The Night Life - [Romans 13]

Well, it was about 150 years ago that Wells Fargo stagecoaches put out a little rule book, what to do while you were on the stagecoach. Abstinence from liquor is requested, but if you drink, share the bottle.

To do otherwise makes you appear selfish and unneighborly. Buffalo robes are provided for your comfort for cold weather. Hogging robes will not be tolerated, and the offender will be made to ride with the driver.

Don't snore loudly while sleeping, or use your fellow passenger's shoulder for a pillow. Forbidden topics of discussion on stagecoaches are stagecoach robberies and Indian uprisings. If ladies are present, gentlemen are urged to forego smoking cigars.

Chewing tobacco is permitted, but spit with the wind, not against it. Turn your Bibles to Romans chapter 13, please, a passage that has prevented a lot of spitting into the wind of ungodly government.

You're going to love this passage because you're not going to hear this message on TV or on the radio, unless you listen to a Christian station. How do we live underneath a government that's not righteous?

Anything less than Jesus on the earth ruling and reigning, how do we live? In a democracy? Fascism? Nazism? Socialism? For someone we didn't vote for, how do we live? J .C. Neal said in his commentary in Romans, these seven verses have caused more unhappiness and misery than any other seven verses in the New Testament.

I totally agree. This is going to help us because many of us don't like the government that we're in or under. So what do we do? The bigger question is this. Are Christians different than unbelievers when it comes to their response to the government?

That is to say, if you're a justified sinner, declared righteous based on the work of another, do you act differently than your neighbors do? Is there something different about you? If you submit to the Lord Jesus Christ, how do you submit to the government?

This is the Christian view of politics. For those of you that worship politics or are preoccupied with politics, ask the question, do I ever disobey the government? Is it okay to run for office? This is a great passage.

How do we respond to less than godly government as justified people? F .F. Bruce called this the most important passage ever written on the history of political thought. Now there's one word that should typify all justified sinners in their response to government.

What is that word? Romans 13 says that word is submission. Let's take a look at that word and then we'll work on the outline in just a little bit. Romans chapter 13. Let every person be subject to the governing authorities.

That's the key thing that works all the way through the first seven verses. NAS says let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. Remember what's going on in Romans? Remember we're not supposed to be conformed to this age.

Don't let your mind be conformed to the spirit of this age. And so if I'm not to be conformed to the world, well, maybe I don't have to submit to government. Maybe I don't have to pay my taxes. Paul says you're to be subject to the governing authorities.

Justified people obey the government. Submission here is not obedience. Those are two different words, but Paul is after the internal aspect, and that is submission. If you are in submission, internally you will manifest itself by obedience.

Paul wants heart religion from justified sinners. Now you say, what's a justified sinner? I'm so glad you asked. Romans 3 says, now apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.

William Wilberforce prayed this prayer, O God, deliver me from myself. But before anybody could ever pray that prayer, in eternity past, in God's counsel, he decided to go do that very thing, save sinners from themselves.

To save them from sin. To save them from Satan's domain. To save them from the wrath of God. How can anything less than perfect obedience satisfy a thrice holy God? It can't. And God just can't overlook sin.

Oh, you know, it's no big deal, they just sin. I'll just do what Mike does, if somebody sins against me, and I say, I forgive you, that's all that I need to say, I forgive you. But God can't do that because He's righteous and He's just.

And He's holy. So we need the righteousness of God through faith alone, because we're sinful. And think about it, if God has saved you from all your sins, don't you want to do what He tells you to do?

You say, well, God, you've saved me, and my response to you is, I just want to do what you tell me. And so here Paul tells us to submit to the government. If you have been acquitted, if you have been pronounced righteous based on the work of Christ Jesus, then you are to submit to the government.

Now that word submit there, or be subject to, see it in verse 1. Again, that's the key concept that deals with the first seven verses. It's an imperative, and it's a continual imperative. Always be in subjection, and it's a military term.

So if you're a private, you are under pretty much everybody else. You're under the sergeant, you're under the corporal, you're under the, is that under a corporal? No, under a colonel. See, what do I know?

Voluntarily giving yourself a subordinate position because you realize somebody is over you. And isn't this interesting, look at verse 1, to the governing authorities, to those who have something to hold over you.

