Living as Light Knowing the Time

Transcript

GR 2265
2/28/2021
Live as Light Knowing the Time
Romans 13:11-14
Gil Rugh

We’re going to Romans chapter 13. We’ve had a little break but we’re concluding this chapter. We are in the section of the first eleven chapters as we have it in our bibles. Paul unfolded the doctrinal truths that are basic to how we live our lives. With chapter 12 and he’s continued into chapter 13 and will continue into chapter 14, talking about how we conduct ourselves as those who have been the recipients of God’s saving grace. That wonder of our salvation unfolded so fully and completely, more fully and completely than any other place in the Scripture. The Spirit of God directed Paul to present in this clear and thorough and organized way the salvation that Christ provided. It is a lifechanging salvation. How could it be otherwise? The gospel is the power of God for salvation and when God’s power works in a life it transforms that life. The different expressions like being born again, we are made new, we are cleansed from our sin, its defilement, its guilt. We become the children of God and now live in the enabling power of the Spirit of God.

So that’s what he has been talking about. It comes down to the practical, everyday life. The first part of chapter 13 was dealing with what? How we live in relation to governing officials because God has ordained human government. Its various kinds and differences but whatever the governmental form and whoever the governmental authorities are we recognize that God is sovereign and has put them in place for His purposes. That doesn’t mean that every governing authority is a godly person. In fact, that would be the exception because the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. He is the god, small “g” of this world, Satan, the devil and his people as general rule are ruling the world, but they are doing it in the context of God’s purposes and plans. We have seen that through Old Testament history. Pagan godless nations like the Assyrians were used in God’s plan for the disciplining of His people Israel. The Babylonians served the same function and subsequent nations. As Paul writes the Romans are ruling the world. Paul and other believers are living under the ultimate authority of Roman rulers’ pagan as they are. The first verse told us God has established them. Now he sort of pulls together what he has said to this point about our conduct with verses 11-14. We are to conduct ourselves, “do this knowing the time.” He has transitioned there from the governing authorities to our responsibility to live godly lives and to love one another. We do this “knowing the time.” Believers are expected to know and understand the time period in which they live.

Paul has written this great treatise on the gospel and sent it to the church in Rome. Paul has not personally been there. He did not establish this church. We talked about that when we began. But these truths they are expected to know. Of course, you know this and we are to live in light of what we know. “Knowing the time,” the time in which we live. We live expecting and anticipating the coming of our Savior. That is to have a dramatic and clear impact upon our lives and there is a balance in this section.

Back up to chapter 12, verses 1 and 2. Paul began in verse 1 in chapter 12 of Romans, “therefore I urge you brethren, by the mercies of God.” By the mercies of God looks back to what he unfolded through the first eleven chapters. God showed mercy to us. We were undeserving, unworthy but in love and mercy He provided salvation. So, on the basis of what God has done for us in Christ, looking back to His work of salvation, provided for us and we have entered into that, the church at Rome had through faith. He addressed them as “saints” as he began. “You are to present your body a living and holy sacrifice to God” and this is our spiritual way of worshiping God. We aren’t to be “conformed to this world, but we are being transformed by the making new of our mind.” So that looked back based on what Christ did and accomplished for us. We now live our lives in a way pleasing to the Lord.

Now when you come over to chapter 13, verse 11 these verses do this “knowing the time.” The time is that Christ is coming again so we are looking forward to the future. Even as we observe the communion service, what happened? We were reminded of the death of Christ and we are reminded of that death even as we are proclaiming His death until He comes. So, we live between these two events. We are to live in light of it both focusing on Christ. His provision of our salvation and His coming again to bring it to its final fruition. “Knowing the time our salvation,” the end of verse 11, “is nearer than when we first believed.” So that idea of the fullness of our salvation, we’ll talk about that in a moment. We live in light of what we call the imminent return of Christ. That word imminent carries the concept of there is nothing that needs to happen before He comes for us as His church.

