Rescued From Evil

03.01.09

J.A. Matteson

"Who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father." Galatians 1:4

There exists today a dreadful, deceitful, diabolical, and deadly delusion; viz. a man can be justified by faith and remain unchanged in his nature. In this errant paradigm atonement and sanctification are divorced from one another; however, Scripture forcefully refutes the assertion. Justification is by faith alone, but justifying faith is never alone.

Surrendering up his spirit on the cross Christ declared, “It is finished.” Concise was the utterance and cosmically profound the implication. His was the quintessential emancipation proclamation to heaven and hell that the work His Father had commissioned Him to perform had been completed; atonement had been made for the elect sheep given to the Son by the Father, “…and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21).

Inextricably intertwined with the atonement is sanctification; the atonement ensures a positional and practical sanctification. To have ones sins atoned for is to enjoy the imputed righteousness of Christ and a right standing before the Father, no longer an object of divine wrath. To enjoy intimacy with the Father by means of justification is to be the recipient of grace which finds its ultimate expression in Calvary. Behold how marvelous is the promise of the Apostle, “that He might rescue us from this present evil age.” Allow the full impact of the atonement to overwhelm you: for it delivered (a completed action), is delivering (a continuing action), and will deliver (a future action) the saints from “this present evil.”

The promise is to the saints of all generations and is indicative of the personified object which assaults them; i.e., Satan. “This present evil” is also experienced by the saints in the fallen world system and individually by way of the flesh which wages war against the Spirit. Positional sanctification takes place at conversion (a completed action) at which time His Spirit indwells the renewed life so that the saint is compelled toward practical sanctification, mortifying the flesh by the power of the Spirit (a continuing action), and finding its fulfillment in glory at death (a future action), “And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified” (Romans 8:30). An atonement divorced from practical sanctification is a ruse and the devil’s counterfeit, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

The redeemed life is not a reformed life, it is a new life. The new does not come until the old dies and the seal of the Spirit is the guarantee of fruitfulness unto God, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). The life that professes love for Christ but is void of His fruit is miserably self-deceived because His seed does not indwell him. Let the man who continues in wanton sin take stock in the affections of his heart for he is traversing the wide and perilous road to utter destruction, “And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure…No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” (1 John 3:3, 9).

Keenly aware of this premise the Apostle concludes, “…but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:27). Positional and practical sanctification is recognized, then, not by profession alone, but by the fruit of righteousness which the Spirit produces. The Lord Jesus Christ underscores the unbreakable link of justification and sanctification, “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples” (John 15:8). The man who professes Christ to the world in word will find validation in his deeds, proving himself a disciple.

The man who professes Christ in word but whose life is an arid wasteland of unrighteousness displays empty rhetoric. Unless he repents and throws himself down at the foot of the cross certain destruction awaits him, “behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).

Copyright 2009 Immutable Word Ministries ("...the word of our God stands forever." Isaiah 40:8)