Well, I invite you to turn tonight to back to Romans. We continue again our study in Romans, and we are in chapter 13, closing out chapter 13, and then that will leave us with three chapters left. We're going to read at verse 8. The text tonight is 11 through 14. We'll read 8 through 14 to set the context. This is Romans 13, page 11 27 beginning at verse 8.
We considered last time the command to love, and here we have that emphasized. oh no one anything except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, you shall not commit adultery you shall not murder you shall not steal you shall not covet and any other commandment are summed up in this word: you shall love your neighbors yourself Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law."
And now our text: "Besides this, you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep, for salvation is nearer to us than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then, let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires."
May the Lord bless tonight the hearing of his word.
Well, one of the great motivating factors for the Apostle Paul in sanctification and living the Christian life, the motivation for living that he ties often in the New Testament, that motivation, to the end of all things, the end of the world, the second coming. You notice he says that here. He makes a little profound statement when he says, "I want you to consider that your salvation is nearer than when you first believed." It's nearer. The end of all things, your salvation, the glory to come one of the saints of you came up to me this morning and said, "I'm in a closer place to you than glory, to you, to glory." And I said, "Yes, indeed, you are in a better position than I am, assuming that we run the natural course of things, right? Assuming that this saint goes the whole way to the expected 80 or 90. I don't know what I'll get. But it's really a profound thought."
We look at it backward. We're all trying to beat death. We're all trying to skip death. We're all trying to avoid that at all costs. That's in the Lord's hands. And he views the Christian life as a forward-moving life towards something that is so wonderful. Remember, "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor entered in the heart of man, the things that God has prepared for those who love him."
He wants to use the end of all things as a motivation not to scare us not to force us unnaturally into some kind of obedience, but as a godly incentive toward holy living. The message is wonderful here. The message is important here. He's calling us to lay aside in our lives sinful patterns and sinful behaviors, things that are holding us back. There are things that hold us back in this life.
And if I were to ask tonight, I don't want to know the answer, but I want you to think about it. I want you to meditate on it. That's another thing that's a lot sort of art today in Christianity is the art of meditating on the Scriptures and thinking deeply about the things that are being said to us. But I want you to think about: What things in the Christian life are holding you back? What are you reaching for? What are you doing that might be holding you back? And it's a searching question. It's an important question. Is there any sin in life that is holding us back?
Paul is saying, "I want you to consider who you are, and I want you to advance in a peculiar kind of lifestyle that exemplifies who you are." I don't want the disconnect of the profession and the life is what he's saying here. And that shows really in what you're reaching forward to, what you're living for, what the goals are in life, what are your aspirations in life, what are we trying to achieve here?
Living and reaching for a goal is the way that the Christian life is described. We're not just living a pointless, meaningless, nihilism kind of life. There's real meaning to the Christian life. There's real purpose in the Christian life. And this beautiful passage tonight is calling us to holiness. It's calling us to holiness in light of the short time that we have left here. And it really is a short time.
We have been, for the past few chapters, considering this overarching command to love our neighbor as ourselves. And it's as if the Apostle Paul, in connecting this thought, well, he says, "Besides this, when he connects this, I'm not saying love your neighbor is a pointless command. There's a purpose in that. But there are many real dangers in the Christian life: that when you are focused on yourself and you're pursuing your own wants and your own desires, that prevent us from the love and service and commitment to one another and to the Lord that we are called to, to pursuing the life that God has called us to.
And we need to understand what those things are, the dominant sins that often pull us off the path, the way to avoid them, and how to achieve that. This is a very important passage tonight for that. And part of achieving love, the fulfilling of the law, part of that, as he calls us to love as new creatures in Christ, is tied to how we are walking and living as believers.
And the heart of it tonight is simply this: He is calling us to lead an alert life, awake life. an awake life That's the overarching, I think, goal of this particular text. There's that simple call at the beginning here: to be awake. Did you notice that? Be alert. Be awake. And then he describes what being awake looked like. And then he describes how we achieve it in this life. Those are the three points as we press toward the goal.