Now when we talk about God is coming to establish the kingdom, we know that there are seven years of events to unfold, the book of Revelation presents in detail. We sometimes look and study those events that will take place in those seven years before Christ comes to earth and establishes His kingdom and to see things that might be a foreboding that we are getting close to that time because Christ is going to come for His church before that seven-year period. We are not told exactly how long before that seven-year period. Some would connect it to the beginning of the Church that took place fifty days after the crucifixion of Christ and His resurrection. Well maybe there’ll be fifty days after the rapture of the Church before the covenant is signed that begins the seven-year period, but the Scripture doesn’t say that. Maybe it will be longer. We don’t know but there’s nothing that has to happen before Christ comes. There was nothing that had to happen as Paul writes to the Romans. Things could change very quickly in the sovereign work of God in His creation. We are to know the time. We are closer with every day to our ultimate redemption of the body than we were when we first believed. We’re knowing the time, that means it is already. There is a sense of urgency.

“Already the hour for you to awaken from sleep.” The concern that Paul has for the believers he is writing to is when something is put off you get a little bit lax in anticipating it. The picture is of sleepiness. Remember the disciples in the garden with Christ? He told them to watch with Him when He went aside to pray, and He came back and finds them asleep. He says couldn’t you watch for Me for this brief time? This was the time to be awake, but they were overcome with their sleep. Paul’s concerned that the Romans may have moved to this because he says, “it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep.” Paul deals rather directly. You don’t have to awaken if you haven’t started to doze off. It is already time for you to be alert and ready for the coming of the Lord. “The hour for you to awaken from sleep.” The danger for the church. It was a danger for the Romans. How long has it been we have been preaching and teaching through the two thousand years of church history? Oh yes, Christ is coming again. I know. My father-in-law talked to me about it. He was a godly man. He had served on the board of our bible teaching church. We’d talk about these events and the rapture. As it got near the end of his life he said, Gil I don’t think the Lord is going to come in my life. When you get down toward the end, obviously at my age there’s less chance that the Lord will come in my lifetime then those who are sitting here in your 20’s and 30’s. A normal lifespan, well there’s a good chance the Lord will come in the next 40 years. Maybe less chance the Lord will come in the next 2, for example. We don’t know, but we realize that He could come at any time. So, we’re to live with that attitude of expectancy and we are to live and serve that way.

People will say those people are serious. I think they’re foolish because they’ve been living this out for 2,000 years and He still hasn’t come. Peter had to warn his readers, remember? The Lord is not slack about His promises as some people would consider it. Well, where’s the promise of His coming? Everything has been the same. Go back to the creation, the world just grinds on, grinds on, grinds on. And pretty soon, believers without saying it, begin to adopt that kind of mentality. And we get caught up more on the issues of the world and the issues of daily life but we don’t do it in the context that I’m doing everything I do today in light of, this may be my last day. The Lord may come.

Awake from your sleep! We can go through a whole week and not even give it a thought. We get worried then about what the world’s going to do. How many of us has said, boy with what’s happening in our country, I’m really concerned for my grandchildren or my children. Really, well we ought to be concerned for our children and grandchildren. Are they prepared for the coming of the Lord? Oh yeah, look how bad, look at where the country’s going. Well, we know. We know what it’s going to be like in those 7 years up to the return of Christ after the rapture of the church. The only preparation is to accept the gift of salvation, right? We can’t rescue this world.

I spent some time while I was on a break this past week reading a book on post-millennialism. The writer was a strong believer in post-millennialism, as were most of the Puritans. And he is a strong supporter of the Puritans who were 17th century men by in large. They believed that the world ultimately by the work bringing revival to the world again and again. Ultimately the world would be won to Christ. So, that’s what they were anticipating. Well, we’re hundreds of years later, and it’s not getting better. And he acknowledges, you can’t take prophecy literally. If you do, you won’t be looking for the world to get better and better. And the Puritans were confused on that, sadly. But we shouldn’t be confused. The word of God takes prophecy literally, and they agree, yes, you’ll be looking for the rapture, you’ll be looking for the world to get worse and worse. They thought that was a terrible teaching. You take all the hope and anticipation out of people. We’re not going to make the world better. This is the man who wrote that book in 1972. Last I checked, he was still living. I appreciate some of what he writes, but he’s wrong! The church is going to not make the world better and better. We are to know the time, “that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep;” to live an alert life.