That's what authority means, to hold over. They have power, they hold it over you. And what I like is, God's word is so transcultural, so transchronological, how would God ever anticipate, well, are we going to be under fascism or Nazism or communism or the latest ism?

He just says, all governing authorities, be subject to them. Whatever kind you have. Say, yeah, but they're ungodly. Submit. They're godly. Submit. They're incompetent. Submit. They're good. Submit. They're wicked.

Submit. It's reasonable. Submit. One man said, no caveats. Yeah, but Paul, you certainly didn't suffer much under government. Really? So let's go over Romans chapter 13. If you're new here to the church, we're going chapter by chapter.

So it's going to be pretty fast. Let's look at Romans 13, verses 1 to 7, as we deal with submission. Then he circles back around to talk about love and the second coming. But for the first seven verses, let me give you some helpers on the hows and whys of submission to government.

I think it will help you submit to the government because it's hard to do. It's hard to submit to a government that kills babies in the womb or at least funds it. It's hard to give money to the government and submit to them when they pay for RU486 and other day-after drugs and give them to our 15-year-old girls.

It's difficult. So let me give you six hows and whys of submission that should help you since you're a justified person. Number one, submit because all government comes from God. Submit because all authority comes from God.

God is sovereign over everything. God delegates His authority to humans on this earth. See the verse, verse 1 of chapter 13? For there is no authority except from God. It gives another little nuance here.

And those that exist have been instituted by God. True or false? God has all authority. True. He's sovereign. And God then delegates authority. He delegates authority to a father in the home. He delegates authority to elders in a church.

And He delegates authority to the government for nations and societies. God has all the power. And He in His sovereign working has decided to delegate authority. He could be on this earth like He will be one day, like the sun will be, but for now He's not.

It was God's idea to have government. It was His plan, His wisdom. Proverbs 8, By me kings reign. Daniel 2, He removes kings and establishes kings. Daniel 5, Remember Nebuchadnezzar was acting like a cow until he realized that the Most High God is ruler over the realm of mankind and He sets over it whomever He wishes.

It was Romans chapter 9 when Paul, speaking for God, says, I raised up Pharaoh. Nero had delegated authority. The first 12 out of 14 emperors who were homosexual had delegated authority. Going back to Nero, he's the one that opened up his mother's womb to see the place where he was born, out of where he would be born.

President Obama has delegated authority from God. Do you refuse to speak to me? Pilate said. Do you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you? Jesus answered using the exact same word here.

You would have no authority over me unless it had been given to you from above. Delegated authority from God. Paul goes on to say, see the other nuance there at the end of verse 1? Those that exist have been instituted by God, the ultimate authority.

How do I know that a government is ordained by God? Answer, because it exists. Anarchy is not good. Whatever kind of government there is means that God has ordained it. He's established it. It is His idea.

We don't want when everyone did what was right in His own eyes. What you have in America is better than anarchy and it is designed by God as the ultimate sovereign. Literally, the Greek would be standing permanently established by God.

The starting point of the argument about government is God is sovereign in granting government to be over us. Daniel 4, three times it says, the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whom He wishes, verse 17.

Verse 25, Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes. Verse 32, Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes and He has wished to bestow it on our current administration.

You say, I didn't vote for Him. I didn't vote for the President. I hope you do vote. It's fine to vote. It's fine to run for office if you'd like. But three persons voted for President Obama to guarantee his victory in a theological landslide.

The Father, the Son, and the Spirit all voted for President Obama and He, God, bestowed the presidency on whomever He wished. No loopholes here. Number two, see it's kind of hard, isn't it? Simple but hard.

How do justified sinners act? Well, they submit to government. One, because all authority, all government comes from God. Number two, submit because opposition to God's ordained government is really opposition to God.

If you're going to stiff arm God's government, you're stiff arming God because it's related back to verse one. God has ordained government. If you go against God's ordained government, you go against God.

Same military kind of terminology here where you're pushing against, you're in battle array, lining up against God. Who wants to line up against God? I don't. This is just logically coming from verse one.

Military array against enemy forces is the one who lines himself up against God. The word oppose there means against, stand, stand against. Now, what does the text say in Romans chapter 13? You resist what God has appointed and those who resist will incur.

King James is wrong here thinking it's eternal judgment. They say damnation, but it's incur judgment. You break the law, there's going to be a payment. You say, yes, yes, yes, but I know there's a time to disobey the government.

