each one of us to ask ourselves personally how much the environment of the world in which we live actually has an influence upon us and controls our behavior.
Personally, I'll say maybe I'll be in trouble with some of our sisters. But I think that fashion magazines of this world are part of this age. Maybe that's going too far. I don't know. Or when people are trying to find, Christians are trying to find, the latest furnishings for their homes, or have the latest in this and that and the other things, that's all according to this age.
It's man's domination of thinking of what will make me look good and of a higher standard than somebody else. It's the thinking of this age. And listen, the Lord Jesus Christ paid a tremendous price that he might deliver us out of it.
My dear brother or sister, we're in this world, but we're not to live according to the world. We're in this world, but we're not a part of that system that is dominated, we're going to find out, by the God of this world.
It's the God of this age. And for that, let's turn to Titus chapter 2. Because like I say, I'm not going to try to say much about each one of these. You can think about them for yourself. But Titus chapter 2 is a verse I'd like to read with you.
Paul again is writing to believers in a different environment here, but in verse 11 you read, that for the grace of God that bringeth salvation at the pure land of all men, teaching us, grace teaches us, that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, that's discreetly, righteously and godly in this present age, looking for the blessed hope and the glorious and the appearing of the glory of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
These things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee. So in this verse we find that he's telling us that that grace that brought salvation, that grace that provided the great work of redemption that has delivered us from our sins and out of this present evil age, is a grace that teaches us.
It teaches how we're supposed to conduct ourselves. It teaches us, of course, that there are principles that should reign in our lives and control us and they're different from the world in which we live in.
First thing he says is that that grace teaches us the denying ungodliness and worldly lusts. Lusts that according to this age, that is the natural desires that people have that dominate them and motivate them in this world.
Lusts are not always evil things in their outward look. They're simply the strong desires that people have and people spend their lives and they exert themselves to the utmost to try to gain a little higher step on the ladder and to make progress so far as this world is concerned.
That could be a lust of this world. Worldly lusts, ungodliness, and worldly lusts. But notice what he says. On the opposite, he says we should live soberly. I would take that to mean a relationship to ourselves and to have a life that is under control by the Spirit of God and be directed and motivated in the things of God and do what is according to his will.
And it has to do with discreetness, not walking carelessly. It says live soberly and righteously. That is a relation with others. That is acting righteously, acting in a proper manner toward others and behaving in a manner that is exhibiting the righteousness of Christ operating in our souls and our life.
And godly, that is a godly. That is the aspect of a relationship toward God himself. We live not only in relation to ourselves, but we live in relationship to others that are around us that are looking upon us in our testimony.
We also have a primary responsibility to live as consciously moving in the sight of God, soberly, righteously, and godly in his present age. And all of those things are contrary to the character of the age in which we live because the age in which you live, you tell us to do whatever you want to do, to live according to your own standard, to please yourselves and to do whatever is necessary to gain what is your heart's desire and to leave God out of the picture altogether.
You know, dear brothers and sisters, we are to live in a consciousness that God is looking upon us at every moment. No matter where we are, no matter what we are doing, we are to live in the consciousness of the fact that my life is continually being exposed to the eye of God.
And that is so contrary to this present age in which we live. Oh, may God help us to live with that characteristic. That is a life that honors Christ. That is a life that holds a testimony that would attract others, not by conforming to this age, but being different and moving according to God's will.
Let me take you then to Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12. Verses that are very, very familiar to us, I know. The grace of God, you know, is the very opposite of legalism. It's trying to, it's not, legalism and the matter of living according to laws is that which directs our attention inward.
It's that which makes us be conscious of seeking to conform to a standard that is imposed upon us. It's a slavery. But the grace of God is that which attracts us upward. It's that which moves our hearts with a desire to please the Lord and to honor Him and to do everything you can to bring pleasure to His heart.
But now in Romans chapter 12, those words are so familiar to us, I beseech you, brethren, Paul's not commended here, he's begging us. Heartfelt desire of the Apostle Paul, I beseech you, brethren, by the tender mercies of God that you present, you present your bodies a living sacrifice wholly accepted unto God, which is your reasonable, your intelligent worship, your intelligent service.
Be not conformed to this age. Be not conformed to this age of which we live. And some have said that word carries the idea of not being pressed into its mold, not being made like those that are around us.
We don't need to go around trying to look different. We look different enough, perhaps. And of course, if we seek to do what we should before the Lord, we're going to be different. It's not a deliberate aspect of just trying to be different for a different sake.
