Living in the Light of His Return

Sovereign Grace Family Church

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May 23, 2012

00:00: And then after the prayer, we will open up the text together.
00:07: Our Father and our God, we thank you for this opportunity to again be in your house and to be about the business of studying your word.
00:14: We know, Lord, that your word is the light unto our feet and the lamp unto our path, and it is not our job to seek to change it, Lord, or to seek to force it into our own paradigms, but Father, instead, we are to seek to conform ourself to its commands.
00:33: So tonight, as we seek to understand your word better, we pray also for a malleable heart, one that is willing to be conformed to the image of Christ.
00:43: We pray against sin in our lives that would keep us from wanting to do that.
00:47: We pray against our own flesh, which is always at war with our desire to follow after you.
00:54: And we pray, O Lord, that we would have victory in all of those areas and be able to experience a greater understanding and working out of our own sanctification.
01:05: We pray, O Lord, now, I pray for myself, I pray that you would keep me from error as I preach.
01:12: I pray that you would help me to focus intently on the text and what the word of God says as a whole.
01:17: And I pray you'll open the hearts of the people to understand the word, and that as we all study together, that we would all be encouraged to be better followers of it.
01:26: We pray also, Lord, for Miss Charlotte in the hospital.
01:32: We thank you that she has gotten better, and we just pray for her continued improvement.
01:37: We pray that her doctors and nurses would be used as your Spirit's mediators, or your Spirit's mediators, rather, of your Spirit's power in bringing healing to her life.
01:47: We pray that your will be done in that entire situation.
01:51: We pray for Dawn, her husband.
01:52: We pray for encouragement for him as he is there with her on a constant basis, watching over her, taking care of her, and attending to her needs.
02:00: We thank you, Lord.
02:01: We praise you for the good report from the Frasiers and the baby, and how things are going with her.
02:07: We just pray, Lord, for that little life and for her parents, that you would just bless them and keep them and encourage them in their walk with you.
02:17: And Father, as again we turn our faces now to the word and turn our attention toward you, help us to be ever mindful of who you are and who it is we're learning about, the great God of the universe who created us and redeemed us.
02:31: In Jesus' name, Amen.
02:43: If you would turn in your Bibles, we're going to be in Romans chapter 13.
02:58: As I'm sure some of you are familiar, we do verse-by-verse study through books of the Bible.
03:08: But then we, over the summer generally, will take time off of a particular subject or off of a particular thing and we'll spend some time studying something a little off-topic.
03:25: So since we are getting now to the end of Romans 13 and we're going to be finishing the chapter, likely tonight, because we're going to be looking at verses 11 through 14, we will probably be stopping in our study of Romans and moving into a summer series, something a little bit different, a little off-the-subject.
03:46: Sometimes it helps to encourage people to come because it gives us an opportunity to look at a particular topic.
03:57: So just keep that in mind.
03:59: I feel like I have to sneeze and I can't do it.
04:05: The topic that's really on my heart this year to look at, because we normally spend June, July and part of August looking at that topic, gives us about 8 to 12 weeks to look at anything we want to.
04:16: The subject I'm considering for the summer months this year is evangelism.
04:22: One of the – I hate to call them programs because it's not programs and it's not tactics and it's not even methodologies.
04:32: It's simply instructional avenues.
04:35: One of the instructional avenues that I found very helpful in the area of evangelism is the ministry called the Way of the Master, which is Ray Comfort's ministry.
04:43: So that may be one of the ones that we do.
04:45: We have all the material we've purchased in the past, so we may do that.
04:50: I haven't really decided yet.
04:52: I want to involve the elders in that decision.
04:54: But likely, like I said, it will be next Wednesday or we'll do something totally different next Wednesday and it will be the week after.
05:02: But we will be starting a summer series.
05:03: Is next Wednesday the first Wednesday in June or is it the last Wednesday in May? It's the last Wednesday in May? Okay.
05:14: Well, what we may do then next Wednesday night is have another question and answer time because that's what we're supposed to do at the end of the chapter anyway.
05:21: That's how we've been doing it.
05:22: We ended Chapter 12 and had a question and answer night next Wednesday night.
05:25: If you have questions about Romans 13 – It's the perennial question passage.
05:32: It's all about government and authority and submission and all these things that people have questions about.
05:37: So we may just do a question and answer night next week.
05:39: And if you have questions, send them to me in an email.
05:45: However, moving on to what we're going to be studying tonight.
05:48: Let's read Romans 13 tonight, verses 11 through 14 together.
05:55: It says, Besides this, you know the time that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep, for salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.
06:15: The night is far gone, the day is at hand.
06:21: So then, let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.
06:29: 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.
06:54: May God add His blessing to the reading and the hearing of this word.
07:02: One of the most interesting things that people often overlook when they read the New Testament is the urgency of the New Testament writers in regard to the return of Christ.
07:21: And by urgency, what I mean is, maybe a different word would be better, the imminency, the fact that it was imminent, that it could happen at any time.
07:41: Thank you, sweetheart.