Well, of course, when is that time? When they say, I cannot say from this pulpit that homosexuality is a sin against God, albeit forgivable sin. When they want me to celebrate unrighteousness of any kind or they force me to do a gay wedding, I will not do it.

They say, well, you can't preach against sin, you can't preach the gospel. We will respond with Acts chapter four, judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God, for we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.

Acts goes on to say, we must obey God rather than men. The government can't force me to abort my second child if it's a girl, or fourth, and it can't force me to say, I now will call evil good and good evil.

But anything less than that, it has all the rights and privileges to do. By the way, if you are aspiring to be an elder, that's a good thing to do, but I think you should probably think twice if you're a young man who wants to be an elder, because it just could be possibly in our generation where myself and the rest of the leaders are hauled off into jail and the aspiring leaders are next.

There's a time to disobey, but even then, we don't flop on the ground like a fish in a canoe, like Operation Rescue people used to do. If they come in and arrest me because I'm preaching the gospel to you, I'll preach the gospel to the men and women as they arrest me, and they say, put your hands behind your back, and I will submissively put my hands behind my back.

Why? Because justified sinners are a submitting people. Number three, why do we submit to the government? Well, because authority comes from God, number one. Opposition to God's authority is really opposition to God, and we don't want that.

Number three, submit because God says there will be consequences to rebellion. Submit because you should fear the government as God's minister. Verses three and four, for rulers are not a terror, ESV says, to good conduct, but to bad.

Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Well, then do what is good, and you will receive his approval. For he is God's minister, our ESV servant, for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword, that's the shorter sword that you use to chop off people's heads like probably they use for Paul's beheading, not for spankings on the rear.

For he is the servant, our minister of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Now, as we're going through this, let me just kind of get into you a little bit preaching-wise. Those of you that know me realize that I don't, that I'm not a, well, I don't think I'm a legalist, but I don't think you think I'm a legalist either.

You can do what you like with your free time, but I'll tell you what I do with my free time. My free time is not spent getting a barrage of information both through my ear gates and my eye gates that don't help me submit to the government.

When I listen to, I don't listen, I don't watch, but when I listen to Rush Limbaugh back in the day and watch O 'Reilly and watch Hannity and maybe you're a left winger, maybe you're watching MSNBC, I don't care who you listen to and you read Slate Magazine, it doesn't matter to me.

Ask yourself the question, do those things help you submit? Now, maybe you're stronger than I am, but they don't help me submit. They help me get mad and angry and frustrated. They don't help me submit.

So you know what I do? I just don't submit. No! I don't submit myself to them. I never watch Fox News for political stuff. I mean, if it's on the Drudge Report, I might say what I need to at least know about this, but I don't concern myself with that because I know me.

And I start getting mad, they do this and they do that and it's this scandal and that scandal. But none of those things that these people do with their right-wing conservative agenda, and by the way, if it was back in the days of Reagan, people who were anti-Reagan, they don't help me to submit.

So I personally don't watch that because I personally have a hard time submitting to ungodly governments. Now, it's interesting what they're called here. God's ministers. God's servants. Just two weeks ago, someone is new to the church, they said, Mike, what do you want me to call you and what do you want my kids to call you?

I said, well, I want you to call me Mike and I want your kids to call me Pastor Avendroth. Don't call me Reverend because there's nothing in me to revere. That's only use of the Lord in the Bible. When I officiate weddings, it says there at the very bottom who you are and it says clergy, imam, a rabbi, justice of the peace, or other, please explain.

So I always write Minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am a minister in the sense that I minister, I serve. And so, so too the government is a minister. The people in government are ministers. If you want to call me a minister, you can.

I prefer High Holy Father, but that's another sermon. Fascism is better than anarchy. So the text says, for rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. There's a reason why in my drug days and my breaking the law days, I feared authority.

Would you have no fear of verse 3? The one is in authority, then do what's good. And if you're going the speed limit, driving down Route 12 and you see the blue lights behind you, you don't have any fear, do you?

But if you're going 85 miles an hour down Route 12 and you see the blue lights, you should be afraid. He's God's servant for your good. God in His goodness and His generosity wants to make sure that people don't run around running amok.

So there's rules and there's laws. Fear of punishment, true or false, is a deterrent. True. Our society doesn't seem to think that, but God does. And so ministers, think about this. Police men and women are ministers.