So let's look at this wonderful passage here. In verse 11, what you'll notice in in verse in Romans chapter 13 is that he says, "Besides this, you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep, for salvation is nearer to us than when we have first believed."
Now, you would think that we would not need to be continually reminded of this, but this is one of the predominant emphases in sanctification in the New Testament. It reminds us of a major problem that happens in the Christian life. Paul does here: "You've been told this over and over. You know the emphasis that's given to you." That's essentially what he's saying. "This, you know this. This has been said to you. Here, you know the time. You know the the way that the scriptures have characterized the times in which we live. You've been told over and over: it's a short life, and once we've lived this life, there is a judgment to come. You know that the days are evil," says the Apostle Paul.
What he's concerned about here is the imagery of being asleep through all this. Being asleep. He's saying, "It's time to wake up out of sleep."
Now, he wouldn't say that if he didn't know this is a real problem for Christians. It's a real challenge for Christians. We have an analogy to this in life of who is most productive, right? I mean, we know this. We understand this. Those who usually, and generally, I'm not saying this is across the board, but the wicked, generally, when they are doing late evil activities, do those activities late at night, don't they? And then they sleep most of the light away, of the whole morning, and have wasted the daytime. That's characteristic of what we know about people. They stay up late, they indulge in sin, and they waste the day away in sleep when it's light out.
Some of the old writers would write tomes on the necessity of rising early in the Christian life. And I would say this: that early to bed indeed is better, and certainly early rising will help you immensely with bad patterns in life. It's discipline. But what this is capturing is sleeping when it comes to the spiritual life of the believer. That's what he's emphasizing here. Sleeping when it comes to the spiritual life of the believer.
And what he is describing here, he's describing the single great problem: of spiritual complacency. The New Testament uses this language. Just what I outlined about the patterns of those who live in darkness, it uses this language everywhere.
Ephesians 5: "This is why it is said, wake up, O sleeper. Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
This is 2 Thessalonians 5. In light of what I just outlined, listen to this: "For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night nor of the darkness. So then, let us not sleep as others do. Let us be awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night." That's the general truth of the matter, isn't it? Unless that sin is so far gone that it's consumed throughout all the day, the general truth is: those who get drunk, get drunk at night.
"But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ."
Again, in light of Revelation this morning, Revelation 16, 15. "Behold, I'm coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed."
We see what he's concerned about: no alertness in the Christian life, a life of no Christian discipline, that does not live toward the goal of anything and what we're supposed to be living for and what the purpose and meaning of life is.
And every sort of what we call eschatology passage in the New Testament always goes after the behavior in light of the second coming. Think of 2 Peter 3, which I'm thinking about for next Sunday. But it's such a powerful passage that the mindset of the world is always, "You know, life's just always going to go on. Nothing's going to change. He's not going to come again today. We can live and do whatever we want to do." This, is he calls them scoffers and mockers.
And verse 11 says the opposite to us here in Romans 13: "You know the time. He's encouraging us. You're not in that kind of darkness. The time is at hand."
All the New Testament writers are constantly emphasizing the urgency of the end of all things. The New Testament, all the way through, is just pushing us to the final day. It's pushing us forward to the final day. They say it all the time: "The end of all things is at hand; therefore, be watchful and sober in your prayers. You are soon going to enter the gates. You are soon going to be in heaven. You're soon going to be with your Lord in a new heavens and new earth. God has done something very special for you."
I think of how many people don't live in light of this hope and live in the darkness. They've not even thought about this, and they choose not to think about this. And the day is going to come when they least expect it and carry them away like a flood, says the Scripture.
And why, then, is Paul writing this? Well, he's stirring us up. 2 Peter 3 again: "by way of reminder. He wants us to think on these things because he knows Christians can sleep."