07:43: The thing that I find most, you know, when I'm reading through is, you know, one of the things about the first century church was they literally gave up everything, they sold everything, they lived sort of a communal lifestyle, not communism, mind you, but they lived a communal lifestyle.
08:02: And it was that way because simply they had this idea that Christ had ascended, He had gone to be with the Father and He really, really was coming back and He really, really was coming back soon.
08:24: One of the confusing things, I think, for many people today in regard to the return of Christ is that we keep putting up these things that must happen before Jesus will return.
08:40: One of the things I hear people talk about sometimes, especially pre-millennial dispensational teaching, is that, or what we would say pre-tribulational, pre-millennial dispensationalism, will say that the temple must be rebuilt before Jesus returns because there has to be sacrificing in the temple before Jesus returns.
09:02: While that is one view of what may happen prior to Christ coming, I think it is very dangerous for us to say that has to happen before Jesus comes.
09:12: But people do.
09:13: There are people who have written whole books that say the temple must be rebuilt before Jesus comes.
09:18: In fact, I don't know if you ever read the Left Behind series, but in the Left Behind series it was based on a pre-tribulational, pre-millennial view of the return of Christ.
09:27: And the whole Left Behind series was based on the idea that there was peace that was coming in the Middle East which was going to allow for the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem.
09:35: And this rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem was going to reignite the Jewish faith, allow them to start performing sacrifices again in the temple, and this ability to reinstitute the sacrifices would usher in the second coming of Jesus Christ.
09:51: That was sort of part and parcel of what the book premise was.
09:54: And it's based on, of course, Tim LaHaye's view of pre-tribulational, pre-millennialism.
10:01: And like I said, while I don't say that that is impossible, because as many of you know, my eschatological views are not as firm as many of my other theological views, meaning my view of the end time.
10:15: I do not have a very solid eschatology as to say that I'm absolutely correct in this.
10:21: I'm absolutely going to say that this is the way it's going to be.
10:24: I tend to be somewhat of an aha millennialist.
10:26: When it happens, we'll say, aha, well, that was what it was supposed to be, because we'll know then.
10:31: I think one of the dangerous things that happens in end times teaching is that people become so fascinated by it and so firm in what they think is correct that they're willing to call heresy against someone who would disagree with them on an end times subject.
10:47: See, this is the same thing that happened with the Pharisees during Jesus' day.
10:50: They were so convinced they understood the Word of God that when somebody actually was preaching the Word of God to them, they were willing to call Jesus himself a heretic.
10:57: So we have to be careful.
10:58: We have to be careful about stuff that hasn't happened yet and say this is absolutely how it's going to happen, especially when books like Revelation do come to us in symbolism.
11:08: They do come to us in forms of allegory and things like that.
11:12: So we have to understand that there are times in Scripture where there is room for us to discuss, well, we don't know for certain how this absolutely will come about.
11:24: And this is one of those times I think is very important because in the first century church, they really believed Jesus could come back at any time.
11:31: They really believed he was coming back and that they could possibly be there for it.
11:37: I remind you of the Apostle Paul's fourth chapter of 1 Thessalonians.
11:42: He says about those, we don't want you to be ignorant about those who have fallen asleep, for the dead in Christ will rise first, the trumpet will sound, and the dead in Christ will rise first, and then we who are alive will be caught up together with him in the clouds.
11:58: The Apostle Paul there attaching himself to the fact that while he was alive, the return of Christ was still imminent.
12:07: It could very well be him amongst the others.
12:13: While we are, you know what I'm saying, he indicated that there was the possibility of himself being among those who were still alive at the return of Christ.
12:21: Now why am I talking about all this? Well, if you look at verse 11, he says besides this, besides what? Well, besides the fact that he had just got done talking about the fact of how we are supposed to behave.
12:41: We talked last week about owing no one anything except loving each other, that we are to keep the commandments, which how do we keep the commandments as Christians? We love one another because if we love one another, we're not going to steal.
12:54: We're not going to commit adultery.
12:56: We're not going to lie.
12:57: We're not going to covet because all those things are unloving.
13:00: So we're supposed to love one another.
13:02: Besides this, you know the time that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep.
13:17: For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.
13:23: You have to understand something, beloved.
13:27: The word salvation is used different ways in the Scripture.
13:30: It does not always mean justification.
13:35: Justification is what we normally mean when we talk about salvation.
13:39: If I went to Miss Pam and I said, Miss Pam, are you saved? What I'm saying is, have you received Christ and the justification of your sins? That would be, that's what I mean.
13:49: I wouldn't say, are you being saved? Not in our modern vernacular, but I could because if I said, are you being saved? I would be using the biblical equivalent of sanctification.
14:00: Not only have you been justified, but you're being sanctified, right? But I could also ask Miss Pam, Miss Pam, are you going to be saved? How do I mean it in that sense? I mean that when you face the Lord Jesus Christ and his return.
14:15: When you face God at judgment at that point.
14:18: Are you going to be with those who he takes on his right side? Or are you going to be with those who are cast into the lake of fire? You know what I'm saying? So yes, there's three avenues of salvation.