Come over to another passage in Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians. Paul writes to the church at Thessalonica. He writes about these matters. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 he talks about the rapture of the church. 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 13 he talks about the Lord coming in the air and the transformation of our body as the dead in Christ are caught up to meet Christ, then we’re caught up to meet Him. That’s what we are looking for. We are not looking for this world becoming the perfect kingdom. Then he comes into chapter 5, “now as to the times and epochs, brethren, you have no need for anything to be written to you.” This is not an old church with a long history. They already “know the times,” you know the epochs,” you know where we are. You don’t need me to do it, but I remind you. You know “the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” That day of the Lord is the time of judgment on the earth.

Same description that Christ used in talking about that tribulation period in Matthew 24, the pains of labor coming on a woman who in her pregnancy that all of a sudden, it can be the middle of the night, all of a sudden labor pains and we have to get to the hospital, kind of thing. Here that’s what will happen. The day of the Lord will come and the world will be unexpecting but you are not in darkness, verse 4, that that day would overtake you like a thief. We are “sons of light and sons of day” so, verse 6 “then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober.” We’ll come back to this passage time permitting, in a little bit so you can leave a marker there if you want.

The point is right now how should the Thessalonians be living? They are people like the Ephesians. They lived in difficult times. Persecution can be severe. You could give your life for testifying for Christ. But you’ve got to be alert. You’ve got to know the time, and these are serious days. We’ll come back to that passage but come back to Romans chapter 13.

Awake from the sleep. Are we an awake, alert church? Yeah you would say. You’ll go to your jobs this week; you’ll do whatever you do. There’ll be responsibilities but if the Lord would call us we would say, well I’ve been expecting You. I didn’t know when it would be, but it could be at any time. That sharpens us. And the fears and the concerns of this life are put into perspective. If Christ is coming at 10:15 this evening I don’t have anything to worry about for tomorrow. And who cares about Covid and I’m not near as caught up in the news of the day and the political issues of the day. I’m out of here. That expectancy puts things in perspective. My citizenship is not here. The people who belong to this world can deal with it the best they can, but they can’t fix it.

“Awake from your sleep.” Why? “For now, salvation is nearer to us than when we believed.” He’s writing to believers. They may be sleepy. They may be dozing off, but they need to wake up, get alert. These are important times. We look at the disciples and say, that’s too bad they were sleeping in the garden. What a unique time. Of all times you ought to be alert! If Christ is coming this evening, of all times we ought to be alert.

I sometimes think of the angels who serve in the presence of God and serve on our behalf as servants of those who are the heirs of salvation as Peter puts it. They might say oh Lord should I go down and shake them? I think they’re dozing off. “Our salvation is nearer.” If Paul could write that then I don’t know when the Lord’s coming but I know we’re two thousand years closer than they were then. But it was no excuse for them. Oh well, Paul shouldn’t have been living like that. Why? He had to live like that because that’s how the Lord wanted him to live, with that expectancy.

I don’t want to stand before the Lord and say, well He didn’t come. I’m almost eighty. I was saved almost seventy years ago by His grace. Have I wasted seventy years expecting the Lord at any time? No! How else would I want to live that life that I have to give an account to Him for? I’m glad for those who helped open the scriptures to me, so I knew that was my focus.

The fears of this life, that’s what Jesus talked about in Matthew. Your heavenly Father takes care of you. He knows about your needs. He takes care of the little birds. Not one of them falls to the ground without Him being aware. Don’t worry. Have faith. Trust the Lord and I’m looking for His coming. It’s nearer to me. That excites me. I’m not running out of hope. I really expect Him. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the Lord comes tonight? That I won’t wake up tomorrow morning, Monday morning, oh Monday morning. Monday morning is a good preacher day because it’s your day off but then you find out it’s like your day when you get up Saturday morning and you worked all week. I’m too tired to enjoy my day off. I wake up earlier because at 10:15 the Lord calls me to meet Him in the air. Nighttime is gone. I don’t need it anymore. I hope I didn’t spend and waste today worrying about tomorrow. I can plan for tomorrow but I’m ready for the coming of the Lord today. It’s nearer than when you first believed. That’s the realization.