Fire men and women are ministers. Toll takers on 90. You say, well, they said they were only going to put the tolls up until they made the bridge, and it'd take 10 years and then they'll stop, and now we still have to keep paying tolls.

I wonder if you said to them the next time you paid, it's hard to do this with E-ZPass, but if you just said, thanks, minister. I wonder what they would say. A minister of God. Doing God's work. If you do the right thing, fine.

If you do the wrong thing, they've even got a sword up to the point they could kill you. See the text? Does not bear the sword for nothing. That word sword there, makarai, means short sword, that you would behead people, and this gives us one justification for military might.

Number two, capital punishment. You say, well, I don't believe in capital punishment. Well, God does, and He's given that over to the government, whether they want to recognize it or not. Theological justification, both capital punishment and military service.

God's an avenger of those who do the wrong thing through His ministers. Number four, hows and whys, helpers to submit. Submit, number one, because all authority comes from God. Submit, number two, because opposition to God's government is opposition to God.

Three, because there are consequences to insubordination. And now, number four, submit to keep a clear conscience. You want a clear conscience, don't you? Now, the other stuff is talking about external, and now we move to the internal.

God has given everyone a conscience, and here it says in verse five, therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath through the ordained ministers, the government, but also for the sake of conscience.

I might get punished by the government if I disobey, and I also might be punished by my own conscience that God has given me that light to say right, wrong. What God has given you to distinguish in your heart what's good and what's bad.

Internal standard of defining right and wrong, that guide, it's infallible guide, but it's still a guide. I love what Tozer said about the conscience. There's not a greater quote about the conscience.

The conscience, Tozer said, singles you out as though nobody else existed. What does the conscience have to do with submitting to the government? God wants it from the inside. The right attitude. You ought to be a law-abiding citizen because you are a justified sinner.

Down with government should never be the chant or thought of a Christian. Number five, submit by paying your taxes. Oh, oh no. I want to be like Ray Steadman, like paying pennies. I want to be like Ray Steadman who would write the check Infernal Revenue Service when he was still a pastor.

He said they still cash the check. I want to be like Ray Steadman who then went on to say I'm going to write Eternal Revenue Service. And Steadman said they still cash the check. I mean, the IRS we know, especially in the last few weeks, is above the board organization.

They do things correctly. They do things righteously. They do things correctly. They're stewards of the money God gave them to look over. This is an external revealer of our internal soul. Verse six, for because of this, you also pay taxes.

For authorities are, here it comes again, ministers of God attending to this very thing. Now back up in time, you're living in a country dominated by Rome and you don't even live in Italy. And you've got these people who are now trying to excise taxes out of you.

No wonder people back in the Bible day, the Jews hated Matthew so much, the tax collector, because he was under Rome's thumb trying to get taxes out of people who were his own country people, countrymen.

The word here says pay, and it means paid in full. When Jesus said it is finished, paid in full, that's the terminology close to it used here. Pay your taxes. And when they had come to Capernaum, those who collected the two drachma tax for the support of the temple came to Peter.

Said, does your teacher not pay the two drachma tax? Now if you're a king's son, you don't have to pay. Jesus is the king's son. He really didn't have to pay. The text goes on. He said yes, and when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first saying, now Jesus wasn't there, but he's God, so he was there.

What do you think, Simon? Simon's outside talking about this tax thing. He walks in, and now Jesus is asking this question. From whom do the kings of the earth collect customs or poll tax? From their sons or from strangers?

From strangers. Consequently, Jesus said, the sons are exempt, but lest we give offense, go to the sea, throw in a hook, take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth, you will find a stater.

Take that and give it to them for you and me. Later in the Gospel of Matthew, it says, then the Pharisees went and counseled together how they might trap Jesus in what he said. They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians, saying, teacher, we know that you're truthful and teach the way of God in truth and defer to no one.

You're not partial in any way. Tell us, therefore, what do you think? Is it lawful to give a poll tax, that annual one day's wage tax per person, to Caesar or not? If he says no, treason. If he says yes, disloyalty to the Jewish nation.

But Jesus perceived their malice and said, why are you testing me, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the poll tax. And they brought him a denarius, one side Tiberius, the other side his robes and throne.