14:28: There's having been saved, therefore having been justified by faith.
14:32: We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
14:35: There's being saved, that's sanctification.
14:37: The process by which we're conformed to the image of Christ.
14:39: The Bible says that he is perfected for all times.
14:42: Those who are being saved, that's the sanctification.
14:44: We talked about that.
14:45: And then there's the will be saved.
14:47: That's the glorification.
14:48: The fact that when we see him as he is, we will be like he is.
14:52: That's the, you know, 1 John talks about our changing of our bodies for the new imperishable body.
14:59: 1 Corinthians 15 addresses the same thing.
15:01: So my point in this is when the Apostle Paul is talking here about the salvation that is nearer, he's talking not about the salvation which he's already received.
15:12: He's not talking about justification.
15:14: He's not talking about the salvation which he's in the process of.
15:17: He's not talking about sanctification.
15:19: What then is he talking about? He's talking about glorification.
15:24: He's talking about the final step of our salvation.
15:28: The final piece of the puzzle that will come together in glory.
15:32: He's talking about the fact that glorification is closer now than it ever has been.
15:43: Again, hear it again.
15:44: He says for salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.
15:50: Doesn't the Bible teach that when we first believe salvation we have at that point? Yes, but he's talking about something being nearer to us.
15:57: And that which is nearer to us is our glorification, our confirmation to the image of Christ, our not confirmation to that sanctification, our actually being in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.
16:10: That is nearer to us.
16:11: And I really believe, again, as I've been saying since the beginning, that the Apostle Paul really believed that it could be that this glorification could happen in his day, that Christ's return could happen at any moment.
16:28: And I believe that that's the way Jesus wants us to live.
16:34: He wants us to live with an imminent expectation of his return.
16:40: This is why I have such a problem with those people who say, well, this has to happen or that has to happen or that has to happen.
16:45: Because then you don't live in imminent expectation.
16:49: You don't live as Jesus said, a master went away and his followers did not do what they were supposed to.
16:59: And he came back.
17:00: Remember, Jesus told the parable of the master who comes at an hour when they were not ready.
17:06: Right.
17:07: It was the virgins, the virgins with the oil.
17:11: Right.
17:11: The master comes back and he's they're not ready for his return.
17:19: And Jesus's whole point was we are to always be ready for his return.
17:28: We are to always expect.
17:32: I mean, really, did you get up this morning expecting that Jesus could return today? Now, you might say I got up this morning with the idea that I guess he could.
17:47: But the whole idea of living expectantly, living with the idea that not only could he, but this this may be the day.
17:59: Am I ready for this return? Am I ready for this coming of Christ? And that's why he says, you know, the time the hour has come for you to wake from sleep.
18:14: Almost the same analogy Christ gives those who are sleeping when their master comes, those who are not prepared.
18:19: Are you ready to get up? Are you ready to be to be prepared for salvation? Glorification in this sense is near to us now that when we first believe, then he goes on in verse 12 to say the night is far gone.
18:34: The day is at hand.
18:37: The day what the day of the Lord, the day of the Lord is at hand.
18:43: We don't know when the Lord is coming.
18:46: We don't know when he's going to return.
18:47: We don't know when the sky will split like a garment and be rolled back like a scroll and the Lord of Glory will look upon us and descend.
19:01: We don't know when this is going to occur.
19:03: We don't know when two will be in bed together and one will be taken in the other left.
19:08: We don't know when two will be in the field together and one will be taken in the left.
19:12: We don't know when the graves will open and the dead in Christ will rise first.
19:19: And then those who are alive will be caught up together with him in the clouds.
19:21: We don't know when that day will come.
19:23: We know only one thing.
19:25: It has not come yet.
19:27: And with every day it gets closer.
19:31: Which is why the apostle can make that statement.
19:34: It is closer now than it ever has been.
19:37: Him not being able to foresee a 2,000 year gap between he and us.
19:45: You know, the apostle didn't realize that the church would be in the world this long, I don't think.
19:51: The apostle Paul was an omniscient.
19:53: The apostle Paul was the writer for one who was omniscient.
19:56: But the apostle Paul himself, not being omniscient, would not have likely realized that the church would not only live 2,000 years in the world, but would have such an influence over that 2,000 years in the world.
20:14: You can imagine what the life was like in the life of the apostle Paul.
20:18: The church was a fledgling extension of Judaism.
20:21: Some considered a heretical Judaistic movement.
20:24: In its very earliest form.
20:28: Those who left Judaism to become Christians were considered a heretic.
20:33: They were heretical to have left this 2,000 year old faith.
20:40: That started with Moses on Mount Sinai.
20:45: And with Abraham.
20:48: And to have left that for Christianity.
20:50: Paul is a leader in a, at that time, a just birthed organization.
20:57: A new movement of God.
21:01: You know, we look at Christianity much different today because Christianity is a world power.
21:06: Christianity is one of the five major world religious movements.
21:10: One of the three major monotheistic movements of religion in the world.
21:14: It's the number one religious movement in the world.
21:17: If you consider all of those people who would call themselves Christian, it is the highest in the sense of adherence.
