in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,
Yesterday we learnt from our text that before we came to Christ Jesus we were spiritually dead. As a result our lives were being directed without the dynamic voice and the leading of the Holy Spirit and God’s Word which we now yearn for as believers in Christ. Rather, we were being led by our soul which is adversely influenced by the body to live by sight and not by faith. In our verse today we read of two other influences on us that previously brought confusion into our lives and that can still impact us for harm if we do not guard against them, these being the world and our enemy Satan. Today let us focus on the first of these two influences on our lives.
When Paul is using the term world in this context he is not referring to our terrestrial globe but rather the world system and the mass of humanity that lives in the world that God created but lives outside of the kingdom of God. The world system is diametrically opposed to the kingdom of God, so much so that we need to understand that even without the influence of Satan, the world would still be opposed to God because of the nature of man which is hell bent on self gratification. The world outside of God’s direct rule will always be corrupt because humanity is determined to set its own course based on its own power of reasoning which opposes faith, and it is this that Satan merely plays upon.
The Scriptures make this plain in Revelation 20 (see below) when it describes a yet future event after the Second Coming of Christ during an epoch of time often referred to as the Millennium. This is a period of a thousand years or a Day in God’s prophetic calendar in which Jesus Christ will literally rule on earth and our adversary will literally be banished from the earth and bound in hell. You would think that humanity would be pleased of this turn of events, however the end of chapter 20 reveals that at the close of that thousand years that Satan will be released in order to test the will of humanity to serve God. The result is that a significant proportion of humanity still rebels against God and against His Son. Why would they do this after living under the benevolent rule of Christ for such a period? Ultimately because mankind doesn’t want to be told what to do, humanity wants to do its own thing, to act independently of the Creator, which is the very self same desire that Satan used to deceive Adam and Eve in Eden. This too was why God judged that the building of the Tower of Babel in Genesis chapter 11 had to be stopped because the goal of its construction was to unite humanity in rebellion against God! Man wanted to make a name for himself apart from God. It is this desire for total independence from our Creator that the Bible sums up in one word SIN. The very problem with sin is the middle letter “I”. It is the “I” that wants to be the centre of attraction, the main event; I want to do things my way, the way I like, in the manner that I dictate.
The problem with that formula is that it only works in this present world system, and only then it is nothing more than the pagan ethos of the survival of the fittest, which affects everyone from the person craving their next meal to the obscenely wealthy. Such a formula though is entirely useless in the currency of eternity. Why? Well, because we can only succeed in our human effort over those things that we can personally control. But none of us has control over eventual death and where we will spend eternity – except God. Which is precisely why Jesus said in Matthew 16v26: “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
Therefore independence from God has only a short term reward, it may well lead to temporal financial gain, sexual satisfaction outside of marriage, the accumulation of all manner of material things, the self serving influence over others, but ultimately it will lead to death, physical yes, but most importantly eternal spiritual separation from God, a state that the Bible calls the Second Death. Therefore independence from God in this life leads to eternal DEATH, whilst the choice to accept Jesus Christ the Son as LORD leads to eternal LIFE.
It is not just the record of the Bible that reveals this; it is common sense. It is the simple result of cause and effect, for every cause there must be an equal effect. SIN reaps an effect – temporal self gratification which by its very nature leads to self destruction. No one will be able to stand before God and say, “You must let me into Your kingdom; I know my rights!” If we choose to live outside of God’s influence now, He loves us so much that He allows us to make that decision, but the effect will be that we will also spend eternity outside of His influence, in a state that the Bible calls HELL!
This present world system is likewise on a direct chartered course to hell and all who choose to remain on that course will end up in the same eventual destination, and as such so were we when we walked according to the course of this world. BUT now we who were dead have been made alive in CHRIST – Our course is HEAVEN. So as that wonderful revivalist song puts it…
I have decided to follow Jesus;
I have decided to follow Jesus;
I have decided to follow Jesus;
No turning back, no turning back.
The world behind me, the cross before me;
The world behind me, the cross before me;
The world behind me, the cross before me;
No turning back, no turning back
Let’s make sure that we keep singing this song into eternity!
OUR PRAYER TODAY.
Heavenly Father, thank you that You have called us out of the world, this present world system that is opposed to Your Kingdom. Help us LORD to yet be in the world but not of it. May it be evident to all that our speech, our actions and our very thoughts are not of this world but are instead founded on Your WORD so that we may point People to Your Kingdom and Your mercy.
Amen
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