Come back to chapter 8. Paul’s not saying anything new here. We are, verse 17, “heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ,” Romans 8:17. It doesn’t get any better than that. “If we suffer with Him we’ll be glorified with Him.” That’s the goal. If the rapture occurs, I keep mentioning 10:15, I don’t have any insights. I don’t want you going home saying let’s just stay up until 10:15 in case. I just picked that number out of the air. The Spirit of God probably put it in my mind so I will be awake at 10:15 but I normally am anyway. He’s talking about here we are going to get glorified so what does that do? It puts suffering in its proper perspective. “I consider the suffering of this now time,” we have it translated “present time” but I like that the “now time.” And we know the time but this now time, time of suffering. I can’t compare that with the glory. When I lose that perspective you know what? The sufferings of the now time begin to overwhelm me and I’m not getting everything out of life that I should be getting and I’m not enjoying it and I’m not this and it’s not this. Wait a minute! I’ve lost it. I’ve gone to sleep. I’m not alert anymore to what really matters. The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that is revealed for us and all creation looks for that time ultimately because we’ll be raptured up and you know what’s going to happen then? About seven years later we’re going to return with Christ and unveiled as the Bride of Christ before all creation and then the curse will be lifted and on he goes as we studied this section. He’s back to it because he didn’t just teach that to us that we could have a good doctrinal understanding of our salvation. That’s to affect the way we live.

So come back to chapter 13. “Our salvation is nearer than when we believed.” That time of ultimate glorification is closer and even if He doesn’t come in my lifetime, I’m closer to the time when I will be called into His presence without my body if I have to go through death. So, for us the best is yet to come. Salvation is nearer. Verse 12 “the night is almost gone; the day is near.” The problem with post-millennialism it held out a false hope. A little glimmer of light which we as believers are, light in the world, and at times there were those periods when God seemed to do a greater work. The light was shining brighter as our speaker referred to. We talk about times of revival or reformation but that was just a flash of light, so to speak, then the darkness moves in again because the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. It is a world of darkness. When we’ve lost our perspective, the time, believers get discouraged, depressed. We are living in the night. We are surrounded by darkness. We are light. It’s like you are holding a light but it’s all darkness out there. And it is! Sometimes God brings together a grouping of lights and it seems the light has gotten bright but be deluded. Don’t be deceived. We are living in the night. The brightness of day for the world will come when we come back with Christ as His Bride then the judgment will be on the world and the people of the world as He sets up a kingdom and so on.

“The night is almost gone.” “The day is near.” I’m disappointed to see what’s happened in our country but I’m not in despair over it. I’m disappointed that we’ve got a virus but I’m not afraid about it. I want to use precautions just like I drive a car that has working brakes. Well, the Lord could take care of me without working brakes, but He probably won’t because I’m to function with wisdom. I don’t have any fear. I put on a mask if that’s good. I take certain medications. That’s good. The doctor recommends it. It will help, yeah, we take advantage of those things. I’m glad for clean air and clear water and all that but I understand this isn’t my life. I’m not living for here. All these things will be burned up. Remember Peter had to remind his readers this world is going to be made new. So, I appreciate the things God has given me to enjoy.

We studied Ecclesiastes. Nothing wrong with enjoying the things that God has given us. I don’t have to live with guilt that I have so much more that some people in this world are living in desperate poverty and such horrible conditions but if I skip a meal tomorrow that won’t necessarily change that. But I am living with the awareness that this is a dark world. When we lose that we lose the urgency to bring our light to the world. You understand this is the best it will ever get for a person who doesn’t know Christ. This is the best. And that’s true for every unbeliever wherever they are. If I helped them get a better life here but that’s all they have it will soon be gone. They have nothing. Those with multiplied billions you know what? They’ll die just like the poorest people. The biggest mansions will ultimately be gone just like the poorest house. We believers can lose our focus. We try to think that the night ought to be day. Paul says the night is almost gone. This world is passing away. I don’t want to invest my life here. I want to store up treasure in heaven which is permanent treasure as Jesus said and as Peter reflected when he wrote.

“The night is almost gone. The day is near therefore let us lay aside deeds of darkness and put on armor of light.” Interesting the way he puts it here. “Let us lay aside the deeds,” the works “of darkness and put on,” he doesn’t say the works of light. He says “put on the armor of light” because you know what? For the believer this is a battleground. It’s not a resting place. It’s not now I’m saved, and I know I’m going to heaven, I’m not going to hell, I put on my pajamas, kick back, and I’m just waiting for the Lord to come. That’s not a biblical attitude. It’s not an attitude I can have if I’m really a believer. He says “put on the armor of light” because we are doing battle with the forces of darkness. When we lose sight of that the pressures that come, the disappointments that come, the conflicts that come with the world, the unfairness of it all as it can be, they overwhelm me. Then I become a depressed Christian which is an oxymoron. Wait a minute. I’ve got armor of light. I don’t have time to be thinking about my comfort zone here in this world of darkness. You understand the work of the devil, the god of this world and his people is to put out the light that I’m shining, that you are shining. It is a war.