21:26: Those who would call themselves, if they received a paper in the mail that said, what are you, they would check Fox Christian.
21:32: That's all it means to be a Christian for some people.
21:34: I'm not saying they're all Christians.
21:35: I'm just saying at this point, the apostle Paul is not looking forward to that.
21:40: He's looking at his situation right where it is and right where it was.
21:43: You know, was in a situation where the church was a very small movement in the world.
21:49: And yet, Jesus could still come at any time.
21:55: Jesus could still come at any time.
21:59: And that's the way he's talking.
22:00: That's the way his books consistently teach and keep up with that idea.
22:07: And then he says, we need to live in accordance with this.
22:12: He says, the night is gone.
22:13: The day is at hand.
22:16: So then, anytime you see the word so then, it's sort of like the word therefore.
22:21: It's giving an expression of, because this is true, this is the result.
22:28: Because this is the case, this is the application.
22:31: You understand? So then.
22:33: This is like, you know, if I said something to my son, your room is dirty, so then you must clean it up.
22:39: It's a it's a it's a it's a phrase that connects the idea that came before to what's coming after it.
22:45: So what came before is, you know, the hour has come.
22:49: Salvation is near to us.
22:50: And when we first believe the night is far gone, the day is at hand.
22:55: So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.
23:04: You see, the apostle is not left.
23:09: He has not left the arena of the practical.
23:13: He's not getting into esoteric ideas about Jesus's return.
23:22: He's using this idea of the return of Christ.
23:26: This idea of salvation being closer than ever as a way to tell his people, we need to quit living as if we're living in the dark.
23:41: We need to start living like we're living in the light because we are living in the light.
23:46: The dark is past.
23:48: The day is here.
23:50: Christ could return today and we need to start living in the light of that reality.
23:58: In fact, he uses the light darkness as a analogy in verse 13.
24:05: He said, let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies.
24:11: That word orgies there is, I think, sometimes can be confusing because it's used in different contexts, especially in our modern language.
24:19: An orgy is the word commas.
24:21: It means rioting or nocturnal.
24:26: It's a nocturnal and riotous procession of half-drunken and frolicsome fellows.
24:31: That's one of the definitions that's found for that particular Greek word.
24:38: It's a parading through the street with torches and music in honor of Bacchus or some other deity, and singing and playing before houses of male and female friends, generally a feast and drinking parties that are proactive till late at night and indulged in revelry.
24:55: Mardi Gras.
24:56: I was thinking of a gay pride parade, but okay.
25:00: That works.
25:02: I don't know if you've ever seen one of those, but it's one of the most horrible things I've ever had to bear witness to.
25:08: The things that go on in these parades, it's not as if they just get around and celebrate what is the beauty of homosexuality, as if I could say that without...
25:19: The reality is it's a celebration of man's depravity.
25:25: And like Mardi Gras, like you said, it's just a celebration of depravity.
25:29: That's what an orgy would be in this sense.
25:34: Obviously there are senses in which it's used in other ways, but in this sense he's saying that those things don't happen in the daytime.
25:46: Even people who are depraved generally hide their depravity in the dark.
25:59: Generally people don't do things in broad daylight.
26:06: In fact, what is the way that we always describe something when it's so apprehensible to us? He killed that person in broad daylight.
26:14: It's as if to say, you know, if he had did it at night it would have been alright.
26:18: But the idea is we can't believe he was so brazen as to have committed that act of atrocity in daylight.
26:27: It's where people can see.
26:29: We're not surprised when people hide in the closet to commit sin.
26:34: It's surprising when someone is blatant in the daylight going about in their sinful pursuits.
26:43: That's one of the scariest things about our nation.
26:45: The reality of the fact that things that used to be held in the corners of our homes and hidden from view because it brought shame upon us to even know that we engaged in things like that, people now want to be celebrated for.
27:00: People want to be celebrated for abortion.
27:03: That should not even be discussed.
27:06: You know, people want to be celebrated for homosexuality.
27:08: When there was one time when it was considered a psychological disorder.
27:13: People want to be celebrated for having multiple children with multiple different people and they go on Maury Povich to find out who the child's father is.
27:24: And they want to be on TV.
27:25: They were excited.
27:33: That's scary.
27:36: It really is a scary thing because the Apostle Paul is talking within the norm.
27:40: And within the norm, generally people hide those things which are shameful.
27:50: Not anymore for Americans, but that's certainly a topic for another sermon.
27:56: But the point of it is he's making this comparison to light and darkness and he's saying we do not need to live as if we're in the darkness.
28:06: We do not need to live in these constant states of sin as if life is going to go on forever.
28:17: We need to live in the light of the fact that Christ could return at any time.
28:22: And I've asked this question of people, I've asked it of myself at times, and it's a frightening thought, is to say if Christ were going to return tomorrow, would anything have changed in your life today? And if we say yes, then really we have to examine why that is.
28:47: Because if the answer is yes, then we're really not living in the light of the fact that he could come tomorrow or tonight.
28:59: Yes, sir.
28:59: I think it was Wesley.
