WWUTT 213 Wake From Sleep?

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Before we came to Christ, we were children of darkness, and we were wandering around in darkness, blind and unseeing.
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But in Christ, we have come into the light, so we must do the works that should be done in the light, when we understand the text.
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You're listening to When We Understand the Text, committed to the sound teaching of the Word of God. For questions and comments, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com
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And don't forget our website, www .utt .com. Here's our host,
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Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We're in Romans chapter 13, and today we want to move on to that next paragraph, covering verses 11 through 14.
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But before doing that, there's one more thing I want to mention on the section that we've been looking at yesterday and the day before, where Paul is talking about you shall love your neighbor as yourself, and this is the fulfilling of the law.
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In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gave us the golden rule, do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
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And he adds that this is the law and the prophets. So here we have
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Paul saying, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, and this is the fulfilling of the law. Jesus gives the golden rule, do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and this is the law and the prophets.
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Here's our what video about the golden rule. You know the golden rule, right?
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Whoever has the gold makes the rules. I'm sorry, that's not right. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
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There we go. That's from the Bible, only it's not quite worded like that. Matthew 7, 12, so whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the law and the prophets.
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Now some skeptics have tried to claim that the golden rule is not exclusive to the teachings of Jesus. It's actually so common and so basic a principle that many moralistic teachers have said something similar, even way before Christianity.
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For example, Confucius, 500 years before Christ, said what you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others.
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But when you look at those two versions of the golden rule, they're actually very different. Jesus had this way of taking common principles, stuff that people had been repeating for hundreds of years, and probably didn't follow it, they just liked saying it, and Jesus took it to a whole new level.
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Confucius and others like him were merely saying don't do to anyone what you wouldn't want done to you. How is
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Jesus' statement different? It's a call to action. He said do to others what you would have them do to you.
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In other words, just as you want others to treat you better than you deserve, so you should treat others better than they deserve.
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How is this the law and the prophets? Because it's exactly the way God treats us. We don't deserve his mercy and grace.
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What we deserve is death for our sin. But because he loves us, we become fellow heirs with Christ, everyone who follows him.
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All of the scriptures point to that very thing when we understand the text. The Lord God did for us as he wants us to do for him.
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Now the good news in that though, is that we don't have to do what Jesus did.
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We will not have to die and take the wrath of God. Jesus did that for us so that we would not have to die in that place.
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We would not be able to survive that. We are not good enough to be able to pay for our own sins, nor are we
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God to be able to take the wrath of God. Jesus took that upon himself on the cross and we stand before God as justified.
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But just as Jesus laid his life down for the glory of God, so we must do the same.
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We must lay our lives down for his glory. Jesus said in Luke 9, 23, that if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow after me.
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The next verse says, whoever tries to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
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And so this is the way that Jesus exemplified the golden rule even in his own life toward each one of us who are to follow it.
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And this is the law and the prophets. Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfilling of the law,
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Romans 13, 10. So let's go on from there today. Verses 11 through 14, 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.
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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.
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Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy, but put on the
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Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires.
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We come back to verse 11, besides this, you know the time. So besides the command that we are to love our neighbor as ourself, that we are to fulfill the law in this way by loving our neighbor.
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Besides that understanding, Paul says, you know the time that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep.
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So there's no excuse for us to be in slumber, to be slothful in zeal, to put it that way, which was the way that Paul said, do not be slothful in zeal in verse 11 of chapter 12.
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So we need to wake from that slothfulness and we need to do the works that the
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Lord has called for us to do. In Matthew 24, Jesus says that no one knows the day or the hour of his return, not even the angels of heaven, nor the son, but the father only.
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For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the son of man.
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For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day when
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Noah entered the ark. And they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away. So will the coming of the son of man be.
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Then two men will be in the field, one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken and one left.
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Therefore stay awake, Jesus says, Matthew 24, 42, stay awake for you do not know on what day your
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Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.
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Therefore you also must be ready for the son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
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Who then is the faithful and wise servant whom his master has set over his household to give them their food at the proper time?
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Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions.
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But if that wicked servant says to himself, my master is delayed and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come at a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him into pieces and put him with the hypocrites.
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In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So the true servant of God is going to stay awake in anxious anticipation of the
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Lord's return. And when he comes back, what he will find is that faithful servant working diligently, working hard, not sleeping on the job, not being slothful in zeal, not setting back and letting someone else do the work and certainly not beating the fellow servants.
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Because one of the marks of having Christ on our life is that we will love the brotherhood.
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We will love the brothers and sisters in Christ. But Jesus says there's a wicked servant that says my master is delayed and he will abuse the brotherhood of Christ.
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And when the master comes back and sees the way that he is treating the other servants, he will be cut up and thrown out with the hypocrites in hell where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
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And so we must not slumber. We must not be slothful and we must actively be in pursuit of one another in love in Christ Jesus so that when the master returns, what he finds us doing is the works that he had done.
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Paul says for salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believe.
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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.
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It's in John chapter three where Jesus is having a conversation with a Pharisee named
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Nicodemus. And it was to Nicodemus that Jesus said for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
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For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him.
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Whoever believes in him is not condemned but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he is not believed in the name of the only son of God.
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And this is the judgment. The light has come into the world and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
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For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light lest his work should be exposed.
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But whoever does what is true comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.
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If we are doing the things of God then we have nothing to fear of the light. And so we must in Christ Jesus come to the light no longer be living in darkness and doing the works of darkness.
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Paul talks about this in several other places as well to the Ephesians thinking in particular of Ephesians chapter 5.
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He says that when anything is exposed by the light it becomes visible for anything that becomes visible is light.
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Therefore it says awake O sleeper and arise from the dead and Christ will shine on you.
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Look carefully then how you walk not as unwise but as wise making the best use of the time because the days are evil.
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Therefore do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is and how do we understand what
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God's will is by reading his word. Paul also says to the Colossians talking about no longer doing the works of darkness but doing what we should be doing in the light.
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He says do not lie to one another seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
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So we must no longer be walking in darkness we must walk in the light. As Paul says to the
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Thessalonians we are not children of the night but we are children of the day specifically talking about the day of the
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Lord. So when the Lord comes back may he find us doing that which he had commissioned us to do going to all nations making disciples baptizing in the name of the
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Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all that he commanded us.
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And he says the last words at the end of the book of Matthew lo I am with you always even to the very end of the age.
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So then Paul says Romans 13 verse 12 let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.
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Let us walk properly as in the daytime and we'll pick it up from there tomorrow.
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Our Lord God we thank you for this word and we thank you for the assurances that Jesus gives us about his return.
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May we be looking forward to that day for the person who does not know Christ. It is a day of great dread a day of fear because it is a day of wrath when
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God's wrath will be poured out on the ungodly. But for those of us who are in Christ Jesus it is a hopeful day.
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It is a day we are looking forward to when God comes back to judge the living and the dead all of his enemies will be placed under his feet.
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He will usher in his peaceful kingdom and then we will be with our Lord forever.
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God we know that those who live in unrighteousness will perish under the weight of that kingdom. And so may we be diligent to continue to preach your gospel to all that they might repent of their sins and be saved and be on the side of victory living in that kingdom forever.
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Keep us steadfast according to your spirit to do the works that Jesus did and it is in his name that we pray amen.
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This has been when we understand the text of Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts episodes videos books and more visit our website at www .utt
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.com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast or just send us a comment email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com
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and let your friends know about our ministry. Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's word when we understand the text.