Who can forget when Jesus is going to the cross? And the most distressing event of human history. And he tells his disciples, "I want you to remain awake and pray." "The flesh, think about this, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." And every time he returned, what were they doing? Asleep. That shows a matter of weakness in us, doesn't it? It shows why we need a lot of help from the Lord. You can get caught up in all the wrong things.
And the New Testament holds out this concern: when Jesus said, "When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" He wants us to think about: what will it be like at the second coming? How many will be looking for him at the second coming? How many will even be thinking about it? Who will ever think that it could come today?
I can't forget the parable of the ten virgins that's coming in Matthew 25. Five were asleep. Five were awake. "Watch and pray," he says.
And Romans 13 is powerful because he's not motivating us to be awake to scare us to death. He's doing it by reminding us of who we are. That's the encouragement of this particular passage. But the way he motivates us is really wonderful when you think about how he's motivating you to this. He says, "Your salvation is nearer than when you first believe. You, you are God's children. You've been given the knowledge of the truth."
I want you to think about this little phrase: "when you first believed." When you first believed, can you recall it now? Maybe some of you would say, "Well, I've always believed," and I'd say, "Blessed are you." I'm talking about even for those who can say that: that time you first cognitively understood the Gospel, and it really took root in the heart. When you first understood how you were right with God, when you first understood the love of God, when you first understood the Gospel, when you first were justified by grace through faith alone, once and for all, there is a special time when that light comes upon us in life.
But over time, the world, the devil, and our own flesh take our eyes off it all, and we forget what we're living for. Conflict, adversity, struggle, sin, which easily ensnares Hebrews, all has a weakening effect and makes the eyes grow weary and tired. paul's
Paul is encouraging us here and challenging us to think about: when you first believed. And you see the concern that in the church in Rome, there were struggles here, and there was challenges living in Rome. And I think of this: is Jesus addressed the churches in Revelation. In Ephesus, that first church, he said, "When he brought charges against them, he said, listen you've left your first love. Go back and do the first works There was a recognition that at the beginning of all that God had done, and then over time, drifting, over time sleeping, over time hardening you see, it's just the truth of the matter.
He's challenging us: as to which direction we're going, are we going forward in the Christian life or are we going backward? There was no longer zeal of love and good works done. And I think that applies, so as Paul does here, to the individual Christian: consider now, says Paul, how much further down the path you are from when it first happened. Are you going backward or are you going forward?
It's amazing. I was talking with um a brother the other day, and he said, "In all of his difficulties, he's just kind of ended the ministry, and he's had nothing but health challenges, and he said, you know, Chris, I had all this ambition, and I had all these drives. The Lord's kind of taken it all away. All I want to do at this point in life is just finish well
We have saints recorded in the Scriptures who didn't. What a statement!
Before you know it, you're almost 50. That's me. And I'm looking at some of you, and you're a lot older than me. How long do you really think you have here? How long do you really think you have here? It's going to go by like that. And you're not guaranteed tomorrow.
He says in verse 12, "The day is at hand." So consider: your salvation is nearer wherever you are on this path of life, to when you first believed how close it all is.
And when he's thinking of salvation here, he's thinking of glory. He's thinking of the end. He's thinking of the goal achieved, striving toward that goal. Paul would say this in Philippians 3: "Not that I've already attained or am already perfected, but I now listen to this language (this is all throughout the New testament but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. I press on."
There's a pursuit in life. There's a pursuit in the Christian life that has a goal. Paul says, "I lay hold of it. Not that I already have achieved it or I've been perfected yet is what he means, but I lay hold of that which Christ has also laid hold of for me. I am pressing on in it."
This is why you get all this athletic imagery in the New Testament. Paul himself is pictured as a runner in that passage. In that case, stretching out in the run, stretching out to reach the finish line, reaching the body forward with full concentration for the finish line, prioritizing the gaining of Christ, being with him. So here he's speaking about the disciplined life, a concentrated life, a focused life on what is most important as Christians.