29:04: If he knew that Christ was coming the next day, would he change his schedule? There you go.
29:35: Well, there you go.
29:38: Well, it really is.
29:41: I think one of the key words here, and I don't know what it is in the NAS.
29:46: I know there's some of you that have this.
29:48: But in the ESV it says, let us walk properly.
29:50: What word is that in the NAS? Is it properly or is it a different word? Properly? Okay, good.
30:01: Because that really, I think it's in English, it's sometimes good because the English word there is sensible.
30:07: It really is.
30:08: The word properly is a sensible explanation of what the apostle is trying to say.
30:12: If you knew Jesus was coming tomorrow, you would seek to live in accordance with that today.
30:18: You would live properly.
30:20: You would seek to live properly.
30:21: You'd have conditions done.
30:22: I am just kidding.
30:24: You said it sometimes.
30:26: And that's the reality.
30:29: We are every day closer to one of two things.
30:35: We are every day closer to either Christ's return or our departure.
30:43: Every day, we're either, it's one step closer.
30:47: You know, it's not as if, it's sort of like the whole death is the ultimate statistic thing.
30:50: Ten out of ten people die, you know.
30:54: It's not as if it's 99.9%.
30:56: No, nobody's ever beat the curve.
30:58: Nobody's ever, you know.
30:59: The only two, I guess you could say, was Enoch and Elijah.
31:04: But then there's a whole, you know, theology about what death is.
31:07: They left this world.
31:09: In that sense, they didn't die.
31:12: But they're not here anymore.
31:13: They're not walking around.
31:17: They may return.
31:17: They may be the two witnesses in Revelation.
31:20: Yes, maybe.
31:20: There's another argument there.
31:22: I heard you.
31:23: I knew you'd like that.
31:25: You know, the two witnesses in Revelation who die and then are raised again.
31:29: Maybe it's Enoch and Elijah.
31:31: Maybe they're coming back to fulfill the fact that it is appointed to every man once to die.
31:35: Maybe they're the two that still need to die.
31:37: We don't know.
31:38: Interesting thought.
31:40: But the point of the matter of this is when you consider the fact that we are called to live in the light of the day that Christ could come at any moment and that that day is ever drawing closer, either our departure or His return, that this becomes, or should become, the catalyst in our heart for holy living.
32:10: Not one of us would want Jesus to return and to be holding in our hands something unworthy of His holiness.
32:21: Or to be thinking in our minds something unworthy of His holiness.
32:25: Or to be in a relationship that was unworthy of His holiness.
32:29: Or to be engaged in an activity that was unworthy.
32:35: Possible that that could happen, yes.
32:37: But the apostle here is admonishing us that we ought not live in the dark, but live in the light.
32:47: We should live to where we don't have these things which are shameful as part of our lives.
32:56: And then he says, But put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires.
33:07: The flesh, of the three things that we have to deal with as far as sin is concerned and the ever-powerful presence of sin in our lives that's fighting us, of the three things, flesh is the first.
33:27: I wish I had my whiteboard, but I don't.
33:29: So I'm going to ask you to imagine that this is you.
33:34: And imagine from you.
33:35: See, a lot of people think when you think of the three things.
33:39: What are the three things? Anybody know the three things that we have to deal with? The world, the flesh, and the devil.
33:44: Yeah, the world, the flesh, and the devil.
33:45: That's exactly right.
33:46: Okay, so the world, the flesh, and the devil.
33:48: Often people think that those are three separate categories.
33:55: It's not.
33:57: It's not as if you have the world, the flesh, and the devil.
34:01: It's not.
34:02: And normally on a whiteboard I would draw this out.
34:05: Because what it is, is it's you wrapped in flesh, living in a world that's managed by the devil.
34:14: You know what I'm saying? So everything that the devil is conspiring to do through the world affects you through your flesh.
34:25: So it's not three separate categories.
34:28: It's three levels of sinful influence.
34:32: And the first level we deal with is flesh.
34:38: And our flesh is influenced by the world, others around us.
34:42: And the world is influenced by the devil himself.
34:45: So really it's interesting to look at it from that way because we begin to start looking at what this text is telling us.
34:53: Because it says, put on Jesus Christ.
34:57: As if the picture the apostle is saying here, we've got on flesh.
35:04: You know, people often think we're a body with a soul inside.
35:07: No we're not, we're a soul with a body outside.
35:11: You're not a body with a soul inside.
35:14: You're a soul, that's who you really are, and the flesh is on top.
35:19: Because when your body dies, your soul keeps going.
35:21: That means that's the real you.
35:25: And because we're a soul with a body on the outside, the apostle is telling us we need to crucify flesh.
35:31: Doesn't he say that in the scriptures? He said we need to be crucified with Christ.
35:37: So it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.
35:43: It's almost the same thing he's saying here.
35:46: We need to put on Christ.
35:47: We need to crucify this flesh and thus make no provision for it.
35:56: Meaning we don't feed it.
35:59: What does provision mean? What's provision? It means food, right? What do you make provision for? Like if you're a kid, you provide for them.