Come over to 2 Corinthians. There’s a reason the Spirit of God constantly reminds us of this. Because we’d all like to lay down the armor. Get out of the battle. Paul, writing to the Corinthians here in 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and it’s a long sentence here. The end of verse 2, “behold now is the acceptable time.” “Now is the day of salvation,” a day of opportunity. A day for me to share with someone who is lost that they can be saved today. God in love has provided a Savior and we are to live this truth out, now that we’ve experienced that salvation. Verse 3 “giving no cause for offense in anything so that our ministry will not be discredited but in everything commending ourselves as the servants of God.” His representative. Different words for servants here carrying the idea of ‘on His behalf ministering.’ We note, “in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger.” Wouldn’t you like to be like Paul? Wouldn’t you like to be used like Paul? Lord use me like your great servants, Paul and Peter. Yeah. We think about it and yeah, I’d like to be used to lead many to Christ and all this and then when suffering comes oh I must be doing something wrong. This is what it takes when you’re going to storm in, armed in the armor that God provides to do battle with the forces of darkness, bringing light to those who hate the light. Keep in mind they crucified Christ. Remember He said if they hate Me, they will hate you.

And we do all this, down through verse 5, that’s what we are experiencing, we do in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word of truth, in the power of God. It doesn’t change. We manifest God’s character because we know they need what we have. Paul reminded, remember Titus, tell them, remind them they were just like them. We want to give up. We speak about them with disgust. I don’t even want anything to do with them. Look what they are doing, how they behave. Look what they are doing to our country. Look at the wretched things that they promote. Yes. What do you think you were like? What was I like? Well, I was never like that. Well God, when He looked at my heart, He saw the same thing because the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things. At heart I was just like them. Then note how he wraps this up in verse 7, “we do this in the power of God by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left” and on he continues going through this. I’m poor but I’m making many rich because my poverty is for their riches because Paul gave up everything to serve God mightily. Sure, I’d like to be like Paul, but I want to pick out how I can be like him. He’s a realist. There’s no other way. It’s a war.

Over in chapter 10 of 2 Corinthians, verse 3 “though we walk in the flesh,” in this physical body, “we do not war according to the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God. We are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” We are ready to punish disobedience so get obedient. There’s no room here. He’s God’s spokesman. He’s telling you God is not tolerant of laxness. That’s what He is saying to me. That’s what He is saying to the Corinthian believers. I expect total obedience. I expect total commitment. That’s why Jesus said you can’t be My disciple. Don’t be a fool, count the cost. When you place your faith in Me, commit your life to Me. It’s My life and He tells us what it will be like. It’s a warfare. What happens when we’ve had the good life so long, we get soft? We don’t have to have all the armor on. We’ve got a good country, good people and really the devil just softens us up and when he’s got us so soft we can hardly get out of the easy chair then he comes at us with a trained army and we don’t know what hit us.

I’ve shared with you about way back when during the Vietnam war and the Vietnamese talked about doing battle with the American soldiers. They said we didn’t attack them head-on. We couldn’t do it. We waited until they took a break and though they could set their weapons down, have a cup of coffee and smoke, and relax. Then we just poured everything we had at them. That’s not to put down soldiers but it tells you how the enemy works. When we let down our guard, when we set aside the armament God has provided we’re vulnerable. You think the devil has gone away? That’s his strength. He is relentless. I thought of that. that’s why socialism always wins. Their view is we win, or we destroy and once we win we will destroy. That is the way you win in the world. That’s the way the devil works. We can’t get lax. We don’t do it by thinking well we’ve got to change the country. We can’t do that. You know what it is? The gospel is the power of God for salvation. The word of God is the lamp for our feet. That’s why Christians get turned aside when they are going to do these good things. Wait a minute. The world does those things. They want to make it more comfortable, more livable for themselves and so on. They fail but they would agree with that. You know what offends them? Bringing the light to the darkness. It reveals them.