Idolatrous for a Jew, by the way. Whose likeness and inscription is this? They said, Caesar's. Then Jesus said to them, then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's.

God has stamped you with his image. You render yourself to God. Pay it up. Pay up the taxes. Authorities are ministers of God. What's the text say? Look at verse 6. Attending to this very thing. One translation is devoting themselves to this very thing.

True or false? The labor is worthy of his wages. True. Do people work hard at giving you clean water? Well, then pay them through taxes. Do you like having an army and navy? Well, then pay taxes. Do you like clean drinking water?

Do you like your trash picked up? Do you like whatever the government does? Then pay your taxes. Do you like it that the policemen get the bad guys and throw them in jail before they can come to your house and kill you?

Pay your taxes. They devote themselves to that. Tax evasion is not a crime only. It's a sin. You say, yeah, but I didn't vote for them. Yeah, but just like Cyrus, God says of Cyrus, he is my shepherd.

They're ministers. Angels called ministers. Jesus called a minister. Epaphroditus called a minister. Number six, before we move to the next section in Romans 13, submit by paying more than taxes. This whole section is governed by submission.

Authority comes from God, one. Oppose God's authority, you oppose Him, two. There's consequences if you oppose Him, three. You want to have a clean conscience, don't you? Four. Pay your taxes. Submit that way, five.

And number six, submit by paying more than taxes. Submit by paying more than taxes. This is probably the one that convicts people the most. I personally try never to say the president's last name only.

I try to say President Obama for these very reasons. This is above and beyond. This is internal attitude. It's more than lip service. And it says here in verse 13, pay to all what is owed them, taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed.

And then we'll get to the end here, the last part of the sentence, honor to whom honor is owed. Render. That means something is owed them. Same word render to Caesar that Jesus used. That word render means literally, listen, to give back.

You've received value from the government. You give back. Taxes aren't a gift to the government. They're a debt that you owe to the government. And he gives four categories here. Whether the money goes to the government to teach evolution, to fund partial birth abortion, you are responsible to pay your taxes.

They are responsible to take that money and do righteously and justly with it. And God will judge them for how they use the money, but he will chasten you if you don't pay your taxes. Here the text says, tax to whom taxes due.

The word there means personal tax, property tax, income tax, capital gains tax. The outside people come and dominate our country and they say, here's a tax you have to pay. That's this kind of tax. Secondly, revenue to whom revenue is owed or custom to whom custom is owed.

Just flew overseas, came back through customs, declare everything that you purchased. This is import tax, export tax, duty tax. It's the kind of tax that Matthew excised out of people. This could be highway tolls.

I fly a lot and when I see the flight, it's only $139 both ways, but it's like $900 in taxes and fees. Okay, that's an exaggeration, but it seems like it. That's this kind of tax right here. Custom, revenue.

Three, respect to whom respect is owed. Our fear, literally, phobos. My son, fear the Lord and the King, Proverbs 24. And now we get to this one that's the hardest. Your town selectmen, your senators, your congress people, the president, the vice president, honor to whom honor is owed.

ESV, honor to whom honor. Esteeming their position as valuable, precious, that's hard to do. Friends, we don't speak poorly of our president. Now you can say, I think the president's policy on homosexual marriage and abortion is sinful.

That is a lot different than attacking the person and Christians must be very careful. So you've got to pay what you owe. And that makes Paul think about something else. He makes him think about debts and it says in verse 8, transitioning to what's been said in 12, but still carrying on this thought of we owe taxes.

Is there anything else we owe? Well he says in verse 8, owe no one anything. But the meaning really is, don't have any debt outstanding. If you just want to take it woodenly and literally, you'll be like J. Hudson Taylor.

He would never borrow for anything. Not for a house, not for a new church building. That's not the idea. If you've got a debt, like taxes, pay taxes. But if you've got a debt for something else, you owe money to the cable bill, for the cable bill, you ought to pay it.

Say, well you know what, everybody else skips out on their college loans. They're never going to track me down. Christian, you are a justified sinner. Pay back your loans. Have any debt to people? Pay them back.

It's fascinating. Pay your rent on time. Pay your bills on time. Pay your loans on time. Pay what is owed is literally what is said. But you know, there's something here that you're not going to be ever able to do.

There's a debt that you can never repay. Take a look at verse 8. Accept to love each other. There's a debt that you can never repay. You can never see somebody and say, you know what, I've loved you enough.