36:09: You give them their provisions, their clothes, their food, their shelter.
36:14: That's provision.
36:15: Well, the idea here is that when we feed our flesh, we're just making it stronger.
36:20: When we feed it, it's desires.
36:23: When we feed those sinful things, it just becomes a stronger part of our existence.
36:31: And we're supposed to starve it to death.
36:34: Not, of course, literally.
36:35: We don't literally starve ourselves to death.
36:37: But we starve the flesh of its desires.
36:42: The fleshly sinful desires.
36:44: This ain't easy.
36:45: And I'm not standing up here as one who can honestly say I am perfect and have done all that I need to do to starve my flesh.
36:52: No, sir, I am not.
36:53: But I'm telling you what the text says so that we all will apply it together.
37:00: Because I know some people look at a pastor and they think, oh, he's a pompous gasbag because he's going to get up there and tell me this, and he's not perfect.
37:10: Well, you're right.
37:11: I'm not.
37:11: I'm not saying you thought that.
37:14: But anyway, the reason we preach the Word is we all hear what's being preached.
37:22: We all hear what's being taught.
37:24: And we're all influenced by it.
37:25: We read the Word.
37:26: We explain the Word.
37:27: And we apply it.
37:28: And the application here, it's not about the end times.
37:32: It's not about all that.
37:33: But the picture the apostle is giving is that because that time can happen anytime, because we're closer now than we ever have been, we need to start living in light of that fact.
37:45: And we need to start realizing the reality that if we were in the light of Christ, we wouldn't be living as if we were in the darkness of the world, in the sensuality, in the orgies, in the things, the carousing, and all that.
37:59: If we were standing in the light of Christ, we would not sin because our hearts wouldn't let us.
38:06: So we shrink back to the darkness.
38:09: He's not coming tomorrow.
38:11: He's not coming this week.
38:14: And we say that with such, I'm not going to die this month.
38:18: And we say that with such confidence that our lives become influenced by that.
38:24: And it becomes very dangerous.
38:26: You had a hand up? Did you want to say something? I have my finger up.
38:29: I have my finger up.
38:30: But I'm real close.
38:36: He's joined a… I'm getting you sick.
38:39: I'm sorry.
38:40: It's okay.
40:12: You're not an idiot.
40:14: It's not idiocy.
40:17: And yes, that's a word.
40:19: I put it in Microsoft Word.
40:21: I didn't put a red line under it, so it was a word.
40:24: It's not idiocy.
40:27: It's the battle with the flesh.
40:32: It really is a battle.
40:38: We… He didn't know what to preach.
40:40: He didn't know what to preach.
40:41: Well, honestly, and I know this is way off the subject, but if I were him, because I've, you know, I've seen it, dealt with it some, and understand probably better than most the reality of coming into a church and seeking that it move in a certain direction away from the traditions that it has, and we've seen a lot of change here, and I would caution him to not see the forest for the trees.
41:13: Funny, because we used to be called Forest Christian Church.
41:16: What I mean by that is, it is easy to look and see all these negative things.
41:24: It's easy to look and see all the failures of the church, and yet not realize that by God bringing him there, God, if God has laid on his heart the concern, then God is working there.
41:39: Because God is bringing them someone to do something, What's that? That's what I'm saying.
41:47: I think if God is bringing him in to do something there, you know, it's going to bring either one thing, it's going to bring one of two things to that church.
41:56: It's either going to bring revival or it'll bring judgment.
42:01: The Word of God always brings one of two things.
42:03: It either brings spiritual revival or it brings spiritual condemnation.
42:07: Two people hear the same sermon.
42:09: One person leaves enlightened, the other person leaves condemned.
42:15: We don't know what God is going to do with him, but the very fact that God has him there with that concern is good for the church.
42:22: And I don't want him to miss that forest for all these trees that are in the way.
42:27: So I would encourage him in that.
42:30: And if it does mean a split, per se, the Lord could bring...
42:35: I can't think of the verse right now, but there's a passage in Scripture that says there must be divisions among you so that those who are genuine will be demonstrated.
42:53: It'll be demonstrated those who are genuine.
42:55: The Apostle Paul wrote it.
42:57: I don't remember which.
42:58: I'd have to look it up.
42:59: But he says, he's talking about division.
43:01: He said there's going to be divisions among you because there's going to be false professors.
43:05: There's going to be unbelievers.
43:06: And the divisions come to demonstrate who really wants to have the Word and who doesn't.
43:13: So, I know that's about the subject.
43:15: But yeah.
43:17: It's going to someone else's Scripture.
43:33: Yeah.
44:12: And you're right.
44:13: It encapsulates what the Apostle Paul is here saying.
44:18: You know, a lot of liberals like to argue about the contradictions of Scripture.
44:25: And first of all, there are not any contradictions.
44:27: There are places where a deeper understanding is required.
44:30: The Bible doesn't contradict itself.
44:33: But one of the most interesting things is not the contradictions or the places where there's difficulty.
44:37: There are no contradictions.
44:39: The most interesting part to me is the level of consistency that you get.