It's a matter of seeking to do so for the honor of the Lord Jesus and to be conformed to his will. He says, be not conformed to this world, but be transformed inwardly that is expressed outwardly by the renewing of your mind that you might prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
This is the highest ambition that a believer can have. It's to know the reality that I can present my life as a living sacrifice. You know, there's a difference between the presentation of an offering and the actual sacrifice of it.
The offering was presented when it was brought to the altar. It was given over to God. It was as if the worshiper is saying, this no longer belongs to me. It represents me before God. It's his. Or that it was offered upon the altar.
No, he says, but we should present, yield our bodies, a living sacrifice unto God, wholly accepted as a reasonable service. That's a form of worship. We heard from our brother about worship this morning.
How important that is in a life of a believer to have a life that is continually expressing worship, doing an honor to God. Because worship really is an act that recognizes the dignity and the grandeur and the importance of the person that I'm occupied with.
We're in this world to represent Christ. We're in this world that we might speak, cause others to speak well of him. He says, this is your reasonable service. I wonder how well we're doing, dear brethren.
So a matter of yielding our bodies, your life. That doesn't mean just on Sunday morning, by the way. It doesn't mean just now and then, whenever it pleases us, or whenever you get a spark of inspiration in your soul.
It's really a daily activity. I know it's in the ARS tense, but I think it really has to do with a deliberate act that is taking a place continually in my soul. I want to present my body. It no longer belongs to me.
It belongs to Christ. He has purchased it. And it is no longer mine. I have no right to it myself. And this is Paul's desire for them. It's a result of what he's been telling them earlier in the epistle.
Because you remember that in the earlier part of the epistle, he's been dealing with the thought of how we've been justified from our sins and our guilt. We've been cleansed by the precious blood of Christ.
We've been given a life that is living now in the power of the Spirit of God. And now he says, here's the result. And it's our challenge each day that we might do that. Just to present my body, my life, and all that I have.
Because if we present our body to Christ as a living sacrifice, that means everything I have. That's nothing that I can reserve for myself. And so he says, present your body, a living sacrifice. A sacrifice to live for Christ.
A sacrifice to honor him. A sacrifice to bear his name with dignity before others. And to be ready always to give an answer to those who would ask a reason for the hope that is in us with meekness and fear.
Going on, please. Ephesians 6 and verse 12. Ephesians 6 and verse 12. We find that in this world, in this age in which we're living, there are enemies and there's going to be opposition. It would be wonderful if I could tell you that to do these things as the Word of God depicts it and encourages us to do so, that it would be an easy activity without difficulties, without any problems.
We find that there are enemies and we are in an enemy land. I feel sometimes that as believers we forget that this world system, this world scene in which we live, is really enemy territory. It's spoken of as the one who is under the control of the God of this age.
But he's doing everything possible to hinder you from going on for the things of God and living for him. Especially younger believers, but all of us as older ones. I think I'm past that stage now, but nevertheless, it's still a battle every day just to give all that I have to Christ.
He purchased me. He paid a great price. He redeemed my soul by the great sacrifice he made at Calvary. And he wants everything and he deserves it. But notice what we have in chapter 6. Paul is warning these believers.
He says in verse 11, Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
So he says, take unto you the whole armor of God. We have an enemy that is a foe that would seek to do everything possible to hinder and to stand against anything that is for the honor of Christ himself.
You know, there's a Geneva Convention. And people, I should say nations, are supposed to carry on their warfare according to the terms of the Geneva Convention. Whatever that might mean. But I can tell you the powers of Satan are not bound by the Geneva Convention.
He will use every device. You know, countries are not supposed to use germ warfare, for instance. But sometimes they do. And this enemy that we have will use every possible means of enticing, opposing, uprooting, causing doubts, deceptiveness.
He'll do everything possible to oppose the purposes of God. He'll do everything possible to hinder you in your life and your pathway. He'll do everything possible to keep you from growing spiritually.
He'll give you every possible enticement, everything that will occupy your mind and take you away from the things of God. They may be things that are on the surface very acceptable. Sometimes even habits.
Nothing wrong with habits. Or should I say, desirable activities. I remember hearing Jack Hunter one time, I never forgot his illustration, but he talked about a brother and his son that used to be at one time very helpful and useful in the assembly.
And gradually they just sort of dropped back. They just didn't seem to participate like they used to. And pretty soon they just simply didn't come anymore. And they weren't used at all. He says, you know what was a problem?
Fishing. Fishing. They got involved in fishing. And it took them away from God. Oh, he said, I like to go fishing. I enjoy fishing. If I'm with a good man that knows how to fish, I always like to go fishing.