I've paid my debt of love to you and I'm not loving you anymore. This is good for marriages. I constantly hear about marriages. People have been married twenty years, thirty years. Kids move out of the house and it's like, forget you.

I've loved you enough. I want a little bit back now. It's your turn. I've done my loving and I'm stopping. What does the text say if you're a Christian? If you get no love back, no affection back, no emotions back, nothing back, you owe that person in front of you, let alone your spouse, love.

Agape love, the same kind of unconditional love that God has for His Son, loving, sinful people. Permanent obligation. D .L. Moody said, a man may be a good doctor without loving his patients, a good lawyer without loving his clients, a good geologist without loving science, but he cannot be a good Christian without love.

When you meet someone, you should say to yourself, I owe this person love. I have a debt for this person. I need to show him the love of Christ. Why is love our debt? See the rest of the verse, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

And then he illustrates this point quoting the side of the Ten Commandments that are toward people. And he quotes, abbreviatedly, four of the Ten Commandments in verse 9. The 7th, 6th, 8th, and 10th Commandments.

And he said, here's how love replaces these commandments. He's already talked about how we're not under the law as binding authority in Romans 6, Romans 7, Romans 8. So here's how you replace those. With the most quoted verse in the New Testament.

That is, the most quoted Old Testament verse in the New. He says, for the commandments, you shall not commit adultery. That's even with your heart, of course, and lust. You shall not murder. That's even hatred, of course, Matthew 5.

You shall not steal. You shall not covet or any other commandment. They're summed up in this word. And here's that popularly quoted verse from the Old and the New. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Leviticus 19, 18. If you love other people, you won't commit adultery. You won't murder them. You won't covet what they have. You'll love them as yourself. Because love is the consummation of the law.

It sums it up. And by the way, think about it. I love myself even though I have faults. I know they're hard for other people to see, but I love myself in spite of me. I do a pretty good job at it. I think I probably love me.

I love me some me. I never thought I'd say that from the pulpit ever. But I love me even though I got faults. So we love other people even though we know they have faults. Because love wants what's best for them.

This is not the emotional word. This is not the sexual word. We love people because we're told to. We've been loved with our faults. We love ourselves with our faults. Verse 10, Love does no wrong to a neighbor.

Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. We're not lawless people. If Moses isn't binding, we just run around crazy. No. Something even better. Now what Paul says in chapter 12 is he said, listen, go back to the first 11 chapters.

Think about those mercies of God and then I want you to say to the Lord, I do. I'm in. I'll present myself a living and holy sacrifice to you. He looks to the past for motivation. And now Paul looks to the future.

Jesus Christ motivates Christians. Ethical eschatology. Obligations in light of Jesus' soon return. And these verses here, verses 11 through 14, are chock full of all kinds of indicatives. Here's who we are.

Here's the story. And then imperatives in light of that do something about it. We are one day closer to Jesus' return. Yesterday is gone. So live your life in light of that. Verse 11. Look at all the indicatives.

Look at all the words for time. Time, hour, now, day. Besides this, you know the time. That the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer nearer to us now. Your glorification, because Jesus is going to return, that end day of all days is closer to us than when we first believed.

The night is far gone. The day is at hand. So let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. The incentive to live out the law of love and submit to the government and everything else in the Christian life is for what God has done for you, forgiven you, but also that His Son is returning.

I studied a lot this week. I'm going to have to save it for a radio show, I think. I studied sleepwalking. Somnambulists is what they're called. Or you could call them notambulists. What people do when they're sleepwalking, I mean, it's just like, you know, zombie kind of thing.

And they get up, they do all kinds of things. Christian, don't be a sleepwalker. It's like the people who are at their job now. They're at school, they're at education, and they've got their tenure, so they're just riding out their time there.

They don't really do much because they can't be fired. Christians ought not to be that way, sleepwalking around. Paul says it's time to wake up. Now, when I wake people up when I'm preaching, I don't see sleepers this service, but I saw sleepers first service.

I have a variety of ways to wake people up when they're sleeping. I can raise my voice. I like to slap the pulpit once in a while. I like to clap. How do you wake up people? For Paul, he wakes them up and says, the Lord Jesus Christ, who said, the way you see me go up into heaven is the way you see me come down.