44:43: And 66 books are written over 1,500 years by 40 different authors in three different languages.
44:49: The level of consistency is amazing.
44:52: Because you've got a different author on really a different subject dealing with Gnosticism in the Church and the consideration of who's saved and who's not and how you can be confident of your salvation and know that you're saved is 1 John.
45:05: Here the Apostle Paul giving us his application of his magnum opus.
45:09: The first 11 chapters of the book of Romans is his theological magnum opus.
45:13: You know? So, it's amazing.
45:15: And I find that consistency also in Hebrews 12.
45:19: Or Hebrews.
45:19: Because I'm teaching through both.
45:21: Hebrews is what we're now talking about.
45:23: Not giving ourselves over to sexual immorality and unholiness like Esau.
45:27: Remember we talked about that Sunday.
45:28: Look here.
45:29: Back where we're at.
45:30: We're right on the same thing.
45:31: Orgies and these type of things.
45:33: It's amazing how the application always comes forth like this.
45:37: Having known all these things about God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit, do not allow the flesh to be in charge, but rather walk in the light.
45:51: Walk in accordance with the Spirit.
45:52: Clothe yourself in Christ.
45:55: I wanted to finish tonight.
45:56: I don't know what time it is.
45:59: I went the whole time.
46:00: I didn't think I was going to do it.
46:02: I do want to finish one quick place I want you to turn.
46:06: And the reason for this is two things.
46:09: In verse 12, it says, So then let us cast off the work of darkness and put on the armor of light.
46:18: And then in verse 14 it says, But put on the Lord Jesus Christ.
46:22: Two times here the Apostle gives us this imagery of putting something on.
46:28: First he says the armor of light.
46:29: The second thing he actually says is Jesus Christ himself.
46:32: Put on Christ.
46:33: Because that imagery is used twice here, but not fully explained, I wanted to go to the place in Scripture where it is fully explained.
46:40: And that is Ephesians chapter 6, where the armor of God is given to us.
46:44: And I want to very quickly go through that.
46:47: So if you'll turn to Ephesians chapter 6, this will be where we close tonight.
46:52: Because when I say put on the armor of light, that's not real specific.
46:57: When I say put on Jesus Christ, though we can imagine what that means, it's not real specific.
47:03: Well, in the 6th chapter, verse 13, of the book of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul gives us an exposition of what it means to put on the armor of God.
47:15: And I think when he says the armor of light and when he says to put on Jesus Christ, that is a shortened way of saying put on the whole armor of God.
47:24: Because it is the armor of God which allows you to withstand evil.
47:30: In fact, read verse 13 with me.
47:32: Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand firm.
47:40: Right there.
47:40: He's saying it.
47:41: He said this is what this is for.
47:43: You're going to be standing against the evil of the flesh.
47:45: You're going to be standing against the evil of the world.
47:47: You're going to be standing against the evil of the devil.
47:49: Here is the armor that's going to allow you to win this battle.
47:56: He says in verse 14, Stand therefore having fastened on the belt of truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
48:14: In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.
48:26: Each of these pieces correspond to an appropriate truth which we need to consider.
48:32: Number one is the belt of truth.
48:35: Why is it that truth is signified by a belt? It's very simple.
48:44: When a soldier would put on his breastplate and his armor and his sword and his knife and all of the different things that he would hold, everything was attached to his belt.
48:59: The belt held everything together.
49:02: And the reality of Christianity is this.
49:06: Christianity is the truth.
49:08: Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
49:11: When Jesus stood before Pilate, he said, I came to testify to the truth.
49:16: And Pilate said, huh, what is truth? And Jesus said, I'm right in front of you.
49:21: I mean, truth is right here because truth is Christianity.
49:24: And what do people always want to call into question when Christianity is the topic of discussion? Whether or not it's true that Jesus was the son of God.
49:34: Whether or not it's true that he rose from the dead.
49:36: Whether or not it's true that he was perfect in every way, born of a virgin, all these things.
49:41: It's always truth that's called into question.
49:43: And the reality is, if we ever give up the truth, everything else falls apart.
49:51: That's why he called it the belt because it holds everything together.
49:55: If we ever concede for a moment that we are not in the truth, then everything else will fall away.
50:05: So that's the first thing, the belt of truth.
50:07: The second is the breastplate of righteousness.
50:11: Righteousness protects our heart.
50:14: For if we live unrighteously, we leave our heart open to the devil's attacks.
50:19: The breastplate protected the heart.
50:22: The very soul of the person, the heart is protected by this breastplate.
50:27: And the reality is, when we live lives where we let unholiness be a part of our lives, we basically exposed our heart to the arrows of the devil.
50:42: And then he says, the shoes of peace, the shoes for your feet, which are the gospel of peace.
50:47: We are to be carriers of the gospel.
50:51: And what is the gospel of peace? It's the gospel of how men can have peace with God.
50:57: It's not the gospel of social peace.
51:01: It's not a social gospel.
51:03: It's not about peace in the Middle East or peace man or any of that stuff.
51:09: It's about peace with God.
51:11: That's what the gospel is.
51:12: Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God.