But nevertheless, you have to be careful. There are things that come into your life and mind that the devil may be using just to try to hinder you from timing the Word of God, taking you away from the time you should be occupied with worship, ruining your life and its potential for God.
It may be taking you with a desire that you might gain a better position in your company or some added ability so far as this world is concerned. Listen, the devil has a vast repertoire of means by which he will seek to do everything to ruin your life and to keep you from going on for Christ.
He says, take unto you the whole, the entire honor of God because we need protection and only God is able to provide it. We're not able to stand in ourselves. We're not capable of resisting him in our own strength.
We must depend upon the Spirit of God and be in subjection to his will. Otherwise, you and I will be overtaken by the wiles of the devil and to be ruined in our Christian life and kept from doing what is his will.
Let's just read quickly. I'm going to stop pretty quick. 2 Corinthians 4, and that's verse 4, verse 3. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. If it is veiled, he says, it is veiled in them that are lost.
It's not that the gospel is hid or veiled. It's veiled in their hearts. Their hearts have veiled it. He says, in whom the God of this world has blinded the minds of them that believe not. And that's the God of this age.
Lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, it's the gospel that tells us of the tremendous glory, the honor, the dignity of the one who is a great Redeemer. The gospel of the glory of Christ should shine unto them who we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus, the Lord.
I take this to be in the context of the Jewish resistors they speak about in chapter 3. They're so attached to the Old Testament economy. And so entranced with the glory that accompanied the giving of the law.
And he shows it was glory. It came with glory. But it was a fading glory. It was intended to fade because it was never intended to be permanent. But he says the glory that is connected with the gospel of Christ, the glory of the reality of God manifested in the person of Christ is so much more glorious.
And not only is it glorious, but it is also permanent. It never fades. And he says that glory, that gospel is being veiled in the hearts of these who resist the gospel and resist the things of God and resist the blessedness of knowing what he has provided and the genuine liberty that is connected with him.
He says at the end of chapter 3, he says that where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. He says we all with an open face behold it in a glass, in a mirror. The glory of the Lord we are changed or we are transformed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the spirit of the Lord.
He says that gospel that is so liberating, that gospel which is so powerful and so glorious, that gospel which is so Christ-honoring, he says is being veiled in the hearts and minds of those who believe not.
And I would apply this to our brethren as they preach the gospel. We try to bring the gospel before others. Oftentimes you do your very best and Paul says we don't preach dishonestly. We're not adulterating the word of God.
We're handling it in a proper manner. But even so the gospel is hid in the minds of those who believe not. He says it's not my fault. It's not the gospel's fault. There's nothing wrong with the message.
There's nothing wrong with the messenger. The problem is in the hearer. You remember that was the problem when it came to the sower of the seed of the soil. It was the soil that was the problem. He says the same thing is true today.
The God of this age, the one who controls and seeks to influence and darken the minds of those who believe not, he's doing everything possible. And that gospel might be veiled in their hearts. Listen, dear brethren, keep on preaching it.
Keep on proclaiming the gospel. The Spirit of God is the one who is able to use it to overcome the hidden power of the devil. And thank God it's still effective in reaching souls today. We live in an unbelieving world.
A world that is antagonistic to the things of God. And a world that hasn't changed and never will change. But one day it will come under the judgment of God and deliver from it. Let's just read one more verse in 2 Timothy chapter 4.
2 Timothy chapter 4. Paul's last words to his dear son of the faith, Timothy. Notice what he says in verse 10. Verse 9 he says, Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me, for Demas has forsaken me. How we love this present age.
How we love this present age. You know you and I, brethren and sisters, might go on for many years. God saved me when I was 10 years old. So that makes it 72 years. You know I can still be like Demas.
There's always a potential to turn aside. It doesn't say that Demas forsook him for this present evil age. Just the present age, the now age. Perhaps for an easier life. Perhaps just to avoid the difficulties that were connected with Paul's travels and the things that he had experienced as he was proclaiming the gospel.
Paul kindly doesn't give us a reason. But it's general enough to indicate to me that there's a potential in every one of us to end up like Demas. There was a time in Colossians and Philemon, you remember, that Paul says that Demas was one of his fellow laborers.
It must have been a great disappointment to him. But I say it was a great disappointment to the Lord when a child of God who has been so effective perhaps at one time in their life, they find themselves forsaking because they love this present age.
This age offers a life that is pleasant. It's a life without reproach. It's a life without the difficulties of open testimony. It's the very opposite of taking up the cross and following the Lord Jesus Christ faithfully.
And dear brother and sisters, this age will never change. It's violently, determinately, continually opposed to Christ. And you and I are in it representing Christ in this age. May God help us to be faithful and to go on until the very end.