Come back to chapter 13. It’s hard to leave stuff out but I have discipline. I’ll work it in another time. Where’s he going? We put on the armor of light. When we get to chapter 6 of Ephesians, I told you about Martin Lloyd-Jones seven volumes. Two of those volumes are written on chapter six because the armor is important. We’ve got to know this. We have the armor. “Let us behave properly as in the day.” We can’t conduct ourselves like we belong to this darkness and we can’t allow this world and its darkness to shape us to live like them. Let us not walk, that’s our word we have translated “behave” here, but in Ephesians we are going to talk about the walk of the believer. Here let us walk properly. I’m not walking according to this world. Why? I’m a child of the day. I live in the light. I have the truth of God. This shapes my life. This is how I live. This guides me and controls me. “Let us walk properly as in the day not in carousing or drunkenness.” He’s got a list here of six activities and they are in pairs, in other words, two are connected by the conjunction “and.” What is it talking about? Not, he gives the negative. We walk as a child of the day, it is not in carousing and drunkenness, partying, carrying on, the drunkenness and the things that go on. That’s what they think is fun. That’s how they conduct their life. It’s a party and the more life can be a party then that’s what more wealth does for you. It enables you and frees you up to party, to enjoy life wrongly. It doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy, and we can’t enjoy things, but we can’t get into the worlds ways of living our lives.

The next pair that he brings in, “not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality.” I want to be clear here. We can’t live like the world. The world has made everything acceptable. It’s normal now to live together before you get married. It’s not normal in God’s sight. It is rebellion against God. That kind of practice can’t become our practice. That second word sensuality, one Greek writer who specialized in the Greek words wrote about this word. It’s “aselgeia” so he says aselgeia is one of the ugliest words in the Greek language. We have it translated sensuality. It does not describe only immorality. It describes the man who is lost to shame. Most people seem to conceal their evil deeds but the man in whose heart there is aselgeia is long past that. He does not care who sees him. He does not care how much of a public exhibition he makes of himself. He does not care what people think of him. Aselgeia is the quality of the man who dares publicly to do the things which are unbecoming for any man to do. We exalt it. We think we have progressed to the kinds of sins of Romans 1 that bring the judgment of God.

Now we as Christians would say, well I would never do that. But you remember Romans 1 ends up by condemning those who approve of what they do. When the church changes its position what is it doing? That doesn’t mean we go out and try to get the unbeliever to change his life. God says he can’t, and I don’t want to imply he could but nor do I want to say that these sins are anything less than they are. Our government has come to this point with laws being passed that approve this kind of conduct. You cannot recognize a distinction between a man and a woman. Now they want to pass a law in one of the states that you can’t arrange toys in a store according to gender. School teacher that I know told me they are not allowed to line up their first graders according to sex. That’s unacceptable and you don’t call them boys and girls. You call them students. The church needs to be careful and we as believers. The longer this pressure is in and the more this kind of lifestyle is promoted the more pressure we feel to adjust to it and accept it. I realize the world is going to be doing this. My goal is not to stop sexual immorality. I think sin is a reproach to any nation as the scripture says but the only cure is to cure the heart because Jesus said it is out of the heart, Mark 7, all these vial things, sin comes. But be careful that we don’t get conditioned to accept it. That doesn’t mean I should be out on the street telling everyone in this because that’s not the goal, but when I have opportunity whoever I talk to I want to talk to them about the love of God that has made provision for the forgiveness of their sins.

As we meet together as believers, we have to address sin as sin. Drunkenness is sin. It’s not a disease unless you are using the analogy of a disease that corrupts beginning at the very heart of a person using that metaphor or picture. It is sin. Oh, but a person can’t help it. Well sin enslaves. That’s biblical, right? You take a drink of alcohol you may become addicted to it, or the biblical word is enslaved. Any sin you might commit enslaves. That’s the characteristic of sin, right? Romans 6, we died with Christ so we could be set free from the slavery to sin. That’s where it goes. So that’s sensuality and it is sad. It is disappointing that our nation has progressively moved as a country, to focus where we live, to more open defiance of God and promotion of sin. They think that they are accomplishing something when this is the first person, this is the first man married to his husband that has been appointed to this position. Our supreme court approves things. Well, it’s sin, but it shouldn’t surprise us. Disappointing. This is what God says happens. They proceed and sin provides more sin and then more sin until God turns them over to their sin and His grace is withdrawn and their sin consumes them. That’s the pattern of Romans 1 where we started. We are children of light, but this is the world in which we live. I don’t want to become too attached to it, involved in it in the wrong way.