51:15: That's the proclamation that we give.
51:18: And that's what we are shod with.
51:20: That's literally what people see when they see us coming.
51:25: They see our shoes moving.
51:27: That's the picture here.
51:28: When you saw a runner coming to the city who would tell the tales of war, he would come and you would see first his feet kicking up dust.
51:42: And that was how they knew someone was coming.
51:44: And generally, that's why the Apostle Paul says, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.
51:50: Why does he say that? He says that because when they brought good news, it was in a hurry.
51:56: They were excited.
51:57: They came leaping for joy because they had won.
52:02: And the opposite is bad news is often brought as a terror and with a very slow and dragging walk.
52:10: Now, of course, he could be running in life and fear for his life, but that's a whole other thing.
52:14: In general, you could see in a run whether or not somebody was bringing good news or bad news and how beautiful is the feet of those who bring good news.
52:21: Same picture here.
52:23: So not only do we have the truth that holds everything together and the breastplate of righteousness, we live righteous lives so the devil cannot attack our righteousness and cut our hearts.
52:36: We have our shoes shod with the gospel that we take the gospel with us wherever we go.
52:41: And the shield of faith, and this shield, the Roman shield stood as tall as the soldier and as wide as the soldier.
52:47: And the shield's design was so that a guard of soldiers could stand next to each other and all put their shield down and all get behind it.
52:56: It was sort of the earliest form of a tank because you couldn't burst through that.
53:01: So this shield was a full body protector and this is what we hide ourselves behind.
53:06: When the devil attempts to send his fiery darts at us, when he attempts to attack us, it is our faith which gives us the strength to persevere.
53:15: It's the faith that blocks.
53:17: When the devil says, you are not good enough to go to heaven, we say, we know! But our faith has made us whole.
53:26: You know what I'm saying? That's why the faith is the whole body protector.
53:31: The helmet of salvation.
53:33: We must keep the promises of God's salvation in our mind.
53:40: That's why it's the helmet because what does the devil often try to whisper in our ear? You're not saved.
53:48: You don't know God.
53:49: You don't know Christ.
53:50: You're not acting as one who is saved.
53:52: You keep the helmet of salvation on because you must keep the reality of God's promises in your mind.
53:58: The love of God in our hearts, but the promises of God in our mind because it is the promises of God which remind us that it's not us who is saving ourselves, but God who is saving us.
54:11: And finally, the sword of the spirit, which most of you have heard this study before.
54:15: The sword.
54:22: Finally came out.
54:31: Thank you.
54:34: The sword of the spirit is our only offensive weapon.
54:40: It's the only one that's used for attack.
54:43: When Jesus was brought by Satan into the wilderness, Jesus could have brought the weight of the world down upon Satan.
54:50: He could have brought the weight of 10,000 legions of angels upon Satan.
54:55: He could have caused Satan to go bound into the fiery pit of hell at that very moment.
54:59: He is God and can do as He wishes.
55:01: But instead of returning to the devil tit for tat, Jesus stood.
55:08: And every time the devil said something, turn this bread.
55:11: If you're the Son of God, turn this rock into bread.
55:15: And Jesus said, as it is written, man shall not live by bread alone.
55:26: And it was His offensive weapon.
55:28: This is the one thing I think is most dangerous in modern debates when we talk to unbelievers.
55:37: I hear Christians say this sometimes.
55:39: Alright, we won't bring the Bible into this.
55:43: Posh! That's all you've got.
55:48: That's like going into war and saying we'll leave our guns at home.
55:52: We'll hope we win.
55:56: We can't say, I'm not going to bring the Bible into this.
55:59: At that point, you have already given over to their presuppositions.
56:03: You've already lost.
56:07: It's ridiculous to concede such a notion or to even engage in it.
56:11: But yet, people do because they don't understand how the armor works.
56:18: If we're going to stand for the Word, or stand for God, we use His Word as our sword.
56:26: Alright, that's the...
56:27: I think that's a fit description of what the Apostle Paul meant when he said, put on the armor of light, put on Jesus Christ.
56:35: I think it was a shortened version of this.
56:37: And I hope that was helpful for you.
56:40: Alright, next week we'll have a time for questions and answers.
56:43: Hopefully you'll have some things.
56:44: Even if it's not necessarily related to chapter 13, I enjoy those nights.
56:49: It gives us an opportunity to dig into the Word a little deeper on things that you guys have questions on.
56:53: So we'll focus on that next week.
56:54: That's right.
56:56: Father, thank You for this time of study.
56:59: Thank You for all that You have provided for us in studying Your Word and learning together.
57:05: We pray that as the summer approaches and we step away from the Book of Romans for a short time, that You will minister to us through this time.
57:14: Help us, Lord, engage the subject of evangelism with a newly found zeal for wearing those shoes, that preparation of the gospel of peace which we are to be shod with.
57:27: We thank You, Lord.
57:28: We pray that You have given us Your all-wonderful grace to continue to walk with us and help us to walk in the day, the light of the day, being ever reminded, Lord, that You could return at any moment.
57:45: In Jesus' name, Amen.