Truth be told, many of our challenges in this regard simply have to do with learning how to lead a disciplined Christian life, and it's hard work. Disciplines don't come easy for anyone. Sometimes people look at the pastor and say, "You must be so disciplined," and I say, "I have just as hard of a road in discipline as you do, I promise you." Discipline, this is in all the secular books on discipline. It's like building a muscle. You have to push through and do the hard things, the things you don't want to do. Any worldly view of discipline, they start with, you'll love this, read the books. You want to change your life? This is worldly view: get up really early and start with a cold shower. Early rising, cold shower. Why? What are you doing when you do that? They all know discipline is like a muscle that has to be built. You start with the small things, and once you're able to push through the small things, it leads to bigger things. That is human life. You push through.
Paul thinks spiritually this way: "Do you not know that in a race, all the runners run, but only the one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain the prize. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. See that? They do it to receive a perishable wreath; we, an imperishable. So I don't run aimlessly. This is right out of Paul. I mean, this is exactly what he's saying here. This is 1 Corinthians: I do not box as one beating the air, but I discipline my body and keep it under control.
You see? That is hard work. Nobody says that's easy work. He's using the imagery in the first century of fighting, of athletes fighting in the ancient games. And he describes the dedication, and he applies it to the dedication and the self-denial that we have to have in the Christian life.
So Paul helps us here to know what it looks like. Look at verses 12 and 13. So then, what does that look like? How do we do that?
"So then, let us walk properly as in the daytime. You'll notice that. Then let us cast off works of darkness and put on the armor of light," he'll say in another place. "Let us walk properly, verse 13, as in the daytime, not in orgies or in drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy."
Well, there's a list. Those are chief sins in people's lives. The day has so dawned; don't do what belongs to the night. That's what he's saying. There are certain behaviors that are in the lives of those who are perishing. Here they are. There are certain behaviors of those who are going to hell. here's what it looks like But not you see the encouragement of this? You're not. It's it's the contrast of light and darkness.
How do people in the night live? Certain sins dominate the night. Coming back to the theme: drunkenness, sexual immorality, partying, drugs, licentious living. And go through it. That's everything he's talking about here.
He said elsewhere, "The time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do. The Gentiles live this way. The time has passed. We don't do that anymore. Living in situality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry."
With respect to this, he says elsewhere in Peter, "They are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you for it."
Now, if you're a young person and you have made choices to not do these things, this is what you'll get, and expect it. They will malign you. They will think you're weird. They will they will ridicule you. And then the next verse says this: "But they will give an account to him who's ready to judge the living and the dead."
Those sins, sex before marriage, sexual immorality in all of its forms, drunkenness, living for passions, idolatry. Yeah, you can sleep in doing those things. But it's not you. You see the motivation here? It's not you. Don't do it. It's not you. That's the motivation. You're his children. That's what pagans do. That's what unbelievers do. That's a sign of people in the darkness. They sleep all day. They waste the daylight, and sleeping.
We have a concept of this in the patterns of the unregenerate. Jesus would say it: "Are there not 12 hours in the day? And if anyone walks in the day" (John 11), "he does not stumble, because he sees the light of the world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him."
That's why Ephesians says in chapter 5, "You spent enough of the past doing that stuff, right? We all did that kind of stuff. You spent enough of the past doing stuff like that, but now you're light. Walk as children of the light."
And Paul says, "We should walk properly, as in the daytime." He uses military language. Exert yourself forward. Use the armor. Be a soldier. You think of Galatians 5 and 6: "Press to the goal."
I think verse 14 is so beautiful here. It's the positive imperative. But here's how you do it: "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Put him on. Clothe yourself in him." That's how you do it. "And don't make any provision for the flesh to gratify its desires. Engage the mind and the body more and more to think and act like him, to understand him, to put on him."
Every time we sin willfully, we're just fulfilling lusts. And then they come and they go, and they come back, and it's a relentless cycle. He says here, "Put on Christ. Such a beautiful passage. Deck yourselves more in him."
He sees in the responsibility of sanctification, which is a work of the Holy Spirit. But it's similar to Romans 6:14. I want you guys to do this: "Now, reckon yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. You're alive."
