Rescue from this present evil age

It doesn’t take much more than reading the local headlines to be reminded that we live in a present evil age. Sometimes it doesn’t take anything more than looking at our own lives to realize it.

Jesus testified to the evil in His days on earth by saying, “For from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, evil actions, deceit, lewdness, stinginess, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a person” (Mark 7:21-23).

You don’t have to live in the inner city to know that we’re living in a present evil age. Whether it’s the world around you or your own personal circumstances engulfing you, the presence of evil in this age cannot be denied.

Furthermore, every person born into this world bears the stain of sinfulness. King David recognized this of himself as he confessed, “Indeed, I was guilty when I was born; I was sinful when my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5). The Bible declares, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). I’m in that category, and so are you. If you say that you have no sin, then you’re not only deceiving yourself, but you’re making God a liar, and the truth is not in you; His word is not in you (1 John 1:8, 10).

And it gets worse. Not only are we born sinful people into an evil age, but there’s a price to pay for our sin. “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23), writes the apostle Paul under the inspiration of God’s Holy Spirit. That death is an eternal separation from God in hell. The prophet Isaiah declared, “Your iniquities have built barriers between you and your God, and your sins have made Him hide His face from you so that He does not listen” (Isaiah 59:2). The apostle John was given a revelation of the glories of heaven, and he wrote, “Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful” (Rev. 21:27).

And not only are we born sinful people into an evil age with an eternal punishment as our just penalty, there is absolutely nothing any one of us can do on our own to save ourselves. Even our best deeds to try to gain salvation are but “filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6) in the Lord’s sight. If we think we can achieve righteousness by our good works then we are terribly deceived. Many people have this idea that on that day when they stand before the Lord’s seat of judgment that He’ll place all their “good deeds” on one scale and their “bad deeds” on the other. If the good outweighs the bad, they’re in. And, of course, nearly everyone with this view believes they will come out on the good side.

The apostle Paul knew better, however, and he pleaded with the church at Galatia for their understanding. He wrote, “For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse…Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law” (Gal. 3:10, 11). He goes on later to describe the works of the flesh as being obvious: “Sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar…those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal. 5:19-21).

Now, I hope you’re still with me here, because I sure don’t want to leave it like this. If that’s all there is to look forward to, then no wonder there’s such hopelessness and despair in our world today. But, friend, all of this bad news must be rightly understood before we can fully understand and appreciate the wonder of the good news of the message of the Bible. That news is our Lord Jesus Christ, “who gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever” (Gal. 1:4).

This news should make the front page of every newspaper every day! You can be delivered from your sin, rescued from this present evil age and saved from everlasting death in hell because Jesus has suffered the wrath of God for sin for you. He died to rescue you! Will you repent of your sins and receive Christ Jesus today as your Savior, or will you keep hoping your “filthy rags” will save you? Will you follow Him gladly as the Lord of your life, or will you keep following your own path of destruction and death? Will you tell someone who’s lost and dying that Jesus is their only rescue, or will you keep silent as they plunge into the eternal fire of hell?