Okay, strife and jealousy. You put that after that terrible word aselgeia? Strife and jealousy? That somehow gets accepted in the church as we mentioned with our communion service. The division that Christ died to bring the lost together in a relationship with Him and with one another, so we put up with strife and jealousy. Well, they’re not the bad sins. Who decides that? God puts it here. That’s a work of darkness. Now it may be revealing we have unbelievers mixed in among believers. We want to be careful. Unbelievers are welcome. We want them to come and attend and hear the truth, but we want to be careful as much as possible to be sure they are believers before they are accepted as such. We can’t make them be believers, but we try to be sure that only those who are truly believers are involved in ministry of the body. And we ought to be serious. Strife and jealousy, we can’t get caught up in it. They are just as much sin as aselgeia, as the open display of the immorality. Is it any wonder Paul was so agitated and upset with the Corinthians with the strife and jealousy going on and the division? But we have that go on all the time in our churches, but we think well it’s just life. It’s not the life of a believer who is functioning in obedience to God. He gives us His Spirit not to fight with Himself. Well that would be blasphemy to talk about God fighting with Himself. Well then where’s the strife and jealousy and all that’s related to that come from? It doesn’t come from the Spirit of God indwelling me, indwelling you, so I must be rebelling against the Spirit and grieving Him. It’s so obvious.

What do we do? We “put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” This is the same thing as at the end of verse 12, “put on the armor of light.” Verse 14, “put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.” Be done with the flesh. “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” I live in light of my relationship with Him. That’s a permanent relationship. We are bound together. When you sin, Christ doesn’t go hide someplace. You don’t go hide someplace. What don’t you know? Your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, Paul told the Corinthians. I’m sinning right there with Him there. Sin ought to be a frightful thing to us. We think, well nobody around knows but the One who never leaves me is there. You “put on the Lord Jesus Christ,” the things that are characteristic of Him, His character, His righteousness, the fruit that the Spirit is producing, the very nature of God. We “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” and the best thing is we “don’t provide an opportunity for the flesh in regard to its lusts.”

I have to read you a quote and then we wrap up. Here’s what one commentator said about this. “To put into very simple English, Paul is saying do not plan for sin, give it no welcome, offer it no opportunity, kick the sin off your doorstep and you won’t have it in the house.” That’s a nice down to earth way. It sounds like some of the rather downhome preachers that we’ve had would say. Don’t provide an occasion. Don’t put yourself in a situation where you might sin. That becomes a personal thing often. I want to be careful. If I don’t provide an opportunity to sin I won’t be able to do it. Sometimes we play games with our self. Well, I’ll provide an opportunity, but I really don’t want to do it. I’m not planning to do it, but I don’t want to totally close and lock the door either because there is pleasure in sin. There is satisfaction in it. Well then when we stumble we say I don’t know what happened. I really didn’t want to do that. Why did you make opportunity? I can’t control every situation but the best I can I want to avoid providing the opportunity. I want to limit it.

The Puritans that I’ve referred to, they were the ones who concentrated on the heart. They called these kind of sins “bosom sins.” You keep them close to you in case you want to indulge them. I never want to get so rid of them that I wouldn’t be able to do it because those are the sins I particularly find pleasure in. There’s the simple part of my responsibility. As much as possible I won’t make provision for it and then I won’t. I can’t cover everything, and the devil may sneak up on me but if I’ve prepared myself the best I can. I’ve got the full armor on, and I’m living expecting the coming of the Lord. I know this is a world of darkness and the battle is all around me, so I’m not going to get surprised by too many things. I might get disappointed by some of the things I confront but I won’t be caught off guard. The Lord will prepare me.

Alright, let’s pray together. Thank you Lord for Your word. Thank you for this portion of Your word. Thank you above all for the salvation that you provided for us in Christ that makes provision for us in every way in every area at every time for us to live as children of light. What a blessing it is to live in the light of a relationship with You, the God who is Light. May that characterize us as we serve You in the days of this week. We pray in Christ’s name, amen.