That word "reckon" is important because in the early part of the book, he says that the righteousness of Jesus Christ has been reckoned to you as a free gift, by grace. And now what he says is, in this life of sanctification, start reckoning it to yourself. Start thinking of it like this: "I am in Christ. I belong to Christ. I've been resurrected and redeemed in Christ. I have put on Christ. And he's the strength I need to not do those things. See? Every day."
That's why we say, "Preach the gospel to yourself every day." In other words, clothe yourself in what is already true of you. It's already true. That's what he's saying. Put on Christ, and don't let these lusts attempt to control you.
I don't for a minute think any of us have the power to do this in and of ourselves. Sin is powerful. And if you're discouraged about sin, and if you're struggling with sin, I've got really good news for you: you have a merciful, compassionate Savior who desires to help you. Do you want the help? Put him on. And think about the disciplined life to put those things in place that demonstrate you want that. He is so merciful and compassionate and promises to give his Spirit to those who ask.
"For as many as you as were baptized into Christ and put on Christ, the life you live by faith in the Son of God who loved you and gave himself for you—"
Now you are striving. It's a battle. This is what this life is. It's a battle. It's a battle to bring every thought in the captivity to obedience to him. Do it because in response for all the grace that you've received and the love of God who's not treating you as somebody under judgment but as his children, do it because it's the right thing before a God who's loved you like this. Do it in his power.
There is laid up for you a crown of glory that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you. That's his plan for you. Do it to glorify your God who's loved you by giving his Son for you, because he cares about you.
I close with this: greatest story ever. In the end of the summer of the years A.D. 386, a man was reading in his garden. His mom had been praying for him for years. He had been living in sexual immorality, living in adultery, drunkenness, denied the faith, all that. He deluded himself that it was okay, that he was a Christian, I suppose. He was headed for hell.
One day he's sitting on a bench. Mom had been praying and praying and praying and praying. As the story goes, one day he's sitting on a bench, and he picked up a copy of Paul's epistles this to the romans a.d. 386. And he picked it up and began to read. And the children next to him, as he gives the account, were playing, and he heard one of them say, tolelege tolelege Pick up and read. Pick up and read." So he opens up to Romans 13, and he comes to Romans 13 13 and 14.
"Let us walk properly as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust giving a different translation not in strife and envy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts."
Upon reading these words, Saint Augustine said he was converted. That's a powerful story.
It's my prayer that every one of you tonight is converted like him, believes the Gospel, and knows how God treats you as his children. He wants the best for you, that you've been born again and trust in Christ, that you've been filled with the joy of Jesus Christ, and that you consider it a privilege to deck yourself in the righteousness of Christ every day because you are.
May he give you that strength when you fail, and you will. I've said it to profession of faith every time. I remember one time there were two young men who came up in Linden and profess faith, and I told them right up in front of the congregation, "You're going to struggle against sin, and you're going to fail at times. The battle has begun, and I want you to look to Christ, and I want you to remember his promises and that he gives strength to the weary, that he helps his people and delivers them."
May God give you strength to be who he called you to be, by his grace. Amen.
Let's pray. Lord, thank you for this wonderful text. Thank you for blessing us. Thank you for giving us understanding. We all confess our sins that we have at times reached back to the darkness and done it way more than we care to admit or want to admit, and we ask for forgiveness for all our sins tonight.
And we ask, oh Lord, that we would have the strength of the Holy Spirit to reach forward in the Christian life to the goal and to realize there's real purpose and meaning as we are called to love one another. It is these sins that pull us off the path of any kind of service. It's these sins that blind us to what our whole purpose is in life. So let us not be asleep, but let us be awake and give us great grace, O Lord, to do so.
We cannot do it on our own. So we appeal to you in your mercies that you would give your Holy Spirit to all of us in our time of need. And help the wayward. And we pray for those whose hearts are far: return them, O Lord, like St. Augustine. May your powerful Word do the work in their lives. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.